Unseasonably warm weather may be the forecast for late December, but once winter finally sets in, it will be ice fishing season. Anyone looking for one of the country’s best fishing spots need look no further than the mountains along the Front Range of Colorado — more specifically, Lake Granby.
That’s according to FishingBooker, a website that connects anglers with guiding companies and excursions across the U.S. The site recently named its top 10 ice fishing destinations, in no particular order, and Lake Granby was the sole Colorado locale to make the list.
Located at nearly 8,300 feet in elevation, Lake Granby offers alpine serenity as well as plenty of lake trout and kokanee salmon to make your fishing excursion both peaceful and invigorating, FishingBooker said.
“The lake’s clear waters and high elevation make for a picturesque outing, and the experience often feels like a true wilderness escape,” the site said. “Local guides and outfitters will also help ensure your time on the ice is both safe and successful.”
Plus, there’s more to do than just fishing, FishingBooker touted, from snowshoeing to relaxing at a mountain lodge. “The combination of solitude and natural beauty makes it a standout location,” it added.
Lake Granby was one of 10 places featured on FishingBooker’s list, alongside Green Bay in Wisconsin and Flathead Lake in Montana. See the full list here. If you’re a newbie to the sport, don’t forget to check out these tips before you go.
Andrea Perry of Leadville caught 18 inch rainbow trout at frozen Antero Reservoir with the assistance of George Mingus, a professional guide at Tumbling Trout Fly Shop, on Jan. 5, 2019.
The holiday season is the perfect time to get lost in a good mystery or thriller.
A particularly well-crafted one can take your mind off the stress that comes with the end of the year, and the books make great presents for friends and family (or for yourself — you deserve it). They’re also a staple of airport bookstores, so it’s easy to find one to keep you company on your next flight. (Maybe don’t pick a T.J. Newman novel in that particular circumstance, though.)
Finally, you’ve got a lot to choose from — we combed through a bunch of bestselling mysteries and thrillers published this year, and found 32 standouts.
You’re bound to find something to keep you on the edge of your seat.
British author Feeney is one of the most reliable thriller authors in the game. Her new book follows Grady Green, a London author whose wife, Abby, goes missing near a cliff; a year later, Grady goes to a small Scottish island, where he spots a woman who looks exactly like Abby — and then things get even weirder.
“Best Offer Wins” by Marisa Kashino
This darkly funny novel follows a publicist desperate to find a house in Washington, D.C., and who keeps losing bidding wars. When she finds the perfect home, she decides she’ll stop at nothing to get it. Kashino’s debut novel became a bestseller after being selected for the “Good Morning America” book club.
The 20th novel in Penny’s massively bestselling series of novels featuring Armand Gamache, a Quebec police inspector, sees the lawman and his associates discover a terrorist plot involving domestic terrorism and officials in high places.
L.A. author Clark’s third book featuring Trevor Finnegan, an ex-LAPD cop who now works as a private investigator, finds his hero trying to find out who killed his half-brother’s girlfriend in Malibu — and uncovering a large-scale conspiracy.
“The Dentist” by Tim Sullivan
In this novel, British filmmaker and author Sullivan introduces his readers to Detective Sergeant George Cross, an investigator who’s on the autism spectrum. Already a success in the U.K., the series launched in the U.S. in October and will continue rolling out books in 2026 (the follow-up, “The Cyclist,” is in stores in January with more coming in February, March and beyond).
“Count My Lies” by Sophie Stava
Southern California author Stava’s debut novel follows Sloane Caraway, a habitual fabulist who lies her way into a job as a nanny for a rich family, and discovers they might not be who they seem. Hulu is developing a limited series adaptation of the novel, starring Lindsay Lohan and Shailene Woodley.
“Dead Money” by Jakob Kerr
Lawyer and debut novelist Kerr drew on the 15 years he lived in San Francisco for this novel, which follows Mackenzie Clyde, a problem solver who works for a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, and who tries to solve the murder of a tech startup CEO.
The latest novel from prolific British author Jewell hit the No. 1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list. It follows three women who are drawn into the orbit of a handsome, mysterious man who might be harboring dark secrets.
“Don’t Open Your Eyes” by Liv Constantine
Constantine is actually the pen name for two sisters, Lynne Constantine and Valerie Constantine, and their debut novel, “The Last Mrs. Parrish,” is in the works as a film directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Jennifer Lopez. Their latest novel follows Annabelle Reynolds, a woman with a good life who is beset by nightmares that start to come true.
“Exit Strategy” by Lee Child and Andrew Child
The 30th novel featuring ex-Army police officer Jack Reacher — and the sixth since Andrew Child came on to write or co-write the series launched by his brother — sees the towering vagabond helping a young man with a gambling addiction who is being blackmailed by a shadowy criminal.
“The First Gentleman” by Bill Clinton and James Patterson
The third novel by the former president and the thriller king, following “The President Is Missing” and “The President’s Daughter,” tells the story of Cole Wright, a former professional football player who has been accused of killing his girlfriend almost two decades ago. Complicating matters is that Wright’s wife happens to be the president of the United States.
“Fog and Fury” by Rachel Howzell Hall
L.A. author Hall is known for her standalone novels and her series of books featuring Detective Elouise Norton. She kicked off a new series this year with this novel, which follows Sonny Rush, an L.A. cop turned private eye, who hopes to escape her former life by moving to a calm seaside town. Those plans go awry when the body of a teenager is found by a hiking trail.
“Gone Before Goodbye” by Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben
Witherspoon has long been connected to literature as the founder of her mega-popular book club. She teamed with thriller author Coben on this novel about a former Army surgeon who takes a job treating a Russian oligarch. Complications, needless to say, ensue.
“Happy Wife” by Meredith Lavender and Kendall Shores
A pick for Jenna Bush Hager’s “Today” show book club, this novel follows Nora Davies, a 29-year-old woman in Winter Park, Florida, who marries Will Somerset, a wealthy lawyer and single dad. The day after Nora throws a birthday party for her husband, he disappears, and she goes in search of him.
British television host Osman scored a huge hit with his debut mystery novel, “The Thursday Murder Club,” which Netflix recently adapted as a movie. His latest novel, the fifth in his series of cozy books about crime-solving retirees, sees them trying to find a man who has disappeared and possibly been kidnapped.
“The Intruder” by Freida McFadden
Physician and author McFadden is having a big year: A film based on her bestselling thriller “The Housemaid,” starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, is scheduled to open on Christmas Day, and she’s published three novels in 2025 alone, including this one about a woman who finds a young girl, covered in blood and grasping a knife, outside her isolated cabin.
“Julie Chan Is Dead” by Liann Zhang
This debut novel by the Canadian author shot up the bestseller lists shortly after its release; it tells the story of the title character, a supermarket cashier who discovers the body of her identical twin sister, a popular influencer, and proceeds to pretend to be her — only to discover she was keeping some seriously dark secrets.
“King of Ashes” by S.A. Cosby
One of the most prominent breakout authors of the past several years, Cosby has developed a reputation as a master of the Southern noir genre. His latest novel follows a family being stalked by a dangerous drug gang; it is being developed as a Netflix series backed by the production companies of Steven Spielberg and Barack and Michelle Obama.
Canadian author Prose took the mystery world by storm in 2022 with her bestselling novel “The Maid,” about Molly Gray, a hotel housekeeper suspected of murdering a wealthy guest. In her latest book, Molly learns that she owns a lucrative artifact, just before it’s stolen in a brazen heist.
“Murder Takes a Vacation” by Laura Lippman
Lippman is best known for her novels featuring Baltimore private eye Tess Monaghan (soon to be a television series). Her latest book focuses on a side character from those books, Muriel Blossom, who meets a man on her flight to a vacation to France; he turns up dead not long after.
“Nemesis” by Gregg Hurwitz
L.A. author Hurwitz launched his popular Orphan X series of thrillers, featuring Evan Smoak, an ex-assassin who now helps people who need it, in 2016. The 10th installment in the series finds Smoak trying to track down his former best friend to get revenge after a betrayal (and an 11th is coming in February).
“The Proving Ground” by Michael Connelly
Attorney Mickey Haller is back in the eighth installment of Connelly‘s The Lincoln Lawyer series of novels, which has been adapted into a Netflix series starring Manuel Garcia-Rulfo. In this novel, Haller files suit against an AI company after its chatbot advises a teenage boy to murder his ex-girlfriend.
“Not Quite Dead Yet” by Holly Jackson
Jackson is well known to young readers for her popular A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder books. This year, she made her adult fiction debut with this novel — a “Good Morning America” book club pick — about a woman assaulted by an intruder, who learns that she will die of an aneurysm, and has only a few days to solve her own murder.
Rose had a massive hit with her 2020 novel “The Perfect Marriage,” about Sarah Morgan, a defense lawyer whose husband is suspected of killing his mistress. In this follow-up, Sarah is dealing with infidelity on the part of her new husband, just as the case against her first one is reopened.
“She Didn’t See It Coming” by Shari Lapena
Lapena had a breakout hit in 2016 with her thriller “The Couple Next Door.” Her latest novel tells the story of a woman who disappears without a trace from the luxury condominium she lives in with her husband and daughter.
“The Unraveling of Julia” by Lisa Scottoline
Beloved legal thriller author Scottoline’s new novel follows Julia Pritzker, a woman still reeling from the murder of her husband in a mugging, and who is shocked when she finds out that she has inherited a large sum of money, a vineyard, and a villa in Italy from someone she doesn’t know — and finds herself embroiled in a deadly conspiracy.
“Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)” by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Sutanto introduced her titular amateur sleuth — an elderly owner of a San Francisco tea shop — in the 2023 novel “Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers.” In this follow-up, Vera is determined to solve the murder of a social media influencer with a shadowy past.
“We Are All Guilty Here” by Karin Slaughter
You might know Slaughter as the author of the Will Trent series of novels that have been adapted into the ABC show starring Ramón Rodríguez. Her latest novel kicks off a new book series, focusing on Emmy Clifton, a sheriff’s deputy in a small Georgia town searching for two missing teenage girls.
Reese Witherspoon gave her imprimatur to this novel about a man and his children who live on a remote island near Antarctica, and who discover a woman who has washed ashore after a storm — and who might not be who she says she is. Amazon named this the best book of 2025.
“The Widow” by John Grisham
Grisham needs no introduction to legal thriller fans who have long read his novels like “The Firm” and “The Pelican Brief.” This year, he published his first-ever whodunit, about a lawyer representing Simon Latch, an elderly widow who is murdered, leaving Simon as a suspect.
“You Belong Here” by Megan Miranda
In her latest thriller, the “All the Missing Girls” author tells the story of Beckett Bowery, a woman who has done her best to stay away from the Virginia college where her parents taught, and where a tragedy upended her life. When her daughter receives a full scholarship to the school, she realizes that she can’t escape her past.
There are plenty of great mysteries and thrillers out in 2025. (Courtesy of the publishers)
I call this the “So This Is Christmas Cocktail.” But the drink, from my cookbook “The Full Plate,” is perfect for any family celebration, whether it’s actually Christmas or not.
In the cold winter months, the Champagne keeps you warm and the rosemary reminds you of the crisp, fresh air.
First, make the rosemary simple syrup, then combine with the other ingredients.
Rosemary Simple Syrup
Combine ½ cup water, ½ cup sugar, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 star anise, 2 cardamom pods and 2 small fresh rosemary sprigs in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Strain, transfer to a lidded jar, and refrigerate; the syrup will keep for up to 2 weeks.
So This Is Christmas Cocktail
This image released by Voracious shows a recipe for a Champagne cocktail made with pomegranate juice, from the cookbook “The Full Plate: Flavor-Filled, Easy Recipes for Families with No Time and a Lot to Do” by Ayesha Curry. (Voracious via AP)
Ingredients
½ ounce (1 tablespoon) Rosemary Simple Syrup
½ ounce (1 tablespoon) pomegranate juice
1 teaspoon fresh pomegranate seeds
Champagne, for topping glass
Rosemary sprig, for garnish
Directions
In a Champagne flute or highball glass, combine the rosemary syrup, pomegranate juice and pomegranate seeds. Top off the glass with Champagne and add a rosemary sprig for garnish.
This cover image released by Voracious shows “The Full Plate: Flavor-Filled, Easy Recipes for Families with No Time and a Lot to Do” by Ayesha Curry. (Voracious via AP)
Ayesha Curry is the bestselling author of “The Seasoned Life” and “The Full Plate,” and is an entrepreneur, television host and restaurateur. She is mom to four children, and wife to basketball star Stephen Curry. She lives in the Bay Area.
Excerpted from “The Full Plate” by Ayesha Curry. Copyright (copyright) 2020 by Ayesha Curry. Photograph by Eva Kolenko. Used with permission of Voracious, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company. New York, NY. All rights reserved.
This image released by Voracious shows a recipe for a Champagne cocktail made with pomegranate juice, from the cookbook “The Full Plate: Flavor-Filled, Easy Recipes for Families with No Time and a Lot to Do” by Ayesha Curry. (Voracious via AP)
By Maria Salette Ontiveros, The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS — A new version of the common flu is spreading globally, and health officials are monitoring this evolving strain of influenza A(H3N3) Subclade K, which has been increasingly detected worldwide.
Seasonal influenza activity has increased globally in recent months, with influenza A viruses accounting for the majority of detections, according to the World Health Organization.
Health officials are closely monitoring a growing subgroup of influenza A(H3N2) viruses known as J.2.4.1, also referred to as Subclade K.
The WHO says detections of this subclade have risen rapidly since August 2025 based on genetic sequence data shared through the global GISAID database.
Current epidemiological data do not indicate increased disease severity associated with subclade K, the WHO says, though its spread reflects the continued evolution of seasonal influenza viruses.
What is subclade K?
Subclade K is a genetically distinct subgroup of influenza A(H3N2) viruses, according to the WHO.
These viruses have drifted genetically from related J.2.4 viruses and carry several amino acid changes in the haemagglutinin protein, which plays a key role in the virus’s attachment to human cells.
Influenza viruses commonly undergo such changes over time. Global surveillance tracks these shifts to assess potential impacts on transmission, severity, and vaccine effectiveness.
Where is subclade K circulating?
The WHO reports that subclade K viruses were first detected at increased levels beginning in August 2025, particularly in Australia and New Zealand.
Since then, the viruses have been identified in more than 34 countries over the past six months, including the U.S.
Detections are increasing in many regions of the world, except so far in South America, according to the WHO.
What is happening in America?
Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that influenza activity in North America remains relatively low but is increasing, driven mainly by detections of influenza A viruses.
During the 2025 southern hemisphere influenza season in the Americas, transmission exceeded the seasonal threshold in mid-March and mainly remained at low to moderate levels, the CDC says.
The CDC reports a predominance of influenza A(H3N2) in both the United States and Canada, with growing detections of the A(H3N2) subclade K.
Are symptoms different?
The WHO says there is no evidence that infections caused by subclade K produce symptoms that differ from or are more severe than those caused by other seasonal influenza A(H3N2) viruses.
Seasonal influenza symptoms typically include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headache and fatigue. Severity can vary based on age, underlying health conditions and immune status.
Do vaccines still protect?
Early estimates cited by the WHO suggest that seasonal influenza vaccines continue to protect against severe illness and hospitalization in both children and adults.
While effectiveness against symptomatic infection may vary from season to season, health officials say vaccination remains one of the most effective public health measures, particularly for people at higher risk of influenza complications and their caregivers.
Even when circulating viruses differ genetically from vaccine strains, vaccines may still reduce the risk of severe outcomes, the WHO says.
What happens next?
The WHO says it continues to monitor global influenza activity and viral evolution, while supporting countries in surveillance efforts and updating guidance as new data emerge.
Health officials note that changes in circulating influenza viruses are expected each season and are routinely assessed through international monitoring systems.
Early estimates cited by the World Health Organization suggest that seasonal influenza vaccines continue to protect against severe illness and hospitalization in both children and adults. (Dreamstime/TNS/Dreamstime/TNS)
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If you’ve ever decided to save less cash in your retirement account so you could do more traveling or support an expensive hobby, you might be “soft saving” (and not even know it).
Soft saving is about choosing to spend money on things you enjoy today and stashing money away less aggressively for your later years. People who take this approach are more concerned about what they’re doing tomorrow than what they’ll be doing at age 65 or 70.
“Soft saving is being more mindful about your lived experience now and not being willing to sacrifice too much in favor of your future yet,” says Rebecca Palmer, a certified financial planner in Washington, D.C., and head of guidance for financial planning platform Fruitful. “So, the balance between prioritizing future you versus current you.”
Is soft saving new?
While revenge saving has gotten more attention recently, soft saving isn’t a new phenomenon — for years, people have chosen current wants over elevated saving for future needs. But today’s soft saving trend is a purposeful mindset shift.
Jesica Ray, a certified financial planner with Brighton Jones in Washington, D.C., recently talked to a young client who didn’t want to focus on retirement savings. “They said, ‘I’m not going to do that because I don’t really care what’s in that bucket when I’m 50 years old, I care about using that money now and knowing it’s not tied up in some retirement account that I can’t access until I’m 59,’” Ray says.
Soft saving is often attributed to Gen Zers who’ve watched their parents navigate strict rules around money and budgeting — and they don’t want to take that same approach.
“I really felt allergic to this idea of budgeting when I was getting my own financial life together,” says Nicole Lapin, a Los Angeles-based financial expert, author and host of the “Money Rehab” podcast. “It felt really scary. It felt like, ‘Wow, I can’t have any fun.’ Where are the extras?”
The pros and cons of soft saving
In some cases, soft saving serves as a gentle entry to a consistent savings habit, which can be a boon for people feeling anxious about how to approach financial planning.
“Soft saving invites people to just start,” Palmer says. “It does need to be consistent for it to work, though. It can’t be just, ‘Oh, I’ll save a little when I want to.’ Consistency here is really important so it can be increased later.”
One disadvantage, however, is that if your savings rate is smaller as a person in your 20s, it may be tough to boost it in your 40s — especially if you’ve experienced lifestyle creep and have more financial obligations like a mortgage and children. It’s easier to downsize your savings rate than to upsize it.
The advantage to starting with a higher savings percentage, Palmer says, is that “if stuff comes up, you might need that space.”
Is soft saving smart for long-term goals?
“I actually don’t think this is an irresponsible strategy,” Ray says. “I like the idea of reframing the conversation to, ‘Is your money supporting the life that you want to have today?’”
Good financial planning is about being aware of your decisions, Ray says, and she does her best to make sure her clients understand the pros and cons of their choices. If they understand the tradeoffs and choose to take certain steps anyway, “I think that’s OK,” she says.
Palmer points out that it’s important that people don’t stop investing for retirement, even if it’s not a huge percentage. “If they don’t do some investing for the long term early on, they’re going to miss out on a massive amount of compounding interest, and later you have to work twice as hard to get half as far,” she says.
How to find the middle ground
Soft saving doesn’t mean no saving — it means saving some while giving yourself room to enjoy your life.
The key to making soft saving work is to keep an eye on future you — are your choices going to force you to work until age 75? If so, you may want to tweak your approach. Consider having a financial professional run the numbers on your planned savings rates over time.
“What I do is show them, ‘If you do that, here’s what that means for the lifestyle you can afford when you’re in your 50s and 60s,’ so they understand the impact of the choices that they’re making,” Ray says.
To set yourself up for success, try saving first and spending what’s left. Lapin refers to it as making your “end game” money moves first. “I like to think about paying my future self, that old lady Nicole,” Lapin says.
And make sure you’re leaving room in your budget for some extras. “Whatever that small indulgence is for you, allow for it in the overall plan so it keeps you on track and keeps you from binging later on,” Lapin says.
In the end, soft saving is a great way to get started, Palmer says, but you have to couple it with a consistent system for bumping up your savings over time.
“Don’t rely on memory or willpower or ‘shoulds,’ — automate your soft savings,” Palmer says. “Then maybe have a check-in point for increasing that. Bump it up a little every quarter, every year, whatever that cadence is so you’re slowly building the space for more savings over time.”
Today is Tuesday, Dec. 23, the 357th day of 2025. There are eight days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Dec. 23, 1972, in an NFL playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Oakland Raiders, Steelers running back Franco Harris scored a game-winning touchdown on a deflected pass with less than 10 seconds left. The “Immaculate Reception,” as the catch came to be known, is often cited as the greatest NFL play of all time.
Also on this date:
In 1823, the poem “Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas” was published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel of New York; the verse, more popularly known as “The Night Before Christmas,” was later attributed to Clement C. Moore.
In 1913, the Federal Reserve System was created as President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act.
In 1941, during World War II, American forces on Wake Island surrendered to Japanese forces.
In 1948, former Japanese Premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese World War II leaders were executed in Tokyo after being tried for war crimes and sentenced to death by hanging.
In 1968, 82 crew members of the intelligence ship USS Pueblo were released by North Korea, 11 months after they had been captured.
In 1986, the experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana (JEE’-nuh) Yeager, completed the first nonstop, non-refueled round-the-world flight as it returned safely to Edwards Air Force Base in California.
In 2003, a Virginia jury sentenced teen sniper Lee Boyd Malvo to life in prison, sparing him the death penalty. Malvo and his older partner in crime, John Allen Muhammad, shot and killed 10 people over three weeks in October 2002, terrorizing the Washington, D.C., area. Muhammad was executed in 2009.
In 2024, President Joe Biden announced he was commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment weeks before Donald Trump, an outspoken proponent of capital punishment, was to begin a second term.
Today’s Birthdays:
Former Emperor Akihito of Japan is 92.
Actor-comedian Harry Shearer is 82.
Retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark is 81.
Actor Susan Lucci is 79.
Distance runner Bill Rodgers is 78.
Football Hall of Famer Jack Ham is 77.
Political commentator William Kristol is 73.
Author Donna Tartt is 62.
Rock musician Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam is 61.
Singer, model and former first lady of France Carla Bruni is 58.
Actor Finn Wolfhard is 23.
FILE – In this Dec. 23, 1972, file photo, Pittsburgh Steelers’ Franco Harris (32) eludes a tackle by Oakland Raiders’ Jimmy Warren as he runs 42-yards for a touchdown after catching a deflected pass during an AFC Divisional NFL football playoff game in Pittsburgh. Harris’ scoop of a deflected pass and subsequent run for the winning touchdown _ forever known as the “Immaculate Reception” _ has been voted the greatest play in NFL history. A nationwide panel of 68 media members chose the Immaculate Reception as the top play with 3,270 points and 39 first-place votes. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck, File)
By Maya Averbuch, Eric Martin and Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Bloomberg News
The U.S. has pursued a third oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, intensifying a blockade that the Trump administration hopes will cut off a vital economic lifeline for the country and isolate the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
The U.S. Coast Guard chased the U.S.-sanctioned Bella 1 on Sunday as it was en route to Venezuela. It boarded Centuries, a ship owned by a Hong Kong-based entity, on Saturday — the first non-sanctioned vessel to be targeted. Another very large crude carrier, the Skipper, was intercepted on Dec. 10.
The moves on three separate vessels represent the most concerted attempt to date to sever the financial links sustaining a government that Washington says is led by a drug-trafficking cartel, and one that it has also recently designated as a foreign terrorist organization. Maduro has so far withstood the onslaught, but the blockade is beginning to limit hard currency and to hurt an already battered economy.
State-owned Petróleos de Venezuela SA, known as PDVSA, ships most of its cargoes to China, usually through intermediaries using so-called dark-fleet tankers, older vessels with obscure ownership that ferry sanctioned oil from Venezuela as well as Iran and Russia. Imports of feedstock from Russia are also vital to dilute Caracas’ thick crude.
“Washington calculates that Maduro depends far more on oil exports than the US or China depends on his barrels,” said Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group. “With global balances loosening and prices falling, the U.S. judges it has growing leverage and is likely to intensify pressure on the Maduro regime.”
Washington’s campaign has caught the attention of oil traders, but Venezuela’s exports have dwindled over the years and now account for less than 1% of global demand. The market is also well supplied, and China has multiple alternative options. Oil prices advanced only marginally in early trade in Asia on Monday, with Brent crude climbing toward $61 a barrel.
Maduro has called the Trump administration’s recent moves — deadly strikes on boats allegedly carrying drugs, the authorization of the Central Intelligence Agency to conduct covert operations and Trump’s order to block tankers — a bid to take Venezuela’s oil and install a puppet government.
“This escalation and stronger enforcement point towards a decline in the volume of exports,” said Francisco Monaldi, an energy expert at Rice University in Houston. “These days are going to be critical.”
The Trump administration’s military deployment in the Caribbean is the largest in the region in decades. The weekend’s maritime offensives are aimed at signaling that all tankers in the waters around Venezuela are at risk of interdiction and seizure, according to a person familiar with this month’s operations, who asked not to be identified discussing deliberations that have not been made public.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the blockade of sanctioned oil tankers would remain in “full force,” according to a post on X on Dec. 20.
The U.S. Treasury imposed oil sanctions on Venezuela in January 2019, during Donald Trump’s first presidential term. Later, the Biden administration adopted a carrot-and-stick approach to try to reverse Venezuela’s democratic backsliding, granting a waiver to Chevron Corp. in 2022 that allowed it to resume oil operations.
This year, U.S. officials reissued its license after it expired, but sought to guarantee that the Houston-based firm pays no royalties or taxes in cash to the Venezuelan government. Chevron has said its “operations in Venezuela continue without disruption and in full compliance with laws and regulations applicable to its business, as well as the sanctions frameworks provided for by the U.S. government.”
Venezuela’s oil industry has seen a dramatic decline in recent years, but Maduro’s administration has weathered sanctions and the exodus of up to eight million Venezuelans.
The country’s oil production reached the government’s 1.2 million barrels per day target, Venezuelan Vice President and Oil Minister Delcy Rodriguez said on Saturday. Production fell to around 400,000 barrels per day after the 2019 sanctions, but rebounded in later years, said Clayton Seigle, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Both ships intercepted over the weekend had Panamanian flags, though people familiar with the matter said a Chinese company holds title to the oil that was aboard the first ship, the Centuries supertanker. A White House spokesperson said the tanker was flying a false flag and carrying sanctioned oil.
“What they’re hoping for is a campaign of maximum pressure that will eventually make the regime collapse, without the need of putting boots on the ground,” said Dany Bahar, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington. “They’re trying to create a credible threat that will make this structure of power collapse, or high-level military turn around and decide to stand up to Maduro, and say, ‘You have to leave.’”
A right-wing shift in recent elections in Latin America is deepening Venezuela’s diplomatic isolation. Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and others signed a statement over the weekend demanding Venezuela respect democratic processes.
Some leaders in the region have still been critical of the campaign. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said she opposes foreign intervention into sovereign nations, when asked about her stance on opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, the recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said at Saturday’s Mercosur summit in his country that armed conflict in Venezuela would set “a dangerous precedent for the world.”
Maduro’s embattled government will have to reduce production quickly if it cannot export its oil as storage facilities are unable to hold much more crude.
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the Diplomatic Room of the White House on Dec. 17, 2025, in Washington, D.C.. (Doug Mills/Pool/Getty Images North America/TNS)
The leaders of Denmark and Greenland insisted Monday that the U.S. won’t take over Greenland and demanded respect for their territorial integrity after President Donald Trump announced the appointment of a special envoy to Greenland.
Trump’s announcement on Sunday that Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry would be the U.S. special envoy prompted a new flare-up of tensions over Washington’s interest in the vast, semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO ally. Denmark’s foreign minister said in comments to Danish broadcasters that he plans to summon the U.S. ambassador.
”We have said it before. Now, we say it again. National borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said in a joint statement. “They are fundamental principles. You cannot annex another country. Not even with an argument about international security.”
“Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders and the U.S. shall not take over Greenland,” they added in the statement, emailed by Frederiksen’s office. “We expect respect for our joint territorial integrity.”
Trump called repeatedly during his presidential transition and the early months of his second term for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, and has not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island. In March, Vice President JD Vance visited a remote U.S. military base in Greenland and accused Denmark of underinvesting there.
The issue gradually drifted out of the headlines, but in August, Danish officials summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen following a report that at least three people with connections to Trump had carried out covert influence operations in Greenland. Denmark is a NATO ally of the United States.
On Sunday, Trump announced Landry’s appointment as special envoy, saying that “Jeff understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security, and will strongly advance our Country’s Interests for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Allies, and indeed, the World.”
Landry wrote in a post on X that “it’s an honor to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the U.S.”
FILE – Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry speaks to reporters at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La., Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in a brief statement that “the appointment confirms the continued American interest in Greenland.”
“However, we insist that everyone — including the U.S. — must show respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” he added.
Danish broadcasters TV2 and DR reported that in comments from the Faroe Islands later Monday, Løkke Rasmussen said he will call in the U.S. ambassador in Copenhagen, Kenneth Howery, for a meeting at the ministry.
Before issuing the joint statement with Frederiksen, Nielsen wrote on Facebook that Denmark had again woken up to a new announcement from the U.S. president, but it “does not change anything for us at home.”
Earlier this month, the Danish Defense Intelligence Service said in an annual report that the U.S. is using its economic power to “assert its will” and threaten military force against friend and foe alike.
Denmark is a member of the European Union as well as NATO.
Anouar El Anouni, a spokesperson for the EU’s executive Commission, told reporters in Brussels Monday that it wasn’t for him to comment on U.S. decisions. But he underlined the bloc’s position that “preserving the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark, its sovereignty and the inviolability of its borders is essential for the European Union.”
FILE – Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen speaks during a Security Council meeting at the United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)
An area of very old trees at Independence Oaks County Park has been recognized as part of a national network of old-growth forests, drawing attention to both rare natural features and thousands of years of human history tied to the land.
Carol Bacak-Egbo is an Oakland County Parks historian. She says the newly designated old-growth forest lies within a landscape shaped by Indigenous peoples for 5,000 to 6,000 years. The park sits near historic Native American trail routes, and contains the headwaters of the Clinton River, once a major travel route for the Anishinaabe across what is now southeast Michigan.
“This history doesn’t start with log cabins and sawmills,” Bacak-Egbo says. “People lived with and cared for this land long before Europeans arrived.”
Even in winter, Independence Oaks’ old-growth trees tower above the landscape. (Photo by Amanda LeClaire, WDET News)
Artifacts indicate the area was likely used as seasonal camps rather than permanent villages. The park also contains one of only two remaining wild rice beds in southeast Michigan, a culturally and spiritually significant food source for the Anishinaabe.
The forest largely escaped widespread logging and farming in the 19th century, almost by accident.
In the early 1900s, a wealthy Detroit businessman purchased land around Crooked Lake but left it undeveloped. Later owners also did not farm the southern portion of the property, allowing the old-growth trees to remain intact.
Park naturalist Kegan Schildberg says the designation supports efforts to protect remaining natural areas in Oakland County, which has developed rapidly during the last century.
Bacak-Egbo encourages visitors to view parks as places where natural and human history intersect.
“When people walk these trails, they aren’t just connecting with nature,” says Bacak-Egbo. “They are walking through the same forest people walked through hundreds and even thousands of years ago.”
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Today is Friday, Dec. 19, the 353rd day of 2025. There are 12 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Dec. 19, 2008, citing imminent danger to the national economy, President George W. Bush ordered a $17.4 billion emergency bailout of the U.S. auto industry.
Also on this date:
In 1777, during the American Revolutionary War, Gen. George Washington led his army of more than 12,000 soldiers to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to camp for the winter.
In 1907, 239 workers died in an explosion at the Darr coal mine near Van Meter, Pennsylvania.
In 1960, fire broke out on the hangar deck of the nearly completed aircraft carrier USS Constellation at the New York Naval Shipyard, killing 50 civilian workers.
In 1972, Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, concluding the Apollo program of crewed lunar landings.
In 1998, President Bill Clinton was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives for perjury and obstruction of justice. (He was subsequently acquitted by the Senate.)
In 2011, North Korea announced the death two days earlier of leader Kim Jong Il; North Koreans marched by the thousands to mourn while state media proclaimed his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, as the nation’s new leader.
In 2016, a truck rammed into a crowded Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 12 people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State. (The suspected attacker was killed in a police shootout four days later.)
In 2023, a strong earthquake rocked a mountainous region of northwestern China, killing 131 people, reducing homes to rubble and leaving residents outside in below-freezing winter weather.
Today’s Birthdays:
Actor Tim Reid is 81.
Singer Janie Fricke is 78.
Actor Jennifer Beals is 62.
Basketball Hall of Famer Arvydas Sabonis is 61.
Olympic skiing gold medalist Alberto Tomba is 59.
Actor Kristy Swanson is 56.
Model Tyson Beckford is 55.
Actor Alyssa Milano is 53.
Football Hall of Famer Warren Sapp is 53.
Actor Jake Gyllenhaal (JIH’-lihn-hahl) is 45.
Actor Annie Murphy is 39.
Journalist Ronan Farrow is 38.
Auto executives, from left, General Motors Chief Executive Officer Richard Wagoner, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, Ford Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally, and Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Robert Nardelli, testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008, before a Senate Banking Committee hearing on the auto industry bailout. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
By BEN FINLEY, ERIC TUCKER, KEVIN FREKING and JOSHUA GOODMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s “blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers off Venezuela’s coast is raising new questions about the legality of his military campaign in Latin America, while fueling concerns that the U.S. could be edging closer to war.
The Trump administration says its blockade is narrowly tailored and not targeting civilians, which would be an illegal act of war. But some experts say seizing sanctioned oil tied to leader Nicolás Maduro could provoke a military response from Venezuela, engaging American forces in a new level of conflict that goes beyond their attacks on alleged drug boats.
“My biggest fear is this is exactly how wars start and how conflicts escalate out of control,” said Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. “And there are no adults in the room with this administration, nor is there consultation with Congress. So I’m very worried.”
Claire Finkelstein, a professor of national security law at the University of Pennsylvania, said the use of such an aggressive tactic without congressional authority stretches the bounds of international law and increasingly looks like a veiled attempt to trigger a Venezuelan response.
“The concern is that we are bootstrapping our way into armed conflict,” Finkelstein said. “We’re upping the ante in order to try to get them to engage in an act of aggression that would then justify an act of self-defense on our part.”
Republicans largely are OK with the campaign
Trump has used the word “blockade” to describe his latest tactic in an escalating pressure campaign against Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the U.S. and now has been accused of using oil profits to fund drug trafficking. While Trump said it only applies to vessels facing U.S. economic penalties, the move has sparked outrage among Democrats and mostly shrugs, if not cheers, from Republicans.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said Trump going after sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela is no different from targeting Iranian oil.
“Just like with the Iranian shadow tankers, I have no problem with that,” McCaul said. “They’re circumventing sanctions.”
The president has declared the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels in an effort to reduce the flow of drugs to American communities. U.S. forces have attacked 26 alleged drug-smuggling boats and killed least 99 people since early September. Trump has repeatedly promised that land strikes are next, while linking Maduro to the cartels.
The campaign has drawn scrutiny in Congress, particularly after it was revealed that U.S. forces killed two survivors of a boat attack with a follow-up strike. But Republicans so far have repeatedly declined to require congressional authorization for further military action in the region, blocking Democrats’ war powers resolutions.
Sen. Roger Wicker, Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Service Committee, has essentially ended his panel’s investigation into the Sept. 2 strike, saying Thursday that the entire campaign is being conducted “on sound legal advice.”
Venezuela pushes back
Trump announced the blockade Tuesday, about a week after U.S. forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast. The South American country has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and relies heavily on the revenue to support its economy.
The U.S. has been imposing sanctions on Venezuela since 2005 over concerns about corruption as well as criminal and anti-democratic activities. The first Trump administration expanded the penalties to oil, prompting Maduro’s government to rely on a shadow fleet of falsely flagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains.
The state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA, has been largely locked out of global oil markets by U.S. sanctions. It sells most of its exports at a steep discount on the black market in China.
Nicolás Maduro Guerra, Maduro’s son and a lawmaker, on Thursday decried Trump’s latest tactic and vowed to work with the private sector to limit any impact on the country’s oil-dependent economy. He acknowledged that it won’t be an easy task.
“We value peace and dialogue, but the reality right now is that we are being threatened by the most powerful army in the world, and that’s not something to be taken lightly,” Maduro Guerra said.
Pentagon prefers the term ‘quarantine’
It wasn’t immediately clear how the U.S. planned to enact Trump’s order. But the Navy has 11 ships in the region and a wide complement of aircraft that can monitor marine traffic coming in and out of Venezuela.
Trump may be using the term “blockade,” but the Pentagon says officials prefer “quarantine.”
A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to outline internal reasoning about the policy, said a blockade, under international law, constitutes an act of war requiring formal declaration and enforcement against all incoming and outgoing traffic. A quarantine, however, is a selective, preventive security measure that targets specific, illegal activity.
Rep. Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said he was unsure of the legality of Trump’s blockade.
“They’re blockading apparently the oil industry, not the entire country,” said Smith, who represents parts of western Washington state. “How does that change things? I got to talk to some lawyers, but in general, a blockade is an act of war.”
The U.S. has a long history of leveraging naval sieges to pressure lesser powers, especially in the 19th century era of “gunboat diplomacy,” sometimes provoking them into taking action that triggers an even greater American response.
But in recent decades, as the architecture of international law has developed, successive U.S. administrations have been careful not to use such maritime shows of force because they are seen as punishing civilians — an illegal act of aggression outside of wartime.
During the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, President John F. Kennedy famously called his naval cordon to counter a real threat — weapons shipments from the Soviet Union — a “quarantine” not a blockade.
Mark Nevitt, an Emory University law professor and former Navy judge advocate general, said there is a legal basis for the U.S. to board and seize an already-sanctioned ship that is deemed to be stateless or is claiming two states.
But a blockade, he said, is a “wartime naval operation and maneuver” designed to block the access of vessels and aircraft of an enemy state.
“I think the blockade is predicated on a false legal pretense that we are at war with narcoterrorists,” he said.
Nevitt added: “This seems to be almost like a junior varsity blockade, where they’re trying to assert a wartime legal tool, a blockade, but only doing it selectively.”
Geoffrey Corn, a Texas Tech law professor who previously served as the Army’s senior adviser for law-of-war issues and has been critical of the Trump administration’s boat strikes, said he was not convinced the blockade was intended to ratchet up the conflict with Venezuela.
Instead, he suggested it could be aimed at escalating the pressure on Maduro to give up power or encouraging his supporters to back away from him.
“You can look at it through the lens of, is this an administration trying to create a pretext for a broader conflict?” Corn said. “Or you can look at it as part of an overall campaign of pressuring the Maduro regime to step aside.”
Goodman reported from Miami. Associated Press reporters Stephen Groves and Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump listens before he signs an executive order reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The head of the U.S. agency for enforcing workplace civil rights posted a social media call-out urging white men to come forward if they have experienced race or sex discrimination at work.
“Are you a white male who has experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex? You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws,” U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Andrea Lucas, a vocal critic of DEI, wrote on X Wednesday evening. The post urged eligible workers to reach out to the agency “as soon as possible” and referred users to the agency’s fact sheet on “DEI-related discrimination” for more information.
Lucas’ post, viewed millions of times, was shared about two hours after Vice President JD Vance posted an article he said “describes the evil of DEI and its consequences,” which also received millions of views. Lucas responded to Vance’s post saying: “Absolutely right @JDVance. And precisely because this widespread, systemic, unlawful discrimination primarily harmed white men, elites didn’t just turn a blind eye; they celebrated it. Absolutely unacceptable; unlawful; immoral.”
She added that the EEOC “won’t rest until this discrimination is eliminated.” Neither the agency nor Vance responded immediately to requests for additional comment.
Since being named acting chair of the EEOC in January, Lucas has been shifting the agency’s focus to prioritize “rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination,” aligning with President Donald Trump’s own anti-DEI executive orders. Trump named Lucas as the agency’s chair in November.
Earlier this year, the EEOC along with the Department of Justice issued two “technical assistance” documents attempting to clarify what might constitute “DEI-related Discrimination at Work” and providing guidance on how workers can file complaints over such concerns. The documents took broad aim at practices such as training, employee resource groups and fellowship programs, warning such programs — depending on how they’re constructed — could run afoul of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race and gender.
David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at the NYU School of Law, said Lucas’s latest social media posts demonstrate a “fundamental misunderstanding of what DEI is.”
“It’s really much more about creating a culture in which you get the most out of everyone who you’re bringing on board, where everyone experiences fairness and equal opportunity, including white men and members of other groups,” Glasgow said.
The Meltzer Center tracks lawsuits that are likely to affect workplace DEI practices, including 57 cases of workplace discrimination. Although there are instances in which it occurs on a case-by-case basis, Glasgow said he has not seen “any kind of systematic evidence that white men are being discriminated against.”
He pointed out that Fortune 500 CEOs are overwhelmingly white men, and that relative to their share of the population, the demographic is overrepresented in corporate senior leadership, Congress, and beyond.
“If DEI has been this engine of discrimination against white men, I have to say it hasn’t really been doing a very good job at achieving that,” Glasgow said.
Jenny Yang, a former EEOC chair and now a partner at law firm Outten & Golden, said it is “unusual” and “problematic” for the head of the agency to single out a particular demographic group for civil rights enforcement.
“It suggests some sort of priority treatment,” Yang said. “That’s not something that sounds to me like equal opportunity for all.”
On the other hand, the agency has done the opposite for transgender workers, whose discrimination complaints have been deprioritized or dropped completely, Yang said. The EEOC has limited resources, and must accordingly prioritize which cases to pursue. But treating charges differently based on workers’ identities goes against the mission of the agency, she said.
“It worries me that a message is being sent that the EEOC only cares about some workers and not others,” Yang said.
The Associated Press’ women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
FILE – Andrea Lucas, nominee to be a member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing, June 18, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)
A Kansas tribe said it has walked away from a nearly $30 million federal contract to come up with preliminary designs for immigrant detention centers after facing a wave of online criticism.
The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation ‘s announcement Wednesday night came just over a week after the economic development leaders who brokered the deal with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were fired.
With some Native Americans swept up and detained in recent ICE raids, the deal was derided online as “disgusting” and “cruel.” Many in Indian Country also questioned how a tribe whose own ancestors were uprooted two centuries ago from the Great Lakes region and corralled on a reservation south of Topeka could participate in the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts.
Tribal Chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick nodded to the historic issues last week in a video address that called reservations “the government’s first attempts at detention centers.” In an update Wednesday, he announced that he was “happy to share that our Nation has successfully exited all third-party related interests affiliated with ICE.”
The Prairie Band Potawatomi has a range of businesses that provide health care management staffing, general contracting and even interior design. And Rupnick said in his latest address that tribal officials plan to meet in January about how to ensure “economic interests do not come into conflict with our values in the future.”
A tribal offshoot hired by ICE — KPB Services LLC — was established in April in Holton, Kansas, by Ernest C. Woodward Jr., a former naval officer who markets himself as a “go-to” adviser for tribes and affiliated companies seeking to land federal contracts.
The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation said in 2017 that Woodward’s firm advised it on its acquisition of another government contractor, Mill Creek LLC, which specializes in outfitting federal buildings and the military with office furniture and medical equipment.
Woodward also is listed as the chief operating officer of the Florida branch of Prairie Band Construction Inc., which was registered in September.
Attempts to locate Woodward were unsuccessful. A spokesperson for KPB said Woodward is no longer with the LLC but she declined to say whether he was terminated. Woodward did not respond to an email sent to another consulting firm he’s affiliated with, Virginia-based Chinkapin Partners LLC.
A spokesperson for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation said the tribe divested from KPB. While that company still has the contract, “Prairie Band no longer has a stake,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said Woodward is no longer with the tribe’s limited liability corporation, but she declined to say whether he was terminated.
The ICE contract initially was awarded in October for $19 million for unspecified “due diligence and concept designs” for processing centers and detention centers throughout the U.S., according to a one-sentence description of the work on the federal government’s real-time contracting database. It was modified a month later to increase the payout ceiling to $29.9 million.
Sole-source contracts above $30 million require additional justification under federal contracting rules.
Tribal leaders and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security haven’t responded to detailed questions about why the firm was selected for such a big contract without having to compete for the work as federal contracting normally requires. It’s also unclear what the Tribal Council knew about the contract.
“That process of internal auditing is really just beginning,” the tribal spokesperson said.
Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas, and Goodman from Miami.
A sign on a road off of U.S. Highway 75 welcomes motorists to the Prairie Band Potawatomi reservation, outside Mayetta, Kan., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department sued three states and the District of Columbia on Thursday for not turning over requested voter information to the Trump administration.
The latest lawsuits were filed against Wisconsin, Illinois, Georgia and the District of Columbia. The Justice Department has now filed 22 lawsuits seeking voter information as part of its effort to collect detailed voting data and other election information across the country.
“We shared our nation-leading list maintenance practices and public voter roll data with the DOJ December 8 at their request, and we look forward to working together to eliminate the federal barriers that prevent even cleaner voter rolls,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a statement. “Hardworking Georgians can rest easy knowing this data was shared strictly in accordance with state law that protect voters’ privacy.”
The latest round comes one week after the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission voted against the Justice Department’s request for the data. Both Republican and Democratic commissioners voiced concerns about the request last week, saying it would be illegal under Wisconsin law to provide the voter roll information that includes the full names, dates of birth, residential addresses and driver’s license numbers of voters.
Spokespeople for the Wisconsin Elections Commission and the state Department of Justice, which would defend the commission, did not immediately return messages. The Illinois State Board of Elections declined to comment.
An Associated Press tally found that the Justice Department has asked at least 26 states for voter registration rolls in recent months, and in many cases asked states for information on how they maintain their voter rolls. Other states being sued by the Justice Department include California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
The Justice Department said 10 states are either in full compliance or working toward it.
The Trump administration has characterized the lawsuits as part of an effort to ensure the security of elections, and the Justice Department says the states are violating federal law by refusing to provide the voter lists and information about ineligible voters.
FILE – Election workers process ballots for the 2024 General Election, Nov. 5, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)
The lawsuits have raised concerns among some Democratic officials and others who question exactly how the data will be used, and whether the department will follow privacy laws to protect the information. Some of the data sought includes names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
“The law is clear: states need to give us this information, so we can do our duty to protect American citizens from vote dilution,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement. “Today’s filings show that regardless of which party is in charge of a particular state, the Department of Justice will firmly stand on the side of election integrity and transparency.”
Associated Press writers Kate Brumback in Atlanta and John O’Connor in Springfield, Illinois, contributed to this report.
FILE – A voter leaves Albion Town hall after casting their ballot on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, in Albion, Wis. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — At the movies this fall, Josh O’Connor plays a hot priest with a complicated past, Keanu Reeves is an angel who lost his wings and Elizabeth Olsen has a romantic dilemma in the afterlife.
Hollywood, it seems, has found God.
But it’s not just starry big-budget Netflix films or A24 indies that are grappling with religion and its place in entertainment. In recent years, there’s been an explosion of films and television made from a confessional perspective that evangelize or portray a particular faith, often Christianity, that have performed particularly well with audiences.
There are animated biblical films from Angel, like the upcoming musical “David,” which the company said has already exceeded $14 million in theatrical pre-sale tickets ahead of its release this Friday, to docudramas like Martin Scorsese’s “The Saints.” While episodes from Season 2 are still being released, the first season of the Fox Nation series, which premiered last year, was the most watched on the platform.
“There has been a revival, a revolution of sorts, of spirituality and faith content,” proclaimed Traci Blackwell, head of targeted content for Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, at a recent Variety event in Beverly Hills for faith and spirituality in entertainment. Earlier this year, Amazon premiered the first season of its own biblical drama, “House of David,” and gained exclusive U.S. streaming rights to “The Chosen,” a massively popular drama series about the life of Jesus.
‘The Chosen’ effect
Historically some faith-based entertainment has performed well at the box office — Mel Gibson’s 2004 epic “The Passion of the Christ” was notoriously the highest-grossing R-rated film in the U.S. and Canada for two decades. But faith-based hits have been few and far between for most of this century.
“Hollywood has taken a lot of criticism by those in the faith community for not providing films that speak to them, that reflect their values,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s senior media analyst, emphasizing the box-office potential of faith-based films.
This image shows a still from the series “Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints.” (Fox Nation via AP)
Studios are realizing faith-based film and television is a worthwhile investment at least in part due to the success of “The Chosen,” which Angel helped launch in 2017, even if it initially took time to see those results.
“It was like pulling teeth to get people to watch it,” recalled Angel CEO and co-founder Neal Harmon. “People have this idea that faith means cheesy or preachy. And we had to break through that barrier.”
Once they did, it paid off. Since Fathom Entertainment began distributing “The Chosen” theatrically in 2023, the series has grossed more than $116 million domestically.
Though not a Christian company, Angel aims to distribute and market “values-based entertainment” that includes but is not limited to stories of faith. They’ve released a host of religious films, with “Zero A.D.,” a biblical epic about the Massacre of the Innocents recounted in the Gospel of Matthew, on the docket for 2026.
Meanwhile, Lionsgate is set to premiere “I Can Only Imagine 2” in theaters February, a sequel to the 2018 biopic starring Dennis Quaid, which was one of the highest-grossing Christian films of all-time in the United States.
Co-director Andrew Erwin said he noticed a “massive shift” take place about five years ago, after years of disconnect between the demand for these kinds of films and Hollywood’s willingness to make them.
“For the first time, movie studios are really giving us a fair shake,” he said, though he thinks the quality of the content was also a factor. “We didn’t have the knowledge of how to do the filmmaking side of things. And so, I think the storytelling has gotten a lot better.”
Lionsgate is also set to distribute the first of Gibson’s two-part sequel to “The Passion of the Christ” in 2027.
Defining ‘faith-based’
Trying to define what counts as faith-based programming is a bit like trying to define what counts as pornography.
Themes of belief, guilt and “foolish grace” abound in O’Connor’s “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” — the third of filmmaker Rian Johnson’s hit Netflix franchise. But few would call it a religious film.
This image shows Amanda Seyfried in a still from the film “The Testament of Ann Lee.” (Searchlight Pictures via AP)
This image shows a still from the film “The Testament of Ann Lee.” (Searchlight Pictures via AP)
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This image shows Amanda Seyfried in a still from the film “The Testament of Ann Lee.” (Searchlight Pictures via AP)
Amanda Seyfried preaches celibacy and endures persecution in “The Testament of Ann Lee,” the musical biopic about the founder of the Shakers sect, in theaters Christmas. But in all the acclaim and Oscar buzz surrounding the film, there’s little talk of its engagement with faith.
Even Scorsese’s 1988 “The Last Temptation of Christ” or filmmaker Paul Schrader’s Oscar-nominated “First Reformed,” which also stars Seyfried, are hardly thought of broadly as Christian films, despite the fact that both men have been outspoken about their respective traditions.
“This film was his way of exploring his faith and exploring who his God is,” Scorsese’s daughter Francesca, who directed one of the episodes of “The Saints,” said of “The Last Temptation of Christ.”
Conversely, the people behind some of these recent projects resist them being called explicitly religious, even when audiences perceive them as such.
“I wouldn’t characterize it so much as overtly Christian,” Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in “The Chosen,” told The Associated Press last year. “It’s a historical drama that centers on Jesus.”
For studios and filmmakers, acknowledging that a project is told from a religious perspective can be a double-edged sword.
“If you’re buying in on going to the movie theater for a faith-based movie, you know you’re gonna have people around you who are really into the experience,” Dergarabedian said. “The minute you say faith-based though, it kind of puts a movie in a box.”
This image shows a still from the film “David.” (Angel Studios via AP)
This image shows a still from the film “David.” (Angel Studios via AP)
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This image shows a still from the film “David.” (Angel Studios via AP)
Many Christians celebrate the trend beyond its monetary potential. Phil Wickham, a Grammy-nominated Christian recording artist who voices the character of David in the upcoming Angel film, said it’s been gratifying to see the success of shows like “The Chosen” and “House of David.”
“Growing up, anything that was Christian media felt so preachy,” Wickham said. “Even as a pastor’s kid, it was a turn off. But now I think there’s just more opportunity to tell bigger stories over the course of a series and more people willing to really dig in and tell something with excellence and beauty.”
While it’s too soon to tell whether there’s been a sea change in Hollywood or if it’s a short-term fad, the success of some of these projects has stood out amid an otherwise perilous time in the business.
“Hollywood usually follows money,” Jason Klarman, Fox News Media’s chief digital and marketing officer, said as he touted Fox Nation’s packed slate of upcoming faith-based content, including Zachary Levi’s “David: King of Israel” docudrama. “Even when the trend ends, we’ll still be doing it.”
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
This image shows a still from the series “Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints.” (Fox Nation via AP)
Wrestling great Mick Foley has called it quits with the WWE over its cozy relationship with President Donald Trump, he said Tuesday, citing “incredibly cruel comments” Trump made about film director Rob Reiner’s murder.
Long concerned with the WWE’s cozy relationship with Trump amid the administration’s “ongoing cruel and inhumane treatment of immigrants,” Foley wrote in his announcement on social media, “reading the President’s incredibly cruel comments in the wake of Rob Reiner’s death is the final straw for me.”
WWE Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque, known in the wrestling world as Triple H, is a fixture at many White House events. Former WWE CEO Linda McMahon helmed the U.S. Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term and currently serves as U.S. Secretary of Education.
“I no longer wish to represent a company that coddles a man so seemingly void of compassion as he marches our country towards autocracy,” Foley wrote. “Last night, I informed WWE talent relations that I would not be making any appearances for the company as long as this man remains in office.”
Both Foley and Trump were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013, Trump as a celebrity honoree.
Getty
Mick Foley is pictured in Manhattan in 2022. (Getty)
“Additionally, I will not be signing a new Legends deal when my current one expires in June,” Foley wrote. “I love WWE, will always treasure my time with them, and I am deeply appreciative for all the opportunities they afforded me. But, in the words of Popeye the sailor, ’I stands all I can stands, and I can’t stands no more.’ ”
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Wrestling great Mick Foley, pictured in 2011, has called it quits with the WWE until the country dumps Trump, he said Tuesday. (AP)
Clips of Reiner’s compassionate response to the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk when he discussed the horrifying incident with Piers Morgan in September are flooding the internet.
“When you first heard about the murder of Charlie Kirk, what was your immediate gut reaction to it?” Morgan asked Reiner on “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” as shown in a clip posted by show staffers and then reposted by its eponymous host.
“Well, horror. Absolute horror,” Reiner said. “And I unfortunately saw the video of it, and it’s beyond belief what happened to him. And that should never happen to anybody. I don’t care what your political beliefs are. That’s not acceptable. That’s not a solution to solving problems.”
“I felt like what his wife said at the service, at the memorial they had, was exactly right,” Reiner continued. “And totally. I believe, you know, I’m Jewish, but I believe in the teachings of Jesus, and I believe in ‘do unto others,’ and I believe in forgiveness. And what she said, to me, was beautiful and absolutely, you know, she forgave his assassin, and I think that that is admirable.”
Reiner’s remarks resonated in a soft-spoken rebuke to Trump’s widely denounced vitriol, in which he blamed the director’s killing on anger supposedly generated by his liberal views, described him as “tortured and struggling” and said he suffered from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
“Rob Reiner responded with grace and compassion to Charlie’s assassination,” Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet wrote on X, echoing the public support for the 78-year-old director. “This video makes it all the more painful to hear of he and his wife’s tragic end. May God be close to the broken hearted in this terrible story.”
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President Donald Trump, left, and Rob Reiner. (Getty Images)
Nebraska will become the first state to implement new work requirements for some people with Medicaid health insurance under a law President Donald Trump signed last year.
Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, announced Wednesday that the requirement would take effect in the state May 1 and could impact about 30,000 people who have slightly higher incomes than traditional Medicaid beneficiaries.
“We’re not here to take everybody to the curb,” he said. Instead, he said, the aim is “making sure we get every able-bodied Nebraskan to be part of our community.”
The sweeping tax and policy law Trump signed in July requires states to make sure many recipients are working by 2027 but gave them the option to do it sooner.
FILE – Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz listens as President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Oct. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Beneficiaries will have more reporting duties
The law mandates that people ages 19 to 64 who have Medicaid coverage work or perform community service at least 80 hours a month or be enrolled in school at least half-time to receive and keep coverage.
It applies only to people who receive Medicaid coverage through an expansion that covers a population with a slightly higher income limit. Forty states and the District of Columbia have opted to expand the coverage income guidelines under former President Barrack Obama’s 2010 health insurance overhaul.
Of 346,000 Nebraska residents enrolled in Medicaid as of May, about 72,000 were in the higher income expansion group.
Some people will be exempted, including disabled veterans, pregnant women, parents and guardians of dependent children under 14 or disabled individuals, people who were recently released from incarceration, those who are homeless and people getting addiction treatment. States can also offer short-term hardships for others if they choose.
All Medicaid beneficiaries who are eligible because of the expansion will be required to submit paperwork at least every six months showing they meet the mandate.
Those who don’t would lose their coverage.
The reporting requirement is twice as frequent as it is for most people covered by Medicaid now. That change means more work for the state agencies — and for some of them, extensive and likely expensive computer program updates.
Pillen said he does not expect the state government to increase staffing to make the changes.
When and how to implement the change is likely to be on the agenda for governors and state lawmakers across the country as legislative sessions start — most of them in January.
The policy is expected to lead to lost coverage
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the requirement will reduce Medicaid costs by $326 billion over a decade — and that it will result in 4.5 million people becoming uninsured each year starting in 2027. Currently, about 77 million Americans are covered by Medicaid.
Because most people covered by Medicaid who are able to work already do, it’s not expected to increase employment rates.
Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services, joined Pillen’s announcement via a video feed and said the administration believes there are jobs available across the country, and the challenge is connecting people with them.
“Most people who are able-bodied on Medicaid actually want to get a job,” Oz said.
Arkansas tried another variation of Medicaid work requirements — later blocked by a judge — that saw 18,000 people kicked off coverage in the first seven months after it took effect in 2018.
FILE – Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen greets state senators before giving a speech on June 2, 2025, in Lincoln, Neb. (Justin Wan/Lincoln Journal Star via AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that the National Guard deployment in the nation’s capital can continue for now, staying a lower-court ruling that had ordered an end to the troops’ presence.
The three-judge panel for U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Donald Trump may prevail in his argument that the president “possesses a unique power” to mobilize the Guard in Washington, which is a federal district.
The ruling stops the implementation of U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb’s Nov. 20 opinion and order, and reaffirms that residents and visitors to Washington will routinely see Guard members well into 2026.
Cobb had ruled that the deployment illegally intrudes on local officials’ authority to direct law enforcement in the District of Columbia.
Wednesday’s unanimous 32-page ruling went on to say that other factors also favored the Republican administration, including the “disruption to the lives of thousands of service members,” as well as what it said was the president’s interest “in the protection of federal governmental functions and property within the Nation’s capital.”
The judges found that the district “has not identified any ongoing injury to its statutory interests.”
The ruling acknowledged that the administration has a strong case for its appeal.
The deployment began in August after Trump issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in Washington. Within a month, more than 2,300 National Guard troops from eight states and the district were patrolling the city under the command of the Army secretary. Trump also deployed hundreds of federal agents to assist.
The city’s attorney general, Brian Schwalb, sued to challenge the Guard deployments. He asked that the White House be barred from deploying Guard troops without the mayor’s consent while the lawsuit played out. Dozens of states took sides in Schwalb’s lawsuit, with their support falling along party lines.
A spokesperson with Schwalb’s office said the stay was a “preliminary ruling that does not resolve the merits. We look forward to continuing our case in both the district and appellate courts.”
Cobb had found that while the president did have authority to protect federal functions and property, he could not unilaterally deploy the D.C. National Guard to help with crime control as he saw fit or call in troops from other states. She called for the troops to be sent home after her ruling but put her order on hold for 21 days to allow the appeal by the administration.
The court action comes three weeks after two members of the West Virginia National Guard, Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe were ambushed as they patrolled a subway station three blocks from the White House. Beckstrom died Nov. 27 from her injuries. Wolfe continues to recover. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, has been charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
The administration has called for an additional 500 National Guard members to be deployed to Washington as a result of the shooting.
The appeals court panel said its decision was “limited in several respects.” For example, it did not address questions such as whether the Guard units were engaged in “law enforcement” activities in violation of federal law.
National Guard patrol in the Lincoln Memorial, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Washington. The Washington Monument is seen in the background. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
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writes for NerdWallet. Email: kashford@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @kateashford.
