Today is Saturday, Nov. 8, the 312th day of 2025. There are 53 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Nov. 8, 2000, a statewide recount began in Florida, which emerged as critical in deciding the winner of the 2000 presidential election between Republican George W. Bush and Democratic Vice President Al Gore. The recount would officially end on Dec. 12 upon orders from the U.S. Supreme Court, delivering Florida’s electoral votes and the presidency to Bush.
Also on this date:
In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln won reelection as he defeated Democratic challenger George B. McClellan.
In 1889, Montana was admitted to the Union as the 41st state.
In 1923, Adolf Hitler launched his first attempt at seizing power in Germany with a failed coup in Munich that came to be known as the “Beer-Hall Putsch.”
In 1942, the Allies launched Operation Torch in World War II as U.S. and British forces landed in French North Africa.
In 1950, during the Korean War, the first air-to-air combat between jet warplanes took place as U.S. Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown shot down a North Korean MiG-15.
In 1960, John F. Kennedy won the U.S. presidential election over Vice President Richard M. Nixon.
In 1974, a federal judge in Cleveland, citing insufficient evidence, dismissed charges against eight Ohio National Guardsmen accused of violating the civil rights of students killed or wounded in the 1970 Kent State shootings.
In 2012, Jared Lee Loughner was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the January 2011 shootings in Tucson, Arizona, that killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded, slammed into the central Philippines, leaving more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattening villages and displacing more than 5 million.
In 2016, Republican Donald Trump was elected America’s 45th president, defeating Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton in an astonishing victory for a celebrity businessman and political novice.
In 2018, tens of thousands of people fled a fast-moving wildfire in Northern California that would become the state’s deadliest ever, killing 86 people and nearly destroying the community of Paradise.
Today’s Birthdays:
Racing Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero Jr. is 83.
Singer Bonnie Raitt is 76.
TV personality Mary Hart is 75.
Actor Alfre Woodard is 73.
inger-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones is 71.
Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro is 71.
Filmmaker Richard Curtis is 69.
Chef and TV personality Gordon Ramsay is 59.
Actor Courtney Thorne-Smith is 58.
Actor Parker Posey is 57.
Actor Gretchen Mol is 53.
News anchor David Muir is 52.
Actor Matthew Rhys is 51.
Actor Tara Reid is 50.
TV personality Jack Osbourne is 40.
Actor Jessica Lowndes is 37.
Baseball player Giancarlo Stanton is 36.
R&B singer SZA is 36.
FILE – This Nov. 24, 2000 file photo shows Broward County canvassing board member Judge Robert Rosenberg using a magnifying glass to examine a disputed ballot at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Twenty years ago, in a different time and under far different circumstances than today, it took five weeks of Florida recounts and court battles before Republican George W. Bush prevailed over Democrat Al Gore by 537 votes. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz, File)
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is giving money to 25 communities and organizations to help grow local urban tree canopies.
Awardees include the cities of Oak Park, Ferndale, Port Huron, and St. Clair Shores, as well as non-profit groups like Arboretum Detroit and Detroit Horsepower.
Kerry Gray, who works with the DNR’s Urban and Community Forestry program, explains that these grants are part of a long-standing partnership with the DTE Energy Foundation.
“The DNR has worked with the DTE Energy Foundation since probably almost 30 years now, providing grants to communities and organizations for tree planting to help expand their tree canopy and strengthen local green infrastructure,” Gray says.
She says one goal of the grant is making sure the new trees are species diverse to help prevent problems like the widespread tree loss caused by invasive pests.
“I think we’ve all seen the devastation that happened when the emerald ash borer came in and attacked [a] species that we had an overabundance of, which was ash,” Gray says. “We really focus on making sure that all of our grantees are using a diverse palette of species…we work with them and provide support to help them select species that are suitable for their sites and locations.”
More information about Michigan’s tree canopy initiative can be found through the Mi Trees program, which aims to plant and care for 50 million new trees across the state by 2030.
WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
A new judicial task force report calls for an overhaul in how Michigan’s local courts are funded.
The report says the local jurisdictions rely too much on fines and fees to fund their operations. The report says that is not only unfair, it undermines faith that courts and judges are more interested in dispensing justice than collecting money.
Court costs and challenges
State Court Administrator Tom Boyd says it’s no secret that confidence in policing and the fairness of courts is under challenge. “It isn’t that folks that come before the courts aren’t paying their fair share, it’s that they’re paying way more than their fair share. And, so, the report tries to get at a mechanism to ensure that people pay the right amount and that the people that assess that revenue aren’t motivated by profit.”
Bonsitu Kitaba-Gaviglio is the acting legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan. She says Michigan’s court problematic funding system could be vulnerable open to a constitutional challenge. “The obligation to tax, assess, to fund the operation of the government is a responsibility of the Legislature, not the judiciary, and so that’s a constitutional concern, and second, it raises serious due process concerns.”
She says people can’t always expect fair treatment when judges have a vested financial interest in guilty verdicts and imposing fines and fees.
Tom Boyd, the state court administrator, says in some jurisdictions, courts are so flush with revenue it helps fund other parts of local government. Meanwhile, in other places courts barely break even. “I challenge you to go hang around district courts where you live today and stop people and ask them what they think the government wants from them and the overwhelming answer is going to be money.”
One potential solution
One of the recommendations is to take all the fines, fees and costs collected by all the courts and put it all into one pot to be shared statewide. The state would also develop a plan to prioritize based on the needs of local court systems, including how busy they are and the types and complexity of the cases.
Monroe County Administrator Michael Bosanac was part of the task force. He says all that money from fines, fees and costs would go into a state-managed fund, and could only be spent on local courts, and not diverted for other purposes.
“We’re not saying that those functions are not important. They’re really important. We’re just simply saying that in this new model that they should not be funded from court resources and revenue. They should be funding those from some other source of money.”
There’s hope these recommendations will give the Legislature a framework to comply with a court decision.
An on-going effort
The Michigan Supreme Court ruled nearly a dozen years ago that local courts cannot arbitrarily impose court costs on defendants to fund their operations. The Legislature has voted itself multiple extensions since then and there is bipartisan interest in finalizing a solution.
”It’s a super-important issue that we, I’m hoping that the Legislature can finally get resolved,” says State Senator Stephanie Chang. She’s a Democrat who chairs the Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee.
Chang says a resolution is overdue to resolve the conflict between the fair administration of justice and leaning on defendants to provide a major source of funding. “So how can we make sure that we have a stable funding system that funds our trial courts in a way that gets rid of that conflict?”
It is a big and complex task, but Chang says she is optimistic that even in a divided political environment, the Legislature can reach a bipartisan solution by the end of next year.
Melissa Nann Burke, Max Reinhart, Anne Snabes and Ben Warren, MediaNews Group
About 1.4 million Michigan residents eligible to receive federal assistance to pay for food should get 65% of their monthly benefits for November, federal officials clarified Thursday morning.
But hours later, a federal judge in Rhode Island ruled late Thursday that the Trump administration must fully cover November benefits, reportedly saying the government had acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” when it moved earlier this week to only partially fund the program.
The competing orders added another day of confusion for Michigan residents who receive government assistance to pay for groceries through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as the ongoing federal government shutdown passed its record-setting 37th day.
“These benefits are a vital lifeline for many Michigan families, especially with the rising cost of food.”
Hertel’s agency said Michigan recipients who normally get their benefits on the third, fifth, or seventh day of the month will receive their partial SNAP allotment on Saturday. All other SNAP recipients would get their partial benefits on their normally scheduled date.
“I would say that that’s wonderful that they will be getting something,” said Christopher Ivey, a spokesperson for Metro Detroit food rescue organization Forgotten Harvest, of the SNAP news. “It’s unfortunate that that won’t be the full amount.”
The update came as local food pantries are tracking a 30% to 50% increase in the number of individuals seeking aid, according to the Food Bank Council of Michigan. Hertel noted that families can find local food pantries as needed by calling 2-1-1.
The USDA had planned to suspend payments starting Nov. 1 amid the federal government shutdown, but federal officials said Monday the program would be partially funded after two judges required the government to keep SNAP benefits flowing.
The reduction in food aid, while a partial restoration, is “diabolical,” said Natasha Bell, a downtown Detroit resident.
“What they give us is not enough already, and then for them to give us partial … it’s just not right, you know,” Bell said Thursday. “It’s just not right.”
Bell said she has cancer, so she can’t work. Amid the delay in SNAP benefits, she said she has been making more side items to accompany the meat in a meal, which allows her to stretch the meat out over more days.
Bell is also relying on food pantries and preparing meals that last more than one day, such as spaghetti or soup, she said.
“Something is better than nothing,” said Bell of the partial November SNAP benefits.
Brother Gary Wegner, executive director of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, said he thinks the USDA announcement is “good news.” Sixty-five percent is “certainly better” than 0%, he said.
“One hundred percent would be even better, but for now, at least, it’s going to give the people we serve who depend upon the SNAP benefits a better chance to fulfill what they need,” Wegner said.
Who is affected?
SNAP serves about 1 in 8 Americans, including about 1.4 million Michiganians. In the state, the average household assisted by the program receives about $335 in benefits a month, or about $5.68 per person a day. SNAP benefits support more than 492,000 Michigan children.
In Wayne County, 22.3% of households received food stamps last year, a figure amplified by the nearly 100,000 households in Detroit that benefit from the SNAP program.
A smaller share of the households in Macomb (11.9%) and Oakland (7.6%) received SNAP benefits, according to the Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey, which is the most recent year when full county-level data is available.
Outside of Metro Detroit, Genesee and Saginaw counties outstripped the state average for SNAP participation, with just under 20% of households. On the other end of the spectrum were Leelanau and Livingston counties, which each had 5% or fewer of their households enrolled in the program.
Across nearly every part of Michigan, households with children were far more likely to receive SNAP benefits than households overall. In almost every county, at least a quarter of households with children participated in SNAP, including more than half of those households in counties like Ottawa, Clinton and Gratiot.
About 78% of SNAP households in Michigan are working households, half of households have someone with a disability and 36% of households have seniors, according to state data.
Kate Bauer, a University of Michigan public health professor, said partial funding is better than nothing when it comes to SNAP benefits. It would “ward off, hopefully, the physical experience of hunger,” but leave families already stretched thin to fill the gap, she said.
“Under the current circumstances, what we need to know is that SNAP is critical to our families having enough food, and even the full benefit amounts are not enough,” Bauer said.
“I’m super glad our families are going to get something, but that is not the end of the story,” she added.
SNAP benefits are crucial for families with children, according to Bauer, “because they have more mouths to feed, and mouths that don’t earn an income.” With less money to buy food this month, she said, parents will likely make additional sacrifices, foregoing meals so their kids can eat.
One saving grace for families with children, she said, was free school meals.
“Many families are breathing a sigh of relief that their kid is getting, potentially, up to 10 meals a week.”
Joyce Bowens, a Detroit resident who uses SNAP, said Thursday that she’s “not too happy” with the government’s decision because 65% of benefits is “not enough.” She said some women have seven to 10 children.
Bowens, who went grocery shopping at the Capuchin Services Center in Detroit on Thursday, said the past week has been “stressful.” The pause in benefits has affected how she plans meals. She said, “Everything changed just that fast.”
“OK, you would normally cook a meal, don’t worry about making it stretch,” she said. “Now, we have to think about making it stretch to the T.”
Eartha Harris, 45, who is friends with Bowens, said she thinks the government needs to give people their “full amounts when it comes to food.”
“But at least you could give somebody food, so no one go hungry, regardless of what’s going on,” said Harris, a Detroit resident.
The state Department of Health and Human Services said new applications for SNAP benefits filed in October and November still will be processed, but it is unclear whether those applicants will receive any benefits for November.
State aid to last 2 weeks
To help feed families amid the government shutdown, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last week said the state would provide $4.5 million to the Food Bank Council of Michigan.
Phil Knight, executive director for the Food Bank Council, said Thursday he expects that $4.5 million released by the state to last about two weeks. The $4.5 million allotment represents roughly 6 million meals, Knight said.
Local pantries have seen between a 30% and 50% jump in individuals seeking aid, he said.
“One of the things I think we kind of miss about this population that’s struggling … is that they’re very resilient,” Knight said. “They’re trying to resolve the problem on their own first. They’re turning inward to themselves, their family, whatever, and then they turn out to find resources.”
Gleaners Community Food Bank reported Thursday that its drive-up mobiles and partner network of 350 local pantries in five counties are seeing an increase of up to 50% in requests for help.
A partial restoration of SNAP support is a “positive development,” Gleaners spokeswoman Kristin Sokul said, “but we expect to continue seeing heightened community need while partial benefits catch up and full benefits remain unavailable, as well as while workers’ incomes are impacted by the prolonged government shutdown.”
Ivey, the Forgotten Harvey spokesman, said the last week has been “very difficult” for his organization. He said Detroit alone gets $58 million a month in SNAP benefits.
“Forgotten Harvest is doing everything they can do to fill that gigantic void that’s out there,” he said. “I mean, we’re never going to be able to be the complete supplement for all of that. It’s just too large for any organization to take on.”
He said Forgotten Harvest is receiving around 600 to 1,000 phone calls a day. Some are from people asking where they can find food. Others are from organizations that partner with Forgotten Harvest or are interested in partnering with it.
Knight of the Food Bank Council said he intends to submit a report next week to the governor and House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, on how the money was used and what might still be needed.
Hall said Thursday he and Whitmer will review that report and the federal situation to determine whether to release additional funding to the Food Bank Council for distribution to local pantries.
“We’re going to take this from week to week, working with the governor to assess the need,” Hall said.
The Democratic-controlled Senate last week approved a stopgap proposal that would target $50 million to aid low-income individuals and households in buying food and $21 million to food banks and other assistance programs that are expecting an onslaught of food requests.
The Republican-controlled House has not acted on the legislation.
Hall told reporters last week that the Senate bill was “political” since there was no way to act on the legislation before the Nov. 1 cutoff because of a rule requiring a five-day waiting period between chambers. There is not enough state funding to patch every hole that will develop as the federal shutdown continues, the speaker said.
“There’s a time for disagreements in politics,” Hall said then. “It’s not right now when literally people are about to lose their ability to feed their families.”
Beth LeBlanc contributed to this report.
Ertha Harris of Detroit carts food to her car that she received Thursday at the Capuchin Services Center in Detroit. About 1.4 million Michigan residents are eligible to receive federal assistance to pay for food. But competing orders have added confusion as the ongoing federal government shutdown passed a record 37th day on Thursday. David Guralnick/MediaNews Group)
The Chicago Tribune and Chicago Public Media petitioned U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis to release the recordings, which were filed under seal as part of a lawsuit led by the Chicago Headline Club, a nonprofit journalism advocacy organization, and a consortium of other media groups. The journalism organizations allege federal immigration enforcement officials have systematically violated the constitutional rights of protesters and reporters during President Donald Trump’s mass deportation mission, which began in early September and shows no sign of slowing down.
The released videos can be seen in their entirety on the Tribune’s YouTube channel, but here are some of the highlights:
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol in Chicago
Bovino, who is leading Trump’s immigration enforcement effort in the Chicago area, testified that he is leading roughly 220 U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents as part of the so-called Operation Midway Blitz. He said he reports directly to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
‘More than exemplary’
Asked by veteran Chicago civil rights attorney Locke Bowman if he stood by remarks he made to CBS that the use of force at the Broadview ICE facility has been “exemplary,” Bovino at first surprised everyone by saying, “No.”
“The uses of force have been more than exemplary,” Bovino clarified.
In placing longer-term restrictions Thursday, Ellis disagreed.
“The use of force shocks the conscience,” she said.
‘Violent rioters’
During the deposition, Bovino said he had not witnessed his agents using tear gas or pepper-spray balls against protesters in Broadview, but chemical agents were used against “violent rioters” and “assaultive subjects.”
Definition of a protester
When asked to define “protester,” Bovino said it’s a person “exercising their constitutional rights to speak — to speak their opinion, to speak their mind in a peaceful fashion … in accordance with laws, rules and with the Constitution.”
“We get protesters on both sides of the issue. Sometimes they protest against, say, a Title 8 immigration enforcement mission, tell us they don’t like it, we shouldn’t be there, we need to go home, use very foul language oftentimes,” he said. “And then there’s also protesters on the other side of the issue that say ‘hey, you should be there. We’re glad you’re here. Continue to be here.’ So, I look at those as peaceful individuals exercising their right to, one, be there and, two, speak their mind. It’s freedom of assembly, freedom of speech.”
Bovino then rattled off a list of public actions he said his agents have experienced, actions he uses to draw a distinction between protesters and “violent rioters” or “assaultive subjects”: “Removing masks, kicking agents, grabbing agents’ groins, assisting and abetting prisoners from escaping, shooting fireworks, knifing and slashing tires with weapons, throwing rocks through windows of vehicles to hurt agents and/or detainees.”
‘Not a reportable use of force’
On the video, Bovino is asked about an Oct. 3 arrest he made involving a man protesting outside the Broadview facility. According to the complaint, Bovino ordered a man to move down the street after the man told him, “you love to be on television.” As the man started to move, the complaint states, Bovino “stepped across a barrier,” tackled the man and arrested him.
During the Nov. 4 deposition, Bovino said the arrest “was not a reportable use of force. I placed him under arrest. I didn’t tackle him.”
More about Bovino’s interaction with the protester
Bovino was asked about an encounter with the man, Scott Blackburn, who was protesting at Broadview. The lawyer and Bovino disagreed over whether he used force when he tackled the protester.
“He doesn’t like the fact that you are instructing him to move down,” the lawyer said to Bovino.
Bovino objected to the lawyer’s characterization, saying instead, “That individual is failing to follow instructions to vacate the area.”
The video shows Bovino tackling the protester. But Bovino characterized it a different way.
“I’m imploring Mr. Blackburn, or whoever that individual was, to comply with leaving the area and to comply with instructions,” Bovino said.
Asked if he was “making physical contact,” Bovino said he was. But he denied that it was a use of force, saying it was different than using deadly force or “open-hand strikes.”
But he disputed that he used force against the protester.
“The use of force was against me,” Bovino said.
The judge, however, said she did not believe Bovino’s testimony about force that his agents and he personally inflicted in incidents across the Chicago area.
“In one of the videos, Bovino obviously attacks and tackles the declarant, Mr. Blackburn, to the ground,” Ellis said. “But Mr. Bovino, despite watching this video (in his deposition) says that he never used force.”
Pastor struck in the head
In video taken at a protest outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, the Rev. David Black walks toward the building and appears to talk with someone on the roof. A fellow demonstrator offers Black a bullhorn, which the Presbyterian pastor appears to ignore.
Seconds later, Black begins dodging pepper-spray projectiles fired at him, as another protester lifts his shirt and dances a jig as if daring someone to shoot at him. Black initially takes a few steps back, then moves forward with his arms outstretched, looking up toward the building and talking.
On the video, pepper-spray balls can be seen striking the ground in front of Black. He is then struck in the right arm by one. He appears to try and turn away before he is struck again, this time in the head.
Other protesters quickly gather around him as he kneels or falls to the ground, the recording shows. Bystanders lift him and help spirit him away.
Struck again
On the video, Black returns to sidewalk in front of the detention center with a megaphone in hand. As he appears to speak to someone on the roof, pepper-spray balls are fired in his direction.
A protester appears to try to shield him with a sign, but it doesn’t work. Black is hit in the head again.
Bovino on the incident with Pastor Black
Bovino was asked about Rev. David Black, a Presbyterian pastor who was shot in the head by a federal agent. He declined to answer the question, which was framed as a hypothetical, saying he was “unable to comment on that use of force.”
Pressed further, Bovino said: “I don’t know what the use of force was here. I can’t make a judgment either way because I don’t know.”
Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino walks with agents conducting immigration enforcement sweeps in the Edison Park neighborhood on Oct. 31, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
The brazen daylight heist took place on Oct. 18, triggering a massive investigation that has since revealed the suspects used power tools to bust through the second-floor window of the Apollo Gallery around 9 a.m. The entire operation took under seven minutes, and none of the robbers were at anytime captured by the lone security camera outside the gallery.
During testimony before a French Senate committee last month, Laurence des Cars, the president and director of the Louvre, said the camera had been facing west and did not cover the window the thieves used to gain access to Paris’ most popular museum.
“The security system, as installed in the Apollo Gallery, worked perfectly,” he said, per ABC News. “The question that arises is how to adapt this system to a new type of attack and modus operandi that we could not have foreseen.”
A private security guard patrols in the courtyard of the Louvre pyramid designed by Chinese-US architect Ieoh Ming Pei, in Paris, on November 3, 2025. (JULIE SEBADELHA/AFP via Getty Images)
Despite touting its functionality, France’s National Cybersecurity Agency was able to access a server managing the museum’s video surveillance by cracking its ridiculously simple password: “LOUVRE,” according to confidential documents obtained by Libération. The eponymous password was initially uncovered by the agency during an audit in 2014. Additional audits revealed “serious shortcomings” in the museum’s security systems, including the use of 20-year-old software.
So far, seven people have been arrested in connection with the heist, two of whom have partially admitted their involvement.
An investigation into the matter is ongoing, and the stolen jewels remain missing weeks later.
An exterior view of the windows after a robbery at the Louvre in Paris, France, October 30, 2025. The Louvre was the target of a robbery on October 19 by several criminals who smashed windows to steal eight precious royal jewels. (Photo by Magali Cohen / Hans Lucas via AFP) (Photo by MAGALI COHEN/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Congressional Budget Office on Thursday confirmed it had been hacked, potentially disclosing important government data to malicious actors.
The small government office, with some 275 employees, provides objective, impartial analysis to support lawmakers during the budget process. It is required to produce a cost estimate for nearly every bill approved by a House or Senate committee and will weigh in earlier when asked to do so by lawmakers.
Caitlin Emma, a spokeswoman for the CBO said in a written statement that the agency “has identified the security incident, has taken immediate action to contain it, and has implemented additional monitoring and new security controls to further protect the agency’s systems going forward.”
The Washington Post first wrote the story on the CBO hack, stating that the intrusion was done by a suspected foreign actor, citing four anonymous people familiar with the situation.
The CBO did not confirm whether the data breach was done by a foreign actor.
“The incident is being investigated and work for the Congress continues,” Emma said. “Like other government agencies and private sector entities, CBO occasionally faces threats to its network and continually monitors to address those threats.”
The CBO manages a variety of massive data sources that relate to a multitude of policy issues — from the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans, to the unprecedented implementation of sweeping tariffs on countries around the world, to massive tax and spending cuts passed into law this summer.
The U.S. Capitol is photographed on 37th day of the government shutdown, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is speeding up the implementation of new rules that would give the agency tasked with protecting federal government facilities greater authority to charge people for a broader array of offenses on or off those properties.
The changes outlining the powers of the Federal Protective Service, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, were put forward in early January under the Biden administration and were slated to take effect on Jan. 1 of next year but instead went into effect Wednesday. The administration said the rules were being changed ahead of time so they could address a “recent surge in violence.”
They come as protests have surged against President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda, especially near buildings associated with immigration enforcement, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices or facilities. They also come as the Trump administration is facing lawsuits in both Chicago and Portland against what critics say is the excessive use of force by federal officers against protesters and others or unjustified attempts to bring in federal forces to protect facilities.
Activists and many political leaders have accused Homeland Security of aggressively suppressing peaceful protests and targeting activists trying to hold them accountable. Critics said the new rules could be used to target protesters.
“DHS is using every tool possible to protect the lives of our law enforcement as they face a surge in violence and lawlessness at many of our federal facilities,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a news release announcing the sped-up schedule. The release cited a shooting at a Dallas ICE facility, an incident that killed two detainees.
The new rules empower officers from the Federal Protective Service to make arrests and charge people for actions near the federal property, and they include new rules regulating unauthorized use of drones and tampering with digital networks.
The Homeland Security news release gave some examples of conduct that the Federal Protective Service could now charge someone for, both on federal property and off, including wearing a mask while committing a crime, obstructing access to federal property and tampering with government IT systems like card readers.
Spencer Reynolds, a former intelligence and counterintelligence lawyer at the Department of Homeland Security who’s now with the Brennan Center for Justice, a think tank, said Congress gave the Federal Protective Service the ability to work and carry out arrests off of federal property as necessary. But he’s concerned that the new regulations codifying these powers will be used as a way to target protesters.
“I see this as being guidance to go after peaceful protests where they are happening in the vicinity or even not in the vicinity of federal property,” he said.
In a report last year issued by the Brennan Center, Reynolds said the FPS expanded dramatically after Sept. 11 and that’s led to “overreach under political pressure.”
In Chicago, a federal judge overseeing a case alleging federal agents carrying out an immigration crackdown there are using excessive force against journalists and protesters said Thursday that she’s going to restrict federal agents’ use of force to prevent the “chilling of First Amendment rights.” U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis said she didn’t feel federal agents’ use of force was justified and that she didn’t find their “version of events credible.”
In Portland, the Trump administration has argued that protests at the city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building have gotten so out of control that it justifies sending in National Guard troops to protect federal personnel and property where protests are occurring or likely to occur.
U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut Sunday barred the Trump administration from deploying the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, until at least Friday, saying she “found no credible evidence” that protests in the city grew out of control before the president federalized the troops earlier this fall.
The Federal Protective Service is tasked with protecting federal properties. The agency used to fall under the U.S. General Services Administration, which is responsible for purchasing and managing federal real estate, but when the Department of Homeland Security was created in the aftermath of Sept. 11, the FPS was transferred to Homeland Security.
Protesters gather outside an ICE processing facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, Ill., Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Political junkies have their minds on the elections that just happened this past week. But one year ahead, there are a lot more elections in the state.
That’s true for the governor’s race, where a slate of Democratic and Republican candidates, in addition to an independent candidate, are running for the seat.
Currently, Congressman John James and former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox are in the lead for the Republican nomination. Why? And, what do they need to do to win?
Producer Sam Corey spoke to longtime Michigan Republican strategist Jeff Timmer to find out.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.
WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
Unofficial results say that Adam Alharbi beat Muhith Mahmood in Hamtramck’s mayoral race by 11 votes in Tuesday’s election—but officials say the race isn’t over.
Hamtramck City Clerk Rana Faraj says 150 absentee ballots were rejected for not having a signature on the ballot or for ballot signatures that didn’t match city records.
“Letters are sent to the voters so that they know that they have until this Friday, 5 o’clock, to correct the ballot. Since the race was so close with just 11 votes difference, with 150 ballots pending to be corrected, it’s really anybody’s race at this point.”
Faraj said after voters correct their ballots at city hall, it could take up to a month for the ballots to be certified by Wayne County.
Even after all ballots are accounted for, there is still a possibility for a re-count.
Trusted, accurate, up-to-date.
WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
Hamtramck City Clerk Rana Faraj says 150 absentee ballots were rejected for not having a signature on the ballot or for ballot signatures that didn’t match city records.
Audits show Detroit’s polling sites still fall short on accessibility, even as Michigan expands early voting. We explore what disabled voters faced this election — and what must change before the next one.
For the first time, a woman is mayor-elect for the City of Detroit.
Mary Sheffield is a 38-year old Black woman and the current Detroit City Council President. In becoming mayor, she’ll have a much brighter spotlight flashing on her. And many agree that that light, because of her gender, will carry scrutiny that Mayor Duggan never had to face.
Notably, Detroit already has many women leading organizations and departments across the city. So how significant is Sheffield’s win? And, what kinds of things might she need to be concerned about that a man wouldn’t?
To discuss all this now, we have Raquel Constañeda-Lopez served on Detroit City Council at the same time as Sheffield. Now she runs an organization called Restorative Democracy, which supports women of color who hold public office.
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DETROIT (AP) — City Council President Mary Sheffield will be Detroit’s newest mayor and the first woman to lead the city.
Sheffield defeated popular megachurch pastor the Rev. Solomon Kinloch in Tuesday’s general election.
She will take office in January and succeed three-term Mayor Mike Duggan who announced last year that he would not seek reelection. Duggan is running for Michigan governor as an independent to replace term-limited Democrat Gretchen Whitmer.
Sheffield thanked voters in her victory speech Tuesday night, addressing those who voted for her and those who didn’t.
“I am here to listen to you, to fight for you and to serve you,” she said. “Because, at the end of the day, we all want the same thing, a Detroit that works for everyone.”
Sheffield will inherit a city that continues to improve following Detroit’s 2014 exit from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Duggan was elected in 2013 and took office in January 2014. Under his watch, Detroit has dramatically improved city services, including shorter police response times, public lighting and blight elimination.
Its population also has grown following decades of losses. Earlier this year, the U.S. Census estimated Detroit’s population at 645,705 — a gain of 12,487 residents since a May 2024 estimate, according to the city.
Detroit’s population reached 1.8 million people in the 1950s.
Sheffield, 38, first was elected to the City Council in 2013 at age 26 and has been council president since 2022.
Sheffieldhas said that focusing on educating Detroit’s children, and continuing to improve public safety and life in the neighborhoods will be among her priorities if elected mayor.
“My commitment, Detroit, is to build on the foundation that has been laid working with Mayor Duggan and our council … by expanding opportunities, strengthening our neighborhoods and making sure that Detroit’s progress reaches every block and every family of this city,” Sheffield said alongside Duggan at a September campaign event.
Duggan endorsed Sheffield.
“Our city’s progress is in very good hands and I know she and her team will make sure it not only continues, but expands,” he said in a statement following her victory.
Kinloch conceded the election in a short speech to his supporters Tuesday night. He reiterated what he said throughout the campaign that all of Detroit has to share in the city’s revival.
“You can’t make all of the investments downtown,” Kinloch said. “It has to reach the whole town.”
Kinloch also said he hopes the campaign shows people they need to stay involved in their city government and repeated his campaign themes of pushing for more action on affordable housing, crime and support for neighborhoods across Detroit.
“This city’s in trouble and we need you to stand up and step up more now than ever before,” he urged supporters.
A photo of Detroit mayoral candidate Solomon Kinloch is displayed during an election night watch party on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
RICHMOND, Va. — Democrat Abigail Spanberger won the Virginia governor’s race Tuesday, defeating Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to give Democrats a key victory heading into the 2026 midterm elections and make history as the first woman ever to lead the commonwealth.
Spanberger’s victory will flip partisan control of the governor’s office when she succeeds outgoing Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
“We sent a message to every corner of the commonwealth, a message to our neighbors and our fellow Americans across the country,” Spanberger told cheering supporters Tuesday night in Richmond. “We sent a message to the whole word that in 2025, Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship. We chose our commonwealth over chaos.”
Democrat Abigail Spanberger speaks on stage after she was declared the winner of the Virginia governor’s race during an election night watch party Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Also Tuesday, Democrat Ghazala F. Hashmi won the race for lieutenant governor and will succeed Earle-Sears, and Democrat Jay Jones defeated Republican incumbent Jason Miyares in the race for attorney general. Jones is set to become the first Black attorney general in Virginia, while Hashmi is the first Muslim woman to win a statewide office in the U.S.
Spanberger, a former congresswoman and CIA case officer, won by emphasizing economic issues, a strategy that may serve as a model for other Democrats in next year’s elections as they try to break President Donald Trump’s and Republicans’ hold on power in Washington and gain ground in statehouses.
Campaigning, Spanberger often sidestepped the historic potential of her candidacy. In victory, she embraced it.
“Just a few minutes ago, Adam said to our daughters, your mom’s going to be the governor of Virginia. And I can guarantee those words have never been spoken in Virginia ever before,” she said
“It’s a big deal that the girls and the young women I have met along the campaign trail now know with certainty that they can achieve anything.”
Spanberger’s eyes welled up as she told her family she loved them, as her husband and three daughters, standing behind her, wiped tears from their cheeks.
Spanberger was intentional in how she criticized Trump
Throughout the campaign, Spanberger made carefully crafted economic arguments against Trump’s policies, while she spent considerable sums on ads tying Earle-Sears to the president. She campaigned across the state, including in Republican-leaning areas, and in her first appearance as governor-elect she wore a bright red suit.
Yet Spanberger also emphasized her support for abortion rights in the last Southern state that has not enacted new restrictions or bans on the procedure, and she railed against Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, the U.S. government shutdown and their negative impact on a state with several hundred thousand federal employees.
That approach helped corral Democrats’ core supporters while attracting the kinds of swing voters who elected Youngkin four years ago. It also continued a historical trend for Virginia: Since Jimmy Carter won the White House in 1976, Virginia has backed a governor from the opposite party of every first-term president in the following year. This year is a special case, given the gap between Trump’s terms.
Republicans, meanwhile, must grapple again with a battleground loss by an arch-conservative from the president’s party.
Trump never campaigned for Earle-Sears, though he did give her his tepid support. Their uneasy alliance raises questions about the ideal Republican nominee for contested general elections and how the president’s volatile standing with voters might affect GOP candidates next November. The midterm elections will settle statehouse control in dozens of states and determine whether Republicans maintain majorities in Washington for the final years of Trump’s presidency.
Earle-Sears 61, would have become the first Black woman to be elected as a governor in the U.S.
In her concession speech, she said she hoped Spanberger would support policies that unite Virginians.
“My opponent, Abigail, ran as a moderate. If she governs as one, then she will unite us, and she’ll heal our divide and win our support,” Earle-Sears said. “I hope and pray she does.”
Spanberger balanced policy and biography
Spanberger, 46, ran on a pledge to protect Virginia’s economy from the aggressive tactics of Trump’s second administration, which has culled the civil service, levied tariffs and shepherded a reconciliation bill curtailing the state’s already fragile health care system.
Accountant Sherry Kohan, 56, who cast her ballot at the Aurora Hills Library in Arlington, said she used to think of herself as a Republican but hasn’t felt aligned with either party since Trump’s first term. She said her vote for Spanberger was a vote against Trump.
Stephanie Uhl, 38, who also said she voted for Spanberger, had the federal government shutdown on her mind when casting her ballot at the library in Arlington, just across the river from Washington.
Uhl was working without pay for the Defense Department and though she said, “I can afford (it) just fine,” she was bothered “that it affects so many other people.”
Spanberger’s background also figured heavily into her victory. As a former CIA case officer, she noted her public service and national security credentials. And she pitched herself as the mother of daughters educated in Virginia’s public schools and a Capitol Hill veteran who represented a swing district and worked across the aisle.
The pitch helped the Democratic nominee withstand Earle-Sears’ attacks on cultural issues, notably the Republican’s assertion that Spanberger is an extremist on civil rights and health care for transgender people. Spanberger, who consistently argued that local school districts should decide whether transgender students can participate in competitive sports, cast her opponent as the candidate more out of step with the middle of the Virginia electorate.
Her strategy echoed the approach Democrats used to flip U.S. House control in the 2018 midterms, halfway through Trump’s first presidency. Spanberger was among several high-profile women who brought national security or military credentials to campaigns in battleground districts. Another of those women, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, was vying Tuesday to become New Jersey’s Democratic governor.
Together, they were held up as examples of successful mainstream Democrats at a time when the party’s left flank has been ascendent, most notably Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist and the party’s nominee in Tuesday’s New York mayoral contest.
In Congress, Spanberger was a quiet workhorse
When she first got to Washington, Spanberger concentrated on lower-profile issues: bringing broadband to rural areas, fighting drug trafficking and veterans’ services. And she quickly established a reputation for working with colleagues across the political spectrum.
In her new role, she will face tightening economic projections, rising utility costs and growing unemployment — in part because of the Trump administration’s federal contraction. But she could have the advantage of a friendly Legislature if Democrats are able to maintain their majority in the House of Delegates. All 100 seats in that chamber were on the ballot Tuesday, as were other statewide offices, including lieutenant governor and attorney general. The state Senate, also controlled by Democrats, was not on the ballot this year. If Democrats have the so-called trifecta in Richmond, as Republicans do now in Washington, they could enact many policy priorities that lawmakers advanced to Youngkin only for him to veto the bills.
Spanberger won despite a late surprise that threatened Virginia’s Democratic ticket. In October, news reports revealed that Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, sent texts in 2022 suggesting the former Republican House speaker get “two bullets to the head.”
Republicans across the U.S., including Trump and Earle-Sears, demanded Jones drop out. He apologized and said he was ashamed of the messages but declined to leave the race.
The controversy dogged Spanberger. She condemned the text messages but stopped short of asking Jones to withdraw from the race, and she notably did not withdraw her endorsement.
“I have denounced political violence, political rhetoric,” Spanberger said in her lone debate with Earle-Sears, “no matter who is leading the charge.”
Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Barrow reported from Atlanta. Helen Wieffering contributed from Arlington, Virginia.
This combo image shows Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears, left, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger, right. (AP Photo)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is heading to Miami on Wednesday — the anniversary of his reelection to a second term — to speak to a forum of business leaders and global athletes about what he sees as his economic achievements.
His speech to the American Business Forum will be a broad look at his economic agenda and how investments he has secured abroad help U.S. communities, according to a senior White House official. It’s a significant effort from Trump to put a positive spin on the economy at a time when Americans remain uneasy about the state of their finances and the cost of living — and when major campaigns in Tuesday’s election were centered on affordability and the economy.
The AP Voter Poll survey, which included more than 17,000 voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California and New York City, suggested the public was troubled by higher prices and fewer job opportunities despite Trump’s promises to tame inflation and unleash growth.
In his speech, Trump will touch on deregulation, energy independence and oil prices, and affordability, said the White House official, who was granted anonymity to preview the president’s address.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said he thinks Trump’s recent travels “have been transformational in his presidency” and said his speech will be a highlight of the forum, which organizers have described as a more accessible version of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, or the Milken Institute Global Conference, which gathers the world’s elite for discussions on the economy.
“This conference not only is creating this incredible collection of people, but it’s also creating them in a particular moment in time,” said Suarez, a Republican.
Trump’s visit also highlights how the Miami area is playing a key role during his second term.
Trump is set to host leaders of the world’s leading rich and developing economies at next year’s Group of 20 summit at his golf club at the nearby city of Doral, despite what critics say is the appearance of impropriety.
Trump’s sons have taken over running the Trump Organization while their father is in the White House, and the president has insisted that his family’s business will not make any money by holding the summit at the golf club.
The city is where Trump wants to locate his future presidential library, which is now facing a legal challenge over whether the plot of land in downtown Miami is being properly transferred. Miami is also one of the U.S. host cities for next year’s World Cup, which Trump has eagerly promoted as the kickoff to several major global sporting events for which the U.S. is playing host. Ensuring the success of the World Cup has been a top priority for the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on board Air Force One on his way back to the White House from a weekend trip at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
TRENTON, N.J. — U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill on Tuesday was elected governor of New Jersey, shoring up Democratic control of a state that has been reliably blue in presidential and Senate contests but had shown signs of shifting rightward in recent years.
Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot and four-term member of Congress, defeated Jack Ciattarelli, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, and quickly cast her victory late Tuesday as a referendum on the Republican president and some of his policies from health care to immigration and the economy.
“We here in New Jersey are bound to fight for a different future for our children,” Sherrill told her supporters gathered to celebrate her victory. “We see how clearly important liberty is. We know that no one in our great state is safe when our neighbors are targeted, ignoring the law and the Constitution.”
New Jersey Democratic Gov. elect Mikie Sherrill and Lt. Gov. elect Dale Caldwell celebrate during an election night party in East Brunswick, N.J., Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Ciattarelli called Sherrill to congratulate her on the results and said he “gave her my very best wishes in hopefully solving New Jersey.”
The start of voting on Tuesday was disrupted after officials in seven counties received e-mailed bomb threats later determined by law enforcement to be unfounded, said the state’s top election official, Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way. A judge granted a one-hour extension at some polling places after Democrats made a request for three schools that received e-mailed bomb threats earlier Tuesday.
Sherrill, 53, offers some reassurance for moderates within the Democratic Party as they navigate the path forward for next year’s midterms. A former prosecutor and military veteran, Sherrill embodies a brand of centrist Democrats who aim to appeal to some conservatives while still aligning with some progressive causes. She campaigned on standing up to Trump and casting blame for voters’ concerns over the economy on his tariffs.
Earlier at Sherrill’s victory party, other Democrats were also framing the results Tuesday as a rebuke to the Trump agenda 10 months into his administration.
“Today we said no to Donald Trump and yes to democracy,” said New Jersey’s Democratic Party chair LeRoy J. Jones Jr. to the people gathered.
She will be New Jersey’s second female governor, after Republican Christine Todd Whitman, who served between 1994 and 2001. Her victory also gives Democrats three straight gubernatorial election wins in New Jersey, the first time in six decades that either major party has achieved a three-peat.
Ciattarelli lost his second straight governor’s election after coming within a few points of defeating incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy four years ago.
New Jersey’s odd-year race for governor, one of just two this year along with Virginia, often hinged on local issues such as property taxes. But the campaign also served as a potential gauge of national sentiment, especially how voters are reacting to the president’s second term and Democrats’ messaging ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
In the closing weeks of the campaign, Sherrill lambasted the president’s threat to cancel a project to build new rail tunnels beneath the Hudson River to replace the aging, disintegrating tubes now used by trains headed to and from New York City. She also pledged to order a freeze on electric utility rates, which have recently soared.
Sherrill steps into the governorship role after serving four terms in the U.S. House. She won that post in 2018 during Trump’s first term in office, flipping a longtime GOP-held district in an election that saw Democrats sweep all but one of the state’s 12 House seats.
During her campaign, Sherrill leaned hard into her credentials as a congresswoman and onetime prosecutor as well as her military service. But she also had to defend her Navy service record after a news report that she was not allowed to participate in her 1994 graduation ceremony from the U.S. Naval Academy commencement in connection with an academic cheating scandal at the school.
Sherrill said the punishment was a result of not turning in some classmates, not because she herself had cheated. But she declined to release additional records that the Ciattarelli campaign said would shed more light on the issue.
For her part, she accused Ciattarelli of profiting off the opioid crisis. He is the former owner of a medical publishing company that made continuing education materials for doctors, including some that discussed pain management and opioids. Sherrill called it “propaganda” for drug companies, something Ciattarelli denied.
Sherrill will inherit a state budget that swelled under Murphy, who delivered on promises to fund the public worker pension fund and a K-12 school aid formula after years of neglect under previous governors, by high income taxes on the wealthy. But there are also headwinds that include unfunded promises to continue a property tax relief program begun in the governor’s second term.
Also on the ballot Tuesday were all 80 seats in the Assembly, which Democrats control with a 52-seat majority.
New Jersey hasn’t supported a Republican for U.S. Senate or the White House in decades. The governor’s office, though, has often switched back and forth between the parties. The last time the same party prevailed in a third straight New Jersey election for governor was in 1961, when Richard Hughes won the race to succeed Gov. Robert Meyner. Both were Democrats.
This combination photo shows candidates for governor of New Jersey Republican Jack Ciattarelli, left, and Democrat Mikie Sherrill during the final debate in governors race, Oct. 8, 2025, in New Brunswick, N.J. (AP Photos/Heather Khalifa)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s power to unilaterally impose far-reaching tariffs is coming before the Supreme Court on Wednesday in a pivotal test of executive power with trillion-dollar implications for the global economy.
The Republican administration is trying to defend the tariffs central to Trump’s economic agenda after lower courts ruled the emergency law he invoked doesn’t give him near-limitless power to set and change duties on imports.
The Constitution says Congress has the power to levy tariffs. But the Trump administration argues that in emergency situations the president can regulate importation taxes like tariffs. Trump has called the case one of the most important in the country’s history and said a ruling against him would be “catastrophic” for the economy.
FILE – President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, on April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
The challengers argue the 1977 emergency-powers law Trump used doesn’t even mention tariffs, and no president before has used it to impose them. A collection of small businesses say the uncertainty is driving them to the brink of bankruptcy.
The case centers on two sets of tariffs. The first came in February on imports from Canada, China and Mexico after Trump declared a national emergency over drug trafficking. The second involves the sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs on most countries that Trump announced in April.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed over the tariffs, and the court will hear suits filed by Democratic-leaning states and small businesses focused on everything from plumbing supplies to women’s cycling apparel.
Lower courts have struck down the bulk of his tariffs as an illegal use of emergency power, but the nation’s highest court may see it differently.
FILE – Hannah Bowerman, left, a technical designer for Terry Precision Cycling, measures a bike shirt worn by market designer Thea Sousa during a fit session at the company’s headquarters in Burlington, Vt., Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Amanda Swinhart, File)
Trump helped shape the conservative-majority court, naming three of the justices in his first term. The justices have so far been reluctant to check his extraordinary flex of executive power, handing him a series of wins on its emergency docket.
Still, those have been short-term orders — little of Trump’s wide-ranging conservative agenda has been fully argued before the nation’s highest court. That means the outcome could set the tone for wider legal pushback against his policies.
The justices have been skeptical of executive power claims before, such as when then-President Joe Biden tried to forgive $400 billion in student loans under a different law dealing with national emergencies. The Supreme Court found the law didn’t clearly give him the power to enact a program with such a big economic impact, a legal principle known as the major questions doctrine.
The challengers say Trump’s tariffs should get the same treatment, since they’ll have a much greater economic effect, raising some $3 trillion over the next decade. The government, on the other hand, says the tariffs are different because they’re a major part of his approach to foreign affairs, an area where the courts should not be second-guessing the president.
The challengers are also trying to channel the conservative justices’ skepticism about whether the Constitution allows other parts of the government to use powers reserved for Congress, a concept known as the nondelegation doctrine. Trump’s interpretation of the law could mean anyone who can “regulate” can also impose taxes, they say.
The Justice Department counters that legal principle is for governmental agencies, not for the president.
If he eventually loses at the high court, Trump could impose tariffs under other laws, but those have more limitations on the speed and severity with which he could act. The aftermath of a ruling against him also could be complicated, if the government must issue refunds for the tariffs that had collected $195 billion in revenue as of September.
The Trump administration did win over four appeals court judges who found the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, gives the president authority to regulate importation during emergencies without explicit limitations. In recent decades, Congress has ceded some tariff authority to the president, and Trump has made the most of the power vacuum.
FILE – Terry Precision Cycling warehouse manager Luke Tremble packs orders at the company’s warehouse in Burlington, Vt., Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Amanda Swinhart, File)
Today is Wednesday, Nov. 5, the 309th day of 2025. There are 56 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Nov. 5, 1872, suffragist Susan B. Anthony defied the law by casting a vote in the presidential election; she was later arrested and charged with “knowingly voting without having a lawful right to vote.” Found guilty at trial, she was fined $100, which she refused to pay.
Also on this date:
In 1605, the “Gunpowder Plot” failed as Guy Fawkes was seized before he could blow up the English Parliament; Fawkes and his co-conspirators were later convicted of treason and hanged.
In 1912, Democrat Woodrow Wilson was elected president, defeating Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt, incumbent Republican William Howard Taft and Socialist Eugene V. Debs.
In 1930, novelist Sinclair Lewis became the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
In 1940, Democratic incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term as president, defeating Republican challenger Wendell L. Willkie.
In 1968, Republican Richard M. Nixon won the presidency, defeating Democratic Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and American Independent Party candidate George C. Wallace.
In 1994, George Foreman became the oldest heavyweight boxing champion at age 45, knocking out Michael Moorer in the 10th round of their title bout.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton won a second term in the White House, defeating Republican Bob Dole.
In 2006, Saddam Hussein was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced by the Iraqi High Tribunal to death by hanging.
In 2009, a shooting rampage at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas left 13 people dead and wounded more than 30; Maj. Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, was later convicted of murder and sentenced to death. He remains in prison on death row.
In 2017, a gunman armed with an assault rifle opened fire in the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing more than two dozen people; the shooter, Devin Patrick Kelley, was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
In 2021, Fans at a Houston music festival surged toward the stage during a performance by rapper Travis Scott, triggering panic that left 10 people dead and many more injured.
In 2024, Republican former President Donald Trump was elected to a second term, defeating Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris; he was the second president, after Grover Cleveland in 1892, to be elected to a nonconsecutive term.
Today’s Birthdays:
Singer Art Garfunkel is 84.
Singer Peter Noone (Herman’s Hermits) is 78.
TV personality Kris Jenner is 70.
Singer Bryan Adams is 66.
Actor Tilda Swinton is 65.
Actor Tatum O’Neal is 62.
Actor Judy Reyes is 58.
Actor Seth Gilliam is 57.
Actor Sam Rockwell is 57.
Musician Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) is 54.
Golfer Bubba Watson is 47.
Olympic gold medal marathoner Eliud Kipchoge is 41.
Musician Kevin Jonas (The Jonas Brothers) is 38.
Susan B. Anthony, women’s rights advocate, is shown in this undated photo at an unknown location. Anthony, who was born in 1820 in Adams, Mass., led the fight for women to have the right to vote in the United States in the 19th century. (AP Photo/New York University)
President Donald Trump has refused to negotiate with Democrats over their demands to salvage expiring health insurance subsidies until they agree to reopen the government. But skeptical Democrats question whether the Republican president will keep his word, particularly after the administration restricted SNAP food aid, despite court orders to ensure funds are available to prevent hunger.
Trump, whose first term at the White House set the previous government shutdown record, is set to meet early Wednesday for breakfast with GOP senators. But no talks have been scheduled with the Democrats.
“Why is this happening? We’re in a shutdown because our colleagues are unwilling to come to the table to talk about one simple thing: health care premiums,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., in a late evening speech.
“Stop this mess, come to the table, negotiate it,” she said.
With Trump largely on the sidelines, talks have intensified among a loose coalition of centrist senators trying to negotiate an end to the stalemate. Expectations are high that the logjam would break once election results were fully tallied in Tuesday’s off-year races that were widely watched as a gauge of voter sentiment over Trump’s second term in the White House. Democrats swept key contests for governor in Virginia and New Jersey, and New York City mayor, certain to shake up the political assessments.
But earlier in the afternoon, Senate Democrats left an hours-long private meeting stone-faced, with no certain path forward.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., arrives to meet with reporters following a closed-door session with fellow Democrats, on day 35 of the government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Trump sets another shutdown record
Trump’s approach to this shutdown stands in marked contrast to his first term, when the government was partially closed for 35 days over his demands for funds to build the U.S.-Mexico border wall. At that time, he met publicly and negotiated with congressional leaders, but unable to secure the funds, he relented in 2019.
This time, it’s not just Trump declining to engage in talks. The congressional leaders are at a standoff and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sent lawmakers home in September after they approved their own funding bill, refusing further negotiations.
In the meantime, food aid, child care funds and countless other government services are being seriously interrupted and hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been furloughed or expected to come to work without pay.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted there could be chaos in the skies next week if air traffic controllers miss another paycheck. Labor unions put pressure on lawmakers to reopen the government.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said this has been not only the longest shutdown but also “the most severe shutdown on record.”
The Republican leader has urged the Democrats to accept his overtures to vote on the health care issue and keep negotiating a solution once the government reopens, arguing that no one wins politically from the standoff.
“Shutdowns are stupid,” Thune said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., joined at left by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the GOP whip, talks with reporters following a closed-door strategy session, on day 35 of the government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senators search for potential deal
Central to any endgame will be a series of agreements that would need to be upheld not only by the Senate, but also the House, and the White House, which is not at all certain in Washington.
First of all, senators from both parties, particularly the powerful members of the Appropriations Committee, are pushing to ensure the normal government funding process in Congress can be put back on track.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., along with several Democrats, including Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Chris Coons of Delaware, are among those working behind the scenes.
“The pace of talks have increased,” said Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who has been involved in conversations.
Among the goals is guaranteeing upcoming votes on a smaller package of bills where there is already widespread bipartisan agreement to fund various aspects of government, like agricultural programs and military construction projects at bases.
“I certainly think that three-bill package is primed to do a lot of good things for the American people,” said Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who has also been in talks.
Amanda Salter loads a pallet with food for her women’s shelter at Second Harvest Food Bank, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Health care costs skyrocket for millions
More difficult, a substantial number of senators also want some resolution to the standoff over the funding for the Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at year’s end.
With insurance premium notices being sent, millions of Americans are experiencing sticker shock on skyrocketing prices. The loss of enhanced federal subsidies, which were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic and come in the form of tax credits, are expected to leave many people unable to buy health insurance.
Republicans are reluctant to fund the health care program, also known as Obamacare, without reforms, but negotiating a compromise with Democrats is expected to take time, if a deal can be reached at all.
Thune has promised Democrats at least a vote on their preferred health care proposal, on a date certain, as part of any deal to reopen government. But that’s not enough for some senators, who see the health care deadlock as part of their broader concerns with Trump’s direction for the country.
The White House says its position remains unchanged and that Democrats must vote to fund the government before talks over health care can begin. White House officials are in close contact with GOP senators who have been quietly speaking with key Senate Democrats, according to a senior White House official. The official was granted anonymity to discuss administration strategy.
Trump’s demands to end the filibuster fall flat
The president has been pushing the senators to nuke the filibuster — the Senate rule that requires 60 votes to advance most legislation — as a way to reopen the government.
The GOP senators have panned Trump’s demands to end the filibuster, in a rare public break with the president. Thune and others argue the Senate rule, while infuriating at times, ensures the minority party can be a check on the administration, which is important when power shifts in Washington.
But in the current Senate, where Republicans hold a slim majority, 53-47, Democrats have been able to block the House-passed bill that would fund the government, having voted more than a dozen times against.
Trump has said that doing away with the filibuster would be one way the Republicans could bypass the Democrats and end the shutdown on their own. Republican senators are trying to avoid that outcome.
Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Seung Min Kim and Matt Brown contributed to this report.
The Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
In Oakland County, we’re tracking key mayoral races, as well as a proposal for a Novi school bond and a Troy millage. We’ll provide updates as votes are counted below.
Listed alphabetically.
Last updated: Nov. 4, 2025 at 11:10 p.m. ET
Precincts reporting: 234/284
Clawson
Farmington Hills
Hazel Park
Madison Heights
Pontiac
Royal Oak
Southfield
Walled Lake
Also on the ballot
Novi Community School District bond proposal ballot language: “Shall Novi Community School District borrow the sum of not to exceed $425,000,000?”
Troy bond proposal ballot language: “Shall the City of Troy borrow the principal amount of not to exceed $137,000,000?”
Hamtramck City Clerk Rana Faraj says 150 absentee ballots were rejected for not having a signature on the ballot or for ballot signatures that didn’t match city records.
Audits show Detroit’s polling sites still fall short on accessibility, even as Michigan expands early voting. We explore what disabled voters faced this election — and what must change before the next one.
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