A federal employee who police say conducted background checks for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other government agencies was arrested last week in a Bloomington prostitution sting. Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges said Department of Defense contractor Brashad Johnson, 36, of Maple Grove, was one of 30 suspects arrested as part of an undercover operation targeting people seeking to pay for sex. "This is the most disturbing arrest that we've had here," Hodges said of Johnson during a news conference on Tuesday. "He is a backgrounder for ICE, Homeland Security and federal agencies. So when you're getting your security clearance, this is one of the guys that does your backgrounds, which is kind of scary."
Californicated: Super Bowl-winning Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold won $188,000 in prize money for the game. His tax bill from Democrat-run California will be $202,000.
A GOP senator is suddenly furious about the Epstein files after initially saying that she "didn't care" about the late pedophile's crimes. Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis, 71, told reporter Pablo Manriquez that she now understands why his crimes are a "big deal" after reviewing unredacted Epstein files on Monday. "I've not been one of the members who has glommed on to this as an issue," said Lummis. "I've sort of intentionally deferred to others to find out about it. But 9-year-old victims ... wow." "Initially, my reaction to all this was, I don't care. I don't see what the big deal is.' But now I see what the big deal is," she added. "The members of Congress who were pushing this were not wrong." Read more
Khanna named, US businessman Leslie Wexner of Victoria's Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch and Bath & Body Works fame; Emirati businessman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem; and Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze, Leonic Leonov, and Nicola Caputo.
" Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein paid Ohio State University's head of gynecology quarterly payments of thousands of dollars, Department of Justice files show. Read more
The U.S. government added $696 billion to the national debt over the past four months, borrowing $94 billion in the month of January alone, the Congressional Budget Office reports. The number further heightens the risk that America will experience some kind of financial crisis unless deficits are tamed, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget Maya MacGuineas warned. "If we continue to borrow at this rate, it leaves us on the path to another year of a $1.8 trillion or higher deficit," MacGuineas stated Monday. "If these estimates aren't alarming enough, the national debt continues to climb toward record levels " equaling about the size of the entire U.S. economy today." Read more
Amid Rock the Country's lineup disruptions this week - with artists including Shinedown, Ludacris, Morgan Wade and Carter Faith making exits - the festival's July 25-26 weekend in Anderson, S.C., is no longer on the schedule. The South Carolina stop originally announced as part of an eight-city trek has been removed from Rock the Country's website. Billboard reached out to a representative for Rock the Country for comment. Shinedown, who pulled out of the festival on Feb. 6, was one of the acts booked to perform at the South Carolina dates. The band opted to drop out after receiving backlash from fans for participating in the festival. Read more
Binance holds about 87% of USD1, the stablecoin issued by a Trump family crypto venture"a greater concentration than any other major stablecoin has at a single exchange"underscoring the depth of the financial relationship between Binance, whose founder Trump pardoned in October, and World Liberty Financial, which already has added an estimated $1 billion to President Donald Trump's net worth. Binance is prohibited from serving U.S. customers under the terms of its 2023 settlement with the Treasury Department, meaning if the rules are properly followed, the 87% of USD1 kept in Binance-controlled wallets would mostly be held on behalf of customers outside the United States.
A British woman who was shot dead by her father while visiting his home in Texas had argued with him about US President Donald Trump earlier that day, an inquest has heard. Lucy Harrison, from Warrington in Cheshire, was shot in the chest on 10 January 2025 in Prosper, near Dallas. Police in the town investigated the 23-year-old's death as possible manslaughter but no criminal case was brought against Kris Harrison after a grand jury in Collin County declined to indict him. An inquest into Lucy Harrison's death opened earlier at Cheshire Coroner's Court, where her boyfriend Sam Littler described the "big argument" about Trump, who was preparing to be inaugurated for his second term of office.
If you needed an example of the disconnect between legacy media and the country at large, look no further than "Melania." The new documentary on Melania Trump follows the first lady in the 20 days leading up to the 2025 presidential inauguration " and her second stint calling the White House home. The critics HATE it, giving it a lousy score of just 10%, according to Rotten Tomatoes (compare that with the 93% score critics gave the 2020 documentary "Becoming" about former first lady Michelle Obama). Yet, the Americans heading to the theater to watch "Melania" have a vastly different takeaway. They've given it a score of 99%. This discrepancy has broken the film rating site's 27-year record.
The percentage of U.S. adults who anticipate high-quality lives in five years declined to 59.2% in 2025, the lowest level since measurement began nearly two decades ago. Since 2020, future life ratings have fallen a total of 9.1 percentage points, projecting to an estimated 24.5 million fewer people who are optimistic about the future now versus then. Most of that decline occurred between 2021 and 2023, but the ratings dropped 3.5 points between 2024 and 2025. Americans' ratings of their current lives have also declined since rebounding in 2021 but not as steeply as their future life ratings. And current life ratings are not at a low point; that occurred in 2020, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie named the Emirati businessman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem as the individual Jeffrey Epstein had emailed about a "torture video". Sulayem is chairman and CEO of DP World, a major global logistics firm based in the UAE. Newsweek has contacted DP World's media office via email for comment.
Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) thanked God for "getting us a new president" in Donald Trump, who has saved this nation from "apostasy, blasphemy, taking our children down the path of homosexuality and perversion."
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Submarine manufacturer General Dynamics Electric Boat is reportedly preparing to hire 8,000 employees this year, a recruitment goal that is significantly higher than hiring levels in recent years.
Donald Trump has cast himself as Republicans' chief messenger on the cost of living in an election year, but a Reuters review of his speeches shows a president repeatedly declaring inflation beaten while rarely acknowledging the strain many Americans say they still feel.
President Donald Trump tore into Canada on Monday evening with an eyebrow-raising post on Truth Social, in which he wildly claimed China will "terminate ALL Ice Hockey being played in Canada." Trump's odd post began with him griping about the construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan, which is expected to open in early 2026. "As everyone knows, the Country of Canada has treated the United States very unfairly for decades. Now, things are turning around for the U.S.A., and FAST! But imagine, Canada is building a massive bridge between Ontario and Michigan. They own both the Canada and the United States side and, of course, built it with virtually no U.S. content. President Barack Hussein Obama stupidly gave them a waiver so they could get around the BUY AMERICAN Act, and not use any American products, including our Steel," began Trump, adding: Read more
