Democratic Underground: Forums for U.S. Liberals and Democrats

FBI is serving search warrants at the Los Angeles Unified School District's headquarters and the superintendent's home

The FBI is serving search warrants at the Los Angeles Unified School District’s headquarters and the superintendent’s home. Federal officials in Los Angeles were serving the search warrants Wednesday as part of an ongoing investigation, according to a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the probe. The nature of the investigation and what allegations were being examined was not immediately clear. Alberto Carvalho has been superintendent of the n ...

riversedge

Canada pledges food aid for Cuba as US fuel blockade continues

By ROB GILLIES Updated 11:48 AM CST, February 25, 2026 TORONTO (AP) — Canada announced Wednesday it is sending $8 million Canadian (US$6.7 million) in food aid to people in Cuba as the island faces an escalating fuel crisis as oil shipments have slowed following U.S. threats of tariffs. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she not discuss Canada’s aid intentions with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio or the other U.S. officials. .................. The funding will be delivered th ...

D. Spaulding

Cuban Government Says 4 Are Killed in Gunfire Exchange With Florida Speedboat

The Cuban government said it exchanged gunfire with a Florida-based speedboat that had entered its territorial waters Wednesday, killing at least four people and wounding six others. The vessel approached within one nautical mile northeast of the El Pino channel north of Corralillo, a town in the central Cuban province of Villa Clara, according to a statement on the Facebook page of Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior. Cuban border-guard troops on a government boat approached the speedboat seeking ...

BumRushDaShow

Residents want local governments to end contracts that let ICE train on their gun ranges

Updated 3:04 AM EST, February 25, 2026 ESCONDIDO, Calif. (AP) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers training at a local gun range largely went unnoticed by residents of one Southern California city for more than a decade, until President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and the recent fatal shootings of U.S. citizens by federal agents. The arrangement in Escondido, a city of about 150,000 people north of San Diego surrounded by farms and horse ranches, has sparked weeks of demons ...

BumRushDaShow

Vance says administration is pausing some Medicaid funding to Minnesota because of fraud concerns

Updated 5:02 PM EST, February 25, 2026 WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday that the Trump administration would “temporarily halt” some Medicaid funding to the state of Minnesota over fraud concerns, as part of what he described as an aggressive crackdown on misuse of public funds. Medicaid is the U.S. health care safety net for low-income Americans. As of late 2025, nearly 70 million people were enrolled nationwide. Vance, who made the announcement with Dr. Mehmet O ...

malaise

Democrats Celebrate Three Election Wins During State of the Union

(Newsweek) Democrats celebrated election wins Tuesday night, as President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address. In Pennsylvania, the party held on to its slim majority in the state House of Representatives following a special election, while in Maine it held a state House seat. The victories continue a trend of Democrat wins at different levels of government across the U.S. in recent months.

BumRushDaShow

Democrats to probe DOJ's alleged withholding of Epstein files on Trump

(Politico) Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are investigating whether the Justice Department purposefully withheld materials in its release of the Jeffrey Epstein files that included sexual assault allegations against President Donald Trump. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the panel, said in a statement Tuesday that such an act by DOJ would violate the law Congress passed in November, which required the administration to publicly release all files in its possession related to the federal case against Epstein, a convicted sex offender.

BumRushDaShow

In Democratic response, Spanberger accuses Trump of lying in State of the Union

(Scripps) Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivered the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, accusing the president of increasing costs for families, undermining public safety and enriching himself while failing to address Americans’ concerns. “We did not hear the truth from our president,” Spanberger said after Trump's nearly two-hour speech in which he touted the work his administration has done. Spanberger argued that Trump’s trade policies have raised prices for American families. “Costs are too high,” she said.

BumRushDaShow

Democrats hold counter-events during Trump's State of the Union address: 'These are not normal times'

(The Guardian) Democrats held competing events on the evening of the State of the Union address across Washington where lawmakers boycotted the official event and protesters said they wanted to show the growing opposition to Donald Trump’s increasingly unpopular agenda. On the National Mall, hundreds of people, including about 30 Democratic members of Congress, gathered for the “People’s State of the Union”, a counter-rally. Attendees held signs that read “No Money for ICE” and “Healthcare Not Warfare”. One person on stage carried a large poster with the photographs of the more than 30 people who had been killed in dealings with ICE since Trump took office in 2025.

BumRushDaShow

Around half of Democrats skip Trump State of the Union

(Axios) Roughly half of House and Senate Democrats skipped President Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday, an Axios headcount found. The massive boycott represents a shift in American political norms as the party's grassroots have pressed lawmakers to be more partisan and less conciliatory towards Republicans. Axios counted 20 Senate Democrats and just under 110 House Democrats in the chamber at the start of Trump's speech. That is roughly half of each party's chamber Democratic caucus.

Expand Featured Stories

Issue Forums

Alliance Forums

Region Forums

Latest Breaking News

Border Patrol Union Chief Defends Immigration Crackdown And Agents' Tactics

55 min ago - President Trump's defense of his immigration agenda during his State of the Union address comes as public support is falling. In an NBC News poll this month, 49% of people said they strongly disapprove of how Trump has handled border security and imm ... (PBS News)

Kansas sends letters to transgendered people -- surrender your driver's license

1 hr ago - Today, transgender people across Kansas are reporting receiving letters from the Kansas Division of Vehicles stating that they must surrender their driver's licenses and that their current credentials will be considered invalid upon the law's publica ... (Erin In The Morning blog)

Eleven US states urge DOJ to thoroughly probe Netflix-Warner Bros. deal

2 hrs ago - February 25, 2026 11:13 AM EST Updated 4 hours ago Feb 25 (Reuters) - Republican attorneys general from 11 U.S. states have urged the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a thorough review of Netflix's bid to acquire studio and streaming assets from ... (Reuters)

Pete Hegseth Appeals Order Blocking Sen. Mark Kelly's Punishment For Call To Resist Unlawful Orders

3 hrs ago - Feb 25, 2026, 11:28 AM EST WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is appealing a judge’s order that blocks him from punishing Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, a former Navy pilot, for participating in a video that called on troops to r ... (Huff Post/AP)

Island nation moves to restart EU membership talks after Trump's threats

3 hrs ago - Wednesday 25 February 2026 14:18 EST Iceland is set to hold a referendum "in the coming months" on restarting European Union accession talks, Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir said Wednesday. Reykjavik abandoned EU membership talks in 2013 after f ... (The Independent)

US tariffs could rise to 15% or more after supreme court blow, trade representative says

4 hrs ago - Wed 25 Feb 2026 08.46 EST Last modified on Wed 25 Feb 2026 11.13 EST The US tariff rate for some countries will go up to 15% or higher from the newly imposed 10%, Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, said on Wednesday, without naming any spec ... (The Guardian)

US says it will allow resale of Venezuelan oil to Cuba

4 hrs ago - February 25, 2026 1:26 PM EST Updated 1 hour ago WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department said on Wednesday it would authorize companies seeking licenses to resell Venezuelan oil to Cuba, according to guidance posted on the departm ... (Reuters)

Blind refugee abandoned by Border Patrol is dead

5 hrs ago - Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a nearly blind refugee from Burma who Border Patrol agents dropped off at a doughnut shop Thursday and left to find his way home, 5 miles away, has been found dead. ... Shah Alam, a Rohingya refugee, had been missing since Febru ... (Investigative Post)

Feds give record $27B in loans for utility expansion in Georgia and Alabama

5 hrs ago - February 25, 2026, 4:39 PM ATLANTA -- Federal energy officials on Wednesday announced a record $27 billion loan to electric utilities in Georgia and Alabama, saying the loan will save customers money as the companies undertake a huge expansion driven ... (ABC News/AP)

Vance says administration is pausing some Medicaid funding to Minnesota because of fraud concerns

5 hrs ago - Updated 5:02 PM EST, February 25, 2026 WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday that the Trump administration would “temporarily halt” some Medicaid funding to the state of Minnesota over fraud concerns, as part of ... (AP)

Exclusive: US orders diplomats to fight data sovereignty initiatives

6 hrs ago - February 25, 2026 6:03 AM EST Updated 1 hour ago WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration has ordered U.S. diplomats to lobby against attempts to regulate U.S. tech companies' handling of foreigners' data, saying in an i ... (Reuters)

NYU Professors Vote to Strike After Bosses Stonewall for Months

7 hrs ago - The decision by Contract Faculty United at New York University comes as more workers walked off the job in 2025 to win higher pay, stronger benefits, and other gains. by Whitney Curry Wimbish February 25, 2026 An overwhelming majority of New York Uni ... (Prospect)

Judge rejects rapid Trump administration deportations to third countries

7 hrs ago - 02/25/26 2:54 PM ET A federal judge in Boston ruled against the Trump administration’s request to lift a block on a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy that allows federal officials to deport migrants to countries other than their own. ... (The Hill)

Cuban Government Says 4 Are Killed in Gunfire Exchange With Florida Speedboat

7 hrs ago - The Cuban government said it exchanged gunfire with a Florida-based speedboat that had entered its territorial waters Wednesday, killing at least four people and wounding six others. The vessel approached within one nautical mile northeast of the El ... (NY Times)

Canada pledges food aid for Cuba as US fuel blockade continues

7 hrs ago - By ROB GILLIES Updated 11:48 AM CST, February 25, 2026 TORONTO (AP) — Canada announced Wednesday it is sending $8 million Canadian (US$6.7 million) in food aid to people in Cuba as the island faces an escalating fuel crisis as oil shipments h ... (AP)

Justices won't open shortcut for ICE contractor facing forced labor suit

7 hrs ago - February 25, 2026 WASHINGTON (CN) — The Supreme Court on Friday shut down a bid by GEO Group, which operates private detention facilities, for help fending off claims its facility profited from detainee labor. The group had asked the court for a ... (Courthouse News Service)

The hotly contested Texas Senate race is setting spending records ahead of Tuesday's primary

8 hrs ago - By JOHN HANNA Updated 12:17 PM CST, February 25, 2026 Candidates and political groups are pouring money into Texas’ hotly contested U.S. Senate race at a record pace, partly fueled by Democrat James Talarico’s fundraising and allies of Repu ... (AP)

Trump Treasury official to exit after objecting to Minneapolis crackdown

9 hrs ago - 51m A top Trump Treasury official is leaving his post after privately raising objections to White House-backed plans to crack down on alleged fraud within the Somali immigrant community in Minnesota, according to seven people familiar with the matte ... (msn/Washington Post)

Residents want local governments to end contracts that let ICE train on their gun ranges

9 hrs ago - Updated 3:04 AM EST, February 25, 2026 ESCONDIDO, Calif. (AP) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers training at a local gun range largely went unnoticed by residents of one Southern California city for more than a decade, until Presiden ... (AP)

Hacker used Anthropic's Claude chatbot to attack multiple government agencies in Mexico

9 hrs ago - Here's yet another troubling story about this "golden" era of AI. A hacker has exploited Anthropic's Claude chatbot to carry out attacks against Mexican government agencies, according to a report by Bloomberg. This resulted in the theft of 150GB of o ... (Engadget)