(GREENLAND) -- Donald Trump, Jr., son of President-elect Donald Trump, arrived in Greenland on Tuesday after emphasizing that the trip is just a personal one, indicating he is not meeting with government officials.
His trip comes as his father continues to float the possibility of the U.S. purchasing and taking over Greenland, an autonomous territory administered by Denmark. Trump had also suggested the possibility during his first administration.
About the same time as his eldest son landed, the president-elect, celebrating his son and his advisers' trip to Greenland, floated a "deal" that he claims "must happen," while not elaborating on what deal that is.
"Don Jr. and my Reps landing in Greenland. The reception has been great. They, and the Free World, need safety, security, strength, and PEACE! This is a deal that must happen," Trump wrote in a social media post Tuesday morning. "MAGA. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!"
Danish officials have continued to emphasize that Greenland is not for sale.
Traveling on a Trump plane, Donald Trump Trump Jr. landed in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday morning, joined by incoming White House Director of the Presidential Personnel Office Sergio Gor, incoming White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative, Political and Public Affairs James Blair, and conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
On Monday, Trump Jr. discussed the visit while emphasizing that it is not a political trip.
"No, I am not buying Greenland," Donald Trump Jr. said on Monday on his podcast show on Rumble. "Funny enough, I'm actually going on a very long personal day trip to Greenland tomorrow [Tuesday]."
"So, I'm going as a tourist. But apparently someone leaked that, so it made all sorts of news, so I figured I'd address it here. No meetings with the government officials, none of that. But I do love Greenland," Trump Jr. said.
A source familiar with the matter told ABC News that Donald Trump Jr. is visiting Greenland just for the day to shoot videos for a podcast and reiterated he's not scheduled to meet with any government officials or political figures.
President-elect Trump, on Monday, mentioned his son's visit in a post on his social media platform, and wrote, "Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation."
The president-elect had reintroduced his proposal to take over Greenland in December during his announcement of Ken Howery as United States Ambassador to Denmark.
"For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity. Ken will do a wonderful job in representing the interests of the United States," Trump wrote in the announcement.
On Christmas, Trump claimed in a social media post that Greenland needs the United States to be there for "national security purposes," before adding, "and we will!"
During his first administration, Trump tried to buy the country; however, the United States ended up giving the island $12 million for economic development instead.
Officials from Greenland and Denmark have pushed back both explicitly and implicitly against Trump's stated desire to purchase the territory.
In December, Greenland Prime Minister MĂște Egede wrote in a statement, "Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale."
Separately, The Independent reported on Tuesday that the king of Denmark has adjusted the Danish coat of arms to show symbols representing Greenland and the Faroe Islands, the two autonomous territories administered by Denmark.
WASHINGTON (AP) â More Americans say immigration should be a top focus for the U.S. government in 2025, as the country heads toward a new Republican administration in which President-elect Donald Trump has promised the mass deportations of migrants and an end to birthright citizenship.
The issue of immigration has risen in salience across the board â among Democrats and Republicans, men and women, and adults both young and old. But Republicans, in particular, have converged around this issue in recent years. About 7 in 10 Republicans say immigration or a U.S.-Mexico border wall should be a top focus, up from 45% just two years ago.
This means that Trump will return to the White House with his base, and much of the country, interested in his signature issue. That’s a marked contrast to when he left Washington four years ago with his successor, Democrat Joe Biden, offering a more welcoming posture toward migrants.
But even with the widespread uptick in concern about immigration, that issue is still overshadowed by economic worries. About three-quarters of Americans want the government to focus on addressing broad economic concerns, similar to the past few years. There’s a range of economic issues Americans want addressed â about 3 in 10 referenced general economic issues, a similar share pointed to inflation, and roughly 1 in 10 mentioned either unemployment or taxes.
About one-third of Americans identify foreign policy as an important issue, with health care issues and politics â both identified broadly â close behind.
Republicans are especially likely to want government action on immigration
Some of his immigration reforms are likely to face legal challenges as Trump seeks to sharply limit the number of immigrants welcome in the U.S. But addressing those issues remains paramount for Americans as he prepares to take office.
About 8 in 10 Republicans want the government to prioritize economic issues, while about 7 in 10 Republicans say immigration or the border wall should be a top priority.
Most Democrats, meanwhile, are focused on the economy, but they don’t have a clear second priority. Instead, about 4 in 10 name health care and health issues, a small uptick from a year earlier. About one-third of Democrats mention political issues, the environment or climate change, or immigration.
But even Democrats are more likely to want the government to make progress on immigration than they were the year before, when only about 2 in 10 Democrats considered it something that should be a primary focus for the federal government.
That doesn’t mean, though, that they align with Trump’s hard-line approach. One Democrat said the government should focus on âborder control, not mass deportation,â while another said âbetter pathways to citizenshipâ should be the goal. In their responses to the poll, Republicans tended to mention âillegal immigrationâ and âa stronger borderâ as an important focus. One Republican supported âclosing the border, deporting illegal immigrants, starting with criminals first.â
The focus among Republicans on immigration and the economy dovetails with two of the biggest challenges Biden confronted during his tenure, which saw both high inflation and sharp growth in migration.
Illegal border crossings reached a record level in 2023, adding fuel to Trump’s relentless focus on border security and his promise to deport migrants en masse. The numbers fell during 2024 after Biden announced a crackdown on asylum claims, but Trump argued those moves were too little, too late.
Americans under 30 really want the government to prioritize inflation
The youngest adults are particularly likely to want the government to work on economic issues.
Americans under 30 are significantly more likely than older adults to mention economic issues, inflation and personal financial topics as a vital focus for government in 2025. About 4 in 10 young adults name inflation, compared with roughly one-quarter of older adults. And about one-quarter of young adults say they want the government focused on housing costs, whereas only about 1 in 10 adults ages 60 or older say the same.
Trump made gains among young adults in 2024 compared with his performance four years earlier, but his youngest voters were much more motivated by the economy than by immigration, according to AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of more than 120,000 voters.
The same sentiment prevails as Trump prepares to take office. Compared with 2023, the December poll found, Americans under 30 are more likely to highlight general economic issues and immigration as things they want government to focus on â but they are much less focused on immigration than older adults. Only about one-third of adults under 30 said immigration should be a focus, compared with about 6 in 10 adults 60 or older.
Older Americans are also broadly focused on the economy, but their priorities are a little different â for instance, about 1 in 10 Americans over 60 want the government focused on Social Security in the coming year. Very few Americans under 30 mentioned Social Security as a concern.
NEW YORK (AP) âFacebook and Instagram owner Meta said Tuesday it’s scrapping its third-party fact-checking program and replacing it with a Community Notes program written by users similar to the model used by Elon Musk’s social media platform X.
Starting in the U.S., Meta will end its fact-checking program with independent third parties. The company said it decided to end the program because expert fact checkers had their own biases and too much content ended up being fact checked.
Instead, it will pivot to a Community Notes model that uses crowdsourced fact-checking contributions from users.
âWeâve seen this approach work on X â where they empower their community to decide when posts are potentially misleading and need more context,â Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan said in a blog post.
The Associated Press had participated in Metaâs fact-checking program previously but ended its participation a year ago.
The social media company also said it plans to allow âmore speechâ by lifting some restrictions on some topics that are part of mainstream discussion in order to focus on illegal and âhigh severity violations” like terrorism, child sexual exploitation and drugs.
Meta said that its approach of building complex systems to manage content on its platforms has “gone too far” and has made âtoo many mistakesâ by censoring too much content.
âThe recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech,â Zuckerberg said in an online video.
Meta’s quasi-independent Oversight Board, which was set up to act as a referee on controversial content decisions, said it welcomed the changes and looked forward to working with the company “to understand the changes in greater detail, ensuring its new approach can be as effective and speech-friendly as possible.”
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) â The next round of bitter cold was set to envelop the southern U.S. on Tuesday, after the first significant winter storm of the year blasted a huge swath of the country with ice, snow and wind.
The immense storm system brought disruption even to areas of the country that usually escape winterâs wrath, downing trees in some Southern states, threatening a freeze in Florida and causing people in Dallas to dig deep into their wardrobes for hats and gloves.
On Tuesday morning, the wind chill temperature was 16 (minus 9 degrees C) at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, according to the National Weather Service. A low-pressure system was expected to form as soon as Wednesday near south Texas, bringing the potential of snow to parts of the state that include Dallas, as well as to Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
âAs we go through the next few days, weâre still going to be seeing those colder-than-normal temperatures,â said Peter Mullinax, a meteorologist with the weather service in College Park, Maryland. âWeâre going to see areas of snow and ice start to take shape across northern Texas, southern Oklahoma as we get into Thursday morning.â
Snow and ice are expected to make their way farther south into the lower Mississippi Valley, some of it âpretty disruptive,â he said.
Lingering snow and ice in the central Plains through the Ohio Valley into the Atlantic is likely to stick around for a few days, Mullinax said. That will create opportunities for constant re-freezing, and black ice, which may create treacherous travel conditions in some areas for the next few days.
The polar vortex that dipped south over the weekend kept much of the country east of the Rockies in its frigid grip Monday, making many roads treacherous, forcing school closures, and causing widespread power outages and flight cancellations. Some experts say such cold air outbreaks are happening more frequently, paradoxically, because of a warming world.
Ice and snow blanketed major roads in Kansas, western Nebraska and parts of Indiana, where the National Guard was activated to help stranded motorists. The weather service issued winter storm warnings for Kansas and Missouri, where blizzard conditions brought wind gusts of up to 45 mph (72 kph). The warnings extended to New Jersey into early Tuesday.
A Kentucky truck stop was jammed with big rigs forced off an icy and snow-covered Interstate 75 on Monday just outside Cincinnati. A long haul driver from Los Angeles carrying a load of rugs to Georgia, Michael Taylor said he saw numerous cars and trucks stuck in ditches and was dealing with icy windshield wipers before he pulled off the interstate.
âIt was too dangerous. I didnât want to kill myself or anyone else,â he said.
The polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually spins around the North Pole, but it sometimes plunges south into the U.S., Europe and Asia. Studies show that a fast-warming Arctic is partly to blame for the increasing frequency of the polar vortex extending its grip.
Temperatures plunge across the country
The eastern two-thirds of the U.S. dealt with bone-chilling cold and wind chills Monday, with temperatures in some areas far below normal.
A cold weather advisory will take effect early Tuesday across the Gulf Coast. In Texasâ capital of Austin and surrounding cities, wind chills could drop as low as 15 degrees (minus 9.4 C).
The Northeast was expected to get several cold days.
Transportation has been tricky
Hundreds of car accidents were reported in Virginia, Indiana, Kansas and Kentucky, where a state trooper was treated for non-life-threatening injuries after his patrol car was hit.
Virginia State Police responded to at least 430 crashes Sunday and Monday, including one that was fatal. Police said other weather-related fatal accidents occurred Sunday near Charleston, West Virginia, and Monday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Kansas saw two deadly crashes over the weekend.
More than 2,300 flights were canceled and at least 9,100 more were delayed nationwide as of Monday night, according to tracking platform FlightAware. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport reported that about 58% of arrivals and 70% of departures had been canceled. The airport announced early Tuesday that it had reopened all runways after closing them Monday evening so airport crews could focus on snow removal and prevent refreezing on the airfield.
A record 8 inches (more than 20 centimeters) of snow fell Sunday at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, leading to dozens of flight cancellations that lingered into Monday. About 4 inches (about 10 centimeters) fell Monday across the Cincinnati area, where car and truck crashes shut at least two major routes leading into downtown.
SMITH COUNTY — Police have arrested an East Texas man in connection to a 2023 deadly Fourth of July crash after he reportedly admitted to drinking and driving. According to an affidavit obtained by our news partner KETK, DPS troopers were dispatched to a crash on Farm to Market 346 near Dudley Road in Smith County around 12:30 a.m.
The Tyler Police Department, Whitehouse Police Department, firefighters and medical personnel were already at the scene where a 2017 Buick had crashed into a tree and sustained extensive front-end damage.
Documents identify the driver as Raul Trejo and front seat passenger as 44-year-old John Freeman. Authorities said Trejo was transported to a local hospital for minor injuries while Freeman was unresponsive and later died. The trooper on the case went to the hospital to talk with Trejo and told him Freeman had died. Continue reading Driver admits to drinking before fatal 2023 crash
(WASHINGTON) -- President Joe Biden, President-elect Donald Trump, former presidents and other dignitaries came together Thursday to honor the life of former President Jimmy Carter at a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
Grandson Jason Carter and Biden were among those who delivered eulogies for the 39th president, who died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100.
Carter to return to Plains
Former President Jimmy Carterâs casket was carried out of Washington National Cathedral to the strains of "Hail to the Chief" at the conclusion of the service.
Next, the hearse will drive to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. The casket will be placed on a plane to return to Carterâs hometown of Plains, Georgia, for a private service.
The 39th president, who died on Dec. 29 at age 100, will be buried in Plains next to his beloved wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, who died on Nov. 19, 2023, at the age of 96.
'Your spirit will remain with us'
"I don't mean this with any disrespect, but, it's still hard for me to understand how you could get to be president from Plains, Georgia,â said former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, prompting a big laugh from the crowd in the cathedral.
Young, 92, was appointed to be U.N. Ambassador by Carter and was the first Black person to hold the position.
Young recalled how Carter grew up in a mostly Black county and had many Black friends. He said Carter asked that his roommate at the Naval Academy be the first Black midshipmen in hopes that he could help him adjust.
Carter "went out of his way to embrace those of us who had grown up in all kinds of conflict," Young said. "But that was the sensitivity, the spirituality that made James Earl Carter a truly great president."
"He never wavered from his commitment to God almighty and his love of all of Godâs children," Young said. "Jimmy Carter was a blessing that helped to create a great United Staes of America. And for all of us, and many who are not able to be here, I want to say, thank you. You have been a blessing from God and your spirit will remain with us."
Biden recalls Carter's 'strength of character'
After wiping his eyes during "Amazing Grace," President Joe Biden stepped up to the podium to recall his friendship with former President Jimmy Carter.
"Jimmy Carter's friendship taught me ... strength of character is more than the title or power we hold. It's the strength to understand that everyone should be treated with dignity, respect. That everyone -- and I mean everyone deserves an even shot," Biden said.
"We have an obligation to give hate no safe harbor and to stand up to -- [what] my dad said, the greatest sin of all -- the abuse of power," Biden said, as all of the former presidents looked on. "It's not about being perfect, none of us are perfect. We're all fallible."
"Jimmy Carter, throughout his life, he showed us what it means to be a practitioner of good works and a good and faithful servant of God, and of the people," Biden said.
Some may think Carter is from a "bygone era," but Carter "saw well into the future," Biden said.
To anyone in search of meaning and purpose, Biden said, "study the power of Jimmy Carter's example."
"I miss him, but I take solace in knowing that he and his beloved Rosalynn are reunited again," he said.
Grandson calls Carter 'definition of integrity'
Former President Jimmy Carterâs house was filled with items like so many other southern grandparents': fishing trophies, a phone with a landline and a fridge covered with photos of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, his grandson Jason Carter said.
"And demonstrating their Depression-era roots, they had a little rack next to the sink where they would hang Ziploc bags to dry," Jason Carter said, as the crowd laughed.
"In my 49 years, I never perceived a difference between his public face and his private one. He was the same person," Jason Carter said. "For me, thatâs the definition of integrity."
"His political life and his presidency, for me, was not just ahead of its time -- it was prophetic. He had the courage and strength to stick to his principles, even when they were politically unpopular," Jason Carter said. "As governor of Georgia half a century ago, he preached an end to racial discrimination and an end to mass incarceration. As president in the 1970s, as you've heard, he protected more land than any other president in history. Fifty years ago, he was a climate warrior who pushed for a world where we conserved energy, limited emissions and traded our reliance on fossil fuels for expanded renewable sources."
President Carter's beloved wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, died on Nov. 19, 2023, at the age of 96.
Jason Carter said that, in recent weeks, his grandfather "told us he was ready to see her again."
'Unshakable sense of right and wrong'
Stuart Eizenstat, who was former President Jimmy Carter's chief domestic policy adviser, praised Carter's "unshakable sense of right and wrong."
"His faith brought integrity to the presidency after Watergate and Vietnam," Eizenstat recalled. "'I will never lie to you,' he promised the American people -- a vow he fulfilled."
Carter is known for his deep faith, and Eizenstat noted how Carter's "faith respected other religions -- he was the first president to light a Hanukkah menorah and he created the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum."
"This president from the deepest part of the Deep South championed civil rights, appointing more people of color and women to senior executive positions and judgeships than all previous 38 presidents," he said.
"President Carter parked politics at the Oval Office door, to do what he believed was the right thing -- tackling controversial challenges regardless of the political consequences. Much of his agenda passed with bipartisan support, a quaint notion in todayâs hyper-polarized politics," Eizenstat said.
Walter Mondale's son delivers his father's eulogy
Former President Jimmy Carterâs vice president, Walter Mondale, left behind a eulogy for Carter before he died in 2021.
Mondaleâs son, Ted Mondale, delivered that eulogy at Thursdayâs service.
The two became close friends and established a person relationship that continued throughout their life, Walter Mondale said.
"While we had only four years in the White House, he achieved so much in that time," Walter Mondale wrote. "It stood as a marker for Americans dedicated to justice and decency."
"Carter was far-sighted -- he put aside his short-term political interests to tackle challenges that demanded sacrifice to protect our kids and grandkids from future harm," he wrote. âVery few people in the 1970s had heard the term climate change. Yet Carter put his presidency on the line to pass laws to conserve energy, deregulate new oil and gas prices, and invest in clean, renewable alternatives to fossil fuels. ⊠In many ways, he laid the foundation for future presidents to come to grips with climate change."
"All of us know President Carter elevated human rights to the top of his agenda, but sometimes we forget how seriously he pushed to advance the rights of women. He proposed and signed the law extending the period for states to approve the Equal Rights Amendment, which now, finally, has been ratified by three quarters of the states," he wrote.
"Toward the end of our time in the White House, the President and I were talking about how we might describe what we tried to do," Walter Mondale wrote. "We came up with this sentence, which to me remains an important summary of what we were trying to do: âWe told the truth, we obeyed the law and we kept the peace.'"
President Ford's son delivers his father's eulogy
Former President Gerald Ford, who lost the 1976 election to former President Jimmy Carter, later forged a friendship with Carter, and the two agreed to leave eulogies for each other.
Ford died in 2006 at the age of 93.
Fordâs son Steven Ford, read his fatherâs eulogy at Carterâs service.
But first, Steven Ford shared his own message, saying he is praying for the Carter children. It was 18 years ago, nearly to the day, Steven Ford said, that his family sat in that same row at the cathedral and the Carters supported his family.
"It was your dad and his great faith that supported my mom and gave her hope," he said to the Carter children.
President Ford said in the eulogy he left for Carter, "Jimmy and I forged a friendship that transcends politics. We immediately decided to exercise one of the privileges of a former president, forgetting that either one of us had ever said any harsh words about the other one in the heat of battle. Then we got on to much more enjoyable subjects: discussing our families, our faith and sharing our experiences in discovering that there is indeed life after the White House."
"The American people and the people of the world will be forever blessed by his decades of good works," President Ford wrote.
To President Carter, President Ford said, "Looking forward to our reunion -- we have much to catch up on."
Carterâs grandson remembers his Sunday school lessons
At the service, former President Jimmy Carterâs grandson Josh Carter recalled his grandfatherâs weekly packed Sunday school classes in Plains, Georgia.
He said his grandfather would always poll the congregation and learn people came from all over the country, with diverse backgrounds and beliefs.
"If he stopped a conflict, he talked about it. If he eliminated disease from a village or a country, he would talk about it," Josh Carter said. "When my brother Jeremy died, he announced that news at Sunday school. In fact, I remember that my brother died on a Sunday because it was the only time my grandfather was ever late to teach."
"He stated the most serious and universal problem on our planet is the growing chasm between the richest and poorest people on Earth," he said. "For the next two decades, as the problem compounded, he returned to this theme with stories from the Bible and stories from today."
"Many of the people that my grandparents helped lived on less than $1 a day," he said. "My grandfather spent the entire time I've known him helping those in need. He built houses for people that needed homes. He eliminated diseases. ... He waged peace. ⊠He loved people."
Harris, Biden arrive
Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff are seated in front of President-elect Donald Trump.
The two did not appear to interact.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are also at the cathedral.
Clintons, Bushes arrive
Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are sitting next to former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush.
Laura Bush sat next to former President Barack Obama, who continued a lengthy conversation with President-elect Donald Trump.
Obama arrives, speaks with Trump
Former President Barack Obama arrived at the service and exchanged a long handshake and a laugh with former Vice President Al Gore.
Obama then sat directly next to Trump and the two exchanged words, both smiling.
Trump arrives, greets Pence
President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump have arrived at the service.
Trump shook hands and exchanged brief words with his former Vice President Mike Pence.
Hearse arrives at Washington National Cathedral
Former President Jimmy Carterâs hearse has arrived at Washington National Cathedral for the 10 a.m. service.
Mike Pence, Al Gore arrive at service
Former Vice Presidents Al Gore and Mike Pence have arrived at Washington National Cathedral for the 10 a.m. service.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Vice President-elect JD Vance were also seen at the service.
Carter's casket leaves US Capitol for final time
Former President Jimmy Carter's casket has left the U.S. Capitol for the final time. Carter had been lying in state at the Capitol since Tuesday.
His motorcade will now head to Washington National Cathedral for a 10 a.m. service.
An emotional, weeklong goodbye
The emotional, weeklong public goodbye to former President Jimmy Carter began on Saturday when a motorcade carried his remains from his hometown of Plains, Georgia, to Atlanta.
Family, friends and employees of the Carter Presidential Center congregated at the center in Atlanta for a Saturday afternoon ceremony. Carter's son Chip Carter addressed the mourners and thanked his late parents for their service and sacrifice.
The public was then invited to pay their respects at the Carter Presidential Center from Saturday through Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Carter's body was transported Washington, D.C., and a service was held at the Capitol. Carter lied in state at the Capitol on Wednesday.
On Thursday afternoon, following the Washington National Cathedral funeral, Carter will return to his hometown of Plains for a private service and private interment.
Motorcade makes emotional stop at Navy Memorial Former President Jimmy Carterâs motorcade made an emotional stop at the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C., to honor Carterâs service as a lieutenant in the Navy.
Carterâs childhood dream was to be in the Navy and he went on to graduate from the United States Naval Academy in 1946. Carter resigned from the Navy in 1953 after his fatherâs death so he could return to the family farm.
Carterâs casket was transferred from the hearse to a horse-drawn military caisson for a funeral procession that reproduces the walk Carter took with his family on the day of his inauguration. On that January day in 1977, Carter walked the mile-and-a-half inaugural parade route to the White House, rather than ride in a limousine, bringing a common touch to his presidency.
Navy officers stood silently along the snow-lined street, witnessing the casket's transfer to the caisson.
The Carter family will walk behind the casket as it heads from the U.S. Navy Memorial to the U.S. Capitol.
Motorcade leaves Joint Base Andrews
Former President Jimmy Carterâs motorcade has left Joint Base Andrews in Maryland en route to Washington, D.C., to begin several days of services in the nationâs capital.
Carter lands in DC
A plane carrying the Carter family and the casket of former President Jimmy Carter has landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for several days of ceremonies in Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Navy Memorial will be the first stop for the motorcade to honor Carterâs service as a lieutenant in the Navy.
Carter en route from Georgia to DC
The Carter family is accompanying former President Jimmy Carterâs remains on a flight from Georgiaâs Dobbins Air Reserve Base to Washington, D.C. for the late presidentâs final journey to the nationâs capital.
"Hail to the Chief" was played and troops fired a 21-gun salute after the coffin was taken out of the hearse. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was among the officials at the base to witness the coffinâs transfer from the hearse to the plane.
Carter is survived by four children -- John William (Jack), James Earl III (Chip), Donnel Jeffrey (Jeff) and Amy Lynn -- and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The flight will land in the D.C. area around 2 p.m.
The late presidentâs first stop in snowy D.C. will be the U.S. Navy Memorial to honor his time in the service.
That will be followed by a 4:30 p.m. ET service at the U.S. Capitol, which will be
Carter leaves Carter Presidential Center for final time
Former President Jimmy Carter is leaving the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta for the final time Tuesday morning as Carter Center employees and their families look on.
The former president had been lying in repose at the center since Saturday, allowing the public to come pay their respects.
At a Saturday service at the Carter Presidential Center, Carter's son Chip Carter thanked his parents for their service and sacrifice.
"The two of them together changed the world," he said, overcome with emotion.
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter founded the Carter Center after his presidency to improve health around the world and enhance freedom and democracy.
Carter to head to DC for services at Capitol, Washington National Cathedral
Former President Jimmy Carter's remains will be escorted from the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for the 39th president's final trip to the nation's capital.
His remains will leave the Carter Center at 11:30 a.m. ET.
The first stop in D.C. will be the U.S. Navy Memorial in honor of the former president's service.
At 4:30 p.m. ET, members of Congress, the Supreme Court, the Cabinet, the Joint Chiefs and other officials will congregate at the U.S. Capitol for a lying in state ceremony. Vice President Kamala Harris, Senator Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson are expected to deliver eulogies and lay wreaths.
Carter's remains will lie in state at the Capitol from Tuesday evening to Thursday morning, allowing the public to pay respects.
On Thursday morning, former presidents and other dignitaries will attend a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral. President Joe Biden will deliver a eulogy.
On Thursday afternoon, Carterâs body will return to his hometown of Plains, Georgia, for a private service and private interment. Carter will be buried next to his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, who died on Nov. 19, 2023, at the age of 96.
(NEW YORK) -- Facebook plans to replace its fact-checkers with "community notes," a move that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said would allow the social network to return "to our roots around free expression."
"We're replacing fact checkers with Community Notes, simplifying our policies and focusing on reducing mistakes," Zuckerberg said on Tuesday. "Looking forward to this next chapter."
The changes, which will also be in place for Instagram and Threads, will lift restrictions "on some topics that are part of mainstream discourse" and will focus the company's "enforcement on illegal and high-severity violations," Joel Kaplan, chief global affairs officer, said in a blog post.
Meta executives sought in their statements to tie the update to what they described as a sea change in public discourse accompanying the rise of President-elect Donald Trump's brand of politics.
Fact-checkers who were put in place in the wake of Trump's 2016 election have proven to be "too politically biased" and have destroyed "more trust than they've created," particularly in the United States, Zuckerberg said.
"The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech," Zuckerberg said.
The decision also follows Zuckerberg recent meeting with Trump at the president-elect's private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. And Meta is donating to Trump's presidential inaugural committee, marking a first for the company.
The shift in policy mirrors a series of updates that Elon Musk -- a Trump ally -- made after purchasing rival social network Twitter, which he's since rebranded as X.
Kaplan on Tuesday praised the approach Musk has taken, saying X under its new owner has empowered its "community to decide when posts are potentially misleading and need more context."
"We think this could be a better way of achieving our original intention of providing people with information about what they're seeing -- and one that's less prone to bias," Kaplan said.
As the company's fact-checking capabilities have grown, they have expanded "to the point where we are making too many mistakes," which in turn has frustrated many of the social networks' users, Kaplan said.
"Too much harmless content gets censored, too many people find themselves wrongly locked up in 'Facebook jail,' and we are often too slow to respond when they do," he said.
ABC News' Michael Kreisel, Zunaira Zaki and Chris Donovan contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) -- In a major change that could affect millions of Americans' credit scores, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday finalized a rule to remove medical debt from consumer credit reports.
The rule would erase an estimated $49 billion in unpaid medical bills from the credit reports of roughly 15 million Americans, the CFPB said.
That could help boost those borrowers' credit scores by an average of 20 points, helping them qualify for mortgages and other loans.
"No one should be denied economic opportunity because they got sick or experienced a medical emergency," Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement touting the new rule.
She announced the proposal for the rule last June alongside CFPB Director Rohit Chopra.
"This will be life-changing for millions of families, making it easier for them to be approved for a car loan, a home loan or a small-business loan," Harris added.
Major credit reporting agencies have already announced voluntary steps to remove medical debt from their reports.
The final rule is set to take effect in March â but that timeline could be delayed by legal challenges.
Debt collection industry groups like the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals have opposed the change, saying it would result in "reduced consequences for not paying your bills, which in turn will reduce access to credit and health care for those that need it most."
(TIBET) -- At least 126 people were killed and more than 188 others were injured as a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck near Tibet's holy city on Tuesday, according to Chinese state media.
The earthquake occurred in Dingri County, Shigatse City, Tibet, just after 9 a.m. with a focal depth of 10 kilometers, according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre. More than 3,600 houses had collapsed, state media said.
The U.S. Geological Survey placed the earthquake's magnitude at 7.1, pinpointing the epicenter in Xizang, the local name for the Tibet Autonomous Region.
"The region near the India and Eurasia plate boundary has a history of large earthquakes," the USGS said in a summary of the quake. "In the past century, there have been 10 earthquakes of magnitude 6 and greater within 250 km of the January 7, 2025, earthquake."
The Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism's exiled spiritual leader, said in a statement that he was "saddened" to learn of the deadly earthquake.
"It has caused the tragic loss of many lives, numerous injuries, and extensive destruction to homes and property," he said. "I offer my prayers for those who have lost their lives and extend my wishes for a swift recovery to all who have been injured."
The Chinese media also reported that as of 10 a.m. local time, multiple aftershocks were recorded, the largest of which was 4.4.
The death toll has risen steadily in the hours since the earthquake, according to Xinhua, a state media outlet. First reported at 53, with about 60 other injured, it climbed hours later to about 95 dead and 130 injured, the outlet reported.
Kim Jae-Hwan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(LONDON) -- North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday claimed a successful test a new type of intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile, with leader Kim Jong Un touting the weapon as a major military achievement.
KCNA said the successful test took place on Jan. 6. The launch marked Pyongyang's first missile test of 2025 and came with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the region for what is expected to be his last foreign trip as America's top diplomat.
Kim personally oversaw the test, KCNA said.
Kim said the missile's hypersonic glide vehicle travelled more than 930 miles at 12 times the speed of sound. It reached two different peaks of 62 miles and 26.4 miles before hitting a simulated target at sea, the North Korean leader said.
The development of the weapon is "mainly aimed to steadily put the country's nuclear war deterrent on an advanced basis by making the means of changing the war situation, the weapon system to which no one can respond, the linchpin of strategic deterrence," Kim said, as quoted by KCNA.
"This is clearly a plan and effort for self-defence, not an offensive plan and action," Kim added.
"The performance of our latest intermediate-range hypersonic missile system cannot be ignored worldwide and the system can deal a serious military strike to a rival while effectively breaking any dense defensive barrier," the leader added.
The launch "clearly showed" Pyongyang's "rivals" that the country is "fully ready to use even any means to defend our legitimate interests," Kim continued.
"The hypersonic missile system will reliably contain any rivals in the Pacific region that can affect the security of our state," he said.
North Korea has embarked on an intense program of weapons tests in recent years, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, medium-range rockets and hypersonic weapons. The increase in tests came as relations with the U.S. and its regional allies deteriorated and Pyongyang pulled closer to Russia.
North Korea has been testing hypersonic weapons -- which fly at more than five times the speed of sound, their speed and trajectory making them difficult to intercept -- since 2021.
South Korea cast doubt on its neighbor's purported test. Lee Sung Joon, the spokesperson for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Seoul's military believed Pyongyang was exaggerating its capabilities, the Associated Press reported.
Lee said the missile covered a shorter distance than Kim claimed and that there was no second peak.
The latest test came as Blinken visited South Korea and Japan -- two key American regional allies.
Blinken on Monday condemned North Korea's launch as "yet another violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions," and again criticized Pyongyang for its materiel and personnel contributions to Russia's ongoing war on Ukraine.
ABC News' Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
DONETSK OBLAST, UKRAINE - DECEMBER 31: Ukrainian soldiers watch the Zelensky New Years Eve address from their base in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on 31 December 2024. (Photo by Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that some 38,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded fighting in Russia's western Kursk region since August, with Kyiv now launching a fresh offensive in the border region.
"We continue to maintain a buffer zone on Russian territory, actively destroying Russian military potential there," Zelenskyy said in a statement posted to the presidency's website.
Monday marked five months since Ukrainian units crossed into Kursk in a surprise summer 2024 offensive there. Russian forces -- recently supported by North Korean troops -- have since slowly been reclaiming ground in their bid to eject Ukrainian troops from the region.
On Sunday, Ukrainian and Russian officials confirmed that Kyiv had launched a fresh offensive in Kursk, with fierce fighting reported in several villages.
"Since the beginning of the Kursk operation, the enemy has already lost over 38,000 troops in this area alone, including approximately 15,000 irrecoverable losses," Zelenskyy said.
"The Russians have deployed their strong units to the Kursk region," he added. "Soldiers from North Korea are involved there. What's important is that the occupier cannot currently redirect all this force to other directions, in particular the Donetsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, or Zaporizhzhia regions."
"I thank all our warriors who are bringing the war back to Russia and providing Ukraine with greater security and strength," Zelenskyy said.
Multiple Russian military bloggers reported that Ukrainian troops, tanks, armored vehicles and demining equipment attacked the villages of Berdin and Bolshoye Soldatskoye, north of Sudzha -- the main administrative border town that Ukraine captured in August. Bloggers also reported an attack further west on the border town of Tetkino.
Russia's Defense Ministry said in a Monday statement that two assaults were repelled. "The operation to destroy the Ukrainian Armed Forces formations continues," it wrote on Telegram.
The Institute for the Study of War think tank reported that Ukraine intensified its offensive operations in Kursk through Monday, with Russian forces elsewhere in the region launching their own fresh attacks on the Ukrainian salient.
The think tank reported "tactical advances" by Ukrainian troops in areas northeast of Sudzha, though the extent of their success remains unclear.
Andriy Yermak -- the head of Zelenskyy's presidential office -- said in a Sunday post to Telegram there was "good news" from the Kursk battlefields, adding: "Russia is getting what it deserves."
Ukraine launched its latest Kursk push just two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump has promised to end the war in 24 hours, repeatedly hinting at pressing Ukraine to make territorial and political concessions in exchange for peace.
Zelenskyy and his top officials have been working hard to build ties with the incoming administration and convince the president-elect of the need to support Ukraine and contain Russia.
Zelenskyy said on Monday that he "held a meeting with international relations officials to plan our meetings and negotiations for January.
"We are accelerating arms deliveries to Ukraine and working toward new and more long-term relations with partners," he said. "We are preparing positive diplomatic news for Ukraine."
Continued Ukrainian presence in Kursk may give Kyiv more leverage in peace talks with Moscow, with Russian troops still occupying around 25% of Ukraine's internationally recognized territory.
"We don't need Russian territory, but we need our territories back," Yehor Cherniev -- a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the chairman of his country's delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly -- told ABC News.
"This will probably be one of the positions for further negotiations," Cherniev said.
ABC News' Patrick Reevell and Natasha Popova contributed to this report.
ROME (AP) â Pope Francis on Monday named Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego as the archbishop of Washington, tapping one of his most progressively like-minded allies to head the Catholic Church in the U.S. capital at the start of Donald Trump’s second administration.
At a press conference, McElroy said he prayed the incoming administration would work to make America a better place. But he also identified Trump’s threats of mass deportations of immigrants as a point of potential conflict, saying such policies were âincompatible with Catholic doctrine.â
McElroy, 70, replaces the retiring Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who steps down after having navigated the archdiocese through the fallout of the 2018 eruption of the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
The Vatican announced McElroy’s new job on Monday, the Catholic feast of the Epiphany, in a bulletin that flagged another important appointment in Francis’ reform agenda. The pope named Italian Sister Simona Brambilla the first-ever woman to head a Vatican dicastery, in this case the one responsible for religious orders.
Francis, who was elected pope on a mandate of reform, has long had his eye on McElroy, making him bishop of San Diego in 2015 and then elevating him as a cardinal in 2022.
McElroy has been one of a minority of U.S. bishops to harshly criticize the campaign to exclude Catholic politicians who support abortion rights from Communion, a campaign Francis has publicly criticized by insisting that bishops must be pastors, not politicians.
He has also questioned why the U.S. bishopsâ conference, which has leaned conservative in its leadership, consistently insists on identifying abortion as its âpreeminentâ priority. McElroy has questioned why greater prominence is not given to issues such as racism, poverty, immigration and climate change.
He has also expressed support for LGBTQ+ youth and denounced the bullying often directed at them, further aligning himself with Francisâ priorities as pope.
âMcElroy is competent, kind, empathetic, and willing to fight on the side of the vulnerable,â said Natalia Imperatori-Lee, chairperson of the religion and philosophy department at Manhattan University. She said his nomination was particularly timely given the polarization in the U.S.
âMcElroy has experience leading a diocese marked by diversity and challenges, and I canât think of a bigger challenge than to be so close to the seat of the U.S. government in 2025,â she said in an email.
McElroy, a graduate of Harvard University with a master’s in history from Stanford University, is a native of San Francisco and had ministered there until Francis moved him to San Diego.
Vincent Miller, professor of theology at the University of Dayton, pointed to McElroy’s writings on Christian nationalism and patriotism â in which he argued for a âmorally sound and unitive” patriotism as opposed to an isolationist one â as particularly relevant today.
âMcElroy is uniquely prepared for this moment,â Miller said in a social media post. âAt a moment when constitutional democracy is in crisis in the US, on the anniversary of an insurrection that sought to undermine it, Francis has moved one of his most capable and uniquely qualified bishops into position to respond to the needs of this moment.â
McElroyâs appointment to Washington comes just a few weeks after Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, nominated Brian Burch as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See. Burch, president and co-founder of the advocacy group CatholicVote, has criticized Francis and some of his policies, including his emphasis on âsynodalityâ or making the church a more inclusive place.
McElroy, who was a papal nominee to the Vatican’s big synod process, made clear Monday that he was fully on board with Francis’ vision of a church that doesn’t discriminate. Speaking in Spanish to address Washington’s sizeable Latino community, McElroy cited Francis’ famous line âtodos, todos, todos,â to emphasize that everyone is welcome in the church, no one excluded.
He did, though, acknowledge likely points of disagreement with the incoming Trump administration. Climate change, he said, was âone of the greatest challengesâ facing the world, while immigration would likely be a source of conflict if the administration fulfills its threat of mass deportations of migrants.
âThe Catholic Church teaches that a country has the right to control the borders, and our nationâs desire to do that is a legitimate effort,” he said. “At the same time, we are called always to have the sense of the dignity of every human person, and thus plans which have been talked about on some level of having a wider indiscriminate, massive deportation across the country would be something that would be incompatible with Catholic doctrine.â
The Archdiocese of Washington includes the District of Columbia and the Maryland counties of Montgomery, Prince Georgeâs, St. Maryâs, Calvert and Charles. It has a total population of 3,050,847, of whom 671,187 are Catholic.
Its outgoing archbishop, Gregory, took over in 2019 at a time of turmoil for one of the nation’s most important archdioceses. Its two previous leaders, ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and Cardinal Donald Wuerl, were caught up in a new wave of the long-running clerical sexual abuse scandal.
Wuerl stepped down after he lost the trust of his priests, and McCarrick was defrocked after a Vatican investigation found he abused adults as well as minors.
Francis not only tapped Gregory to lead but then made him a prince of the church in 2020, making him the first Black American cardinal in the process.
McElroy was indirectly tainted by the McCarrick scandal after revelations that a whistleblower had told him in 2016 that McCarrick slept with seminarians. McElroy acknowledged having received the report but said the whistleblower refused to provide him with corroborating evidence.
Bishop Joseph Strickland, an arch-conservative whom Francis ousted as bishop of Tyler, Texas last year, cited the McCarrick connection in strongly criticizing Monday’s appointment.
“The blatant corruption of Pope Francis and the US Cardinals is on full display with the appointment of a McCarrick clone to the same archdiocese where his evil reigned twenty years ago,” Strickland tweeted.
The Archdiocese of Washington is home to The Catholic University of America, which is run by the church and is viewed as more conservative than many other Catholic universities in the U.S. run by the Jesuits.
The dean of CUAâs school of theology and religious studies, Professor Joseph Capizzi, said he looked forward to working with McElroy.
âI hope he becomes engaged,â Capizzi said. âI hope we can influence him and he can influence us.â
ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) â About 100 migrants from various countries wandered directionless and disoriented through the streets of the troubled Pacific coast resort of Acapulco.
After walking for a couple weeks through southern Mexico with hundreds of other migrants, they accepted an offer from immigration officials to come to Acapulco with the idea they could continue their journey north toward the U.S. border. Instead, they found themselves stuck on Monday.
Two weeks ahead of President-elect Donald Trumpâs second inauguration, Mexico continues dissolving attention-grabbing migrant caravans and dispersing migrants throughout the country to keep them far from the U.S. border, while simultaneously limiting how many accumulate in any one place.
Acapulco would seem to be a strange destination for migrants. Once a crown jewel of Mexicoâs tourism industry, the city now suffers under the thumb of organized crime and is still struggling to climb back after taking a direct hit from devastating Hurricane Otis in 2023.
On Monday, Mexican tourists enjoyed the final hours of their holiday beach vacations while migrants slept in the street or tried to find ways to resume their journeys north.
âImmigration (officials) told us they were going to give us a permit to transit the country freely for 10, 15 days and it wasnât like that,â said a 28-year-old Venezuelan, Ender Antonio Castañeda. âThey left us dumped here without any way to get out. They wonât sell us (bus) tickets, they wonât sell us anything.â
Castañeda, like thousands of other migrants, had left the southern city of Tapachula near the Guatemalan border. More than a half dozen caravans of about 1,500 migrants each have set out from Tapachula in recent weeks, but none of them made it very far.
Authorities let them walk for days until theyâre exhausted and then offer to bus them to various cities where they say their immigration status will be reviewed, which could mean any number of things.
Some have landed in Acapulco, where about a dozen sleep at a Catholic church near the immigration agency offices.
Several dozen gathered outside the offices Monday looking for information, but no one would tell them anything. Castañeda, who had just received money from his family and was desperate to leave, picked a van driver he judged to be the most trustworthy among various offering rides for up to five times the normal price for a bus ticket to Mexico City
Some migrants have discovered the permits authorities give them allow them to travel only within the state of Guerrero, where Acapulco is located. Other migrants have better luck.
On Sunday, the latest migrant caravan broke up after hundreds received free transit permits to go anywhere in Mexico for a specified number of days.
Cuban Dayani SĂĄnchez, 33, and her husband were among them.
âWeâre a little scared by the lack of safety getting on buses, that theyâre going to stop us,â she said. Mexicoâs drug cartels frequently target migrants for kidnapping and extortion, though many migrants say authorities extort them too.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum insists her immigration strategy has a âhumanitarianâ focus, and has allowed more migrants to leave southernmost Mexico. But some migration advocates note that migrants are being taken to violent areas.
Itâs a concern shared by the Rev. Leopoldo Morales, the priest at the Catholic church in Acapulco near the immigration agency office.
He said that in November two or three immigration agency buses arrived with migrants, including entire families. Last weekend, two more arrived carrying all adults.
Even though Acapulco isnât on the usual migration route and was unprepared to receive migrants, several priests have coordinated support for them with water, food and clothing. âWe know theyâre going through a very difficult time, with a lot of needs, they arrive without money,â Morales said.
Migrants quickly realize that finding work in Acapulco is difficult. After Otisâ destruction, the federal government sent hundreds of soldiers and National Guard troops to provide security and start reconstruction. Last year, another storm, John, brought widespread flooding.
But violence in Acapulco hasnât relented.
Acapulco has one of Mexicoâs highest rates of homicides. Cab drivers and small business owners complain â anonymously â of rising extortion. Large companies have balked at rebuilding under the current circumstances.
Honduran Jorge NeftalĂ Alvarenga was grateful to have escaped the Mexican state of Chiapas along the Guatemalan border, but was already disillusioned.
âTo an extent they lied to us,â said Alvarenga, who thought he was going to Mexico City. âWe asked for an agreement to send us to (Mexico City) for workâ or other places like Monterrey, an industrial city in the north with more work opportunities.
Now he doesnât know what to do.
___
Associated Press writer Edgar H. Clemente in Tapachula, Mexico, contributed to this report.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) â A Tennessee law requiring pornographic websites to verify their visitors’ age was largely blocked in court before it was to take effect Jan. 1, even as similar laws kicked in for Florida and South Carolina and remained in effect for more than a dozen other states.
On Dec. 30, U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman in Memphis ruled that Tennessee’s law would likely suppress the First Amendment free speech rights of adults without actually preventing children from accessing the harmful material in question. The state attorney general’s office is appealing the decision.
The Free Speech Coalition, an adult entertainment trade group, is suing over Tennessee’s law and those in a half-dozen other states. The coalition lists some 19 states that have passed similar laws. One prominent adult website has cut off access in several states due to their laws.
The issue will hit the U.S. Supreme Court for oral arguments regarding Texas’ law next week.
Tennessee’s law
No one voted against Tennessee’s law last year when it passed the Republican-supermajority legislature, and GOP Gov. Bill Lee signed off on it.
The law would require porn websites to verify visitors are at least 18 years old, threatening felony penalties and civil liability possible for violators running the sites. They could match a photo to someone’s ID, or use certain âpublic or private transactional dataâ to prove someoneâs age. Website leaders could not retain personally identifying information and would have to keep anonymized data.
The Free Speech Coalition and other plaintiffs sued, winning a preliminary injunction that blocks the attorney general from enforcement while court proceedings continue. However, the coalition expressed concern that private lawsuits or actions by individual district attorneys could be possible.
In her ruling, Judge Lipman wrote that parental controls on minors’ devices are more effective and less restrictive.
She wrote that under Tennessee’s law, minors still could access adult sites using VPNs, or virtual private networks, that mask a user’s location. Or, they could view pornographic material on social media sites, which are unlikely to reach the law’s threshold of one-third of its content considered harmful to minors.
The judge also said the impact could be overly broad, potentially affecting other plaintiffs such as an online educational platform focused on sexual wellness.
She noted that Tennessee’s definition of âcontent harmful to minorsâ extends to include text. She specifically mentioned that the phrase âthe human nipple,â or crude combinations of keyboard characters, would be considered harmful as long as they lack âserious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.”
The state and the adult industry respond
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office is asking the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to let the law take effect as the lawsuit proceeds. Skrmetti noted that other appeals courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, allowed similar laws to take effect.
âThe Protect Tennessee Minors Act institutes common sense age verification to stop kids from accessing explicit obscene content while protecting the privacy of adults who choose to do so,” Skrmetti said.
The Free Speech Coalition has argued the law would be ineffective, unconstitutional and force people to transfer sensitive information.
âThis is a deeply flawed law that put website operators at risk of criminal prosecution for something as trivial as a mention of the human nipple,” said Free Speech Coalition Executive Director Alison Boden.
Site shuts off in some states; SCOTUS hearing looms
As verification laws took effect in Florida and South Carolina last week, website Pornhub cut off access there and posted a message encouraging people to contact political decision-makers. Its parent company, Aylo, says the site has blocked access in 16 states with verification requirements it called “ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous” and not properly enforced. The company is advocating for age verification on individual devices.
Judges had paused the laws in Indiana and Texas. But circuit appeals courts stepped in to allow enforcement.
The Supreme Court declined to halt Texas’ law in April while the court action continues. The next step is Supreme Court oral arguments on Jan. 15.
Another age verification law is set to begin in July in Georgia.
âââ
This story has been corrected to show that Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti made a statement about the Protect Tennessee Minors Act, not his spokesperson.
ARP â Our news partner KETK is reporting that an East Texas man was arrested after allegedly kidnapping a woman and her 4-month-old baby on Dec. 21. Officers with the Arp Police Department were dispatched to a residence on Jackson Street at around 2:56 a.m. due to a disturbance. Once authorities arrived, a woman was being evaluated by EMS for cuts, abrasions and bite marks to her face, neck, wrist and ankle.
The woman told officers that her ex-boyfriend, Ramon Martinez Jr., had been âdrinking and hanging outâ at the residence when he suddenly started to scream at her before hitting her in the head with a beer can and striking her with his closed fist. He also allegedly hit her with a metal shower rod on the foot, and officers reported seeing blood spattered throughout the residence.
