Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Jim McGovern has announced the sudden death of his daughter.
McGovern and members of his family said that 23-year-old Molly had previously been diagnosed with a rare cancer and that she died "unexpectedly" while traveling in Italy.
"She had just finished a semester abroad in Australia. She passed away unexpectedly in Italy while visiting a good friend and his family," the family said.
McGovern's daughter was a student at Northeastern University in Boston, where she studied political science and international affairs.
Molly McGovern volunteered for Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD) and had recently worked as a Sports Ambassador at TD Garden, home of her favorite sports team, the Boston Bruins.
“Her love for the Boston Bruins was fierce, but it was no match for the love she gave so freely to her family and friends. If you ever met Molly, you carried a piece of her light with you. She had that kind of effect on people,” her family said.
"Even as she faced a rare cancer diagnosis, she did so with relentless courage, optimism, and tenacity — refusing to let her illness slow her down," the family's statement said.
"Molly will always be the soul of our family. We are so proud of her, and so glad that so many people were touched by her incredible life. We love you, Molly. We miss you already," the communication concluded.
Members of both parties are offering their condolences in the wake of the tragedy.
Raskin wrote, "Everyone in our family adored Molly and we were all inspired by her love for animals, her passion for sports, and her ebullient compassion and care for friends, family, and strangers. We embrace the McGoverns and hold them tight during this hard, hard time.”
House Rules Committee chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said, "The loss of a child, no matter the age, is one of the greatest heartbreaks imaginable. Ranking Member McGovern and his entire family remain in my thoughts and prayers."
"In this difficult time of loss, may they find continued comfort, peace, and strength from their faith and from those around them," Foxx added.
McGovern is the ranking member on the House Rules Committee, where he has been the top Democrat since 2018.
This is the second time this month that a member of Congress has suffered the tragedy of losing a child. Republican Andy Biggs of Arizona announced last week that his daughter, Cosette, died from cancer.
Molly McGovern is survived by her father, her mother Lisa, and her brother Patrick.
The Supreme Court has moved to slow down President Trump's deportation push, sparking a furious response from the president and two of the court's own members.
A 7-2 majority ordered Trump to stop removing illegal aliens being held at a facility in northern Texas until further notice. The justices issued the shock ruling past midnight on April 19.
“The Government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court,” the Supreme Court’s order reads.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had asked the Supreme Court to shield a group of Venezuelan men in northern Texas from being deported. The court granted the request even as a lower court was still considering it.
Only two justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas - neither of whom Trump appointed himself - objected to the Supreme Court's move, which Alito called "legally questionable."
“I refused to join the Court’s order because we had no good reason to think that, under the circumstances, issuing an order at midnight was necessary or appropriate," he wrote.
The controversy centers on Trump's use of a wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, to swiftly remove alleged gang members whom the administration considers to be foreign terrorists.
The president's critics have accused him of ignoring due process, but Trump says he's just doing what the people elected him to do.
"My team is fantastic, doing an incredible job, however, they are being stymied at every turn by even the U.S. Supreme Court, which I have such great respect for, but which seemingly doesn’t want me to send violent criminals and terrorists back to Venezuela, or any other Country, for that matter —People that came here illegally!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
With its midnight intervention, the Supreme Court signaled a more skeptical approach than it had previously taken toward Trump's aggressive deportation agenda.
The justices previously allowed Trump to use the Alien Enemies Act, but said aliens must be given a reasonable opportunity to contest their removal.
Trump's bold immigration push has set up a dramatic conflict between the White House and the courts, which have gone so far as to order Trump to return illegal aliens to U.S. soil.
The Supreme Court has not gone to that extreme, instructing Trump to "facilitate" the return of a Salvadoran man who was deported to his native country, Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The justices rebuked a liberal judge who used stronger language to demand Garcia's return.
"The district court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the executive branch in the conduct of foreign affairs," the justices wrote.
Meanwhile, the president says the courts are imposing "ridiculous" burdens on his efforts to deport those living in the country illegally.
"We cannot give everyone a trial, because to do so would take, without exaggeration, 200 years. We would need hundreds of thousands of trials for the hundreds of thousands of Illegals we are sending out of the Country. Such a thing is not possible to do," he said.
"What a ridiculous situation we are in!" he wrote.
President Trump is restarting student loan collections for those in default, reversing a COVID-era policy that Trump himself enacted and which was later embraced by President Biden.
The federal government will start collecting on defaulted loans on May 5, ending a five-year pause that started during the pandemic.
After a 30-day warning, the government will start garnishing wages.
“Going forward, the Department of Education, in conjunction with the Department of Treasury, will shepherd the student loan program responsibly and according to the law, which means helping borrowers return to repayment — both for the sake of their own financial health and our nation’s economic outlook,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said.
The Trump administration's reversal will immediately impact the 5 million borrowers in default - but the number is expected to rise to nearly 10 million since only 40% of borrowers are up to date on their payments.
Trump initially paused student loan payments during his first term, at the start of the COVID pandemic, but Biden extended the policy and went further by eliminating debts altogether.
Biden's campaign pledge of sweeping debt forgiveness ran into roadblocks in court, forcing his administration to devise legal workarounds. The initiative was widely condemned by Republicans as a form of political patronage that would be paid for by taxpayers, but Biden proudly touted his efforts to sidestep the law.
“The Supreme Court blocked it,” Biden said. “But that didn’t stop me.”
By the time he left office, Biden had forgiven $175 billion in student loans. His initial, more ambitious program to forgive $20,000 per borrower was blocked by the Supreme Court.
The student loan moratorium technically ended in 2023, but Biden gave borrowers a one-year grace period that lasted through the 2024 election cycle.
While Trump's critics accuse him of being cruel, Education Secretary Linda McMahon says the status quo was unfair to taxpayers - and it did no favors for borrowers who were given false hopes of forgiveness.
“President Biden never had the authority to forgive student loans across the board, as the Supreme Court held in 2023,” McMahon wrote in the Wall Street Journal.
“But for political gain, he dangled the carrot of loan forgiveness in front of young voters, among other things by keeping in place a temporary Covid-era deferment program.”
The reversal is also necessary to put America's fiscal house in order, the administration says. The Education Department noted that nearly one quarter of all loans could soon be in default after years of leniency.
The wife of former New Jersey Democratic senator Bob Menendez, Nadine Menendez, has been found guilty in the same bribery scheme that led to his conviction and resignation.
The pair was accused of selling political favors to foreign governments in exchange for gold bars, cash, and a Mercedes vehicle.
The former senator, who sat on the powerful Foreign Affairs committee, stepped down after he was convicted in August of acting as a foreign agent for Egypt and Qatar.
On Monday, a jury in New York found his wife guilty on all 15 counts, including bribery, extortion and obstruction of justice, following a trial that lasted almost a month.
One of the witnesses, who pled guilty, businessman Jose Uribe, gave Nadine a $60,000 Mercedez after she totaled her car in a crash that killed a pedestrian. She was never charged in the deadly incident.
Another participant in the scheme helped pay for Nadine's mortgage as she was facing the loss of her home.
"We are devastated by the verdict. Speaking for myself, I am devastated by the verdict. But, I want to emphasize, that we respect the criminal justice system, we respect this court," her defense lawyer Barry Coburn said.
During his own trial, lawyers for the former senator tried to blame his Lebanese-born wife, painting her as the mastermind in the foreign agent scheme.
But prosecutors said they were "partners in crime" who worked together to sell his influence.
"Nadine Menendez and Senator Menendez were partners in crime," acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said in a statement following the verdict.
"Over the span of five years, Nadine Menendez agreed to accept and accepted all sorts of bribes -- including gold bars, cash, a Mercedes-Benz convertible, and a no-show job -- all in exchange for the Senator's corrupt official acts. Together, Nadine Menendez and the Senator placed their own interests and greed ahead of the interests of the citizens the Senator was elected to serve."
"Today's verdict sends the clear message that the power of government officials may not be put up for sale, and that all those who facilitate corruption will be held accountable for their actions," he added.
Initially, Menendez and his wife were going to be tried together, but their prosecutions were split up after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Nadine will be sentenced in June, the same month that her husband is scheduled to begin his 11-year sentence in federal prison.
A Missouri college football star has died in a tragic accident at the age of just 21.
Missouri State senior Todric McGee was found dead at his home on Saturday after he reportedly shot himself by mistake.
Police were summoned to his apartment complex Friday for a wellness check, where they discovered the young man with a "possible accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound."
He was transported to a hospital in Springfield, where he died the next day.
A Wichita, Kansas native, McGee had been the Bears' starting safety for the past two seasons and earned all-conference honors in 2023.
McGee had been eager to get playing again after a knee injury cut his season short last year, the Springfield News-Leader reported.
Missouri State's athletics director joined McGee's coach in mourning his untimely death.
“On behalf of the university and our entire department, we want to express our condolences to Todric’s family, friends, and teammates,” said Missouri State Director of Athletics Patrick Ransdell. “This tragedy has shaken our football program to the core, and we want them to know we are here to support them in every way possible at this extremely difficult time.”
Rest easy young man 🐻 🏈
Joshua 1:9 pic.twitter.com/bjOdmQCD82— Ryan Beard (@Ry_Beard) April 19, 2025
"Our football family is in shock and in mourning at the loss of Todric," Bears head football coach Ryan Beard said in a statement. "We ask everyone to please respect the privacy of his family and our MoState football team at this time as we begin the healing process. Join us in praying for Todric and the people who loved him."
A close friend and former teammate from McGee's high school days, Zaire Adkins, was among those processing the shocking news.
"He was a lighthearted person," Adkins said. "He was always joking around and explaining things in the funniest way. His smile was contagious and infectious. He was always smiling and laughing."
McGee had shown promise as a teenager at Northwest High in Wichita, where he was an all-state defensive back and team captain. The school shared a touching tribute for the young man "with a heart of gold."
I am heartbroken to have to share this but Todric McGee passed away last night! Please keep his mother Stephanie and sister Tahlia in your thoughts and prayers as well as the many family and friends he had. He was an amazing young man with a heart of gold! RIP Todric! pic.twitter.com/xOLkuV4MHk
— NORTHWEST FOOTBALL (@NWGRIZZLYFB) April 19, 2025
The tragic incident continues to be investigated by police.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell doesn't have a whole lot of friends in Washington D.C. -- at least not on the Republican side of the aisle, and especially not President Donald Trump.
According to JustTheNews, it was reported this week that Trump has his people researching potential ways to have Powell removed from his powerful and influential position if he doesn't retire or resign.
Kevin Hassett, Trump's top economic adviser, confirmed the news this week that Trump isn't happy with Powell.
The president has publicly criticized Powell, especially recently, for not cutting interest rates like he wants him to, causing great tension around Washington D.C.
According to a CNBC piece on the subject, Trump is not being shy regarding how he feels about Fed Chair Powell, saying he should have cut interest rates already if "he knew what he was doing."
"If we had a Fed Chairman that understood what he was doing, interest rates would be coming down, too," Trump told reporters this week. "He should bring them down."
The outlet noted:
Trump has long argued that the Fed, which sets monetary policy in the U.S., should cut down interest rates. His latest comments come as the White House has ratcheted up its attacks on Powell in recent days.
It added:
The president and his team will continue to study that matter,” Hassett said at the White House after a reporter questioned if firing Powell “is an option in a way that it wasn’t before,” according to Reuters.
Powell, whose term as Fed Chair ends in May, 2026, strongly contends that he's protected from being fired by the president, though the matter seems like it could soon end up in a legal battle.
Trump seems dead set on making it happen anyway, writing recently in a Truth Social post, "Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough."
Powell doesn't seem to be a fan of Trump's tariffs.
"We may find ourselves in the challenging scenario in which our dual-mandate goals are in tension," Powell said in prepared remarks before the Economic Club of Chicago. "If that were to occur, we would consider how far the economy is from each goal, and the potentially different time horizons over which those respective gaps would be anticipated to close."
The Fed Chair made it clear that the Federal Reserve is waiting for "greater clarity" before it makes any adjustments to rates.
Only time will tell if Trump finds a way to boot Powell from his post. Either way, a legal battle over the matter is coming.
President Donald Trump's tax cuts during his first term in the White House in 2017 still remains one of his most popular and controversial moves.
However, according to JustTheNews, a new poll revealed that voters in over 20 congressional swing districts want the tax cuts extended and believe they are a good thing for the American economy.
The poll, which clearly shows the popularity of Trump's tax cuts in some of the most important congressional districts across the country, was commissioned by the National Taxpayers Union.
Americans in those districts, and millions more across the country worried about the current high living costs, made it clear that they want the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to be extended indefinitely, which Trump promised to do during his 2024 presidential campaign.
The survey wasn't complicated, and simply asked voters in 21 congressional swing districts whether or not they believe Trump's 2017 tax cuts are good for them and for the American economy.
The outlet noted:
The survey found that 81% of respondents said their cost of living had increased in the past year, with most expecting further increases in the coming years. Meanwhile, 80% said they will struggle to meet their basic needs, like affording groceries and utilities, if their taxes increase.
The poll also found that 52% of those same voters want the tax cuts to be made permanent. Only 36% disagreed with that option.
The end of the year could be a massive bummer for millions of American families if Trump's tax cuts are not extended, as it would mean the average family pays about $1,700 more in taxes.
Pete Sepp, president of the National Taxpayers Union, released a statement on the findings of the poll his organization conducted.
"Americans fresh off tax season are frustrated by the time and money they spent to file and pay their taxes this year, and they’re worried about the next blow to their wallets," he wrote in a statement.
Sepp added, "Americans fresh off tax season are frustrated by the time and money they spent to file and pay their taxes this year, and they’re worried about the next blow to their wallets."
Users across social media agreed with the results of the poll.
A striking 85% of voters support extending Trump tax cuts.
Key poll findings: 81% can't shoulder higher taxes, 74% advocate for tax reform to lower rates, 71% favor extending the small business income deduction, and 61% oppose taxes on tips.
This signals a clear demand for tax… pic.twitter.com/51FzuEnrcF
— Stephen Moore (@StephenMoore) April 16, 2025
"This is why we elected Trump and gave the GOP control. Congress better earn it," one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote, "Now that we know exactly how the feds are stealing and wasting our money, of course sane people want to pay fewer taxes."
Liberals on both sides of the Atlantic let out a collective wail of despair as the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom officially ruled that biological men are not to be considered women under the law.
The shock ruling is the fruit of a hard-fought legal battle brought by For Women Scotland, an anti-trans feminist organization.
The case turned on the interpretation of "woman" in the Equality Act, a comprehensive civil rights law passed by Parliament in 2010.
The unanimous verdict is a rare victory for common sense over the leftist ideology that has sowed confusion about biological truths throughout Western societies.
In the United States, a backlash against "woke" ideology has been credited as a factor in the Democrats' devastating wipeout last November, and some ambitious Democrats have started to distance themselves from the transgender movement and its absolutist demands.
President Trump has fought to defend women's sports under Title IX, a civil rights law that bars sex-based discrimination in education. Title IX was repurposed during the Biden presidency to include gender identity.
The Supreme Court of the U.K. ruled that defining "sex" as a chosen identity certified by paperwork leads to "incoherent" and impractical consequences.
"The practical problems that arise under a certificated sex approach are clear indicators that this interpretation is not correct," the judges wrote.
The court's decision means that single-sex spaces are protected under the Equality Act. The ruling does not disturb anti-discrimination protections relating to gender reassignment, the court said.
"The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex," said Justice Patrick Hodge.
"But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another, it is not."
Many British women responded to the court's ruling with euphoria.
"Today the judges have said what we always believed to be the case, that women are protected by their biological sex," For Women Scotland co-founder Susan Smith said.
"Sex is real and women can now feel safe that services and spaces designated for women are for women and we are enormously grateful to the Supreme Court for this ruling."
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling wrote, "It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court and, in winning, they've protected the rights of women and girls across the UK."
It is remarkable that it required a Supreme Court case to vindicate the simple reality that men are not women, but it's a step in the right direction.
Wink Martindale, the popular TV and radio presenter known for hosting Tic-Tac-Dough and Gambit, has died. He was 91.
Born Winston Conrad Martindale on Dec. 4, 1933, in Jackson, Tennessee, Martindale is credited with setting up Elvis Presley's first interview after Memphis radio station WHBQ played his debut recording "That's All Right Mama" on July 10, 1954.
Martindale broke into television at WHBQ-TV in Memphis, where he hosted Mars Patrol, a science-fiction themed show for children, and Teenage Dance Party, where he interviewed Presley on June 16, 1956.
His first game show was NBC's What's This Song? (1964-1965), followed by NBC's Words and Music, CBS' Gambit, and his most famous game show, Tic-Tac-Dough.
Martindale also had success as a recording artist, selling more than one million copies of the spoken-word narrative song "Deck of Cards" in 1959.
He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006.
Martindale was transferred to Los Angeles to host KHJ in 1959 and moved between different stations in the region for decades. He was a host on Gene Autry's KMPC (now KSPN) for 12 years.
Martindale got his start in show business as a teenaged disc jockey in his hometown of Jackson, Tennessee, earning just $25 a week, before moving up to WHBQ, where he met the King of Rock and Roll.
It was Martindale's WHBQ colleague, Dewey Phillips, who introduced Presley to listeners by playing "That's All Right, Mama" on his nighttime show Red, Hot, and Blue. As Martindale would later recall, it was his job to call Presley's mother to set up an interview. Elvis was so nervous about the excitement generated by the song that he had gone to the movie theater.
“They found him sitting there by himself and brought him to the station," Martindale recalled during an interview with Television Academy Foundation in 2018. "Dewey put him in front of a microphone and just started talking to him. So I met Elvis that night. He became my friend and he continued to be my friend until the day he died.”
Martindale and Presley became good friends, and one of the singer's former girlfriend's, Sandy, became Martindale's second wife in 1975. She was at his side when he died at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. on Tuesday.
Martindale also hosted annual telethons for Cerebral Palsy and St. Jude Children’s Hospital.
He is survived by his wife Sandra, his daughters Lisa, Lyn and Laura, his sister Geraldine, and his “honorary son,” Eric.
A week after Gene Hackman and his wife were found dead, state health investigators in New Mexico found a severe rat infestation at their home, according to a report.
Hackman, 95, died days after his wife and caregiver, 65-year-old Betsy Arakawa, was killed by a rat-borne illness.
New Mexico officials who performed a health assessment of the home found rat droppings, dead rats, and rat nests in some outbuildings and garages, the Daily Mail reported.
The discovery could explain how Hackman's wife came to contract hantavirus, a rare but deadly respiratory disease that spreads through infected rat feces.
Police bodycam video released Tuesday shows deputies discovering the couple's partially mummified remains inside their squalid home.
One of the couple's surviving German Shepherds was found guarding Arakawa's body in the bathroom. Hackman was found on the other side of the house.
Police also shed light on Arakawa's last hours alive, sharing details of her final communications, an Amazon order and internet searches.
The new information was shared over the objections of Hackman's family, who sought to block records from the death investigation for privacy reasons. A judge allowed most of those records to be released but ordered images of the bodies to be blurred.
According to a police report, Arakawa used Google to look up if COVID causes dizziness or nosebleeds on February 10.
The next day, she emailed her message therapist to cancel an appointment, while noting her husband had flu and cold-like symptoms, although he tested negative for COVID. Arakawa also ordered oxygen canisters from Amazon to help with breathing.
It was previously reported that she sought medical treatment from a local clinic. She never answered a missed call placed on February 12, her presumed date of death. Hantavirus can kill a person within 24 to 48 hours of the first symptoms, if left untreated.
Hackman may have been unaware that his wife was dead for several days before he succumbed to heart disease, with Alzheimer's a contributing factor, on February 18. One of the couple's dogs also died from starvation and dehydration.
Their bodies were not found until a week later on February 26, when neighborhood security made the grim discovery.
Hackman, one of the most esteemed actors of his generation and an Oscar winner, had been out of the public eye for years before his shocking death.