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In 2020, a foster care supervisor in Montcalm County, Michigan, messaged her boss with concerns about drug testing. A father who was working to reunite with his children had tested positive for methamphetamine with the lab the state had a contract with, Averhealth, and the results contradicted tests ordered by other law enforcement agencies, she wrote.Judge indicated on the record that the issue of Averhealths testing results was a state-wide issue and that probate court judges all over the state were having similar problems.Months later, another official with Michigans Department of Health and Human Services wrote to colleagues about similar worries. We are struggling to do casework with Averhealth and dont trust them, supervisor Sara Winter wrote. We are making BIG decisions, including having parents leave home or removal, and thats scary to do when you dont trust who youre getting services from.The cause of the discrepancies was unknown. But that year, 2021, Averhealths accreditor faulted its practices and placed the lab on a six-month probation, citing, among other issues, data manipulation and failed proficiency tests, which are done to ensure test accuracy.When state officials caught wind of the investigation and repeatedly inquired about it, they hit a wall. The College of American Pathologists Forensic Drug Testing Accreditation Program told them that findings of the investigation are kept confidential. They asked Averhealths then-CEO Jason Herzog for all available reports on the lab. He was out of the office, he said, and promised to track down when I have a good internet connection.Averhealth didnt disclose that it had been placed on probation its contract didnt require such notification. And more than a year would pass before Michigan officials got a full picture of what accreditors observed at one of the nations largest drug-testing operations for child welfare, custody and probation cases.Michigans Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment on the messages its staff sent regarding Averhealth.A ProPublica investigation found that Averhealths lab practices have not only been faulted by its own accreditor but also targeted in lawsuits, and prompted Michigans child welfare agency to order its employees not to use Averhealths tests as evidence in court and to withdraw any petitions based solely on the labs results.Six former employees told ProPublica that the companys central lab facility in St. Louis was mismanaged. The former employees, who include two chemists and two lab managers, complained variously of understaffing, broken and poorly maintained instruments, and pressure from management to speed up the delivery of test results, even when some feared they were compromising accuracy.In statements and interviews, the company defended its practices and denied that leadership mismanaged its laboratory. Averhealth provides accurate and forensically defensible test results, company CEO Dominique Delagnes said in a statement. The integrity of the data and information that we provide is of the highest importance to us. Averhealths goal, she said, is to reclaim lives, unite families, and strengthen communities and not separate children from their parents.Delagnes has called the choice to not inform Michigan officials of the companys probation a business decision that was made by Herzog, whom she succeeded as CEO. Averhealths accreditor said the problems it observed at the lab werent concerning enough to halt testing.Read MoreHer Parenting Time Was Restricted After a Positive Drug Test. By Federal Standards, It Wouldve Been Negative.The company attributed the conflicting test results flagged by officials in Montcalm County, Michigan, to different technical standards used by other labs, adding that it in no way calls into question the accuracy or reliability of Averhealths testing. It also said that no single test result has a significant impact on a case. It usually takes a number of positive tests as well as other indications of risk before significant consequences are imposed, a company spokesperson said in an interview. The company cited an independent review by outside scientists as evidence that its protocols are sound, along with the fact that Averhealth never lost accreditation.In 2023, a group of parents filed a lawsuit alleging that test results were erroneous, which prevented them from seeing their children and in some cases caused them to lose custody permanently. Averhealths false positive results have had a devastating impact, according to the complaint, which cited substantial emotional distress, including anxiety, depression, stress and sleeplessness. Averhealth denied the allegations in the lawsuit, which it attributed to opportunistic plaintiffs attorneys hoping for a windfall settlement and plaintiffs seeking to escape the consequences of their positive tests, according to a statement. Averhealth settled the lawsuit in September.ProPublica interviewed more than 50 people involved in family court or criminal proceedings who said they were tested by Averhealth and had received what they believed were inaccurate results. Some said they had tried to dispute the findings by presenting in court negative test results from other labs one of the only ways to officially dispute a court-ordered drug test, and a strategy often recommended by attorneys. But tests from different labs are difficult to compare, and judges dont always give credence to contradictory results.After multiple investigations and a probationary period, no entity or individual has found any material inaccuracy in Averhealths reported test result, the company said in a statement.After the labs probation was made public, Michigans and Georgias agencies overseeing child welfare cut ties with Averhealth. Michigans Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that its contract with Averhealth has expired and we have not used Averhealth since March 2022. The Georgia Division of Family & Children Services told ProPublica in a statement that it did not renew the contract when it ended in 2023 due to a variety of risks identified during an assessment.The labs problems went beyond what the accreditor found, some of the former employees told ProPublica. And those problems continued after the probation period ended, they said.Other government clients are sticking with the company. They have been a valued partner of the Judicial Branch, said a spokesperson for the Judicial Branch of Arizona in Maricopa County, whose Adult Probation and Family Court order 7,000-10,000 tests a month from the company.The company that became Averhealth was founded in 1995 by former California police officer Rick McIntire, who spent his career in undercover narcotics and viewed drugs as a societal menace. Drug testing was booming, with courts getting federal grants to implement programs. Clinical labs were billing $600 a test, McIntire recalled. He saw an opportunity to charge less and make money on volume.There is next to no regulation of court-ordered drug testing by the federal government, states or the courts. At one point, McIntire said, a hospital lobbyist sought legislation in California to ban labs like McIntires. McIntire said he convinced lawmakers that testing doesnt require clinical expertise. It was determined that this is non-diagnostic in nature, he said, meaning it isnt used to determine medical conditions. Therefore, it doesnt require any special licensing you can be a businessman.In 2011, McIntire sold his company to investment bankers Herzog, Jeff Herr and David Keys, who later renamed it Averhealth. The trio, who did not respond to requests for comment, had no lab experience but specialized in mergers and acquisitions. Their goal, McIntire recalls from conversations with them, was to grow and sell. In 2019, Five Arrows Capital Partners, a private equity fund and arm of Rothschild & Co., acquired a majority stake. It valued Averhealth at $150 million, according to a deposition of Herzog for the parents lawsuit against the company.With new investment, Averhealth focused on growth by acquisition of regional labs, just trying to basically get new contracts, one former finance team member said in an interview. The former employee asked not to be named to protect their job prospects. (Five Arrows and Rothschild & Co. did not respond to requests for comment.)Averhealth markets its science as the gold standard. Its St. Louis lab is overseen by Ph.D. toxicologists and is run by very dedicated and competent employees under well thought out guidelines, current lab director Tonya Mitchell said in an email. Company marketing materials say it has the capability to detect when samples are diluted by cheating test-takers and to test for emerging and obscure drugs.Samples are flown in from across the country to be analyzed in Averhealths St. Louis lab. Bryan Birks for ProPublicaChristopher Totten, a former business development manager who pitched the companys services in the Southeast, called Averhealth the Apple of judicial drug testing. Its methods are a vast improvement on and significantly more expensive than the in-house labs still used by some rural courts, where nonscientists use instant tests and dont always confirm the accuracy of the results, he said.Averhealth doesnt publicly disclose its entire client list or total revenues from the many state agencies it serves. But in 2019, for example, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services agreed to a five-year contract valued at an estimated $27 million to do testing for its child welfare system. And Massachusetts budgeted more than $5 million last fiscal year for the company to test probationers, according to public records.The company boasts that its innovation extends beyond lab work. Its Aversys software, which randomizes testing schedules and collects data on test-takers, features predictive analytics that ID patients at risk for relapse before they relapse, the company website stated in 2023. Averhealth said it did this by tracking when people called in to see if they would be required to test that day or otherwise interacted with its test-scheduling system.Addiction experts say they are dubious of such claims. To my knowledge, there is absolutely no scientific data to support the notion that irregularity in logging in to an app predicts relapse, said Katie Witkiewitz, a professor of psychology and the director of the University of New Mexico Center on Alcoholism, Substance Use, and Addictions. According to a former employee with knowledge of Averhealth software, the company didnt collect data to support this marketing claim. I saw no evidence of them tracking outcome data on relapse, said the former employee, who asked not to be named to protect their job prospects in the industry.After being contacted by a reporter, the company removed from its website the claim that it can ID patients at risk for relapse.The company said in a statement that the website is continually updated, and regardless, Averhealth has never claimed to predict that a relapse will happen. It has only ever claimed that its software can identify those at risk.One of Averhealths biggest selling points is speed: The company promises to report results by the next business day. This requires its collection centers around the country to ship hair, saliva and urine samples overnight to Missouri, where the lab runs 24 hours a day.Three former lab employees a lab tech, a chemist and a lab manager told ProPublica that they regularly worked 12- and even 14-hour shifts and still couldnt meet the deadlines.Pressure to speed up delivery of results came from the top, said another lab manager, who worked at Averhealth in 2022. The manager, who asked to remain anonymous to protect their job prospects, said lab instruments were regularly in disrepair and out of service, which made meeting deadlines difficult. The manager met regularly with Delagnes, who was COO at the time, and other upper management. The manager recalls them saying, The clients are calling and screaming, What are you going to do to get these results through? And often my answer was, The instruments are broken again. I dont have enough people. The manager was unsure whether instrument maintenance affected the accuracy of test results.A former employee named Stephen Penn, a chemist who also worked at the company in 2022, said he experienced similar deadline pressures. They emphasized speed over accuracy, he said. When preparing samples for testing, I was interested in getting it done well. But the push was to get it done fast. Penn, who has over 20 years of experience in labs, left Averhealth because of the speed issue.Another chemist, Jennifer Picker, who worked at Averhealth from January of 2021 to July of 2022, said that when loading samples onto an instrument that confirms results, called a high performance liquid chromatograph, she was pressured to speed up to the point that she worried samples would be linked to the wrong person. I was always extraordinarily slow and meticulous about the placement of my sample on the HPLC. And there were a lot of complaints about that I wasnt fast enough. And Im like, No way. This is that patients life.Averhealth acknowledged that it emphasizes speed but added that its not at the expense of accuracy. Averhealth requires its employees to work efficiently to meet its customers production standards and required turnaround times, the company said in a statement. Importantly, delaying test results could lead to a miscarriage of justice, as litigants cases are delayed and potentially endanger children and the community who rely on the court system, in cooperation with Averhealth, to keep them safe. Delagnes said in a sworn statement provided to ProPublica that she has never placed speed over accuracy in our lab testing, nor have I ever directed anyone else to do so.Picker, the chemist, shared documentation to support her allegation that standard lab practices werent followed at Averhealth, including a photo of a pipette maintenance log. Chemists were to complete the logs daily to verify instrument performance. But according to Picker, this didnt happen. She noted that the photo shows each days required checks were signed in the same ink and handwriting. I watched people fill this out retroactively, she said.Picker also shared a photo of urine samples outside the biohazard lab area, sitting on a desk next to personal items and snacks. This was a violation of policy, she said, citing notices posted in the lab stating that specimens were not to be removed.Three images shared with ProPublica by Jennifer Picker, a chemist who worked at Averhealth, show urine samples next to snacks (first image), a pipette maintenance log (second image) and a sign on a door stating that lab items are not permitted outside the lab. Obtained by ProPublica. Redaction of first image by ProPublica.Averhealth denied that lab instruments were broken or poorly maintained and that employees filled out maintenance logs retroactively. Regarding the photo of a pipette maintenance log, the company said: The same employee would be responsible for filling out the log, so it makes perfect sense that they would have the same handwriting and use the same pen at their workstation.Averhealth initially told ProPublica that removing samples from the labs biohazard area and leaving them on a desk next to personal items and snacks was not a policy violation. Picker had a fundamental misunderstanding of the lab security and sample integrity procedure, it said. There was no mishandling. When presented with photos of a sign on a lab door saying not to remove samples from the area, a company representative said: At any company there are going to be instances where potentially policies are not adhered to from time to time. Im not aware that this is a significant issue for Averhealth.The company described Picker as a disgruntled former employee pushing a false narrative whose time at the company was marked by repeated disciplinary issues, including bullying other employees and failing to report to work. The company said in a statement, Picker struggled to meet her workload, not because of company demands, but because the medication she was taking left her sleepy, lethargic, and frequently absent.Picker denied that she had disciplinary issues or struggled to meet her workload. While she did take an allergy medicine at work, she said it didnt affect her performance. Picker said she resigned when her complaint about the misplaced urine samples was not taken seriously. Averhealth did not comment on Pickers reasons for resigning.The company also questioned Penns claim that the company emphasized speed over accuracy. In a statement, Averhealth said that Penn did not raise any concerns about Averhealth before or after his resignation. The company also noted that Penn is closely connected to Ms. Picker. (Penn rents living space in Pickers home.)I had made up my own mind about the company and separating from them, said Penn. What I observed, that they placed speed over accuracy, didnt have anything to do with my relationship with Jennifer.Penn said he didnt bring his concerns to the company because I didnt think it would make a difference.The most consequential and public criticism of Averhealth has come from Sarah Riley, a professor of pathology at Saint Louis University, who was hired as the labs director in September 2020. After seven weeks in that role, she abruptly resigned and filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit.The Department of Justice investigated Rileys claims and pursued a case, but chose to intervene on only some of the allegations.According to the DOJ, the company had billed Michigans Department of Health and Human Services for tests it didnt perform: Averhealths contract required it to confirm all positive drug tests using a second method; the government alleged it had tested samples only once.Averhealth agreed to pay the DOJ $1.3 million to settle the case in June 2024. The company didnt admit wrongdoing.We believe Averhealth fully performed under the MDHHS contract, Delagnes said in a statement to ProPublica. Averhealth settled the matter to avoid the cost and distraction of litigation. The company said in a statement that because the DOJ investigated but did not intervene on Rileys claim that its tests were inaccurate, Averhealth results are accurate.Mark Johnson, who was Averhealths CEO from 2022 to 2024, said in an interview that Averhealth conducting just one test on the Michigan samples didnt impact reliability because we went to a more advanced test, a test typically used to confirm an initial positive result. During the DOJ investigation, the companys business performed well and the volume of tests it conducted continued to grow, Johnson added.Riley received a $228,586 whistleblower award from the DOJ settlement. She declined to comment for this article about her experience at Averhealth.In February 2021, Riley was called to testify in a Michigan courtroom by a lawyer representing a mom trying to reunite with her kids in the foster system. The mom had tested positive for marijuana with Averhealth, but outside lab tests had found no evidence of drug use.In court, Riley said that she had resigned from Averhealth after discovering what she considered to be problems with the labs accuracy. She testified that the lab routinely failed to use proper quality controls on its confirmation tests. Such tests, intended to definitively prove positive results, are performed on sophisticated lab instruments called mass spectrometers. According to Rileys testimony, Averhealth technicians werent using the equipment properly because they were under tremendous pressure to report results quickly.Did you bring these concerns to the attention of the management of Averhealth? the Michigan moms lawyer asked.She had, Riley said. Their reaction was, Thank you for bringing us your concerns. Please dont change anything at this time. We have contractual time agreements to get the data out, and we just want to get the data out.Former Averhealth lab director Sarah Riley testified that the companys management wanted to get results out quickly to meet contractual agreements. Highlighted by ProPublicaThe judge in the case, Lisa McCormick, declined to toss the contested Averhealth test results. Dr. Rileys testimony was speculative and did not provide the Court with any specific examples, she wrote in her opinion. The judge later terminated the moms parental rights, according to court documents, citing missed drug tests and failure to benefit from services, among other issues. Termination of parental rights, which is typically irreversible, means children can be adopted by other families.In 2024, Riley was deposed in Foulger vs. Avertest, the lawsuit brought by the parents who alleged their test results were incorrect. She again testified that the labs emphasis on speed was problematic. Dominique and I had weekly calls, at least weekly, sometimes it was more than that, Riley said of the CEO, and the emphasis was always on getting the results out before anything else. Her concern about speed was echoed by the former employees interviewed by ProPublica.Averhealth denied Rileys allegations about its lab practices and said that her testimony shows she misunderstood its science. Riley has estimated that Averhealths rate of inaccurate tests could be as high as 30%. In the 2024 deposition, she said the way the lab used calibrators was flawed and contributed to these errors. Calibrators ensure the measurements produced by mass spectrometers are correct.But Averhealth said that she didnt grasp how the lab distinguishes between positive and negative tests, and that its process had been endorsed by lab regulators.The judge in the parents case expressed doubts that Rileys allegations about accuracy would hold up in court. Before the case was settled, the judge wrote in an order, At trial the Court may end up sustaining an objection to her opinion that thirty percent of Averhealths tests are unreliable unless Plaintiffs lay sufficient foundation to explain why her thirty percent estimate (which presumably arises solely out of testing hair samples for THC) is reliable as to other forms of tests for other drugs.Rileys allegations triggered investigations by multiple outside scientists.In January of 2021, Michigans Department of Health and Human Services hired an independent firm, Wagner Toxicology Associates, to audit Averhealths lab and address judges concerns about Rileys allegations. Two toxicologists, who were unaware of Riley or her complaints, spent two days in the lab to confirm that the laboratory personnel were performing their laboratory work in accordance with their laboratory manual, they wrote. A relatively small number of reports was audited during the visit, and the reporting process was observed. Wagner Toxicology issued a nine-page report stating that Averhealths scientists were competent and followed procedure, and that the labs results could be scientifically supported and forensically defended in court.Michigans agency didnt know the separate, confidential investigation by Averhealths accreditor was also underway. That investigation, launched after Riley sent a letter to the accreditor, would reach different conclusions about the labs operations.Averhealths accreditor is the forensic drug testing program at the College of American Pathologists, a private professional organization that provides expert oversight to forensic labs. In early 2021, the organizations toxicologists reviewed thousands of pages of data from Averhealths lab and found numerous problems with hair, urine and oral fluid testing. This laboratory has many quality assurance issues in the areas of quality control and proficiency testing, Arthur Zebelman, commissioner of the forensic drug testing program, wrote in a 2021 email to colleagues that was later made public in a lawsuit.CAP substantiated Rileys allegations. In a letter, it stated that those allegations were: concern regarding unacceptable quality assurance of mass spectrometry confirmatory testing; failure to follow procedures as written; concern regarding the manipulation of instrument calibrations; and concern regarding the review of quality control results.CAP informed Averhealth it was on probation based on the laboratorys lack of continuous compliance with quality management standards.The purpose of the investigation was to check whether the lab followed proper protocols, not to verify the accuracy of all the tests Averhealth had reported. But the question of false positives and false negatives did come up.Internal emails show CAP scientists discussed how problems in the lab might impact test results but didnt reach a definite conclusion about whether the issues they found would influence accuracy. The laboratory does not seem to have a problem with false positive results, one toxicologist wrote, adding that its process for determining the quantity or concentration of drugs is at times unacceptable and they do not seem to take the timely resolution of such problems seriously enough. Another toxicologist involved in the audit seemed to disagree. Qualitative reporting errors could exist, that toxicologist wrote, citing imprecision and lack of quantitative accuracy. A qualitative reporting error is a negative test that is reported as a positive, or vice versa.The probation lasted six months, during which the lab continued testing. CAP did not find any test results that were incorrectly reported and did not require Averhealth to rereport results with a different result, the company said in a statement.In an interview, Zebelman defended allowing Averhealth to continue testing while on probation. The lab was forthcoming with records and cooperated with inspectors to fix errors, he said, emphasizing that CAP membership is a voluntary, educational program for laboratory improvement. Were not trying to create gotcha moments.Michigans Department of Health and Human Services repeatedly asked Averhealth about the investigation, according to public records reviewed by ProPublica. CAP told the state agency that the findings would be kept confidential.Herzog, then Averhealths CEO, made the decision to not disclose that it was on probation, according to Delagnes, the current CEO, who said as much in a deposition in the parents lawsuit against the company. Im not trying to pass the buck. It was a business decision that started with him, she said.(CAP told ProPublica that government agencies could require labs to be more transparent about accreditation issues. A child welfare agency could, for instance, contractually require a lab to automatically notify it of accreditors revocations and probations. But most agencies havent done that, said Denise Driscoll, CAPs senior director for accreditation and regulatory affairs.)In July of 2021, after a nonroutine inspection, CAP lifted the probation, writing that the allegations are being appropriately addressed.Seven months after Averhealths probation ended, in 2022, Michigans Department of Health and Human Services learned from the DOJ that Averhealth was under investigation and had problems with accreditation. The Michigan agency immediately halted testing with Averhealth and told its workers to disregard the companys results in any cases where they were the only evidence, according to court documents. (CAP agreed to give Michigans Department of Health and Human Services records related to the probation after Michigan had already halted testing.)Averhealth didnt comment on the agency directing its workers to disregard its drug tests as evidence.Court documents show emailed instructions from Michigans Department of Health and Human Services to halt testing with Averhealth and disregard the companys results as evidence. Highlighted by ProPublicaThe post A Child Welfare Agency Doubted the Accuracy of Drug Tests Used in Court. The Testing Company Dodged Questions. appeared first on ProPublica.

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Nature, Published online: 20 January 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00210-xTo gain public trust, make art central to science communication

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Soldiers of the Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) deploy with armoured military vehicles to secure roads leading to Gweiran Prison which houses men accused of being an Islamic State (ISIS) fighters in Hassakeh, northeastern Syria, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)2026-01-20T09:59:51Z RAQQA, Syria (AP) The Syrian military claimed Tuesday that guards from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces had abandoned a camp in northeast Syria housing thousands of people linked to the Islamic State group, allowing the detainees to escape.The al-Hol camp houses mainly women and children who are family members of IS members or accused of being otherwise affiliated with the group. Thousands of accused IS militants are separately housed in prisons in northeast Syria.The SDF subsequently confirmed that its guards had withdrawn from the camp, blaming international indifference toward the issue of the ISIS terrorist organization and the failure of the international community to assume its responsibilities in addressing this serious matter, using another abbreviation for IS. It said its forces had redeployed in the vicinity of cities in northern Syria that are facing increasing risks and threats from government forces. Representatives of the U.S. military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Earlier Tuesday, Syrias ministry of interior said Tuesday that 120 Islamic State members escaped from a prison in northeast Syria a day earlier, amid clashes between government forces and the SDF, which guards the prison. Security forces recaptured 81 of the escapees, while intensive security efforts continue to pursue the remaining fugitives and take the necessary legal measures against them, the statement said. The SDF and the government have traded blame over the escape from a prison in the town of Shaddadeh, amid the breakdown of a ceasefire deal between the two sides.Also Tuesday, the SDF accused Damascus-affiliated factions of cutting off water supplies to the al-Aqtan prison near the city of Raqqa, which it called a blatant violation of humanitarian standards.The SDF, the main U.S.-backed force that fought IS in Syria, controls more than a dozen prisons in the northeast where some 9,000 IS members have been held for years without trial. Many of the detained extremists are believed to have carried out atrocities in Syria and Iraq after IS declared a caliphate in June 2014 over large parts of Syria and Iraq. IS was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later, but the groups sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in both countries.Under a deal announced Sunday, government forces were to take over control of the prisons from the SDF, but the transfer did not go smoothly.On Monday, Syrian government forces and SDF fighters clashed around two prisons housing members of the Islamic State group in Syrias northeast. The clashes came as SDF chief commander Mazloum Abdi was said to be in Damascus to attempt to solidify a ceasefire deal reached Sunday that ended days of deadly fighting during which government forces captured wide areas of northeast Syria from the SDF. Abdi issued no statement after the meeting and the SDF later issued a statement calling for all of our youth to join the ranks of the resistance, appearing to signal that the deal had fallen apart. Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa postponed a planned trip to Germany Tuesday amid the ongoing tensions in northeast Syria.Since toppling Bashar Assad in December 2024, Syrias new leaders have struggled to assert their full authority over the war-torn country. An agreement was reached in March that would merge the SDF with Damascus, but it didnt gain traction. Earlier this month, clashes broke out in the city of Aleppo, followed by the government offensive that seized control of Deir el-Zour and Raqqa provinces, critical areas under the SDF that include oil and gas fields, river dams along the Euphrates and border crossings.Sewell reported from Beirut. ABBY SEWELL Sewell is the Associated Press news director for Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. She joined the AP in 2022 but has been based in the region since 2016, reporting and guiding coverage on some of its most significant news stories. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

2026-01-20T12:09:11Z WASHINGTON (AP) A stunning military intervention in Venezuela. Telling the New York Giants which coach to hire. Threats against Iran, Denmark, Greenland and Colombia. Posing with someone elses Nobel Peace Prize. Dangling the potential of deploying U.S. troops in Minneapolis. Flipping off a critic. Announcing an aggressive round of tariffs. Threatening political enemies. For President Donald Trump, this blizzard was just the first half of January.If a presidents most valuable currency is time, Trump operates as if he has an almost limitless supply, ever willing to share no matter the day, the hour or the circumstance.Hes rewritten the role of the presidency in a divided country, commanding constant attention with little regard for consequences. For all his talk about strength, his approach leans more toward virality than virility with social media as his primary accelerant. The president exists loudly, said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. The president will play with fire. I havent seen him yet play with live hand grenades, but Ive seen him come damn close. Thats just the way he is, and its not going to change. At least Trump thanks you in the process. During his second term, the Republican president has signed off of his social media post with the catchphrase thank you for your attention to this matter 242 times, according to data compiled by Roll Call Factba.se. For good measure, he often uses all capital letters and a few exclamation points. Trumps decades of seeking attentionHe has spent decades seeking attention, first in the New York tabloids and later as a reality television star. Attention, positive or negative, is its own reward. In the attention economy, Trump is what Wall Street might call a market maker.The gambits often have a tenuous relationship with truth and sometimes involve misogyny or racism. They can step on the administrations other priorities and dont always bend political realities in Trumps favor (see affordability concerns and the Epstein files ). But theyre hard to ignore. Hes saying hello to you in the morning, and he says good night to you at the end of the day, Republican strategist Ron Bonjean said. Youre never not going to hear from him.In his second term, he observed even fewer constraints on where to assert his presence, with a fondness for sports. During September alone, Trump attended three major sporting events around New York City. His visit to the U.S. Open final forced long security lines and delayed the start of the match. The crowd dominated by New Yorks elite booed him, but that didnt matter. He was still on the stadiums big screen and all over social media. Thats where some of the biggest changes during Trumps second term have unfolded. During his first administration, many Silicon Valley leaders were cold or outright hostile to Trump. He was banned from platforms including Twitter and Facebook after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.The leaders of those companies are now openly allied with Trump or at least friendly with him. Twitter is now named X and owned by Elon Musk, who led the Department of Government Efficiency during the first months of the second term and has returned to the presidents orbit after a brief falling-out. Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg were among the technology executives who attended Trumps inauguration last year. AI quickly produces memes and videosTrump, whos not known to use a computer, this time has his own social media platform, where his team relies on fresh artificial intelligence technology to quickly produce memes and videos that keep the president at the forefront of the online conversation. Those posts often veer into crude territory, such as one in October that showed him wearing a crown, flying a plane, dumping excrement on his opponents.The social media were talking about in Trumps second term is not the social media of Trumps first term, said Nolan Higdon, a lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he focuses on critical media literacy. For now, there are few brakes on Trumps impulses. House Speaker Mike Johnson brushed off the excrement post as satire. Vice President JD Vance, a devout Catholic, has defended Trumps posts, including one depicting him as the pope. In an interview with Vanity Fair, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles described Trump, who doesnt drink, as possessing an alcoholics personality, meaning he operates (with) a view that theres nothing he cant do.Indeed, his approach has been remarkably successful in achieving the disruption he seeks to impose in the U.S. and abroad. He uses social media as a weapon, warning of aid that will be cut off to states that resist him. His posts regarding Greenland and Denmark sparked a genuine diplomatic crisis and raised questions about the long-term sustainability of NATO. The two nagging exceptions revolve around Epstein and affordability.After telling his supporters to not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, he eventually gave in to congressional pressure and signed a bill that earned overwhelming support on Capitol Hill calling for the files to be made public. The Justice Department has already missed deadlines for the release, and Democrats including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois have said the flurry of news this month has amounted to a distraction from the Epstein issue.Trump has similarly struggled to convince the public that he understands and is responding to their concerns about high prices. After calling affordability challenges a Democratic hoax, he has tried to take action, including delivering a prime-time address last month. But that speech and more recent efforts, including the mortgage rate push, were quickly drowned by the deluge of more jarring news.Indeed, a Michigan visit last week to talk about affordability may ultimately be best remembered for images of Trump delivering an obscene gesture at someone who was yelling at him from afar. Trumps central challengeThat underscores Trumps central challenge heading into an election year that will test of his grip on power. While his hard-line approach may delight supporters, it does less to convince a broader swath of Americans that hes an effective president.Approval of Trumps handling of most issues is low, but health care stands out as a particular weakness for him. Only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults approved of the way he was handling health care, according to a December AP-NORC poll. That was slightly lower than his overall approval. Hes also slipped on immigration since the start of his second term, when this stood out as a relative strength. According to a January AP-NORC poll, about 4 in 10 U.S. adults approve of his performance on immigration, down from about half of Americans toward the beginning of his first term.Meanwhile, Democrats are taking stronger steps toward winning American attention spans. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, hosts a podcast and taunts Trump by mocking him on social media. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is perhaps the most successful Democrat to translate a digital media machine into political success. Over the course of about a year, the 34-year-old went from a relatively unknown state lawmaker to the leader of the nations largest city by introducing himself to voters with videos that showed him in unscripted environments, like the course of the New York City marathon.Theyre learning not to impose an old framework on a new paradigm, said Basil Smikle, a former executive director of the New York State Democratic Party and a professor at Columbia University. The long-term question is whether Trump has fundamentally changed the presidency. Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary under then-President George W. Bush, said Trump is the definition of unique and predicted that the next president regardless of party will communicate differently.Whoever succeeds him, Fleischer said, the velocity of the presidency will slow down. ___Associated Press writer Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux contributed to this report.

A goalie fight broke out with 14 minutes left in a game Monday night between the Panthers and Sharks that had become increasingly chippy with post-whistle pushing and shoving.

Charbonnet is out for the season. But luckily for the Seahawks, Walker has been on a roll recently.

The Broncos' defense is the best in the league at getting to the quarterback. How will the Patriots respond?

As the government moves to assert control over areas under Kurdish rule, it will be the latest test of President Ahmed al-Sharaas pledge to form an inclusive administration that empowers minorities.

Greenland, tariffs and wobbling markets are the talk of the town at the World Economic Forum ahead of the presidents arrival on Wednesday.

For decades, there had been an average of 30 each year. With a new deterrent in place, there were none in the second half of 2025.

Ms. Sherrill beat a Republican endorsed by President Trump and did what no politician in New Jersey has done since 1961: win her party a third consecutive term in the governors office.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaigned on a proposal to increase taxes on those earning more than $1 million. For now, at least, he isnt pushing.

It turns out Kimberly Cunningham, 45, did forget her EpiPen at home.The post Kimberly Cunningham appeared first on The Onion.

At my age, most people have given up on their dreams. They go to college, settle down, get steady careers. Pretty soon, theyve spent so much time on the corporate money-go-round they cant even remember what got their engines going in the first place. But I could never see myself holding down a nine-to-five like that. See, Ive spent my whole life determined to rock n roll on my own terms.Truth be told, all Ive ever wanted is to be a musician and for being a musician to be really easy.Ever since I was a kid, Ive hoped that someday, somehow, I could ascend to the ranks of sonic superstardom without any hard work whatsoever: no long nights practicing riffs or struggling to pen lyrics thatd inspire millions. Nope, my sincere prayer to the rock gods has always been that Id just wake up one day andwithout any actual legwork on my partsuddenly be as talented and beloved as John Lennon or David Bowie.Of course, I grew up in the 90s, so my real childhood idols were the gods of grunge: Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell. Id have done anything to be like them, as long as it wasnt something tough like learning scales or figuring out how to strum. What I wanted more than anything was to just get up on stage in front of thousands of screaming fans, ask if they were ready to motherfucking rock, shred a face-melting solo on my vintage 74 Fender Stratocaster, and be able to do that without needing any preparation or skill of any kind.Thats my dreamand no one can take it away from me!I remember first seeing Nirvana on MTVs Unplugged back in 93. Even as a teen, I knew what that band had sacrificed to be there. And I said, No fucking way am I doing even a fraction of that. I wanted to blow past the years of failure and rejection, thank you very much, and just instantly get to the part where Im ripping off my shirt and jumping into a crowd of screaming rock acolytes.Thats what first inspired me to pick up my dads old Gibson Les Paul. From the second I felt that strap around my shoulder, I was hooked. I didnt practice chords or fingerings or whatever musicians do. Nope, I just closed my eyes and sat there, imagining huge crowds that sang along to my choruses, held up lighters, and begged to sleep with me after the show. At that moment, I realized this was my one true calling in lifeand by this, I mean getting magically transported to those thrilling, lofty heights without having to exert myself in the slightest.Over the years, whenever Ive been deterred by my lack of success, I just think about how hard other rock icons have had it: Brian Wilson had an abusive dad who made him practice harmonies every night. Rod Stewart even worked in a cemetery before he made it! In that sense, I consider myself lucky, because Im hoping to skip over all that annoying stuff to the part where Im selling out Madison Square Garden and putting out album after album that will revolutionize popular music forever.Some people might doubt me for thinking I could ever get a multiyear, multimillion-dollar record deal without spending more than a few minutes playing an instrument. They might call my dreams unrealistic or impractical. But hey, dont forget that even the Beatles used to be a no-name band grinding it out in Hamburg. And the only things standing between me and them are a methodical work ethic, years learning the fundamentals of music, once-in-a-generation talent, and a willingness to do things that are even slightly uncomfortable to attain my goals.Also, it looks like getting calluses really hurts, so I dont want to do that, either.Until the day I finally make it, though, Im not going to sweat the small stuff. My plan is just to sit back and try to enjoy the ride. Because one day, when I hit it big and can finally quit my day job, Ill know that all this laziness and absence of effort will have been totally worth it.The post All I Ever Wanted Is To Be A Musician And For Music To Be Easy appeared first on The Onion.

LEAWOOD, KSStressing that he wouldnt want his best bud to feel left out on such a special day, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce reportedly asked fiance Taylor Swift this week if, during their upcoming wedding, his brother Jason could get married with them too.It wouldnt feel right if Jason wasnt up there with usmaybe we can just, like, scooch over and let him say some vows, said Kelce, assuring Swift that his sibling would comb his hair, wear a nice shirt, and not cause any problems. When people get married, they become part of each others families, so this would be a nice way to show were all a family now. Also, he would do great at the part where you throw the flowers in the air. Hes really good at throwing! So what do you think? Can he get married with us, please?According to sources, Swift agreed to think about it, eliciting a joyful yelp from behind a nearby curtain, where Jason then emerged, arms wide, yelling, Pack your bagswere all getting married!The post Travis Kelce Asks Taylor Swift If Jason Can Also Get Married With Them appeared first on The Onion.

ARLINGTON, VAIn an apparent attempt to guilt his children into eating their vegetables Monday, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller reportedly reminded one of his sons, a picky eater, that there were starving boys and girls in the basement who didnt get to have any food at all.Think of the poor, famished children beneath these very floorboards who are forced to go days on end without food or water, and then see if you still dont want to eat your broccoli, said Miller, encouraging his son to listen to the cries of hunger emanating from the floor vents and imagine himself shackled in the dark alongside the malnourished children in the cellar. Some kids from other countries, whom I have captured, are lucky to be fed one measly table scrap a day. Youre very lucky to live on the floor of the house that you do, rather than down below among Daddys prey. You could just as easily have been born in a much poorer place, in which case Id only be feeding you to prolong the suffering. Now open up for the airplane.At press time, sources confirmed Millers picky-eater son had been sent to the torture room without dessert.The post Stephen Miller Reminds Picky-Eater Son That There Starving Kids In Basement appeared first on The Onion.

GENEVAIn a recommendation of the time-honored method for relieving stress in overwhelming social situations, the World Health Organization released new guidelines Tuesday for the treatment of anxiety by sneaking off to do drugs in the bathroom. Whether youre feeling uncomfortable while out in public or in the home of a friend or relative, you can significantly mitigate symptoms by getting yourself to a quiet space, taking a deep breath, and blocking your emotions with pills, marijuana, or cocaine, said WHO behavioral health epidemiologist Jen Pacheco, who explained that patients could further reduce anxiety by locating a restroom and planning which drugs to binge ahead of time. We find that the majority of patients feel relief after just a couple lines of blow. Additionally, years of research has shown that its impossible to embarrass yourself during small talk if youre smoking weed alone on the toilet. Just turn the fan on and focus on getting so fucking high that you forget about how everyone out there probably hates you. The guidelines also advised anxiety sufferers to deal with the shame of their substance use by doing more drugs.The post Anxiety Experts Recommend Sneaking Off To Do Drugs In Bathroom appeared first on The Onion.

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This article was produced in collaboration with Court Watch, an independent outlet that unearths overlooked court records. To subscribe to Court Watch, click here.A serial mail thiefs alleged robbery spree ended after he posted photos of stolen credit cards and bins of mail to his Instagram Stories on the same day he robbed a carrier at knifepoint.Jordan McCorvey, a 32-year-old man in Ohio, allegedly robbed a USPS letter carriers truck while they were on their delivery route on November 28. The carrier told investigators two men approached their truck with a knife and demanded access to the truck, according to the affidavit, and when the carrier unlocked the truck and gave them access, they took a tray of mail.The description of one of the suspects matched a man who investigators already knew as a known mail thief with criminal history related to possession of stolen mail and bank fraud, the complaint says. The same day as the theft, McCorveys Instagram accountswith the usernames "2corkmoney," "Icorkmoneybaby," and "cork2saucyposted photos of him flipping through stacks of mail still in the USPS tray, showing the same zip code on the letters as the carriers stolen deliveries.For the next few days, more evidence appeared on McCorveys Instagram Stories, where he uploaded photos and videos involving banking transactions and other various posts connected to financial institutions, according to the complaint. These posts included solicitations for individuals with bank accounts or other related financial information.In one photo, a manits not clear from the complaint whether its McCorvey celebrates in front of a Wells Fargo ATM, holding a card in the air, with a Wells Fargo branch tagged as a location sticker on the photo.This isnt the first time an alleged criminal outed himself by bragging on social media and in public. Idriss Qibaa, the man who ran an extortion scheme called Unlocked4Life.com that promised to unlock clients social media accounts, admitted on the popular No Jumper podcast that he was the one locking peoples accounts to extort them out of thousands of dollars, which helped the FBI charge him.McCorvey was arrested on January 9 in Columbus. Mail theft is a federal crime and McCorvey could face fines and up to five years in prison.

The Federal Aviation Administration put a drone no fly zone within 3,000 feet of Department of Homeland Security facilities and mobile assets, according to a notice to airmen posted by the government. The no fly zone is the same type that the U.S. uses to restrict consumer drones over military bases and Department of Energy (DOE) research centers and facilities. The order appears to attempt to criminalize the use of drones to film Immigration and Customs Enforcement and DHS employees who are detaining people all over the country.The order is particularly notable because it does not apply just to static locations like DHS offices, but also to vessels and ground vehicle convoys and their associated escorts. The notice classifies areas within 3,000 feet horizontally and up to 1,000 feet of altitude as no fly zones and as national defense airspace, meaning the skies up to a half mile from ICE vehicles in Minneapolis, for example, could fall under this new jurisdiction. The notice states that people who violate the restrictions can be charged criminally, could face civil penalties, and may lose their authority to fly drones in the future.In addition, [drone] operators who are deemed to pose a credible safety or security threat to protected personnel, fac [facilities], or assets may be mitigated, it adds, noting that mitigation may result in the interference interception, seizure, damaging, or destruction of unmanned aircraft deemed to pose a credible safety or security threat to protected personnel, facilities, or assets.The order replaces a previous no fly zone that applied only to military bases and DOE sites. Military bases and DOE sites are static locations that dont move. The new no fly zone, called a temporary flight restriction (TFR), applies to DHS employees and vehicles wherever they may be. ICE is notoriously performing raids all over the country with no notice.With the rise of cheap consumer drones, some activists and protesters have used them to film law enforcement and to document police abuse. This no fly zone criminalizes that activity, further cracking down on the tactics protesters can use to keep people safe or film ICE brutality. It is unclear whether any specific incident led DHS to push for the no fly zone. DHS and the FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.DHS itself has used its own drones to surveil protesters, including in Minneapolis. In 2020, a Customs and Border Patrol Predator drone surveilled people protesting the police killing of George Floyd, and last year DHS flew Predator drones over anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles. Those aircraft were detected using open source flight records and air traffic control audio. On Monday, videos of aircraft circling over Minneapolis were widely shared on social media, with many people saying the aircraft appeared to be drones. 404 Media has not yet been able to confirm what the aircraft are.

Nature, Published online: 20 January 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00088-9A series of graphics reveals how the Trump administration has sought historic cuts to science and the research workforce.

Nature, Published online: 20 January 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00190-yThe accuracy of eyewitness evidence is questioned, and a fossil collection examined when a geological society moves its London home in this weeks pick from the Nature archive.

Tennessee hired Saleh with the hope of turning the franchise around after back-to-back 3-14 seasons.

Indiana backup quarterback Alberto Mendoza entered the NCAA transfer portal Tuesday, sources told ESPN.