News

Summary

The U.S. military's deportation flight to Guatemala, ordered by Trump, cost approximately $4,675 per migrant—over five times the price of a first-class commercial ticket.

The C-17 military aircraft operation is significantly more expensive than ICE's commercial charter flights, which cost around $630 per person.

Trump defended the policy, vowing to continue deportations and warning countries that refuse cooperation.

The program, part of Trump's national emergency declaration, has already deported hundreds, though some countries, like Colombia, have resisted.

Summary

A federal judge signaled he will block the Trump administration's attempt to freeze federal loans and grants, despite the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) rescinding its directive.

Judge John McConnell Jr. cited concerns that Trump still intends to enact the freeze, referencing a statement by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

The controversial policy, which could affect trillions in funding, faced legal challenges from 22 state attorneys general.

The administration struggled to clarify which programs would be impacted, leading to further uncertainty.

Summary

Chinese AI company DeepSeek exposed an unprotected database containing over a million unencrypted chat logs, API keys, and other sensitive data.

Security researchers at Wiz discovered the vulnerability and alerted DeepSeek, which promptly took the database offline.

It's unclear how long the data was exposed or if others accessed it before Wiz.

DeepSeek, which gained viral popularity since its December launch, has not commented.

Summary

A 57-year-old spectator, Wade Langston, was killed at a high school track meet in Colorado when a hammer weight throw accidentally cleared barriers and struck him.

The incident occurred at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs during a club sports event.

Langston, the father of a competing athlete, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Fundraising campaigns have been launched to support his family.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250130123606/https://coloradosun.com/2025/01/28/immigrant-legal-services-stop-work-order/

Does that phrase mean the same as "Give your balls a tug"?

The Trump administration has said the crackdown targets criminals, but there has been concern that law-abiding migrants with varying forms of legal immigration status could also be rounded up, otherwise known as “collateral arrests.”

Asked about collateral arrests, Sam Olson, the enforcement and removal operations director in the Chicago field office, said they were possible. ...

...

However, just 613 of the 1,179 people arrested Sunday — nearly 52% — were considered “criminal arrests,” a senior Trump administration official said. The rest appear to be nonviolent offenders or people who have not committed any criminal offense.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250130123658/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-agents-chicago-migrants-criminal-histories-collateral-damage-rcna189478

President Trump on Wednesday settled a lawsuit that will require Meta to pay about $25 million, most of which will fund a presidential library, multiple outlets reportedand a source familiar confirmed to Axios.

Why it matters: Meta shut down Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts for about two years after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. However, since Trump's reelection, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has cozied up to the new administration.

Summary

OpenAI and Microsoft are investigating whether Chinese AI startup DeepSeek improperly trained its R1 model using OpenAI’s outputs.

Reports suggest DeepSeek may have used “distillation,” a technique where one AI model learns from another by asking vast numbers of questions.

Venture capitalist and Trump administration member David Sacks claims there is "substantial evidence" of this.

Critics highlight the irony of OpenAI complaining about data misuse, given its own history of scraping vast amounts of data without authorization to train its models.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250130123331/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/01/28/fbi-kash-patel-trump-pick-jan-6/77029528007/

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250130123734/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/01/27/supreme-court-mississippi-voting-ban-felons/77928775007/

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250130123511/https://apnews.com/article/justice-department-jan-6-dc-us-attorney-9418cccb045d64c65b7ce85a220c45ac

Summary

An American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided midair near Reagan National Airport, killing at least 18 people.

Trump initially expressed condolences but later questioned why the air traffic control tower or helicopter pilot didn’t prevent the crash.

The FAA identified the plane as a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700.

A Kennedy Center webcam captured the collision, and investigations are ongoing.

CNN’s Pete Muntean called the incident stunning, noting its proximity to a military base.

Enforcement was already on the rise before Trump’s inauguration. Now street sellers are avoiding any risk of getting a criminal ticket that could make them ICE targets.