Contributing Writers

New York and New Jersey sued the Trump administration Tuesday for cutting off $16 billion in federal funding for a new rail tunnel project under the Hudson River connecting the two states.The federal government is accused of “illegally withholding” funding committed to the Gateway project and the two states are seeking emergency relief to force the release of funds frozen by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

The White House has approved the Medal of Honor for fallen Army Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis, a Staten Island, New York, native who died in Afghanistan in 2013, while shielding an allied soldier, according to Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., who said she was notified of the decision in a statement posted to social media.

Federal lawmakers are demanding answers from the National Future Farmers of America (FFA) over its partnership with a Chinese Communist Party-controlled agribusiness and its push for DEI initiatives, citing national security concerns and questions about its tax-exempt status.

As speculation swirls over whether California Gov. Gavin Newsom will run for president in 2028, a business group on Tuesday unveiled a billboard in New York City’s Times Square, comparing the Democratic leader to one of the NFL’s most consistently underperforming – some would say sorriest – franchises: the New York Jets.

A new slogan and accompanying red hat made its debut at the White House on Tuesday as President Donald Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, reopening the federal government with a room full of Republican lawmakers in attendance.The hat, bearing the phrase “America Is Back!” sat on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office during the bill-signing ceremony, as House Speaker Mike Johnson praised the message while standing alongside the president.

Congress is a very superstitious place. Only on Capitol Hill would temporal markers like Groundhog Day and Friday the 13th hold legislative resonance.The partial government shutdown will continue until at least Tuesday. This impacts 78% of the federal government after Democrats scuttled a multi-bill spending plan last week over concerns about ICE.The charge now for the House of Representatives is to align with a revised Senate-passed plan from Friday.

Planned Parenthood announced it is voluntarily dropping its lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s ability to withhold Medicaid payments under a provision in President Donald Trump’s tax bill.

Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries unloaded on Republicans Monday, saying they “done eff’d up in Texas,” accusing the GOP of overreaching on redistricting and predicting they will fall well short of flipping five congressional seats.During a news conference at the U.S. Capitol, Jeffries was asked about a recent Texas state senate race in which a Democrat flipped a seat in a district President Donald Trump carried in 2020.

A federal judge in Washington has blocked the Trump administration from closing down a humanitarian program that allowed around 350,000 Haitians to live and work legally in the U.S., according to reports.U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes granted an emergency request Monday to pause the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians while a lawsuit challenging the decision goes ahead, the Associated Press reported.

The Senate’s compromise to end the ongoing partial government shutdown survived an important hurdle on Monday night, teeing up the legislation for a vote in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.The House Rules Committee, the final gatekeeper before most bills get a chamberwide vote, advanced the upper chamber’s deal with the White House with little internal discord among Republicans on the panel.

The mayor of Portland, Oregon, is calling on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to leave his city after federal agents deployed tear gas at a crowd of demonstrators, including young children, outside an ICE facility over the weekend.Mayor Keith Wilson characterized the protests on Saturday as peaceful, as federal agents reportedly used tear gas, pepper balls, flash-bang grenades and rubber bullets against the anti-ICE demonstrators.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against a San Diego hospital over its move to end gender transition treatment for minors to comply with the Trump administration’s demands.Bonta is arguing that Rady Children’s Hospital violated the terms of its merger agreement with Children’s Hospital of Orange County by halting transgender-related treatment for people under 18-years-old, according to KCRA3.

President Donald Trump on Sunday endorsed former Sen. John E. Sununu of New Hampshire, a longtime GOP Trump critic, over one of his first-term ambassadors, former Sen. Scott Brown, in a crucial Senate race that’s one of a handful that may determine the Senate majority in the midterm elections.

A photo showing Zohran Mamdani at a high-profile luncheon tied to longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate Peggy Siegal has emerged following the release of newly unsealed Justice Department records that also reference his mother, Mira Nair.The photo, taken Nov. 15, 2017, shows the now-New York City mayor smiling at the Universal Pictures “Get Out” Peggy Siegal luncheon at Lincoln Ristorante in Manhattan.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that the Trump Kennedy Center will close later this year for a two-year period to undergo renovations.In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the complex will close on July 4, coinciding with the nation’s 250th anniversary, at which point construction will begin on what he described as a “new and spectacular entertainment complex.

Democrat Christian Menefee, a former attorney for Houston’s Harris County, has won a special congressional election in a left-leaning congressional district in Texas, which has been vacant for nearly a year.The Associated Press reports that Menefee defeated former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards, a fellow Democrat, in Saturday’s runoff election to fill the seat left vacant when Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner died last March.

President Donald Trump is pushing plans for a massive triumphal arch in Washington, D.C., a project the White House says will become one of the most iconic landmarks in the world as critics warn the structure could visually dominate nearby memorials, including the Lincoln Memorial.The White House defended the proposal in a statement to Fox News Digital, describing the monument as a central part of Trump’s legacy and vision ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

A criminal illegal immigrant was detained Saturday after allegedly ramming his car into a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicle in Minnesota, according to federal authorities.Tranquilino Sixto-Anorve, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was arrested after allegedly striking an ICE vehicle and a civilian car Saturday morning in St. Paul, officials said.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Saturday appointed an ex-con-turned prison reformer as commissioner of the Department of Correction as his administration pushes a rehabilitation-focused overhaul of corrections.Stanley Richards, who did time in the 1980s for robbery, will be the first former inmate to serve as corrections commissioner.”Stanley will make history in this role as the first ever formerly incarcerated person to serve as commissioner,” Mamdani said.

House Democrats are poised to rebel against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s spending deal with the White House, Fox News Digital is told, an act that could prolong the ongoing partial government shutdown. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., made clear to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., that the plan by Republicans to fast-track the legislation on Monday evening would fail, four House GOP sources told Fox News Digital.

President Donald Trump offered renewed support for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem on Friday, saying she has done a “great job” amid ongoing nationwide immigration protests.In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump accused “radical left” activists of targeting Noem while touting what he described as historic gains in border security and public safety under his administration.

The federal government is shutting down for the second time in six months after Congress failed to reach an agreement on the yearly budget in time.The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is expected to notify federal agencies to begin shutdown preparations as early as just after midnight on Jan. 31 Unlike last time, however, the government is only entering a partial shutdown this weekend.

Left-wing activists disrupted an event at a Jewish temple in New York this week while Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi was speaking, protesting his vote in favor of a government spending bill that included increased funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).The demonstrators, affiliated with the activist group Climate Defiance, interrupted Suozzi on Wednesday night at the temple on Long Island, unleashing a barrage of crude theatrics and profane insults, according to the New York Post.

The U.S. State Department late Friday announced it had approved two arms sales to Israel and Saudi Arabia worth $6.67 billion and $9 billion.The sales come as the Trump administration moves forward with its peacekeeping plan in Gaza and amid the threat of U.S. military strikes in Iran.

As President Donald Trump weighs his options on a possible military strike on Iran, a senior Gulf official told Fox News Saudi Arabia will not allow the U.S. to use its airspace or bases for such an attack.A high-ranking government figure from a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) state told Fox News that the “U.S. hasn’t shared objectives or plans” regarding Iran with Gulf allies despite recent high-level Saudi meetings in Washington aimed at gaining clarity.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., pledged her “full support” for a nationwide anti-ICE protest scheduled for Friday, but said her office would not participate.Organizers of the “National Shutdown” campaign have called for “no school, no work and no shopping” on Friday, arguing that “enough is enough” in the wake of fatal shootings involving Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis amid a federal immigration crackdown across Minnesota.