News briefs

Tribune News Service on Aug 22, 2025

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Trump eyes National Guard expansion into New York, Chicago

President Donald Trump said Friday he’s preparing to expand federal deployments of the National Guard beyond Washington, D.C., with Chicago and New York among the cities under review.

The president has already moved the D.C.’s Police Department under federal control and ordered about 2,000 troops to patrol the nation’s capital. In the Oval Office on Friday, he said his next steps could involve other large, Democratic-led cities he has repeatedly criticized for crime and mismanagement.

“Chicago’s a mess. You have an incompetent mayor, grossly incompetent. And we’ll straighten that one out. Probably next,” Trump said. “And then we’ll help with New York.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson criticized the idea, warning it would inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement and undermine progress made in tackling crime. The city, which suffered under rising crime in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, has recently seen improvements with murders falling 32% to 188 in the first half of the year, the lowest in more than a decade.

—Bloomberg News

Love it or hate it? Poll shows how Californians feel about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting fight with Trump

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to temporarily redraw California’s congressional districts has more support than opposition — but with many voters undecided, the measure’s prospects remain uncertain, a new poll found.

One thing, however, has become clear: Newsom’s standing with voters appears tethered to the fate of his high-stakes redistricting gamble.

The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll, conducted for the Los Angeles Times, asked registered voters about the Newsom-backed redistricting push favoring California Democrats, which serves as a counterattack to President Donald Trump and Texas Republicans reworking election maps to their advantage.

When voters were asked whether they agree with California’s redistricting maneuver, 46% said it was a good idea, while 36% said it was a bad idea. Slightly more, 48%, said they would vote in favor of the temporary gerrymandering efforts if it appeared on the statewide special election ballot in November. Nearly a third said they would vote no, while 20% said they were undecided.

—Los Angeles Times

Kilmar Abrego Garcia en route to Maryland after release, lawyer says

BALTIMORE — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man incarcerated since his mistaken deportation in March, was released Friday from jail in Tennessee and is “presently en route to his family in Maryland,” his lawyer said.

“Today, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is free,” Sean Hecker, an attorney in Abrego Garcia’s criminal case in Tennessee, said.

Abrego Garcia, an El Salvador native who lived with his family in Prince George’s County until his deportation, became a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda after being sent in March to a Salvadoran mega-prison. Facing a court order, the Trump administration brought him back to the U.S. in June, only to detain him on human smuggling charges.

“He is grateful that his access to American courts has provided meaningful due process,” Hecker said. A Friday order from U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara D. Holmes required Abrego Garcia’s release by 5 p.m. and mandated that he travel directly to Maryland, where he must remain in his brother’s custody.

—The Baltimore Sun

UN-backed report confirms famine in parts of Gaza for first time

GENEVA — Famine has been confirmed for the first time in an area of the embattled Gaza Strip, according to the international authority responsible for monitoring food security.

In a report released on Friday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said it has "reasonable evidence" that famine has been occurring in Gaza Governorate, an administrative region which includes Gaza City, since August 15.

"After 22 months of relentless conflict, over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions characterized by starvation, destitution and death," the authority said.

Some 132,000 children under the age of five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition through June 2026 — double the IPC estimate from May — with 41,000 of them considered particularly vulnerable.

—dpa