| Trump team tries to calm US-Mexico relations. Why that's not easy Posted: 24 Feb 2017 02:35 PM PST ![Trump team tries to calm US-Mexico relations. Why that's not easy]( "Trump team tries to calm US-Mexico relations. Why that's not easy") Nothing raises nationalist hackles in Mexico like talk of United States military acting south of the border or targeting Mexican citizens. Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who joined Mr. Tillerson for high-level meetings in the Mexican capital this week, was quick to try to tamp down the growing angst. Recommended: How much do you know about Mexico?
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| Sessions memo: Reversal on private prisons could portend shift on justice, observers say Posted: 24 Feb 2017 02:22 PM PST ![Sessions memo: Reversal on private prisons could portend shift on justice, observers say]( "Sessions memo: Reversal on private prisons could portend shift on justice, observers say") Private prisons could be here to stay, Jeff Sessions signaled on Thursday. In a memo to the Bureau of Prisons Thursday, the attorney general rolled back Obama-era guidance in which then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates directed the BOP not to renew contracts with private prisons. The move may not have a significant impact immediately: The BOP has contracts with just 12 private facilities, housing only about 21,000 of the nearly 190,000 inmates in federal prisons, according to the Justice Department.
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| Victim in Kansas shooting hailed as a hero for 'standing up to hate' Posted: 24 Feb 2017 01:04 PM PST ![Victim in Kansas shooting hailed as a hero for 'standing up to hate']( "Victim in Kansas shooting hailed as a hero for 'standing up to hate'") Witnesses at Austins say patron Adam Purinton was kicked out of the bar for directing racial slurs at two Indian men, also dining at the bar. Mr. Purinton later came back with a gun and told the two men to, "Get out of my country," before opening fire, according to witness reports. Mr. Grillot said he took cover and began to count the shots to estimate when the shooter would run out of bullets.
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| Could Betsy DeVos be an ally for transgender students? It's complicated Posted: 24 Feb 2017 11:06 AM PST ![Could Betsy DeVos be an ally for transgender students? It's complicated]( "Could Betsy DeVos be an ally for transgender students? It's complicated") In the "bathroom bill" debate, LGBT students may have found an unlikely ally in the Trump administration: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The newly minted secretary of Education reportedly balked at President Trump's efforts to reverse an Obama-administration directive that folded gender identity under Title IX protections. Ms. DeVos eventually fell in line with the rest of the administration on the issue, but she later took care to emphasize her dedication to preventing discrimination and bullying against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students, in an echo of her earlier work toward promotion of LGBT rights.
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| Can parental spyware keep kids safe online? Posted: 24 Feb 2017 11:05 AM PST ![Can parental spyware keep kids safe online?]( "Can parental spyware keep kids safe online?") For parents concerned about what's happening on their kids' smartphones, there are a growing number of apps for monitoring children's digital lives.
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| Ivanka Trump pushes $500 billion child care subsidy plan: Who would benefit? Posted: 24 Feb 2017 10:57 AM PST ![Ivanka Trump pushes $500 billion child care subsidy plan: Who would benefit?]( "Ivanka Trump pushes $500 billion child care subsidy plan: Who would benefit?") First daughter Ivanka Trump is asking Congress to rein in child-care expenses – but at a hefty price. According to a report from Bloomberg News, Ms. Trump met with members of Congress in the White House's Roosevelt Room last week to discuss her plans for a child care tax benefit which could cost as much as $500 billion over 10 years. Ms. Trump's proposal is very similar to the plan proposed by Mr. Trump in September: Child-care expenses for individuals earning less than $250,000 annually (or couples earning less than $500,000 annually) would be deductible from income taxes.
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| Once suspect, Trump now a hero at conservative 'Woodstock' Posted: 24 Feb 2017 10:25 AM PST ![Once suspect, Trump now a hero at conservative 'Woodstock']( "Once suspect, Trump now a hero at conservative 'Woodstock'") Donald Trump has not always been a hero at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering that's something of a Woodstock for the right-leaning faithful. On Friday President Trump was welcomed to CPAC 2017 as a conqueror home from the political wars. "Big thing Trump proved with his unlikely wins is that ideology doesn't matter anymore in politics.
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| In Mexico, momentum grows to put out welcome mat for 'Dreamers' Posted: 24 Feb 2017 09:11 AM PST ![In Mexico, momentum grows to put out welcome mat for 'Dreamers']( "In Mexico, momentum grows to put out welcome mat for 'Dreamers'") Before Maggie Loredo left her home in Georgia's Dalton County for her grandfather's house in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, she called the office of the Mexican public education secretariat. If I want to apply to a public university, she asked, but I grew up in the United States, which documents am I going to need? At the time, in 2008, that sounded alluringly simple to Ms. Loredo, who had lived without legal status in the US since she was a toddler.
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| As famine threatens, an unprecedented global challenge – and response Posted: 24 Feb 2017 07:31 AM PST ![As famine threatens, an unprecedented global challenge – and response]( "As famine threatens, an unprecedented global challenge – and response") The challenge is unprecedented. Twenty million people in four countries face famine in the next six months, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned this week, unless the world steps in with $4.4 billion. "Millions of people are barely surviving in the space between malnutrition and death" in war-wracked Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, and Nigeria.
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| Trump administration sets sights on state recreational marijuana laws Posted: 24 Feb 2017 06:53 AM PST ![Trump administration sets sights on state recreational marijuana laws]( "Trump administration sets sights on state recreational marijuana laws") Thus far into his presidency, President Trump has largely ignored the legalization of recreational marijuana. "I do believe you'll see greater enforcement of it," said Mr. Spicer. Eight states – Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts, and Maine – and Washington, D.C. have legalized both medicinal and recreational marijuana.
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