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Today’s top stories
House Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a 99-page stopgap bill over the weekend to keep the federal government running through September. Congress must approve a bill by Friday or face another government shutdown.
The U.S. Capitol Building on Feb. 10, 2025.
Zayrha Rodriguez/NPR
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Zayrha Rodriguez/NPR
- 🎧 Passing all 12 annual spending bills would require an incredible amount of party unity and likely bipartisan negotiations with Democrats, something Republicans were not interested in, NPR’s Susan Davis tells Up First. Republicans didn’t want to burn their political capital, and they’re more focused on passing a separate, massive budget bill to extend President Trump’s tax cuts. Top House Democratic leaders quickly came out over the weekend to say they would oppose this plan. Davis says that if House Democrats are unified in this decision, Johnson will essentially need unanimous support from his party.
Former Canadian central banker Mark Carney won yesterday’s leadership contest for Canada’s Liberal Party by a landslide. He will replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is leaving office as Canada faces a confrontation with the U.S. He is expected to be sworn in early this week.
- 🎧 Carney was not a political figure and only threw his hat in the ring for the party’s leadership role after Trudeau announced he would step down. He has an international reputation, spending time on Wall Street and helping to navigate post-Brexit turbulence as the head of the Bank of England, NPR’s Jackie Northam says. That expertise could be critical for his role as prime minister to tackle the country’s current economic challenges and navigate Trump’s trade policies. It is possible that Carney may not be in office long, as Canada needs to hold its general election by the end of October.
U.S. immigration agents have arrested Mahmoud Khalil, an activist who helped lead pro-Palestinian student protests at Columbia University. His lawyer tells NPR that ICE officers picked him up at his university apartment and told him his green card, which made him a legal permanent resident in the U.S., had been revoked. Trump has promised to deport students who protested against Israel during the war in Gaza.
- 🎧 ICE spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin says Khalil was arrested in support of Trump’s recently signed executive order on antisemitism and that he had “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.” NPR’s Adrian Florido says conservative lawmakers have tried to label pro-Palestinian protesters as pro-Hamas, pro-terrorist and antisemitic. Students have consistently rejected these claims and have said the protests were for peace in Gaza. Student activists are denouncing Khalil’s arrest as an attempt to use deportation to stifle free speech.
Picture show
Rev. Ralph Abernathy, James Forman, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rev. Jesse Douglas lead the voting rights march to the Montgomery County Courthouse.
Spider Martin/Briscoe Center for American History
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Spider Martin/Briscoe Center for American History
James “Spider” Martin was assigned by the Birmingham News to photograph the weekslong protests in Alabama after state troopers killed civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson. The demonstrations culminated on March 7, 1965, a day that became known as “Bloody Sunday.” On that day, activists attempted to peacefully march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on their way to Montgomery, Ala. Law enforcement attacked 600 of the protesters with billy clubs and tear gas. Much of Martin’s photographic archive from the protests has recently been restored. Here’s a look at the photos.
Life advice
The “20 Statements Test” can help you reimagine the way you see yourself, says Art Markman, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and author of the book Smart Change.
Beck Harlan/NPR
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Beck Harlan/NPR
Whether you’re considering a new career or moving to a different city, there are exercises that can help you make difficult decisions more clearly. Art Markman, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, says the key is to be curious because it opens you up to the prospect that life can be even more interesting than you envisioned. If you’re ready to make a big decision, grab a pen, a notebook and a calendar and answer these prompts from Life Kit‘s experts.
- ✏️ Brainstorm with the “Two Lines” exercise. On the left side of the page, write where you are today. On the right, write where you hope to be. In the middle column, write down ideas for achieving your goal.
- ✏️ Get unstuck with the “20 Statements Test.” Write the question “Who am I?” at the top of the page and write down 20 answers. Look to see if any of your written traits counteract the ones holding you back.
- ✏️ Look for a date on your calendar to kickstart your significant life change. Creating a symbolic date can spur the “fresh start effect,” boosting your motivation and sense of optimism.
3 things to know before you go
Black Lives Matter Plaza on 16th Street Washington, D.C., is repainted following the removal of the lettering for a construction project on May 13, 2021.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
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Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
- Washington, D.C.’s iconic “Black Lives Matter” street mural near the White House will soon be gone after U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., introduced legislation last week that gave the District an ultimatum: Remove it or risk losing federal funding.
- Ryan James Wedding, a 43-year-old former Canadian Olympic snowboarder, is now on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list for allegedly running a drug trafficking operation that regularly shipped kilograms of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico, the U.S. and Canada.
- A group of researchers discovered in East Africa that early humans used animal bones to craft tools more than a million years earlier than previously believed. Most of the tools were made from the bones of elephants, hippopotamuses and bovids.
This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
