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Foreign. Immigration agents will leave Minnesota. That's where we're starting the seven from the Washington Post, I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Thursday, February 5th. Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories. After weeks of violent confrontations and the fatal shootings by officers of two U.S. citizens, 700 Immigration and Border agents are departing the Minneapolis area. That's according to Tom Homan. He's President Donald Trump's borders are Trump dispatched Homan to Minnesota after the killing of Alex Preddy last month. The administration initially accused Preddy of being a domestic terrorist. That reaction sparked outrage in the city and beyond. Homan spoke at a news conference in Minneapolis yesterday.
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My goal, with the support of President Trump, is to achieve a complete drawdown and end this surge as soon as we can. But that is largely contingent upon the end of the illegal and threatening activities against ICE and its federal partners that we're seeing in the community.
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The withdrawal so far shrinks the federal footprint in and around Minneapolis from about 3,000 agents to 2,300. That's a significant drawdown, but it's still a much larger number than the 80 agents who were in the area before the surge began in December. The Minneapolis operation has been the Trump administration's largest immigration crackdown yet. The Supreme Court cleared the way for a California voting map that that favors Democrats. That's number two. Yesterday offered a new twist in a national fight between Republicans and Democrats seeking advantage in this year's midterm elections. Justices cleared California to use a map pushed by the state's governor, Gavin Newsom, and approved by voters. It is intended to offset a redistricting effort by Republicans in Texas that President Trump asked for. The Texas map could net Republicans up to five additional seats in the House of Representatives. The California map could help Democrats gain the same number. The Supreme Court ruled in December that the Texas map was constitutional. Number three. President Trump defended the appearance in and size of his planned ballroom. Trump's White House ballroom plans have horrified some historic preservationists. They argue that it will be too big and will spoil the centuries old symbol of American power and democracy. But Trump is unmoved. In a post this week, he said the ballroom will be the same height and scale as the existing White House mansion. He also unveiled a new rendering of the building. It shows a neoclassical structure adorned with stately columns and an imposing pediment. If you don't know what a pediment is, nor did I till this morning, turns out it's the triangular structure above the portico. If you don't know what a portico is. It's the covered entryway to the building. Trump's post came as construction crews continued their work on the underground infrastructure needed to support such a large building. Meanwhile, opponents of the project who sued to prevent it are awaiting a decision from a federal judge who might order the work to stop. Four. Savannah Guthrie pleaded with her mother's apparent abductor Guthrie is the co anchor of NBC's Today Show. Her mother, Nancy, was last seen on Saturday evening when her family dropped her off at her home in Tucson, Arizona, after dinner yesterday. The local sheriff's office said around a hundred detectives were assisting in the case. With help from the FBI. Guthrie and her two siblings posted an emotional video message yesterday directly addressing her mother's apparent kidnapper. She said she and her siblings had heard reports about a ransom letter through the media.
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As a family, we are doing everything that we can. We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you and we are ready to listen.
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Investigators have not publicly verified the authenticity of a ransom note. Number five Universities were slowly making faculties more diverse until President Trump's DEI ban When Trump took office last year, America's research universities were in the midst of an aggressive quest to hire more black and Latino professors. A Post analysis found that all but three of the 187 most prominent schools had made public commitments to faculty diversity. Those commitments followed years of pressure from students. But now, of the 184 universities that made faculty diversity pledges, at least 108 have fully or partially rolled them back since Trump returned to office. Trump has targeted universities over their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Federal agencies have opened investigations and withheld billions of dollars in federal funding as leverage. The eastern and western US have had very different experiences of winter. That's number six. It has been a tale of two winters. One half of the country to the west has been much warmer than average, but the other, to the east, has been colder than average. There's a similar story with snowfall and with humidity. In addition to winter being cold in the east and Midwest, humidity levels have been unusually low. So if your skin has been extra dry, that might be why. And as a snow drought deepened in the west, blockbuster storms hit the plains Midwest and East. Sunday could be the most frigid day of winter so far for the Northeast and Mid Atlantic. But spring is coming. Milder air will travel eastwards across the country next week, reaching the east coast by Tuesday and Wednesday. And at number seven, scientists are trying to figure out what causes near death experiences. People who have nearly died often report eerily similar things. They say how they viewed their bodies from the outside, journeyed through a tunnel toward a brilliant light, and experienced a deep sense of peace. Their experiences challenge what we know of science, and researchers can't agree on what causes them. Some point to purely physical changes that happen in the brain, like the decreased oxygen and increased carbon dioxide that occur just before and during a cardiac arrest. But other scientists have pushed back. They think near death experiences cannot be explained by brain physiology alone. And they say that focus dismisses the testimony of patients who have come close to dying. So they are continuing their search for deeper explanations. Alright, you're all caught up. Thank you to everyone who reached out about the huge layoffs that hit the post yesterday. The seven will go on, but it won't be the same without the colleagues we lost, including much of the audio team. Thank you for listening and continuing to support us during a very tough time. I'm Hannah Jewell. I'll meet you back here tomorrow.