The original 'Pipeline Franchise Ordinance' was created in 1978 to establish regulations for the issuance of franchises to construct, operate, maintain or remove pipelines along city streets. But the ordinance, including fees, has not been updated since 1995.

So the city contracted an auditor to compare the citys pipeline franchise fees and regulations to other nearby municipalities and, on Tuesday, Feb. 3, the council approved an amendment to the municipal code, increasing fees and regulations ' to the dismay of numerous stakeholders.

“I’m representing thousands of union workers whose jobs depend on refinery and energy infrastructure that occurs in Carson,' Richard Chou, organizer for the South Bay area Sheet Metal Workers Local 105 union, said during Tuesdays meeting. “The proposed fee increase is significant. It could create unintended consequences and have impacts on jobs and working families.”

The proposed increase is 49 cents per linear foot, resulting in a cost of $4.62 per linear foot. This increase excludes any public utilities whose rates and regulations are overseen by the California Public Utilities Commission.

The city currently has franchise agreements with 22 private pipeline franchises, spanning a total of 694,991 linear feet throughout the city, resulting in an annual franchise revenue of about $2.1 million. The increased fees would increase this to $3.2 million.

'The franchise fees charged by the City to nonpublic utility companies that are not governed by the Public Utilities Commission have been significantly lower than the amount charged by other localities across the State of California resulting in significantly less revenue being collected by the City,' says the ordinance. 'The City’s regulatory scheme needs to be updated to reflect a higher fee charged to such nonpublic utility companies.'

The ordinance will also allow the city to charge application fees to offset costs Carson currently absorbs, including for staff processing franchise applications, renewing existing franchises, and overseeing or installing and operating any facilities under a franchise.

Ramine Ross, senior manager for the Western States Petroleum Association, also attended Tuesdays meeting, urging the council to delay a vote on the ordinance for 30 days.

'We have some serious concerns about the proposed pipeline franchise ordinance,' Ross said. 'The ordinance includes requirements that duplicate current state and federal regulations.”

One of these regulations is the requirement that franchisees submit maps showing accurate 'as-built' locations of their pipelines including the length, diameter and depth. And if franchisees violate any of the terms in this ordinance, they will be subject to increased fees.

Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes, however, said that stakeholders have had ample time to present their concerns to city staff.

Notice was given to all stakeholders on May 20, and a meeting took place on June 11, with representatives of 14 companies attending and providing input on the drafted ordinance, according to a city staff report.

Conversations also took place throughout the year and some concessions were made, including reduced insurance requirements, flexible performance guarantees, adjusted deposit rules and force majeure provisions.

'We’re talking about an ordinance that has not been updated since 1978,' said Planning Commission Chair Diane Thomas. 'Changes were made based on those discussions. So, who is it that didn’t make it to the table? Obviously, it wasn’t important enough to make it to the table.'

Many of those who will be impacted by the amendment are oil refineries, providers or distributors. And multiple refinery workers attended Tuesdays meeting to speak against the ordinance.

'The additional costs could pile up because the increased financial pressure refineries in Southern California have already had refineries closing down in recent years,' said Jasmine, a Carson resident who works at the Torrance Refinery. She did not give her last name during the public comment period. 'I don’t want these good-paying jobs like mine to disappear.'

The latest in Southern California refinery closures was actually the Phillips 66 refinery in Carson and Wilmington, which resulted in 900 workers losing their jobs. The company has cited 'market dynamics' as the reason for the closure.

But, Thomas said, refineries and oil companies need to be held accountable for their impacts on the community.

“I’m so happy that this is coming to the forefront,” she said, “because Carson has been plagued all of its history with oil companies that feel so privileged that they dont need to pay their fair share.”

Phillips 66, for example, is now paying the city more than $16 million in back taxes after a 2018 audit discovered that the company had not been paying the full amount of special business license taxes required by the city.

Davis-Holmes put forward a motion to approve the ordinance, encouraging stakeholders to work with city staff on any concerns they may have. The motion was approved 3-2, with councilmembers Jim Dear and Jawane Hilton dissenting.

Laylah Rivers had already been a paratrooper in the U.S. Army and worked at various tech companies across the West Coast. But when she enrolled at a Los Angeles community college at 31, she was just another freshman ' alongside students nearly half her age.

Luckily, West Los Angeles College has a program that acknowledges students prior work experience. The college gave her seven credits, the equivalent of about two classes, after she provided a copy of her military transcript and evidence of computer courses she took while working at Amazon.

'Of course, with 13 years of experience, I should get more credit for what Im doing,' she said. 'But Im grateful.'

Since 2017, Californias community colleges have slowly expanded the number of ways that students can get school credit for their prior work experience, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has made it a priority, in part by approving over $34 million in related state funding in recent years. By 2030, the California Community Colleges Chancellors Office wants at least 250,000 students to have earned college credit for their work or other 'prior learning' experience, and in January, Newsom proposed putting an additional $37 million toward it.

But many colleges use their own internal methods to track the credits they award, so theres no authoritative system showing how many students across the state have actually been served. The chancellors office operates a public dashboard, which says that over 40,000 students in California have received at least one credit for pre-college work or education in the past few years. Samuel Lee, a senior adviser to the community college chancellor who oversees the dashboard, said the real total is roughly twice that, though he couldnt provide any exact figures.

Among the students who count toward this 2030 goal are those who gain credit by taking Advanced Placement, or AP, exams ' which have existed for decades. Whats new is awarding students credit for work experience, such as computer courses or military training. Because its so new, 'its taking the colleges a while,' Lee said. 'Some are nowhere and some are really down the road.'

Historically, veterans have benefited the most from these credits, but students with professional experience in plumbing, first aid, foreign languages and hundreds of other skills can also qualify, either by showing an industry certification or taking an exam. At Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz, for instance, students can get college credit for wine courses if they can prove sufficient knowledge in French, Italian or Spanish wines.

Just a few additional credits can save students over $14,000, according to one California study. These students are more likely to graduate, too.

Because shes a veteran, Rivers education and living costs are supported by the federal government, including through the GI Bill. These benefits only last a few years so every class she can skip saves her time ' and ultimately money that she can put toward her future education.

Want to get ahead in tech? Get a degree

Even without a college degree, Rivers was doing well in tech, making over $70,000 a year, first at Amazon Web Services and later as a support engineer at a startup.

Californias tech industry has been vocal about dropping degree requirements for jobs, but research by the Burning Glass Institute shows that employers still prefer college graduates, even when college education isnt a requirement.

'Computer science is really male-dominated, white-dominated,' said Rivers. 'Im a Black woman, but its hard to get my foot in the door. Even though I have 13 years of experience, they move the goalpost.' When the startup she was working at was sold to another company in 2024, she enrolled at West Los Angeles College, hoping to eventually transfer to a four-year institution, get a degree and land a management job in the tech industry.

But Rivers didnt know that any of her prior work could translate into college credits until months after enrolling, when a college dean noticed her military and computer science experience.

'I think it should just be built into the registration process instead of people having to find out about it,' she said. 'It took me a whole semester to figure it out.'

Starting last fall, West Los Angeles College made it a requirement that all transfer-oriented students  learn about opportunities to get credit for prior work experience, either during meetings with a college counselor in the first semester or at orientation, said Allison Tom-Miura, the dean of academic affairs and workforce development for the campus. 'This is a big equity issue,' she said. 'How can we help students from repeating courses that they do not need?'

In 2018, the state Legislature passed a law that would eventually mandate that every college adopt a policy for awarding students credit for prior learning or work experience, but colleges received little or no funding to implement it. They scrambled to create systems to assess students work experience and streamline the process of petitioning for credit, according to interviews with community college leaders across the state.

Administratively, the process is still tricky today. Students need to submit evidence of their work experience, which faculty then evaluate and translate into an equivalent course at the college. Most students gain credit by showing a military transcript, a certification or by taking a test, but sometimes, in more subjective fields such as photography, faculty assess a students portfolio.

Lees statewide system lists the skills and certifications that community colleges already recognize so that students can petition for credit more easily. But he said that only about half the states 116 community colleges are actively participating in the effort.

Getting all colleges on the same system

Often, Lee is on tour, visiting colleges across the state, sometimes meeting with a school six or seven times in an effort to promote his credit tracking system or otherwise improve the way they log students credits.

Last month, he sat on stage at a conference in Sacramento to present about the benefits of a shared tracking system alongside the interim president of Palomar College, Tina Recalde. Like many schools in the San Diego metro area, Palomar College has a high number of enrolled veterans and was an early advocate for awarding additional credit to them. In their joint presentation, Recalde said her college has given over 3,600 students credit for work or other prior learning experiences.

But that data doesnt appear on Lees platform or any other public dashboard. Palomar College has its own system for processing the additional credits, which it created before Lees platform existed, said Nichol Roe, the colleges dean of career technical and extended education.

Soon, nearly all schools will have to begin logging information on the same platform. The Legislature approved a budget last year that guarantees $50,000 to every community college campus that wants it. In return, the colleges that receive the money agree to use certain aspects of Lees data system and to screen all veterans and incoming students for potential additional credits.

College of the Sequoias in Visalia said it doesnt need the money and chose not to apply, according to its president, Brent Calvin.

Lee said that every other college applied for the funding by the deadline and that he would 'gladly' make an exception for College of the Sequoias. 'Our goal is not for them to meet the deadline,' he said. 'Our goal is to get people funding and support.'

MIAMI (AP) ' Winged babies shooting heart-shaped arrows might get most of the credit on Valentines Day, but the real magic behind millions of romantic bouquets happens in a cargo warehouse at a South Florida airport.

Agricultural specialists at Miami International Airport will process about 990 million stems of cut flowers in the weeks before Feb. 14, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Around 90% of the fresh cut flowers being sold for Valentines Day in the United States come through Miami, while the other 10% pass through Los Angeles.

Roses, carnations, pompons, hydrangeas, chrysanthemums and gypsophila arrive on hundreds of flights, mostly from Colombia and Ecuador, to Miami on their journey to florists and supermarkets across the U.S. and Canada.

Miamis largest flower importer is Avianca Cargo, based in Medellín, Colombia. In preparation for Valentines Day, the company is transporting about 19,000 tons of flowers on 320 full cargo flights, CEO Diogo Elias said Friday in Miami. Theyre running more than twice as many flights compared to normal.

'We fly flowers for the whole year, but Valentines is special,' Elias said. 'Much more concentrated on roses, red roses especially. More than 50-60% are red roses at this time.'

Customers buying flowers will likely see an increase in price this year. Christine Boldt, executive vice president for the Association of Floral Importers of America, said the cause is largely related to tariffs placed last year on imports from Colombia and Ecuador, along with a new minimum wage enacted this year in Colombia.

'This adds significant dollars to the bouquets that are coming in,' Boldt said. 'Every consumer is gonna have to face additional costs.'

Despite higher prices, Flowers continue to make up one of MIAs largest imports, airport director Ralph Cutié said. The airport received almost 3.5 million tons of cargo last year, with flowers accounting for about 400,000 tons. More than a quarter of those flowers are shipped before Valentines Day, marking a 6% increase over last year.

'The mother, the wife, the girlfriend in Omaha, Nebraska, that gets their flowers for either Valentines or Mothers Day, chances are those flowers passed through our airport,' Cutié said. 'And thats something we take a lot of pride in.'

CBP agriculture specialists check the bundles of flowers for potentially harmful plant, pest and foreign animal diseases from entering the country, CBP senior official Daniel Alonso said. Inspectors on average find about 40-50 plant pests a day, the most common being moths. Pests are turned over to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which determines the potential threat.

'Our rigorous process is vital to safeguarding the floral and agricultural industries, ensuring that our imported flowers are not introducing any pests or harmful diseases,' Alonso said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will resume staff cuts that were briefly paused during Januarys severe winter storm, according to two FEMA managers, stoking concern across the agency over its ability to address disasters with fewer workers.

FEMA at the start of January abruptly stopped renewing employment contracts for a group of staffers known as Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery, or CORE employees, term-limited hires who can hold senior roles and play an important role in emergency response.

But FEMA then paused the cuts in late January as the nation braced for the gigantic winter storm that was set to impact half the countrys population. FEMA did not say whether that decision was linked to the storm.

The two FEMA team managers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the staffing changes with the media, were told this week that dismissals were going to resume soon but were not given a specific date. It was not clear how many people would be impacted.

FEMA staff told The Associated Press that the policy indiscriminately terminates employees without taking into account the importance of their role or their years of experience. The hundreds of CORE dismissals have wiped out entire teams, or left groups without managers, they said.

'Its a big impact to our ability to implement and carry out the programs entrusted to us to carry out,' one FEMA manager told The Associated Press.

The officials said it was unclear who at the Department of Homeland Security or FEMA was driving the decision. Managers used to make the case to extend a contract months in advance, they said, but now leaders were often finding out about terminations at the same time as their employee.

DHS and FEMA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

There are over 10,000 CORE workers, making up nearly half of FEMAs workforce. While they are employed on two- and four-year contracts, those terms are 'routinely renewed,' one manager said, calling CORE the 'primary backbone' for FEMAs response and recovery work. Many CORE are supervisors and its not uncommon for them to have worked at the agency for many years, if not decades.

CORE employees are paid out of FEMAs Disaster Relief Fund and are not subject to as long a hiring process as permanent full-time federal employees. That allows the agency to be more nimble in its hiring and onboard employees more quickly as needs arise. With DHS funded only temporarily because of a battle in Congress over immigration tactics, CORE employees can work and be paid during a government shutdown, so long as the disaster fund still has money.

The administrations efforts to reduce the workforce come as the Trump administration has been promising reforms for FEMA that it says will reduce waste and shift emergency management responsibilities over to states.

It also comes as DHS faces increasing criticism over how it manages FEMA, including delays in getting disaster funding to states and workforce reductions.

FEMA lost nearly 10% of its workforce between January and June 2025, according to the Government Accountability Office. Concern has grown in recent months among FEMA staff and disaster experts that larger cuts are coming.

A draft report from the Trump-appointed FEMA Review Council included a recommendation to cut the agencys workforce in half, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the report with media. The councils final report, due last November, has not been published.

'Based on past disasters, we know that slashing FEMAs workforce will put Americans at risk, plain and simple,' Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said after introducing a resolution Wednesday condemning FEMA staff cuts.

Last week, a coalition of unions and nonprofits led by the American Federation of Government Employees filed a legal complaint against the Trump Administration over the FEMA reductions.

A CORE employee at FEMA headquarters who asked not to be named for fear of losing their job said that even though FEMA was able to support states during Winter Storm Fern, a year of staff losses could already be felt. There were fewer people available for backup, they said, and staff were burned out from ongoing uncertainty.

Trump administration officials are exploring opening an antitrust investigation into US homebuilders as the White House sharpens its focus on tackling the countrys housing affordability crisis.

The Department of Justice could open the probe in the coming weeks, according to people familiar with the discussions. No decision has been made and the administration may abandon the effort without launching an investigation, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing non-public information.

One potential focus is on how information is shared through an industry trade group called Leading Builders of America, according to the people. Officials have grown concerned that the trade group ' whose members include Lennar Corp. and DR Horton Inc. ' could be used to restrict housing supply or coordinate pricing, the people said.

A White House representative referred a request for comment to the Department of Justice, which declined to comment. Representatives for the homebuilders and the trade group didnt immediately respond to requests for comment.

The S&P Composite 1500 Homebuilding Index reversed gains to sink as much as 1.4%. Lennar and DR Horton were two of the worst performers in the index at 1:42 p.m.

The administrations interest in homebuilders comes during a period where the cost of buying a home is at its most expensive in decades, with the Covid-era housing boom and subsequent interest rate hikes weighing heavily on buyers. Its also a precarious time for the builders themselves, with the inventory of unsold homes hovering at high levels.

President Donald Trump put the industry on alert in October, when he used a social media post to compare big homebuilders to The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which wields immense control over the oil market.

'It wasnt right for them to do that but, in a different form, is being done again ' This time by the Big Homebuilders of our Nation,' Trump wrote. 'Theyre my friends, and theyre very important to the SUCCESS of our Country, but now, they can get Financing, and they have to start building Homes.'

Builders have been seeking ways to work with the White House to improve housing affordability. One option being discussed is a massive program ' dubbed 'Trump Homes' ' that would seek to add as many as 1 million units of new supply, Bloomberg previously reported.

Torrance Superior Court Judge John J. Lonergan handed down the sentence to Cherie Townsend, ending a nearly eight-year saga for Susan Leeds’ family, which endured Townsend’s original arrest in 2018 and then could only watch as she was released and went on to sue Los Angeles County and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department while demanding then-Sheriff Jim McDonnell publicly declare her innocence.

The homicide was the first in Rolling Hills Estates in nine years; in 2009, a prominent attorney was ambushed and fatally shot outside his home while retrieving his laptop computer from his car’s trunk.

Townsend was arrested again in August 2023 after sheriff’s detectives uncovered more evidence against her. Following a week-long trial, a Torrance Superior Court jury took four hours that year to convict her.

Prosecutors painted Townsend as a mother who struggling financially and desperately wanted enough money for her, her daughter and three of her daughter’s friends to fly to Orlando, Florida, where her daughter had a cheer competition.

Prosecutors displayed text messages, Google searches and notes on Townsend’s phone showing her level of desperation. At one point, she asked a former football coach of her son if he knew how she could get a fake ID and also posing as her son in messages to the coach saying she might do something drastic. Google searches included how to crack open washers and dryers at laundromats to get coins, and whether Walmart would check ID for a credit card purchase.

On May 3, 2018, prosecutors said, she Googled the Promenade at the Peninsula mall. That day, she arrived in the parking structure after 9:30 a.m. and stayed for nearly three hours looking for a vulnerable victim.

Susan Leeds, who had parked across from Townsend, returned to her SUV after shopping at the Gap and picking up food from a Rubio’s restaurant.

Shortly after noon, Townsend went around another car to attack Leeds from behind the open driver’s door — stabbing her 17 times and leaving her throat slashed vertically before getting into her gold Chevrolet Malibu and making a hasty exit.

Leeds’ checkbook, bank and credit cards were found by investigators in her SUV, but a black bag containing her blood-sugar monitor was missing. Detectives also never found Leeds’ cellphone, though they did obtain GPS data that showed the phone apparently moving in the same general direction as Townsend’s car after she left the parking structure.

Townsend’s cellphone was found underneath Leeds’ SUV, which her attorney argued could have been from her kicking it by mistake after dropping it while in the structure. Townsend went to a Verizon store in Carson about an hour after the stabbing to try to close her account.

On the day of the murder, Townsend told other cheer moms she and her daughter were set to fly to Florida. But that night, she sent Facebook messages to some of them saying something horrible had happened and she “could not get on that plane tonight.”

Two weeks later, she was arrested.

But six days after that, she was released, with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office asked for further investigation. Following her 2023 arrest, detectives noted changes in her story about what she was doing at the mall that day.

Leeds’ stepchildren, speaking at a hearing in January, remembered her as the “glue of the family” and a kind, gentle caretaker who always took time to remind people to smile and to be happy. She comforted people without judging, made others feel safe and seen. She lived with Type 1 diabetes, they said, and often encouraged others with the same diagnosis.

Energy Star, the program that helps guide consumers to more energy-efficient appliances and electronics, has survived the Trump administrations plans to cut it.

The program received sufficient support in Congress that it was included in budget legislation signed this week by President Donald Trump.

Environmentalists and advocates called it good news for consumers and the planet, but raised concerns over how the program will be administered under a shrunken Environmental Protection Agency.

But Energy Star is not the only energy efficiency program targeted by Trump.

Heres what to know about the outlook for that program and others.

Whats Trump got against energy efficiency?

Trump has regularly said efficiency standards for household items and appliances ' many strengthened under predecessor Joe Bidens administration ' rob consumers of choice and add unnecessary costs.

His first executive order upon returning to office last year outlined a vision to 'unleash American energy.' In it, he emphasized safeguarding 'the American peoples freedom to choose' everything from light bulbs to gas stoves to water heaters and shower heads.

At the same time Trump has targeted efficiency, hes also sought to block renewable energy development such as wind and solar and boosted fossil fuels that contribute to warming, including gas, oil and coal.

What happened with Energy Star?

Energy Star is a voluntary, decades-old EPA-run program that informs consumers about how efficient home appliances and electronics are, including dishwashers, washing machines and more. The idea is to simultaneously reduce emissions and save consumers money on their energy bills.

The Department of Energy develops product testing procedures for Energy Star, while the EPA sets performance levels and ensures the certification label is reliable for consumers. It also applies to new homes, commercial buildings and plants.

EPA says the program has saved 4 billion metric tonnes (4.41 billion tons) of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions since launching in 1992, and can save households an average of $450 annually.

Last May, EPA drafted plans to eliminate Energy Star as part of a broader agency reorganization that targeted air pollution regulation efforts and other critical environmental functions. The agency said the reorganization would deliver 'organizational improvements to the personnel structure' to benefit the American people.

Many groups advocated against the potential closure of the program, citing its benefits to consumers.

The legislation Trump signed this week allocated $33 million for the program, slightly more than 2024s $32.1 million, according to the Congressional Research Service, but it continues the general trend of declining funding for the program over the past decade. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, among many industry groups to advocate for keeping the program in letters sent to Congress, said it was 'very pleased' to see the funding continue.

Some concerns remain

Experts say uncertainty around the program likely didnt impact consumers much over the past year. They note that manufacturers cant change their product lines overnight.

Amanda Smith, a senior scientist at climate research organization Project Drawdown, said the uncertainty may have had a bigger effect on EPAs ability to administer the program. She was among experts wondering how staffing cuts may affect EPAs work.

EPA spokesperson Brigit Hirsch didnt address a question about that, saying in a statement only that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin 'will follow the law as enacted by Congress.'

What other energy efficiency rules are still in limbo?

The Department of Energy has proposed rolling back, weakening or revoking 17 other minimum efficiency standards for energy and water conservation as part of 47 broader deregulatory actions. Those are standards that must be met for the products to be sold legally.

That includes air cleaners, ovens, dehumidifiers, portable air conditioners, washers, dishwashers, faucets and many more items that have been in place and updated over the years.

'These are standards that are quietly saving people money on their utility bills year after year in a way that most consumers never notice,' said Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project. 'The striking thing is that consumers have a huge array of choices in appliances in the market today. Repealing these standards would simply increase cost. It just doesnt make sense.'

Changing efficiency measures also drives up energy demand at a time when utilities are already challenged to meet the growing needs of data centers, electrification and more.

While Congress has supported Energy Star and these separate appliance standards, it also has advanced legislation that would give the president new powers to roll back rules.

Manufacturers are likely to continue making efficient consumer appliances, but weakened rules could negatively impact the U.S. marketplace.

'The problem for U.S. manufacturers is that overseas competitors making inefficient products elsewhere could now flood the U.S. market,' deLaski said, noting that would undercut American manufacturers.

Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.

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WASHINGTON (AP) ' The chairman of the House Oversight Committee on Friday requested records related to firms partially owned by the husband of Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, taking the extraordinary step of scrutinizing the spouse of a sitting House member.

Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, released a letter to Timothy Mynett, a former Democratic political consultant who is married to Omar, requesting records related to a pair of companies that had a substantial jump in value between 2023 and 2024, according to financial disclosures filed by the congresswoman.

Comer’s request marked a highly unusual move by the chair of a committee with a history of taking on politically-charged investigations, but almost always focused on government officials outside of Congress. The House Ethics Committee, which is comprised of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans and tries to stay away from political fights, typically handles allegations involving lawmakers and their family members.

Yet since her 2018 election as one of the first Muslim women in the House, Omar has received nearly-nonstop attacks from the right. She has dismissed allegations around her finances as 'misleading” and based on conspiracy theories.

A spokesperson for Omar, Jackie Rogers, said in a statement that Comers letter was 'a political stunt' and part of a campaign 'meant to fundraise, not real oversight.'

'This is an attempt to orchestrate a smear campaign against the congresswoman, and it is disgusting that our tax dollars are being used to malign her,' Rogers added.

Comer has also displayed a willingness to push the traditional parameters of the Oversight panel. In a separate investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, he is enforcing subpoenas for depositions from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton, marking the first time a former president will be forced to appear before Congress.

In the letter to Mynett on Friday, Comer said, 'There are serious public concerns about how your businesses increased so dramatically in value only a year after reporting very limited assets.'

There is no evidence of wrongdoing by Omar, but President Donald Trump also said last month that the Department of Justice is looking into her finances.

In response to the president, Omar said on social media that 'your support is collapsing and youre panicking,' adding that “Years of ‘investigations have found nothing.'

The scrutiny of Omar’s finances comes from a required financial disclosure statement she filed in May last year. She reported then that two firms tied to her husband, a winery called eStCru and an investment firm called Rose Lake Capital, had risen in value by at least $5.9 million dollars. Lawmakers report assets within ranges of dollar figures, so it was not clear exactly how much the firms had risen in value or what ownership stake Mynett had in them.

Omar has also pointed out that her husband’s reported income from the winery was between $5,000 and $15,000 and none from Rose Lake Capital.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) ' Lawyers for conservation groups, Native American tribes, and the states of Oregon and Washington are returning to court Friday to seek changes to dam operations on the Snake and Columbia Rivers, following the collapse of a landmark agreement with the federal government to help recover critically imperiled salmon runs.

President Donald Trump last year torpedoed the 2023 deal, in which the Biden administration had promised to spend $1 billion over a decade to help restore salmon while also boosting tribal clean energy projects. The White House called it 'radical environmentalism' that could have resulted in the breaching of four controversial dams on the Snake River.

The plaintiffs argue that the way the government operates the dams violates the Endangered Species Act, and over decades of litigation judges have repeatedly ordered changes to help the fish. Theyre asking the court to order changes at eight large hydropower dams, including lowering reservoir water levels, which can help fish travel through them faster, and increasing spill, which can help juvenile fish pass over dams instead of through turbines.

In court filings, the federal government called the request a 'sweeping scheme to wrest control' of the dams that would compromise the ability to operate them safely and efficiently. Any such court order could also raise rates for utility customers, the government said.

'Were returning to court because the situation for the salmon and the steelhead in the Columbia River Basin is dire,' said Kristen Boyles, managing attorney with Earthjustice, a nonprofit law firm representing conservation, clean energy and fishing groups in the litigation. 'There are populations that are on the brink of extinction, and this is a species which is the center of Northwest tribal life and identity.'

The lengthy legal battle was revived after Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement last June. The pact with Washington, Oregon and four Native American tribes had allowed for a pause in the litigation.

The plaintiffs, which include the state of Oregon and a coalition of conservation and fishing groups such as the National Wildlife Federation, filed the motion for a preliminary injunction, with Washington state, the Nez Perce Tribe and Yakama Nation supporting it as 'friends of the court.' The U.S. District Court in Portland will hear the oral arguments.

The Columbia River Basin, spanning an area roughly the size of Texas, was once the worlds greatest salmon-producing river system, with at least 16 stocks of salmon and steelhead. Today, four are extinct and seven are endangered or threatened. Another iconic but endangered Northwest species, a population of killer whales, also depend on the salmon.

The construction of the first dams on the Columbia River, including the Grand Coulee and Bonneville in the 1930s, provided jobs during the Great Depression as well as hydropower and navigation. They made the town of Lewiston, Idaho, the most inland seaport on the West Coast, and many farmers continue to rely on barges to ship their crops.

Opponents of the proposed dam changes include the Inland Ports and Navigation Group, which said in a statement last year that increasing spill 'can disproportionately hurt navigation, resulting in disruptions in the flow of commerce that has a highly destructive impact on our communities and economy.'

However, the dams are also a main culprit behind the decline of salmon, which regional tribes consider part of their cultural and spiritual identity.

The dams for which changes are being sought are the Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite on the Snake River, and the Bonneville, The Dalles, John Day and McNary on the Columbia.

WASHINGTON (AP) ' White House border czar Tom Homans announcement that enforcement in Minnesota was being unified under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement followed months of internal grumbling and infighting among agencies about how to carry out President Donald Trumps mass deportation campaign.

Since it was created in 2003, ICE has conducted street arrests through 'targeted enforcement.' Homan uses that phrase repeatedly to describe narrowly tailored operations with specific, individual targets, in contrast to the broad sweeps that had become more common under Border Patrol direction in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minnesota and elsewhere.

It is unclear how the agency friction may have influenced the leadership shift. But the change shines a light on how the two main agencies behind Trumps centerpiece deportation agenda have at times clashed over styles and tactics.

The switch comes at a time when support for ICE is sliding, with a growing number of Americans saying the agency has become too aggressive. In Congress, the Department of Homeland Security is increasingly under attack by Democrats who want to rein in immigration enforcement.

While declaring the Twin Cities operation a success, Homan on Wednesday acknowledged that it was imperfect and said consolidating operations under ICEs enforcement and removal operations unit was an effort toward 'making sure we follow the rules.' Trump sent the former acting ICE director to Minnesota last week to de-escalate tensions after two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by federal immigration officers ' one with ICE and the other with Customs and Border Protection.

'We made this operation more streamlined and we established a unified chain of command, so everybody knows what everybodys doing,' Homan said at a news conference in Minneapolis. 'In targeted enforcement operations, we go out there. There needs to be a plan.'

Agencies with different missions and approaches

The Border Patrols growing role in interior enforcement had fueled tensions within ICE, according to current and former DHS officials. Gregory Bovino, a senior Border Patrol official who was reassigned from Minneapolis last week, embraced a 'turn and burn' strategy of lightning-quick street sweeps and heavy shows of force that were designed to rack up arrests but often devolved into chaos.

'Every time you place Border Patrol into interior enforcement the wheels are going to come off,' Darius Reeves, who retired in May as head of ICEs enforcement and removal operations in Baltimore, said in an interview last year as Bovinos influence grew.

ICE has also engaged in aggressive tactics that mark a break from the past, especially in Minnesota. An ICE officer fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. Trump administration officials said she tried to run over an officer with her vehicle, an account that state and local officials have rejected. ICE has asserted sweeping power to forcibly enter a persons home to make arrests without a judges warrant, among other controversial tactics.

But ICEs traditional playbook involves extensive investigation and surveillance before an arrest, often acting quickly and quietly in predawn vehicle stops or outside a home. An ICE official once compared it to watching paint dry.

Bovino, in a November interview, said the two agencies had different but complementary missions and he compared the relationship to a large metropolitan police department. The Border Patrol was akin to beat cops on roving patrols. ICE was more like detectives, doing investigative work.

Asked about the friction, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said, 'There is only page: The Presidents page. Everyones on the same page.'

'This is one team, and we have one fight to secure the homeland. President Trump has a brilliant, tenacious team led by Secretary (Kristi) Noem to deliver on the American peoples mandate to remove criminal illegal aliens from this country.'

ICE gets blamed for Border Patrols tactics, official says

Michael Fisher, chief of the Border Patrol from 2010 to 2015, said last year that his former agencys tactics were more in line with the Republican administrations goal of deporting millions of people who entered the United States while Democrat Joe Biden was president.

'How do you deal with trying to arrest hundreds and hundreds of people in a shift?' Fisher said. 'ICE agents typically arent geared, they dont have the equipment, they dont have the training to deal in those environments. The Border Patrol does.'

The Border Patrols high-profile raids, including a helicopter landing on the roof of a Chicago apartment building that involved agents rappelling down, rankled ICE officials. A U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity said at the time that ICE often gets blamed for Border Patrols tactics.

Meanwhile, Scott Mechowski, who retired in 2018 as ICEs deputy field office director for enforcement and removal operations in New York, said separately that the Border Patrol was essentially doing roving operations and blanketing an area to question anyone or everyone about their legal status. He considered that an unwelcome contrast to ICEs traditionally more targeted approach, based on deep surveillance and investigation of suspects.

'We didnt just park our cars and walk through Times Square going, ‘OK, everybody. Come over here. Youre next, youre next. We never did that. To me, thats not the way to do your business,' Mechowski said.

Homan offers a narrower approach

As the Border Patrols influence grew last year, the administration reassigned at least half of the field office directors of ICEs enforcement and removals operations division. Many were replaced by current or retired officials from CBP, the Border Patrols parent agency.

Homans arrival in Minnesota and his emphasis on 'targeted enforcement' mark a subtle but unmistakable shift, at least in tone. He said authorities would arrest people they encounter who are not targets and he reaffirmed Trumps commitment to mass deportation, but emphasized a narrower approach steeped in investigation.

'When we leave this building, we know who were looking for, where were most likely to find them, what their immigration record is, what their criminal history is,' Homan said.

On the ground, the mood has not changed much in Minneapolis since Bovinos departure and Homans consolidation of operations under ICE. Fewer CBP convoys are seen in the Twin Cities area, but with ICE still having a significant presence, tensions remain.

On Thursday, The Associated Press witnessed an ICE officer in an unmarked vehicle tail a car and then pull over its driver, only to appear to realize he was not their target. 'Youre good,' they told him, after scanning his face with their phones. They then drove off, leaving the driver baffled and furious.

Associated Press writer Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis contributed to this report.