The teen charged in the death of a staff member at the Lincoln Hills juvenile prison in 2024 is asking for a new decision on whether his case should be moved to juvenile court. 

The teen, JH (the Examiner is not using his full name because his case is potentially being heard in juvenile court) turned 18 this year but was 16 at the time of the death of Corey Proulx after an altercation at the Lincoln Hills youth prison in Irma, Wisconsin. 

According to the criminal complaint, JH obtained a cup of a liquid substance believed to be soap from another youth and threw it at a staff member before punching her repeatedly. 

He then went outside into a courtyard where other youth were present, followed by Proulx, the complaint says. When Proulx approached him, he struck Proulx multiple times. Proulx fell to the ground, struck his head on the pavement and was later declared brain dead. 

The complaint says that JH said he had built up aggression toward a female staff member because he believed she was abusing her power and treating him unfairly. He said he planned to attack her and had asked another youth to obtain the soap from staff. 

JH pleaded guilty/not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect to a count of second-degree reckless homicide in connection with Proulx’s death, the Associated Press reported in January, as well as guilty to a count of battery by a prisoner.  

He “entered into a plea agreement that partially resolves the case involving the sad and tragic death of (Proulx),” his attorney Aaron Nelson said in an email to the AP. “(JH), who has had a life filled with trauma and suffering, realizes that nothing will compensate the victims for their loss and suffering.” Nelson filed a motion for his client to be allowed to withdraw his pleas. District Attorney Kristopher Ellis said the state is not objecting to the motion. 

Nelson made the motion in February, two weeks after the Wisconsin Court of Appeals released a decision in the case of a juvenile who was charged in the death of his mother when he was 10 years old. The Court of Appeals decision may lead to a new determination over whether or not JH’s case should go to juvenile court. Nelson wrote in the motion that the previous pleas are “null and void” due to the Court of Appeals decision. 

Online court records show a motion hearing in the case is scheduled for Wednesday, May 6, and another hearing is scheduled for June 3. 

When juveniles are alleged to have committed certain crimes, such as first-degree intentional homicide, their cases first go to adult criminal court in Wisconsin. An accused juvenile can try to transfer their case to juvenile court through the reverse waiver procedure. 

State law lays out three criteria for a reverse waiver determination. The juvenile must prove that all three are more probably true than not:

1. If the juvenile is convicted, the juvenile could not receive adequate treatment in the criminal justice system.
2. Moving the case to juvenile court would not depreciate the seriousness of the offense. 
3. It is not necessary to keep the case where it is to deter the juvenile or other juveniles from committing the violation that the juvenile is accused of. 

The Court of Appeals found that these criteria are unconstitutional to the extent they don’t require circuit courts to consider the unique attributes of youth identified by the United States Supreme Court. 

The criteria don’t require the impacts of the juvenile’s youth to be considered before determining whether they are tried as an adult, the decision says. 

“Because children’s characters are not well formed, and because children are more capable of change, ‘a greater possibility exists that a minor’s character deficiencies will be reformed,’ the decision says.

They don’t give a juvenile a “meaningful opportunity” to prove that they are not “one of the ‘rare and unfortunate cases’ that warrant treating the juvenile as having the same culpability as an adult,” the decision says. 

The Court of Appeals decision may lead to JH receiving a new reverse waiver determination, which would decide whether his case should be moved to juvenile court. 

Nelson didn’t comment for this article about the chances of JH’s case being moved to juvenile court, but he spoke about the Court of Appeals decision in the Mann-Tate case of a boy who was charged with the shooting death of his mother when he was 10 years old. Nelson is also one of that boy’s attorneys at the trial court level. 

In Nelson’s experience, successful reverse waiver determinations are extremely rare. The standard for success is incredibly difficult to meet, and he’s aware of two cases in the state where this has happened, he said.

Nelson said that the appeals court decision in Mann-Tate gives juveniles a better chance of getting their cases moved to juvenile court, but he’s not sure how much better.

“What I don’t know is whether that improves it from a 1% chance to 2% chance, or some greater impact than that,” Nelson said. “I think it’s going to be very dependent on every individual case, and every individual judge.”

In addition, the state has appealed the Court of Appeals decision to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which has not yet said whether it will take the case. 

As of February, a jury trial is set to begin in JH’s case later this year, on Oct. 21, and online record of an April 29 scheduling conference states that the court was to “remain holding the October dates.” A status conference is scheduled for Aug. 20. 

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Nearly 50 years after a strike that ended union representation at the Madison Capital Times, the newspaper’s eight newsroom employees announced last week they have joined a  union and are seeking a contract.

Ashley Rodriguez, a features writer and spokesperson for the union drive, said in an interview that the staffers have asked Publisher and President Paul Fanlund, Editor Mark Treinen and other newsroom managers to voluntarily recognize The NewsGuild-CWA as their union.

“We were received very professionally and cordially,” Rodriguez said.

Asked Tuesday about his response to the union petition, Fanlund said in an email message, “No comment at this time. Will let you know when we have something to say.”

Rodriguez said the union organizing campaign wasn’t in reaction to any particular developments at the newspaper.

“This isn’t about one thing, this isn’t about one person. This is about exercising our rights and knowing that we’re stronger together,” she said.

Since its conversion in 2008 from a daily evening paper to a digital outlet with a weekly free tabloid edition, the Capital Times now has formally adopted its longstanding nickname, the Cap Times.

Rodriguez said the union effort was in keeping with the news organization’s heritage as a champion of progressive values in Madison since the Capital Times was founded in 1917 by William T. Evjue, a former managing editor and business manager for the Wisconsin State Journal.

“He was angered by the State Journal’s editorials attacking Robert M. ‘Fighting Bob’ LaFollette, who he considered a hero,” states a history the Capital Times posted that was archived in 2007.

“The history of the Cap Times is to be a progressive voice — the voice of Madison, representing the voices of people who aren’t heard,” said Rodriguez. On its editorial pages, the paper has been a strong supporter of labor unions.

“I think this has been like a desire to embody how we see our role as reporters within our own system,” she said. “If we’re going to embody the mission of William Evjue, championing people’s rights and being the voice of the community, that has to exist internally as well.”

Rodriguez joined the staff in January 2025, but she said reporters had been interested in joining a union for years before she arrived, and helped produce the energy that led her and her colleagues to formally organize in the last year. Staff support for the union has been unanimous, she said.

“For us just the biggest thing is that local journalism is so vital to a healthy democracy and strong communities and the reporters that deliver that news just want to live in their communities and feel like their work is being valued as well,” Rodriguez said.

Since the 1940s, the Capital Times and the Wisconsin State Journal have shared business operations, forming a partnership, Madison Newspapers Inc., which owned the presses and conducted other business operations for both papers.

In 1977, MNI installed new printing technology, laying off typesetting employees and cutting wages of the remaining printing staff. The printing unions struck, joined by the newsroom unions of both newspapers.

The striking employees put out an independent paper, first weekly and later daily, the Madison Press Connection, which lasted until 1980, and the strike was settled in 1982 with a $1.5 million payment to the strikers. The unions were all decertified.

Editorially, the Capital Times “had always supported the labor movement,” said Phil Haslanger, one of the reporters who joined the strike. Up to that point, when the Newspaper Guild represented newsroom employees, “there had always been spirited negotiations between the Guild and, at that time, William Evjue, but they found a way to make it work.”

That made the dispute especially controversial. “Here you had a paper that was progressive, liberal, involved in this very complicated labor situation,” Haslanger said.

Haslanger was one of five employees who went back to the paper as part of the settlement agreement. Under the editor, Elliott Maraniss, “There was a real effort on the part of the Cap Times at the end of the strike to gracefully reintegrate those of us who had been in the strike,” he said.

In 2008, the Capital Times went from being a daily evening paper to a primarily online outlet, first with two free weekly tabloid editions, later reduced to one.

The union campaign also echoes the success of campaigns that have led to unions at several digital news organizations, including Wisconsin Watch and ProPublica. 

Both the Cap Times and the State Journal work out of the same building on Madison’s Southwest Side. Rodriguez said the unionizing effort involves only the staff of the Cap Times, owned by the Evjue Foundation, and not the employees of the State Journal, which is part of Lee Enterprises.

“We hope that management voluntarily recognizes us,” she said. “We think that recognizing the union would be in line with carrying out the values of the Cap Times.”

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WASHINGTON — Get off the train at Union Station, walk outside and gasp at that iconic view of the Capitol dome in front of you. 

Cross the street and the first thing you run into is a construction site surrounding walled-off Columbus Circle. On the wall is a huge poster of President Donald Trump wearing a hard hat (and a coat and tie).

“Thank you, PRESIDENT TRUMP,” the sign says.

That’s just the start of what a tourist will encounter as they sightsee in the heart of the nation’s capital. Or these days, the nation’s capital as brought to you by Donald Trump.

The Trump reminders are all over. Walk the tourist walk from the Capitol down and around Pennsylvania Avenue, past the White House and on to the Lincoln Memorial and it’s clear who’s in charge.

Whether or not this is affecting tourism is unclear. Destination DC, a nonprofit organization that markets the area as a global tourist destination, doesn’t keep month-to-month data. It found in 2024, before the Trump boom, a record 27.2 million people visited the city.

“Tourists who are pro-Trump will be drawn to his eponymous sites. Those who oppose him will not. Most tourists will pay no attention to his projects but will enjoy all the historic and exciting venues and exhibits in Washington,” said Barbara Perry, professor in Presidential Studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center 

She said Trump’s propensity to “destroy, rebuild, construct, and name numerous sites and institutions for himself is most unusual.”

Trump likenesses 

Trump detailed his plans in a March, 2025, executive order, “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful.”

“Its highways, boulevards, and parks should be clean, well-kept, and pleasant,” he said of the nation’s capital. “Its monuments, museums, and buildings should reflect and inspire awe and appreciation for our Nation’s strength, greatness, and heritage. Our citizens deserve nothing less.” 

Previous incumbent presidents’ pictures were usually confined to 8-by-10 portraits hanging in post offices or deep inside other federal buildings, as they were careful not to splatter their names and likenesses so publicly.

“Typical presidents want to avoid looking arrogant by honoring themselves while in office or even after—except for their presidential libraries, starting with FDR. They usually feel humbled if a Navy ship, for example, is named for them while they are extant: Bush I and Ford come to mind,” Perry said of former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford.

Both served in the Navy and saw combat in the South Pacific.

Democrats are furious about the Trump makeover. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, calls Trump’s actions “narcissism” and is pushing the “Stop Executive Renaming for Vanity and Ego Act.”

“Donald Trump doesn’t get to slap his name on any public institution he chooses. We don’t have kings or dictators in America, and this legislation stops him or any future sitting president from creating monuments to glorify themselves,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.

The bill is likely to go nowhere in the Republican-run Congress.

So for now, tourists can stroll around the Mall and see how Trump has tried to transform the nation’s capital.

Starting at the Capitol and heading south down Constitution Avenue until it splits off to Pennsylvania Avenue, here goes:

Albert Pike statue

Status: Installed at Judiciary Square, about four blocks from the Capitol.

Details: “The only public sculpture in DC to commemorate a Confederate general,” says the DC Historic Sites team website. Pike was a slave owner and a senior officer in the Confederate Army.

The memorial was “toppled and burned on Juneteenth of 2020, as protests continued across the country in response to the murder of George Floyd,” the website says. Floyd was a Black man killed by a white policeman in Minneapolis, sparking protests around the country.

Last year, the Trump administration had the Pike statue restored and placed at its present location. 

The action was part of an executive order Trump issued in March 2025. He ordered a review of memorials or statues that had been “removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.” 

The order also affected the Smithsonian Institution, which Trump said “has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.” 

Trump banners on federal buildings

Status: Huge banners with Trump’s face hang from the Judiciary and Labor Departments.

Details: “American Workers First” says the Labor banner, with Trump’s vastly enlarged face atop the saying. Another banner features President Theodore Roosevelt. 

The banners, which cover almost three stories of the building, are visible from both heavily-trafficked Constitution and Pennsylvania avenues.

About six blocks away, on Pennsylvania Avenue at the Justice Department — which a few years ago investigated Trump for possible crimes — there’s a new, three-story banner where he looks down at the street atop the saying “Make American Safe Again.”

When the Labor banner went up, then-Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer told Trump about it at a Cabinet meeting, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.

“Mr. President, I invite you to see your big, beautiful face on a banner in front of the Department of Labor because you are really the transformational president of the American worker,” she told him.

Bonus sighting: As you walk along Pennsylvania Avenue, don’t miss another “Thank You, President Trump” banner hanging on a construction wall across from the National Gallery of Art near 4th Street.

White House ballroom

Status: Walk up Pennsylvania Avenue starting at the 1500 block and you’ll see the White House East Wing is gone. It’s a rubble-laden construction site now, where Trump is trying to build a 90,000 square foot ballroom with a military installation underneath. The project is to be privately funded, though Senate Republicans are seeking $1 billion for security in an immigration bill.

Details: The project is embroiled in a still-evolving legal battle. The April 25 assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where a gunman threatened the president and top officials, may be changing minds.

Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Montana,  last month introduced legislation to authorize the ballroom. “A President of any party should be able to host events in a secure area without attendees worrying about their safety. This is common sense. Let’s get it done,” he tweeted.

Last week, Justice sought to have the lawsuit dismissed. “This (ballroom) project will ensure that events like the horrific attack on Saturday night do not happen again,” it argued.

Reflecting Pool

Status: Keep walking toward Constitution Avenue. You’ll see the Reflecting Pool between the World War II Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. Renovations are underway and expected to be completed by July 4. The pool is being cleaned and painted blue.

Details: The pool has often been criticized for being dirty and leaking. 

Trump’s effort is going a step farther than others who have launched renovation and cleaning projects. He said the project will cost $2 million, far less than other recent refurbishing efforts, according to his TruthSocial website.

“It was filthy dirty and it leaked like a sieve for many years,” Trump said in a video posted to the site. 

He’s having it painted “swimming pool blue,” a color that appalls many preservationists.  

Kennedy Center

Details: The city’s premier cultural center is about a 20-minute walk away. Perhaps no Trump change has provoked more outrage among his Washington critics than his renaming of the capital’s cultural center.

He said during a visit to the center in March 2025 that “it needs a lot of work,” adding it should have better seats and more “Broadway hits.”

The president overhauled its governance, creating a board that named him the center’s chairman, changed programming to suit his tastes, and announced the center would close this summer for two years for renovations.

Status: While the center’s board renamed the site the Trump-Kennedy Center, Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, an ex officio member of the board, has taken legal action in federal court seeking to stop the name change, saying only Congress can do so. The case is pending.

Monumental Arch

Details: Trump wants to build a 250 foot arch — taller than the nearby Lincoln Memorial and the tallest in the world — at the traffic circle at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery on the Virginia side of the Potomac River. The circle leads to the Memorial Bridge across the Potomac, connecting to the Lincoln Memorial.

Status: The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, packed with Trump appointees, approved the arch’s concept design in April. 

The arch, the commission said in its approval letter, “would contribute positively to the honorific landscape of Washington, D.C., for many generations.” It requested more information for the next phase, including plans for better pedestrian access and sculptures.

Court battles await, notably from a group of Vietnam veterans and others. 

They say the arch would distort the clear view from the cemetery to the Lincoln Memorial, as well as disrupt the symbolism of the bridge, designed to join the North and South.

Off the usual paths

Go away from the main tourist routes and there’s yet more evidence of the Trump rebranding. The United States National Institute of Peace is now the Donald J. Trump National Institute of Peace. The change is meant “to reflect the greatest dealmaker in our nation’s history,” said a State Department tweet.

Then there’s what tourists won’t see.

“Visitors who take the garden tour of the White House this spring will miss the beautiful Rose Garden outside the West Wing and the Jackie Kennedy Garden outside the East Wing, of blessed memory,” said Perry. “Both gardens, planned by the Kennedys, plus the East Wing itself have been obliterated by the incumbent.” 

The Rose Garden, the White House says, “was turned into a patio with roses lining the perimeter, developing a space dedicated to hospitality and entertaining. Today, the Rose Garden is used to host many guests of the president for events and dinners.” 

East Potomac Golf Course

While the East Potomac Golf Course isn’t right on the main tourist route, it’s just off to the side on an island not far from the Jefferson Memorial, with a view of the Washington Monument. The Trump administration has reportedly wanted to close and then revamp the historic site. Preservationists and local folks are furious.

Reports say he wants to convert it to a championship golf course — one that some think will make it an exclusive club, instead of the current affordable public setup that’s popular with locals. NOTUS wrote that the National Park Service is scheduled to start landscaping.

The links currently have two nine-hole courses, an 18-hole par 72 course, miniature golf, a driving range and a restaurant. 

The D.C. Preservation League and two local residents Sunday asked a District Court judge to halt any Trump project. 

“Trump is taking a public park away from the American people while spending their hard-earned taxpayer dollars to build a private, elite club from which he’d personally profit,” Democracy Defenders Fund Executive Chair Norm Eisen said in a statement.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes on Monday did not stop the project, saying reports about the course’s overhaul did not provide enough evidence for her to act, but she warned that if she sees that certain renovations are underway she could reconsider.

National Mall Superintendent Kevin Griess said Monday there were no plans to begin renovation work but a safety assessment was underway, The Associated Press reported.

WASHINGTON — The alleged White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooter was indicted by a grand jury Tuesday on four federal charges, including attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump and assaulting an officer or employee of the United States with a deadly weapon.

The three-page indictment alleges 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, of California, “knowingly and by means and use of a deadly and dangerous weapon” forcibly assaulted, intimidated or interfered with an unidentified U.S. Secret Service agent who was hit with one bullet in his protective vest while working a security checkpoint outside the annual dinner. The agent was uninjured.

The indictment does not specify whether Allen fired the shot that hit the agent.

Allen was also indicted on transporting a firearm over state lines with intent to commit a felony, and using, brandishing or discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. 

Shotgun, pistol and wire cutters

The indictment specifies Allen transported a 12-gauge pump action shotgun with 45 rounds of ammunition, and a .38 caliber semi-automatic pistol with 55 rounds of ammunition.

Government prosecutors in a court filing prior to the indictment alleged Allen also had on him “two knives, four daggers, multiple sheaths, multiple holsters, needle nose pliers, (and) wire cutters.”

The Department of Justice initially charged Allen on three of the grand jury indictment counts, with the exception of assaulting a federal officer or employee.

Allen is scheduled to be arraigned in federal district court Monday in Washington, D.C.

He faces up to life in prison if convicted of attempting to kill the president.

Black-tie dinner

Allen allegedly rushed a security checkpoint one level above the Washington Hilton ballroom on April 25 where Trump, Vice President JD Vance and several Cabinet officials were among thousands of journalists, government officials and celebrities attending the black-tie event that dates back a century.

Shortly before he ran through a magnetometer, with a long gun in hand, at 8:40 p.m., Allen sent an email to friends and family explaining he intended to target “administration officials … prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest.”

Trump, first lady Melania Trump and Cabinet members all safely evacuated the ballroom. 

The Secret Service agent, whose vest protected him from gunfire, is referred to in court filings as V.G. 

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters April 27 that a ballistics investigation had not yet been completed, and would not answer whether Allen fired the bullet that hit the agent.

V.G. fired five rounds from his service weapon in Allen’s direction, but did not hit the suspect who fell to the ground and sustained minor injuries, according to a signed affidavit from law enforcement filed in court April 27.

Trump publicly shared photos on his social media platform Truth Social the day following the dinner of a shirtless and handcuffed Allen face down on the hotel carpet Saturday night.

The leader of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement admitted that he had never even heard of some of the countries his agency has been deporting immigrants to.

“Now we are actually removing people to countries that I didn’t even know existed,” Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said during a panel discussion at the 2026 Border Security Expo in Phoenix, speaking of the third country deportation program in which the administration has sent immigrants to African nations they have no ties to. 

Lyons added that the third country deportation program has been “a huge game changer” in implementing President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. 

Lyons was one of a series of Trump administration speakers, including “border czar” Tom Homan, who spoke Tuesday, and interim U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, who will be giving the event’s keynote speech on Wednesday. 

Lyons, who will be resigning at the end of this month, made the comment during a “State of the Border” panel discussion. Last year, Lyons used the session to declare that ICE’s goal was to deport millions of people with the efficiency that Amazon delivers packages. 

During last year’s event, Homan and other speakers told the military industrial complex representatives in the crowd that the Trump administration is depending on the private sector to implement its mass deportation agenda. 

That message remained largely unchanged this year, though Lyons and others also took aim at the public perception of the enforcement actions which have led to nearly two-thirds of Americans saying ICE has gone too far. 

Homan claimed that those who work for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ICE and similar agencies have been “vilified by the media” and members of Congress, taking particular offense to comments made by elected officials comparing their actions to Nazi Germany. 

Homan said that ICE is just “enforcing the laws” written by members of Congress and called those remarks the “ultimate insult.” 

The rampant use of violence by immigration agents, including the shooting deaths of two American citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year, has been well documented on social media and in the press.

Homan also went on to falsely claim that ICE has not arrested individuals in churches or at hospitals. There have been multiple reports of recent immigration enforcement activity at churches as well as at hospitals. The Trump administration in 2025 rolled back federal protections that designated hospitals as protected areas where ICE could not do enforcement actions. 

On those enforcement actions, Homan said that more are coming. He said he had been speaking with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who has agreed to hire more deportation officers. 

“You ain’t seen shit yet,” Homan said to applause and cheers from the crowd. “This is going to be a good year.” 

Homan also claimed that New York will be seeing more ICE agents due to a proposed law that would ban police in the Empire State from entering into 287(g) agreements with ICE. Such agreements leverage local resources to do the investigative legwork for federal immigration agents and increase deportation rates. 

“We’re going to flood the zone. You’re going to see more ICE agents than you’ve seen before,” Homan said of New York if they pass such a law, claiming that it would make the state less safe and make it harder for ICE to do its job. “You forced us in this position.” 

During the “State of the Border” panel in which Lyons participated, officials lauded the Trump administration for letting them “do the work” and touted the low number of illegal border crossings that have occurred under the second Trump administration. 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott also spoke directly to “any illegal aliens out there.” 

“We’re going to go find your entire family, your entire network. Anybody you spoke to on the phone. We’re going to take out that entire network,” Scott said, adding that one arrest at the border can lead to multiple arrests inside the United States of other individuals. 

Both Scott and Lyons also shot back at a question asked by a member of the audience who asked for them to respond to reporting by ProPublica that found more than 170 U.S. citizens have been arrested by immigration agents.

“We don’t arrest U.S. citizens, we arrest criminals. Period,” Scott said, adding that any U.S. citizen they do arrest is likely a criminal and that they are overseen by the Office of the Inspector General and FBI. Lyons made a similar statement. 

The Trump administration has gutted the OIG and DHS itself has reportedly been obstructing the work of the OIG in recent months. ICE has also arrested U.S. citizens during enforcement actions who were often later released without being charged with a crime. 

A small group of protesters showed up to the event Tuesday. Among them was Democratic U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari.

On the show floor, vendors hawked their wares to Border Patrol agents, Homeland Security Investigations agents and local law enforcement that were seen by the Arizona Mirror walking the floor. 

A large majority of this year’s vendors focused on camera platforms, some meant to provide persistent surveillance and others meant to be placed at ports of entry to scan faces in cars in real time. 

Also present were a number of vendors aiming to integrate artificial intelligence with workbook systems or camera platforms. 

Two of the most prevalent forms of tech at the expo this year were drones and technology to counter them. 

But it wasn’t just surveillance technology and military grade tech meant for the border at the expo. 

One piece of equipment shown to the Mirror was the “Upper Hand Glove” by On Point Solutions. It is a wearable metal detector in the form of a glove meant to streamline the metal detection process. 

Also present at the expo were companies looking to cash in on transporting detained immigrants as well as housing them. 

The Mirror examined the list of companies set to be in attendance to highlight some of the key trends as well as noteworthy companies seeking the attention of the government officials.  

Some have ties to Trump and his allies, such as Andruil Industries, which is tied to Trump ally Palantir.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Republicans released a roughly $70 billion spending package Monday night that will keep Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol operating for the rest of President Donald Trump’s term without any of the new constraints Democrats have demanded.

The legislation also includes $1 billion “to support enhancements by the United States Secret Service relating to the East Wing Modernization Project, including above-ground and below-ground security features.”

Trump, who had the East Wing of the White House bulldozed to make way for his $300 or $400 million ballroom project, had said it would be funded by private donors and not taxpayers. White House officials have said the ballroom is critical for national security when top officials are gathered, following an April 25 incident in which a gunman opened fire at a dinner at the Washington Hilton attended by Trump.

Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement the panel “is taking action to help provide certainty for federal law enforcement and safer streets for American families.” 

“We will work to ensure this critical funding gets signed into law without unnecessary delay,” he added. 

Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said in a statement the package shows “Republicans are ignoring the needs of middle-class America and instead funneling money into Trump’s ballroom and throwing billions at two lawless agencies.”

He noted the Department of Homeland Security has more than $100 billion from Republicans’ signature tax and spending cuts package it hasn’t spent. 

“Throughout this process, Democrats will continue to show the American people that we are for bringing down costs, making it easier to get ahead, and building an economy where families thrive and billionaires pay their fair share,” Merkley said. “It is clear that the country has had enough of the Republican ‘families lose, billionaires win’ agenda.”

Billions for immigration enforcement

The package’s release follows a record-setting shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security that began after the two parties were unable to reach a compromise on new guardrails for immigration operations after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January.  

The Judiciary Committee’s bill includes $30.725 billion for ICE, $3.47 billion for Customs and Border Protection and $1.457 billion for the Department of Justice.

The bill from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs allocates $19.1 billion for CBP to hire Border Patrol staff and $7.45 billion for ICE to hire Homeland Security Investigations agents.

CPB will receive an additional $3.45 billion to purchase new technology “to combat the entry or exit of illicit narcotics at ports of entry,” to upgrade border surveillance technology and to conduct initial screenings of unaccompanied children. 

Another $2.5 billion would go to the Homeland Security secretary for any additional border security needs. 

All of the funding would last through Sept. 30, 2029.

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., said in a statement the panel plans to vote later this month to advance the bill. 

“Senate Democrats refuse to vote for a single dollar to secure our borders or enforce our immigration laws, even against the most violent illegal aliens,” Paul said. 

60 votes not needed in Senate

Republicans plan to pass the bill using the same complex budget reconciliation process they used last year to enact their “big, beautiful” law that provided DHS with $170 billion. 

GOP lawmakers voted last month to approve the budget resolution that unlocks the process that comes with many rules and restrictions but avoids the need to get 60 votes in the Senate to end debate. 

Senate Republican leaders chose to separate funding for ICE and Border Patrol from the annual Homeland Security appropriations bill after the two political parties made little progress toward restrictions on immigration agents. 

The stalemate led to a 76-day shutdown for the Department of Homeland Security, which ended in late April after the House sent Trump the annual funding bill the Senate had approved a month earlier.

While the latest entry to seek the Democratic nomination in Wisconsin’s crowded 1st Congressional District primary contest is highlighting a promise to raise more money than his rivals, another candidate is making the opposite case for his own campaign.

Adam Follmer, a suburban Milwaukee speech pathologist, has set a $10,000 cap his campaign spending.

“I’m playing to win in this campaign, but I think more than anything I’m playing to shift the Overton window a little bit more to things that we can talk about,” Follmer said in an interview. “We can actually think about what are our elections going to look like when we do get money out of politics.”

His campaign website stands apart from those of other Democrats in the race because it doesn’t have an opening splash screen soliciting donations.

It’s different in other ways as well. He said he’s trying to use his website to model “sustainable politics” — there’s even a page with that name — and in presenting the issues that he is campaigning on, Follmer has a series of videos that he’s encouraging visitors on the site to share.

“I’m hoping to appeal to people that are just tired of the endless attacks, the endless calls, the door knocking of people that they don’t even know, and instead change the way we engage in politics, and have that message come from people we know and trust,” Follmer said.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face incumbent U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, who has a campaign fund exceeding $5 million and remains the favorite in the race, according to political oddsmakers.

Follmer’s platform in the campaign includes getting money completely out of politics, banning corporate political action committee donations and donations from lobbyists. He also favors ranked-choice voting and term limits in the U.S. House and Senate.

Some have criticized term limits for increasing the power and influence of lobbyists as the lawmakers in office turn over more often. Follmer, however, argues that the federal government should increase the employment of researchers and experts who “are supposed to help [lawmakers] understand the issues,” and severely restrict or eliminate paid lobbyists in return.

“The idea that a corporation can have the same voice as an actual voter is something that’s never sat right with me, and I don’t understand why that’s the norm,” he said.

Follmer also favors a wealth tax on fortunes over $50 million along with closing corporate tax loopholes; single-payer health care available to all; expanded public and affordable housing and rental assistance; and a series of worker supports including guaranteed universal child care, paid parental leave and a shift to a 32-hour work week without reducing weekly incomes.

Workforce training, fully funded public education, well-paid teachers, modernizing of infrastructure with a focus on addressing climate change and ensuring that publicly funded research is made open access round out his platform.

Follmer says his goal is to connect with 20,000 people in the district of more than 700,000 voters, either face-to-face or through his website, where he has installed a platform that visitors can use to communicate directly with him.  

The way politics is practiced currently, “we don’t have any infrastructure for us to actually communicate with our elected representatives in a meaningful way,” Follmer said.

He hopes that by reaching people more directly, they’ll in turn share his information with their friends and neighbors, building support for his campaign.

While Follmer said that he has often lined up with groups such as the progressive Justice Democrats and the Working Families Party on many of his policy proposals, he  initially launched his campaign in mid-2025 as an independent candidate, planning to skip the primary in August and wind up on the 1st CD ballot in November.

“What I was hoping for with the independent candidacy was that I could get people that voted for Trump in 2024 to realize there actually are candidates representing working class values, and that we could get those people to change,” he said. 

But in talking to voters, “I got a lot of feedback from the community that they didn’t want to see an independent candidate,” Follmer said, because they worried that the vote against Steil would wind up being divided, returning the incumbent to office even if there’s a majority in opposition.

“I want to be the kind of candidate that listens to the constituents,” he said. “And so I made that decision recently to change to the Democratic side and ride out the primary that way.”

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The U.S. Supreme Court’s new decision gutting a key provision of the federal Voting Rights Act clears the way for state officials to drastically reshape not only Congress but also state legislatures, county commissions, city councils and even local school boards.

The ruling, released last week in a case called Louisiana v. Callais, dismantled some of the final guardrails protecting the electoral power of Black, Hispanic and other racial minority voters that had been enshrined in the Voting Rights Act, a landmark 1965 federal civil rights law that bars racial discrimination in voting access.

The 6-3 decision all but nullifies a provision called Section 2 that required states to draw electoral maps to give racial minority voters the opportunity to elect their chosen candidates.

And while intense national attention on the case’s fallout has focused on the U.S.  House as the 2026 midterm congressional elections loom, the new ruling also applies to state legislative districts and maps for county or municipal elections.

Those localized changes are just hovering further down the road.

“While everyone has been focusing on what this means for the power in Congress, there’s a whole other sector of power that it changes,” said Davante Lewis, an elected member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission and one of the litigants in a case that pushed Louisiana to create the congressional maps that were eventually struck down in the Callais ruling.

“This is a decision on who gets to serve on a school board, who gets to serve on a city council, who gets representation in the judiciary,” Lewis said.

Electoral maps are typically redrawn every 10 years after a census, but the Trump administration has encouraged Republican-led states to redraw districts to favor the GOP, a controversial move that has prompted some Democratic-led states to retaliate with gerrymandering of their own.

“But after 2030, I think we’re definitely going to see the impact of the Callais decision at the state level,” said Travis Crum, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis whose research focuses on voting rights, race and federalism.

Effects across the South

Critics of the ruling say it will fundamentally dilute the voting and governing power of Black and other minority citizens up and down the ballot, particularly in the South. There, many of the seats held by Black elected officials are in so-called opportunity districts that were created after the Voting Rights Act to allow Black and other minority voters to elect their preferred candidates.

“On the congressional level, we’re in this race to the bottom of redistricting, but when it comes to the state legislative level, we’ll have to wait and see,” Crum said.

In 10 state legislatures across the South, Republicans could gain more than 190 seats currently held by Democrats, most of them Black representatives in majority-minority districts, according to an analysis released in December by voting rights groups Fair Fight Action and Black Voters Matter Fund. At the federal level, one analysis from The New York Times found that Democrats stand to lose a dozen U.S. House seats across the South.

In the hours after the Supreme Court ruling, Republicans across the nation began calling for maps to be redrawn, particularly in states where courts had forced them to create districts where Black or other racial minorities made up the majority of residents.

A US Supreme Court ruling hammered voting rights. What does it mean and what happens now?

“These lines should all be colorblind. You should never be basing a decision on race,” said Arizona Republican state Sen. Warren Petersen, who’s president of the state Senate and running for attorney general.

He told Stateline he believes both congressional and state legislative maps should be redrawn in Arizona — even if it takes litigation.

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves called a special legislative session set for later this month, when he wants lawmakers to draw new election maps for Mississippi state Supreme Court districts. A federal judge in Mississippi will have to quickly decide whether to adopt a new map for some special elections scheduled for November.

Democrats, too, took action. In Illinois, lawmakers backtracked on a proposed constitutional amendment that would have directed lawmakers to consider race in drawing district lines, a provision taken directly from the Voting Rights Act. Instead, Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, a Democrat, told Capitol News Illinois that lawmakers want to learn more about the ruling before putting such an amendment on a ballot for voters to decide, to prevent unintended consequences that could undermine voting rights.

In many states, Republicans are focusing first on congressional redistricting. Louisiana Republican Gov. Jeff Landry postponed his state’s U.S. House primaries even though absentee voting has already begun. In Alabama, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey called a special state legislative session aiming to move the state’s May 19 primary in at least a handful of districts. Prominent Georgia Republicans were also calling for their state’s political maps to be redrawn, though GOP Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement that it’s too late to do that this year.

And in North Dakota, the ruling leaves a tribal redistricting case in limbo. Tribes had used Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act to sue the state over a legislative district map the North Dakota legislature approved in 2021.

Gerrymandering for partisan advantage is legal at the federal level, though some states do have their own laws restricting or prohibiting it. In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is arguing the Supreme Court ruling invalidates voter-approved amendments that prevent the state from gerrymandering districts based on race or political party.

For most states, though, state officials can redraw maps explicitly to favor Republican voters, for example, so long as they don’t state their intention to disadvantage voters based on race.

‘Ripple like wildfire’

Critics of last week’s Callais ruling also worry it will rapidly erode the pipeline that has made it possible for Black and other minority candidates to get elected to office.

“Now, state legislatures can draw maps where they are picking their voters instead of their voters picking them,” said Lewis, the Louisiana commissioner. “They can dilute the power of Black and brown people serving in the state legislature, which means there’s fewer people to fight a congressional map” that pulls voting power away from minority communities.

He worries that if Black Democratic state lawmakers oppose their white Republican colleagues in legislatures with GOP majorities, those colleagues could redraw maps to eliminate the Black lawmakers’ seats, claiming they’re doing it only for partisan reasons.

The diluting of minority voting power, he said, “is going to ripple like wildfire.”

At the most local level, city councils and county boards typically draw those voting maps, but the ruling could be used to apply to them as well, said Crum, the law professor. 

Arizona is one of a handful of states where an independent commission, rather than the state legislature, determines both congressional and legislative districts. Outside of a court order, it can’t convene before the turn of the decade.

Petersen, the Arizona state senator, said he’s prepared to litigate if the state’s redistricting commission doesn’t take action to redraw districts that he said are unconstitutionally drawn. He doesn’t expect new maps before 2028, though.

“We’ve heard complaints from constituents that they don’t like the way their district was drawn,” he said. “We have some people here in Arizona that represent completely far-flung areas.

“I do think you’ll get a better outcome on some of these legislative districts” by removing race-based districting, he said.

Lawmakers in some states have tried to guard against the loss of federal protections by introducing their own state-level voting rights bills. Ten states have their own versions of the federal Voting Rights Act, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Virginia and Washington.

Lawmakers in at least 10 other states have introduced such bills this year alone: Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Vermont.

The new Supreme Court ruling doesn’t render those laws unconstitutional, said Crum.

“But people who are seeking to undermine those state Voting Rights Acts are certainly going to rely on some of the themes” of the recent ruling, Crum said. “You might see them try and replicate some of the moves the court made.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct that Maryland has a state-level voting rights law, which was enacted last week.

Stateline reporter Anna Claire Vollers can be reached at avollers@stateline.org.

Opel and its badged-engineered British sister brand Vauxhall are rediscovering their hot hatch roots, but with a charging cable this time. The pair dropped their Corsa GSE today, along with a zero to 62 mph (100 kmh) time that says it’s faster than any rival electric hot hatch on the market.

That includes fellow Stellantis company Peugeot’s e-208 GTI whose platform, powertrain and basic chassis setup the GSE shares. Under the skin is a single electric motor that sends 276 hp (281 PS / 207 kW) and 254 lb-ft (345 Nm) of torque to the front wheels through a limited-slip differential, though only in Sport mode. In Normal you make do with 228 hp (231 PS / 170 kW).

Related: Stellantis Just Decided Which Four Brands Actually Matter And Opel Isn’t One

Zero to 62 mph (100 kmh) takes 5.5 seconds in Sport, versus 5.7 seconds for the e-208 and 5.9 seconds for the 1,550 kg (3,420 lbs) Corsa’s mechanically identical, but 47 kg (104 lbs) heavier crossover brother, the Mokka GSE. That’s pretty damn swift for a small, front-wheel drive hatch, and also makes the Corsa GSE significantly quicker than its key non-Stellantis electric rivals like the Alpine A290 and Mini Cooper JCW, which need 6.4 and 5.9 seconds respectively to hit the 60 mph mark.

Stiffer, lower suspension and uprated brakes with four-pot calipers are part of the chassis package, Opel claiming that both the steering and pedal responses are massively improved over what you experience from the regular EV. Rolling stock is Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 215/40 R18 rubber wrapped around alloy rims whose three-spoke design is there to evoke memories of the 1980s Opel Corsa GSE, which traded blows with the Peugeot 205 GTI almost 40 years ago.

Plaid Buckets? Check!

Climb inside and you’ll find the sports seats have plaid centers to carry on the 1980s hot hatch theme. Other GSE interior details on the 2027 car include Alcantara trim, aluminum pedals, and strong yellow accents, plus a performance data display showing acceleration stats and G-force readings. On the outside, in addition to those three-spoke rims you get a black roof, rear spoiler and sportier bumpers.

As for range, we don’t have numbers yet, but we do know that the GSE uses the same 51 kWh (usable) battery as other Corsas and other Stellantis cars built on the same CMP platform. So we’d expect the GSE to roughly equal the e-208 GTI’s 217-mile (349 km) range, which will be fine for blasting around town, but not so good on longer trips.

VW’s ID. Polo GTI debuts any day, and should deliver more than 260 miles (418 km) of range, though with only 223 hp (226 PS / 166 kW) it won’t trouble the GSE in a race to 62 mph. Which one gets your vote?

Opel/Vauxhall

Data from Australia’s Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries and the Electric Vehicle Council reveal that, of the 92,591 new cars, SUVs, pickups, vans, and trucks sold in April 2026 (up 2.2% over the same month in 2025), 16.4% were battery-electric. This works out to 15,185 vehicles. In contrast, April 2025 saw just 6,010 new EV sales.

See Also: For The First Time, Electrified Car Sales Surpassed Gas Vehicles In Australia

It’s not just EVs that saw strong numbers; hybrids were also in demand. In fact, 18,162 new hybrids found homes in April 2026, bolstered by the first full month of sales of the Toyota RAV4, which bagged best-selling car in Australia. Plug-in hybrids also saw 9,628 new units shifted in April 2026.

Petrol And Diesel Vehicle Sales Dwindle

While EVs, hybrids, and plug-in hybrids were enjoying the limelight, partly driven by tax incentives, traditional gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles took a hit in April 2026. Sales of new gasoline-powered vehicles saw a decline of 30.1% in comparison with April 2025 figures.

Diesel-powered new vehicle sales were down by 21.7%. These declines could also be attributed to the ongoing war in the Middle East, which has significantly affected crude oil deliveries to Australia. This has resulted in rising prices at the pump, as well as some scattered shortages.

For April 2026, BYD’s Sealion 7 SUV dominated the EV rankings, with 1,780 units sold. Meanwhile, the Tesla Model Y sold nearly 1,000 fewer units, although it was up 193.6% year-on-year, as last year’s model was due for replacement.

The BYD brand as a whole shifted 7,702 new units. Other strong sellers in the Chinese EV space include the Geely EX5 with 1,202 deliveries, and 1,006 units from Chinese brand Zeekr, of which 973 were its 7X SUV. Shifting our attention to the car segment, Tesla’s Model 3 narrowly beat BYD’s Seal, with 403 versus 370 deliveries.

Toyota Still Leads, Ford And Mazda Drop From Podium

Despite a 21.6% reduction in year-on-year sales, Toyota remained top dog in Australian new vehicle sales through April 2026. They shifted 15,185 units, followed by BYD with a 7,702 new unit tally.

BYD’s rise to second place means that Ford and Mazda, the historical second and third-place finishers, are now fifth and sixth, with 5,748 and 5,636 units respectively. However, the Ford Ranger held on to the silver medal as the second best-selling vehicle, sandwiched between the RAV4 and Hilux.

When looking at Australian new car sales as a whole, the new third- and fourth-place occupants for April are Kia and Hyundai, with 6,450 and 6,002 units sold respectively. Of course, these two automakers also have EVs and hybrids in their portfolio. The same is true for Chery in eighth place and MG in ninth, while Isuzu rounded off the Top 10 ahead of Mitsubishi.

There’s a new electric vehicle king in the United Kingdom and it’s not one that you’d expect. Quite the opposite as BYD has taken the podium.

More: BYD Sold 700,000 Electrified Cars Last Quarter And Still Lost More Than Half Its Profit

Citing data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), BYD said they have sold 12,754 EVs through April and that gives them over 7% of the market share. This makes the Chinese firm the “UK’s largest electric vehicle brand” and places them ahead of rivals such as BMW, Tesla, and Volkswagen.

BYD went on to note they’ve also “become the best-selling EV brand among private buyers.” This is a notable achievement since the company’s vehicles don’t qualify for government subsidies. The electric vehicle grant provides discounts of up to £3,750 ($5,079) for certain vehicles including the Ford Puma Gen-E, Nissan Leaf, and Mini Countryman Electric.

The automaker credited its success to a diverse lineup of vehicles that includes everything from the £18,675 ($25,290) Dolphin Surf to the £47,025 ($63,682) Sealion 7. The latter features an 82.5 kWh battery pack that provides a WLTP combined range of 300 miles (483 km), although higher-end variants have more advanced powertrains.

BYD UK’s Bono Ge said, “With fuel prices remaining high, more drivers are turning to electric vehicles as a smarter and more economical choice. We are delighted to see the UK EV market grow by 22% year-on-year, and even more proud that BYD has become the UK’s leading EV brand in a little over three years.”

Year-to-date BYD sales are up 124% to 26,396 units, which puts the brand ahead of a number of European automakers including Citroen (12,142), Cupra (15,171), and Dacia (10,250). The brand is also beating Fiat (2,320), Land Rover (25,313), Mini (18,814), and Renault (23,645) – among others.

UK Sales April 2026

* Includes all types of powertrains. Source SMMT

The owners of 173 Cybertruck RWDs have a new problem to worry about. Tesla has issued a recall on the short-lived budget variant after discovering the wheels can come off while driving, which ranks somewhere near the top of the list of things you definitely do not want your vehicle to do.

Tesla says that on-road disturbances and cornering forces can cause cracking around the stud holes in the brake rotors. If that happens, the entire wheel stud may separate from the hub. The company is not aware of any crashes or injuries tied to the issue, though it has logged three related warranty claims.

Read: His Cybertruck Made It to 100,000 Lyft Miles Before Sending A $7,200 Reminder

A total of 173 models built between March 21, 2024, and November 25, 2025, are included in the recall. Only Cybertruck RWD versions with the base 18-inch wheels are affected, not those fitted with the optional 20-inch setup.

Tesla first identified a potential problem in August of last year, when pre-production testing revealed some cracking in the brake rotors, even though all studs remained intact at the time. Further investigation, along with field reports, showed the issue was more serious than initially thought.

Not only did Cybertruck RWD models leave the factory with the defect, but some Tesla service centers were also using the potentially faulty brake rotors, so vehicles that have had their brakes replaced may also suffer from the same issue.

What’s The Fix?

While the recall notice lists vehicles produced from March 21, 2024, Tesla says it only began building Cybertruck RWD models with 18-inch wheels on August 28, 2025. Production ended less than three months later, on November 5, with the company citing limited demand for the variant.

Owners can expect notification from Tesla after June 20. They will be asked to bring their trucks to a service center, where technicians will replace the front and rear brake rotors, hubs, and lug nuts with updated, more durable components.

Ford hangs its hat on the creation of the assembly line. Now, it’s literally tearing one apart in the middle of the night. That’s a part of the brand’s new strategy to win over more buyers. If it’s successful, the work it’s doing now will allow it to not just beat domestic automakers in the U.S., but to compete against China worldwide with a cheap but robust electric car.

More: Ford’s $30K Pickup Wants To Beat Cybertruck At Its Own Game

The “skunk works” project has been underway for quite some time now. Led by former Tesla and Apple employees, the team is aiming for something unheard of. It involves the confirmed $30,000 EV pickup truck (which can end up leading to several forms of cars) that offers some 300 miles of range and Mustang-like performance. That’s the kind of car that doesn’t exist in America, but it does exist elsewhere, namely China.

Ford’s CEO Jim Farley has tested Chinese cars in his everyday life. He’s also had a front row seat to the billions that his brand has burned through in building out its own EV platforms. According to the Wall Street Journal, that’s included too many parts, too much complexity, and old-school processes that don’t translate well to the EV space. So the team is cutting everything it can as aggressively as it can.

The manufacturing process itself is being flipped on its head. Instead of traditional step-by-step assembly, Ford is moving toward a modular system with large cast sections and fewer touchpoints. Put another way, it’s how Tesla and Chinese automakers build EVs today. According to Jolanta Coffey, the vehicle program director, “We’ve never blown the whole thing up before and just started over. If and when we build this, we will rewire Ford.”

All of this comes at a turning point for much of the industry. Automakers abroad are continuing their push toward electrification while domestic automakers rethink the near future. Hyundai Motor CEO José Muñoz, recently said of competing with Chinese EVs, “It is impossible… Unless they are subsidized by the government.” Ford’s betting he’s wrong. We all get to see who ends up being right as Ford is aiming for a 2027 launch.

Taking a trip in one of Waymo’s robotaxis should be a smooth and stress-free experience, particularly since there’s no pressure to have an awkward conversation with a driver. However, for one Waymo user in California, taking a robotaxi to the airport left him without luggage for a business trip.

In late April, Di Jin took his first ride in one of Waymo’s robotaxis, traveling from Sunnyvale to San Jose Mineta Airport. The self-driving Jaguar I-Pace took him to the airport without issues, but when Jin got out of the car and attempted to open the trunk to get his luggage, the button did nothing. Moments later, the vehicle drove off, still carrying his luggage.

Read: Waymo’s Robotaxis Sometimes Receive Guidance By Some Guy In The Philippines

Speaking with NBC, Jin said he frantically contacted Waymo customer service but was told the robotaxi couldn’t be turned around and was heading to the depot. He was then forced to board his flight without any of his luggage.

The Californian man was informed later in the day that Waymo had retrieved his luggage at the depot. The only problem is that the depot is in San Francisco, and the company refused to pay shipping costs to get it back to Jin. If Jin didn’t want to pay for shipping, Waymo offered him two free rides to and from the depot to pick up his luggage.

Waymo Finally Steps Up

However, time is money, and Jin didn’t like the idea of wasting two hours getting his luggage. Waymo ultimately relented, confirming that it would pay to deliver his luggage after all.

Waymo notes that riders can open the trunk of one of its vehicles by pressing the physical trunk release button on the outside of the vehicle, or by tapping the ‘open trunk’ button in the Waymo app. For this rider, the trunk release apparently didn’t work, and with no human driver behind the wheel, he had no way of immediately notifying the car that he couldn’t retrieve his luggage. Perhaps human-operated taxis aren’t so bad after all.

As expected, Tesla has become the first EV maker to begin selling Chinese-made models in Canada after the two countries finalized a major trade deal earlier this year. It’s good news for Canadian car buyers, who now get access to Tesla models priced well below their American counterparts. In fact, it’s the cheapest Tesla EV ever sold in North America.

Thanks to the new trade deal, up to 49,000 EVs built in China can be imported into Canada at a reduced tariff rate of 6.1 percent, down from the 100 percent tariff imposed in 2024. Canadian officials began issuing permits for the first 24,500 vehicles in March, and Tesla moved quickly to capitalize.

Read: Canada Could Give China’s Biggest Carmaker A Backdoor Into The US Market

By importing from China, Tesla has reintroduced the entry-level Model 3 Premium RWD to Canada. It is priced from just CA$39,490 before delivery, or around US$29,007 at current exchange rates, undercutting the most affordable Model 3 in the US, the standard RWD model that starts at US$36,990 before taxes and delivery fees. The Shanghai-spec Model 3 has a quoted driving range of 463 km (288 miles) and can go from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 5.2 seconds.

Before the deal took effect, the most affordable Model 3 available in Canada was the Long Range AWD shipped up from Fremont, California, with a starting price of CA$79,990 (US$58,700). It isn’t a spec-for-spec comparison, but Tesla has effectively cut its Canadian entry point in half overnight.

Performance Gets A Price Cut

Canadian buyers can also order the Model 3 in Performance guise, now priced from CA$74,990 (US$55,050). That marks a 17 percent drop from CA$89,990 (US$66,070), bringing the Canadian price roughly in line with the US$54,490 sticker American buyers pay for the same trim. Tesla has not confirmed where it will source Model 3 Performance models for the Canadian market, though reports suggest Fremont remains the likely origin.

The only downside of Tesla now importing some Model 3s from China is that these models do not qualify for Canada’s Electric Vehicle Affordability Program (EVAP) rebate, valued at $5,000, according to Drive Tesla.

It remains unclear how many of the initial 24,500 permits Tesla will lock down, though Canadian officials have confirmed they’re being issued on a first-come, first-served basis. Unless rivals like Volvo and Polestar move quickly to get their own Chinese-built EVs across the Pacific, Tesla looks poised to walk away with the lion’s share.

Subaru’s take on the all-electric Toyota C-HR, badged the Uncharted, may share a name with a 2022 Hollywood blockbuster starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, but it has a unique appeal that makes it stand out in this ever-competitive segment. It’s now also much cheaper to lease than it was last year.

In California, the Uncharted Premium can be leased for $345 per month with 10,000 miles a year and just $845 due at signing. Roll the drive-off into the payment, and the effective cost lands at $368 per month over 36 months, a $97 monthly savings versus the previous deal.

Read: Subaru’s New $35K SUV Breaks Years Of AWD Tradition

This actually makes the all-new Uncharted cheaper to lease in some areas than a Crosstrek Hybrid. As Cars Direct notes, a Crosstrek Hybrid Sport is available for $339 per month in Los Angeles but requires a $3,829 signing fee, effectively increasing the price to $445 per month. A standard gas-powered Crosstrek can be leased for as little as $345 per month, so it does undercut the Uncharted.

Through these lease cuts, the Uncharted is now $11 cheaper per month than the updated Subaru Solterra Premium.

Nationwide Savings

Lease deals vary across the country, but cuts have also been made in several other states, including New York, where prices are down 12 percent to an effective $410 per month when factoring in the $885 due at signing.

Importantly, these figures apply exclusively to the entry-level model, which is limited to front-wheel drive and comes with a single electric motor. This motor produces 221 hp and draws its juice from a 74.7 kWh battery pack. Although the front-wheel drive model can’t match the 338 hp offered up by the twin-motor AWD Sport and GT models, it does have the highest driving range of any Uncharted model, quoted at up to 308 miles (496 km).

The BMW Group has just built its two millionth fully electric car, and the speed of that climb is impressive. It took almost 11 years after the first i3 hatch rolled off the line in 2013 to reach the first million, then only about two more to double it.

The milestone car is a BMW i5 M60 xDrive, built in Germany and heading to a buyer in Spain. That destination says a lot, because Europe is leading the way when it comes to EV demand right now. Sales of fully electric cars in the region jumped 28 percent in 2025, and one in every five cars sold in the EU is now an EV.

Related: BMW’s China-Only EVs Solve A Problem Tesla Owners Keep Running Into

Production is ramping fast to accommodate that growth. BMW now builds EVs at all its German plants and mixes them with combustion cars on the same lines. That flexibility lets it react as demand shifts, and lately, demand has been shifting quite a bit, because Europe’s love for EVs isn’t mirrored in other regions.

Globally, BMW delivered 442,072 EVs in 2025, a modest increase that shows growth is still happening, just not at the same pace as before. Because in the United States, BMW’s EV momentum has clearly cooled. Battery electric sales fell to 42,484 units in 2025, down 16.7 percent year over year.

The drop was even sharper late in the year, with fourth quarter EV sales plunging 45.5 percent after federal EV tax credits were axed. At the same time, plug-in hybrids surged more than 30 percent, showing where buyers are heading. China isn’t helping either. Sales there dropped significantly, with the region down double digits overall, dragging on global performance.

Hot New Electric Metal Inbound

But on the plus side, BMW has just begun to roll out fresh EV product with cutting-edge design and technology. The iX3, the first of BMW’s Neue Klasse cars, is already in showrooms, and the i3 electric 3-Series that debuted this spring won’t be far behind. And it’ll be followed by the first-ever electric X5, while Rolls-Royce has its own electric SUV on the way, although the sales numbers will obviously be modest.

That lineup should help keep BMW Group’s EV registrations growing, but it might struggle to keep pace with another big German automaker. VW recently announced it had made its 2 millionth EV only 10 months after rolling out its millionth, and with the ID.3 now much improved and the ID. Polo arriving at dealers soon, its next million could come even quicker.

BMW

Commercial electricity sales in Virginia increased by nearly 30.0 million megawatthours (MWh) between 2019 and 2025, much faster growth than in any other state except Texas, a much larger state, according to our Annual Electric Power Industry Report. The growth in sales of electricity in Virginia is largely driven by a concentration of data centers, as well as electric vehicle adoption and building electrification.

(The Center Square) – Despite a record-breaking rainy April in parts of Wisconsin, the state is warning about fire danger for more than half the state.

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Rebecca Cooke, a Democrat running for Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, did political consultation for Kirk Bangstad during his bid for Congress in 2016. 

Bangstad, now the owner of Minocqua Brewing Co., ran a short campaign in 2015 against then-U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy, currently the secretary of transportation under President Donald Trump.

According to Federal Election Commission reports, Bangstad paid Cooke and her consulting company, Cooke Strategy, about $12,300 for her services. 

Cooke listed Bangstad’s campaign on her company’s now-deactivated website, according to the WayBack Machine website.

Cooke recently criticized Bangstad for a social media post promoting the idea of assassinating Trump, by saying his brewery would provide free beer on the day of his death. Bangstad, who said on May 2 he was launching a run for governor, has endorsed Cooke’s Democratic challenger in the race for the 3rd Congressional District, Emily Berge.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Wayback Machine: Web archive
• Federal Election Commission: Campaign finance report
• Wausau Daily Herald: Duffy challenger drops out; now what?

Did Rebecca Cooke serve as a political consultant for Kirk Bangstad? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.