President Donald Trump awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, posthumously to Charlie Kirk on Tuesday.
Kirk was an activist who inspired a generation of young conservatives and helped push the nation’s politics further to the right; he was killed last month during an event at a university in Utah. His politics were often divisive, and Trump has cited Kirk as a major reason he was reelected, calling Kirk a “great American hero” while speaking at his funeral in September.
The government shutdown also entered its 14th day Tuesday, with the Senate returning from its holiday break, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson refusing to call lawmakers back to Washington and Trump’s budget director vowing to keep firing federal workers.
Democrats have focused on trying to keep Affordable Care Act subsidies from expiring for millions of Americans who purchase insurance on “Obamacare” exchanges. Without this federal support, costs are expected to soar across the health care economy. Johnson said he “won’t negotiate” unless Democrats first agree to reopen the government, losing their leverage for any deal.
The Latest:
Florida judge temporarily blocks transfer of downtown Miami land for Trump’s presidential library
The move came after a Miami activist alleged that officials at a local college violated Florida’s open government law when they gifted the sizable plot of real estate to the state, which then voted to transfer it to the foundation for the planned presidential library.
The nearly 3-acre (1.2-hectare) property is valued at more than $67 million, according to a 2025 assessment by the Miami-Dade County property appraiser. One of the last undeveloped lots on an iconic stretch of palm tree-lined Biscayne Boulevard, one real estate expert wagered that the parcel could sell for hundreds of millions of dollars more.
Marvin Dunn, an activist and chronicler of local Black history, filed a lawsuit this month in a Miami-Dade County court against the Board of Trustees for Miami Dade College, a state-run school that owned the property. He alleges that the board violated Florida’s Government in the Sunshine law by not providing sufficient notice for its special meeting on Sept. 23, when it voted to give up the land, and he’s seeking to block the land transfer.
Hegseth letter last month says up to 1,000 Guard members to be in Memphis through September 2026
In Memphis, Tennessee, it remains unclear how many National Guard troops are or will be in the city, where some armed Guard soldiers were spotted late last week beginning their patrol at the Bass Pro Shops located at the iconic Pyramid. A slew of officers from other federal agencies have already been sent to Memphis through a Trump-created task force aimed at crime.
According to a Sept. 23 letter from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to Gov. Bill Lee, the Department of Defense is prepared to authorize and fund up to 1,000 Guard personnel in Memphis through September 2026. The Associated Press obtained the letter through a public records request. The Daily Memphian previously reported on it.
Lee, a Republican, had said he didn’t expect many more than 150 Guard members in Memphis, but he has been loath to repeat the number, instead lately saying there is no estimate.
U.S. Marshals Service Director Gadyaces S. Serralta said Tuesday that between 1,500 and 2,000 federal law enforcement agents who are part of the task force are in Memphis daily.
