The News for 1/31/26
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We’ll get back to the music on 120 Minutes in just a moment, but first, it’s 12:30 and it’s time to check the news, for this week, January 31st.
The Minnesota Star-Tribune reported last Saturday, just 12 hours after we brought you the news on last week’s show, that federal agents shot and killed another U.S. citizen in Minneapolis, this time a 37-year-old man, Alex Pretti, who was an intensive care nurse at a veteran’s hospital. The apparent murder of another citizen by anonymous agents of the federal government intensified widespread outrage against Border Patrol, ICE, and the Trump administration. The Star-Tribune further reported Friday that thousands of Minneapolis residents took to the streets for another massive march as part of a general strike, the second one in as many weeks, at the same time on Friday as a number of demonstrations across the country in protest of the killings and the ongoing campaign of terror inflicted on Americans by federal agents since the beginning of this month. The Star-Tribune says that Minnesota schools are in “crisis mode” this week and are scrambling to support their students amid the ongoing ICE occupation, saying that school attendance has dropped sharply in the Minneapolis area as federal agents have been targeting and detaining children when they’re leaving school.
Meanwhile, The Guardian reported Friday that federal agents arrested veteran CNN anchor Don Lemon as well as independent journalist Georgia Fort, after both of them were present at a Minnesota church earlier this month doing news reporting during a protest against against the federal government’s violence. It’s worth noting that both Don Lemon and Georgia Fort are Black. Press freedom groups are warning that the arrests signal a chilling new crackdown on U.S. media by the Trump administration, according to The Guardian. As we come on the air tonight, both journalists have been released from law enforcement custody after a magistrate judge rejected Trump administration demands to hold them on bond. After being released, Don Lemon said, “I will not stop now or ever. There is no more important time but right now for a free and independent media that shines a light on truth and holds those in power accountable. The First Amendment protects that work for me and for countless other journalists. I stand with all of them and I will not be silenced.”
Commentary on the ongoing crisis has been coming in fast all week long. The Atlantic contributor Adam Serwer said Monday that “Minnesota proved MAGA wrong”, writing, “These agents, and the president who sent them, are no one’s heroes, no one’s saviors; just men with guns who have to hide their faces to shoot a mom in the face, and a nurse in the back.” Lexington Herald-Leader columnist Linda Blackford wrote Tuesday, “ICE isn’t a police force, it’s an occupying army, and we are already at war. And are we OK with that? Because right now, we are in the process of losing our country to corruption and cruelty and state-sanctioned violence and death.” MS NOW anchor Chris Hayes said Wednesday, “What’s unfolding in Minneapolis is Trump’s vision for the country. It is an authoritarian state with secret police who use force and intimidation and violence to cut immigrants from the national fabric. And then the ideological project of suppressing dissent and smearing anyone who resists as domestic terrorists and as assassins. And guess what? Americans hate it. They absolutely freakin’ hate it.” The Pew Research Center released a new poll Thursday showing that now only 37% of Americans approve of Trump, with 61% disapproving, and over half of all Americans saying they support few or none of Trump’s policies. Only 21% of Americans say that Trump acts ethically in office, according to the poll.
Finally tonight, in other news, TMZ first reported Friday that beloved actress Catherine O’Hara has died. O’Hara started her career on “SCTV” in 1976, and she went on to star in “Beetlejuice”, “Home Alone”, and numerous other movies. Her career experienced a resurgence starting in 2015 with her starring role in the sitcom “Schitt’s Creek”, which made her a vocal advocate of LGBTQ* rights, and most recently she starred in the critically acclaimed comedy, “The Studio”, which sadly had only just begun shooting its 2nd season. Catherine O’Hara was 71.
And that’s… the news.