Northeastern United States

Philadelphia has appointed longtime Health Department employee Adrian Jordan as the city's first-ever Rat Abatement Manager, officials announced Wednesday. Jordan will coordinate efforts across city departments to prioritize and address rat complaints, starting with door-to-door surveys in lower Northeast neighborhoods including Oxford Circle and Castor Gardens. The city plans to launch a public dashboard tracking resident contacts, complaints and serviced properties. The move follows a City Council resolution earlier this month urging coordinated action on rat infestations, though officials say there has been no documented rise in confirmed complaints despite recent public attention. Mayor Cherelle Parker called it part of a broader "One Philly" collaborative approach to city services.

Fort Drum, home to the 10th Mountain Division (LI), has been named 2026 Best Garrison for U.S. Army Installation Management Command-Western Hemisphere. The award recognized performance across categories including mission support, quality of life, real property, safety and security. In fiscal year 2026 the garrison sustained dozens of live-fire ranges and training areas supporting over 251,000 personnel, backed a zero-cost live-fire range conversion for new squad weapons, and trained hundreds of Soldiers on AI-based command and control systems.

Beyond readiness, Fort Drum modernized barracks, launched a fare-free installation shuttle, expanded childcare and spouse employment programs, and reduced crime and harmful-behavior incidents through targeted prevention efforts. It also secured a nuclear microreactor site under the Janus program and added solar capacity to boost energy resilience. The win positions Fort Drum to compete for the Commander in Chief's Award for Installation Excellence, which it previously won in 2020.

Philadelphia's three city commissioners — two Democrats and one Republican — say the city is prepared to run secure, accurate elections despite years of unfounded fraud claims from President Trump, who has repeatedly singled out the city as corrupt and pushed for federal intervention in elections. Officials note Pennsylvania law requires mail ballots to be processed only starting election morning, which slows results but doesn't indicate fraud; past prosecuted cases involved only a handful of ballots. Commissioners Lisa Deeley and Seth Bluestein say they've faced death threats since 2020 but remain focused on building public trust, training poll workers, and preparing contingency plans should federal agents attempt to appear at polling places, which state law restricts.

Austin voters head to the polls in 2026 to fill five City Council seats and decide three ballot measures, the first election since a 2025 property tax measure failed. Contested races include District 1's open East Austin seat, District 3's incumbent facing critics of a major southeast Austin development tied to Amazon's robotics division, District 5's incumbent challenged over spending, homelessness and safety, District 8's race to replace a term-limited council member, and District 9's fight over dense development. Voters will also weigh two bond propositions totaling $295 million for parks and libraries, and Proposition I, a contested measure calling for an outside financial audit of the city. Community college and school board seats are also on the ballot.

Clashes between protesters and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Salem, Oregon, over the weekend reflect a sharp escalation in federal immigration enforcement statewide. Federal agents tear gassed demonstrators Saturday after about 30 people tried to block ICE vehicles in a shopping mall parking lot, a day after video showed an agent pepper-spraying a protester who jumped on an ICE SUV's hood at a gas station. ICE said officers were surrounded and their vehicles struck with bats and rocks; advocates and witnesses accuse agents of escalating tensions and exposing bystanders, including children, to chemical munitions.

Local immigrant support groups reported a surge in enforcement-related assistance requests, and statewide verified arrests more than doubled recent weekly averages. Latino-owned businesses reported steep sales drops as residents stayed home. Oregon's congressional delegation visited a Portland ICE facility, learning detainees are now being routed directly to a Tacoma detention center, raising due process concerns. Gov. Tina Kotek and state lawmakers condemned the enforcement escalation and pledged increased coordination.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents used tear gas and other chemical munitions against a group of about 30 protesters in Northeast Salem, Oregon, on Saturday morning after the crowd surrounded federal vehicles and blocked agents from leaving the area, according to the Salem Police Department. Officers were dispatched to the scene near Lancaster Drive and Sunnyview Road around 9:30 a.m.; by the time they arrived, ICE agents had deployed chemical munitions, freed their vehicles, and left. Salem police and fire personnel treated people at the scene for tear gas exposure and are investigating the incident, with findings to be forwarded to the Oregon Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, a Democrat, condemned the agents' actions, alleging they used pepper spray, pepper balls, and smoke canisters against elderly bystanders and children, harassed U.S. citizens, and drove recklessly, briefly shutting down a nearby highway. The incident follows a recent surge in federal immigration enforcement activity across Oregon. DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency for 25 counties ahead of a strengthening storm system in the Gulf of Mexico. The order covers counties across the Panhandle and North Florida, including Baker, Columbia, Bay, Escambia, Leon, Santa Rosa and Walton, among others.

The National Hurricane Center expects the system, now a Category 3 hurricane, to make landfall along the central Gulf Coast as early as Friday night, with impacts extending well beyond the landfall point, including heavy rainfall, strong winds, coastal flooding and isolated tornadoes across North Florida. Some counties are not expected to be seriously impacted directly but are already contending with separate flooding from days of heavy rain, with three to six inches reported in Columbia County; additional rain could further saturate soils and raise flash flooding risk. The state has staged more than 1,000 generators, half a million gallons of gasoline, a million gallons of diesel and over a million bottles of water, mobilized 5,000 National Guard troops, and pre-positioned more than 16,000 linemen for power restoration. DeSantis urged residents to finalize plans and stock supplies for at least 72 hours.

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged three noncitizens in Ohio's Northern and Southern districts with voting unlawfully in federal elections. Among them is Eliza Moss, 63, an Ashtabula resident and lawful permanent resident of the Philippines, who faces a criminal complaint alleging she voted in multiple primary and general elections after registering in 2004 and again in February 2023, each time falsely attesting to U.S. citizenship. Moss told investigators the person who assisted her with registration said she was eligible to vote despite not being a citizen. She was released on a $20,000 bond and ordered to surrender her passport and remove firearms from her home.

The other defendants include a United Kingdom citizen accused of voting at least 10 times in Gallia County and a Pakistani national who registered as a citizen in Cuyahoga County in 2015 and 2016. Unlawful voting by an alien in a federal election carries a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison.