Friday morning news: January 30, 2026

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

Government funding » Lawmakers in Washington are once again scrambling to avoid a partial government shutdown just hours from now.

Funding for key agencies is set to expire when the clock strikes midnight.

The fight centers on funding for the Department of Homeland Security after a pair of fatal shootings in Minnesota involving federal immigration agents.

The Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer:

SCHUMER:  Enough is enough. This is a moment of truth for the United States of America.

Senate Democrats blocked a funding package as they demand changes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

But Republican Sen. David McCormick counters:

MCCORMICK:  This won't affect the funding for ICE at all. This is gonna affect FEMA, and the Coast Guard, and the Secret Service.

ICE is already well funded having received $75 billion dollars in funds from the legislation President Trump referred to as the “One Big Beautiful bill.”

Fellow GOP Sen. James Lankford says Republicans are okay with many of the proposed changes for ICE:

LANKFORD:  More body-worn cameras on federal agents, deescalation training, all, we're fine with all of those things, that that's not an issue. That all had been negotiated. Then Democrats after last weekend said, "Nope, we're gonna shut the government down. We're closing down FEMA, we're closing down TSA, we're closing down the Coast Guard."

But negotiators could be closing in on a plan that would buy extra time for talks.

Under a proposal, temporary funding would keep DHS going for about two weeks while Republicans and Democrats debate changes tied to immigration enforcement. The rest of the government would be funded through September.

Noem impeachment push » And Democratic leaders say they are determined to see Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem removed from office, one way or the other, after those fatal shootings in Minnesota.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries:

JEFFRIES:  We intend to proceed with impeachment proceedings if Kristi Noem is not fired. Kristi Noem is a complete and total embarrassment. She's a disgrace!

President Trump has given no indication that he plans to ask for Noem’s resignation.

Secretary Noem plans to testify before Congress in March about the department's crackdown on illegal immigration, as well as those fatal shootings.

Minnesota latest » Meantime, tensions remain high in Minneapolis.

President Trump recently assigned border czar Tom Homan to the Twin Cities area to oversee immigration enforcement there. And Homan met with the Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz this week:

HOMAN:  He has clarified for me that county jails may notify ICE of the release dates of criminal public safety risks, so ICE can take custody of them.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was also a part of that meeting, and Homan says it went well. But publicly, Frey continues to joust with the Trump administration, calling for ICE to leave the city.

FREY:  It is less safe when we have roving bands of agents marching down the street just looking for somebody who might be concerned, and I gotta tell ya...

But administration officials say Frey is focusing on symptoms of the problem and ignoring the real disease, which they say is sanctuary city policies. They say the more Frey cooperates with federal law enforcement, the less need there will be for federal agents in Minneapolis.

Ukraine latest » President Trump told reporters Thursday he's optimistic that the war between Russia and Ukraine could come to an end soon. Trump said he made a personal appeal to Russia’s Vladimir Putin for a temporary pause in attacks against Ukraine’s infrastructure:

TRUMP: I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week during this extraordinary--it's not just like cold, it's extraordinarily cold, record-setting cold.

Trump said Putin agreed to that provision, though the Kremlin has not confirmed that.

At a cabinet meeting yesterday, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff also said he's optimistic:

WITKOFF: We have a security protocol agreement that's largely finished, a prosperity agreement that's largely finished, and I think the people of Ukraine are now hopeful and expectant that we're gonna deliver a peace deal sometime soon.

But both Russia and Ukraine say major differences remain unresolved.

Venezuela airspace » President Trump says the U.S. is reopening commercial airspace over Venezuela and allowing commercial flights to resume. That came after a phone call with the country’s acting leader Delcy Rodriguez.

TRUMP:  I just spoke to the president of Venezuela, informed, informed her that we're gonna be opening up all commercial airspace over Venezuela. American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela…

Trump added that it will be safe to travel there. Officially, however, the State Department’s warning to U.S. citizens not to travel to Venezuela has yet to be lifted.

American Airlines said it plans to resume daily nonstop service from the U.S., marking the first such flights since 2019.

The White House has signaled that U.S. relations with Venezuela are improving significantly under Rodriguez’s leadership. She assumed power after U.S. forces forcibly removed and arrested former dictator Nicolas Maduro.

San Jose Title IX » Education Secretary Linda McMahon says San Jose State University will be held accountable after an investigation found that the school violated Title IX protections for female athletes. 

WORLD’s Benjamin Eicher has more:

BENJAMIN EICHER: The department released findings this week from a nearly year-long investigation after the school allowed a male athlete to compete in a woman’s volleyball team.

Investigators found that when he was recruited in 2022, coaches were instructed not to tell players that the recruit was biologically male.

For a time, players unknowingly shared locker rooms and hotel rooms with him.

Once the student’s sex did become known, a number of opposing teams forfeited games against San Jose over safety concerns.

The investigation also found that the school retaliated against players and coaches who spoke out about male athletes being permitted in women’s competitions.

Education officials determined that the school threatened athletes’ safety and undermined competition.

For WORLD, I’m Benjamin Eicher.

And I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. Plus, Collin Garbarino reviews the new Marvel streaming series Wonder Man.

This is The World and Everything in It.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.