Politics

Times Square to feature patriotic crystal ball for New Year’s Eve, kicking off US’s 250th birthday

Published

5 hours ago

December 31, 2025

After the crystal ball drops on New Year’s Eve in New York City, it will rise again, sparkling in red, white and blue to usher in 2026 and kick off months of celebrations for the nation’s upcoming 250th birthday.

The patriotic touches at this year’s Times Square gathering, including a second confetti drop, will offer an early glimpse of what’s ahead: hundreds of events and programs, big and small, planned nationwide to mark the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

“I’m telling you right now, whatever you’re imagining, it’s going to be much more than that,” said America250 Chair Rosie Rios, who oversees the bipartisan commission created by Congress in 2016 to organize the semiquincentennial anniversary. “It’s going to be one for the ages, the most inspirational celebration this country and maybe the world has ever seen.”

Rios and her group worked with the Times Square Alliance business district and One Times Square, the building from where the ball is dropped, to make the changes to this year’s ceremonies. They’re also planning a second ball drop event on July 3, the eve of the nation’s birthday, “in the same beautiful style that Times Square knows how to do it,” Rios said.

It will mark the first time in 120 years there will be a ball drop in Times Square that doesn’t occur on New Year’s Eve, she said.

A New Year’s Eve ball was first dropped in Times Square in 1907. Built by a young immigrant metalworker named Jacob Starr, the 700-pound (318-kilogram), 5-foot- (1.5-meter-) diameter ball was made of iron and wood and featured 100 25-watt light bulbs. Last year, the Constellation Ball, the ninth and largest version, was unveiled. It measured about 12 feet (3.7 meters) in diameter and weighs nearly 12,000 pounds (5,400 kilograms).

The only years when no ball drop occurred were 1942 and 1943, when the city instituted a nightly “dimout” during World War II to protect itself from attacks. Crowds instead celebrated the new year with a moment of silence followed by chimes rung from the base of One Times Square.

This year, the stroke of midnight will also mark the official launch of America Gives, a national service initiative created by America250. Organizers hope to make 2026 the largest year of volunteer hours ever aggregated in the country.

On the following day, America250 will participate in the New Years Day Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, with a float themed “Soaring Onward Together for 250 Years.” It will feature three larger-than-life bald eagles representing the country’s past, present and future.

“We want to ring in this new year from sea to shining sea. What better way to think about it than going from New York to California,” Rios said. “This has to be community-driven, this has be grassroots. We’re going from Guam to Alaska, from Fairbanks to Philadelphia, and everything in between.”

President Donald Trump has also announced the “Freedom 250” initiative to coordinate additional events for the 250th anniversary.

Rios said she sees the wide range of celebrations and programs planned for the coming months, from large fireworks displays and statewide potluck suppers to student contests and citizen oral histories, as an opportunity to unite a politically divided nation.

“If we can find something for everyone … having those menus of options that people can pick and choose how they want to participate,” she said. “That’s how we’re going to get to engaging 350 million Americans.”

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Republished with permission of the Associated Press.

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Politics

CFP quarterfinals get started with defending champion Ohio State against Miami in Cotton Bowl

Published

40 minutes ago

December 31, 2025

May Greene

Defending national champion Ohio State is back in a familiar spot at the Cotton Bowl, taking on College Football Playoff first-timer Miami in the first of the four quarterfinal games.

The third-ranked Buckeyes (12-1, CFP No. 2 seed), again without a Big Ten title but still with a first-round bye, had 3 1/2 weeks between their 13-10 loss to undefeated No. 1 Indiana in the conference championship game and the Cotton Bowl on Wednesday night.

No. 10 Miami (11-2, CFP No. 10 seed) didn’t even make the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game, but the Hurricanes have a five-game winning streak since an overtime loss Nov. 1 at SMU, less than 25 miles from AT&T Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys where the Cotton Bowl is played. They also made their CFP debut in the Lone Star State, winning 10-3 at No. 7 Texas A&M in the first round on Dec. 20.

Ohio State is in its third consecutive Cotton Bowl. The Buckeyes lost the first of those to Missouri when the bowl wasn’t a playoff game in 2023, but they beat Texas 28-14 in a CFP semifinal there last January. They then beat Notre Dame for the national title.

It was also at AT&T Stadium where Ohio State won the first national championship game of the CFP era, over Oregon at the end of the 2014 season when there were only four playoff teams. When the field expanded to 12 last season, all four teams that had first-round byes lost in the quarterfinal round after their extended breaks.

The other three quarterfinal games this postseason — the Orange, Rose and Sugar bowls — are Thursday.

Next for the Cotton Bowl winner is a CFP semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 8 against No. 3 seed Georgia or No. 6 seed Ole Miss, the SEC teams in the Sugar Bowl.

There are five first-team AP All-Americans in the Cotton Bowl, four from Ohio State: Miami native and sophomore receiver Jeremiah Smith, defensive lineman Kayden McDonald, linebacker Arvell Reese and safety Caleb Downs, who was a CFP starter for Alabama in 2023 before being part of Ohio State’s title last season. Miami’s first-team All-America pick was offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa.

Both quarterbacks have been part of national championships but neither as a starter. Heisman Trophy finalist Julian Sayin was a freshman backup behind Will Howard for Ohio State last season. Miami QB Carson Beck, the transfer from Georgia, was part of the Bulldogs’ back-to-back national titles in 2021 and 2022.

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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Politics

Donald Trump says he’s dropping push for National Guard in Chicago, LA and Portland, Oregon, for now

Published

1 hour ago

December 31, 2025

May Greene

Trump’s push to deploy the troops has been met with legal challenges at nearly every turn.

President Donald Trump said he’s dropping — for now — his push to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, a move that comes after legal roadblocks hung up the effort.

Trump said in a social media post Wednesday that he’s removing the Guard troops for now. “We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again — Only a question of time!” he wrote.

Troops had already left Los Angeles after the President deployed them earlier this year as part of a broader crackdown on crime and immigration. They had been sent to Chicago and Portland but were never on the streets as legal challenges played out.

Trump’s push to deploy the troops in Democrat-led cities has been met with legal challenges at nearly every turn.

The Supreme Court in December refused to allow the Trump administration to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area as part of its crackdown on immigration. The order was not a final ruling but was a significant and rare setback by the high court for the president’s efforts.

In the nation’s capital, District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued to halt the deployments of more than 2,000 guardsmen.

In Oregon, a federal Judge permanently blocked the deployment of National Guard troops there.

California National Guard troops had already been removed from the streets of Los Angeles by Dec. 15 after a court ruling. But an appeals court had paused a separate part of the order that required control of the Guard to return to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

In a Tuesday court filing, the Trump administration said it was no longer seeking a pause in that part of the order. That paves the way for the California National Guard troops to fully return to state control after Trump federalized the Guard in June.

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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Politics

Department of Justice is reviewing more than 5.2 million documents related to Jeffrey Epstein

Published

3 hours ago

December 31, 2025

May Greene

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has expanded its review of documents related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to 5.2 million as it also increases the number of attorneys trying to comply with a law mandating release of the files, according to a person briefed on a letter sent to U.S. Attorneys.

The figure is the latest estimate in the expanding review of case files on Epstein and his longtime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell that has run more than a week past a deadline set in law by Congress.

The Justice Department has more than 400 attorneys working on the review, but does not expect to release more documents until Jan. 20 or 21, according to the person briefed on the letter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it.

The White House did not dispute the figures laid out in the email, and pointed to a statement from Todd Blanche, the Deputy Attorney General who said the administration’s review was an “all-hands-on-deck approach.”

Blanche said Wednesday that lawyers from the Justice Department in Washington, the FBI, the Southern District of Florida, and the Southern District of New York are working “around the clock” to review the files. The additional documents and lawyers related to the case was first reported by The New York Times.

“We’re asking as many lawyers as possible to commit their time to review the documents that remain,” Blanche said. “Required redactions to protect victims take time but they will not stop these materials from being released.”

Still, Attorney General Pam Bondi is facing pressure from Congress after the Justice Department’s rollout of information has lagged behind the Dec. 19 deadline to release the information.

“Should Attorney General Pam Bondi be impeached?” U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who helped lead the effort to pass the law mandating the document release, asked on social media this week.

Democrats also are reviewing their legal options as they continue to seize on an issue that has caused cracks in the Republican Party and at times flummoxed President Donald Trump’s administration.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on social media that the latest figures from the Department of Justice “shows Bondi, Blanche, and others at the DOJ have been lying to the American people about the Epstein files since day one” and pointed out that the documents released so far represented a fraction of the total.