Trump’s immigration crackdown led to drop in US growth rate last year as population hit 342M

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has contributed to a year-to-year drop in the U.S. growth rate as the nation’s population hit nearly 342 million people in 2025. That’s according to population estimates released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The 0.5% growth rate for 2025 was a sharp drop from 2024’s almost 1% growth rate, which was the highest since 2001 and was fueled by immigration. The 2024 estimates put the U.S. population at 340 million people. Immigration increased by 1.3 million people last year, compared with 2024’s increase of 2.8 million people. Trump made a surge of migrants at the southern border a central issue in his winning 2024 Republican presidential campaign.

Bitter cold grips the eastern US as winter storm deaths rise and power outages linger

(AP) — Three Texas siblings who died in an icy pond are among several dozen deaths in U.S. states gripped by frigid cold. Crews scrambled Tuesday to repair power outages in the shivering South. Forecasters warned the winter weather is expected to get worse. Brutal cold lingered after a massive storm dumped deep snow across more than 1,300 miles from Arkansas to New England. Freezing temperatures hovered as far south as Tennessee, Arkansas, and North Carolina, with more record lows forecast down into Florida. More than 480,000 homes and businesses remain without power, with over half the outages in Tennessee and Mississippi.

TikTok settles as social media giants face landmark trial over youth addiction claims

LOS ANGELES (AP) — TikTok has agreed to settle in a landmark social media addiction lawsuit just before the trial kicked off, the plaintiff’s attorneys confirmed. The social video platform was one of three companies facing claims that their platforms deliberately addict and harm children, along with Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube. Snapchat’s parent company Snap Inc., settled the case last week for an undisclosed sum. Additional details of the settlement with TikTok were not disclosed. A lawyer for the plaintiff said in a statement Tuesday that TikTok remains a defendant in the other personal injury cases, and that the trial will proceed as scheduled against Meta and YouTube.

Shooting involving Border Patrol leaves 1 in critical condition near US-Mexico border

(AP) — Authorities in Arizona say one person was shot and in critical condition Tuesday in a shooting involving the Border Patrol near the U.S.- Mexico border. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said it was working with the FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection in response to the shooting in Arivaca, Arizona, a community about 10 miles from the border. The FBI said it was “investigating an alleged assault on a federal officer” and that the subject was in custody. The area is a common path for drug smugglers and migrants who illegally cross the border, so agents regularly patrol there.