Trump Touts Economy in Iowa Ahead of Midterms; Homan, Walz Meet in MN | NTD Evening News (Jan. 27)

Welcome to entity. Evening news are top straight tonight. President Trump in Iowa pushing his affordability message as Republicans focus on the upcoming 2026 midterms. This comes as the president calls for law and order in Minnesota, where he's deploying borders are Tom Homan Mario to at the White House. After meeting today, Homan and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz agreed to maintain an ongoing dialogue. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security says it's investigating a woman who allegedly attempted to buy a gun to quote kill ice agents. Jason Blair with the details. The powerful winter storm battering much of the eastern United States is expected to continue throughout the week. This as a second blast of arctic air is on the horizon. Residents in Israel gathered to watch the hostage clock stop now that all hostages are finally home. Meanwhile, the Hamas terrorist group says it plans to cooperate with the new government of the Gaza Strip. Jason Perry reports. This is N. T. V. Evening News live from our global headquarters in New York City. Here's Tiffany Meyer. Good evening and thank you for joining us tonight. President Trump in Iowa, pushing his economic message ahead of the 2026 midterms is coming off. The president shakes of leadership on the ground in Minnesota. We now go live to entities. Washington correspondent Mario to at the White House. Mari, good evening. Tiff. Good evening. That's right. President Trump right now is in Des Moines, Iowa, giving a speech touting his economic agenda ahead of the 2026 midterms, and his chief of staff Susie Wiles last week said that he'll be hitting the road every week this year in anticipation of those midterms. One U. S. City every week. Although he's not on the ballot, he's ramping up on that domestic travel. And in Iowa right now, he's urging people to get out and vote. He's saying that the G. O. P. Needs to win those midterms, and this is coming as the White House is touting that the president is delivering the largest tax refund in U. S. History. Here's the president right now. Watch. But today, just after one year of President Trump, our economy is booming. Incomes are rising. Investment is soaring. Inflation has been defeated. Our border is closed, totally closed on America is respected all over the world like they've never been respected. I hope we win that Supreme Court case. You know, we have people that are China oriented people from literally that very China oriented and foreign country oriented trying to stop that. But we'll get it done one way or the other. We're gonna do it. If we have to do it a different way, we'll do it. And China will be sending me a bill very shortly supporting year round E 15 to my desk very quickly, and I will sign it without delay. Okay, I hope you remember us for the midterms. Meanwhile, President Trump and the White House are calling for law and order amid a mounting chaos in Minnesota, urging Democrat led states to cooperate with the federal government. This is coming as President Trump deploys borders are Tom Homan to Minnesota, where he says Homan will report directly to the president. Watch. Tom, I've noticed as tough as he is, he gets along very good with governors and mayors. We're gonna de escalate a little bit. I don't think it's a pull back. It's a little bit of a change. These are paid insurrectionists. These are paid agitators. These people are normal, like, Oh, gee, that you know they're incensed about anything. How do you get incensed when you go into a state and you're taking criminals out? You're taking monsters out murders, even Minnesota. Their crime is down, and you know why it's down because of what we did. We took out thousands of criminals, career criminals, bad criminals. The White House calling the Saturday shooting a tragedy while attributing it to a broader pattern of hostility toward law enforcement coming from local officials and the media. This tragedy occurred as a result of a deliberate and hostile resistance by Democrat leaders in Minnesota. We have got Children in Minnesota hiding in their houses afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody's gonna write that Children's story about Minnesota. This rhetoric against ice comparing them to Nazi Gestapo. Donald Trump's police force is despicable. It is shameful, and it is precisely what has led to the escalation of tensions in Minneapolis and in other places across the country. While President Trump says he's watching the ongoing investigations, FBI Director Cash Patel says they have found groups funding the Minnesota protests. And when asked about Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, President Trump says that she is not stepping down, saying that she's doing a quote very good job and that the border is totally secure. Tiff back to you. All right, Mari. Thanks for those updates with President Trump today, saying he'll be watching over the investigation into the shooting of Alex Pretty. What will the investigation entail? And what could the outcome be here from John Torres, former head of Homeland Security Investigations in Washington, D. C. Tonight on Capitol Report at seven p.m. Eastern Borders are Tom Homan met with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz amid tensions involving immigration enforcement operations in the state. Both Waltz's office and President Trump have expressed some optimism and expect to have ongoing dialogue. Entity correspondent Jason Blair has more. Borders are Tom Homan met with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz Tuesday morning after being sent by President Trump to oversee ice operations in the state. Walz's office says after the meeting, the governor and Homan agreed on the need for an ongoing dialogue and will continue working toward those goals, which the president also agreed to yesterday. Homan also met with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Fry. Fry posted on X. Today, Chief O'Hara and I met with Borders are Tom Homan and had a productive conversation. I reiterated that my main task is for Operation Metro search to end as quickly as possible. City leaders will continue to stay in conversation with Mr Homan and his team. President Trump also comments on the meetings. Tom is fantastic. Tom is a tough guy, but I've watched over the years and he's gotten along with governors and he gets along with mayors. Now I spoke to the mayor and to the governor yesterday. We had a very reasonable conversation, very good conversation. If you believe the conversation, he'd like to get this thing over with. And the Department of Homeland Security says it's investigating a woman after she attempted to buy a gun for the purpose of killing ice agents. The D. H. S. Says that the woman who is a U. S. Citizen quote attempted to purchase a firearm on two separate occasions and stated she wanted to buy a gun to protect herself from ice agents and also to kill ice agents. D. H. S. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin says every day there are more assaults, more vehicle ramming attacks, more attempts to kill our officers. Now we have an American citizen purchasing a gun with the intent to kill our officers. We've seen an 8000% increase in death threats. We're also seeing that their family members where their Children go to school, where their spouses work, that's being doxxed online and they're being targeted to the D. H. S. Also shared an audio recording of a threatening phone message sent to a Minnesota based ice agent. Most of the content won't be played due to having disturbing language, but a warning. The following still contains material some viewers might find unsettling. I hope your wife dies. I hope your mom and dad died. I hope everything wrong that could go in your life happened. I hope you have the most miserable life. I hope you get hit by a bus. In response, the D. H. S. Says, quote, the men and women of ice are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They get up every morning to try to make our community safer. The violence and dehumanization must end. Jason Blair and to the news extreme cold warnings remain in effect today for about 175 million people in the nation and frigid temperatures aren't going away anytime soon. Forecasters say another snow storm could threaten the east coast this weekend. The National Weather Service says temperatures will stay well below normal. That cold is expected to last through this week and into next week. Wind chills turned life threatening last night in the upper Ohio Valley. They dropped to minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, another blast of arctic air is on the way. The weather service said it's expected to move from the plains into the east and southeast friday into saturday. More record low temperatures are possible, likely reaching as far south as florida. Air travel is still being affected. According to flight aware, some 2200 flights were canceled. More than 4600 flights were delayed. Here's more on the historic winter storm. The most significant infrastructure damage was across a swath of the south where ice made road slick, snapped tree limbs and weighed down power lines. Northern Mississippi and Nashville Tennessee in particular are looking at prolonged recovery periods. It is a historic ice storm and so this is the largest single outage in N. E. S. History. We do not have these kinds of weather events all the time. Nashville Electric Services says at its peak, 230,000 customers were without power. Although crews are working long hours to restore electricity, Brent Baker says they are facing many challenges. We see trees in our way to get to where we need to go and then once we get there, we have trees tangled in all of the mess. It's just a significant tree event that is causing a lot of complexity to get things done in Mississippi. Officials say it's a similar struggle. Our biggest focus is the northern portions of the state that have been hit so hard and still dealing with the lingering effects of this cold weather. My fear is that this ice event will be larger than that one in 94. My hope is that our restoration efforts and abilities have increased fourfold. But this will be an extended recovery. After the state's historic ice storm in 1994, it took 23 days to fully restore power. Residents in Israel are still honoring the return of the final hostages remains from the Gaza Strip. And with phase two of the Gaza peace plan underway, the Hamas terrorist group says it's ready to work with the territory's new government entities. Jason Perry has the update. The clock at hostages square in Tel Aviv has been a center point of attention since the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7th. The time indicated how long hostages had been held in the Gaza Strip. And now that the body of the final hostage has been returned, residents gathered at hostages square to watch that clock stop at 843 days, 12 hours, five minutes and 59 seconds. A former hostage shared his thoughts. I first saw this clock in the photos that came to us in Gaza, a clock that counted the time of the hostages not only in days but also in minutes and seconds. That's exactly how we felt as if every minute was an eternity and every second could be the last one we breathe. That's exactly how the families felt to all 255 hostages for whom every second is an eternity. Now that all hostages have been returned, more attention will be focused on phase two of the Gaza peace plan. A resident in the Gaza Strip commented on the situation after they found the body of the last captured soldier. We hope that matters will improve and that God willing there will be a complete breakthrough in opening the crossings, including the Rafa crossing and all commercial crossings. Residents in Gaza see opening the border crossings as a way to assist with humanitarian issues in the territory. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said that the Rafa crossing will open, but he did not say when. Netanyahu also said the next phase of the Gaza peace plan is quote not reconstruction, but the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip and the disarmament of Hamas. According to a letter seen by Reuters, the Hamas terrorist group sent a message to its staff, including security personnel and civil servants, urging them to cooperate with the new government. Netanyahu added this about Iran, which supports Hamas. We severely damaged Iran. We severely damaged Iran's terror proxy. Now it's true the Iranian axis is trying to recover, but we will not allow it to do so. If Iran makes the grave mistake of attacking Israel, we will respond with a force that Iran has not yet seen. Iran has threatened to respond to any attacks. But on Friday, according to Iran's state run media, Iran's president said that his country always welcomes any process within the framework of international law that prevents war. Jason Perry N. C. D. News. Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking 81 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. People around the world are commemorating this moment in history with a shared message. Never forget entities. Sam Wong has more across the world. On Tuesday, Holocaust survivors, government officials and the public gathered to remember the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany at Auschwitz. Polish President Carol Naraki joined survivors at a ceremony honoring those who lost their lives under German occupation. I have come to this place of death to talk to you about life. Holocaust survivors share their firsthand account of what it was like living in the concentration camp. I saw how people died from hunger and torture. I heard sounds of suffering, gunshots, dogs. I could smell the stench of burning corpses and the stench coming from the latrines. In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated January 27th as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It's also the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest death camp operated by Nazi Germany in formerly occupied Poland. More than one million people, mostly Jews, perished in gas chambers or from starvation and disease at Auschwitz. Between 1941 and 1945, roughly six million Jews were killed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators across Europe. The Holocaust is not distant history. The future hangs on our choices we make right here today. And on this solemn day, please let us honor the victims through decisive action. In a statement commemorating the solemn day, President Trump writes, quote, This International Holocaust Remembrance Day and every day, we honor their enduring resilience, faith and strength, and we recommit to the sacred truth that every human being is made in the holy image of God. Sam Wong, NTD News. The Chinese Communist Party and Russia seek stronger military ties amidst political crisis in Venezuela and Iran. Our Washington correspondent, Luis Martinez, has more on the story. The defense minister of the Chinese Communist Party and the Russian Federation met today to discuss closer security cooperation after their allied authoritarian regimes in Venezuela and Iran failed to keep control due to internal and external pressures. Since our last meeting with you in Qingdao in June of last year, many events have occurred that have significantly impacted the global state of affairs. The examples of Venezuela and Iran require our agencies to continuously analyze the security situation and take appropriate action. Today, in the context of dynamic changes in the global military and political situation, a regular exchange of views on military cooperation is essential. It's our good tradition to establish strategic ties at key moments through various forms and channels. I believe that given the weight of the changing global situation, our current contacts and connections are very timely and important. After the U. S. Capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, oil shipments from the South American country to China have stopped, and the interim president is opening the Venezuelan economy to U. S. Oil companies. I believe that it is a very good plan for the future of our country and also for us to consolidate and emphasize international energy cooperation with all countries that want to come to our homeland with clear laws, legal certainty and regulations adapted to international practices in this sector. I believe that it is very positive for Venezuela. Rhetorically, the Venezuelan regime remains defiant of the U. S. But behind the scenes, the interim president is negotiating with Washington the release of political prisoners. But it's important. That is why it is important that we open spaces for democratic dissent, but that it be politics with a capital P and with a V for Venezuela. Enough already of Washington's orders over politicians in Venezuela. Let Venezuelan politics resolve our differences and our internal conflicts. Once China's and Russia's strongest ally in South America, Venezuela is now actively working to reestablish diplomatic missions with the United States. The first delegation of U. S. State Department officials has traveled to Venezuela, and the CIA director John Radcliffe has already met with interim President Del C. Rodriguez. The CIA has had presence in Venezuela for months, and it is expected to continue to operate from the South American country. Reporting from Washington, D. C. Luis Eduardo Martinez and T. D. News. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has not denied halting an oil shipment to Cuba. Washington is reportedly increasing pressure on Mexico to stop selling oil to Cuba. Sheinbaum commented on the issue today. N. T. D. S. International correspondent, Aryan Poster, asked the story. It's a sovereign decision. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday commenting on oil shipments to Cuba. Cuba has long depended on Venezuela for oil, but things are changing without that socialist dictator, Nicolas Maduro, in jail. Last week, Reuters reported that Sheinbaum's administration was considering stopping oil shipments to Cuba. That's amid growing fears Mexico could face U. S. retaliation. And on Monday, Bloomberg reported that state oil company Pemex reversed an oil shipment to the island scheduled for mid January. It is a sovereign decision, and Pemex makes its decisions. So the decision of when it is sent and how it is sent is a sovereign decision and is determined by what Pemex defines based on the contracts. She added that Mexico's government has been sending oil to Cuba for humanitarian reasons for a long time, a trend that didn't start recently, according to the Mexican president. But Sheinbaum declined to say if her administration stopped a Pemex shipment that was scheduled for mid January. So it is not true that oil shipments have been suspended. It is a sovereign decision, and it is made at the moment when necessary. After the fall of Maduro, President Trump warned that there will be no more oil or money going to Cuba, leading analysts to believe the message is directed at other countries who might take over Venezuela's role as Cuba's partner. Also on Tuesday, Trump was asked about comments made by Venezuela's interim president, Delsa Rodriguez. She said, enough already of Washington's orders over politicians in Venezuela. Let Venezuelan politics resolve our differences and our internal conflicts. What do you have to say about that? Well, I don't know exactly what's going on there. But I haven't heard that at all. No, we have a very, we have a very good relationship. Rodriguez also made positive remarks about Venezuela's relationship with the US. She says Venezuela shouldn't be afraid to pursue energy ties with the United States or other countries across the globe. According to Rodriguez, Venezuela has the potential to become the world's largest oil producer. Ariane Pastor, NTD News. Make beef affordable again. That's the message from the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing. Trade Advisor Peter Navarro wrote on X yesterday that President Trump is going after four meatpackers Cargill, JBS, Tyson and National Beef, dubbing them the Big Beef Cartel. Navarro also published an op-ed in the Washington Examiner titled Inflation Didn't Eat Your Steak, A Cartel Did. And today, Congressman Tim Burchett sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi signaling his support for the Justice Department's antitrust investigation into foreign owned meatpacking cartels, which are based largely in Brazil and China. Joining us now to delve into this issue is Steve Lucy, a fifth generation cattle rancher. Steve, thank you so much for joining us. Good to have you here. First, help us understand what this beef cartel is and what is its impact on ranchers? Well, there's a lot going on with all of this. And one of the main things that I want people to understand is when I sell cattle off of my farm or beef off of my farm. Unless I sell it to a local person or to a customer directly, it ends up in one of these big four packing companies hands. And so then they get to decide what they sell that boxed beef to a restaurant or to a grocery store, or on down the food chain. So when they control a big chunk of that, which they right now they control 85% of that market, they basically have the control of the price. And I don't have any control over that. I have beef to sell, I have to sell to somebody. And they're the ones that are in the country processing the beef right now. And expanding on that, how does all of that feed into the rising beef prices we are seeing in the supermarkets? Can you give us an example of how the numbers break down here? Sure. For instance, back in October, President Trump made some comments about making some trade deals with Brazil and Argentina and importing some more beef. What that did was, we had fat cattle selling for like $2.40 a pound on the live market. And just those comments, it triggered the packers to lower their prices down to within two weeks, they were down to like $2.10 for beef off the farm. All the time while that was happening, boxed beef price went up and up in the store. So consumers paid more, and ranchers got less, just because packers use that, you know, little blurb from the President, to their favor and to their advantage. Now, since that has happened, we've talked about going in and investigating these packing plants, which I think they should be investigated. I'm not in the business of knowing what what they're doing right or wrong. But I do know that they can manipulate the market very easily by changing how much meat they produce or how much meat they cut every week by closing a plant for a time being. So, you know, it's a big web scattered out throughout this country. And we don't have a lot of control of that as a rancher. And you have no control as a consumer over that as well. I'm gonna dig into that. Because right now, are there alternatives out there? For example, are there places where customers can get beef directly from ranchers sidestepping the big four? There are you can buy directly from a rancher, if you know, a local farmer or rancher that sells beef, I personally sell beef to local people in my area, I will take and I'm glad you brought that up. Because I just, I'll give you an example. Right now, I think ribeye steaks are probably 18 $20 a pound in the store. But if you buy a half of beef for me, say at market price for the animals, probably 220 a pound to 25 to 30 a pound. And then you pay the processor for that half of processing. By the time you get all that meat back, you're going to have about $6 and 50 cents a pound in your steaks, your hamburger and everything. So I encourage people to buy locally if they can. The problem we have is government regulations. And there's not very many local processors scattered across this country. That's why these big four have the market share. And on that note, when President Trump ordered the DOJ to investigate the big four back in November, he highlighted that these are majority foreign owned adding that this jeopardizes the security of America's food supply. Talk to us about that for an element, there's Brazil, China, how much influence do they have here? Do we know? Well, I mean, they have a tremendous amount of influence. JBS, for instance, is a Brazilian owned company. And they're the biggest meat packer that we have in this country. National Beef is also it has ties to Brazil, I believe. And currently, Brazil is the biggest exporter of beef in the in the world. And China is the biggest importer of beef. So they're our biggest buyer. But when you have foreign companies that are, you know, wrapping up such a big market share of our American beef, keep in mind our beef heard right now in America is very low. So it's like, it's as low as it was in the 1950s. So we do have a low supply of beef in our country. But we also have most of that beef being controlled by, you know, they use the word cartel, I will just say, by a business that's owned by a foreign country. So we have little control over that. And one thing that I say often is, if we want to be a sovereign, secure country, we have to secure our food supply. And that means, you know, raising our beef herd to where we can at least feed our own country and feed ourselves. And having control of that letting the market control the price. You know, they always say, high prices are a cure for high prices. If it gets high enough, farmers are going to raise more cattle, and then there's going to be more supply and eventually the price will come down. So we just have to we have to work through all that. And that takes a lot of time. And very quickly on that note, what are the factors that need to change to lower those prices, especially at the grocery store? Big factor is supply, supply and demand. Right now we have a short supply of beef. And that is because as I said, the cattle herd in this country is very, very low. And we just saw a report come out last week about it's it's called a placements report. It shows how many heifers are being placed in feedlots. And basically what that means if heifers are going to feedlots to go into the food supply, they're not being retained by farmers. And that report was basically dead even from what it was last year. So that tells a lot of us that maybe their herd size is not going to grow as as quickly as we'd like it to. So that's the main thing that has to happen. We have to grow the herd size and produce more beef. But the thing is, when we had this situation in October where it looked like beef was going to crash for a little bit, guys like me are sitting out here and thinking, why do I want to invest in more cattle if I'm going to lose money in the future doing it? So we just need a steady, you know, good, solid price for ranchers and consumers need to have a good price for their, you know, that they buy their product for. And part of that is tied into what we were talking about with the big four packers. We cannot have any market manipulation. We have to have the market be free and open for it to work itself out. Well, Steve Lucy, thank you so much for your insight. Thank you very much for having me. A British newspaper reports that a Chinese spying operation has been hacking the mobile phones of senior London officials for years. The report comes as U. K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is heading to China to meet with leader Xi Jinping on possible trade deals. Entities Arlene Richards has more. A U. K. News outlet reports that the mobile phones of senior British officials were hacked by a Chinese spy operation between 2021 and 2024. The Telegraph said on Monday, the hacking exposed the communications of the closest aides to former Prime Minister's Boris Johnson, Liz Trust and Well, it's not surprising at all, and it follows hot on the heels of a whole bunch of confirmed cyber attacks on the U. K. N. T. D. Could not independently verify these claims. It's unclear whether the breach included the mobile phones of the prime ministers themselves. However, the Chinese spying operation known as sought typhoon is suspected to be ongoing, which raises the possibility that the current prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, may also have been exposed. Starmer is flying to China on Tuesday, the first by a U. K. Prime Minister in eight years in an effort to secure trade and investment with Beijing. Critics have accused Armour's Labour Party of jeopardizing national security by taking a soft line on hostile Chinese activity. We now have this uncritical engagement with China with Keir Starmer going to China, lowering the drawbridge and really offering quite a lot in return for what will be very little. In an exclusive interview with Bloomberg on Monday, Starmer said the U. K. Wouldn't have to choose between the U. S. And China in response to questions about whether his meeting with Chinese leaders would anger President Trump. The U. K. Security Service and my five alerted the British Parliament last November about the threat of Chinese spying. But according to a report by the Associated Press two years ago, U. S. Officials had first alerted the U. K. In 2024 after finding out that hacking groups had gained access to telecom companies around the world. The Telegraph reports that in the past, China's foreign ministry dismissed the claims as baseless and lacking evidence. In addition to listening to and recording calls, the hackers reportedly had access to metadata and geo location data, which provided them with information on who officials were communicating with and their locations. Arlene Richards and T. D. News Taiwan is putting its military on display, scrambling fighter jets, firing U. S. Made rockets and drilling for a possible invasion. It comes as China investigates two of its top generals and ramps up pressure across the region. And it is Washington correspondent Jack Bradley. The details Taiwan's Air Force launching F six teams during emergency drills ahead of the Lunar New Year on the ground, tanks, drones and missile defense systems. The same U. S. made weapons now central to Taiwan's defense. It sends a clear message to Beijing as China is threatening to take over Taiwan. The enemy threats we face today are clearly more serious than they were 10 years ago. We must accelerate our military build up and preparedness. Otherwise we will find it difficult to ensure national security in Washington. Lawmakers have bipartisan agreement backing Taiwan in the event of an invasion from China. A move that Chinese leader Xi Jinping says is on the table. He has said he is willing to take Taiwan by force, and he wants his military to be ready by 2027. We shouldn't believe him. The lawmakers warn that China isn't just threatening Taiwan, but U. S. Allies across the region. The PLA Navy, their maritime militia, their Coast Guard is really infringing upon Philippine sovereign territory. I mean, really pushing. I mean, it's almost invasion. If you look at the number of ships, they say Taiwan remains vulnerable, especially to a blockade. The Taiwanese are remarkably vulnerable to an energy quarantine. That's why lawmakers are pushing to speed up U. S. Weapons deliveries, allowing the sale of the most advanced AI chips to China when China has spent decades trying to develop their own indigenous chip making and chip design capability would be, in my view, strategically reckless. And now China's military leadership is in turmoil. Beijing confirming two of its top commanders are under investigation, including Xi Jinping's second in command. Taiwan's defense minister calls this shake up abnormal. We will, of course, continue to closely monitor abnormal changes among the top levels of China's party. Analysts warn that China's internal shake up could actually make things worse in a medium term. I think this increases the likelihood off the use of force against Taiwan. Just last month, the Trump administration approved an $11 billion arms sale to Taiwan, its largest ever. That's because for U. S. Lawmakers, Taiwan's defense isn't a distant issue. It's about American security, American supply chains and preventing another war. Reporting by Jack Bradley and T. D. News. President Trump is stepping in to help communities recover after last year's wildfires ravaged areas around Los Angeles. Trump says homes and businesses are still not fully rebuilt entities. David Lamb has more. President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to help loosen permit restrictions in California. He says families, businesses and houses of worship were unable to rebuild after the wildfires in the Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon areas, and that this is due to local governments delaying reconstruction by approving only a fraction of the permits needed to rebuild. Last January, wildfires burned nearly 40,000 acres of homes and businesses in the Los Angeles area. But California Governor Gavin Newsom's press office says that the state needs money rather than permits, saying, quote, The main obstacle is communities not having the money to rebuild. The White House says California state and local governments failed to maintain water supplies and communication, leading to the spread of the wildfires. The fires killed more than 30 people and burned tens of thousands of homes. The federal government approved financial support, but many homeowners and businesses have been unable to use these funds as they navigate what some are calling overly burdensome, confusing and inconsistent permit requirements and duplicative permit reviews. Within the next two months, FEMA is expected to audit California's use of federal funding to determine whether rebuilding projects were completed as approved and on time. David Lamb, NTD News, California. Coming up in the NFL, the Steelers brand new head coach already discussing an Aaron Rogers return. Dave Martin joins us to discuss when we return. Welcome back. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Two major tech companies are heading to court in Los Angeles this week over claims their platforms may have affected Children's mental health entities. Christina Corona reports from the courthouse with more details on the lawsuit. Jury selection began here at the Los Angeles Superior Courthouse in the first major case, accusing Meta's Instagram and Google's YouTube of using addictive design features that could harm Children and teens mental health. Initially, four social media companies were named in the lawsuit. But just hours ago, we learned TikTok settled late Monday night and Snapchat reached a settlement with the plaintiff last week. At the center of the case is a 20 year old woman identified only as Kaylee G. M. She alleges she became addicted to social media as a child and later struggled with depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. Her lawsuit claims the company's designed their platforms to maximize addictiveness among Children to drive profits, drawing comparisons to tactics used by the tobacco and gambling industries. Instagram has denied those claims, arguing they are not legally responsible for third party content posted on their platforms. According to Superior Court Judge Caroline Cole, both companies argue Kaylee's mental health challenges stem from other experiences during her childhood, not social media use. The companies also point to safety measures they say are already in place, including parental controls and content management tools. Ahead of the trial, a YouTube executive said the company plans to argue its platform is fundamentally different from other social media companies listed in the lawsuit and should not be treated the same in court. About 150 potential jurors are being questioned each day through at least Thursday. While jurors are not required to stop using social media, they are prohibited from researching the case, changing account settings on their social media profiles, creating new accounts or looking up anyone involved in the case. So far, six attorneys are representing the plaintiff, while Meta and Google each have two attorneys present. The terms of the TikTok and Snapchat settlements were not disclosed. The trial is expected to last until March 20th, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to testify. Reporting from downtown Los Angeles, Christina Corona, NTD News. And now for your sports news, we're joined by NTD's Dave Martindale. We have some NBA, tennis and college football news, but let's start on the NFL as the Pittsburgh Steelers introduced their new head coach Mike McCarthy today. Now, one of the first questions he was asked was about reuniting with Aaron Rodgers. Is that a possibility? I mean, it sounds like it is. Now, McCarthy was Rodgers' coach in Green Bay for 13 seasons with the Packers. He said he's already spoken with Rodgers and wants him back. Now, Rodgers, he's not signed for 2026. He's 42 years old, so retiring certainly seems like a possibility, but he hasn't officially said he's retiring. And the Steelers really don't have any obvious options at quarterback on their roster right now, so definitely stay tuned on this one. Now, elsewhere in the league today, the Buffalo Bills promoted assistant coach Joe Brady to head coach. He replaces Sean McDermott, who they fired last week, so they get some continuity here with someone already on the staff. Now, Brady had been the team's offensive coordinator since midway through the 2023 season, and since he was promoted to offensive coordinator, the Bills have averaged the second most points per game in the NFL, so that certainly boded well for him, I guess, in getting the promotion here to head coach. All right, well, shifting gears to college football, Duke has settled their lawsuit against our quarterback Darian Mensah. What are the terms of the settlement? You know, we weren't given all the terms, at least the financial ones anyway, but the main one is that he will be allowed to enter the transfer portal and enroll at another school. Now, Mensah was very good on the field for Duke last year, led the ACC in passing yards and passing touchdowns, led him to a conference championship. After the season, he announced he would be returning to Duke. That was on January, I'm sorry, December 19, but then on January 16, which was the last day you can enter the transfer portal, he told Duke he wanted to transfer despite having a contract for 2026 that ESPN reported was worth $4 million, so that's when the school took him to court to prevent trial, anyway, to prevent him from transferring. I think what made this case very unique is that had Mensah not said, you know, he was coming back and instead just entered the transfer portal, as soon as it opened on January 2nd, maybe Duke might not have pushed back so hard. I mean, in that case, they could have at least found another quarterback in the portal, but most of the best players have already announced their intentions elsewhere, found other schools, so we'll see who Duke gets as their replacement next year. All right, while looking at tennis news, the quarterfinals of the Australian Open continue tonight. What matches stand out to you? Yeah, we got two men's matches tonight, two women's matches tonight, you know, tonight, early tomorrow morning. This is in Australia. All of them, though, involve players ranked in the top ten. On the men's side, fourth-ranked Novak Djokovic takes on fifth-ranked Lorenzo Mussetti. Now, Djokovic has been pretty sharp in the tournament thus far. He has not dropped a set yet, but he should be well-rested because he did not have to play in the fourth round as his opponent withdrew due to an injury. Now, meanwhile, Djokovic has really owned his opponent, Mussetti, in the past, winning nine of their ten career matches. That match starts at 10.30 Eastern time tonight. In the other men's semifinals, seventh-ranked Ben Shelton takes on number two-ranked Yannick Sinner. Sinner is a two-time defending champion here. He's won eight of these two nine career matches. That match is scheduled to start at 3 a.m. tomorrow morning Eastern time. On the women's side, second-ranked Iga Spiatek, she faces fifth-ranked Ilina Ravikina. This is the only Grand Slam event that Spiatek has not won. That match starts very shortly, or 7.30 Eastern time tonight. In the other women's quarterfinal, Americans Jessica Pagula and Amanda Enesimova square off. Pagula has won all three of their matches. That match starts at 9 p.m. Eastern time tonight. You got all those, Sam? I'm glad you got all of that. Anyway, Elter tonight in the NBA. The Milwaukee Bucs play at the Philadelphia 76ers, but Milwaukee isn't at full strength. Yeah, the Bucs are missing their two-time MVP Giannis Adetokounmpo. They don't have an idea of how long he's gonna be out for now. He left Friday's game with a right calf strain. He said himself he'd probably be out four to six weeks. Now, he already missed eight games last month with a very similar injury. The Bucs, meanwhile, are already struggling with an 18-26 record. Also tonight, the LA Clippers play at the Utah Jazz. Clippers are playing surprisingly about as well as any team right now. They started the season just 6-21. That was their record back on December 20th, but they have won 15 out of their last 18 games since. Kawhi Leonard has averaged nearly 32 points per game during that time. That's the most in the NBA during that span. So, those are two of the seven NBA games on tonight. So, a lot on tonight here, too. I'm glad you're keeping track of all of that. I have a whole bunch of balls in the air right now, all right? All right. Well, Dave, as always, thanks for joining us. Thank you, Tiff. And that's all for today's news. For around-the-clock coverage, visit us at ntd.com slash live or download our NTD app. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Good night.