News roundup: Feb. 7 – Feb. 23

Here are the top stories during Feb. 7 – 23 from Texas, the United States and around the world.

Texas:

Planned Parenthood – U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks of Austin, TX blocked Texas’ cutting of Medicaid dollars to Planned Parenthood Feb. 21. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said the state will appeal the ruling. The decision to cut funding arose out of videos recorded by anti-abortion activists in 2015 and spread quickly to investigations by 13 states. No criminal charges have been levied against Planned Parenthood for the alleged illegal activity in the videos, and Planned Parenthood officials deny any wrongdoing.

Healthcare – Texas prisons and prisoners are having state lawmakers consider shutting down prisons and paroling older inmates in order to move more than $400 million in funds toward maintenance and health care costs. In addition, Texas legislators are considering doubling prisoner annual co-pays in a bid to ease the strain on health care costs.

Immigration – Immigrants in Austin are on alert in the midst of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids on illegal immigrants. While the raids are targeted towards dangerous illegal immigrants with criminal records, non-violent undocumented immigrants have been swept up and arrested amongst the 680 detained so far. Citizens and immigrants took to the streets in Austin to protest the raids and to fight to keep Austin a sanctuary city.

Drug Trafficking – US Customs and Border Protection officers discovered nearly 2 tons of marijuana disguised as over 34,000 limes attempting to cross the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge. The value of the shipment is estimated to be approximately $789,467. This is the same border crossing that saw the attempted smuggling of just under 2,500 pounds of marijuana disguised as fake carrots last year.

United States:

al-Qaeda – A US Navy SEAL raid earlier this month failed to kill or capture al-Qaeda’s chief in the Arabian Peninsula. Qassim al Rimi, the chief that was targeted in the raid, was purportedly recorded gloating that his survival was a slap in the face to “the fool in the White House.”

National Security – Michael Flynn stepped down as National Security Advisor after being investigated by counterintelligence agents for ongoing communications with Russian officials, as well as being investigated by Army officials for “receiv[ing] money from the Russian government during a trip in 2015.” President Trump’s preferred choice to replace Flynn, retired Vice Admiral Robert Haward, turned down the offer for personal reasons.

Muslim and Jewish Americans – Muslim organizations have raised more than $120,000 in a campaign to repair a damaged Jewish cemetery in Missouri. Nearly 200 headstones were damaged in the wake of a series of bomb threats against Jewish community centers across the United States. As of Feb. 21, there have been 69 threats towards 54 Jewish community centers in 27 states and one Canadian province.

Transgender Students – President Trump revoked the Obama administration’s guidelines on transgender students, most notably the choice of bathroom use under education nondiscrimination laws. Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education under the Trump Administration, said it was “an issue best solved at the state and local level.”

International:

North Korea – Kim Jong-un’s half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, was assassinated Feb. 13 in Malaysia. Police are currently searching for the suspects in the killing, which took place at Kuala Lumpur airport. North Korea denies any claims of foul-play.

ISIS – Military analysis has produced more than 100 images of drone attacks conducted by ISIS this month. The images collected only show successful attacks, with many more attacks reportedly going unseen.

Germany – The latest polls show Chancellor Angela Merkel falling behind Martin Schulz, candidate for the German Social Democrats. The poll has 49 percent of Germans preferring Schulz, whereas only 38 percent want to keep Merkel. The runner-up parties include the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany at 10 percent, the Green party and the far-left Linke at 7 percent, and the capitalist Free Democrats at 6 percent.

Russia – Russia has deployed a new cruise missile that violates the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The missile was already controversial in 2014 when the Obama administration denounced it in its testing phase. The deployment comes at a time when NATO allies are already nervous about Russian aggression. United States Secretary of Defense James Mattis is scheduled to meet allied defense ministers in Brussels on Wednesday.