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PETA wants to swap out the world’s most famous groundhog for a dazzling, high-tech hologram. Each year, the world’s largest animal rights organization urges the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club to retire the animal due to concerns about its welfare. In a letter to club president Tom Dunkel, PETA offered to supply a lifelike 3-D projection of a groundhog, complete with a dramatic weather prediction, to electrify the Gobbler’s Knob stage this year. The letter read in part: “Here we are again! It’s People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—PETA entities have more than 10.4 million members and supporters globally, including many thousands in Pennsylvania—with a new offer to give Groundhog Day a much-needed glow-up: Retire Phil to a reputable sanctuary with his family, and we’ll provide a giant, state-of-the-art, 3-D projection hologram of a groundhog along with a vocal prognostication to light up the Gobbler’s Knob stage. This update would be sure to captivate crowds, and let’s face it: Phil looks better standing tall and composed in light beams than squirming in a handler’s hands in captivity.” PETA said they hope this proposal will finally let Phil and his family retire. “Pixelated popstars are headlining concerts and long departed celebrities are attending conventions, so why not put that technology to good use: on a hologram that lets the real Phil hibernate in peace,” PETA Founder Ingrid Newkirk said in a news release. “PETA is urging the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club to chuck its tired tradition of harassing a shy animal and give Gobbler’s Knob a glow-up with a phantom prognosticator.” It is not clear at this time if anyone with the Groundhog Club has responded to the request. Groundhog Day is a popular tradition in the U.S. and Canada on February 2, where people look to a groundhog emerging from its burrow to forecast the end of winter If the groundhog sees its shadow, it means six more weeks of winter, but if it doesn’t, spring will come early. It’s important to note that Groundhog Day predictions are generally not accurate. Now, do you think a hologram could replace Punxsutawney Phil?

A 62-year-old driver in Dover, Delaware, was arrested and charged with patronizing prostitution after a video surfaced of him engaging in sex acts with a woman on a school bus, police said. The Dover Police Department reported that, during an unrelated school bus investigation, a school district employee found video footage of Alvin Rohm, the school bus driver, picking up a woman near Governors Avenue and Lockerman Street and driving toward Jerusalem Way. Police stated that after parking near Jerusalem Way, Rohm was seen engaging in sex acts with the woman and exchanging money. Rohm is not employed by a school district and was employed by a contracted bus service, according to police. The video of the incident was turned over to Dover Police, where an investigation led to Rohm being arrested and charged with patronizing a prostitute within 1000 feet of school, resident, church or place and lewdness. Police said that the incident happened on January 6, 2026. Rohm was arrested on January 12 without incident and released on an O.R. bond.

Editor’s note: This article includes content that may be disturbing to readers. A Philadelphia teenager pleaded guilty collecting images and videos depicting child pornography, officials said. Léelo en español aquí Isaiah Smith, 19, admitted that he had owned child pornography that showed prepubescent minors engaging in sexual encounters. Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673. Some of the videos that Smith owned showed him sexually abusing two victims who were identified as a six-year-old girl and a non-verbal three-year-old boy. Officials explained that the child pornography was found after one of Smith’s friends walked in on him while he was orally raping one of the children. Smith is scheduled to be sentenced on May 6, 2026, and could face up to 20 years in prison with a mandatory minimum of up to a lifetime of supervised release. Smith will need to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

A May 2025 internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement document shows that the agency told officers and agents they can forcibly enter homes of people subject to deportation without a warrant signed by a judge. The memo, dated May 12 and which reads that it is from ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, was shared with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., by two whistleblowers. It says that ICE agents are allowed to forcibly enter the home of a person using an administrative warrant if a judge has issued a “final order of removal.” Administrative warrants permit officers and agents to make arrests and are different from judicial warrants, which a judge or magistrate signs allowing entry into a home. Lyons notes in the document that detaining people “in their residences” based solely on administrative warrants is a change from past procedures. “Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence, the DHS Office of General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose,” the memo reads. The memo says that agents may “arrest and detain aliens” in their place of residence who are subject to a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge, the Board of Immigration Appeals, or a U.S. district or magistrate judge. The memo says under general guidelines that officers and agents using a method called Form I-205 must “knock and announce” and that “in announcing, officers and agents must state their identity and purpose.” The Associated Press first reported on the document Wednesday. Immigration 10 hours ago Court lifts restrictions on immigration officers' tactics in Minnesota Trump administration Jan 20 Trump's ICE force is sweeping America. Billions in his tax and spending cuts bill are paying for it Minnesota Jan 20 U.S. citizen says ICE took him from his Minnesota home in his underwear after warrantless search Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that immigrants in the country illegally who are served administrative warrants or I-205’s, which are removal or deportation warrants, “have had full due process and a final order of removal from an immigration judge.” “The officers issuing these administrative warrants also have found probable cause,” McLaughlin said. “For decades, the Supreme Court and Congress have recognized the propriety of administrative warrants in cases of immigration enforcement.” The group Whistleblower Aid, which is representing the whistleblowers who shared the memo with Congress, said, “This ‘policy’ flies in the face of longstanding federal law enforcement training material and policies, all rooted in constitutional assessments.” “In other words: the Form I-205 does not authorize ICE agents to enter a home,” the group said in a statement. “Training new recruits, many of whom have zero prior law enforcement training or experience, to seemingly disregard the Fourth Amendment, should be of grave concern to everyone.” Blumenthal said in a statement that the memo was “allegedly not widely distributed” despite being labeled “all-hands.” A copy of the memo shared with Congress is addressed to “All ICE Personnel.” “Instead, the disclosure claims that the memo was rolled out in a secretive manner in which some agents were verbally briefed while others were allowed to view it but not keep a copy,” Blumenthal said. “It was reportedly clear that anyone who openly spoke out against this new directive would be fired.” The memo is dated less than five months into the second term of President Donald Trump, who campaigned on mass deportations. Immigration crackdowns by the Trump administration against several Democrat-run cities have sparked protests and…

A former Uvalde police officer was acquitted Wednesday of charges that he failed in his duties to confront the gunman at Robb Elementary during the critical first minutes of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. Jurors deliberated for more than seven hours before finding Adrian Gonzales, 52, not guilty in the first trial over the hesitant law enforcement response to the 2022 attack, in which a teenage gunman killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers. Had he been convicted, he faced up two years in prison on more than two dozen charges of child abandonment and endangerment. Gonzales appeared to fight back tears and hugged his lawyers after the verdict was read in a courtroom in Corpus Christi, hundreds of miles from Uvalde, where his legal team said a fair trial would not have been possible. “Thank you for the jury for considering all the evidence,” Gonzales told reporters. Asked if he wanted to say anything to the families, he declined. Several family members of the victims sat in silence in the courtroom, some crying or wiping away tears. “Faith is fractured, but you never lose faith,” said Jesse Rizo, whose 9-year-old niece Jackie Cazares was killed. He said he was frustrated by the verdict and hopes the state will press ahead with the trial of former Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo, the only other officer who has been charged over the police response. “Those children in the cemetery can’t speak for themselves,” Rizo said. Jurors declined to speak to reporters while leaving. Arredondo’s trial has not yet been set. Paul Looney, his attorney, told The Associated Press that he believes the verdict will result in prosecutors dropping the case against his client. “These people have been vilified, and it’s horrible what’s been done to them. These guys didn’t do anything wrong,” Looney said. A rare trial ends in acquittal The nearly three-week trial was an unusual case in the U.S. of an officer facing criminal charges on accusations of failing to stop a crime and protect lives. The proceedings included emotional testimony from teachers who were shot and survived. Prosecutors argued that Gonzales abandoned his training and did nothing to stop or interrupt the teenage gunman before he entered the school. “We’re expected to act differently when talking about a child that can’t defend themselves,” special prosecutor Bill Turner said during closing arguments Wednesday. “If you have a duty to act, you can’t stand by while a child is in imminent danger.” At least 370 law enforcement officers rushed to the school, where 77 minutes passed before a tactical team finally entered the classroom to confront and kill the gunman. Gonzales was one of just two officers indicted, angering some victim’s relatives who said they wanted more to be held accountable. Gonzales was charged with 29 counts of child abandonment and endangerment — each count representing the 19 students who were killed and 10 others who were injured. Jurors talked about ‘gaps’ in case, lawyer says During the trial jurors heard a medical examiner describe the fatal wounds to the children, some of whom were shot more than a dozen times. Several parents told of sending their children to school for an awards ceremony and the panic that ensued as the attack unfolded. Gonzales’ lawyers said he arrived upon a chaotic scene of rifle shots echoing on school grounds and never saw the gunman before the attacker went inside the school. They also insisted that three other officers who arrived seconds later had a better chance to stop the gunman. “He was the lowest man on the totem pole. They thought he was easy pickings,” Nico LaHood, one of Gonzales’ attorneys, said of prosecutors after the acquittal. Uvalde School Shooting Aug 12, 2025 ‘My kids are in there, bro … please.' Uvalde releases video, records of slow police response Jun 27, 2024 Former Uvalde school district police chief charged with child endangerment after shooting that killed 21 Uvalde…