GEAR MAG

WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's Republicans are divided over whether federal immigration officers should try harder to avoid hurting people following the shooting death of a community activist during an immigration raid, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey.

While 95% of Republicans continue to ​approve of Trump's performance as president, the poll conducted on Monday and Tuesday suggests a significant slice of Trump's backers are wary of ‌his administration's aggressive approach to immigration enforcement. The poll found American approval of Trump's approach to immigration at its lowest point since he returned to office a year ago.

Poll respondents were asked to ‌pick whether immigration officers should prioritize reducing harm to people even if this limits the number of arrests, or if they should be willing to use force even if there is a risk of serious injury or death.

Some 59% of Republicans favored a policy prioritizing arrests even if people get hurt, while 39% said officers should focus on reducing harm to people even if it means fewer arrests. Democrats were unified, with 96% focused on avoiding injuries and 4% saying immigration officers should ⁠focus on arrests. A handful of respondents did not answer ‌the question.

Americans are following the matter closely. Trump's campaign to deport unauthorized immigrants has become the signature issue of his administration. Masked immigration officers, often in tactical military-style gear, have become a common sight across the country. The Reuters/Ipsos poll showed ‍nine in 10 Americans have heard at least a little about the January 7 shooting death in Minneapolis of 37-year-old Renee Good, who was filmed criticizing immigration officers from her car before an officer fatally shot her in what Trump administration officials have described as an act of self-defense.

'SOMEONE DIED IN AN ALTERCATION WITH ICE'

The Trump administration has called ​Good a "domestic terrorist" who tried to run the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer over with her vehicle. Local leaders and protesters across the country have ‌condemned the shooting, saying the fact that Good turned her wheels away from the ICE officer as she drove past him proved her peaceful intentions.

Jason Cabel Roe, a Republican political strategist who has been critical of Trump, said Good's killing put a human face on the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

"Someone died in an altercation with ICE. That is not what anyone wants to see happening."

The controversy has sparked protests across the country, adding to the ongoing conflicts between demonstrators and immigration officers outside of government buildings. On Tuesday, small bands of protesters near a federal building in Minneapolis shouted obscenities at ICE officers, who used tear gas ⁠and flash-bang devices against demonstrators, with officers wrestling some of them to the ground, ​Reuters photos and video of the clashes show.

NEW LOW ON IMMIGRATION

Immigration policy has been a regular ​bright spot among Trump's approval ratings since he returned to the White House. He campaigned ahead of the 2024 presidential election on promises to enact the biggest deportation drive in decades, and his approval rating on immigration touched as high as 50% in ‍February 2025, compared to his highest overall ⁠approval rating of 47% in the first days of his administration.

Trump's overall approval rating in the latest poll slipped to 41%, down from 42% in a poll conducted earlier in January, while his approval on immigration slipped to a record low of 40%, from 41% when that question ⁠was last asked in December. Even with the decline, however, Trump's approval on immigration remains higher than the ratings Americans gave his predecessor, Joe Biden, during most of the Democrat's 2021-2025 administration.

The latest ‌Reuters/Ipsos poll gathered responses from 1,217 U.S. adults nationwide and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

(Reporting by Jason Lange ‌in Washington, Additional reporting by Tim Reid; editing by Scott Malone, Rod Nickel)

By Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Prominent Washington lawyer Tom Goldstein is set to square off with federal prosecutors on ​Thursday as a jury trial begins on criminal charges stemming ‌from the veteran U.S. Supreme Court advocate's side career as a high-stakes poker player.

Jurors in ‌Greenbelt, Maryland, will hear arguments from Goldstein's legal team and prosecutors who allege he failed to report millions of dollars he won in poker matches, lied on loan documents and made improper payments through his law ⁠firm Goldstein & Russell to ‌fund a lavish lifestyle.

Goldstein, who has argued more than 40 cases at the U.S. Supreme Court and founded the ‍SCOTUSblog news and analysis website, pleaded not guilty and has twice turned down an offer of a plea deal by the Justice Department.

In a pretrial filing, ​he said "the government has cherry-picked a few clerical errors and charged ‌them as a crime."

The trial is expected to last about four weeks before U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby.

Goldstein's indictment in January stunned Washington's legal community, where he was widely seen as one of the top appellate lawyers in the country.

A Democrat, Goldstein was part of the ⁠team that represented Al Gore in the ​Supreme Court fight over George W. Bush's ​victory in the 2000 presidential election. His other clients have included Google and "Fortnite" maker Epic Games. He retired from his ‍law practice in ⁠2023.

Goldstein was charged in the final days of Democratic President Joe Biden's administration. In a November 2024 opinion column in the ⁠New York Times, Goldstein urged prosecutors to drop criminal cases against Trump after his ‌election victory, writing that voters had already rendered the "ultimate verdict."

(Reporting ‌by Mike ScarcellaEditing by Shri Navaratnam)

Anothershooting involving a federal officerinflamed tensions in Minneapolis, about a week after an ICE agent shot and killedRenee Nicole Goodamid militarized immigration enforcement operations ordered by PresidentDonald Trump.

The latest incident unfolded in a north Minneapolis neighborhood on Wednesday evening during a struggle outside a residence, according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara. A man, whom the Department of Homeland Security said is a Venezuelan national living in the United States without authorization, was shot in the leg.

The agency described the incident as an "ambush," saying that the man drove away during a "targeted traffic stop" and crashed into a parked vehicle before taking off on foot. After one of the federal officers attempted to apprehend the man, two other people arrived from a nearby apartment, and all three started attacking the officer, according to DHS.

"Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired defensive shots," Homeland Security said in a statement. The officer and the man were hospitalized, while the two people involved in the assault were taken into custody.

The shooting followed days of chaotic clashes in Minneapolis while heavily armed federal agents stopped people in the streets. Since the fatal shooting of Good, a 37-year-old mother of three,demonstrations against the Trump administrationand federal immigration enforcement actions have erupted across the country.

Federal agents continue surge of immigration enforcement in Minnesota

'This is not sustainable,' Minneapolis mayor says after shooting

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey renewed his call for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to leave the city after a federal officer shot a man in the leg. He noted that the incident was the second shooting to occur in Minneapolis in a week, which has prompted public outrage and days of unrest in the city.

"This is not sustainable. This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in," Frey said during a news conference Wednesday night. "And at the same time, we are trying to find a way forward to keep people safe, to protect our neighbors, to maintain order."

The mayor said residents have been asking a "very limited number" of local police officers to "fight ICE agents on the streets, to stand by their neighbors."

"We cannot be at a place right now in America where we have two governmental entities that are literally fighting one another," Frey said, noting that the city only had about 600 officers while there were about 3,000 federal immigration agents in the area.

Federal immigration agents 'creating chaos,' mayor says

Frey said the presence of federal immigration agents throughout the city and across the state is "creating chaos." Though the mayor reiterated his criticism over immigration enforcement operations, he also condemned hostile protests in the city and urged people to go home.

"I've seen conduct from ICE that is disgusting and is intolerable. If It were your city, it would be unacceptable there, too," he said during Wednesday's news conference.

Local media outlets reported that hundreds of protesters gathered near the shooting scene on Wednesday night, clashing with federal officers as they deployed gas and rubber-coated bullets. While the mayor praised peaceful protesters, he urged residents to remain calm and discouraged violent demonstrations.

"We cannot counterDonald Trump's chaos with our own brand of chaos," Frey added. "And I have seen thousands of people throughout our city peacefully protesting. For those that have peacefully protested, I applaud you. For those that are taking the bait, you are not helping, and you are not helping the undocumented immigrants in our city."

Contributing: Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Minneapolis ICE shooting updates: Tensions flare after one shot

Isaiah Evans had eight of his 17 points in a late first-half surge, Cameron Boozer saved 17 of his game-high 21 points for the second half and No. 6 Duke pulled away from Cal for a 71-56 Atlantic Coast Conference victory Wednesday night in Berkeley, Calif.

Boozer also snatched a game-high 13 rebounds to complete his eighth double-double for Duke (16-1, 5-0), which was making its first-ever visit to Berkeley.

Lee Dort had 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds for Cal (13-5, 1-4), which lost its third straight.

Playing before its biggest home crowd of the season, Cal led by six on four occasions in the first half, the final time at 30-24 after a John Camden 3-pointer at the 3:35 mark.

But Evans dominated the rest of the half, drilling a pair of 3-pointers to sandwich a spinning dunk in a 13-0 flurry that opened a 37-30 halftime advantage.

The Golden Bears drew even one final time at 41-all on two free throws by Justin Pippen with 15:03 remaining, but led by Boozer, the Blue Devils overpowered the hosts the rest of the way.

Cal was hanging around at 48-45 at the 11:47 mark, but Boozer contributed four layups, two dunks and a free throw to a 20-6 push that opened a 17-point lead.

Boozer finished 9 of 16 for the Blue Devils, who outshot Cal 45.2% to 36.5% and outrebounded the hosts 44-30.

With Evans going 4 of 13 from deep, Duke made only seven of its 32 3-point attempts. But that was two more than the Golden Bears managed in 23 attempts.

Evans found time for three blocks, while Patrick Ngongba aided the Duke cause with eight points and six rebounds.

Camden had 11 points and Pippen 10 points and five steals for Cal, which fought foul trouble through most of the second half. Camden fouled out of the game.

Cal's Pippen and Dai Dai Ames matched Duke's Boozer, Caleb Foster and Maliq Brown for game-high assist honors with three each.

--Field Level Media

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — On his much belated farewell tour to the tournament he first described as the "Happy Slam," Roger Federer has held court on contemporary tennis.

The 20-time major winner was as diplomatic as ever, of course. He said he wouldn't be the one to remind Carlos Alcaraz about how hard it is to complete a career Grand Slam when you've already got three of the four major titles.

He also wouldn't enter discussion on speculation that Serena Williams might be considering a comeback — a rumor the 23-time major winner has denied.

Federer won five U.S. Open titles, five at Wimbledon and three in Australia before he finally completed his career Grand Slam in 2009 with a victory at Roland Garros, where Rafael Nadal was dominant on the clay.

Top-ranked Alcaraz won the back-to-back Wimbledon titles in 2023 and '24, and two French titles in a row in 2024 and last year, and won the U.S. Open in 2022 and last year. He's never gone past the quarterfinals in Australia, where archrival Jannik Sinner has won the past two titles.

"He knows about it. It's like Rory (McIlroy) going for the Masters, you know, those things are tough," Federer said Thursday, shortly after the draw was held for the first major of the year. "His momentum (now) shifts toward the first round and then it's point for point mentality. That's what it is.

"But it's true, at his young age, to be able to complete the career Grand Slam already now, I mean, would be crazy. ... I hope he does because for the game, that would be an unbelievable special moment."

Of course, there's 127 other men in the draw with other ideas, Federer noted, including his own long-time rival and 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic.

The Alcaraz-Sinner has emerged in the last two years, with the pair splitting the eight majors between them.

"The rivalry between Alcaraz and Sinner, I think, is a great one. They play incredible tennis," Federer said. "That French Open final was unreal. It just ended up in this most crazy fashion, maybe one of the greatest games we've ever had in our sport."

Federer is back visiting the Australian Open for the first time since his semifinal loss in 2020 and his later retirement in 2022, and he'll play a leading role in the tournament's first gala opening ceremony to be staged on Saturday night.

He was asked about the prospects of Serena Williams returning to the tour.

Williamslast month issued a social media post saying she's"NOT coming back" after a spokesman for the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said the23-time Grand Slam championhad registered with the sport's drug-testing body.

That is the first step that would be required by a player seeking to come out of retirement.

"I mean, I heard that she entered the doping program, and then I heard that she said she's not coming back," Federer said. "I mean, obviously for the game it would be incredible ... Serena is such a legend to come back.

"If she decides not to do it, or just maybe give herself an option — it's great to have options in life, in my opinion. Let's see what she does and wait for an announcement, or not."

AP tennis:https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

The SECno longer rulescollege football's postseason. This next week will be a litmus test of whether the conference still rules the boardroom to determine the postseason format.

Whatever you might say about theSEC's performance in theCollege Football Playoffthe past few seasons — and, there are plenty of wisecracks to make —Greg Sankey still garners widespread respect and wields powerwithin the commissioner ranks, while hisBig Tencounterpart Tony Petitti occupies the lane offly in the ointment.

These two commissioners of rival super-conferences each have one hand on the wheel of playoff expansion.They remain divided on the destination.

If the Big Ten and SEC cannot agree on an expanded playoff format by a Jan. 23 deadline, the current 12-team format is set to continue for the 2026 season.

Toppmeyer:Curt Cignetti's Indiana success makes patience a dirty word for coaches

Cash, cars and soul searching:Carson Beck's path to redemption

Sankey wants 16 teams. He's used his bully pulpit to campaign for that landing place.

This will test Sankey's influence. His playoff preference aligns with that of the ACC and Big 12, for whatever that's worth, but he cannot expand the playoff to 16 without the Big Ten's support.

"The move to 16 should be a priority for all of us in conference leadership,"Sankey saidin mid-November.

The Big Ten, best we can tell, doesn't care for 16. Or, at least, it opposes the 5+11 format supported by the SEC, ACC and Big 12.

Can SEC get Big Ten on board with 16-team CFP format?

A 5+11 format would expand the 12-team playoff by adding four at-large bids. The past two seasons, the Big Ten would not have qualified any additional teams, if a 5+11 format had been in place.

Petitti makes fewer public remarks than his Power Four peers, making it more difficult to gauge the Big Ten's truest and latest desires. The Big Ten's playoff preferences have shifted so frequentlyyou start to wonderwhether Petitti is all that serious about expanding the bracket beyond its current size and shape, or whether he's just presenting untenable ideas to prolong the current format.

The Big Ten's current preference? It wants 24 teams, according to multiplereports.

In other words, he wants a pathway for 8-4 Iowa to make the playoff.

Greg Sankey usually gets what he wants

Sankey is accustomed to getting what he wants in playoff talks. The SEC dominated the four-team playoff for a decade, andSankey staunchly opposedan eight-team playoff proposal loaded up with automatic bids.

Sankey wanted either an eight-team bracket with no auto bids or to grow the field to 12, with the latter creating several more at-large bids for the SEC to chase than an eight-team format that included auto bids would have had.

The playoff went to 12. Sankey served as one of the architects of this format.

After the Big Ten raided the Pac-12 and turned that conference into a husk, Sankey swiftlytook a spot at the vanguard of altering the 12-team bracketfrom its initially approved 6+6 format to 5+7, creating another at-large bid. He got his wish.

He took one look at the 12-team playoff, and, after Boise State and Arizona State received first-round byes last year, Sankeycalled for structural change, so that the top four teams got byes, regardless of whether they were conference champs.

Once again, he lobbied successfully, although that change did not substantially benefit the SEC this season.

At every turn up, Sankey has achieved his goals. His maneuverings included some upsides for conference peers, too.

The 12-team playoff ensured Group of Five representation. The Big Ten is thriving in this structure. The ACC and Big 12 continue to earn representation, which wouldn't always have been the case if the playoff had stayed at four teams.

Sankey, since the summer, has tried to advance the ball on a 5+11 model. It's debatable whether playoff expansion would help the SEC end its national championship drought, but, the past two seasons, four extra at-large bids would've meant three additional SEC qualifiers last season, and two extra from the SEC this year.

So, you can see why he'd like 16. Four more at-large spots would grease the wheels for the SEC teams that finish 9-3, a record that could become more common next season after the conferenceadds a ninth conference game.

Sankey has had a yearslong preference of nine conference games. His conference membership resisted for a while, but Sankey eventually achieved the outcome he desired.

Sankey, in his capacity as SEC commissioner, has earned a reputation as "the person that can get things done," Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione told me before this season.

That quote wasn't specific to playoff negotiations, but the shoe fits. Generally, Sankey gets his way, but these latest CFP talks are proving to be one of his toughest negotiations.

Twelve works for the Big Ten. If the SEC won't bite on 24, there's no obvious reason for Petitti to suddenly embrace a 5+11 model he's steadfastly resisted.

Blake Toppmeyeris the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Email him atBToppmeyer@gannett.comand follow him on X@btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:CFP bracket expansion talks will test SEC, Greg Sankey's power

By Panarat Thepgumpanat

BANGKOK, Jan 15 (Reuters) - A crane collapsed onto a road near Thailand's capital on Thursday, crushing two vehicles and killing two people a day after a similar accident in the northeast caused the derailing of ​a train and the deaths of 32 passengers.

Thailand's transport minister said construction firm Italian-Thai Development PCL, whose crane fell onto ‌the train in northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima province a day earlier, was also involved in the crane accident near Bangkok.

Thursday's incident took place in Samut Sakhon province, where ‌the crane, which was being used in building an elevated highway, fell onto the road beneath and crushed two cars, according to local police, who said two people were also injured.

SERIES OF FATAL CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENTS

It was the latest in a series of fatal accidents caused by construction projects in Thailand, several involving Italian-Thai, including the collapse of a partially-built Bangkok tower last year that killed at least 89 people during ⁠a 7.7-magnitude earthquake and led to charges of ‌negligence against 23 people, its president among those.

Italian-Thai declined to immediately comment on the latest incident and did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Images from the scene showed a mangled green crane ‍and huge pieces of concrete that had crushed the vehicles below. Video from news outlet Thai Rath showed cars reversing to avoid the wreckage amid a cloud of dust from the collapsed concrete.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who was once president of his family's construction firm Sino-Thai Engineering & Construction, said ​two incidents showed it was time for more action to ensure safety.

"We have to fix the law," said Anutin, who had ‌visited the site of the train disaster in the northeast on Wednesday.

"Instead of telling agencies to do this or that, we have to have a meeting and we will have to do something."

Thailand, Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy, has been undergoing significant infrastructure development, from elevated highways and high-speed rail lines to major expansion of its elevated rail network in Bangkok.

'OVER AND OVER AGAIN'

Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said it was crucial to determine whether these were caused by accidents or other factors.

"The incident happened over and over again. It was caused ⁠by the same contractor," he said during a talk show interview with ​Channel 3 television, referring to Italian-Thai.

"I am confused about what is happening to the ​company."

Authorities said an investigation into Wednesday's accident in the northeast was ongoing.

As well as the 32 fatalities, 66 of the 195 passengers on the train were also injured after a crane involved in building structures for ‍an elevated high-speed rail project collapsed ⁠onto an existing train line below.

The cross-country high-speed rail project will connect to China through Laos. The government said last year that more than a third of construction had been completed in the segment connecting Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima, with the whole line to Nong Khai at ⁠the border with Laos ready by 2030.

Italian-Thai, a firm founded in 1958 by Italian and Thai partners, in a statement said it accepted responsibility for compensating ‌families of those impacted by the train derailment.

(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat; Additional reporting by Panu Wongcha-um and Orathai Sriring; ‌Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by David Stanway and Toby Chopra)