Illinois mulls ending a health program for some immigrants living in the US illegally
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Gov. JB Pritzker's positioning of Illinois as a sanctuary state , a welcoming port for immigrants from across the globe, hit the hard reality of state budgeting this spring.
The Democrat is a leading critic of President Donald Trump's administration, especially its immigration policies. But facing a budget shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year, Pritzker's proposed $55.2 billion fiscal plan would cut part of a four-year-old program providing health coverage to some adults regardless of immigration status. Illinois is one of seven states and the District of Columbia to offer such a program.
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San Francisco Chronicle
40 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F. protesters rally against ICE raids and Trump's deployment of National Guard
The Bay Area resistance to President Donald Trump's immigration raids escalated Sunday as hundreds of protesters in San Francisco denounced his extraordinary deployment of federal troops to quell protests hundreds of miles away in Southern California. Demonstrators gathered about 6 p.m. near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office downtown to express solidarity with those in Los Angeles County who have rallied against immigration agents targeting people for deportation at businesses and court hearings. In response to the protests, Trump on Saturday announced that he would send 2,000 National Guard soldiers to Los Angeles. After troops arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday, protesters blocked traffic on Highway 101 and reportedly set autonomous vehicles on fire as authorities fired tear gas and declared an unlawful assembly. Dozens of people were arrested over the weekend. In San Francisco, organizers said before their show of solidarity that they didn't want to wait for federal agents to 'descend and tear apart our communities.' The demonstration came days after advocates reported that at least 15 people, including children as young as 3 years old, were detained during scheduled check-ins at the San Francisco ICE office. About 500 protesters gathered peacefully on Sunday outside the ICE building on the corner of Washington and Sansome streets, shutting down the intersection. 'When immigrants are under attack, what do we do?' a demonstrator shouted through a megaphone. 'Stand up, fight back,' the crowd chanted. Signs in the crowd read: 'F— ICE, immigrants are welcome here, 'Stop ICE raids, don't break up immigrant families,' 'Immigration built this nation' and 'No one is illegal on stolen land.' The National Guard deployment by Trump intensified a feud with California that has simmered throughout the early months of his second term in the White House. It's the first time in 60 years that a president has deployed the National Guard without the request of a state governor, but the circumstances are far different. When President Lyndon Johnson sent troops to Alabama to protect a 1965 civil rights march led by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., he did so because the state's segregationist governor had declined to send in the Guard. In this instance, Trump overrode the wishes of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said there was 'no unmet need' for additional law enforcement in Los Angeles. Newsom on Sunday urged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to rescind what the governor called an 'unlawful deployment of troops.' 'We didn't have a problem until Trump got involved,' Newsom said in a social media post. 'This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they're actually needed.' Hegseth and Trump, however, have shown no indication that they will back down anytime soon. Hegseth on Saturday threatened to send Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County to help crack down on Southern California protests — an idea that Newsom called 'deranged.' Trump, for his part, wrote on his social media website Sunday that Los Angeles had been 'invaded and occupied' by undocumented immigrants and criminals and that 'lawless riots' in the city would 'only strengthen our resolve.' Trump said he had directed his administration to 'to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles.' 'Order will be restored, the Illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be set free,' he said.
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Fitness Trainer Didn't Go to the Doctor for 7 Years Despite Strange Symptoms. Turns Out, She Had a Cyst the Size of a Baby (Exclusive)
Megan Johnson is a personal trainer from Chattanooga, Tenn. The 28-year-old self-diagnosed herself with diastasis recti, the separation of the rectus abdominis muscles, after not seeing a doctor in years After sharing her story online, Johnson realized her symptoms required medical attentionApart from visiting an optometrist, Megan Johnson hadn't seen a primary care doctor or gynecologist in nearly seven years. With no health insurance, a fear of medical bills, and a history of negative experiences with doctors, the personal trainer avoided seeking professional help. Trusting in her own judgment and online research, the 28-year-old from Chattanooga, Tenn., thought she had uncovered the main cause of her symptoms: diastasis recti. It wasn't until she shared her story on TikTok that everything began to shift as followers flooded her comments with concern and encouragement to seek real answers. What she discovered after finally taking herself to the emergency room left her stunned, but somehow relieved. 'My stomach was getting bigger and just wider,' Johnson tells PEOPLE exclusively. She first began noticing minor changes in 2021 after forming a cyst, which ended up rupturing. Two years later, she started experiencing severe bloating and painful periods as well as weight gain around her stomach. She realized something was off when her belly button started shifting from an innie to an outie, and the middle of her abdomen seemed to split. Curious to know more about her symptoms, she searched the internet and discovered diastasis recti – a condition where rectus abdominis muscles separate, according to the Cleveland Clinic. After learning how to test at home using a two-finger method, Johnson was convinced diastasis recti was to blame for her symptoms. She became determined to manage the condition as best she could on her own. She avoided both gynecologists and regular doctors due to past experiences where she felt dismissed. After losing health insurance through her parents, and later at her job, she chose not to renew her coverage. 'I just felt like it was a waste of money and so I just stopped going,' Johnson reveals. Over time, she started to believe that diastasis recti, coupled with visceral fat storage and hormonal imbalance, were causing changes to her body. In less than a year, Johnson had gained over 10 pounds and could no longer fit into her old clothes. However, over a five- to six-month span, she began noticing drastic growth around her abdomen, leaving her unrecognizable and filled with self-doubt, especially in her career as a physical trainer. Johnson ate healthy and weight trained, but despite doing everything "right," nothing seemed to work. That disconnect left her feeling like a 'fraud.' 'Feeling like I'm not able to help myself makes me feel unqualified to help other people,' Johnson admits. 'It was definitely something that knocked my confidence a lot.' In April 2025, she took to TikTok to discuss her struggles in hopes of getting some outside opinions. Almost immediately, online strangers flooded Johnson's video with their thoughts, with some even questioning whether she was pregnant. The comments provided a much-needed wake-up call, and it was then that she realized diastasis recti might not be the sole root of her health problems. 'It was insane. This army of women came to my rescue, you know, saying, 'this is exactly what I experienced. You look like me whenever I had that,'' she recalls. 'So once I got confirmation from other people, it gave me the confidence to be like, okay, you know what? This actually might be a bigger issue than I thought. I'm gonna go get it checked out.' As followers became more invested in her health journey, Johnson continued to document the entire experience on TikTok. She started by taking them on a trip to the emergency room on May 1st. 'This is not anybody's fault but my own,' Johnson said in a TikTok video while packing to leave for the ER. 'My own pride got in the way of me getting help because I would justify my symptoms - 'like nothing's wrong with me and I know best.' ' After a number of tests and scans, it was confirmed that she did have diastasis recti. However, she was also diagnosed with an ovarian cyst close to the size of a newborn baby. Johnson read the results out loud in a video, stating that she had a 'massive cystic mass extending from the left upper quadrant to the floor of the pelvis measuring up to 48 centimeters.' With the news, many followers questioned why she hadn't seen a doctor sooner. She likened her health journey to a 'toxic relationship,' noting how it's easy to think everything is fine when change happens over time. Things didn't fall apart overnight, but through small changes that added up. By the time she noticed, it was clear something had to change. 'Ya'll are really giving me a reality check,' she said in a video responding to comments. 'I feel like I have a bunch of big sisters that are getting on to me but in a loving way – calling me in, not calling me out – and I hear you.' With the help of social media, Johnson was able to find the confidence to see a gynecologic oncologist, who decided the best course of action would be to surgically remove the cyst. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, the trainer felt relieved. 'I have some satisfaction…because I know that the thing that I've been dealing with for the past four years, that I thought I would be struggling with for the rest of my life, there's a solution, and, like, one day I won't have to struggle with it,' she tells PEOPLE. Throughout her journey, Johnson has remained committed to staying positive online. She tried to make light of the situation by making sex reveal cupcakes and naming her large mass, 'Cysterella." 'I really feel like, no matter how it turns out, it's going to serve a bigger purpose than just me and that gives me a lot of hope,' she shares. Much of her energy and optimism comes from her strong faith. Johnson believes that every experience, whether good or bad, has the potential to lead to a meaningful takeaway. On May 22, Johnson underwent a successful surgery with 27 pounds of fluid being drained out of her body. Unfortunately, the doctors had to remove an ovary and a fallopian tube in the process of pulling out the cyst, which Johnson knew was a possibility. Regarding her diastasis recti, Johnson's doctors are hoping it heals over time, especially now that the main cause of all her issues has been resolved. By sharing her story, she remains hopeful that others will learn from it and use it as an opportunity to self-reflect on their own health journeys. 'Don't suffer in silence,' Johnson emphasizes. 'Don't just sit back and hide your shame or embarrassment about what's going on with your body because most people are doing the best that they can, and we can't help it.' Johnson has decided that she will keep up with her yearly checkups and keep a closer eye on her health. 'I've seen so many other comments of people saying that they are now scheduling appointments where they're gynecologists or the doctor or the specialist or whoever because of me, and because of that, it makes all of this worth it,' she said in a TikTok video. 'If I had to go back and go through everything that I did for the same result, I absolutely would," she added. "And now that I know better, I'm gonna do better.' Read the original article on People
Fox News
40 minutes ago
- Fox News
George Clooney makes dramatic return to his signature silver fox status at 2025 Tony Awards
George Clooney was back to his silver fox status Sunday for the 2025 Tony Awards. Clooney, 64, showed off his natural gray hair while walking the red carpet with wife Amal Clooney at New York City's Radio City Musical Hall. Nominated for leading actor in a play for his role in "Good Night, and Good Luck," Clooney wrapped the play earlier in the afternoon and subsequently got right back to his roots. During an appearance on "Late Night with Seth Meyers," Clooney admitted the first thing he would do after his final show was fix his "bad" hair. The "Ocean's 11" actor ditched his signature silver hairstyle in favor of a dark brown dyed job for his role in the Tony-nominated play. "It's bad. It's still dark on top, but it's gray at the bottom," he told Meyers while wearing a hat to "hide" the growth. Clooney admitted he hadn't dyed his hair in two months, since the beginning of the production. "So you get that really nice-looking grow-out of gray," he said. Clooney promised Meyers on Monday that his hair would be back to normal by the time of the Tonys, even under a tight deadline. "The last show is Sunday. We do a matinee, and then by the time we go to the Tonys that night, it'll be gone," he said. Meyers joked that it looked like he was "trying to get away with something" as Clooney appeared on the show wearing a hat. "It really looks bad," Clooney said. "It looks like [I'm] going through some horrible midlife crisis. I'm 64 – midlife is a little stretch." While Clooney's role in the performance was the talk of the town Sunday, his family's status in the United States could be in jeopardy under the Trump administration. Amal, 47, reportedly gave legal advice in a war crimes case against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the war in Gaza, according to the Financial Times. Trump's executive order claims the court "engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel. The ICC has, without a legitimate basis, asserted jurisdiction over and opened preliminary investigations concerning personnel of the United States and certain of its allies, including Israel, and has further abused its power by issuing baseless arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. "The United States will impose tangible and significant consequences on those responsible for the ICC's transgressions, some of which may include the blocking of property and assets, as well as the suspension of entry into the United States of ICC officials, employees, and agents, as well as their immediate family members." Amal, born in Lebanon and raised in Britain, practices law in both England and the United States, and has lived all over the world. Clooney proposed to Amal in April 2014, and the couple married five months later in Venice, Italy. Three years later, in 2017, the Clooneys welcomed twins Alexander and Ella.
