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Iran attacks add urgency to stalled congressional aid effort for Israel

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Iran attacks add urgency to stalled congressional aid effort for Israel


Iran’s drone and missile attacks on Israel this weekend added fresh urgency to the long-stalled congressional effort to secure more aid for a U.S. ally, but as the House returns to session on Monday, there is little clarity on what type of aid package Republicans will take up.

Sharp divisions within the Republican Party have kept a Senate-approved, bipartisan $95 billion national security package that includes aid to Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel from being taken up in the House. Although several lawmakers expressed optimism on Sunday that an Israel aid package will quickly pass in Congress, any legislation that is different from that version would have to go back to the Senate for approval. It’s unclear if such a new measure would garner enough support among a fractious House GOP conference and would likely face opposition in the Senate if passed via partisan margins, as it had before.

On Sunday morning, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) didn’t specify what kind of aid package the House would consider — whether the combined Senate package or a stand-alone Israel bill. He instead simply noted that Republicans are “going to try again this week” to pass some sort of aid package for Israel.

“The details of that package are being put together right now,” Johnson said on “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News Channel. “We’re looking at the options and all these supplemental issues.”

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House Democrats have said they would quickly help the speaker pass the Senate-approved supplemental package, but Johnson has been unequivocal against the House considering the Senate bill without also addressing border security and adding conditions to how Ukraine is funded — two issues that have greatly divided the GOP conference.

The uncertainty of how to address Ukraine funding — and the threat by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to oust Johnson from the speakership if he holds such a vote — is why Republicans began pushing for a stand-alone Israel bill. On Sunday, Johnson noted that one of his first acts as speaker was to pass an Israel funding bill with “offsets” including cuts to the IRS that a majority of House Republicans supported. Because of this provision, however, the Senate refused to take that bill up.

In a post rife with inflammatory language, Greene said “there should be separate bills.” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), echoed Greene, indicating the trouble Johnson could face if he tries to pass a supplemental package through the House Rules Committee that Massie and two far-right members sit on.

Johnson then tried to pass a straightforward Israel bill several months ago under suspension because the far-right members of his party opposed the lack of IRS cuts, but that effort failed to garner enough Democratic support because the bill did not include humanitarian aid. Democrats also did not want to lose leverage by passing an Israel-only bill and not have another mechanism to secure Ukraine funding.

National security Republicans, who will speak with Johnson late Sunday to brainstorm a path forward, broke with a majority of their colleagues by urging passage of bills aiding foreign allies facing immediate threats.

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“I think it will have overwhelming support — both the Ukraine, Israel and Asia packages — not just because of what’s happened with Iran escalating the conflict in the Middle East, but because these are allies that need and deserve our support,” House Intelligence Chairman Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio) said.

The House and Senate are in session for one more week before their next scheduled break from Washington, adding urgency to address the matter swiftly. Over the weekend, House Republicans appeared to be aware that time is running short.

In the wake of news of the attack, members of the Republican Study Committee, the largest faction of the five GOP ideological “families,” huddled during a previously scheduled retreat Saturday night to discuss the developments and how they could urgently address the matter. They agreed that the House must act immediately upon arriving back in Washington this week to pass a stand-alone Israel funding aid. That message was relayed to Johnson who, according to multiple people familiar with the meeting and conversations, was described as being in listening mode as he received feedback from all corners of the conference.

By Saturday evening, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said on X that the House would change its legislative schedule for the week to prioritize considering “legislation that supports our ally Israel and holds Iran and its terrorist proxies accountable,” but added that “details on the legislative items to be considered will be forthcoming.”

And Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told CBS News’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday that he and the chairs of other national security-adjacent committees in the House will meet with Johnson on Sunday evening to draft out a course of action for the week. But his goals for the aid package diverge deeply from some of the hard line members of the GOP.

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McCaul remained adamant that the House must fund Ukraine’s war effort alongside Israel’s.

“What happened in Israel last night happens in Ukraine every night,” McCaul said.

Securing aid to Israel but punting on Ukraine would still mark a victory for Iran, a staunch ally of Russia who has supplied many of the drones Moscow is launching on Ukraine, McCaul said. Moreover, sending aid to Taiwan is imperative to counter China’s encroachment on the nearby democracy. The fight against one is the fight against the other, he argued.

“Would I need to educate my colleagues that they’re all tied together?” McCaul said. “I mean, Iran is selling this stuff to Russia. Guess who’s buying Iran’s energy? China.”

He added that Republicans can’t just say “Iran is bad, but Russia’s okay and China is bad.”

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“We can’t do that — they’re all in this together,” he said.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who has long opposed further aid for Ukraine, argued in a Sunday morning interview with CNN that the United States can’t “possibly support Ukraine and Israel and our own defense needs” in the way Democrats and some House Republicans demand.

“Israel’s a much closer ally, is a much more core American national security interest,” he said. “If we pass the Ukraine and Israel supplemental and send a ton of weapons to Ukraine that the Israelis need, we’re actually weakening Israel in the name of helping them.”

But the $95 billion supplemental bill is not mutually exclusive — it includes funding for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. The measure would provide about $60 billion in additional aid to Ukraine, much of which would come in the form of weapons, about $14 billion for Israel, $9 billion in humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and $5 billion to aid the Indo-Pacific.

House Democrats and senators from both parties have been urging the House take up the Senate proposal since its passage two months ago. Even before Iran’s attack on Israel, House Democrats publicly and a contingency of House Republicans privately have been saying that there is no way Johnson can strike an agreement that appeases a fractious GOP conference on such contentious issues, let alone in one week.

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Early Sunday morning, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said that the Senate-approved supplemental package should pass on Monday.

“The world is on fire. We should stand with our Democratic allies and push back against the enemies of freedom.” he posted on X. “The House must pass the bipartisan national security bill. Tomorrow.”

Even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — who has vowed to continue supporting Ukraine, earning him the moniker “Republican in Name Only” from Trump and other far-right Republicans — has signaled to Johnson that he should ignore the right-wing opposition within his conference and move ahead with the Senate-approval package.

“The national security supplemental that has waited months for action will provide critical resources to Israel and our own military forces in the region. It will provide overdue lethal assistance to Ukraine and equip vulnerable allies and partners in Asia,” McConnell said in a statement Saturday. “The Commander-in-Chief and the Congress must discharge our fundamental duties without delay. The consequences of failure are clear, devastating, and avoidable.”

House Democrats are largely united in their effort to pass the Senate package, launching a discharge petition last month that would override GOP leadership’s unwillingness to consider the legislation by forcing a vote on the measure if 218 lawmakers sign on.

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According to multiple Democrats familiar with the discussions, Democratic leadership aims to get at least 200 to sign on since some in the far-left faction will not back it in opposition to funding Israel. Former speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has personally taken the initiative to whip more support, getting four more Democrats — including three liberals — to reach 195 signatures.

Some Republicans have privately expressed signing onto the Democratic petition, as well as a bipartisan one that also includes border security measures, if far-right Republicans block the conference from backing whatever Johnson proposes.

Yet if Johnson moves on the Senate bill and Greene triggers the process to oust him from the speakership, Jeffries said at a Thursday news conference “that there are a reasonable number of Democrats who would not want to see the speaker fall as a result of doing the right thing.”





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Meet the 90-year-old old retired Chicago teacher who stays active by jumping rope

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Meet the 90-year-old old retired Chicago teacher who stays active by jumping rope


ByABC7 Chicago Digital Team

Monday, March 9, 2026 6:59PM

90-year-old old retired Chicago teacher stays active by jumping rope

CHICAGO (WLS) — Miss Ruth Washington is staying active at 90-years-young!

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

Washington is a retired Chicago Public Schools teacher. She taught from 1969 to 1993.

She spent the last 10 years of her career teaching Pre-K at Fort Dearborn Elementary School on Chicago’s South Side.

She jumps rope with the 40+ Double Dutch Club in Pullman.

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The organization was created to give women a fun outlet to improve physical and mental health.

Her advice on staying active into your 90s is: “pray to God, find an activity you love, and remember to treat others with the love that our civil rights leaders taught us.”

To learn about the 40+ Double Dutch Club, click here.

Copyright © 2026 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.



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Washington Classical Review

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Washington Classical Review


Viviana Goodwin in the title role and Justin Austin as Remus in Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha at Washington National Opera. Photo: Elman Studios

Washington National Opera has survived its exodus from the Kennedy Center. In the first performance since ending the affiliation agreement with its former home, WNO delivered a beautiful and timely production of Scott Joplin’s only surviving opera, Treemonisha. The substitute venue, Lisner Auditorium, resounded with a sold-out audience of enthusiastic supporters, something WNO had not drawn to the KC in months.

Treemonisha is a young black woman found as a baby under a tree by her adoptive parents, Monisha and Ned. Educated by a white woman, she teaches others in her rural community, near Texarkana (where Joplin himself was raised), to read and write. After she defeats the local conjurers, who use superstition to cheat and swindle, the community elects her as their leader.

This version of Treemonisha, while still largely recognizable as Joplin’s work, has been adapted and orchestrated by composer Damien Sneed, with some new dialogue and lyrics by Kyle Bass. The work remains a lightweight piece in many ways: an operetta more than an opera, with spoken dialogue and incorporating a range of popular musical styles, a compendium of the music Joplin heard and played in his youth, from ragtime to spirituals to barbershop quartet. The adaptation tightens some of the dramatic structure, while bringing out the originality of Joplin’s compositional voice.

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Soprano Viviana Goodwin, a Cafritz Young Artist heard as Clara in last season’s Porgy and Bess, made an eloquent and winsome Treemonisha. Her lyrical voice suited the character’s dreamy, idealistic arias, and her supple top range provided more than enough power to carry the opera’s major climaxes. The changes to the opera, especially Treemonisha’s romance with and marriage to Remus, only implied in Joplin’s score, made the character more human than idealized savior.

The role of Remus, written by Joplin for a tenor, had to be adjusted somewhat for baritone Justin Austin to sing it. While not ideal musically, the change made sense in terms of casting: the earnest Austin, tall and imposing, proved a sinewy presence. Sneed, while doing away with the duet between Monisha and Ned (“I Want to See My Child”), showed the growing love between Remus and Tremonisha by giving them a hummed duet as they returned to the community, to the tune of “Marching Onward” from the opera’s final number.

Kevin Short as Ned  and Tichina Vaughan as Monisha in WNO’s Treemonisha. Photo: Elman Studios

Tichina Vaughn brought a burnished mezzo-soprano and dignified stage presence to the motherly role of Monisha, with some potent high notes along the way, for a solid WNO debut. Bass-baritone Kevin Short gave humor as well as authority to her husband, Ned, with some of the opera’s most lyrical moments. His big aria in Act III, “When Villains Ramble Far and Near,” had a Sarastro-like gravitas, even venturing down to a rich low D at the conclusion.

Among the supporting cast, tenor Jonathan Pierce Rhodes continues to show a broad acting range. After his turn as a trans woman, among other roles while a Cafritz Young Artist, Rhodes displayed both strutting confidence and vulnerability as the leader of the conjurers, Zodzetrick. In another change to Joplin’s libretto, in this adaptation, Zodzetrick does not take advantage of Treemonisha’s insistence on mercy by going back to his old ways but is sincerely converted.

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Both tenor Hakeem Henderson and baritone Nicholas LaGesse had impressive turns, as Andy and Parson Alltalk, respectively. In Sneed’s adaptation, Alltalk is not in league with the conjurers as in Joplin’s libretto. 

Director Denyce Graves, who portrayed the conjurers more as practitioners of an African or Caribbean folk religion, insisted that the staging was “not meant to mock spiritual tradition or folk belief.” Both the Parson and the conjurers, in fact, seem pious in their own ways.

The most obvious change to the score was heard at the opening of Act I, when banjo player DeAnte Haggerty-Willis took the stage to play a number before the Overture. The banjo, Joplin’s mother’s instrument, added a lovely, authentic aura throughout the evening. Sneed himself, seated at an onstage upright piano like the spirit of Scott Joplin, joined the opening number and added musical touches to the orchestral fabric throughout the performance. Sneed’s orchestration used a limited number of strings and modest woodwinds and brass, restricted by Lisner’s small pit. Kedrick Armstrong, appointed as music director of the Oakland Symphony in 2024, held things together at the podium with a calm hand.

The choral numbers, sung by the supporting cast, had a pleasing heft in the small but resonant acoustic. Sneed moved the chorus “Aunt Dinah Has Blowed de Horn” from its position at the end of Act II to open Act I, now sung by Treemonisha’s community instead of the plantation she and Remus pass through on their way home. That piece followed Joplin’s lengthy overture, which Graves decided to accompany with a pantomime. That regrettable choice, too often made by directors these days, was made worse by depicting the story of Treemonisha’s adoption, thus making redundant Monisha’s later narration of those same events.

Graves, who has embarked on a second career as a talented opera director, nonetheless created a visually appealing and dramatically cogent production. The paisley-like vine patterns covering Lawrence E. Moten III’s set pieces recalled the tree central to the plot, as well as the wreaths worn by the girls in the community. The vibrant lighting designed by Jason Lynch brought out different hues in those patterns, suiting each scene’s mood.

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The choreography by Eboni Adams, performed by four elegant dancers as well as the cast, added another lively aspect to this worthy staging. The adaptation moved Joplin’s ballet, “The Frolic of the Bears,” to the start of Act II, where it served instead as an expression of the conjurers’ folk beliefs. All in all, this is a worthy staging of an American monument, kicking off a series of three American works to conclude the WNO season in style.

Treemonisha runs through March 15. washnatopera.org

Photo: Elman Studios



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‘Insult to injury’: Former officers react to location of Jan. 6 plaque

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‘Insult to injury’: Former officers react to location of Jan. 6 plaque


Just before dawn Saturday, a plaque honoring U.S. Capitol Police along with other law enforcement agencies who protected the Capitol on Jan. 6 was installed.

It comes more than 5 years after insurrectionists stormed the building. The Senate voted to install the plaque after the House GOP refused to display it.

“I think that speaks volumes about they’re doing this because they were forced to do it, and they did it in a manner that really added insult to the injury, to the injury that they had already subjected so many law enforcement officers to,” said former Capitol police officer Michael Fanone.

Fanone was one of the officers attacked by the rioters five years ago. He later suffered a heart attack and resigned from the Metropolitan Police Department.

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Fanone says many officers feel betrayed by the institutions they fought to protect.

“They installed it at four in the morning, in a part of the Senate that is not accessible to the public,” he said. “The whole purpose of the plaque is to remind the public when they come visit the Capitol of the selflessness, courage of the Metropolitan police department and the U.S. Capitol Police.”

The riot took place at the tail end of President Donald Trump’s first term while Congress was attempting to certify 2020 election results.

When Trump was sworn in for his second term last year, he pardoned roughly 1,500 criminal defendants who were charged for their actions at the capitol on Jan. 6.

The new marker comes two months after the Senate unanimously agreed to a resolution directing the architect of the capitol to install the plaque honoring the officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6.

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The resolution was introduced earlier this year after congress had stalled on plans outlined in a 2022 law to install a similar plaque by March 2023.

The marker was installed on the Senate side of the Capitol and is expected to stay there until both chambers can agree on a more permanent place for it.

Former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who filed a joint lawsuit seeking the installation of the plaque, took to social media, writing, “The location of the plaque that was just hung, is in a place that it will not be visible to the public. While I am thankful for this first step, our lawsuit continues until the plaque is hung in accordance with the law.”

The plaque reads, “On behalf of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the extraordinary individuals who bravely protected and defended this symbol of democracy on January 6, 2021. Their heroism will never be forgotten.”

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