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Watch: House Democratic leaders hold briefing

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Watch: House Democratic leaders hold briefing
House Democratic leaders held a press briefing Wednesday morning as the chamber prepared for a rescheduled vote on Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) stopgap funding plan later in the day. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) last week vowed to reject Trump-backed policy provisions in a continuing resolution (CR). In particular, Democrats oppose linking a government funding proposal…

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What Trump’s Latest East Wing Designs Show

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What Trump’s Latest East Wing Designs Show

President Trump’s latest plans for the East Wing ballroom reveal new details and a few notable changes from earlier designs.

The White House submitted the final plans to the National Capital Planning Commission, ahead of a March 5 meeting, where a board controlled by Trump allies is expected to approve the project.

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One pediment, not two

Source: Shalom Baranes Associates.

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In an earlier design released by Shalom Baranes — the new architect hired by Mr. Trump in December — the east and south porticoes each had a triangular pediment. The one on the south portico has been removed in the latest plan.

But the pediment on the east portico (not shown in the view above) remains and its height is about four feet taller than the roof of the executive residence. Critics have said the design would dwarf the existing White House.

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Changed windows and doorways

Source: Shalom Baranes Associates.

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The number of arched windows facing west on the ballroom level has increased to nine from eight.

In addition, the first floor windows have been redesigned, with more doorways leading to the new East Wing garden.

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A new garden

These are the first renderings that include details about a garden that would replace the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, which was demolished with the old East Wing.

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Sources: Nearmap (2025 aerial image); Shalom Baranes Associates.

Renderings show a grand staircase from the new East Colonnade to the garden. Stone-paved paths connect the garden to the first floor of the new East Wing.

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According to the plans, the new garden is larger than the old one, and will include a circular brick area and trees replanted from the old garden. The fountain from the old garden will also be brought back.

Asymmetrical pathway

To accommodate the massive size of the proposed East Wing, the main pathway around the South Lawn has been altered and is no longer symmetrical, renderings show.

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Sources: Nearmap (2025 aerial image); Shalom Baranes Associates.

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The final designs submitted last week have the same overall footprint as the plans from January, making clear Mr. Trump has rejected calls to make the building smaller.

The architects said last month that the White House was considering adding a “modest one-story addition” to the West Colonnade, to “restore a sense of symmetry to the original central pavilion.”

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Investigators are using a tracking device called a “signal sniffer” that can detect signals emitted from electronic devices as the search for Nancy Guthrie continues in its third week.  

David Kennedy, a former NSA hacker and inventor of the signal sniffer being used in the investigation, told CBS News that because Guthrie’s pacemaker was disconnected from the app on her phone, it indicates the device is equipped with Bluetooth Low Energy technology, a power setting designed so the device will last multiple years. 

Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing when she failed to show up for church on Feb. 1, after vanishing in the middle of the night from her home in Tucson, Arizona, in an apparent abduction. Authorities said Guthrie’s pacemaker was disconnected from the pacemaker app on her cellphone at 2:28 a.m.

Kennedy said Bluetooth Low Energy only has a 10- to 15-foot radius, but with signal amplifiers and high-gain antennas, the radius can extend to several hundred feet.  

He said after conducting a test at his home using a non-commercial drone and off-the-shelf items to modify it, he was able to extend the device’s detection range to about 800 feet. 

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“With amplification, with the ability to deploy things like drones or leveraging helicopters, they should be able to cover a lot larger area and then really home in just from a few meters to the actual signal itself,” Kennedy told CBS News. 

Since the pacemaker sends out a Bluetooth signal every two to three minutes, the signal sniffer can pick up its location, Kennedy said, which law enforcement would be able to view and trace using Nancy Guthrie’s phone. 

The tracking tool was mounted on a helicopter on Monday, law enforcement sources told CBS News. The helicopter carrying the device was flying slowly at a low altitude over the area where investigators are still hoping to find Guthrie, the sources said. 

Kennedy said he believes the helicopter was used as a quick stopgap to get a general location to see what was happening in the area. He said a signal sniffer could be fixed to a drone or a car, though a drone is more efficient because it can cover greater distances faster, and that using a helicopter or car could interfere with the signal due to metal buildings or concrete walls. 

Since signal sniffers are considered a new capability for law enforcement, Kennedy said officials don’t have massive fleets of drones being used, and that it will take time to build out the infrastructure to do so. He said if there were around 50 to 60 drones covering 300 to 800 feet, it would speed up the process.

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“You can really cut that time down pretty substantially across the board, you’re probably talking, a day or a few days or a maximum of two weeks of being able to cover 120-foot-mile radius, to be able to actually identify it,” Kennedy said. “It really comes down to manpower, drone operators [and] the drone technology itself.”

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The U.S. falters again in figure skating, but the women still have time to make it up

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The U.S. falters again in figure skating, but the women still have time to make it up

Amber Glenn reacts to her score in the Olympic women’s short program event on Tuesday. She got docked for landing a double loop instead of a triple loop, despite an otherwise strong performance.

Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images


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Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images

Want more Olympics updates? Subscribe here to get our newsletter, Rachel Goes to the Games, delivered to your inbox for a behind-the-scenes look at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

MILAN — Figure skating at these Winter Olympics has been full of dramatic twists. And Tuesday, the first night of the women’s competition, was no different: The U.S. women all qualified for Thursday’s medal event. But they are considerably farther behind than expected.

The “Blade Angels,” as they have been dubbed, began Tuesday night’s short program as the nation’s best hope at an individual medal in this event in two decades. But only two of them finished in the top 10.

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That ups the pressure heading into Thursday’s free skate, which makes up the other half of their overall score.

Reigning world champion Alysa Liu stands in third place, behind Ami Nakai and Kaori Sakamoto of Japan.

Towards the very end of the night, Liu, 20, skated a powerful routine to Laufey’s “Promise” that earned her a season-best score and moved her toward the top of the leaderboard.

Alysa Liu competes in her short prog

Alysa Liu’s short program on Tuesday earned her a season-best score.

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She was followed by Isabeau Levito, 18, whose elegant routine to “Almost In Your Arms, Zou Bisou Bisou” landed her in fifth place, with a few skaters left to go. She ultimately finished the night in eighth place.

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The penultimate skater was Amber Glenn, the three-time reigning U.S. champion, making her Olympic debut at age 26.

Glenn kicked off her program — set to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” — with a clean triple axel, a rare feat for women at the Olympics. The rest of her routine was strong until the very last jump, which she landed as a double rather than the required triple, docking her otherwise strong score.

She left the ice in tears, and put her head in her hands after receiving a score of 67.39, as a hush briefly came over the packed crowd. Glenn, one of the medal favorites in the entire women’s field, finished the night in 13th place.

Liu was talking to reporters below the rink as Glenn took the ice, with her routine — and reaction — visible on a TV screen. Liu seemed concerned for her teammate and friend.

“She’s gone through so much and she works so freaking hard … I just want her to be happy,” Liu said of Glenn. “Like, that’s genuinely all I want. And so I’ll be seeing her later.”

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Glenn has been an outspoken advocate for mental health, publicly sharing about her struggles with anxiety and depression throughout her career. She did not take questions from the press at the end of the night.

The bulk of U.S. skating fans’ hopes for a women’s medal now rest with Liu. It’s an ironic twist for the skater who retired as a teenager, then returned with renewed emphasis on creativity over competition.

After her performance on Tuesday, Liu spoke excitedly of her hopes of being invited to perform at the Olympic exhibition gala this weekend, teasing a “really cool gala program” she’s been working on that’s “basically done.”

“I don’t need a medal,” she said. “I just need to be here, and I just need to be present. And I need people to see what I do next.”

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