West
Denver mayor blames Republicans and Trump for $5M cuts to pay for migrant crisis
Denver is cutting $5 million from public services used by its residents in order to pay for its spiraling illegal immigration costs, with the city’s mayor pinning the blame on Republicans and former President Donald Trump.
Mayor Mike Johnston, a Democrat, announced on Friday that hours will be cut at recreation centers, and in-person vehicle registration renewals at the DMV will end, while the planting of spring flower beds will also be stopped to save the much-needed cash.
The cuts follow the mayor’s decision last month to divert $25 million from the city budget to the migrant crisis. That plan included pulling $10 million from a contingency fund and $15 million from a building remodel. Those actions followed the city’s decision to hold many positions vacant and review new or expanded contracts and programs.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and former President Donald Trump. Johnston, a Democrat, is blaming Republicans and Donald Trump for his decision to shave $5 million from public services to pay for its migrant crisis. ( Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post, left Mario Tama/Getty Images, right)
800 MIGRANT FAMILIES BEING BOOTED FROM DENVER SHELTERS AS CITY NEARS BREAKING POINT
Johnston says the crisis will cost the city around $180 million in 2024.
“The choice by Republicans in Congress to purposefully kill a historic, bipartisan border deal this week will have a devastating impact in Denver,” Johnston said after the Republicans blocked a bipartisan border deal, which included a foreign aid package for Ukraine and Israel, from advancing Wednesday.
“I’m incredibly proud of how city team members have stepped up over the past year, but it is clear that the federal government is not going to support our city,” he said, fighting back tears at a Friday press conference.
Along with these department budget cuts, the city will decrease the number of migrants it serves and will continue to monitor spending, Johnston said. Earlier this week, the city began ejecting around 800 migrant families from shelters as it scales back on aid for illegal immigrants.
About 40,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have arrived in Denver over the past year, and more than 3,500 are living in city-funded hotel rooms, according to the Colorado Sun.
Migrants at a makeshift shelter in Denver, Colorado on January 13, 2023. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
DENVER MAYOR WARNS CITY IS ‘VERY CLOSE’ TO A ‘BREAKING POINT’ WITH MIGRANT SURGE
“I want it to be clear to Denverites. Who is not responsible for this crisis that we’re in [is] folks who have walked 3,000 miles to get to this city,” he said.
“Despite broad bipartisan support, I think [former President] Trump and Republican leaders saw this as a chance that if this bill actually passed, it would have successfully solved the problem facing cities and the border, and they would have rather seen it fail, so they could exacerbate these problems, extend the suffering of American people and of newcomers for their own electoral changes this November,” he said, according to The Hill.
“That was far beyond what I expected from even the most cynical of political operators.”
“Denverites have done their part, the city will do our part. The federal government failed to do their part. Addressing this crisis will require shared sacrifice, but we will continue to work together to meet this moment.”
Johnston has previously said that Denver has received more migrants per capita than any other city in the nation.
As part of the new cost-cutting measures, recreation centers will close one day each week, while DMV satellite offices will alternate closing one week at a time beginning March 4. The city will not recruit a class of nine new DMV employees.
Furthermore, Denver Parks and Recreation will cut spring programs by 25%, and regional centers will go from seven days of weekly operation to six days. Local and neighborhood centers will continue to be open six days a week but with a reduction in hours of operation.
Venezuelan migrants wait in line for food from a food truck at a migrant-processing center on May 9, 2023, in Denver, Colorado. ((Photo by Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images))
Johnston said that full-time city officials will not lose their jobs, but seasonal employees may have their hours cut or positions left open.
The sanctuary city has been struggling to stretch its limited resources to support the growing number of migrants there. Texas has transported thousands of migrants to sanctuary cities like Denver, to showcase the problems that border states face when migrants flood their cities. Johnston told Fox News last week that the city was “very close” to a breaking point due to the crisis.
The influx of migrants has also put the city’s health system at a breaking point.
About 8,000 illegal immigrants recorded about 20,000 visits to Denver Health last year, receiving services such as emergency room treatment, primary care, dental care and childbirth. The health system has also called for a federal bailout.
Denver passed laws to become a sanctuary city, but it doesn’t include a right-to-shelter provision, which means there is no official policy that compels the local government to provide shelter indefinitely.
Fox News’ Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi contributed to this report.
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Utah
GAME DAY: Golden Knights seek to retake advantage in first playoff trip to Utah
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — The Vegas Golden Knights return to the ice for Game 3 against the Mammoth in Utah on Friday.
This will mark the first Stanley Cup Playoff game in Salt Lake City. Active franchises have an all-time record of 12-18-1 in their first-ever postseason home game.
Vegas has a 7-4 playoff series record when tied 1-1. That record falls to 2-4 when they drop Game 3.
Golden Knights captain Mark Stone is two playoff points shy (74) of surpassing Jonathan Marchessault (75) for most in franchise history.
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Puck drop is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Washington
2026 NFL Draft Grades | Washington applauded for selecting ‘instant alpha’ linebacker Sonny Styles
The views and opinions expressed in this article do not reflect the opinion of the team.
The Commanders welcomed new defensive coordinator Daronte Jones earlier this year, and yesterday on Night 1 in Pittsburgh, the DC was gifted one of the best defensive prospects in college football. With the No. 7 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, Washington selected a versatile and supremely athletic young talent in Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles.
There were many thoughts about what Washington might do at the position over the last several months, but there were no conflicted feelings on Peters end when the Commanders got on the clock and he saw who was there. Styles was the clear pick. “Looking at this, we wanted to get the best player. We didn’t want to draft for need, and we felt the best player staring us in the face was a linebacker,” Peters said.
Styles was evidently a guy Washington was very high on. “I’ve been smiling ear to ear for a while now,” Peters said. “He’s a true Commander, through and through.” There is a lot about the 21-year-old linebacker that has Washington excited. They believe he will be a “great blitzer.” He can cover a lot of ground with his speed and burst, and that, Peters emphasized, is “a big deal in this league.” Styles has also shown he can play in multiple linebacker roles.
The Commanders were looking for more of a spark on defense after a disappointing 2025 season. With his dynamism, freakish athleticism and tackling prowess, it appears Styles has the goods to deliver an immediate boost to the unit.
Here’s how draft pundits graded the move:
Wyoming
Decades-old, newly restored Smithsonian carousel reopens — to children’s delight
The Smithsonian Institution’s carousel is back open for business Friday after being closed for nearly three years for restoration and refurbishments.
Brightly painted ponies have been going round and round, delighting children, for centuries. But the joys they bring haven’t always been accessible to everyone.
The ribbon-cutting at the Smithsonian National Carousel nodded to this fact.
William A. Smith / AP
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AP
The first to ride the reopened carousel was a group of African American adults who arrived from Baltimore. In the 1960s, when many of them were kids, they were among the first to desegregate the carousel when it was located at Gwynn Oak Amusement Park outside of Baltimore.
“My family, we used to go there all the time once they let us in,” said Janice Chance, who was 13 when she first rode the carousel in 1966. Chance’s son was a Marine who died in Afghanistan in 2008. She said to have the carousel back on the National Mall means a lot to her and the many others who fought for “the freedoms of this country.”
“We are together, we’re having fun, but we remember the struggle and how we got here,” said Chance.
Desegregating Gwynn Oak Amusement Park took several years of protests by Black and white activists: It was finally integrated on Aug. 28, 1963, the same day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr gave his “I Have A Dream” speech on the National Mall.
“So while that was occurring in D.C., quiet activism with little people was occurring on the same date,” said Sharon Langley, who was the first Black child to ride the carousel that day. She was just 11 months old. Years later, Langley co-wrote a children’s book about it. This week, she rode again, on a horse called Freedom Rider — after the desegregating riders. She believes it’s fitting the carousel should be “with all the monuments of freedom… This is a monument for children to come and enjoy, ride and experience the pursuit of happiness.”
After Hurricane Agnes devastated Gwynn Oak’s rides and buildings, the park closed in 1973 and the carousel went into storage. Shortly after, then Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley decided it was time to replace the aging carousel on the National Mall. “As Ripley’s original carousel began to show its age, the Smithsonian began looking for a suitably grand replacement,” Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III wrote in Smithsonian Magazine. “Gwynn Oak’s hand-carved beauty, an emblem of the struggle for civil rights, fit the bill.”
With 54 horses, a sea monster, a pig and two chariots, the restored Gwynn Oak carousel stands again in front of the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building.
Its Civil Rights history might’ve been lost on the kids rushing onto the platform to mount their favorite horses at the ribbon-cutting this week. Seven-year-old Lucas Platt from Virginia gives the carousel high marks. “It’s actually one of the fastest carousels I’ve really been on,” he said. “Usually they’re much slower than this. It’s great. I really like it. Nothing bad about it.”
Copyright 2026 NPR
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