AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EST

Trump’s announcement on social media follows a wave of cancellations by leading performers, musicians and groups since the president ousted the previous leadership and added his name to the building. Trump made no mention in his post of the recent cancellations.

His proposal, announced days after the premiere of “Melania, " a documentary of the first lady was shown at the center, he said was subject to approval by the board of the Kennedy Center, which has been stocked with his hand-picked allies. Trump himself chairs the center’s board of trustees.

“This important decision, based on input from many Highly Respected Experts, will take a tired, broken, and dilapidated Center, one that has been in bad condition, both financially and structurally for many years, and turn it into a World Class Bastion of Arts, Music, and Entertainment,” Trump wrote in his post.

Neither Trump nor Kennedy Center President Ric Grenell, a Trump ally, have provided evidence to back up their claims about the building being in disrepair, and last October, Trump had pledged the center would remain open during renovations. In Sunday's announcement, Trump said the center will close on July 4th, when he said the construction would begin.

5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and father return to Minnesota from ICE facility in Texas

Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, who were detained by immigration officers in Minnesota and held at an ICE facility in Texas, were released following a judge’s order and returned to Minnesota on Sunday, according to Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro.

The boy and his dad, Adrian Conejo Arias, who originally is from Ecuador, were detained in a Minneapolis suburb on Jan. 20. They were taken to a detention facility in Dilley, Texas.

Katherine Schneider, a spokesperson for the Democratic congressman, confirmed the two had arrived home. She said Castro picked them up from Dilley on Saturday night and escorted them home on Sunday to Minnesota.

Images of immigration officers surrounding the young boy in a blue bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack drew outrage about the Trump administration’s crackdown in Minneapolis.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not target or arrest the boy, and repeated assertions that his mother refused to take him after his father’s apprehension. His father told officers he wanted Liam to be with him, she said.

Top Justice Department official plays down chance for charges arising from Epstein files revelations

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Justice Department official played down the possibility of additional criminal charges arising from the Jeffrey Epstein files, saying Sunday that the existence of “horrible photographs” and troubling email correspondence does not “allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody.”

Department officials said over the summer that a review of Epstein-related records did not establish a basis for new criminal investigations, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said that position remains unchanged even as a massive document dump since Friday has focused fresh attention on Epstein's links to powerful individuals around the world and revived questions about what, if any, knowledge the wealthy financier's associates had about his crimes.

“There’s a lot of correspondence. There’s a lot of emails. There’s a lot of photographs. There’s a lot of horrible photographs that appear to be taken by Mr. Epstein or people around him,” Blanche said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "But that doesn’t allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody.”

He said victims of Epstein's sex abuse “want to be made whole,” but that “doesn’t mean we can just create evidence or that we can just kind of come up with a case that isn’t there."

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department said Friday that it would be releasing more than 3 million pages of documents and more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images under a law intended to reveal most of the material it collected during long-running investigations into Epstein.

Johnson says no quick House vote to end partial shutdown and blames Democrats for their ICE demands

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday it will be a few days before a government funding package comes up for a vote, all but ensuring the partial federal shutdown will drag into the week as Democrats and Republicans debate reining in the Trump administration's sweeping immigration enforcement operations.

Johnson signaled he is relying on help from President Donald Trump to ensure passage. Trump struck a deal with senators to separate funding for the Department of Homeland Security from a broader package after public outrage over two shooting deaths during protests in Minneapolis against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The measure approved Friday by the Senate would fund DHS temporarily, for two weeks, setting up a deadline for Congress to debate and vote on new restrictions on ICE operations.

“The president is leading this,” Johnson, R-La., told “Fox News Sunday.”

“It’s his play call to do it this way," the speaker said, adding that the Republican president has “already conceded that he wants to turn down the volume” on federal immigration operations.

Johnson faces a daunting challenge ahead, trying to muscle the funding legislation through the House while Democrats are refusing to provide the votes for speedy passage. They are demanding restraints on ICE that go beyond $20 million for body cameras that already is in the bill. They want to require that federal immigration agents unmask and identify themselves and are pressing for an end to roving patrols, amid other changes.

Texas stunner: Democrat Taylor Rehmet flips Republican state Senate district Trump won by 17 points

Democrat Taylor Rehmet flipped a reliably Republican state Senate district in Texas in Saturday's special election, continuing a string of surprise victories for Democrats across the U.S. in the year since Donald Trump returned to the White House.

The Republican president immediately distanced himself from the loss in a district he'd won by 17 points in 2024.

“I’m not involved in that. That’s a local Texas race," Trump told reporters Sunday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Yet just a day before the race, Trump had heaped praise on Republican contender Leigh Wambsganss, a conservative activist and entrepreneur, on his social media platform, declaring that she would be “a GREAT Candidate and has my Complete and Total Endorsement.” A longer post came later, in which he urged Texans to get out and vote, describing Wambsganss as a successful entrepreneur and “an incredible supporter” of his Make America Great Again movement.

Despite the plugs, Wambsganss was easily trounced in the Fort Worth-area district by Rehmet, a labor union leader and veteran, for a partial term ending in early January. With almost all votes counted, Rehmet was leading by more than 14 percentage points.

More frigid temperatures expected in much of US after a weekend of heavy snow

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Forecasters warned that dangerous extra-cold conditions will persist into Monday morning for a huge swath of the U.S. from the Gulf Coast into New England that was cleaning up after a weekend bomb cyclone brought heavy snow and flight cancellations to North Carolina and flurries and falling iguanas in Florida.

Temperatures will begin inching up throughout the day but more misery was expected for thousands who were still without power from the ice storm last month in the South.

About 150 million people were under cold weather advisories and extreme cold warnings Sunday in the eastern portion of the U.S., with single-digit temperatures in southern states and the coldest air mass in South Florida since December 1989, said Peter Mullinax, a National Weather Service meteorologist in College Park, Maryland.

The National Weather Service office for Raleigh, North Carolina, warned that wind chills will drop early Monday to near zero Fahrenheit (-17 Celsius). “Snow and ice will linger, with refreezing tonight making travel hazardous,” the office said Sunday on social media. “Use caution on roads and dress in warm layers.”

In eastern North Carolina, James City recorded 18 inches (45 centimeters) of snow, while Swansboro recorded 17 inches (43 centimeters), the weather service reported.

Iran's supreme leader warns any US attack would spark 'regional war'

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's supreme leader warned Sunday that any attack by the United States would spark a “regional war” in the Mideast, further escalating tensions as President Donald Trump has threatened to militarily strike the Islamic Republic over its crackdown on recent nationwide protests.

The comments from the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are the most-direct threat he’s made so far as the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and associated American warships are in the Arabian Sea, sent by Trump there after Tehran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.

It remains unclear whether Trump will use force. He's repeatedly said Iran wants to negotiate and has brought up Tehran's nuclear program as another issue he wants to see resolved.

But Khamenei also referred to the nationwide protests as “a coup,” hardening the government's position as tens of thousands of people reportedly have been detained since the start of the demonstrations. Sedition charges in Iran can carry the death penalty, which again renews concerns about Tehran carrying out mass executions for those arrested — a red line for Trump.

Iran had also planned a live-fire military drill for Sunday and Monday in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes. The U.S. military's Central Command had warned against threatening American warships or aircraft during the drill or disrupting commercial traffic.

Gaza's crucial Rafah crossing prepares for limited travel to resume Monday

CAIRO (AP) — Palestinians in Gaza watched with hope and impatience Sunday as workers laid the groundwork to reopen the territory's Rafah border crossing with Egypt, its lifeline to the world. Israel says the crossing is scheduled to resume Monday as its ceasefire with Hamas moves ahead.

“Opening the crossing is a good step, but they set a limit on the number of people allowed to cross, and this is a problem,” said Ghalia Abu Mustafa, a woman from Khan Younis.

Israel said the crossing had opened in a test, and the Israeli military agency that controls aid to Gaza said residents could begin crossing Monday. But only a small number of people can cross at first.

“We want a large number of people to leave, for it to be open so that sick people can go and return,” said Suhaila Al-Astal, a woman displaced from the city of Rafah who said her sick daughter needed help abroad. ”We want the crossing to be open permanently.”

Israel's announcement came a day after Israeli strikes killed at least 30 Palestinians including several children, according to hospital officials — one of the highest death tolls since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10. Israel had accused Hamas of new truce violations.

Black History Month centennial channels angst over anti-DEI climate into education, free resources

For academics, historians and activists, the past year has been tumultuous in advocating the teaching of Black history in the United States.

Despite last year proclaiming February as National Black History Month, President Donald Trump started his second term by claiming some African American history lessons are meant to indoctrinate people into hating the country. The administration has dismantled Black history at national parks, most recently removing an exhibit on slavery in Philadelphia last month. Black history advocates see these acts and their chilling effect as scary and unprecedented.

“States and cities are nervous about retribution from the White House," said DeRay Mckesson, a longtime activist and executive director of Campaign Zero, an organization focused on police reform. "So even the good people are just quieter now.”

In the 100th year since the nation’s earliest observances of Black History Month — which began when scholar Carter G. Woodson pioneered the first Negro History Week — celebrations will go on. The current political climate has energized civil rights organizations, artists and academics to engage young people on a full telling of America’s story. There are hundreds of lectures, teach-ins and even new books — from nonfiction to a graphic novel — to mark the milestone.

“This is why we are working with more than 150 teachers around the country on a Black History Month curriculum to just ensure that young people continue to learn about Black history in a way that is intentional and thoughtful,” Mckesson said about a campaign his organization has launched with the Afro Charities organization and leading Black scholars to expand access to educational materials.

Billie Eilish wins song of the year at the 2026 Grammy Awards, shares pro-immigration message

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Billie Eilish won song of the year for “Wildflower” at the 2026 Grammy Awards and used the moment to add her voice to the chorus of musicians criticizing immigration authorities Sunday.

“No one is illegal on stolen land,” she said while accepting the award for the song from her 2024 album “Hit Me Hard and Soft.” "(Expletive) ICE is all I want to say.”

Immigration was a pointed theme at the 68th annual Grammy Awards. Bad Bunny, after winning an award for his zeitgeist-shaping album “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” used his speech to share an anti-ICE message, highlighting the humanity of all people.

“Before I say thanks to God, I'm going to say ICE out," he said, starting out his speech in English to huge applause. “We're not savage, we're not animals, we're not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans.”

Before Bad Bunny took home the best música urbana album trophy, Olivia Dean was named best new artist.