Should government try to bring back people mistakenly deported? What poll found

Most Americans believe that the government has made mistakes when deporting illegal immigrants — and that it should work to correct them, according to new polling.

The poll comes after President Donald Trump’s administration admitted to accidentally sending a legal resident to a foreign prison. In the latest YouGov poll, 52% of respondents said that, in the past few months, the government has deported one or more people who are legally allowed to live in the U.S. Meanwhile, 24% said this has not happened.

There was a large partisan divide on this question, with the majority of Democrats and independents — 77% and 53%, respectively — saying legal residents had been deported. Just 24% of Republicans said the same.

More than half, 52%, of Americans think the U.S. has wrongfully deported someone in the past few months; furthermore, 64% think it is possible for the U.S. to bring back someone they mistakenly deported, and 77% say they should attempt to do so.

—Miami Herald

NC Senate votes to ban DEI in higher ed while House bill targeting government delayed

RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina House delayed for the second day in a row a vote on legislation that would eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in state and local government.

But the Senate took up a different DEI bill later Wednesday, restricting those programs in higher education.

House Republicans had initially scheduled a vote on their anti-DEI measure for Tuesday afternoon, but the bill was pulled from that day’s calendar and rescheduled for a voting session on Wednesday. House Speaker Destin Hall on Wednesday pulled the bill for a second time, saying that a primary sponsor of the bill had an excused absence, and it would be taken up when the sponsor was available to present it on the floor.

The delays on the bill came as Democrats urged supporters to gather at the Legislative Building in anticipation of the vote, ready to protest the Republican effort to crack down on DEI programs and initiatives in the state.

—The News & Observer

Gray whales are dying off the Pacific Coast again, and scientists aren't sure why

LOS ANGELES — Gray whales are dying in large numbers, again.

At least 70 whales have perished since the start of the year in the shallow, protected lagoons of Mexico's Baja California peninsula where the animals have congregated for eons to calf, nurse and breed, said Steven Swartz, a marine scientist who has studied gray whales since 1977. And only five mother-calf pairs were identified in Laguna San Ignacio, where most of the wintering whales tend to congregate, Swartz said.

That's the lowest number of mother-calf pairs ever observed in the lagoon, according to annual reports from Gray Whale Research in Mexico, an international team of researchers — co-founded by Swartz — that has been observing gray whales in Laguna San Ignacio since the late 1970s.

The whales are now headed north. In just the last two weeks, three gray whales have died in San Francisco Bay, one of which was described by veterinarians and pathologists at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito as skinny and malnutritioned. Evaluations on the two other deaths are still being conducted.

—Los Angeles Times

Netanyahu tightens grip on Israel with Trump back in power

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is used to weathering storms over almost three decades in and out of power — and is starting to flex his muscles again after a recent run of adversity.

Bolstered by a right-wing ruling coalition that’s held firm throughout the war in Gaza and simmering tensions with Iran, the Israeli leader has returned to an old quest to weaken the judiciary and moved to sideline top officials — including the attorney general and head of the domestic security service.

Emboldening the prime minister has been the return to the White House of long-term ally Donald Trump, who has urged notably less restraint than the administration of predecessor Joe Biden.

With the U.S. President’s backing, Israel has returned to fighting Hamas after a near two-month ceasefire — shrugging off international pressure to strike a deal to end the war — and expanded the military’s presence in Lebanon and Syria.

—Bloomberg News