SHERO on Sunday
A lightning-fast recap of the week's most significant political and legal events for January 18th - 25th, 2026, before we are on to the next!
Good morning from the snowy Capitol Hill. Welcome to the Sunday Recap, where you can quickly check in to review the week with a minimal time commitment and ensure you do not miss a thing. Each snippet includes several links to credible and free sources, providing more details for those who want to delve deeper into any issue.
This kind of newsletter model, which provides free, reliable, independent journalism that connects the political and legal dots for everyone, works only if subscribers support our work with paid subscriptions. Consider upgrading your weekend by investing in SHERO today. There is a lot to cover for this week, so let’s get started!
Gun Violence This Week
At SHERO, we document all mass shooting incidents for the week every Sunday, so please take a moment to review them and remember to keep up the fight for sensible gun reform. There were three separate mass shooting events in the United States this past week, where four people were killed, and nine were injured.
Sunday, January 18, 2026: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Thursday, January 22, 2026: Washington, DC
Friday, January 23, 2026: Lawrenceville, Georgia
According to US officials, up to 1,500 active-duty troops in Alaska were on standby this week for possible deployment to Minnesota, amid the Trump administration’s pressure on the state, including threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act.
An Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient was tackled and arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents earlier this month while standing with a crowd on a public sidewalk observing ICE agents detaining two young men in his neighborhood during an immigration enforcement activity dubbed Operation Metro Surge, and was held in a cell for eight hours without being allowed to contact an attorney or his family.
The Justice Department is considering loosening a slate of gun regulations as it seeks to bolster support from ardent Second Amendment advocates, according to three people familiar with the changes who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that have not been made public.
According to a new poll released by The New York Times and Siena University this week, less than a third of voters now think the country is better off than it was when Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with a wide majority saying he has focused on the wrong issues.
A recently released internal ICE memo has revealed this week that Trump now directs officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal, in direct violation of Fourth Amendment protections.
