Moving on up: Louisiana has achieved its highest ever ranking for fourth grade reading and made significant progress in math rankings, according to the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress report, commonly known as the Nation’s Report Card. Gov. Jeff Landry and state education officials announced that Louisiana has moved from 43rd to 32nd in the national rankings, marking an 11-spot improvement. Read more from The Center Square.
Local police stepping in: The Trump administration is laying the groundwork for state and local law enforcement officers to participate in mass deportation efforts, an unprecedented move that could deputize thousands of officers with the power to arrest immigrants across the U.S. A late January memo from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security invokes a 1996 provision that allows the agency to give state and local police immigration enforcement powers in certain circumstances. Read more from Bloomberg. A subscription may be required.
Expedited delivery: While plenty of business executives the last few months have said they were taking a wait-and-see approach to President Donald Trump’s broad threats of tariffs, early holiday-quarter earnings reports show that is not the case. Automakers like General Motors and Mercedes, French cognac makers, and Italian producers of parmesan cheese and sparkling wine have all expedited deliveries to the United States. Commodities buyers meanwhile stepped up purchases of steel, aluminium, and soybeans. Read more from Reuters.
