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U.S. District Judge William Osteen rejected arguments by the College Democrats of North Carolina and some students that they were likely to win a recent lawsuit because decisions by GOP board members placed undue burdens on the right to vote.

The decision by Osteen — nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush — to deny a preliminary injunction or a temporary restraining order can be appealed.

Early in-person voting for the March 3 primary begins this coming Thursday. It features nomination races for U.S. Senate and House, the legislature and local elections.

Osteen also wrote that formally backing efforts to open the sites so close to voting could risk confusion.

Osteen's ruling marks a key decision on policy preferences by the State Board of Elections and elections boards in all 100 countiessince a state lawrecently shifted themfrom having Democratic majorities to Republican majorities.

The College Democrats of North Carolina — an arm of the state party — and four voters sued in late January accusing the state board and boards in Jackson and Guilford counties of violating the U.S. Constitution.

The lawsuit involves votes by the state board and the two county boards to not include early voting sites at Western Carolina University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and North Carolina A&T State University, also in Greensboro. A&T is the largest historically Black university in the country.

An early voting site at Western Carolina has operated regularly since 2016. Sites at the Greensboro campuses have been offered in recent presidential-year elections but not in midterm elections.

Voting sites are offered at college campuses elsewhere in the state. Same-day registration is available at early voting sites.

Without the sites, the lawsuit says, students will be forced to travel off-campus to vote, imposing time and money upon those least familiar with voting.

Lawyers for the boards defended the panels' actions, writing in legal briefs that there is no requirement boards must retain voting sites used in previous election cycles, and that site decisions were based on reasonable circumstances like parking access and past turnout.

The child, identified in the lawsuit as "Amalia," was released by immigration authorities underPresident Donald Trump's administrationafter her parents sued on Friday, Feb. 6. The parents, who also had been detained, were released as well. The suit had sought the release of all three of them.

The family was detained during a check-in with immigration authorities on Dec. 11 and held at a facility in Dilley, Texas, according to the lawsuit. Amalia was hospitalized from Jan. 18 to 28, and returned to the Dilley facility in the midst of ameasles outbreak, the lawsuit said.

After the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal immigration agents (ICE), communities across the U.S. are protesting against Trump's surge of immigration enforcement actions.

Pictured here, Demonstrators gather for a protest calling for the removal of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 30, 2026 in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Protests were held across the United States in response to ICE enforcement activity.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Hundreds of people gather to protest ICE at the corner of Palafox and Garden Streets in downtown Pensacola, Florida, on Jan. 30, 2026.

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'ICE Out' protests spark marches, confrontations across US

After the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal immigration agents (ICE), communities across the U.S. areprotestingagainst Trump's surge of immigration enforcement actions.Pictured here, Demonstrators gather for a protest calling for the removal of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 30, 2026 in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Protests were held across the United States in response to ICE enforcement activity.

"Baby Amalia should never have been detained. She nearly died at Dilley," said Elora Mukherjee, an attorney for the family.

Mukherjee said hundreds of children and families detained at Dilley lack sufficient drinking water, healthy food, educational opportunities or proper medical care, and should be released.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on Saturday, Feb. 7. USA TODAY has reached out to the DHS for comment.

NBC Newsfirst reported on the lawsuit.

Sick children, no doctors:Life for immigrant families in detention

Lawsuit says child was hospitalized with respiratory issues

Amalia's parents, originally from Venezuela, have lived in the United States since 2024 with their daughter, who is a Mexican citizen, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit says all three intend to file asylum applications in the United States.

Amalia developed a fever on Jan. 1 that reached 104 degrees, started vomiting frequently and struggled to breathe, the lawsuit states.

She was taken to the hospital on Jan. 18 with extremely low oxygen saturation levels and diagnosed with COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus, viral bronchitis and pneumonia, according to the lawsuit. She was placed on supplemental oxygen.

Amalia was given a nebulizer and a respiratory medication upon her discharge from the hospital, but these were taken away by detention center staff upon her return, the lawsuit states. The girl has lost 10% of her body weight and was given nutritional drinks to help her regain it, but these were also confiscated by authorities, according to the lawsuit.

ICE says it provides 'proper meals.'Detainees see crystalized jelly, rancid beans and iced bologna

Trump administration faces scrutiny over immigration tactics

Trump's administration has been accused ofheavy-handed and inhumane tacticsas well asviolating court orderswhile carrying out hismass deportation program.

A federal judge in Michigan criticized the administration in a Jan. 31 ruling ordering the release of a 5-year-old boy − seen in a viral photo wearing a blue bunny hat outside his house as federal agents stood nearby − who was detained by immigration agents in Minnesota. The administration is nowseeking to deportthe boy.

(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Sergio Non and Will Dunham)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Toddler returned to ICE custody and denied medication, lawsuit says

A panel of three judges at the Court of Appeal in Wellington will hear five days of evidence about Brenton Tarrant's claim that he was not fit to plead to the terrorism, murder and attempted murder charges he faced after the2019 attackin the city of Christchurch. If his bid is successful, his case would return to court for a trial, which was averted when he admitted to the hate-fueled shooting in March 2020.

He is also seeking to appeal hissentence of life without the chance of parole, which had never been imposed in New Zealand before. Tarrant's evidence Monday about his mental state when he pleaded guilty was the first time he had spoken substantively in a public setting since he livestreamed the 2019 massacre on Facebook.

Shooter says he suffered "nervous exhaustion"

The Australian man, a self-declared white supremacist, migrated to New Zealand with a view to committing the massacre, which he planned in detail. He amassed a cache of semiautomatic weapons, took steps to avoid detection and wrote a lengthy manifesto before he drove from Dunedin to Christchurch in March 2019 and opened fire at two mosques.

Along with 51 people killed, the youngest a 3-year-old boy, dozens of others were severely wounded. The attack was considered one of New Zealand's darkest days and institutions have sought to curb the spread of Tarrant's message through legal orders and a ban on possession of his manifesto or video of the attack.

Monday's hearing took place under tight security constraints that severely limited who could view Tarrant's evidence, which included some reporters and those hurt or bereaved in the massacre. Tarrant, who wore a white button-down shirt and black-rimmed glasses and had a shaved head, spoke on video from a white-walled room in prison.

Answering questions from a Crown lawyer and from lawyers representing him, Tarrant, 35, said his mental health had deteriorated due to conditions in prison, where he was held in solitary confinement with limited reading material or contact with other prisoners.

By the time he pleaded guilty, Tarrant said he was suffering from "nervous exhaustion" and uncertainty about his identity and beliefs and that he had admitted to the crimes a few months before his trial was due to begin because there was "little else I could do," he told the court.

Crown lawyers say no evidence of serious mental illness

Crown lawyer Barnaby Hawes suggested to Tarrant during questioning that the Australian man had other options. He could have requested a delay in his trial date on mental health grounds or could have proceeded to trial and defended himself, Hawes said.

Hawes also put to Tarrant that there was little evidence in the documentation of his behavior by mental health experts and prison staff that he was in any kind of serious mental crisis. Tarrant suggested that signs of mental illness he displayed hadn't been recorded and that at times he had sought to mask them.

"I was definitely doing everything possible to come across as confident, assured, mentally well," he told the court. Tarrant's behavior "reflected the political movement I'm a part of," he added. "So I always wanted to put on the best front possible."

He agreed that he had had access to legal advice throughout the court process. Tarrant's current lawyers have been granted name suppression because they feared representing him would make them unsafe.

The appeal outcome is due later

Bids to appeal convictions or sentences in New Zealand must be made within 20 working days. Tarrant was about two years late in seeking an appeal, filing documents with the court in September 2022.

He told the court Monday that his bid had been late because he hadn't had access to the information required to make it.

The hearing is due to run for the rest of the week but the judges are expected to release their decision at a later date. If they reject Tarrant's attempt to have his guilty pleas discarded, a later hearing will focus on his bid to appeal his sentence.

Extended Interview: Don Henley

50 years later, the Eagles' greatest hits still soar

The latest tolift Vonn upis International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry.

"Dear Lindsey, we're all thinking of you. You are an incredible inspiration, and will always be an Olympic champion," Coventry said in a message shared by the IOC Media account on X (formerly Twitter).

REQUIRED READING:Lindsey Vonn crashes hard in Olympic downhill, airlifted off slopes

Coventry was elected in March 2025 to succeed Thomas Bach as the IOC president and is the first woman to serve in the role. The former Auburn swimmer won seven Olympic medals while representing Zimbabwe at five Olympic Games in her career, which includes two gold medals.

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Sunday's crash in the women's downhill medal event is the second in the last few weeksfor the U.S. skier,who is considered one of the great American (and world) skiers of all time. Her first crash came in her final race before the 2026 Winter Olympics, where she sustained a ruptured ACL in her left knee.

Her crash on Sunday was not due to her previous injury, though. It instead came 13 seconds into her downhill after Vonn'sright arm hooked the fourth gate, spun her off balance, and sent her crashing into the snow headfirst.As previously reported by USA TODAY,Vonn remained down in the snow and could be heard wailing in pain following her crash. She'd remain on the course for approximately 13 minutes before being loaded into a helicopter.

TheUS Ski & Snowboard Team issued an update on Vonnat 11:05 a.m. ET on Sunday, saying that the three-time Olympic medalist "sustained an injury" and "is in stable condition and in good hands with a team of American and Italian physicians."

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast.Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:IOC president calls Lindsey Vonn 'incredible inspiration' after crash

According to ESPN's Pete Thamel, theBisonhave agreed to a deal to join the Mountain West Conference, in football only, for the 2026 season. The school is expected to pay nearly $12 million to join the league, and will pay the NCAA another $5 million to the NCAA to move from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

REQUIRED READING:College football way-too-early top 25 poll for 2026 season

Thamel reported the deal is expected to be announced on Monday, Feb. 9. With NDSU moving to the MWC in 2026, that'll bring the league's total to 10 teams.

The Bison have won 10 of the last 15 FCS football championships and were the No. 1 seed in the 2025 FCS playoffs before losing to fellow Missouri Valley Football Conference team Illinois State in the first round. The Redbirds advanced all the way to the 2026 FCS Championship game where they fell 35-34 in overtime to Montana State.

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Of note: NCAA bylaws prohibit teams making the jump from FCS to FBS from competing in bowl games or conference championships for two years. That's whyJames Madisonteams that went 8-3 in 2022 and 11-2 in 2023 were ineligible to compete for the Sun Belt Championship or bowl games, as they were in their first two years competing in the FBS.

There are exceptions to the rule: James Madison and another FCS-to-FBS program, Jacksonville State, both became bowl-eligible in 2023 after it was determined there were not enough teams eligible for bowl season that year.

The addition of North Dakota State to the conference aids a league that lost Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State to the Pac-12 in the latest round of NCAA realignment.

Despite the mass departures,Air Force, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV and Wyomingall opted to stay in the conference.Hawaii is joining the leagueas a full-time member, while UTEP will join as a full member during the summer. Northern Illinois and NDSU joining as football-only members will bring the total to 10 teams.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:NDSU to join Mountain West Conference for football only in 2026

A trio of moms in their 40s bought late seats to the affair, since the hit HBO Max drama about a pair of hockey rivals who fall in love—one Canadian, the other Russian—gave them the bug. Then there were the trio of American college kids from the U.S, studying abroad in Italy, at the game who just wanted to chat about the show. As did the Olympic hockey fans from Czechia, Scotland, and elsewhere. "I've been to a couple [New York] Rangers games, my dad played hockey in high school, so I've always known about it," says Erin Fox, 24, who lives in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. "But I did buy a hockey ticket to come see the women play the Czech Republic, partly because I like the show so much and I want to see it in action." The U.S. won, 5-1, with captainHilary Knightscoringa sweet top-shelf goalin the effort.

Heated Rivalry,produced for the Canadian-streaming service Crave, is now the most-watched original series on that platform, according toVariety.It's also now the top-rated non-animated acquired series on HBO Max since it launched in 2020. Globally, it's been HBO Max's top showin places likeTaiwan, the Philippines, Singapore and Finland; according toFlix Patrol, it's cracked the top 10 in Bulgaria, Thailand, and Sri Lanka.

Olympic organizers have raced to capitalize on theHeated Rivalrycraze. In January, actors Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, who play the show's lead protagonists,carried the Olympic flame in Italy.Gary Bettman, commissioner of the NHL—whose players are participating in the Games for the first time since 2014—saidhe binge-watched the show in one evening, calling it a "wonderful story." The leaguealso acknowledgedthatHeated Rivalryhas delivered new fans to the sport.

Warning: Spoilers to follow.

InHeated Rivalry,which debuted on HBO Max in late November and has already been renewed for a second season, Williams' Shane Hollander, superstar player for a fictional Montreal pro franchise, and Storrie's Ilya Rozanov, who suits up for Boston, engage in a secret affair over the course of a decade. "I think it's definitely bringing an important conversation to the forefront, which is that a lot of LGBTQ+ athletes aren't comfortable disclosing that they are queer or gay," says Christina Singer, an aviation engineer from New Hampshire who is a fan of the series. "And I think that's something specifically that the NHL really has a lot of work to do [in]."

Williams has said that professional hockey, basketball, and football players have reached out to him, or author Rachel Reid, whoseromance novelsform the basis of the show, "somewhat anonymously" to share that they are closeted. According toThe Athletic, three NHL teams have moved away from a Pride Night model this season. However, the NHL has said that all fans of the show who come to its games will feel a "warm welcome."

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Heated Rivalry's steamy love scenes between Hollander and Rosanov did surprise some viewers. "It was a little bit crazy for me to watch this show for the first time, because I thought that it would just be a show about ice hockey, nothing more special and spicy," says Eni Filipi, 19, who hails from Czechia.

The sex scenes, however, also won them over. "We do see a lot of steamy heterosexual stories, so why not see a steamy same-sex partner story?" says Ashley Henderson, an advertising executive from Princeton, N.J. "I thought it was a really refreshing new thing for viewers." The story attracted fans, too. Many broke into tears when a secondary character, New York player Scott Hunter, came out of the closet by kissing his boyfriend, smoothie shop barista Kip, on TV after winning the show's version of the Stanley Cup. "As somebody who's a part of the LGBTQ+ community, it was beautiful to see it on such a wide scale," says Ann Marie Seybold, a junior at James Madison University studying abroad this semester in Florence. "It was beautiful and brave."

Courtesy of HBO Max" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

"Queer audiences are really drawn to it right now," says Adrienne Katz, a producer who lives in New York City. "'It's not a 'kill your darlings' moment, or anything sad. It's so many different stories all intersecting. I think it's for every facet of the community. I'm excited that it's a show I get to watch with my partner."

Scott and Kip's public kiss inspires Rozanov to take up Hollander's offer for a summer visit to his Canadian cottage. The seclusion was supposed to give them a private setting to advance their relationship, but Hollander's father inadvertently discovers them together. Hollander then comes out to his parents, with his presumed hated rival, Rozanov, by his side. Hollander's parents are supportive of their son, another moment that resonated. "We're moms of three," says Henderson, who was joined at the U.S.-Czechia game by a pair of childhood friends. "We loved how the mom reacted to the discovery of their relationship. We thought it was very beautiful."

Read More:'Heated Rivalry' Handles Autism With Love, Care, and a Touch of Awkwardness

When asked to pick whether they preferred Hollander or Rozanov, most leaned towards the Russian character, citing factors like his curly hair and Storrie's effort to nail down a Russian accent (the actor grew up in Odessa, Tex.). "Probably Ilya," Enna McBride, 25, an electrical engineer with Ford Motor Company, responds when asked which of the characters she felt more connected to. "I'm chaotic."

With asecond season in the offing, the fever pitch around the show should have some staying power. At least through this month's Milano Cortina Olympics. "People who want to come along with us for a hockey game, definitely come along," says Elisha Black, a supporter of the Fife Flyers, a Scottish pro team. "It doesn't matter if you've come from romance books or television shows or whatever, we welcome you with open arms. We'd love to see you at some games. Hockey is for everyone."

Write toSean Gregory atsean.gregory@time.com.