By WAFAA SHURAFA

DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A grandmother and her 5-year-old grandson burned to death in Gaza when their tent caught fire, as thousands of Palestinians battle harrowing winter conditions in flimsy makeshift housing and the humanitarian crisis persists.

The nylon tent in Yarmouk caught fire Thursday night from cooking, a neighbor said.

As 2026 begins, the shaky 12-week-old ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has largely ended large-scale Israeli bombardment of Gaza. But Palestinians are still being killed by Israeli fire, especially along the so-called Yellow Line that delineates areas under Israeli control, and the humanitarian crisis is compounded by frequent winter rains and colder temperatures.

On Friday, American actor and film producer Angelina Jolie visited the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The only crossing between the territory and a country other than Israel, it remains closed despite Palestinian requests to reopen it to people and aid.

Wintry weather hits tent cities

Over past weeks, cold winter rains have repeatedly lashed the sprawling tent cities, causing flooding, turning Gaza’s dirt roads into mud and causing buildings damaged in Israeli bombardment to collapse. UNICEF says at least six children have now died of weather-related causes, including a 4-year-old who died in a building collapse.

At least three children have died of hypothermia, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. High temperatures in December were in the 60s Fahrenheit, but dipped into the mid-40s F on some nights.

Aid groups say not enough shelter materials are getting into Gaza during the truce. Figures recently released by Israel’s military suggest it hasn’t met the ceasefire stipulation of allowing 600 trucks of aid into Gaza a day, though Israel disputes that finding. There is also concern that Israel’s recent suspension of more than three dozen international aid groups from operating in Gaza will make it even harder to get supplies like tents in.

Palestinians have long called for mobile homes and caravans to be allowed in to protect them against living in impractical and worn out tents. In Yarmouk, people live in nylon tents near a garbage dump.

Ashraf al-Suwair said he woke up to the sound of screaming as his neighbors shouted “fire! fire!” He said nylon is like fuel, easy to ignite. “We need a good place that suits the people and the children of Gaza, instead of burning to death,” he said.

Actor visits Rafah crossing

Jolie met with members of the Red Crescent on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing and then visited a hospital in the nearby city of Arish to speak with Palestinian patients on Friday, according to Egyptian officials.

Reopening the crossing, which would allow Palestinians to leave Gaza — especially the ill and wounded who could get specialized care unavailable in the territory — has been contentious. Israel has said that it will only allow Palestinians to exit Gaza, not enter, until fighters in Gaza return all the hostages they took in the attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the war. The remains of one hostage are still in Gaza.

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In addition, Israel says Palestinians wanting to leave Gaza will have to get Israeli and Egyptian security approval. Egypt, meanwhile, says it wants the crossing immediately opened in both directions, so Palestinians in Egypt can enter Gaza. That’s a position rooted in Egypt’s vehement opposition to Palestinian refugees permanently resettling in the country.

For more than two decades until 2022, Jolie was a special envoy to the U.N. refugee agency. She has continued to advocate for human rights issue and has visited conflict areas, including Ukraine.

Foreign ministers say Gaza isn’t getting the help it needs

On Friday the foreign ministers of Arab and Muslim countries, including Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, expressed concern about Gaza’s humanitarian situation.

The situation has been “compounded by the continued lack of sufficient humanitarian access, acute shortages of essential life-saving supplies, and the slow pace of the entry of essential materials,” said the joint statement.

Israel has said throughout the war that Hamas was siphoning off aid supplies, an accusation that the United Nations and aid groups have denied. Last month, the World Food Program said that there have been “notable improvements” in food security in Gaza since the ceasefire.

Since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began, 416 people have been killed and 1,142 wounded in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry. The overall Palestinian death toll from the war is at least 71,271. The ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

The Israel-Hamas war began with the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.

West Bank raids

Meanwhile, Israel continues operating in the occupied West Bank.

On Friday, the Palestinian Prisoners media office said that Israel carried out numerous raids across the territory, including the major cities of Ramallah and Hebron. Nearly 50 people were detained, following the arrest of at least 50 other Palestinians on Thursday, most of those in the Ramallah area.

Israel’s military said there were arrests made of people “involved in terrorist activity.” Last Friday, a Palestinian attacker rammed his car into a man and then stabbed a young woman in northern Israel on Friday afternoon, killing both, police said. Raids were conducted afterward in the attacker’s West Bank hometown.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society says that Israel has arrested 7,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem this year, and 21,000 since the war began. The number arrested from Gaza isn’t made public by Israel.

Find more of AP’s Israel-Hamas coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Almost 12,000 Minnesotans have applied for the state’s new paid leave program since applications opened earlier this week, according to the Department of Employment and Economic Development.

The process for bonding leave for new parents began in early December. As of Friday morning 11,883 people have submitted applications, according to DEED. Of those, the state has completed reviews of 6,393 leaves.

The paid leave program was passed by the DFL-controlled Legislature in 2023. It allows employees to take up to 20 weeks off work each year. It’s funded through a payroll tax paid for by workers and employers though initial costs were seeded by $668 million from the historic $18 billion state revenue surplus. Minnesota now joins 12 other states in offering such a program.

For more information on how it works go to twincities.com/2025/10/04/mn-paid-family-medical-leave-program-jan-1-how-will-it-work/.

Critics of the proposal — such as the National Federation of Independent Business and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce — have worried it will cost much more than initially estimated.

Washington State has seen the costs of its program grow beyond expectations. In September, an actuarial report found the program could face a $346 million deficit by 2029 and a nearly $1 billion deficit by 2030 under the current tax rate limits.

However, Greg Norfleet, the chief architect of the program at DEED, has said he is confident that Minnesota’s system will work as intended. Norfleet developed a similar program for Massachusetts.

Matt Varilek, DEED commissioner, said the initial nearly 12,000 applications shows how popular the program is among Minnesotans. The initial launch was going well, Varilek said in a statement Friday.

“Our website is managing traffic well and our contact center team is prepared to answer questions from Minnesotans who need assistance,” Varilek said. “We’re proud and excited to implement this program for Minnesota.”

Based on projections from an independent actuary, DEED expects about 130,000 approved claims in the first year of the program.

How to apply

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MN paid leave applications open early statewide. Here’s how to apply.

Minnesota workers may apply for paid leave on Wednesday, Dec. 31. Go to paidleave.mn.gov to apply and to learn more about eligibility and benefits.

To call the paid leave contact center dial (651) 556-7777 or (844) 556-0444 (toll-free) from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. It will be closed during state holidays.

By Jonathan Shorman, Stateline.org

After Missouri lawmakers passed a gerrymandered congressional map this fall, opponents submitted more than 300,000 signatures seeking to force a statewide vote on whether to overturn the map. But Republican state officials say they will use the map in the meantime.

Missouri courts now appear likely to weigh in.

“If we need to continue to litigate to enforce our constitutional rights, we will,” said Richard von Glahn, a progressive activist who leads People Not Politicians, which is leading the campaign opposing the gerrymandered map.

As some states engage in an extraordinary redraw of congressional districts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, state courts may decide the fate of the new maps. President Donald Trump has pushed Republican state lawmakers to gerrymander their states’ congressional maps, prompting Democratic state lawmakers to respond in kind.

Nationwide, state judges are poised to play a pivotal role in adjudicating legal challenges to the maps, which have been drafted to maximize partisan advantage for either Republicans or Democrats, depending on the state. Maps are typically only redrawn once a decade following the census.

While some state courts have long heard map-related lawsuits, the U.S. Supreme Court has all but taken federal courts out of the business of reviewing redrawn maps this year. On Dec. 4, a majority of the court allowed Texas’ new map, which seeks to secure five more U.S. House seats for Republicans, to proceed. A federal lawsuit against California’s new gerrymandered map, drawn to favor Democrats, hasn’t reached the high court.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s brief, unsigned majority decision voiced concern about inserting federal courts into an “active primary campaign,” though Texas’s primary election will occur in March. Critics of the court’s decision have said it effectively forecloses federal challenges to this year’s gerrymanders. The justices could also issue a decision next year that makes it more difficult to challenge maps as racially discriminatory.

State courts are taking center stage after gerrymandering opponents have spent decades encouraging them to play a more active role in policing maps that had been drawn for partisan advantage. Those efforts accelerated after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019 limited the power of federal courts to block such maps.

“Basically, every one of the 50 states has something in its constitution that could be used to constrain partisan gerrymandering,” said Samuel Wang, director of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project.

State constitutions, which are interpreted by state supreme courts, typically have language that echoes the right to freedom of speech and association found in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Wang said. They also include a right to equal protection under the law, similar to the 14th Amendment.

Some state constitutions guarantee free and fair elections, language that doesn’t appear in the U.S. Constitution. Thirty states have some form of a constitutional requirement for free elections, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

At least 10 state supreme courts have found that state courts can decide cases involving allegations of partisan gerrymandering, according to a 2024 review by the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

So far this year, California, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Utah have adopted new congressional maps. New maps also appear possible in Florida, Maryland and Virginia. A handful of other states — Alabama, Louisiana, New York and North Dakota — may have to change their maps depending on the outcome of court cases.

Some of those new or potential maps could face legal obstacles. Florida, New York and Ohio all have state supreme courts that have previously found problems with partisan gerrymanders. Maryland Democrats have so far not moved forward with a gerrymander, in part because of fears of an adverse decision from the state Supreme Court.

Four state supreme courts — including in Missouri — have determined that they cannot review partisan gerrymandering claims, though state courts may still consider challenges on other grounds, such as whether the districts are compact or contiguous.

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In Missouri’s case, courts could also clear the way for a referendum vote over the new map, which is intended to force out U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat who has represented Kansas City in Congress for the past two decades. Republicans currently hold six of the state’s eight congressional districts.

The map already faces a bevy of lawsuits, most notably over whether state officials must count some 103,000 referendum signatures gathered before the governor signed the map into law; at least 106,000 signatures are needed to send the map to voters.

Opponents of the new map have also filed lawsuits asserting the Missouri Constitution prevents redistricting without new census data and that an area of Kansas City was simultaneously placed into two separate congressional districts.

Missouri Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’ decision this month (relying on an opinion from Missouri Republican Attorney General Catherine Hanaway) to implement the new congressional map, despite a submitted referendum petition, is expected to become the latest legal flashpoint. Opponents of the map argue it is now paused under state law.

Hoskins spokesperson Rachael Dunn said in a statement to Stateline that local election officials have until late July to verify referendum signatures — months after candidate filing ends March 31 and days before the Aug. 4 primary election. At that point, blocking the new map would be all but impossible, even if map opponents have gathered enough signatures to force a vote.

“Once signatures are all verified, the Secretary will certify the referendum based on constitutionality and verification,” Dunn wrote.

Hanaway’s office didn’t respond to questions.

Breaking out of lockstep

As federal courts limit their review of gerrymandering because of U.S. Supreme Court decisions, some state supreme courts are reluctant to wade into the issue because of a practice called “lockstepping.”

State supreme courts often interpret their state constitutions in line with — or in lockstep with — how the U.S. Supreme Court views similar language in the U.S. Constitution. Because the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to limit partisan gerrymandering, some state supreme courts have also declined to impose limits.

Gerrymandering opponents have used a variety of arguments over the years to try to prod state supreme courts out of lockstep. They have emphasized differences in wording between state constitutions and the federal one, and provisions in state constitutions — such as the free elections requirement — not found in the U.S. Constitution.

Sometimes these arguments work — and sometimes they don’t. The North Carolina Supreme Court in 2022 ruled against partisan gerrymandering. But after two Republicans were elected as justices that fall, the court reversed itself months later.

“Across the country, we have seen advocates turn to state supreme courts, and state courts in general, for state constitutional arguments against gerrymandering or voter suppression more broadly. And it’s been met with mixed success,” said Sharon Brett, a University of Kansas associate professor of law. In 2022 as litigation director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, she unsuccessfully argued a case before the state’s high court challenging Kansas’ congressional map.

In states where legislatures draw congressional maps, some lawmakers argue that state constitutions shouldn’t be interpreted to curb legislative authority over mapmaking. Court-imposed limits amount to violations of the traditional separation of powers, they say, with the judiciary overstepping its authority to interfere in politics.

“We expect them to be nonpartisan. We expect them to be unbiased. We expect them to be fair. We expect them to read the constitution and to protect or at least respect the separation of powers,” said Utah Republican state Rep. Casey Snider, speaking of Utah courts during a floor speech earlier this month.

In Utah, state courts waded through a yearslong legal battle over whether state lawmakers must adopt a non-gerrymandered map. After the Republican-controlled legislature repealed and replaced an independent redistricting process, the Utah Supreme Court last year ruled lawmakers had violated the state constitution.

A Utah district court judge in November then adopted a congressional map that will likely lead next year to the election of a Democrat. The state’s four congressional seats are currently all held by Republicans.

“What we would like is them to redistrict based on population — fairly,” Katharine Biele, president of the League of Women Voters of Utah, said of state lawmakers.

Republican Gov. Spencer Cox called the Utah legislature into special session earlier in December to respond to the judge’s decision. Lawmakers pushed back candidate filing deadlines in hopes that an appeal to the Utah Supreme Court will result in a decision overturning the judge’s adopted map.

They also passed a resolution condemning the judiciary.

Constitutional concerns

As the Indiana legislature weighed a gerrymandered map to boost Republicans this month, some lawmakers were reluctant to constrain state courts. Democrats currently hold two of the state’s nine congressional districts.

The GOP-controlled Indiana Senate voted down the map in a major setback to Trump’s national redistricting push. The vote came after a floor debate where opponents raised concerns about limiting court involvement; the legislation included a provision sending any legal challenge directly to the Indiana Supreme Court, bypassing a jury trial.

Indiana Republican state Sen. Greg Walker said the measure violated the state constitution, which guarantees an “inviolate” right to a jury trial in all civil cases. “In legal terms, ‘inviolate’ has the implication of being sacred, as opposed to being just a piece of the law,” Walker said on the floor.

State Sen. Mike Gaskill, a Republican who sponsored the map, said during a speech that Indiana residents would benefit from a quick process to resolve legal challenges. “Both sides, in any case, want them to be settled quickly so that they don’t cause chaos and interruptions in the elections process,” he said.

If the map had passed, opponents would have likely attacked the measure using a provision of the Indiana Constitution that requires “free and equal” elections.

Stateline reporter Jonathan Shorman can be reached at jshorman@stateline.org.

©2025 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Last month, Minnesota general manager Bill Guerin chose Quinn Hughes, bringing the star defenseman to the Wild in an effort to produce big wins in May and even June. On Friday, in his role as Team USA’s general manager for the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics, Guerin chose Hughes again.

The American roster which will seek the nation’s first gold medal since the 1980 Miracle On Ice will include three players with whom Guerin is quite familiar, with Hughes, defenseman Brock Faber and forward Matt Boldy headed to Milan and Cortina for the games.

Faber, who is from Maple Grove, was among four Minnesotans picked for the squad, which is quite similar to the 4 Nations Face-Off roster Guerin put together a year ago. That team brought home a silver medal after falling to Canada in overtime of the title game. Other Minnesotans headed to the Olympics include Colorado forward Brock Nelson (Warroad), Tampa Bay forward Jake Guentzel (Woodbury) and Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger (Lakeville).

More than anything, Guerin said, the U.S. was looking for a similar chemistry to what they saw in the Team USA locker room and on the ice at 4 Nations 11 months ago.

“I liked the way we played. Everybody was together. Everybody played the right way, adhered to the game plan,” Guerin said in a Zoom call with reporters on Friday morning. “But the biggest thing for me, I think, was the chemistry. The chemistry allowed the guys to play the way they did.”

The trio of Americans from the Wild will see several teammates chasing gold in Italy. Team Sweden will include goalies Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt, defenseman Jonas Brodin and forward Joel Eriksson Ek. There had been some hope that Marcus Johansson, having a superlative season for the Wild, would be named to the Swedish roster. He was not.

Wild center Nico Sturm will play for Team Germany, giving Minnesota eight NHLers in the Games. There is a chance that a few Wild minor-leaguers could be named to national teams as well. Defenseman David Jiricek, who has split time between Minnesota and Iowa, is a candidate for Team Czechia.

Hughes, who came to the Wild in a December trade, will be looked upon to bring some of the same attributes to the Americans as are currently being seen on the Minnesota blue line.

“His skating is fantastic, his ability to help us get out of our own zone and to move the puck up the ice as quick as possible by either skating it or moving it quickly,” Guerin said. “He always seems to be one step ahead. I know what he’s done for our Wild team and I think it’s been incredible.”

Team USA head coach Mike Sullivan was asked if he will continue to pair Hughes and Faber, as the Wild do, but replied that nothing it etched in stone.

In addition to Guerin’s work picking the team, Wild head coach John Hynes will be an assistant for Sullivan — currently the head coach of the New York Rangers — and three members of the Wild medical team will be in Italy, as well.

Among those who opened some eyes but did not make the team were defenseman Adam Fox and forward Jason Robertson, who is currently one of the top American scorers in the NHL. Guerin did not entertain questions about specific players and why they were not selected.

“Those guys are all great players, too,” he said, noting that if statistics alone were the only criteria for making the roster, there would be no need for a general manager. “I understand that, but we have to make a team.”

Former Gophers star Matthew Knies, who skated for Team USA at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, also was left off the roster.

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