By DEREK GATOPOULOS and PETROS GIANNAKOURIS

ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece (AP) — The Olympic flame began its journey Wednesday to the Milan Cortina Winter Games — missing a little of its usual magic.

Bad weather lashing western Greece forced organizers to move the torch-lighting ceremony indoors, from Olympia’s ancient stadium and temples to a nearby museum.

The flame is lit by focusing the sun’s rays with a concave mirror. But with skies overcast, officials used a backup flame kindled during a brief spell of sunshine at Monday’s rehearsal.

Greek rower Petros Gaidatzis launched the torch relay, which, after reaching Italy, will be carried across the host country by about 10,000 runners before the Feb. 6–22 competition.

The sun ultimately made an appearance over rain-soaked OIympia on Wednesday during the indoor ceremony. “It’s incredibly memorable and a little bit emotional for me to be standing here,” said IOC President Kirsty Coventry, who was overseeing her first torch lighting after being elected to the post in March. “It feels like the past and the present are really coming together. We are extremely happy that today’s ceremony reminds us what the games stand for.”

Italy is hosting its third Winter Games, but preparations have been plagued by cost overruns and construction setbacks.

Organizers say there’s plenty for fans to look forward to: a program featuring 116 medal events, the debut of ski mountaineering, higher female participation and the return of NHL players to Olympic hockey.

After a short tour of Greece and a handover on Dec. 4, the flame will begin a 63-day, 12,000-kilometer relay through all 110 Italian provinces, highlighting cultural sites and host venues before reaching Milan’s San Siro Stadium for the opening ceremony.

“Over the next few weeks, the Olympic flame will pass through all the Italian provinces, 60 cities, 300 towns, 20 regions and all the UNESCO sites. It will travel from the northern peaks to the southern shores,” said Giovanni Malago, head of the Milan Cortina Organizing Committee. Speakers at Wednesday’s ceremony urged world leaders to recognize the spirit of the Olympic Truce – an ancient Greek tradition pausing conflicts during the games to allow safe participation.

“Today humanity is going through a time of multiple and parallel crises. Wars proliferate from Europe to the Middle East and from Asia to Africa. So we should honestly admit that a society at war is a failed society,” the mayor of Ancient Olympia, Aristidis Panayiotopoulos, said. “The flame allows us to again recall the values that guide humanity, values that were born and forged here.”

Despite moving indoors, Wednesday’s ceremony retained its traditional elements: sculptural dance gestures by performers dressed as priestesses and male kouroi, and invocations in Greek to the ancient gods.

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Artemis Ignatiou, the ceremony’s artistic director, said the team had prepared for the possibility of bad weather and that, despite the setback, “we gained something special: the energy of the museum and the archaeological space itself.”

Speaking to The Associated Press, Ignatiou said dancing among the statues “gave the ceremony a timeless feeling.”

A separate flame for the March 6–15 Winter Paralympics will be lit Feb. 24 at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England, the birthplace of the Paralympic movement.

By TODD RICHMOND, Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge said Wednesday that the trial for a Wisconsin judge charged with illegally helping an immigrant evade federal agents will go on as planned next month, brushing past talk of a possible plea agreement.

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U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman told prosecutors and attorneys representing Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan during a hearing to assume the trial will begin as planned on Dec. 11 with jury selection.

Federal prosecutors charged Dugan in April with obstruction and concealing an individual to prevent arrest. According to court documents, Dugan was set to hear a state battery case in April against 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an immigrant who was in the country illegally. Federal agents learned he was scheduled to appear in her courtroom and traveled to the Milwaukee County Courthouse to apprehend him.

Dugan learned the agents were outside her courtroom and led Flores-Ruiz out through a private door, according to the documents. He found his way outside the courthouse but agents caught him after a foot chase. The Department of Homeland Security announced this month that he has been deported.

Dugan faces six years in prison if she’s convicted on both the obstruction and concealment charges. U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel said last week that plea negotiations were underway but Dugan wasn’t interested in a deal.

Her defense team has insisted she’s innocent and is preparing for trial, arguing that she was acting in her official capacity as a judge when she led Flores-Ruiz out of her courtroom. Still, Schimel’s remarks raised questions about what might happen next in the case.

No one from Schimel’s office or Dugan’s attorneys mentioned the prospect of a deal during Wednesday’s hearing, the last one scheduled ahead of Dugan’s trial. They instead focused on the logistics of jury selection and trial procedure.

Steven Biskupic, Dugan’s lead attorney, told Adelman that the two sides have already stricken 34 potential jurors based on responses to a questionnaire they sent out gauging their political biases. The two sides said they may need two days to select jurors from the pool of 90 or so remaining prospects.

Dugan’s indictment has intensified the clash between President Donald Trump’s administration and local authorities over the Republican’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

Democrats accuse the Trump administration of trying to blunt judicial opposition to the crackdown by making an example of Dugan. The administration has vilified Dugan on social media, posting photos of her being led out of the courthouse in handcuffs and labeling her an activist judge.

Biskupic said that he wants to make each potential juror fill out another questionnaire about their biases on the way into the courtroom on the selection days, saying publicity over the case is continuing. Adelman agreed.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Frohling told Adelman the government plans to call 25 to 28 witnesses, including federal immigration agents and witnesses who saw what happened in Dugan’s courtroom and in the courthouse. Biskupic told the judge that the government also plans to introduce about a half-hour’s worth of recordings made in Dugan’s courtroom.

The government’s case will take at least four days, Frohling said. Biskupic did not offer any details about his witnesses or the potential length of his side of the case.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys did not speak with reporters on their way out of the hearing. Dugan attended the proceeding but said nothing. She also left without speaking with reporters.

New York State is still waiting on $400 million from the federal government to open applications for its energy assistance program this winter. In the meantime, officials are urging residents in need to check their eligibility for another state initiative that secures a monthly utility discount for low-income households.

(Adi Talwar/City Limits)

While the federal government has been back open for nearly two weeks, New York State is still waiting on $400 million from the Trump administration to open applications for its home energy assistance program this winter, known as HEAP.

In the meantime, officials are urging residents in need to check their eligibility for another state initiative that secures monthly utility discounts for low-income households.

The New York Energy Assistance Program (EAP) provides the discounts for households that earn below a certain income threshold—what officials say can save participants up to $500 per year.

To be eligible, applicants must prove their participation in one of several public benefit programs, including SNAP, Supplemental Security Income, Medicaid and federal public housing assistance (a full list can be found here). They’re also eligible if they’re enrolled in the Home Energy Assistance Program, or HEAP, which is based on income (a family of four can earn up to $6,680 a month, or $80,165 annually, and qualify).

Beginning in 2026, families can be eligible for EAP even without participating in another benefits program as long as they meet the income requirements, which will also expand next year to those earning up to the Area Median Income for New York City, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office.

Last year, around 1 million households across the state benefited from monthly EAP discounts, but an additional 1.5 million are estimated to be eligible and haven’t applied, according to the governor.

“We’re not leaving people out in the cold and letting bills escalate,” Hochul said during a press conference last week. “I want to urge all eligible households to sign up for the programs we have here in New York.”

Meanwhile, the governor says the state is still waiting on federal funds to open applications for HEAP, which is distinct from EAP and provides direct payments toward participants’ utility bills. The amount varies—maxing out at $996—based on income, household size, heating source, and if the household contains a vulnerable member (a child under 6, adult 60 or older, or residents who are permanently disabled).

Nearly 1 million New York City households received HEAP assistance last winter. It was supposed to open applications for this season on Nov. 3, but enrollment was delayed thanks to the federal government shutdown—and remains on hold despite the government reopening earlier this month.

Hochul says the Trump administration has yet to release the $400 million that funds New York’s HEAP. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the funding, did not return City Limits’ request for comment.

But the federal agency informed states that funding would be dispersed by the end of the month, according to Hochul’s office. If that’s the case, the state expects to open HEAP applications the first week of December.

“Governor Hochul continues to demand the immediate release of these federal funds, while also helping enroll more New Yorkers in state programs for monthly energy discounts and ensuring that vulnerable households don’t lose access to heat,” Spokesperson Ken Lovett said in a statement.

The delay comes as New Yorkers’ utility bills are going up: both National Grid and Con Edison recently approved multi-year rate hikes for customers in the five boroughs.

A report last year from the climate policy think tank Switchbox found that one of every four New York residents is “energy burdened,” meaning they spend at least 6 percent of their income on utility bills. In the Bronx, 34 percent of households are energy burdened, among the highest of any New York county, the report found.

To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.

The post Struggling to Afford Heating Bills? See If You Qualify For This NYS Discount appeared first on City Limits.

ICE said Wednesday that a man arrested by agents Tuesday in a St. Paul neighborhood entered the U.S. illegally from Honduras.

Victor Molina Rodriguez was previously removed from the U.S., has a “rap sheet” that includes domestic abuse and disorderly conduct and illegally re-entered the United States, according to a statement from a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson.

Tuesday’s arrest drew nearly 200 constitutional observers and protesters to the 600 block of East Rose Avenue in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood. There were confrontations between protesters and law enforcement. Federal law enforcement and St. Paul police officers responded with pepper spray; St. Paul police also deployed projectiles.

“During the arrest, a U.S. citizen weaponized their vehicle and rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle,” Wednesday’s DHS statement said. “The attacker fled on foot, but was later apprehended by law enforcement.”

Police “disrupted a peaceful observation,” said Mary Anne Ligeralde Quiroz, Indigenous Roots Cultural Arts Center co-founder and executive director, on Wednesday. “No one was threatening HSI and law enforcement agents.”

It wasn’t immediately clear how many people ICE arrested on Tuesday.

Jeffrey Suazo’s family members, standing against the wall, listen as Mary Anne Ligeralde Quiroz talks about Suazo’s arrest. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

The family of Jeffrey Suazo gave a statement Wednesday saying he also was detained Tuesday. His family came to the U.S. fleeing persecution in Honduras, a community organizer said.

“A simple man, 26 years old, hard working and humble,” Suazo’s family said in a statement read by Ligeralde Quiroz. “On Nov. 25, Jeffrey was on his way to work and saw that there was ICE activity. Jeffrey fled out of fear — fear of never seeing his partner, his family, fear of being taken away from his loved ones.”

“They want to blame Jeffrey for something he didn’t do that was part of what was happening,” the statement continued. “No one deserves to live the trauma that Jeffrey and the family have experienced. Children and a pregnant woman spent five hours under threats, humiliation by HSI agents, mockery and invasion of property, because, yes, they were able to get in without a warrant.”

Called in back-up

DHS said in Wednesday’s statement that a large number of people, who they referred to as “rioters,” arrived and they called in back-up “to help secure the scene.”

St. Paul has a separation ordinance that says city employees are not authorized to enforce federal immigration policies, and Police Chief Axel Henry said Tuesday the city’s officers had not violated it.

“I understand that our public is greatly frustrated by these issues, but be clear, the St. Paul police officers are not doing immigration enforcement, but we do have a responsibility to make sure that laws aren’t broken in our city,” he said in a statement.

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St. Paul city council members, legislators and community members expressed anger about the involvement of St. Paul police and their use of chemical munitions and projectiles.

DHS said in its statement that people on the scene “continued to ignore law enforcement commands and aggressively advanced on law enforcement. ICE used their training and deployed crowd control measures for the safety of the public and law enforcement.”

“Our officers are facing a 1,150% increase in assaults against them as they put their lives on the line to arrest murderers, rapists, abusers and gang members,” the statement continued. “Secretary Noem’s message to the rioters is clear: you will not stop us or slow us down. … And if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”