By ANSELM GIBBS

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — A shark attacked and killed an American woman along a beach in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, officials said Friday.

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Police identified the victim as 56-year-old Arlene Lillis of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.

Authorities said the attack occurred close to shore on western St. Croix on Thursday afternoon.

Police and other emergency crews responded to the beach, where crews worked “swiftly and professionally under very extreme and difficult circumstances” to treat Lillis, said Daryl Jaschen, director of the Virgin Islands’ emergency management agency.

Lillis, who was a frequent visitor to the U.S. territory, was taken to a local hospital for further treatment but died from her injuries, according to Lt. Gov. Tregenza A. Roach.

Police said they were initially told there may have been a second victim, but a perimeter search by authorities did not discover any other victims.

Officials said they have not yet confirmed what type of shark was involved in the attack. They said that while shark sightings are common, attacks in the U.S. Virgin Islands are unusual.

“Encounters that result in a bite are very rare,” said Nicole Angeli of the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources at Friday’s news conference.

She said Thursday’s attack was the second such incident in a decade, and that there are plans to put up more signs and share more information at hotels and beaches on how to be safe around wildlife.

Jaschen, of the emergency management agency, said the investigation into the attack is ongoing, and that he could not immediately say what may have caused the shark to come so close to the shore.

Overall, at least 79 unprovoked shark attacks have been reported in the Caribbean since 1749, including four in the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to the Florida-based International Shark Attack File.

Students at Minneapolis Public Schools can return to in-person classes on Monday or take part in remote learning through Feb. 12, district officials announced Friday, after federal immigration officers were reported on school property earlier in the week.

Minneapolis Public Schools was closed Thursday and Friday and activities were canceled after a report of armed U.S. Border Patrol officers at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis. The officers entered school property during Wednesday’s dismissal period, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

St. Paul district officials have not announced any plans to cancel classes or move to remote learning.

The officers tackled people, handcuffed two staff members and released chemical irritants on bystanders, an official from the Minneapolis school told MPR.

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Online learning is an optional opportunity for families who may need it and additional information has been shared with staff and families, Minneapolis Public Schools officials said in a release.

St. Paul Public Schools officials canceled field trips and sports-related events in Minneapolis for Thursday following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.

By MIKE CATALINI

A huge black bear that made its den in the crawl space under a Los Angeles area man’s house for more than a month has finally been evicted.

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Altadena resident Ken Johnson said the animal began denning beneath his home around Thanksgiving, twisting gas lines and toppling bricks as he came and went. Surveillance video showed the bear easily tearing away screening and other obstacles and squeezing through a small opening.

Johnson said in a phone interview Friday that he first asked state wildlife officials for help, but the air horns and paintball guns they deployed didn’t work. So he turned to BEAR League, a California-based nonprofit that bills itself as specializing in “living in harmony with bears.”

The bear was out within about 20 minutes after members from the group arrived, Johnson said.

In a social media post on Thursday, the group said that one of its most experienced responders crawled beneath the home and got behind the bear — which it estimated weighs more than 500 pounds — to encourage the animal to leave.

“There’s the relief — it feels like, you know, you had a bunch of dinner guests over and now the party’s over — well it wasn’t a party — but you know they’re gone and now you’ve got a bunch of dirty dishes and empty glasses to deal with,” Johnson said.

FILE – Homeowner Ken Johnson stands outside his house with trash scattered across the driveway after a bear took refuge in a crawl space at his property in Altadena, Calif., Dec. 1, 2025, as a reporter surveying the scene casts a shadow on a wall. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

The group placed an “unwelcome” mat, which delivers an electric shock, at the opening. Video footage showed the bear returning to the house, stepping on the mat and then running away.

Dave Fleishman, a BEAR League spokesperson who helped evict the animal, said it was one of the largest black bears he has seen.

“He’s in my top three,” Fleishman said.

“He’s an old soul … I think he just wanted a quiet place for the winter,” he added. “But he’d done a tremendous amount of damage to Ken’s house. And so, you don’t want Ken’s house to burn down or the rest of Altadena to burn down because of a ruptured gas line.”

FILE – A bear warning sign is posted at the Basher trailhead in Anchorage, Alaska, on July 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

Fleishman said the team was able to move the bear quickly because the house has two crawl spaces, making access easier. He called it a “standard eviction” the group regularly handles, particularly in the Lake Tahoe area.

Johnson described having the bear around as “unsettling.” Since the eviction, the bear came back at least once before moving on, he said. “It’s just the constant tension of if he if he decides to come out I have to be ready,” he said.

Johnson said the animal caused thousands of dollars in damage, which has been particularly tough to deal with because he lost his job after last year’s Eaton wildfire. The bear shredded ductwork under the house and twisted natural gas piping, Johnson said. He’s set up a GoFundMe page seeking to repair the damage and make his house livable again.

By STEPHEN GROVES

WASHINGTON (AP) — For House Republicans, the political year started with a pep rally of sorts as President Donald Trump gathered them at Washington’s Kennedy Center for a stemwinder of a speech. But by the time lawmakers had completed their first week of work this midterm election year, fractures in the party were already showing.

From pushback to Trump’s self-described “Donroe doctrine” of aggression in the Western Hemisphere to breaks in party unity over health care, Republican lawmakers are displaying signs of independence from Trump after spending much of the last year acquiescing to his practically every demand. It showed a new dynamic in the GOP as Republicans embark on difficult campaign to keep control of both the House and Senate.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, speaking at the U.S.-Mexico border Friday with a group of Republican Senate candidates, said that Republicans were “going to be focused like a laser” on issues of affordability and pointed to legislation in the works on housing and health care.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during the Senate Republican policy luncheon news conference at the Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Thune’s border trip and talk of affordability were a nod back to some of the core themes of Trump’s presidential campaign. But the focus in Washington of late has instead been dominated by Trump’s military operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, his threats to use military force to take control of Greenland, the release of case files on Jeffrey Epstein and a debate over extending subsidies for insurance offered under the Affordable Care Act — an issue where Republicans have long struggled to find unity.

Recent shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in several U.S. cities, including one that killed a woman in Minneapolis, have also raised new questions about Republicans’ hard-line immigration agenda and shifted attention away from Trump’s handling of the border, which they see as a political success.

Even so, Trump still has plenty of command over most of the party. That was demonstrated this week by a pair of unsuccessful House veto override votes in which most GOP members stuck with the president despite previously voting for the low-profile bills.

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Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who has been one of the few Republicans to consistently defy Trump, said that “there was some bully pulpit intimidation going on” from the president that caused the veto overrides to fail.

Still, Democrats are making the case that Trump is becoming distracted from the needs of Americans, especially after the attack on Venezuela.

“He’s lurching towards another endless, expensive war, all the while American families here are struggling with skyrocketing costs,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

Venezuela war powers vote draws GOP support

To prove their point, Democrats are forcing votes on war powers resolutions that would stop Trump from attacking Venezuela without congressional approval. Such measures are rarely successful, but a procedural vote on the legislation drew support from five Republicans Thursday, setting up a final vote next week. House Democrats are also pushing forward a similar resolution.

The GOP senators who voted for the legislation tried to defuse the conflict with Trump by arguing their positions were in line with his own campaign promises to scale back U.S. commitments overseas.

“A drawn-out campaign in Venezuela involving the American military, even if unintended, would be the opposite of President Trump’s goal of ending foreign entanglements,” Sen. Todd Young, an Indiana Republican who voted for the war powers resolution, said in a lengthy statement explaining his vote.

Trump reacted with fury. The president promptly called for the five Republicans, which included Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who is up for reelection this year, to “never be elected to office again.”

Republicans are already dealing with retirements from several lawmakers who had uneasy relationships with Trump, and there was worry that such clashes could complicate their campaign picture even more.

“If Susan isn’t the senator from Maine, we’re going to end up with a Democrat,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican. “That would be 10 times worse. But I do appreciate that President Trump is absolutely pissed off.”

GOP pushes back on Trump’s Greenland plans

Trump’s desire to possess Greenland and his administration’s decision not to rule out military force also met significant resistance from GOP lawmakers this week.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who is retiring after crossing Trump last summer, took to the Senate floor to proclaim that he was “sick of stupid.” He specifically criticized White House deputy chief of policy Stephen Miller, who made comments that Greenland should be part of the U.S.

“I want good advice for this president, because I want this president to have a good legacy,” Tillis added. “And this nonsense on what’s going on with Greenland is a distraction from the good work he’s doing, and the amateurs who said it was a good idea should lose their jobs.”

Other Republicans, including Thune and Senate Armed Services Committee chair Sen. Roger Wicker, also gently pushed back on military threats against Denmark, which is a NATO ally of the U.S.

After meeting with the Danish ambassador, Wicker said it was Denmark’s right not to sell Greenland.

“I’m troubled by Greenland. I’m troubled by some of the things he does. I don’t get it,” said Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, another retiring Republican. “I do feel like Congress should be more independent and should provide checks and balances here.”

Bacon added that Trump still had the ability to “bully” his Republican colleagues, but that Trump’s threats had “stiffened my spine.”

Health care votes expose divisions

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., center, House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Mich., left, and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., depart following a news conference at the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

During Trump’s speech at the Kennedy Center on Tuesday, he urged Republicans to own the issue of health care. Yet when the House voted Thursday on a Democratic proposal to extend expired health care subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans, 17 Republicans broke with party leadership to help pass the bill.

“People recognize the challenge here, which is to address health care affordability,” said Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Democrat who voted for the proposal.

He still criticized the Affordable Care Act, a hallmark piece of legislation for Democrats, yet the health care debate unfolding in Congress is one that Democrats feel confident making a central campaign issue.

“In this first, full week of the new year, House Democrats — every single one of us joined by 17 Republicans — have partnered in a bipartisan way to protect the health care of the American people,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries following the vote.

Jan. 6 plaque coming out of storage

On the fifth anniversary of the attack on the Capitol, Trump told House Republicans that he had told his supporters to go “peacefully and patriotically” to confront Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election. The White House also unveiled a website that portrayed the Jan. 6 attack as a “witch hunt” against him by Democrats and some Republicans in Congress.

A replica plaque commemorating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot stands outside the office of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

But the Senate, which Republicans control, this week agreed to display a plaque honoring the police who defended the Capitol — a cause that has become a point of contention with Trump as president. The plaque had been kept in storage rather than being displayed because House Speaker Mike Johnson had said the memorial did not comply with the law.

It was Tillis again who pushed the issue on the Republican side. He said it was important to honor the police and staff who risked their own lives and safety that day.

Democrats who joined in the effort said they were alarmed by the White House’s attempt to recast the narrative.

“It’s so important we be honest with the American people about what happened,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat.

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Steven Sloan, Lisa Mascaro and Nathan Ellgren contributed.