BISMARCK, N.D. — A federal judge on Wednesday found the state of North Dakota entitled to nearly $28 million for responding to protests of the Dakota Access oil pipeline in 2016 and 2017 — a win for the state in its multiyear effort to recoup the costs from the federal government.

The state filed the lawsuit in 2019, seeking $38 million for policing the protests. The sometimes-chaotic demonstrations drew international attention for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s opposition to the pipeline’s Missouri River crossing upstream of the tribe’s reservation. The tribe has long opposed the pipeline, fearing an oil spill polluting its water supply.

A trial played out over several weeks in early 2024 in federal court in Bismarck, the state capital. People who testified included former North Dakota governors Doug Burgum, who took office in December 2016 during the protests’ height, and Jack Dalrymple, whose administration responded to the protests’ early months.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor found the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers liable to the state on all claims and for more than $27.8 million in damages.

The judge wrote: “The bottom line: United States had a mandatory procedure, it did not follow that procedure, and harm occurred to the state of North Dakota. The law allows reimbursement for this harm. More than that, the rule of law requires this Court to hold the United States liable to remind it of its role in the larger picture of ensuring peace, not chaos.”

Thousands of people camped and demonstrated against the pipeline near the crossing for months. Hundreds of arrests resulted. Sometimes-violent clashes occurred between protesters and law enforcement officers. Law enforcement officers from around the state and region responded to the protests.

“It was a violent, unlawful protest. And ‘protest’ is a gentle word,” North Dakota Attorney Drew Wrigley said last year before trial.

The protest camps were cleared in February 2017. An attorney for the state said the protests ended in a response of more than seven months involving 178 agencies, resulting in 761 arrests and requiring four days of cleanup of the camp to remove millions of pounds of trash.

“Although the unlawful protest was burgeoning before everyone’s eyes and the damages and dangers were so apparent, the federal government refused to offer assistance and enforce the legal obligations on the people who were encamped,” Wrigley said.

Attorneys for the government said at trial that U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials “acted reasonably given limited options at their disposal” during the protests, and that the state’s claim is “greatly overstated.” The government asked the judge to find a lack of legal jurisdiction for the state’s claims, that the state hasn’t proven its claims and is not entitled to damages.

The pipeline has been transporting oil since June 2017. Many state government officials and industry leaders support the pipeline as crucial infrastructure in the country’s No. 3 oil-producing state. The pipeline carries roughly 5% of the United States’ daily oil production.

In 2017, the pipeline company, Energy Transfer, donated $15 million to help cover the response costs. That same year, the U.S. Justice Department gave a $10 million grant to the state for reimbursing the response. It wasn’t immediately clear how that amount affected the damages.

Then-President Donald Trump denied a 2017 request from the state for the federal government to cover the costs through a disaster declaration.

The pipeline is operating while a court-ordered environmental review of the river crossing is carried out.

A North Dakota jury recently found Greenpeace liable for defamation and other claims brought by the pipeline’s builder in connection with protest activities, with damages surpassing $660 million for three Greenpeace organizations.

NEW YORK — Opponents of President Donald Trump’s administration took to the streets of communities large and small across the U.S. on Saturday, decrying what they see as threats to the nation’s democratic ideals.

The disparate events ranged from a march through midtown Manhattan and a rally in front of the White House to a demonstration at a Massachusetts commemoration marking the start of the American Revolutionary War 250 years ago. In San Francisco, protesters formed a human banner reading “Impeach & Remove” on the sands of Ocean Beach overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Thomas Bassford was among those who joined demonstrators at the reenactment of the Battles of Lexington and Concord outside of Boston. “The shot heard ’round the world” on April 19, 1775, heralded the start of the nation’s war for independence from Britain.

The 80-year-old retired mason from Maine said he believed Americans today are under attack from their own government and need to stand up against it.

“This is a very perilous time in America for liberty,” Bassford said, as he attended the event with his partner, daughter and two grandsons. “I wanted the boys to learn about the origins of this country and that sometimes we have to fight for freedom.”

Elsewhere, protests were planned outside Tesla car dealerships against billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk and his role in downsizing the federal government. Others organized more community-service events, such as food drives, teach-ins and volunteering at local shelters.

The protests come just two weeks after similar nationwide protests against the Trump administration drew thousands to the streets across the country.

Organizers say they’re protesting what they call Trump’s civil rights violations and constitutional violations, including efforts to deport scores of immigrants and to scale back the federal government by firing thousands of government workers and effectively shutter entire agencies.

Some of the events drew on the spirit of the American Revolutionary War, calling for “no kings” and resistance to tyranny.

Boston resident George Bryant, who was among those protesting in Concord, Massachusetts, said he was concerned Trump was creating a “police state” in America as he held up a sign saying, “Trump fascist regime must go now!”

“He’s defying the courts. He’s kidnapping students. He’s eviscerating the checks and balances,” Bryant said. “This is fascism.”

In Washington, Bob Fasick said he came out to the rally by the White House out of concern about threats to constitutionally protected due process rights, as well as Social Security and other federal safety-net programs.

The Trump administration, among other things, has moved to shutter Social Security Administration field offices, cut funding for government health programs and scale back protections for transgender people.

“I cannot sit still knowing that if I don’t do anything and everybody doesn’t do something to change this, that the world that we collectively are leaving for the little children, for our neighbors is simply not one that I would want to live,” said the 76-year-old retired federal employee from Springfield, Virginia.

In Columbia, South Carolina, several hundred people protested at the statehouse. They held signs that said “Fight Fiercely, Harvard, Fight” and “Save SSA,” in reference to the Social Security Administration.

And in Manhattan, protesters rallied against continued deportations of immigrants as they marched from the New York Public Library north towards Central Park past Trump Tower.

“No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state,” they chanted to the steady beat of drums, referring to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Marshall Green, who was among the protesters, said he was most concerned that Trump has invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 by claiming the country is at war with Venezuelan gangs linked to the South American nation’s government.

“Congress should be stepping up and saying no, we are not at war. You cannot use that,” said the 61-year-old from Morristown, New Jersey. “You cannot deport people without due process, and everyone in this country has the right to due process no matter what.”

Meanwhile Melinda Charles, of Connecticut, said she worried about Trump’s “executive overreach,” citing clashes with the federal courts to Harvard University and other elite colleges.

“We’re supposed to have three equal branches of government and to have the executive branch become so strong,” she said. “I mean, it’s just unbelievable.”

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Associated Press reporters Claire Rush in Oregon, Joseph Frederick in New York, Rodrique Ngowi in Massachusetts, Nathan Ellgren in Washington and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina contributed to this story.

NEW YORK — As President Donald Trump pushes the historical boundaries of executive power, some of the Democratic Party’s core political institutions are preparing for the possibility that the federal government may soon launch criminal investigations against them.

The Democrats’ dominant national fundraising platform, ActBlue, and the party’s largest protest group, Indivisible, are working with their attorneys for just such a scenario, according to officials within both organizations. Trump’s top political allies have suggested both groups should face prosecution.

Other Democratic allies are planning for Trump-backed legal crackdowns as well. Wary of antagonizing the president, most prefer to stay anonymous for now.

“Every one of our clients is concerned about being arbitrarily targeted by the Trump administration. We are going to great lengths to help clients prepare for or defend themselves,” said Ezra Reese, political law chair at Elias Law Group, which represents Democratic groups and candidates and is chaired by Marc Elias, the lawyer who has himself been a Trump target.

An FBI spokesperson declined to comment when asked about potential investigations into ActBlue and Indivisible. But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not downplay the threat of a potential criminal probe when asked specifically whether Trump wants the FBI, the Treasury Department or any other federal agency to investigate Democratic groups.

“Anyone who has (not) broken the law should not be worried,” Leavitt told The Associated Press. “If you have broken the law and engaged in the weaponization of justice, then you should be worried. It’s that simple.”

Indeed, far from distancing themselves from talk of retribution, many key Republicans are embracing it.

Trump’s allies argue they are justified in seeking vengeance due to the four criminal prosecutions against Trump, one of which led to multiple felony convictions in New York. There’s no evidence former President Joe Biden influenced the Trump prosecutions in any way.

Matt Schlapp, president of the American Conservative Union, said Democrats needed to be taught not to touch a hot stove.

“Someone needs to get burned for all this activity or they’re just gonna do it again,” he said. “And that’s not hypocrisy; that’s justice.”

Trump has made no secret of his plans to use the power of the federal government to target domestic political adversaries.

During a norm-breaking speech at the Department of Justice last month, Trump cast himself as the country’s “chief law enforcement officer,” a title ordinarily reserved for the attorney general.

On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order instructing the Justice Department to investigate Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security official who anonymously penned a book highly critical of his first presidency. Trump said that Taylor was likely guilty of treason, a crime that can carry the death penalty.

Indivisible has been perhaps the most important group in the Democratic resistance since Trump returned to the White House. The group’s leadership in Washington holds regular calls with state-based activists and recently released a detailed protest guide, which offers specific guidance to hundreds of local chapters across the country.

This year alone, Indivisible groups have hosted more than 1,000 protests covering every state in the nation. The group was a key organizer in the recent Hands Off! protests that attracted hundreds of thousands of people across the country.

Trump top adviser and billionaire Elon Musk has publicly condemned Indivisible as “criminals.”

The statement was an apparent reference to violent attacks against Tesla dealerships and vehicles, which have spiked in recent weeks. Indivisible’s leadership released a guide earlier in the year encouraging protests outside Tesla dealerships, although the guide instructs protesters to remain peaceful and stay off private property.

No charges are known to have been filed against Indivisible or its leaders. But Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin says it’s critical that Democratic institutions work together to speak out against the threats posed by the Trump administration. His organization has been discussing contingency plans with attorneys and other activists in the event that he or other Indivisible leaders face criminal charges.

“They may try to come at us directly, or it’s as likely that their non-state actors are inspired by their lies and propaganda, and try to come at us individually,” Levin said. “And that is a risk in a moment where you’re facing anti-democratic threats like we are.”

“Our choice is, we can be quiet and hope that they won’t target us, or we can try to work as a mass opposition,” he continued. “If you’re not willing to do that, what are you doing here?”

Musk, backed by several Republican members of Congress, has also called on the FBI to investigate ActBlue, alleging that the Democratic Party’s main fundraising platform has skirted campaign finance laws and allowed foreign nationals to make illegal contributions to Democratic candidates.

“I think the FBI’s going to do something on ActBlue soon,” Charlie Kirk, a key Trump ally who founded the conservative group Turning Point USA, said at a political event last month in Wisconsin.

ActBlue officials this week told the AP that they would continue to cooperate with a congressional investigation led by House Republicans into allegations of fraud within the organization. ActBlue is preparing a second batch of documents to comply with a new request by House Republicans. Additionally, two ActBlue staffers are expected to testify before a House panel behind closed doors later this month.

Multiple House Republicans in recent weeks have encouraged federal law enforcement agencies to pursue requested criminal investigations into ActBlue.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has asked the Treasury Department to investigate allegations that the nonprofit processed payments to “terror-linked organizations.” Separately, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., sent a letter to the FBI last month claiming that ActBlue is being used to “to skirt the integrity of federal campaign finance laws” by allowing foreign nationals to contribute to campaigns, among other allegations of criminal wrongdoing.

“It must be emphasized that these allegations, were they to prove true, would indicate a serious threat to the integrity of our elections, besides the victimization of American citizens,” Biggs wrote.

ActBlue said it is preparing for the possibility of “many different attacks on various fronts,” including investigations by the FBI or the Treasury Department.

Meanwhile, Democratic candidates are relying on ActBlue to fund their campaigns as never before.

Donors have given more than $400 million to Democratic candidates through ActBlue over the first three months of the year, the organization told the AP. The fundraising haul represents the most money raised in any first quarter in ActBlue’s two-decade history.

While Republicans accuse the group of being funded by wealthy donors, ActBlue acts as a passthrough between donors and candidates that’s funded by a 3.95% processing fee on each donation.

“These unfounded attacks haven’t shaken us — they’ve sharpened our resolve to fuel Democratic wins,” ActBlue spokesperson Megan Hughes said. “As our first-quarter fundraising demonstrates, Democratic grassroots donors are engaged, undeterred and ready to meet this moment.”

Leavitt is one of three administration officials who face a lawsuit from the AP on First- and Fifth Amendment grounds. The AP says the three are punishing the news agency for editorial decisions they oppose. The White House says the AP is not following an executive order to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A dozen pro-Palestinian demonstrators who were arrested at Stanford University last year after they occupied and allegedly caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to a campus building are now facing charges.

The twelve people, current and former Stanford students, have been charged with felony vandalism and felony conspiracy to trespass, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday in a news release.

Those charged range in age from 19 to 32, the DA’s office said. They will be arraigned later this month at the Hall of Justice in San Jose.

A student journalist, who was arrested with the protesters but was not accused of participating in the vandalism, was not charged.

The Stanford takeover began around dawn on June 5, 2024, the last day of spring classes at the university in California’s Silicon Valley. Some protesters barricaded themselves inside the building, which houses the university president’s office. Others linked arms outside, The Stanford Daily reported at the time. The group chanted “Palestine will be free, we will free Palestine.”

The takeover ended three hours later.

Prosecutors accuse the demonstrators of spray-painting on the building, breaking windows and furniture, disabling security cameras and splattering a red liquid described as fake blood on items throughout the building. Damages were estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to prosecutors.

Cellphones belonging to those arrested showed communications about the planning of the operation, including a “do-it-yourself occupation guide,” prosecutors said.

The AP recorded at least 86 incidents last spring in which arrests were made at college or university campus protests against the war in Gaza across the U.S.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is planning to halt more than half a billion dollars in contracts and grants awarded to Brown University, adding to a list of Ivy League colleges that have had their federal money threatened as a result of their responses to antisemitism, a White House official said.

Nearly $510 million in federal contracts and grants are on the line, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the plan and spoke on condition of anonymity.

In an email Thursday to campus leaders, Brown Provost Frank Doyle said the university was aware of “troubling rumors” about government action on its research money. “At this moment, we have no information to substantiate any of these rumors,” Doyle said.

It comes two days after President Donald Trump’s administration halted research grants at Princeton University. Dozens of universities are facing federal investigations into antisemitism following a wave of pro-Palestinian protests last year, but the administration has focused special attention on elite colleges.

Columbia University was the first one targeted, losing $400 million in federal money with threats to terminate more if it didn’t make the campus safer for Jewish students. The school agreed to several demands from the government last month, including an overhaul of student discipline rules and a review of the school’s Middle East studies department.

Trump’s administration has promised a more aggressive approach against campus antisemitism, accusing former President Joe Biden of letting schools off the hook. It has opened new investigations at colleges and detained and deported several foreign students with ties to pro-Palestinian protests.

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AP Education Writer Collin Binkley contributed. Mumphrey reported from Phoenix.

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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

SALT LAKE CITY — Republican U.S. Rep. Celeste Maloy received applause at a Thursday town hall in Salt Lake City when she told the crowd she’s concerned about the country drifting toward authoritarianism “if we don’t get the executive branch under control.”

But the cheers turned to boos when she added those worries weren’t specific to Republican President Donald Trump.

“When Biden was president, I had the same concern,” she said, referring to former Democratic President Joe Biden.

Maloy’s comments summed up her careful approach to criticizing Trump throughout the event, which she held with Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Kennedy. The Utah lawmakers are among a handful of Republicans who have held public meetings against the recommendation of House Speaker Mike Johnson, who encouraged them to skip out after others drew protesters.

The boisterous audience in liberal Salt Lake City repeatedly urged Maloy to denounce Trump’s sweeping federal budget cuts. Maloy wields power over federal funding as a member of the House Appropriations Committee. She and Kennedy said they opposed some of the administration’s cuts, including to the National Park Service. But Maloy also said tough spending decisions are necessary.

“We are not going to get out of the situation we’re in financially without all of us feeling some pain,” she said.

Maloy said she and Kennedy held the town hall because they believed Utah could set an example on how to hold civil discussions about tough issues. Questions were sent in to a message board and attendees could vote for those they were most interested in hearing. The question about authoritarianism came from a man who stood up and shouted it.

To jeers from the crowd, Kennedy defended Trump’s actions in his first three months in the White House, including the president’s move to end foreign aid contracts at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“We need to make sure that our own house is in order,” he said. “We’re spending money off in foreign lands on things that may or may not be meritorious. In this case, our grandchildren will be paying back with economic disaster.”

Maloy took a more tepid approach, telling the crowd she sees a need for more checks on the executive branch as Trump has signed a flurry of executive orders.

She said she called the White House to express concern about an order that directed federal agencies to lay off hundreds of thousands of probationary employees. Judges recently ordered the workers to be rehired. She said she supports broad efforts to shrink the size and scope of the federal government but thinks the mass firing of probationary workers was the wrong approach.

Many questions focused on how federal budget cuts might impact Utah’s vast public lands, including its five national parks. Both lawmakers said they opposed the Trump administration’s reductions of National Park Service staff, but that they had little power to influence his decisions. Some jobs have been restored.

Maloy, who lives just north of Zion National Park, began her career at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, working to conserve natural resources, improve water quality and manage nutrients in the farmlands of southwest Utah. In Congress, she has served on subcommittees focusing on water resources and rural development. Her district includes many rural towns known for outdoor recreation.

Kennedy is a family doctor and former state senator. His district spans the entire eastern border of the state and groups vastly different communities, from the winter resort town of Park City, to the urban center of Provo, down to the red rock recreation hub of Moab.

Voters from both parties said after the town hall they had hoped to hear more about Social Security. Dozens of the program’s offices across the country are slated to close due to actions taken by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Not everyone in the crowd opposed Trump’s actions. Andrew Turner, a 30-year-old Republican and engineering student, said he wished the lawmakers had more time to address the future of Social Security and criticized the audience for talking over Maloy and Kennedy as they tried to answer questions.

“Something will have to be done about Social Security because otherwise it’s going to collapse,” he said. “I know as somebody who’s younger, at the current trajectory, I’m probably not going to be able to use the program. So I support the budget cuts Trump is doing.”

BOSTON — Protesters against President Donald Trump and his policies braved frigid temperatures to demonstrate Monday at rallies corresponding with the Presidents Day holiday.

Dubbed “No Kings on Presidents Day” by the 50501 Movement, the latest protests came less than two weeks after a similar nationwide event on Feb. 5 drew participants in dozens of cities. Both protests denounced Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk, the leader of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, an outside-government organization designed to slash federal spending.

Nearly 1,000 people marched in the snow from the Statehouse in Boston to City Hall, chanting “Elon Musk has got to go” and “No kings on Presidents Day!” The temperature was below freezing with wind chills in the teens.

Boston protesters, some dressed in Revolutionary War-style clothing from the 1700s, carried signs saying such things as “This is a Coup” and “Cowards Bow to Trump, Patriots Stand Up.” One sign had a depiction of Uncle Sam saying “I Want You to Resist.”

“I thought it was important to be here on Presidents Day to demonstrate for what America stands for,” said Emily Manning, 55, a Boston engineer who came to the rally with her two teenage sons. “American values are not the values of the plutocracy or the limited few rich people.”

Organizers of Monday’s protests, which were focused on state capitals and major cities including Washington, D.C.; Orlando, Florida; and Seattle, said they were targeting “anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies.”

One sign at the rally that attracted hundreds in the nation’s capital said, “Deport Musk Dethrone Trump.”

Many demonstrations were slated for cities where temperatures were well below freezing as a polar vortex worked its way across the country.

The rallies followed a series of Trump executive orders and came just days after layoffs across federal agencies as part of an effort to reduce the government workforce.

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Associated Press writer Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.

NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump is the president, but billionaire Elon Musk is the focus for thousands of Democratic activists launching a protest campaign this week to fight the Trump administration’s push to gut federal health, education and human services agencies.

Hundreds of protests are scheduled outside congressional offices and Tesla dealerships, with organizers hoping to send a pointed message to members of Congress who are on recess this week.

The backlash still hasn’t approached the intensity of protests during and after Trump’s first inauguration eight years ago. But a loose coalition of Democrats and progressives is coalescing around Musk’s rise as Trump’s top lieutenant and his purge of the federal bureaucracy.

“He’s a major weak link in the MAGA coalition,” Ezra Levin, co-founder of the progressive group Indivisible, said of Musk. “I can’t think of something that polls worse than the richest man in the world is coming after your Social Security check or your Meals on Wheels or your Head Start.”

Indivisible, which claims more than 1,300 local chapters nationwide, is encouraging members to protest at the offices of their members of Congress, regardless of political party. The group also offered a step-by-step guide for protesting at dealerships for Tesla, Musk’s electric vehicle company.

The memo encourages protesters to stay on sidewalks and public spaces and to avoid any actions that might directly interfere with business operations, such as blocking entrances or trespassing on private property. It also calls for Tesla protesters to stay on message: “This is about Musk’s political takeover, not Tesla, SpaceX, or X as companies.”

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is launching what he’s calling “a national tour to fight oligarchy” with stops in working-class districts of Iowa and Nebraska this week.

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin will hit the road for the first time as party leader as well. The newly elected DNC chair will travel to Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri in the coming days to meet with local Democratic officials and labor leaders, spokesperson Hannah Muldavin said.

Like the protesters, Martin is expected to seize on Musk’s role. During a meeting with labor leaders in Pittsburgh, for example, he plans to highlight Musk’s recent focus on the Department of Labor, which could put “the integrity of data like the unemployment rate and inflation rate at risk, which is important for a stable U.S. economy and, by extension, working people,” Muldavin said.

Aware of the intense displeasure from their party’s base, many House Democrats plan to be proactive.

The House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee issued a memo ahead of the recess instructing Democrats to embrace “nine days of visibility” and said it was essential for members to host one town hall, in-person or via telephone, and at least one community event that highlights the “devastating impacts” of Trump and Musk’s actions.

The wave of protests comes at a critical moment as fractured Democrats struggle to stop the Republican president’s purge of the federal bureaucracy, which features thousands of layoffs inside departments focused on public health, education, veterans affairs and human services, among others.

Firings in recent days at the Department of Veterans Affairs include researchers working on cancer treatment, opioid addiction, prosthetics and burn pit exposure, according to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state. The cuts also include more than 5,000 employees at the Department of Health and Human Services and roughly one-tenth of the workforce at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In some cases, Musk’s team is trying — with Trump’s blessing but without congressional approval — to shutter entire agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Education and the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Trump has defended the cuts as necessary to eliminate waste and fraud. And he has praised Musk’s work with his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, saying it has found “shocking” evidence of wasteful spending. He signed an executive order expanding Musk’s influence.

Musk, meanwhile, has defended the swift and extensive cuts he’s pushing across the federal government while acknowledging there have been mistakes.

Democrats in Congress condemn the moves as dangerous, but without control of either chamber of Congress, there is little they can do to stop the Trump administration aside from turning to the courts. Still, three of the nation’s largest progressive groups — Indivisible, MoveOn and the Working Families Party — are coordinating this week’s protests to send a clear message to elected officials in both major political parties that they must do more.

Still, Democratic members of Congress may face their own voters’ fury.

MoveOn, which boasts a membership of nearly 10 million, is hosting dozens of rallies outside town halls and congressional offices for those members who do not host public events. The group will focus on “persuadable House Republicans whose votes will be crucial to opposing the Trump-Musk agenda,” according to a preview of its recess week plan. But there will also be rallies targeting House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, both of New York, among other Democrats.

“We are seeing a true resurgence in energy opposing what Trump, Musk and Republicans are doing to our country,” MoveOn executive director Rahna Epting said, adding that “people are mad as hell.”

The Working Families Party is focusing protests in the districts of vulnerable Republicans in states such as California, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The actions will feature people directly impacted by the Trump administration’s cuts, including special education teachers, nurses and Head Start workers, according to Working Families spokesman Ravi Mangla.

“A lot of Republicans,” Mangla said, “have not have had their feet held to the fire.”

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. He chose that location in part to honor President Abraham Lincoln as “a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today.” Now, millions of people honor King in the same way.

On the third Monday of January — close to King’s Jan. 15 birthday — federal, state and local governments, institutions and various industries recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day. For some, the holiday is just that — time off from work or school. But, King’s family and others carrying on his legacy of equality, justice and non-violent protest want Americans to remember that this holiday is really about helping others.

While it is now a time-honored tradition, the establishment of the holiday had a prolonged, difficult path to acceptance.

The idea to establish a national holiday for the civil rights icon arose as the nation was plunged into grief. U.S. Democratic Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, one of the longest-serving members of Congress known for his liberal stance on civil rights, proposed legislation to recognize King four days after his assassination outside a motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.

Supporters knew it would not be easy. King, who was 39 years old at the time, was a polarizing figure to half the country even before his death, said Lerone Martin, director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. Polls conducted by the Washington Post and the New York Times indicated most Americans did not trust King or thought he was too radical because of his speeches on poverty, housing and against the Vietnam War.

“People say that King is moving too fast after 1965 and basically ‘Hey, you got the Voting Rights bill done. That’s enough,’” Martin said.

The Congressional Black Caucus, founded by Conyers, tried to bring the legislation up for a vote for the next 15 years. Among the Republican rebuttals — public holidays don’t apply to private citizens, King was a communist or King was a womanizer. In the meantime, his widow, Coretta Scott King, kept lobbying for it. Musician Stevie Wonder even released a song, “Happy Birthday,” to rally support.

So, what changed?

By the 1980s, the social and cultural climate in the U.S. had shifted and the public was reflecting on racial progress, Martin said. Most Americans now were also regretting the Vietnam War. Supporters, meanwhile, were still calling for federal holiday status.

In 1983, about 20 years after King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, legislation for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the third Monday of January cleared Congress and President Ronald Reagan signed it.

Reagan’s signing did not lead other Republicans to follow. It would be 17 more years until all 50 states observed it. Most of the foot-dragging came from the South — except for Arizona. Then in 1987, Gov. Evan Mecham rescinded his predecessor’s executive order enacting a state holiday in Arizona.

“He said ‘Black people don’t need a holiday. Y’all need jobs,’” recalled Dr. Warren H. Stewart Sr., senior pastor at First Institutional Baptist Church in Phoenix. “That started the war.”

Stewart launched a group to lead “people of all colors and all persuasions, faiths and parties” in protest marches. Entertainers including Wonder canceled Arizona events. Companies moved conventions. The tipping point was the loss of hosting the Super Bowl. In 1992, Arizona became the first state where voter initiative reinstated the King holiday.

Supporters took a victory lap the next MLK Day with a packed arena concert attended by Wonder and other artists. Even Rosa Parks was there. Stewart remembers speaking to the crowd.

“What I said there — and it still applies today — we’ve won the holiday but the holiday is a symbol of liberty and justice for all and we must move from symbol to substance,” he said.

South Carolina was the final holdout until 2000. But, it was without the backing of the civil rights groups because it also allowed for a Confederate Memorial Day.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day’s reach has only grown in its 42 years.

It’s the only federal holiday where you take a “day on, not a day off.” In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed into law Congressman John Lewis and Sen. Harris Wofford’s legislation making it a National Day of Service.

Just about every major city and suburb has some revelry the weekend before, including parades, street festivals and concerts. The various service projects run the gamut — community clean-up, packing food boxes, donating blood.

AmeriCorps, the federal agency that deploys volunteers to serve communities around the nation, has distributed $1.5 million in grants to 200 nonprofits, faith-based groups and other organizations for projects. CEO Michael Smith estimates there have been hundreds of projects involving hundreds of thousands of people for MLK day in recent years. Engagement seems to be expanding.

“You know, any given day I see another project that has nothing to do with us,” said Smith, who has served in President Joe Biden’s administration. “What’s so important about the King holiday is not only the service that’s going to happen, but how it creates a spark for people to think about how maybe they’re going to serve all year long.”

That’s something King’s daughter, the Rev. Bernice King and CEO of the King Center in Atlanta, desires as well. She wishes people would do more than “quote King, which we love to do.” They need to do good work and commit daily “to embrace the spirit of nonviolence.”

Martin also thinks it’s important to learn about the man himself. He finds excitement in seeing people read or hear about the Nobel Peace Prize winner. But, nothing compares to taking in King’s own writings such as his 1963 “Letter from the Birmingham Jail,” he added.

“We can arm ourselves with his ideals,” Martin said. “We can continue to have a conversation with him — not just on one day but actually throughout the year.”

BANGKOK — China has slammed a decision by the U.S. Treasury to sanction a Beijing-based cybersecurity company for its alleged role in multiple hacking incidents targeting critical U.S. infrastructure.

Asked about the sanctions against Beijing-based Integrity Technology Group, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the country has cracked down on cyber attacks and that Washington was using the issue to “defame and smear China.”

“For some time now, the U.S. side has been playing up so-called Chinese cyber attacks and has even initiated illegal unilateral sanctions against China,” said Guo Jiakun, a ministry spokesperson. “China firmly opposes this and will take necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.”

Integrity Technology Group said the move by Washington had “no factual basis.”

“The company firmly opposes the U.S. Treasury Department’s unwarranted accusations and Illegal unilateral sanctions on the company,” the company, also known as Yongxin Zhicheng Technology Group, said in a statement Monday to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

On Friday, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control hit Integrity Technology with sanctions that block access to U.S. property and bank accounts and prevent the targeted people and companies from doing business with Americans. It cited alleged multiple hacks against U.S. victims, including incidents attributed to Flax Typhoon, a Chinese state-sponsored campaign that targets U.S. critical infrastructure.

The sanctions did not appear to be related to an incident in which the Treasury Department reported that Chinese hackers had remotely accessed several of its workstations and unclassified documents in a major breach of cybersecurity.

The Treasury Department said it learned of that problem on Dec. 8, when a third-party software service provider, BeyondTrust, flagged that hackers had stolen a key “used by the vendor to secure a cloud-based service used to remotely provide technical support” to workers.

U.S. officials are grappling with the fallout from a massive Chinese cyberespionage blitz known as Salt Typhoon that they say gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans.

Late last month, officials said at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of nations, had been affected by Salt Typhoon.

Integrity Technology said the sanctions would not adversely affect its business since it does not operate in the U.S. and has no assets there. It added that it abides by all laws and regulations and that it “has always adhered to the corporate vision and mission of bringing a sense of security to the world.”