Our reporters followed the journeys of babies evacuated from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. A trial begins in Texas over a Black teen’s dreadlocks. And why some House Republicans are calling it quits.
Here’s what to know today.
Gaza’s youngest survivors face fresh peril after high-stakes hospital evacuation
After 31 babies were evacuated from Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza in November, the parents of baby Anas Stateh faced an impossible choice: keep Anas with them in Gaza so the family could stay together, or send Anas alone to Egypt where he could be safer. Only mothers were allowed to accompany the babies across the border, so Anas’ parents chose to keep him in Gaza.
It was a decision that Anas’ father says he now regrets. Anas, now five months old, has a hernia that requires urgent surgery, but the war has made it impossible for his parents to get him the help he needs.
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Despite the high-stakes efforts to save the babies in November, six died during the Israeli military’s siege and subsequent raid on Al-Shifa Hospital, according to doctors. Some of the babies who were sent to Egypt have been reunited with their parents, while the families of others have yet to be found. As of today, nine babies are in the nursery without their mothers.
Egyptian and Palestinian authorities said they are determined to track down the families of the babies who have yet to be claimed.
Read the full story here.
More on the Israel-Hamas war:
- Hopes of a truce in Gaza and a new hostage deal with Hamas were raised after Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war Cabinet, said yesterday there were attempts “to promote a new outline.” He also repeated Israel’s threat to invade the city of Rafah during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan which starts March 10, if there is no hostage deal before then. Follow our live blog.
Protesters gather near superintendent’s house on eve of trial over Texas teen punished for dreadlocks
A trial to determine whether a Texas school district can continue to punish a Black teen for refusing to change his hairstyle is set to begin today. For most of the academic year, Barbers Hill High School junior Darryl George has been in in-school suspension or at an off-site disciplinary program because school officials said George’s dreadlocks violated the district’s dress code. George’s family is arguing that the 18-year-old’s punishment violates Texas’ newly implemented CROWN Act. Barbers Hill Independent School District asked a judge to clarify whether that’s the case. Here’s what else to know about the trial.
Yesterday afternoon, protesters gathered near Superintendent Greg Poole’s home in support of George. One woman even set up a salon chair during the demonstration to style dreadlocks in a show of support. Reporter Char Adams was in Baytown, Texas, to talk to protesters. Read more about the protest here.
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More outraged families say loved ones were wrongly buried in Mississippi
For more than 10 months, James Aaron Moran’s family searched for him. They reported him missing, called jails and hospitals and posted about his disappearance on Facebook. At one point Moran’s ex-wife says she called the coroner’s office in Hinds County, Mississippi, and was told it had no record of him.
But that wasn’t true.
In early December, Moran’s relatives learned he was among hundreds of unclaimed bodies buried at the county jail’s work farm.
NBC News started documenting botched death notifications in Hinds County last fall, starting with the case of Dexter Wade and continuing with the cases of Marrio Moore and John David Hankins. Now, another four families, including Moran’s, have come forward to say that they, too, were not told about a loved one’s death and burial. Read the full story here.
Alabama’s largest healthcare system pauses IVF services after court ruling
The University of Alabama at Birmingham suspended in-vitro fertilization treatments less than a week after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos created through IVF are considered children, saying it needs time to consider the legal repercussions. The announcement marks the first major consequence of the state supreme court’s decision, which has left providers and patients unsure of how to navigate the process.
Meanwhile, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley sided with the ruling, saying that frozen embryos created through in-vitro fertilization are in fact “babies.”
Wife of Nevada GOP Senate candidate opens up about her abortion
When Amy Brown found out she was pregnant in 2008, it turned her world upside down. At the time, she was a single, ambitious 24-year-old striving to become an Army dietician, on the cusp of completing an internship to land a full-time job.
“In that moment, I felt like my back was against a wall, and the walls were closing in, and I had one door out — and so I pursued that door,” said a tearful Amy Brown, the wife of Nevada Senate GOP candidate Sam Brown.
In an exclusive interview, Amy and Sam Brown talked extensively about her experience of having an abortion — an extraordinary and emotional revelation from the wife of a pro-life Republican candidate for elected office.
Politics in Brief
Cannabis classification: Some of the nation’s largest veterans groups are pushing the Biden administration to ease federal restrictions on marijuana, joining a growing number of calls to reschedule the drug.
GOP unrest: A wave of retirements among House Republicans is sending shockwaves through Capitol Hill, as colleagues say mounting frustration with the paralysis and dysfunction within the party is driving out experienced, pragmatic dealmakers. Here’s who’s leaving.
Student loan debt: The Biden administration is canceling $1.2 billion in student debt for about 153,000 borrowers.
Musk in D.C.: Tech billionaire Elon Musk quietly visited the White House last fall, marking what appears to be his first meeting there since President Joe Biden took office.
Trump investigations: Donald Trump has vowed to appeal a $355 million ruling against him in his civil fraud case. But first he’ll have to secure a bond, and that might not be so easy.
Election conspiracies: On two occasions every year, the top election officials from most states gather to commiserate and share nonpartisan advice. This year, West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner drew rare groans from the crowd.
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Staff Pick: More teens are turning to weight loss drugs
It’s hard to overstate the impact that drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have had on society in the past year. Now, the same swirl of promise and controversy is reaching some of society’s most emotionally vulnerable members: teenagers. Marina Kopf and Vicky Nguyen wanted to know what it was like for teens taking these drugs, as well as their parents. Some said the weight loss drugs changed their outlooks on life. And one mother said she just wanted a better life for her daughter. — Sara G. Miller, health editor
In Case You Missed It
- The parents of Gabby Petito, who was killed during a cross-country road trip in 2021, say they “reluctantly agreed” to a settlement in their suit against the parents of her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie.
- NFL star Travis Kelce arrived in Australia today, where girlfriend Taylor Swift is performing a series of sold-out concerts as part of the international leg of her record-breaking Eras Tour.
- The head of Boeing’s 737 Max program is leaving the company in a management shake-up in the wake of an Alaska Airlines mishap.
- Beyoncé made history as the first Black female artist to have a No. 1 country song with her new single “Texas Hold ’Em.”
- A fake sexually explicit video of podcast host Bobbi Althoff spread rapidly on social media despite it violating X’s rules against nonconsensual deepfakes.
- Authorities said they will release video from inside the Oklahoma high school school where the family of an LGBTQ student said the teen was attacked one day before their death.
- A 7-year-old Indiana girl died and her 9-year-old brother was hospitalized after the sand hole they were digging at a Florida beach collapsed on top of them .
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