National news from iSEARK.com with a Southeast Arkansas angle.
President Trump signed an order Friday carrying out the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. The order sets steep new duties on Russia and its oil buyers, then waives them and most of the law's sanctions for now.
A soybean field in Arkansas. *
Katie Zacharia is "transitioning out" as White House press secretary a week after her appointment, White House officials said Friday. President Trump said he told her she did not have to stay in the job.
Waterfowl near Bayou Meto. *
The Department of Health and Human Services has sent the White House an "interim access policy" that would let compounding pharmacies make certain peptides. The federal filing does not yet say which peptides it would cover.
Border Patrol made 98,708 arrests at the southwest border in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the lowest total in agency history, according to preliminary federal figures. DHS also says agents released no one into the country for a full year.
Baldcypress trees at Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge. *
Three advocacy groups sued the Department of Homeland Security, claiming it illegally gathered voter files from at least 47 states and mixed them with commercial data. DHS says it is using federal data to stop noncitizens from voting.
A Tacoma, Washington, grocery store owner accused of turning at least $600,000 in SNAP benefits into cash is back in the U.S. after fleeing to India, the FBI said.
Cattle grazing in Arkansas. *
The Justice Department told Los Angeles County on Friday that workers who knowingly count ballots from people on its list of likely noncitizens could be treated as accomplices to a federal crime. The warning follows Thursday's lawsuit against California.