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YOUNGSTOWN — U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Salem, introduced a bill that would punish any local or state government that celebrates Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day.

Called the “Italian Heroes and Heritage Act,” Rulli’s bill would prohibit federal funds to local or state governments that have replaced Columbus Day, which is Monday, with Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Rulli’s bill doesn’t address local or state governments that celebrate both, stating it would apply to those that celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day “in lieu of Columbus Day.”

Rulli, an Italian American, said the day recognizes the “generations of Italian Americans whose courage, sacrifice and hard work have helped shape the United States.”

Rulli, whose 11-county district has Mahoning as its most populous, said, “For years, the extreme left has desecrated statues of Christopher Columbus and sought to erase Columbus Day, replacing it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This is not about inclusion, it is about erasing the contributions of millions of Italian Americans who helped build this nation. Indigenous peoples deserve recognition, but this day was created to honor us.”

Columbus Day was first celebrated as a federal holiday in 1934 in the United States on Oct. 12 and then moved to the second Monday in October starting in 1971.

Rulli’s bill mentions that President Benjamin Harrison founded the day in 1892 — 400 years after Columbus’ arrival in the Americas — to honor that voyage and the lynching of 11 Italian Americans in New Orleans because of their heritage.

Harrison’s recognition was a one-time national celebration.

Israel is reportedly forcing over 150 Palestinians freed from Israeli prisons as part of the ceasefire deal into exile, in a move that experts say is a violation of international law.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office says that at least 154 Palestinians released on Monday will be exiled and deported to an unknown country, per Al Jazeera. Almost all had been residents of the occupied West Bank.

As Al Jazeera reported, families rejoiced upon hearing of their loved ones’ release, only to be devastated to hear that they would not be reunited with their family members, many of whom have been imprisoned for decades in Israel’s prisons and torture camps.

This is a violation of international law, experts said.

“Forcing Palestinian prisoners into exile in Gaza or abroad as a release condition, or expelling them post-detention, is a war crime under international law. This is exile, not freedom,” wrote Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor legal head Lima Bustami on social media.

Bustami noted that, with Israel controlling all of the borders of Palestinian territory, Israel has also prevented families from traveling abroad to see their exiled family members.

“Exile here is turned into a whole system of collective torture, to punish, to isolate, and to erase human connection itself,” Bustami said. “Exiling Palestinian prisoners is the continuation of captivity by other means…. This is not security; it is the anatomy of apartheid.”

“It goes without saying it’s illegal,” said Tamer Qarmout, public policy associate professor for the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, to Al Jazeera. “It is illegal because these are citizens of Palestine. They have no other citizenships. They’re out of a small prison, but they’re sent to a bigger prison, away from their society, to new countries in which they will face major restrictions. It’s inhumane.”

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a legendary transgender activist, was known for many things in her community. As a caretaker, she was known for getting Black trans women off the street and housed when they faced poverty and violence. As a fierce advocate for trans rights, she was known for demanding that LGBTQ+ people focus on protecting the most vulnerable among them, like women being policed and incarcerated for trying to survive. And as a veteran of the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York City, she was known as a queer elder who did not want the past to be used as an excuse for inaction.

Her nonprofit retreat for trans leaders, The House of gg — the Griffin-Gracy Educational and Historical Center — announced her death in an Instagram statement on Monday night. She died at home on October 13 in Little Rock, Arkansas, surrounded by loved ones, the statement said. She was 78, according to the statement, although she doubted official records of her birth and believed she was in her 80s. She was hospitalized twice this year and was recently in hospice care, following a bloodstream infection. She suffered her second stroke in 2019.

Miss Major is survived by her longtime partner, Beck Witt Major, with whom she had a child, Asiah Wittenstein Major, in 2021. She raised other children during her life, through adoption and through relationships with former partners — including Deborah Brown, who gave birth to their son, Christopher, in 1978. But her family relationships extended beyond blood; according to the House of gg, she is also survived by Janetta Johnson, successor of the Miss Major Alexander L. Lee TGIJP Black Trans Cultural Center, and her sisters Tracie O’Brien and Billie Cooper.

She was born in Chicago and grew up with two siblings, Cookie and Sargeant. She loved her parents, “despite their recurring attempts to smack the queen out of her,” according to her memoir.

In the last years of her life, Miss Major felt called to fight back against the rising tide of anti-trans legislation. She wanted to talk directly with young LGBTQ+ people and encourage them to take action. She met with them at protests and at local gay bars, at the Democratic National Convention in 2024 while campaigning for former Vice President Kamala Harris, and during her third visit to the White House in 2023. She relied on motorized scooters and wheelchairs to travel across states, by car, by plane and by Amtrak, to have those conversations. She felt called to keep going for the cause, even as traveling became difficult for her.

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The U.S. admiral who leads U.S. military forces in Latin America will step down at the end of this year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Thursday, in a surprise move that comes amid escalating tensions with Venezuela.

Alvin Holsey only took over the U.S. military's Southern Command late last year for a position that normally lasts three years. A source told Reuters that there had been tension between him and Hegseth and questions about whether he would be fired in the days leading up to the announcement.

Social media has a rumor he refused orders to do military action against Venezuela