California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said Monday that he is withdrawing most of the state’s National Guard troops from the Mexican border. He said he plans to leave 100 of about 360 currently deployed state troops to help the federal government fight drug crime. Withdrawal will begin immediately but may not be completed until the end of March. Former Gov. Jerry Brown, also a Democrat, agreed in April 2018 to deploy up to 400 troops to the border after President Donald Trump requested support from four border states.

Denver teachers went on strike Monday after they failed to reach a deal with administrators on a pay raise. The strike is the first for Denver’s more than 4,000 teachers in 25 years.

British actor Albert Finney died Thursday at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London after complications from a chest infection. He was 82. His family said Friday that he “passed away peacefully after a short illness with those closest to him by his side.” Finney became famous after starring in Tom Jones in 1963, earning him the first of five Oscar nominations. He earned other nominations for his roles in Murder on the Orient Express, The Dresser, Under the Volcano, and Erin Brockovich.

U.S. employers added 304,000 jobs to the economy in January, the most in nearly a year, the federal government reported Friday. The gain follows a decade of economic expansion, with the United States seeing added jobs for 100 straight months, the longest such period ever reported. Hiring has accelerated since last summer despite December job growth coming in below predictions.

The polar vortex that continues to cover much of the Midwest Thursday in a deep freeze is blamed for at least eight deaths so far. The deaths included an elderly Illinois man found several hours after falling while entering his home, a University of Iowa student found behind an academic hall before dawn, and a Milwaukee man who froze to death in a garage, according to authorities. Automobile or snowplow accidents killed at least three others.

Frigid weather descended on much of the United States on Wednesday, thanks to a split in the polar vortex. Officials from Montana to Maine and as far south as Georgia urged residents to take precautions amid the freezing cold. The Midwest bore the brunt of the freeze, with the temperature hitting minus 20 degrees in Chicago by Wednesday morning, breaking the previous record low for the day set in 1966. The U.S. Postal Service suspended mail delivery on Wednesday in parts or all of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder 

Marta McDowell