Deepti Hajela, Author at The Rapid City Post

FILE - The 7-foot tall "2026" numerals are displayed at an illumination ceremony in Times Square, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Gray, File)

Out with the old: With 2026 nigh, here’s some wide-ranging intel on managing transitions

December 28, 2025

It’s that time again when we turn the calendar page on one year and meet another. For many Americans, these last weeks of December are a time to take stock, to look at goals accomplished and those still unmet, to think about hopes and plans for the next year. Experts in different fields who deal with transitions and change have some advice – Plan what you can, but accept that some things will be unknown and unexpected. What works for someone else may not be the best way for you. Set goals that you can achieve, and then build on them.

FILE - A woman clutches a U.S. flag as she and applicants from other countries prepare to take the oath of citizenship in commemoration of Independence Day during a Naturalization Ceremony in San Antonio, July 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Naturalized US citizens thought they were safe. Trump’s immigration policies are shaking that belief

November 14, 2025

As President Donald Trump reshapes immigration and the nation’s relationship with immigrants, some naturalized citizens are wondering if the country they made a commitment to when they took the oath of citizenship is still making one to them. There’s now fear that the push to drastically increase deportations and shift who can claim America as home is having a ripple effect. What citizenship has meant has expanded and contracted over the course of American history. In the last years of the 19th century and into the 20th century, laws were put on the books limiting immigration and, by extension, naturalization. The 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act replaced the system with one that portions visas equally among nations.

FILE - As prisoners stand looking out from a cell, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Using detainees and prisoners as photo props has a long history in American politics

November 13, 2025

Photos and video of immigrants in custody have been a hallmark of President Donald Trump’s administration, and illustrate his agenda to crack down on immigration. The images have appeared in ads aired nationwide to recruit Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and in White House and federal agency social media posts. The use of these images has drawn anger and outrage, derided by some as propaganda that further punishes detainees. But this method of demonstrating political might and the power of the criminal justice system has been around for at least a century, including photos of public executions and convicted men working at Alcatraz.

FILE - A sign that reads "Closed due to federal government shutdown," is seen outside of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

You can end a shutdown overnight — but you can’t reopen a government that fast

November 13, 2025

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history may be officially over, but getting everything back up and running won’t happen all at once. The disruption of the closure, clocking in at 43 days, ranged in the impact it had on people. Federal workers, who were immediately and directly affected, were expected to be back on the job Thursday. Flight disruptions will continue at some of the nation’s airports. Some states say recipients of food aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program should receive their full monthly benefits starting Thursday or Friday, though it could take up to a week. Two of the Smithsonian’s museums were to reopen Friday, and the rest will reopen by Monday.

Sisters Clara Hetland, 4, left, Haddie Hetland, center, 9, and Audra Hetland 6, of Surprise, Ariz., spend time at a makeshift memorial set up at Turning Point USA headquarters after the shooting death at a Utah college on Wednesday of Charlie Kirk, the co-founder and CEO of the organization, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Kids and current events: How to help them deal with what they see around them

September 11, 2025

In hardly any time at all, the footage of the horrifying moment when a bullet hit conservative activist Charlie Kirk in the neck ricocheted across the internet. Whether seeing it inadvertently or seeking it out, onlookers far from the crowd at a Utah college could be exposed to disturbingly close and potentially bloody glimpses of his shooting and the resulting chaos. It’s the product of a digital-first world. And, of course, among those seeing it were kids, teens and other young people — those who live with their phones practically attached. It raises a question that modern-day parents are sadly having to ask more frequently: How do you talk to your kids about what’s going on?

FILE - Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents escort a detained immigrant into an elevator after he exited an immigration courtroom, Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova, file)

In American life, a growing and forbidding visual rises: The law-enforcement officer in a mask

July 18, 2025

Immigration enforcement agents are detaining people and taking them into custody, at times under public anger and outcry. What’s often not visible are the agents’ faces, covered by caps, sunglasses, pulled-up neck gaiters or balaclavas, effectively rendering them unidentifiable. The increase in high-profile immigration enforcement was already contentious between those opposed to the actions of President Donald Trump’s administration and those in support. The sight of masked agents carrying it out is creating a whole new level of conflict in a way that has no real corollary in the U.S. history of policing.