San Francisco is restoring eighth-grade algebra after more than a decade, with the San Francisco Board of Education voting 4-3 Tuesday night to approve the change, reversing a controversial policy that had eliminated the course in middle schools in the name of equity.

The vote follows years of debate over academic rigor, access and declining outcomes, as families increasingly pushed the district to expand advanced coursework options.

"Families want to see a public school system that offers rigorous coursework. This is absolutely an instructional strategy," school board President Phil Kim said, according to The New York Times. "But it’s also a retention tool to bring families to our district and demonstrate we will not only take care of your children, but we will teach them, too."

The original policy, implemented roughly 12 years ago, was designed to give students more time to master foundational math before advancing. However, the results fell short of expectations, the Times reported.

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"For years, San Francisco tried to achieve equity not by raising the floor, but by lowering the ceiling," Stanford economist Thomas S. Dee told the Times. "It's a problem we see nationally."

Under the new plan, algebra will return as an option for all eighth graders across the district, with multiple pathways designed to expand access while maintaining academic readiness.

District officials plan to offer algebra as an elective taken alongside standard math coursework, while some students who meet eligibility requirements may take it as their primary math class.

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High-achieving students will be automatically placed into algebra but will have the ability to opt out, a policy designed to increase participation among underrepresented groups.

The changes build on a two-year district experiment that tested different approaches to middle-school math, including allowing students to take Algebra I concurrently with Math 8.

Students who enrolled in both courses saw "dramatic gains" in math performance, "equivalent to nearly a full extra year of learning," Dee said.

The policy shift also follows broader public backlash, including a 2024 ballot initiative in which San Francisco voters overwhelmingly supported restoring algebra to middle schools.

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The issue became a focal point in wider debates over pandemic-era school closures and education policy, as many parents sought outside options to keep their children on track academically.

"We’re the center of technological innovation in the United States, and we can’t teach our kids math?" GrowSF founder Steven Bacio told the Times. "It upended existing political alliances and got tens of thousands of people paying attention."

The San Francisco Board of Education did not respond to Fox News Digital for comment.

"Nobody knows who to talk to," President Donald Trump said Tuesday at the White House, describing what he portrayed as both chaos and opportunity inside Iran’s leadership. "But we're actually talking to the right people, and they want to make a deal so badly." 

His remarks come as the U.S. claims it is engaged in talks with a "top" Iranian figure, even as Tehran publicly denies negotiations are taking place.

The question now is not just whether talks are happening, but whether anyone in Tehran has the authority to deliver. With U.S.-Israel strikes on senior Iranian leadership and growing internal fractures, Iran appears to be operating less like a centralized theocracy and more like a wartime system run by overlapping power centers, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at its core.

Here’s who matters now.

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Across intelligence assessments and recent reporting, one conclusion is consistent: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has emerged as the dominant force in Iran’s political system.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Washington, D.C., think tank, said the current moment is accelerating a long-standing trend. 

"No doubt both the 12-Day war and this current conflict have trimmed the commanding heights of the Islamic Republic's political and military leadership," he said.  "But it has also expedited the trend lines inherent in Iranian politics, which is the dominance of the security forces and the ascendance of the IRGC."

"Yes, there is more IRGC control over the state than ever before, but the state is weaker than ever before and more of a national security rump state than ever before," he said. 

"It shouldn't particularly preoccupy Washington, who is and isn't offering negotiations," Ben Taleblu added. "The preeminent preoccupation of Washington has to be working toward a military win at a political win, and that does not come by working with the IRGC, but actually beating them on the battlefield and supporting the forces most arrayed against them in Iran, which are the Iranian people."

If the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is the power in Iran, the Supreme National Security Council appears to be the mechanism through which that power is exercised.

The Supreme National Security Council is Iran’s top forum for coordinating military and foreign policy, bringing together senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders and government officials under the authority of the supreme leader. It was established after the 1979 revolution and has played a central role in managing major crises, from nuclear negotiations to wartime operations.

Iran appointed Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, as secretary of the council, reinforcing its central role in coordinating military and political decisions, Reuters reported Tuesday.

A Middle Eastern official source with knowledge of the system described the structure. 

"Right now, the power is in the hands of the IRGC," the source said. "The Supreme National Security Council makes the decisions, of course, with the backing of the majority of IRGC commanders."

Formally, Iran’s system centers on Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. But his actual grip on power remains uncertain.

Khamenei inherited the position’s sweeping authority following his father’s death, but "lacks the automatic authority enjoyed by his father," the Middle Eastern official said.

Moreover, he has not appeared publicly since taking power and only has issued written statements, raising questions about both his health and his ability to govern, after reportedly being injured in the initial Feb. 28 U.S.–Israeli strikes that killed his father and other senior Iranian leaders.

Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, suggested his role may currently be limited: "For the time being, since Mojtaba has been injured, it seems he's a hologram and not holding power. However, if Mojtaba recovers, he will be involved in ruling Iran. He is not just a figurehead. But anyhow, for the time being, the control of Iran is in the hands of the revolutionary guards."

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Trump’s statement that he is speaking to a "top person" has focused attention on one name in particular: Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

The White House is quietly exploring Ghalibaf as a potential interlocutor and even a possible future leader, Axios reported.

A former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander and current parliament speaker, Ghalibaf represents a hybrid figure inside the system, bridging military credentials and political authority.

He was one of the key security figures involved in the crackdown on student protests in July 1999 and has run for president four times since 2005.

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Ghalibaf is expected to meet U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in the capital of Pakistan as early as the end of the week. 

Ben Taleblu said: "Those who see the ascendants of someone like Ghalibaf, who is an IRGC veteran, having extended power outside his traditional civilian rule, have missed the decades of how personality, not profession, has been the driving force in Iranian politics for the past few decades. I would also say those who worry about the IRGC background of the Supreme National Security Council are all that in Iran today, may have missed the fact that the past few Supreme National Security Council Secretaries, Shamkhani, Larijani, Ahmadian, all also had IRGC backgrounds."

At the same time, Ghalibaf has publicly denied engaging in talks with the United States, and no direct confirmation of negotiations has been provided by either side.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi remains one of the most visible figures internationally.

If talks were to take place, Araghchi likely would be part of the Iranian delegation alongside Ghalibaf, Reuters reported.

But analysts caution that his role is limited. He may act as a channel for communication, but does not set policy independently. 

Strategic decisions, particularly on war and negotiations, are still shaped by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the broader security establishment.

Beyond the headline figures, a broader group of officials who continue to shape Iran’s direction can be identified.

These include Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Ahmad Vahidi, Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani, naval commander Alireza Tangsiri, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, President Masoud Pezeshkian and senior clerical and political figures such as Saeed Jalili and Ayatollah Alireza Arafi.

Each represents a different pillar of the system: military power, regional proxy operations, control of strategic waterways, internal repression and religious legitimacy.

Together, they form what analysts describe as a fragmented but resilient governing network.

Despite internal divisions, Iran’s leadership remains united on one core objective: survival of the regime.

Kuperwasser described the split: "There are the more pragmatic elites, like Araghchi, Rouhani, and Zarif. There are also the hardliners who have usually held the upper hand … But they are united in one issue — that the regime should survive and stay in power."

Iran’s U.N. mission did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication. 

As the suspect in the killing of Loyola University student Sheridan Gorman faces charges, scrutiny is growing over the policies her family said left the accused in a position to commit the crime. 

Jose Medina-Medina, the 25-year-old Venezuelan national charged with Gorman's murder, entered the U.S. illegally under the Biden administration before being apprehended and released into the country, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Sunday.

DHS also confirmed that Medina had been previously arrested for shoplifting in Chicago.

Veteran Chicago reporter William J. Kelly called the killing "the single most avoidable loss of life" in Chicago's history Monday on "Fox & Friends" and claimed Medina had been arrested multiple times for "deportable offenses." He slammed Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's catch-and-release approach to migrant crime while praising the work of the Chicago Police Department (CPD).

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"This suspect never should have been in the country to begin with... And God bless the CPD, the Chicago police, because they have been arresting this guy, despite the fact that Mayor Johnson is endlessly telling them not to touch the illegals, not to detain them, not to turn them over to ICE," he said.

Kelly argued the mayor has no good answer for his decisions that led to what he called a "revolving door." And although Medina is now behind bars, his apprehension brought Kelly no great comfort.

"Guess what? There are thousands of Jose Medinas that are in a revolving door that's going by, going around so fast... that I'm surprised that they're not flying out of the jail, because this is exactly the policies that got Sheridan Gorman killed," he said.

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Gorman's family released a statement in which they excoriated "the policies and failures that allowed this individual to remain in a position to commit this crime" after multiple arrests.

"Sheridan was 18. She had her entire life ahead of her... All of that was taken in a moment, and there is no way to repair the loss," the statement read in part.

Simply walking near her campus was an ordinary act, they wrote, refusing to allow her murder "to be dismissed as 'wrong place, wrong time.' This was not random misfortune. This was a violent and preventable act."

Gorman's family demanded complete accountability, rejecting the idea of "second chances that put others at risk."

"When systems fail — whether through release decisions, lack of coordination, or unwillingness to act — the consequences are not abstract. They are real. And in our case, they are permanent."

Fox News Digital Matt Finn, Emma Bussey and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said the Trump administration is working to blunt rising oil prices by allowing Iranian crude already at sea to be sold, a move he described as turning Tehran’s own strategy against it.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent first outlined the approach, saying the administration could temporarily lift sanctions on roughly 140 million barrels of Iranian oil loaded on tankers, adding supply to global markets rather than intervening directly in oil futures.

Waltz said those shipments — previously bound largely for China — could instead be redirected to other countries, while existing financial sanctions remain in place.

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"Now they can go to places like India, Bangladesh or elsewhere," Waltz said on "Sunday Morning Futures."

"The sanctions on the banks are still in place, so we do not anticipate Iran sees any of that money. This is actually, as the secretary said, using their strategy against them," he added.

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Waltz said the regime’s strategy is to "sow chaos" by attacking its neighbors and attempting to "hold the world’s energy supplies hostage" after suffering significant military setbacks.

"This is… one more step to defeat that strategy on top of drill baby drill here at home, a waiver to the Jones Act, which allows ships to move between ports," he said. "We are going to defeat this strategy. It will be temporary on the part of Iran and, at the end of the day, the United States and our global coalition will prevail."

FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently confirmed agents from the U.S. Border Patrol's San Diego Sector arrested two Mexican fugitives with active warrants for homicide and lewd acts upon a child.

Agents conducted coordinated surveillance on Feb. 26 targeting Silvia Del Rosario Torres-Castro, a Mexican national wanted in Mexico for homicide. 

Torres-Castro was arrested without incident in Anaheim, California, and turned her over to Mexico’s Fiscalía General de la República (FGR), according to DHS.

Officials said she entered the U.S. illegally in December 2023 under the Biden administration in the Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station’s Area of Responsibility.

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In a separate surveillance operation on March 6, agents targeted Salvador Suazo-Garcia, a Mexican national wanted in Mexico for lewd and lascivious acts upon a child. 

Agents arrested Suazo-Garcia without incident in Lemon Grove, California, processed him administratively, and turned him over to Mexico’s FGR.

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Though Suazo-Garcia entered the U.S. legally in May 2021, his visa was revoked based on his alleged crimes in Mexico.

"Thanks to the Biden administration, these dangerous criminal illegal aliens were allowed to roam American streets and make our communities less safe," DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis wrote in a statement to Fox. "These are the types of illegal aliens the media categorizes as ‘non-criminal’ illegal aliens because they lack a rap sheet in the U.S."

Bis said nearly 70% of illegal immigrants ICE has arrested across the country have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges in the U.S. 

"This statistic doesn’t even account for those wanted for violent crimes in their home country or another country, human rights abusers, gang members, and terrorists," Bis wrote. "Now, thanks to our law enforcement, these two criminal illegals are back in Mexico to face justice for their crimes."

A New York City father is desperately seeking a donor to save his teenage son’s life.

Max Uribe, now 15 and a high-school freshman, has just weeks until he will need to be hospitalized with a rare blood disorder that could lead to a deadly cancer.

"Max was just 6 when we first noticed there was something wrong with his blood counts," his father, Juan Uribe, told Fox News Digital. "At the time, we thought it was due to a viral infection, but they never fully recovered back to their normal level."

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In December 2024, Max’s condition grew worse, and he was diagnosed with clonal cytopenia, a condition involving the blood and bone marrow.

"All three of his blood counts are low — red, white and platelets," Uribe said. 

In August 2025, another bone marrow biopsy revealed that Max is on a path to bone marrow failure, creating an urgent need for a stem cell transplant.

"The disease has continued to progress, as his blood counts continue to drop, and therefore, we have to take him to transplant in May of this year," Uribe said.

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If left untreated, Max’s condition could lead to MDS (myelodysplastic syndrome), a type of blood cancer, and from there possibly into acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

A bone marrow match must have a specific type of HLA (human leukocyte antigen), which are proteins found on the surface of most cells in the body, according to the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP).

The closer the donor’s HLA markers are to the patient’s, the more likely the body will accept the new cells without a high risk of complications.

People from the same ethnic background are more likely to share similar HLA types, meaning a patient is most likely to find a compatible donor among individuals with similar ancestry, per the NMDP.

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Non-Hispanic White patients have a 79% chance of a perfect match. That drops to 49% for Hispanic/Latino patients, 29% for Black patients and even lower for mixed ancestries, the NMDP reports.

Because Max is a "very rare combination" of half-Colombian from his father and a mix of Italian, British and German from his mother, his path to a perfect match is proving much more difficult, Uribe noted.

"For a kid like Max, with complex, mixed heritage, the math is devastating," he said. "The thinking is, we need large numbers if we're going to have that perfect match for my son."

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Max, who participates in competitive tennis and varsity wrestling, just had additional blood work done on Friday, which revealed that his counts continue to plummet.

"We're at the point where this is beginning to manifest a bit more, which is why the urgency is so critical," Uribe said.

If a donor is not secured by Max's hospitalization in May, the medical team will have to proceed with a partial match, which is not ideal for a number of reasons.

"The survival rate is meaningfully lower with a partial match, and there's more risk of graft versus host disease (GVHD), which could lead to complications in the process," Uribe said. With GVHD, the donor cells begin to attack the body.

To help prevent this with a partial match, Max would likely need chemotherapy and immunosuppressants for a longer period of time, which could weaken his immune system.

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Anyone interested in donating can order a free test kit on the Team Max website. The kit includes a quick cheek swab that is sent back to the lab to determine whether someone is a match.

A staffer for Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, allegedly lied about being an attorney at least 11 times for detainees at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in an effort to meet with them and sneak in cell phones. 

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons informed Escobar in a letter dated Thursday about Benito Torres, a senior caseworker on the congresswoman's staff.

Lyons said Torres lied about being a lawyer for detainees in ICE custody at the Camp East Montana facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso. 

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"The available evidence demonstrates your staffer, a senior caseworker named Benito Torres, misrepresented himself as counsel for detainees in ICE custody, violated clear detention standards and security protocols prohibiting the use of cellphones inside ICE facilities, improperly met with multiple detainees, and falsely claimed to ICE personnel such use had been approved by the agency," Lyons wrote. 

"As a result of bringing a cell phone into the Camp East Montana facility, contrary to facility visitation policy, Mr. Torres’ misrepresentation that he is a licensed attorney to gain access to detainees, his improper meetings with groups of detainees, and his assertions to ICE personnel about the origins of his visit, Mr. Torres is herby [sic] prohibited from accessing any ICE facility."

An image of a sign-in log shows Torres allegedly claiming to be a "lawyer" visiting a "client." ICE records show that Torres first misrepresented himself as a legal professional in September 2025, Lyons said. The most recent incident happened on Jan. 30. 

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During that visit, Torres was confronted by a facility administrator and admitted that he was not an attorney and was visiting as a private person. The confrontation happened after officials in the facility became aware of someone passing a phone to multiple detainees, the letter states. 

Lyons has requested that Escobar provide written responses to several questions, including whether Torres was employed by the legislator on the dates he visited the ICE facility, if he is a licensed attorney and if she was aware of his alleged actions. 

Lyons also asked Escobar if she condones such behavior and whether she will hold Torres accountable. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to Escobar's office. Escobar has called Camp East Montana "disastrous and inhumane" and has demanded that it be shut down. 

"The United States already has the largest immigration detention network in the world, and these added facilities serve only as tools for the administration’s inhumanity," she wrote in a March X post on X, in which she criticized the "chronic substandard conditions" at the migrant facility. 

Other congressional staffers have tried similar ploys to access ICE facilities in the past. In November, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., fired a staffer who claimed to be an attorney for an illegal immigrant in an effort to facilitate his release. 

Edward York claimed he was legally representing Jose Ismeal Ayuzo Sandoval. Sandoval, a Mexican citizen, had a DUI conviction and was previously deported four times to Mexico.