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Jon Stewart to return as part-time host of ‘The Daily Show’
(JTA) — As the 2024 presidential election appears headed toward a Trump-Biden rematch, another familiar face is returning to help Americans keep up with — or at least joke about — the news.
Jon Stewart, the iconic Jewish comedian and longtime host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” is set to come back to the program once a week beginning next month.
Stewart, who hosted the show from 1999 to 2015, will return to the anchor’s desk on Mondays from Feb. 12 through the November election. He will also serve as an executive producer on the show. The show’s correspondents will host from Tuesdays through Thursdays.
“Stewart is the voice of our generation, and we are honored to have him return to Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’ to help us all make sense of the insanity and division roiling the country as we enter the election season,” Chris McCarthy, chief executive of Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios, said in a statement.
Stewart has made his Jewish identity a central part of his comedy for decades, and his 16-year run as host of “The Daily Show” catapulted the program into the zeitgeist of American comedy and politics. In 2021, Stewart launched a talk show on Apple TV+, “The Problem With Jon Stewart,” which ended last year over reported creative differences between Stewart and Apple.
Stewart has won 22 Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on “The Daily Show” and other comedy programs, as well as two Grammy Awards and five Peabody Awards. He won the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2022. Several of his “Daily Show” correspondents — including Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and Samantha Bee — have gone on to host their own successful shows.
The 61-year-old New York native, who was born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, is returning to a program that has been in a state of flux since his successor, Trevor Noah, stepped down as host in 2022. The show has not yet named a permanent replacement, instead relying on a rotating cast of temporary hosts, including Sarah Silverman and Al Franken.
Earlier this month, Noah won the Emmy for Outstanding Talk Series for his last season on the show, and thanked Stewart in his acceptance speech, calling him “the person I always thank because he’s a crazy genius for thinking of it.”
“Wherever you are my friend, thank you for calling me up and asking me to come and join you on this crazy journey,” Noah said.
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The post Jon Stewart to return as part-time host of ‘The Daily Show’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Trump Administration to Release Over $5 Billion School Funding That It Withheld
US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and President Donald Trump, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
President Donald Trump’s administration will release more than $5 billion in previously approved funding for K-12 school programs that it froze over three weeks ago under a review, which had led to bipartisan condemnation.
“(The White House Office of Management and Budget) has completed its review … and has directed the Department to release all formula funds,” Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the U.S. Education Department, said in a statement, adding funds will be dispersed to states next week.
Further details on the review and what it found were not shared.
A senior administration official said “guardrails” would be in place for the amount being released, without giving details.
Early in July, the Trump administration said it would not release funding previously appropriated by Congress for schools and that an initial review found signs the money was misused to subsidize what it alleged was “a radical leftwing agenda.”
States say $6.8 billion in total was affected by the freeze. Last week, $1.3 billion was released.
After the freeze, a coalition of mostly Democratic-led states sued to challenge the move, and 10 Republican US senators wrote to the Republican Trump administration to reverse its decision.
The frozen money covered funding for education of migrant farm workers and their children; recruitment and training of teachers; English proficiency learning; academic enrichment and after-school and summer programs.
The Trump administration has threatened schools and colleges with withholding federal funds over issues like climate initiatives, transgender policies, pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel’s war in Gaza and diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
Republican US lawmakers welcomed the move on Friday, while Democratic lawmakers said there was no need to disrupt funding in the first place.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon separately said she was satisfied with what was found in the review and released the money, adding she did not think there would be future freezes.
The post Trump Administration to Release Over $5 Billion School Funding That It Withheld first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel to Resume Airdrop Aid to Gaza on Saturday, Military Says
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
Israel will resume airdrop aid to Gaza on Saturday night, the Israeli military said, a few days after more than 100 aid agencies warned that mass starvation was spreading across the enclave.
“The airdrops will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food to be provided by international organizations,” the military added in a statement.
The post Israel to Resume Airdrop Aid to Gaza on Saturday, Military Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Says Hamas ‘Didn’t Want to Make a Deal,’ Now Likely to Get ‘Hunted Down’
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – US President Donald Trump on Friday said the Palestinian jihadists of Hamas did not want to make a deal on a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza.
“Now we’re down to the final hostages, and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically because of that, they really didn’t want to make a deal,” Trump said.
The comments followed statements by Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the effect that Israel was now considering “alternative” options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending the terror rule of Hamas in the coastal enclave.
Trump added he believed Hamas leaders would now be “hunted down.”
On Thursday, Witkoff said the Trump administration had decided to bring its negotiating team home for consultations following Hamas’s latest proposal. Witkoff said overnight that Hamas was to blame for the impasse, with Netanyahu concurring.
Trump also dismissed the significance of French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that Paris would become the first major Western power to recognize an independent Palestinian state.
Macron’s comments, “didn’t carry any weight,” the US leader said.
The post Trump Says Hamas ‘Didn’t Want to Make a Deal,’ Now Likely to Get ‘Hunted Down’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.