By Kara Alaimo, CNN

(CNN) — These days when it’s cold out and gets dark early, it can be tempting to hole up at home and keep to ourselves.

But that’s not good for our health and well-being now or at any time of year, according to a new book.

The secret to thriving is feeling like we matter to other people, journalist Jennifer Breheny Wallace writes in “Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose.”

Attaining that feeling requires getting out of our PJs and going out to do things such as socialize with friends and help people who need a hand.

I spoke to Wallace about how to do it.

This conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

CNN: Why is it important for people to feel like they matter?

Jennifer Breheny Wallace: It’s a fundamental human need after food and shelter. Researchers find that it drives our behavior, for better or worse. When we meet that need, we thrive. And when we don’t meet it, people suffer. When we are made to feel like we don’t matter, we can withdraw or turn to substances or self-harm to try to squelch that psychic pain, or we might lash out. Things like road rage, incivility and political extremes are all desperate attempts to show people “I do matter.”

CNN: You write that there are five components of mattering. What are they?

Wallace: Researchers have found that there are certain ingredients to feeling like you matter:

• Recognition is the idea that you are appreciated for who you are, not just what you do.
• Reliance is this idea that there are people in this world who depend on you, trust you and rely on you.
• Importance is the idea that you are significant to the people in your life. And that sense of significance is found in small, everyday moments — such as when you’re made to feel that the things you like are worthy of being remembered.
• Attunement is this idea that you are worthy of being understood and responded to meaningfully.
• Ego extension is just a fancy way of feeling like others are invested in you, and that you have people in your life that you’re invested in.

CNN: In our culture, it’s become normal to hire people to do things that we used to help one another out with. Why isn’t that good for us?

Wallace: The village still exists, but it’s behind a paywall. And that’s because our relationships, which should really be transformational, have become transactional.

When every need becomes something we can hire out — childcare, caring for our elderly parents, getting Uber rides to the airport, ordering in meals when you’re recovering from surgery — it enables us to get some needs met, but it doesn’t give us the social proof that we matter.

It can’t replace that emotional signal of mutual reliance. According to a decade’s worth of Read more

By Jeff Winter, Priscilla Alvarez, CNN

(CNN) — Federal immigration officers have been collecting personal information about protesters and agitators in Minneapolis, sources told CNN – and had documented details about Alex Pretti before he was shot to death on Saturday.

It is unclear how Pretti first came to the attention of federal authorities, but sources told CNN that about a week before his death, he suffered a broken rib when a group of federal officers tackled him while he was protesting their attempt to detain other individuals.

A memo sent earlier this month to agents temporarily assigned to the city asked them to “capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors, etc., so we can capture it all in one consolidated form,” according to correspondence reviewed by CNN.

Pretti’s previous encounter is another reflection of the aggressive approach federal agents are taking with observers and protesters – a philosophy underscored by the request for agents to collect information about protesters whose activities are broadly protected by the First Amendment.

The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly warned of threats against federal law enforcement officers during immigration enforcement operations—and criticized protesters who they argue are impeding those operations. On Tuesday, the department also publicized an online tip form to share information about people allegedly harassing ICE officers.

DHS did not respond to questions about Pretti’s previous encounter or more details about efforts to collect information on protesters.

The earlier incident started when he stopped his car after observing ICE agents chasing what he described as a family on foot, and began shouting and blowing his whistle, according to a source who asked not to be named out of fear of retribution.

Pretti later told the source that five agents tackled him and one leaned on his back – an encounter that left him with a broken rib. The agents quickly released him at the scene.

“That day, he thought he was going to die,” said the source.

Pretti was later given medication consistent with treating a broken rib, according to records reviewed by CNN.

Earlier this month, a DHS official in Minneapolis sent a memo to Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations officers assigned to the state on temporary duty asking them to use a form to input information on protesters and agitators.

The form — titled “intel collection non-arrests” — allows agents to fill in personal information of agitators and protesters who they encounter. It’s not clear whether other agencies in Minnesota are also using the form.

Previously, agents had informally shared information about protesters and agitators with each other, the memo said.

Pretti’s name was known to federal agents, according to a source – though it’s unclear whether the new intake form was used to share his information.

It’s also not clear whether the federal agents who encountered Pretti on Saturday recognized him before they confronted him – eventually wrestling him to the ground, taking a gun from his waistband and then fatally shooting him.

Some Trump officials have spoken publicly about the idea of creating a database of protesters, though it’s not clear what ICE has done with the information collected through the form circulated to agents in Minneapolis.

“One thing I’m pushing for right now … we’re going to create a database where those people that are arrested for interference, impeding and assault, we’re going to make them famous,” Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, told Fox News earlier this month. “We’re going to put their face on TV. We’re going to let their employers, in their neighborhoods, in their schools, know who these people are.”

On Sunday, a

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN

(CNN) — Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons has been ordered to appear in federal court this Friday to explain why he should not be held in contempt for violating a judge’s order in the case of a man who is challenging his detention.

Judge Patrick Schiltz, the chief district judge in Minnesota, said in a court filing on Monday that the “Court’s patience is at an end,” with the Trump administration, which sent thousands of federal agents to the Minneapolis area for an immigration crackdown.

The order comes as President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration effort has sparked widespread protests in Minneapolis, particularly after federal agents’ fatal shootings of two US citizens.

The judge said Lyons, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and David Easterwood, the acting ICE director in the St. Paul field office, have failed to comply with “dozens of court orders” in recent weeks.

The new court filing was first reported by Politico.

Schiltz pointed to a January 14 order, in which the court said Lyons, Noem and Easterwood must provide Juan Hugo Tobay Robles, who was detained by ICE, with a bond hearing within seven days or release him from custody. On January 23, the court was notified that the man was still in detention and did not receive a bond hearing, according to the filing.

CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, which is an agency under DHS.

Tobay Robles’ attorney Graham Ojala-Barbour told CNN that his client, who was detained in Minnesota on January 6, remains in ICE custody in Texas. He has been transferred to different facilities in the state “a few times.”

“He is suffering in detention and feels he does not have the medical care he needs. We are hopeful that he will be released soon,” Ojala-Barbour said.

In the court filing on Monday, Schiltz wrote: “The practical consequence of respondents’ failure to comply has almost always been significant hardship to aliens (many of whom have lawfully lived and worked in the United States for years and done absolutely nothing wrong).”

Schiltz also recognized in the filing that asking “the head of a federal agency to personally appear is an extraordinary step.”

“(B)ut the extent of ICE’s violation of court orders is likewise extraordinary, and lesser measures have been tried and failed,” he added.

The judge also slammed the administration for failing to make “any provision” in preparation for the influx of petitions and lawsuits that were to result from the anti-immigration surge in the state.

Schiltz went on to laud Justice Department attorneys who are arguing on behalf of Lyons, Noem and Easterwood, recognizing that they “have struggled mightily” with inadequate resources to make sure that the three respondents follow the court’s orders.

“The Court expresses its appreciation to attorney Ana Voss and her colleagues, who have struggled mightily to ensure that respondents comply with court orders despite the fact that respondents have failed to provide them with adequate resources,” the judge wrote in a footnote.

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CNN’s Chris Boyette and Devan Cole contributed to this report.

The post Read more

By Monica Haider, CNN

(CNN) — NBA legend Kobe Bryant – who became a larger-than-life figure both on and off the court – has left a lasting impact within the basketball community and beyond.

“There are days I know it’s real, and then there are days where it feels like there are pieces of him that are still here,” his former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Derek Fisher told CNN’s Elex Michaelson in Los Angeles in an interview marking the sixth anniversary of Bryant’s shocking death.

“It’s always strange when we get to this date each year.”

Bryant died on January 26, 2020, when a helicopter he boarded along with eight other people – including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna – crashed on a hillside in Calabasas, California. None of the passengers survived.

Fisher, who’s now a coach and NBA analyst, spent over a decade playing alongside the “Black Mamba.” He shed light on Bryant’s aspirations, adding that his relentless ambition motivated the other players daily.

“He had already programmed himself to want to be one of the greatest basketball players to ever touch the ball,” Fisher said. “He knew that about himself from day one.”

Bryant’s ascent wasn’t always smooth sailing, but the star guard remained focused even during the rough patches. There were moments during this time that helped shape Bryant into more than a skilled player, Fisher explained.

“It took losing to the (Boston) Celtics in 2008 to also learn how to become a better leader on a championship-caliber team,” he said, referencing how – even after winning a three-peat with Shaquille O’Neal from 2000-2002 – Bryant always improved.

Family man

Bryant’s athletic talents and drive are just some of the standout qualities that continue to inspire young generations of athletes. The five-time NBA champion and later philanthropist and film producer is also remembered by his devotion to his family.

Michaelson asked Fisher about a particular conversation between the two former Lakers that still stirs strong emotions for the 18-year NBA veteran.

The two girl dads were traveling and chatting about a number of topics – including being fathers – and Bryant’s response to a question Fisher asked about how his teammate is “viewing his life, his career, his business,” struck a chord.

“He started a statement – (then) he stopped and he said, ‘You know what? I’ll just say it like this. I had to start thinking, how is this decision going to impact my daughters 20 years from now?’” Fisher said.

“In a split second, you get it. It was a pretty profound moment of just kind of sharing and vulnerability and a look into how his heart was on the inside around his girls, his family and his wife.”

Michaelson then asked Fisher how fatherhood changed Bryant.

“Anybody that has girls (knows) you’re changed forever,” Fisher respond

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