Good morning, everyone. I'm Kate Baldwin. It's Wednesday. February 4th. Here are the five things you need to know to start your day.

Number one, the government reopens. President Trump signed a spending package Tuesday, which means the federal government is now fully reopened after a three-day shutdown.

The deal funds the vast majority of federal agencies through September.

It also sets up Congress for another huge fight ahead.

As Punchbowl put it today, Congress put out one fire just to start another.

The focus funding the Department of Homeland Security.

And in the next nine days now, yes, nine days, Republicans and Democrats somehow need to come to agree on how to overhaul the entire agency and its ICE operations or funding runs out again.

Democrats wanting to highlight the need to crack down on how DHS has been running things.

Well, they invited the brothers of Renee Good to testify yesterday.

The deep distress our family feels because of Ney's loss is in such a violent and unnecessary way. It's complicated by feelings of disbelief, distress, and desperation

for change.

Changes that Democrats are demanding now in order to give DHS the funding that it needs

includes barring federal agents from wearing masks and requiring judicial warrants for all immigration arrests.

Speaker Mike Johnson has already called that unworkable, so stand by.

Number two, the search clues.

There are new details emerging about the disappearance of the mother of today's show host Savannah Guthrie.

But sadly, still, no matter the new information, she has still not been found.

TMZ is now saying that it received what appears to be a ransom note that they turned over to investigators.

It has not been verified, but at least one other local newsroom in Tucson says that they received a ransom note as well. And here is what the Pima County Sheriff is saying about that.

In that note, that seems credible at this moment that you were giving weight to.

The entire note, that's what I would do.

The entire note.

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