WASHINGTON — Raised voices could be heard through the thick door to the Oval Office as John Kelly — then secretary of Homeland Security — offered some tough talk to President Donald Trump.

Kelly, a whip-cracking retired general who was sworn in as White House chief of staff on Monday, had demanded to speak to the president alone after Trump complained loudly that the U.S. was admitting travelers from countries he viewed as high risk.

Kelly first tried to explain to Trump that the admissions were standard — some people had legitimate reasons to visit the country — but the president insisted that it was making him look bad, according to an administration official familiar with the exchange about a month ago. Kelly then demanded that other advisers leave the room so he could speak to the president frankly. Trump refused at first, but agreed when Kelly insisted.

It was an early indication that Kelly, a decorated retired Marine general who served three tours in Iraq, is not afraid to stand up to his commander-in-chief.

Tapped to bring order to a chaotic West Wing, Kelly began to make his mark immediately on Monday, ousting newly appointed communications director Anthony Scaramucci and revising a dysfunctional command structure that has bred warring factions. From now on, said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, all senior staffers — including the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and chief strategist Steve Bannon — will report to Kelly instead of the president.

Kelly “will bring new structure, discipline and strength” to the White House, Sanders said.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s threat to stop billions of dollars in government payments to insurers and force the collapse of “Obamacare” could put the government in a tricky legal situation.

Legal experts say he’d be handing insurers a solid court case, while undermining his own leverage to compel Democrats to negotiate, especially if premiums jump by 20 percent as expected after such a move.

“Trump thinks he’s holding all the cards. But Democrats know what’s in his hand, and he’s got a pair of twos,” said University of Michigan law professor Nicholas Bagley. Democrats “aren’t about to agree to dismantle the Affordable Care Act just because Trump makes a reckless bet.”

For months, the president has been threatening to stop payments that reimburse insurers for providing required financial assistance to low-income consumers, reducing their copays and deductibles.

Administration officials say the decision could come any day.

SPOKANE, Wash. — Perhaps the Dude was onto something.

Scientists at Washington State University have found evidence that regular marijuana users stay more relaxed in stressful situations.

The study found that daily cannabis users were significantly calmer than non-users when subjected to a barrage of stress tests. That’s even though all the participants were sober on the day of testing.

The Spokesman-Review reports that the WSU study looked at whether a heavy cannabis user would experience stress-relieving or stress-inducing effects after a high wears off.

The Dude was the pot-smoking hero of the movie “The Big Lebowski.”

Researchers say the findings are consistent with a growing body of literature that indicates chronic cannabis use is associated with dulled adrenal and emotional reactivity. The study was published recently in the journal Psychopharmacology.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump may be trying for a reset in the West Wing, but he is making clear that he is not changing his twitter habit.

On Twitter today, Trump said: “Only the Fake News Media and Trump enemies want me to stop using Social Media (110 million people). Only way for me to get the truth out!”

The tweet came one day after retired Gen. John Kelly took over as Trump’s new chief of staff. Tapped to bring order to the chaotic West Wing, Kelly quickly made his presence known on Monday — ousting newly appointed communications director Anthony Scaramucci and revising the command structure so that all senior staffers report to him.

Those moves were praised Monday by Trump allies and lawmakers, who expressed hope that Kelly would help stem internal conflicts and advance a policy agenda after six months of tumult. But less clear is how much control Kelly will have over Trump’s predilection for sowing conflict and making off-the-cuff comments on social media.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, speaking on NBC’s “Today Show,” said he was encouraged by Kelly’s new role, but stressed that he was looking for “discipline” from Trump in order to move forward with issues like health care and tax reform.

“He has an obligation to be president for all of us and stop the chaos. Most of the chaos is generated by him and no one else,” Graham said.

CARACAS, Venezuela — Two of Venezuela’s leading opposition figures were taken from their homes in the middle of the night by state security agents today, in President Nicolas Maduro’s first moves against his enemies since a widely denounced vote giving his government nearly unlimited powers.

The wife of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez posted what appeared to be video of him being taken from their home after midnight.

“They’ve just taken Leopoldo from the house,” Lilian Tintori wrote on Twitter. “We don’t know where he is or where they’re taking him.”

Allies of former Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma posted video online of a man who appeared to be the opposition leader being taken by state security as a woman screams for help for neighbors.

“They’re taking Ledezma!” she cries. “It’s a dictatorship!”

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has been condemned and sanctioned for its nuclear ambitions, yet has still received food, fuel and other aid from its neighbors and adversaries for decades. How does the small, isolated country keep getting what it wants and needs?

Some put its success down to the extraordinary nuclear blackmail skills of a country whose leaders could be buying food instead of bombs and missiles. Some see the willingness of outsiders to help people in desperate need, regardless of how odious the government that rules them is, and others credit the feeling in South Korea that aid could improve ties.

North Korea has had gradual economic growth in recent years and doesn’t appeal for foreign humanitarian assistance as much as it did in the past. Despite multiple rounds of U.N. sanctions, its leader, Kim Jong Un, has defiantly pushed his scientists to develop nuclear-tipped missiles capable of reaching the U.S. heartland. It test-launched two intercontinental ballistic missile in the past month, and once Kim perfects such weapons, he may to try to extract bigger concessions from Washington.

An examination of how a country that frustrates and infuriates much of the world manages to get what it wants:

PHOENIX — The political defiance that made Joe Arpaio popular and seemingly untouchable as metro Phoenix’s sheriff of 24 years ultimately led to his downfall as he was convicted of a crime for ignoring a U.S. court order to stop traffic patrols that targeted immigrants.

The TV interviews and news releases that the media-savvy lawman used over the years to promote his immigration crackdowns came back to bite him. The judge who found him guilty of misdemeanor contempt of court cited comments Arpaio made about keeping up the patrols, even though he knew he was not allowed.

“Not only did defendant abdicate responsibility, he announced to the world and to his subordinates that he was going to continue business as usual no matter who said otherwise,” U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton wrote.

The verdict Monday marked a final rebuke for a politician who once drew strong support from such crackdowns but was booted from office last year as voters got frustrated with his deepening legal troubles and headline-grabbing tactics, such as jailing inmates in tents during triple-degree summer heat and making them wear pink underwear.

Arpaio told The Associated Press that he didn’t have an immediate comment on the verdict, but his attorneys said they will appeal. The 85-year-old is set to be sentenced Oct. 5 and could face up to six months in jail, but attorneys who have followed the case doubt someone his age would be incarcerated.

CAIRO — Reda el-Sebaay was taking the subway while on a short business trip to Cairo from a Nile Delta city when he stumbled upon clerics offering religious advice or fatwas — answers to any question a Muslim follower might have.

The 45-year-old civil servant had been pre-occupied for weeks about how he and his sisters would settle their inheritance. He wanted it to be fair and act according to Muslim teachings but he didn’t want to have to call a religious hotline and wait endlessly for an answer.

Now he lined up behind a handful of people standing in front of a booth set up at one of the main Cairo subway stations — and 10 minutes later he got his answer.

Fatwas are religious edicts or pronouncements, often on major issues related to Islamic teachings. But they also provide guidance on matters of everyday life, including starting up a grocery store or any other private business, who to marry and whether it is permissible under Islam to accept banks’ interest rates.

The booth in Cairo’s al-Shohada subway station was set up earlier this month by Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the Sunni Muslim world’s foremost religious institution, with the idea to offer Muslim worshippers a way to plug in fast to Islamic teachings — even while commuting to work. More booths are planned for later, at other subway stops.

WASHINGTON — Old inns along the Revolutionary War trails boast of George Washington sleeping there. But coin experts say they have found the first silver piece minted by the United States — one likely held by the most en vogue of Founding Fathers, Alexander Hamilton.

David McCarthy figured the silver coin had to be one-of-a-kind after spotting it in the auction catalog.

Its front features the all-seeing eye of God, surrounded by rays of light. The rays shoot out toward 13 stars — one for each of the colonies that had rebelled against Great Britain. A similar coin bore two words in Latin above the starburst: “Nova Constellatio,” or “new constellation” to describe the infant United States. But this silver piece bore no inscription at all. It was the first clue that the coin was something singular, said McCarthy, a senior researcher for the coin and collectibles firm Kagin’s.

He had a hunch it was the first coin ever minted by the U.S. government in 1783 — the prototype for a plan discussed by both Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson that arguably shaped the course of the nation. McCarthy staked his company’s money to buy the coin for $1.18 million at the 2013 auction. After nearly four years of late nights sifting through the papers of the Founding Fathers and studying the beading on the coin’s edges, he is now making an exhaustive case that this silver piece is indeed the first American coin, the precursor of what ultimately would circulate a decade later as the U.S dollar.

The coin is on display this week at the World’s Fair of Money in Denver.