Category: U.S. News

KALW’s podcast series “Uncuffed” features an in-depth examination of Greg Eskridge’s journey as he navigates freedom following his parole release during the summer of 2024, marking the end of more than three decades spent incarcerated.

The podcast episode includes an extensive interview with Eskridge, who discusses the challenges and experiences of readjusting to life outside prison walls. The conversation delves into his efforts to rebuild connections with family members and integrate back into a society that has changed significantly during his lengthy imprisonment.

The “Uncuffed” series focuses on documenting the complex realities faced by individuals transitioning from long-term incarceration to freedom, offering listeners insight into the personal struggles and triumphs that accompany such a dramatic life change.

An investigative team from NPR has uncovered fresh details about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s exploitation of their ties to a prestigious arts institution, according to a new report examining court documents.

The journalists conducted an extensive review of legal filings connected to Epstein’s case, focusing specifically on materials related to the Interlochen Center for the Arts. Their investigation revealed new information about the methods Epstein and Maxwell employed to exploit their connections to the well-regarded educational institution.

The reporting demonstrates how the convicted sex offender and his associate leveraged their relationship with the arts center as part of their broader pattern of targeting young women. The investigation adds to the growing body of evidence showing how Epstein used his wealth and social connections to gain access to potential victims through respected organizations.

AUSTIN, Texas — A district court judge in Texas refused Wednesday to shut down Camp Mystic, the girls’ summer camp where devastating floods claimed the lives of 25 campers and two staff members last year.

District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble rejected the closure request while a wrongful death lawsuit moves forward, but she did impose restrictions on the camp’s operators. The judge prohibited any alterations or demolition of the flooded cabins and banned use of the camp area nearest the Guadalupe River where those structures stood.

The legal motion came from relatives of 8-year-old Cile Steward, who perished in the floodwaters and whose remains have never been found. Her family sought to prevent the facility from reopening and stop all construction work during ongoing litigation. They argued that any modifications to the property could eliminate crucial evidence for their case.

The tragedy unfolded in the early morning hours of July 4th when rapidly rising waters surged through the camp’s lower elevations. The disaster ultimately took 136 lives across the region, prompting widespread questions about emergency preparedness and response.

Founded nearly a century ago in 1926, the camp chose not to evacuate as river levels climbed dramatically from 14 feet to 29.5 feet in just one hour.

“The worst thing you can do is put a bunch of 8-year-olds on a bus and try to drive them out of there, They all would have drowned,” stated Mikal Watts, legal counsel representing Camp Mystic and its ownership family.

During Wednesday’s emotional hearing, grieving relatives filled the courtroom wearing memorial buttons showing photos of their lost children. Camp attorneys presented images of commemorative trees and architectural plans for rebuilding portions of the facility beyond the 1,000-year flood plain.

Legal representatives for the camp expressed condolences to affected families while asserting that little could have been done to prevent the unprecedented natural disaster. Court proceedings included photographic evidence of the rising floodwaters.

“Nobody had every seen a prior flood anything like we saw in 2025,” Watts commented.

According to testimony, more than 850 children have already registered for this summer’s camping session.

Edward Eastland, whose father Richard Eastland owned the camp and died in the flooding, described his family’s harrowing escape. He testified that floodwaters burst through the doors of their camp residence, forcing his mother, wife, children and a staff member to break a window and flee to safety.

Eastland revealed that while security cameras monitored the property, no one was observing the live footage during the overnight hours as water levels rose. When he attempted to access the system around 3 a.m., it was no longer functioning.

The camp’s decision to partially reopen last year and build a memorial sparked anger among many bereaved families who felt excluded from planning discussions.

“We call on Camp Mystic to halt all discussions of reopening and memorials,” CiCi and Will Steward wrote to camp leadership after the reopening announcement.

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has urged state regulators to deny license renewal for Camp Mystic pending completion of the death investigation and upcoming legislative hearings scheduled for spring.

Multiple families have filed lawsuits against camp management, claiming officials failed to implement adequate safety measures as dangerous floodwaters threatened the facility.

Authorities in Arizona continue investigating what they believe is the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie. Here’s how the case has unfolded since she vanished more than a month ago.

Nancy Guthrie was last spotted by family on January 31st following an evening visit to her eldest daughter Annie Guthrie’s Tucson residence, where she had dinner with Annie and her husband.

The next morning on February 1st, security footage from Nancy’s doorbell camera recorded a masked intruder outside her Tucson home in the early hours. The individual wore winter gear including a ski mask, carried a backpack, wore gloves, and had a visible firearm in a holster while interfering with the recording device. Around 30 minutes afterward, Nancy’s medical pacemaker device lost connection with her telephone line. Family members contacted police shortly before midday when Nancy didn’t show up for her regular Sunday worship service.

Three days later on February 4th, Savannah Guthrie joined her siblings Annie and Camron Guthrie in posting their initial social media appeal regarding their mother’s vanishing. They acknowledged media reports about ransom communications and urged the kidnappers to establish contact with the family.

On February 5th, law enforcement officials verified through genetic testing that blood discovered on Nancy Guthrie’s front entrance belonged to her. That same day at 5 p.m., the first deadline mentioned in an alleged ransom message came and went.

Two days later on February 7th, Savannah Guthrie appeared in another video alongside her siblings, making an emotional appeal for her mother’s safe return. “This is very valuable to us and we will pay,” she stated.

By February 9th, Savannah Guthrie posted on Instagram saying, “We believe our mom is still out there” while requesting public assistance in the search. A second ransom deadline also expired without resolution.

February 10th marked a significant development when the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and FBI made public the doorbell security footage showing the armed suspect. Sheriff’s officials later called this recording their most important piece of evidence. That same day, investigators conducted a search at a residence in Rio Rico, Arizona, located 60 miles south of Tucson near the Mexican border. They detained one individual for questioning but later released him without filing charges. Savannah Guthrie shared the masked suspect’s images on her Instagram account with the message: “We believe she is still alive; bring her home.”

Five days later on February 15th, authorities obtained genetic material from discarded gloves found approximately two miles from Nancy Guthrie’s residence. The gloves appeared similar to those worn by the masked individual in the security recording.

However, on February 17th, the genetic sample from the gloves produced no matches when compared against profiles in CODIS, the national DNA database, according to FBI and sheriff’s officials.

Most recently on March 4th, additional DNA testing revealed the gloves belonged to a local restaurant worker who investigators do not consider connected to the case. This development represents a setback for what had initially appeared to be a significant clue in the investigation.

Cleveland law enforcement officials spent Wednesday working to determine the identities of two young half-sisters whose remains were discovered inside buried suitcases in the eastern part of the city.

The remains were uncovered Monday in Cleveland’s Collinwood area following an alert from someone walking their dog, police reported. Investigators believe one child was aged 8 to 13 years old, while the second was between 10 and 14 years old.

During a Tuesday press briefing, Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd stated that the cause of death for both African American girls remains unknown, though evidence suggests the bodies had been buried for an extended period.

“We are hoping to find answers,” Todd stated. “This is a terrible, tragic situation.”

DNA relationship analysis conducted by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the two children were half-sisters, officials announced in a public statement. Additional details will be shared when they become available, the office indicated.

Todd noted that the details of this case do not align with any current missing person reports in the region.

PHOENIX (AP) — An aircraft on a training flight collided with two residential properties in Phoenix on Wednesday afternoon before coming to rest vertically in a backyard, leaving three people with injuries, according to local officials.

The Piper P-28 aircraft lost one of its wings during the incident, with the detached wing coming to rest on top of the first house that was damaged. The aircraft itself ended up positioned nose-first into the ground beside a backyard swimming pool at the second residence, officials reported.

Both occupants of the aircraft — a flight instructor and student pilot — suffered minor cuts and burns in the crash. They were transported to a local hospital for treatment along with a male resident from one of the damaged homes, according to Phoenix Fire Department spokesperson Capt. Todd Keller, who spoke with Phoenix area television outlets.

“Fortunately, everyone was OK,” Keller said in an interview with azfamily.com.

Officials said the aircraft had been en route to Deer Valley Airport, which is located in the vicinity of the crash site.

The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation into the incident.

When Lynette Pino saw the February news coverage surrounding Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, she made a conscious choice not to let it overwhelm her emotions.

Pino shares a heartbreaking connection with the family of NBC “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie: her own child has been missing for nearly two decades. Her son Darian Nevayaktewa disappeared in 2008, just before starting a new school year, while visiting his father in Arizona.

“I could see in their faces that they want answers,” said the 58-year-old from Tesuque Pueblo in New Mexico. “What’s the next step? What can we do? It’s how I feel. There are no answers. I just pray for them and the other people who are missing.”

“Why,” she questioned, “would someone take an elderly lady?”

Both Pino and the Guthrie family are dealing with what mental health professionals term ambiguous loss. This occurs when a family member vanishes, creating an agonizing uncertainty that may never be resolved. The category encompasses kidnappings, runaways, certain catastrophic events, and warfare. It also includes situations where dementia transforms familiar relatives into strangers.

“They’re frozen in their grief. They have a real sense of helplessness,” explained Tai Mendenhall, a medical family therapist at the University of Minnesota who leads a mental health disaster response team. “There’s no clear resolution from it. We know from research that ambiguous loss is the most psychologically painful kind of loss because of that.”

Pauline Boss pioneered research in this area and coined the terminology. During the 1970s, she conducted interviews with California women whose spouses had gone missing during the Vietnam conflict. Both Boss and Mendenhall provided support to families following the September 11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center.

Nancy Guthrie, age 84, disappeared from her Tucson-area residence on February 1st while living independently. According to Savannah Guthrie, her mother was “taken in the dark of night from her bed.” Federal investigators later released surveillance footage from outside the home showing an unidentified masked individual. Blood evidence was discovered on the front porch, but authorities have not solved the case.

The unusual nature of the crime and Savannah Guthrie’s prominence as a television host have generated significant media attention. Guthrie has created multiple video appeals, often alongside her siblings Annie and Camron, pleading for her mother’s safe return and recently announcing a $1 million reward for helpful information.

“As my sister says, ‘We are blowing on the embers of hope,’” Guthrie stated on February 24th, with visibly emotional eyes.

Guthrie, Annie, and brother-in-law Tommaso Cioni visited a memorial site at the family home recently, placing flowers and reading handwritten messages of support while embracing each other. Guthrie also made an emotional return to her NBC workplace in New York on Thursday.

Throughout this ordeal, she has referenced her Christian beliefs, previously asking followers on Instagram to “raise your prayers with us” and recently acknowledging that Nancy Guthrie may already be in heaven “dancing with our daddy.” Mental health experts note that faith can be crucial for managing ambiguous loss.

“When people turn toward their faith, that is where they find solace,” Mendenhall observed. “Oftentimes the power of faith comes from the communities that inhabit it. Sometimes the best treatment for ambiguous loss is a community group, people who have had this shared experience.”

Pino relies on prayer regularly while dealing with her son’s disappearance. Nevayaktewa was 19 years old when he went missing in June 2008. His case represents one of many unresolved violent crimes affecting Native American communities. Federal authorities announced last year they were deploying additional agents, analysts, and support staff to ten states to address this issue.

“He wanted to go see his dad on the Hopi reservation in Arizona,” Pino recalled about her son. “I just remember that day hugging him, telling him he only needed a half-semester to graduate from high school. He wasn’t there long, maybe a week, before he disappeared. Someone took him somewhere — I don’t know. Hard to say.”

Savannah Guthrie announced her family’s decision to donate $500,000 to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, recognizing “millions of families that have suffered” with similar uncertainty.

During a trip to Arizona last summer near the anniversary of her son’s disappearance, Pino said she offered prayers and lit candles for Nevayaktewa.

“Do not give up hope,” Pino advised for the Guthries. “Don’t let law enforcement put it aside.”

National Public Radio has revealed the outstanding entries that earned recognition in its 2025 College Podcast Challenge, celebrating the most impressive submissions from student podcasters nationwide.

The annual competition draws participation from college students across the United States who demonstrate their skills in audio production, storytelling, and broadcast journalism through original podcast content.

These honored submissions represent the cream of the crop from this year’s challenge, showcasing the next generation of audio content creators and their innovative approaches to podcasting and digital media.

NPR has announced the finalists for its annual College Podcast Challenge, narrowing down hundreds of student submissions from across the nation.

The competition drew participants from 75 universities spanning 35 states, showcasing the creativity and talent of student podcasters nationwide. NPR reviewers evaluated all entries to identify the most outstanding productions for the final round.

The challenge provides college students an opportunity to demonstrate their audio storytelling skills and potentially gain recognition in the competitive podcasting landscape.

Family members of sailors serving aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford and members of Congress are raising questions about the extended overseas mission of the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier.

The massive warship has found itself positioned at the heart of two significant international conflicts during recent months, leading to concerns about the effects of the prolonged deployment on crew members and their families back home.

The extended nature of the Ford’s current assignment has prompted discussions among military families and political leaders about the toll such lengthy overseas operations can take on service members and the broader implications for naval readiness.

Body camera footage made public for the first time is challenging official accounts of how a federal immigration officer fatally shot an American citizen during a traffic stop in Texas last year.

The video evidence, released Friday through public records requests, shows the final moments of 23-year-old Ruben Ray Martinez’s life during what began as a routine spring break trip to South Padre Island in March 2025.

Federal officials from the Department of Homeland Security initially claimed Martinez deliberately struck an agent with his vehicle before Homeland Security Investigations Supervisory Special Agent Jack Stevens opened fire. However, the newly available body camera recordings don’t clearly support that version of events.

The shooting marked the first of at least six deadly encounters involving federal agents since President Trump intensified immigration enforcement efforts during his second administration. Multiple cases have seen initial government explanations contradicted by later video evidence.

A Texas grand jury last week chose not to bring criminal charges against Stevens, allowing the Texas Rangers to close their investigation into the March 15 incident, according to state public safety records.

In his official report, Stevens stated he discharged his weapon to safeguard other agents, local police, and civilians from what he perceived as a possible terrorist attack designed to cause mass harm. A DHS representative said previously that the federal agent fired in self-defense after Martinez “intentionally ran over” another officer, leaving that agent “on the hood of the vehicle.”

The body camera recordings, captured from positions behind Martinez’s vehicle, fail to clearly document any agent being struck by the car.

Additional footage captures Joshua Orta, Martinez’s passenger, explaining to investigators that his friend never meant to hurt law enforcement but had “panicked” due to fears of arrest for drunk driving.

“He didn’t know what to do. Like he definitely didn’t want to go to jail,” Orta explained. “But as far as like running over an officer … he wouldn’t do that.”

DHS representatives have not responded to media requests for comment regarding the video footage.

Although local news initially reported the shooting involved a police officer, DHS kept its agents’ involvement secret until media organizations, including the Associated Press, revealed it last month.

Martinez had recently celebrated his 23rd birthday when he and Orta traveled from San Antonio to the popular spring break destination. After drinking with friends and using marijuana, they were returning to town when the incident occurred, Orta told investigators.

Martinez was behind the wheel of his blue Ford sedan when they encountered South Padre police directing traffic around a two-vehicle crash at a busy intersection just after midnight. Three HSI agents from a maritime border security unit, reassigned to immigration enforcement duties, were also present at the scene.

Police body camera footage shows Martinez’s sedan slowly approaching the intersection, apparently continuing straight while other vehicles were being directed to turn left. The car nearly stops completely for pedestrians in the crosswalk, then slowly enters the intersection before halting again as HSI agents approach while shouting stop commands.

Special Agent Hector Sosa, according to official documents, positioned himself in front of the vehicle. Stevens approached the driver’s side and reached toward the door.

“Get him out, get him out,” an officer can be heard yelling.

Martinez’s car began moving slowly forward while turning left, following the path other vehicles had taken. Stevens, staying alongside the driver’s side, appeared to lean toward the open window. As officers continued shouting for Martinez to stop, Stevens drew his weapon and quickly fired three rounds through the window before stepping back.

“Shots fired, shots fired,” a police officer with a body camera radioed.

The entire confrontation lasted approximately 15 seconds.

The blue Ford immediately stopped, and multiple officers pulled Martinez from the vehicle and handcuffed him. Orta was also removed from the passenger seat and restrained.

Martinez remained motionless on the ground in handcuffs for roughly one minute before paramedics, already at the scene for the earlier accident, began providing medical assistance.

Medical examiner findings revealed all three of Stevens’ shots struck Martinez, with bullets passing through his left arm into his torso, damaging his heart, lungs, liver, and other vital organs. The autopsy also found Martinez’s blood alcohol content was 0.12%, exceeding Texas’s 0.08% legal driving limit.

In a three-page statement given to Texas Rangers nearly two months after the shooting, Stevens claimed he fired as Martinez “accelerated forward, striking Special Agent Sosa who wound up on the hood of the vehicle.” He also said he barely avoided being hit himself, struck by the driver’s side “causing the mirror to break off of the vehicle.” Crime scene photos showed the mirror damaged but still attached to the car.

The agent said recent events were “still fresh on his mind” as he fired, including a New Year’s incident weeks earlier when someone drove a truck into crowds in New Orleans.

“The driver’s eyes were open widely, fist clenched to the steering wheel, and he was looking past the officers on scene as he failed to comply with the loud and repeated verbal commands of multiple law enforcement officers,” Stevens wrote. “This is a behavior I have observed in my training and experience as a pre attack indicator and sign of noncompliance as the suspect is looking in the path of their intended movement and is not indicative of compliance. This path of movement, if left unmitigated, would, using the vehicle as a weapon, have resulted in numerous casualties.”

An internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation reported the agent allegedly struck by the car received treatment for an unspecified knee injury at a local hospital and was released. The new video footage shows this same agent arresting Orta after the shooting and walking without any apparent injury or limp.

Orta told investigators Martinez had consumed several alcoholic drinks and a beer earlier that evening, plus marijuana, when they reached the traffic checkpoint where the earlier accident had occurred.

An officer noticed an open alcoholic beverage near Martinez but directed the car to continue moving and turn left. Instead, Martinez drove straight toward the accident scene and additional officers.

“That’s when he panicked and turned the wheel, and he didn’t floor the gas but we kind of went a little bit and I guess they thought he was like trying to run the cop over or something,” Orta said.

Orta described their car coming to a “full stop” initially, then Martinez turning left with the vehicle “barely moving.”

“I saw the officer kind of get on the hood. Like he didn’t hit him, but like he kind of like, you know what I mean, caught his feet,” Orta said. “It was just slowly moving and they started shooting.”

Orta died February 21 in an automobile accident in San Antonio.

Attorneys representing Martinez’s mother, Rachel Reyes, issued a statement saying the newly released videos and evidence demonstrated his car was barely moving when Stevens fired at close range.

“This batch of evidence shows no justification for Ruben’s killing,” lawyers Charles M. Stam and Alex Stamm said. “Still, our pursuit of full transparency will continue until we have all the facts. We, and the public, have yet to see all of the evidence held by the government.”

CHICAGO (AP) — Following a public celebration that drew former presidents, governors, and Chicago community members to honor the late Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., his closest family members and friends will gather for an intimate memorial at his organization’s Chicago headquarters.

The private ceremony at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition building on Chicago’s South Side will welcome only several hundred guests, primarily consisting of family, close allies, and trusted associates. This intimate gathering will conclude a series of memorial events held nationwide throughout the week.

“I foresee tomorrow will represent everything that Rev. Jackson stood for,” said the Rev. Chauncey D. Brown, a Chicago-area pastor and mentee of Jackson’s. “It will include dignitaries and icons, as well as many from where the true power lies, with the people in the streets.”

According to staff members, seating for the morning ceremony will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Following Jackson’s passing last month, his family and supporters have paid tribute to the reverend through memorial services, community outreach, and demonstrations they believe carry forward his mission.

Community members were initially welcomed for public viewings at the Rainbow PUSH headquarters in February, providing Jackson’s long-time neighbors an opportunity to pay their final respects to the civil rights icon.

The reverend’s body was later displayed at the South Carolina Capitol building. Jackson was raised in segregated Greenville, South Carolina, where as a teenager, he organized fellow students in a demonstration that integrated the local library, launching his lifelong commitment to civil rights advocacy.

Memorial events planned for Washington, D.C., were delayed when a request for Jackson to lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol was rejected. Republican House leadership referenced established protocol that typically reserves this honor for former presidents and high-ranking military officials.

Jackson’s proteges have continued honoring his work by advocating for causes including voting rights, economic justice, and political mobilization in the weeks following his death. Rainbow PUSH organized a discussion forum where community organizers and clergy mentored by Jackson shared how he influenced their professional paths.

Thursday’s events at the headquarters included various celebrations of Jackson’s life preceding the public ceremony. Hundreds of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity members assembled at the facility to pay tribute to Jackson.

Jackson’s life “is a dream fulfilled,” said Michael Barksdale Jr., one of the fraternity members honoring Jackson. A Chicago public school counselor who first encountered Jackson as a high school freshman, Barksdale explained that the PUSH Coalition provided him with a college scholarship after he served as one of the organization’s youth organizers.

“It is up to my generation now to continue that legacy of Jackson and all the civil rights dignitaries who came before,” said Barksdale, 37. “They did all of the heavy lifting, and we are going to continue to build.”

That evening, the facility welcomed Rainbow PUSH alumni for a reunion celebrating the late reverend and his decades of activism. Attendees included state and local officials, scholars, veteran organizers, and former diplomatic personnel.

Carol Moseley Braun, the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate, attended alongside long-serving organization members who stood by Jackson throughout his career. Braun, who volunteered for Jackson’s 1988 presidential campaign, received Jackson’s backing during her victorious 1992 election.

Attendees honored Jackson’s legacy and shared memories of his two presidential campaigns; his international activism fighting apartheid and negotiating hostage releases; and his ministry promoting a Christianity focused on justice and support for the marginalized.

The headquarters also welcomed nearly 100 progressive activists from Minnesota. These groups represented civil rights, labor, and immigration advocacy organizations recently gaining national attention after President Donald Trump’s administration intensified immigration enforcement operations in their state, triggering widespread demonstrations.

“It’s really empowering, at least for me, to see the coalition coming together and to understand the history of civil rights and human rights and immigrants’ rights,” said Yeng Her, the organizing director at the Immigrant Defense Network, one of the organizations protesting the Trump administration’s actions in Minnesota.

The Jackson family brought these activists to Chicago to study Jackson’s approaches and discover resources for their own organizations. Participants met with Rainbow PUSH alumni and several of Jackson’s children.

This gathering served as preparation for both the private family service and an additional commemoration.

This Sunday, Jackson family members and many of his mentees will journey to Selma, Alabama, to observe the “Bloody Sunday” protest anniversary, marking when civil rights demonstrators were attacked by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965.

Jackson regularly participated in this annual commemorative march.

A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court accuses bestselling author and venture capitalist Amy Griffin of appropriating another woman’s personal accounts of childhood sexual assault for her acclaimed memoir “The Tell.”

The accuser, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, claims Griffin incorporated intimate details of her own traumatic experiences into the book without authorization. Griffin’s legal representative dismissed the allegations as “absurd” and without merit.

Griffin’s memoir, released in 2025, details how MDMA-assisted therapy helped her recover suppressed memories of being sexually abused by an educator at her Amarillo, Texas middle school during the 1980s.

“I knew that these memories were real,” Griffin states in her book. “My body knew what had happened to me.”

The memoir gained significant recognition, earning selection for Oprah’s Book Club and endorsements from celebrities including Reese Witherspoon and Gwyneth Paltrow.

According to the legal filing, the plaintiff contends that Griffin’s accounts mirror her own experiences of sexual assault by a different educator, occurring both at a school dance and within school restroom facilities. The lawsuit maintains Griffin had access to information about these incidents.

“‘The Tell’ constitutes neither a genuine nor harmless memoir,” the court documents state, with charges including privacy invasion, unauthorized disclosure of personal information, negligence, and causing emotional harm. The plaintiff seeks monetary compensation to be established during proceedings.

The legal action also targets Griffin’s publishing companies and a ghostwriter involved in the project.

Questions about the book’s authenticity surfaced in September when The New York Times published an investigative piece highlighting skepticism about the recovered memories’ validity. The report also revealed financial connections between Griffin and prominent figures who endorsed her work.

The plaintiff discovered the memoir’s existence only after Times journalists contacted her during their investigation.

“She immediately recognized that the character of Claudia appeared to be based on herself,” the lawsuit states. “She further recognized that a number of stories attributed to the memories of Defendant GRIFFIN that supposedly resurfaced during MDMA therapy were actually her own real life past experiences.”

Griffin’s attorney Thomas A. Clare responded via email, stating: “We look forward to exposing these meritless claims in court, as well as the deeply flawed New York Times reporting that is at the center of it.”

Clare further alleged: “Just like the New York Times manufactured a false narrative about Amy Griffin and ‘The Tell,’ it also engineered the premise for this absurd lawsuit. After two New York Times reporters instigated this whole situation by bringing the book to her attention, the Plaintiff made her own choice to publicize her narrative to a global audience.” He continued, “For its part, the Times took full advantage, publicizing this inaccurate narrative despite receiving many red-flag warnings.”

Times representative Danielle Rhoades Ha responded: “We’re confident in the accuracy of our reporting.”

The lawsuit provides specific details about the alleged connection between the two women. During the school dance assault, the plaintiff was wearing clothing borrowed from Griffin. The legal documents claim the attack would have been noticeable to attendees based on how she departed and returned. Additionally, the borrowed dress was allegedly returned to Griffin containing biological evidence from the assault. The plaintiff also states she sought religious forgiveness for the incident during a church youth gathering Griffin attended.

Court papers describe a 2019 meeting between the two women at a California coffee establishment after decades apart, an encounter referenced in Griffin’s memoir. However, the plaintiff maintains she did not discuss her assault experiences during this reunion.

The accuser later detailed her abuse to a talent representative who contacted her about her life experiences. The lawsuit indicates this agent claimed to have learned about her through an unnamed source. When she began questioning the agent extensively, he ceased communication, and the plaintiff alleges information from their discussions subsequently appeared in “The Tell.”

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Federal authorities have brought a 28-year-old Bangladeshi man to the United States to face charges related to the online sexual exploitation of hundreds of teenage girls across the country.

Zobaidul Amin entered a not guilty plea during his first court appearance in Anchorage on Thursday, following his transfer from Malaysia where the FBI had taken him into custody. Amin had been attending medical school in Kuala Lumpur while facing similar charges there, according to federal prosecutors.

Court documents reveal disturbing details about Amin’s alleged crimes. “Amin delighted in sexually abusing hundreds of minor victims over social media,” prosecutors stated in their detention filing. “He bragged about causing victims to become suicidal and engage in self-harm. He shared hundreds of nude images and videos of minor victims all over the internet and encouraged other perpetrators to do the same.”

Federal prosecutors secured an indictment against Amin in 2022 on multiple charges including child pornography, cyberstalking and wire fraud. Authorities say he created fake online personas, frequently pretending to be a teenager himself, to manipulate his young victims into sharing explicit photographs.

The case originated when a 14-year-old girl from Alaska contacted law enforcement about her abuse. She told investigators that when she stopped responding to Amin’s messages, he carried out his threats by distributing her explicit images to people in her social circle.

Through extensive investigation involving numerous search warrants and subpoenas, federal agents identified Amin and discovered he had targeted hundreds of minors in similar schemes. According to prosecutors, Amin told victims the only way to stop his demands for additional images was to help him find new victims.

Prosecutors say Amin believed his location in Malaysia made him immune from American law enforcement. “Because he was in Malaysia and his victims were primarily in the U.S., Amin viewed himself as untouchable by law enforcement,” court documents state. “In one conversation, he told a minor victim that the ‘cops won’t do anything,’ and the ‘cops won’t track me down because I live no where near u.’”

Initial attempts to extradite Amin were unsuccessful, but Malaysian authorities filed their own charges with FBI assistance, the Justice Department reported. After his release on bail during those proceedings, the United States ultimately secured his expulsion from Malaysia, allowing FBI agents to take custody and transport him to Alaska.

FBI Director Kash Patel emphasized the agency’s global commitment to protecting children. “The FBI’s commitment to protecting our children from exploitation doesn’t change whether an offender is here in the United States or overseas,” Patel said in an official statement.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kyle Reardon ruled Thursday that Amin must remain jailed as his case moves forward through the court system.

A Coast Guard rescue swimmer has passed away following injuries sustained during a life-saving mission off Washington state’s coastline.

Tyler Jaggers died Thursday night, but not before experiencing two deeply moving moments: his family orchestrated a bedside engagement proposal to his partner, and military officials presented him with the Distinguished Flying Cross – among the military’s most prestigious honors for aerial heroism – while loved ones and fellow service members looked on.

Military leadership also elevated Jaggers to petty officer 2nd class during the ceremony.

“He demonstrated extraordinary heroism in the face of danger, upholding the highest standards of courage and excellence for Coast Guard operations,” Admiral Kevin Lunday, Commandant of the Coast Guard, said in a statement Friday. “We honor his selfless actions and unwavering devotion to our highest calling: to save others.”

The tragic incident occurred February 27th when Jaggers’ Astoria, Oregon-based team was dispatched to airlift a stroke patient from a commercial ship positioned 120 nautical miles off Washington’s shoreline.

While Coast Guard officials haven’t released specific details pending their ongoing investigation, Rick McElrath from the Coast Guard Helicopter Rescue Swimmer Association explained that Jaggers suffered his injuries after falling while being lowered from the aircraft to the vessel’s deck. McElrath leads the nonprofit organization supporting Coast Guard aviation veterans.

Medical teams kept Jaggers on life support while treating him at facilities in Victoria, British Columbia, and Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Seattle before his death Thursday evening.

Jaggers enlisted in January 2022 and had been stationed in Astoria since 2024. The Department of Homeland Security had previously commended his outstanding service aboard the Coast Guard cutter Legare during Caribbean operations.

Officials continue investigating the circumstances surrounding his injuries.

The Canadian Coast Guard ultimately completed the stroke victim’s evacuation, McElrath noted.

In Thursday’s social media post, Jaggers’ partner Cassandra Weaver shared the touching story of their engagement: his father placed the ring on her finger while she sat beside his hospital bed.

“What I didn’t realize was that he had recently told some of his closest buddies that he was getting ready to propose,” Cassandra Weaver wrote. “So yesterday, surrounded by the people who love him most, his family carried out the proposal on Tyler’s behalf.”

Her post featured images of her engagement ring while holding his hand and touching his Coast Guard uniform.

“I always told him I didn’t care if he proposed with a Ring Pop,” she wrote. “I said yes.”

Television journalist Don Lemon spoke out against growing authoritarianism and expressed concerns about media industry consolidation during Thursday’s GLAAD awards ceremony in Beverly Hills.

Speaking to reporters on the red carpet, Lemon highlighted how corporate mergers in the media landscape could pose risks to newsroom diversity and freedom of expression.

“It’s going to be really important for independent journalists and independent media to stand up for representation,” he told Reuters.

His comments come as Paramount Global moves forward with a planned $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros Discovery, which owns CNN – the network that terminated Lemon’s anchor position in 2023. Paramount executives have stated they will preserve editorial independence at the network following completion of the deal.

Thursday’s Beverly Hills event marked Lemon’s most prominent public appearance since his January arrest during coverage of ICE demonstrations in Minneapolis. At the ceremony, he expressed gratitude to GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis and the National Association of Black Journalists for their support following his arrest.

“Journalism is about the truth, and the truth has no right or no left,” he said.

The evening celebration, hosted by “Mean Girls” star Jonathan Bennett and featuring a special appearance by Liza Minnelli, highlighted LGBTQ representation across various media platforms. HBO Max and Crave’s “Heated Rivalry” took home the award for outstanding new TV series, with creator Jacob Tierney acknowledging groundbreaking programs like “Queer as Folk” and “The L Word” for opening doors.

The award-winning drama follows an intense hockey competition and hidden romantic relationship between two athletes, played by Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie.

Comedy duo Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers were honored with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award for their work promoting LGBTQ visibility through their popular culture podcast “Las Culturistas,” which explores major cultural events alongside celebrity guests including Lady Gaga and Laura Dern.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation will make the awards ceremony available for streaming on Hulu starting March 21.

Federal authorities are pointing fingers at China following a cybersecurity incident that compromised an FBI computer system, according to a Wall Street Journal report released Friday.

Investigators believe hackers with ties to the Chinese government successfully penetrated an internal FBI network that stores data connected to domestic surveillance operations, sources familiar with the investigation told the publication.

Officials have not yet determined how extensive the security breach was or the full impact of the intrusion, as the probe remains in preliminary phases.

When contacted for comment, both the FBI and China’s embassy in Washington have yet to provide responses regarding the alleged cyber incident.

A federal judge in Boston has thrown out the legal case of a college student who was improperly sent back to Honduras, citing the “sad truth” that her refusal to take a government-provided return flight eliminated the court’s authority to continue hearing her lawsuit.

Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, age 20 and a first-year student at Babson College in Massachusetts, chose not to get on a February 27 flight that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had organized to bring her back to America. Her decision came after the Trump administration warned it would attempt another deportation if she returned.

Lopez Belloza arrived in the United States from Honduras at age 8 and has stated she had no knowledge of a final removal order that was issued against her when she was just 11 years old.

Her legal team had asked Boston-based U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns to allow Lopez Belloza to pursue the lawsuit she initiated after immigration officials detained her at Logan International Airport in Boston last November. She had been traveling to Texas to celebrate Thanksgiving with family members.

However, Stearns confirmed his previous determination that he lacked authority to consider her detention case because she had already been transported to Texas by immigration officials when the lawsuit was filed on November 21.

The judge’s only remaining legal basis for involvement would have been enforcing an order from another judge that was issued just minutes after Lopez Belloza’s case began. That order prohibited her deportation or removal from Massachusetts for 72 hours. Despite this court directive, immigration authorities flew her from Texas to Honduras the following day.

A government attorney later expressed regret to Stearns for an “error” committed by an ICE officer who failed to properly notify other agency personnel about the court order’s existence.

On February 13, Stearns directed the administration to correct this mistake by helping Lopez Belloza return to the United States. The administration responded last week by offering to have her take the ICE flight from Honduras to Texas.

But officials also indicated that ICE intended to pursue another deportation attempt once she arrived and maintained the right to hold her in custody. Lopez Belloza described the situation as a “nightmare” and decided to stay in Honduras rather than board the aircraft.

“The sad truth is that when Any declined the flight she also waived this court’s only remaining basis for jurisdiction,” Stearns stated in his ruling.

The judge noted that if she had taken the flight, the court order preventing her immediate deportation would still be active, providing her with “ample opportunity” to file a new legal challenge in Texas regarding her detention.

Todd Pomerleau, who represents Lopez Belloza, announced plans to file an appeal.

PORTLAND, Maine — Federal aviation investigators have revealed that a private aircraft that went down in Maine this past January, claiming the lives of all six occupants, remained on the tarmac following de-icing procedures for nearly double the recommended timeframe, according to a preliminary investigation released Friday by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Federal Aviation Administration protocols dictate that aircraft should depart within nine minutes of beginning de-icing treatment. However, the NTSB’s findings indicate that 17 minutes elapsed before the jet attempted takeoff.

According to the investigation report, the aircraft’s captain stated it was “standard” to allow 14 to 18 minutes, noting they would only return for additional de-icing if the delay exceeded 30 minutes. The co-pilot agreed with this assessment, the document reveals.

The preliminary findings do not establish a definitive cause for the tragedy, which investigators expect to determine in their comprehensive report. The NTSB’s complete investigation findings typically require more than a year to publish.

An NTSB representative refused to provide additional commentary beyond the written report.

“There were multiple airport CCTV cameras that captured the airplane during the takeoff,” the report states. “Several of these cameras showed the airplane impact the ground followed by multiple explosions as the impact sequence progressed.”

The aircraft came to rest inverted on the runway and erupted in flames. Airport operations were suspended for multiple days following the incident.

The high-end aircraft, registered to a Texas legal practice, had made a refueling stop in Bangor while traveling to Paris during light snowfall, gentle winds, and temperatures near freezing as a significant weather system approached the Bangor area. Just prior to the crash, another aircraft had canceled its departure, informing air traffic control that poor visibility conditions and the need for additional de-icing treatment prompted their decision to abort.

While snowfall would eventually reach approximately 9.5 inches, the precipitation was just beginning when the accident occurred. Recovery teams, initially hindered by severe weather conditions, successfully retrieved both the voice recorder and flight data recorder for examination.

The Bombardier Challenger 600 had undergone routine de-icing procedures before moving to the departure runway, according to airport officials. Aviation regulations require pilots to return for additional treatment if the calculated protection time from de-icing expires.

The six victims, including four passengers and two crew members, had stopped in Bangor for fuel while traveling from Houston to France on January 25. Among those killed was Houston attorney Tara Arnold, 46, along with three employees from her high-end travel business.

The additional fatalities included Houston event coordinator Shawna Collins, 53; culinary expert Nick Mastrascusa, 43, and wine specialist Shelby Kuyawa, 34, both from Hawaii; along with pilots Jacob Hosmer, 47, from Pearland, Texas, and Jorden Reidel, 33, also from Texas.

Bangor International Airport, located roughly 235 miles north of Boston and 130 miles north of Portland, serves as one of America’s nearest airports to Europe and frequently accommodates private aircraft requiring fuel for transatlantic flights. The Bombardier was bound for France’s Champagne region when the fatal crash occurred.

Chicago will host a public memorial service on Friday to honor the legacy of civil rights icon Jesse Jackson. The celebration of life ceremony is anticipated to draw a diverse gathering of attendees including current and former government officials, religious leaders, and entertainment figures.

Following Friday’s public memorial, family and close friends will gather for a private funeral service on Saturday.

ROCKVILLE, Md. — A Montgomery County judge has handed down a 35-year prison sentence to the daughter of a former top U.S. intelligence official for fatally stabbing a friend during an intoxicated dispute at a Maryland residence.

Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Terrence McGann imposed the sentence Friday on 33-year-old Sophia Negroponte. In November, a jury convicted her of second-degree murder in the killing of 24-year-old Yousuf Rasmussen. This marked her second trial for the same offense after her original 2023 conviction was thrown out on appeal.

Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said the punishment was fitting for the crime. “The 35-year sentence mirrors the sentence imposed following the first trial in 2023. This is an appropriate and just outcome in light of the seriousness of this crime and the consistent findings of two separate juries who carefully evaluated the evidence,” McCarthy stated.

An appeals court had reversed the initial guilty verdict in 2024, determining that jurors should not have heard disputed segments of Negroponte’s police questioning and testimony from a prosecution witness who challenged her truthfulness.

The Washington, D.C. resident was among five Honduran children who had been abandoned or orphaned before being adopted by John Negroponte and his spouse during his tenure as U.S. ambassador to the Central American nation in the 1980s, The Washington Post reported.

John Negroponte was tapped by former President George W. Bush in 2005 to become the country’s inaugural intelligence director. His diplomatic career also included serving as deputy secretary of state and holding ambassador posts in Mexico, the Philippines, at the United Nations, and in Iraq.

A 22-year-old man now facing charges for the deaths of three Utah women had been walking free despite previous arrests in Iowa for cabin break-ins and illegal hunting violations, according to court records.

Ivan Miller was released on his own recognizance in January following his Iowa arrest, with authorities requiring only his promise to return for future court proceedings.

However, Miller failed to show up for his scheduled Friday arraignment because he was being held in a southern Colorado jail, where law enforcement had apprehended him driving one of the allegedly stolen vehicles.

Colorado’s public defender’s office is now representing Miller. Justin Bogan, who oversees the office in the judicial district covering Pagosa Springs, refused to provide comment on Thursday.

In Utah’s remote desert landscape, loved ones of the deceased women are grappling with what law enforcement has characterized as crimes of opportunity.

According to court filings detailing investigative interviews, Miller explained to authorities that he took the women’s vehicles and financial cards because he required means to travel back to Iowa.

Two of the victims were discovered by their spouses near a hiking trail after the women failed to return from their desert excursion. The third victim, described as a devout woman who took pride in maintaining her property, was located close to her residence.

Utah Department of Public Safety Lt. Cameron Roden stated that investigators found no evidence linking Miller to any of the three victims prior to the alleged crimes.

Miller’s movements in the days leading up to the killings show a pattern of transience. Shortly before the murders, he collided with an elk while driving through the town of Loa.

Following the accident, Miller sold his pickup to a towing company, leaving him without transportation. After several nights in local accommodations, he allegedly took shelter in a storage building belonging to 86-year-old Margaret Oldroyd in Lyman, Utah, near Torrey and Capitol Reef National Park.

Authorities discovered Oldroyd’s Buick on Wednesday at a trailhead approximately 10 miles from her rural home among the area’s farms and ranches. Miller allegedly confessed to investigators that he observed two women exiting a Subaru at that location, killed them, and stole their vehicle.

The victims at the trailhead were identified as Linda Dewey, 65, and her niece Natalie Graves, 34. Their bodies were located in a dried creek bed near the trail, which locals frequently use. Their husbands contacted emergency services and flagged down a park ranger.

“Our family is dealing with the shock of the devastating loss of two members of our family who were bonding over the beauty of a hike in one of their favorite places on earth — cherished by them and the community, considered to be a safe sanctuary,” the family of Dewey and Graves said in a statement. “They were murdered. We cannot comprehend why this happened.”

The family portrayed Dewey as a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, daughter and sister with extensive family connections and friendships worldwide.

“She was loved deeply and loved her family deeply. She was the heart of our family,” their statement said.

Regarding Graves, described as a wife, daughter and sister, the family called her “joy, sunshine and beauty embodied.”

Investigators traced the Buick back to Oldroyd, whose remains were discovered in a basement area beneath the shed on her property.

Neighboring resident Randy Jones expressed disbelief over the death of someone he called “the sweetest woman you’d ever meet.” He noted her dedication to maintaining her flowers and lawn in pristine condition.

Jones recalled that Oldroyd previously worked at a neighborhood grocery store handling inventory. When he assisted her with removing skunks from her yard, she would show appreciation by baking him a cake.

“Out here in rural counties, we all take care of each other,” Jones said.

According to Jones, Oldroyd rarely ventured from home in recent years except for church attendance and grocery shopping. Occasionally, she would visit him and his horses.

Wayne County prosecutors allege Miller shot Oldroyd from behind while she watched television, then stole her vehicle.

Following the discovery of the bodies, law enforcement conducted a widespread search throughout the Four Corners region for Miller.

His route took him through northern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico before authorities apprehended him in Pagosa Springs, a Colorado resort community famous for its hot springs along the San Juan River.

Court documents indicate Miller told investigators he killed the two women after deciding he disliked driving the Buick and stole bank cards because he needed funds for his return trip to Iowa.

Miller’s Iowa charges include felony second-degree burglary and misdemeanor theft, marijuana possession and firearms possession, with his Friday arraignment now missed. A January 13 court order shows he was released without posting bail based solely on his agreement to appear.

His Iowa arrest occurred after park rangers at a southern Iowa state facility entered a cabin on December 31 to prepare it for incoming guests.

Rangers found the entrance unlocked, food items on counters, a pan containing bacon grease on the stove, a container holding several marijuana cigarettes, and loaded firearms including a bolt-action rifle with bayonet attachment and an AR-10 equipped with scope and bipod, according to arrest documents.

The occupant had also installed a television, Xbox gaming system and Starlink internet equipment, indicating “intent to stay for a long period of time” at Lake Wapello State Park, according to the affidavit filed by the two rangers.

The document states Miller arrived while rangers were present, knocked quietly and quickly acknowledged breaking into the cabin three days earlier while seeking warm shelter.

The prosecutor’s office handling Miller’s Iowa case declined Friday to discuss the matter, including whether Iowa authorities would allow Utah officials to pursue their more serious charges first. A voicemail was left Friday for his Iowa public defender.

A Cleveland mother charged with murdering her two young children had her bond set at $2 million during a Friday court hearing, following the discovery of the girls’ remains in suitcases buried in shallow graves.

Twenty-eight-year-old Aliyah Henderson is facing two aggravated murder charges related to the deaths of Mila Chatman and Amor Wilson. The children’s bodies were found after someone walking their dog noticed one of the suitcases earlier this week and contacted authorities.

During her court appearance, Henderson remained mostly silent. Court officials noted that prosecutors found no prior criminal history for the defendant, while her appointed attorney mentioned she had housing arrangements and was actively seeking employment.

DeShaun Chatman, who is Mila’s father, remembered his daughter as a joyful child who embodied what it meant to be young. “She was happy-go-lucky — a ‘kid’s kid’ who was always smiling,” he said. Chatman revealed he had not seen Mila in five years despite his unsuccessful attempts to obtain emergency custody.

Following the hearing, Cullen Sweeney, who serves as the chief public defender for Cuyahoga County, refused to discuss the case details. Henderson’s future legal representation remains uncertain at this time.

According to the county Medical Examiner’s Office, Mila was 8 years old and Amor was 10. Officials used DNA testing to confirm the relationship between the half-sisters and establish their identities. Investigators also discovered a third child during their search of a residence connected to the case. That child, who appears to be in good health, is now under the care of child welfare services.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Police have arrested two suspects following an assault on law enforcement officers providing security for San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, according to city officials. The mayor remained safe during the incident.

The assault occurred Thursday evening when a group of individuals blocked the path of Lurie’s vehicle and security team in the Tenderloin district. According to witnesses who spoke with Mission Local, a San Francisco news publication, the situation escalated to violence after one of the protective officers requested the group clear the way.

Footage captured by the news organization reveals one security officer, wearing formal attire, engaged in a physical confrontation with an individual who eventually forced the officer to the ground.

The mayor’s purpose for visiting the Tenderloin — an area notorious for open drug activity and sales — remained uncertain, though Lurie frequently conducts walking tours throughout the city to engage with community members.

“There was an altercation involving Lurie’s security detail and that the mayor was not involved,” stated Charles Lutvak, speaking on behalf of Lurie.

According to a police department statement, San Francisco officers arrived at the location following a backup request from the mayor’s protective detail, who reported being engaged in physical combat with two unknown individuals.

Both protective officers suffered injuries that were not life-threatening and received medical attention from emergency responders on scene, the San Francisco Police Department confirmed in their official statement.

Authorities charged both suspects with assault on a peace officer using a deadly weapon, resisting arrest, drug paraphernalia possession, and additional violations.

Military officials announced Friday they will partner with the Federal Aviation Administration this weekend to test powerful laser weapons designed to neutralize dangerous drones in New Mexico.

According to Pentagon officials, the upcoming trials will focus on addressing aviation safety issues while collecting information about how the laser technology affects aircraft stand-ins, testing automated safety shutdown mechanisms, and evaluating potential risks to pilot vision.

The joint testing follows an incident on February 25 when military personnel mistakenly destroyed a government drone using their laser-based defense system. That mishap led aviation authorities to broaden the no-fly zone around Fort Hancock, Texas, after the FAA had initially grounded all aircraft at El Paso’s airport for 10 days on February 18, though officials reversed that decision within eight hours.

In a Friday interview, U.S. Deputy Transportation Secretary Steve Bradbury explained the testing aims to help the FAA understand the laser system’s constraints and how operators can modify and manage the technology.

Bradbury emphasized that aviation officials want to establish protocols ensuring airspace safety when these systems operate, eliminating the need for case-by-case approvals.

“If we don’t have that we’ll need to close airspace or at least restrict airspace as necessary,” Bradbury explained, noting they are rushing to finish their safety evaluation. “They have a critically important job to do and we have a critically important job to do and we need to coordinate so both jobs are getting done.”

Following a classified briefing Wednesday, congressional members highlighted the need for better inter-agency communication regarding these incidents.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz noted the challenges, saying “It’s clear that there were real challenges in terms of operationalizing counter-drone technology.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Federal immigration officials have detained a Colombian journalist who works for a Spanish-language media outlet in Tennessee, sparking a legal dispute over whether proper arrest procedures were followed.

Estefany Rodriguez Flores, who reports for Nashville Noticias and has published stories examining ICE practices, was taken into custody Wednesday when immigration agents stopped the vehicle she was traveling in. She remains held by ICE’s enforcement and removal division, according to federal court filings in Nashville.

Court documents filed Friday show conflicting accounts about whether agents possessed a valid arrest warrant during the detention.

Rodriguez’s attorney argues that no arrest warrant was displayed during the stop, only paperwork directing her to report to ICE offices. Legal documents indicate her lawyer spoke with an ICE representative who confirmed no arrest warrant existed at the time of detention.

Federal attorneys representing ICE counter these claims, stating in their own court filing that officials obtained a proper arrest warrant for Rodriguez on Monday. They also assert her visa allowing her to remain in the United States had lapsed, making “her arrest and detention” lawful under federal regulations.

The 29-year-old journalist entered the country through legal channels and has resided in the United States for five years, her legal team states. She possesses valid employment authorization and has submitted applications for political asylum as well as legal residency through her American citizen spouse.

According to Nashville Noticias, Rodriguez and her husband were traveling in a clearly marked company vehicle when multiple cars surrounded them and she was transported to a detention facility.

ICE officials have not responded to requests for comment on the case.

Prior to her arrest, Rodriguez had scheduled meetings with ICE regarding her immigration status that were postponed twice – first due to winter weather closing offices, then because an agent could not locate her appointment in the computer system, legal documents reveal. A replacement meeting had been arranged for March 17.

Rodriguez began working with Nashville Noticias in 2022, where she covers community affairs, family matters, health topics, law enforcement, and immigration policy.

The news organization issued a statement saying Rodriguez “needs to reunite with her young daughter and husband to continue her legal process within the framework permitted by law.”

Her legal representatives have filed motions seeking her immediate release, while federal prosecutors have asked the court to reject this request.

FARGO, N.D. — A 12-week-old puppy with droopy ears and four paws has become the latest addition to the North Dakota Highway Patrol’s specialized search team.

The youngster named Beau is entering the ranks of bloodhounds who handle challenging missing person cases throughout the upper Midwest region.

These canines search for lost children, individuals suffering from dementia, and wanted criminals. While the patrol employs drones and aircraft for search operations, bloodhounds provide a time-tested, simple-technology approach.

“These dogs are just specifically bred to search for people,” said Trooper Steven Mayer, who handles Bleu, one of the dogs.

Law enforcement agencies from Maine to Florida to Texas to Arizona to California utilize bloodhounds, according to Danny Jones, executive director of the U.S. Police Canine Association. While drones and helicopters can scout ahead of canines, bloodhounds offer unmatched capabilities.

“To actually get a direction and start moving in a direction, you’re going to need a dog on the ground to start that trail, and that’s the difference between the technology and actually having a dog such as a bloodhound on the ground,” Jones said.

These dogs possess approximately 300 million scent receptors within their noses, far exceeding humans and surpassing other dog breeds, Mayer explained.

Their large, drooping ears and skin folds assist in collecting odors that enable the dogs to follow human trails, sometimes after a week or longer, he noted. The canines have detected scents from walls people have touched, soil where individuals stumbled, and even vomit on vehicle doors.

The Highway Patrol started utilizing bloodhounds approximately 14 years ago, transitioning from multi-purpose dogs to specialized drug detection canines and tracking dogs. The state unit receives roughly 70 service requests annually, including one to Montana last year to assist in locating a suspect in the fatal shooting of four individuals at an Anaconda bar.

Two handler-dog teams traveled 10 hours to provide assistance. They came reasonably close to the suspect, who was positioned where the dogs were signaling, Mayer explained. Additional requests have originated from South Dakota and Utah.

Beau was born in Texas but has relocated to Fargo, North Dakota’s most populous city. His current instruction focuses primarily on house training and kennel training along with basic commands, plus exposing him to various locations, individuals and settings, said Trooper Dustin Pattengale, Beau’s handler. He will not be prepared for complete or certified tracking until reaching approximately 9 months of age.

“The basic training is just introducing him to scent articles and then ramping up the training to where he goes further and further and encompasses different trails, different types of environment,” Pattengale said.

Bloodhounds exhibit high energy, affection and compassion but can demonstrate stubbornness, excessive drooling and mischievous behavior, making them unsuitable for apartment living, Mayer noted.

His partner, Bleu, is a large, friendly canine with one eye, having lost the other after an injury while playing with another bloodhound. His tracking capabilities remain unaffected, Mayer stated.

Beau continues growing as a puppy, his lengthy ears becoming wet from dragging across the ground while he investigated a snow-covered area, continuously sniffing. He enjoys his beef liver rewards.

“He is a very energetic young pup. He’s pretty relaxed for the most part, most days, but he is eager. He likes to work. He likes to sniff,” Pattengale said.

Beyond search operations, North Dakota has assisted agencies through other means. Last year, Mayer traveled to Omaha, Nebraska, for a week to help the city police department train its initial bloodhound, Willow.

Omaha previously contacted the nearest bloodhounds, located in the Chicago area, for search missions, Omaha Police Sgt. Scott Warner explained. The benefit was evident and Willow joined the force early last year.

He anticipates Willow becoming a valuable resource for the region. Omaha intends to eventually have multiple dogs and handlers, he stated.

Willow has tracked missing individuals, including an elderly man on Christmas Eve, through diminishing light, steep terrain, mud and water.

Locating training mentors proves essential, Warner emphasized. Much of the bloodhound network operates through personal recommendations, he noted.

“I had no idea that North Dakota had a bloodhound program. There’s not a directory that I can look at that tells me where dogs are,” Warner said.

Mayer and his spouse have journeyed globally to assist with dog training, making trips to Hungary, Italy, South Africa and Wales, with plans later this year to visit Slovenia and Austria. They provide these services without charge.

Handlers represent a unique group of individuals, Mayer observed.

“They drop everything at the drop of a hat and they’ll leave their family, their friends, they’ll leave Easter dinner to go find a stranger that they’ve never met before,” he said.

North Dakota’s canines have gained popularity on the Highway Patrol’s social media platforms. Beau’s name was selected through a Facebook poll. Recent videos show him chewing a toy bear and another bloodhound, Lorace, running around in new boots.

“Everybody loves a dog, I mean, especially these little babies, these floppy-eared ones,” said Mayer, who hopes the dogs’ public presence generates quicker requests for their services.

“The more word we can get out about the program and the faster we get calls on it, the easier we can get out and be available to help people,” he said.

Residents can once again dispose of brush at the Parsonsburg Convenience Center starting March 6, 2026, though officials warn that available space for dumping remains restricted.

The Solid Waste Division announced they are actively working to expand capacity as efficiently as possible to better serve the community.

County officials are asking residents to keep in mind the current space limitations when planning their visits to the facility.

Young married couples with children are increasingly choosing to relocate to conservative states, driven primarily by more affordable housing options, according to new research from the Institute for Family Studies. The findings show a significant demographic shift affecting different regions of the country.

The research indicates that while aging populations are growing nationwide, there’s a notable difference in migration patterns. “Both red and blue states are watching the share of residents age 60 or over grow, but blue states are losing twenty-somethings and kids,” the study states.

Southern states have experienced particularly strong growth in this demographic, with data showing an increase of nearly 6% in married couples raising young children during the past five years. The trend highlights how housing affordability continues to influence where American families choose to establish their homes and raise their children.

A memorial celebration will honor the life and legacy of civil rights champion Jesse Jackson in Chicago, following his death last month.

The homegoing service will feature musical performances by Chicago-born singer Jennifer Hudson, marking a tribute to the activist who made the Windy City his base of operations after leaving his South Carolina roots during the era of segregation.

Three former U.S. presidents are scheduled to attend the ceremony: Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden, demonstrating the significant impact Jackson had on American politics and civil rights.

Jackson dedicated his life to fighting for equality and justice, establishing Chicago as his headquarters for civil rights advocacy after experiencing the challenges of growing up in the segregated South.

The memorial service represents a fitting tribute to a man who spent decades championing social justice causes and working to advance opportunities for marginalized communities across the nation.

WASHINGTON, March 5 – Major airline and travel industry organizations issued warnings Thursday about potential disruptions to air travel as the federal government shutdown stretches on, with spring break travel season approaching.

Approximately 50,000 airport security personnel with the Transportation Security Administration are currently on the job without receiving paychecks. Industry representatives expressed concern that financial strain could lead to increased absenteeism among these essential workers as the shutdown drags on.

The timing raises particular concern as the busy spring break travel period draws near, when airports typically see increased passenger volume.

MIAMI (AP) — Celebrity chef Rachael Ray wants to set the record straight: she’s not ill, her marriage remains strong, and she’s still actively working in television.

Speculation has circulated about the cooking personality who popularized quick 30-minute recipes after she departed from her daily television program. However, this hasn’t dampened her enthusiasm as she continues her television cooking career in her mid-50s while still drawing large audiences to her beachside culinary events.

This marks Ray’s newest chapter, combining spontaneous opportunities with a return to her fundamental cooking approach.

The media mogul who built an empire around culinary enthusiasm, extra virgin olive oil abbreviations, and her signature prep bowls left the Food Network and her syndicated daytime program three years ago. She now admits, “It can be hard to find me.”

During a recent interview with the Associated Press at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, Ray discussed her future plans, her motivations, and her indifference toward her professional legacy.

“I’ll be dead, so who cares?” she repeatedly stated when addressing her detractors, rumors, and whether audiences understand her choices today.

However, she clearly does have concerns, especially regarding her consistent mission of building people’s culinary confidence. She previously compared her cooking style to pop music’s accessibility. While this might sound casual, it’s actually a fitting comparison for someone whose career centers on making food approachable.

“That was the message I wanted to bring to people. Don’t be scared of this,” she explained. “If it doesn’t come out all right, who cares? It’s just dinner.”

Ray’s career trajectory is well-documented: a young woman from upstate New York gained attention through cooking demonstrations at a premium grocery store, secured a Food Network position teaching accessible and budget-friendly cooking, expanded into daytime television with Oprah Winfrey’s support, and quickly became omnipresent with her rapid-fire “Yum-o!” catchphrases and extensive product lines including cookware, publications, cookware, magazines, pet food, and numerous other merchandise.

In 2023, after 17 seasons in daytime television, she surprised followers by stepping away from most of her commitments, a choice she had contemplated privately for years. Network television came with extensive teams of executives and legal advisors.

“I just didn’t want to do that anymore. I didn’t want to live by committee,” she stated. “I wanted to focus more on food the way I want to teach it, talking to people I want to talk to, and being just me.”

Many perceived this as retirement or disappearance. Following a fire that destroyed her upstate New York residence and flooding that damaged her city apartment, she relocated much of her life to Italy. She launched a podcast that was later quietly discontinued, all while facing rumors about declining health and marital problems.

Operating discretely might better describe her situation than slowing down. But first, addressing the speculation.

“We’re very volatile people. We’re loud, and then we’re lovey dovey, and I think we confuse a lot of folks because of that,” she said about her relationship with musician and attorney John Cusimano. “I have a great marriage. My health is fine. I lift weights every morning, 4 o’clock, you know. I’m doing just fine.”

Regarding retirement claims?

Following her daytime show’s conclusion — she only misses the live audience’s energy — she established Free Food Studios, her own production company, to maintain content control without legal bureaucracy and develop new talent. A&E subsequently purchased a 50% ownership stake and commissioned hundreds of episodes, including multiple new series featuring Ray.

“People tell me on the plane or at the airport or at the grocery store, ‘Oh, I miss your show so much!’ And I’m like, I have many! You know, look on YouTube or look at A&E or look at Disney or Hulu,” she explained. “It rotates through all these different platforms now, so it’s harder for people to find.”

Her “Meals in Minutes” program recently received renewal for over 100 additional episodes, while she’s producing two more shows featuring other personalities. Additionally, she’s organizing her eighth humanitarian mission to Ukraine — collaborating with José Andrés since the war’s beginning — recently introduced her own gin brand, and continues selling cookware and pet products, with the latter supporting The Rachael Ray Foundation, which has contributed $140 million to animal welfare and nutrition advocacy organizations.

Currently, formal culinary training among food celebrities is increasingly rare, making early criticism of Ray — questioning her serious cooking credentials and chef status — appear outdated and possibly discriminatory. She appreciates how social media has democratized entry into her field, allowing newcomers to gain recognition without financial resources, industry connections, culinary education, or fortunate circumstances.

What remains unchanged is society’s judgment of aging women, particularly public figures. Her appearance has generated significant discussion recently, but Ray refuses cosmetic enhancement trends. “I tried Botox here (pointing at her eyebrows) years ago,” she said. “And I just looked sort of shocked or something. And I thought, this isn’t you.”

At this year’s South Beach festival Burger Bash, which Ray has hosted for twenty years — consuming approximately 568 burgers over time, but who’s counting? — crowds surrounded her sharing stories of growing up with her recipes and programs. At a private dinner the following evening, over 20 people paid $500 each to watch her serve pasta alle vongole and share family anecdotes while Cusimano prepared cocktails.

“Honey! I’m talking too much! This got hot!” Ray exclaimed, passing him a Martinez cocktail for refreshing. “I don’t drink a hot cocktail. I almost never drink the second half of my cocktail.” The audience of predominantly middle-aged women responded enthusiastically, clearly adopting this new Ray-endorsed rule for their own partners.

“I love the fact that it’s still relevant that I come here,” Ray reflected. “I’m a woman in her mid-50s that’s still employed, still making programming, and still can book an event and have thousands of people come out. That means a lot to me.”

What’s ahead?

“I like not knowing,” she said. “I like watching things evolve and discovering what’s next for myself. So there’s no plan. There’s no road map.”

Residents who are having trouble paying their energy bills can find help through several assistance programs currently available.

The Department of Housing & Family Services has put together a collection of resources designed to help community members find the support they need to manage their energy costs.

Those interested in learning more about these assistance options can access the compiled resource information to connect with appropriate programs.

Americans will lose an hour of sleep this Sunday when clocks spring forward at 2 a.m. for daylight saving time, creating the familiar 23-hour day that disrupts sleep patterns, makes morning activities darker, and generates widespread frustration.

Despite polling data showing most Americans dislike switching clocks twice yearly, legislative efforts to eliminate the practice have stalled due to deep disagreements about the best alternative and concerns about potential consequences.

Making daylight saving time permanent would mean Detroit residents wouldn’t see sunrise until around 9 a.m. during winter months. Conversely, adopting year-round standard time would bring 4:11 a.m. sunrises to Seattle in June.

“There’s no law we can pass to move the sun to our will,” said Jay Pea, the president of Save Standard Time, an organization devoted to switching to standard time for good.

Genie Lauren, a 41-year-old healthcare worker from New York City, monitors sunrise and sunset times during winter months, describing herself as “white-knuckling it” until evening daylight returns enough for her to feel motivated to leave her apartment after work.

“The majority of the year we’re in daylight savings time,” said Lauren. “What are we doing this for?”

The United States has adjusted timekeeping practices periodically since railroads established standardized time zones in 1883. Globally, approximately 140 nations have implemented daylight saving time at various points, though only about half that number continue the practice today.

According to an AP-NORC survey from last year, roughly one in ten American adults supports the current clock-changing system. About half oppose it, while four in ten expressed no opinion. When forced to choose, most Americans indicate they would prefer permanent daylight saving time over permanent standard time.

Beginning in 2018, nineteen states—primarily across the South and Pacific Northwest—have enacted legislation calling for permanent daylight saving time adoption.

However, federal law requires Congressional approval for states to implement year-round daylight saving time, a system that was previously used nationwide during World War II and briefly in 1974 to mixed reception.

The Senate approved legislation in 2022 to establish permanent daylight saving time nationally. A corresponding House measure has not received a floor vote.

Representative Mike Rogers, an Alabama Republican who reintroduces such legislation each term, indicated that airline industry opposition—citing scheduling complications—has influenced lawmakers’ reluctance to advance the measure.

Florida Republican Representative Greg Steube has proposed an alternative solution.

“Why not just split the baby?” he asked. “Move it 30 minutes so it would be halfway between the two.”

Steube believes his proposal could attract bipartisan backing. The change would put America out of step with most global timekeeping, though India uses a similar approach and Nepal sets its clocks 15 minutes ahead of India.

Karin Johnson, vice president of advocacy group Save Standard Time and a University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School neurology professor, argues that permanent standard time—with the sun directly overhead near noon—would improve functioning for students, drivers, and virtually everyone else throughout the year.

“Morning light is what’s really critical for setting our circadian rhythms each day,” she said.

Kenneth Wright, who directs the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory at the University of Colorado, notes that fatal car accidents, heart attacks, and strokes increase in the days following the spring time change.

“Based on the evidence for our health and well-being and safety, the best option for us as a country now is to choose to go to permanent standard time,” he said.

Currently, only Arizona—excluding the Navajo Nation—and Hawaii avoid daylight saving time changes.

Over the past two years, six states have passed legislation in at least one chamber supporting permanent standard time, including Virginia in February. A Virginia House committee this week recommended postponing the issue until 2027.

Most proposals include conditions requiring neighboring states to make similar changes. Virginia’s measure, for example, would only activate if Maryland and Washington, D.C., also adopt standard time. This approach could address concerns from broadcasters worried about scheduling confusion, though it wouldn’t satisfy golf industry objections to permanent standard time reducing evening playing opportunities.

Many permanent daylight saving time proposals contain similar regional coordination requirements.

Scott Yates, a Colorado resident who operates the Lock the Clock website, advocates for federal legislation ending biannual clock changes within two years.

His proposal would require states to choose either permanent daylight saving or standard time.

Until clock changes end, Yates offers practical advice.

“If you’re the boss, tell all your employees on Monday that they can come in an hour later,” he said. “And if you aren’t the boss, tell your boss that you think you should come in an hour later on Monday. Sleep in for safety.”

EL PASO, Texas — Emergency responders received distress calls from personnel at Camp East Montana in Texas almost daily over a five-month period, with each call documenting incidents of suffering and desperation at America’s biggest Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.

The incidents ranged from a detainee weeping after being attacked by another person to someone striking his head against a wall while expressing thoughts of self-harm. One pregnant woman suffered from severe back pain while also battling coronavirus.

“Every day felt like a week. Every week felt like a month. Every month felt like a year,” explained Owen Ramsingh, a former property manager from Columbia, Missouri, who was held at the facility for several weeks before being deported to the Netherlands in February. “Camp East Montana was 1,000% worse than a prison.”

With billions in additional government funding, ICE activities nationwide have disrupted communities, torn apart families, and fostered widespread anxiety as part of President Donald Trump’s promise to remove undocumented immigrants from America.

These widespread arrests have packed detention facilities, forcing ICE to scramble for additional space to hold those who have been captured. Contrary to the “worst of the worst” that Trump pledged to remove, ICE records indicate that 80% of those at the camp had clean criminal histories and were instead caught in an extensive enforcement sweep.

The facility resembles a temporary settlement, featuring six elongated tents positioned across a section of the Chihuahuan Desert near El Paso at Fort Bliss Army base, a location that previously served as an internment site for Japanese Americans during World War II. Within this quickly assembled complex, communal housing units accommodate thousands of immigrants wearing color-coded clothing and plastic footwear.

However, accounts of facility conditions, documented through data and audio recordings from over 100 emergency calls obtained by the Associated Press — along with subsequent interviews and legal documents — paint a troubling picture of overcrowding, inadequate medical care, poor nutrition, and psychological trauma.

Those detained describe a facility where approximately 3,000 individuals live daily in noisy and unsanitary conditions, where illnesses transmit rapidly and rest is difficult to find. The center has been closed to outside visitors until at least March 19 due to a measles outbreak, according to U.S. Representative Veronica Escobar.

Individuals held there face challenges obtaining medications and healthcare, experience significant weight loss due to insufficient food, and fear private security personnel known to use physical force during disturbances. The ceilings of the windowless structures leak during rainfall, and detainees only experience daylight during brief outings once or twice weekly to a small recreational area.

In a written response, a Department of Homeland Security representative who did not identify themselves disputed allegations of poor conditions, stating that Camp East Montana residents receive meals, water, and medical care in a regularly maintained facility.

The department announced Tuesday that standard operations continue at the camp. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that ICE is evaluating a proposal to shut it down.

Similar to other detainees, Ramsingh reported that between cleaning sessions, the living areas, bathrooms, and washing facilities were frequently dirty and bug-infested. He stated that detainees would take food from others because everyone was hungry due to small and sometimes inedible portions, leading to conflicts, and the environment damaged his psychological well-being.

He recalled overhearing a security officer discussing wagers made among staff members about which detainee might next attempt suicide. The guard mentioned contributing $500 to a betting pool, with the entire amount depending on the result. This conversation was especially disturbing, he noted, because he had considered suicide himself.

The DHS representative called Ramsingh’s claims untrue, though offered no details about how the department had attempted to investigate this.

Ramsingh said he learned of the betting pool following January 3, when ICE reported that security personnel responded after a 55-year-old Cuban man attempted self-harm and then used restraints and physical force to control him. A medical examiner determined that Geraldo Lunas Campos’s death was a homicide caused by suffocation.

On January 14, staff reported that a 36-year-old Nicaraguan man died by suicide days after being detained while employed in Minnesota.

Beyond these fatalities, detainees tried to harm themselves while expressing suicidal thoughts on at least six additional occasions that prompted emergency calls, based on records from the City of El Paso obtained through Texas public information law.

DHS stated that the facility’s medical personnel “closely monitors at-risk detainees,” offers mental health services, and works to prevent suicide attempts.

Ramsingh held legal permanent resident status and came to America at age 5 when his Dutch mother wed a U.S. military member. He married an American citizen in 2015.

However, at 45 years old, immigration officials detained him at Chicago O’Hare airport in September after returning from a family visit to the Netherlands. They referenced a drug conviction from when he was 16, for which he had served prison time years earlier. He was among the initial detainees transferred to Camp East Montana.

Additional medical crises included seizures, chest pain, and heart issues, according to the AP’s examination of 130 calls placed after the camp opened in mid-August through January 20.

“It’s not easy in here, psychologically,” explained detainee Roland Kusi, 31, who said he left Cameroon in 2022 to escape political violence. “You just keep thinking, like all the time, you’re thinking and thinking for a solution. … It’s really mentally draining.”

Immigration officials arrested him in Chicago in September during an appointment with his wife, an Army National Guard member, to register their marriage as part of his pursuit of legal residency. He was quickly transported to El Paso.

A Cuban immigrant in his 50s told the AP he asked to receive his medications for diabetes, high blood pressure, and an enlarged prostate during a six-week stay at Camp East Montana but never received them. He spoke anonymously due to fear of retaliation.

In desperation, the man said he once refused to exit living quarters when cleaning staff arrived. An immigration official offered him Ibuprofen and suggested he consider departing for another country.

“He says to me, ‘Look, there are a lot of detainees, we don’t have enough for everyone,’” he recounted. “The man from ICE says to me, ‘OK, why don’t you decide it’s better to leave? Leave for Mexico, go to Cuba. There you can have your medicine, have your things.’”

Fearing for his life, the man agreed to self-deport to Mexico to Ciudad Juárez — separated by the international border from his wife and their 11-year-old son in El Paso.

The detainees, predominantly male, arrive from around the globe. Some have resided in America for decades.

The facility is designed for brief stays before detainees are moved or deported. The typical length of stay is just nine days, according to ICE information, but some individuals have remained for months due to court proceedings or deportation logistics. Ramsingh said he was held there for weeks after his deportation was ordered because ICE misplaced his Dutch passport. His personal items, including gold jewelry, also disappeared.

Detainee advocates and some congressional members have demanded the camp’s closure, citing inhumane treatment.

“This facility should not be operational. It feels like this contractor is reinventing the wheel, and people are losing their lives in their experiment,” stated Escobar, a Democrat from El Paso who has visited the camp multiple times.

She reported that the facility had temporarily reduced its population below 1,900 when she visited last month after measles and tuberculosis cases were identified.

During one visit, a female detainee showed Escobar a small portion of scrambled eggs that was served still frozen in the center. She discovered that detainees had protested after they stopped receiving juice, fruit, and milk with their meals.

Escobar also met with a detainee from Ecuador who reported his arm was broken during a violent arrest by immigration agents in Minnesota. Weeks later, he was still requesting proper medical treatment, and the congresswoman could still see the fractured bones in his forearm protruding under the skin.

“I asked him, have you asked for help? And he said, ‘I ask every day, all day. And the only thing they give me is aspirin,’” she remembered.

The Washington Post reported in September that a mandatory ICE inspection found conditions at the facility violated at least 60 federal standards for immigration detention, but that report has never been made public.

The DHS representative did not explain why but called claims in the Post article false. The representative said ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight recently completed an inspection at Camp East Montana but that report also remains unreleased.

The facility was quickly built last summer after the administration granted a contract now valued at up to $1.3 billion to Acquisition Logistics LLC, a Virginia contractor that had not previously managed an ICE facility.

The company employs subcontractors at Camp East Montana, including security company Akima Global Services and medical contractor Loyal Source.

Escobar demanded an investigation into the contractors, saying they were not providing the services taxpayers are funding.

“People should be moved by the abject cruelty, but if they’re not, I hope they’re moved by the fraud and corruption,” she stated.

Akima did not respond to requests for comment. Loyal Source declined to comment.

Most emergency calls came from the camp’s contract medical personnel. At least 20 incidents were classified as seizures, including some that caused head injuries.

Some injuries resulted from fights between detainees, including a man who reported being kicked in the ear and beaten in his ribs. Another man said he could not move his left eye after being assaulted the previous day.

A woman who was 12 weeks pregnant had not received prenatal care before arriving at Camp East Montana and was experiencing severe pain, emergency calls showed. She was among a small number of emergencies involving women, who comprise less than 10% of the camp’s population.

The calls also revealed staff tensions. A doctor is heard criticizing another employee for attempting to return a suicidal detainee to the detention facility rather than the emergency room, only to realize they had confused two different patients.

Following one detainee’s suicide attempt while in an isolation cell, a doctor could be heard speaking with a disturbed colleague. A security supervisor assured him, the doctor reported, that incidents “like this shouldn’t happen.”

Federal immigration enforcement officers detained a local news reporter in Nashville without obtaining an arrest warrant, according to an emergency court filing submitted by the journalist’s legal representatives.

Estefany Maria Rodriguez Flores, who works for Nashville Noticias, remains held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility following her detention on Thursday, the news organization confirmed. ICE officials have not provided a response to requests for comment regarding the arrest.

The Colombian-born journalist has resided in the United States for five years and “frequently reports on stories critical of ICE,” according to documents filed by her attorneys in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Nashville Noticias reported that federal agents surrounded the vehicle Rodriguez Flores and her husband were occupying outside a fitness center on Wednesday. The car displayed the news outlet’s logo, according to the organization.

Federal District Judge Eli Richardson has ordered immigration authorities to provide their initial response to the emergency legal petition by Friday. Rodriguez Flores had been scheduled to meet with ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division on March 17, her legal team stated.

The detention comes amid President Donald Trump’s expanded immigration enforcement efforts, which civil rights organizations claim infringe upon constitutional protections including free speech and due process guarantees.

Civil liberties advocates argue these policies have created dangerous conditions for both citizens and immigrants, particularly following two deadly encounters in January where federal agents fatally shot U.S. citizens in Minnesota.

Since the beginning of 2026, at least eight individuals have died while in ICE custody nationwide, adding to the 31 fatalities recorded in detention facilities during the previous year.

The Trump administration maintains that these enforcement measures are designed to reduce unauthorized immigration and strengthen national security.

Court documents reveal that Rodriguez Flores initially entered the United States using a tourist visa, subsequently applied for political asylum, and later married an American citizen. She currently possesses valid employment authorization, and both she and her spouse have petitioned to change her immigration status to permanent resident.

Federal Bureau of Investigation officials confirmed Thursday that they discovered and responded to questionable cyber activity within their internal computer systems.

According to an FBI representative, the agency has “leveraged all technical capabilities to respond” to the security incident.

Bureau officials refused to elaborate on specific details regarding what type of suspicious activity occurred, the timeline of when it was discovered, or which particular areas of the FBI’s computer infrastructure were affected.

WAUKESHA, Wis. — An 18-year-old Wisconsin man received a life sentence without possibility of parole Thursday after admitting he murdered his parents to finance an elaborate scheme to assassinate President Donald Trump using an explosive-laden drone.

Nikita Casap entered guilty pleas in January to two first-degree intentional homicide charges in Waukesha County Circuit Court for the fatal shootings of his mother, Tatiana Casap, and stepfather, Donald Mayer, in February 2025. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed seven additional charges including concealing corpses and theft.

Judge Ralph Ramirez imposed two consecutive life terms without the possibility of extended supervision during Thursday’s sentencing hearing, describing Casap’s crimes as both “horrific” and “inexplicable.” The judge explained he couldn’t predict if or when the defendant might change.

“I choose to find he’s not eligible for extended release because I do not know … when and if and whether a profound and significant change can occur,” Ramirez stated.

Court documents indicate Casap fatally shot both victims at their Waukesha village residence on or around February 11, 2025. He then cohabitated with the decomposing remains for two weeks before taking his stepfather’s SUV and fleeing westward with $14,000 in cash, jewelry, identification documents, a firearm, and the family pet.

Law enforcement apprehended Casap during a traffic stop in Kansas on February 28 following a four-day manhunt.

Federal investigators allege Casap orchestrated his parents’ deaths to secure funding and freedom to execute his assassination plan, which involved purchasing drone equipment and explosives. A federal search warrant reveals he authored a manifesto demanding Trump’s death and communicated with co-conspirators, including a Russian-speaking contact, about overthrowing the government.

“The killing of his parents appeared to be an effort to obtain the financial means and autonomy necessary to carrying out his plan,” the warrant stated.

Investigators discovered cell phone messages from January 2025 showing Casap inquiring about hiding periods before potential relocation to Ukraine. One message asked: “So while in Ukraine, I’ll be able to live a normal life? Even if it’s found out I did it?”

District Attorney Lesli Boese argued Thursday that Casap posed too great a public safety risk for eventual release. Drawing from FBI interrogation transcripts, Boese revealed that Casap immigrated from Moldova as an elementary student but became increasingly consumed by what she termed “disturbing websites,” including content about serial killers and mass school violence.

According to Boese, Casap initially planned to attack Trump using an AK-47 rifle mounted on a drone in late 2024. He later modified the scheme to involve dropping explosives from above before escaping by sea to Ukraine, where he intended to remain hidden for ten years. Casap admitted to federal agents he was indifferent to collateral casualties during the attempted assassination.

The teenager contacted two online sellers offering drone equipment and explosives, transferring $8,700 in bitcoin from his stepfather’s account to one of them. However, both contacts were operating fraudulent schemes, and no actual weapons or equipment existed.

“He walked right into it,” Boese commented.

Defense attorney Paul Rifelj requested parole eligibility after 20 years, explaining that news coverage of a December 2024 vehicle attack at a German Christmas market triggered Casap’s violent ideation. The attorney said his client believed he could impact world events by targeting a political figure.

Rifelj argued that the online contacts manipulated Casap by convincing him he was participating in a larger military operation, providing direction and purpose during a period of social isolation at school.

“Children are more than their worst deeds,” he told the court.

During his emotional statement to the court, a visibly shaking Casap expressed love for his mother, saying he constantly worried about her safety, even during mundane activities like reaching for items on high shelves. While acknowledging a more distant relationship with his stepfather, he credited Mayer with treating him as family.

However, Casap admitted becoming consumed by violent thoughts.

“I thought I was part of a revolution,” he said. “I thought I was part of a war. I told myself bad things had to happen.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Civil rights pioneer Bernard LaFayette, who conducted the dangerous preliminary work for Alabama’s Selma voter registration drive that ultimately led to the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965, has passed away.

LaFayette’s son, Bernard LaFayette III, confirmed his father suffered a fatal heart attack Thursday morning at age 85.

While the March 7, 1965 attack on future Representative John Lewis and other demonstrators at Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge captured national headlines and galvanized Congress into action, it was LaFayette who had discreetly laid the foundation for those pivotal events two years earlier.

As a Nashville college student in 1960, LaFayette helped establish the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which spearheaded integration and voting rights efforts throughout the South. SNCC had initially abandoned plans for Selma after early reconnaissance suggested “the white folks were too mean and the Black folks were too scared,” according to LaFayette.

Despite these warnings, LaFayette persisted. Appointed to lead Alabama’s Voter Registration Campaign in 1963, he relocated to Selma with his then-wife Colia Liddell, gradually developing local leadership and persuading residents that transformation was achievable. He documented this experience in his 2013 autobiography, “In Peace and Freedom: My Journey in Selma.”

LaFayette encountered numerous threats, including a murder attempt on the same evening Medgar Evers was killed in Mississippi, which the FBI identified as part of a broader plot against civil rights activists. After being assaulted near his residence, LaFayette faced an armed attacker until a neighbor emerged with a rifle, leaving LaFayette positioned between both armed men while pleading with his neighbor not to fire.

During that terrifying moment, LaFayette experienced “an extraordinary sense of internal strength instead of fear.” Instead of retaliating, he maintained eye contact with his assailant. He described nonviolence as a battle “to win that person over, a struggle of the human spirit.”

LaFayette also recognized that his neighbor’s weapon likely prevented his death.

By 1965, when his Selma efforts reached their climax, LaFayette had moved on to a Chicago initiative. He had intended to participate in the Selma-to-Montgomery demonstration on its second day, causing him to miss the violent confrontation when state police used tear gas and clubs to halt marchers before they could leave the city.

“I felt helpless at a distance,” he reflected. “I was stricken with grief, concerned that so many people in my beloved community were hurt, possibly killed.”

However, he quickly mobilized, gathering Chicago supporters and organizing transportation to Alabama for another attempt. Two weeks later, they embarked on what had transformed into a celebration: President Lyndon Johnson had presented the Voting Rights Act to Congress.

LaFayette’s childhood in Tampa, Florida, included a formative experience at age 7 when he attempted to board a streetcar with his grandmother. African American passengers were required to pay at the front before walking to the rear entrance. When the operator started moving before they could board, his grandmother fell, and he was too small to assist her.

“I felt like a sword cut me in half, and I vowed I would do something about this problem one day,” he wrote in his memoir.

His grandmother, believing he was meant for ministry, arranged his enrollment at Nashville’s American Baptist Theological Seminary (now American Baptist College), where he shared a room with Lewis. Together, they led the nonviolent resistance movement that made Nashville the first major Southern city to integrate its downtown establishments.

President Barack Obama honored both roommates in his 2020 eulogy for Lewis, recounting how they integrated a Greyhound bus during their Christmas journey home (Lewis to Troy, Alabama, and LaFayette to Tampa, Florida) shortly after the Supreme Court prohibited segregation in interstate transportation in 1960.

The pair occupied front seats and refused relocation, infuriating the driver who abandoned his post at every stop throughout the night.

“Imagine the courage of these two people … to challenge an entire infrastructure of oppression,” Obama stated. “Nobody was there to protect them. There were no camera crews to record events.”

LaFayette acknowledged they didn’t fully comprehend their work’s historical significance at the time.

“We lived through this, but this was our daily lives,” he explained to The Associated Press in 2021. “When you think about it, we weren’t trying to make history or trying to rewrite history. We were responding to the problems of the particular time.”

In 1961, LaFayette abandoned his college finals to participate in an official Freedom Ride, joining many others attempting to force Southern compliance with court decisions. He suffered beatings in Montgomery, Alabama, and arrest in Jackson, Mississippi, becoming among more than 300 Freedom Riders imprisoned at Parchman.

LaFayette subsequently trained African American youth for leadership roles in Chicago’s Freedom Movement and helped establish tenant organizations.

“The tenant protections we have today are really a direct outcome of that work in Chicago,” explained Mary Lou Finley, professor emeritus at Antioch University Seattle, who collaborated with LaFayette during the 1960s Chicago campaigns.

When LaFayette discovered that a secretary’s two children suffered from lead exposure—a poorly understood health crisis at the time—he organized high school students to test toddlers for lead poisoning through urine collection and pushed Chicago officials to develop the nation’s first comprehensive lead screening program, Finley noted.

“Bernard has always worked quietly behind the scenes,” Finley observed, having later partnered with LaFayette on nonviolence education. “He has avoided the spotlight. In some ways, I think he felt like he could do more if he were doing it quietly.”

LaFayette also collaborated with Andrew Young and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to organize Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s challenging Northern campaign. While several of King’s demonstrations faced violent opposition from white crowds, LaFayette and Young disputed claims that the Chicago movement failed.

Young emphasized in a 2021 interview that Chicago presented challenges 20 times greater than Birmingham’s, addressing complex issues from neighborhood integration to educational and employment quality. “In each one of those we made progress,” Young affirmed.

By 1968, LaFayette coordinated King’s Poor People’s Campaign nationally and was present at the Lorraine Motel on the morning of King’s assassination. King’s final words to him concerned the necessity of institutionalizing and globalizing the nonviolence movement—a mission LaFayette embraced for life.

Following King’s death, LaFayette completed his bachelor’s degree at American Baptist, then pursued graduate studies at Harvard University. His subsequent roles included directing Peace and Justice initiatives in Latin America, chairing the Consortium on Peace Research, Education and Development, leading the University of Rhode Island’s Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, serving as distinguished senior scholar at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, and ministering at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tuskegee, Alabama.

“Bernard did work in Latin America. He did nonviolence workshops in South Africa with the African National Congress. He went to Nigeria when the civil war was happening there,” Young recalled. “Bernard literally went everywhere he was invited as sort of a global prophet of nonviolence.”

In his memoir, LaFayette reflected that the constant threat of death during his early organizing years taught him that life’s worth “lies not in longevity, but in what people do to give it significance.”

LOS ANGELES — Legal representatives for the individual facing charges in connection with the devastating Palisades Fire made a public appeal Thursday, demanding his freedom from custody based on recently discovered evidence they claim proves his innocence.

Twenty-nine-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht faces charges for allegedly igniting what became one of California’s most catastrophic wildfires in recorded history. The blaze erupted on January 7, 2025, consuming hillside communities in Pacific Palisades and Malibu, ultimately claiming 12 lives.

Federal prosecutors allege Rinderknecht ignited a fire on January 1 that continued burning undetected in underground root systems before resurging six days later. Rinderknecht maintains his innocence through a not guilty plea, while his legal team argues he’s become a convenient target to cover up the Los Angeles Fire Department’s inability to completely extinguish the initial fire.

Federal prosecutors chose not to provide comment Thursday regarding the case.

Defense lawyer Steve Haney highlighted recently disclosed deposition testimony from a firefighter who stated he observed continued smoldering from the blaze on January 2 and informed supervisors about remaining hot spots. This testimony emerged from litigation brought by fire victims against the city.

The civil lawsuit also featured testimony from California state park ranger Christy Araujo supporting the firefighter’s observations about the smoldering burn area, Haney noted.

However, a battalion chief provided testimony stating he conducted four separate perimeter walks throughout the day, ensuring all hot spots were completely extinguished.

Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore, who assumed his position in October, has expressed concern about the conflicting firefighter accounts and ordered an independent investigation into the January 1 fire response.

Haney emphasized this critical evidence was unavailable to the defense team during Rinderknecht’s indictment process.

“This evidence calls into question not only the fundamental fairness for my client’s continued detention, but the very foundation of the charges themselves,” Haney said in a statement. “This is not a case about an individual causing a fire. This is a case about government agencies failing to do their jobs.”

The attorney also argued no evidence connects Rinderknecht to starting the January 1 fire, suggesting witness accounts point to fireworks as the likely ignition source.

Haney stated Rinderknecht, who has remained in custody for 150 days, should never have faced indictment and deserves immediate release. While federal procedural rules prevent filing a motion to dismiss the indictment, he plans to file next week seeking suppression of all evidence obtained through search warrants he claims lacked probable cause.

“I’m calling upon the U.S. Attorneys,” Haney said. “I believe they have an ethical obligation … to review this and dismiss the indictment.”

The case’s next pretrial conference is set for April.

A Cleveland father has confirmed that his daughter, who disappeared five years ago, was among two children whose bodies were discovered buried in shallow graves this week in Ohio.

DeShaun Chatman revealed Thursday that investigators informed him late Wednesday evening that his daughter Mila’s remains were among those recovered from a field close to Ginn Academy in the South Collinwood area. The 8-year-old girl and another child were discovered buried inside suitcases.

According to Chatman, he had made five attempts to gain emergency custody and worked with a child welfare agency to track down Mila, but these efforts failed because he was unaware of their location. Officials have not yet publicly identified either of the two children.

Speaking from the location where the children were discovered, Chatman described the situation as “very much horrible.” He revealed that Mila had been living close enough to see the burial site and expressed his anguish, saying he felt “useless — I couldn’t save my baby.”

Cleveland authorities announced Thursday that they plan to file charges against a 28-year-old woman connected to the case. Sergeant Wilfredo Diaz reported that officers took the woman into custody Wednesday evening following initial questioning and evidence review.

The unnamed woman is being treated as a person of interest, according to Diaz.

“We are aiming to have her charged later today. However, that’s subject to change,” he stated.

Chatman explained that while he and Mila’s mother were never married, they shared a home for approximately one year following their daughter’s birth. His last contact with Mila occurred in 2020 when she was just 3 years old.

“Mila was happy-go-lucky, always smiling,” Chatman recalled. “Favorite color was pink — she swore that she was a princess. She was always happy. She was a kid’s kid.”

He noted that officials have not revealed the cause of death for either child, though he anticipates receiving additional details on Monday. Earlier in the week, Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd acknowledged she was unaware of how the children died.

“We are hoping to find answers,” Todd stated to media representatives. “This is a terrible, tragic situation.”

The discovery was made after someone walking their dog contacted authorities about the remains.

WASHINGTON — Federal investigators are examining a cyber security breach targeting an FBI computer network that stores sensitive surveillance data and investigation materials.

According to a congressional notification obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, the bureau is working to assess how extensive the breach was and what damage may have resulted. The document indicates an unidentified attacker employed advanced methods to bypass the FBI’s network security measures.

Bureau officials discovered unusual activity logs on February 17 that prompted the investigation into their network systems.

The congressional notification, reviewed by The Associated Press, explained that the compromised network is unclassified but holds law enforcement sensitive materials. This includes data from court-authorized surveillance methods like pen register and trap-and-trace monitoring, as well as personal information about individuals under FBI investigation.

Pen register surveillance allows law enforcement agencies to record phone numbers that are dialed from a specific telephone line.

While the FBI acknowledged the cyber incident occurred, officials provided limited information in their public response.

“The FBI identified and addressed suspicious activities on FBI networks, and we have leveraged all technical capabilities to respond,” bureau officials stated. “We have nothing additional to respond.”

The notification to Congress did not reveal who investigators suspect may be behind the attack, though the FBI and other government agencies frequently face cyber threats from foreign hackers attempting to gather intelligence on sensitive operations and internal processes.

In this case, investigators determined the attackers used advanced techniques, including exploiting a commercial internet service provider’s infrastructure to circumvent the FBI’s network security systems.

NEW YORK — Three wealthy brothers who built their reputation in high-end real estate now face the possibility of life behind bars as a Manhattan federal jury deliberates their fate on sex trafficking charges.

Twins Oren and Alon Alexander, 38, along with their brother Tal, 39, are accused of drugging and sexually assaulting multiple women over more than a decade. Two of the brothers gained fame as luxury real estate agents dubbed ‘The A Team,’ while the third worked in private security.

Jury deliberations began Thursday following marathon closing arguments where defense lawyers painted their clients as promiscuous playboys rather than the predators prosecutors described.

Marc Agnifilo, representing Oren Alexander, acknowledged his clients’ lifestyle may have been offensive but argued they’re facing charges because of anger over their behavior, not criminal conduct.

‘Not because they’re rapists. Not because they drug women. But because they have a certain combination of characteristics that have made lots of people angry with them,’ Agnifilo told the 12-person jury.

He continued: ‘They’re reaching out. Why? Because they are pursuing women. They’re pursuing women across the board. That’s what the evidence shows. They’re not drugging them, they’re not raping them, but they’re certainly pursuing them.’

The defense team, which included the lawyer who recently secured acquittals for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs on major charges, urged jurors to look past emotional testimony from nearly a dozen alleged victims.

Agnifilo told jurors that acquitting takes bravery. ‘It takes courage to acquit. It does,’ he said. ‘And I want you guys to know that that’s what you should do here. You should have that courage.’

Attorney Deanna Paul, defending Tal Alexander, criticized prosecutors for lacking sufficient evidence. ‘You can’t build a house if you don’t have any bricks,’ she argued.

Both defense lawyers challenged the government’s attempt to connect their clients to a disturbing blog containing posts about drugging and assaulting women.

While Agnifilo called the blog content ‘horrific,’ he insisted no evidence showed the Alexander brothers authored the offensive posts. ‘Are they tasteless? They’re beyond tasteless. They’re shocking. They’re awful,’ he said. ‘I submit to you it does not help you. It doesn’t help you make your decision.’

Paul was more direct: ‘There is zero proof that any of the Alexander brothers ever wrote any of those blog posts, and there is not one shred of evidence that Tal even knew it existed.’

However, prosecutor Elizabeth Espinosa countered in her rebuttal that investigators discovered the blog on a computer hard drive inside Tal Alexander’s residence. She claimed the posts reflected the brothers’ methods and rationalizations for assault.

Espinosa described how the blog justified attacks under various scenarios, including when victims were too frightened to report incidents or when drugs impaired their ability to resist.

The prosecutor dismissed defense arguments as ‘all nonsense’ and declared the case straightforward. ‘This is not a close case,’ she stated while requesting guilty verdicts.

She credited the courage of 11 women who testified against the brothers, calling their testimony ‘an avalanche of evidence.’

Espinosa accused defense attorneys of cherry-picking testimony details to distract jurors from the broader pattern of alleged abuse. ‘Defendants’ arguments are meant to confuse and distract you,’ she warned. ‘That bigger picture is more important.’

The case gained additional attention Thursday when Tracy Tutor, featured on Bravo’s ‘Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles,’ filed a civil lawsuit alleging Oren Alexander drugged and attacked her in a restaurant restroom during a New York real estate event.

Jason Goldman, representing Oren Alexander in civil matters, criticized the timing of Tutor’s lawsuit, calling it ‘salacious and demonstrably false’ and designed for ‘maximum media impact.’ He noted her allegations date back over ten years and have been previously publicized.

All three brothers have entered not guilty pleas to the federal charges they face.

AUSTIN, Texas — Police body camera recordings released Thursday reveal the chaos that erupted when a gunman opened fire outside an Austin bar, resulting in three deaths in what federal authorities are examining as a possible terrorist attack.

“Everybody down!” one officer yells. “Where is he?”

The frightening scenes documented by officer cameras and security surveillance equipment illustrate how rapidly the violence unfolded early Sunday morning in Austin’s downtown nightlife area, injuring more than a dozen people.

According to Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis, law enforcement reached the scene just 56 seconds after receiving the initial emergency call, ultimately shooting and killing the attacker when he opened fire on police.

Davis indicated the investigation continues and declined to speculate about what motivated the shooting, which occurred one day following joint U.S. and Israeli military strikes against Iran.

Federal investigators are treating the incident as a potential terrorist act, with a law enforcement source telling The Associated Press that the shooter wore clothing featuring an Iranian flag pattern and text reading “Property of Allah.”

Authorities have named the shooter as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne, who lawfully purchased both the handgun and rifle used in the assault near Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden. The establishment sits on Sixth Street, a popular entertainment strip packed with drinking establishments and music venues near the University of Texas at Austin campus.

Officials now confirm 19 individuals sustained gunshot wounds, including the three fatalities, Davis announced Thursday. One victim remains hospitalized in critical condition.

The majority of shooting victims were located outside the establishment, including one person who had been waiting for transportation, according to Davis.

Emergency call recordings released Thursday capture screams and commands to “get down.” “There has been a shooting at Buford’s,” one caller said. “There are people dead over here. We need help right now.”

Diagne had not previously attracted law enforcement attention before beginning his attack early Sunday. Davis revealed investigators discovered he had been the subject of a mental health welfare check, possibly in 2022, conducted by another agency in a different location.

The gunman initially fired from inside his SUV before parking and exiting with a rifle, according to police. He shot another individual before responding officers arrived at the intersection and fatally wounded him, Davis explained.

Jorge Pederson, 30, an aspiring mixed martial arts competitor, succumbed to his injuries Monday. The recent Texas transplant from Minnesota was remembered by his former training facility, the Academy Martial Arts Gym, in a Facebook tribute noting he brought “light and joy into the grueling work of training.”

The other victims were identified as 21-year-old Savitha Shan and 19-year-old Ryder Harrington.

Shan, who studied business at the University of Texas at Austin, had secured employment with a consulting company, her family revealed in a university-issued statement. They described her as an only child and called her death “profoundly unfair.”

Harrington had been enrolled at Texas Tech University until last fall, with his former Beta Theta Pi fraternity brothers honoring him in an Instagram memorial that praised his talent for making “ordinary days unforgettable.”

A Florida construction worker who received a presidential pardon for participating in the January 6th Capitol attack has been handed a life sentence for sexually abusing two minors.

Andrew Paul Johnson, 45, received the life sentence on Thursday from Hernando County Circuit Judge Stephen Toner after being found guilty of multiple charges including lewd and lascivious molestation of children and electronically sending harmful material to a minor.

Johnson was one of more than 1,500 individuals who received clemency from President Donald Trump for their involvement in the Capitol breach. The sweeping pardons, commutations, and case dismissals were issued on Trump’s first day returning to office.

Hernando County authorities launched their investigation into the child abuse allegations in July 2025. According to investigators, one victim reported that Johnson’s abuse began around April 2024, which was months before he received his sentence for the Capitol riot charges.

Court documents reveal that Johnson told one of his victims he anticipated receiving compensation as a pardoned January 6th participant and promised to include the child in his will to receive any remaining funds.

“This tactic was believed to be used to keep (the child) from exposing what Andrew had done,” the report said.

Prosecutors from Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Bill Gladson’s office discovered explicit messages Johnson had sent to one victim through the Discord platform.

“In the messages, Johnson attempted to have the victim download another application for a more private conversation and encouraged the victim to delete their messages afterwards,” Gladson’s office said in a news release.

Before his pardon, Johnson had been sentenced to 12 months in federal prison by Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington after entering guilty pleas to four misdemeanor charges related to the Capitol incident. Johnson had attempted to retract his guilty plea, alleging he was coerced, but the judge denied his motion.

The Seffner, Florida resident had carried a megaphone while walking to the Capitol following Trump’s “Stop the Steal” demonstration near the White House. Federal prosecutors stated he gained entry to the building by climbing through an office window that other participants had broken. After police deployed tear gas to clear the crowd of Trump supporters, Johnson shouted profanities and threats at law enforcement officers, according to prosecutors.

TORREY, Utah — Law enforcement officials have apprehended a 22-year-old Iowa man in connection with the deaths of three women in Utah, announcing the arrest Thursday after a multi-state manhunt.

Ivan Miller of Blakesburg, Iowa, is accused of a deadly crime spree that unfolded Wednesday afternoon in rural Utah communities near popular national parks. According to Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Cameron Roden, Miller allegedly murdered an elderly woman at her residence, took her vehicle, and drove to a hiking trail where he killed two other women before fleeing in one of their cars.

The tragic discovery began when the husbands of two hikers went searching for their wives near Capitol Reef National Park. The men found one vehicle missing from the trailhead and discovered another car they didn’t recognize, prompting them to contact authorities.

“The husbands told authorities one vehicle was missing from the trailhead and they didn’t know who owned the other,” Roden explained.

Police traced the unknown vehicle to its owner, leading them to discover the first victim at a brick residence in Lyman, which remained surrounded by police tape Thursday as investigators collected evidence.

Law enforcement tracked Miller’s route using license plate recognition technology and vehicle tracking systems. The trail led from Utah through northern Arizona to the mountain community of Pagosa Springs in southwestern Colorado, where Miller abandoned the stolen vehicle. Officers located him after a brief search in the area.

Miller appeared in Colorado jail records Thursday, held on a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon. His initial court appearance was set for Friday afternoon. The Colorado Public Defender’s office is representing him, though officials declined to provide additional comments.

The victims include two friends who were hiking together – one in her 30s and another in her 60s – plus an 80-year-old woman who lived approximately 10 miles from the trail in Wayne County. Authorities say there was no connection between the hikers and the elderly victim.

“There is no indication that Miller had any connection to the victims,” Roden stated. Investigators believe the attacks were crimes of “convenience” rather than targeted violence, though they continue examining when Miller arrived in Utah and his activities before the killings.

The crime prompted safety warnings for Wayne County residents, with nearby schools closing Thursday as a precaution. Officials had asked the public to help locate a white Subaru Outback while warning people not to approach the vehicle.

Multiple crime scenes in Torrey and surrounding areas remain under investigation, with support from the State Bureau of Investigation and Crime Lab, according to Roden.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — During an emotional news conference Thursday, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds expressed her continued support for military operations against Iran, even while mourning the deaths of four soldiers from her state who have been killed since December.

Two Iowa soldiers lost their lives last weekend when a retaliatory drone attack struck in Kuwait as the conflict with Iran escalated.

“I believe in the mission right now,” said Reynolds, a Republican, her voice cracking with emotion during the press briefing.

The governor defended the U.S. and Israeli military actions against Iran, stating: “I think it was the right thing to do. Just look at what Iran has done over the last several years. Hopefully we’re in and out. I believe that’s the goal of this administration.”

The two soldiers killed in Kuwait were Major Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, from Indianola, and Sergeant Declan Coady, 20, from West Des Moines. They were part of six Army Reservists who died in the attack, all serving with the 103rd Sustainment Command, a unit responsible for providing essential supplies including food, fuel, water, ammunition, and transportation equipment.

Earlier in December, the Iowa National Guard lost two members in Syria: Sergeant Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, from Des Moines, and Sergeant William Nathaniel Howard, 29, from Marshalltown. Military officials attributed their deaths to the Islamic State group.

“I can’t imagine the sacrifice,” Reynolds said. “To think they’re coming home and then maybe things have changed, delayed. We had some killed in action.”

The governor revealed she had personal conversations with Coady’s father and O’Brien’s wife following the tragedy.

“As you can imagine, they’re heartbroken and as Iowans, we grieve with them,” she said, noting that some wounded soldiers have been successfully evacuated to Germany for medical treatment.

O’Brien’s civilian employer, cybersecurity firm ProCircular, remembered him fondly. CEO Aaron Warner highlighted his “uplifting humor” and “calm guidance,” saying: “His quiet strength and expertise protected countless systems and left a lasting impact on everyone privileged to work with him.”

Military officials have released the names of the other four soldiers killed in the Kuwait attack: Sergeant 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, from White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Captain Cody Khork, 35, from Winter Haven, Florida; Sergeant 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, from Bellevue, Nebraska; and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, 54, from Sacramento, California.

Tina Marzan shared that her husband’s deployment was scheduled to conclude in just a few months, and their family had been eagerly planning to celebrate his April birthday upon his return home.