Blake Montgomery

Mismanagement by contractors at a federal detention facility for migrant children in Texas led to squalid conditions for the young detainees, according to a new whistleblower complaint released Wednesday. The whistleblowers, describing what they say they witnessed at the facility from April to June 2021, sound the alarm about what they call “gross mismanagement, gross waste, and abuse of authority.” A senior U.S. Public Health Service manager allegedly concealed the true size of a substantial coronavirus outbreak at the detention facility amid a shortage of masks. The same manager, when asked about a lack of delousing kits, said there were no […]

Four days after the headless body of a former Pakistani diplomat’s young daughter was discovered in Islamabad, her death has ignited a wave of fury across the globe and sparked calls for stronger protections for women in Pakistan. Near the Toronto waterfront, writer and activist Zahra Haider—who grew up with both the 27-year-old victim, Noor Mukadam, and her alleged killer, Zahir Jaffer—hosted a vigil in Queen’s Park on Friday night. Haider opened the vigil with a quote from writer Mohammed Hanif: “There was not a single day—when she didn’t see a woman shot or hacked, strangled or suffocated, poisoned or burnt, […]

Kentaro Kobayashi, director of the Tokyo Olympics’ opening ceremony, was dismissed late Wednesday over footage of him joking about the Holocaust. Kobayashi, who joked about the Holocaust as a “let’s massacre Jewish people game” in one clip, previously made his name as part of a comedy duo dubbed Ramens. Japan’s Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto said in a press conference that she and other members of the planning commission would “review the entire program” Thursday, the day before the ceremony. Hashimoto said she learned of Kobayashi’s offensive jokes Tuesday morning and that she regretted how long it took to fire the comedian. […]

Rapper Biz Markie has died at the age of 57. His family told TMZ that the man behind the hit “Just a Friend” died of complications from diabetes in a Baltimore hospital surrounded by his family. He was hospitalized last summer with the same illness. A representative for Markie, legal name ​​Marcel Theo Hall, said in a statement, “We are grateful for the many calls and prayers of support that we have received during this difficult time. Biz created a legacy of artistry that will forever be celebrated by his industry peers and his beloved fans whose lives he was able […]

Iranian intelligence agents hatched a plan to kidnap a journalist in Brooklyn and spirit her away to Iran in retaliation for her criticism of the Iranian regime, the Justice Department alleged in an indictment unsealed Tuesday. The Iranian agents planned to take the journalist, who is an Iranian-born U.S. citizen, back to Iran, where, according to the Justice Department, “the victim’s fate would have been uncertain at best.” The Justice Department described her as “a journalist, author, and human rights activist, residing in Brooklyn, New York, who has publicized the Government of Iran’s human rights abuses.” The Iranians also allegedly mounted […]

As a Florida mother was preparing to leave work on a Friday last month, she received a horrifying phone call from her babysitter. Her three-year-old son, Jameson Nance, had drowned in the bathtub, the 25-year-old babysitter, Joshua Manns, allegedly told her. The mother rushed to home to the West Melbourne apartment complex to find her son dead in the bathroom, though Manns was nowhere in sight. He had not called for medical assistance. After two weeks on the run, Manns was found and arrested on June 28 in Georgia en route to West Virginia, where he was born. He had nothing […]

Two men have been arrested and identified in connection with a shooting in Amsterdam that left a famous Dutch crime journalist fighting for his life. Peter R. de Vries was shot in the head Tuesday in broad daylight near one of Amsterdam’s busiest plazas just minutes after he left a TV studio. He remains in critical condition, according to Dutch law enforcement. Delano G, 21, and Kamil Pawel E, 35, were taken into custody Tuesday in the vicinity of the Hague the same day as the shooting as they drove a “getaway car,” authorities said. Their last names have not been […]

A man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of shooting and killing three men at a country club in an Atlanta suburb. The suspect, who was taken into custody in Chamblee, Georgia, was identified as Bryan Rhoden, according to local station CBS 46. Police have not yet released details on a motive. The triple homicide last Saturday at the Pinetree Country Club in Kennesaw claimed the lives of the country club’s head golf pro Gene Siller, 41, Paul Pierson, 76, and Henry Valdez, 46. The bodies of Pierson and Valdez were found in the back of Pierson’s white Dodge Ram 3500 pickup. […]

A federal court of appeals ruled Tuesday that the only school in the country that administers electric shocks to students can continue doing so. The court ruled that the Food and Drug Administration cannot block the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, Massachusetts, from using a device called the graduated electronic decelerator as a “treatment of last resort.” The school serves those with severe disabilities, including many with non-verbal autism who have been ejected from other group homes over harm to themselves and others. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that “the FDA lacks the statutory authority […]

A well-known Dutch crime journalist was gunned down in one of Amsterdam’s largest plazas Tuesday. Local police said in a statement, “Peter R. de Vries was shot down in Lange Leidsedwarsstraat.” De Vries, 64, had visited broadcaster RTL’s television studio that evening and appeared on a talk show. He is now in “serious condition,” police said, and Amsterdam’s mayor said he was “fighting for his life.” Video showed a wound to de Vries’ head, the BBC reported, and RTL reported that eyewitnesses heard five shots fired at close range. The alleged shooter and two others have been arrested. Authorities are on […]

Donald Trump held a rally Saturday night in Sarasota, Florida, where he revived his long-running list of grievances about Joe Biden’s “atrocious” administration and appeared to voice support for Jan. 6 Capitol rioters. “The radical Left, thanks to a rigged and dishonest election, now controls the U.S. government,” he complained, continuing to propagate the lie that he won the 2020 presidential election. He also called New York prosecutors “fascist and authoritarian” for charging his family’s company, the Trump Organization, and its chief financial officer with tax crimes. “It’s solely because of politics,” he said, adding that “it’s because I got, we […]

To Catch a Predator’s Chris Hansen found himself in the spotlight he normally reserves for the subjects of his stories on Thursday: A judge in Michigan issued a warrant for his arrest after Hansen had failed to appear in court. “It’s the silliest thing I’ve ever seen. It was a total administrative disconnect,” the TV host told The Daily Beast. “This notion of ‘Hansen skips a hearing’ is not true.” The bench warrant arose from what Hansen described as a communication breakdown about a court appearance that began with the defense’s counsel. The news that a prominent journalist known for covering […]

The death toll of the Pacific Northwest’s catastrophic heatwave is rising as fast as its temperatures. Oregon is reporting that at least 63 people died over the weekend of heat-related illnesses, but the state’s death toll will likely rise, as the findings are only preliminary. In Multnomah County alone, home to Portland, 45 people—17 women and 27 men ages 44 to 97 (one person’s gender was not specified)—died of hyperthermia over the past five days. By contrast, only 12 people died of hyperthermia in all of Oregon between 2017 and 2019, according to the county medical examiner. Portland’s airport recorded a […]

Lori Daybell Vallow, an Idaho mother facing murder charges in the deaths of her two children, was hit with new charges Tuesday: conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of her former husband. Prosecutors in Maricopa County, Arizona, allege Vallow conspired with her brother Alexander Cox to murder her former husband, Charles Vallow, who was shot and killed in July 2019. Cox confessed to 911 dispatchers that he had shot Charles Vallow but said it was in self defense. Cox died in November of the same year. Vallow was found unfit to stand trial for the deaths of her two […]

In a fit of romantic rage, a 20-year-old woman in Louisiana allegedly recruited a squad of teenage boys to murder her ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend. But the plot went off the rails at the last second, according to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office. Mykia Tyson is said to have driven the four boys she enlisted to the new boyfriend’s house in Lacombe, Louisiana in early June, but when the proposed hitmen arrived, the teenager meant to shoot the boyfriend bailed on the murder plot. At the last second, 19-year-old Delester Magee intentionally missed the target, firing shots into the side of […]

A massive country music festival in Kentucky this past weekend started off on rocky footing: Police found meth, marijuana, and an open bottle of alcohol in the first vehicle they stopped at a traffic checkpoint. One of the people in the car had two active warrants out for their arrest. “We were like, ‘Well, this doesn’t bode well for the weekend,’” Edmonson County Sheriff Shane Doyle told the Lexington Herald-Leader. By the end of the five-day bash, dubbed the “Redneck Rave,” a man had been impaled, a woman had been strangled to the point of unconsciousness, and a throat had been […]

A 16-year-old and her 18-year-old boyfriend allegedly stabbed her father to death in April and made vlogs in the aftermath, according to cellphone video presented to a Nevada grand jury this week. “Welcome back to our YouTube channel… Day 3 after murdering somebody…” Aaron Guerrero says to the camera in one clip, CBS 8 News Now reports. “Whoa, don’t put that on camera,” replies Sierra Halseth, laughing. The two appear to be lying in a tent. “It was worth it,” says Guerrero. They did not post the video online. Halseth and Guerrero are charged with murdering Daniel Halseth, 45, and burning […]

A senior federal judge in California overturned the state’s longtime ban on assault weapons Friday, likening an AR-15 to a Swiss Army Knife in his ruling. “Like the Swiss Army Knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment,” wrote Roger Benitez. It was far from the first time Roger Benitez took an expansive definition of the Second Amendment. In fact, he has sided with gun rights advocates so often that some activists believe such groups are deliberately steering their cases to him. He has repeatedly ruled against California’s gun laws, to the […]

The friends and family of a father of three killed by Minnesota sheriff’s deputies Thursday are calling for the release of all footage of the moments that led up to his death. But authorities say there is none to back up their version of events. Two sheriff’s deputies, one from Hennepin County and one from Ramsey County, shot and killed a man friends and family identified as 32-year-old Winston Boogie Smith in a parking garage in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis. The deputies had been working with U.S. Marshals to arrest Smith for felony firearm possession. Authorities have not released an […]

More than 12 hours after a shooter opened fire in a San Jose railway yard, authorities identified the eight victims killed in the gunfire. According to the Santa Clara County medical examiner-coroner, their names were Michael Rudometkin, 40; Lars Lane, 63; Paul Megia, 42; Taptejdeep Singh, 36; Adrian Balleza, 29; Jose Dejesus Hernandez III, 35; Timothy Romo, 49; and Abdolvahab Alaghmandan, 63. They were employees of the Valley Transportation Authority. The shooter was identified as Samuel Cassidy. Authorities said he killed himself at the scene. His ex-girlfriend accused him of domestic abuse and rape in 2009. Rudometkin’s mother, Rose, confirmed to […]

The Israeli military says it has launched ground operations against Hamas in Gaza, a major escalation of the conflict that is likely to leave many more dead. Both side have conducted increasing amounts of aerial warfare against one another in recent days, with Hamas firing more than 1,500 rockets at Israel and Israel leveling airstrikes against Hamas, including several Thursday. Israel claims to have killed more than 30 Hamas militants and struck more than 600 targets. Palestinian officials say more than 100 people have been killed in Gaza, including 27 children. Amid the fighting, mobs have also taken to the streets […]

The parents of a 5-week-old baby who disappeared this week gave a press conference Wednesday where they begged for the public’s help in finding their son but offered confusing accounts of what exactly happened. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, which sent out the first alert about missing Caleb “CJ” Whisnand, Jr., initially said he was last seen on Saturday night. But police in Montgomery County, Alabama, say they received a 911 call late Monday evening from a Circle K convenience store along a highway outside Montgomery about the missing baby, who weighs 10 pounds and was last seen in a camouflage […]

In a fiery address given from the floor of the House of Representatives late Tuesday, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) vowed to continue her crusade against former President Donald Trump despite becoming a persona non grata in her own party. “Today, we face a threat America has never seen before. A former president who provoked a violent attack on this Capitol, in an effort to steal the election, has resumed his aggressive effort to convince Americans that the election was stolen from him,” said Cheney, the third-most powerful Republican in Congress. Cheney faces a near-certain ouster from congressional leadership on Wednesday, in […]

A bankruptcy judge in Texas called the National Rifle Association’s bankruptcy filing disingenuous and “not having been filed in good faith” as he dismissed the petition Tuesday. The gun rights organization filed for bankruptcy in January despite boasting five million members and 500 employees, and it brings in roughly $300 million in revenue each year, according to court documents. The filing under Chapter 11 bankruptcy law would have allowed the NRA to relocate its financial assets from New York, where it faces a massive lawsuit from the state’s attorney general, to Texas. The group has been officially domiciled in New York […]

At least 44 people died and dozens more were injured after a massive stampede at a religious festival in northern Israel on Thursday night. Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews had gathered for the holiday of Lag b’Omer, taking part in the biggest event since the coronavirus pandemic began. But within an instant, the religious celebration turned into a scene of absolute horror. “I had just sat down to eat when I heard the screams. We rushed to help, and then we saw the bodies. At the start it was about 10. Now, there’s many more,” a witness, Avi, told Haaretz. […]

The people who allegedly stole Lady Gaga’s two French Bulldogs in February and opened fire on her dog walker have been arrested. Jennifer McBride, the woman who “found” the Frenchies, Gustav and Koji, in an alley and brought them to a police station just days after their disappearance, was also arrested, with footage of the pooches’ return becoming key evidence, according to TMZ. Police had advised the pop star not to pay the $500,000 reward she had advertised for the canines’ repatriation. “Evidence suggests the suspects knew the great value of the breed of dogs and [that] was the motivation for […]

Before a white Virginia sheriff’s deputy shot a Black man 10 times late Wednesday night, he told the man to drop his gun. Body-camera footage and the recording of the man’s initial call to 911, however, show he was never holding one. He had his phone in his hand, and he had told authorities so. The Spotsylvania County sheriff’s deputy had dropped Isaiah Brown, 32, home earlier on Wednesday night after Brown’s car had broken down miles away. But, moments later, Brown dialed 911 over a dispute with his brother that was apparently preventing him from getting back to his car. […]

Police in Columbus, Ohio, shot and killed a person on Tuesday afternoon just as a guilty verdict was being handed down in a police brutality case that had held the attention of an entire nation. According to local station NBC 4, the victim, who has not yet been identified, was transported to a nearby hospital, Mount Carmel East, where they succumbed to the injuries sustained in the shooting. The department has reportedly contacted the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation to review the use of deadly force. The police department’s public information office did not respond to a request for comment. Video […]

The Justice Department sued Roger Stone on Friday, accusing him of failing to pay more than $2 million in taxes. The suit, filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, alleges Stone and his wife, Nydia, dodged $1,590,361 in taxes between 2007 and 2011 and stiffed the IRS of $407,036 in 2018 alone. The couple used a company, Drake Ventures, to “shield their personal income from enforced collection and fund a lavish lifestyle,” according to the Justice Department. Stone, 67, has been a longtime confidant of Donald Trump and briefly served as the former president’s campaign adviser. Stone was convicted of […]

A Pentagon cop accused of fatally shooting two men he “thought” were stealing a car in the parking lot of his Maryland condo complex this week has a history of whipping out guns in his building, according to video from last year that now has law enforcement scrutinizing the officer more closely. David Hall Dixon aimed a firearm at a homeless woman in the lobby of his apartment complex one evening in May 2020 and barked at her to leave, footage shows. Takoma Park Police plan to bring charges against him “for his actions in assaulting” her, WJLA reports. Dixon had […]

In the twilight of Donald Trump’s administration, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) sought a preemptive pardon for any crimes he and his allies in Congress may have committed, The New York Times reports. Gaetz is currently under federal investigation for potential sex trafficking in connection with an alleged relationship with a 17-year-old girl. The Department of Justice is also probing whether Gaetz paid multiple women for sex on various visits to Florida alongside his close ally Joel Greenberg, the now indicted former Seminole County tax collector. Gaetz has denied the allegations. It is unclear if Gaetz or Trump knew of the investigation […]

Multiple women interviewed by the FBI in a probe of Rep. Matt Gaetz told investigators the Florida Republican paid them for sex, The New York Times reports. The news is just the latest scandal to hit Gaetz since the Times revealed the congressman was under scrutiny by federal investigators looking into whether he violated sex trafficking laws in his relations with a 17-year-old girl. Since that bombshell came out a mere two days ago, disturbing details about Gaetz’s alleged behavior have piled up, from claims he has bragged and shared naked photos of his sexual partners on the House floor, to […]

A high-flying Michigan telecommunications executive led a double life as the financier of a sprawling international drug ring, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday. Among his alleged secrets: plans for “the Torpedo,” a parasitic submarine meant to haul clandestine cocaine across the globe. Marty Tibbitts was the CEO of Clementine Live Answering Service, but he often went by the generic code name “Dale Johnson” in communications related to his work as a drug trafficker, prosecutors say. He was killed at age 50 in a plane crash in 2018. An aviation buff with the pockets to prove it, he founded the […]

Four people have been killed, including a child, in a shooting at a California office complex late Wednesday, police said. A suspect is in custody after officers in the city of Orange responded to reports of a shooting at a multi-tenant business center only to be confronted by live gunfire as they arrived to find several victims. The suspect, who has not yet been identified, was wounded in a gunfight with police and subsequently transported to a local hospital, police Lt. Jennifer Amat was quoted telling The Orange County Register. In addition to the four victims, one other person apart from […]

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is under investigation for an alleged relationship with a 17-year-old girl, The New York Times reports. Federal investigators are reportedly examining Gaetz’s alleged payment for the minor’s travel alongside him, which could violate sex trafficking laws. It is unclear how the two met. The Justice Department opened the probe in the twilight of former President Donald Trump’s administration under former Attorney General William Barr, who briefed senior DOJ officials on the matter, according to the Times. Gaetz told Axios in a followup interview that none of the women he has dated were underage, of that he was […]

As questions swirled Saturday over the police shooting of a 25-year-old Black man during multiple chaotic shootings in Virginia Beach, city police chief Paul Neudigate admitted to reporters late Saturday that there is no bodycam footage of the confrontation—and police have no idea if the man was armed. “I don’t have a whole lot of answers,” Neudigate said about the death of Donovan Lynch, which he said was “still very much under investigation.” Lynch was killed at the hands of police as officers responded to a gunfight they said erupted while they were dealing with another, unrelated shooting nearby. Police said […]

Sharon Osbourne will no longer host CBS’ daytime talk show The Talk after a review by the network found that “her behavior toward her co-hosts” in a recent episode “did not align with our values for a respectful workplace,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. The network said her exit was her decision, however. “Sharon Osbourne has decided to leave The Talk,” CBS said in a statement. “The co-hosts were not properly prepared by the staff for a complex and sensitive discussion involving race.” Osbourne’s departure comes after she erupted into a rant defending Piers Morgan against accusations of racism following his […]

In the wake of Tuesday’s brutal killing spree against Asian women, activists say the bloodshed should serve as a wake-up call to how Asian American women are routinely dehumanized—but police are too busy humanizing the accused gunman to recognize the hate crime they say he committed. “The first thing I thought about when the police said it’s not a racially motivated crime because he said so is that they don’t understand how racism works in this country,” said Sung Yeon Choimorrow, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. “We can’t just say we’re not talking about the racism […]

President Joe Biden has directed personnel from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the U.S.-Mexico border to deal with a mounting influx of unaccompanied migrant teens and children. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas described the plan as a “government-wide effort over the next 90 days to safely receive, shelter, and transfer unaccompanied children who make the dangerous journey to the U.S. southwest border.” The agency will assist with alleviating overcrowding in detention facilities along the border, likely erecting temporary, so-called “soft-sided structures,” he said. Mayorkas said the agency is fielding “record numbers of individuals, including unaccompanied children, at the southwest border.” […]

Just weeks after Facebook purged its own Black History Month ads by mistake, Women’s History Month ads are also being flagged and deleted. Though the tech giant received media praise for its “refreshing” Black History Month content, it was one of dozens of advertisers that saw its ad campaigns about Black history removed from the social network in February. Among the others were a Fortune 500 energy company, the Chicago Bulls, the city government of Denver, a church, a grade school, health-care providers, a book store, universities, and history museums. The cycle appears primed to start again, this time targeting Women’s […]

A Maryland police chief retired after decades on the force only to spend much the next 10 years unleashing a series of arson attacks on his perceived enemies, according to a bevy of charges revealed on Wednesday. David Crawford, 69, the former police chief of Laurel, Maryland, is accused of attempted murder and a dozen arsons from 2011 to 2020. He had resigned from the police department in 2010. He is charged with 20 felonies in Prince George’s county alone, according to the The Baltimore Sun—four counts of first-degree attempted murder, four counts of second-degree attempted murder, one count first-degree arson, […]

A second former aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has accused him of sexual harassment. Charlotte Bennett, 25, a former executive assistant and health policy adviser in the administration, told The New York Times that Cuomo had asked her multiple questions about her sex life and relationships, including whether she had ever slept with an older man and whether she was romantically involved with other staff members, when the two were alone in his office in June 2020. She said he said he was open to a relationship with a woman in her 20s and had been looking for a […]

DON EMMERT The New York Times on Friday announced the ouster of science and health reporter Donald McNeil Jr., who The Daily Beast reported had allegedly used racist language while on a 2019 trip with students to Peru. This is a developing story… Read more at The Daily Beast. Source link

SOPHIE was an optimist, and she made me one too. The Scottish producer died in Athens, Greece, around 4 a.m. Saturday at the age of 34, according to a statement from the record labels Transgressive and Future Classic: “True to her spirituality she had climbed up to watch the full moon and accidentally slipped and fell.” The death is a deep loss for pop music. SOPHIE (government name: Sophie Xeon; artist name styled in all caps) sketched out worlds unconstrained by gender—or any bodies at all. A representative told Pitchfork the musician used no pronouns—neither the gendered he/she nor the nonbinary […]

A married Texas police chief was arrested Thursday for allegedly faking an annulment document to trick his mistress into believing they would soon be wed. When she tried to verify the document, she went viral and discovered he was dating yet another woman who was not his wife. After a series of twists fit for a soap opera, former Stinnett chief of police Jason Collier, a 41-year-old ordained minister who is married with four children, is charged with tampering with a government document with the intent to defraud, a felony, according to local station KACR. The Stinnett city government had placed […]

President Donald Trump pardoned Lil Wayne hours before leaving office as part of a wave of last-minute pardons and commutations. The rapper, born Dwayne Michael Carter, was arrested in December 2019 while disembarking a private plane in Miami and carrying a loaded, gold-plated semiautomatic handgun, as well as various drugs. He pleaded guilty to federal charges of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon in December in Florida court. His sentencing was scheduled for Jan. 28, and he faced up to 10 years in prison. Carter voiced his support for Trump during the election, and the president’s son-in-law, Jared […]

The main synagogue of a Brooklyn ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect hosted yet another mammoth wedding in defiance of COVID-19 rules Monday, with thousands of mask-free revelers in attendance. Celebrations continued into Tuesday. The son of Rabbi Ben Zion Halberstam, the head of the Bobov Hasidic sect, was married before thousands of men, per screenshots of the event. Hundreds of celebrants flew in from Europe and Israel for the event, likely adding to the risk of coronavirus transmission, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The Israeli news site JDN published two versions of a story on the wedding. One edition, published Monday, detailed […]

President Donald Trump, set to depart office Wednesday, released a video bidding farewell to the country, largely aimed at his supporters. “We built the greatest political movement in the history of this country,” he said in classic Trump hyperbole. “The movement we started is only just beginning…We achieved more than anyone thought possible.” He praised himself as “the only true outsider to ever win the presidency.” “We did what we came here to do and so much more,” he said of his administration’s efforts to “make America great again,” echoing his longtime campaign slogan. He hands over the Oval Office at […]

The National Rifle Association filed for bankruptcy on Friday. In a letter to members, Wayne LaPierre, the head of the notorious gun lobby group, wrote, “The plan aims to streamline costs and expenses, proceed with pending litigation in a coordinated and structured manner, and realize many financial and strategic advantages.” The group will apparently relocate its headquarters from the “toxic political environment of New York” to Texas. For his part, LaPierre referred to the bankruptcy filing and reincorporation in the Lone Star State as a “restructuring plan.” The virulently pro-gun organization has been plagued by infighting among it executive ranks and […]

A North Carolina church gathered congregants for a musical Christmas celebration earlier this month, and within a matter of days, at least 75 COVID-19 infections had been traced back to the event. The Henderson County Health Department has linked a growing number of cases of the respiratory infection to one caroling event held at First Baptist Church of Hendersonville. The agency identified a holiday celebration held Dec. 5 at First Baptist as a superspreader event in a press release: “To date, the Health Department has identified 75 individuals who have tested positive as a result of the event.” The church’s white […]

Houston police were left wondering what happened to one of their own Tuesday after arresting a former captain who allegedly ran a man off the road and held him at gunpoint, believing he was in possession of hundreds of thousands of fraudulent election ballots. The former squad leader, Mark Anthony Aguirre, 63, allegedly believed so strongly in baseless claims of massive voter fraud plaguing Harris County’s presidential election that he was willing to commit crimes himself to substantiate it. The man he allegedly surveilled for four days and held hostage was not a scheming mastermind of political crime, however, just an […]

The United States Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton seeking to overturn the results of the November presidential election in favor of Donald Trump late Friday. More than 100 Republican lawmakers had joined the lawsuit, as had 17 other states and the president. Thus far, all of the suits attempting to subvert the certified outcome of the election by alleging widespread voter fraud have failed. Former Vice President Joe Biden won the election. “Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections. All other pending motions […]

A Utah police officer allegedly kidnapped a member of his own family on Thanksgiving Day in what police described as a “paranoid” episode involving an involuntary joyride, a gun, and abandoned buildings. An unnamed relative told police that their nephew Scott Elliott Russell, a master officer with the South Jordan Police Department, had taken them for a drive before the family’s Thanksgiving dinner in Provo, Utah, but when the relative requested to return home, Russell refused and kept driving along the I-15 highway. Police did not disclose the relative’s identity. Russell then “became more irrational and paranoid, at one point, taking […]

President Donald Trump’s administration signaled to President-elect Joe Biden that it was ready to begin the transition of power late Monday, according to a letter from General Services Administrator Emily Murphy. Murphy, a Trump political appointee, had refused to open up millions in government funding, data, and personnel to Biden’s incoming administration as Trump’s efforts to reverse the results of the election continued. In her letter, she declared Biden the “apparent winner” of the Nov. 3 election, finally allowing the formal transition process to begin. “Because of recent developments involving legal challenges and certifications of election results, I am transmitting this […]

For months, a group of governors across the country insisted that they would not impose a mask mandate because it represented government overreach or it just wouldn’t work. Some have since relented in the face of ever-rising case counts, but others like Wyoming’s Mark Gordon and South Dakota’s Kristi Noem have held firm. A new study released by the Centers for Disease Control on Friday adds to the evidence that mask mandates do, in fact, slow the spread of the coronavirus. The researchers looked at Kansas while it was in the throes of a surge this summer. Gov. Laura Kelly implemented […]

Milwaukee police mounted a large response to reports of an active shooter at the Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa, a suburb of Wisconsin’s largest city, on Friday afternoon. A SWAT team also responded to the incident. Local station WISN interviewed witnesses who said they heard between eight and 12 shots near in the vicinity of an Eddie Bauer store and a Macy’s. Other witnesses said they saw multiple people injured and TV crews showed five people being loaded into ambulances. All five appeared to be alert. Milwaukee County medical examiner Dr. Brian Peterson tweeted that he was not responding to the incident, […]

Jim Watson/Getty Addressing the nation Saturday night as the first woman of color ever elected to the vice presidency, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) made clear she understood the weight her win would carry for future generations. “Every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities and to the children of our country regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message: dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourselves in a way that others may not simply because they’ve never seen it before,” she said. “While I may be the first woman in […]

Philadelphia police took at least one man into custody Thursday night in connection with an alleged plot to attack the city’s convention center where the swing state’s presidential votes are still being counted, according to reports. An armed group is said to have driven a Hummer up from Virginia with violent intent. No one was reported injured, and police did not identify the suspect or provide details about the alleged plot. Video showed the suspect being taken away in handcuffs and police retrieving a large gun. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a Hummer matching the description was seen with stickers linked […]

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Saturday that England would enter a one-month lockdown beginning November 5, the country’s second since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. All non-essential shops in the country will be required to shut their doors until December 2, as will hospitality establishments, but schools and universities will be allowed to remain open. Johnson said the government will continue to provide financial aid to furloughed workers, paying 80 percent of their wages. To businesses hurt by the measures, he said he was “truly, truly sorry.” Flanked by England’s chief medical officer and the government’s chief scientific advisor, […]

Police in Vancouver, Washington, are bracing for a second night of protests after officers fatally shot a 21-year-old Black man in a bank parking lot Thursday night. Clark County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed Kevin Peterson, Jr., 21, near a U.S. Bank just prior to 6 p.m. Thursday. The officers involved have not been named. Protesters gathered near the site of the shooting Thursday night, and mourners planned to gather at the site Friday night for a vigil. Police didn’t offer any details about the shooting until Friday afternoon, when Sheriff Chuck Atkins said the deputies had been conducting a narcotics […]

President Donald Trump flirted with the possibility of an authoritarian power grab yet again Saturday, suggesting to supporters at a campaign rally that he may not commit to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose the presidential election. Speaking in Circleville, Ohio, the commander in chief pondered why he should ensure a peaceful transition when he said the previous administration treated him so unfairly: “They ask me, ‘If you lose, will there be a friendly transition?’ Well, when I won, did they give me a friendly transition? They spied on my campaign, they did all this stuff. That was not […]

An Ohio priest respected as a “religious and community leader” has been sex trafficking vulnerable minors and adults for more than two decades, the Department of Justice announced in an indictment unsealed Friday. A grand jury has charged Rev. Michael J. Zacharias, age 53, with sex trafficking minors and sex trafficking both minors and adults by force, 10 counts in all. Federal authorities arrested Zacharias on August 18 and have kept him in custody since. He taught at St. Michael’s Parish in Findlay, Ohio. “Michael Zacharias used his respected position to prey on and take advantage of youth and adults for […]

President Donald Trump said migrant children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border were “so well taken care of” during the Thursday night presidential debate against former Vice President Joe Biden. Asked about the practice of family separations by debate moderator Kristen Welker, Trump said, “They went down, brought reporters and everything. [The children] are so well taken care of. They’re in facilities that were so clean.” Though Trump instituted the policy that directed border security agents to break up families, he attacked Biden for building the cages that held young children. “They built cages. They used to say I […]

A new report from Columbia University on COVID-19 deaths estimates that hundreds of thousands of Americans died because the United States’ response to the pandemic was an “abject failure,” particularly the actions of President Donald Trump. With an adequate response, the United States could have avoided tens of thousands of deaths and an incalculable amount of suffering, the researchers said. Dr. Irwin Redlener, the lead author on the study and the founding director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, laid the blame at the feet of the White House in an interview with The Daily Beast: “We believe that this […]