The “House on Fire” ruins is one of the ancient sites in the Bears Ears region near Blanding, Utah. The land holds significant cultural value to Native American tribes in the region.
Rick Bowmer/AP
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Rick Bowmer/AP
The “House on Fire” ruins is one of the ancient sites in the Bears Ears region near Blanding, Utah. The land holds significant cultural value to Native American tribes in the region.
Rick Bowmer/AP
President Biden will restore the boundaries of Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monuments at a signing ceremony on Friday, the administration announced on Thursday evening.
The Bears Ears National Monument, which was created by President Barack Obama shortly before he left office, will go back to 1.36 million acres acres and Grand Staircase will be restored to 1.87 million acres.
The White House said, “The President’s protection of these three national monuments is among a series of steps the Administration has taken to restore protections to some of America’s most cherished lands and waters, many of which are sacred to Tribal Nations.”
The legal battles may not be over
In 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that dramatically downsized Bears Ears by 85% and cut Grand Staircase in half; it was the largest reversal of U.S. land monument protections in history.
The land is considered sacred to several Native tribes — including Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and Pueblo of Zuni. The area is rich in artifacts and full of ancient camping areas and burial grounds.
Environmental and tribal leaderssued the Trump administration but that lawsuit has been on hold since Biden issued an executive order in January to look further into the matter.
But Biden’s decision may not prevent future lawsuits.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, has said his state would sue Biden if he restored the land unilaterally. Cox has instead advocated for handling the land’s status through a bill in Congress. That way, it would avoid the back-and-forth of land ownership, especially if control of the White House changes.
“Can we give on some issues? Can they give on some issues? Can we come to a peaceful resolution of this so we’re not fighting this battle every year for 20 years, 25 years?” Cox said.
Interior Secretary Haaland has a key role on the monuments issue
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland — the first Native American Cabinet secretary in U.S. history — visited southern Utah in April to survey both monuments and meet with tribal leaders and elected officials in the state.
“How we manage public lands and national monuments is important — not just to the Tribes and ranchers and elected leaders and others who I met with this week, but to the many generations to come,” Haaland said at the time.
She has since submitted her report on restoring the lands to the president, as asked for in the executive order he signed in January. The Washington Post said that Haaland’s recommendation in the report, which is not public, was for the president to restore the land.
In recent weeks, tribal leaders had been putting more pressure on Biden to take action.
Mitch McConnell’s Senate GOP has been blocking Democrats’ every effort to raise the debt ceiling.
With 11 days left, McConnell on Wednesday offered to help Democrats punt the decision until December.
But other Republicans aren’t on board. A GOP senator told Insider they would be “damn hard-pressed” to come up with enough votes.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s deal with Democrats to extend the debt ceiling isn’t going down well with his fellow Republicans as the US gets closer to a debt default within two weeks.
The Senate GOP struggled on Thursday to get on the same page on a measure to renew the US’s ability to pay its bills. McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York struck a deal to extend the debt limit through December, lifting the threat of default for two months. That would mean Congress will have to address that, along with government funding, in late fall.
Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky blocked a procedural maneuver that would have allowed Democrats to extend the ceiling with 51 votes alone. Their opposition undercuts the GOP’s effort to paint Democrats as the party that is refusing to raise the debt ceiling — now Democrats will need 60 votes, which will require bringing some Republicans to their side.
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the party’s chief vote counter, told reporters it would be “a painful birthing process” for Republicans to shore up 10 votes to help Senate Democrats break the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold. But he expressed confidence enough members could be prodded.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether 10 Republican senators would ultimately cast votes helping Democrats extend the debt limit. The initial vote would only be a procedural one, and it’s not final passage.
“If I pulled out my card right now and we started writing down names, we’d come up with 7 pretty quickly,” Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota said in an interview. “Then we’d struggle to get the 8th and we’d be damn hard-pressed to predict the 9th and 10th.”
Cramer said he would oppose the debt ceiling extension. Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Richard Shelby of Alabama both told Insider they would back the first vote.
“I think we need to move the goalposts a little bit and try to keep things alive,” Shelby told Insider. “That’s what we’re doing, we’re punting.”
“We need to be able to get on this.,” Murkowski told Insider. “The only way we’re gonna be able to get on this is if we can get 60 votes. I’m gonna be one of those 60.”
Other Republicans said they hadn’t made up their minds, like Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah.
A federal program failed to fulfill its promise of offering student debt relief to thousands of public workers, including teachers, police officers and firefighters. Now, the government is trying to make it right.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Education announced sweeping changes to its Public Service Loan Forgiveness program after thousands of borrowers applied for forgiveness, with nearly all of them being rejected by the federal government.
After making a decade of payments, many found out that they had the wrong type of federal loan or repayment plan to be eligible for the program. Thousands have been straddled with debt that they thought would be erased.
Under temporary changes through October 2022, those borrowers will be eligible to get their loans cleared.
The overhaul is also designed to let borrowers correct errors and count payments they were trying to make toward the program. It is expected to shorten the amount of time more than 550,000 borrowers – those who have already consolidated their loans – are required to make payments to qualify for forgiveness, the government said.
The changes will immediately erase the debt of 22,000 borrowers to the tune of $1.7 billion, the agency said. The government estimated another 27,000 borrowers could see about $2.8 billion in debts forgiven if they prove they were employed in an eligible job.
If you have these loans, here are the steps you can take to get relief:
What is Public Service Loan Forgiveness? How did it originate?
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness is a program that was launched in 2007 in an effort to steer more college graduates into public service. As long as they made 10 years of payments on their federal student loans, the program promised to erase the remainder.
The program, however, has proved anything but forgiving. Before Wednesday’s announcement, only 16,000 borrowers had seen their debt forgiven via the program, according to the Education Department. About 1.3 million people are trying to have their debts discharged through the program.
One of the most problematic pieces of Public Service Loan Forgiveness: Many borrowers had the wrong type of loan and didn’t realize they weren’t eligible for relief.
When the loan forgiveness program was first introduced, many of the loans offered from the federal government were Family Federal Education Loans (FFEL), or loans made through private entities but insured by the federal government.
The government stopped offering those loans in 2010 and now relies on direct loans – the kind eligible for forgiveness. The Education Department said about 60% of borrowers with an approved employer hold FFEL loans.
Who is eligible for student loan forgiveness?
The government previously restricted eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to only certain types of federal student loans and specific repayment plans.
However, through October 2022, borrowers who have made 10 years worth of payments while in a qualifying job– such as positions in federal, state or local governments, a nonprofit organization or the U.S. military – will now be eligible for loan relief no matter what kind of federal loan or repayment plan they have.
Past loan payments that were previously ineligible will now count, moving some borrowers closer to forgiveness. That is expected to especially help those borrowers with Federal Family Education Loans.
Among other changes, the department will allow military members to count time on active duty toward the 10 years, even if they put a pause on making their payments during that time.
How do I figure out if my past or current employer qualifies for PSLF?
Use this help tool of the Federal Student Aid website to check if you work for a qualifying employer: https://studentaid.gov/pslf/
It provides information on which employers meet requirements for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
How do I check which federal loans I have?
If borrowers are unsure about what type of loan they have, they can request that information from their loan servicer or they can check on the federal government’s website for financial aid, according to Betsy Mayotte, president of the Institute of Student Loan Advisors.
If you don’t know what kind of federal loans you have, you can see which loans by logging into your account on StudentAid.gov, going to the My Aid page and scrolling down to the Loan Breakdown section.
If I qualify, what steps do I need to take?
Changes to the loan forgiveness program will take place in two parts.
The agency will first loosen some of the rules that had prevented eligible borrowers from discharging their loans, via a limited waiver. The government, for example, will allow payments on any of a person’s loans to count toward the total number required for forgiveness.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness waiver will be available to borrowers who have direct loans, Federal Family Education Loans and Perkins Loans.
Parent PLUS loans are not eligible under the limited waiver.
The department said it would automatically credit borrowers who already have direct loans and have proved they work in an eligible field. Others who haven’t enrolled in the program or have ineligible federal loans will have to apply for forgiveness, which may require them to consolidate their loans. Borrowers will have until October 2022 to apply.
The Education Department also plans to review all Public Service Loan Forgiveness applications that had been denied and to give federal employees automatic credit toward forgiveness.
Other changes will come about more slowly via regulations made by “rule-making,” a lengthy and complicated bureaucratic back-and-forth between the government and other stakeholders.
How do you receive credit for past payments under the new rules?
For a limited time, borrowers may get credit for past payments made on loans that would otherwise not qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
There are two requirements to receive additional qualifying payments: Full-time employment and loan consolidation.
For instance, you must have worked full-time for a qualifying employer when prior payments were made, according to Federal Student Aid.
Some part-time workers may qualify under certain circumstances. Say you were employed in more than one qualifying part-time job at the same time. You would be considered full-time if you worked a combined average of at least 30 hours per week.
It may take several months for a borrower’s account information to reflect the new payment count, according to Federal Student Aid.
How far back can I get credit for payments?
To be sure, you can only receive credit for payments made after Oct. 1, 2007, since that is when the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program began.
For any period you may receive additional qualifying payments, you must file an application.
Who may need to consolidate their loans?
If you have Federal Family Education Loan Program loans, Federal Perkins Loans or other types of federal student loans that aren’t direct loans, you must consolidate them into the direct loan program by Oct. 31, 2022, according to Federal Student Aid.
This is important for borrowers because you can’t receive credit for payments if you consolidate after that date. Once the consolidation process is complete, you must then submit a PSLF form to your loan servicer.
The help tool on the Federal Student Aid website will be updated in the coming months to process applications for borrowers in the Federal Family Education Loan Program and those with Perkins loans.
Right now, employment can still be verified for them in Step 1 of the help tool, and loan consolidation can still be requested, Federal Student Aid said on its website. But an application for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program through the tool may not be available in the near term for those borrowers.
Bears Ears is named for a pair of towering buttes that dominate much of the landscape of southeast Utah, and it is the site of ancient Native cliff dwellings and sacred burial grounds. It is the ancestral homeland of five tribal nations — the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and Pueblo of Zuni.
Conservation groups welcomed the news. “Thank you, President Biden — you have listened to Indigenous tribes and the American people and ensured these landscapes will be protected for generations to come,” said Jennifer Rokala, director of the Center for Western Priorities, an advocacy organization. “The cultural and paleontological resources within the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase landscapes are too important to leave at risk.”
Ms. Haaland, the country’s first Native American cabinet secretary, is a member of the Laguna Pueblo. She now leads the federal agency that for much of the nation’s history played a central role in the dislocation and abuse of Indigenous communities from coast to coast, and she has made Native American issues a top priority.
In a 2019 interview with The Guardian, Ms. Haaland described a recent camping trip she had taken to Bears Ears. “There are some pretty amazing ruins there, and, you know, I don’t even like to call them ruins, because in our culture, in Pueblo culture, if you acknowledge our ancestors, they are there,” she said. “The spirit of the people never leaves.”
But in a joint statement, Utah’s congressional delegation called the president’s decision a “devastating blow” to its efforts to find a lasting solution that could not be changed with each administration.
“Rather than take the opportunity to build unity in a divided region and bring resources and lasting protections to sacred antiquities by seeking a mutually beneficial and permanent legislative solution, President Biden fanned the flames of controversy and ignored input from the communities closest to these monuments,” said the statement, which was signed by Utah’s two senators and three representatives, all Republicans.
The new boundary of Bears Ears will actually incorporate one element of the Trump-era boundaries. When the Trump administration reduced the overall size of the monument by nearly one million acres, it also added 11,200 acres that had not been previously protected. The new boundaries will restore the original Obama-era boundary and will include the additional 11,200 Trump-era acres.
A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked Texas from enforcing the controversial abortion ban that bars the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy.
Judge Robert L. Pitman has granted the Department of Justice’s motion for a temporary restraining order as the constitutionality of the law is further litigated in the courts.
“From the moment S.B. 8 went into effect, women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the Constitution,” the order reads. “That other courts may find a way to avoid this conclusion is theirs to decide; this Court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right.”
Pitman has also denied the state’s motion to dismiss the Justice Department’s lawsuit challenging the law.
In his scathing 113-page ruling, Pitman takes the constitutionality of the Texas law head-on, writing that it is “substantially likely” that courts will find that S.B. 8 violates the Fourteenth Amendment. Citing multiple comments and testimonies from clinicians and patients alike, the judge ruled the law places an “undue burden” on women seeking abortion in Texas and thus violates their rights.
“If this situation does not constitute an undue burden,” as the State of Texas argues, “it is hard to imagine what would,” Pitman added.
The judge concludes such a burden has already and will continue to cause “irreparable harm” to those seeking abortions.
“People seeking abortions face irreparable harm when they are unable to access abortions; these individuals are entitled to access to abortions under the U.S. Constitution; S.B. 8 prevents access to abortion,” the Court explains, ruling in favor of granting the Department of Justice’s request for a temporary pause in the law’s enforcement.
The state of Texas filed notice with the court that it plans to appeal Wednesday’s ruling to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Texas’ abortion law, which went into effect in September, is among the nation’s most restrictive. In addition to outlawing abortion once embryonic cardiac activity is detected, which can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy — before many women know they’re pregnant — the measure allows private citizens to bring civil lawsuits against anyone who provides an abortion after that point or helps a woman access the procedure, such as a friend who drives a woman to obtain an abortion, or clinic staff. Those found in violation of the law are required to pay at least $10,000 to the person who successfully brought the suit.
Pitman has ordered the state of Texas to notify all state judges and state court employees impacted by Wednesday’s decision and to “publish this preliminary injunction on all of its public-facing court websites with a visible, easy-to-understand instruction to the public that S.B. 8 lawsuits will not be accepted by Texas courts.”
In a statement, Planned Parenthood said it was “grateful” for the ruling, and that it would continue to fight the ban in court.
“While this fight is far from over, we are hopeful that the court’s order blocking S.B. 8 will allow Texas abortion providers to resume services as soon as possible,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, in a statement.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the ruling “an important step forward toward restoring the constitutional rights of women across the state of Texas.” In a statement she said, “The fight has only just begun, both in Texas and in many states across this country where women’s rights are currently under attack.”
The Justice Department sued Texas on September 9, eight days after the law went into effect, and sought a temporary freeze against S.B. 8. The department argued during an October 1 hearing that the measure violates the U.S. constitution and contradicts longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent that protects “pre-viability abortions.”
In a statement Wednesday night, Attorney General Merrick Garland praised the ruling, saying it is a “victory for women in Texas and for the rule of law.” Garland said the Justice Department will “continue to protect constitutional rights against all who would seek to undermine them.”
White House chief of staff Ron Klain tweeted Wednesday that Pittman’s ruling is a “big win for the Biden administration — and the constitution — in federal court tonight.” President Biden last month called the law “extreme” and said it “blatantly violates the constitutional right established under Roe v. Wade and upheld as precedent for nearly half a century.”
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to stop the law from going into effect, but has not ruled on its constitutionality.
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Senior correspondent Laura Ingle speaks with Gabby Petito’s family regarding the ongoing manhunt for Brian Laundrie.
Brian Laundrie has been on the run for several weeks since his fiancé, Gabby Petito, was declared missing and the Petito family believes he holds the answers to what happened to their daughter.
The Petito and Schmidt families sat down for an exclusive interview with Fox News senior correspondent Laura Ingle to vocalize their frustrations regarding the ongoing manhunt for Laundrie and their hopes to find answers.
“Just turn yourself in,” Petito’s mother Nichole Schmidt said of Laundrie. “It’s just getting more and more frustrating as days go on. I don’t know what’s taking so long.”
Petito’s family wants Laundrie found alive so he can provide the missing answers connecting the death of their 22-year-old daughter. The family believes Laundrie “knows everything,” her mother admitted.
“He’s our missing piece to the puzzle to find out what happened,” Petito’s stepfather Jim Schmidt said. “What happened out there? Until they find him, we won’t know.”
Petito’s stepfather revealed that the couple’s cross-country road trip took form after their plans for a low-key beach wedding in Florida were postponed due to COVID-19.
“They kindof put it on hold,” Jim Schmidt said, with Petito’s mother saying the couple’s main focus was planning their trip.
But when Petito never returned from the trip and their van returned to Florida, Nichole Schmidt said she “instinctively” knew her daughter was gone.
Petito’s father Joe Petito said he assumed Laundrie is still alive and living off the land but he has “no idea” of his whereabouts, or if he’s even in the United States.
While the family waits anxiously for answers, they’ve established the Gabby Petito Foundation in hopes of helping other families of missing children find answers with financial support and public exposure.
“We’re trying to make a difference and trying to make sense of it,” Joe Petito said. “We’re trying to focus on that to make sure there’s some good that comes from this.”
“It strikes me as completely within the scope of this interview,” said Sara Zdeb, chief oversight counsel for Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), after Weinsheimer intervened to block an answer from Byung Pak, a former U.S. attorney from the Atlanta area. Pak resigned on Jan. 4 under pressure from Trump to interfere in election-related matters.
The exchange, one of a dozen times that Weisenheimer blocked former officials from answering committee questions, underscores the tension facing the Biden DOJ and Attorney General Merrick Garland. Although congressional Democrats have largely hailed Garland’s willingness to make witnesses available, the interviews show that the Biden administration will still move to protect Executive Branch interests.
And that tension may sharpen as House and Senate investigators begin to delve more deeply into the Trump White House’s role in orchestrating efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Nevertheless, the Biden Justice Department has taken unprecedented steps to furnish details about Trump’s campaign to upend the election, including waiving questions of privilege for senior Trump DOJ officials to testify. That enabled Pak, former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and his deputy Richard Donoghue to provide detailed testimony about Trump’s pressure campaign.
Senate Democratic investigators had asked Pak specifically to indicate whether he had received any evidence that 2,560 felons voted in Georgia, a claim propagated by the Trump campaign that later proved unfounded. Weinsheimer said that the question was beyond the scope of the committee investigation, which was focused specifically on Trump’s pressure campaign against Pak and other senior DOJ officials.
“You’re getting into specific investigations that don’t have anything to do with specific pressure put on Mr. Pak, and so I would object,” Weinsheimer said.
“It seems to me that it is inherent in understanding … whether there were particular things that [White House chief of Staff Mark Meadows], the President thought that Mr. Pak’s office ought to be looking into that they were not looking into,” Zdeb replied, according to the transcripts.
But Weinsheimer didn’t relent, and Pak’s personal attorney deferred to the Justice Department.
While DOJ has waived questions of privilege so that senior Trump DOJ officials could testify, it’s simultaneously sought to protect executive branch prerogatives. The Justice Department declined to comment, but Garland confirmed in an interview Monday that the DOJ is in regular contact with the White House on executive privilege issues related to investigations of former President Trump.
But the department is still keeping a tight lid on specific investigative steps it may have taken to pursue claims of voter fraud, even as aides in both parties said that information was essential to understanding the context of Trump’s push. The Justice Department declined to comment, but Garland confirmed in an interview Monday that the DOJ is in regular contact with the White House on executive privilege issues related to investigations of former President Trump.
Durbin told reporters on Thursday that he isn’t concerned about the refusal to allow the witnesses to answer certain questions because the interviews themselves were extraordinary in the first place.
“What opened the door to this inquiry was the decision by the attorney general that they couldn’t hide behind any type of privilege,” Durbin said Thursday. “They could testify as to what happened. So I think generally speaking, just the opposite is true. I think Merrick Garland’s position has really opened the door for more inquiries like this.”
But a spokesperson for the Judiciary Committee’s top Republican, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley pointed to the refusal to answer certain questions and said it contradicted DOJ’s promise to be transparent.
“It’s remarkable that while President Biden took the extraordinary step of waiving executive privilege to publicize the former president’s deliberations with his top advisers, Biden’s own Justice Department thwarted the same level of transparency when asked about records the Department provided and what it did to actually investigate claims of irregularities in the 2020 election,” said Grassley spokesperson Taylor Foy.
Most of Weinsheimer’s interjections came during questioning by Republican counsel Josh Flynn-Brown. During an interview with Rosen, Weinsheimer blocked Rosen from answering questions about whether the department opened election fraud cases prior to the certification of the 2020 results. He blocked Pak from answering a similar question as well.
“I would object to that question. It’s beyond the scope of the authorization, “Weinsheimer said.
“I think it’s precisely in scope and a very critical question for him to answer,” Flynn-Brown replied.
In the same interview, Flynn-Brown asked Pak for examples of the types of fraud claims he received surrounding the 2020 election. Weinsheimer again objected.
“I think in the Donoghue interview I had five objections. In the Rosen interview, I had one. I have two now. So let’s see how many I can rack up today,” Flynn-Brown said.
“Then I recommend you stay within the scope, and I won’t object, “Weinsheimer replied.
During Democrats’ questioning of Pak, Weinsheimer also stopped Pak from issuing a lengthy answer about his work after Pak appeared to begin discussing efforts to investigate threats against election workers.
“At this point,” Weinsheimer said, “I’m concerned that Mr. Pak may be going beyond the scope.”
WASHINGTON — Top Senate Democrats and Republicans said on Thursday that they had struck a deal to allow the debt ceiling to be raised through early December, temporarily staving off the threat of a first-ever default on the national debt after the G.O.P. agreed to temporarily drop its blockade of an increase.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, announced Thursday morning that he had reached an agreement with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, to clear the way for a vote on a short-term extension, with 11 days left before a possible default.
The movement came the day after Mr. McConnell backed down partially from his refusal to allow any such increase to move forward, offering a temporary reprieve as political pressure mounted to avoid being blamed for a fiscal calamity.
“It’s our hope that we can get this done as soon as today,” Mr. Schumer said on the Senate floor.
The agreement would boost the legal debt cap by $480 billion, according to a Senate aide familiar with the details, which the Treasury Department estimates would be enough to allow the government to continue borrowing through Dec. 3. The current limit is $28.4 trillion, since Aug. 1.
Police on the hunt for Brian Laundrie have reportedly discovered a recently used campsite at the sprawling Florida park where the fugitive in the Gabby Petito case told his parents he was going on a hike.
Meanwhile, authorities also have investigated several reported sightings of the 23-year-old in North Carolina, according to a report.
A source close his family told CNN’s Chris Cuomo late Wednesday that authorities said they “found fresh traces of a campsite” at the sprawling, 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve in Sarasota.
News of the discovery came as the family’s lawyer announced that Laundrie’s father, Chris, would be joining the massive manhunt.
The North Port Police Department emphatically denied requesting the dad’s assistance, but the lawyer, Steven Bertolino, was adamant that “law enforcement” wants the family’s help and suggested it may have been the FBI that made the request.
The feds declined to comment.
Bertolino told CNN that Chris Laundrie was asked to assist North Port cops in their search but that police had to postpone.
The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Department says it has found evidence of a recent camp in the Carlton Reserve that may have been made by Brian Laundrie.Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack
“Chris Laundrie was asked to assist law enforcement in their search for Brian at the preserve today,” Bertolino said in a statement.
Search teams fan out at Carlton Reserve park to search for Brian Laundrie.North Port Police Department via AP
“Since the preserve has been closed to the public Chris has not been able to look for Brian in the only place Chris and Roberta believe Brian may be,” he told The Post.
“Unfortunately North Port police had to postpone Chris’ involvement but Chris and Roberta are hopeful there will be another opportunity to assist,” the lawyer added.
A helicopter aids crews with the FBI and North Port police and Sheriff’s Department.Andrea Melendez/Naples Daily News via APThe FBI along with local law enforcement brings swamp buggies into the Carlton Reserve during the search for Brian Laundrie.Dennis A. Clark
When asked on CNN whether Laundrie’s parents believe he’s in the reserve or another area, Bertolino said: “No, they don’t believe he’s in another area. They believe he is in the preserve.”
On Tuesday, a spokeswoman with the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina told NBC News that multiple tipsters had reported sightings of the fugitive in the western part of the state near the Tennessee border.
Those reports include a 911 call early Saturday from Dennis Davis, a hiker on the Appalachian Trail who reported that he was “99.99 percent sure” he had spoken with Laundrie.
“He was talking wild. He said that his girlfriend left him and he had to go out to California to see her,” Davis told the Haywood County dispatcher, according to audio of the call released Monday.
“He was acting funny. And I wasn’t sure what he looked like. And then … I went and parked and pulled up the photographs of him. And I’m 99.99 percent sure that was him,” he said.
Authorities in Canada, Alabama and Montana also have received reports of Laundrie sightings, according to the news outlet.
Laundrie reportedly went hiking at the reserve on Sept. 13 and never returned to his parents’ nearby North Port home.
Brian Laundrie is wanted for questioning about the death of his girlfriend, Gabby Petito, after returning from a cross-country trek alone. Instagram
Laundrie is the sole person of interest in the disappearance of his slain 22-year-old girlfriend. He had returned home early from the couple’s cross-country trip on Sept. 1 without Petito.
A fake White House set has social media users shaming the president. The ‘Fox Across America’ host weighs in.
Joe Biden’s presidential campaign was predicated on the notion that a vote against Donald Trump would be a step in the right direction for COVID, immigration, the economy and overall unity.
In less than a year, Biden has crashed on his Build Back Better slogan and allowed America to be a worse place to live in 2021. Homicide rates are higher than the year prior, COVID is claiming more lives and the exit from the pandemic no longer has an end in sight now that the Biden White House has nullified the vaccine’s effect on getting rid of masks and mandates.
As President Biden’s tenure in the White House hits the 100-day milestone, media watchdogs and journalism professors alike have noticed that journalists are “overwhelmingly favorable, polite, and gentle” when covering the current administration. (Getty Images)
OutKick’s Clay Travis spoke on how history will ultimately vindicate those who chose to fight against the Biden agenda and senseless COVID mandates.
“Do you remember when Joe Biden ran his campaign from his basement and he told everyone that he was going to solve COVID? More Americans have died in 2021 with COVID than died in 2020,” said Clay, calling out the Dems’ recent track record as a testament to their failures.
President Joe Biden attends a virtual COVID-19 summit during the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“Remember when Joe Biden came out and said, ‘Hey if you just wear masks for 100 days, COVID will be over’? Do you remember when he said in May if you get the COVID vaccination, you’ll never have to wear a mask again?
“What’s happening is: Joe Biden used COVID to get elected as president and since then, he’s been a disaster of a president. But even in COVID, which he claimed would be his signature issue, he’s failed. It really is an embarrassment that the country was allowed to be put into this position.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the debt ceiling during an event in the State Dining Room of the White House, Monday, Oct. 4, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked Texas from enforcing the controversial abortion ban that bars the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy.
Judge Robert L. Pitman has granted the Department of Justice’s motion for a temporary restraining order as the constitutionality of the law is further litigated in the courts.
“From the moment S.B. 8 went into effect, women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the Constitution,” the order reads. “That other courts may find a way to avoid this conclusion is theirs to decide; this Court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right.”
Pitman has also denied the state’s motion to dismiss the Justice Department’s lawsuit challenging the law.
In his scathing 113-page ruling, Pitman takes the constitutionality of the Texas law head-on, writing that it is “substantially likely” that courts will find that S.B. 8 violates the Fourteenth Amendment. Citing multiple comments and testimonies from clinicians and patients alike, the judge ruled the law places an “undue burden” on women seeking abortion in Texas and thus violates their rights.
“If this situation does not constitute an undue burden,” as the State of Texas argues, “it is hard to imagine what would,” Pitman added.
The judge concludes such a burden has already and will continue to cause “irreparable harm” to those seeking abortions.
“People seeking abortions face irreparable harm when they are unable to access abortions; these individuals are entitled to access to abortions under the U.S. Constitution; S.B. 8 prevents access to abortion,” the Court explains, ruling in favor of granting the Department of Justice’s request for a temporary pause in the law’s enforcement.
The state of Texas filed notice with the court that it plans to appeal Wednesday’s ruling to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Texas’ abortion law, which went into effect in September, is among the nation’s most restrictive. In addition to outlawing abortion once embryonic cardiac activity is detected, which can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy — before many women know they’re pregnant — the measure allows private citizens to bring civil lawsuits against anyone who provides an abortion after that point or helps a woman access the procedure, such as a friend who drives a woman to obtain an abortion, or clinic staff. Those found in violation of the law are required to pay at least $10,000 to the person who successfully brought the suit.
Pitman has ordered the state of Texas to notify all state judges and state court employees impacted by Wednesday’s decision and to “publish this preliminary injunction on all of its public-facing court websites with a visible, easy-to-understand instruction to the public that S.B. 8 lawsuits will not be accepted by Texas courts.”
In a statement, Planned Parenthood said it was “grateful” for the ruling, and that it would continue to fight the ban in court.
“While this fight is far from over, we are hopeful that the court’s order blocking S.B. 8 will allow Texas abortion providers to resume services as soon as possible,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, in a statement.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the ruling “an important step forward toward restoring the constitutional rights of women across the state of Texas.” In a statement she said, “The fight has only just begun, both in Texas and in many states across this country where women’s rights are currently under attack.”
The Justice Department sued Texas on September 9, eight days after the law went into effect, and sought a temporary freeze against S.B. 8. The department argued during an October 1 hearing that the measure violates the U.S. constitution and contradicts longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent that protects “pre-viability abortions.”
In a statement Wednesday night, Attorney General Merrick Garland praised the ruling, saying it is a “victory for women in Texas and for the rule of law.” Garland said the Justice Department will “continue to protect constitutional rights against all who would seek to undermine them.”
White House chief of staff Ron Klain tweeted Wednesday that Pittman’s ruling is a “big win for the Biden administration — and the constitution — in federal court tonight.” President Biden last month called the law “extreme” and said it “blatantly violates the constitutional right established under Roe v. Wade and upheld as precedent for nearly half a century.”
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to stop the law from going into effect, but has not ruled on its constitutionality.
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After Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell offered Democrats a short-term suspension of the U.S. debt ceiling to avoid a national default and government shutdown, Republican former President Donald Trump criticized McConnell.
“Looks like Mitch McConnell is folding to the Democrats, again,” Trump wrote in a statement Wednesday evening. “He’s got all of the cards with the debt ceiling, it’s time to play the hand. Don’t let them destroy our Country!”
McConnell had said via Twitter earlier in the day, “We will also allow Democrats to use normal procedures to pass an emergency debt limit extension at a fixed dollar amount to cover current spending levels into December.”
After Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell offered Democrats a short term suspension of the U.S. debt ceiling to avoid a national default and government shutdown, Republican former President Donald Trump criticized McConnell. In this photo, Trump speaks at a rally on September 25 in Perry, Georgia. Sean Rayford/Getty
McConnell’s offer could give Democrats more time to negotiate with Republicans on raising the debt ceiling, something congressional Republicans have unanimously refused to do. Without McConnell’s offer, the government was expected to default on its debt by October 18.
His offer could also give Democrats more time to independently raise the debt ceiling through reconciliation. Reconciliation is a congressional maneuver that would allow Senate Democrats to raise the ceiling with a simple majority vote rather than with the 60 bipartisan votes normally needed to bypass a filibuster.
As of Wednesday evening, Republican Congress members on Twitter remained mostly silent on McConnell’s offer.
However, Trump’s criticism of McConnell’s offer is just his latest against the Republican congressional leader.
When asked about Trump’s name-calling, McConnell responded, “What I’m concentrating on is the future.”
McConnell said he hadn’t spoken with Trump since around the January 6 Capitol riots. He has told advisors that he plans to never speak to him again, according to The Washington Post. Trump has said he has no interest in speaking to McConnell either.
McConnell didn’t vote against Trump in his second impeachment trial in the Senate. In that trial, Trump stood accused of inciting the riots by baselessly repeating that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him through an unprecedented nationwide conspiracy of voter fraud.
However, McConnell did say that Trump was “practically and morally responsible for provoking” the Capitol riots. In response, Trump called him a “dour, sullen and unsmiling political hack.”
A Maryland man charged in the deaths of his brother, sister-in-law and another woman may have killed his brother, a pharmacist, because the brother was administering COVID-19 vaccines, charging documents show, according to CBS Washington, D.C. affiliate WUSA-TV.
Jeffrey Burnham, 46, of Cumberland, “wanted to confront” his brother “with the government poisoning people with COVID vaccines,” one document reads, adding, “He repeatedly stated, ‘Brian knows something!'”
Burnham’s mother told detectives he planned to confront his brother, 58-year-old Brian Robinette, Howard County court documents specify.
The documents say Burnham also killed Robinette’s wife, 57-year-old Kelly Sue Robinette and another woman, identified as 83-year-old Rebecca Reynolds.
Jeffrey Burnham October 1, 2021 mugshot.
Allegheny County (Maryland) Sheriff’s Office
Burnham has been charged with two counts each of first- and second-degree murder, as well as weapons charges, CBS New, Radio affiliate WTOP-AM reports, and police said he’ll be charged in the death of Reynolds, a friend of his mother’s.
WUSA says officers found Reynolds’ body in a home with obvious trauma.
Authorities say Burnham stole Reynolds’ 2020 Lincoln and drove two hours to Ellicott City on September 30.
Howard County Police say they found the stolen Lincoln and learned the Robinettes lived nearby. When officers went to their home, they found the couple shot to death inside.
Howard County Police said after killing them, Burnham stole their 2007 red Chevrolet Corvette. Police issued an alert for Burnham.
He was spotted around 9 a.m. on October 1 on the side of a road in Davis, West Virginia, in the stolen Corvette, authorities said.
Howard County Police say West Virginia State Police took him into custody without incident and found a gun inside the car. It remains unclear why Burnham had pulled off the roadway.
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters after a Democratic policy meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. (AP)
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., struck an optimistic tone early Thursday and said negotiations to avoid a federal default were progressing, but there was still work to be done.
“We’re making good progress; we’re not there yet, but I hope we can come to an agreement tomorrow [Thursday] morning,” he said, according to the Wall Street Journal. He made the comment shortly after midnight.
Republicans and Democrats are working to determine just how much the debt limit should be increased before the Oct. 18 deadline.
Schumer expressed optimism that a deal could be reached Thursday.
The Hill reported that Republicans want the short-term debt extension to be “tied to a specific number instead of a specific day in December.”
The report said Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, told reporters that the deal would be completed “soon.”
The deal would be a temporary reprieve that could lead to a similar standoff in six weeks. The Washington Post described the debt ceiling clash as a “proxy war over the two parties’ competing agendas.”
Biden enlisted top business leaders to push for immediately suspending the debt limit, saying the approaching deadline created the risk of a historic default that would be like a “meteor” that could crush the economy and financial markets.
McConnell said the deal “will moot Democrats’ excuses about the time crunch they created and give the unified Democratic government more than enough time to pass standalone debt limit legislation through reconciliation.”
Texas’s near-total abortion ban has been temporarily blocked after a US federal judge ruled that it violated the constitutional right to abortion, in the first legal challenge to Senate Bill 8.
Brought by the Biden administration, the lawsuit will prevent Texas from enforcing SB8 while litigation over its legality continues. However, with state officials likely to seek a rapid reversal of the ruling, many doctors may refuse to carry out abortions for fear of being sued.
Is Texas’s law unique? In some ways, yes. While other states have passed similar laws, SB8 delegates enforcement to private citizens, not prosecutors.
What has SB8’s effect been? Planned Parenthood said the number of patients at its Texas clinics fell by nearly 80% in the two weeks after the law took effect.
What did the federal judge say? “Women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the constitution,” Robert Pitman wrote.
Ethiopia in ‘immense humanitarian crisis’
An aid worker screens a child for malnutrition in Adikeh, in the Wajirat district of the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia on 19 July, 2021. Photograph: Christine Nesbitt/AP
Ethiopia is facing an “immense humanitarian crisis”, United Nations secretary general António Guterres has warned as conflict and famine-like conditions plague the country’s north.
Guterres called for Addis Ababa to grant “unhindered” aid access following the “unprecedented” expulsion of seven UN officials, most of them humanitarian workers, last week. One ambassador warned the move could set a dangerous precedent for conflicts in Myanmar and Afghanistan.
Ethiopia has been engulfed in fighting between the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) since last year.
How bad are conditions? The conflict has driven 400,000 people into famine-like conditions, while up to 7 million people need food assistance in regions such as Tigray, Amhara and Afar, according to the UN.
Meanwhile, whistleblower Frances Haugen accused Facebook of “literally fanning ethnic violence” in countries including Ethiopia because it is not properly monitoring its service outside the US.
Alaska hospitals ration care
Angelique Ramirez, chief medical officer at Foundation Health Partners in Fairbanks, said the facility has paused certain elective procedures. Photograph: Rick Bowmer/AP
Hospitals in Alaska, the state with the highest Covid case rate, have turned to emergency measures to allow the rationing of healthcare as doctors scramble to find beds for patients.
As medical centres implement crisis care standards and pause elective procedures, doctors are spending their shifts searching for beds in other states for their patients. One doctor in Anchorage described having to choose between several patients vying for a single intensive care bed, resulting in the death of a patient.
Republican governor Mike Dunleavy has refused to implement mask or vaccine mandates, leaving such measures up to local government.
How high are cases? One in 84 people in Alaska was diagnosed with Covid-19 in the last week of September, and the whole state is on high alert for significant coronavirus spread.
What about vaccination rates? Less than two-thirds of eligible Alaskans are fully vaccinated.
In other news…
Residents gather next to the debris of their houses that collapsed following an earthquake in the remote mountainous district of Harnai. Photograph: Banaras Khan/AFP/Getty Images
At least 20 people have been killed in a 5.7 magnitude earthquake in southern Pakistan which injured more than 200, government officials said. The quake struck Balochistan at 3am.
Rio de Janeiro police have found a Nazi trove estimated to be worth €3m at the home of a Brazilian man suspected of raping a minor. The haul includes weapons, images of Adolf Hitler and Nazi uniforms.
Benito Mussolini’s granddaughter has won the highest number of votes in elections for Rome’s city council. Rachele Mussolini, who won over 8,200 votes, belongs to the far-right party Brothers of Italy.
Pharrell Williams has cancelled his Something in the Water festival in Virginia Beach after police fatally shot his cousin there earlier this year.
Stat of the day: 57% of child psychiatrists seeing patients distressed about climate crisis
In September, children and young people around the world, including Glasgow, took part in protests against the climate crisis. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
More than half (57%) of child psychiatrists in England are seeing children and young people distressed by the climate emergency, as experts warn that eco-anxiety is growing among under-25s. Although not yet considered a diagnosable condition, levels of “chronic fear of environmental doom” are likely to be underestimated, while international research has found anxiety is “profoundly affecting huge numbers of young people around the world”.
Don’t miss this: Torrey Peters on Detransition, Baby
Torrey Peters, 39, author of the novel Detransition, Baby and novellas Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones and The Masker. Photograph: Desiree Rios/The Guardian
When Torrey Peters set out to write Detransition, Baby in 2018, “the trans debate” was far from her mind. “I was just thinking about what was going to be funny for my friends and what was pertinent to our lives,” she says. Writer and trans dad Freddy McConnell talks to Peters about having kids while LGBTQ+, being longlisted for the Women’s prize, and “the Sex and the City problem”.
Climate check: UK butterfly numbers at record low
A comma butterfly basks in the October sunshine Photograph: Geoffrey Swaine/Rex/Shutterstock
The UK has recorded its lowest ever number of butterflies in an annual survey of the insects since the count began 12 years ago, leading conservationists to call for urgent action. In addition to being a vital part of the food chain, butterflies are considered significant indicators of environmental health. Volunteers participating in the Big Butterfly Count recorded numbers 14% lower than last year.
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Last Thing: Fat Bear Week 2021
Fat Bear contender 128 Grazer keeps his eyes on the prize as he bulks up ahead of hibernation. Composite: Katmai National Park and Preserve
In a win for local democracy, thousands of bear enthusiasts went to the polls earlier this week to cast their vote for Alaska’s fattest bear. Otis, who has won the contest three times previously, took the top prize in the annual competition, which compares the pre-hibernation weight gain of the Katmai national park residents. Check out the before-and-after pics – complete with sliders – here.
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But, drawing in particular on interviews with Mr. Rosen and Mr. Donoghue, both of whom were at the Jan. 3 Oval Office meeting, it brings to light new details that underscore the intensity and relentlessness with which Mr. Trump pursued his goal of upending the election, and the role that key government officials played in his efforts.
The report fleshes out the role of Jeffrey Clark, a little-known Justice Department official who participated in multiple conversations with Mr. Trump about how to upend the election and who pushed his superiors to send Georgia officials a letter that falsely claimed the Justice Department had identified “significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election.” Mr. Trump was weighing whether to replace Mr. Rosen with Mr. Clark. Of particular note was a Jan. 2 confrontation during which Mr. Clark seemed to both threaten and coerce Mr. Rosen to send the letter. He first raised the prospect that Mr. Trump could fire Mr. Rosen, and then said that he would decline any offer to replace Mr. Rosen as acting attorney general if Mr. Rosen sent the letter. Mr. Clark also revealed during that meeting that he had secretly conducted a witness interview with someone in Georgia in connection with election fraud allegations that had already been disproved.
The report raised fresh questions about what role Representative Scott Perry, Republican of Pennsylvania, played in the White House effort to pressure the Justice Department to help upend the election. Mr. Perry called Mr. Donoghue to pressure him into investigating debunked election fraud allegations that had been made in Pennsylvania, the report said, and he complained to Mr. Donoghue that the Justice Department was not doing enough to look into such claims. Mr. Clark, the report said, also told officials that he had participated in the White House’s efforts at Mr. Perry’s request, and that the lawmaker took him to a meeting at the Oval Office to discuss voter fraud. That meeting occurred at around the same time that Mr. Perry and members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus met at the White House to discuss the Jan. 6 certification of the election results.
The report confirmed that Mr. Trump was the reason that Mr. Pak hastily left his role as U.S. attorney in Atlanta, an area that Mr. Trump wrongly told people he had won. Mr. Trump told top Justice Department officials that Mr. Pak was a never-Trumper, and he blamed Mr. Pak for the F.B.I.’s failure to find evidence of mass election fraud there. During the Jan. 3 fight in the Oval Office, Mr. Donoghue and others tried to convince Mr. Trump not to fire Mr. Pak, as he planned to resign in just a few days. But Mr. Trump made it clear to the officials that Mr. Pak was to leave the following day, leading Mr. Donoghue to phone him that evening and tell him he should pre-emptively resign. Mr. Trump also went outside the normal line of succession to push for a perceived loyalist, Bobby L. Christine, to run the Atlanta office. Mr. Christine had been the U.S. attorney in Savannah, and had donated to Mr. Trump’s campaign.
The report is not the Senate Judiciary Committee’s final word on the pressure campaign that was waged between Dec. 14, when Attorney General William P. Barr announced his resignation, and Jan. 6, when throngs of Mr. Trump’s supporters fought to block certification of the election.
The panel is still waiting for the National Archives to furnish documents, calendar appointments and communications involving the White House that concern efforts to subvert the election. It asked the National Archives, which stores correspondence and documents generated by previous presidential administrations, for the records this spring.
It is also waiting to see whether Mr. Clark will sit for an interview and help provide missing details about what was happening inside the White House during the Trump administration’s final weeks. Additionally, the committee has asked the District of Columbia Bar, which licenses and disciplines attorneys, to open a disciplinary investigation into Mr. Clark based on its findings.
The report recommended that the Justice Department tighten procedures concerning when it can take certain overt steps in election-related fraud investigations. As attorney general, the report said, Mr. Barr weakened the department’s decades-long strict policy of not taking investigative steps in fraud cases until after an election is certified, a measure that is meant to keep the fact of a federal investigation from impacting the election outcome.
Trump’s Bid to Subvert the Election
The Senate panel found that Mr. Barr personally demanded that the department investigate voter fraud allegations, even if other authorities had looked into them and not found evidence of wrongdoing. These allegations included a claim by Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer and a prime force behind the unfounded election fraud allegations, that he had a tape that showed Democratic poll workers kicking their Republican counterparts from a polling station and fraudulently adding votes for Joseph R. Biden Jr. into the count.
Mr. Pak testified that Mr. Barr asked him to look into that claim and directed the F.B.I. to interview a witness about the matter, even though the Georgia secretary of state had deemed the tape to be without merit.
On Dec. 1, just two weeks before saying he would step down, Mr. Barr said that the Justice Department had found no evidence of voter fraud widespread enough to change the fact that Mr. Biden had won the presidency.
Social media users shamed and mocked President Biden Wednesday after he spoke, once again, from a fake White House set that featured a digital monitor showing the Rose Garden in full bloom.
“The reason Biden uses this bizarre virtual set for televised meetings — and not an actual room like East Room, Cabinet, Oval, Roosevelt, Sit Room, etc. — is because it allows him to read a script directly from a face-on monitor (& w/out teleprompter glass that can be seen on camera),” Stephen Miller, who served as a senior adviser to former President Donald Trump, wrote on Twitter.
The video set, which was constructed across from the White House in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, is used by Biden for video conferences and events broadcast online. Featuring professional monitors and lighting, it is the same set Biden used to show himself receiving a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.
President Joe Biden receives a COVID-19 booster shot during an event in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Monday, Sept. 27, 2021, in Washington. (Evan Vucci)
“Truman Show Presidency,” remarked Human Events Senior Editor Jack Posobiec.
“Do they not allow him in the actual White House,” New Hampshire journalist Kimberly Morin wondered.
“Is that a common thing,” Fox 19 anchor Tricia Macke asked. “I saw pics of the set when he got the booster shot. I actually didn’t believe it was real.”
“Why does Joe Biden feel the need to use a Fake White House set across the street from the actual White House,” conservative commentator and podcast host Benny Johnson asked.
“Why did the White House build a literal game show set complete with fake windows for Joe Biden,” asked Abigail Marone, press secretary for Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley. “So weird.”
“Remember the Trump green screen scandal? Now Biden gives speeches on a set made of Legos and nobody is remotely curious,” Fox News columnist David Marcus wrote in a tweet.
The set, which includes a small seating area for members of the press and others in attendance for events, also plays host to virtual meetings for Biden and other members of his administration.
In addition to Biden, Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have been photographed using the set alongside the president for events there.
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