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A controversial plan to kill one owl species to save another cleared a major hurdle.

The full Senate on Wednesday struck down a GOP effort to prevent the cull of up to 450,000 barred owls in the Pacific Northwest over three decades, ending a saga that created strange political bedfellows.

It’s a major win for environmentalists and federal wildlife officials who want to protect northern spotted owls that have been crowded out by their larger, more aggressive cousins. In recent weeks they got an unlikely ally in loggers who said scuttling the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plan could hinder timber sales.

But it’s a blow to an equally unusual alliance that includes right-wing politicians and animal rights advocates who argue the cull is too expensive and inhumane. The Trump administration leaned on Republican lawmakers to get out of the way, scrambling partisan lines.

Sen. John Kennedy, a conservative from Louisiana, sought to nix the owl-killing plan via the Congressional Review Act, which can be used to overturn recent rules by federal agencies.

Kennedy said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whose portfolio includes timber production, recently called him and told him to abandon the resolution. This month logging advocates said that stopping the cull would jeopardize timber production goals set by the Trump administration.

But Kennedy was not persuaded.

“The secretary needed to call somebody who cared what he thought, because I think he’s wrong,” Kennedy said on the Senate floor. “I think he and the other members of the administrative state at the Department of the Interior decided to play God.”

Flanked by pictures of owls and bumbling cartoon hunter Elmer Fudd, Kennedy praised barred owls for their “soulful eyes” and “incredibly soft” feathers. But he acknowledged they’re better hunters than spotted owls. Barred owls, which moved over from eastern North America, are outcompeting spotted owls for food and shelter in their native territory.

Louisiana Senator John Kennedy spearheaded a resolution to overturn the Biden-era plan to cull barred owls, even after he said the Trump administration told him to back down.

(Senate Banking Committee)

Ultimately the resolution failed 72 to 25, with three lawmakers not voting. Nearly all those who voted in favor of the resolution were Republican, but even more Republicans voted against it. The Fish and Wildlife Service approved the barred owl cull last year under the Biden Administration.

“I feel a lot of relief because this was one of the most major threats to the long-term, continued existence of the northern spotted owl in many years,” said Tom Wheeler, executive director of the Environmental Protection Information Center. “We’ve passed this hurdle, which isn’t to say there aren’t other hurdles or road bumps up ahead, but this feels good.”

Wheeler described the failed effort as a “nuclear threat” — if the resolution had passed, the Fish and Wildlife Service would have been blocked from pursuing any similar rule, unless explicitly authorized by Congress.

Now Wheeler said he and his allies will continue to push for the owl cull to be carried out, and for federal funding to support it.

Animal welfare advocates like Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Humane Economy, are dismayed.

“What this means is that not only are barred owls at extreme risk of large-scale shooting, but spotted owls and old-growth forests are at risk from chainsaws,” Pacelle said of the failed resolution.

Pacelle’s camp vowed to continue the fight. A lawsuit challenging the hunt they filed against the federal government last fall is moving forward. And they’ll try to ensure money doesn’t flow to the program.

In May, federal officials canceled three related grants in California totaling more than $1.1 million, including one study that would have included lethally removing barred owls from more than 192,000 acres in Mendocino and Sonoma counties.

However, there are other projects to kill barred owls in the Golden State, according to Peter Tira, a spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

One $4.3-million grant issued by the state agency will support barred owl removal in the northwestern part of the state, along with other research. Another grant issued by NASA to a university involves killing barred owls in California as well as creating a tool to prioritize areas where the raptors need to be managed.

It’s not clear how or if the government shutdown, now stretching into its 31st day, is affecting the projects, Tira said in an email.

The strange political bedfellows created by efforts to save spotted owls in the Pacific Northwest just got even stranger.

Already Republican members of Congress were allied with animal rights activists.
They don’t want trained shooters to kill up to 450,000 barred owls, which are outcompeting northern spotted owls, under a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plan approved last year that would unfold over three decades.

Now, timber interests are aligning with environmentalists in favor of culling the owls.

Some logging advocates are afraid nixing the plan will slow down timber harvesting. Roughly 2.6 million acres of timberlands in western Oregon managed by the Bureau of Land Management are governed by resource management plans contingent on the barred owl cull going forward, according to Travis Joseph, president and chief executive of the American Forest Resource Council, a trade association representing mills, loggers, lumber buyers and other stakeholders in the region.

The area can produce at least 278 million board feet per year under current plans, “with the potential for significantly more,” Joseph said in a mid-October letter to Congress.

If the cull is scrapped, he said, the federal agency likely will need to restart Endangered Species Act consultation for the northern spotted owl, which is listed as threatened. It’s a process that could take years. According to the letter, it would create “unacceptable risks and delays to current and future timber sales.”

Timber production goals laid out by the Trump administration also could be jeopardized.

Momentum to stop the cull gained ground this summer when Sen. John Kennedy, a conservative from Louisiana, introduced a resolution to reverse the Biden-era plan.
That move reflected an unlikely alliance between some right-wing politicians and animal rights advocates who say it’s too expensive and inhumane. Some Democrats have also opposed the cull, and companion legislation in the House has bipartisan backers.

The stakes are high. Many environmentalists and scientists maintain that northern spotted owls will go extinct if their competitors aren’t kept in check. Barred owls — which originally hail from eastern North America — are larger, more aggressive and less picky when it comes to habitat and food, giving them an edge when vying for resources.

Last week, Politico’s E&E News reported that Kennedy said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum asked him to stand down from his effort to stop the owl-killing plan. The legislator told the outlet he would charge ahead anyway.

“I don’t think the federal government ought to be telling God, nature — whatever you believe in — this one can exist, this one can’t,” Kennedy told E&E. “The barred owl is not the first species that has ever moved its territory and it won’t be the last.”

Kennedy did not respond to The Times’ request for comment. A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior said they could not respond to the inquiry because of the government shutdown.

“It’s strange that a Republican in the south is taking on the owl issue, specifically, when its consequences will impact western Oregon BLM timber sales,” Joseph said in an interview. “It will lead to lower revenues for counties, it will impact jobs and it will put the spotted owl on a trajectory towards extinction.”

The stance aligns in part with that of environmental groups like the Environmental Protection Information Center and Center for Biological Diversity, which have supported culling barred owls to help the beleaguered spotted owls in their native territory. It’s an unexpected overlap, given environmentalists’ long history of fighting to protect old-growth forests in the region the owls call home.

Tom Wheeler, chief executive of EPIC, said it’s possible that culling barred owls could lead to a bump in timber harvest on the BLM land in western Oregon but overall it would lead to more habitat being protected throughout the spotted owls’ expansive range. The presence of spotted owls triggers protections under the Endangered Species Act. If the cull boosts the spotted owl population as intended, it means more guardrails.

“It puts us in admittedly an awkward place,” Wheeler said. “But our advocacy for barred owl removal is predicated not on treating the northern spotted owl as a tool against the timber industry and against timber harvest. What we’re trying to do is provide for the continued existence of the species.”

Many Native American tribes support controlling barred owls in the region. In a letter to Congress last week, the nonprofit Intertribal Timber Council said barred owls threaten more than the spotted owl.

“As a generalist predator, it poses risks to a wide range of forest and aquatic species that hold varying degrees of social and ecological importance to tribes, including species integral to traditional food systems and watershed health,” wrote the council, which aims to improve the management of natural resources important to Native American communities.

Since 2013, the Hoopa Valley tribe in Northern California has been involved with sanctioned hunting of the owls and has observed the spotted owl population stabilizing over time, according to the letter.

However, groups like Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Human Economy argue that the plan to take out so many barred owls over a vast landscape won’t work, aside from the high owl death toll. More barred owls simply will fly into where others were removed, said Wayne Pacelle, president of both groups.

That makes habitat key — and the prospect of losing more to logging in western Oregon devastating, according to Pacelle.

To stop the owl-culling plan, both chambers of Congress would need to pass a joint resolution and President Trump would need to sign it. If successful, the resolution would preclude the agency from pursuing a similar rule, unless explicitly authorized by Congress.

The plan already faced setbacks. In May, federal officials canceled three related grants totaling more than $1.1 million, including one study that would have removed barred owls from over 192,000 acres in Mendocino and Sonoma counties

Marymount girls volleyball team is peaking at the right time — and that could mean trouble for opponents.

The Sailors had everything working for them in a 25-13, 25-17, 25-15 sweep of visiting Mira Costa in the Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinals on Tuesday night, showing no signs of rust after a first-round bye in the 12-team bracket.

“We couldn’t have been more prepared,” Washington-bound senior hitter Sammy Destler said. “Our energy got us to the finish line. We were on fire. That’s the best we’ve played all season.”

Destler entered the match two kills shy of 1,000 for her career and it didn’t take long for her to reach the milestone, achieving it on a strike to the right side that gave Marymount a 12-6 lead in the first set.

“I had no clue until they announced it, but it feels good,” said Destler, one of seven Sailors who finished with at least five kills. “We’re very familiar with them, they have Audrey [Flanagan] and Simone [Roslon] and they’re always tough but tonight was about everything we did on our side.”

The fifth-seeded Mustangs (24-10), who shared the Bay League crown with No. 2 Redondo Union despite dropping their first league match since 2019, had pushed Marymount to five sets in a nonleague match in September, but this time they could not handle the Sailors’ balanced attack.

Marymount’s serving kept Mira Costa out of system all match. In the first set alone the Sailors served seven aces, including three in a row by Southern Methodist-bound middle blocker Elle Vandeweghe, that put her team up 20-9. She and Destler combined for a stuff block on set point.

Destler opened the second set with another ace, then Frankie Jones ended it with a kill. Destler and Makenna Barnes, a Northwestern commit, each had eight kills apiece while Vandeweghe and the Brown-bound Jones each added six.

Flanagan, a Wisconsin commit, paced the Mustangs with eight kills and got a hug afterwards from Destler, one of her best friends.

Marymount’s Makenna Barnes, right, goes on the attack against Mira Costa blockers Liliana Swanson, left, and Milly McGee, center, during Marymount’s victory in the Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinals on Tuesday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“We’ve played so many more matches than other teams,” Marymount coach Cari Klein said. “I didn’t want it, but I think we needed those extra few days rest because of the intensity of our schedule.”

The fourth-seeded Sailors (37-5) advanced to the semifinals to face top-seeded Sierra Canyon (37-3) on Saturday for the fourth time this season. The Sailors won the first meeting, 21-25, 25-15, 25-12 in the finals of the Durango Fall Classic in Las Vegas. The Trailblazers rebounded to take a pair of Mission League meetings over a span of eight days.

Klein, who is hoping to pilot the Sailors to their 11th section title in her 28th season, was so locked in to the task at hand Tuesday that she did not look at the CIF website to see if her team had won the coin flip for the next round: “Please say it’s here!”

Her wish was not granted, as Marymount will have to travel to Chatsworth, where it dropped a five-set thriller on Sept. 29, but Destler is confident they can win on any court.

“If we play like we this, there’s no stopping us,” she said.

Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine have killed at least four people and wounded several others, local officials say, as Kyiv’s allies push sweeping measures against Moscow as the war nears its four-year mark.

Two people were killed in a ballistic missile attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and nine were wounded in the overnight attacks, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, said on Saturday.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said a blaze erupted in a non-residential building in one location as a result of the attacks, while debris from intercepted missiles fell in an open area at another site, damaging windows in nearby buildings.

“Explosions in the capital. The city is under ballistic attack,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a social media post.

In the central-east Dnipropetrovsk region, acting Governor Vladyslav Haivanenko said two people were killed and seven wounded in a Russian attack. He added apartment buildings, private homes, an outbuilding, a shop and at least one vehicle were damaged in the strikes.

One of the victims was an emergency worker, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. “One rescuer was killed and another wounded as a result of a repeated missile strike on the Petropavlivska community in the Dnipropetrovsk region,” the ministry said on social media.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia fired nine Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 62 attack drones. Four ballistic missiles and 50 drones were downed, it added.

There was no immediate comment by Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.

For its part, Russia blamed Ukraine on Saturday for striking a dam on a local reservoir. In a statement on Telegram, Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said repeated strikes on the dam had increased a risk of flooding and advised residents in Shebekino and Bezlyudovka to leave their homes for temporary accommodation.

Belgorod region borders Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region and has previously come under attack by Ukrainian forces.

Overall, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its air defences had shot down 121 Ukrainian drones over Russia overnight.

Pressuring Putin to end war

The attacks come as Kyiv’s Western allies ratchet up pressure on Russia as the war enters its fourth winter.

The United States and the European Union announced new sweeping sanctions this week on Russian energy aimed at crippling Moscow’s war economy.

US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Russia’s top oil firms, Rosneft and Lukoil, on Wednesday in an effort to pressure Moscow to reach a ceasefire. The EU adopted a new round of sanctions against Russian energy exports on Thursday, banning liquefied natural gas imports.

At a joint news conference in London on Friday after a meeting of the so-called “Coalition of the Willing”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the sanctions and called for additional pressure on all Russian oil companies, as well as military aid to bolster Ukraine’s long-range missile capabilities.

On Saturday, Zelenskyy said the overnight attacks intensified his country’s need for air defence systems. “It is precisely because of such attacks that we pay special attention to Patriot systems – to be able to protect our cities from this horror. It is critical that partners who possess relevant capability implement what we have discussed in recent days,” he wrote on social media.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would not bend to pressure from the West. “No self-respecting country and no self-respecting people ever decides anything under pressure,” he said, calling the US sanctions an “unfriendly act.”

Putin has called for the complete disarmament of Ukraine and for Russia to keep any territory it has seized during the war. That position seems to be non-negotiable for Ukraine. Trump, who before his return to the White House in January, had boasted of being able to end the war in 24 hours if re-elected – has been unable to make any headway between the two positions.

Plans for an in-person meeting between Trump and Putin fell apart this week after the US president proposed “freezing” the war with a ceasefire along the current front lines.

Despite ongoing disagreements, Putin’s special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, on Friday said he believed a diplomatic solution was close.

WASHINGTON — A man whose convictions for storming the U.S. Capitol were erased by President Trump’s mass pardons has been arrested on a charge that he threatened to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Christopher P. Moynihan is accused of sending a text message on Friday noting that Jeffries, a New York Democrat, would be making a speech in New York City this week.

“I cannot allow this terrorist to live,” Moynihan wrote, according to a report by a state police investigator. Moynihan also wrote that Jeffries “must be eliminated” and texted, “I will kill him for the future,” the police report says.

Moynihan, of Clinton, N.Y., is charged with a felony count of making a terroristic threat. It was unclear if he had an attorney representing him in the case, and efforts to contact him and his parents by email and phone were unsuccessful.

Moynihan, 34, was sentenced to 21 months in prison for joining a mob’s Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. In January, he was among hundreds of convicted Capitol rioters who received a pardon from Trump on the Republican president’s first day back in the White House.

Jeffries thanked investigators “for their swift and decisive action to apprehend a dangerous individual who made a credible death threat against me with every intention to carry it out.”

“Unfortunately, our brave men and women in law enforcement are being forced to spend their time keeping our communities safe from these violent individuals who should never have been pardoned,” Jeffries said in a statement.

House Speaker Mike Johnson was asked about the case during a news conference on Tuesday and said he did not know any details of the threat against Jeffries.

“We denounce violence from anybody, anytime. Those people should be arrested and tried,” said Johnson, a Louisiana Republican.

The New York State Police said they were notified of the threat by an FBI task force on Saturday. Moynihan was arraigned on Sunday in a local court in New York’s Dutchess County. He is due back in the Town of Clinton Court on Thursday.

Dutchess County Dist. Atty. Anthony Parisi said his office is reviewing the case “for legal and factual sufficiency.”

“Threats made against elected officials and members of the public will not be tolerated,” Parisi said in a statement on Tuesday.

On Jan. 6, Moynihan breached police barricades before entering the Capitol through the Rotunda door. He entered the Senate chamber, rifled through a notebook on a senator’s desk and joined other rioters in shouting and chanting at the Senate dais, prosecutors said.

“Moynihan did not leave the Senate Chamber until he was forced out by police,” they wrote.

In 2022, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper convicted Moynihan of a felony for obstructing the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress for certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Moynihan also pleaded guilty to five other riot-related counts.

Kunzelman writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Stephen Groves contributed to this report.

Oct. 21 (UPI) — A Jan. 6 rioter pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump was again arrested following an alleged threat to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Christopher P. Moynihan, 34, was arrested over the weekend by New York State Police after he allegedly sent text messages on Friday to an unidentified associate in which he threatened the life of Jeffries, D-N.Y.

“Hakeem Jeffries makes a speech in a few days in NYC I cannot allow this terrorist to live,” Moynihan was quoted in a legal complaint filed by prosecutors in Duchess County.

Jeffries, 55, gave remarks Monday in Manhattan at the Economic Club of New York.

On Sunday, Moynihan was charged with a class D felony of making a terroristic threat.

“Even if I am hated he must be eliminated. I will kill (Jeffries) for the future,” he wrote.

Moynihan was arraigned in Clinton, a Hudson Valley town some 50 miles east of Syracuse, and remanded to a Duchess County facility “in lieu of $10,000 cash bail, a $30,000 bond, or an $80,000 partially secured bond,” according to state police.

He pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges and declared guilty in August 2022 of obstructing an official government proceeding on Jan. 6, 2021 after Trump’s false declaration that he won the 2020 election.

The Jan. 6 insurrection injured more than 140 Capitol police officers and caused damage to the historic complex to the tune of millions of dollars and delayed 2020’s electoral college count in Congress.

Moynihan, said to be among the first to breach Capitol police barricades to enter the building, is one in a string of Trump-pardoned convicted criminals to later be re-arrested on newer charges.

According to court records, Moynihan has a long history of drug use and petty crimes.

In February 2022, Moynihan was sentenced 21 months in jail until pardoned by Trump along with nearly 1,600 Capitol rioters almost immediately after Trump reassumed office.

Moynihan’s investigation was initiated via the FBI part of a growing trend of threats against U.S. lawmakers.

Meanwhile, U.S. Capitol Police said last month the number of threat investigations this year rose past 14,000, which was higher than the total number of cases in 2024.

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday warned Hamas “we will have no choice but to go in and kill them” if internal bloodshed persists in Gaza.

The grim warning from Trump came after he previously downplayed the internal violence in the territory since a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect last week.

Trump said Tuesday that Hamas had taken out “a couple of gangs that were very bad” and had killed a number of gang members. “That didn’t bother me much, to be honest with you,” he said.

The president did not say how he would follow through on his threat posted on his Truth Social platform, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking clarity.

But Trump also made clear he had limited patience for the killings that Hamas was carrying out against rival factions inside the devastated territory.

“They will disarm, and if they don’t do so, we will disarm them, and it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently,” Trump said.

The Hamas-run police maintained a high degree of public security after the militants seized power in Gaza 18 years ago while also cracking down on dissent. They largely melted away in recent months as Israeli forces seized large areas of Gaza and targeted Hamas security forces with airstrikes.

Powerful local families and armed gangs, including some anti-Hamas factions backed by Israel, stepped into the void. Many are accused of hijacking humanitarian aid and selling it for profit, contributing to Gaza’s starvation crisis.

The ceasefire plan introduced by Trump had called for all hostages — living and dead — to be handed over by a deadline that expired Monday. But under the deal, if that didn’t happen, Hamas was to share information about deceased hostages and try to hand them over as soon as possible.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel “will not compromise” and demanded that Hamas fulfill the requirements laid out in the ceasefire deal about the return of hostages’ bodies.

Hamas’ armed wing said in a statement Wednesday that the group honored the ceasefire’s terms and handed over the remains of the hostages it had access to.

The United States announced last week that it is sending about 200 troops to Israel to help support and monitor the ceasefire deal in Gaza as part of a team that includes partner nations and nongovernmental organizations. But U.S. officials have stressed that U.S. forces would not set foot in Gaza.

Israeli officials have also been angered by the pace of the return of the remains of dead hostages the militant group had been holding in captivity. Hamas had agreed to return 28 bodies as part of the ceasefire deal in addition to 20 living hostages, who were released earlier this week.

Hamas has assured the U.S. through intermediaries that it is working to return dead hostages, according to two senior U.S. advisors. The advisors, who were not authorized to comment publicly and briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity, said they do not believe Hamas has violated the deal.

Madhani writes for the Associated Press.

BREAKINGBREAKING,

Statement appears to signal about-face from US president, who previously backed Hamas’s crackdown on Gaza gangs.

United States President Donald Trump has threatened to break the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas if the Palestinian group continues to target gangs and alleged Israeli collaborators in Gaza.

“If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,” Trump wrote in a social media post on Thursday. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The statement appears to signal an about-face from Trump, who earlier this week expressed support for Hamas’s crackdown on gangs in the Palestinian territory.

“They did take out a couple of gangs that were very bad, very, very bad gangs,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “And they did take them out, and they killed a number of gang members. And that didn’t bother me much, to be honest with you. That’s OK.”

More to come…

At least three people have died and several are missing after torrential rain from Typhoon Matmo caused widespread flooding across northern Vietnam.

Oct. 6 (UPI) — A 13-year-old Florida student was arrested after allegedly asking an AI tool how to kill a friend. He was taken to a juvenile detention center.

A school resource deputy officer at Southwestern Middle School reportedly received a Gaggle-run alert Wednesday that a person had asked a school-issued ChatGPT device: “How to kill my friend in the middle of class,” according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s office.

Police responded immediately to the school in Deland about an hour north of Orlando and confronted the unidentified minor. The student insisted it was just a prank.

According to officials, the boy said a friend annoyed him and he was “just trolling.”

But Florida law enforcement failed to find humor in the state reeling still from the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, one in a rising number of U.S. school shooting incidents, that left 17 dead.

The sheriff’s office characterized it as yet “another ‘joke’ that created an emergency on campus.”

They issued a public plea to parents: “please talk to your kids so they don’t make the same mistake.”

Despite his notoriety Ed Gein was not really a serial killer

The latest true crime series now streaming on Netflix revisits one of the most notorious real-life horror tales of all time. The horrifying story has even served as inspiration for a number of iconic horror movies.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is now available for streaming on the streaming platform. Gein is not only remembered for his confirmed crimes, as well as a number of others he is suspected of having carried out, but also the shocking discoveries made at his home.

But who were Ed Gein’s victims? What were his crimes? And what happened following his trial? Here’s all you need to know.

How many people did Ed Gein kill?

Despite his notoriety, Ed Gein cannot really be classed as a serial killer, unlike many of the characters he may have inspired, having only confessed to two murders. These included 58-year-old Plainfield hardware store owner Bernice Worden, who disappeared from her place of work in November 1957.

While the business saw just a few customers during the day, Bernice’s son, Deputy Sheriff Frank Worden, went into the store around 5pm and found the cash register open with blood stains on the floor. Gein was reported to be expected to return to the store that morning for some anti-freeze – and a sales slip for the killer was the last receipt written by Bernice on the morning she disappeared.

Gein was arrested and officers searched his farm, where they found Bernice’s body, decapitated and hung upside down like a deer in a shed. It was determined she had been shot before being mutilated.

Gein also admitted that he shot 51-year-old tavern owner Mary Hogan, who had been reported missing on December 8, 1954. Her head was found in Gein’s home, but he later claimed he could not remember details of the killing.

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What were Ed Gein’s other crimes?

Gein also admitted to stealing from at least nine graves. He told authorities he made around 40 trips to cemeteries, digging up bodies and turning parts from them into various items that were found in his home.

Some of these included bowls made out of skulls, lampshades and masks made of skin, and a belt made of nipples. He also made a suit made of skin, which many believe was supposed to resemble Gein’s mother. However, he denied ever having sex with any of the bodies.

Was Ed Gein suspected of other murders?

Ed Gein was linked with a number of other suspicious deaths. He was a suspect in seven unsolved cases.

This included two children who went missing. Georgia Jean Weckler, eight, and Evelyn Grace Hartley, 14, disappeared when babysitting. There were also neighbours who vanished, including James Walsh, 32. Gein had carried out chores for James’ wife following her husband’s disappearance.

However, Gein passed lie detector tests when confronted with these cases. Psychiatrists also claimed Gein’s violence and crimes were only directed towards women who physically resembled his mother.

What happened to Ed Gein?

While charged with first degree murder in 1957, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and declared unfit for trial. He was sent to the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

But in 1968, doctors decided he was able to stand trial, which lasted just one week and was held without a jury. A psychiatrist testified and claimed Gein told him he did not know if Bernice Worden’s death was accidental or not.

A second trial took place over Gein’s sanity. A judge ruled he was “not guilty by reason of insanity” and ordered him committed to Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

Ed Gein died at the Mendota Mental Health Institute due to respiratory failure, on July 26, 1984, aged of 77.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is streaming on Netflix.

At least 30 Palestinians, including children, have been killed in Israeli military strikes across central and southern Gaza since dawn.

One of Thursday’s strikes on central Gaza resulted in the deaths of at least 11 people, according to the territory’s civil defence spokesperson, who spoke to the AFP news agency.

“Eleven people were killed and many are missing or wounded after an Israeli air strike targeted a house … which was sheltering displaced people north of az-Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip,” spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said.

Emergency services confirmed several children were among the dead, and bodies were taken to a nearby hospital.

Israel has escalated its offensive against the devastated Palestinian territory in recent days, forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate their homes.

Many are fleeing Gaza City, as Israel intensifies its campaign to capture the Strip’s largest urban centre.

Those who are displaced face uncertainty about shelter locations and must pay inflated prices in new areas for temporary accommodation.

“We have arrived in this remote area with no tents, no facilities. We cannot get water supplies. Kids cannot find anything to eat because we are far from everyone else,” said Ahlam Aqel, a displaced woman from Gaza City.

Ahmed Salama, forcibly displaced from northern Gaza, also expressed concern about his future.

“We are going to central Gaza and we do not know where we are going to stay. The al-Mawasi evacuation zone is overcrowded with displaced people. There is no single space for anyone to move there.”

Gaza has been largely reduced to ruins, and last month a United Nations-backed organisation officially declared famine in parts of the territory.

“We lost our children, our homes and our places,” said Najia Abu Amsha, a Palestinian whose nephew was killed while waiting for aid, on Wednesday. “We became beggars and sick.”

Since October 2023, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 65,419 people and wounded 167,160, with thousands more believed to be trapped under rubble.

Sept. 24 (UPI) — San Diego police fatally shot and killed a man on Tuesday who was reportedly found armed outside of an elementary school.

The California Attorney General’s Office has since launched an investigation into the incident under a police accountability law. But the involvement of the attorney general raises additional questions about the incident.

Police received a call at around 6:43 a.m. PDT that a man was sitting on the campus of Fay Elementary School who had a “gun next to him” and was holding a knife, according to department spokesperson Lt. Travis Easter, who described the incident in two brief videos posted to Facebook.

Officers contacted the man and used de-escalation techniques that included firing less-lethal bean bag rounds and using and an officer K-9, Easter told KNSD.

However, police opened fire on the man after their efforts were unsuccessful. Officers performed life-saving measures on the wounded man, but he died at the scene. No officers were injured.

Police have not offered details on the incident, including how many officers were involved, the number of shots fired, the name of the man and his possible motive. Easter said in a video that the incident will be investigated by the California Department of Justice.

“I was having my coffee this morning and then I heard like nine shots and usually people are popping off fireworks but it didn’t sound like that,” resident David Corpus told KNSD. “I went to the top of the alley and then I saw a body at the top of the street.”

The man was homeless and holding a sharp object, witnesses told KFMB-TV.

“As soon as I was coming in, I just got a call from the prime time teacher there just stating not to bring the kids, that an incident happened,” parent Johanna Vargas told the station. “And I asked her, ‘What happened?’ And she just said that a homeless man came in through the door where the parents have access, and had, like, a sharp object. I don’t know if she said it was a knife or what, but that he was making signs, like, if he was going to stab someone.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta confirmed the investigation in a press release. It stated that the investigation was being pursued under Assembly Bill 1506, a 2020 state law that mandates state prosecutors investigate when police fatally shoot an unarmed civilian and bring charges against the officer if justified.

Police said the man was fleeing from the school and the time of the shooting, reported Uptown News. Neither police nor Bonta’s office responded to the news outlet’s questions about why the investigation was launched when the man was reportedly armed.

However, KFMB-TV reported that a gun that appeared to have an orange tip was found near the man’s body. The state’s definition of “unarmed” can include someone with a fake weapon, according to the station.

Sept. 23 (UPI) — Would-be assassin Ryan Routh tried to stab himself with a pen after a jury on Tuesday found him guilty of trying to kill President Donald Trump last year.

A jury deliberated for 2.5 hours before returning guilty verdicts on all five counts against Routh, 59, who was found armed with a rifle while lying in wait to assassinate Trump when he played golf at the Trump International Golf Club near his Mar-a-Lago resort on Sept. 15, 2024, NBC News reported.

Upon hearing the verdict, Routh began stabbing his neck with a pen in the U.S. District of Southern Florida courtroom in Fort Pierce.

Court officers stopped Routh, who faces up to life in prison for attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Routh delivered a 55-minute closing argument prior to the jury deliberations, but Judge Aileen Cannon admonished him to stick to matters relevant to the case when he complained about not being allowed to call on more witnesses shortly after starting his argument.

He then asked Cannon if she would allow his former public defenders to conclude his closing argument if she interrupted him once more, which she declined, according to NBC News.

Routh said he had a “prime opportunity” to shoot Trump but did not and rhetorically asked the jury, “Why was the trigger not pulled?” ABC News reported.

Routh said being armed while in the presence of another person “does not mean intent” and began speaking about Ukraine and other matters unrelated to the case when Cannon stopped him from continuing.

Routh represented himself during the 12-day trial and is a resident of Hawaii and a former Trump supporter, according to USA Today.

He failed to convince the jury that he is “non-violent” and that federal prosecutors did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he intended to assassinate Trump.

Part of Intel‘s (INTC -2.82%) turnaround strategy, now under CEO Lip-Bu Tan and previously under former CEO Pat Gelsinger, is to exit noncore businesses and refocus on what the company does best. Intel has exited the memory chip business, wound down its Ethernet switch business, abandoned its Bitcoin mining chips, and scuttled a wide variety of smaller business lines. It has also spun off its self-driving unit Mobileye and sold a majority stake in Altera, raising cash in both cases.

Intel likely isn’t done simplifying its operations. Tan has initiated significant layoffs, and a new policy of “no more blank checks” will lead to the company being far more selective about which investments it chooses to make.

Anything outside of PC central processing units (CPUs), server CPUs, and manufacturing could very well get the axe, and even the manufacturing business isn’t safe if it can’t secure external customers.

Last week, Intel signed an unexpected deal with rival Nvidia to produce custom PC and data center CPUs that include Nvidia technology. In the PC business, this means that Intel CPUs with integrated Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) are on their way. The big question: What does this mean for Intel’s own graphics business?

Image source: Getty Images.

An unclear future

Intel sells CPUs with its own integrated graphics technology, and it also broke into the discrete graphics card market a few years ago with its Arc line of GPUs. The first generation of Intel’s Arc GPUs was plagued with software issues, while the second generation has garnered positive reviews. Intel focused on the mid-range portion of the market, offering a compelling alternative to Nvidia and AMD graphics cards.

Unfortunately for Intel, it hasn’t gained any meaningful share of the discrete graphics card market. In the first quarter, Intel’s GPU unit share rounded down to 0%, according to Jon Peddie Research. Nvidia dominates the market, and PC gamers may still be reluctant to try an Intel GPU due to the history of software issues.

The deal with Nvidia doesn’t cover discrete graphics cards, but partnering with a competitor raises questions about how serious Intel is about staying in the discrete graphics card market. It also raises questions about whether it will continue to invest in its own graphics technology for its CPUs.

Once CPUs with Nvidia graphics start shipping, it’s unclear whether Intel will continue to invest in its in-house graphics. An Intel CPU with Nvidia graphics should be an appealing product, but it could reduce demand for Intel’s non-Nvidia CPUs. Intel could also end up scrapping its discrete graphics card business, given that its main competitor is now a partner.

Not without risks

The deal with Nvidia makes a lot of sense for Intel. The company has lost considerable PC CPU market share to AMD, so upping its graphics performance with Nvidia’s GPUs should help Intel strengthen its position, particularly in the laptop market.

If Intel ends up pulling back on its own graphics technology, that move would reduce costs at the expense of the company becoming dependent on Nvidia, which is buying a $5 billion stake in Intel as part of the deal, so this appears to be a long-term arrangement. Even so, outsourcing graphics entirely could come back to bite Intel down the road.

Despite the deal with Nvidia, Intel may choose to keep plugging away in discrete graphics cards and to keep developing its own graphics technology. But with the company eyeing noncore businesses to dump, graphics could very well be next.

A WOMAN armed with three knives threatened to kill migrants after watching far-right videos, a court heard.

Drunk and stoned Nina Manley, 51, got a taxi to a Premier Inn hotel — but it was the wrong one as there were no migrants living there.

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Staff at the hotel in North Petherton, Somerset, called cops, in August.

Manley told police: “I’m pissed off and I’m going to f***ing kill someone.”

Recorder Matthew Cannings told her at Taunton crown court: “You watched videos of extreme far-right social media personalities like Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson.”

Defending, Anjam Arif said Manley came from a military background and lost a brother who was killed while serving in Afghanistan.

“Her actions were born out of bravado rather than a real threat to kill.”

Manley, of Bridgwater, admitted threats to kill and got a 12-month suspended jail sentence.

Military confirms deadly operations in Bajaur and South Waziristan amid rising attacks by the Pakistan Taliban.

Pakistani security forces have raided two hideouts of the Pakistan Taliban armed group near the Afghan border this week, triggering fierce clashes that killed 12 soldiers and 35 fighters, says the military.

The military on Saturday said 22 fighters were killed in the first raid in Bajaur, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Thirteen more were killed in a separate operation in South Waziristan district, it added.

The statement said the 12 soldiers, “having fought gallantly, paid the ultimate sacrifice and embraced martyrdom” in South Waziristan, their deaths underscoring the struggles Pakistan faces as it tries to rein in resurging armed groups.

The Pakistan Taliban, also known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attacks in a message on social media. The group, which Islamabad says is based in Afghanistan, is separate to but closely linked with the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan.

The Pakistan Taliban uses Afghan soil to stage attacks in Pakistan, the military said, urging the Taliban government in Kabul “to uphold its responsibilities and deny use of its soil for terrorist activities against Pakistan”.

The military described the killed fighters as “Khwarij”, a term the government uses for the Pakistan Taliban, and alleged they were backed by India, though it offered no evidence for the allegation.

Pakistan has long accused India of supporting the Pakistan Taliban and separatists in Balochistan, charges that New Delhi denies. There was no immediate comment from the Taliban in Kabul or from New Delhi.

From 10-13 September, thirty five Khwarij belonging to Indian Proxy, Fitna al Khwarij were sent to hell in two separate engagements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

On reported presence of Khwarij, an intelligence based operation was conducted by the Security Forces in Bajaur…

— DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) September 13, 2025

Pakistan has faced a surge in armed attacks in recent years, most claimed by the Pakistan Taliban, which has become emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021, with many Pakistan Taliban leaders and fighters finding sanctuary across the border.

Saturday’s attack was one of the deadliest in months in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the Pakistan Taliban once controlled swaths of territory until they were pushed back by a military operation that began in 2014.

For several weeks, residents of various districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have reported that graffiti bearing the Pakistan Taliban’s name has appeared on buildings. They say they fear a return to the group’s reign over the region during the peak of the so-called war on terror, led by the United States, which spilled across from Afghanistan.

A local government official recently told the AFP news agency that the number of Pakistan Taliban fighters and attacks had increased.

Nearly 460 people, mostly members of the security forces, have been killed since January 1 in attacks carried out by armed groups fighting the state, both in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southern province of Balochistan, according to an AFP tally.

Last year was Pakistan’s deadliest in nearly a decade, with more than 1,600 deaths, nearly half of them soldiers and police officers, according to the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies.

Israel claims it has struck Hezbollah targets, although the Lebanese group has not commented.

At least five people have been killed and five others wounded after Israeli warplanes struck eastern Lebanon in the latest violation of the ceasefire agreement signed last November, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The attacks on Monday hit the Bekaa and Hermel districts, with state media saying at least eight air raids were carried out. According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, seven bombs fell on the outskirts of Hermel, while another strike targeted the nearby town of Labweh.

Israel’s military claimed the raids hit weapons depots and military facilities used by Hezbollah, though the claims could not be independently confirmed. Hezbollah has not yet commented.

Israel has continued launching near-daily assaults on Lebanese territory, particularly in the south, while maintaining an occupation at five border outposts despite the truce requiring a full withdrawal earlier this year.

The conflict erupted on October 8, 2023, when Israel opened a military offensive in Lebanon. By the time the ceasefire was reached in November the following year, more than 4,000 people had been killed and almost 17,000 wounded.

The fragile truce is under further strain as Lebanon grapples with a contentious plan pushed by the United States and Israel to disarm Hezbollah.

Earlier this month, Lebanon’s army presented a proposal to the cabinet outlining steps to begin dismantling the group’s arsenal. Information Minister Paul Morcos said the government welcomed the move, but stopped short of confirming cabinet approval.

The plan prompted a walkout by five Shia ministers, including representatives of Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal Movement, who insist the group will not disarm while Israel continues air strikes and occupation in the south.

The US and Hezbollah’s political rivals in Lebanon have increased pressure on the group to surrender its weapons. Hezbollah has resisted, warning that even raising the issue while Israeli attacks persist would be a “serious misstep”.

Last week, Israeli strikes killed four people in Lebanon, underlining the escalating tension despite the ceasefire. Israel was also slammed for dropping grenades close to peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) last week.

Six people were killed in a shooting attack by suspected Palestinian gunmen at a bus stop in occupied East Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the site, as Palestinian groups praised the attack without claiming responsibility.

Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank amid a sharp escalation of violence, following the country’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s call this week to take over most of the territory.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the dead man as Ahmed Shehadeh, 57, saying he was killed on Friday by “occupation bullets” near the al-Murabba’a checkpoint south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian news agency Wafa cited Amid Ahmed, director of the Red Crescent’s Emergency and Ambulance Centre in Nablus, as saying Israeli soldiers prevented his crew from reaching the site of the shooting.

The Israeli military claimed in a statement that a man had “hurled a suspicious object” at soldiers operating near the checkpoint, after which they “eliminated” him.

Further south, troops carried out multiple raids in Bethlehem, with soldiers entering the Khalayel al-Louz area southeast of the city and setting up a military checkpoint, according to Wafa.

The news agency also reported raids on the villages of Artas and al-Ubayyat, where soldiers tore down posters of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.

In parallel, Israeli settlers wielding knives and sticks stormed the village of Khallet al-Dabaa in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron, injuring 20 people, including a three-month-old infant.

Palestinian activist Osama al-Makhmara told the Anadolu news agency that the injuries ranged from bruises and fractures to stab wounds, claiming that nine people were taken to hospital for treatment.

Four months ago, Israeli authorities demolished 25 homes, agricultural structures and water wells in the village, citing “unlicensed construction”.

Israel’s drive to expand illegal settlements in the West Bank was given renewed impetus by far-right finance minister and settler leader Smotrich, who said on Wednesday that Israel should annex roughly 82 percent of the West Bank.

Smotrich said he wanted “maximum territory and minimum [Palestinian] population” to be brought under Israeli sovereignty, “to remove, once and for all, a Palestinian state from the agenda”.

More than 700,000 settlers, or 10 percent of Israel’s population, live in 150 illegal settlements and 128 outposts spread across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Xavier Abu Eid, former communications director for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told Al Jazeera that Israeli flags and settlements were now visible across the 30-40km (18-25 miles) between Ramallah and Nablus.

“Clearly, the maps that were presented by Smotrich are being designed on the ground by settlers and the Israeli army,” he said.

‘Too little, too late’

Smotrich launched his maximalist campaign as France, Britain, Belgium, Australia and Canada pledged to formally recognise a Palestinian state during the United Nations General Assembly in New York later this month.

The diplomatic push comes as Israel mounts its full-scale offensive on Gaza City as part of takeover plans for the entire enclave, while accelerating its West Bank annexation plans in the background.

On Friday, Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen announced on X that her country would join the growing international drive for a two-state solution, which is being spearheaded by France and Saudi Arabia. She called it “the most significant international effort in years to create the conditions for a two-state solution”.

The previous day, Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo adopted a resolution saying that peaceful coexistence in the Middle East cannot be achieved while Israel “issues implicit threats to occupy or annex further Arab lands”.

The League said any lasting settlement must be based on a two-state solution and the 2022 Arab Peace Initiative, which offers a full normalisation of relations in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the territories it occupied in 1967.

But the PLO’s Abu Eid told Al Jazeera that time was running out. “Many people feel that there is no longer a two-state solution to speak about, and perhaps this late international response recognising the state of Palestine is once again seen as too little, too late,” he said.

Mass arrests

As Israel grabs more Palestinian territory in the West Bank, its forces have ramped up their campaign of mass arrests, detaining at least 70 people across dozens of villages over the past week.

Wafa reported arrests in the town of Haris, near Salfit, where village council head Omar Samara, deputy head of the village council Tayseer Kulaib, and a “large number of villagers” were detained.

Troops also arrested a man in Qalqilya city as they raided family homes.

Israeli prison conditions for Palestinians have long been described by rights groups as harsh and degrading, with reports of medical neglect and abuse.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office issued a statement on Bilal Barghouti, a 39-year-old from Beit Rima serving a life sentence in Israel’s Gilboa prison, describing the conditions in which he was being kept as “slow murder and systematic torture”.

Former detainees have said Barghouti, who suffers from a range of chronic illnesses, has lost a lot of weight, has been barred from visits, and subjected to beatings, insults and scalding with hot water.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said on Friday that Israeli forces had made more than 19,000 arrests – including at least 585 women and 1,550 children – across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the war on Gaza started.

It said the figure does not include arrests in Gaza itself, where the number is believed to be in the thousands, according to its statement carried by news agency Wafa.

The society also reported 77 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody, including 46 from Gaza. The bodies of 74 of those who died remain withheld by Israel, alongside at least 85 other prisoners whose remains are being kept from their families.