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Nov. 18 (UPI) — The National Transportation Safety Board announced Tuesday that an incorrectly labeled wire caused a containership to collide with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last year.

The federal agency released the key finding of its investigation into the catastrophic collision that killed six highway maintenance workers, destroyed a major regional transportation artery and upended trade at one of the country’s busiest ports.

Jennifer Homendy, the board’s chair, said, “This tragedy should’ve never occurred” in her opening remarks at a public meeting.

“As with all accidents we investigate, this was preventable,” she said.

Federal investigators determined that the Dali containership crashed into the bridge after losing electricity. The cause of the blackout was a loose signal wire connection to a terminal block that investigators traced back to improperly installed wire-label banding.

The Dali lost its propulsion and steering, and the crew had little time to recover before the ship struck a southern pier that was supporting the bridge’s central span, investigators concluded. As a result, a “substantial portion” of the bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River.

Additionally, the investigation also faulted Maryland officials for not assessing the bridge earlier for potential vulnerabilities to collisions with ships. The “lack of effective and immediate communications” also contributed to the deaths of the highway workers, investigators found.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge was constructed before 1994, when bridges were mandated to meet safety criteria to reduce the risk of a collapse. State officials have since announced plans for a replacement bridge over the Patapsco River, which is estimated to cost at least $1.7 billion and be twice as high as the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The city of Baltimore filed a lawsuit against Grace Ocean Private and Synergy Marine, the owners of the Dali, arguing that the 985-foot container ship was “a clearly unseaworthy vessel” and the companies “were grossly and potentially criminally negligent.”

Nov. 18 (UPI) — Facebook owner Meta can keep the WhatsApp mobile messaging app and the Instagram social media site in a federal trial first brought by the Federal Trade Commission in 2020.

Washington D.C.-based Judge James Boasberg ruled Tuesday that the FTC did not prove its claim that Meta has maintained a monopoly on social media platforms, CNBC reported.

“Whether or not Meta enjoyed monopoly power in the past, though, the agency must show that it continues to hold such power now,” Boasberg wrote.

“The court’s verdict today determines that the FTC has not done so,” he added.

Meta officials said in a statement to NPR that Boasberg’s ruling affirms that social media remains competitive.

Boasberg in 2021 dismissed the case citing a lack of evidence that Facebook held “market power” over social media.

The FTC amended and refiled its complaint in August 2021, providing more detail on user data and comparisons to competitors, including Snapchat, the discontinued Google+ social network and Myspace.

The FTC also argued Meta engaged in a “buy or bury” strategy to monopolize social media when it paid more than market value to buy Instagram in 2012 and when it bought WhatsApp in 2014, according to NPR.

The only way to resolve the alleged monopoly was to require Meta to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp as independent companies, the FTC argued.

The social media marketplace has changed greatly over the past five years since the federal agency first accused Meta of monopolizing social media, Boasberg wrote.

“While it once might have made sense to partition apps into separate markets of social networking and social media, that wall has since broken down,” Boasberg wrote.

He cited the rise of TikTok and called it “Meta’s fiercest rival,” which he called evidence of a competitive social media marketplace.

During the trial that concluded in May, Meta’s legal team argued it faced plenty of competition and only bought WhatsApp and Instagram because they are quality products that were easier to buy instead of replicating.

During the trial, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified that buying Instagram was easier than creating a new product that would compete with it.

Nov. 18 (UPI) — Two more defendants have been sentenced for their roles in a $16 million California hospice scam that billed Medicare for medical services that never were provided.

The U.S. District Court for Central California on Monday sentenced Juan Carlos Esparza, 33, of Valley Village, to 57 months in prison and ordered him to pay $1.83 million in restitution, according to the Justice Department.

The court on Monday also sentenced Susanna Harutyunyan, 39, of Winnetka, to 15 months in prison and to pay $2.82 million in restitution

Their sentences are in addition to that of Karpis Srapyan, 35, of Winnetka, who was sentenced to 57 months in prison and to pay $3.2 million in restitution in October.

Mihran Panosyan, 47, of Winnetka, in September also was sentenced to 57 months and was ordered to pay $4.7 million in restitution.

The court in May also sentenced Petro Fichidzhyan, 44, of Granada Hills, to 12 years in prison and ordered him to pay $17.13 million in restitution.

Their scheme ran from July 2019 until January 2023 as the five defendants “operated four sham hospices” that billed Medicare for unnecessary medical procedures that never were provided, according to the DOJ.

Esparza owned the House of Angels Hospice and, with the help of Fichidzhyan and Srapyan, “concealed the scheme by using foreign nationals’ names and personally identifiable information to act as straw owners for the hospices and to open bank accounts, submit information to Medicare and to sign property leases,” the DOJ said Tuesday in a news release.

The defendants also obtained cell phones in the names of foreign nationals and controlled them to further the scheme that netted $16 in payments from Medicare.

The DOJ said they conspired with Harutyunyan, Panosyan and others to launder the proceeds by maintaining fraudulent identification documents, bank documents, checkbooks, credit cards, debit cards and other records associated with the sham hospices in the names of the “purported foreign workers.”

After defrauding Medicare, the defendants transferred the money among different accounts and assets, including bank accounts in the names of shell companies, to launder the proceeds and conceal the scheme, according to the DOJ.

Esparza in July pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud and transactional money laundering.

That same month, Harutyunyan also pleaded guilty to transactional money laundering, and Srapyan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and transactional money laundering.

Panosyan in June pleaded guilty to concealment money laundering, and Fichidzhyan in February pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud, aggravated identity theft and concealment money laundering.

The federal court in May also ordered forfeiture of two homes the defendants bought with the fraudulent proceeds, and the federal government seized $2.92 million from associated bank accounts.

Nov. 17 (UPI) — Another board member of the conservative Heritage Foundation resigned after the organization’s president, Kevin Roberts, posted video defending Tucker Carlson‘s interview with anti-Semitic commentator Nick Fuentes.

Board member Robert P. George wrote Monday on Facebook that “I have resigned from the board of the Heritage Foundation. I could not remain without a full retraction of the video released by Kevin Roberts, speaking for and in the name of Heritage, on October 30th.”

In the video, Roberts refused to distance himself from the two-hour interview, which was posted two weeks ago on YouTube, and has 6.2 million views. Counting other platforms, including X, it has been seen by more than 20 million.

George, who had been a Heritage trustee since 2019, said: “Although Kevin publicly apologized for some of what he said in the video, he could not offer a full retraction of its content. So, we reached an impasse.”

Fuentes, 27, has expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler, claiming the Holocaust was “exaggerated.” He has also said “organized Jewry” is leading to white culture’s disappearance, and that white people are “justified” in being racist, and said “a lot of women want to be raped.”

A spokesman for the Heritage Foundation confirmed the resignation in a statement to Politico, thanked him for his service and calling him a “good man.”

George, the McCormick professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University, also called Roberts a “good man.”

“He made what he acknowledged was a serious mistake,” George said. “Being human myself, I have plenty of experience in making mistakes. What divided us was a difference of opinion about what was required to rectify the mistake.”

The Foundation defended Roberts in a statement through a spokesperson.

“Under the leadership of Dr. Roberts, Heritage remains resolute in building an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and civil society flourish,” the spokesperson said. “We are strong, growing, and more determined than ever to fight for our Republic.”

Roberts, in the Oct. 30 video, blasted the “venomous coalition” that has faulted Fuentes and Carlson, with the latter described as a “close friend.”

“The Heritage Foundation didn’t become the intellectual backbone of the conservative movement by canceling our own people or policing the consciences of Christians, and we won’t start doing that now,” Roberts said.

“Their attempt to cancel [Carlson] will fail,” he added. “I disagree with and even abhor things that Nick Fuentes says, but canceling him is not the answer either.”

One day later, Roberts also posted on X, elaborating on his remarks.

“Our task is to confront and challenge those poisonous ideas at every turn to prevent them from taking America to a very dark place,” Roberts wrote. “Join us — not to cancel — but to guide, challenge, and strengthen the conversation, and be confident as I am that our best ideas at the heart of western civilization will prevail.

“For those, especially young men, who are enticed by Fuentes and his acolytes online — there is a better way.”

Some staff members at a two-hour meeting on Wednesday called for Roberts’ resignation, with one attendee saying he had caused “enormous damage” to the foundation, according to the video obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

At least five members of the foundation’s anti-Semitism task force also have resigned, CBS News reported.

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that dates to the mid-1970s and came to larger prominence for its influence on the Reagan administration, helped to spearhead Project 2025, which has been used as a guide for President Donald Trump‘s second term in the White House.

Trump, who hosted Fuentes and rapper Kanye West at his Mar-a-Lago home in 2024, on Sunday told reporters that you can’t tell Carlson “who to interview.”

Carlson hosts platforms on his platform. The Tucker Carlson Network. He has worked for CNN, PS, MSNBC (now called MSNOW) and Fox News, the latter of which he was fired from in April 2023.

George said he wished the Foundation “the very best.”

“My hope for Heritage is that it will be unbending and unflinching in its fidelity to its founding vision, upholding the moral principles of the Judeo-Christian tradition and the civic principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States,” he wrote.

“I pray that Heritage’s research and advocacy will be guided by the conviction that each and every member of the human family, irrespective of race, ethnicity, religion, or anything else, as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, is ‘created equal’ and ‘endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.'”

Fuentes and Vice President JD Vance have been at odds since Fuentes asked his audience “Do we really expect that the guy who has an Indian wife and named their kid Vivek is going to support white identity?”,

In 2024 on CBS’s Face the Nation, Vance called him a “total loser” and said there is “no room” for him in the Make America Great Again movement.

Nov. 17 (UPI) — The Trump administration on Monday ended a Biden-era policy that forced airlines to reimburse travelers for issues such as long flight delays.

The White House pulled the proposal by then-U.S. President Joe Biden from the Federal Register, arguing the move was part of President Donald Trump‘s plan to scrap perceivably wasteful federal regulations.

It required airlines to, among other things, compensate its customers with meals, hotels, transportation, or rebooking fees after significant domestic flight delays.

The department announced in September it intended to ditch the policy implemented by Biden and then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

On Monday, the Transportation Department said it would “continue to allow airlines to compete on the services and compensation that they provide to passengers.”

“Rather than imposing new minimum requirements for these services and compensation through regulation, which would impose significant costs on airlines and potentially consumers,” it added.

On Friday, Trump Transportation officials claimed the passenger protection rule created “unnecessary regulatory burdens.”

Officials added Monday that the Transportation Department was “not convinced that a new regulatory regime that includes passenger compensation requirements would yield meaningful improvements in airline flight performance.”

But it was “just the latest example of [the Trump administration] siding with corporations and against customers,” Buttigieg, a rumored 2028 presidential candidate, stated in September on X.

The air carrier trade group Airlines for America previously praised the action.

Meanwhile, the senate’s leading consumer advocate criticized Trump’s move, saying it lets airlines “off the hook.”

“Who does this policy help aside from the CEOs at major airlines?” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said on social media. “If this is Trump’s idea of lowering costs, then we’re in a lot of hot water.”

Nov. 17 (UPI) — Authorities in central California said divers have recovered the body of a 7-year-old girl who was swept into the ocean by massive waves on Friday.

Her body was recovered by a volunteer diver at 1:20 p.m. PST Sunday about a half-mile north of where she went missing at Garrapata State Park, California State Parks said in a statement.

Officers with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office had responded Friday to reports of a water rescue at Garrapata State Park Beach.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement that her father Yuji Hu, of Calgary, Alberta, had attempted to save the unidentified child from waves estimated to be as tall as 20 feet. As he reached for her, both were swept out to sea.

A beachgoer and an off-duty California State Parks officer were able to bring Hu back to shore and initiated CPR. Hu was transported to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, the sheriff’s office said.

The mother who had entered the water to attempt a rescue of her own was treated for hypothermia and released, while a 2-year-old child who was present was not injured.

A search was then launched for the missing girl, who was initially reported to be 5 years old, involving multiple agencies.

“The family has expressed their gratitude to all agencies, personnel and community members in the search and recovery efforts. They continue to request privacy and do not wish to make further statements at this time,” the sheriff’s office said.

Nov. 16 (UPI) — Rep. Thomas Massie said as many as 100 Republicans may vote to release files related to convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein, amid a last-ditch effort by the White House to stall their release.

Massie, R-Ky., said Sunday on ABC News’ This Week that at least 100 Republicans will join Democrats in the House and vote this week for the rest of the Epstein documents to be released.

President Donald Trump this week also ordered the Department of Justice to investigate Democrats and their supporters whose names appear in the files after more than 20,000 documents related to Epstein were released by Congress.

With newly sworn in Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., there were enough members of the House to sign a discharge petition forcing a vote on whether to force the Department of Justice to release all of the files it has on Epstein — over the objections of Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other Republicans in Congress.

Massie cautioned that while there are ways to push the Senate to vote on the bill, the chamber does not have a discharge petition-like method to force a vote over the objection of the majority leader. If the bill passes both houses of Congress, Trump still would have to sign it.

But Massie also noted that Trump’s order to the Department of Justice could potentially delay some part of the documents from being released, regardless of what Congress does.

“If they have ongoing investigations in certain areas, those documents can’t be released,” he said. “So, this might be a big smokescreen, these investigations, to open a bunch of them to, as a last-ditch effort to prevent the release of the Epstein files.”

Trump has fought the release of the files, at least partially because of widespread speculation that he figures prominently in them over of his years-long friendship with Epstein.

Despite the president’s claims that “Jeffery Epstein and I had a very bad relationship for many years,” they were close for more than a decade before the friendship went south.

“This is a hoax put out by the Democrats and a couple, a few Republicans have gone along with it because they’re weak and ineffective,” Trump said about the Democrats push for the release of the files.

Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi and the FBI to investigate alleged Epstein ties to former President Bill Clinton and other Democrats whose names appear in the files.

Bondi said last week that she would pursue the investigation with “urgency and integrity to deliver answers to the American people.”

Bondi announced that Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton will lead the investigation just days after the House Oversight Committee released tens of thousands of emails released by Epstein’s estate, which documented his ties to friends and associates over a decade.

The emails made several direct references to Trump, Clinton and prominent media figures, Hollywood personalities and high-ranking politicians.

Nov. 16 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Sunday criticized Indiana state lawmakers who have dropped an effort to seek a vote for the potential redistricting of congressional seats.

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, a Republican, had called a special session last month to consider redrawing the state’s congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Rodric Bray, the president pro tempore of the Indiana Senate, issued a statement Friday that said Republicans did not have enough votes “to move the idea forward.”

Trump called Bray a “RINO,” which stands for “Republican in Name Only,” for not pursuing a vote in a post to his Truth Social platform Sunday.

“Very disappointed in Indiana State Senate Republicans, led by RINO Senators Rod Bray and Greg Goode, for not wanting to redistrict their state, allowing the United States Congress to perhaps gain two more Republican seats,” Trump said.

Trump then said that Democrats “have done redistricting for years,” which he falsely said was often done “illegally.”n

“They could be depriving Republicans of a majority in the House, a very big deal!” Trump said in his post.

He also criticized his “friend,” Braud, who he said “is not working the way he should to get the necessary votes.”

“Considering that Mike wouldn’t be governor without me (not even close!), is disappointing!” Trump said. “Any Republican that votes against this important redistricting, potentially having an impact on America itself, should be primaried.”

A number of states across the country have revisited their congressional maps after Texas Republicans earlier this year pushed through a map projected to give the GOP five additional seats.

In response, California Democrats advanced changes expected to create five new Democratic-leaning districts, setting off a wave of similar efforts in other states from both parties.

Normally, Congressional districts are normally remapped every ten years after the U.S. Census has been completed.

Nov. 16 (UPI) — Emergency flight reductions ordered at 40 major U.S. airports by the Federal Aviation Administration earlier this month will be lifted Monday morning, federal officials announced Sunday.

The flight reduction emergency order will be terminated at 6 a.m. Monday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a joint statement.

Since Nov. 7, the FAA has been enforcing an ordered 10% reduction in flights at 40 U.S. airports due to staffing shortages at air-traffic control facilities that were being exacerbated by the government shutdown, which began Oct. 1.

Amid the shutdown, millions of passengers were affected by the thousands of canceled and delayed flights, and officials warned the disruption could get worse heading into the upcoming holiday season if Congress failed to act on passing a government funding bill in time.

That bill was passed last week, and the government shutdown — the longest in U.S. history — ended Nov. 12.

According to the FAA, since the resumption of normal government operations, staffing levels at air-traffic controller facilities have continued to “snap back,” with this weekend seeing five staffing triggers Friday, eight on Saturday and only one on Sunday compared to a high of 81 on Nov. 8.

“Now we can refocus our efforts on surging controller hiring and building the brand-new, state-of-the-art air traffic control system the American people deserve,” Duffy said.

Nov. 16 (UPI) — The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group entered the Caribbean Sea on Sunday, adding to a military build-up in the region, as President Donald Trump signaled that he may have decided on a possible U.S. show of force in Venezuela.

The Ford, the largest aircraft carrier in the world, leads a strike group assigned to dismantle international narcotics trafficking organizations.

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is getting closer to deciding on a course of action in Venezuela after a series of high-level meetings with officials amid mounting tensions in the region.

“I sort of have made up my mind – yeah,” Trump told reporters about Air Force One when asked about the meetings and the situation in Venezuela. “I can’t tell you what it would be, but I sort of have.”

Trump was briefed last week on options for military action in Venezuela, one of which could potentially include outing President Nicolas Maduro, several officials told CNN.

The U.S. military has dispatched more than a dozen warships and 15,000 troops in the area, part of what the Pentagon is calling “Operation Southern Spear.”

Last week, Trump was briefed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Kaine and a larger group of national security officials about U.S. options in Venezuela.

They discussed a wide range of options, including air strikes on military and government facilities, drug-trafficking routes and a potential attempt to remove Maduro directly.

Trump has previously considered targeting cocaine production facilities and trafficking routes inside the country, CNN reported. The president last month authorized the CIA to operate in Venezuela, but administration officials later told lawmakers that there is no justification that would support military action against any land targets in the country. Trump recently said on CBS News’ 60 Minutes that he is not considering that option.

Nov. 16 (UPI) — New York Jets cornerback Kris Boyd is in critical condition with a bullet lodged in his lung after being shot early Sunday in midtown Manhattan, NYPD said.

Police responded to the Sei Less restaurant at on W. 38th St. near 7th Ave. at 2:09 a.m. EST to find Boyd, 29, with a gunshot to his abdomen. He was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition.

Boyd was engaged in a fight when the shooting happened, police said.

A spokesperson for the Jets said in a statement that the team is aware of the shooting but “and will have no further comment at this time.”

The gunman fled the scene in a BMW X8 SUV, the New York Post reported.

A Mercedes-Benz Maybach also left the scene of the shooting, the paper said.

No arrests have been made in connection with the shooting and police continue to investigate, the said.

Boyd was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the seventh round of the 2019 NFL Draft and, a native Texan, played his college football at the University of Texas in Austin.

He spent four seasons with the Vikings before being signed by the Arizona Cardinals in 2023, but was released later that season. He then spent two seasons with the Houston Texans practice squad after that.

In March, he signed a one-year deal with the Jets, but has been inactive since the summer due to an injury.

Nov. 16 (UPI) — Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has returned home from a Pittsburgh hospital after being treated for a fall last week during a morning walk.

“20 stitches later and a full recovery, I’m back home with @giselefetterman and the kids,” he wrote on X, tagging his wife in the post. The photo in the post shows a jagged cut that stretches from above the senator’s right eye, across his forehead and down onto his nose.

“I’m overwhelmed + profoundly grateful for all the well-wishes, ” he continued, and thanked medical professionals at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

A spokesman said Thursday that Fettermen fell during a walk near his Braddock, Pa., home and was transported to the hospital “out of an abundance of caution.”

“Upon evaluation, it was established he had a ventricular fibrillation flare-up that led to Senator Fetterman feeling light-headed, falling to the ground and hitting his face with minor injuries,” according to a spokesperson’s statement.

The spokesperson said doctors kept Fetterman in the hospital overnight to address his medication.

The fall is the latest in a series of medical incidents for Fetterman, who suffered a near-fatal stroke during the 2022 Senate campaign. He was fitted with a defibrillator-equipped pacemaker.

Fetterman’s speech on the campaign trail was noticeably slower and more deliberate, and during a senate with his opponent, Mehmet Oz, he stopped short during his answers to several questions.

The senator later said that he became depressed and acknowledged the toll the campaign took on his physical and mental health.

In 2023, Fetterman checked himself in to Walter Reed National Military Center to be treated for clinical depression and acknowledged how hard the 2022 campaign had been on his mental health.

Earlier this year, staff members said Fetterman had been acting recklessly and displayed volatile behavior, while some also questioned his fitness to serve in the Senate.

Nov. 16 (UPI) — A senior Border Patrol official said Sunday that 81 “illegal aliens” have been rounded up in raids in Charlotte, N.C., in an operation dubbed “Charlotte’s Web.”

Federal agents arrived in the city Saturday to launch the operation, with businesses closing in the city as people began to be arrested and detained in local neighborhoods.

“Illegal aliens with criminal histories and warrants don’t hang out in front of big box hardware stores? Well, then how did we find this illegal alien from Honduras there?” Greg Bovino, commander-at-large of the agency, said on social media in a post that included a photo of a crying woman he detained in Charlotte.

Bovino said another person he arrested, from Honduras, had been ordered to leave by an immigration judge in April.

“Guess he didn’t get the word, so we let him know…that he’s gotta go,” Bovino wrote.

Overall, he said that his team had arrested 81 people since arriving in Charlotte on Saturday, and that “many” — but not all — of them had significant criminal and immigration history.

“This was done in about five hours!” Bovino said. “Stay tuned to social media to take a look at who we apprehended.”

Charlotte is the latest in a string of cities across the country, including Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, where federal agencies have staged similar raids as part of immigration enforcement.

The raids have been criticized for their scope and nature, with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops this week issuing a statement that it opposes “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.”

“Human dignity and national security are not in conflict,” the group said. “Both are possible if people of good will work together.”

White House Border Czar Tom Homan, who has championed the city-by-city immigration raids and round-ups, called the bishops “wrong” in comments at the White House on Friday, noting that he is a lifelong Catholic.

“A secure border saves lives,” Homan told reporters outside the West Wing. “We’re going to enforce the law and by doing that we save a lot of lives.”

Bovino himself also has faced criticism for his confrontational manner of arresting people for deportation.

The Project on Government Oversight last week issued a report analyzing four years of federal data that said Bovino has presided over a “disproportionate” amount of use-of-force incidents compared to the amount of assaults they’ve faced.

Meanwhile, Bovino has emerged as a central figure in President Donald Trump‘s crackdown on immigration.

Bovino’s trip to Charlotte comes after raids in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood in recent weeks, in which he ordered his agents to tear-gas civilians.

After the raids in Chicago, he and his team took selfies at Anish Kapoor‘s Cloud Gate, the sculpture by artist Anish Kapoor colloquially known as the “bean.”

In comments to Urgent Matter, Kapoor likened Bovino and his team to “Nazis” for “intimidating the people they seem to be immigrants.”

“I am deeply horrified and saddened that U.S. Border Patrol has chosen to rally in front of Cloud Gate for their self-congratulatory photo-opp,” Kapoor said.

Nov. 16 (UPI) — Hundreds of troops from the Texas National Guard and California National Guard will return to their home states after their deployment to Chicago and Portland, Ore., reports said Sunday.

President Donald Trump federalized 200 members of the Texas National Guard who were deployed to Chicago on Oct. 6, while another 200 from the California National Guard were deployed to Portland.

Around 300 Illinois National Guard troops were also activated in Chicago, and 200 Oregon National Guard troops were activated in Portland.

The Trump administration has justified the federalization of National Guard troops as a means to protect federal authorities and buildings amid widespread protests over raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies.

Anonymous sources told CBS News and CNN that troops from California and Texas would soon return home, while the Trump administration would reduce the number of federalized Oregon National Guard members from 200 to 100, keeping all 300 Illinois National Guard members in place.

To activate the troops, Trump had invoked Title 10 of the federal code, which allows the president to call up National Guard members from any state if another is “in danger of invasion by a foreign nation” or if there is a “danger of rebellion against the authority of the government.”

The activations prompted immediate lawsuits in Illinois and Oregon, which contested Trump’s justification for federalizing and sending National Guard troops.

U.S. District Court Judge April Perry in her ruling had found that there was “no credible evidence that there is a danger of rebellion in the state of Illinois.”

Her ruling was then upheld by a circuit court panel that wrote “political opposition is not rebellion,” blocking the National Guard members from actually deploying on Chicago streets.

The Trump administration then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has issued an order for a supplemental briefing and has not yet granted a full review of the case.

Concurrently, U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut granted a temporary restraining order to block the federalization of Oregon National Guard troops in early October, also preventing them from deploying on Chicago streets.

A circuit court panel then stayed her order, permitting their deployment as the case continued through the lower court.

Immergut then issued a ruling on Nov. 7 that found Trump’s federalization order to be unlawful, exceeding his statutory authority under Title 10 and violating the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution on state sovereignty, again blocking their deployment. The Trump administration has appealed that case to Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Meanwhile, U.S. Northern Command issued a statement Friday that said the U.S. Defense Department would “be shifting” its Title 10 footprint in Portland, Chicago and Los Angeles, which saw troop deployments earlier this year. It indicated that the U.S. would be establishing a “long-term presence” of troops in each city.

“Our work to protect federal functions, personnel, and property remains a top priority — each and every day. We are prepared to commit as many troops as needed, for as long as needed, to support our law enforcement partners in cities across the country,” the statement reads.

“Our troops in each city (and others) are trained and ready, and will be employed whenever needed to support law enforcement and keep our citizens safe.”

Nov. 15 (UPI) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents initiated enforcement of federal immigration laws in Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday.

Many businesses on Central Avenue in the eastern portion of Charlotte closed as federal agents began making arrests and detained people in local neighborhoods, the Charlotte Observer reported.

Local officials expressed their support for migrants in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.

“We want people in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to know we stand with all residents who simply want to go about their lives contributing to our larger community,” Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and Mecklenburg County Commission Chairman Mark Jerrell and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education Chairwoman Stephanie Sneed said in a joint statement.

“Our region has thrived and grown because our strength lies in our diversity and our collective commitment to each other and to this community,” they said.

“Let us all — no matter our political allegiance — stand together for all hard-working and law-abiding families.”

The local officials said the arrival of the CBP agents unnecessarily created “fear and uncertainty in our community.”

Federal agents have most recently been deployed to Chicago, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement spent the past month enforcing immigration law amid opposition from protesters and others.

The Charlotte Observer reported a man saying the federal agents smashed a window on his vehicle, and another said agents aimed a rifle and threatened to shoot him after he followed them.

CBP agents also allegedly broke the window of another man’s vehicle and took his keys after stopping him twice in 10 minutes, but the man did not say if he was following the agents as they went about their work.

Local officials earlier said the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department does not participate in immigration enforcement and asked community members to stay peaceful amid the immigration enforcement action, according to NBC News.

North Carolina is not a sanctuary state, and state law prevents local governments from declaring themselves to be sanctuaries for those who have illegally entered or otherwise remained in the United States.

The federal immigration enforcement effort in Charlotte prompted Asheville, N.C., Mayor Esther Manheimer to suggest the city could be next, WLOS reported.

Nov. 15 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has issued second pardons to supporters who breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, this time on separate related offenses.

The clemancy for Dan Wilson and Suzanne Kaye were announced online on Saturday by Ed Martin, a longtime supporter of the Jan. 6 rioters who is the Justice Department’s pardon attorney.

They were signed Friday by Trump.

“Thank you: Post! Danny Wilson is now a free man. When I was DC’s U.S. Attorney, and now as U.S. Pardon Attorney, I advocated for this clemency, which the president granted Friday.@POTUSThank you,” Ed Martin posted on X with a copy of the pardon.”

In another post with the document, Martin wrote: “Thank you: POTUS! The Biden DOJ targeted Suzanne Kaye for social media posts-and she was sentenced to 18 months in federal lock up. President Trump is unwinding the damage done by Biden’s DOJ weaponization, so the healing can begin.”

In May 2024, Wilson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer and was sentenced to five years in prison.

But the Louisville, Ky., man was in prison for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of an unregistered firearm. He was sentenced in August 2024 to prison until 2028.

It stems from when his home was searched in June 2022 as part of the federal government’s investigation of the intrusion.

A White House official told Politico that “because the search of Mr. Wilson’s home was due to the events of January 6, and they should have never been there in the first place, President Trump is pardoning Mr. Wilson for the firearm issues.”

When Trump retook office on Jan. 20, he pardoned him along with clemency to about 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants, including pardons and commutations.

But Wilson had remained in prison on another conviction, along with a few other defendants for other federal crimes.

The Department of Justice at the time said “numerous firearms and ammunition” were recovered and forbidden because of previous felony convictions.

“For too long, my client has been held as a political prisoner by a government that criminalized dissent,” George Pallas, his attorney, said in a statement to CBS News. “President Trump’s pardon rights this wrong and sends a clear message that peaceful Americans will not be persecuted for their beliefs. Mr. Wilson is innocent, he has always been innocent, and this pardon proves it.”

Wilson had occasionally discussed bringing firearms to the Capitol, but ultimately arrived unarmed.

During the day, he posted messages and spoke to other members of his far-right groups, the Oath Keepers and Gray Ghost Partisan Rangers militia.

Initially, the Justice Department argued that Trump’s pardons did not extend to Wilson’s gun charges, but later changed its position. They received “further clarity on the intent of the Presidential Pardon.”

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who oversaw Wilson’s case, criticized extending the pardon to cover offenses discovered in the course of the investigations. He was nominated by Trump.

Kaye, of Boca Raton, Fla., was sentenced two years ago to 18 months in prison for threatening to shoot FBI agents who had sought to question her about her involvement in the Capitol attack.

She denied that she had been at the Capitol that day, according to court records obtained by The New York Times. Before meeting FBI agent, she posted a series of videos online threatening the agents.

Jeremy Brown, also an Oath Keeper, was released from a seven-year sentence after his attorneys and the Justice Department claimed the pardon covered Brown’s unrelated conviction for illegally possessing classified information and grenades.

Elias Costianes also was released from jail after the Justice Department declined to fight the appeal of his conviction for illegally possessing firearms.

Edward Kelley was recently sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to kill the officers and FBI agents who investigated his involvement in the Jan. 6 attack. Kelley had contended Trump’s pardon covered the conspiracy charge, but the Justice Department opposed him.

The Justice Department has opposed efforts by David Daniel after the FBI discovered child pornography on his computer during a Jan. 6-related search.

Nov. 15 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has withdrawn his support from one of his past closest allies, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, calling her “wacky.”

Greene, who has served in a Republican-dominated House district in northwest Georgia since January 2021, has sided with Democrats on two issues — enhanced tax credits for the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, and the release of Department of Justice files involving convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including Trump’s relationship with him.

In a lengthy post on Truth Social on Friday night, Trump announced that he is “withdrawing my support and Endorsement of “Congresswoman” Marjorie Taylor Greene, of the Great State of Georgia.”

In a 115-word sentence that highlights his achievements since retaking office, “over the past two weeks … all I see ‘Wacky’ Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!”

Greene quickly responded on X on Friday night, saying in a post that “Trump just attacked me and lied about me.”

Trump noted why Greene is upset with him.

“It seemed to all begin when I sent her a Poll stating that she should not run for Senator, or Governor, she was at 12%, and didn’t have a chance (unless, of course, she had my Endorsement — which she wasn’t about to get!,” Trump wrote.

He also said that Greene was upset that he has not communicated with her.

“She has told many people that she is upset that I don’t return her phone calls anymore, but with 219 Congressmen/women, 53 U.S. Senators, 24 Cabinet Members, almost 200 Countries, and an otherwise normal life to lead, I can’t take a ranting Lunatic’s call every day,” he wrote. “She has gone Far Left, even doing The View, with their Low IQ Republican hating Anchors.”

Greene posted a screenshot of texts she had sent Trump about the Epstein investigation, noting that she had not “called him at all, but I did send these text messages today. Apparently this is what sent him over the edge. The Epstein files.”

Trump said he would support a candidate against her in the congressional primary next year.

“I understand that wonderful, Conservative people are thinking about primarying Marjorie in her District of Georgia, that they too are fed up with her and her antics and, if the right person runs, they will have my Complete and Unyielding Support,” Trump said.

Greene was reelected in 2024, capturing more than 64% of her district’s vote after 65% in 2022 and 75% in 2020. The district includes parts of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Atlanta metro area.

“I have supported President Trump with too much of my precious time, too much of my own money, and fought harder for him even when almost all other Republicans turned their back and denounced him,” she wrote. “But I don’t worship or serve Donald Trump. I worship God, Jesus is my savior, and I serve my district GA14 and the American people.”

“I remain the same today as I’ve always been and I will continue to pray this administration will be successful because the American people desperately deserve what they voted for. For me, I remain America First and America Only!!!”

Epstein files

Greene has joined three other House Republicans in signing a discharge petition for the release of documents related to investigations into pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

There are the necessary 218 votes and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has scheduled a vote for next week, but the bill will still need be approved by the Senate, which will require at least 60 votes, as well as Trump’s signature.

Greene wrote “of course he’s coming after me hard to make an example to scare all the other Republicans before next weeks vote to release the Epstein files. It’s astonishing really how hard he’s fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level.”

“But really most Americans wish he would fight this hard to help the forgotten men and women of America who are fed up with foreign wars and foreign causes, are going broke trying to feed their families, and are losing hope of ever achieving the American dream. That’s what I voted for,” she added.

Epstein, who had sexual relationships with girls and young women, and trafficked them to other men, was friends with Trump.

“Releasing the Epstein files is the easiest thing in the world,” Greene told Politico on Friday, before Trump’s post.

“Just release it all, let the American people sort through every bit of it, and, you know, support the victims. That’s just like the most common sense, easiest thing in the world. But to spend any effort trying to stop it … just doesn’t make sense to me,” she said.

Government shutdown

Trump posted Wednesday on Truth Social that “only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap. There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!”

Democrats launched the 43-day government shutdown after Republicans refused to include an extension of the subsidies in bills to reopen the government — a position that Greene broke with her party in support of. Healthcare was the core a federal government shutdown that lasted 43 days.

Greene had been critical of Trump and her party for promising to at least discuss, if not vote, on extending enhanced subsidies for people who buy health insurance through an Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace.

The shutdown ended Wednesday night when Trump signed legislation to fund the government through January, with the subsidies still set to expire at the end of the year.

“It’s insanely the wrong direction to go,” Greene said. “The five-alarm fire is healthcare and affordability for Americans. And that’s where the focus should be.”

Greene noted during the shutdown that her adult children are enrolled in health insurance plans through the ACA marketplace and that their premiums are set to double if the federal subsidies expire.

Greene also has blamed Republicans’ election losses earlier this month on going against Trump’s initial “America First” agenda.

“This is me wanting my party to do something, to win and do something good for the American people,” Greene told Politico.

“It’s not me going against, it’s me pushing my party to say, this is what we need to be doing Not only is it the right thing to do for America, but if you want to win the midterms, this is what we need to be doing, deliver for Americans if we want them to send us back in 2026.”

Nov. 15 (UPI) — An inmate in Louisiana was recaptured overnight Friday, a little more than two days after he escaped and six months after 10 men broke out from another jail in the state.

Cecil Michael Stratton, 46, of Morgan City, previously escaped from jails in 2005 and 2009.

He was been booked in the Berwick Police Department jail on Wednesday.

Stratton allegedly threw a chemical substance at a police officer’s face. At the time “jailers were securing inmates during lockdown procedures,” the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Department said in a statement Thursday.

Then a “brief struggle” ensued between Stratton and the officers.

Stratton and another inmate, Brandon Brunet, 22, got out of the jail. Brunnet was captured a short time later, police said.

At 12:15 a.m., Stratton was arrested after the Morgan City Police Department received a complaint that he was seen inside a residence in Morgan City, the county sheriff’s office posted Saturday on Facebook. He was found lying on the ground in a boat at a business in Morgan City and taken into custody.

“The teamwork between agencies and the relentless man-hours invested into locating and apprehending Cecil Stratton have paid off,” St. Mary Parish Sheriff Gary Driskell said in a statement. “I would like to thank the men and women of all the agencies involved for the teamwork they have displayed over the past three days.”

The two escapees are facing charges of disarming a police officer, battery on a police officer, aggravated battery, aggravated escape and unauthorized entry of a critical infrastructure.

In 2005, Stratton escaped from the Centerville Jail in St. Mary’s Parish in southern Louisiana, WBRZ-TV reported.

Stratton and another person led police on a chase at speeds hitting 80 mph in Ouachita Parish after police received a report that two men had robbed a Harvest Foods store. They were driving a truck that had been stolen in New Iberia.

He went to Allen Correctional Center in north Louisiana, from which he also escaped in 2009 with two other inmates, KPLC-TV reported.

He was brought to the Lafayette Parish Jail. Investigators say they escapes through a compromised fence and with the help of a correctional center guard.

Stratton’s past arrests that date to at least 1998 include theft, illegal possession of a stolen property, marijuana possession, attempted first-degree murder and resisting an officer, according to WBRZ-TV.

“Mr. Stratton is no stranger to the law enforcement. He has been in and out of prison most of his adult life. At one point in time he was actually an escaped inmate from Allen Parish Correctional Facility,” Berwick Police Chief Elect J.P. Henry said.

On May 16, 10 men escaped from the Orleans Justice Center in the morning after climbing through a hole behind a toilet. Their disappearance was unnoticed for several hours.

Three inmates were apprehended in New Orleans within the first 24 hours of the jailbreak.

The nine inmate was taken into custody again in New Orleans on June 27 and final one on Oct. 8 in Atlanta.

Nov. 14 (UPI) — The Trump administration has agreed to lower tariffs on Swiss goods imported to the United States, a statement from the Swiss government said Friday.

The agreement drops tariffs on Swiss imports from 39% to 15%. The higher rate went into effect in August after President Donald Trump raised tariffs on dozens of trading partners to correct what he described as a trade imbalance.

The United States had a $38 billion trade deficit with Switzerland in 2024, according to U.S. Commerce Department data cited by CNN.

“Switzerland and the U.S. have successfully found a solution: U.S. tariffs will be reduced to 15%,” the Swiss government said in a post on X.

“Thanks to President Trump @POTUS for the constructive agreement.”

The announcement came after Swiss officials met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. The Swiss government said further details about the agreement would be announced at 4 p.m. CET.

“They’re going to send a lot of manufacturing here to the United States — pharmaceuticals, gold smelting, railway equipment — so we’re really excited about that deal and what it means for American manufacturing,” Greer said in an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

He said the deal had been in the works since April.

Nov. 14 (UPI) — The Georgia Prosecuting Attorneys Council announced a replacement for Fani Willis as the prosecutor in the election interference case against President Donald Trump and 14 others charged.

PAC Executive Director Peter J. Skandalakis announced on Friday, that he would prosecute the case because the group couldn’t find anyone to take it up.

“Several prosecutors were contacted and, while all were respectful and professional, each declined the appointment,” he said in the announcement. “Out of respect for their privacy and professional discretion, I will not identify those prosecutors or disclose their reasons for declining.”

In September, the Georgia Supreme Court denied Willis’ attempt to continue in the case. It refused to hear her appeal of a lower court’s decision to disqualify her because of “impropriety.” She had a romantic relationship with the special prosecutor in the case.

Another reason he chose to prosecute the case is that he has some familiarity with the case file. The documents he received to review included 101 banker boxes of documents and an 8-terabyte hard drive, which he hasn’t had the time to fully read.

Some of the others charged include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.

On Nov. 7, Trump pardoned 77 people, including those involved in the Georgia case.

Skandalakis said the pardons don’t apply to state charges, only federal ones. “Therefore, the task before my office remains unchanged,” he said.

Trump’s attorney Steve Sadow said the “politically charged prosecution has come to an end.”

“We remain confident that a fair and impartial review will lead to a dismissal of the case against President Trump,” Sadow said.

Skandalakis noted the importance of the case.

“I am keenly aware that this matter has been of significant public interest since January 2021, when District Attorney Fani Willis announced the initiation of the investigation,” he said in a statement. “My only objective is to ensure that this case is handled properly, fairly, and with full transparency discharging my duties without fear, favor, or affection.”