Oct. 17 (UPI) — The Army Corps of Engineers has paused work on $11 billion in low-priority projects while the federal government remains shut down amid a budget impasse in Congress.
The shutdown has deprived the corps of the funds needed to continue work on many projects, some of which might be canceled, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said Friday in a post on X.
“The Democrat shutdown has drained the Army Corps of Engineers’ ability to manage billions of dollars in projects,” Vought said.
“The Corps will be immediately pausing over $11 billion in lower-priority projects and considering them for cancellation.”
He said the pauses and potential cancellations would include projects in Baltimore, Boston, New York City and San Francisco.
The Democrat shutdown has drained the Army Corps of Engineers’ ability to manage billions of dollars in projects. The Corps will be immediately pausing over $11 billion in lower-priority projects & considering them for cancellation, including projects in New York, San Francisco,…— Russ Vought (@russvought) October 17, 2025
Vought is the first Trump administration official to announce layoffs of federal workers and project pauses due to the government shutdown, CNBC reported.
Vought and President Donald Trump have called the shutdown an opportunity to reduce the size of the federal government.
The president has suggested Democrat-led cities, states and federal programs would be targeted as the funding fight continues in the Senate.
Vought said more information would be released regarding corps project pauses, which also might occur in locales that are not run by Democrats.
The four cities that Vought announced for pauses are led by Democrats and are located in states that have Democrats for their respective governors and representing them in the Senate.
The Trump administration already has paused $18 billion in infrastructure projects in New York City and $2.1billion in Chicago infrastructure projects, according to CBS News.
The administration also has canceled $8 billion for projects involving the climate in 16 states.
Oct. 17 (UPI) — New York Republican Party leaders on Friday voted unanimously to disband the state’s Young Republicans chapter after a group chat involving some of their members included racist and antisemitic comments.
The 2,900 pages of messages posted on Telegram also involved Republicans in Arizona, Kansas and Vermont, according to a Politico report. The messages from January to August included calling for gas chambers, expressing love for Adolf Hitler and endorsing rape.
New York’s executive committee suspended the authorization of men and women 18 to 40 to operate in the state, Politico website and The Hill reported.
“The Young Republicans was already grossly mismanaged, and vile language of the sort made in the group chat has no place in our party or its subsidiary organizations,” New York GOP chair Ed Cox said in a statement.
“Unlike the Democrat Party that embraces anti-Semitic rhetoric and refuses to condemn leaders who call for political violence, Republicans deliver accountability by immediately removing those who use this sort of rhetoric from the positions they hold,” he said. “This incident was immediately condemned by our most senior New York Republican elected leaders.”
Five people linked to New York participated in the chat, including Peter Giunta, a former leader of the state group and Bobby Walker, the vice chair.
Giunta is no longer chief of staff to state Assemblymember Mike Reilly and Walker’s offer to manage state Sen. Peter Oberacker’s congressional bid was pulled. They both apologized for their remarks but questioned whether the chat was altered.
“I love Hitler” is one of the messages associated with Giunta.
“I’m ready to watch people burn now,” Annie Kaykaty, a member of the Young Republicans’ national committee, who is also from New York, wrote.
Vermont state Sen. Samuel Douglass was revealed as a chat participant.
Elise Stefanik and Mike Lawler, who are House members serving New York districts, condemned the chat.
Democrats denounced their association with the Young Republicans.
“Disgraceful New York Republicans Mike Lawler and Elise Stefanik have been palling around with these racist, antisemitic and bigoted ‘Young Republicans’ for years,” Jeffries wrote Tuesday on X. “Their silence exposes what’s always been true – the phony outrage was nothing more than performance.” Alex Degrasse, a senior adviser to Stefanik, said she “calls for any New York Young Republicans responsible for these horrific comments in this chat to step down immediately,” in a statement to ABC News.
Stefanik fired back at violent rhetoric from Democrats, calling Zohran Mmadani, the party’s New York City candidate a “raging antisemite” on X.
Vice President JD Vance said those messages should not face career-ending punishments.
“The reality is that kids do stupid things,” Vance said in an interview on The Charlie Kirk Show on Wednesday. “Especially young boys, they tell edgy, offensive jokes. Like, that’s what kids do. And I really don’t want us to grow up in a country where a kid telling a stupid joke — telling a very offensive, stupid joke — is cause to ruin their lives.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsomon Wednesday called for a congressional investigation of antisemitic and racist comments.
In 1935, the Young Republican division officially became the Young Republican National Federation.
Oct. 17 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Friday night said he commuted the sentence of George Santos, freeing the former Republican U.S. House member after just three months in federal prison.
Santos, who served in the House for less than one year, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of committing wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Santos, 37, reported to a federal facility in Fairton, N.Y., on July 25.
Santos also gained prominence for lying about his employment history and education, and information about his family.
“George has been in solitary confinement for long stretches of time and, by all accounts, has been horribly mistreated,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Therefore, I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY. Good luck George, have a great life!”
Trump left the White House on Friday to spend the weekend in Florida. He’s the keynote speaker Friday night at a fundraiser for the super PAC MAGA Inc.
A senior White House official told NBC News that Trump decided to help Santos this week and “many people wrote to him about it.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., had sought a pardon, which erases the legal consequences of a crime. A commutation only reduces the severity of the punishment.
Greene told NBC News this week that she had been in contact with the Department of Justice in recent weeks regarding the possibility, saying the sentence was overly harsh.
“George Santos never raped anybody, never murdered anybody, is not a child sex-trafficker. Why is he in solitary confinement?” she said. “That is an extreme treatment for someone for the crimes that he was convicted of.”
Santos, before reporting to prison, told a Saudi outlet, Al Arabiya English, that he asked Trump for a pardon.
“I did not spend time in D.C. making friends,” Santos said. “I never made it to the president. I got stonewalled by the gatekeepers.”
From prison last week, Santos wrote a letter to Trump published in The South Shore Press: “Mr. President, I am not asking for sympathy. I am asking for fairness — for the chance to rebuild. I know I have made mistakes in my past. I have faced my share of consequences, and I take full responsibility for my actions. But no man, no matter his flaws, deserves to be lost in the system, forgotten and unseen, enduring punishment far beyond what justice requires.”
Trump took notice of Santos’ situation.
“George Santos was somewhat of a ‘rogue,’ but there are many rogues throughout our Country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “I started to think about George when the subject of Democrat Senator Richard ‘Da Nang Dick’ Blumenthal came up again.”
Trump explained that Blumenthal, who has served as a U.S. senator serving Connecticut for 14 1/2 years, lied about his military involvement.
“He was ‘a Great Hero,’ he would leak to any and all who would listen — And then it happened! He was a COMPLETE AND TOTAL FRAUD. He never went to Vietnam, he never saw Vietnam, he never experienced the Battles there, or anywhere else. … This is far worse than what George Santos did, and at least Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!”
Santos fabricated parts of his biography, including falsely, saying that he was a “star” player on a championship volleyball team.
Santos was raised Catholic but claimed his mother had a Jewish background and that his maternal grandparents were Jewish refugees from Ukraine who survived the Holocaust. His grandparents were born in Brazil.
He also said his mother died in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, though she wasn’t in the United States at the time.
Santos took office on Jan. 3, 2023, serving in New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
On Nov. 16, 2023, Santos announced he would not seek re-election for the seat that serves parts of Long Island and Queens.
That day, the House Ethics Committee found that he “violated federal criminal laws.” The funds were used for personal purposes and he filed false campaign reports, the report said.
Despite a slim Republican majority and relying on his vote, the House expelled Santos the next month on Dec. 1, 2023. The 311-114 vote surpassed the required two-thirds majority.
He was the sixth lawmaker to be forced out of the chamber.
On March 7, 2024, he announced he would run as a Republican in the 1st Congressional District and 15 days later, Santos said he would seek the office as an independent. A month later, on April 23, he withdrew his candidacy.
He pleaded guilty on Aug. 19, 2024, in federal court in Central Islip, N.Y., and was sentenced on April 25.
“I deeply regret my conduct,” Santos said in court during his conviction and sentence. “I accept full responsibility for my actions.”
Oct. 17 (UPI) — President Donald Trump refiled a dismissed federal lawsuit accusing The New York Times of defaming him during the 2024 election cycle and seeking $15 billion.
The president refiled the lawsuit on Thursday after U.S. District Court for Middle Florida Judge Steven Merryday in September dismissed the original filing.
The judge ruled the initial 85-page filing was too wordy and took too long to detail any formal complaints against the news outlet, The New York Times reported.
Merryday gave Trump 28 days to refile his lawsuit, which the president did on Thursday in the same federal court.
Trump’s revised filing is 40 pages long and accuses The Times’ reporters Peter Baker, Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig of writing “false, malicious and defamatory statements” against him in two news articles, according to NBC News.
Baler and Buettner also wrote a book titled “Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success.”
Trump’s legal team argues that he asked The Times to retract defamatory and false information, which its leadership refused, The Hill reported.
“Defendants rejected President Trump’s reasonable demands for retraction and instead doubled down and expanded on the malicious and defamatory falsehood,” the legal team says.
“These breaches of journalistic ethics are further proven by The Times’ enthusiastic aiding and abetting of the partisan effort to falsely link Russian interference to President Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election,” Trump’s filing says.
The claims of Russian interference on behalf of Trump “is well on its way to becoming one of the most profoundly disturbing criminal political scandals in American history,” Trump’s legal team argues.
Officials for The New York Times in a statement on Friday said the lawsuit lacks merit.
“Nothing has changed today,” the statement said. “This is merely an attempt to stifle independent reporting and generate [public relations] attention.”
The Times’ executive editor Joseph Kahn previously said the news outlet will not settle the case, which other news outlets have done to end similar cases filed by the president.
WASHINGTON — The Navy admiral who oversees military operations in the region where U.S. forces have been attacking alleged drug boats off Venezuela will retire in December, he and the Defense Secretary announced Thursday.
Adm. Alvin Holsey became the leader of U.S. Southern Command only in November, overseeing an area that encompasses the Caribbean Sea and waters off South America. These types of postings typically last between three and four years.
The news of Holsey’s upcoming retirement comes two days after the U.S. military’s fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean against a small boat accused of carrying drugs. The Trump administration has asserted it’s treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force.
Frustration with the attacks has been growing on Capitol Hill. Some Republicans have been seeking more information from the White House on the legal justification and details of the strikes, while Democrats contend the strikes violate U.S. and international law.
Holsey said in a statement posted on the command’s Facebook page that it’s “been an honor to serve our nation, the American people and support and defend our Constitution for over 37 years.”
“The SOUTHCOM team has made lasting contributions to the defense of our nation and will continue to do so,” he said. “I am confident that you will forge ahead, focused on your mission that strengthens our nation and ensures its longevity as a beacon of freedom around the globe.”
U.S. Southern Command did not provide any more information beyond the admiral’s statement.
In a post on X on Thursday afternoon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth thanked Holsey for his “decades of service to our country, and we wish him and his family continued success and fulfillment in the years ahead.”
“Admiral Holsey has demonstrated unwavering commitment to mission, people, and nation,” Hegseth wrote.
Officials at the Pentagon did not provide any more information and referred the Associated Press to Hegseth’s statement on social media.
The New York Times first reported on Holsey’s plans to leave his position.
Toropin and Finley write for the Associated Press.
WASHINGTON — The United States took survivors into custody after its military struck a suspected drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean — the first attack that anyone escaped alive since President Trump began launching assaults in the region last month, a defense official and another person familiar with the matter said Friday.
The strike Thursday brought the death toll from the Trump administration’s military action against vessels in the region to at least 28.
It is believed to be at least the sixth strike in the waters off Venezuela since early September, and the first to result in survivors who were picked up by the U.S. military. It was not immediately clear what would be done with the survivors, who the people said were being held on a U.S. Navy vessel.
They confirmed the strike on condition of anonymity because it had not yet been publicly acknowledged by Trump’s administration.
Trump has justified the strikes by asserting that the United States is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by President George W. Bush‘s administration when it declared a war on terror after the 9/11 attacks. That includes the ability to capture and detain combatants and to use lethal force against their leadership.
Some legal experts have questioned the legality of the approach. The president’s use of overwhelming military force to combat the cartels, along with his authorization of covert action inside Venezuela, possibly to oust President Nicolás Maduro, stretches the bounds of international law, legal scholars said this week.
Meanwhile, the Navy admiral who oversees military operations in the region will retire in December, he and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Thursday.
Adm. Alvin Holsey became the leader of U.S. Southern Command only in November, overseeing an area that encompasses the Caribbean Sea and waters off South America. These types of postings typically last between three and four years.
Holsey said in a statement posted on the command’s Facebook page that it had “been an honor to serve our nation, the American people and support and defend our Constitution for over 37 years.”
“The SOUTHCOM team has made lasting contributions to the defense of our nation and will continue to do so,” he said. “I am confident that you will forge ahead, focused on your mission that strengthens our nation and ensures its longevity as a beacon of freedom around the globe.”
U.S. Southern Command did not provide any further information beyond the admiral’s statement.
For the survivors of Thursday’s strike, the saga is hardly over. They now face an unclear future and legal landscape, including questions about whether they are now considered to be prisoners of war or defendants in a criminal case. The White House did not comment on the strike.
Reuters was first to report news of the strike late Thursday.
The strikes in the Caribbean have caused unease among both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, with some Republicans saying they have not received sufficient information on how the strikes are being conducted. A classified briefing for members of the Senate Armed Services Committee this month did not include representatives from intelligence agencies or the military command structure for South and Central America.
However, most Senate Republicans stood behind the administration last week when a vote on a War Powers Resolution was brought up, which would have required the administration to gain approval from Congress before conducting more strikes.
Their willingness to back the administration will be tested again. Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, along with Sens. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, and Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, is bringing another resolution that would prevent Trump from outright attacking Venezuela without congressional authorization.
Toropin and Mascaro write for the Associated Press.
F1 races are exclusively coming to Apple TV next year as part of a five-year deal announced Friday between the tech giant and Formula 1.
Apple TV subscribers in the U.S. will have access to practice, qualifying, Sprint sessions and Grands Prix footage, as well as F1 TV Premium, Formula 1’s subscription service.
Some races and practice sessions may be free for viewing on the Apple TV app. The Apple Sports app will show live updates on each Grand Prix, including real-time leaderboards, Apple said.
“2026 marks a transformative new era for Formula 1, from new teams to new regulations and cars with the best drivers in the world, and we look forward to delivering premium and innovative fan-first coverage to our customers in a way that only Apple can,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, said in a statement.
Stefano Domenicali, Formula 1’s president and CEO, said the partnership will help maximize Formula 1’s growth potential in the U.S. His company worked with Apple on “F1 The Movie,” starring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer. It was Apple’s first box office hit.
“We have a shared vision to bring this amazing sport to our fans in the U.S. and entice new fans through live broadcasts, engaging content, and a year-round approach to keep them hooked,” Domenicali said in a statement.
Apple paid roughly $140 million a year for the rights to show the races, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly. The races have been airing on ESPN since 2018 in a deal that will end this year. ESPN paid roughly $85 million per year on average, the source said. The financial terms were first reported by CNBC.
Apple and Formula 1 did not immediately return a request for comment and ESPN declined to comment on the financial terms of the deal.
“We’re incredibly proud of what we and Formula 1 accomplished together in the United States and look forward to a strong finish in this final season,” ESPN said in a statement. “We wish F1 well in the future.”
Streaming services have increasingly been airing sports on their platforms to attract more viewers who gather for major events. In addition to F1, Apple has deals to air games from Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer.
Apple also recently announced a deal to bundle Apple TV with NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock.
Oct. 17 (UPI) — A nine-year, $335 million restoration of the U.S. Air Force Academy Chapel has President Donald Trump calling for a federal investigation into the matter.
The president in a social media post on Thursday called the cadet chapel in Colorado Springs, Colo., a “construction disaster” since it was built in 1962 and said the current renovation is projected to be finished in 2028.
“The earlier stories are that it leaked on day one, and that was the good part,” Trump said on Truth Social.
“Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent,” he explained. “The renovation, which essentially has been going on since the day it was built, is now projected to go on until 2028.”
He said a newly revised budget adds $90 million to the renovation cost, which now is $335 million from its prior $247 million budget.
“This mess should be investigated,” Trump added. “Very unfair to the cadets — a complete architectural catastrophe!”
The Defense Department in August awarded a contract that exceeds $88 million to the JE Dunn Construction Co. to renovate the chapel, which is projected to be finished in November 2028, The Hill reported.
Officials at the Air Force Civil Engineer Center are overseeing the renovation project and said the additional funds will cover additional costs after encountering unexpected problems.
The chapel has been closed since October 2019 as the restoration project began, but the discovery of asbestos and other issues has delayed the renovation and greatly raised its cost from an original estimate of $158 million, according to KOAA-TV.
The current construction cost estimate is nearly half the cost to renovate the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was completed twice as fast.
The latest nearly $90 million project allocation from the Defense Department boosted the total cost by 36% from $247 million.
The project “ensures the long-term structural integrity and watertightness of the Cadet Chapel and will resolve issues that have plagued the building since its opening 60 years ago,” the AFCEC said.
The facility leaked water from the moment it opened in 1962 and underwent numerous “Band-Aid fixes” over the years, USAFA architect Duane Boyle said during an April 2024 news conference.
The 150-foot-tall, 52,000-square-foot chapel is comprised of 17 triangular spires that give it an aircraft-like appearance.
It was one of the first modernist-style structures built in the United States and is “one of the most seminal pieces of modern architecture in the United States,” Neal Evers, Colorado University-Boulder Environmental Design Department professor, told KOAA-TV.
He said the chapel was designed and built when modernist-style architecture “was really taking off in the ’50s.”
Evers said it’s unfair to compare the project’s cost and time to other restoration projects, but he acknowledged it is a “problem” when the initial five-year timeline is extended to nearly 10.
WASHINGTON — President Trump is hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for talks at the White House on Friday, with the U.S. leader signaling he’s not ready to agree to sell Kyiv a long-range missile system that the Ukrainians say they desperately need.
Zelensky arrived with top aides to discuss the latest developments with Trump over lunch, a day after the U.S. president and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a lengthy phone call to discuss the conflict.
At the start of the talks, Zelensky congratulated Trump over landing last week’s ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza and said Trump now has “momentum” to stop the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“President Trump now has a big chance to finish this war,” Zelensky added.
In recent days, Trump had shown an openness to selling Ukraine long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, even as Putin warned that such a move would further strain the U.S.-Russian relationship.
But following Thursday’s call with Putin, Trump appeared to downplay the prospects of Ukraine getting the missiles, which have a range of about 995 miles.
“We need Tomahawks for the United States of America too,” Trump said. “We have a lot of them, but we need them. I mean we can’t deplete our country.”
Zelensky had been seeking the weapons, which would allow Ukrainian forces to strike deep into Russian territory and target key military sites, energy facilities and critical infrastructure. Zelensky has argued that the potential for such strikes would help compel Putin to take Trump’s calls for direct negotiations to end the war more seriously.
But Putin warned Trump during the call that supplying Kyiv with the Tomahawks “won’t change the situation on the battlefield, but would cause substantial damage to the relationship between our countries,” according to Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that talk of providing Tomahawks had already served a purpose by pushing Putin into talks. “The conclusion is that we need to continue with strong steps. Strength can truly create momentum for peace,” Sybiha said on the social platform X late Thursday.
Ukrainian officials have also indicated that Zelensky plans to appeal to Trump’s economic interests by aiming to discuss the possibility of energy deals with the U.S.
Zelensky is expected to offer to store American liquefied natural gas in Ukraine’s gas storage facilities, which would allow for an American presence in the European energy market.
He previewed the strategy on Thursday in meetings with Energy Secretary Chris Wright and the heads of American energy companies, leading him to post on X that it is important to restore Ukraine’s energy infrastructure after Russian attacks and expand “the presence of American businesses in Ukraine.”
It will be the fourth face-to-face meeting for Trump and Zelensky since the Republican returned to office in January, and their second in less than a month.
Trump announced following Thursday’s call with Putin that he would soon meet with the Russian leader in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss ways to end the war. The two also agreed that their senior aides, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, would meet next week at an unspecified location.
Fresh off brokering a ceasefire and hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas, Trump has said finding an endgame to the war in Ukraine is now his top foreign policy priority and has expressed new confidence about the prospects of getting it done.
Ahead of his call with Putin, Trump had shown signs of increased frustration with the Russian leader.
Last month, he announced that he believed Ukraine could win back all territory lost to Russia, a dramatic shift from the U.S. leader’s repeated calls for Kyiv to make concessions to end the war.
Trump, going back to his 2024 campaign, insisted he would quickly end the war, but his peace efforts appeared to stall following a diplomatic blitz in August, when he held a summit with Putin in Alaska and a White House meeting with Zelensky and European allies.
Trump emerged from those meetings certain he was on track to arranging direct talks between Zelensky and Putin. But the Russian leader hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelensky and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine.
Trump, for his part, offered a notably more neutral tone about Ukraine following what he described a “very productive” call with Putin.
He also hinted that negotiations between Putin and Zelensky might be have to be conducted indirectly.
“They don’t get along too well those two,” Trump said. “So we may do something where we’re separate. Separate but equal.”
Oct. 17 (UPI) — At least 11 protesters were arrested amid clashes with local police outside the Broadview, Ill., Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Friday morning.
Protesters arrived earlier than normal on Friday at the Chicago-area ICE facility and clashed with local law enforcement when the protesters blocked a local street and refused to go to a designated protest zone, WLS-TV reported.
“We are all Latino,” a protester told WLS-TV. “We all got to be united. What they are doing is not fair.”
The protester said ICE should focus its efforts on criminals and “leave the good people that are working” so that they can continue to work and improve their lives.
A report by WGN-TV said “things appeared to get out of hand rather quickly” when the protesters arrived during the morning hours.
The protest began near 8 a.m. CDT, which is an hour earlier than allowed by local regulations, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Those regulations allow protests from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and within a designated protest area.
The protest was the first since a protective fence around the ICE building was removed on Tuesday, as ordered by a federal judge.
Although the fencing is gone, the protesters are required to stay off the street and within an area lined by concrete barriers.
Those who did not clash with Illinois State Police officers, resulting in 11 being arrested for blocking the street and refusing to move to the designated protest area, local authorities told WLS-TV.
Protester Akeisha Lee was charged with disobeying a police officer or arresting and obstructing, and several others were being processed for violations during the morning hours, the Sun-Times reported.
Among those being processed following her arrest was United Church of Rogers Park Pastor Hannah Kardon.
While the protesters are restricted in their activities, federal law enforcement also is restricted in how it can operate in northern Illinois.
U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois Judge Sara Ellis earlier restricted when and where federal law enforcement officers and agents can use tear gas and on Thursday expressed concern that her restrictions were not being followed.
Ellis also amended a restraining order on federal law enforcement to require those equipped with body cameras to wear them and keep them on during enforcement operations.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
The U.S. Army is in the very early stages of formulating a vision for fleets of advanced and highly autonomous drones in a similar vein to the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) that the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Navy are now developing. The Army’s CCA endeavor may ultimately be linked, at least in some way, with work already being done on so-called “launched effects,” a term generally applied to smaller uncrewed aerial systems designed to be fired from other platforms in the air, as well as on the ground and at sea.
Army aviation officials talked about the current state of the service’s CCA plans during a roundtable on the sidelines of the Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) main annual conference this week, at which TWZ was in attendance. The topic had also come up elsewhere during the three-day event, which ended yesterday. Army CCAs would be primarily expected to operate in close cooperation with the service’s existing crewed helicopters, as well as its future MV-75A tiltrotors.
The Army’s design of the Army’s future MV-75 tiltrotor is based on Bell’s V-280 Valor, seen here. Bell
“So, one, we’re following the other services very closely as they’re looking at this, this [CCA] concept,” Brig. Gen. Phillip C. Baker, the Army’s Aviation Future Capabilities Director, said. at the roundtable. “I think for the Army, especially launched effects, it comes down to a discussion of mass. … A platform, a loyal wingman, a CCA concept, allows you to increase mass while also reducing the amount of aviators you’ve got to have in the air.”
Baker noted that the Army is working in particular with U.S. military commands in the Pacific and European regions as it begins to explore potential CCA requirements, which might lead to an operational capability in the next few years. For the past year or so, the Army has been working to figure out “the capabilities that they need in order to deliver that mass, and really survivability,” he added.
US Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters assigned to the Hawaii-based 25th Combat Aviation Brigade. US Army
At present, a key aspect of the ongoing discussions within the Army seems to be focused on where the service’s existing work on launch effects ends and where a CCA-like effort might begin.
“Launched effects, if you think about it, is a CCA, right?” Maj. Gen. Clair Gill, commander of the Army Aviation Center of Excellence, also said at the round table. “These are things that we’re going to launch off of aircraft and are going to operate in a collaborative fashion, potentially autonomously, but we’re going to give them instructions, and they’re going to operate based off of guidance, either off of something on the ground or maybe they’re being quarterbacked in the air.”
“Manned-unmanned teaming is the future. We’ve talked about the potential of launched effects off the aircraft, or a potential loyal wingman,” Col. Stephen Smith, head of the Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, better known as the Night Stalkers, had also said during a separate panel at this year’s AUSA conference. Smith had talked about increased use of drones as part of larger efforts to help his unit operate more effectively and just survive in higher-threat environments during future high conflicts, which you can read more about here.
A pair of MH-60M Black Hawk helicopters assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. US Army
The Army is already envisioning at least three categories of launched effects, broken down into short, medium, and long-range types. They could be configured for a variety of missions, including reconnaissance, electronic warfare, communications relays, and as acting as loitering munitions or decoys. The service has long said that it sees these systems, which could also be networked together in highly autonomous swarms, operating forward of friendly forces, extending the reach of their capabilities, while also reducing their vulnerability.
A graphic the US Army released in the past offering a very general overview of how multiple different types of air-launched effects (ALE) might fit into a broader operational vision. US Army
In some broad strokes, the benefits that launched effects and CCA-types drones offer do align, on top of the “affordable mass” they both promise to provide. However, as the Army currently describes them, even the largest launched effects are substantially smaller and less capable than something in the generally accepted CCA, or ‘loyal wingman,’ category. Most, if not all launched effects are also expected to be fully expendable, unlike a CCA. Any Army CCAs would likely carry launched effects themselves, further extending the reach of the latter drones into higher-risk environments, as well as the overall area they can cover quickly. This, in turn, would allow for a crewed-uncrewed team capable of executing a complex and flexible array of tactics.
When asked then to clarify whether a future Army CCA effort would be distinct from the service’s current launched effects efforts, Maj. Gen. Gill said that “it could be, yes.”
“So, last fall, we actually asked industry what they can provide for a Group 4 VTOL/STOL [vertical takeoff and landing/short takeoff and landing] perspective,” Brig. Gen. David Phillips, head of the Army’s Program Executive Office for Aviation (PEO-Aviation). “So we use that as a great set of information on what the state of the art of technology is from a range, speed, payload, and really effects perspective. What can we bring to bear, given modern technology versus some of our older UAS [uncrewed aerial systems].”
The U.S. military groups uncrewed aircraft into five categories. Group 4 covers designs with maximum takeoff weights over 1,320 pounds, but typical operating altitudes of 18,000 feet Mean Sea Level (MSL) or below. As mentioned already, this is far heavier and higher-flying than any of the UASs the Army is currently considering to meet its launched effects needs.
“I think we’re informing Gen. Gill and Gen. Baker’s teams on what industry has told us on what requirement that shapes out to be,” Phillips added. “It might not look like some of the things we’ve seen on the [AUSA show] floor today. But I can tell you, we received a very robust response from industry, and it’s a combination of maybe some of the things you’d seen on the floor, but we’re excited to start thinking about that space.”
Boeing announced plans for a family of new tiltrotor drones, collectively called Collaborative Transformational Rotorcraft, or CxRs, at this year’s AUSA conference, which you can read more about here. The company said the designs will fall into the Group 4 and Group 5 categories. Per the U.S. military’s definitions, the only difference between Group 4 and Group 5 is that the nominal operating altitude for the latter extends above 18,000 feet MSL.
A Boeing rendering of a Collaborative Transformational Rotorcraft design concept. Boeing
Last week, Sikorsky, now a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, announced its own plans to expand existing work on a VTOL drone with a so-called rotor-blown wing configuration into a full family of designs dubbed Nomad, which is set to include a Group 4 type. You can learn more about Nomad, which was also showcased at AUSA, here.
A rendering of a proposed larger, armed member of the Nomad drone family from Sikorsky. Sikorsky/Lockheed Martin
Nearly a decade ago now, Bell also announced it was working on a design for a Group 5 tiltrotor drone called the V-247 Vigilant, aimed originally at a Marine Corps requirement. The V-247, or a scaled-down derivative, could be another starting place for a future Army CCA. Bell has notably shown renderings, like the one below, depicting V-247s operating together with versions of its crewed V-280 Valor tiltrotor design, which the Army’s MV-75A is based on.
Bell
Brig. Gen. Baker said that experimentation with CCA concepts, to varying degrees, is already underway, and that more is planned for the near future. He also pointed out that the Army is presented with unique questions to answer compared to the Air Force, Marines, and Navy, given that those services primarily expect CCA-type drones to operate collaboratively with higher and faster-flying fixed-wing tactical jets. The Army, in contrast, as noted, sees any such uncrewed aircraft partnered with its existing helicopters, as well as its future MV-75A tiltrotors, with much lower and slower operational flight profiles. It is worth noting here that the other services still have many questions to answer when it comes to their future CCA fleets, including how they will be deployed, launched, recovered, supported, and otherwise operated, let alone employed tactically.
The video below from Collins Aerospace offers a relevant depiction of what the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy expect future air combat operations involving their CCAs to look like.
“So, our experimentation really lies in two areas. One, our modeling that we do constantly. We do that with the feedback that [Brig.] Gen. Phillips talked about from industry. How do you put that [notional system] into a threat environment, and how does that play out, and really render the specifications that we’re looking at,” Baker explained. “The second piece is, we do an annual experimentation out west. That will be the second quarter this year. And, so, we are looking at vendors, potentially, to come out and partner with us to build off the study that [Brig.] Gen. Phillips did, of what’s truly [the] capability out there.”
“When you look at a CCA role for – really linked to rotary wing, that is a different dynamic than you have at 20-to-30,000 feet,” he added. “So it’s a whole set of different behaviors, a whole set of different capability you need to marry that up with an aircraft that’s flying at 100 feet, at 150-plus knots, at night. So that is what we’re really looking at, is what is the state of technology right now to develop a requirement that we can deliver.”
Altogether, the Army still clearly has many questions of its own to answer as it begins to explore concepts for future CCA-drones in earnest, including how such a program would fit in with work it is already doing in the uncrewed aerial systems space.
Oct. 17 (UPI) — The federal shutdown will last at least a few more days as the Senate expects to hold no votes until Monday. Meanwhile, lawmakers are questioning the legality of how the Trump administration plans to pay the military.
Senate Republican leader John Thune of South Dakota sent senators home for the weekend, so the government will stay closed. The Senate will return at 3 p.m. Monday.
Three Democrats have voted for the Republican bills to reopen the government, but five more are needed to reach the 60 votes needed to pass the stopgap funding bill.
Meanwhile, some Republican senators are questioning the legality of President Donald Trump‘s move to shift Defense Department funds to pay for military paychecks during the shutdown.
They say they’re glad the service members are getting paid, but aren’t sure where the funds are coming from and whether the money shift is legal.
Normally, the White House would need to ask Congress to reappropriate federal funding, then the Appropriations Committee must approve it before moving funds around.
Senators interviewed by The Hill say they aren’t aware of any requests. Trump ordered Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to use “all available funds” to ensure troops got their paychecks.
“That’s a concern of not just appropriators, it seems broader than that,” an unnamed Republican senator told The Hill.
The lawmaker said Republican colleagues have asked the administration for more information about exactly which funds are getting shifted and what legal authority the White House is using to justify its action.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she wants more information from the White House.
“We’ve been given two different explanations. One, is that it’s unobligated balances. One, is that it’s taken from certain research and technology programs. But we don’t have the specifics. We have asked for the specifics,” Collins said.
Alaska’s Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said: “I get that they say for the military pay for this pay period it comes out of … research and development technology [fund] but where? Is that taking it from projects that we have already identified? Maybe something’s really important to me. Where’s it coming from? We haven’t seen that,” she said.
On Wednesday, Trump signed a memo expanding his administration’s authority to repurpose unspent funds to pay service members during the shutdown.
Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., said Trump’s reallocation of funds was, “probably not legal.” On Face the Nation on Sunday, he said the “White House’s understanding of United States law” was “pretty tentative to say the best.”
1 of 2 | A protestor holding a sign stands in front of a Humvee and members of the National Guard August 14 outside of Union Station in Washington, D.C. On Thursday, a U.S. federal appeals court sided with the state’s and ruled against the Trump administration on federalized troops in Illinois and its largest city Chicago. Photo by Jemal Countess/UPI | License Photo
Oct. 17 (UPI) — A federal appeals court panel rejected the Trump administration’s request to overturn a lower court order blocking deployment of National Guard troops in Illinois.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday said U.S. President Donald Trump‘s plan to deploy National Guard troops to Illinois “likely” violated the U.S. Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which outlines specific state power.
“The facts do not justify the president’s actions,” the 18-page ruling read, adding that “political opposition is not rebellion.”
Roughly 200 federalized National Guardsmen currently sit in Illinois via Texas and more than a dozen from California. Trump federalized an additional 300 troops over the objection of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, both Democrats.
Trump has repeatedly described Chicago and other Democratic-governed cities as a “war zone.” Pritzker has said there’s no evidence for Trump’s claims and led the state’s legal actions against the White House with other local and state officials.
During an appearance on Politico’s The Conversation podcast — to be aired Sunday — Pritzker said that Trump has “got the biggest platform in the country, the presidency, and he just says things.” He attacked Trump’s “lies” on crime.
“It’s propaganda, again, not true, but he’ll say it over and over and over again, hoping that people will believe him,” the governor said.
On Thursday, the court panel added the administration was unlikely to prove a rebellion against the U.S. government or that Trump as president could not enforce the law using regular federal forces.
The judges wrote in the decision they saw “insufficient evidence of a rebellion or danger of rebellion in Illinois.”
“The spirited, sustained, and occasionally violent actions of demonstrators in protest of the federal government’s immigration policies and actions, without more, does not give rise to a danger of rebellion against the government’s authority,” it continued.
An hearing is scheduled for Wednesday to determined if the temporary restraining order should be extended, which remains in effect until Thursday.
“To Illinoisans: Stay safe, record what you see and post it, and continue to peacefully protest. Make sure that your community members know their rights in times of crisis,” the two-term Pritzker said Thursday night on Bluesky.
In the early days of President Trump’s second term, the U.S. appeared keen to cooperate with Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s authoritarian leader. Special envoy Ric Grenell met Maduro, working with him to coordinate deportation flights to Caracas, a prisoner exchange deal and an agreement allowing Chevron to drill Venezuelan oil.
Grenell told disappointed members of Venezuela’s opposition that Trump’s domestic goals took priority over efforts to promote democracy. “We’re not interested in regime change,” Grenell told the group, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.
But Marco Rubio, Trump’s secretary of State, had a different vision.
In a parallel call with María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, two leaders of the opposition, Rubio affirmed U.S. support “for the restoration of democracy in Venezuela” and called González “the rightful president” of the beleaguered nation after Maduro rigged last year’s election in his favor.
Rubio, now also serving as national security advisor, has grown closer to Trump and crafted an aggressive new policy toward Maduro that has brought Venezuela and the United States to the brink of military confrontation.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio whispers to President Trump during a roundtable meeting at the White House on Oct. 8, 2025.
(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)
I think Venezuela is feeling the heat
— President Trump
Grenell has been sidelined, two sources told The Times, as the U.S. conducts an unprecedented campaign of deadly strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats — and builds up military assets in the Caribbean. Trump said Wednesday that he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert action in the South American nation, and that strikes on land targets could be next.
“I think Venezuela is feeling the heat,” he said.
The pressure campaign marks a major victory for Rubio, the son of Cuban emigres and an unexpected power player in the administration who has managed to sway top leaders of the isolationist MAGA movement to his lifelong effort to topple Latin America’s leftist authoritarians.
“It’s very clear that Rubio has won,” said James B. Story, who served as ambassador to Venezuela under President Biden. “The administration is applying military pressure in the hope that somebody inside of the regime renders Maduro to justice, either by exiling him, sending him to the United States or sending him to his maker.”
In a recent public message to Trump, Maduro acknowledged that Rubio is now driving White House policy: “You have to be careful because Marco Rubio wants your hands stained with blood, with South American blood, Caribbean blood, Venezuelan blood,” Maduro said.
As a senator from Florida, Rubio represented exiles from three leftist autocracies — Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela — and for years he has made it his mission to weaken their governments. He says his family could not return to Cuba after Fidel Castro’s revolution seven decades ago. He has long maintained that eliminating Maduro would deal a fatal blow to Cuba, whose economy has been buoyed by billions of dollars in Venezuelan oil in the face of punishing U.S. sanctions.
In 2019, Rubio pushed Trump to back Juan Guaidó, a Venezuelan opposition leader who sought unsuccessfully to topple Maduro.
Rubio later encouraged Trump to publicly support Machado, who was barred from the ballot in Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election, and who last week was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her pro-democracy efforts. González, who ran in Machado’s place, won the election, according to vote tallies gathered by the opposition, yet Maduro declared victory.
Rubio was convinced that only military might would bring change to Venezuela, which has been plunged into crisis under Maduro’s rule, with a quarter of the population fleeing poverty, violence and political repression.
But there was a hitch. Trump has repeatedly vowed to not intervene in the politics of other nations, telling a Middle Eastern audience in May that the U.S. “would no longer be giving you lectures on how to live.”
Denouncing decades of U.S. foreign policy, Trump complained that “the interventionalists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand.”
To counter that sentiment, Rubio painted Maduro in a new light that he hoped would spark interest from Trump, who has been fixated on combating immigration, illegal drugs and Latin American cartels since his first presidential campaign.
Venezuelan presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, right, and opposition leader María Corina Machado greet supporters during a campaign rally in Valencia before the country’s presidential election in 2024.
(Ariana Cubillos / Associated Press)
Going after Maduro, Rubio argued, was not about promoting democracy or a change of governments. It was striking a drug kingpin fueling crime in American streets, an epidemic of American overdoses, and a flood of illegal migration to America’s borders.
Rubio tied Maduro to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang whose members the secretary of State says are “worse than Al Qaeda.”
“Venezuela is governed by a narco-trafficking organization that has empowered itself as a nation state,” he said during his Senate confirmation hearing.
Meanwhile, prominent members of Venezuela’s opposition pushed the same message. “Maduro is the head of a narco-terrorist structure,” Machado told Fox News last month.
Security analysts and U.S. intelligence officials suggest that the links between Maduro and Tren de Aragua are overblown.
A declassified memo by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence found no evidence of widespread cooperation between Maduro’s government and the gang. It also said Tren de Aragua does not pose a threat to the U.S.
The gang does not traffic fentanyl, and the Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that just 8% of cocaine that reaches the U.S. passes through Venezuelan territory.
Still, Rubio’s strategy appears to have worked.
In July, Trump declared that Tren de Aragua was a terrorist group led by Maduro — and then ordered the Pentagon to use military force against cartels that the U.S. government had labeled terrorists.
Trump deployed thousands of U.S. troops and a small armada of ships and warplanes to the Caribbean and has ordered strikes on five boats off the coast of Venezuela, resulting in 24 deaths. The administration says the victims were “narco-terrorists” but has provided no evidence.
Elliott Abrams, a veteran diplomat who served as special envoy to Venezuela in Trump’s first term, said he believes the White House will carry out limited strikes in Venezuela.
“I think the next step is that they’re going to hit something in Venezuela — and I don’t mean boots on the ground. That’s not Trump,” Abrams said. “It’s a strike, and then it’s over. That’s very low risk to the United States.”
He continued: “Now, would it be nice if that kind of activity spurred a colonel to lead a coup? Yeah, it would be nice. But the administration is never going to say that.”
Even if Trump refrains from a ground invasion, there are major risks.
“If it’s a war, then what is the war’s aim? Is it to overthrow Maduro? Is it more than Maduro? Is it to get a democratically elected president and a democratic regime in power?” said John Yoo, a professor of law at UC Berkeley, who served as a top legal advisor to the George W. Bush administration. “The American people will want to know what’s the end state, what’s the goal of all of this.”
“Whenever you have two militaries bristling that close together, there could be real action,” said Christopher Sabatini, a senior fellow for Latin America at the think tank Chatham House. “Trump is trying to do this on the cheap. He’s hoping maybe he won’t have to commit. But it’s a slippery slope. This could draw the United States into a war.”
Sabatini and others added that even if the U.S. pressure drives out Maduro, what follows is far from certain.
Venezuela is dominated by a patchwork of guerrilla and paramilitary groups that have enriched themselves with gold smuggling, drug trafficking and other illicit activities. None have incentive to lay down arms.
And the country’s opposition is far from unified.
Machado, who dedicated her Nobel Prize to Trump in a clear effort to gain his support, says she is prepared to govern Venezuela. But there are others — both in exile and in Maduro’s administration — who would like to lead the country.
Machado supporter Juan Fernandez said anything would be better than maintaining the status quo.
“Some say we’re not prepared, that a transition would cause instability,” he said. “How can Maduro be the secure choice when 8 million Venezuelans have left, when there is no gasoline, political persecution and rampant inflation?”
Fernandez praised Rubio for pushing the Venezuela issue toward “an inflection point.”
What a difference, he said, to have a decision-maker in the White House with family roots in another country long oppressed by an authoritarian regime.
“He perfectly understands our situation,” Fernandez said. “And now he has one of the highest positions in the United States.”
Linthicum reported from Mexico City, Wilner from Dallas and Ceballos from Washington. Special correspondent Mery Mogollón in Caracas contributed to this report.
Oct. 17 (UPI) — The University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California have rejected the Trump administration’s offer of priority access to federal funds in exchange for adopting government-mandated reforms.
With the rejections of Penn and USC on Thursday, four of the nine universities the Department of Education asked to sign on to its 10-part “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” have so far declined.
In a letter addressed to the Penn community on Thursday, the school’s president, Larry Jameson, informed the Department of Education that Penn “respectfully” declined to sign the compact.
“At Penn, we are committed to merit-based achievement and accountability. The long-standing partnerships between American higher education and the federal government has greatly benefited society and our nation. Shared goals and investment in talent and ideas will turn possibility into progress,” Jameson said.
Beong-Soo Kim, interim president at USC, also told his community Thursday that they had informed the Department of Education that they wouldn’t be signing the compact.
Included in the statement was the letter he sent to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, which said that while they will not sign on to the compact, it raises issues “worthy of a broader national conversation to which USC would be eager to contribute its insights and expertise.”
“We are concerned that even though the compact would be voluntary, tying research benefits to it would, over time, undermine the same values of free inquiry and academic excellence that the compact seeks to promote.”
Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has targeted dozens of universities, particularly so-called elite institutions, with executive orders, lawsuits, reallocations of resources and threats over a range of allegations, from anti-Semitism to the adoption of diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
Critics have accused Trump of trying to coerce schools under threat of stringent punishments — from losing their accreditation to paying hefty fines sometimes in excess of $1 billion — to adopt his far-right policies.
The compact announced Oct. 1 demands reforms to hiring practices and student grading and includes a pledge to prohibit transgender women from using women’s changing rooms.
It also requires the creation of a “vibrant marketplace of ideas,” a tuition freeze for five years and a cap on international enrollment, among other reforms.
After Penn announced its decision, the state’s governor, Josh Shapiro, commended the school for maintaining its independence “in the face of the Trump administration’s attempts to dictate what private colleges and universities teach and use the long arm of the federal government to censor ideas with which they disagree.”
“The Trump administration’s dangerous demands would limit freedom of speech, the freedom to learn and the freedom to engage in constructive debate and dialogue on campuses across the country,” he said in a statement.
“I am in full support of the university’s decision and appreciate the leadership and courage demonstrated by President Jameson and Board Chair [Ramanan] Raghavendran.”
Brown University refused to sign the compact on Wednesday and MIT late last week.
Oct. 17 (UPI) — More than 20 states are suing the Trump administration for rescinding $7 billion in Congress-approved funds to equip nearly 1 million homes in low-income and disadvantaged communities with solar power.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, accuses the Environmental Protection Agency of breaching grant agreements by unilaterally terminated grants that had already been awarded.
“The administration is again targeting people struggling to get by in America, this time by gutting programs that help low-income households afford electricity, Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown said in a statement.
“Congress passed a solar energy program to help make electricity costs more affordable, but the administration is ignoring the law and focused on the conspiracy theory that climate change is a hoax.
The Solar for All program was established with the passage of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which included a $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund for the EPA to administer.
Using that Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, Congress appropriated $7 billion for the EPA to make grants, loans and financial assistance available for low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from zero-emission technologies, including solar power.
In April 2024, the EPA announced it had selected 60 applicants to receive the grants. By August of that year, the EPA had awarded program funds to states and other grant recipients.
But in August, the EPA, under the Trump administration, ended the program and reclaimed about 90% of the funds already awarded.
The 22 states, along with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, are accusing the Trump administration of violating the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how administrative agencies operate, and the Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine by canceling the program.
The plaintiffs allege that the EPA is using an “erroneous interpretation” of H.R. 1, which the Trump administration calls the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by Congress in July, to justify the termination of the grants.
The states on Wednesday also filed a complaint in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to recover damages caused by the alleged breach of the grant agreements.
Earlier this month, a coalition of solar energy companies, labor unions and homeowners sued the EPA over the termination of the grants.
Members of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights United Teachers L.A., Unite Here Local 11 and many other unions and immigrant rights groups march to the Little Tokyo section of Los Angeles on October 4. A federal judge in Chicago ordered ICE agents to wear body cameras when interacting with protestors. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
Oct. 16 (UPI) — A federal judge in Chicago ruled Thursday that immigration agents must begin wearing body cameras to record their actions during enforcement operations.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued the order in federal court in Chicago after reports of immigration agents clashing with residents of the city’s Southeast Side, incidents that ended with officers spraying people with tear gas and other chemical agents.
Ellis’ decision comes following a temporary restraining order that she issued on Oct. 9 restricting immigration agents’ use of non-lethal weapons on civilians.
“I am profoundly disappointed about what has been happening over the last week since I entered this order,” Ellis said, the Chicago Sun Times reported. “I live in Chicago, if folks haven’t noticed, and I’m not blind, right? So, I don’t live in a cave. I have a phone. I have a TV. I have a computer and I tend to get news.”
Ellis said she believes the Trump administration is not following her orders to stand down on the clashes, which is causing her “serious concerns,” she said.
Ellis said Thursday that she will expand her restraining order to require all federal agents who are part of Operation Midway Blitz, and who wear body cameras, to have them on when encountering protesters.
She initially required all immigration agents to wear body cameras, but moderated after a Trump administration attorney said equipping all officers to wear cameras was logistically impossible and would be cost prohibitive.
The Justice Department continued in opposition, saying it would be challenging to review body camera footage of every officer in response to every allegation.
Ellis issued the restraining order after a group of local journalists and protesters sued the Trump administration, alleging that agents targeted people engaging in peaceful protests, including multiple reporters who claimed they were shot with pepper balls despite being identified as members of the media.
Ellis ordered a Homeland Security official to appear in court on Monday to discuss the matter.
According to local reports, Ellis ordered a top Homeland Security official to appear in court on Monday to address the issue.
Oct. 16 (UPI) — With less than three weeks before New Yorkers head to the polls to select the city’s 111th mayor, candidates Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and independent Andrew Cuomo squared off for a heated debate Thursday night in Manhattan.
Though a trio of candidates stood before lecterns at WNBC’s 30 Rockefeller Center studios, the debate was mainly a fight between Mamdani, the New York City assemblyman leading in the polls, and Cuomo, the former governor of New York State, leaving Sliwa, founder of the nonprofit crime prevention Guardian Angels organization, trying to enter the fray.
Leadership
Cuomo, who left the New York governor’s mansion in August 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, was quick to attack Mamdani, saying the New York assemblyman’s inexperience makes him unfit to oversee a 300,000-employee city workforce and a multi-billion-dollar budget.
“This is no job for on-the-job training,” he said. “And if you look at the failed mayors they’re ones that have no management experience. Don’t do it again.”
Mamdani, in rebuttal, attempted to frame Cuomo as an out-of-touch politician backed by wealthy donors, while pointing to his successes in the state’s assembly as proof of his own experience.
The former governor said Mamdani’s answer was proof of his lack of experience — and a lack of experience in leading New York could have deadly consequences.
“This is not a job for a first timer,” Cuomo said. “Any day you could have a hurricane, God forbid, a 9/11, a health pandemic. If you don’t know what you’re doing people will die.”
“If we have a health pandemic, then why would New Yorkers turn back to the governor who sent seniors to their deaths in nursing homes?” Mamdani replied, referring to a public scandal over how Cuomo’s administration handled COVID-19 in nursing homes and other elder-care facilities.
Sliwa, who has taken a tough-on-crime stance, attempted to interject into the conversation, at one point telling the moderators that he was being “marginalized.”
He then attempted to set himself apart from the two men who have held political seats, by emphasizing that he is not a politican, and referring to Cuomo as the “architect” and Mamdani the “apprentice.”
“Thank God I’m not a professional politician because they have helped create this crime crisis in the city that we face and I will resolve [it],” he said.
President Donald Trump’s presence and ongoing immigration crackdown have loomed large over the race and ahve put a greater spotlight on Mamdani, who was recently little known outside of the city, as the American leader has called him and his left-leaning policies out on social media.
Asked what he would say to Trump in their first phone call, Mamdani said he would tell the American leader that he is willing to work with him to help raise the living standards of New Yorkers, but if that he seeks to cut funds to the city “he’s going to have to get through me as the next mayor.”
Cuomo similarly offered that he’d like to work with Trump “but Number One, I will fight you every step of the way if you try to hurt New York.”
Sliwa criticized both candidates for trying to act “tough” when doing so would only end up hurting New Yorkers.
“They want to take on Donald Trump. Look, you can be tough, but you can’t be tough if its going to cost people desperately needed federal funds,” he said, stating he would sit down with the president and negotiate.
“But if you try to get tough with Trump, the only people who are going to suffer from that are the people of New York City.”
With the first phase of the Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal underway, moderators called on Mamdani to clarify previous statements he has made about the Palestinian militant group specifically about whether it should disarm.
In response, Mamdani said he was “proud” to be among the first New York elected officials to call for a cease-fire, which he defined as meaning “all parties have to cease fire and put down their weapons.”
Sliwa then jumped in to chastise Cuomo and Mamdani for neither applauding Trump for securing the cease-fire deal.
Cuomo then rebutted that he did applaud Trump and his administration, using the topic to accuse Mamdani and his stance against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank as coded language meaning “Israel does not have a right to exist as a Jewish state.”
Mamdani then clapped back that “occupation” is an international legal term that “Mr. Cuomo has no regard for” as he has joined the legal defense team of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their fight against arrest warrants at the International Criminal Court.
He was then pressed on his previous reluctance to condemn the use of the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which to some is a pro-Palestinian slogan of resistance against oppression and to others as encouragement of violence against Jews.
Sliwa also lashed out at Mamdani, stating “Jews don’t trust you’re going to be there for them when they are victims of anti-Semitic attacks.”
The second mayoral debate is scheduled for Oct. 22.
Early voting opens Oct. 25. The election is to be held Nov. 4.
Oct. 16 (UPI) — President Donald Trump announced a deal Thursday between his administration and a pharmaceutical company that could reduce the cost of some fertility medications.
Administration officials say the deal between the government and EMD Serono will help millions of U.S. women who have trouble conceiving afford the cost of medications that could help.
“In the Trump administration, we want to make it easier for couples to have babies, raise children and start the families they’ve always dreamed about,” Trump said during his Oval Office announcement.
The president said during the announcement that EMD Serono, the world’s largest fertility drug manufacturer, has agreed to provide discounts for the drugs it sells in the United States, including Gonal-f, which is used to treat infertility by men and women.
A fertility drug cycle typically costs between $5,000 and $6,000, the administration said, and only about 30% of families have access to employer insurance that will cover the treatment. Women trying to conceive can require different amounts of the drug.
Trump said his administration is working with employers to make it easier for them to offer supplemental insurance coverage for fertility treatments.
“As a result of these actions, the per-cycle cost of drugs used in IVF will fall by an estimated 73% for American consumers, and the numbers are going to actually be very substantially higher as time goes by when it really kicks in,” Trump continued during the announcement.
Trump blamed inflated fertility drug prices as a reason for the high cost of IVF treatment, and claimed the cost for the procedure is 700% times more expensive in the United States than in the rest of the world.
Seroni said in its statement that IVF patients will be able to buy Gonal-f at an 84% discount.
Oct. 16 (UPI) — The Columbia, S.C., field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has established a digital tip website seeking information about a bar shooting in St. Helena Island on Sunday that killed four people.
The release said the incident remains under investigation, and that the FBI field office is offering assistance, including video analysis.
The shooting occurred at Willies Bar and Grill on St. Helena Island at about 1 a.m. Sunday during an after-party attended by between 500 and 700 people, many of whom sought shelter in nearby businesses and buildings, a statement from the sheriff’s office said.
Local police said in an update Wednesday that investigators “have lots of information” about the people involved, but will not name suspects until forensic work is completed.
The sheriff’s office is conducting DNA analysis and the State Law Enforcement Division is reviewing firearms and ballistics evidence.
Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner could not confirm whether the incident was gang related, but did say all of the victims knew each other, and that all 20 had been identified.
