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What started as a regularly scheduled town hall in Dearborn, Michigan, erupted into a flashpoint over the influence of Muslim culture in American civic life on Tuesday as the pastor of a local church accused the town of operating under Sharia law.

“America, we have lost this city. This is a city that is no longer up under American laws; we are up under Sharia law. We will not have it anymore,” Lorenzo Sewell, the pastor of 180 Church, said.

“Enough is enough.”

The outburst, which came amid a series of other anti-Islam protests in Dearborn, vocalizes fears that Muslim populations in Michigan are working to bring their communities more in line with their religious worldview — views Sewell believes are at odds with the vast majority of the country.

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“You are only 1% of this nation. We are not a nation of Muslims,” Sewell said.

Sewell’s references to an implementation of Sharia law don’t refer to actual legislation looking to codify Muslim religious practices. Instead, they’re based on what he sees as a form of favoritism that’s being applied unevenly to Muslims in the name of religious freedom.

In particular, Sewell and other Dearborn critics have pointed to a case where Muslim counterprotesters, in his view, suffered inadequate consequences for assaulting Jake Lang, a local political activist.

“You are not up under American law. You are up under Sharia law. That is the reason why you have made no arrests,” Sewell said, referring to the incident.

Lang, the activist, is no stranger to brushes with the Muslim community in Dearborn.

He frames himself as a faith-based champion of American culture. In one video posted to X, Lang is seen conducting baptisms while wearing military-style garb and a bulletproof chest plate — an outfit he dons in a lot of his online content.

“I don’t know about you, but I am ready to load up CRUISE SHIPS with fu—ing AMERICAN GUNS & go and LIBERATE SPAIN from the Muslim hords. If the Democrats take power in 2028, I’ll be at the Southern Border laying these animals down by the HUNDREDS!!!!!” Lang wrote in another post, referring to a recent influx of immigrants to Spain.

But his online opposition turned into a real-world altercation earlier this month when Lang took his protest to the city’s Arbaeen March, an annual religious commemoration.

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In one video, Lang is seen taking a punch from behind while holding a sign “deport 100 million, save America.” Muslim counterprotesters chased Lang back to his car and at least one tried to hit him with a rock.

“Detroit Crime News JUST released video of 3 BARBARIC Muslims picking up large rocks to STONE me to death!!! For preaching the NAME OF JESUS!!!” Lang wrote online.

Notably, the police did arrest one of the assailants and asked for help in identifying others who had engaged in unlawful behavior.

“One individual was arrested by Dearborn Police during the altercation and is currently held without bond as the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office determines charges,” a police press release of the incident read.

In Lang’s view — and in the view of Sewell — that isn’t enough.

Ahead of the Tuesday city council meeting, Lang, Sewell and other demonstrators announced plans to protest the gathering, pressing for the city to more seriously evaluate Muslim influence and the influence of Sharia law.

City officials have pushed back on characterizations that Muslims are being treated differently than other citizens of Dearborn.

“When people portray Dearborn as some place that has been overtaken by Muslims, they aren’t simply attacking our Muslim and Arab communities. They’re also trying to erase our Christian brothers and sisters who have contributed immeasurably to the city and folks of other faiths,” Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said at the city council meeting on Tuesday.

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“Ultimately, they’re attacking something much larger than any one faith or community. They are attacking the idea that all of us can belong to America at the same time.”

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According to the 2020 U.S. census, a majority of the Dearborn reported Middle Eastern or North African ancestry, making it the first American city to have a predominantly Arab population, at roughly 54.5% of its residents.

California is experiencing an educational paradox, according to Herb Morgan, a candidate for state controller — the state’s chief fiscal officer, accountant and auditor.

The Golden State, Morgan said, has spent billions of dollars educating public school students but has failed to boost educational outcomes despite the influx of taxpayer funds.

California’s K-12 education funding rose from $97 billion in 2019 to $151 billion for the current budget cycle, said Morgan, who tracks and lists state expenditures through his “California Radical Transparency” website, a political and financial oversight initiative designed to track and decode state spending.

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Per-student spending jumped from $16,300 to $27,400 over that same period, said Morgan, an investment professional.

“Why is it if we’re spending all this money, why aren’t we getting the results? It’s because we have a broken accountability feature in state finances,” Morgan told Fox News Digital.

The disconnect between funding and classroom outcomes is not a lack of resources, Morgan said, but a breakdown in financial accountability at the state level, which he said allows billions of dollars to vanish into local bureaucracies without proper oversight.

He noted several instances of alleged financial mismanagement and fraud schemes involving schools and school districts: the A3 Education Charter Network, where $400 million was allegedly diverted from the state by inflating enrollment numbers; the Scale Leadership Academy, where a founder was charged with siphoning $16 million in public funds; and the Magnolia School District in Orange County, where a former financial executive embezzled $17 million.

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In July, incumbent State Controller Malia Cohen praised the signing of legislation to strengthen financial oversight of California’s local educational agencies.

“Every dollar intended for California’s students should reach the classroom and not lost to fraud, waste, or abuse,” she said at the time. “Public trust depends on strong financial oversight, and this legislation gives California better tools to strengthen accountability, improve transparency, and detect fraud before it diverts resources from the students who need them most.”

Meanwhile, California trails states with significantly lower budgets. Mississippi spends around $12,000 per student, amounting to less than half of what California spends per pupil.

However, Mississippi reports higher average standardized test scores in 4th and 8th-grade math and reading, according to data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

Still, Morgan criticized Cohen and her office’s oversight record.

“It’s a lack of desire. But more than a lack of desire, it’s just a lack of skill,” he said. “Running the fourth-largest economy in the world is a big, big job.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Cohen’s office and the California Department of Education for comment.

Given the rise of artificial intelligence, Morgan said, AI-driven oversight can eliminate fraud across California’s massive state budget.

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“The state controller has the constitutional authority over any recipient of state money, as far downstream as it goes,” he said. “We don’t need to look for needles in the haystack anymore. We just reach in and pull out the needles.”

EXCLUSIVE – DETROIT, MI – Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers has a message for Democrats who are far from happy with their party’s nominee in battleground Michigan: “You have a home with us.”

Rogers, a former congressman and former FBI agent who is running a second straight time for the Senate after losing by a slim margin two years ago, on Thursday stood alongside a group of voters as he unveiled his “Democrats for Mike Rogers” coalition during a campaign event at a residence in a western Detroit neighborhood.

After a combustible and divisive Democratic Senate primary, where Abdul El-Sayed narrowly edged more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens for the nomination, Rogers is heavily courting Democrats disaffected with their left-wing nominee, as he works to flip a crucial Democrat-held Senate seat in the midterm elections.

“To Democrat voters who feel their nominee doesn’t represent them and their values, all hope is not lost. I’m not asking you to be a Republican. I’m asking you for the opportunity to earn your trust… our door is open,” Rogers said as he referred to Democratic voters uncomfortable with some of El-Sayed’s controversial past comments and far-left policy positions. 

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A new public opinion survey from AARP indicated El-Sayed and Rogers locked in a margin-of-error race. And in a Fox News poll conducted Aug. 6-10 and released last week, Rogers held a slight four-point edge.

Rogers’ advantage in the Fox News poll was fueled largely by stronger party unity among Republicans. Nearly all Republicans (96%), including both MAGA (99%) and non-MAGA Republicans (89%), backed Rogers, the poll indicates.

El-Sayed’s support among Democrats was slightly lower, at 91%. While 98% of self-described Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) supporters backed El-Sayed, that number dropped to 69% of non-DSA Democrats and independents.

“We definitely think it’s an opening. This is going to be a tight race. It’s Michigan,” Rogers said in an exclusive Fox News Digital interview following the campaign event. “We’re going to take advantage of the fact that people are pausing to think if he [El-Sayed] represents their values.”

Rogers highlighted that Democrats “who have never voted for a Republican in their life, they’re going to vote for me. We take encouragement in that. It’s inspiring. It’s going to show that… values do matter in this election, and we’re going to be talking to a lot of people that would not normally have…an opening with a Republican.”

One of those Democrats who stood alongside Rogers identified herself as Chelsea from West Bloomfield, Michigan.

“I’m a lifelong Democrat. I voted for Obama. I voted for Hillary. I voted for Biden. I voted for Slotkin. I heavily supported Haley Stevens throughout her race and now I’m voting for Mike Rogers because sometimes the election calls for us to look at something bigger than our party lines,” Chelsea explained.

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Pointing to El-Sayed, she emphasized that “the Democratic nominee that we’ve been given does not share my values and he does not agree with a world that I want my children to grow up in.”

Responding to the event, the El-Sayed campaign highlighted Rogers’ ties to President Donald Trump, who is supporting the GOP nominee.

“Mike Rogers will put Donald Trump ahead of Michigan every single time. Just like he carried water for Trump’s dangerous election lies, he’ll rubber-stamp Trump’s reckless agenda — driving up gas prices and sending your tax dollars to fight foreign wars,” El-Sayed campaign spokesperson Cole Wozniak charged in a statement to Fox News.

Wozniak added, “Abdul’s the only candidate with a coalition that can win this November and will get right to work in the U.S. Senate getting money out of politics and putting money in your pockets.”

A former Wayne County Health Department director, El-Sayed, if elected in November, would make history as the nation’s first Muslim senator. He is an epidemiologist who unsuccessfully ran for governor as an insurgent candidate in 2018. He has made support for “Medicare-for-all” a major component of his campaign.

El-Sayed, who was endorsed and joined on the primary campaign trail by progressive champions Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, has also called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and is a vocal critic of Israel during its war with Hamas — characterizing Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide” against Palestinians.

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Rabbi Asher Lopatin of Huntington Woods, Michigan, who also joined Rogers at the campaign rollout, told Fox News Digital, “I do have a lot of issues with a lot of policies of the Trump administration. I do have concerns about the Supreme Court. But it’s more important to make a statement that we cannot let someone like Abdul El-Sayed get into the Senate.”

Lopatin said Jewish voters who “normally vote Democrat are going to vote for Mike Rogers, and I’m hearing that. And there’s a growing movement like that. And I think the more they meet him… the more they’re going to feel comfortable voting for a Republican, sometimes the first time in their lives.”

The rabbi also pointed to a state Democratic Party convention in April, where there was hostility toward anyone who openly supported Israel. Stevens, a strong Israel supporter, was booed at the convention.

“Many people I talked to, many super progressive people, are really traumatized by the way they were treated, and the way Haley Stevens was booed, and the way other candidates were treated. It’s a violent, uncivil kind of setup for politics, and that’s the biggest danger: taking away civility from politics,” Lopatin said.

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Asked about concerns from Jewish voters, Rogers told Fox News Digital, “I’ve talked to two young women who were at University of Michigan, who were afraid to walk to class. They couldn’t display their Star of David. To say that they’re afraid is probably an understatement.”

He said “the violent rhetoric [is] going to make a difference” in the general election.

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El-Sayed’s sharp criticism toward Israel and AIPAC, a powerful Israel-aligned political group that has long been a major player in American elections, were a central part of his primary campaign.

But two weeks ago, after winning the nomination, El-Sayed emphasized, “My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own kids. We have a responsibility to take on antisemitism in all of its forms, wherever we see it.”

The Trump administration has designated an American scholar detained in China as wrongfully held after he traveled there at Beijing’s invitation, escalating his case just weeks before President Donald Trump is set to host Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that U.S. citizen Min Zin is “wrongfully detained” after the State Department reviewed the circumstances of his June 3 detention in Yunnan, the State Department said Thursday.

Zin had traveled to China for an academic conference at the invitation of the Chinese government, according to the department.

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He is now one of two U.S. citizens the State Department considers wrongfully detained in China. The other is Dr. Youlin Chen, a Chinese-born American seismologist from Boston.

“The safety and security of U.S. citizens is the State Department’s top priority,” Assistant Secretary Dylan Johnson said in a statement. “We will continue to advocate for Mr. Zin and call for the release of all U.S. citizens who are arbitrarily detained or exit banned in China.”

Zin was detained at the airport after arriving in China and has been repeatedly interrogated and held in isolation during nearly 11 weeks in custody, a senior State Department official told Reuters.

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“One minute his colleagues and family were engaging with him on the phone – exchanging updates on his arrival time and plans in China – and the next minute communication was lost,” the official said.

For the next 48 hours, his family and colleagues did not know where he was, whether he was alive or who had taken him, according to the official.

Authorities in Yunnan later told the U.S. Embassy that Zin was under criminal investigation for allegedly endangering China’s national security, Reuters reported.

China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Zin’s arrest in June and said he was suspected of spying and endangering national security, the report said.

Beijing has denied that wrongful detention occurs in China and says such cases are handled according to Chinese law.

The U.S. designation can bring more government attention and resources to efforts to secure Zin’s release.

It also puts his detention in the spotlight ahead of Xi’s anticipated Sept. 24 visit to the White House.

Zin, who writes about Burma and Chinese foreign policy, leads the Institute for Strategy and Policy, a think tank focused on Burma. He took part in that country’s 1988 pro-democracy uprising before eventually seeking asylum in the United States.

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The State Department said it will continue pushing for Zin’s release and for Americans it says are being arbitrarily detained or prevented from leaving China.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Atlanta’s Democratic Mayor Andre Dickens launched a scathing attack on the Democratic National Committee’s leadership Thursday, accusing party leaders of turning their backs on Black voters and the South after the DNC excluded the city from its shortlist to host the 2028 presidential convention. 

“The DNC continues to make the wrong choices,” Dickens wrote in a scathing letter obtained by Fox News Digital, singling out DNC Chairman Ken Martin after party officials narrowed their convention search to Boston, Denver and Philadelphia.

Dickens’ rebuke echoes an argument other Southern Democrats have pressed on the national party in recent months: that Democrats cannot afford to take the South — and particularly its Black voters — for granted heading into 2028. South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain declared last month, amid debate over the party’s presidential primary calendar, that “the South is not the past, it is the future,” while Democratic chairs from five other Southern states previously warned the DNC against sending Black voters the message that their loyalty is “taken for granted.”

“They are afraid to leave their comfort zone and blind to the fact that the South is the answer. They are abandoning Atlanta, abandoning the South, and once again abandoning Black voters,” Dickens wrote in his letter. “Atlanta has not hosted a convention in nearly 40 years. One party has chosen the South to host their convention, and the other has chosen the same region over and over again. This isn’t by accident. It’s an intentional choice.”

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The DNC declined to comment specifically on Dickens’ letter when reached by Fox News, but pointed to the party’s broader efforts in the South and provided a statement from Martin about the convention selection process.

“The 2028 Democratic National Convention will be an inspiring celebration of our party’s future nominee, and a critical step on Democrats’ path towards retaking the White House,” Martin said. “Boston, Denver, and Philadelphia all presented incredibly strong bids to host the convention, and we look forward to continuing to work with them as the DNC makes a final selection in the coming months.”

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The party also pointed to its recent decision to place South Carolina first on its 2028 presidential nominating calendar. The full DNC voted last week to begin the six-state early window in South Carolina on Jan. 22, 2028, with Virginia closing out the slate. In announcing the calendar, the DNC emphasized its racial diversity and cited Census data showing roughly 4.6 million Black people live across the six early states.

Meanwhile, the DNC announced Thursday that Boston, Denver and Philadelphia had advanced as the three remaining contenders to host the Aug. 7-10, 2028 convention, eliminating Atlanta and Chicago from a five-city field. The Democratic National Convention Committee will now undertake a contracts and logistics review of the three finalists, with the process expected to continue for several months before a final selection is made.

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A DNC official said factors considered during the site visits and selection process included the ability to forge partnerships with local community, political and business leaders; operational and logistical capacity such as arena size and hotel availability; fundraising capability; and whether a city shares Democratic values.

DNC leadership and representatives of the party’s Technical Advisory Group visited Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver and Philadelphia in April and May after the five cities advanced from the initial application process. Atlanta had aggressively pitched itself as both a capable convention city and a strategically important Democratic foothold in the South. DNC officials toured State Farm Arena and the Georgia World Congress Center during an April visit to the city. Atlanta, which also lost out to Chicago for the 2024 convention, has not hosted the Democratic gathering since 1988.

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“At a time when Trump and the Supreme Court are minimizing Black electoral power we need a party that would come to Atlanta and galvanize the Southeast for 2028 and beyond. Real leaders produce for the present and the future,” Martin continued in his letter. 

“This was an opportunity for Ken Martin and the DNC leadership to show they have a thoughtful plan for the party and know how to win the White House in 2028. But instead they are running scared and retreat to their safe spaces. I’m ready for Democratic leadership that understands what every Democratic voter already knows: that this is a moment that demands we run toward battles and into the fight.”

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill criticized the Trump administration Wednesday while releasing findings from her investigation into thousands of ineligible voters improperly registered in the state.

Sherrill’s critique came one day after DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin issued a statement thanking her for agreeing to cooperate with his agency on the matter — an assertion a Democratic source disputed.

Sherrill has faced criticism since mid-July, when she revealed that thousands of noncitizens were found on voting rolls because of a “software error” in the way the state Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) registers voters, commonly called the “motor voter” process. Sherrill’s findings said about 5,100 registrations were placed in deleted status, while thousands of others remain under review.

“My administration has continued to move aggressively to fix the error at the Motor Vehicle Commission under the previous (Trenton) administration, to correct our voter rolls, and to protect the voting rights of eligible New Jerseyans,” Sherrill said Wednesday, adding that her probe is “what accountable government looks like.”

NEW JERSEY REMOVES 6,600 PEOPLE FROM VOTER ROLLS WHO WERE ELIGIBLE TO CAST A BALLOT FOR 2024 ELECTION

“That stands in contrast to the Trump Administration and Republicans, whose only interest has been in trying to use this issue for political gain,” Sherrill said.

Mullin said Tuesday that Sherrill had agreed to participate with DHS in “stopping aliens from illegally voting in your state,” citing correspondence from counsel for the state’s elections chief, Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell.

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“Thank you, Governor Sherrill. We got news from your Secretary of State that New Jersey will participate with DHS in STOPPING aliens from illegally voting in your state,” Mullin tweeted.

“The 35,000 potential registered aliens [DHS] identified may only be the beginning. [I] look forward to helping NJ identify illegal voters and ensure election integrity.”

But a source familiar with the matter said they weren’t sure what Mullin was referencing and reiterated that there is no cooperation agreement between the Sherrill administration and DHS or the Trump administration.

The source said the only correspondence from Trenton to Washington was a response from Caldwell’s office to a letter from House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., and fellow New Jerseyan Rep. Jeff Van Drew — and that Mullin may have been referring to it.

Fox News Digital reached out to DHS for comment but did not receive a response before publication.

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When reached for comment, Sherrill spokesperson Darwin Pham said the governor “remains focused on safe and secure elections in New Jersey, in contrast to Trump and Republicans, who have consistently tried to use this issue for political gain.”

“We will continue working to fully remediate the issue left behind by the previous (Trenton) administration, and ensure the voting rights of every eligible New Jerseyan are protected.”

The White House dismissed Sherrill’s criticism, saying she and Democrats have denied for years that noncitizens are registering and voting in elections.

“It’s laughable for Governor Sherrill to criticize the Trump Administration on election integrity…” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said.

In her announcement, Sherrill said about 5,100 names in the voter registration system were “placed in deleted status” because they had no other eligibility “attestations” beyond their original registration, which the state said was erroneous.

Those names lacked further declarations of eligibility to vote. Sherrill previously said individuals who selected “no” in response to whether they were citizens were still added to the rolls.

DEMOCRAT NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR SAYS THOUSANDS OF NONCITIZENS DISCOVERED ON VOTER ROLLS, PURGED

An additional 1,450 registrants had their status changed to “rejected” pending county officials’ review of their documentation before they can vote. Sherrill’s report said just under 400 people who were wrongfully registered cast ballots in recent elections.

“These individuals have been removed from New Jersey voter rolls because they were placed on the rolls in error,” Sherrill’s office said Wednesday.

Republicans, meanwhile, said Sherrill’s announcement raises more questions than answers about problems in the Garden State’s election system and how the state plans to address them.

“New Jerseyans deserve to know exactly what happened, how it happened, and whether there are other problems we have yet to uncover,” Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco, R-Boonton, told Fox News Digital.

“Restoring confidence in our elections will require complete transparency from the state, cooperation from all necessary parties, and a commitment to leaving no stone unturned.”

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Bucco said he has already proposed forming a bipartisan select committee with subpoena power that would also work with the federal government on the issue.

Senate Majority Leader Nicholas Scutari, D-Scotch Plains, previously told Fox News Digital the legislature will wait until Sherrill’s probe is complete before identifying “any necessary next steps.”

Bucco, however, said Sherrill’s announcement still leaves “many serious questions” about the veracity of her probe and what changes will be made to secure New Jersey elections.

“Like, why is the investigation limited, and how can anyone say with confidence that only 6,600 non-citizens were improperly registered? New Jerseyans deserve to know exactly what happened, how it happened, and whether there are other problems we have yet to uncover,” Bucco told Fox News Digital.

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Sherrill instructed county officials to continue reviewing names referred to them before early voting begins for the midterms.

Mullin’s office also identified four noncitizens it said illegally cast ballots in recent elections — an Israeli national, a Jamaican national, a Liberian national and an Indian national — and said each faces charges.

Tulsi Gabbard delivered a hopeful and emotional message in a video posted to X on Thursday morning, updating the success of her husband Abraham Williams’ bone cancer surgery for sacral chordoma, an extremely rare cancer, and giving an update on the challenges of his recovery.

“A few weeks after the surgery was done, the pathologist and the doctors said that they are confident that they were able to cut out all of the cancerous bone and tissue,” Gabbard said in a 3-minute video. “So here we are now, almost three months after, and he started a very rigorous physical therapy program.”

“He gets frustrated a lot because he wants to be able to make progress faster, and sometimes he’s pushed a little bit too far, but overall, Abraham is progressing very well,” Gabbard continued. “The reality is that the battle isn’t over yet.”

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Gabbard announced her resignation in May from the Trump administration as director of national intelligence to support her husband’s cancer fight. She officially stepped down from President Donald Trump’s Cabinet at the end of June.

“We are so grateful to God for His unconditional love, for being our shelter, for being our peace and our strength,” Gabbard said at the end of the video.

“We want to say thank you to the doctors, the surgeon, the pathologist, the anesthesiologist. We want say thank to all of you sharing the most beautiful prayers and well wishes with us. Mahalo nui loa to you all.”

She was joined on camera with a tight, loving hug from Abraham.

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“Love you, darlin’,” he said.

“I love you,” she replied.

The video detailed the nature of the surgery and treatment options of what she called a “one in a million type of cancer.”

“Earlier this year, my husband Abraham was diagnosed with cancer,” she began in the video. “I picked up the phone, and Abraham’s voice was different. He said that he got a call from his doctor, and the doctor told him that he has sacral chordoma, very, very rare, one in a million type of cancer.”

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She said they elected the surgery over radiation, with the video showing the tender moments before he went “under heavy anesthesia for almost eight hours.”

“His body, as he started to come out, started reacting to the drugs that were in his body,” she continued. “It was tough.”

“So that night, more than a few times, Abraham said, I want to get up. He had some help from some great nurses to just start very, very slowly walking around,” she recalled. “He would take a few steps. He would throw up as he was trying to walk around, but he kept going.”

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Abraham also “refused to take any narcotic pain medication,” she added, “so he really had to push through the post-operative pain.”

For now, Gabbard reports that her husband is cancer free, but that is going to be continued to be monitored.

“You’ll have to continue to get frequent MRIs to keep an eye on whether or not this cancer is coming back either in the same place or in other parts of his body,” she said.

A sacral chordoma is a rare, slow-growing cancerous bone tumor that develops in the sacrum, the triangular bone at the base of the spine above the tailbone.

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“This has been a challenging time for us and is hard to talk about,” Gabbard wrote on X, sharing the video. “But so many of you have reached out asking how he’s doing, and sharing your prayers and well wishes with us.

“We made this video to share a little about what this journey has been like, and to update you on his recovery. Mahalo for all of the love and support.”

The founder of a Seattle nonprofit that cleans up discarded drug paraphernalia distributed through city and county harm reduction programs says she was stunned to learn her organization is now under state investigation over how it handles those same supplies.

Andrea Suarez is the founder of We Heart Seattle. She rallies volunteers to pick up and dispose of needles, smoking supplies such as pipes and foil, and other drug-use items distributed through King County “harm reduction” programs. Critics argue the policies can enable continued drug use rather than moving people toward treatment and recovery.

“One of the biggest advocacy work I have done is that I go to the needle exchange and I get what they call the ‘party kit,’ and I demonstrated that our King County ‘Health’ Department is handing out cookers and tourniquets and glass pipes and paraphernalia to do drugs,” Suarez told Fox News Digital. “I was referring to this ‘party kit’ as a ‘suicide kit’ with very little, if no information on where to get medical detox.”

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Suarez has been working on her mission of cleaner streets, parks and playgrounds for seven years, and We Heart Seattle has logged more than 50,000 hours of volunteer service. Founded in 2020 as a solo operation, Suarez has built an army of hundreds of volunteers over the past six-and-a-half years.

The group is now facing a state workplace-safety investigation, which Suarez says is its first government probe.

We Heart Seattle is under investigation by the Washington Department of Labor & Industries following a complaint alleging “improper handling and collection of hypodermic needles and fentanyl paraphernalia,” according to documents sent to Suarez from the Washington Department of Labor & Industries and viewed by Fox News Digital.

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Suarez denied wrongdoing and said the group uses gloves, grabbers and sharps-disposal procedures, while pointing to safety guidance posted on We Heart Seattle’s website. That plan includes guiding supporters on what to wear to protect themselves from potential hazards, including wearing long pants and sleeves and closed-toed boots. The website also provides guidance for volunteers to stay safe while picking up debris.

Suarez argued there is a double standard in the state scrutinizing how her group handles discarded drug-use supplies while local harm reduction programs distribute some of the same types of materials.

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“We have been out here for… going on seven years every day, every weekend we’re out there picking up needles and trash. And for my ‘thank you’ letter from the government, it was this letter saying, ‘You’re under investigation for allegedly improperly handling this very equipment that they hand out with no instructions.'”

Suarez said that after learning of the investigation, she visited a harm reduction site and asked for specific guidance on handling “fentanyl foil” and other dangerous drug supplies, but said staff did not provide her with such instructions.

The Washington Department of Labor & Industries told Fox News Digital that the investigation stems from a complaint made by someone outside of the organization.

TAXPAYER-FUNDED ‘METH MANSION’ UNDER FIRE AS CRIME CONCERNS MOUNT AROUND HOMELESS CAMPUS

Spokesman Matt Ross said inspections can take up to six months, and that once complete, the results are made available to the public. He said there’s a related probe into a temporary staffing agency, but declined to provide specifics.

“Inspectors may issue violations if an organization isn’t meeting those requirements, and may also issue violations for other safety hazards they observe in the course of an inspection,” he said. “The inspectors also work with the organizations on the best way to address the hazards they find. Potential penalties will depend on the specifics of the violations.”

Suarez criticized state and local harm reduction policies, arguing they contribute to the conditions her volunteers are cleaning up.

SOCIALIST MAYOR KATIE WILSON SILENT AMID PROTESTS OVER ‘HUMAN DUMPING GROUND’ AHEAD OF US WORLD CUP MATCH

“You have to look at the optics of a state, a county, a city level that allows people to openly use lethal and illegal narcotics like methamphetamines and fentanyl, and they give you the paraphernalia to use those drugs on our taxpayer dime, to use in public spaces with no consequences… and then I’m over hear trying to manage the problem, clean up our dog parks, clean up our children’s merry-go-rounds, ensuring our playgrounds don’t have needles and foil sticking up through the grass, and I’m the one under investigation,” said Suarez.

“The optics are egregious,” she said.

She also painted a gruesome picture of life in Seattle’s public spaces.

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“I think I’m going to go after the state to say, ‘Why aren’t you training me before I go into our city library when there’s drug addicts slumped over in all of the computer chairs, using our bathrooms, shooting drugs and leaving their paraphernalia all around the perimeter, putting me or my child or dog at risk of picking something up and getting a blood-borne pathogen infection of sorts,’ right?” she said. “So this whole city is a blood-borne pathogen risk for everybody. I think that’s why people don’t go to these public places anymore, and they really frankly have been overtaken by drug users.”

Suarez said she plans to look into whether her group was unfairly targeted. She described herself as relatively apolitical before starting the nonprofit, but said its cleanup work has increasingly drawn the organization into political disputes over Seattle’s drug and homelessness policies.

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King County defended its harm reduction approach, saying it is intended to reduce overdoses while connecting people with treatment and other services.

“The influx of fentanyl led to a sharp rise in fatal overdoses across the U.S. and in King County. Our comprehensive approach to overdose response and recovery focuses on getting more people into treatment and preventing more overdoses,” spokesperson Sharon Bogan said, adding that the county saw a “promising overall decline in overdoses” of 32% between 2023 and 2025.

Representatives from the city of Seattle did not return a request for comment.

EXCLUSIVE: The agency overseeing U.S. courthouses is pushing back against a new bill that would give the judicial branch more property control, arguing that the judiciary has a history of mismanaging its buildings.

The General Services Administration (GSA), which serves as landlord for most federal courthouse space, said the bill would allow the judiciary to assume real property authority over facilities in up to 10 federal judicial districts from the GSA, including responsibility for repairing and maintaining facilities.

The bill, the Judicial Space and Facilities Management Effectiveness Act, was introduced July 30 by U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and John Boozman, R-Ark. Proponents of the bill argue that it is necessary because the GSA itself has poorly maintained judicial facilities.

Pointing to a building-management delegation program approved as a pilot in 1988, the GSA said participating courts encountered significant repair costs after assuming greater facilities responsibilities. Judiciary records say GSA changed the program in 2004 to make participating agencies responsible for additional repair costs, including major and unforeseen repairs, and that the Judicial Conference voted in 2005 to withdraw from the program as a cost-saving measure.

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Only one courthouse, the Hugo Black Federal Courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama, remained under the judiciary, the agency said. The Judicial Conference later approved continued delegated management authority for the Birmingham courthouse under specified cost limits and provisions for catastrophic repairs.

The building reportedly deteriorated significantly and accumulated $57.7 million in delinquent maintenance costs. An analysis revealed extensive safety hazards, including improper chemical storage, inoperable elevator emergency phones and poorly maintained fire protection systems, among other issues, according to the GSA.

“The facility’s unique repair needs reflect poor maintenance practices that have shortened the useful life of expensive, critical systems, including elevators, chiller plants, and boilers,” the agency said.

Despite holding autonomy over the courthouse, the judiciary repeatedly turned to the GSA for technical assistance with complex repairs, the agency said. The judiciary also relied on GSA service contract templates to assist with its own contracting needs, according to the agency.

After GSA shifted additional maintenance responsibilities to participating courts, the Judicial Conference endorsed ending the judiciary’s participation in September 2005 “as a cost-savings measure,” according to Judiciary records.

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The judiciary strongly disputed those claims in a statement to Fox News Digital.

During a Senate hearing, Judge Julia S. Gibbons and then-Sen. Jeff Sessions both “enthusiastically praised” the property management results at the Birmingham courthouse, the judiciary said.

“There simply was no suggestion of failure at that hearing, and in fact the Judiciary manages repairs in the Birmingham courthouse, with no GSA involvement, to this day,” an Administrative Office spokesman said.

“The courts have a long history of managing complex business operations, such as budgets, finances, and information technology.”

The judiciary also pointed to the current GSA-managed maintenance backlog, which it said has ballooned to more than $8.3 billion, leaving federal courthouses to cope with broken elevators, severe storm damage and undrinkable water. GSA has also acknowledged having courthouse repair and alteration liabilities.

“The Judiciary has endured 15 years of sustained failure to maintain our nation’s courthouses. We are seeking Real Property Authority for one reason—we have no choice,” the Administrative Office spokesman said.

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The GSA attributed the maintenance backlog to a “broken Congressional authorization and appropriations process,” pointing to delays and funding shortfalls. The agency said GSA Administrator Edward Forst has already made unprecedented efforts to address the backlog.

“The fundamental issue at hand is outdated Congressional funding and approval rules,” Forst said. “I’m leading an unprecedented effort to reimagine federal building management by raising the prospectus threshold and expanding access to the Federal Buildings Fund with support from 22 cabinet members and agency heads. Those changes — not Judiciary management — are what’s necessary to remediate and renew America’s federal facilities and courthouses.”

Separately, the GSA said it successfully completed construction on the new U.S. Courthouse in Huntsville, Alabama, in 2024. The project was completed $7 million under budget and features state-of-the-art security, energy efficiency and operations technology.

Forst claimed that the agency is “the most experienced and efficient building manager in the federal government.”

“Multiple Government Accountability Office (GAO) studies show that breaking our model apart would not make courthouse projects faster, cheaper, or better-built. It would make them more fragmented, more expensive, less accountable, and less safe,” Forst said.

“Trials and audits have shown that the Judiciary struggles with basic upkeep and maintenance of their facilities, doesn’t effectively utilize its vast space, and is not equipped with the financial resources or expertise to manage their own buildings,” GSA added.

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GAO has separately found that congressional funding constraints have contributed to deferred maintenance in federal buildings and has cautioned that transferring real property authority to the Judiciary would not itself provide additional funding and would require sufficient real property expertise.

Defending the branch’s capability, an Administrative Office spokesperson argued that basic facilities upkeep is inherently tied to their work. “Maintaining a safe, functional environment is essential to the administration of justice,” the spokesperson said.

“Starting with the proposed pilot program, the Judiciary has the capacity to make property management decisions that better serve the public and the courts.”

As roughly two dozen Texas families fight to keep the Ten Commandments off public school walls, one Austin-area mom is making no apologies for wanting them in her kindergartner’s classroom.

Brittany McFarland, a Christian mother whose 5-year-old daughter attends public school in Texas, told Fox News Digital she was “pleasantly surprised” by the new classroom displays and said the fierce backlash over them reflects a much bigger battle over faith, values and religious liberty in America’s public schools.

“I feel like our country, we’ve been kind of forced to erase religion and discussion of religion in schools in general,” McFarland said. “Almost to the point where the topic is taboo, and our children are afraid and uncomfortable to mention their faith or talk anything about it.”

McFarland said she and her husband had weighed whether public school was still the right choice for their daughter but said learning about the Ten Commandments law gave her a “sense of hope” about the direction of public education.

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“It gave me a renewed sense of hope in our school systems,” she said.

The fight is straightforward. Texas requires public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms, and roughly two dozen families want the Supreme Court to block the law.

The families, represented by groups including the ACLU, argue the state is crossing a constitutional line by putting a religious text in public school classrooms. They say decisions about a child’s religious upbringing should be left to parents and faith communities, not the government, and warn the displays could make students from other religious or nonreligious backgrounds feel excluded or pressured.

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Texas has defended the law, and a federal appeals court upheld it, reasoning that students are not required to recite the Ten Commandments, believe them or affirm their religious origins.

Now the families are asking the Supreme Court to step in. The justices have not yet agreed to hear the case. If they do, the dispute could become a major test of how the First Amendment applies to religious expression in public schools.

McFarland rejects the characterization that simply displaying the Ten Commandments amounts to imposing Christianity on students.

“I look at the Ten Commandments as a reminder to do the right thing,” she told Fox News Digital. “They’re good standards for children to be exposed to.”

McFarland pointed to commandments against stealing and the instruction to honor one’s father and mother as examples of principles she believes have value for children.

“These are things that we should be talking about in our homes and in our classrooms,” she said.

McFarland also stressed that, based on what she has seen in her daughter’s classroom and others, the Ten Commandments are not being presented as something students must recite or affirm.

“It’s not like you’re walking to the classroom, and you’re seeing a five-by-six poster with it in huge font, right, front and center. That’s not what’s happening,” she said.

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“I don’t see this posting historically significant religious text as imposing religion at all. It’s not like the children are having to recite it. It’s not like they’re standing up and giving a Pledge of Allegiance to it. It’s nothing of that sort.”

McFarland said her school district recently informed parents that teachers are instructed to tell students who ask about the poster that it is displayed because of Texas law. According to the message McFarland read to Fox News Digital, teachers would contact parents if students asked specific questions about its contents rather than providing religious instruction themselves.

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“To me, that’s not imposing religion upon anyone,” McFarland said. “That’s giving them the opportunity to go home and talk about it. It’s opening up conversation that can occur within the home and the walls of your home.”

Opponents, however, said the fact that students are not required to recite the text does not resolve their concerns. The ACLU has described the displays as government-imposed religion and argues they could lead to religious coercion, bullying or stigmatization. Some parents involved in the challenge said the mandate could make children who follow other faiths or no faith at all feel that the state favors one set of beliefs over their own.

An Austin interfaith couple involved in the case has also argued that parents, rather than politicians, should decide how their children receive religious education.

McFarland said she actually agrees with that principle, but disputes that a classroom display constitutes religious instruction.

“I would actually tend to agree with the family that politicians shouldn’t have a role in how teachers are specifically teaching religion to our children or trying to influence them on religion,” McFarland said. “However, I see this very differently.”

“To me, having a poster up is not teaching your child that religion,” she added.

McFarland compared the distinction to a student seeing a human anatomy poster hanging in a health classroom, arguing that the presence of the material does not mean the child is being forced to receive instruction about everything depicted on it.

She also pushed back on concerns that young children could feel pressured to adopt the religious beliefs contained in the Ten Commandments.

“Five-year-olds can’t read, for the most part,” McFarland said, adding that she does not believe her daughter is entering the classroom, reading the poster and feeling pressure to embrace a particular faith.

“Religion should not be taught from the teachers or enforced by the teachers, but this isn’t that,” she said.

McFarland said she believes the controversy has become about something larger than the physical display itself.

“I don’t think that this fight is really a poster in the classroom,” she said. “I think it’s about religious liberties.”

At the same time, McFarland said she believes students would benefit from learning more about faith traditions beyond their own.

“I think this is where our country could do a lot better, actually,” she said. “If we took more time to learn about other faiths and other religions, we could see the good in other people and respect them, even though we have differences.”

McFarland said Americans should be able to acknowledge those differences without treating them as inherently threatening.

“We need to stop finding so many differences, and we need to see the good in our differences,” she said.

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For McFarland, the debate ultimately comes back to what she wants her daughters to learn about expressing their own beliefs.

“I want my daughters to stand up for what’s right,” McFarland said. “I teach my family that if you stand for nothing, you’re gonna fall for anything.”

“Don’t be embarrassed or ashamed to stand up for your religious beliefs,” she continued. “We just need to stand up and use our voices.”

Fox News’ Shannon Bream and Bill Mears contributed to this report.

The question of which party controls the House majority for the latter half of President Donald Trump’s term could come down to a group of suburbs just north of New York City.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., the first Republican to represent the area in roughly 40 years, is facing off against Democrat Army veteran Cait Conley in his bid for a third term in New York’s 17th Congressional District.

The expected close margins and dwindling number of battleground districts mean the race has garnered national attention, but Lawler is accusing Conley of ducking national-level debates.

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“It is, you know, vitally important for the voters in my district to hear from us — and I think, frankly, nationally, folks would benefit from it because it’s one of a handful of seats that really is going to make the difference and decide control of Congress,” Lawler told Fox News Digital.

“So, to me, if you’re running for public office, you should be able to stand on your own two feet and answer the questions from reporters, but moreover, make the direct and compelling case to voters about why you should be elected.”

Lawler said he challenged Conley to six debates after she won the primary to take him on, but that she has so far agreed to only two that are hosted by local networks.

When reached by Fox News Digital for comment, Conley’s campaign confirmed that she agreed to two debates with Lawler and accused him of running cover for fellow Republicans.

“Mike Lawler will do anything to avoid delivering for his constituents, like last week, when he went on CNN to defend domestic abuser Max Miller. While he continues to act like a spoiled brat begging for more national air time to lie about his record, Cait is focused on hearing directly from voters, who are sick of being represented by a career political hack and ready for someone who puts country over party,” Conley’s communications director, Maddy Rosen, said.

“Cait looks forward to their two scheduled televised debates where she will hold Mike Lawler accountable for failing the Hudson Valley, voting with Trump 100% of the time, and being a spineless, self-serving politician.”

Lawler said her refusal to agree to more debates showed that Conley was “not prepared” for the House and accused her of not even residing in the district she’s running to represent.

Conley’s communications director did not address the claims of her residency, but the candidate’s website touts her as a “fourth-generation Hudson Valley native.” Lawler was born and raised in the district.

Tying the GOP lawmaker to Trump is likely to be an oft-used attack by Democrats as the election season wears on, with Lawler being one of three House Republicans in the entire country who won their seats despite their districts voting for Kamala Harris in 2024.

But Lawler, who has sought to forge a reputation as a moderate, is in turn accusing Conley of pushing the same ideological issues as the far-left reaches of her party, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

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“The fact is, she can try to obfuscate here, and she can try and hide, but she stands shoulder to shoulder with them, and she refuses to denounce any of them,” Lawler said, referring to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). “In fact, she praised Zohran Mamdani throughout the primary campaign. So to me, at the end of the day, whatever she calls herself doesn’t really matter. It’s the policies.”

Republicans are pointing to Mamdani and other DSA figures as a warning sign of where the Democratic Party is headed, arguing they’ll push the country further left if they win in the midterms.

In Lawler’s district just outside the Big Apple, that warning could be critical to his keeping the seat red.

Lawler defeated former Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., to win the seat in 2022. He then defended it against former Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y. With just a handful of swing districts on either side, the race for the House majority is almost guaranteed to be close.

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Democrats need a net gain of just three seats to win the majority back from Republicans in November.

FIRST ON FOX: Some Senate Republicans worry that their secret weapon on the campaign trail, President Donald Trump, isn’t making a strong enough case to voters that there needs to be more Republicans in the upper chamber.

There are only a handful of primary races left between now and November, when the balance of power in the Senate could slip from the GOP’s grasp, with several seats on the line and Senate Democrats hungry to regain control.

And there’s a major issue bogging Republicans down that has spurred internal animosity: the SAVE America Act. Trump’s pressure to pass the election integrity measure and his tendency to bash Republicans for not getting it done has placed vulnerable incumbents in between a rock and a hard place.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital in an interview that while some Republicans are making promises to voters that the bill could pass right now, the better tact would be to push why more Republicans are needed in the Senate.

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“The president made the argument, ‘Well, pass the Save America Act, it will motivate our base,’” Thune said. “Yeah, but I think the base can be plenty motivated by other issues, and particularly by the president getting out there on the campaign trail and telling them why it’s important that they elect Republicans to the Senate.”

“Everybody has their own ideas about how best to communicate our message, but I think our message between now and November ought to be why the Democrats are completely out of step with the American people and why we need to elect more Republicans so we can do things like the SAVE America Act,” he continued.

Anxious Republicans hope to see a shift in messaging from shooting inward at their own to turning their fire on Democrats, who themselves are undergoing a messy ideological change on the campaign trail. Republicans see prime messaging targets with candidates like Dr. Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota pushing left-leaning policies. 

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But the SAVE America Act has consumed much of the oxygen heading into the penultimate stretch of the election cycle. 

The legislation has produced an online dogma that punishes any Republican, including Thune, who tries to convey the political reality in the Senate that Democrats continue to block the bill, and there just aren’t enough Republican votes to pass it as is.

It’s caused private disagreements to take a new life on social media, where proponents, like Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, are sniping at their colleagues for the bill’s failure to launch, despite five attempts at trying to pass it throughout the year in various iterations.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee (NRSC), warned that division would sow disaster for the GOP heading into November.

“There’s no doubt that the road to socialism runs right through a divided Republican Party,” Scott told Fox News Digital. “I hope every American understands that, remembers that, and hears it several times between now and Election Day.”

And with a Senate midterm map with more vulnerable Republicans in play than Democrats, it will be a difficult task for the GOP to maintain and grow their thin, 53-seat majority in the upper chamber.

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Republicans know that Trump will be the key to motivating their base, just as he’s motivated voters in years past, and some hope he’ll stop dragging Republicans through the mud. Thune isn’t the only one that wants to see Trump push more on the road.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., reportedly questioned members of Trump’s political operation during a closed-door meeting last week on when the president would start attacking Democrats instead of members of his own party.

Daines, who helmed the Senate GOP’s campaign arm before Scott in 2024 when they flipped the upper chamber, told Fox News Digital that Trump would be “one of the most important voices in the 2026 election.”

He contended that Trump would be a powerful influence on showing the contrast between “common sense versus crazy” that’s been developing in the Democratic Party.

“We’re seeing the Democrats are just running so far to the left that it’s frightening where the center of gravity is now a Democrat Party,” Daines said. “And this has been one of the more compelling arguments for ‘26, and the president can make that as well as anybody.”

When pressed on Trump’s involvement on the campaign trail, Daines noted that midterm election cycles tend to boil down to complacency versus motivation.

“I think he’s a very important voice here, because in midterm elections, it’s about turning out your base. In midterm elections, the party that’s not in power tends to be angry, and they’re motivated, and they do vote,” Daines said. “The party that is in powers base tends to be a bit more complacent. We’ve got to get our happy, complacent Republican voters out to the polls, because we cannot allow Democrats to take control.”

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Meanwhile, Thune said, “Why not turn [the SAVE America Act] into a campaign issue,” and argued that the key to winning out this cycle will be independent voters who aren’t moored to either party.

But the Beltway issues, like nuking the filibuster and squabbling over legislation that has stalled since March, aren’t helping make the case to those voters, for now, that Republicans should be in charge.

“If you look at Maine, in North Carolina, in Ohio, in Iowa, in Alaska, you know, it’s the Indy voters, it is the middle of the electorate, and we are not talking to them when we are arguing with each other over whether or not to eliminate the filibuster,” Thune said.

“I mean, that’s just not an issue that’s going to win the hearts and minds of the American people in November,” he continued. “So, I’d turn my fire on the Democrats, attack them for being against something that is fundamentally straightforward, simple to understand for the American people, and realize that the best way to get the SAVE Act across the finish line is to elect more Republican senators.”

The man allegedly behind the stabbing death of a Virginia mother in Fairfax County is an immigrant in the country illegally who was admitted by the Biden administration, a federal source tells Fox News.

Alexis Antonio Cedillos-Campos, a 19-year-old Salvadoran national, was caught and released at the southern border during the Biden administration. The source said Cedillos-Campos was allowed into the U.S. in El Paso, Texas, in April 2024.

“[Former President Joe] Biden and [former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas hand-delivered alleged killer Cedillos-Campos to the streets of Fairfax County. They recklessly unleashed millions of unvetted illegal aliens into American communities and abused the law to do so,” DHS said in a statement to Fox News. “President [Donald] Trump and [DHS] Secretary Markwayne Mullin are now enforcing the law, arresting illegal aliens who have no right to be in our country — and have reversed Biden’s deadly catch and release policy.”

Fairfax County Police arrested Cedillos-Campos Wednesday on charges in connection with Monday’s stabbing death of 42-year-old Carmen Lizet Puch. He is being held in the Prince George’s County jail pending extradition to Fairfax County, where he faces a second-degree murder charge, according to police.

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A jogger spotted Puch unconscious just off a popular trail in the affluent Northern Virginia suburb. She had trauma to her upper body and was pronounced dead at the scene, Fairfax County Police Capt. Jason Chandler said during a news conference.

Fairfax County, one of the most affluent counties in America, has seen a series of violent and sexual crimes involving immigrants in the country illegally, including several who were admitted under the Biden administration.

Puch was from Reston, a suburb of Washington, D.C. She was the mother of a young daughter and worked at a nearby restaurant, according to NBC Washington. The outlet reported that “people who knew her … said she was soft-spoken and worked hard to support her young daughter.”

After a jogger called police at about 6:45 a.m. Monday, officers found Puch lying beside her vehicle. NBC Washington reported that sources familiar with the investigation said she was stabbed inside the vehicle.

Puch is not the only Fairfax County victim of violent crime involving an immigrant in the country illegally who was admitted under the Biden administration.

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One case involved 18-year-old Salvadoran immigrant Israel Flores Ortiz, who entered the country illegally in 2024, and was convicted this year of assault and battery involving the groping of several underage girls at Fairfax High School.

Fox News Digital also reported on several homicides and other violent crimes involving immigrants in the country illegally in Fairfax County earlier this year.

Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger has faced criticism over her handling of crime involving immigrants in the country illegally.

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On her first day in office, Spanberger rescinded an executive order by her predecessor, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, that directed state law enforcement agencies to assist federal immigration authorities. She also ordered state and local law enforcement agencies to terminate all 287(g) agreements with ICE and signed an order prohibiting ICE from using state property as a staging area, processing location or operations base for federal civil immigration enforcement activities.

On Wednesday, the White House blamed the Biden administration’s immigration policies for Cedillos-Campos’ presence in the country.

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“This brutal killing of this mother was 100% preventable,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told Fox News. “The Biden administration released this illegal alien MURDERER into our country.”

Bis added that “extreme Democrat politicians’ open border policies have consequences,” pointing to murders, rapes and other violent crimes committed against Americans.

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden and Spanberger for comment.

Americans could soon feel the artificial intelligence boom in an unavoidable place — their monthly electric bills.

Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas finds that the rapid growth of AI data centers could make electricity more expensive for households in the coming years.

And researchers estimate existing data centers that have popped up all over the country in recent years have already pushed average wholesale electricity prices 2% to 6% higher nationwide, with even larger surges in areas where these facilities are concentrated.

The issue is sure to take even more prominence as affordability, emerging technology and the future of energy-sucking data centers becomes central to many Americans’ sentiments at the ballot box.

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The pressure in monthly bills could grow in conjunction with the AI boom. The preferred middle-range scenario for researchers show the cost increases of generating electricity could be 20% to 30% higher by 2028 compared to what it would be without new data centers.

That does not mean a family’s electric bill will jump 20% to 30% — that figure is much more nuanced.

Depending on its size, a single large data center can use as much electricity as a small city, according to estimates compiled by Fed researchers.

Wholesale electricity is only one part of what consumers pay for, alongside costs such as transmission and distribution.

The researchers at the Dallas Fed estimate energy costs make up roughly half of a typical retail electricity price, and wholesale increases generally take time to work their way into household rates. In short – the future of electricity bulls is unclear, but is likely to steadily rise over the next two years.

AMERICANS HIT WITH SOARING ELECTRICITY BILLS AS PRICE HIKES OUTPACE INFLATION NATIONWIDE

At its core, the explanation is straightforward, though the implications are more complex. Data centers need enormous amounts of electricity to run the computers behind AI.

As more data centers connect to the grid, utilities may need additional power plants, transmission lines, substations and other infrastructure to serve them.

Who ultimately pays for those upgrades depends in part on how regulators and utilities divide the costs between data centers and other customers.

The growing strain has is at the center of many political debates.

President Donald Trump has pushed to expand America’s AI infrastructure while backing a voluntary pledge aimed at preventing data centers from driving up household utility bills.

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In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has ordered regulators to halt data center projects seeking to connect to the state’s main power grid until they undergo a comprehensive audit.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has also moved to tighten oversight of large-scale data center development as the state weighs how to balance new investment with rising electricity demand.

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Other governors have gone further, including Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who imposed a one-year moratorium on new hyperscale data centers.

States continue to grapple with concerns over electricity costs, grid reliability and the rapid pace of development.

Another Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member just toppled the party establishment’s preferred candidate, this time in Florida.

Florida state lawmaker Angie Nixon, who recently disrupted a vote in the Florida Legislature with a bullhorn protest inside the state Capitol, defeated establishment-backed candidate Alexander Vindman. 

Nixon, a progressive activist and DSA member, defeated the retired Air Force officer by more than 10 percentage points despite Vindman’s $16.3 million campaign war chest compared to Nixon’s roughly $1 million.

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Nixon’s viral moment came in April when she took a bullhorn to a legislative fight, walking down the aisle and disrupting proceedings on the Florida House floor during final passage of a redistricting bill backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Dressed in a pink jumpsuit and carrying a pink megaphone, Nixon approached the House speaker’s dais and shouted to fellow Florida representatives as the final vote was called. 

She shouted, “This is a violation of the Constitution! It is!”

Nixon continued shouting into the bullhorn for the entirety of the vote. She insisted, “What y’all are doing is illegal!” and “I will not allow you to destroy our democracy!” As she shouted, several colleagues filmed her on their phones.

The protest did not stop the vote. While she continued shouting, “You are out of order!” and “This is a violation of the Constitution,” the Florida House granted final approval of the redistricting bill in an 83-28 vote.

A month later, WUSF reported that Nixon was arrested after she refused to leave DeSantis’ office while protesting the redistricting measure. She was released shortly afterward.

WUSF previously reported that Nixon self-identified as a member of the DSA.

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Nixon also publicly objected to resolutions honoring the late Charlie Kirk. In a September social media post, Nixon called it “BEYOND disrespectful” to honor Kirk because, as she wrote, “that man said some of the most hateful about [sic] Black People and cloaked it in scripture.”

Nixon claimed if someone supported honoring Kirk, “you are a tool of white supremacy.” After his assassination, Nixon also claimed that Kirk was “homophobic, antisemitic, [and] misogynistic.”

On her campaign website, Nixon vows to fight for what she calls a “working families guarantee,” which she says includes Medicare-for-all, free childcare, a national rent freeze, a moratorium on evictions and a universal jobs program with inflation-adjusted wages. 

Her website says the government could pay for the programs by taxing billionaires “so that everyone pays their fair share” and by prioritizing “the needs of everyday Americans instead of spending trillions on war and violence overseas.”

Nixon also advocates for “abolishing ICE and rebuilding immigration enforcement from scratch.” 

“I don’t believe any person is illegal, and I don’t believe human beings should be treated as commodities in a system built to punish rather than to heal,” she has said.

On policing, Nixon has called for “demilitarizing policing and investing in community-based public safety, violence prevention and crisis response.”

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Nixon has also claimed that the U.S. has “fueled the genocide in Palestine.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to Nixon and the DSA for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Peter D’Abrosca contributed to this report.

Conservatives mocked criticism of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s son-in-law, Republican congressional candidate Michael Alfonso, over old Venmo payments with suggestive captions, arguing the notes were being taken too literally as Alfonso called the criticism “wildly dishonest” and turned it into a fundraising pitch.

A post from the DNC’s social media account, FactPost, went viral this week after highlighting Venmo payments Alfonso made with notes reading “The strippers” and “High supplies.” Alfonso responded by sharing screenshots of the payments and saying the captions were jokes.

“It’s wildly dishonest to leave out the part where the ‘strippers’ were $5 because—brace yourself—they obviously weren’t actual strippers. You can write literally anything in a Venmo note. This is called a joke—something the humorless left is incapable of comprehending,” he wrote.

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“Patriots: I would be very grateful for $5 or any amount you can contribute to my campaign. None of the proceeds go to strippers or high supplies—only toward defeating the radical left in November,” he wrote.

The exchange sparked a broader discussion about Venmo payment captions and the joking or unserious descriptions users may attach to payments, with conservatives arguing that Alfonso’s critics were reading too much into the notes.

“I have no idea if there is anything here. I do know that literally not one of my male friends has ever—ever—sent me a Venmo payment with a description that wasn’t a joke,” said National Review editor Charles C.W. Cooke.

“People thinking the Venmo comment line is an actual audit trail,” wrote Wisconsin State Representative Calvin Callahan.

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“Yeah, because people who pay strippers totally put that truthfully in Venmo,” said one user.

“BREAKING: boomers have discovered the Venmo comment section exists,” said New York Post correspondent Lydia Moynihan.

“This is such a Gen Z ‘scandal’ I’m dying Buckle up, because every incoming member of Congress under 30 is going to have something like ‘heroin — $1’ in their Venmo history,” Alfonso’s wife, Evita Duffy-Alfonso, wrote.

“The Left can’t meme, can’t take a joke, and then wonders why it keeps losing young men at the ballot box,” she added.

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“One time my wife Venmoed a bunch of our friends for their share of an Airbnb with risqué captions, got banned from the app, and had to call customer service to explain it was just a joke. Unlike the media, Venmo understood and let it go,” shared Daily Wire bureau chief Tim Rice.

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The 26-year-old congressional candidate advanced Aug. 11 in a crowded GOP primary and is set to face Democrat Fred Clark in November.

Fox News Digital reached out to Alfonso for comment.

One of the betting favorites to replace Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary declared Wednesday that she is not in the running for the job.

The 28-year-old White House press secretary, fresh off maternity leave, announced earlier this month that she would end her tenure at the podium at the end of August to spend more time with her two young children.

As speculation continued to swirl over whom President Donald Trump would tap to succeed Leavitt, bettors on prediction market platform Kalshi began favoring Alina Habba for the role.

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Habba, who serves as senior adviser to the attorney general for U.S. attorneys, was previously floated for the position after Trump won re-election.

Bettors on Kalshi gave Habba a 35% chance of being named Leavitt’s replacement at the time before she publicly dismissed the speculation.

Habba, however, threw cold water on that idea.

“Flattered by the Kalshi odds, but I’m not in the running for any job,” Habba posted on X.

“However, if I’m getting a new one, I’d love for one of these anonymous sources to let me know first,” she continued. “Fake news remains the undefeated champ…well…until I come at them.”

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When speculation emerged about Habba potentially becoming press secretary following Trump’s 2024 election victory, she said she was “flattered” by the consideration but believed she would “be better served in other capacities.”

Habba went on to serve just over two months as counselor to the president before being appointed interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey. After a federal appeals court upheld a ruling that her subsequent service as acting U.S. attorney was unlawful, she resigned from the position and was later named senior adviser to the attorney general for U.S. attorneys.

Habba also previously served as Trump’s personal attorney and was a high-profile surrogate during his 2024 presidential campaign.

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Following Habba’s post Wednesday, CNN political commentator Scott Jennings became the new betting favorite on Kalshi, followed by Leavitt’s deputy, Anna Kelly.

Jennings, a former aide to President George W. Bush, was also reportedly considered for the press secretary role after Trump won the 2024 election before Leavitt was ultimately selected.

Trump has touted Jennings’ recent book and referred to him as a “patriot” who “gets it.”

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“The next press secretary will undoubtedly be someone who has a strong existing relationship with President Trump,” former White House press secretary Sean Spicer previously told Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Ashley J. DiMella contributed to this report.

The co-chair of New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America has railed against the wealthy and championed the working class — while living in a roughly $1.4 million Brooklyn home purchased and renovated by his parents.

Property records show that a family LLC purchased the Bed-Stuy home in 2019. Gordillo’s father, a Peruvian immigrant and successful businessman, told the New York Post that he renovated the property and allows his two sons, including the DSA co-chair, to live there.

The arrangement has drawn scrutiny because Gordillo has become a prominent voice in New York City’s democratic socialist movement while criticizing wealth, high investment returns and the affordability pressures facing working-class residents. Critics say his living arrangement — in a valuable Brooklyn property purchased and renovated by his family — undercuts that message and highlights the contrast between his political rhetoric and the financial advantages provided by his family.

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“Nothing says working class like a $1.4M townhouse your daddy bought you,” New York City Councilwoman Joann Ariola wrote on X.

Gordillo, a Yale graduate with an art degree, lists his occupation as a “union electrician” on social media.

Gordillo attracted controversy in July when he told Fox News that the DSA doesn’t “think that anyone should have a constitutional right to double-digit returns on their investment.” His father’s business success helped provide the family with the means to purchase and renovate the Brooklyn property in an increasingly expensive New York City

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“I am shocked, just shocked that the co-chair of the NY Socialist party lives like a king in [the] $1 million+ home his parents bought for him in cool Bed-Stuy,” former New York State Senate candidate Maria Danzillo wrote. “Who would have ever guessed that a [New York City DSA] gentrifier doesn’t have to worry about paying rent or any of the other mundane problems actual working class people have to contend with?”

In February, Gordillo complained that “millionaires don’t actually leave New York the way other income groups do,” arguing that it was unfair that lower income people and minorities were being priced out of the city.

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“Not only did DSA co-chair Gustavo Gordillo’s parents buy him this rowhouse, they converted it from a two family and renovated it into a luxury single-family home for him,” New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino said on X. “Exactly the kind of ‘greed’ the DSA rails against on a daily basis, and reducing valuable housing inventory by one more unit, which is supposedly something the DSA cares very deeply about.”

Gordillo and his father did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

“In Dostoevsky’s novel ‘The Possessed,’ it was the sons of rich boomers who were the most in love with socialism. Not the poor. The more things change, the more things stay the same,” Manhattan Institute senior fellow Rob Henderson wrote on X.

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Gordillo acknowledged his wealthy upbringing in an August interview with the New York Times, squaring the apparent gap between his affluence and ideology by arguing that the democratic socialist project seeks to “build a world” where his parent’s success story is “not exceptional.”

A Missouri judge handed President Donald Trump and Republicans a major redistricting victory Wednesday, ruling that the state’s referendum process cannot be used to challenge congressional maps drawn by the Legislature and allowing a new GOP-friendly map to remain in place for November’s midterm elections.

Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green ruled Wednesday that Missouri’s constitutional referendum provisions “do not apply to congressional redistricting enacted by the General Assembly,” siding with Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in a closely watched fight over a Trump-backed map that could help determine control of the U.S. House.

Green also ruled that Hoskins’ decision not to certify the referendum petition was “lawful” and ordered that the Republican-backed congressional map “remains in full force and effect for the 2026 general election.”

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Plaintiff Richard von Glahn appealed the ruling Wednesday evening, according to the court docket.

The ruling preserves a map passed by Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature after Trump urged GOP-controlled states to redraw congressional boundaries ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The new boundaries are aimed at giving Republicans an opportunity to defeat Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City. Missouri’s current eight-member House delegation consists of six Republicans and two Democrats.

The map splits portions of Kansas City between neighboring Republican-held districts and stretches the remainder of Cleaver’s 5th Congressional District east into Republican-heavy rural areas. About 59% of voters in the reshaped district are new to it, according to an Associated Press estimate.

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Republican state Sen. Rick Brattin won the GOP primary in the redrawn district earlier this month, while Cleaver was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

The new boundaries were already used in Missouri’s August primaries.

Opponents collected thousands of signatures seeking to force a statewide referendum on the map, but Hoskins rejected the petition, arguing that Missouri’s Constitution does not allow congressional redistricting to be put to a referendum.

Green agreed, entering judgment for Hoskins and the Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee and Missouri Republican State Committee, which intervened in the case.

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The Missouri fight is part of a broader national redistricting battle ahead of November.

Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe called lawmakers into a special session last year after Trump urged Republican-led states to redraw congressional boundaries ahead of the midterms.

Missouri became the second Republican-led state, after Texas, to pursue new congressional boundaries as part of that push.

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Green’s ruling leaves the Trump-backed map in place while the case moves to the appeals court.

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Republican Rep. Cory Mills of Florida, facing a pair of controversies, is the latest in a growing list of congressional incumbents sent packing in party primaries this year.

Twelve House members and two senators have been ousted in the 2026 midterms as they bid for renomination, according to the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

“It’s one of the highest numbers in decades in a non-national redistricting year,” Center for Politics Communications Director Kyle Kondik told Fox News Digital.

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Kondik noted that “the years that the number was higher are years that end in the number two, which are full national redistricting years. This was a partial redistricting year, but it’s a very high number historically.”

While the rare but not unheard of redistricting push over the past year contributed to some of the losses by incumbents, there were plenty of other factors. Those include incumbents wounded by scandals, President Donald Trump’s moves to oust some GOP lawmakers, the increasing push by Democrats for generational change and the successful movement by the far left to target more moderate, establishment-backed Democrats in nomination showdowns.

Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan was defeated earlier this month by a left-wing challenger, state Rep. Donavan McKinney, who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman of New York was ousted in the state’s June primary by progressive challenger Brad Lander, a former New York City comptroller who was backed by socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

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Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York, a Democrat who serves as Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair, was defeated by community organizer and activist Darializa Avila Chevalier, a DSA member who was also supported by Mamdani. Age was also a factor in the race, as the 32-year-old Chevalier ousted the 71-year-old Espaillat.

Ideology and age were also key ingredients in DSA member Melat Kiros’ victory over more moderate Democratic Rep. Diana Degette of Colorado, who has served in the House for nearly three decades.

Age and the push for fresh faces fueled a victory by 38-year-old Democratic Rep. Christian Menefee, who won a special congressional election earlier this year, over Rep. Al Green, a fellow Democrat who turns 79 next month. The two incumbents faced off for a House seat redrawn through a Texas Republican redistricting push.

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Redistricting in Texas also forced Democratic Rep. Julie Johnson into a showdown in the state’s 33rd Congressional District against her predecessor, former Rep. Colin Allred, which Allred won in a runoff election.

Generational change was the key factor as 47-year-old former Mayor Luke Bronin of Hartford, Connecticut, scored a victory in the Democratic primary over nearly 30-year congressional veteran Rep. John Larson, who is 78.

Trump played a key role in the ouster of Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana earlier this year. Cassidy was one of a handful of Republicans who voted to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial five years ago.

Meanwhile, longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn was defeated in the Texas GOP Senate nomination runoff election in late May by state Attorney General Ken Paxton, a MAGA firebrand and major supporter of the president. Trump stayed neutral during the year-long bitter battle but endorsed Paxton at the last minute ahead of the runoff.

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Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a vocal Republican Trump critic, lost his renomination bid to former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, who was backed by the president.

Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas went down in defeat to a more conservative challenger, state Rep. Steve Toth, who cast the incumbent as anti-Trump. While the president remained neutral in the race, Toth was supported by conservative firebrand Sen. Ted Cruz.

Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee lost in his bid for renomination despite having Trump’s endorsement.

Ogles, saddled by controversial comments and social media posts in recent years, was defeated by former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher, who was backed by Gov. Bill Lee, former Gov. Bill Haslam and other prominent Republicans including former Trump Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.

In Florida, Mills was topped by Ryan Elijah, a former local television news and sports reporter, in a four-way GOP primary in the right-leaning 7th Congressional District.

Elijah repeatedly targeted Mills over a House Ethics Committee investigation into the congressman and the restraining order placed against Mills by a judge last year after a former girlfriend said the two-term lawmaker threatened to release sexually explicit videos of her.

Mills, an Army veteran and former military contractor, denied the allegations but faced bipartisan calls to resign. An endorsement earlier this year from President Donald Trump wasn’t enough to save him in Tuesday’s primary.

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Earlier this year, GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas, who had advanced to a runoff election, quit his race after admitting to an affair with a former staffer who died by suicide.

Facing heavy pressure from House leaders, he resigned from Congress entirely weeks later.

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).