US updates

Illinois law enforcement is preparing new ways to best serve and protect law-abiding citizens as the state’s new sweeping criminal justice reform bill takes effect Sunday, a local sheriff said.  "We've spent a lot of time trying to prepare for what's coming," Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Bacon told Fox News. "Trying to sift through a thousand pages to determine where our role is and what's going to change and how we can best serve the citizens that we protect has been first and foremost for us." Illinois'  Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today  (SAFE-T) Act, which went into effect Jan. 1, overhauled Illinois' justice system with provisions like limiting when defendants can be deemed flight risks and allowing defendants under electronic monitoring to leave home for 48 hours before they can be charged with escape. It was also supposed to eliminate cash bail, but the state's Supreme Court stayed that portion hours before the law w...

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Three Chicago police officers died by suicide in the final weeks of 2022, adding to a troubling trend over the past few years which several experts told Fox News Digital must be more seriously addressed in 2023. A 51-year-old off-duty Chicago police officer took his own life on the morning of Dec. 22, marking the seventh police officer suicide of 2022 and the third since Dec. 15, WLS-TV reported . On the morning of Dec. 20, a female Chicago police officer in her 30s was found dead in her home from suicide, and a 58-year-old female officer was found dead of an apparent suicide on Dec. 15. DEFUNDING POLICE, VILIFYING THEM 'AT EVERY TURN' CONTRIBUTING TO OFFICER SUICIDES, EXPERTS SAY Over the past four years, 20 Chicago police officers are believed to have died from suicide and a 2017 Justice Department res...

Two men were taken into custody in Georgia in a $22 million drug bust, according to authorities. Candido Rangel Garcia, 45, and Aldolfo Solorio Garcia, 31, were arrested during a traffic stop in Oakwood, Georgia , shortly after 10 p.m. on Friday, according to the Hall County Sheriff's Office. About 305 kilos of liquid methamphetamine were seized with the assistance of drug investigators with the Hall County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit. ATLANTA JAIL WITHOUT RUNNING WATER, HEAT FOR DAYS, RELATIVES OF INMATES SAY The drugs were being transported in multiple gas can-like containers, the sheriff's office said, and the estimated street value is $22 million. The two suspects were charged with trafficking methamphetamine , and both are being held without bond. ATLANTA SUSPECTS VANDALIZE HISTORIC CHURCH WITH THREATENING GRAFFITI; FBI OFFERS $10K REWARD The sheriff's office said it does not anticipate any further arrests in connection with the drug bust. so...

A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of a Florida school district’s policy that separates school bathrooms by biological sex. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced its 7-4 decision on Friday, ruling that the St. Johns County School Board did not discriminate against transgender students based on sex, or violate federal civil rights law by requiring transgender students to use gender-neutral bathrooms or bathrooms matching their biological sex. The court’s decision was split down party lines, with seven justices appointed by Republican presidents siding with the school district and four justices appointed by Democratic presidents siding with Drew Adams, a biological female, who sued the district in 2017 after not being allowed to use the boys restroom. A three-judge panel from the appeals court previously sided with Adams in 2020, but the full appeals court decided to take up the case. FEMALE SWIMMER WHO TIED LIA THOMAS SLAMS TRANSGENDER SPORTS POLICY: TAKING WOME...

Officials have identified the two people who were killed by a rock slide in Yosemite National Park on Tuesday morning . According to a statement released by the National Park Service, the victims have been identified as 51-year-old Georgios Theocharous and 35-year-old Ming Yan, a married couple from San Jose, California. The incident took place on El Portal Road, near Big Oak Flat Road at approximately 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 27 . OREGON, WASHINGTON HIT WITH DEADLY STORMS, FLOODING The section of Highway 140 hugs the Merced River on one side and large, rocky hills on the other side. The road leads to Yosemite Valley to the east and one of the park's three western entrances to the west . The couple's Dodge Ram was hit by Rocks that fell from 1,000 feet above El Portal Road. The force of the rockfall pushed their rented truck off the road and onto the embankment of the Merced River. HEAVY RAIN SLAMS CENTRAL AND NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, LEADING TO WIDESPREAD ROAD CLOSURES AND EV...

A Maryland-based rapper was taken into custody in Florida following allegations of human trafficking , according to authorities. Monriko Clements, also known as King Swuice, allegedly met a 23-year-old woman on a dating website and took her to Florida to sell her body for sex, investigators said. He would then keep the money she made from the commercial sex. Clements had begun advertising the woman, his one-time girlfriend, shortly after meeting her online, and started setting up arrangements. She had recently lost her job and Clements promised her fast money through prostitution. ARKANSAS TEACHER'S ASSISTANT PLEADS GUILTY TO PRODUCTION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY But after selling her services, Clements kept the $20,000 she earned. According to police , the victim was able to free herself from Clements by jumping out of a moving vehicle. "She jumped out of a moving car, risking injury and death because she could not think of a better way of avoiding the beatings," State A...

Scientology leader David Miscavige is nowhere to be found as attempts are made to serve the 62-year-old with a child trafficking lawsuit that names him as a defendant, according to public court documents and the Tampa Bay Times . The court documents show process servers attempted to serve papers to Miscavige 27 different times over the past few months in the Clearwater, Fla. area and in Los Angeles to no avail. A document filed in Florida court on Dec. 13 read, "there is more than enough evidence to demonstrate that [Miscaviage] has intentionally concealed his location and erected obstacles to evade personal services of process." The Church of Scientology's Public Affairs Director Karin Pouw told Fox News Digital Miscavige is "not running from the law." She declined to comment further on the pending lawsuit. KIRSTIE ALLEY REMEMBERED BY CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY AS 'BELOVED MEMBER' AND 'CHAMPION FOR DRUG REHABILITATION' Former Scientology church...

A 15-week ban on abortions in Arizona can go into effect and doctors can’t be charged under a more than 100-year-old pre-statehood law that bans nearly all abortions, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Friday.  The 15-week law was passed by the state legislature earlier this year following the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and is far less restrictive than the 1864 near-total ban, which the appeals court decided not to repeal but said can’t be enforced for health professionals.  The appeals court ruled that laws passed since 1864 allow doctors to perform the procedure; however, non-health professionals would still be subject to punishment.  Doctors are subject to violating the 15-week ban.  PRO-CHOICE ACTIVISTS CLAIM ABORTION BANS VIOLATE THIER RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN NEW LAWSUITS   Republican Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich had asked for the pre-statehood ban to be enforced following the overturning of Roe.  Democrat Kris Mayes, wh...

MOSCOW, Idaho – Neighbors of the Washington State University graduate student arrested in Pennsylvania Friday morning in connection with the murders of four Idaho co-eds were shocked to learn the alleged killer – who had evaded police – was living among them in their typically "quiet" community. Bryan Christopher Kohberger was arrested thousands of miles from Idaho, in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania , early Friday morning. But police have since said he was a graduate student at Washington State University, and he had been living in Pullman.  CRIMINOLOGIST GRAD STUDENT HIT WITH FOUR COUNTS OF FIRST-DEGREE MURDER Justin Williams, a 34-year-old WSU employee who lives in an adjacent building, told Fox News Digital he had occasionally seen Kohberger in the neighborhood, typically while Kohberger was retrieving his mail.  WATCH: LATAH COUNTY PROSECUTOR BILL THOMPSON, LAW ENFORCEMENT ENTER SUSPECT'S APARTMENT Neighbors at the Steptoe Village, the WSU housing complex mostly i...

An Oregon woman is being held without bail after she was arraigned Thursday for allegedly pushing a 3-year-old child onto train tracks while the child and mother were waiting at a Portland train station, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Department said in a release.  Brianna Lace Workman, 32, is accused of shoving the child face-first onto the tracks of the Gateway Transit Center MAX platform in Northeast Portland without "provocation." A bystander rescued the child from the tracks before a train came. VIOLENT SUBWAY SHOVE CAUGHT ON CAMERA SPARKS OUTRAGE AFTER MAYOR PROMISED TO FLOOD WITH POLICE   The 3-year-old suffered a severe headache and a red mark on their forehead from hitting their face on the track, the release said. Surveillance video released by the district attorney’s office of the incident appears to show the suspect jump up from where she was sitting on a bench on the platform and push the child, who was standing in front of her.  Workman was cha...

The City of Memphis admitted this week the police department didn’t take fingerprints at the scene of an alleged rape by Eliza Fletcher’s suspected killer a year before her death, according to a report.  Items included the victim's purse and cellphone, which she had told investigators her alleged rapist had touched.  The department responded on Monday in a court document to a lawsuit filed by Alicia Franklin, who said she was raped by Cleotha Abston (aka Henderson) in September 2021, but the Memphis Police Department didn’t properly investigate her attack, allowing him to stay out of jail.  Abston was charged earlier this year with abducting and murdering Fletcher in Memphis while she was out on an early morning jog in September.  ELIZA FLETCHER MURDER SUSPECT ALLEGEDLY CONNECTED TO 2021 RAPE; POLICE DIDN'T REQUEST ‘EXPEDITED’ DNA REVIEW Later that same month, he was charged with aggravated kidnapping and rape in Franklin's case.  Franklin says she met ...

The president of the University of Idaho said Friday's news that a suspect had been arrested in connection with the brutal deaths of four students last month "was a welcome one." Speaking to reporters, Scott Green thanked the community for the support that "helped sustain us during this most trying time" following the Nov. 13 slayings of Ethan Chapin, 20; Xana Kernodle, 20; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; and Madison Mogen, 21. "Kindness is contagious and it provided the light and reclaimed ground lost to evil and darkness," he said during a Friday afternoon news conference in the town of Moscow.  UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO MURDERS TIMELINE: WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE SLAUGHTER OF FOUR STUDENTS During the press conference, authorities confirmed the arrest of Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, who was taken into custody by local police and the FBI at 3 a.m. in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania. He is being held for first-degree murder pending extradition to Idaho. He is ex...

Of all the Southwest customers who have had their flights canceled this winter, few have been more stressed than Wendi Reichstein whose fiancé's flight was canceled five days before their wedding.  "As a loyal #Southwest flyer and defender for YEARS, I would like to personally thank them for canceling all of my family (including the GROOM)’s flights FOR MY WEDDING," Reichstein tweeted on December 27th.  "Things going wrong related to the wedding I was mentally prepared for," Reichstein told FOX 7 Austin. "The groom's flight being canceled and, you know, me having to say to him, ‘there's a chance you may need to get in the car right now and drive so that you make it in time to get married’ was not something I had prepared for. SOUTHWEST AIRLINES ISSUES SECOND APOLOGY, ANNOUNCES RESOURCES FOR CANCELLATIONS, REIMBURSEMENTS, LOST LUGGAGE According to Reichstein, Southwest also "canceled his parents' flights , as well as his sister and brot...

A veteran Los Angeles County prosecutor scolded his boss Thursday, saying his progressive reforms and management style have alienated his colleagues and turned the nation's largest district attorney's office into a "managerial dumpster fire." In a lengthy letter to District Attorney George Gascon and his top aides, prosecutor Mark Burnley aired a number of grievances on his last day with the office. Burnley said he has been with the DA's office since 1999 and a prosecutor for 28 years.  "Until December 2020, I thought I had the best job in the world," Burnley wrote, referring to when Gascon took office after unseating incumbent DA Jackie Lacey, in a letter obtained by Fox News Digital. "I am constantly amazed by the expertise and knowledge of the DDAs in this office. They are deeply devoted and have a breathtaking amount of experience. It’s a shame you cannot or will not recognize that." LOS ANGELES COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY GEORGE GASCON CR...

Utah investigators released their final update in the August 2021 murders of two Moab women found shot to death at a campsite outside town. Newlyweds Kylen Schulte and Crystal Turner, 24 and 38, were found dead on Aug. 18, days after they were last seen alive. Adam Pinkusiewicz, an early person of interest, was labeled a suspect earlier this year. Police found the 45-year-old drifter dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Waterloo, Iowa, on Sept. 24, 2021. An examination of his phone turned up "extreme signs of racism" and anger problems, according to authorities, as well as fantasies about rape and murder.  MOAB MURDERS: POLICE NAME SUSPECT IN DOUBLE HOMICIDE OF NEWLYWED COUPLE Schulte’s family previously said Pinkusiewicz had a known "animus" toward lesbians, although investigators revealed Thursday he was in a same-sex relationship himself with a man who knew about the murders and did not come forward until police tracked him down earlier this year. Aut...

The FBI is searching for ten suspects accused of vandalizing Atlanta's historic Ebenezer Baptist Church Heritage Sanctuary, where Martin Luther King Jr. once preached and Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., currently serves as senior pastor.  The vandalism occurred on the evening of July 3, 2022, a little over one week after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and returned abortion policy to individual states.  The FBI's Atlanta Field Office tweeted Thursday it is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the suspects' arrests. A group of ten individuals dressed in all black approached the church that evening. Spray paint that was discovered after they left read, " If abortions aren't safe, neither are you."  PENNSYLVANIA MAN CAUGHT ON CAMERA AFTER DESTROYING CHURCH STATUES, POLICE SAY The suspects re-emerged on surveillance footage without the dark clothing and eventually split up.  A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading t...

Officials in Buffalo, New York said Wednesday night that 10 arrests had been made in response to looting following a deadly winter storm that ravaged the region over the Christmas weekend.  The Buffalo Police Department said the arrests were conducted by its newly created anti-looting task force . The group was formed after reports of break-ins to businesses as the storm halted daily life in the city.  Fox News Digital has reached out to the police department.  BUFFALO POLICE INVESTIGATE LOOTING AFTER WINTER STORM FREEZES NORTHWEST NEW YORK On Tuesday, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia warned that looting would not be tolerated.  "This isn’t people stealing food and medicine and diapers. They are destroying stores. They are stealing televisions, couches, whatever else they can get their hands on. They’re opportunists," he said at a press conference.  "All you’re doing is destroying the resource you have when you need to go to the store again a...

The Tennessee Department of Health has confirmed seven winter storm fatalities including two children killed in a "horrific" house fire, WTVC-TV in Chattanooga reported. The first weather related death occurred in Memphis while the other six occurred during a fire in Cumberland County. The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office says firefighters arrived to the scene on Plateau Road and found a house fully engulfed in flames. Officials say that four adults and two children died in the fire .  "Sheriff Casey Cox would like to ask everyone to please keep this family in your prayers," County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Gary Howard said. "This is a horrific event and a tragic loss for our community." NEW YORK CALLS IN MILITARY POLICE TO ENFORCE DRIVING BAN IN BUFFALO Foul play isn't suspected, but multiple agencies—including the TBI—have been called to investigate.  All of this came after the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) predicted weathe...

The Phoenix Police Department is continuing the search for two gunmen who broke into a home and kidnapped a 17-year-old male last week after the teen's remains were found in a rural part of Maricopa County on Tuesday.  Jesse Sainz-Camacho was abducted from his western Phoenix home by two armed gunmen around 3:15 a.m. on Dec. 19, according to police. His cause of death was not immediately released by authorities.  CHRISTMAS DINNER TURNS DEADLY AFTER ARIZONA MAN ALLEGEDLY SHOOTS 80-YEAR-OLD STEPFATHER The suspects, one with a rifle and one with a handgun, fled the home in a dark-colored SUV after kidnapping Camacho.  Another adult male who was inside the home was shot and later taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.  NEW JERSEY WOMAN ALLEGEDLY SHOOTS, KILLS HUSBAND ON CHRISTMAS Surveillance images released by police show one of the suspects holding a rifle outside the house.  "I was awake around two-ish, talking to my friends on the phone,"...

A Chicago woman was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals after allegedly stabbing a Chihuahua several times on Monday afternoon. FOX 32 in Chicago reported that officials said Jeanette Olivo, 61, was accused of stabbing the dog while it was out for a walk with a teenage girl in the Dunning neighborhood, located on the northwest side of Chicago. Officials said Olivo stopped to chat with the 15-year-old girl who was walking Bebe, a 12-year-old Chihuahua. TWO ILLINOIS MEN FACE CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CHARGES IN UNRELATED CASES A few moments after speaking with the 15-year-old, Olivo allegedly ran at the dog and stabbed it, according to police. The teenager tried to run away with Bebe, but Olivo allegedly followed and stabbed the Chihuahua several more times, WFLD reported, citing court documents. After allegedly stabbing the dog, Olivo fled but was apprehended by police a block away. ILLINOIS JUDGE PLANS TO RULE ON LAWSUIT CHALLENGING STATE'S SAFE-T ACT CRIMINAL JUSTICE OVERH...

Two New York police officers were stabbed Wednesday and a suspect was shot and killed.  The Suffolk County police officers were attacked in Medford, a Long Island suburb 60 miles east of New York City. They arrived at a location on Birchwood Road around 5 p.m. where the incident occurred, the Suffolk County Police Department said. PARENTS ‘CLEARLY’ HIDING INFORMATION ABOUT MISSING 11-YEAR-OLD GIRL: POLICE One of the residents, a man, pulled out a knife and stabbed two officers , authorities said.  "During the incident, one or more officers discharged their weapon fatally striking the man," a police statement said. One officer was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital and another was taken to the same hospital via ambulance.  Their medical conditions were not disclosed. A third officer was treated for minor injuries.  Authorities did not say how many officers fired or the number of shots. The names of the injured officers or the suspect were not releas...

A Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago to Phoenix was diverted to Milwaukee due to a "potential mechanical issue" on Wednesday afternoon, throwing a wrench in the beleaguered airline's efforts to get back on track following thousands of canceled flights in recent days. The issue on flight 1715 involved one of the aircraft's flaps, a Southwest spokesperson said. It took off from Midway International Airport at 12:45 p.m. and was taken out of service after landing safely in Milwaukee.  "A different aircraft is being brought in to continue the flight to Phoenix," the spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "We appreciate our Customers’ patience as we work to get them to their destinations as quickly as possible." Southwest Airlines canceled thousands of flights over the Christmas weekend , leaving travelers stranded in airports across the country as they tried to get home for the holidays.  TRAVEL EXPERT SHARES TIPS FOR HOLIDAY TRAVELERS DEALING W...

MOSCOW, Idaho – Authorities may be warming up to the idea of releasing a 911 call in the unsolved slayings of four University of Idaho students . Moscow Police Chief James Fry floated the possibility of making the recording public in an interview with a local TV station Tuesday. "I think it'll be released when the prosecution believes that we can release that," Fry said of the call, which police have so far said little about, other than that it was placed from a surviving roommate's phone and that multiple people spoke with the dispatcher. "That may be at trial," Fry told the Spokane-based KREM-TV in a rare sitdown interview. "That may be before then." IDAHO MURDERS TIMELINE He declined to say whether anything specific on the call could help detectives make an arrest. "I can't discuss that," he said. "It's part of the investigation, but as soon as we can release that information, we will." Police have said that j...

San Diego County in California is getting flooded with hundreds of asylum-seeking immigrants, and according to the county’s supervisor, the system is "strained." "We are expecting 235 more to be dropped at transit stations today," County Supervisor Jim Desmond tweeted on Tuesday. "That will run the total of 1,071 people who have been dropped off in the past 4 days. Our system is strained, and this is simply unsustainable." Over the past week, Desmond has been sounding the alarm after finding out on Dec. 23 that nearly 200 asylum-seekers would be dropped off on the streets of San Diego County, in places like transit centers in the City of San Diego, Oceanside and El Cajon. SUPREME COURT TEMPORARILY HAULTS TERMINATION OF TITLE 42, WILL HEAR CASE IN FEBRUARY He said in a statement that the federal government "is failing its obligation to protect the people of San Diego County," adding that the system is broken, and the government was putting t...

The Buffalo Police Department launched an anti-looting unit that has already made eight arrests in the wake of a deadly winter storm that buried the city in snow over the Christmas weekend.  "This isn’t people stealing food and medicine and diapers. They are destroying stores. They are stealing televisions, couches, whatever else they can get their hands on. They’re opportunists," Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said at a press conference on Tuesday.  "All you’re doing is destroying the resource you have when you need to go to the store again and buy food or whatever else that you need. You’re destroying your community. It will not be tolerated." BUFFALO POLICE INVESTIGATE LOOTING AFTER WINTER STORM FREEZES NORTHWEST NEW YORK Police are rolling out plainclothes detectives as part of the new anti-looting unit and partnering with the Erie County District Attorney in their efforts, according to Gramaglia. The city is also under a driving ban with mi...