White House delivers ultimatum to homeless in DC: Two choices on the table
The White House says those living in homeless encampments in the nation’s capital will have two choices in the coming days: accept treatment at a homeless shelter, or go to jail.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the ultimatum during a Tuesday press conference as reporters prodded about President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of Washington, D.C.’s law enforcement. She said many of the homeless encampments across the city have already been dismantled, and those that remain she expected to be dealt with this week.
“Seventy homeless encampments have been removed by the U.S. Park Police,” Leavitt said, adding that the Metropolitan Police Department would be joining the Park Police in the effort. “There are only two homeless encampments remaining in D.C. federal parks under the National Park Service’s jurisdiction, and the removal of those two remaining camps is scheduled for this week.”
Asked about what options are available to those in homeless encampments, Leavitt was blunt: “homeless shelters, for addiction and mental health services, or jail if they refuse, are the options on the table right now.”
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Trump himself had floated the idea of relocating homeless encampments to locations well outside the city. Leavitt confirmed the administration is “exploring” the option, but said it is not yet on the table.
A tour by Fox News Digital found that many former hotspots for the homeless have been cleared, with only abandoned clothing and scattered food containers left behind as signs of recent life as of this week.
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In other parts of the city — including the heart of downtown — the homeless population continued to stake out places to sleep and gather in parks or on busy street corners.
At one park, about a dozen people were clustered together with their belongings and a few tents, seemingly unaware of the new crackdown. A dried red substance was splattered across the sidewalk outside their makeshift encampment.
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Trump has repeatedly characterized Washington, D.C., as “one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world.” On Saturday, Trump said his administration will “essentially, stop violent crime” in the nation’s capital.
The renewed focus follows a series of violent incidents in the city, some involving federal staffers, including a high-profile former employee from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) who was a victim of an attempted carjacking.
“We have a capital that’s very unsafe, you know, we just almost lost a young man, beautiful, handsome guy that got the hell knocked out of him,” Trump said, referencing former DOGE employee Edward Coristine.
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The president described crime in D.C. as “out of control,” with young “thugs” and “gang members” who are “randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent citizens.”
‘I’ve been struggling’: Southern sorority star takes break as attention grows
University of Alabama senior and Zeta Tau Alpha member Kylan Darnell has announced she is taking a “step back” from recruitment and from posting about the sorority rush craze sweeping college campuses.
Darnell, the reigning Miss Ohio Teen USA, has spent the past three years sharing an inside look at sorority life, becoming one of the most recognizable faces in the “Bama Rush” phenomenon that has captivated college campuses and social media users alike. But this year, she says, will be different.
“I just wanted to come on here because I am somebody that has painted my whole college life, my whole sorority life online,” Darnell said in a TikTok video. “There’s been good and bad. But today, I’m not all dressed up for recruitment. I’ve personally decided to take a mental health day for the next three days.
Raised in Ohio, far from the deep-rooted Southern sorority traditions, Darnell admitted she arrived at the University of Alabama with little understanding of rush.
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“I had no idea my life would turn into what it has,” she said. “I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to post on social media. I didn’t know it was frowned upon. I had no idea about the backlash, or the positivity, that would come with it.”
Brandis Bradley, a sorority coach, referred to the recruitment process as “psychological warfare” in an interview with PEOPLE.
“It’s emotional boot camp,” Bradley told the outlet. “And their frontal lobes aren’t even fully developed.”
Darnell’s introduction to Greek life came when her mother took her to Sorority Row before freshman year. “I was hooked,” she recalled, despite initial hesitation from her parents. With no friends and no knowledge of the houses, she threw herself into rush with fresh eyes.
On the first day of recruitment, Darnell filmed a short TikTok explaining the process to her family’s group chat. That casual clip went viral before she’d even finished orientation, catapulting her into influencer status. Since then, she’s garnered 1.2M faithful followers and 82.7 million likes, sharing everything from philanthropy events to sisterhood activities.
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While she described the journey as “fun” and “something I wouldn’t trade,” Darnell said it hasn’t been easy.
“It’s also been really hard to navigate college while being under a microscope,” Darnell previously told Fox News Digital. “People forget that we’re real people.”
The scrutiny has intensified over time, she said, and this year’s rush feels “a lot worse” and “more amped up.” She asked followers not to tag her in posts about other girls, saying it only fuels unnecessary drama.
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“I put myself in a position to be talked about online, but please… just don’t involve me in other girls’ posts,” she urged.
Darnell said her decision to step back isn’t about discouraging others from rushing; in fact, she still supports it, but wants to protect her own well-being.
“I was somebody that my freshman through junior year, I lived for my sorority. I loved my sorority. I loved waking up and showing you guys the sides of it, what we would do, the activities, the sisterhood, the philanthropy. It was so much fun to me,” Darnell said.
“There was a point in my life that my personality was sorority, but I’ve grown, and it’s not really like that anymore.”
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Darnell said her decision to “take a couple steps back” is to protect her own peace.
“I personally feel that if I was to post this year and to promote it (rush), then I would be doing those girls an injustice,” Darnell explained.
“Now I’m not saying don’t rush. I loved it. But I’m just saying that I’m in a mental health spot where I’ve been struggling. I can’t go online this year and I won’t lie to you guys about it. I’ve just not been enjoying it. I’ve not been having fun.”
Support poured in from followers, with one commenter praising her “integrity at such a young age” and another writing, “Always choose you and what’s best for you. Your TikTok fam has your back!”
Darnell said while she is still an active member of her sorority, she will take the next three days off from posting online and helping with recruitment to help her little sister with rush and enjoy time with her family.
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“My family’s here, my friends are here and I’m gonna help my little sister go through recruitment because I can already tell it’s gonna be really hard for her. That is why I’m not participating this morning. I just need a break because I can’t lie to myself anymore this week because I’m really struggling with it. Anyway, I love you all.”
Bid Day for thousands of Alabama sorority hopefuls is set for August 17, but this year, Darnell will be watching from the sidelines, prioritizing peace over performance.
Chuck Todd calls out Democrats for ‘taking the bait’ in response to GOP redistricting
Former NBC News host Chuck Todd called out Democrats on Tuesday and accused them of “taking the bait” in their response to the Republican redistricting efforts.
“They’re taking the bait. They’ve decided the only way to fight is to act just as ruthlessly. Revenge redistricting in Illinois, New York, California. And they tell themselves it’s self-defense. But in reality, it’s exactly what Trump wants, to make his opponents play his illegal and immoral game by his rules in his universe,” Todd said during his show, “The Chuck ToddCast.”
The journalist also suggested Tuesday that the U.S. was headed toward a “cold civil war” amid the ongoing redistricting battles.
“And here we are. It’s the political version of the old saying, when you get into the mud with a pig, you both get dirty and the pig likes it. Replacing, and don’t give me this crap, rationalize that, you know, he’s a bad mob boss, you’ve got to do whatever you say, ‘We’ll be a good mob boss.’ The answer is no mob bosses at all,” he said.
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Beto O’Rourke, a former Democratic Texas Senate candidate, called for the Democratic Party to be “ruthless” in their pursuit of power and endorsed partisan gerrymandering last month.
Todd also rejected comparisons to 1930s Germany.
“Look, I don’t like the lazy comparisons to 1930s Germany. I hate the quote second civil war predictions. I’d like to believe that we’re a lot better than that,” he said during his podcast.
He also referenced Godwin’s Law and summarized it by saying: “If you can’t make your point without invoking the Nazis, then you’re probably not very good at debating and making your point.”
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Democratic lawmakers and members of the media have repeatedly compared Trump and his administration to 1930s Germany.
Todd went on to argue that it was “uncomfortable” to see mistakes being made “from the 1850s.”
“But let’s be honest, it’s a bit uncomfortable seeing how many mistakes from the 1850s, from 1850s America or pre-war Europe in the early 1930s are happening again right here. The normalization of the unacceptable. The rationalizing of ‘just this once we’ll breach our principle.’ ‘Just this once we’ll do this because it’s in the name of something bigger and better,'” he said.
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“The founders gave us these tools to prevent this. They feared a king. They feared a united majority trampling on the rest of us. They didn’t imagine leaders who would just refuse to use the tools. They didn’t. They’d come back here and be appalled,” Todd continued.
Aerial video shows great white shark patrolling waters in vacation area
A drone video captured a great white shark lurking in the waters of a vacation spot in the Northeast.
Police in Scarborough, Maine, which is located just south of Portland, confirmed this week that the shark was spotted off the state’s coastline.
“On Monday, August 11, 2025, Scarborough’s Marine Resource Officer received a report of what appeared to be a large shark near Richmond Island and Scarborough Beach,” the town wrote on its Facebook page.
“Follow-up observations were conducted, and on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, the Marine Resource Officer obtained drone video footage showing a possible great white shark, estimated to be 10–12 feet in length, off the southern end of Richmond Island in the vicinity of Higgins Beach and Scarborough Beach,” it added.
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Police also said the shark was seen in the area off Pine Point Beach on Tuesday morning.
Town officials said they were alerting the public for “situational awareness.”
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The Maine Department of Marine Resources says on its website that “while the relative risk of a shark encounter is very small, risks should always be minimized whenever possible in any activity on the water.”
It recommends that swimmers stay close to shore, avoid areas where there are seals or schooling fish and limit splashing.
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“Avoid shiny jewelry when in or on the water” and “Avoid swimming at dawn/dusk when lighting is low,” the Department adds.
Hand soaps recalled over bacteria that could lead to ‘life-threatening sepsis’
Several hand soaps, cleansers and antiseptics have been voluntarily recalled over a bacteria contamination that could lead to “life-threatening sepsis.”
DermaRite Industries recalled its DermaKleen antiseptic lotion soap with vitamin E in 1,000-milliliter and 800-milliliter sizes, KleenFoam antibacterial foam soap with aloe vera in 1,000-milliliter sizes, DermaSarra external analgesic in 7.5-ounce sizes and PeriGiene antiseptic cleanser in 7.5-ounce sizes.
The products were distributed across the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
Products impacted by the recall have expiration dates from July of this year to February 2027.
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The company said the products were found to contain Burkholderia cepacia complex, a bacterium that could lead to “serious and life-threatening infections,” although it said it has not received any reports of adverse events in connection with the recall.
“Burkholderia Cepacia Complex in these products may result in serious and life-threatening infections,” the company said in a press release. “The contaminated products may be used by immunosuppressed individuals or by people attending to immunosuppressed individuals.”
“In healthy individuals with minor skin lesions the use of the product will more likely result in local infections, whereas in immunocompromised individuals the infection is more likely to spread into the blood stream leading to life-threatening sepsis,” the company continued.
DermaRite has notified its distributors and customers to “immediately examine available inventory and destroy all affected products in accordance with each facility’s process.”
Burkholderia cepacia, also referred to as B. cepacia or Bcc, is a group of bacteria that often spreads through soil and water, as well as to contaminated surfaces and products and through person-to-person contact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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Symptoms of bacteria exposure include fever, fatigue and possible respiratory infections for people with compromised immune systems, but some people may not show any symptoms.
The bacteria can also be resistant to antibiotics, making infections difficult to treat.