Company monitoring electrical activity releases startling data about faults on LA power grid
A company that monitors electrical activity says faults along the Los Angeles power grid skyrocketed in the same areas where three of this week’s major wildfires are currently raging.
Bob Marshall, the chief executive of Whisker Labs, told Fox News Digital that the company recorded sharp increases in faults in the hours prior to the Eaton, Palisades and Hurst Fires.
Marshall said that his company has a network of around 14,000 sensors known as “ting” sensors across Los Angeles that can pinpoint and identify faults generated by electrical arcs. Through its network of sensors in homes, Whisker Labs is able to monitor the electric utility grid with “extraordinary precision and accuracy.”
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“Faults are caused by tree limbs touching wires or wires blowing in the wind and touching. That creates a spark in a fault, and we detect all of those things,” Marshall explained.
Other causes include faulty electric equipment igniting, a sudden surge in demand or earthquake tremors. At the time the fires ignited, intense Santa Ana winds were blowing across Los Angeles.
The company’s data, which was shared with Fox News Digital, is startling.
In the Palisades area, the largest of the fires currently raging, there were 63 faults in the two to three hours prior to the ignition of the fire, Marshall said. There were 18 faults registered in the hour it began on Tuesday.
The blaze has so far torched 12,300 homes and buildings across the area. Across the county, the death toll has risen to 11 people, and authorities anticipate that number rising.
“In the case of the Eaton Fire near Altadena, there’s 317 grid faults that occurred in the hours preceding the ignition,” Marshall said. “And then in the Hurst Fire, there’s about 230 faults that occurred that we measured on the sensor network.”
He said on a typical day there are very few faults.
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Sparks from faults can fall to the ground and ignite vegetation, essentially setting a match on the landscape. High winds then carry the flames at rapid speeds.
Investigators have yet to determine what sparked the raging wildfires that have decimated large areas of Los Angeles, but a jump in faults on the power grid may serve as vital clues.
“Importantly, what we cannot say is one of those is whether one of those faults caused the fire. We don’t know that,” Marshall said. “What we know from our data is that there were increasing faults in the grid in the area around where those fires ignited.”
He said the data shows that the power was not shut off immediately when the faults were rising.
“But again, we can’t say definitively at all whether one of those faults caused a fire. I do want to be very, very clear about that,” he added.
Marshall said that Whisker Labs has had discussions with utility companies about using its data, but currently, the data is not being shared.
Right now, ting sensors notify homeowners of a surge in power so they can take preventative measures to prevent house fires. Marshall said the company has a network of about one million ting sensors across the U.S.
“A power surge can cause damage to appliances and devices. In the worst case, it can cause a fire in a home,” Marshall said.
He said the “smart and super sophisticated” technology can prevent 80% of potential house fires.
When the sensor picks up a fault, the home sensor is notified via an app, and then they can arrange for an electrician to call and make the necessary fixes.
“We take 30 million electrical measurements every second. There’s AI (artificial intelligence) in the sensor, [and] we stream data to a cloud that is specifically designed to detect electrical faults inside of homes,” he continued. “And then the network of sensors detects faults on the grid because when there’s a fault on the grid it is simultaneously measured by many ting sensors in a community. So if there’s a fault in your home, that fault doesn’t propagate out to the whole community, we only detect it on one single thing sensor in your home.”
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Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power didn’t proactively turn off the power to mitigate the risk of starting a fire ahead of this week’s devastating wildfires, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing regulatory filings.
The preventative measure is in place with every other big California power company after utilities have sparked wildfires in the past, the Journal reported.
An LADWP spokesperson told the Journal that they have other safety precautions in place, such as disabling technology that automatically restores power after an outage. She added that widespread preventative power outages could also be harmful to emergency services.
Actor slams California’s ‘failure of leadership,’ makes bold claim about future elections
Dean Cain, who grew up in Malibu, California, told Fox News Digital that all of the homes he once lived in there, and in nearby Pacific Palisades, have been destroyed during this week’s Los Angeles-area wildfires.
“I ended up having three different houses in Pacific Palisades, one that I owned, two that I rented and lived in,” Cain said. “The three of those Pacific Palisades’ [homes], all of those burned, gone. Pacific Palisades looks like someone dropped a nuclear weapon on top of it and just flattened everything. I’ve never seen anything like that. Also, three of the houses that I lived in in Malibu are gone.”
The “Lois & Clark” star called the devastation “shocking and horrific, but not unexpected. It’s part of the reason I left California was this perfect storm of mismanagement and a failure of leadership.”
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Cain said that when the Woolsey Fire hit in 2018, it burned his backyard but not his house.
“We’re used to this in Malibu,” he explained. “We get the wind, we get the fire, so we know how to deal with it. But when you have all the… tools taken away from you, no money, no brush clearance, no controlled burns, all of those things, you end up with a catastrophic situation like this.”
Cain said that although his house survived the Woolsey Fire, his fire insurance was canceled afterward, adding that was part of the reason he left California for Henderson, Nevada, in 2018.
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“There’s so many of us that have been shouting from the rooftops, including President Trump, numerous times, way back in the day during his first presidency,” he continued. “He’s been saying it, mismanagement is going to cost you. Removing money from the fire budget is going to cost you. Not controlled burning is going to cost you. Failure to reservoir the water, it’s going to cost you.”
Cain placed the blame squarely on Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“You screwed up, Gavin Newsom. You screwed up,” he said. “There was plenty of water. Last year was record rainfall or the year before, record rainfall. Snowmelt, reservoir the water.”
Cain said his water bill was in the thousands per month when he lived in Malibu, and he couldn’t get fire insurance for less than approximately $40,000 a year.
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His son helped him realize that he should leave the state by reminding him that he keeps “complaining about the tax policy, the lack of common-sense policies. Why are we living there?”
“I was like, ‘Why are we here? What am I doing?’” he said. “And it was weird to leave my home forever, but to come here now [Henderson, Nevada] and to be in this gorgeous home with great policies, you know, castle doctrine, ‘stand your ground’ stuff and things like that, I’m like, ‘Wait a minute, this makes perfect sense.’ And then to watch the disaster unfold, I’m horrified. My heart is broken for the people who are suffering at the hands of this mismanagement. But I’m hoping that that will teach them about common sense.”
He added that “good times create weak men and weak men create hard times.”
“Weak policy creates hard times. We’re now in hard times. We need to have strong men so we can create good times again. That’s the way it is. Strong men and women, sound policy. Everybody’s going to be in a better position,” said Cain.
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Cain went on to say that he believes liberal people in Hollywood have usually “voted for all these things that really don’t affect” them, “but when it does affect you — you can’t get a permit to rebuild or your house burns down or people loot your home afterwards — suddenly you love the police, you love the firefighters, you love people that you’ve been denigrating for years. You want common sense policy.”
“So once it affects you, your votes change,” he said. “And I think this is going to turn a very, very blue state, much more red. I’m hoping California becomes purple and I’m hoping that — listen, my heart goes out to those who have lost everything. And I know they’re going to go through years and years of red tape, nightmare, memories gone. It’s going to be one of those catastrophic events in their lives. And I hope that this will wake up people so they’ll start voting for policies that make sense, common sense, and they’ll prepare for this sort of thing in the future.”
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“So once it affects you, your votes change. And I think this is going to turn a very, very blue state, much more red. I’m hoping California becomes purple.”
Because he lives in the desert, Cain said he has enough food in his car to last for several days and that he and his son have satellite radios in addition to their cellphones to communicate with each other.
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“Not that I’m a survivalist or a prepper, because it’s common sense,” he said.
But, Cain said, “when you see a tragedy of this magnitude, you see how amazing the American people are, and they come together.”
“And there’s been an outpouring of support, food, water, necessities,” he added. “We are the most giving nation in the history of mankind. We will continue to be, you know, as fractured as we can be, [but] there are times in natural disasters, in war and things of that nature, where in the United States people come together. And it’s wonderful to see that happening. It’s going to be a very long, tough road.”
Cain noted that with the nature of the national news cycle, the wildfire devastation would be replaced by more recent news within a few weeks, “but all of these people’s lives are turned upside down.”
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“I cannot fathom the scale of what’s happened to the Palisades,” he continued. “It’s stunning to me. Palisades High School, gone. I mean, football games. I played at Palisades High School. Dozens… It’s gone. It’s just gone. Like so much of my childhood is gone. I moved away because of the terrible policies. It’s just heartbreaking to see it happen. I don’t want to say I told you so, but I told you so.”
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Cain said his mother, who is with him in Nevada, can’t stop crying watching the devastation.
“The house they built from the ground up… is gone to the ground,” he said, adding, “my mom’s been crying for two days.”
Cain added that he feels leaving Malibu for Henderson is “one of the smartest things I’ve ever done.”
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“I feel like I’ve been freed,” he said. “Just so many people are just going to be like, you got out just in time. And I did. And because I was blessed to have the means and I had a son, my son Christopher was like, ‘Dad, let’s go.’ And life is so much easier here and so much better. Beautiful neighborhoods and much more value for your dollar… super low taxes in comparison to California, super low regulations in comparison to California. Smarter policy… we’re in the middle of the desert here in Nevada. We have better water rights, and the water is, they say it’s expensive here. It’s cheaper for me to get water here than it was in California… So absolutely [the] right move by me.”
FEMA kicks hurricane survivors out of temporary housing amid freezing temperatures
Residents of Western North Carolina are confused about the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s role in helping locals with disaster recovery after Hurricane Helene.
Locals are especially confused as FEMA plans to end temporary housing assistance for about 2,000 North Carolina residents on Saturday — during a snowstorm, when temperatures across the Appalachian Mountain region are expected to be below 20 degrees.
The housing program was initially supposed to end on Friday, but FEMA pushed the deadline back to Saturday.
“I’m actually talking to several people that are losing the FEMA vouchers,” Ryan McClymonds, founder of volunteer group Operation Boots on the Ground in WNC and Eastern Tennessee, told Fox News Digital on Friday. “They’re terrified that they’re going to have nowhere to stay for their families after today. But we did find out last night pretty late … that FEMA is extending it a whole whopping 24 hours.”
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FEMA told Fox News Digital that its Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) program is providing hotel rooms to thousands of Hurricane Helene survivors in WNC.
On Jan. 3, FEMA began notifying some families checked into hotel or motel rooms that they are no longer eligible for the program due to one of the following reasons: an inspection indicated their home is now habitable, they declined an inspection or FEMA has been unable to contact them to update their housing needs.
About 3,600 households will remain eligible to continue staying in hotel or motel rooms sponsored by FEMA past Saturday — up from the 2,100 eligible households reported by local news outlet WLOS on Thursday.
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Approximately 2,000 households will still be expected to move out of their hotel rooms on Saturday. Continued eligibility is determined on a case-by-case basis. When eligibility ends, FEMA notifies survivors approximately seven days prior to their checkout date.
The agency is also closing disaster recovery centers in the area until Monday — “due to winter weather.”
“This is unfair and arguably criminal.”
“Biden and Mayorkas bankrupted FEMA to pay for illegal immigrant housing, and now American citizens who lost their homes in Hurricane Helene are essentially being told to screw,” Trump spokeswoman and incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital. “This is unfair and arguably criminal. The good news is: President Trump will be back very soon to put Americans first again.”
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FEMA said it has provided shelter to 13,000 families displaced by Helene since late September 2024, when the storm made landfall. There are currently 5,600 households currently checked into hotels, the agency told Fox News Digital.
“We are told to expect power outages and possibly water outages. Yeah, I’m not thrilled about that.”
“We got this notification on our phone, I think it was yesterday … which was the severe weather notification,” Swannanoa-area resident Asha Wild told Fox News Digital. “We are told to expect power outages and possibly water outages. Yeah, I’m not thrilled about that. And in the cold.”
Wild lost her house to nine feet of flooding when Helene destroyed areas of her hometown and dozens of others in the mountains, leaving 104 dead in North Carolina alone.
Power grids and other critical infrastructure are still very fragile in some areas after Helene, and residents are concerned that they could again be left without power, water, gas and even food. Volunteers in Western North Carolina and across the state have been volunteering in affected areas for months. Generous donors across the country have paid for and delivered campers to those who need housing and storage.
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Long lines of vehicles can be seen lining up to get propane and other necessities from various donation drives in the area.
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Zach Bumgarner, vice president of Bumgarner Oil, told Fox News Digital that his company has “given away 22,000 gallons of product since the storm hit.” They have hosted six propane drives since late September, allowing people to bring empty propane cylinders to designated locations, where his company fills them up for free.
“You do have people in tents and you do have temporary shelters and that kind of thing. And then you throw really cold temperatures on top of it, and it does make for a dangerous situation,” Bumgarner said. “So, hopefully what we’re doing is helping kind of bridge some of those gaps a little bit and maybe keep somebody warm. That’s really what we’re trying to do.”
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Wild said she asked her friend, who works at a local grocery store she’s been going to for 18 years, how things were going.
“He said, ‘Yeah, people are kind of losing their minds.’ And I could tell it was cleaned out,” Wild said.
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Steve Antle, a retired Asheville police officer who has been in contact with Fox News Digital since the day after Hurricane Helene destroyed parts of WNC, said some areas are recovering well while others remain “frozen in time.” Even wealthy neighborhoods still have piles of debris and trees down, he said.
Antle has partnered with others in and outside his community to buy and deliver thousands of dollars worth of critical supplies across his hometown of Fairview and surrounding towns since immediately after the hurricane.
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Some locals are still living in tents or campers, mostly because they do not want to leave their property. Others are still without heat and power, he said.
“I have given up trying to figure out anything about how this administration and FEMA operate.”
“I don’t know what goes into their thinking,” Antle said of the agency. “You know, I want to think that it’s government incompetence because that’s the better alternative. … And I hate to think that.”
McClymonds, of Operation Boots on the Ground, became emotional when describing the people he has been helping since September.
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“Don’t forget about them,” he said. “I saw a lot while I was in the military. And coming out here and seeing the lack of response and the lack of help is so heartbreaking. I’ve prayed with I don’t know how many people. I’ve heard and held so many family members. They have lost a whole lot and work hand-in-hand with family members that have lost their loved ones due to the storm. And they’re tired. And they need help.”
FEMA said it is important for storm survivors to keep in touch with FEMA and provide regular status updates. Those who have questions regarding eligibility should contact the FEMA helpline at 1-800-621-3362.
Socialist dictator threatens to unleash gang violence into US, opposition warns
As the Venezuelan political crisis reaches a breaking point, members of the Venezuelan opposition party are warning there will be an increase in Tren de Aragua gang violence with deadly consequences for the U.S. if socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro remains in power.
Despite widespread belief among Venezuelans and much of the international community that Maduro lost the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election to opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, he was sworn into his third six-year term on Friday.
But with opposition leader María Corina Machado calling on Venezuelan citizens to join her on the streets to demand González be installed as the rightful president of Venezuela, the stage is now set for a confrontation with the Maduro regime.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Machado, whose supporters said she was temporarily kidnapped by authorities and then released after a rally on Thursday, warned that if Maduro is not stopped there will be millions of Venezuelan migrants fleeing the country into the U.S.
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“If Maduro remains, prepare yourself because we will see three, four or five million Venezuelans crossing the border,” she said.
On the other hand, Machado told Fox News Digital: “I want you to know how important it is also for the safety of the American people.”
“We also are desperate to solve the migration problem in our region,” she said. “We want those Venezuelans to come back in billions and voluntarily. And that will happen when they’ll see there’s a future in their country.”
Meanwhile, José Gustavo Arocha, a former high-ranking Venezuelan military official who fled persecution by the Maduro regime, told Fox News Digital that gang violence in the U.S. by the Maduro-aligned criminal group Tren de Aragua will get worse if he remains president.
Tren de Aragua — also known by its acronym “TdA” — is Spanish for “Train from Aragua.” It is a brutal international gang that victimizes Venezuelan migrants and Americans alike and has unleashed a spate of violence in recent months, including kidnapping, torture, robbery and taking over entire apartment buildings.
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Arocha, who is now a senior fellow for the U.S.-based Center for a Secure Free Society, told Fox News Digital that “if Maduro remains in power, he will likely use the Tren de Aragua as a tool for coercion and asymmetric tactics to achieve his objectives.”
“Migration, weaponized with elements of the Tren de Aragua, will serve as leverage to seek the easing of economic sanctions and to gain legitimacy from the United States,” he said. “Repression, economic collapse and chaos in Venezuela will continue to be cornerstones of Maduro’s state policy. As a result, migrants who are deported will likely return, as in recent years they have established logistical routes that enable them to navigate clandestine pathways along the southern border.”
Alberto Ray, a security and risk strategist who helps handle security for Machado, told Fox News Digital that the situation in Venezuela is “extremely explosive.” He said that “more Maduro is more Tren de Aragua in the U.S.”
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While Ray noted that most Venezuelan migrants are honest, hardworking people, he said that Maduro has been “weaponizing” migration to sow chaos and discord in the U.S. He said it is “inevitable” that TdA presence in the U.S. will grow if the Maduro regime continues.
“These are very few fractions of Venezuelans that were introduced inside those migration processes designed by the regime… but you don’t need too many to destabilize, create chaos, to install organized crime processes inside the U.S.,” said Ray. “What is going to happen if Maduro stays in power is that more illegal and weaponized migration is going to keep going out of Venezuela and that increases the probability of Tren de Aragua and other gangs to migrate and be around the region, including the U.S.”
On the other hand, Ray said that if Maduro is stopped, “we will see Venezuelans returning to Venezuela because many of them didn’t want to leave.”
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While he said that both the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration have been very supportive, Ray urged the U.S. to take a strong stance against Maduro not only for the sake of the Venezuelans but for Americans as well. He urged the U.S. government to shed light on what is happening in Venezuela and to strictly enforce already-existing sanctions against Maduro and several members of his government.
He said that “the next 72 hours are going to be critical.”
“Maduro has nobody supporting him but some factions inside the armed forces, and he’s counting on those factions to support him and make him president,” Ray explained, adding, “There are not two sides here. There is a huge Venezuelan side that is democratic, and they are looking and trying to get back democracy. And there is a tiny group that is in power that is desperately fighting to keep their privileges and to keep their position in power.”
Sunny Hostin’s surgeon husband facing years-long legal battle, experts say
The husband of “The View” host Sunny Hostin, along with 200 co-defendants accused of insurance fraud in a sweeping, $459 million New York lawsuit, could find himself tied up in court for years to come, according to legal experts.
Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Hostin, an orthopedic surgeon, is among dozens of doctors and medical personnel named in the federal lawsuit, which was filed last month by American Transit Insurance Co., a New York-based commercial auto insurance provider that insures Uber, Lyft and taxi companies in the state. Hostin in particular is accused of receiving kickbacks by “performing surgery and fraudulently billing” American Transit, according to the lawsuit.
It cites at least two of Hostin’s patients who were allegedly treated in January 2023 following involvement in “low-impact” collisions that caused only minimal damage. Despite experiencing “no more than soft-tissue injuries,” both received arthroscopic surgery, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit was filed under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, in the Eastern District of New York—a strategy that legal experts told Fox News Digital is designed to have a chilling effect on behavior. It’s also one that risks entangling defendants such as Hostin in years of complex court proceedings—and potentially saddling them with massive payouts as a result.
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That’s because RICO laws—passed in the 1970s as an attempt to crack down on mafia activity and other organized crime—allow plaintiffs to win “treble damages,” awards that are triple the amount of actual or compensatory damages.
In the American Transit case, that’s somewhere in the ballpark of $459 million or more—three times as high as their compensatory damages, which stand at $153 million.
Intimidation factor, chilling effect
Often, these types of lawsuits are pursued with a certain strategy in mind, said Michael Mears, an associate law professor at the John Marshall Law School who specializes in criminal law and RICO cases.
“There’s a lot more going on with the use of the RICO statute than just recovering damages,” Mears told Fox News Digital in an interview. “It’s changing behaviors. It’s changing attitudes. It’s changing the way business is done sometimes.”
RICO civil lawsuits are sometimes used as a means to force people or stop certain behaviors and oppressive practices. In the case involving Hostin, that includes allegedly habitual over-billing by doctors and ambulatory services, or the overcharging of patients to an extraordinary degree.
In the New York case, for example, “you’ve got doctors who really don’t want to be called criminals,” Mears said. “Just the accusations alone [in] a civil RICO statute can be very intimidating, and be a very powerful tool” to stop objectionable practices.
That’s not to say there won’t be a litany of courtroom activity ahead for defendants named in the American Transit lawsuit, including Hostin.
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Legal experts told Fox News Digital that civil RICO cases in today’s world are a long game—often carrying a timeline of years, rather than months, to play out in court.
Plaintiffs in civil RICO cases are often insurance companies who are accusing a group of people of fraud, Jeffrey Grell, an attorney specializing in RICO litigation, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
In the American Transit lawsuit, the insurance provider accuses Hostin and the dozens of other medical practitioners of abusing New York’s no-fault law to artificially inflate or bill for unnecessary medical treatments and profit from the kickbacks.
No-fault laws require companies like American Transit to cover health care expenses “reasonably incurred” as a result of injuries suffered by insured occupants. But the low burden of proof under no-fault laws also means that they are especially vulnerable to exploitation by medical practitioners.
American Transit alleges that Hostin and other defendants abused New York’s no-fault laws to bill “hundreds of millions” of dollars in fraudulent payments between 2009 and December 2024.
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Complex cases, lengthy timelines
Civil RICO cases are often lengthy, arduous cases for each of the individuals involved.
In fact, the 698-page lawsuit filed by American Transit is among the largest RICO civil cases ever filed in New York—all but ensuring a drawn-out resolution process for Hostin and other defendants.
Courts “are going to look at the individual claims made against each defendant to establish all the elements of a RICO claim, and all the elements of RICO claims are pretty complicated,” Grell said.
Many of the defendants—if not all—will attempt to move to dismiss the case before discovery begins, a preliminary process that alone can take more than a year. Often, there will be a flurry of related motions filed by defendants in attempting to have their motion to dismiss granted by the court, further adding to the drawn-out time frame.
After the motions to dismiss are resolved, the discovery process begins. This process can be lengthy and complex, as it involves each person named in the suit, and the counsel for each defendant will attempt to make the case that their client individually does not satisfy the elements of the RICO case.
“Like in any other civil lawsuit, the RICO statute allows people to take depositions,” Mears said of the time frame for RICO cases. “They allow the collection of documents. They allow the discovery of filing records.”
Ultimately, it’s a process that “opens up a whole avenue to find out what’s going on within the organization— whether it’s a doctor’s office, a hospital, a doctor’s group,” he said, and which allows plaintiffs to order discovery and document collection from each individual named.
That can result in the case dragging on for even longer.
“In other words, the discovery process [in RICO cases] can be very intimidating,” Mears said. “It’s a long game.”
Sunny Hostin, for her part, has weighed in on her husband’s work as a doctor in her role co-hosting “The View.”
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Most recently, Hostin referred to his work in a discussion over health insurance in the wake of the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City.
“Doctors suffer because of big corporations as well, doctors that want to do good, like my husband,” Hostin said in the segment. She added that her husband, in his capacity as an orthopedic surgeon, “operates on someone even though they don’t have insurance and then has to sue health insurance companies to get paid for the work that he’s been trained his whole life to do.”
Hostin’s lawyers previously denied all allegations against him and described the filing as a “blanket, scattershot, meritless lawsuit by a near-bankrupt insurance carrier,” according to the Daily Mail.
They did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the allegations or any timeline anticipated in the RICO proceedings.
‘Soul Man’ singer dies at 89 due to complications while recovering from surgery
Sam Moore, one half of the 1960s duo Sam & Dave, has died. He was 89.
According to Moore’s rep, the late singer – best known for hits such as “Soul Man” and “Hold On, I’m Comin,'” – died Friday morning in Coral Gables, Florida, due to complications while recovering from surgery.
His singing partner Dave Prater died in a car accident in 1988.
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The soul and R&B duo performed together for nearly two decades starting in the early 1960s. Best known for their high energy and gospel-infused performances, the duo became an influence for a number of artists including Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and more.
In the 1980s, the Blues Brothers – comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi – put soul and blues back on the map after covering Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man” on ‘Saturday Night Live’. They often paid homage to Sam & Dave during their act as well.
Moore was born Oct. 12, 1935, in Miami, Florida and kickstarted his singing career in church.
He and Prater performed in soul and R&B clubs in the 1950s, but didn’t meet until 1961 in Miami, according to the Associated Press.
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The duo had a contentious relationship towards the end of their run. Moore sued Prater after Prater began touring with a new bandmate as the New Sam & Dave, according to the AP.
Moore battled a drug addiction throughout the 1970s, which eventually impacted his career. His wife, Joyce, helped him get treatment for his addiction. After finding sobriety, Moore started taking jobs he never anticipated.
“I did a lot of cruise ships, I did a lot of oldies shows,” he once told the AP.
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“That’s funny to think back to it now. And I did a lot of shows where if I did a show with an oldie show, I had to actually audition,” he said. “But you know what? You keep your mouth shut and you get up there and you sing as hard and perform as hard as you can, and get the little money and go on about your business and try and pay those bills. I’m laughing about it now, but at that time, man, it was really serious.”
Moore is survived by his wife, Joyce, daughter, Michell, and two grandchildren.
‘Wheel of Fortune’ player gets surprise of a lifetime after solving puzzle: ‘Still in shock’
“Wheel of Fortune” hosts Ryan Seacrest and Vanna White helped make one contestant’s night a little special.
On Thursday night, during the game show’s 50th anniversary celebration, Seacrest announced they had helped Robin propose to Rhea Mathew, a former “Wheel of Fortune” contestant who competed in October 2023.
“We’re celebrating milestones in honor of our 50th anniversary and actually had one happen earlier in the week right here on the set,” Seacrest announced in a clip uploaded on YouTube.
“Robin, the boyfriend of former contestant Rhea, reached out for our help in asking her a big question,” Vanna added.
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She explained that with the help of announcer Jim Thornton, they were able to create “a bit of a ruse, making Rhea think she was back to celebrate ‘Wheel’s’ 50th.”
‘WHEEL OF FORTUNE’ CONTESTANT LOSES OUT ON $1 MILLION PRIZE BY MISSING ONE WORD
“But take a look and see what happened,” White added, before panning to Robin and Rhea’s proposal.
In the clip, Rhea solved the “Will You Marry Me?” puzzle.
“Nicely done,” Thornton told Rhea.
Robin walked on the stage, got down on one knee and asked, “Rhea Susan Mathew, will you marry me?” The former contestant appeared shocked and nodded in agreement.
“Rhea Susan Mathew, will you marry me?”
The video then cut to White and Seacrest.
“I think she was really surprised,” Ryan said.
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“Yes, that was so heartwarming,” White said.
“Very sweet. I love that we can do that on this show,” Seacrest added.
“You never know what’s going to happen around here,” White joked.
“Wheel of Fortune” shared the couple’s special moment on its Instagram account.
“Screaming, crying, losing our minds over this sweet Wheel proposal!” it captioned the post.
Rhea commented on the post, writing, “AHHH thank you thank you thank you for making this into a reality!!! beyond even my wildest of dreams!!”
Rhea shared a picture from the proposal on her Instagram and noted her fiancé “put my jaw on the floor doing the sweetest, most elaborate thing anyone has ever done for me.”
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Former “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak’s daughter, Maggie, spoke to Rhea prior to the proposal in a video uploaded to her Instagram page.
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“I actually brought someone very special with me today. I brought my boyfriend Robin. He’s one of my biggest supporters. So, I’m really excited to share this magic with him,” Rhea told Maggie, who is the game show’s social correspondent.
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Sajak’s video then showed a behind-the-scenes look at the proposal with the caption, “A proposal on set?! 2025 is off to a magical start!”