Highly contagious virus with no treatment spreading rapidly through western state

Cold, flu and COVID may get the most attention, but a lesser-known, highly contagious virus is taking the West Coast by storm.

Wastewater SCAN data show that human metapneumovirus, or HMPV, is rampant in Northern California — specifically San Francisco, Marin, Vallejo, Napa, Novato, Santa Rosa, Sacramento and Davis, per reports.

The virus peaked sharply in January and remains elevated in early March, although the seasonal winter wave is now tapering.

HMPV is in the same viral family as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and was first discovered in 2001, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

The National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS), part of the CDC, monitors samples of wastewater (sewage) for viruses and bacteria to detect infection patterns in communities.

“It is a single-stranded RNA virus, like flu and COVID,” Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, told Fox News Digital. “The virus is increasing not only in the west, but also around the country.”

The wastewater data also show that HMPV is rising sharply in the Midwest and Northeast.

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The most common symptoms of the virus in healthy children and adults include cough, fever, nasal congestion and shortness of breath, per the CDC.

Those at highest risk of severe illness, such as pneumonia, include young children, older adults and those who are immunocompromised. It leads to over 650,000 hospitalizations yearly worldwide, according to Siegel.

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Rare effects of HMPV can include asthma attacks, wheezing, difficulty breathing, bronchiolitis (infection of the small airways), ear infections, croup (a “barking” cough) and fever, according to the CDC.

Adults with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) can experience complications of their illness if they contract HMPV. 

“It can worsen chronic lung conditions,” Siegel confirmed.

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The virus can be transmitted from close personal contact and from coughing, sneezing and touching contaminated surfaces, per the CDC.

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HMPV is most commonly reported from winter through spring.

There is no vaccine or treatment for the virus, the CDC notes, but HMPV can be diagnosed via testing by a healthcare provider. Supportive care includes drinking plenty of hydrating fluids and resting.

The agency provides the following prevention methods to help curb spread.

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• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing
• Follow proper handwashing techniques
• Regularly sanitize frequently touched surfaces
• Avoid contact with others and/or wear a mask when sick

Rogan offers sharp retort when guest warns of widespread transgender ‘oppression’

Podcaster Joe Rogan had a sharp rejoinder to “Jackass” star and comedian Steve-O on Wednesday about the transgender ideology debate and whether the community is by and large oppressed.

Rogan and Steve-O, who have both worked in comedy, spoke on “The Joe Rogan Experience” about the nature of comedy to deal with the morbid and the controversial. Rogan noted that one Native American tribe, the Lakota, had a sacred clown known as a Heyoka, describing it as “a member of the community that was supposed to make fun of everything. And if you couldn’t make fun of anything, then you knew something was wrong with that thing. Because if there’s a thing that you can’t joke around about, that thing has been compromised.”

Rogan continued, “If there’s a thing that you can’t make fun of, that thing is usually bulls—, and if that thing is trans people, like, then you are ignoring that there’s a glaring hole in this narrative that you’re trying to push and whether or not people are accepting that narrative.”

Steve-O later talked about how he, after a life of doing crazy stunts for laughs, had considered temporarily getting breast implants for a 1-hour comedy routine. Shortly before getting the operation, however, he met a transgender person whose life experience made him back off. 

“They described to me a level of oppression that genuinely f—ing broke my heart. They said, ‘Hey, let me tell you, like, I am not allowed to use the bathroom at my own place of work.’”

“That’s not true,” Rogan said. “They’re just not allowed to use the bathroom that doesn’t align with their biological sex.”

Rogan added further, “Listen, I genuinely think there’s people that feel like they are in the wrong biological sex. But there’s also people that are f—ing perverts, and they have a thing called autogynephilia, and what that is, is they get a turn-on by pretending to be a woman. They get excited by it, and they want to be around women, and they’re creeps,” he said.

Steve-O agreed, saying he understands that is a real scenario and this is a complex debate.

“Here’s what’s not complex,” Rogan retorted. “What [are] your chromosomes?”

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He went on to blast the “mental gymnastics that seemingly intelligent people do” to justify allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports.

“Speaking as a man who has daughters, like there are creeps,” Rogan said. “And if you give a creep, and I’m not saying all trans people are creeps, but a lot of these f—ing people that are in trouble for going into women’s bathrooms dressed as a woman, with a f—ing beard and a hard-on, are just that.” 

Conversely, Rogan said, people are not concerned about biological women who identify as men entering male spaces like bathrooms because there is no concern about biological men being victimized. He reiterated his point arguing that biological men cannot claim they are being oppressed merely for not being given a hall pass to women’s bathrooms.

“You make a very, very good point,” Steve-O replied.

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US Olympic gold medalist says she does not want any part of visiting Trump at White House

Don’t expect at least one Olympic gold medalist in Washington, D.C., any time soon.

After being asked about Olympians not accepting invites to the White House, 2026 Olympic gold medalist Amber Glenn told Us Weekly that she would decline an invitation if given one.

“I’m electing not to either, so I do not blame them whatsoever,” Glenn told the outlet. “It is our right to be able to choose what we do and don’t endorse, and I think it is a decision that each individual has the right to make.”

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The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. U.S. Figure Skating referred inquiries to the White House.

While the men’s hockey team went to the White House and the State of the Union last month, the women’s hockey team declined President Donald Trump’s invite, citing scheduling conflicts. Trump announced at the State of the Union, however, they will eventually visit.

Trump’s invite came after he drummed up controversy during a phone call with the men’s team shortly after they won gold, saying he’d “have” to invite the women’s team, otherwise he’d “probably be impeached.” The quip garnered some laughter from the men, prompting backlash for all involved.

Several athletes, and apparently teams, have turned down visiting Trump after winning titles dating back to his first presidency. After winning the 2018 World Series as manager of the Boston Red Sox, Alex Cora skipped the White House visit in 2019 to prioritize Puerto Rico, citing dissatisfaction with the federal government’s response to Hurricane Maria’s devastation. Mookie Betts also skipped that year’s celebration but attended the Los Angeles Dodgers’ celebration last year.

The Dodgers, Philadelphia Eagles, Florida Panthers, Ohio State football team, LSU baseball team, and Inter Miami have all visited the White House to celebrate their championships since Trump’s second term began in January 2025. It remains to be seen if the Indiana Hoosiers and Seattle Seahawks will follow suit. Given the fact that no NBA team has ever visited Trump, it seems unlikely the Oklahoma City Thunder will do so.

Last year, the Florida Gators were the first college basketball team to visit Trump since the women’s Baylor team in 2019. They are the only college basketball team to visit Trump in either term, while every college football champion with Trump as president has visited with him.

Despite no NBA team visiting the White House under Trump, the Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors, and Boston Celtics each visited former President Joe Biden to commemorate their titles.

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Trump rescinded an invitation for the Warriors’ 2017 title after Stephen Curry said he would not make the trip. LeBron James then called Trump a “bum,” saying, “Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!”

Potential new clue emerges in Nancy Guthrie abduction — reports of internet outage

TUCSON, Ariz. — The task force investigating the February abduction of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie’s mother has reportedly begun asking neighbors about a potential internet outage the morning of her abduction, prompting speculation that the kidnapper may have used a Wi-Fi jamming device.

A move like that would add a layer of sophistication for the masked suspect who appeared on 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie’s front steps carrying a Walmart backpack and oddly placed holster.

“It shows an astounding amount of planning if they were used,” said Joshua Ritter, a Los Angeles defense attorney and Fox News contributor.

Neighbors told Savannah’s network, NBC, that a team of investigators sweeping the neighborhood Thursday asked specifically about internet outages.

According to NBC News, a couple who live adjacent to Guthrie’s home said they have four cameras on their property, noting the one closest to the missing 84-year-old’s home was “not available” during the overnight hours of Feb. 1 when she disappeared.

The neighbor said it seemed “uncanny” that the security video wasn’t available during that timeframe. 

“That’s really weird, isn’t it?” the neighbor said.

That prompted speculation about the so-called Wi-Fi jammers, which are illegal in the United States under Federal Communications Commission guidelines.

They’re not particularly high-tech. And they can be obtained online, which is potentially something investigators could track.

But the fact that the FBI and Google were able to recover video from Guthrie’s Nest doorbell camera, when the device was physically missing, and she did not have a cloud subscription, indicates a Wi-Fi jammer may not have been deployed at her front door.

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“If they were using Wi-Fi jammers, then I would expect that we would not be able to see any video from the front door cameras,” said Morgan Wright, the CEO and founder of the National Center for Open and Unsolved Cases. “I took a look at some of the videos with the other gangs that use Wi-Fi jammers, and had one been up and running and persistent, you wouldn’t have gotten the clear pictures that we did from the front.”

Guthrie’s router wouldn’t detect the presence of a signal jammer, either, unless its internal logs recorded the sudden disconnects of multiple devices at the same time, like Guthrie’s exterior cameras, Wright said.

“The router won’t see the jammer as a device,” he told Fox News Digital. “It’s not attempting to connect. … All an RF (radio frequency) jammer does is flood a frequency band with noise so legitimate signals cannot be decoded.”

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So, unless the router in Guthrie’s home logged the disconnects, which not every make and model does, the jammer wouldn’t have a digital footprint for investigators to uncover, he said.

“Whether investigators could detect a jammer, the answer is almost certainly no,” Wright said. “It operates at the radio layer. The router records events at the network layer.”

Jammers function by spamming the airwaves on the same frequencies as Wi-Fi devices, interrupting their connections to the internet.

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Early adopters to home Wi-Fi may have seen similar interruptions if they took a call on a wireless landline phone while surfing the internet. People who live in densely populated apartment buildings can also face interference from their neighbors. More advanced routers are more resilient to conflicting signals.

Commercial jammers have a range of about 10 to 30 yards, Wright said, and they get more effective the closer they are to the victim’s router. From a distance, they can cause lag and glitching but might not black out a camera’s signal entirely.

While devices used by the military and the U.S. Secret Service have a much greater range, they’re larger and use more power.

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For that reason, he said it’s unlikely that neighbors saw an impact from a jamming device deployed at Guthrie’s home.

“If they say, ‘Well, I had an internet outage,’ it’s got nothing to do with an RF jammer,” he said of the neighbors. “That RF jammer would have to be high-powered, military-style stuff to affect a neighbor.”

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Wi-Fi jammers have no effect on wired security cameras or alarm systems. Some wireless cameras can store video locally and upload once an interrupted connection is restored. It depends on the make and model.

Jammers have been used by organized burglary rings to overcome home security systems in recent months, including a South America-linked group busted in Houston, Texas, last month. The same gang has ties to similar theft operations in California, New York, Florida and Wisconsin, according to authorities.

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“We all know the South American theft groups have been using them in burglaries across the country,” said Lisa Miller, a retired detective and law enforcement executive at the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.

“I find it to be a plausible theory but not as likely,” she told Fox News Digital. “Here’s why. The video of the porch monster released by the FBI didn’t appear glitchy. At all. I mean, even police car laptops have glitched during traffic stops of someone with a jammer.”

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The apparent antenna seen in the suspect’s pocket on that Nest video could more likely be part of a handheld radio, she said.

“I think it’s smarter to use that than a burner phone,” she said. “The criminals know what the FBI … can do. Of course, I’m opining based on experience, and it fits my theory that porch monster had an accomplice.”

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Other experts are also skeptical based on the added level of sophistication a jammer would bring.

“If they were forward-thinking enough to purchase and use one of those jammers, I think they would have done better than what we saw at the front door,” said Betsy Brantner Smith, a retired police sergeant and spokesperson for the National Police Association. “It is definitely a possibility, but that would require so much advanced thought and action. That brings us back to someone who knew her and very specifically targeted her.”

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On the other hand, if the suspect knew her well enough, they might have known she didn’t have a cloud subscription for the cameras she did have.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on any potential internet outage in Guthrie’s neighborhood at the time of her abduction.

‘Netflix got Markled’: Social media erupts after Meghan partnership ends

Meghan Markle and Netflix have officially parted ways.

The streaming giant and Markle announced the end of their partnership on Friday, March 6, with the Duchess of Sussex moving on with her lifestyle brand “independently.”

“Meghan’s passion for elevating everyday moments in beautiful yet simple ways inspired the creation of the As ever brand, and we are glad to have played a role in bringing that vision to life,” a spokesperson for Netflix told Fox News Digital. “As it was always intended, Meghan will continue growing the brand and take it into its next chapter independently, and we look forward to celebrating how she continues to bring joy to households around the world.”

In their own statement, Markle’s brand As ever, told People that they are “grateful for Netflix’s partnership through launch and our first year.”

“We have experienced meaningful and rapid growth, and As ever is now ready to stand on its own. We have an exciting year ahead and can’t wait to share more.”

Critics of Prince Harry and Markle took to X to share how they feel about the news, with one writing, “Netflix got Markled enough and has cut ties.”

“HUGE. Netflix just cut ties with Meghan Markle’s “As Ever” brand — after her show didn’t go forward, per Page Six,” another added. “Even Netflix is bailing. The elite celebrity hustle is fading. People are DONE with lectures and lifestyle fluff while families can’t afford basics. Go woke, go broke.”

Another X user wrote that “now we have the truth” about the end of the partnership.

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“Ah now we have the truth,” they wrote. “Meghan tried to claim she had walked away, but Netflix confirms it has dumped the talentless grifter. Another epic fail by the fraud.”

One X user wrote that “if As ever was doing gangbusters, they’d want a stake,” adding that “Netflix is letting it go, willingly, to get rid of the dead weight.”

“And, in regard to Meghan Markle, we can tell she’s taking the reins because the branding, marketing and social media strategy SUCKS,” they continued. “Going global is not going to fix her problems, it’ll just exasperate [sic] them. If Netflix didn’t want to take the brand global so fast, there was good reason. If the products are not moving well in the U.S., it’s not going to be much better elsewhere. Madame is just living in the land of delusion and Netflix is tired of the insanity and letting her fall flat on her face, which I believe is exactly what will happen.”

Others came to the Duchess’ defense, pointing out that it was a mutual decision to part ways.

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“Netflix didn’t dump her read there [sic] press release , she wants to global they weren’t sure, and now there [sic] out and Meghan is going global with Netflix saying there [sic] proud of her and can’t wait to see her soar higher and still good friends !!” they wrote.

Another user agreed, writing, “While Netflix offered a supportive launch platform for Meghan’s As Ever, but going independent gives her complete freedom to shape As Ever exactly how she wants as it grows. With products consistently selling out, the demand is clear. Fingers crossed for international shipping.”

As ever launched in 2025, as a lifestyle and home goods line, launching its first products in April, just one month after the premiere of her Netflix show, “With Love, Meghan,” which featured Markle’s celebrity friends visiting her home as she shared cooking, gardening and hosting tips.

Some items sold by the brand include jams and honey, tea and wine, candles, chocolate and other similar products. Following their first product launch, the brand sold out of stock in less than an hour, despite what some considered to be high prices.

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“Our shelves may be empty, but my heart is full! We sold out in less than one hour and I can’t thank you enough…for celebrating, purchasing, sharing, and believing,” the Duchess of Sussex shared on Instagram at the time. “It’s just the start @aseverofficial Here we go!”

Harry and Meghan first partnered with Netflix in 2020 with a reported $100 million deal, going on to work together on the 2022 series, “Harry & Meghan,” “Live to Lead,” “Heart of Invictus” in 2023 and “Polo” in 2024, before announcing in July 2025 that they would not be renewing their deal.

Two seasons of “With Love, Meghan” were released on Netflix in March and August 2025 respectively, as well as a holiday special in December, and while it has not officially been canceled, there has been no news surrounding a third season of the show.

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Vince Gill issued brutal warning to radio host over wife Amy Grant: ‘Kick your a–’

Vince Gill said he once nearly came to blows with a good friend after he “flipped” on him and started disparaging his wife, Amy Grant.

“Everybody that meets her is crazy about her,” the country star told Phil Rosenthal and David Wild on their “Naked Lunch” podcast on Thursday. “I remember when we were first getting married, I was really good friends with [legendary radio host] Don Imus … And he was, you know, he was a character, and he’s loved me forever and me and Delbert McClinton were his favorite, two of his favorite singers.”

But Gill said after he and Grant married, Imus “flipped” on him and “kind of turned on me and started running me down and ragging me on his show every morning.”

Gill said Imus would say, “’I can’t believe my favorite singer, Vince Gill, lost the Baby Jesus, married that Christian girl,’ and blah blah blah. So, he was just wearing my a– out.”

Shortly after, when he had a new record come out, he said he told his publicist he wanted to get booked on Imus’ show.

“And they said, ‘Are you nuts?’ I said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘I want to go do the show.’ And they said, ‘Well, he’s ragging on you every day.’ I said, ‘I know.’ And so I got booked on the show,” he explained.

He first sang a song on Imus’ show, and then they had a little small talk, “and then finally Amy’s name came up.”

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“He said something about Amy and I said, ‘I’m glad you brought Amy up,’” he continued. “I said, ‘I’ve been hearing you say some pretty ugly things about my wife, and I’m just kind of curious why.’ I said, ‘You used to be a great supporter of mine’ and this and that.”

The “When I Call Your Name” singer confronted Imus with the fact that he had never met Grant.

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“I said, ‘Well, if you ever met her, you’d never say an unkind word about her,’” Gill said, adding that he told Imus, “‘I’m going to shoot you straight.’ I said, ‘I really only came on this show for one reason.’ I said, ‘We’re either going to talk this out, straighten this out,’ I said, ‘or I’m going to crawl across this desk, and I’m going to kick your a–.'”

Imus’ “eyes got big,” Gill said, figuring they’d better “figure this thing out.”

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“I said, ‘Good choice, Don,’ you know, and so we had a great visit, and I left the studio and was headed home, and I turned on his show and he was still on, and I heard him say, ‘I don’t know why I was giving that guy so much crap. I love that guy,’ you know, and he completely turned, and we stayed great friends until his passing.” 

Gill and Grant married in March 2000 and will celebrate their 26th anniversary this year.

Ben Stiller demands Trump admin remove ‘Tropic Thunder’ from pro-military montage

Liberal actor Ben Stiller called out the White House on Friday for using a clip from his comedy film “Tropic Thunder” as part of a montage it released featuring movies and real Iran strike footage. 

On Thursday evening, the White House released a stylized video montage blending scenes from popular action films, video games, and shows interspersed with real footage of military action against Iran. The pro-military montage features scenes from popular movies like “Gladiator,” “Braveheart,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Superman,” “Transformers,” and soundbites and music from the video game series “Mortal Kombat.”

It also included a brief clip of Tom Cruise’s character dancing in “Tropic Thunder,” Stiller’s 2008 comedy satirizing war movies and Hollywood culture.

“Hey White House, please remove the Tropic Thunder clip. We never gave you permission and have no interest in being a part of your propaganda machine. War is not a movie,” he wrote.

“Tropic Thunder,” which Stiller directed, co-wrote, and starred in, was a box office hit and is widely considered a comedy classic. It drew controversy at the time of its release, particularly over the use of blackface by the character played by Robert Downey Jr., which was meant to mock method actors going to extreme lengths for their performances.

Multiple users responded to Stiller’s tweets with shots and footage of his visit with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid the ongoing war in his country, appearing to call him out as a hypocrite for having used his Hollywood appeal in geopolitics in the past. 

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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and did not receive an immediate reply.

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NPR reporter surprised by massive changes in Venezuela after Trump’s capture of Maduro

NPR correspondent Eyder Peralta was amazed during a segment Friday by his recent trip to Venezuela following President Donald Trump‘s arrest of the country’s president Nicolás Maduro.

“It is absolutely surreal because you land at the airport and the signs are in Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese, which tells you just where this country was facing a few months ago,” Peralta told host Steve Inskeep. “And then you go out on the streets and people here tell you that they feel like a weight has been lifted.”

He continued, “For the first time in a long time, there are street protests. Opposition groups are holding public meetings. I was at the justice department building yesterday, and there was a group of protesters calling for all political prisoners to be released.”

Peralta recalled his encounter with Edward Ocariz, a former political prisoner who Peralta said had “faced the wrath of this government.”

“But then, right there in public, he taunted the government. They call us traitors, he said, but look at them now,” Peralta said. “‘Now it’s them who are not only kneeling,’ he’s saying, ‘but sleeping with the United States.’ And to be clear, he thinks the U.S. intervention was regrettable, but he also thinks that something good came out of it, and that allows him to say this in public without being thrown back in prison.”

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The NPR reporter went on to say he observed “lots of smiles” during Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s visit, who was brokering a deal with the interim Venezuelan government, eyeing minerals that the U.S. once depended on China for.

“And those are the minerals in your laptop, for example, and he says Venezuela likely has those minerals,” Peralta said. “American companies would like to extract them, and Venezuela could suddenly become key in helping the U.S. break reliance on China — a win-win, he called it. And yesterday, Trump said, quote, ‘Venezuela is working.’ Once again, he was framing it as the model for regime change.”

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The Trump administration shocked the world in January when it extracted Maduro and his wife in an overnight operation in order to bring them to justice in the U.S. for criminal charges filed against them in 2020.

The State Department announced Thursday the U.S. is reestablishing “diplomatic and consular relations” with the interim Venezuelan government.

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