Robert Prevost’s journey from Chicago to becoming first American pope as Leo XIV
Pope Leo XIV, 69, was elected to take up the papal seat on Thursday, on the second day of the papal conclave’s deliberations.
Born Robert Prevost on Sept. 14, 1955 in Chicago, Ill., he was a suspected front-runner to succeed Pope Francis after his passing late last month, though some reporting suggested his being an American could actually count against him due to concerns that the U.S. could further exert its geopolitical prowess through the religious leader.
Leo XIV was first brought to the Vatican by Francis to serve as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in January 2023, which is one of the most important positions in the Catholic Church as it vets bishop nominations issued globally.
LIVE UPDATES: CARDINAL ROBERT PREVOST ANNOUNCED AS FIRST AMERICAN POPE, TAKING NAME LEO XIV
Francis then elevated him to the position of Cardinal in September 2023.
Leo was reported to be closely aligned to Francis’s teachings as leader of the Catholic Church, particularly when it came to his positions regarding the environment, outreach to the poor and migrants, and opening the Catholic Church to embrace more followers.
Before making it to the highest position afforded in the Catholic Church, he first entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine in Saint Louis, in 1977, which essentially marked his period of training before he took his “holy orders.”
In August 1981, he gave his solemn vows, and by 1982 he was ordained as a priest.
By 1985 he joined the Augustinian mission in Peru, where he served as chancellor of the Territorial Prélature of Chulucanas for one year.
CARDINAL ROBERT PREVOST ANNOUNCED AS FIRST AMERICAN POPE, TAKING NAME LEO XIV
Between 1987 and 1988, he returned to the U.S., where he served as pastor for vocations and director of missions for the Augustinian Province of Chicago, before he returned to Peru for another 10 years to head the Augustinian seminary in Trujillo and teach Cannon Law.
Eventually, he made his way back to his hometown, where, in 1999, he was elected provincial prior of the “Mother of Good Counsel” in Chicago.
Leo would go on to be elected twice as leader of the Augustinian religious order, a 13th century order founded by St. Augustine.
He had caught the attention of Francis, who, after becoming pope in 2013, moved Leo back to Peru in 2014 to serve as the administrator and eventually archbishop of Chiclayo.
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Leo got his Peruvian citizenship in 2015, where he remained until he was moved to the Vatican in 2023.
During his final years in Peru, Leo also served as vice-president of the permanent council of the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference from 2018 to 2023, which likely helped him secure his role as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops under Francis.
Female athletes detail their conversation with Jasmine Crockett at chaotic hearing
Female athletes Stephanie Turner and Payton McNabb testified to members of Congress at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Subcommittee’s “Unfair Play: Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” hearing on Wednesday.
At one point during the hearing, the two women were approached by Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas.
“‘You’re both very courageous. You’re very courageous being here, and I want to say thank you for all of this,'” Crockett said to the two women, Turner told Fox News Digital.
“And I said ‘Payton and I both took time out of our day to be there, and I find it very disrespectful that you would co-opt this hearing that is about me and Payton and make it about your own politics.’”
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Crockett had just used her turn during the hearing to divert the conversation away from protecting women’s sports, the main purpose of the hearing, to condemn President Donald Trump for other issues. Crockett previously attempted to speak out of turn earlier in the hearing.
Then Crockett even made light of the issue of trans athlete inclusion by turning her monologue into a game she called “Trump or Trans.” The game featured Crockett asking another witness whether to blame Trump or trans people for a series of unsubstantiated issues that included “increasing the price of everything” and “ignoring the constitution.” The witness responded “Trump” all 12 times.
Crockett has been outspokenly opposed to Republican efforts to keep trans athletes out of women’s and girls’ sports, even previously mocking Americans who claim to have been impacted. Yet, she tried to be complimentary with McNabb and Turner, according to them.
“I think she was lying,” McNabb, an Independent Women Ambassador, told Fox News Digital. “I did not believe one word she said, because literally the theatrics, and just how she acted literally the whole time and then trying to come over and whisper and be nice girl to us. I don’t know what happened, it was like a whole other person than what we all saw 10 seconds before she got over there.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Crockett for further comment.
Crockett’s antics were one of just several incidents that highlighted a hearing of chaos that involved multiple shouting matches between committee members and witnesses, as well as plainly questionable comments. Many such comments confused, frustrated and offended Turner and McNabb.
McNabb suffered permanent brain injuries in high school after getting spiked in the head by a trans opponent during a volleyball match. She then had to watch opposing witness Fatima Goss Graves, CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, suggest that the way to prevent other women from facing similar injuries is to prevent spiking in volleyball altogether.
“I would argue that the answer is to ensure people can’t spike volleyballs into other people’s heads,” Goss Graves said during the hearing when responding McNabb’s story.
WOMEN’S SWIMMERS SPEAK OUT AFTER UNKNOWINGLY FACING TRANS COMPETITOR, FILING COMPLAINT: ‘I FEEL BETRAYED’
For McNabb, Goss Graves’ answer was startling.
“That was just absolutely ridiculous,” McNabb said. “The fact of the matter is, that day and that injury was unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced, and it’s because it was a man who hit me in the face, it’s really just that simple.”
What came as an even bigger shock to McNabb was when Goss Graves offered to work with the former volleyball player to help her recover from her brain damage, during the hearing.
“That’s not happening. This woman is obviously not sane, and I don’t know why she would think I would ever want some medical advice or advice in general from her,” McNabb said.
Turner, who went viral in April for refusing to face a trans opponent at a fencing match and getting punished by USA Fencing, took particular offense to comments made by Rep. Lateefah Simon, D-Cal. During Simon’s turn, she suggested that protecting women’s sports would lead to bringing back racial segregation and that Black women would be disproportionately targeted by trans athlete restriction laws.
“I find that, as a Black woman myself, to be quite offensive,” Turner said.
“I find it offensive because they lead with this statement ‘as a Black woman, I’m a Black woman.’ Well, I’m a Black woman, I was born in Washington D.C., I was raised in one of the bluest parts of America in Montgomery County, Maryland, and no, I don’t agree with you, that’s wrong.”
Wednesday also marked the first time Turner came face-to-face with USA Fencing chair Damien Lehfeldt, who was subpoenaed to the hearing, since her viral kneel protest. Turner was given a black card for refusing to face the trans opponent, disqualified and escorted out of the venue, and then given a 12-month probation.
Lehfeldt was aggressively pressed by Republican committee members throughout the hearing about his organization’s pro-trans policies and punishment of Turner.
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At one point, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., used her time to ask Lehfeldt to apologize to Turner. Lefheldt did not apologize upon the request, and in response, Mace suggested Lehfeldt was “not” a man.
“Real men protect women, you’re not one,” Mace said.
Turner said she was not surprised by Lehfeldt’s refusal to apologize and would not have accepted it even if he did.
“An apology is just empty words without actions,” Turner said.
Turner added that after Wednesday’s hearing, she sees the next big goal in the movement to protect women’s sports is to push USA Fencing to make concrete changes to its gender eligibility policy to protect women competitors.
The organization said it is preparing to amend its current policies that allow biological males to compete with women and girls in the event that it is “forced” to change it.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon previously announced that the newly formed Title IX investigations team will be probing the incident involving Turner and trans competitor Redmond Sullivan.
Majority of suspects arrested in night of Ivy League mayhem have one thing in common
The New York Police Department arrested 61 females after anti-Israel agitators stormed Columbia University’s Butler Library on Wednesday as students were studying for finals.
In total, the NYPD made 80 arrests – 19 males and 61 females, according to a source. A source also said at least 50 of the 80 protesters arrested were Columbia University students.
Protesters renamed the Butler Library “Basel Al-Araj Popular University.” Students at the Ivy League institution said protesters climbed on a desk and chanted “Free Palestine,” and demanded that the university divest from Israel.
At the entrance gate to Columbia University, a security guard said, “Nobody comes in, nobody comes out.”
DOZENS OF ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS ARRESTED AFTER STORMING, TAKING OVER COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY DURING FINALS
Claire Shipman, Columbia’s acting president, said in a statement on Wednesday that the NYPD was called to help “secure” the building. She added that two university police officers were injured.
“Sadly, during the course of this disruption, two of our Columbia Public Safety Officers sustained injuries during a crowd surge when individuals attempted to force their way into the building and into Room 301,” Shipman said. “These actions are outrageous.”
COLUMBIA U THREATENS TO ARREST ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS REMOVE ENCAMPMENTS AS NEW DEMOSTRATIONS LOOM
In a separate statement, Shipman said individuals broke into one of the library’s reading rooms.
“Disruptions to our academic activities will not be tolerated and are violations of our rules and policies; this is especially unacceptable while our students study and prepare for final exams. Columbia strongly condemns violence on our campus, antisemitism and all forms of hate and discrimination, some of which we witnessed today. We are resolute that calls for violence or harm have no place at our University,” Shipman said.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was also monitoring the incident, noting the agency would work to determine if any participants were noncitizens.
“Time to make a point,” an ICE source told Fox News.
Joe and Jill Biden fire back at accusations of mental health decline
Former President Joe Biden and former first lady Jill Biden fired back on “The View” on Thursday against stories about Joe’s mental decline behind the scenes at the White House, with Jill cutting in at one point as the ex-president trailed off while defending his record.
Asked by co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin about Democratic sources in new books who said there was a “dramatic decline” in the former president’s cognitive abilities toward the end of his term, Joe flatly said they were incorrect before segueing into criticism of the prior Trump administration.
“They are wrong,” he said. “There’s nothing to sustain that, number one. Number two, you know, think of what we left with. We left with a circumstance where we had an insurrection when I started, not since the Civil War. We had a circumstance where we were in a position that we — well, the pandemic, because of the incompetence of the last outfit, end up over a million people dying, a million people dying. And we’re also in a situation where we found ourselves unable to deal with a lot of just basic issues, which I won’t go into in the interest of time. And so we went to work, and we got it done and, you know, one of the things that — well, I’m—”
That’s when his wife jumped in.
BIDEN TELLS ‘THE VIEW’ HE WASN’T SURPRISED HARRIS LOST, BLAMES SEXISM AND RACISM
“Alyssa, one of the things I think is that the people who wrote those books were not in the White House with us,” Jill said. “And they didn’t see how hard Joe worked every single day. I mean, he’d get up. He’d put in a full day, and then at night he would — I’d be in bed, you know, reading my book, and he was still on the phone, reading his briefings. Working with staff. I mean, it was nonstop.”
She praised her husband for working hard and said, based on the state of things now under President Donald Trump, “give me Joe Biden any time,” leading to loud applause from the audience.
Griffin also pressed the former president about his dramatic departure from the 2024 race under pressure from fellow Democrats like Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. He said he exited because he didn’t want a divided Democratic Party, while again insisting during the show he could have beaten Trump.
“I thought it was better to put the country ahead of my interests, my personal interests. I’m not being facetious. I’m being deadly earnest about that,” Joe said. “And I think that we still— let me put it this way. I had six more months. Did a pretty good job in six months.”
AGE-OLD SENIORITY QUESTION DIVIDES DEMOCRATS AS BIDEN RETURNS TO NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
He acknowledged concerns about his age — he would have been 86 at the end of a second term and was already the oldest American president in history — but said he got plenty done when “I supposedly lost my cognitive capability.”
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg, a fervent Biden supporter, suggested that his poor showing at the debate last year started the whole concern over his fitness for office.
“Why do you think people bought into it, especially the Democrats?” Goldberg asked.
Joe said he hadn’t lost many debates but acknowledged he had a “bad night” while also saying he was sick that evening. His wife said he admitted it to her afterward — and he used a colorful term for “screwed up” — but she didn’t want those 90 minutes to define his presidency.
“We all saw it, it was terrible,” Jill said of her husband’s debate performance.
In actuality, Republicans and some Democrats had been raising concerns before the debate for years and especially throughout 2024 about Joe’s mental fitness, through such moments as the Robert Hur report that mentioned his failing memory, a bombshell Wall Street Journal story about behind-the-scenes concerns, and various viral videos of him appearing to freeze up or seem confused that the White House dismissed as “cheap fakes.”
However, the debate’s fallout was unmistakable. Although Joe held on at first, he succumbed to party pressure and exited the contest on July 21, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, who went on to lose the general election to Trump.
BIDEN BLASTS TRUMP AS ‘FOOLISH’ APPEASER OF RUSSIA, SAYS FIRST 100 DAYS WERE NO TRIUMPH
Co-host Sara Haines put heat on Jill over concerns she may have been too close to the situation to impartially gauge whether her husband could handle a second term.
“I was with Joe day and night,” she said. “I saw him more than any other person… I did not create a cocoon around him. I mean, you saw him in the Oval Office. You saw him making speeches. He wasn’t hiding somewhere. I didn’t have him, you know, sequestered in some place.”
Asked about the idea she was a “Lady MacBeth,” a reference to the scheming Shakespeare character who wields nefarious influence behind the scenes, she responded that such rhetoric was “very hurtful, especially from some of our so-called friends.”
Jill has previously said she was disappointed in Pelosi’s role in pushing her husband out of the race.
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“We were friends for 50 years,” she told the Washington Post. “It was disappointing.”
Ilhan Omar’s ‘White men’ remark gets shredded by James Carville
Democratic strategist James Carville called out Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Wednesday, for comments she made in 2018 about White men. He said controversial members of Congress like Omar “are more trouble than they’re worth” for Democrats.
“Ilhan Omar says that White men are responsible for most of the deaths in the United States. So let me get this straight, 69% of the people — why I’m stuck on that number, I don’t know — but 69% of the people going to vote, are White. Of that, 48.5 are males. So, I don’t know, my rough math is 33%?” Carville said during a discussion at the Sir Harry Evans Investigative Journalism Summit in London.
Omar said in 2018 during an interview that the U.S. should be “fearful” of White men and that the country should be creating policies to “fight the radicalization of White men.” The interview resurfaced this week on social media, and was criticized by members of the GOP, including Vice President JD Vance.
“That’s a lot of pissed-off 33% of people that vote, and that’s a smart strategy? And there are people that agree with her! There are people that actually agree with her! And I think it’s, honestly, I think these people are more trouble than they’re worth,” Carville said on Wednesday.
OMAR SLAMS TRUMP, MUSK FOR CHANGES AT USAID, ACCUSES PRESIDENT OF RUNNING DICTATORSHIP
“I would say our country should be more fearful of White men across our country, because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country,” Omar said in the 2018 interview with Al-Jazeera while discussing domestic terrorism threats in the U.S. and responding to a question about how much concern “jihadism” posed to the U.S.
“And so, if fear was the driving force of policies to keep America safe, Americans safe inside of this country, we should be profiling, monitoring, and creating policies to fight the radicalization of White men,” she added.
The comments were called out by Vance and other conservatives on Tuesday, as the vice president likened Omar’s remarks to “genocidal language.”
“This isn’t just sick; it’s actually genocidal language,” Vance wrote on social media. “What a disgrace this person is.”
ILHAN OMAR BLASTS HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN FOR COURTING LIZ CHENEY: ‘HUGE MISSTEP’
“In this nearly 8yr old clip, I am referring to the rise of white nationalism in an annual report issued by the Anti-Defamation League that said White supremacists were responsible for 78 percent of ‘extremist-related murders,’” Omar told Fox News Digital in a statement. “PS you should look up what ‘genocidal’ actually means when you’re actively supporting a genocide taking place in Gaza.”
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Omar told Daily Caller News Foundation reporter Myles Morell to “f— off” earlier this month after he asked her a question about fellow Democratic Party figures traveling to El Salvador to defend illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to the country by the Trump administration. Morell shared the clip on X.
Omar later responded to the clip being shared on social media and stated, “I said what I said. You and all your miserable trolls can f— off.”
Sex abuse scandal plagued courthouse where sheriff allegedly killed judge: attorney
In September 2024, authorities said former Letcher County, Kentucky Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines unexpectedly shot District Judge Kevin Mullins, who he had known for decades, in Mullins’ chambers.
The shooting, which was caught on surveillance footage, rocked the small eastern Kentucky town of Whitesburg and has subsequently captivated the true crime world.
The events that led to the shooting, according to Stines’ attorney, began years earlier with a civil lawsuit against a former Letcher County Sheriff’s deputy for allegedly raping a female defendant who was out on bond.
That lawsuit also named Stines as a defendant.
MOTIVE REVEALED IN KENTUCKY SHERIFF’S ALLEGED KILLING OF JUDGE AS BODY LANGUAGE EXPERT ANALYZES NEW VIDEO
The following is a full timeline of events that provide context for the shooting:
Jan. 31, 2022: Woman files civil sexual abuse suit
A woman named Sabrina Adkins filed a civil lawsuit against former Letcher County Sheriff’s Deputy Ben Fields, claiming that he had exploited her for sexual favors when she was on home incarceration.
According to the suit, Adkins was struggling to find housing and to pay for her GPS ankle monitor when Fields told her he was sure they could “work something out.” She alleged that Fields coerced her into sexual activity six times inside Mullins’ chambers in return for taking off her ankle monitor while she was on home incarceration, and dropped the fee associated with the ankle monitor.
When she stopped providing the sexual favors, she was arrested, according to the lawsuit.
Stines, who was Fields’ supervisor, was named as a defendant in that lawsuit, which claimed that he failed to adequately train and supervise Fields.
Her attorney in the civil suit, which is ongoing, is Ned Pillersdorf. He said that on one occasion, Fields directed Adkins to provide sexual favors to a third party, and that there were other women who Fields similarly abused.
“Just my general concern as a criminal defense lawyer … they were running a brothel out of that courthouse,” Pillersdorf told Fox News Digital. “I mean, the pimping – at least three women we know of, though I think it’s higher.”
“[Fields] pimped Adkins out to this other guy,” he said. “He pimped her out to some connection Fields had, this guy.”
“If you’re a woman caught up in an ankle bracelet or a drug court, you know, a simple phone call to the judge, you might be in jail,” he said. “So they’re so easy to extort, these women think they won’t be believed.”
After the allegations were made, a camera was mounted on the wall of Mullins’ chambers.
Sept. 29, 2022: Former Letcher County Sheriff’s deputy indicted
Months after the civil suit was filed, Fields was indicted on two counts of third-degree rape, two counts of third-degree sodomy, three counts of tampering with a prisoner monitoring device and one count of second-degree perjury in relation to the Adkins case.
Adkins said in a deposition with Investigator Matthew Easter in the criminal case that sex in exchange for favorable treatment in the criminal justice system in Letcher County was common, and that many other women had faced the same exploitation.
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Jan. 4, 2024: Fields is sentenced to prison in the rape case
Fields pleaded guilty to all charges in his criminal case, and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Sept. 16, 2024: Stines is deposed in Adkins’ civil lawsuit
Months after Fields had reported to jail, Stines was deposed in Adkins’ civil suit.
According to Stines’ attorney, Jeremy Bartley, in the several days before the deposition, Stines had become extremely paranoid, sleepless, and worried about the safety of his family.
“This civil suit had drawn a lot of attention to things that were happening in the courthouse,” Bartley said. “And in fact, if you look at it, it was because of this lawsuit – the reason that there had been a camera placed in the judge’s chambers, which is highly unusual, highly unusual to have such concern that the administrative office of courts puts a security camera in a judge’s chambers.”
Alleged threats against his family drove Stines over the edge, Bartley said.
KENTUCKY SHERIFF SEEN IN FOOTAGE SHOOTING AT JUDGE IN SHOCKING PRELIMINARY HEARING
“On the day that this [shooting] happened, my client had attempted multiple times to contact his wife and daughter, and he firmly believed that they were in danger,” Bartley said.
“He believed that they were in danger because of what he knew to have happened within the courthouse. And there was pressure, and there were threats made to him to sort of keep him in line, to keep them from saying more than these folks wanted him to say.”
Sept. 19, 2024, midday: Stines, Mullins and friends have lunch
In the middle of the day, Stines and Mullins, along with coworkers from the courthouse, ate lunch together at StreetSide Bar & Grill, which was within walking distance of the courthouse.
According to video obtained by Fox News Digital, people who were in the courthouse when the shots rang out were interviewed by the Kentucky State Police just after the shooting, and described Stines as acting oddly before and during lunch.
“This morning, Mickey came over [to the courthouse] … he just seemed a little off,” said one witness. “But he was just like, walking back and forth, all around.”
“He was acting strange at lunch,” another witness said, noting that part of the lunch conversation was about Stines’ potential reelection as sheriff.
“I don’t know if this matters, but I’m going to tell you anyways because it’s odd to me,” the witness told a detective. “He leaned back in his chair at lunch, and they were talking about reelection. He said, ‘Oh I’ll never make it to the next election.'”
Sept. 19, 2024, afternoon: Stines and friend deliver food
In the hours just before the shooting, Stines and his friend Michael Clark, who works for a drug rehabilitation company that partners with the county, took a drive to deliver food to a handicapped person who could not leave the house, according to Bartley.
“In the period of time after my client left lunch with the folks from the courthouse, he and another person by the name of Michael Clark went to purchase materials,” Bartley said. “They went out and picked up lunch and other food stuff for a food box that they were delivering to a person who was sick or had some limitations that they weren’t able to get the food that they needed. And so they left. They went shopping for those items.”
He explained that this was routine for Stines, and that normally, the person to whom Stines delivered the food was home when he arrived. That day, he wasn’t, which fueled more paranoia.
“When they went to deliver these items … the family of the gentleman indicated that he was at another location,” he said. “This caused a lot of concern from my client. So they dropped the food box with the family, and then they left and went back to the courthouse.”
Clark spoke with Fox News Digital earlier this week about the delivery incident.
“He was paranoid all day,” Clark said.
“So we went to a place to deliver the food, and it was at a different house or a different location than he thought [it] should have been,” Clark said. “I didn’t even really know where we were going. I just went with him because, you know, we participated in that and helped with it. And, you know, just kind of, I guess it might have made it worse. I don’t know, whatever he was struggling with that day.”
Sept. 19, 2024, later afternoon: Mullins shot in chambers
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In the surveillance video taken from Mullins’ chambers, a group of people could be seen cordially chatting with the judge for more than 12 minutes before Stines walked into the office and asked everyone to leave.
In the next seven minutes, Stines and Mullins talked privately before Stines stood up and seemingly locked the door of the chambers.
Mullins then handed his phone over to Stines.
After looking through the judge’s phone, Stines placed a call to his daughter from the judge’s phone that went unanswered before tossing the phone back onto the judge’s desk. Stines can be seen in the video typing in his daughter’s number while he looks at his own phone for reference of the number. Stines’ daughter did not appear to be saved in Mullins’ contacts.
He then allegedly stood up, unholstered his pistol, and moved menacingly toward Mullins before opening fire at point-blank range, killing the judge.
Sept. 19, 2024, night: Kentucky State Police hold news conference
After conducting witness interviews at the scene, the Kentucky State Police held a news conference describing the events of the day.
“Preliminary investigation indicated that Sheriff Mickey Shawn Stines fired at District Court Judge Kevin Mullins following an argument inside the courthouse,” a trooper told reporters.
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He added that Stines was taken into custody without incident, and was cooperative with law enforcement, which is corroborated by video obtained by Fox News Digital.
Nov. 21, 2024: Grand jury indicts Stines
NEW VIDEO SHOWS KENTUCKY SHERIFF POINTING GUN AT JUDGE BEFORE ALLEGED FATAL SHOOTING
In November, a grand jury indicted Stines. The one-sentence indictment charges Stines with murder.
“On or about the 19th of September, 2024, in Letcher County, Kentucky, the above named defendant committed the offense of murder when he unlawfully shot Letcher County District Court Judge Kevin Mullins, thereby causing his death; against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” according to the indictment.
Since the indictment:
Since Stines was indicted, Bartley, his defense attorney, has made several motions on his behalf.
Most notably, Bartley filed a motion telling the court he is planning an insanity defense, and that he “intends to present a defense of insanity, as well as a defense of extreme emotional disturbance.”
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The filing says that he also “intends to present expert evidence relating to a mental disease or defect or mental condition bearing on the issue of guilt and punishment.”
Prosecuting attorney Jackie Steele did not return a comment request.
Trump admin proposes new system to ‘unlock the future of air travel,’ takes dig at Buttigieg
President Donald Trump touted his administration’s efforts to rebuild and modernize U.S. air traffic control, as the Department of Transportation rolled out its three-year plan to build a brand-new, “state-of-the-art” system to address critical safety needs, while blasting former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for having “no clue.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday unveiled the proposal, which would replace the current, antiquated Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) system and “enhance safety in the sky, reduce delays and unlock the future of air travel.”
AMERICANS DESERVE TO HAVE A ‘STATE-OF-THE-ART’ AIR TRAVEL SYSTEM: SEAN DUFFY
“Under President Trump, America is building again,” Duffy said Thursday, upon rolling out the new proposal for a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a brand new, state-of-the-art air traffic control system.”
“Decades of neglect have left us with an outdated system that is showing its age,” Duffy said, noting that building the new system “is an economic and national security necessity, and the time to fix it is now.”
Under the new air traffic control system proposal, the FAA would replace infrastructure, including radar, software, hardware and telecommunications networks, to manage modern travel.
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Officials say the current system was built “for the past,” but the new proposal is to build a system “for the future.”
The plan would ensure facilities are equipped with better technologies to reduce outages, improve efficiency and reinforce safety.
“We’re going to be buying a brand-new, state of the art system that will cover the entire world,” Trump said earlier Thursday.
The plan consists of four infrastructure components: communications, surveillance, automation and facilities, according to the Transportation Department.
Officials plan, by 2028, to replace current telecommunications systems with new fiber, wireless and satellite technologies at more than 4,600 sites, 25,000 new radios and 475 new voice switches. By 2027, 618 radars will also be replaced.
The plan also would address runway safety by increasing the number of airports with Surface Awareness Initiative to 200. Officials expect this to be complete by 2027.
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The Transportation Department also proposed building six new air traffic control centers for the first time since the 1960s. It also proposes replacing 15 towers and 15 co-located TRACONs, or Terminal Radar Approach Controls, which are facilities that manage air traffic in the airspace surrounding busy airports.
Officials also proposed the installation of new modern hardware and software for all air traffic facilities, which would create a common platform system throughout all towers, TRACONs and centers.
The proposal also includes the deployment of additional technologies to the Caribbean and Alaska to provide accurate, real-time surveillance and weather information for air traffic control and pilots to ensure “safe and efficient flights for these critical locations.”
Officials stressed the need for a new air traffic control system, saying the FAA is grappling with a “rapidly growing, complex and demanding aviation sector,” as commercial air travel returns to pre-COVID levels. Officials also pointed to novel challenges, including drones and advanced air mobility.
Officials said the FAA’s current systems “are showing their age,” which leads to “delays and inefficiencies.”
The Department of Transportation stressed that the current National Airspace System is “safe,” but stressed that maintaining safety is necessary.
The proposal is based on a three-year framework to reinvest in the National Airspace System, and called for an “emergency supplemental funding increase.”
ASTOUNDING NEW AUDIO SHOWS AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS REACTING TO FAA TECH OUTAGE: ‘THIS IS A SERIOUS ISSUE’
“Modernization of the NAS can no longer take 10+ years to complete; it must be done now,” the proposal states. “We need an immediate infusion of funding to address critical infrastructure needs.”
Duffy, on Thursday, said the project would take three to four years.
“I need help, I can’t do it by myself. And it’s going to take the help of the Congress to make that happen,” Duffy said. “We need all of the money up front.”
Duffy said requesting the money in “small tranches” over the course of several years would extend the project.
“Politics change, leadership changes, presidents change, interest changes, and it never gets built,” Duffy said. “So I’m going to ask the Congress for upfront appropriations to give us all the money. I’ll come before the Congress every, every quarter and give them an update of how far we’ve built, how much money we’ve spent.”
Duffy added that if the Department of Transportation is not given the money, it would take “10 to 15 years to build this.”
“And by the time we get done with it, what we’re going to build is already going to be old technology,” Duffy said. “So we want to build this in three to four years, and we can do it with the help of Congress.”
A report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in March shows that the Trump administration inherited an outdated FAA system from the Biden administration with “severe shortcomings” that resulted in dangerous travel conditions across the country.
After Trump’s return to the White House, the GAO advised the administration that it had made nine recommendations to the FAA under the Biden administration that remain open, and that “urgent attention” is needed to remedy the safety issues left by Biden.
GAO said that under the Biden administration the FAA “did not prioritize or establish near-term plans to modernize unsustainable and critical systems.”
The GAO’s 2025 report said the 2023 national airspace prompted an operational risk assessment, which found that of the 138 air traffic control systems, “51 (37%) were deemed unsustainable by FAA and 54 (39%) were potentially unsustainable.”
Trump, on Thursday, blasted the current “ancient infrastructure,” saying that “it’s buckling under the weight of more than a billion flying passengers a year and supporting hundreds of billions of dollars.”
“Pete Buttigieg, who was the secretary of transportation, had no clue what the problem was,” Trump said. “He had no clue. Zero. Zero.”
Trump said Buttigieg “wants to run for president.”
“I don’t think he’s going to do too well,” Trump said. “The federal government now pays $250 million annually just to keep up the old equipment and keep it running.”
Meanwhile, Duffy on Thursday said the administration has assembled an “unprecedented coalition of support” from labor to industry, stressing that support is “indicative of just how important it is to this administration to get done what no one else could.”
Duffy added: “The American people are counting on us, and we won’t let them down.”
The rollout of the proposal comes just days after the FAA issued a ground delay for Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey due to staffing shortages, weather and construction.
“Our antiquated air traffic control system is affecting our workforce,” an FAA statement said. “As Secretary Duffy has said, we must get the best safety technology in the hands of controllers as soon as possible.”
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It also comes after air traffic controller audio was made public from when radar and radio communications with planes were briefly lost at Newark Liberty International Airport on April 28.
The April 28 outage lasted roughly 90 seconds. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association confirmed the incident to Fox News Digital, writing that the FAA’s operation in Philadelphia had “temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under their control, unable to see, hear, or talk to them.”
Alan Jackson grills sergeant about whether key witnesses could have lied from start
A defiant Karen Read departed Norfolk Superior Court alongside her defense team Thursday, speaking to reporters about the last time she saw her boyfriend, John O’Keefe.
“I saw John go in the house,” Read told reporters, referring to 34 Fairview.
Read went on to address if she thinks former investigator Michael Proctor will testify in her murder trial.
“I don’t believe so,” Read said. “But you’ve seen this afternoon how much evidence has not been shown to this jury.”
Proctor is listed as a potential witness that could be called by Read’s defense team.
Read also revealed her decision to take the stand in her own trial is “to be determined,” before departing alongside defense attorney Alan Jackson.
Judge Beverly Cannone dismissed the jurors in Karen Read’s trial for the day, with Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik set to return for continued cross-examination on Friday.
Defense attorney Alan Jackson grilled Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik on his involvement in the investigation of John O’Keefe’s death while questioning Bukhenik on his work with Michael Proctor.
“Do you think this case was handled with honor and integrity by Michael Proctor?” Jackson asked.
“The investigation was handled with integrity by Michael Proctor,” Bukhenik answered.
Jackson went on to ask what Bukhenik’s actions were on the morning of O’Keefe’s death as the investigation was in the initial stages. “Did you contact the medical examiner’s office at in the morning of Jan. 29, 2022?” Jackson said.
“Yes,” Bukhenik said.
“And did you state to them that there was a possibility that the decedent, John O’Keefe, was struck in the face with a cocktail glass?” Jackson said.
“I don’t recall my words exactly,” Bukhenik said. “But that sounds accurate to what I might have said.”
“At least your initial investigation, during those early morning hours of those critical hours, led you to believe, at least, that there was a possibility that there was a physical altercation, correct?” Jackson asked.
“Yes,” Bukhenik answered.
Jackson then pressed Bukhenik on the possibility that key witnesses Brian Albert, Jennifer McCabe and Matt McCabe could have lied to investigators since the start of the case.
“You took these three individuals just at their word based on those first three interviews, correct?” Jackson asked.
“No, not correct,” Bukhenik replied.
Jackson pointed to Bukhenik’s testimony that he did not search 34 Fairview and did not ask the three witnesses to come to the police station, but conducted an interview with Jennifer McCabe with Albert present.
“As a matter of fact, when you went to interview Jennifer McCabe at her home, Brian Albert happened to be there, right?” Jackson said.
“He was there,” Bukhenik said. “And I was able to conduct the interview at the house with Brian Albert.”
Karen Read’s trial has resumed following a lunch break, with Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik returning to the witness stand.
Brennan resumed direct examination by presenting surveillance footage of Karen Read and John O’Keefe at the Waterfall Bar and Grille on the night before O’Keefe’s body was found outside 34 Fairview.
After Brennan showed jurors the footage, defense attorney Alan Jackson began cross-examining Bukhenik.
On Thursday, Judge Beverly Cannone granted a request from the prosecution in Karen Read’s trial barring the media from recording any testimony from John O’Keefe’s underage niece and nephew or reporting their names.
O’Keefe became the primary caretaker of both children after their parents died over a decade ago. O’Keefe’s sister, Kristen, passed away from a brain tumor in 2013 and her husband, Stephen, died unexpectedly after suffering a heart attack months later.
Following prosecutor Hank Brennan showing the jurors surveillance footage of Karen Read
and John O’Keefe drinking at C.F. McCarthy’s, Judge Beverly Cannone dismissed the Court for a lunch break.
Brennan presented video evidence of Read pouring multiple shots of liquor into her mixed drinks as the couple chatted with individuals at the bar.
The prosecution previously played interview footage of Read explaining how she poured extra shots into her “weak” drinks on the night before O’Keefe was found frozen to death in the snow outside 34 Fairview.
Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik testified during direct examination by prosecutor Hank Brennan that he was included in a text chain with former investigator Michael Proctor during the investigation into John O’Keefe’s death.
Bukhenik went on to read text messages from the group chat.
“Funny, I am going through his retarded client’s phone,” Bukhenik said, reading from the document.
Brennan prompted Bukhenik to continue reading the messages.
“No nudes so far,” Bukhenik said. “I hate that man. I truly hate him.”
“Do you have any belief that it’s Michael Proctor who was writing these?” Brennan asked.
“Yes, I believe it is,” Bukhenik said.
Bukhenik became Proctor’s supervisor after the investigation, and was diciplined within the department regarding the accuracy of a review for failing to adequately supervise after the texts were discovered.
During Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik’s testimony, prosecutor Hank Brennan asked him to present the sneaker John O’Keefe was wearing when his body arrived at the hospital on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022.
As Bukhenik removed the sneaker, he became visibly confused as he read the markings on the evidence bag.
“This is the left sneaker,” Bukhenik said. “Excuse me, this is the right sneaker from 34 Fairview.”
On Wednesday, Massachusetts State Police Trooper Connor Keefe held up O’Keefe’s other sneaker in court, with the bag also clearly marked under 34 Fairview. However, only one sneaker was found at the scene, with O’Keefe wearing the other sneaker when he was transported to the hospital.
Judge Beverly Cannone then called for a morning recess as the prosecution worked to iron out the apparent mistake.
“These things happen,” Cannone said. “We have a lot of evidence.”
After the break, Bukhenik testified that it was indeed the sneaker that had been recovered at the hospital, and Brennan moved to have it admitted into evidence without objection from the defense.
While on the witness stand, Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik testified during direct examination he and former investigator Michael Proctor traveled to Karen Read’s home after observing John O’Keefe’s injuries on the morning of his death.
“Once we viewed the clothing and Mr. O’Keefe, we had to go talk to the last person that saw him,” Bukhenik said. “That would have been, at the time, his girlfriend.”
Based on O’Keefe’s injuries, Bukhenik initially theorized he had been killed by a vehicle strike and was interested in the vehicle Read was driving the previous night. Bukhenik testified that he and Proctor drove to meet with Read at her parents’ house, where he noticed her Lexus SUV had a “large piece of red taillight cover missing from the vehicle.”
The two investigators then met with Read at the home, where she agreed to speak with them.
Judge Beverly Cannone went on to instruct the jurors that before they can consider whether the secondhand statements from Read relayed by Bukhenik as evidence, they must determine the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt Read made the statements freely. Cannone then told the jurors she would further explain the instructions later.
“After, the Waterfall [Bar and Grille], [Read] stated that she dropped Mr. O’Keefe off at 34 Fairview,” Bukhenik said. “She was asked if she saw him go in the house. She stated, ‘No, she did not see him go in the house.’”
Bukhenik went on to testify he and Proctor questioned Read on the injuries to the back of O’Keefe’s head.
“The defendant stated she didn’t see any injuries on him,” Bukhenik said. “Then she provided a statement saying that Mr. O’Keefe bumped his head two nights prior and asked her about it.”
Following their conversation with Read, Bukhenik testified that he and Proctor seized Read’s Lexus SUV and cell phone.
Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik was called to the witness stand by special prosecutor Hank Brennan on Tuesday morning. Bukhenik was assigned to work with former investigator Michael Proctor after John O’Keefe was found frozen to death at 34 Fairview on Jan. 29, 2022.
Bukhenik testified he and Proctor interviewed Jennifer McCabe, Matt McCabe and Brian Albert shortly after O’Keefe was found, and later traveled to the hospital to see O’Keefe.
“I wanted to see the injuries for myself,” Bukhenik said. “The location of the injuries, the types of injuries, the extent of the injuries and overall condition that his body was in would be very telling.”
Bukhenik went on to testify he observed O’Keefe’s injuries and gathered his clothing to take into evidence, noting he was interested in finding O’Keefe’s missing sneaker.
“At that point, our theory had evolved to a vehicle strike,” Bukhenik said. “Based on the injuries, I was suspecting that [O’Keefe] was hit out of his shoes.”
Judge Beverly Cannone called Court into session Thursday with prosecutor Hank Brennan calling Massachusetts State Police Sergeant Yuri Bukhenik to the witness stand.
Bukhenik is currently assigned to the homicide section of the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office and was partnered with Michael Proctor in the initial investigation into John O’Keefe’s death in 2022.
Karen Read arrived alongside her defense team for Day 12 of her murder trial at the Norfolk Superior Courthouse in Dedham, Massachusetts on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
A second expert on smartphone forensics testified Wednesday in the Karen Read trial that Jennifer McCabe’s Google search about hypothermia happened after John O’Keefe’s remains were found, not before, as the defense has argued.
Jessica Hyde testified that she could say with scientific certainty that McCabe used her iPhone to search the phrase “hos (sic) long to die in cold” at 6:24 a.m.
The defense claim that the search happened at 2:27 a.m. – hours before investigators say Read, McCabe and Kerry Roberts found O’Keefe dead in the snow at 34 Fairview Road – is incorrect, she testified. The earlier timestamp has no connection to the search but is actually assigned to the time McCabe opened the browser tab on her phone.
Hyde testified using specific terms – “hex editors,” “hash values” and database files, wading into technical details about how phone data is extracted, preserved and interpreted. Even inexperienced analysts can have trouble making sense of things, she testified.
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Testimony is set to resume Thursday as the state continues to call witnesses in Karen Read’s murder trial.
On Wednesday, jurors heard from data expert Dr. Jessica Hyde and Massachusetts State Police Trooper Connor Keefe as prosecutors looked to pick apart the defense team’s timeline surrounding John O’Keefe’s death.
Read is facing the potential of life in prison for the death of O’Keefe, who was found frozen to death in the front yard of 34 Fairview on Jan. 29, 2022.