Jurors reach their decision in Karen Read’s gripping second murder trial
Jurors have reached a verdict in Karen Read’s retrial in the murder of her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe, who prosecutors allege she killed in a drunken hit-and-run during a blizzard on Jan. 29, 2022.
Jurors found Read not guilty of second-degree murder, the top charge, but guilty of a lesser offense of operating a vehicle under the influence with a blood-alcohol level of .08% or greater.
Special prosecutor Hank Brennan requested 1 year of probation and that Read be entered into a 24D outpatient program – routine penalty for a first drunken driving offense.
The trial saw more than 30 days of testimony and four days of deliberation. Read was also found not guilty of drunken driving manslaughter and fleeing the scene of a deadly accident. Her first trial on the same charges ended without a verdict last year when jurors deadlocked.
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Cheers of her supporters, who had been waiting for an update across the street from the courthouse, could be heard inside the courtroom.
For Read’s second trial, the commonwealth appointed a special prosecutor, high-powered defense attorney Hank Brennan, and Read added New York defense attorney Robert Alessi to a team that included Los Angeles’ Alan Jackson and Boston’s David Yannetti.
Jack Lu, a retired Massachusetts judge and Boston College law professor, called the outcome “a stunning victory for the defense” that he said would also help Read in a civil lawsuit against her from O’Keefe’s family.
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The investigation of Read’s case led to investigations into the investigators, leading to an audit into the Canton Police Department and the firing of a state police homicide detective.
“Today’s outcome may bring a sense of relief to some and continue to raise questions for others,” said John McCourt, chairman of Canton’s governing body, the select board. “We encourage members of the community to move forward together, treating one another with respect through civil, constructive dialogue.”
Read found O’Keefe around 6 a.m. lying in the snow and unresponsive. She was with two other women – Jennifer McCabe and Kerry Roberts, both of whom testified against her during the trial.
They said Read called them in a panic that morning and said she couldn’t find O’Keefe.
McCabe testified that on the morning in question, Read repeated three times, “I hit him.”
Paramedic Timothy Nuttall, the first witness to take the stand in the trial, said he overheard Read saying the same thing – three times again.
But the defense argued that a collision never happened.
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The couple and other friends and acquaintances, including McCabe, had been out drinking in downtown Canton before they were invited to an after-party at the home of Brian Albert, who testified in the first trial but not the second.
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O’Keefe was found on Albert’s lawn hours later.
Witnesses said they saw Read’s car outside but neither she nor O’Keefe went into the gathering. She did not testify in her own defense – but she told reporters outside court that she saw O’Keefe go inside before she drove away.
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Throughout the trial, Brennan played clips of Read’s televised interviews, giving jurors a chance to hear not only her version of events, but other commentary she gave journalists, including how she was spiking her own drinks at the bar before O’Keefe’s death and an encounter with O’Keefe’s mother afterward.
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Prosecutors allege Read hit O’Keefe and drove to his house without him. Read’s defense has argued she never hit him, blaming his injuries on a dog attack and an altercation with other men at the party.
Trump responds to GOP senator’s push to bump minimum wage to $15 an hour
President Donald Trump signaled he was not sure about whether, or not, he would support a recent proposal led by GOP Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
“I haven’t seen it. I’d have to speak to Josh. He’s a very good friend of mine,” Trump said Wednesday from the Oval Office after a reporter asked whether he supported the move. “That’s interesting that Josh did that. You have to think about that one.”
Alongside Democrat Vermont Sen. Peter Welch, Hawley introduced the Higher Wages for American Workers Act last week. If passed, the legislation would more than double the current federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15.00 per hour.
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Currently, at least 31 states require businesses to pay most workers above the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour — including Hawley’s home state of Missouri.
“Some people agree with it. Some people don’t,” Trump added while speaking to reporters from the Resolute Desk. “You know, some people say it really turns away business, restaurants, clothes and a lot of things happen. Other people agree. I’d have to speak to Josh — he’s a good guy.”
Hawley has framed the raise to the minimum wage as “a populist position.”
“If we’re going to be a working people’s party, we have to do something for working people,” the senator told NBC News after the bill was introduced last week. “And working people haven’t gotten a raise in years. So they need a raise.”
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Hawley’s somewhat surprising move to support an increase to the federal minimum wage follows other moves he has made in an effort to push an economic populist agenda.
Hawley partnered with progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in February, to introduce legislation that seeks to cap credit card interest rates at 10%.
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On Tuesday, Hawley voted alongside progressives like Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Sanders and against the majority of Republicans when he declined to support legislation that imposes regulations on the cryptocurrency market, which critics fear will benefit institutional players at the cost of smaller investors.
Hawley’s office declined to comment for this story.
Potential illegal voting being investigated in major red state following Trump order
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into 33 potential noncitizens allegedly illegally voting in the 2024 general election.
Paxton, a Republican who is running a Senate primary challenge against Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, announced the investigation on Tuesday.
In a press statement, Paxton’s office said it was made aware of the potential illegal votes by Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson. The statement said Nelson was only able to access the information because of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump this March.
Trump’s executive order, titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” directed the Departments of State and Homeland Security to give all states “access to appropriate systems for verifying the citizenship or immigration status of individuals registering to vote or who are already registered.”
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The order also directed DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to provide U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi with “complete information on all foreign nationals who have indicated on any immigration form that they have registered or voted in a Federal, State, or local election, and shall also take all appropriate action to submit to relevant State or local election officials such information.”
Part of this order involved the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s SAVE database being opened up to the states at no cost, through which Nelson was able to access the information about the alleged illegal voting, according to Paxton’s statement.
Trump said in the order that “free, fair, and honest elections unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion are fundamental to maintaining our constitutional Republic” and “the right of American citizens to have their votes properly counted and tabulated, without illegal dilution, is vital to determining the rightful winner of an election.”
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In August 2024, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that the state had removed 1.1 million people from its voter rolls, including individuals who had moved out-of-state, were deceased or who were non-citizens.
A statement by the governor’s office said that over 6,500 of the individuals removed from the state’s voter rolls were potential noncitizens. The statement said that approximately 1,930 of the removed noncitizens had a voter history.
Later reporting by the Texas Tribune alleged that the governor’s office had inflated the numbers of noncitizen voters. The governor’s office, however, has said that the removal process “has been, and will continue to be, ongoing.”
TEXAS GOVERNOR MAKES IT ‘CRYSTAL CLEAR’ ONLY U.S. CITIZENS CAN VOTE IN STATE ELECTIONS
In his Tuesday statement announcing the investigation into the 33 potential noncitizens voting, Paxton said that “these potential instances of unlawful voting will be thoroughly investigated, and I will continue to stand with President Trump in fighting to ensure that our state’s elections are safe and secure.”
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“In order to be able to trust the integrity of our elections, the results must be determined by our own citizens—not foreign nationals breaking the law to illegally vote,” said Paxton, adding that “noncitizens must not be allowed to influence American elections, and I will use the full weight of my office to investigate all voter fraud.”
Musk fires back at New York Times with drug test results as media feud escalates
The New York Times accused Tesla CEO Elon Musk of “lashing out” against them on Tuesday.
In May, the New York Times published a report citing “private messages” sent to them and “interviews with more than a dozen people who have known or worked with him” that alleged Musk’s drug use was “more intense” than publicly known as he campaigned with then-candidate Donald Trump in 2024.
“Mr. Musk’s drug consumption went well beyond occasional use,” the NYT reported. “He told people he was taking so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that it was affecting his bladder, a known effect of chronic use. He took Ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms. And he traveled with a daily medication box that held about 20 pills, including ones with the markings of the stimulant Adderall, according to a photo of the box and people who have seen it.”
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Musk repeatedly denounced the article and called out the Times by posting the results of a recent drug test on his X account Tuesday.
The paper’s communications team responded to the results, saying that Musk was “continuing to lash out” against them and stood by the story.
“Elon Musk is continuing to lash out because he doesn’t like our reporting. Nothing that he’s said or presented since our article about his drug use during the presidential campaign was published contradicts what we uncovered. We stand by our journalism,” the NY Times Communications account wrote.
The NYT gave the same response after Musk challenged the New York Times and Wall Street Journal to release the results of their own drug tests.
“Great idea. I hereby challenge the NYT and WSJ to take drug tests and publish the results! They won’t, because those hypocrites are guilty as sin,” Musk wrote.
The back-and-forth between the New York Times and Musk has been ongoing since the article was published on May 30.
One day after the story was published, Musk wrote on X that the NYT was “lying their a– off” and insisted that he had not taken ketamine in years.
The NY Times Communications account pushed back on Musk at the time, similarly accusing Musk of “lashing out” but with “no evidence.”
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“Kirsten Grind and Megan Twohey’s thoroughly sourced report provides an important and fair look into Musk’s drug use and family conflicts. They interviewed a dozen people who have known or worked with him, and saw private text messages, legal documents and photographic evidence,” the NY Times Communications account wrote. “Elon Musk is just lashing out because he doesn’t like our article. We provided Musk with multiple opportunities to reply or rebut this reporting before publication and he declined, opting instead to try to distract with a social post and no evidence.”
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US Open winner wants to give his competitor a gift for helping him win title
J.J. Spaun is not afraid to admit that he got a little bit of help on his walk-off U.S. Open-winning putt.
Paired up with Viktor Hovland in the final round, Spaun and Hovland landed their approach shots on the par-five 18th within inches of one another.
At that point, Hovland was pretty much out of the race, but Spaun needed two putts to win his first major.
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Hovland was away and narrowly missed his putt. Spaun had practically an identical line, and he drained it from 64 feet out.
Sure, Spaun’s likelihood of winning the tournament on that green was relatively high, and maybe he didn’t need Hovland’s help at all. But Spaun admitted his plans to give some payback to Hovland.
“I’ve gotta give him a nice bottle of wine or something, whatever he wants,” Spaun told “The Dan Patrick Show.”
“That was a nice teach, and I think that is just one of the things that has to go your way to win not only a championship but a major championship, and I’m just happy to have capitalized on that little advantage.”
Spaun shot 66-72-69-72 to finish his week as the only player under par at Oakmont.
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Oakmont was as advertised this week, with some of the game’s best like Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry and more, struggling to find answers for its tough greens, thick roughs, and the pouring rain that came down on Sunday certainly didn’t help matters for those vying for the championship.
Golf’s toughest test this year, though, was tamed by Spaun on Thursday when he left as the field’s leader after 18 holes, shooting a 4-under 66. He returned on Friday and didn’t see the same results, going 2-over, but he certainly wasn’t out of it.
After posting a 1-under on Saturday, Spaun knew he was in position to make a run at his first-ever major, but Sunday’s start wasn’t at all what he had in mind.
Spaun had five bogeys in his first six holes, as he started to tumble down the leaderboard. In the past, Spaun has said he would be discouraged with this type of performance, but as he was righting his Sunday ship, a weather delay put a halt on play.
When he returned to the course, a different Spaun emerged. The back nine was truly his, shooting par on the first two holes before birdying Hole 12 and then Hole 14 to get his round to 3-over on the day.
At this point, multiple players were in the hunt, separated by a shot, if not tied on the leaderboard. Spaun gave one back with a bogey on 15, but he was money on Hole 17 and 18 with back-to-back birdies to seal the win.
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While his putt on 18 was nothing short of incredible, Spaun’s drive on 17 landed perfectly short of the green, and it rolled up for a chance at eagle. While he missed that putt, he would bury his next one just over three feet with a chance to win on 18.
Spaun also completed his Father’s Day with his daughters Emerson and Violet, as well as wife Melody, with a celebration at the 18th green.
Troy Aikman reveals why he’s ‘not hanging with’ neighbors Prince Harry, Meghan Markle
Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman is enjoying his time off before another season in the broadcast booth with Joe Buck.
What he isn’t doing, though, is hanging out with his famous neighbors in Montecito, California.
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, also live in Montecito, but Aikman explained why he doesn’t see himself spending any time with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex anytime soon.
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“I haven’t run into them,” he told Us Weekly. “But they are there from what I can gather. I think anyone with a heartbeat knows that they’re out there. But I’m not hanging with them, that’s for sure.”
The Dallas Cowboys legend was promoting his Eight Elite Light Beer and joked he doesn’t picture Prince Harry and his wife “drinking much light beer.”
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Prince Harry and Markle moved to Montecito in 2020 after leaving their senior roles with the royal family. But they don’t seem to be making too many friends in their new area.
Montecito residents spoke to Vanity Fair earlier this year, one of whom referred to Markle as “the starlet,” and they believe the usually quiet town has new annoyances since they arrived.
Some of those annoyances include busier streets, increased housing prices and tourist traffic.
But not everyone believes the couple to be “local villains.” Sharon Stone, another celebrity neighbor, commended them for wanting to make a mark in Montecito.
“You know, the thing about them that is so great is they didn’t come here to live off of our community,” Stone told Access Hollywood in 2020. “They came here to be a part of our community.
“My friend said she was sitting in her car, and they bicycled across the street and waved at her while she was sitting at the red light. They’re a part of our community. They’ve become a giving, caring, participating part of our community. They’re not here to be like, ‘Would you like to kiss my butt?’”
Montecito has been home to celebrities like Natalie Portman, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeff Bridges, Michael Keaton and others.
Aikman is gearing up for his next NFL broadcasting season on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” alongside longtime partner Buck.
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Aikman, a three-time Super Bowl champion with the Cowboys, began broadcasting in 2001.
Former Marine trolls anti-ICE protesters in Texas to promote comedy show
Dozens of protesters gathered on the steps of the federal courthouse in downtown San Antonio on June 11, waving Mexican flags and signs with slogans like “Keep our city neat — no ICE.” In front of them stood a tattoo-covered man wearing an obscene t-shirt and holding his own cardboard sign, on which he’d handwritten “Come to my show @ LOL on June 15.”
Heads turned. Confusion turned to anger. The next day, Justin Governale said he saw photos of himself on local social media pages, labeled a “known agitator” by protesters who urged others to “share his face.”
“I was like, ‘Yeah, keep sharing my face. Let’s go,'” Governale joked to Fox News Digital. “Free promotion.”
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Governale, a former Marine scout sniper, garnered a surge of online attention after crashing demonstrations against ICE and President Donald Trump last week in San Antonio to advertise his comedy show. Many felt he wasn’t taking the issue of mass deportations and workplace raids seriously enough.
“Families are being separated and broken apart, meanwhile this guy is using it to publicize himself, sad,” one Instagram user wrote in the comments under Governale’s video.
“So many people on the left… were arguing with me,” Governale said, and making assumptions about him — and his opinions — that weren’t necessarily true.
His mother came to the U.S. as a migrant worker from Mexico, he said, picking cherries in Wisconsin. She didn’t gain citizenship until Governale was 11 years old.
“When she became an American citizen, she was so freaking proud,” he said. “I’m very fortunate to be here.”
His mother’s experience, coupled with his travels throughout Central America, where he met migrants embarking on dangerous journeys trying to get to the United States, let him see both sides of the issue.
“How can some of these people not want a better life in America? So I don’t blame them,” he said. “[But] we have to protect our borders. And I’ll stand on that. We have to make sure there’s a process to do it legally so we can track the people that are coming in and be safe about it.”
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Governale is no stranger to unorthodox marketing strategies. He often records show announcements selfie-style, with dramatic backdrops including workers picketing outside a rental car company, street fights and even flashing red and blue lights as police and paramedics respond to emergencies.
So when he heard the nationwide protests against the Trump administration’s mass deportation policies were coming to his city, he decided to seize the opportunity.
“I kind of went undercover,” Governale said, making a decoy sign and holding it over his promotional sign until it was time to snag his video last Wednesday. At the last second, he switched it out. The crowd wasn’t pleased, he said.
Nor were they happy when he showed up again on Saturday for the “No Kings” protest with another offbeat sign. As he left the demonstration, Governale said someone on a microphone started describing what he was wearing.
“But I will give it to them. They didn’t try and throw punches,” he said. “They kept it peaceful.”
Thousands of demonstrators showed up for Saturday’s march in San Antonio, according to local reports, joining people in hundreds of cities across the nation who oppose the Trump administration. Even though he may not entirely agree with the protesters’ message, Governale said that’s what the First Amendment is all about.
“That’s why I went to Iraq and got blown up, right? So you can say and believe whatever you want, and vice versa,” he said.
Governale said he would have pulled his stunt regardless of what people were protesting.
“The nation is so tense and divided right now, it’s like, ‘Well, let me bring a little humor to the scenario,’” he said.
Governale credits his time in the Marines for his willingness to try anything to make a joke.
“That’s why I’m not scared to do things. Life isn’t that serious,” he said. “Even in your worst moment, you can find a second to laugh. That’s what comedy is, dude.”
And his marketing strategy appears to have worked. When Governale took the stage Sunday night and held up his cardboard sign, the crowd cheered.
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Asked if he’d be attending more protests in the future, Governale’s answer was obvious.
“Am I going to troll some more? Hell yeah, I am.”
Media melts down over Supreme Court decision on gender transition ban for kids
The legacy media was united in its disapproval of the Supreme Court‘s landmark ruling upholding Tennessee’s ban on transgender medical treatment for minors.
In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court struck down a challenge to a Tennessee law restricting access to puberty blockers and hormone treatment to children who identify as the opposite sex.
Several news organizations framed the ruling negatively and implied it was a “setback for transgender rights” for all ages, despite the decision affecting only minors. The result was also described as a “major blow,” a “devastating loss,” and a “stunning setback.”
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“BREAKING: The Supreme Court upholds a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors in a huge setback for transgender rights,” the Associated Press reported on X Wednesday.
“BREAKING: Supreme Court upholds a Tennessee law restricting gender transition care for minors, delivering a major blow to transgender rights,” NBC News similarly posted.
“The US Supreme Court backed a Republican-backed ban in Tennessee on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, in a setback for transgender rights that could bolster efforts by states to defend other measures targeting transgender people,” Reuters wrote.
“The Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, a stunning setback to transgender rights,” The Boston Globe also posted.
While the Tennessee law was passed in 2023 and Supreme Court oral arguments were heard in December, some news outlets tied the ruling negatively to President Donald Trump’s policies.
Newsweek warned in its headline that the ruling was a “major setback for transgender rights,” telling readers the decision “effectively protects from legal challenges many efforts by President Donald Trump’s Republican administration and state governments to roll back protections for transgender people.”
The Washington Post described the 6-3 ruling as a “divided Supreme Court” and called the broader trans debate “a polarizing national issue the Trump administration has seized on in initiatives targeting transgender rights.” NPR said the decision “plunged the Supreme Court into yet another culture war feud.”
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The New York Times attempted to equate the ruling on trans-identifying minors to the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision giving gay and transgender adults civil rights protections from employers under Title VII.
“The decision, which came amid the Trump administration’s fierce assaults on transgender rights, was a bitter setback for their proponents, who only five years ago celebrated a decision by the court to protect transgender people from workplace discrimination,” the Times wrote.
CNN went even further, decrying the ruling coming at a “critical time” for the transgender community.
“The 6-3 decision by a conservative majority is a major blow to the transgender community and its advocates at a critical time,” CNN wrote. “Since 2020, Republican-led states around the country have passed a wave of laws regulating the lives of trans Americans, with a particular focus on minors.”
“And President Donald Trump, who ran for reelection in part on ending the ‘transgender lunacy,’ has taken several steps intended to roll back gains made by that community,” CNN continued.
The Guardian called the ruling “a devastating loss for trans rights supporters in a case that could set a precedent for dozens of other lawsuits involving the rights of transgender children.”
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CNN political director David Chalian said Republicans will use the ongoing transgender debate ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, but stressed there will be a “real human impact” on American families.
“We’re going to learn what the human impact is of this court decision among families across the country, but in the politics of it, I think the two things to watch are how Republicans will sort of hit the gas on this issue, what they believe is a winning culture war issue for them, and watch how Democrats, especially those considering a 2028 presidential campaign, respond to this court ruling. Have they learned to message around this issue in a way that’s more politically palatable than what Kamala Harris was able to do back in 24,” Chalian said on the channel.
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An MSNBC panel sounded the alarm about the “slippery slope” that could put transgender kids at risk as a result of the ruling.
“Any transgender minor is now at risk because states are copycats. They see now that Tennessee has been successful, and so they’re going to implement laws that copy the language here,” MSNBC legal analyst Barbara McQuade said. “So I think if you are a family today with a transgender child, your child is likely at risk if you live in a state that is hostile to transgender Americans.”