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DOJ officials slam judge for questioning Lindsey Halligan’s status as US attorney

January 14, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — In an 11-page court filing, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Acting U.S. attorney Lindsay Halligan blasted a federal judge Tuesday for what they called an “inquisition” against Halligan for continuing to represent herself as U.S. attorney for Eastern District of Virginia, after another judge found she was not legally allowed to serve in the role.

Halligan, a former White House aide who was appointed interim U.S. attorney by President Donald Trump, secured indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, only to have them thrown out when U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie determined in November that she had been unlawfully appointed without being either Senate confirmed or appointed by the federal judiciary.

Last week, U.S. District Judge David Novak ordered the Justice Department to explain why Halligan was still using the title after her office issued an indictment in which she was identified as U.S. attorney in the document’s signature block.

In their court filing on Tuesday, Bondi, Blanche and Halligan slammed Judge Novak’s order.

“The Court’s thinly veiled threat to use attorney discipline to cudgel the Executive Branch into conforming its legal position in all criminal prosecutions to the views of a single district judge is a gross abuse of power and an affront to the separation of powers,” the filing said. “The bottom line is that Ms. Halligan has not ‘misrepresented’ anything and the Court is flat wrong to suggest that any change to the Government’s signature block is warranted in this or any other case.”

“Contrary to this Court’s suggestion, nothing in the Comey and James dismissal orders prohibits Ms. Halligan from performing the functions of or holding herself out as the United States Attorney,” said the filing. “Although Judge Currie concluded that Ms. Halligan was unlawfully appointed under Section 546, she did not purport to enjoin Ms. Halligan from continuing to oversee the office or from identifying herself as the United States Attorney in the Government’s signature blocks.”

The DOJ officials said Judge Novak had a “fixation” on Halligan’s signature block, which was “untethered from how federal courts actually operate.”

They argued that the court has no authority to strike her signature from the block.

Brown University shooting: New video shows moment suspected gunman left campus

January 14, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(PROVIDENCE, R.I.) — Footage newly obtained by ABC News appears to show the moment that the man suspected of opening fire at Brown University in December fled the Ivy League campus following the tragic incident.

Officials believe Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, is seen on a dash camera video recorded from a Brown University shuttle vehicle on Dec. 13 around dusk, walking through a parking lot adjacent to Barus and Holley, the building that includes the Providence, Rhode Island, school’s physics department.

His right hand appears to be in his pocket as he then jaywalks nonchalantly across Hope Street toward an adjacent residential neighborhood.

The Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General confirmed to ABC News that the footage is believed to depict the shooter and that the video was recorded immediately following the shooting.

The video was released in response to a public records request filed by ABC News. Authorities are currently declining to release many additional records associated with the response to the incident.

Neves Valente, a former Brown graduate student suspected to have been motivated by a lengthy grudge, shot and killed students Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov and Ella Cook inside a final exam review session, according to authorities.

Nine others were wounded in the shooting, officials said at the time.

At some point after the shooting, police say Neves Valente traveled to the Boston suburbs and killed Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro near his Brookline home.

Neves Valente later crossed the New Hampshire state line by a few yards and took his own life at a self-storage facility as authorities sought to take him into custody, according to police.

The video recorded by the shuttle bus was referenced in a Providence Police criminal affidavit against Neves Valente that noted, “This was observed to be at 16:03, immediately after the shooting.”

The footage appears to indicate that the tragedy that occurred inside Barus and Holley was not evident to people on the street outside, with a handful of pedestrians seen casually walking nearby.

A Brown University police car can be seen parked on the curb. Around 25 seconds after Neves Valente fled the scene, another police car can be seen driving down Hope Street. Its blue emergency lights were flashing.

Supreme Court gives candidates more room to challenge election rules

January 14, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday significantly expanded the ability of candidates for political office to challenge rules governing an election, rolling back lower court decisions that had said a candidate needed to show concrete harm in order to bring a suit.

The 7-2 decision handed a victory to Republicans in Illinois who are contesting a state policy of counting timely cast but late-arriving mail ballots up to two weeks after Election Day.

It also promises to increase litigation nationwide ahead of the midterm election.

“Candidates have a concrete and particularized interest in the rules that govern the counting of votes in their elections, regardless whether those rules harm their electoral prospects or increase the cost of their campaigns,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts in the court’s opinion.

Roberts concluded that candidates — by virtue of running for office alone — should have the ability to bring legal challenges over rules governing how campaigns are conducted and votes are cast and counted.

Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan concurred with the court’s judgment in the case but on different grounds, saying candidates should need to show a “pocketbook injury” or other “actual or imminent injury” before being allowed to sue.

In dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, accused the majority of breaking from settled law and “unnecessarily thrusting the judiciary into the political arena.”

“By carving out a bespoke rule for candidate-plaintiffs — granting them standing to challenge the rules that govern the counting of votes, simply and solely because they are candidates for office — the Court now complicates and destabilizes both our standing law and America’s electoral process,” Jackson wrote.

Uvalde teaching aide testifies she pleaded with officer Gonzales to intervene in massacre

January 14, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) — A Robb Elementary School teaching aide testified that she repeatedly urged Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales to intervene in the shooting, but said he did “nothing” in those crucial moments.

Melodye Flores testified on Wednesday that she saw gunman Salvador Ramos before he entered the school and tried to tell Gonzales his location.

“I told him that he needed to get stopped before he went into the fourth-grade building,” she testified.

“And what did he say?” prosecutor Bill Turner asked.

“He, just, nothing,” Flores said.

“Did you say it more than once?” Turner asked.

“I did,” Flores said, telling jurors she urged Gonzales to intervene two or three times.

Prosecutors allege Gonzales, who is charged with child endangerment, did not follow his training and endangered the 19 students who died and an additional 10 surviving students.

Gonzales, no longer an officer, has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers argue he is being unfairly blamed for a broader law-enforcement failure that day. It took 77 minutes before law enforcement mounted a counterassault to end the May 24, 2022, rampage.

Flores testified that she was eating lunch in her classroom when she learned about the shooter over a school radio. She said she ran outside because she knew that some students were on the playground and potentially in danger.

After warning some students, Flores said she spotted the gunman near the south door of the school.

“He was wearing all black and a hoodie … that’s when he started shooting,” she said.

Flores said she started running away and tripped, and incorrectly thought she was shot.

She testified that she saw Gonzales drive up to her right after she tripped, and she tried to inform the officer about the shooter’s location.

“I said that he was heading into the fourth-grade building, and we needed to stop him. We needed to go in and stop him before he went in,” she said.

“I just kept pointing. ‘He’s going in there, he’s going to the fourth-grade building,'” she told jurors.

“Did you hear anything from this gunman while you were talking to the police officer?” Turner asked.

“Just kept hearing shots,” she said.

Flores said that Gonzales did not respond to her warnings.

“I kept telling him that he needed to be stopped,” she said.

“When you told the officer to go in, did he go in?” Turner asked.

“No,” she said.

“What did he do?” Turner asked.

“He just stayed there,” she said.

Flores said she left Gonzales and tried to help a teacher who had sheltered in her classroom.

During cross-examination, the defense tried to cast doubt on the reliability of Flores’ testimony, suggesting that the trauma might have distorted her memories of the shooting.

Defense lawyer Nico LaHood highlighted that Flores testified that Gonzales arrived in an unmarked white car, though photos show he drove a marked school police car. Flores also previously told investigators that Gonzales wore khakis and a white shirt and had a beard; Gonzales was cleanly shaven that day and wore blue.

On Tuesday, during the testimony of Texas Ranger Ricardo Guajardo, prosecutors played a lengthy interview Gonzales gave to state investigators after the shooting.

In the interview, Gonzales recalled arriving at the school as one of the first officers and learning about the shooting from a coach.

“I was going over there towards her,” he said. “I see her fall in the dust cloud. So I get to her, and I realized she’s one of the coaches.”

According to Gonzales, he learned the approximate location and a basic description of the shooter from the coach, though the shooting began before he could act.

Gonzales told investigators that he could not see the shooter, but he tried to notify others over his radio.

“I notify everybody on the radio, the best I could. And then, you know, as soon as I start walking over there, I see the rounds come out of the window,” he said.

Gonzales also described trying to enter the school with four other officers, though they retreated after two were hit by gunfire.

“Everybody flew back, you know, so I think he got hit,” he said. “We kind of moved back.”

Two months before the shooting, Gonzales taught a course about responding to active shooters, according to testimony from Teresa Zamarripa, the officer manager at Southwest Texas College Law Enforcement Agency.

ABC News’ Juan Renteria contributed to this report.

Sick astronaut, rest of crew to undock from ISS, NASA says

January 14, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The NASA International Space Station (ISS) crew that includes a sick astronaut are on track to return to earth Thursday morning.

On Jan. 8, NASA said it was ending the current the ISS mission out of abundance of caution because of a medical situation involving one of the astronauts on board.

“I’ve come to the decision that it’s in the best interest of our astronauts to return Crew-11 ahead of their planned departure,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during a press conference on Jan. 8.

Crew-11 is scheduled to undock from the ISS at 5:05 p.m. ET Wednesday before splashing down off the coast of California around 3:41 a.m. Thursday, according to NASA.

On Tuesday, the crew prepared by packing cargo, reviewing return-to-Earth procedures and transferring hardware aboard the ISS, the agency said.

They will return to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon Endeavor — the same spacecraft that brought them to the station.

An emergency evacuation was not ordered because the astronaut was stable, Dr. James “JD” Polk said during the Jan. 8 conference. The astronaut remains in stable condition, NASA said.

The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which partners with private companies to deliver humans to and from the ISS.

Crew-11 includes two American astronauts, a Japanese astronaut and a Roscosmos cosmonaut. They traveled to the ISS on Aug. 1 and were scheduled to stay until mid-to-late February.

It is the “11th crew rotation mission of SpaceX’s human space transportation system and its 12th flight with astronauts,” according to NASA.

In November, the crew marked a historic milestone for the ISS — the 25th anniversary of the first crew that arrived at the station.

NASA did not say which astronaut was impacted nor did it describe the individual’s condition or symptoms due to privacy concerns.

It was the first time in 25 years that a medical evacuation was necessary, Polk said.

The unprecedented moves comes after NASA announced it had postponed planned spacewalk with the two American astronauts scheduled for the morning of Jan. 8.

FBI searches Washington Post reporter’s home for alleged classified information, newspaper says

January 14, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The FBI conducted a search of a Washington Post reporter’s home Wednesday morning in search of alleged classified information, according to the newspaper.

The reporter, Hannah Natanson, was at her home in Virginia when FBI agents knocked on her door to execute the search warrant, the newspaper reported.

Agents seized a phone, two laptop computers – one of which was issued to her by the Washington Post – and a Garmin watch, according to the paper.

Investigators told Natanson that the warrant was part of an ongoing investigation into Aurelio Perez-Lugones, according to the newspaper. Perez-Lugones, whom an FBI affidavit describes as a government contractor, was charged in federal court in Maryland last week for alleged unlawful retention of national defense information, according to the affidavit.

Natanson was informed by investigators that she is not the focus of the probe, the newspaper said, adding that she “covers the federal workforce.”

The FBI did not respond to an ABC News request for information about the search. However, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post Wednesday that the FBI “executed a search warrant of an individual at the Washington Post who was found to allegedly be obtaining and reporting classified, sensitive military information from a government contractor – endangering our warfighters and compromising America’s national security. The alleged leaker was arrested this week and is in custody.”

“[A]t the request of the Department of War, the Department of Justice and FBI executed a search warrant at the home of a Washington Post journalist who was obtaining and reporting classified and illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor. The leaker is currently behind bars,” Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X Wednesday morning.

“I am proud to work alongside Secretary Hegseth on this effort. The Trump Administration will not tolerate illegal leaks of classified information that, when reported, pose a grave risk to our Nation’s national security and the brave men and women who are serving our country,” Bondi’s statement continued.

House Republicans say they will hold Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress in Epstein inquiry

January 14, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said on Wednesday the panel plans to move forward with contempt of Congress proceedings against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after she defied a subpoena for a deposition as part of the panel’s probe into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

It comes a day after Comer, a Republican, said the committee plans to hold former President Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress as well after he refused to appear for a scheduled deposition. Comer said the committee will vote next Wednesday on holding the Clintons in contempt of Congress.

“Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined her husband in defying a bipartisan, lawful congressional subpoena to show up today,” Comer said, later adding, “We’re going to hold both Clintons in criminal contempt of Congress.”

Comer, asked if he’d be willing to have the Clintons appear for a public hearing, said “that’s something we can talk about.”

On Tuesday, the Clintons sent the committee a scathing four-page letter that potentially signaled a protracted fight with Congress over a move they blasted as “partisan politics.”

“Every person has to decide when they have seen or had enough and are ready to fight for this country, its principles and its people, no matter the consequences,” the Clintons wrote in the letter. “For us, now is that time.”

The Clintons blasted Comer, saying in the letter that, “There is no plausible explanation for what you are doing other than partisan politics.”

“We are confident that any reasonable person in or out of Congress will see, based on everything we release, that what you are doing is trying to punish those who you see as your enemies and to protect those you think are your friends. Continue to mislead Americans about what is truly at stake, and you will learn that Americans are better at finding the truth than you are at burying it,” they wrote.

For months, Republicans on the committee have demanded that the Clintons provide testimony to lawmakers, citing the former president’s travels on Epstein’s private aircraft in the early 2000s and the Clinton “family’s past relationship” with Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell. The panel initially issued subpoenas for the Clintons on Aug. 5 to appear in October.

David Kendall, a lawyer for the Clintons, has argued that the couple has no information relevant to the committee’s investigation of the federal government’s handling of investigations into Epstein and Maxwell, and should not be required to appear for in-person testimony. Instead, Kendall said, they should be permitted to provide the limited information they have to the committee in writing.

Hillary Clinton “has no personal knowledge of Epstein or Maxwell’s criminal activities, never flew on his aircraft, never visited his island, and cannot recall ever speaking to Epstein. She has no personal knowledge of Maxwell’s activities with Epstein,” Kendall wrote. “President Clinton’s contact with Epstein ended two decades ago, and given what came to light much after, he has expressed regret for even that limited association,” an Oct. 6 letter to the committee says.

Neither Bill Clinton nor Hillary Clinton has been accused of wrongdoing and denies having any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. No Epstein survivor or associate has ever made a public allegation of wrongdoing or inappropriate behavior by the former president or his wife in connection with his prior relationship with Epstein.

Comer wrote in a letter to Kendall in October that the committee is “skeptical” that the Clintons have only limited information and stated it was up to the committee, not the Clintons, to make determinations of the value of the information.

Last month, in response to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the Justice Department released several photographs of former President Clinton apparently taken during his international travels with Epstein and Maxwell from 2002 to 2003, although the released photographs contained no information identifying when or where they were taken. Following that disclosure, a spokesperson for the two-term Democratic president argued that the Trump administration released those images to shield the Trump White House “from what comes next, or from what they’ll try to hide forever.”

To hold someone in contempt of Congress, the Oversight Committee would first mark up and then vote to advance the contempt resolution. Once the committee approves the resolution, which is expected given the GOP majority, the resolution now could go to a vote in the full House.

A simple majority is needed to clear a contempt resolution on the floor. Notably, it does not require passage in the Senate.

The resolution, if passed, would direct the speaker of the House to refer the case to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia — under the Department of Justice — for possible criminal prosecution.

Best friends die in Florida after sand hole traps them underground: Sheriff

January 14, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(INVERNESS, Fla.) — Two teenagers, whose relatives said were best friends, have died after a sand hole they were digging at a Florida park collapsed and buried them for more than an hour, authorities said.

The incident occurred at Sportsman Park in Inverness, Florida, according to the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office.

“Our hearts are with both families as they grieve the tremendous loss of their sons. We hope the community will continue to respect their privacy and unite in remembering and celebrating both boys,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

The two 14-year-olds were identified on Wednesday as George Watts and Derrick Hubbard, the Florida District 8 and District 5 Medical Examiners’ offices told ABC News.

The boys were playing in the park on Sunday when a five-foot-deep sand hole they were digging collapsed, trapping them, according to the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s office said the emergency was reported about 12:44 p.m. local time.

“The caller reported that two 14-year-old children were lost in the park, and there was a large hole; the caller thought the children were trapped inside the hole,” the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies, firefighters and emergency medical services personnel raced to the park and attempted to rescue the boys after one of their parents pinged their child’s cellphone and pinpointed their whereabouts underground, according to the sheriff’s office.

Rescuers pulled both boys from the sand hole around 1:15 p.m. and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. They were taken by ambulance to HCA Florida Citrus Hospital in Inverness.

One of the boys, Derrick Hubbard, was pronounced dead on Sunday, authorities said. The sheriff’s office said George Watts was pronounced dead at the hospital on Tuesday afternoon.

“In a tragic accident, we lost our oldest son, George Watts, and his best friend, Derrick Hubbard,” Watts’ mother, Jasmine Watts, wrote on a GoFundMe page set up to raise money to cover the boys’ funeral expenses. “These two boys shared a bond that went beyond friendship — they were inseparable, full of life, curiosity, and dreams for the future.”

The boys were students at Inverness Middle School, the school said in a statement.

“This situation has deeply affected many within our school and district community,” the school said in a statement, adding that counselors, social workers and psychologists were made available to students this week “as we navigate this difficult time together.”

Family of couple allegedly killed by ex speaks out: ‘She just had to get away from him’

January 14, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — The family of slain Ohio couple Monique and Spencer Tepe is speaking out about Monique Tepe’s ex-husband, who is accused of shooting the young parents in their home.

“She just had to get away from him,” the Tepes’ brother-in-law, Rob Misleh, told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” of Michael McKee.

McKee, 39, is charged with premeditated aggravated murder for allegedly gunning down the Tepes at their Columbus home on Dec. 30, according to police.

McKee appeared in court on Monday. He did not enter a plea but assistant public defender Carie Poirier told the judge he intended to plead not guilty.

Misleh said that Monique Tepe told him that McKee was emotionally abusive.

“Myself and many others were well aware of, kind of, the negative impact that he had on her. And the abuse that he put her through, the torment that he put her through,” Misleh said. “She was willing to do anything to get out of there.”

“She was a very strong person,” Misleh added.

McKee and Monique Tepe were married in 2015 and divorced in 2017, according to divorce records obtained by ABC Columbus affiliate WSYX. They did not have any children together, according to the records.

Spencer and Monique Tepe married in December 2020, according to their obituary.

“They were some of the kindest and just most inviting people,” Misleh said. “… I think it speaks really loudly that their funeral had over 1,000 people there.”

The Tepes are survived by their two young children who were found safe inside the house on Dec 30.

“We just want justice,” Misleh said.

“We want this person that took so much from, not just us as a family, but so many more people. And obviously the kids, especially. We want this person to pay for what they did,” he said.

Construction crane collapses on passenger train in Thailand, killing at least 32, officials say

January 14, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — At least 32 people were killed on Wednesday as a construction crane for a high-speed rail bridge collapsed onto a moving passenger train in Thailand, government officials said.

At least 64 others were injured, the Thai Ministry of Public Health said in a statement. Thirty-one of those who were killed were pronounced dead at the scene, the ministry said, adding that another person died as they were being transferred to a hospital.

The crane crashed onto the train at about 9 a.m. as the train traveled between the Nong Nam Khun and Sikhiu stations, in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, according to the Office of the Prime Minister.

“Train derailed and caught fire. 30+ passengers injured, many trapped in carriages,” the government said in an initial statement posted on social media. “Multiple rescue teams deployed.”

The train, which had departed from Bangkok, was carrying 195 passengers and staff members, according to the State Railway of Thailand.

“These figures are currently being verified and officially confirmed by the relevant agencies on the ground,” the minister said in Thai in a statement posted to social media.

The health ministry raised that figure again, saying several hours later that at least 22 people had been killed. The ministry in a subsequent update at about 4:30 p.m. said the toll had again climbed, hitting 31. The ministry said two hours later that the death toll at the scene had risen by one, adding that three people were also considered missing.

The bodies of the dead were transferred to Sikhiu Hospital, the ministry said, adding that many of the injured were being treated at several local hospitals. Eleven were still hospitalized as of the 4:30 p.m. update, the ministry said.

The train was listed as the Special Express Train No. 21, which connects Bangkok, the capital, with Ubon Ratchithani, a city in the northeast, according to the railway.

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