Rep Banks hits back at professors attacking him over antisemitism letter: ‘Proving my original point’
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., is hitting back at professors at Indiana University who criticized him for raising the alarm about antisemitism on campus. Banks had written a letter to university president Dr. Pamela Whitten earlier this month over the recent resignation of two students from the Indiana University Student Government (IUSG). The letter quotes the students as calling the IUSG body president “blatantly antisemitic” who “does not want to work with Jewish students.” The IUSG since announced it has started an internal investigation into allegations of antisemitism. An open letter signed by more than 200 people, many of them IU faculty and staff, responded to Banks’ letter and called it “threatening” and “inappropriate.” “These professors are proving my original point. Nowhere in their response do they address my main concern in the letter: IU student leaders feel antisemitism on campus is being ignored,” Banks told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS DISRUPT BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING TO CALL FOR PALESTINIAN UPRISING: ‘INTIFADA REVOLUTION’ “When students speak out, it is unacceptable to dismiss their concerns because it doesn’t align with woke political views. IU has a duty to ensure every student feels safe on campus, and I have full confidence in President Whitten’s commitment to that duty,” he said. In his Nov. 15 letter, Banks requested a briefing from the school by the start of December and suggested that its federal dollars may take a hit if officials failed to find an adequate remedy. FORMER OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL CHARGED WITH HATE CRIME AFTER CONFRONTATION WITH NYC FOOD CART VENDOR “As an IU graduate, allegations of antisemitism at my alma mater are personal and extremely concerning to me,” Banks wrote at the time. “As a lawmaker, I would note that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits anti-Jewish and antisemitic discrimination. If IU administrators condone or tolerate campus antisemitism, the university could lose access to federal funding.” The Nov. 21 letter condemning him read, “We are alarmed by the threatening tone of the letter, the way in which it injects ideology into the proper governance of the university, and the way it conflates academic leadership with the policing of controversial ideas. We understand that antisemitism is a form of hate that has no place in a diverse and inclusive university. We feel the same way about all forms of bigotry, including anti-Arab and Islamophobic discrimination and hostility.” SNL ALUM UNLEASHES ON ‘DISGUSTING’ BERNIE SANDERS, ‘HORRIBLY ANTISEMITIC’ DEM SQUAD OVER ISRAEL OPPOSITION A petition led by the Jewish American Affairs Committee of Indiana, which includes IU faculty and students, has over 700 signatures in support of Banks. The petition reads, “Criticism over the fact that Rep. Banks did not mention Islamophobia in his letter simply demonstrates that the professors were not genuine in their professed concern about the welfare of Jewish students at IU. Not only is there no documented spike in anti-Muslim behavior at IU or college campuses in general, but many of the perpetrators of anti-Jewish behavior on college campuses are themselves Muslim.” “We are deeply appreciative of Rep. Banks’ concern over Jew hatred at IU and hope that his efforts will motivate IU’s administration to begin to protect its Jewish students by enforcing existing policies,” they wrote. Fox News Digital has reached out to the university for comment.
What DeSantis, Newsom aim to gain out of prime-time debate clash on Fox News’ ‘Hannity’
It’s a high-profile general election-style debate amid the presidential primary season, pitting two relatively young and very well-known governors of large states who have a knack for grabbing national attention. Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who have been trading fire for nearly two years, will tangle once again on Thursday. But this time, their slugfest will be face-to-face in prime time. DeSantis, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, and Newsom — who Republican critics charge is running a shadow campaign for the White House even though he repeatedly stomps on such speculation as “ridiculous” — will face off in a debate moderated by Fox News opinion host Sean Hannity. The showdown is titled “DeSantis vs. Newsom: The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate.” It takes place in northern Georgia, in the booming city of Alpharetta, which is part of metropolitan Atlanta. Georgia, once a deep-red state, has become a top general election battleground between the two major political parties. FIERCE DESANTIS-NEWSOM RIVALRY HEADS TO FACE-TO-FACE SHOWDOWN Even before their face-to-face meeting, verbal shots were already fired by the two contenders. “He caters to a very far-left slice of the electorate. I think that will be on display when we have the debate,” DeSantis said as he spoke with Fox News Digital last week on the presidential campaign trail. Newsom, in a recent appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity,” said of DeSantis: “I don’t like people who demonize other people or go after vulnerable communities. I also don’t like liars.” DESANTIS SAYS HIS WAR OF WORDS WITH NEWSOM ‘IS ALL BUSINESS’ DeSantis, once the clear alternative to former President Trump in the 2024 GOP nomination race, has seen his standing erode over the summer and autumn. He’s currently battling with former U.N. Ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for second place in the polls, far behind Trump, who remains the commanding Republican front-runner as he makes his third straight White House run. Pundits see the “Hannity” showdown as a possible breakout opportunity for DeSantis a week ahead of the fourth GOP presidential nomination debate. And the DeSantis campaign frames it as a potential general election preview. Newsom is one of the most high-profile surrogates for President Biden, who’s running for a second term. The 81-year-old president, saddled for more than two years with underwater approval ratings, has increasingly in recent months faced questions about his physical and cognitive ability to serve another four years in the White House. And Biden narrowly trails Trump in many of the most recent polls that look ahead to a likely 2024 general election matchup. While Newsom has repeatedly shot down speculation that he would run for the White House next year should something happen to Biden, a well-publicized trip by the California governor to Israel and China last month sparked further buzz about his possible 2024 ambitions. NEWSOM’S POTENTIAL PRESIDENITAL AMBITIONS FRONT AND CENTER AS HE TOUTS BIDEN AT SECOND GOP DEBATE DeSantis, speaking with Fox News Digital, said, “I’ve been warning Republican voters … it may not be Biden in 2024.” “This guy is running a shadow campaign. He denies it, but even people in his own party are saying it,” DeSantis said of Newsom. “You have [Vice President] Harris, you have a lot of these other people who could end up running in 2024 if Biden’s not able to do it. I think there’s a lot of people in the Democratic Party who do not want Biden to run. Ultimately, it’s going to be his decision, but I think there’s a lot of pressure there for him to take a step back.” On the eve of the debate, DeSantis campaign manager James Uthmeier said that “as Democrats ramp up their efforts to replace the historically unpopular and failed Joe Biden as their nominee, Ron DeSantis’ showdown with Gavin Newsom is even more timely. A Newsom presidency would accelerate America’s decline, and Nov. 30 will be the first chance to expose to a national audience just how dangerous his radical ideology would be for the country.” The DeSantis campaign argues that the debate “will be the first chance for Republicans to contrast our vision for the future of the country with the failed agenda of someone who very well could become the Democrats’ nominee.” Newsom spokesperson Nathan Click told Fox News to expect the California governor “to defend the president and use the opportunity to take on the misinformation machine at its headwaters.” Click said Newsom is under “no illusions — this is a 2-on-1 match with the refs in the tank for the home team. But Gov. Newsom has long believed that Democrats have to go on offense in enemy territory, and that’s exactly what he intends to do.” But Hannity, despite his conservative bent, has pledged fairness to both Newsom and DeSantis in the debate. Both governors have outsized national profiles, run the nation’s first- and third-most populous states, and overwhelmingly won gubernatorial reelections last year, when their rivalry really heated up. In 2022, Newsom went up with an ad on Florida airwaves that targeted DeSantis’ culture war approach to politics and policies: “Freedom, it’s under attack in your state. Republican leaders, they’re banning books, making it harder to vote, restricting speech in classrooms, even criminalizing women and doctors,” Newsom argued in his spot. DeSantis, who became a hero to conservatives nationwide for his pushback against coronavirus pandemic restrictions, earlier this year called San Francisco — the city where Newsom once served two terms as mayor — a “dumpster fire.” The governors — who’ve long battled on social media over their very different COVID policies — this year have traded fire over the move by DeSantis to fly migrants to California. The Florida governor has made border security a top issue in recent years and has repeatedly highlighted his efforts on the 2024 Republican presidential campaign trail. Earlier this month, a Newsom-aligned political group started running an ad on Fox
House Republican calls for fingerprinting children brought over US border to crack down on trafficking
FIRST ON FOX: Republicans in the House are unveiling a new push to increase transparency and accountability at the southern border. Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, is leading two bills aimed at stemming the flow of migrants into the U.S. It comes as border security is rapidly becoming a flash point for this Congress, with Republicans in the House and Senate insisting that reforms to the asylum system be paired with supplemental funding for Ukraine. One bill, the Preventing the Recycling of Immigrants is Necessary for Trafficking Suspension (PRINTS) Act, would give Customs and Border Patrol agents the authority to take the fingerprints of minors ages 14 and younger. The bill’s supporters argue it would crack down on child trafficking as well as “recycling,” which refers to bad actors bringing kids with them across the border and falsely claiming them as a relative to appear as a family unit. FLORIDA GRAND JURY ACCUSES BIDEN HHS OF ‘COMPLETE ABDICATION OF RESPONSIBILITY’ FOR MIGRANT CHILDREN WELFARE “There is nothing compassionate about an open border. The primary victims of President Biden’s border crisis are young children who are repeatedly abused and trafficked by the cartels,” Hinson told Fox News Digital. “In fact, the Biden administration has ‘lost track’ of over 85,000 migrant children, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and further abuse.” Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who is leading the PRINTS Act in the Senate along with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital, “Abusing and using a child again and again is one of the most heinous acts imaginable, and yet it happens every day along the southern border.” She said the bill will give border agents “the tools they need to identify victims of child recycling and stop this abuse in its tracks.” WHITE HOUSE FUNDING REQUEST INCLUDES $14 BILLION FOR BORDER AS CRISIS HITS NEW RECORDS The other bill is called the Southern Border Transparency Act and would force the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to issue reports on how many migrants are being paroled into the country at each point of entry, broken down by demographics and ethnicity. BORDER AGENTS ACROSS US ASKED TO VIRTUALLY PROCESS MIGRANTS AMID SURGE AT SOUTHERN BORDER: REPORT It would also mandate the reporting of data on how many migrants at those points of entry were placed into expedited removal, granted voluntary departure or other processes. Hinson said asylum laws have grown too lax during the Biden administration, contributing to the border crisis. “The Biden administration has vastly expanded catch-and-release and mass amnesty by widening loopholes and enabling abuse of our asylum system by illegal immigrants – and they’re hiding the full extent of it from the American people,” she said. “This bill will require DHS to publish a full accounting of their catch-and-release practices and tell the American people the truth about the border crisis.” Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden administration for comment on Republican efforts to tighten asylum laws.
Gun crime expert blasts red state ‘cherry-picking’ by Yale professor in Senate hearing: ‘Political bias’
A Republican senator and Yale School of Public Health dean recently sparred on gun crime, and one expert told Fox News Digital it was an example of how the left frames data in a way that misleadingly makes it seem like Republican-controlled areas are most plagued by crime. “Why do you think that Chicago has become America’s largest outdoor shooting range?” Louisiana GOP Sen. John Kennedy asked Dr. Megan Ranney of the Yale School of Public Health at a hearing Monday. Ranney responded by comparing Chicago to three red states and claiming Mississippi, Louisiana and Missouri “actually have higher firearm death rates.” “What about Chicago?” Kennedy asked. JUDGE BLOCKS AMERICA’S ‘MOST EXTREME’ GUN CONTROL LAW, BUT BLUE STATE PLANS TO APPEAL “I think there’s easy access to firearms combined with environmental conditions, lack of great education,” Ranney responded. “There have actually been studies that when you green vacant lots and repair abandoned buildings in urban neighborhoods you see decreases in gunshots and violence as well as in stress and depression in the neighborhoods around them.” “No disrespect, doc, but that sounds a lot like a word salad to me,” Kennedy responded. The exchange generated backlash on social media from conservatives who pointed out that the “gun homicide” rate in Chicago is much higher than those states per 100,000 people. Additionally, some took issue with Ranney’s seemingly random selection of three red states while pointing out crime statistics are most useful at the local level, where crime is handled. Data reviewed by Fox News Digital shows Chicago’s gun homicide rate has ranged from 25-29 murders per 100,000 people since 2019. In 2019, Louisiana, Missouri and Mississippi saw 12.5, 9.3 and 13 gun homicides per 1,000 people, respectively. STUDY DEBUNKS ‘RED STATE MURDER’ CLAIM FROM HILLARY CLINTON, DEMOCRATS “Let’s see,” Reason magazine associate editor Billy Binion posted on X. “Some recent stats: Mississippi’s gun homicide rate: ~13 murders per 100,000 people; Louisiana’s gun homicide rate: ~15 murders per 100,000 people; Missouri’s gun homicide rate: ~11 murders per 100,000 people; Chicago’s gun homicide rate: ~29 murders per 100,000 people.” “Why do you pick just a couple of states to compare?” John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, posted on X. “Is that how public health researchers do research? Why don’t you look at local crime rates where policing policies are determined and where DAs and judges are almost always selected?” Democrats have routinely pointed to studies in recent years that claim red states have higher murder rates and more crime than blue states. Critics of those studies have pointed out that red states, including Louisiana, where cities like New Orleans and Baton Rouge have been run by Democrats for decades, are driving up crime statistics. “Anybody knows that law enforcement is overwhelmingly a local issue,” Lott told Fox News Digital. “How much money you spend on police, what the police policies are going to be are decided locally. District attorneys are almost always elected locally. Judges are almost always elected locally. Who gets arrested, who gets charged, how you prosecute the cases and the judges that makes the decisions on sentencing are all local decisions.” “Statistically, it is more dangerous to be young and Black in New Orleans than it was to be a Marine in the Battle of Fallujah during the height of the insurgency in Iraq,” Kennedy said earlier this year. “Those are the numbers. Last year, my city had the highest murder rate in the country, twice the murder rate of Atlanta — twice! … Our murder rate was up 141% since 2019.” FLORIDA CRIME TRENDING DOWN WHILE CALIFORNIA SKYROCKETS EXPLAINED BY ONE KEY DIFFERENCE: EXPERT A recent report from the Heritage Foundation shows that homicide rates have been higher in Democrat-run “blue counties” than they have been in “red counties” since 2002, contradicting a popular talking point recited by prominent liberals like California Gov. Gavin Newsom and billionaire George Soros. “As you can see from this table, take New Orleans’ murder rate out, and Louisiana’s murder rate falls by over 15%!” Heritage Foundation Legal Fellow Zack Smith posted on X in response to MSNBC Host Joe Scarborough mocking Kennedy over the exchange. “And take Chicago’s murder rate out, and Illinois’ falls by a shocking 55%!” Last year, Heritage scholars Kevin Dayaratna, Cully Stimson and Smith released a study showing the vast majority of the cities with the highest murder rates in the country are blue cities. “Crime is a local phenomenon and using state-level data is misleading, often intentionally so,” Dayaratna told Fox News Digital. “As my Heritage colleagues and I pointed out in our Blue City Murder Problem paper, 27 of the 30 cities with the highest homicide rates have Democratic mayors. “And within those 30, at least 14 have, or had, Soros-backed prosecutors. If you remove the deep-blue cities from the otherwise red states, the state-level murder rates, of course, fall precipitously. One of the best ways to combat gun violence is to put more officers on the streets, empower them to do their jobs responsibly and have prosecutors who prosecute criminals.” Lott explained that many public health experts have ignored that 2021 data shows blue states had higher murder rates than red states and have stuck with 2020 data that showed the opposite. POLICE IN THIS BLUE STATE WILL CONTINUE ENFORCING ‘DRACONIAN’ HANDGUN LAW RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL BY COURT “You can look at either all counties or counties over 100,000, or I could give you one for counties, over 200,000 or whatever and you see that the Biden counties had significantly higher murder rates. And, even in 2020, the reason why the Trump states had a higher murder rate that year was because the Biden counties had really high murder rates relative to the Republican counties,” Lott said. “So, I don’t know how anybody with a straight face can get away with not recognizing that law enforcement and punishing criminals generally is overwhelmingly decided locally.” Lott also pointed out that Ranney used the term “firearm death rates,”
More Americans than ever think US headed in wrong direction as Congress’ approval near rock bottom: survey
EXCLUSIVE: More Americans than ever say the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction as Congress’ approval rating remains near rock bottom, the annual Reagan National Defense Survey has found. According to the survey, just 25% of American adults think the U.S. is headed in the right direction, while a whopping 70% say it’s on the wrong track. That’s a significant change since the survey was first taken in 2018, when just 54% saw the country as on the wrong track and 27% said it was going in the right direction. VIEWS ON CHINA AS ‘ENEMY’ OF THE US GROW, MANY SUPPORT MILITARY BUILDUP TO DETER TAIWAN INVASION: SURVEY Just 5% said they had a “great deal” of confidence in Congress with 21% saying they had “some” confidence. 26% said they had “a little” confidence, while 43% said they had “not much at all.” Those numbers also represent a significant decline in Americans’ views of the legislative branch of the federal government. In 2018, 39% said they had either a “great deal” or “some” confidence in Congress, while 28% said “a little,” and 43% said “not much at all.” When asked which problem facing the country was most important, inflation and the price of gas and groceries came in at 16%, tied with jobs and the economy. WATCH: BIDEN SHIFTS BLAME AWAY FROM ADMINISTRATION AFTER ADMITTING PRICES ‘STILL TOO HIGH’ Politics and partisanship followed at 10%, with corruption and incompetent leaders (9%) and immigration (5%) rounding out the top five. Americans also expressed severe concern about a number of other issues, including the threat of a conventional military attack against the country. 62% said they were concerned about such an attack while 25% said they were not. 85% said they were concerned about a potential cyberattack, 81% about a potential terrorist attack and 87% about political division in the U.S. ultimately leading to violence. WATCH: BIDEN OFFICIAL BUTCHERS POPULAR PHRASE COINED BY RONALD REAGAN ABOUT GOVERNMENT’S ROLE IN EVERYDAY LIFE On the nation’s defense, 55% of Americans said the U.S. relied too much on non-allied countries for the materials necessary for national security, compared to 16% who said it did not, and 18% who said it “depends.” Regarding the domestic manufacturing capacity for the U.S. to produce its own materials for national defense, 69% said more was needed. Additionally, 70% said more domestic manufacturing capacity was needed for the country to be able to ramp up production to meet needs in the event of a crisis. The results come as part of the survey’s 6th year and 10th Reagan National Defense Forum. It included the participation of 2,506 U.S. adults surveyed from Oct. 27 to Nov. 5.
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger dead at 100
Henry Kissinger, the German-born American diplomat, academic and presidential adviser who served assecretary of state for two presidents and left his stamp on U.S. foreign policy for decades died Wednesday at the age of 100. A statement released by Kissinger Associates stated that Kissinger died Wednesday at his home in Connecticut. Kissinger was both revered and controversial, praised by supporters as a brilliant strategist and condemned by critics as a master manipulator. He pioneered the policy of détente with the Soviet Union, began a rapprochement with China, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for negotiating the Paris Peace Accords to end US involvement in Vietnam. HENRY KISSINGER WARNS AGAINST ESCALATING RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT, URGES PEACE TALKS But other of his policies, including the bombing of Cambodia and Laos in 1969, remain controversial and journalist Seymour Hersh claimed in 2002, “The dark side of Henry Kissinger is very, very dark.” Even his appearance seemed at odds with his social life: portly, bespectacled and heavily accented, Kissinger was far from the idea of a Hollywood Adonis. Yet at various points before his second marriage, according to his biographer, Walter Isaacson, Kissinger dated actresses Jill St. John, Shirley MacLaine, Marlo Thomas, Candice Bergen and Liv Ullman. “Power,” he once famously said, “is the ultimate aphrodisiac.” KISSINGER SAYS IT WAS ‘GRAVE MISTAKE’ FOR GERMANY TO TAKE IN SO MANY MIGRANTS AMID PRO-HAMAS PROTESTS He was also a man used to perennially being in charge. “There cannot be a crisis next week,” he was quoted as saying in the New York Times in 1969. “My schedule is already full.” He maintained his global influence well after leaving public life, evidenced most recently by his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in July. The Chinese leader greeted the former American diplomat—who had celebrated his 100th birthday less than two months prior—with deep respect. “The Chinese people never forget their old friends, and Sino-U.S. relations will always be linked with the name of Henry Kissinger,” Xi said at the time. Kissinger had played a leading role in the normalization of diplomatic ties between the U.S. and China under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. By 1980, he told Time magazine, “The longer I am out of office, the more infallible I appear to myself.” Kissinger is survived by his wife, Nancy, whom he married in 1974, and two children, David and Elizabeth, from his first marriage. CHINA LEANS ON KISSINGER GOODWILL, BUT INFLUENCE ‘DILUTED,’ EXPERT SAYS He was born Heinz Alfred Kissinger in Fürth, Bavaria, Germany on May 27, 1923 and even as a child, was known for his intellect. “Henry Kissinger grew up with that do mix of ego and insecurity that comes from being the smartest kid in the class,” Isaacson wrote. “From really knowing that you’re more awesomely intelligent than anybody else but also being the guy who’d gotten beaten up because he was Jewish.” Kissinger, his younger brother, Walter, and his parents fled the Nazis and arrived in New York in 1938 by way of London when Henry was 15. After attending the City College of New York, he served in the US military, becoming a US citizen, then enrolled at Harvard, where he earned bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degrees. Kissinger then joined the Harvard faculty, where he became an expert in the field of international relations and an adviser to government agencies under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. HENRY KISSINGER: AMERICA ‘LOST STRATEGIC FOCUS’ IN AFGHANISTAN WITH UNATTAINABLE GOALS In 1969, he was appointed national security adviser to Nixon. As head of the National Security Council, Kissinger wielded unusual power for the office and had a significant hand in devising and executing US foreign policy, largely circumventing then Secretary of State William P. Rogers. A staunch proponent of Realpolitik, Kissinger pushed for Nixon to employ a pragmatic strategy toward engagement with the Soviet Union and China. More controversial, though, was his involvement in the Vietnam conflict, including the bombing of Cambodia and Laos. In 1973 Kissinger began secret talks with North and South Vietnam, negotiating the Paris Peace Accords to end direct US military involvement in Vietnam and an end to the war. Although the ceasefire was not lasting, Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize that year, jointly with his North Vietnamese counterpart Le Duc Tho. Kissinger said he accepted the prize “with humility,” though the Vietnamese revolutionary declined to accept since the agreement failed to yield a lasting peace. When Ford failed to win re-election in 1976, Kissinger left politics to return to academia at Georgetown University’s Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank. He also founded his international consulting firm, Kissinger Associates, and served as a director on a number of boards for corporations and non-profit organizations. Kissinger also wrote several books on public policy and three memoirs. In one, 1982’s “Years of Upheaval,” he described what he presumably considered his own role: “Statesman create; ordinary leaders consume,” he said. “The ordinary leader is satisfied with ameliorating the environment, not transforming it; a statesman must be a visionary and an educator.”
DuPont Co., spin-off firms to pay Ohio $110M in ‘forever chemical’ settlement
The DuPont Co. and two spin-off firms will pay $110 million to the state of Ohio to settle a lawsuit over environmental threats from toxic chemicals used at a former DuPont facility in neighboring West Virginia, the companies said Wednesday. The settlement involving DuPont, the Chemours Co. and Corteva Inc. resolves Ohio’s claims relating to releases of manmade, fluorinated compounds known as PFAS. It also resolves claims relating to the manufacture and sale of PFAS-containing products and claims related to firefighting foam containing PFAS. The compounds, which are associated with an increased risk of certain cancers and other health problems, are often referred to as “forever chemicals” because of their longevity in the environment. They have been used in the production of nonstick coatings such as Teflon, firefighting foam, water- and stain-resistant textiles, food packaging and many other household and personal items. WISCONSIN SENATE PASSES 8-FIGURE PFAS GRANT BILL According to the companies, Ohio will allocate 80% of the settlement to the restoration of natural resources related to the operation of the Washington Works facility near Parkersburg, West Virginia, on the eastern shore of the Ohio River. The other 20% will be used to address PFAS claims statewide, including the use of firefighting foam. The settlement is subject to court approval. Under a 2021 agreement with the state of Delaware, the Ohio settlement means the companies also are obligated to pay $25 million to Delaware for environmental initiatives. As part of the 2021 settlement, the companies agreed to pay $50 million to Delaware and to fund up to an additional $25 million if they settled similar claims with other states for more than $50 million. Ohio began litigation against DuPont and Chemours in February 2018 regarding historical emissions of perfluorooctanoic acid, known as PFOA, from the Washington Works site. PFOA was once widely used in a variety of products, including nonstick cookware. Ohio alleged damage to natural resources from the use of the compound, and impropriety in the 2015 spinoff by DuPont that created Chemours. DuPont will contribute about $39 million to the settlement. Chemours, the former performance chemicals unit of DuPont, will pay about $55 million, with the rest owed by Corteva. Chemours was spun off as a stand-alone company in 2015. Corteva, the former agriculture division of DowDuPont, became a separate company in 2019. ME LAWMAKER PROPOSES BILL THAT REQUIRES STATE TO BUY OUT FARMERS WHOSE LAND WAS CONTAMINATED BY PFAS CHEMICALS Under a 2021 cost-sharing arrangement that resolved legal disputes over PFAS liabilities arising out of pre-2015 conduct, DuPont and Corteva, on one hand, and Chemours, on the other, agreed to a 50-50 split of certain expenses incurred over a term of up to 20 years, or an aggregate $4 billion. DuPont began using PFOA in products at the Washington Works facility in the 1950s. Chemical releases from the site have been blamed for a variety of health problems among local residents and have resulted in multiple lawsuits. In April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered Chemours to address PFAS pollution in stormwater and effluent from the Washington Works facility. The EPA said it was the first Clean Water Act enforcement action to hold polluters accountable for discharging PFAS into the environment. According to the EPA, PFAS levels in the discharges from Washington Works have exceeded levels set in the facility’s Clean Water Act permit.
Judge to review new settlement in Maine ACLU’s public defender case
State officials and a civil rights group have reached a new settlement to present to a judge for improving Maine’s system for providing attorneys for residents who cannot afford them, officials said Wednesday. The same judge who rejected the original settlement in September must sign off to conclude the class-action lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine. The new settlement agreement, reached by attorneys with the help of a court-appointed mediator, aims to address the judge’s concerns including procedures for emergency relief for low-income residents left without a court-appointed attorney for a prolonged period. MAINE OFFERS FREE PUBLIC UNIVERSITY TUITION TO LEWISTON SHOOTING VICTIMS, FAMILIES It also sets a proposed timeline for opening public defenders’ offices, aims to improve data collection, and clarifies circumstances in which indigent clients can bring litigation in the future, according to the document. “We hope that the judge will give preliminary approval to the settlement,” said Zach Heiden, chief counsel for the ACLU of Maine. Before rendering a decision, Justice Michaela Murphy will likely hold a hearing so she can questions attorneys about the agreement, Heiden said. The ACLU of Maine brought the class-action lawsuit over shortcomings of the state’s public defender system, contending the state was failing to provide low-income Mainers with their constitutional right to effective counsel. Before the hiring of five public defenders last year and additional funding for more lawyers this year, Maine was the only state without a public defender’s office for people who cannot afford to hire a lawyer. ME VOTERS REJECT TAKEOVER OF STATE’S LEADING ELECTRIC COMPANIES, FOREIGN GOVERNMENT SPENDING The state had relied solely on private attorneys who were reimbursed by the state to handle such cases, and a crisis emerged when the number of lawyers willing to take court-appointed cases began declining. All states are required to provide an attorney to criminal defendants who are unable to afford their own lawyer. A scathing report in 2019 outlined significant shortcomings in Maine’s system, including lax oversight of the billing practices by the private attorneys. Heiden said the settlement addresses concerns with the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services but he challenged the judges, prosecutors, lawmakers and governor to continue the work of improving the system. “All parts of our legal system have roles to play in addressing our indigent defense crisis,” he said Wednesday.
Mayorkas meets with Border Patrol agents falsely accused of whipping migrants, but no apology
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday met privately with the horseback agents who were falsely accused of “whipping” Haitian migrants in 2021 – but sources say there was no apology from Mayorkas for the administration’s handling of the controversy. Multiple Border Patrol sources told Fox News that Mayorkas met privately with the agents during his visit to the Del Rio Sector. Those agents were involved in an incident in Sept. 2021 when they were dealing with a surge of more than 10,000 migrants predominantly from Haiti. As the situation worsened, the agents were sent out on horseback to control the situation. Images soon circulated on Twitter of the agents trying to block migrants from entering the U.S., and in one case grabbing a migrant’s shirt. MAYORKAS CUTS OFF REPORTER’S FALSE CLAIM THAT BORDER PATROL WHIPPED MIGRANTS: ‘LET ME JUST CORRECT YOU’ The controversy escalated as some media outlets and Democratic lawmakers misidentified the agents’ split reins, which they use to control and direct the horse – and falsely claimed the agents were using “whips” on the migrants. Mayorkas initially backed the agents, but later changed his message, saying that the images “troubled me profoundly” and adding that “one cannot weaponize a horse” against migrants. “Our nation saw horrifying images that do not reflect who we are. We know that those images painfully conjured up the worst elements of our nation’s ongoing battle against systemic racism,” Mayorkas said at a subsequent press conference. The already-debunked claims of whipping were then fueled by President Biden who angrily castigated the agents days after the incident and called for them to be punished, even as an investigation was underway. “To see people treated like they did, horses barely running over, people being strapped – it’s outrageous,” Biden told reporters, making a whipping motion with his hand. BORDER PATROL CHIEF FUMED AT BIDEN ADMIN’S HANDLING OF WHIPPING CONTROVERSY, EMAILS SHOW “I promise you, those people will pay,” he said of the agents. “There will be an investigation underway now and there will be consequences. There will be consequences.” A lengthy CBP investigation would ultimately confirm that there were no whips and no whipping, although it would fault the agents for allegedly using “denigrating and offensive” language against migrants regarding national origin and gender, and of having maneuvered a horse around a child in an “unsafe manner.” Agents were also said to have used “unnecessary use of force” to drive the migrants back. The incident proved to be a low point for relations between the administration and the Border Patrol – who were already dealing with a historic migrant crisis still ongoing today. Former Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz had backed his agents and Fox reported how he had fumed over the administration’s failure to come out in support of them. CBP FINDS ‘NO EVIDENCE’ BORDER PATROL AGENTS WHIPPED HAITIAN MIGRANTS BUT STILL SEEKS TO DISCIPLINE THEM Mayorkas has since come out and corrected additional false claims about the incident. A White House reporter in May attempted to resurrect the claims of whipping, and Mayorkas cut her off. “Well, let me just correct you right there because actually, the investigation concluded that the whipping did not occur,” he said sharply. Fox News is told that while there was no apology from Mayorkas on Wednesday, the agents were able to talk to the secretary about how the incident affected their lives and careers. Fox was also told the tone of the meeting was professional and respectful. The meeting comes as the border is still grappling with a historic surge of migrants. There were more than 240,000 migrant encounters at the southern border in October, a slight decrease from record numbers seen in September, but still a record for October. In FF 23, there were a record 2.4 million migrant encounters overall.
Confidence in US presidency hits lowest point ever as Trump leads Biden in 2024 rematch: survey
EXCLUSIVE: Americans’ confidence in the U.S. presidency has hit its lowest point ever under President Joe Biden’s administration, the annual Reagan National Defense Survey has found. According to the survey, just 36% of American adults said they had either a “great deal” or “some” confidence in the presidency, while 17% said they had “a little,” and 47% said “not much at all.” Those numbers continue a downward trend since the survey was first taken under former President Donald Trump’s administration in Nov. 2018, when 44% said they had a “great deal” or “some” confidence in the presidency. The number of those having not much confidence at all has held steady since then. WATCH: JEAN-PIERRE GIVES TERSE RESPONSE WHEN QUESTIONED ON POSSIBLE STAFF SHAKEUP AMID BIDEN POLLING CRISIS The survey also found that just 38% held a favorable view of Biden and 59% an unfavorable view. Trump fared significantly better with a 47% favorable rating and 50% unfavorable rating. Biden’s favorability has fallen sharply since Feb. 2021, just after his inauguration in January that year, when it stood at 53%. When asked about the 2024 presidential election, 63% of likely Republican voters said they wanted to see Trump as the party’s nominee, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 10%, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley at 8%, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 4% and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 1%. All other candidates received less than 1%. BIDEN CHALLENGER GOES ALL IN ON PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, WON’T RUN FOR RE-ELECTION TO CONGRESS In a hypothetical 2024 matchup, Trump bested Biden 42% to 36%, with 9% saying they would support another candidate, and 9% saying they would not vote. The results come as part of the survey’s 6th year and 10th Reagan National Defense Forum. It included the participation of 2,506 U.S. adults surveyed from Oct. 27 to Nov. 5. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.