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Year: 2025

White House protector and most decorated K-9 in US history dies: ‘a very good boy’

White House protector and most decorated K-9 in US history dies: ‘a very good boy’

The most decorated K-9 in U.S. history has died.  Hurricane, a 15-year-old Belgian Malinois, died Tuesday after more than a decade in the Secret Service.  “Hurricane was a true American hero,” the White House X account posted Wednesday. “The most decorated K-9 in U.S. history, he bravely defended the White House and spent retirement helping other working dogs through @Hurricane_K9. His legacy of courage and loyalty will live on. Rest easy, Hurricane.”  Hurricane gained national prominence back in 2014, when he heroically wrestled an intruder to the ground after the man breached the White House gate.  The intruder, Dominic Adesanya, scaled the White House fence and landed on the North Lawn back in October 2014 during the Obama administration. The intruder, who later pleaded guilty to trespassing, was first met by a Secret Service dog named Jordan, before Hurricane jumped into action and subdued the intruder.  VETERANS WITH PTSD GET ‘SIGNIFICANT’ BENEFITS FROM SERVICE DOGS, FIRST NIH-FUNDED STUDY FINDS Former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama were just yards away from the incident, watching a movie in the White House theater, according to The New York Times.  “He beat Hurricane really bad,” Hurricane’s handler, Marshall Mirarchi, said Tuesday of the incident that left the K-9 with swollen legs and injured hips, according to Times. “But Hurricane did not give up.” EX-SECRET SERVICE DOG CREDITED WITH SAVING OBAMA FROM WHITE HOUSE INTRUDER TO RECEIVE BRITISH AWARD Hurricane was born in 2009 and served as a special operations canine in the Secret Service from 2012 to 2016. He received the Award for Meritorious Service from the Secret Service in 2014 for his bravery, as well as the Secretary’s Award for Valor from the Department of Homeland Security in 2015. He also received the Distinguished Service Medal in 2022, according to the Secret Service.  “On every shift of every day, we at the Secret Service strive to uphold five core values; Duty, Honor, Loyalty, Justice, and Courage,” Uniformed Division Assistant Chief Michael Buck said in 2022 during the Distinguished Service Medal ceremony. “They are the five points of our agency’s star, and on a dark night in October 2014, they were embodied by a very good boy named Hurricane.” UTAH SHERIFF’S OFFICE MOURNS DEATH OF ‘PORN-SNIFFING DOG’ THAT HELPED PUT PEDOPHILES BEHIND BARS Hurricane visited the White House one last time before his death this week and was able to say goodbye to his former team, Mirarchi told the Times.  Hurricane retired in 2016 following the injuries he sustained during the attack and was adopted by Mirarchi. “What made Hurricane so special was that he could be so ferocious and brave, yet be so loving and kind at the same time,” Mirarchi told the Times. “He could be biting and doing apprehension all day long, and when he comes home, he was this loving, caring, kind soul.”

Noem makes aggressive new move to ramp up arrests, deportations of illegal immigrants

Noem makes aggressive new move to ramp up arrests, deportations of illegal immigrants

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem signed a memo this week deputizing up to 600 State Department officials as immigration officers, as part of a government-wide push to ramp up deportations and secure the border. Noem signed an order that deputized up to 600 special agents in the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service to help with the arrest and deportation of illegal immigrants. “Under President Trump, the Department of Homeland Security will use every tool and resource available to secure our border and get criminal illegal aliens out of our country,” Noem said in a statement. “The safety of American citizens comes first.” TRUMP’S DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY LOOKING TO DEPUTIZE IRS AGENTS FOR IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT The move is the latest effort by the department to expand the number of officials involved in immigration enforcement, amid a push by the Trump administration to aggressively increase the arrests and deportation of illegal immigrants. DHS has deputized IRS employees, law enforcement components of the Justice Department and law enforcement officials with the Texas Attorney General’s Office. “It is DHS’s understanding that the Department of Treasury has qualified law enforcement personnel available to assist with immigration enforcement, especially in light of recent increases to the Internal Revenue Service’s work force and budget,” Noem said last week. Fox News Digital reported last week that interior arrests have skyrocketed compared to the same period in 2024, while numbers of crossings of illegal immigrants at the border have continued to trend downward. According to Department of Homeland Security data, there were 11,791 interior ICE arrests from Jan. 20 to Feb. 8, compared to 4,969 during the same period in 2024. That is a 137% increase. The administration has said it is trying to target the “worst of the worst,” focusing on criminal illegal immigrants and gang members but has also stressed that it is not ruling anyone out of contention.  TRUMP FLOATS GUTTING THE IRS, MOVING AGENTS TO THE BORDER ARMED WITH GUNS Meanwhile, the administration has secured additional cooperation at the border from Mexico and Canada, as well as agreements from Venezuela and Colombia to take back their nationals. DHS has also moved to shut down Biden-era parole programs and the use of Temporary Protected Status to allow migrants to avoid deportation. The administration is also tapping into the resources of the Pentagon by deploying the military to the border and is also using Guantanamo Bay to house illegal immigrants.  Fox News’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

California school district informs parents period products are in bathrooms for ‘any student who menstruates’

California school district informs parents period products are in bathrooms for ‘any student who menstruates’

A California school district contacted parents via email on Thursday to let them know that all public schools containing grades 3 through 12 will have menstrual products in girls’ bathrooms, all-gender bathrooms and at least one boys’ bathroom. California law previously required the same thing of all public schools that teach grades 6 through 12, but that order now extends to include schools with grades 3 through 5. An email allegedly sent from the Long Beach Unified School District to parents, guardians and caregivers said the system is “committed to reducing barriers to learning and fostering a supportive environment for all students.” The availability of period products in girls’ bathrooms and at least one boys’ bathroom is to “ensure that any student who menstruates-including transgender boys and nonbinary students-can access these necessary products with dignity and discretion,” per the email. CALIFORNIA REQUIRES MENSTRUAL PRODUCTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Long Beach USD asked for patience as dispensers are “currently being installed in restrooms across our school sites.” It also encouraged families to discuss “appropriate and safe” use of period products with their children. The email concluded with, “Thank you for your support in fostering a healthy, equitable and inclusive learning environment for all students.” EMERSON COLLEGE ADDS PERIOD PRODUCTS TO MEN’S RESTROOMS, MEETING GROUP’S DEMAND FOR ‘MENSTRUAL EQUALITY’  The “Menstrual Equality for All Act,” which was passed in October 2023, said the changes must be enacted on or before the start of the 2024-2025 school year. The following text was added to the state’s education code when the bill was passed: “On or before the start of the 2024–25 school year, a public school, including a school operated by a school district, county office of education, or charter school, maintaining any combination of classes from grades 3 to 12, inclusive, shall stock the school’s restrooms at all times with an adequate supply of menstrual products, available and accessible, free of cost, in all women’s restrooms and all-gender restrooms, and in at least one men’s restroom.” Menstrual products were defined in the bill as pads and tampons specifically “for use in connection with the menstrual cycle.” The bill also said it is the state legislature’s intent “to promote period equity through adequate access to menstrual products in schools also serving grades 3 to 5, inclusive.” Fox News Digital has reached out to the Long Beach Unified School District for comment.

Senate border budget triumphs after all-night session while Trump-backed House bill lags

Senate border budget triumphs after all-night session while Trump-backed House bill lags

Senate Republicans scored a win over their House counterparts in the early morning hours of Friday, officially passing their preferred budget resolution to tackle some of President Trump’s priorities, such as securing the southern border.  After hours of back-to-back voting on Democratic amendments, the bill to fund border security, energy and defense finally got its vote on the chamber floor.  “[T]his particular budget resolution… addresses the president’s priority, top priority, which is securing the border and implementing and putting in place his immigration policies, rebuilding our military, and creating energy dominance for this country,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters on Wednesday, previewing the eventual vote.  The leader and Republicans in the upper chamber started to move forward with the all-important budget reconciliation process earlier this month, pushing their preferred plan through a key committee and clearing a procedural hurdle.  EXCLUSIVE: DEMS TO FORCE VOTES ON MEDICAID AS IT BECOMES SORE POINT IN SENATE BUDGET FIGHT The move came despite House Republicans being expected to take the lead on passing a budget bill first. Thune and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also pressed on even after Trump came out in support of the House’s proposal, endorsing it earlier this week on Truth Social.  The decision to move forward with the Senate’s alternative budget plan, which is two-pronged as opposed to the House’s effort to pass one large bill, was blessed by Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday, a source told Fox News Digital. Trump himself did not seem bothered by their effort either, posting on Truth Social, “Thank you to Majority Leader John Thune, and the Republican Senate, for working so hard on funding the Trump Border Agenda. We are setting records, the likes of which have never been seen before, on stopping criminal illegals aliens from entering our Country. Put simply, we are delivering for the American People, far faster and, more successfully, than anyone thought possible. Your work on funding this effort is greatly appreciated!” SCOOP: REPUBLICAN DANIEL CAMERON BLASTED BY LIKELY GOP OPPONENT AS MCCONNELL SUCCESSOR FIGHT BEGINS The Senate’s procedural vote earlier in the week triggered a 50-hour debate clock that ended on Thursday night. Then, a marathon of votes, known as a “Vote-a-Rama,” began.  Senators were able to introduce an unlimited number of amendments, of which many received floor votes. The process forced Republicans to take many potentially uncomfortable votes teed up by their Democratic counterparts.  “Tonight, one amendment at a time, Democrats exposed Republicans’ true colors here on the Senate floor. For the first time this year, Senate Republicans were forced to go on record and defend their plans to cut taxes for Donald Trump’s billionaire friends. What happened tonight was only the beginning. This debate is going to go on for weeks and maybe months. Democrats will be ready to come back and do this over and over again, because Americans deserve to know the truth,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement following the budget resolution’s passage.  “Again and again and again, Republicans sent a clear and consistent message from the Senate floor: under their agenda, billionaires win, and American families lose. If Republicans continue with this reckless plan to help their billionaire buddies at the expense of American families, Democrats will make sure the American people know the truth at every opportunity,” the Democratic leader continued.  In the Senate Republicans’ budget plan, the first reconciliation bill includes Trump’s priorities for border security, fossil fuel energy and national defense. The second bill, to be drawn up later in the year, would focus on extending Trump’s tax policies from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). The cuts begin to expire at the end of 2025.  SUSAN COLLINS VOWS TO OPPOSE TRUMP FBI DIRECTOR NOMINEE KASH PATEL AHEAD OF CRITICAL VOTE By lowering the threshold for Senate passage from 60 votes to 51 out of 100, reconciliation allows the party in power to skirt its opposition to advance its agenda – provided the items included relate to budgetary and other fiscal matters. The House of Representatives already has a simple majority threshold. The process is crucial for Republicans, who have a trifecta in Washington, to get key Trump goals accomplished.  KASH PATEL’S CONFIRMATION AS TRUMP FBI PICK ‘WILL HAUNT YOU,’ SENATE DEMS WARN GOP AHEAD OF VOTE House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has claimed that the Senate’s first budget bill, along with its two-pronged approach, would be dead on arrival in the lower chamber. He has remained committed to including tax cuts in the bill with border security and other priorities.  The House has managed to move their version through the appropriate committee, but a floor vote has yet to be scheduled. 

EXCLUSIVE: Red state governor says DOGE aligns with GOP’s ‘fiscal sanity’

EXCLUSIVE: Red state governor says DOGE aligns with GOP’s ‘fiscal sanity’

EXCLUSIVE: Governors from across the country are descending upon Washington, D.C., this week for the National Governors Association’s winter meeting. Among them is Gov. Tate Reeves, R-Miss., who said the Department of Government Efficiency has renewed Republican governors’ optimism in the federal government. Reeves, who was elected governor of Mississippi in 2019 and re-elected in 2023, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview at the Republican Governors Association that DOGE aligns with Republican governors’ “fiscal sanity.” “There’s no doubt that Republican governors lead the nation in fiscal responsibility and, quite frankly, in fiscal sanity. Part of that is because, as governors, we have to balance our budgets back home. For us to see the efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency, by Elon Musk and his team with the support of President Trump, it gives us great reason for optimism, because we think that there are literally billions and billions of dollars in spending in the federal government that should not be spent, that are for waste, fraud and abuse,” Reeves said.  The second-term governor said most Americans appreciate DOGE’s audit and Republicans won’t allow the federal government to spend American taxpayer dollars on “some of the crazy things that have been identified in the last several weeks.” SURPRISING NEW POLL NUMBERS RELEASED ON TRUMP’S PERFORMANCE SO FAR IN THE WHITE HOUSE “We believe that we ought to treat the taxpayers’ money exactly the way we would treat our own money. We’re not going to allow our own money to be spent on things that don’t make sense. We don’t think we ought to use the taxpayers’ money, spending them on things like what has been found in the last couple of three weeks,” Reeves added. MUSK WEIGHS A ‘DOGE DIVIDEND’ TO SEND AMERICANS CHECKS USING SAVED FUNDS Meanwhile, Reeves can’t wrap his head around Democrats’ rejection of government efficiency.  “I’m really perplexed as to why Democrats have not actually supported these efforts,” Reeves said. “There was a time in America where all politicians of reasonable stripes would say we ought to try to make government more efficient. We ought to ensure that government money is being spent in the right way.” Reeves questioned who benefited from the misuse of taxpayer dollars during President Joe Biden’s administration.  “The Democrats’ opposition to these audits is really beyond my ability to comprehend. The reality is that they are fighting for waste, fraud and abuse in government. It’s almost as if they want that waste, fraud and abuse. It drives you to the question of who’s benefiting from the way in which the Biden administration spent these dollars in the last four years.” Democrats have called DOGE’s ongoing layoffs and President Donald Trump’s flurry of executive orders a “constitutional crisis.” Reeves said Trump is doing exactly what he was elected to do.  “When you talk about their claims of a constitutional crisis, a duly elected president managing the executive branch of government is not a constitutional crisis. In fact, it is exactly what the duly elected executive is supposed to do. President Trump is doing exactly what he got the mandate to do when he was elected overwhelmingly in the election in November. He got that mandate in large part because the Democrats have gone so far to the left that most people in the middle don’t even recognize the Democrat Party of today, and they’re just continuing down that path in deciding that government efficiency is not something they want to support,” Reeves said.  Reeves added Trump’s return to the White House has empowered governors’ voices on both sides of the political aisle, drawing a stark contrast between President Joe Biden’s and Trump’s presidencies.  “Having President Trump in office is a big plus, not only for me or for our Republican governors, but really for all governors,” Reeves said. “The first thing I would say about President Trump is that it is just completely different than what we saw during the Biden years, regardless of politics, regardless of policy views. President Trump respects and wants to hear from governors. He wants to know what other chief executives are doing in the states. We have a voice and that’s incredibly important.” Reeves said, unlike what he saw during Biden’s administration, Trump genuinely values all governors’ opinions, and having access to the president again is encouraging.  “I think even some of those governors on the other side of the political aisle will recognize that it’s certainly something that President Trump values is our opinion. That’s something that we’re going to see over the next few days, having multiple opportunities to sit down and visit with the president, so that’s encouraging.” Reeves said Trump’s return to Washington is building on Mississippi’s momentum in education, artificial intelligence and manufacturing.  “We want to work with President Trump in his efforts to onshore more manufacturing. That’s something that’s important to Mississippi’s economy. Many states across the country gave up on manufacturing 20 years ago. Mississippi never gave up on manufacturing. And that’s the reason we have a workforce that is ready for tremendous economic growth and prosperity. We’re going to take advantage of that,” Reeves said.