Uttar Pradesh govt suspends Gonda BEO over Rs 2.25 crore bribery case; know what happened
Uttar Pradesh government under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has suspended Atul Kumar Tiwari, the Basic Education Officer of Gonda district, for allegedly demanding a commission of around Rs 2.25 crore in return for awarding a tender.
Bihar Exit Polls: Axis My India projects close battle between NDA and Mahagathbandhan
The data comes after several pollsters predicted a comfortable win for the NDA in the Bihar Assembly elections.
Older Texans among those facing the largest price hikes for Affordable Care Act insurance
About 1 million Texans with ACA health plans are over the age of 45, and many of them will pay monthly premiums that are more than $1,000.
Texas Head Start closures during government shutdown add to state’s child care woes
Hundreds of families lost child care when certain programs weren’t funded earlier this month, and scores more may be affected if Congress doesn’t fund the government by Dec. 1.
Texas Leads U.S. in Fatal Truck Crashes as Safety Enforcement Plummets
Fatal truck crashes in Texas are rising while federal enforcement stalls— leaving unsafe carriers on the road and families paying the price.
DHS blasts Chicago mayor for comparing raid leader to segregationists, accusing him of ‘terror’
EXCLUSIVE: After Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson put Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino on blast for his “Operation Midway Blitz” immigration raids in the Windy City, DHS hit back saying the Democrat should worry more about Chicagoans being maimed by illegal immigrant gangbangers and drug traffickers. At his latest press conference, Johnson appeared to equate Bovino’s behavior with terrorism, saying the North Carolina native is someone who “provokes terror on people,” and condemned immigration enforcement raids and their spread on federal social media as akin to “grotesque” imagery of racist behavior like lynchings and anti-desegregation scenes from the 20th century. “Mayor Brandon Johnson is once again demonizing ICE and CBP law enforcement are facing a more than 1,000% increase in assaults and 8,000% increase in death threats against them,” Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital when asked about Johnson’s comments. “Mayor Johnson has shown time and time again he does not care about the innocent American lives taken at the hands of gang members, murderers, drug traffickers, and rapists who have no right to be in this country,” McLaughlin said. OPERATION MIDWAY BLITZ COMMANDER REBUTS PRITZKER’S ‘CRAZY RHETORIC,’ WARNS IT COULD LEAD TO VIOLENCE After a reporter joked about Bovino’s “Midway Blitz” team posing at Chicago’s “Bean” sculpture — and another quipped that agents were saying “Little Village” instead of “cheese” while taking photos in the heavily Hispanic neighborhood — Johnson scoffed, saying the North Carolina–born commander “should just go away.” “Here’s someone who has provoked terror on people,” Johnson said, before condemning the way Bovino comported himself as he left Illinois federal court swarmed by protesters screaming, “F— you, Greg,”, “F— you, fascist,” and calling him a “p—y.” Johnson also shared a photo of Bovino posing with agents at the “Bean” and called the picture “wicked and vile.” DHS responded by sharing images of recently-arrested violent illegal immigrants and proverbially corrected the mayor, saying they should be the ones considered “wicked and vile.” BORDER PATROL CHIEF FIRES BACK AFTER CHICAGO MAYOR CALLS HIM ‘BARBARIC’ OVER TEAR GAS CLASH “I’ve seen a lot of bad behavior from human beings over the course of my study of just history,” Johnson told reporters. “Even when he was on his way into federal court, he paraded down the street and saluted individuals,” he added, furrowing his brow. “And then [DHS goes] on social media and put hip-hop music to their terror in Black and Brown communities. That’s not even a dog whistle anymore. That’s some real racist jacked-up stuff that he is engaged in.” BORDER PATROL CHIEF FIRES BACK AFTER PRITZKER CALLS FEDERAL OPERATIONS ‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL INVASION’ Johnson went on, claiming President Donald Trump is a “brittle man” and that Bovino is acting “under the direction of his king.” “This president has unleashed Bovino to unleash tear gas on police officers and babies. And then they have the temerity to take a picture in front of one of our public assets,” he said of the “Bean” scene. “There are horrific pictures that exist within America, in American society, graphic ones, from lynchings to Black children being prevented from entering into a public institution,” Johnson said. Former Arkansas Democratic Gov. Orval Faubus and ex-Alabama Democratic Gov. George Wallace both barricaded schoolhouses to prevent desegregation in the mid 20th century, leading Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, respectively, to federalize the National Guard. “What Bovino and the Border Patrol are executing right now have the same grotesque proclivity as those who have worked incredibly hard to dehumanize, historically, people who have been placed in the margins.”
Michelle Obama reveals ‘infuriating’ moment on Air Force One that still haunts her
Former first lady Michelle Obama revealed on a recent episode of her podcast that she was left infuriated by a moment on Air Force One in 2009 when she debated whether to wear Bermuda shorts while on vacation — which ultimately led to controversy. “The fact that we had to spend time thinking about that kind of stuff in ways that my husband didn’t — it was really infuriating,” Obama said during an episode on her podcast, “IMO With Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson,” which she co-hosts with her brother. “Then an article, a negative article, still happened.” The former first lady explained that in August 2009 she and the former president were set to depart Air Force One for a hike in the Grand Canyon while on their first vacation since the inauguration earlier that year. While she fretted over what attire would be appropriate for a first lady and not draw public criticism, Barack Obama did not need to put effort into thinking about his outfit, she recounted. “It was 100 degrees,” Michelle Obama remembered of the conversation. “Barack — I was like, ‘Well, what are you wearing?’ He was like, ‘Well, I’m gonna throw on some sneakers, I’m gonna take my jacket off and roll my sleeves up’ because that’s what men can do. White shirt, no collar, no tie. That was how he changed.” BROADCAST BIAS: FROM CAMELOT TO WHINE-A-LOT, MICHELLE OBAMA CLAIMS SHE’S MISTREATED Michelle Obama said she debated whether to wear hiking shorts or a dress before landing on wearing Bermuda shorts. “I can’t wear hiking shorts there, and I can’t wear a dress to hike,” she said. “That would be crazy. People would call me ‘disconnected’ and ‘un-American.’ I’m at the Grand Canyon in a tea-length dress with flats? I was like, ‘That’s not how people go to the Grand Canyon.’” “I eventually opted for the thing that felt mostly me,” Michelle Obama continued. “And it was the Bermuda shorts. Because if we’re going on a hike, this is how a normal person would go on a hike.” MICHELLE OBAMA TELLS COLBERT SHE FEELS ‘LOST’ ABOUT CURRENT WHITE HOUSE NORMS AND STANDARDS UNDER TRUMP The former first lady did face backlash for the attire, as pundits at the time criticized that a first lady wearing shorts while departing Air Force One was too casual, with outlets running headlines such as, “Who Wears Short Shorts? Michelle Obama,” “First lady’s shorts draw some long, hard looks,” and “Michelle Obama: The Shorts Heard Round the World.” KAMALA HARRIS MENTIONS MICHELLE OBAMA ONLY THREE TIMES IN 300-PAGE BOOK. HERE’S WHAT SHE SAID Michelle Obama said in 2013 that she would not wear shorts again on Air Force One after the 2009 outfit caused “a huge stink.” She explained at the time that she made the more relaxed choice because “we’re on vacation.” First lady Melania Trump also has faced backlash over her wardrobe attire, including in 2017 when she wore a baseball cap and jeans to visit Texas after Hurricane Harvey that was viewed by some critics as too casual, and again in 2018 when she wore a green jacket while on a trip to visit the border that read, “I really don’t care. Do u?” Melania Trump later told the media she wore the jacket as a message to the liberal media and other critics: “I want to show them that I don’t care,” she told ABC News in 2018. Fox News Digital reached out to Michelle Obama’s office Tuesday for additional comment on the matter but did not immediately receive a reply.
Newsom silent on violent Berkeley protest of TPUSA at California university
Two days after agitators violently disrupted a TPUSA event in Berkeley, California, the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has yet to issue a public comment on the matter. The incident unfolded on Monday night on the campus of UC Berkeley at a Turning Point event featuring actor Rob Schneider and author Frank Turek, a Christian mentor of the organization’s late founder, Charlie Kirk. Left-wing agitators swarmed Zellerbach Hall, where the event, which was the last stop on the “This is the Turning Point” tour, was held. Four students at the university were arrested, according to The Daily Californian, which omitted the suspects’ names from its report. They were described as females between the ages of 20 and 22. Each was reportedly charged with felony vandalism. The UC Berkeley Police Department confirmed that two other men were arrested during the night’s activities. FETTERMAN FIRES BACK AT NEWSOM AFTER SHUTDOWN CRITICISM, REFUSES TO ‘PLAY CHICKEN’ WITH THE LIVES OF AMERICANS Christopher Joseph Benton, 48, who is unaffiliated with the school, was arrested for trespassing, resisting or obstructing an officer and being unlawfully present on campus, all misdemeanors. Jay Eduardo Maytorena, 22, listed as a current or former student, was arrested for trespassing and resisting or obstructing an officer. Several of the skirmishes at the event went viral, including a man caught on video beating a Turning Point USA supporter who was arrested and charged with violent crimes. Police said that upon further investigation, the second man involved in the fight was attempting to rob the victim of his necklace. “After speaking with the involved parties and corroborating information through open-source media footage, officers determined that one of the men—Jihad Dphrepaulezz (a 25-year-old Oakland man) had stolen the other man’s chain from around his neck,” police said. “The other man was attempting to get his chain back from Dphrepaulezz.” GAVIN NEWSOM TELLS DEMOCRATS THEY ‘WALKED AWAY’ FROM MASCULINITY CRISIS IMPACTING MEN AND BOYS Newsom, who is in Brazil attending the COP 30 climate conference, has not posted about the disruption of the event, which conservatives have labeled as an assault on free speech. Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom’s office for comment but did not immediately receive a response. Newsom famously sat down for an interview with Kirk before the conservative commentator was murdered, and the two briefly touched on free speech while discussing TikTok. Newsom raised concerns about teachers “policing speech” in classrooms. “Grateful this level of attention being paid to what happened to our students last night at UC Berkeley,” Turning Point USA’s Andrew Kolvet posted on X. “No one attending a peaceful event should be subjected to the type of harassment and attacks we saw last night. The Antifa thugs who did this MUST be stopped.” The Department of Justice announced it is investigating the campus chaos. “Mob assault and thuggish intimidation of attendees exercising their First Amendment rights are unacceptable,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote in a post announcing the probe on X. The DOJ has demanded that the school preserve all records related to security and campus preparation for the Turning Point event. In a lengthy statement provided to Fox News Digital, UC Berkeley strongly condemned all violence and threats that may chill freedom of speech. It also said it will cooperate with the federal investigation. “The University is conducting a full investigation and intends to fully cooperate with and assist any federal investigations and the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force to identify the outside agitators responsible for attempting to disrupt last night’s TPUSA event,” the statement said. “UC Berkeley will take all appropriate steps to safeguard the right of every member of our community to speak and assemble freely.” Fox News Digital’s Peter D’Abrosca and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
Red-state university ripped for offering entry-level job to foreign workers, not grads: ‘Woke mind virus’
EXCLUSIVE: An Indiana Republican lawmaker is speaking out against Indiana University after the school posted a job listing advertising the position to be filled by an H-1B visa holder, rather than a graduate or Indiana resident. “One of the whole points of a state university is to educate the next generation so they can get jobs here in Indiana and, amazingly, that same school then turns around and says, ‘Except when we hire people, we’re going to hire people from foreign countries instead of our own graduates,’” state Rep. Andrew Ireland told Fox News Digital. In a Tuesday post on X, Ireland took issue with a job posting on the IU website for a “marketing generalist” that pays $68,000 per year that was classified as a “notice of intent to hire H-1B/E-3 Employee 2.” His criticism quickly spread on social media and Ireland told Fox News Digital it was “frustrating” to see the “flagship” university in the state offer that job to a foreign worker rather than a student or graduate of the school. CLICK HERE FOR MORE CAMPUS RADICALS COAST TO COAST At the same time, Ireland told Fox News Digital the job posting is “not a surprise.” “I think more than 220 H-1B applications were filed this year for opportunities with different universities and colleges in the state of Indiana,” Ireland explained. “These are public universities, public institutions, or the state government in some cases itself, that are using H-1B visas to fill positions. But frankly, very few of which seem to be actually technical or unique in nature. There’s no specialization to a marketing generalist or a librarian, a marketing instructor. Some of these roles are being filled right now in the state of Indiana with H-1B workers.” Ireland, a graduate of Indiana University, said there has been a “longtime struggle” with the university’s “political bend” and reflected on a situation when he was a student where he says a journalism professor suggested to him that GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, who Ireland worked for as a student, was “the devil.” “I got thick skin, you can give it to me as much as you want,” Ireland told Fox News Digital. ‘But I think it’s really indicative of what’s going on on campus there at Indiana University and many other schools across the country, is that I think you really do have the infection from the woke mind virus.“ ‘3 HEADED MONSTER’: EXPERT REVEALS HOW H-1B VISA PROGRAM IS CRUSHING AMERICAN COLLEGE GRADUATES Ireland continued, “I think there’s a good case to be made that this sort of H-1B abuse certainly plays a part in that, too, where, you know, again, instead of really saying that our own best and brightest here in Indiana should have opportunities, that we really want to focus on merit, we’re going to go and search outside of this country, even for some relatively low-skilled roles. Very frustrating, to say the least.” Fox News Digital reached out to the University of Indiana for comment. The Trump administration has made efforts since January to crack down on H-1B visa abuse, both by putting financial incentives on companies to hire Americans rather than overseas workers and by investigating companies who are potentially abusing the system. Last week, Fox News Digital first reported that Trump’s Department of Labor has launched at least 175 ongoing investigations targeting potential abuses within the H-1B visa program. Ireland says he applauds the Trump administration for “taking the issue seriously.” “But what I’m really focused on as a state lawmaker in Indiana is reining in what we can through state government, our own state institutions that are funded and subsidized by tax dollars to make sure we’re putting our money where our mouth is,” Ireland told Fox News Digital. “If we’re America first, that means that we’re going to hire American workers to fill American jobs, not foreigners. And I think that’s something we can do even without the federal government, regardless of who’s in the White House, that we should really be focused on that here in the state of Indiana.” In terms of what Ireland can do about H-1B visas at the state level in his capacity as a lawmaker, he pointed to the upcoming legislative session in the state and suggested he has some plans in the works. “I’m working to put a bill hopefully together for exactly this issue,” Ireland said. “Short of outright banning H-1B visas, and I think there’s a strong case for that, is at least, require more transparency around this.” “It’s one thing when we’re talking about the Elon Musks of the world. You know these high-skilled foreign individuals who bring a skillset that we simply just don’t have in our own workforce. But I gotta tell you, there’s plenty of people who can make PowerPoints and graphics and post on Facebook for Indiana University. We don’t need to hire somebody for $68,000 a year to do the job that an American worker can do.”
Longest government shutdown in history nears likely end as House moves on funding bill
The end of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history is finally in sight, with the House of Representatives set to vote on a federal funding bill later Wednesday evening. House lawmakers are set to take a procedural vote in the 5 p.m. hour on whether to allow debate on the measure. If the legislation survives, a final vote is expected in the 7 p.m. hour. The government has been shut down for 43 days as Democrats and Republicans hotly debated the merits of the GOP’s initial federal funding bill, a short-term extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 spending levels through Nov. 21. The vast majority of Democrats are still against the legislation, including House Democratic leadership, but GOP lawmakers across several ideologically diverse factions have signaled confidence in a nearly unified Republican vote. THE 5 LONGEST GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS IN HISTORY: WHAT HAPPENED, HOW THEY ENDED House Freedom Caucus Policy Chairman Chip Roy, R-Texas, said he heard no dissent on the bill from his band of fiscal hawks. “I’m not going to speak for everybody, but I think there’s general support. So you know, I’m unaware of any opposition of significance,” he told reporters Tuesday night. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said, “Nothing’s ever easy around here. But, look, I didn’t notice any dissent … I think the votes will be there on our side.” BILL TO END GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN SURVIVES KEY HURDLE BEFORE HOUSE-WIDE VOTE But with a razor-thin majority, House GOP leaders can only afford to lose two Republican votes at most to pass the bill without relying on any Democrats. “I’m very hopeful,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital when asked if Republicans had the votes to pass the bill. “I think you’re seeing just a few Democrats come to their senses. It should be a lot more.” Meanwhile, the shutdown’s effects on the country have grown more severe by the day. Many of the thousands of air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents who had to work without pay were forced to take second jobs, causing nationwide flight delays and cancellations amid staffing shortages at the country’s busiest airports. Millions of Americans who rely on federal benefits were also left in limbo as funding for critical government programs ran close to drying out. At the heart of the issue was Democratic leaders’ refusal to back any funding bill that did not also extend COVID-19 pandemic-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year. Democrats argued it was their best hope of preventing healthcare price hikes for Americans across the U.S. Republicans agreed to hold conversations on reforming what they saw as a broken healthcare system, but they refused to pair any partisan priority with federal funding. The initial bill passed the House on Sept. 19 but stalled in the Senate for weeks, when Democrats sank the bill more than a dozen times. MIKE JOHNSON SPEAKS OUT AFTER SENATE BREAKTHROUGH ON GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN However, after weeks of stalemate and the clock running down on their Nov. 21 bill, a new compromise emerged that got support from eight Senate Democrats to carry it across the finish line. The new legislation would extend FY 2025 federal funding levels through Jan. 30, to give negotiators more time to strike a longer-term deal for FY 2026. It would also give lawmakers some headway with that mission, advancing legislation to fund the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration; the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction; and the legislative branch. In a victory for Democrats, the deal would also reverse federal layoffs conducted by the Trump administration in October, with those workers getting paid for the time they were off. A side deal struck in the Senate also guaranteed Senate Democrats a vote on legislation extending the enhanced Obamacare subsidies. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., however, has made no such promise in the House. If passed on Wednesday night, the legislation heads to President Donald Trump’s desk for a signature. When asked about the bill on Tuesday, a White House official told Fox News Digital, “President Trump has wanted the government reopened since the first day Democrats shut it down. The action in the Senate is a positive development, and we look forward to seeing it progress.”