Who is PV Kulkarni? CBI arrests Pune Chemistry lecturer in NEET UG paper leak case; Know his NTA link here
According to the CBI, he and another accused leaked the questions and answers to a group of NEET-UG aspirants during a secret coaching session held at his Pune residence in the last week of April.
Hyderabad-Jaipur express catches fire at Nampally station, fire tenders rushed to spot, no injuries reported
Fire department teams reached the station after being alerted and began dousing the flames immediately. Three fire engines helped bring the fire under control.
Here are the megadonors and dark money groups bankrolling John Cornyn and Ken Paxton’s Senate primary
The incumbent senator has dominated financially, thanks to an array of megadonors and dark money groups. The Tribune assembled a guide to the money behind the most expensive Senate primary ever.
Trump administration sues Catholic diocese to seize land on religious site near El Paso for border barrier
The lawsuit argues that 14 acres on Mount Cristo Rey, which features a 29-foot-tall statue of Jesus, are needed for barriers and other technology to secure the border.
Seesaw rulings on Texas’ smokeable hemp ban is bad for business, retailers say
Some smoke shops say the flurry of court actions since March 31 has already forced them to scale back hours, cut staff and prepare to shut down.
Texas Supreme Court rejects Abbott’s request to remove Democratic Rep. Gene Wu from office over redistricting protest
More than 50 Democrats, including Wu — the House Democratic leader — left the state last August to shut down the Legislature and stall passage of the GOP’s map.
Texas Children’s Hospital must create country’s first “detransition clinic” under legal settlement with state
Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Friday that Texas Children’s must also pay $10 million to the state because it illegally provided transgender care to kids.
Progressive challenger complicates Democrat path in House fight to unseat GOP incumbent Rep Mike Flood
Progressive journalist Austin Ahlman announced he is running for Congress in Nebraska’s first congressional district as a nonpartisan independent on Thursday, challenging incumbent Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., and Democratic nominee Chris Backemeyer. Ahlman, a journalist for the progressive left-wing outlet The Intercept, entered the fray Thursday, two days after his opponents advanced in their respective primaries. Flood has held his seat since winning a special election in 2022. Democratic challenger Backemeyer is a former State Department employee who worked in President Barack Obama’s administration and also served as a Special Advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris on national security and policy issues. Ahlman criticized Backemeyer as a “creature of the establishment in D.C.” and said he didn’t see much of a difference between the Democrat and Flood. FROM NEBRASKA TO WEST VIRGINIA TO NEW JERSEY: PRIMARY CLASHES SET STAGE FOR FIERCE MIDTERM FIGHT “I have taken on the corporations that are actually hollowing out our state. I have uncovered the corruption among the politicians that are crushing us and selling us out. And I don’t think that either one of the two can say that,” Ahlman told the Lincoln Journal Star. “I think that they have just been a part of the system. They are the establishment, and I am not that. I’m actually from the working class,” he said. After winning his 2022 special election by a five-point margin, Flood won both of his general elections by a comfortable margin. He won by 15 points in the 2022 general election and by more than 20 point in 2024. Nebraska’s first district is also a solid Republican stronghold, according to the Cook Political Report. Cook posits it would take both an “anemic” Republican turnout and a strong Democrat one to turn the tables for Democrats in Nebraska’s first district. The prospect is now made more complicated with Ahlman, as some of Nebraska’s political leader point out to local press that the progressive candidate could split the vote. KEY HOUSE PROJECTION SPELLS TROUBLE FOR TWO REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS “Mike Flood has failed this district, and splitting the vote with a fringe third candidate won’t fix that,” Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb said in a Thursday statement provided to the Nebraska Examiner. “Nebraska doesn’t need noise from either extreme. We need a steady, experienced leader who will fight for fairness and protect our democracy. That’s Chris Backemeyer.” Backemeyer’s campaign told the Examiner, “After winning almost every county by a large margin in the primary, Chris is focused on defeating congressman Flood in order to stop Trump’s tariffs, devastating healthcare cuts and illegal war that are hurting Nebraskans.” Meanwhile, Flood’s team pointed to the independent challenge as a weakness in the Democratic Party, claiming Ahlman is “trying to sabotage the campaign of a Kamala Harris adviser because the Democratic Party is in shambles.” “While Backemeyer and Ahlman fight over which D.C. transplant finishes second, Congressman Flood will keep getting things done for Nebraskans,” Flood spokesperson Daniel Bass told the Examiner. Fox News Digital contacted the Ahlman, Backemeyer and Flood campaigns for additional comment.
Longtime Democratic Rep Steve Cohen announces end to re-election bid
Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee announced on Friday that he signed a document requesting not to be included on the ballot in Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District. The congressman described the district determined by “new lines” as “nothing like the 9th district that I’ve represented.” The Democratic primary in the district is scheduled to take place in August. Cohen’s ending his re-election bid after 19 years in Congress. This is a breaking news story and will be updated
Iowa Dem admits being ‘uncomfortable’ with whiteness as she seeks to flip competitive House seat
FIRST ON FOX — A Democrat running for Congress in Iowa admitted to feeling “uncomfortable” by the whiteness of her hometown in Minnesota after returning from a stay in New Mexico years ago. Sarah Trone Garriott, 47, who is running unopposed in the Democratic primary for one of the most competitive congressional districts in the country, is coming under fire for her comments as she seeks to unseat incumbent Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa. “Yeah, I remember the first time I came back to northern Minnesota to visit, and I was kind of shocked at how many white people there were,” Trone Garriott recalled of the area of the U.S. where she grew up in a resurfaced podcast episode released nearly a decade ago. “The feeling was very different. I was like ‘whoa,’ and again I was uncomfortable in a different way,” she added. IOWA DEMOCRAT RUNNING FOR CONGRESS WROTE THAT 9/11 MADE HER MORE ‘AWARE’ OF ‘ANTI-MUSLIM BIGOTRY’ About 78% of Iowa’s third congressional district that Trone Garriott wants to represent in Congress is white, according to a breakdown by DataUSA. Republicans argue the candidate’s past and recent comments are out of step with the district’s demographics. “Every time Sarah Trone Garriott’s handlers let her loose, the wicked witch of woke finds a new way to insult Iowans,” Zach Kraft, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, said. “We haven’t even reached the general election yet, and she has already managed to call nearly every person in the state racist, sexist, and bigoted,” he added. Trone Garriott’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on previous remarks. Nunn’s campaign also did not respond when reached about his competitor’s comments. According to the Cook Political Report, Iowa’s 3rd congressional district is among the 16 “toss-up” races in the 2026 midterms, with a slight R+2 lean. IMMIGRANTS NEEDED FOR ‘REDISTRICTING PURPOSES,’ HOUSE DEM ADMITS IN VIRAL CLIP: ‘QUIET PART OUT LOUD’ Nine years after Trone Garriott recorded the podcast interview, her comments highlight a wariness of homogeneity and underscore the candidate’s belief that representation should be tied to demographics. In a separate interview with the University of Iowa in 2022, Trone Garriott hinted at support for demographic mandates and quotas for positions within the government, like those she learned about after meeting with legislators from Kosovo. “They actually have quotas, and I know that’s a dirty word for some people, but they have requirements of how many people from different ethnic backgrounds, religious minorities — and gender balance is part of their structure,” Trone Garriott said of the Balkan nation. “And so, there’s kind of a preference for those folks that are underrepresented to be in government. Which I think is really important to bring those voices out,” she added. IOWA POLL SHOWS DEMOCRATS IN POSITION TO FLIP 2 GOP HOUSE SEATS Trone Garriott was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After earning her undergraduate degree in Duluth, Minnesota, she went on to obtain a Master of Theological Studies from the Harvard Divinity School, and a Master of Divinity from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. She worked as a volunteer with the anti-poverty program under AmeriCorps VISTA in New Mexico — where she was apparently awoken to the ‘whiteness’ of her Minnesotan hometown. Trone Garriott began her career as an ordained minister for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), spending time in ministry in Pennsylvania, Chicago, Virginia and finally Iowa. From there, Trone Garriott embarked on a political career in the Iowa State Senate, where she has served since 2021. She announced a bid last year to unseat Rep. Nunn in the state’s third congressional district.