Former Dem gov in hot seat for ‘complete failure’ in ‘INSANE’ early release of thousands of inmates
Democratic Senate candidate and former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is being ripped as a “complete failure” after hundreds of inmates released under his administration as part of a COVID-era agreement were rearrested on new charges within two years. This comes as Cooper is locked in a heated Senate race with Republican Michael Whatley that could help determine which party controls the chamber. A spokesperson for Cooper’s campaign dismissed the criticisms as “blatant lies from Republicans,” pointing to how the former governor fought the releases in court. The spokesperson also said thousands of prisoners were released during the first Trump administration due to COVID-19. A Fox News Digital review of data from the North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission found that more than 560 inmates released during the Cooper administration went on to be arrested on charges of new offenses within two years of their release. The agreement resulted in the release of 3,500 inmates over a 180-day period from February to August 2021. Among those released was Tyrell Brace, who was later charged with first-degree murder in the killing of young father Elante Thompson in Charlotte. Brace previously pleaded guilty to assault by strangulation and assault inflicting serious injury and also had felony larceny and breaking-and-entering convictions. North Carolina Department of Public Safety Adult Correction records indicate Brace was released months earlier than originally scheduled. CHARLOTTE RAIL MURDER SUSPECT LINKED TO INMATE RELEASE APPROVED UNDER EX-DEM GOVERNOR, GOP ALLEGES Another released inmate, Daron Owens, went on to be sentenced in federal court to 10 years in prison for possession of a firearm by a felon stemming from a drive-by shooting months after his release that left a victim with gunshot wounds. Owens was released a month early. Cooper’s Senate opponent, Republican Michael Whatley, ripped into him, posting on X that “Roy Cooper was a complete failure at keeping our communities safe.” “Victims’ families deserve answers,” he continued, adding, “Why did Roy Cooper allow these dangerous criminals back on our streets?” The mass release stemmed from a 2020 lawsuit filed by the North Carolina NAACP, ACLU and other groups, which argued that crowded prison conditions during the pandemic put inmates at unconstitutional risk. The plaintiffs initially pushed for the release of thousands more inmates. But the state ultimately settled the case in early 2021, agreeing to reduce the prison population through expanded early releases, parole reviews and other measures, resulting in about 3,500 inmates being released. The move has been criticized by Republicans as one of the largest mass prisoner releases in the country. At the time, Cooper’s administration emphasized that the releases would focus on nonviolent offenders, though officials later acknowledged that individuals convicted of violent crimes were also included. Court records show some inmates released during the period had extensive felony histories, including crimes involving assault, sexual offenses, kidnapping and offenses against children. Data reviewed by Fox News Digital found that from a sample group of 1,180 prisoners, 48%, 566, were later arrested on charges of new offenses. From the sample group, 20% have been convicted. Besides Brace and Owens, another individual released was Jimmie Speight, who was convicted of indecent liberty with a child and failure to register as a sex offender and was released just under nine months early. In 2023, he was sentenced to more than 32 years in prison for second-degree murder. Another, Kyshuan Norrell, who was convicted of manslaughter, was also released and has since been sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder. TRUMP SAYS DEMOCRATS HAVE ‘BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS’ AFTER DEADLY CHARLOTTE TRAIN STABBING Whatley campaign spokesperson DJ Griffin drilled into the former governor over these releases, telling Fox News Digital that “Roy Cooper has blood on his hands.” Griffin posited that Cooper’s “dangerous decision to release thousands of convicted felons during COVID has resulted in the deaths of 19 North Carolinians.” “Now, victims’ families say he is solely to blame for these deaths. All while Cooper refuses to take any responsibility for his actions,” said Griffin. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) also piled on Cooper, calling the releases “INSANE,” in an X post, adding, “Roy Cooper must answer for this.” Bernadette Breslin, a national press secretary for the NRSC, told Fox News Digital that the agreement amounted to the Democrat having “aided and abetted the release of thousands of violent criminals onto North Carolina’s streets,” adding, “Cooper’s soft-on-crime policies are too dangerous for North Carolina families.” In response, a spokesperson for Cooper’s campaign dismissed the criticisms, telling Fox News Digital that “these blatant lies from Republicans have been fact-checked for months and found to be false.” The spokesperson said that “after Roy fought against these releases in court, North Carolina law enforcement officials and parole officers looked to similar criteria President Trump used a year prior when his administration released thousands of federal prisoners due to COVID-19.” CHARLOTTE TEEN ARRESTED 111 TIMES IN 2 YEARS STILL WALKING FREE IN SOFT-ON-CRIME BLUE CITY: POLICE “Keeping the public safe is Roy Cooper’s top priority, which is why he refused to commute sentences when outside groups asked him to during the pandemic,” the spokesperson continued. They added, “While Roy spent his career putting rapists and violent criminals behind bars, Michael Whatley spent his appointing a convicted child sex predator who served time in prison for multiple counts of felony child sex crimes to a powerful position within the North Carolina Republican Party.” Harvey West Jr., a registered sex offender who served prison time for child sex crimes, later held leadership and committee roles within the North Carolina GOP during Whatley’s tenure as chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party. Whatley has said that West “was elected on his own,” according to the Washington Examiner. This comes as North Carolina leaders have faced scrutiny for high-profile murders, such as the killing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska. Republicans have alleged that the man charged with Zarutska’s murder, Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., may have been one of the inmates released under the COVID
House Freedom Caucus vows ‘gloves are coming off’ as FISA deadline looms
Conservative House Republicans are escalating a fight over government surveillance as Congress reopens debate this week on a controversial warrantless spying program. Members of the House Freedom Caucus are pledging to hold firm on adding a permanent ban on central bank digital currency (CBDC) to any legislation that reauthorizes Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). But the proposal faces widespread opposition from Senate Democrats and is viewed as dead on arrival in the upper chamber. The cross-chamber standoff threatens to complicate Congress’ ability to meet a mid-June deadline to renew the spy law, which the Trump administration argues is a critical national security tool. “If the Senate thinks they’re going to keep rolling over us, it’s just not going to happen,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said at a news conference in late April, referring to the Senate’s opposition to including a CBDC ban in a FISA renewal bill. SPEAKER JOHNSON ONE STEP CLOSER TO RENEWING CONTROVERSIAL SPY PROGRAM AFTER CONSERVATIVES FALL IN LINE Both chambers in April approved a 45-day FISA extension to allow for more time for negotiations. House GOP privacy hawks objected to the short-term measure, citing its omission of a CBDC ban. “CBDC can still make it across the finish line. Let’s just push on,” the Texas Republican added. “The Senate will respond to the people if they push hard enough. I’m positive on it.” GOP privacy hawks argue a CBDC ban is a critical privacy guardrail against the Federal Reserve issuing a digital currency that could be used to surveil and potentially cut access to Americans’ financial transactions. “They don’t want the government monitoring their bank accounts, telling them what they can buy, when they can buy it and when they’re not allowed to buy,” Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., said at a news conference, referring to his constituents’ concerns about a government-issued digital token. The group has repeatedly sought to add a CBDC ban to various legislation over the past year, but has not yet been able to get a permanent ban on President Donald Trump’s desk. During his confirmation hearing, Federal Reserve chair nominee Kevin Warsh said he would not issue a CBDC during his term, calling the proposal a “bad policy choice.” HOUSE GOP SLAMMED BY CONSERVATIVES FOR JOINING DEMS ON CONTROVERSIAL ‘KILL SWITCH’ AMENDMENT The push to ban CBDCs is part of a broader effort by conservative Republicans to ramp up their fight against government surveillance. “Americans don’t want Big Brother in their cars, their bank accounts, or their homes,” a spokesperson for the conservative House Freedom Caucus told Fox News Digital. “The gloves are coming off before FISA expires on June 12.” Roy, the HFC’s policy chief, is pushing to repeal a Biden-era provision requiring a federal agency to draft a rule mandating impaired driver technology in new cars that could shut off vehicles if drunk driving is detected. The federal government has not yet moved forward with drafting the “kill switch” regulation. “Do you really want to put that kind of data collection mandated inside every car? At what point is there just literally no privacy at all anywhere?” Roy said during a hearing in late April in support of adding a “kill switch” repeal amendment to FISA extension legislation. GOP privacy hawks have also advocated for language that would add a judicial warrant requirement to the FISA renewal bill. While the law targets foreigners overseas using U.S. platforms, their communications with Americans can also be swept up and reviewed. Privacy advocates in the Democratic Party have also long pushed for a warrant requirement to gather information on Americans. The Trump administration initially sought a clean 18-month extension of the spy law, but quickly ran into problems with a mix of conservative and progressive privacy hawks. “We’re not going to pass something that’s a long-term, clean reauthorization,” Roy said. “I think that’s been taken off the table. We’ve demonstrated that, and we’re going to get reforms.”
Trump criticizes 2 Supreme Court justices by name over tariff ruling
President Donald Trump issued a lengthy lament for two of his Supreme Court justices’ $159 billion ruling against tariffs and likely “ruling against us on Birthright Citizenship” and showing “so little respect to our country, and its people.” “I don’t want loyalty, but I do want and expect it for our Country,” Trump’s 545-word Truth Social post read Sunday night, showing his disappointment in Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. “Yes, I have another way of doing Tariffs, but it is far slower, and more laborious than what was just determined, in a close decision, to be ‘illegal’ or ‘unconstitutional,’ with three powerful, and highly accurate, dissents! Well, maybe Neil, and Amy, just had a really bad day, but our Country can only handle so many decisions of that magnitude before it breaks down, and cracks!!!” “Sometimes decisions have to be allowed to use Good, Strong, Common Sense as a guide.” TRUMP SAYS SUPREME COURT RULING AGAINST BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ORDER WOULD BENEFIT CHINA “A negative ruling on Birthright Citizenship, on top of the recent Supreme Court Tariff catastrophe, is not Economically sustainable for the United States of America!” The birthright citizenship ruling remains pending before the Supreme Court, with a decision expected before the end of June or in early July. Trump has sought to end the practice of “birth tourism,” where foreign nationals have put their family’s stake in automatic U.S. citizenship of their children born while in the U.S. “I choose people to help our Country, not to hurt it,” Trump’s post read, “and now, based on what I witnessed recently by being the first President in History to attend a Supreme Court session (Which fact was not even recognized or acknowledged, out of respect for the position of President, by the Court — Something which did not go unnoticed by the Fake News Media!), they will be ruling against us on Birthright Citizenship, making us the only Country in the World that practices this unsustainable, unsafe, and incredibly costly DISASTER.” JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS: WE’RE NOT ‘POLITICAL ACTORS,’ NOT AN ‘ACCURATE UNDERSTANDING’ OF US The Supreme Court delivered a 6-3 decision against Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) use of tariffs for national security and trade in late February. Gorsuch, Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts ruled with liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh dissented against the unconstitutionality of using IEEPA to levy tariffs on foreign goods and countries amid multiple wars. “I ‘Love’ Justice Neil Gorsuch! He’s a really smart and good man, but he voted against me, and our Country, on Tariffs, a devastating move,” Trump’s post began. “How do I reconcile this? So bad, and hurtful to our Country. I have, likewise, always liked and respected Amy Coney Barrett, but the same thing with her. SUPREME COURT KILLS TRUMP’S ‘LIBERATION DAY’ TARIFFS — BUT 4 OTHER LAWS COULD RESURRECT THEM “They were appointed by me, and yet have hurt our Country so badly! I do not believe they meant to do so, but their decision on Tariffs cost the United States 159 Billion Dollars that we have to pay back to enemies, and people, companies, and Countries, that have been ripping us off for years. It’s hardly believable!” Trump added he was fine with the ruling if they had just not left the door open for companies to come back to ask for the tariffs’ money back, something the ruling did not expressly allow, but ultimately has forced the Trump administration to respond to. “They could have solved that situation with a ‘tiny’ sentence, ‘Any money paid by others to the United States does not have to be paid back,’” Trump wrote. “Why wouldn’t they have done so? CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS WARNS AGAINST PERSONAL ATTACKS ON JUDGES AS ‘DANGEROUS’ AFTER TRUMP COURT TIRADE “With certain Republican Nominated Justices that we have on the Supreme Court, the Democrats don’t really need to ‘PACK THE COURT‘ any longer. In fact, I should be the one wanting to PACK THE COURT!” Trump suggested some of the conservative justices should follow the liberal justices’ political interpretations of the law on behalf of the people and ideology they represent. “I’m working so hard to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and then people that I appointed have shown so little respect to our Country, and its people,” he continued. “What is the reason for this? They have to do the right thing, but it’s really OK for them to be loyal to the person that appointed them to ‘almost’ the highest position in the land, that is, a Justice of the United States Supreme Court.” “Democrat Justices always remain true to the people that honored them for that very special Nomination. They don’t waver, no matter how good or bad a case may be, but Republican Justices often go out of their way to oppose me, because they want to show how ‘independent’ or, ‘above it all,’ they are.”
The unexpected force keeping beef prices high and why the pressure could last for years
Beef prices aren’t easing anytime soon and economists warn the pressure could last for years. That’s because the U.S. cattle herd has fallen to its smallest size in 75 years, after years of drought, rising feed costs and an aging ranching workforce forced producers to scale back. “The biggest thing has been drought,” Eric Belasco, head of the agricultural economics department at Montana State University, told Fox News Digital. Years of dry weather have wiped out grasslands across the West and Plains, leaving ranchers without enough feed or water to sustain their herds. Many have been forced to sell cattle early, including breeding cows needed to produce the next generation of calves, making it harder to rebuild. Drought quickly makes it harder and more expensive for ranchers to raise cattle. As conditions worsen, hay production falls, feed gets more expensive and herd sizes shrink, according to data from the Kansas City Federal Reserve. IN TEXAS CATTLE COUNTRY, ONE RANCHER WELCOMES TRUMP’S FOCUS ON DECADES OF THIN MARGINS But even when conditions improve, rebuilding the herd takes time. “The fact of the matter is there’s really nothing anybody can do to change this very quickly,” said Derrell Peel, a professor of agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University. “We’re in a tight supply situation that took several years to develop, and it’ll take several years to get out of it.” Peel, who specializes in livestock marketing, said it takes roughly two years to bring cattle to market, and several more years to rebuild herds, leaving little room for short-term relief. TRUMP’S BEEF IMPORT PLAN IGNORES KEY ISSUE SQUEEZING AMERICAN CATTLE RANCHERS And the supply crunch is only part of the story. The U.S. beef industry is also highly concentrated, with four major companies—Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef—processing about 85% of the nation’s grain-fed cattle. That dominance has drawn scrutiny from regulators, including a Department of Justice investigation into potential antitrust issues and pricing practices in the meatpacking industry. Critics argue that level of consolidation gives meatpackers significant influence over prices, while industry groups say the market remains competitive. Higher prices haven’t scared off consumers. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, the average price of beef climbed from about $8.70 per pound in March 2025 to $10.08 a year later, an increase of roughly 16%. Even so, demand has held up. In 2025, shoppers spent more than $45 billion on beef, buying more than 6.2 billion pounds, according to data from Beef Research, a contractor for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Spending jumped about 12% from a year earlier, while the amount of beef sold rose more than 4%—a sign consumers aren’t just paying more, they’re buying more.
What next for Real Madrid after Barcelona’s La Liga and Clasico triumph?
The fall may not have been deep, but the landing has been hard. A second trophy-less season for Real Madrid, the most successful La Liga and Champions League club, was confirmed in the worst way possible: a defeat at Barcelona, who, with their win, defended the Spanish title. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Los Blancos kept the title race alive by their fingernails as they crawled their way to Catalonia, knowing that doing so could result in the cruellest of heartbreaks for their fans. And so it came to pass. Down by two at half-time at Camp Nou – and it could have been a lot more – hanging in there to limit the damage and humiliation was key, but the 2-0 defeat will have cut deeply for a club that has lifted 36 league and 15 Champions League titles. The defeat means Real will finish second this season, not an unusual circumstance in what has regularly been a two-horse race in La Liga. The manner, however, of their failure this season – including their quarterfinal exit from Europe’s top table – has left far more questions than answers in the Spanish capital after another season of discontent. How do Real solve a problem like Mbappe? The signing of Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain two seasons ago was seen as a return to the days of collecting the world’s finest talents and collectively calling them “galacticos”. Real had just completed the league and European double under the illustrious Carlo Ancelotti, the most successful manager in European history and no stranger to managing the top names, having led a list of galacticos in his previous spell as Los Blancos manager. Advertisement Last season did not go to plan, though. Mbappe’s arrival broke up the 4-3-3 formation that had served Real so well for so long, with English midfielder Jude Bellingham playing a key, advanced role, while Vinicius Junior thrived in front of and around him. Both were forced to shift position to accommodate Mbappe, who prefers to drop deep from his central position to link up play or run with the ball. It trod on the toes of the two key performers. Even Ancelotti was not immune to the famed Real chop as rumours circulated all season that his failure to gel the team would bring to an end the Italian’s Spanish love affair. Enter Xabi Alonso. Heralded as the answer to Madrid’s problems after sweeping through German football with Bayer Leverkusen, Alonso is also hailed as a midfield maestro as a player for both Madrid and the Spanish national team. Rumours were rife from the off that the players did not buy into Alonso’s system, and friction was often apparent with Mbappe, despite the forward’s refound scoring ability. His 24 goals have him two clear at the top of this season’s Spanish scoring chart. Alonso’s time was clearly up long before the end came, just after the clock ticked in the new calendar year. Alvaro Arbeloa was given the task of guiding the seemingly rudderless ship to the end of the season as interim head coach. Mbappe’s troubles were only just beginning, though. By the end of the season, a “Mbappe out” petition raised more than 33 million signatures, and the Frenchman was the latest focal point of the Madridistas’ displeasure. Reconnecting Mbappe with the fans and connecting him with his teammates’ style of play will be the number one focus for the new season. Geling three of the world’s leading talents, Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham, has proved to be a tough task for successive Real Madrid managers [Marcelo Del Pozo/Reuters] Can Real resolve Vinicius Jr’s fallout with fans? Prior to the campaign waged against Mbappe, Vinicius fell foul of the home support, with boos for the forward ringing around a series of performances either side of the Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich. The Brazilian went on a 19-game run without a goal for club and country between October 10 and January 11. Ironically, he broke his unwanted streak in the 3-2 Spanish Super Cup final defeat by Barcelona, Alonso’s last game in charge. The ruptures were apparent, however, and rumours abounded that the 25-year-old’s stay at the only club he has ever known could be coming to an end. Advertisement Manchester United were the first to be linked with a move for the versatile forward, but all of Europe’s elite will be on red alert should there be any indication that Real may consider Vinicius as the way to reshape the team around their most bankable asset on and off the field: Mbappe. Will Valverde and Tchouameni survive dressing-room bust-up? As the day of destiny at Barcelona approached, the last thing Real needed were more unwanted headlines, let alone from two of the brighter spots in an otherwise dark campaign. Uruguay’s Federico Valverde and France’s Aurelien Tchouameni were involved in a training-ground bust-up on Thursday, which left the former needing a trip to hospital for a head injury, ruling the midfielder out of the coming weeks. Real swiftly fined both players on Friday, but Tchouameni was still named in the starting lineup at Barcelona. Should Real decide that one or both were required to leave to avoid a potential toxic fallout in the dressing room, then, much like in the case of Vinicius, the phone lines of Europe’s top clubs will be working overtime to seal one or the other. Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, right, is greeted by Pepe, second right, and Cristiano Ronaldo, third right, in 2012, as they celebrate their 32nd La Liga title [Paul Hanna/Reuters] Is Jose Mourinho’s return the answer for Real? Cometh the hour, cometh the man? Given the extent of the discontent across the club, the job of replacing Alonso on a full-time basis will require something not far short of a miracle. Mourinho was not a popular choice in his time in the Real dugout, given his pragmatic tactics, seen
Somalis rally against government-ordered evictions in Mogadishu
NewsFeed Demonstrators rallied across the Somali capital in support of families displaced by a wave of government-led home demolitions. Opposition figures, who organised the protests, say security forces shot and killed one person while trying to disperse the crowds. Published On 11 May 202611 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Gaza documentary dropped by the BBC wins BAFTA
NewsFeed A documentary exposing Israel’s attacks on Gaza’s hospitals and the killing of 1,700 Palestinian medics won Best Current Affairs at the BAFTAs. During the acceptance speech, filmmakers criticised the BBC for initially funding the film but dropping it, accusing the broadcaster of censorship. Published On 11 May 202611 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
As Vijay’s bond with Rahul Gandhi deepens and TVK echoes ‘secularism’, is the party moving closer to the INDIA bloc?
Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister Vijay assumed office today after taking oath as a minister and of secrecy. In his powerful speech after the ceremony, Vijay emphasised that his government would mark the “new beginning” and era of “real, secular and social justice.” Will it join INDIA bloc?
Delhi CM Rekha Gupta flags off 13 Mobile Heat Relief Units amid rising heat in national capital
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta flagged off 13 Mobile Heat Relief Units from the Delhi Secretariat, today, to provide on-ground assistance during the severe heatwave across Delhi.
After Vijay’s oath, DMK picks Udhayanidhi Stalin as Leader of Opposition in Tamil Nadu assembly
The decision was taken at the DMK legislature party meeting, which was held at Kalaignar Arangam in Anna Arivalayam, Chennai, under the leadership of party president MK Stalin. Earlier in the day, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Joseph Vijay took charge as the Tamil Nadu chief minister.