Walz’ Minnesota may be next as ICE detention footprint grows nationwide
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz may be the next state leader subject to ICE’s expanding detention center network, after major facilities were opened or repurposed in Florida, New Jersey, Texas and elsewhere. A private prison that shut down over a decade ago—and rendered obsolete by a 2024 law banning non-governmental state penitentiaries–may be next on ICE’s list. The defunct Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, near the South Dakota line, is reportedly under consideration, according to documents reported by Minnesota Public Radio News. An Appleton official told the outlet his city is not in communication with ICE at this time, but that the owner of the prison – who operated it until 2010 – is seeking a federal contract. BOSTON’S WU FIRES BACK AT BONDI, CITING REVOLUTION, AS OTHER CITIES SLAM FEDS OVER ‘SANCTUARY’ WARNINGS The state law reportedly does not cover federal usage of private prison facilities. Fox News Digital reached out to Walz – a staunch opponent of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement framework during the 2024 presidential sweeps – for comment – but did not hear back by press time. In addition to Minnesota’s potential prison, several other potential locations popped up on a map curated by the Washington Post that geotagged present and potential future facilities – including Alligator Alcatraz in Ochopee, Florida, which is currently in limbo due to an Obama-appointed judge’s ruling. Another private prison that currently holds ICE detainees among its inmates is also one of the world’s largest such penitentiaries. The RCDC or Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos, Texas, has a capacity of 3,700 beds, overall. AMERICA’S ORIGINAL SANCTUARY STATE REBUKE’S BONDI’S WARNING; DENIES OBSTRUCTION OF ICE Also in Texas, documents reviewed by the Post included a facility dubbed “Brownsville Family” near the border-area city, which would have a 3,500-person capacity. The feds already utilize Fort Bliss in El Paso for immigration-related detentions. The move to repurpose part of the historic installation enraged the local ACLU chapter, which compared ICE’s behavior to when former President Franklin Roosevelt used similar sites to intern Japanese Americans. In California City, California. – outside Bakersfield – plans are already in the works to house ICE detainees at another former private prison. CoreCivic, the same vendor as the prison in Walz’ Minnesota, forged a deal with the feds in a different blue state to repurpose its 2,560 facility, according to the Los Angeles Times. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has opposed private prisons, and a ban he signed in 2019 was overturned at the last moment by a federal court who ruled it unconstitutional if applied in federal respects, the paper reported. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The largest ICE detention center in the northeastern U.S. sits not far from Penn State in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. The Moshannon Valley Processing Center – another privately-contracted facility – can hold about 1,800 people, according to reports. Texas, Louisiana and California also rank in the top-three in migrant detentions, per the Times. The Post reported that at least 19 states could have the capacity for or have detention-purposed facilities by New Year’s.
EPA urged to axe funds for ‘radical’ climate project accused of training judges, state AGs rally
First on Fox: Nearly two dozen Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin Tuesday, calling on him to cancel funding to a left-wing environmental group accused of training and lobbying judges on climate policy, Fox News Digital exclusively learned. “As attorney general, I refuse to stand by while Americans’ tax dollars fund radical environmental training for judges across the country,” Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen told Fox News Digital of his push to encourage the EPA to end its funding of the Climate Judiciary Project. “The Environmental Law Institute’s Climate Judiciary Project is using woke climate propaganda, under the guise of what they call ‘neutral’ education, to persuade judges and push their wildly unpopular agenda through the court system,” he said. “I commend President Trump’s efforts to cut waste and abuse during the first eight months of his presidency, and I am optimistic that his Administration will do the right thing and halt all funding to ELI.” Knudsen spearheaded the letter sent to Zeldin Tuesday, which included the signatures of 22 other Republican state attorneys general, calling for the EPA to axe its funding to the left-wing environmental nonprofit, called the Environmental Law Institute, which oversees the Climate Judiciary Project (CJP). TOP ENERGY GROUP CALLS FOR PROBE INTO SECRETIVE ‘NATIONAL LAWFARE CAMPAIGN’ TO INFLUENCE JUDGES ON CLIMATE The Environmental Law Institute founded the Climate Judiciary Project in 2018, which pitches itself as a “first-of-its-kind effort” that “provides judges with authoritative, objective, and trusted education on climate science, the impacts of climate change, and the ways climate science is arising in the law.” The group, however, has been accused of trying to manipulate judges to make them more amenable to left-wing climate litigation. The letter sent Tuesday called on the EPA specifically to end any grants and awards endowed to the group. “We write to bring to your attention grants made by EPA to the Environmental Law Institute (‘ELI’),” the letter reads. “According to its 2024 financial statements, ELI received approximately 13% of its revenue in 2023, and 8.4% in 2024, from EPA awards. ELI also apparently still expected to receive funds from the federal government; its financial statement warned that the collectability of federal grant funds ‘is subject to significant uncertainty related to collectability and continual funding due to (the federal grant) funding freeze or other federal actions.’” CLIMATE GROUP SCRUBS JUDGES’ NAMES FROM WEBSITE AFTER UNEARTHED CHATS UNMASKED COZY TIES The Environmental Law Institute received $637,591 from the EPA in 2024 and $866,402 in 2023 from the EPA, according to nonprofit tax documents published by ProPublica detailing the group’s federal expenditures that year. “The Climate Judiciary Project’s mission is clear: lobby judges in order to make climate change policy through the courts,” 23 state attorneys general wrote in the letter. “An alumni magazine profile said the quiet part out loud, writing that the Climate Judiciary Project co-founder was ‘explaining the science of climate change to a group of people with real power to act on it: judges.’ The Climate Judiciary Project’s tampering raises serious legal and ethical questions.” The Environmental Law Institute, however, in recent comment to Fox News Digital, has maintained that its educational programs through Climate Judiciary Project are in accordance with the standards established by national judicial education institutions. Climate Judiciary Project educational events are done “in partnership with leading national judicial education institutions and state judicial authorities, in accordance with their accepted standards,” a spokesperson for the group said in an emailed statement in July. “Its curriculum is fact-based and science-first, grounded in consensus reports and developed with a robust peer review process that meets the highest scholarly standards.” “CJP’s work is no different than the work of other continuing judicial education organizations that address important complex topics, including medicine, tech and neuroscience,” an Environmental Law Institute spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital when asked about its educational programs. The call for EPA to slash any funds to the Environmental Law Institute was celebrated by leading groups such as the American Energy Institute and the Alliance for Consumers, who lamented in comment to Fox Digital that taxpayer funds should not be used to fund the group and that “courtroom maneuvering” threatens day-to-day life. “The State Attorneys General are right to call for the elimination of taxpayer funding for the Environmental Law Institute and its Climate Judiciary Project,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, told Fox Digital. “This is a coordinated campaign to advance the Green New Deal through the judiciary using so-called climate litigation in the courts. Its curriculum is developed by climate alarmist allies of the plaintiffs and delivered to judges behind closed doors. Public funds should never be used to finance political advocacy disguised as judicial education.” O.H. Skinner, the executive director of Alliance for Consumers, which is a nonprofit focused on advocating on behalf of American consumers, remarked that “as we have long warned, the left has a plan to reshape American society by using lawsuits in courts all across the country, especially in places like Hawaii and other coastal enclaves.” “The new wave of revelations about ELI is further concerning evidence of how committed the left is to imposing mandatory Progressive Lifestyle Choices through this courtroom maneuvering and how big a threat it really is to all our ways of life,” Skinner added. CLIMATE LAWFARE CAMPAIGN DEALT BLOW IN SOUTH CAROLINA The Tuesday letter specifically argued: “State consumer protection laws prohibit deceptive and misleading statements to market a product. ELI is representing its training as objective when reality shows that it is not. State Attorneys General are responsible for protecting consumers, and we are concerned by ELI’s statements.” The EPA has taken a hatchet to millions of dollars doled out under the Biden administration to left-wing groups and other programs deemed a waste of taxpayer funds upon Zeldin’s Senate confirmation as EPA chief in January. The EPA under the Trump administration has canceled $20 billion in grants under the Inflation Reduction
Bolton may be in hot water as FBI investigation expands beyond controversial book
The FBI’s raid on John Bolton’s home and office is tied to an investigation that reaches beyond his controversial book, a source told Fox News Digital, fueling speculation that the former Trump adviser could face criminal charges. The scope of any potential charges against Bolton, who served under President Donald Trump before falling out of favor with him in 2019, is uncertain, but legal experts tend to agree that Bolton has some legal exposure. Prominent D.C.-based attorney Mark Zaid, who specializes in national security, said that while there are many unknowns about the Department of Justice’s investigation into Bolton, his memoir, “The Room Where It Happened,” could be an area of vulnerability for him. “With respect to Bolton’s book, he is potentially vulnerable if he maintains any copies of early drafts which were determined to contain ‘voluminous’ amounts of classified information when it was first submitted to the White House for review,” Zaid told Fox New Digital. “Those drafts were likely disseminated, per normal course of business, to his literary agent, publisher and lawyer.” THE HISTORY OF HOW TRUMP AND BOLTON’S RELATIONSHIP FELL TO TATTERS Zaid added that those transmissions could be unlawful under the Espionage Act, a serious set of charges used throughout history to punish spies and leakers of government secrets. During the first Trump administration, Attorney General Bill Barr opened an investigation into Bolton and brought a civil lawsuit against him over the book days before it was set for release. The DOJ alleged in the lawsuit that Bolton skipped over normal prepublication review processes and allowed his publisher to move forward with printing a book that contained several passages of classified national security information. In court papers, Bolton said he did not initially believe his memoir contained classified information, but then he edited some information out of the book after consulting with the National Security Council. Bolton never received a final signoff from the National Security Council before moving forward with publishing. He argued in court papers that the Trump administration’s refusal to approve the memoir’s contents violated his First Amendment rights and that the National Security Council’s review process “had been abused in an effort to suppress” the book, which contained harsh criticisms of Trump. DEMOCRATS OPPOSED JOHN BOLTON FOR YEARS — UNTIL THEY SOUGHT HIM AS AN ALLY AGAINST TRUMP Judge Royce Lamberth, a D.C.-based Regan appointee, denied the Trump DOJ’s request to block publication of Bolton’s book because, among several reasons, it had already been exposed to publishers. Still, Lamberth faulted Bolton. “Defendant Bolton has gambled with the national security of the United States,” Lamberth wrote in an order at the time. “He has exposed his country to harm and himself to civil (and potentially criminal) liability.” Lamberth found it was likely Bolton “jeopardized national security by disclosing classified information” in violation of various nondisclosure agreements he signed as part of his national security role. The DOJ never brought charges against Bolton, and the investigation was closed under the Biden administration. The Biden DOJ dismissed the civil lawsuit against Bolton over his book in June 2021. JD VANCE INSISTS FBI SEARCHING BOLTON HOME ‘NOT AT ALL’ ABOUT POLITICAL RETRIBUTION While Bolton’s book controversy has been at the forefront since the raids at his home and office, one well-placed source familiar with the investigation told Fox News Digital on Monday the investigation is far more expansive than the book. The search warrants, which were authorized by a judge, were based on evidence collected overseas by the CIA, the New York Times reported. Critics note Bolton is the latest target of the Trump DOJ, which despite pledging to end “weaponization” has pursued several of the president’s political rivals. The department has launched grand jury probes into New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and is examining Obama-era national security officials who Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says tried to undermine Trump’s 2016 victory. Trump has also urged an investigation of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, citing “criminal acts” tied to the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal. Former U.S. Attorney John Fishwick of Virginia suggested the line between honest scrutiny of potential wrongdoing and political revenge has become blurred. “Trump DOJ targeting enemies of Trump — Letitia James, Adam Schiff, Federal Reserve Governor [Lisa] Cook and now John Bolton. Trump appears to want them harmed for personal/political reasons but if they broke the law are the investigations justified?” Fishwick told Fox News Digital in a statement. “That question is putting an incredible stress test on our legal system.” Zaid noted that Bolton could bring claims of a selective or vindictive prosecution if he were indicted but that those are difficult to prove. Attorney Jason Kander, an army veteran and former secretary of state of Missouri, said on the podcast Talking Feds that even if the DOJ does not secure a conviction against Bolton, the legal process itself is punishment. “It’s not just harassment. It’s potential financial ruin,” Kander said. “When they come after you like this it doesn’t matter if there isn’t a scintilla of evidence. It’s a minimum half a million bucks in legal fees in a situation like this.”
‘Dr. Strangelove with a mustache’: Bolton blasted for ‘profiteering’ off US secrets by White House advisor
Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro tore into John Bolton for “profiteering off America’s secrets” on Tuesday after the FBI raided his home last week in a reported classified document probe. “I served with Bolton, and he was far too frequently a loose cannon, bent on bombings and coups — Doctor Strangelove with a mustache,” Navarro, who also advised Trump on trade during his first term, wrote in an op-ed for The Hill. “He agitated for airstrikes, pushed regime-change fantasies, and obsessed over military solutions when diplomacy was working. Then, instead of honoring executive privilege and confidential debate, Bolton acknowledged that in writing his memoir he relied on the ‘copious notes’ he had conspicuously taken inside the White House.” Bolton published a book in 2020, The Room Where it Happened, reportedly receiving a $2 million advance for a tell-all of his time in the Trump administration. He served as Trump’s national security advisor starting in 2018 but fell out with the president and left the position in 2019. BOLTON UNLEASHES ON TRUMP UKRAINE POLICY DAYS AFTER FBI RAID Navarro accused Bolton of “sharing information about Oval Office conversations and national security that should have stayed secret — either by law or under executive privilege.” “That isn’t service. That isn’t patriotism. That’s profiteering off of America’s secrets.” Navarro noted that Bolton had described confidential U.S. deliberations on how to fracture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s control and prompt military defections. “That kind of blueprint isn’t something you hand to the public — or to Maduro’s intelligence services.” He noted that disclosing national defense information without authorization could violate U.S. code. “If evidence is found and indictments made, Bolton may one day go to prison for shredding that Constitution, defying executive privilege, and trampling safeguards meant to protect America’s security,” Navarro said. “If that happens, Bolton won’t be remembered for his book tour. He’ll be remembered for the sequel he writes in prison.” Fox News Digital has reached out to a spokesperson for Bolton for comment. DEMOCRATS OPPOSED JOHN BOLTON FOR YEARS — UNTIL THEY SOUGHT HIM AS AN ALLY AGAINST TRUMP Navarro spent four months in prison last year after being convicted of contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas from the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack. The FBI executed a search warrant on Bolton’s home and office on Friday. Democrats have also fumed about Bolton’s book: when the former national security advisor refused to serve as their star witness during the first Trump impeachment related to Ukraine, they accused him of saving the juicy details for his memoir. In June 2020, Judge Royce Lamberth found Bolton had “likely jeopardized national security by disclosing classified information in violation of his nondisclosure agreement obligations.” He’d submitted the 500-page manuscript for a national security review, but when the review wasn’t completed in four months, he “pulled the plug on the process and sent the still-under-review manuscript to the publisher for printing,” according to the judge. Lamberth allowed the book to hit the shelves because “the horse is already out of the barn” – the book’s excerpts had already been leaked and 200,000 copies had been shipped.
‘Some authoritarian s***:’ Dems rip Trump’s unprecedented firing of Fed governor Lisa Cook
Top Democratic leaders swiftly condemned President Donald Trump‘s attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, calling it an authoritarian overreach that threatens the independence of the U.S. central bank. “Any attempt to fire Lisa Cook from her position of Governor at the Federal Reserve is just the latest in Donald Trump’s DC partisan games to rig the economy for his billionaire donors at the expense of hardworking Americans,” Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote on X. “Donald Trump is playing a dangerous game of Jenga with a key pillar of our economy,” he wrote, adding that the attempted firing “shreds the independence of the Fed and puts every American’s savings and mortgage at risk.” The top Senate Democrat called for this “brazen power grab” to be stopped by the courts, saying it could cause “permanent damage to national, state, and local economies.” TRUMP REMOVES FEDERAL RESERVE GOVERNOR LISA COOK FROM OFFICE, CITING FRAUD ALLEGATIONS Trump accused Cook — who was appointed by former President Joe Biden in 2022 and is the first Black woman to serve on the Fed’s Board of Governors — of mortgage fraud. Cook has denied any wrongdoing. As it stands, Trump says Cook is fired, effective immediately. But Cook and her lawyer argue that he has no legal authority to remove her. Her term on the Fed Board runs until January 2038. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Trump was trying to remove Cook “without a shred of credible evidence that she has done anything wrong.” TRUMP CALLS FOR FED GOVERNOR’S RESIGNATION AS ALLY REQUESTS DOJ PROBE “To the extent anyone is unfit to serve in a position of responsibility because of deceitful and potentially criminal conduct, it is the current occupant of the White House,” Jeffries said in a statement. “The American people are not buying your phony projection and slander of a distinguished public servant.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D., Mass., said Trump was using Cook as a “scapegoat” in a statement on X. “[This is] an authoritarian power grab that blatantly violates the Federal Reserve Act,” she wrote. Warren said that Trump’s move to fire Cook will be overturned by “any court that follows the law.” GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona warned that Trump’s actions could erode global confidence in the U.S., asking on X, “Why would anyone want to invest in the United States if our financial system is under siege by a political menace? This does not help America.” “Some authoritarian sh–,” he added. Meanwhile, Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York called Trump’s “reckless firing” of Cook “clearly unlawful.” “Trump undermining the Fed for political reasons endangers financial stability and every American’s livelihood, and must be challenged in court immediately.”
Zohran Mamdani’s $1M fundraising haul fueled by out-of-state donors, data reveals
More than half of the $1 million that Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign hauled in this summer is from out of town, New York City Campaign Finance Board data revealed. The Mamdani campaign announced last week that the democratic socialist raised $1,051,204.85 in July and August, the most recent filing period in the New York City mayoral race. While the campaign touted more than 8,628 unique donors in their latest fundraising haul, Campaign Finance Board data revealed that 53.5%, or $562,422, of Mamdani’s fundraising came from outside the state of New York. Just one in eight of Mamdani’s unique donors actually live in New York. The other roughly 87%, or 7,506 donors, together supplied more than half of the money raised. MAMDANI OFFICIALLY WINS NYC DEM PRIMARY BY 12 POINTS OVER CUOMO, WHO’S STAYING IN THE RACE FOR NOW Mamdani’s leading competitor in the race, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that he lost the June primary because Mamdani “mobilized the 20-to-30-year-olds, the socialists, the socialist organizations across the country sent volunteers, sent funding.” CUOMO CONCEDES IN NYC DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FOR MAYOR, CONGRATULATES AOC-ENDORSED MAMDANI Cuomo said the upcoming general election is a “much different electorate,” which will include moderate Democrats, Republicans and Independents. But like Mamdani, more than half of Cuomo’s donations, at 52%, came from outside New York City. The former governor raised more than $507,660 in the five weeks since relaunching his mayoral campaign, including a $68,225 contribution from his state-level campaign account from when he was governor. Meanwhile, among Republican Curtis Sliwa’s donations, roughly 66% of his $407,332 raised, came from inside New York City. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams raised $420,886 during the filing period, including 60% of his donations coming from the Big Apple. Mamdani’s campaign relaunched their city-wide canvassing efforts on the heels of their fundraising haul, touting more than 2,000 volunteers knocking on more than 50,000 doors across New York City. The campaign also said more than 4,000 New Yorkers attended Mamdani’s Scavenger Hunt on Sunday, an event Mamdani described as being about “love for New York City.” “With over 50,000 volunteers, thousands of small-dollar donors, and genuine enthusiasm for Zohran’s vision for a more affordable New York City, our momentum is surging,” Mamdani campaign spokesperson, Dora Pekec, said in a statement celebrating the fundraising haul. The Mamdani campaign added they are “proud to be fueled by true grassroots support that speaks to the people-powered movement we’re building.” The campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Trump’s DC crime crackdown busts another alleged Tren de Aragua gang member: ‘Make DC Safe Again’
Another alleged Tren de Aragua gang member was arrested in Washington, D.C., on Monday night, as Attorney General Pam Bondi continues to announce arrest statistics following the federal law enforcement takeover of the capital city. In total, the Department of Justice says there have been over 1,094 arrests and 115 illegal guns seized. “87 more arrests and 4 illegal firearms seized last night in Washington, DC — where not a single carjacking has occurred over the past week. We also arrested another Tren de Aragua gang member and a man caught burning our American flag in Lafayette Park. Make DC Safe Again!” Bondi posted to X on Tuesday morning. FEDS NAB SUSPECTED MS-13 GANGSTER, TOP 700 ARRESTS IN DC CRACKDOWN Bondi announced the day prior that another alleged member of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan-based gang, was taken into custody. In past days, there have been hundreds of immigration-related arrests and arrests of those with alleged MS-13 ties. President Donald Trump announced the federal takeover earlier this month, and the streets of D.C. now have National Guard from numerous states, as well as numerous other federal agencies like ICE and the FBI conducting operations. The new law enforcement presence is in addition to the Metropolitan Police Department, which now has federal designee Terry Cole, who’s the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, monitoring. Last week, the president said he could take the crackdown a step further. TOP LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY OFFERS CASH AWARDS FOR TIPS LEADING TO DC ARRESTS AMID TRUMP’S CRIME CRACKDOWN “Washington, D.C. is SAFE AGAIN! The crowds are coming back, the spirit is high, and our D.C. National Guard and Police are doing a fantastic job. They are out in force, and are NOT PLAYING GAMES!!! As bad as it sounds to say, there were no murders this week for the first time in memory,” the president posted to Truth Social on Friday. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE “Mayor Muriel Bowser must immediately stop giving false and highly inaccurate crime figures, or bad things will happen, including a complete and total Federal takeover of the City! Washington D.C. will soon be great again!!!” he continued. Trump issued an executive order scrapping cashless bail for those arrested in D.C. on Monday, which triggered swift backlash from some local Democrats. MS-13 GANG MEMBER ARRESTED IN DC AS BONDI TOUTS ADMIN’S ‘EXTRAORDINARY’ CRIME CRACKDOWN “Pre-trial detention should depend on whether someone is a flight risk or a threat to the public — not whether they can afford bail. Cash bail creates a two-tiered justice system where poor people stay locked up simply because they cannot afford bail,” D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb posted to X on Monday night. “This Executive Order disregards effective, data-driven policies purely for political purposes — something every American should be alarmed by. Public safety and justice are enhanced when local governments can exercise local control. This blatant federal overreach violates the fundamental principle of self-governance this country was founded on and will not make us safer,” Schwalb added.
Fighter pilots take directions from AI in Pentagon’s groundbreaking test
FIRST ON FOX: For the first time, U.S. fighter pilots took direction from an AI “air battle manager” in a Pentagon test that could change how wars are fought in the skies. The Air Force and Navy ran the August test using Raft AI’s Starsage tactical control system on F-16s, F/A-18s and F-35s during a joint military exercise designed to evaluate new weapons systems, advanced communications and battle management platforms, Fox News Digital has learned. In a typical combat mission, fighter pilots communicate with human air battle managers on the ground. These managers monitor radar, sensor feeds and intelligence to direct pilots on where to fly and how to position their aircraft. “We haven’t seen our enemies test any similar technology, so I think this is groundbreaking,” Raft AI CEO Shubhi Mishra told Fox News Digital in an interview. AI ARMS RACE: US AND CHINA WEAPONIZE DRONES, CODE AND BIOTECH FOR THE NEXT GREAT WAR She said Starsage both speeds up response time and improves accuracy, allowing pilots to make decisions that once took minutes in just seconds. “In the air battle manager’s case, it’s not a one-to-one ratio: one air battle manager is helping several pilots,” Mishra explained. “The autonomous agent we built is one-to-one, at the beck and call of each pilot.” Air battle managers operate somewhat like air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), ensuring aircraft don’t collide and remain within safe air corridors. Mishra argued that Starsage could also have prevented the collision between a regional airliner and a Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport earlier this year. “If the FAA had this technology, that never would have happened,” she said. “It’s just data, and then execution on the data.” An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board revealed that the Black Hawk’s pilots never heard the command to “pass behind the [commercial regional jet]” because the transmission was stepped on. The airliner’s pilots were not warned there was a helicopter nearby. THE FUTURE OF AIR COMBAT: HOW LONG WILL THE US MILITARY STILL NEED PILOTS? During the test, fighter pilots checked in with Starsage, confirming they were on track with the mission plan. Starsage cross-referenced their reports with its simulated sensor feed and the day’s Air Tasking Order, then announced that the minimum force package had been met, signaling that the required number of aircraft were airborne and ready. Behind the scenes, the AI prepared to digitally update the mission commander and other command-and-control agencies. A battle manager monitored each scenario, and pilots were able to direct Starsage to call them as needed for human direction. Later in the scenario, when pilots requested a threat assessment, Starsage analyzed its feed and issued what’s known as a “picture call” — a snapshot of enemy aircraft formations. In this case, Starsage identified a single heavy group of five adversary aircraft, marking the first time an AI system has provided real-time tactical awareness in the air battle space. The development comes as defense aviation leaders debate how much longer humans will remain in the cockpit of combat aircraft, and how many future generations of fighter jets the Pentagon will ultimately need. To an AI expert like Mishra, “if it’s a life-or-death decision, humans should always be in the loop.” “But in terms of the technology being capable of doing this, I think it’s already here,” she said. “The question is, do we let it?”
Pritzker rails against ‘un-American’ possible National Guard deployment by Trump
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker blasted President Donald Trump as a “wannabe dictator” Monday, accusing him of trying to “occupy” Chicago with National Guard troops after reports the White House is preparing a possible deployment as soon as September. The Democrat railed against a Washington Post report detailing the potential move, warning that Trump was escalating rhetoric against Chicago and its leaders over crime. “This is exactly the type of overreach that our country’s founders warned against,” Pritzker said at a press conference in front of Trump Tower in downtown Chicago. ‘SLAP IN THE FACE’: MAJOR BLUE STATE GOVERNOR SIGNS BILL OPENING FINANCIAL AID TO ILLEGALS “What President Trump is doing is unprecedented and unwarranted. It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. It is un-American.” Pritzker vowed to fight the move in court, accusing Trump of trying to occupy a U.S. city for political gain. “Go talk to the people of Chicago who are enjoying a gorgeous afternoon in this city… ask if they want their neighborhoods turned into a war zone by a wannabe dictator,” Pritzker said, flanked by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and other local officials. “Donald Trump wants to use the military to occupy a U.S. city, punish his dissidents and score political points. If this were happening in any other country, we would have no trouble calling it what it is – a dangerous power grab.” The Democrat said Trump was trying to militarize a blue state while simultaneously slashing $800 million in federal crime prevention grants. Most of the grants were headed to nonprofits and local community groups, not to police departments or federal law enforcement. Pritzker said that crime rates are down in Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, and that Trump’s narrative of the city being engulfed in crime is manufactured. For instance, he said that murders are down 32% compared to last year and nearly cut in half since 2021. “You are neither wanted here nor needed here,” Pritzker added. “We will see the Trump administration in court. We will use every lever at our disposal to protect the people of Illinois and their rights.” Hours earlier Trump suggested he would prefer to be “asked” before sending troops. He has been floating the idea of deploying the National Guard in Chicago, replicating operations in Washington, D.C., which has also seen the federal government take control of the local police. More than 1,000 arrests have been made and the capital has gone 11 days straight without a homicide, according to the latest figures. ILLINOIS GOV CALLS FOR MASS PROTESTS AGAINST TRUMP ADMIN: GOP ‘CANNOT KNOW A MOMENT OF PEACE’ National Guard units sent without state approval are generally restricted to defending federal property and personnel. When Guard troops were deployed to Los Angeles in June over anti-ICE protests, they were confined to federal buildings and escort duties for immigration agents. In Washington, D.C., which is under federal jurisdiction, Guard units have conducted armed patrols alongside local police. “In a certain way, you really want to be asked to go,” Trump told reporters, before taking a jab at Pritzker: “He has to spend more time in the gym.” Trump continued his attacks on Pritzker and ripped the Windy City’s crime record. “I’m thinking about you know, when I have some slob like Pritzker criticizing us before we even go there. I made the statement that next year be Chicago because, as you all know, Chicago’s a killing field right now and they don’t acknowledge it. And they say, we don’t need him.” Chicago recorded 573 homicides in 2024, marking the 13th straight year Chicago has led the nation in total murders, according to Chicago Police Department data compiled by Wirepoints. According to the Council on Criminal Justice’s year-end 2024 update, aggravated assaults declined by 4% compared to 2023 but remained 4% higher than in 2019, gun assaults fell 15% though they were still 5% above 2019 levels, and carjackings dropped 32% year-over-year yet were 25% higher than in 2019. Meanwhile, Johnson echoed Pritzker’s defiance, insisting Chicagoans don’t want a “military occupation.” “We believe that you don’t solve crime by sending in the military,” Johnson said. “The last thing that Chicagoans want is someone from the outside of our city who doesn’t know our city, trying to dictate and tell us what our city needs.” Johnson called the plan “a stunt,” saying Trump’s targeting of Chicago is rooted in racism. “We cannot incarcerate our way out of violence. We’ve already tried that, and we’ve ended up with the largest prison population in the world without solving the problems of crime and violence,” Johnson said. “The addiction on jails and incarceration in this country. We have moved past that. It is racist. It is immoral. It is unholy. And it is not the way to drive violence down.”
House Republicans give California medical schools two-week deadline in antisemitism probe
House Republicans are demanding that California’s top medical schools hand over years’ worth of internal documents as part of an investigation into alleged antisemitism at the institutions. House Education and Workforce Committee chairman Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., set a two-week deadline in letters to the University of California Los Angeles and UC San Francisco medical schools. The House is investigating how the universities responded to reports of Jewish people “experiencing hostility and fear” on their campuses. Walberg’s letter demands the universities turn over “all documents and communications” since Sept. 1, 2021, relating to reports or complaints of antisemitic incidents. It demands that they include “any communications among administrators or staff regarding the complaint.” “The Committee has become aware that Jewish students, faculty, and patients have been experiencing hostility and fear at the university, and it has not been demonstrated that the university has meaningfully responded to address and mitigate this problem,” Walberg asserted in the letter. TRUMP CONGRATULATES IVY LEAGUE SCHOOL AFTER $50M DEAL TO RESTORE FEDERAL FUNDING: ‘WOKE IS OFFICIALLY DEAD’ The letter to UCSF cites incidents such as Jewish students testifying to the committee that they have “concealed aspects of their Jewish identity” while attending the university. In another instance, a student allegedly told a Jewish student that “Jews control the banks.” A lab technician allegedly told the same Jewish student that Israel deserved what happened on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the letter. Walberg also sent a similar letter to the University of Illinois College of Medicine. UICOM told Fox News Digital in a statement that it “condemns antisemitism, hate and discrimination in all its forms.” “We take seriously any allegations of harassment or bias within our campus community,” the statement continued. “The university is committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful environment and will respond to the committee’s questions as requested.” The House investigation is separate from the Trump administration’s scrutiny of antisemitism allegations at UCLA. President Donald Trump’s administration has already suspended $584 million in federal grants from UCLA after the Justice Department announced it found the school violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The administration said earlier this month that it is seeking $1 billion from UCLA to settle discrimination and antisemitism allegations in exchange for restoring the federal funds. The proposed agreement, sent to the school on Aug. 8, requires UCLA to pay the federal government $1 billion over multiple installments, along with establishing a $172 million claims fund for alleged victims of violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine argued that antisemitism “has no place” on its campus. “Protecting the civil rights of our Jewish community members remains a top priority. We are committed to fair processes in all our educational programs and activities, consistent with federal and state anti-discrimination laws and continue to take specific steps to foster an environment free of antisemitism and other forms of discrimination and harassment,” the statement said. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In July, UCLA agreed to pay $6 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Jewish students and faculty members over the school’s handling of anti-Israel protests, including allowing protesters to ban Jews from a part of the campus known as a “Jew Exclusion Zone.” Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report