August 2025 EVENTS

Trump invited former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor, a registered sex offender, to the White House on Thursday to become a formal member of the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.

Taylor and other figures from the sports world, including pro golfer Bryson DeChambeau and Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker joined Trump in the Roosevelt Room of the White House to become members of the council.

Taylor was arrested in 2010 on rape and prostitution charges in connection with the assault of a 16-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty in 2011 to misdemeanor charges of sexual misconduct and patronizing a prostitute, was sentenced to six years of probation and ordered to register as a sex offender.

He was arrested in 2021 in Broward County, Florida, and charged with failing to report a change of residence as a sex offender. He later pleaded no contest to an amended charge and the case was closed. He was again arrested and charged with failing to report a residence change as a sex offender in July 2024, but prosecutors closed the case a few weeks later.

The President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition (PCSFN) is a federal advisory committee that aims to promote "programs and initiatives that motivate people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities to lead active, healthy lives." It is part of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

The Council frequently works with schools to promote fitness programs. 

Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted associate of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has been moved from a Florida prison to a new minimum-security facility in Texas.

The move comes as Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, has pressed the Supreme Court to overturn her conviction while also seeking a pardon from Trump.

Earlier in July, Maxwell held two meetings with the Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche. After the meetings, he said that he would reveal what he learned at an "appropriate time".

The family of Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims - expressed their "horror and disgust" at what they described as the "preferential treatment" given to Ghislaine Maxwell.

"This is the justice system failing victims right before our eyes," the statement said. "The American public should be outraged by the special treatment afforded to a pedophile and a criminally charged child sex offender."

Less than a week ago, Maxwell's legal team said that she was willing to testify before Congress, but only if she was granted strict legal protections.

On Friday, the scheduled 11 August deposition was indefinitely postponed, the chair of the House Oversight Committee announced.

Rep James Comer said while the committee was "willing to continue to engage in good faith negotiations", it would not grant her congressional immunity or provide questions in advance, two conditions Maxwell's lawyers had requested.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History has removed references to Trump's two first-term impeachments from an exhibit. The Smithsonian claims the references will be restored once the exhibit is updated, but did not provide a timeline.

The exhibit, titled "The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden" includes reference to the impeachments of Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton and President Richard Nixon, who resigned rather than face certain impeachment. A temporary label was added in 2021 to include Trump's impeachments in 2019 and 2021.

But this label was removed last month. The Smithsonian said in a statement to NPR that after a recent review of the museum's "legacy content," it was decided to pull the reference to Trump's impeachments, pending a more substantial overhaul of the exhibit.

"Because the other topics in this section had not been updated since 2008, the decision was made to restore the Impeachment case back to its 2008 appearance," the statement said. The label on Trump's impeachments was "intended to be a short-term measure to address current events at the time.”

"A large permanent gallery like The American Presidency that opened in 2000, requires [a] significant amount of time and funding to update and renew. A future and updated exhibit will include all impeachments," the statement said, without providing a timetable for the exhibit's update.

In March, Trump issued an executive order, "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," that was meant to address "a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation's history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth."

He singled out the Smithsonian Institution and said the administration would seek "to remove improper ideology from such properties."

In an email to NPR, White House Spokesperson Davis Ingle wrote: "Unfortunately for far too long the Smithsonian museums have highlighted divisive, DEI exhibits which are out of touch with mainstream America."

"We are fully supportive of updating displays to highlight American greatness. The Trump administration will continue working to ensure that the Smithsonian removes all improper ideology and once again unites and instills pride in all Americans regarding our great history," he said.

Reed College campus security helped federal investigators find an alumnus last week, leading to his arrest at gunpoint.

The Department of Justice has accused Robert Jacob Hoopes, a 24-year-old Reed graduate, of throwing rocks at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Portland office at a June 14 protest.

One of the rocks, DOJ prosecutors allege, hit an ICE agent in the head and caused a 2-inch gash over his eye. They also allege Hoopes used a stop sign to batter the building’s front door. Hoopes pleaded not guilty at a hearing July 28.

FBI investigators arrested Hoopes on July 25. Recently unsealed court records show investigators found help from the safety director, who tapped into a private database of students and alumni to retrieve Hoopes’ information.

The college’s Director of Community Safety’s, listed on the college website as Gary Granger, handed over the alumnus’ full name, address and phone number, seemingly without a warrant or subpoena.

Reed is a coeducational, independent liberal arts and sciences college located in Southeast Portland, Oregon. 

On their website they state “Referred to as one of the most intellectual colleges in the country, we are known for our high standards of scholarly practice, creative thinking, and engaged citizenship.”

Students and alumni have said that they have started removing personal details from the private database.

“It’s just so disappointing,” said Andee Gude, president of the college’s student government. “And I think this situation is just going to instill more fear.”

Reed College president Audrey Bilger published an open letter Tuesday saying school leaders quickly launched an investigation. Bilger noted that the disclosure came “apparently without a subpoena or warrant.”

“Sharing someone’s information without a subpoena or a warrant is completely unacceptable,” said Katie Rempe, who leads the college’s alumni association. “If that’s what happened, then he cannot be trusted to be in that position.”

On Friday morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the U.S. economy added just 73,000 jobs in July, well below estimates. It also reported that the previously reported May and June numbers were incorrect, and were actually lower by more than 200,000 jobs.

Hours after the report, Trump attacked Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the BLS, on Truth Social. He claimed that the reports "are being produced by Biden appointee" and ordered his administration to terminate her.

"We need accurate Jobs Numbers," Trump wrote. "She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes."

In a later post he said "In my opinion, today’s Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad." Of course there was no evidence cited for this claim. 

"President Trump is once again destroying the credibility of our government by firing expert and nonpartisan officials because he does not like the facts that they present," said Max Stier, the CEO of the non-partisan Partnership for Public Service. 

 In early July, Trump began pushing Texas to redraw its congressional map to better favor Republicans.

On Wednesday, Texas House Republicans released their first draft of a redrawn map designed to give the GOP five new seats in next year’s midterms.

Republicans currently have a seven-seat advantage in the chamber, with four vacancies. However, the Republican party typically loses ground in midterm elections.

The Texas redistricting proposal redraws the map to split up districts currently made up of majorities of Black, Hispanic, and Asian voters to include more conservative white voters. These districts have historically voted for Democrats, and the redrawn districts would result in Republican votes based on the inclusion of conservative white voters. 

The Senate Appropriations Committee rejected a bill amendment on Thursday to block Trump from taking the Boeing 747-8 gifted from Qatar's royal family with him when he leaves office. Every Republican legislator on the subcommittee voted against the amendment.

It will cost nearly $1 billion in taxpayer money to retrofit the plane for use as Air Force One. 

The exact cost for this retrofit is unclear, but the Pentagon transferred $934 million from its nuclear missile modernization budget to "an unnamed classified project." 

The Hill reports that the Department of Veteran Affairs is reversing a 2022 rule that provided access to abortion counseling and abortions to certain pregnant veterans in addition to VA beneficiaries.

“We take this action to ensure that VA provides only needed medical services to our nation’s heroes and their families,” the Department wrote in a scheduled release for the Federal Register. 

“As a matter of law, it is without question that VA has the authority to bar provision of abortion services through the VA medical benefits package to veterans,” the release read. 

“From 1999 until 2022 that is in fact what VA did. It was not until 2022 when the VA Secretary reversed this course,” they added. 

The department said they would not prohibit providing abortion care to pregnant women in life-threatening circumstances, including treatment for ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages.

GOP lawmakers lauded the move slamming the Biden administration for previous changes. 

Katie O’Connor, senior director of federal abortion policy at the National Women’s Law Center, said the effort was a “direct attack” on those who have served our country. 

“At a time when extremist lawmakers are passing cruel abortion bans and restrictions, this move only deepens the crisis those laws have created — stripping veterans of their reproductive freedom and creating even more confusion about where they can turn for care.

“Let me be clear: abortion is health care,” O’Connor said in a Friday statement. 

“Veterans already face unique challenges to their health and well-being, including experiencing PTSD, recovering from military sexual trauma, and facing an increased risk of suicide. Banning access to the full range of reproductive services, including abortion, further jeopardizes their health and safety. No one should have to travel hundreds of miles, endure financial hardship, or risk their health just to get the medical care they need. Our veterans deserve better,” she added. 

The Guardian recently reported the following statistics on  Gaza.

The official Palestinian death toll passed 60,000, although the real figure is likely to be far higher, due to the fact that many bodies are still buried under the rubble from bombings.

More people in Gaza died of starvation from July 20-30 than in the previous 21 months of conflict.

By Israel’s own figures, the amount of aid reaching Gaza falls well below subsistence levels.

Lindsey Langston, who was crowned Miss United States 2024 and was elected as a Republican state committeewoman last year, has accused Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) of threatening to release explicit videos of her after their romantic relationship ended earlier this year.

Langston made the allegations in an interview with the Columbia County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office on July 14. 

Mills told The Hill in a statement that the claims “are false and misrepresent the nature of my interactions.” He has not been charged with a crime.

According to the police incident report, Langston, 25, began a relationship with Mills, 45, 

in November 2021 and moved into his house after he told her his divorce was finalized in May 2024. 

In February 2025, Langston ended the relationship after finding out about another woman. 

After the break-up, “Cory has contacted Lindsey numerous times on numerous different accounts threatening to release nude images and videos of her, to include recorded videos of her and Cory engaging in sexual acts,” the incident report said.

Mills also sent messages threatening to harm men that Langston dated in the future, she told police.

The allegations and incident report were first reported by Drop Site News and Blaze News.

Columbia County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Steven Khachigan told The Hill that the report was forwarded to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for further review. FLDE confirmed it received the report. “FDLE does not comment on any active inquiries or investigations,” spokesperson Casey Smith told The Hill.

 Republican Utah state Senate President J. Stuart Adams used his power to change local law to help a family member facing charges of allegedly raping a 13-year-old.

Adams’s family member, an 18-year-old high school student, was arrested and looking at four first-degree felonies. 

Before Adams pushed to get the law changed, 18-year-olds who had sex with 13-year-olds in Utah (14 is the age of consent in Utah) were treated like adults and could face first-degree felony charges of child rape. Adams successfully changed the law to allow 18-year-olds charged with child rape to be tried as minors if they were enrolled in high school at the time of their crime. Adams’s family member was in high school, and although the law was not made retroactive, they went from facing years in prison to accepting a plea deal for reduced charges and no jail time beyond the week already served.

While Adams swears the family member’s charges had nothing to do with his pushing through the law change, the prosecution, defense, and judge involved in the case all acknowledged it played a major role in changing the charges.

The victim’s family was devastated. “It was out of nowhere,” the child's mother told The Salt Lake Tribune. “I felt like I was punched in the gut.”

“I feel like a law is the law, regardless of who you are, but that wasn’t what was going on here,” she continued. “I feel like [Adams’s relative] just got special treatment … and nobody was going to say anything about it.”

The U.S. Air Force said Thursday it would deny all transgender service members who have served between 15 and 18 years the option to retire early, and would instead force them out without retirement benefits. 

All transgender members of the air force are being separated from the service under the Trump administration's policies. 

This means that transgender service members will be faced with the choice of either taking a lump-sum separation payment offered to junior troops or be removed from the service.

An air force spokesperson told The Associated Press that "although service members with 15 to 18 years of honourable service were permitted to apply for an exception to policy, none of the exceptions to policy were approved."

About a dozen service members had been "prematurely notified" that they would be able to retire before that decision was reversed, according to the spokesperson who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal air force policy.

DHS will build a new immigration detention center in Miami County, Indiana, nicknamed the "Speedway Slammer."

It will be built about 75 miles from Indianapolis and the actual Indiana Speedway.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem boasted about the deal on Tuesday, saying Indiana would add 1,000 detention beds for immigrants facing deportation under a revived federal program.

On social media, DHS posted an altered image of a race car emblazoned with "ICE," rolling past a barbed-wire prison wall.

"If you are in America illegally, you could find yourself in Indiana's Speedway Slammer," Noem said. She added the new partnership will "help remove the worst of the worst out of our country."

The federal funds will be used for space at the Miami Correctional Facility in Bunker Hill, which has a total capacity of 3,100 bed, 1,200 of which are not currently filled.

The altered image used by DHS featured an IndyCar with the No. 5, the same number as the only Mexican driver in the series.

"We were unaware of plans to incorporate our imagery as part of announcement," IndyCar said, asking that its intellectual property "not be utilized moving forward in relation to this matter."

DHS officials said Wednesday they would continue promoting the plan with the name.

"An AI generated image of a car with 'ICE' on the side does not violate anyone's intellectual property rights," DHS said in a statement. "Any suggestion to the contrary is absurd."

Vice President JD Vance’s security detail had an Ohio river’s water level raised last week to accommodate a kayaking trip he took with his family for his 41st birthday.

The U.S. Secret Service said it requested the increased waterflow for the Little Miami River, first reported by The Guardian, to ensure motorized watercraft and emergency personnel “could operate safely” while protecting the vice president.

CEO Tim Cook gifted President Donald Trump a "Made in USA" glass plaque following Apple's announcement of a $100 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing.

At the Oval Office on Wednesday, Cook announced Apple’s plans to accelerate domestic manufacturing, pouring $100 billion into the “American Manufacturing Program.” The massive cash infusion brings the tech giant’s total commitment to domestic production to $600 billion over the next four years. 

Apple’s announcement comes as Trump plans to impose a 100% tariff on semiconductor chips. With its commitment to U.S. manufacturing, Apple dodges the tax.

“If you’re building in the United States of America, there’s no charge,” Trump said in the meeting with the press and Cook, where he also announced the chips tariff.

Actor Dean Cain, best known for playing Superman in the 1990s television series “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” and a vocal supporter of Trump, has announced that he has joined ICE.

Cain made the announcement Wednesday in a video posted to Instagram. “I felt it was important to join with our first responders to help secure the safety of all Americans, not just talk about it,” he said.

Cain was born Dean George Tanaka. Dean Cain's biological father, Roger Tanaka, was the son of John Megumi Tanaka and Miyoko Tanaka. Cain has stated that several members of his family were interned at the Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho.

Israel's security cabinet approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal for the occupation of Gaza City, a senior Israeli official said.

The decision came after more than 10 hours of consultations in the security cabinet.

Trump has decided not to intervene and to let the Israeli government make its own decisions, U.S. officials say.

The IDF is expected to issue eviction orders to around 1 million Palestinians who are located in Gaza City and its immediate surroundings, Israeli officials said. 

"The security cabinet approved the prime minister's proposal to defeat Hamas. The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones," the Israeli prime minster's office said in a statement.

"We intend to control all of Gaza. We don't want to keep Gaza. We want a security perimeter. We want to hand Gaza over to Arab forces that will govern Gaza properly," Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News.

The new operation is expected to take at least several months and involve displacing around 1 million Palestinian civilians.

Reddit users pointed out on Wednesday that the Library of Congress website omitted text from some sections of Article 1, which include provisions about the right of habeas corpus as well as limits on congressional and state power. Using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, people found that the full text appeared on the Library of Congress website on July 17 but was missing in snapshots after that date.

On Wednesday morning, the Library of Congress posted on X that the missing sections were “due to a coding error”.

“We have been working to correct this and expect it to be resolved soon,” the post read. 

The institution issued an update on X a few hours later that the website was fixed.

“Missing sections of the Constitution Annotated website have been restored,” it said. “Upkeep of Constitution Annotated and other digital resources is a critical part of the Library’s mission, and we appreciate the feedback that alerted us to the error and allowed us to fix it.”

The standoff continues between Texas lawmakers over the Republican redistricting plan.

The drama began Sunday when dozens of Democratic members of the Texas House left the state because the Republican-controlled legislature is trying to push through a congressional redistricting plan that is designed to give Republicans an additional five seats in the U.S. House.

Republicans currently hold a slim majority in the House: 219-212, with four seats vacant. Increasing the GOP’s margin among the Texas delegation could help Republicans from losing control of the House in the 2026 midterm elections.

But drawing new maps midway between federal censuses, solely for the purpose of gaining more partisan advantage, has sparked protests and threats of retaliation from leaders of Democratic-leaning states like Illinois and California.

State House Democrats left Texas on Sunday to go to a few other states, including Illinois, to deny the body a quorum and prevent it from being able to conduct business. 

On Thursday, Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, of Texas, said the FBI had agreed to his request to help locate the absent Texas lawmakers who are currently in Illinois, however Gov. JB Pritzker brushed aside these suggestions.

“Look, I’ve said it before. This is a lot of grandstanding by the Trump administration, by John Cornyn, by Governor (Greg) Abbott in Texas,” Pritzker told reporters “The reality is that all that he has said, Cornyn, is that the FBI has been authorized to locate the Texas House Democrats, nothing more. And you know why? Because there is no federal law that allows them to arrest Texas Democrats who are here visiting the state of Illinois.”

On Wednesday, a bomb threat was made at the hotel where the Texas state House Democrats were staying. A thorough search conducted by the local police and fire departments and the sheriff’s office did not find any device.

State Rep. Ann Johnson (D), a member of the group who traveled to Illinois, said the threat is what happens as a result of “reckless rhetoric.”

“When the Attorney General tells people to ‘hunt us down,’ it’s not just politics — it’s a threat to our safety,” she said. “I’ve had my life threatened before as a chief human trafficking prosecutor. I never expected those threats would come from the Governor or my colleagues in the Legislature.” 

She pledged that she and her colleagues “won’t be intimidated” and will remain united and committed to representing their constituents who elected them to their offices. 

State Rep. John Bucy (D), another member of the group said “It’s unacceptable and needs to end,” he said. “But let me be clear: Texas Democrats are not deterred — we are determined. We will push through the threats and the noise to keep fighting for our constituents, our democracy, and our country. This is a fight worth having.”

The current legislative special session is set to end August 20 — giving Paxton less than two weeks to get the Democrats back on the House floor for a vote.

The Texas House held another session without a quorum on Friday, as Democratic lawmakers remain out of state to prevent a vote on a redistricting bill that Trump urged Republicans to pass.

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows announced at Friday’s session that Democrats would be required to collect their monthly paychecks and per diems in person.

“While the Constitution forbids us from withholding pay, it does not dictate how we issue the pay,” Burrows said.

Texas House Minority Leader Gene Wu scoffed at the threat. “Members of the legislature are paid $600 a month. Foregoing our monthly salary is a far smaller cost than the price of inaction,” he said in a statement.

Republican leaders are also freezing Democrats’ monthly operating budgets. “Absent members must also appear in person” to get approval for travel reimbursements or other House services, said Burrows.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reposted a video on X Thursday night. In the post, Hegseth commented on an almost seven-minute-long report by CNN examining Doug Wilson, cofounder of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, or CREC. The report featured a pastor from Wilson’s church advocating the repeal of women’s right to vote from the Constitution, and another pastor saying that in his ideal world, people would vote as households. It also featured a female congregant saying that she submits to her husband.

“All of Christ for All of Life,” Hegseth wrote in his post that accompanied the video.

Israel's military targeted Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al Sharif, 28, killing him and four other Al Jazeera journalists as well as an assistant in an airstrike on a tent near Al Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City. A sixth journalist, local freelance reporter Mohammad Al-Khaldi, was also killed in the strike.

"Anas Al Sharif and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices in Gaza conveying the tragic reality to the world," Al Jazeera said.

Calling Al Sharif "one of Gaza's bravest journalists", Al Jazeera said the attack was a "desperate attempt to silence voices in anticipation of the occupation of Gaza".

"The deliberate targeting of journalists by Israel in the Gaza Strip reveals how these crimes are beyond imagination," Qatari Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, said on X.

The U.N. human rights office condemned the killings, saying the actions represented a "grave breach of international humanitarian law" as Palestinians reported the heaviest bombardments in weeks.

Al Sharif was previously part of a Reuters team which in 2024 won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.

The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is the deadliest on record for journalists.

The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs' Costs of War project says that 238 journalists have been killed since the war started on October 7, 2023. The Committee to Protect Journalists has said at least 186 journalists have been killed in the Gaza conflict.

Under Trump’s takeover of Washington, D.C., an 11.p.m. citywide curfew prohibiting those under the age of 17 from gathering in groups of nine or more is set to stay in place until August 31.

Trump deployed 800 National Guard members in the nation's capital on Tuesday, ordering federal forces to take over the city's police department and reduce crime in what Trump called a lawless city, despite dropping crime levels.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said Trump's plan was not a productive step. She laid out the city’s case that crime has been dropping steadily and said Trump’s perceived state of emergency simply doesn’t match the numbers.

She also flatly stated that the capital city's hands are tied and that her administration has little choice but to comply. “We could contest that," she said of Trump's definition of a crime emergency, "but his authority is pretty broad.”

The deployment comes after former DOGE staffer Edward "Big Balls" Coristine was assaulted by 15-year-old teens during an alleged carjacking earlier this month.

Air Force veteran. Sean Charles Dunn, 37, was charged with a felony count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding U.S. federal officers on Wednesday in connection with a Sunday confrontation with a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer. Dunn’s actions “included shouted verbal insults” and “forcefully” throwing a “wrapped sandwich,” Department of Justice officials said in a release. 

The Pentagon confirmed that Dunn was an Air Force staff sergeant, serving as a cyber transport systems specialist from July 2006 to May 2011. Dunn’s last assignment was Spangdahlem Air Base in southwest Germany. 

Trump has announced he will host this year's Kennedy Center Honors awards ceremony.

During the press conference, Trump announced George Strait, Michael Crawford, Sylvester Stallone, Gloria Gaynor and rock band Kiss will be this year's honorees. He also stated that he wanted to be honored next year.

"I waited and waited and waited, and I said, 'To hell with it, I'll become chairman and I'll give myself an honor,'" he said Wednesday. "Next year we'll honor Trump, OK? This year the board has selected a truly exceptional class of honorees." 

After Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) commissioner Erika McEntarfer, a veteran economist with decades of experience inside the federal government, claiming that data had been “rigged” against him, he has lined up an ardent supporter accused of regularly misrepresenting and exaggerating statistics.

EJ Antoni, an economist at the Heritage Foundation and contributor to Project 2025,  has been nominated by the president to take charge of US government labor statistics. 

“From selectively presenting data from particularly convenient dates to misrepresenting axes to exaggerate magnitudes, he has used all the tricks in the book and shown time and again that he is not a credible source of information,” Dave Hebert, an economist at the American Institute for Economic Research, a conservative thinktank, told the Guardian. “Worse, he has repeatedly shown that he fundamentally misunderstands what some of the data the BLS puts out actually means.

“It’s difficult to imagine someone effectively leading a vital organization like the BLS who cannot correctly define the data they’re putting out.”

An Ohio Chick-fil-A owner has been arrested after authorities say he drove more than 400 miles south to North Carolina to meet a 15-year-old, reportedly broke into the family's home and allegedly molested the child.

Stacy Lee Austin, 49 of Belmont, was being held without bond at the Rowan County Detention Center Wednesday in connection to the alleged March 5 incident, officials said.

The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office, in Salisbury, North Carolina, reported Austin communicated with the child on an unnamed social media app and had arranged to pick the child up.

On the day of the alleged crime, deputies responded to the child's home for a report of a burglary in process after the child's father called 911.

The father, who lives in the home, told officers he found Austin with his 15-year-old child and dialed 911.

Inside the home deputies found Austin’s underwear in a bathroom trash can along with some of the child's clothes.

A preliminary investigation by detectives revealed the suspect performed sexual activities with the child.

Conservative influencer, former music video director, and anti-DEI, anti-LGBTQ agitator Robby Starbuck has been hired into a new role advising tech giant Meta on preventing “bias” in its AI systems.

The partnership is part of a settlement agreement Meta announced on Friday, after Starbuck sued the company in April for defamation by its AI chatbot, alleging that it had repeatedly and falsely stated that he had participated in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Starbuck and Meta Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan shared a joint statement on Friday, “Since engaging on these important issues with Robby, Meta has made tremendous strides to improve the accuracy of Meta AI and mitigate ideological and political bias,” the statement reads. “Building on that work, Meta and Robby Starbuck will work collaboratively in the coming months to continue to find ways to address issues of ideological and political bias and minimize the risk that the model returns hallucinations in response to user queries.”

The move follows Trump’s executive order to scrub AI models of so-called “woke” ideals. The order prohibits the federal government from procuring AI technology “infused with partisan bias or ideological agendas such as critical race theory” and says AI models should prioritize factors including historical accuracy and scientific inquiry.

Starbuck has launched numerous online campaigns against major American brands’ diversity, equity and inclusion programs, support for LGBTQ events, climate change and other social policies. 

Starbuck originally sought $5 million in damages with his lawsuit. Meta declined to comment on any financial terms of the settlement. 

On Friday, Aug. 15, Burrows ended the first special session, which was attempting to redistrict the state in order to favor Republican outcomes in elections, after the House once again fell short of a quorum, which requires 100 lawmakers to be present.

If you have been following Governor Gavin Newsom’s social media posts lately, it’s due to the Latina woman leading his digital strategy. 

Camille Zapata, 29, is the head of Newsom’s press office, heading a team of three, having held this position for a year. Zapata helps manage the “CAGovernor” account for the governor. Many of his posts are also done by other members of his team and by Newsom himself, according to his director of communications Izzy Gardon. 

The governor’s TikTok audience grew from 500,000 followers to 1.5 million after clashing with Trump over the L.A. protests.

She and her team are responsible for not only generating the content, but also making sure it all goes through legal review. Marie Claire reported the team tracks breaking news in daily syncs, and they have a crisis workflow for same-day approvals. 

Democrats in California's state legislature have released a proposal for a new congressional map that could give their party up to five new seats.

Newsom has said that he will call a Nov. 4 special election, so California voters can decide whether to adopt the new districts. That election would bypass the state's independent redistricting commission.

California is redrawing its congressional map in response to Republicans in Texas redrawing their own lines to grab up to five more GOP seats. Trump urged Texas Republicans to redo the state's districts to help the party.

"We have the opportunity to de facto end the Trump presidency in less than 18 months. That's what's at stake," Newsom said during a press conference earlier this month.

NPR reported that papers with U.S. State Department markings, found Friday morning in the business center of an Alaskan hotel, revealed potentially sensitive details about the Aug. 15 meetings between Trump and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin in Anchorage.

At around 9 a.m. on Friday, three guests at Hotel Captain Cook, a four-star hotel located 20 minutes from the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage where leaders from the U.S. and Russia convened, found 8 pages of documents left behind in one of the hotel's public printers. NPR reviewed photos of the documents taken by one of the guests, who NPR agreed not to identify because the guest said they feared retaliation.

The first page in the printed packet disclosed the sequence of meetings for August 15, including the specific names of the rooms inside the base in Anchorage where they would take place. It also revealed that Trump intended to give Putin a ceremonial present.

"POTUS to President Putin," the document states, "American Bald Eagle Desk Statue."

Pages 2 through 5 of the documents listed the names and phone numbers of three U.S. staff members as well as the names of 13 U.S. and Russian state leaders. 

Pages 6 and 7 in the packet described how lunch at the summit would be served, and for whom. A menu included in the documents indicated that the luncheon was to be held "in honor of his excellency Vladimir Putin."

This is the latest example of a series of security breaches by officials of the Trump administration. Earlier this week, members of a law enforcement group chat that included members of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) added a random person to a conversation about an ongoing search for a convicted attempted murderer. In March, U.S. national security leaders accidentally included a journalist in a group chat about impending military strikes in Yemen.

Texas Democrat Nicole Collier Locked in State Capitol after Refusing Mandatory DPS Escort – 8/19/25

Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier returned to the Texas Capitol on Monday but remains locked inside the Capitol because she was the only democratic state representative who wouldn't sign a permission slip agreeing under escort by the Texas Department of Public Safety. 

The escorts for all House Democrats, who left the state earlier this month to prevent a vote on a GOP-led redistricting effort, are meant to guarantee that they will return to the House by 10 a.m. Wednesday for the next special session.

Collier was initially forced to stay in the House chamber before eventually being allowed to go to her office in the Capitol.

Trump held a marathon Cabinet Meeting this week, with over three hours of the meeting being televised.

During the meeting, Trump told numerous lies about his accomplishments, while everyone else in the meeting sang his praises.

Trump again incorrectly claimed that gas prices were down to $2, he also claimed to have signed the largest working-class tax cuts in American history.

He stated that the United States has the greatest military in the world, thanks to his efforts to rebuild it in his first term.

He also claimed that crime was down in Washington D.C. due to his deployment of the National Guard and said, “I have the right to do anything I want to do, I’m the president of the United States.”

The rest of the meeting was an "endurance test of who could praise Trump more," said New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman on CNN. 

Tulsi Gabbard: Director of National Intelligence said “This is just such a great opportunity, really, to recognize your leadership as a true champion for working people.… I know we’ll hear, as we go around the table here, how your focus singularly on putting the well-being and interests of the American people first is that common thread that we’re seeing your policies being implemented across your administration.”

Lori Chavez-DeRemer: Secretary of Labor said “Mr. President, I invite you to see your big, beautiful face on a banner in front of the Department of Labor — because you are the transformational president of the American worker, along with the American flag and President Roosevelt … and I was so honored to unveil that yesterday.” 

Steve Witkoff: Special Envoy to the Middle East said “There is only one thing I wish for: that the Nobel Committee finally gets its act together and realizes you are the single finest candidate since this Nobel award was ever talked about to receive that award. Beyond your success, is game changing out in the world today, and I hope one day everyone wakes up and realizes that.” 

Witkoff, not technically a Cabinet member but still invited to the party, later told the president that “working for this government — for you — is the greatest honor of my life,” and praised Trump for supposedly ending “more than seven” international conflicts in the past eight months, although what those conflicts were was left unspecified.

Kristi Noem: Secretary of Homeland Security said “First of all, thank you for the opportunity to work for you. You made this country safe. You opened up the economy. You enforce the law. Now people can get up and provide for their families and go to work every day and be confident in that.” 

Brook Rollins: Secretary of Agriculture said “Thank you for saving college football, by the way. We’re very grateful.”

Scott Bessent: Secretary of the Treasury said “As we’ve said very often, economic security is national security, and our country has never been so secure, thanks to you. You have brought us back from the edge. You have the overwhelming mandate from the American people. You are restoring confidence in government.” 

Marco Rubio: Secretary of State said “You were elected the president of working Americans, and that’s why this Labor Day is so meaningful — that’s why this is the most meaningful Labor Day of my life, as someone with four jobs.”

A lone shooter sprayed bullets into a church at Annunciation Catholic Church School in Minneapolis, killing two children and injuring at least 17 others, mostly children.

An 8-year-old and 10-year-old were killed when a shooter opened fire through the windows of the church on Wednesday morning.

Seventeen others were injured in the shooting during a Mass that marked the first week of school.

Fourteen of the injured victims were children ages 6 to 15, and the three adults who were shot were parishioners in their 80s. All of those injured are expected to survive.

The shooter died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The FBI identified the shooter as 23-year-old Robin Westman.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill redrawing Texas’ congressional map into law on Friday. The redistricting could flip five Democratic districts. 

The Texas House of Representatives passed GOP-favored congressional maps Wednesday evening.

Abbott shared a video on social media Friday as he put his signature on the legislation.

"Texas is now more red in the United States Congress," he added right afterwards.

States usually draw their congressional map once a decade, after the census, but Trump and the White House pushed the state to redraw its map in order to help Republicans win elections.

CNN reports that the United States is denying a visa to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for next month’s UN General Assembly.

The State Department announced Friday it is “denying and revoking visas” from members of the Palestinian Authority (PA) & Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), impacting about 80 officials.

According to Friday’s announcement, the Palestinian Authority’s Mission to the UN “will receive waivers per the UN Headquarters Agreement.”

However, refusing Abbas a visa violates the UN Headquarters Agreement as the United Nations recognizes Palestine as a non-member observer state.

The policy will also severely limit the presence of Palestinian officials at the annual global summit as the war in Gaza continues and a number of key allies prepare to recognize a Palestinian state.

In a statement Friday, the Palestinian presidency expressed “deep regret and astonishment at the US State Department’s decision not to grant visas to the Palestinian delegation participating in the UN General Assembly meetings next September.” The statement called on the US to “reconsider and reverse its decision.”

The White House has named a replacement for the director of the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a day after its previous leader was forced out of the job.

Jim O'Neill currently serves as the deputy to Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, and will replace Susan Monarez after she was in the role for just a month.

O’Neill is a former investment executive with no medical or scientific background. He served as a former speechwriter for the health department during the George W Bush administration, and went on to work for the tech investor and conservative megadonor Peter Thiel.

During the Covid pandemic, O’Neill voiced support for unproven treatments that were not supported by scientific evidence, including ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, and vitamin D.

Lawyers representing Dr. Monarez said her sacking was illegal, and alleged she was targeted by Kennedy because she refused "to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives".

The reason for her removal was that she was "not aligned with the president's agenda", the White House said in a statement.