Author: rpnadmin

PHOENIX — A polygamous sect leader already serving a 50-year federal prison sentence for orchestrating sex involving children was convicted Friday on state child abuse charges after girls were found in an unventilated trailer he was hauling through Arizona. Someone alerted authorities about the trailer in August 2022 after seeing small fingers reaching through gaps in the doors. Police stopped Samuel Bateman’s vehicle as he was driving through Flagstaff and found three girls inside, who were ages 11 to 14 at the time. The trailer was enclosed with a makeshift toilet, a sofa and camping chairs. In the federal case,…

Hot, dry and windy conditions are fueling a fast-moving wildfire in Utah, forcing the governor to declare an emergency and restrict fireworks as critical weather across the West gives way to mounting concerns that anything could cause a spark. Firefighters are facing more challenges on the ground from what fire managers and experts call unprecedented conditions. Air tankers and helicopters were grounded Friday as winds picked up on the Cottonwood Fire, the largest blaze currently burning in the U.S. Gusts were clocked at 45 miles per hour (72 kph) and humidity levels were in the single digits, leaving crews with…

One of the orchestrators of the Feeding Our Future scam, the fraud that stole a quarter of a billion dollars in pandemic food assistance money in Minnesota, has been captured — in Somalia. The arrest of Abdikerm Abdelahi Eidleh underscored the connection between the scam and the Somali immigration community, which was at the center of the fraud. Prosecutors said the FBI tracked Mr. Eidleh to Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, where he was taken into custody on Thursday, nearly four years after he was first charged in the U.S. “Eidleh’s capture shows that, if you commit fraud against the American taxpayer…

The Daughters of the American Revolution beat back a membership uprising over transgender membership, rejecting a resolution that would have barred male-born candidates from being admitted to the venerable women’s patriotic organization. DAR members defeated the resolution, which would have clarified that applicants must be “born female” to be eligible for membership, at a Friday vote of the 135th Continental Congress at Memorial Continental Hall in the District. Introduced by a cohort of members known as Daughters Advocating for Restoration, the proposal lost by a 1,481-984 vote of the assembly, according to Laura McDonald, a leader of the resistance group…

Socialist candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier is celebrating her Democratic primary victory over a New York congressional incumbent with a media clean-up tour of past comments that Democrats have denounced. Ms. Avila Chevalier said in a series of post-election interviews that she regrets her past social media posts calling former President Joseph R. Biden a “rapist” and cursing former Vice President Kamala Harris. As the likely next representative of New York’s 13th District, she said she wants to build relationships and coalitions for her far-left policy ideas. “I do regret my tweets,” she said on MS Now. “That’s something that I…

JUNEAU, Alaska — A man with the same name and party affiliation as Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan is eligible to challenge the senator in the August primary, a judge ruled Friday. Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews’ ruling overturns a June 15 decision by Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher to disqualify the challenger and keep him off the primary ballot. Matthews’ ruling can be appealed to the state Supreme Court. Attorneys for the state have said Tuesday is the deadline for a final ruling so that ballots for the Aug. 18 primary can be printed. The judge ruled…

BATON ROUGE, La. — President Trump’s preferred candidate for U.S. Senate in Louisiana is looking to clinch the GOP nomination Saturday and deliver another win for the president, who has sought to replace Republicans who cross him with hand-picked loyalists. U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, who was endorsed by Trump, and state Treasurer John Fleming are competing in the runoff. The two finished ahead of Sen. Bill Cassidy in the May 16 primary after Trump denounced the two-term senator, who voted to convict him following his 2021 impeachment. A Letlow victory would cap Trump’s primary efforts to unseat Republicans who have…

A New York judge ruled against a university that blocked a transgender athlete from competing in a women’s track meet, saying that state law banning discrimination based on gender identity supersedes President Trump’s executive order on female sports. State Judge Richard McNally rejected a motion from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Sadie Schreiner, a transgender runner who was barred from a 2025 women’s track meet hosted by the university. The institute cited Mr. Trump’s Executive Order 14201, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” but Judge McNally called the order an “interpretive statement that details the executive…

NEW YORK — About 3 million fewer people in the United States had Affordable Care Act health insurance plans in February compared with the same time last year, according to new federal data. In the report released Friday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggested the 13% drop in enrollment from 22.1 million people in 2025 to 19.2 million this year could be attributed to a federal crackdown on fraudulent or “phantom” enrollment. But health analysts said it was more likely related to the Jan. 1 expiration of federal subsidies, which caused a surge in plan costs that…

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said authorities temporarily removed his young twins from their home after he was anonymously accused of posing a danger to children in what he condemned as a “cruel, politically motivated hoax.” Mr. Buttigieg said the 4-year-old youngsters were taken to their grandparents’ house for 24 hours, and he was interviewed by police and Children’s Protective Services after an unidentified caller alleged that he had committed violent crimes. Michigan State Police told media outlets that the report was determined to be fake. “This week, the Michigan State Police received an anonymous report. The Michigan State Police…