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30-Year-Old Republican New Jersey Councilwoman Shot Dead Outside Her Home
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A local councilwoman in New Jersey was killed during a shooting outside her home Wednesday evening, according to officials.

Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, a Republican, was 30 years old and described by Mayor Victoria Kilpatrick as “dedicated member of our Borough Council who was truly committed to serve all of our residents.”

A 911 call reported shots fired around 7:22 p.m, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office said. A female, identified by New Jersey Globe reporter David Wildstein as Dwumfour, was found dead in her vehicle with multiple gunshot wounds.

“This is an active and ongoing investigation anyone with information or surveillance footage of the area is asked to call Detective Rebecca Morales of the Sayreville Police Department at 732-727-4444 or Detective Michelle Coppola of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office 732-745-3477,” the prosecutor’s office said.

Kilpatrick called the shooting a “despicable criminal act.”

A Facebook account for Detective Juan Rodriguez and Pastor Doctor Nelia Rodriguez also reported that Dwumfour was killed.

“We are so heartbroken to announce that our friend, Councilwoman from Sayreville, part of our HRC (Human Relation Commission), our personal friend, a woman of God Eunice Dwumfour was [murdered] tonight in Sayreville,” the couple wrote.

They added, “She was an amazing friend, a woman who loved God. We were just at our HRC meeting January 5th 2023 and I just saw her this morning at the store. I remember saying to her I see you at the HRC meeting tomorrow, not knowing tonight was going to be the end of her life. I can’t stop crying. She was 30 years young and full of life.”

It is not immediately clear if she was the intended target of the alleged shooting.

“Beyond her dedication to our community, I can share that she was a woman of deep faith and worked hard to integrate her strong Christian beliefs in to her daily life as a person and a community leader,” Kilpatrick continued. “On a personal note, I can’t adequately express my feeling of sorrow at the loss of a friend.”

Community organizer Charles Kratovil also reported the death.

“A huge loss for the Sayreville community as Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour was shot and killed at approximately 7:20pm causing a crash near Samuel Circle & Check Avenue,” Kratovil tweeted.

He added, “I personally knew her to be a very kind person and public servant. May she rest in peace.”

According to her LinkedIn, Dwumfour was a scrum master, with a background as an IT Business consultant.

Dwumfour was elected to the Borough Council in 2021, and her term was set to run from January 2022 through December 2024.

She received a B.A. in Women & Gender Studies from William Paterson University, located in Wayne, New Jersey.

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Read 45 Comments
  • True Patriot says:

    well if you can’t rig elect them out…. shoot them out….It’s what they do!

  • USAgent says:

    Ask Upchuck Schumer and Nancy Legosi regarding the identity of her killer, considering that they hired him.

  • Matt says:

    It’s always Republicans and never Democrats?!?!

    Go figure!!!

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    4 Killed, 7 Wounded in Illinois Mass Stabbing Attack

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    Four people were killed and seven were hurt when a man went on a stabbing rampage Wednesday across multiple locations in a northern Illinois community, authorities said.

    A 22-year-old man is in police custody and was being questioned, according to Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd. She said one of the people who was wounded remained in critical condition.

    “My heart goes out to the families right now that are suffering a loss,” Redd told reporters.

    She said the Rockford Police received a medical call at 1:14 p.m. followed by additional calls for police and paramedics.

    “We don’t believe there’s any other suspects that are on the run or at large at this particular time,” Redd said. “Right now, we don’t have a clear motive as to what caused this individual to commit such a heinous crime.”

    Not all of the victims found at multiple addresses in the city had stab wounds and none were shot, according to Redd.

    Rockford Police initially said five people had been injured. Cori Hilliard, a public information officer with the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office, told The Associated Press Wednesday evening that two more victims were among those hurt.

    Three people died at the scenes. The fourth died at a hospital.

    Police later identified those victims as a 15-year-old girl, a 63-year-old woman, a 49-year-old man and a 22-year-old man. Their names were not released.

    Redd said residents in the area were being asked to review their home surveillance camera footage for anything related to the attacks.

    Rockford’s population is about 150,000 and it’s 90 miles (145 kilometers) miles northwest of Chicago. The violence Wednesday came days after a teenage employee of a Walmart in Rockford was stabbed and killed inside the store.

    “Today, we are shocked by another horrific act of violence against innocent members of our community,” Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara said. Now that the suspect is in custody, he continued, “Our primary concern is ensuring that our community members directly impacted by this violence are supported throughout their healing and recovery.”

    The mayor wrote on the city’s Facebook page that “multiple jurisdictions” are “working on multiple crime scenes to develop an understanding of what transpired in an effort to prevent this from happening again.”

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    UPDATE: Authorities Recover Bodies in Submerged Pickup Truck After Baltimore Bridge Collapse

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    Maryland authorities on Wednesday said divers recovered two bodies during a search for the workers who plunged into the water after a cargo ship slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday.

    Divers found a red pickup truck submerged under approximately 25 feet of water in the middle span of the bridge and found the two bodies trapped inside.

    Maryland State Police Maryland State Police Superintendent Col. Roland Butler identified the victims as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Baltimore, and Dorlian Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Dundalk.

    Butler said the men’s families have been notified by authorities.

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    All search efforts have been exhausted, and based on sonar scans, authorities “firmly” believe the other vehicles with victims inside are encased in superstructures and concrete from the collapsed bridge, Butler said.

    A co-worker of the people missing said Tuesday that he was told the workers were on break and sitting in their trucks parked on the bridge when it crumpled.

    U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath said at a news conference that authorities had been informed that the ship was going to undergo maintenance. He added that they were not informed of any problems.

    The ship collided into a support pillar early Tuesday, causing the span to collapse.

    The investigation picked up speed as the Baltimore region reeled from the sudden loss of a major transportation link that’s part of the highway loop around the city. The disaster also closed the port that is vital to the city’s shipping industry.

    “The collapse of the Key Bridge is not just a Maryland crisis. The collapse of a key bridge is a global crisis,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said during Wednesday afternoon’s press conference. “The national economy and the world’s economy depend on the port of Baltimore. The port handles more cars and more farm equipment than any other port in the country.”

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    The ship, which was headed from Baltimore to Sri Lanka, is owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd., and Danish shipping giant Maersk said it had chartered the vessel.

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    Joe Lieberman, Former US Senator and VP Candidate, Dies at 82

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    Former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who represented the Nutmeg State in Washington for 24 years and was the Democratic Party’s 2000 vice presidential nominee, has died.

    He was 82.

    A statement from Lieberman’s family said he passed away Wednesday in New York after suffering complications from a fall.

    The former senator’s death was first reported by Punchbowl News.

    “Senator Lieberman’s love of God, his family, and America endured throughout his life of service in the public interest,” the family statement read.

    Lieberman, a former Connecticut state senator and attorney general, was elected to the Senate in 1988 and developed a reputation as a moderate Democrat with a prominent voice on foreign policy and a staunch supporter of Israel.

    In an oddity that would repeat itself decades later, Lieberman was boosted in his first Senate election by the backing of a prominent conservative — National Review founder and Connecticut resident William F. Buckley Jr., who endorsed Lieberman in the influential magazine’s pages while dubbing his liberal Republican opponent, Lowell Weicker, “the Number One Horse’s Ass in the Senate.”

    In September 1998, Lieberman became the first national Democrat to publicly criticize President Bill Clinton for his extra-marital affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, calling Clinton’s behavior “not only inappropriate,” but “immoral” and “harmful” in scathing remarks from the Senate floor.

    The following year, Lieberman voted to acquit the 42nd president on articles of impeachment accusing Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with the Lewinsky liaison.

    In 2000, Lieberman made history when Clinton’s vice president, Al Gore, selected the senator as his running mate — making Lieberman the first Jewish candidate on a major party’s presidential ticket.

    Lieberman would have been the first Jewish vice president but for Gore’s narrow Electoral College defeat, which was settled by 537 votes in Florida following a weeks-long recount battle.

    Four years later, Lieberman sought the Democratic presidential nomination, but dropped out following a series of disappointing primary finishes.

    Despite Lieberman’s support of gay rights, abortion rights and environmental causes, his staunch backing of the Iraq War had made him intolerable to liberal activists by 2006.

    That year, Lieberman lost his Senate primary to future Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, but won re-election as a third-party candidate under the Connecticut for Lieberman banner.

    With the endorsement of prominent Republicans and conservatives — including ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, author and commentator Ann Coulter, and Buckley again — Lieberman beat Lamont in the general election by 10 percentage points.

    The actual Republican nominee, former Derby Mayor Alan Schlesinger, failed to crack 10% of the vote.

    To date, Lieberman’s 2006 victory is the last time a third-party candidate has won a Senate seat.

    Upon his return to Washington, Lieberman described himself as an “Independent Democrat” and endorsed his longtime friend, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president in 2008 — even speaking on his behalf at that year’s Republican National Convention and laying into the Democratic nominee, Barack Obama.

    “In the Senate, during the 3 1/2 years that Sen. Obama has been a member, he has not reached across party lines to … accomplish anything significant, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party to get something done,” Lieberman said.

    “Eloquence is no substitute for a record.”

    Rumors were widespread that McCain was considering tapping Lieberman to be his running mate. However, the Arizonan ultimately opted for then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, one of the most-discussed running mate choices in recent presidential politics.

    After the election, some Democrats agitated for Lieberman to be stripped of his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee as payback, with then-Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) calling Lieberman’s attacks on Obama “beyond the pale.”

    However, at the new president’s urging, Lieberman was allowed to keep his chairmanship, which he held for the rest of his tenure.

    With polls showing Lieberman to be increasingly unpopular in Connecticut, he opted against seeking a fifth term and retired from the Senate in January 2013.

    In his final Senate speech, delivered in December 2012, Lieberman urged his colleagues about the necessity of “reaching across the aisle and finding partners from the opposite party.”

    “That is what is desperately needed in Washington now.”

    “Connecticut is shocked by Senator Lieberman’s sudden passing,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Lieberman’s successor, said in a statement. “In an era of political carbon copies, Joe Lieberman was a singularity. One of one. He fought and won for what he believed was right and for the state he adored.”

    “While the senator and I had our political differences, he was a man of integrity and conviction, so our debate about the Iraq War was serious,” Lamont said in a statement. “I believe we agreed to disagree from a position of principle. When the race was over, we stayed in touch as friends in the best traditions of American democracy. He will be missed.”

    After leaving public office, Lieberman joined the New York office of Kasowitz Benson Torres as senior counsel, remaining there until his death.

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    “We were honored when this great statesman joined our firm when he retired from the Senate over ten years ago.

    “We are grateful for his many contributions to our success, and we are proud that he continued to the end to be such an important voice for America’s greatest values,” Kasowitz added.

    “Joe was the wisest adviser, the most collegial colleague, and the warmest friend, and he will be greatly missed.”

    A funeral service for Lieberman will be held Friday in his hometown of Stamford, with a public memorial service to be set for a later date.

    Lieberman is survived by his second wife, Hadassah, his three children, and a stepson from his wife’s previous marriage.

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    Disney Drops Lawsuits Against DeSantis-Backed Tourism District

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    Disney has dropped its lawsuits against a special district backed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that revoked the corporation’s self-governing status in the state, multiple outlets reported on Wednesday.

    DeSantis signed legislation in February 2023 replacing Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, setting off nearly a years-long legal battle between the two entities. Disney has decided to drop the pending litigation on Wednesday, resulting in a win for the Florida Republican, according to multiple outlets.

    “We are pleased to put an end to all litigation pending in state court in Florida between Disney and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District,” Walt Disney World President Jeff Vahle told CNBC in a statement. “This agreement opens a new chapter of constructive engagement with the new leadership of the district and serves the interests of all parties by enabling significant continued investment and the creation of thousands of direct and indirect jobs and economic opportunity in the State.”

    The Reedy Creek Improvement District anticipated DeSantis’ legislation early last year, and made a last-minute agreement to give Disney the full control of development rights and privileges. DeSantis subsequently announced legislation to nullify such an arrangement, arguing it was filled with legal issues and wasn’t formed with the appropriate notice.

    The corporation later sued DeSantis for launching what they believed to be a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” against Disney. The DeSantis-backed Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board responded with a lawsuit of their own.

    A federal judge dismissed Disney’s lawsuit in January, ruling that the corporation “lacks standing” to sue the DeSantis administration.

    Disney is now conceding that the last-minute agreements are “null and void,” the National Review reported, citing DeSantis’ office.

    “No corporation should be its own government,” DeSantis spokesman Bryan Griffin told the outlet in a statement. “Moving forward, we stand ready to work with Disney and the District to help promote economic growth, family-friendly tourism, and accountable government in Central Florida.”

    The feud started in 2022 when Disney announced opposition to DeSantis’ Parental Rights in Education Bill, calling for the law’s repeal over what the corporation viewed to be discriminatory.

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    Jon Stewart Benefited by 829% “Overvalue” of His NYC Home Even as He Labels Trump’s Civil Case “Not Victimless”

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    Comedian Jon Stewart ranted this week that Donald Trump’s civil real-estate case overvaluing his properties was “not victimless,” yet when it came to his own home, Stewart benefited from a similar inflation.

    On Monday night, Stewart, 61, unpacked Trump’s $454 million appeal bond, calling out experts framing the former president’s New York civil case as not causing direct harm to any individual.

    “The Daily Show” host rolled a clip of CNN’s Laura Coates interviewing “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary, who commented that the ruling didn’t “go over well” with the real estate industry that was now fretting over the possibility of becoming the next target.

    Coates responds to O’Leary by highlighting that Trump was found liable for falsifying business records in the second degree, issuing false financial statements, insurance fraud and conspiracy, all due to asset inflation.

    “Everything that you just listed off is done by every real estate developer everywhere on Earth in every city. This has never been prosecuted,” O’Leary replied.

    In response, Stewart asked: “How is he not this mad about overvaluations in the real world?”

    “Because they are not victimless crimes,” he said.

    To further his point, Stewart argued that “money isn’t infinite. A loan that goes to the liar doesn’t go to someone who’s giving a more honest evaluation. So the system becomes incentivized for corruption.”

    Stewart also contended that failing to declare a higher market value on a property, while paying taxes based on a lower assessed value, constitutes fraudulent behavior.

    “The attorney general of New York knew that Trump’s property values were inflated because when it came time to pay taxes, Trump undervalued the very same properties,” Stewart added. “It was all part of a very specific real estate practice known as lying.”

    But it didn’t take long for internet sleuths to look into Stewart’s own property history, which shows his New York City penthouse sold for 829% more than its assessed value, records confirmed by The Post reveal.

    In 2014, Stewart sold his 6,280-square-foot Tribeca duplex to financier Parag Pande for $17.5 million. The property’s asking price at that time is not available in listing records.

    But according to 2013-2014 assessor records obtained by The Post, the property had the estimated market-value at only $1.882 million.

    The actual assessor valuation was even lower, at $847,174.

    Records also show that Stewart paid significantly lower property taxes, which were calculated based on that assessor valuation price — precisely what he called Trump out for doing in his Monday monologue.

    Pande, who purchased the penthouse from Stewart, then resold the property at a nearly 26% loss, according to the Real Deal — at just over $13 million — in 2021.

    Timothy Pool, a political commentator known for more right-leaning views, alleged on X that Stewart was being a hypocrite.

    “Did @jonstewart commit fraud when he sold his penthouse for $17.5M? NY listed its market value at $1.8M an AV at around 800k… Who did he defraud?? I am SHOCKED,” he wrote.

    “This is right in [Letitia James’] jurisdiction! I look forward to the grand jury indictment,” a user quipped in response to the tweet.

    Meanwhile, the New York assessor valuation on Stewart’s former penthouse is the exact same citation method and metric that New York Attorney General Letitia James used to value Trump’s private and personal properties, and then sued him for inflating those assets.

    Market value was not considered throughout the case.

    This includes Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, known as his main residence, which was assessed at only $18 million at the time.

    Real estate brokers had valued the property at 50 times more than that amount.

    Same for his private 200-acre New York family estate in Westchester, which was assessed between $30 million and $56 million.

    Trump had valued the property, known as Seven Springs, at $261 million.

    The difference between Stewart and Trump’s cases is that a judge ruled that Trump sometimes exaggerated to lenders about how big his properties were, including the square footage of his Trump Tower apartment.

    Last month, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay $355 million — and temporarily banned him from doing business in the state — relying heavily on the assessed valuations of the properties to determine the ruling.

    The $454 million bond to appeal the ruling marks the highest bond ever recorded in United States history against a single individual.

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    Venezuelan Migrant Influencer Who Sparked Fury with TikTok Squatting Tips Is a Fugitive After Fleeing ICE Custody

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    A Venezuelan illegal migrant infamous for sharing tips on how to invade vacant homes and live off the US government is on the run from ICE, it’s been revealed.

    Leonel Moreno’s TikTok account @leitooficial_25, where he had amassed half a million followers, has been suspended after his controversial videos went viral. A spokesperson for TikTok told DailyMail.com the platform doesn’t allow users to promote criminal activities.

    It has now emerged that Moreno has been on the run from immigration authorities since he crossed the US-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas, illegally in April 2022, as reported by The New York Post.

    Moreno enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention program, which lets migrants on parole go free while officials track them until their next court date.

    But Moreno, who now apparently lives near Columbus, Ohio, didn’t show up for his court date in Miami in November, 2022, and is now listed as an ‘absconder’ from the program.

    ‘We have witnessed yet another individual who was allowed entry into the US under the ATD program, only to abscond and make TikTok videos explaining how to break the law,’ former ICE field office director John Fabbricatore told The Post.

    ‘The question stands – how many thousands more are out there unaccounted for after fleeing this program?’

    DailyMail.com has reached out to ICE and TikTok for comment on this story.

    On Tuesday, Moreno posted several clips seemingly sobbing on a newly-created account, as he claimed he was being persecuted and threatened after his original TikTok account was suspended on Saturday.

    ‘I am in danger of death in the US! I need protection! I am being persecuted! My account has been blocked!’ he said as liquid dropped from his nose.

    ‘My people, I need you to pay attention to what’s happening because my family is on danger. They erased my TikTok accounts. I have received threats from powerful people. Help!’

    In another video he added: ‘My people, they have gotten what they wanted! The envy has reached my family! Everything that’s happening is because of your evilness!

    ‘The want to silence me!’

    It appears Moreno does not plan on stopping his particular brand of content, as he shared a clip on Wednesday counting hundred dollar bills and saying he doesn’t need to work to make money.

    In one of his now-viral videos, Moreno instructed his followers how to ‘invade’ American homes and invoke squatter’s rights, claiming that under US law, ‘if a house is not inhabited, we can seize it.’

    Moreno also made headlines in February, after he demanded Venezuelans unite to help a 15-year-old migrant accused of shooting a tourist and trying to kill a NYPD officer in Times Square.

    The videos have been widely shared as Venezuelan migrants fleeing their country’s collapse become one of the largest nationalities arriving at the US-Mexico border.

    Venezuelans have taken to social media to denounce him as a troll, accusing him of using their situation to become an influencer while sparking hatred against migrants who plan on working for a better life in the US.

    ‘He’s gone absolutely viral for all the wrong reasons and is a complete an utter embarrassment and disgrace to my home country,’ wrote Daniel Laplana on X.

    ‘I have nothing but contempt for the guy and his insufferable caricature of a Venezuelan migrant,’ said Venezuelan-American Rafael Estruve, president of Houston Young Republicans.

    ‘His charade is gross blend of incompetence and arrogance put on full display, and he is by far one of the absolute worst representations of Venezuelans on a public platform.’

    Others accused Moreno or ‘rage baiting’ many Venezuelans believe he is purposely trying to stoke anger in order to receive more views and be profitable on TikTok as the US receives record numbers of Venezuelans.

    Indeed, the coverage helped Moreno increase his followings – back in February, when one of his videos first went viral, he had under 219,000 followers, about half what he had when his account was suspended last week.

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    Mike Lindell Confirms MyPillow Evicted from Warehouse

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    In the wake of accruing over $200,000 in unpaid rent, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, was hit with a court-ordered eviction from its warehouse in Shakopee, Minnesota.

    Details emerged as the landlord presented evidence of the company’s financial delinquency to a Scott County judge, who subsequently agreed to enforce the eviction.

    However, it was amicable, Lindell said to Newsweek via phone call on Wednesday, adding that the situation was a little tricky.

    “The landlords said they’d rather foreclose … than [let] us go out and find another sublease here. And I said I agree.”

    Lindell said the warehouse, which rents for $90,000 per month, hadn’t been used by MyPillow for a year and that the company has other facilities. Initially, a sublease agreement was in place with a new tenant planning to use the space for storing food.

    However, just two days before the scheduled move-in, the tenant withdrew, leaving MyPillow with a vacant and cleaned warehouse and on the hook financially.

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    Lindell clarified MyPillow’s position regarding the financial responsibilities for the warehouse, indicating ongoing efforts to assist the landlord in finding a new sub-lessee and willingness to cover the financial gap.

    “We’re working with the Realtor,” Lindell said.

    “We’re still going to help them get a sub-leaser. And then I just would have to pay the difference. That’s no big deal,” he said.

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    Walmart, 7-11 and Chick-fil-A Start Drone Delivery Service

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    Walmart, Chick-fil-A, and 7-11 are rolling out new technology that aims to deliver items to customers in a matter of minutes.

    The three mega-brands will be the first companies to launch a new drone delivery service with the Virginia startup DroneUp.

    DroneUp CEO Tom Walker introduced the company’s proprietary autonomous drone “ecosystem” on Tuesday, saying it could revolutionize last-mile logistics.

    The system differs from existing drone delivery because it includes a climate-controlled locker, referred to as DBX, where drones pick up packages.

    The DBX is said to be smaller than a single parking space, allowing smaller retailers to use the new technology too.

    The lockers can serve as delivery hubs on college campuses and in cities, giving more people access to drone delivery.

    The company says the secure lockers will help ward off porch pirates and can be used by customers seeking to make returns as well.

    When making deliveries, the drones automatically know where to go in the sky, and have the power to avoid any aircraft along the way.

    Throughout the last few years, our work with leading retailers and quick-service restaurants has provided us with valuable insights into the speed and convenience that end customers desire from drone delivery.”

    DroneUp CEO Tom Walker

    They travel 60 miles per hour within a 30-mile range and pick up packages using a claw-like grabber that can carry up to 10 pounds safely.

    How It Works

    The first step in the drove delivery is a customer placing an order online.

    Retail or restaurant staff will then box up the customer’s order and attach a specific barcode to the package.

    Once the box is scanned into the system, an employee will place it into the DBX locker, where it is weighed and shelved for pickup.

    The locker is climate-controlled, meaning the items are kept at the right temperature.

    When the item is ready, a drone is dispatched to the landing pad on top of the DBX.

    The drone lands on top of the locker and the item is loaded onto the drone via a platform that raises from the top of the DBX.

    The company says that the drones are remotely piloted for speed and efficiency as the item heads to its dropoff location.

    The entire process is shown in a video on DroneUp’s website, which notes that each drone can make 50 deliveries per hour.

    “Order goes from store to customer in a matter of minutes,” the company said.

    The customer then grabs the box from the dropoff point, whether it be their front step or another convenient location.

    ‘Democratizing Airspace’

    DroneUp has been working with retailers and quick-service restaurants for years, gaining valuable insight into the speed and convenience that customers want from drone delivery, the CEO said.

    Walker believes that combining “flying robots” with ground-based automation will allow retailers to lower the cost of delivery.

    The average cost of drone delivery is $38 per trip, but 80% of that cost is due to labor, according to Walker.

    “When we put in a DBX, all that labor cost comes out. So overnight, my delivery cost goes from $38 to sub-$10,” the CEO told Axios.

    “I’m now competitive with every other last-mile provider, but I’m faster and more reliable.”

    Walker believes that this solves many common problems involved in the delivery process.

    “We’re going to democratize the airspace,” he said.

    “You could be Joe’s Tailor Shop and you can have access to this for the same price that a Walmart has access to it.

    “All you have to do is print out the barcode and put the barcode on the package.”

    DroneUp has already rolled out the DBX in Virginia Beach and Dallas and plans to expand to other markets in late 2024.

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    Sean ‘Diddy Combs’ Breaks His Silence and Says He’s a Victim of a ‘Witch Hunt’

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    Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs says he’s the victim of a ‘witch hunt’ and bemoans ‘military-level force’ used against him as he finally spoke out following the Monday double raid on his estates.

    Aaron Dyer, an attorney for the rapper, broke Combs’ silence just over 24 hours after the Homeland Security investigation with a statement to DailyMail.com.

    ‘Yesterday, there was a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed at Mr. Combs’ residences. There is no excuse for the excessive show of force and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way his children and employees were treated,’ Dyer said.

    ‘Mr. Combs was never detained but spoke to and cooperated with authorities,’ he added. ‘Despite media speculation, neither Mr. Combs nor any of his family members have been arrested nor has their ability to travel been restricted in any way.’

    Combs was seen speaking to customs agents at an airport 15 minutes from his Miami Beach Monday evening but never arrested.

    ‘This unprecedented ambush — paired with an advanced, coordinated media presence — leads to a premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs and is nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits,’ Dyer continued.

    ‘There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations. Mr. Combs is innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name.’

    The rapper, 54, has not been seen since homeland security agents descended on his properties in Miami and Los Angeles as part of their investigation into alleged sex trafficking.

    Sources told Page Six that Combs was planning to fly to the Bahamas to spend time with his 17-year-old twins, Jessie and D’Lila, when the agents swooped in on his properties.

    They gathered evidence including a ‘number of’ electronic devices, ABC News reports. No criminal charges have been filed, and Diddy has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct.

    Flight data shows the rapper took off from the Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles at 9 am on Monday.

    He was then spotted around 3 pm at the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, just a few hours after the raids started.

    However, information on the rapper’s personal LoveAir LLC Gulfstream 5 jet is no longer available on plane tracker service.

    Diddy was last seen pacing around the customs office at the Miami airport, though he was not being detained in any fashion.

    Meanwhile, two of his sons were detained at the scene of the Holmby Hills, California, home while the warrant was executed but released without charges.

    Armed agents entered luxury properties on both East and West Coasts of the United States, with video footage showing helicopters circling overhead.

    The agents, who were wearing vests, gathered in the home’s backyard near the pool.

    Multiple officers were seen carrying bags and boxes of evidence to a van with assistance from police dogs.

    There was no immediate official confirmation about what precipitated the raids, but Diddy is currently embroiled in several lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault.

    It comes just weeks after one of Diddy’s accusers was ordered to reveal her identity.

    The rapper and music mogul has been fighting various legal battles, including one against an unnamed woman who claimed he and two friends sexually assaulted her when she was 17.

    After allegedly supplying the woman with ‘copious amounts of drugs and alcohol,’ Diddy and two pals are accused of taking turns violently raping the teen as she drifted in and out of consciousness, leaving her in so much pain that she could barely stand or remember how she got home, according to her complaint.

    She says she suffered in silence for 20 years until the R&B singer Cassie sued Combs, her former mentor and ex-boyfriend, for allegedly subjecting her to savage beatings, drug-addled hotel orgies and rape.

    Combs denied the claims in that case and the two sides reached an out-of-court settlement barely 24 hours after the suit was made public in November 2023.

    After the flurry of subsequent allegations, Diddy tweeted out a new statement under the heading ‘Enough is enough.’

    Combs is among the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades.

    Formerly known as Puff Daddy, he built one of hip-hop´s biggest empires, blazing a trail with several entities attached to his famous name.

    While the woman’s identity has yet to be revealed in the lawsuit, a judge just ruled she would no longer be able to stay anonymous if the suit proceeds.

    Diddy has filed a motion to have the woman’s case thrown out, and she will reportedly remain anonymous until the judge rules on that motion.

    The accuser was the fourth woman to accuse Diddy of sexual assault in quick succession last year after his ex, the singer Cassie, sued him in November 2023, with the two settling out of court.

    Douglas Wigdor, an attorney for Cassie and another one of the Jane Does accusing Diddy, responded to the search in a statement to DailyMail.com

    ‘We will always support law enforcement when it seeks to prosecute those that have violated the law. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a process that will hold Mr. Combs responsible for his depraved conduct.’

    Music producer Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones Jr., who worked with Combs on ‘The Love Album: Off the Grid,’ is among his accusers.

    He filed a lawsuit against the rapper claiming he was ordered to recruit sex workers and have sex with them for the star’s pleasure, and has hundreds of hours of video documenting Combs’s ‘serious illegal activity’.

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    ​​Usher’s Shocking Revelations About Living with Diddy at Age 13 Resurface

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    Am old interview clip featuring R&B singer Usher has resurfaced amid federal raids on the homes of music mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs – who is facing multiple accusations of sexual abuse.

    The clip shows the now 45-year-old’s candid recollections of his time living with Diddy, 54, at the age of 13, shedding light on a world of hedonism and shady sexual practices.

    Diddy, widely credited for nurturing up-and-coming talents like Usher, played a pivotal role in shaping the singer’s early career.

    Following a record deal with LA Reid, Usher found himself under Diddy’s mentorship, residing in the music mogul’s New York home for a year, an experience dubbed ‘Flavour Camp.’

    In a now-chilling 2004 interview with Rolling Stone, Usher vividly recounted Diddy introducing him to ‘a totally different set of s*** — sex, specifically.’

    Describing an environment decidedly inappropriate for a tween, Usher detailed encounters with orgies and other explicit scenes, offering a window into a lifestyle prevalent in the music industry at the time.

    ‘Sex is so hot in the industry, man,’ he said, recalling, ‘There was always girls around. You’d open a door and see somebody doing it, or several people in a room having an orgy. You never knew what was going to happen.’

    Years later, Usher revisited these memories on the Howard Stern show, where his revelations painted a vivid picture of his formative years. Describing his time at Diddy’s home as ‘pretty wild,’ Usher emphasized witnessing ‘curious things.’

    ‘In the nineties, do you understand what that’s like?’ Usher questioned seriously. ‘I went there to see the lifestyle,’ he continued. ‘And I saw it. But I don’t know if I could indulge and understand what I was even looking at. It was pretty wild. It was crazy.’

    Watch:

    Despite the allure of the kind of life Diddy was modelling for his young mentee, Usher expressed uncertainty about fully comprehending what he saw at the time, underscoring the complexities of navigating fame and temptation at a young age.

    Stern probed further, asking Usher whether he would send his own child to live with Diddy, to which Usher emphatically responded, ‘Hell no.’

    The resurgence of Usher’s interview coincided with federal raids on Diddy’s residences in Los Angeles and Miami as part of a sex trafficking investigation. While Diddy has vehemently denied all allegations against him, the raids have prompted scrutiny and reactions from many.

    Diddy’s lawyer denounced the raids as a ‘gross use of military-level force’ against an ‘innocent’ man, stressing that neither Diddy nor his family members have been arrested.

    Amid ongoing lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct, Diddy’s legal team has staunchly defended his innocence, labelling the accusations as baseless.

    The federal raids occurred at Combs’ $40million home in LA’s Holmby Hills neighbourhood and his Miami, Florida home on Star Island.

    Reports from Fox 11, claiming to have been first on the scene at the LA raid, revealed that multiple individuals were detained although Combs himself was not among them.

    ‘Earlier today, Homeland Security Investigations New York executed law enforcement actions as part of an ongoing investigation, with assistance from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami, and our local law enforcement partners. We will provide further information as it becomes available,’ an HSI spokesman said in a statement, according to the LA Times.

    This comes after it was revealed in court documents filed in the US last month that Diddy held sex-trafficking parties to which he drew guests with promises of his ‘access to celebrities,’ including Prince Harry.

    The documents do not suggest any wrongdoing on Prince Harry’s part.

    These investigations follow a series of legal battles involving Combs. In February of this year, a male producer on Combs’ latest album, The Love Album: Off The Grid, filed a lawsuit. Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones accused Combs of coercing him into sexual activities with sex workers, as well as allegations of drugging and threats spanning over a year.

    Responding to the lawsuit, Combs’ legal representatives dismissed the claims as fabricated and aimed at sensationalism. They asserted having overwhelming evidence to disprove the accusations and expressed readiness to address them in court. Attempts to communicate this evidence to the plaintiff’s lawyer reportedly went unanswered.

    In addition, Combs faced accusations of rape and physical abuse from his former partner and R&B singer Cassandra ‘Cassie’ Ventura in November 2023. Initially denying Ventura’s allegations, Combs swiftly settled with her out of court.

    Subsequently, two more accusers emerged, one alleging Combs was involved in drugging and sexually assaulting her, while the other accused Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall of rape in 1990 or 1991. Combs refuted both claims, declaring his intent to defend his reputation and integrity. Aaron Hall has yet to respond to the allegations.

    In another incident from that December, Combs faced allegations of involvement in the ‘gang rape’ of a 17-year-old girl, which he has vehemently denied.

    As investigations unfold and public interest intensifies, Usher’s candid reflections offer a poignant glimpse into Diddy’s excessive lifestyle.

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    Democrat Wins Special Election in Republican District of Alabama, Running on Abortion and IVF

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    Democrat Marilyn Lands won an Alabama legislature special election on Tuesday considered a bellwether contest on abortion and in vitro fertilization (IVF) ahead of the 2024 November elections.

    Lands, who made reproductive rights a centerpiece of her campaign in deep red Alabama early on by launching an ad in which she shared the story of her own abortion decades ago, defeated Republican Teddy Powell to win the open state House District 10, The Associated Press reported, citing unofficial returns Tuesday.

    The suburban district considered one of the few purple, swing seats encompassing parts of Huntsville and Madison in the deep red state was vacated when former Republican state Rep. David Cole pleaded guilty to voter fraud last year amid allegations he rented a closet-size space to fraudulently run for office in a district where he did not live.

    Powell, a member of the Madison City Council, issued a statement conceding the race and congratulating Lands on her victory.

    “Well I am so excited to get down to Montgomery, and I think this is a giant step forward for Alabama. I think it’s a victory tonight for women, for families, for Alabama in general,” Lands said on camera. “I want to get down there and repeal the bad ban on no exceptions abortion, I want to protect IVF and contraception, but I also want to be a champion for healthcare, mental healthcare but healthcare in general. I really feel like we need somebody down in Montgomery who understands mental health issues, and I’m that one.”

    The rare victory for Democrats in the Deep South state, where Republicans hold all statewide offices and hold a lopsided majority in the Alabama Legislature, comes after the state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created during fertility treatments should be considered as having the same status as children under state law in wrongful death lawsuits.

    Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed a bill into law earlier this month protecting IVF treatments after the February decision prompted some fertility clinics to pause their procedures.

    The ruling was issued in a pair of wrongful death cases brought by three couples whose frozen embryos were destroyed at a fertility clinic when a patient from the hospital walked into the storage area, removed the embryos from a cryogenic freezer and dropped them on the ground.

    The decision resulted in a flury of warnings about the potential impact on fertility treatments and the freezing of embryos, which had previously been considered property by the courts.

    Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, came out in support of protecting access to IVF after the ruling.

    But Lands’ campaign also centered on Alabama’s ban on most abortion procedures ushered in after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

    State House District 10 represents parts of the cities of Madison and Huntsville, which is home to the Army’s Redstone Arsenal and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

    Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Heather Williams called the victory a “political earthquake in Alabama.”

    “This special election is a harbinger of things to come. Republicans across the country have been put on notice that there are consequences to attacks on IVF – from the bluest blue state to the reddest red, voters are choosing to fight for their fundamental freedoms by electing Democrats across the country,” Williams said.

    Lands, a licensed counselor, unsuccessfully ran for the seat in 2022 but lost by seven points to Cole. She will finish the term and will be up for election in 2026 when the governor’s office and other races will be on the ballot. Her opponent Powell, a former Defense Department budget analyst, had leaned into issues including the economy and infrastructure while Lands centered on abortion and IVF.

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    Bloomberg Poll: Biden Leads Trump in Wisconsin, Tied in Two Other Swing States

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    President Biden has narrowly pulled ahead of former President Donald Trump in the key state of Wisconsin and is even with his predecessor in Pennsylvania and Michigan, according to a new 2024 election poll.

    Trump still leads Biden 47% to 43% across seven battleground states, per the March survey conducted by Bloomberg News/Morning Consult — but the Democrat is gaining ground against his presumptive Republican opponent for the first time in five months.

    Biden, 81, is backed by 46% of registered voters in Wisconsin while 45% support Trump, 77, in a head-to-head battle.

    Registered voters in Pennsylvania and Michigan broke evenly for Biden and Trump, with each getting 45% support in both states.

    In February, Biden trailed Trump by four percentage points (46%-42%) in Wisconsin, six percentage points (49%-43%) in Pennsylvania, and two percentage (46%-44%) points in Michigan, according to the same survey.

    Trump still holds sizable leads over Biden head-to-head in Arizona (48%-43%), Georgia (49%-42%) and North Carolina (49%-43%) — as well as a narrow edge over the incumbent in Nevada (46%-44%).

    The 45th president leads Biden in six of the seven battleground states when third-party candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Jill Stein and Cornel West are added to the ballot test. In Michigan, Trump and Biden are tied at 40% each among registered voters, with Kennedy getting 9%, West getting 3% and Stein 2%

    A separate Morning Consult nationwide poll released Tuesday gave Biden a one-point lead over Trump among registered voters (44%-43%).

    Trump has been ahead of Biden in almost all election surveys since September 2023, according to the RealClearPolitics polling aggregator.

    The survey took place over the week following Biden’s State of the Union address, which supporters of the president seized on in an attempt to throw off concerns about his age.

    The favorability ratings for both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris remain underwater, with 55% having an unfavorable opinion of the president and 53% having an unfavorable opinion of the vice president.

    More than half of registered voters in the battleground states (53%) also have an unfavorable view of Trump.

    Asked whether they were voting for their preferred candidate or against their opponent, fewer than three in 10 Trump supporters said they were casting a ballot against Biden.

    But nearly half of Biden voters said they were voting to block Trump’s path to the White House for a second nonconsecutive term.

    In Wisconsin, six in 10 registered voters who will support Biden said they did so to oppose Trump.

    The poll also found that a majority of swing state voters who have a favorable opinion of former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley said they will vote for Trump over Biden on Election Day 2024.

    Around six in 10 voters surveyed also said that vice presidential picks will carry more weight in their choice of candidate, given the respective ages of Trump and Biden.

    The Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll surveyed 807 registered voters in Pennsylvania, 796 in Arizona, 788 in Georgia, 699 in North Carolina, 698 in Michigan, 697 in Wisconsin and 447 in Nevada.

    Respondents filled out online surveys March 8-12 in Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, March 8-14 in Arizona and Wisconsin, and March 8-15 in Nevada.

    The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points in Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania, four percentage points in Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin and five percentage points in Nevada.

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    SCOTUS Abortion Pill Decision Looms Over 2024 Election

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    The Supreme Court’s impending judgment on the Food and Drug Administration’s changes to the approval of the abortion pill mifepristone is expected to loom large over the 2024 election between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

    On Tuesday, the court heard oral arguments in a case, FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, that centers on whether the limited deregulation of mifepristone violated the Administrative Procedures Act.

    Of critical matter is whether the court will uphold the decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to revoke the FDA’s 2021 approval of mifepristone to be prescribed without seeing a doctor, which opened access to chemical abortions via telemedicine consultations and shipment of mifepristone in the mail.

    The final decision, anticipated for June, is likely to have sizable effects on the outcome of the presidential and congressional elections this fall.

    Abortion politics post-Roe

    Abortion access upended electoral politics following the court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022. Democrats beat back dire predicted losses during the 2022 midterm elections by running on protecting abortion access following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which overturned Roe.

    Several states held ballot initiatives on abortion access that mainly resulted in the enshrinement of abortion rights in state constitutions. Ohio, California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, and Vermont have all passed measures to protect access to abortion or blocked attempts to restrict abortion.

    Abortion rights amendments are on the ballot in at least eight other states heading into the 2024 elections, bringing the topic to the forefront of voters’ minds in key swing states such as Arizona and Florida.

    Amanda Roberti, professor of political science at San Francisco State University, said the mifepristone case likely will have some effect on voters heading into the 2024 elections but that it is not likely to be of the same magnitude as the aftershock from the Dobbs decision.

    “I would say probably people are following it a little bit less than maybe the Dobbs decision,” Roberti told the Washington Examiner. “If we get a decision sometime in the summer, that’s going to be on people’s minds, and it’s close to the election. It’s just as close as Dobbs was, so I think that you’re going to see people’s attention turned to that issue.”

    Mifepristone by the numbers

    One in 8 voters say abortion is the most important topic motivating their voting behavior heading into 2024, according to a survey this month from health policy think tank KFF. A total of 52% of voters say that abortion access is “important but not the most important” when they cast their vote.

    A Gallup poll from June 2023 showed 63% of voters favor having mifepristone available via prescription, while 35% of voters oppose medication abortion. The survey, however, did not specify whether respondents supported access to the pills without a physical examination by a doctor to both determine the gestational age of the pregnancy and to rule out dangerous complications, such as an ectopic pregnancy.

    Nearly two-thirds of respondents to the KFF survey had not heard much about the mifepristone case, including the questions about its safety and efficacy.

    Medication abortions, typically conducted with both mifepristone and misoprostol, constituted over 63% of the over 1 million abortions in the United States in 2023, according to the Planned Parenthood-supported think tank the Guttmacher Institute.

    The FDA’s warning label on mifepristone estimates that between 2.9% and 4.6% of women who self-administer an abortion will require emergency medical treatment for sustained heavy bleeding or rare bacterial infections. This means that approximately 20,000 women of the nearly 643,000 chemical abortion patients likely sought emergency medical care following taking mifepristone.

    Democratic messaging fills the vacuum of Republican silence

    Democratic political strategist Brad Bannon told the Washington Examiner that although the medical harms to women may be the GOP’s strongest argument against mifepristone, he still believes abortion is a winning matter for Democrats.

    “It’s a great help to Democratic candidates, and the more Republicans talk about the issue, the better it gets for Democrats,” Bannon said. “Anytime reproductive rights comes up, whether it was in Alabama or former President Trump talking about it, it just reminds voters, especially swing voters in suburbs, that Republicans are determined to end choice.”

    Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, sent a memo earlier this month to his colleagues saying that House Republicans need to be clear on their stances on abortion and not shy away from the topic.

    Hudson’s take is that because Republicans have declined to talk about abortion, Democrats have been able to dominate the narrative.

    Several strategists and leaders pushing for abortion restrictions echoed that sentiment while talking with the Washington Examiner.

    “I 100% agree that this is a messaging issue,” said Emily Benavides, a Republican strategist who worked on the super PAC supporting Gov. Doug Burgum’s (R-ND) 2024 presidential campaign. “This is a branding problem. We have, for far too long, been afraid to explicitly explain where we stand on this issue. And thus, we’ve let ourselves be defined by Democrats, who are going to go ahead and use the most extreme position to define us, which may not be actually reflective of the candidate.”

    “We really try to be very respectful of these complex situations, but also still principled in our kind of bedrock stances that we do believe that every life is valuable,” said Timothy Head, executive director of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. “Some pro-life groups can be divisive, there are definitely plenty of pro-choice groups that will be very divisive, but we try to do everything we can to make this as healing a process as possible.”

    Head cited the example of Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown, whose wife, Amy Brown, opened up about her abortion and the grueling healing process that followed as an example of the compassion needed over the abortion debate.

    “I actually think that there are compassionate ways to talk about this story without being either dogmatic or didactic,” Head said. “And so that’s our preferred approach from a messaging standpoint.”

    A fledgling Republican consensus

    Complicating the matter is that Republicans have not agreed on where exactly the party stands on gestational age limits for abortion, how to handle contraceptives, and how to counteract Democratic messaging.

    Republican presidential candidates were split during the early primary period between six-week and 15-week abortion bans, with anti-abortion groups such as SBA Pro-Life America initially supporting candidates who touted the earlier standard.

    Trump indicated last week that he was thinking of supporting a 15-week gestation national abortion restriction, which he characterized as “very reasonable.” His position in recent weeks has emphasized his role as a mediator in determining a middle ground for the hotly contested topic.

    Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement in February that the presumptive Republican nominee would “sit down with both sides and negotiate a deal that everyone will be happy with.”

    Public opinion polls suggest that, although voters say they favor abortion access, there also could be broad support for gestational age limits on the procedure.

    A Gallup poll from July 2023 found that while 69% of respondents said that abortion should be legal in the first trimester, only 37% said that it should be legal during the second trimester. Pre-Dobbs polling on the topic found that 48% of voters supported 15-week limitations.

    Abortion as healthcare

    Sarah Chamberlain, president and CEO of the Republican Main Street Partnership, said she hopes the Supreme Court will not overturn the approval of mifepristone, in consideration of the impact it will have on the 2024 elections.

    “I’m hoping that they choose not to outlaw it because if they do, I think it will be very bad on the 2024 election,” Chamberlain said. “We need to be very cautious moving forward in 2024 in the November elections. The Supreme Court, I mean, we don’t know what they’re going to do.”

    Democrats are banking that public sentiment on abortion could boost a weakened Biden over Trump in their presidential rematch. They argue that this could only be strengthened by continued debates within the Republican Party over how the position of life beginning at conception might shape other policy decisions relating to contraception and in vitro fertilization, or IVF.

    Chamberlain cautioned that, though she does not have data to back up Democrats’ arguments, the GOP should not assume that abortion will not be of critical importance in 2024, in addition to voters’ economic concerns.

    “This is a big issue for women and we as the party cannot underestimate that,” Chamberlain said of abortion and related policy considerations. “We do not have to be pro-choice by any matter, but we have to be consistent in our pro-life, and that includes allowing IVF and contraception and women to get the medical care that they need. This is a healthcare issue for women.”

    Herbie Newell, president and executive director of the evangelical child welfare and adoption agency Lifeline Children’s Services, rejected treating abortion as a healthcare argument.

    “Part of the reason I’m pro-life is because I don’t believe abortion is good for women first, and then obviously, it’s not good for children,” Newell said. “I don’t believe it’s healthcare.”

    Strengthening the Democratic position

    Democrats are expected to campaign on abortion medication even if the Supreme Court rules to allow mifepristone to continue being prescribed by mail.

    “Democrats 100% having a party platform of abortion on demand are going to see this as a win, and they’re going to use that to carry momentum with their base,” Newell continued.

    Roberti, the political scientist at San Francisco State, pointed to the high levels of support for access to mifepristone, the backlash during the 2022 midterm elections, and the abortion ballot initiatives as warning signs for the GOP.

    “People do want access to reproductive healthcare and abortion and all sorts of areas of reproductive healthcare, and so they don’t want to see the access reduced in any kind of way,” she said. “I think we’ve seen the negative impact for Republicans at least.”

    Democrats have tended to argue that abortion access is best left up to women and their doctors. Biden’s reelection campaign began pouncing on Trump’s abortion comments even before he became the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, and it has continued its attacks after the former president expressed interest in a 15-week abortion ban.

    The Biden campaign sent out a statement from Amanda Zurawski, a woman who sued Texas after suffering from severe pregnancy complications at 17 weeks gestation and receiving limited care from her doctors due to confusion over the state’s total abortion ban.

    “My family has been forever altered by the nightmare that Donald Trump created by overturning Roe,” Zurawski said. “I nearly died because my doctor could not give me the care I needed — and my ability to have children in the future has been forever compromised by the damage that was caused.”

    The Supreme Court’s ruling on mifepristone could once again activate women to Democrats’ aid unless the GOP coalesces around a winning counterstrategy.

    In a press call with reporters on Monday, Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez reiterated the president’s stance on protecting abortion access.

    “If Congress sends a national abortion ban to his desk, President Biden will veto it,” Chavez Rodriguez said. “The president and vice president are the only candidates who believed that reproductive healthcare decisions belong to women and their doctors not politicians or the government.”

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    NYC Begins Handing Out Prepaid Debit Cards to Illegal Migrants in Controversial Program

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    The Adams administration launched its program to give prepaid debit cards to New York City migrants this week — two months after inking a controversial no-bid $53 million contract for the deal.

    Staffers with the New Jersey company, Mobility Capital Finance, handed out eight preloaded Mastercards at the Roosevelt Hotel on Monday as part of its pilot program that will expand to 115 cards by next week, according to a City Hall spokesperson.

    The one-year deal came under fire after The Post first revealed the contract was inked without a typical bidding process.

    The program could be a boon for the tech start-up, giving it the potential to net $1.8 million by taking a cut of the funds loaded onto each Mastercard, according to the contract.

    The administration scaled back the original plan, which would have loaded up the cards with a month’s worth of money for food and baby supplies. Cash will now need to be replenished each week.

    A family with two parents and kids under five will receive about $350 a week, the spokesperson said.

    The Post was unable to track down any of the migrant families who received the cards Monday. Even the staffers at the Roosevelt Hotel said they weren’t aware the cards had been handed out.

    The pilot program will cover about 460 out of the 64,500 migrants in the city’s care as City Hall evaluates its success.

    “This cost-saving measure will replace the city’s current system of providing non-perishable food boxes to migrant families staying in hotels, much of which is often discarded,” Adams spokesperson Kayla Mamalek said.

    City Hall says the new process of getting asylum seekers fed could save up to $600,000 per month.

    The Adams administration has said that the emergency contract was necessary to avoid delays in rolling out the cost-saving program.

    Despite that, it took two months before any of the prepaid cards were handed out.

    City Hall has dodged questions about the delay, only saying that the rollout was on schedule.

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    Trump Is Selling “God Bless the USA” Bibles Ahead of Easter

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    Former President Donald Trump announced on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he is partnering with country musician Lee Greenwood to sell “God Bless the USA” Bibles ahead of Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

    “Happy Holy Week! Let’s Make America Pray Again. As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God Bless The USA Bible,” Trump wrote in a post.

    The former president said every American needs to have a Bible in their home and added that he has many copies himself.

    “All Americans need a Bible in their home, and I have many. It’s my favorite book,” Trump said in his video posted on Truth Social. “I’m proud to endorse and encourage you to get this Bible. We must make America pray again.”

    The website to purchase the Bibles lists these books as the only Bible inspired by America’s most recognized patriotic anthem, “God Bless The USA.”

    This is not the first time Trump has teamed up with the country music star, as he used his patriotic anthem often as his entrance song during his rallies and occasionally during events at the White House during his term as president.

    The Bible will also feature the United States Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, The Pledge of Allegiance, as well as a handwritten chorus of “God Bless The USA,” according to the website.

    The Bible is also described as being easy-to-read with large print, having a slim design, and was designed to deliver an easy reading experience in the trusted King James Version translation.

    “Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country. And I truly believe that we need to bring them back and have to bring them back fast,” Trump said in a video. “I think it’s one of the biggest problems we have. That’s why our country is going haywire. We’ve lost religion in our country.”

    The website also states that GodBlessTheUSABible.com is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign.

    This latest move comes as the former president has faced a serious money crunch amid mounting legal bills while he fights four criminal indictments along with a series of civil charges.

    Trump saw some relief on Monday as the appeals court slashed his bond payment, saying Trump must pay $175 million within the next 10 days.

    Trump had previously faced a Monday deadline to pay a $454 million bond payment that came as a result of civil fraud allegations from New York Attorney General Letitia James.

    Trump said he will “abide” by the appeals decision and post the $175 million bond.

    If Trump does post the $175 million by the new deadline, it would effectively block James from attempts to seize Trump’s assets as he continues to appeal the judgment by New York Judge Arthur Engoron.

    The Bible is the latest product Trump has promoted after releasing a line of $400 sneakers earlier this year.

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    McDaniel Eyes Big Payout After NBC Drama

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    Will it be the $600,000 interview?

    The ramifications of NBC’s decision yesterday to part ways with former RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel just two days after her paid network debut on “Meet the Press” are just starting to shake out. But they could be expensive.

    McDaniel expects to be fully paid out for her contract — two years at $300,000 annually — since she did not breach its terms, according to a person close to McDaniel. That means that her single, not-quite-20-minute interview Sunday could cost NBC more than $30,000 per minute, or $500 per second.

    That might be just the beginning of the fallout following yesterday’s announcement from NBCUniversal News Group Chair Cesar Conde that the deal, first announced on Friday, would be canceled. McDaniel spoke yesterday with Bryan Freedman, renowned lawyer to the estranged cable-news stars, to discuss legal options even beyond recouping the dollar value of her contract.

    While no arrangement is final, the person close to McDaniel said, Freedman would be an obvious choice: He represented Megyn Kelly in her own acrimonious parting with NBC, as well as ousted anchors Chris Cuomo, Don Lemon and Tucker Carlson in disputes with their respective former networks.

    McDaniel, the person said, is exploring potential defamation and hostile work environment torts after MSNBC’s top talent — momentarily her colleagues — took turns Monday blasting her on air.

    McDaniel was silent yesterday as the fallout from the internal network revolt mounted, and her perspective and role in the deal was largely lost as it unraveled in real time. She and her allies are, unsurprisingly, furious about how everything went down, believing she was misled about how much she’d be welcomed into the fold by executives who had aggressively recruited her.

    They blame the same NBC brass for botching the situation by not having her meet with top network talent ahead of the rollout, then caving to internal pressure from liberal-leaning hosts.

    As previously reported, MSNBC President Rashida Jones was among those who did an about-face after blessing the initial contract agreement with McDaniel. But Conde — Jones’ boss and NBC’s top news executive — also engaged in a significant U-turn, the McDaniel confidant said, having reached out to her last week after the ink was dry to welcome her into the NBC family with a message that said he was excited to work with her and that her perspective would be valuable to the network’s viewers. (NBC declined to comment.)

    McDaniel’s camp is also particularly peeved at “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker, who said at the top of Sunday’s broadcast that her interview was “scheduled weeks before it was announced that McDaniel had become a paid NBC News contributor,” and declared, “I was not involved in her hiring.”

    The person close to McDaniel said those words were misleading, at best. Playbook reviewed text messages from Carrie Budoff Brown, senior vice president of politics for NBC News, showing that she and Welker met with McDaniel in mid-February — a few days after Budoff Brown initially reached out to McDaniel’s team to gauge her interest in joining as a paid contributor.

    A potential NBC contract was mentioned in what was otherwise mostly a get-to-know-you, off-the-record chat between McDaniel and Welker that day, the McDaniel confidant said.

    An NBC insider familiar with the situation strongly disputed the suggestion that Welker was part of any contract discussions, arguing that “the meeting was set up to discuss the potential first interview” and “not about any potential contract.”

    “Kristen was not part of those talks,” said the insider. “She was fenced off and insulated from discussions about a potential contributor agreement.”

    Even after the backlash went public Sunday, when NBC’s Chuck Todd publicly teed off on network execs for the arrangement, McDaniel heard directly from Budoff Brown and Rebecca Blumenstein, NBC News’ president of editorial, that they’d have her back and the controversy would pass, according to the McDaniel ally.

    The NBC insider said their comments were more along the lines of “stand firm.”

    But yesterday, as the fallout mounted, McDaniel heard nothing further from top NBC brass about getting the boot — even as Conde announced her firing in a note to employees that included a personal apology to employees and a mention of “our deep commitment to presenting our audiences with a widely diverse set of viewpoints and experiences.”

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    Ronna McDaniel Out at NBC News Following Backlash

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    NBC News officially dropped ex-RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel as a contributor following backlash from inside the network, a statement from the network’s chairman confirmed.

    In the Tuesday evening statement, NBCUniversal chairman Cesar Conde said: ‘After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you, I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor.’

    McDaniel had reportedly been signed to the left-leaning network in a deal that amounted to roughly $300,000 a year, according to the New York Times.

    Following the announcement of her hiring, major stars inside the company began a public campaign against her hiring. Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski said she would not be invited on their program.

    And Chuck Todd erupted into an on-air rant about her hiring, taking particular issue with her support for Donald Trump’s false 2020 election fraud claims.

    Todd’s meltdown was quickly followed by other liberal media stars, with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow describing the hiring as ‘inexplicable’ and said she hoped bosses would ‘reconsider that decision.’

    According to Tuesday night’s statement, ‘reconsider that decision’ is precisely what executives did. Conde apologized to staff who were upset by McDaniel’s hiring.

    ‘I want to personally apologize to our team members who felt we let them down. While this was a collective recommendation by some members of our leadership team, I approved it and take full responsibility for it.

    ‘Our initial decision was made because of our deep commitment to presenting our audiences with a widely diverse set of viewpoints and experiences, particularly during these consequential times.

    ‘We continue to be committed to the principle that we must have diverse viewpoints on our programs, and to that end, we will redouble our efforts to seek voices that represent different parts of the political spectrum,’ he wrote.

    According to Puck News, McDaniel has lawyered up following the sudden decision.

    Wall Street Journal reporting suggests that NBC News execs became close with McDaniel during their successful attempt to win the rights to carry a Republican debate last November.

    The Journal also confirmed McDaniel had signed a three-year deal with NBC valued at close to $1million. She was represented during the deal by agents at CAA, who have reportedly since cut ties with her.

    Fury at McDaniel’s hiring reportedly began behind closed doors, with top contributors taking offense to not being asked their opinions before the decision was made.

    On Sunday, two days after McDaniel’ role was announced, the issue came to a boiling point when Todd went after his bosses for the decision.

    Todd told his successor Kristen Welker that NBC executives had put her in an ‘impossible situation’ by having her interview McDaniel.

    ‘Let me deal with the elephant in the room,’ Todd said. ‘I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation, because I don’t know what to believe.’

    When McDaniel appeared with Welker for the first time as an employee of the network, she seemed intent on distancing herself from her past rhetoric.

    She insisted that Biden won the 2020 election ‘fair and square,’ adding: ‘He’s the president. He’s the legitimate president.’

    McDaniel stepped down as RNC chief just two weeks before she was announced as a paid NBC contributor.

    Amid the backlash, MSNBC said she would not be appearing on the network and would only feature on NBC, as many of its top anchors followed Todd’s lead in sounding off in public.

    Amid confusion over the capacity in which McDaniel would appear, Rachel Maddow took the opportunity to also take a shot at her bosses.

    She said that MSNBC bosses had approved the hiring, but when faced with outrage, they then walked back the possibility of her translating over from NBC.

    Maddow said company executives had been attempting to ‘muddy that up in the press’ and make it appear they hadn’t caved to pressure.

    ‘I can assure that, that is what happened at MSNBC,’ she said.

    Following this, ‘Morning Joe’ hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski vowed to not have McDaniel on their show, as Brzezinski said she would not welcome ‘a person who used her position of power to be an anti-democracy election denier.’

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    Search Ends: All Six Workers Missing After Bridge Collapse Are Presumed Dead

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    The U.S. Coast Guard suspended search-and-rescue operations for the six construction workers missing since a Baltimore bridge collapsed early Tuesday, an “unthinkable tragedy” that will have a significant impact on commerce, traffic and transportation beyond Maryland.

    It’s now a recovery operation, according to Maryland State Police.

    “We do not believe that we are going to find any of these individuals still alive,” Coast Guard Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath said.

    Tuesday afternoon, Brawner Builders Executive Vice President Jeffrey Pritzker said the missing employees were presumed to have died given the water’s depth and the amount of time that had passed since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed.

    “This was so completely unforeseen,” Pritzker said. “We don’t know what else to say. We take such great pride in safety, and we have cones and signs and lights and barriers and flaggers. But we never foresaw that the bridge would collapse.”

    The company didn’t name the employees, but María del Carmen Castellón told Telemundo 44 her husband, 49-year-old Miguel Luna, is one of them.

    While access to the disaster zone is restricted, family members like Castellón were able to get in while they waited for news.

    “They only tell us that we have to wait, that for now, they can’t give us information,” she said earlier in the day. “[We feel] devastated, devastated because our heart is broken, because we don’t know if they’ve rescued them yet. We’re just waiting to hear any news.“

    According to Jesús Campos, who worked alongside some of the victims for Brawner Builders for years, the men came from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and became part of the community in Dundalk and Highlandtown.

    As night fell, a somber Maryland Gov. Wes Moore expressed compassion for the families of those lost.

    “I can’t imagine how painful today has been for these families, how painful these hours,” he said. “Even though we’ve transitioned from a search and rescue to now a recovery mission, we will use every asset to make sure they find a sense of closure.”

    The crew was repairing potholes in the middle of the bridge’s span when a cargo ship hit it about 1:30 a.m. and crumbled the bridge.

    Rescuers pulled two workers from the Patapsco River. One was hospitalized and released hours later.

    Multiple vehicles also fell into the water, although authorities don’t think anyone was inside them.

    At a 3:30 p.m. news conference, Moore and U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin held out hope for the families.

    “This is still very much an active search-and-rescue mission,” Moore said.

    The ship is owned by Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd., which said all crew members, including the two pilots, were accounted for and there were no reports of injuries involving anyone who was on board.

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    Judge Issues Gag Order on Trump in Hush Money Trial

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    The judge in Donald Trump’s criminal hush money case in New York has granted the Manhattan district attorney’s request for a limited gag order on the former president.

    The order, by Judge Juan Merchan, restricts Trump’s public statements about witnesses and others.

    Statements made by Trump about witnesses, prosecutors, judges and others tied to his criminal and civil cases “were threatening, inflammatory, denigrating” and represent “a sufficient risk to the administration of justice,” Judge Merchan said Tuesday in deciding to impose the partial gag order.

    “The consequences of those statements included not only fear on the part of the individual targeted, abut also the assignment of increased security resources to investigate threats and protect the individuals and family members thereof,” Merchan said.

    The order prevents Trump from making public statements about witnesses in the hush money case, prospective jurors, members of the court staff and their families, and lawyers other than Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

    Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 presidential election. The former president has denied all wrongdoing.

    The partial gag order follows Trump’s disparaging remarks about Cohen, Merchan, and Merchan’s daughter after the judge on Monday rejected Trump’s bid for a delay in the trial and set the trial’s start date for April 15.

    “Given that the eve of trial is upon us, it is without question that the immanency of the risk of harm is now paramount,” the judge said in his ruling Tuesday.

    Cohen, in a statement released following Tuesday’s order, said, “I want to thank Judge Merchan for imposing the gag order as I have been under relentless assault from Donald’s MAGA supporters.”

    Also Tuesday, Trump again sought to delay the trial, seeking a new delay based on “exceptionally prejudicial pretrial publicity.”

    Trump’s attorneys argued in a court filing that “potential jurors in Manhattan have been exposed to huge amounts of biased and unfair media coverage relating to this case,” particularly, they said, the new documentary about Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

    Defense attorneys did not say when the trial should start — only that it should not begin “until the prejudicial press coverage abates.”

    “President Trump’s constitutional right to a fair trial is at stake,” defense attorney Todd Blanche argued. “Many of the potential jurors already wrongfully believe that President Trump is guilty.”

    Jury selection for the trial is currently scheduled to get underway April 15 in New York City.

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    Diddy’s Alleged “Drug Mule” Arrested as Feds Intercept Rap Mogul’s Private Jet in Miami

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    Rapper Diddy’s alleged “drug mule” was arrested at a Miami airport after federal agents raided the singer’s Florida and California homes.

    Brendon Paul, 25, was arrested Monday at Opa Locka Airport after the feds intercepted a private plane he was about to board with Diddy.

    He was booked on one count of possession of suspected cocaine and suspected marijuana edibles, according to a police report obtained by The Post.

    Diddy was spotted at the same airport at 3 p.m. Monday talking on his phone and pacing, pictures showed. He has not been arrested or questioned by federal authorities at this stage.

    The drugs were found inside Paul’s travel bags, according to the arrest paperwork. He was arrested after tests confirmed they were narcotics and the report said he has since been bailed out of jail.

    The federal officers who found the drugs in Paul’s bag were working in conjunction with Homeland Security — who raided Diddy’s homes on Monday — and Border Patrol.

    Paul was alleged to be a “drug mule” mule in Rodney Jones’ lawsuit against Diddy, whose real name is Sean Combs.

    The lawsuit alleges Paul “acquires and distributes Mr. Combs guns and drugs.” However, the alleged drugs found in his bag Monday have not been linked to the rapper.

    Combs has vehmently denied all the allegations against him on social media and in a statement through his lawyer.

    Following Paul’s arrest and the raids it is not believed Diddy left the country.

    At the time of Paul’s arrest they had been boarding a different private jet to Diddy’s main one, which had flown from Los Angeles to Antigua in the Caribbean on Monday without him aboard.

    At least four people have been interviewed by agents regarding sex trafficking claims made against Diddy and more interview are expected, according to Rolling Stone.

    Homeland Security Investigations Human Trafficking Task Force raided his homes Monday after a search warrant was issued by the Southern District of New York, sources told The Post.

    “Earlier today, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York executed law enforcement actions as part of an ongoing investigation, with assistance from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami, and our local law enforcement partners. We will provide further information as it becomes available,” HSI told The Post.

    Combs came under fire last year after his ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura sued him, alleging she experienced years of sexual abuse from the rapper. The case was settled the day after she filed.

    In recent months, Diddyh has been hit with other lawsuits accusing him of sexual abuse, which he has also denied.

    “Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth,” he wrote on Instagram.

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