Salem News Channel

President Trump used a Fort Bragg appearance on Friday to praise U.S. Special Forces for last month's raid that removed Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. But his visit also felt at times more like a political rally than an official trip to fete the military. Trump even called Michael Whatley, a Republican Senate candidate in North Carolina, to the stage. Trump also told troops and their families that the operation against Maduro shows America’s true military might, and makes enemies fear the U.S.

Read More...

A grand jury indicted an Arizona man on two counts of first degree felony murder and dozens of other charges stemming from a state helicopter crash that killed the pilot and a trooper during a shootout between the defendant and police, authorities said Friday. Terrell Storey, 50, fired on officers from multiple rooftops in a Flagstaff residential neighborhood over almost two hours on the night of Feb. 4, police said. He was captured about the same time as the helicopter crash and hospitalized for gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening. Trooper paramedic Hunter Bennett, 28, and pilot Robert Skankey, 61, were killed. The indictment does not specify whether Storey fired at the helicopter with the semiautomatic long rifle that police said he was using. The cause of the crash remains under investigation by federal authorities. Coconino County Attorney Ammon Barker said Friday that he anticipates Storey will be arraigned on Feb. 23 but declined further comment on the facts of the case. The indictment names as victims 25 law enforcement officers who responded to the scene and people who live in homes in the area. The indictment totals 60 criminal counts, including the two felony murder charges for the deaths of Bennett and Skankey. Other charges include aggravated assault, burglary disorderly conduct and endangerment. Storey remained hospitalized Friday, said Jon Paxton with the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office. He's being held on a $5 million bond and is represented by the Coconino County Public Defender’s Office. The Associated Press left a voicemail message for Public Defender Jennifer Stock. The confrontation that led to the helicopter crash began when officers responded to a domestic violence call, according to Flagstaff Police Chief Sean Connolly. As the officers spoke with the victim in the front yard, Storey shot at them from the back of the residence with a semiautomatic rifle, Connolly said. A protracted gunbattle ensued, with the suspect “hopping from roof to roof” in the neighborhood while shooting at officers, the chief said. The helicopter crew had been playing a common role, helping officers on the ground. Before crashing, the helicopter was making a pass back to the shootout scene when it slowed to almost a hover about 1,000 feet (300 meters) over a hilltop, according to public flight-path data. Skankey was a longtime resident of Kingman, Arizona, and had been hired by the Arizona Department of Public Safety in May 2021. He previously served in the U.S. Marine Corps and was married with four children. Bennett was an honors graduate of Arizona State University and the top graduate of his 2023 Arizona Law Enforcement Academy class. He transferred to an air rescue unit in 2024 and months later married his high school sweetheart, officials said. Barker said in a statement announcing the indictment that his office was “committed to pursuing this case with the diligence and care it requires.” “Our hearts remain with the families of Hunter Bennett and Robert Skankey, and with all the families impacted by this incident,” Barker said.

Read More...

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon pleaded not guilty on Friday in a criminal case stemming from his coverage of a protest at a Minnesota church against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Lemon entered the courthouse in St. Paul on Friday afternoon wearing a suit and jacket. On his way in, he clapped his hands and waved to supporters, but did not respond to questions from reporters. Lemon, now an independent journalist, livestreamed a protest against Trump's deployment of thousands of armed immigration agents into Democratic-governed Minnesota's biggest cities. The protest disrupted a January 18 service at Cities Church in St. Paul. He was charged with conspiring to deprive others of their civil rights and violating a law that has been used to crack down on demonstrations at abortion clinics but also forbids obstructing access to houses of worship. Lemon's lawyer has called the case an attack on First Amendment free speech rights. Trump has frequently lashed out at the media, stripping journalists of access-granting credentials and suing some news outlets over their coverage of him. The president praised the Justice Department for bringing the charges against Lemon, calling the disruption of the church service a "horrible thing." Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a January 30 social media video that prosecutors will come after anyone who threatens the "sacred right" to worship freely and safely. Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Minneapolis and other U.S. cities in January to denounce an immigration crackdown in which federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens. Trump has since agreed to end his deportation surge in Minnesota, with many agents set to return to their home states over the next week. Organizers of the Cities Church protest told Lemon they chose the church because they believed a senior pastor there was working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In a livestream archived on his YouTube channel, Lemon can be seen meeting with and interviewing the activists before they go to the church. He then records the disruption inside and interviews congregants, protesters and a pastor, who asks Lemon and the protesters to leave. Independent local journalist Georgia Fort was also arrested and charged with the same crimes. Fort has denied wrongdoing and said she was reporting on the protest, not participating. She is scheduled to enter a plea on February 17. Lemon spent 17 years at CNN, becoming one of its most recognizable personalities, and frequently criticizes Trump in his YouTube broadcasts. Lemon was fired by CNN in 2023 after making sexist on-air comments for which he later apologized.

Read More...

Josh opens the show by breaking down what he calls a historic move by the Trump administration to roll back several Obama-era EPA regulations. He explains why supporters see the decision as a major win and why it’s sparking intense backlash from critics on the Left. He’s then joined by E.J. Antoni, Chief Economist at The Heritage Foundation, to discuss the latest economic headlines and unpack the newest inflation numbers. Antoni offers insight into where the economy may be headed and what it means for Americans moving forward. Later, Jay Richards, Vice President of Social and Domestic Policy at The Heritage Foundation, joins Josh to react to this week’s religious liberty commission hearing and the controversy surrounding it.

Read More...

The Trump administration sued Harvard University on Friday, accusing it of failing to comply with a federal investigation and seeking documents to determine whether the university had illegally considered race in its admissions process. The move comes less than two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration was seeking $1 billion from Harvard to settle probes into school policies, after a news report that said Trump had dropped his demand for a payment from the Ivy League school. A Harvard spokesperson said the university is committed to following the law and has been responding to the government’s inquiries in good faith. “The university will continue to defend itself against these retaliatory actions which have been initiated simply because Harvard refused to surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights in response to unlawful government overreach," the spokesperson said. Trump's administration has been threatening to withhold federal funds from Harvard and several other universities over issues including pro-Palestinian protests against Israel's war in Gaza, campus diversity and transgender policies. The Justice Department said on Friday in a press release that Harvard had "repeatedly slow-walked the pace of production and refused to produce pertinent data and documents," including admissions policies and correspondence related to banned diversity, equity and inclusion programs. In the complaint filed in Boston federal court, Justice Department lawyers said the documents requested will help assess whether Harvard is complying with a 2023 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court which said that race-conscious college admissions programs are unconstitutional. The Justice Department said it brought the lawsuit "solely to compel Harvard to produce documents relating to any consideration of race in admission" and "does not accuse Harvard of any discriminatory conduct, nor does it seek monetary damages or the revocation of federal funding." The administration last year attempted to cancel hundreds of grants awarded to Harvard researchers on the grounds the school failed to do enough to address harassment of Jewish students on its campus, prompting Harvard to sue. Trump's attempts to freeze federal funds for Harvard have faced legal resistance and the two sides have failed to reach a deal thus far.

Read More...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was on track for a partial shutdown when its annual funding expires at midnight EST on Friday, after Republicans and Democrats failed to reach a deal on immigration enforcement reforms. While some "non-essential" workers were expected to be put on leave, the Trump administration's intensive migrant deportation operations were likely to continue, along with most other domestic federal security programs. Republican President Donald Trump, in remarks to reporters on Thursday, attacked congressional Democrats' push for new constraints on immigration agents, underscoring a gulf between the two parties that could point to a prolonged shutdown. Asked on Friday whether he would personally be involved in DHS shutdown talks, told reporters at the White House: "I will," but gave no other details. "We're talking," he said. "We have to protect law enforcement," including ICE and CBP agents, he added. On Thursday, Trump accused Democrats of wanting to put agents "in a lot of danger." Democrats argue they want federal immigration agents to abide by the same rules guiding police forces across the country that are aimed at protecting the public from overzealous law enforcement activities. Even without an injection of new money through September 30, DHS's controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection operations have a separate funding stream of over $135 billion, the result of Republicans' "One Big Beautiful Bill" enacted July 4. Included in the DHS spending bill that is stuck in Congress, which has begun a 10-day recess, is funding for the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Coast Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA, however, will have $7 billion available during the shutdown in its disaster relief fund, which experts say is roughly enough to last for two months. The shutdown beginning on Saturday comes on the heels of a record-long, 43-day government disruption late last year because of a battle in Congress over extending a federal health insurance subsidy. Democrats in Congress have refused to vote for a fiscal 2026 DHS funding bill until Republicans go along with a series of reforms to tighten controls over ICE and CBP. Late on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, told reporters there had been some progress toward a deal on at least one of the Democrats' proposals: requiring ICE and CBP agents to remove the masks they wear while seeking migrants for arrest and deportation. Public outrage over those masks and other aggressive actions against protesters in Minneapolis -- including the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti -- and other U.S. cities prompted Democrats' call for reforms. Republicans had also hoped that a DHS announcement on Thursday that it was ending its deportation surge operation in Minneapolis would have persuaded Democrats to back the annual spending bill for DHS. They were wrong, as only one of the 47-member Senate Democratic caucus voted for the bill on Thursday. On Friday, Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire told CNN in an interview that even with the ICE-CBP withdrawal from Minneapolis, there were no guarantees that DHS agents would not now move to other cities, as Trump has hinted, or stop searching people's homes without judicial warrants and detaining U.S. citizens. "That's what people are so upset about, and this needs to be fixed," said Shaheen, who is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Read More...

President Trump has pardoned five former NFL players. The players were convicted for crimes that include perjury, counterfeiting, and drug trafficking. The White House pardon adviser said the president is committed to “second chances.” Joe Klecko, Nate Newton. Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry and the late Billy Cannon were granted the clemency.

Read More...

Are Politics Involved in the Nancy Guthrie Case?

Read More...

Josh Hawley and Minnesota AG Keith Ellison Got Into A Sparing Match

Read More...

Trump's Low 2.4% Inflation Rate Smashes Expectations As Mainstream Media Resists

Read More...

Dems Divided Over Voter ID Laws Despite The Numbers

Read More...

Bye, Bye Gallup Polls. Public Opinion Tracking In 2026 With Chris Wilson, CEO of Eyes Over.

Read More...

Trump Rolls Back Obama's 'Endangerment' Rule With Daniel Turner, Founder & Executive Director of Power the Future (PowertheFuture.com).

Read More...

Obama Forced Expensive Inefficiency Onto Americans

Read More...

The Importance Of Health & Wellness With Dr. Ashley Lucas, Owner and Founder of PHD Weight Loss, Host of the Dr. Ashley Show | MyPHDWeightLoss.com | @PHDWeightLoss on Facebook + Insta | CALL 864-644-1900 AND SAY “STIGALL”

Read More...

The United States is sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East as tensions with Iran continue to escalate, U.S. officials told news outlets Friday. The USS Gerald R. Ford — the world’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier — is being redirected from the Caribbean Sea to join the USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group already stationed in the region. The move will position two U.S. carriers and their accompanying warships in the Middle East amid heightened geopolitical pressure. Officials say the redeployment is part of broader efforts by the Trump administration to increase military presence near Iran as President Donald Trump weighs possible military options and pushes for a deal over Tehran’s nuclear program. The Gerald R. Ford’s fighters and escort ships had been operating in the Caribbean. Its new orders underscore a rapid shift in U.S. naval focus as diplomatic talks with Iran continue alongside warnings from Washington about the consequences of failed negotiations.

Read More...

A federal judge in Illinois has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from rescinding $600 million in public health grants allocated to four Democratic-led states — California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota — while a legal challenge moves forward. The states sued after the Department of Health and Human Services announced plans to pull the funding, which supports programs that track disease outbreaks and study health outcomes in LGBTQ+ communities and communities of color. U.S. District Judge Manish Shah granted a 14-day temporary restraining order Thursday, writing that the states showed they would “suffer irreparable harm” if the cuts took effect immediately, keeping the funds flowing from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the meantime. Administration officials have said the changes reflect revised CDC priorities, but state leaders argue the reductions are politically motivated in retaliation for opposition to federal policies.

Read More...

Two people were killed and another was wounded Thursday night in a shooting at the Hugine Suites residential complex on the campus of South Carolina State University, authorities said. The university issued a campus lockdown around 9:15 p.m. after reports of gunfire, and the restriction remained in place for nearly eight hours before being lifted early Friday morning. University officials have not yet released the identities of those who died or provided details about the injured person’s condition, according to a statement. Classes were canceled Friday, and law enforcement officers, including the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), continued to patrol the campus and investigate the incident. The shooting comes a little more than four months after two separate shootings during homecoming celebrations in October near the same residential area, one of which killed a 19-year-old woman.

Read More...

Residents of an affordable housing complex near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland say they’ve been forced to wear gas masks inside their own homes to protect themselves from tear gas and other chemical agents deployed by federal agents during protests, according to a lawsuit filed against the federal government. Tenants at the Gray’s Landing apartment complex — located just across the street from the ICE building — have taped windows, placed wet towels under doors and reported children sleeping in closets to avoid the effects of the chemicals, court filings show. They describe symptoms including difficulty breathing, coughing and headaches. The property manager and several residents are asking a federal judge to limit the use of tear gas and other chemical munitions by the Department of Homeland Security and ICE during protests outside the facility, arguing the tactics have violated their rights and made their homes unsafe. Federal authorities say such devices are deployed in response to violent or obstructive crowds, but the lawsuit contends the exposures have been frequent and indiscriminate, affecting vulnerable residents including seniors, veterans and people with disabilities. The case comes amid broader concern about federal crowd-control tactics in cities across the country.

Read More...

Federal prosecutors in Minneapolis have asked a judge to drop felony assault charges against two Venezuelan men accused of attacking an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer during a January incident, court documents show. In a filing Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota said “newly discovered evidence” in the case against Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis is “materially inconsistent with the allegations” outlined in the original complaint. Prosecutors are seeking dismissal with prejudice, meaning the charges cannot be refiled. The charges stemmed from an altercation on Jan. 14 in north Minneapolis, where an ICE officer shot Sosa-Celis in the leg. Initial statements from the Department of Homeland Security said the men attacked the officer with a broom and snow shovel during a traffic stop. However, video and eyewitness accounts later contradicted the government’s version of events, prompting prosecutors to re-evaluate the case. The motion to dismiss comes amid intense scrutiny of federal immigration enforcement tactics in Minnesota, where high-profile shootings of civilians by federal agents have drawn protests and legal challenges.

Read More...