CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½ – ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½ ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½ Washington's Top ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½ Sun, 26 Jul 2026 02:47:25 +0000 en-US hourly 1 /wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Wtop²ÝÝ®´«Ã½Logo_500x500-150x150.png CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½ – ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½ ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½ 32 32 Cyclospora outbreak dubbed ‘lettuce-gate’ as health concerns spread across U.S. /health-fitness/2026/07/cyclospora-outbreak-dubbed-lettuce-gate-as-health-concerns-spread-across-u-s/ Sun, 26 Jul 2026 01:00:05 +0000 /?p=29462840&preview=true&preview_id=29462840

As the  linked to iceberg lettuce spread to , Americans have dubbed the health concern “lettuce-gate” on social media, and they aren’t convinced the situation is under control.

Days after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.  about the parasitic illness, saying that the source of the outbreak has been identified and companies involved have implemented a recall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced hundreds more have been infected with cyclospora — bringing the nationwide total to 1,947 as of Friday.

At least 98 hospitalizations have been reported, but no deaths have been reported, according to the CDC.

“Is anyone else, like, deathly afraid to eat lettuce right now?” one person asked in a video posted on TikTok.

Health officials believe the affected iceberg lettuce came from a Taylor Farms facility located in central Mexico.

In a new statement on Saturday, a spokesperson for Taylor Farms said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not confirmed positive results from cyclospora testing of its product samples as of Friday.

“When questions were raised about the source of the recent Cyclospora outbreak, we immediately removed all potentially implicated product from the marketplace, and out of an abundance of caution we issued an even broader recall of all iceberg lettuce sourced from the region,” the spokesperson said. 

Taylor Farms also said it voluntarily suspended all iceberg lettuce sourcing and production from central Mexico. The company supplied its lettuce to Taco Bell, which said it removed the affected products from its restaurants.

The Mexican government on Friday also said its tests found no evidence of the parasite at Taylor Farms. The country’s Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks said it tested 10 lettuce samples as well as four water samples.

More confusion sparked last week when the FDA announced that a sample of lettuce from Taylor Farms that had tested positive for cyclospora was a . But the FDA said Monday that its investigation and data “continue to converge on shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms locations in central Mexico.”

While illnesses have been confirmed in Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, , Indiana, Kentucky, , Ohio and West Virginia, health officials suspect multiple outbreaks across 41 states, with more than 4,100 laboratory-confirmed cases and 7,400 suspected cases since May 1.

The number of confirmed cases is expected to rise despite the recall, due to the fact that it can take as long as six weeks for federal and state officials to determine if a sick person is part of an outbreak, the CDC said.

Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that typically infects people through contaminated food or water. It causes a gastrointestinal illness called cyclosporiasis, which can result in symptoms like severe and sometimes “explosive” diarrhea. Symptoms can take up to two weeks to start.

“I don’t think we can say that this is under control yet,” Dr. Ulysses Wu, the chief epidemiologist for Hartford HealthCare, told CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½. “Even if this lettuce was implicated, it doesn’t mean that other produce is not implicated as well.”

The FDA on Thursday reported a new cyclospora outbreak linked to unspecified products. It comes as health officials in North Carolina say they are investigating more than 560 cases there since May 1 that are possibly linked to parsley, cilantro and lettuce.

Source

]]>
Trump speaks at White House Correspondents’ Dinner, in redo after April attack /dc/2026/07/trump-expected-to-attend-white-house-correspondents-dinner-redo-after-april-attack/ Sat, 25 Jul 2026 13:00:12 +0000 /?p=29459674&preview=true&preview_id=29459674

Washington — President Donald Trump cracked jokes at reporters and politicians during take two of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Friday night, after Ìýwas upended when an armed assailant rushed through a security checkpoint and the U.S. Secret Service opened fire on the gunman.

Three months after the suspect was stopped outside the Washington Hilton’s ballroom, Mr. Trump attended the White House Correspondents’ Association’s do-over of the dinner at a different Washington hotel — the Waldorf Astoria, which was once a Trump Organization hotel.

The event highlighted the president’s sometimes-tense relationship with the press. Mr. Trump has sparred with many of the journalists who spoke or accepted awards during the dinner — though he didn’t visibly express frustration while seated on stage, and he shook the award-winners’ hands. The president smiled as CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer described the from The Wall Street Journal’s reporting on Mr. Trump’s past relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

“This has not been an easy evening,” Mr. Trump later joked during his speech, referring to the award-winners.

Mr. Trump said the assembled journalists included “a lot of people that I like, some I don’t like at all, but I respect most of them.” He needled and joked about the press, though he told the audience he scrapped some sharp-tongued material that he was planning to deliver in April: “I was going to rip people,” he said, calling it “such a letdown.” At times, the president got few reactions from the crowd when jabbing his political opponents or delivering rally-style material.

At other points, the president joked about his penchant for drawing press attention. “You people have no idea how lucky you are. When I’m gone, you’re all going to be broke. Your business model is going to be finished,” Mr. Trump said, later donning a “Trump 2028” hat in what he cast as a bid to help out the news business.

Weijia Jiang, the correspondents’ association’s most recent past president and CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½’ senior White House correspondent, said at one point during the event: “There is … an existential difference between criticizing the press and trying to undermine it. One is healthy and it makes all of us better. The other is exactly what the founders hoped to prevent.”Ìý

Later in the event, mentalistÌý performed a set in which he appeared to correctly guess the amount of money in Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s wallet (it was $85).

Jiang told Pearlman earlier in the evening: “We can’t wait to see what you reveal, but you can skip the part where you guess the president’s phone number because already have it.”

Secret Service officials that nationwide threats have reached an unprecedented level, with agents opening roughly 10,000 protective intelligence cases since January — a nearly 40% increase from the same period last year. The Secret Service had prepared for the makeup dinner, and Secret Service Director Sean Curran told reporters in a briefing Wednesday that every venue is reevaluated before every presidential visit.

“We will always evaluate every site, and right now we have an advance team there, and they will take back, and they will set up a plan to set that site up for success, just like we did at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Hilton,” Curran said. “That is a success.”

On Friday night, the White House Correspondents’ Association presented an award for exceptional service to the Secret Service officer who was struck in his protective vest at the April dinner, along with the entire Washington Hilton staff.

“I do think their bravery should be recognized, and I’m really looking forward to giving out those two awards,” Jiang said.

Jiang said Friday night’s program was “very much the same” as April’s, although the size was smaller.

“There are enhanced security measures,” Jiang . “We have a private security firm that has worked closely with Secret Service. There are new measures that every single dinner guest has to take.”

Attendees had to present a unique QR code with a government-issued photo ID to get through ticketing, and go through layers of security to enter the ballroom. The association worked extensively with the Secret Service.

“It was incredibly important to have the safety of our guests to be the top priority,” she said.

Source

]]>
Secret Service warns of high threat levels before White House Correspondents’ Dinner /dc/2026/07/secret-service-warns-of-high-threat-levels-before-white-house-correspondents-dinner/ Fri, 24 Jul 2026 13:00:00 +0000 /?p=29454983&preview=true&preview_id=29454983

Days ahead of the rescheduled , taking place Friday night, Secret Service officials warned nationwide threats have reached an unprecedented level — with agents opening roughly 10,000 protective intelligence cases since January, a nearly 40% increase from the same period last year.

“The numbers are numbers that this agency and certainly I have never seen in my 24-year career,” U.S. Secret Service Director Sean Curran said Wednesday.

Officials who briefed reporters also said the agency has carried out nearly 10 times as many mental health-related interventions involving those making threats to protected individuals or venues, compared to last year. That includes both voluntary and involuntary commitments and efforts by agents and officers to work with relatives and mental-health providers to stabilize people in crisis.

Secret Service officials attributed the uptick to a combination of online threats, lone actors, ideological grievances, foreign threats and cases involving mental-health concerns. Officials say most threats now originate online, rather than through handwritten letters or other traditional forms of communication.

“The environment has become very volatile, and that’s just across the board,” Curran said. He added, “The threat picture and environment is as large as I’ve ever seen it.”

The agency treats reported threats as potentially credible threats until investigators can determine whether a person has the intent, means and ability to carry out targeted violence, according to the Secret Service officials.

A person doesn’t have to make a direct threat to draw the agency’s attention. The threat assessment process relies on behavior, rather than a specific demographic profile. Agents look for potential warning signs like obsessive fixation, escalating grievances, stalking, harassment, paranoia, delusions, suicidality, significant behavioral changes and an unusual interest in violence.

Washington Hilton security during first 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Curran defended the security plan used at the during the , where an was stopped at a screening checkpoint outside the event.

When pressed by CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½, he said the magnetometers were approximately 120 yards from the podium and argued that stopping the individual at the checkpoint demonstrated that the security system worked as intended.

“We have to start and end our perimeter somewhere,” Curran said. “If it were up to me, I’d love to end it at the bridge, but that’s going to inconvenience a lot of people,” he added in an apparent reference to the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge in Washington, DC. 

“We’re talking almost 120 yards from magnetometers to the podium,” he added. “That’s over a football field.”

Curran said the Secret Service anticipates that potentially dangerous individuals may reach screening locations, which is why checkpoints and specialized response teams are positioned there.

“We do expect bad people to show up,” Curran said. “It’s just a reality of where we are.”

He added: “We do expect things to happen at the magnetometers, unfortunately, but that’s why they are there. And that’s where it happened, and that’s where it ended. So it did work. The system worked.”

Curran said the Secret Service must balance standoff distances and other security requirements against the effects of closing streets, hotels and businesses around an event.

Asked about preparations for Friday’s rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which will be held at the Washington, D.C., , Curran said the agency was not approaching it as a “redo,” but as a separate presidential visit requiring a new assessment.

“If the president goes to the same site 100 times, we will send an advance team there 100 times, because things change,” Curran said. “The environment changes. The actual footprint will change.”

Iran threats

Asked by CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½ about the new , Curran declined to discuss specific protective measures connected to or decisions involving presidential transportation, saying the agency would not disclose its operational methods.

“We’re never going to get into methods or means and how we do business,” Curran said. “I don’t want to tip our hand to the enemy.”

Secret Service deputy director Matt Quinn said the well-known Iranian threat against President Trump is only part of the intelligence incorporated into the agency’s planning.

“I don’t think it’s any secret that it’s been in the media that Iran has publicly said they want to kill President Trump,” Quinn said, adding the Iranian threat and additional information the agency cannot disclose are factored into Secret Service protective planning “all the time.”

Drones: “The threat’s real”

Quinn said the Secret Service is highly concerned about the potential use of drones against protectees and protected sites.

Asked how concerned the agency is about drones, Quinn responded: “Very.”

“The threat’s real,” he said. “We look at . We look at just basic intelligence. It’s a matter of time before it comes to the United States.”

Quinn said the agency is deploying advanced drone detection and mitigation systems at the White House and at other protected locations.

“No one in the federal government or law enforcement is doing more to proactively get after the drone threat than the Secret Service,” he said.

Quinn said the White House is currently “very safe” from a drone attack but acknowledged that detection and mitigation technology must continue to evolve as drones become more difficult to identify and disrupt.

“The threat continues to get tougher and tougher,” Quinn said, citing fiber-optic-controlled and “dark” drones. “It’s a constant chase to keep up with it.”

Curran said counter-drone assets travel with the president, and some of the systems have been used on American soil for the first time.

“We will use anything and everything,” Curran said. “There’s nothing that we aren’t willing to do.”

Quinn acknowledged that the agency previously failed to provide the appropriate level of counter-drone resources when Trump was a former president.

“At that time, a former president wasn’t getting the resources that they potentially should have been getting,” Quinn said. “I just own it for the Secret Service. That’s not happening anymore.”

Operational demands for massive events

Secret Service officials said the agency has conducted nearly 3,000 protective visits during the calendar year, including domestic and international travel by its protectees and protection for visiting foreign heads of state.

Agents recently screened approximately 100,000 attendees, employees and guests at MetLife Stadium for the ; secured the July 4th celebration on the National Mall; protected a at the White House; and handled a presidential appearance at during the NBA championship series.

Officials said much of the work occurs before a protectee arrives and includes protective intelligence assessments, counter-surveillance operations, technical security measures, logistics and coordination with federal, state and local partners.

Curran said improving communication with field personnel has been one of his central priorities. Major protective operations now routinely use unified command posts where the Secret Service and partner agencies work together and share information in real time, Curran said.

“We’re all talking,” Curran said. “We’re all in the same room, ensuring that what one person hears, everybody hears.”

Advanced threat interdiction: Stopping attackers before they reach the White House

Secret Service officials said the agency has established an “advanced threat interdiction” capability designed to identify and stop potential attackers before they reach the White House, presidential events or other protected locations.

The agency is using technology and its legal authorities to locate both people who make threats and individuals connected to previous cases, and to determine whether they may be traveling toward Washington or another protected site.

They said their aim is to push the agency’s security aperture outward and intercept a threat before it reaches the immediate perimeter of a protected location.

Officials said tips from relatives and members of the public remain critical because individuals planning violence may not make a direct threat or otherwise come to the attention of law enforcement.

They said it was a concerned family member’s report that was a key factor in uncovering an alleged plot targeting a UFC event at the White House. The family member had noticed concerning behavior, online statements and the accumulation of weapons, officials said.

The agency receives potential threat information through a variety of sources: social-media analysis, federal and local law enforcement, fusion centers, government agencies, relatives and concerned citizens. 

Source

]]>
ICE detentions hit highest monthly total in June since crackdown began /national/2026/07/ice-detentions-hit-highest-monthly-total-in-june-since-crackdown-began/ Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:21:46 +0000 /?p=29453042&preview=true&preview_id=29453042

More than 43,000 people were booked into immigration detention in June, the highest monthly total since President Trump returned to office, newly released Immigration and Customs Enforcement data shows. 

The uptick follows from the White House on ICE to increase arrests, with agents being instructed to target 2,000 arrests per day, sources inside ICE previously told CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½. June’s arrest total averages out to 1,438 arrests per day, and data for the first 11 days of July averages to 1,593 arrests per day. A DHS spokesperson said ICE does not have arrest quotas.

ICE arrests have continued without the large-scale, highly publicized operations like those previously carried out in Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities. Monthly arrest totals declined after the Minnesota crackdown, , wound down in February, but have since rebounded.

Even as ICE officers’ fatal shootings of two men during vehicle stops in and this month brought a wave of on immigration enforcement tactics, administration officials have indicated that the deportation efforts will continue. 

“ICE isn’t leaving the streets at all,” border czar Tom Homan said on Fox ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½ on Monday.

“Numbers were down for a few months because the department was ,” he told reporters after the interview, referring to a congressional standoff earlier this year over .

Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin indicated at his that his goal was to shift to an enforcement strategy that would keep the agency out of daily news headlines. 

Speaking to reporters on Friday, he reiterated that goal and defended the agency’s enforcement efforts, boasting that arrests are “hitting single-day records every single day.” 

“I’ve turned down the temperature of the stove to try to get it correct without boiling over,” he said. “When I say turn down the temperature, I turn down the temperature with you guys. We’re turning up the heat on the streets. We’re out there working harder than we ever have because we’ve empowered our law enforcement to do their job.”

In the aftermath of the recent shootings, ICE agents were ordered to immediately on most vehicle stops. But President Trump quickly posted to Truth Social the order, calling vehicle stops one of the agency’s “most important and effective Crime Fighting tools.” 

“The president made it clear this morning: He wants ICE out there doing their job, and that’s what’s gonna happen,” Homan said in an with the Center for Immigration Studies on July 15, the same day as the president’s post.

Likely driven by the spike in arrests, the average number of people held in ICE detention also increased in June for the first time this year, the ICE data shows. 

An average of about 59,400 people were held in June, up from 58,200 in May. Data from the first 11 days of July shows an average of more than 65,600 people in detention. 

The detention population had in the months following of Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota in February, dropping from a peak of about 72,000 in January.

Arrests of non-criminals continue

Both victims in the Texas and Maine shootings were not the original targets of ICE operations. Such arrests are referred to as “collateral” arrests by DHS, and those detained in collateral arrests often lack criminal charges or convictions. 

Since President Trump’s deportation crackdown began, changes in the detained population have largely been driven by shifts in the number of people without criminal records being detained. 

Last year, as the detention population surged, those without criminal records were the in ICE detention. As the detention population declined in the first five months of this year, the non-criminal population fell by 36%, compared with a decrease of 3% among those with criminal convictions and 7% among those with pending criminal charges, the ICE data shows.

Now that the detention population is ticking upward, the non-criminal population is again seeing the largest increase. 

While the increase from May to June was more modest, at 3% among the non-criminal population and 1% among those with criminal records, data from the first 11 days of July show the average non-criminal detained population increasing by 20% from June, from nearly 22,000 to just over 26,000. Those with criminal convictions and pending criminal charges each increased by 5% over the same timeframe.  

The July 11 data shows that 29% had criminal convictions and 31% had pending criminal charges. Homan emphasized the combined total in his Fox ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½ interview.

“When it comes to immigration enforcement, the majority of people we are arresting, despite the lies being told by the left, are criminals,” he said.

Source

]]>
Taylor Farms lettuce sample was false positive for cyclospora, FDA says /food-restaurant/2026/07/taylor-farms-lettuce-sample-was-false-positive-for-cyclospora-fda-says/ Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:29:52 +0000 /?p=29446723&preview=true&preview_id=29446723

A sample of lettuce from Taylor Farms that had tested positive for was a false positive, the Food and Drug Administration said Sunday.

“Due to the complexity in detection of Cyclospora, FDA laboratory experts re-reviewed the sample results and have concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive,” the FDA said.

In the statement announcing the false positive, the FDA said that as of Sunday it had not found any “confirmed positive sample results for product testing for Cyclospora.”

Taylor Farms on Friday sourced from central Mexico after the lettuce had been linked to one of the largest outbreaks of cyclosporiasis in the U.S. in recent years.

“While the FDA traceback is indicating a specific independent farm, which represents less than 1% of the U.S.’s iceberg lettuce supply, as the potential source of the outbreak, we have removed all iceberg lettuce from the region indefinitely,” the company said Friday in aÌý.

Taylor Farms after the false positive was announced that, “Our thoughts remain with everyone who has fallen ill in this outbreak. We are committed to working with public health authorities as the ongoing outbreak investigation continues.”

On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified lettuceÌýÌýrestaurants as a source of the multistate outbreak, more than a month after cases first began to appear.

The iceberg lettuce was distributed to Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia, according to the CDC. Taco Bell said on Friday it had “completed removal of affected Taylor Farms lettuce from our restaurants.”

Walmart also announced over the weekend it had removed fourÌýÌýfrom its stores in more than two dozen states, but added there was “no indication that products sold in our stores are affected by the current Cyclospora investigations.”

The outbreak, first reported in May, has spread to 34 states and sickened more than 1,600 people, according to the CDC. However, the CDC’s tally lags behind state health departments, which have reported much larger numbers of cases. For instance, the Michigan Department of Health and Human ServicesÌýÌýmore than 5,000 confirmed cases as of Friday.

No deaths have been reported.

Cyclosporiasis is a food- and waterborneÌýÌýcaused by the cyclospora parasite, which causes long-lasting, watery and sometimes explosive diarrhea, according to public health experts.

Outbreaks typically occur in late spring and summer and have historically been linked to bagged salads, cilantro, basil, raspberries, snow peas and green onions.

Source

]]>
Mark Warner says he’ll vote against Trump pick Jay Clayton as DNI /government/2026/07/mark-warner-says-hell-vote-against-trump-pick-jay-clayton-as-dni/ Mon, 20 Jul 2026 09:08:45 +0000 /?p=29445467&preview=true&preview_id=29445467

Washington — Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said Sunday that he’ll vote against President Trump’s nomineeÌý as director of national intelligence, citing disappointment in his testimony at a confirmation hearing last week despite his previous optimism about the nominee.

“I’ve known Jay for a long time. I like Jay. I worked well with him when he was at the SEC. But I was bitterly disappointed by his performance in front of my committee,” .”

Clayton, who was the well-regarded leader of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in one of the highest-profile jurisdictions in the country, was nominated by Mr. Trump to replace Tulsi Gabbard. Clayton appeared beforeÌýÌýfor his confirmation hearing. Warner, the top Democrat on the committee, said he was disappointed in Clayton’s responses, “not just from my questions, but from many of my colleagues.”

During the hearing, Clayton was repeatedly asked by Democrats about the results of the 2020 election. And although Clayton acknowledged that former President Joe Biden was certified as president, and said that he is “not an election denier,” he evaded questions about who won the 2020 election.

Warner also pointed to Clayton’s response when he was asked about Gabbard’s presence at an FBI search of an elections hub in Fulton County, Georgia, earlier this year, saying he was “acting like he didn’t understand what Gabbard had done.”

“So I will be voting against Jay Clayton,” Warner said.

With a Republican majority on the panel, Warner noted that Clayton is still expected to advance out of committee — the next step before the nomination goes to the Senate floor. If he advances out of committee, he is expected to be confirmed given the GOP majority in the Senate.

Warner added that with the controversial acting director of national intelligence Bill Pulte currently in the role, “we’re a little rock-in-a-hard-place here.”

“I know Jay Clayton will probably get confirmed. I hope we see the Jay Clayton that I have known and have worked with,” Warner said. “The one thing I also know is, the absolute disaster we have right now with the acting DNI, Bill Pulte, who has no intelligence experience, who has nothing but loyalty to Trump.”

Warner pointed to Pulte’s issuance of several criminal referrals to the Justice Department alleging mortgage fraud by a number of Mr. Trump’s political foes, adding, “that is not the kind of person we want in as DNI.”

Warner’s comments come after he had praised Mr. Trump’s nomination of Clayton just weeks ago. In an appearance on “” last month, Warner said, “We will get Clayton, I hope, confirmed as quickly as possible.”

Source

]]>
Flights grounded at DC-area airport due to security concerns for Iraqi leader /local/2026/07/flights-grounded-for-hours-at-d-c-area-airport-due-to-security-concerns-for-iraqi-leader/ Wed, 15 Jul 2026 12:43:38 +0000 /?p=29432212&preview=true&preview_id=29432212

Flights were halted at Ronald Reagan National Airport for several hours on Tuesday, leading to over 100 canceled flights and cascading delays, due to security measures meant to protect the Iraqi prime minister during his visit to Washington, D.C., during the war with Iran, sources familiar with the situation told CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½.

Commercial flights were postponed from taking off or landing at the D.C.-area airport from 11 a.m. ET until around 3 p.m. Over 300 flights were delayed and at least 126 flights were canceled, according to the flight tracking site .

The disruptions took place in one of the most congested and tightly controlled airspaces in the country, where hundreds of daily commercial flights contend with military traffic and snake around federal buildings in Washington and northern Virginia.

Helicopter flights in the D.C. airspace have been limited since the between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter conducting a training mission.

Since , which killed 67 people, helicopter routes near the airport have been restricted and new rules have been put in place for helicopters taking off from the Pentagon for the transport of high-ranking military officials.

White House and Federal Aviation Administration officials shared timing updates during Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s visit in an effort to minimize the impact, a senior administration official said. They allowed some of the planes that were holding in the air to land at DCA and those on the ground to depart, the official said.

Spokespeople for the FAA and Department of Transportation declined to comment.

President Donald Trump hosted al-Zaidi, who was elected in May, to discuss the future of U.S.-Iraqi relations during his first visit to the United States.

Mr. Trump extended their meeting by inviting the Iraqi leader to lunch. “It wasn’t scheduled, but we are going to do it on the fly because we have a tremendous chemistry together,” Mr. Trump said Tuesday morning.

Al-Zaidi’s motorcade left the White House for the Pentagon at 1:30 p.m., later than expected, with a security helicopter circling overhead, traveling through DCA airspace.

He became prime minister after Mr. Trump for Iraq if a candidate who was seen as overly close to Iran won. The Iraqi leader has a with neighboring Iran, which has significant influence within Iraq. The country’s governmentÌý for Iraq’s powerful pro-Iranian militias to disarm by Sept. 30, when U.S. troops are scheduled to leave.

The U.S. war with Iran, now in its fourth month, has prompted security concerns both in the Middle East and domestically. Some that Iran has sought to take action in the U.S. in the past, sometimes tapping into a network of U.S.-based surrogates to attempt and against regime opponents.

The federal government has also warned of non-Iran-related threats, particularly in light of the recent assassination attempts against Mr. Trump.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth invited certain members of Congress to the Pentagon Tuesday night to brief them on the military’s proposed budget, sources familiar with the matter told CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½. The $1.5 trillion budget includes money for weapons and military capabilities, which would help the U.S. deal with critical threats.

Last month, the FBI said it foiled a using snipers and explosive-laden drones, later . Sources told CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½ last month that no actual drones had been recovered, and the idea of using drones in the alleged plot was believed to still be in the discussion-and-research phases.

Source

]]>
‘Miracle on the Hudson’ pilot, Capt. ‘Sully,’ shares Alzheimer’s diagnosis /health-fitness/2026/07/miracle-on-the-hudson-pilot-capt-sully-shares-alzheimers-diagnosis/ Tue, 14 Jul 2026 21:27:54 +0000 /?p=29430860&preview=true&preview_id=29430860

Capt. , who famously in 2009, shared Tuesday he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

“It is early stage. For now, this means a name may not come easily to me, I forget a story I have recently told, or I don’t sleep as well, but I am in the beginning of this long journey,” he wrote in on social media. His statement was first shared with .

Alzheimer’s is a brain condition that gradually causes problems with memory and other skills. It is the cause of dementia. There is no cure.

Sullenberger became a national hero when his quick thinking saved 155 people on board US Airways Flight 1549 on Jan. 15, 2009. Shortly after takeoff from New York’s LaGuardia Airport, both engines of the plane started to fail due to a bird strike. In less than four minutes, Sullenberger and his crew executed an emergency water landing in the Hudson River, after determining landing at an airport wasn’t feasible, according to . All passengers and crew members were then evacuated from the plane and rescued by first responders.

The landing would become known as the “Miracle on the Hudson” and was portrayed in the 2016 film titled “Sully.”

Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger
Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, with a photo of the “Miracle on the Hudson” landing, at the premiere of “Brace for Impact” on Jan. 5, 2010 in New York City.Theo Wargo/WireImage/Getty Images

Sullenberger, who went on to serve for years as an on-air expert for CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½, is an advocate for aviation safety.

Since his diagnosis, the retired pilot said he has learned how prevalent Alzheimer’s is. More than 7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s, according to the .

Sullenberger said he hopes that by sharing his diagnosis, others with the disease will also speak up.

“Over the years, when people would ask about the successful outcome of Flight 1549, I would say that ‘courage can be contagious,’ and on that day it helped everyone band together to get everyone off that airplane successfully,” he wrote. “Now we need that courage to battle this disease. I am now part of a larger community with many of you, and we will be courageous together.”

Source

]]>
New Library of Congress exhibit features rare draft of Declaration of Independence /local/2026/07/new-library-of-congress-exhibit-features-rare-draft-of-declaration-of-independence/ Sun, 12 Jul 2026 10:09:56 +0000 /?p=29423692&preview=true&preview_id=29423692

WashingtonÌý— They are words etched into America’s conscience: “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Visitors to the Library of Congress can rediscover those foundational principles in a rare, original draft of the Declaration of Independence written by President Thomas Jefferson. It’s on display in a new exhibit titled “The Declaration’s Promise” that debuted this month for America’s semiquincentennial and will continue through July 2027.

“This is Jefferson’s fully-realized draft,” Ryan Reft, lead curator for the exhibit, told CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½. “You can see them changing words throughout and kind of distilling the initial draft into the draft that we know today.”

The document contains edits from fellow Founding Fathers Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, like using the word “citizens” instead of “subjects.”

“They were breaking from a monarchy and they were breaking from the idea of kinship through ethnicity, creating a country based on this critical idea established in the Declaration that was new and that we were not subject to anyone,” Reft explained. “We were subject to each other. We were citizens.”

And there were other changes, according to historian Kevin Butterfield, acting chief of the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress.

“Initially, Thomas Jefferson had said, ‘We hold these rights to be sacred and undeniable.’ And Ben Franklin said, no, actually, maybe we should say ‘self-evident,'” Butterfield said.

But it was the phrase “all men are created equal” that took time to evolve.

“The ‘all men are created’ probably only applied to White men,” Reft said. “It ignored women and enslaved folks, Native Americans and others. But that’s the great thing about the Declaration — even in its weaknesses there is strength — the sense that the language he created, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, consent of the governed, enabled those folks who were unequal at the time to get to judge for themselves what equality was.”

The exhibit showcases the nation’s evolution through other items, like President Abraham Lincoln’s draft of the Gettysburg Address during the Civil War.

“He (Lincoln) says, well, why are we here? Why did we fight this war? And he comes down to one basic idea, equality,” Reft told CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½.

The collection also features a Declaration of Rights read by Susan B. Anthony in support of women’s suffrage, as well as speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis during the Civil Rights Movement.

“These are moments to kind of look back and see where we are, and see where we should be,” Reft said.

Source

]]>
Judge vacates convictions of 4 Proud Boys in Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection /national/2026/07/judge-vacates-convictions-of-4-proud-boys-in-jan-6-capitol-insurrection/ Sat, 11 Jul 2026 11:43:12 +0000 /?p=29421571&preview=true&preview_id=29421571

A federal judge on Friday agreed to dismiss the convictions of four members of the far-right Proud Boys group for their actions in the .

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly signed off the convictions against Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Dominic Pezzola, but not before saying that President Trump’s views about are based on “fiction” and citing a lack of other levers he could pull to stop the move.

“There is little mystery about why the Government is moving to dismiss this case, or whether dismissal is in fact what the Executive seeks,” Kelly wrote in his memorandum. “President Trump’s views about the prosecution of those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6—whether those views are based on fact or fiction—are well known, as is his intention to extend clemency to them through the Executive Order.”

, Nordean, Biggs and Rehl were convicted of seditious conspiracy and all sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

Pezzola became one of the more recognizable faces of the attempted insurrection after video showed him smashing a Capitol window with a riot shield.ÌýÌýof assaulting or resisting officers, robbery involving government property, obstruction and other charges.

The Justice Department said at the time that Nordean and Pezzola “participated in every consequential breach at the Capitol,” leading a group of Proud Boys onto the Capitol grounds, resulting in the dismantling of barricades, breaching of the Capitol building, assaults on police and destruction of property.

Proud Boys Members Speak To The Media Outside US Capitol Building
Ethan Nordean, a member of the far-right group the Proud Boys, speaks to journalists on the east side of the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 21, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Immediately after taking office in January 2024, about 1,500 people who had been convicted for their actions on Jan. 6. However, in his proclamation at the time, the sentences of 14 people to time served, but kept their convictions in place. Biggs, Nordean, Pezzola and Rehl were among them. Rehl is the former leader of the Philadelphia chapter of the Proud Boys.

In April, the Justice Department moved to vacate the convictions against a dozen former members of the right-wing Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, most of whom were convicted of seditious conspiracy.

Kelly’s ruling Friday was a procedural measure after a panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia signed off on the dismissal of the convictions in May, and sent the case back down to him.

“It is unclear what the Court would do with more detailed information about the Government’s reasons for seeking to dismiss,” Kelly said in his decision. “… It is hard to see how any course other than granting the motion in full could make practical sense.”

CBS has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

Source

]]>
White House considering plan to add permanent fencing on Pennsylvania Ave. /white-house/2026/07/white-house-considering-plan-to-add-permanent-fencing-on-pennsylvania-ave/ Fri, 10 Jul 2026 18:56:30 +0000 /?p=29420217&preview=true&preview_id=29420217

Washington — Trump administration officials are discussing a plan for permanent fencing on the block of Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House and around Lafayette Square, in an effort to bolster security and reduce the recurring costs of erecting and dismantling temporary barriers for special events, sources familiar with the deliberations told CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½.

Pennsylvania Avenue is an iconic street in the nation’s capital, connecting the White House to the U.S. Capitol. It provides tourists and pedestrians with the famous view of the North Portico, the public entrance to the White House. 

Donald Trump
Scaffolding on the North Portico of the White House is seen through the fence around Lafayette Park, Friday, July 10, 2026, in Washington. 

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

By Friday, the decision hadn’t been finalized and was still awaiting President Trump’s approval. It was not immediately clear whether the president might object to the fencing for aesthetic reasons.

The proposal is still preliminary, and no contractors have been hired. Under the plan being discussed, the U.S. Secret Service and the White House would retain the ability to open and close sections of the fencing as operational and security needs demand.

Rather than purchasing an entirely new perimeter fence, officials are considering repurposing existing fencing materials that are already regularly used for major events and security operations, the sources said, though it’s unclear how much additional construction would be needed.

The proposed permanent fencing would be located near 15th and 17th Streets, NW, along Pennsylvania Avenue.

A White House official also told CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½ there is work underway to improve the security of the front doors on the White House’s North Portico. Those doors face out to Lafayette Square and pedestrian traffic.

“The work on the North Portico doors is for security enhancements and upgrades,” the White House official said. “The North Portico project is expected to be finished around mid-September.”

There have been persistent security concerns about the presidential complex, particularly after a near the White House complex in late May that unfolded near the 17th Street entrance.

The first reported the proposal. The Secret Service referred CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½ to the White House. 

“There are always discussions ongoing about how to make the White House Complex as safe as possible. However, nothing is confirmed at this time. Any projects that are pursued will go through the necessary review process,” a White House official said in a statement to CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½.

Source

]]>
Vance family to rent home in Virginia countryside /virginia/2026/07/vance-family-to-rent-home-in-virginia-countryside/ Fri, 10 Jul 2026 18:17:20 +0000 /?p=29420617&preview=true&preview_id=29420617

Washington — The Secret Service has been providing security measures to accommodate an additional residence for Vice President JD Vance and his family in Middleburg, Virginia, two senior law enforcement officials confirmed to CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½.

Sources familiar with the decision say the rental property would supplement — not replace — the official vice presidential residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington. Middleburg is roughly 40 miles from the capital and is well-known for its hunting and horses. 

Since the Vance family moved into the vice presidential residence at 1 Observatory Circle, they have made several upgrades, including a new fence for the 72-acre property and the addition of a new chicken coop. 

Vance and his wife, Usha, have three young children, and are this summer.

Middleburg has been home to previous presidential retreats. Former President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline built their Wexford retreat in the Virginia countryside near the town. Ronald and Nancy Reagan later rented the estate during the 1980 campaign. 

first reported that the Vance family was considering leasing a property in Middleburg.

Source

]]>
Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s husband suspected in Napa County hit-and-run /national/2026/07/rep-nancy-pelosis-husband-suspected-in-napa-county-hit-and-run/ Sun, 05 Jul 2026 14:34:07 +0000 /?p=29404909&preview=true&preview_id=29404909

Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is suspected of crashing into a parked car and driving away from the scene Friday afternoon in Northern California, the Napa County Sheriff’s Office said.

Pelosi allegedly struck a vehicle on the 6700 block of Yount Street in Yountville, around 2:30 p.m. local time, the sheriff’s office said. The vehicle, which was unoccupied, was legally parked on the side of the roadway and was left with major rear damage, according to the sheriff’s office. Yountville is located about 50 miles north of San Francisco.

Deputies said they were told by a witness that the driver who hit the car briefly stopped, but then left the scene. The vehicle that left the scene was described as a brown-colored convertible, according to the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s office said deputies soon found the suspect vehicle partially blocking Yountville Cross Road and that a California Highway Patrol vehicle was parked behind it.

Deputies then learned that the driver was 86-year-old Paul Pelosi and noticed that the vehicle had significant damage on the front right side, the sheriff’s office said.

According to the sheriff’s office, Pelosi admitted to hitting something but told them he did not know what he hit so he had kept driving. He allegedly told deputies he continued to drive until his vehicle became disabled.

Deputies said an investigation ruled out alcohol being a factor in the crash and that Paul Pelosi was not arrested in accordance with misdemeanor arrest laws.

“A California DMV re-evaluation referral form will be submitted to DMV, which is common for elderly drivers,” the sheriff’s office said.

The case was forwarded to the Napa County District Attorney’s Office.

In a statement provided to CBS ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½, a spokesperson for the Pelosi family said: “Mr. Paul Pelosi has personally apologized to the owner of the vehicle and assured them that he would take responsibility for the damage to their vehicle. Speaker Pelosi will not be commenting further on this private matter.”

In October 2022, Paul Pelosi was the victim of in the couple’s San Francisco home.

Source

]]>
Victor Willis, Village People lead singer, dies at 74 /music/2026/07/victor-willis-village-people-lead-singer-dies-at-74/ Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:52:43 +0000 /?p=29395479&preview=true&preview_id=29395479 Victor Willis, lead singer of the disco group Village People whose hit “Y.M.C.A.” became a fixture at rallies for President Trump, has died, his wife and the band said in Facebook posts on Wednesday. He was 74.

“It is with profound sadness that I must announce the death of my husband, VICTOR WILLIS,” Karen-Huff Willis said in aÌýon the musician’s Facebook page. “Victor passed away on Tuesday June 30, 2026 as a result of a short, but aggressive illness.”

The band shared a on its Facebook page.

The Texas-born musician was a co-founder of the Village People and co-wrote hits including “Y.M.C.A,” “In the Navy” and “Macho Man” that swept the world’s dancefloors in the late 1970s.

With their flamboyant costumes and choreography, the group became a pop culture phenomenon, targeting disco’s large gay audience with camp fantasy characters of butch builders, bikers, cowboys and soldiers.

Willis left the group in 1980 but rejoined in 2017.

Riot Fest 2019
Angel Morales, Victor Willis (center) and J.J. Lippold of Village People perform during Riot Fest at Douglas Park on Sept. 15, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois.Ìý(Photo by Daniel Boczarski/Redferns/Getty)

He struggled with drug addiction and took a plea deal over cocaine possession in 2006.

“I got very depressed over the years and decided to just drop off the map. So I got into drugs,”Ìý.

“Y.M.C.A.,” whose lyrics urge “young men” to head to the Young Men’s Christian Association in New York, became an anthem for the LGBTQ community and beyond.

But some say the song has been co-opted by the American right wing movement following its use at rallies and events supporting Mr. Trump.

“I don’t endorse Trump, I’ve never endorsed Trump, nor has the Village People,” Willis told the BBC in 2020. “But because of the copyright laws in the United States, he’s able to play our music any time he wants to.”

The at a Trump rally in January 2025, before the Republican was inaugurated for his second term as president.

“Let’s give President Trump a chance, regardless of what you may have thought about him in the past,” Willis said at the time. “Let’s see what he’s going to do moving forward, and if he does things to restrict LGBTQ rights, Village People will be the first to speak out.”

In 2012, when Willis was away from the group, a the singer could reclaim at least partial ownership of the copyrights to more than two dozen of the their songs, including “Y.M.C.A.,” “Macho Man” and “In the Navy.” The resolution paved the way for his return to the group in 2017, BBC ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½ .

Source

]]>
Maryland historian retraces Underground Railroad to mark America’s 250-year journey /national/2026/06/maryland-historian-retraces-underground-railroad-to-mark-americas-250-year-journey/ Sun, 28 Jun 2026 14:05:19 +0000 /?p=29386292&preview=true&preview_id=29386292

As the United States marks theÌý of the nation’s founding, one historian is traveling 750 miles to remind Americans where that history has taken us.

Anthony Cohen, 62, isn’t the first person to make this trek. It’s a path that was once part of the . a secret network of routes traversed by thousands of enslaved people who had escaped captivity and sought freedom in Canada.

, first traveled the Underground Railroad in 1996 from his home state of Maryland to Ontario, Canada. Since then, he has established the , which creates immersive, history-based experiences to teach audiences about the Underground Railroad.

For , he wanted to again bring the once-treacherous journey into the spotlight. He chose another route, this one from Sandy Spring, Maryland, to Toronto. Cohen says he used “a lot of historic maps” and historical accounts to determine the route, which he calls the “Freedom Walk.”

The trip has wound through Delaware, New Jersey and New York. A lot of the journey has been on foot, but sometimes Cohen uses other forms of transportation, including a train to upstate New York that closely follows the historic route.

“Any freedom movement is about putting one foot in front of the other and going for it,” Cohen said.

He isn’t alone. The Menare Foundation shared a list of stops he would be making, allowing people to come learn about the history and his journey along the way. The Harriet Tubman Journey to Freedom statue is accompanying them on the walk.

Cohen also invited Tom DeWolf, whose family was once the largest slave-trader in the United States, to join him.

“I said, ‘But I’m a White guy,'” DeWolf said. “And he said, ‘White people, White people helped.’ And then he said ‘You can write a new legacy for your family.'”

At events, Cohen and DeWolf are speaking about the history of the slave trade, the Underground Railroad and the walk itself.

Cohen will cross into Canada on July 1. He is slated to arrive in Toronto and complete his journey on July 4, just in time for the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Source

]]>