Fernando Mendoza, the mercurial quarterback of No. 1 Indiana, won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, becoming the first Hoosier to win college footballs most prestigious award since its inception in 1935.

Mendoza claimed 2,362 first place votes. He beat Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (1,435 votes), Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love (719 votes) and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin (432 votes).

Mendoza guided the Hoosiers to their first No. 1 ranking and the top seed in the 12-team College Football bracket, throwing for 2,980 yards and a national-best 33 touchdown passes while also running for six scores. Indiana, the last unbeaten team in major college football, will play a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.

Mendoza, the Hoosiers first-year starter after transferring from California, is the triggerman for an offense that surpassed program records for touchdowns and points set during last seasons surprise run to the CFP.

A redshirt junior, the once lightly recruited Miami native is the second Heisman finalist in school history, joining 1989 runner-up Anthony Thompson. Mendoza is the seventh Indiana player to earn a top-10 finish in Heisman balloting and it marks another first in program history having back-to-back players in the top 10. Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke was ninth last year.

Quarterbacks have won the Heisman four of the last five years, with two-way player Travis Hunter of Colorado ending the run last season.

The Heisman Trophy presentation came after a number of accolades were already awarded. Mendoza was named The Associated Press player of the year earlier this week and picked up the Maxwell and Davey OBrien awards Friday night while Love won the Doak Walker Award.

Two U.S. service members and one American civilian were killed and three other people wounded in an ambush on Saturday by a lone member of the Islamic State group in central Syria, the the U.S. militarys Central Command said.

The attack on U.S. troops in Syria is the first to inflict casualties since the fall of President Bashar Assad a year ago.

Central Command said in a post on X that as a matter of respect for the families and in accordance with Department of Defense policy, the identities of the service members will be withheld until 24 hours after their next of kin have been notified.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X: Let it be known, if you target Americans anywhere in the world you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you.

President Donald Trump told reporters, "We will retaliate" when asked how the U.S. would respond.

The shooting took place near historic Palmyra, according to the state-run SANA news agency, which earlier said two members of Syrias security force and several U.S. service members had been wounded. The casualties were taken by helicopter to the al-Tanf garrison near the border with Iraq and Jordan.

SANA said the attacker was killed, without providing further details.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attacker was a member of the Syrian security force.

The U.S. has hundreds of troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the Islamic State group.

Last month, Syria joined the international coalition fighting against the IS as Damascus improves its relations with Western countries following the ouster of Assad when insurgents captured his seat of power in Damascus.

The U.S. had no diplomatic relations with Syria under Assad, but ties have warmed since the fall of the five-decade Assad family rule. The interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, made a historic visit to Washington last month where he held talks with President Donald Trump.

IS was defeated on the battlefield in Syria in 2019 but the groups sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in the country. The United Nations says the group still has between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq.

U.S. troops, which have maintained a presence in different parts of Syria including Al-Tanf garrison in the central province of Homs to train other forces as part of a broad campaign against IS, have been targeted in the past. One of the deadliest attacks occurred in 2019 in the northern town of Manbij when a blast killed two U.S. service members and two American civilians as well as others from Syria while conducting a patrol.

A Cincinnati-area man was arrested and is facing multiple child sexual abuse material charges after being confronted by a national predator-catching organization that claims to have helped secure arrests across all 50 states.

31-year-old Benjamin Naylor, of Deer Park, allegedly possessed and distributed child sexual abuse material on his phone, according to Hamilton County court documents.

The arrest came after Alex Rosen's organization, Predator Poachers, confronted Naylor outside his workplace following online interactions with someone who Naylor allegedly believed was a 13-year-old boy.

"Any site you can think of ... we're on," Rosen said. "There's no place, even when it's quote, unquote, encrypted, that a pedophile can hide from us."

Online messages

Rosen said the group first encountered Naylor on Reddit.

Naylor allegedly messaged their 13-year-old boy decoy on Reddit before moving the conversation to a messaging platform.

"He wasn't necessarily illegal with us. He wasn't like, 'Let's meet up and have sex.' But he was like, 'Age is just a number.' Very perverted," Rosen said. "At some point, he blocked us because there's a hole in the story that we're not actually a 13-year-old."

Despite the blocked communication, Rosen said Naylor's online activity provided clear indicators of criminal behavior.

WATCH: How an online watchdog group tracked down the Cincinnati man

How this man's national predator-catching group helps police make arrests

"Looking at his online posts, he was giving many indications he was into child pornography, and just with the terminology he used, where he was lurking online," Rosen said. "Even if he didn't message our decoy at all, I still would have gone to confront him, because I knew, based on the signals he was giving online, that he was going to be trading child pornography."

The confrontation

After learning of Naylor's location, Rosen said he and his team arrived outside Naylor's workplace on Dec. 3.

"I go to his building, and I say I have a secret Santa for him," Rosen said. "And he goes from thinking he's getting a present to 40 minutes later, being in handcuffs surrounded by five cops."

Rosen said his interrogation technique can be described as "grooming the groomers," using psychological manipulation to encourage confessions.

"You basically got to be a salesman when you talk to these people," Rosen said. "In that time where they're stunned, you have to sell to them that walking in and just ignoring us is not the best option."

Rosen said the approach involves making suspects believe they're victims rather than perpetrators and offering subtle reassurances.

"Getting him at his job, he's kind of between a rock and a hard place, because he really has nowhere to go," Rosen said. "As a courtesy, I'm like, 'Hey, Ben, I'm not here to tell your job about it, man. I just want to get you outside,' and when someone passes, you kind of lower your voice, because they think in their mind, 'Okay, well, he's being quiet when someone walks past.'"

During the 40-minute confrontation, which was streamed live on the Predator Poacher's Kick account, Naylor admitted to trading child pornography involving "babies and toddlers."

"When they do admit to things, we do call the cops on them," Rosen said.

A multi-jurisdictional task force that includes Cincinnati police and the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office called the Regional Electronics and Computer Investigations Unit (RECI which investigated Naylor, court records show.

A RECI detective alleged in criminal complaints that Naylor was found with a pornographic image of a young boy on his cell phone. Documents say Naylor possessed two images of child sexual abuse material, as well as possessed and distributed two videos of child sexual abuse material on his personal cell phone.

Naylor worked as a scheduler at Christ Hospital and did not have direct contact with patients. A spokesperson with the Christ Hospital Network told us he was terminated immediately upon learning of his arrest.

"We fully cooperated with law enforcement," the spokesperson said.

Growing national movement

Rosen, 25, started Predator Poachers in Houston when he was 19 years old. The organization has grown from a group of high school friends to employing over 20 people nationwide.

"Over the course of the past six years, we've had arrests in all 50 states, convictions in 43 of those states," Rosen said. "We have over 260 convictions of pedophiles nationwide."

The group operates by creating decoy accounts to interact with suspected predators online, then confronting them in person before turning evidence over to law enforcement, according to Rosen.

Rosen said his organization is "an internet watchdog group of concerned citizens" rather than vigilantes.

"We simply report and document crimes," Rosen said. "We collect evidence lawfully, we interview them lawfully, and we turn it all over, and we wait for the conviction."

Rosen said Naylor was one of nine people his group confronted during a week-long trip that included stops in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.

"When I tell you that Benjamin Naylor, the guy that we caught, was not even the sickest person we caught that day," Rosen said.

The day before confronting Naylor, Rosen said the group caught multiple other people throughout the area.

"We're very busy, unfortunately, and this is our life," Rosen said.

The organization takes multiple trips across the country each month, typically confronting around 20 people per trip, Rosen said.

"We basically have a map of people across the country," Rosen said.

Law enforcement's response

In February, the Clermont County Prosecutor's Office warned against the independent efforts. Officials said the confrontations can jeopardize law enforcement investigations, put community members at risk and create a situation where the alleged predator could potentially do something deadly when confronted.

Rosen said most law enforcement agencies are supportive of his group's work, though he acknowledges some criticism about potentially compromising investigations.

"I can guarantee you that no department in the area had Benjamin Naylor on their radar," Rosen said. "And that's not to say they're not doing anything. It's just that there's so many pedophiles that you can't just leave it up to one entity to do it all."

He said that private citizens can conduct voluntary interviews that law enforcement cannot initiate without probable cause.

"Benjamin Naylor did not get sexual with our decoy account, so that is no probable cause for the cops to arrest him," Rosen said. "As private citizens, (Predator Poachers) can bypass that and have a voluntary interview with him, and then when he starts confessing to those crimes, that's when now the cops can get involved."

What's next

Naylor was arraigned Tuesday morning. Duing that hearing, prosecutors sought and received a "no bond" order on two of his charges.

He is scheduled to return to court Friday morning for a second bond hearing.

Rosen said his organization has no plans to slow down, with a Christmas trip planned that will target more suspects.

"Many people take Christmas off. I don't take Christmas off," Rosen said.

Scripps News Group reached out to the Cincinnati Police Department and the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office for this story, but did not hear back.

This article was written by Valerie Lyons for the Scripps News Group in Cincinnati.

Comedy icon Dick Van Dyke celebrated his 100th birthday on Saturday, hitting the century mark some six decades after he sang and danced with Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins and starred in his self-titled sitcom.

The funniest thing is, its not enough, Van Dyke said in an interview with ABC News at his Malibu, California home. A hundred years is not enough. You want to live more, which I plan to.

Van Dyke became one of the biggest actors of his era with The Dick Van Dyke Show, which ran from 1961-66 on CBS; appeared with Andrews as a chimney sweep with a Cockney accent in the 1964 Disney classic Mary Poppins and, in his 70s, played a physician-sleuth on Diagnosis: Murder.

RELATED STORY | Gene Simmons pushing Congress to ensure artists are paid for songs on the radio

Also a Broadway star, Van Dyke won a Tony Award for Bye Bye Birdie to go with a Grammy and four Primetime Emmys. In 1963, he starred in the film version of Bye Bye Birdie.

Just last year, he became the oldest winner of a Daytime Emmy, for a guest role on the soap Days of Our Lives.

In the 1970s, he found sobriety after battling alcoholism, and spoke out about it at a time when that was uncommon to do.

Now that he has hit triple digits, Van Dyke said he's gotten some perspective on how he used to play older characters.

You know, I played old men a lot, and I always played them as angry and cantankerous, he told ABC News. "It's not really that way. I don't know any other 100-year-olds, but I can speak for myself."

RELATED STORY | Spotify Wrapped is here. Here's who topped the charts

She gives me energy. She gives me humor, and all kinds of support, he told ABC News.

Van Dyke was born in West Plains, Missouri, in 1925, and grew up the class clown in Danville, Illinois, while admiring and imitating the silent film comedians.

He told ABC News he started acting when he was about 4 or 5 years old in a Christmas pageant. He said he was the baby Jesus.

I made some kind of crack, I don't know what I said, but it broke the congregation up," he said. "And I liked the sound of that laughter.

And what's hard about being 100?

I miss movement, he told ABC News. I've got one game leg from I don't know what."

"I still try to dance, he said with a laugh.

Peter Greene, a character actor best known for his role as the iconic villain Zed in Pulp Fiction, has died. He was 60.

He died in his home in New York City, his manager, Gregg Edwards confirmed on Friday. His cause of death was not immediately released.

He was just a terrific guy," said Edwards. "Arguably one of the greatest character actors on the planet; Has worked with everybody.

Born in Montclair, New Jersey, Greene landed some of his first leading roles in Laws of Gravity in 1992 and Clean, Shaven in 1993, according to IMDB.

In 1994, he played the memorable villain in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction." That same year, he played another leading villain opposite Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz in The Mask."

Greene was working on two projects when he died, including a documentary about the federal government's withdrawal of funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, according to Edwards.

Weve been friends for over a decade," said Edwards. "Just the nicest man.

The United States will lift sanctions on Belarusian potash in the latest sign of a thaw between Washington and the isolated autocracy.

John Coale, the U.S. special envoy for Belarus, met the countrys authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko for talks in the Belarusian capital of Minsk on Friday and Saturday.

A close ally of Russia, Minsk has faced Western isolation and sanctions for years. Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and the country has been repeatedly sanctioned by Western countries both for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

RELATED STORY | Russia, Belarus face terror label in US over abducted Ukrainian children

Speaking with journalists, Coale described two-day talks as very productive, Belarus state news agency Belta reported Saturday.

The meetings focused on steps toward normalizing relations between Washington and Minsk, including lifting sanctions and releasing political prisoners in Belarus, Coale said. He also said that the relationship between the two countries was moving from baby steps to more confident steps as they increased dialogue.

The discussions also touched on Venezuela, as well as Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Belta said.

Coale told reporters that Lukashenko had given good advice on how to address the conflict, saying that Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin were longtime friends with the necessary level of relationship to discuss such issues.

IN RELATED NEWS | Ukrainian children taken by Russia must be returned before any peace deal, official says

"Naturally, President Putin may accept some advice and not others, Coale said.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the recently recaptured front line town of Kupiansk Friday to push back on the idea that it's only Moscow making military gains in eastern Ukraine.

The town has for months been an epicenter of fighting. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently claimed Ukrainian forces in the town were surrounded and offered to arrange their surrender. Kyiv, meanwhile, says its forces have now recaptured the town and several others nearby.

Zelenskyy's visit comes ahead of a trip to Paris by his delegation of negotiators this Saturday, where they will participate in the next rounds of talks between the US, Ukraine, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom to try to see if there is a way forward for a proposed peace agreement.

In a new version of the agreement that Kyiv sent to Washington during the week, there are new suggestions of possible concessions that Ukraine would be willing to consider to advance a peace negotiation.

RELATED STORY | Trump discusses Ukraine-Russia peace talks with key European leaders

There is also the possibility of a meeting of coalition leaders early next week in the German capital of Berlin. UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer, German Chancellor Freidrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump may all attend.

A federal judge in Massachusetts on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to restore billions of dollars in canceled FEMA disaster mitigation funding, siding with 22 states and the District of Columbia that sued over the canceled grants this summer.

President Donald Trump's administration said in April it was ending the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, which helped communities with predisaster projects to harden infrastructure and improve resilience against the increasing threats of climate change.

The administration called the program wasteful and ineffective and said it would halt $3.6 billion in funding awarded but not yet paid and would not award $882 million in grants for the following fiscal year.

The program's disruption upended projects across hundreds of communities in both Republican- and Democratic-led states, thwarting plans to improve stormwater drainage, harden electrical lines and even help relocate households living in areas most vulnerable to disasters.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told The Associated Press Thursday that DHS has not terminated BRIC, but did not elaborate on the programs status.

The Biden Administration abandoned true mitigation and used BRIC as a green new deal slush fund, the spokesperson said, referring to a Democratic plan to combat climate change. Its unfortunate that an activist judge either didnt understand that or didnt care.

The order comes at a time of profound uncertainty over FEMA's future and on the same day that a long-awaited meeting of the FEMA Review Council to present a report recommending reforms to the agency was abruptly canceled by the White House because it had not been fully briefed on the latest version of the report, according to a White House official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

RELATED STORY | Acting FEMA administrator resigns as agency faces sweeping changes

Congress funded BRIC during the first Trump administration through the 2018 Disaster Recovery Reform Act, and FEMA launched the program in 2020. The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act made an additional $1 billion available for BRIC over five years, though only about $133 million had been delivered to communities by April, according to FEMA.

The program was criticized by some for being difficult to access for rural and less wealthy communities due to a complicated application process and cost-sharing requirements. But even Republican lawmakers like Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana opposed the cancellations and called for BRIC's reinstatement.

It protects families and saves taxpayer dollars in the long-run, Cassidy said on the Senate floor a week after the funding cancellation. Thats efficient in my book.

Judge Richard G. Stearns found that FEMA's actions were unlawful since Congress appropriated the money specifically for the grants and that there was an inherent public interest in ensuring that the government follows the law.

The BRIC program is designed to protect against natural disasters and save lives, Stearns wrote in the court order.

The Trump administration has slashed disaster preparedness dollars across multiple FEMA programs this year as part of its campaign to transfer more responsibility for disasters to states.

Since February, Trump has not approved any requests for hazard mitigation funding, a typical add-on that helps states, tribes and territories complete resilience projects after major disasters.

Emergency preparedness grants that states and local governments rely on to staff emergency management agencies and buy equipment are currently frozen after 12 states sued the Trump administration over unprecedented grant stipulations related to the administration's immigration agenda.

Multiple studies have shown that preemptive investments in disaster readiness can yield significant savings. A 2024 study funded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found every $1 invested in disaster preparation saved $13 in economic impact, damage and cleanup costs.

The National Weather Service has released temperature and precipitation outlooks for the week leading up to Christmas Day. Here's what to expect between December 19 and 25.

Average temperatures are forecast to be above normal across most of the continental U.S. In the south, a stretch of the country from Arizona to Georgia has an 80 to 90% chance of above-normal temperatures.

Nearly all the rest of the country is forecast to have some chance of higher temperatures. Northern portions of some states bordering Canada may lean below their normal temperatures.

Hawaii is forecast to have above normal temperatures, while Alaska has a good chance of being colder than usual.

The South and Southeast are forecast to be relatively dry during the Christmas week. The Northwest could see more precipitation than usual, with parts of California, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon forecast to have a 60-70% chance of above-normal precipitation.

Alaska and Hawaii are both forecast to receive a mix of above- and below-normal precipitation.

RELATED STORY | Is it too late to get a flu shot before Christmas gatherings?

If you're dreaming of a white Christmas, your best bet is higher elevations and northern latitudes. The NWS' historical snow probability map shows northern states and mountainous regions are most likely to receive an inch or more of snow on December 25 every year.

National Guard troops went door-to-door early Friday to evacuate a farming city north of Seattle as severe flooding throughout western Washington stranded families on rooftops, washed over bridges and ripped homes from their foundations.

Gov. Bob Ferguson, who has warned that as many as 100,000 people would need to evacuate statewide, said Friday the Trump administration has approved a disaster declaration.

Days of torrential rain have swelled rivers to record or near-record levels. Officials issued "go now" orders on Wednesday to tens of thousands of residents in the Skagit River flood plain, including the city of Burlington, home to nearly 10,000 people. By Friday morning, muddy water overflowed a slough and rushed into homes, prompting more urgent warnings.

"ALL RESIDENTS IN THE CITY OF BURLINGTON SHOULD EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY," Skagit County wrote on social media.

By late morning the evacuation order was lifted for part of the city, police department spokesperson Michael Lumpkin said.

RELATED STORY | Record flooding threatens Washington as more heavy rain pounds the Northwest

The Skagit River drains a wide swath of the rugged Cascade Range before winding west across broad, low-lying farmlands on its way to Puget Sound. Cities like Burlington sit on that flat stretch between the mountains and the sea, leaving them especially vulnerable to floods.

National Guard fans out amid flood evacuations

National Guard members knocked on hundreds of doors to tell residents about the evacuation notice and help transport them to a shelter if needed, Lumpkin said. The water was reportedly two to three feet (0.6 to 0.9 meters) deep in certain areas as it flooded homes, he said.

While water levels appeared to ease later in the morning, "it's definitely not an all clear," Lumpkin said.

The heaviest rain has ended for the region, but the impact remains widespread. The Skagit Rover will be slow to recede and some rivers in the Cascades have yet to crest, while other major rivers remain above flood stage, said Jeff Michalsky, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.

Even as floodwaters go down, another weather system is approaching and could move through beginning Sunday, Michalsky said.

"Depending on each river, it could prolong the flooding or renew the flooding," he said.

Further north near the U.S.-Canada border, the cities of Sumas, Nooksack and Everson were evacuated after being inundated. The border crossing at Sumas was closed.

The mayor of Sumas, Bruce Bosch, said much of the city has been "devastated" by the high waters just four years after a similar flood. In a social media message, he said it would take most of Friday for water levels to drop enough to allow people back, and acknowledged that the community was anxious to return to their homes.

"Me too," the mayor wrote. "Hang in there."

Debris, mudslides and standing water have blocked roads and highways across the state, leading to closures.

Flooding rivers break records

A number of rivers were in flood stage overnight, including the Skagit. The river crested over 37 feet (11 meters) in Mount Vernon, surpassing the previous record by a few inches, according to the National Water Prediction Service.

The Snohomish River surged nearly a foot (30 centimeters) higher than its record Thursday in the picturesque city that shares its name.

The waters stopped just short of getting inside Mariah Brosa's raised riverfront home in Concrete, but the raging Skagit River still slapped debris against her home and totaled her fiance's work car, she said.

"I didn't think it would come this high," she said.

Flooding from the river has long plagued Mount Vernon, the largest city in Skagit County with some 35,000 residents. Floods in 2003 displaced hundreds of people.

A floodwall that protects downtown passed a major test in 2021, when the river crested near record levels.

Officials respond to flooding

Authorities across Washington state in recent days have rescued people from cars and homes after the weather phenomenon known as an atmospheric river soaked the region.

Helicopters rescued two families on Thursday from the roofs of homes in Sumas that had been flooded by about 15 feet (4.6 meters) of water, according Frank Cain JR., battalion chief for Whatcom County Fire District 14.

In nearby Welcome, erosion from the floodwaters caused at least two houses to collapse into the Nooksack River, he said. No one was inside at the time.

In a football field in Snoqualmie, a herd of elk swam and waded through neck-high water.

Climate change has been linked to some intense rainfall. Scientists say that without specific study they cannot directly link a single weather event to climate change, but in general it's responsible for more intense and more frequent extreme storms, droughts, floods and wildfires.

Another storm system is expected to bring more rain starting Sunday.

The Aftermath: A Scripps News special report on the Texas flood tragedy

Amazon's artificial intelligence assistant fielded millions of queries this year, from cooking tips to celebrity trivia. The company just released its annual roundup of "Alexa's Most Asked Questions" for 2025, revealing what topics captured users' curiosity most.

Among the most frequent cooking-related inquiries: "How long do I poach an egg for?" Users also turned to Alexa for basic scientific information, asking questions like "What's the diameter of Earth?"

Celebrity information dominated many searches worldwide as people commonly asked about stars' heights, weights and net worth details.

Specific celebrities whom users inquired about were Cristiano Ronaldo, Taylor Swift and Elon Musk.

RELATED STORY | Charlie Kirk's assassination dominates Google's US search trends for 2025

Amazon said that Swift was the most played artist via Alexa, followed by Bruno Mars. His catchy duet APT with Ros was the most played song through the device.

The soundtrack from KPop Demon Hunters, the animated Netflix superhit, was the most-played album on Alexa this year.

RELATED STORY | Spotify Wrapped is here. Here's who topped the charts

Perhaps most ironically, one of the year's popular questions was "What does AI stand for?" users asking an AI assistant to explain artificial intelligence itself.

The data reflects how voice assistants have become go-to sources for quick answers on everything from practical cooking advice to satisfying random curiosity about the world around us.

President Donald Trump was sued on Friday by preservationists asking a federal court to halt his White House ballroom project until it goes through multiple independent reviews and wins approval from Congress.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded group, is asking the U.S. District Court to block Trumps White House ballroom project, which already has involved razing the East Wing, until it goes through comprehensive design reviews, environmental assessments, public comments and congressional debate and ratification.

Trump's project has prompted criticism in the historic preservation and architectural communities, and among his political adversaries, but the lawsuit is the most tangible effort thus far to alter or stop the president's plans for an addition that itself would be nearly twice the size of the White House before the East Wings demolition.

No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever not President Trump, not President Biden, and not anyone else, the lawsuit states. And no president is legally allowed to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public the opportunity to weigh in.

Additionally, the Trust wants the court to declare that Trump, by fast-tracking the project, has committed multiple violations of the Administrative Procedures Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, while also exceeding his constitutional authority by not consulting lawmakers.

RELATED STORY | Trumps White House ballroom would be bigger than the White House itself

No more work should be done, the Trust argues, until administration officials complete the required reviews reviews that should have taken place before the Defendants demolished the East Wing, and before they began construction of the Ballroom.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not immediately respond to Associated Press questions about the lawsuit and the project, including whether the president had any intention of consulting Congress. Trump, a Republican, has emphasized since announcing the project that hes doing it with private money, including his own. But that would not necessarily change how federal laws and procedures apply to what is still a U.S. government project.

The president already has bypassed the federal governments usual building practices and historical reviews with the East Wing demolition. He recently added another architectural firm to the project.

Trump has long said a White House ballroom is overdue, complaining that events were held outside under a tent because the East Room and the State Dining Room could not accommodate bigger crowds. Trump, among other complaints, said guests get their feet wet if it rains during such events.

The White House is expected to submit plans for Trumps new ballroom to a federal planning commission before the year ends, about three months after construction began.

RELATED STORY | These are the donors paying for President Trump's new White House ballroom

Will Scharf, who was named by Trump as chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission, said at the panels monthly meeting last week that he was told by colleagues at the White House that the long-awaited plans would be filed in December.

Once plans are submitted, thats really when the role of this commission, and its professional staff, will begin, said Scharf, who also is one of the Republican presidents top White House aides.

He said the review process would happen at a normal and deliberative pace.

Besides being too late, the Trust argues, that's not nearly enough.

The Trust asserts that plans should have been submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission, the Commission of Fine Arts and Congress before any action. The lawsuit notes that the Trust wrote to those entities and the National Park Service on Oct. 21, after East Wing demolition began, urging a stop to the project and asking the administration to comply with federal law.

The National Trust received no response, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit cites a litany of federal statutes and rules detailing the role the planning and fine arts commission and lawmakers play in U.S. government construction projects.

Among them is a statute: A building or structure shall not be erected on any reservation, park, or public grounds of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia without express authority of Congress."

The Trust notes also that the range design and environmental reviews, along with congressional deliberation, would involve public input.

This public involvement, while important in all preservation matters, is particularly critical here, where the structure at issue is perhaps the most recognizable and historically significant building in the country, the complaint says.

Besides the president, the lawsuit names as defendants the National Parks Service, the Department of the Interior, and the General Services Administration, along with leaders of those federal agencies.

The U.S. Mint unveiled the designs for coins commemorating the 250th anniversary of American independence next year. They depict the founding documents and the Revolutionary War, but so far, not President Donald Trump, despite a push among some of his allies to get his face on a coin.

The Mint abandoned designs developed during Joe Biden's presidency that highlighted women's suffrage and civil rights advancements, favoring classical depictions of America over progress toward a more inclusive society.

A series of celebrations are planned next year under the banner America 250, marking the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. All U.S. coins show the year they were minted, but those made next year will also display 1776.

Trump, at least for now, isn't getting a coin

No design was released for a $1 coin, though U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach, whose duties include oversight of the U.S. Mint, serving as a liaison with the Federal Reserve and overseeing Treasury's Office of Consumer Policy, confirmed in October that one showcasing Trump was in the works. A draft design showed Trump's profile on the "heads" side, known as the obverse, and on the reverse, a depiction of Trump raising his fist after his attempted assassination, The words "FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT" appear along the top.

By law, presidents typically can't appear on coins until two years after their death, but some advocates for a Trump coin think there may be a loophole in the law authorizing the treasury to mint special coins for the nation's 250th birthday.

Neither the Mint nor the Treasury Department responded when asked whether a Trump coin is still planned.

RELATED STORY | Trump $1 coin proposed for Americas 250th anniversary

The new designs depict classical Americana

New designs will appear only on coins minted in 2026, with the current images returning the following year.

The nickel, dime and five versions of the quarter will circulate, while a penny and half dollar will be sold as collectibles.

Five versions of the quarter are planned depicting the Mayflower Compact, Revolutionary War, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and Gettysburg Address.

The dime will show a depiction of Liberty, a symbolic woman facing down the tyranny of the British monarchy, and an eagle carrying arrows in its talons representing America's fight for independence.

The commemorative nickel is essentially the same as the most recent nickel redesign, in 2006, but it includes two dates on the head's side instead of one, 1776 and 2026.

Two collectible coins are planned

A half dollar coin shows the face of the Statue of Liberty on one side. The other shows her passing her torch to what appears to be the hand of a child, symbolizing a handoff to the next generation.

The penny is essentially the same as the one in circulation, which was discontinued earlier this year and will be produced only as a collectible with two dates.

Prices for collectible coins were not released. The Mint sells a variety of noncirculating coins on its website, with a vast range of prices reflecting their rarity.

In honor of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps founding, for example, a commemorative half dollar coin is available for $61, while a commemorative $5 gold coin goes for $1,262. Up to 750,000 copies of the former will be minted, but no more than 50,000 of the latter.

The abandoned designs

Congress authorized commemorative coins in 2021. During the Biden administration, the Mint worked with a citizens advisory committee to propose designs depicting the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, abolitionism, suffrage and civil rights.

Those designs included depictions of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and Ruby Bridges, who was escorted to school by the National Guard at age 6 years amid opposition to racial integration at public schools.

Those designs represented "continued progress toward 'a more perfect union,'" said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, quoting a phrase from the preamble to the Constitution.

"The American story didn't stop at the pilgrims and founding fathers, and ignoring anything that has happened in this country in the last 162 years is just another attempt by President Trump to rewrite our history," Cortez Masto said in a statement.

Former NBA player Jason Collins has revealed he is battling stage 4 brain cancer.

In an essay for ESPN, the 47-year-old said he has been diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer.

Collins said he began experiencing symptoms over the summer and later learned he has a tumor that cannot be safely removed. He has decided to undergo a combination of radiation, targeted chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Michael Strahan's daughter Isabella reveals she's cancer-free 9 months after discovering brain tumor

Still, the average prognosis for glioblastoma is 11 to 14 months.

"If that's all the time I have left, I'd rather spend it trying a course of treatment that might one day be a new standard of care for everyone," Collins wrote.

Collins said he wanted to share his diagnosis on his own terms just as he did when he publicly came out as gay.

RELATED STORY | Researchers project an 84% increase in cancer cases among men by 2050

He made history in 2013 as the first openly gay active player in NBA history.

After I came out, someone I really respect told me that my choice to live openly could help someone who I might never meet, Collins wrote. Ive held onto that for years. And if I can do that again now, then that matters.

Collins played 13 seasons in the NBA for seven teams, including the New Jersey Nets, Memphis Grizzlies and Boston Celtics.

Former University of Michigan head football coach Sherrone Moore has been charged with third-degree home invasion, a felony, as well as two misdemeanors stalking and breaking and entering.

Moore, who was arraigned Friday, will be allowed to post a $25,000 bond. Once he is out on bond, he is required to wear a GPS tracking device, abstain from alcohol and illegal drugs, and have no contact with the alleged victim.

Moore was fired by the university on Wednesday for cause after being accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a staffer. Moore was detained by police in Saline, Michigan, hours after being fired, and was turned over to Pittsfield Township police.

Washtenaw County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kati Rezmierski said that Moore grabbed butter knives and kitchen scissors and threaten to kill himself in front of the victim. She added that the victim had an "intimate relationship" with Moore for several years, but broke up with the football coach earlier this week.

Moore's attorney disputed Rezmierski's claim that the former coach is a danger to public safety. The judge ordered Moore to continue seeking mental health treatment as a condition of his bond.

A judge set Moore's next court data for Jan. 22.

If you or someone you know needs help, call, text, or chat 988 for the 

Suicide and Crisis Prevention Lifeline

.

Terrifying video shows a Hayward, California, home leveled Thursday by an explosion after contractors allegedly damaged an underground gas line.

Six people were injured, including three who were seriously hurt, according to Ryan Ishimoto of the Alameda County Fire Dept. The blast destroyed the Bay Area home and damaged several other properties.

RELATED STORY | Ohio explosion caused by crew cutting gas line they thought was turned off, investigators say

At least one person was inside the home before it was flattened. Miraculously, that person was not injured.

"It's going to be an extensive investigation, but this was a 3rd party that had dug in," said Tamar Sarkissian, a spokesperson for the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. "We did arrive on the scene shortly after, and we did get to work to isolate the line and to stop the flow of gas."

Disclaimer: Some of the images or details of this article may be disturbing.

Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton appear in new photos released by Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that are connected to the estate of Jeffrey Epstein.

The Democrats released about 100 photos on Friday.

In one photo on Friday, Trump is shown with several women whose faces are blacked out. The ages of the women have not been disclosed, and it is unclear when the photo was taken. A separate image shows Trump with Epstein and a smiling woman in what appears to be a crowded setting.

President Trump downplayed the photos on Friday.

"Well, I haven't seen it, but, I mean, everybody knew this man. He was all over Palm Beach. His photos with everybody. I mean, almost there are hundreds and hundreds of people that have photos with him, so that's no big deal," he told reporters.

Other White House representatives also downplayed the photos, accusing Democrats of selectively releasing images of Trump for political purposes.

"The Democrat hoax against President Trump has been repeatedly debunked and the Trump Administration has done more for Epsteins victims than Democrats ever have by repeatedly calling for transparency, releasing thousands of pages of documents, and calling for further investigations into Epsteins Democrat friends," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said.

Meanwhile, the newly released picture of Clinton also features Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 of child sex trafficking.

Both Clinton and Trump had social ties to Epstein at various points, but later distanced themselves from him. Each has said they were unaware of Epsteins criminal behavior.

Other High Profile Men in Epstein's Orbit

Epstein was known to run in circles with other high-profile and powerful figures, including Bill Gates, Prince Andrew, Steve Bannon, Richard Branson and Woody Allen. They are all pictured in the latest batch of photos.

In one picture, Gates appears alongside Prince Andrew, who is being stripped of his title due to his ties to Epstein.

Gates has since said he regretted spending time with Epstein, who he believed would help his philanthropy efforts.

Steve Bannon

Bannon, who helped lead Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, is also featured in several pictures released on Friday. In one image, he is seen sitting across from Epstein at his desk, which features numerous framed photos.

Another picture shows Bannon and Epstein taking a picture in front of a mirror. The two were reportedly working on a documentary together before Epstein's 2019 arrest on sex trafficking charges.

Sir Richard Branson

Billionaire Sir Richard Branson is also pictured with another man and Epstein in the background. Branson appears to be holding a notebook, though the writing is not clearly legible.

Woody Allen

Filmmaker Woody Allen is seen sitting in a directors chair alongside Epstein. Allen has faced longstanding controversy unrelated to Epstein. He has long denied allegations of sexual abuse made by his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, which date back to the early 1990s and have never resulted in criminal charges.

Political Fallout

Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the committees ranking Democrat, said the photos were recently turned over to the panel. Garcia said Democrats on the committee are reviewing even more images and plan to release them in the coming days and weeks.

In a statement, Garcia accused the White House and the Justice Department of withholding information related to Epsteins associates and activities.

It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends, Garcia said. These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world.

Garcia called on the Justice Department to release all remaining files related to Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial.

We will not rest until the American people get the truth, Garcia said.

The images released on Friday do not provide context or prove that any of the prominent figures knew about Epstein's alleged crimes.

In November, Congress passed a law that mandates the Department of Justice to provide all records related to Epstein within 30 days. The deadline to make the records public is Dec. 19.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration intends to place a black box warning on COVID-19 vaccines, CNN reported, citing sources.

Black box warnings appear at the top of prescribing information for medicines. They are the FDAs most serious warnings, intended to alert the public to risks such as death or life-threatening reactions that should be weighed against the benefits.

The plan has not been finalized and may still change. It is expected to be unveiled by the end of the year.

In response to the report, Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon said, Unless the FDA announces it, any claim about what it will do is pure speculation. The FDA takes very seriously any death that is attributed to a regulated medical product.

RELATED STORY | FDA memo reportedly links 10 child deaths to COVID-19 vaccines

The move would follow the FDAs requirement for updated warning labels on mRNA COVID-19 vaccines regarding myocarditis and pericarditis. The vaccines have been associated with a rare risk of myocarditis, which causes damage to heart muscle cells.

Earlier this week, Stanford University released a study showing that mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines cause myocarditis in about one in every 140,000 recipients after the first dose. That rate rises to one in 32,000 after the second dose. Males under age 30 face the highest risk.

The study, however, found that COVID-19 itself is 10 times more likely to cause myocarditis than the vaccine.

The mRNA vaccines have done a tremendous job mitigating the COVID pandemic, said Dr. Joseph Wu, director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute. Without these vaccines, more people would have gotten sick, more people would have had severe effects and more people would have died.

RELATED STORY | Pediatricians defy CDC in vaccine standoff; what parents should know

According to a 2023 National Library of Medicine report, more than 400 medications have boxed warnings.

Medications with boxed warnings associated with them may have adverse financial consequences as these warnings can affect the marketability of the drug and generate negative news reports, the report said. Clinicians must use their clinical judgment on whether to prescribe medications with these warnings. Boxed warnings are not meant to be absolute contraindications, but instead to draw attention to potential severe side effects.

A federal judge is ordering the Trump administration to release Kilmar Abrego Garcia today.

Judge Paula Xinis said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement held him without a legal removal order. Xinis has ordered the Trump administration to provide a status update on his release by 5 p.m. Thursday.

Abrego-Garcia has been in U.S. custody after being returned by officials in El Salvador. He was deported on March 15 as the U.S. sent three planes from the U.S. to El Salvador, purporting that those on the planes were members of the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs. The deportations came after President Donald Trump enacted the Alien Enemies Act regarding the invasion of the United States by the Tren de Aragua.

PREVIOUS REPORTING | Judge to rule on whether to release Abrego Garcia from federal custody 

Immediately upon Abrego Garcias return to the U.S. from El Salvador, he was charged with human smuggling and conspiracy charges in Tennessee allegations he denies. He remained in custody in Tennessee until ordered released by the judge overseeing that case in August and returned to Maryland.

Just days later, however, Abrego Garcia was re-arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers while appearing at a routine parole check-in appointment in Baltimore.

In August, it was revealed that the government offered to deport Abrego Garcia to Costa Rica a Spanish-speaking, Latin American nation but only if he agreed to plead guilty to the human smuggling charges he faces in Tennessee.

He refused, and ever since, the government has not included Costa Rica as an option for his removal.

"This inexplicable reluctance seemed at odds with continued detention for purposes of third-country removal," Xinis wrote in Thursday's order.

Originally from El Salvador, Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. without proper documentation in 2011. In 2019, after a lengthy legal process in the immigration court system, Abrego Garcias request for asylum was denied by an immigration judge. But he was issued an order of withholding of removal, a document that prevents his deportation to his home country because officials believed he faced a likelihood of torture or violence should he return there.