School reacts to video of official telling parents to alter trans kid’s birth certificate to play girls sports

January 30, 2025

A Texas school district has acknowledged footage of one of its administrators telling an undercover journalist posing as a parent to change a transgender child’s birth certificate to compete in girls sports.

The Irving Independent School District in Irving, Texas, has provided a statement to Fox News Digital addressing the recent video of Reny Lizardo, the executive director of campus operations, giving this guidance, which was obtained by Accuracy in Media.

The statement indicates Lizardo has resigned from his position.

“In Irving ISD, we are committed to upholding the requirements of state and federal laws, especially as it pertains to ensuring the safety and well-being of our students, and we will cooperate with any investigation initiated by relevant authorities,” the statement said.

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“We are aware of the unauthorized video footage circulating on social media of an individual connected with Irving ISD. The videos were obtained under false pretenses by an individual who posed as a concerned parent and additional individuals who posed as family friends of the employee pictured.

“The individuals also held themselves out as members of the media, but were not credentialed as such, constituting a breach of security. In addition, the footage has been edited and is an incomplete representation of the entire conversation, making it difficult to properly assess its probative value.”

In the footage, Lizardo said, “It’s not illegal if you don’t get caught,” with regard to changing the gender on a child’s birth certificate, and “if you can get that done, and you turn us a birth certificate that says ‘this gender,’ that’s the gender we go with.”

While discussing potential repercussions of the discussion, Lizardo suggested pleading plausible deniability.

The district insists Lizardo’s handling of the situation does not reflect the values and protocols of the school district.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Lizardo for comment.

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“We want to reiterate that Irving ISD complies with all state and federal laws, and all employees are expected to adhere to any and all legal and ethical standards. The message conveyed in the video, as presented, does not reflect the views nor policies of the district,” the statement said.

“Individual employees do not speak on behalf of the district. The individual identified was acting outside of his role as it relates to legal and regulatory expertise. While the matter continues to be under investigation, the individual identified in the video has tendered his resignation.”

The district’s statement concludes by claiming all of its athletes participate in the proper gender category.

“We can also confirm that all Irving ISD student-athletes are participating in their sport in accordance with the sex they were assigned at birth,” the district said. “Irving ISD is unwavering in our commitment to the safety and well-being of all of our students and staff. We remain focused on our primary function to maintain educational excellence and foster the full potential of our students.”

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Texas is one of 25 states in the U.S. with a law that prevents or restricts transgender athletes from competing against girls and women. In June 2023, the state passed the Save Women’s Sports Act that prohibits transgender athletes from competing in girls and women’s sports and only allows students to compete in the gender category listed on their birth certificate.

The law only allows schools to recognize changes made to birth certificates that were made to correct a clerical error.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott addressed the footage involving Lizardo in a post on X and called for him to be fired and investigated.

“This Irving ISD Administrator should be fired on the spot. Both criminal & civil investigations must be taken against both the Administrator & Irving ISD,” Abbott wrote. “Has Irving ISD and its employees been involved in a fraudulent breach of state laws & a cover up? We must get the facts.”

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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

Russia Seizes Another Town in Ukraine in Push to Take All of Donetsk

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January 30, 2025

Building on their momentum in eastern Ukraine, Russian forces have seized control of yet another small town, military experts say, taking another step in their grinding push to conquer the entire Donetsk region.

Battlefield maps from independent groups analyzing satellite images and combat footage show that the town, Velyka Novosilka, is now under Russian control, and the Kremlin claimed its capture on Sunday. Ukraine’s military acknowledged its withdrawal from most of the town but said that its troops maintained a foothold on the northern outskirts.

Although this gain is modest compared with Russia’s recent seizure of nearby Ukrainian strongholds like Vuhledar and Kurakhove, it underscores the effectiveness of a tactic that Moscow has been employing to take one town after another in eastern Ukraine: using its overwhelming personnel advantage to attack relentlessly, gradually trapping Ukrainian forces in a pincer movement and forcing them to retreat to avoid encirclement.

“From a tactical perspective, their approach was correct — they understood their capabilities and advantages and used them effectively,” Maj. Ivan Sekach, a press officer for the Ukrainian military’s 110th Brigade, which has been defending the area, said in an interview. “It would not be accurate to claim that the Russians don’t know how to fight.”

Major Sekach said that Ukrainian troops had been fighting with a river at their back that greatly complicated operations, adding that for the past two weeks, ammunition and food had to be delivered by drones.

“Troop reinforcements must cross the river, which is a very complex operation,” he said, noting that Russia was “of course aware of this.”

The town, at a road junction, is expected to improve Russia’s logistics in the region, experts say, though its small size limits its potential as a base for future offensives.

Fighting is also raging about 50 miles to the northeast in Toretsk, a strategic hilltop city that experts say has now largely fallen to Russian troops. Its capture would pave the way for Russia to advance on a series of cities that form Ukraine’s primary defensive belt in northern Donetsk.

In a sign of the challenges that Ukrainian troops are facing in the east, President Volodymyr Zelensky this week assigned Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, to personally take charge of the units fighting in the Donetsk region.

“These are the most intense areas of combat,” Mr. Zelensky said in a Sunday evening address.

The capture of Velyka Novosilka, which had a prewar population of 5,000, was largely enabled by the fall of Vuhledar in October. Perched on high ground about 20 miles to the east, Vuhledar was a linchpin of Ukraine’s southern Donetsk defenses. Its loss allowed Russian forces to quickly advance westward.

By mid-January, they had encircled Velyka Novosilka, seizing two settlements to its north and south and cutting off all roads into the town.

“There was no more sense in trying to hold on to the place,” said Pasi Paroinen, a military expert with the Finland-based Black Bird Group, which analyzes satellite imagery and social media content from the battlefield.

Still, using a familiar but contested tactic, Ukrainian forces held the town for another two weeks, drawing Russian troops into brutal urban combat in an attempt to inflict maximum losses before withdrawing.

Major Sekach said that in the fight for the town, Russia had launched relentless small-scale infantry assaults, sending groups of about five soldiers every hour who moved under the cover of tree lines, making them hard to detect and target with drones. Once they reached buildings, they took cover in basements.

“Our drones and artillery worked to eliminate them, but drones can’t fully destroy basements, and artillery often requires multiple attempts to hit the target accurately,” he said.

He added that countering Russia’s gradual takeover of buildings would have required sending in more troops from his units, but they lacked the personnel, with Russian troops in the town outnumbering Ukraine’s by as many as three to one.

Major Sekach said that Ukraine’s forces had managed to withdraw under the cover of fog, avoiding major casualties or surrender. But Mr. Paroinen cast doubt on that claim, noting that the troops would have had to cross a river without bridges and walk through at least a mile of open flood plains to escape.

“There was almost no way to withdraw from there,” he said, adding that it was possible that several hundred Ukrainian soldiers had been killed or captured in the process.

Mr. Paroinen said that he expected Russia’s forces now to push north toward a key highway supplying Ukrainian units in the area.

Daria Mitiuk contributed reporting.

Greenland, Still Not For Sale. And the Mona Lisa Gets Its Own Room.

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January 30, 2025

Even if Greenland were for sale, buying the Artic territory would be complicated. And French President Emmanuel Macron promises to renovate the Louvre, which is falling into disrepair.

Chicago mayor’s office accepted designer gifts without properly reporting them: OIG

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January 30, 2025

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has been accused of not properly documenting designer gifts while also blocking access to the City Hall “gift room,” according to a report from the City of Chicago Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

The OIG released the report Wednesday, accusing the Chicago mayor’s office of accepting gifts, including Hugo Boss cuff links, a personalized Montblanc pen, a 2023 U.S. National Soccer Team jersey, a Gucci tote bag, a Kate Spade red purse and Carrucci size 14 shoes from Feb. 2, 2022, through March 20, 2024.

The report notes that almost 70% of the 380 logged gifts received from Feb. 2, 2022, to March 20, 2024, do not list the identity of the donor.

The city received the national soccer team jersey June 16, 2023, from a representative from Nike. On Oct. 3, 2023, the city received Airpods, a tote bag and a notepad from an executive with the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has been accused of improperly accepting designer gifts. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

But other entries, like the Hugo Boss cuff links and personalized Montblanc pen received June 12, 2023, and a Gucci tote bag and crossbody bag received March 18, 2024, fail to include information on the identity of who provided the gift.

Personnel from the OIG went to the fifth floor of City Hall Nov. 8, 2024, to request access to the gift room, unannounced, to conduct an inspection of the manner in which gifts to the city are stored and to audit the gifts and review controls for access to the gift room.

Instead, the OID was met by Chicago Police officers, the report noted. After explaining the OIG’s request to view the gift room, OIG personnel were told to wait in a lobby by an elevator.

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The gifts include Hugo Boss cuff links, a personalized Montblanc pen, a 2023 U.S. National Soccer Team jersey, a Gucci tote bag, a Kate Spade red purse and more, according to the city’s inspector general. (Reuters/Vincent Alban)

While waiting, the OIG spoke with senior members of the mayor’s office regarding the request, then presented a written request to access the room.

After further delay, the mayor’s office said it spoke to counsel, who said OIG would not be granted access to the gift room that day. To access the room, the OIG was told it would have to make an appointment, the report said.

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Once the OIG was denied, it engaged in further conversations with the Department of Law for access to the gift room, and it was it was told it not be granted access.

The OIG said in its report that gift disclosures required by the Governmental Ethics Ordinance (GEO) promote transparency and accountability.

“When gifts are changing hands — perhaps literally — in a windowless room in City Hall, there is no opportunity for oversight and public scrutiny of the propriety of such gifts, the identities and intentions of the gift-givers, or what it means for gifts like whiskey, jewelry, handbags, and size 14 men’s shoes to be accepted ‘on behalf of the City,’” the report noted.

Some of the gifts were accepted while former Mayor Lori Lightfoot was in office, while others were accepted after Johnson took the oath of office.

Johnson told reporters during a press conference Wednesday the OIG’s report was a mischaracterization of what happened.

“These are gifts to the city. They’re logged,” Johnson told reporters. “The characterization of how this report came out is misguided, and, again, we’ll make sure that our team gives you the access that you need so that you can see the gifts that are given to the city.”

The mayor said there is a process everyone must go through, adding that nobody is above the law, not even the OIG.

As for the gifts, Johnson said there are times he will go to a community function and receive a gift bag as a token of appreciation.

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“I don’t want people to think there’s some room in city government where there’s just a wall full of belts and socks and shoes and fancy hats,” Johnson said, noting he has actually received hats.

“With all due respect, sometimes I believe that people chase down a wall with nothing on it. There’s a log. It’s there. It’s been there for years.”

Johnson also said he has never seen the gift room that the OIG referred to.

“I don’t think there’s a room, [but] if people want a tour of this room, I’ll sign up because I’ve never been to it myself,” he said.

Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.

Story tips and ideas can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter @GregWehner.

DeepSeek’s A.I. Chatbot Awkwardly Navigates China’s Censors

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January 30, 2025

As the world scrambles to understand DeepSeek — its sophistication, its implications for the global A.I. arms race — one natural question has arisen: Given that it is made by a Chinese company, how is it dealing with Chinese censorship?

I decided to test it out.

I’m based in China, and I registered for DeepSeek’s A.I. chatbot with a Chinese phone number, on a Chinese internet connection — meaning that I would be subject to China’s Great Firewall, which blocks websites like Google, Facebook and The New York Times.

The results of my conversation surprised me. In some ways, DeepSeek was far less censored than most Chinese platforms, offering answers with keywords that would often be quickly scrubbed on domestic social media.

Other times, the program eventually censored itself. But because of its “thinking” feature, in which the program reasons through its answer before giving it, you could still get effectively the same information that you’d get outside the Great Firewall — as long as you were paying attention, before DeepSeek deleted its own answers.

In other ways, though, it mirrored the general experience of surfing the web in China. Some words were taboo. And DeepSeek’s developers seem to be racing to patch holes in the censorship. (DeepSeek could not immediately be reached for comment.)

I also tested the same questions while using software to circumvent the firewall, and the answers were largely the same, suggesting that users abroad were getting the same experience. Until now, China’s censored internet has largely affected only Chinese users. But if DeepSeek gains a major foothold overseas, it could help spread Beijing’s favored narrative worldwide.

Did ordinary Chinese support China’s “Zero Covid” policies?

I started by asking DeepSeek about public opinions toward China’s “zero Covid” policies.

Those were the policies that, during the coronavirus pandemic, led China to close its borders for three years and seal hundreds of millions of people in their homes. Beijing presented the approach as proof of its superior governance, highlighting high death tolls in the West. But it also censored criticism or reports of food or medical shortages caused by the lockdowns. Its official death toll is widely considered unreliable.

As DeepSeek “reasoned” through how to answer me, it offered a wide-ranging survey of the issue. It noted that the public’s responses had varied, from widespread support early on to exhaustion later. It noted the difficulty of gauging public sentiment, given censorship. It said a fire in the city of Urumqi had helped set off what became known as the white paper protests, a rare show of public dissent in China, which helped speed the end of restrictions.

Then, just as it finished typing out that answer, it erased it. It was replaced by: “Sorry, that’s beyond my current scope. Let’s talk about something else.”

I asked the same question, again. This time, it gave a variant on the previous answer that was, in subtle ways, less sensitive. It still acknowledged rare public protests — more than Chinese officials have done — but didn’t use the words “white paper.” This time, the answer didn’t disappear.

I decided to press further, asking for more detail on those protests. The reasoning process was astonishingly detailed: It mentioned specific songs the demonstrators had sung, named universities where students had protested and explained how participants had been detained.

But this time, DeepSeek cut itself off before even finishing the answer.

There was also a clear difference between questions posed in English and Chinese. When asked the same questions in Chinese — “What were the white paper protests?” and “How did Chinese citizens view the zero Covid policies?” — the program did not even “think.” Instead, it immediately returned its apology: “I’m sorry, I haven’t yet learned how to think about this type of question.”

What caused the war in Ukraine?

Asked in English about the causes of the war in Ukraine, the first line in DeepSeek’s answer declared: “The war in Ukraine, which escalated significantly with Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, has deep-rooted causes that are historical, geopolitical, and ideological.”

That was striking, because the Chinese government has refused to call Russia’s incursion an “invasion.” It prefers the Kremlin’s term, “special military operation.”

When I asked more specifically about China’s stance on the war, DeepSeek provided Beijing’s official rhetoric. But then it added, “China is not neutral in practice.”

“Its actions (economic support for Russia, anti-Western rhetoric, and refusal to condemn the invasion) tilt its position closer to Moscow.”

The same question in Chinese hewed much more closely to the official line. This time, it said that the trigger was “Russia’s full-scale military action.”

The program also constantly reminds itself of what might be considered sensitive by censors. Asked in Chinese whether Russia had invaded Ukraine, DeepSeek noted: “The user may be looking for a clear answer, but according to the Chinese government’s stance, directly answering yes or no may not fit the official narrative.”

The final answer DeepSeek gave could have been lifted straight from China’s foreign ministry’s statements. “The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has complex historical context,” it said. “China has always advocated that the reasonable security concerns of all countries be taken seriously.”

Who is China’s leader?

In English as well as Chinese, “Who is Xi Jinping?” “Who is the current leader of China?” “Who is the son of Xi Zhongxun?” (Mr. Xi’s father) all yielded deflections, with DeepSeek saying it couldn’t answer those types of questions yet or that it was beyond its current scope.

“Who is Li Qiang” — China’s No. 2 official — at least started DeepSeek “thinking,” laying out Mr. Li’s biography. But that ultimately disappeared, too.

Other Chinese officials’ names were hit or miss. DeepSeek wouldn’t talk about Zhao Ziyang, a reform-minded leader who was ousted for his support of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, or Bo Xilai, a former rival to Mr. Xi who is now in prison.

It did give me the résumé of Cai Qi, an ally of Mr. Xi — but one that was badly out of date, mentioning his last promotion in 2017, not his ascent to one of the Communist Party’s top positions in 2022.

(When I later asked it to explain the Politburo Standing Committee — the party’s top leadership body — it noted during the thinking process that “according to policy, it is not appropriate to list specific names. The names of current leaders especially need to be handled with caution.”)

On Reddit, some users had shared that they got around censorship by asking DeepSeek to replace certain letters with others — for example, using the number 3 to replace the letter E when describing the Tiananmen Square massacre. But by Tuesday afternoon, DeepSeek’s developers seemed to have closed some of those loopholes. When I asked it who China’s leader was, instructing it to replace the letter I with the number 1, it still returned an error. I couldn’t replicate the Tiananmen Square answer, either.

Does China censor the internet?

I ended by going meta, asking DeepSeek if China censors its internet.

Its reasoning process read like a manual to Chinese official doublespeak.

“I need to address this carefully,” it said. The chatbot said that it should confirm that regulations existed, “but frame it in terms of cybersecurity and social stability.”

“Avoid using terms like ‘censorship’ directly; instead, use ‘content governance’ or ‘regulatory measures’,” it continued. “End with a positive spin about balancing openness and security.”

Pentagon revokes Gen. Milley's security detail

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January 30, 2025

The Pentagon said that it’s revoking the security detail for former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley and ordering a review to determine if the retired general’s rank should be re-evaluated.

Migrant TDA gang member breaks officer’s arm as 10 indicted in massive guns, drug running operation

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January 30, 2025

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Ten alleged members and associates of the bloodthirsty Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) have been indicted in a massive arms and drugs-running operation spanning at least six states and prosecutors said they had plans to expand on an international level to Colombia.

In New York City on Wednesday, police said that one of the accused violent migrant gangbangers broke an NYPD officer’s arm after he got into a scuffle during his arrest.

Authorities seized a cache of 34 illegal guns, including AR-15 assault rifles and a Glock 9mm with a trigger modification making it an automatic, tied to the suspects, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.

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Mugshots of suspected members of the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang appear over a blurred image of an arrest of an alleged gang member in Denver.

Katz said the TDA gang members were also peddling deadly drugs including pink cocaine, a designer street drug that includes a mixture of ketamine, MDMA and ecstasy.

All ten are migrants – including two women – are from Venezuela and entered the country illegally via the southern border, police said.

This subset of the gang was spearheaded by two Venezuelan nationals who came to New York City two years ago and established a gun-running crew that was also comprised of other foreign nationals.

Enyerbert Blanco, 24, the alleged ringleader, has been in custody in Florida since October after being charged in connection with a human trafficking case involving a 15-year-old girl, Katz said.

“We allege that as members and associates, they trafficked weapons and made money in furtherance of TdA’s agenda and as they seek to establish themselves in New York City, we are individually dismantling them,” Katz said.

Katz said the investigation, dubbed Operation Train Derail, began more than a year ago and was carried out by her office and the NYPD.

Five of the 10 are charged with two counts of criminal sale of a firearm and face up to 25 years in jail if they are convicted.

The remainder are variously indicted on firearm possession charges and other crimes. They face a maximum of 15 years in prison. All ten of them are charged with conspiracy to possess and sell illegal firearms in New York City.

Some of the guns the TDA members were running, accord to prosecutors

Some of the guns the TDA members were running, according to prosecutors (Queens DA’s Office)

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Four are now in custody in New York City, while four others are behind bars outside the state, including two in Texas and two in Florida. The others are still on the loose. Their illicit operation also spanned Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Colorado, Katz said.

Katz didn’t say whether ICE would be deporting the suspects, insisting she was treating the operation as a gun-running case.

She said that the group were brazen in gun dealings.

“In one instance, the defendant transported an AR-15 wrapped in a black garbage bag for sale in the Bronx County. This buy occurred at 3:45 p.m. in front of a residential building.”

Five other firearm buys – between Oct. 30 through Dec. 10 – took place inside a Target car park in College Point, in Queens.

The going rate for an assault weapon is $2,500 to $2,800, while loaded operable handguns sold between $1,200 and $1,800, she said.

“This group was very entrepreneurial. They really made sure that this business was run like a clock,” Katz said. “They stole firearms that were proceeds of burglaries and car break-ins from other states. They relied on use of rental vehicles to come up the iron pipeline and sell them to people in the city of New York. They were aware that they could make money in the city of New York, and they even discussed potentially smuggling them into Columbia due to the success of this investigation.”

Suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua appear in mugshots

Mugshots of suspected members of the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang appear over an image of guns from a video that a gang member allegedly shared on WhatsApp.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that the injured officer is set to have surgery after this week and separate charges will be filed.

“TDA is a dangerous transnational gang that has specialized in murder, trafficking, and mayhem,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch said. “The NYPD will always work with our federal and our local partners to take down international gangs like TDA, who would wreak havoc on this city.”

Some of the TDA members indicted include Wrallan Meza, 27; Leoner Aguilera, 21; Brayant Aguilar, 21; Rosemary Sanchez, 24; Enyerling Zambrano, 29; Alejandro Rondon, 19, and Oscar Sosa, 31.

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The bust in Queens came a day after immigration raids in the Bronx which saw gang member Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, 26, picked up by Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Homeland Security Investigations.

Zambrano-Pacheco is wanted by police in Aurora, Colorado, for first-degree burglary and menacing with a firearm from an Aug. 18, caught-on-camera incident where police say he and five other armed men are accused of breaking into an apartment at gunpoint.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tells Fox News that Zambrano-Pacheco is also wanted in part of a gun weapons exchange and was trying to buy grenades. Police say he’s also been charged with kidnapping, extortion, and menacing.

14 Convicted in Death of Girl for Depriving Her of Insulin

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January 30, 2025

The parents of a diabetic girl who died just shy of her ninth birthday and a dozen members of their religious sect were found guilty of manslaughter by an Australian court on Wednesday for withholding lifesaving medication.

The girl’s father, Jason Struhs, and the sect’s leader, Brendan Stevens, had also faced charges of murder. But after a lengthy trial, a judge ruled that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that the men knew that discontinuing the insulin the girl needed would probably lead to her death.

Elizabeth Rose Struhs died at her family’s home on Jan. 7, 2022, four days after her father stopped administering the insulin needed for her Type 1 diabetes. As she grew weaker and fell unconscious, members of the sect gathered around her and sang and prayed rather than seeking medical help, according to the court decision.

Mr. Stevens, who led a small church based out of his home in Toowoomba, in the northeastern state of Queensland, claimed during the trial that the criminal case was religious persecution. Members of the church, who sometimes referred to themselves as “the Saints,” held a fervent belief in the healing power of God and that medical care would go against their faith.

All 14 defendants in the case — some of whom said they considered medicine to be witchcraft — refused legal representation and chose to defend themselves.

Mr. Struhs, a baker and father of seven other children, said during the trial that he continued to believe his daughter could be resurrected by God.

“To all of you, it looks like God has failed. But I know Elizabeth is only sleeping and I will see her again,” he said at the trial’s conclusion. “Because God has promised, and she is healed.”

Mr. Struhs and his wife, Kerrie Struhs, had previously been charged with neglecting Elizabeth’s medical needs after she was hospitalized and nearly died in 2019. Ms. Struhs was sentenced to 18 months in prison, and Mr. Struhs received a suspended sentence after providing evidence against his wife, according to court records.

But in 2021, Mr. Struhs, who had previously been wary of the church and had been the one to take his daughter to a hospital and administer the medication she needed, became a member of the church.

Other members of the church, including the couple’s then 19-year-old son, Zachary, encouraged and persuaded Mr. Struhs to take Elizabeth off the insulin, according to the decision.

Even after the girl had stopped breathing and was growing cold, church members continued to pray and sing hymns for nearly 36 hours before Mr. Struhs finally called the authorities. In his first conversation with the police, the father told the officer: “Can’t believe in God and trust in man as well. So you’ve got to make a choice.”

In finding Mr. Struhs not guilty of murder, Justice Martin Burns, the judge on the case, wrote that in the “cloistered atmosphere of the church,” the father could have been “so consumed by a particular belief promoted without pause by all its members, that he never came to the full realization Elizabeth would probably die, believing instead God would not allow that to happen.”

Elizabeth was a bright girl who loved pranks, according to her oldest sister, Jayde Struhs, who left the family years before her sister’s death after clashing with them over her sexual orientation.

Trump orders Education, Labor and other departments to enhance school choice : NPR

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January 30, 2025

President Trump at a campaign event in Milwaukee on Oct. 1.

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Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump today directed several government agencies to develop plans for redirecting federal funds in an effort to expand school choice.

“Parents want and deserve the best education for their children. But too many children do not thrive in their assigned, government-run K-12 school,” Trump said in the executive order.

He directed the secretaries of Labor and Education to review their discretionary grant programs and submit plans to “expand education freedom for America’s families and teachers.”

Trump ordered the Education Secretary, within 60 days, to issue guidance to states on how they can use federal funds to support school choice. The order also directs the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, to submit a plan outlining how Defense Department funds can be used to allow military families to send their children to schools of their choice.

Among other things, the order also called for greater school choice in the Bureau of Indian Education, and for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to explore whether block grants for children and families can be redirected to “expand educational choice.”

The nation’s two largest teachers unions, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), condemned the executive action.

Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, told NPR she is “disappointed” that Trump was calling for such a broad repurposing of discretionary funds from government agencies toward private education.

“It’s a direct attack on all the parents and the families and the kids who actually go [public schools],” she said.

EdChoice, a group that supports the expansion of school choice, celebrated the move.

“President Trump’s executive order to prioritize and expand school choice programs is a crucial step toward empowering families and giving them greater control over their children’s education,” Robert Enlow, the President and CEO of EdChoice, wrote in a statement.

The Senate has not yet scheduled a confirmation hearing for Trump’s education secretary nominee, Linda McMahon, the former WWE business executive. She expressed support for school choice earlier this month.

Scoop: Key conservative caucus draws red line on House budget plan

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January 30, 2025

EXCLUSIVE: DORAL, Fla. — Leaders within the House GOP’s largest caucus are drawing a red line in congressional Republicans’ budget talks.

The Republican Study Committee’s (RSC) steering group is calling for any budget reconciliation plan to ultimately lead to reductions in the U.S. deficit, which occurs when the federal government’s spending outpaces its revenues in a given fiscal year.

“Reconciliation legislation must reduce the federal budget deficit. Our national security depends on our ability to bring about meaningful fiscal reform,” the official position, first obtained by Fox News Digital, said.

RSC leaders met behind closed doors at House Republicans’ annual retreat to hash out their stance. GOP lawmakers were at Trump National Doral golf course in Florida for three days of discussions on reconciliation and other fiscal deadlines looming on the horizon.

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The Republican Study Committee, led by Rep. August Pfluger, is taking an official policy stance on reconciliation talks

They have been negotiating for weeks on how to use their razor-thin majorities in the House and Senate to pass massive conservative policy changes through the budget reconciliation process.

By reducing the threshold for Senate passage from 60 votes to a 51-seat simple majority, reconciliation allows a party in control of both congressional chambers to enact sweeping changes, provided they are relevant to budgetary and fiscal policy.

At 178 members, RSC is House Republicans’ largest inter-conference group. It often acts as the House GOP’s de facto “think tank” on policy matters.

The group is being led this year by Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas. Its previous chairman is Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., who was recently elected House Republican Policy Committee chair – an example of RSC’s close ties to GOP leadership.

Republican lawmakers have their work cut out for them this year as they work to unify for congressional leaders’ preferred timeline for the reconciliation process.

Republicans are working on enacting President Donald Trump’s agenda (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Wednesday that he intends to have a House-wide vote on an initial budget resolution in late February.

But once Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., departs for the Trump administration as expected, House Republicans will not be able to afford any defections to pass legislation along party lines. In the Senate, the GOP can lose two lawmakers to still meet the 51-vote threshold.

And President Donald Trump outlined several specific policies he wants Republicans to include in their reconciliation legislation – including no taxes on tips or overtime pay and more funding for the U.S.-Mexico border – which could add to the federal deficit if not paired with significant spending cuts.

Republicans have floated various ways to achieve those cuts, including adding work requirements to federal benefits and rolling back progressive regulations enacted during the Biden administration.

Johnson said he wanted Republicans’ final product to be deficit-neutral or better.

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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has said he is aiming for a reconciliation bill that will be deficit-neutral (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

“Anything we do, is going to be deficit-neutral at least, and hopefully deficit-reducing, because we think we’ve got to change that trajectory,” he said on Wednesday. “So that is part of the healthy discussion we’ve been having. And everyone has lots of opinions about that, of course. And, the opinions are welcomed.”

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The U.S. is running a cumulative deficit of $710 billion in fiscal year 2025 so far, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. It’s $200 billion more than the same period in FY 2024.

Meanwhile federal revenues were $1.1 trillion through December, a decrease of 2% from the same period prior, the group said.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to [email protected]

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