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  • In Marty Small Sr. trial, jurors will decide whether A.C. mayor is guilty of child abuse

    In Marty Small Sr. trial, jurors will decide whether A.C. mayor is guilty of child abuse

    MAYS LANDING, N.J. — After a week in court, attorneys delivered closing arguments Tuesday in the child abuse trial of Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr.

    Defense lawyers for Small, a 51-year-old Democrat who was reelected this year, said the allegations that he and his wife had abused their teenage daughter multiple times in late 2023 and early 2024 were false.

    “We are not guilty,” his attorney, Louis Barbone, told jurors in New Jersey Superior Court.

    Small faces charges of endangering the welfare of child, aggravated assault, making terroristic threats, and witness tampering. He has denied the charges, and testifying in his own defense last week, he told jurors he “would do anything to protect” the girl and said he did not strike her with a broom as she has alleged.

    More than 40 people testified on behalf of Small in the trial’s final days. It comes as Atlantic City ends the year in struggles both political and financial.

    Prosecutors say Small not only struck his daughter but also attempted to cover up the abuse as he and his wife, La’Quetta, grew increasingly in conflict with the teen over a relationship with a boy they did not approve of.

    They said he punched her and beat her with a belt in addition to hitting her with a broom, and later told her to “twist up” her account of the incidents to investigators to minimize his involvement.

    “Violence is not a solution,” Assistant Prosecutor Elizabeth Fischer told the panel. “Abuse is not parenting.”

    But Small’s lawyer, Barbone, told jurors prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence to make their case and said they had inappropriately interceded in a private, family matter in the Small household.

    “Why have we taken this man’s life and made a spectacle of it?” Barbone asked. “Because they can.”

    He scoffed at prosecutors’ idea that the teen had been intimidated by her father’s political power, calling the trial “extortion by the child.”

    The girl, Barone said, had lied about her injuries to both doctors and investigators, conspiring with her boyfriend to secretly record her father and compromise him.

    Much of the attorney’s attention fell on the January 2024 incident in which Smalls’ daughter said he struck her multiple times in the head with a broom during an argument over her attending the Atlantic City Peace Walk.

    Barbone said the girl had also been holding a butter knife and that as the mayor struggled with her over the broom, the teen fell and hit her head.

    The attorney said the teen then exaggerated her injuries, and he said the bristle side of a broom couldn’t do damage. He told jurors to look no further than the testimony of the girl’s nurse, who could not rule that the teen suffered a concussion as she contended.

    And Barbone returned to the topic of Small’s daughter’s sexually explicit messaging with her boyfriend, which prosecutors called a “shining ball in the corner” meant to distract jurors from both the teen’s testimony of the alleged abuse and the photos of her bruises.

    Barbone said the conflicts began after the Smalls discovered their daughter had sneaked the boy into the family home and had sex without their knowledge. He later displayed an emotionally charged text chain between the girl and her mother in which the teen threatens to go off birth control.

    Meanwhile, Fischer, the prosecutor, asked jurors to remember the “truth” of what Small’s daughter had endured. .

    Fischer said the teen had been brave to testify against her father — arguably the most powerful figure in Atlantic City government — as well as her mother, who is the superintendent of Atlantic City Public Schools. La’Quetta Small also faces a child endangerment charge in a case scheduled for trial in January.

    It was “the most difficult thing a person can do,” Fischer said of the girl’s decision to testify against her parents, giving her little incentive to lie.

    The prosecutor said a nurse who tended to the girl’s injuries had diagnosed the teen with a head injury, and that it was impossible to tell if she was concussed through a CT scan alone.

    And a pediatrician who specializes in child abuse testified that the girl’s injuries were “nonaccidental,” Fischer added.

    Prosecutors said the girl first reported the abuse to her principal, Candace Days-Chapman. They say Days-Chapman, who previously served as Marty Small’s campaign manager, did not file a report with child welfare authorities. She instead told Smalls herself, and staff at the school only learned of the abuse after the teen reported it a second time after watching a mental health presentation. Chapman was later charged with official misconduct and related crimes.

    Fischer, her voice swelling with emotion, expressed disbelief that Small had allowed his attorney to characterize his daughter as both an “animal” and “Tasmanian devil” in describing their conflicts at home.

    “This is offensive at its highest level,” she said.

    And she told jurors that some of those who testified on behalf of the mayor had strong ties to Atlantic City government and stood to gain from the mayor’s success. And in the end, she said, they had not witnessed the conflicts between Small and his daughter.

    “Character,” the prosecutor said, ”is how you act when no one is watching you.“

  • ‘Charles Manson,’ a shot at federal workers and a response to Vanity Fair. Here are the highlights from JD Vance’s Pa. visit.

    ‘Charles Manson,’ a shot at federal workers and a response to Vanity Fair. Here are the highlights from JD Vance’s Pa. visit.

    With the midterm elections 11 months away, Vice President JD Vance visited one of the most closely watched swing districts in the country to ask Pennsylvania voters to aim their anger over the economy at Democrats rather than the Trump administration.

    During a speech at Uline Shipping Supplies in Alburtis in the Lehigh Valley, Vance blamed immigrants for the housing shortage and invoked the name of notorious killer and cult leader Charles Manson as he doubled down on President Donald Trump’s rhetoric from the week before in the Poconos.

    Vance’s visit was to U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie’s district, while Trump’s speech last week at the Mount Airy Casino Resort was in U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan’s district. Both freshman Republicans won their seats by roughly a percentage point last year and are among the most vulnerable incumbents in Congress headed into 2026.

    Both speeches were billed as being focused on the economy — as Trump and Vance seek to counter Democrats’ message on affordability ahead of next year’s election. But both delved into an assortment of topics.

    Though Vance’s remarks were wide-ranging, the vice president hewed to the White House message that while the price of eggs might still be high, the administration is working to improve pocketbook issues and restore confidence in the economy.

    “Even though we’ve made incredible progress, we understand that there’s a lot more work to do, and the thing that I’d ask from the American people is a little bit of patience,” Vance said.

    Affordability

    Vance didn’t say the affordability crisis is a “Democratic hoax,” as Trump did.

    He just said it’s the Democrats’ fault.

    “When I hear the Democrats talk about the affordability crisis they created,” Vance said, “it’s a little bit like … Charles Manson criticizing violent crime. Look in the mirror, my friend, you are the cause of the problem.”

    It’s a variation of Trump’s line from last week that “Democrats talking about affordability is like Bonnie and Clyde preaching about public safety.”

    Democrats started criticizing the price of eggs when Trump was in office for less than a week, Vance said.

    A woman asked Trump about it, and according to Vance, the president responded, “’Lady, we’ve been here for three days. It takes a little bit of time to fix something that was so fundamentally broken.’”

    Every “single affordability crisis” in the United States — food, housing, medicine, gas — is because we “inherited a nightmare of an economy from Joe Biden,” Vance told the crowd.

    In an unusual explanation of how Biden sent housing costs soaring, for example, Vance explained that the previous administration’s immigration policies were to blame.

    Vance said “20 million illegal immigrants … took homes that, by all rights, go to American citizens, and to the people of this great state.”

    It’s a line that he’s used before, which fact-checkers have flagged. Politifact pointed out that there are around 12 million to 14 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. And the housing shortage comes from a lack of construction of a sufficient supply of affordable homes, experts say.

    Beyond that, Politifact said, immigrants often share housing with friends or relatives, making their average housing consumption “far smaller than is typical.”

    Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is up for reelection next year, hit back at Vance on social media and made the case that Trump’s policies, including cuts to Medicaid and tariffs, are exacerbating the cost-of-living headaches for Pennsylvanians.

    “Donald Trump and JD Vance’s economic policies are hurting Pennsylvania. They have raised prices at the grocery store, screwed over our farmers, and gutted healthcare funding,” Shapiro said on X. “I know this Administration thinks the cost of living is a ‘hoax’ — but it’s not, and Pennsylvania families know it.”

    Firing federal workers

    In his speech, Vance made much of the just-released November jobs report, delayed by the government shutdown. Around 64,000 jobs were added to the economy, an improvement over the more than 100,000 jobs lost in October.

    Putting a good face on the big October job loss, Vance told a reporter after his speech that those were federal government jobs eliminated by the Trump administration — with a plan in mind.

    “That is, in a lot of ways, what we’re trying to do under President Trump’s leadership,” Vance said. “We wanted to fire bureaucrats and hire these Americans out here,” Vance said to applause.

    As he spoke, Vance praised Mackenzie for his “dedication to American workers.”

    Asked about the 4.6% November unemployment rate, the highest since 2021 during the pandemic, Vance was able to put a good spin on that as well.

    Many of the unemployed may have lost their jobs two years ago, under Biden, and stopped looking for work, Vance said. Those people aren’t counted in the official unemployment statistics. Now, however, as we see wages rise and more investment into the United States, Vance said, the people sitting out the job search under Biden are getting “off the sidelines” and once again seeking jobs. As they do, they’re being counted as unemployed.

    The high unemployment rate, then, is “exactly what we want,” Vance said. “That is happening under President Trump’s leadership.”

    As he spoke, Vance explained Trump’s ideas to help Americans get by, including omitting taxes on tips and overtime, as well as creating a tax deduction for interest on auto loans.

    These will lead to significant tax refunds, Vance said, adding that middle-class Pennsylvanians will see “the best tax season in 2026 that you’ve ever had.” That’s a result of Americans having “a president and Congress fighting for you for a change,” Vance said.

    Vance responds to Vanity Fair article

    In a tough question from a reporter, Vance was asked about a Vanity Fair article in which Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, described some of the people in the administration in less-than-flattering ways.

    She said Trump has an “alcoholic’s personality”; Elon Musk is an ”avowed ketamine user” and an ”odd, odd duck”; Budget Director Russell Vought is “right-wing, absolute zealot”; and that Attorney General Pam Bondi ”completely whiffed” in handling the Epstein files.

    As for Vance, Wiles said he’s “been a conspiracy theorist for a decade,” and that Vance’s crossover from a Trump critic to an ally was based on political expediency.

    While Vance didn’t address the latter description, he agreed that he “sometimes” is a conspiracy theorist, but that he only believes “in conspiracies that are true.”

    As an example, he said, he believed in “this crazy conspiracy theory that the media and government were covering up the fact that Joe Biden was clearly unable to do the job.”

    Vance said it turns out that such conspiracy theories are just things that he discovered to be true “six months before the media admitted it.”

    He hastened to add that if anyone in the Trump administration learned a lesson from the Vanity Fair article, it’s that “we should be giving fewer interviews to mainstream media.”

  • Palantir CEO Alex Karp was raised in a liberal household outside Philly. Now he’s a top Trump administration contractor

    Palantir CEO Alex Karp was raised in a liberal household outside Philly. Now he’s a top Trump administration contractor

    In the first year of President Donald Trump’s administration, Palantir Technologies has secured major contracts to compile data on Americans, assist the president’s federal immigration enforcement, and play a key role at the height of the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to shrink the federal government.

    But just a few years ago, it seemed unlikely that billionaire Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir — a publicly traded data software company that Karp described in 2011 as “deeply involved in supporting progressive values and causes” — would ever strike such deals with Trump.

    Karp grew up in the Philadelphia area in a politically left-leaning household and was critical of Trump during his first White House term. But over time, and catalyzed by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, his opinion and habits shifted. Quickly, he went from being a major Democratic Party donor to writing a big check to Trump’s 2024 inaugural committee.

    As of May, Palantir has received more than $113 million in federal spending. The company, which builds software to analyze and integrate large data streams for major companies, including defense contractors, sees itself as a beneficial power, but critics are concerned about data being misused or people being surveilled in violation of civil liberties, according to the New York Times’ The Daily podcast.

    And some employees are opposed to the optics of Palantir carrying out the president’s controversial political agenda.

    Here’s what to know about Karp and Palantir.

    What is Palantir?

    Palantir is a publicly traded data analytics software company that was cofounded by Karp, Joe Lonsdale, Nathan Gettings, Stephen Cohen, the company’s president, and Peter Thiel, a billionaire tech investor and cofounder of PayPal. Thiel is a libertarian and is a staunch supporter of right-wing ideology.

    Palantir, based in Denver, grew out of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States and a desire to help improve national security.

    According to The Daily podcast guest Michael Steinberger, who spent six years interviewing Karp for a book, one of Palantir’s major contractors has been the CIA, which was also one of its early investors. Palantir’s technological products also played a key role in assisting Ukraine during the early months of Russia’s war on the country.

    The company started its partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during former President Barack Obama’s administration, but that contract did not draw controversy until Trump’s first term in the White House, when his immigration crackdown became a key priority, Steinberger, a contributing writer to the Times, said.

    This summer, it was reported that Palantir landed a $10 billion software and data contract with the U.S. Army, months after reports showed Trump tapped the company to compile data on Americans, prompting scrutiny from privacy advocates, labor rights organizations, and student unions.

    Alex Karp, Palantir CEO, has roots in Philadelphia

    Karp was born in New York but grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, he told the World Economic Forum in 2023. He went on to attend Central High School.

    As Steinberger describes it, “He’s a Philly kid. He grew up in Philadelphia. Grew up in a very left-wing household.” Karp is the son of a Jewish pediatrician and a Black artist. And he’s dyslexic, Steinberger said.

    “It’s like I have this weirdly structured brain,” Karp said in an interview with Steinberger. “The motor is just structured differently.”

    Karp and his younger brother spent time going to antiwar and antinuclear protests, and the older Karp attended Haverford College, Steinberger said. There, he closely identified with his Black heritage, getting involved with Black student affairs and organizing an antiracism conference at Yale University.

    Karp insists that he did not put much effort into his schooling at Haverford, but Steinberger, who was a classmate of Karp’s in college, appears to think otherwise.

    “I think his path in life would suggest otherwise. I think the library saw a lot more of him than it did of me, which may go some way to explaining why he became a billionaire and I did not,” Steinberger said.

    After Haverford, Karp attended Stanford Law School, where he met and became close with Thiel — whose political views were the opposite of Karp’s. Years later, Karp and Thiel reunited after 9/11. Thiel was looking for a CEO for Palantir.

    “Thiel interviews a couple of people for the CEO position, but then he and the other people involved in founding Palantir realized Karp is probably the right guy for the job,” Steinberger said.

    In an interview with Steinberger, Karp admitted that his background made him an unlikely choice for CEO.

    “I wasn’t trained in business. I didn’t know anything about start-up culture. I didn’t know anything about building a business. I didn’t know anything about financing a business,” Karp said.

    From a Philly liberal to a staunch Trump defender

    In Steinberger’s telling, Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, gave rise to a political environment that would solidify Karp’s rightward shift.

    Over time, Karp had become discouraged with the left’s criticisms of Palantir, but that reached a fever pitch when Palantir offered its services to Israel as the country began its military invasion of Gaza amid protests, including internal dissent from employees, Steinberger said.

    Steinberger said Karp — once a protester himself — became increasingly troubled by college campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.

    “He thinks the protests are riddled with antisemitism,” Steinberger said. “They’re very dangerous and he sees this as reflective of a broader rot in his mind on the left.”

    Karp continued to back then-President Joe Biden, who was supportive of the Israeli government, but in December 2023, Karp posed a sort of ultimatum at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California regarding liberals’ stance on Israel and a desire for the Democratic Party to denounce the college campus protests.

    “I’m one of the largest donors to the Democratic Party and, quite frankly, I’m calling it out, and I’m giving to Republicans. If you keep up with this behavior, I’m going to change. A lot of people like me are going to change. We have to really call this out. It is completely beyond the bounds,” Karp said.

    Over time, Karp started donating more “aggressively” to Republicans, Steinberger said, and made clear his support for Trump. Karp wrote a $1 million check to the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee and later began publicly praising Trump on national security.

    Karp, for his part, still thinks of himself as a progressive.

    “I didn’t shift my politics,” Karp said. “The political parties have shifted their politics. The idea that what’s being called progressive is any way progressive is a complete farce.”

  • Rob Reiner’s son Nick charged with 2 counts of murder in killing of his parents

    Rob Reiner’s son Nick charged with 2 counts of murder in killing of his parents

    LOS ANGELES — Rob Reiner’s son Nick Reiner was charged Tuesday with two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents, which stunned their communities in Hollywood and Democratic politics, where both were widely beloved.

    Nick Reiner, 32, is charged with killing Rob Reiner, the 78-year-old actor and director, and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced at a news conference with Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell.

    “Their loss is beyond tragic and we will commit ourselves to bringing their murderer to justice,” Hochman said.

    Along with the two counts of first-degree murder, prosecutors added special circumstances of multiple murders and a special allegation that the defendant used a dangerous weapon: a knife. The additions could mean a greater sentence.

    Hochman said his office had not decided whether to seek the death penalty.

    “This case is heartbreaking and deeply personal, not only for the Reiner family and their loved ones but for our entire city,” McDonnell said. “We will continue to support the Reiner family and ensure that every step forward is taken with care, dignity, and resolve.”

    The announcement came two days after the couple were found dead with apparent stab wounds in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles. Nick Reiner did not resist when he was arrested hours later in the Exposition Park area near the University of Southern California, about 14 miles from the crime scene, police said.

    Nick Reiner had been expected to make an initial court appearance Tuesday, but his attorney Alan Jackson said he was not brought from the jail to the courthouse for medical reasons and the appearance would not come before Wednesday.

    An email sent to Jackson seeking comment on the charges was not immediately answered. Nick Reiner has not entered a plea.

    Rob Reiner was the Emmy-winning costar of the sitcom All in the Family who went on to direct films including When Harry Met Sally … and The Princess Bride. He was an outspoken liberal activist for decades. Michele Singer Reiner was a photographer, a movie producer, and an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. They had been married for 36 years.

    Representatives for the Reiner family did not respond to requests for comment. Police have not said anything about a motive for the killings.

    Nick Reiner is being held in jail without bail. He was arrested several hours after his parents were found dead on Sunday, police said.

    Jackson is a high-profile lawyer who represented Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles trial and Karen Read at her trial in Massachusetts. He was a central figure in the HBO documentary on the Read case.

    Investigators believe Rob and Michele Singer Reiner died from stab wounds, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press. The official, who was briefed on the investigation, could not publicly discuss the details and spoke on condition of anonymity.

    The killings were especially shocking given the warm comic legacy of the family. Rob Reiner was the son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, who died in 2020 at age 98.

    Kathy Bates, who won an Oscar as the star of Rob Reiner’s 1990 film Misery, was among those paying tribute to the couple.

    “I loved Rob,” Bates said in a statement. “He was brilliant and kind, a man who made films of every genre to challenge himself as an artist. He also fought courageously for his political beliefs. He changed the course of my life. Michele was a gifted photographer.”

    Former President Bill Clinton called the couple “good, generous people who made everyone who knew them better.”

    “Hillary and I are heartbroken by the tragic deaths of our friends Rob and Michele Reiner,” he said in a statement. “They inspired and uplifted millions through their work in film and television.”

    Three months ago, Nick Reiner was photographed with his parents and siblings at the premiere of his father’s film Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues.

    He had spoken publicly of his struggles with addiction, cycling in and out of treatment facilities with bouts of homelessness in between through his teen years. Rob and Nick Reiner explored — and seemed to improve — their relationship through the making of the 2016 film Being Charlie.

    Nick Reiner cowrote and Rob Reiner directed the film about the struggles of an addicted son and a famous father. It was not autobiographical but included several elements of their lives.

    “It forced us to understand ourselves better than we had,” Rob Reiner told the AP in 2016. “I told Nick while we were making it, I said, ‘You know, it doesn’t matter, whatever happens to this thing, we won already.’”

    Rob Reiner was long one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood, and his work included some of the most memorable and endlessly watchable movies of the 1980s and ’90s, including This is Spinal Tap and A Few Good Men.

    He met Michele Singer Reiner on the set of When Harry Met Sally …, and their meeting would inspire the film’s shift to a happy ending, with stars Billy Crystal — one of Reiner’s closest friends for decades — and Meg Ryan ending up together on New Year’s Eve.

    The Reiners were outspoken advocates for liberal causes and major Democratic donors.

    President Donald Trump on Monday blamed Rob Reiner’s outspoken opposition to the president for the actor-director’s killing, delivering the unsubstantiated claim in a social media post that seemed intent on decrying his opponents even in the face of a tragedy.

  • Investigators release video timeline of the Brown campus shooting suspect’s movements

    Investigators release video timeline of the Brown campus shooting suspect’s movements

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Authorities on Tuesday released a new video timeline and a slightly clearer image of the man suspected in the Brown University shooting, though investigators provided no indication that they were any closer to zeroing in on his identity.

    Investigators have been canvassing Providence homes, yards, and dumpsters in search of videos or other clues that might help them figure out who was behind Saturday’s campus shooting, which killed two students and wounded nine others.

    In all of the videos made public, the suspect’s face was masked or turned away, and authorities have been able to give only a vague description of him as being stocky and about 5 feet, 8 inches tall.

    The FBI’s video timeline includes new footage of the man that was recorded before the attack. It shows him running at times along quiet and empty residential streets near campus. Authorities believe he was casing the area, Col. Oscar Perez, the Providence police chief, said in a news conference Tuesday.

    Perez asked residents to look at their camera systems in the area to see if they have any footage that might help officials identify him.

    “We’re looking for a moment that is shorter than someone taking a breath,” Perez said.

    Perez said there was no clear video of the gunman from inside the engineering building where the shooting took place. Attorney General Peter Neronha said there were cameras in the newer part of the building but “fewer, if any, cameras” where the shooting happened “because it’s an older building.”

    The Brown University president said the campus is equipped with 1,200 cameras.

    Neronha said that from his perspective, the investigation was going “really well.” He pleaded for public patience in locating the suspected killer.

    Providence is understandably tense, and additional police were sent to city schools on Tuesday to reassure worried parents that their kids will be safe. Ten state troopers were assigned to support the local police sent to beef up security at schools, district Superintendent Javier Montañez said.

    “We recognize that the tragic incident at Brown University, occurring so close to where many of our students and families live and learn, is deeply unsettling and frightening,” he wrote in an email to parents.

    Alex Torres-Perez, a spokesperson for the Providence Public School District, said the district canceled all after-school activities and field trips for the week “as a precaution.”

    A city on edge

    Locals expressed fear as well as defiance as the investigation continued Tuesday.

    “Of course it feels scary. But at the same time, I think that if the person really wanted to scare us, we shouldn’t allow him or her to win,” said Tatjana Stojanovic, a Providence parent who lives next door to the Brown campus. ”Despite all of that, we should just go about our lives. I mean, obviously, you cannot forget this. But I think we shouldn’t cower and just sort of stop living despite what has happened.

    The attack and the shooter’s escape have raised questions about campus security, including a lack of security cameras, and led to calls for better locks on campus doors. Others pushed back, though, saying such efforts do little to address the real issue.

    “The issue isn’t the doors, it’s the guns,” said Zoe Kass, a senior who fled the engineering building as police stormed in Saturday. “And all of this, like, ‘Oh, the doors need to be locked.’ I get it, parents are scared. But any of us could have opened the door for the guy if the doors had been locked.”

    After spending of her life in schools where every door was locked and school shootings persisted, Kass said, such security measures only created “the illusion of safety.”

    FBI Boston special agent in charge Ted Docks said the bureau had 30 people in the city to support survivors, victims, and loved ones, noting that the toll a tragedy like this takes on them is “immeasurable.”

    A fuller picture of the victims emerges

    Meanwhile, details have emerged about the victims, who were in the first-floor classroom in the school’s engineering building studying for a final.

    Two of the wounded students had been released as of Tuesday, Brown spokesperson Amanda McGregor said. Of the seven people who remained hospitalized, Mayor Brett Smiley said, one remained in critical condition, five were in critical but stable condition, and one was in stable condition.

    One of the wounded students, 18-year-old freshman Spencer Yang of New York City, told the New York Times and the Brown Daily Herald that there was a mad scramble after the gunman entered the room. Many students ran toward the front, but Yang said he wound up on the ground between some seats and was shot in the leg. He expected to be discharged within days.

    Jacob Spears, 18, a freshman from Evans, Ga., was shot in the stomach, “but through sheer adrenaline and courage, he managed to run outside, where he was aided by others,” according to a GoFundMe site organized for him.

    Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore who was one of the two students killed, was vice president of the Brown College Republicans and was beloved in her church in Birmingham, Ala. In announcing her death Sunday, the Rev. R. Craig Smalley described her as “an incredible grounded, faithful, bright light” who encouraged and “lifted up those around her.”

    The other student killed was MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman from Brandermill, Va., who was majoring in biochemistry and neuroscience. His family immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan when he was a kid.

    As a child, Umurzokov suffered a neurological condition that required surgery, and he later wore a back brace because of scoliosis, his sister Samira Umurzokova told the Associated Press by phone. He knew from an early age that he wanted to be a neurosurgeon to help others like him.

    “He had so many hardships in his life, and he got into this amazing school and tried so hard to follow through with the promise he made when was 7 years old,” she said.

  • Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff, criticizes Bondi and opines on Trump in Vanity Fair

    Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff, criticizes Bondi and opines on Trump in Vanity Fair

    WASHINGTON — Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump’s understated but influential chief of staff, criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case and offered an unvarnished take on her boss and those in his orbit in interviews published Tuesday in Vanity Fair that sent the West Wing into damage control.

    The startlingly candid remarks from Wiles, the first woman ever to hold her current post, included describing the president as someone with “an alcoholic’s personality” and Vice President JD Vance as a calculating “conspiracy theorist.” The observations from Wiles, who rarely speaks publicly given the behind-the-scenes nature of her job running the White House, prompted questions about whether the chief of staff might be on her way out.

    Wiles pushed back after the piece’s publication, describing it as a “hit piece” that lacked context, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the “entire administration is grateful for her steady leadership and united fully behind her.”

    As for Trump, he told the New York Post that he had not read the piece and, when asked if he retained confidence in Wiles, said: “Oh, she’s fantastic.”

    Trump also agreed that he does have the personality of an alcoholic, describing himself as having “a very possessive personality.”

    A senior White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal thinking, dismissed the notion that Wiles might leave because of the profile, saying if top staffers were rattled by negative news coverage, “none of us would work here.”

    Wiles’ candor was so unusual that Rahm Emanuel, who served as chief of staff to former President Barack Obama, said that when he first saw her comments, he thought he was reading a spoof. He said he could not recall a chief of staff giving such a candid interview — at least “not while you hold the title.”

    Emanuel said the role often involves public remarks that promote the president’s agenda, but not sharing personal views about “everything, everybody” in the White House.

    His advice to Wiles: “Next time there’s a meal, bring a food taster.”

    Candor from the ‘ice maiden’ who stays behind the scenes

    The interviews with Vanity Fair were themselves uncharacteristic for Wiles, who cut her reputation as someone who brought order to the president’s chaotic style and shunned the spotlight so much that at Trump’s 2024 election night victory party, she repeatedly shook her head and avoided the microphone as Trump tried to coax her to speak to the crowd.

    “Susie likes to stay sort of in the back,” said Trump, who has repeatedly referred to her as the “ice maiden.”

    Most members of his cabinet, along with former and current White House officials, posted statements praising Wiles and criticizing the media as dishonest.

    But neither Wiles nor the members of the administration who came to her defense on Tuesday disputed any details in the two-part profile, including areas where she conceded mistakes and seemed to contradict the administration’s official reasoning for its bombing of alleged drug boats in the waters off the coast of Venezuela.

    Though the Trump administration has said the campaign is about stopping drugs headed to the U.S., Wiles appeared to confirm that the campaign is part of a push to oust Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro, saying Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”

    Wiles pushed back but without any denials

    After the comments were published, Wiles disparaged the Vanity Fair report as a “disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history.”

    “Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story,” she wrote in a social media post. “I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team.”

    Trump, in an interview with the New York Post, said he was not offended by Wiles’ remarks, including her description of him as someone with “an alcoholic’s personality,” which she said she recognizes from her father, the famous sports broadcaster Pat Summerall.

    The president, who is a teetotaler and had a brother who struggled with alcohol, said: “I’ve said that many times about myself. I’m fortunate I’m not a drinker. If I did, I could very well, because I’ve said that — what’s the word? Not possessive — possessive and addictive-type personality. Oh, I’ve said it many times, many times before.”

    Vance, speaking in Pennsylvania on Tuesday about the president’s economic agenda, said that he had not read the Vanity Fair piece. But he defended Wiles and joked that “I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true.”

    “Susie Wiles, we have our disagreements. We agree on much more than we disagree, but I’ve never seen her be disloyal to the president of the United States, and that makes her the best White House chief of staff that I think the president could ask for,” Vance said.

    He said his takeaway was that the administration “should be giving fewer interviews to mainstream media outlets.”

    The chief of staff criticizes the attorney general

    Wiles, over the series of interviews, described the president behind the scenes very much as he presents himself in public: an intense figure who thinks in broad strokes yet is often not concerned with the details of process and policy. She added, though, that he has not been as angry or temperamental as is often suggested, even as she affirmed his ruthlessness and determination to achieve retribution against those he considers his political enemies.

    Wiles described much of her job as channeling Trump’s energy, whims, and desired policy outcomes — including managing his desire for vengeance against his political opponents, anyone he blames for his 2020 electoral defeat, and those who pursued criminal cases against him after his first term.

    On Epstein, Wiles told the magazine that she had underestimated the scandal involving the disgraced financier, but she sharply criticized how Bondi managed the case and the public’s expectations.

    Wiles faulted Bondi’s handling of the matter, going back to earlier in the year when she distributed binders to a group of social media influencers that included no new information about Epstein. That led to even more calls from Trump’s base for the files to be released.

    “I think she completely whiffed on appreciating that that was the very targeted group that cared about this,” Wiles said of Bondi. “First she gave them binders full of nothingness. And then she said that the witness list, or the client list, was on her desk. There is no client list, and it sure as hell wasn’t on her desk.”

    Bondi did not address the criticism when she released a statement supporting Wiles.

    Wiles also said at one point that Trump’s tariffs had been more painful than expected. She conceded some mistakes in Trump’s mass deportation program and suggested that the president’s retribution campaign against his perceived political enemies has gone beyond what she initially wanted.

  • Hegseth says he won’t publicly release video of boat that killed survivors in the Caribbean

    Hegseth says he won’t publicly release video of boat that killed survivors in the Caribbean

    WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday the Pentagon will not publicly release unedited video of a U.S. military strike that killed two survivors of an initial attack on a boat allegedly carrying cocaine in the Caribbean, as questions mounted in Congress about the incident and the overall buildup of U.S. military forces near Venezuela.

    Hegseth said members of the Armed Services Committee in the House and Senate would have an opportunity this week to review the video, but did not say whether all members of Congress would be allowed to see it as well.

    “Of course we’re not going to release a top secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters as he exited a closed-door briefing with senators.

    President Donald Trump’s cabinet members overseeing national security were on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to defend a campaign that has killed at least 95 people in 25 known strikes on vessels in international waters in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Overall, they defended the campaign as a success, saying it has prevented drugs from reaching American shores, and they pushed back on concerns that it is stretching the bounds of lawful warfare.

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters the campaign is a “counter-drug mission” that is “focused on dismantling the infrastructure of these terrorist organizations that are operating in our hemisphere, undermining the security of Americans, killing Americans, poisoning Americans.”

    Lawmakers have been focused on the Sept. 2 attack on two survivors as they sift through the rationale for a broader U.S. military buildup in the region. On the eve of the briefings, the U.S. military said it attacked three more boats believed to have been smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing eight people.

    Lawmakers left in the dark about Trump’s goal with Venezuela

    Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said Hegseth had come “empty-handed” to the briefing, without a pledge to more broadly release the video of the Sept. 2 strike.

    “If they can’t be transparent on this, how can you trust their transparency on all the other issues swirling about in the Caribbean?” Schumer said.

    Senators on both sides of the aisle said the officials left them in the dark about Trump’s goals when it comes to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro or sending U.S. forces directly to the South American nation.

    “I want to address the question: Is it the goal to take him out? If it’s not the goal to take him out, you’re making a mistake,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), who defended the legality of the campaign and said he wanted to see Maduro removed from power.

    The U.S. has deployed warships, flown fighter jets near Venezuelan airspace, and seized an oil tanker as part of its campaign against Maduro, who has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to force him from office. Maduro said on a weekly state television show Monday that his government still does not know the whereabouts of the tanker’s crew. He criticized the United Nations for not speaking out against what he described as an “act of piracy” against “a private ship carrying Venezuelan oil.”

    In a social media post Tuesday night, Trump said he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” entering and leaving Venezuela. Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes and vowed to escalate the military buildup.

    Trump’s Republican administration has not sought any authorization from Congress for action against Venezuela. The go-it-alone approach has led to problematic military actions, experts say, none more so than the strike that killed two people who had climbed atop part of a boat that had been partially destroyed in an initial attack.

    “If it’s not a war against Venezuela, then we’re using armed force against civilians who are just committing crimes,” said John Yoo, a Berkeley Law professor who helped craft the George W. Bush administration’s legal arguments and justification for aggressive interrogation after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. “Then this question, this worry, becomes really pronounced. You know, you’re shooting civilians. There’s no military purpose for it.”

    Yet for the first several months, Congress received little more than a trickle of information about why or how the U.S. military was conducting the operations. At times, lawmakers have learned of strikes from social media after the Pentagon posted videos of boats bursting into flames.

    Hegseth now faces language included in an annual military policy bill that threatens to withhold a quarter of his travel budget if the Pentagon does not provide unedited video of the strikes to the House and Senate Committees on Armed Services.

    The demand for release of video footage

    For some, the controversy over the footage demonstrates the flawed rationale behind the entire campaign.

    “The American public ought to see it. I think shooting unarmed people floundering in the water, clinging to wreckage, is not who we are as a people,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.), who has been an outspoken critic of the campaign.

    But senators were told the Trump administration will not release all of the Sept. 2 attack footage because it would reveal U.S. military practices on intelligence gathering, said Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. She said the reasoning ignores the fact that the military has already released footage of the initial attack.

    “They just don’t want to reveal the part that suggests war crimes,” she said.

    Some GOP lawmakers are determined to dig into the details of the Sept. 2 attack. Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, who ordered the second strike, was expected back on Capitol Hill on Wednesday for classified briefings with the Senate and House Armed Services Committees. The committees would also review video of the Sept. 2 strikes, Hegseth said.

    Still, many Republicans emerged from the briefings backing the campaign, defending their legality and praising the “exquisite intelligence” that is used to identify targets. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) called the strike in question “certainly appropriate” and “necessary to protect the United States and our interests.”

  • New coach Rick Santos looks to restore Penn football’s ‘championship standard’

    New coach Rick Santos looks to restore Penn football’s ‘championship standard’

    Penn introduced Rick Santos as its new football coach Tuesday after the departure of Ray Priore, who was with the program for 39 years.

    After he earned three FCS playoff bids in five years at the helm of New Hampshire, Santos is hoping to bring Ivy League and national championships to Franklin Field. Penn athletic director Alanna Wren introduced Santos in front of players, alumni, and Penn football board members.

    “I’m here to win championships,” Santos said. “That is the expectation, and we will deliver on that. To the players: I can’t wait to meet you. Understand, it’s all about you. It’s a player’s game. It always has been.”

    Santos emphasized his passion for molding players on and off the field, deeming himself the “culture coordinator” while promising to lead “from the front.”

    Rick Santos greets attendees after a news conference on Tuesday.

    “Everybody talks about legacy and truly what it means,” Santos said. “That’s why Penn, that’s why now. The place, the people, the institution, the proud tradition of winning football, is why I’m humbled to be standing here in front of you today. I’m honored to be committed to restoring Penn football to a championship standard.”

    Penn is interviewing candidates for the offensive and defensive coordinator positions, which means the program is likely moving away from Bob Benson, the Quakers’ defensive coordinator since 2015, and offensive coordinator Greg Chimera.

    “The transition part of this profession is awful, and I hate it,” Santos said. “It’s an unbelievable job. It’s a tough profession at times. We’ll give them the opportunity to see if there’s some alignment. Can’t promise anything. I’m a loyal guy, and I wouldn’t be standing here if it wasn’t for the staff members that I’ve worked with before. I know how they operate. … I have some really tough and challenging decisions to make.”

    Penn names former New Hampshire coach and star QB Rick Santos as its next head coach

    Santos led the Wildcats to a 37-24 record, going 28-12 in the Coastal Athletic Association, and finished his final season in New Hampshire with an 8-5 record. Santos was named CAA Coach of the Year in 2022, his first season at the helm. The Wildcats won five consecutive games before falling in the first round of the FCS playoffs to South Dakota State this season.

    Wren said a hiring consulting company suggested Santos for the role at Penn. Wren noted that his passionate demeanor, along with his lengthy list of accolades as a player and coach, made him a top candidate. He was one of the best quarterbacks in FCS history at New Hampshire.

    “Rick was somebody I had targeted in this process early,” Wren said. “It’s always nice when a plan comes together.”

    As the wide receivers coach at UNH from 2013-15, Santos saw the Wildcats rise to No. 1 in the national rankings in Division I-AA. He joined former Penn coach Al Bagnoli at Columbia from 2016-18 as the Lions’ quarterback coach.

    Bagnoli “has been influential in this process,” Santos said. “I’d be remiss if I didn’t get a chance to thank him and just what he’s meant to me as a coach, as a leader, as a friend, and someone that I could confide in going through it.”

    Rick Santos speaks during a news conference at Franklin Field on Tuesday.

    Santos added that the Ivy League’s decision last year to participate in the FCS playoffs played a factor in his decision to take over the program: “I don’t think I’d be standing here today if it wasn’t for that,” he said.

    The new coach will take over a roster that is losing 10 of 11 starters on offense, including standout receiver Jared Richardson, while bringing in a new playbook and staff. Santos is looking forward to connecting with the players.

    “They didn’t choose me,” Santos said. “I know that. I understand that. So first and foremost, it’s my mission to put together a really good staff, elite teachers, great mentors, people that they’ll confide in and believe in.”

    Penn has 12 recruiting spots to fill and will begin winter training in January. The Quakers will look to bounce back from a 6-4 season that saw a heartbreaking loss to Harvard end its chances for an Ivy League title. Penn last won a share of the Ivy crown in 2016.

  • Northeast Philly gets another new school: The $88 million Thomas Holme will open in January

    Northeast Philly gets another new school: The $88 million Thomas Holme will open in January

    It’s school-opening season for the Philadelphia School District.

    On Tuesday, officials cut the ribbon on a brand-new Thomas Holme Elementary, a K-8 school in the Northeast. That celebration came exactly a week after the district opened a new middle-school building, AMY at James Martin, in Port Richmond.

    The $88 million Holme building, on Academy Road, will house 800 students beginning in January. It’s the district’s seventh new building in 10 years.

    “I see a place where students will have access to a 21st century education,” Holme principal Micah Winterstein said during a ceremony attended by students, school district officials, and community members. “A place where they feel like school is where they belong, a place where they will have moments each day that inspire.”

    New furniture at the new Thomas Holme Elementary School.

    Unlike many other sections of the city, where the district’s enrollment is shrinking, the Northeast’s school population is booming — its schools are overcrowded.

    Holme, named for Pennsylvania’s first surveyor general, outgrew its old building, which was razed to make way for the new 141,000-square-foot structure. Designed with flooding natural light, welcoming learning spaces, and flexible spaces and furniture for more conversational teaching environments, the school includes state-of-the-art music rooms, a bright new gymnasium and stage, science classrooms, an interactive media commons, and a dance studio with a real hardwood dance floor.

    A dance studio at the new Thomas Holme Elementary School has a real hardwood dancefloor.

    “This is the shining star of the school,” said April Tomarelli, an educational facilities planner, during a tour of the sunlit dance studio.

    Smaller details, like the dragon-shaped tiles in the cafeteria to match the school mascot, offer a homey touch, said April Tomarelli, an educational facilities planner, during a tour.

    “Everything was done with intention,” Tomarelli said.

    A music room at the new Thomas Holme School.

    Students had a hand in the design of the new building — they weighed in on the facade, the playground, and the stormwater management system.

    “This school comes from you,” said architect Troy Hill, who helped design the building for Blackney Hayes, adding that the students’ input included more learning spaces, outdoor classrooms, and a space for designing murals.

    The outside of Thomas Holme School in Northeast Philadelphia.

    The new Holme will open as the district nears completion of its long-awaited facilities master plan, which officials have said will call for some school closings and co-locations, as well as building renovations and new construction.

    That plan, once promised by the end of this calendar year, is now expected to be made public in the next few months.

    The average district school building was built 73 years ago, said Reginald L. Streeter, president of the board of education.

    “Most Philadelphia children walk into schools older than their grandparents,” he said.

    Philadelphia School District Superintendent Tony B. Watlington speaks during opening ceremonies for the new Thomas Holme Elementary School on Tuesday.

    At the ribbon cutting, Superintendent Tony B. Wallington Sr. celebrated the fact that, like AMY at James Martin, the new Thomas Holme school was completed on time — and on budget.

    “You’re in a school district that’s been excellent stewards of federal, state, and local tax dollars,” he said, adding that the district has its best investment-grade credit rating in 50 years.

    The school library at the new Thomas Holme Elementary School.

    The state-of-the-art school represents a step towards the district’s aspiration to be the “fastest-improving, large school district in the country,” he said.

    “Not for bragging rights,” he said. “But because the children of Philadelphia deserve it so.”

    Mike Greco, president of Penn Academy Athletic Association, which helped shepherd the project through the community, said he has two grandchildren who will be attending the new school in January. His two children had previously graduated from the old Thomas Holme, which was built in 1950.

    “We needed this,” he said. “We need good things to happen everywhere in this city.”

    A music room at Thomas Holme Elementary School.
  • Philly landlord whose intimidation campaign against tenant left two people dead is sentenced to 9 to 18 years in prison

    Philly landlord whose intimidation campaign against tenant left two people dead is sentenced to 9 to 18 years in prison

    The rowhouse on East Pastorius Street no longer looked like a home.

    Its doors and windows had been stripped, leaving the two-bedroom Germantown rowhouse open to the elements — and leaving Patricia Hall, the tenant and mother of four, alone inside and clutching her gun, afraid that if she left, her landlord would finally get his way and throw out everything she owned.

    That night, a man slipped through the open back door, armed with a gun of his own.

    Hall encountered Felipe Eskew, dressed in a mask, as she lay on her couch. They shot and killed each other.

    The intimidation campaign that ended two lives began months earlier, after Hall’s landlord, Stephen Wilkins, grew determined to force Hall and her family out of the crumbling property after they fell behind on rent.

    On Tuesday, Wilkins, 55, was sentenced to nine to 18 years in prison for setting in motion the events that led to the deadly confrontation.

    Patricia Hall’s life was not easy, her family said. She grew up without a mother, and often struggled financially. But she loved her children fiercely and tried to protect them.

    Hall, 45, and her now 28-year-old daughter, Crystal, had been renting the two-bedroom at 127 E. Pastorius St. for about three years when, in early 2023, they fell behind on rent. They paid Wilkins what they could, but the shortfall was adding up.

    At the same time, the family said, the house was falling apart — kitchen and bathroom sinks wouldn’t drain, the stairs were crumbling, the ceiling was cracking — and Wilkins was refusing to make repairs.

    Tension between the Halls and Wilkins started building. Crystal Hall said Wilkins tried to illegally force them out by shutting off the electricity and water, ripping out the electric meter and circuit breakers, and throwing a brick through their window.

    After his emergency eviction filing was denied by the courts and the family still refused to leave, he went a step further and on the afternoon of Sept. 15, he removed every door and window from the home — leaving Patricia Hall and her kids inside a shell-like structure.

    Hall couldn’t afford to lose the few things that she had, her daughter said, so she sent her young children to stay with a relative, and Hall remained in the house — her gun at her side, just in case.

    Late that night, prosecutors said, Askew — Wilkins’ best friend — crept inside the open back door of the home, wearing gloves and black mask, and armed with a gun.

    Assistant District Attorney Cydney Pope said she believes Wilkins sent Askew — who was eager to move into the Pastorius Street rowhouse himself — to the home to scare Hall into leaving, not necessarily to kill her.

    Instead, when he encountered Hall and her gun, the two shot and killed each other.

    Crystal Hall returned to the house where her mother Patricia Hall, was killed. Her mother was found shot multiple times behind the couch in the living room behind her.

    Wilkins was charged with murder and related crimes two months later after Homicide Detective Joseph Cremen uncovered Wilkins’ trail of terror against the Hall family — a harassment campaign that culminated to the removal of the windows, and the break-in-turned killing

    Wilkins was the last person Askew called just before Pope said he crept into Hall’s home and killed her.

    But Pope said the evidence connecting Wilkins directly to Askew’s plans that night was limited. The two men, who had been friends for three decades, were careful never to text directly about their plans to force Hall out, she said.

    Concerned that a jury could acquit him of the crimes, the prosecutor said, she offered to drop the murder charge in exchange for a guilty plea to involuntary manslaughter and solicitation to commit burglary. He agreed in September.

    Inside the courtroom Tuesday, Crystal Hall said Wilkins’ scheme had upended her life and those of her three young siblings, now 9, 12, and 15. She has suffered emotional breakdowns in the aftermath, she said, and now takes medication for her mental health. Her youngest brother, she said, is angry and confused. Her 15-year-old sister barely speaks.

    “We were all we had,” she said of her mother. “We can never get past the life that was taken.”

    Crystal Hall said her mother was “our source of guidance, laughter, and unconditional live.”

    She asked that Wilkins received the maximum sentence of 12½ to 24 years.

    But Wilkins’ family and his attorneys, Fortunato Perri Jr. and Brian McMonagle, asked the judge for mercy for “a man who became desperate” and never meant any harm to Hall.

    Teliah Wilkins said she’d seen how her husband had reflected on his actions over the 25 months he has spent in jail so far, and that he was “consumed with regret.”

    “Stephen’s conduct wasn’t born of malice,” she said, “… but a series of profound misjudgments.”

    But when Wilkins addressed the judge, he denied having ever sent Askew to the home.

    “I never meant harm for anybody,” he said. “… I never even wanted him to go there.”

    Bronson, the judge, questioned why, then, Askew was at the house that night, and why Wilkins, if he was not involved with Askew’s actions, pleaded guilty.

    Wilkins said he didn’t know why Askew was there, only that “he wanted the house.” He took a plea so as not to risk spending the rest of his life in prison, he said.

    As the judge stared in confusion, Wilkins began to stammer and apologize.

    “Is that it?” Bronson asked.

    The judge, while handing down his sentence, said he did believe Wilkins did not mean for Hall to die, but that given the circumstances of the crime, the landlord was lucky not to be facing second-degree murder and life in prison.

    He ordered him to spend nine to 18 years behind bars.

    Crystal Hall, in the gallery, began to sob. She whispered thanks to God. Then she walked out of court, and prepared to spend another holiday season without her mother.

    A photo of a young Patricia Hall holding her daughter, Crystal, as a baby.