The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/chiefs-cowboys-score-28f74d6cd4ced96030eeeed7fbf11002">Dallas Cowboys' 31-28 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs</a>&nbsp;on Thanksgiving Day averaged 57.23 million viewers on CBS, making it the most-watched regular-season game in NFL history.

The early game between Green Bay and Detroit —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/packers-lions-score-2216db5c2c12605ba533ed0fea438460">won by the Packers 31-24</a>&nbsp;— averaged 47.7 million, making it the second most-watched in league history and the most-watched regular-season game since Fox began carrying the NFL in 1994.

The three games, including the Thanksgiving night matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens, averaged 44.7 million. That surpasses the previous high of 34.5 million set last season and is the fourth consecutive year the league has set a viewership record on the holiday.

“It’s probably a bigger number than we projected, but again, I think we’re now measuring an audience that wasn’t measured before, which is obviously helpful,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We also had great matchups and great games all the way through the weekend. We’re going to have a weekend that will be the most-viewed weekend in the history of the NFL. So we’re thrilled by that.”

Some of the increase can be attributed to a change in the way viewers are counted. Nielsen began using its&nbsp;<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nielsen.com%2Fnews-center%2F2025%2F2025-the-media-rating-council-accredits-nielsens-innovative-big-data-panel-national-tv-measurement%2F%23%3A~%3Atext%3DNielsen%2520is%2520the%2520first%2520accredited%2Csaid%2520Karthik%2520Rao%252C%2520Nielsen%2520CEO.&amp;data=05%7C02%7CJReedy%40ap.org%7Cac055d3889084538cb2108dddf367c66%7Ce442e1abfd6b4ba3abf3b020eb50df37%7C1%7C0%7C638912147302469917%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=Q9UpatTN7WnANY3urUEYX%2FUUgqEtCXxdr2jcuhUvGgE%3D&amp;reserved=0">Big Data + Panel</a>&nbsp;methodology for all events on Sept. 1.

Earlier this year, Nielsen began measuring out-of-home viewers for all states but Hawaii and Alaska, along with including data from smart TVs along with cable and satellite set-top boxes.

Nielsen previously measured just the top 44 media markets, which covered 65% of the country.

“I think some of the work that Nielsen’s did with their initial out-of-home rollout, we saw a big step forward and this next step of capturing the entire country was the next step in that evolution that we think gets to the most accurate view of what our audiences are,” said Hans Schroeder, the NFL’s executive vice president of media distribution. “We still think there’s more opportunity once the big data element gets captured by Nielsen appropriately and captured in a way to reflect our audiences.”

Schroeder also said on a conference call Wednesday that overall ratings are up 6% through the first 12 weeks of the season.

The Cowboys-Chiefs game shattered by 36% the previous league record, which was 42.06 million for the New York Giants-Cowboys game on Fox in 2022. It was also a 47% increase over last year's late afternoon Thanksgiving game between the Giants and Cowboys (38.84 million).

The audience peaked at 61.36 million for the game's conclusion.

The previous regular-season mark on CBS was 41.76 million for the 2023 Thanksgiving game between the Washington Commanders and the Cowboys.

“It’s typically the most-viewed time slot every year and we decided to go big. Credit to Hans here for pushing,” CBS Sports President and CEO David Berson said. “It's the biggest brands the game has now with the Chiefs and the Cowboys. It so happens they were both coming off last-second, come-from-behind victories and they’re fighting for their playoff lives. It was a close game down to the wire. It was a perfect recipe for record-breaking viewership.”

The audience for the Green Bay-Detroit game peaked at 57.96 million. Fox will have next year's Dallas game, which could set up an interesting decision on which opponent the league and network both choose. The handicapping on that will begin when the teams know their home and away opponents at the conclusion of the regular season.

“I think it was entirely strategically correct to really go for it this year and try to get the biggest number. I think next year we’re going to have to think about how aggressive we want to be, because at some level it is a little bit zero sum,” said Mike Mulvihill, Fox Sports president, insight and analytics. “There will have to be some thought given to not necessarily going with the biggest game available, but going with something that’s going to drive a lot of viewership and drive revenue."

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ravens-bengals-score-96b227ea2d112813efbb9e1b96bc24c6">Bengals' 32-14 win over the Ravens</a>&nbsp;also set a mark for the most-watched Thanksgiving night game. Joe Burrow's return to the Bengals lineup averaged 28.4 million on NBC. The previous record was 27.8 million when Chicago faced Green Bay in 2015 when Brett Favre's jersey was retired at halftime.

“Football’s had a phenomenal season, so it’s not just a one-day exercise where we see these record ratings. We are in our 20th season of ‘Sunday Night Football’ and this is the highest season we’ve ever had. We’re up 10% on last year, and so the NFL has never been stronger,” NBC Sports President Rick Cordella said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/11/1764292683557.jpeg" alt="Dallas Cowboys running back Malik Davis, right, scores on a touchdown run past Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Chamarri Conner (27) and defensive back Jaden Hicks (21) during the first half of an NFL football game Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)" />
 <figcaption>Dallas Cowboys running back Malik Davis, right, scores on a touchdown run past Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Chamarri Conner (27) and defensive back Jaden Hicks (21) during the first half of an NFL football game Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)</figcaption>
 </figure>By JOE REEDY AP Sports WriterThe&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/chiefs-cowboys-score-28f74d6cd4ced96030eeeed7fbf11002">Dallas Cowboys' 31-28 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs</a>&nbsp;on Thanksgiving Day averaged 57.23 million viewers on CBS, making it the most-watched regular-season game in NFL history.The early game between Green Bay and Detroit —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/packers-lions-score-2216db5c2c12605ba533ed0fea438460">won by the Packers 31-24</a>&nbsp;— averaged 47.7 million, making it the second most-watched in league history and the most-watched regular-season game since Fox began carrying the NFL in 1994.The three games, including the Thanksgiving night matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens, averaged 44.7 million. That surpasses the previous high of 34.5 million set last season and is the fourth consecutive year the league has set a viewership record on the holiday.“It’s probably a bigger number than we projected, but again, I think we’re now measuring an audience that wasn’t measured before, which is obviously helpful,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We also had great matchups and great games all the way through the weekend. We’re going to have a weekend that will be the most-viewed weekend in the history of the NFL. So we’re thrilled by that.”Some of the increase can be attributed to a change in the way viewers are counted. Nielsen began using its&nbsp;<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nielsen.com%2Fnews-center%2F2025%2F2025-the-media-rating-council-accredits-nielsens-innovative-big-data-panel-national-tv-measurement%2F%23%3A~%3Atext%3DNielsen%2520is%2520the%2520first%2520accredited%2Csaid%2520Karthik%2520Rao%252C%2520Nielsen%2520CEO.&amp;data=05%7C02%7CJReedy%40ap.org%7Cac055d3889084538cb2108dddf367c66%7Ce442e1abfd6b4ba3abf3b020eb50df37%7C1%7C0%7C638912147302469917%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=Q9UpatTN7WnANY3urUEYX%2FUUgqEtCXxdr2jcuhUvGgE%3D&amp;reserved=0">Big Data + Panel</a>&nbsp;methodology for all events on Sept. 1.Earlier this year, Nielsen began measuring out-of-home viewers for all states but Hawaii and Alaska, along with including data from smart TVs along with cable and satellite set-top boxes.Nielsen previously measured just the top 44 media markets, which covered 65% of the country.“I think some of the work that Nielsen’s did with their initial out-of-home rollout, we saw a big step forward and this next step of capturing the entire country was the next step in that evolution that we think gets to the most accurate view of what our audiences are,” said Hans Schroeder, the NFL’s executive vice president of media distribution. “We still think there’s more opportunity once the big data element gets captured by Nielsen appropriately and captured in a way to reflect our audiences.”Schroeder also said on a conference call Wednesday that overall ratings are up 6% through the first 12 weeks of the season.The Cowboys-Chiefs game shattered by 36% the previous league record, which was 42.06 million for the New York Giants-Cowboys game on Fox in 2022. It was also a 47% increase over last year's late afternoon Thanksgiving game between the Giants and Cowboys (38.84 million).The audience peaked at 61.36 million for the game's conclusion.The previous regular-season mark on CBS was 41.76 million for the 2023 Thanksgiving game between the Washington Commanders and the Cowboys.“It’s typically the most-viewed time slot every year and we decided to go big. Credit to Hans here for pushing,” CBS Sports President and CEO David Berson said. “It's the biggest brands the game has now with the Chiefs and the Cowboys. It so happens they were both coming off last-second, come-from-behind victories and they’re fighting for their playoff lives. It was a close game down to the wire. It was a perfect recipe for record-breaking viewership.”The audience for the Green Bay-Detroit game peaked at 57.96 million. Fox will have next year's Dallas game, which could set up an interesting decision on which opponent the league and network both choose. The handicapping on that will begin when the teams know their home and away opponents at the conclusion of the regular season.“I think it was entirely strategically correct to really go for it this year and try to get the biggest number. I think next year we’re going to have to think about how aggressive we want to be, because at some level it is a little bit zero sum,” said Mike Mulvihill, Fox Sports president, insight and analytics. “There will have to be some thought given to not necessarily going with the biggest game available, but going with something that’s going to drive a lot of viewership and drive revenue."The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ravens-bengals-score-96b227ea2d112813efbb9e1b96bc24c6">Bengals' 32-14 win over the Ravens</a>&nbsp;also set a mark for the most-watched Thanksgiving night game. Joe Burrow's return to the Bengals lineup averaged 28.4 million on NBC. The previous record was 27.8 million when Chicago faced Green Bay in 2015 when Brett Favre's jersey was retired at halftime.“Football’s had a phenomenal season, so it’s not just a one-day exercise where we see these record ratings. We are in our 20th season of ‘Sunday Night Football’ and this is the highest season we’ve ever had. We’re up 10% on last year, and so the NFL has never been stronger,” NBC Sports President Rick Cordella said.

Chiefs-Cowboys Thanksgiving matchup on CBS set a record

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Southern Command announced that it had conducted another strike against a small boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday, following a pause of almost three weeks.

It is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-boat-strikes-caribbean-military-venezuela-timeline-2dd9d16f4f74d9dfa4aca76d3123678d">the 22nd strike the U.S. military</a>&nbsp;has carried out against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that the Trump administration claimed were trafficking drugs.

There were four casualties in Thursday’s strike, according to the social media post, bringing the death toll of the campaign to at least 87 people.

In a video that accompanied the announcement, a small boat can be seen moving across the water before it is suddenly consumed by a large explosion. The video then zooms out to show the boat covered in flames and billowing smoke.

The strike was conducted the same day Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley appeared for a series of closed-door classified briefings at the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/military-strikes-boats-drugs-caribbean-hegseth-congress-93c513e28f38688f5582150c7675c072">began an investigation</a>&nbsp;into the very first strike carried out by the military on Sept. 2. The sessions came after a report that Bradley ordered a follow-on attack that killed the survivors to comply with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s demands.

Bradley told lawmakers there was no&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-hegseth-maduro-512c66b99b2a13e9d1a3ed2699e78228">“kill them all”</a>&nbsp;order from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/pete-hegseth">Hegseth</a>, but a stark video of the entire series of attacks left some lawmakers with serious questions.

Legal experts have said killing survivors of a strike at sea could be a violation of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boat-strikes-survivors-hegseth-72b0a498ca08615b2589c772a1d9e642">laws of military warfare</a>.

Bradley spoke to lawmakers alongside the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, in a classified session. His testimony provided fresh information at a crucial moment as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-hegseth-boat-strikes-e68621ec48c7886215359c0110d6d9ca">Hegseth’s leadership comes under scrutiny</a>, but it did little to resolve growing questions about the legal basis for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump’s</a>&nbsp;extraordinary campaign to use war powers against suspected drug smugglers.

Lawmakers offered differing accounts of what they saw on the video.

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas said he saw the survivors “trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs bound for United States back over so they could stay in the fight.”

Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said, “What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service.”

“You have two individuals in clear distress, without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel,” he said, adding they “were killed by the United States.”

Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said the survivors were “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water — until the missiles come and kill them.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Southern Command announced that it had conducted another strike against a small boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday, following a pause of almost three weeks.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">On Dec. 4, at the direction of <a href="https://twitter.com/SecWar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecWar</a> Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization. Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was carrying illicit narcotics and… <a href="https://t.co/pqksvxM3HP">pic.twitter.com/pqksvxM3HP</a>&mdash; U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/Southcom/status/1996726797086457886?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>It is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-boat-strikes-caribbean-military-venezuela-timeline-2dd9d16f4f74d9dfa4aca76d3123678d">the 22nd strike the U.S. military</a>&nbsp;has carried out against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that the Trump administration claimed were trafficking drugs.There were four casualties in Thursday’s strike, according to the social media post, bringing the death toll of the campaign to at least 87 people.In a video that accompanied the announcement, a small boat can be seen moving across the water before it is suddenly consumed by a large explosion. The video then zooms out to show the boat covered in flames and billowing smoke.The strike was conducted the same day Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley appeared for a series of closed-door classified briefings at the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/military-strikes-boats-drugs-caribbean-hegseth-congress-93c513e28f38688f5582150c7675c072">began an investigation</a>&nbsp;into the very first strike carried out by the military on Sept. 2. The sessions came after a report that Bradley ordered a follow-on attack that killed the survivors to comply with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s demands.Bradley told lawmakers there was no&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-hegseth-maduro-512c66b99b2a13e9d1a3ed2699e78228">“kill them all”</a>&nbsp;order from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/pete-hegseth">Hegseth</a>, but a stark video of the entire series of attacks left some lawmakers with serious questions.Legal experts have said killing survivors of a strike at sea could be a violation of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boat-strikes-survivors-hegseth-72b0a498ca08615b2589c772a1d9e642">laws of military warfare</a>.Bradley spoke to lawmakers alongside the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, in a classified session. His testimony provided fresh information at a crucial moment as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-hegseth-boat-strikes-e68621ec48c7886215359c0110d6d9ca">Hegseth’s leadership comes under scrutiny</a>, but it did little to resolve growing questions about the legal basis for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump’s</a>&nbsp;extraordinary campaign to use war powers against suspected drug smugglers.Lawmakers offered differing accounts of what they saw on the video.Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas said he saw the survivors “trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs bound for United States back over so they could stay in the fight.”Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said, “What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service.”“You have two individuals in clear distress, without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel,” he said, adding they “were killed by the United States.”Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said the survivors were “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water — until the missiles come and kill them.”

🎥After 3 week pause, US military strikes another drug boat

WASHINGTON (AP) —President Trump on Thursday evening allowed first lady to light the National Christmas Tree.

“The first lady is going to do the honors,” Trump said.

He counted down from five to zero, and Melania Trump stepped forward and pressed a button that made the tree behind them sparkle with gold-toned lights.

In brief remarks, he touched on the peace deal signed earlier Thursday between Rwanda and Congo, mentioned false claims about the 2020 election being “rigged,” and said he’s happy his terms weren’t consecutive because he will be in office when the World Cup and the Summer Olympics are held in the United States next year.

Trump also offered thanks to those who serve people in need as well as police and other law enforcement officers, first responders and Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents.

The president also discussed the two National Guard members who were shot, one fatally, near the White House the day before Thanksgiving.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1764904009350.png" alt="Image from White House video" />
 <figcaption>Image from White House video</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —President Trump on Thursday evening allowed first lady to light the National Christmas Tree.“The first lady is going to do the honors,” Trump said.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">President Trump and The First Lady Participate in the National Christmas Tree Lighting <a href="https://t.co/np5QSKP7eA">https://t.co/np5QSKP7eA</a>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1996723239284883938?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">MERRY CHRISTMAS!<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/FLOTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FLOTUS</a> light the beautiful National Christmas Tree ✨🎄 <a href="https://t.co/Um3Qf1pEIo">pic.twitter.com/Um3Qf1pEIo</a>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1996734857943437453?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>He counted down from five to zero, and Melania Trump stepped forward and pressed a button that made the tree behind them sparkle with gold-toned lights.“It’s a beauty,” Trump said.In brief remarks, he touched on the peace deal signed earlier Thursday between Rwanda and Congo, mentioned false claims about the 2020 election being “rigged,” and said he’s happy his terms weren’t consecutive because he will be in office when the World Cup and the Summer Olympics are held in the United States next year.Trump also offered thanks to those who serve people in need as well as police and other law enforcement officers, first responders and Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents.The president also discussed the two National Guard members who were shot, one fatally, near the White House the day before Thanksgiving.

First lady lights the National Christmas Tree

JOHNSON COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating an armed disturbance that left a woman seriously injured.

Just after 12:30 p.m. Sunday, police were dispatched to a grocery store in 14600 block of West 119th&nbsp;Street in Olathe, regarding an armed disturbance involving a blunt force object, according to Sergeant John Moncayo.

Upon arrival, officers located an 85-year-old woman with serious injuries. The woman was ultimately transported to an area hospital in serious condition. A suspect was located on scene and taken into custody.&nbsp; Christopher A. Brewer, 50,&nbsp; who according to court documents used a hammer in the attack, is being held on a $35,000 bond on charges of aggravated battery, reckless bodily harm. He made his first court appearance Monday afternoon and is due back in court Dec. 11, according ton online jail records.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1764620311539.png" alt="Brewer photo Johnson Co." />
 <figcaption>Brewer photo Johnson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>JOHNSON COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating an armed disturbance that left a woman seriously injured.Just after 12:30 p.m. Sunday, police were dispatched to a grocery store in 14600 block of West 119th&nbsp;Street in Olathe, regarding an armed disturbance involving a blunt force object, according to Sergeant John Moncayo.Upon arrival, officers located an 85-year-old woman with serious injuries. The woman was ultimately transported to an area hospital in serious condition. A suspect was located on scene and taken into custody.&nbsp; Christopher A. Brewer, 50,&nbsp; who according to court documents used a hammer in the attack, is being held on a $35,000 bond on charges of aggravated battery, reckless bodily harm. He made his first court appearance Monday afternoon and is due back in court Dec. 11, according ton online jail records.

Suspect accused of hammer attack on 85-year-old Kan. woman

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;on Thursday came to the rescue of Texas Republicans, allowing next year’s elections to be held under the state’s congressional redistricting plan favorable to the GOP and pushed by President Donald Trump despite&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/redistricting-texas-map-blocked-lawsuit-trump-ab4dc519717c6661c63e116c9f26d899">a lower-court ruling</a>&nbsp;that the map likely discriminates on the basis of race.

<a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26338616/25a608-order.pdf">Click here to read the 20 page </a>ruling

With conservative justices in the majority, the court acted on an emergency request from Texas for quick action because qualifying in the new districts already has begun, with primary elections in March.

The Supreme Court’s order puts the 2-1 ruling blocking the map on hold at least until after the high court issues a final decision in the case. Justice Samuel Alito had previously temporarily blocked the order while the full court considered the Texas appeal.

The justices cast doubt on the lower-court finding that race played a role in the new map, saying in an unsigned statement that Texas lawmakers had “avowedly partisan goals.”

In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the three liberal justices that her colleagues should not have intervened at this point. Doing so, she wrote, “ensures that many Texas citizens, for no good reason, will be placed in electoral districts because of their race. And that result, as this Court has pronounced year in and year out, is a violation of the Constitution.”

The high court's vote “is a green light for there to be even more re-redistricting, and a strong message to lower courts to butt out,” Richard Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California at Los Angeles law school, wrote on the Election Law Blog.

The justices have blocked past lower-court rulings in congressional redistricting cases, most recently in Alabama and Louisiana, that came several months before elections.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-redistricting-congressional-map-882eae23a280a68dd6e0fc5a3bf11a0d">The Texas congressional map</a>&nbsp;enacted last summer at Trump’s urging was engineered to give Republicans five additional House seats.

The effort to preserve a slim Republican majority in the House in next year’s elections touched off a nationwide redistricting battle.

Texas was the first state to meet Trump’s demands in what has become&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/indiana-redistricting-jd-vance-mike-braun-25e5f8245d54b42d39deb921cc857735">an expanding national battle</a>&nbsp;over redistricting. Republicans drew the state’s new map to give the GOP five additional seats, and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/redistricting-gerrymander-trump-missouri-936e8daecadb32556fcfbd2eb9f7457b">Missouri</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-congress-redistricting-trump-5dccfdf94253efb56c59bbb3d3e3a6d8">North Carolina</a>&nbsp;followed with new maps adding an additional Republican seat each. To counter those moves,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-redistricting-prop-50-gavin-newsom-839193bfc2a817086acca7365315f26f">California voters approved a ballot initiative</a>&nbsp;to give Democrats an additional five seats there.

The redrawn maps are facing court challenges in California and Missouri. A three-judge panel allowed the new North Carolina map to be used in the 2026 elections.

The Trump administration is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-redistricting-justice-department-lawsuit-025b00f0b3490a5fa8219c4376bcb9d2">suing to block the new California maps</a>, but it called for the Supreme Court to keep the redrawn Texas districts in place.

The justices are separately considering a case from Louisiana that could further limit&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-voting-rights-louisiana-race-963c002fcb8a35afe36b2e14111cb88e">race-based districts</a>&nbsp;under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. It’s unclear how the current round of redistricting would be affected by the outcome in the Louisiana case.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the Supreme Court's order "defended Texas’s fundamental right to draw a map that ensures we are represented by Republicans.” He called the redistricting law “the Big Beautiful Map.”

“Texas is paving the way as we take our country back, district by district, state by state,” Paxton said in a statement. “This map reflects the political climate of our state and is a massive win for Texas and every conservative who is tired of watching the left try to upend the political system with bogus lawsuits.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statement saying: “We won! Texas is officially — and legally — more red."

Democratic National Committee chairman Ken Martin said in a statement that the court's decision “to allow Texas Republicans’ rigged, racially gerrymandered maps to go into effect is wrong — both morally and legally. Once again, the Supreme Court gave Trump exactly what he wanted: a rigged map to help Republicans avoid accountability in the midterms for turning their backs on the American people.”

In the Texas case, U.S. District Judges Jeffrey V. Brown and David Guaderrama concluded that the redistricting plan likely dilutes the political power of Black and Latino voters in violation of the Constitution. Trump appointed Brown in his first term while President Barack Obama, a Democrat, appointed Guaderrama.

“To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 Map,” Brown wrote. “But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map.”

The majority opinion provoked a vituperative dissent from Judge Jerry Smith, an appeals court judge on the panel.

Smith accused Brown of “pernicious judicial misbehavior” for not giving Smith sufficient time before issuing the majority opinion. Smith, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, also disagreed strenuously with the substance of the opinion, saying it would be a candidate for the “Nobel Prize for Fiction,” if there were such an award.

“The main winners from Judge Brown’s opinion are George Soros and Gavin Newsom,” Smith wrote, referring to the liberal megadonor and California’s Democratic governor. “The obvious losers are the People of Texas and the Rule of Law.”

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi hailed Thursday's Supreme Court stay, posting on X, “Federal courts have no right to interfere with a State’s decision to redraw legislative maps for partisan reasons.”

The new map eliminated five of the state’s nine “coalition” districts, where no minority group has a majority but together they outnumber non-Hispanic white voters. The total number of congressional districts in which minorities make up a majority of voting-age citizens dropped from 16 to 14.

Yet Republicans argued the map is better for minority voters. There’s a new, eighth Hispanic-majority district, and two Black-majority districts instead of none.

But critics consider that the Hispanic or Black majority in each district is so slim that white voters, who tend to turn out in larger percentages, will control election results.

Associated Press writer John Hanna contributed to this report from Topeka, Kansas.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1764898399072.png" alt="\" />
 <figcaption>\</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;on Thursday came to the rescue of Texas Republicans, allowing next year’s elections to be held under the state’s congressional redistricting plan favorable to the GOP and pushed by President Donald Trump despite&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/redistricting-texas-map-blocked-lawsuit-trump-ab4dc519717c6661c63e116c9f26d899">a lower-court ruling</a>&nbsp;that the map likely discriminates on the basis of race.<a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26338616/25a608-order.pdf">Click here to read the 20 page </a>rulingWith conservative justices in the majority, the court acted on an emergency request from Texas for quick action because qualifying in the new districts already has begun, with primary elections in March.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1755030421448.png" alt="Justices Kagan, Sotomayor and Jackson voted against the map" />
 <figcaption>Justices Kagan, Sotomayor and Jackson voted against the map</figcaption>
 </figure>The Supreme Court’s order puts the 2-1 ruling blocking the map on hold at least until after the high court issues a final decision in the case. Justice Samuel Alito had previously temporarily blocked the order while the full court considered the Texas appeal.The justices cast doubt on the lower-court finding that race played a role in the new map, saying in an unsigned statement that Texas lawmakers had “avowedly partisan goals.”In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the three liberal justices that her colleagues should not have intervened at this point. Doing so, she wrote, “ensures that many Texas citizens, for no good reason, will be placed in electoral districts because of their race. And that result, as this Court has pronounced year in and year out, is a violation of the Constitution.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">We won! Texas is officially—and legally—more red. The Supreme Court restored the congressional redistricting maps passed by Texas that add 5 more Republican seats. The new maps better align our representation in D.C. with the values of Texas. <a href="https://t.co/dsxH0XgNGs">https://t.co/dsxH0XgNGs</a>&mdash; Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) <a href="https://twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/1996731423034925457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The high court's vote “is a green light for there to be even more re-redistricting, and a strong message to lower courts to butt out,” Richard Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California at Los Angeles law school, wrote on the Election Law Blog.The justices have blocked past lower-court rulings in congressional redistricting cases, most recently in Alabama and Louisiana, that came several months before elections.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-redistricting-congressional-map-882eae23a280a68dd6e0fc5a3bf11a0d">The Texas congressional map</a>&nbsp;enacted last summer at Trump’s urging was engineered to give Republicans five additional House seats.The effort to preserve a slim Republican majority in the House in next year’s elections touched off a nationwide redistricting battle.Texas was the first state to meet Trump’s demands in what has become&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/indiana-redistricting-jd-vance-mike-braun-25e5f8245d54b42d39deb921cc857735">an expanding national battle</a>&nbsp;over redistricting. Republicans drew the state’s new map to give the GOP five additional seats, and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/redistricting-gerrymander-trump-missouri-936e8daecadb32556fcfbd2eb9f7457b">Missouri</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-congress-redistricting-trump-5dccfdf94253efb56c59bbb3d3e3a6d8">North Carolina</a>&nbsp;followed with new maps adding an additional Republican seat each. To counter those moves,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-redistricting-prop-50-gavin-newsom-839193bfc2a817086acca7365315f26f">California voters approved a ballot initiative</a>&nbsp;to give Democrats an additional five seats there.The redrawn maps are facing court challenges in California and Missouri. A three-judge panel allowed the new North Carolina map to be used in the 2026 elections.The Trump administration is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-redistricting-justice-department-lawsuit-025b00f0b3490a5fa8219c4376bcb9d2">suing to block the new California maps</a>, but it called for the Supreme Court to keep the redrawn Texas districts in place.The justices are separately considering a case from Louisiana that could further limit&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-voting-rights-louisiana-race-963c002fcb8a35afe36b2e14111cb88e">race-based districts</a>&nbsp;under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. It’s unclear how the current round of redistricting would be affected by the outcome in the Louisiana case.Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the Supreme Court's order "defended Texas’s fundamental right to draw a map that ensures we are represented by Republicans.” He called the redistricting law “the Big Beautiful Map.”“Texas is paving the way as we take our country back, district by district, state by state,” Paxton said in a statement. “This map reflects the political climate of our state and is a massive win for Texas and every conservative who is tired of watching the left try to upend the political system with bogus lawsuits.”Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statement saying: “We won! Texas is officially — and legally — more red."Democratic National Committee chairman Ken Martin said in a statement that the court's decision “to allow Texas Republicans’ rigged, racially gerrymandered maps to go into effect is wrong — both morally and legally. Once again, the Supreme Court gave Trump exactly what he wanted: a rigged map to help Republicans avoid accountability in the midterms for turning their backs on the American people.”In the Texas case, U.S. District Judges Jeffrey V. Brown and David Guaderrama concluded that the redistricting plan likely dilutes the political power of Black and Latino voters in violation of the Constitution. Trump appointed Brown in his first term while President Barack Obama, a Democrat, appointed Guaderrama.“To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 Map,” Brown wrote. “But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map.”The majority opinion provoked a vituperative dissent from Judge Jerry Smith, an appeals court judge on the panel.Smith accused Brown of “pernicious judicial misbehavior” for not giving Smith sufficient time before issuing the majority opinion. Smith, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, also disagreed strenuously with the substance of the opinion, saying it would be a candidate for the “Nobel Prize for Fiction,” if there were such an award.“The main winners from Judge Brown’s opinion are George Soros and Gavin Newsom,” Smith wrote, referring to the liberal megadonor and California’s Democratic governor. “The obvious losers are the People of Texas and the Rule of Law.”U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi hailed Thursday's Supreme Court stay, posting on X, “Federal courts have no right to interfere with a State’s decision to redraw legislative maps for partisan reasons.”The new map eliminated five of the state’s nine “coalition” districts, where no minority group has a majority but together they outnumber non-Hispanic white voters. The total number of congressional districts in which minorities make up a majority of voting-age citizens dropped from 16 to 14.Yet Republicans argued the map is better for minority voters. There’s a new, eighth Hispanic-majority district, and two Black-majority districts instead of none.But critics consider that the Hispanic or Black majority in each district is so slim that white voters, who tend to turn out in larger percentages, will control election results.___Associated Press writer John Hanna contributed to this report from Topeka, Kansas.

Read the ruling: Supreme Court allows Texas to use map favoring GOP

By STEPHEN GROVES and LISA MASCARO Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Navy admiral commanding the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hegseth-pentagon-drug-boats-caribbean-ae33b738a2481932ffefaf58e0a2d6ab">U.S. military strikes</a>&nbsp;on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean told lawmakers Thursday that there was no&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-hegseth-maduro-512c66b99b2a13e9d1a3ed2699e78228">“kill them all”</a>&nbsp;order from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/pete-hegseth">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth</a>, but a stark video of the attack left grave questions as Congress scrutinizes the campaign that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hegseth-pentagon-drug-boats-caribbean-ae33b738a2481932ffefaf58e0a2d6ab">killed two survivors</a>.

Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley appeared for a series of closed-door classified briefings at the Capitol as lawmakers&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/military-strikes-boats-drugs-caribbean-hegseth-congress-93c513e28f38688f5582150c7675c072">conduct an investigation</a>&nbsp;after a report that he ordered the follow-on attack that killed the survivors to comply with Hegesth’s demands. Legal experts have said such a strike could be a violation of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boat-strikes-survivors-hegseth-72b0a498ca08615b2589c772a1d9e642">laws of military warfare</a>.

“Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order, to give no quarter or to kill them all,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, as he exited a classified briefing.

While Cotton, R-Ark., defended the attack, Democrats who were also briefed and saw video of the survivors being killed questioned the Trump administration’s rationale and said the incident was deeply concerning.

“The order was basically: Destroy the drugs, kill the 11 people on the boat,” said Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

Smith, who is demanding further investigation, said the survivors were “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water — until the missiles come and kill them.”

The classified sessions with Bradley, alongside the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, provided fresh information at a crucial moment as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-hegseth-boat-strikes-e68621ec48c7886215359c0110d6d9ca">Hegseth's leadership comes under scrutiny</a>. But they did little to resolve growing questions about the legal basis for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump's</a>&nbsp;extraordinary campaign to use war powers against suspected drug smugglers. So far more than&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-boat-strikes-caribbean-military-venezuela-timeline-2dd9d16f4f74d9dfa4aca76d3123678d">80 people have been killed in some 20 strikes</a>.

Lawmakers have not yet specifically authorized the use of military force against the alleged drug boats, and the Republican-controlled Congress has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-cartels-war-power-congress-2c8c491f88836249801b6b15b19217b5">turned back attempts</a>&nbsp;to put a check on Trump’s power to engage in the missile campaign, which Hegseth has vowed will continue. Several Democrats have called for Hegseth to resign.

Congressional investigation gets underway

Lawmakers want a full accounting of the Sept. 2 strike, which was the first in what has become a monthslong series of U.S. military attacks on vessels believed to be ferrying drugs in the Caribbean and Pacific waters. The Washington Post had reported that Bradley ordered the follow-on attack on the survivors.

But lawmakers who lead the House and Senate's national security committees in Congress came away with different descriptions of what the two survivors were doing when they were killed.

Cotton said he saw them "trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs bound for United States back over so they could stay in the fight.”

He said there were “several minutes” between the first and second attacks, which consisted of four missile strikes. He said it was “gratifying” that the U.S. military was taking “the battle” to cartels.

But Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said, “what I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service.”

“You have two individuals in clear distress, without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel," he said, and who "were killed by the United States."

The survivors did not issue any distress call or other communications, though lawmakers were told it appeared the people had a hand raised, “waving” at one point during the attacks, Smith said.

Smith acknowledged there was likely cocaine on the boat, but he objects to the Republican administration’s rationale for continued attacks on alleged drug runners who may or may not be heading to the United States. “That’s really the core of the problem with all of this,” he said. “That incredibly broad definition, I think, is what sets in motion all of these problems about using lethal force and using the military.”

At the time of the attack, Bradley was the commander of Joint Special Operations Command, overseeing coordinated operations between the military's elite special operations units out of Fort Bragg in North Carolina. About a month after the strike, he was promoted to commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.

His military career, spanning more than three decades, was mostly spent serving in the elite Navy SEALs and commanding joint operations. He was among the first special forces officers to deploy to Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks. His latest promotion to admiral was approved by unanimous voice vote in the Senate this year, and Democratic and Republican senators praised his record.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has described Bradley as among those who are “rock solid” and “the most extraordinary people that have ever served in the military.”

But lawmakers like Tillis have also made it clear they expect a reckoning if it is found that survivors were targeted. “Anybody in the chain of command that was responsible for it, that had vision of it, needs to be held accountable,” he said.

Underpinning Trump’s campaign against suspected traffickers is his argument that drug cartels amount to armed combatants because their cargo poses a threat to American lives.

Democrats are demanding the release of the full video of the Sept. 2 attack, as well as written records of the orders and any directives about the mission from Hegseth. None of the written orders or audio of verbal commands was shared with the lawmakers.

A White House Office of Legal Counsel memo providing a rationale for the strikes was dated after the fact, on Sept. 5. That memo remains undisclosed, and Democrats want it released.

Obtaining further information, though, will largely depend on action from Republican lawmakers, who have majority control of the committees, a potentially painful prospect for them if it puts them at odds with the president.

Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said that he and the Senate Armed Services Committee chair, GOP Sen. Roger Wicker, have formally requested the executive orders authorizing the operations and the complete videos from the strikes, among other items. The Trump administration has repeatedly denied their requests for basic information about the operation, Reed said.

Republican lawmakers who are close to Trump have largely stood by Hegseth and the administration's decision to conduct the strikes.

Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1764640848301.png" alt="U.S. attack on an alleged drug boat Sept. 2-image from Department of War" />
 <figcaption>U.S. attack on an alleged drug boat Sept. 2-image from Department of War</figcaption>
 </figure>By STEPHEN GROVES and LISA MASCARO Associated PressWASHINGTON (AP) — A Navy admiral commanding the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hegseth-pentagon-drug-boats-caribbean-ae33b738a2481932ffefaf58e0a2d6ab">U.S. military strikes</a>&nbsp;on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean told lawmakers Thursday that there was no&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-hegseth-maduro-512c66b99b2a13e9d1a3ed2699e78228">“kill them all”</a>&nbsp;order from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/pete-hegseth">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth</a>, but a stark video of the attack left grave questions as Congress scrutinizes the campaign that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hegseth-pentagon-drug-boats-caribbean-ae33b738a2481932ffefaf58e0a2d6ab">killed two survivors</a>.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Q: &quot;Was there a &#39;kill all&#39; order from Secretary Hegseth?&quot; .<a href="https://twitter.com/SenTomCotton?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenTomCotton</a>: &quot;No. Admiral Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order to, to give no quarter or kill them all.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/ZqLPkCyHSd">pic.twitter.com/ZqLPkCyHSd</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1996648857174745129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley appeared for a series of closed-door classified briefings at the Capitol as lawmakers&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/military-strikes-boats-drugs-caribbean-hegseth-congress-93c513e28f38688f5582150c7675c072">conduct an investigation</a>&nbsp;after a report that he ordered the follow-on attack that killed the survivors to comply with Hegesth’s demands. Legal experts have said such a strike could be a violation of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boat-strikes-survivors-hegseth-72b0a498ca08615b2589c772a1d9e642">laws of military warfare</a>.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1764875553664.jpeg" alt="U.S. Navy Adm. Frank M. Bradley walks to a meeting with senators on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)" />
 <figcaption>U.S. Navy Adm. Frank M. Bradley walks to a meeting with senators on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)</figcaption>
 </figure>“Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order, to give no quarter or to kill them all,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, as he exited a classified briefing.While Cotton, R-Ark., defended the attack, Democrats who were also briefed and saw video of the survivors being killed questioned the Trump administration’s rationale and said the incident was deeply concerning.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Chairman <a href="https://twitter.com/RepRickCrawford?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepRickCrawford</a>&#39;s statement following the briefing with the Commander of the United States Special Operations Command, Admiral Frank Bradley, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, on the legal strikes against narco-terrorists in the… <a href="https://t.co/TXbkB4wIMK">pic.twitter.com/TXbkB4wIMK</a>&mdash; House Intelligence Committee (@HouseIntel) <a href="https://twitter.com/HouseIntel/status/1996641823096471722?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>“The order was basically: Destroy the drugs, kill the 11 people on the boat,” said Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.Smith, who is demanding further investigation, said the survivors were “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water — until the missiles come and kill them.”The classified sessions with Bradley, alongside the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, provided fresh information at a crucial moment as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-hegseth-boat-strikes-e68621ec48c7886215359c0110d6d9ca">Hegseth's leadership comes under scrutiny</a>. But they did little to resolve growing questions about the legal basis for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump's</a>&nbsp;extraordinary campaign to use war powers against suspected drug smugglers. So far more than&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-boat-strikes-caribbean-military-venezuela-timeline-2dd9d16f4f74d9dfa4aca76d3123678d">80 people have been killed in some 20 strikes</a>.Lawmakers have not yet specifically authorized the use of military force against the alleged drug boats, and the Republican-controlled Congress has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-cartels-war-power-congress-2c8c491f88836249801b6b15b19217b5">turned back attempts</a>&nbsp;to put a check on Trump’s power to engage in the missile campaign, which Hegseth has vowed will continue. Several Democrats have called for Hegseth to resign.<h2>Congressional investigation gets underway</h2>Lawmakers want a full accounting of the Sept. 2 strike, which was the first in what has become a monthslong series of U.S. military attacks on vessels believed to be ferrying drugs in the Caribbean and Pacific waters. The Washington Post had reported that Bradley ordered the follow-on attack on the survivors.But lawmakers who lead the House and Senate's national security committees in Congress came away with different descriptions of what the two survivors were doing when they were killed.Cotton said he saw them "trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs bound for United States back over so they could stay in the fight.”He said there were “several minutes” between the first and second attacks, which consisted of four missile strikes. He said it was “gratifying” that the U.S. military was taking “the battle” to cartels.But Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said, “what I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service.”“You have two individuals in clear distress, without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel," he said, and who "were killed by the United States."The survivors did not issue any distress call or other communications, though lawmakers were told it appeared the people had a hand raised, “waving” at one point during the attacks, Smith said.Smith acknowledged there was likely cocaine on the boat, but he objects to the Republican administration’s rationale for continued attacks on alleged drug runners who may or may not be heading to the United States. “That’s really the core of the problem with all of this,” he said. “That incredibly broad definition, I think, is what sets in motion all of these problems about using lethal force and using the military.”<h2>Who is Adm. Bradley?</h2>At the time of the attack, Bradley was the commander of Joint Special Operations Command, overseeing coordinated operations between the military's elite special operations units out of Fort Bragg in North Carolina. About a month after the strike, he was promoted to commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.His military career, spanning more than three decades, was mostly spent serving in the elite Navy SEALs and commanding joint operations. He was among the first special forces officers to deploy to Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks. His latest promotion to admiral was approved by unanimous voice vote in the Senate this year, and Democratic and Republican senators praised his record.Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has described Bradley as among those who are “rock solid” and “the most extraordinary people that have ever served in the military.”But lawmakers like Tillis have also made it clear they expect a reckoning if it is found that survivors were targeted. “Anybody in the chain of command that was responsible for it, that had vision of it, needs to be held accountable,” he said.<h2>What else are lawmakers seeking?</h2>Underpinning Trump’s campaign against suspected traffickers is his argument that drug cartels amount to armed combatants because their cargo poses a threat to American lives.Democrats are demanding the release of the full video of the Sept. 2 attack, as well as written records of the orders and any directives about the mission from Hegseth. None of the written orders or audio of verbal commands was shared with the lawmakers.A White House Office of Legal Counsel memo providing a rationale for the strikes was dated after the fact, on Sept. 5. That memo remains undisclosed, and Democrats want it released.Obtaining further information, though, will largely depend on action from Republican lawmakers, who have majority control of the committees, a potentially painful prospect for them if it puts them at odds with the president.Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said that he and the Senate Armed Services Committee chair, GOP Sen. Roger Wicker, have formally requested the executive orders authorizing the operations and the complete videos from the strikes, among other items. The Trump administration has repeatedly denied their requests for basic information about the operation, Reed said.Republican lawmakers who are close to Trump have largely stood by Hegseth and the administration's decision to conduct the strikes.___Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

🎥Admiral tells lawmakers about Sept. drug boat attack survivors

WASHINGTON (AP) For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection right after birth. The shots are widely considered to be a public health success for preventing thousands of illnesses.

But a vaccine advisory committee formed by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist before he became the nation’s top health official, is considering whether to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose mothers test positive, which would mark a return to a public health strategy that was abandoned more than three decades ago. The committee plans to vote Friday.&nbsp; They had originally planned to vote Thursday. They delayed a similar vote earlier this year.

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal vaccine advisory committee this week is expected to discuss whether newborns should still get the hepatitis B vaccine — the first shot found to prevent cancer.

Federal health recommendations now suggest that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection in their first day of life, but U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s committee on Thursday is expected to change that — contradicting previous public health advice.

It’s not clear exactly what the committee is considering, but the American Academy of Pediatrics will still urge a birth dose, said the organization’s Dr. Sean O’Leary.

“We are going to continue to recommend it because it saves lives,” he said.

Here’s a look at the disease, the vaccine and the debate over changing the recommendations.

Liver disease can cause lifelong health issues

Hepatitis B is a serious liver infection that for most people lasts less than six months. But for some — especially infants and children — it can become a long-lasting problem that can lead to liver failure, liver cancer and scarring called cirrhosis.

In adults, the virus is spread through sex or through sharing needles during injection-drug use.

But it can also be passed from an infected mother to a baby. As many as 90% of infants who contract hepatitis B go on to have chronic infections, meaning their immune systems don’t completely clear the virus.

As many as 2.4 million people in the U.S. are estimated to have hepatitis B, and as many as half are unaware they are infected, according to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Baruch Blumberg, a federal scientist, identified the virus behind the infection in 1965. He won the Nobel Prize for the discovery, which led to tests and vaccines. The first hepatitis B vaccine was licensed in the U.S. in 1981.

Shots for newborns have been recommended for years

For decades, the nation’s vaccine guidance has been influenced by a government-appointed panel of experts, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Its recommendations have usually been adopted as national guidance that is widely heeded by doctors.

In 1991, the committee recommended an initial dose of hepatitis B vaccine at birth. The guidance was modified a little over the years and currently suggests a dose within 24 hours of birth for all medically stable infants who weigh at least 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms), plus follow-up shots to be given at about 1 month and 6 months.

Why a dose right at birth? Health officials used to rely on screening expectant mothers to find babies that might have been exposed to the virus. But many cases were missed, experts say, because some women weren’t tested or test results were incorrect. Also, the virus can live on surfaces for more than seven days at room temperature, so unvaccinated children living with a person with a chronic infection can catch it.

Newborn hepatitis B vaccinations are widely considered to be a public health success story. Over about 30 years, cases among children fell from about 18,000 per year to about 2,200.

A collaboration of public health researchers, the Vaccine Integrity Project, this week released its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/vaccine-integrity-project/hepatitis-b" target="_blank">analysis</a>&nbsp;of more than 400 studies and reports spanning 40 years. The group concluded the birth dose is safe, and is an important reason U.S. pediatric hepatitis B infections have fallen.

Committee revisits the newborn recommendation

Kennedy, a leading anti-vaccine activist before becoming the nation’s top health official,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kennedy-cdc-acip-vaccines-3790c89f45b6314c5c7b686db0e3a8f9">fired all 17 members</a>&nbsp;of ACIP earlier this year and replaced them with a group that includes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cdc-acip-vaccine-committee-9f58e1f004075b081718ff078de88d76">several anti-vaccine voices</a>.

The panel has raised concerns about giving a vaccine to a baby so early in life.

“Are we asking our babies to solve an adult problem?” committee member Dr. Evelyn Griffin asked at a September meeting.

Peppered with questions about why a change was necessary, committee member Dr. Robert Malone said: “The signal that is prompting this is not one of safety. It’s one of trust. ... It’s one of parents uncomfortable with this medical procedure being performed at birth in a rather unilateral fashion without significant informed consent.”

The committee tabled a vote at the September meeting, but it’s slated to be acted on during Thursday’s meeting, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/acip/downloads/agendas/draft-posted-2025-12-01-508.pdf" target="_blank">the agenda</a>. Federal officials have not answered questions about exactly how much of a delay is being proposed, or disclosed what research is being used as a basis for such a decision.

What would happen if the shots are delayed?

Not knowing what the committee is contemplating makes it difficult to guess the potential impact. But some have tried.

This week, public health researchers collaborating with hepatitis-focused advocacy organizations released&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.24.25340907v1" target="_blank">a report</a>&nbsp;estimating that delaying the birth dose to 2 months could result in at least 1,400 hepatitis B infections in children and 480 deaths. The report — which has yet to be peer reviewed or published in a medical journal — estimated the toll would be higher if the first dose was given even later.

But an ACIP change to the recommendation may have limited impact, O’Leary said.

The committee’s most direct power comes over what’s covered by the government Vaccines for Children program, which pays for shots for uninsured children from low-income families. Hepatitis B shots often have been bundled into the final hospital bill for childbirth. So a new ACIP recommendation likely would not be an economic obstacle for the current practice continuing at many hospitals, he said.

But any change stands to confuse and frighten parents, he added.

“If it scares, it shares” on social media, O’Leary said.

Several medical and public health organizations — and even some state government officials — have said, in advance of the meeting, that changing the recommendation is a terrible idea. Among them is a recently formed coalition of government leaders from several Northeastern states, which this week issued a statement saying they would continue to urge families to get a birth dose within 24 hours of delivery.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, this week called on Congress to compel Kennedy to appear at a hearing and explain ACIP’s actions.

“Ending the decades-long recommendation that babies born in the U.S. get vaccinated against hepatitis B is a heartless choice to allow babies to die,” Murray said in a statement.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1755810413215.png" alt="U.S. Health Secretary Robert F.Kennedy, Jr.-courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>U.S. Health Secretary Robert F.Kennedy, Jr.-courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection right after birth. The shots are widely considered to be a public health success for preventing thousands of illnesses.But a vaccine advisory committee formed by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist before he became the nation’s top health official, is considering whether to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose mothers test positive, which would mark a return to a public health strategy that was abandoned more than three decades ago. The committee plans to vote Friday.&nbsp; They had originally planned to vote Thursday. They delayed a similar vote earlier this year.-----------------NEW YORK (AP) — A federal vaccine advisory committee this week is expected to discuss whether newborns should still get the hepatitis B vaccine — the first shot found to prevent cancer.Federal health recommendations now suggest that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection in their first day of life, but U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s committee on Thursday is expected to change that — contradicting previous public health advice.It’s not clear exactly what the committee is considering, but the American Academy of Pediatrics will still urge a birth dose, said the organization’s Dr. Sean O’Leary.“We are going to continue to recommend it because it saves lives,” he said.Here’s a look at the disease, the vaccine and the debate over changing the recommendations.<h2>Liver disease can cause lifelong health issues</h2>Hepatitis B is a serious liver infection that for most people lasts less than six months. But for some — especially infants and children — it can become a long-lasting problem that can lead to liver failure, liver cancer and scarring called cirrhosis.In adults, the virus is spread through sex or through sharing needles during injection-drug use.But it can also be passed from an infected mother to a baby. As many as 90% of infants who contract hepatitis B go on to have chronic infections, meaning their immune systems don’t completely clear the virus.As many as 2.4 million people in the U.S. are estimated to have hepatitis B, and as many as half are unaware they are infected, according to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Dr. Baruch Blumberg, a federal scientist, identified the virus behind the infection in 1965. He won the Nobel Prize for the discovery, which led to tests and vaccines. The first hepatitis B vaccine was licensed in the U.S. in 1981.<h2>Shots for newborns have been recommended for years</h2>For decades, the nation’s vaccine guidance has been influenced by a government-appointed panel of experts, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Its recommendations have usually been adopted as national guidance that is widely heeded by doctors.In 1991, the committee recommended an initial dose of hepatitis B vaccine at birth. The guidance was modified a little over the years and currently suggests a dose within 24 hours of birth for all medically stable infants who weigh at least 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms), plus follow-up shots to be given at about 1 month and 6 months.Why a dose right at birth? Health officials used to rely on screening expectant mothers to find babies that might have been exposed to the virus. But many cases were missed, experts say, because some women weren’t tested or test results were incorrect. Also, the virus can live on surfaces for more than seven days at room temperature, so unvaccinated children living with a person with a chronic infection can catch it.Newborn hepatitis B vaccinations are widely considered to be a public health success story. Over about 30 years, cases among children fell from about 18,000 per year to about 2,200.A collaboration of public health researchers, the Vaccine Integrity Project, this week released its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/vaccine-integrity-project/hepatitis-b" target="_blank">analysis</a>&nbsp;of more than 400 studies and reports spanning 40 years. The group concluded the birth dose is safe, and is an important reason U.S. pediatric hepatitis B infections have fallen.<h2>Committee revisits the newborn recommendation</h2>Kennedy, a leading anti-vaccine activist before becoming the nation’s top health official,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kennedy-cdc-acip-vaccines-3790c89f45b6314c5c7b686db0e3a8f9">fired all 17 members</a>&nbsp;of ACIP earlier this year and replaced them with a group that includes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cdc-acip-vaccine-committee-9f58e1f004075b081718ff078de88d76">several anti-vaccine voices</a>.The panel has raised concerns about giving a vaccine to a baby so early in life.“Are we asking our babies to solve an adult problem?” committee member Dr. Evelyn Griffin asked at a September meeting.Peppered with questions about why a change was necessary, committee member Dr. Robert Malone said: “The signal that is prompting this is not one of safety. It’s one of trust. ... It’s one of parents uncomfortable with this medical procedure being performed at birth in a rather unilateral fashion without significant informed consent.”The committee tabled a vote at the September meeting, but it’s slated to be acted on during Thursday’s meeting, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/acip/downloads/agendas/draft-posted-2025-12-01-508.pdf" target="_blank">the agenda</a>. Federal officials have not answered questions about exactly how much of a delay is being proposed, or disclosed what research is being used as a basis for such a decision.<h2>What would happen if the shots are delayed?</h2>Not knowing what the committee is contemplating makes it difficult to guess the potential impact. But some have tried.This week, public health researchers collaborating with hepatitis-focused advocacy organizations released&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.24.25340907v1" target="_blank">a report</a>&nbsp;estimating that delaying the birth dose to 2 months could result in at least 1,400 hepatitis B infections in children and 480 deaths. The report — which has yet to be peer reviewed or published in a medical journal — estimated the toll would be higher if the first dose was given even later.But an ACIP change to the recommendation may have limited impact, O’Leary said.The committee’s most direct power comes over what’s covered by the government Vaccines for Children program, which pays for shots for uninsured children from low-income families. Hepatitis B shots often have been bundled into the final hospital bill for childbirth. So a new ACIP recommendation likely would not be an economic obstacle for the current practice continuing at many hospitals, he said.But any change stands to confuse and frighten parents, he added.“If it scares, it shares” on social media, O’Leary said.Several medical and public health organizations — and even some state government officials — have said, in advance of the meeting, that changing the recommendation is a terrible idea. Among them is a recently formed coalition of government leaders from several Northeastern states, which this week issued a statement saying they would continue to urge families to get a birth dose within 24 hours of delivery.U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, this week called on Congress to compel Kennedy to appear at a hearing and explain ACIP’s actions.“Ending the decades-long recommendation that babies born in the U.S. get vaccinated against hepatitis B is a heartless choice to allow babies to die,” Murray said in a statement.___

Vaccine committee delays vote on hepatitis B shots for newborns

FINNEY COUNTY —A Kansas teen is under investigation for a bank robbery in southwest Kansas.

Just before 1p.m.&nbsp;December 2, Police Officers and Finney County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a reported bank robbery at Equity Bank, 401 N. Henderson Street in city of Holcomb, according to a media release from polcie.

Law enforcement learned the suspect had left the scene with an undisclosed amount of money, armed with a knife and wearing a mask. 

Officers and deputies quickly located the suspect—identified as Chase Walker, 16, of Holcomb—in the bank parking lot. He was taken into custody without incident, and no injuries were reported. Evidence related to the crime was recovered at the scene.

Walker was arrested on requested charges of Aggravated Robbery, Aggravated Assault, and additional allegations, according to police. .

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1764879926631.png" alt="google image" />
 <figcaption>google image</figcaption>
 </figure>FINNEY COUNTY —A Kansas teen is under investigation for a bank robbery in southwest Kansas.Just before 1p.m.&nbsp;December 2, Police Officers and Finney County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a reported bank robbery at Equity Bank, 401 N. Henderson Street in city of Holcomb, according to a media release from polcie.Law enforcement learned the suspect had left the scene with an undisclosed amount of money, armed with a knife and wearing a mask. Officers and deputies quickly located the suspect—identified as Chase Walker, 16, of Holcomb—in the bank parking lot. He was taken into custody without incident, and no injuries were reported. Evidence related to the crime was recovered at the scene.Walker was arrested on requested charges of Aggravated Robbery, Aggravated Assault, and additional allegations, according to police. .

16-year-old accused of armed bank robbery in SW Kansas

WASHINGTON (AP) —There is a recall for more than 260,000 cases of shredded cheese sold in Kansas, 30 other states and Puerto Rico because of the potential for metal fragment contamination, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA said that the various shredded cheeses were recalled by Great Lakes Cheese Co. The cheese products are sold under private store-brand labels at several retailers, including Target, Walmart and Aldi.

The recall includes various cheeses such as mozzarella, Italian style, pizza style, mozzarella and provolone and mozzarella and parmesan.

The recall has a Class II classification, because the product “may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote,” according to the FDA’s website.

An FDA says ingesting metal fragments may cause injuries such as dental damage, laceration of the mouth or throat, or laceration or perforation of the intestine.

WASHINGTON (AP) —There is a recall for more than 260,000 cases of shredded cheese sold in Kansas, 30 other states and Puerto Rico because of the potential for metal fragment contamination, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.The FDA said that the various shredded cheeses were recalled by Great Lakes Cheese Co. The cheese products are sold under private store-brand labels at several retailers, including Target, Walmart and Aldi.The recall includes various cheeses such as mozzarella, Italian style, pizza style, mozzarella and provolone and mozzarella and parmesan.The recall has a Class II classification, because the product “may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote,” according to the FDA’s website.An FDA says ingesting metal fragments may cause injuries such as dental damage, laceration of the mouth or throat, or laceration or perforation of the intestine.

Shredded cheese sold in Kan. gets FDA’s most serious recall warning  

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/02/20/state-senator-throws-first-punches-of-2024-missouri-governors-campaign/">Missouri Independent</a>

Missouri’s Western District Court of Appeals agreed the ballot language set to go on the November 2026 ballot failed to sufficiently inform voters that a ‘yes’ vote would repeal abortion rights passed in 2024

A Missouri appeals court rewrote the language for a proposed abortion ban set to appear on the November 2026 ballot after the judges concluded Thursday the previous wording drafted by Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/12/03/missouri-appeals-court-arguments-abortion-ban-ballot-measure/">was riddled with errors.</a>

The judges found both the ballot language and the summary statement that will be posted at polling places “fail to sufficiently advise voters” that the proposed amendment would repeal and replace the reproductive rights amendment voters passed in November 2024 to legalize abortion.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/fv/c/Opinion.PDF?courtCode=WA&amp;di=506254" target="_blank">The new ballot language</a>&nbsp;certified by the Missouri Court of Appeals reads:&nbsp;

“Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:

Western District Court of Appeals Presiding Judge W. Douglas Thomson and judges Thomas Chapman and Janet Sutton filed the opinion less than 24 hours after hearing arguments in their courtroom Wednesday afternoon.

Hoskins’ now-rejected ballot language, in-part, asked if voters wanted to: “Repeal Article I, section 36, approved in 2024; allow abortions for medical emergencies, fetal anomalies, rape, and incest.’”

Attorneys for Dr. Anna Fitz-James, who filed the lawsuit, picked this statement apart, scrutinizing the assumption that voters would know what “Article 1, section 3 of the constitution is, the exclusion of the 12-week gestation limit for survivors, as well as the misuse of a semi-colon, which could be interpreted to mean citizens would be newly gaining these abortion rights.

The appeals court agreed with them on all three counts.

The judges also re-wrote Hoskins’ initial ballot language that asked if voters wanted to: “Guarantee women’s medical care for emergencies, ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages.”

The appeals court found that wording to be “misleading,” because while the proposed amendment would prevent the state from interfering with an individual’s ability to access such care, it “does not guarantee the care itself.”

Fitz-James also argued the proposed amendment violates a&nbsp;<a href="https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=III+++50&amp;constit=y" target="_blank">statute</a>&nbsp;that prevents ballot measures from encompassing more than one subject. She argued that gender-affirming care is a different subject from reproductive health care.

The appeals judges agreed with the lower court’s assessment that the proposed amendment “passes constitutional muster” and does not violate the single subject rule.&nbsp;

“Because gender transition surgeries or hormone therapies may affect the ability to reproduce, gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies may be connected with, or incident to, reproductive health care,” the judges wrote.&nbsp;

Abortion rights groups have accused lawmakers of including the ban to win over more voters. Gender-affirming health care for minors is&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/10/15/how-missouri-became-a-battleground-over-gender-affirming-care/">currently banned in Missouri,</a>&nbsp;though a challenge to the law is before the&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/09/24/ruling-upholding-missouri-transgender-care-ban-had-factual-errors-attorneys-argue/">state supreme court.&nbsp;</a>

But they disagreed with how Hoskins worded this part of the language, which initially asked if voters wanted to “prohibit sex-change procedures for children.” The judges said this wording incorrectly attempted to use the words “gender” and “sex” interchangeably.&nbsp;

The court also re-wrote the ballot summary to reflect the new ballot language.&nbsp;

A new law passed this year allows the secretary of state three attempts to write fair ballot language. Hoskins has so far used two, but the appeals court ruled Thursday that he wouldn’t be given his third try at the wording.

The latest decision is expected to be appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court.&nbsp;

The proposed constitutional amendment was drafted and approved by Missouri’s Republican supermajority in May. A lawsuit over the initial ballot language, which failed to state the amendment would ban abortion, was filed in July by Fitz-James. Fitz-James, who submitted the language for the reproductive rights initiative petition, said the latest amendment was intentionally deceptive.&nbsp;

While abortion up until the point of fetal viability is a constitutional right in Missouri because of&nbsp; the abortion rights amendment voters approved, only several dozen abortions have occurred as legal battles over abortion regulations that remain in state statute play out in the courts.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1764874419281.png" alt=" Students hold up anti-abortion signs at the Midwest March for Life on May 1, 2024, at the Missouri State Capitol (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> Students hold up anti-abortion signs at the Midwest March for Life on May 1, 2024, at the Missouri State Capitol (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/02/20/state-senator-throws-first-punches-of-2024-missouri-governors-campaign/">Missouri Independent</a><h2>Missouri’s Western District Court of Appeals agreed the ballot language set to go on the November 2026 ballot failed to sufficiently inform voters that a ‘yes’ vote would repeal abortion rights passed in 2024</h2>A Missouri appeals court rewrote the language for a proposed abortion ban set to appear on the November 2026 ballot after the judges concluded Thursday the previous wording drafted by Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/12/03/missouri-appeals-court-arguments-abortion-ban-ballot-measure/">was riddled with errors.</a>The judges found both the ballot language and the summary statement that will be posted at polling places “fail to sufficiently advise voters” that the proposed amendment would repeal and replace the reproductive rights amendment voters passed in November 2024 to legalize abortion.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/fv/c/Opinion.PDF?courtCode=WA&amp;di=506254" target="_blank">The new ballot language</a>&nbsp;certified by the Missouri Court of Appeals reads:&nbsp;“Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:<ul>
 <li>Repeal the 2024 voter-approved Amendment providing reproductive healthcare rights, including abortion through fetal viability;</li><li>Allow abortions for rape and incest (under twelve-weeks’ gestation), emergencies, and fetal anomalies;</li><li>Allow legislation regulating abortion;</li><li>Ensure parental consent for minors’ abortions;</li><li>Prohibit gender transition procedures for minors?”</li>
 </ul>Western District Court of Appeals Presiding Judge W. Douglas Thomson and judges Thomas Chapman and Janet Sutton filed the opinion less than 24 hours after hearing arguments in their courtroom Wednesday afternoon.Hoskins’ now-rejected ballot language, in-part, asked if voters wanted to: “Repeal Article I, section 36, approved in 2024; allow abortions for medical emergencies, fetal anomalies, rape, and incest.’”Attorneys for Dr. Anna Fitz-James, who filed the lawsuit, picked this statement apart, scrutinizing the assumption that voters would know what “Article 1, section 3 of the constitution is, the exclusion of the 12-week gestation limit for survivors, as well as the misuse of a semi-colon, which could be interpreted to mean citizens would be newly gaining these abortion rights.The appeals court agreed with them on all three counts.The judges also re-wrote Hoskins’ initial ballot language that asked if voters wanted to: “Guarantee women’s medical care for emergencies, ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages.”The appeals court found that wording to be “misleading,” because while the proposed amendment would prevent the state from interfering with an individual’s ability to access such care, it “does not guarantee the care itself.”Fitz-James also argued the proposed amendment violates a&nbsp;<a href="https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=III+++50&amp;constit=y" target="_blank">statute</a>&nbsp;that prevents ballot measures from encompassing more than one subject. She argued that gender-affirming care is a different subject from reproductive health care.The appeals judges agreed with the lower court’s assessment that the proposed amendment “passes constitutional muster” and does not violate the single subject rule.&nbsp;“Because gender transition surgeries or hormone therapies may affect the ability to reproduce, gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies may be connected with, or incident to, reproductive health care,” the judges wrote.&nbsp;Abortion rights groups have accused lawmakers of including the ban to win over more voters. Gender-affirming health care for minors is&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/10/15/how-missouri-became-a-battleground-over-gender-affirming-care/">currently banned in Missouri,</a>&nbsp;though a challenge to the law is before the&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/09/24/ruling-upholding-missouri-transgender-care-ban-had-factual-errors-attorneys-argue/">state supreme court.&nbsp;</a>But they disagreed with how Hoskins worded this part of the language, which initially asked if voters wanted to “prohibit sex-change procedures for children.” The judges said this wording incorrectly attempted to use the words “gender” and “sex” interchangeably.&nbsp;The court also re-wrote the ballot summary to reflect the new ballot language.&nbsp;A new law passed this year allows the secretary of state three attempts to write fair ballot language. Hoskins has so far used two, but the appeals court ruled Thursday that he wouldn’t be given his third try at the wording.The latest decision is expected to be appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court.&nbsp;The proposed constitutional amendment was drafted and approved by Missouri’s Republican supermajority in May. A lawsuit over the initial ballot language, which failed to state the amendment would ban abortion, was filed in July by Fitz-James. Fitz-James, who submitted the language for the reproductive rights initiative petition, said the latest amendment was intentionally deceptive.&nbsp;While abortion up until the point of fetal viability is a constitutional right in Missouri because of&nbsp; the abortion rights amendment voters approved, only several dozen abortions have occurred as legal battles over abortion regulations that remain in state statute play out in the courts.&nbsp;

Mo. court rewrites ballot proposal to clarify a ‘yes’ would end right to abortion

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI made an arrest on Thursday in its nearly&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-pipe-bombs-fbi-washington-ea85b6fe5fe9140f1c75b7ee8c0554b2">5-year-old investigation</a>&nbsp;into pipe bombs placed outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties in Washington on the eve of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege">the Jan. 6, 2021, riot</a>&nbsp;at the Capitol. He was charged with an explosives offense, prosecutors said.

The arrest marks the first time investigators have identified a suspect in an act that had long vexed law enforcement, spawned a multitude of conspiracy theories and remained an enduring mystery in the shadow of the dark chapter of American history that is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeumZ2aHDug">the violent Capitol siege</a>.

The suspect in custody has been identified as Brian Cole Jr., according to Attorney General Pam Bondi. He has been charged with the use of an explosive device and more charges are possible as part of the ongoing investigation.

“Let me be clear: There was no new tip, there was no new witness. Just good diligent police work and prosecutorial work,” Bondi said.

Calls to relatives of Cole listed in public records were not immediately returned on Thursday. Hours after Cole was taken into custody, unmarked law enforcement vehicles lined the cul-de-sac where Cole’s home is while FBI agents helped shoo away onlookers. Authorities were seen entering the house and examining the trunk of a car nearby.

FBI says the bombs could have killed people

The pipe bombs were placed on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, near the offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees. Nobody was hurt before the bombs were rendered safe, but the FBI has said both devices could have been lethal.

In the years since, investigators have sought the public’s help in identifying a shadowy subject seen on surveillance camera even as they struggled to determine answers to basic questions, including the person’s gender and motive and whether the act had a clear connection to the riot at the Capitol a day later when supporters of President Donald Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">stormed the building</a>&nbsp;in a bid to halt the certification of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-wins-white-house-ap-fd58df73aa677acb74fce2a69adb71f9">the Republican's 2020 election loss</a>&nbsp;to Democrat Joe Biden.

Seeking a breakthrough, the FBI last January&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-pipe-bombs-fbi-washington-ea85b6fe5fe9140f1c75b7ee8c0554b2">publicized additional information</a>&nbsp;about the investigation, including an estimate that the suspect was about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, as well as previously unreleased video of the suspect placing one of the bombs.

The bureau had for years struggled to pinpoint a suspect despite hundreds of tips, a review of tens of thousands of video files and a significant number of interviews.

Lack of evidence spawns conspiracy theories

In the absence of harder evidence, Republican lawmakers and right-wing media outlets promoted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-trump-cassidy-hutchinson-capitol-188ee6406b93f42eb946d28f5213de3d">conspiracy theories</a>&nbsp;about the pipe bombs.&nbsp;<a href="https://cha.house.gov/_cache/files/d/9/d96ba6ce-03fb-4fc8-a4a7-5b5daf19d064/4F510144C1F427873D3298D955C8E19F.initial-findings-report.pdf">House Republicans</a>&nbsp;also criticized security lapses, questioning how law enforcement failed to detect the bombs for 17 hours. Dan Bongino, the current FBI deputy director, floated the possibility last year before being tapped for his job that the act was an “inside job” and involved a “massive cover-up.”

The FBI’s top two leaders, Bongino and Director Kash Patel, sought to breathe new life into the investigation despite having openly disparaged the bureau’s broader approach to the Jan. 6 siege and despite Trump's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-jan-6-pardons-trump-justice-department-8ce8b2a8f8cb602d5eaf85ac7b969606">pardons on his first day back in office</a>&nbsp;of the rioters who stormed the Capitol, including those who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/projects/january-6-cases/">violently attacked police</a>&nbsp;with poles and other makeshift weapons.

In a long Nov. 13 post on X, Bongino wrote that the FBI had brought in new personnel to examine the case and "dramatically increased investigative resources" along with the public reward for information “to utilize crowd-sourcing leads.” He said in the same post, addressed to Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., that “a week of near 24-hour work on RECENT open source leads in the case has yet to produce a break through.”

Public attention over the years had centered in part on surveillance video taken the night before the riot showing the suspect spending close to an hour moving through the surrounding blocks, pausing on a park bench, cutting through an alley and stopping again as a dog walker passed.

The person wore a light sweatshirt, dark pants and sneakers, with a dark backpack slung over one shoulder. Investigators have long said the gait suggested the person was a man, but a surgical mask and hood rendered the face all but impossible to see.

Agents paired their video review with a broad sweep of digital records. They gathered cell tower data showing which phones were active in the neighborhood at the time and issued subpoenas to several tech companies, including Google, for location information.

Investigators also analyzed credit card transactions from hobby shops and major retailers to identify customers who had purchased components resembling those used in the two explosive devices — each roughly 1 foot (0.3 meters) long and packed with gunpowder and metal, according to two law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1735867762680.png" alt="FBI poster seeking a suspect who allegedly placed pipe bombs in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>FBI poster seeking a suspect who allegedly placed pipe bombs in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI made an arrest on Thursday in its nearly&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-pipe-bombs-fbi-washington-ea85b6fe5fe9140f1c75b7ee8c0554b2">5-year-old investigation</a>&nbsp;into pipe bombs placed outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties in Washington on the eve of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege">the Jan. 6, 2021, riot</a>&nbsp;at the Capitol. He was charged with an explosives offense, prosecutors said.The arrest marks the first time investigators have identified a suspect in an act that had long vexed law enforcement, spawned a multitude of conspiracy theories and remained an enduring mystery in the shadow of the dark chapter of American history that is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeumZ2aHDug">the violent Capitol siege</a>.The suspect in custody has been identified as Brian Cole Jr., according to Attorney General Pam Bondi. He has been charged with the use of an explosive device and more charges are possible as part of the ongoing investigation.“Let me be clear: There was no new tip, there was no new witness. Just good diligent police work and prosecutorial work,” Bondi said.Calls to relatives of Cole listed in public records were not immediately returned on Thursday. Hours after Cole was taken into custody, unmarked law enforcement vehicles lined the cul-de-sac where Cole’s home is while FBI agents helped shoo away onlookers. Authorities were seen entering the house and examining the trunk of a car nearby.<h2>FBI says the bombs could have killed people</h2>The pipe bombs were placed on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, near the offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees. Nobody was hurt before the bombs were rendered safe, but the FBI has said both devices could have been lethal.In the years since, investigators have sought the public’s help in identifying a shadowy subject seen on surveillance camera even as they struggled to determine answers to basic questions, including the person’s gender and motive and whether the act had a clear connection to the riot at the Capitol a day later when supporters of President Donald Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">stormed the building</a>&nbsp;in a bid to halt the certification of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-wins-white-house-ap-fd58df73aa677acb74fce2a69adb71f9">the Republican's 2020 election loss</a>&nbsp;to Democrat Joe Biden.Seeking a breakthrough, the FBI last January&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-pipe-bombs-fbi-washington-ea85b6fe5fe9140f1c75b7ee8c0554b2">publicized additional information</a>&nbsp;about the investigation, including an estimate that the suspect was about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, as well as previously unreleased video of the suspect placing one of the bombs.The bureau had for years struggled to pinpoint a suspect despite hundreds of tips, a review of tens of thousands of video files and a significant number of interviews.<h2>Lack of evidence spawns conspiracy theories</h2>In the absence of harder evidence, Republican lawmakers and right-wing media outlets promoted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-trump-cassidy-hutchinson-capitol-188ee6406b93f42eb946d28f5213de3d">conspiracy theories</a>&nbsp;about the pipe bombs.&nbsp;<a href="https://cha.house.gov/_cache/files/d/9/d96ba6ce-03fb-4fc8-a4a7-5b5daf19d064/4F510144C1F427873D3298D955C8E19F.initial-findings-report.pdf">House Republicans</a>&nbsp;also criticized security lapses, questioning how law enforcement failed to detect the bombs for 17 hours. Dan Bongino, the current FBI deputy director, floated the possibility last year before being tapped for his job that the act was an “inside job” and involved a “massive cover-up.”The FBI’s top two leaders, Bongino and Director Kash Patel, sought to breathe new life into the investigation despite having openly disparaged the bureau’s broader approach to the Jan. 6 siege and despite Trump's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-jan-6-pardons-trump-justice-department-8ce8b2a8f8cb602d5eaf85ac7b969606">pardons on his first day back in office</a>&nbsp;of the rioters who stormed the Capitol, including those who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/projects/january-6-cases/">violently attacked police</a>&nbsp;with poles and other makeshift weapons.In a long Nov. 13 post on X, Bongino wrote that the FBI had brought in new personnel to examine the case and "dramatically increased investigative resources" along with the public reward for information “to utilize crowd-sourcing leads.” He said in the same post, addressed to Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., that “a week of near 24-hour work on RECENT open source leads in the case has yet to produce a break through.”<h2>Investigators hunt for clues</h2>Public attention over the years had centered in part on surveillance video taken the night before the riot showing the suspect spending close to an hour moving through the surrounding blocks, pausing on a park bench, cutting through an alley and stopping again as a dog walker passed.The person wore a light sweatshirt, dark pants and sneakers, with a dark backpack slung over one shoulder. Investigators have long said the gait suggested the person was a man, but a surgical mask and hood rendered the face all but impossible to see.Agents paired their video review with a broad sweep of digital records. They gathered cell tower data showing which phones were active in the neighborhood at the time and issued subpoenas to several tech companies, including Google, for location information.Investigators also analyzed credit card transactions from hobby shops and major retailers to identify customers who had purchased components resembling those used in the two explosive devices — each roughly 1 foot (0.3 meters) long and packed with gunpowder and metal, according to two law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation.Another avenue of the investigation centered on the suspect’s shoes, believed to be Nike Air Max Speed Turfs. After learning from Nike that thousands of pairs had been distributed through more than two dozen retailers, agents filed subpoenas for credit card records from Foot Locker and other chains as they worked to narrow down potential buyers. Still, for years, they had no solid breakthroughs.---------------------WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI made an arrest on Thursday in its nearly&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-pipe-bombs-fbi-washington-ea85b6fe5fe9140f1c75b7ee8c0554b2">5-year-old investigation</a>&nbsp;into who placed pipe bombs in Washington on the eve of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege">the Jan. 6, 2021, riot</a>&nbsp;at the U.S. Capitol, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.The arrest marks the first time investigators have settled on a suspect in an act that had long vexed law enforcement, spawned a multitude of conspiracy theories and remained an enduring mystery in the shadow of the dark chapter of American history that is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeumZ2aHDug">the violent Capitol siege</a>.The arrest took place Thursday morning, and the suspect is a man, the official said. He was arrested in Virginia, according to another person familiar with the matter. No other details were immediately available, including the charges the man might face. The people who described the arrest were not authorized to publicly discuss a case that has not yet been made public and spoke on the condition of anonymity.The pipe bombs were placed on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, near the offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees in the District of Columbia. Nobody was hurt before the bombs were rendered safe, but the FBI has said both devices could have been lethal.In the years since, investigators have sought the public’s help in identifying a shadowy subject seen on surveillance camera even as they struggled to determine answers to basic questions, including the person’s gender and motive and whether the act had a clear connection to the riot at the Capitol a day later when supporters of President Donald Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">stormed the building</a>&nbsp;in a bid to halt the certification of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-wins-white-house-ap-fd58df73aa677acb74fce2a69adb71f9">the Republican's 2020 election loss</a>&nbsp;to Democrat Joe Biden.Seeking a breakthrough, the FBI last January&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-pipe-bombs-fbi-washington-ea85b6fe5fe9140f1c75b7ee8c0554b2">publicized additional information</a>&nbsp;about the investigation, including an estimate that the suspect was about 5-foot-7, as well as previously unreleased video of the suspect placing one of the bombs.The bureau had for years struggled to pinpoint a suspect despite hundreds of tips, a review of tens of thousands of video files and a significant number of interviews.In the absence of harder evidence, Republican lawmakers and right-wing media outlets promoted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-trump-cassidy-hutchinson-capitol-188ee6406b93f42eb946d28f5213de3d">conspiracy theories</a>&nbsp;about the pipe bombs.&nbsp;<a href="https://cha.house.gov/_cache/files/d/9/d96ba6ce-03fb-4fc8-a4a7-5b5daf19d064/4F510144C1F427873D3298D955C8E19F.initial-findings-report.pdf">House Republicans</a>&nbsp;also criticized security lapses, questioning how law enforcement failed to detect the bombs for 17 hours. Dan Bongino, the current FBI deputy director, floated the possibility last year before being tapped for his job that the act was an “inside job” and involved a “massive cover-up.”The FBI’s top two leaders, Bongino and Director Kash Patel, sought to breathe new life into the investigation despite having openly disparaged the bureau’s broader approach to the Jan. 6 siege and despite Trump's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-jan-6-pardons-trump-justice-department-8ce8b2a8f8cb602d5eaf85ac7b969606">pardons on his first day back in office</a>&nbsp;of the rioters who stormed the Capitol, including those who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/projects/january-6-cases/">violently attacked police</a>&nbsp;with poles and other makeshift weapons.In a long post on X last month, Bongino wrote that the FBI had brought in new personnel to examine the case and "dramatically increased investigative resources" along with the public award for information “to utilize crowd-sourcing leads.”