An 18-inch pipe bomb was found on train tracks behind St. Dominic’s Catholic Church in Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon.

“Breaking: “18 inch pipe bomb” discovered behind St. Dominic’s Catholic Church on Frankford Ave near Conrail railroad tracks in Philadelphia’s Holmesburg section. @PhillyPolice sources tell FOX29 News . PPD bomb squad just safely took it away. Made with PVC pipe. ”

FOX29 reported:

Philadelphia police are investigating after a pipe bomb was reportedly discovered behind a church in Holmesburg.

Philadelphia police sources tell FOX 29 an 18-inch pipe bomb was found Sunday, just after 1:30 p.m., behind St. Dominic’s Catholic Church, on the 8500 block of Frankford Avenue, in Philadelphia’s Holmesburg section.

Officials say a passerby found the pipe bomb, and noted it was a PVC pipe with capped ends and black powder on it.

Police shut down Frankford Ave., between Benson and Blakiston while the Philadelphia Police Bomb Squad was called to the scene.

The bomb squad safely took the pipe bomb out of harm’s way.

A Catholic bishop was shot and killed in a Los Angeles suburb on Saturday.

David O’Connell, 69, the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, was shot dead in his home in the Los Angeles County suburb of Hacienda Heights Saturday afternoon. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office said it is investigating the bishop’s death as suspicious, but few details were available.

“I am very sad this afternoon to report that our beloved Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell has passed away unexpectedly,” Archbishop of Los Angeles José H. Gomez said in a statement Saturday. “It is a shock and I have no words to express my sadness.”

Born in Ireland, O’Connell served in the archdiocese since 1979, and was a stalwart in the local community, serving throughout Los Angeles. Gomez called him a good friend and asked that people pray for him.

“As a priest and later a bishop here in Los Angeles for forty-five years, Bishop Dave was a man of deep prayer who had a great love for Our Blessed Mother,” Gomez added. “He was a peacemaker with a heart for the poor and the immigrant, and he had a passion for building a community where the sanctity and dignity of every human life was honored and protected.”

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told CBS Los Angeles that the shooting happened just before 1 p.m. Saturday. Deputies arrived and found a man with a gunshot wound to the chest. The victim was pronounced dead soon after.

“It’s very early in the investigation,” LASD Homicide Bureau Detective Michael Modica told CBS Los Angeles. “We got a lot more steps we have to take to make more determination to what’s happening.”

According to Angelus News, O’Connell attended seminary at All Hallows College in Dublin. Then-Father O’Connell became a prominent figure in Los Angeles during the 1992 riots, when he was serving as pastor of St. Frances X. Cabrini. O’Connell aided community recovery efforts and served as a mediator between South L.A. residents and the police.

O’Connell was named Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles by Pope Francis in 2015. He served as chairman of the interdiocesan Southern California Immigration Task Force, which helped respond to an influx of immigration from Central America in recent years. He was also chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

Richard Belzer, an actor known for his role as Detective John Munch on “Law & Order,” has passed away at the age of 78.

“He passed at home early this morning in the south of France — in his home in the south of France — with his family around him,” writer Bill Scheft, a longtime friend of the actor, confirmed to Fox News Digital.

“He had lots of health issues, and his last words were, ‘F— you, motherf—er,'” Scheft, a former writer for “Late Show with David Letterman,” told The Hollywood Reporter of Belzer.

“I’m so sad to hear of Richard Belzer’s passing. I loved this guy so much,” Laraine Newman, who was a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” from 1975 to 1980, tweeted. “He was one of my first friends when I got to New York to do SNL. We used to go out to dinner every week at Sheepshead Bay for lobster. One of the funniest people ever. A master at crowd work. RIP dearest.”

Belzer was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1983, the Baltimore Sun reported. That would eventually inspire his 1997 HBO comedy special “Another Lone Nut.”

During a 1985 incident on Belzer’s talk show, Hulk Hogan put him in a choke hold, causing Belzer to pass out and hit his head on the studio floor, People magazine reported. The two settled out of court after Belzer sued.

Belzer originated in the role of Munch on NBC’s “Homicide: Life on the Street” in 1993, later reprising the character on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” People magazine reported that he appeared in nearly 330 episodes of “SVU” between 1999 and 2013 and made two additional cameos in 2014 and 2016.

He is survived by his wife, Harlee McBride. They married in 1985. The pair share no biological children, but McBride has two from a previous marriage, Jessica and Shannon Benton.

Also an author with a self-proclaimed interest in conspiracy theories, Belzer released a book in 2016 titled “Hit List: An In-Depth Investigation into the Mysterious Deaths of Witnesses to the JFK Assassination.” Other books by the comedian include “UFOS, JFK, and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don’t Have to be Crazy to Believe” and “Dead Wrong: Straight Facts on the Country’s Most Controversial Cover-Ups.”

A week before the first court hearing in the Rust criminal case against Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed for the fatal October 2021 shooting of Halyna Hutchins, the Santa Fe District Attorney has added a particularly poignant individual to its witness list.

In a fourth amended state’s witness list for preliminary hearing filed Thursday in New Mexico, D.A. Mary Carmack-Altwies now has Matthew Hutchins on the list (read it here) of 46 names.

His addition to potentially provide information for the DA in the hearing and forthcoming trial could be an inflection moment in the case, in which Baldwin and Reed are charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and face up to five years behind bars if found guilty. The initial hearing is scheduled for February 24; set to held before state Judge Mary Marlowe Summer, the hearing will be virtual, with the defendants expected to be in attendance.

Coming almost two weeks after the D.A. released her first witness list full of Rust crew members and law enforcement officials, the addition to the list certainly appear to be another shift in tone from last October, when widower Hutchins called off a wrongful-death suit against Baldwin and Rust producers to become an executive producer on a potentially resurrected Rust movie.

When charges were unveiled against Baldwin and Reed in late January, Hutchins’ lead lawyer seemed to lean away from the ethos of the settlement. “Our independent investigation also supports charges are warranted,” said Hutchins’ family attorney Brian J. Panish on January 31. “It is a comfort to the family that, in New Mexico, no one is above the law,” the LA-based Panish | Shea | Boyle | Ravipudi LLP partner added. “We support the charges, will fully cooperate with this prosecution, and fervently hope the justice system works to protect the public and hold accountable those who break the law.”

Adding another twist: a declaration earlier this week that a Baldwin-led production of the indie Western was set to start up this spring and a documentary on cinematographer Hutchins in the works too, for which Matthew Hutchins was named as an EP.

The newly amended witness list has Matthew Hutchins’ Albuquerque lawyer Randi McGinn and her office among contact information. Panish, Hutchins’ primary attorney, was unavailable for comment on the new witness list, Deadline was told Friday.

The Santa Fa D.A.’s office also had no comment when contacted.

Baldwin’s lawyer was also not available for comment, Deadline was told today,

However, sources close to the Rust production indicate that Matthew Hutchins remains an active EP on the upcoming Rust feature, despite appearances to the contrary. Essentially, the perception is that the DA is looking to build a robust case to take before a jury and that is why so many names are appearing on the growing witness list.

There is no doubt that the list is putting a lot of key players up for giving testimony if called.

Rust director Joel Souza, who was injured in the blast from the Baldwin-held 1880s prop gun that killed Hutchins on October 21, 2021, is on the list, as is 1st Assistant Director David Halls, who cut an as-yet-unreleased plea deal with the D.A. Amidst FBI agents and Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office detectives, also on the list are Rust script supervisor Maime Mitchell (who filed a negligence civil suit in L.A. against Baldwin and Rust producers) and armorer mentor Seth Kenney; and prop master Sarah Zachry, both of whom were under scrutiny for the shooting and the still unresolved matter of how live ammo got on the Bonanza Creek Ranch set of the $7 million film.

Fighting the enhancement provision of one of the involuntary manslaughter charges and the constitutionality of the D.A.-appointed special prosecutor in the criminal case, Baldwin has repeatedly insisted he did not pull the trigger while pointing the gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal that turned terribly wrong, though evidence and analysis from the sheriff’s office and the FBI contained in a 551-page report made public November 18 disagrees. “With the hammer at full cock, the revolver could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger while the working internal components were intact and functional,” the document from the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office said.

Adding to several previously filed civil lawsuits in California and New Mexico, Gloria Allred last week brought a suit on behalf of Hutchins’ Ukrainian-based family members Olga Solovey, Anatoli Androsvych and Svetlana Zemko against Baldwin, his management firm Cavalry Media, and the Western movie’s producers. That suit asked for unspecified damages “against each defendant.”

Interestingly, Matthew Hutchins’ attorney put some fast distance between his client and that lawsuit.

“Matt Hutchins is pursuing claims on his behalf and on behalf of Andros,” Panish told Deadline after the action from Halyna Hutchins’ parents and sibling was revealed. “We do not believe any other family members have a claim under New Mexico or California law. Neither Mr. Hutchins nor his attorneys were made aware of the family’s intention to file a lawsuit before today.”

A hotdog vendor blasted the heartless bullying he endured in a viral TikTok that showed him being harassed by four women.

In the clip, one woman is heard complaining about the $7 price of a meat stick and threatening to “f–k over” the vendor — before her companion is seen taking a hotdog off the grill, licking it and putting it back.

The disturbing footage, taken outside Viejas Arena at San Diego State University on Feb. 11, had been watched millions of times, and generated thousands of comments critical of the behavior of the women — who are white, — and sympathetic to Hispanic vendor Andrés Argüelles Álvarez.

“They grabbed my bacon with their hand, all my vegetables, everything I use,” Argüelles Álvarez told Noticias Telemundo in Spanish, according to NBC News. “People realized all the dirty things they were doing and it disgusted them. They no longer wanted to buy more.”

“They realized that I was Mexican, that I didn’t speak English very well, and they thought, ‘Ah, we can attack him,’” he reportedly said.

Witness Morgan McBrearty told NBC the women “were already there harassing Andrés” when she approached the cart to buy food.

She said she stepped in to defend him “after I repeatedly heard and saw them talking to him in rude and condescending tones.” The “girls were still continuing to harass” the vendor after she completed her own purchase, McBrearty reportedly said.

@rileykaufman9 Real fucking cute???? #gremlin #nastybitcc #sdsu #DanceWithTurboTax #PetSmartMadeMeBuyIt #FrunktheBeat #10MillionAdoptions #GenshinImpact34 ♬ original sound – Riley Kaufman

Meanwhile, the California State University San Marcos student who filmed the clip explained on social media why she chose to record the obnoxious behavior trather than putting an end to it.

“I much rather show how these girls go out in public and act than get myself involved,” said the TikTok user, who goes by @rileykaufman9.

The poster said Álvarez sells hotdogs in the same spot every weekend and “did nothing to provoke this. It was just the girls coming into it angry and drunk and ready to start something.”

A spokesperson from the college said a current and former student were among the rude women, labeling the behavior “disrespectful and antithetical,” according to NBC.

“If applicable, we plan to pursue any violations of our student code of conduct,” the university reportedly said.

A street vendor activist had reportedly taken to Instagram to claim the women were students at San Diego State University, prompting a statement from the school on Tuesday.

“None of the individuals in the video are confirmed to be SDSU students,” it stated. “Further, while individual names have been shared online, at least one SDSU student and a student organization tagged by social media accounts reported being misidentified and not present in the video, and none of the remaining names shared are SDSU.”

NBC News reported its own attempts to identify the offending women were unsuccessful.

The incident came as robberies against mostly Hispanic street vendors in nearby Los Angeles have soared over the past year, according to NBC Los Angeles.

“Like me, I know that there are thousands of people who live this every day,” Álvarez reportedly said.

A partially paralyzed Denver city councilman was forced to lift himself out of his wheelchair and onto a debate stage – sparking a call for equal access after video of the moment spread in the news and on social media.

Denver City Council member Chris Hinds, a Democrat who is paralyzed from the chest down, was seen in the video hoisting himself onto the stage floor at the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Theatre because the stage did not have wheelchair access.

While the theater later apologized, Hinds said he was humiliated by the experience, which happened Monday in front of dozens of onlookers.

Denver City Council member Chris Hinds showed up for a debate at a local theater ahead of an upcoming election.

…but there was no way for Hinds, who is paralyzed from the chest down, to get onto the raised stage and join the other participants. pic.twitter.com/o8RwQ6Mz1G

— Ryan Shead (@RyanShead) February 18, 2023

Hinds said in a statement Wednesday that he was “incredibly disappointed and disheartened” by the lack of wheelchair access for the City Council debate.

“The unfortunate and humiliating experience I had has elevated the conversation about accessibility to the national stage,” he said in another statement Friday.

My response to the outpouring of support from the community and beyond. pic.twitter.com/9Q79cD5hS4

— ChrisForDenver (@ChrisForDenver) February 17, 2023

Hinds told USA Today that debate organizers had initially suggested lifting him onto the stage, but he said he responded that his wheelchair weighs 400 pounds alone and that he weighs “almost another 200.”

“And they said, ‘All right, well how about you get out of the wheelchair and we’ll just lift the chair up?'” Hinds recalled. “They gave me a chair that I could cling on to so I’m not just laying on stage.”

“I felt like a circus monkey,” he said. “Just there on display for everyone to do whatever.”

Hinds, who is running for reelection, said the organizers eventually decided to have the debate in front of the stage.

He posted a campaign video about the incident on Saturday.

“You may have seen me in the news recently for an incident that brought accessibility to the national stage,” he said in the video. “Democracy should be representative of all the people. … Everyone deserves access to housing, transportation and representation.”

Please join me in my fight for access for all!

Check out my website https://t.co/3AXTuu4DEN to learn more!#letsroll #rollingforoffice pic.twitter.com/NOmnUZMWk8

— ChrisForDenver (@ChrisForDenver) February 19, 2023

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged that the United Kingdom will become the first state to supply Ukraine with “longer-range weapons” to use in its war with Russia.

In comments made on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Rishi Sunak said that the West must “help Ukraine to shield its cities from Russian bombs and Iranian drones and that’s why the United Kingdom will be the first country to provide Ukraine with longer-range weapons.”

The British premier went on to say that his government is working with other NATO allies to “give Ukraine the most advanced air defence systems and build the air force they need to defend their nation.”

“[The United Kingdom] is ready to help any country to provide Ukraine planes they need today but we must also train Ukrainian pilots to use advanced jets,” he said.

This escalation comes at a precarious moment for Ukraine’s Western backers, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing concern that Communist China is considering graduating from “providing rhetorical, political, diplomatic support to Russia” to “providing lethal support to Russia” — a move which would have “serious consequences” for Sino-American relations.

Over the past year, the British government has sent nearly £4 billion to Ukraine in aid, £2.3 billion of which has come in the form of weapons, ammunition, or other military equipment.

Following Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to London earlier this month, Downing Street said that it was actively considering shipping fighter jets and long-range missiles to the war-torn country.

The two types of long-range missiles reportedly under consideration are the 150-mile range Harpoon high-explosive anti-ship missile and the 350-mile range deep penetration Storm Shadow cruise missile. According to Ukrainian defence sources speaking to The Times of London, Kyiv would use such weaponry to expand the current conflict by launching an assault on the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

It is also conceivable that British long-range missiles could be used to wage attacks on Russia proper — a move that could see the localised war transform into a global conflict.

In addition to doubling down on sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine, Sunak said that NATO should consider creating a “new charter” in its alliance agreement at the upcoming meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania in order to “help protect Ukraine from future Russian aggression”.

Earlier this month, Sunak and Zelensky signed a document dubbed the London Declaration, in which Britain recommitted to its stated stance of supporting Ukrainian admission into the NATO alliance — a move that has been cited as one of the chief motivating factors for the invasion of the country by the Kremlin, which has said that having NATO expand onto its doorstep is a “red line”.

Nevertheless, the declaration states that “[t]he UK has continued to lead the way in support for Ukraine to defend itself including anti-tank weapons and tanks. Our military support to Ukraine is enduring. UK support will continue to contribute across all three domains; Land, Air, Sea.”

So far, there has been little discussion of actually seeking an end to the war through peace negotiations at the Munich summit, which will conclude on Sunday. Appearing before the conference on Friday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the West must prepare for a “long war” as he called on allies to supply Ukraine with more tanks, weaponry, and ammo.

The German leader was followed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who despite being an early proponent of peace negotiations with Moscow said in Munich that now is “not the time for dialogue”, adding that Western powers must aid Ukraine in launching a counter-offensive against Russia in order to have a “credible” position at the negotiating table.

The prospect of a peace deal was also diminished this week by comments from President Zelesnky, who stated that he would not accept any agreement if it involved territorial concessions to the Russians — a position that will likely serve as a non-starter for Moscow.

Concerned coaches and parents in the U.K. are raising alarm after a middle-aged transgender woman who transitioned from biological male was allowed to compete in cricket against girls as young as 12.

Multiple letters to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) from parents have expressed concern that the player, whose identity and exact age have not been revealed, possesses an unfair advantage over their girls by having undergone male puberty, according to The Telegraph.

The player, who one coach said “hits the ball harder than any other I have seen in the league,” reportedly has accidentally injured people, including an umpire and another player who was unable to play for months after the incident.

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game that emerged in England during the 16th century and consists of 11 players on a field.

One parent called the situation “unacceptable, uncomfortable and dangerous,” and another parent of a 12-year-old girl worried that playing against the player in question will push the girls to “give up on cricket because they become so frightened about having to face bowling and fielding of that strength and force.”

“Many girls at this age are only just starting hard-ball cricket, and one incident is enough to turn them off the game,” the parent added.

Another parent expressed “real concerns” about the propriety of a biological male sharing changing spaces with teenage girls.

Six first-class counties of the game have reportedly met with the ECB to ask it to clarify its transgender policies as soon as possible. Under current rules, “trans women may compete in any female-only competition, league or match and should be accepted in the gender in which they present.”

“Transgender participation is a complex area,” a spokesperson for ECB told The Telegraph. “In recreational cricket, the eligibility of players is based on their own self-identified gender, with no medical requirements. However, in light of guidance from the U.K. Sports Council’s Equality Group (SCEG), we are currently reviewing. We will continue to consult with Sport England and other independent experts and will communicate any changes once this work is complete.”

Fiona McAnena, director of sport for Fair Play for Women, praised ECB for reviewing its policy regarding transgender players.

“If they want to protect and promote women’s cricket, they must protect the talent pathway. The only way is to make female teams for those born female and no one else,” McAnena told The Telegraph.

Dave Hollis, who left his post as a Disney executive to help his wife run a successful lifestyle empire, has died at his home in Texas. He was 47.

Hollis, whose ex-wife Rachel Hollis wrote the bestseller “Girl, Wash Your Face,” was pronounced dead Sunday afternoon at his home in Dripping Springs, a city on the outskirts of Austin, according to Hays County Justice of the Peace Andrew Cable.

An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death since Hollis, who was last seen the evening before, was “youthful and didn’t have a long medical history,” Cable said.

In an Instagram post on Tuesday, Rachel Hollis asked for prayers as the family tries to “navigate through the unthinkable.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rachel Hollis (@msrachelhollis)

“We are devastated,” she wrote. “I have no words and my heart is too broken.”

Dave Hollis worked for Disney for 17 years and had been head of distribution for the company for seven years when he left in 2018 to join his wife’s venture. The parents of four moved from Los Angeles to the Austin area, collaborated on livestreams, podcasts and organized life-affirming conferences. In their podcast, “Rise Together,” they focused on marriage.

When Rachel Hollis announced on Instagram in 2020 that they were getting divorced, she said they had worked “endlessly” over the prior three years to make their marriage work but came to the conclusion that “it is healthier and more respectful for us to choose this as the end of our journey as a married couple.”

During his tenure at Disney, Hollis oversaw the release of blockbusters including “Black Panther” and films in the the “Star Wars” franchise. He told The Associated Press in 2018 that he joined his wife’s enterprise after realizing he was in a corporate rut. He said his new life felt “like a calling.”

Hollis also wrote motivational books. His book “Get Out of Your Own Way: A Skeptic’s Guide to Growth and Fulfillment” was published in 2020 and he released “Built Through Courage: Face Your Fears to Live the Life You Were Meant For” in 2021.

Fitness trainer Heidi Powell, who dated Dave Hollis after his divorce, called his death “a nightmare” in an Instagram post Tuesday.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Heidi Lane Powell (@realheidipowell)

“This isn’t the way it was supposed to end,” Powell said.

Richard Gere was hospitalized overnight with pneumonia while vacationing with his family near Nuevo Vallarta in Mexico, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to Fox News Digital on Saturday.

The 73-year-old actor fell ill while on a trip this week with his wife Alejandra Silva and their children to celebrate her 40th birthday, TMZ reported on Saturday.

Prior to leaving for their vacation, Gere developed a bad cough that worsened while he was in Mexico, according to the outlet.

The “Pretty Woman” star eventually checked himself into a hospital where he was diagnosed with pneumonia. After staying in the hospital overnight, Gere was discharged the following day and prescribed antibiotics.

It is unknown where Gere’s hospitalization occurred, but he is currently recovering this weekend while still on vacation in Mexico and his condition is improving, per TMZ.

The Golden Globe Award winner and Silva married in 2018 and share son Alexander, 4, and another son, whom they welcomed in April 2020. Silva mentioned that the family had been ill recently in a post that she shared to Instagram on Thursday.

The publicist uploaded a photo in which she was seen walking on a beach while holding hands with Alexander as her youngest son ran toward the waves ahead of them.

“Thank you all for the birthday wishes… after almost 3 weeks of everyone being sick in our family today finally I feel much better! Thank you for all the love,” she wrote in the caption, adding a red heart emoji.

She continued, “I give it all back to you #happybirthday #happy40.”

On Saturday, Silva shared a photo to her Instagram Story in which she and Gere, who was wearing a facemask, were seen from behind as they walked hand in hand with their younger son. “Beach Day,” Silva wrote on the photo.

In addition to his children with Silva, Gere is also father to 23-year-old son Homer James, whom he shares with his ex-wife Carey Lowell.

Gere recently starred alongside Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon and Emma Roberts in the 2023 romantic comedy “Maybe I Do,” which was released last month.

Eleven people were shot and one is dead following two shootings in the Whitehaven neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee, in the early hours of Sunday morning.

At around quarter to 1am, officers were called to a shooting at the Live Lounge, on the outskirts of Memphis, where two shooting victims were immediately transported to the local Regional One Hospital in critical condition.

Five additional shooting victims departed the scene and arrived by private vehicle to the hospital in non-life-threatening condition.

While at the scene, officers received information that a second shooting had occurred and victims were at Shelby Drive & Boeingshire Drive, one mile down the road from the nightclub.

One male victim at the second scene was pronounced dead, and an additional three victims were transported in critical condition to the hospital.

There are believed to be 11 victims total between the two scenes, which police say are connected.

Police say, at this time, it is unclear what occurred prior to the shooting and there is no solid description of the suspect.

Further, it is unclear whether the suspects are known to the victims.

Whitehaven is a predominantly black neighborhood of the city with a current population of about 50,000. It sits about 2 miles above the state line with Mississippi.

BREAKING:

Mass shooting in Memphis…

11 people shot includes 1 killed overnight across two scenes — one, Live Lounge in the city’s Whitehaven neighborhood.

Police believe the shootings are connected. No suspect info. Our breaking coverage at 6:55 a.m.

More @FOX13Memphis. pic.twitter.com/icYhzAHhsf

— Dakarai Turner  (@Dakarai_Turner) February 19, 2023

In recent years, Memphis has struggled with crime. There were 346 homicides in the city in 2021, and 302 in 2022.

Police chief CJ Davis attributes the declining number of murders to progress the police department has made in relation to gang violence across the city.

‘We had some really significant arrests last year that we think contributed to some of the aggravated assaults,’ she Davis.

‘We think that we’ve made some progress as it relates to some of the gang activity in the city.’

The U.S. military has concluded its operation to recover debris from a Chinese spy balloon that flew over the U.S. earlier this month.

The news comes after the U.S. military used an F-22 Raptor on February 4 to take out the spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean using a single air-to-air AIM-9X Sidewinder missile that was fired at an altitude of approximately 58,000 feet. The decision to shoot down the spy balloon came after President Joe Biden allowed it to fly thousands of miles over the continental U.S.

“Recovery operations concluded Feb. 16 off the coast of South Carolina, after U.S. Navy assets assigned to U.S. Northern Command successfully located and retrieved debris from the high-altitude PRC surveillance balloon shot down Feb. 4, 2023,” U.S. Northern Command said in a statement. “Final pieces of debris are being transferred to the [FBI] labratory in Virginia for counterintelligence exploitation, as has occurred with the previous surface and subsurface debris recovered. U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard vessels have departed the area. Air and maritime safety perimeters have been lifted.”

Biden tried to sound tough when speaking on Thursday about the matter, two weeks after the incident occurred.

“I expect to be speaking with President Xi and I hope we can get to the bottom of this,” Biden claimed. “But I make no apologies for taking down that balloon.”

Subsequent unidentified objects were shot down over Alaska, Canada, and Lake Huron.

“We don’t yet know what these three objects were, but nothing right now suggests that they were related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from any other country,” Biden claimed during his remarks.

Biden claimed that the administration would develop “sharper rules” for tracking objects that enter U.S. airspace and determining potential actions to take against those objects after he allowed the Chinese spy balloon to fly over the U.S. a couple of weeks ago before finally shooting it down off the coast of South Carolina.

Biden said that he wanted the new rules to be able to “distinguish between those that are likely to pose safety and security risks that necessitate action and those that do not.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Beijing’s act of sending a surveillance balloon over U.S. airspace in the first bilateral meeting he had with his Chinese counterpart.

“Just met with the PRC’s top diplomat, Wang Yi,” Blinken wrote on Twitter after their meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. “I condemned the incursion of the PRC surveillance balloon and stressed it must never happen again. I warned China against providing [material] support to Russia. I also emphasized the importance of keeping open lines of communication.”

Blinken told NBC News after the meeting that Wang, the Chinese state councilor and director of Beijing’s Central Foreign Affairs Office, gave “no apology” for the Chinese balloon incident.

“There was no apology,” Blinken said. “But what I can also tell you is this was an opportunity to speak very clearly and very directly about the fact that China sent a surveillance balloon over our territory, violating our sovereignty, violating international law.”

“And I told him quite simply that that was unacceptable and can never happen again.”

The meeting marked the first face-to-face exchange between the two sides since the surveillance balloon incident set off an uproar in the United States and forced Blinken to cancel a planned visit to Beijing.

That canceled trip would have been the first from a U.S. secretary of state to China in five years, which the administration had seen as a chance to smooth relations that already deteriorated after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan visit.

A readout from the State Department’s spokesperson Ned Price said that Blinken “made clear the United States will not stand for any violation of our sovereignty, and that the PRC’s high altitude surveillance balloon program—which has intruded into the air space of over 40 countries across 5 continents—has been exposed to the world.”

Noting North Korea’s “destabilizing act” of testing an intercontinental ballistic missile on Saturday, Blinken “emphasized the need for responsible powers to respond to such significant international challenges,” according to the statement. Blinken also stressed that the China policy remains unchanged and urged for “peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” as concerns mount that the Chinese regime could attack the self-governing island.

Beijing had insisted that the United States formally initiate the meeting, Politico reported, citing an anonymous Washington diplomat. Blinken made a request but received no response from China before boarding the Munich-bound flight on Thursday, according to the report.

At the Munich conference prior to the meeting, Wang had turned up the heat on Washington, repeating the regime’s claims that the U.S. decision to have a fighter jet shoot down the balloon in U.S. airspace was “absurd, almost hysterical.” He demanded the United States “correct its mistakes” to “show sincerity.”

Hours after Wang’s comments, Blinken left his Munich hotel to an undisclosed location, ignoring a shouted question from a reporter about whether he was going to meet with Wang as he entered his vehicle at the hotel garage.

The Biden administration earlier in the month said the Chinese balloon that flew for more than a week over the U.S. airspace was part of a global surveillance program that affects more than 40 countries, including Washington’s “closest allies and partners.”

But both President Joe Biden and administration officials have stressed that they want to maintain the communication lines open and aren’t looking for conflicts.

“I expect to be speaking with President Xi, and I hope we are going to get to the bottom of this,” Biden told a Feb. 16 news conference, although he added he makes “no apologies for taking down that balloon.”

“We’ll also continue to engage with China, as we have throughout the past two weeks,” he said.

Blinken reiterated Biden’s statements at the meeting with Wang, saying that “the United States will compete and will unapologetically stand up for our values and interests, but that we do not want conflict with the PRC and are not looking for a new Cold War,” according to Price.

“The Secretary underscored the importance of maintaining diplomatic dialogue and open lines of communication at all times,” said Price.

Tom Sizemore, the actor known for portraying Mike Horvath in “Saving Private Ryan,” has been hospitalized and is in critical condition, Fox News Digital has confirmed.

A representative for the actor confirmed that the actor had suffered a brain aneurysm at his home and is in the intensive care unit.

“He is in the hospital,” Charles Lago told Fox News Digital. “His family is aware of the situation and are hoping for the best. It is too early to know about [a] recovery situation as he is in critical condition and under observation.”

Sizemore, 61, was previously married to actress Maeve Quinlan from 1996 through 1999.

North Korea on Saturday fired a long-range missile from its capital into the sea off Japan, according to its neighbors, a day after it threatened to take strong measures against South Korea and the U.S. over their joint military exercises.

According to the South Korean and Japanese militaries, the missile was fired on a high angle, apparently to avoid reaching the neighbors’ territories, and traveled about 560 miles at a maximum altitude of 3,500 miles during an hourlong flight.

The details were similar to North Korea’s Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile test flight in November, which experts said demonstrated potential to reach the U.S. mainland if fired on a normal trajectory.

Japanese government spokesperson Hirokazu Matsuno said no damage was reported from the missile, which landed within Japan’s exclusive economic zone, about 125 miles west of Oshima island. Oshima lies off the western coast of the northernmost main island of Hokkaido.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry on Friday threatened with “unprecedently” strong action against its rivals, after South Korea announced a series of military exercises with the United States aimed at sharpening their response to the North’s growing threats.

While the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the launch did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, territory, or its allies, the White House National Security Council said it needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region.

“It only demonstrates that the DPRK continues to prioritize its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs over the well-being of its people,” it said, calling it a “flagrant violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.”

The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said his national security director, Kim Sung-han, presided over an emergency security meeting that accused the North of escalating regional tensions. It denounced North Korea for accelerating its nuclear arms development despite signs of worsening economic problems and food insecurity, saying such actions would bring only tougher international sanctions.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tokyo was closely communicating with Washington and Seoul over the launch, which he called “an act of violence that escalates provocation toward the international order.”

The launch was North Korea’s first since Jan. 1, when it test-fired a short-range weapon. It followed a massive military parade in Pyongyang last week, where troops rolled out more than a dozen ICBMs as leader Kim Jong Un watched in delight from a balcony.

The unprecedented number of missiles underscored a continuation of expansion of his country’s military capabilities despite limited resources while negotiations with Washington remain stalemated.

Those missiles included a new system experts say is possibly linked to the North’s stated desire to acquire a solid-fuel ICBM. North Korea’s existing ICBMs, including Hwasong-17s, use liquid propellants that require pre-launch injections and cannot remain fueled for prolonged periods. A solid-fuel alternative would take less time to prepare and is easier to move around on vehicles, providing less opportunity to be spotted.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Saturday’s launch involved a solid-fuel system.

“North Korean missile firings are often tests of technologies under development, and it will be notable if Pyongyang claims progress with a long-range solid-fuel missile,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. “The Kim regime may also tout this launch as a response to U.S. defense cooperation with South Korea and sanctions diplomacy at the United Nations.”

North Korea is coming off a record year in weapons demonstrations with more than 70 ballistic missiles fired, including those with potential to reach the U.S. mainland. The North also conducted a slew of launches it described as simulated nuclear attacks against South Korean and U.S. targets in response to the allies’ resumption of large-scale joint military exercise that had been downsized for years.

North Korea’s missile tests have been punctuated by threats of preemptive nuclear attacks against South Korea or the United States over what it perceives as a broad range of scenarios that put its leadership under threat.

Kim doubled down on his nuclear push entering 2023, calling for an “exponential increase” in the country’s nuclear warheads, mass production of battlefield tactical nuclear weapons targeting “enemy” South Korea and the development of more advanced ICBMs.

The North Korean statement on Friday accused Washington and Seoul of planning more than 20 rounds of military drills this year, including large-scale field exercises, and described its rivals as “the arch-criminals deliberately disrupting regional peace and stability.”

South Korea’s Defense Ministry officials told lawmakers earlier that Seoul and Washington will hold an annual computer-simulated combined training in mid-March. The 11-day training will reflect North Korea’s nuclear threats, as well as unspecified lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war, according to Heo Tae-keun, South Korea’s deputy minister of national defense policy. Heo said the countries will also conduct joint field exercises in mid-March that would be bigger than those held in the past few years.

South Korea and the U.S. will also hold a one-day tabletop exercise next week at the Pentagon to sharpen a response to a potential use of nuclear weapons by North Korea.

North Korea has traditionally described U.S.-South Korea military exercises as rehearsals for a potential invasion, while the allies insist that their drills are defensive in nature.

The United States and South Korea had downsized or canceled some of their major drills in recent years, first to support the former Trump administration’s diplomatic efforts with Pyongyang and then because of COVID-19. But North Korea’s growing nuclear threats have raised the urgency for South Korea and Japan to strengthen their defense postures in line with their alliances with the United States.

South Korea has been seeking reassurances that United States will swiftly and decisively use its nuclear capabilities to protect its ally in face of a North Korean nuclear attack. In expanding its military exercises with South Korea, the United States has also expressed commitment to increase its deployment of strategic military assets like fighter jets and aircraft carriers to the Korean Peninsula in a show of strength.

In December, Japan made a major break from its strictly self-defense-only post-World War II principle, adopting a new national security strategy that includes preemptive strikes and cruise missiles to counter growing threats from North Korea, China and Russia.

A 26-year-old mother was shot and killed in front of her young children outside of a South Carolina grocery store on Valentine’s Day.

Alexandria Cress Borys had been shopping at a Kroger in Irmo, South Carolina on Tuesday when she got into a verbal dispute with a complete stranger while packing groceries in her car in the parking lot, Borys’ husband, Tyler, told WIS-TV.

After the argument apparently ended, the stranger, identified by police as 23-year-old Christina Harrison, pulled out a gun and shot Borys in the back around 4 p.m., he said.

Tyler Borys told WACH that she was gunned down while their 2-year-old child and an infant were in the car.

According to the Irmo Police Department, police arrived at the scene and declared Alexandria Cress Borys dead shortly after.

After speaking with witnesses, investigators determined that Harrison and Borys got into some sort of argument, although it’s not clear what the argument was about.

Harrison fled the scene in a white Ford, but later turned herself in around 5:30 p.m., police said.

She was charged with murder and other weapons-related offenses and booked at the Lexington County Detention Center.

Harrison was scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, but her private attorney waived the hearing, according to The Lexington County Bond Court.

“Unfortunately, this is a situation where tempers flared, and someone let anger get the best of them. One rash decision has impacted the lives of two families and countless others who witnessed this tragic event.” Chief Bobby Dale said in a statement. “Senseless is the only word I can think of to describe what happened today.”

Bory’s shooting death comes just six days after her brother died from a gunshot wound, her husband said.

Tyler Borys remembered his wife, a cosmetologist and nursing school student, as the “best wife you could ever ask for.”

“She was also a great mother,” he told WACH.

Tyler Borys launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for a memorial in Alexandria’s memory.

“A beautiful woman, wonderful mother, compassionate wife, trusting friend, and so so much more,” he wrote on the webpage. “Alexandria was truly taken too soon.”

Former President Jimmy Carter will spend his “remaining time” at home receiving hospice care instead of receiving additional “medical intervention,” The Carter Center announced Saturday.

“After a series of short hospital stays, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention,” a statement from the organization reads. “He has the full support of his family and his medical team. The Carter family asks for privacy during this time and is grateful for the concern shown by his many admirers.”

Carter turned 98 in October. He was the 39th president of the United States.

The former commander in chief was diagnosed with cancer in early 2015 after doctors performed liver surgery, according to a statement from the Carter Center, which made it clear that his cancer spread to other parts of his body.

In December 2015, Carter told his Sunday School class that he no longer has cancer.

“Went for an MRI this past week and they (doctors) didn’t find any cancer at all in the brain,” Carter said at the time.

Jill Stuckey, a member at Georgia’s Maranatha Baptist Church, said that the church erupted in applause when he made the announcement.

“He said he got a scan this week and the cancer was gone,” Stuckey said. “The church, everybody here, just erupted in applause.”

Former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson is touting an “important announcement” set for next month as speculation over a potential White House bid from the spiritual guru intensifies.

“As America gears up for the 2024 presidential election, I’m preparing an important announcement on March 4th in Washington DC,” Williamson said in a Saturday statement.

Williamson listed several factors that she said moved her “to explore the possibility of running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2024,” including a “commitment to the tenets of liberty espoused in the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address.”

“I look forward to discussing with the country my thoughts about where we have been as a nation, where we are now and where we need to go from here,” Williamson added.

Should she enter the race, Williamson would be the first declared Democratic candidate to do so, since President Biden has said he intends to run, but has not officially announced a 2024 campaign.

“Apparently Biden’s going to run on a message that the economy is getting stronger. I think that speaks to the disconnect between the analysis of party elites versus the struggle of everyday Americans,” Williamson told Politico this week about what was factoring into her decision-making process.

“We’re being asked to limit our political imaginations — to just accept the low unemployment and low inflation rate, that that is sort of the best that we can get,” she added. “But that is a hollow victory. The majority of Americans are still struggling to survive.”

Williamson ran for the White House in the 2020 Democratic primaries before ultimately dropping out in January ahead of the Iowa Caucuses and endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

She faced accusations of being an anti-vaxxer during her last run, but has sharply denied she is anti-science. She brought up the accusations when asked by Politico what the media got wrong about her as a candidate the last cycle.

“I’m certainly not anti-science. I’m not anti-vax. I’m not the crystal lady. I didn’t tell people they got sick because they didn’t pray enough. Basically, I’m not stupid,” she told Politico.

Williamson said she would run as a Democrat rather than as an independent if she enters the race. Another Democrat rumored to be mulling his own Biden challenge is environmental lawyer and anti-COVID vaccine crusader Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of the late Democratic New York Sen. Robert Kennedy.

Earlier this week, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reaffirmed that Biden intends to run for re-election in 2024.

Asked by host Jonathan Capehart on MSNBC’s “The Sunday Show” whether an official announcement will be made soon on a Biden-Harris 2024 ticket, Jean-Pierre replied that she can’t talk about politics because she’s limited by the HATCH Act, but added: “what I can say is repeat what the president has said many times is that he intends to run. And I leave it there.”

Police in El Paso, Texas say that a “licensed-to-carry” bystander shot the alleged gunman who is accused of killing one person and injuring another three.

The suspect, a 16-year-old Hispanic male, is accused of shooting the individuals after a “confrontation ensued” between two groups at Cielo Vista Mall on Wednesday evening at 5:05 p.m.

The El Paso Police Department said the confrontation eventually escalated into a “physical fight,” and the 16-year-old pulled out a handgun, fatally shooting Angeles Zaragoza, 17, and injuring another 17-year-old and 15-year-old.

Police say that Emanuel Duran, 32, who is a licensed-to-carry holder, shot the suspect as he was pointing his gun toward the direction of more bystanders.

“As soon as the shooting ended, the 16-year-old suspect began to run and was pointing the gun towards the direction of bystanders, including 32-year-old Emanuel Duran, a Licensed to Carry Holder. As the suspect ran towards Duran and bystanders, Duran drew his handgun and shot the suspect,” Duran said.

Duran is also considered a victim in the shooting.

An off-duty El Paso Police officer then arrived at the scene and worked with Duran to give aid to the suspect and others who were injured.

Investigators learned there were “at least” two more people who were legally armed, but weren’t involved in the shooting.

The 16-year-old suspect is in stable condition.

The star actor of “Yellowstone” shared an emotional video amid reports that his role — as well as the show itself — may soon end.

Kevin Costner shared a video to social media on Wednesday thanking his supporters as he unboxed his Golden Globe award for his role on the show.

Costner, who didn’t attend the awards ceremony last month because of flooding near his home in Santa Barbara, California, won the Golden Globe this year for best actor in a television drama series.

The longtime actor in western television and cinema won the award for his portrayal of rancher John Dutton III in Yellowstone, which depicts the experiences of a Montana ranching dynasty.

Costner appeared touched last month by his recognition in the awards ceremony, having previously expressed his thanks for the distinction in a tweet.

“It feels really good to have this,” the “Dances with Wolves” actor said in Wednesday’s video about his newest award.

Costner recognized “everybody who supported me” and “the Hollywood foreign press for thinking enough of what I did this year.”

“Thank you to everyone.”

The actor’s video comes as the future of Yellowstone is unclear.

Executives at Paramount are planning to shelve the show amid differences with Costner himself, according to Deadline.

Costner reportedly isn’t on board with the planned shooting schedule for the project, having committed to only a week of shooting for the second part of the fifth season. Part 1 of season 5 currently is airing.

Paramount bosses are working with Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan to end Yellowstone should the actor of the show’s main character opt out, per Deadline.

Actor Matthew McConaughey is being considered to star in a renewed form of Yellowstone if Costner proves unwilling to help end the show.

Paramount has yet to announce any plans regarding the show’s long-term future.

Even if Costner’s departure brings an end to Yellowstone, fans of the show can expect more content related to it.

Two prequels to the show — “1883” and “1923” — already have begun airing.