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California teacher who criticized 'Woke Kindergarten' program put on leave

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California teacher who criticized 'Woke Kindergarten' program put on leave

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A California teacher who publicly criticized his school district’s investment in a “Woke Kindergarten” program was placed on administrative leave Thursday, the teacher said.

Hayward Unified School District teacher Tiger Craven-Neeley told the San Francisco Chronicle he was asked to hand over his keys and laptop and not return to his classroom at Glassbrook Elementary until further notice. 

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School officials told the teacher he was being placed on paid leave over “allegations of unprofessional conduct,” but gave no other reason, Craven-Neeley told the paper. 

“We don’t comment on private personnel matters,” district spokesman Michael Bazeley wrote in an email response to Fox News Digital’s questions. He denied that Craven-Neeley was put on leave for “retaliatory purposes” or that he was being punished for speaking to the press. 

STUDENTS AT CALIFORNIA SCHOOL STRUGGLING AFTER $250K IN FEDERAL FUNDS SPENT ON ‘WOKE KINDERGARTEN’ PROGRAM

Glassbrook Elementary teacher Tiger Craven-Neeley says he was placed on administrative leave after publicly criticizing a “Woke Kindergarten” training program at his school.  (Tiger Craven-Neeley/ Facebook)

Craven-Neeley was placed on leave days after he raised concerns about Woke Kindergarten, a for-profit company Glassbrook Elementary hired to train teachers. 

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The school spent $250,000 in federal funds provided by a program meant to help boost test scores for some of the country’s lowest-performing schools, according to the Chronicle, but after two years with Woke Kindergarten, students’ scores are reportedly worse. 

In a 4% drop in both areas in the last two years, less than 12% of the students at Glassbrook Elementary in Hayward, Calif., can read at their grade level, and under 4% are proficient in math, according to the Chronicle. 

Woke Kindergarten describes itself on its website as “supporting children, families, educators and organizations in their commitment to abolitionist early education and pro-black and queer and trans liberation.”

REAGAN’S EDUCATION SECRETARY URGES SCHOOLS TO BECOME A ‘TEMPLE OF LEARNING, NOT SOCIAL EXPERIMENTATION’

A general view of Glassbrook Elementary School in Hayward, California.  (Google Street View)

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The organization also has “Woke” words of the day like ceasefire “abolish” and “Woke Wonderings” about challenging the “legitimacy of the Supreme Court” and abolishing the police, money and the military. 

Glassbrook is predominantly Latino/ Hispanic and more than 80% of students are English learners, the Chronicle reported. Some teachers complained anonymously about the funds spent on teaching children to be “abolitionists” while reading scores are low, but Craven-Neeley spoke out on the record. 

He was quoted saying that Woke Kindergarten trainers told him he should try to “disrupt Whiteness” in the classroom. 

“What does that mean?” Craven-Neeley said to the Chronicle. “I just want to know, what does that mean for a third-grade classroom?”

US DATA SHOWS 50,000 STUDENTS MISSING FROM EDUCATION SYSTEM SINCE PANDEMIC

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Other teachers have defended the program, arguing that a new approach is needed since a strict focus on academics has not improved learning. 

“We need to try something else,” kindergarten teacher Christina Aguilera told the Chronicle. “If we just focus on academics, it’s not working. There is no one magic pill that will raise test scores.” 

Since the Chronicle report and subsequent national media coverage, Glassbrook has received dozens of “threatening and racist” messages, district spokesman Michael Bazely confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Craven-Neeley, who said he supports discussing racism in the classroom, told the Chronicle he attempted to voice his concerns at a staff meeting on Wednesday before going to the press.

MAJOR LEGAL SETTLEMENT IN CALIFORNIA HIGHLIGHTS COVID SCHOOL CLOSURE’S NEGATIVE IMPACT ON STUDENTS OF COLOR

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He described the meeting as tense and recounted one moment when another teacher allegedly stood up, pointed a finger in his face and said, “You are a danger to the school or the community,” and then left the room. 

Another Glassbook teacher, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions from the school, confirmed that a teacher put a hand in Craven-Neeley’s face and called him a disgrace and threat to the school, the Chronicle reported. The teacher also said Craven-Neeley did not raise his voice even as others were arguing and talking loudly. 

“There was so much anger toward me,” Craven-Neeley said. “I was explaining my point of view. They were talking over me.”

He said a district administrator eventually asked him to leave the meeting. 

“I was shocked. This is my school. I didn’t do anything inappropriate,” he told the Chronicle. “I left. I was very shaky.”

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“We are not commenting on what happened during the faculty meeting,” Bazeley told Fox News Digital when asked if the district disputed Craven-Neeley’s account of what happened. 

After the meeting, Craven-Neeley said he received an email telling him not to report to school the next day and to attend a video conference with district officials. At the video meeting, he was informed he had been put on leave pending an investigation into the allegations of unprofessional conduct levied against him. 

He expressed concerns to the Chronicle that officials were “going to twist things to try to justify retaliation or trying to appease the staff or they’re tired of me being a whistleblower or all the above.”  

“I can say unequivocally that we do not place employees on leave for retaliatory purposes, nor have we ever attempted to limit any employee’s free speech rights,” Bazeley told Fox News Digital. “The leave was not in response to any of his contacts with news media.”

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Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson contributed to this report.

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Utah

Man arrested for DUI after rear-ending Utah County deputy

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Man arrested for DUI after rear-ending Utah County deputy


SPRINGVILLE, Utah — Police arrested a man whom they say is a “habitual offender” of driving under the influence after he crashed into a patrol vehicle.

A Utah County Sheriff’s deputy said he was patrolling in Springville early Sunday morning when a pickup truck driven by Richard Andrew Roberson, 38, collided with his vehicle. The deputy said he was stopped at a stop sign when Roberson hit him from behind.

When the deputy approached Roberson’s vehicle at a nearby gas station, he said the suspect showed signs of being intoxicated and also smelled like alcohol. He agreed to a field sobriety test, during which the officer said he showed multiple signs of being impaired.

Roberson was then arrested, and police say a urine test showed positive results for alcohol and marijuana, while a blood test is pending.

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Police said Roberson’s driver’s license from California is currently suspended, and his vehicle was not insured.

While looking into Roberson’s background, police say they discovered that he’s had “nearly a dozen” DUI charges or convictions across four different states. His most recent convictions were in 2016 and 2017 in another state, but his most recent DUI charges were a pair of incidents in Utah within the past two months.

The arresting officer wrote that these factors indicate that Roberson “is a habitual offender and is a danger to the public.”

Roberson was arrested for felony DUI, driving on a suspended license, and operating a vehicle without insurance. A judge denied bail.





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Wyoming

Big Boy Leaves Cheyenne Wyoming For CA, March 2026

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Big Boy Leaves Cheyenne Wyoming For CA, March 2026


The Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 will embark on a 2026 tour to celebrate the U.S. Semiquincentennial, starting with a westward leg from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to California from March 29 to April 24. Major public displays are scheduled for April 10–11 in Roseville, California, and April 18–19 in Ogden, Utah. An eastern tour leg beginning in late spring is also planned. Read the Union Pacific Schedule HERE!

Watch the video below, Big Boy 4014: How They Brought a Dead Giant Back to Life Shocked The World!

Delivered in December 1941, Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 is a massive 1.2-million-pound steam locomotive that primarily operated between Ogden, Utah, and Cheyenne, Wyoming, to haul heavy freight over mountain grades.

Watch the video below as Jay Leno tours the restored BIG BOY 4014.

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After retiring in 1961, it was reacquired by Union Pacific in 2013 and returned to Cheyenne for a full restoration, returning to service in May 2019.

The Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 underwent a massive, multi-year restoration by the UP Steam Team, converting it from coal to oil, replacing parts, and modernizing its systems.

It returned to service in May 2019 for the 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad, becoming the world’s largest operating steam locomotive. The process involved detailed inspections, complex crane-assisted reassembly, fabrication of new components, and conversion of its firebox to oil, making it a functional historical artifact.

As of early 2026, the Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 is stationed in Cheyenne, Wyoming, preparing for a major 2026 coast-to-coast tour starting March 29 to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. It is the world’s only operating Big Boy locomotive, having recently completed tours in 2024 and 2025.

Big Boy Number 4004 remains an imposing sight, and you can see it upclose. The world’s largest steam locomotive, this powerful coal-fired engine was designed to pull a 3600-ton train over steep grades between Cheyenne, WY, and Ogden, Utah. The 4004 is one of the eight remaining Big Boys throughout the country.

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The engine is on display year-round in the southeast corner of Holliday Park. You can park your car in the lot accessible from East 17th Street and Morrie Avenue.

Crafts Of The 2026 Wyoming Mountain Man Convention

Gallery Credit: Glenn Woods

Old Medicine Of The Chugwater Wyoming Drugstore

If you visit the tiny town of Chugwater Wyoming you’ll find the newly restored Soda Fountain.

In fact it’s Wyoming’s oldest soda fountain and malt shot.

It’s always worth stopping in for breakfast or lunch, or maybe a shake or malt.

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The place was a drug store and soda fountain for the longest time.

Back then soda was actually used to cure an upset stomach.

So what sort of old medicines were left behind by Chugwater’s last pharmacist?

It turns out, some of them are on display.

Gallery Credit: Glenn Woods

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Unearthed photo of Swalwell meeting with top CCP official raises alarm bells: ‘Very disturbing’

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Unearthed photo of Swalwell meeting with top CCP official raises alarm bells: ‘Very disturbing’

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FIRST ON FOX: A previously unreported 2013 Facebook post by China’s San Francisco consulate shows then-freshman Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., touting “great potential” for U.S.-China cooperation during a meeting with a senior CCP diplomat, which came during the same time period when Swalwell was allegedly targeted by Chinese espionage efforts.

The 2013 photo, which was unearthed by Fox News Digital and “liked” by Christine “Fang Fang” Fang, a Chinese national who was suspected of being a Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) operative and who was reportedly working closely with Swalwell’s campaign helping with fundraising, showed Swalwell posing with Song Ru’an. 

At the time of the photo, Ru’an was the Deputy Consul General at China’s Bay Area consulate in San Francisco. He would subsequently be tapped to serve as the Deputy Commissioner of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in Hong Kong until at least 2021. 

“The United States and China have a lot in common and the two economies are highly complementary. There are great potential for the two countries to cooperate,” Swalwell said at the meeting according to the picture’s caption posted by the Chinese consulate. “I will work actively to promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and I’m looking forward to visiting China in the near future.”

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SWALWELL PROMISES IF ELECTED GOVERNOR, FORMER ICE AGENTS WOULD BE ‘UN-HIRABLE’ IN CALIFORNIA

Then-freshman member of Congress Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., seen posing in a photo with Deputy Consul General at China’s Bay Area consulate in San Francisco Song Ru’an in 2013.  (Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in San Francisco)

The unearthed photo comes a couple of weeks after Fox News Digital reported on a California-based law partner for a Beijing law firm donating thousands of dollars to Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign. Like Keliang “Clay” Zhu, Ru’an has a history of supporting interests contrary to American priorities. Ru’an served as one of China’s leading officials in Hong Kong between 2015 and 2021, and was a vocal critic of a 2019 U.S. Human Rights and Democracy Act aimed at protecting Hong Kongers from China’s authoritarian crackdown on its dissidents that only a single Republican member of Congress voted against. 

Ru’an blasted the bill at the time as the “the epitome of hegemony” and warned it went against American interests, according to the South China Morning Post. Ru’an also reportedly slammed the moves as a “negative and disgraceful role” the U.S. was playing in China’s domestic issues. 

Ru’an emerged as a central figure in Hong Kong during China’s national security crackdown there that began boiling over in 2020, 2021 and subsequent years. According to the Hong Kong Journalists Association, Ru’an told foreign media outlets to “inject positive energy” into coverage about new extradition laws China was imposing on Hong Kong in 2019. Multiple briefings from both previous and subsequent years showed similar efforts by Ru’an to “guide” media coverage in favor of China. 

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In 2018, he met with members of the American media to discuss how the “One Country, Two Systems” framework between Hong Kong and China is vital to U.S.-China trade relations.

SWALWELL GOVERNOR BID HIT WITH RESIDENCY QUESTIONS AFTER COURT FILING ALLEGES HE DOESN’T LIVE IN CALIFORNIA     

Prior to Ru’an’s work on behalf of the Chinese government in Hong Kong, while serving as Deputy Consulate General at China’s San Francisco consulate, public reports said Ru’an and other consular officials sent letters and traveled to Oregon in an attempt to prevent the creation of a mural highlighting China’s human rights abuses against Tibetan people. Prior to working in San Francisco, Ru’an held multiple CCP roles back in China, including at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Swalwell’s team declined to provide any comment for this story. The San Francisco Chinese Consulate did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) speaks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel in the Rayburn House Office Building on Sept. 17, 2025.  (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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“It’s bad enough that certain California special interests are pushing redistributionist tax policies straight out of a communist manifesto. Now one of the state’s leading gubernatorial candidates has been caught cozying up to the Communist Chinese Party again,” GOP strategist Colin Reed said. “California’s next governor needs to have the intelligence, judgment and character to stand up to the CCP, especially when it comes to empowering American innovators with a common sense regulatory environment that allows them to grow.”

“I know first hand what it’s like to live under a communist regime. One-party rule by an authoritarian Communist Party: that’s not theoretical for me, and for years I have expressed my disgust at the establishment strategy of ‘engaging’ with the communist regime in China in the hope that this would one day move them towards freedom and democracy,” Republican California gubernatorial candidate and Former Fox News host Steve Hilton told Fox News Digital.

“These people never give up power voluntarily and they are always on the look-out for the ‘useful idiots’ and gullible stooges who they can target with their influence operations. Seems like they found the perfect mark in Eric Swalwell, and it’s somewhat alarming that the poor judgment is still being repeated, as we learned with the recent revelations about CCP-linked donations to his campaign,” he added.

EX–NEW YORK STATE OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF SPYING FOR CHINA CALLED HOCHUL ‘MORE OBEDIENT’ THAN CUOMO, TRIAL REVEALS

Swalwell served on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) when news broke of his ties to Fang Fang, who “liked” the photo posted in 2013 of Swalwell and Ru’an. Swalwell’s role on the influential intel committee was one that dealt with sensitive national security matters other members of Congress are not privy to. Now, he is asking voters to elevate him to governor of a state at the center of U.S.-China trade and tech. 

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Earlier that same year, Swalwell attended an event hosted by the California State University, East Bay Chinese Student Association, a group that was led by Fang Fang, to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., was mocked on X this week after posting a video of himself lifting weights while trashing Republicans. (Getty Images)

U.S. officials have repeatedly warned that Beijing uses diplomats and influence networks like the United Front to cultivate relationships with American politicians, making even routine-looking interactions politically combustible when they involve a lawmaker already shadowed by foreign-influence scrutiny.

“Swalwell met Fang Fang when he was on the city council. He continued a long relationship with her and she would direct him. She directed interns in his office,” former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told Fox News Digital. “And it wasn’t just Swalwell who had knowledge of her. I believe people in his family became friends with her as well. But his activity and his behavior is very disturbing.”

“The report that I received, he never should have been on Intel,” McCarthy told Fox News Digital, citing the briefing he and other senior level members of Congress received after news broke about Swalwell, Fang Fang and the alleged influence operation she was part of. “The knowledge that I have of what transpired and the actions that he has done and the behavior, especially when he’s gone to other countries, I would be very leery of him in any position of that can have sensitive information. The recklessness in which he lived his life, the reports that have come back, I think it would be hard for him to ever even be considered as a governor candidate, period.”

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Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy on the U.S. Capitol steps. (Getty Images)

A handful of current and former intelligence officials told Axios in 2020 that they believed Fang Fang, who also goes by Christine Fang, was part of an influence operation run by China’s Ministry of State Security between roughly 2011 and 2015. The outlet reported that Fang Fang gained proximity to political power through campaign fundraising and networking, adding that she engaged in sexual relationships with at least two Midwestern mayors, and was also targeting elected officials in California.

Swalwell’s earliest ties to Fang Fang began in 2012 when he was seen posing in a photo with her during his time as a council member for Dublin City, California. The reported “student event” was attended by Fang Fang, who Axios indicated was a leader for her school’s Chinese Student Association and its Asian Pacific American Public Affairs chapter. The pair was identified posing in another photo together the following year at a Chinese New Year banquet held at Fang Fang’s college.

CHINESE SPIES ‘SHAM MARRIAGE’ SCANDAL EXPOSES ‘TARGETED’ NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT AT MAJOR US BASE: EXPERT

Meanwhile, between 2013 and 2014, Fang Fang helped fundraise at an event for Tulsi Gabbard, according to a flyer of the event she shared on Facebook, and also volunteered for Rep. Ro Khanna’s, D-Calif., failed House bid, other social media posts and talks with a former organizer indicated, according to Axios. Fang Fang appeared in photos with Swalwell, Khanna, Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., and others across a period of several years around this time as well. According to an intelligence official and a Bay Area politico, Fang Fang took part in fundraising activity for Swalwell’s 2014 campaign and allegedly helped place an intern in his office, while also interacting with the California congressman at multiple events across several years.

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The national flags of the United States and China flutter at the Fairmont Peace Hotel on April 25, 2024 in Shanghai, China. (Wang Gang/VCG via Getty Images)

Eventually, U.S. intelligence officials became so concerned with Fang Fang’s activities that they alerted Swalwell and other members of Congressional leadership in 2015. At the time, Pelosi was serving as House Minority Leader while McCarthy was the House Majority Leader, but McCarthy indicated he was not briefed then. Meanwhile, Swalwell  immediately cut ties with Fang Fang upon the defensive briefing, sources speaking to Axios said. McCarthy has questioned how long Pelosi knew about Swalwell’s ties to Fang Fang, and whether she was aware of them prior to appointing him to the influential House intel committee. 

Shortly after Axios broke its investigation of Swalwell’s ties to Fang Fang in 2020, top-level Democrats and Republicans, including then-House Minority Leader McCarthy and then-House Speaker Pelosi, received further briefings on the matter, which was followed by GOP calls for Swalwell to be removed from the HPSCI. The high-level committee exercises primary congressional oversight over the U.S. intelligence community and is privy to classified information other members of Congress are not.  

Swalwell has denied any wrongdoing and a multi-year congressional ethics report backed that assertion and did not take any further action against the congressman over his questionable associations.

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In 2021, House Republicans attempted to formally remove Swalwell from the House intel committee, but Democrats had the power and killed the bill. Upon the power in Congress shifting to Republican hands the following Congressional session, then-Speaker of the House McCarthy rejected Swalwell’s attempt to maintain his seat on the powerful committee and he was pushed out in 2023.

Rep. Eric Swalwell’s, D-Calif., China ties are under fresh scrutiny amid his bid to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

McCarthy said he wasn’t trying to take advantage of the opportunity to “punish” Democrats, but, rather, was so alarmed by Swalwell’s behavior that he felt it was necessary to protect national security. 

“Based upon my classified knowledge, and based upon being Speaker – the reports that have come to me are very disturbing, his continual actions and behavior,” McCarthy added. “I don’t understand how a man like him would consider running just based upon that knowledge.” 

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