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Political newcomer Ronald Russell was projected to win the Republican primary for Maine’s 1st Congressional District as of late Tuesday.
Russell, who grew up on a Fort Fairfield, Maine potato farm and returned to the state in 2021, said during his campaign that his run for office is an attempt to “get the country back on track.”
Russell defeated fellow first-time candidate Andrew Piantidosi in the contest and will face longtime Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree in the general election.
He made his military service a hallmark of his campaign, describing his father’s time serving as a World War II artilleryman who convinced a young Russell to apply to West Point military academy in New York state.
Russell went on to serve as a second lieutenant in the Army beginning in 1976.
FLASHBACK: MAINE MOM FURIOUS AFTER SCHOOL STAFF REPORTEDLY TRIED TO TRANSITION 13-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER
Lawmakers in Maine voted unanimously to kill a bill that would allow out-of-state minors to travel to Maine and get gender-altering operations. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
While Russell’s state hugs the northern border, the candidate told local outlet WMTW that illegal immigration on the southern border will be an important issue for him if elected in November.
“The way to stop it is to stop the incentives for illegal immigration. The amount of money that we are providing housing, free housing for them until they get on their feet, which is a couple of years here in Maine, salaries, for all intents and purposes, money to help them subsist, those are all incentives to have them break the law and come across illegally. Those need to go away as well,” he told the outlet.
MAINE 2024 PRIMARY RESULTS
After retiring from the military in 2006, Russell began working for a defense contractor before starting his own business that his campaign website said grew to 150 employees.
Maine’s 1st Congressional District, while much smaller than its counterpart, contains most of the state’s population centers. It largely hugs the seacoast and includes the cities of Portland and Brunswick, and meets New Hampshire not far from Portsmouth.
Maine, the Pine Tree State (Fox News)
Following 2021 census-related redistricting, the Cook Political Report placed the 1st District’s partisan voting index at D+9, indicating a substantial advantage for Pingree in the general election.
Pingree has been successful in her recent reelection bids, though she suffered a 2002 loss when she challenged popular centrist Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
The last Republican to represent the seat, former Rep. Jim Longley Jr., was ousted in the 1996 election.
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The 2025-2026 Vermont high school winter season has begun. See below for scores, schedules and game details (statistical leaders, game notes) from basketball, hockey, gymnastics, wrestling, Nordic/Alpine skiing and other winter sports.
Coaches or team representatives are asked to report results ASAP after games by emailing sports@burlingtonfreepress.com. Please submit with a name/contact number.
▶ Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.
▶ Contact Judith Altneu at JAltneu@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @Judith_Altneu.
Games at 12:30 p.m. unless noted
Missisquoi 50, Winooski 49
M: Kelsey Paradee 14 points. Aurora King 13 points.
W: Taraji Bradley 18 points. Moo July Htoo 14 points.
Note: King hit the game winner at the buzzer to give the Thunderbirds the win.
Enosburg at Colchester
Mount Abraham at Middlebury
Danville at Williamstown, 4 p.m.
Games at 2:30 p.m. unless noted
Hazen 65, Vergennes 60
H: Jameson Lamarre 22 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists. Sullivan Laflam 17 points. Ethan Gann 10 points, 6 rebounds.
V: Theo Elzinga 15 points, 12 rebounds. Cohen Howell 15 points. Ryan Wright 11 points.
Lake Region at Missisquoi, 1:00 p.m.
BFA-Fairfax at Danville
Stowe at Richford
Oxbow at Blue Mountain
Northfield at Williamstown, 7 p.m.
Watch Vermont high school games on NFHS Network
Burlington/Colchester at Chittenden Charge, 2:20 p.m.
Brattleboro at U-32, 2:30 p.m.
BFA-St. Albans at Essex, 3 p.m.
Burr and Burton at Stowe, 4:15 p.m.
Hartford at Rutland, 4:30 p.m.
Kingdom Blades at Rice, 4:35 p.m.
Harwood at Woodstock, 5:15 p.m.
Spaulding at Missisquoi, 5:30 p.m.
BFA-St. Albans at Essex, 5 p.m.
Rice at Champlain Valley, 6:50 p.m.
Mount Mansfield at Burr and Burton, 5 p.m.
U-32 at Colchester, 4:50 p.m.
Stowe at Brattleboro, 4:45 p.m.
Middlebury at Saranac, NY
Milton at Missisquoi, 8 p.m.
Burlington at Hartford, 2 p.m.
St. Johnsbury at Woodstock, 7:15 p.m.
Games at 7 p.m. unless noted
Spaulding at Lyndon, 6:30 p.m.
BFA-Fairfax at Twinfield/Cabot
Milton at Enosburg
Winooski at Danville
Games at 7 p.m. unless noted
BFA-St. Albans at Burlington
Thetford at Peoples
St. Johnsbury at Champlain Valley
Montpelier at Harwood
Essex at South Burlington
Rice at Mount Mansfield
(Subject to change)
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Federal investigators are continuing to piece together the December shootings that killed two Brown University students and an MIT professor, leaving nine others wounded, authorities said.
Authorities on Tuesday released transcripts of videos they say were recorded by Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, the man responsible for the Brown University mass shooting and the killing of an MIT physicist.
Two Brown students, Ella Cook, 19, and Muhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, were killed in the Dec. 13 shooting on the Providence, Rhode Island, campus, and nine other people were wounded, authorities said. Just two days later, Nuno Loureiro, a professor at MIT, was killed in Brookline, Mass.
As of the latest update, eight of the students injured at Brown had been released from the hospital, while one person remained hospitalized.
Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts released this image showing the man identified in the deadly shootings of Brown University students in Rhode Island and a professor from MIT. (Justice Department)
BROWN UNIVERSITY SHOOTER CONFESSED IN VIDEOS TO PLANNING ATTACK FOR LONG TIME, SHOWED NO REMORSE: DOJ
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, investigators executed a federal search warrant on Dec. 18 at a storage facility used by Neves Valente, a Portuguese national. The FBI recovered an electronic device containing several short videos recorded after the shootings. Transcripts of those videos, translated from Portuguese to English, were released Tuesday.
In the recordings, prosecutors said Neves Valente admitted he had been planning the Brown shooting for a long time and said Brown was his intended target. Authorities said he did not provide a motive for targeting Brown students or the MIT professor.
Investigators said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives traced the gun used in the shootings as part of the investigation.
Officials have not publicly released details about the weapon’s origin or purchase history. Fox News Digital has reached out to the FBI for comment.
Split image showing Brown University victims Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, alongside MIT professor Nuno Loureiro, who was killed. (Instagram/elinacoutlakis/GoFundMe/Jake Belcher for MIT)
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Josh Schirard, a former tactical emergency response director at the 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting and director of Byrna Law Enforcement, said the transcripts confirm responsibility for the attack but offer little clarity about why it occurred.
“He understood what he did. He understood that he had a why behind it,” Schirard said. “He just didn’t opine on why that was.”
Schirard said the shooter rejected ideological explanations and denied being mentally ill.
Investigators tow away the Nissan Sentra used by Brown University shooter Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, Salem, N.H., Thursday, Dec. 19, 2025. (David McGlynn for Fox News Digital)
EVIDENCE SHOWS DEADLY BROWN, MIT SHOOTINGS MAY BE LINKED, SOURCES SAY: REPORT
“He even says, ‘I’m not mentally ill. I am very sane, and I did this knowing what I was doing,’” Schirard said.
“He talks about how killing those people was hard,” Schirard said, adding that the shooter said he envied people who could do so “without difficulty.”
A split image shows Claudio Neves-Valente, identified as the Brown University gunman, wearing the same jacket as a man identified earlier as a person of interest in the case. (Providence Police Department)
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An autopsy previously found Neves Valente died by suicide two days before his body was discovered in a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire.
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Authorities said they do not believe there is any ongoing public safety threat associated with the shootings and that additional updates will be provided.
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Local News
A Boston woman is dealing with an unwelcome tenant on her front porch — a rat that has turned a baby stroller into a cozy winter hideaway.
The woman shared her ordeal Thursday on the r/Boston subreddit, explaining that she had left her stroller, complete with a muff, on her second-floor porch. When she checked on it later, she discovered a rat had moved in.
“I stupidly left our stroller with a muff out on the porch,” she wrote. “Today I found a big rat is nested in there. I can’t see clearly, but it seems it has chewed up the muff lining and is using the filling for a nest.”
The woman said she’s called a few pest control companies, but instead of offering immediate removal, they just tried to sell her a long-term bait boxing service.
“…Which is fine, but I urgently need someone to just safely remove the rat and the nest so I can clean or dispose of the stroller if needed,” she wrote, adding that she couldn’t secure a next-day appointment and felt Monday was too far away.
Turning to Reddit for advice, the woman asked whether she should attempt to remove the rat herself, saying she was worried about being bitten or contracting a disease. “Which professional can I call?” she asked.
Redditors reacted with a mix of humor and practical advice. The top comment began, “Sounds like it’s their porch now,” before offering an elaborate plan involving a bucket trap and joking that the rat could then “go on to be a Michelin star chef at a French restaurant,” a nod to the 2007 film “Ratatouille.”
Others suggested she evict the rat by vigorously shaking the stroller or whacking it with a broom, while many urged her to cut her losses entirely and throw the stroller out.
“I honestly wouldn’t ever use it for a small child after a rat had been cribbed up there,” one commenter wrote.
Pest control experts generally advise against handling rats without professional help. According to Terminix, rodents can become aggressive and scratch when threatened and may carry diseases such as hantavirus and leptospirosis.
“When it comes to getting rid of a rat’s nest in the house, DIY treatments won’t cut it,” the company warns on its website.
Boston has been grappling with heightened rat activity in recent years, prompting a citywide rodent action plan known as BRAP. City officials urge residents to “see something, squeak something!” and report rodent activity to 311. Officials said response teams are typically dispatched within one to two days.
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