Southeast
Pro-Trump prison warden asks Biden to commute all death sentences before leaving
FIRST ON FOX: A pro-Trump former Florida prison warden who oversaw executions is urging President Biden to commute all federal and military death sentences before leaving office.
“I voted for President Trump in all of his campaigns, and I agree with him on most of his positions, but not the death penalty,” Ron McAndrew, former warden of the Florida State Penitentiary, wrote in a letter to the outgoing president. “I have written to President Trump personally to ask him to stop calling for more executions.”
McAndrew, a self-described “law-and-order guy,” Air Force veteran and pro-life Catholic, said that after overseeing three electric chair executions and witnessing five lethal injections, he grew to oppose the death penalty.
While he had reservations from the start, he told Fox News Digital that he saw a burst of flames from the head of Pedro Medina during his execution in 1997 on the electric chair. That incident became a watershed moment in Florida and other parts of the country that marked the beginning of the end of electrocution.
TRUMP EXECUTION RESTART TO PUT BOSTON MARATHON BOMBER, CHARLESTON CHURCH SHOOTER, MORE KILLERS IN HOT SEAT
Ron McAndrew, a former Florida prison warden, testifies during a 2019 hearing regarding a death row inmate. (Doug Engle/Ocala Star-Banner)
“A plume of smoke and then a flame that came down underneath the helmet and out right in front of my face, had it come a few inches further, it would have actually burned me,” he said.
Later, he said the stench was so overpowering that, “it was like we had gone to a human barbecue.”
State investigators found that Medina, a convicted murderer and Cuban refugee, had died instantly – but the incident traumatized McAndrew and at least two dozen other witnesses, he said.
The incident led Florida to adopt lethal injections instead, but he said that form of execution was no less disturbing for the prison workers who carried it out.
TRUMP EXPECTED TO END BIDEN-ERA DEATH PENALTY PAUSE, EXPAND TO MORE FEDERAL INMATES
Pedro Medina, a convicted killer, was sentenced to death and went to the electric chair on March 25, 1997. He was one of the last inmates electrocuted in this manner after his head burst into flames, filling the chamber with smoke and horrifying onlookers. (Archive PL / Alamy Stock Photo)
“The heaving of the chest is an example,” he told Fox News Digital. “You can see it if you’re up close, and you’re the executioner or a member of the team. You can see that they’re trying to break out of their own body, so to speak. But the witnesses don’t see this. They see it as, like, a clean, a sanitary form of killing someone.”
At one point, he said, he began seeing executed inmates in his sleep and drinking heavily – half a bottle of Johnnie Walker a night – as a result. Eventually, he was diagnosed with severe stress. Now he is a staunch supporter of abolishing the death penalty.
Read the letter here:
“I feel compelled to say there is one thing in particular that I agree about with President Biden,” McAndrew wrote in his letter. “We share a strong opposition to the death penalty. President Biden has the power to show mercy through the process of executive clemency, and I urge that he do so expeditiously for everyone on the federal and military death rows.”
When asked why the worst of the worst killers on death row, including Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof and Pittsburgh synagogue gunman Robert Bowers, should have their lives spared, he questioned where we should draw the line and suggested incarcerating them all with no possibility of parole instead.
BRYAN KOHBERGER’S FIGHT AGAINST DEATH PENALTY GETS DAY IN COURT; EXPERT SKEPTICAL OF DEFENSE’S ARGUMENTS
“If this same inmate was doing life without possibility of parole, he’d be working between 40 and 60 hours per week whether he liked it or not,” he said. “He would be making a contribution…rather than being a burden on the taxpayers, sitting in a cell getting room service for 25 years.”
WATCH: Death row inmates on notice after Trump’s re-election
Abraham Bonowitz, who co-founded the group Death Penalty Action with McAndrew, told Fox News Digital that capital punishment should not be a partisan issue.
“Capital punishment is government overreach at its worst,” he said. “Anyone who does not trust the government to tax us fairly or come up with a safe vaccine should have a hard time trusting government with the power to execute its citizens.”
He also extended the appeal to Elon Musk, the future co-head of a new Department of Government Efficiency, if Biden rejects the letter.
President Biden, not pictured, meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“We’re excited to have a cabinet level official focused on government efficiency, because this is the first time anyone in the federal government is positioned to eliminate the death penalty by executive order,” Bonowitz said. “There is no current government program more wasteful, ineffective and inefficient than capital punishment.”
The letter comes as Trump has vowed to not only end Biden’s moratorium on capital punishment, but also to expand the list of crimes that can be punishable with execution to include child rape, human trafficking and the murder of U.S. citizens by illegal immigrants.
There are currently 40 inmates on federal death row, and they include domestic terrorists, drug kingpins and criminals who had witnesses against them killed.
Tsarnaev, who killed four and wounded hundreds; Roof, who killed nine at a Bible study; Bowers, who killed 11 at the Tree of Life Synagogue; and Kaboni Savage, a Philadelphia drug lord who killed 12 people – including four children linked to an informant – would all see clemency under the proposal.
President Biden listens as Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on April 15, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The U.S. government has executed 50 inmates since 1927, according to the Bureau of Prisons, including Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Cold War spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. That is far fewer than the individual states, which have executed more than 1,500 condemned inmates in the last 50 years.
McAndrew also took issue with the special treatment death row inmates receive. Unlike other prisoners, they do not have to work a job behind bars and contribute, in some way, to their own “upkeep.” They have a TV, a private cell and are kept separate from the general population.
In places like California, where death row inmates are safe from execution due to a moratorium against capital punishment, they also have access to elite attorneys and all the time in the world to try and fight their circumstances.
The feds carried out death sentences for 13 federal prisoners during Trump’s first term, the most under any president in a century. Biden declared a moratorium on federal executions after taking office in 2021.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Read the full article from Here
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A Georgia high school teacher was arrested Wednesday after allegations of inappropriate contact between a teacher and a minor student surfaced at Lee County High School.
Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee, agent or foster parent, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI).
Lee County High School requested the Leesburg Police Department investigate the allegations on Feb. 3, and the GBI was called to assist the following day.
Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, Ga., is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee. (Lee County Sheriff’s Office)
Investigators identified Weaver as the “subject,” and identified the victim as a student under 18 years old at Lee County High School, according to officials.
GBI agents continued the investigation along with the Leesburg Police Department, and arrest warrants were obtained for Weaver on Tuesday.
A Google Maps street view photo of Lee County High School in Leesburg, Ga. (Google Maps)
NEBRASKA TEACHER ALLEGEDLY OFFERED TO ‘SHARE’ BOYFRIEND WITH STUDENT IN SEX TRAFFICKING CASE
Weaver turned herself in to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, and was later released on bond, according to a report from WALB News.
This investigation is active and ongoing, according to the GBI.
The incident allegedly happened at a high school in Georgia. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Once complete, the case file will be given to the Southwestern Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
Leesburg is located in South Georgia, and is about an hour and a half north of Tallahassee, Florida.
Lee County High School’s communications team did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Related Article
Read the full article from Here
Southeast
Federal court clears way for Ten Commandments to be displayed in Louisiana public school classrooms
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A federal appeals court cleared the way Friday for a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms, lifting a lower court block and reigniting debate over religion in public education.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit voted 12-6 to lift a block first imposed in 2024, finding it was too early to determine the constitutionality of the law. Critics argue the requirement violates the separation of church and state, while supporters say the Ten Commandments are historical and foundational to U.S. law.
The court said in the majority opinion that it was unclear how schools would display the poster-sized materials, noting that the law allows additional content, like the Mayflower Compact or the Declaration of Independence, to appear alongside the Ten Commandments.
The majority wrote that there were not enough facts to “permit judicial judgment rather than speculation” when evaluating potential First Amendment concerns.
A federal appeals court on Friday lifted a lower court block on Louisiana’s Ten Commandments classroom law, bringing the measure closer to taking effect. (John Bazemore/AP)
In a concurring opinion, Circuit Judge James Ho, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote that the law was constitutional and “consistent with our founding traditions.”
“It is fully consistent with the Constitution, and what’s more, it reinforces our Founders’ firm belief that the children of America should be educated about the religious foundations and traditions of our country,” Ho said, adding that the law “affirms our Nation’s highest and most noble traditions.”
Circuit Judge James L. Dennis, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, wrote in a dissenting opinion that displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms would amount to “exposing children to government‑endorsed religion in a setting of compulsory attendance.”
VIRGINIA BOYS NOTCH COURT WIN AFTER BEING LABELED ‘SEXUAL HARASSERS’ OVER TRANSGENDER LOCKER ROOM COMPLAINT
A federal appeals court ruling on Feb. 20 allows Louisiana’s Ten Commandments classroom mandate to proceed for now. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)
“That is precisely the kind of establishment the Framers anticipated and sought to prevent,” he added.
The ACLU of Louisiana and other groups representing the plaintiffs said they would pursue additional legal challenges to block the law.
“Today’s ruling is extremely disappointing and would unnecessarily force Louisiana’s public school families into a game of constitutional whack-a-mole in every school district,” the groups wrote in a joint-statement. “Longstanding judicial precedent makes clear that our clients need not submit to the very harms they are seeking to prevent before taking legal action to protect their rights.”
WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT FORCES STUDENTS TO HIDE BIBLES IN BACKPACKS, LAWSUIT ALLEGES
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry praised the appeals court decision on Feb. 20 allowing the Ten Commandments classroom law to move forward. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, file)
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on Friday praised the court’s decision, writing on Facebook, “Common sense is making a comeback!”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill issued a statement following the ruling, saying schools “should follow the law.”
“Don’t kill or steal shouldn’t be controversial. My office has issued clear guidance to our public schools on how to comply with the law, and we have created multiple examples of posters demonstrating how it can be applied constitutionally,” she said.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said schools should follow the Ten Commandments display law after a federal appeals court lifted a lower court block on Feb. 20. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Joseph Davis, an attorney representing Louisiana in the case, celebrated the court’s decision.
“If the ACLU had its way, every trace of religion would be scrubbed from the fabric of our public life,” he said in a statement. “That position is at odds with our nation’s traditions and our Constitution. We’re glad the Fifth Circuit has allowed Louisiana to display the Ten Commandments in its public school classrooms.”
Friday’s ruling came after the full court agreed to reconsider the case, months after a three-judge panel ruled the Louisiana law unconstitutional.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
A similar law in Arkansas faces a federal court challenge, while Texas implemented its own Ten Commandments classroom requirement last year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related Article
Read the full article from Here
Southeast
Guy Fieri once had ‘nothing else to sign’ on the beach but postcards; now, he’s built a food TV empire
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
MIAMI BEACH – Twenty years ago, a contestant named Guy Fieri on the second season of what was then “The Next Food Network Star” showed up at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival with little more than spiked hair and ambition.
“He came to that festival that year and was walking around signing postcards because he had nothing else to sign,” recalled Lee Brian Schrager, founder of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and its New York City counterpart.
Today, Fieri is one of the most recognizable faces in food on television. But, in 2006, he was just another up-and-comer working a crowd on the sand.
Speaking to “Fox & Friends” from Miami Beach, Florida, Friday morning, Fieri said he wasn’t chasing TV fame.
“I was doing what I wanted to do,” he told Steve Doocy while walking the beach. “I wanted to be a great dad. I wanted to be a great husband. I wanted to be a chef. I wanted to own my own restaurant. So, I had accomplished the things I wanted in life and never really saw the other side of it.”
South Beach Wine & Food Festival founder Lee Brian Schrager and celebrity chef Guy Fieri pose for a photograph back in 2009. (South Beach Wine & Food Festival)
Two decades later, Fieri still comes back.
“He’s been part of our festival every year since he won ‘Food Network Star,’” Schrager told Fox News Digital.
The knack for spotting and elevating talent is part of the festival’s legacy as it marks its 25th year in Miami Beach.
GORDON RAMSAY SLAMS ‘STUPID’ OZEMPIC-INSPIRED RESTAURANT MENU TREND
Schrager recalled a similar instinct with Giada De Laurentiis. When her agent suggested she might be ready the following year, Schrager pushed back.
“I said, ‘I don’t want her next year. I want her this year so she’ll remember where she got her big start,’” Schrager said.
Giada De Laurentiis, pictured here in 2015, was another celebrity chef who got her start at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. (Manny Hernandez/Getty Images)
Yet the festival doesn’t claim to have created celebrity chefs.
“We don’t take responsibility for turning anyone into a superstar,” Schrager told Fox News Digital. “We do take some credit for giving them a platform and putting them in front of their fans.”
“Rock stars became chefs and chefs became rock stars.”
Over the past 20 years, the platform has grown alongside the broader transformation of food culture.
“Rock stars became chefs and chefs became rock stars,” Schrager said.
OZEMPIC BOOM COLLIDES WITH AMERICA’S EATING HABITS AS RESTAURANTS SHRINK PORTIONS
What began as a one-day wine event on the campus of Florida International University evolved after Schrager was tasked with reimagining it. His directive was to “make it better — not bigger, but better.”
Schrager had a solution.
The South Beach Wine & Food Festival is where chefs like Fieri “became rock stars,” said Schrager, founder of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. (Jason Koerner/Getty Images)
“Move it to the beach, partner with the Food Network, get all their celebrities and make it more than just local,” Schrager said.
Today, the festival draws marquee names from the culinary world as well as from music and entertainment. Among those who showed up for Thursday night’s Burger Bash event were comedian Bert Kreischer and Cloud 23 hot sauce founder Brooklyn Peltz Beckham.
Chefs don’t get paid for appearances at the festival.
“If it’s somebody new, the first question out of their agent’s mouth is, ‘Oh, what’s the honorarium? What’s the fee?’ I’m like, ‘Zero,’” Schrager said.
Brooklyn Peltz Beckham is among the celebrities to attend the food festival for free. (Scott Roth/Invision/AP)
The model works, Schrager said, because the festival operates as a nonprofit benefiting FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management.
“Everyone’s doing it to support the cause, or they’re doing it because they want to do it,” Schrager said. “It’s not a bad place to be in the middle of winter.”
Schrager, left, appears along with Rachael Ray and Brooklyn Peltz Beckham onstage at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival’s Burger Bash. (Scott Roth/Invision/AP)
The festival has raised more than $50 million for student scholarships.
“To me, that’s why we do it,” Schrager said.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE STORIES
Along the way, the festival has outlasted many imitators and weathered shifting food trends by staying nimble.
“We listened to the consumers,” Schrager said.
Fieri, left, and a shirtless Bert Kreischer share a moment onstage at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. (Jason Koerner/Getty Images)
“There was never any ego involved in this festival.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
He added, “Our goal was never to be the biggest.”
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
“It happens that we turned out to be the biggest, but being the best, or at least doing our best, has always been the most important to me.”
Related Article
Read the full article from Here
The One Game That Will Define Iowa’s 2026 Season
Suit challenges Kansas law that revoked trans people’s updated IDs
Louisiana bill would impose tougher penalties for operating unlicensed gambling websites
2026 Southern Maine Athletes of the Week: Winter Week 12
Maryland family wants answers after boy with special needs breaks leg in class
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Where Iran’s ballistic missiles can reach — and how close they are to the US
Has India’s influence in Afghanistan grown under the Taliban?
Bill Clinton to testify before House committee investigating Epstein links
Read Judge Schiltz’s Order
Vulnerable House Dem lashes out at Trump’s ‘racist’ SOTU challenge: ‘That was uncomfortable’
-
World2 days agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Massachusetts2 days agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Montana1 week ago2026 MHSA Montana Wrestling State Championship Brackets And Results – FloWrestling
-
Oklahoma1 week agoWildfires rage in Oklahoma as thousands urged to evacuate a small city
-
Louisiana5 days agoWildfire near Gum Swamp Road in Livingston Parish now under control; more than 200 acres burned
-
Technology6 days agoYouTube TV billing scam emails are hitting inboxes
-
Denver, CO2 days ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Technology6 days agoStellantis is in a crisis of its own making