Midwest
UnitedHealthcare CEO murder sends executives scrambling to hire security: experts
The Wednesday assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson will “heighten [executives’] awareness of vulnerabilities” and likely lead to a wave of new security contracts, experts told Fox News Digital.
In an ambush caught on surveillance video, a gunman with his face covered aimed a pistol with a silencer at Thompson at 6:46 a.m. Wednesday outside the Midtown Hilton Hotel and shot the executive three times.
Former New York Homeland Security adviser Michael Balboni told Fox News Digital that at least one prospective client, the head of a large financial institution, specifically mentioned the shooting when calling to ask after an executive-protection assessment through his company, Redland Strategies Inc.
“In the short term, this incident highlights the need to perform threat assessments on not just infrastructure or systems, but key personnel as well,” he said. “As a result, security personnel should be busy.”
UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO BRIAN THOMPSON’S ‘PREMEDITATED’ ATTACK AND SUSPECT’S GETAWAY: TIMELINE
Surveillance footage released by the NYPD shows the suspect wanted for the shooting death of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (NYPD)
“But in the long term, complacency will return,” he added.
Retired NYPD detective Pat Brosnan, the CEO of Brosnan Investigations Group and former head of Brosnan Risk Consultants, told Fox News Digital that the killing had “already, within hours of the murder, prompted meetings of high-level, chief security officers around the country.”
“These emergency meetings were prompted by the extraordinary circumstances surrounding Thompson’s murder: a clearly targeted early morning assassination by a calm and eerily unrushed assassin with clear proficiencies in handling the weapon; the wherewithal and foresight to outfit the weapon with a very difficult-to-obtain silencer; and, likely most disturbing, [possession] of insider information regarding the target’s schedule.”
UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO MURDER: INVESTIGATORS START SMALL, FOCUS ON FAMILY IN SEARCH OF MOTIVE
This undated photo provided by UnitedHealth Group shows UnitedHealthcare chief executive officer Brian Thompson. (AP Photo/UnitedHealth Group)
“His methodical and calm fixing of the weapon when it jammed likely sent an ice pick of fear into each of the CSOs (chief security officers),” he said. “It is exactly this type of apparent professionalism, linear focus on his mission and precise exit strategy coupled with specific intelligence as to the target’s movements that keep CSOs up late at night.”
“I am certain it prompted many of them to quickly reassess their current security protocols and procedures to mitigate against a copycat,” Brosnan continued.
MANHUNT FOR UNITEDHEALTH CEO SHOOTING SUSPECT ENTERS SECOND DAY AS STARBUCKS VISIT DRAWS SCRUTINY
Philip Klein – whose security company has provided bodyguards for Thompson in the past – told the Wall Street Journal that he was surprised his former client wasn’t accompanied on Wednesday.
“It was normal operation for that company that they would have their own private security team to take care of their corporate executives,” Klein told the outlet.
UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO SHOOTING SUSPECT ARRIVED IN NEW YORK LAST MONTH ON GREYHOUND BUS FROM ATLANTA: SOURCES
A screenshot from surveillance footage released by the NYPD shows an alleged person of interest wanted in connection with the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (NYPD Crime Stoppers )
Fox News Digital previously reported that Thompson’s wife, Paulette Thompson, had said that there had been recent threats against her husband.
“There had been some threats,” she told NBC News. “Basically, I don’t know, a lack of coverage? I don’t know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.”
Although there has been a spike in risk assessments after the shooting, Balboni said that it will likely be short-lived.
“During [the Black Lives Matter movement] there was a boost in retail security, for example,” he said. “But time goes on, and that goes away.”
“There might be an elevation of concern, but it’s going to go back to complacency,” he continued. “In the short term, yes, [executives will] at least [get] an assessment on these things to get professionals to do that. . . . But more executives I know say, ‘Not me, somebody else, it’s not going to happen to me.’”
“There are all sorts of problems that can happen – it becomes a personality thing,” he continued. “You’re [often] living with the protectee. . . . A lot of people after a certain amount of time are like, ‘Enough, I don’t want you around.’”
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Indiana basketball practice observations from June 25: Freshmen mixing in
IU has a game-changer, Thursday’s practice open to the media showed. IndyStar IU insider Zach Osterman explains what he saw.
BLOOMINGTON — Whatever he can.
That’s the answer. The question — one prompted by an urgency to add strength to his game — is what Vaughn Karvala, Indiana basketball’s athletic freshman wing, is doing to add weight. IU’s highest-ranked signee in the 2026 class, it’s not hard to envision a role for Karvala in Darian DeVries’ second season in Bloomington. The player himself knows that starts with meeting the physical demands of the college game.
Which starts with building onto to his 6-foot-7, 190-pound frame.
“The biggest thing for me is just putting on weight,” Karvala told reporters after practice Thursday. “That’s my biggest thing, getting stronger, trying to play with these guys that are three, four years older than me. I have to get stronger, I have to get faster, everything.”
A three-year letter winner at Oregon (Wisconsin) High School, Karvala spent his senior season at Bella Vista Prep in Arizona, bolstering a profile that saw him ranked No. 62 nationally per the 247Sports Composite.
Karvala averaged 26.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game in his final season with Oregon, shooting close to 42% from behind the 3-point line. He averaged another 14.7 points per game with Team Herro on the EYBL circuit.
He handed DeVries a major recruiting win last fall, when Karvala picked the Hoosiers over Xavier and Cal. Now, both at the rim and behind the arc, Karvala looks like a player who can contribute meaningfully in his first year in college.
“I know my athleticism catches the eye, but I can still shoot it,” Karvala said. “But another thing is just working on rebounding, trying to get extra possessions for us.”
Whether on the glass or elsewhere, embracing the physical challenge of college basketball has been an emphasis for Karvala since he arrived in Bloomington earlier this summer.
That manifests itself offensively, when he tries to push the ball downhill and leverage that athleticism to attack the rim. It shows up defensively, where Karvala said he’s comfortable guarding the two, the three and, matchup depending, the four.
It even plays out on the glass, battling bigs up to including 7-2 teammate Samet Yigitoglu, who Karvala described with a smile as “the biggest guy I’ve ever seen.”
“Physicality, 100%,” Karvala said, when asked where he’s challenging himself. “Just playing with all these guys that have 20, 30, 40 pounds on me.”
Which starts with the physical demand of more weight. Karvala said he’ll eat chicken, steak or “whatever we have in the locker room” that can help him in that effort. His focus, he said, is simply to “eat a lot, and work out every day.”
As that weight and strength begin to build, Karvala knows the next step — to mentally prepare for the rough-and-tumble nature of life on the floor in the Big Ten — is just as important. Preparing his body comes first. Challenging himself to toughen up once it’s required follows quickly after.
“Just getting fully there, mentally,” he said. “You’re going to have to push your body to get through this.”
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The Iowa chapter of the Land Improvement Contractors of America (LICA) officially opened a new facility on its 80-acre demonstration farm in Marshall County Thursday.
Iowa LICA President Scott Bohle said having classroom and meeting space will make it easier to educate the next generation of professional contractors, along with government employees, lawmakers and students, to help conserve soil and water in the state.
Bohle said the building “gives people a place to gather, collaborate and continue the important work that defines our association.”
Just outside the new space are wetlands, terraces, sediment control basins, bioreactors and other features, which members have built since LICA purchased the farm near Melbourne in 2000.
“We call it the one-stop shop, where you can see anything being put to practice by our landowners,” said Kelby Kiefer, executive director of Iowa LICA.
Together, these “edge-of-field” practices remove 50% of phosphates and almost 100% of the nitrates from the runoff of a 1,000-plus acre watershed, according to the association.
Adding more wetlands, saturated buffers and bioreactors across the state are a key part of Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy. It aims to cut nitrogen and phosphorus losses from farm fields by 41% and 29%, respectively.
The strategy is part of a broader effort to reduce nutrient pollution in the state’s waterways and the Gulf of Mexico by 45% compared to the 1980-96 baseline period. It does not include a target date.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said the state has accelerated edge-of-field practices in recent years, in part through the Batch and Build model. The approach bundles projects in a targeted watershed to reduce costs and save time for farmers and contractors.
Nearly 150 nitrate reducing wetlands and around 500 saturated buffers, bioreactors and multi-purpose oxbows had been built in the state as of 2024. Thousands more will be needed to meet the state’s nutrient reduction targets.
“[Clean water is] something we need to be focused on, and we can be proud of the work that’s happened, but we know that we need to do more,” Naig said. “Buildings like this help.”
Naig said scaling up conservation infrastructure across the state will require more skilled contractors. He described them as the “critical link” between concepts and “getting things on the ground.”
“It’s from that point where you say, ‘We have a design that’s ready to go, a willing landowner,’ but somebody needs to make it happen,” Naig said. “The land improvement contractor sits in that very important spot.”
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Colorado-based chicken restaurant Birdcall is expanding into Kansas.
The company announced Friday its plans to expand into Kansas and five other Midwestern states over the next five years. Birdcall plans to add six to eight fast-casual restaurants in Wichita and Topeka.
“The Midwest represents a tremendous opportunity for Birdcall,” CEO Mark Lohmann said. “From our award-winning chicken sandwiches and other handcrafted menu offerings to our commitment to innovation and community, we believe Birdcall offers an experience that resonates with today’s guests and is a natural fit for the region.”
Other locations announced are:
- Indiana – 10 to 15 restaurants across Indianapolis, Bloomington, Evansville and Fort Wayne
- Missouri – Up to 18 restaurants across St. Louis, Columbia, and Kansas City
- Nebraska – Seven to 10 restaurants across Omaha and Lincoln
- Ohio – Up to 20 restaurants across Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo
- Wisconsin – 10 to 15 restaurants across Milwaukee, Madison and Appleton
Birdcall’s menu features a variety of chicken sandwiches, chicken fingers and nuggets, salads, tater tots, fries, and more. The restaurant also makes its own in-house sauces and serves up draft beer and house-made margaritas, with happy hour specials.
The company said each restaurant will use self-service kiosks and occupy about 2,300 square feet, with indoor and outdoor seating that can serve up to 150 people.
Birdcall currently operates 17 restaurants across Colorado, Arizona and Texas.
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