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National Guard member in DC shooting shows ‘positive sign’ West Virginia governor says

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National Guard member in DC shooting shows ‘positive sign’ West Virginia governor says

A person walks past a makeshift memorial for U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe outside of Farragut West Station, near the site where the two National Guard members were shot on Dec. 1 in Washington, D.C.

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The ambush-style attack last week in Washington, D.C. that killed one National Guard soldier and wounded another has brought grief to a West Virginia community and profound implications for refugees, while a troubling profile of the suspect emerges.

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) speaks while West Virginia National Guard Maj. Gen. James Seward (L) looks on during a news conference on Dec. 1 at the West Virginia Capitol in Charleston, W.Va.

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) speaks while West Virginia National Guard Maj. Gen. James Seward (L) looks on during a news conference on Dec. 1 at the West Virginia Capitol in Charleston, W.Va.

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At a press conference on Monday, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said he received word from Andrew Wolfe’s family that the 24-year-old remains in serious condition but has shown some progress.

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“We were told that Andrew was asked if he could hear the nurse who asked the question to give a thumbs up, and he did respond,” Morrisey said. “And we were told that he also wiggled his toes. So we take that as a positive sign.”

Wolfe and Sarah Beckstrom — both members of the West Virginia National Guard — were on patrol on Thanksgiving eve just blocks from the White House when a gunman came around the corner and opened fire at close-range, authorities said. Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, remains in custody and faces a first-degree murder charge. Authorities say Lakanwal drove across the country from his home in Washington state to the nation’s capital to carry out the unprovoked attack.

A refugee resettlement volunteer who worked closely with Lakanwal’s family told NPR that the suspect did not show any signs of radicalization — like some U.S. officials have suggested. Instead, the volunteer said they worried about Lakanwal’s wellbeing and feared he was suffering a mental health crisis.

Last week, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said the alleged gunman will be charged with terrorism and she will seek the death penalty if either soldier died.

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Here’s what to know.

High school principal describes Beckstrom as “always willing to help others”

A photo is displayed of National Guard member Specialist Sarah Beckstrom in Webster Springs, W.Va., on Nov. 28.

A photo is displayed of National Guard member Specialist Sarah Beckstrom in Webster Springs, W.Va., on Nov. 28.

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Beckstrom joined the service in 2023, but her commitment to serving others was a defining part of her character, according to Gabriel Markle, the principal at Webster County High School, which Beckstrom attended.

“She carried herself with quiet strength, a contagious smile and a positive energy that lifted people around her,” Markle said at a vigil organized at the high school on Saturday night.

He added, “She was sweet, caring and always willing to help others.”

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Gov. Morrisey, who was also in attendance, said Beckstrom’s family and friends described her as having “a bright smile, a very big heart, and someone who loved to serve others.”

“She wore that uniform with pride,” he said. “And this deserves to be said a few times, she volunteered for the mission,” referring to the troop deployment in D.C.

Both Beckstrom and Wolfe were deployed to the nation’s capital in August, when President Trump first brought in troops, saying they were needed to address crime. The deployments have been met with pushback from both local Democratic leaders who said they were unnecessary and federal court judges, who have questioned their legality.

According to Morrisey, Beckstrom and Wolfe were friends leading up to the attack last week. “I’ve heard some of the stories that they talked, they liked each other, they talked fondly about each other,” he added.

The suspect was withdrawn and possibly suffering from PTSD

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This photo provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025, shows Rahmanullah Lakanwal.

This photo showing Rahmanullah Lakanwal was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Nov. 27.

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New details suggest that Lakanwal was suffering from a personal crisis leading up to the attack, NPR’s Brian Mann reported.

A refugee resettlement volunteer who worked closely with Lakanwal’s family said the suspect spent a lot of time alone in his bedroom without speaking to his wife and kids.

“My biggest concern was that [Lakanwal] would harm himself,” the volunteer said. “I worried he would be suicidal because he was so withdrawn.” The volunteer spoke with NPR on condition of anonymity because they said they feared retaliation for having worked with Afghan refugees, including Lakanwal.

Before he moved to the U.S., Lakanwal served in one of Afghanistan’s elite counterterrorism units, which was operated by the CIA and focused on fighting the Taliban. When the Taliban seized control of Kabul in 2021, Lakanwal was evacuated by the U.S. military and later, resettled to the U.S. through Operation Allies Welcome.

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According to the volunteer, Lakanwal struggled to find a stable job and adjust to life in the U.S., which led to growing isolation. The volunteer added that Lakanwal was prone to take cross-country drives without telling his family.

Trump administration toughens immigration policies

A makeshift memorial of flowers and American flags stands outside the Farragut West Metro station on Dec. 1 in Washington, D.C.

A makeshift memorial of flowers and American flags stands outside the Farragut West Metro station on Dec. 1 in Washington, D.C.

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The shooting in D.C. has also led to swift and sweeping changes to multiple immigration processes.

NPR’s Ximeno Bustillo reported that the administration has paused all visa reviews for people from Afghanistan. That includes special immigrant visas, a program specifically designed to relocate those who had helped the U.S. military and its allies, and were at risk living under Taliban rule.

Some veterans and refugee advocates criticized the policy changes, arguing that an entire community should not be punished for the actions of one person.

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“Our hearts are absolutely broken for our Afghan allies, who have already endured more trauma, loss, and sacrifice than most Americans can imagine,” Shawn VanDiver, who leads #AfghanEvac, a group that supports the resettlement of Afghans to the U.S., said in a statement.

More broadly, the administration halted all asylum decisions. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said reviews will not restart until the agency has “dealt with the backlog” which is currently over a million cases.

“That backlog needs to be cleared up,” Noem said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press.

Joseph Edlow, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, also ordered a sweeping review of green card holders from “every country of concern” — referring to a list of 19 countries that the administration previously ruled has “deficient” vetting and screening.

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Manhattan Building’s Columns Buckled Beneath New Addition, Images Show

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Manhattan Building’s Columns Buckled Beneath New Addition, Images Show

At least two structural columns buckled and failed in a 37-story office tower in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday, prompting evacuations of nearby streets and buildings. While city officials asserted that the tower was in no danger of collapsing completely, outside engineers said further failures in the structure could not be ruled out.

A pair of columns that failed completely were part of the tower’s existing structure. A New York Times review of images and videos from inside the building has found that several floors were added atop these columns.

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City officials said in a news conference on Tuesday that the building was continuing to move, while they simultaneously assured the city that the building would not suffer “total collapse.” “The way this building is constructed, it’s a steel-frame building,” John Esposito, a chief in the Fire Department in New York, said at the afternoon news conference. “So, it would not be a total collapse. It would be more of a localized collapse.” Still, he said, “that remains our concern, that it’s moved.”

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Engineers said that the movement itself was cause for concern. In a properly designed steel building, they said, loads should redistribute quickly to surviving structural supports if columns failed.

Joe DiPompeo, a former president of the Structural Engineering Institute at the American Society of Civil Engineers, said that if the structure had been overloaded, he would expect any movement “to happen very quickly,” rather than gradually.

“Generally when a column buckles, it’s a sudden failure,” Mr. DiPompeo said. He said that a full collapse remained unlikely given the redundancies built into the building codes.

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Engineers often refer to the most dangerous possibility as a progressive collapse, a process in which structures near the initial failure become overstressed and also fail, potentially bringing down the building if the sequence continues. While unlikely, it cannot be ruled out, Mr. DiPompeo said.

Footage recorded from inside the building shows at least two structural columns appear to have failed completely, Mr. DiPompeo said. Other nonstructural, interior walls — or at least the metal “studs” that were in place to hold them up — also appear to have deformed.

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“The only way that really happens is if the floor above them dropped. It looks like the floor above could have dropped a foot or two, which is obviously not a good situation,” Mr. DiPompeo said.

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The 37-story building is in the process of being converted from office space into residential units. Four new floors and a large vertical portion were added onto the existing building in recent months. The vertical portion consists of a stack of over a dozen new floors cantilevered out over the existing building below.

Engineers said that there was nothing inherently wrong with adding residential floors or the cantilevered section above the columns that failed, as long as the original structure and the modifications had properly accounted for the added weight and wind loads.

“The cantilever alone doesn’t change anything,” Mr. DiPompeo said, but it does put additional load on the columns underneath — a factor that should have been reflected in the design.

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Nathan Berman, managing principal and founder of MetroLoft, the developer overseeing the conversion, said on Tuesday that “this incident is nothing more than a typical construction mishap.”

He said two columns near the northwest corner of the tower had bent under the weight of additions to the building above, most likely because those columns had not been properly reinforced, though he said an investigation would determine the cause. The rest of the columns, he said, “picked up the weight.” He estimated the affected floors above the failed columns had sagged by a maximum of four inches.

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Mr. Berman said that he expected the problems to be fixed and the project to be completed with, at most, a slight delay.

On Tuesday evening, installation of temporary shoring was set to begin shortly, in order to help stabilize the 20th and 21st floors of the building.

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DOJ warns of criminal charges for state election officials if noncitizens vote

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DOJ warns of criminal charges for state election officials if noncitizens vote

The Justice Department sent letters warning election officials in all 50 states and the District of Columbia that they could face criminal prosecution over noncitizen voting, a spokesperson for the Justice Department confirmed Tuesday.

The letters, signed by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who heads up the department’s Civil Rights Division, give states five days to explain how they will comply with federal voter eligibility laws and how they will maintain “clean voter lists.”

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“The Department sent these letters to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, asking for voluntary compliance in a timely manner with their obligations under federal law to ensure only citizens vote in federal elections,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement.

Noncitizen voting in federal elections is extremely rare, but Trump and his administration have falsely portrayed it as a widespread issue.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar and Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson are among those who said they received the letters from the Justice Department.

The letters say state election officers “could be criminally prosecuted for aiding and abetting” noncitizen voting. They further specify that any election officer who knowingly retains noncitizens on a statewide voting registration list or who facilitates noncitizens’ receiving and casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability.

“An intentional act that is aimed at diluting the votes of citizens could also constitute a violation” of federal law, the letters said.

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Henderson wrote on social media that the threats constitute “truly bizarre behavior.”

“Got another love letter this morning from the DOJ sprinkled throughout with threats of criminal prosecution,” she wrote. “I’m sure I’m not the only chief election officer of a state who is being targeted for following state and federal laws by resisting DOJ’s demands for private voter data that have thus far been ruled illegal by at least a dozen courts.”

The letters are the latest move in the Justice Department’s campaign to assert more federal control over state elections.

While some states have complied with the administration’s demands that they hand over voter roll data, the Justice Department has sued 30 states and Washington, D.C., for resisting. So far, 11 different federal courts have dismissed the Justice Department’s efforts to seize voter rolls.

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Reigning champion Argentina escapes with remarkable World Cup victory over Egypt

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Reigning champion Argentina escapes with remarkable World Cup victory over Egypt

Lionel Messi #10 of Argentina celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during their World Cup match against Egypt in Atlanta on Tuesday.

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They looked beaten. And out. Argentina, the defending World Cup champion and No. 1-ranked team, was down 2-0 late against Egypt.

Then, in a span of 13 remarkable minutes, Argentina scored not once, not twice, but three times, capping a comeback for the ages and leaving Egypt stunned and shellshocked.

For much of the game in Atlanta, Egypt was in control, hobbling Argentina early. The Egyptian attack began almost immediately with a stunning header goal delivered by Yasser Ibrahim in the 15th minute. After that, Egypt’s defense closed ranks, making it practically impossible for Argentina to equalize.

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It was downhill from there for the Argentines: team captain Lionel Messi failed to convert a penalty kick, and in the 67th minute, Egypt got a second goal from Mostafa Ziko (after an earlier Egyptian goal had been disallowed after a video review). It looked like Argentina was finished. On the brink of elimination.

But no one told the Argentine players that.

In the 79th minute, Lionel Messi began doing his thing. He fired a cross near the Egyptian goal, and Cristian Romero headed it in. Messi was not done. Four minutes later, he powered a shot past the Egyptian keeper. It was his eighth goal of this tournament, the most of any player. The score was 2-2.

Then, in stoppage time, yet another Argentina header and another goal, this time from Enzo Fernandez.

“This is the World Cup for you,” said Messi after the game. “It wasn’t easy to come back from two goals down. But as I always say, this group never gives up. We always try to fight until the end.”

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French referee François Letexier speaks with Egypt forward Mohamed Salah during the World Cup Round of 16 match between Argentina and Egypt in Atlanta.

French referee François Letexier speaks with Egypt forward Mohamed Salah during the World Cup Round of 16 match between Argentina and Egypt in Atlanta.

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Afterward, Egypt coach Hossam Hassan complained about the French referee and the officiating. “I am not convinced. I am not convinced with this outcome. I’m not convinced with the way things unfolded during this match,” said Hassan in a post-match news conference. “We have been treated unfairly today. We have suffered injustice.”

“We would have deserved to earn this win, but we are leaving with honor, with pride, regardless of this defeat,” said Hossan.

African soccer teams have been the stars of this World Cup. Morocco has yet to lose a game. Cape Verde qualified for the first time in its history and stymied Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. Argentina barely beat them in a nail-biter of a match.

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