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Don't forget about Marc Fogel, another American wrongfully detained in Russia

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Don't forget about Marc Fogel, another American wrongfully detained in Russia

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During his State of the Union address, President Biden outlined his vision for the year ahead and his priorities for the future. In his remarks, the president did not mention Marc Fogel, the American teacher imprisoned in Russia since 2021. 

Sadly, Fogel’s omission from the address is yet another missed opportunity for the Biden administration to give the Pittsburgh-area resident – a man we collectively represent – a similar spotlight so many other wrongfully detained Americans have rightfully received.

For congressional leaders who have worked on his case for years, Marc is very familiar. So is his mother, Malphine Fogel, who is approaching her 95th birthday. She and her family continue to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to inform them of Marc’s situation.

Marc Fogel, right, with his family (Photos courtesy Ellen Keelan and Lisa Hyland)

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If this case is new to you, here is Marc’s story. For nearly 36 years, Marc taught history courses at schools attended by children of U.S. diplomats in Colombia, Venezuela, Oman and Malaysia. For the past decade, he also taught in Russia. 

GOP REP INTRODUCES BIPARTISAN ‘MARC FOGEL ACT’ PUSHING STATE DEPT FOR ANSWERS ON AMERICANS JAILED OVERSEAS

On Aug. 14, 2021, Marc was detained for possession of medical marijuana used to treat his severe back injury. As a result, he is currently serving a 14-year sentence in a Russian prison.

With Marc’s condition, this could be a death sentence.

Marc’s charge is similar to that of WNBA player Brittney Griner. Griner was arrested at the same Russian airport nearly six months after Marc was arrested. 

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Due in part to her public platform, in December 2022, the Biden administration swapped Griner for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, the man infamously known as the “Merchant of Death.” Bout was convicted in 2011 of conspiracy to kill American citizens.

BIDEN FOUGHT FOR BRITTNEY GRINER BUT FORGOT ABOUT FOGEL

We are thankful Brittney Griner is home with her family and believe Marc should be entitled to the same attention from the State Department.

While the State Department played a critical role in Griner’s release, the department has been less than helpful in returning Marc to his family. 

Under federal law, Marc meets the established criteria to be designated as “wrongfully detained” by the State Department. It’s a designation critical to securing his freedom. Although Marc has yet to be classified as wrongfully detained after more than two-and-a-half years in prison, Griner was designated within three months after her arrest.

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US SHOULD SHOW WHY AMERICAN TEACHER HELD IN RUSSIA IS NOT CONSIDERED ‘WRONGFULLY DETAINED,’ CONGRESSMAN SAYS

When pressed on this lack of progress toward a designation, State Department officials have been either unable or unwilling to provide us with a concrete explanation. This lack of clarity has increased our call for answers and resulted in the introduction of The Marc Fogel Act last year. 

This bipartisan legislation would amend the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act to require more transparency from the State Department to Congress on how wrongful detainment determinations are made.

It’s past time for the State Department to declare Fogel as wrongfully detained by the Russian government. They refuse to act yet offer no explanation for their inaction. In fact, Marc is rarely even a part of the administration’s public dialogue when it comes to Americans imprisoned in Russia. 

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Our commonsense legislation would allow Congress to receive critical information not only about Fogel and why he has not received this declaration, but also about other Americans who may be imprisoned or held hostage abroad in the future. 

Lastly, we implore the State Department to consider the personal toll Marc’s imprisonment has taken on the Fogel family. The lack of acknowledgment and designation of Marc by the department has not only impacted him, but also his mother, wife, two sons, and his entire family. 

Marc deserves to be home in Pennsylvania with his mother and family. They have gone nearly 1,000 days without him.

After the release of Griner, the Biden administration stated they are “continuing to work to bring home every American who continues to endure such an injustice.” We hope the administration follows through. As Marc’s representatives, we remain deeply concerned about our constituent’s health, safety and freedom.

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Marc Fogel deserves to be home. So do Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan and all other Americans who are wrongfully detained in Russia. They must not be forgotten.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE BY REP. MIKE KELLY

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM REP. GUY RESCHENTHALER

Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, a Republican, represents Pennsylvania’s 14th District. Rep. Christopher Deluzio, a Democrat, represents Pennsylvania’s 17th District.

The congressmen represent districts in the Pittsburgh region, where the Fogel family resides, and lead legislation advocating for the State Department to designate Marc Fogel as wrongfully detained.

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Northeast

Brown University shooter confessed in videos to planning attack for long time, showed no remorse: DOJ

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Brown University shooter confessed in videos to planning attack for long time, showed no remorse: DOJ

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Federal prosecutors on Tuesday released transcripts of short videos they say were recorded by the gunman responsible for a mass shooting at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor in Massachusetts.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said investigators recovered an electronic device containing the videos when they executed a federal search warrant on Dec. 18, 2025, at a storage facility used by Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, whom authorities described as “the Portuguese national responsible for the senseless murders.”

The videos were recorded in Portuguese and later translated into English, prosecutors said. In the recordings, Neves Valente described the attack as the culmination of long planning.

“It’s done. It was, it was six months, man. Not six months, six semesters. Uh. I had already planned this for a little more,” he said in one video, according to the transcripts.

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DISPATCH RECORDS FROM BROWN UNIVERSITY SHOOTING CAPTURE CHAOS OF DEADLY CAMPUS ATTACK

Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts released this image showing the man identified in deadly shootings of Brown University students in Rhode Island and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor in Massachusetts. (Justice Department)

Authorities said Neves Valente identified Brown University as his intended target but did not provide a motive for shooting students at Brown or for killing the MIT professor, Nuno Loureiro, 47. Prosecutors said the investigation into a motive will continue.

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, Loureiro, a professor at MIT, was killed in Brookline.

In the transcript, Neves Valente repeatedly refused to express remorse.

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BILLIONAIRE TRUSTEES STAY SILENT AS BROWN UNIVERSITY FACES MOUNTING CAMPUS MURDER FALLOUT

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“So, what has been done now… I’m in a storage space in Salem, I’ve had this here for three years, I think. I still have money. … I am not going to apologize, because during my lifetime no one sincerely apologized to me.” He also rejected that mental illness was to blame, saying: “that’s all bull—- excuses.”

“I am – I am sane,” he said. “I’ve always been, more or less [sane].”

Neves Valente also said President Donald Trump was right to “have called me an animal, which is true.”

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“I am an animal, and he is also, but uhm, I have no love–I have no hatred towards America, I also have no hatred at all. This was an issue of… of opportunity.”

BROWN UNIVERSITY HIRES FORMER US ATTORNEY ZACHARY CUNHA AS POSSIBLE CAMPUS SHOOTING LAWSUITS LOOM

Despite its role as Brown University’s highest governing authority with direct power over presidential oversight and long-term strategy, the board of trustees has declined to comment in the wake of the murders that exposed serious lapses in campus security. (Photo by David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

MIT PROFESSOR SHOT DEAD IN BROOKLINE HOME, MASSACHUSETTS STATE POLICE LAUNCH HOMICIDE INVESTIGATION

Prosecutors said Neves Valente “showed no remorse” during the recordings and blamed victims for their deaths.

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In the transcript, he criticized people’s responses during the shooting, saying, “Because they were kind of stupid.”

He also dismissed how the world would view him after he carried out the mass shooting on the college campus.

 “I don’t give a d— about how you judge me or what you think of me,” he said, while also saying, “I also have no interest in being famous.”

Images of Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente displayed on a projector screen at a news briefing in Providence, Rhode Island. The 48-year-old former student and Portuguese national has been identified as the gunman behind a mass shooting that killed two students and wounded nine. (Andrea Margolis/Fox News Digital)

BROWN UNIVERSITY CUSTODIAN TOLD SECURITY SUSPICIOUS MAN WAS ‘CASING’ BUILDING WEEKS BEFORE SHOOTING: REPORT

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Throughout the transcript, he focused on the injury he sustained, saying: “As you can see, my eye is kind of f—– up.”

Neves Valente said that he was injured in what he called a “shell round” that “bounced” into his eye.

A split image showing multiple still frames from the surveillance video taken near Brown University of a person of interest before and after a school shooting. (FBI Boston)

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 Tuesday they do not believe there is any ongoing public safety threat associated with the shootings and that additional updates will be provided.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz and Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.

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Boston, MA

Florida-based breakfast chain makes Boston debut with newest location

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Florida-based breakfast chain makes Boston debut with newest location


Boston just got a new breakfast spot that’s serving up freshly made juices and dishes from morning until the afternoon.

Florida-based chain First Watch opened its first Boston location at 777 Boylston St. on Wednesday, Jan. 7.

The opening marks the second First Watch location in Massachusetts, joining its Hanover restaurant that opened in January 2025.

The inside of First Watch’s first Boston location, located at 777 Boylston St.David Cifarelli

First Watch was founded in Pacific Grove, California in 1983. The company later moved its headquarters to Bradenton, Florida in 1986 and is now headquartered in Sarasota.

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Before breaking into New England, First Watch was recognized in other markets for its modern take on breakfast, brunch and lunch food. All dishes are made to order using fresh ingredients in a kitchen without heat lamps, microwaves or deep fryers.

Staples include the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes — a mid-stack of whipped ricotta pancakes topped with lemon curd, strawberries and powdered cinnamon sugar — and Million Dollar Bacon — four slices of hardwood smoked bacon baked with brown sugar, black pepper, cayenne and a maple syrup drizzle.

First Watch
First Watch’s popular Million Dollar Bacon served at the chain’s Boston location.David Cifarelli

First Watch also offers seasonal items that rotate roughly five times a year. Sample offerings during the winter include the fan-favorite B.E.C. Sandwich — a bacon, egg and cheddar sandwich served on griddled artisan sourdough bread — and the Strawberry Tres Leches French Toast that’s made with challah bread and topped with strawberries, dulce de leche, whipped cream and spiced gingerbread cookie crumbles.

First Watch’s fresh juice program is a company staple as well. The juices are made in-house every morning and change based on the season. Examples include the “Morning Meditation,” “Kale Tonic,” and “Purple Haze.”

First Watch also serves Project Sunrise coffee, which is made from coffee beans sourced by women coffee farmers in South America.

First Watch Boston is open 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily.

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First Watch Boston
The outside of First Watch in Boston, located at 777 Boylston St.David Cifarelli





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Pittsburg, PA

Commanders sign athletic former Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback

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Commanders sign athletic former Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback


The Washington Commanders have signed former Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Darius Rush to a reserve/future contract, the team announced.

Rush joined Washington in August after he was released by the Cleveland Browns, and spent the entire season with the team. Now, he will get a chance to showcase what he can do in the offseason and make a roster push.

Rush was also previously with the Kansas City Chiefs, but was waived/injured at the beginning of training camp.

The Steelers released Rush in last October, freeing him up to become a member of the Chiefs. He initially made the active roster, but after a rough preseason, the team went in another direction to locate some help, which they found in James Pierre.

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Rush, a 2023 fourth-round pick out of South Carolina by the Indianapolis Colts, was cut by the Colts out of training camp. The Chiefs proceeded to claim Rush off waivers following his release, before the Steelers then signed him weeks later in 2023.

With Pittsburgh, Rush took on the role of dimebacker against the Tennessee Titans a season ago, playing 21 snaps in his NFL regular-season debut. He would win a starting gunner role to start the year in Pittsburgh, but not hold onto it after pressure from Pierre.



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