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The final monkey who escaped from a transport van that crashed Oct. 28 on a Mississippi highway has been safely recovered and will spend the rest of his days at a New Jersey animal sanctuary.
The truck flipped while hauling 21 rhesus macaque monkeys from Tulane University in New Orleans for biomedical research.
Due to conflicting statements about the monkeys’ conditions, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office fatally shot five of the animals, with 13 remaining caged.
Three others escaped, two of whom were shot by local residents within a week after the crash.
The remaining Mississippi rhesus monkey was found and is now in Popcorn Park Animal Refuge. (Popcorn Park Animal Refuge/Facebook)
TRUCKLOAD OF ‘AGGRESSIVE’ RESEARCH MONKEYS ESCAPE AFTER TRUCK CRASH IN MISSISSIPPI; 1 STILL ON THE LOOSE
The Popcorn Park Animal Refuge in Forked River, New Jersey, announced Tuesday the final monkey, who has been named Forrest, was safely rescued.
“[Forrest’s] life changed forever after a frightening highway accident in Mississippi,” the refuge wrote in a Facebook post. “Of the 3 remaining escapees, Forrest was the last and only one to survive, safely recovered after about a week on the run. Because he had spent so much time outside of the facility, he could not return to the research program. That’s when our team stepped in to offer him lifelong sanctuary at Popcorn Park Animal Refuge.”
Officials said when Forrest arrived at the facility, he did not have a name, only a tattooed identification number, “NI 62.”
Forrest, the last missing monkey, will live at the New Jersey animal refuge. (Popcorn Park Animal Refuge)
ESCAPED MONKEY CAPTURED BY AUTHORITIES DAYS AFTER TRUCK CRASH FLIPS VEHICLE IN MISSISSIPPI
“Now living safely in our Monkey House, Forrest is steadily acclimating to his new home. He’s getting to know his caretakers and his neighboring monkeys, slowly building trust day by day,” the organization wrote. “He has discovered a growing list of favorite foods (grapes topping the list!) and has even begun vocalizing, a good sign that he is becoming more comfortable and confident in his new surroundings.”
Lisa Jones-Engel, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) senior science advisor on primate experimentation, told Fox News Digital Forrest’s survival is “a rare thread of mercy in a system built on violence.”
“Every federal agency and laboratory needs to confront a simple truth: No monkey should need a truck crash to escape a terrible fate,” Jones-Engel wrote in a statement. “After the crash, seven were shot dead and 13 were sent on to the same miserable lives and deaths that awaited them before the wreck. Only one survived long enough to be pulled out of the pipeline— a young macaque now called Forrest. His survival is a rare thread of mercy in a system built on violence. The way to prevent this horror in the future is to shut the industry down immediately.”
The research monkeys were aboard a truck that crashed Oct. 28 in Mississippi. (Jasper County Sheriff’s Department, Mississippi)
MISSISSIPPI MOM SAYS SHE SHOT AND KILLED AT-LARGE MONKEY TO PROTECT HER CHILDREN
Fox News Digital previously reported the monkeys came from the Tulane National Primate Research Center, which receives funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Tulane officials said they did not own the monkeys and were not responsible for their transport.
Following the incident, PETA and nonprofit organization White Coat Waste Project called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to halt NIH funding for the expensive and morally controversial primate testing.
The CDC later agreed to phase out all experiments on monkeys.
People in protective clothing search along a highway in Heidelberg, Miss., Oct. 29, near the site of an overturned truck that was carrying research monkeys. (AP Photo/Sophie Bates)
“Champagne corks are popping inside PETA’s headquarters today as it celebrates a tremendous victory for animals and for science,” PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo wrote in a statement to Fox News Digital after the announcement. “PETA thanks the administration for taking this decisive, long awaited action — one we’ve pressed for nonstop and that reflects what the undeniable evidence that experiments on monkeys aren’t helping humans one iota, as the four-decade failed effort to create a marketable HIV vaccine has shown.”
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Guillermo added that, for years, endangered and often infected long-tailed macaques have been funneled into U.S. laboratories.
“CDC’s own data shows monkeys arriving with tuberculosis, melioidosis and other pathogens, weak testing protocols and a supply chain riddled with escapes, disease lapses and regulatory failures,” she said. “PETA is calling on the administration to build on this breakthrough: Shut down the primate centers, end the monkey-import pipeline and move every federal agency toward state-of-the-art, human-relevant science.”
The CDC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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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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The Pittsburgh Pirates could use some bats, and the A’s are still looking to add some pitching this winter, so how likely is it that these clubs come together on a deal?
According to Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates are still on the lookout for some help on the left side of the infield. Over at Roster Resource, their starters at short and third as listed as Nick Gonzales (82 wRC+ in 2025) and Jared Triolo (86).
While the A’s are having a little showdown of their own at third base this spring, they have a number of players in the mix. Perhaps they could move one of them in a deal with Pittsburgh in order to land a relief pitcher with some upside.
The proposed deal that we have in mind is the A’s sending third baseman Brett Harris, who may be starting as the third option at the hot corner this spring. Harris has a tremendous glove at third, and statistically it appears to be at least on par with the glove what Triolo provided last season.
In just 183 2/3 innings with the A’s in 2025, Harris put up a +5 DRS, and +2 in both OAA and FRV. Triolo, in roughly 80 extra innings finished with a +7 DRS and +4 in both OAA and FRV. Both players are solid defensively.
Triolo has had more experience in the big leagues, which does account for something, but if you’re the Pirates, do you consider making a change and taking a chance on a similar defender with more upside in the bat? Their current option hit .227 with a .311 OBP and an 86 wRC+ last season in 376 plate appearances. Harris could put together a double-digit home run season at the very least.
Harris played in just 32 games (84 plate appearances) and hit .274 with a .349 OBP and a 96 wRC+. While he certainly looked like an improved player over his initial stint in the big leagues with the A’s in 2024, there was also some luck involved in his improvement—mainly his .377 BABIP. The risk for the Pirates would be taking the chance on that bat being for real.
In exchange, the proposed piece that the Pirates would send back in 30-year-old Yohan Ramírez. The right-hander ranks in the 94th percentile in extension on top of sitting at 96.4 miles per hour with his heater, which is quite appealing. He also held a 5.40 ERA (3.80 FIP) last season, so he’s far from a finished product, and given his age, he’s a flier himself.
This is the type of pitcher that the A’s have had success with in recent seasons—guys that can collect strikeouts but also tend to issue free passes. In 2025 with the Pirates, he struck out 29% of the batters he faced and walked 10.3%.
There are two interesting tidbits in his profile that could cause a little worry. The first is that he’s bounced around quite a bit in recent seasons, including spending time with the Dodgers, Mets, Orioles and Red Sox in 2024. Those are all teams that love to pull extra value from guys, and if they all gave up on him, then that’s not the greatest track record.
All of those teams seemed to view him as a guy that could provide a few innings when their bullpens were gassed, which led to him having short stints with each club, totaling a 6.20 ERA (4.26 FIP) across 45 innings.
The other interesting piece here is that when he has been with the Pirates, in both 2025 and back in 2022, his velocity has ticked up considerably. In 2022, he also spent time with the Mariners, and he was sitting 94.2. But with Pittsburgh, that went up to 96.5. In 2024, he topped out at 95.3 mph with the O’s and Mets.
This past season he was back to 96.2 mph. Is there something special for him about pitching in Pittsburgh? Do their radar guns run a little hot? Is this more of a time of year situation that gets hammered out over longer stints (like with the Pirates)? It’s unclear.
But if he’s truly a 96-mile-per-hour reliever that the A’s could add to their ‘pen, then this trade may be worth some heavy consideration.
Of course, Ramírez is out of options which would make this a little tricky, and Harris has roughly double the amount of team control, so the value may have to be squared away by adding another piece or two to the ledger. But these two players, Harris and Ramírez, could do a lot of good for the opposite clubs.
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