Northeast
McCormick-Casey recount cost to top $1M; GOP slams blue counties defying high court
The cost of Pennsylvania’s Senate recount is expected to top $1 million as Republicans seek to prevent three Democratic-friendly counties from counting ballots against the apparent wishes of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt, a Philadelphia Republican appointed by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, said Thursday that automatic recounts are triggered if the unofficial margin is within 0.5%.
GOP Sen.-elect David McCormick and Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr. were separated by 0.43% with a maximum 80,000 provisional and mail-in ballots to be counted, Schmidt said in a video address.
In a press call, McCormick representatives analyzed raw data and calculated “zero” path for Casey — recount or not — to overtake their boss.
FETTERMAN DEFENDS CASEY-MCCORMICK RECOUNT; DINGS KARI LAKE
Schmidt said the last automatic recount, between McCormick and cardiothoracic surgeon Mehmet Oz, cost Pennsylvania taxpayers $1.053 million and resulted in Oz moving on to the general election against John Fetterman.
In Casey’s case, about 7 million ballots will be subject to recount, and counties must report their data to Schmidt by Nov. 27.
The trailing candidate in three of the state’s previous eight automatic recounts waived the opportunity.
Pennsylvania’s top legislative Republican also slammed the incumbent for declining to waive the costly recount.
HOCHUL SPURS BIPARTISAN OUTRAGE AMID TOLL REBOOT BEFORE TRUMP CAN BLOCK IT
“Throughout his entire career, Sen. Casey has publicly called for the enforcement of the rule of law and the upholding of judicial norms,” said House Minority Leader Bryan Cutler of Lancaster.
“The facts and the law are clear: The election was free and fair; Dave McCormick is our new U.S. senator; a costly, statewide recount is unnecessary and duplicative; and Democrat-controlled counties are now openly defying the courts and the plain language of the election law to try and overturn a legal election result.”
Cutler said Casey should “immediately” concede and halt the recount and multiple cases of litigation across the state relating to the race.
McCormick’s campaign call foreshadowed news from Bucks, Centre and Philadelphia counties that their boards of election were prepared to count small numbers of undated or misdated ballots.
Bob Casey and Dave McCormick (Getty Images)
Republicans said that runs counter to a recent ruling from the 5-2 Democratic majority Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The high bench declined to rule on the September case’s merits in tossing a lower court ruling that Philadelphia and Allegheny counties should count misdated or undated ballots from a prior election.
The RNC filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court, urging it to reaffirm its recent decision.
While the Casey campaign did not immediately return a request for comment, campaign manager Tiernan Donohue told PennLive the campaign was working to ensure all “Pennsylvanians’ voices are heard.”
“McCormick and his allies are working to disenfranchise voters in Pennsylvania and spread misinformation,” Donohue said.
Fox News Digital reached out to officials in Bellefonte, where the Centre County elections board reportedly signaled its intent to count undated ballots.
McCormick and the Pennsylvania GOP have sued Centre County, and a hearing was scheduled for Friday in Bellefonte. The plaintiffs alleged Centre’s decision is “legally erroneous.”
The mostly rural county, home to Penn State University, had been ground zero for Republicans seeking to make inroads in Democratic-friendly areas.
Philadelphia Commissioner Al Schmidt testifies at a House Jan. 6 hearing. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty)
Philadelphia’s city commissioners also voted 2-1 to count about 607 questioned ballots.
In a response to Fox News Digital, the board said several counties voted to count a “relatively small number of undated and incorrectly dated mail ballots” and acknowledged GOP litigation.
“We are reviewing the filings,” Board Chairman Omar Sabir and Lisa Deeley, both Democrats, and Republican Seth Bluestein said in a joint statement.
In Doylestown, Bucks County Board of Elections Chairman Bob J. Harvie Jr. told KYW he’d rather “be on the side of counting ballots than not counting them.”
“The courts, I believe, will take this up. So, we’re going to get sued either way,” he said.
Read the full article from Here
Northeast
Brown University shooter confessed in videos to planning attack for long time, showed no remorse: DOJ
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
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.
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.
BILLIONAIRE TRUSTEES STAY SILENT AS BROWN UNIVERSITY FACES MOUNTING CAMPUS MURDER FALLOUT
READ THE TRANSCRIPTS – APP USERS, CLICK HERE
“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.”
“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.
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
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.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
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.
Read the full article from Here
Boston, MA
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.
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.
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 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.
Pittsburg, PA
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.
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.
-
World1 week agoHamas builds new terror regime in Gaza, recruiting teens amid problematic election
-
News1 week agoFor those who help the poor, 2025 goes down as a year of chaos
-
Science1 week agoWe Asked for Environmental Fixes in Your State. You Sent In Thousands.
-
Business1 week agoA tale of two Ralphs — Lauren and the supermarket — shows the reality of a K-shaped economy
-
Politics1 week agoCommentary: America tried something new in 2025. It’s not going well
-
Detroit, MI4 days ago2 hospitalized after shooting on Lodge Freeway in Detroit
-
Politics1 week agoMarjorie Taylor Greene criticizes Trump’s meetings with Zelenskyy, Netanyahu: ‘Can we just do America?’
-
Health1 week agoRecord-breaking flu numbers reported in New York state, sparking warnings from officials