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NY Dem Sens. Schumer, Gillibrand avoid Columbia campus as 'Squad' descends to back agitators

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NY Dem Sens. Schumer, Gillibrand avoid Columbia campus as 'Squad' descends to back agitators

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., have avoided visiting Columbia University as anti-Israel and antisemitic demonstrations descend into chaos on the campus. 

A pro-Palestinian occupation first developed on the Ivy League campus earlier this month and soon evolved into an encampment, taking over a portion of the outdoor space at the school. 

It has persisted since then, being spurred on by the support of high-profile Democratic legislators from New York. Both Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., were seen visiting members of the encampment as it continued to gain national media attention and attract significant backlash.

A spokesperson for Schumer did not respond to multiple inquiries but referred Fox News Digital to the majority leader’s Tuesday remarks on the Senate floor, in which he addressed the protests.

HOUSE DEMOCRATS TELL COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ADMIN, ‘TIME FOR NEGOTIATION IS OVER’

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Prominent Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, have avoided visiting Columbia University amid ongoing and escalating anti-semitic demonstrations. (Getty Images)

“Smashing windows with hammers and taking over university buildings is not free speech — it is lawlessness, and those who did it should promptly face the consequences that are not merely a slap on the wrist,” Schumer said, referencing the demonstrators’ recent takeover of a building on Columbia’s campus. 

The New York Democrat’s office would not say whether he would follow the lead of House GOP leadership and visit the school, which happens to be in his home state. 

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., last week led several Republicans on a visit to the university amid the demonstration, remarking at the time, “We have to bring order to these campuses. We cannot allow this to happen around the country. We are better than this.”

On Tuesday, Johnson revealed he called on President Biden to make his own visit to the school as protests escalate. 

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Gillibrand, Schumer’s New York counterpart who has been outspoken in her support for Israel, also did not respond to Fox News Digital’s inquiry regarding any planned visits to Columbia or whether she supported “Squad Democrats” cheering on the protesters. 

“I am appalled at the virulent antisemitism being displayed on Columbia University’s campus,” Gillibrand said in a statement last week. “Threats of violence against Jewish students and the Jewish community are horrible, despicable and wholly unacceptable. Using the rhetoric of terrorists has no place in New York, where we pride ourselves on tolerance and the right of every group to practice their religion in peace.”

Rep. Jared Moskowitz said Jewish students are not being protected at Columbia University and compared anti-Israel protesters to ‘White Aryan’ protesters at Charlottesville. (Getty Images)

House Democrats, including several representing New York, have also made their concerns about the protests known. In a letter signed by 21 lawmakers and led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., the Democrats urged the university’s Board of Trustees to dismantle “the unauthorized and impermissible encampment of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish activists on campus,” telling them “time for negotiation is over.” 

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Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer were among those to denounce antisemitism on Columbia’s campus, joining their Republican colleagues.  (Getty Images)

Another New York Democrat, Rep. Ritchie Torres, a signatory of the letter, hasn’t visited the campus since the encampment began, but told Fox News Digital, “I have gone to Columbia University on several occasions — whether it is meeting with Jewish Students at Columbia Law School or joining students for Shabbat at the Columbia Chabad. I will continue to do so in the future.”

Rep. Thomas Suozzi, D-N.Y., who recently took over the seat of expelled former Rep. George Santos, was also a signatory of the letter. He shared a series of posts to X last week, detailing his visit to Columbia during the protests.

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“Yesterday I went to Columbia University to show my support for the Jewish students who have faced harassment, intimidation and vicious antisemitic attacks on campus,” he said in one post. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., denounced the visit of “a Member of Congress” to the encampment, “who accused some Jewish students of being, ‘pro-genocide.’” He was referencing Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who said on video last week, “I think it is really unfortunate that people don’t care about the fact that all Jewish kids should be kept safe, and that we should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry for all Jewish students, whether they’re pro-genocide or anti-genocide.”



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New Hampshire

5-year-old injured in New Year’s day Manchester, New Hampshire apartment building fire dies

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5-year-old injured in New Year’s day Manchester, New Hampshire apartment building fire dies



The child who was injured during a New Year’s Day apartment building fire in Manchester, New Hampshire has died, the New Hampshire State Fire Marshal announced on Saturday.

The 5-year-old girl had been found unresponsive in a fourth-floor bedroom by firefighters. She was rushed to a Boston hospital in critical condition and passed on Wednesday. The Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has performed an autopsy to determine her cause of death.

The fire began just 30 minutes after midnight on Union Street. The flames raged on the third and fourth floors before spreading to the roof. One man was killed in the fire. He was identified as 70-year-old Thomas J. Casey, and his cause of death was determined to be smoke inhalation, according to the medical examiner.

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One woman was rushed to a Boston hospital in critical condition. Five other people received serious injuries and were hospitalized. All the victims have since been discharged, according to the fire marshal. 

Residents could be seen waiting in windows and on balconies for firefighters to rescue them. 

“I kicked into high gear. I got my family rallied up. My son, my daughter, my wife. And I tried to find a way to get down safely off of one of the railings by trying to slide down one of the poles. But that didn’t work out,” said resident Jonathan Barrett. 

Fire investigators believe the fire is not suspicious and started in a third-floor bedroom. The building did not have a sprinkler system but did have an operational fire alarm, the fire marshal said. 

Around 10 families were displaced by the fire and are receiving help from the Red Cross. Around 50 people lived in the building.  

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New Jersey

Isolated snow showers, wind gusts up to 35 mph in N.J. forecast for Sunday

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Isolated snow showers, wind gusts up to 35 mph in N.J. forecast for Sunday


Rain will continue through tonight across New Jersey before a cold front passes through Sunday morning, followed by wind gusts up to 35 mph and the chance of isolated snow showers.

The heaviest rain tonight is expected along the southern portions of the state where 1 and 1.5 inches rainfall totals are possible, according to the National Weather Service.

Most other areas of New Jersey should receive around 1 inch of rain, with the northwest portions of the state picking up 0.5 to 0.75 inches.

Heavy rain is expected to soak New Jersey through most of Saturday with rainfall totals up to 1.5 inches expected in the southern half of the state.National Weather Service

Once the rain ends between 6 and 9 a.m. Sunday, conditions should remain cloudy and foggy until a cold front passes through late Sunday morning into early Sunday afternoon.

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Temperatures will drop into the upper 30s to low 40s Sunday morning as cold air moves in behind the first cold front.

A secondary cold front will cross New Jersey late Sunday afternoon accompanied by a period of rain and snow showers.

The isolated snow showers are possible mainly from 7 to 11 p.m., the weather service said. Snow accumulations are not expected in New Jersey.

Winds of 15 to 20 mph on Sunday afternoon are expected to increase to 25 to 35 mph by sunset.

Monday’s forecast calls for mainly clear skies with temperatures in the upper 30s to low 40s and winds gradually diminishing.

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Tuesday will be milder with above-normal temperatures and mainly clear to partly cloudy skies, with a slight chance of some rain showers possible.

Wednesday’s temperatures will remain above normal with partly cloudy skies and a slight chance of rain showers as a cold front approaches from the west.

N.J. weather: Snow from costal winter storm possible next week
Forecasters are tracking the potential for a coastal storm that could bring snow to New Jersey late next week, or veer out to sea.AccuWeather.com

A potential coastal storm could impact New Jersey with snow on Thursday and Friday, though significant uncertainty remains regarding the exact track and timing of the system, the weather service said.

Some forecast models suggest a significant winter storm while others indicate the system will remain offshore.

N.J. weather: Snow from costal winter storm possible next week
Forecasters are tracking the potential for a coastal storm that could bring snow to New Jersey late next week, or veer out to sea.AccuWeather.com

A colder air mass is forecast to move into New Jersey by late next week and into the following weekend.

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Pennsylvania

100 skulls and mummified body parts found in a Pennsylvania grave robbery case, police say | CNN

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100 skulls and mummified body parts found in a Pennsylvania grave robbery case, police say | CNN




AP
 — 

Bones and skulls visible in the back seat of a car near an abandoned cemetery on Philadelphia’s outskirts led police to a basement filled with body parts, which authorities say were hoarded by a man now accused of stealing about 100 sets of human remains.

Officers say a Tuesday night arrest culminated a monthslong investigation into break-ins at Mount Moriah Cemetery, where at least 26 mausoleums and vaults had been forced open since early November.

Investigators later searched the Ephrata home and storage unit of Jonathan Christ Gerlach, 34, and reported finding more than 100 human skulls, long bones, mummified hands and feet, two decomposing torsos and other skeletal items.

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“They were in various states. Some of them were hanging, as it were. Some of them were pieced together, some were just skulls on a shelf,” Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said.

Most were in the basement, authorities said, and they also recovered jewelry believed to be linked to the graves. In one case, a pacemaker was still attached.

Police say Gerlach targeted mausoleums and underground vaults at the 1855 cemetery. It’s considered the country’s largest abandoned burial ground, according to Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery, which helps maintain the 160-acre landmark in Yeadon that’s home to an estimated 150,000 grave sites.

Police had been looking into the string of burglaries when an investigator checked Gerlach’s vehicle plates and found he had been near Yeadon repeatedly during the period when the burglaries occurred. Police say the break-ins centered on sealed vaults and mausoleums containing older burials, which had been smashed open or had stonework damaged to reach the remains inside.

He was arrested as he walked back toward his car with a crowbar, police said, and a burlap bag in which officers found the mummified remains of two small children, three skulls and other bones.

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Gerlach told investigators he took about 30 sets of human remains and showed them the graves he stole from, police said.

“Given the enormity of what we are looking at and the sheer, utter lack of reasonable explanation, it’s difficult to say right now, at this juncture, exactly what took place. We’re trying to figure it out,” Rouse told reporters.

Gerlach was charged with 100 counts each of abuse of a corpse and receiving stolen property, along with multiple counts of desecrating a public monument, desecrating a venerated object, desecrating a historic burial place, burglary, trespassing and theft.

He is jailed on $1 million bond. No lawyer was listed in court records. A message seeking comment was texted to a cellphone linked to him.

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