Northeast
PA Education Department agrees to cancel requirement for teachers to adopt guidelines deemed 'woke'
The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has agreed to cancel its requirement for schools to enforce teaching guidelines that were deemed “woke” in a recently settled lawsuit.
Pennsylvania officials were requiring schools to adopt a set of instructions on how to approach teaching under their “Culturally-Relevant and Sustaining Education Program Framework Guidelines” (CR-SE).
The guidelines included mandating teachers to “design learning experiences and spaces for learners to identify and question economic, political, and social power structures in the school” and “disrupt harmful institutional practices, policies, and norms.”
The Thomas More Society, a faith-based legal group, filed a lawsuit against the PDE in April 2023 on behalf of a group of parents and public school districts who argued the mandate violated their First Amendment rights.
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Pennsylvania state Capitol building in Harrisburg. (John Greim/Getty Images)
The PDE agreed to settle the suit in November and rescind its CR-SE guidelines.
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“We are incredibly pleased with this settlement agreement, which forces the Pennsylvania Department of Education to rescind the state’s ‘Culturally-Relevant and Sustaining Education’ guidelines – securing an important victory for Pennsylvania parents, students, and teachers,” Thomas Breth, special counsel for the Thomas More Society, said in a statement.
“Our agreement is a triumph against the Department’s blatantly ideological and illegal attempt to inject ‘woke’ activism into school curricula across Pennsylvania, which demanded educators affirm their belief in these ideological tenets and then impose the same upon their students,” Breth added.
Just days after the settlement, the department issued new suggestions under their new “Common Ground Framework,” though schools are no longer required to comply with the guidelines.
Pennsylvania was requiring schools to adopt a set of instructions on how to approach teaching under their “Culturally-Relevant and Sustaining Education Program Framework Guidelines” (CR-SE). (iStock)
Asked about the settlement, PDE highlighted their new guidelines in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.
“PDE is proud to offer this resource as an improvement on previously issued guidance, with an expanded focus on digital literacy, mental health, and trauma – real issues that impact those in all spaces of learning within every Pennsylvania community,” Erin James, PDE press secretary, said in a statement.
The new guidelines encourage educators to “understand the importance of differences in marginalized learners and historically underrepresented groups,” such as gender identity, according to the department’s website.
Additionally, teachers in the state are still encouraged to “create an equitable learning environment by challenging and debunking stereotypes and biases about the intelligence, academic ability, and behavior of historically marginalized learners.”
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Boston, MA
2 men arrested after armed home invasion with shots fired in Saugus, police say
Gunshots were fired in a daytime armed home invasion in Saugus, Massachusetts, on Sunday, police say, and the two suspects are in custody.
No one was hurt in the shooting on Oakwood Avenue about noon, Saugus police said. Two Boston men, Derek Matarazzo and Timothy Gregory, are facing felony charges including home invasion after their arrest shortly after the 911 calls came in.
The calls reported two men in masks, dressed in black, armed with guns, breaking into a house, police said. They didn’t share what led to the gunfire or how the men were tracked down, saying only that the department wasn’t speculating on their motivation.
Matarazzo and Gregory are believed to be the only people directly involved in the home invasion, police said, and it’s believed to be an isolated incident, so there’s no danger to the public.
Neighbors who spoke with NBC10 Boston say they are shaken up by what occurred, describing a shootout right outside their homes in the middle of the day.
Ring camera video from a nearby home shows the aftermath, as neighbors say you can see the homeowner running into the middle of the street with a phone pressed to his ear, desperately flagging down police — after the chaos.
A neighbor tells us his family first heard what sounded like a pop — something they thought could’ve been a lawn mower backfiring, until they realized it was gunfire. That neighbor says one of his daughters then saw a man carrying a safe — dropping it in their front yard — while shots were being fired.
“I saw somebody come out of the house shooting and then we all hit the deck, because you didn’t want a stray bullet to ricochet off something and come through the window or anything like that,” George Benn said.
“I saw the shots. I saw a man go down. I thought he was going to be dead but apparently he just flipped on that hill,” Tom Bushee said.
The investigation is ongoing.
Pittsburg, PA
Emotional 2026 Pittsburgh Marathon saw multiple new records set
This year’s Pittsburgh Marathon is one for the record books. More than 52,000 runners crossed the finish line, with more than 300,000 spectators cheering them on.
“We’re welcoming people from around the world,” P3R CEO Troy Schooley said. “This event has turned into an international event for our city. We’re going to show it off today. The runners will run through 14 neighborhoods. We have 33 different countries represented today and all 50 states.”
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Mohammed El Youssfi claimed the men’s division of the Pittsburgh Half Marathon, crossing the finish line and immediately wrapping himself in the Moroccan flag.
“This is my first time in Pittsburgh, but the special moment for me today is the people here cheering me on,” El Youssfi said. “That helped me to win the race.”
Emotions ran high for Pittsburgh’s very own Will Loevner. The Winchester Thurston graduate has run the Pittsburgh Marathon multiple times, finishing as the runner-up in 2024 and fifth in 2025. But in 2026, he took home top honors, crossing the finish line first at 2:14.
“I’ve now won the Philadelphia marathon, the Cleveland marathon twice,” Loevner said. “To win Pittsburgh, I feel like it was the trifecta and the most special one for me. I mean, being in the hometown, nothing even compares.”
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Buze Diriba Kejela is 2026’s women’s Pittsburgh Half Marathon champion, setting a course record for women and crossing the finish line at 1:08:39.
“I’m happy to set the course record. I like it,” she said.
Before the runners crossed the start line, the handcyclists got a head start. Marshall Tempest of Monroeville came out on top in the Pittsburgh Marathon Handcycle Division, finishing at 1:40:16.
“I’ve done 13 Pittsburgh marathons, and this is my 5th time winning it, in a row,” he said. “It feels good. It was a rough one, but I was determined to get that 5th one.”
“I love running,” said Will Henry Lawrence, who ran the half-marathon. “I love being able to have breath in my lungs and let my feet hit the pavement. I had a stroke six years ago, and so I give all glory to God for being able to get out and exercise.”
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Tickets for the 2027 Pittsburgh Marathon are on sale for 48 hours, starting at 3 p.m. on May 3, 2026. You can register at thepittsburghmarathon.com
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Connecticut
Scammers use AI images of injured pets to target owners, Blumenthal warns Connecticut residents
In a new and rapidly expanding scam, swindlers are using images generated by artificial intelligence to tap the wallets of desperate and heartbroken owners of lost pets.
In a press conference on Friday, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn, warned state residents about a fraud that is becoming “more and more rampant.”
Scammers manipulate photos of lost pets posted by owners on social media to make it appear the animal has been hurt, according to media reports from around the nation.
In Florida and Texas, for example, scammers have told owners of missing dogs that their pets were hit by cars, with an accompanying image of a dog that looks like theirs on a veterinarian’s operating table, WESH 2, a Hearst TV station affiliate in Florida, reported recently. The scammer then demands payment for the surgery.
An urgent demand for money is a red flag, Blumenthal said, along with the claim that a lost pet has been hurt and images of an injured pet. The Federal Trade Commission, as the nation’s consumer protection agency, should issue a formal warning about the scam, the senator said.
Numerous reports of lost pet scams have surfaced recently, Popular Science reported in March, describing a few common scenarios, including the one in which the owner is sent an image of what appears to be their injured pet at a veterinary hospital and another, in which the owner is sent images of what appears to be their pet at a shelter, about to be euthanized. But, the article states, these images are false.
Other types of lost pet scams involve an offer of fake pet-finding services, according to the Better Business Bureau.
“You may receive a message from someone on social media about drone technology and search parties that can help you find your pet,” the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization reported. “The person will ask you for payment up front and will likely ask you to send it through a peer-to-peer payment app. Before paying for services, always search for the business on BBB.org or check BBB Scam Tracker.”
All types of cyber-scams have been proliferating in the nation, according to the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report. Since the agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center was launched about 25 years ago, complaints have surged, the FBI reported, with a current average of about 3,000 complaints each day.
In 2025, losses reported to the center continued to climb, surpassing $20 billion, the FBI reported. Investment-related fraud once again made up the largest part of the losses, followed by business email compromises and tech support scams, the agency reported.
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