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New York State Sen. Dan Stec, a Republican and Navy veteran, is running for Congress.
Stec has tossed his hat in the ring to succeed Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who will vacate her seat in the House of Representatives to become the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. A special election for New York’s 21st Congressional District will take place once Stefanik officially leaves Congress.
“At the end of the day, it’s about representing the district, and for the last 12 years in Albany, I know what it means to represent the district and if I can do that in Albany I am certain I can do that in Washington,” Stec told WWNY in an interview on Dec. 24.
BLUE STATE CEO WHO PUT UP 100-FOOT PRO-TRUMP SIGN TO SPEND $2.6 MILLION ON CAMPAIGN FOR CONGRESS
New York State Sen. Dan Stec, a Republican from North Country, is running for Congress in New York’s 21st Congressional District. (Dan Stec via Facebook)
The North Country native, whose state senate district lies within Stefanik’s congressional district, argued he is the best candidate to win the seat for Republicans because he has the highest name recognition there.
“My argument is that I am the most electable. If we are concerned about holding this seat and the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, you want to put your most likely-to-win candidate forward and no one can compare the numbers like I do with how much of the district I already represent,” Stec told the outlet.
PRO-TRUMP TECH CEO MULLING CONGRESSIONAL RUN TO FILL STEFANIK’S SEAT IDENTIFIES NEW YORK’S ‘BIGGEST PROBLEM’
Representative Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York, during a House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023. President-elect Trump tapped Stefanik to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. (Haiyun Jiang/Bloomberg)
He pointed to his record in the New York legislature and the 104,000 votes he won in the previous election for state senate, which is nearly half of the total Stefanik won in her bid for re-election, in support of his argument that he’s best positioned to defeat the Democratic candidate in the special election.
“I am proud of my track record, my resume, and my principles. I don’t have any votes that I am embarrassed that I would have to explain like maybe someone from the other side of the aisle I have worked with would have to explain,” Stec said.
WHO COULD RUN TO REPLACE STEFANIK IN THE HOUSE?
Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino is also running for the GOP nomination to succeed Stefanik. (Paul Antonelli)
Stefanik won a sixth term to represent the district which encompasses North County, New York, but President-elect Donald Trump chose her in November to fill the U.N. ambassadorship in his new cabinet.
In the campaign to be the Republican nominee to succeed Stefanik, Stec joins Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino, a political outsider whose claim to fame is a 100 ft. “Vote for Trump” sign he installed in upstate New York. Constantino is self-funding his campaign and has pledged $2.6 million to the effort.
Other Republicans mentioned as possible candidates include state Assemblymen Robert Smullen and Christopher Tague; and Rensselaer County Executive Steven McLaughlin, according to WWNY. Possible Democratic candidates include Assemblyman Billy Jones, whose state district falls just east of St. Lawrence County, as well as past unsuccessful challengers to Stefanik such as Matt Castelli and Paula Collins.
There will not be a traditional Republican primary for the special election. Instead, both the GOP and Democratic nominees will be chosen by party chairs in the district.
Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
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The 2025-2026 Vermont high school winter season has begun. See below for scores, schedules and game details (statistical leaders, game notes) from basketball, hockey, gymnastics, wrestling, Nordic/Alpine skiing and other winter sports.
Coaches or team representatives are asked to report results ASAP after games by emailing sports@burlingtonfreepress.com. Please submit with a name/contact number.
▶ Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.
▶ Contact Judith Altneu at JAltneu@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @Judith_Altneu.
Games at 12:30 p.m. unless noted
Missisquoi 50, Winooski 49
M: Kelsey Paradee 14 points. Aurora King 13 points.
W: Taraji Bradley 18 points. Moo July Htoo 14 points.
Note: King hit the game winner at the buzzer to give the Thunderbirds the win.
Enosburg at Colchester
Mount Abraham at Middlebury
Danville at Williamstown, 4 p.m.
Games at 2:30 p.m. unless noted
Hazen 65, Vergennes 60
H: Jameson Lamarre 22 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists. Sullivan Laflam 17 points. Ethan Gann 10 points, 6 rebounds.
V: Theo Elzinga 15 points, 12 rebounds. Cohen Howell 15 points. Ryan Wright 11 points.
Lake Region at Missisquoi, 1:00 p.m.
BFA-Fairfax at Danville
Stowe at Richford
Oxbow at Blue Mountain
Northfield at Williamstown, 7 p.m.
Watch Vermont high school games on NFHS Network
Burlington/Colchester at Chittenden Charge, 2:20 p.m.
Brattleboro at U-32, 2:30 p.m.
BFA-St. Albans at Essex, 3 p.m.
Burr and Burton at Stowe, 4:15 p.m.
Hartford at Rutland, 4:30 p.m.
Kingdom Blades at Rice, 4:35 p.m.
Harwood at Woodstock, 5:15 p.m.
Spaulding at Missisquoi, 5:30 p.m.
BFA-St. Albans at Essex, 5 p.m.
Rice at Champlain Valley, 6:50 p.m.
Mount Mansfield at Burr and Burton, 5 p.m.
U-32 at Colchester, 4:50 p.m.
Stowe at Brattleboro, 4:45 p.m.
Middlebury at Saranac, NY
Milton at Missisquoi, 8 p.m.
Burlington at Hartford, 2 p.m.
St. Johnsbury at Woodstock, 7:15 p.m.
Games at 7 p.m. unless noted
Spaulding at Lyndon, 6:30 p.m.
BFA-Fairfax at Twinfield/Cabot
Milton at Enosburg
Winooski at Danville
Games at 7 p.m. unless noted
BFA-St. Albans at Burlington
Thetford at Peoples
St. Johnsbury at Champlain Valley
Montpelier at Harwood
Essex at South Burlington
Rice at Mount Mansfield
(Subject to change)
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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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