The Department of War on Sunday transported a next-generation nuclear reactor aboard a C-17 from California to Utah, advancing President Donald Trump’s executive order to modernize America’s nuclear energy infrastructure and strengthen U.S. national security.

The reactor was flown from March Air Reserve Base in California to Hill Air Force Base in Utah and is expected to be transported to the Utah San Rafael Energy Lab in Orangeville for testing and evaluation – a key step in assessing how advanced nuclear systems could support military installations and remote defense operations.

The Department of War shared images on X showing the reactor loaded onto the C-17 aircraft.

“We’re advancing President Trump’s executive order on nuclear energy,” the post read. “Moments from now, we will airlift a next-generation nuclear reactor.”

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The Department of War said the successful delivery and installation of the reactor will open new possibilities for energy resilience and strategic independence for the nation’s defense, highlighting what officials described as an agile, innovative and commercial-first approach to addressing critical infrastructure challenges.

“By harnessing the power of advanced nuclear technology, we are not only enhancing our national security but championing a future of American energy dominance,” the agency said in a press release. “This event is a testament to the ingenuity of the American spirit and a critical advancement in securing our nation’s freedom and strength for generations to come.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of War for additional comment.

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In May, President Donald Trump signed several executive orders aimed at expanding domestic nuclear energy development. At the time, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said America led the postwar world on “all things nuclear” until it “stagnated” and was “choked with overregulation.”

War Secretary Pete Hegseth added that the U.S. was “going to have the lights on and AI operating when others are not because of our nuclear capabilities.”

One of Trump’s nuclear directives called for reforming Energy Department research and development, accelerating reactor testing at national laboratories and establishing a pilot program for new construction.

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Nuclear energy, the White House said in the order, “is necessary to power the next generation technologies that secure our global industrial, digital, and economic dominance, achieve energy independence, and protect our national security.”

The nuclear expansion effort is part of a broader administration push to reinforce domestic energy production and grid reliability across multiple sectors.

Days later, Trump signed another executive order directing the Department of War to work directly with coal-fired power plants on new long-term power purchasing agreements, arguing the move would ensure “more reliable power and stronger and more resilient grid power.”

The order, “Strengthening United States National Defense with America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Power Generation Fleet,” states, “The United States must ensure that our electric grid … remains resilient and reliable, and not reliant on intermittent energy sources,” calling the grid “the foundation of our national defense as well as our economic stability.”

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“It is the policy of the United States that coal is essential to our national and economic security,” the order adds.

Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr and Charles Creitz contributed to this report.

CAREFREE, Ariz. — Elizabeth H. paused recently outside the post office in this small, high-desert community, not far from where Easy Street meets Nonchalant Avenue.

She felt neither easy nor nonchalant.

“I think the climate imposed by the Trump administration is really sad and scary,” said Elizabeth, who asked to withhold her last name to avoid being attacked for the views she expressed.

“I don’t like the way that ICE is being used to bully citizens and even just people who are brown,” she continued. “And I don’t like that governors of blue states are being shut out while governors of red states are being welcomed. I just don’t think he treats us like we’re all Americans.”

For his part, Anthony D. finds little not to like about President Trump. He, too, asked not to use his last name, as did several others who agreed to talk politics.

“We finally don’t have a— in office that are destroying our country and worrying about everybody else in the world,” said Anthony, 66, a plumbing contractor and proudly blunt-spoken New York native. (Just like Trump, he pointed out.) “I mean, his tariffs are working. The negotiations are working. I just see a lot of positive coming out of that office.”

Even so, there’s something that bothers him: The way so many fellow citizens view the president and his America First agenda.

“Most people don’t like what he says, but look what he’s doing,” Anthony said as the late-morning crowd trickled into an upscale North Scottsdale shopping center. “You can hate the person, but don’t hate the message. He’s trying to do the right thing.”

Here in central Arizona, a prime battleground in November’s midterm election, there is precious little agreement about Trump, his policies and motivations.

Supporters see the president turning things around after four disastrous years of Joe Biden. Critics see him turning the country into a place they barely recognize.

There is puzzlement on both sides.

Over what others believe. Over how others can possibly believe what they believe, see the things they see and perceive Trump the way they perceive him.

And although some are eager for the midterm elections as a way to corral the president — “I don’t think they should only impeach, I think they should imprison,” Brent Bond, a 59-year-old Scottsdale artist, said of his hopes for a Democratic Congress — others fear an end to Trump’s nearly unfettered reign.

Or that nothing will change, regardless of what happens at the polls in November.

“The fact is, Trump is going to keep Trumping until he’s done,” said Elizabeth H., who’s semiretired at age 55 after a career in financial services. “My only relief is that he’s an old, old man and he’s not going to be here forever.”

Arizona’s 1st Congressional District climbs from northeastern Phoenix to the mountainous heart of the Sonoran Desert. It takes in the affluent enclaves of Scottsdale and Paradise Valley and — where the urban sprawl finally yields to cactus, palo verde and other flora — Carefree and the Old West-themed Cave Creek.

It is the whitest, wealthiest and best-educated of Arizona’s nine congressional districts, home to numerous upscale resorts, major medical campuses and a large population of retirees comfortably settled in one of many gated communities.

Affordability, as in struggling just to get by, is not a pressing issue here.

In 2020, Biden carried the district 50% to 49%. Four years later, Trump beat Kamala Harris 51% to 48%.

(The Down Ballot, which crunches election data, rated Arizona’s 1st District the median of 435 congressional districts nationwide, meaning in 2024 half were redder on the presidential level and half were bluer.)

For more than a decade, the area has been represented by Republican Dave Schweikert, a local political fixture since the 1990s.

He’s had to fight hard for reelection in recent years as the district, like the whole of Arizona, has grown more competitive. Rather than run again, Schweikert announced he would give up his seat to try for governor. The result is a free-for-all and one of the relatively few toss-up House races anywhere in the country.

A passel of candidates is running and the result will help determine whether Democrats, who need to flip three seats, will seize control of the House in November.

Despite those high stakes, however, the race doesn’t seem to have generated much voter interest, at least not yet. In dozens of interviews across the district, it was the relentless Trump who drew the most attention, admiration and exasperation.

Moe Modjeski, a supporter, allowed as how the president “is no altar boy.”

Even so, “I’ll take his policies over someone that might be nice and polite,” said the 69-year-old Scottsdale resident, a financial advisor who cited the sky-scraping stock market as one example of Trump’s success. “I mean, gas is about half the price it was a year or two ago.”

But for Liz R., who’s “never been a sky-is-falling type,” it certainly feels that way. The 75-year-old cited “everything from tariffs to ICE to destroying the healthcare system and controls for pollution.”

“I lived through the ‘60s and 70s and can’t remember a time when I feared so much for the future of our country,” said Liz, a retired medical technologist.

She’ll vote for a Democrat in November — to put a check on Trump, not because the Carefree resident has great faith in the party or its direction.

“I wish the Dems would get it together and maybe we could get more of a centrist that could unite and not get hung up on some of these social issues,” she said. “There’s a lot of economic issues, bread-and-butter issues, and I think that’s why the Republicans won [in 2024], because of the problems with immigration and inflation.”

As a border state, Arizona has long been at the forefront of the political fight over immigration. It was here lawmakers passed — and opponents spent years battling — legislation that effectively turned police into immigration officers, requiring them to demand the papers of anyone suspected of being in the country illegally

Thomas Campbell, with Keegan and Guinness, blamed blue-state politicians for any overreach by ICE agents.

(Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times)

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Now that aggressive approach has become national policy, which is fine by Thomas Campbell, a retired architect and staunch Trump backer. He blamed any enforcement overreach on blue-state lawmakers.

“For some reason, the Democrats have decided they want to side with the criminals, so they don’t allow their police departments to cooperate,” said Campbell, 72, who stopped outside Paradise Valley’s town hall while running errands with his Irish setters, Guinness and Keegan. “If that wasn’t the case, there wouldn’t be any” controversy over ICE’s tactics.

Martha Cornelison agreed the border with Mexico needed to be secured and that serious lawbreakers should be deported.

But why, she wondered, are immigration agents scooping up honest taxpayers, parents with children born in the U.S. and others keeping on the straight and narrow?

“I think they’re going after the wrong people,” said the 76-year-old Scottsdale retiree as a friend, Lily, nodded in agreement. The two were sharing a bench in Scottsdale’s pueblo-inspired civic plaza, a nearby fountain burbling in the 80-degree sunshine.

“I think we need to look at our county jails, look at our city jails,” said Cornelison, who made her living selling large appliances. “How many illegal immigrants are, say, in Florence, which is our state prison? Send them back. Don’t go after Mr. Gonzalez who’s doing my lawn. Empty out our prisons.”

Back at the North Scottsdale shopping center, Denise F. was walking Chase, her Shih Tzu, past a parking lot brimming with Teslas, Mercedes and Cadillac SUVs.

The 73-year-old voted for Trump because she couldn’t abide Harris. But she’s disgusted with the president.

“I don’t like the division in the country. I think Trump thinks he’s a king,” said Denise, a retired banker. “He’s poking the bear with Venezuela and Greenland, Iran” — she poked the air as she named each country — “to see who he can engage in a possible war, which is not the way I think the United States should be.”

As Denise was finishing up, Anthony D., her friend and neighbor, strolled up and joined the conversation, offering his laudatory view of the president. “Trump’s a businessman and he’s running the country like a business,” Anthony said, as Denise looked on impassively.

“How did I do?” he asked after saying his piece.

“Great,” Denise replied amiably and the two walked off together, Chase between them.

FIRST ON FOX: A Chicago area teacher who was forced to resign from his position over his Facebook post saying “Go ICE” is speaking out about the emotional and financial toll he has suffered as a result.

“This process has been professionally and personally devastating and surreal,” former West Chicago teacher James Heidorn told Fox News Digital in his first public comments about the situation. 

“I’ve spent 14 years building my career, pouring my heart into teaching kids, building relationships, and being a positive role model. To see it all upended over two simple words, ‘Go ICE’, where I expressed my personal support for law enforcement felt like a severe blow to my career.”

In late January, Fox News Digital first reported that the longtime teacher at Gary Elementary school in a heavily Hispanic district was placed on leave after local activists in the community began sharing his Facebook post that said “GO ICE” in response to a news story about a local police department saying they would cooperate with ICE. 

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On Thursday, Jan. 22, Heidorn was first notified by school officials that they had seen the growing social media chatter about his post. He briefly quit after meeting with HR staff before rescinding his resignation the same day. Heidorn was set to return to school to teach on Monday while the school investigated.

Around the same time, Illinois Democratic state Senator Karina Villa, who was captured on video in September chasing down ICE agents in the street, publicly expressed outrage over the post and said she stands in “unwavering solidarity” with families upset about the “disturbing comments reportedly made by an educator.”

On that Saturday, before an investigation had been concluded, West Chicago Mayor Daniel Bovey took to Facebook and posted a video explaining why Heidorn’s comments were “hurtful” and “offensive” to many in the community.

“The issue is we have trusted adults who are the ones that care for those kids when they can’t be with their mom and their dad,” Bovey said. “So to have someone cavalierly rooting on — as if it’s a football game or something, yeah go — events which have traumatized these children … that is the issue.”

Over the weekend, parents online were encouraging each other to keep their students home from school as a form of protest, and many in the community began criticizing Heidorn. 

The city of West Chicago held a “listening session” on Jan. 26 at the request of Bovey, that included a Spanish translator, where a variety of parents and locals expressed concerns about the post, including a woman who said “kids do not feel safe” as a result of the post and another woman who said the post was “cruel.”

“This started with a two-word comment on my personal Facebook page supporting law enforcement—nothing more,” Heidorn said. “It wasn’t directed at any student, family, or school community. Second, I was placed on leave and faced intense pressure before any full investigation or fair process could play out, with this it led to my resignation.” 

“Third, I lost my career, my income, and the chance to close out my time with my students properly—no farewell, no goodbyes.”

Ultimately, Heidorn resigned a second time rather than be terminated after a hearing with school officials.

In a statement to Fox News Digital at the time that Heidorn was on leave in January, a West Chicago Elementary School District 33 spokesperson referred to the social media post as “disruptive” and said “we understand that this situation has raised concerns and caused disruption for students, families, and staff.”

Teachers all across the United States have taken to the streets in recent weeks, causing disruptions in favor of far-left causes, including in Chicago where teachers stormed a local target harassing employees, to protest President Trump’s immigration policies without facing pushback or repercussions from local school districts. 

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“Most importantly, this is bigger than me: it’s about whether personal opinions expressed outside of work can cost someone their livelihood without due process,” Heidorn said. “I hope to see free speech matters, even when it’s unpopular.”

“It does feel like a double standard—due to my viewpoint being different from others within the community that I taught in. I feel that we should all be able to coexist with our personal political viewpoints. Fairness should apply equally, regardless of those viewpoints. If personal political speech is grounds for punishment, it should be consistent—not selective based on what side you’re on. I believe in free speech for all, and that’s what I hope comes out of all this.”

Heidorn has received some support from the local community, including a GoFundMe page calling him a “beloved physical education teacher” who “showed up every day for his students.”

“Emotionally, it’s been a roller coaster that has me feeling a great deal of shock, loss, and deep sadness over losing daily contact with my students,” Heidorn said. “Feelings of anger and frustration at how quickly things escalated without real dialogue, and grief for not getting to say a proper goodbye to the kids I cared so much for. I’ve had sleepless nights, but I’m trying to stay focused on my family and the support I’ve received from people who know the real me.”

Heidorn, who also lost his employment working as a soccer coach at a nearby private school, told Fox News Digital that one of the most difficult aspects of being forced from his job was losing the relationships he built with his students, of all backgrounds over his long career. 

Asked what he would tell his students if given the opportunity to address the situation with them directly, Heidorn said that the online outrage “isn’t the full story” and is “just noise from people who don’t know me.”

“To my students: I want you to know that I care about you deeply and always have. The person you knew in class—the one who encouraged you, played with you, and cheered you on—is still the same person,” Heidorn said. “I always tried to provide the best learning environment and great atmosphere for us all to grow. I have always had your best interest in mind by showing passion, support, care, and safety no matter what.”

Heidorn added, “I would never want any of you to feel unsafe or unloved. You are amazing kids, and I’m proud of every moment we shared. I know I can’t change people’s minds for those who are angry, upset, and have lost trust in me, and I am sorry for that because I always had my students and the community’s best interests in mind, and I never intended to cause fear or harm to them or their families.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to the district for a specific comment on what rule Heidorn violated by posting support for law enforcement on Facebook and if teachers who publicly “disruptive” against or antagonize ICE will be treated the same way. The district did not respond. 

When reached for comment, Bovey pushed back on the suggestion he inflamed the situation with his Facebook video, saying, “Personally, I wish the teacher well.”

“The teacher used his first amendment rights to make a statement,” Bovey said. “Others used their first amendment rights in commenting on the situation.  The school board took appropriate action to go through the due process of investigating a situation which had adversely impacted the education of children.  The public used their first amendment rights to comment (in favor and against) the actions of the school board and then the teacher made a decision to resign.  At the end of the day, though there were frustrations on both sides which were stoked by inaccurate social media posts, this is how democracy works.”

Bovey added, “Despite a lot of vitriolic comments from people across the country who were misinformed by social media, our local community seems remarkably unified.”

Heidorns said he has always taken his role “extremely seriously” over his 14-year career and that his reputation was “built on showing up every day, being reliable, fair, and genuinely invested in my students’ growth.”

“My students’ successes are what drove me more than you could know,” Heidorn said. “I never brought politics into my teaching; my focus was always on my students. Losing that connection hurts more than anything, and I want people to know I never intended to harm or divide anyone.”

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Going forward, Heidorn will be required to inform future school districts he applies to that he resigned and provide specifics why, which leaves any potential of furthering his career in the area unclear. 

“I really don’t know what is next for me—as the teaching profession has been, up to this point in time, all that I ever wanted to do,” he explained. “It is all I have ever studied for and teaching is what has defined me. Even advancing my education with a master’s degree in educational leadership because I wanted to become the best teacher I can be.”

“With that said—I’m exploring options in education or related fields, but I’m also taking time to heal and learn from this experience. I want people to know I’m grateful for the outpouring of support from those who reached out, donated, or shared my story. It reminds me that most people value fairness and second chances. I’m determined to move forward positively and keep contributing to kids’ lives in whatever way I can.”