Southeast
‘Climate cult’ on notice as lawmakers push to let feds hop blue-state roadblocks to ‘US energy dominance'
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EXCLUSIVE: The left-wing “climate cult,” as one lawmaker put it, will have fewer avenues to throw roadblocks in front of domestic energy production and President Donald Trump’s efforts to obtain “American energy dominance” if a landmark effort between members of both the House and Senate is successful.
“I am an energy guy from an energy-rich state,” West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice told Fox News Digital on Thursday before introducing a bill to prevent state governments less supportive than Charleston from getting in the way of the development, transmission and distribution of reliable energy sources.
His House counterpart in the effort, Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., hails from such a place.
Langworthy said that, in contrast to lawmakers in Justice’s state, New York Democrats have “waged an extremist crusade” against developing a crucial multi-state natural gas deposit ironically named for a town in the Empire State.
The Energy Choice Act has drawn 37 co-sponsors across the House and Senate.
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A worker on a Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale rig. (Getty)
The bill would prohibit state and local governments from placing restrictions on the connection, re-connection, modification, installation, transportation, distribution, or expansion of a source of energy that is sold in interstate commerce and/or is to be delivered to an end-user.
Justice, when he served as governor, signed multiple bills boosting his state’s own renowned coal industry, including slashing severance taxes, and said the U.S. energy crisis is “too great” to allow the “luxury of picking the winners and losers.”
“Americans ought to have the right to choose what is best for their energy needs.”
Tens of thousands of square miles of the massive Marcellus Shale formation runs through New York, but development has been under a state-sanctioned ban for more than a decade.
Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, meanwhile, continue to develop their major caches of Marcellus Shale gas, while the piece of the formation in the Maryland panhandle also remains off-limits.
Those bans, according to Langworthy, have sent home energy costs “through the roof” in places like New York, which he said is “teetering on the edge of an energy crisis—all to satisfy the radical fantasies of the far-left climate cult.”
“New York has been ground-zero for the Green New Deal, where common sense goes to die and working families get stuck with the bill,” said the lawmaker, a former NYSGOP chairman.
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Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.V., and Babydog. (Office of Senator Jim Justice)
That disparity led him to draft the House version of the bill, hoping, in his words, to “restore sanity” to U.S. energy policy and give Americans the choice of affordable and reliable power.
They should not be “forced into rolling blackouts to please eco-activists who don’t live in the real world,” he quipped. “I thank Senator Justice for introducing this bill in the Senate and urge its swift action.”
Meanwhile, Justice’s state remains the second-largest coal producer in the nation, and his Senate counterpart, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, also signed onto the bill.
“America needs more energy, and our state and local governments shouldn’t discriminate against baseload energy generation that increases security, affordability, and creates good paying jobs across the country, simply because it doesn’t align with their political agendas,” she told Fox News Digital.
Alabama’s Black Warrior Basin is another area of the country home to a vast coal power potential developed over several decades.
Gov. Kay Ivey in 2025 signed the Powering Growth Act seeking to streamline the permitting process in the Yellowhammer State, and Sen. Tommy Tuberville – who hopes to succeed the term-limited governor – is another top sponsor of the bill.
“Energy security is national security,” Tuberville has said.
“For four years, Joe Biden and woke Democrats took a sledgehammer to American energy production. We need to rein-in blue states who caved to the climate cult and imposed ridiculous regulations that are deeply unpopular with hardworking Americans,” he said.
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Southeast
Louisiana manhunt continues as dangerous inmate charged with attempted murder remains on the run
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Louisiana authorities are continuing to search for the last of three inmates who broke through a deteriorating wall on Wednesday and escaped a jail about 130 miles northwest of New Orleans.
The three inmates, identified as Keith Eli, 24, of Opelousas; Johnathan Jevon Joseph, 24, of Opelousas; and Joseph Allen Harrington, 26, of Melville, allegedly used sheets and other items to scale an outer wall, drop onto the roof of the first floor and lower themselves to the ground, according to a statement from the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Harrington killed himself with a hunting rifle Thursday after a standoff with police at a home in Port Barre, The Associated Press reported.
Prior to his escape, St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office records show, he was charged with nine felonies, including home invasion and aggravated assault with a firearm.
Keith Eli, left; Johnathan Jevon Joseph, center; and Joseph Allen Harrington, inmates who escaped from a Louisiana prison. (St. Landry Parish Sheriff via Facebook)
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Police nabbed the second escapee, Joseph, the next day after a foot chase.
Sheriff’s officials said a tip led deputies to a home where he was hiding out, according to the report. He surrendered after fleeing to a nearby storage shed.
Joseph, also a convicted felon, was previously charged with principal first-degree rape, along with drug and gun offenses.
The inmates escaped St. Landry Parish Jail Wednesday in Louisiana. (Google Maps)
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The third missing inmate, Eli, remains missing and was charged with attempted second-degree murder.
“We would prefer that he surrender himself peaceably, but we will not rest until he is captured,” St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby J. Guidroz wrote in a statement obtained by the AP.
In May, 10 prisoners escaped a minimum-custody New Orleans jail after removing a toilet from a wall inside a cell and crawling through it.
Video cameras in the prison captured the brazen escape, with footage showing the group scaling a fence, using blankets to protect themselves from barbed wire and running across an interstate to a nearby neighborhood where they changed clothes.
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Inmates wrote messages, including, “To Easy LOL” and “WE INNOCENT,” among others, near the hole they used to flee the jail.
The last remaining fugitive, a four-time convicted killer, was arrested five months after the escape after a standoff with authorities in Atlanta.
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Three jail employees have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, Fox News Digital previously reported.
An internal investigation has been initiated, and the jail supervisory staff will be providing a comprehensive report, according to Guidroz.
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Southeast
Disgraced teacher accused of using Google Docs to groom underage student before alleged sex crimes
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A Palm Beach County, Florida, science teacher is behind bars after investigators say he used a shared Google Doc to secretly communicate with a student before engaging in sexual acts with her at school and inside his apartment, according to an arrest affidavit.
Elias Gordon Farley, 26, a former teacher at Donna Klein Jewish Academy in Boca Raton, was arrested after the student reported the alleged abuse on Nov. 18.
The teen told detectives the interactions began as casual conversations during the previous school year, but over the summer, Farley allegedly created a shared Google Doc in which the two wrote messages back and forth.
Investigators said the file later contained explicit entries describing sexual activity and planning when they would meet privately.
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Elias Gordon Farley, a former teacher at the Donna Klein Jewish Academy in Boca Raton, is facing felony charges after police say he engaged in a months-long sexual relationship with a student. (Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office)
According to the affidavit, the student said the relationship became physical in mid-September inside Farley’s office, where he touched her beneath her clothing. She told detectives the encounters continued for weeks in both his office and a classroom.
By late September and into October, she said the pair were engaging in sexual acts, including oral sex and, at one point, intercourse inside a classroom on campus.
The student also described visiting Farley’s apartment twice in early November after recognizing details he had mentioned about its location and layout. She told deputies that several sexual encounters occurred during those visits.
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A teacher was accused of using Google Docs to talk to an underage student before sexual encounters. (Google Maps)
Detectives later executed a search warrant and said they found bedding, condom wrappers and furniture matching her description. Farley’s roommate confirmed he had not been home on the dates the teen said she visited.
School surveillance video reviewed by deputies also appeared to support her account, showing Farley and the student entering his office together on Nov. 7 and later entering a classroom for about an hour.
The situation came to light after the student confided in an art teacher on Nov. 14 and showed her bruises and bite marks she said came from Farley. Administrators were informed the next day, suspended Farley immediately and reported the matter to child welfare authorities.
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A former science teacher at Donna Klein Jewish Academy in Palm Beach County was arrested after allegations of an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. (iStock)
Farley refused to speak with detectives after being read his Miranda rights, according to the affidavit.
Farley was booked into the Palm Beach County Main Detention Center Dec. 4 and is being held on $500,000 bond, jail records show. He faces charges of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and offense against a student by an authority figure.
In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, Donna Klein Jewish Academy said it is cooperating fully with the investigation and called the situation “a difficult time for all of us at Donna Klein.”
TEACHER PLEADS GUILTY TO SEXUALLY ABUSING 15-YEAR-OLD STUDENT WEEKS AFTER GIVING BIRTH: REPORT
“We are approaching this serious situation with the utmost care, keeping the well-being of our students, faculty and families at the forefront,” a spokesperson said.
The school said it is working closely with families, teachers and staff to ensure they have the support they need, adding that its priority is maintaining “a safe, compassionate and educational environment for all.”
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The spokesperson said no additional details would be released “out of respect for the privacy of our community” but that Farley is no longer employed at the school.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office at 561-688-3000.
Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.
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Two teen boys in Florida are accused of fatally shooting a 14-year-old girl and setting her on fire along a wooded walking trail last week in what authorities are calling a “horrific” killing.
Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson told reporters Thursday that the body has been identified as Danika Troy. He said Danika’s mother reported her as a runaway on Monday.
“Unbeknownst to the mother, Danika was murdered the previous night,” Johnson said.
A passerby discovered Danika’s body along a wooded area off Kimberly Road in Pace, a town about 16 miles northeast of Pensacola, and called 911, Johnson said.
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Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson told reporters that the suspects were supposedly friends with the victim from school. He said investigators were still working to determine a motive. (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office)
Investigators quickly identified the suspects as 14-year-old Kimahri Blevins and 16-year-old Gabriel Williams and took them into custody.
“This is where it gets really horrific,” Johnson said.
Kimahri Blevins, 14, is facing premeditated first-degree murder charges. Authorities are seeking to charge him as an adult. (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office)
Williams allegedly stole his mother’s handgun and shot Danika.
“It’s bad enough you kill a 14-year-old. You’re 14. You’re 16,” Johnson said. “Shoot her multiple times, and then they set her on fire.”
Gabriel Williams, 16, is facing premeditated first-degree murder charges. Authorities are seeking to charge him as an adult. (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office)
Johnson said investigators are still working to determine a motive.
“They have been interviewed, but the motive that they’re giving doesn’t fit the forensics or any facts of the case, so we don’t have a legit motive,” he told reporters.
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Blevins and Williams supposedly knew the victim from school, according to Johnson. He believed the two teens have had previous “run-ins” with law enforcement, though he could not immediately say if they had earlier arrests.
Blevins and Williams are being held at the Department of Juvenile Justice on premeditated first-degree murder charges.
“You don’t want to go out and see a burnt child with bullet holes,” Johnson said. “That’s not something you sign up for.”
Johnson said no parents have been charged at this time, though investigators are “looking into it.”
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The sheriff’s office is working with the State Attorney to charge both teens as adults.
“If you do an adult crime, you gotta do adult time,” Johnson said.
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