Southeast
In Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, alligators swarm canal in viral video: 'Gators everywhere'
A Georgia man’s encounter with a mass gathering of alligators in the Okefenokee Swamp that was captured on video has prompted researchers to investigate why so many of them congregated in a relatively small stretch of canal.
Marty Welch and his wife were boating through the Georgia swamp at Stephen C. Foster State Park on their way to Billy’s Lake when they happened upon the gator cluster, he told Fox News Digital.
Cellphone video of their July 14 encounter was shared on Welch’s Facebook page two days later and has been viewed more than 930,000 times as of Monday.
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“Look at the gators. Man, there’s a lot of them,” Welch is heard saying in the video. “Look at ’em. There’s probably 50 or 60.”
“More than that,” his wife Tina Welch is heard telling him, adding that she thought there “had to be over 100.”
The swarm of gators is seen in the video crossing the canal in both directions.
At times during the video, they were bunched so close together that they could be heard and seen crawling on top of each other in the water.
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“Look at all the gators,” Marty Welch is heard saying. “There’s gators everywhere.”
The video caught the attention of researchers at the University of Georgia’s Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant.
“We went out to try and see it for ourselves and document the event but were a bit too late,” the university’s Coastal Ecology Lab wrote in a July 22 Facebook post.
Student researcher Mark Hoog spoke about the “fairly rare event” in a Facebook video.
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“What we’ve noticed is it happens during periods of low water, so we think it might have something to do with resources,” Hoog said.
“It was really amazing to see something like that.”
He noted it could be a “feeding event” that is bringing the gators together “when there’s not a ton of resources.”
Although researchers “didn’t see the actual congregation, we did see the aftermath,” the Facebook post said.
Researchers counted 151 gators within about a mile-and-a-half of each other, Hoog said.
“That’s a lot of alligators,” he added.
The Okefenokee Swamp is considered one of Georgia’s seven natural wonders and the largest blackwater wetland in the South, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
“Perhaps the most famous inhabitant of the Okefenokee Swamp is the American alligator,” according to the website for Stephen C. Foster State Park.
“Officials estimate that 12,000 of the country’s largest reptiles live within the refuge.”
But the swarm of gators that Welch stumbled upon didn’t deter him from navigating through the infested canal.
“We were able to idle right on through and go out into Billy’s Lake,” he told Fox News Digital.
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Living in Georgia, Welch says he’s accustomed to seeing alligators in the water, but even he was impressed.
“It was really amazing to see something like that,” he said.
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Southeast
Fani Willis' disqualification from Trump case has 'overwhelming' impact, legal expert says
George Washington University law professor Jonthan Turley said Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was “wrong” to bring the Georgia election interference case against President-elect Trump after a Georgia court disqualified Willis and her team from prosecuting the case on Thursday.
GEORGIA APPEAL COURT DISQUALIFIES DA FANI WILLIS AND HER TEAM FROM TRUMP ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE
JONATHAN TURLEY: The immediate impact of this decision is overwhelming in terms of Willis herself. I mean, this court is basically saying that these cases are not supposed to be sort of vanity projects. You know, you were told by the lower court that you created this appearance of impropriety and the question for the court is why you didn’t remove yourself. Many of us at the time said that most prosecutors would have seen that their continuation of the case was harming the case and harming the public interest. Willis simply refused to give up the ghost and insisted that she wanted to be the lead in this.
…
She was wrong to bring the case against Trump. You know, there are some viable claims here. You know, she charged some people with unlawful entry or access to restricted areas. Those are not particularly serious crimes, but they are crimes. She was wrong to go after Trump on this basis. She clearly wanted to engage in lawfare, and that’s one of the reasons why she wouldn’t give up the case. You know, when this issue was first raised, many of us wrote at the time that the correct move was to remove yourself. You selected a former lover as the lead counsel. That violated, in my view, core ethical requirements. He was ultimately disqualified by the court. But Judge McAfee gave her a chance to do the right thing. He said, look, this is your conduct is wrong here and you can remove yourself. Well, he was talking to the wrong person. She had no interest in removing herself. I mean, lawfare is only valuable if you’re the lead warrior, and she was not going to give up that position.
The court did not toss Trump’s indictment entirely, but Willis and the assistant DAs working in her office now have “no authority to proceed.”
“After carefully considering the trial court’s findings in its order, we conclude that it erred by failing to disqualify DA Willis and her office,” the filing states. “The remedy crafted by the trial court to prevent an ongoing appearance of impropriety did nothing to address the appearance of impropriety that existed at times when DA Willis was exercising her broad pretrial discretion about who to prosecute and what charges to bring.”
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Trump said the “whole case has been a disgrace to justice.”
“It was started by the Biden DOJ as an attack on his political opponent, Donald Trump,” he said, “They used anyone and anybody, and she has been disqualified, and her boyfriend has been disqualified, and they stole funds and went on trips.”
Trump said the case “should not be allowed to go any further.”
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Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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Southeast
Fani Willis' reputation 'damaged' after disqualification from Trump case: Georgia reporter
Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Greg Bluestein told MSNBC on Thursday that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s reputation was “damaged” after a court disqualified her and her office from prosecuting President-elect Donald Trump in the election interference case against him.
“Her reputation is damaged, right? This was an unforced error as we said earlier, and, you know, this was all of her own doing, and now it unravels or might unravel one of the signature cases, not just of her career, but in Georgia. It leaves her damaged and it will be interesting to see what case she tries to make when she is expected to appeal this to the Georgia Supreme Court,” Bluestein told MSNBC’s Ana Caberra when asked about what was next for Willis.
The Georgia Court of Appeals on Thursday disqualified Willis and her team from prosecuting Trump and co-defendants in her election interference case. The court did not toss the indictment but declared that Willis and her team now have “no authority to proceed.”
Bluestein noted that Willis had just won re-election in Georgia and that it wasn’t a surprise because Fulton County is a Democratic stronghold.
FANI WILLIS FACES NOTHING BUT SETBACKS IN CASE AGAINST TRUMP, THE LATEST PENDING WITH SUPREME COURT
“After carefully considering the trial court’s findings in its order, we conclude that it erred by failing to disqualify DA Willis and her office,” the filing states. “The remedy crafted by the trial court to prevent an ongoing appearance of impropriety did nothing to address the appearance of impropriety that existed at times when DA Willis was exercising her broad pretrial discretion about who to prosecute and what charges to bring.”
Bluestein said, “It is expected to be appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court, but this is a really decisive order against Fani Willis being able to continue this case.”
Willis, who was spearheading the sweeping prosection case against Trump, came under fire after she was accused in February of having an “improper” affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she had hired to help prosecute the case.
Wade was ultimately forced to step down from the prosecution team.
JUDGE RULES FANI WILLIS MUST STEP ASIDE FROM TRUMP CASE OR FIRE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR NATHAN WADE
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Trump said the “whole case has been a disgrace to justice.”
Trump additionally said that the case “should not be allowed to go any further.”
Catherine Christian, a former assistant Manhattan district attorney, also weighed in on the disqualification on MSNBC.
“But usually appellate courts defer to the lower court, the trial judge, who fashioned a remedy. He said Nathan Wade, the man she was having an affair with, had to leave so the office could stay, and this court has said, nope. This court said that Judge MacAfee did not really appreciate that her decision-making wasn’t just the indictment. It was who to charge, how to charge it, and that’s at the time when this alleged romantic relationship was going on, and they said that also was one of the reasons why they think it’s more than an appearance of impropriety. It’s a conflict of interest, and not just her, the entire office is disqualified,” Christian said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Fani Willis’ office for comment.
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Southeast
Navy wife goes viral for surprising husband with hunting trip after his 3-year deployment
A Navy aviator was in for a surprise after returning home ahead of Christmas from his third deployment in three years.
Patrick Brennan of western Kentucky has been stationed in Japan since the spring of 2022, serving as a weapon systems officer in an F/A-18 fighter aircraft.
His wife, Cecilia Brennan, told Fox News Digital that her husband often shares with her how he misses his friends and hobbies, specifically hunting.
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Brennan said her husband even mentioned planning a hunting trip sometime next year or in 2026 but that he never expected to take one this year.
“I was catching up with his best friends and keeping them in the loop. They told me they were going on their yearly duck hunting trip to Fowl Plains Outfitter. They were thinking about driving from their home in Virginia to Kansas, and I asked if they would want to stop by in Kentucky,” Brennan said.
Fowl Plains Outfitters is located in Great Bend, Kansas, offering duck and goose hunts.
“Turns out, the same time they would be driving through Kentucky happened to be the same time my husband would be back from deployment. I asked if they could make room for one more. It was God’s perfect timing,” Brennan said.
She packed all of his clothes and hunting gear and “gifted” his belongings to him for Christmas.
In a video posted to her Instagram, which reached 1.5 million views, Brennan captured the moment she tricked Patrick and told him his friends were stopping at their home to “drop something off.”
The serviceman’s friends are seen entering the house decked out in their hunting gear.
After catching up with the men, Cecilia Brennan takes out her husband’s suitcase to reveal that he is also going on the trip.
“Having his best friends knock on the door was a surprise enough, but to actually be going with him, he was in shock. I still can’t believe we pulled it off,” she said.
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Patrick embarked on a five-day trip with his best friends for duck hunting.
Cecilia and Patrick Brennan have a 6-month-old daughter, and Cecila said that for the majority of the year, she and her husband had been apart due to his service to America.
“After all he has sacrificed, he more than deserves a chance to relax and recharge before he dives head-first into family life,” she said.
She added that she is her husband’s biggest fan, and that includes supporting his hobbies.
“Nothing brings me more joy than knowing he’s happy. And now, we will be having duck for Christmas.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Fowl Plains Outfitters for comment.
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