Southeast
Squatters, homeless camps ravage neighborhood, leaving paid cleaners physically ill: report
A community in Escambia County, Florida, is seeing an increase in squatting activity as homeless people camp on private property with little repercussions, according to witnesses.
“There are so many people going back and forth it’s ridiculous,” Brent resident Gwen Gibson told the Pensacola News Journal. “I’ve been on the phone with code enforcement and the sheriff’s department. There are at least 15 to 20 people constantly walking down my driveway to get to their [camp] to buy drugs, prostitution, whatever they’re doing back there.”
Gibson lives next door to a plot of land owned by the Merrill family, which has been the site of homeless encampments in recent years. The Escambia County magistrate ordered the Merrill family to clean up the tents and trash by April of this year, which was delayed for months until August when local businessman Collier Merrill began removing the debris and forcing some of the campers off the property.
Merrill said he will now remove the squatters “by whatever means,” according to the Pensacola News Journal. He has also posted no-trespassing signs on the property as well as security cameras, but he has not yet called the sheriff’s office to trespass the people, according to the outlet.
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“We’ve been working on another project, hoping they would go ahead and move on their own, but actually they’re not going to do that,” said Merrill, “So, we are now making this a priority to get in compliance with the county.”
Gibson, however, said the issue has only gotten worse since August, with more people showing up to the land every day and reportedly cutting across her property to get to the Merrill land.
“We had it solved when he cleaned it up and most of the people left,” she said. “Now, once again, everybody keeps blowing smoke. All Merrill has done is make it a real nice place for them to live. The longer they wait to move people, the more people who come.”
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Gibson said that the squatting and homelessness issues near her property have even led to sickening scenarios. Some of the squatters allegedly used a tree on Merrill’s property as a bathroom, which Gibson could see from her kitchen window. When hired crews worked to clean up the property in August, she said some of the workers became sick from the job.
Gibson added that she also deals with constant trash and fires built by the squatters near her fence line and has even found people passed out from drugs or fights laying on her property.
Other residents and political leaders in the area say that homelessness and squatting issues are getting worse.
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“That is the biggest, No. 1 problem in the county,” Escambia Commissioner Mike Kohler, who represents District 2, told the Pensacola News Journal. “There’s no other complaint I get more than ‘What are you doing about the situation?’ And I know the other commissioners have to be getting it, too.”
Escambia Senior Natural Resources Manager Tim Day said the issues worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic as people living in tents were not removed by the county in an effort to not spread the virus. Day said that the campers became more emboldened and less inclined to “hide,” the outlet reported.
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“Before COVID, they would have been deep in the property and there may not have been as many,” Day said. “They would have been working hard to keep their encampment hidden from everyone so it’s just not in your face. That’s the result of what happened with COVID and the new normal that developed during COVID.”
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Gibson said she has been dealing with menacing interactions with the campers near her home due to her speaking out, including men armed with machetes allegedly standing near her property and staring at her when she leaves her home. She added that she has received angry phone calls from homelessness advocacy groups and got into a screaming match with a church group when she denied them permission to cut across her property to feed the squatters.
“I’ve been dealing with this for years. I feel very unsafe,” said Gibson. “It’s been hard, and sometimes I think I can’t do this anymore, but I’m not giving up. I haven’t done anything wrong. Why should I have to leave?”
Fox News Digital reached out to Collier Merrill, Tim Day, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and Mike Kohler for additional comment, but none replied by time of publication.
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Southeast
Federal judge strikes down Biden admin's Title IX rewrite
A federal judge in Kentucky blocked the Biden administration’s attempt to redefine sex in Title IX as “gender identity,” striking down the change nationwide.
The U.S. District Court Eastern District of Kentucky Northern Division made the ruling in Cardona v. Tennessee on Thursday.
“Another massive win for TN and the country!” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a post on X. “This morning, a federal court ruled in our favor and vacated the Biden admin’s radical new Title IX rule nationwide.
“The court’s order is resounding victory for the protection of girls’ privacy in locker rooms and showers, and for the freedom to speak biologically-accurate pronouns.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., released a statement on the ruling.
“It is clear the Biden-Harris administration completely lost its way on Title IX. They betrayed the original intent of Title IX by removing longstanding protections that ensured fairness for women and girls. Good to see this harmful regulation overturned,” he said. “With President Trump and a Republican majority in Congress, we will ensure women and girls have every opportunity to succeed on the field and in the classroom.”
The ruling came months after the Supreme Court rejected the Biden administration’s emergency request to enforce portions of a new rule that would have included protections from discrimination for transgender students under Title IX.
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The sweeping rule was issued in April and clarified that Title IX’s ban on “sex” discrimination in schools covers discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and “pregnancy or related conditions.”
The rule took effect Aug. 1, and, for the first time, the law stated that discrimination based on sex includes conduct related to a person’s gender identity.
It led to more than two dozen attorneys general suing over the rule, arguing it would conflict with some of their state laws that block transgender students from participating in women’s sports.
“When Title IX is viewed in its entirety, it is abundantly clear that discrimination on the basis of sex means discrimination on the basis of being a male or female,” the court’s opinion read. “As this Court and others have explained, expanding the meaning of ‘on the basis of sex’ to include ‘gender identity’ turns Title IX on its head.
“While Title IX sought to level the playing field between men and women, it is rife with exceptions that allow males and females to be separated based on the enduring physical differences between the sexes.”
Kristen Waggoner, president, CEO and general Counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement the ruling was a “colossal win for women and girls” in the U.S.
“The Biden administration’s radical attempt to redefine sex not only tossed fairness, safety, and privacy for female students out the window, it also threatened free speech and parental rights,” she added. “With this ruling, the federal court in Kentucky rejected the entire Biden rule and the administration’s illegal actions. We are thankful for the leadership of Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and other state attorneys general who challenged this blatant overreach alongside our courageous clients.
“This ruling provides enormous relief for students across the country, including our client who has already suffered harassment by a male student in the locker room and on her sports team. The U.S. Supreme Court can further protect girls like our client by granting cases brought by the ACLU against West Virginia and Idaho laws that protect women’s sports.”
The decision came as Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., is set to push the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act to the Senate Floor.
A procedural vote on it will happen on Friday.
Fox News’ Julia Johnson and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
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Southeast
Laken Riley Act roils NJ governor’s race as 2 Dems skip roll: ‘The more someone campaigns the less they vote'
Two Democrats in the 2025 race to succeed term-limited New Jersey Gov. Philip Murphy did not cast votes this week in Congress on the Laken Riley Act, leading them to be lambasted by gubernatorial candidates from both parties.
The House Clerk’s office recorded Reps. Mikie Sherrill of Essex and Josh Gottheimer of Bergen County recorded as “not voting” on the landmark bill, which would require illegal immigrants convicted of theft-related crimes be detained by municipal and state authorities.
The bill takes its name from a young woman murdered by an illegal immigrant in Georgia who had been previously arrested and released on lesser charges.
Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop exclaimed, “This is cowardly,” in an X post.
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“We lose elections when we don’t have any core convictions… when we can’t explain why we have a view and why we believe in it. Hiding is not an answer that wins elections,” the Democrat said.
“Mikie and Josh are the same again – If you don’t have the courage to vote for a bill then what does that say about your courage to lead as Governor?” Fulop added.
Meanwhile, former Republican Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli slammed the two lawmakers from their right.
“Shame on [Josh and Mikie] for gutlessly ducking a vote on the Laken Riley Act today,” said Ciattarelli.
On X, Ciattarelli said Riley “fought till her last breath against a murderous illegal immigrant, but Josh/Mikie didn’t have the courage to stand up to their extreme far left base.”
Ciattarelli ran against Murphy in 2021 and nearly defeated him by Garden State standards, losing by less than three points. In November, President-elect Trump only lost the state by four points, leading the GOP to signal their optimism about flipping Trenton red this fall.
When the bill last came up for a vote, Gottheimer voted “yea,” and a spokesman told the Philadelphia Inquirer he would have supported the bill this week if he had voted.
New Jersey’s three Republican congressmen – Reps. Christopher Smith, Jeff Van Drew and Tom Kean Jr. – all voted for the Laken Riley Act.
Democratic Reps. Nellie Pou, Frank Pallone, Herbert Conaway, LaMonica McIver, Donald Norcross and Rob Menendez Jr. all voted against it.
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Republican Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia – who is not running for governor – torched the pair on Wednesday with a quip:
“The Road to Drumthwacket is paved with flat squirrels who couldn’t make a decision,” she said, referring to the historic governor’s mansion near Princeton.
State Sen. Jon Bramnick, a GOP gubernatorial candidate, told Fox News Digital on Thursday that a lawmaker’s first responsibility is to their constituents, not their next campaign.
“I think you have to have campaign activities come secondary to your responsibility,” Bramnick said when asked about Gottheimer’s and Sherrill’s non-votes.
“The key question is – if you’re going to run – campaign activities must be secondary to your voting,” adding that systemically it seems “the more [someone] campaigns the less they vote.”
Bramnick, who is also an attorney in Plainfield, added that he couldn’t assume what was on the two Democrats’ minds in terms of their vote, but that immigration is a hot issue and often difficult to navigate.
With the Laken Riley Act scoring 48 Democratic “yea’s,” Bramnick said immigration is a bipartisan issue.
If elected governor, he said he would “follow the law” when asked how he would approach President-elect Trump or border czar-designate Tom Homan.
“Unfortunately, the Congress hasn’t done anything to [create] a path to citizenship for people who may have an opportunity to stay here,” he said, discussing those who have lived in the U.S. for many years as otherwise law-abiding members of their communities.
“If America doesn’t like the law, change it, but state-by-state shouldn’t change the law based on how they feel on the issue.”
Sherrill and Gottheimer did not immediately respond to inquiries made via their campaigns.
Another Democrat in the race, Ras Baraka – mayor of the state’s largest city, Newark – also did not respond.
Baraka, however, separately indicated he would have voted against the Laken Riley Act if he were in Congress.
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Southeast
Apalachee High School student arrested for allegedly bringing gun to campus months after deadly mass shooting
The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office said a 14-year-old student was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly brought a gun to Apalachee High School, the same Georgia school where two students and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting in September.
At approximately 2:02 p.m., school resource officers arrested the student without incident.
“The student was cooperative and compliant when encountered by law enforcement officers, and there have been no reports of the student threatening anyone with the gun,” the sheriff’s office said.
The boy, who was not named due to his age, has since been transported to a youth detention center.
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The boy was charged with theft, being a minor in possession of a gun and possessing a weapon on school grounds.
Officials didn’t say what type of gun was seized or how the child acquired the gun.
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In response to the incident, the Barrow County School System canceled Thursday’s classes at the high school and called for a meeting to discuss immediate safety enhancement options.
“We understand this brings up many different feelings in each of us,” the school system said. “We will update you all following the board meeting tomorrow with any changes regarding school procedures.”
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On Sept. 4, 14-year-old student Colt Gray allegedly opened fire at Apalachee High School, killing two teachers and two students.
Teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, were killed.
Gray has since been indicted on 55 counts as an adult, including 25 counts of aggravated assault. He has pleaded not guilty and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole or life with the possibility of parole if convicted.
His father, Colin Gray, who was arrested and charged with buying the semiautomatic AR-15-style rifle used in the shooting and giving it to Colt for Christmas, is facing 29 counts, including two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of involuntary manslaughter. He has also pleaded not guilty.
Georgia is one of 42 states in the U.S. that holds parents criminally responsible for their children.
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