Southwest
Oklahoma schools chief spars with CNN host over teaching the Bible in classrooms in heated interview
Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters defended a new mandate requiring the Bible to be incorporated into classroom lessons during a heated clash on CNN on Tuesday.
“The Bible includes beheading, rape and incest,” CNN host Pamela Brown said to Walters at the start of the interview. “Do you support teaching children about those topics?”
Walters did not directly address Brown’s question, but explained that referencing the Bible was necessary to understand historical documents and important events in our nation’s history, from its founding to the Civil Rights movement.
“It had a profound influence on American history. It was the best-selling book in American history. To not teach that in the classroom is academic malpractice,” he told Brown.
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Oklahoma Schools Chief Ryan Walters debated CNN’s Pamela Brown on the Bible being taught in Oklahoma public schools on CNN on Tuesday.
The two sparred as Brown continued to press him to answer if the more graphic elements in the Bible were acceptable in the classroom.
“Will you allow teachers to teach all aspects of the Bible? How are teachers supposed to know what of the Bible to teach and what not to teach? It’s a simple question,” she asked again, before referencing the conservative figure’s fight to eradicate pornographic books from school classrooms and libraries.
“Let me be crystal clear: The Bible is not on the same plane as ‘Gender Queer’ and ‘Flamer,’ Walters retorted. “These are pornography.”
“We have academic standards that tell our teachers that you are to talk about the Bible in reference to the Mayflower Compact, letters from a Birmingham Jail, the Declaration of Independence,” he continued. “It‘s very clear from primary sources that these individuals referenced in our history, they referenced the Bible. So, look, when it‘s historically accurate, we’re absolutely going to include that. I mean, think about how absurd it would be to teach about the Pilgrims if you don‘t mention their intention for moving to the New World? It‘s crucial and we‘re not going to allow the radical Left to continue to push a false history on our kids that said that faith played no role. Well, just read the history. It’s clearly there.”
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A new mandate in Oklahoma requires public school teachers to incorporate the Bible as a reference in history lessons, the school superintendent argued. (iStock)
Brown continued to push back on Walters’ arguments, offering counterpoints to his stance on the influence of the Bible and Christianity on the founding of America.
“We should note… God is not mentioned in the Constitution. It is mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, but not a Christian God, right, and it also says that all men are created equal. And one would argue it‘s not creating a stature of, ‘If you‘re a Christian, if you believe in the Bible, you are of a higher stature,’” she responded.
Walters maintained his argument and told the CNN host, “People can be offended by that, they may not like it, but they can’t rewrite our history.”
“To censor the Bible out of our schools is to create our schools to be state-sponsored atheist centers,” he continued. “Our position is purely historical.”
The new directive from the top education official requires all public schools in Oklahoma to add the Bible and the Ten Commandments as “instructional support into the curriculum across specified grade levels.” The religious text will be referenced as appropriate in the study of “history, civilization, ethics, comparative religion…as well as for their substantial influence on our nation’s founders and the foundational principles of our Constitution,” the memo states.
Walters said in the memo that his directive aligns with educational standards approved in May 2019.
Although Louisiana Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed a bill into law last week requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every classroom by 2025, Walters says Oklahoma is the first state to require the Bible be used in all classrooms, effective immediately.
Fox News’ Greg Wehner contributed to this article.
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Southwest
Man arrested on misdemeanor DUI charges outside Nancy Guthrie’s home after sobriety test
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TUCSON, Ariz. — A 34-year-old man was arrested late Thursday night outside the Arizona home where Nancy Guthrie went missing earlier this month, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department told Fox News Digital.
Shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday, deputies arrested 34-year-old Antonio De Jesus Pena-Campos in front of Guthrie’s home on misdemeanor DUI charges, the department said.
The arrest is not related to the Guthrie investigation, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department added.
Pima County sheriff’s deputies stopped a blue Chevrolet Equinox compact SUV near Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home late Thursday night. A man was later taken into custody after what appeared to be field sobriety testing. (Fox News)
Footage shows Pima County sheriff’s deputies shining a flashlight into the driver’s side of what appeared to be a blue Chevrolet Equinox compact SUV parked near the home where Guthrie was last seen Feb. 1.
Moments later, deputies spoke with Pena-Campos near a white canopy tent set up along the roadside as a deputy shined a flashlight toward the man’s face.
In another sequence, Pena-Campos walks in a straight line in what appears to be part of a field sobriety test. In subsequent footage, he is placed in the back of a sheriff’s pickup truck.
The man was detained as investigators continue searching for Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, who was reported missing Feb. 1 after authorities said she was taken during a home invasion. Investigators have said her pacemaker last synced with her iPhone around 2:30 a.m. that morning.
Her family has since offered a $1 million reward for information leading to her safe return as authorities continue to pursue leads.
NANCY GUTHRIE’S NEIGHBOR SAW SUSPICIOUS MAN WALKING NEARBY 2 WEEKS BEFORE SUSPECTED ABDUCTION
A deputy shines a flashlight toward a man’s face during what appears to be field sobriety testing outside Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home late Thursday night. The man was later taken into custody. (Fox News)
The development comes after a Catalina Foothills resident’s street-facing Ring camera captured 12 vehicles passing by between midnight and 6 a.m. on Feb. 1, the morning Guthrie is believed to have been abducted.
Some of the activity occurred around the 2:30 a.m. mark, roughly when authorities said the 84-year-old’s pacemaker last synced with her iPhone.
A man walks in a straight line under the direction of deputies during what appears to be field sobriety testing outside Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home late Thursday night. (Fox News)
Homeowners Elias and Danielle Stratigouleas told Fox News Digital that police had not canvassed their neighborhood in the 25 days since Guthrie was allegedly taken from her bed in what authorities have described as a home invasion kidnapping.
The couple said they alerted both the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department to the footage. It was not immediately clear whether the video would prove useful to investigators or whether any of the vehicles had traveled on Guthrie’s street.
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Pima County sheriff’s deputies speak with a man near a white canopy tent set up along the roadside outside Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home late Thursday night. (Fox News)
The Stratigouleas home sits on a back road that leads out of Guthrie’s neighborhood and avoids major intersections. The property is approximately 2½ miles — or about a seven-minute drive — from the crime scene, according to Google Maps.
One of the videos was recorded at approximately 2:36 a.m., roughly eight minutes after Guthrie’s pacemaker last synced with her iPhone, based on the sheriff’s timeline.
Fox News’ Michael Ruiz and Olivia Palombo contributed to this report.
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Southwest
Trump introduces Cornyn, Paxton but stays mum on endorsement in heated GOP primary
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The Texas Senate primary for Republicans is a bloodbath, and President Donald Trump isn’t wading in.
Trump, who appeared in Corpus Christi, Texas, to tout his energy agenda Friday, had the opportunity to stake his claim in the contentious race and endorse a candidate.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is the longtime incumbent fending off seven challengers.
But the real race is between Cornyn, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas.
President Donald Trump stops to speak to the media as he departs from Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House Feb. 27, 2026, in Washington, D.C. ( Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
All three were in attendance at Trump’s rally, reminiscent of the made-for-TV spectacles that dominated his successful 2024 election campaign. Yet Trump didn’t endorse any of them as Election Day in the primary fast approaches.
Trump acknowledged all three — he paired Cornyn and Paxton and mentioned Hunt later in his remarks. He noted that they were all engaged in an “interesting election.”
“They’re in a little race together,” Trump said of Cornyn and Paxton. “You know that, right? A little bit of a race. It’s going to be an interesting one, right? They’re both great people, too.”
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and John Cornyn, R-Texas (Getty Images)
Cornyn is running for a fifth term in the Senate and fighting for his political life in a nasty primary election that Trump has time and again refused to weigh in on. He’s got the full weight of Senate Republican leadership behind him, too.
Paxton, who has faced headwinds with scandals over the years, has strongly aligned himself with the president and built a coalition of conservative backers in the House, including Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, who brought him to Trump’s State of the Union earlier this week.
And while the trio duke it out, money is being burned at a record pace. So far, a whopping $110 million has been spent on the Senate primaries, and $88 million of that has been dumped into the GOP contest, according to data from AdImpact.
CORNYN WARNS PAXTON WOULD BE ‘KISS OF DEATH’ FOR GOP AS BLOODY PRIMARY RACE RAMPS UP
Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, walks up the House steps for a vote on the budget resolution in the U.S. Capitol April 10, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Given the crowded field, it’s likely the race will head to a runoff, which will turn into a brutal sprint until late May. Paxton believes he could come out on top with at least 50% of the vote come March 3, while Cornyn is eying the long game.
The coveted Trump endorsement could put either over the top in ruby red Texas. And he may be close to picking his favorite.
Ahead of the event, Trump was asked if he had decided who to endorse.
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“Pretty much,” he told reporters.
But when asked if he would say who, he said, “No.”
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Southwest
Jasmine Crockett reveals Colbert hasn’t invited her on show since furor over Talarico interview
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Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, revealed Friday she’s still not been asked to appear on Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show,” days after the host claimed pressure from the Federal Communications Commission effectively censored an interview with her Senate primary political opponent, James Talarico.
Earlier this week, Colbert said CBS prevented the broadcast of Talarico’s appearance due to guidance from the FCC requiring shows to provide “equal time” to opposing candidates.
In response, the late-night host criticized the FCC and his own network. The Talarico interview was posted online, where it has garnered more than 8 million views on YouTube alone. The tumult and extra attention to the interview helped raise more than $2.5 million for Talarico’s campaign.
“No, I’ve not been invited on Colbert prior to his interview nor post his interview,” Crockett said on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” Friday.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett speaks to members of the media following a House Oversight and Accountability Committee deposition in New Albany, Ohio, on Wednesday, Feb. 18. (Dustin Franz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Crockett explained that while she has appeared on Colbert’s show twice before, she has not been invited since she launched her candidacy for the U.S. Senate.
“The only information that I got was after this debacle took place, I did receive a phone call from the parent company,” Crockett said.
She said that CBS representatives told her they did not tell Colbert he couldn’t air the Talarico segment. Instead, they said that if he had Talarico on, he had to offer the same time to Crockett.
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Texas state Rep. James Talarico, left, and Rep. Jasmine Crockett, both Democrats and U.S. Senate candidates, participate in a debate during the 2026 Texas AFL-CIO COPE Convention in Georgetown, Texas, on Jan. 24. (Bob Daemmrich/The Texas Tribune/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“They just said, if you air it, just make sure that you offer the representative equal time. Now, obviously, I wasn’t engaged in that conversation, so I cannot confirm the veracity of any statements,” she said.
“But I can confirm that I had never been asked to go on as it relates to kind of talking about the Senate race,” Crockett added.
CBS released a statement denying it censored Colbert, insisting the show chose to share the interview on YouTube instead to avoid the equal-time requirement.
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Texas state Rep. James Talarico appears with Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” in New York on Feb. 16. (Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
However, during Monday night’s broadcast, Colbert insisted he and his guest were being censored, telling his audience, “[Talarico] was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast.”
The media attention and Colbert’s multiple segments this week about the controversy provided a boon to Talarico’s campaign. On Tuesday, Colbert crumpled up the CBS statement denying it had forced the comedian not to air the interview and put it into a dog waste bag before throwing it away.
On Wednesday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr dismissed the controversy as a “hoax,” stating that Talarico “took advantage of all of your sort of prior conceptions to run the hoax, apparently for the purpose of raising money and getting clicks. And the news media played right into it.”
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A spokesperson for Colbert’s show didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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