Jayden Daniels may be focusing on Sunday’s NFC Championship matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, but he doesn’t forget about where he came from. 

In the wake of the devastating Los Angeles area wildfires, Daniels, a San Bernardino native, is auctioning off a personalized jacket. 

The front of the jacket is emblazoned with the No. 5 (Daniels’ jersey number) and the Washington Commanders wordmark. The back of the coat is a replication of a real football jersey with his name and number on the back; on the bottom reads the phrase “Welcome to the team.” 

Additionally, the inside of the coat features the phrase “L.A. Strong.”

The proceeds of the auction will benefit the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Daniels, 24, was nominated to this year’s Pro Bowl after a phenomenal rookie season, throwing for 3,568 yards and 25 touchdowns with just 9 interceptions. He led the Commanders to their first playoff win since 2005 and their first conference championship game since 1991. 

Their NFC Championship matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles kicks off at noon Sunday.  

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is requesting that the federal government reimburse his state more than $11.1 billion for taxpayer money spent on securing the southern border during former President Joe Biden’s administration.

Abbott, who sent letters to U.S. Congressional members on Thursday, said the Biden administration’s “refusal to do its job the last four years” resulted in the crisis at the southern border that has spilled into the rest of the country.

“President Biden’s policies left Texas and the rest of America defenseless against an unprecedented infiltration of violent criminals, known terrorists, and other hostile foreign actors, like the dangerous Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua,” the governor wrote.

HOUSE REPUBLICAN INTRODUCES BILL TO REIMBURSE TEXAS FOR BILLIONS SPENT TO SECURE BORDER

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has asked the federal government to reimburse his state for the more than $11 billion of taxpayer money it has spent on border security over the past four years. (REUTERS/Callaghan O’hare)

Advertisement

In response to the federal government’s lack of action at the border, Abbott took matters into his own hands and launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021, which deployed the Texas National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety to the US-Mexico border.

Operation Lone Star has reduced illegal immigration into Texas by 87% over the past four years, proving the “effectiveness of President Donald Trump’s border measures,” according to Abbott, who added that his efforts have shone a national spotlight on the crisis.

The governor outlined that the operation has also resulted in the apprehension of more than half a million illegal immigrants, stopped more than 140,000 illegal attempts to enter the US, made more than 50,000 criminal arrests, seized more than half a billion lethal doses of fentanyl, built more than 240 miles of border barriers and established the only National Guard base along the Texas-Mexico border.

“In short, Texas stepped up where the federal government refused and in doing so, protected all Americans from President Biden’s dangerous policies,” Abbott wrote.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS RENEW PUSH TO REIMBURSE TEXAS FOR ‘OPERATION LONE STAR’ BORDER SECURITY PUSH

Advertisement

Though he is proud of the operation, Abbott noted that its success came with a high price tag of more than $11.1 billion, which has been, and continues to be, paid by Texas taxpayers when it “should have been the federal government’s responsibility.”

In a document breaking down the costs, Abbott said that prior to the Biden administration, the state of Texas spent approximately $800 million every two years to supplement federal efforts at the border.

Illegal immigrants pass through coils of razor wire while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, in March 2024. The wire was placed by the troops as part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s “Operation Lone Star” to deter migrants from crossing into Texas. ( John Moore/Getty Images)

“The burden that our State has borne is a direct result of a refusal by the federal government to do its job,” Abbott wrote. “The work that Texas has done through Operation Lone Star has protected and will continue to benefit the entire country.”

House Republicans have introduced bills in the past requesting Texas be reimbursed for the billions spent on border security, but legislation has never been passed.

Advertisement

Read the full article from Here

After spending weeks battling the devastating wildfires across Southern California, support programs are working to address the fatigue and mental health issues that many firefighters and first responders are facing.

In addition to traditional talk therapy, local fire and police departments are working to reduce the stigma around mental healthcare for first responders through alternative methods with positive results.

“These firefighters were in a firefight nonstop, going from house to house without a break at all for 48 hours,” said Santa Monica Fire Department Chief Matthew Hallock. “The magnitude of this incident — it was a career’s worth of fires in 48-72 hours.”

Hallock was one of the thousands of firefighters who battled the Palisades Fire. As many return home from deployment, they may be dealing with feelings of helplessness, exhaustion and mental health struggles.

“First responders face unique mental health challenges,” explained Dr. Gina Gallivan, a police and public safety psychologist. “They have exposure to trauma, threats to their life and long shifts without much physical recovery.”

Over the last 20 years, Gallivan and her team have serviced over 100 police and public service agencies across Southern California, offering peer support programs and counseling tailored to first responders.

Gallivan said a major goal is to ensure these local heroes know that seeking help is not a sign of weakness.

“There’s a stigma associated with seeking help,” Hallock said. ‘We feel like this profession gives us a sort of invulnerability, that nothing can hurt us, nothing can impact us. But in reality, we’ve seen instances where firefighters are taking their own lives.”

Gallivan has been incorporating counseling with evidence-based wellness components such as bio-feedback, contrast therapy, multi-sensory feedback and more at the Reality Center in Santa Monica.

“I have found that when we provide both of those things together, their symptoms resolve faster,” Gallivan explained.

By combining lights, sound and vibration into a one-of-a-kind experience, the Reality Center provides healing in a safe, effective way without pharmaceuticals.

Around 75% of people treated at The Reality Center are veterans and first responders. The center is offering free treatment to all firefighters, police and emergency personnel impacted by the Southern California wildfires.

“When you come off the line, they’ll be experiencing a lot of the same things that we experience when we got back from war,” said Jonathan Chia, co-founder of the Reality Center. “So balancing the nervous system and allowing people to relax, calm their bodies, allow them to sleep a little bit better which allows them to feel reset the next morning, is paramount to us.”

“To get them in here, get them reset and feeling balanced their nervous system before they go back out or before it starts to escalate into something that becomes much more problematic,” explained Tarun Raj, co-founder of the Reality Center.

Gallivan said first responders should know that they don’t have to carry the burden alone.

Hallock said he’s looking into providing a comfort dog for the Santa Monica Fire Department and notes that public support for first responders is a vital part of their healing.

“It doesn’t have to be money or an item, it’s stopping by and just saying, ‘Hi,’ or ‘Thank you,’ or just acknowledging what the firefighters have done and are continuing to do,” Hallock said.

More information on mental health services can be found at helpforfire.com. Information on the Reality Center in Santa Monica can be found here.

Free IV therapy for first responders is being offered at the Hydration Room and Restore Hyper Wellness.