West
Drones spotted over Camp Pendleton in California posed no threat to operations: report
Drones spotted flying over Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in Southern California over the past week posed no threat to operations at the installation, according to reports.
Base spokesman Capt. James C. Sartain told The Warzone that between Dec. 9 and 15, “there were six instances of unmanned aerial systems (UAS)” seen entering the airspace over Camp Pendleton.
Sartain also said the UAS did not pose any threat to installation operations.
The publication also learned from base personnel that countermeasures to take out the drones were not necessary as air and ground operations were not impacted.
MORE THAN 20 DAYS INTO PHENOMENON, PENTAGON STILL HAS NO ANSWERS ABOUT ORIGINS OF MYSTERIOUS NJ DRONES
Camp Pendleton officials did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for confirmation and further details on the matter.
The reports of drones flying over Camp Pendleton come as reports continue to come in of possible drones being spotted over military installations in New Jersey, including the Picatinny Arsenal in Rockaway Township, and Naval Weapons Station Earle in Colts Neck.
Drones were also seen flying near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio over the weekend, forcing the base to close its airspace for hours on Saturday.
According to its website, Wright-Patterson is “headquarters for a vast, worldwide logistics system, a world-class laboratory research function, and is the foremost acquisition and development center in the U.S. Air Force.”
NJ DRONE INCIDENTS SPUR GOVERNMENT PUSH FOR MORE COUNTER-DRONE POWERS AS CURRENT AUTHORITIES SET TO EXPIRE
On Tuesday, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters the drones are not U.S. military assets, adding that the vast majority of the unmanned aircraft are likely used by hobbyists for recreational purposes.
“Just to kind of put this into context… [there are] over a million drones registered in the United States, and on any given day, approximately 8,500 drones are, you know, in flight,” Ryder said. “The vast majority of these drones are going to probably be recreational or hobbyist. They’re going to be commercial drones…you know, used in things like architecture, engineering, farming, or they could be used for law enforcement.”
Ryder also said, though, that bases like Picatinny and Earle are being outfitted with equipment to better detect, identify and track objects in their airspace as appropriate. If necessary, he explained, the system could have capabilities that employ non-kinetic means to disrupt drone signals, affecting their ability to operate.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who serves as the House Foreign Affairs Committee chair, told C-SPAN on Tuesday that he believes the drones flying over military installations are being operated by the People’s Republic of China.
OFFICIALS RESPOND TO DRONE SIGHTING NEAR MAJOR AIR FORCE BASE IN OHIO: ‘TAKING ALL APPROPRIATE MEASURES’
“We want answers, but the response that I’m getting is that we don’t know whose drones these are,” McCaul said.
The lawmaker said he learned the drones had been reported over military sites, adding that he would not think those types of drones are friendly, but instead thinks they are adversarial.
“We need to identify who is behind these drones,” he said. “My judgment, based on my experience, is those over our military sites are adversarial and most likely are coming from the People’s Republic of China.”
McCaul further explained that he based his belief that the drones are Chinese operated on the fact that China has purchased land near military bases.
NEW JERSEY REPUBLICAN CALLS FOR ACTION FROM MAYORKAS, AUSTIN OVER MYSTERIOUS DRONES: ‘BRING THEM DOWN’
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., spoke to reporters after the House Intelligence Committee’s classified briefing with the FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and CIA on the New Jersey drones.
Houlahan told reporters she was not concerned about any threat and said it was irresponsible for anyone to scare the public about the matter.
“I think the message for the American people is that a lot of people from a lot of different organizations at the federal level are taking this very, very seriously [and] to date they haven’t found anything that would indicate that there’s foreign influence, foreign actors or even little green men who are, are working on the American people. And I think it’s really important that people understand that,” the lawmaker from Pennsylvania said.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS DOWNPLAY CONCERNS ABOUT DRONE SIGHTINGS: ‘SLIGHT OVERREACTION’
She continued, saying more work needs to be done, including legislation giving officials the authority to respond to threats of drones with the right technology.
Houlahan pointed out that more drones will begin gracing the airspace, and with it being Christmas, there will likely be more drones under people’s Christmas trees next week.
She stressed that it was important for the American people to know “there is no evident threat coming from any place.”
But she also wanted to stress that the media and public officials have an important role when it comes to drones and the message sent to the public.
“I’m not really sure why some of my colleagues have decided that this is important to scare the public, but I don’t think that that’s a terribly responsible thing to do,” Houlahan said. “Similarly with the media, I don’t think it’s terribly responsible to scare the public.”
Fox News Digital’s Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.
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Oregon
Oregon women’s basketball crushes Air Force
It was a one-sided affair Tuesday night as the Oregon Ducks routed Air Force 98-36 in a nonconference women’s basketball matchup in Eugene.
Phillipina Kyei scored 14 points in 18 minutes, and Nani Falatea and Sarah Rambus added 11 points each for the Ducks (8-3) as 4,551 watched at Matthew Knight Arena.
Oregon got contributions from up and down the roster, with 10 players scoring at least eight points and no one needing to play more than Deja Kelly’s 22 minutes. Kelly finished with eight points, eight rebounds and four assists. Elisa Mevius added eight points and eight assists.
The Ducks, who entered having lost three of their past four games, handed the Falcons (9-2) their second loss of the season and first since Air Force fell 57-51 to Army in overtime on Nov. 15.
Oregon raced to a 22-9 lead by the end of the first quarter and then matched that score in the second quarter for a 44-18 halftime lead. The Ducks continued to pull away in the second half, steadily increasing their lead the rest of the way. A 21-0 run in the fourth quarter extended Oregon’s lead to 65 before the Falcons trimmed it to a 62-point final margin.
The Ducks shot 58.9% from the field and held Air Force to 23.2% shooting. Oregon scored 68 points in the paint, 56 points on layups and 32 points off of turnovers. The Ducks also had a 23-0 advantage in fast-break points and racked up 31 assists compared with seven for the Falcons.
— Joel Odom
Utah
Utah family of five found dead in home
FIVE members of a Utah family including children aged 2, 9 and 11 were found dead of gunshot wounds in their home on Tuesday, while one 17-year-old boy was injured, police said.
There were no suspects at large, police said, indicating the shooter was someone within the family.
“We do not believe there’s a suspect on the loose. We believe at this point that this is an incident that’s isolated to this home,“ West Valley police spokesperson Roxeanne Vainuku told reporters.
The 17-year-old was in the hospital undergoing treatment and it was too soon to determine whether he was a suspect or a victim, Vainuku said.
The five dead were a man, 42, a woman, 38, a boy, 11, and two girls ages 9 and 2, Vainuku said.
“This is far beyond anything routine,“ Vainuku said. “There were four (homicides) in the city for the entire year of 2024 so this more than doubles that number. … This is something that certainly will weigh heavily upon investigators.”
West Valley City is a suburb of Salt Lake City with a population of about 134,000.
Police had been called to the home on Monday by a concerned relative but nobody inside responded and officers looking through the windows found no sign of an emergency or crime, Vainuku said.
When the woman failed to show at work on Tuesday, relatives entered the home and found the 17-year-old wounded in the garage. Officers called to the scene entered the home and found the bodies, police said.
In January 2023, a 42-year-old Utah man whose wife had filed for divorce just before Christmas shot dead seven members of his family including his five children ranging in ages from 4 to 17 and then turned the gun on himself, said officials in the town of Enoch City in southwestern Utah.
Washington
Congressman-elect Cleo Fields discusses transition to Washington, D.C.
(KALB) – State Senator Cleo Fields is getting ready to head to Washington, D.C., as a newly elected U.S. congressman. Fields sat down with KALB’s Jay McCully to discuss his plans to represent Louisianans in Congress.
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