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NYC Dem, Hochul aide under investigation over alleged migrant shelter bribes
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether a New York City Council member and her sister, a top aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul, accepted bribes or kickbacks tied to city funding steered to a migrant shelter provider, according to a search warrant obtained by The Associated Press.
The March 19 warrant seeks evidence of possible criminal conduct involving Councilmember Farah Louis, a Brooklyn Democrat; her sister, Debbie Louis, Hochul’s assistant secretary for New York City intergovernmental affairs; and Edu Hermelyn, husband of Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party.
A spokesperson for Hochul said Debbie Louis was placed on leave last week after the governor became aware of the federal corruption probe. Someone answering a phone number associated with Louis ended the call when asked by the AP about the investigation, and the AP reported messages left for Farah Louis and Hermelyn were not returned.
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According to the warrant, investigators are examining whether the three received benefits in exchange for actions taken on behalf of BHRAGS Home Care Inc., a Brooklyn nonprofit that historically provided in-home care for sick and elderly clients.
As New York City’s migrant influx intensified in 2022, BHRAGS broadened its work to include emergency shelter operations for asylum seekers and other homeless services. Since then, public records show the group has been awarded more than a dozen contracts worth upward of $200 million from the city’s Department of Homeless Services.
“This is political persecution driven by the far-right, targeting immigrants and the leaders who stand with them,” a political insider tied to Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn told the New York Post on Monday. “There are no charges at this time, and the facts will ultimately lead to this case being dropped on its merits.”
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An attorney for BHRAGS executive director Roberto Samedy declined to comment to the AP.
The warrant also seeks records of money transfers and communications involving Edouardo St. Fort, a former New York Police Department sergeant who retired in 2023. That same year, records indicate his firm, Fort NYC Security, secured a $3 million contract from the Department of Homeless Services. AP calls and emails seeking comment from St. Fort were not returned.
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The warrant’s existence does not mean charges are imminent. It indicates only that federal investigators convinced a judge they had sufficient grounds to search for and seize potential evidence.
The probe lands amid broader scrutiny over how New York City awarded emergency shelter contracts during the migrant crisis, when the arrival of tens of thousands of asylum seekers strained the city’s shelter system and prompted officials under then-Mayor Eric Adams to rapidly expand housing capacity through outside providers.
Some of those arrangements have drawn criticism from watchdogs and political opponents, who questioned the speed, scale and oversight of the contracting process.
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The figures named in the warrant are all connected to Brooklyn’s Democratic political establishment, which has been rocked by a series of ethics controversies in recent years.
Hermelyn, who once served as a senior adviser to Adams, stepped down after questions were raised about whether his role as a Brooklyn district leader conflicted with rules barring certain dual government positions. He also went on to advise former Gov. Andrew Cuomo during Cuomo’s unsuccessful mayoral campaign.
The Trump administration, led by fraud investigation czar VP JD Vance, has prioritized federal law enforcement investigations nationwide.
Just this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s Treasury Department announced it is offering whistleblowers a major financial incentive to help expose fraud, directing would-be tipsters to the Treasury.gov website, telling Fox News on Monday that the administration has already received more than 700 leads.
Treasury’s whistleblower page says eligible tipsters can receive between 10% and 30% of monetary sanctions collected for successful actions.
While Minnesota fraud among the state’s Somali community has made headlines thus far thanks to independent journalist Nick Shirley’s reporting, Bessent actually praised that state for having some level of transparency that is not permitted in California or New York.
“That’s why that young man, Nick Shirley, was able to go to see the scams, because it was: This is the name of the facility; this is the address; this is how much money they got,” Bessent said. “Oh look, it’s an empty storefront. There’s no one here. New York, California are hiding it.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Tiger Woods declines Ryder Cup captaincy after DUI, car crash
Team USA will not have Tiger woods as a captain at the next Ryder Cup, after Woods’ latest controversy.
Woods formally turned down the Ryder Cup captaincy Wednesday as he steps away from golf activities after he entered a not guilty plea to suspicion of driving under the influence. Woods’ SUV clipped the back of a trailer and flipped on its side last week on a residential road near his home on Jupiter Island, Florida.
The Ryder Cup decision by the PGA of America was not a surprise given the last five chaotic days involving Woods dating to his Friday arrest.
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“The PGA of America stands in full support of Tiger Woods as he steps away to focus on his health and well-being,” the statement said. “We commend Tiger for prioritizing his long-term health and deeply respect the courage it takes to make such a personal decision.”
The PGA of America added that Woods “has shared with us” that he will not be captain.
Woods posted a statement Tuesday night saying that he was stepping away indefinitely “to seek treatment and focus on my health.”
A motion filed Wednesday by his attorney, Douglas Duncan, asked a judge that Woods be allowed to travel outside the country to begin “comprehensive inpatient treatment.”
Duncan said the recommendation from Woods’ doctor was based on the golfer’s “complex clinical presentation and the urgent need for a level of care that cannot safely or effectively be done within the United States as his privacy has been repeatedly compromised.
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“Ongoing medical scrutiny and public exposure create significant barriers to his care and would result in setbacks and an inability to fully engage in treatment.”
Martin County Court Judge Darren Steele approved the motion, which did not say where the inpatient treatment facility was located.
Woods sought treatment at an inpatient facility in a Mississippi clinic in January 2010 after he was caught in a series of extramarital affairs, and his agent said he sought treatment at another inpatient clinic after his 2017 DUI arrest.
“I’m committed to taking the time needed to return in a healthier, stronger, and more focused place, both personally and professionally,” Woods said in his statement.
Woods also turned down an offer to be Ryder Cup captain last time, waiting until the early summer of 2024 to tell the PGA of America that he did not have the time. That led to Keegan Bradley being selected just over a year before the 2025 matches on New York’s Long Island, which Europe won.
Three players on the Ryder Cup committee — Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Bradley — are playing in the Masters, the first major of the year.
Luke Donald already has agreed to captain a third straight time for Europe, which has won the last two Ryder Cups. No captain has ever won three straight.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Fort Hood soldiers shift to underground training to prepare for battlefield medical care
This week, the 1st Medical Brigade of the III Armored Corps at Fort Hood, Texas, held a training exercise called “Operation Silver Lightning.”
The exercise, according to the 1st Medical Brigade, “is designed to simulate the challenges of providing advanced medical care in a contested, large-scale combat environment.”
Between March 23 and April 1, the 1st Medical Brigade employed the tactical arm of the Army Health System. Combat medics, optometrists, doctors, veterinarians, and other medical personnel simulated a mass casualty event in combat conditions in underground tunnels on the Fort Hood base.
This week, Fox News got an up-close look at how this training exercise was implemented.
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“So the medics have understood that you cannot set up a multi-tent field hospital that occupies four or five, up to 15 acres and provides that world-class care, above ground anymore,” said Col. Kamil Sztalkoper, director of public affairs for the III Armored Corps.
Sztalkoper said the shift is driven in part by drone warfare observed in the war in Ukraine.
“We have to disperse, number one. And then hide in plain sight, is number two. So dispersing is using multiple different kinds of locations. Hiding in plain sight could be in a building, a warehouse, or here. Using one of our unique training facilities that was designed in the 1940s. Utilized in the 1950s to house nuclear and atomic weapons,” Sztalkoper told Fox News.
The tunnels have since been decommissioned and cleaned out for use as a training facility — in this case, an underground field hospital. Sztalkoper said the several miles of tunnels are used as a “triage emergency room, operating room, vet, optometry [and] clinics,” allowing troops to avoid what he described as the growing drone threat observed in Ukraine.
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During this exercise, about 300 soldiers and role players portraying wounded troops ran through different evacuation and medical drills, with soldiers rushing the wounded from a helicopter to a military medical vehicle and then into the tunnels.
Combat medics are then trained to treat wounded soldiers, or, role players. Each of the wounded imitated the pain and symptoms of an injury that could happen on the battlefield.
“Really the dilemma for them is managing how they deal with all of this with what they have,” said Col. Brad Franklin, deputy commander of the 1st Medical Brigade.
Franklin, who also serves as a chief nurse, said he has experienced similar challenges in real-world operations.
“Knowing you don’t have enough people, you don’t have enough surgeons, you don’t have enough nurses, don’t have enough medics and there’s more patients than you can handle,” Franklin said. “So it’s forcing them to triage, reverse triage and take care of these casualties.”
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Aside from treatment for soldiers, K-9s and their handlers are also training in this exercise. Further down a dark tunnel, veterinarians work on a simulated wounded K-9, while the handler is being treated for simulated injuries across the room.
Lt. Col. Cynthia Fallness, commander of the 43rd Medical Detachment providing veterinary service support, said the personnel conducting this training are doctoral-level veterinarians.
“In this case, it is a traumatic fracture, a compound fracture of the hind limb. And the dog also has a chest wound and also, is having trouble breathing because there’s a traumatic injury to the mouth,” Fallness said.
“So these are our diesel dogs,” she said of the fake K-9 on the operating table.
Out of the dozens of combat medics training, one medic says his role in the military is more than just a job.
“My grandfather actually served in World War II as a combat medic,” William Rothwell, a combat medic with the 1st Medical Brigade, told Fox News. “He went into Normandy, I believe, after the push on Omaha Beach.”
Rothwell, a Boston native, never met his grandfather, but heard stories from his father.
“Which was just how brutal it was, how rough it was. Medicine back then wasn’t as great. So handling patients was somewhat traumatic.”
In this training, Rothwell is getting that real-world medical combat experience before stepping foot on a battlefield.
“The stories of how much he cared and was willing to go, you know, the mile and above to make sure that he can get his brothers home … really touched me,” Rothwell said. “So that’s kind of how I feel in this situation.”
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Local Dem leader says he was not ‘an aggressor’ after arrest for hitting man with bullhorn at ‘No Kings’ rally
The chair of the Hernando County, Florida, Democratic Party who was arrested for allegedly hitting a man in the head with a bullhorn during a “No Kings” protest, said that he did not act as an aggressor and did not escalate the confrontation.
Brian Stewart, 63, was charged with simple battery, a misdemeanor in Florida, and booked into the Hernando County Sheriff’s Detention Center after the incident in Spring Hill on Saturday. He was released later that day, records show.
Stewart said he is “not a violent person” and that the man he was accused of hitting — a disabled veteran identified as Thomas Michta in police reports — was harassing others at the demonstration “in an attempt to elicit a reaction.”
“This was a peaceful event attended by many members of the community,” Stewart told Fox News Digital.
“Unfortunately, an individual disrupted that environment and was harassing rally attendees in an attempt to elicit a reaction,” he continued. “At no point did I act as an aggressor. I am not a violent person, and I did not seek out or escalate any conflict. I never expected that I’d be accosted or need to defend myself as I did in that moment.”
The incident happened as demonstrators in Hernando County and across the country protested against the Trump administration’s policies.
Deputies responded at around 10:30 a.m. on Saturday to the intersection of Mariner and Cortez boulevards, where Stewart allegedly struck Michta in the head with a bullhorn.
Michta told deputies he was walking through the protest when he and Stewart became involved in an argument. He accused Stewart of striking him during the dispute and reported being in pain, with a visible lump on his head, according to an arrest affidavit, WTSP reported.
According to the affidavit, video footage captured by a witness and reviewed by deputies showed Stewart using a bullhorn to hit the man in the head and push him in the chest.
After reviewing the video, a witness’ statement and Stewart’s own admissions, deputies said they developed probable cause to believe Stewart intentionally hit the man and caused bodily harm, the affidavit says.
Stewart declined to comment further, saying his lawyers advised him not to make additional public statements.
“I have many more thoughts to share, but my lawyers advise that I should defer doing so until after the case has concluded,” Stewart told Fox News Digital. “Out of respect for the legal process and on the advice of counsel, I will not be commenting further on the specifics of the case at this time.”
Stewart is scheduled to appear in court on April 27.
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The Florida Democratic Party and the Hernando County chapter said in separate statements earlier this week that they “condemn violence.”
“We have been made aware that our Chair, Brian Stewart, was arrested after responding to a provocation from a local agitator who threw a drink on him and yelled obscenities at community members during a protest,” the Hernando County Democratic Party said in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times.
The Florida Republican Party called for Stewart to be removed as chair over the incident at the protest.
“Violence and political intimidation have no place in our state, and Floridians deserve better than mere silence from Democrat leadership. Nikki Fried must immediately remove Brian Stewart from his position of leadership in the Florida Democrat Party!” Florida GOP Chairman Evan Power said in a statement to WTSP.
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