30 escaped monkeys captured in South Carolina, 13 remain on the loose

(NEW YORK) — With Election Day around the corner, American parents may be considering paying for childcare to ease the voting process. But in some states, heading to the polls while your child is being cared for can be free of charge.

In swing state North Carolina, 11-time Olympic track and field medalist Allyson Felix paired up with the nonprofit Chamber of Mothers to offer up to two hours of paid child care through Politisit.

In Western North Carolina, which was devastated by the impacts of Hurricane Helene, Politsit is offering parents reimbursement for up to a full day’s worth of childcare.

“You should never have to choose between your profession, your passions, and motherhood,” Felix said in a statement. “I’m honored to partner with Chamber of Mothers to tell moms that this election, you don’t have to choose between voting and motherhood. This election, you can do both.”

A Knight Foundation study released in 2020, which surveyed 12,000 non-voters, found that more than 60% of the most disconnected non-voters are women, and within that figure, many were single women with children.

For reimbursement, eligible parents can fill out this Politsit form and indicate how much the childcare will cost.

In California, the company Bumo, which offers education-based child care for children six months to six years of age, has donated $20,000 in free childcare services that are being offered in Los Angeles and San Francisco on Election Day.

Similarly, Los Angeles-based child care center Brella is offering up to a full day of free child care for kids three months to six years of age.

New York-based Vivvi child care centers are offering caregivers in New York City and Westchester who are headed to the polls a full day of free services.

Politisit and partner organizations are also offering free care opportunities in California, Houston, Texas, Chicago, Illinois, New York City and Brooklyn, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.

“Childcare is expensive and shouldn’t be a barrier to voting,” the organization said on its website, adding, “We believe that parents shouldn’t have to choose between voting and care for their children.”

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(WASHINGTON) — A “diverse set of actors” in the U.S. could use Monday’s one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel as an opportunity to “engage in violence or threaten public safety,” Department of Homeland Security and FBI officials warned on Wednesday, sources said, adding that the actors could specifically target Jewish, Muslim or Arab communities.

Law enforcement is particularly concerned about hoax threats targeting symbolic institutions or public gatherings, according to sources, although there is currently no credible threat that anything is going to happen.

Those places are “pretty attractive targets” if an extremist wanted to carry out an attack, officials said.

Actors with a range of motivations, including those who are antisemitic or Islamophobic, could be motivated to strike, especially with Al Queda and ISIS encouraging lone offenders to carry out attacks against the West, according to sources.

Foreign terrorist organizations online could escalate the threat of violence in the U.S., particularly targeting Jewish community institutions and U.S. officials who support Israel, sources said.

At the same time, it is unlikely that Hezbollah or Iran or its proxies would attack inside the U.S. homeland, sources said.

After the events of Oct. 7, hate crimes in the U.S. skyrocketed. Hate crimes continue to be the biggest threat to members of the Arab, Jewish and Muslim communities, officials warned.

Senior DHS and FBI officials are concerned that graphic images from the continuing conflict in the Middle East could contribute to radicalization, violence and even retaliatory attacks.

Sources also said that the FBI and DHS are “aware” that violence can occur at local protests.

Officials went into more detail about the threat that election officials face from domestic violent extremists.

White supremacists did make threats in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack, according to sources, and officials remain concerned they could be inspired to carry out an attack.

The FBI believes that the threat from domestic violent extremists could persist through the presidential inauguration in January.

Violent extremists could seek to use a range of violence or disruptive tactics against individuals and entities associated with the presidential election, including physical attacks, threats of violence, swatting and doxing, mailing or otherwise delivering suspicious items, arson and other means of property destruction, FBI officials said on a call with law enforcement partners that was described to ABC News.

Senior Official Performing the Duties of Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Kristie Canegallo said on the call that the threat environment is “volatile.”

Individuals who could be targeted include candidates for public office, elected officials, political party representatives, election workers, judicial personnel, participating in court cases related to the election media personnel and perceived ideological opponents, the FBI assesses, according to sources.

Domestic violent extremists could also target voting locations, ballot drop boxes, voter registration locations, political rallies, campaign events and political party offices, and could target the homes of public officials.

The concern from security officials is that domestic violent extremists continue to “promote and exploit” narratives about the election and that that could motivate some extremists to act upon grievances.

“Since the last presidential election, some of the most common social and political issues extremists have violently reacted to include immigration, LGBTQIA+ rights and abortion access,” an FBI official said, according to sources.

Some indicators, sources said, are suspicious behavior around the sites themselves, specific threats of violence, packages with excessive tape or postage stamps, photographing election related infrastructure and unfamiliar people around a certain site.

The warning comes as DHS on Wednesday issued its Homeland Security Threat Assessment that outlined threats facing the United States.

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(WASHINGTON) — A Russian fighter jet crossed the path of an American F-16 last week coming within 50 feet of the nose of the American jet, said North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which said the Russian pilot’s action “endangered all.”

NORAD released dramatic video on Monday that showed just how close the Russian fighter flew ahead of the American aircraft at a high rate of speed.

The close encounter occurred on Sept. 23 during a flurry of activity by Russian aircraft that over the span of several days had flown through the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) off of Alaska. The Alaska ADIZ is international airspace that stretches 150 miles from the Alaska coastline, but the U.S. requires that any aircraft transiting through it must identify themselves or be intercepted by NORAD aircraft.

On that day, two U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets were sent to intercept two Russian Tu-95 bombers and the two Su-35 fighter jets that were escorting them.

The video released by NORAD was taken from a camera mounted in the canopy of the F-16 aircraft providing a view of what the pilot was seeing as the fighter flew near one of the Russian bombers.

Suddenly one of the Russian jets entered the field of view at a high rate of speed coming at what NORAD said was within 50 feet of the American plane’s nose rolling to one side as it flew past.

The video then showed the F-16’s nose wobbling from left to right, either as the American fighter pilot flew through the Russian aircraft’s wake or the pilot maintained control of the aircraft after the close encounter.

“The conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all – not what you’d see in a professional air force,” said Gen. Gregory Guillot, NORAD’s top commander, in a comment posted on X.

A NORAD statement about the intercept that day did not provide any indication that NORAD aircraft had intercepted the Russian planes only detailing that it had “detected and tracked four Russian military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).”

“The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace,” said the release. “This Russian activity in the Alaska ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat.”

The close encounter capped two weeks of incidents where NORAD said it had detected and tracked the aircraft as they flew through the ADIZ.

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