(ORLANDO, Fla.) — The woman was paddling at Tiger Creek Preserve in Polk County at the time of the incident on Monday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.
She was taken to a hospital in unknown condition to be treated for her injuries, the agency said.
A trapper was sent to the scene to remove the alligator, the commission said. The preserve is about 65 miles south of Orlando.
The commission said serious injuries from alligators are rare in Florida.
To stay safe from alligators, the agency recommends swimming only in designated areas during the day and keeping pets on a leash and away from the edge of water.
(YORK HARBOR, MAINE) — A 3.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of New England on Monday morning with shaking felt in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and an hour away in Boston.
The quake was centered 10 kilometers southeast of York Harbor, Maine.
Homes and businesses in Concord, Massachusetts, reporting feeling the quake, according to local police.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
A Tajik national living in Brooklyn was arrested on charges he conspired to support the Islamic State and its offshoot in Central Asia, ISIS-K, by providing tens of thousands of dollars to ISIS followers in Turkey and Syria, Feb. 26, 2024. Image via U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York
(NEW YORK) — A Tajik national living in Brooklyn was arrested Wednesday on charges he conspired to support the Islamic State and its offshoot in Central Asia, ISIS-K, by providing tens of thousands of dollars to ISIS followers in Turkey and Syria.
Mansuri Manuchekhri is also charged with possessing a firearm while unlawfully in the United States and immigration fraud. The FBI said he entered the United States in June 2016 on a nonimmigrant tourist visa and remained after his visa expired in December 2016
According to the criminal complaint, Manuchekhri facilitated $70,000 in payments to ISIS-affiliated individuals in Turkey and Syria, including to an individual who was later arrested by Turkish authorities for his alleged involvement in a January 2024 terrorist attack on a church in Istanbul for which ISIS-K publicly claimed responsibility.
The complaint said the individual sent a photo of Syrian currency to Manuchekhri to confirm it had been received.
Manuchekhri also frequently trained on firearms and sent videos of himself firing assault rifles to an ISIS affiliate in Turkey, on one occasion with the message, “Thank God, I am ready, brother,” and on another occasion with the message, “Praise be upon God. . . . Brother, I go for training at least once or twice a week,” the complaint said.
A close relative called the New York State Terrorism Tips Hotline to express concern Manuchekhri might commit acts of violence, the FBI said.
In an arraignment in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy ordered Manuchekhri held pending trial.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order that would strip schools of federal aid if they mandate COVID vaccines, a pool report said — a largely symbolic move considering that no states currently require them.
The order applies to students and not to teachers or staff.
In a fact sheet provided to reporters, the White House said the order was necessary because COVID vaccine mandates were “threatening educational opportunities for students.”
“Parents are being forced into a difficult position: comply with a controversial mandate or risk their child’s educational future,” the White House wrote.
Some states and cities had proposed COVID vaccine mandates after the pandemic, including California, but quickly dropped them due to pushback from parents.
Trump’s directive also calls on Health an Humans Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the incoming Education secretary to “provide a plan to end coercive COVID-19 vaccine mandates” and report back on the compliance of schools.
One open question is whether the new administration could opt to go beyond COVID vaccines and put pressure on schools to drop requirements for other vaccines.
Currently, all 50 states mandate that students receive certain vaccinations, including to prevent the measles. Many states, however, offer religious exemptions.
Trump campaigned on ending all vaccine and mask mandates.
“I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate,” Trump declared last August.
According to a White House fact sheet, the order also applies to education service agencies, state education agencies, and local education agencies.
