00:00Children, gunned down inside a Minneapolis Catholic school mass.
00:05Don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now.
00:08These kids were literally praying.
00:10Two dead, 17 hurt, and the gunman's disturbing manifesto.
00:15Plus a power struggle at the CDC.
00:17The new director refuses to be fired over vaccines.
00:20Why her lawyers say she's not going anywhere.
00:23And alligator Alcatraz empties, but the Trump administration is vowing to appeal.
00:30The stories that matter, clear and credible, from across the country to around the world.
00:36These are your unbiased updates from Straight Arrow News.
00:41Good morning, I'm Craig DeGrelli.
00:43We begin in Minneapolis, where a city is still reeling from horror inside a Catholic church,
00:49where children were simply praying at Mass.
00:52It happened yesterday morning at Annunciation Catholic School,
00:55where the Mass was to celebrate the beginning of the new school year.
00:59A gunman opened fire through the stained glass windows.
01:02Two children, just 8 and 10 years old, were killed.
01:0517 others wounded, most of them kids.
01:09The shooter identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, who died from a self-inflicted wound.
01:14Federal officials refer to Westman as transgender, though the gender identity was not clear.
01:19Court records show a 2020 petition, signed by Westman's mother,
01:23to change his name from Robert to Robin, said the petitioner identifies as female.
01:29Police say Westman had no criminal history, but left behind a notebook and videos
01:33revealing a fixation on mass shootings.
01:36We know we have a total of 19 victims from this tragedy.
01:41Two were young children, ages 8 and 10, that were sitting in the pews at Mass when they were shot and killed.
01:49They were pronounced deceased on the scene.
01:52There were another 14 children, between the ages of 6 and 15, that were injured by gunfire.
01:59The coward that shot these victims took his own life in the rear of the church.
02:03The scene was devastating.
02:07Children hiding in pews, parents rushing to embrace them afterwards.
02:11Some children were shielded by teachers, even by their classmates.
02:15These were Minneapolis families.
02:17These were American families.
02:20And the amount of pain that they are suffering right now is extraordinary.
02:26Don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now.
02:29These kids were literally praying.
02:30It was the first week of school.
02:34They were in a church.
02:36This morning, flags are at half-staff nationwide.
02:39Governor Tim Wall is calling it a day no community should have to endure.
02:44It's Minnesota's day today.
02:46And it's my strongest desire that no state, no community, no school ever experiences a day like this.
02:54Investigators say they're still searching for a motive, but evidence shows Westman elaborately planned the attack.
03:01A hand-drawn diagram you see here matched the layout of the church, and he barricaded a few of the church doors.
03:08Authorities also recovered a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol.
03:12Annunciation Catholic School remains closed today.
03:15The FBI is now investigating the mass shooting as a possible hate crime against Catholics and domestic terrorism.
03:22The CDC is in turmoil this morning, and now the director, Susan Minares, is refusing to leave.
03:29Confirmed just last month, she was declared out last night by the White House after clashing with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
03:36over COVID vaccine policy.
03:39HHS posted on X that she was no longer director, but Minares is defying the order.
03:45Her lawyers call it a political firing, saying she refused to rubber stamp unscientific, reckless directives.
03:52She chose protecting the public over a political agenda.
03:56For that, she has been targeted.
03:58The White House insists she's been terminated, calling her not aligned with the president's health agenda.
04:03But her attorneys argue only the president can remove a Senate-confirmed director, and until he does, she remains in charge.
04:11Already four top CDC officials have resigned in protest, including the agency's chief medical officer, warning that public health is being weaponized.
04:20Under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the administration has fired advisory boards and cut funding for MRNA research.
04:26In a related topic, public health, new COVID shot guidelines are out this morning, and the window just got a lot narrower.
04:35The FDA now says only high-risk groups should routinely get the updated shot.
04:40That means adults 65 and over, and children with at least one underlying condition.
04:46Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. celebrated the move on X,
04:50calling it science, safety, and common sense, and declaring the days of Biden's general mandate over.
04:57Doctors can still prescribe the vaccine to others outside those groups, but they won't be able to simply walk into a pharmacy and get it.
05:04And it's unclear whether insurance will cover the cost for anyone not recommended.
05:09The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics called the titer guidelines deeply troubling.
05:14The next step, a CDC vaccine panel weighs in before issuing final recommendations on who should get the shot.
05:22Across the world this morning, Kiev is reeling after one of the largest Russian strikes on Ukraine in months.
05:29At least 12 people killed and dozens more injured.
05:32Ukraine's Air Force says the Kremlin launched nearly 600 drone strikes, decoys, and 31 missiles across the country,
05:40calling it one of Russia's biggest air attacks yet.
05:42Defense forces managed to shoot down more than 560 drones and 26 missiles, but others slipped through, hitting the capital.
05:50You see some of the aftermath there.
05:52President Zelensky, in a post on X, said the strikes prove Moscow has no interest in peace,
05:58urging world leaders who have called for negotiations to, quote,
06:01take principled positions rather than stay silent.
06:04Meanwhile, Russia claims it intercepted more than 100 Ukrainian drones overnight.
06:09The Trump administration is now emptying out the controversial immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades,
06:17better known as Alligator Alcatraz.
06:19The move follows a federal judge's ruling that parts of the facility must be dismantled over environmental concerns.
06:26Homeland Security says detainees are being transferred elsewhere, but insists it will fight the decision,
06:32calling it, quote, another attempt to stop the president from removing the worst of the worst.
06:38The administration had asked to keep the center open during its appeal,
06:42but a U.S. district judge rejected that request late Tuesday, saying they failed to offer any new justification.
06:49Finally this morning, Florida's new secret weapon against invasive pythons, robot rabbits.
06:56Yes, really. The Everglades are overrun with Burmese pythons, so many that Florida holds an annual python hunt.
07:04That's actually a thing. Now scientists at the University of Florida are joining the fight with technology.
07:11The fluffy-looking little critters are not pets.
07:14They're remote-controlled rabbit decoys, tricked to give off heat, smell, and movement,
07:20just enough to lure a hungry python out of hiding.
07:23The Burmese python has decimated a lot of our native wildlife in the Everglades,
07:30and so this is really an emergency situation for our native wildlife,
07:35and that's why we're trying to manage a species.
07:38This summer, researchers deployed about 120 of the bunny bots as a test run.
07:44It's too early to call it a game-changer, but officials say early results look promising, so that's good.
07:49And the hunt is still on in the Everglades, only now it's man and technology versus nature.
07:56Yikes. I used to live in Florida. I mean, it's a big deal.
07:59People take time off, they get on airboats, they get all this apparatus, these big bow and arrows,
08:05and they go to the Everglades and try to hunt these pythons.
08:07And, I mean, you're watching, it's like you're watching a scary movie.
08:13Yikes, I told you, it's a true thing.
08:15All right, before we head out, here's what we're tracking today.
08:18At 10 this morning, the Reverend Al Sharpton leads a march to Wall Street,
08:21pressuring corporate America to resist President Trump's rollback of DEI policies.
08:26Then at 1, a hearing in Idaho, where the mother of a murder victim, Madison Mogan,
08:31is asking a judge to keep certain crime scene photos sealed in the Brian Kohlberger case.
08:37At 3, Mississippi officials will unveil newly discovered artifacts in the historic Emmett Till murder case.
08:43And tonight, the wake begins for Frank Caprio, the beloved judge remembered for his compassion and empathy.
08:50He died last week at 88. His funeral mass is tomorrow.
Be the first to comment