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A beloved football coach, who was among four victims killed in a high school shooting in Barrow County, Georgia, on Wednesday morning, was remembered as a “leader of men” who passed on the “old-school ways” of the game to the children he coached.Ricky Aspinwall, a 39-year-old husband and father of two young daughters, taught math at Apalachee High School, where he was also the football team’s defensive coordinator. Mike Hancock, the school’s head football coach, told the Athens Banner-Herald that Aspinwall was “a great dad” who loved his wife and their two daughters and was also respected in the game of football.”He worked his tail off,” Hancock said. “He coached old-school ways, but he loved those kids. It’s heartbreaking really for our kids, but for his wife and his two daughters…”LIVE UPDATES: APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING VICTIMS IDENTIFIED, STUDENT SUSPECT WAS FLAGGED TO FBI LAST YEARAspinwall was killed when the alleged 14-year-old shooter opened fire inside the school. Math teacher Christina Irimie and students Mason Shermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, were also killed. Authorities said nine others were wounded in the shooting.The suspected shooter, a student at Apalachee High School, will be charged with murder and prosecuted as an adult, according to Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith.Hancock said Aspinwall was one of his first hires when he took over the Apalachee football program last year. Aspinwall previously coached football at Mountain View High School. The Mountain View football program posted a tribute to Aspinwall on social media.WHO IS THE ALLEGED GEORGIA SCHOOL SHOOTER? WHAT WE KNOW”With deepest sympathy we share that former MV secondary coach Ricky Aspinwall was tragically lost during the senseless act at a nearby high school today,” the post read. “Coach A was a beloved member of MVHS football and the school’s math department. We pray for Shayna and his girls.”The post shared a photo of Aspinwall, his wife and their two young daughters with the caption, “Coach Aspinwall was a leader of men, and a man you want to coach your kid. We love Coach A, and are praying for his wife Shayna and his girls at this time.”A GoFundMe has been set up to help Aspinwell’s family.”We are all in shock over the news that Ricky Aspinwall lost his life protecting his students,” a post on the fundraiser read.Local, state and federal law enforcement are continuing to investigate the shooting.Fox News’ Stepheny Price contributed to this report.



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Publish date : 2024-09-05 11:47:20

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The days are already getting a bit crisper and the first day of fall, September 22nd, is coming up fast.Millions of tourists flock to rustic New England in hopes of catching the best views of fall foliage.In 2023, 3.6 million people visited New Hampshire alone in the fall, according to the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs.10 ‘MOST FUN’ STATES IN AMERICA: DID YOUR FAVORITE MAKE THIS LIST?FOX Weather reported that foliage in the Northeast will have a delayed start due to warm temperatures but will be vibrant due to an over-abundance of precipitation.Heat waves occurring in late summer and early fall can delay the relaxation of chlorophyll production in trees, keeping leaves greener for longer into the season.In areas experiencing drought, the stress on trees can alter the timing of leaf shedding and lead to more muted colors.Dana Honor, travel magazine Visit New England publisher, told Fox News Digital via email that she hopes this year’s leaves have extra-vibrant colors.”The expectation is the peak will be the days leading up to Halloween in the northern and western-most points of the region and in the days following Halloween for more central, southern, and eastern areas,” Honor said.Visit New England has been advising travelers and tourists to discover the Northeast region since 1996. Honor said Vermont tends to be the most popular state for fall foliage, followed by New Hampshire and Maine. For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle “So far this year, we’re seeing Maine slightly outpace New Hampshire, but the season is still early,” Honor said.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTERWhile the top destinations tend to be the Green Mountains, Vermont, the White Mountains, New Hampshire, Western Maine and the Berkshires in Massachusetts, other spots in New England are also great for viewing fall foliage.”While hiking trails and bonfires are incredibly cozy during the cool fall nights, it’s also beautiful to escape to cities like Boston, Newport and Portland to experience the fall colors as you meander the streets or explore the coastline,” said Honor.Leaf peepers can take in the red, orange and yellow while driving through the region. Honor suggests experiencing road trips driving along Route 7, Upper Connecticut River Valley Loop, and the Castine and Penobscot Bay Loop.HERE ARE THE 10 HAPPIEST CITIES IN AMERICA, WITH SOME ‘ASTONISHING’ LOCATIONSThe Merritt Parkway, which connects New England to New York, is one of the oldest roads in the country, according to the Merritt Parkway Conservancy.The parkway is known for its scenic sprawling trees and unique bridges. “October is the time to head to New England to see some great color, with our best picks for October 12-15 in the more northern parts of New England and a bit later for southern areas,” a Farmers’ Almanac representative told Fox News Digital.Check out this list of six states and peak leaf viewing dates. October 12 to 28Inland: October 1 to 17Coastal: October 5 to 21Inland: October 5 to 21Coastal: October 12 to 28Inland: September 28 to October 9Coastal: October 5 to 21October 12 to 28Northern: September 24 to October 10Southern: October 5 to 14Andrew Wulfeck of FOX Weather contributed reporting. 



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Publish date : 2024-09-05 10:23:45

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For the second year in a row, Harvard University’s “abysmal” free speech climate earned it the lowest ranking among 251 colleges and universities scored by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).”This year, however, Harvard has company. Columbia University ranks 250, also with an overall score of 0.00,” reads the report released Thursday.New York University, University of Pennsylvania and Barnard College rounded out the bottom-five colleges, according to the report.STATE LIFTS ‘POLITICAL’ CLOTHING BAN AFTER RADIO HOST KICKED OUT OF CAPITOL GALLERY OUT OVER PRO-LIFE SHIRTFIRE, a pro-First Amendment nonprofit, worked with College Pulse to survey tens of thousands of students about the free speech environments on their college campuses for its annual College Free Speech Rankings.”We’re trying to provide an indication of where students can get the best experience in college in terms of being exposed to a diverse set of views,” FIRE’s chief research adviser Sean Stevens told Fox News Digital.A Barnard spokesperson told Fox News Digital the college is “committed to protecting academic freedom and freedom of expression, and to fostering environments where students, faculty, and staff can engage in open and respectful dialogue.”Barnard has adopted the Chicago Principles, a free speech policy previously endorsed by FIRE, and this school year a faculty committee will develop “a Barnard-specific framework,” the spokesperson continued.Harvard, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.WATCH MORE FOX NEWS DIGITAL ORIGINALS HEREThe universities that ranked poorly all experienced incidents in which speech was censored, suppressed or shouted down, Stevens said. Since FIRE started ranking schools in 2020, the bottom-five colleges and universities have been “consistently bad performers,” he added.”They rarely stand up for speech,” Stevens said. “When a controversy arises, the speech typically gets punished. A speaker gets disinvited. A faculty member gets sanctioned in some way, or a student or student organization does.”The poor performers share another notable trait, according to FIRE’s analysis.”Most of the students are very upset with how the administration has responded to protests over the past year,” Stevens said.NEW MEXICO POLICE CHIEF CLAIMS HE HAD CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO LEAVE HIS BODY CAM OFF AFTER CRASH: REPORTHamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the war that followed “sent shockwaves through American college and university campuses,” according to the FIRE report. Protesters occupied the South Lawn at Columbia for about two weeks in April before police broke up the encampment.After the start of the encampments, researchers noticed a large increase in the percentage of Columbia students who said they self-censor in classroom discussions or in conversations with professors or other students.At the other end of the free speech spectrum, the University of Virginia earned the top ranking. Michigan Technological University, Florida State University, Eastern Kentucky University and Georgia Institute of Technology rounded out the top five.The full rankings can be viewed here.Stevens noted that the schools that performed well tended to have fewer controversies overall and, when controversies did arise, administrators typically defended speech rights.He said he hopes parents and prospective students use FIRE’s ranking tool to make better-informed choices. The tool also provides a look at the liberal-conservative ratio on campuses, and a deeper look at student attitudes toward free expression.”Experiencing open inquiry and that process, having to grapple and have their views challenged” sets students up to be better “adult citizens in our country, once they graduate,” Stevens said.FIRE and College Pulse surveyed students at 257 schools in total, but excluded six from the main rankings and gave them “warning” ratings.The private colleges, which include Pepperdine University, Hillsdale College, and Brigham Young University, all “have policies that clearly and consistently state” that they prioritize “other values over a commitment to freedom of speech,” according to the FIRE report. 



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Publish date : 2024-09-05 09:00:32

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As Colorado combats rising gang violence from illegal immigration, six counties are suing the state over a law they say hobbles their ability to tackle migrant crime.Those counties are battling a state law that prohibits local law enforcement from communicating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The issue is boiling over in the region as at least one Denver suburb is seeing an unprecedented influx of transnational gang activity and armed migrants were recently seen taking over an apartment complex.El Paso, Elbert, Garfield, Mesa and Rio Blanco counties joined Douglas County in a lawsuit against the state and its governor in April. They argue that HB119-1124, which prohibits local governments from cooperating with the federal government for immigration enforcement, violates the state constitution and is in violation of the U.S. Supremacy Clause, which outlaws state laws from violating federal ones.”Our local law enforcement would like the ability to communicate with local immigration officials,” Douglas County Commissioner Abe Laydon said. “We have been apprised that there has absolutely been an increase in property crimes, assault and trafficking, and it’s specific issues with the cartels coming out of Venezuela.””[Colorado has] rendered us feeling like we don’t have the tools necessary, and that’s incredibly frustrating,” El Paso County Commissioner Carrie Geitner said.SANCTUARY CITY’S POLICIES PUSH VIOLENT MIGRANT GANG INTO SUBURBS: ‘IT’S A NATIONWIDE PROBLEM’In 2019, the bill passed through the state’s House of Representatives, 36-28, with nearly every Republican representative voting nay. Several Democrats also opposed the bill.That May, the bill passed through the state Senate in another party-line vote and into law, 20-15, with one Democrat also opposing.The counties also argue against HB23-1100, which prohibits local governments from entering into intergovernmental agreements with ICE or another federal body to get around the law. This law was enacted after nearby Teller County, which is not involved in the suit, entered a 287 (g) agreement with ICE to hold migrants arrested there. Colorado’s appeals court ruled the practice illegal under state law. “Even before we decided to get into this lawsuit, we had encouraged Denver to consider what they might be attracting to our area,” Geitner told Fox News Digital. “It’s a huge concern. We’re watching it trickle out, and we’ve been ringing the alarm bells on this for the last couple years.”Officials in Aurora, a city within Douglas County nine miles east of Denver, previously told Fox News Digital that the notorious Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua had developed a strong foothold in their community, putting “entire apartment complexes under gang control.”Days later, video went viral of armed members of the gang storming an Aurora apartment complex just before a shoot-out occurred in the parking lot.AFTER VIDEO OF ARMED VENEZUELAN GANG SHARED BY LOCAL OFFICIAL GOES VIRAL, COLORADO CITY TAKES ACTION”Parts of the city are absolutely under this gang control. The local media is downplaying this,” Aurora City Council member Danielle Jurinsky said. “I believe politics is being played with people’s lives. … Nothing is being done to help the American citizens that are being trapped under this gang’s control.”The handful of red counties suing Colorado don’t share the sanctuary city policies that brought more than 40,000 migrants to Denver, and several instituted their own laws in an effort to barricade themselves against migrant populations expanding outward. Douglas County, for example, outlawed unscheduled buses from stopping in their community, threatening to fine each bus up to $1,000.”We feel that it simply doesn’t make any sense for a law enforcement agency to not have the ability to work with any other law enforcement agency but then have a restriction on our ability to work with immigration,” El Paso County Commissioner Stan VanderWerf said of his county’s decision to join the lawsuit.AURORA POLICE REACT TO ALLEGED VENEZUELAN GANG PRESENCE AT APARTMENTS: ‘HAVE NOT TAKEN OVER'”It’s been decades and decades and decades of working with them just to help a community be safer. Then this law was passed, and it simply makes no sense to us – we don’t think it’s appropriate.”VanderWerf told Fox News Digital that in one instance, a man arrested on probable cause for child molestation was found to be an illegal immigrant. “What used to happen before was that they would communicate with ICE and ICE would issue a warrant for a hold. Then we would hold that person until ICE could come to our jail, and they could pick them up,” VanderWerf said.”Instead, [this person] went to a hearing and a judge set bail. This person paid that bail and then was released. He has disappeared. We have no idea where that person is. That person is not re-engaging with law enforcement.”Geitner told Fox News Digital that although it is “frustrating” to see Aurora’s gang problem in national news headlines after years of warning Denver of this sort of outcome, it is also “encouraging” that people are being shown “what is going on.” “The local media doesn’t want to cover a lot of what’s been happening [with migrant crime],” she said. “We have local media that still have not acknowledged the problems that have been created.”It’s incredibly frustrating to be in a state where our state government is completely ignoring reality. We have been telling our state government this is very problematic. I hope that they will take note. I don’t have a lot of confidence. We are seeing the leadership in our state not wanting to accept reality.””People need to know what’s happening, they need to know the effects of these policies. We’re asking our states, we’re asking our federal government, please fix the border, please fix the problem,” Geitner said, adding that she “never thought we’d be having a discussion about the effects of having an open border in our community” when she took office in 2018.Democrat Gov. Jared Polis could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit.Chris Swecker, the former head of the FBI’s criminal investigation division, previously told Fox News Digital that this influx of gang members was “predictable and preventable” and that federal law enforcement agencies would be needed to combat it.”At this point, federal agencies should get involved,” he added. “The bureau has to get involved with ATF and DEA, share their intelligence and approach this as an international crime problem.”



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Publish date : 2024-09-05 08:00:08

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Vice President Kamala Harris’ interview drought finally ended last week, but after 46 days as the presumptive and now official Democratic nominee for president, she has yet to hold an official press conference.Under pressure to sit down for a substantive interview after weeks of stonewalling, she agreed to a sit-down with CNN’s Dana Bash last Thursday in Georgia, joined by running mate Tim Walz.Harris defended some of her noted policy flip-flops on issues like fracking and immigration, saying her “values” hadn’t changed. She was also pressed on whether she had regrets about defending President Biden’s mental acuity after his debate, given he dropped out of the race less than a month later. She also said she wanted to “turn the page on the last decade of what I believe has been contrary to where the spirit of our country really lies.”Bash pointed out Harris had been vice president for three-and-a-half of those years, but Harris countered she meant moving on from this “era,” seemingly referring to the political rise of Donald Trump that began in 2015.HARRIS CLAIMS SHE ‘MADE CLEAR’ HER POSITION ON FRACKING IN 2020 – TRANSCRIPT SHOWS ANOTHER STORYFollowing Harris’ first sit-down interview, NBC News Washington correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, who is known for her glowing Biden-Harris coverage, appeared unimpressed. “Harris keeps saying ‘my values haven’t changed’ while not explaining why her positions have changed,” Alcindor wrote. As to when she’ll actually do a formal press conference, that day may never come. Sunday marked exactly six weeks since Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris; no other Democrat challenged her and she quickly wrapped up the nomination from there.”You will not see one press conference from her in the next 75 days until Election Day,” Fox News contributor Joe Concha predicted earlier this month.NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck feels the vice president “obviously owes it to the American people to hold free-wheeling press conferences where reporters can, unlike what happened [Thursday] with CNN’s Dana Bash, ask follow-up questions.””For every softball from, say, ABC or NPR, you’ll hope a liberal journalist will show some courage to do the right thing,” Houck told Fox News Digital. “The interview itself had a positive atmosphere. From the get-go in the hype video-like opening by Bash, CNN put forward a perception that this was an event, not a grinding fact-finding mission,” Houck continued. “She missed a litany of topics with Harris. Allowing death row inmates to vote, closing ICE, defunding the police, ending private insurance, girl’s sports, the filibuster, Jussie Smollett, the Minneapolis bail fund, systemic racism… those were just a few of the areas she could have touched on.”Former President Trump has sought to highlight the contrast in media availability between the two, sitting for several lengthy interviews in recent weeks and also holding a pair of press conferences.Harris received mixed reviews for her showing on Thursday with Bash, where she took the majority of the questions but nevertheless had Walz there for support.One point that received praise from liberals was her pointed dismissal of a question about Trump’s suggestion that she didn’t embrace being Black until adulthood. Calling attacks around race from Trump a tired “playbook,” she told Bash to move on to the next question.But conservative CNN commentator Scott Jennings said the Trump campaign should be “salivating” over one of the revelations from the interview, which appeared to be her embrace of so-called “Bidenomics.””She is making it clear that she will embrace and be a continuation of Biden’s economic policy — his record — what they’ve done,” he said. “She offered no remorse, no regrets, no introspection about anything they’ve done.”HUCKABEE SANDERS BLASTS HARRIS FOR DOING JOINT INTERVIEW WITH WALZ: CAN’T DO IT ‘BY HERSELF’By doing the interview, Harris met the bar she set three weeks ago that she wanted to schedule one by the end of the month. Whether pressure will grow for her to do more, and also her first solo interview as a candidate, remains to be seen.”My fear is, because Bash wasn’t like, say, CBS’s Steve Kroft or NPR’s Steve Inskeep salivating at the sight of Barack Obama, the liberal media will claim this and the upcoming ABC debate are sufficient interview time for the campaign,” Houck said.Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 



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Publish date : 2024-09-05 04:07:48

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