Two teenagers were arrested for allegedly shooting seven people and killing five in a crime spree over the weekend.

Illinois State Police said all of the victims were related to the 15-year-old girl, who has been charged as a juvenile. Ja’ymier Davis, 16, of East Saint Louis was arrested and is being charged as an adult.

‘It’s all because y’all wanted to be together, so … they wanted to eliminate everybody that had a problem with the situation.’

The investigation began after human remains were reported on Sunday at the Samuel Gompers Homes public housing complex, according to Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly at a press conference.

Three victims were shot and killed at that location, while two others were shot and killed at two separate locations at Jones Park and 39th and Summit streets. Two others were shot at Jones Park and transported with serious injuries to a hospital.

The husband of one of the survivors spoke to KSDK-TV and said the couple had posted a “hit list” on Instagram.

“It’s all because y’all wanted to be together, so … they wanted to eliminate everybody that had a problem with the situation,” Lamarian Smiley said.

He said his wife was one of the victims but that the pair had run out of bullets and were unable to kill her.

The alleged killers also cut off one of the thumbs of the girl’s 74-year-old grandmother, Patricia A. May.

Smiley also said that the gun used in the spree was stolen from the girl’s mother.

“Her daughter took the keys from her purse, unlocked the lockbox, and took the firearm,” he added. “The police were notified as soon as they found out that the firearm was taken.”

The St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office says it’s requesting the 15-year-old suspect be charged as an adult as well.

RELATED: ‘Those children were hunted down and killed’: Oklahoma police stunned by family massacre where 10-year-old boy was unharmed

Smiley indicated that be believes mental illness was to blame.

East St. Louis is a city of about 18,500 residents located in the southwest part of the state.

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​Murder spree, Illinois crime, Juvenile murder, Family murder, Crime 

The ink will not even be dry on the final 2026 midterm ballots before Washington turns to the next race: the battle for the White House in 2028.

Election Day ends November 3. By the morning of November 4, the campaign for America’s next president will already be under way.

There is one rule every VP nominee must follow: Do not become the story. The job is to amplify the presidential candidate, not compete with him.

The biggest names — Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio among them — will dominate early speculation. But the more interesting question may be the second spot on the ticket.

Vice presidential picks are no longer afterthoughts. Gone are the days when running mates were chosen simply to “balance the ticket.” Today’s contenders are expected to serve as attack dogs, media stars, policy messengers, fundraising powerhouses, and trusted governing partners.

They must energize the base, reassure swing voters, and be ready to step into the Oval Office if necessary.

Which running mate gives the Republican nominee the greatest advantage?

The answer will not be about geography alone. It will be about chemistry, fundraising, media skill, governing experience, and the ability to help win the handful of battleground states likely to decide another close election.

Several Republicans are already generating early speculation.

Andy Ogles — Tennessee, 11 electoral votes

Ogles belongs at the top of the watch list.

The Trump-endorsed Tennessee congressman has built a reputation as one of the House’s most outspoken conservatives, championing limited government and an unapologetic defense of Trump-era policies.

Ogles pairs an easygoing manner with hard-line positions. He has become a familiar figure in congressional battles over immigration, federal spending, election integrity, and cultural issues.

As chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, Ogles also works on an issue likely to grow more important in future campaigns.

Tennessee is safely Republican, so his value would lie less in changing the Electoral College map than in energizing conservatives across other states.

Byron Donalds — Florida, 30 electoral votes

Donalds combines strong media skills with a compelling personal story and growing national recognition.

Frequently mentioned as a leading contender in Florida’s 2026 gubernatorial race, the Florida congressman has become one of the Republican Party’s most visible communicators. Supporters argue that his appeal extends beyond the party’s traditional coalition, making him one of the GOP’s fastest-rising figures.

With Florida’s 30 electoral votes already central to any Republican path to the White House, Donalds would bring both state-level strength and national media reach. His New York roots also have some Republicans wondering whether he could help the party make inroads with voters in the Northeast.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders — Arkansas, 6 electoral votes

Sanders brings executive experience and years in the national spotlight.

The Arkansas governor first became a national figure as White House press secretary, then returned home to lead a reliably Republican state. Her familiarity with the Trump movement, fundraising network, and communications experience continue to make her a frequently mentioned possibility for a future Republican ticket.

Arkansas’ six electoral votes are not in doubt. Sanders’ value would come from her executive résumé, conservative credibility, and ability to speak directly to the Trump coalition.

Her appearances at high-profile fundraising events, including in Palm Beach, have only fueled speculation about her national ambitions.

Tim Scott — South Carolina, 9 electoral votes

Scott has built his national profile around economic opportunity, education, faith, and conservative policy priorities.

After his 2024 presidential campaign, the South Carolina senator remains a respected figure within the party and has continued expanding his national profile.

South Carolina’s nine electoral votes are safely Republican. Scott’s appeal would lie less in delivering his home state than in his optimistic message, donor network, and ability to broaden the ticket’s tone without abandoning conservative priorities.

RELATED: Trump to address declassified intel revelations about 2020 foreign interference: Report

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The Trump name may not be leaving the stage

Another variable remains impossible to ignore: the Trump political brand.

Donald Trump Jr.’s name continues to circulate among supporters and commentators as a potential future candidate. Although he has repeatedly said he is focused on advancing the America First movement rather than seeking office himself, his national profile, fundraising network, and loyal following keep him in nearly every early conversation about 2028.

Unlike many political heirs, Trump Jr. has spent years campaigning across the country, building relationships with conservative activists, appearing regularly in conservative media, and becoming one of the Republican Party’s most recognizable surrogates.

Whether he ultimately seeks the presidency, accepts a vice presidential nomination, or remains one of the party’s most influential campaign voices, his involvement would almost certainly keep the Trump family’s political movement at the center of Republican politics.

There is one rule every VP nominee must follow: Do not become the story. The job is to amplify the presidential candidate, not compete with him.

In a country where elections are often decided by razor-thin margins in a handful of battleground states, even a small advantage can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

​Arkansas, Electoral votes, Jd vance, Marco rubio, Presidential candidate, South carolina, Swing voters, Tennessee, Vice president, Running mate, Gop, 2028 election, Opinion & analysis 

On Saturday, July 11, longtime Republican U.S. Senator from South Carolina Lindsey Graham died at the age of 71. He passed away suddenly from an aortic dissection shortly after returning from a trip to Ukraine.

When he saw the news, Glenn Beck was troubled — but not because he’s a fan of Graham’s or even because death is a sad reality. He was disturbed because once again many people, including conservatives, were celebrating the tragic news.

“I haven’t agreed with Lindsey Graham in a very long time — not on the wars, not on the surveillance state, not on a dozen deals. I thought he sold out the people that elected and sent him there,” Glenn admits.

“I wanted South Carolina to retire him, but at the ballot box. … We settle things with paper and not with blood,” he emphasizes.

Right now, many Americans on both sides of the political aisle have blurred the line between loss and death.

“Lindsey Graham didn’t lose; he died — and those are not the same thing. … Stop celebrating death, America, as if it’s a political victory. It’s grotesque,” Glenn says.

“I am not going to reduce an entire man’s life to whether or not we agreed. What a dishonor. What a dishonor — not to his family or to him, to yourself,” he continues.

While Graham’s legacy is complicated, it’s full of admirable moments, Glenn argues.

Graham came from humble beginnings, was the first person in his family to attend college, and lost both his parents to tragic deaths when he was in his early 20s.

At the age of 22, Graham, the new “man of his family,” drove home nearly every weekend from Columbia University to check on his little sister, Darline.

“And when he joined the Air Force, he did something incredible. He legally adopted his sister. Why? There’s no fame in that. … He adopted her so that if he died in the military, his benefits would go to her,” Glenn adds through tears.

In 2009, Graham was the only Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote in favor of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation. A year later, he did the same for Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.

Glenn says Graham was “right” to vote in favor of these liberal judges he personally disagreed with and praises him for being the only one who understood that a Senate confirmation is an “anti-corruption device” designed to prevent a president from “appointing his relatives or his cronies or his flatterers.”

“It was never meant to be a second election. Lindsey Graham understood this, … and he did what he felt was required of him, and it cost him politically,” Glenn explains.

But his favorite Graham moment happened in 2018 during Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing. Graham passionately ripped into Senate Democrats, calling the process “the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics” for what he saw as a smear campaign to destroy Kavanaugh’s life and delay the seat until after the midterms.

“This is what a human being looks like when you write him down. It’s not a hero or a villain. It’s a ledger. There’s ink on both sides of the page,” Glenn says, “and if you think your page is going to come out any cleaner, I’d encourage you to go back and look at those pages of your life.”

He then gives Graham the honor he’s owed.

“Three decades in the uniform of the United States. Brother, guardian, father, in fact, to a 13-year-old girl who had nobody else. Lindsey Graham, I salute you. Thank you for your service to your state, to your service for your country.”

To hear more of Glenn’s commentary, watch the video above.

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Thousands of Americans are getting infected with the cyclospora parasite, and health officials are looking at Taco Bell as one possible source of the uncomfortable outbreak.

The Mexican fast-food chain reportedly stopped serving some fresh ingredients at some of its locations, and the Washington Post reported that federal and state health officials are now probing the chain.

‘FDA certainly is continuing its traceback investigation on multiple produce items, also including locations that are reported by the case patients.’

The parasite can infect hosts who eat contaminated produce and may cause weeks of watery diarrhea and “frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On Tuesday, Taco Bell issued a statement saying that it had “voluntarily and temporarily removed limited ingredients” at some restaurants “as a precautionary measure.”

The chain added that it would continue to monitor the situation and “follow the guidance of public health authorities.”

Donald Prater, the acting deputy commissioner for food at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, would not confirm if Taco Bell is being investigated.

“FDA certainly is continuing its traceback investigation on multiple produce items, also including locations that are reported by the case patients before they became sick,” he said.

Officials outlined several steps people can take to avoid the discomforting parasite:

Heating food to 158 degrees F or above to kill the parasite;Peeling produce to reduce the chance of infection from the parasite being present on the surface; andWashing all fresh produce under clean running water, even if you plan on peeling it, and whether or not it was pre-washed.

RELATED: As many as 59 women were exposed to HIV infection over ‘vampire facials’ and Botox injections, health officials say

Those who believe they may be coming down with the sickness are advised to contact health officials and specifically ask for the cyclospora test.

Cyclospora infections can be treated with antibiotics, rest, and plenty of hydration.

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​Centers for disease control, Health officials, Taco bell, Cyclospora parasite, Diarrhea, Politics 

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett related how her home and family were the target of a swatting report during congressional testimony on Tuesday.

Police reports from an incident in May involving a “high-priority resident” in Washington, D.C., led to media conjecture that Barrett had been the target of a swatting report.

‘One of my teenage sons opened the door to go out with friends and saw in our street, it was full of police cars who had responded to a false report of gunshots.’

The Supreme Court is asking Congress to increase funding for security in response to a surge in threats against the justices. Barrett and Elena Kagan appeared in front of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government in support of the funds.

“Maybe I lack imagination, but I didn’t expect that performing this service was going to put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was and why I had to wear one,” Barrett said.

She told Congress that police responded to her home on the hoax shooting call but that her security detail defused the situation.

“One of my teenage sons opened the door to go out with friends and saw in our street, it was full of police cars who had responded to a false report of gunshots and raised voices in my home,” she continued.

“I was very, very grateful that I had Supreme Court police outside my home because they were able to stop and meet with and explain to the county police that it had been a false alarm, and so the police did not actually attempt to enter our home,” Barrett added.

The Supreme Court is asking for $228.4 million in funding from Congress, an increase of $20.5 million compared to last year.

RELATED: Romanian man pleads guilty to orchestrating ‘swatting’ campaign against US lawmakers, including an ex-president

According to NBC’s report, members of Congress appeared to be receptive to the justices’ testimony, as they have also been targets of threats.

In one alarming incident, a transgender-identifying man was caught with a gun and what appeared to be kidnapping paraphernalia outside the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

The U.S. Marshals Service said there have been 370 threats against federal judges since Oct. 2025.

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​Amy coney barrett, Us supreme court, Political threats, Political violence, Swatting attacks, Politics 

After a month of silence, Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office shared a statement alongside a proof of life photograph of McConnell sitting in what appears to be a hospital bed alongside his wife while holding this Sunday’s Washington Post newspaper.

McConnell shared that he had fallen and had to deal with a “mild case of pneumonia.”

“My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion,” the statement read. “I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital.”

BlazeTV host Steve Deace isn’t totally buying McConnell’s story, calling the photo “fascinating.”

“I mean, you typically, when you see people in the hospital admitted for long periods of time, are they typically cord-free or there’s no IVs?” he asks, pointing out that McConnell is free of any IVs, cords, and he’s dressed normally.

“When I look at this, I don’t see anything. I don’t see any evidence of an IV. I don’t see any machines,” he says.

“This to me was like Soviet-level propaganda here, right? And you make sure to throw the wife in there with all the rumors that she had run off to China or something,” he adds.

“And his best friend in the Senate was Lindsey Graham,” co-host Todd Erzen chimes in.

“And he said nothing about Lindsey Graham too, because this came out hours after it was already out that Lindsey Graham had passed away,” executive producer Aaron McIntire adds.

“To me, the best thing that you can say is that he’s seriously hurt, which is unfortunate again for him and his family. He’s seriously hurt, and they staged this in the hospital to make it look like he was due back and didn’t consider any of the details of the kinds of things we’re asking about,” Deace says.

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​Aaron mcintire, Lindsey graham, Mitch mcconnell, Pneumonia, Statement, Steve deace, Todd erzen, Washington post, Steve deace show 

Five years ago, Charlottesville’s nearly century-old Robert E. Lee statue was torn down, chopped up, and melted at the urging of woke iconoclasts. The remains are now destined to be further deformed into an African symbol by a black identitarian.

How it started

Paul Goodloe McIntire, one of Charlottesville’s top individual benefactors if not its greatest, commissioned several statues for the city in the early 20th century including one depicting Robert E. Lee.

‘Equity and justice are integral.’

The gifted Lee statue was unveiled in what is now Market Street Park on May 21, 1924, where it stood for nearly a century. It was removed, however, on July 10, 2021 — several years after the deadly “Unite the Right” rally, which the Southern Poverty Law Center allegedly had a hand in organizing — pursuant to a decision by Charlottesville City Council.

Then-Mayor Nikuyah Walker reportedly stated as the crane approached the monument, “Taking down this statue is one small step closer to the goal of helping Charlottesville, Va., and America, grapple with the sin of being willing to destroy black people for economic gain.”

In what co-founder of Charlottesville Black Lives Matter Jalane Schmidt described as “like an execution,” the bronze likeness of Lee was subsequently cut up, then melted down in 2023 before an audience of iconoclasts and so-called anti-racist activists.

This melting project — called Swords into Plowshares — was proposed by Charlottesville’s Jefferson School African-American Heritage Center and approved by the city council in 2021, reported the Guardian.

How it’s going

The JSAAHC ultimately selected the architecture firm Model of Architecture Serving Society Design Group and woke sculptor Dana King to repurpose the bronze from the Lee statue into a new work called “Rooted.”

RELATED: Their likenesses were toppled, yet they still cast long shadows

John McDonnell/Washington Post/Getty Images

Jha Amazi, principal at the design group, stated, “We are deeply inspired by the courage and persistence of everyone who made this moment possible over the past decade, and we are honored to contribute to a future shaped not by inherited symbols, but by shared values and collective imagination.”

Instead of featuring a figure of American historical import, Market Street Park will soon feature a “27-foot-tall bronze Baobab tree, a profound symbol of life, interconnection, and persistence throughout the African diaspora,” the design group said in a statement.

According to the designers, they will be “transforming a space historically defined by racialized exclusion and intimidation into a beacon for justice, dignity, and belonging.”

“The design envisions a true commons, vital and open to all,” continued the statement. “The Baobab forms a seven-sided pavilion, inviting everyone to step inside, gather, and share space. Gardens radiate around a multifunctional plaza, connecting us to the earth.”

Sculptor Dana King — who claims on her website both that “equity and justice are integral” to her work and that the medium is too “often used to elevate Eurocentric and white supremacist statuary” — told WVIR-TV that she feels a sense of gratitude that she is “able to tell the story of African descendants and our importance in this country.”

Andrea Douglas, co-founder of Swords into Plowshares, told WVIR that the use of bronze from the Lee statue was intentional.

“We were interested in creating a process that would give voices that would’ve not had voice at the time that a Lee statue was placed in 1924,” said Douglas.

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​Charlottesville, Iconoclasts, Robert e lee, Statues, Woke, Southern poverty law center, Confederacy, African, Politics