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Russian officials refused demands from the European Union (EU) that they agree to an independent postmortem for Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in prison this weekend.

The EU had argued on Monday that Russia “must allow an independent and transparent international investigation into circumstances of his sudden death.” The group added that Navalny’s death is only the latest sign of growing “systematic repression” in Russia.

A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin brushed off the demand in a statement to reporters on Tuesday, saying, “Moscow does not accept such demands.”

Russian officials have similarly refused to offer details of Navalny’s death, even to his family. Navalny’s mother and wife have been rebuffed in their demands that officials turn over his body.

BIDEN, AFTER NAVALNY’S DEATH, SAYS ‘NO DOUBT’ THAT ‘PUTIN AND HIS THUGS’ WERE BEHIND IT

“Behind me is the penal colony IK-3 ‘Polar Wolf,’ where on February 16th, my son Alexei Navalny died. For the fifth day, I can’t see him, they don’t give me his body, and they don’t even tell me where he is,” his mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, said.

FLASHBACK: RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER NAVALNY’S TEAM FINALLY LOCATES HIM IN REMOTE PRISON COLONY AFTER 20-DAY SEARCH

“I am addressing you, Vladimir Putin. The solution to the issue depends only on you. Let me finally see my son,” she added. “I demand that Alexei’s body be immediately handed over so that I can bury him humanely.”

Navalny’s body was reportedly found with “signs of bruising” this weekend, and government officials told his mother on Saturday that Navalny died of “sudden death syndrome.”

NAVALNY SEEN GRINNING, LAUGHING IN COURTROOM VIDEO A DAY BEFORE HIS DEATH

Sudden death syndrome is a broad medical term that is not a formal condition or diagnosis. It rather refers to a wide range of scenarios that lead to sudden and unforeseen death.

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Navalny had previously organized anti-government demonstrations and ran for office to advocate for reforms against what he called corruption in Russia. He was the victim of an alleged assassination attempt in 2020 when he suffered poisoning from a suspected Novichok nerve agent.

Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report.

Happy President’s Day, everyone! I know. Today, we honor all those who’ve held the nation’s highest office. Well, unless you don’t like them, then you destroy them.

Judge Arthur Engoron, a Democrat, just handed down a $355 million, first of its kind settlement against Donald Trump after finding that Trump inflated the value of his real estate when applying for loans. The judge released his opinion six days before the trial began, which makes it a show trial. Except instead of Judge Judy, we get someone no one wants to have sex with. Now, the fact that no one was complaining about Trump’s activities, including the banks who gave Trump the money, seemed to have no impact on Engoron, who during the trial did more mugging for the cameras than a Times Square migrant. 

And, of course, $355 million seems excessive when the amount owed to the banks is zero. That’s key. If you can’t identify a victim, then the crime had to be reverse-engineered. Because if the crime was indeed organic, a victim would have started the process. Instead, they found the man, then they came up with the crime. 

Does that sound familiar? That’s my Uncle Steve. Anyway, this proud legal beagle whose drooling grin has that look of the forcibly medicated was also unbothered that New York’s A.G. Letitia James took office vowing to “get” Donald Trump. That’s her quote. After all, there is a shortage of real victims in her state since they’ve all been stabbed. 

NEW YORK JUDGE SETS TRUMP TRIAL FOR MARCH 25, DENIES REQUEST TO DISMISS BRAGG CHARGES IN HUSH-MONEY CASE

But it shows how far the left is willing to go to destroy anyone they deem a threat. So how bad is this case, besides sacrificing faith in the legal system to go after political enemies? Well, here’s esteemed attorney Jonathan Turley: “Engoron fulfilled Oscar Wilde’s rule that the only way to be rid of temptation is to yield to it. He ordered everything short of throwing Trump into a woodchipper.” 

Oscar Wilde? Somebody’s fancy. And here’s “Shark Tank’s” Kevin O’Leary, who knows even more about real estate than I know about being gorgeous.

KEVIN O’LEARY: If you’re a developer, you’re the… you’re an entrepreneur. You go to a bank and you say, look, I want to borrow $200 million to build a building. And they say, well, what can… What assets do you have we can secure this loan against? And you point to a building you built before, and you haggle and you argue about the value of that building. This goes on in every city on Earth. That’s how real estate developers who are entrepreneurs and take risks, borrow money. That’s exactly what happened here. 

You get that? If Trump’s guilty of this, then so is every single real estate developer. Trump claimed his property was worth a certain amount. The bank agreed, loaned the money and Trump paid it all back. Hmhm. So what’s next? Getting the death penalty for tipping with Kohl’s cash? But this is what Tish James, New York State’s top prosecutor, wastes her time with. She should be fined for impersonating law enforcement. 

New York State is still struggling from the effects of COVID and isn’t expected to recover all its lost jobs for years, if ever. Tourism is down. Migrants occupy thousands of hotel rooms and the state leads the nation in population loss. Even my pool boys have moved to Miami. All I have to remember them by is a jar of their fingers. Too far? Or not far enough? So why not bring a bogus lawsuit that will also scare off the real estate sector? 

As O’Leary points out, no developer would risk this much money to have a judge arbitrarily decide that you’re in some form of breach of fraud where no damages occurred. So they’re just going to go elsewhere. And they are. I haven’t seen this many people running away since Joy Behar washed up on the beach, and they had to blow her up with dynamite. 

So, they didn’t just screw Trump, they screwed the city. Much like I did in the summer of ’98. Shout out to Carol and Janet and Steve. But not to fear, Governor Botox is here. Kathy Hochul assures the business community that everything’s fine. “Law-abiding and rule-following New Yorkers who are business people have nothing to worry about because they’re very different than Donald Trump and his behavior.” Translation: you have nothing to worry about until we don’t like you. 

TRUMP TRIALS WILL MAKE GOP FRONTRUNNER’S DAYTIME CAMPAIGN EVENTS A CHALLENGE, BUT ‘NOTHING WILL STOP HIM’

Meanwhile, Trump’s being Trump. Over the weekend, he debuted a pair of golden sneakers called “Never Surrender High Tops,” which sell for $400 bucks a pair and might be the first pair of sneakers north of $300 bucks that nobody gets shot for. Now, the left will laugh at this, of course, but the shoes, limited to 1,000 pairs, sold out in two hours, which tells you a lot about the depth of support that stooges like Tish James and Engoronfair-minded are rallying to Donald Trump. As O’Leary said, it’s not about Trump himself. It’s about the injustice of a case which no one can find a precedent for. 

You know, at heart, Americans are fair-minded people. We want to believe in our system, but a system is only as good as the people in charge of administering it. James said she was going after Trump, and Engoron brazenly admitted he can overrule juries when they get it wrong, doubting his impartiality. 

So when people tell you who they are, maybe believe them. There’s a pattern emerging. It started with surveillance. If you have nothing to worry about, then why worry if we spy? Well, then they spied on you. Then there’s freedom of speech. You have nothing to worry about. It’s just hate speech. Then hate speech became disinformation. Or rather, anything you said that they didn’t like. Now it’s your ability to make a living. You have nothing to worry about as long as you toe the line and don’t question their power. 

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So you see the pattern. As long as you obey, we won’t invade your privacy, ban your speech or take your job. But then, what keeps you safe for now? 

Well, be a Democrat, remain quiet about what the Dems have done to the country, and above all, don’t work at Fox. You know, which means it doesn’t look too good for me. Seriously, how soon before I get arrested for indecent exposure, and this time, I’m innocent?

Complaints of “bedwetting” are reportedly frustrating top Democrats who feel like their concerns are being brushed off by the Biden campaign as they demand the president and his team “need to be better.”

CNN reported on Sunday that Vice President Harris has been meeting with leading Democrats for some guidance on the Biden-Harris re-election effort as some members of the party who are concerned about their chances have been feeling “sloughed off” by the White House and the president’s campaign. 

“The ‘bedwetting’ complaints are running thin with people,” one person who attended a meeting with Harris told the media outlet, referring to Democratic anxiety over the 2024 election. “The West Wing and the campaign need to be better.” 

CNN reporter Edward-Issac Dovere explained his reporting on Monday and said Democrats felt like Biden’s inner circle was brushing them off. 

KAMALA HARRIS ‘READY TO SERVE’ AS DEMOCRATS SOUND THE ALARM ABOUT BIDEN’S AGE: ‘REPORT’

“That is from, reflecting this idea that people feel like when they say that things aren‘t going great for the Biden campaign, the campaign and the inner circle, Biden advisers tend to brush them off,” he said Monday during “CNN This Morning.”

Dovere noted that Harris wants to position herself to raise these suggestions with Biden’s campaign team. 

Harris reportedly said during the meetings that she isn’t worried about losing to Donald Trump, but rather losing to “the couch.” 

The vice president has reportedly gotten some “harsh responses,” specifically about the White House’s response to the Israel-Hamas conflict. 

KAMALA HARRIS ADMITS SHE’S ‘SCARED AS HECK’ ABOUT A TRUMP WIN IN 2024

Rep. Steve Horsford, D-NV, reportedly called on the vice president to “talk more about housing affordability” instead of “Bidenomics.”

“She’s a very gifted, smart, capable strategist who knows how to win,” Horsford told the outlet. “I just hope the campaign listens to all the people who are giving them good advice.”

Top Democratic governors gathered to meet with the vice president earlier in February and voiced complaints about Biden’s response to the border crisis, abortion rights, and the campaign’s failure to reach younger voters, CNN reported.

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A Fox News poll released in February found 55% of registered voters said they believe Trump would be the better candidate to steer the economy, compared to 33% who chose Biden.

Trump also boasts large leads over Biden when it comes to securing the border (+35 points), having the necessary mental and physical health to be president (+23), and on dealing with crime and violence (+21). The former president also has double-digit leads over Biden when it comes to being competitive and effective (+16) and on improving America’s standing in the world (+11).

Fox News’ Michael Lee contributed to this report.

GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley said at a Fox News town hall on Sunday America needs a president who can serve eight years “fully working, fully disciplined and ready to get the job done” as she cites polling showing 70% of Americans do not want former President Trump or President Biden in office.

Haley’s town hall comes ahead of the Feb. 24 South Carolina primary, where she will face off against Trump.

Despite serving as Trump’s former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the former South Carolina governor did not hold back on her attempts to convince the people of her state that she would make a better president than Trump.

“I look at where we started, there were 14 candidates in the race,” Haley said. “We’ve defeated a dozen of fellas. I just have one more fellow to catch up to. And through it all, there have been naysayers and that’s okay. I’m used to being an underdog.”

HALEY: CONGRESS IS ‘LYING TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE’ BY TYING FOREIGN AID TO BORDER SECURITY

She said that going into Iowa, she polled at 2% and finished almost second at 20%, then in New Hampshire, she finished at 43% of the vote.

After the New Hampshire results came in, Haley said, Trump had “a temper tantrum,” adding that he was unhinged because he did not know she would get 43% of the vote.

“The night that we got 43% of the vote, President Trump literally became unhinged and went on a temper tantrum,” she said. “And all he did was talk about revenge. And then the next day he said, anybody who who supported me was barred permanently from MAGA.”

NATO CHIEF SAYS TRUMP CRITICISM ‘DOES UNDERMINE THE SECURITY OF ALL OF US’

Haley asked the crowd to think about Trump’s threat to bar people from MAGA, saying leading into an election, you try to bring people into your corner and not push them out.

Like many of her speeches, she also pointed to Trump’s push for the Republican National Committee to name him the presumptive nominee after two states voted.

“He pushed the RNC to name him the presumptive nominee, and he got pushback on that,” Haley said. “We don’t anoint kings in this country. We let the people vote.”

HALEY: TRUMP SHOULD NOT USE RNC AS ‘PIGGY BANK’ FOR LEGAL WOES

Rather than talk about the American people or issues like the $34 trillion in debt the country is facing, Haley accused Trump of talking about being a victim and getting his revenge.

“Trump never talked about the American people … All he did was talk about himself,” she said.

Haley also took digs at the Republican Party, placing the blame for the country’s $34 trillion debt not just on Biden, but also on Republicans, blaming Trump for putting the country into $8 trillion debt in just four years, and saying that less than 25% of the debt accumulated under Trump happened because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The first thing we have to understand is Republicans and Democrats put us into this mess, and we’ve got to call them both out for getting us into this mess,” Haley said. “Whether it was the spending, whether it’s the borrowing, whether it’s all of the things that they’ve done, we are $34 trillion in debt. We’re having to borrow money just to make our interest payments.”

“We’re paying more in interest payments than we are in our defense budget,” she continued. “You know who pays attention to that? Russia, China and Iran. So we’ve got to start pulling out of that. The way we do that is we start with our economy. We claw back $100 billion of unspent COVID dollars that are still sitting out there, instead of 87,000 IRS agents going after middle America. Go after the hundreds of billions of dollars of COVID fraud, one out of every $7 was spent fraudulently. If 8% of our budget is interest, quit borrowing. Cut up the credit cards.”

TRUMP BARRED FROM OPERATING BUSINESS, ORDERED TO PAY OVER $350 MILLION IN NY CIVIL FRAUD CASE

The former South Carolina governor also cited recent comments from Trump in which he said any NATO country that does not pull its weight would not be defended by the U.S. and that he would encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade those countries.

“When you look at what Putin has done. We have to remember Russia is not our friend,” Haley said. “If Putin’s mouth is open, he is lying and we need to be aware of that. And I think that’s why it was so damaging when Trump said that he would choose Putin and actually encourage Putin to invade NATO allies instead of standing with our allies that stood with us at 9/11.”

“I will absolutely put the hammer on our NATO countries, that they do have to carry their weight,” she added. “But you do that behind closed doors. You do that and let them know that the United States is not going to carry the burden. But you don’t do it in the eyes of our enemies.”

She recently accused Trump of siding with a “thug” and dictator who arrests political opponents and American journalists and holds them hostage.

“[Putin] has made no bones about the fact that he wants to destroy America,” Haley said on Sunday. “And so the best thing we can do with Russia is let them know we’re on to them, and make sure that they know we’ll hold them to account on anything they do. And that includes hurting our allies.”

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Haley also knocked Trump and Biden for their old age, pointing out that both men are around 80-years-old.

“About 70% of Americans right now say they don’t want Biden or Trump in this election,” she said. “The majority of Americans disapprove of Joe Biden. The majority of Americans disapprove of Donald Trump. Both of those men put us trillions of dollars in debt that our kids are never going to forgive us for. And are we really going to put all of our problems and issues in the hands of two 80-year-olds running for president? We need someone who can serve eight years fully working, fully disciplined and ready to get the job done. We can’t go and take the chance of doing this with two 80-year-olds.”

Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Nick Allegretti revealed Friday he played through Super Bowl LVIII with a significant injury as the team was already battling through hurt players.

Allegretti started the Super Bowl at guard in place of Joe Thuney. He said on “The Jim Rome Show” he suffered an injury in the second quarter when San Francisco 49ers star Nick Bosa finished a tackle on his arm.

“I haven’t suffered an injury like that until then,” Allegretti said on the show. “I immediately knew. It was something that you heard a pop, you felt it, and knowing minimal about anatomy, knew that something was wrong in my elbow. Because my elbow is not supposed to bend that way. 

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“Fortunately, we had the two-minute warning, and I had a couple seconds to gather myself, figure out that my arm was still bent, and I was able to go. It was a tough situation, but fortunate enough I was able to still play.”

Allegretti suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). He ended up playing 79 snaps in the Super Bowl in extreme pain and helped the Chiefs win the game 25-22.

He had only made one start in 2023 and three starts in 2022 before he was called upon to try to pick up another ring. He had been with the Chiefs since the 2019 season.

HALL OF FAMER STEVE ‘MONGO’ MCMICHAEL UNDERGOES BLOOD TRANSFUSION AFTER DEVELOPING INFECTIONS

“I would say, for me, I don’t think you’ll ever experience a nine or 10,” he said of the pain of the injury. “If you do it’s going to be something really, really bad. So I was probably in that six or seven [range] right when it happened after I processed it. And then, at halftime, we were able to get the cream on it, massage it a little bit and then throw a brace on it. I was probably playing at about a five. 

“It was one of those things that I could confidently use the arm knowing that most likely the UCL was already gone, so I wasn’t going to tear it any worse. So if I could deal with the pain, I could play. So it was one of those things.”

Allegretti said one of his teammates reminded him that he didn’t need a UCL to play, and it was enough motivation for him to keep being on the field.

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The 27-year-old is set to be an unrestricted free agent when the new league year begins.

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America Ferrara recalled bursting into tears after meeting Leonardo DiCaprio for the first time. 

The 39-year-old “Barbie” actress, who is among the nominees at the upcoming Academy Awards, noted that becoming starstruck by other celebrities can “sneak up on you” during a Friday appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”

“More often than not, it’s like someone you had a childhood connection to, right?” Ferrara said. “So it’s always very embarrassing.”

She continued, “I’m debating, like, ‘Do I even want to say this out loud? But, OK.’”

KALEY CUOCO WAS ‘SHAKING’ WHEN SHE MET GARTH BROOKS: A-LISTERS STARSTRUCK BY OTHER CELEBRITIES

Ferrara went on to recount meeting her teenage crush DiCaprio, now 49, after she won the best female actor in a comedy series award for her performance in “Ugly Betty” at the 2007 SAG Awards.

“I watched Titanic in the movie theaters seven times,” she recalled. “[I was] 13, 14 [years old], prime time to be in love with Leonardo DiCaprio, right?” 

“OK, so first time I went to the SAG Awards, and I had won for ‘Betty,’ I had been onstage and the whole thing,” Ferrera remembered. “I was feeling kind of like, ‘I belong here, this is cool.'”

“And then Leonardo DiCaprio was there, and I said ‘Hello’ to him, and I promptly departed him and went around the corner and just started weeping,” she said.

“And my husband, then-boyfriend, was with me and he was like, ‘I am so embarrassed right now.'”

Ferrara told Meyers that her husband Ryan Piers Williams, whom she married in 2011, urged her to “stop crying.”

“And I was like, ‘But it’s Leonardo!” she said. 

“I hope Leonardo DiCaprio never sees this,” Ferrara added.

“The good thing is he probably won’t,” Meyers joked.

Meyers, 50, then told Ferrara that he did the “same thing” when he met Julia Roberts for the first time. The comedian explained that the encounter happened backstage while he was hosting the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2014.

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“I walked by her. She was like, ‘Hey, good job.’ I was like, ‘Oh, thanks, so nice to meet you.’ Walked around —  full cry,” he recalled. And my wife wasn’t with me, but I FaceTimed because I wanted her to see.”

During her appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” Ferrara shared that she was recently almost brought to tears after Tom Hanks complimented her on her performance in “Barbie.”

The “Superstore” alum said that she met Hanks, 67, at the Governors Awards on Jan. 9.

“Growing up, people were like, ‘Oh, who do you want to be? Like Salma Hayek, like J.Lo?’ I was like, ‘Tom Hanks,’ she remembered. “I wanted to be Tom Hanks. Like, that was my goal. And just a couple weeks ago, he came up to me and he said very nice things to me.”

“It was like I was in seven different timelines at the same time,” Ferrara said of her reaction to Hanks’ remarks. “I was like eight[years-old], I was ten, I was 14, I was 80 remembering this on my deathbed.”

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“It was just so crazy,” she added. “I was like, ‘If you knew what was happening in my mind right now.’ But he was saying really nice things to me. And I was trying to remember every single thing he said. And at the same time, I was shaking and terrified that I was going to start crying in front of him.”

Ferrara was nominated for her first Oscar for her role as Gloria in last summer’s mega-hit “Barbie,” which earned a total of eight nominations. She will compete for the award against fellow nominees Jodie Foster, Emily Blunt, Danielle Brooks and Da’Vine Joy Randolph at the ceremony on March 10 at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater.

An illegal migrant who was previously deported five times has been charged in the fatal hit-and-run death of a 10-year-old boy in Texas, according to reports. 

Rogelio Ortiz, 50, was arrested last week by the Midland Police Department and charged with a hit-and-run accident causing death for allegedly striking the boy with a black truck on the afternoon of Feb. 8. The victim was hit in the 1900 block of South Lamesa Road in Midland, which is about 320 miles northwest of San Antonio.

The boy, named by his school as Alex Wise, died from his injuries the following day after he had been airlifted to hospital in critical condition, police said.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT POPULATION SOARS UNDER BIDEN: GOVERNMENT DATA

Ortiz was on an immigration detainer and was deported at least five separate times, according to CBS7. His identity was confirmed by fingerprints taken during his first removal.

Ortiz is also facing a driving while intoxicated charge (DWI), according to the Midland County Sheriff’s Office website, although it’s unclear if this is concerning the hit-and-run. 

The boy’s aunt launched a GoFundMe to generate funds to pay for Wise’s funeral costs. The GoFundMe has received more than $22,000 in donations as of Saturday, Feb. 17.

“Aj was the sweetest, coolest, funniest little boy you ever would meet,” Wise’s aunt wrote.

One of the donors chipped in $10 and said he was Wise’s friend. Wise was a student at Individuals Dedicated to Excellence and Achievement Public Schools (IDEA) Travis.

“I knew Alex he was my friend, he was a really great friend [and] always tried to make everyone laugh and smile he was always happy and made everyone’s day.

“We all really miss him… even the people that barely knew him cried that sad day because he was amazing to everyone. He was so nice and caring and was just a great kid and a great friend, we miss you Alex a lot, fly high.”

A memorial fundraiser is being held on Saturday for Wise, according to IDEA Travis. Last Monday, Wise’s family and the school held a balloon release in his memory on the school’s outdoor basketball courts.

ILLINOIS PUMPING $250M MORE IN TAXPAYER FUNDS TO HELP ILLEGAL MIGRANTS IN CHICAGO

Wise’s death brought the wrath of Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, who pinned the incident on the nation’s lax border.

“How many more Americans have to die before Joe Biden secures the border?” Nehls wrote on X.

There are an estimated 16.8 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. as of June 2023, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) report for fiscal 2023 shows that the number of illegal immigrants on the non-detained docket has soared from 3.7 million in FY 2021 to nearly 4.8 million in FY 2022 to nearly 6.2 million in FY 2023. 

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IDEA Travis and the Midland Independent School District released a statement expressing their condolences following the “tragic” incident. 

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the student’s family and loved ones. Counselors will be providing mental health support for students and staff on campus. As the safety of our students continues to be our number one priority, we are urging drivers to exercise caution when pedestrians are present to prevent tragedies.”

A Virginia firefighter is dead, and eleven others are injured after a home explosion obliterated a residence on Friday evening.

In a press conference, Loudon County Fire & Rescue Assistant Chief of Operations James Williams said that one firefighter is dead, nine firefighters, and two civilians are injured after the explosion “totally devastated” a home in northern Virginia.

Authorities said that at the time of the deadly explosion, firefighters were inside the home. 

The Sterling Volunteer Fire Company posted on X that crews responded to reports of a gas leak that turned into a “structural fire” at the residence at 7:40 p.m. on Friday evening.

“Soon after arrival, the house did explode,” Williams said.

RHODE ISLAND MAN CHARGED WITH SETTING FIRES AROUND MAJORITY-BLACK CHURCH

Williams said that the nine firefighters and two civilians were transported to local hospitals.

He said that some had serious injuries.

Officials did not identify the firefighter killed in the blaze during the press conference but did say that the community was deeply affected by the incident.

“It’s a huge physical and emotional toll on everyone associated with the fire department. Obviously, the people who are trapped, the rescuers that are going in to try to pull them out, the incident commander,” Williams said.

Residents said that they heard an “enormous boom” that “shook” their entire home.

“Enormous boom shook the whole house just now. Ran upstairs, outside with flashlights and all the neighbors were doing the same,” one Sterling resident told FOX 5. “Apparently, a house exploded on a street nearby.”

7 LA FIREFIGHTERS INJURED AFTER TRUCK’S FUEL TANK EXPLODES

Photos from the scene showed a large law enforcement presence battling a fire among the home’s rubble amid thick plumes of smoke.

According to FOX 5, the Sterling Volunteer Fire Company reported that they are being assisted by Fairfax Fire and Rescue Department and the Ashburn Fire Department.

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The Luray Fire Department took to Facebook in support of their fellow firefighters, writing, “Please keep Loudoun County Firefighters in your thoughts and prayers.”

• Another juror was dismissed on Friday in the murder trial of former Ohio sheriff’s deputy Jason Meade, forcing the panel to restart deliberations.
• Jason Meade is facing charges of murder and reckless homicide in the December 2020 killing of Casey Goodson Jr., a 23-year-old, in Columbus.
• Meade testified that he shot Goodson because he turned toward him with a gun.

Another juror was dismissed Friday in the murder trial of a former Ohio sheriff’s deputy, forcing the panel to start over its deliberations for the third time in three days.

The dismissal came less than an hour after jurors had resumed their talks. There are now no more alternate jurors available for the case, and it is unclear what would happen if another juror is dismissed.

Court officials have not said why any of the jurors were removed, but they can be dismissed for a number of reasons, including if they fall sick, research the case outside the deliberation room, or talk about it to someone outside the court.

FAMILY OF MAN SHOT BY OHIO SHERIFF’S DEPUTY WANTS SUIT AGAINST DEPUTY TO CONTINUE

Jason Meade, who is white, is charged with murder and reckless homicide in the December 2020 killing in Columbus of 23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr., who was Black.

The jury started its deliberations Wednesday afternoon, and one juror was dismissed that day and another was removed Thursday. The panel initially included four alternates who heard all the testimony in the case, including one who was elevated to the main jury during the trial.

Meade testified that Goodson waved a gun at him as the two drove past each other so he pursued Goodson because he feared for his life and the lives of others. He said he eventually shot Goodson in the doorway of his grandmother’s home because the young man turned toward him with a gun.

EX-OHIO SHERIFF’S DEPUTY CLAIMS SELF-DEFENSE IN FATAL SHOOTING OF MAN

Police said that Meade, who is a pastor at a Baptist church, shot Goodson six times, including five times in the back.

Goodson’s family and prosecutors have said he was holding a sandwich bag in one hand and his keys in the other when he was fatally shot. They do not dispute that Goodson may have been carrying a gun and note he had a license to carry a firearm.

Goodson’s weapon was found on his grandmother’s kitchen floor with the safety mechanism engaged.

There is no bodycam video of the shooting, and prosecutors repeatedly asserted that Meade is the only person who testified Goodson was holding a gun.

The body of a Tennessee deputy, who disappeared after making an arrest, has been recovered after his patrol car was found underwater.

The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) in Tennessee confirmed in a Facebook post that the body of 35-year-old Deputy Robert “R.J.” Leonard had been found on Thursday evening.

“His remains are currently being escorted to the Knoxville Regional Medical Examiner’s Office by motor units with the HCSO, Tennessee Highway Patrol, and the Chattanooga Police Department,” police said.

TENNESSEE DEPUTY’S SUSPECTED KILLER APPEARED IN COURT

Leonard, a rookie on the force, responded to a report of a man and woman fighting on a bridge shortly before 10 p.m. Wednesday and took the woman into custody, according to Meigs County District Attorney Russell Johnson.

Authorities began searching for the deputy after he failed to respond to a status check.

Johnson said that one of Leonard’s last communications was a text to his wife that said, “Arrest.”

“His wife texted back and said, ‘That’s good’ or ‘That’s great,'” Johnson reported during a press briefing. “We know that his phone did not, evidently, receive that text.”

Early Thursday, authorities made the alarming discovery of Leonard’s patrol vehicle upside down in the Hiwassee River. 

Police found the body of the woman in the backseat of the patrol vehicle. Police believe that the body belongs to the arrestee.

TENNESSEE FUGITIVE ACCUSED OF KILLING DEPUTY CAPTURED AFTER DAYS-LONG MANHUNT, SHERIFF SAYS

Multiple agencies are investigating how the vehicle ended up in the water.

In a press briefing on Thursday, Johnson said that they believe that this was an accident.

Johnson said that a preliminary report noted that the deputy appeared to be texting and radioing while driving in a poorly lit area.

“We’re operating under the theory that it was an accident — he missed his turn, he wasn’t familiar, and he was doing other things that may have caused him to go into the water,” Johnson said at the press briefing.

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Officials said that the 35-year-old deputy lived nearby with his wife and three children.

“Deputy Leonard had been on the force about two months,” Meigs County Sheriff Jackie Melton said. “He was doing a pretty good job. A really good job. It’s just hard when the department is like a family.”