Law enforcement officials recently arrested a sex offender in Wisconsin after he was found to be “in violation of his bond” by allegedly filming children at a local school.
In a Monday press release, the Racine County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Paul Shelton, a 43-year-old sex offender, had been arrested during the execution of a residential search warrant at Shelton’s residence on March 13. Law enforcement officials noted that the Racine County Sheriff’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children division launched an investigation on March 7 into a complaint “regarding a violation by a registered sex offender in the City of Racine.”
“Reporters indicated that Paul Shelton (M/W 43-years-old) had been observed filming children at a nearby grade school,” the Racine County Sheriff’s Office stated. “Contact was made with the school, and it was determined that Shelton did not have permission to be on school grounds and was in violation of his sex offender status.”
The Racine County Sheriff’s Office explained that the 43-year-old sex offender was also “found to be in violation of his bond” in a Racine County court case regarding the “Fail/Cause Child to Attend School and Neglecting a Child.”
According to the sex offender registry in the state of Illinois, Shelton was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in 2005. The sex offender’s records show that Shelton was 19 at the time of the aggravated criminal sexual abuse, while the victim was just 13 years old.
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According to TMJ4, law enforcement officials received a cyber tip that Shelton had recorded children at the Gilmore Fine Arts School. The outlet noted that one complaint against the 43-year-old sex offender claimed he recorded his two daughters tickling each other when he picked them up from school. The complaint also claimed that Shelton tried to encourage other children to play with his daughters and record them the week of February 21.
TMJ4 reported that another complaint claimed Shelton allegedly tried to convince other children to hug each other and hug a tree while he was recording; however, parents were able to remove the children from the situation. The outlet noted that during the investigation by the Racine County Sheriff’s Office, Shelton admitted that he dropped his daughters off at the school, picked them up from the school, and recorded them on school property.
According to Fox 6, Shelton’s bond was set at $25,000 in cash. The outlet also noted that the sex offender is expected to have a preliminary court hearing on Wednesday.
A picture of Shelton was shared by Fox 6 on X, formerly Twitter.
According to the Racine County Sheriff’s Office, reports indicated that 43-year-old Paul Shelton had been observed filming children at a grade school. https://t.co/AfrCD6Smzy
Forever 21’s U.S. operating company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy over the weekend and will seek to sell all or some of its assets, according to court documents.
The filing marks the company’s second bankruptcy in six years. The Times reported last month that Forever 21 was preparing to close at least 200 stores and lay off more than 350 employees in its corporate office in downtown Los Angeles.
The retail chain, which has roots in L.A. and was once known for its trendy and inexpensive offerings, will begin an orderly wind-down of its U.S. business while continuing to search for a buyer.
Some stores and the chain’s website will remain open, and locations outside the U.S. will be unaffected.
“We made the decision to file for Chapter 11 to implement a court-supervised marketing process to solicit a going concern transaction, and, in the absence of such an arrangement, an orderly wind-down of operations,” said Brad Sell, chief executive of Forever 21’s U.S. operating company, F21 OpCo.
“While we have evaluated all options to best position the Company for the future, we have been unable to find a sustainable path forward,” he said in a statement.
Forever 21 has between $100 million and $500 million in assets and $1 billion and $10 billion in liabilities, according to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.
Throughout the bankruptcy process, Authentic Brands Group will retain ownership of Forever 21’s intellectual property and may license the brand to other operators. F21 OpCo is owned by Catalyst Brands.
“Our U.S. licensee’s decision to restructure its operations does not impact Forever 21’s intellectual property or its international business,” Authentic Brands Group global president of lifestyle Jarrod Weber said in a statement.
“Forever 21 is one of the most recognizable names in fast fashion,” he said. “Retail is changing, and like many brands, Forever 21 is adapting.”
Founded by South Korean husband-and-wife team Do Won Chang and Jin Sook Chang in 1984, Forever 21 grew into a prominent name in fashion by the mid-2000s and helped popularize the concept of fast fashion in the U.S.
Fast fashion, which refers to the mass production of cheap clothing, has fallen out of favor with many consumers as it has been linked to waste and climate change.
“It certainly is a factor, especially for the younger generation, that fast fashion has a bit of a black eye,” said Ray Wimer, a professor of retail practice at Syracuse University. Younger shoppers tend to be more concerned about the environment, he said, and are drawn to brands with sustainability initiatives such as H&M and Zara.
Forever 21 also faced heavy competition from online retailers including Shein and Temu and failed to use social media influencers to reach a wider audience, Wimer said. And big box retailers, while not focused entirely on fashion, often sell clothes for unbeatable prices.
“Amazon and Walmart have invested heavily in their apparel sections and offer that at a lower price point,” Wimer said. “Forever 21 couldn’t compete.”
The operating company first filed for bankruptcy in 2019.
If Authentic Brands Group licenses Forever 21’s brand to a new operator, the iconic name could carry on, Wimer said, but the brick-and-mortar locations would probably not survive.
For years, teachers and parents at a Liberty, Missouri, elementary school have worried that something in and around their campus may be making people sick, leading to a high number of cancer diagnoses.
That fear — which initially arose after at least six staff members developed breast cancer from 2013 to 2022 — has only intensified after a beloved teacher died last fall and another at Warren Hills Elementary was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.
Fueled by that, and a concern that district and county health officials haven’t done enough to ease their minds, teachers and parents are speaking up, saying they don’t feel safe and are left wondering what to do, according to emails and letters obtained by The Star through a Sunshine Law request.
Warren Hills Elementary School in Liberty, Missouri. A cellular antenna stands very close to the school building. At least six staff members developed breast cancer from 2013 to 2022. (Monty Davis/Kansas City Star/TNS)
“Unfortunately, I’m not confident that we want our children attending Warren Hills any longer,” one parent wrote last month to Jeremy Tucker, superintendent of Liberty Public Schools. “Teachers are leaving because they don’t feel safe. What are our options? We do not plan to move.”
Teachers began asking questions in the fall of 2022, which lead the district to ask the Clay County Public Health Center to initiate a study, which ultimately found that breast cancer diagnoses at the school were in line with county and state figures..
But fear at the school has escalated in recent months as more parents have learned about diagnoses in past years and the concerns that teachers and staff share.
Tucker said he and his team are working to assure teachers and parents that extensive testing has been done, aiming to ensure the air, water and general environment are safe and that regular compliance checks are done on the active cell tower on campus, which is 120 feet tall and located 130 feet from the school. The cell tower has drawn the most consternation from the school community.
Warren Hills Elementary School in Liberty, Missouri. A cellular antenna stands very close to the school building. (Monty Davis/Kansas City Star/TNS)
“It’s one conversation at a time, and then pointing to the work that has been done,” Tucker said. “We are going to do our due diligence and will continue to do that.”
The superintendent also reassures teachers, staff and parents by telling them about the study conducted by the Clay County Public Health Center, also referred to as CCPHC. He mentioned it in a November 2022 email to a concerned parent worried about staff members battling cancer.
“They completed their analysis and determined that ‘there is no evidence to suggest that the breast cancer rate at Warren Hills is higher than expected,’” Tucker wrote, “‘which means no further environmental investigation is warranted.’”
But those assurances are little comfort to many worried families and staff. In recent years, staff have not only developed breast cancer, but have been diagnosed with other types of cancer as well.
Since late January, several parents have emailed Tucker, according to the information received in the records request. Others have flooded social media with questions and concerns. They say they want to know more about the cell tower that was constructed in 2007, a year after Warren Hills opened , as well as about what additional environmental testing could be done.
“We’re having teachers that have cancer left and right,” Jena Servatius, a Warren Hills parent who has emailed the superintendent, told The Star. “It’s scary sending your kid to school every day and wondering if you’re putting them in harm’s way. Or if you’re putting them at risk for cancer just by being in that building.
Warren Hills Elementary School in Liberty, Missouri. A cellular antenna stands very close to the school building. (Monty Davis/Kansas City Star/TNS)
“They’re telling us they’re not concerned, but we keep seeing tons of cancer cases, and it just seems like an abnormal amount.”
Just last week, the district notified Warren Hills families and staff that, in an effort to educate and be transparent, the school’s website now has a portal of information about health and environmental updates. The portal includes a timeline showing measures the school and district have taken since the initial inquiry into the breast cancer diagnoses.
In late October, one teacher wrote to the district administration in late October about her concerns and “how many cases of cancer our building has endured since we have opened.”
“As a staff member that has battled and now lives with the chance of it recurring,” she wrote, “it concerns me that not all actions or testing was done to ensure the safety of our school community.”
An unsigned letter sent to Tucker earlier this year, written by someone who said they were “speaking for several staff members here at Warren Hills,” asked what more needed to happen to warrant further investigation.
“We have not only had breast cancer diagnoses, but throat, cervical, brain, ovarian and brain tumors. … One leading to the loss of our friend and teacher,” the letter said. “We have staff members that do not feel safe coming to work, but we care so much for our students.”
Tucker told The Star that he and his team have been diligent in addressing concerns, from initiating testing to working with county and state health officials. He said he tries to return each email and often talks to those who are concerned by phone or in person.
“I think we have done a lot,” he said. “Is there more than can be done? Perhaps.”
The district, he said, is open to looking into whether more environmental testing is needed.
Tiffany Schrader, a nurse who has two children at the elementary school, is one of the parents who emailed Tucker this year with her concerns.
“It’s just that people are very uneasy, and they just don’t know what to do at this point,” Schrader told The Star. She said she feels like the concern from “our teachers” is “falling on deaf ears.”
“It’s fallen on deaf ears for a long time.”
Teachers grow concerned
The principal at Warren Hills reached out to the district at the beginning of the 2022-23 school year about a number of her staff that had been diagnosed with breast cancer. And those staffers, “were beginning to express concerns about the safety of the building,” according to an email obtained by The Star.
A month later, four teachers reached out to the superintendent. They shared the number of employees they said had been diagnosed with “various cancers” in the previous six years and that several employees have had breast cancer, “the exact same kind,” the email said.
“We would like to have a meeting with you to see what else can be done,” they wrote. “We would be happy to discuss this with the school board if needed as well.”
As soon as he and his team learned about the diagnoses, Tucker said they reached out to the Clay County Public Health Center, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and other entities.
After conducting a study into the cancer cases, Clay County health officials released a report and detailed the situation.
“Since 2013, Warren Hills Elementary School has had six female staff members develop breast cancer,” the report said. “Out of an abundance of caution, Liberty Public Schools (LPS) reached out to Clay County Public Health Center (CCPHC) to determine if staff reports of breast cancer were attributable to the school environment.”
Ashley Wegner, CCPHC’s deputy director, said after epidemiologists conducted calculations, “it showed that in the state of Missouri, in Clay County and in Warren Hills, we would have an expected rate of occurrence of breast cancer.”
“And they do that through population studies and then number of cases that were typically getting reported. So the rates in Warren Hills were not above what we would expect for the population size at the school.”
When Tucker emailed the concerned parent in November 2022, and described the study and its findings, he also told her that the district had “been in contact with the Missouri State Department of Health epidemiology team and the Missouri Cancer Registry (MCR).”
He said the district was “encouraged to learn that all three organizations (MCR, CCPHC and the Missouri Department of Health) agreed with the CCPHC findings.”
A spokesperson with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, however, told The Star that the agency didn’t issue an opinion but offered assistance during the study.
Lisa Cox, of DHSS, said the agency was first alerted about the Warren Hills’ cancer cases in 2022 by an epidemiologist with the Clay County Public Health Center. From there, a representative from the DHSS Office of Epidemiology spoke with the Clay County epidemiologist about the issue in Liberty, she said.
The DHSS epidemiologist also “conducted a brief and preliminary review of breast cancer incidence data for the school, Clay County and the State of Missouri,” Cox said.
“DHSS did not make any conclusion about the incidence rate of breast cancer in the school as compare(d) with the county and state rates,” Cox said.
Wegner said the Clay County Public Health Center “developed this report jointly with DHSS.”
The Liberty school district said “the state’s recollection stands in stark contrast to the recollections, notes and emails of the LPS team, and the CCPHC team,” as officials understand it.
In mid-September 2022, the district said that the state epidemiologist said in an email that he would review provided data and “look into things a bit more, then draft a statement for internal review.”
“There was a follow up meeting on October 3, 2022, at which time the MDHSS indicated and concluded that there was no evidence of a cancer cluster,” the district said. “CCPHC concurred with this conclusion. Unfortunately, (the state epidemiologist) indicated that their Public Information Office would not allow MDHSS to provide this conclusion in writing.”
Missouri DHSS was unable to provide a conclusive statement on whether further cancer investigation was necessary due to several key limitations, Cox said.
“First, we could not definitively confirm the indicated cases among Warren Hills staff or whether the individuals were employed at the school during their diagnosis period, making it difficult to link them to potential environmental exposure,” she said. “Additionally, the statistical methods used to assess cancer incidence are designed for larger populations, not small, localized settings like a single building or workforce. Applying these methods in such cases leads to wide confidence intervals and unreliable conclusions.”
Cox further stated that DHSS provided information to the Clay County health department on how the school could contact the Occupational Safety and Health Administration about the situation.
“Our cancer inquiry procedures call for us to direct workplace investigations to OSHA,” she said, “because that is within their authority.”
The district said that in the Oct. 3 meeting, representatives for Liberty schools asked DHSS if there was anything else that they could explore.
“MDHSS responded that LPS could contact OSHA but did not seem to recommend this since the findings were clear that there was no evidence of a cancer cluster,” the district said.
DHSS provided The Star with an email from Oct. 4 2022 where the state epidemiologist told the Clay County epidemiologist: “Lastly, as we discussed, since there may still be some concern that this is related to the workplace, it is indeed something that would need to be addressed through OSHA.”
At this point, the district said it has not contacted OSHA.
As more staff members have been diagnosed with various types of cancer, the district lets the health center know. But that initial group of six cases of breast cancer has not grown, Wegner said.
“I’m talking strictly from an epidemiologic perspective, we would not lump all of these cancer cases into a similar bucket,” Wegner said. “We have those six cases from 2022 that were originally looked at as the cluster. Anything outside of that is 100% considered unrelated.
“At this juncture, we don’t have enough information to give the school any recommendations to change anything that they’re doing.”
A breaking point
By the end of January, as reports surfaced of another possible cancer diagnosis, concerns grew and staff and parents began emailing the superintendent with questions.
One mother, who previously had reached out to the administration in the fall of 2022 with her concerns, asked if “the county is revisiting this issue at our school?”
Schrader, who is the vice president of Warren Hills’ Parent Teacher Association, emailed Tucker for information on the cell tower and whether it is located too close to the school building.
“Over the past few years, several teachers at Warren Hills have been diagnosed with cancer,” Schrader said. “… While I understand there are many factors that contribute to such health issues, it is hard to ignore the possibility that the proximity of the cell tower and other environmental factors with … could be a contributing factor(s).
“… I trust that you will take this concern seriously and explore all avenues to ensure that the school is a safe environment for all. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Another parent also inquired about the tower and asked that Liberty Public Schools check local regulations and seek expert advice.
The superintendent responded, saying that “the health and safety of our students and staff is our top priority.”
“We understand that questions about environmental factors, including the T-Mobile tower, are deeply important to our community,” Tucker wrote. “We want to assure you that we take these matters seriously. … In response to concerns, we reached out to T-Mobile. They provided a report indicating that the cell tower is in compliance with the standards set by regulatory agencies.”
Wegner said the county health department continues to work with the district to educate staff, teachers and parents.
“We have a very close relationship with the school,” she said. “And we want to help the school with assisting their community, because it’s also our community, in getting to a spot where they’re comfortable.
“I think, from our perspective, we have done the part that we are able to do with the information that we have.”
She said she understands that “fear is a real thing.”
“And it’s an entirely different beast,” she said. “Our approach is to be present and provide the education. But that isn’t always exactly what people feel like they need.”
That’s when communication becomes key, Wegner said, and finding out what people feel the problem is and “what do you need as a resource to help with this.”
“I think where we’re struggling is what is the expectation?” she said.
And for parents, many said they want to know that everything that can be done has been done to investigate the cancer diagnoses. Not just at the district and county level. But the state level as well.
“It’s prevalent, it really is,” said Schrader. “And I know there’s multiple factors. I know that everybody could get cancer at some point in our lives.
“I just feel like if there is more data to be shared, there should be and then, if not, and there’s nothing else that they can do, it needs to be advanced further to where other people can look into it.”
National Institutes of Health officials have urged scientists to remove all references to mRNA vaccine technology from their grant applications, two researchers said, in a move that signaled the agency might abandon a promising field of medical research.
The mRNA technology is under study at the NIH for prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, including flu and AIDS, and also cancer. It was deployed in the development of COVID-19 vaccines credited with saving 3 million lives in the U.S. alone — an accomplishment President Donald Trump bragged about in his first term.
A scientist at a biomedical research center in Philadelphia wrote to a colleague, in an email reviewed by KFF Health News, that a project officer at NIH had “flagged our pending grant as having an mRNA vaccine component.”
“It’s still unclear whether mRNA vaccine grants will be canceled,” the scientist added.
NIH officials also told a senior NIH-funded vaccine scientist in New York state, who does not conduct mRNA vaccine research but described its efficacy in previous grant applications, that all references to mRNA vaccines should be scrubbed from future applications.
Scientists relayed their experiences on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional retaliation by the Trump administration.
A senior official at the National Cancer Institute confirmed that NIH acting Director Matthew Memoli sent an email across the NIH instructing that any grants, contracts, or collaborations involving mRNA vaccines be reported up the chain to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s office and the White House.
Memoli sent a similar message ahead of the agency canceling other research, such as studies of vaccine hesitancy.
Memoli’s email on that topic bluntly stated that NIH was not interested in learning why people shun vaccines or in exploring ways to “improve vaccine interest and commitment.”
The National Cancer Institute official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said that “it is reasonable to assume mRNA vaccine work is next.”
The official said a similar memo also went out regarding NIH-funded work in South Africa, which the White House has targeted over false claims that the country’s government is persecuting white people. More recently, another one went out regarding all global research collaborations, the official said.
Spokespeople for the White House, HHS, and the NIH did not respond to requests for comment.
The NIH, whose latest annual budget was $47 billion, is one of the world’s most critical sources of funding for basic biomedical research. Its mission and programs are under unprecedented scrutiny from Trump’s White House and the Department of Government Efficiency, the Elon Musk-led agency created by a Trump executive order that has directed federal agencies to prepare for widespread layoffs.
The NIH is funding at least 130 studies involving the mRNA technology in COVID vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna that have been administered to billions of people worldwide.
A former government official familiar with internal discussions said that the Trump administration intends to cut some grants for mRNA vaccine research but that the timing is unclear. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships with the administration.
Political conservatives in the U.S. have promulgated conspiracy theories, unsupported by scientific evidence, that the shots and their relatively new technology are dangerous. This has undermined public support for COVID vaccinations and mRNA research.
“There will not be any research funded by NIH on mRNA vaccines,” the scientist in New York said in an interview. “MAGA people are convinced that these vaccines have killed and maimed tens of thousands of people. It’s not true, but they believe that.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of other vaccine-related studies are in limbo. Kawsar Talaat, a vaccine researcher at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, has been waiting since the fall for money needed to recruit subjects for a study of an antidiarrheal vaccine.
“NIH approved our funding,” she said, “and now we’re waiting, and we don’t know if it’s going forward or going to be killed.”
The scientist in Philadelphia signaled that he believes Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, is responsible for the NIH’s turn against mRNA research.
“Kennedy’s war on vaccines has started,” the scientist told his colleague.
The scientist in New York said that it was “ridiculous” to remove mRNA language from the grant applications. But “if my grant is rejected for any reason,” the scientist said, “people in my lab will lose their jobs.”
“I’ve worked with some of them for 20 years,” the scientist added. “They have children and families. There is a real climate of fear in academia about this now, especially among vaccine scientists.”
“My grant does not involve a request for funds to conduct mRNA vaccine experiments,” the scientist said, “so my principal concern was to avoid word-search flags that, at minimum, would lead to delays in any funding.”
While tenured research professors at universities generally receive a salary from their institution, the staffers who work in their labs and offices are often paid through NIH grants. The 2023 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was given to two scientists for developing mRNA vaccines, through work that relied on pharmaceutical companies and on NIH scientists working under infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci.
According to Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who chairs the chamber’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Kennedy promised during his Senate confirmation process that he would protect “the public health benefit of vaccination” and “work within the current vaccine approval and safety monitoring systems, and not establish parallel systems.”
Cassidy, a physician, had expressed reservations about confirming Kennedy to the HHS post and challenged his anti-vaccine views during a confirmation hearing. He ended up voting for him, he said, because Kennedy had agreed to work closely with Cassidy and his committee.
However, Kennedy has faced scrutiny in his first weeks in office for his handling of a large measles outbreak among mostly unvaccinated people in Texas that has led to the death of a child, the first U.S. measles death in more than a decade. A patient who tested positive for measles died in New Mexico, but the cause hasn’t been confirmed. Instead of urging vaccination against the disease, an almost surefire way to prevent infection, Kennedy has blamed malnourishment for the outbreak, promoted unproven treatments for measles, and falsely claimed in one Fox News interview that the vaccine is ineffective and even dangerous.
Cassidy did not respond to a request for comment on the NIH’s potential abandonment of mRNA vaccine research.
As part of the Trump administration’s push to examine spending on mRNA vaccines, health officials are reviewing a $590 million contract for bird flu shots that the Biden administration awarded to Moderna, Bloomberg News has reported. Legislation introduced by GOP lawmakers in at least seven states is aimed at banning or limiting mRNA vaccines. In some cases, the measures would hit doctors who give the injections with criminal penalties, fines, and the possible revocation of their licenses.
President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military was blocked on Monday by a judge appointed by former President Joe Biden.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday, preventing the Pentagon from moving forward with Trump’s executive order. In January, Trump signed an executive order, which determined that “expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.”
Prior to Tuesday’s preliminary injunction, the Department of Defense had been instructed to revise its pronoun policies and medical standards for military service. Trump’s executive order stated, “Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.”
Last month, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth implemented a policy in response to Trump’s executive order, noting that military service members and potential military service applicants who have “a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service.”
In her ruling against Trump’s transgender ban for the U.S. military, Reyes wrote, “The court knows that this opinion will lead to heated public debate and appeals. In a healthy democracy, both are positive outcomes.” The judge added, “We should all agree, however, that every person who has answered the call to serve deserves our gratitude and respect.”
According to Fox News, Reyes delayed her ruling until Friday morning to provide the Trump administration time to appeal the decision.
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The Associated Press reported that thousands of transgender individuals currently serve in the U.S. military; however, the outlet noted that transgender individuals currently represent less than 1% of active-duty service members.
In Tuesday’s ruling, Reyes claimed that the plaintiffs in the case against the Trump administration “face a violation of their constitutional rights, which constitutes irreparable harm.”
“Indeed, the cruel irony is that thousands of transgender servicemembers have sacrificed – some risking their lives – to ensure for others the very equal protection rights the Military Ban seeks to deny them,” Reyes added.
Following the Biden-appointed judge’s decision on Tuesday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller tweeted, “District court judges have now decided they are in command of the Armed Forces…is there no end to this madness?”
In another post on X, formerly Twitter, Miller addressed the continued attempts by federal judges to block the president’s executive orders, saying, “Unelected rogue judges are trying to steal years of time from a 4 year term. It’s the most egregious theft one can imagine: robbing the vote and voice of the American People.”
The Florida House is for the third time pushing to undo a law that bans people younger than 21 from buying a rifle.
In the past two legislative sessions, the bill failed amid opposition from Senate President Kathleen Passidomo.
But this year, gun rights activists say they’re more hopeful, pointing to new legislative leadership, a court ruling and continued support from Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Here’s what to know about the proposal and what it would mean for Floridians.
Why does Florida’s law restrict people under 21 from buying rifles?
The law was a direct result of the 2018 Parkland shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, where 17 students and teachers died.
The gunman was a 19-year-old who used an AR-15-style rifle that he’d legally purchased about a year earlier.
The school shooting, one of the deadliest in U.S. history, happened in the middle of Florida’s legislative session. Family members of the dead begged lawmakers for change. The result was a sweeping bipartisan gun and school safety package that Gov. Rick Scott signed into law.
The National Rifle Association opposed the bill and quickly challenged the requirement that someone be 21 to buy a long gun. Federal law already required that someone be at least 21 years old to buy a handgun.
What’s still allowed under the current law?
Florida’s law only bans the sale or transfer of a firearm by any licensed gun dealer or manufacturer to someone younger than 21.
Federal law already prohibits the sale of handguns to someone younger than 21, but allows people to purchase a rifle or long gun if they are at least 18.
People under 21 can still possess and use rifles if they lawfully get the firearm another way, like having it gifted to them.
The law also allows people 18, 19 and 20 to purchase rifles if they are a law enforcement officer, correctional officer or service member.
A service member is defined as any person serving as part of the United States Armed Forces on active duty or state active duty, anyone in the Florida National Guard, and anyone in the United States Reserve Forces.
What have the courts said?
The National Rifle Association quickly challenged Florida’s law after it was passed in 2018, arguing that the restriction violated the Second Amendment right to bear arms and the Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection.
In 2023, a federal appeals court upheld Florida’s law, saying that it was consistent with historical firearms restrictions.
On Friday, an appeals court reaffirmed that the under-21 restriction was valid.
“From the Founding to the late-nineteenth century, our law limited the purchase of firearms by minors in different ways,” the court wrote. “The Florida law also limits the purchase of firearms by minors. And it does so for the same reason: to stop immature and impulsive individuals, like Nikolas Cruz, from harming themselves and others with deadly weapons.”
The decision was supported by eight judges on the court, including five judges appointed by a Democrat president and three justices appointed by a Republican president. Four judges, all appointed by President Donald Trump, dissented.
The decision sets up a possible challenge that could run up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Earlier this year, a different appeals court ruled that a federal age restriction on firearms was unconstitutional.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier on Friday made clear he disagrees with Florida’s age restriction. He said on social media that if Florida’s case moves to the Supreme Court, he and his office would not defend the law (unlike his predecessor Ashley Moody).
Are younger people more likely to use guns?
Perpetrators of gun violence are more likely to be young men, with the peak age being 18, said Daniel Webster, a distinguished scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
But Webster noted that gun violence is “a handgun problem more than it is anything else.”
Webster, citing data from the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System for murder and non-negligent manslaughter, noted that arrests hit their highest for 18-year-olds, and then fall for each subsequent age group.
Webster said that the prefrontal cortex, which plays a large role in decision-making, isn’t developed until about age 25 for males, which he said helps explain the age distribution for violent crime.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said the idea behind restricting the purchase of long guns is to provide “speed bumps” for people who are 18, 19 or 20.
Gualtieri, chairperson of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, said people in that age range tend to be impulsive, and that the current laws stops people from buying a rifle on impulse.
“There’s nothing in there that prevents a 19-year-old from possessing a rifle or a shotgun,” Gualtieri said.
Where do legislative leaders stand?
House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, has said he supports the bill to lower the rifle-buying age to 18. Perez voted for the post-Parkland bill in 2018 that made the change, saying it was a “very emotional time” and that the Legislature was trying to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again.
“And because of that, government has gotten involved with the Second Amendment,” Perez said earlier this month.
Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, has said he’s thinking through the proposal, but he has not yet indicated if he’s for it or against it.
President Donald Trump’s administration released roughly 80,000 pages of files pertaining to former President John F. Kennedy’s assassination on Tuesday, fulfilling a major campaign promise Trump made throughout the 2024 presidential election.
Fox News reported that as of Tuesday night, the National Archive’s website featured more than 1,123 unredacted documents with approximately 80,000 pages of information on Kennedy’s assassination.
During a visit to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Monday, Trump said, “While we’re here, I thought it would be appropriate, we are tomorrow announcing and giving all of the Kennedy files.”
The 47th president explained that he had given instructions to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and other administration officials to release the Kennedy files on Tuesday. Trump noted that people have been “waiting for decades” for the release of the secret assassination files.
“You got a lot of reading,” Trump said. “I don’t believe we’re going to redact anything. I said, ‘Just don’t redact; you can’t redact.’”
“I said during the campaign I’d do it, and I’m a man of my word, so tomorrow you have the JFK files,” the president added.
President Trump on JFK Files: “We are tomorrow announcing and giving all of the Kennedy files…I don’t believe we are are going to redact anything…it’s going to be very interesting…approximately 80,000 pages.” pic.twitter.com/0NW4QdLSzL
In a Tuesday press release, Gabbard referenced the president’s promise to provide “maximum transparency” and to “rebuild the trust of the American people in the Intelligence Community (IC) and federal agencies.” She explained that part of Trump’s promise to provide transparency to the American people was to release classified records related to the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
READ MORE: Secret JFK assassination files to be released on new webpage, GOP lawmaker says
In Tuesday’s press release, Gabbard noted that the Kennedy files will be available to access either on the National Archive’s website or in person at the National Archives. Gabbard confirmed that the Trump administration’s file release includes roughly 80,000 pages of “previously classified records that will be published with no redactions.”
Gabbard also announced that additional documents and records that have been “withheld under court seal or for grand jury secrecy” will have to be unsealed prior to their release. The director of national intelligence added that the files will be “immediately released” following court approval.
Sharing the press release in a post on X, formerly Twitter, Gabbard wrote, “President Trump is ushering in a new era of maximum transparency. Today, per his direction, previously redacted JFK Assassination Files are being released to the public with no redactions. Promises made, promises kept.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin is demanding a suspension of all weapons deliveries to Ukraine during a ceasefire proposed by U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The two leaders are set to speak by phone on Tuesday about ending the war in Ukraine, with a key objective being the 30-day truce that Kyiv has already said it’s ready to accept. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the call is expected to begin at a time between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. in Moscow.
The Russian leader, who met with a Trump envoy last week, has made the halt to arms supplies a prerequisite for signing up to the ceasefire, said a senior European official and three people in Moscow familiar with Russia’s position.
Peskov didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House’s National Security Council didn’t respond to a request for comment.
While Russia wants to halt all weapons deliveries to Ukraine, the minimum aim is that U.S. aid should stop, said two of the people in Moscow with knowledge of the Kremlin’s thinking.
The senior European official added that Europe was extremely reluctant to agree to Russia’s demand to block deliveries of weapons to Ukraine by its allies during any truce. That outcome would risk a situation where Russia was able to rearm during a cessation of hostilities, while Ukraine was prevented from doing so, the official said.
Putin has said he supports the U.S. proposal for a pause to the conflict in principle but insists that a number of conditions need to be met before Russia can agree to halt its invasion. The Russian leader will probably agree to a truce, though he wants to make sure his terms are included first, Bloomberg reported on March 12.
The U.K. and European Union are both working on efforts to deliver fresh military aid packages to Kyiv as soon as possible.
The U.S. and Ukraine announced the ceasefire plan last week after a day of talks in Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration also said it was lifting a roughly week-long halt to arms supplies and intelligence-sharing that it had imposed to pressure Ukraine into agreeing to diplomatic efforts.
Trump has offered to meet Putin as part of his bid to end the three-year-long Russian invasion of Ukraine that triggered the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II and a spiraling confrontation with the West. The truce would be the first step toward a comprehensive peace agreement.
The Trump administration has effectively already conceded Russian demands to keep control of occupied Ukrainian territory and for Kyiv to abandon its ambition to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. That has fueled European concerns that any deal the U.S. president strikes with Putin will leave Ukraine weakened and vulnerable to Russia in the future.
The U.S. is also likely to want Ukraine to accept effective neutral status and some limits on its army and weapons, in line with Russian demands, said Cliff Kupchan, a former senior State Department official who’s chairman of the New York-based Eurasia Group.
The suspension of arms supplies sought by Putin would be temporary, with weapons flows resuming after a peace accord in which Ukraine should agree to limits on its military capability, said one person in Moscow.
Since the start of Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion, Ukraine has ramped up its domestic arms production from 10% to more than 30% of its requirements, but still relies on other countries for more advanced weapons. Europe currently provides around 30% of Ukraine’s military needs and the U.S. 40%.
In addition to the ceasefire, the phone conversation between Putin and Trump will also touch on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which has been occupied by Russia since early in the war.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the power plant, which lies deep inside southeastern Ukraine, is “on the border” between Russia and Ukraine. That stoked speculation about potential territorial concessions to Russia as part of the peace process.
Vice President JD Vance said he expected President Donald Trump to wrap up a deal for TikTok and keep the popular video-sharing app operating in the US ahead of a deadline next month.
“There will almost certainly be a high-level agreement that I think satisfies our national security concerns, allows there to be a distinct American TikTok enterprise,” Vance, who is helping run negotiations for the forced sale, told NBC News in an interview Friday.
“Whether it’s through an extension, or whether it’s through actually just getting the deal in place satisfies the national security concerns, I think we’re going to be in a place where we can say TikTok is operational, and it’s also operational in a way that’s protective of Americans’ data privacy and America’s national security,” he added.
Vance did not provide any details on the participants in negotiations to purchase the app. Trump earlier this week said he is in talks with four different potential buyers for TikTok’s US business and that a deal could come “soon.” The president did not identify those contenders or say which was he was leaning in looking to close the deal.
The app, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., faces an April 5 deadline to strike a deal for its US operations or be banned from the country under a bipartisan law passed during the Biden administration. The US is by far its most important market — ByteDance operates a sister service, Douyin, at home in China — and TikTok US was estimated to be worth as much as $50 billion last year. Still, there’s skepticism around whether ByteDance or Beijing would approve a sale of US operations.
Trump once sought to ban TikTok himself, but has become a cheerleader for the popular video sharing app, which he credits with helping his 2024 presidential campaign bolster its outreach to younger voters. He has already extended the deadline for a sale once and indicated he is open to doing so again, but said he believes a deal is possible.
Vance suggested that some of the paperwork might push the process over the deadline, but he was hopeful the administration would not need to seek another extension.
“I think that the outlines of this thing will be very clear. The question is whether we can get all the paper done,” he said.
“We’d like to get it done without the extension,” Vance added. “The deal itself will be very clear, but actually creating those thousands and thousands of pages of legal documents, that’s the one thing that I worry could slip.”
The public bidders to date include a group led by billionaire Frank McCourt and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, another featuring tech entrepreneur Jesse Tinsley and YouTube star MrBeast, and a merger offer by San Francisco-based Perplexity AI.
Trump has also floated Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison’s name. TikTok has worked with Oracle on the hosting of its US users’ data. Officials have also evaluated a scenario where billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk acquires TikTok in the US. Musk, who already owns the X social-media network, has said he is not interested.
Trump has said he believes the US should be granted a 50% stake in the company as a condition.
As safety concerns over the Sig Sauer P320 handgun continue to mount, a growing number of police departments across the United States are rethinking their use of the popular semiautomatic firearm.
Released in 2014, Sig Sauer’s P320 model has become one of the most popular guns in America, with more than 2.5 million units sold. The P320 also has been the standard sidearm for the U.S. military since 2017.
But the firearm has been linked to a series of unintentional discharges.
The Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission is now the latest to permanently ban the P320 from its training facilities. The agency offers training to police and correctional officers in the state.
The agency’s decision came after a four-month investigation prompted by an incident last year in which a police recruit’s P320 discharged while being drawn, injuring both an instructor and another recruit.
“The WSCJTC’s only concern in this process is preserving the safe learning and working environment for its recruits and instructors,” the agency’s report states.
This incident is part of a larger pattern of complaints from more than 100 people who have reported similar issues with the firearm since its release, with at least 80 injuries linked to accidental discharges, according to a 2023 joint investigation by The Trace, a news outlet dedicated to covering gun violence, and The Washington Post.
Following the 2023 investigation, Sig Sauer has faced lawsuits from at least 15 more plaintiffs, and new evidence has surfaced linking the firearm to at least one death and 20 additional injuries, The Trace reported in December.
Since at least 2017, several law enforcement agencies, including the Milwaukee Police Department, the Dallas Police Department and the SEPTA transit police in Philadelphia, as well as other agencies in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin, have pulled the P320 from their arsenals due to concerns over misfirings.
A Georgia jury in June found Sig Sauer liable for a defect in its P320 pistol, awarding $2.35 million to the plaintiff whose gun fired while holstered. The bullet tore through the plantiff’s right upper thigh and ripped out just above his knee, according to court records.
The verdict marked the first time a jury has ruled that the handgun was defectively designed, The Trace reported in June.
In November, a Philadelphia jury awarded $11 million to an Army veteran who was injured when his P320 discharged while in his pocket. Jurors concluded that Sig Sauer was liable for the veteran’s injury because the firearm did not have an external safety, like those used on Glocks and other pistols.
External safeties generally prevent a gun’s trigger from moving backward when dropped or when indirect pressure, such as from a holster, is applied.
An Oklahoma civilian in December also asked the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to revive his suit against Sig Sauer after his P320 discharged in 2018 while in a holster he was wearing.
In 2018 — a year after the U.S. Army announced its 10-year, $580 million contract with Sig Sauer — a U.S. Department of Defense report revealed that during testing, the military found the P320 could discharge without a trigger pull if dropped at certain angles. Sig Sauer in 2017 modified the gun’s trigger mechanism. The company also redesigned the civilian version of the P320 and offered owners of older models the opportunity to voluntarily return their guns for upgraded components.
Despite the rise in reported incidents, Sig Sauer has steadfastly maintained that the P320 is safe for use. The company has denied claims that the gun is defective and insists that the reported discharges are due to improper handling.
“The P320 is trusted by the U.S. Military, law enforcement professionals, and responsible citizens worldwide. SIG SAUER is extremely proud of our outstanding safety record and quality firearms,” Samantha Piatt, the company’s director of communications, said in a statement posted to its website last year.
