Assassin Vance Boelter was sentenced Thursday to two consecutive life sentences without parole for murdering former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband, Mark, and wounding state Sen. John Hoffman (D) and his wife, Yvette, in what prosecutors called a politically motivated attack.  Boelter was convicted on six federal charges stemming from the murders of the Hortmans and the shooting of the Hoffmans, as well as the attempted shooting of the couple’s daughter, Hope, according to the Department of Justice.  At Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Colin and Sophie Hortman, the children of Melissa and Mark Hortman, described how their lives had been shattered by the murders.   “In one night, our family went from whole to shattered,” Colin said, describing his parents as “the best” a child could ask for. “My mom will never bake me another cake … She was supposed to bake my wedding cake. That was the one wish that I had,” Colin said. “They would have been the best grandparents. They will never meet my children. They would have traveled more, they would have mentored more leaders.” Sophie Hortman also spoke about the trauma of losing her parents. “What I cared about was that my entire life had just been shattered in 30 seconds … We had to stand up and keep going,” she said. Boelter apologized in court to the Hortman family and his other victims.  “To every person I have caused loss, pain, heartache, confusion, sadness, shame, or loneliness, I am truly sorry,” he said. According to court documents, Boelter researched the homes and routines of top Democratic lawmakers before embarking on what prosecutors described as a “murderous rampage” while disguised as a police officer conducting wellness checks. In addition to targeting the Hortmans and the Hoffmans, Boelter also went to the homes of Rep. Kristin Bahner and Sen. Ann Rest, both Democrats, but neither answered the door. A two-day manhunt ended with Boelter’s arrest near his family home in Green Isle, Minnesota. Officers found a list of 45 Democratic state officials and their addresses in his car, along with “No Kings” protest signs in the back of his car. Authorities have said Boelter was not a supporter of the demonstrators and had told family members before the shootings to “pray that something takes the wind out of these protests’ sails.”  Prosecutors argued Boelter carried out the attacks in an effort to tip  Minnesota’s “delicate” balance of power in Republicans’ favor, KTSP news reported. They noted that the state House was evenly split 67-67 while Democrats held a one-seat Senate majority. Had Boelter succeeded in killing all four Democratic lawmakers he targeted, prosecutors argued, “the inevitable result would be a shift in the balance of power in both legislative houses.”  In addition to his federal conviction, Boelter still faces multiple state charges, including two counts of murder, four counts of attempted murder, impersonating a police officer, and animal cruelty for allegedly killing the Hortmans’ golden retriever, Gilbert.  Boelter also previously served on Minnesota’s Workforce Development Board after being appointed by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz. Walz has said he did not know Boelter personally, with his office noting that the board has more than 60 members and that governors do not personally interview applicants for such positions.   

Republicans appear to support a bipartisan bill led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), but the legislation remains stalled amid reported concerns that giving the Democratic socialist a legislative victory could fuel her presidential ambitions.   The DEFIANCE Act (Disrupt Explicit Forged Images And Non-Consensual Edits Act) would create a federal civil cause of action allowing victims of non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes to sue those who create or distribute fake nude or sexual images without their consent.  Under the bill, victims could recover up to $250,000 in damages in cases involving sexual assault, stalking, or harassment, earning support from leftists, conservative Republicans, and Hollywood figures such as Paris Hilton. AOC first introduced the legislation last year. In January, the U.S. Senate passed it unanimously. “I want to thank the Senate cosponsors of this legislation, including my Republican co-lead, Senator Lindsey Graham,” Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said at the time. “Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez herself is a publicly confessed victim of explicit deepfakes. I commend her for working to create tools for victims in the fight against this despicable crime.”  Despite bipartisan support, the bill remains stalled in the Republican-led House. Politico reported Thursday that some Republicans worry passing AOC’s legislation could hand the New York congresswoman a political victory as she emerges as a potential 2028 presidential contender.  “It’s a shame that this bill isn’t law because they are unwilling to give AOC a win,” one person working on the bill told the outlet. “When you look at it, everything is aligned for it to pass, except that they don’t want her to have this.” “We’re depriving many, many people of the ability to set their lives right just to prevent one member of Congress from being able to pass a bill,” another person said, according to Politico.  Ocasio-Cortez has blamed the delay on House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH). Earlier this month, she told The Independent that the bill passed the Senate unanimously with Republican support, adding that people should “ask Jim Jordan” why it has yet to advance. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told reporters Tuesday that he supports the legislation but was unsure of its status in committee, according to Politico.  Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed the bipartisan TAKE IT DOWN Act, championed by first lady Melania Trump, into law. The measure criminalizes the non-consensual online distribution of intimate images, including AI-generated deepfakes. The impasse comes days after a New Hampshire primary poll signaled an early shake-up in the 2028 Democratic presidential race, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) leading the field. The Granite State Poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, shows the Democratic socialist leading the hypothetical Democratic field with 22% support, narrowly ahead of former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at 21%. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) placed third with 9%.  “You know polls are polls, and a horse race is a horse race,” AOC said in response. “I am, of course, I think very deeply humbled and grateful to you know folks who participate and convey that confidence.”

Communities across the country are fighting to keep data centers out. Columbia County, Georgia, is hoping one moves in so it can eliminate residential property taxes. “The data center will produce more revenue when built and fleshed out,” Columbia County Board of Commissioners Chairman Doug Duncan said. “It’s going to take a couple of years, [but] it’ll produce more tax revenue than the homestead that comes from taxes in Columbia County. Our long-term objective with this is to eliminate the homestead tax.”  For the owner of the county’s median-priced home, valued at roughly $305,000, that could mean saving about $2,900 a year. Renters could also benefit if landlords pass those savings on through lower rents. Columbia County recently purchased almost 2,000 acres near an Amazon facility for the proposed data center. Officials estimate the project could generate $400 million in tax revenue. Duncan said the figure “boggles my mind because we have $100 million in a general fund. It’s hard for me to believe it’s that much.”  If the project is successful, Duncan said Columbia County would, to his knowledge, become the first county in the nation to eliminate residential property taxes.  On Thursday, President Donald Trump praised communities that welcome data centers. “You have communities that really want the data centers and, frankly, those are the smart communities,” Trump said. Trump explained data center construction creates “tremendous numbers of jobs” with “very little actual disruption,” and added that some communities are “begging for” the facilities because of the tax revenue they generate.  Other communities have not eliminated residential property taxes, but officials say data centers have significantly boosted local education budgets and teacher pay. A Redfin analysis found that Virginia’s two largest data center hubs, located in Loudoun County and Prince William County, have drastically outspent their neighboring counties on education over the past 15 years.  Teacher salaries in Loudoun County rose about 40% from 2010 to 2023. In neighboring Fairfax County, salaries rose about 29% to roughly $82,000.  Richland Parish, Louisiana, has reported similar benefits following Meta’s data center expansion. “Last year, our teachers received a $10,000 bonus, this year that check was over $50,000,” said Sheldon Jones, Superintendent of the Richland Parish School District. “It’s life-altering for our teachers and their families, and it’s transforming our schools.” “With bonuses like that, the best educators come to you. And if we can attract the best teachers, we could become one of the best school districts in our region.” Opposition to data centers isn’t partisan, with both sides of the aisle advocating for their demise. There are more than 300 local groups organizing against new facilities. Last week alone, organizers staged 142 protests across 42 states, citing concerns about water use, environmental impacts, and potential increased utility costs. 

Judges across the country have ordered the release of 65,000 detainees from federal immigration custody, revealing the extent of a massive operation to undermine the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. White House border czar Tom Homan told Fox News over the weekend that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees are filing “a record number of habeas cases” to get released and that “radical judges” are largely granting their petitions. “The number’s around 65,000 people that we arrested that we had to release because of habeas cases out of radical judges. So there’s a lot we’re fighting against, more than any other president,” Homan said. The surge in habeas petitions comes after the Department of Homeland Security issued a sweeping policy to deny bond hearings to ICE detainees. The policy has led to a slew of legal challenges, leading to conflicting rulings by circuit courts across the country. When illegal immigrants file habeas petitions to challenge their detention, their cases are moved from the immigration courts to federal district courts, where judges tend to look at their arguments more favorably, experts told The Daily Wire. If they get released, it can buy them years of additional time in the United States, allowing them to apply for immigration status. “Partisan activist federal district judges are systematically undoing the expensive, time-consuming work of ICE and releasing thousands of arrestable illegal aliens from lawful detention,” Todd Bensman, who recently left his role as senior adviser to the ICE Office of the Director, told The Daily Wire. “It’s a racket, a scam, and a public safety hazard. Federal district judges have zero jurisdiction over administrative immigration processes. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait for the Supreme Court to shut down this scam. I can’t say how many of these releases have perpetrated crimes but my fingers are crossed that the Supreme Court moves quickly,” Bensman said. U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Timothy Courchaine previously told The Daily Wire that federal judges are granting bond in “most” such cases, adding that “we’ve been losing almost all of these.” Dan Gividen, a Dallas-based immigration attorney, has shifted his practice from arguing cases before immigration judges to filing habeas petitions in district courts, where he’s had better success getting his clients released. His office went from filing roughly “three or four” habeas petitions on behalf of migrant clients in 2019 to roughly 150 in the last year, 70 of which have been granted, he said. “That’s unheard of previously,” Gividen said of his success. “It’s good to see the way that it’s going,” he said. “The impact is huge.” U.S. attorneys’ offices have become bogged down by the overwhelming caseload, which has forced them to divert criminal prosecutors to handle habeas immigration cases. “We’ve had to pull criminal prosecutors off of their caseloads and put them into civil [cases],” Courchaine previously said. “We’ve had to shift around criminal prosecutors’ workloads and investigations so they could take this on. Even my criminal chief, who’s in charge of more than 60 federal prosecutors up in Phoenix, Arizona, has had to volunteer to take cases,” he added.

Sophie Cunningham has always stuck up for her people. Her sister, her teammates, Caitlin Clark (when the entire WNBA seemed to have taken out a hit job on her), and now she’s sticking up for something even bigger: women. The basketball star turned viral sensation just threw the girls a bone, saying in a sprawling ESPN feature that she wants to “protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.” There it is. Time for the WNBA to get big mad. And of course the media will follow suit, deriding her indefinitely, like the Washington Post just did. Its latest headline reads: “WNBA player Sophie Cunningham won’t stop talking about trans athletes.” No, my friends. You won’t stop talking about trans athletes. She shouldn’t even have to say that “Biological men” don’t belong in a girl’s locker room. In fact, that used to be a redundant phrase, not a controversial one. But somebody had to say it aloud, because the feminists who were supposed to be saying it wandered off years ago, some chasing climate change, some chasing a different gender. So thank God for Sophie Cunningham. The 29-year old Indiana Fever guard, Missouri native, and Amazonian talent is apparently the last woman standing willing to state the obvious. She’s not just the right messenger; she’s the perfect one.