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I could have rescued my daughter from disappointment. Here's why I didn't
A few weeks ago, my daughter came home from second grade, and she told me she wasn’t invited to her friend Samantha’s birthday party. I asked her if she knew how many kids were invited, and she told me twenty. I was incensed. It was a big party, not a small, exclusive gathering, and my baby was left out. I knew that, in that moment, I could do two things: acknowledge that being left out hurts, or pick up the phone and call Samantha’s mom to secure an invitation. I had to deliberately focus on the former and stop myself from instinctually choosing the latter because, these days, it seems like we are all defaulting to the phone call.
The instinct is understandable. We all hate watching our children suffer. But we need to remember that there is a clear difference between supporting our children through disappointment and making sure they never experience it.
OUR KIDS AREN’T BROKEN. WE NEED TO STOP TREATING EVERY STRUGGLE LIKE A DISORDER
It seems like we have lost our ability to tolerate ordinary childhood struggles. We pathologize and diagnose every negative experience—sadness becomes depression, meanness becomes bullying, and frustration becomes emotional dysregulation. And each unsavory, undesirable part of life becomes an intervention target. Parents feel pressure to act rather than simply let life unfold.
But the reality is that life is messy and often uncomfortable, and not every negative emotion is evidence of a problem that requires us to intervene. Emotional discomfort isn’t inherently dangerous, and, in fact, negative experiences can serve important developmental functions. Coping with adversity helps kids recognize what matters to them, adjust expectations, solve problems, and navigate relationships. When we have a myopic focus on protecting children’s mental health, we often forget that mental health is based not on the absence of negative emotions but on our ability to handle them.
As parents, we must remember that resilience requires practice, and competence develops through experience. Children build coping skills when they encounter manageable challenges, experiment with solutions, and discover that they can tolerate discomfort. And all this requires the possibility of failure. Children never develop the ability to recover from disappointment if they don’t have the opportunity to feel it.
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Parents have a key role to play in the development of self-efficacy. We communicate our expectations about what they can do. When we give our children space to learn and grow, we communicate that they can handle challenges on their own. On the flip side, when we repeatedly intervene to solve their problems, we send the message that they can’t do it without us. It’s impossible to teach kids to swim by keeping them out of the water!
Constantly rescuing our kids has three unintended consequences. First, it undermines self-efficacy. Children look to adults to solve problems rather than trusting themselves and discovering their own resourcefulness. Second, it reinforces avoidance. Children learn that unpleasant emotions are intolerable rather than temporary experiences that they can manage. Third, it creates unrealistic expectations. Children learn to expect the world to accommodate their preferences rather than learning to manage unfairness, frustration, rejection, and disappointment.
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Of course, children often need support. Removing demands may, at times, be necessary. But when we reflexively remove demands instead of helping children develop the capacity to navigate them, we prioritize short-term relief over long-term growth.
We must deliberately support our children without constantly rescuing them. First, we should validate the feeling without catastrophizing it. Acknowledge the disappointment, but don’t amplify it into a crisis. Second, resist the urge to solve the problem. Before intervening, ask whether it is something your child can reasonably navigate independently. Third, help your child develop their own solutions. You can ask them what they could do next or what they might try differently next time, but remember that sometimes the best intervention is no intervention at all. Sometimes children just need time to feel bad and move on.
When I think about my own daughter and that birthday party, I wonder if maybe this will give her the opportunity and motivation to make a new friend. Maybe she’ll learn to cope with exclusion. Maybe she’ll just feel bummed for the afternoon and move on. All are developmentally meaningful (and desirable) outcomes. And I remember that my job isn’t to eliminate adversity and disappointment; it’s to help her become a person who can handle the struggles that are inevitably part of life.
I don’t want to raise someone who never falls down; I want to raise someone who knows how to get back up.
Canada is feeling the pain from Trump's tariffs — but the trade fight didn't start overnight
President Donald Trump's escalating trade fight with Canada is squeezing the economy north of the border, threatening jobs and adding to families' financial strain as steep U.S. tariffs on roughly $20 billion in goods remain in place.
U.S. tariffs have hammered the country's steel, aluminum, lumber and automobile producers that depend heavily on the American market. Steel exports have fallen by roughly half since the tariffs took effect, while lumber exports were about 20% below 2024 levels earlier this year, according to the Bank of Canada. Production and jobs have also declined in some of the hardest-hit industries.
Canadian families are feeling the squeeze, too. Consumer prices were 3% higher in August than a year earlier, with grocery prices up 2.8% and transportation costs jumping 7.5%, according to the government's own data.
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Retaliatory tariffs on American products have also added to those costs.
Prices of affected goods, which includes groceries, household products, furniture, electronics and appliances, rose roughly 6% more than comparable products that were not hit by the tariffs, according to the country's central bank.
But while Canada is feeling the economic pain, the disputes driving Trump's trade fight are not new.
"The Trump administration is complaining about dairy access and, generally speaking, those complaints are completely valid," David Clement, North American affairs manager at the Consumer Choice Center, told Fox News Digital.
"Canada has exorbitant tariffs on imports from the United States and really from everywhere around the world when it comes to chicken, turkey, eggs, cheese and milk," Clement said.
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Clement noted, however, that differences between American and European access to Canada's market reflect terms negotiated under separate trade agreements, including the USMCA struck during Trump's first term.
But dairy represents just a fraction of the broader U.S.-Canada trading relationship.
Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics at the Cato Institute and the Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies, said more than 99% of U.S.-Canada trade was duty-free before 2025, with negotiators historically willing to tolerate disputes over politically sensitive products like dairy to preserve the broader relationship.
"The Trump administration has so far refused to make the deal," he said.
Lincicome said free trade in products including fertilizer, energy and lumber helps keep costs down for American farmers, homebuilders and consumers.
With the midterm elections just weeks away and the cost of living in focus, the trade dispute is unfolding as higher energy prices add another layer of pressure on consumers.
Lincicome called the combination a "double whammy."
"First you had the tariffs which increased the prices of a lot of products. And then you had energy prices spike because of the Iran war," he said.
Higher diesel prices can ripple through the economy because they fuel tractors, trucks and trains, Lincicome said, acting "as kind of another tariff" by raising the cost of getting products to consumers.
Despite the escalating tensions, Clement cautioned against allowing the dispute to undermine the broader relationship.
"The partnership between Canada and the United States is one of the greatest trading relationships the world has ever known," he said. "That should be embraced. It should be enhanced, and it shouldn't be torn down by either side."
DEPROGRAMMED: He was headed for the MLB. Instead he stepped up to the plate for God
Star outfielder Nehemiah Toles had multiple Division-I college baseball offers and MLB scouts watching him as he neared high school graduation, but he turned all of it down in pursuit of his purpose — preaching the Gospel to bring America’s youth to Jesus.
"It's the scariest thing to be gifted at something that God did not call you to… Baseball was my passion, it wasn't my purpose," Toles told Fox News Digital.
"When I stand before God… and he looks at me, he's gonna say well done, good and faithful servant. How did hitting home runs, how would that have served Him?" he continued.
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Toles, who now runs his own ministry traveling across the U.S. to preach the Gospel, grew up in a household with a pastor father transitioning to be an evangelist. Although surrounded by faith in his home, he admits to thinking religion and following God was "corny" during his youth.
The former baseball player revealed that he used the sport as a "coping mechanism" while dealing with anxiety and depression that peaked in school during the pandemic of 2020.
"From 13 years old to 16 years old… I felt like I struggled to connect with people, struggled to just articulate my thoughts. And so… I went back to church, [and] before I even started worshiping or anything like that, I felt the presence of God just hit me. All my anxiety, all my depression left, and I had tried everything else and nothing else was working," Toles continued.
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Toles detailed one of his first experiences receiving college offers during a championship game while ranked the top outfielder in the state of Ohio, running to second base chalking up reddish brown dust in the air with the impact of each cleated step, seeing his coach on the phone from under the shadow of his baseball cap, rounding third base and finishing a home run before making it to the dugout.
"I'm in the dugout. And [my coach] he's like… before [you] touched home plate, three Division-I coaches had just confirmed," Toles continued.
He described the elation on his parents' faces and recalled his father’s tears at the news of the offers from Yale and a handful of other universities, all right before he heard the voice of God later that night alone in his room.
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"[In] the hotel room that night and I felt like the Lord had spoke[n] to me, like, 'Is that enough? Was that what you were looking for? Like, is this ever, is it going to be enough?'" he said.
Toles described serving at a community event helping children in need shortly after that game, wrestling between both destinies, finding that serving those kids was "something deeper" and "more satisfying" to him than hitting home runs or getting top college offers.
"I felt like God was calling me into full-time ministry and so… [During that] exact event, I went back to the green room and I called half of the Division-I coaches and told them I'm not going to come to their college, I'm going full-time into ministry," Toles said.
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Despite tension with his family and multiple hard conversations with various adults, from guidance counselors to coaches and more imploring Toles to reconsider his decision, he stood firm.
"Everything that the world had offered me didn't satisfy me… I remember feeling so deceived and feeling so frustrated, because doing the things that people had told me to do [that] they said they would make me happy and would fulfill me… didn't," he added.
Toles endured pressure from all sides that eventually led him to question his choice, but when he asked God, he heard his voice clearer than ever.
"He made it so evident to me, He [said], obedience to me will always be insanity to the world," Toles said.
Jon Bon Jovi impersonator uses AI videos to scam woman out of $10K, nearly costing her home
She gave love a chance. A scammer gave it a bad name.
For months, Leslie Pickett thought she was talking to Jon Bon Jovi, the rock star she had adored since she was 14. The man behind the screen messaged her day and night, sent convincing videos and eventually persuaded her to hand over thousands of dollars.
By the time the deception unraveled, she had lost more than $10,000 and came close to losing her home.
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"My heart was shattered," the Louisiana resident told Fox News Digital. "I was still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But there was nothing but ill intent. That's what hurt the most."
Pickett's story is featured in the National Geographic documentary special "Super Scam Me," in which Emmy Award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller goes undercover to investigate online scams, traveling to Africa to confront a suspected scammer face-to-face.
"We're living in the era of scams," van Zeller told Fox News Digital. "Romance scams, in particular, are the fastest growing, and I believe, most devastating form of financial crime out there. One in seven Americans have reported losing money to romance scams. And so, I think now is the best time to raise awareness."
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Fox News Digital reached out to Bon Jovi’s spokesperson for comment.
Pickett, who was "more of a Facebook person," was introduced to Instagram by her daughter. She came across Bon Jovi's verified account in late 2024 and commented on one of his posts. Five minutes later, she received a response from an account that appeared to belong to Bon Jovi himself. However, the account wasn't verified.
"He gave very thoughtful answers to my questions, so I genuinely thought it was him," Pickett said. "And I wasn't too knowledgeable about those check marks. I had doubts, but hey, a girl can dream."
According to Pickett, the impostor told her Bon Jovi wanted to connect with his fans more personally. He also warned that if Bon Jovi's management discovered the secret account, it would be shut down.
For months, the two exchanged messages "several times a day and several times at night," bonding over music and common interests. According to Pickett, the impostor remembered details from their earliest conversations, told her "I love you" and even sent a bouquet of flowers to her home. He also sent recorded videos, and the two eventually connected on a live video call.
Pickett, who had no idea he was generative AI to play the rock star, was convinced she was talking to Bon Jovi. The scammer also claimed that he and his wife had quietly filed for divorce but were keeping it under wraps to protect his public image.
Pickett showed the photos and videos to her cousin, who was skeptical that Bon Jovi would be in a secret relationship with a fan. But after seeing the images, he reportedly exclaimed, "That's him! There's no doubt about it."
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"It was like talking to my best friend," Pickett said. "He said he wanted to meet someone normal. He didn't want somebody that wanted fame, money and things like that. So, we didn't really talk about stuff like that. We talked about everyday life. I had my doubts, but I was praying it was him."
Months later, the man posing as Bon Jovi started asking for money.
"He had an exclusive performance in Nashville, where he only let a thousand people buy tickets," Pickett recalled. "The show was legitimate. Unfortunately, I tried to buy tickets, but they sold out in four minutes. When I told him about it, he suggested a meet and greet. He had never asked me for money before. He said, 'To get you in the meet and greet, you're going to have go through management since there are no tickets left.’ He gave me emails to his management, and he walked me through how to do everything. I've never even heard of the word 'crypto.’"
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"That was a red flag, but the money was given with intent," Pickett continued. "I was supposed to get something in return. Meet and greets are also a common thing with famous people so I didn't see it as scammy at all. The bitcoin and crypto were the only things that made me go, 'Why am I not logging into a regular site?' He said, 'Those get hacked all the time. This is the safest way to do it.' He put me at ease."
The requests for money started small but added up over time. Pickett sent $100 or $150 at a time, only to be told the payments hadn't gone through. The impostor then instructed her to send larger amounts through different payment methods, including Venmo, PayPal, Cash App and cryptocurrency. When one method supposedly failed, she would try another, sometimes staying up at night trying to figure out how to send the money.
"Nothing felt abnormal until I realized the money wasn't coming back into my account," Pickett said.
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Van Zeller described the scammer’s interactions with Pickett as a "slow burn."
"At first approach, it started as a normal conversation," van Zeller explained. "People think he approached her and said, ‘Hi, I’m Jon Bon Jovi. I’m madly in love with you. Send me money.’ That’s not the case. It took him seven months before he asked Leslie for money. Many people think, ‘How can you give money to a stranger?’ But for Leslie, and many other victims, this was at a point when he wasn’t a stranger. With some victims, they speak to scammers for months, even years."
Advances in artificial intelligence made the deception even harder to detect.
"I had the chance of watching some of the videos that the fake Jon Bon Jovi sent Leslie," van Zeller said. "At one point during this experiment, I was dating three George Clooneys, several Brad Pitts and a few Keanu Reeves. A few sent me videos that were very bad, but some were very good. I received one video from a fake George Clooney that you can watch in the documentary that looked very real. These weren't the old deep fake videos of the past that are full of distortions. These looked professional, believable."
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"In the videos, he would say my name," Pickett recalled. "He would send me videos all the time. One time, I told him, 'Pull on your right ear, cross your eyes and stick your tongue out.' He would send me that within five minutes. That's how good AI is."
In July 2025, the scammer told Pickett he was flying to Louisiana for a meet and greet. He sent her photos of himself seated at a table in a hotel she recognized. The light fixtures, furniture, carpet, utensils and even the napkin rings all matched.
According to Pickett, the scammer told her they needed to complete a security clearance check through Google Chat before they could finally meet in person. When Pickett tried to join the video call, he abruptly hung up. He texted her afterward, claiming there was a security breach because his management believed she was trying to record the call.
The impostor then told Pickett that if she was willing to pay more money to his management, they could arrange another security check, and he would even remain in town for a while. This time, he requested a much larger amount of Bitcoin.
"At that point, I thought, 'Oh my God, this is just not real,'" Pickett said. "That's when my heart sank because I knew I had been duped. That's when I decided to reach out to Mariana for help."
Even after realizing she had been deceived, Pickett wondered whether the man she had been talking to for months was someone living in the United States who genuinely cared about her — someone who wasn't interested only in money but wanted a meaningful relationship.
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Van Zeller and Pickett teamed up with a former hacker who helped them trace the scammer's internet protocol (IP) address. The hacker set a trap designed to lure the impostor into claiming more Bitcoin. The IP address led them to Lagos, Nigeria. They then used Google Earth to identify what they believed was the house from which the scammer had been messaging Pickett.
By then, Pickett said she had lost "over $10,000" to the scam. She had fallen so deeply into debt that her home was facing foreclosure.
"I was devastated," Pickett said. "By then I was starting to suspect he was fake. But when Mariana got confirmation, it rocked my world. He could have just come clean, but he just took advantage of my kindness. That's what crushed me."
Today, Pickett is still rebuilding her finances while working a full-time job. She said the emotional toll has been even harder to overcome, leaving her struggling to trust others. She has also become an advocate for scam victims, using social media to warn others about the dangers of interacting with unverified accounts.
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"My ultimate goal today is to slow it down and eventually stop this industry," Pickett said. "It devastated my family. It devastated me. It put me in financial dire straits. It affected me emotionally. I wanted to crawl under a rock. No one should ever feel that way. I would never want anyone to go through what I went through."
Trump officials warn decades-long decline among American men could carry national security consequences
The Trump administration is targeting testosterone deficiency as a potential threat to military readiness, rolling out new screening guidelines for male service members amid growing concerns about the health of American men and the shrinking pool of young people qualified to serve.
"There is absolutely a national defense readiness ramifications for [low testosterone]," Adm. Brian Christine, a senior Department of Health and Human Services official, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
Christine also pointed to broader health challenges facing the military's recruiting pool, warning that 77% of Americans ages 17 to 24 do not qualify for service without a waiver, with obesity, chronic disease and other barriers contributing to the problem. Among young men, he said, more than 70% are ineligible, while only about 3% of young Americans express interest in serving.
The warning comes as the Trump administration places a renewed emphasis on military readiness, with Christine helping shape an initiative that led the Pentagon to issue testosterone deficiency screening guidelines for male service members ages 30 and older in September.
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Trump entered his second term with an aggressive approach to rebuilding the American military, tightening fitness requirements, axing DEI policies, overhauling weapons acquisition, building up recruitment and refocusing the force on combat readiness and lethality.
Christine, a urologist who spent more than 35 years specializing in men's health, said testosterone levels have been declining for decades, raising concerns about the long-term health of American men and the physical demands placed on those serving in uniform.
"I think it's incredibly important, incredibly timely," Christine said of the screening guidance.
Under the Pentagon's guidelines, male service members ages 30 and older undergo mandatory screening for testosterone deficiency, beginning with an assessment of symptoms and risk factors, with further testing and potential treatment available when medically appropriate.
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"We're not forcing testosterone on anybody," Christine said. "But what we are doing is screening, taking those men who are symptomatic and have low numbers and offering them a pathway forward."
The HHS official pointed to obesity and chronic disease as established factors associated with low testosterone, while raising concerns that environmental exposures, including microplastics and other toxins, could also be contributing to the decline — a possibility researchers are still investigating.
"In the mid-1970s, the average testosterone level for men in this country... was well over 650. Now it's approaching 350," Christine said.
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National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya echoed those concerns in a separate interview with Fox News Digital, warning that some testosterone deficiency may be going undiagnosed even as medical guidelines stress that a diagnosis requires both symptoms and consistently low hormone levels.
"It's interesting because if you look at the epidemiological trends, testosterone levels in the American male population have been declining over the last decades. And again, we don't know why. We don't have an answer," Bhattacharya said.
Bhattacharya said researchers must determine not only why testosterone levels are declining, but also what medical guidance should follow for men diagnosed with a deficiency. "There are under-diagnosed testosterone deficiencies."
"The question of what to do about it, how to prevent it, that's at the top of my mind," he added.
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The NIH director also pointed to declining sperm counts as another area requiring further scientific investigation, suggesting that environmental exposures could be contributing to broader reproductive health concerns.
"But even more importantly, what are the factors, probably environmental factors, that have led to the decline in sperm counts, for instance? We need an answer to those questions," Bhattacharya said.
Bhattacharya said the NIH is investing in research to better understand the potential causes of those trends and determine how doctors should advise American men.
Christine said that testosterone is about more than muscle growth or physical appearance, arguing that hormone levels play an important role in men's overall health.
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"Testosterone levels in men are absolutely related to their overall well-being, to their lifespan, to their health span, and to their wellness," Christine said.
He also noted that men with low testosterone tend to experience higher rates of anxiety and depression.
The administration is also developing separate hormonal health guidance for female service members, which the Defense Health Agency said would follow the September guidelines issued for male troops, with women's health specialists contributing to the recommendations, Christine said.
Christine said that the goal is ensuring that service members are equipped to perform their duties while addressing broader health challenges affecting American men.
"If we truly want our men who are in uniform to be at their best," Christine said, the focus must be on their ability to function and perform their jobs.
Pennsylvania law requires delivery robots to yield to pedestrians, yet protester still faced arrest
Most people see a food delivery robot rolling down the sidewalk and simply walk around it. But one Philadelphia woman decided she wasn't moving. She stood directly in front of an Uber Eats delivery robot, refusing to let it continue. Police eventually arrived, and the 78-year-old retired professor ended up in handcuffs.
Her protest has now sparked a much bigger conversation about robots taking over human jobs and how much space these machines should get on our sidewalks. And there's a surprising detail about Pennsylvania law that makes this whole situation even more interesting.
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WORKERS ERUPT OVER DC PLAN TO BRING ROBOTAXIS TO CITY STREETS: ‘THIS IS BULLS---’
On Oct. 14, Carolyn Marvin, a retired University of Pennsylvania professor, was leaving a flu shot appointment in Center City Philadelphia when she spotted an Uber Eats delivery robot. Instead of stepping aside, she positioned herself in front of the machine near Reading Terminal Market on Filbert Street. Police reportedly responded after witnesses reported a disturbance. Officers said Marvin repeatedly refused instructions to move out of the robot's path. They eventually arrested her and issued her a disorderly conduct citation.
The encounter was captured on video and quickly attracted attention online. However, Marvin wasn't surprised by the attention. She had been deliberately blocking delivery robots for months, turning what might look like a strange sidewalk encounter into her own form of public protest.
In an interview with PhillyVoice, Marvin explained that she believes corporations are using autonomous machines to displace human delivery workers. She argued that her actions fall under her First Amendment right to protest. Marvin was taken to police headquarters and later released. She said she plans to fight the citation in court and continue blocking delivery robots when she has the opportunity. She also encouraged others who oppose the machines to join her protests.
Marvin's frustration goes beyond having robots share the sidewalk. She sees them as a direct threat to people who earn their living delivering food. Every order completed by a robot represents work that potentially could have gone to a human courier. That concern comes as more delivery companies experiment with automation to reduce operating costs.
Unlike a human courier, a robot doesn't collect tips or earn money for each delivery. Companies hope automation will eventually reduce operating costs, although the machines still require maintenance and monitoring.
However, whether Philadelphia's robot program has actually eliminated delivery jobs remains unclear. Uber has previously said its robots are intended to complement human delivery workers rather than replace them. Still, it's easy to understand why people who depend on delivery income might question how that arrangement will work as fleets expand.
Marvin also sees her protests as an opportunity to engage other pedestrians. She says people regularly stop to ask why she's blocking the machines. Those conversations are part of what motivates her to continue, even after her arrest.
You might assume that Marvin's arrest means delivery robots have the right of way on Philadelphia sidewalks. But Pennsylvania law offers a rather different answer.
The state's vehicle code classifies personal delivery devices as pedestrians and generally requires them to follow pedestrian traffic rules. However, the robots must yield the right-of-way or safely navigate around pedestrians and cyclists in pedestrian areas. That's an important detail. A delivery robot does not automatically have priority over someone walking down the sidewalk.
Of course, requiring robots to yield does not necessarily give people the legal right to deliberately obstruct deliveries. Police say Marvin refused repeated instructions to move after officers responded to a disturbance. Her disorderly conduct charge does not establish that robots have priority over pedestrians or settle whether her particular protest was legally protected.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania law requires operators to notify municipalities at least 30 days before beginning delivery robot operations. Municipal officials can also prohibit the machines in areas where, after consulting the operator, they determine the robots would pose a hazard. That leaves an interesting question about how cities should handle future confrontations between pedestrians and commercial robots.
Despite the controversy, companies continue investing in autonomous delivery because the technology offers some practical advantages. Uber Eats partnered with robotics company Avride to operate small, four-wheeled delivery machines that transport food over relatively short distances. The robots use cameras and sensors to navigate city streets. According to Avride, they travel at speeds of up to 5 mph and can carry up to 55 pounds of food or other goods.
The service launched in Philadelphia in March 2026. These robots can complete short deliveries without sending another car through traffic or requiring a courier to find parking. For customers, the convenience is obvious. Your food arrives inside a secure compartment that you unlock through the Uber Eats app. In Philadelphia, customers can reportedly opt out of robot delivery. However, availability and delivery options depend on the order and service area.
And the rollout is expanding. On Oct. 21, Avride announced an expansion of robot delivery in Philadelphia involving Wonder's Rittenhouse location and additional restaurants on the Grubhub platform. Robot delivery is now available from 25 Wonder restaurant concepts at the Rittenhouse location, with nine additional restaurants on Grubhub also participating. The company has not said whether the expansion will require more robots on Philadelphia sidewalks or whether its existing fleet will handle the additional orders.
Philadelphia's confrontation comes amid growing frustration with autonomous machines operating in public spaces. In September, we reported on a robot traffic jam in Chicago, where at least a dozen Coco delivery robots clustered along a sidewalk. The company blamed a deployment error and said it corrected the problem.
The incident raised concerns about pedestrian accessibility, particularly for people who use wheelchairs or mobility aids. A blocked sidewalk can create a serious obstacle for someone who cannot easily move into the street or squeeze past a machine.
Philadelphia has experienced its own robot mishaps. In April, a woman reported that an Uber Eats delivery robot bumped into her from behind near 15th and Locust streets. Li Gordon-Washington reportedly suffered a scratch and later struggled to determine which agency should handle her complaint. Avride acknowledged that its robot made minor contact with her while completing a turn.
These incidents help explain why some residents are losing patience. While the machines may be designed to navigate around people, they still have to handle unpredictable human behavior and crowded public spaces.
Delivery robots may soon become a familiar part of your neighborhood, especially if you live near busy restaurants or shopping districts. You could find yourself sharing sidewalk space with machines carrying someone else's dinner. That raises practical questions about safety and accessibility, along with concerns about jobs.
If you encounter a robot blocking a curb ramp or creating a hazard, keep your distance and report the problem to the operator or local authorities. In Pennsylvania, delivery robots must display operator identification and contact information. Documenting the location and the robot's identification number can help officials investigate a complaint.
There's also an opportunity for residents to get involved before delivery robot programs expand. Local governments can evaluate where these machines operate and whether particular routes create safety hazards. Paying attention to those decisions gives communities a chance to have a say in how their sidewalks are used.
For people whose livelihoods depend on deliveries, the questions run deeper. They deserve clear information about how companies plan to use automation and what that could mean for future work opportunities.
I've covered plenty of robots that can do impressive things, and I can appreciate the technology behind these delivery machines. But I never expected to see a 78-year-old retired professor arrested after refusing to let one deliver somebody's lunch. What really caught my attention was Pennsylvania's law requiring robots to yield to pedestrians. That makes the confrontation even more thought-provoking.
I understand why police would respond when a public dispute escalates, and I certainly wouldn't encourage anyone to interfere with a delivery. At the same time, I understand Marvin's frustration. We're watching companies introduce machines that can perform work people have traditionally been paid to do, and we still don't have clear answers about how many jobs could eventually disappear.
I think companies introducing this technology need to be much more transparent about its impact on workers. And when they want to operate on public sidewalks, residents deserve a genuine say in how that happens. I hope this incident encourages a serious conversation about those issues before another confrontation ends with someone in handcuffs.
If delivery robots make food delivery more convenient but eventually cost human workers their jobs, should cities still allow them to operate on public sidewalks? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com
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Yogurt shop murders fuel family questions about accomplice as rage lingers over wrongfully accused
Nearly 34 years after his 13-year-old sister died during the 1991 Austin, Texas, yogurt shop massacre, Shawn Ayers and his wife, Angie, have launched a national cold case effort while still seeking answers about the attack and whether an accomplice is out there.
Angie, along with Shawn, whose sister Amy was among four girls killed in the attack, have joined former prosecutors Mindy Montford and Anne Marie Schubert to establish the National Cold Case Center.
The decades-long search for answers in Amy’s case inspired the couple to help establish the nonprofit, which helps to fund unsolved homicide investigations, train investigators and support victims’ families.
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"Due to what we've gone through and seen, not only from our own experience, but from listening to other families struggle throughout this process," Angie told Fox News Digital. "Years ago, we had wanted to start a nonprofit."
Amy, Jennifer Harbison and Eliza Thomas, both 17, and Jennifer’s sister, Sarah Harbison, 15, died in the attack at the I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! shop on West Anderson Lane on Dec. 6, 1991.
On the night of the killings, Jennifer and Eliza were working the closing shift, while Sarah and Amy waited for them to finish so the four could head to a sleepover.
Shortly before midnight, authorities received a report of a fire at the shop. The blaze and water from the sprinklers altered the crime scene and diluted evidence, according to FBI files.
Inside, police discovered Sarah, Eliza and Jennifer stacked together in the shop’s storage room. They were stripped, gagged and bound with their own undergarments, and then shot in the back of the head with .22-caliber bullets.
Investigators found Amy in a separate area with a ligature around her neck and burns covering up to 30% of her body, according to court documents.
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FBI records described two gunshot wounds: an initial .22-caliber shot that missed Amy’s brain and a second shot from a .380-caliber pistol through her cheek and jawline.
Investigators recovered a .380 cartridge casing in a floor drain. During the autopsy, officials recovered four .22-caliber bullets from the bodies.
The search for answers stretched across decades, combined with false confessions, arrests, convictions and appeals before DNA and ballistics evidence identified serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers in September 2025.
Brashers fatally shot himself during a January 1999 police standoff in Missouri, leaving the families no chance to confront him at a murder trial.
Authorities had previously connected him to other violent crimes, including killings in South Carolina and Missouri.
According to Austin police, Brashers used the same .380-caliber handgun in the yogurt shop murders to kill himself during the Missouri standoff.
For the Ayers family, identifying Brashers didn’t answer whether someone else participated in the yogurt shop killings. Angie questioned whether another perpetrator may have been involved, since two weapons were used during the attacks.
"I may be incorrect, but I don't think that I am," Angie told Fox News Digital. "There's never been an instance where he [Brashers] used both of those guns in his other cases."
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"There has been absolutely no definite answer on whether or not he was by himself, or had an accomplice.
"So, to us, we still don't have all the answers, and knowing that this case is still ongoing, I don't think anyone can say that they know exactly what happened because we can't ask."
Years before identifying Brashers, Austin investigators focused on four local teens: Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Maurice Pierce and Forrest Welborn.
Austin police arrested all four in 1999. Springsteen and Scott confessed during police questioning but recanted before trial, saying investigators pressured them into giving false statements.
Travis County juries convicted Springsteen of capital murder in 2001 and Scott in 2002. Springsteen received a death sentence, while Scott received life in prison.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Springsteen’s conviction in 2006 and Scott’s in 2007.
DNA testing failed to match any of the men to the crime scene. A judge released Springsteen and Scott in June 2009, and prosecutors moved to dismiss the charges that October.
Pierce proclaimed innocence but implicated Welborn. In 1991, he wore a police wire and tried to coax Welborn into confessing. An Austin police officer reported that Welborn denied any involvement. Welborn later passed a polygraph test.
Welborn never went to trial. When two grand juries failed to indict him, authorities dropped the case against him in 2000.
By then, he had spent months behind bars.
"I’m still really upset and mad at them. If they didn’t confess to something they didn’t do, we wouldn’t be here right now doing this today," Welborn told Texas Monthly.
Austin police officers arrested Pierce in 1999 on capital murder charges. Prosecutors dismissed Pierce’s charges in 2003, citing insufficient evidence, after he spent more than three years in jail.
In 2010, an Austin police officer fatally shot Pierce in 2010 following a traffic stop. Pierce fled the scene on foot and stabbed an officer in the neck with a knife, prompting authorities to open fire.
After investigators linked Brashers to the killings, Travis County Judge Dayna Blazey declared the four men innocent on Feb. 19, 2026. Months later, the Austin City Council approved a $35 million settlement covering the three surviving men and Pierce’s family.
Welborn initially rejected the city’s apology, saying that he lost an auto-repair business while incarcerated and endured years of public ostracism.
"Their apology is not accepted," he told Texas Monthly. "Their apology means nothing to me."
Welborn later said "it felt good" to have closure, although he wanted some of the detectives who worked the case "to go do some prison time."
None of the detectives have faced criminal charges in the case, Texas Monthly reported.
The Ayers couple said neither they nor the men or their relatives have contacted the other side.
"We haven't reached out and they have not reached out," Angie said.
Welborn could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Austin Police Department and Travis County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to requests for comment by publication.
Their experience seeking answers in Amy’s case, and hearing other families describe similar struggles, prompted Shawn and Angie to consider starting a nonprofit years ago.
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"The frustrating part is being told no, but yet someone somewhere leaks the information and you're the last one to know when you should have been first and that is still happening today," Shawn told Fox News Digital, recalling his sister’s case.
Their partnership with Montford began in 2017, when they met with prosecutors about the yogurt shop killings. Montford, a Travis County assistant district attorney at the time, promised to stay with them.
"She made it a point to tell us that she was going to stick with us no matter what until the end," Angie said.
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Montford then connected with Schubert, a former California prosecutor who helped bring the Golden State Killer to justice. The Ayers couple met Schubert at a 2023 cold case conference in Marble Falls, Texas, where the idea for the nonprofit took shape.
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Now, they want to help other families find that kind of support.
"It is up and running now... to provide funding and training for law enforcement, to have tools that they need to investigate cold cases, to be able to collect and report accurate data on unsolved cases, and connect law enforcement agencies around the world, and to have peer to peer family support and communication," Angie added.
"Right now, funding is a, for us is a big thing, so we can get the first cases up and running."
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Shawn said they have spread awareness by attending cold case conferences in several states, including California, Florida, Missouri, and North Carolina.
For the couple, the work extends beyond families still waiting for answers. Solving those cases could also identify killers who remain free.
"There could be a killer living, right next to somebody," Shawn said. "You can walk right past them and never know."
Minnesota candidate ‘stress tests’ state’s new fraud law — what she found raised major red flags
A Minnesota state Senate candidate revealed she found several vulnerabilities in a fraud prevention law signed by Gov. Tim Walz after testing it against the state’s previous fraud scandals to see whether it could have caught them sooner.
The measure in question, the Office of the Inspector General law, creates an independent statewide watchdog that oversees inspectors general, investigates alleged fraud across state programs, establishes fraud prevention standards, and improves coordination and data sharing.
However, Heidi Heino, the Republican candidate for Minnesota’s 36th Senate District, told Fox News Digital her test against the Feeding Our Future scheme and other past fraud cases found the law lacks extra safeguards when potential risks emerge.
"When I stress tested against Feeding Our Future and some of the other fraud schemes that we had in Minnesota, it would have found the fraud eventually, but it's way after the money was already gone and we would still be stuck trying to claw it back," Heino said.
The law was passed as Minnesota faces the fallout from massive fraud schemes involving childcare, autism, housing and disability services. Republicans have blamed leadership and oversight failures, while the Trump administration launched a federal anti-fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance.
Working as a corporate leader whose day job involves underwriting, Heino said she used similar review and auditing practices to test where Minnesota’s fraud safeguards fell short.
"Business does a lot with a little," she said. "Government does the opposite. They do a little with a lot of resources."
Heino said she used a 2,800% increase in payments to Feeding Our Future from 2020 to 2021 in her test, a jump that should have automatically raised alarm bells and led to further review. The scheme alone allegedly stole $250 million from a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"You don't have to be a detective to see that there's some issue there and so to investigate that and check and see if those claims are legitimate, and if they were legitimate, have someone actually sign off on it," she said, adding that filling out extra paperwork may be frustrating but can help prevent fraud in the long run.
Heino also argued Feeding Our Future should not have been allowed to address complaints against itself.
"We had 30 complaints to the Minnesota Department of Education regarding the fraud and they are mostly overlooked or Feeding Our Future had to go correct itself and that was a huge gap there," she said.
She proposed immediately freezing payments, conducting a full review, and triggering an outside audit.
"The OIG has good bones, but it needs teeth," she said.
Without independent audits, Heino said Minnesota will not be able to uncover fraud-related gaps, saying the additional oversight would save more money than it costs.
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"We get a lot of pushback saying this is going to be expensive, but is it?" she said. "It will be less expensive to have an independent audit than it is going to be to have all the fraud and lose taxpayer dollars to fraudulent activities."
Those same issues apply to current state programs like Minnesota’s Paid Leave program, according to Heino.
"However, we need to rein it in and have more investigation before we start sending out the checks, especially with paid family leave," she said. "They pay out before they have the doctor's note certifying that this is actually true and they have verified it."
She acknowledged that the law is a "great first step" toward addressing the problem but said it does not go far enough to protect taxpayers and prevent future fraud.
As a mother, grandmother and taxpayer, Heino said she is fed up with how leaders in her home state have handled fraud, adding the problem has gotten so bad that Minnesota has become the "laughing stock of the nation" and people no longer want to say they are from the state anymore.
"We need to funnel those resources to the people that actually need them and keep people committing fraud from taking our money and running away with it, buying luxury condos or homes, and then funneling it out of the country," she said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Walz's office and the Minnesota Department of Education for comment.
"We have not slowed down, there is no sense in which the fraud has been stopped in Minnesota," Bill Glahn, a policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment, told Fox News Digital in August, making the case that the fraud situation in the state has not been properly addressed.
GREGG JARRETT: Ilhan Omar could face indictment, denaturalization and deportation
Lies, particularly spectacular ones, inevitably crumble over time when subject to scrutiny.
A case in point is Rep. Ilhan Omar. She is suspected of hatching a series of epic deceptions about her identity, lineage, birthdate, marriage, and citizenship status. An investigation by federal authorities culminated in a recent search of her home that was authorized by a judicial warrant.
On the same day, multiple other search warrants were executed in different locations, according to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullen. DNA evidence was reportedly obtained. Her computer devices, document files, cell phones, and notebooks were seized. More than a dozen grand jury subpoenas were allegedly served on Omar’s family, including her sister.
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Omar has not been indicted. Yet. She denies all wrongdoing, asserting that she is a victim of a politically driven vendetta by the Trump administration. Let’s examine that.
The warrant on Omar’s home was approved by a Democratic judge in the District of Columbia, a venue with a long and conspicuous hostility toward Trump and anyone in his orbit.
It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, that the feds must have presented substantial incriminating evidence to justify the signed order, especially against a sitting member of Congress from the judge’s own party and just weeks before an important election.
Yes, the threshold of probable cause for a warrant is lower than the trial standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt." But the judge’s decision was not nothing. He was persuaded by compelling evidence of criminality. Apparently, he spent hours examining the merits of the warrant application. Action was taken lest evidence be destroyed.
While the specifics of the investigation remain unclear, we are acquainted with the general parameters. They pose troubling questions.
Is Ilhan Omar the person she purports to be? Was her immigration to the U.S. secured through falsehoods? Was her citizenship obtained validly or through lies? Are the rumors true that Omar engaged in a sham marriage to her brother in a scheme to obtain immigration benefits for him?
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As always, the answers depend on the reliability of the evidence collected and the credibility of witnesses. With that caveat, here are the various criminal and civil charges that might ensue.
—If Omar lied about her birthdate on immigration or citizenship forms, that constitutes false statements (18 U.S.C. § 1001) and criminal fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1425). The latter carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison.
—If she willfully repeated the inaccurate birthdate on other official forms, that’s more false statements and criminal fraud.
—If she enlisted others to help her enter a false birthdate, that’s a conspiracy to commit fraud.
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—If she worked with others to cover up the fraud, that’s an additional criminal conspiracy (18 U.S.C. §§ 371 or 1349), aiding and abetting (18 U.S.C. § 2), and obstruction of justice (18 U.S.C. §§ 1505 and 1519).
—If Omar misrepresented that she was a minor when she obtained derivative citizenship from her father, the fraud nullifies her citizenship.
—If her father lied to obtain citizenship, the original fraud could invalidate her derivative citizenship.
—If her father never actually obtained citizenship, then Omar’s citizenship is likely invalid.
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—If Omar used a false identity on immigration forms and any other government forms such as passport applications, that is criminal identity fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1028) and false statements.
—If she knowingly married her sibling, it is illegal and considered a crime in all 50 states.
If any of the above scenarios can be proven by the government, Omar would not only be susceptible to criminal charges and other civil actions, but she could face denaturalization, removal proceedings, and eventual deportation.
Omar’s troubles are compounded by a separate criminal investigation into the sharp fluctuations in her finances. It was launched by the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. How exactly did the congresswoman and her current husband, political consultant Tim Mynett, go from almost no assets to as much as $30 million in a single year?
When the information on her congressional disclosure became public and alarming questions arose, Omar revised the figures to reflect what could be a negative net worth. That’s quite the financial whiplash. She blamed it on an accounting mistake. Just a goof. But tens of millions of dollars is hardly a simple rounding error. In the annals of financial slip-ups, it’s a whopper. If you or I did that, government auditors would be knocking at the door.
Omar continually dismisses the controversy as nothing more than politically motivated attacks. But that dubious deflection conveniently ignores that it was the Biden administration that initiated the investigation.
Of course, Omar enjoys the presumption of innocence should any charges arise. But there are unsettling aspects to the story she tells.
In a recent television interview on MS NOW, she was asked if she married her brother. Her reply was jaw-dropping, albeit revealing. "Not to my knowledge," she said.
Wait…she didn’t say "no"? Or "absolutely not?"
Think for a moment about her response. It is not an unqualified denial, but a bewildering equivocation that could mean, "If he is my brother, I don’t really know it." It’s called the ignorance defense. It creates the prospect that she may, indeed, have unknowingly married her brother.
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It appears that Omar was coached by a lawyer to avoid a direct false statement by waffling instead. But that will not protect her if it can be shown that she did have knowledge. It places her in legal jeopardy, as noted above.
Persistent rumors about a sham marriage for immigration benefits also connect to questions about the congresswoman’s identity. Fox News reported that Ilhan Omar is not her real name, according to two people familiar with the ongoing investigation, including a law enforcement source.
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Her real name is identified in a new court filing by the U.S. attorney in D.C. It refers to her as "Congresswoman Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, a/k/a Ilhan Abdullahi Omar." This indicates that the government believes that "Omar" has been living her life under an alias and that her real birth name has the same surname as her alleged brother-husband.
Perhaps there’s an explanation. Maybe Omar adopted the surname of her former husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, when she married him in 2009. That seems reasonable except that Omar’s late father also went by the name Nur Said Elmi, according to an examination of documents by the New York Post.
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Establishing Omar’s true identity and whether she might have once married her brother probably explains why investigators were so interested in obtaining DNA. Genetic science is the closest thing we have to absolute certainty. It’s the ultimate eyewitness. It doesn’t lie.
There is a popular biological proverb that seems felicitous in the Ilhan Omar case: "You can hide your past, you can alter your name, but your DNA will always whisper the truth of who you are."
Who is Ilhan Omar? We may soon find out.
California must respond to DOJ's emergency request over ballots mailed to alleged noncitizens, court rules
A federal appeals court ordered California to respond by noon Saturday to the Trump administration's emergency request involving roughly 20,000 mail-in ballots sent to people the Justice Department suspects are noncitizens ahead of the midterm elections.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued the order late Friday after the DOJ filed an emergency request earlier in the day seeking a ruling by Saturday.
The Justice Department sought emergency relief from the appeals court after U.S. District Judge David Carter did not rule by a deadline previously requested by the department.
The DOJ is asking California election officials to set aside ballots associated with individuals on its list while their eligibility is reviewed, rather than allowing the ballots to be processed alongside other votes.
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In its emergency filing, the DOJ emphasized the urgency of its request.
"This is an emergency," the filing, submitted by Attorney General Todd Blanche and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, stated.
"Every minute of processing that occurs without segregating the ballots of suspected non-eligible voters causes untraceable disenfranchisement and dilution of the votes of United States citizens," the filing continued.
Despite the Ninth Circuit's order, a hearing before Judge Carter remains scheduled for Tuesday, according to Fox News' Matt Finn. It remains unclear whether the appeals court will rule before that hearing.
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Essayli previously told Fox News Digital that federal investigators have evidence showing the 20,000 individuals received mail-in ballots in October.
His office sued California last week seeking a court order to prevent ballots returned by those individuals from being counted.
"We're not asking California to take any drastic steps other than to sequester the ballots from the suspected noncitizens," Essayli said in an interview Wednesday. "We believe it's at a minimum of 20,000. That's the floor."
Essayli also clashed with California Gov. Gavin Newsom on social media this week over the state's safeguards against noncitizen voting.
Essayli accused California of allowing noncitizens onto its voter rolls because of what he described as inadequate citizenship verification procedures, while Newsom defended the integrity of the state's elections and maintained that California was following the law.
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California election officials have rejected the Justice Department's demands.
In court filings, they argued that county election offices lack both the authority and access to federal records needed to verify voters' citizenship status.
They also said separating ballots associated with people on the DOJ's list would be impossible in cases where the ballots have already been processed.
California officials say that once a mail-in ballot's signature has been verified, the ballot is separated from its identifying envelope and processed with other ballots.
According to court records, officials have already processed 331,000 ballots in Los Angeles County alone.
Friday's escalation comes after Essayli's office initially filed the suit Oct. 15, roughly two weeks after California began mailing ballots.
Fox News Digital's James Cirrone contributed to this report.