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Morgan Freeman threatens legal action over AI use of his voice, says he's 'a little PO'd'
Morgan Freeman said his lawyers are already "very, very busy" tackling unauthorized artificial intelligence (AI) uses of his voice that have left the actor feeling "a little PO'd."
"Many, yeah. Quite a few," Freeman told The Guardian on Monday when asked about ongoing cases.
While promoting his latest film, "Now You See Me: Now You Don’t," the 88-year-old actor discussed his views on artificial intelligence replicating actors' voices after their deaths, such as the late James Earl Jones.
ACTOR MORGAN FREEMAN DERIDES BLACK HISTORY MONTH: 'MY HISTORY IS AMERICAN HISTORY'
Jones had given Lucasfilm permission to continue using his voice as Darth Vader through AI technology before his death, but Freeman strongly disagreed with the idea.
"I’m a little PO’d, you know," Freeman said. "I’m like any other actor: don’t mimic me with falseness. I don’t appreciate it and I get paid for doing stuff like that, so if you’re gonna do it without me, you’re robbing me."
Freeman also criticized the creation of AI actress "Tilly Norwood," which sparked widespread condemnation from actors' unions when she was introduced in September.
"Nobody likes her because she’s not real and that takes the part of a real person, so it’s not going to work out very well in the movies or in television … The union’s job is to keep actors acting, so there’s going to be that conflict," Freeman said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Freeman's representative for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Freeman has been subjected to several AI deepfakes over the years and has spoken out against its uses. In 2024, he thanked his social media followers for reporting an AI video using his voice on TikTok.
VOICE ACTORS WARN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE COULD REPLACE THEM, CUT INDUSTRY JOBS AND PAY
"Thank you to my incredible fans for your vigilance and support in calling out the unauthorized use of an A.I. voice imitating me," he wrote to his Facebook. "Your dedication helps authenticity and integrity remain paramount. Grateful. #AI #scam #imitation #IdentityProtection."
"If you’re going to speak, speak distinctly, hit your final consonants and do exercises to lower your voice," Freeman said. "Most people’s voices are higher than they would be normally if they knew how to relax it. He taught that sort of thing. It was Robert Whitman: I will never forget him."
Court reveals Bryan Kohberger’s jail windfall — and orders him to pay victims' parents
An Idaho court revealed convicted murderer Bryan Kohberger received tens of thousands of dollars in donations while his case dragged on Thursday, three years to the day after the former criminology Ph.D. student killed four undergrads in a 4 a.m. home invasion stabbing spree.
"State's Exhibit 3, filed with its reply brief, demonstrates that Defendant received several hundred donations totaling $28,360.96 while incarcerated at the Latah County and Ada County jails," Judge Steven Hippler wrote. "According to defense counsel, many of these donations came from Defendant's family members."
A specific breakdown showing the source of the funding was not released by the court. Kohberger's parents declared bankruptcy twice previously, in the mid-1990s and again in 2010, court records show.
BRYAN KOHBERGER'S RESTITUTION HEARING ENDS WITH NO DECISION, BUT PROSECUTOR ADMITS SLIP-UP
According to the Latah County Jail, inmates can use commissary funds to "order extra food and toiletries" and to use telephones and tablets.
At the larger jail in Ada County, the commissary offers "candy, snacks, beverages, writing materials, and shoes and clothing." A public-facing website allows people to buy bundles including junk food, "elite protein," hair care products and new socks for inmates.
Proceeds from the commissary store in Ada County are used to buy things like chairs, books and even TVs for the jail itself, according to its website.
UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO VICTIMS' FAMILIES ASK JUDGE TO PERMANENTLY BLOCK CRIME SCENE IMAGES
Inmates with a lot of money in their commissary account gain influence behind bars because they can trade and barter, New York-based defense attorney Louis Gelormino told Fox News Digital previously.
Kohberger, who turns 31 next week, is serving four consecutive prison terms of life without parole, plus another 10 years for the murders of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, on Nov. 13, 2022. All but Kernodle were in bed and asleep.
After exhausting his attempts to have the potential death penalty taken off the table before trial, he took a plea deal in July, admitting to the murders but offering no explanation.
The court released his financial information after his lawyers fought back against prosecutors, who sought additional restitution for the victims' families.
Hippler said some of the additional funds were outside the terms of the plea deal, but he ordered Kohberger to pay Goncalves' parents and Mogen's mother roughly $3,000 to split — $1,420 to the Goncalves family and $1,587.79 to Karen Laramie. The sums also carry a 9.125% annual interest rate.
He also found that Kohberger's defense team was wrong about their claim that he would not be able to profit from future media deals under Idaho's version of the "Son of Sam" law, which requires him to put any earnings in an escrow account so that the victims' families have a chance to collect restitution or damages before he can profit.
"Pursuant to subsection three (3) of that statute, any leftover funds in the escrow account must be paid over to a defendant upon a showing that five years have elapsed from the establishment of the escrow account and that no actions are pending against him," Hippler wrote. "Thus, the statute leaves open the potential for Defendant to receive money from media contracts in the future."
We need a Marshall Plan to tackle America’s housing crisis
Homeownership has long been part of the American dream, but that dream has been deferred.
Households in their 30s have an ownership rate of just 42% — more than 20 points lower than the national average.
The median age of all home buyers is a record-breaking 59, and the age of a first-time buyer is 40 — up from 29 in 1981.
THE TOP 3 REASONS HOUSING HAS BECOME SO UNAFFORDABLE IN THE US MARKET – AND IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK
As a solution, the Trump administration is floating a 50-year mortgage.
Though I disagree with that specific idea, I am heartened that they are brainstorming ways to tackle the problem.
We need a Marshall Plan for housing, a collection of broad initiatives to make homes more affordable and put the dream back on track.
The federal government can use its bully pulpit to get changes to red tape and regulations that are holding back building, and encourage policies that would increase housing and decrease costs.
To start, the White House and Fannie Mae should instead promote shorter, 20-year mortgages.
As Ed Pinto of the American Enterprise Institute has argued, a 20-year loan can be paid off "when the 30-year-term loan leaves most homeowners saddled with another decade or more of mortgage payments, the cash flow freed up from a paid-off shorter-term loan is available to fund a child’s post-secondary-education needs and later turbocharge one’s own retirement."
The 20-year loan could be incentivized with a first-time buyer tax credit.
This would be especially important today when the vast majority of taxpayers no longer itemize their tax returns — which means they cannot avail themselves of the deduction for mortgage interest.
That deduction always favored wealthy buyers of high-end homes anyway — so a targeted tax credit would help those who actually need it far more.
It’s time, as well, for the Trump White House to roll back one of the key initiatives of Elizabeth Warren’s pet project, the Consumer Protection Financial Agency.
The CPFC has pressured banks to limit mortgages to "plain vanilla" mortgages, premised on its rules or what consumers can afford.
TRUMP'S 50-YEAR MORTGAGE MAY BURDEN AMERICANS WITH MORE DEBT, EXPERTS SAY
Adjustable rate loans and other "mortgage products" can be right for some buyers — who should have a choice of how much risk they want to take in exchange for getting into the home market.
Even a low down payment might be hard to come up with, however, for those who can’t take advantage of generous in-laws.
Those without rich parents might turn to a "housing saving account"— akin to the popular health savings accounts initiated by George W. Bush and which hold some $59 billion and are sheltered from taxation.
The new housing accounts should be tailored only for down payments, however — not long-term maintenance and other homeowner needs.
Buyers also are allowed today to take out $10,000 from their 401(k) penalty-free to go to a downpayment on a home.
Perhaps it’s time to raise that ceiling.
Of course, it goes almost without saying that even the most creative financing and incentives will fall short of addressing our housing needs without the most important problem: Supply.
There are many reasons why there aren’t enough starter homes.
Regulation in many cities makes construction difficult.
More retiring Boomers own second homes.
TRUMP’S 50-YEAR MORTGAGE JUST INTRODUCES A NEW KIND OF DEBT
Banks have increasingly bought real estate as an investment and drive up prices.
Low turnover is another reason Gen X buyers have so much trouble breaking into the market.
During COVID, mortgage rates hit record lows and many refinanced.
These owners have a strong incentive not to trade a 3% mortgage for a new home and a much-higher rate.
Another key reason: more and more of us are living in small households or even alone.
The Census Bureau reports that, between 2019 and 2021, the number of households increased by more than 2 million a year.
That means we not only need more housing but more types of housing — many smaller units especially, rather than the two-acre, one house lots common in so many suburbs.
Here is where the limits of Washington’s hard power is reached.
Much of US housing policy is set at the hyper-local level, by planning boards and zoning boards.
That’s why outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams deserves so much credit for his "City of Yes" rezoning in New York, which will permit safe basement apartments and "accessory dwelling units" in parts of the city.
Accessory units — or ‘granny flats" — can also be the means for older couples to sell the homes to younger households and downsize.
As part of a federal push, though, the Marshall Plan for Housing could encourage these same changes nationwide: Changing zoning to allow more housing; or taking undeveloped state land and providing tax incentives to build on them.
It’s the 18,000 municipalities across the country that are often standing in the way of what might be called naturally occurring affordable housing — small homes on small lots, like those of the original Levittown, where houses were just 750 square feet of living space.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner should urge localities to permit private, unsubsidized, small homes and apartment buildings, or what AEI’s Pinto terms "light-touch density."
It’s far more likely to gain local approval than the subsidized, low-income housing Democrats have long favored, starting with the public housing the socialist Zohran Mamdani wants to revive.
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Private building is also less costly; new housing units in California subsidized through the low income housing tax credit can cost upwards of $800,000 per units, a bonanza for developers but not many tenants.
Building costs for any housing, however, will inevitably go up as a result of another Trump policy: his 10% tariff on plentiful Canadian lumber and timber products and a 25% tariff on kitchen cabinets and furniture.
The de facto taxes are causing what the National Association of Home Builders calls "headwinds" holding back new construction.
As a builder himself, he should rethink these tariffs.
Homeownership is a virtuous conspiracy making the nation better.
Owners are more likely to maintain neighborhoods than renters, more likely to improve schools and services by getting involved in local government — the essence of American federalism.
The decline in homeownership is a problem that must be addressed federally and locally.
But the Trump administration can take the lead, with tax breaks and the encouragement of construction.
The president can bring the dream alive again.
Lawyer in SCOTUS trans athlete battle, ICONS activists react to reports IOC will protect women's category
Reports that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will ban biological male trans athletes from women's competitions have prompted reactions from figures involved in the protection of women's sports.
Amid a global movement to ensure female-only participation in women's sports, the IOC's potential reform would mark one of the largest global measures to achieve that goal to date.
In the U.S., two cases are set to be heard by the Supreme Court over the issue, and could bring about a reform of similar scale. The Little vs. Hecox and West Virginia vs B.P.J. case, which will likely be heard by court justices in early 2026, could potentially result in a landmark precedent to protect women's sports.
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Kriston Waggoner, president and CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom, which is helping to lead the defenses in those cases, provided a statement to Fox News Digital addressing her reaction to reports of the potential IOC decision.
"I’m encouraged that the IOC is moving toward a long-overdue decision to ban men from competing in women’s Olympic events. Women don’t train their entire lives to become elite athletes just to be displaced by men and then gaslit for speaking up about it," Waggoner said. "If the IOC follows through with this policy, it’s a welcome step in the right direction. But there’s still work to do to protect women & girls at every level of competition. In January, ADF will support WV & ID as they defend women’s school sports at the Supreme Court."
Three other lawsuits in the U.S. that look to address previous instances of trans athletes in women's sports, and bring about restitution for the women who were impacted, are being financed by the Independent Council on Women's Sports (ICONS).
ICONS co-founders Kim Jones and Marshi Smith have helped fundraise for Riley Gaines' lawsuit against the NCAA, Brooke Slusser's lawsuit against the NCAA, and three former UPenn women's swimmers against that university over the 2022 Lia Thomas scandal.
Jones and Smith addressed the reports of the IOC's potential reform in statements provided to Fox News Digital.
"ICONS welcomes the IOC’s long overdue move to restore fairness and integrity in women’s Olympic competition. This shift only came after the world watched the safety and fairness of women’s events collapse in Paris, where male boxers violently took medals meant for women," Smith said.
NEW OLYMPICS CHIEF CALLS FOR 'PROTECTING' WOMEN'S CATEGORY AMID GLOBAL TRANS ATHLETE WAVE
"It should never have required global outrage and lost gold medals to bring back common sense, but this marks a major step toward reality for the world’s most powerful sports committee. We’re eager to see how the IOC enforces its new eligibility rules, as strong and transparent enforcement is essential for real progress. Thankfully, the IOC can look to successful examples from World Athletics and World Boxing, which have recently implemented science based, sex based standards that protect women’s categories.
"It’s also important to clarify that this is not a ‘transgender’ or DSD ban, but a long needed clarification of eligibility — confirming that participation in the women’s category is based on genetic sex, ideally verified through a simple, accurate, and non invasive one time cheek swab to ensure fairness, safety, and integrity in competition."
Jones added, "There are too many women who lost out on records, awards, and recognition, chances to compete on a world stage, because of bad policy and those women deserve an apology and a sincere effort to make things right. We look forward to a future with transparency and accountability for women in sports."
The IOC’s current policy leaves it up to each individual sport’s governing body to make policies governing transgender athletes. But as the IOC changed its leadership, The Times of London reported on Monday, that its policies are set to change as well.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry called for "protecting" the women’s category in June and there was "overwhelming support" from IOC members to do the same.
"We understand that there'll be differences depending on the sport … but it was very clear from the members that we have to protect the female category, first and foremost to ensure fairness," Coventry said at the time.
"But we need to do that with a scientific approach and the inclusion of the international federations who have already done a lot of work in this area."
The upcoming policy switch is likely to be announced at the IOC session in February before the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy and comes after a presentation from Dr. Jane Thornton, the IOC’s medical and scientific director, last week, according to The Times.
Thornton’s presentation reportedly showed there were physical advantages in males, including those who took treatments to reduce testosterone levels. A source told the paper that the presentation was "very scientific" and unemotional.
"An update was given by the IOC’s Director of Health, Medicine and Science to the IOC Members last week during the IOC commission meetings," an IOC spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "The working group is continuing its discussions on this topic and no decisions have been taken yet. Further information will be provided in due course."
Athletes with DSD – those who were raised female but born with male traits – are set to be covered under the new policy, according to The Times. Olympic boxing had two major controversies over athletes who previously failed gender tests.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting won gold medals in their respective weight classes in the women’s division despite major uproar. Khelif has insisted that they were female. Lin has not commented on the controversy since the Olympics were finished.
World Boxing has since implemented mandatory sex testing for its competitors and Khelif will not be able to compete unless the test is completed.
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Obama and Biden's relationship has deteriorated, 'really bad' since election: ABC reporter
ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl said in a new interview that a recent incident is a perfect sign that former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden are on the outs.
Karl spoke to news personality and podcaster Katie Couric on her show last week about how Obama and Biden were spotted eating at Café Milano one night last month in Washington, D.C., to the point their security details had to make space for each other, yet Obama and his former vice president did not cross paths.
"They didn't interact at all, they were in the same restaurant?" Couric asked in disbelief. "What's their relationship like?"
OBAMA WAS 'NOT HAPPY' WITH QUICK PELOSI ENDORSEMENT OF HARRIS, BOOK SAYS
"Really bad. Really bad," Karl replied on the Nov. 6 podcast. "Biden and the people around him very much blame Barack Obama for the effort to push Biden out of the campaign."
Karl has been doing media rounds to promote his new book, "Retribution," a behind-the-scenes account of the historic 2024 election.
Karl went on to recall Hunter Biden was enraged at seeing Obama take his father by the arm and lead him offstage at a fundraiser last summer, making then-President Biden appear feeble. At the time, Biden was still the presumptive 2024 Democratic nominee, and his allies were largely publicly dismissing concerns about his viability.
"It's not a good relationship. If they had wanted to see each other, they absolutely would have," Karl said of the night he witnessed at the restaurant. The incident was covered in Politico last month.
Karl noted further that Biden, like Kamala Harris, made several phone calls in order to secure support for Harris after Biden relinquished the nomination last year.
BIDEN AIDES BLAST HARRIS BOOK EXCERPTS, ADDING VP 'WAS SIMPLY NOT GOOD AT THE JOB': REPORT
"I was astounded to hear that the one person he did not call was Barack Obama, the person that really made it possible for him to be president by making him vice president," Karl said. "He didn’t call him then. Obama did call, I learned, to talk to Biden. He didn’t take the call, and the two of them did not speak for weeks."
"So dysfunctional," Couric said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Biden and Obama’s offices and did not receive an immediate reply.
ESPN star in the hot seat as Senate campaign rumors swirl: 'Trump-hating RINO'
Legendary college football broadcaster Paul Finebaum is taking heat for allegedly being a "Trump-hating" weak Republican amid widespread rumors that he is planning a run for the U.S. Senate in Alabama.
The 70-year-old ESPN host, best known as the foremost authority on SEC football, has not yet announced an official run. However, he has revealed he is intrigued by the idea of such a run and admitted in an interview with OutKick to "thinking about it constantly."
For some Republican insiders in Alabama, this has been sufficient to start raising alarms about why they believe Finebaum would be a poor choice for a Senate candidate.
Dale Jackson, a prominent Alabama radio politics talk show host, told Fox News Digital that though "Finebaum is a radio legend and a fixture in the South … nobody knows what he believes."
"The guy is a legend," Jackson continued. "[But] I've been doing radio and talk radio for almost 20 years in Alabama, and I couldn't tell you what Paul Finebaum knows or believes about anything political."
"The minute he starts talking about what he believes. It's going to be picked apart, and I don't know if he's necessarily ready for what that means," said Jackson.
Finebaum’s record on political stances is mixed. In 2016, he stated, "this country is not oppressing Black people," but then later apologized on ESPN, saying his "eyes are wider open," according to RealClearPolitics.
In 2017, he remarked that President Donald Trump "does behave like a child," per FanBuzz.
In 2020, Finebaum went on the record praising a video in which Nick Saban encouraged COVID-19 social distancing and masking, according to 247Sports. He also spoke favorably of Saban's decision to lead an athletes’ social justice march in which many players wore Black Lives Matter shirts, according to local outlet Bham Now.
Finebaum told the outlet that "Nick Saban leading that march was one of his finer moments"
"The video was very powerful. There was a lot of blowback. I had Alabama fans call in and say they’ll never support the team again. We all hear the same arguments about Black Lives Matter," Finebaum went on. "I say that because he did it without making a political statement. He didn’t overdo it, he did it quietly. He was supporting his players, and to me that’s the most important thing. It’s what a coach is supposed to do, and I think that, to me, speaks very well of him. In a state like Alabama, it’s not the same as if he was doing it in Michigan, but he didn’t let it affect him."
Yet, Finebaum told OutKick that he voted for Trump in 2024 and that it was Charlie Kirk’s murder that is motivating him to seriously consider running for the Senate.
"It's hard to describe, not being involved in politics, how that affected me and affected tens of millions of people all over this country. And it was an awakening," Finebaum said of Kirk’s assassination.
ESPN STAR PAUL FINEBAUM RECALLS LEANING ON TIM TEBOW FOLLOWING CHARLIE KIRK'S ASSASSINATION
Finebaum also said in the interview that if Trump told him, "Paul, you're my guy," he would find it "impossible to tell him no."
"There's no way I could. I would tell him yes," he said.
If he enters the race, Finebaum would be running to replace another football star, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, best known for leading Auburn University in an undefeated season crowned by an SEC championship in 2004. Tuberville, who has been an outspoken conservative voice in the Senate since his election in 2021, is seeking the Alabama governorship in 2026.
Others already declared in the Alabama Senate race include state Attorney General Steve Marshall and Alabama Republican Rep. Barry Moore.
Jackson said that while Tuberville had a prior record of political stances, he sees Finebaum as an "unknown entity."
"Finebaum is basically just like I'm famous. I'm a big-time radio guy, people like me. Why can't I be senator? And it's just kind of an odd thing," said Jackson.
When contacted for comment, Finebaum told Fox News Digital, "I will circle back when I have something substantive to say."
For his part, Tuberville has spoken highly of Finebaum.
"Paul is smart. He loves the country," Tuberville said on the "War Room" podcast. "Again, been a friend of mine for a long time. I have not talked with him about it. I did an interview with him, 30 minutes, about two months ago, face to face. It went well."
"I tell you, he’s got 100% name ID in Alabama. He’d have a lot of big people behind him. He would be a force in the race if he decided to get into it. … Paul is a good guy, a good friend."
Some voices, meanwhile, have been much more critical of the possibility of a Finebaum campaign. A national Republican strategist who works on U.S. Senate races told Fox News Digital, "You can't hate President Trump and Republican voters and win a Republican primary."
ESPN STAR PAUL FINEBAUM SAYS NETWORK AXED POTENTIAL TRUMP INTERVIEW IN 2019
"Paul Finebaum trashed President Trump, promoted tyrannical masking during COVID and proclaimed his support for Black Lives Matter," said the strategist, adding, "Finebaum's experience as a sports analyst doesn't translate into analyzing his own political prospects apparently. This Trump-hating RINO [Republican-in-name-only] has virtually zero chance of winning an Alabama GOP primary."
Former state Rep. Ed Henry, who served as then-candidate Donald Trump's 2016 campaign co-chair for Alabama, told Fox News Digital that when he heard Finebaum was considering a Senate run, "I chuckled, because I thought, ‘Oh great, we have another person in this race who caves every time pressure is put on him.’"
"I think he’s a great guy; he’s said some good things. But when the pressure is on, he breaks, he caves, he buckles, and that’s not what we need," Henry added.
The former representative said that what Alabama needs is "somebody who has been through fire, who has been tested, who has found to be true to their word."
Hegseth announces operation to remove 'narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere'
War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Thursday the launch of Operation Southern Spear, a new mission targeting narco-terror networks across Latin America.
Hegseth said on X that U.S. Southern Command and Joint Task Force Southern Spear will lead a mission to defend the homeland and dismantle narco-terrorists networks across the Western Hemisphere.
"This mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people," Hegseth said.
The U.S. carried out its 20th strike on alleged drug-tracking boats earlier this week, according to a Pentagon official.
U.S. forces carried out the most recent strike in the Caribbean, killing four suspected narco-terrorists.
The Navy announced in January it would lead Operation Southern Spear under the U.S. 4th Fleet and Southern Command using "long-dwell robotic surface vessels, small robotic interceptor boats, and vertical take-off and landing robotic air vessels."
US DEPLOYS FORD CARRIER STRIKE GROUP TO COMBAT NARCO-TERROR IN WESTERN HEMISPHERE
The U.S. will use warships in the region, including the world's largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford.
CBS News reported that President Donald Trump was briefed on potential options for operations in Venezuela, including possible land strikes, but no final decisions have been made.
Top Democrats voiced support for the strikes against narco-trafficking near Venezuela earlier this month.
"I frankly think the Biden administration didn’t go far enough after the Venezuelan people voted overwhelmingly to get rid of Maduro," Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said.
"The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood – and we will protect it," Hegseth said.
Congressman says he was 'blown off' by Wisconsin college accused of blocking new TPUSA chapter
A Republican member of Congress seeking to support one of his constituents who accused her college of blocking attempts to start a new Turning Point USA chapter on campus was reportedly "blown off" by college administrators after he attempted to have a conversation with the school to better understand what was going on.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., sought to collect the facts regarding allegations from a Beloit College student that her college was preventing her from establishing a new Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter on campus. TPUSA was the conservative campus activism nonprofit founded by assassinated activist Charlie Kirk.
Additionally, the student, Jocelyn Jordan, accused her school of failing to adequately respond to a harassment campaign she and her classmates have been facing as a result of their efforts to start a new TPUSA club on campus. The alleged harassment initially included disturbing imagery posted on the group's new Instagram page, referring to Jordan and her co-founders as Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members and White supremacists, but eventually devolved into threats.
"Our office reached out to Beloit College in good faith to discuss this matter and were blown off," Van Orden said in a statement posted on his official X account. "That is unacceptable. Every student, regardless of political belief, deserves the right to organize, speak freely, and participate fully in campus life without fear of retribution."
DOJ LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO UC BERKELEY UNREST OUTSIDE TURNING POINT USA EVENT
According to Van Orden, his staff phoned the Beloit College President's Administrative Office to set up a phone call between the congressman and the college's President Eric Boynton on Monday. The congressman relayed that the office agreed to set up the phone call for later that afternoon.
But, a few hours before the call was supposed to take place, an attorney representing the school, Eric Rumbaugh, reached out and informed the congressman and his staff that Boynton would not be participating in the call on the advice of counsel. Seeking further clarification, the congressman personally called Rumbaugh back the same day, but his call went straight to voicemail. Van Orden left a message requesting a call back, but he told Fox News Digital that, to date, Rumbaugh has not called him back.
However, when reached for comment on this story, a Beloit college spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the voicemail had been returned a few hours earlier on Wednesday morning, two days after Van Orden left his voicemail with the president's office.
"Beloit College did receive an inquiry from Rep. Van Orden, and it is correct that the college’s representative returned the call to Rep. Van Orden’s office," a Beloit College spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement. "He had had a long conversation with Rep. Van Orden’s office at that time. Rep. Van Orden called back on the afternoon of the 10th and left a message. The phone call was returned this morning, and Rep. Van Orden has not since returned our call." Van Orden's staff subsequently told Fox News Digital that the congressman intends to return their on Thursday.
The decision by a group of Beloit College students to start a new TPUSA chapter on campus occurred in early October. A major part of TPUSA's activism efforts include building support on campuses across the country through chapter clubs at various colleges and universities. TPUSA eventually even expanded to include high school chapters as well.
MICHIGAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE APPROVES TPUSA CHAPTER AFTER STUDENT GOVERNMENT REJECTION
Jordan and her classmates were directed by school administrators that there were a list of requirements they needed to meet before they could formally establish the club, among them – finding a faculty advisor. Every faculty member the students have asked thus far, including the dean of students, refused to help them, according to Jordan, who said she was advised to establish a group that does not have the Turning Point name attached to it.
Jordan also said a leading member of the student government on campus said that even if they were to find a faculty advisor, they still would not be able to establish a Turning Point chapter on campus because actions from the national level TPUSA organization supposedly violated Beloit College's "Student Statement of Culture" policy.
In response to the accusations, a Beloit College spokesperson denied that faculty were blocking Jordan and her classmates from establishing a TPUSA chapter, telling Fox News Digital that the school has been "in full accordance with campus policies" and that all potential clubs must follow the same list of requirements.
After Jordan and her classmates began promoting their club on social media in mid-October, a harassment campaign targeting the students for their efforts quickly followed.
Jordan said the university dismissed the students' initial harassment concerns, telling them there was nothing faculty could do because they could not identify who was making the harassing posts. When the harassment devolved into threats, Jordan filed a subsequent police report, a move that appeared to spur greater action from the college, which eventually banned one of the main harassers from campus, who Jordan said was an alumnus working in food service on campus at the time.
"As a student, I should feel comfortable coming to campus no matter what beliefs I have, no matter what I identify as, no matter who I want to be. And, at this moment, I don't feel comfortable," Jordan told Fox News Digital.
In addition to denying that the school was preventing Jordan and her classmates from starting their Republican student club, the school insisted that it is "committed to fostering respectful, open inquiry and encouraging a diversity of perspectives on campus."
"The college takes all allegations of threats and harassment against students seriously, including recent ones related to the students interested in forming a Turning Point USA chapter," the college told Fox News Digital. "Beloit College expects all members of our community to practice compassion and respect towards each other. We are an educational institution, and students learn best within a safe and vibrant campus environment."
Kevin Love, former teammate of Terry Rozier, discusses gambling issues in NBA: 'Such a stain on our game'
On just the third day of the 2025-26 NBA season, the association was hit with disturbing news when three of its figures were arrested for alleged roles in alleged illegal gambling schemes.
Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones were indicted on charges related to illegal poker games, while Jones and Terry Rozier were arrested for their alleged involvement in sports gambling.
Rozier was a member of the Miami Heat when he was first investigated by both the NBA and the FBI. He missed most of the second half of last season and was set to play for Miami this year, but was arrested the morning after the team’s first game, which he did not play in.
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Kevin Love was in the Heat locker room when they received word of Rozier’s investigation. He has since been traded to the Utah Jazz, but the controversy still lingers throughout the league.
"It's very complex. I mean, there's so many things that are unanswered, and you take the NBA by its word. They do their due diligence, and they had looked into Terry's situation and came back, and it was kind of just left where it was. Terry was able to come back and play, and then he went through training camp and now all this stuff comes out. It's an interesting space we find ourselves in because, obviously, sports betting is such a huge part of sports culture now," Love said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital.
"And the gambling stuff, I think, is such a stain on our game. And I think you find yourself betting, tipping, fixing, and you go down a really dark space in dark area. So being able to move past that, I can't imagine what it's like for the Blazers, right? And I can't imagine what it's like having to respond to that as the Miami Heat. It just creates such a distraction. And yet, we don't know what's real, right? This has to continue to play itself out, and we're seeing it across different sports now, but I think for the NBA's sake and the greater sports fraternity that it gets resolved in a way that we can move on, and we can have, I guess, a healthier relationship with all this sports betting.
"I don't know what the answer is with all of this, but at the league office, Adam [Silver] is really smart. There will be a way to resolve this in a way that's positive. I'm a believer in that."
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Love has been in the league since long before player props existed. But as gambling has become more prevalent, he’s heard far more outrage from fans in arenas and seen more of it online.
"You see it all the time now, if somebody is betting on you, and you don't score or you go out of a game, or you don't get as many rebounds on the over, it becomes something that can be really ugly. You see it in your messages or your DMs. When there's money involved, things get messy…" Love said. "It's so lucrative, and there's so much money to be made that, like, I get it from a business standpoint, but I do think there's a dark side, and there's a negative side to this that I think people need to know, and it needs to be a little bit more transparent and out in the open so that maybe we can start to foster a more healthy relationship with it.
"But again, sports gambling and sports betting and all that has been around forever. But now it's just a click of a button away, right? I have friends that do it and have a healthy relationship with it and then others that don't. I think it's a space I'm not super well-versed in."
Hindsight is 20/20, but it probably should have been obvious that increased fan tension would follow. Even Love admitted he "didn’t consider" how much fan behavior might change.
"I said, ‘OK, this is new,’" he admitted. "I think gambling at its essence, people go to Vegas and they built these huge casinos and resorts with people losing their money. It's very convoluted, very layered, very complex space. I'm sure it was considered, but when it is this lucrative and there's so much money to be made, business, you have to do it. I hope that there's a better way forward, and I hope it's mostly healthy and just the negative outweighs the positive and just makes for sexier headlines. But I do think the negative definitely leaves huge stain."
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Legal group accuses Virginia public school district of felony after hosting Dem political rally for free
A nonpartisan, public-interest litigation firm is calling for a criminal investigation into Portsmouth Public Schools (PPS) after the school division allegedly used taxpayer dollars to host a political rally for Democratic candidate for Virginia governor, Abigail Spanberger, in August.
The Liberty Justice Center is calling for an official investigation after Spanberger, who was elected governor of Virginia last week, held the rally at I.C. Norcom High School free of charge, with controversial attorney general candidate, now AG-elect, Jay Jones in attendance.
"This is just a gross misuse of public money and resources," Brendan Philbin, senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, told Fox News Digital. "The time of teachers and the maintenance staff and everyone should be, at this point, getting ready to start the new school year. But instead, they're using all this time and resources to host this gratuitous political event."
"If an official causes public assets, resources or labor to be used for a cause other than what they are intended for, and the value of that is over $1,000, then it's a felony in Virginia," Philbin added.
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The group alleges that PPS is in violation of Virginia law 18.2-112.1(B), which specifies the "misuse of public assets."
The law reads: "‘public assets’ means personal property belonging to or paid for by the Commonwealth, or any city, town, county, or any other political subdivision, or the labor of any person other than the accused that is paid for by the Commonwealth, or any city, town, county, or any other political subdivision."
"Any full-time officer, agent, or employee of the Commonwealth, or of any city, town, county, or any other political subdivision who, without lawful authorization, uses or permits the use of public assets for private or personal purposes unrelated to the duties and office of the accused or any other legitimate government interest when the value of such use exceeds $1,000 in any 12-month period, is guilty of a Class 4 felony," according to Virginia law.
The Liberty Justice Center alleges that the value of services rendered to the campaign was over $1,000 due to the cost to rent several rooms in the school, teachers that were on the clock in attendance and the labor and time of the support staff and groundskeeping to enhance public grounds.
At one point in the email exchange between the campaign and the public school, the principal of I.C. Norcom, Teesha Sanders, offered up classrooms to the campaign should the soundproofing of the original space be an issue or if more space was needed for the political event.
The event was held on the first day of the teacher-work period, a time typically reserved for teachers to prepare for the upcoming school year. Teachers were required to be at work that day in their official capacity as summer vacation had officially ended.
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The Liberty Justice Center also alleges that Spanberger ethically violated 24.2-947.4(B)(2) of Virginia law by failing to report the "in-kind" contribution by the school board.
"For each contributor who has contributed an aggregate of more than $100, including cash and in-kind contributions, as of the ending date of the report, the campaign committee shall itemize each contributor on the report and list the following information," the law reads.
The misuse of public funds was originally uncovered through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Restoration News, where the school division contested to the outlet that the rally was a closed event and fees were waived because the building was already open.
However, per emails obtained through the FOIA, a campaign official for Spanberger created an invitation link that was publicly available on the gubernatorial official’s website which was sent to Dr. Jerry L. Simmons, the chief operations officer for PPS, by a campaign official who told him to "share this RSVP invite link with any teachers who are interested."
A spokesperson for Portsmouth Public Schools explained to Fox News Digital that the school was unaware the event was a campaign event, instead believing it was an educational event. Once the principal saw it was a campaign event, she told staff not to attend. The school district's administration is now reviewing its process and procedures to ensure it is in better alignment with Board policies and state code.
The school district also explained that the event was not open to the public and did not charge guests. The school buildings were already open and there were no facility or custodial fees, a PPS spokesperson said. Security was provided by the Spanberger campaign.
The Liberty Justice Center wrote to Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and Portsmouth Commonwealth’s attorney Stephanie Morales, but has yet to hear back from the parties on whether an investigation is taking place or whether the state’s top legal enforcers are looking into their calls for a criminal investigation.
Fox News Digital reached out to Miyares, Portsmouth Public Schools, I.C. Norcom High School, Simmons and the Portsmouth Commonwealth attorney but did not receive responses in time for publication.