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Drake Maye etches his name into NFL history books, completes feat Tom Brady failed to achieve
Drake Maye etched himself into NFL history and did something Tom Brady was unable to do during his legendary career with the New England Patriots.
Maye led the Patriots to an AFC Championship on Sunday with a 10-7 win over the Denver Broncos on the road. Brady played against the Broncos three times on the road in the playoffs and could never get the job done. He lost to Jake Plummer and Peyton Manning in those games.
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The second-year quarterback became the first quarterback to win a road start in a conference championship game before his 24th birthday since Ben Roethlisberger did it in 2005 with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Maye was 10-of-21 with 86 passing yards and five sacks. His game-tying rushing touchdown following a Broncos turnover was a huge difference-maker in the win as well.
He joins Brady as the only quarterbacks in Patriots history to lead their team to a Super Bowl within their first two season in the NFL. New England and the San Francisco 49ers are the only franchise to have multiple quarterbacks in their first or second years to make it to the Super Bowl.
"I’m proud of this team, Maye said. "Don’t have many words. Just thankful for this team. Love each and every one of them. It took everybody."
It’s been an incredible year for the North Carolina standout. He’s among the finalists for the NFL MVP award.
He had 4,394 passing yards, 31 touchdown passes and only eight interceptions this season. New England won the AFC East title and were the No. 2 seed going into the playoffs.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Pirates legend Andrew McCutchen calls out team for fan fest snub on social media
Andrew McCutchen is a Pittsburgh Pirates legend, but he isn’t happy with the franchise after not being invited to their annual fan fest before the start of the 2026 MLB season.
McCutchen has played 12 of his 17 MLB seasons in Pittsburgh, including the last three campaigns. He won the National League MVP there in 2013, yet the current free agent wasn’t asked to interact with fans at their annual event.
McCutchen aired out the Pirates on social media, comparing himself to other legends of teams throughout the league that go to functions set up each year.
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"I wonder, did the Cards do this [to Adam] Wainwright/[Albert] Pujols/Yadi [Molina]? Dodgers to [Clayton] Kershaw? Tigers to Miggy [Miguel Cabrera]? The list goes on and on," McCutchen wrote on X.
"If this is my last year, it would have been nice to meet the fans one last time as a player."
PIRATES GREAT DAVE GUISTI, WHO STARRED IN TEAM'S 1971 WORLD SERIES RUN, DEAD AT 86
Pirates GM Ben Cherington was asked about McCutchen’s absence from the fan fest, where he had the media trained answer.
"Andrew has meant a ton to the team," he responded, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "He’s had an incredible run at two different times. Certainly, his legacy as a Pirate is secure. Everybody with the Pirates, it’s our desire to maintain a really good relationship with Andrew well into the future."
McCutchen, 39, remains a free agent but wants to play in 2026. Many believe he will be back with the Pirates for perhaps his final MLB season, but that hasn’t come to fruition just weeks before spring training.
"The job is to build a team that gives us the best chance to win games when you’re at the ballpark in June and July," Cherington said. "Our approach this offseason has been laser-focused on what gives us the best chance to win more baseball games in Pittsburgh than we have in the past seasons. That’s gonna continue to guide our decisions. So much respect for Andrew. That relationship is really important to us.
"We’ll continue to communicate with him directly as the team comes together."
McCutchen slashed just .239/.333/.367 with a .700 OPS over 135 games for Pittsburgh last season.
For this Pirates career, McCutchen has hit .281/.372/.467 with a .839 OPS, 248 home runs, 351 doubles, and 875 RBI over 1,713 career games.
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Derek Jeter defends Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner amid growing fan criticism of team's title drought
The New York Yankees are running it back, and not many fans are happy about it.
Sure, it doesn't seem like a bad idea to keep a large majority of a 94-win team that only lost the division due to a head-to-head tiebreaker.
However, the Yankees' title drought reached 16 seasons after getting embarrassed by the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Division Series, and calls for change were louder than ever.
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Those changes, though, did not come.
The Yankees added just one person to their 40-man roster in left-handed pitcher Ryan Weathers, while relievers Devin Williams and Luke Weaver went to their crosstown rival, the New York Mets. Everything else is all the same.
For Yankees legend Derek Jeter, though, it's all about getting hot at the right time.
"It’s a long season. I used to say it when I played – and people got tired of me saying it – the best teams make it to the postseason, and the hottest team wins. Teams that get there, whoever’s hottest can win a World Series," Jeter said to Fox News Digital in a recent interview. "They had a successful regular season, didn’t end up how they wanted to, but I’m sure things change. Trade deadline, injuries, a lot of things happen. So they obviously like the position they’re in, and we’ll see what happens."
Does he like the position they're in?
DEREK JETER TAKES ON CAPTAIN ROLE FOR PADEL TEAM AT MIAMI’S RESERVE CUP
"It all comes down to the trade deadline, man. Teams change dramatically at the trade deadline," Jeter added.
With the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers breaking payroll records and adding Edwin Diaz and Kyle Tucker, Hal Steinbrenner has been public enemy No. 1 in the Bronx, but Jeter came to his defense, as he did some years ago when Steinbrenner was booed by the Yankee fan base, and Jeter urged them to cheer.
"Yankee fans, they have high expectations. They’ve always had high expectations. For them, if you don’t win the World Series, it’s a failure. In that sense, I have the same mindset. So I get the frustration," Jeter said. "But I'm sure Hal is frustrated as well. Hal’s been willing to go out and get players and put the Yankees in a position to win. But ultimately, you have to go out on the field and perform."
Ironically enough, the Yankees went 32-12 in their final 44 games, including winning each of their last eight. So being the hottest team did not work out for the Yankees.
In any case, it would be a surprise to see the Yankees not play October baseball — but it has not been surprising to see failures that month.
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Jasmine Crockett's history of playing the race card going after conservative and liberal critics
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, has a history of accusing her critics of being racist — no matter which side of the political aisle they are on.
On Thursday, the Texas Senate candidate fired back at podcasters and comedians Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang after the two told listeners not to "waste" their money supporting her campaign.
Despite Rogers and Yang later walking back their comments, Crockett accused them of saying "the quiet part out loud" and going after her because of her race and gender.
"I really do think that the host said the quiet part out loud, which basically was: If a White man couldn’t do it, then why would a Black woman even have the audacity to think that she could?" Crockett said. "I don’t know however many White men, and they’ve all lost. The only thing we know for sure is that a White man can lose."
A similar situation occurred in October when Crockett responded to ESPN analyst and podcast host Stephen A. Smith’s comments about her and former MSNBC host Joy Reid. Although Smith later apologized for singling out Crockett, she accused him of "consistently" attacking Black women.
"In a time in which Black women specifically are under attack — and we all know what Malcolm X said about the Black woman — I just felt a way that there was a Black man who decided not to do any research and decided to more so comment on my stylistic approach, which I'm good with people disagreeing, whatever," Crockett said. "But to use your platform in order not only come for me, but consistently kind of have a track record of coming for Black women, I was just very disappointed in him."
Crockett has also suggested that reports criticizing her workplace behavior stemmed from her race. In August, the New York Post reported that several unnamed former staffers accused her of creating a "toxic" work environment and described her as having "diva" behavior.
The Texas Democrat dismissed the claims later on CBS News.
"This is just more slander, more nonsense, more lies," Crockett said. "You and I were joking before we got on camera about all the scrutiny that comes with being not only a woman, but being young, and being a Black woman. Yeah, there’s a lot of scrutiny that comes my way, and it comes my way from all different angles."
JASMINE CROCKETT ASKS WHAT BLACK WOMAN 'HURT' TRUMP TO HAVE HIM 'OBSESSING' OVER HER
Crockett frequently accuses Republican opponents of racism, including Vice President JD Vance, whom she said was pushing racist tropes by calling out her "street-girl persona."
"I’m not going to be distracted," Crockett said in December. "And when they can tell me about their policies that are helping Texans, then we can have a conversation. Until then, take whatever shots you want to take at me. Because I have been a Black woman my entire life."
"I promise you, there are other people just like JD Vance, who have tried to do the same racist tropes my entire life, and somehow I ascended and became a U.S. congresswoman," she continued. "It will not be different when I become a U.S. senator — and we can have a conversation when I get to the Senate floor if he wants to talk."
DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER RANTS ABOUT 'THE WHITE MAN' DURING A HEARING ON THE DISMANTLE DEI ACT
Crockett has also been a frequent critic of President Donald Trump and accused him of being "terrified" of "smart, bold Black women" like herself after he called her a "low IQ person."
"For you to be in charge of the WHOLE country, you sure do have my name in your mouth a lot," Crockett wrote in an X post in May. "Every time you say my name, you’re reminding the world that you’re terrified of smart, bold Black women telling the truth and holding you accountable. So keep talking…"
Crockett's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Harvard gets schooled by China as America's universities choose activism over excellence
Harvard isn’t supposed to be chasing. It’s supposed to be leading.
Yet a new global ranking put out by Holland’s Leiden University — a measure of the number and importance of research publications — has Harvard down to third place worldwide, and both institutions ahead of it are Chinese. It gets worse for America: in the top 20, Harvard and the University of Michigan are the only U.S. universities. China takes 16 of the top 20 slots.
Unlike many such university lists, this ranking isn’t a reputational beauty contest, but a statistical analysis based on publication data. In other words, it’s one way of measuring what a research university is supposed to do: produce serious scholarship at scale.
So, if the most famous university in the world is sliding — and if China is dominating the top of the table — we should stop handwaving about "globalization" and start asking what, exactly, has gone wrong in American academia.
The answer is not that Americans suddenly got dumber. It’s that our universities have become less serious.
The center of gravity on many campuses has shifted in recent years from truth-seeking, merit and education to DEI, identity and activism. That dynamic shows up everywhere that matters for research production: hiring, teaching and the basic culture of inquiry.
Hiring increasingly rewards ideological compliance rather than intellectual excellence. Diversity statements and "commitment" litmus tests have become routine. Whole searches are designed to narrow the acceptable range of viewpoints and methodologies. When a university hires activists who happen to hold PhDs instead of scholars who happen to hold opinions, it should not be surprised when scholarship suffers.
Teaching has been reduced, in too many places, to therapeutic affirmation and political mobilization. Students get more indoctrination than instruction, producing graduates who aren’t equipped with the writing, numeracy and disciplinary rigor needed to power the next generation of research and innovation.
Research culture has become timid and conformist. Entire categories of questions are treated as morally impermissible to even ask. But real research requires risk: contesting assumptions, poking sacred cows and following the evidence wherever it leads. A campus that punishes dissent will eventually punish discovery.
And hovering over all of this is the growth of the diversicratic state: offices, trainings, compliance regimes, "bias response" systems and an endless paper trail that consumes money and time. Universities can call it "inclusion" all they want; functionally, it’s overhead, which is the enemy of productivity. In a previous Fox News piece, I argued that elite American institutions won’t just fix themselves because the incentives inside these places run toward ideology and away from excellence.
Meanwhile, China has been building research capacity like a state project — because it is one. It funds labs, scales programs, recruits talent and measures success in outputs that translate into technological and geopolitical power.
HARVARD DEAN REMOVED AFTER ANTI-WHITE, ANTI-POLICE SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS RESURFACED
Even 10 years ago, this contrast was stark. In the 2015 Leiden rankings, U.S. institutions dominated the top 20, with MIT, Harvard and Caltech at the top. That’s not ancient history, but within the careers of almost all current university officials.
At the same time, institutional leaders that lecture Americans about "democracy" have been disturbingly casual about foreign cash, which typically comes with strings.
The federal government has repeatedly had to investigate universities for failures to disclose foreign gifts and contracts. In 2020, for example, the Department of Education investigated Harvard and Yale over potential failures to report large sums of foreign funding; Department of Education (DoE) records showed billions in foreign gifts from countries including Qatar and China. Last April, an executive order intended to remedy foreign influence noted that DoE investigations led universities to disclose $6.5 billion in previously undisclosed foreign funds.
And it’s not just money. U.S. law enforcement and congressional investigators have warned for years about programs designed to exploit America’s open research environment. The FBI describes Chinese "talent plans" as often incentivizing one-way transfers of research and intellectual property, sometimes through undisclosed affiliations and contracts. A Senate investigation similarly detailed how China’s talent recruitment programs were designed to extract research and expertise from the United States to advance China’s national goals.
The bottom line is simple: America’s universities are being outcompeted abroad while being hollowed out at home. If we want to reclaim research leadership, we need to reclaim the university’s purpose by doing at least four things:
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Harvard’s slip in the Leiden ranking isn’t a quirky statistic, but a warning light. China is surging because it’s focused on research, development and education. America is slipping because our universities have too often swapped those priorities for DEI bureaucracy, identity politics, and activism.
We can reverse this. But first we have to admit we have a problem.
Toxic wild mushrooms linked to 3 deaths as state officials issue urgent warning
Consumption of death cap mushrooms — often mistaken for safe, edible lookalikes — has been linked to a deadly outbreak in California.
The mushrooms, officially called Amanita phalloides, contain toxins that can cause amatoxin poisoning, which can lead to severe illness or even death.
In the California cases, the poisonings caused severe liver damage in both children and adults, resulting in three deaths, three liver transplants and 35 hospitalizations as of Jan. 6, according to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).
HOMELESS ENCAMPMENT AT CENTER OF HEALTH ALERT OVER RAT-BORNE DISEASE
The CDPH warned the outbreak was linked to consumption of "wild, foraged mushrooms" and urged Californians not to pick or eat wild mushrooms at this time.
The officials stated in a report that death cap mushrooms are "still poisonous even after cooking, boiling, freezing or drying."
The California Poison Control System (CPCS) identified cases across Northern California and the Central Coast, spanning regions from Sonoma to San Luis Obispo between Nov. 18 and Jan. 6.
Affected individuals ranged from 19 months to 67 years old. Officials blamed the recent rainfall for the overgrowth of the toxic mushroom.
Common symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and dehydration, which can occur within six to 24 hours after ingesting the poisonous mushroom, stated the CDPH report.
CONTAMINATED OYSTERS SPREAD FATAL FLESH-EATING BACTERIA IN TWO STATES
"You might not get symptoms for the first five or six hours, and that's just by nature of the breakdown of the toxin in the stomach. Then you get the nausea, vomiting and diarrhea," Dr. Lauren Shawn, M.D., a board-certified emergency medicine physician and medical toxicologist at Northwell Health Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, New York, told Fox News Digital.
Although symptoms can resolve within a day, serious or even fatal liver damage can still occur two to four days later.
DOZENS SICKENED AS POTENTIALLY DEADLY FUNGUS SPREADS IN SOUTHERN STATE
After the initial stomach issues subside, the toxin continues to invade the liver cells and stops them from making RNA (ribonucleic acid), which the body needs to make healing and protective proteins.
"It takes some time for the toxin to actually damage the cell, which is why people don't show up with liver failure until a day or two after," Shawn said.
Amatoxin "damages many types of cells in the human body, but especially liver cells," Dr. Adam Berman, the associate chair of emergency medicine and a medical toxicologist at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York, told Fox News Digital.
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"Because of the damage caused by the death cap mushroom, the liver is no longer able to function properly. Without a functional liver, the body begins to fail and can quickly die," the doctor warned.
As there is no widely available rapid test to detect amatoxin poisoning, clinicians rely on exposure history, symptoms and liver tests, according to experts.
Anyone who has consumed this type of mushroom should follow up with their primary care physician or a liver specialist to monitor for liver failure, doctors recommend.
"Ideally, if you have leftover mushrooms, bring them in or take pictures of them, because hopefully a poison center can call a mycologist and actually identify what the mushroom is," Shawn advised.
Toxicologists agree with the California health agency’s warning to avoid foraging wild mushrooms.
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"The death cap mushroom can look to the untrained eye like many common and non-toxic mushrooms, which often makes it often difficult to spot and avoid," Berman told Fox News Digital. "Because of this, it is best to not go looking for wild mushrooms to eat, especially in areas where the death cap mushroom commonly grows."
Shawn agreed that it is also not worth the risk.
"There's a saying, ‘there are old mushroom foragers, there are bold mushroom foragers, but there are no old, bold mushroom foragers,’" she told Fox News Digital. "It's a risky thing and you really have to know what you're doing."
The CDPH recommends that individuals purchase mushrooms from trusted grocery stores and retailers, to be careful when buying them from street vendors, and to keep children and pets away from wild mushrooms.
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Those in the area who have ingested a death cap mushroom should contact the CPCS hotline at 1-800-222-1222 and seek medical attention right away, health officials advised.
Messages show 'rapid responders' mobilized demonstrators to harass federal agents and more top headlines
1. The far-left network that helped put Alex Pretti in harm's way, then made him a martyr
2. Trump confirms federal review of Minneapolis shooting that killed nurse
3. Deadly winter storm blasts America with catastrophic ice, extreme snow
FATAL TREND – Wave of political attacks strikes both sides as violence mars American politics. Continue reading …
‘LIED TO US’ – Bill Clinton issues scathing statement on 'horrible scenes' in Minneapolis. Continue reading …
PUBLIC ANARCHY – ICE says violent mob helped criminal escape and left ICE agent permanently maimed. Continue reading …
HIDDEN CULPRITS – Four everyday grocery foods that expert says may damage your digestive health. Continue reading …
GOING BACK – Patriots advance to Super Bowl LX after controversial call leaves Broncos fans fuming. Continue reading …
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DEAL BREAKER – Government shutdown looms as key negotiator withdraws support for funding package. Continue reading …
CONFLICT BY DESIGN – Vance calls Minneapolis unrest 'engineered chaos' after deadly shooting. Continue reading …
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INTERNAL TURMOIL – Federal immigration officials privately fume over DHS claims after deadly Minnesota shooting. Continue reading …
COLD SHOULDER – Soap opera star refuses to 'even look' at Carrie Underwood after Trump inauguration performance. Continue reading …
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UNCHARTED TERRITORY – Minnesota ICE official urges protests to remain peaceful amid tensions 'like nothing I've ever seen before.' Continue reading …
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LEE CARTER – 45% of Americans calling themselves 'independent' aren't independent at all – they're just angry. Continue reading …
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ROYALLY GROUNDED – Prince William shows no diva behavior as he's forced to give up well-known hobby: expert. Continue reading …
FUMBLE FURY – NFL fans torch Rams returner after muffed punt leads to crucial Seahawks touchdown. Continue reading …
AMERICAN CULTURE QUIZ – Test yourself on airport architecture and Olympic outlooks. Take the quiz here …
ANCIENT ART – Ancient handprints suggest humans were thinking symbolically thousands of years earlier than science taught. Continue reading …
MOOSE ON THE LOOSE – Wild animal can't resist ski slope. See video ...
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USS Abraham Lincoln Aircraft Carrier Strike Group makes move amid threat from Iran
The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier has entered CENTCOM waters in the Indian Ocean amid increasing threats from Iran, a senior U.S. official told Fox News on Monday.
Reports say Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has gone underground, suggesting the country may be preparing for military action. A leading U.S. drone expert told Fox on Sunday that Iran's drone swarms would pose a credible and serious threat to the Lincoln and its strike group.
The top U.S. official said the Lincoln was not yet ready for any possible future strikes against Iran.
Cameron Chell, CEO and co-founder of Draganfly, told Fox that Iran has created "an effective asymmetric threat against highly sophisticated military systems" with its fleet of unmanned drones, pairing "low-cost warheads with inexpensive delivery platforms."
IRAN'S LEADER THREATENS 'EVEN BIGGER BLOW' AGAINST US, TRUMP SAYS HE'S IN ‘NO RUSH’ TO TALK
Chell said Iran can launch large numbers of relatively unsophisticated drones directly at naval vessels, creating saturation attacks that could overwhelm traditional defenses.
"If hundreds are launched in a short period of time, some are almost certain to get through," Chell said.
"Modern defense systems were not originally designed to counter that kind of saturation attack. For U.S. surface vessels operating near Iran, warships are prime targets," he added.
U.S. officials say Washington is reinforcing its military posture in response to growing instability inside Iran, boosting its presence by air, land and sea, while closely monitoring developments in Syria.
A squadron of F-15 fighter jets has deployed to the region, and C-17 aircraft carrying heavy equipment have arrived.
Chell noted that U.S. and allied militaries are rapidly developing defenses but uncertainty over new capabilities on the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier groups for managing multiple Iranian drones flying in formation remains. He emphasized that Iran’s drone fleet is a concern.
"These drones give Iran a very credible way to threaten surface vessels," he said. "U.S. assets in the region are large, slow-moving and easily identifiable on radar, which makes them targetable."
"Iran’s strength lies instead in these low-cost, high-volume drone systems — particularly one-way strike drones designed to fly into a target and detonate," he said.
Fox News' Jennifer Griffin and Emma Bussey contributed to this report.
World Health Organization says US withdrawal makes the nation and the world 'less safe'
The World Health Organization on Saturday warned that America's withdrawal from the agency will make the country and the world "less safe."
The globalist body said in part of a January 24 statement that it "regrets the United States’ notification of withdrawal from WHO – a decision that makes both the United States and the world less safe."
"We hope that in the future, the United States will return to active participation in WHO," the statement noted.
US FORMALLY EXITS WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, LOCKING IN TRUMP'S BREAK FROM GLOBAL HEALTH BODY
The U.S. announced its withdrawal from the WHO last week, after President Donald Trump got the ball rolling on his first day back in office last year.
"Today, the United States withdrew from the World Health Organization (WHO), freeing itself from its constraints, as President Trump promised on his first day in office by signing E.O. 14155," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in part of a January 22, 2026, joint statement.
UN CHIEF ACCUSES US OF DITCHING INTERNATIONAL LAW AS TRUMP BLASTS GLOBAL BODIES
"Going forward, U.S. engagement with the WHO will be limited strictly to effectuate our withdrawal and to safeguard the health and safety of the American people. All U.S. funding for, and staffing of, WHO initiatives has ceased," their statement said.
They claimed the WHO "pursued a politicized, bureaucratic agenda driven by nations hostile to American interests." But the WHO pushed back.
TRUMP FLOATS ‘BOARD OF PEACE’ TO REPLACE UN, SIGNALS MAJOR GLOBAL POWER SHIFT
"This is untrue. As a specialized agency of the United Nations, governed by 194 Member States, WHO has always been and remains impartial and exists to serve all countries, with respect for their sovereignty, and without fear or favor," the WHO said in its statement.
Ancient handprints suggest humans were thinking symbolically thousands of years earlier than science taught
Researchers recently identified Indonesian cave art dating back about 68,000 years — a breakthrough discovery that marks one of the earliest known expressions of human creativity.
The rock art was found in a cave on the island of Sulawesi, a tropical island in central Indonesia, northeast of Java and Bali.
Pictures of the discovery show reddish-brown handprints — with some elongated or slightly pointed fingerprints on the cave wall.
The prints were created by blowing pigment over hands pressed against cave walls, with some fingertips intentionally modified.
The cave art, the researchers said, is the "oldest archaeological evidence revealed so far for the presence of our species" in the Wallacea region of Indonesia. The findings were published last week in the journal Nature.
Study author Maxime Aubert, an archaeologist at Griffith University in Australia, told The Associated Press the stencils may be evidence of a complex rock art tradition shared across different cultures.
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Researchers still aren't sure what type of humans made the prints.
One possibility could be the Denisovans, an extinct group of early humans who lived in the region and may have interacted with Homo sapiens.
The prints could also have been made by modern humans whose ancestors traveled from Africa through the Middle East and into Indonesia.
Researchers said they plan to continue exploring the area for even older examples of ancient art.
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Independent paleoanthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger, who was not involved in the study, told The Associated Press that she "let out a little squeal of joy" when she saw the findings.
"It fits everything I'd been thinking," she said.
The discovery comes as researchers uncover increasingly older evidence of early human innovation.
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"For us, this discovery is not the end of the story," said Aubert. "It is an invitation to keep looking."
In a similarly compelling discovery, researchers recently identified the world's oldest-known poisoned arrowheads, which date back around 60,000 years.
Last month, researchers published evidence of the oldest-known deliberate fire-making by humans, which dates back around 400,000 years.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.