🚨 HAPPENING RIGHT NOW 🚨
Homeland Security Investigations executed a search warrant at Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington, D.C. home Monday morning, with a Justice Department spokesperson confirming agents acted on a judicially authorized warrant tied to an ongoing federal probe into immigration fraud connected to paperwork Omar's father filed when she was a minor. Border czar Tom Homan said last month that ICE was pursuing a “criminal investigation” into the Minnesota Democrat, which Omar has dismissed as a right-wing attack, saying DHS had never contacted her about it. The DOJ hasn't said whether charges have been filed or what agents found during Monday's search.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 12th, 2026
Before we get to today's news, here's what happened on this date in history: Italian explorer Christopher Columbus and his Spanish-sponsored crew spotted land in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492, after a ten-week voyage from Palos, Spain, in search of a western route to Asia. Believing he had reached the outskirts of the East Indies, Columbus went ashore with his men and claimed the island for Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, opening a new and often brutal era of contact between Europe and the Americas that Columbus himself never recognized as a separate continent.
Fewer than a year before the September 11 attacks reshaped American foreign policy, a small boat packed with explosives pulled alongside the USS Cole as the Navy destroyer refueled in the Yemeni port of Aden on October 12, 2000, and detonated, tearing a 40-foot hole in the ship's hull and killing 17 American sailors. Investigators traced the suicide bombing to al-Qaeda, marking one of the deadliest attacks on a U.S. naval vessel in decades and foreshadowing the terror network's assault on New York and Washington the following year.
🧵 NY's Measles Emergency Pushes Amish Families Toward a Supreme Court Showdown Over Vaccine Mandate
New York's statewide measles disaster emergency, declared after a surge in cases across Orthodox Jewish and Amish communities, is colliding with a new legal fight as Amish families ask the Supreme Court to hear their challenge to the state's 2019 repeal of the religious vaccine exemption.
Attorney Hiram Sasser of First Liberty Institute said New York has imposed “crushing fines” on small Amish farm schools, calling the vaccine mandate a “religious test” the community shouldn't have to pass
The 2nd Circuit upheld the law in June, and First Liberty is now urging the Supreme Court to take up the case as nationwide measles cases climb toward 4,000, the worst U.S. outbreak in 35 years
New York's Department of Health said its school immunization rules are grounded in science and protect public health, declining to comment further on the pending litigation
😔 9 Dead, Including a Pregnant Woman Days From Giving Birth, in Erie, Pennsylvania Family Shooting
A 45-year-old grandfather killed eight relatives and a family friend, including a pregnant woman days from delivering her baby and her two young children, at a home on Erie, Pennsylvania's Perry Street Friday evening before turning the gun on himself.
Police Chief Rick Lorah said the gunman was related to seven of the eight victims, and investigators believe everyone died before officers arrived at the Perry Street home
Angelina Stone, who was eight months pregnant, and her children Isiah and Amari'anna were among those killed, according to family members and reports cited by Fox News
Lorah said mental health may have played a role but that it was too early to determine a motive, as Erie police continued investigating through the weekend
🏦 Trump Sets Up New Committee to Investigate Fed Governor Lisa Cook Over Mortgage Fraud Claims
President Trump has formed a White House committee, including National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, to examine allegations that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook falsely claimed two properties as her primary residence on mortgage paperwork, reviving his year-long campaign to remove her from the central bank.
The White House alleges Cook listed homes in Atlanta and Michigan as her primary residence on separate mortgages and later rented out the Atlanta property; her attorneys call it an inadvertent error and say she always designated Michigan as her true residence
Cook's closed-door hearing is set for Nov. 5 at the White House, where she can present evidence and witnesses while Justice Department lawyers question her, before the committee recommends whether Trump has cause to fire her
The Supreme Court blocked Trump's first attempt to remove Cook in a 5-4 ruling last June, finding she hadn't been given adequate time to respond to the allegations
⚖️ GOP Splits Over Plan to Livestream Fort Hood Shooter Nidal Hasan's Execution
President Trump said he hasn't decided whether to allow a livestream of Nidal Hasan's firing-squad execution, as Republicans divide over War Secretary Pete Hegseth's plan to broadcast what would be the U.S. military's first firing-squad execution since 1945.
Trump said “there are two thoughts: don't show it and show it,” suggesting “by showing it, maybe other people won't be doing what he did,” while Vice President JD Vance said he wasn't sure it would be livestreamed and wouldn't watch if it was
Sens. Thom Tillis and Lisa Murkowski called the plan “beyond disgusting” and warned it would hand Hasan the “martyrdom he seeks,” while Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended it, calling Hasan a “scumbag” and noting viewing would be optional
Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 in the 2009 Fort Hood attack, is scheduled to be executed by firing squad Dec. 3
🗳️ Federal Judge Strikes Down DOJ's Nationwide Voter-Roll Collection Policy
U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan vacated the Justice Department's nationwide Voter List Maintenance Policy in a 78-page opinion, ruling that Congress never authorized DOJ to demand unredacted voter rolls from the states and that the program ran “roughshod” over longstanding privacy and civil-rights laws.
DOJ had demanded voter rolls from 49 states and Washington, D.C. under a 2025 election-integrity executive order, with at least 18 states complying and the records shared with DHS to check against its SAVE citizenship database
The judge found DOJ's citizenship checks were unreliable, citing two eligible Texas voters who lost their registrations after being flagged in error
DOJ had asked the court to limit any ruling to the plaintiffs in the case, but the judge set the policy aside nationwide instead, blocking continued use of data already gathered from cooperating states