Una semana después del doble terremoto que devastó la región central de Venezuela, el número de víctimas fatales continúa en aumento. El balance oficial actualizado este jueves elevó a 3.899 los fallecidos por los sismos del 24 de junio, mientras la cifra de heridos se mantiene en 16.740. Al mismo tiempo, cientos de familias permanecen frente a edificios derrumbados, removiendo escombros con herramientas propias en un último intento por recuperar los cuerpos de sus seres queridos.

Los nuevos datos difundidos por la cúpula chavista reflejan que la emergencia continúa abierta. Además de los muertos y heridos, el reporte contabiliza 17.907 personas sin vivienda, 86.794 familias atendidas, 89 campamentos transitorios y 16.891 personas alojadas en esos refugios temporales.

Las tareas de respuesta movilizan a 30.076 efectivos, 29.344 voluntarios y 3.931 rescatistas internacionales, mientras el país intenta recuperarse de uno de los peores desastres naturales de su historia reciente. El informe también señala que 856 edificios resultaron afectados, de los cuales 190 colapsaron por completo. Desde el día del terremoto se han registrado 1.142 réplicas, un factor que mantiene el riesgo en las zonas más golpeadas y dificulta las labores de recuperación.

Aunque las operaciones oficiales avanzan hacia una nueva etapa centrada en la evaluación estructural y la reconstrucción, en sectores como Playa Grande, en el estado La Guaira, decenas de familias se resisten a abandonar los lugares donde desaparecieron sus parientes.

Entre ellas está la de Ciro Ocando, quien desde hace dos semanas excava junto con sus hermanos entre las ruinas de un edificio donde cree que permanecen atrapados sus dos hijos adolescentes y una tía.

Durante una de las jornadas de búsqueda, un hombre que salía de un estrecho túnel abierto entre los restos del inmueble le entregó un álbum con fotografías de sus hijos.

“Estoy en el lugar correcto, pero hay muchos obstáculos”, dijo Ocando antes de volver a trabajar entre los escombros.

La familia llegó poco después de los terremotos con la esperanza de encontrar sobrevivientes. Con el paso de los días, ese objetivo cambió. Ahora buscan recuperar los cuerpos para poder despedirse de ellos.

Frente al edificio levantaron un campamento improvisado desde donde coordinan la búsqueda. Allí permanecen día y noche, mientras las altas temperaturas, el polvo y la acumulación de basura forman parte de una rutina marcada por la incertidumbre.

La situación se repite en otros sectores afectados. Numerosos familiares continúan excavando aun después de que finalizaran las principales tareas de rescate, convencidos de que sus seres queridos siguen bajo toneladas de concreto.

Ocando explicó que gran parte del operativo depende exclusivamente del esfuerzo de la familia.

“Ese aparato de iluminación, la planta eléctrica, las herramientas, todo es por mi cuenta, todo lo compré yo”, relató mientras otros voluntarios retiraban bloques de cemento del reducido pasadizo abierto entre las ruinas.

Después de varios días de trabajo lograron acceder al apartamento donde vivían los adolescentes. El hallazgo del álbum familiar confirmó que habían alcanzado la vivienda, aunque la búsqueda continúa.

Las condiciones también obligan a quienes participan en esas tareas a asumir riesgos constantes. Los túneles abiertos bajo estructuras inestables pueden colapsar en cualquier momento.

Damián Molero, hermano de Ocando, reconoció el peligro, pero aseguró que la prioridad es encontrar a los desaparecidos.

“Para nosotros los familiares vale la pena arriesgarse; ellos lo que quieren es demoler”, afirmó.

Otra de las personas que continúa buscando a un familiar es Lázaro Cardozo, de 67 años, quien intenta localizar a Fabiana, hija de una de sus primas. Con fotografías en las manos, permanece cerca del edificio donde desapareció la joven.

“Estoy en shock, paralizado”, expresó.

Pese al paso de las semanas, aseguró que no abandonará el lugar.

“No la vamos a dejar aquí”, afirmó.

Mientras continúan esas búsquedas, las autoridades informaron que durante la emergencia también se distribuyeron 9.603 toneladas de alimentos, 12.126.298 litros de agua y que 28.836 pacientes recibieron atención médica en las zonas afectadas.

Con miles de personas todavía desplazadas, edificios inhabitables y familias que siguen esperando respuestas entre los escombros, la emergencia provocada por los terremotos del 24 de junio continúa marcando la vida cotidiana en las regiones más golpeadas de Venezuela.

A Maryland school district is being sued after parents accused school officials of hiding their daughter’s social gender transition and then citing district policy to justify keeping them in the dark.

America First Legal (AFL) is leading the lawsuit on behalf of anonymous parents identified as John and Jane Doe. The plaintiffs argue Anne Arundel County Public Schools’ policies violate their First and 14th Amendment rights, as well as similar provisions of the Maryland Constitution. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

The lawsuit is part of a growing wave of legal challenges targeting school districts with policies allowing staff to withhold information about a student’s gender identity from parents. It also comes months after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Mirabelli v. Bonta, which America First Legal says reinforced parents’ constitutional rights over decisions involving their children.

Ian Prior, senior advisor at America First Legal and counsel for the plaintiffs, said the district ignored that precedent.

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«The school system was referring to our client’s daughter by a male name and assuming a male identity for their daughter, and they didn’t approve that. And they weren’t told of that. And when they did find out about it, and they questioned the school, they were quite frankly lied to about it,» Prior told Fox News Digital.

«They said this is not going to happen anymore. We deny consent. And the school said, ‘Well, too bad, that’s the law.’ Unfortunately, for Anne Arundel County Public Schools, that is not the law.»

Prior said the Supreme Court made clear in Mirabelli that «parents have a fundamental right to raise their children» and argued schools cannot facilitate a child’s social transition without parental notice and consent.

According to the complaint, the dispute began in December 2025 after a teacher accidentally emailed the parents using a male name for their daughter before attempting to recall the message and later claiming it had been sent to the wrong recipient. The lawsuit alleges the teacher later admitted the explanation was false and acknowledged the student had requested to be called by a male name. The parents then instructed school officials to use only their daughter’s legal name and requested records related to the school’s actions.

The complaint alleges school administrators refused those requests, citing the district’s policies and telling the parents that school staff were required to honor the student’s preferred name while at school.

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Months later, another teacher allegedly used the same male name in an email about an upcoming field trip. When the parents questioned it, the lawsuit says, the teacher initially gave a false explanation before admitting the name referred to their daughter.

According to the lawsuit, the district’s policies require staff to use students’ preferred names and pronouns and keep information about their gender identity confidential without notifying or getting permission from parents.

«It’s really unfortunate that this even has to result in litigation, because, again, the Supreme Court has been very clear about what schools can and cannot do. But what we’ve really seen throughout the country is that, in order to get schools to adhere to the Constitution and the law of the land, you have to bring them to court and get a court order demanding that they follow the law,» Prior told Fox News Digital.

The Maryland case is the latest in a series of lawsuits AFL has filed challenging school policies governing student gender identity.

Just weeks earlier, on June 22, 2025, America First Legal filed a separate federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against Fairfax County Public Schools. That lawsuit alleges the district’s policy violates parents’ constitutional rights by allowing school staff to socially transition students, including using different names and pronouns at school without notifying parents in certain circumstances. The Fairfax litigation remains in its early stages.

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Prior said AFL is also pursuing similar parental rights cases in Pennsylvania and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California.

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The litigation also comes amid a broader push by the Trump administration to challenge school policies concerning parental notification and gender identity. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Education concluded that the California Department of Education remains in violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), finding that state policies pressure school officials to conceal information about students’ gender identity from parents. California has pushed back against the federal government’s conclusions and related legal challenges remain ongoing.

Anne Arundel County Public Schools declined to comment on the litigation.

FIRST ON FOX: Democrat candidate Sarah Trone Garriott, a minister and state legislator running for one of the most competitive House seats in the nation, contributed to a «resistance preaching» guide that encouraged faith leaders to combat President Donald Trump and his supporters from the pulpit.

Trone Garriott authored a chapter in a 2018 collection titled, «Preaching as Resistance: Voices of Hope, Justice, and Solidarity,» in the aftermath of Trump’s 2016 presidential election victory — an event the book described as bringing the country «so closely to fascism.»

Responding to Trump’s presidency, «Many pastors find themselves drawn toward acts of resistance,» Phil Snider, a self-described «White male cishet pastor,» writes in the book’s introduction.

He argued that «pastors of the resistance» were working against a Trump-led coalition rooted in «White supremacy,» «exploitation,» «greed,» and «heteropatriarchy.»

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Trone Garriott, who was ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America in 2008, was among that cohort as an author of the collection.

Her contribution titled, «The Gospel of Resistance,» was described as the first sermon she delivered after the 2016 election and has not been previously reported.

Trone Garriott’s involvement comes as she faces mounting scrutiny from Republicans over her previous remarks on religion and cultural issues. The GOP views the Iowa House battleground held by Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, which incorporates the state capital of Des Moines, as critical to preserving its slim majority.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the contest as a «toss-up.» Trump carried the swing district by over four points in 2024, but a recent Fox News Poll showed his favorability is now underwater in the Hawkeye State.

Trone Garriott publicly discussed helping marry a Satanist couple as a minister-in-training during a love-themed storytelling event in 2023, Fox News Digital previously reported. She also defended a Wiccan-led prayer in the state legislature and tied public displays of Christianity to political violence in a 2023 sermon.

During that talk, she criticized private schools and parental rights in education while highlighting her efforts to seek out prayers in the state legislature that were not from the «White American Christian variety.»

The Republican National Committee (RNC) sharply criticized Trone Garriott’s participation in the «resistance» preaching collection.

«The Wicked Witch of Woke strikes again and admits what we all knew — she views the pulpit as a political weapon to advance her radical agenda,» RNC spokesman Zach Kraft said in a statement to Fox News Digital. «There isn’t a far-left cause Sarah Trone Garriott hasn’t claimed to have found in the Bible and attempted to force on Iowans.»

Trone Garriott did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about why she chose to contribute to the collection or whether she agreed with the book’s introduction, which described Trump and his tens of millions of voters as rooted in racism.

The book described Trump and his tens of millions of voters as rooted in racism. (David Cliff/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

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The sermon collection, described as «provocative» by its publisher, includes 30 sermons under titles that include «Transgressing the Gender Binary,» «Encountering Pharaoh — and Climate Change,» and «Wake Up and Stay Woke!»

Beyond criticism of Trump, pastors also condemned immigration enforcement, deportation policies, transphobia, and what one author calls «the worship of military-grade weaponry among the populace.»

In «When to Break the Law,» a minister urges sanctuary cities to defy the federal government and harbor illegal aliens to avoid deportation. In «Take a Knee,» the author rails against the «militarized border.» In «Overcome Evil with Good,» police departments are associated with White supremacy. In «Beloved Resistance,» the president is described as an «unrepentant sexual predator.»

Trone Garriott’s own sermon closes the collection. While less overtly political than some of the others, it was identified as the first sermon she delivered after Trump’s election.

In the sermon, Trone Garriott appears to encourage listeners who were upset by recent events, without explicitly mentioning Trump’s election win. She discusses periods when Christians felt detachment throughout history and turned to Matthew 24:36–44, a passage about Christ’s return in which he tells believers to remain ready.

Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 15, 2025. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg)

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«For those who are honestly praying for the kingdoms of this world to be destroyed and Christ’s kingdom to come…for those who are yearning to go with Christ wherever that may lead…for those hoping for new life…this is the good news,» she wrote.