INTERNACIONAL
WATCH: Omar silent when confronted on alleged ties to massive Minnesota fraud scandal
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., refused to engage when asked by Fox News Digital if she would cooperate with the investigation into Minnesota’s «Feeding Our Future» scheme.
The progressive lawmaker is accused of having ties to those involved in the scandal that federal prosecutors say cost taxpayers roughly $250 million. But when asked about her connections, Omar stayed silent.
«Did you ask Minnesota Democrats to block the subpoena for the investigation of feeding our future on the state level?» Omar was asked when confronted in the halls of Congress on Monday, but did not respond.
She then ignored a second question: «Would you cooperate with that subpoena and provide documents if they request it here in the House Oversight Committee?»
OMAR CAMP BREAKS SILENCE ON FRAUD PROBE, BLAMES WALZ, TRUMP AS NEW CLAIMS CLASH WITH EARLIER STATEMENTS
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., attends a field hearing at the Minnesota Senate Building in St. Paul on Jan. 16, 2026, continuing the town hall event following an attack. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
It’s thought that Omar’s MEALS Act, a federal COVID-19 relief measure she sponsored in 2020, ties her to the massive scandal. Many Republicans argue her bill enabled the fraud by rapidly expanding USDA waiver authority at meal sites.
Despite the concerns, the Minnesota Democrat has declined multiple opportunities in recent months to directly answer questions or provide information on her alleged ties to the fraud, including documented ties to some of the convicted fraudsters.
The Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee invited her to testify this month, requesting documents tied to the fraud scandal. Omar missed the response deadline, triggering a failed subpoena vote that received only five of the six votes required to pass after Democrats blocked the GOP-led effort.
«She didn’t even respond, ghosted us,» state Rep. Kristin Robbins, chair of the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee, told Fox News Digital in April when Omar did not respond to requests for information.
The committee asked Omar to turn over communications showing how she promoted expanded access to federal child nutrition programs, including emails, texts and meeting records with the Minnesota Department of Education and constituents.
The request also zeroed in on Omar’s public promotion of a Minneapolis restaurant that later became linked to the program. Robbins cited a Somali-language TV appearance in which Omar highlighted Safari Restaurant as a meal distribution site and asked for all communications related to the video and the restaurant’s participation.
OMAR DUCKS QUESTIONS AS SCRUTINY GROWS OVER FILINGS THAT SLASHED HER REPORTED WEALTH BY MILLIONS
The committee also asked for records of any contact between Omar and a long list of individuals charged or implicated in the Feeding Our Future case, including nonprofit founder Aimee Bock and dozens of alleged co-conspirators.
Bock is currently facing a possible 50-year prison sentence for her role in the scheme, Fox 9 Minneapolis reported.
«A lot of the sites were working directly with her, being that a lot of the operators were from the same Somali community,» Bock recently said about Omar in a jailhouse interview with the New York Post. «There were a lot of people that had been reaching out to her office and staff — and I presume her personally — to work through some of those gaps with the waivers.»
Just last week, an 84-page report released by the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee accused Gov. Tim Walz’s administration of fostering a «culture of tolerance» that allowed fraudsters to steal billions in taxpayer dollars.
The report comes after two dozen hearings and hundreds of whistleblower tips alleging oversight failures and ignored internal warnings.
MILITARY VET SEES OPENING FOR GOP IN BLUE STATE AMID ‘EMBARRASSMENT’ OF ‘STOLEN VALOR WALZ’
A week after FBI agents raided the offices of Minnesota nonprofit Feeding Our Future after accusations the group’s partners defrauded the federal government of millions of dollars, evidence of the raid is seen in the offices Thursday, January 27, 2022 in St. Anthony, Minn. Agents also raided the home of Feeding Our Future executive director Aimee Bock. (Photo by Shari L. Gross/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
An estimated $300 million in federal meal program fraud and up to $9 billion in Medicaid fraud were stolen from taxpayers, a cost significantly higher than initially believed, according to the committee.
It also said Omar’s MEALS Act loosened anti-fraud safeguards in federal nutrition programs, making it harder to verify if children were actually being fed by the Feeding Our Future program.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News Digital reached out to Omar and Walz’s office for comment but did not hear back.
ilhan omar, minnesota fraud exposed, investigations, meals, tim walz
INTERNACIONAL
First lady cites memoir after Supreme Court upholds state laws reserving girls’ sports for biological females
Supreme Court upholds state bans on biological boys in girls’ sports
Fox News reports on the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Idaho and West Virginia laws, effectively banning biological males from participating in girls’ sports. Constitutional law attorney Jonathan Turley and chief legal correspondent Shannon Bream explain that the ruling aligns with the view that transgender status is not a protected class like race or religion, leaving the decision to individual states.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
First lady Melania Trump pointed to a passage from her bestselling memoir Tuesday after the Supreme Court ruled that states may limit women’s and girls’ sports teams to biological females, saying the decision aligns with a position she has long supported.
In a post on X, Trump highlighted a passage from Melania that was published months before the court’s landmark 6-3 decision, which held that states may determine eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports based on biological sex under Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause.
«As many of you may know, I fully support the LGBTQIA+ community. But we must also ensure that our female athletes are protected and respected,» the first lady wrote on X, pointing readers to page 156 of her memoir, «Melania.»
U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE MAKES NEW TRANS ATHLETE FINDINGS AGAINST USA HOCKEY
First lady Melania Trump’s comments came just hours after the Supreme Court established a new nationwide precedent. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
«The U.S. Supreme Court has now legally confirmed this opinion: ‘Under Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, may schools maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females? … The answer is yes,’» Trump continued, citing the court’s decision.
«America, we can support the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community and also protect opportunities for female athletes,» she added. «Respect everyone and keep girls’ sports fair. Both ideals are essential.»
The first lady’s comments came just hours after the Supreme Court established a new nationwide precedent allowing states to maintain women’s and girls’ sports teams for biological females.
U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE MAKES NEW TRANS ATHLETE FINDINGS AGAINST USA HOCKEY
In the consolidated cases West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox, the justices ruled 6-3 in favor of West Virginia and Idaho, upholding state laws requiring student-athletes to compete on teams that correspond with their biological sex at birth rather than their gender identity.
Writing for the majority, the court held: «Consistent with Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause, we hold that the States may maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females. They may determine eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports based on biological sex.»
The decision marks a major victory for supporters of so-called «Save Women’s Sports» laws, validating similar legislation enacted in 27 states in recent years. The ruling also clears the way for those states to continue enforcing the laws without the legal uncertainty that surrounded them while the cases moved through the courts.
LAWYERS FIGHTING SJSU OVER VOLLEYBALL SCANDAL RESPOND TO FEDERAL TITLE IX PROBE FINDINGS
Protesters wave transgender pride flags outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey praised the ruling, calling it «a monumental victory for every female athlete who has ever competed, or dreamed of competing, on a fair and safe playing field.»
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador likewise hailed the decision, saying it confirmed states’ authority to «preserve fair competition and protect the opportunities that generations of women fought to secure.»
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The cases centered on West Virginia’s Save Women’s Sports Act and Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, both of which had been blocked after legal challenges brought by transgender athletes.
Fox News Digital’s Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
melania trump, supreme court, controversies education, high school, college, politics, sports
INTERNACIONAL
Una soda tras salir viva de la vivienda derrumbada: el relato de Marlene Santana y la búsqueda que no termina
Bajo los restos de una vivienda derrumbada en La Guaira, una mujer venezolana de 69 años logró sobrevivir tras quedar atrapada durante casi tres días.
Su caso- retomado por la agencia EFE- se ha convertido en uno de los relatos más impactantes tras los dos terremotos que sacudieron el país y provocaron cientos de muertes y miles de heridos.
El dramático episodio comenzó cuando Marlene Santana recibió un golpe en la cabeza durante el colapso de su casa de cuatro pisos. La vivienda, que había resistido el deslave de 1999, no soportó la fuerza de los recientes movimientos telúricos. Mientras permanecía bajo los escombros, Santana experimentó “lagunas” en su memoria y largos silencios que la hicieron temer lo peor para su comunidad.
Durante su encierro forzado, Santana escuchó a su hermana quejarse y luego, el silencio. En la misma casa estaban también su esposo y su hija, cuyos paraderos desconoce desde entonces.
En medio de la oscuridad total, intentó orientarse al tocar objetos a su alrededor, identificando una taza de café familiar, lo que la llevó a pensar que se encontraba en la cocina.
Desde su cama de hospital, Marlene Santana, sobreviviente de dos terremotos, relata con una sonrisa el momento en que los rescatistas le dieron agua a través de una manguera, y a la peculiar petición de una Coca Cola. (Infobae Centroamérica/EFE)
El rescate se produjo cuando un equipo internacional, compuesto por rescatistas de El Salvador, llegó al lugar. Santana asegura haber sentido la presencia de un perro rastreador, un indicio de la llegada del grupo salvadoreño, que formó parte de la ayuda internacional desplegada tras la catástrofe.
Los rescatistas le pidieron que se arrastrara para facilitar su extracción, pero la mujer tenía la espalda lastimada y apenas podía moverse. “Me decían: ‘Señora Marlene, haga un sacrificio más’”, relató. Tras pedir unos minutos para recobrar fuerzas, finalmente logró desplazarse hasta alcanzar al personal de rescate.
La historia de Marlene Santana como muchas otras, de la enorme fuerza de voluntad de cientos de venezolanos que han esperado por horas bajo pesados bloques de cemento, oscuros y fríos, es casi heroica.
La salvadoreña se mantuvo con fe y atenta a las indicaciones de la brigada salvadoreña y se convirtió en uno de los siete rescatados que hasta ahora ha reportado el contingente salvadoreño, historias que rayan en lo milagroso y que conmueven hasta las lágrimas.
Una vez fuera de los escombros, Santana sorprendió al equipo al solicitar una Coca-Cola, gesto que el presidente de El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, mencionó en sus redes sociales.
“Nuestros médicos le explicaron que, por el momento, lo más importante era hidratarla por vía intravenosa para estabilizarla”, detalló el mandatario sobre el procedimiento seguido tras el rescate.
Actualmente, la sobreviviente se encuentra en un hospital en el este de Caracas, donde recibe atención médica. A pesar de estar a salvo, permanece la incertidumbre sobre el destino de su hija, esposo y hermana, quienes también se encontraban en la vivienda al momento del derrumbe.
Los recientes terremotos provocaron una situación de emergencia en Venezuela, con un saldo oficial de 1,719 fallecidos y 5,034 personas heridas hasta el momento. Las operaciones de búsqueda y rescate siguen activas, superando ya las 120 horas desde el primer sismo.
La historia de Marlene Santana refleja tanto la devastación causada por el desastre como la coordinación internacional en tareas de salvamento.
El caso también destaca la fortaleza mental de la víctima, quien atribuye a las recomendaciones de su neumonólogo la capacidad para controlar la respiración y soportar la escasez de aire durante el encierro.
Mientras el país continúa con las labores de búsqueda, el testimonio de Santana se suma a las voces de quienes esperan reunir información sobre sus familiares desaparecidos, en medio de una tragedia que ha dejado una marca profunda en la región de La Guaira.
corresponsal:Desde San Salvador, El Salvador
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is facing a new round of violence in the country’s Kurdish-majority west, raising questions about whether a long-simmering Kurdish insurgency is entering a more active phase as fragile talks between Iran and Washington continue, experts say.
The flare-up matters beyond Iran’s borderlands because Kurdish opposition groups were recently viewed as a potential pressure point against Iran during the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran — and now some Kurdish voices fear they could be left exposed as Washington and Tehran return to fragile diplomacy.
In recent days, Iranian security forces have been killed in several reported attacks and clashes across western and northwestern Iran. Four Iranian security personnel reportedly were killed and several others injured in two separate armed attacks Tuesday, reported The Jerusalem Post, in an analysis by Seth J. Frantzman, citing Iraq’s Shafaq News.
IRANIAN REGIME CRITIC WARNS TRUMP DEAL COULD BE ‘LIFELINE’ FOR REGIME, CLAIMS PEOPLE ARE ‘NERVOUS’
Kurdish separatists attempted Iran crossing from Iraq amid protests. (Mustafa Ozer/AFP via Getty Images)
Two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members were reportedly killed and two others wounded in what it called an «armed terrorist attack» in Paveh, Iran, a border city in Kermanshah Province, reported Tasnim News, an Iranian outlet close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In Baneh, Iran, gunmen attacked a police checkpoint, killing two police officers and injuring three other people, including a 3-year-old girl, The Jerusalem Post reported. Clashes had spread to Iran’s Paveh, Marivan and Mahabad, the outlet reported, citing Rojhelat.Info, a Kurdish-focused media account.
The Paveh, Iran, attack was claimed by a little-known armed group called Xore Heva, or «Sun of Hope,» which said it carried out the attack in retaliation for Iran’s crackdown on protests sparked by the 2022 death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old died after being detained by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the country’s mandatory hijab rules, The National reported.
The Kurds are one of the largest stateless ethnic groups in the Middle East, with communities spread across Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
In Iran, many Kurds live in the country’s mountainous west and northwest, where Kurdish opposition groups have long accused Iran of political repression, executions, forced assimilation and military crackdowns.
Iranian authorities, in turn, view armed Kurdish factions as separatist or terrorist threats, especially groups such as PJAK, which has clashed for years with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps along Iran’s western border. The fight is not simply ethnic: It is also political, rooted in Kurdish demands for rights and autonomy, Iran’s fear of separatism and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s role in suppressing dissent in border regions.
Jino Victoria Doabi, head of international relation at Hiwa, a Kurdish-led human rights organization, told Fox News Digital the latest clashes could appear to mark more than isolated exchanges.
«It looks like this could be an escalation,» Doabi said, referring to the spread of reported clashes.
She said the initial attack appeared to be framed by Kurdish forces as retaliation, but argued the geographic spread suggested the confrontation may continue.
IRANIAN REGIME CRITIC WARNS TRUMP DEAL COULD BE ‘LIFELINE’ FOR REGIME, CLAIMS PEOPLE ARE ‘NERVOUS’
People hold Kurdish scarves and roses during Nowruz festivities in Saqqez, Iran, on March 15, 2024. (Barbod Khorshidi/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
Doabi said Kurdish anger is being driven not only by the latest casualties, but by a broader sense that Iran has been able to target Kurdish areas and opposition groups systemically without consequence.
«The Kurdish people in Iran are very dissatisfied that the IRGC can attack Kurdish parties and Kurdish fighters and no one reacts,» Doabi said.
The violence comes as Iran is moving forward with a memorandum of understanding with Washington that has drawn criticism from Iranian opposition circles. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had approved the U.S.–Iran memorandum after receiving assurances that Iran’s rights would be protected, IranWire reported Tuesday.
Iranian officials have described the deal as having the support of top officials, even as critics inside Iran have attacked negotiators over the arrangement, IranWire also reported.
Doabi said Kurdish parties are deeply skeptical of any memorandum of understanding or negotiated arrangement with Iran, arguing that many Kurds believe such a deal would only strengthen the regime.
«Kurdish parties do not believe that making a deal with this regime can help the people in Iran,» Doabi said. «Their position is that a deal would only strengthen the regime.»
IRANIAN REGIME CRITIC WARNS TRUMP DEAL COULD BE ‘LIFELINE’ FOR REGIME, CLAIMS PEOPLE ARE ‘NERVOUS’
Iran-backed fighters celebrate after the IRGC attack on Israel, in Basra, Iraq, Oct. 1, 2024. (Essam Al-sudani/Reuters)
She added that many Kurds in Iran are «very angry» over the idea of any agreement with Iran, citing decades of repression, arrests and killings in Kurdish areas.
«It is going to be very dangerous for people in Iran, and especially in Kurdistan, Azerbaijan and Baluchistan,» Doabi said, «because that is where much of the resistance and activism is.»
The Kurdish groups now under scrutiny include the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan, known as PJAK, and its armed wing, the East Kurdistan Defense Units, or YRK.
IranWire reported earlier in June that YRK accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of launching artillery and mortar attacks against its positions near Marivan, Iran, beginning June 8, prompting what YRK described as a defensive response. Iranian official outlets had not responded to YRK’s casualty claims at the time, according to IranWire.
That regional sensitivity was on display earlier in 2026, when reports emerged that Kurdish opposition groups could open a front against Iran during the U.S.–Israeli war with Iran.
Israel had been backing plans by Iranian Kurdish militias to seize border areas inside Iran, Reuters reported in March, though the outlet said the fighters would likely need U.S. and Israeli backing to make a significant move. Five long-standing Iranian dissident groups, including PJAK, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Freedom Party, had formed an alliance, Reuters also reported.
During the war, Trump told Reuters that he would be «all for it» if the Kurds wanted to move against Iran and said their objective should be «to win.» But Reuters reported that Kurdish commanders were frustrated by a lack of clear U.S. or Israeli strategy and that Iran’s threats helped keep Kurdish forces from launching an incursion.
Regional reports later claimed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan persuaded Trump to abandon a plan to arm Iranian opposition groups and Iraqi Kurdish groups against Tehran. Israeli media reported June 6 that Erdogan pressed Trump to scrap the proposal after details were allegedly leaked to Turkey by White House officials.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) personnel walk along Enghelab (Revolution) Avenue as an Iranian Kheibar missile is unveiled during the Ela Beit Al-Moghaddas (Al-Aqsa Mosque) military rally in Tehran, Iran, on Nov. 24, 2023. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The latest violence does not prove that a coordinated insurgency is underway. But the reported spread of clashes across multiple Kurdish areas, the involvement claimed by Kurdish militant factions and Kurdish opposition to ongoing U.S.–Iran talks suggest that Iran’s western borderlands could become a new pressure point for Tehran at a moment when the regime is trying to preserve both internal control and fragile diplomatic momentum.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Iranian officials and Kurdish representatives for comment.
war with iran, iran, wars
Racing Club acelera por la contratación de Matias Kranevitter para el próximo semestre
First lady cites memoir after Supreme Court upholds state laws reserving girls’ sports for biological females
Lo que no se vio en la jura de Santilli: qué dijo cuando terminó, abrazos para Adorni, presencia familiar y los primeros pasos
Congreso: suspendieron una reunión clave de la comisión que debe definir el Defensor del Niño tras una denuncia de la oposición
El golazo de Kylian Mbappé que abrió el marcador para Francia ante Suecia: el emotivo festejo con Deschamps
Los bonos que arrasaron en junio y la nueva estrategia que miran los grandes jugadores de la City
El punto de quiebre que sentó la suerte de Manuel Adorni y los preparativos que hace el Gobierno ante su inminente salida
La bomba de Nico Occhiato tras el escándalo de Florencia Peña con Messi: “Lo más groso que pudimos haber logrado”
Cómo ganar $20 millones con Mercado Pago: el paso a paso para quienes cobran ANSES
Una escena estremecedora: el dato más doloroso de los minutos posteriores a la muerte de Ernestina Pais
POLITICA2 días agoExigen que Adorni renuncie a su cargo en el directorio de YPF
- POLITICA2 días ago
Tras haber dejado su cargo de jefe de Gabinete, Manuel Adorni también renunciará como director de YPF
- CHIMENTOS3 días ago
Dolor infinito: encontraron muertos a la esposa y los hijos del futbolista argentino Lucas Trejo entre las ruinas del terremoto en Venezuela
