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President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday are set to announce an initiative to offer cash rewards for tipsters who help uncover allegations of fraud in government programs.
The president and vice president will appear in the Oval Office with conservative YouTube personality Nick Shirley, whose video series from Minnesota late last year led to fraud investigations of day care centers there that receive federal money. Shirley, who posted videos showing empty buildings that purported to be active day care centers, will be presented with a check for $10,000, according to a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the program ahead of the announcement.
A woman featured in one of Shirley’s videos pleaded guilty in July to wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States. The videos were praised and amplified by Vance, Elon Musk and then-Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Existing federal programs allow whistleblowers in some cases to receive money when fraud is proved in court. The new Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program will award up to $30,000 for a tip that “leads to a successful conviction for fraud or a significant federal enforcement action,” the White House said in a statement.
The Justice Department will administer the program, which will start with $25 million. Vance has been tasked with heading the administration’s anti-fraud efforts, which he has touted as a top issue on the campaign trail this year.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said Monday it had reached an agreement with the Trump administration that closes multiple federal investigations and ensures the school can receive federal funding.
It is the latest of several universities to reach deals with the Trump administration, which moved aggressively to force schools to comply with its ideals for higher education by launching investigations, halting federal research funding and other means.
The agreement closes 19 federal inquiries at UNC related to compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in programs receiving federal funding.
UNC was a defendant in the landmark 2023 Supreme Court case that banned race-conscious admissions, and the agreement requires the university to abide by the Trump administration’s interpretation of the ruling. While some have interpreted the ruling as allowing schools to use race-neutral alternatives such as family income to try to achieve a diverse class, the Trump administration has called the use of such proxies illegal.
The agreement does not require UNC to pay anything to the federal government, as some schools have done, or acknowledge any wrongdoing.
The school agreed to hire a merit and civil rights administrator who will report to federal officials quarterly. The agreement also requires mandatory antisemitism training and quarterly reports on any complaints of discrimination, with the first report looking back to Oct. 7, 2023, when the Israel-Gaza war began.
The Cook Political Report shifted its rating of Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race toward Republicans on Tuesday, another sign that a contest Democrats once expected to win comfortably has become increasingly competitive in the closing weeks of the campaign.
Cook moved the race between Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (D) and Republican Michele Tafoya, a former NFL broadcaster, from “Likely Democrat” to “Lean Democrat.”
The shift is an unwelcome development for Democrats, who are trying to regain control of the Senate but now face a competitive race in a state that has long been reliably blue in federal elections.
Minnesota has not elected a Republican to the Senate since Norm Coleman in 2002. This seat has been held by Democrats since Al Franken defeated Coleman in 2008, and in the 2024 presidential election, Kamala Harris carried Minnesota by more than four percentage points.
But Tafoya, a longtime television sports reporter making her first run for public office, has kept the race close. Recent polls have shown the contest tightening, with some putting the candidates within the margin of error.
The two met Friday for their only scheduled debate, a contentious hour in which Tafoya sought to hold Flanagan responsible for fraud scandals that have plagued Minnesota state programs, while Flanagan repeatedly challenged Tafoya over her ties to President Donald Trump and her shifting positions on several issues.
The race is for the seat held by Sen. Tina Smith (D), who is not seeking reelection.
Jaime West, a Democratic candidate for a seat on Indiana’s Fayette County Council who went viral for her remarks during a televised candidate forum this month, has an explanation: She had been drinking beforehand.
“I had a beer, mm-hmm … maybe a couple,” West told conservative British television host Piers Morgan on his show Monday. “I was nervous, okay?”
Pressed by Morgan, West admitted that she had actually consumed three beers before the forum but said she was “not that intoxicated.”
“I do know what I’m talking about,” she said.
In the interview that went viral, West said that she would fire all Republicans if she could, accused those who supported President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement of being racist and dumb, and ended the show with a vaguely threatening message: “We have guns, too,” she said, presumably referring to Democrats.
West did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. In 2024, Trump won deeply red Fayette County by more than 55 percentage points.
On Monday, West told Morgan there was nothing she regretted saying at the candidate forum, even if she had been drinking.
“I say it all the time: I’m not friends with [Republicans]. I don’t like them,” she said. “They voted for all of this that’s happening and to our country. We have a constitutional crisis. We have an illegal war going on.”
It’s unclear who counts as a Very Important Person at Washington Dulles International Airport, but whomever they are, they’ll have access to a private terminal that’s separate from the riffraff within a few years.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said Tuesday that Dulles is moving forward with a planned VIP passenger terminal. MWAA, which operates Dulles and Reagan National Airport, said it selected Irish airport management company daa International to develop and operate the facility.
“By introducing this premium service, Dulles is responding to traveler demand, supporting continued growth and joining other leading international airports around the world that offer elevated services for business and leisure travelers alike,” MWAA’s chief revenue officer, Chryssa Westerlund, said in a statement.
In a statement, daa International spokesperson Kevin Cullinane said a VIP passenger “is any commercial airline traveller seeking a more private, personalised and efficient airport journey.”
The facility will feature a VIP entrance and parking, private security screening, and suites, lounges and other amenities that are separate from other airport concourses, MWAA said.
daa International, whose parent company is owned by the Irish government, will develop the 37,000-square-foot terminal over a 30-month period and, once open, will operate the terminal for an initial 20-year term, MWAA said. By comparison, the main terminal at Dulles has about 1.3 million square feet of floor space, according to MWAA.
In July, President Donald Trump unveiled a massive, multibillion-dollar plan to renovate Dulles.
A Canadian tourist who stole a flamingo and brought it back to his hotel room in Las Vegas was found guilty Monday of animal cruelty.
Mitchell Fairbarn was captured on surveillance video carrying the 27-year-old Chilean flamingo, Peachy, to his room after removing the bird from its enclosure at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino in March.
Fairbarn said he had drunk “30 to 40 beers” with friends within 24 hours, local station 8 News Now reported.
Prosecutors said feathers were found on the floor of Fairbarn’s hotel room and accused him of intentionally inflicting pain on the bird, the Associated Press reported.
Peachy was found with blood on its feathers and injuries to a wing, local media and AP reported, citing the authorities and a veterinarian who examined the bird.
A Flamingo Las Vegas Casino and Hotel security guard was on his smoke break during a graveyard shift when a voice crackled over the radio, “someone took a flamingo.” https://t.co/F1OZ4ftwiH pic.twitter.com/kYZUjvU0co
— 8 News Now (@8NewsNow) October 15, 2026
Fairbarn’s lawyer, Josh Tomsheck, said his client was under the influence of alcohol and regretted his actions, but he denied any intent to hurt the flamingo. “The truth is, Mitch was drunk. Mitch was stupid. He made bad decisions,” he said.
Fairbarn was convicted on felony and misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty. He will be sentenced Dec. 1.
Vice President JD Vance declined Monday to endorse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for reelection, a day after President Donald Trump backed him.
“I’m not anti-endorsing him, I’m not pro-endorsing him. I’m not getting involved in Israeli elections,” he said in an interview with “2WAY Tonight.” “I endorse American candidates and that’s where I’m focused on, is the midterms,” he said.
In April, Vance traveled to Hungary to support then-Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who went on to fail to be reelected after 16 years in power.
Trump has backed Netanyahu ahead of next week’s elections, calling him “a Great Warrior.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met Netanyahu in Israel on Monday, a spokesman for the prime minister’s office, Doron Spielman, told The Washington Post, adding that part of the discussion focused on Trump’s endorsement of Netanyahu. The Pentagon declined to comment.
Vance has maintained that he views Israel as an ally, but he has faced backlash from some Jewish commentators over his criticism of Israeli officials and his association with podcast host Tucker Carlson, who has been fiercely at odds with the U.S.-Israel lobby.
In August, he attended the Republican Jewish Coalition summit in a bid to win over Jewish Republicans.
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