Aurora strikes agreement with FBI, U.S. military to address drones near Buckley Space Force Base
The Aurora City Council voted Monday to approve an agreement with the FBI and the U.S. military to address unmanned aircraft systems, including drones, illegally operating over Buckley Space Force Base.
Mayor Mike Coffman has said in recent months that there has been a rise in incidents of people illegally operating drones around military installations across the country. However, military law enforcement has limited to no jurisdiction to detain operators located off the installation without the help of local law enforcement agencies.
The memorandum states that the growing use of drones in restricted airspace poses a threat to the installation and DoD assets.
"You can't fly within the controlled airspace around an airport without FAA authorization; over designated national security sensitive facilities; and certain military bases, infrastructure and national landmarks; or in airspace covered by Temporary Flight Restrictions, which the FAA typically implements at the request of law enforcement for safety or security reasons," the FAA said.
According to the new agreement, Aurora police will respond to, detect, detain and investigate anyone flying a drone or unmanned aircraft system over the space force base.
"This is one step forward in working with the DoD and the FBI to protect the goals and missions of Buckley Space Force Base, as well as our national security," said Coffman.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Trump Administration Live Updates: Lawyers Request Release of Salvadoran Man Until Trial
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday named eight doctors and researchers, including four who have spoken out against vaccination in some way, to replace roughly half the members he fired from an expert panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mr. Kennedy made the announcement Wednesday on the social media platform X, two days after he fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Arriving at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for a performance of 'Les Misérables' that President Trump also attended, the health secretary told reporters that the firings were 'a long time coming.' Mr. Kennedy said on X that his picks included 'highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts, and some of America's most accomplished physicians.' In a post on X late Tuesday night, a day after he removed the panel members, Mr. Kennedy promised he would not appoint 'ideological anti-vaxxers.' After the new list was announced, infectious disease and vaccine experts immediately accused the health secretary of breaking his word. When Mr. Kennedy fired the entire committee, known as the A.C.I.P., he cited financial conflicts of interest and said a clean sweep was necessary to restore public trust in vaccination. But a White House official and a person close to Mr. Kennedy said on Tuesday that ideology was also at work. In addition to supposed financial conflicts, Mr. Kennedy was concerned that all of the members had been appointed by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and that some had donated to Democrats. The disclosure was shocking to public health leaders, who say that scientific advisers are chosen for their expertise, without consideration of party affiliation. 'The biggest hit here is the irony of him, RFK, talking about regaining the public's trust,' said Dr. Paul Offit of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who has served as a committee member and has frequently tangled with Mr. Kennedy. 'What he just did was, he lost the trust of the medical community,' Dr. Offit added, 'so much so that people are thinking, 'Should we try and create our own A.C.I.P., our own vaccine advisory committee?' Because you can't trust this one.' The eight members Mr. Kennedy named — seven men and one woman — have varied credentials. All are either medical doctors or have doctorates. They include a psychiatrist; a biostatistician; an expert in health care analytics; a biochemist; a pediatrician; an emergency medical doctor; a public health and critical care nurse; and an obstetrician. Richard H. Hughes IV, who teaches vaccine law at George Washington University Law School, called out one of the new committee members — Dr. Cody Meissner — as a 'legitimate vaccinologist.' Dr. Meissner, a professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth, has previously held advisory roles both with the C.D.C. and the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Offit and other experts praised Dr. Meissner for his depth of knowledge about vaccines. Mr. Hughes said three of the new members are 'legitimate physicians' who have 'no discernible expertise' in immunology or vaccines. But he characterized the remaining four as 'Covid-19 deniers, skeptics and outright anti-vaccine individuals.' By far the most contentious pick, and the one with the highest profile, is Dr. Robert Malone. He played an early role in mRNA research and has claimed to be the inventor of the technology. He became a right-wing star after a 2021 appearance on 'The Joe Rogan Experience' that exposed both him and Mr. Rogan to criticism that they had spread misinformation. Dr. Malone was a vocal critic of the Biden administration's Covid response. 'Malone has a well-documented history of promoting conspiracy theories and unproven treatment like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19,' said Dr. Jeffrey D. Klausner, an epidemiologist and infectious disease expert at the University of Southern California. Dr. Klausner, who is also a neighbor of Mr. Kennedy's in Los Angeles and has spoken with the health secretary about possible candidates for advisory committees, said he was 'disappointed' in Dr. Malone's appointment, which he said was likely 'a political move to maintain support of some Americans and demonstrate diversity, equity and inclusivity.' Martin Kulldorff, a Swedish biostatistician and former Harvard professor, has been generally supportive of vaccines, and has advised the C.D.C. on vaccine safety. But he opposed Covid vaccine mandates and Covid vaccination for children, and became caught up in pandemic politics in 2020 as a lead author of the Great Barrington Declaration, a document that opposed lockdowns. The declaration, whose lead authors also included Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the current director of the National Institutes of Health, garnered nearly one million signatures from more than 40 countries. Dr. Meissner, the new A.C.I.P. member, was an early signer. But it drew intense backlash from Dr. Anthony S. Fauci and other public health leaders, who branded it dangerous. Dr. Francis S. Collins, the N.I.H. director at the time, called the authors 'fringe epidemiologists.' Dr. Kulldorff was later fired from his hospital, Mass General Brigham, and from Harvard, in a dispute over the hospital's requirement for staff to be vaccinated against Covid-19. He has said that he has an immune deficiency, which made him wary of the Covid shot, and that he already had natural immunity from a previous infection. While Dr. Malone and Dr. Kulldorff are the best known of the new members, two other picks — Retsef Levi and Vicky Pebsworth, a nurse — are also likely to come under scrutiny from public health leaders. Dr. Levi, an expert in analytics, risk management and health systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has criticized school closures and Covid lockdowns, and warned against mRNA vaccines. In a 2023 post on X, he wrote, 'The evidence is mounting and indisputable that mRNA vaccines cause serious harm including death, especially among young people.' He has said the evidence for vaccinating against Covid-19 in pregnancy 'is particularly thin.' After Mr. Kennedy's announcement, Dr. Levi said on Wednesday on X that he was 'honored with this opportunity and humbled by the responsibility' to serve on the panel. Dr. Pebsworth, who has a Ph.D. in public health, serves on the board of the National Vaccine Information Center, founded in 1982 to promote awareness of the risks of vaccination. She has served as a consumer representative to an expert panel that advises the F.D.A. on vaccination and has advised the government in other capacities. In its early years, the vaccine information center worked with federal authorities to promote vaccine safety, and to create a system to address vaccine injuries. But today, advocates for vaccination consider it an anti-vaccine group. Dr. Pebsworth's bio on the center's website says she is the parent of a vaccine-injured child. 'Her son — her only child — experienced serious, long-term health problems following receipt of seven live virus and killed bacterial vaccines administered during his 15-month well-baby visit, which sparked her interest in vaccine safety research and policymaking, and chronic illness and disability in children,' the site says. It is unclear how the committee will move forward with an entirely new membership. Its next meeting is set for later this month. Committee members had expected to discuss, among other things, a change in the vaccination schedule for the human papillomavirus vaccine, but it does not appear as though there is an agenda on the committee's website. 'This is a very differently constituted committee than what we've had before,' said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a pediatrician and professor at Stanford University who was among the members fired on Monday. She predicted it would be 'very difficult to get through the agenda in a smooth way,' given that the new panel will have only two weeks to prepare. Javier C. Hernández and Apoorva Mandavilli contributed reporting,
Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
The real 'Epstein files' story is misunderstood. Here's what the government is still keeping secret.
The ghost of Jeffrey Epstein is haunting the Trump administration. Among his many campaign promises, President Donald Trump said he would make government files related to the now-dead financier and sex trafficker public. So far, the effort has fallen flat. In February, Attorney General Pamela Bondi published about 350 pages of documents. All but one three-pager had previously been made public through court proceedings. Some of the documents were redacted when they had previously been published in full. "The Epstein files: Phase 1," as Bondi's binders were titled, disappointed those hoping for new revelations about the financier. Months later, Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have not released anything else. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has fought or been unresponsive to Freedom of Information Act requests for documents about Epstein in its possession and lawsuits seeking to enforce those requests. The issue resurfaced last week when Elon Musk, during his brief and public feud with Trump, accused the president of holding up the release because "he's in them." Many members of the public are eagerly awaiting some sort of "Epstein client list," but it's unlikely one will turn up. No such list is referenced or even alluded to in all of the thousands of pages of records that have already been made public. Nor are we likely to get any revelations about some sort of shadowy sex-trafficking operation involving various members of the international elite, which isn't consistent with claims made in lawsuits. That's not to say that there aren't still lingering questions that the unreleased documents could clarify. The US government's files, if made public, could help answer some of the mysteries about Epstein. Depending on what the documents reveal, they may also bring new scrutiny on how the Justice Department handled its investigations and fuel litigation against Epstein's estate, which has over $100 million remaining in assets. Questions about Epstein have persisted since his death by suicide in 2019, in a Manhattan federal jail. How did he get so rich? Did he really have connections to intelligence agencies? Why didn't the FBI pursue him sooner? The public already has plenty of records related to Epstein, much of it stemming from a lawsuit that Virginia Giuffre, his accuser who killed herself in April, filed against Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for trafficking girls to Epstein for sex. Over the years, Business Insider has catalogued Epstein's flight logs, published a version of his "little black book" of contacts, and reported on his estate's victim compensation program. While Bondi has been under the most scrutiny over the "Epstein files," other agencies also have the opportunity to release records. The Federal Aviation Administration and the US Marshals Service haven't published unredacted versions of Epstein's flight information. And the CIA and other intelligence agencies have been quiet on the question of any files they may have. Here are the Epstein documents that the government has kept secret, and that could arrive in future "Epstein files" drops: Evidence seized in the 2019 criminal investigation The biggest cache of documents could come from the Manhattan criminal investigation into Epstein and Maxwell. In 2019, following the publication of the Miami Herald's "Perversion of Justice" series that reported on how Epstein got a light plea deal in 2007, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opened a new investigation into the financier. On the same day the FBI arrested Epstein in July 2019, agents raided his Manhattan mansion and collected computer hard drives, message books, photos, CDs, and other records. Following Epstein's death in jail about a month later, law enforcement agents searched his properties in the US Virgin Islands. The FBI has declined to make public any of these records beyond a small amount entered into evidence during Maxwell's criminal trial. "Phase One" of Bondi's "Epstein files" included a list of some of the evidence obtained in the investigation. Business Insider filed a FOIA request for the records last year. The FBI declined the request. Business Insider appealed the denial and pointed the FOIA office to Bondi's public remarks promising to release the "Epstein files." The agency gave a May 16 date to resolve the appeal. After that deadline passed, the agency said it would take at least another three months to handle the appeal. The conservative government watchdog organization Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department in April over the rejection of a similar FOIA request, which is still pending. The Justice Department hasn't responded to Business Insider's requests for comment. Epstein's hard drives Maxwell's Manhattan criminal trial featured hard drives that might solve a mystery from the Palm Beach investigation into Epstein. During the earlier criminal investigation in Florida, detectives searching Epstein's Palm Beach house found that "six computer hard drives in the house had been hastily removed, leaving dangling wires attached to monitors in several areas of the house," according to Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown's book about the investigation. Years later, in Maxwell's trial, one FBI agent testified they found a box full of hard drives while raiding Epstein's Manhattan mansion. Evidence in Maxwell's trial shows that one of the drives contained data from the early 2000s. It's unclear what was on the hard drives removed from the Palm Beach house. Other evidence seized in the 2007 investigation The public doesn't have all the evidence collected during the investigation into Epstein between 2005 and 2007. Palm Beach County has made some of the material public, and other files have surfaced in various civil lawsuits. Much of it remains redacted, partly to protect the privacy of victims. Radar Online filed a lawsuit against the FBI in 2017 seeking to enforce a FOIA request for the material. A federal judge rejected the suit in 2024. It's on appeal. Alan Dershowitz, who represented Epstein during the Palm Beach investigation, has pushed for making the material public. He says the FBI should release any interview notes and recordings that may mention him, and that he waives any privacy concerns. Dershowitz says the records would disprove the sexual misconduct allegations brought against him by Virginia Giuffre. Dershowitz and Giuffre reached a settlement after a long legal battle in which she agreed she may have mistaken him for someone else. Dershowitz said he viewed some of the records as part of a civil lawsuit involving Epstein, but they are sealed. "They're in court. I've seen them," Dershowitz told Business Insider. "And if they were unredacted, they would give you the names of lots of people who were accused — some falsely accused, some truthfully accused." Epstein grand jury records Federal court rules and Justice Department policies sharply limit the disclosure of information from grand jury proceedings. The public doesn't have a full accounting of all the evidence presented to grand juries in Manhattan when prosecutors were preparing indictments against Epstein and Maxwell. Some evidence in the 2006 Florida grand jury was made public last year through litigation, following the passage of a state law pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Investigation into Epstein's death A 2023 Justice Department inspector general report about Epstein's death in the Manhattan Correctional Center concluded that he killed himself. FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bognino, have backed up the conclusion in media interviews — much to the ire of some right-wing influencers who believe he was murdered. The 128-page report details how the jail failed to prevent Epstein's death, but the Justice Department hasn't released much of the underlying evidence it collected. Mark Epstein, his brother, has demanded data from the 911 call that was supposed to be made after jail officers found Jeffrey Epstein dead. The NYPD said it was unable to find any records of the call when Business Insider asked for them in June 2023 after the release of the report. Business Insider filed a FOIA request with the Justice Department inspector general earlier this year requesting transcripts of interviews with key people around Epstein at the time he died, information about inmate interviews, phone call records, and photos and videos referenced in the report. The office says it has "a backlog of FOIA requests and very limited resources with which to process requests" and hasn't provided a timeline for completion. In recent interviews, Patel and Bognino said the FBI would publish video of the area outside Epstein's cell demonstrating no one else entered it. "There's just no way that you could have run an op and had people go into that cell and not have any video of it," Patel told podcaster Joe Rogan earlier this month. Investigation into Epstein's plea deal The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility completed a report in 2020 about US Attorney Alexander Acosta's "poor judgment" in granting Epstein a light plea deal for his conduct in 2007. The office has not released all of the underlying evidence for that investigation. Business Insider filed a FOIA request for that information earlier this year, and the agency acknowledged the request without saying if or when it would provide the records. All of the Epstein flight logs While many of Epstein's private flight records were disclosed by the Federal Aviation Administration and through litigation, certain periods have gaps. The US Marshals Service could also publish its documents from its inspections of his planes, which flew between the US Virgin Islands and the US mainland. The FAA and the US Marshals Service did not respond to requests for comment. How the FBI missed Epstein earlier Across several legal complaints, dozens of Epstein victims have alleged that the FBI failed to stop him earlier, ignoring tips and pleas as early as the 1990s. The FBI has not said whether it's in possession of intake forms or other records of those complaints. In court, the Justice Department has avoided answering whether it has looked for them. The agency asked a judge to dismiss the most recent lawsuit, filed in Washington, DC, on procedural grounds. The request is pending. If the FBI were to find records from the 1990s and early 2000s, they could shed more light on what Epstein was doing during that time period, and whether the FBI took any action. "Unfortunately, the FBI continues to fight survivors of Jeffrey Epstein despite their public proclamations otherwise," Jordan Merson, an attorney representing Epstein accusers in the lawsuit, told BI.
CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
Suspect in custody after threats made against law enforcement, Rockwood police say
A suspect was taken into custody after threats were made against law enforcement, the Rockwood (Michigan) Police Department reported. The arrest was made without incident about 9 p.m. Wednesday with officers from Rockwood police working with Monroe County Sheriff's Office. The person's name was not released, pending court arraignment. Details of the incident were not disclosed, but police said it involved "credible threats." "All information will be reviewed by the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office for determination of what charges the individual will face," the report from police chief Randolph Krause said. "The arrest was made possible through the dedication and solid investigation of our detective bureau and the cooperation of our local and federal partners. I would like to thank the Monroe County Sheriff's Department, the United States Border Patrol and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their assistance in this matter." The city of Rockwood is in Wayne County, but the community borders Monroe County. Its police department has been in the news lately because Rockwood police pulled over a car that Maykol Bogoya-Duarte was traveling in on May 20. Bogoya-Duarte, who was a high school student in Detroit, was subsequently arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and is expected to be deported.
