Fredericksburg K-9 sniffs out missing firearm
The Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office requested a canine unit to search for a gun that had been discarded by a suspect while running from deputies.
Gaithersburg man to spend 5 years in prison for aiming gun at police officer in social media video
An officer and K-9 Roxy searched a wooded area when Roxy alerted to a handgun.
The team successfully recovered the firearm, and the suspect was taken into custody by Spotsylvania deputies.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Newsweek
3 hours ago
- Newsweek
Armed Drones to Be Deployed at Schools To Stop Mass Shooters
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Drone technology that assists responders to school shootings is set to be trialed in Florida. The Campus Guardian Angel is a Texas-based system that while supporting the police and other responders. A trial will be rolled out in three Florida school districts after approval from Governor Ron DeSantis. Newsweek contacted the governor's office for more information on the policy via email for this story. Drones Can Be Deployed Within Five Seconds With more than 60 school shooting incidents reported in Florida alone since 2018, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database, educators and lawmakers have urgently sought innovative approaches to school safety. The introduction of attack drones, designed to respond to active shooter threats in seconds, aims to address the crucial window in which most fatalities occur and could represent a major shift in school security across the U.S. A Campus Guardian Angel drone being tested in Texas. A Campus Guardian Angel drone being tested in Texas. Campus Guardian Angel The drones, stored in secure boxes on campus, can be deployed within five seconds of silent panic buttons being activated. The devices—operated remotely by a team in Texas—provide constant live video feeds to first responders and, in some cases, fire nonlethal projectiles to delay or incapacitate an assailant. The team in Texas consists of a pilot, who mans the drone, tactical experts who coordinate movement through the school and make decisions on engagement, and liaisons who relay live information to local law enforcement during the response. The drones targets shooters with pepper rounds and ramming attacks. The drones targets shooters with pepper rounds and ramming attacks. Campus Guardian Angel Campus Guardian Angel CEO Justin Marston told Newsweek that the drones were equipped with pepper rounds plus a glass breaker, allowing them to quickly navigate inside and outside classrooms. "We feed live video to police, show exactly what's happening, where the suspect is, and even smash through windows with a glass punch to create distractions. This tactic, like during the SAS's famous hostage rescue [at the Iranian Embassy in London], can give officers a huge advantage," Marston said. "Currently, an officer's job is to run toward gunfire, alone, with no support or intel—basically a standoff. With our drones, they're not alone; they know what the suspect looks like, what they're doing, and we take point around every corner. "We usually find the shooter before they do and keep them occupied. Every officer who's seen this live has said they want it." Pilot Program in Florida The Campus Guardian Angel drone system was recently demonstrated at both the Leon County Schools District Security Center in Tallahassee and AcadeMir Preparatory High School in Miami-Dade County. In the demonstrations, the technology was shown to provide immediate situational awareness, allowing police and school safety teams to assess threats before entering the building. Marston likened the system to having sprinklers in place. "The sprinkler system is able to put water on the fire in seconds because it's already there. You still want the fire trucks to come, you still want the guys with hose pipes to show up—but since sprinkler systems were installed, there hasn't really been a mass fire in a school that killed a bunch of children," he said. "The last time was 1958. It doesn't happen now because we're able to the problem fast enough before it gets out of hand. It's the same analogy here: we've got the drones in charging boxes, ready to go, and we can fly them on an encrypted channel across the internet. "It's a bit like that movie The Matrix, where the agent can jump into the nearest person and immediately be good to go. We're a little bit like that—but we're the good guys," he added. The pilot is being funded by $557,000 in state money as part of Florida's 2025–2026 budget. Following the successful tests, Campus Guardian Angel is looking to install permanent fixtures this September and October. Live service for the drones in the pilot schools will then begin in January, with multiple teams at the Texas operations center, which provides 24/7 coverage, ready to launch.
5 hours ago
9/11 victims' fund architect slams changes to New Hampshire abuse settlement program
CONCORD, N.H. -- An attorney who helped design and implement the 9/11 victims' compensation fund says New Hampshire lawmakers have eroded the fairness of a settlement program for those who were abused at the state's youth detention center. Deborah Greenspan, who served as deputy special master of the fund created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, recently submitted an affidavit in a class-action lawsuit seeking to block changes to New Hampshire's out-of-court settlement fund for abuse victims. She's among those expected to testify Wednesday at a hearing on the state's request to dismiss the case and other matters. More than 1,300 people have sued the state since 2020 alleging that they were physically or sexually abused as children while in state custody, mostly at the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester. Most of them put their lawsuits on hold after lawmakers created a settlement fund in 2022 that was pitched as a 'victim-centered' and 'trauma-informed' alternative to litigation run by a neutral administrator appointed by the state Supreme Court. But the Republican-led Legislature changed that process through last-minute additions to the state budget Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed in June. The amended law gives the governor authority to hire and fire the fund's administrator and gives the attorney general — also a political appointee — veto power over settlement awards. That stands in stark contrast to other victim compensation funds, said Greenspan, who currently serves as a court-appointed special master for lawsuits related to lead-tainted water in Flint, Michigan. She said it 'strains credulity' to believe that anyone would file a claim knowing that 'the persons ultimately deciding the claim were those responsible for the claimant's injuries.' 'Such a construct would go beyond the appearance of impropriety and create a clear conflict of interest, undermining the fairness and legitimacy of the settlement process," she wrote. Ayotte and Attorney General John Formella responded by asking a judge to bar Greenspan's testimony, saying she offered 'policy preferences masquerading as expert opinions' without explaining the principles beyond her conclusions. 'Her affidavit is instead a series of non sequiturs that move from her experience to her conclusions without any of the necessary connective tissue,' they wrote. The defendants argue that the law still requires the administrator to be 'an independent, neutral attorney' and point out that the same appointment process is used for the state's judges. They said giving the attorney general the authority to accept or reject settlements is necessary to give the public a voice and ensure that the responsibility for spending millions of dollars in public funds rests with the executive branch. As of June 30, nearly 2,000 people had filed claims with the settlement fund, which caps payouts at $2.5 million. A total of 386 had been settled, with an average award of $545,000. One of the claimants says he was awarded $1.5 million award in late July, but the state hasn't finalized it yet, leaving him worried that Formella will veto it. 'I feel like the state has tricked us,' he said in an interview this week. 'We've had the rug pulled right out from underneath us.' The Associated Press does not name those who say they were sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly. The claimant, now 39, said the two years he spent at the facility as a teenager were the hardest times of his life. 'I lost my childhood. I lost things that I can't get back,' he said. 'I was broken.' Though the settlement process was overwhelming and scary at times, the assistant administrator who heard his case was kind and understanding, he said. That meeting alone was enough to lift a huge burden, he said. 'I was treated with a lot of love,' he said. 'I felt really appreciated as a victim and like I was speaking to somebody who would listen and believe my story.' Separate from the fund, the state has settled two lawsuits by agreeing to pay victims $10 million and $4.5 million. Only one lawsuit has gone to trial, resulting in a $38 million verdict, though the state is trying to slash it to $475,000. The state has also brought criminal charges against former workers, with two convictions and two mistrials so far. The 39-year-old claimant who fears his award offer will be retracted said he doesn't know if he could face testifying at a public trial. 'It's basically allowing the same people who hurt us to hurt us all over again,' he said.
San Francisco Chronicle
7 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
9/11 victims' fund architect slams changes to New Hampshire abuse settlement program
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — An attorney who helped design and implement the 9/11 victims' compensation fund says New Hampshire lawmakers have eroded the fairness of a settlement program for those who were abused at the state's youth detention center. Deborah Greenspan, who served as deputy special master of the fund created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, recently submitted an affidavit in a class-action lawsuit seeking to block changes to New Hampshire's out-of-court settlement fund for abuse victims. She's among those expected to testify Wednesday at a hearing on the state's request to dismiss the case and other matters. More than 1,300 people have sued the state since 2020 alleging that they were physically or sexually abused as children while in state custody, mostly at the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester. Most of them put their lawsuits on hold after lawmakers created a settlement fund in 2022 that was pitched as a 'victim-centered' and 'trauma-informed' alternative to litigation run by a neutral administrator appointed by the state Supreme Court. But the Republican-led Legislature changed that process through last-minute additions to the state budget Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed in June. The amended law gives the governor authority to hire and fire the fund's administrator and gives the attorney general — also a political appointee — veto power over settlement awards. That stands in stark contrast to other victim compensation funds, said Greenspan, who currently serves as a court-appointed special master for lawsuits related to lead-tainted water in Flint, Michigan. She said it 'strains credulity' to believe that anyone would file a claim knowing that 'the persons ultimately deciding the claim were those responsible for the claimant's injuries.' 'Such a construct would go beyond the appearance of impropriety and create a clear conflict of interest, undermining the fairness and legitimacy of the settlement process," she wrote. Ayotte and Attorney General John Formella responded by asking a judge to bar Greenspan's testimony, saying she offered 'policy preferences masquerading as expert opinions' without explaining the principles beyond her conclusions. 'Her affidavit is instead a series of non sequiturs that move from her experience to her conclusions without any of the necessary connective tissue,' they wrote. The defendants argue that the law still requires the administrator to be 'an independent, neutral attorney' and point out that the same appointment process is used for the state's judges. They said giving the attorney general the authority to accept or reject settlements is necessary to give the public a voice and ensure that the responsibility for spending millions of dollars in public funds rests with the executive branch. As of June 30, nearly 2,000 people had filed claims with the settlement fund, which caps payouts at $2.5 million. A total of 386 had been settled, with an average award of $545,000. One of the claimants says he was awarded $1.5 million award in late July, but the state hasn't finalized it yet, leaving him worried that Formella will veto it. 'I feel like the state has tricked us,' he said in an interview this week. 'We've had the rug pulled right out from underneath us.' The Associated Press does not name those who say they were sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly. The claimant, now 39, said the two years he spent at the facility as a teenager were the hardest times of his life. 'I lost my childhood. I lost things that I can't get back,' he said. 'I was broken.' Though the settlement process was overwhelming and scary at times, the assistant administrator who heard his case was kind and understanding, he said. That meeting alone was enough to lift a huge burden, he said. 'I was treated with a lot of love,' he said. 'I felt really appreciated as a victim and like I was speaking to somebody who would listen and believe my story.' Separate from the fund, the state has settled two lawsuits by agreeing to pay victims $10 million and $4.5 million. Only one lawsuit has gone to trial, resulting in a $38 million verdict, though the state is trying to slash it to $475,000. The state has also brought criminal charges against former workers, with two convictions and two mistrials so far. The 39-year-old claimant who fears his award offer will be retracted said he doesn't know if he could face testifying at a public trial. 'It's basically allowing the same people who hurt us to hurt us all over again,' he said.
