Latest news with #LuigiMangione
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
New York Post honored by NY Press Club for coverage of Luigi Mangione and assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
The New York Post was honored for its stellar coverage of the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December by the New York Press Club Monday. The shocking crime allegedly carried out by Ivy League-educated Luigi Mangione gained international attention instantly – with The Post's leading the way on breaking numerous stories. The Post, which was founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1801 and is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the US, won for crime reporting in the New York City metro area under the newspaper category. The staffers involved included Joe Marino, Larry Celona, Jack Morphet, Reuven Fenton, Kate Sheehy and Matt Troutman, as well as several editors and photographers. 'The Post's local crime coverage is our bread and butter and always a must-read,' said Editor-in-Chief Keith Poole. 'We are honored to be recognized for our outstanding reporting on one of the biggest stories of the year.' The Post's coverage became a must-read in the first days of the major news event about Mangione and the hunt for the accused assassin, and continues to be a go-to publication in the months since. The New York Press Club is a non-profit association dedicated to journalist and media staffers. Dozens of other outlets and reporters received awards for their work over the past year.
New York Post
a day ago
- New York Post
New York Post honored by NY Press Club for coverage of Luigi Mangione and assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
The New York Post was honored for its stellar coverage of the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December by the New York Press Club Monday. The shocking crime allegedly carried out by Ivy League-educated Luigi Mangione gained international attention instantly – with The Post's leading the way on breaking numerous stories. The Post, which was founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1801 and is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the US, won for crime reporting in the New York City metro area under the newspaper category. Advertisement 4 The New York Post was honored by the New York Press Club for its coverage of the murder of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson last December. 4 Thompson's suspected murderer Luigi Mangione arriving in New York City on Dec. 19, 2025, after being arrested in Pennsylvania. Paul Martinka The staffers involved included Joe Marino, Larry Celona, Jack Morphet, Reuven Fenton, Kate Sheehy and Matt Troutman, as well as several editors and photographers. Advertisement 'The Post's local crime coverage is our bread and butter and always a must-read,' said Editor-in-Chief Keith Poole. 'We are honored to be recognized for our outstanding reporting on one of the biggest stories of the year.' The Post's coverage became a must-read in the first days of the major news event about Mangione and the hunt for the accused assassin, and continues to be a go-to publication in the months since. 4 Surveillance footage of the shooting outside of the Hilton Hotel in Midtown, Manhattan. Obtained by NY Post 4 Mangione in court in Manhattan on Feb. 20, 2025. Steven Hirsch for NY Post Advertisement The New York Press Club is a non-profit association dedicated to journalist and media staffers. Dozens of other outlets and reporters received awards for their work over the past year.
Fox News
3 days ago
- Health
- Fox News
Civil War spy Elizabeth Van Lew defined courage fighting for what she believed
In an age of instant accolades and viral valor, heroes are everywhere. Celebrities tearfully describing a difficult breakup on daytime TV are deemed heroic. You knew the word had lost all meaning when alleged murderer Luigi Mangione became a "hero" on social media for taking the life of Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare. How is it that we have so lost the thread? Just who qualifies as a hero was on my mind as I began researching my book "Lincoln's Lady Spymaster" several years ago. We were in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, our lives upended. I eagerly ditched the commute and worked from home but as the months in isolation slid by, I began to worry. How long could this go on for? The situation was more dire for many of the young women producers I had worked with in our offices in Manhattan. They were lonely and anxious, living alone in tiny New York apartments or at home in their childhood bedrooms. One young woman I knew started having panic attacks. I wanted to help these co-workers cope – but what could I do? Look, I reasoned with myself, women in this country have faced far more difficult challenges than a temporary lockdown (it had to be temporary, after all!). American women have survived wars, myriad financial panics and so many challenges. I decided I would find a subject, a real woman from our nation's past, someone who lived through challenging times and not only survived but left her mark on the world. I wanted what we all want in a hero – someone acting courageously, not for headlines or money or even public gratitude, but because they felt called to right a wrong regardless of consequences. I first learned of Elizabeth Van Lew the same way we find out about most new things, from a web search. An academic historian had written about her, and she was sometimes included in lists of the moonlight-and-magnolia-style of female civil war spies, the kind historians don't take too seriously. I was hooked when I learned she was a spymaster, and strikingly, a Southern belle who chose to stay faithful to the Union and who ran a spy ring for President Abraham Lincoln's top general, Ulysses S. Grant, while living in Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy. When I began, I thought of myself as knowledgeable about the era. I knew the bright lights, Lincoln, Grant, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. But this woman had left little trace. She was generally missing from much of the Civil War literature. James McPherson mentioned her not at all in his sweeping nearly 900-page history of the conflict, "Battle Cry of Freedom." I learned she had left a diary, where she spilled her fears and hopes during the war. I imagined myself writing a book about a woman whom society underestimates and throws obstacles in her path, a tale of uplift! But my research exposed a secret history – a story Van Lew herself tried to cancel. Unlike other spies, she refused to write a book of her Civil War exploits after the war and conducted few newspaper interviews. I began to discover the real Elizabeth and she surprised me. I found she was complicated and made difficult, morally questionable decisions. She lied to friends and neighbors, brazenly stole secrets from some and bribed others. Although she was a supporter of both the Union and abolitionism, her family owned slaves. Late in the war, as she became frustrated at the pace of Union advances, she tried to convince Union war planners to abduct Confederate leadership. She was the kind of woman who could as easily inspect the body of a dead soldier at dawn under threat of discovery by the enemy as preside over a tea party, swapping gossip and passing canapes. And, yet she provided invaluable information to the Union and ran what historians have described as the most-effective spy ring on either side of the conflict. As I began writing the book, I recalled the fact that co-workers and friends had labeled me a hero when I went public with my diagnosis of Stage 3 breast cancer. While it felt nice to be called a hero, I never really accepted the idea. My fight with cancer was really an act of self-interest. What I saw in Elizabeth Van Lew was someone who acted with no self-regard, inviting risk after risk. Hers was not a Daniel Penny kind of courage, the kind of instant reaction to fight a physical threat on behalf of others that we all admire, but a more sustained battle of conscience and will. In this world, we need both kinds of heroes and could welcome more. This year marks the 160th anniversary of the Civil War's end and Lincoln's assassination. As we remember that tragic war, let's not forget the heroes that emerged, especially those that have remained in the shadows. Elizabeth Van Lew was one of tens of thousands of women who emerged to fight the war in their own way. Hundreds fought on the battlefield following husbands, brothers and fathers into service; women nursed the injured, others ran their family farms and businesses on their own for the first time. Van Lew's story is a testament to the essence of true heroism: unwavering moral conviction, selfless action and the courage to stand against prevailing tides. In an era when the term "hero" is often diluted, her legacy reminds us that real heroes are those who, without fanfare, commit themselves to justice and humanity.
Fox News
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Social media support for accused killers Luigi Mangione, Elias Rodriguez an 'exceptionally bad sign': expert
Social media users have been drawing comparisons between online support for accused killers Elias Rodriguez, Rodney Hinton Jr. and Luigi Mangione. "That people who commit murder are receiving any meaningful amount of public support, seemingly because the victims are seen by the murder's supporters as belonging to the political opposition, is an exceptionally bad sign for our society," Nicholas Creel, Georgia College and State University ethics professor, told Fox News Digital. "Democracy requires people to be committed to certain values, such as the peaceable resolution of our differences. Without that, we're at risk for a far wider breakdown in the rule of law, the kind where mass atrocities can easily arise." Rodriguez, 31, of Chicago, is accused of killing Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, a young engaged couple who worked at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday evening outside the Capital Jewish Museum. Mangione, 26, is charged with first-degree murder in furtherance of an act of terrorism, stalking and a slew of other state and federal charges in both New York and Pennsylvania for allegedly gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a 50-year-old married father of two, on a sidewalk in Manhattan on Dec. 4, 2024. Hinton, 38, is charged with aggravated murder after he allegedly "intentionally" struck retired Hamilton County Deputy Larry Henderson, who was directing traffic near the University of Cincinnati during a graduation ceremony, with a vehicle around 1 p.m. on May 2. He allegedly killed the officer a day after Cincinnati police fatally shot his son during a foot pursuit, according to police. Experts who spoke with Fox News Digital also noted social media support for 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, who shot at then-presidential candidate Donald Trump during his 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, before being fatally shot by responding officers. "Now that we're seeing these other murders get the same kind of attention [as Brian Thompson's], it does seem to be a pattern that is fairly new in terms of the reaction to this," Creel told Fox News Digital regarding support for Mangione and Rodriguez specifically. "So when you get this larger and larger portion of the population that's willing to … sanction that sort of behavior, you become very much ripe for a sort of authoritarian takeover, the kind that can start to lead to mass atrocities." He added that the most recent killings of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim represent a "very destructive sort of behavior to society." "When we look at how does a country become a democracy and remain one – because that's never a guarantee – what we tend to see is there's certain values society has to hold, and one of those is the idea of not resorting to violence," Creel said. He and his colleague, Ania Rynarzewska, an assistant professor of marketing, have conducted research showing that people feel more empowered when their radical beliefs and ideas get support online. "Our research has found so far that before [Thompson's murder], people felt powerless. So they felt like their voice didn't matter," Rynarzewska said. "And after the incident and after people started voicing their opinion on social media … they felt more empowered to speak. They felt like their voices were in the majority, so they no longer have to suppress it." In all three cases, authorities allege that the suspects had political or personal motives behind their respective alleged actions, and all three men are receiving support, both monetary and nonfinancial, from radical social media users. A preliminary investigation in the Rodriguez case shows the suspect was allegedly observed pacing back and forth outside the museum before he approached a group of four people leaving the building, including the two victims, and began shooting, D.C. authorities said. He then entered the museum, where he was detained by event security. While in custody, he yelled, "Free, free Palestine!" Mangione similarly shouted a message after his arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania. "It's completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and its lived experience," Mangione shouted outside a courthouse in Hollidaysburg days after his arrest. Paul Mauro, former NYPD inspector and Fox News contributor, told Fox News Digital that Mangione, Rodriguez, Hinton and Crooks represent "a very specialized class of violent losers." "At some point, everybody's been down in their luck," Mauro said. "But … when you are in and around 30 years old, and you are still clinging to these adolescent beliefs about the world and how you are on the side of the righteous because you are a member of a particular internet forum, and you're willing to … extinguish the lives of others … you're going to take away loved ones from families. Well, I'm sorry, but you guys are in a class by yourselves." He added that law enforcement professionals have seen such activity by young radicals "developing" since about 2020. Mauro also said officials should be following the money that U.S. colleges and universities are receiving from nongovernment organizations and whether any of that funding comes from U.S. adversaries, such as Iran. The former NYPD inspector noted that Rodriguez, Mangione, Crooks and, to an extent, Hinton are all relatively young men who had "their whole lives ahead of them" before allegedly hunting down people they believed to be their political or personal "opponents." "They weaponize these college kids who are susceptible and naive and who have never really been scuffed up by the real world," Mauro said. "And in many cases, they don't want to be. They don't really want to go out and get jobs and do all the stuff that we did. … And they stay in this hyperprogressive bubble thinking that they're on the side of the righteous. And then what happens is they manage to survive." Creel and Rynarzewska similarly noted that young people who are lonely or isolated tend to find a sense of community in people who share radical views online. "From a bigger societal perspective, that's where we really see the destructive influence on … youth," Creel said. "When you're young, you're developing your sense of the world. You're coming to figure out, when you come of age, what's acceptable, what's not. That's when norms are being developed, your values take hold. And so, because of that, when you see these far more fringe-type positions of people supporting violence – murder, even – that becomes one of those things that then you think is normalized." Mangione and Hinton have pleaded not guilty to their respective crimes. Fox News Digital has reached out to their attorneys for comment.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Opinion - The most psychotic musical since ‘Sweeney Todd' — and why America needs it
Luigi Mangione is accused of gunning down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare in broad daylight. A clean shot. No hesitation. Very soon, he'll sing about the brutal act in a San Francisco musical. I say: Good. 'Luigi: The Musical' is absurd, possibly sociopathic — and yet somehow entirely defensible. In fact, in this grotesque, camp-addled culture of ours, it might be the most honest piece of art produced all year. Not because murder is funny. Not because the justice system is a joke. But because we now live in an age where satire is the last viable truth-delivery system. Much of journalism is corporate. Novels are afraid. Late-night comedy is neutered. You want truth? Put it in a musical. Wrap it in sequins. And give it jazz hands. Satire has always been the most ruthlessly efficient scalpel. Aristophanes mocked imperial war. Jonathan Swift proposed devouring Irish children. George Orwell, Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Vonnegut — they didn't protest. They staged freak shows. Molière shredded hypocrisy in powdered wigs. Charles Dickens dragged Victorian England through the gutter it tried to ignore. Joseph Heller turned bureaucratic madness into 'Catch-22.' Before his comedy went off a cliff, George Carlin stood on stage and tore down empire with a smirk. With 'Four Lions,' a pitch-black comedy about incompetent jihadists, Chris Morris made terrorism absurd. Before that, he had already terrified the British establishment with 'Brass Eye,' a fake news satire so savage it tricked members of Parliament into denouncing fictional drugs on air. Trey Parker made everything absurd, or at least appear absurd. From Mormonism ('The Book of Mormon') to war propaganda ('Team America') to the bloated theater of American politics and celebrity culture ('South Park'), nothing was sacred — and that was the point. Satire doesn't whisper; it slaps. It offends. It remembers what the real world would rather forget. 'Luigi' stands firmly in that lineage — not in spite of the outrage it invites, but because of it. What are we really so scandalized by? The idea of a murderer with a musical number? Please. We've been there before: 'Sweeney Todd,' 'Chicago,' 'Heathers,' 'Assassins.' We have clapped for John Wilkes Booth. We have cheered for razor blades and ricin. What bothers people about 'Luigi' isn't the violence. It's the contemporaneity — the fact that it's still too soon and the wound hasn't scabbed yet. This character, the corporate assassin-turned-accidental folk hero, feels dangerously plausible. Deep down, we know the real absurdity isn't the musical. It is the world that created such a man. We live in a culture that glamorizes sociopathy but gets offended when it's reflected back. Netflix ran 'Dahmer.' You can now buy 'American Psycho' mugs, t-shirts and beanies. 'The Sopranos' has a wine label. Real-life cartel hitmen share their 'wisdom' on TikTok. And yet, when a fringe theater group stages a smart, cynical satire about a real-life killing, we're told it's 'too far'? Get real. 'Luigi' doesn't play by prestige rules. It's too camp. Too gaudy. Too loud. It isn't Oscar-bait. It's black box theater with blood under its nails. And that's why it matters. It's not Netflix. It's not Hulu. It's not a limited series you can binge and forget. It's theater. And theater — real theater — makes you sit with it. The show is Gulag humor for the Uber Eats generation. It weaponizes the ludicrous, stitches viral violence to choreography, turns cellmates like Diddy and Sam Bankman-Fried into Greek chorus figures, and mocks our collective appetite for the borderline insane. 'Luigi'isn't glorifying Mangione. It's not trying to humanize him. It's trying to indict us. The audience. The algorithm. The economy of attention that turns killers into content. The culture that made a young man with a gun a trending topic before the body hit the pavement. This is a country where mass shooters get Wikipedia pages before their victims get autopsied. Where headlines blur into hashtags. Where the line between infamy and influence disappeared sometime around 2014. In that context, 'Luigi' isn't satire. It's realism. But there's a deeper tragedy here — not in the subject matter, but in the medium. Theater is dying — with its empty seats, aging donors and young people who'd rather scroll through cat videos, theater is losing the war for attention, and fast. This makes 'Luigi' both timely and, in some ways, necessary. Perhaps it's too campy. Perhaps it's too crass. Maybe it turns a murderer into a meme with a melody. But you know what? It gets people off their screens. It gets them out of their apartments. It gets them into a room with other humans, watching a live act of provocation unfold in real time. That used to be called art. Now it's called a liability. 'Luigi' won't win prestigious prizes. It might not even last its full run without protests. But it belongs. Theater isn't supposed to be sacred. It's supposed to be a mirror. Sometimes cracked, but always honest. So let them sing. Mangione won't be the last killer to dance under a spotlight. He's just the first one to do it with a chorus line and a cellmate named Diddy. John Mac Ghlionn is a writer and researcher who explores culture, society and the impact of technology on daily life. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
