Authorities report that a man with a history of violence and multiple arrests is at the center of a tragic shooting that left his parents dead before he attempted to take his own life.

Sheriff’s deputies have identified 35-year-old Justin Sislo as the suspect in a chilling murder-suicide case that unfolded on Friday in Madison, New York, a source confirmed to News Media.

The bodies of Steve Sislo, 76, and Donna Walker-Sislo, 72, were discovered at their residence on McCormick Road, raising a somber atmosphere in the community.

In an official statement, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office detailed the sequence of events that ended in tragedy.

“While observing the residence from the exterior, the first responding Deputy observed two adult subjects, obviously deceased, through a main level window. Upon making entry to the home, a third adult subject was located deceased inside.”

The sheriff’s office confirmed the couple had recently paid $10,000 to bail their troubled son out of jail after he was arrested on charges related to a domestic violence case in which he faced two dozen charges. They had bailed him out of jail twice in one month.

He was arrested on July 29, deputies say.

Sislo’s father was a prominent businessman and philanthropist involved in numerous “local organizations, including the Capitol Theatre and the Rome Area Chamber of Commerce,” the Rome Daily Sentinel reported.

Authorities uncovered several guns at the suspect’s home during his most recent arrest. He also allegedly had two protective orders that banned him from having firearms, deputies say.

Court records reveal Sislo was charged with “strangulation” and “endangering an incompetent” in Cayuga County in June.

WSYR reported, “On Monday, Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood condemned the fact that Sislo had been out of jail. He said he wished the judge set no bail and forced Sislo to stay in custody.”

Perez Hilton may face the prospect of spending six months or more in a psychiatric facility following a distressing self-harm broadcast, according to revelations by the Daily Mail.

The 48-year-old celebrity blogger was placed under Florida’s Baker Act last Tuesday night, which permits the short-term involuntary commitment of individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. This action followed an alarming incident where TikTok viewers witnessed him repeatedly cutting himself with a knife.

Medical personnel are currently addressing significant blood loss and unspecified injuries as they treat the well-known Hollywood insider.

According to a reliable source speaking to the Daily Mail, Hilton’s multiple injuries are expected to result in permanent scarring.

A friend close to Hilton remarked, “Perez is aware that events took a serious turn, and he’s conscious that things are not in a good place right now.”

‘But he doesn’t have a lot of presence of mind. He’s not able to fully process what happened.

‘This is not going to be something where in five days, I’m like, “he’s fine,” This is months, maybe years.’

Hilton – real name Mario Lavandeira Jr – won’t be allowed to go home when he’s medically discharged.

He will instead be moved to a secure psychiatric facility where specialists will have 72 hours to assess his mental health.

The blogger could walk free when the clock runs down if they don’t think he’s a risk to himself or others.

But that’s a ‘long shot’ according to Mark Astor, a veteran Florida attorney specializing in Baker Act cases.

‘You don’t just get to walk out of there after 72 hours,’ Astor told the Daily Mail.

‘Whether it’s a mental health issue, drugs, or all of the above, they need to get to the bottom of what has happened here. Period.’

There are three possibilities, according to Astor, a former prosecutor, defense attorney, and partner at Astor Simovitch Law.

‘Number one, they could release him. Number two, they get him to agree to stay on a voluntary basis.

‘Or number three, they could file what’s known as a petition for involuntary placement,’ Astor explained.

The latter would involve a Miami-Dade judge holding a hearing within five days to decide whether Hilton should remain locked up.

The case would be confidential – with media barred from attending or hearing any of the details.

‘Most of the time these things take place inside the actual facility,’ said Astor.

‘There’s going to be a prosecutor from the state attorney’s office, and either a private defense lawyer or a court-appointed public defender.

‘There’ll probably be a doctor there from the facility saying this is why we need more time.’

Patients can be held for a maximum of six months at a time. But a 30-day order is more realistic in Hilton’s case, Astor predicted.

He says the media personality’s family have a crucial role in what happens next.

Devoted mom Teresita Lavandeira, 72, has been at her son’s bedside at HCA Florida Kendall Hospital since last week’s episode.

It’s possible she and her daughter Barbara Giarraffa, 42, could persuade authorities to release Hilton to a private facility, which would cost between $15,000 and $30,000 per month.

The pair could also apply to become his legal guardians, taking responsibility for Hilton’s healthcare decisions away from the State of Florida.

‘If he’s willing to get help, great. It’s possible they come to an agreement with the state for what’s known as a bed-to-bed transfer,’ Astor explained.

‘They could potentially file for a guardianship. In effect, they would be saying to the judge, listen, we want to get the state out of the picture here.

‘He’s got a family that loves him and we want to be the decisionmakers for him.’

Hilton’s three kids – Mario, 13, Mia, 11, and Mayte, eight, all born via surrogacy – are in the custody of their grandma.

They have not been to the hospital to see their dad because family members fear it would be too traumatic, according to the Daily Mail’s sources.

The trio were at Hilton’s Miami home last week when he began to behave erratically before quick-thinking Teresita ushered them outside and called for help.

A neighbor’s Ring camera captured police trying to coax him from the rented property before they decided to ‘tactfully disengage’ and ‘monitor the situation.’

Dispatch records from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office described the incident as a ‘suicide attempt.’

The blogger moved from Las Vegas to Miami earlier this summer to focus on his family after suffering a devastating bout of sepsis requiring 21 days in the hospital and two surgeries.

In a subsequent interview with the Daily Mail, Hilton revealed the near-death experience had prompted him to become a born-again Christian.

‘This has probably been a long time coming. He just reached the point of no return,’ said Astor, a nationally-recognized behavioral health lawyer.

‘The fact that he did it online on TikTok suggests he was praying for help: “Somebody come and save me.”

‘The idea here is to get him back in the game, not to tarnish him or take his children away. I think he’s going to get the help he needs and he’s going to be a dad again.’

A statement posted to the Perez Hilton website over the weekend read: ‘Perez’s condition remains serious but stable.

‘He experienced significant blood loss and sustained additional injuries that will require surgery in the coming days.

‘His treatment and recovery will be a long process. We are grateful that Perez was able to spend time with his mother and sister yesterday.

‘As our family remains focused on Perez’s treatment and recovery, we also need the space and privacy to care for everyone affected by this situation.’

If you or someone you know needs help in the US, please call or text the confidential 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. If you are in the UK, call Samaritans at 116 123 for free. If you are in Australia, call Lifeline 13 11 14 or Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800.

PORTAGE, Ind. (WLS) — The aftermath of Tuesday’s fierce storms has left communities across Northwest Indiana scrambling to assess and address the widespread destruction.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

Among the most serious incidents, a deadly house explosion, now suspected to have been triggered by the severe weather, has captured widespread attention.

Residents of Portage, Indiana, are grappling with a scene of devastation they’ve never witnessed before, marking this as an unprecedented disaster for the area.

In response, city officials have declared a state of emergency to expedite cleanup efforts and facilitate a thorough investigation into the explosion’s origin.

Witnesses recounted hearing a thunderous boom at the time of the explosion, which ignited a massive fire, consuming the remnants of the affected home.

Storm debris made it difficult to get to the burning home. Some neighbors tried to help put out the fire, but the flames were just too intense.

Meanwhile, the power is still out in places, some neighbors say they’re worried about the chance for more storms Wednesday.

SEE ALSO | Next round of storms bring chance for severe weather Wednesday across Chicago area

In a bittersweet revelation, the mother of a Congressional intern who tragically lost his life in 2025 asserts that former President Donald Trump’s intensified crime crackdown in Washington, D.C. is indeed making a significant impact. Crime rates, particularly homicides, have plummeted by an impressive 40% over the past year, she notes.

New statistics released by the Major Cities Chiefs Association reveal a substantial decline in Washington, D.C.’s homicide rate, with numbers dropping by 43.9% in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period the previous year. The figures highlight a decrease from 82 homicides in early 2025 to just 46 in the equivalent timeframe in 2026.

This significant reduction in homicides follows a major intervention by Trump, who directed the deployment of the National Guard while assuming control over the city’s police force. This strategic move occurred in early August 2025 as part of what the former president described as efforts to “rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse.”

Tragically, investigators reported that on a fateful day, several individuals were seen exiting a vehicle and opening fire on a group that included the young intern, Tarpinian-Jachym. This incident underscores the brutal reality behind the statistics, serving as a sobering reminder of the ongoing fight against violent crime.

Tarpinian-Jachym wasn’t the intended target of the shooting, they added.

Tamara Jachym, Tarpinian-Jachym’s mother, told News Media in an interview that the National Guard’s presence in Washington, D.C. is making a difference.

“Something’s working and I think extra eyes and ears on the ground is helping this happen,” Jachym said. “From what I understand from the folks in D.C. that I do speak with and they’re from all walks of life…They notice a difference. They feel safer.”

“I remember when my son Eric was killed, there was a homicide every other day till the National Guard came in,” Jachym said.

Jachym had a message for lawmakers who oppose the National Guard being sent to major U.S. cities.

“Those are your constituents. They’re being murdered, maimed, and live in fear. It’s not OK. I feel that those elected officials have to start feeling compassion to the people who live in these cities who have been victims themselves of a violent crime or their families,” she said. “You have to have empathy for us victims, not the criminals.”

White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told News Media: “President Trump promised to make America safe again and the data proves he has done just that.”

“President Trump has transformed our nation’s capital from a crime-ridden city into a safe and beautiful haven for residents and visitors alike. The President’s Safe and Beautiful Task Force have made more than 16,000 arrests including murderers, sex offenders, drug traffickers, and other violent criminals. The Task Force has driven down crime, beautified the city, and improved quality of life for countless individuals.”

The Major Cities Chiefs Association also showed that homicides in Memphis, Tennessee dropped by 43.7% in the same time period, from from 119 to 67. Trump also deployed the National Guard to that city in 2025.

Jachym wants people to remember her son as a “kind, humble soul who would reach across the aisle and work with the other side to give and take to come up with solutions for the problems we’re seeing in America right now.”

In a tight race for the gubernatorial nomination in Wisconsin, an establishment-backed Democrat emerged victorious over a formidable leftist contender.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley narrowly defeated Francesca Hong by a margin of just 3,211 votes on Tuesday evening. This unexpected outcome came after market forecasters had dubbed the progressive candidate the likely winner.

Crowley’s triumph was a cause for celebration at Democratic Party headquarters, where there had been concerns that Hong’s meteoric rise signaled a growing wave of progressive influence—a development considered advantageous for Republicans.

Ultimately, Crowley’s victory was anchored in his pragmatic ‘Badger Basics’ initiative, which focused on strengthening labor unions, providing affordable housing solutions, and expanding healthcare access.

In contrast, Hong, affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America, championed significant systemic economic reforms throughout her campaign.

She has called for scrapping Thanksgiving, defunding the police, abolishing ICE and doing away with the US Senate. Hong has since softened or abandoned several of those positions.

Her politics were considered so toxic that Republican-linked money flowed into her campaign, on the calculation that Wisconsin voters would recoil from her in November.

Even Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, the progressive movement’s two biggest names, withheld their endorsements.

Hong could have requested a recount since Crowley’s margin of victory was less than 1 percentage point. But because it was wider than 0.25 points, Hong’s campaign would have had to pay for it. 

Crowley got 313,321 votes, or 39.8 percent, beating out Hong who received 310,110 or 39.4 percent of the vote, according to the Associated Press.

Hong attracted backing from Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and California Congressman Ro Khanna, as well as former Ohio state senator and prominent Bernie Sanders ally Nina Turner.

But Democratic strategists are now breathing a sigh of relief as Crowley is given much better odds of capturing swing voters in purple Wisconsin come November.

He will face US Representative Tom Tiffany, a Donald Trump-backed congressman from northern Wisconsin, on November 3.

Limited head-to-head polling shows Crowley narrowly ahead, while broader prediction markets gave the GOP an edge – largely because they’d expected Hong to be the nominee.

Crowley’s comeback was one of the campaign’s defining twists after suspending his bid in July, endorsing Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez, then returning after her withdrawal over campaign-finance mismanagement with the backing of outgoing Governor Tony Evers.

Evers argued that Crowley gave Democrats their strongest chance of holding a pivotal swing-state governorship in November.

The result is also historic as Crowley will become Wisconsin’s first black governor if elected.

Hong had entered the final stretch as the polling frontrunner, propelled by especially strong support among younger Democrats and voters drawn to her populist, Socialist agenda.

But Crowley’s victory underscores the continuing power of Wisconsin’s institutional Democratic coalition, combining organized labor, Milwaukee-area elected officials and the outgoing governor’s endorsement.

The contest is already shaping up as one of the most closely watched of the 2026 cycle.

Wisconsin remains a genuine swing state — Trump carried it by less than a point in 2024 — and both parties view the governorship as a critical piece of midterm leverage.

Crowley’s more moderate profile gives Democrats a clearer path to holding the seat, but Tiffany’s deep northern Wisconsin base and Trump’s ongoing influence mean neither side can take anything for granted.

Paul Child’s routine drive took an unexpected turn when he encountered a mysterious stranger by the railroad tracks near his Washington home. Twice, he passed this unknown figure. Just minutes later, smoke billowed from the area where the man had disappeared into the bushes, sparking a sequence of events that led authorities to a suspected wildfire arsonist.

Freshly released bodycam footage reveals officers quickly mobilizing to evacuate Child’s family. The footage shows them escorting him, his grandson, and the grandson’s friend to a field for a showup identification after detaining an individual fitting the stranger’s description.

As they awaited confirmation at the scene, the bodycam picked up an officer noting that the suspect carried “a whole fanny pack full of matches.” This clue proved pivotal to the investigation.

However, the video does not provide visual proof of the matches or detail how they were discovered in the suspect’s possession.

Child said he and the other witnesses – his grandson and his grandson’s friend – were not told about the alleged matches or other items before they were asked to view the detained man.

“We thought he had a backpack,” Child told News Media. “They didn’t say anything to us anyway about the fanny pack with matches, cigarettes [and] I guess lighter in it.”

Child told News Media that he, his grandson and the grandson’s friend spotted a man twice near railroad tracks close to the apparent fire origin. The second time, Child said, the man’s behavior appeared unusual.

“He was kind of bent over and looked like he was doing something in the bushes,” Child said. “He got up, saw us. When he saw us, he turned to face us and kind of was pacing back and forth nervously.”

Child said there was no smoke when the group last saw the man. Within about 10 minutes of returning home, however, he said smoke began rising about a half-mile away.

Bodycam footage from the Airway Heights Police Department shows smoke billowing in the distance as Officer Pace speaks with Child’s family about evacuating. The officer later tells them police may have detained “your guy” and that they could be asked to take part in a showup.

A field showup is an in-person identification procedure in which witnesses view a person detained shortly after an incident.

While the footage does not show the identification, Child said Pace escorted him and the two boys to a location about a mile and a half from his home.

“We pulled off to the side of the road and they got an individual out from the back of the … Spokane County deputy car,” Child said. “We looked at him, and all three of us gave them [a] positive, 100% positive ID that’s who we’d seen in the area just before the fire started.”

Child said he and the two teen witnesses positively identified the detained man during the field showup. Authorities later identified the man as Aaron Forrest Farinacci.

The Aug. 1 field showup did not immediately lead to charges. Farinacci was released after the witnesses identified the detained man, then was arrested on charges two days later, on Aug. 3.

Child said he did not initially realize Farinacci had been released.

“I was like, well, thank God, because … I thought they had him detained the whole time. I didn’t realize they didn’t have probable cause to hold him for a couple days. … He could walk right back up that road,” Child said.

Farinacci is accused of starting the Old Trails Fire, one of three blazes that have burned across Spokane and Stevens counties since Aug. 1. The Old Trails, Fairview and Autumn Lane fires had burned a combined 10,002 acres and damaged or destroyed more than 920 structures, Spokane fire officials reported Monday.

Farinacci, who was initially held on $1 million bail, appeared in court Thursday, when a judge doubled his bail to $2 million. He also faces four additional arson charges after court documents alleged he admitted to setting 25 fires in the area since 2025.

Court documents reviewed by News Media allege Farinacci monitored weather apps to identify ideal fire conditions and built a delayed ignition device to start the Old Trails Fire.

Although Farinacci initially denied involvement in the Old Trails Fire during questioning after his Aug. 3 arrest, court documents allege he later confessed to planning and setting the blaze. The documents say he planned the fire for two weeks.

Investigators allege Farinacci built a time-delay device from paper, matches, cigarettes and rubber bands modeled after one used by serial arsonist John Leonard Orr. Court documents also allege he deliberately set simultaneous fires at other times to distract and thin out emergency response crews.

As the wildfire spread, Child’s family gathered pets and belongings before evacuating their home.

“It was pretty chaotic,” Child said. “I forgot my medications. We forgot leashes for the dogs or dog food and all that stuff.”

Child said the flames came no closer than about a quarter-mile from his home, but he feared a shift in the wind could have sent the fast-moving fire toward his property within minutes.

Looking back, Child said he sees his decision to alert police as only one part of the response.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to stop him from doing what he did,” Child said, adding that he believes he played only a small part in the man being caught. “It was kind of like, well, good. At least he’s off the street.”

“I mean, he wasn’t going to stop,” Child added. “Fortunately, he didn’t kill anybody this time, but I imagine his luck on that was going to run out if he continued to set fires.”

When embarking on the journey of buying a home, two paramount considerations often come to mind: the safety of the neighborhood and the quality of the local public schools, especially if you already have or anticipate having children.

However, during the Obama administration, there was an effort to curb real estate agents from providing answers to these crucial questions, as the focus shifted towards promoting “diversity” at the expense of addressing safety and educational quality.

This year, President Donald Trump’s administration rolled back these restrictions, yet the repercussions of the policies instituted by Joe Biden’s team continue to be felt by many.

Compounding the issue, state regulations in places like New York are still silencing real estate agents, inhibiting them from freely discussing vital information about crime rates and school performance with prospective homebuyers.

Intriguingly, the Biden administration made meddling with home buying one of its early actions after taking office.

Six days after he was sworn into office, Biden issued his directive establishing enforcement priorities for the Department of Housing and Urban Development aimed at scaring real-estate agents into remaining silent on two of the subjects most important to their clients.

“Diverse and inclusive communities strengthen our democracy,” the executive memorandum began.

What mom or dad wants their community to be “inclusive” of failing schools?

Who wants “diversity” to mean mixing criminals with innocent people?

Black families don’t want to live in dangerous or educationally dead-end neighborhoods any more than people of any other color do.

Yet too many progressives believe racial equality is best achieved by demolishing standards for everyone.

That was the effect of Biden’s memo, which made clear that racial politics and the doctrine of “disparate impact” would guide HUD’s enforcement of federal housing laws.

The major online real-estate companies understood immediately what was being demanded of them.

Realtor.com and Zillow stopped providing crime data, while Redfin — going out of its way to embrace the party line — posted a blog proclaiming, “Neighborhood crime data doesn’t belong on real estate sites.”

The National Association of Realtors put up a webpage in early 2023 titled “How to handle client questions about schools and neighborhoods,” which told realtors to point homebuyers to other sources of information rather than providing the facts themselves.

The page is larded with the jargon of diversity, equity and inclusion — but it also testifies to the association’s worry that fair-housing laws would be interpreted aggressively, and that realtors who did tell their clients too much would run the risk of punishment.

In April, Trump’s HUD announced that realtors and other real-estate agents should not feel intimidated: “The Fair Housing Act does not require withholding useful information on school quality and crime statistics,” the department proclaimed.

The “Dear Colleague” letter from Assistant Secretary Craig Trainor went into considerable detail to “strongly urge” the real-estate industry “to revisit ethics training materials and reconsider public statements that stifle real estate agent speech.”

But the New York Association of Realtors, for one, says it can’t do that — because its members “may be subject to liability under (New York state) law” if they speak frankly to homebuyers about schools and crime.

How many voters know some state governments — and, under the last Democratic administration, the federal government — are muzzling real-estate agents in this way?

How many know how easily the industry rolled over when Biden decided to put homebuyers’ safety and their children’ s education at risk?

What the Biden administration did was unethical, and the industry did a disservice to its clients by giving in — though perhaps the prospect of selling more homes in bad neighborhoods appealed to the least scrupulous members of the profession.

Buying a home is a trust-intensive process: It’s not only expensive, it ranks alongside marriage as one the most consequential decisions anyone can make, holding the potential for decades of happiness or misery.

Buying a home is buying a future.

It isn’t right to withhold any information a family needs about a prospective neighborhood, and state laws as well as federal ones must put homebuyers — of all races — first, above any political commitment to abstractions like diversity and inclusion.

The point of shielding information about crime and schools is to get more people to buy homes where they otherwise wouldn’t want to live.

What could be more wicked, more destructive, than that?

The intrepid journalist Helen Andrews, who’s never afraid of a controversy, deserves credit for calling attention to this corruption of the real-estate industry in a recent essay for the web magazine Compact.

It’s a big story, one that ought to be on voters’ minds as they consider the state and local elections, as well as federal ones, coming up in November.

If Americans don’t want their real-estate providers gagged, they must speak up themselves — at the ballot box.

Daniel McCarthy is the editor of Modern Age: A Conservative Review.