In a heartbreaking incident stemming from a foster placement in South Carolina, a 13-year-old boy lost his life after being violently attacked and drowned. Authorities allege that two teenagers were responsible for the tragic death.

The Augusta Press reveals that the victim, Daryl Martinez Lowry, had been provisionally placed in the home of McCormick County Council Chairman Bernie Hamby. He was staying there temporarily while waiting for a more permanent foster arrangement.

Both of the accused teenagers were also living as foster children in the same household at the time of the incident.

Among those charged is 17-year-old Landen Austin Moore, who faces a murder charge. Investigators report that Moore, along with a 16-year-old, engaged in a fight with Lowry in the early hours of July 20. This brutal altercation left Lowry with stab wounds before the teenagers reportedly submerged him underwater, leading to his death.

According to an arrest warrant posted online by the McCormick County Sheriff’s Office, the confrontation happened at a private boat dock on Beauregard Drive in Modoc, South Carolina.

The warrant alleges Lowry suffered knife lacerations during the fight before Moore and the unidentified 16-year-old “did unlawfully, intentionally, and with malice aforethought” murder him by “holding him underwater until he became deceased.”

The warrant states the allegations are based on witness statements and evidence gathered during the investigation.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) announced Tuesday that Moore was charged with murder after the McCormick County Sheriff’s Office requested the state agency investigate the case.

Moore was booked into the McCormick County Detention Center.

Authorities said the 16-year-old allegedly involved in the incident was transported to the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice. SLED has not publicly announced whether that juvenile has been charged.

According to the Augusta Press, Hamby was asleep inside the residence during the alleged attack. Lowry’s body was later recovered from the lake.

Authorities have not indicated Hamby witnessed the incident or was involved in the alleged crime. Hamby, a longtime McCormick County councilman who serves as council chairman, has publicly advocated for foster care for years.

Just over a month before his death, Lowry was the subject of a missing child investigation in his hometown of Chester, South Carolina.

On June 12, the Chester Police Department asked for the public’s help locating the 13-year-old after he was last seen the previous evening.

“At this time, Daryl’s whereabouts are unknown, and we are asking the entire community to remain alert and assist in bringing him home safely,” the department wrote in a social media post.

Police urged parents, neighbors and businesses to check surveillance cameras and report “anything suspicious or unusual,” adding that officers and investigators were actively pursuing leads.

Later that same day, the department announced Lowry had been found safe.

Authorities have not publicly linked Lowry’s earlier disappearance to the circumstances surrounding his death.

A GoFundMe created by Lowry’s relatives says the teen had recently been living in a temporary foster home.

“My name is Zyon Simpson, I am the aunt of Daryl Martinez Lowry (13) who was recently murdered while in a temporary foster home,” the fundraiser states.

The family described Daryl as “an amazing child full of life, love, and charisma.”

“He loved his parents, family, and friends, and he always wore a smile,” the fundraiser says.

A woman identifying herself as Lowry’s aunt also mourned the 13-year-old in a Facebook post, vowing to seek justice.

“I love you my sweet nephew. We will get justice,” she wrote. “You didn’t deserve this. No child deserves this… Until we meet again, I will definitely keep your name alive.”

McCormick County Sheriff Chad Cox described the killing as an extraordinary tragedy for the rural community while thanking the agencies that helped investigate the case.

“We want to express our deepest condolences to the friends/family of the young man who had his life taken in such a horrendous manner,” Cox wrote in a statement posted to the sheriff’s office’s Facebook page.

Cox thanked SLED, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, McCormick County Emergency Services, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the McCormick County Coroner’s Office and others who assisted in the investigation.

“We are extremely grateful that we live/work in a community where violent crime is not the regular occurrence,” Cox wrote. “But with that being said, no place is exempt from these types of incidents and we must remain diligent in our efforts to keep McCormick County a safe place to live, work and raise families.”

SLED said its investigation remains active and ongoing. The case will be prosecuted by the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office.

News Media has reached out to Hamby, the South Carolina Department of Social Services, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and the McCormick County Sheriff’s Office to independently confirm those details.

Authorities have not accused Hamby of any wrongdoing.

In a display of what some are calling extreme political theater, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has stirred controversy with her recent critique of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The congresswoman cautioned that the legislation, which facilitates cooperation between U.S. forces and the Israel Defense Forces in areas like cybersecurity, poses “an existential threat to American sovereignty and democracy.” Her remarks have sparked fierce debate across party lines.

The accusation has been labeled as an overreaction by many. Section 219 of the NDAA merely sanctions joint military initiatives in cybersecurity, technology drills, and similar collaborations. This section echoes the United States’ existing agreements with numerous countries, including long-standing allies like Canada and India.

Nonetheless, skepticism towards Israel appears increasingly prevalent within the Democratic Party. This sentiment emerges at a time when House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries refrained from guiding his party members’ votes against a recent amendment aimed at cutting U.S. aid to Israel. Shockingly, more than half of House Democrats endorsed this amendment.

This internal division illustrates a broader strategic alignment within the party: a concerted opposition to policies associated with former President Trump. Such is the unity in resistance that Senate Democrats are prepared to employ a filibuster strategy to thwart the Defense bill, which has forced Republicans to resort to reconciliation—a complex procedural tactic—to maintain military operations in the face of unfolding tensions with Iran.

In an effort to keep the legislative process moving, the House has gone ahead and approved the NDAA along with a Republican-sponsored $95 billion spending resolution. This measure is designed to set the stage for reconciliation and may balloon to accommodate pressing defense modernization requirements.

But that process won’t finish until mid-September at the earliest, and is sure to feature a host of other proposed amendments designed to please Dems hard-left base, with lots more speeches implying that Benjamin Netanyahu is using Jewish mind-control powers to make Trump do his bidding.

Yes, Trump should be doing a better job of explaining his war strategy and selling it to the public — but it’s simply disgraceful for Democrats to block Defense funding while enemy fire is killing US service members in the Middle East.

Again, they’re blocking both emergency funds for the Iran war and the larger Defense bill for the year that they had agreed on with Republicans before their base’s anti-war fever reached a new peak.

All of it, with an eye on causing chaos in advance of November’s elections — even as their posturing in Washington feeds the hard left’s drive to knock off more-moderate Democrats in the primaries.

We keep urging sane Dems to fight back against the lefties, yet Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer keep appeasing them and saving all their fire for Trump and the GOP.

If they keep this up, AOC will soon be the heart of the party and maybe even its 2028 nominee.

In a strong declaration, former President Donald Trump warned that any harm inflicted on cargo ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz will be compensated using ‘Iranian funds’ currently held by the United States.

Trump issued this statement on his Truth Social account Thursday night amid escalating tensions in the crucial waterway, a vital artery through which a significant portion of the global oil supply flows.

‘Let it be known,’ Trump wrote, ‘that until further notice, any damage incurred by ships, cargo, or related entities will be settled with Iranian assets under U.S. control.’

‘Despite the potential for these damages to be considerable, this approach remains fair and just,’ he added.

The strategic control of the Strait of Hormuz has long been a contentious issue in U.S.-Iran negotiations, with Iran asserting its influence over this pivotal maritime passage.

It has repeatedly struck vessels trying to pass through the strait, and on Thursday, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said they attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea.

Following the attack, Trump said he was considering a ‘massive attack’ on Iran.

He had claimed leaders in Tehran wanted a deal but had not yet felt ‘enough pain’ to properly negotiate. He did not say when he would finalize his decision.

Trump also claimed that Israel would join the new strikes if he were to ask, though he insisted the its help was not needed.

Already, the Pentagon has flown a B-1 bomber over the region for the first time since the ceasefire collapsed and surged extra special operations forces into the area. 

A further 150 medics have also been sent to a military hospital in Germany that treats US troops wounded in the Middle East.

Trump is under pressure at home to wrap up the war as Republicans, facing crucial midterm elections in November, fear a bloodbath if gas prices remain elevated and push inflation higher.

Many Democrats have voiced opposition to the war since its inception. 

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was grilled in a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday, where even a Republican senator rebuked him for not giving ‘straight answers’ to questions.

Hegseth testified that the cost of the war has already exceeded $37.5billion, and the White House is asking Congress for even more than that in emergency war funding.

Trump has made repeated threats against the Iranian regime, but since the collapse of the memorandum of understanding, the US has been unable to restore traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. 

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on X that Iran would harshly respond to any military action taken against it.

‘Our defense doctrine is clear: Eye for an eye,’ he wrote. ‘Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will compel a powerful and decisive response.’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio shot back, telling reporters that US policy would be a ‘head for an eye’ when it comes to retaliating against Iranian action. ‘They will pay a very heavy price for the things they’re doing,’ Rubio added.

But as American confidence in the war wanes, four US soldiers were killed over the weekend, bringing the death toll to 18 since the war’s beginning. 

Three died in an Iranian missile and drone attack on an air base in Jordan. One died after an attempted controlled detonation of an Iranian drone. 

More than 400 US troops have been wounded in the fighting.

Nearly half of voters, 49 percent, now say launching military action in Iran was the wrong thing to do, according to a Daily Mail/JL Partners poll of 1,021 registered voters taken between July 17 and 20.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated. 

Earlier this month, federal immigration authorities arrested a Southwest Airlines flight attendant at work due to visa-related issues, according to officials.

The individual, identified as Lorenzo Thompson from Jamaica, was apprehended on July 14 in Nashville, Tennessee, as reported by local sources.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Thompson had entered the U.S. on April 17, 2021, using a visa that ultimately expired on October 16, 2021, as stated to Fox News.

“Against our nation’s laws, he overstayed his visa and failed to depart. He will remain in ICE custody pending his immigration proceedings,” an ICE spokesperson said.

The agency noted that illegal immigrants are offered $2,600 and a free flight to self-deport from the U.S.

“We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream,” the agency said. “If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.”

TWU Local 556, the union that represents Southwest Airlines flight attendants, also confirmed the arrest.

“Every Member deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, and we are committed to ensuring this Member and their family know they are not alone during this difficult time,” the union wrote on Facebook.

The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) said Thompson was working toward obtaining U.S. citizenship.

“He had a valid work visa and was a dedicated flight attendant, touching countless lives with his kindness,” the group wrote on social media.

An online crowdfunding page launched to cover Thompson’s legal bills said he left Jamaica “seeking safety from life-threatening abuse.”

“Since arriving, he has worked tirelessly to build a stable life, following every legal step toward citizenship,” the page states. “He has no criminal record. No parking tickets. He holds a valid work visa, has a pending asylum case, and is a dedicated flight attendant for a beloved airline.”

The page described him as “honest, caring, and loyal, always ready to lend a hand without expecting anything back.”

News Media has reached out to the airline for comment.

New York City’s public schools have missed out on an overwhelming $431.6 million in Medicaid reimbursements, according to an audit conducted by the city comptroller’s office. This financial oversight pertains to services rendered to students with disabilities but not billed to the federal government.

Covering fiscal years 2023 to 2025, the audit revealed that approximately $273.4 million was left unclaimed for services like occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy. This amount represents roughly 46% of the total services provided to the students.

Additionally, the comptroller’s office discovered $132.7 million in mandatory services for students with disabilities lacked the necessary documentation to secure federal reimbursement.

“The failure to secure Medicaid reimbursements that the city is entitled to is not just a financial issue; it calls into question the efficacy of government operations that New Yorkers rely on,” stated City Comptroller Mark Levine.

This audit follows a similar report from 2021, which identified that public schools were not applying for Medicaid reimbursement for eligible services provided to disabled students, despite federal provisions allowing for such compensation.

But the new audit found the school system deliberately chose not to seek repayment in a slew of instances — including for 10 federally-covered services, like psychological counseling for certain students — losing at least an additional $25.4 million in the three-year period.

“NYCPS (New York City Public Schools) continues not to seek reimbursement for a significant percentage of encounters that are legally reimbursable,” the report said. “In some cases, it chooses not to; in others, processes for collecting documentation needed to seek reimbursement from Medicaid are ineffective.”

City public schools are required to provide eligible students with various rehabilitation programs, but the audit also found no record of nearly 20% of all services they were mandated to provide. 

The Department of Education had adopted only three of the 30 recommendations given in 2021, and eight that were partially implemented included – with a total of 19 actionable steps left completely unaddressed. 

The DOE has a whopping near $45 billion budget, the most of any city agency.

A spokesperson for the DOE argued the comptroller’s report contained “assumptions and misconceptions,” and overstated what the agency can be reimbursed for in the current structure.

“Our priority is to provide high-quality services to every student who needs them while maximizing available funding to strengthen those services,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“We will continue pursuing every operationally feasible reimbursement opportunity to maximize available resources and ensure every student receives the resources they deserve.”