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Inside Gypsy-Rose Blanchard’s Relationship With Ken Urker, the Father of Her Baby

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1 Dead, 3 Hurt After NYC Mercedes Driver Hits Pedestrians

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A Mercedes driver allegedly speeding to make a traffic light barreled through a Bronx intersection Friday afternoon, striking four pedestrians and leaving one dead, according to law enforcement sources.

The crash occurred around 2:15 p.m. as the driver traveled west on Allerton Avenue and ran a solid red light at Holland Avenue. The vehicle hit four women, all believed to be between 50 and 60 years old, as they crossed in the marked crosswalk, sources said.

All four victims were transported to Jacobi Medical Center. One woman died at the hospital, while two others remained in critical condition. The fourth pedestrian was expected to survive, according to authorities.

The Mercedes also collided with two other vehicles during the violent chain-reaction crash, sources said.

The driver was conscious and alert and suffered minor injuries. He reportedly told a witness that he had been trying to beat the light, according to law enforcement sources.

FDNY officials said EMS crews treated nine people in connection with the broad-daylight collision.

Trump Picks ‘Loyal’ Katie Zacharia as Next White House Press Secretary

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Washington — President Trump announced Friday that conservative commentator Katie Zacharia will become the next White House press secretary, describing her as a supporter with an “unblemished record.”

A California native, Zacharia briefly served as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year. She now works as a senior communications adviser for Truth Social, Trump’s social media platform. Trump also said she had assisted him during his presidential campaign.

“She has an unblemished record of support, and has been a loyal and brilliant supporter, right from the beginning,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “She is, likewise, a devoted fan and member of MAGA! I am confident that Katie will deliver strong results for our Country as the next White House Press Secretary, as she has the respect of, and will work fantastically with, the Media, the American People, and my Administration.”

Trump wished Zacharia success in the role. The New York Times first reported that she had been offered the position.

The White House press secretary position has been vacant since Karoline Leavitt departed in late August. The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room has not hosted a press briefing since Sept. 3, when Vice President JD Vance spoke with reporters and answered questions.

Zacharia lives in California and earned both her undergraduate and law degrees from Pepperdine University in Malibu, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Earlier this year, Zacharia detailed her experience wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat to a local gym in an opinion article for the New York Post. She wrote that the gym’s owner eventually asked her to stop wearing it.

“I responded that I would never take my Trump hat off to appease the left,” she wrote. “This is raw, unfiltered intolerance. Freedom of speech doesn’t evaporate at the gym door.”

“The First Amendment has no ‘discomfort’ clause,” she added. However, the First Amendment protects people from government censorship of speech, rather than restrictions imposed by private businesses.

Belleview Parents Raise Concerns Over School Consolidation Plan

BELLEVIEW, Fla. – For families in Belleview, the morning trip to school can involve crossing a busy Central Florida roadway. Parents say drivers do not always slow down or watch for pedestrians, and a proposed merger of two elementary schools has raised concerns that traffic and safety issues could intensify.

Angelia Peloubet takes her grandchildren to Belleview Elementary every morning. She leaves her vehicle at a nearby church before walking with them through a crosswalk on Southeast Highway 484, a two-lane road that becomes especially hazardous during the 7 a.m. drop-off period.

“It depends sometimes on the day of week and whether the Belleview Police Department’s out there,” Peloubet said.

According to Peloubet, motorists tend to be more cautious when police officers are stationed nearby. When officers are absent, she said, the crossing can become much more difficult to manage.

“When the police are not there to monitor, they’re speeding. They don’t try to stop — they try to roll through the stop instead of stopping for the crossing guard,” Peloubet said. “Sometimes we actually have to get involved and sometimes step out and kind of yell or scream to get them to pay attention to what they’re doing.”

Consolidation plan raises new worries

Marion County Schools plans to merge Belleview Elementary with Belleview-Santos Elementary on one campus. The consolidation is not scheduled to begin until 2028, but Peloubet is already questioning how the change could affect school traffic and the daily commute for families.

“Unfortunately, the numbers do not add up, and I’m not sure how this is going to fare for everyone’s morning commute,” she said.

District points to new design

Marion County Schools told News 6 that plans for the replacement campus include “multiple significant-length traffic lanes to accommodate large amounts of car rider traffic.” District officials expect the updated design to reduce the number of vehicles backing up onto nearby roads.

The school consolidation will also bring attendance boundary changes intended to relieve overcrowding. As a result, some students currently enrolled at Belleview Elementary or Belleview-Santos Elementary could be reassigned to different schools.

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South Carolina Trainer’s Death Cause Revealed; Coroner Defends Husband

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Nearly four months after the body of missing South Carolina fitness enthusiast Elena Katherine Moore was discovered, authorities have concluded that the 39-year-old died of natural causes related to a preexisting heart condition, bringing an end to the uncertainty surrounding her disappearance.

Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher said Friday that Moore died from complications tied to cardiac dysrhythmia and premature ventricular contractions—an abnormality that disrupts the heart’s normal rhythm.

The autopsy revealed no signs of trauma, including fractures, strangulation or sexual assault, Fisher said. Toxicology tests found alcohol in Moore’s system but no other substances.

“We never saw anything that would indicate homicide. Nothing,” Fisher said. “We were able to follow her path. We were able to pull her medical history, her mental history. We knew that this was not a homicide.”

Elena Katherine Moore smiling in a photo

Elena Katherine Moore, 39, was found dead after she left a Planet Fitness gym in Lexington, South Carolina, on Thursday, June 11, 2026, according to the Lexington Police Department. (Lexington Police Department)

Fisher also pushed back on speculation involving Moore’s husband, Brannon Slice, emphasizing that investigators never identified him as a suspect or person of interest.

Instead, the coroner praised Slice for repeatedly seeking assistance for his wife as she experienced a serious mental health crisis in the days leading up to her disappearance.

“The only person that really tried to help this girl to get her help through the system is her husband,” Fisher said. “He reached out. He tried many times to get her help.”

Moore’s body was found June 17, six days after she vanished following her release from a mental health facility.

Elena Moore selfies

Elena Moore was found dead about a week after she went missing. (Facebook/Elena Moore)

An incident report previously obtained by News Media said Slice reported Moore missing June 12. He told Lexington police that she had been released from an undisclosed facility the afternoon before.

Fisher confirmed Friday that Moore had been involuntarily committed June 5 after what the coroner characterized as a severe mental health crisis.

Moore stayed at the facility until June 11, when she was discharged and sent away by taxi, Fisher said. Although Slice had offered to collect her, the facility arranged the ride instead.

(L) Elena Moore and Brannon Slice (C)

Elena Moore and her husband, Brannon Slice. (Facebook/Elena Moore)

The taxi dropped Moore at a CVS on Sunset Boulevard in Lexington, where she had once worked. According to Fisher, Moore entered the store and told a manager that the driver was stalking her and intended to harm her.

The manager called Lexington police, but Moore had left before officers arrived. The taxi driver entered the store as well, looking for her after she failed to return to the vehicle.

Scene of the death of South Carolina personal trainer, Elena Moore

General view of the scene in Lexington, So. Carolina, June 19, 2026, where the body of Elena Katherine Moore was found. The personal trainer was last seen alive on June 11. (Kat Ramirez for News Media)

Slice later told investigators that Moore entered a Planet Fitness at 6:38 p.m. that day, according to an incident report obtained earlier by News Media. Surveillance footage later captured her walking through a Publix parking lot on Old Cherokee Road.

Investigators reviewed years of Moore’s medical records, Fisher said. Those records showed she had experienced an irregular heartbeat since age 14, while more recent documentation cited cardiac arrhythmia, sinus tachycardia and hypertension.

At Friday’s news conference, Fisher questioned why Moore had been released from the mental health facility despite what she described as a documented psychiatric crisis.

“This whole situation would be different if somebody at that mental health facility … they all saw her medical, her mental crisis,” Fisher said. “But yet she was released.”

Putin Gives Trump Midterm Boost as Russia Agrees to Supply Diesel

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Donald Trump said today that Vladimir Putin had agreed to send hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel to the United States, a move he suggested could help lower pump prices before Americans vote in November.

“I have just concluded a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, saying Moscow would “immediately supply over 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to the American and global marketplace.”

Trump said a further 500,000 tons would be released in November, followed by 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.”

He added that Russia could provide another 3 million tons “within a short period of time,” depending on the condition of its diesel refineries, which have been heavily damaged by Ukrainian drone strikes.

At the same time, the Treasury Department said it would relax sanctions on Russia through April 7 to help enable the diesel shipments. The United States and other countries have imposed extensive sanctions since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the arrangement as a “gift to Putin.” Kyiv was taken by surprise by the announcement, an official told Axios.

“Gifts to Putin will not bring peace or any benefit to the civilized world. Russia will ‘repay’” the diesel with “further terror and treachery,” Zelensky said. “Allowing Russia to sell petroleum products is an investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged.”

The initial 300,000 tons equates to approximately 2.2 million barrels—less than two hours of global diesel consumption, based on calculations using International Energy Agency figures.

Donald Trump greets Putin on the tarmac after they arrived at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15

Donald Trump greets Putin on the tarmac after they arrived at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15

The 500,000 tons scheduled for November would amount to roughly 125,000 barrels a day, or about one-eighth of the approximately 1 million barrels of diesel Russia exported daily before Ukraine’s campaign against its refineries.

Trump said the agreement, combined with America’s “total control of the Strait of Hormuz,” would drive diesel prices lower worldwide.

US diesel prices have climbed to record levels amid the overlapping wars in Iran and Ukraine. AAA puts the average price at $6.28 a gallon, more than $2.60 above the $3.68 average recorded a year earlier.

Diesel futures in the United States dropped about 4.5 percent to $4.66 a gallon on Friday. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading near $104 a barrel, down approximately 0.3 percent.

Diesel fuels the trucks and trains that transport goods across the country, as well as much of America’s farm equipment, making higher prices a concern for households.

The cost of living has emerged as a dominant concern for voters ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in late August, 47 percent of registered voters identified it as the single most important factor in their vote.

The reported agreement with Putin followed claims that Trump had urged Zelensky to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries, arguing that the strikes were contributing to higher diesel prices.

During a September 20 call, Trump repeatedly pressed Zelensky about the attacks and mentioned diesel several times, a source told Axios.

Rescuers work at the site of an apartment building damaged during a Russian air strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Friday

Rescuers work at the site of an apartment building damaged during a Russian air strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Friday

A plume of smoke rises during a reported airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition on the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa, on Friday

A plume of smoke rises during a reported airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition on the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa, on Friday

The call took place on the same day Ukraine launched its largest drone assault on Moscow since the war began. The city’s mayor said 450 drones had been shot down and that the capital’s main oil refinery was struck.

Ukraine has become increasingly adept at hitting the parts of refineries that take longest to fix, such as the units that turn heavy oil into diesel and jet fuel, which rely on equipment Russia cannot easily replace, analysts say.

Global oil prices were already pushed back above $100 a barrel last month after Iranian-backed militias in Iraq were blamed for a drone attack that shut Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline.

Tehran’s Houthi proxies in Yemen have also seized an island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the mouth of the Red Sea, a vital route after Hormuz was disrupted.

Trump has blamed the diesel spike on Ukraine, rather than his own war with Iran, telling reporters at his golf resort in Ireland on September 13: ‘This isn’t done by the Middle East, this is done by what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine.’

‘Very Tense’ Moment Caught Between Bachelor Stars Sam and Snezana

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Tsunami Threat Issued After Massive 7.7 Earthquake Hits Panama

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A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Panama, prompting an urgent tsunami threat alert.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center warned that dangerous waves could affect coastal areas across nine countries: Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico.

Residents in vulnerable coastal communities were told to remain vigilant and follow guidance issued by national and local authorities.

‘A tsunami is a series of waves. The time between wave crests can vary from five minutes to an hour,’ the National Weather Service (NWS) Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu said in its alert.

‘The hazard may persist for many hours or longer after the initial wave.’

The US Geological Survey (USGS) first measured the earthquake at magnitude 8.0 before revising the estimate down to 7.7.

The quake struck southwest of Pitaloza Arriba, a small village of just over 100 people. Tremors were also felt in Panama City and in the capital of neighboring Costa Rica.

Video from the San Miguelito Metro station in Panama City, roughly 134 miles from the epicenter, showed people rushing to evacuate after the ground began shaking.

A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Panama, prompting an urgent tsunami threat alert

People evacuated buildings in drove after feeling the earthquake in Panama City

People rushed out of buildings in Panama City after feeling the earthquake

Workers and visitors of a maternity ward at the Santo Tomas Hospital in Panama City also fled the building

Workers and visitors fled the Santo Tomas Hospital maternity ward in Panama City

Shaken residents gathered in Panama’s streets as they waited for updates on the earthquake’s impact.

Rosendo Domínguez, 60, who is from Herrera province, where the earthquake struck, told The Associated Press: ‘We felt it very strongly. It knocked things over in the kitchen, but we’re okay, though we’re very scared.’

Workers and visitors at the Santo Tomas Hospital maternity ward in Panama City also evacuated the building.

The evacuation sent even week-old babies outside as residents awaited information about possible damage.

Panama’s Civil Protection agency said it was assessing reports of possible damage in areas close to the earthquake’s epicenter.

The Panama Canal Authority said the country’s vital waterway continued to operate normally.

More than 45 minutes later, a magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck Bajo Corral, about 28 miles east of Pitaloza Arriba.

The USGS later recorded a third earthquake, this one measuring magnitude 5.8, near El Cacao.

The village is located approximately 18 miles southwest of the first earthquake’s epicenter.

A maternity ward in Panama City was forced to evacaute, forcing week-old babies outside

 A maternity ward in Panama City was forced to evacaute, forcing week-old babies outside 

Hospital personnel at the children's hospital were seen standing outside moments after the earthquake hit

Hospital personnel at the children’s hospital were seen standing outside moments after the earthquake hit

Above is an aerial view of people leaving the hostpital after the earthquake hit

Above is an aerial view of people leaving the hostpital after the earthquake hit

Several other 5.5-magnitude earthquakes hit off the coast of Panama more than one hour after the first struck. 

A USGS map shows the strongest shaking from the 7.7-magnitude earthquake was reported near the epicenter on the Azuero Peninsula, with powerful tremors around Ocú and Las Tablas. 

Shaking was also reported in Santiago and farther west in David, Boquete and Changuinola. Lighter tremors reached Panama City.

US Sued Over Plan to Blast Utah Canyon Bearing Historic Inscriptions

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Conservation organizations have filed a lawsuit against the US government over a proposed Utah road project that would blast through canyon cliffs marked with historic inscriptions and run an oil-truck route near globally significant Native American rock art.

Under the plan, a narrow, winding dirt track in Gate Canyon would be replaced with a paved road. The construction would cut into cliffs rising about 100 feet (30 meters) and threaten at least 47 historic sites, including 19th-century carvings left by Black “Buffalo Soldiers” serving in the US Army, as well as European settlers and pioneers, according to the lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management.

The legal complaint also says the canyon walls provide habitat for threatened wildlife, including the Mexican spotted owl.

Wells Draw Road in Gate Canyon, Utah, is pictured. via REUTERS

The US Department of the Interior, which oversees the Bureau of Land Management, declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.

Gate Canyon branches north from Nine Mile Canyon, a Utah landscape the Bureau of Land Management has dubbed the world’s longest art gallery.

Stretching roughly 46 miles (74 kilometers), Nine Mile Canyon contains the largest concentration of Native American rock art in the United States. More than 1,000 sites feature over 10,000 images, including artwork believed to date back to prehistoric periods.

The proposed paving project is intended to create an alternate trucking corridor to the Uinta Basin oil fields. Conservationists warn that increased traffic could effectively turn Nine Mile Canyon into an oil-hauling highway, putting one of Utah’s most important cultural and scenic landscapes at risk.

African-American officers of the Buffalo Soldiers pose for a group photo during World War I, with a young girl holding flowers standing among them.

African-American officers of the Buffalo Soldiers are pictured during World War I. Universal Images Group via Getty Images

The 50-page complaint, filed in the US District Court for Utah’s Central Division, accuses the BLM of moving quickly to approve the blasting and paving in April 2026 while keeping the decision-making process out of public view.

The plaintiffs, including the Center for Biological Diversity, argue that approval of the road proposed by Duchesne County violated several federal protections, among them the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act and the Endangered Species Act.

Gate Canyon lies about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Salt Lake City. Black soldiers in the US Army carved their names into its sandstone walls while helping build the existing road.

According to the conservation groups, freighters and other pioneers also left behind signatures, using axle grease to mark the canyon’s walls.

The Utah case was filed only weeks after a federal judge halted the Trump administration’s plans for a border barrier through Big Bend National Park in Texas. That ruling came as courts consider an environmental lawsuit challenging the construction.

President Donald Trump has promoted a “Drill, baby, drill” agenda aimed at increasing US oil and gas production. His administration has sought to accelerate energy permits and reduce environmental restrictions as part of a broader push for American energy dominance.

Gypsy Rose Blanchard Allegedly Drove Knife Into Ken Urker’s Headboard in Jealousy-Fueled Incident

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Gypsy Rose Blanchard allegedly stabbed the headboard of the bed she shared with boyfriend Ken Urker during a jealous outburst.

New information about the couple’s turbulent relationship—and the fear Urker reportedly experienced amid online criticism—has surfaced more than a week after he was found dead at his home in Raceland, La., on Oct. 1. The cause of death has not been disclosed. However, the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office said there were no immediate indications of foul play.

An incident report obtained by Oxygen said Urker’s body was found near drug paraphernalia, a “brown powdery substance” and a handgun.

Gypsy Rose Blanchard Allegedly Admitted to Stabbing Knife Into Headboard in Prison Call

More than a year before Urker’s death, Blanchard reportedly spoke about tensions in their relationship during a phone call with her friend Amelia Bird, who remains incarcerated.

In an audio recording obtained by The Daily Mail, Blanchard said she had lost her temper after finding a card Urker allegedly wrote to a former girlfriend.

During the September 2025 call, Blanchard told Bird that she drank “vodka, tequila, rum and whiskey” after discovering the note. She said she later returned to find the house empty.

“I go grab a knife in the kitchen, and I go to that headboard, and I stab the motherf—king headboard and I carve ‘wh—e’ in the headboard,” she said, according to the recording.

Blanchard allegedly left Urker a message reading, “sleep with your ‘one and only,’” before breaking a framed photograph of the pair. She also said she scattered the letters they had exchanged while she was in prison, throwing them “in the air like money,” according to the call.

She then cut up a blanket—an episode she filmed for social media—and went to her parents’ home.

Blanchard told Bird that Urker responded by texting, “I took pictures of you stabbing the headboard, and the broken glass.” She said he also threatened to seek sole custody of their daughter, Aurora, who was born in December 2024.

She acknowledged that her criminal history may have made the confrontation more frightening for Urker. Blanchard served prison time after recruiting former boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn to kill her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, in 2015.

“There are people close to me that are, like, ‘You scared the f—k out of him. You know what you were in prison for,’” she told Bird, according to The Daily Mail. “But because of my history, it freaks people out. Let’s just be real. It freaks people out.”

Oxygen contacted representatives for Blanchard for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Captain Brennan Matherne, the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office public information officer, told Oxygen that authorities had not received a report about the alleged incident. He said deputies had not responded to any other calls at Urker’s home besides the October 1, 2026 incident.

Urker’s sister, Autumn, told The Daily Mail that the couple ultimately chose to reconcile. She said she raised concerns about the relationship with her brother before his death, but he dismissed them.

“I just fell on deaf ears,” she said. “I was the problem.”

Ken Urker’s Sister Says He Slept With Gun Before His Death

Autumn said Urker had faced mounting stress in recent months after leaked prison phone calls fueled conflict between him and Blanchard.

She also said online trolls attacked the relationship, leaving Urker under pressure. According to Autumn, he began sleeping with a gun after receiving “death threats” and being “doxxed.”

“He had to sleep with a gun every night,” she alleged.

Autumn emphasized that, in her view, Urker kept the weapon nearby because of online harassment and threats—not because he feared Blanchard.

In the wake of his death, Blanchard has also pointed to social media, saying Urker faced constant criticism from those online who mocked him for everything from his appearance to the relationship, according to Page Six.

Blanchard—who called Urker her “greatest love story” in a tribute—has launched an online petition calling for social media platforms to be held accountable for how they handle online harassment reports.

“Ken’s passing has made me determined to turn pain into purpose,” she wrote on Instagram. “I cannot change what happened, but I can advocate for a better system for the next person who feels like no one is listening.”

She told People she believed Urker died of a drug overdose. 

“I don’t know if it was intentional or not,” she said. “He was not in a good state of mind lately.”

Though an autopsy was completed the morning of Oct. 2, the corner said in a statement to Oxygen that “no definitive cause of death” was determined.

“The case remains pending completion of toxicology testing,” the statement continued, “and no further information regarding the cause of death will be available until those results are received and the investigation is complete.”