In Houston, it has been confirmed that the material discovered in Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s van was neither a narcotic nor any forbidden substance, as stated by Representative Sylvia Garcia and lawyer Ruby Powers.

Garcia shared on social media that, according to the Salgado family, the powder was simply an electrolyte supplement intended to maintain hydration during the sweltering Texas summer. “The efforts to tarnish Lorenzo Salgado’s reputation have fallen flat,” she asserted.

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office corroborated Garcia’s assertions, declaring that their tests proved the substance negative for any narcotics. While the DA’s office confirmed these findings, they refrained from further comment due to the ongoing nature of the investigation.

Ruby Powers, representing the Salgado family, affirmed in a statement that the latest test results were communicated to the family, who were informed that the Department of Public Safety (DPS) had verified the outcome.

Powers’ detailed statement included these remarks:

The preliminary report is already clear: the substance was not a controlled substance. An unproven claim was allowed to circulate before it was tested, and the way it was made public did real damage, diverting attention from what actually matters in this case. Lorenzo was shot, and no lab report answers for that.

Powers called for Victor, Lorenzo’s brother, to be released from ICE custody and emphasized the family’s demand for an independent investigation and accountability.

The FBI, which is conducting the federal probe into the deadly shooting, has not yet released any details about what exactly it found the substance in Araujo’s van to be.

Congressional Hispanic Caucus holds hearing in Houston on deadly ICE shooting

Lawmakers were in Houston to hold a hearing on Friday in response to the deadly shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Magnolia Park.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is hearing eyewitness accounts and other testimony related to the deadly shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by an ICE agent.

The shooting happened on July 7 off Canal Street after the Department of Homeland Security said Araujo tried to run over the agent. Araujo’s family disputes DHS’s claims.

ICE later said he was not the target of their operation.

This is a developing story.

In a case that gripped America, Pamela Smart—infamously convicted for persuading her young lover to murder her husband—has requested that a New Hampshire judge permit her latest effort for a new trial to proceed.

Back in 1990, at just 22 years old and employed as a high school media coordinator, Smart was accused by prosecutors of engaging in a sexual relationship with 15-year-old William Flynn, ultimately convincing him to kill her spouse, Gregory Smart.

The following year, Smart was found guilty of being an accomplice to first-degree murder, and she has been serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole ever since.

On Monday, the legal proceedings took a significant step as Merrimack County Superior Court Judge James Kennedy considered Smart’s habeas corpus petition. He has taken her arguments under advisement and plans to issue a written decision in the next 30 to 60 days.

Smart, now 58, filed the petition in January seeking to overturn her conviction, arguing prosecutors misled jurors by providing transcripts of secretly recorded conversations that included words her attorneys say cannot actually be heard on the recordings.

Among the disputed words are “killed” in the phrase “you had your husband killed,” “busted” in the phrase “I’m gonna be busted,” and “murder” in the phrase “this would have been the perfect murder.”

Earlier this year, Smart’s attorney, Matthew Zernhelt, said the new research shows “modern science confirms what common sense has always told us: when people are handed a script, they inevitably hear the words they are shown.” He argued jurors “were not evaluating the recordings independently – they were being directed toward a conclusion, and that direction decided the verdict.”

During Monday’s hearing, Zernhelt argued the petition clears the low bar required to survive a motion to dismiss, saying the court’s role at this stage is simply to determine whether it alleges sufficient facts to warrant an evidentiary hearing.

Pointing to new forensic research, Zernhelt argued written transcripts can influence how jurors interpret difficult-to-hear recordings.

Zernhelt also pointed to recordings a juror made after each day of trial, arguing they show the juror relied on the written transcripts to understand the recordings and ultimately voted to convict Smart.

Assistant Attorney General John Drennan urged Kennedy to dismiss the petition, arguing Smart is attempting to relitigate issues that have already been decided by appellate courts over the past three decades.

Prosecutors argued nearly all of Smart’s claims either were raised and rejected on direct appeal by the New Hampshire Supreme Court or could have been raised years ago but were not.

Prosecutors also noted that during Smart’s trial, the defense challenged the transcripts only over the alleged “doubling” of voices when two people spoke at once – not over the specific inaccuracies now being alleged.

Jurors also were instructed that if the transcripts differed from the recordings, they should rely on what they heard. The New Hampshire Supreme Court later found Smart’s attorneys failed to make a “particularized showing of inaccuracies in the transcripts relative to the recordings or how she may have been prejudiced” by them.

Drennan challenged the scientific study cited by Smart’s attorneys, arguing the court has not received sufficient information about its methodology and that it does not demonstrate actual prejudice to the jury. He also noted jurors were instructed that the recordings – not the accompanying transcripts – constituted the evidence.

“Maybe cognitive bias has set in,” Drennan argued, comparing the issue to reading an automated voicemail transcript before listening to the recording itself. “It doesn’t mean that I can’t, when listening, say, ‘I’m not sure that’s right.’ I know to review it. I know to be skeptical.”

Kennedy questioned both sides throughout the hearing, including whether Smart’s claims regarding the disputed transcripts had already been addressed by the New Hampshire Supreme Court on direct appeal and what specific language in the transcripts allegedly prejudiced the jury.

The judge did not indicate how he intends to rule.

Smart’s attorneys also argue widespread media coverage tainted the verdict and that jurors received flawed instructions, including that they were told they had to find Smart acted with premeditation and were not instructed to consider only evidence presented at trial.

They also contend she should not have received a mandatory life sentence without parole because she was convicted as an accomplice to first-degree murder rather than as the shooter.

Prosecutors contend those claims either were previously litigated, could have been raised years ago or lack factual support.

News Media has reached out to Smart’s attorney for additional comment.

In 1990, Flynn and 17-year-old Patrick Randall entered the Smarts’ Derry condominium, forced Gregory Smart to his knees and shot him once in the head with a hollow-point bullet. Two other teenagers helped plan the killing.

Flynn and the three other teenagers involved in the murder later cooperated with prosecutors and have since been released from prison.

Smart’s latest legal challenge comes after she publicly accepted responsibility for her husband’s death in 2024.

In a prison video obtained by News Media, Smart said she spent years deflecting blame “almost as if it was a coping mechanism” before acknowledging her role in Gregory Smart’s killing.

“I take full responsibility for my part in Gregory’s murder,” Smart said at the time.

Smart has repeatedly challenged her conviction through state and federal courts over the past three decades but has never obtained a new trial. Her requests for sentence reductions and clemency have also been denied, including by Gov. Kelly Ayotte last year.

The case became one of the nation’s first murder trials broadcast live from start to finish and later inspired Joyce Maynard’s novel “To Die For” and the 1995 film adaptation starring Nicole Kidman and Joaquin Phoenix.

The families of those lost in the 9/11 tragedy are calling for the exclusion of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani from the upcoming 25th anniversary ceremonies at Ground Zero. They have accused him of being an apologist for Islamic terrorism, asserting that his attendance would dishonor the memory of the nearly 3,000 victims who perished.

“Our opposition stems from his public record and his failure to adequately acknowledge the day’s horrors,” said Giovanni Galante, who lost his 29-year-old wife, Grace Catherine Galante, to al-Qaeda’s attacks. “He has been associated with, supported, or employed those who have minimized 9/11, defended terrorists, or even suggested that America deserved these attacks.”

In response, Galante, now 55, has helped lead a petition drive that has gathered more than 1,100 signatures within just over a week. Among these signatories are at least 300 relatives of the victims.

“This day holds profound significance for us,” expressed Galante, a Brooklyn-born real estate agent who resides in Florida.

“The commemoration is sacred, not a forum for political expressions, especially from those linked to such controversial viewpoints. His attendance would be deeply distressing and wholly inappropriate, akin to an uninvited guest at a deeply personal gathering.”

Galante and other petition organizers hope to gather enough signatures to convince local lawmakers and the ceremony’s organizers, the nonprofit 9/11 Memorial & Museum, to keep Mamdani away from the silver-anniversary ceremony planned for the former Twin Towers site in Lower Manhattan.

The petition posted on Change.org cites an array of concerns about Mamdani, who is the city’s first Muslim mayor and has promoted his religion since taking office in January. They include:

• Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the “globalize the intifada” rallying cry for violence against Jewish people.

• Mamdani defending al-Qaeda fiend Anwar al-Awlaki — and blaming America for turning the prostitution-loving cleric into a terrorist, according to some of his 2015 social media posts that resurfaced last year. Al-Awlaki became a prominent imam at mosques in San Diego and Virginia, eventually interacting with three of the heinous 9/11 hijackers there, U.S. officials have said.

“Given these concerns, we respectfully ask that the organizers carefully consider whether Mr. Mamdani’s participation would align with the intention of the ceremony and the expectations of the families most directly affected by the tragedy,” the petition says.

“The 25th anniversary should remain centered on remembrance, unity, and an unambiguous rejection of the violence and extremism that defined that day.”

Organizer Cheri Sparacio, whose 35-year-old husband Thomas was killed on 9/11, quipped there are  “so many other examples” why it would be “disrespectful” for Mamdani to attend the ceremony that “we couldn’t fit them on the list.”

They include Mamdani’s longtime association with vile left-wing influencer Hasan Piker, who once said “America deserved” the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, and Mamdani’s outlandish claim that he and other fellow Muslims were also victims of 9/11 because it supposedly triggered a horrible wave of “Islamophobia,” added Sparacio, of Staten Island.

Monica Iken-Murphy, whose 37-year-old husband Michael Iken was killed on 9/11 and was a leading advocate in the creation of 9/11 Memorial & Museum, said she signed the petition but insisted it’s not about Mamdani’s politics.

Only politicians involved in the healing “process from the start” — such as ex-NYC Mayors Michael Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani, former U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton and longtime 9/11 family advocate and City Council Speaker Julie Menin — should join 9/11 family members in attending “this pivotal 25th anniversary ceremony,” she said.

“I don’t want families to feel uncomfortable,” said Iken-Murphy, also a founding trustee on the 9/11 Memorial & Museum’s board. “Others can come a different day, but let the families have their time.”

When asked about the petition drive, Julie Wood, a spokesperson for the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, said the nonprofit has “intentionally worked to keep the commemoration free of politics because remembering those we lost on 9/11 should never be a partisan issue.”

“Government officials from across the political spectrum, including every sitting president, governor, and mayor since 9/11, have attended the ceremony simply to bear witness — they do not deliver remarks and are asked to remain in a designated area,” Wood said.

The mayor’s office did not return messages.

Galante and other organizers said they plan to contact the NYC Council for help in their ban-Mamdani crusade.

Menin did not return a message seeking comment, but Queens Councilwoman Joann Ariola told The Post she’s ready to assist.

“This is a mayor who has endorsed candidates and has been endorsed by individuals who openly said that ‘America deserved 9/11,’ so I completely understand why families of those who lost loved ones would not want him there,” she said.

In a heartfelt moment on Friday, Barack Obama reached out to Caitlin Clark, offering her sincere advice to not let the ‘nonsense’ surrounding her WNBA journey bring her down.

The occasion for Obama’s visit was the gathering of the WNBA’s finest players as they prepared for their All-Star game in Chicago, set for Saturday night.

Upon seeing Clark, the Indiana Fever standout, Obama made a special effort to approach her directly, imparting a thoughtful message.

Now in her third year as a pro, Clark has once again found herself embroiled in relentless controversy, admitting on Friday that it has taken an emotional toll on her.

Despite the potential of stirring the political left, Obama’s gesture appeared to defend Clark, offering her vital encouragement amidst ongoing criticism from competitors.

As he saw her, Obama said: ‘Oh, hey! Caitlin! How are you? Really nice to meet you. You’re great. You’re fantastic. Don’t let all this nonsense get you down.’

Clark interjected and replied: ‘It’s crazy, yeah. I appreciate it.’

Obama then continued: ‘You know, I always say one of the things that was luckiest for me was I didn’t get famous until I was like 45. So I was an old a** man.

‘I mean, you’re my daughters’ age. They’ve not had much, you know, immersion in nonsense. So don’t lose that joy. The game’s like the game and you’re a hooper.’

‘I try, sometimes,’ Clark responded.

‘No, you’re always hooping! And you’re on a nice little run right now,’ Obama concluded.

Clark then asked if Obama would mind getting a picture with her and he happily agreed before they posed for the cameras together.

Addressing her encounter with Obama later on, Clark said: ‘He complimented me for how I handle everything obviously with everything going on… he reminded me “when I got famous in my 40s I didn’t have to do it in my 20s”… it’s definitely a moment I’ll probably remember for the rest of my life.’

It comes after Clark admitted she is ’emotionally exhausted’ and drained by the non-stop controversy surrounding her, opening up in a candid interview about the constant off-court noise and on-court hostility.

The Fever guard confessed that the relentless media chatter and physical altercations leave her shoulders tense every time she steps out of the locker room.

‘When I walk out of the locker room, I shouldn’t be not fearful of what the conversation is gonna be… it’s emotionally exhausting. It’s draining,’ Clark confessed.

‘It makes your shoulders tense. Because, you know, people don’t wanna talk about the basketball. They just wanna stir it up and make something else,’ she told SportsCenter.

Addressing the recent physical clash with Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas, who delivered a strike to Clark’s throat during a heated sequence, the 24-year-old gave a brutally honest assessment of the foul.

‘It seems like there’s always a moment like that in every season that I’ve played so far,’ Clark admitted. ‘And I think for myself, like I just try to navigate it the best I can. It gets exhausting. It gets frustrating.’

Beyond the physical fouls on the hardwood, the former No. 1 overall pick took direct aim at reporters and bloggers who fabricate false narratives about her character without taking the time to know her.

‘I think there’s just like a false characterization of who I am sometimes,’ Clark said. 

‘And I get it like as a reporter or as a blogger, like you can write an opinion piece and that’s your job and whatever. But at the same time, like you don’t know me. Like we’ve never had a conversation.’

While acknowledging the media has a job to perform, Clark urged critics to stop attacking her personal character when they have no genuine insight into who she is behind closed doors.

‘I get people have a job to do. But at the same time, like don’t make accusations about my character and who I am when you don’t know me,’ she urged. 

‘I understand this is your job and this is your profession, and this is what you get to do. And basketball is my profession, what I get to do.’

Concluding with an emotional defense of her love for the game, Clark made it clear that no amount of outside drama will ruin her childhood dream of competing at the highest level.

‘The reason I play it is when I step in between the lines, I love it. And that’s what’s so fun about it for me is like, I get to compete,’ Clark declared. ‘This was always my dream. And nobody should ever try to take that away from me.’