Fireworks illuminated the sky, but it was Alex Rodriguez who added a romantic spark to the Fourth of July celebrations.

The former baseball star created quite a stir when he was seen sharing an intimate moment with an unidentified woman at the glamorous party hosted by Michael Rubin in the Hamptons.

Captured by cameras and revealed by Page Six, Rodriguez was caught in a cozy exchange with a brunette, moments before the duo indulged in a passionate kiss.

The event saw both Rodriguez and his mysterious companion dressed entirely in white, leaning in for a romantic clinch as she affectionately held the back of his head.

This isn’t the first time Rodriguez’s social outings have attracted attention; back in May, reports from Page Six noted his flirtatious demeanor with several women at the Corner Store, a celebrity-favored venue in New York City.

The former MLB star’s PDA comes weeks after his split from longtime girlfriend Jaclyn Cordeiro made headlines.

Rodriguez, 50, and Cordeiro, 46, were together for three years before she confirmed their breakup to TMZ in May.

“To clarify, Alex and I are currently taking some time apart but there continues to be mutual love, care, and deep respect between us and for our families,” the bodybuilder told the outlet in a statement at the time.

“We remain supportive of one another, and there is absolutely no animosity, drama, or negative story here,” she added.

Cordeiro also shared that she is also “navigating a serious health matter involving a family member at this time,” which is where her focus lies.

“Alex and I continue to be very close, and out of respect for everyone involved especially our daughters and loved ones I’d kindly ask that any reporting reflects the compassion and privacy this situation deserves,” she concluded.

The former New York Yankees player and the personal trainer were first romantically linked in 2022, when Page Six exclusively reported the pair were “enjoying spending time” together.

A few weeks later, they went Instagram official while spending the holidays together in NYC.

Prior to his relationship with Cordeiro, the businessman was engaged to Jennifer Lopez from 2019 to 2021.

Page exclusively reported in March of 2021 that the duo broke off the engagement following ongoing rumors of his infidelity.

Before that, Rodriguez was married to Cynthia Scurtis from 2002 to 2008, and the exes share daughters Natasha and Ella.

Scurtis ultimately filed for divorce in 2008 due to the “emotional abandonment” of their children, as well as infidelity.

Tensions hit a boiling point in a coastal Los Angeles neighborhood this week, as over 100 residents confronted the management of two local supportive housing programs. The community members voiced concerns over what they perceive as escalating crime rates and a decline in public safety.

During a crowded Monday meeting, one resident highlighted the gravity of the situation, recounting how Venice, California locals are encountering “dead bodies” during regular cleanups. Others expressed worries about drug-related activities, trespassing, and a reluctance to let their children roam the neighborhood unaccompanied.

The heated discussions focused on two supportive housing initiatives, The Journey Program and Safe Place for Youth, both situated on Lincoln Boulevard. Residents allege that since these programs launched around 18 months ago to tackle local homelessness, there has been a noticeable decline in neighborhood safety and living conditions.

While residents scrutinized the influence of these programs on their community, Venice Community Housing stands firm in its belief. Their website states, “Providing supportive services in conjunction with stable housing is the proven long-term solution to end homelessness.”

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The organization also says it provides “trauma-informed resources and supports” to help tenants secure and maintain housing, improve health, enhance education and thrive in their communities.

“This feels like a lot of lip service and not a lot of action,” one resident said as tempers flared.

Residents painted a grim picture of daily life surrounding the facilities.

“We’re finding dead bodies as we’re doing our daily s— and p— cleanup every morning,” one resident told the crowd.

Another parent said, “I don’t feel safe sending my teenage kids out to walk the dogs on their own, and that’s ridiculous.”

Others described feeling trapped in their own neighborhood.

“We’re getting traumatized. Our lived experience is getting destroyed,” another resident said.

Neighbors accused the facilities of bringing more crime, drug activity, trespassing, illegal dumping and violence to the area, prompting residents and business owners to demand increased security, stronger oversight and accountability from the organizations operating the programs.

After the meeting, FOX 11 asked Venice Community Housing Co-Executive Director Allison Riley why she declined to answer questions on camera.

“I’m sorry, I don’t want to be interviewed on camera today,” Riley said.

When pressed about residents demanding accountability over violence and drug activity spilling into surrounding streets, Riley responded, “We’re trying to give that to the community, and we will keep working on that.”

Los Angeles City Councilmember Traci Park said her office has heard complaints from neighbors for months and warned the organizations that future city funding could be jeopardized if conditions fail to improve.

“We are going to continue to fix this and hold these people responsible for providing their own security, for ensuring that the neighborhood around these facilities remains safe,” Park said.

“And you know what? Then we will start talking about walking back their future funding.”

In a post on her official Facebook page after the meeting, Park thanked residents for organizing and attending the meeting and said communities are “right to expect accountability” when taxpayer dollars are invested in homeless housing solutions.

“I’m already taking steps legislatively, and you have our continued commitment to work with LAPD and VCH/SPY, to correct these issues,” Park wrote.

Residents left the meeting unconvinced that enough is being done, saying they want to see meaningful changes instead of more promises.

“It can’t just be an open door,” one business owner said. “Actions need to start having consequences.”

News Media reached out to Councilmember Traci Park, Venice Community Housing Co-Executive Director Allison Riley, the Journey Program, Safe Place for Youth and the Los Angeles Police Department for comment.

To truly comprehend President Donald Trump, one must recognize his unique blend of public achievement and personal wealth. His perspective often blurs the line between these two aspects of success.

For Trump, accomplishments aren’t solely about victories in elections, successful negotiations, peace agreements, or landmark legislation. They’re deeply connected to his position within the financial elite.

It’s no overstatement to claim that even during his presidency, Trump measures his life—and the lives of those around him—as much by personal financial gain as by political achievements.

In his view, wealth, status, and historical legacy are inextricably linked. Trump aspires to be remembered as a transformative leader while simultaneously striving to climb the ladder of global wealth rankings. These goals are not in conflict in his mind; to him, they complement each other.

It may come as little surprise then that the financial disclosure documents released on Tuesday, detailing the first year of his second, non-consecutive term, reveal wealth accumulation on a scale unprecedented for a U.S. president.

The sheer scale of Trump’s financial empire has always been unusual for an American president, but what is different is the way his wealth intersects with the powers of the presidency.

The disclosure runs an astonishing 927 pages. The most eye-popping figure comes from cryptocurrency. Trump’s ventures in the digital asset world produced more than $1 billion in income over the past year, helping fuel a breathtaking expansion of his overall fortunes.

The documents, released by the US Office of Government Ethics, read less like the paperwork of a commander-in-chief than the prospectus for a notorious sprawling multinational conglomerate.

Taken together with his portfolio of businesses and investments, the president reported at least $2.2 billion in total income, compared with a minimum of roughly $622 million generated by his enterprises during all of 2024, before he returned to office. Estimates of his net worth likewise surged, rising to roughly $4.7 billion from about $2.3 billion a year earlier.

The crypto boom is only part of the story. Trump also disclosed millions flowing in from an ever-expanding array of branded consumer products. Royalty payments from Trump Watches alone totaled approximately $4.7 million. Trump-branded sneakers, fragrances and guitars also generated revenue, while Trump Restaurants – owned through one of the president’s holding companies – reported nearly $2.9 million in food and beverage sales.

The disclosure also underscores how global the Trump business empire has become. Real estate ventures with a Saudi Arabia-based developer – including one involving the Saudi government – have generated tens of millions of dollars in new revenue for Trump and his sons. Additional projects in countries including Vietnam and Romania likewise have added to the family’s earnings.

Some of the most controversial questions arise not from the dollar figures themselves but from the potential overlap between foreign capital and presidential decision-making.

Just days before Trump’s January 2025 inauguration, an investment firm tied to the government of the United Arab Emirates acquired a 49 percent stake in World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency business co-founded by Trump and his sons, immediately sparking ethics concerns.

Not long afterward, the Emirati government reached an agreement with the Trump administration – despite reported objections from some national security officials –allowing exports of advanced computer chips essential for artificial intelligence.

Even these extraordinary figures do not tell the whole story.

The disclosure does not capture separate business activities pursued by Trump’s sons, including investments in military contractors, prediction-market companies, and businesses seeking billions of dollars in federal assistance to develop critical minerals mining projects. Those ventures could produce substantial future profits for the extended Trump family, even if they do not directly enrich the president himself.

Nor does the filing fully reflect the broader web of family influence surrounding the administration. Jared Kushner continues to serve as one of Trump’s Middle East foreign policy advisers, leading the negotiations with Iran while simultaneously running a private equity firm that has received billions of dollars from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds.

Taken individually, many of these transactions can be explained. Collectively, however, they amount to something modern Washington has never confronted: a sitting president presiding over an extraordinarily active global business network that generates billions of dollars in wealth while simultaneously exercising the immense powers of the presidency.

Whether one views that as entrepreneurial brilliance or an unprecedented ethical challenge, the scope alone is impossible to ignore.

Trump would argue that he has done nothing different than have some previous presidents.

This brings to mind a trait I learned long ago about Trump, which has helped me to understand the behavior and mindset of America’s 45th and 47th president.

Trump, as a scholar of presidential history, knows exactly what each of his predecessors did when it came to exploiting the office for maximum gain and influence.

From the point of view of the Maven of Mar-a-Lago, if a previous president took advantage of an opportunity, Trump can – and should – do the exact same thing. Only more of it. So he’s not a sucker. Or a weakling.

In other words, Trump is determined to catalog every perk and privilege – and supersize it. To him, a quantitative variation of an Oval Office amenity only proves his superior smarts.

Therefore, if John F. Kennedy tapped his brother to serve as his Attorney General to control how the Justice Department operated, Trump can install his personal attorney in the top job to openly call the shots.

If George W. Bush (and Dick Cheney) claimed the importance of ‘unitary executive’ power during times of war, Trump will make executive decisions along those lines and barely bother to explain or justify his actions.

And if past presidents on occasion got richer while in the office (see Johnson, Lyndon Baines, and Biden, Joseph Robinette), Trump will blow past any concerns – ethical, political or optical – while doing the nation’s business. And nearly every president has happily cashed in after leaving office, an entirely different standard to be sure, but occasionally awkward, indecorous, or impolitic nonetheless.

For journalists, it has been difficult to prioritize news coverage of Trump’s alleged double dealing.

To some extent, Trump has a point about the examples set by past presidents and his own shameless indifference to the criticism makes policing his activities something of a fool’s errand.

For the most part, the general public cares little about these appearances of abuses of office. There is genuine outrage on the left, but the realization that rich politicians tend to get richer, especially when that politician is Trump, does not make for a bombshell headline.

As one longtime Trump observer told me, headlines were squandered during his first term on petty complaints about dignitaries and foreign leaders paying to stay in Trump hotels, which only encouraged Trump to shrug and escalate.

Overall, there have been far more urgent items for which to hold this administration accountable to the public interest.

But this latest round of Trump family buckraking has stunned more than a few onlookers, including on the conservative side, out of their slumber.

Even before Tuesday’s disclosure, some conservative voices had had enough. When the New York Times reported that Don, Jr and Eric Trump had teamed up with the sons of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to spearhead a billion-dollar tungsten mining deal with US government financing in Kazakhstan, the New York Post editorial board sounded off. ‘It was bad when the Bidens did it,’ they wrote, ‘and it’s just as bad when the Trumps do it. It would behoove the Trump administration, and the nation as a whole if the president gets ahead of the growing scandal, acts transparently and cleans up the whole mess before it swamps his final two years in office and defines his legacy.’

Some of my MAGA sources are taken aback, even horrified, by these latest reports, considering the deals greedy, unseemly and politically unwise, bad karma and possibly corrupt. Yet none seemed surprised, acknowledging that this is how the Trump family does business.

Former Obama administration official Steve Rattner, a man who well understands the world of billionaires and high finance, says Trump’s net worth nearly tripling in his second term, rising to around that $6.5 billion, makes Trump’s White House ‘the most brazenly self-enriching in American history.’

In response to a request for comment, the White House told the Daily Mail: ‘Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged – or will ever engage – in conflicts of interest. President Trump proudly made the United States the crypto capital of the world through executive actions, supporting legislation like the GENIUS Act, and other commonsense policies to drive innovation and economic opportunity for all Americans.’

A spokesperson for The Trump Organization said the President’s disclosure demonstrate openness: ‘At nearly 1,000 pages, it represents one of the most comprehensive financial disclosure reports ever submitted and demonstrates a level of financial transparency unmatched in presidential history.’

On Wednesday, President Trump distanced himself from the controversy, telling reporters: ‘I don’t get involved in my personal. We have funds that run my money… They invest my money. I don’t talk to them. I don’t even speak to them.’

Administration denials that there are any conflicts of interest are largely beside the point. No other president has ever garnered such family wealth while on the people’s clock, nor been so cavalier and defiant about it.

Rest assured, there will be copious amounts of investigations by the House and Senate if Democrats take control of one or both chambers after the midterms this November.

Rest assured, also, that Trump and his lawyers will be defiant about those as well, assuming that subpoenas, requests for depositions, document demands and hearings can be slow walked all the way to 2029 when he leaves office.

History may not be kind to the Trump, Kushner, and Witkoff families on this wealth building. But for those families in the business of business, the clock never stops on getting rich and some versions of history easily become lore, stories that burnish the legend rather than tarnishing it.

Donald John Trump can literally not imagine operating any other way.

At just 15 years old, Lulu Gribbin narrowly survived a shark attack off the Florida coast. The encounter tragically cost her a left hand, part of her right leg, and almost her life.

Unbeknownst to Gribbin as she entered the ocean that day in 2024, a shark had bitten another woman just 90 minutes earlier and a mere 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) down the beach. Had she been aware of this earlier incident, she admits she would have stayed out of the water.

Gribbin’s harrowing experience catalyzed the creation of new federal legislation, aimed at enabling emergency alerts to beachgoers’ cell phones if a shark attack occurs nearby.

President Donald Trump recently enacted “Lulu’s Law,” prompting the Federal Communications Commission to permit these life-saving notifications. Championed by Gribbin, the law allows shark attacks to qualify as emergencies that can trigger alerts. Implementation is left to individual states, with Alabama, Gribbin’s home state, having adopted this alert system last year.

“This legislation makes perfect sense,” Gribbin explained. “If a shark attack happens in your vicinity, your phone will receive an alert, much like the Amber Alert system for child abductions.”

Gribbin said she hopes the alert system will help prevent attacks like hers. “I definitely see this law working in the future and I’m really excited to hopefully save lives,” she said.

A fight to survive

Gribbin was one of three people bitten by a shark on June 7, 2024, off the Florida Panhandle.

She was on a mother-daughter trip to the Florida Panhandle. Gribbin said she and her friend had been diving for sand dollars.

“All of the sudden my best friend yelled, ‘Shark!’ and so we all started swimming for our lives,” Gribbin recalled. She said she remembered that sharks are attracted to frantic splashing and yelled for everyone to be calm. Gribbin, who was closest to the shark, was bitten.

“The shark bit off my hand first, and I raised my arm out of the water, and there was just flesh and bone there,” Gribbin said. The shark then latched onto her leg. A man punched the shark off her and strangers on the beach rushed to help. She was flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital.

Doctors were able to save the teen’s life but had to amputate part of her right leg.

Choosing positivity throughout her recovery

In the hospital, Gribbin made a deliberate decision to choose joy and to never give up.

She initially struggled knowing, “that I only have two regular limbs, and that my life would be completely different.”

“I would cry, and I would ask my mom, ‘Why is it happening to me?’ And on that day, we put a Bible verse on my bedside table that said, ‘With God, all things are possible.’ And then she told me that what you look like doesn’t define you, it’s who you are on the inside. And so, I think that stuck with me throughout my whole recovery the past two years.

It doesn’t matter what I look like, as long as I’m spreading positivity and inspiring others to stay strong and to never give up,” she said.

Gribbin was fitted with prosthetic limbs, quickly regained her ability to walk, returned to sports and got her driver’s license. She has gone back in the water and learned to surf, meeting Bethany Hamilton, a professional surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack.

U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, the Alabama Republican who sponsored the legislation, said the legislation happened because of the teen’s “courage, perseverance, and advocacy to protect future beachgoers.”

“Because of her strength, lives will be changed. We should all be inspired by her,” Britt said.

Shark bites remain rare

While sharks are commonly found in the waters off the United States, shark bites are rare, said Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s shark research program.

There are between 60 to 80 known unprovoked bites worldwide each year, he said. It’s extremely rare that two or more people are bit in close proximity. He said in a database of known shark bites, called the International Shark Attack File, there have only been a few instances of multiple bites in a single day.

When that happens, he said it’s likely because of environmental conditions such as sharks following schools of bait fish closer to the shore. Murky water conditions can also be a factor because they increase the chance that a shark will mistake a person for a fish or seal.

In the area where Gribbin was bitten, there are about 20 to 30 bull sharks 1,312 feet (400 meters) offshore at all time, Naylor said. Great white sharks have been spotted more frequently in the chilly waters of New England and Atlantic Canada, according to conservation groups. A smartphone app called Sharktivity also allows shark spotters to report their sightings.

The sightings might unnerve people, but Naylor said it’s important to remember that shark attacks are rare.

“If sharks wanted to eat people, we’d have about 10,000 bites a day. The fact that we have so few is basically testament to the fact that the sharks are doing their level best to avoid people, not to target them,” Naylor said.

Gribbin said she would rather people have the opportunity to get information and make decisions about protecting themselves than to go into the water without knowing.

Another survivor praises the alert system

Braxton Rocha, who was bitten by a large tiger shark off the north shore of the Big Island of Hawaii, said he liked the idea of an alert system. He thinks it is information that people, particularly tourists to the island, will want to know.

Rocha was spearfishing in 2015 when he saw the large shark. “Looked like a bus or submarine. She was the biggest thing I’d seen in the ocean at that time,” Rocha said. He started making his way to shore. When he looked back to check where the shark was, the animal was right in front of him. He tried to push the shark away, but the animal was too big and powerful. It latched onto his leg. Rocha punched it in the nose and the shark let go and swam away.

“Everything happened so fast. It was almost like being struck by lightning. I was still kind of out of it. I looked down and see giant clouds of blood just bursting out of my leg,” he said.

It took nearly 100 staples to repair the gaping wound on his leg. But the experience did not dampen Rocha’s enthusiasm for the ocean and wildlife. “I’ve always loved sharks,” Rocha said.