A weeklong search ended with the arrest of a 23-year-old suspect accused of carrying out a violent antisemitic attack in Crown Heights during Chanukah. Armani Charles is charged in the stabbing of 35-year-old Elias Rosner, who was wounded in the chest outside a Chabad shul on the third night of the Yom Tov.
Rosner later recounted that the assailant was shouting threats and spewing antisemitic hatred moments before the attack. “I’m going to kill Jewish people, I’m going to kill a Jew today, I don’t give a ….,” the attacker allegedly said. “We wouldn’t be in this mess if the Holocaust had happened.”
According to Rosner, he was targeted after confronting the attacker rather than backing away. He said his belief in “standing up to bullies” drew the attacker’s focus amid a group of Yidden who were outside the shul at the time. Rosner added that his background in martial arts helped him avoid a fatal wound when he was stabbed.
Charles was taken into custody and is facing hate crime charges in connection with the incident.
The Crown Heights stabbing followed closely on the heels of another disturbing antisemitic episode in New York City, though police emphasized the two cases are not believed to be linked. One day earlier, a group of Jewish students were threatened on a subway train after participating in a Chanukah gathering in Union Square.
The students had spent several hours in Manhattan engaged in Chanukah outreach, sharing the light and message of the Yom Tov, before boarding a No. 3 train back toward Crown Heights. While riding the train, two men allegedly entered the car and began hurling antisemitic insults at the visibly Jewish group.
According to testimony from the students, the verbal abuse quickly escalated. One student began filming the encounter to document it for police. “That’s when everything changed,” the student said. “As soon as the younger one realized I was filming, he attacked me.”
Video taken by another member of the group shows the assailant striking the victim inside the subway car, while no other passengers appear to step in during the confrontation.
{Matzav.com}Americans could be headed for what administration officials are describing as a historic tax windfall next year, with top economic leaders projecting unusually large refunds and higher take-home pay in 2026.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said recently that working households should expect a significant influx of cash early in the year. “There are going to be substantial refunds to working American households in the first quarter,” he told Maria Bartiromo. “We’re going to see very substantial, $100 to $150 billion of refunds in the first quarter go directly to Americans’ pockets.”
White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett offered a similar forecast, calling the coming season unprecedented. “We are going to see the biggest refund cycle ever in the history of America, and people are going to get massive refund checks,” Hassett said during an appearance on “Varney & Co.” “We’re expecting just that part of it alone to be worth a couple-thousand-dollar refund,” he added. “The numbers are striking.”
The optimism follows President Donald Trump’s end-of-year address last week, when he predicted “the largest tax refund season of all time” next spring and said many families could save between $11,000 and $20,000 annually.
Backing up those claims, IRS CEO Frank Bisignano said the agency is preparing to deliver exactly what the president promised. “We should expect exactly what the president said, as always happens,” Bisignano said Tuesday on “Mornings with Maria.” “And the great leadership of the Treasury secretary has positioned us to be able to deliver in a whole bunch of ways for America.”
Bisignano, who also serves as commissioner of the Social Security Administration, said the benefits will be widespread. “You’re going to look at probably 94%—plus of middle-class Americans getting a boost, your tax rates coming down and getting the benefit going forward,” he said.
He added that seniors would also see major relief tied to changes in how benefits are treated. “You’ll see all our Social Security recipients getting up to a $6,000 benefit as [Trump] committed to the benefits of Social Security not being taxed,” Bisignano said. “It will be the biggest refunds that we’ve ever seen, and it’s all because of the president’s leadership and the Treasury secretary’s under ‘One [Big] Beautiful Bill,’ which is unparalleled.”
Beyond refunds, Bisignano highlighted a long-term savings initiative aimed at younger Americans. He said the newly branded “Trump accounts,” designed to help children build wealth over time, will open for contributions on July 4, 2026. Calling the plan transformative, he said, “It’s one of the most amazing pieces of tax work ever done. And if you think about it, $1,000 today will be worth $500,000 at age 60.”
The push comes as administration officials acknowledge that many Americans are still feeling squeezed by high prices, even as economic indicators show cooling inflation and rising real wages. Hassett and Bessent have both told FOX Business that the coming tax season is expected to deliver tangible relief, with larger refunds and stronger paychecks intended to ease ongoing affordability concerns.
{Matzav.com}
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said congressional investigators are pressing ahead with an examination of alleged fraud in Minnesota, arguing that state leaders failed to act despite years of warnings and insisting that accountability must extend beyond those who carried out the abuse.
Comer said the committee is focused on determining how much taxpayer money was lost, who benefited, and whether Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison were aware of the situation and allowed it to continue. He said the probe could lead to criminal referrals, not just for individuals accused of fraud, but also for officials he believes enabled it. Comer dismissed Walz’s call for Republicans to halt their inquiry. “For Governor Walz to say Republicans on the Oversight Committee should stand down, he’ll fix it — I don’t think anybody in America believes that,” Comer said. “He’s not going to do anything.”
Appearing Tuesday on Newsmax’s “National Report,” Comer said he has no faith that Walz is prepared to confront what he described as a long-running and expansive scheme involving federal assistance programs. He accused the governor of disregarding internal alarms and shielding a politically significant Democratic constituency.
Comer said whistleblowers inside Minnesota’s government have been raising concerns for years. He emphasized that many of those sounding the alarm are Democrats themselves and state employees who tried repeatedly to get intervention from top officials. “Fortunately for us, we have whistleblowers,” Comer said. “These are good state employees of the state of Minnesota who have been begging for assistance from the attorney general and the governor of Minnesota for years to step in and prevent this fraud.”
According to Comer, those appeals went nowhere because Democratic leaders feared the political consequences of taking action. He said Minnesota’s Somali community plays a central role in the state’s Democratic electoral math. “This Somali population has become a massive part of the Democrat base in Minnesota,” Comer said. “It’s the whole key to the business model of success for the Democrat Party in Minnesota — and on the presidential scale to win the state of Minnesota and get those Electoral College votes.”
Comer alleged that Walz and Ellison ignored the problem as it spread across multiple programs. “They allowed this fraud to continue,” Comer said, adding that state workers witnessed the misuse of funds “every day.”
He also challenged Walz’s attempts to minimize the scale of the losses, saying the numbers remain staggering even under the governor’s own framing. “The governor wants to say, ‘Well, we don’t think it was billions,’” Comer said. “Let’s say it was hundreds of millions — that’s still too much.”
Comer accused Democrats of trying to shut down scrutiny by branding questions about fraud as bigotry. “Anyone like me who tries to question that is a racist or whatever,” he said. “We’re not going to be bullied in this.”
He further argued that early data reviewed by the committee points to unusually high levels of government dependency tied to Minnesota’s Somali population. Comer said the figures suggest roughly three-quarters are receiving full government assistance. “That’s full welfare,” Comer said. “The overwhelming majority of that population is on Medicaid and other types of government programs.”
Comer linked those figures to broader Democratic arguments on immigration and labor, saying Minnesota contradicts claims that expanded migration would primarily address workforce shortages. “You’ve got a massive population in that one state, and the overwhelming majority of that population is on government assistance,” Comer said, adding that assertions that there are no illegal immigrants on Medicaid “are going to be proven false in Minnesota.”
As the investigation continues, Comer said the committee intends to follow the money and the decision-making that allowed the alleged fraud to persist, insisting that ignoring whistleblowers and delaying action should carry consequences just as severe as committing the fraud itself.
{Matzav.com}Federal officials say a sweeping new border initiative will soon reshape large sections of the Rio Grande, with plans calling for hundreds of miles of floating barriers aimed at blocking illegal crossings and strengthening enforcement along Texas’ southern border.
The project, expected to cost roughly $500 million, is financed through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law in July. Administration officials argue the funding reflects a broader strategy that is already producing results, pointing to sharp drops in illegal crossings this year. The Department of Homeland Security has highlighted historically low encounter numbers, while outside reports have described unlawful crossings as falling to levels not seen in more than half a century.
According to U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks, the buoy system would stretch from near the Gulf of Mexico by Brownsville and continue westward along the Rio Grande. He said the barriers will not be placed in shallow portions of the river and can be repositioned as water levels and river conditions change.
Banks said construction is slated to begin in early 2026. The initial phase would cover about 500 miles of the river, with a follow-up phase expanding the system by another 400 miles. The buoys, he explained, are designed to serve as both a physical deterrent and a technological tool, incorporating detection systems that alert agents to movement in the water.
Banks described the effort as a critical security layer. “I have never seen this much support from a president and a secretary,” Banks said in an interview. “The support is even greater than it was in his first administration, as he’s continued to learn and grow in his understanding and knowledge on the border.”
The White House echoed that message in a statement defending the administration’s broader border record. “There’s no doubt that President [Donald] Trump has expeditiously delivered on his promise to secure our border,” a spokesperson said. “While Biden let criminal illegals pour into our country and complained he couldn’t do anything to stop it, President Trump immediately proved him wrong, and the American people are safer for it. It’s amazing what happens when you have a President who believes in empowering Border Patrol to do their job.”
Floating barriers in the Rio Grande are not a new concept. Texas first drew national attention to the approach in 2023, when Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a shorter buoy system installed near Eagle Pass as part of the state’s own border operation. That move quickly triggered legal action from the Biden administration, which argued that Texas lacked federal approval to place an obstruction in a navigable waterway and had not obtained authorization tied to international boundary oversight.
The legal fight moved through federal court and intensified debate over both jurisdiction and safety. Opponents raised alarms about the risk of drownings and questioned whether states or the federal government ultimately control such measures along an international river.
Republican leaders have largely applauded the federal expansion of the buoy system, calling it a long-overdue deterrent. Abbott and other GOP officials have said that a combination of river barriers, fencing, and surveillance technology is necessary to disrupt smuggling networks and discourage dangerous crossings.
Critics, however, argue that water barriers can drive migrants toward even more hazardous routes and say the funding would be better directed toward domestic priorities, including healthcare, asylum processing, and expanded border facilities. Civil rights groups and some local officials have also urged greater attention to humanitarian protections and coordination with Mexico, noting that the Rio Grande serves as a shared international boundary.
Federal officials maintain that the buoy barriers are intended to work alongside other enforcement tools, including expanded surveillance and tougher penalties for illegal entry. Opponents counter that the plan underscores what they see as an ongoing focus on physical infrastructure and deterrence rather than comprehensive, long-term immigration policy changes.
With immigration expected to remain a central political issue in the years ahead, the administration’s decision to move forward with the buoy project is likely to further intensify national debate as the 2028 election cycle approaches.
{Matzav.com}
