Turning Point USA announced Thursday it ‘unanimously elected Erika Kirk as the new CEO and Chair of the Board’ following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
‘May God Bless Erika, the Kirk family, and the entire team at Turning Point USA,’ the organization said in a statement.
This is a developing story. Please check for updates.
The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to set aside lower court decisions barring President Donald Trump from dismissing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
The new request, which was expected, came on the heels of Cook’s participation in the crucial, two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) rate-setting meeting. For months, Trump has pressed the Federal Reserve to cut rates in order to help spur the nation’s economic growth.
On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals blocked Trump from immediately firing Lisa Cook from her role on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, clearing the way for her to participate in the FOMC meeting.
The outcome of the FOMC meeting impacts every American, with knock-down effects felt in borrowing costs from everything from mortgages to credit cards.
‘The president lawfully removed Lisa Cook for cause,’ White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement on Sept. 15. ‘The administration will appeal this decision and looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.’
The D.C. Appeals Court ruling also came as the Senate narrowly voted 48-47 Monday night to approve Trump’s Fed board nominee, Stephen Miran. He participated in the FOMC meeting alongside Cook.
Trump last month tapped Miran — who currently leads the White House Council of Economic Advisers — to fill the seat vacated by Federal Reserve Governor Adriana Kugler, following her resignation in August. He will finish the remainder of Kugler’s term, which ends on Jan. 31, 2026.
Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb temporarily blocked Cook’s firing, allowing her to continue in her current role for now. She said Trump likely violated Cook’s due process rights and that the Federal Reserve statute does not account for conduct that occurred before a governor took office, like the mortgage fraud alleged against Cook.
The allegations originated with Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to the federal agency that regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Pulte tied Cook to a trio of properties in Michigan, Georgia, and Massachusetts, which prompted scrutiny over whether Cook had misrepresented how the homes would be used. The three mortgage loans were issued in 2021, before she was nominated by former President Joe Biden to join the Fed board.
Pulte made two separate referrals to the Justice Department over Cook’s mortgage applications.
Trump seized on those allegations and ousted Cook on Aug. 25, which prompted her to sue him in federal court three days later. Her lawsuit named as defendants Trump, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
The suit, which was filed on Aug. 28, centered on whether Trump satisfied the ‘for cause’ provisions under federal law required to remove a sitting Fed governor, is the first of its kind. Cook’s lawsuit does not address the allegations that she listed multiple houses as a primary residence on mortgage filings.
The Justice Department opened a criminal investigation on Sept. 4 into Cook over allegations of mortgage application fraud. Her lawyer, Abbe Lowell, wrote in a filing on Sept. 2 that she ‘did not ever commit mortgage fraud.’
Cook’s lawyers have also stressed both in court filings and in arguments before Judge Cobb last month the novelty of Trump’s attempt to oust her — a move they argued lacked sufficient cause, and could be used as a dangerous pretext to oust other members of independent federal boards.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he believes Senate Democrats are posturing for a government shutdown to score a political win with their base, and he’s trying to prevent it.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Thune argued that Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., lack a real reason for not backing the GOP’s short-term government funding extension other than to appease the ‘far left.’
Thune said that in March, when Democrats last joined Republicans to keep the government open, Schumer and his caucus made a ‘very different argument’ about averting a partial government shutdown, but the move was unpopular with their political base.
‘It’s getting to the point now where their base [has] got so much influence in the party, and they’re so demanding on just resisting and fighting everything, with respect to the Trump administration, that they can’t see straight,’ Thune said.
‘It is borderline pathological. It’s like a disease,’ he continued. ‘They just — that this is something with which they’re afflicted, and I think it really blurs their vision. And I think they run the risk with this, again, of putting themselves in a position of where they are viewed as the party that’s trying to block the government from being funded.’
House Republicans unveiled their stopgap bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), earlier this week that would keep the government open under current spending levels until Nov. 21.
The bill is ‘clean,’ meaning there aren’t partisan policy or spending riders, save for the millions meant for beefing up security measures for lawmakers, the judicial branch and the administration, and funding meant for Washington, D.C.’s budget.
While the Republican-controlled House is expected to pass the bill on Friday, the Senate is a different story. Despite Thune commanding a majority in the upper chamber, he will need Senate Democrats to support the bill. And so far, they aren’t budging.
Thune contended that the bill is everything that Democrats — when they controlled the Senate under former President Joe Biden — dreamed of: a clean, short-term bill. But the issue at hand now is a matter of communication.
Schumer has accused Thune of not speaking with him, or Senate Democrats more broadly, about the bill, and he has labeled the GOP’s push to avert a partial government shutdown a partisan effort led by President Donald Trump.
But Thune said he did try to talk to Schumer last week when the GOP was gearing up to change Senate rules to blast through Democrats’ blockade of Trump’s nominees.
Thune went to Schumer on the floor to discuss the then-ongoing talks between Republicans and Democrats on a since-failed deal for confirmations, but he recalled that the Democratic leader brushed him off.
‘He couldn’t get out of the conversation fast enough,’ Thune said. ‘He was, like, running off the floor. So, I mean, there was certainly an opportunity there to say, ‘We need to sit down and talk about, you know, a CR and how to fund the government.’ I just think this is more political posturing.’
‘That’s the way it’s supposed to work. But the way Schumer likes it to work, and I think this is, again, part of his business model, is you go into his back office, behind closed doors and write this, you know, in the dark of night, and that’s just not the way we’re doing business,’ he continued.
Senate Democrats unveiled their own counter-proposal to the GOP’s bill late Wednesday night that includes a slew of their priorities not included in the clean CR, like permanently extending expiring Obamacare premium subsidies, undoing the ‘big, beautiful bill’s’ Medicaid cuts, and clawing back the canceled funding for NPR and PBS.
Thune said that some of the issues that Democrats were pushing in a short-term extension ‘don’t fit there,’ but that conversations, particularly on finding a deal for the healthcare insurance tax credits, could be had later on.
Still, he viewed Democrats’ resistance as not ‘serious,’ given that the end goal of the short-term extension is to actually pass the dozen spending bills to fund the government — a feat that hasn’t been pulled off in Congress since the 1990s.
The House and Senate are currently working on a path forward for three spending bills, which both chambers have already passed. Thune hoped that if lawmakers were able to avert a partial shutdown, that work could continue with the remaining nine funding bills.
‘This will test the seriousness of whether or not they actually want a real appropriations process, and whether they want to have a bipartisan way of funding the government,’ Thune said.
‘And if the Democrats would give us consent to get on them and work with us, we could have a bipartisan process on the floor like we did with those other three, and we could fund most of the government the old-fashioned way, which is the way it’s supposed to be done,’ he continued.
But before any of that can happen, the bill has to make its way to the upper chamber. Thune is leaving the door open for the Senate to work into the weekend, but the Sept. 30 deadline is fast-approaching.
Congress also has a recess scheduled for next week to observe the Jewish New Year, and a vast majority of Republicans will be in Arizona for conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s memorial service.
There are also several procedural hurdles in the Senate that will have to be dealt with, further bogging down the process. Ultimately, Thune believed that it would be ‘up to the Democrats.’
‘If they want to put a vote up sooner, later, and our members again — if the Democrats are going to fight us and make us do this the hard way — may just decide, let’s just set this up for votes,’ Thune said. ‘When we get back here, and we get up against the deadline, when it becomes real, then we use live ammo.’
Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer’s office for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., requested that Attorney General Pam Bondi undertake an investigation into Doctors Without Borders under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
In a copy of Stefanik’s letter reviewed by Fox News Digital, she accuses Doctors Without Borders, often known by its French acronym MSF, of having gone on a media offensive against U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, accusing the organization of ‘orchestrated killing.’
Stefanik claimed the attacks ‘mirror propaganda continuously pushed by Hamas and threaten to undermine the only large-scale humanitarian food operation currently working in Gaza.’
GHF has distributed 167 million meals to Gazans since it started operations in May. During the same period, less than 18% of aid sent into Gaza by the U.N. has reached its destination due to theft and armed looting, per the United Nations Office for Project Services.
Stefanik stated in her letter to Bondi that by ‘using its platform and resources to amplify Hamas-aligned disinformation,’ MSF ‘may cross well into unlawful activity.’ Stefanik noted, the Anti-Terrorism Act ‘makes clear that no individual or organization may provide material support to a designated terrorist group, including through propaganda.’
Stefanik pointed out several indicators that demonstrate MSF ‘are in fact not neutral in the Gaza conflict and in fact only seem to promote Hamas-supported rhetoric.’ She said MSF ‘has made no reference to hostages illegally held by Hamas in Gaza,’ and has not ‘campaigned for them to receive medical treatment.’
Stefanik described several hostages who required specialized care. One hostage was being treated for cancer on Oct. 7. Another lost his hand during a grenade explosion at the Nova festival. A third was kidnapped while nine months pregnant and gave birth while held captive. ‘None is included in MSF’s ‘humanitarian’ advocacy,’ Stefanik said.
Stefanik also called into question the ‘extremist actions and rhetoric’ of MSF staff, which have led to criticism of the organization. In one case, after MSF lamented the death of a staffer who was killed in Gaza in June 2024; the Israel Defense Forces confirmed he was a rocket expert for Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In another, a staffer publicly called for Palestinians to ‘fight and die as martyrs’ according to the French publicationLe Journal du Dimanche in March 2024.
Stefanik also questions whether MSF, a registered 501(c)(3), has violated the ‘strict prohibitions’ that come with nonprofit status. She asked that Bondi’s office review MSF’s ‘political attacks’ and, if necessary, refer the group to the Internal Revenue Service.
‘This is not a matter of routine oversight,’ Stefanik concluded. ‘It is a matter of national security, the protection of U.S. taxpayers and donors, and the defense of legitimate humanitarian organizations in one of the most dangerous conflict zones in the world. President Trump has made clear that the United States will never tolerate support for terrorist organizations in any form, and this case demands that same clarity and resolve.’
MSF did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s questions about Stefanik’s letter.
NEW YORK – Meghan McCain believes ‘the U.S.-Israel alliance is incredibly strong’ even amid rising antisemitism across the country and increasing political pressure from both sides of the aisle.
Fox News Digital sat down with McCain on Tuesday evening before she received the ‘Champion of Israel’ award from the American Friends of Magen David Adom (AFMDA), which supports Israel’s emergency medical and disaster response service. She noted that in her observation, issues surrounding the U.S.-Israel relationship appear to be more partisan as far as the left is concerned.
McCain said that she sees some pro-Israel Democrats, specifically pointing to Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., ‘hedging in different places.’ During her award acceptance speech at this year’s AFMDA New York City gala, she also called out New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who has taken heat for previous acceptance of antisemitic rhetoric such as ‘globalize the intifada.’
‘Pray for this city,’ McCain said, adding, ‘he’s an animal.’ The statement garnered applause from the audience, which gathered at Manhattan’s Cipriani Wall Street.
McCain also acknowledged that there are political elements not just on the left, but also on the right that oppose Israel, all of which she condemned. She urged those in attendance to ‘fight together to combat this destructive message of the radical left and within my own party on the alt-right.’
Despite this, the White House’s ties to Jerusalem give McCain hope that the relationship between the two nations is ironclad.
‘Of many of the reasons that I’m glad that President Trump is president is his wholehearted support of Israel is definitely one of them,’ McCain told Fox News Digital. ‘I think that we have an incredibly strong alliance and shared values and shared political interests and shared global interests.’
The former co-host of ‘The View’ also said that she believes the majority of the American public understands that ‘the interests of Israel and the interests of the United States of America are shared, especially in our fight against Islamic extremism.’
Charlie Kirk – who was also a steadfast supporter of Israel – came up both in McCain’s speech and her conversation with Fox News Digital.
‘I think we’re all sort of struggling with his assassination,’ she told Fox News Digital. ‘I am not satisfied with the reaction of the broad swath of Democrat leaders. When you have people like Ilhan Omar that are still accepted in Democrat spaces after what she said about Charlie Kirk in the wake of his passing, I mean, it’s hideous.’
Speaking to the audience of first responders and their supporters, she pointed out the contrast between those who save lives because of their beliefs and those who end them.
‘Where what you do here is about saving lives, the other side has nothing to offer but destruction. There are people all around the world and even in this country who do not want to participate in debate. They do not want to be proven wrong,’ McCain said.
‘And in the instance of people brave enough like Charlie Kirk to stand for Judeo-Christian values and the values of family and life and freedom and the right of Israel to defend itself against its enemies, they will try to destroy you by any means necessary and dance in celebration when you fall,’ she later added.
Addressing gala attendees, McCain delivered a strong defense of the U.S.-Israel alliance, as well as her personal unwavering support for the Jewish state.
‘No matter how much of the world — motivated by moral cowardice, material interest, or the sublimated antisemitism that still stalks the globe — turns away from Israel, I will not. I will never. And I speak for millions and millions of Americans who feel exactly the same,’ McCain said to a cheering crowd.
McCain credited her father, the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and his relationship with the late Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., for her desire to deliver a strong defense of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
‘My father always understood the importance of the connection between America and Israel. His deep friendship with the man who was for all intents and purposes my uncle, the late Senator Joe Lieberman, was what exposed me to Jewish life, thought, and practice from a young age,’ McCain said. Later in her speech, she added that she and her husband, Ben Domenech ‘feel the same way, as so many Americans do: that Israel’s cause is right, Israel’s fight is noble, and Israel’s means are just.’
Magen David Adom (MDA), which is essentially Israel’s version of the Red Cross, handles a wider range of issues than its American counterpart, the Red Cross, such as disaster relief and blood services.
On Oct. 7, 2023, MDA handled over 21,600 emergency calls, five times more than the number of calls it gets on an average Saturday. Additionally, MDA dispatched 1,430 ambulances and intensive care units alongside hundreds of emergency motorcycles, three helicopters, command and control vehicles, and 24 mass casualty response vehicles equipped to deploy mobile treatment sites. Since the Israel-Hamas war began, 38 MDA personnel lost their lives.
McCain concluded her speech with a stark warning — that Israel’s fight is America’s fight and that ‘If Israel were to lose its war — God forbid — the armies of darkness would march toward us here in America, too.’
The Los Angeles Dodgers are considering using Shohei Ohtani as a relief pitcher in the upcoming postseason.
Ohtani has expressed his willingness to pitch out of the bullpen or even play in the outfield if needed.
Manager Dave Roberts acknowledged the discussions but noted Ohtani’s routine-driven nature contrasts with the unpredictability of a bullpen role.
Three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani has already proven he can be among the game’s best, both at the plate and on the mound. What’s left to conquer?
Apparently … pitching in relief and playing the outfield.
‘He’s a very methodical, disciplined, routine-driven person,’ Roberts said. ‘The pen is the complete opposite, right? You potentially could be taking on risk, and we’ve come this far, certainly with the kid gloves and managing.’
However, the unique nature of the playoffs – and the Dodger bullpen’s recent struggles – could make using Ohtani as a reliever this October more plausible.
After not pitching in 2024 while recovering from elbow surgery, Ohtani has a 3.29 ERA and 54/9 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 41 innings on the mound this season. In his last start, he tossed five no-hit innings against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Ohtani told the Japanese media this week he’s had conversations about pitching in relief this postseason and wants ‘to be prepared to handle whatever role is needed.’
And yes, that could also include a few innings in the outfield.
‘If I do end up pitching out of the bullpen, I think that could also mean I’d need to play in the outfield afterward, depending on the situation,’ Ohtani said. ‘So I want to be ready for anything, no matter what comes my way.’
Under MLB rules, Ohtani can stay in the game as the designated hitter on days when he’s the starting pitcher. But if he comes into the game as a pitcher after starting as the DH, the Dodgers would lose the DH spot once he leaves the mound. Unless he closes out the game, he would have to play in the field to keep his place in the batting order.
‘I don’t know if it’s a pipe dream, but it’s very commendable from Shohei,’ Roberts said. ‘There’s a lot of variables. But to know that he can potentially run out there, it’s great. Maybe just in theory. But again, I love him for even throwing that out there.’
Ohtani did make seven appearances in the outfield as a member of the Los Angeles Angels in 2021. And he memorably closed out the 2023 World Baseball Classic championship for Japan, striking out then-teammate Mike Trout for the final out.
Justin Verlander has had a strong finish to the season, helping the Giants stay in the NL playoff race.
Verlander is now yielding a 2.17 ERA in his last 11 starts after seven shutout innings Wednesday.
The 42-year-old said he wants to play in 2026.
PHOENIX – Justin Verlander slowly put on his crisp white shirt, his cream-colored suit, his stylish brown shoes, turned around and faced the cameras, microphones and notebooks awaiting him, and then let everyone know what has become rather apparent since last month.
Verlander may be turning 43 years old in February and endured a 3½-month stretch that had him questioning whether his career was nearly over, but after the latest chapter of his brilliant renaissance these past two months, he made it official.
He’s coming back in 2026.
Sure, he may not achieve his lofty goal of 300 victories, and still may not pitch until he’s 45, but after seven brilliant innings in the Giants’ 5-1, 11-inning victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, he’s not about to leave the game he loves now.
Cooperstown can wait.
Verlander plans to keep pitching.
“I would hope,’’ Verlander said, “somebody would offer me a contract now.’’
There won’t only be a team offering a contract to Verlander, but there could be a downright bidding war for his services after the finishing kick to this season.
Verlander joined seven-time Cy Young and 354-game winner Roger Clemens as the only pitchers 42 or older to yield one or no runs in four consecutive starts.
Verlander is now yielding a 2.17 ERA in his last 11 starts after seven shutout innings Wednesday, and if you throw out two clunkers in August, he has a 0.68 ERA in the other nine starts.
“I get to talk about about (Verlander) and a milestone and him passing somebody – Gaylord Perry, Walter Johnson – almost every start now,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “That kind of signifies who he is as a pitcher and how he continues to pitch at such a high level.
“To be pitching this well late in the season, with this much under his belt at this point, it’s pretty remarkable.’’
Verlander, 3-10 with a 3.75 ERA, could easily have at least 10 victories this season considering he left the game seven other times with a lead, only to have the bullpen blow it. The Giants’ bullpen is yielding a 4.27 ERA and has blown nine games in Verlander’s starts.
If the bullpen isn’t blowing games, the offense has gone AWOL on the days he pitches. The Giants have scored three or fewer runs in 21 of his 27 starts this season.
The Giants not only failed to score for him Wednesday, but managed only one hit over their last 16⅓ innings before finally breaking out in the 11th inning, four innings after Verlander left.
Does Verlander ever stop to wonder how realistic his goal of reaching 300 victories would be if he caught a few breaks, instead of still needing 35 more wins with Father Time knocking on the clubhouse door?
“I mean, I’m human,’’ Verlander said. “I think we all know. Like everybody in this locker room, all of you guys (reporters), and most of baseball kind of understand where I’m at. So, it would have been nice if possible, but again it’s that point of the year where we’re not playing for induvial (numbers). We’re at that course of the season where I don’t care if I win or lose, I want to give us the best chance to win this, the best chance to sneak into the playoffs.
“So this is the time of year, and in the playoffs, where you know personal things don’t matter. You just want to try to win.’’
The Giants (76-76) still are chasing the New York Mets for the final NL wild card berth, tied with the Cincinnati Reds (76-76) and one-half game behind the Diamondbacks (77-76). But without Verlander, they would have been planning an early winter vacation months ago.
Of course, the way Verlander was pitching the first half of the season, he could have easily been planning his retirement, too.
He didn’t win his first game until July 23, and was 1-10 with a 4.55 ERA on Aug. 21, pitching five or fewer innings in 12 starts. For a former MVP, three-time Cy Young winner, nine-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion, this was unacceptable.
Verlander has always taken great pride in being one of the game’s ultimate workhorses, pitching at least 200 innings in 12 seasons, and leading the league four times. Yet, for the first time in his career, he felt like he was a detriment to the staff.
Verlander, realizing that no season ever goes perfectly, went back to his relentless approach, discovered a different attack angle in a bullpen session with more deception, refusing to give up.
Here he is, finally being rewarded.
“Every day you come to the field for four months, and it’s like, what’s the way out of this?’’ Verlander said. “How do I make the adjustment? What do I need to do? What’s wrong? Because clearly something’s wrong. I just have to try to find it. I had a new thought in the bullpen, I took that into the game, and the game results have been what you see.
“So, I’m glad I didn’t give up.’’
And, oh, so are the Giants, who don’t control their own destiny, but they have life with 10 games remaining, with the next four games at Dodger Stadium.
“His delivery is more sound,’’ Melvin said. “He knows where everything’s going. He uses all of his pitches. He’s got three breaking balls now. A changeup. He pitches with a lot of confidence, knowing that we need him.
“He’s been huge for us. He’s all-in on the team. He’s all-in on helping whoever he can. What he does out there on the mound shows everybody what can be accomplished, his determination and competitiveness, more than anything else.’’
Verlander, one victory shy of tying Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Eppa Rixey for 34th-place on the all-time list, certainly has his teammates in awe. He never gave up. He never showed a lack of confidence. He never criticized his teammates for costing him victories on his road to 300.
No matter what his individual record may bear this season, he’s the ultimate winner.
“What he’s been doing, it’s kind of been inhuman,’’ said rookie center fielder Drew Gilbert, who made a spectacular running catch in the fifth inning to save a run and received a high-five from Verlander, who was waiting for him in front of the dugout. “So, if we’re not playing our hardest behind him, I don’t know what we’re doing. …
“It’s kind of our duty to make plays for him. He’s 42 years old, giving everything he’s got, all you can ask is for guys to care like he does, and be a great teammate like he is.’’
Besides, Gilbert has a unique kinship with Verlander. A former first-round draft pick, Gilbert was traded for Verlander in 2023 when the Houston Astros re-acquired Verlander from the Mets. Now, here they are, actual teammates, meeting for the first time last month.
“I’ve obviously grown up watching him my whole life,’’ Gilbert told USA TODAY Sports, “and now to be in the same locker room as one of the greatest pitchers of all-time, is pretty cool. I think we can all say that.’’
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CHICAGO – Every year, the plumbers’ union dyes it green. The Dave Matthews Band once infamously dumped 800 pounds of poop into it. And at least one section became known for the bubbles produced by toxic sludge on its floor.
The Chicago River has had a choppy history amid the city’s rise into a metropolis. But for the first time in nearly a century, city officials are inviting swimmers back in for the inaugural Chicago River Swim, a race on Sept. 21 aimed at raising money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, research. ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Mayor Brandon Johnson, who OK’d the swim in August, praised the upcoming event in a statement.
‘The return of the Chicago River Swim marks a major victory for our city ‒ a testament to decades of hard work revitalizing our river,’ Johnson said. ‘This event is a celebration of Chicago’s progress and a brighter, more inclusive future.’
According to race organizers, A Long Swim, the swim is the first of its kind in 98 years. Around 400 swimmers, including Olympians, will compete in either 1- or 2-mile races that will pass architectural icons from Marina City, a set of midcentury corncob-shaped apartment buildings from the 1960s, to Merchandise Mart, a massive Art Deco building that was the largest in the world when it opened in 1930. Swimmers will also pass beneath several of Chicago’s emblematic bridges.
The race is organized by A Long Swim, a charity that raises money for ALS research by staging open water swims throughout the United States, including between Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts and between the islands of Molokai and Oahu in Hawaii. Chicago-area native Doug McConnell founded the organization in 2011. The 67-year-old lost both his father and sister to the neurodegenerative disease. His organization has raised $2.5 million for ALS research.
McConnell said the Chicago River swim is inspired by a similar ALS swim in the canals of Amsterdam that has been running since 2011 and which raised around $2 million in the 2025 swim alone. He hopes the Chicago swim becomes a similar marquee event.
‘Chicago does big events really well, and we just want to be on that list,’ said McConnell, naming other big charity races, including the Amsterdam swim and the Boston and Chicago marathons. ‘We think it’s a path to a cure for that horrible disease.’
The race comes after decades of efforts to clean up the river, which served for generations as the industrial powerhouse’s open sewer.
In launching the race, Chicago becomes the latest major city to reopen its waters. Other cities that have done so in recent years include Paris, which opened the Seine for the Olympics and then kept it open for recreational swimmers; Cincinnati, which has been holding the Great Ohio River Swim since 2007; and Portland, Oregon, with the 11-mile Bridge Swim. A Long Swim also held a 29-mile race around Manhattan Island in 2014.
Among the swimmers competing in the Chicago swim are American Olympians Olivia Smoliga, a gold medalist at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, and Natalie Hinds, a bronze medalist at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
Winners get trophies. Proceeds from the race also go toward teaching Chicago-area children to swim, according to organizers.
Determinations about whether the water is considered safe or not are based on readings of the concentrations of pollutants, including E. coli and fecal matter.
Race organizers said that they are conducting testing at eight different points along the race course. So far, all tests have come at between 200 and 600 CCE, a measure of bacteria levels, organizers said.
Below 1,000 CCE is considered safe, 1,000 to 10,000 CCE is considered risky for immunocompromised swimmers, and above 10,000 CCE is considered unsafe.
The Chicago River’s arrival at a point where it’s considered safe enough to swim marks a complete transformation ‒ or so city leaders hope ‒ from its industrial past.
As Chicago rose from being a trapping village on Lake Michigan into the ‘hog butcher of the world,’ as local poet Carl Sandburg put it in a 1914 poem, the river was essential to local industry.
But it also became a dumping ground. Upton Sinclair described a section known as Bubbly Creek in ‘The Jungle’ as a ‘great open sewer.’
‘The grease and chemicals that are poured into it undergo all sorts of strange transformations,’ Sinclair writes. ‘It is constantly in motion, as if huge fish were feeding in it, or great leviathans disporting themselves in its depths.’
According to race organizers, the river only briefly served the sporting purpose they hope it will again.
The Illinois Athletic Association hosted swim races in the river starting in 1908 that drew as many as 100,000 spectators, according to race organizers. But by the late 1920s, industrial and human runoff accumulated in the river to the point that it was no longer considered safe for swimming and the races were called off.
Environmental experts largely credit the Clean Water Act of 1972 for restoring the river from what it had become by the middle of the 20th century.
The act signed under President Richard Nixon prevented businesses from dumping in waterways.
Large-scale pollutants in the water became so infrequent that they became news.
In 2004, the Dave Matthews Band made headlines after its tour bus dumped 800 pounds of poop on people on a tour boat under the Kinzie Street Bridge. The band agreed to pay $200,000 to settle a lawsuit in response to the incident.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced in May that his office had reached a $4.8 million settlement with Trump International Hotel & Tower over violations of Prairie State water protection laws. The settlement was reached in response to a lawsuit over tower operators ignoring regulations around minimizing the impact of building cooling systems on aquatic life. The tower sits on the river and draws in 20 million gallons of water daily for its cooling systems, according to the attorney general’s office.
Today, instead, the river has become something of a playground. Tour boats and luxury yachts are constantly cruising beneath the city’s bridges. Groups of neon green kayaks hang near the riverbanks. The walking path along the river is host to bars and eateries. Flowers bloom in riverbank gardens near where fishers angle to hook one of the over 70 species of fish in the water, up from less than 10 before the passage of the Clean Water Act.
On St. Patrick’s Day, the Chicago Plumbers Union dyes the river green. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has analyzed the dye and concluded it is safe, according to the Sierra Club.
The river will still become polluted after heavy rainfalls due to runoff from the streets and flushing of city sewage systems. Race organizers said they are prepared to call off the race if water analyses find high concentrations of pollutants.
Smoliga, a native of the Chicago area, told USA TODAY that she was unfazed about water quality concerns.
‘I’m super stoked about it because I’ve swum in the lake my whole life,’ said Smoliga, who grew up going to Gilson Beach north of Chicago. ‘I see any body of water and I want to swim in it.’
Smoliga won a gold medal in 2016 and a bronze medal in 2020. The 30-year-old also holds the record for most gold medals won in a single FINA World Swimming Championships after winning eight golds at the 2018 World Championships. She said she is training for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
But the Olympian admitted she was ‘a bit nervous’ about the upcoming swim. She specializes in 50- to 100-meter races and will be swimming a mile. The river swim will also be her second open water race.
‘It’s a totally different beast for me,’ Smoliga said. She added that whatever fears of boredom she expects with long open water swims, she doesn’t expect in the Chicago race. ‘It’s going to be crazy on the river, so many people, the views of downtown, I’ll definitely be mentally entertained.’
As fun as organizers say it will be to watch Olympic swimmers race in the shadows of Chicago’s iconic architecture, medical researchers say the charity swim also proves vital to developing treatments.
Money raised by the swims goes to fund 46 medical research labs, according to Hande Özdinler, A Long Swim’s director of scientific research and the head of a Northwestern University lab focused on upper motor neurons.
Özdinler, an associate professor of neurology at the Chicago-area university, said she focuses on finding experimental labs developing treatments that are too early in the research process for government funding.
‘ALS is a very complex disease, and you can’t solve complex problems with very linear solutions,’ Özdinler told USA TODAY. ‘We need to bring different expertise together, and that’s what I’m doing, using this money to expedite collaborative efforts.’
Among the most notable of the partnerships where she’s directed support is the development of a new drug NU-9 developed at Northwestern by Richard Silverman that has been found to improve neuron health and is believed it could help treat neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS and Alzheimer’s.
The National Institute on Aging awarded $7.3 million to the lab behind the drug for further research.
A Long Swim’s efforts have been crucial to the development of the new drug and other treatments, said Özdinler, adding she hopes the Chicago River Swim will turn into a major marquee event like the swim in Amsterdam.
‘I hope that this will be the beginning of great things to come and generate momentum,’ Özdinler said. ‘It’s extremely important that we move the field forward, that we see an ALS patient survive.’
A Senate Republican wants to stop ‘propaganda’ in America in the name of late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, plans to introduce the Charlie Kirk Act, which would halt the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) from disseminating media, such as radio shows, videos and websites, to influence Americans.
Lee said in a statement to Fox News Digital that from the end of World War II to former President Barack Obama’s second term, the USAGM, which is an apparatus of the State Department, was barred from distributing media within the U.S.
Lee argued that until 2013, it was illegal to ‘target American citizens with propaganda.’
‘In 2013, these protections were taken away,’ Lee said. ‘My legislation restores this safeguard under the name of an American martyr for freedom of speech and freedom of thought: Charlie Kirk.’
‘As Charlie’s vital work so ably demonstrated, Americans can figure out the truth for themselves without government telling them what to believe,’ he continued.
Lee’s bill would add stronger guardrails to the Cold War-era Smith-Mundt Act, which was initially designed to promote the U.S. around the globe. However, the law was tweaked in 2012 to allow the materials produced by the agency to be made available in America.
The Charlie Kirk Act would prevent media produced by the agency from being shown in the U.S. right away, instead effectively embargoing it in the U.S. for 12 years. It would also prevent the agency from using the media it produces from influencing Americans.
Lee’s latest legislation is not the first bill he’s introduced to honor Kirk, who was assassinated in Orem, Utah, last week.
His resolution condemning that act of political violence passed unanimously in the Senate this week.
‘This is just a flag planted on a hill,’ Lee said on X. ‘What matters is where we carry it next.’
Former White House chief of staff Jeff Zients is on Capitol Hill Thursday as the House Oversight Committee’s probe into former President Joe Biden’s mental acuity draws to a close.
He said nothing to reporters on his way into his closed-door voluntary interview, though the ex-Biden aide did shake hands with House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., on his way into the room.
The sit-down is expected to last from about 10 a.m. into the afternoon.
Zients is the last former Biden official expected to be interviewed by the committee, which is also looking into whether the then-president was fully aware of clemency orders and other executive actions signed by autopen during the latter half of his term.
Comer told reporters ahead of the interview that Zients is ‘one of the most, if not the most important, witnesses in our investigation.’
‘Zients was the one who authorized the use of the autopen, especially down the stretch in the last lame duck period of the Biden administration,’ Comer said. ‘We’ve had a lot of witnesses come in that were supposedly in Biden’s inner circle that were shielded from President Biden, especially in the last six months of his administration. So we believe Zients is the guy that was potentially making a lot of decisions down the stretch.’
Zients’ recollection will be of particular interest to House investigators, given his senior role in the Biden White House for most of those final two years in office.
Before that, he served as counselor to the president and White House COVID-19 response coordinator from Biden’s swearing-in in January 2021 until April 2022.
Perhaps most critical to the committee is Zients’ reported key role in the chain of command for Biden’s autopen pardons.
It’s not uncommon for presidents to use an autopen to sign documents, and it has been used by leaders on both sides of the aisle.
However, Comer is questioning whether Biden was really handing down those decisions, given public concerns about his mental and physical acuity that arose toward the end of his term.
The New York Times reported that Zients would have been among the top aides relaying Biden’s clemency decisions to assistants, who then drafted those orders before they were circulated back to Biden’s senior officials and then later given final approval.
In that same report, Biden said he made every clemency decision on his own.
Axios reported earlier this month that Zients signed off on pardons granted to five of Biden’s family members less than 24 hours before he left office.
The former president’s allies have pushed back on the Republican-led House Oversight probe, however, denouncing the investigation as politically motivated.
‘You managed a White House in disarray after public reporting began to focus on the apparent decline of President Biden’s mental capabilities. You reportedly called an all-staff call in July 2024 ‘in which [you] urged President Biden’s team to unite and move forward from Biden’s terrible debate performance[.],’’ Comer wrote in a June letter to Zients.
‘The scope of your responsibilities — both official and otherwise — and personal interactions within the Oval Office cannot go without investigation. If White House staff carried out a strategy lasting months or even years to hide the chief executive’s condition — or to perform his duties — Congress may need to consider a legislative response.’