The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Friday against President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, striking down a central part of his economic agenda.
Following a busy week on the UFO front, President Donald Trump said that he was ordering files on aliens and their craft — to the extent we have them — released to the public.
A stolen ambulance packed with cans of accelerant was driven into a building that houses Department of Homeland Security offices on Thursday morning in what authorities are calling a targeted attack and attempted arson.
President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he had rescinded his endorsement of U.S. Rep. Will Hurd (R-CO) and would instead by backing his primary opponent, Hope Scheppelman, in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. The decision follows Hurd’s vote against aspects of Trump’s tariff policies.
Trump had previously endorsed Hurd back in October, describing him at the time as an “incredible representative” for the district. Hurd, a first-term member of Congress who assumed office last January, represents a sprawling western and southern Colorado district that includes Grand Junction and rural areas.
He previously clerked for a federal appeals court judge and practiced law before returning to Colorado to raise his family. He won the 2024 Republican nomination and general election to succeed Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who now represents the state’s 4th Congressional District.
Congressman Will Hurd speaking with attendees at the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa.
Photo: Gage Skidmore
The withdrawal comes after Hurd was one of just six Republican members to vote against aspects of the president’s tariff policy earlier this week.
Hurd was among a small group of House Republicans who voted in favor of H.J.Res. 72, a resolution aimed at limiting the president’s emergency tariff authority, and opposed Trump’s tariffs on Canada.
“Based on a lack of support, in particular for the unbelievably successful TARIFFS imposed on Foreign Countries and Companies which has made America Richer, Stronger, Bigger, and Better than ever before, I am hereby WITHDRAWING my Endorsement of RINO Congressman Jeff Hurd, of Colorado’s 3rd District,” the president announced in a Truth Social post on Saturday.
“He is more interested in protecting Foreign Countries that have been ripping us off for decades than he is the United States of America,” Trump said of Hurd, noting that he does not often rescind endorsements. The president concluded by stating that Scheppelman “has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Representative from Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District and, unlike RINO Jeff Hurd, HOPE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”
Scheppelman, a U.S. Navy veteran with 35 years of experience in the healthcare industry, previously served as vice chair of the Colorado Republican Party. She launched her primary challenge against Hurd last June and has campaigned as a pro-Trump candidate.
The Republican primary for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District is scheduled for June 30, 2026. The district has been held by Republicans in recent cycles, though it encompasses diverse rural and energy-producing areas where trade and economic policy resonate with voters.
Rep. Boebert previously faced upset scares in the district, which forced her to move to the more Republican-friendly neighboring district.
The withdrawal comes just a day after the Supreme Court struck down portions of the president’s ability to levy tariffs. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that the administration’s policy will largely remain unchanged, however, as the tariffs were promptly reapplied under different statutes.
Trump further responded by raising the imposed global tariff rate by five additional percentage points on Saturday morning.
A federal jury in Dallas on Friday convicted Keith J. Gray, a 39-year-old former University of Connecticut football player and NFL veteran who later owned clinical laboratories in Texas, in connection with a large-scale medicare fraud scheme.
Gray owns and operates Axis Professional Labs LLC and Kingdom Health Laboratory LLC. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, he orchestrated a scheme in which the laboratories billed Medicare for medically unnecessary genetic tests intended to assess risks of various cardiovascular diseases and conditions.
Prosecutors established that Gray offered and paid kickbacks to marketers who referred Medicare beneficiaries’ DNA samples, personally identifiable information (including Medicare numbers), and signed test orders from medical providers. The marketers used telemarketing to solicit beneficiaries and engaged in “doctor chase” tactics, identifying patients’ primary care physicians and pressuring them to approve testing orders based on qualifications determined by non-medical personnel during phone calls, rather than by the physicians themselves.
To conceal the kickback payments, Gray employed sham contracts and invoices that described payments as compensation for “marketing” hours, though these were structured to align with per-sample kickback amounts. Additional efforts to hide the scheme included characterizing payments as being for “software” or nonexistent loans.
Evidence at trial included text messages between Gray and a co-conspirator discussing proceeds from the arrangement. In one exchange, the co-conspirator wrote, “$ent, you should have it any minute if you don’t already. Get it?”
Gray replied, “Sorry I was filling my bathtub with ones. Yes lol.”
Gray during his brief stint with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers
Axis and Kingdom billed Medicare approximately $328 million for the claims, which were described as false, fraudulent, and tainted by kickbacks. Medicare ultimately paid out roughly $54 million on those claims.
Gray laundered portions of the proceeds by purchasing luxury vehicles, including a Dodge Ram truck valued at more than $142,000 and a Mercedes-Benz SUV valued at more than $145,000, prosecutors established.
He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each count at sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled.
Gray was a standout football player at the University of Connecticut from 2004-2008. A redshirt senior in 2007, Gray served as a team captain and started all 13 games at center for the Huskies. He had appeared in 21 career games with 18 starts at the position overall.
After graduating, Gray signed with the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent in 2009 but did not appear in any regular-season NFL games. He also spent time on the Indianapolis Colts’ practice squad and had a brief stint in the United Football League before transitioning to the healthcare sector.
