Gov Sanders rejects demand from legal group to undo Christmas closure: 'I will do no such thing'

FIRST ON FOX: Arkansas Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is firing back at a legal group who took issue with her recent move to close state offices on Friday, December 26 to celebrate Christmas and give employees more time with their families.

After issuing a proclamation closing state offices for Christmas, Sanders received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a group focused on the separation of church and state, calling for her to reverse the move and claiming it was unconstitutional. 

In a response letter, obtained by Fox News Digital, Sanders told FFRF she "will do no such thing."

"You say that my communications as Governor must be neutral on matters of religion," Sanders wrote. "I say that, even if I wanted to do that, it would be impossible. Christmas is not simply an ‘end-of-the-year holiday’ with ‘broadly observed secular cultural aspects,’ as your letter states. It’s not gifts, trees, and stockings that make this holiday special. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, and if we are to honor Him properly, we should tell His miraculous, world-changing story properly, too."

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Sanders went on to call it ironic that she received the letter "claiming I was alienating my non-Christian constituents as I was leaving a Menorah lighting celebration with people from all across Arkansas."

Sanders wrote, "I doubt they would say that my administration alienates non-Christians. In fact, many would say the opposite: that only by voicing our own faith and celebrating other faiths can we make our state’s diverse religious communities feel seen and heard."

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Sanders ended the letter by telling FFRF that they "missed the point" of her Christmas proclamation, explaining that it was "not to browbeat readers with Christian doctrine" but "rather to point to the humility of Christ’s birth and to the amazing fact that the King of Kings was born not in a palace or temple, but in a humble manger attended only by poor shepherds."

"Though you may enter this season with bitterness, know that Christ is with you, that He loves you, and that He died for your sins just the same as He did for mine and everyone else’s," the letter concluded.

The letter from FFRF claimed that Sanders used her "official capacity" to "advance a specific religious viewpoint, in violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause."

Fox News Digital reached out to FFRF for comment. 

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In year-end offer, US triples payment to illegal aliens who sign up for self-deportation

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is offering to pay illegal aliens $3,000 and provide a free plane ticket out of the U.S. if they register by the end of the year for self-deportation on the CBP One app.

The offer triples the normal $1,000 monetary incentive offered by President Donald Trump's administration to illegal aliens who sign up.

"Illegal aliens who sign up to self-deport through the CBP Home app by the end of the year will receive a $3,000 stipend in addition to a free flight home. Using the CBP Home app also qualifies recipients for forgiveness of any civil fines or penalties for failing to depart the country," a DHS press release notes.

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"Self-deportation through the CBP Home app is the best gift that an illegal alien can give themselves and their families this holiday season," the release asserts. "Those illegal aliens who don’t take advantage of this special offer today have only one alternative: They will be arrested, deported, and they will never be able to return to the United States."

President Donald Trump's administration has been cracking down on illegal immigration.

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"Since January 2025, 1.9 million illegal aliens have voluntarily self-deported and tens of thousands have used the CBP Home program. During the Christmas Season, the U.S. taxpayer is so generously TRIPLING the incentive to leave voluntarily for those in this country illegally- offering a $3,000 exit bonus, but just until the end of the year," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem noted, according to a press release.

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"Illegal aliens should take advantage of this gift and self-deport because if they don’t, we will find them, we will arrest them, and they will never return," she warned.

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Christmas gift at the pump: Gas prices hit 4-year low for holiday travelers nationwide

Christmas travelers are getting a major break at the pump this year.

Gas prices have hit their lowest level in four years, leaving a little extra room in the budget for everything else that comes with the season.

Some 122.4 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles from home over the holiday period of Saturday, Dec. 20, to Thursday, Jan. 1, AAA projects. 

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Over 8 million travelers will take domestic flights — while 109.5 million Americans will be traveling by car for their year-end trips, the report noted.

In 2024, the national average price of gas was $3.04. This year the national average has dropped to its lowest in the past four years.

The record high prices of gas were recorded on June 14, 2022, at an average of $5.016.

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The average price for a regular gallon of gas on Dec. 22 was recorded at $2.855 by AAA.

Eleven states have been recorded below the national average.

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Take a look at this list from AAA. 

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'No way' Walz administration was unaware of Minnesota fraud scandal, Emmer says

EXCLUSIVE: The highest-ranking Minnesotan in Congress is demanding accountability for anyone who was involved in or aware of the growing social services fraud scandal in the Gopher State.

"I think as they start to peel this onion back, which just seems to be getting deeper and deeper and broader and broader, whoever was responsible needs to be held accountable," House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, the No. 3 House Republican, told Fox News Digital.

It comes after U.S. attorneys suggested that Minnesota social services programs could have seen potentially billions of dollars' worth of fraud and abuse since 2018.

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Top state officials like Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have heaped doubt on the size and scope floated by federal authorities, though Walz has said he has been working to crack down on the millions of dollars' worth of fraud that has been detected.

Emmer stopped short of calling for Walz to resign when asked by Fox News Digital, stating, "I don't think that's my call," but said anyone found to be culpable in the scandal should be held accountable.

"I would put it this way — everyone is entitled to due process, and we need all the facts. But if someone knowingly and willingly allowed people to steal the taxpayers' money and send it back to terrorists in Somalia, they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," he said.

Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have charged multiple people with stealing more than $240 million from the Federal Child Nutrition Program through the Minnesota-based nonprofit Feeding Our Future.

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The nonprofit's founder, Aimee Bock, was found guilty of multiple counts related to fraud in a trial earlier this year.

The probe has since widened to multiple state-run programs being investigated for potential fraud, however.

"This thing is mushrooming into a much bigger fraud issue spanning over several different programs and potentially different jurisdictions," Emmer said. "As this thing mushrooms, number one, let's make sure we hold the people accountable. I will tell you what I believe. My personal opinion is there is no way that a billion dollars-plus got its way out of the Walz administration without someone in the administration being aware and/or complicit."

"That's what we need to find out — how high does that go? According to our U.S. attorney, it goes to the highest level of Minnesota government. He didn't use names, but I know what the highest level is. We'll see. Let's see the proof."

Walz, who is running for a third term, took accountability in remarks to reporters on Friday: "This is on my watch. I am accountable for this. And more importantly, I am the one that will fix it."

But he questioned whether federal prosecutors' accusations that the fraud could have totaled in the billions were politically motivated.

"You should be equally outraged about $1 or whatever that number is, but they're using that number without the proof behind it," Walz said. "But to extrapolate what that number is for sensationalism, or to make statements about it, it doesn't really help us."

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Dairy consumption linked to lower dementia risk in surprising new study

A large Swedish study suggests that some high-fat dairy foods are linked to a lower risk of dementia.

Researchers in Sweden used data from the Malmö Diet and Cancer cohort, which included 27,670 adults aged 45 to 73 in Malmö, Sweden.

The team then conducted interviews, collected food diaries, and asked the patients questionnaires to calculate how much of each dairy product people ate per day. They also separated dairy into high-fat and low-fat types. High-fat cheese was defined as more than 20% fat, and high-fat cream as more than 30% fat.

Participants joined the study between 1991 and 1996 and were followed for an average of 25 years afterward.

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The main outcome they looked at was all-cause dementia, while Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) were studied separately. Over the follow-up period, 3,208 people developed dementia. Within these groups, those who consumed high-fat cheese were significantly less likely to develop dementia.

"We were a bit surprised to see a lower dementia risk among people who ate more high-fat cheese," Emily Sonestedt, associate professor of nutritional epidemiology at Lund University in Sweden, told Fox News Digital.

At the same time, she says it isn’t entirely unexpected to see a link with vascular dementia.

"Many dementia cases involve damage to small blood vessels in the brain. Our own previous work, and several international studies, including from the US, have shown neutral or slightly protective associations between cheese and cardiovascular disease."

The study adjusted for factors such as age, sex, education, smoking, physical activity, alcohol use, body mass index, hypertension, overall diet quality, and other dairy products.

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People who ate at least 50 grams per day of high-fat cheese had a lower risk of all-cause dementia compared with those eating less than 15 grams per day. They also had a lower risk of vascular dementia.

High-fat cream showed a similar pattern: people consuming at least 20 grams per day had a 16% lower risk for all-cause dementia compared with non-consumers.

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Other dairy products did not show clear links with overall dementia risk. Low-fat cheese, low-fat cream, milk, fermented milk, and butter generally showed no association with all-cause dementia.

One exception was that high butter intake (at least 40 grams a day) was associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer's disease. The study also found that high-fat cheese was linked to lower AD risk only among people who did not carry the APOE ε4 risk variant, a genetic variant linked to Alzheimer's.

This was an observational study, so it cannot show cause and effect, and unmeasured factors may still play a role.

"The study was conducted in Sweden, where people mainly eat hard, fermented cheeses, so the results may not apply directly to countries with very different cheese types and eating patterns," said Sonestedt.

Diet was measured only once, so changes over time were not fully captured. Cream intake was measured with less precision than cheese.

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"Although we adjusted for many lifestyle and health factors, it is still difficult to say that the cheese itself is protective. It is more likely part of a broader eating pattern and lifestyle that may support long-term brain health," researchers noted.

Dementia diagnoses after 2014 were not validated in detail, and baseline cognitive status was not available. 

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Some dementia cases may have been missed, and the results are from a Swedish population, which may limit generalization.

The findings were published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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ISIS, Iran escalating global campaign against Jews, Israel spy chief says

Israel’s national intelligence chief warns that Iran, ISIS and other jihadist actors remain determined to target Jews worldwide, as senior intelligence officials sound the alarm on a sharp global rise in terrorism.

Speaking days after the Hanukkah massacre in Australia, Mossad Director David Barnea said Israel’s spy agency would find "those who sent them wherever they flee, and we will hold them to account," adding that "justice will be done and justice will be seen."

Barnea said the attack in Sydney reflects a broader and ongoing threat. "The criminal idea of terrorism targeting innocent civilians has been and remains a cornerstone of the security strategy of the current Iranian regime," he said. He warned that "jihadist elements, ISIS and others, have also resolved to target every Jew in the world."

"Our hearts are with the families of the Australian victims," Barnea said. He added that the goal of such attacks is to break Jewish resilience, but stressed, "Our spirit will not be broken. We will continue to celebrate our holidays and live our lives in Israel and around the world."

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The comments came as Australian and international authorities continue investigating the attack at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach that killed 15 people and wounded dozens more. Australian officials have said the shooters were inspired by Islamic State ideology, and homemade ISIS banners were found inside their vehicle.

The recent attack has also fueled calls in Washington for a tougher counterterrorism posture. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., told Fox News Digital, "We must stay on offense and never return to the weak policies. Under President Trump, American strength is back, and terrorists know it. Iran’s nuclear program was crippled, ISIS’s leadership was crushed, and a clear message was sent: If you threaten Americans, you will be eliminated."

The Bondi attack followed months of warnings from Israeli intelligence that Jewish communities and Western nations face an expanding terror threat driven by Iran-linked networks alongside Sunni jihadist groups. Senior Israeli intelligence sources previously told Fox News Digital that the Mossad had alerted Australian authorities about Iranian-linked terror activity long before the attack and stressed the danger was not confined to a single country.

"Today it’s ISIS. Tomorrow it’s Iran," one senior Israeli intelligence official said, describing a threat environment in which multiple extremist actors are operating in parallel and often overlapping arenas.

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The official added that Israeli intelligence has identified or disrupted similar activity across Europe, Africa and Asia, including alleged plots involving Germany, Austria, South America, India and Thailand. "If you knew how many terror attacks the Mossad has prevented, you would drop your jaw," the source said.

Barnea also warned that Iran’s use of terrorism is inseparable from its broader strategic ambitions, including its nuclear program. He said Tehran "will sprint toward nuclear weapons the moment it is able to," and that "the idea of developing a nuclear bomb is still alive in their hearts."

Barnea said Israel has a responsibility to ensure that Iran’s nuclear project, which he said has been severely damaged through close cooperation with the United States, is never revived.

As investigations continue in Australia, Israeli intelligence officials say the Bondi Beach attack fits a broader global pattern of terrorism driven by both Iranian-backed networks and jihadist ideology, reinforcing Barnea’s warning that the threat remains active, adaptive and global.

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Trail Blazers' Shaedon Sharpe wows NBA fans with posterizing dunk over Russell Westbrook

Portland Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe made his name known on Saturday night against the Sacramento Kings.

Portland was moving the ball around the arc in the fourth quarter up three points. Sharpe received the ball in the corner, took a dribble and attacked the basket. Kings guard Russell Westbrook came over to help out and attempted to take the charge.

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Instead, Sharpe jumped over Westbrook for one of the best dunks of the NBA season so far. He posed and flexed for the cameras before running back down the court.

Sharpe had 23 points on 10-of-19 from the field with four rebounds and three assists.

Portland selected Sharpe No. 7 overall in the 2022 draft out of Kentucky. He’s averaging 22 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game this season.

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Portland won the game, 98-93. Deni Avdija led the team with 24 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. Toumani Camara added 15 points and Donovan Clingan had 14 points and 14 rebounds.

With the win, the Trail Blazers swept the home-and-home series. Portland improved to 12-16 on the season.

Sacramento’s dismal season continued with the loss. The Kings are 6-22 on the year as trade rumors swirl around some of their top players, including DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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