Cooper Flagg is one of the most hyped prospects in recent NBA history, but he says the hype wasn't always there.The Duke phenom and projected No. 1 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft told The Associated Press that, growing up, he was told he would never achieve his basketball goals.Flagg said the doubts were due to where he was from."Growing up in Maine, theres people that told me I would never be able to make it to the next level or play Division I basketball because Im from Maine and nobody plays up there," Flagg said. "I think just that message of it doesnt matter where youre from, as long as you work hard and trust yourself and trust your ability, then you can really accomplish anything."CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMVery few basketball stars have come from Maine. Miami Heat player Duncan Robinson was born in Maine, but he grew up in New Hampshire and went undrafted in the 2018 draft.The most prominent player to come out of Maine was former Olympic gold medalist Jeff Turner, who played for Vanderbilt in the early 1980s and played in the NBA from 1984-96. But he was out of the NBA from 1986-89 while playing in Italy.Flagg is expected to become the most talented basketball player to come out of the state in its history.MICHAEL JORDAN TO JOIN NBC AS 'SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR' FOR NBA COVERAGEFlagg led Duke this season in almost every statistical category, including points (709), rebounds (278), assists (155), steals (52) and blocks per game (1.4). He averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.4 steals, but his best showing was in January when he set an ACC freshman record with a 42-point performance against Notre Dame.Flagg closed out the year with a semifinal appearance in the NCAA Tournament and was named the winner of the 2025 Naismith Player of the Year Award, becoming just the fourth freshman to win that honor."It doesnt matter where youre from," Flagg said Wednesday at the draft combine. "If you have a goal, if you have a dream and you put your mind to it ... I mean, honestly, for me, it wasnt real until I was in high school, but I always loved the game of basketball. I always put the work in. I always wanted to be the best that I could be."The Dallas Mavericks are expected to draft Flagg after winning the first pick in the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery.The Associated Press contributed to this report.Follow Fox News Digitalssports coverage on X, and subscribe tothe Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got into a heated debate with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., during a hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday after the senator accused Kennedy and the Trump administration of delaying critical cancer care for one of her constituents named Natalie.Kennedy told Murray he wanted to do "everything" in his power to help her constituent, telling the senator repeatedly to contact his office to go over the individual's case. But his answers were not adequate for the senator, leading Kennedy to eventually question whether the Washington state Democrat actually cared about her constituent, Natalie."Mr. Secretary, one of my constituents her name is Natalie Phelps she's a mom of two from Bainbridge Island in Washington state. She has been fighting aggressive stage four colorectal cancer for nearly five years now. Her best hope now is a clinical trial she's participating in at the [National Institutes of Health's] Clinical Center," Murray said in her opening line of questioning directed at Kennedy.BEN & JERRY'S CO-FOUNDER ARRESTED PROTESTING SENATE HEARING: 'RFK KILLS PEOPLE WITH HATE'"But because of the thoughtless mass firing of thousands of critical employees across NIH and HHS that you carried out, Natalie's doctors at that clinical center have told her they have no choice but to delay her treatment by an additional four weeks."Murray added that those four weeks of delayed care "could mean the difference between life and death" for Natalie. She also demanded Kennedy give a "specific" number of how many employees have been cut at NIH's clinical center."I can't tell you that now, Sen. Murray," Kennedy responded. "What I can tell you is that if you contact my office tomorrow, I'll look specifically into that."However, that answer from Kennedy was "not acceptable" to the senator."That is not acceptable. I want an answer," Murray shot back, eventually demanding Kennedy provide her an update on Natalie's case within 24 hours.DEM LAWMAKER SEETHES RFK JR'S 'LEGITIMACY' AS HHS SECRETARY HAS 'EXPIRED' IN HEATED EXCHANGE"Wouldn't you rather get her into that clinical trial as fast as you can?" Kennedy shot back."Absolutely," Murray said."All right, so if you contact my office tomorrow, this is a ," Kennedy said before Murray cut him off."Natalie is sitting there waiting for treatment, you're here to " Murray said before Kennedy interjected to remind her he was trying to help with Natalie's circumstances."I'm offering to help here, but you don't care. You don't care about Natalie," Kennedy told Murray, noting during the hearing he wanted do "everything in [his] power to try to get Natalie into [the clinical trial quicker.]"FDA'S LATEST MAHA MOVE WOULD WIPE OUT KIDS' FLUORIDE PRESCRIPTIONS AS HEALTH RISK EVIDENCE MOUNTSThe spat ended with Murray pivoting to a different question tied to the Trump administration's cuts, which Kennedy spent much of Wednesday on Capitol Hill fielding questions about. Kennedy also participated in a separate House hearing Wednesday that covered the matter and other issues HHS faces.Kennedy told lawmakers he didn't know of any agency head who wants to see budgets slashed, but he pointed out he is not the president, who, Kennedy said, has a "broader vision" than he does when it comes to spending priorities.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP"We must spend smarter," Kennedy said Wednesday in response to inquiries about the Trump administration's cuts at HHS. "We will shift funding away from bureaucracy toward direct impact."

Kathy Griffin accused Stephen Colbert of conducting a "bulls-- ambush" in a 2018 interview on "The Late Show" where the late-night host grilled the comedian about her controversial photo holding up a prop made to look like the bloodied decapitated head of President Donald Trump in 2017.In a video posted to her YouTube channel on Tuesday, titled "Stephen Colbert made me cry!", the comedian recalled her December 2018 "The Late Show" appearnce, which took place roughly 18 months after the Trump photo controversy.Griffin said that when booking the interview she requested that Colbert not bring up the Trump photo as she was tired of talking about it and a producer agreed. However, shortly before she was set to go on stage, she says the same person told her Colbert was going to ask her about it.Griffin said she wasnt happy about it but decided she would try to distract Colbert in order to change the subject. But she said she was shocked by how he kept pressing her on the Trump photo, comparing the experience to being grilled on "60 Minutes."COLBERT CALLS OUT CBS PARENT COMPANY PRESSURING '60 MINUTES'"It was a line of questioning where I remember thinking, Wow, he has way more of a bias against me and my right to take that photo than I imagined in my worst-case scenario, that I had imagined when I couldnt sleep the night before because I was half scared and half excited,'" she said.Griffin said she fought back tears during the interview in order to hide her distress from the audience."What was really happening was a bulls-- ambush" that was "laced with misogyny," she said, claiming Colbert wouldnt have grilled a male comic in the same way.She accused Colbert of using his platform to punch down against a "D-list" celebrity.JIMMY KIMMEL BLAMES LIBERALS 'VICIOUSLY ATTACKING COMEDIANS' FOR TRUMP'S RISE TO POWERWhile she said she used to have high respect for Colbert, the experience soured her on the comedian."For him to be coming at me that way and to see me almost lose itI have such a low opinion of Stephen Colbert right now," Griffin added."What a d---," she said.CBS did not return a request for comment.KATHY GRIFFIN TELLS FANS TO SEE HER BEFORE SHE'S PLACED IN TRUMP'S 'INTERNMENT CAMPS'In the 2018 interview, Colbert spent roughly 10 minutes asking Griffin about the photo and the backlash she experienced from it."60 million Americans thought I was a member of ISIS," Griffin said during the interview. She explained how her professional career suffered and she was allegedly put under federal investigation for conspiracy to assassinate the President of the United States.She also defended her right to take the photo under the First Amendment, which Colbert pushed back on."There are limits, though, to what you can say about the President of the United States, having specifically to do with harm against the President of the United States," Colbert said.CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE"Right, which I did not do," Griffin replied."Well, you were holding up a severed head " Colbert disagreed."No, no. It was a mask. A Halloween mask with ketchup," Griffin objected. "Where would I get a severed head?""It looks like a severed head. It has blood on the neck," Colbert added.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Justin Baldonis lawyers have made new bombshell claims in their case against Blake Lively.On Wednesday, Baldonis team filed a document claiming the "It Ends With Us" actress threatened her close friend, Taylor Swift, if she didnt publicly support Lively during Lively's legal battle against her co-star, People reported.Livelyslawyer, Mike Gottlieb, shared a statement with Fox News Digital calling Baldonis claim "categorically false.""We unequivocally deny all of these so-called allegations, which are cowardly sourced to supposed anonymous sources and completely untethered from reality. This is what we have come to expect from the Wayfarer parties lawyers, who appear to love nothing more than shooting first, without any evidence, and with no care for the people they are harming in the process," Gottlieb said.JUSTIN BALDONI SUES BLAKE LIVELY, RYAN REYNOLDS FOR $400M AFTER ACTRESS ACCUSED HIM OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT"We will imminently file motions with the court to hold these attorneys accountable for their misconduct here."On Wednesday, Lively's lawyers filed a motion asking the court to strike the accusations from its docketas "baseless, unnecessary, improper and abusive," they told Fox News Digital."It should be unnecessary to respond to anonymously sourced, baseless, allegations recklessly leveled without any supporting evidence. It is worth stating for the record, however, that each of the allegations in the Freedman Letter is unequivocally and demonstrably false. As a legal matter, the Freedman Letter is improper," Lively's legal team wrote.Baldonis team wrote May 14 that it believes subpoenaing Swift is necessary for this case."The Lively Defendants' insistence that the Subpoena seeks irrelevant information is wrong," Baldonis lawyer, Bryan Freedman, wrote.Freedman wrote that he received a tip from an anonymous "source who is highly likely to have reliable information." Freedman said that the source shared that Lively asked Swift to delete specific text messages.WATCH: Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds crack jokes on Time100 carpet as they fight legal battleFreedman also alleged that Livelys lawyers contacted Swifts legal team "and demanded that Ms. Swift release a statement of support for Ms. Lively." He also said they were "intimating that if Ms. Swift refused to do so, private text messages of a personal nature in Ms. Lively's possession would be released."Fox News Digital has reached out to Baldoni and Swift's reps for comment.On May 9, Swift was subpoenaed as a witness in the Lively-Baldoni legal battle.Shortly after the news became public, a spokesperson for Swift denied the pop star had any connection to the 2024 film aside from the licensing of her song "My Tears Ricochet," which was featured in the movie's trailer and used in one scene."Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie. She was not involved in any casting or creative decisions. She did not score the film. She never saw an edit or made any notes on the film. She did not even see It Ends With Us until weeks after its public release and was traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024, headlining the biggest tour in history," Swift's representative previously told Fox News Digital."The connection Taylor had to this film was permitting the use of one song, My Tears Ricochet,'" the spokesperson added. "Given that her involvement was licensing a song for the film, which 19 other artists also did, this document subpoena is designed to use Taylor Swifts name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case."LIKE WHAT YOURE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLively and Baldoni starred together in the romance drama "It Ends with Us," which was based on Colleen Hoover's 2016 book and premiered in August 2024. After a press tour rife with rumors ofbehind-the-scenes issuesbetween the two, Baldoni and Lively filed lawsuits against each other.In January, Baldoni accused Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of civil extortion, defamation and more in a $400 million lawsuit, which mentioned Swift.The "Jane the Virgin" star's lawsuit followed Lively's December lawsuitaccusing Baldoni of sexual harassmentwhile filming "It Ends With Us." However, Baldoni insisted Lively had "falsely" accused him in an attempt to repair her reputation from the fallout from the movie's press tour after she allegedly took control of the film.In an attempt to prove his claims that Lively had taken control of the movie's production, Baldoni's legal team suggested the actress had used her friendship with the globally famous Swift to threaten him. While working on the film, Lively insisted on rewriting the infamous rooftop scene. Baldoni had been hesitant about the idea, but he told the actress he would "take a look at what she put together," according to the complaint.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTERAfterward, Lively invited Baldoni to her New York City home, where the actor said he felt Swift and Reynolds had pressured him into using the rewritten scene."Later, Baldoni felt obliged to text Lively to say that he had liked her pages and hadnt needed Reynolds and her megacelebrity friend to pressure him," the complaint said."I really love what you did. It really does help a lot. Makes it so much more fun and interesting. (And I would have felt that way without Ryan and Taylor [emoji] You really are a talent across the board. Really excited nd [sic] grateful to do this together," Baldoni's text said, according to the complaint.Lively shared a lengthy response, referring to Swift and Reynolds as "dragons" who protect her.Both sides have given no indication they intend to settle out of court. Thelegal conflictis scheduled to go to trial before a New York court in March 2026.Fox News Digitals Lauryn Overhultz contributed to this report.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in Southern California have reportedly seized a massive haul of illegally imported cigarettes intercepted from two cruise ship passengers last month.Officers assigned to the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport discovered roughly 150,000 cigarettes, stored in 749 cartons across 10 pieces of luggage, from a couple arriving from Ensenada, Mexico, on April 17, according to a CBP press release.CBP OFFICERS SEIZE OVER $14M OF ALLEGED METHAMPHETAMINE AT SOUTHERN BORDERCBP estimated the seizure which included, but was not limited to, 326 cartons of Newport 100s and 210 cartons of Marlboro Golds to be worth some $59,920, assuming a low-end selling price of $80 per unit."This is definitely a big bust," Jaime Ruiz, the CBP's Strategic Media Engagement Branch Chief for most of the Western U.S., told Fox News Digital. Ruiz called it "one of the largest weve seen at the LA:Long Beach seaport complex."The women presented themselves for inspection after disembarking at the Long Beach Cruise Ship Terminal, at which point the cigarette stash was found.Despite providing purchase receipts, they were unable to produce permits for transportation of such a quantity of tobacco products.SINALOA CARTEL LEADERS CHARGED WITH NARCO-TERRORISM AFTER AUTHORITIES SEIZE 1.65 TONS OF FENTANYL"Selling illegally imported cigarettes could yield high profits for underground vendors due to the low cost of cigarettes when purchased overseas and the evasion of taxes owed upon import," said Africa R. Bell, CBP Port Director of the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport, according to the release."This type of scheme not only evades revenue owed to the United States but may be harmful to the American consumer," Bell continued, noting that "CBP officers at our nations largest seaport complex remain committed to enforcing our laws and to protect the American public."AUSTRALIAN AUTHORITIES INTERCEPT OVER A TON OF COCAINE WORTH $400MInvestigation into the incident may continue, notes FOX 11 Los Angeles, and the women may be subject to penalties for violating import laws.But the "immediate consequence," Ruiz noted, "is that now there is a negative record and,by default, they have incurred a significant loss of nearly $60K."That loss, Ruiz continued, is realized in the seizure and destruction of the cigarettes."Travelers who intentionally disregard U.S. importation laws and regulations often pay a high price," Cheryl M. Davies, CBP Director of Field Operations in Los Angeles, said in the release.

This book covers the full theory and practice of alchemy and how to make the Philosophers' Stone, capable of reversing the aging process and curing all disease to the effect that one could live forever.     The purpose of this book is to release one particular secret, which has been kept hidden for the last 12,000 years. The Philosophers' Stone, Elixir of Life, Fountain of...

GOLDEN CALF WHICH THE WORLD WORSHIPS AND ADORES: IN WHICH IS DISCUSSED THE MOST RARE MIRACLE OF NATURE IN THE TRANSMUTATION OF METALS, VIZ.: HOW AT THE HAGUE A MASS OF LEAD WAS IN A MOMENT OF TIME CHANGED INTO GOLD BY THE INFUSION OF A SMALL PARTICLE OF OUR STONE. JOB, xxvii., 5:—’Great things doeth God which we cannot comprehend.” SENECA,...

The first thing requisite in this Science of Transmutation is the knowledge of the Matter, from whence is extracted the Argent vive and the Sulphur of the Philosophers; of which two the Sovereign Medicine is made and constituted. The Matter from whence is extracted the Sovereign Medicine and Secret of the Philosophers, is only most fine Gold and most fine Silver and Argent Vive, all which thou...

People from Knoxville, Tennessee, Houston, Texas and Detroit, Michigan deliberate Qatar's 'free' $400M luxury plane gift.

President Donald Trump outlines the 'fourth leg' of his proposed tax cuts and weighs in on whether Democrats will vote for his 'big, beautiful bill' in an exclusive interview on 'Hannity.'