Collin Murray-Boyles dreams of becoming an NBA player were realized on Wednesday night, but his reaction to hearing his name being called at the draft left fans puzzled.The Toronto Raptors selected Murray-Boyles with the No. 9 pick out of South Carolina. The broadcast panned to Murray-Boyles appearing to shake his head and utter an expletive under his breath as he heard that the Raptors selected him.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM"F---," he appeared to mutter as he stood up at his table. It was either out of shock of the realization that he was turning pro or that it was the team that selected him.Regardless, the NBA world noticed Murray-Boyles reaction and he was asked about it afterward."Just disbelief," he said, via CBS Sports. "What I said was not a bad thing by any means. Thankful."Even the Raptors made a social media post about it.HORNETS DRAFT PICK KON KNUEPPEL CALLS ENTERING NBA 'BLESSING FROM GOD'Murray-Boyles played two seasons with the Gamecocks and made the All-SEC Freshman in his first season and was All-SEC in his second season. He led the conference with a 58.6 field goal percentage in 2024-25. He averaged 16.8 points per game.Toronto could use some offensive firepower after finishing 11th in the Eastern Conference. The team will bring back R.J. Barrett, Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, Jakob Poeltl and Gradey Dick next year.Add Murray-Boyles to the mix, and the Raptors may be in contention for the postseason once again.Follow Fox News Digitalssports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

The Pentagon announced Wednesday that it is establishing an expansive new military buffer zone in Texas aimed at bolstering border security as illegal crossings continue to plummet to record lows.The zone, known as a National Defense Area (NDA), will span 250 miles along the Rio Grande River through Cameron and Hidalgo counties with temporary barriers and signage being set up to secure the area.Members of the Joint Task Force-Southern Border, under the direction of NORTHCOM will operate the zone and they will be responsible for monitoring and carrying out patrols. They will not carry out law enforcement duties but do have the authority to detain border and transfer them to Border Patrol.FEDERAL MAGISTRATE JUDGE DISMISSES TRESPASSING CHARGES AGAINST 98 ARRESTED IN NEW MILITARY ZONEThe zone sits on land transferred from the International Boundary and Water Commission and will fall under the administration of Joint Base San Antonio, the Air Force announced.The designation marks the latest in a series of NDAs established to strengthen interagency coordination and bolster security operations along the U.S. southern border, the Air Force said.A 170-mile NDA was set up in New Mexico in April, attached to Fort Huachuca in Arizona while a 63-mile zone was established in West Texas attached to Fort Bliss in May, bringing the total area to well over 480 miles."These efforts reflect USNORTHCOMs ongoing mission as the DoDs operational lead for homeland defense, ensuring the territorial integrity of the United States southern border," the Air Force said.A 100-mile NDA will also be set up in Arizona, according to an ABC News report citing a U.S. official. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Pentagon to confirm this report.Despite the NDAs being set up this year, 98 illegal migrants who crossed into the New Mexico zone had their trespassing charges dismissed last month with a judge ruling the immigrants did not know they were entering the military zone and therefore could not be charged, according to court documents.The new Texas NDA comes as the Trump administration continues to see record-low levels of illegal crossings.Between June 1 and June 22, there were 5,414 apprehensions at the border, with the busiest sector being El Paso. During that same timeframe, there have been 986 known "gotaways." Both numbers are the lowest ever recorded.'MAIN HOTSPOT' AT NORTHERN BORDER RECORDS 95% DROP IN ILLEGAL MIGRANT APPREHENSIONS IN MARCH: WHITE HOUSEIn May, there were just under 9,000 apprehensions ofillegal immigrantsat the border, compared with roughly 118,000 the year prior under the Biden administration by CBP.When President Donald Trump took office in January, the first 11 days saw only 9,086 encounters, and since the numbers have been roughly similar or lower since then.In 2023, there were points when roughly 10,000 migrants were crossing into the U.S. illegally daily, as many people were able to apply for asylum through the CBP One app.Gotaway numbers are now averaging 46 per day, compared to the average of 1,833 per day at one point under Biden in 2023.Border czar Tom Homan said that zero illegal migrants were released into the U.S. in May.Fox News Cameron Arcand and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

50 Cent offered to pay for New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani to leave the state on Wednesday after learning about his tax plan from an interview that referenced the rapper.The video he referenced was from "The Breakfast Club" podcast on June 11 where Mamdani appeared while campaigning for the Democratic primary earlier this month. During the interview, Mamdani explained his goal of raising corporate taxes to pay for plans to "Trump-proof" the city."We're talking about corporations that are making millions of dollars, not in revenue, but in profit," Mamdani said. "And the second is taxing the top 1% of New Yorkers. We're talking about people who make a million dollars a year or more, taxing them just by a flat 2% tax increase."BERNIE SANDERS, AOC-BACKED MAYORAL CANDIDATE PLANNING MASSIVE SPENDING INCREASES IN NYCHe added, "I know if 50 Cent is listening, he's not going to be happy about this. He tends to not like this tax policy, but I want to be very clear this is about $20,000 a year. It's a rounding error. And all of these things together, they make every New Yorker's life better, including those who are actually getting taxed now."50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, later responded to Mamdanis comments on Instagram."Where did he come from? Whose friend is this? Im not feeling this plan. No. I will give him $258,750 and a first class one-way ticket away from NY. Im telling Trump what he said too!" 50 Cent wrote.Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdanis team for a comment.CITY-RUN GROCERY STORES, DEFUNDING POLICE, SAFE INJECTION SITES: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT NYC'S NEXT POTENTIAL MAYOR50 Cent notably endorsed President Donald Trump in 2020 after learning that then-candidate Joe Bidens tax plan would tax New York at a rate of 58% and New York City at a rate of 62%."WHAT THE F--K! (VOTE For TRUMP) IM OUT," Jackson wrote on Instagram. "F--K NEW YORK The KNICKS never win anyway. I dont care Trump doesnt like black people 62% are you out of ya f--king mind." He later walked back that endorsement.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Vice President JD Vance is leveraging the social media platform Bluesky, which is an X competitor commonly used by liberals, to troll Democrats just one week after joining the platform and subsequently becoming its most blocked user, Fox News Digital found."Hello Bluesky, I've been told this app has become the place to go for common sense political discussion and analysis. So I'm thrilled to be here to engage with all of you," Vance said in his inaugural Bluesky post June 18, before sharing a quote from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' solo concurring opinion earlier in June upholding a Tennessee law banning transgender surgeries for minors."To that end, I found Justice Thomas's concurrence on medical care for transgender youth quite illuminating. He argues that many of our so-called "experts" have used bad arguments and substandard science to push experimental therapies on our youth," Vance said. "I might add that many of those scientists are receiving substantial resources from big pharma to push these medicines on kids. What do you think?"Bluesky is a social media alternative to X that is dominated by liberal voters and Democratic elected officials after they fled X following President Donald Trump's November 2024 victory.X is owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who was a top Trump ally on the campaign trail and who previously oversaw the Department of Government Efficiency under the Trump administration.JD VANCE ACCOUNT SUSPENDED, THEN QUICKLY RESTORED, ON LIBERAL X COMPETITORVance's first BlueSky post followed the platform mistakenly banning his account after it was flagged as a potential Vance impostor account, Fox Digital previously reported."We welcome the Vice President to the conversation on Bluesky," the company told Fox News Digital in an email response, noting, "There have been many past attempts to impersonate Vice President JD Vance on Bluesky as he is a public figure, and the jd-vance-1.bsky.social account was flagged as part of that pattern by our automated systems, and temporarily suspended.""The account was quickly reinstated within 20 minutes of the suspension, and we've also added a verified badge to help users confirm the authenticity of the profile," the statement added.CALIFORNIA GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM CHALLENGES VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE TO DEBATE: 'HOW ABOUT SAYING IT TO MY FACE?'Vance has become the most-blocked person on Bluesky since he first joined just a week ago, according to data posted by ClearSky, which keeps tabs on social media accounts that have been blocked by fellow users. Vance's Bluesky account has been blocked by nearly 150,000 other accounts, ClearSky data reviewed by Fox Digital Wednesday afternoon showed.In the week since Vance joined the platform, he has repeatedly trolled Democrats, including following New York City's mayoral primaries, when democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani trounced top competitor and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at the polls. Mamdani's victory is viewed as the Democrat Party moving farther to the left in New York City after national voters sounded off in the 2024 election that the party's embrace of some left-wing policies alienated Americans."Congratulations to the new leader of the Democratic Party," Vance quipped on Bluesky while tagging Mamdani.A handful of other Republicans also took to social media Wednesday to mock Democrats for nominating the most liberal candidate in their pool of prospective mayors, including New York Rep. Elise Stefanik and the National Republican Congressional Committee, Fox Digital previously reported.Vance took another apparent shot at Democrats Monday, when he posted to Bluesky, "President Trump just said to Iran's nuclear program: no way jose."MARK CUBAN SAYS LIBERAL ALTERNATIVE TO X HAS BECOME 'HATEFUL' DUE TO LEFTIST GROUPTHINKThe message followed outrage among Democrats a few days prior on June 20, when Vance referred to Democrat California Sen. Alex Padilla as "Jose" Padilla when asked about the senator's removal and detainment from a Department of Homeland Security press conference earlier in June to protest federal immigration raids in Los Angeles."I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question," Vance said during a press conference on June 20 when asked about Padilla, calling him by the wrong first name. "I guess he decided not to show up because there wasnt a theater. And thats all it is."REPUBLICANS USE MAMDANI BOMBSHELL VICTORY OVER CUOMO AS AMMUNITION TO BLAST DEMOCRATS AS EXTREMISTSPadilla and fellow Democrats, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, criticized Vance for using the wrong first name."He knows my name," Padilla said Saturday during an interview on MSNBC, adding, "He's the Vice President of the United States you'd think he'd take the situation in Los Angeles more seriously."Vance had only posted nine messages to his Bluesky account as of Wednesday afternoon, including messages that were also posted to his far more frequently used X account."I wonder if other VPs had as much excitement as I do," he posted to X and Bluesky on Tuesday after Iran and Israel agreed to a ceasefire following the U.S. ordering strikes that destroyed a trio of Iranian nuclear facilities.Vance added in another Bluesky message also found on his X account Tuesday, "We are seeing a foreign policy doctrine develop that will change the country (and the world) for the better: 1) clearly define an American interest; 2) negotiate aggressively to achieve that interest; 3) use overwhelming force if necessary."Fox News Digital's Peter Pinedo, Paul Steinhauser and Marc Tomasco contributed to this report.

Carol Alt initially gawked at the idea of modeling a G-string for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit."There was a moment when [SI Swimsuit editor] Jule [Campbell] brought out a G-string," Alt told Fox News Digital. "I looked at that G-string, and I was like, Theres no way my dads going to let me do that! Theres no way. My father would kill me.""And she didnt push me Jule never pushed anybody to do anything they were uncomfortable with," the supermodel shared. "She brought out some other bathing suits that were a little more demure that I felt more comfortable with."SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SWIMSUIT MODEL KIM ALEXIS EMBRACES AGING NATURALLY WITHOUT COSMETIC PROCEDURESIt was another cover girl who convinced the pinup to strip down for the magazine."The magazine came out and I saw Ms. Christie Brinkley wearing that G-string [during] a sunset, sitting on the beach," the star recalled. "And it was such a spectacular picture Credit is due. Christie wore that bathing suit and it looked so beautiful. And the art, it was so artistic I thought, What am I doing? I should be celebrating the womans body. And it changed my mind on many things in my business."Alt, 64, is among the numerous supermodels who spoke out in a new documentary, "Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbells Swimsuit Issue." Directed by Campbells daughter-in-law, Jill Campbell, it explores how the founding editor of SI Swimsuit transformed a struggling magazine into a media empire, all while discovering some of the most influential supermodels in the fashion industry.WATCH: SI SWIMSUIT MODEL CAROL ALT SAYS CHRISTIE BRINKLEY INSPIRED HER BOLD LOOKCampbell passed away in 2022 at age 96. Alt, the daughter of a fire chief, said it was the no-nonsense Campbell who inspired her to heat things up by stripping down."I came with my frilly white shirt up to here," said Alt, pointing at her neck while chuckling. "[SI Swimsuit] did give me a little bit more spice, I have to say, in my career. But it was because I saw how beautiful it was. She never pushed me. Jule never pushed me, never, ever. I think in the end, I started pushing her, truthfully."Alt made her SI Swimsuit debut in 1981 in Florida, the outlet reported. She landed the cover a year later, after her photo shoot with John G. Zimmerman in Kenya."I was scared to death to meet Jule," Alt admitted. "My agency wanted me to do Sports Illustrated. They sent me over to see Jule Campbell. And in her office, theres all these pictures and all these covers She took one look at me, and she said, You look like Christie Brinkley, so I cant really take you on Sports Illustrated Swimsuit,' which was kind of a disappointment."Still, Campbell saw something in Alt, who was dubbed "The Face" of the fashion industry."[Jule] said, I will take you on the Alaskan shoot," said Alt. "I was like, Well, thats cool too. Ive never been to Alaska. Thats how I met Jule In the beginning, she thought I looked too much like Christie Brinkley. And in the end, I ended up looking like me, and she ended up using me. And in my second year, I got the cover, so that was pretty quick. And it was all thanks to Jule. She championed me."CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTERCampbell joined the magazine during the dawn of the Twiggy era, The New York Times reported. The outlet noted that Campbells first cover, in late January 1965, featured 18-year-old Sue Peterson, sporting a nude body stocking and a white fishnet jumpsuit, among other pieces. Middle America "blew a gasket.""Its really interesting from the lens of 2025 that she would receive death threats and criticism," Jill told Fox News Digital. "Some people did not like seeing women in bathing suits in a sports magazine. And they would call it a male sports magazine. But during that time, there were so many women that enjoyed this magazine for the bathing suits. Even now, people comment on the gorgeous bathing suits and pictures.""She dealt with it because she didnt feel like she was doing anything wrong," Jill shared. "She didnt feel like she was objectifying women. She was creating art. She was creating fashion. There were women in bathing suits in every other magazine that was on the market. There were beauty pageants. So why was she getting the wrath of this?""You could see in some of the interviews when she would get this criticism," Jill continued. "She always did this eye roll because she was tired of it. She was a working woman. She just wanted to get her job done. She wasnt trying to create Playboy and exploit anyone."Alt said that Campbell only worked with trusted photographers, and she was fiercely protective of her muses."One of the things Jule did to protect the girls was to step right in front of the photographer and pretend she was adjusting something, styling something, or moving a bathing suit," said Alt.LIKE WHAT YOURE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS"She would jump right in front And it wasnt really to edit something or style something. It was because maybe something got a little risqu or a bathing suit moved, and she went in there and protected us. And I think on some level, all of us knew that. Thats why we loved Jule so much."Dealing with "inappropriate behavior" wasnt foreign to many models. But with Campbell, things were different, Alt stressed. On an SI Swimsuit set, the models were treated with respect and the photographers were "gentlemen.""It was everywhere," she said about the challenges models endured outside of SI Swimsuit."Whether you were going for a fitting and some guy tried to grope you, or you were on a shoot and some guy tried to break into your room. There was always an inappropriate something happening. But I always felt it was the way that you handled it and extracted yourself from the situation that made that a horrifying situation or just an anecdote in your life.""It was an anecdote in my life many times, but it never got to the point where it was a horrible situation because I was always able to maneuver myself out Everybody dealt with it in the way that they knew best.""But Jule she protected the girls, protected her job, and she gave them a beautiful magazine that became a complete brand," said Alt. "Thats an amazing gift. She had that gift."Alt has zero regrets about modeling that G-string for the magazine. She said her appearance catapulted her to stardom, resulting in a successful career as an author and entrepreneur. At age 62, she walked the SI Swimsuit Runway Show at Miami Swim Week."I had people coming up to me and asking me if I was Carol Alt, not if I was that girl on the cover of a magazine," said Alt. "[SI Swimsuit] was one of the building blocks of my career. And Im still here 47 years later."

Like many sports fans these days, A.J. Dillon is locked into the WNBA, but not exactly because of Caitlin Clark.It is actually one of her teammates -- Sophie Cunningham who has the new Philadelphia Eagles running back glued to the television.In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, Dillon said he was "like all the fans who became fans a week ago" when Cunningham came to the defense of Clark, who was fouled earlier in the game, by committing a flagrant foul of her own, which resulted in a huge scrum on the court and ejections.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMDillon said he was discussing the matter on his podcast with his brother-in-law and said after recording that he would buy Cunningham's jersey. Reports surfaced that Cunningham's jersey was out of stock, and while those were never confirmed, Dillon posted his purchase on social media.Dillon said she earned a newfound respect for Cunningham, who he dubbed his "new favorite player," for protecting her team's best player."Caitlin Clarks obviously the best player on that team, arguably the best player in the WNBA, if not the best. You got your star player, theyre drawing a little bit, but think about it like the quarterback. Thats our quarterback, were gonna make sure shes protected. If somebody pushes Jalen Hurts, everybodys gonna be in there. I respected that, being there for the team." Dillon told Fox News Digital.CAITLIN CLARK'S SHOOTING WOES CONTINUE AS FEVER RELY ON ALIYAH BOSTON'S CAREER NIGHT FOR WIN OVER STORMDillon added that he plans on debuting the jersey on the 4th of July on a boat."Im a fan, I like that approach to the game, and just being a tough player for the team, not letting anybody push your teammates around, I like that."The whole ordeal occurred when Connecticut Sun guard Jacy Sheldon poked Clark in the eye last week. She was also pushed to the floor by Marina Mabrey. Cunningham wrapped up Sheldon under the basket on a hard foul in the fourth quarter, and the two were ejected."During that, it was just part of the game. I think the refs had a lot to do with that. It was a build-up for a couple years now of them just not protecting the star player of the WNBA," Cunningham told reporters days after the team lost to the Golden State Valkyries. "At the end of the day, I'm going to protect my teammates. That's what I do."Fox News' Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.Follow Fox News Digitalssports coverage on X,and subscribe tothe Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

The family of Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, killed on Jan. 29, 2022 during a blizzard, is still searching for justice this week, days after jurors cleared his ex-girlfriend Karen Read of homicide charges.Read, 45, will serve a year of probation for drunken driving but was not guilty of second-degree murder, manslaughter and fleeing the scene of a deadly accident."The only way that we would have found some kind of peace in this wouldve been a guilty verdict," Vanessa Rizzitano, O'Keefe's cousin and a former Boston 25 journalist, told the outlet.SPECIAL PROSECUTOR WARNS KAREN READ SUPPORTERS' BEHAVIOR IS ANTITHESIS OF JUSTICEShe said that an eruption of cheers from Read's supporters outside the courthouse made her "sick to [her] stomach" and Read's claim, moments later, that "no one had fought harder for justice for John O'Keefe" enraged the family."Hearing those words come out of her mouth, literally, was sickening," Rizzitano told the station.Read repeated the claim at a celebratory dinner with her family and legal team hours later.KAREN READ'S LAWYERS IDENTIFY EXACT MOMENT PROSECUTION 'LOST THE CASE' IN MURDER TRIAL"No. The prosecution, his family, his loved ones, including myself, were the ones that fought the hardest for Johnny," Rizzitano said. "Not you."GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUBJurors spent four days deliberating after hearing more than 30 days of testimony in her retrial on the charges. Last year, a deadlocked jury resulted in a mistrial at the end of her first proceeding.Special prosecutor Hank Brennan, a high-profile defense attorney asked to lead the case after last year's hung jury, told Fox News Digital Monday that he was disappointed with the verdict, "and the fact that we could not achieve justice for John O'Keefe."SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTERFOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X"After an independent and thorough review of all the evidence, I concluded that the evidence led to one person, and only one person," he said. "Neither the closed federal investigation nor my independent review led me to identify any other possible suspect or person responsible for the death of John OKeefe."Prosecutors alleged that Read backed her 2021 Lexus LX 570 SUV into O'Keefe outside a house party and fled the scene after a night of drinking. She came back with two other women nearly six hours later and found him unresponsive on the ground.Police missteps, including the firing of a lead investigator, sloppy work at the scene and a disputed chain of custody for key evidence, left plenty of reasonable doubt for jurors.The defense argued that something else caused O'Keefe's injuries and denied a collision ever happened.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth excoriated reporters at a Pentagon press briefing on Thursday, accusing them of rooting for the failure of President Donald Trump and the militarys recent strikes against Irans three key nuclear sites.Hegseth addressed recent media reports citing a leaked low-confidence preliminary report from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) that suggested U.S. strikes against Iran likely put the country back mere months."You, the press, specifically you, the press corps, because you cheer against Trump so hard," he said. "It's like in your DNA and in your blood to cheer against Trump because you want him not to be successful so bad. You have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes. You have to hope maybe they weren't effective."A DIA source previously told Fox News that the "low confidence" assessment was based on just "one days worth of intelligence reporting" and more intelligence has been gathered in the days since through other sources and methods.TRUMP, HEGSETH SEETHE AT FAKE NEWS MEDIA FOR DOUBTING US STRIKES OBLITERATED IRANIAN NUCLEAR SITES: SCUMHegseth accused the press of misrepresenting the facts."Maybe the way the Trump administration is represented isn't true. So let's take half truths, spun information, leaked information, and then spin it," Hegseth said of the media. "Spin it in every way we can to try to cause doubt and manipulate the mind, the public mind, over whether or not our brave pilots were successful."He also criticized the media for not shining a light on the American service members who carried out the strikes on Saturday and defended Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar from Iran's counterattack.TRUMP THRASHES CNN AS GUTLESS LOSERS FOR COVERAGE OF US STRIKES ON IRANHegseth then chided reporters, alleging "the fake news" of acting irresponsibly with their coverage, saying "classified information is leaked or peddled for political purposes to try to make the president look bad.""What's really happening is you're undermining the success of incredible B-2 pilots and incredible F-35 pilots and incredible refueling and incredible air defenders who accomplished their mission, set back a nuclear program in ways that other presidents would have dreamed," he said. "How about we celebrate that?"Hegseth described the Iranian nuclear sites targeted in Operation Midnight Hammer were "destroyed," "defeated," and "obliterated" in what he called "a historically successful attack.""We should celebrate it as Americans, and it gives us a chance to have peace, chance to have a deal and an opportunity to prevent a nuclear Iran, which is something President Trump talked about for 20 years," he said. "And no other presidents had the courage to actually do so."Fox News Digitals Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

A controversial change to the Medicaid provider tax rate in Senate Republicans version of the "big, beautiful bill" has been knocked out by Senate rules.Senate Budget Committee Democrats announced on Thursday that Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled against a slew of core provisions within President Donald Trump's colossal bill, including tweaks to Medicaid that divided Republicans in the upper chamber.SENATE REPUBLICANS LOOK TO SWEETEN MEDICAID POT TO SILENCE DISSENT ON TRUMP'S 'BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL'Indeed, MacDonough ruled that the harsher Medicaid provider tax rate crackdown in the Senates version of the bill did not comport with the Byrd Rule, which provides guardrails for the budget reconciliation process.That ruling and the stripping out of other provisions that included denying states Medicaid funding for having illegal immigrants on the benefit rolls, preventing illegal immigrants from participating in Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and preventing Medicaid and CHIP funding from going toward gender-affirming care, among others, has gutted many of Republicans key cost-saving Medicaid changes and likely set back their plan to put the mammoth bill on Trumps desk by July 4.Senate Democrats vowed to inflict as much pain as possible on Republicans through the "Byrd Bath," where provisions are gone through line-by-line to see whether they comply with the Byrd Rule.TOP TRUMP HEALTH OFFICIAL SLAMS DEMOCRATS FOR 'MISLEADING' CLAIMS ABOUT MEDICAID REFORMSenate Finance Committee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., accused Republicans of "scrambling to rewrite parts of this bill" as more and more provisions are knocked out by the parliamentarian."Democrats are continuing to make the case against every provision in this Big, Beautiful Betrayal of a bill that violates Senate rules and hurts families and workers," Merkley said in a statement. "Democrats are fighting back against Republicans plans to gut Medicaid, dismantle the Affordable Care Act, and kick kids, veterans, seniors, and folks with disabilities off of their health insurance all to fund tax breaks for billionaires."The Senate Finance Committees changes to the provider tax rate were a stark departure from the House GOPs version of the bill. Senate Republicans went further than the Houses freeze of the rate, or the amount that state Medicaid programs pay to healthcare providers on behalf of Medicaid beneficiaries, for non-Affordable Care Act expansion states and included a provision that lowers the rate in expansion states annually until it hits 3.5%.SEVERAL PROVISIONS FAIL TO PASS MUSTER WITH SENATE RULES IN 'BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL'Those changes angered a handful of Republicans, like Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who have warned not to make revisions to the healthcare program that could shut down rural hospitals and boot working Americans from their benefits.The parliamentarian argued in her ruling that "ending states' ability to tax healthcare providers would severely limit states' ability to provide healthcare to millions of Americans who depend upon Medicaid for their care."In order for Senate Republicans to ram the presidents agenda through the Senate with a reduced 51-vote threshold, provisions within the bill have to adhere to the Byrd Rule, which requires that policy changes must have a budgetary and spending impact.News of the provisions removal comes as lawmakers were floating a possible fix to the crackdown in the form of a stabilization fund for rural hospitals. One proposal floated by the Senate Finance Committee would start a fund that distributes a total of $15 billion over the next five fiscal years to states that apply for the program.

A 175-year-old family farm in New Jersey is fighting to stay afloat as its co-owner is speaking out against efforts by the local government to seize the land for affordable housing.Andy Henry discussed his and his brother Christopher's historic farm in Cranbury, New Jersey, and how they are fighting back against the eminent domain initiative during "Fox & Friends.""We got a letter on April 24 informing us of this unfortunate decision that they [Cranbury officials] wanted to take the entire 21 acres," Henry said on Wednesday."So, of course, ever since then, we've been pushing back. And now they're saying, 'Well, actually, we'll just take half of it and leave the house.' That would leave us with a non-viable farm for at least 40 cows and many sheep."RELIGIOUS FREEDOM BATTLE ERUPTS AS NEW JERSEY TOWN ATTEMPTS TO TURN CHURCH PROPERTY INTO PICKLEBALL COURTSThe Cranbury Township Committee announced an affordable housing plan that will allow local officials to seize the Henry family farm through an eminent domain seizure. This stems from a New Jersey mandate ordering that towns in the state build more than 146,00 affordable housing units by 2035, according to a NJ.com report.RIGHTEOUS HARVEST: HOW FAITH AND FARMING CAN HELP US LIVE THE AMERICAN DREAM"It makes me feel terrible," Henry said. "It was a shock. We are surrounded by warehouses, been turning down developers for years. We just wanted to be left alone and take care of our place like my ancestors did before us."The Henry family bought the farm in 1850 and have turned down developers for years in an effort to keep the property in the family."Fox & Friends" co-host Ainsley Earhardt asked Henry what the farm property meant to his family, whose descendants had owned the land since before the Civil War. He remarked that it symbolized much more than just his family, but the entire Cranbury community as a whole.BUSINESS OWNERS TAKE ON CITY THEY SAY IS PLAYING 'MUSICAL CHAIRS' WITH PROPERTY IN EMINENT DOMAIN CASE"Its a part of our legacy, and I've said it's part of the town of Cranbury, too," Henry said. "It's a historic farm which helped the town to grow. I mean, you couldn't go to a grocery store then; the farmers were providing the food directly around the town."Cranbury residents have shown strong support for the Henry farm. A GoFundMe created to help the family pay for legal costs has raised over $100,000 as of June 26.The case has also attracted the Trump administration's attention.Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins took notice of the Henrys land battle earlier this month, writing in an X post that "the Biden-style government takeover of our family farms is over," and that the USDA is "exploring every legal option" in aiding this particular case and similar ones across the United States.