TV News LIES

This fall, multiple states including Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee and Wisconsin have reported outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth disease, a contagious virus that commonly infects children under 5 but can also cause symptoms in older kids and adults, too.

“This year, [cases seem] to be out of control,” said Dr. Allison Agwu, a professor of adult and pediatric infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. For example, in Agwu’s state of Maryland, cases are at “four to five times what they saw this time last year,” she said.

Dr. Matthew Thomas, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at WVU Medicine Golisano Children’s in West Virginia, said spikes typically happen in cycles. “Some years you’ll see a lot of cases, like we’re seeing this year, and then it kind of fades away, where you don’t hear about it for a while,” Thomas said.

With cases higher than normal, it’s important to know the signs of the virus and what to do if you (or your kids) get sick. Here’s what to know:

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The U.S. military took out another alleged drug-trafficking boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing three “narco-terrorists” as the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, and its strike group arrived in the Caribbean on Sunday. 

The vessel was struck in international waters on Saturday and was purportedly operated by a designated terrorist organization, U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) announced on Sunday. It is unclear which terrorist organization the U.S. military is referring to.

The attack was conducted by Joint Task Force Southern Spear, a counternarcotics joint task force within Southcom, which was formed in October.

“The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group’s deployment represents a critical step in reinforcing our resolve to protect the security of the Western Hemisphere and the safety of the American Homeland,” said Adm. Alvin Holsey, Southcom’s commander. Holsey will be retiring later this year.

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“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route and carrying narcotics,” Southcom said in a post on the social platform X, attaching a 14-second video of the strike. 

The strike was disclosed the same day as the arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford, which has more than 4,000 sailors and carries F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets as well as long-range Tomahawk missiles, at the Caribbean Sea.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is wading into a handful of Senate races as the progressive wing of the Democratic Party looks to assert its influence. 

Sanders has endorsed three Senate candidates so far: Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (D) in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.); oyster farmer Graham Platner in Maine; and Abdul El-Sayed, a former local health director in Michigan.

His endorsements come as Democrats grapple with competing visions over the party’s future ahead of both the midterms and the 2028 presidential race. 

“We’re in the midst of a political realignment,” said Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of the Sanders organization Our Revolution. 

“I think it remains to be seen — is it the populist right or the populist left that ultimately prevails?”

Sanders announced his latest political endorsement this week, weighing in on the Democratic primary for Smith’s seat next year and backing Flanagan over centrist Rep. Angie Craig (D-

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It was as if Alysa Liu couldn’t believe it. 

As her free skate ended and the crowd rose to their feet, the 20-year-old figure skater threw her hands on her head. She needed a big day on Sunday, Nov. 16 to win first place at 2025 Skate America, and she felt like she didn't perform as well as she could've.

"In my opinion, I did not skate that good," Liu said. "That's why I was just like 'ah, silly mistake.'"

Despite how she felt her program went, the day ended with the hardware around her neck matching the color of her dress: gold. 

Liu delivered a powerful free skate to win Skate America for the first time in her career, and continue her stellar run as she heads toward returning to the Winter Olympics.

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From regulating the price of chicken to levying fees on cigarettes, Hamas is seeking to widen control over Gaza as U.S. plans for its future slowly take shape, Palestinians in Gaza say, adding to rivals’ doubts over whether it will cede authority as promised.

After a ceasefire began last month, Hamas swiftly reestablished its hold over areas from which Israel withdrew, killing dozens of Palestinians it accused of collaborating with Israel, theft or other crimes. Foreign powers demand the group disarm and leave government but have yet to agree who will replace them.

Now, a dozen Palestinians say they are increasingly feeling Hamas control in other ways. Authorities monitor everything coming into areas of Gaza held by Hamas, levying fees on some privately imported goods including fuel as well as cigarettes and fining merchants seen to be overcharging for goods, according to 10 of the Gaza residents, three of them merchants with direct knowledge.

Ismail Al-Thawabta, head of the media office of the Hamas government, said accounts of Hamas taxing cigarettes and fuel were inaccurate, denying the government was raising any taxes.

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Ukraine’s army said on Saturday it struck a Russian oil refinery in the Ryazan region near Moscow, as “part of efforts to reduce the enemy’s ability to launch missile and bomb strikes”. Explosions and a large fire were observed at the site, said the military. Ryazan is located about 200km (125 miles) south-east of Moscow.

Russian officials often do not admit such attacks have succeeded, and the Ryazan governor, Pavel Malkov, adopted the standard line that Ukrainian drones were shot down but debris happened to hit the target. “Falling debris caused a fire on the premises of one enterprise,” Malkov said. A wave of 25 Ukrainian drones attacked the region, Malkov said.

Officials in southern Ukraine said four people were killed by Russian attacks on Saturday. Prosecutors in the Kherson region said “three civilians are known to have been killed” in the village of Myklitskyi and the city of Kherson. The governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, Ivan Federov, said a Russian attack killed one person.

The US will not lift sanctions on Serbian oil company NIS unless Belgrade terminates the firm’s majority Russian ownership, Serbia’s energy minister said on Saturday, warning that her country faced “difficult” decisions. Washington sanctioned Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS) as part of its crackdown on the Russian energy sector. Analysts say Serbia is on the brink of a winter energy crisis with its lone oil refinery facing a potential shutdown.

Serbia’s energy minister, Dubravka Đedović Handanović, said the US wanted a “complete change of Russian shareholders” to be negotiated by 13 February before lifting sanctions. NIS is 45% owned by Gazprom Neft, which has been targeted by US sanctions. Neft’s parent company, Gazprom, has transferred its own 11.3% stake in NIS to another Russian firm, Intelligence. The Serbian state holds nearly 30% of NIS, with the rest owned by minority shareholders. Handanović suggested the Serbian government was looking at a possible Russian takeover of NIS and would hold a special cabinet meeting about it on Sunday.

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Heights University Hospital, which has served Jersey City for over 150 years, closed its doors on Saturday after failing to secure millions in critically needed state funds to keep it operational and pay employees, according to its parent company.

Hudson Regional Health, which owns the hospital, announced via its social media platforms on Saturday that only the hospital’s emergency room would remain open. Hudson Regional Health itself took control of the hospital and two others in Bayonne and Hoboken from Hudson County’s struggling CarePoint Health System in April.

“It was difficult to conceive of an employer that could be more harmful to its employees and its community than CarePoint has been in Hudson County,” read a statement by Health Professionals and Allied Employees, the union representing the hospital's staff. “But Hudson Regional Health has surpassed CarePoint as the worst employer in Hudson County.”

The union’s statement also said its members have been left without future employment and a paycheck for two weeks of work.

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The world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, will arrive in the northern Caribbean on Sunday as tensions with Venezuela grow, according to a U.S. military official. The carrier will join 15,000 service members, including 2,000 Marines aboard an amphibious assault ship.

The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, told NPR the "table is being set" for possible military action. Administration officials are continuing to hold high-level meetings with members of Congress and foreign leaders amid ongoing military exercises.

It remains unclear, however, if President Trump will use military force against Venezuela. The U.S. has conducted 20 strikes on boats in the region so far, saying they were ferrying drugs trafficked from the country. In August, the U.S. government set a $50 million reward for the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

But officials told NPR that the arrival of the USS Gerald Ford, which was pulled from the Mediterranean Sea, could be just another pressure tactic on Maduro, who has put his own forces on high alert.

On Friday, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, "I sort of made up my mind" about whether to launch an attack.

"I can't tell you what it is," he said, "but we made a lot of progress with Venezuela in terms of stopping drugs from pouring in."

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