China’s desert mock-up rehearses a US warship’s death at sea
This month, multiplemediaoutlets reported that satellite imagery showed a detailed, full-scale replica of a US Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer in China’s remote Taklamakan Desert.
Construction of the 155-meter mock-up began around October 2025 at the Ruoqiang Test Range in Xinjiang and was completed within six months. Located 2,700 kilometers from the nearest ocean, the structure marks a major advance over previous flat outlines, incorporating a full mast, simulated radar equipment and sensors designed to reproduce an active warship’s radar profile.
The mock-up could allow the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to test anti-ship ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons and AI-assisted guidance systems against a more realistic target and simulated electronic countermeasures.
The facility aligns with China’s anti-access and area-denial (A2/AD) strategy, which seeks to deter or defeat US carrier strike groups intervening in a conflict over Taiwan. The facility also includes rail-mounted structures that can simulate moving naval targets and comes amid a reported expansion of domestic missile production.
Replicating a warship’s radar signature could help refine target classification, over-the-horizon tracking and weapons guidance. Detecting a vessel is not enough: identifying its type and affiliation allows forces to verify targets, select appropriate weapons and coordinate electronic countermeasures and intercepts.
Losing an Arleigh Burke wouldn’t automatically render a US carrier defenseless, as US naval defense relies on a network of escorts, aircraft and satellites, as well as the carrier’s own systems.
However, losing one would remove nearly 100 vertical-launch cells, a major radar and fire-control node, antisubmarine capability and part of the formation’s command network in a single strike.
The remaining ships would face larger surveillance sectors, fewer engagement opportunities and greater magazine pressure, potentially forcing the carrier to withdraw, alter course or divert aircraft from strike missions to self-protection.
In a May 2026 article in the peer-reviewed journal Tactical Missile Technology, Gao Tianyun and his co-authors argue that defeating a carrier group would require opening a narrow breach in its distributed defenses rather than attacking every ship simultaneously.
Their proposed attack sequence begins with submarine-launched hypersonic missiles striking forward Aegis missile-defense nodes, with decoys and low-cost munitions drawing defensive fire toward the flanks, while concentrated hypersonic salvos would overwhelm successive escorts along a single attack corridor.
Gao and his co-authors say a “leader-follower” missile swarm would then re-task surviving weapons after each strike and guide ballistic missiles toward the carrier.
They add that aircraft and expendable reconnaissance systems would assess the damage, allowing AI to reallocate missiles and repeat the strike–assess–strike cycle until the group’s command structure, defenses and carrier core collapse.
But striking a desert mockup is far easier than finding and attacking a moving target that can fight back.
Destroying a moving warship — let alone a carrier — remains a daunting challenge. Space-based sensors may work well against ships in port, but tracking maneuvering vessels can be limited by satellite coverage, revisit times and network bandwidth; imagery only a few hours old may already be useless for targeting.
Arleigh Burke-class destroyers also operate within mutually supporting, multilayered defenses combining hard-kill interceptors with soft-kill countermeasures.
SM-6, SM-2 and RIM-116 interceptors, backed by close-in weapons systems, provide layered kinetic protection. Meanwhile, electronic warfare, chaff and infrared flares can obscure a ship’s signature or confuse incoming missile seekers.
The best defense may also be a good offense. US forces could therefore follow a “shoot the archer” approach, destroying missile launchers and their supporting sensors before they can attack.
Drawing on the “Inside-Out Defense” concept developed by Thomas Mahnken, Travis Sharp, Billy Fabian and Peter Kouretsos, US forces could combine survivable units inside the First Island Chain with supporting forces operating beyond the densest missile-threat zone.
Forces operating within the First Island Chain could include mobile land-based cruise and anti-ship missile batteries, air and sea drones, special operations units, stealth fighters and submarines designed to survive within China’s A2/AD zone.
They could pass targeting data to surface action groups and combat aircraft positioned near the zone’s outer edge. Farther back, CSGs, amphibious ready groups (ARGs) and strategic bombers would generate sorties, provide strategic reserves and preserve nuclear deterrence.
Yet such a distributed posture would remain dependent on the sensors, communications and logistics networks connecting its widely separated forces.
Rather than attacking carriers and destroyers directly, the PLA could target the force integrators — the networks and logistics assets that hold US joint operations together. Potential targets include forward air and naval bases, logistics ships, tankers, airborne early-warning aircraft, missile-defense radars, satellites and computer networks.
The aim would be to blind and starve US forces, fragment their operations and create openings to destroy major warships, including an Arleigh Burke destroyer or even a carrier.
A US-China naval clash may therefore hinge less on the ability to destroy individual warships than on the capacity to fuse sensors, maintain targeting networks and sustain missile salvos under combat disruption.
That prospect could push US forces toward a more distributed and logistics-resilient posture while making satellites, bases, tankers and command networks — not carriers alone — the decisive targets in a Western Pacific conflict.
Would-Be Platner Replacements in Maine Rally Around “Abolish ICE” (or Something Close)
In the wake of a deadly shooting of a young father in southern Maine on Monday, the abbreviated race to replace Graham Platner on the Democratic Party ticket for the 2026 Senate race quickly became centered on immigration — and most of the serious contenders are on the same page.
At least five of the candidates to replace Platner have come out in favor of abolishing or “dismantling” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after federal agents gunned down Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine.
The scramble to denounce ICE by would-be Democratic Senate nominees came days ahead of a scheduled debate on Thursday evening, where the hopefuls will face off to make the case for why they should take on incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Panagioti Tsolkas, a spokesperson for the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, said he was “heartened” to see the outpouring of anger from candidates in the wake of the shooting, but cautioned that a sustained effort would be needed from Maine’s politicians.
“We want to see the state of Maine step up right now and take action on a full investigation and accountability in this killing,” Tsolkas said. “It’s gotta be more than lip service, and it has to be more than just showing up at the vigils when you have a chance to speak on stage.”
Durán Guerrero died early Monday morning after an ICE agent shot the 25-year-old during a traffic stop targeting another man, according to a spokesperson for the agency.
Durán Guerrero’s father told a news station in his native Colombia that his son was in the country legally, according to a report in the New York Times, and worked two jobs as a food delivery driver and cleaner at a veterinary clinic. Durán Guerrero leaves behind a wife and 3-year-old daughter.
The killing sparked furious protests across the state and turned immigration enforcement into a centerpiece issue of Maine political chatter and the crowded mini-race, which kicked off last week and is set to culminate in a nominating convention in Bangor, Maine, on July 25.
Platner — who dropped out of the race last week after allegations emerged that he had sexually assaulted a former girlfriend, which he denies — had also called for ICE to be abolished. In his July 10 letter removing himself from the race, he signed off by saying, “F*ck ICE.”
The unusual circumstances of Platner’s self-ejection from the race — despite the popularity of the movement that won him the primary in June — has set a curious political mood in Maine. Candidates seeking to replace him are hewing to his message while differentiating themselves from his scandal-plagued personal brand.
With just days left to make their pitch to Mainers, many of the candidates to replace Platner veered toward the nearest solidarity rally or anti-ICE protest as news of the killing filtered out of Biddeford.
The candidates calling for ICE to be abolished include Troy Jackson, a progressive from northern Maine who’s swept up a raft of endorsements from local politicians and labor groups despite an underwhelming showing in the recent gubernatorial primary; fellow gubernatorial also-ran Dr. Nirav Shah; social worker Paige Loud and former political operative and fundraiser Jordan Wood, both of whom ran in the Democratic primary for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District; and Dan Kleban, the founder of a beer company in Maine who threw his hat into the ring for the Senate race last week.
While most Democrats in Maine have been highly critical of ICE and President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda — especially in the wake of a surge of federal agents to the state in January — only Jackson and Loud appear to have called for the agency to be abolished prior to Monday’s shooting. With a majority of the candidates now declaring a full-throated commitment to scrapping ICE altogether, this week marked a sharp leftward shift in immigration discourse in Maine in the wake of Durán Guerrero’s killing.
Other candidates, while sharply criticizing ICE for the killing of Durán Guerrero, stopped short of calling for the agency to be abolished. Shenna Bellows, the current Maine secretary of state, spoke in Biddeford about having denied Border Patrol the use of undercover license plates in the state during the surge earlier this year. On X, she employed the slogan “ICE off our streets.”
Barns, Go-Karts and Strip Malls: The Wild West of Private Schools That Collect Taxpayer Dollars
Reporting Highlights
Private Schools, Public Money: Friendly state legislatures are steering money to private schools, catalyzing huge growth in recent years with far-reaching consequences.
Minimal Oversight: States examined by ProPublica have little interest in overseeing the schools: not who runs them, what they teach or how they perform.
Troubling Backgrounds: In Florida, a public school teacher lost her license and was prosecuted over sexual abuse of a minor, but now she runs a private school.
These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
A decade ago, the state of Florida stripped a teacher of her license for sexual abuse of a 16-year-old boy. Last year, she opened a private school there with ease.
Her name and photo were on her new school’s website and details of her case were easy to find with an online search.
The state also knew that a transplanted Midwesterner had been fired from her Cincinnati charter school, following felony charges related to misuse of public funds, and had been banned from teaching or running schools in Ohio. Yet Florida did not stop her from starting a private school and collecting public money.
As private schools proliferate in Florida and across the country, fueled by taxpayer dollars, states are choosing not to closely regulate who is operating them or to oversee student safety and achievement, a ProPublica investigation found.
The backgrounds of school founders and employees often simply don’t matter. In Arizona, for example, “state law prohibits our department from a role overseeing private schools,” a spokesperson for the state Department of Education told ProPublica.
In 2024, Arizona’s top education official lauded Mike Tyson, the heavyweight boxer who served time in prison for rape, for his involvement in launching a private school that bore his name, calling Tyson “a champion of education.”
Some states, including Arizona, cannot say how many private schools exist or where they operate despite spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on voucher-style programs. The federal government also does not keep a comprehensive accounting.
Have you had trouble finding a school or using a voucher-style program? Do you have concerns about schools — public or private — in your area? Help us understand how families across the country are navigating their school options.
ProPublica analyzed data from 13 states of varying sizes that do publish private school directories and offer public funding to these types of schools, and found that at least 1,500 more are listed today than were five years ago — bringing the total to more than 9,600. The numbers provide a rare look into the growth catalyzed by friendly legislatures and government money, while public school districts are losing students and closing schools.
When public money is available, most private schools take advantage of that funding. In several states, all or nearly all students at some private schools pay tuition with public dollars. For instance, public funds subsidized 99% of all private school students in Iowa this past school year, the third year the program was available.
An average of 100 new private schools have launched in Florida each of the last five school years. West Virginia, a state with fewer school-age students than are enrolled in Chicago Public Schools, has gained about 40 new private schools.
And in the three years since Arkansas began allowing students to get about $7,000 annually toward tuition, about 120 new private schools opened. ProPublica detailed the consequences of the rapid growth and meager oversight in Arkansas in a previous story, spotlighting a school where students were subjected to menial labor and violence. The owner there was convicted of permitting child abuse, a felony. The state has said student safety is its top priority, but the school remains eligible to receive state money after a temporary stop.
Many States Across the Country Have Seen Rapid Growth in Private Schools
Source: ProPublica analysis of state private school directory dataAlyssa Fowers, special to ProPublica
It has been a conservative goal for decades to diminish the role of public schools and privatize American education. A surge in private-school funding programs since the pandemic represents significant progress toward that goal. Now about 30 states have some version of a program that allows families to spend public money on private school tuition.
EdChoice, a group that advocates for these plans, estimated that more than 1.5 million students are taking advantage of them. And that number is expected to rise further as a federal tax-credit program signed into law by President Donald Trump provides the first-ever federal plan to fund K-12 private schools.
The vouchers have allowed some students to access private or religious schools they previously could not afford. But others — often students with disabilities — are finding that they’re excluded from private schools, which, unlike public schools, do not have to admit them. So they’re unable to exercise the educational freedom politicians have touted.
Even when every single student in a private school pays tuition with public money, that school still operates without the same accountability applied to public schools, where everything from finances to curriculum to student achievement is open to public inspection. The contrasting standards vex those worried for the future of public education.
“I’ve got the West Virginia codebook, which governs public education, which is over 1,300 pages long,” said Paul Hardesty, the president of the West Virginia Board of Education and a critic of the state’s permissive private school regulations.
“It’s thicker than two Sears catalogs. Rules that govern home school and private school in West Virginia — those will fit on an index card.”
Tara Salute lost her teaching license in 2015 and served probation after she was prosecuted for sexual abuse of a minor. Last fall, she founded Crystal River Learning Academy in Florida.Citrus County Sheriff’s Office
So when things go badly inside the opaque world of many private schools, it can be left to parents, police, journalists and amateur sleuths to find and expose wrongdoing. With state officials lacking oversight authority in Florida, for instance, concerned parents and citizens in Citrus County began posting online about the prior sexual misconduct of the founder of Crystal River Learning Academy.
Even the police chief of the public school system weighed in. Her post included a mug shot of the now-leader of the Crystal River school in an orange jumpsuit.
She exhorted: “Please do your research!”
Barns, Go-Karts and Mike Tyson
For many, private school evokes images of elite academies, manicured campuses and plaid Catholic-school uniforms.
“But that’s not the vast majority of private schools,” said Douglas Harris, a Tulane University economist who studies voucher programs and has expressed skepticism that a free-market approach works well for schools. “They’re all over the place and sometimes in places you don’t even realize — they’re not even advertised. It’s important to understanding the potential of where this is and where it is going.”
In this recent expansion, private schools have opened in farms and barns, addiction treatment centers, co-working spaces, people’s homes and parks, ProPublica’s review of 13 states found. A West Virginia family opened a school at the family fun center they operate. It’s next to the waterpark, mini golf course and go-kart track.
Tell Us About Your Experience With School Vouchers
If your child has disabilities and you’ve used — or were unable to use — school voucher programs, we’d like to hear about your experience.
Tiny new Christian schools, often operating in Sunday school spaces in churches, are proliferating. At the same time, small fly-by-night schools have been opened by profiteers and people with problematic pasts or no educational experience.
And while the majority of American students still attend public schools and the largest share of funding goes to public districts, EdChoice estimated that last year alone, states allocated $10.6 billion to programs that can be used to pay for private schools — a 29% increase over the previous year.
One Michigan-based company that launched last year to encourage churches to tap into public funds refers to these programs in its promotional videos as “God’s new gold mine.”
In Phoenix, the Mike Tyson-branded Tyson Transformational Technologies Academy, operating in a strip mall, was opened as part of a chain of schools for foster children, unhoused or expelled students created by former MMA fighter and WWE wrestler Daniel Puder.
Tyson lent his name to the academy for $1 a year, has appeared at ceremonies for the school and given motivational speeches to students. “This visionary project reflects Tyson’s commitment to providing quality education and opportunities,” a 2024 news release for the school stated. He was described as a co-founder of the school.
Tuition is free to families: The state of Arizona paid the school $231,973 in fiscal year 2025, according to the state education department.
Puder explained in a podcast interview that his own journey from fighter to motivational speaker to private-school operator began when he and a friend were musing about Puder’s efforts to help address bullying at a local school district.
“My buddy looks at me and I’m like, ‘Dude, the turnover in public schools is crazy,’” Puder said.
“And he’s like, ‘Start a school.’ And I’m like, ‘Jamie, what are you talking about? I’m a special ed kid.’ I’m like, ‘I didn’t graduate college.’ … He’s like, ‘No, start a school.’ I’m like, ‘OK.’”
In addition to the Tyson academy, Puder now has eight schools in Florida and one in West Virginia, according to the website for ELEV8 School, the umbrella company under which the academies operate.
After a recent rebranding, the Phoenix school Tyson helped launch is now simply called ELEV8. Puder told ProPublica that Tyson is never left alone with students. ProPublica reached out to Tyson through ELEV8 and his Florida publicist but did not get a response.
In West Virginia, ELEV8’s school advertises that tuition is “completely covered” by the Hope Scholarship, the state’s Education Savings Account program that provides each family with about $5,400 a year in public funds that can be spent on tuition, tutoring or homeschooling supplies.
Puder’s schools provide tutoring, mentoring and flexible scheduling for teens who may have jobs or are parents themselves. He told ProPublica that he wants to transform lives and guide students to college, trade school or the military.
Puder has ambitious plans to expand the enterprise, with more schools and related components in real estate, school security, artificial intelligence and school health clinics. He’s sought investors in a variety of forums, including a webinar called “Discover the Investment Model Behind Our State-Funded Private Schools — with Mike Tyson.”
Daniel Puder, shown here in 2018, is a former MMA fighter and WWE wrestler who has opened 10 private schools across the country.Santiago Felipe/Getty Images
Up until five years ago, states provided an opportunity for only a small segment of students — such as those who have disabilities, come from low-income families or would otherwise attend poorly performing public schools — to tap into public money for private school tuition. West Virginia adopted the nation’s first program to make those funds universally available in 2021 and today, 18 states are inviting any student to partake, regardless of family income or existing private school enrollment.
Once schools are open and accepting tax funds, few states then regulate what is taught, what qualifications employees should have or what funds may be spent on. But it’s not just the oversight that private schools get to avoid. They also are free to adopt policies — such as discriminatory admissions — that public schools cannot.
Several private schools in Ohio and Virginia permit paddling as discipline even though those states outlaw corporal punishment in public schools. As a condition of being tax-exempt, nonprofit private schools must attest that they won’t discriminate based on race, color, or national or ethnic origin. But they’re free to refuse admission to students for a range of other reasons.
It’s common, for example, for both new and established religious schools to refuse to admit (or to expel) students who say they’re gay, who condone homosexuality or whose parents are gay. One school noted on its website that it is “permitted to discriminate on the basis of religion in accordance with our Statement of Faith.” Many schools decline to enroll students with disabilities. An Alabama school that opened this past fall says it will expel students who have HIV, gonorrhea or syphilis.
Advocates of private-school voucher programs argue against restrictions on how the schools operate and push back against the type of oversight enforced on public schools. They fear that any strings attached to the public money will make many private schools balk at taking it.
“You try to not take the private school system and make it the public school system. Parents are looking for an alternative. They’re looking for something that operates differently and, they hope, serves their child better,” said Patrick Wolf, who studies vouchers and similar funding models at the University of Arkansas. His research often highlights the benefits of the systems.
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Earlier this year, a handful of West Virginia legislators pushed to add some “bumpers” to the program to safeguard public funds. One provision would’ve required private schools accepting public money to give a common standardized test and report results to the county superintendent, allowing more insight into the schools’ educational quality.
The proposals didn’t pass. And then legislators who had supported them were ousted in the state’s May primaries, rebuked by the pro-voucher governor and then by voters who sided with candidates the governor had backed.
A Conviction, Then a Fresh Start
The lack of private-school oversight is built straight into the law in most of the states ProPublica studied.
Florida, for example, advertises: “The Florida Department of Education does not have jurisdiction over private schools. Legislative intent not to regulate, control, approve, or accredit private educational institutions, churches, their ministries, religious instruction, freedoms, or rites, is explicit.”
As a result, the state takes few steps to protect students from private school educators with troubled pasts.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been a passionate proponent of “educational freedom” in the state, endorsing an aggressive push to catalyze the growth of private schools. But contacted for this story and asked about the state’s oversight of those schools, his office offered no comment while referring reporters to the Florida Department of Education.
The department responded to questions about the state’s record on regulation with a statement that emphasized it requires schools to conduct background screening for owners and employees who have direct contact with students.
In addition, ProPublica reached out to four leading lawmakers who were key to Florida’s 2023 bill that extended public money to all families opting for private education. None commented.
In conducting background research on private schools in Florida, ProPublica discovered that a woman named Lisa Helton running a private school in Tampa was once named Lisa Hamm — the former superintendent of Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy charter school in Ohio.
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State audits alleged that Hamm misspent public funds in Ohio for years, using school funds for extravagant staff development trips, arena suites for students to attend Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber concerts and a Cirque du Soleil show, Nutrisystem weight loss meals for staff lunches, theater tickets and dry cleaning.
She and the school’s treasurer were fired in 2013 after being indicted on 26 felony counts of theft in office, unauthorized use of property, tampering with evidence and tampering with records. Hamm entered into an arrangement where she would accept conviction on three counts of unauthorized use of property while maintaining her innocence and avoiding prison.
After she was sentenced in 2014, then-Ohio Auditor Dave Yost, whose office had investigated Hamm’s spending practices, issued a statement: “This was a looting that would make even a pirate blush, with children and taxpayers as victims. I suppose walking the plank was out of the question. However, the court’s decision will prevent her from ever stealing from students again.”
The state permanently revoked her educator license. Hamm moved to Tampa, Florida, changed her name to Helton — taking a relative’s name — and tried to get a Florida educator license. The state, aware of the misconduct findings in Ohio, granted a temporary one that has since expired.
Helton founded American Education International in 2022 and registered it as a private school with Florida. She said she planned to enroll international students who want to learn English online and earn an American high school diploma. But then Florida homeschoolers tried to enroll, so Helton transformed the business to also offer in-person teaching two days a week for homeschool students out of a sleek coworking space.
She applied for her school to participate in Florida’s voucher-like program as a tutoring service and was approved.
After Ohio permanently revoked her educator license, Lisa Helton moved to Florida and founded the American Education International school. Students learn online and are tutored in-person in a coworking space.Megan O’Matz/ProPublica
Step Up For Students, a nonprofit that manages scholarship money distribution for the state, did not know about Helton’s trouble in Ohio, according to a spokesperson. But “we are not aware of any determination by Florida authorities that would have prohibited her from founding or operating the school” and there have been no complaints in Florida about Helton, the spokesperson said. Step Up said it follows statutory requirements in administering funds and reports “any complaints or reports of fraud” to the state education department.
Over three years, Helton’s business has collected $291,165 in public scholarship funds, Step Up said.
Helton was working on her computer on her back porch when visited by a ProPublica reporter. She said auditors in Ohio created a “false narrative” about her charter school and her actions, and that she took a plea deal only after being exhausted emotionally and financially by a drawn-out investigation. She said she acted with board approval and spent school money on kids and for staff development and incentives to retain valued personnel in a challenging inner-city environment.
“I have no background issues at all, criminally,” she said, saying her case was “erased after so many years.” There is no longer any public trace of Helton’s criminal case in the Ohio county court system; certain nonviolent cases are allowed to be sealed or expunged after a set amount of time has passed. Helton, who has a doctorate in education, said she is highly skilled and trustworthy.
“The concern is not me,” she said. “It’s people running schools with no educational background.”
The Teacher, the Teen and the Detective
About 80 miles north in Crystal River, Florida, the stir over the local educator who’d lost her license over sexual abuse began in March after a retired detective named Kat Powers posted online — at first, just to her Facebook friends. She used the pseudonym “Petera Falk,” a reference to the actor who played TV detective Columbo.
She had recognized the name of a woman who’d just opened her own private school in the fall of 2025: Tara Salute.
“I don’t do a lot of social media, it’s all about grandbabies and recipes for me,” Powers said. But she couldn’t let this go; her colleagues had handled Salute’s case, and she remembered it well. A 40-year-old vice president of the local Little League at the time, Salute in 2012 had been charged with unlawful sexual activity with a minor after a drunken night at her home with her son’s friend, a sophomore in the district where she recently had taught elementary school. After intercourse, the teenager had snapped photos of her naked body on a futon as evidence.
Salute pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of felony child abuse, the state took her educator license, and she served about a year and a half of probation. The judge “withheld” a formal conviction, a form of leniency in Florida. Salute did not respond to repeated outreach by ProPublica for comment.
When Powers — posting as Falk — came upon the Crystal River Learning Academy’s Facebook page and saw people from the community liking the page and supporting Salute, she was stunned.
“I’m like, how do people forget the background of this woman?” Powers said. “If she’d have gone to Lowe’s or Home Depot, it wouldn’t bother me. But you’re opening a school? That bothered me.”
The detective’s Facebook friends urged her to make her post public, so she did — screenshots of Salute’s court records, her mug shot and her new school photo. The Facebook post tagged news outlets, and soon the Citrus County Chronicle, the local newspaper, wrote a story.
Following the revelation, the state took action to protect state money.
The Florida Department of Education found that Crystal River had qualified for scholarship money despite not registering with the state as a private school and after Salute had uploaded someone else’s teaching certificate for her application. It called the use of the license “fraud.”
Crystal River had received a total of $150 at that point for a curriculum packet it sold. Florida’s education commissioner then revoked the school’s eligibility for state funds.
Opening a school without registering is a misdemeanor under Florida law. Asked how Salute is able to run a school in Florida despite her past and not registering, the state Education Department did not provide a direct answer. Instead, it pointed to the scholarship revocation action as evidence of its oversight.
On its website, however, Crystal River still is providing information on the Step Up scholarship for parents while inviting students to enroll for next school year. Tuition for middle and high school students will be $12,000.
In May, Crystal River’s Facebook page posted a photo of Salute posing between two teens at a local high school graduation ceremony.
“CRLA is incredibly proud to have been part of your journey,” the congratulatory message read.
Have you had trouble finding a school or using a voucher-style program? Do you have concerns about schools — public or private — in your area? Help us understand how families across the country are navigating their school options.
HP fined 1.4 billion rupees for “cartelization” of ink cartridges, toner, PCs
The Indian government has fined HP India and its partners a total of 1.4 billion rupees (about $14.4 million) for working with reseller partners in the “cartelization” of computers, ink cartridges, and toner.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) said this week that it found HP India had colluded with some channel partners to drive up the cost of bids for government contracts for computers, as well as for selling ink cartridges, toner, and other printing supplies, including graphic and digital manufacturing supplies.
It said that HP was aiming to outcompete other OEMs and discourage resellers from selling “counterfeit” ink and toner.
In an order, the CCI said that HP India worked with five resellers to coordinate their bid prices for government contracts to increase the chances of an HP partner winning the contracts. The company was fined 1.3 billion rupees (about $13.1 million).
The order reads:
[C]ertain resellers approached HP India to help facilitate an arrangement that would enhance their chances of securing Government supply contracts against other competing HP India resellers. These requests included: (a) restricting participation of resellers from other territories in local tenders; (b) seeking support in dividing the accounts/relevant tenders amongst themselves; (c) restricting the number of MAFs [manufacturer’s authorization forms] issued to other resellers or to issue MAFs to some designated resellers only; (d) addressing instances where bid prices offered by other resellers were below the [Government e Marketplace, India’s online procurement platform] platform price or rate contract prices, through corrective action, and (e) facilitating “cover” bids.
HP was also fined 119.8 million rupees (about $1.2 million) for “indulging in cartelization in sale and supply of supplies products comprising of toner, cartridges, and other consumable used with print hardware products,” CCI said in its announcement.
The agency also fined 21 HP resellers 35.2 million rupees (about $365,335).
In a separate order, the CCI said that WhatsApp records showed that HP and 16 of its Tier-2 reseller partners operated “in a collusive arrangement” and that the messages show the companies engaging in “bid rigging, including cover bidding, price fixation, and customer allocation during 2017–2020.” HP India played a central role, the regulator said.
Per the order, HP India said that high printing supply prices led some resellers to threaten to “shift to low-cost counterfeit products to compete on price.”
“HP India was commercially forced into a position where it had to support the collusive arrangement adopted by the Tier-2 resellers,” the order reads.
For its part, the order said that HP India “humbly objects to HP India’s role being characterized as a ‘kingpin’ of the entire collusive arrangement.”
Still, the revelation that some HP resellers are struggling with the exorbitant price of printer ink and toner underscores a problem many printer users face. The economic challenge is exacerbated by HP’s tendency to block third-party ink in already-purchased printers through firmware updates. At the same time, with even its own partners threatening to take their ink business elsewhere, HP is pressured to get more HP printer users to only use HP-brand ink and toner.
The CCI also ordered HP India and its channel partners to “cease and desist from anti-competitive conduct” and to hold competition compliance training programs within 60 days.
US urges citizens in Iraq to remain alert after drone attack in Erbil
The US Embassy in Baghdad urged American citizens in Iraq on Thursday to maintain heightened readiness following a drone attack in the northern city of Erbil a day earlier, Anadolu reports.
In a security alert, the mission advised Americans in Iraq to monitor local media and follow instructions issued by local authorities, warning that travel disruptions and airspace closures could occur with little notice.
The embassy reiterated the State Department’s Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for Iraq, citing “terrorism, kidnapping, armed conflict, civil unrest” and Washington’s limited ability to provide emergency assistance to US citizens in the country.
READ: US launches 5th consecutive night of strikes against Iran: Central Command
“Do not travel to Iraq for any reason,” the advisory said.
US citizens planning to leave Iraq were urged to confirm flight schedules with their airlines before traveling to airports, as departures could change on short notice.
The notice came after several explosions were reported in Erbil on Wednesday evening. The Erbil-based Rudaw Media Network said that the blasts were caused by air defense systems intercepting a drone.
It came amid escalating tensions between the US and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz, with the two sides exchanging attacks despite a Pakistan-mediated memorandum of understanding aimed at ending their conflict and reaching a lasting peace agreement.
READ: The lesson of time: What Iraq might learn from Japan’s two devastating experiences
Oil prices turn lower as traders weigh impact of renewed US strikes on Iran
Oil prices turned lower on Thursday as traders took profits and evaluated the risks from a new wave of U.S. strikes on Iranian military installations, which fuelled fears of renewed full-scale conflict and supply disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States struck Iran’s coastal defences and missile sites on Wednesday after reimposing a naval blockade of its ports, while Iran threatened to shut off more regional energy exports, saying it was engaged in an “existential war” with America.
After initially rising for a fourth straight session, Brent crude futures slipped 24 cents, or 0.28%, to $84.95 a barrel as of 0435 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures fell 15 cents, or 0.19%, to $79.45 a barrel. Brent had gained almost $1 earlier in the session and both contracts remained close to one-month highs.
“Geopolitical risks remain firmly supportive for oil, but after a strong rally, traders are adopting a wait-and-watch approach,” Phillip Nova senior market analyst Priyanka Sachdeva said. “The focus has shifted from the threat itself to whether there is any tangible disruption to oil flows and how both the U.S. and Iran choose to respond in the coming days.”
Oil prices have gained this week as attacks deepened supply disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, which handled about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas trade before the war began.
Fewer vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, the first day after the U.S. reimposed its naval blockade on Iran. Seven crossed on Wednesday, down from 13 the previous day.
Hostilities between Iran and the U.S. reignited last week, fraying an already fragile truce reached in June after several months of fighting.
“While mediation efforts by neighbouring countries continue and the consensus view is that a full-scale war is unlikely, WTI could still rise to $85–$87 depending on how the conflict develops,” said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, chief strategist of Nissan Securities Investment.
Analysts say Iran has signalled it may use its Houthi allies in Yemen to shut the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea, opening a new front against Washington and putting a second of the world’s most vital energy arteries at risk.
Reuters also reported on Wednesday that U.S. officials said the strikes on Iran could pave the way for “more complex” operations against the country, adding to market jitters.
Goldman Sachs said Brent could exceed $110 in the fourth quarter if the Gulf export recovery continues to stall, but could fall into the $60s by year-end if tensions ease and production recovers faster than expected.
ING analysts cautioned in a note that the supply disruptions are flaring back up at a time when U.S. commercial oil inventories are at the lowest levels since 2022, and the lowest levels for the season since 2018.
“The concern is that renewed oil supply disruptions come amid the large inventory drawdowns through the second quarter, leaving the market more vulnerable.”
Mutant Creature Named ‘Jimothy’ Stalking Seattle Town
Seattle has a new local celebrity, and he is not exactly your average backyard visitor.
A raccoon nicknamed “Jimothy” has become an unlikely viral sensation after residents began sharing videos of the oddly shaped animal roaming around the city.
The little critter has a noticeably shortened body, giving him a strange, almost otherworldly look. Locals have described him as everything from adorable to creepy, and the internet has quickly turned him into Seattle’s latest obsession.
Jimothy has been spotted moving through backyards, climbing stairs, and even sneaking across balconies in the Emerald City. One video shows him darting across a grassy yard before scampering up a set of stone steps.
“For our 13th anniversary, [we] were graced with the presence of Jimothy the raccoon with short spine syndrome. Praise Jimothy!!” one Instagram user wrote alongside footage of the unusual raccoon.
Jimothy has not been formally diagnosed, but many online believe he may have short spine syndrome. The rare congenital condition can cause an animal’s spine to be significantly shorter than normal, giving the body a compressed appearance.
Another sighting shows Jimothy making his way along a balcony railing at night. In the clip, he squeezes between two bars, pauses briefly to explore, and then disappears out of frame.
The odd-looking raccoon has quickly become a favorite on Seattle subreddits. He has also popped up in online communities devoted to strange, weird, and creepy sightings.
Commenters have fully embraced him.
“This is the most Seattle animal possible,” one Reddit user wrote.
“Hot Jimothy Summer,” another joked.
“He needs to be protected at all costs,” one fan added.
So far, only a handful of Jimothy videos have surfaced. But that has only added to the mystery around him.
Now that word is spreading, Seattle residents will likely be watching their yards, porches, and balconies a little more closely.
After all, the city’s strangest four-legged star may be closer than they think.
Knesset Approves Sweeping Overhaul of Broadcast Media
Israel’s parliament approved the Communications (Broadcasting) Law, 5786-2026, on Thursday, passing the measure 53-48 in its second and third readings to implement a broad restructuring of the country’s broadcast media regulatory system.
The legislation replaces the current regulatory framework with a new model that expands the government’s role in supervising the broadcasting sector. Among the changes, it removes longstanding requirements covering minimum journalistic standards, investment in original Israeli productions and restrictions on cross-ownership, while giving the government greater authority over television audience measurement and the allocation of state advertising.
At the center of the overhaul is the creation of the Broadcast Communications Authority, an independent statutory regulator that will consolidate and eventually replace Israel’s existing broadcast oversight bodies. The authority will operate with an annual budget of 25 million shekels, financed through deductions from the budget of Israel’s public broadcasting corporation.
The law also establishes a nine-member Broadcast Communications Regulatory Council to set policy for the new authority. Members will be selected through a nomination process led by a committee chaired by the director general of the Communications Ministry.
Lawmakers also approved a last-minute amendment benefiting the pro-government Channel 14 broadcaster. The provision exempts the channel from a new requirement that would have required television broadcasters to make designated programming available to distribution platforms free of charge. The exemption has been estimated to be worth approximately NIS 40 million ($13.8 million) each year.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participated in the Knesset debate on the legislation but did not take part in the final vote. Netanyahu is standing trial in cases involving his dealings with the media.
SpaceX scrubs Starship launch after some of its engines didn’t start
SpaceX called off a test flight of its powerful Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster as the countdown clock reached zero Thursday at the company’s spaceport in South Texas.
The launch team at Starbase, Texas, just north of the US-Mexico border, aimed to launch the more than 400-foot-tall rocket at 5:45 pm local time (6:45 pm EDT; 22:45 UTC). The countdown proceeded smoothly throughout the day, culminating in the loading of more than 11.5 million pounds of liquid methane and liquid oxygen into the two-stage rocket.
But the computers controlling the countdown called an abort during the Super Heavy booster’s engine startup sequence. SpaceX scrubbed the launch attempt, and engineers began preparations to drain the rocket’s propellant tanks. Officials did not immediately announce when they plan to try to launch again.
Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, posted on his social media platform X that the company might not be able to launch during the next available opportunity on Friday evening. “Some of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort,” Musk wrote. “Now offloading propellant. Next launch attempt hopefully in a few days.”
Later Thursday evening, Musk added that ground teams at Starbase will replace two of the Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster. “Most probable launch timing is early next week.”
Tuning the engine
The Super Heavy booster has 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines, each capable of generating more than half a million pounds of thrust. The engines are supposed to ignite in a staggered sequence after activation of the launch pad’s water-cooled flame diverter, designed to protect the launch facility from the intense heat and vibrations during liftoff of the world’s most powerful rocket.
SpaceX officials did not say how many engines failed to start during the ignition sequence, but a graphic of engine status on SpaceX’s live video stream indicated four of the 33 engines never ignited. The engines on this Starship and Super Heavy come from SpaceX’s third-generation Raptor design. This test flight—the 13th full-scale Starship launch—is the second to use the Raptor 3 engine flying on SpaceX’s upgraded Starship Version 3 rocket.
The Starship V3 rocket and Raptor 3 engine debuted on a mostly successful test flight in May. The Raptor 3s on that mission experienced in-flight issues, but the startup sequence on the launch pad went off without a hitch.
SpaceX’s goals for Flight 13 of Starship include testing several changes intended to overcome the engine issues on Flight 12 two months ago. One of the corrective actions involves modifying the engine startup sequence on the Super Heavy booster during its flip maneuver after separating from the Starship upper stage a few minutes after liftoff.
“At stage separation on Flight 12, slight differences in engine startup on the ship caused the directional flip of the booster to be off by approximately 90 degrees,” SpaceX wrote in a recap of the May launch. “The startup sequence has been modified to be more robust to timing variability and more reliably flip in the desired direction, which is done to increase overall performance.”
Some of the booster’s 33 engines also failed to reignite during the booster’s landing burn in May, preventing it from completing a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX officials hope to achieve that goal on Flight 13, paving the way for the return of future reusable Super Heavy boosters to the launch site. The company already demonstrated this with Starship V2, but not with Starship V3.
One of the six Raptor engines on Starship’s upper stage also shut down prematurely on the last test flight. The ship overcame the engine failure and continued flying toward a pinpoint water landing in the Indian Ocean, but SpaceX had to skip an attempt to reignite a Raptor engine in space. That was the other major box left unchecked from Flight 12 that SpaceX wants to demonstrate on Flight 13.
A successful test flight with the next Starship would help clear the way for SpaceX to move to an orbital flight, a step toward using Starship for Starlink satellite launches and orbital refueling tests. This, in turn, would move Starship closer to readiness for flights to the Moon in support of NASA’s Artemis lunar lander program.
Updated at 8:15 pm EDT (00:15 UTC) with additional details and confirmation of engine swap.
Two Trump health nominees crash and burn in tense Senate hearing
Two nominees for high-profile health roles in the Trump administration faced scrutiny from the Senate health committee Wednesday—and both crashed and burned in their own special ways.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) scrutinized Erica Schwartz, the nominee for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Sean Kaufman, up for the role of Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
Schwartz’s assignment
Public health experts were “cautiously optimistic” about Schwartz’s nomination. She is well respected and holds views in line with evidence-based medicine, including being supportive of vaccinations—in contrast to anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom she will serve under. She is also highly qualified for the role, with a medical degree, a master’s degree in public health, and a law degree. She’s had a long career as a Navy Officer, and previously held the roles of Chief Medical Officer for the US Coast Guard and deputy surgeon general in the first Trump administration.
With her credentials checking all the boxes and then some, the obvious question looming over her confirmation was whether she would stand firm against Kennedy’s well-documented anti-vaccine agenda and political interference. Kennedy notoriously fired the last highly qualified Senate-confirmed CDC director, Susan Monarez, for refusing to rubber-stamp vaccine recommendations from a CDC advisory panel he had stacked with anti-vaccine allies.
Although Monarez only held the job for 29 days, lawmakers—as well as scientists, doctors, and health experts—praised her integrity and commitment to science and evidence-based policy.
Schwartz’s assignment going into the hearing was abundantly clear: assure senators she was equally principled and would stand up to Kennedy.
Kaufman’s assignment
Kaufman, on the other hand, went into the hearing with a less-than-rosy image that he needed to overcome. He is up for the role of leading the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), which is responsible for ensuring the US is poised to swiftly respond to the next pandemic, bioterror threat, or other emergency. That preparedness includes having quick access to or the development of vaccines, tests, and treatments.
Kaufman has reasonable qualifications for the role. He holds a master’s in public health, has served in leadership roles at the CDC and Emory University, and founded a company focusing on managing risk during outbreak responses. Overall, he has three decades’ worth of experience in outbreak preparedness, biosafety, and emergency responses.
But Kaufman has espoused anti-vaccine rhetoric in line with Kennedy, raising deep concern among senators that he will fail to follow science and keep the US adequately prepared for the next health crisis. Last week, Stat News dug up past comments from Kaufman in which he raised the long-debunked claim that vaccines cause autism, promoted the benefits of “natural immunity,” opposed vaccine mandates, and suggested that people are “pedophiles” for supporting the birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine (a dose strongly supported by evidence and the medical community). He also suggested he would “rather perish than have any one of his children receive” a COVID-19 vaccine.
Early in the hearing, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) stated clearly what Kaufman’s assignment was: “You’re going to have to do some strong work to clarify your views on” vaccines, she warned him.
Schwartz’s immediate flailing
Throughout the roughly 2.5-hour hearing, Schwartz seemed incapable or unwilling to answer almost every question directly—even the softball questions, which puzzled lawmakers on multiple occasions. She also seemed deeply uninformed about what has been going on at the CDC, including why it currently doesn’t have a director. “I was not aware” was a common response from Schwartz throughout the hearing.
These problems were immediately clear in the opening questions by ranking member Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.)—a medical doctor who cast a critical vote to confirm Kennedy, which he has come to regret. Cassidy lost his primary in May, which will bring his Senate career to an end next year.
Cassidy kicked off questions asking Schwartz directly: “Will you commit to this committee and to the American people to have the same integrity as [Monarez]? That if asked to do something which is wrong for public health, that you will stand up as she did [and] object, if necessary, publicly.” But Schwartz didn’t answer the question directly, only saying that she has led by integrity and that she took the Hippocratic oath as a doctor.
He next asked whether, as CDC director, she would have the power to reassign people working at the CDC, something Monarez said she did not have the ability to do during her time in the role. Cassidy asked in the context of Kennedy assigning employees to do “counterproductive” work, such as “fishing expeditions of how vaccines may cause problems”—something Kennedy is known to have done.
Again, Schwartz failed to answer directly, prompting Cassidy to interrupt her and point out that it was a yes-or-no question. In her second attempt, she said only that “the secretary absolutely will allow me to be the CDC director.”
Cassidy quickly became frustrated. “I almost feel like I’m having to go after this question a little bit more firmly than I feel like I should.” She continued to avoid answering the question.
“Really?”
When it was Sanders’ turn to question Schwartz, he asked if she agrees that the existing scientific evidence shows vaccines do not cause autism. She began her response with a worrying: “We do not know what causes autism.” Sanders cut her off, pressing if she accepted the overwhelming evidence that vaccines do not cause autism, at which point she said she accepted the evidence.
Sanders next asked if, as CDC director, she would remove a CDC website published under Kennedy that falsely links vaccines and autism. Schwartz said she wasn’t aware of the website, and she would not say whether she would have it removed when pressed.
Sanders next asked if she would commit to reporting to Congress “if you receive directives from Secretary Kennedy or any other individual in the Trump administration to implement policies that are unscientific and could harm the health and well-being of the American people?”
Schwartz responded, saying: “Senator, I do not believe that the president or the secretary would ever do what you just mentioned.”
“Really?” Sanders responded in disbelief. “Do you think that is the record?”
At other points in the hearing, Schwartz told the senators that she was unaware that DOGE cuts nearly destroyed the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or that the Trump administration had scaled back a CDC food safety surveillance system and thwarted tobacco control efforts.
As for her alignment with other Trump administration policies, Schwartz said she supported Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization. While being supportive of vaccines generally, she couched her support for flu vaccine mandates in the military saying she “fully supportive” of them “in certain circumstances.” (Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently repealed the flu vaccine mandate for the military, which quickly led to a flu outbreak in a Texas base that sickened nearly 300 and killed one recruit, spurring a restoration of the mandate.) Schwartz also refused to say whether she would allow Kennedy to kill a CDC pre-paid promotional campaign for flu shots during a deadly flu season—which Kennedy did.
At the closing, Cassidy aired his frustration. “I felt like you were always trying not to answer my question, which was disappointing,” he said, before chastising her for claiming not to know why Monarez was fired. “I’m here personally liking you, but feeling as if I’m having to represent the public health of the United States of America so that it’s not taken over by people who are ideologically inclined and looking to file a lawsuit [against vaccine makers], not looking to prevent disease.”
Kaufman on vaccines
While Cassidy was clearly disappointed and frustrated with Schwartz, he was downright angry with Kaufman. Throughout the hearing, Kaufman tried to backpedal on his comments about vaccines, but his responses were unconvincing. In questions from Sanders, Kaufman confirmed that he once wrote he would rather die than give his children a COVID-19 vaccine, but pointed out that he did once recommend the vaccine to his wife’s mom.
When senators confronted him about his false claims and attacks on the hepatitis B vaccine birth dose, he noted that all three of his children had received it.
Cassidy, a hepatologist who has treated patients with severe liver damage from hepatitis B, including some who died from the infection, didn’t let the issue drop. “Why would you repeat those damn lies?” Cassidy yelled, angrily pounding his pencil. Kaufman noted that he had deleted the LinkedIn post in which he made the claims and suggested they weren’t that bad because he had written ambiguously.
Kaufman on mRNA research
Senators also pressed Kaufman on his thoughts on mRNA vaccine technology—which is widely considered to be a promising technology for quickly developing new vaccines against novel pathogens, potentially ones with pandemic potential. But Kennedy despises the technology and has spread significant misinformation about mRNA technology. Last year, he drew intense criticism for canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants to develop mRNA vaccines, including for pandemic preparedness.
When asked about his support for mRNA technology, Kaufman bafflingly said he both supported Kennedy’s decision to cut research funding for mRNA technology and believed the US should support more research on mRNA technology. Kaufman’s odd explanation was that he didn’t want to support research for future uses of mRNA technology until there was more research into the platform on which mRNA COVID-19 vaccines were designed.
“That implies we can’t do two things at once,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said upon hearing this explanation. He later summed up his reaction to Kaufman’s argument, saying, “I’m incredulous.”
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) was equally bewildered. “I don’t understand how you want more research, but canceling it is okay.”
Cassidy, after blasting Kaufman on the hepatitis B vaccine, said he was “flummoxed” and “flabbergasted” that Kaufman said he supported canceling mRNA research because there wasn’t enough mRNA research.
