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Dems abandon candidate who said MAGA is ‘more destructive’ than Nazis, but she’s stuck on the ballot

2026-09-18 13:53:02-04:00 / Fox News

Headen called for an attack on U.S. soil targeting red states and compared Trump supporters to Nazis

By Paul Steinhauser Fox News

Published September 18, 2026 1:53pm EDT

Fox News senior correspondent Jonathan Serrie has the latest on North Carolina Democrat Shelly Headen’s controversial social media posts on ‘America Reports.’

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A Democrat running for the state legislature in battleground North Carolina remains on the ballot despite her party publicly abandoning her after inflammatory social media posts she made resurfaced.

The North Carolina House Democratic Caucus and a county party group both condemned posts by Shelly Headen in which the legislative candidate called for an attack on U.S. soil targeting red states and compared President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler.

But Headen remains a candidate because the filing deadline to drop out of the race was Aug. 20, and the general election ballots are finalized and were sent out to voters starting on Sept. 4.

Headen, who is challenging Republican state Rep. John Blust for the House District 62 seat in Greensboro-anchored Guilford County, posted a year ago, “I think our only hope is an attack on US Soil … preferably Alabama, Louisiana … where the stupid people live.”

WATCH: HUGH HEWITT’S TAKE ON THE HEADEN CONTROVERSY

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In separate posts, she argued that the damage done by Trump was “getting close to surpassing Hitler” and claimed the “MAGA cult may be more destructive and evil than the Nazis.”

Breitbart reported that a Facebook post by Headen that pictured her at a memorial at the Nazis’ Dachau concentration camp in Germany, where tens of thousands of people were murdered during World War II, with the words, “This is where Trump supporters belong.”

Headen denied last week to the Greensboro News and Record that she posted the concentration camp image and said she believed the image was edited to include the words over a real photo.

Her old comments grabbed new national attention earlier this week when the White House Rapid Response account that supports Trump shared them on X and charged that Democrats “ARE SICK PEOPLE!”

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The Dachau concentration camp near Munich, Germany, was one of the first built by the Nazis. The Dachau Memorial Site archive has documented 32,000 deaths at the camp, but thousands more are undocumented.(Getty Images)

North Carolina Republican U.S. Senate nominee Michael Whatley posted on social media a photo of Headen and former Gov. Roy Cooper, the Democratic Senate nominee, and argued, “Roy Cooper still stands with NC Dem who called for the genocide of Republicans. This is against everything America stands for.”

“These remarks are reprehensible – Roy strongly condemns them and all forms of political violence and he believes it’s up to all of us to speak responsibly,” Cooper’s campaign emphasized in a statement.

Headen, a certified public accountant and small business owner, told WFDD, a public radio station in North Carolina, that she didn’t remember making the posts but apologized to those hurt by them. And she added that she understood the party’s decision to drop support for her.

But in an interview with The Assembly, a digital-first news operation in North Carolina, Headen defended her posts, describing them as “a few angry moments.”

“I’ve sacrificed myself just like Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross, and Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln and all the people that put themselves out there to sacrifice for our country,” Headen also told The Assembly.

“If a few angry moments on social media are the end, then so be it. MAGA will keep winning if we continue with not standing up for what’s right.”

The Assembly’s reporting preceded the move by Democrats to drop support.

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The North Carolina Capitol is located in Raleigh, N.C.(Getty Images)

“Shelly Headen’s posts are unacceptable and do not reflect the values we expect of our candidates,” the North Carolina House Democratic Caucus said in a statement. The caucus added that it “condemns these comments without qualification and will not support Shelly Headen’s candidacy.”

The Guilford County Democratic Party said in a statement, “We unequivocally reject and condemn the social media posts by Shelly Headen. These statements violate everything our party represents. Effective immediately, the county Democratic Party is formally withdrawing all financial, operational and organizational support for Shelley Headen’s campaign.”

Headen earlier this week told Fox News Digital she’s received death threats in recent days but declined to give any further responses regarding her posts.

In an article published Thursday in The Rhino Times, Headen reiterated, “I’ve been getting death threats, and now all I want to do is protect myself and my family. My whole world has been collapsing.”

And she acknowledged that she took down her social media pages, saying, “I don’t have access to any of my accounts anymore.”

Republicans have spotlighted the controversy.

North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall called Headen’s comments “Absolutely disgusting.”

And the North Carolina House Republicans wrote on X, “Democrat Shelly Headen who is “Running to Restore Human Decency” just posted that she wants an attack on US soil. It is unclear whether Shelly would prefer ISIS or China to attack the United States, but it’s clear she wants an attack.”

Meanwhile, the popular conservative X account Libs of TikTok argued that Headen “should drop out immediately. She doesn’t belong anywhere public office.”

The attention over the resurfaced comments comes a week after Headen faced a separate controversy following a move by State House Republicans to release two 2024 Guilford County Sheriff’s Office incident reports involving her and her husband, Gregory Thomas Headen.

The reports, which identify the alleged domestic offense as physical assault, list Headen as the suspect and her husband as the potential victim.

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In a statement she released earlier this month, Headen said that during a stressful time in their marriage, she and her husband had “a couple of arguments that escalated.” She said that, during one argument, her husband grabbed her, causing her to fall backward and hit her head. She then called 911.

Headen, in her statement, described herself as having experienced abuse. And she argued that Republicans were using a private family matter for political gain.

Paul Steinhauser covers the national campaign trail from coast to coast for Fox News

Nearly 400 pre-trial detainees to be transferred from private prison in Georgia in move critics say is “a catastrophe”

September 18, 2026 / 3:53 PM EDT / CBS News

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Cara Tabachnick News Editor
Cara Tabachnick is a news editor at CBSNews.com. Cara began her career on the crime beat at Newsday. She has written for Marie Claire, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. She reports on justice and human rights issues. Contact her at cara.tabachnick@cbsinteractive.com

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The U.S. Marshals Service is preparing to transfer some 400 pre-trial detainees from a private prison in Georgia run by the Florida-based GEO Group to another facility nearly 200 miles away. Sources familiar with the plan say federal defenders, prosecutors and judges fear the move could disrupt criminal prosecutions in Atlanta, where the state’s busiest federal courthouse is located.

An internal email from the U.S. Marshals Service viewed by CBS News said the move will begin the week of Sept. 21.

“Our plan is to move the prisoners in waves over the next five weeks,” the email said, adding that prisoners who don’t have a date on the court docket would be moved first. The remaining prisoners will be removed “weekly until all are removed from RADD [the Robert A. Deyton Detention Facility] by 10/31/2026.”

The U.S. Marshals Service’s decision to move the detainees stems from concerns about inadequate and unsafe conditions at the Deyton facility in Lovejoy, a 600-bed detention center, two of the sources familiar with the matter told CBS News. They added that the problems have persisted without any improvement.

Defendants are generally only detained pre-trial if a magistrate judge determines that no other condition or combination of conditions can reasonably assure a person will appear in court.

Typically the people who qualify for pre-trial detention are accused of committing violent crimes or crimes that carry lengthy sentences. Other circumstances that can lead to being detained include cases where someone poses a flight risk or if prosecutors believe there is a risk the person could obstruct justice or tamper with witnesses.

In the Northern District of Georgia, some of the most common crimes that lead to pre-trial detention include illegal reentry to the U.S. after a prior deportation, fraud, possessing or distributing controlled substances and gun offenses.

The Marshals Service decided not to renew the option on the GEO contract, a decision that comes as the fiscal year is nearing its end. A spokesperson told CBS News that the Marshals Service “takes prisoner safety seriously and does everything we can to ensure those in our custody are safe” but declined to answer further questions.

Letters obtained by CBS News show opponents of the plan argue that moving the inmates would have an impact on the people’s access to counsel and discovery in their cases. The current Deyton facility is about a 25-mile drive from the Atlanta courthouse.

Critics also fear that moving people to a location that is too far from the courthouse will make it difficult to conduct trials in Atlanta because of the extensive travel time.

“Because of specific circumstances that exist in our District, ceasing to use RADD to house pre-trial detainees would be a catastrophe,” wrote Chief Judge Leigh Martin May for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, in a letter sent to Georgia’s two U.S. senators.

“All stakeholders — the U.S. Attorney, Federal Public Defender, U.S. Marshal, and the Court — agree that RADD is the best option for housing the Northern District of Georgia’s pre-trial detainees because it is close to the courthouse and easily accessed by attorneys, family members, and USMS personnel,” she added.

Natasha Silas, the executive director of the Federal Defender Program in the Northern District of Georgia, said in a letter last month to Georgia’s chief judge that the move “would impose substantial additional costs on the Judiciary while making it materially more difficult for appointed counsel to provide the effective representation our clients are constitutionally entitled to receive.”

Silas later told CBS News, “I don’t understand why we would move so many people so far away — almost to Florida — from their families, lawyers and the courts.”

ICDC is approximately 188 miles from Atlanta — a 376-mile round trip.

“To arrive at the Atlanta courthouse by 8:30 a.m., a detainee would need to leave Irwin County by 5:00 a.m., which means they would need to get up at 3:30 a.m.,” Chief Judge May wrote in the letter to lawmakers. “If they left the Atlanta courthouse by 5:00 p.m., they would be caught in Atlanta rush hour traffic heading south and return to the detention facility in Irwin County around 9:00 p.m.”

A single attorney could incur travel costs exceeding $1,000 before they even had a chance to meet with their client, Silas told CBS News.

Silas also expressed concern that conditions at the detention center in Ocilla, Georgia, might not be an improvement over the Lovejoy prison. The Ocilla facility is run by La Salle Corrections, a Louisiana-based private prison company that has faced a number of lawsuits and human rights complaints.

La Salle says on its website that it operates approximately 18 correctional facilities located primarily across Louisiana, Texas and Georgia. In total, its facilities can house a total of over 13,000 inmates and detainees.

There have been several civil lawsuits and human rights complaints filed about facilities run by La Salle Corrections. The Trump administration reopened its Irwin County Detention Center in 2025 after the facility had been closed because of numerous investigations surrounding human rights abuses.

Silas wrote that she didn’t have enough current information to assess whether conditions there had improved, but she pointed out that previous concerns about the facility “ultimately led the United States Marshals Service to discontinue its use of the facility for federal detainees.”

Silas said: “I have no reason to believe why Irwin County would be better,” adding that there are no hospitals nearby.

La Salle Corrections did not respond to questions CBS News sent by email.

The people incarcerated at the Deyton facility are being relocated because of problems including missing tools, holes in the walls between cells and cases of malfunctioning locks, according to a source familiar with the Marshals’ decision.

This is not the first time that the GEO-run private prison in Lovejoy has been under scrutiny — but for different issues. A 2020 audit by the Justice Department’s inspector general found that the U.S. Marshals Service needed to take more steps to hold GEO Group accountable for staffing shortages at the facility.

“We found that GEO did not consistently maintain the required 90 percent staffing level for detention security services, did not consistently fill essential positions, and had numerous positions vacant for more than 120 days,” the audit said.

The audit said that the vacant positions would have justified invoice deductions of more than $3.1 million, but the Marshals Service did not deduct any payments from the contract.

GEO Group first started housing pre-trial detainees at the facility for the U.S. Marshals Service after winning a 20-year contract in 2008. The inspector general said in its 2020 audit that the contract was valued at $650 million over 20 years. GEO Group has $894 million in contracts with the federal government in 2026, primarily with the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice.

CBS News reached out to GEO Group with questions but did not receive a response.

The GEO Group has faced various lawsuits about its facility conditions in different states over the past year, even as the private detention company prepares to operate previously shuttered prisons refurbished to house immigration detainees.

Trump’s reason for holding the Kennedy Center hostage doesn’t even make sense

2026-09-18T16:09:46.122Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/18/politics/trump-kennedy-center-claims

There is plenty that’s bizarre about President Donald Trump’s attempt to take the Kennedy Center hostage over a judge’s refusal to let him put his name on it. He’s now indicated twice in recent days that he will abandon the center — and even let it be “ripped down” — if the courts don’t change the ruling.

But high on the bizarreness quotient are Trump’s claims that the Kennedy Center needs him. They just don’t make sense.

The administration has made that argument repeatedly, including this summer in court.

“Without the name, ‘Trump’ on the Building, our fundraising will not only come to a halt, but any and all monies raised or committed would be obligated to be returned, refunded, or terminated,” the administration said in a June filing.

It added in another filing last month that not recognizing Trump would mean the Kennedy Center would continue to be in a financial and structural death spiral.

Then Trump indicated he wouldn’t provide the center help if his name wasn’t used.

“For me to get involved and to take that on long-term and to carry it or to raise money to carry it — I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition,” he told reporters in Charlotte on Wednesday night. “Because frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close. It’ll end up being ripped down.”

He also claimed this week that “17 Million Dollars, raised by President Trump, has been put into The Kennedy Center account to keep it afloat.”

But Congress last year appropriated $257 million for renovating the building. Trump apparently wants credit for getting Congress to do that — and is trying to hold that funding up to get what he wants. But it’s Congress that put up the money.

It’s also pretty evident that, to the extent the center is in financial trouble, it coincides with Trump’s efforts to take it over.

As recently as September 2024, tax documents showed the Kennedy Center running more than a $41 million surplus — with $307 million in revenue and $266 million in expenses.

Five months later, after Trump was inaugurated for the second time, he replaced the board with loyalists who quickly made him chairman.

And that’s when the center’s financial problems appear to have kicked in. Artists who were supposed to perform canceled. And a Washington Post investigation last month found ticket revenue and fundraising revenue fell sharply. That was especially the case after the board voted in December to put Trump’s name on the building, which the judge later forced to be removed. (A Kennedy Center spokesperson told the Post that the problems stemmed from previous leadership and that Trump’s name actually attracted new donors, resulting in a balanced fiscal 2027 proposed budget.)

But the Post reported that, as of June, the center’s financial projections had it “on track to fall nearly $100 million short of its revenue target.”

That was a very different outlook than the center had as recently as 2024.

It was also very different from what Trump had been saying to that point. In fact, just a few months before the administration sought to use the center’s dire financial straits as a legal reason it needed Trump’s name, the president claimed credit for a huge financial turnaround at the center.

“We have tremendous amounts of money coming in from some people around the table, but also from people that are not here,” Trump said at a lunch with the Kennedy Center board in March.

He added in December: “The building was in such bad shape, both physically and financially in every other way. And now it’s very solid, very strong.”

So Trump appears to have claimed things were great when he wanted credit, and now he’s claiming things are dismal when he needs a reason to put his name on the building.

But the legal argument has fallen completely flat with US District Judge Christopher R. Cooper.

Cooper and the DC Circuit Court of Appeals previously said that the administration offered no evidence to back up the assertion that Trump’s name was needed.

Cooper added in his ruling this week said that this question was “beside the point for present purposes.” But he also took time to knock it down.

“In fact, evidence before the Court pointed in the opposite direction: The renaming of the Center coincided with declines in revenue and contributions, as artists cancelled performances, the Washington National Opera ended its 50-year residency, and ticket sales and viewership of the Kennedy Center Honors broadcast dropped precipitously,” the judge wrote.

He added: “The Board also has access to the $257 million that Congress appropriated for necessary capital improvements — an outlay that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick indicated at the August 13 meeting President Trump is prepared to use ‘to complete the renovation work.’”

In other words, Trump isn’t just holding the Kennedy Center hostage for his own glorification; he’s doing so with a bunch of logically and legally incoherent claims.

Woman found guilty of negligent homicide in Super Bowl reporter’s death in Louisiana

September 18, 2026 10:32 AM EDT / CBS/AP

A Louisiana jury convicted a woman of negligent homicide on Thursday in the death of a Telemundo television reporter who had been visiting New Orleans to cover the Super Bowl, according to the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office.

Danette Colbert, 49, was also convicted of racketeering, as was her accomplice, 35-year-old Rickey White, according to Paul Purpura, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office. Racketeering carries up to a 50-year sentence in Louisiana.

The two had spent years carrying out a criminal enterprise that drew in victims in the city’s historic French Quarter with the promise of sex, then used drugs to knock them out and drain their bank accounts using stolen cards and phones, according to prosecutors.

Colbert was the last person seen leaving the room of Adan Manzano, a 27-year-old reporter and anchor for Telemundo based in Kansas City, Missouri, who was found dead in his hotel room Feb. 5 in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner days before the Super Bowl last year.

An autopsy revealed Manzano died lying face down on a pillow, unable to breathe after ingesting a combination of alcohol and the depressant Xanax.

Television reporter Adan Manzano is seen in a photo provided by Telemundo Kansas City. Telemundo Kansas City via AP

Prosecutors had sought to convict both Colbert and White on the charge of manslaughter, which carries up to a 40-year sentence. White was found not guilty.

Jurors deliberated for five and a half hours before reaching their decision, according to the district attorney’s office.

Colbert’s negligent homicide conviction carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, Jefferson Parish Assistant District Attorney Jenny Voss told reporters. She said the jury had carefully weighed all the evidence and she respected its decision.

“We are pleased with the verdict,” she told reporters. “We knew that this was a difficult case going in with a lot of complicated law, and we really feel like they took all that into consideration, and justice was served.”

Manzano’s family was unable to attend the trial, Voss added. Steve Downing, the general manager of Telemundo Kansas City where Manzano had worked, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Stavros Panagoulopoulos, Colbert’s attorney, and Leo Caillier III, White’s attorney, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Colbert, whose arrest record included allegations of drugging men and theft, later used Manzano’s credit card at a New Orleans gas station and other stores in the area.

In court documents, prosecutors described Colbert as acting under the guise of a “prostitute or ‘party girl’” while White served as her “pimp,” who provided security and helped find and rob victims.

Another man who assisted Colbert and White with their criminal ring, Christian Anderson, 35, testified against them in exchange for reducing his charges to simple robbery and access device fraud, according to Purpura. Court records show he pleaded guilty to both charges and received a six-year prison sentence.

Anderson “is relieved to be able to put this behind him,” said his attorney, Bradley Phillips. Anderson has been cooperating with law enforcement since his arrest and “has clearly demonstrated remorse for his past behavior.”

In court documents, prosecutors revealed extensive text messages dating back years among Colbert, White and Anderson, discussing using drugs to incapacitate and rob victims.

Colbert and White are scheduled to be sentenced in late September, according to the district attorney’s office.

Manzano’s death came a year after his wife died in a car accident. The couple is survived by a toddler daughter.

Germany’s leader under huge pressure as far-right AfD gains steam, but could he be forced out?

2026-09-18T09:32:00-0400 / CBS News

By Anna Noryskiewicz

Updated on: September 18, 2026 / 10:43 AM EDT / CBS News

Berlin — German leader Friedrich Merz’s position is under threat as the far-right surges in popularity and support for his own center-right party tanks. The situation is so serious that he canceled a planned trip to New York next week to represent his country at the United Nations General Assembly.

Merz, a conservative, is facing tremendous pressure in the wake of the far-right AfD’s landslide state election victory in Saxony-Anhalt last week.

Their success, fueled by frustration among many Germans about the impact of immigration, came at the expense of Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. It has accelerated a monthslong trend that spells trouble for the center-right leader of Europe’s biggest economy.

Merz’s poll ratings have fallen sharply. His government is grappling with a weak economy, and many voters who had hoped the former corporate executive would fix that have become disillusioned with delays in implementing financial and tax reforms.

German Chancellor and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Friedrich Merz speaks during a CDU election campaign rally before state elections in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 17, 2026. Fabrizio Bensch/REUTERS

The pressure has raised a once-unthinkable question in Berlin: Could Merz be forced out as chancellor before the end of his term?

“A genuine crisis of authority and leadership”

The chancellor’s crisis goes beyond poor polling, veteran journalist Kerstin Münstermann told CBS News.

“We are witnessing a genuine crisis of authority and leadership within the CDU,” said Münstermann, who has covered Merz’s career closely as a member of the regional Rheinische Post’s editorial board and head of its Berlin parliamentary bureau.

When Merz became chancellor early last year, many Germans saw him, above all else, as someone who could help revive the flagging economy. The former corporate lawyer and board member had worked for years to position himself as a strong economic hand to take the reins from Angela Merkel and her successor Olaf Scholz.

But “the situation for people has not noticeably improved,” Münstermann told CBS News. “If anything, it has gotten worse.”

The economic upturn promised by Merz has, undeniably, not materialized. While Germany is again seeing moderate growth, the labor market deteriorated last year. In August, more than 3 million people were unemployed, an increase of 36,000 from the previous year. Demand for labor remains weak, according to the Federal Employment Agency.

AfD’s rise fueled by immigration concerns

One of the key issues underlying Merz’s political crisis is immigration.

Concerns about the number of and integration of migrants have shaped the political debate for years in Germany, like many European nations, and they were the key factor in the AfD’s landslide state election victory this month in Saxony-Anhalt.

A resounding 91% of AfD supporters in the state voiced fear of a potential new influx of foreigners, according to an analysis by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, while 85% said they were concerned about immigration causing too much change within German society.

Ulrich Siegmund, lead candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, celebrates a first exit poll win for the party, at the Messe trade fair halls following state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Sept. 6, 2026, in Magdeburg, Germany. Omer Messinger/Getty

Merz has attempted to tighten Germany’s migration policies. Just this week the federal government adopted a new 10-point plan to combat Islamist terrorism. Among other things, it provides for stricter surveillance of certain individuals deemed to pose a threat, tougher penalties for spreading terrorist propaganda and amendments to criminal law.

But the pressure on Merz and his party, as the far-right gains ground by focusing almost entirely on the issue, keeps rising, exacerbated by recent acts of violence.

With the new measures, the government is trying to show it can and is taking concrete action on the issue. Whether it will be enough to win back voters who have turned to the AfD will become clearer with every new local and state election.

“Now he’s fighting”

Merz plans to convene his party’s leadership Sunday in Berlin. There are two more state elections that day, in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

If the results for the CDU are as disastrous as they were in Saxony-Anhalt, he will likely face some very tough questions about his leadership and the party’s future.

The chancellor has realized how serious the situation is, Münstermann said, and “now he’s fighting.”

The CDU, which has run Germany’s government off and on for the vast majority of its post-World War II history, is facing a major internal debate due to the AfD momentum.

The party has always ruled out any cooperation with the far-right — refusing to consider entering into a coalition government with the AfD or using votes from its lawmakers to get legislation passed.

That political red line, which all other major German parties also stand behind, is commonly referred to in the country as a “firewall.” But as the AfD gains clout through regional elections, the debate within the CDU over exactly how impermeable that firewall should be is also intensifying.

Some CDU politicians remain adamantly against any cooperation with the AfD. Others now question whether the party should, at least on individual policy initiatives, accept a majority vote in the parliament that can only be achieved with AfD votes.

Münstermann said the issue could deeply divide the CDU, but she believes Merz himself is “very clear on this,” and unlikely to change his position against working with the AfD. Doing so, she said, could lose him the support of moderate party figures who’ve continued to back him.

Could Merz be forced out?

Germany’s constitution makes it difficult to remove a chancellor from office — they cannot simply be replaced by another politician from the same party, even if there is broad consensus within that party.

The parliament, or Bundestag, can oust Merz only through what is known as a constructive vote of no confidence. The bar is high, as it requires a majority of all members of the Bundestag to vote not only to reject the sitting leader, but also to agree on a single replacement at the same time. It has happened only once, in 1982.

Another possibility is a simple vote of confidence. Merz could ask the Bundestag to formally express its confidence in him. If he failed to win a majority, he could ask Germany’s president to dissolve the parliament, which would potentially pave the way for new national elections.

Münstermann does not consider either scenario likely in the near future. She said, however, that calls for a confidence vote could start to rise later this year if Merz loses support of fellow CDU lawmakers on crucial votes, particularly on the budget and planned economic reforms.

Before that, there could be another way for the CDU to show it is heeding the headwinds.

The party could move to separate the office of chancellor from the CDU leadership role, which could then see Merz step down as his party’s leader without automatically resigning as chancellor. It would be a way for the CDU to express its dissatisfaction with Merz without plunging Germany into a governmental crisis.

For now, Merz has appeared focused on trying to show he is still in charge. Eight CDU state leaders publicly backed him this week, temporarily cooling speculation about possible successors.

But it does nothing to resolve the underlying crisis.

“It has not ended the debate over the chancellor,” Münstermann said. “That debate is still there, and it will probably remain after election night” in the two states — including the capital — on Sunday.

195,000 JKMax heated blankets sold on Amazon recalled after dozens of burn injuries

September 18, 2026 / 10:31 AM EDT / CBS News

Roughly 195,000 heated blankets and pads sold on Amazon.com are being recalled following dozens of reports of burn injuries, according to federal safety regulators.

The internal heating elements of the blankets and pads can overheat, posing a fire risk and burn hazards to customers, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said in a recall notice issued Thursday.

The company that makes the product, JKMax, said it is aware of 577 reports of blankets “smoking, melting or burning due to the heating elements overheating.” Of those incidents, 53 led to burn injuries, according to the filing with the CPSC.

One of the recalled JKMAX blankets sold on Amazon.com. Consumer Product Safety Commission

The items were sold online between September 2022 and July 2026 in single packs and packs of two. They come in blue, gray, brown or red and are made of polyester fabric, according to the CPSC.

The blanket model numbers affected by the recall are JKMAX-002, JKMAX-7284B, JKMAX-6284B, JKMAX-10090B and JKMAX-8490B. Consumers can find that number on the remote control used to adjust the heat level and on the white label attached to the product packaging.

Regulators said customers who purchased the blankets and pads should stop using them immediately. They can contact JKMax for a full refund. The recall number is 26-778.

Michigan synagogue reopens in time for Jewish High Holidays after terror attack

2026-09-18 11:14:04 EDT / CBS News

A Michigan synagogue is reopening in time for the Jewish High Holidays, six month after it was targeted in a terror attack.

The congregation at the Temple Israel synagogue in Michigan, one of the largest synagogues in the country, returned to its sanctuary last week for the first time since March to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

The Detroit-area religious center was attacked on March 12 when 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali rammed his truck packed with fireworks and gasoline deep into the building. The FBI called it a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.”

More than 140 people took shelter, with children abandoning their lunches in classrooms. Temple relics were destroyed by water damage and smoke.

“There were two classrooms. Our youngest children who were there – our babies and our toddlers who were in that room,” said Rabbi Arianna Gordon as she showed CBS News just how close Ghazali came to committing a massacre.

“We will tell the story of the great miracle that happened here on March 12th for generations to come,” Rabbi Jennifer Kaluzny said during the Rosh Hashanah service.

Temple Israel estimates the cost of rebuilding its home could top $40 million, not including an extra $12 million for heightened security measures, including a newly built security balcony in the main sanctuary.

“We could feed hungry people; we could take care of the elderly, things that we really want to be doing. And instead, we have to keep ourselves alive,” Rabbi Jen Lader said.

As to how it feels to be back after six months, Rabbi Paul Yedwab acknowledged that people entering the temple for the first time will have many feelings.

“But that’s not a bad thing,” he said. “Because through the service, through the celebration, when they walked out, they were feeling uplift and optimism and even joy.”

Kaluzny said their message has been that it’s “not time to turn away from Judaism,” but instead, it is time to lean into it.

“We’re here, we are not going anywhere,” she said. “We have to make changes to feel secure in our home, but we’re coming home.”

Ghazali, a Lebanese-born U.S. citizen, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during the attack, which happened just over a week after an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon killed his two brothers and several other members of his family.

Federal officials labeled the attack as an act of terrorism inspired by Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization since 1997.

A freelance journalist working for CBS News in Lebanon learned from sources there that Ghazali’s two brothers were members of a Hezbollah rocket unit in southern Lebanon.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/michigan-synagogue-temple-israel-reopens-after-attempted-terror-attack/

Facing 10 years in prison, ex-Connecticut official Kosta Diamantis flees U.S. by boat and plane to Greece

2026-09-18 11:18:39 EDT / CBS/AP

A former senior budget official for Connecticut’s Democratic governor is now a fugitive in Greece after fleeing the U.S. by boat and plane ahead of his sentencing for corruption, his lawyer and prosecutors told a federal judge on Thursday.

Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis, 70, also sent his attorney a 10-page email accusing Gov. Ned Lamont of weaponizing the justice system against him, denying wrongdoing and saying his life, reputation and family relationships were ruined by the prosecution.

Diamantis was found guilty in October 2025 on 21 counts of bribery and extortion, CBS affiliate WFSB-TV reported. He could have faced more than 10 years in prison at his sentencing Thursday in federal court in Bridgeport.

Diamantis, who was also a former Democratic state representative, was convicted by a federal jury of extorting private contractors for thousands of dollars in bribes from 2018 to 2021, in exchange for helping the companies keep and obtain work on multimillion-dollar school construction contracts. He told reporters at the time that he was afraid to go to prison.

The prospects of returning Diamantis — who holds both American and Greek citizenship — to the U.S. are unclear. Greek courts have upheld the claim that extradition of Greek nationals is forbidden.

Diamantis allegedly took boat to Bahamas, flew to U.K.

Authorities and Diamantis’ lawyer, Norman Pattis, did not say when Diamantis left the U.S.

Federal prosecutors said he traveled by boat from Florida to the Bahamas, then boarded a plane to London. They said that although Diamantis had surrendered his U.S. passport, he obtained a Greek passport. Pattis said he was told by Diamantis during a phone call Wednesday night that he was in Greece and would not be attending the sentencing.

A new sentencing hearing has been set for Sept. 30, WFSB-TV reports. While Diamantis may not be there, federal prosecutors said a judge will determine what comes next.

Connecticut officials were quick Thursday to condemn Diamantis for fleeing the country and took steps to stop his state pension payments.

“Kosta Diamantis betrayed the public’s trust and needs to be held accountable for his actions,” the governor said in a statement. “His repeated efforts to skirt justice are shameful. I hope he is apprehended and made to face the music as soon as possible.”

Kosta Diamantis arrives at federal court in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Oct. 3, 2025. Dave Zajac/Connecticut Post via Getty Images

State Attorney General William Tong, also a Democrat, added in a statement, “His disappearance this morning is a shameful insult to every person in Connecticut and will not deter our efforts to fully protect the state’s interest and taxpayer dollars.”

Prosecutors sought a decade-long prison sentence

Prosecutors asked the judge to send Diamantis to prison for 10 to 12 years, while Pattis argued in court documents for a sentence that included no prison time but strict conditions of release.

After the court hearing, the defense attorney told reporters that he was surprised that Diamantis fled the country.

“I think that Mr. Diamantis was facing a tough day here today and would have gotten at least four or five years, perhaps 10 to 12,” he said. “So as a lawyer, I cannot support his decision to take the law into his own hands. But as a fellow human being, I understand why he did what he did.”

“You’ve got two choices,” Pattis told WFSB-TV on Thursday. “Spend the next five years of your senior citizenship or your golden years asking Bubba for permission to stand in line or go to Greece.”

Former police Detective Brian Foley told WFSB-TV that he believes federal prosecutors will be successful in their efforts to get Diamantis back to the United States.

“When Uncle Sam gets egg on their face, they dedicate a lot of resources into finding that person,” Foley told the station. “I guarantee that’s already happening and he’s on every fugitive list in the U.S. and overseas as well, as we should get a line on him.”

Diamantis maintained his innocence since his arrest

Pattis provided copies of the email Diamantis sent to him to media outlets.

“The injustice that has occurred to me and my family by political weaponization is beyond rational belief,” Diamantis wrote in the email. “I have lost everything that took me an entire lifetime to earn and more. It is devastating to lose your home, your children’s home, your car, your job, the ability to get a job, your law license, your honor, your dignity and pride.”

He said he hopes President Trump and the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington would take a look at his case. Diamantis claimed Lamont used “the power of his office and his powerful friendship with President Biden to create an insular system of justice” aimed at protecting the governor’s own wrongdoing.

Diamantis has another pending criminal case in federal court, where he’s accused of taking bribes to quash a state audit of an eye doctor accused of Medicaid fraud.

Witnesses said they gave Diamantis envelopes of cash

In the school construction grants case, Diamantis was convicted of using his position as director of the state’s Office of School Construction Grants and Review to demand and ultimately receive thousands of dollars in bribes from contractors to steer building contracts their way, from 2018 to 2021.

He was accused of threatening to terminate those contracts if he wasn’t paid.

During the trial, witnesses testified about handing Diamantis envelopes of cash at various locations, including a men’s room at an upscale restaurant, a doughnut shop and his home. Some payments were referred to in messages as “birthday cards,” “pars” and “birdies.”

Diamantis, who testified in his own defense, admitted that he received the money but insisted it was legitimate consulting income.

麦波申大树倒下阻归途 客工无私施援温暖网民心

2026年9月18日 22:45 / 新明日报

倒树堵路挡巴士，客工冲上前帮忙搬树，五分钟开出通道。 （受访者提供）

大树在下班高峰时段倒下，横卧路面堵住巴士去路。一群客工见状立即冲上前，合力拉动枝干，短短约五分钟便开出一条通道，让车辆恢复通行。这一幕，被巴士乘客拍下，也温暖了网民的心。

这起事件发生在星期五（9月18日）傍晚6时许，地点在麦波申路与惹兰万宜（Jalan Wangi）交界处。

blob:https://www.zaobao.com.sg/f7ec9d84-f04f-4c42-a58d-ba3941fadc32

陈姓路人（40岁，电商主管）受访时说，当时她乘巴士下班回家，巴士因倒树阻路而无法前进，乘客过后纷纷下车。

“我当时还在犹豫，是要步行回家，还是留下等待道路恢复，就拍下了视频。整个过程大约五分钟，客工和其他热心公众就拉开一条路，让车辆通过。”

她拍摄的视频显示，一棵枝叶茂密的树倒在道路上，多名客工和公众陆续上前。有人抓住枝干往路旁拉，有人从另一侧推移，十多人齐心协力，逐步将倒树挪开。

她过后将视频上传社交媒体，赞扬客工毫不犹豫伸出援手，迅速为受阻车辆解围。

据她观察，倒树没有砸中任何人，现场也没有救护车到场。视频引起网民关注，不少人留言称赞客工热心助人，也肯定他们为新加坡社会作出的贡献。

在繁忙的下班时段，一棵倒下的树，一群冲上前的人，五分钟，一条通道。没有豪言壮语，只有一双双伸出的手。这一刻，新加坡的回家路，因为你们而畅通。

AI security experts say they used Claude to hack ChatGPT

September 18, 2026 / 11:31 AM EDT / CBS News

By Megan Cerullo

Software security researchers used Anthropic’s Claude AI platform to hack OpenAI’s ChatGPT tool, adding to mounting concerns about the vulnerability of leading large language models to cyberattacks.

Researchers from Hacktron AI, an independent AI security platform that tests software code, disclosed the breach in a blog post on Sunday. They said they used Claude to gain access to an OpenAI employee’s ChatGPT account, enabling Hacktron AI to retrieve key data on where the source code was stored and managed. They also accessed an OpenAI discussion forum.

“The entire timeline from initial discovery to access to OpenAI repo access took place in less than 72 hours,” Hacktron AI said in the post.

The Hacktron AI team reported the intrusion to OpenAI, which responded promptly and paid researchers a $6,500 bounty, Hacktron AI said in its blog post.

“We immediately reported the initial vulnerability to OpenAI and Discourse and worked with them to coordinate the patch. We appreciate their attention to detail and fast resolution of this issue,” the researchers wrote.

The incident was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

“We thank the researchers for contacting us and sharing their findings. We narrowed the permissions on Community sign-in tokens and revoked affected tokens and sessions,” OpenAI said, according to the Journal.

blob:https://www.cbsnews.com/10f50755-ae28-4f12-aa8c-87077ec38a9f

Anthropic and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The breach comes as AI’s capabilities and vulnerabilities have been thrust into the spotlight, with leading tech developers calling for a slowdown in building AI platforms due to concerns that they could harm people. In July, OpenAI revealed that its bots had collaborated to hack another AI developer, Hugging Face, after escaping a testing environment.

In a recent interview with CBS News, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said he sees “real dangers” around AI, citing the Hugging Face hack as a warning sign. In a Sept. 12 essay, he also wrote that the entire tech industry must work together to slow the pace of AI development.

Edited by Alain Sherter