News briefs

Tribune News Service on Jul 21, 2025

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Ocasio-Cortez’s Bronx office vandalized with accusations she funds ‘Gaza genocide’

NEW YORK — The front of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Bronx campaign office was defaced with red paint and a sign accusing her of funding “genocide in Gaza,” police said Monday.

Red paint was splattered across the front of her office on Herschell Street near Westchester Avenue in Westchester Square. A sign made with red paint read, “AOC FUNDS GENOCIDE IN GAZA,” police said.

Police have made no arrests. Last week, the Democratic congresswoman, who has been critical of U.S. support to Israel, voted against an amendment to cut aid to Israel’s defense.

On Saturday, she said on X that she voted against the amendment because it cuts off “Iron Dome capacities while allowing the actual bombs killing Palestinians to continue.”

—New York Daily News

Miami archbishop asks to hold Mass at Alligator Alcatraz. ‘Still waiting’ for answer

MIAMI — Miami’s top Catholic leader stopped by the state’s controversial Everglades detention center for migrants during a Sunday motorcycle ride with dozens of other Catholic bikers.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski visited "Alligator Alcatraz," Florida’s new migrant detention center located in an isolated airstrip near the Big Cypress National Preserve, to pray for for detainees. But the entrance of the facility is as far as he was able to go without approval from officials.

“Sunday PM about 25 Knights on Bikes stopped at entrance of Alligator Alcatraz and prayed a rosary for the detainees,” Wenski wrote on a post on X. “Archdiocese is still waiting for approval to access to provide Mass for detainees.”

Officials at the Archdiocese said they are still awaiting a response from the facility to allow chaplains and clergy to visit and “offer spiritual care, the sacraments, and the healing presence of Christ to those in detention.”

—Miami Herald

Trump weighs in on Kohberger plea deal, days before sentencing

BOISE, Idaho — President Donald Trump on Monday, days before Bryan Kohberger is scheduled to be sentenced, weighed in on the plea deal that allowed the 30-year-old to avoid the death penalty for killing four University of Idaho students in their Moscow home.

“These were vicious murders, with so many questions left unanswered,” Trump posted on Truth Social, the social media platform he owns. “While life imprisonment is tough, it’s certainly better than receiving the death penalty but, before sentencing, I hope the judge makes Kohberger, at a minimum, explain why he did these horrible murders.”

Trump’s urging of the judge isn’t possible. While Kohberger could provide a statement at his upcoming sentencing, defendants aren’t required to do so. Under state and federal law, the defendant can’t be forced to speak and has the right to remain silent. His all-day sentencing is scheduled for 9 a.m. at the Ada County Courthouse.

Kohberger, a graduate student at Washington State University at the time of the homicides, was arrested in December 2022 and recently pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in the fatal stabbings of the University of Idaho students following 2 1/2 years of the criminal case that was expected to go to trial next month.

—Idaho Statesman

Israel hits Houthi targets in Yemeni port to halt missile fire

Israel struck Houthi targets in Yemen’s port of Hodeida on Monday, in retaliation for a series of missile volleys from the group over the last week.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said the attack was intended to prevent attempts by the Iranian-backed group to restore damaged infrastructure. The Israeli military said it targeted vehicles the Houthis were using to rebuild port infrastructure, as well as fuel storage sites and naval vessels.

“The Houthis will pay a heavy price for firing missiles at the State of Israel,” Katz said. Despite repeated Israeli strikes on the strategic port of Hodeida and sites such as the airport in the capital Sanaa — both in Houthi-controlled territory — the group has maintained regular missile attacks on Israel and commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

The Houthis began strikes in solidarity with Palestinians after Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza started in October 2023.

—Bloomberg News