NATIONAL NEWS

Jordanian man gets 6 years for attacking Florida power facility, businesses over support of Israel

May 1, 2025, 2:07 PM

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A Jordanian man living in central Florida accused of causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage at a solar power facility and vandalizing multiple private businesses over their perceived support for the state of Israel was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison.

Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen, 44, was sentenced in Orlando federal court, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in December to threatening to use explosives and destruction of an energy facility. A restitution hearing will be held to address the more than $450,000 in damage, officials said.

“Threatening to commit mass violence against American citizens and targeting businesses or institutions for destruction will not be tolerated,” U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida Gregory W. Kehoe said in a statement.

According to court records, Hnaihen began going to businesses at night while wearing a mask last June and smashing the front doors. Prosecutors said Hnaihen left behind “warning letters,” which were addressed to the United States government. The letters laid out a series of political demands, culminating in a threat to “destroy or explode everything here in whole America. Especially the companies and factories that support the racist state of Israel.”

Near the end of June, Hnaihen broke into a solar power generation facility in Wedgefield, Florida, investigators said. He spent several hours systematically destroying solar panel arrays, officials said. Two more copies of the warning letter were left behind.

After a multiagency investigation, Hnaihen was arrested July 11 on local charges after another warning letter was discovered at an industrial propane gas distribution depot in Orlando, officials said. He was transferred to federal custody after his indictment.

National News

FILE - The Health and Human Services seal is seen before a news conference with Secretary Robert F....

Associated Press

List of child welfare research grants marked for termination in mistaken HHS email

An employee of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent an email Wednesday that mistakenly included plans to terminate more than 150 research grants related to child and family well-being. The grants are administered by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation and distributed across the country. A spokesperson for HHS said the […]

2 hours ago

FILE - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is seen in Washington, April 16, 2025. (AP ...

Associated Press

Email mistake reveals secret plans to end research on Head Start and other child safety net programs

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Trump administration could gut research on the effectiveness of child welfare programs, with plans to terminate dozens of university grants studying improvements to Head Start and child care policy, according to a spreadsheet mistakenly made public this week. The document listed more than 150 research projects under consideration for […]

2 hours ago

FILE - The National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall is seen on ...

Associated Press

Prominent pastor notified books loaned to African American museum may be returned amid review

WASHINGTON (AP) — A veteran activist of the Civil Rights Movement said he was notified by the Smithsonian Institution that items he loaned to the National Museum of African American History and Culture may be returned, amid a potential review of the museum’s collections ordered by President Donald Trump. Rev. Amos C. Brown, pastor of […]

2 hours ago

FILE - Ed Martin speaks at an event hosted by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., at the Capitol in Washington...

Associated Press

Trump’s pick for top prosecutor in DC is testing Republican loyalty

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most of President Donald Trump’s top nominees have sailed through the Senate with little resistance. His pick to be the top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital could be an exception. Ed Martin Jr., a conservative activist with modest legal experience who has defended rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, […]

3 hours ago

FILE - Wadee Alfayoumi's father, Oday Al Fayoume, seated right, and his uncle Mahmoud Yousef attend...

Associated Press

Illinois landlord to be sentenced in hate crime that left 6-year-old Palestinian American boy dead

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois landlord found guilty of a vicious hate crime that left a 6-year-old Muslim boy dead and wounded his mother days after the start of the war in Gaza in 2023 was due in court Friday for sentencing. A jury convicted 73-year-old Joseph Czuba in February of murder and hate […]

3 hours ago

Construction begins on a property damaged by the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborho...

Associated Press

Los Angeles homeowners begin to rebuild after devastating wildfires

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nearly four months after wildfires reduced thousands of Los Angeles-area homes to rubble and ash, some residents are starting to rebuild. In the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, construction workers recently began placing wooden beams to frame a house on a lot where only a charred fireplace remains standing. In the seaside city […]

3 hours ago

Jordanian man gets 6 years for attacking Florida power facility, businesses over support of Israel