North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said he will continue to use every resource at his disposal to ensure that residents impacted by Hurricane Helene stay warm, as winter storms sweep across the state – potentially affecting power grids and other critical infrastructure impacted by the prior storm.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) temporary housing assistance will end Saturday for thousands of North Carolina residents, some of whom are facing frigid temperatures this weekend in the Appalachian Mountain region.

“At our request, FEMA has extended temporary shelter assistance through Tuesday in light of the winter storm impacting western North Carolina,” Stein’s office confirmed to FOX Business.

The Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) program, which cannot be requested and was only granted to survivors identified by FEMA beginning in October, was set to end on Friday and later pushed back to Saturday.

FEMA’s local disaster recovery centers will be closed through Monday, “due to winter weather.”

“I will continue to use every resource at my disposal to get folks into safe and warm shelter,” said Gov. Josh Stein.

North Carolinians started receiving letters on Jan. 3 informing them their hotel or motel rooms would no longer be covered, Fox News Digital reported. When eligibility ends, they are given a week’s notice to check out.

Thousands of Hurricane Helene survivors continue to be supported by the program in western North Carolina, following the September storm.

There are currently 5,600 households currently checked into hotels, according to FEMA.

The agency said those with questions about eligibility should contact the FEMA helpline at 1-800-621-3362. 

Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin and Brooke Singman contributed to this article.

Well, it happened. This year is now officially the worst year on record for free speech on our nation’s campuses.  

Throughout 2024, I have been referring to research from my organization, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which showed that 2023 was the worst recorded year for attempts at our colleges and universities to disinvite speakers from campus, cancel performances, take down art exhibits and prevent the screening of films. This is based on FIRE’s Campus Deplatforming Database, which has been logging these kinds of incidents since 1998. 

As early as May, I knew that 2024 was going to be even worse. And on November 20, I was proven right. That day, my esteemed colleague and FIRE Chief Research Advisor Sean Stevens (who collected much of the data I’m providing you with here) announced that we had reached 157 deplatforming attempts, surpassing 2023’s 156.

A month later, that number is now 164. I’m not surprised, either. This is in keeping with a rising trend of these attempts in the last half decade. In fact, one out of five cases in FIRE’s database right now represent deplatforming attempts that occurred in the last two years alone. 

Of course, the usual suspects top the list in terms of schools with the most deplatforming attempts. In first place this year is Georgetown University with a whopping 43 attempts in 2024. Trailing it is Harvard with 28 attempts, and UC Berkeley with 26. Notre Dame isn’t far behind with 24. Boston College and Columbia University are tied next with 23 each. 

Sadly, anyone who believes this phenomenon was exclusive to a few elite university campuses is sorely mistaken. The free speech controversies run the gamut. At Pace University, students disrupted a panel discussion called “Saving Women’s Sports” by rushing the stage and yelling at panelists.  

Then there’s East Tennessee State University, where administrators added curtains and content warnings to an art exhibit and required visitors to sign a liability waiver before seeing it. Another lowlight occurred at Binghamton University where a radio interview with University of Pennsylvania professor Amy Wax was canceled 10 minutes before airtime because “the proposed interview did not meet [the] station’s goals of providing content by and for Binghamton students and community members.” 

Such censorial behavior is pervasive at every level of higher education, so it isn’t surprising that faculty want to keep their heads down and not rock the boat in their classrooms, their research and their out-of-classroom speech. 

In 2024, FIRE published the results of the largest faculty free speech survey ever conducted. While the results probably won’t shock you given how bad free speech has been on campus the last decade, they should absolutely infuriate you. The study asked 6,269 faculty members at 55 major colleges and universities a variety of questions regarding their comfort expressing themselves on campus. The result? We found that self-censorship on U.S. campuses is currently four times worse than it was at the height of the McCarthy era. 

That’s no exaggeration. In a major survey by sociologists Paul Lazarsfeld and Wagner Thielens conducted in 1954, the height of McCarthyism, 9% of social scientists (who the researchers suspected were most likely to self-censor) claimed to have suppressed their own expression out of fear of causing controversy. In FIRE’s 2024 survey, the number of faculty who said the same was 35%. 

It gets worse, too. Fourteen percent of faculty reported suffering discipline or threats of discipline for either their teaching, research, academic talks or other off-campus speech. Twenty-seven percent feel unable to speak freely for fear of how students, administrators, or other faculty would respond. Forty percent worry about damaging their reputations because someone misunderstands something they have said or done, and 23% worry about losing their jobs because of it. 

If you can believe it, it gets even worse than that. Our survey was anonymous, but even the cloak of anonymity didn’t assuage some faculty’s concerns about speaking up. Despite the fact that we didn’t collect identifying information, some respondents still explicitly requested that we keep certain details they shared private. Others asked us to direct all correspondence to a private personal email rather than their faculty addresses. Some refused to answer our survey at all, even though their names and affiliations would not be shared.

I know I’ve been doomsaying here, but I wouldn’t do the work I do if I didn’t think there was hope for the future. In fact, there have been some promising developments this year. 

Schools like MIT, Harvard, UMass Boston, Ohio State, Syracuse University, and others have begun to reject political litmus tests in the form of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) statements. Many other schools, including some of the ones I just named, have also committed themselves to policies of institutional neutrality in keeping with the Chicago Statement’s emphasis on the importance of freedom of speech at institutions of higher learning.  

Scrappy young startups like the University of Austin have given our legacy institutions a much-needed wake-up call that they aren’t invincible. And the media as well as the public have gotten much more comfortable exposing and criticizing the many issues plaguing higher education, as evidenced by The New York Times’ reporting on how The University of Michigan is having second thoughts about its DEI program. 

So yes, 2024 was terrible for free speech on America’s college campuses — the worst in recent memory, in fact. But 2025 is still ahead of us, and 2024’s record is one we should try very hard not to break. Contrary to how it might seem, I don’t enjoy reporting all these terrible facts. In all honesty, I’d love it if FIRE had to put itself out of business. It’s doubtful that 2025 will be the year it happens, but we can certainly push ourselves further in that direction. 

As the third year of war in Ukraine nears a close as the new year approaches and ahead of the Feb. 24, 2025, anniversary date, new battle lines have once again been established after Russia made advances in the east and Kyiv opened a new battlefront, this time in Russia.

The war that had already plagued Europe, the U.S. and, to an extent, the Middle East, costing a whopping $278 billion in aid for Ukraine, including nearly $87 billion from Washington, expanded to Asia in 2024 as geopolitical rivalries in the Indo-Pacific began playing out through proxy in Ukraine. 

SETTING THE TONE

2024 began with a heated fight in Congress over whether the U.S. should supply more military aid to Ukraine, a fight that highlighted major divisions in the Republican Party and Kyiv’s deep reliance on Washington’s military support.

The monthslong debate, which finally ended in April, had major implications for Ukraine when it came to its ability to defend against Moscow’s missiles and its ability to counter Russian offenses. In 2023, Russia was unable to make any major advances despite the sheer number of men the Kremlin has long been able to throw into its war machine.

But 2024 politics in the U.S. changed the reality of war for Ukraine.

The stalled supplies not only significantly increased Ukraine’s vulnerabilities in the east, particularly in Donetsk, it enhanced frustration from Kyiv, NATO allies and those who argued that defending Ukraine is in the U.S.’s security interest. It escalated attention around the Biden administration’s strike bans on U.S.-supplied long-range missiles, which the president eventually lifted in November. 

As U.S. politics at home grew increasingly volatile ahead of the presidential election, uncertainty mounted over what another Trump White House could mean for Kyiv; a question that has already had other geopolitical consequences.  

COST OF WAR

In late April, the House passed a $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine that pushed U.S. financial commitments to $183 billion since Russia first launched its invasion in 2022. The package was meant to prompt an immediate surge in the delivery of military equipment and supplies, which, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, had fallen to 10% of what it had been the year before. 

The European Union in June officially began membership talks with Ukraine after determining Kyiv had met the necessary requirements to join an economic and political partnership by countering corruption, reining in political lobbying, increasing transparency around officials’ wealth and bolstering the rights of national minorities. 

By the July NATO Summit in Washington, D.C., some members began ramping up pressure on the Biden administration, along with other allies like the U.K. and Germany, to lift any and all strike restrictions enforced on Ukraine, which prevented Kyiv from hitting military targets and weapons depots deep inside Russia, a move Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeatedly said was needed to better stop Russia’s missile and drone attacks.

Moscow in September looked to secure its defense budget for 2025, and the federal government submitted a plan to its State Duma that called for $183 billion to be allocated for national security and defense next year, which amounted to some 41% of its annual expenditures, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

That figure appeared to have been whittled down by the time it reached Russian President Vladimir Putin’s desk in early December as he signed off on a 13.5 trillion ruble plan ($124 million), and it accounts for 32.5% of Russia’s 2025 budget, according to the Associated Press. 

In October, the G-7 finalized a $50 billion loan to Ukraine that would be paid using frozen Russian assets, and on Christmas Eve, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Kyiv had received its first $1 billion from the U.S.

The U.S. has agreed to send Kyiv $20 billion in frozen asset profits to be used for Ukraine’s military and reconstruction assistance through 2025.

President Biden has vowed to fast-track as much military assistance to Ukraine as he can during the final days in office.

ESCALATION

Throughout the war, Russia has relied on a heavy missile and drone campaign to brutalize the entirety of Ukraine. But in 2024, Moscow escalated its aerial attacks targeting towns and cities, particularly in eastern Ukraine, ahead of its infantry advances, even if it meant the complete decimation of urban areas.

2024 saw more battlefield movement than 2023, though according to data provided by the Institute for the Study of War, this was largely seen in the second half of the year, a price for which Russian paid heavily.

November proved to be a particularly brutal month, with Russia seeing its highest battlefield losses ever with 45,720 casualties reported in November, which was up from nearly 42,000 in October, along with an estimated $3 billion worth of military equipment, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. 

Moscow also twice set the record for the greatest number of drone strikes it levied against Ukraine in a single campaign since the war began, first with 145 drones fired overnight on Nov. 9, followed by 188 strikes beginning the night of Nov. 25.

After more than a year of a relatively stagnant front line, Russia in May launched a new front in Kharkiv, which Ukraine had liberated in 2022, though the Kremlin’s renewed offensive largely failed. 

By early August, Ukraine made international headlines when it launched a surprise ground incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. It was an apparent attempt to divert forces from eastern Ukraine to the Kremlin’s home turf and give it a bargaining chip when the time comes for peace negotiations.

The campaign was the largest attack on Russia since World War II, and by mid-October the Pentagon had confirmed that North Korea had deployed troops to Russia, with some 11,000 North Korean soldiers believed to be fighting Ukraine in Kursk, the first foreign nation to send in troops since the war began. 

Though North Korea is not the only nation to aid Russia in its invasion, Iran has for years been sending Shahed drones. In September, the U.S. accused Iran of supplying Russia with short-range ballistic missiles. 

Ukraine is estimated to have lost 40% of the land it initially seized in Russia, according to reports last month. But North Korea is also reported to have endured heavy losses, with Zelenskyy claiming this week that 3,000 North Korean troops had been killed in the fighting while others face extreme logistical shortages, including access to clean water, the Associated Press reported. 

China has also been accused of aiding Russia by covertly sending it military support in the form of microelectronics and semiconductors, among other items.

YEAR END

North Korea’s direct involvement in Russia’s war has further highlighted the divisions in the Indo-Pacific that have arisen in recent years, not only in the face of Chinese aggression, but Pyongyang’s, which is a dynamic that has become caught up in the largest war Europe has seen since World War II as Japan and South Korea increasingly back Western allies and view the Russia-North Korea alliance as a threat.

North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia reportedly prompted South Korea to consider escalating its non-lethal aid by mulling over a supply of missiles. Japan on Christmas Day sent Ukraine $3 billion in frozen Russian assets, adding to the $12 billion Tokyo has provided to Kyiv. In addition, Japan also pledged to support Ukraine’s energy sector, which Russia routinely targets.  

Russia once again solidified its primary winter strategy by attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Christmas Day by firing 184 drones and missiles across the country, according to Ukraine’s air force. The attacks sparked mass blackouts amid freezing temperatures in multiple regions, including Kharkiv in the north, the central Dnipropetrovsk and Poltava areas, as well as Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine.

Zelenskyy condemned the attacks as “inhumane.”

Former President Trump said on the campaign trail that he would end the war before even entering office. Since winning the election, the president-elect’s confidence in his ability to do that appears to have shifted. 

Speaking at his first press conference this month since securing a second term, he said, “We’re trying to get the war stopped, that horrible, horrible war that is going on in Ukraine with Russia. We’ve got a little progress. It is a tough one, it is a nasty one.”

Trump has said he will work to secure a peace deal between Putin and Zelenskyy, which the Ukrainian president this month suggested he would be open to, though there are major stipulations on which Putin is unlikely to agree, such as a future for Kyiv in the NATO alliance. 

Additionally, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed Trump’s calls for a ceasefire and said a “ceasefire is a road to nowhere,” suggesting Trump could face a tough diplomatic future.

Jennifer Lopez called out Bruno Mars for his multi-million-dollar performance fee. 

During a podcast interview, celebrity wedding planner Marcy Blum shared Lopez’s reaction when she discovered how much it would’ve cost to book a performance with the “24K Magic” singer. 

“We were working with J.Lo and A-Rod before they broke up, and they were going through a list of musicians, and she goes, ‘What about Bruno Mars?'” Blum explained on “The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast.”

Blum recalled telling Lopez that she had “just worked with” Mars on another wedding event. The “Marry You” singer received $5 million to sing for 45 minutes to an hour, according to Blum.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Blum recalled Lopez’s shocked reaction.

The “Wedding Planning for Dummies” author added that she was able to share that story since she “never signed an NDA.”

Reps for Blum, Lopez and Mars did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

In 2017, Lopez began dating former New York Yankees slugger Rodriguez. The two got engaged in 2019. They postponed their wedding twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and eventually ended their relationship in 2021.

At the time, the former couple issued a joint statement to “Today.”

“We have realized we are better as friends and look forward to remaining so,” the statement said. 

“We will continue to work together and support each other on our shared businesses and projects. We wish the best for each other and one another’s children. Out of respect for them, the only other comment we have to say is thank you to everyone who has sent kind words and support.”

Shortly after that breakup, Lopez reunited with actor Ben Affleck. The two reunited after previously ending their first engagement in 2004.

They tied the knot in a surprise Las Vegas ceremony in July 2022, followed by a more traditional and lavish ceremony in Georgia a month later.

Earlier this year, Lopez filed for divorce on Aug. 20 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Her petition for the dissolution of her marriage to Affleck was filed on the two-year anniversary of their Georgia wedding.

Lopez has been married four times, first to Ojani Noa, then Cris Judd, followed by the father of her children, Marc Anthony. 

A bewildered mom happened upon her infant son being attacked by a raccoon that had sneaked inside their Idaho home and successfully fended off the unlikely holiday visitor.

The mother called the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) and the Cassia County Sheriff’s Office Dec. 23 after she heard “a loud noise in the home” and discovered the raccoon attacking her baby boy, Idaho Fish and Game shared in a release.

Authorities said the mother managed to grab the furry intruder to save her son.

The infant was taken to the Cassia Regional Hospital in Burley for undisclosed injuries before being transferred to a hospital in Salt Lake City.

According to officials, a sheriff’s deputy returned to the home with the baby’s father, located the animal and killed it. 

IDFG noted it was unclear how the raccoon got inside the home and that there were no other raccoons inside.

The animal’s carcass has since been tested for rabies by the Idaho Bureau of Laboratories, and tests were negative, the release said.

“Once notified of the incident, staff from the Magic Valley Region activated their Wildlife Human Attack Response Team,” the IDFG wrote. “This specially trained team of department staff has the responsibility to act to protect the safety of the public and incident responders; attempt to identify, locate, and control the animal(s) involved in a human-wildlife incident; and conduct, document and report investigative findings.”

The agency noted that raccoon attacks on humans in the state are “extremely rare” and that there has only been one case of raccoon rabies documented in Idaho.

The IDFG instructed Idahoans to “never purposely feed a raccoon,” saying they generally avoid humans unless they feel “threatened.”

“As with all wildlife that can be found around homes in Idaho, the best course of action to avoid raccoon encounters is to take preventative actions before a problem starts,” the department wrote. “Raccoons can live in a variety of habitats, but an area with access to water and food will attract them.

“A homeowner can limit food sources by securing residential garbage, removing any fallen fruit or rotten produce from your yard or garden, feeding pets indoors, keeping pet food securely stored, and removing or securing bird feeders,” IDFG added. “Blocking raccoon access to hiding places in sheds and outbuildings and sealing off potential entryways and exits in and around a home will also discourage raccoon use.”

Israeli officials recently announced the discovery of an unusual oil lamp dating to the fourth century, just in time for Hanukkah.

In a Facebook post published Thursday, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) explained the oil lamp, which dates back to the Late Roman Empire, was found during a recent excavation near the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

The artifact appears to reference the Second Temple, though it was made over 200 years after the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. Archaeologists discovered depictions of an incense shovel, a menorah and a lulav, a date tree frond used to celebrate Sukkot, carved on the lamp.

“The exquisite artistic workmanship of the lamp, which was found complete, makes it outstanding and extremely rare,” IAA Excavation Director Michael Chernin said in a statement. “The menorah, incense shovel and lulav are symbols associated with the Jewish connection to the Temple.”

The lamp also contains soot marks from the last time it was used, nearly two millennia ago.

“This unique find, which, judging by the soot marks on its nozzle, was used for lighting about 1,700 years ago, provides a fascinating glimpse into Jewish cultural and religious life during this period,” the IAA said.

During the Late Roman Empire, Christianity became the favored religion, and Roman polytheism was largely abandoned. There were still a significant number of Jews in Israel, where they faced persecution by the Romans.

Chernin added that the oil lamp was “particularly surprising” because very little is known about Jews who lived in Jerusalem in the fourth century. 

“After the Roman emperor Hadrian suppressed the Bar Kokhba rebellion in 135 CE, Jews were expelled from the city,” the historian explained. “The Mount of Olives lamp is one of the few material traces of a Jewish presence around Jerusalem in the 3rd-5th centuries CE.”

IAA Research Archaeologist Benjamin Storchan said the craftsman who created the lamp “dedicated a great deal of time and effort to its decoration.”

“The lamp was made using delicately and intricately carved limestone molds using drills and chisels,” Storchan noted. “The molds were made in two parts, upper and lower. To create the lamp, the potter pressed the clay into the molds, then pressed together.”

Storchan also said the lamp likely belonged to a Jew who “purchased it because of its religious affiliation and memorial to the Temple.”

The lamp is on public display at the newly built Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for Archaeology in Jerusalem, where it will be open to the public through the Festival of Lights.