The fatal shooting of a family of four and their dogs at a home in a Chicago suburb was not a murder-suicide but also not a “random” incident, according to police. Two adults, two children and their three dogs were found dead from gunshot wounds at the home in Romeoville, Illinois, on Sunday night; police now believe the murders could have been targeted. Investigators do not believe that the deaths were the result of a murder-suicide, Deputy Chief Chris Burne of the Romeoville Police Department told reporters. No arrests have been made in the case, but officials say that there is no reason for people to shelter inside in the wake of the shocking incident. “We were able to determine this was not a random incident and there was no cause for a shelter in place order,” DC Burne said on Tuesday. ”This incident is the police department’s top priority.” The victims were Alberto Rolon, 38, and Zoraida Bartolomei, 32, and their two boys, aged seven and nine, according to the Will County Coroner’s Office. A GoFundMe page has been set up by Ms Bartolomei’s sister, Bryana Bartolomei to raise money for funeral expenses for the whole family. “These were hardworking people that had just bought their first home. Their kids were the sweetest most innocent angels who could hug your worries away,” the fundraising page stated. Her sister took to Facebook to share an image of the family, captioning it, “I want to know what happened to my nephews, my sister, her husband and WHY? “ Police believe that the shooting took plea between 9pm and 5am on Sunday. Officers went to the home to perform a wellness check when one of the victims did not show up for work on Sunday and did not answer phone calls. “All officers and professional staff have been working tirelessly on this case. Our detectives and crime scene investigators have spent the last 36 hours collecting a tremendous amount of physical evidence,” added DC Burne. “I want to know what’s going on, man. It’s very, very quiet. It’s incredibly quiet,” neighbour Dan Lugo, told WBBM. “This stuff doesn’t happen here. It’s very unnerving. I’m pretty sure the whole neighbourhood is shook up.” “Our entire community is grieving with the family over this tragic incident,” Romeoville Mayor John Noak said. “I have directed our social services staff to make themselves available to our community to help begin the healing process.” The Romeoville Police Department is still investigating the incident, says the coroner’s office. Read More Killer at large after family of four shot dead in Illinois home along with three dogs Couple, 2 children and 3 dogs found shot to death in suburban Chicago home US gun laws are failing to protect elections as political violence spreads, report finds

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Russian president Vladimir Putin said that the Wagner private military company “simply doesn't exist” as a legal entity, in comments adding to the series of often bizarre twists that have followed the group’s abortive revolt last month – the most serious threat to Putin’s 23-year rule amid the war in Ukraine. “There is no law on private military organizations. It simply doesn’t exist,” Mr Putin told a Russian newspaper late Thursday, referring to the Wagner group. Mr Putin recounted to Kommersant his own version of a Kremlin event attended by 35 Wagner commanders, including the group's chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on June 29. That meeting came just five days after Prigozhin and his troops staged a stunning but short-lived rebellion against Moscow authorities. The meeting was revealed earlier this week by a Kremlin official. Mr Putin said that at the talks, Wagner rejected an offer to keep its troops in Ukraine, where they have played key battlefield roles, under the leadership of their direct commander. “All of them could have gathered in one place and continued to serve,” Mr Putin told the newspaper, “And nothing would have changed for them. They would have been led by the same person who had been their real commander all along.” Mr Putin has previously said that Wagner troops had to choose whether to sign contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry, move to neighboring Belarus or retire from service. According to him, although “many nodded” when he made his proposal, Mr Prigozhin rejected the idea, responding that “the boys won’t agree with such a decision”. This, Mr Putin said, was one of “several employment options” put forward at the meeting. During the revolt that lasted less than 24 hours, Mr Prigozhin’s mercenaries quickly swept through the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and captured the military headquarters there without firing a shot, before driving to within about 200km (125 miles) of Moscow. Mr Prigozhin described the move as a “march of justice” to oust the military leaders, who demanded that Wagner sign contracts with the Defense Ministry by July 1. The fate of Mr Prigozhin and the terms of a deal that ended the armed rebellion by offering amnesty for him and his mercenaries, along with permission, to move to Belarus remain cloudy. Wagner mercenaries are completing the handover of their weapons to the Russian military, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday. Their disarming of Wagner reflects efforts by Russian authorities to defuse the threat they posed and also appears to herald an end to the mercenary group’s operations on the battlefield in Ukraine, where Kyiv’s forces are engaged in a counteroffensive. Read More Russia-Ukraine war – live: Wagner forces training soldiers in Belarus after Prigozhin exile Tucker Carlson and Mike Pence clash in heated exchange over Ukraine at GOP 2024 forum Putin wants to attend an August summit. Host country South Africa doesn't want to have to arrest him Russian antiwar activist allowed into Serbia after spending more than a day at the Belgrade airport Why are Russian and Belarusian players allowed back at Wimbledon? Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

Oklahoma’s governor is joining the messaging war against gay, lesbian and transgender Americans with an announcement on Monday that he would veto a bill set to fund the state’s PBS station through 2026. Kevin Stitt made the news on Friday, and expanded on his decision in an interview with Fox News. He told the right-wing network that Oklahoma’s local PBS station OETA was responsible for the “sexualization” of children. “OETA, to us, is an outdated system. You know, the big, big question is why are we spending taxpayer dollars to prop up or compete with the private sector and run television stations? And then when you go through all of the programing that's happening and the indoctrination and over-sexualization of our children, it's just really problematic, and it doesn't line up with Oklahoma values," he said. “I mean, some of the programming that we're seeing… it just doesn't need to be on public television.” he continued. “Oklahoma taxpayers are going, 'Hey, hang on, time out for just a second. That's not my values.” His office provided numerous examples of supposedly objectionable instances of PBS programming to Fox News. Some were typical of the recent anti-transgender panic: A reading of The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish by drag queen Little Miss Hot Mess, while others were more in line with the typical efforts by conservative Republicans to paint any mention of LGBT persons as “propaganda” in support of some sinister political agenda. In that vein, the governor’s office took issue with a PBS Newshour segment where persons who supported the use of puberty blockers were interviewed, as well as a depiction of a same-sex marriage on the show Odd Squad. He argued that the prevalence of digital technology in contemporary life made the concept of a publicly-funded broadcast channel obsolete. Republicans have long made that argument from a government spending standpoint. During the 2012 presidential election, funding for PBS was among the federal programs that would-be president Mitt Romney would have cut had he defeated then-President Barack Obama. At the time, the Obama campaign savaged Mr Romney over his suggestion. “There’s so much television, there’s so much media,” the governor told Fox News. “Maybe in 1957 you could have made an argument that you needed a public television station. That’s totally outdated at this point.” His critics, including some Republicans, argue that his explanation displayed a critical lack of understanding regarding rural life in his home state. “Our broadcast towers are how we inform a lot of rural Oklahoma about disasters like tornadoes and thunderstorms,” said Kenneth Busby, a board member of Friends of OETA and CEO of the Route 66 Alliance. His concerns were highlighted on an MSNBC segment hosted by Joy Reid over the weekend. Mr Stitt dismissed concerns that rural Oklahomans without access to cable news or internet would be adversely affected by a cut to the channel’s broadcast infrastructure. Oklahoma is largely enveloped by an informal section of the American midwest known as “Tornado Alley”, where particularly violent storms are known to form with regularity. "All those towers and our communications, that's all owned by the state and whether we continue to fund an outdated public television station with taxpayer dollars, or we let the free market work, we're still going to have the same capabilities, the same assets, the same towers," he said. "Our DPS system is what rolls out the Amber Alerts, for example. None of that's going away," the governor continued. "So that's just people confusing the issue, not being clear with their mission, trying to make excuses of why the tax dollars should still fund this outdated system. His effort to make his own personal contribution in the campaign to smear content that features LGBT persons or supports their basic rights as the “sexualization of our children” doesn’t appear to be headed for success. If it does, members of his own party (not to mention Democrats) say it will hurt the state’s Department of Public Safety — specifically, the state’s early emergency alert system. A number of Republicans are reportedly against the governor’s veto and told local publication Tulsa World that they plan to override the veto. Doing so would take two-thirds of Oklahoma’s legislature, which leans heavily Republican. The state House speaker and president of the Senate both say they support OETA’s funding. The Oklahoma Senate Pro Tem, Greg Treat, told Tulsa World that he had been reprimanded by his predecessor over his support for a previous attempt to cut OETA’s funds, and was informed at the time about OETA’s importance for the state’s early warning system. “Ever since then, I have supported its continuation,” he told the publication. Read More Turkey’s Erdogan attacks ‘pro-LGBT’ opposition in tight election race To improve kids' mental health, some schools start later Lewis Hamilton criticises Florida’s anti-LBGTQ measures ahead of Miami Grand Prix LOCALIZE IT: States push raises to address teacher shortages Supreme Court blocks Richard Glossip’s execution in Oklahoma Drag queen fronting US Navy’s recruitment drive claps back at critics: ‘They only hate when you’re winning’

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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 13, 2023--

The International Monetary Fund slightly raised its forecast for 2023 US economic growth Friday while noting that a slowing economy will likely lead to a...

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Texas’ power grid operator is asking residents to voluntarily cut back on electricity due to anticipated record demand on the system as a heat wave keeps parts of the state and southern U.S. in triple-digit temperatures

South Korea’s early trade data pointed to the first increase in exports since August last year, a possible