Tag: continues

  • NYSE coming to Texas coming as Lone Star State continues to attract businesses

    NYSE coming to Texas coming as Lone Star State continues to attract businesses

    Texas has in recent years become a significant home for companies looking to relocate, including the latest —  the New York Stock Exchange’s “fully electronic equities change” NYSE Texas in Dallas. 

    The NYSE revealed Wednesday that it plans to add operations in Dallas by reincorporating its NYSE Chicago as NYSE Texas in the Lone Star State, saying the “fully electronic equities exchange” will “provide public companies with a listing and trading venue centered within the vibrant economy of the southwestern U.S.” once it goes live in the future.

    NYSE Group President Lynn Martin said the exchange is “delighted to expand our presence in the Lone Star State,” touting Texas as the state “with the largest number of NYSE listings” and a “market leader in fostering a pro-business atmosphere.”

    Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange November 28, 2011. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid (UNITED STATES – Tags: BUSINESS) ( REUTERS/Brendan McDermid  / Reuters Photos)

    NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE PLANS EXCHANGE IN ‘PRO-BUSINESS’ TEXAS

    A report released last year by the Federal Reserve Bank for Dallas found a net of over 7,300 firms moved into Texas between 2010 and 2019, putting it among the top states for business relocations.

    The state has notched more firms moving into it than out of it since 2000, the report also said. 

    University of Texas at Dallas Accounting Assistant Professor Kirti Sinha told FOX Business said “several factors” have drawn companies to the Lone Star State. 

    “The first is, of course, the taxes. There is no personal income tax and corporate income taxes in Texas in general,” she said. “Then, second, I think our regulatory environment is, I would say, much more relaxed compared to some other states.”

    “We have lower disclosure or regulatory oversight compared to other states, and I think also the way, for example, the governor has been signalling ‘come here, make this your home, and I’m here for you,’ those kind of give signal to companies that whatever the situation in terms of regulations right now, it’s going to stay like this in the future,” Sinha added. “That kind of gives them confidence.”

    A Texas flag and American flag flown together on a building in Austin, Texas, March 11, 2023. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

    A Texas flag and American flag flown together on a building in Austin, Texas, March 11, 2023. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images) (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images / Getty Images)

    The space that Texas has for manufacturing facilities and warehouses and its wage rates have also appealed to businesses, according to Sinha.

    “Texas has been working for decades to establish itself as the best place in America to do business. With one of the fastest-growing populations in the country, the highest number of Tier 1 research universities of any state in the country, and a business and regulatory environment that make it easy for companies to succeed, Texas is unmatched as a place to do business,” Nate Sharp, the dean of the Mays Business School at Texas A&M, told FOX Business.

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    Among some of the big-name companies that moved their headquarters to Texas in recent years are Tesla, Fisher Investments and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. 

    Fisher Investments announced its move to the Lone Star State in 2023. The relocation was prompted by the Washington State Supreme Court upholding the state’s capital gains tax. 

    Hewlett Packard Enterprises in 2020 pointed to “opportunities for cost savings, and team members’ preferences about the future for work” for its own move to Texas. 

    In a more recent example, energy giant Chevron said in fall 2024 that it would be moving its headquarters to Texas from California. Andy Walz, Chevron’s president of America products, said California being a “tough place” to do business and “recruit people” played a part in its relocation decision, as well as the company looking to “drive better business outcomes.” 

    Sharp said the launch of NYSE Texas “will accelerate the growth of business” in the state and make it “even more attractive.”

    Skyline of downtown Dallas, TX on a partly cloudy day. (Photo by: HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

    Skyline of downtown Dallas, TX on a partly cloudy day. (Photo by: HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) (HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)

    Nasdaq, another major stock exchange, also has a presence in Texas, and the TXSE Group is working to set up the Texas Stock Exchange in the state as well, filing its Form 1 registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission late last month.

    THESE ARE THE BEST FIVE STATES TO START A BUSINESS IN 2025

    “The whole listing process has become very complicated over the years, and having a physical office helps them talk to these companies more directly and gives them direct access,” Sinha told FOX Business. 

    She also said exchanges being in Texas “gives signals to investors that they can trust the system here, and so I think it is a very self-fulfilling kind of cycle, like ‘oh so the companies were coming, the New York Stock Exchange came’ and then that will bring in more investors and more companies.”

  • Fauci potentially to be deposed as GOP continues investigations into COVID

    Fauci potentially to be deposed as GOP continues investigations into COVID

    Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is continuing his efforts to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he wants answers from Dr. Anthony Fauci.   

    In his new position as chairman of the Senate’s Homeland Security committee, Paul issued subpoenas to 14 agencies from the outgoing Biden administration aimed at building on past congressional investigations into the COVID-19 virus and risky taxpayer-funded gain-of-function research. It is unclear who exactly from each agency will ultimately be deposed, but a Fauci deposition is possible. 

    “In the wake of Anthony Fauci’s preemptive pardon, there are still questions to be answered,” Paul said in a statement after announcing the issuance of his subpoenas. “Subpoenas were sent from the Committee to NIH [National Institutes of Health] and 13 other agencies regarding their involvement in risky gain-of-function research. The goal of the investigation will be to critique the process that allowed this dangerous research, that may have led to the pandemic, to occur in a foreign country under unsafe protocols and to ensure that there is sufficient oversight and review going forward, making sure a mistake of this magnitude never happens again.”

    FORMER NASCAR STAR DANICA PATRICK SUPPORTS TRUMP REVOKING FAUCI’S SECURITY DETAIL

    While former President Joe Biden preemptively pardoned Fauci to protect him from political retribution under the new Trump administration, legal experts have questioned the validity of such a pardon. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Baily suggested to Fox News that since Biden’s own Justice Department indicated he lacked the mental faculties to be held criminally liable for improper handling of classified documents, it could be argued he also lacked the mens rea to issue pardons to people like Fauci. Additionally, the pardon Fauci received only covers his actions from January 2014 to the date of his pardon. As a result, a refusal to comply with a congressional subpoena could also potentially result in criminal charges.

    Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., questions former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci during a hearing about the U.S.’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 4, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

    Paul’s investigation will build on a previous bipartisan probe launched by the Senate’s Homeland Security committee last year looking into the national security threats posed by “high-risk biological research and technology in the U.S. and abroad.” 

    A second investigation being launched by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., the chairman of the Permanent Select Subcommittee on Investigations, will similarly probe concerns in the new Congress surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and will include a review of email communications from Fauci.  

    MISSOURI AG SAYS LEGAL ACTION AGAINST ANTHONY FAUCI IS STILL ON THE TABLE 

    Since the pandemic began, Paul has sent dozens of requests for information related to the origins of the COVID-19 virus and gain-of-function research. Last year, his efforts revealed documents that he said show that government officials from at least 15 federal agencies knew in 2018 that China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) was working on creating a coronavirus similar to COVID-19.

    The façade of the Wuhan Institute of Virology

    Security personnel stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

    The WIV has been a centerpiece in the debate over the origins of COVID-19, as it was eventually discovered that American scientist Peter Daszak’s EcoHealth Alliance was using taxpayer dollars to conduct risky research on the novel bat virus out of the WIV prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. Earlier this month, the Department of Health and Human Services barred Daszak and EcoHealth Alliance from receiving federal funding for five years. 

    Meanwhile, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told Congress in May 2021 that the NIH “has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”

    DR. FAUCI SAYS HE APPRECIATES PRESIDENT BIDEN’S PARDON BUT INSISTS ‘NO CRIME’ WAS COMMITTED

    Dr. Anthony Fauci

    Dr. Anthony Fauci is sworn-in before testifying in front of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in Washington, D.C., on June 3, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

    The Trump administration is reportedly preparing an executive order to halt all U.S. funding going towards gain-of-function research. 

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    Federal officials remain split on where the COVID-19 virus originated from. Three agencies — the Department of Energy, the FBI and the CIA — have determined that the most likely origin narrative is the lab leak theory, but others in the intelligence community and throughout the federal government say they can either not conclude that a lab leak was the most likely scenario, or they say that a natural origin scenario is most likely. A declassified intelligence report from 2021, published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, posited that if a lab leak did turn out to be the catalyst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was likely the result of an accident.

    Representatives for Paul declined to comment for this report, while Fauci did not respond to a request for comment. 

  • President Trump continues call for ‘state-of-the-art’ Iron Dome missile system

    President Trump continues call for ‘state-of-the-art’ Iron Dome missile system

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    President Donald Trump said that the construction of an Iron Dome-like shield for the U.S. is a top priority for him on Monday, calling for “immediate” work to be done on the project before signing an executive order.

    Trump made the remarks at a Republican dinner in Florida on Monday, while commending his recently-confirmed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. After landing at Joint Base Andrews that night, he confirmed that he signed an executive order regarding the Iron Dome on the plane.

    “Pete Hegseth, who’s going to be great, by the way… I think he’s going to be fantastic,” Trump said at the event. “I know him very well. I think he’s going to be fantastic.”

    “He’s what we need, to immediately begin the construction of a state-of-the-art Iron Dome missile defense shield, which will be able to protect Americans.”

    PETE HEGSETH CONFIRMED TO LEAD PENTAGON AFTER VP VANCE CASTS TIE-BREAKING VOTE

    President Trump says that he will sign an EO authorizing an Iron Dome project. (Reuters)

    The president added that Americans “protect other countries, but we don’t protect ourselves.” Trump also referenced that President Ronald Reagan was interested in the system during the Cold War, but Americans “didn’t have the technology.”

    “And now we have phenomenal technology. You see that with Israel,” Trump continued. “So I think the United States is entitled to that. And everything will be made right here in the USA 100%.”

    “We’re going next to ensure that we have the most lethal fighting force in the world.”

    On Monday, the State Department said that a future Iron Dome is one of Hegseth’s many priorities.

    MCCONNELL VOTED NO ON HEGSETH AS PENTAGON HEAD, FORCING VANCE TO CAST TIEBREAKER

    Trump mar-a-lago

    President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

    “Other areas the secretary will study include reinstating troops that were pushed out because of COVID-19 vaccination mandates and developing an Iron Dome anti-missile system for the United States,” the statement read.

    This wasn’t Trump’s first mention of an Iron Dome for the U.S. At the Commander-In-Chief inaugural ball on Jan. 20., Trump said that the project was on his radar.

    “We’re also doing the Iron Dome all made in America,” Trump said. “We’re going to have a nice Iron Dome.”

    The Republican leader also referenced the plan on the campaign trail in 2024.

    Hegseth outside Pentagon with band honoring fallen soldier

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives at the Pentagon, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025 in Washington.  (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

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    “By next term we will build a great Iron Dome over our country,” Trump said during a West Palm Beach event on June 14. “We deserve a dome…it’s a missile defense shield, and it’ll all be made in America.”

  • Mike Lee continues calling for abolition of TSA

    Mike Lee continues calling for abolition of TSA

    Sen. Mike Lee is continuing to call for the abolition of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

    “Tired of being groped every time you travel? Abolish TSA,” the senator said in a recent post on X.

    “Make Airport Security Free Of Sexual Assault Again,” Lee said in another tweet, adding, “Abolish TSA.”

    TSA OFFICER REPORTEDLY CAUGHT WITH FIREARM IN BUSY ATLANTA AIRPORT IS ARRESTED

    Chairman Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, speaks during the Senate Energy and Natural Resources confirmation hearing for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Energy Chris Wright on Capitol Hill on Jan. 15, 2025, in Washington, D.C.  (Left: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images; Right: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

    In another post, he suggested that President Donald Trump should eliminate the TSA.

    Lee suggests that instead of TSA, airlines could handle passenger screening.

    “You may be required to undergo a pat-down procedure if the screening technology alarms, as part of unpredictable security measures, for enhanced screening, or as an alternative to other types of screening, such as advanced imaging technology screening,” according to the TSA website. “A pat-down may include inspection of the head, neck, arms, torso, legs, and feet. This includes head coverings and sensitive areas such as breasts, groin, and the buttocks.”

    The agency was established in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

    “The Aviation and Transportation Security Act, passed by the 107th Congress and signed on November 19, 2001, established TSA,” according to the TSA’s website.

    TSA REVEALS TOP UNUSUAL FINDS AT AIRPORT SECURITY CHECKPOINTS IN 2024

    TSA seal

    The TSA seal. (Jeffrey Greenberg/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

    Lee advocated the idea of nixing TSA last year as well.

    “It’s time to abolish the TSA. Airlines can and will secure their own planes if a federal agency doesn’t do it for them. They’ll do it better than TSA, without undermining the Constitution and with less groping—showing more respect for passengers,” the senator declared in a post last year on March 11.

    Days later, Lee indicated that he had been subjected to a TSA pat down.

    SEN MIKE LEE: REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS MUST IMMEDIATELY ADVANCE TRUMP’S MAGA AGENDA

    Sen. Mike Lee

    Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., arrives for the Senate Republicans leadership election in the Capitol on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024 (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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    “Update: days after calling to abolish TSA, I got ‘randomly selected’ for the needlessly slow, thorough TSA screening & patdown. Maybe it’s a coincidence. Or not. Impossible to know. That’s part of the problem with having a federal agency in charge of airport security,” he tweeted on March 14, 2024.

    In December, the senator shared a video of a man being subjected to a pat down.

    “It’s unsettling knowing that the TSA does this countless times every day, constantly conducting needlessly invasive, warrantless, suspicion-less searches of law-abiding Americans,” Lee wrote when sharing the video. “Please share if you’d like to abolish TSA,” he added.

  • Hawaii’s Hirono continues partisan streak during confirmation hearings

    Hawaii’s Hirono continues partisan streak during confirmation hearings

    Democrat Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono was the only lawmaker on the Senate’s Veterans’ Affairs Committee to oppose the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, former GOP congressman from Georgia Doug Collins.

    Amid the slew of confirmation hearings that have taken place, Hirono has been unafraid to poke and prod about nominees’ sex lives, and at one point she accused Trump’s defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, of being willing to shoot at lawful protesters.

    “Would you carry out such an order [to shoot protesters] from President Trump?” Hirono asked Hegseth during his hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, citing reports that the president asked former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to shoot protesters in the leg during the 2020 riots in Washington, D.C., that ensued after the death of George Floyd.

    JD VANCE’S FIRST BIG VP MOMENT ON THE HORIZON WITH POSSIBLE CABINET TIEBREAKER VOTE 

    Sen. Mazie Hirono and defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth (Getty Images)

    Hegseth tried to offer a response to Hirono’s question, but the senator would not let him get a word in and instead answered the question for him, “You will shoot protesters in the leg,” she asserted to Hegseth. “Moving on.”

    Hirono also has been unafraid to ask each of Trump’s nominees she questioned throughout their confirmation hearings, including Collins, about unfounded allegations of sexual assault.

    “As part of my responsibilities to ensure the fitness of nominees before any of the committees, I ask the following two questions,” Hirono posited during the hearing for Trump’s interior secretary, Doug Burgum. “First is, since you became a legal adult have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature? Have you ever faced discipline or entered into a settlement related to this kind of conduct?”

    Hirono Burgum photo split

    Sen. Mazie Hirono and interior secretary nominee former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (Getty Images)

    For Trump’s attorney general nominee, Pam Bondi, Hirono asked the same questions about unfounded sexual allegations. She similarly answered her own questions as she did with Hegseth.

    STEFANIK LOOKS BACK TO FIERY EXCHANGES WITH COLLEGE LEADERS IN SENATE CONFIRMATION HEARING: ‘WATERSHED MOMENT’

    Bondi, however, clapped back with criticism of her own during the senator’s questioning, noting that Hirono refused to meet with her privately to discuss her concerns ahead of the public hearing.

    Hirono Bondi photo split

    Trump AG pick Pam Bondi, right, went back and forth with Sen. Mazie Hirono in her confirmation hearing. (Getty Images)

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    “Sen. Hirono, I wish you had met with me. Had you met with me, we could have discussed many things and gotten to the meat [of your questions],” Bondi told Hirono as she was lobbing questions at the nominee. “You were the only one who refused to meet with me.”

  • Severe geomagnetic storm could stress power grid as recovery continues after major hurricanes

    Severe geomagnetic storm could stress power grid as recovery continues after major hurricanes

    A severe solar storm that reached Earth on Thursday could stress power grids even more as the U.S. reels from back-to-back major hurricanes, according to space weather forecasters.

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Thursday that a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) blasted from the Sun reached Earth at about 11 a.m.

    The Space Weather Prediction Center issued multiple warnings and alerts for geomagnetic storm conditions, and by Thursday, the Earth was experiencing G4, or severe, conditions.

    NOAA said a severe geomagnetic storm is a major disturbance in Earth’s magnetic field. The storms often have varying intensity between lower levels and severe storm conditions throughout the course of the event.

    GEOMAGNETIC STORM EXPECTED TO HIT EARTH FOLLOWING AUTUMNAL EQUINOX

    This image provided by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows a solar flare, right, captured in the extreme ultraviolet light portion of the spectrum colorized in red and yellow. (NASA/SDO via AP)

    Geomagnetic storms could impact the power grid, satellites and GPS technology.

    “Storm conditions are anticipated to occur overnight as CME progression continues,” NOAA said on its website. “Variations due to CME passage will result in periods of weakening and escalation in geomagnetic storm levels.”

    Earlier this week, NOAA issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch for Thursday into Friday after an outburst from the sun was detected. A geomagnetic storm has the potential of temporarily disrupting power and radio signals.

    In preparation for the storm, NOAA notified power plant operators and those controlling spacecraft orbiting the planet to take precautions.

    GEOMAGNETIC STORM HITS EARTH CREATING NORTHERN LIGHTS, DISRUPTING RADIO COMMUNICATIONS

    US-WEATHER-HURRICANE-MILTON

    A power transformer explodes, creating a light in the background, as Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Fort Myers, Fla., Wednesday. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

    NOAA also notified the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) about possible power disruptions as it deals with the devastation left behind from Hurricane Helene, and now Hurricane Milton, which made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, on Wednesday night as a Category 3 storm, packing winds up to 120 mph.

    Space weather forecasters do not expect the latest solar storm to surpass the one that slammed Earth in May, which was the strongest in more than 20 years.

    Florida is far enough south to avoid any power disruptions from the solar surge unless it gets a lot bigger, scientist Rob Steenburgh of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

    NORTHERN LIGHTS MAY BE SEEN ACROSS SOME PORTIONS OF US THIS WEEK AFTER ‘STRONG SOLAR ACTIVITY’

    geostorm

    NOAA issued a severe geomagnetic storm alert after a coronal mass ejection was blasted toward Earth earlier this week. (NOAA)

    “That adds a little bit more to the comfort level,” Steenburgh said. “Why we’re here is to let them know so that they can prepare.”

    Experts are more concerned about potential effects on the power grids in areas slammed by Hurricane Helene two weeks ago, NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl said.

    The storm also may trigger northern lights as far south in the U.S. as the lower Midwest and Northern California, though exact locations and times are uncertain, according to NOAA. Sky gazers are reminded to point their smartphones upward for photos; the devices can often capture auroras that human eyes cannot.

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    May’s solar storm produced dazzling auroras across the Northern Hemisphere and resulted in no major disruptions.

    The sun is near the peak of its current 11-year cycle, sparking all the recent solar activity.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

  • Mother of missing Marine veteran calls Trump admin a ‘breath of fresh air’ as she continues 12-year search

    Mother of missing Marine veteran calls Trump admin a ‘breath of fresh air’ as she continues 12-year search

    Debra Tice has spent more than 12 years searching for her son, Austin Tice, a Marine veteran and journalist who was kidnapped in Syria in August 2012. 

    Through four presidential administrations, she has not lost hope that her son will come home alive. In fact, she calls the new Trump administration a “breath of fresh air.”

    “They are thinking about what they need to do, making suggestions, standing ready, having ideas. The burden isn’t on me the way it has been in the past,” Tice told Fox News Digital, referring to the Trump administration.

    The Marine veteran’s mother’s first trip back to Damascus, Syria, in over 10 years comes on the heels of a revolution within the war-torn country. Debra Tice has been in Syria for only a few days, but she has already managed to meet with the country’s de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the group that overthrew Bashar al-Assad.

    “It was really quite a surprise that we were able to get a meeting with al-Sharaa. It was a very good meeting,” Tice said.

    SYRIA RESCUE-MISSION OPERATOR BELIEVES AUSTIN TICE IS ALIVE AND WILL BE FOUND SOON

    Syria’s de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Debra Tice, the mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012, and Nizar Zakka, head of non-profit Hostage Aid Worldwide, center, in Damascus, Syria, on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (SANA via AP)

    Hostage Aid Worldwide, a non-profit organization coordinating Tice’s visit to Syria, was able to take her inside some of the prisons that have been abandoned since the fall of Assad. She said that seeing the conditions in these prisons was “really challenging,” but that she appreciated getting a sense of “what Austin was up against.”

    Tice also issued a challenge to those in the U.S. government who “feel like Austin can wait” to go see the prisons for themselves.

    “I think if they had to come over here – and I wouldn’t even ask them to spend the night in one of those prisons – but I think if they had gone to see what he may have gone through, maybe they would’ve been more motivated to get Austin out of there.”

    TREY YINGST ENTERS ABANDONED SYRIAN DETENTION SITE IN SEARCH FOR MISSING AMERICAN JOURNALIST AUSTIN TICE

    Debra Tice, mother of missing Marine veteran Austin Tice, attends a press conference

    Debra Tice, mother of missing U.S. journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in August 2012, attends a press conference as she urged President Donald Trump to help reveal her son’s fate in Damascus, Syria, on Jan. 20, 2025. (Bekir Kasim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    During a press conference on Monday, Tice offered praise for the incoming Trump administration and confirmed that they have “already reached out” regarding Austin’s case.

    “I haven’t experienced that in the past four years, but I am optimistic about their help and involvement. I believe they will act quickly,” Tice said.

    Tice also used the press conference to send an emotional message to her missing son. “Austin, if you can hear this somehow, I love you. I know you won’t give up, and I won’t give up either,” Tice said.

    Tice added she has “never had any doubt about the fact that Austin is going to walk free. It’s a matter of time, and in my faith it’s God’s timing.”

    When speaking about her hope and optimism about finding her son, Tice credited her faith as “100 percent.” She added that, “if I didn’t have my faith, I just think I would crumble into a bunch of really small pieces.”

    COLLAPSE OF SYRIA’S ASSAD REGIME RENEWS US PUSH TO FIND AUSTIN TICE

    Austin Tice

    The State Department’s Reward for Justice program is offering $10 million for information relating to locating Austin Tice. (The State Department’s Reward for Justice)

    A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that “intensive efforts are still underway to find Austin Tice.” Additionally, the spokesperson said that the department is “working to get U.S. officials into Damascus” to aid in the search but is waiting for confirmation that the”conditions are safe and local authorities can accommodate the visit.”

    “We have used relevant information, as well as declassified intelligence, to inform the search efforts of Syrian and international partners on the ground in Damascus who are searching for Austin every day,” the spokesperson added.

    “They have visited and searched numerous now-uncovered secret prisons, but to date they have not found Austin or any additional information that would help us locate him.”

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    Last month, after receiving a letter from Debra Tice, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to ask Assad for help finding Austin. However, as of now, there are no signs that this has happened.