Cuba kills 4 in Florida speedboat clash; Patel fires FBI agents

Deadly gunfire off the coast of Cuba. Four men killed after Cuban troops clash with a Florida-based speedboat

Cuba says the boat was armed and opened fire first. Now the U.S. is investigating

Plus, you're fired. Now inside the FBI. The director removes agents tied to the Mar-a-Lago documents case

What changed and why now? And Hillary Clinton under oath. Today, lawmakers questioned her about Jeffrey Epstein and what she knew about her husband's ties

The stories that matter, clear and credible, from across the country to around the world

These are your unbiased updates from Straight Arrow News. Good morning, I'm Craig DeGrelli. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the Trump administration

is now investigating a deadly confrontation between a Florida-registered speedboat and Cuban forces. Cuba's government says 10 Cuban nationals living in the United States

entered Cuban territorial waters with plans to carry out what it called an infiltration for terrorist purposes

According to Cuba's interior ministry, the people aboard the boat opened fire on border troops

after being approached for identification. Cuban forces then returned fire. Four men were killed, six others wounded

A Cuban commander was also injured. Cuban authorities say the six surviving men were detained and hospitalized

Officials also report arresting a seventh Cuban national who had traveled to the island to, quote

guarantee the reception of the armed infiltration. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the United States is conducting its own investigation before responding

The majority of the facts being publicly reported are those by the information provided by the Cubans

We will verify that independently. And as we gather more information, then we'll be prepared to respond accordingly

Rubio told reporters U.S. diplomats in Havana are working to gain access to the individuals involved to determine whether they are American citizens or lawful permanent residents

A shakeup inside the FBI this morning. Director Cash Patel has fired at least six agents tied to the 2022 search of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in the classified documents investigation

The dismissals come as Patel accuses the bureau under the Biden administration of improperly subpoenaing phone records

belong to him and current White House chief of staff Susie Wiles when both were private citizens

Toll records show the timing and recipients of calls, not the content

Patel says those records were placed in files labeled prohibited. Key details remain unclear Reuters reports it could not independently verify the timing scope or purpose of the subpoenas It also could not confirm who authorized them or whether Patel or Wiles were targets of an investigation

The FBI has not publicly commented on the firings. The FBI Agents Association is calling the terminations unlawful

arguing they violate due process and warning the move strips the Bureau of Experienced Personnel

Later this morning, Hillary Clinton will sit for a closed-door deposition in the House investigation into Jeffrey Epstein

with former President Bill Clinton scheduled to follow tomorrow. The depositions will take place in Chappaqua, New York, near their home

the result of months of legal back and forth between the Clinton's attorneys and the House Oversight Committee

Republicans and Democrats say they want answers about Epstein's network, what powerful figures knew, and whether federal investigations were mishandled

Bill Clinton flew on Epstein's private plane multiple times in the early 2000s

and appears in photographs like these released in the Justice Department files

He has denied any wrongdoing and has said he cut ties before Epstein's 2019 arrest

Hillary Clinton has said she doesn't recall ever meeting Epstein. Committee Chairman James Comer says he plans to release video and transcripts of the depositions

as soon as they are approved. The Clintons had initially resisted appearing in person, arguing they'd already provided sworn statements

but reversed course after the committee moved toward holding them in contempt

The couple had pushed for public testimony. Republicans insisted on closed-door depositions

What's notable here is the bipartisan dynamic. Democrats joined Republicans in compelling the testimony

reflecting how the Epstein investigation has shifted political calculations on both sides

Still, some Democrats, like Congresswoman Teresa Fernandez, say the process is partisan

Quote, what the Epstein survivors have been asking for is both transparency and accountability

She told reporters Wednesday, and what Republicans want to do is turn this into political theater

In Washington, President Trump's pick for Surgeon General faced pointed questions on vaccines, birth control, pesticides

and her own qualifications during a tense Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday

Dr. Casey Means, a Stanford-trained physician, wellness entrepreneur, and ally of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was pressed repeatedly

on whether she would advocate for routine vaccinations as the nation's top doctor

but she stopped short of fully endorsing them. Senate Health Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, a physician himself, asked Means directly

whether she accepts the scientific evidence that vaccines do not cause autism

And we do not know as a medical community what causes autism The administration has just committed a huge amount of funding to look at the exposome of all environmental factors that could be contributing to autism

And until we have a clear understanding of why kids are developing this at higher rates, I think we should not leave any stones unturned

There's been a lot of evidence showing that they're not implicated. Do you not accept that evidence

I do accept that evidence. I also think that science has never settled

The exchange echoed broader concerns about Kennedy's overhaul of federal vaccine messaging

As health secretary, Kennedy has removed longstanding language from CDC materials, stating that vaccines do not cause autism

Democrats also challenged means over past comments on birth control. You called birth control pills, and I'm going to quote, a disrespect of life

And you said Americans, quote, use birth control pills like candy. You also claimed, contrary to established science, that hormonal birth control has, quote, horrifying health risks for women

I'm curious if you're aware of what the side effects of hormonal contraception are

I'm curious if you are with the FDA that went through all of these and rigorously looked at them

or as Surgeon General, if you're going to tell the truth to the American people

Beyond vaccines and contraception, Senator's question means about past financial ties to wellness products

her inactive medical license, and comments about pesticides and psychedelic therapy. She pledged to divest from health-related business interest if confirmed

and said she takes conflicts of interest seriously. The Surgeon General post has been vacant for more than a year

The committee now will decide whether to advance her nomination to the full Senate

To the courts we go. A federal judge has ruled the Trump administration cannot deport migrants to countries they have no connection to

The decision stems from a case last year in which the government attempted to send undocumented immigrants to South Sudan

and later routed them to Djibouti, even though those were not the countries listed in their final removal orders

The migrants had no ties to either nation, and neither country was identified as their destination in official removal paperwork

Immigration advocates sued, arguing the policy violated due process protections. U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy of Massachusetts agreed

ruling that the federal government cannot send migrants to so-called third countries

without legal authority and proper notice. He ordered the administration to provide what he called meaningful notice

before carrying out any such deportations, giving individuals time to challenge their removal in court

The Trump administration now has 15 days to appeal the ruling. Finally this morning an age question solved It a sound we all heard but likely never stopped to ask why

A Harvard scientist was sitting at a Boston Celtics game when he started wondering what actually causes the constant squeak

every time players plant, pivot, and explode across the court. So he went back to the lab to find out

Researchers repeatedly slid a sneaker across a smooth glass plate, capturing the sound with a microphone and filming the soul with a high-speed camera

to see what was happening underneath. What they found surprised them. Tiny sections of the rubber sole briefly lose grip

then snap back into traction, creating rapid ripples or wrinkles that vibrate at high frequency

That vibration? Well, that's the squeak. squeaking is basically your shoe rippling or your shoe creating wrinkles that travel super fast

and they repeat at the high frequency high cadence and this is why you get this squeaking noise we

did not expect such violent events to take a place under a shoe well listen to this no pun intended

Researchers say the discovery goes beyond basketball, understanding how rubber grips, slips and snaps back and could deepen scientific understanding of friction more broadly from how materials wear down over time to how tectonic plates slide and grind during earthquakes

All from a sound most of us just simply tune out most of the time

I actually like it when watching a basketball game. It gives me that feel that I'm courtside, right

You're near the action. And, you know, in broadcasting, we call that natural sound

And sometimes, the more the better. All right, a busy day today. Here's what we're tracking

At 10, a federal judge in Tennessee takes up a key evidentiary hearing in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case

as the defense argues, vindictive prosecution. At 11, the House Oversight Committee begins its deposition for Hillary Clinton at her home in Chappaqua

Former President Bill Clinton's is scheduled for tomorrow. At 11, the late Reverend Jesse Jackson will lie in repose in Chicago at Rainbow Push headquarters

And later today, Vice President J.D. Vance heads to Wisconsin, touting what the White House calls wins from the State of the Union

No noise, no sides, just the story. NewsGuard gives us a perfect score for reliability

All sides calls us unbiased. We give you the facts first, without the spin

Those are your unbiased updates for this Thursday. We'll see you back here tomorrow, Friday. We love that

For all of us here at Straight Arrow News, I'm Craig DeGrelli. Have a great day