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A Washington mother says she is withdrawing her children from an elementary school after learning a Pride-themed lesson had been presented during music class without advance notice to parents or an opportunity to opt out, raising questions about district policies governing classroom instruction.

"I assumed I had probably missed an email asking for consent, but there was nothing," Maria Varchetto said in communications with school administrators, which she shared with Fox News Digital on Monday. "No advanced notice, no opportunity to review the lesson, no information letting parents know this topic would be discussed. No option to request that our kids be allowed to opt out and participate in an alternative activity. There was nothing."

Varchetto alleged the lesson was presented to elementary school students, including her daughter, on June 15 at Martha Lake Elementary School in the Edmonds School District as part of a music class and that parents were not informed beforehand.

TRUMP ADMIN TARGETS WOKE SCHOOLS ACCUSED OF HIDING STUDENTS' GENDER TRANSITIONS FROM PARENTS

Varchetto said that a video entitled, "Why is Pride in June," from the YouTube account, "Queer Kid Stuff," which, according to the account, "imagines a kinder and more equal future through highly-accessible education and entertainment for kids ages 3+," was shown to her fourth-grade daughter.

The YouTube channel describes itself as an "LGBTQ+ educational webseries for children ages 3+ hosted by a tie-wearing queer lady, Lindsay, and her non-binary best-stuffed friend, Teddy. Gender Studies 101 meets Mr. Rodgers’ Neighborhood!"

Varchetto said the incident prompted her to remove her children from the school.

VIRGINIA SCHOOL DISTRICT SUED OVER ALLEGED POLICY OF KEEPING STUDENTS' GENDER TRANSITIONS HIDDEN FROM PARENTS

"We are 100% removing our kids from this school as I have no trust in the leadership," Varchetto said.

Other materials Varchetto said were included were a list of videos from musicians in the LGBTQ+ community such as Freddie Mercury of Queen, Lil Nas X, and Billy Porter dancing in a ballgown on Sesame Street.

Varchetto told school officials that her daughter recalled hearing during the lesson that students could identify as gay, lesbian, transgender, asexual, nonbinary or Two-Spirit.

She said an administrator told her she had not been aware those topics were part of the classroom discussion, leaving Varchetto wondering whether the lesson included more than the materials she had been shown.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OPENS FOUR TITLE IX INVESTIGATIONS INTO MICHIGAN AND NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL DISTRICTS

"No handouts were sent home (which is typical for music class)," Varchetto told Fox News Digital in a statement.

Varchetto said she asked the school for a copy of the lesson materials but was told they could only be reviewed in person rather than sent electronically. She also said parents were not notified beforehand that the lesson would be taught, were not given an opportunity to opt their children out, and received no advance communication about its content.

She said that cultural lessons were taught every month for the theme of that month, but that Pride month was left off of the list of lessons.

"I feel mad they did this, mad they hid it," Varchetto said. "I feel insulted, offended, angry, and sad that my kids are now being taken out of a lifestyle they've grown to love, away from the friendships they've built, all because this one teacher didn't care to ask permission and a principal lied and hid it." 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for Edmonds School District said, "The lesson was not part of a districtwide Pride curriculum. It was a music lesson developed by the school’s music teacher that highlighted the contributions of influential musicians, including some who identify as LGBTQ+."

The spokesperson continued, "The purpose of the lesson was to teach music and music history through the lives and contributions of notable artists. Discussions about an artist’s background or identity were included as relevant biographical context, similar to how students may learn about other aspects of historical figures’ lives that helped shape their experiences and contributions."

The spokesperson added, "We expect instructional materials to be age-appropriate and aligned with district expectations and state standards. As with any concern raised about classroom instruction, we will work with the school administrator to determine whether they met those expectations."

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A man was sentenced on Wednesday to six months and a week behind bars for ramming his car into the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in January, damaging some of the a side-entrance door.

Dan Sohail, 36, of New Jersey, was sentenced in Brooklyn federal court, where he was also ordered to pay $20,000 in restitution. The sentence will allow Sohail, who has already spent six months in custody, to be released in about a week.

Sohail was charged with intentionally damaging religious property, and he pleaded guilty in May.

Prosecutors recommended a 14-month sentence, which would have kept Sohail behind bars for roughly another eight months, but the judge declined the request. Prosecutors sought the longer sentence as a deterrent to future attacks on Jewish institutions amid a rise in antisemitic hate crimes.

DRIVER RAMS CAR REPEATEDLY INTO DOORS OF NYC JEWISH SITE, SUSPECT DETAINED

On Jan. 28, Sohail repeatedly rammed his vehicle into the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters. He moved protective barriers, gestured for congregants to get out of the way and drove his car into the building’s side entrance five times, knocking the door off its hinges and destroying his car's front bumper.

While the doors were damaged, no injuries were reported.

Judge Eric N. Vitaliano said he was "somewhat saddened" that the Justice Department wanted him to be influenced at sentencing by the public’s mistaken initial impression that the attack was a hate crime.

Prosecutors said ahead of sentencing that 80 of 146 hate crime incidents across New York City since the start of the year were based on crimes targeting Jewish people and institutions.

NY ASSEMBLYMAN CALLS FOR DOJ TO INVESTIGATE MAMDANI, PROTECT JEWISH NEW YORKERS AFTER STABBING ATTACKS

But Vitaliano said the government's push for a stricter sentence as a deterrent to future attacks was in part based on the incident initially being labeled as an "I-hate-the-Jews crime, or, worse, an act-of-terrorism crime."

The judge cited a psychiatric report and said Sohail's mental health challenges "played an important role" in his sentencing.

"This is a sad tale," Vitaliano said.

Sohail's lawyer, Mia Eisner-Grynberg, said he had been trying to win acceptance at the Jewish institution as he struggled with psychological issues.

Eisner-Grynberg told the judge in court papers before sentencing that Sohail was battling depression and post-traumatic stress disorder after a traumatic childhood when he carried out the attack, even as he "desperately sought belonging and understanding through his exploration of Judaism."

She said Sohail attended the Chabad he later attacked, finding rabbinical students there "warm and welcoming."

Sohail "danced with them" and followed their recommendation to visit Israel, but he became erratic and extremely anxious after returning to the U.S., "begging" members of Chabad to help him, Eisner-Grynberg said.

Ramming the car into the building was "an irrational cry for help," she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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A representative for George Clooney confirmed the evacuation to People and shared a letter the couple sent to Brignoles Mayor Didier Brémond

The couple and their 9-year-old twins left their home in Brignoles, in France's Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, as fires threatened large swaths of the Mediterranean, the outlet reported. A representative for George Clooney confirmed to People that the couple sent a letter to Brignoles Mayor Didier Brémond before leaving.

"Dear Didier, At this point we have no idea whether our beautiful home makes it through this terrible moment," the letter began.

DEADLY FRENCH WILDFIRES THREATEN MISSILE PLANTS, NUCLEAR SITES AS FOURTH HEATWAVE LOOMS

"As we evacuate Brignoles we want to emphasise 2 things, first we hope you and the people of our city are safe and second that Amal and i are committed to making sure that whatever happens to our village, we are part of this community and we’ll be part of making it whole," the letter continued. "We love Brignoles and our friends who live there."

Fox News Digital has reached out to Clooney's representatives for additional comment, including whether the family has safely evacuated and if there is any update on the condition of their home.

The evacuation comes as wildfires continue to scorch southern Europe.

EUROPE'S FIRES REVEAL DEADLY MIX OF RECORD HEAT, HUMAN ERROR, ARSON AND LAND MISMANAGEMENT

As of Wednesday, an uncontained wildfire roughly four times the size of Paris was burning across southwestern France.  The blaze was separate from the fire threatening the Brignoles area, where about 3,000 people were evacuated. Fires also continued to threaten parts of southern Europe, and three firefighters died in Greece as crews battled extreme heat, drought and strong winds, according to The Associated Press.

More than 300,000 people have been forced to evacuate in France and Spain, including residents and tourists.

Temperatures climbed to nearly 104 degrees Wednesday in France's Gironde region, where the country's largest wildfire prompted the evacuation of roughly 220,000 residents and vacationers at its peak. While many have since returned, tens of thousands remain displaced.

HEATHER LOCKLEAR SAYS SHE LIVES 'FAR AWAY' FROM HOLLYWOOD AND STAYS OUT OF THE SOCIAL SCENE

In an October 2025 interview with Esquire , Clooney said he and Amal chose to raise their family on a farm in France to give their children a quieter upbringing away from Hollywood.

"A good portion of my life growing up was on a farm, and as a kid, I hated the whole idea of it," he said. "But now, for them, it’s like—they’re not on their iPads, you know? They have dinner with grown-ups and have to take their dishes in. They have a much better life."

Clooney also said he was "worried about raising our kids in L.A., in the culture of Hollywood."

"I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life," he said. "France — they kind of don’t give a s--- about fame. I don’t want them to be walking around worried about paparazzi. I don’t want them being compared to somebody else’s famous kids."

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Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton has been fined and suspended from attending the team's next five home games, the WNBA confirmed to Fox News Digital.

The suspension and fine come after Keaton allegedly called a pair of teenage Sophie Cunningham fans "f—ing insane"  during a game on Tuesday, independent Seattle-based journalist Brandi Kruse told Fox News Digital. Kruse was in the arena and accompanied the girls, who were there to watch Cunningham and the Indianaa Fever take on the Storm.

Cunningham addressed the incident involving Keaton in an X repost of Fox News Digital's report late Wednesday night.

WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS WNBA STAR SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM AFTER SHE SPEAKS OUT IN SUPPORT OF PROTECTING WOMEN'S SPORTS

"I truly believe there is a safe space and love for EVERYBODY. Biological girls, biological boys, trans women, and trans men. Everyone is welcome at my table! You can disagree and still be kind. Bravo to those girls for standing up for what they believe. You’ll be hearing from me soon yay for gifts. Truly embarrassing of the co-owner. Unfortunately shows the type of leader she is," Cunningham wrote.

Storm majority owner Ginny Gilder issued a statement Wednesday apologizing for the co-owner’s comments during the game.

"We are aware one of our co-owners made comments to two fans in attendance at last night's game. We apologize that this happened. Everyone who attends a Storm game deserves to feel welcome, and we remain committed to creating an inclusive environment where every fan is treated with respect," the statement read.

SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM RALLY ROCKS WNBA GAME AS 'SAVE WOMEN'S SPORTS' ACTIVISTS FACE COUNTERPROTEST

Two girls went to the game wearing XX-XY Athletics gear to celebrate Cunningham coming out in support of saving women's sports, and even got to sit court-side. But the night took a dark turn, and now they are viral martyrs. The Storm put out an apology after a team co-owner allegedly shouted insults at the girls during the game. Additional footage, distributed by Fox News Digital, of them in a confrontation with another fan at the game has ignited further outrage.

The incident drew so much attention that famed "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling even cast judgment on the night that is bound to live in WNBA infamy.

Rowling and other prominent social media users amplified the girls’ account of the incident.

The night began with a rally outside Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle to celebrate Cunningham's recent public stance.

A small group of counterprotesters supporting transgender inclusion also gathered outside the arena.

Kruse, who helped organize the event and went into the game to accompany the girls during portions of the night, said she saw Storm players make mocking gestures toward them. Separately, the girls alleged that Keaton approached them and used profane language.

"They were giving them thumbs down — like, to their faces," Kruse said.

Kruse said the girls then told her that an older woman associated with the Storm had approached them, yelled at them and called them "f---ing insane."

The girls later pointed out the woman sitting directly across from them beside Storm legend and team co-owner Sue Bird, according to Kruse. When Kruse alerted an arena security guard, she said the guard identified the woman as "one of the owners of the team."

Kruse later identified the woman as Keaton, who has previously been publicly identified as a member of the Storm’s ownership group.

Kruse said she pressed security to confront the woman, arguing that the alleged conduct violated the arena’s code of conduct. Climate Pledge Arena prohibits abusive or obscene language and says violators may be ejected.

"Had this been any other fan under any other circumstances who swore at and called some teenage girls ‘f---ing insane’ until they cried, they would’ve been ejected," Kruse said.

Kruse said one of the girls broke down in tears during the game after the alleged exchange.

"I look over at halftime, and she’s sobbing," Kruse said. "They were so excited for those seats, like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see some of their favorite players. They stayed up the night before making signs."

Kruse also claimed that the girls were not forced to put down their signs in support of Cunningham, despite online rumors, but that they chose to put them down after the alleged harassment.

"The report that they told the girls to put those signs away is not true," Kruse said. "The girls put their signs away because of what happened with Celeste, and they just felt so scared and uncomfortable, they decided not to hold them anymore."

Before the game, the Storm said it was aware of the planned demonstration and was "tracking it closely." The team said it remained committed to providing a safe and inclusive environment for all guests.

Storm head coach Sonia Raman addressed the rally after the game but did not discuss the allegations involving the girls.

"We always want to be an area where people feel welcome coming into this building," Raman said, adding that the organization coordinated with arena security. "From what I understand, that was successful."

The comments came before Kruse publicly detailed the allegations involving the teenagers.

The Fever, meanwhile, distanced the organization and Cunningham from the rally. A team public relations representative interrupted when head coach Stephanie White was asked about the gathering during her postgame press conference.

"Neither our organization nor Sophie had any knowledge of this demonstration and no contact with its organizers," the representative said.

The representative added that the Fever remained united around winning games and building its fan base before directing reporters back to basketball questions.

Neither Cunningham nor Clark was made available to reporters after the game. Mitchell and Monique Billings appeared beside White instead. When White was asked about the rally, she also said the team and its players were not aware of it and had not been in touch with the organizers.

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Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicts a white-collar "bloodbath." Senator Bernie Sanders warns AI could wipe out 100 million American jobs. Elon Musk says work may become optional.

The message is everywhere: machines are coming for your paycheck.

That panic is understandable. But wrong. Yes, AI will disrupt and eventually replace some tasks, just as electricity, the farm tractor, and the internet caused the displacement of mundane and, in some cases, miserable jobs like working in hot, sweaty factories or backbreaking work lifting heavy equipment. Yes, some workers will need help adjusting and retraining to the robotics revolution. Yet the fear of mass technological unemployment repeats a mistake doomsayers have made for centuries, from the tractor to the personal computer.

CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY AIMS TO PRODUCE 'IRREPLACEABLE' GRADUATES AS AI RESHAPES HIGHER EDUCATION

In our new study, "Boomsday Not Doomsday," we show AI can become the most powerful engine of American prosperity in decades. How? AI lowers the price and speeds up production of nearly everything we use: from food, to steel, to cars, to information, to new homes, to new cures for diseases. How does a four day workweek sound?

For most of history, practical expertise was expensive and hard to find. Families, workers and small businesses had to pay consultants, lawyers, programmers, or other specialists, or go without. AI gives Americans useful, personalized assistance for less than the price of a daily cup of coffee, and often for free.

A small-business owner can get help writing a marketing plan. A patient can leave the doctor with clearer instructions. A homeowner can learn whether that crack in the wall requires a professional. A teacher can build custom lesson plans. New health scans can locate possible cancer cells early and save millions of lives.

AI isn’t replacing Americans, it’s making us more capable. It will make life on earth better — especially for the lower half in income, who soon thanks to these productivity improvements have a quality of life that rivals the richest royalty of yesteryear.

The early numbers show how quickly this is happening. Generative AI is growing three times faster than mobile apps or the internet did. Nearly nine in ten organizations now use AI in at least one business function. Americans already value AI tools at $172 billion a year, based on what they’d need to be paid to give them up. Worried about the rising cost of food, gas, housing and health care? Get ready for these things falling in price dramatically.

Widespread prosperity begins like this, with millions of people saving time and money, learning faster and getting more done.

CHINA IS BUILDING AN AI WAR MACHINE. WASHINGTON MUST WAKE UP BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE

We have been through panics before. In 1900, more than one in three Americans worked in agriculture. Today fewer than 2% do and we produce 10 times more food on one-third as much farmland. America did not collapse into permanent unemployment. We grew more food with fewer hands. The economy created hundreds of millions of jobs no one could have imagined. The pattern repeats with every leap forward. Technology automates drudgery, raises productivity, and creates new opportunities.

The numbers agree. Unemployment sits at a low 4.3%. Between 2022 and early 2025, the most AI-exposed workers saw smaller unemployment increases than the least exposed. And demand for AI skills is exploding: job postings seeking them jumped 111% in a single year.

Some young workers feel pressure. The answer, as in every transition, is to help American workers use these tools. When they do, everyday improvements will add up to a richer, healthier, happier country. Prisons and reform schools are using AI to train young people for jobs that are waiting for them.

In medicine, Mayo Clinic has used AI to identify pancreatic cancer up to three years earlier. Physicians at The Permanente Group using AI-note takers save roughly an hour a day. Patients get better care that feels less like an assembly line and more like time with someone who listens.

On Main Street, AI helps workers turn know-how into ownership. Jason Walls, a Kentucky master electrician, watched contractors push EV owners into unneeded and expensive electrical panel upgrades. With no coding background, he used AI to build a website that runs the calculations, generates the reports, and saves families money.

We’re seeing this pattern across the economy, in education, construction, and manufacturing.

No one should pretend that every transition will be painless. But while doomsayers worry that AI moves too fast, the real danger is that America moves too slowly. China would love to swoop in and take our place.

We invented this technology, yet too few of us put it to work. More than half of American adults have tried generative AI, but only 28.3% use it regularly, which leaves the United States 24th out of the 30 countries measured. France and the United Kingdom rank higher.

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The Chinese get it. Three out of four people there expect AI to improve their economy. They deploy fast: in 2024, China installed 295,045 industrial robots to America’s 34,164. China has some of the most capable and most popular open-source AI models.

Meanwhile, we are all too often hobbling ourselves here at home. State legislatures introduced more than 1,700 AI bills this year. Some Democrats have demanded government ownership of major AI companies while proposing to ban new AI supercomputers.

Washington faces a clear choice. It can tax, regulate, ration, or nationalize this technology, reserving its benefits for itself and the biggest companies — and the Chinese. Or, as we did so effectively with the Internet Revolution, we can lead the world and enjoy the fruits of winning the race.

From the days of Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford, America has always led by inventing. Let’s be the leaders, not the laggards. To the victors go the spoils — and for the sake of our economic and national security, the victor MUST be the USA.

Neil Chilson is Head of AI Policy at the Abundance Institute and former chief technologist at the Federal Trade Commission.

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Two Democratic candidates locked in a race to fill the seat left by the late Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., advanced to a runoff election on Tuesday evening after failing to capture 51% of the vote.

The winner of the election will add another Democratic seat in a narrowly divided House of Representatives where Republicans hold 218 seats and Democrats control 212. Adding even one more Democratic member puts increased pressure on Republicans to remain united on party-line legislation.

Marcye Scott, the daughter of the late David Scott, and Everton Blair, chair of the Gwinnett County School Board, will face off against each other in a runoff to represent the Peach State’s 13th Congressional District on Aug. 25.

DAUGHTER OF LATE HOUSE DEM FORCED INTO RUNOFF AFTER FALLING SHORT IN SPECIAL ELECTION

A third candidate, Caesar Gonzales, a Republican, did not advance, receiving only 8.7% of the vote.

Georgia’s 13th Congressional District House seat became open when David Scott, 80, died in office back in April. His office did not disclose a cause of death.

Shortly after his death, Marcye Scott announced her candidacy to fill his seat, pitching herself as the best candidate to continue her father’s legacy.

DEMOCRAT REP DAVID SCOTT DEAD AT 80

"That would be what I definitely want to do, to make sure that his voters, his constituents, do not miss out on what he was offering," Scott said.

Scott has made roads and infrastructure, public safety and transportation key priorities of her campaign, highlighting constituent outreach work she did for her father.

For his own part, Blair has pitched himself as a candidate looking to push back on President Donald Trump’s cuts to areas like the Department of Education.

"You can’t fix a system that’s being dismantled from the top. Right now, Donald Trump is getting rid of the Department of Education and cutting money from schools that already have the least. That doesn’t just hurt some office in Washington. It hurts the kid in the back of the classroom in this district," Blair said during a campaign visit.

On his website, Blair lists Medicare-for-all, increasing the minimum wage and raising teacher pay among his top priorities.

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Although the winner will have secured the seat in the special election, they must still win a general election in November to fill the seat for a full term.

David Scott last won re-election in 2024 in a 71.8% to 28.2% victory over his Republican challenger Jonathan Chavez.

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A man in France discovered remains believed to belong to five newborns hidden inside cardboard boxes in his home after his partner gave birth at home and was taken to a hospital, according to prosecutors.

He became distressed after he found out about her pregnancy at ⁠a very late stage, despite her repeated denials, and began searching their home, prosecutors said. The couple already had two children, ages eight and nine.

The woman, 32, who was not identified, was allegedly arguing with her husband over what was in the boxes at their home in the town of Orange on Monday after she gave birth at home to a baby boy the day before.

She started complaining about abdominal pain during the argument on Monday. She was taken to a hospital and her husband stayed behind and discovered the dead babies hidden in the boxes.

NEWBORN VANISHED AFTER SECRET BIRTH, PARENTS ALLEGEDLY CLAIMED BABY 'WAS A PRANK': COPS

The man, also 32, then notified authorities through the hospital ​where the woman was being treated for pain.

"The husband stayed behind when she was taken to the hospital, and looked inside the cardboard boxes they had been arguing over – that’s when he found the five dead babies," an investigating source said, according to the US Sun. "All the [fetuses] were decomposing, and had been around for quite a while."

Police searched the couple's home, and prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into suspected murder on Monday.

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A forensic pathologist estimated, based on initial findings, that the bones ​and decomposing remains belonged to five newborns.

Authorities said the remains included bones believed to belong to four newborns and the decomposing body of a fifth. Autopsies and further laboratory testing were ordered.

The man told ‌police ⁠he was unaware of his wife's possible pregnancies.

The public prosecutor's office urged child welfare services to assess the health of the couple's eight and nine-year old children. It ​also issued a ​provisional placement ⁠order for the newborn baby, pending referral of the case to a children's court judge.

The ​mother, who was still in the hospital on Tuesday, has not yet spoken to investigators.

A post-mortem examination has been ordered on ​the decomposing remains, and the bones will undergo anthropological analysis in a laboratory, according to prosecutors.

The couple had no history of problems and were described by a neighbor as "charming people," according to French outlet AFP.

The neighbor, Florent Jean, told the outlet that the wife was a stay-at-home mother and the husband worked. Jean said the two were "normal people, really."

Reuters contributed to this report.

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