The FBI said it foiled an ISIS-inspired New Year’s Eve terror attack in North Carolina.

Suspect Christian Sturdivant, 18, was arrested on Dec. 31 and charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina Russ Ferguson said at a Jan. 2 press conference.

Sturdivant appeared in court on Jan. 2.

A U.S. citizen, Sturdivant had allegedly planned the attack for about a year, according to Ferguson.

A hand-written document titled “The New Year’s Eve Attack 2026” was found in Sturdivant’s bedroom trash can and included a section labeled, “martyrdom Op,” court papers claim.

As Jackson Richman reports below for The Epoch Times, Sturdivant read ISIS material online, visited the terrorist group’s websites, and made TikTok videos, Ferguson said.

He communicated online with someone he thought was a member of ISIS, but was actually an undercover agent with the New York Police Department, he added.

Ferguson said Sturdivant pledged his allegiance to ISIS with the agent and said he would “do jihad soon.”

Sturdivant also met an undercover FBI agent he thought was an ISIS participant, “and he started to be very specific with his plans,” Ferguson said, adding that Sturdivant allegedly said he planned to carry out the attack at a grocery store and a fast-food restaurant in Mint Hill, which is outside Charlotte.

The suspect said he was going to wear a Kevlar vest and attack people with knives and hammers on New Year’s Eve, according to Ferguson.

The FBI searched Sturdivant’s home, where they found hammers and knives underneath his bed and notes planning the attack, said Ferguson.

“It was a very well-planned, thoughtful attack … that was fortunately foiled here,” Ferguson said.

“He was preparing for jihad and innocent people were going to die. And we’re very, very fortunate they did not.”

Sturdivant faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The FBI took Sturdivant to a state magistrate to attempt to have him involuntarily committed due to his allegedly threatening people and planning to die at the hands of a policeman, according to Ferguson.

The judge denied the request.

The FBI investigation lasted two weeks, said Special Agent in Charge James Barnacle.

Sturdivant first came to the FBI’s attention in January 2022 as he was in contact on social media with an identified ISIS member overseas, said Barnacle.

The ISIS member instructed him to dress in all black, knock on people’s doors, and attack people with a hammer.

Sturdivant dressed in all black and left his house with a hammer, but his family stepped in, Barnacle said.

No charges were filed, and Sturdivant was referred for and underwent psychological care – the details of which Barnacle said he did not know.

A contact for Sturdivant’s legal representative could not be found.

Authored by Rachel Roberts via The Epoch Times,

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said he is open to talks with the United States to combat drug trafficking, but did not comment on last week’s U.S. strikes on a docking facility.

Maduro made his comments in an interview aired Thursday on Venezuelan state television, repeating his claim that the United States is trying to force a government change in the South American country and gain access to its vast oil reserves through the campaign against the cartels.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s actions to combat drug trafficking began last August with a significant military deployment to the Caribbean Sea. Boat strikes by the United States began off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast and later expanded to the eastern Pacific Ocean.

“What are they seeking? It is clear that they seek to impose themselves through threats, intimidation, and force,” Maduro said.

‘Ready’ for Oil Investment

Later in the interview, he said that it is time for both nations to “start talking seriously, with data in hand.”

“The U.S. government knows, because we’ve told many of their spokespeople, that if they want to seriously discuss an agreement to combat drug trafficking, we’re ready,” he said.

“If they want oil, Venezuela is ready for U.S. investment, like with Chevron, whenever they want it, wherever they want it, and however they want it.”

Venezuela has the world’s largest known oil reserves, and Chevron Corp. is the only major company exporting the South American country’s crude oil to the United States.

Footage of a U.S. strike on three alleged drug trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Dec. 29, 2025. U.S. Southern Command/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

New Year Boat Strikes

The New Year’s Eve interview was recorded on the same day the U.S. military announced strikes against five alleged drug-smuggling boats.

The latest attacks bring the number of known boat strikes to 35, while the number of people killed is at least 115, according to numbers from Washington, with Venezuelans among the dead.

The White House said in October that the attacks are a necessary escalation to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the United States, stating that the government is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.

Trump on Dec. 29 said that the United States had knocked out a loading facility linked to Venezuelan drug boats, but didn’t provide further details, in the first known direct operation in the South American country since the boat strikes began.

The latest strike marks a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign to put pressure on Maduro, who was charged with narco-terrorism in the United States in March 2020.

In the interview, Maduro said he would be able to talk about the operation on Venezuelan soil “in a few days.”

Trump made reference to the operation in an interview on Friday with John Catsimatidis on WABC radio in New York, saying the United States had knocked out some type of “big facility where ships come from.”

On Monday, as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump declined to comment when asked whether the attack was conducted by the military or the CIA, but said in an exchange with reporters that the operation targeted a “dock area where they load the boats up with drugs.”

(Left) U.S. President Donald Trump looks on aboard Air Force One during travel to Palm Beach, Florida, from Joint Base Andrews, Md., on Nov. 25, 2025. (Right) Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks during the Meeting of Jurists in Defense of International Law at the Eurobuilding Hotel in Caracas on Nov. 14, 2025. Anna Rose Layden/Reuters; Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images

Covert Operations

However, Trump has previously taken the step of publicly acknowledging that he had authorized the CIA to carry out covert action inside Venezuela.

The administration is required to report covert CIA activities to senior congressional officials, including the chair and ranking members of both the Senate and House intelligence committees. However, an action undertaken by the intelligence agency rather than the military would likely face less scrutiny from lawmakers in the United States.

In October, Trump said he authorized the operations for two reasons: criminals and drug trafficking.

“And the other thing, the drugs, we have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea,” he told reporters.

Justice Department officials alleged that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and other regime officials ran a cartel aimed at flooding the United States with cocaine. The United States estimates that 250 metric tons of cocaine are trafficked from Venezuela each year. Department of Justice

Accusations Against Maduro

Trump and members of his administration have alleged that Maduro and senior officials in Venezuela lead the Cartel de los Soles, a shadowy network they say moves cocaine through Venezuelan territory in cooperation with criminal groups such as Tren de Aragua.

The gang has been accused by Trump of engaging in “irregular warfare” against the United States through drug trafficking and transnational violence.

Maduro denies any such involvement in organized crime, alleging that Washington has fabricated evidence to justify intervention and impose “regime change through military threat.”

The United States and much of the international community view Maduro’s presidency as illegitimate, citing evidence that his 2024 reelection—his third term in office—was marred by allegations of fraud and manipulation, while accusing Venezuela’s leftist authoritarian regime of human rights abuses.

Trump has repeatedly expressed readiness to deploy U.S. military power to stop drug trafficking from Latin America, including land-based strikes or the use of ground forces if deemed necessary.

In November, War Secretary Pete Hegseth unveiled Operation Southern Spear, a broad U.S. initiative aimed at dismantling what the administration terms “narco-terrorist” networks across the Western Hemisphere.

Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill made a straightforward promise: more money in workers’ pockets.

The plan eliminated the federal tax on tips and overtime pay for linemen and factory workers, and created a new deduction for seniors relying on Social Security. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called it “the most pro-worker, pro-family legislation in a generation.” 

However, several blue-state governors were refusing to reciprocate by eliminating state taxes on tips, including Govs. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.), J.B. Pritzker (D-Ill.), and Jared Polis (D-Colo.). Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused them of “deliberately blocking their own residents” from the bill’s benefits at the state level.

Bessent made clear that states that refused to comply with the law should expect consequences.

“Treasury stands ready to work with any state committed to delivering on that promise, but we will not stand idly by as this obstructionism drags down the national recovery,” he said. “This is about fairness. This is about opportunity. And this is about putting America first, starting with the families and workers who make our economy the envy of the world.”

Kathy Hochul has now caved. On New Year’s Day, she announced that New York will finally move to exempt service workers’ tips from state income taxes on up to $25,000 in tipped income.

“As we welcome in the New Year, affordability remains my top priority and I am doubling down on my commitment to put money back in New Yorkers’ pockets,” Governor Hochul said in a statement Thursday.

“Starting today, tax rates for the vast majority of lower and middle-class New Yorkers will be cut, families with children will see a sweeping increase in the child tax credit, and minimum wage workers across the state will see their wages go up. I’m kicking the new year off with a proposal of no state income tax on tips, continuing my efforts to make New York more affordable for hard working New Yorkers.”

The change comes only after months of outrage from restaurant owners and service workers who accused Albany of putting politics ahead of paychecks.
Service industry workers noticed and called it a slap in the face to people barely scraping by in such an expensive state. 

One worker, reacting to Hochul’s original stance, told the New York Post last month, “Screw her.”

Another called her refusal “disgraceful,” while a different worker described it as “disheartening” that the governor would block a policy that could put real money back in their pockets. They argued that Albany is effectively punishing people who live off tips, with one server saying, “We’re the ones who make the least and get taxed the most.” 

“Their hands are in everything and finally they’re doing some good and they passed the bill and now the state comes and screws you,” said Jackie Puttre, manager of P. McDaid’s Irish Pub in Midtown.

 Others stressed how transformative the policy could be; as one put it, “That extra money could help me pay my rent and maybe work one less double shift.” To these workers, Hochul’s opposition to eliminating the state tax on tips proved she is out of touch with the reality of living on tips in New York. 

 “It’s like, what are we doing? Just leave it to Kathy Hochul to do that.” Bartender Hannah Teal said she earned only $40,000 in 2024 after state taxes and figured she’d make at least $3,000 more if New York followed Trump’s lead. With Hochul seeking reelection in November, it must have become clear that refusing to eliminate taxes on tips would hurt her campaign. 

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican running for governor of New York, had been among her sharpest critics for moving too slowly, welcomed the shift with a jab of his own.

“I see Kathy Hochul is doing a u-turn on taxing tips. I was told she changed her mind after I said I would never tax tips,” Blakeman told The New York Post. “Kathy, if you want more of my ‘tips’ on how to govern, just continue to follow my lead.”

While the flip-flop is welcome news for the service industry, some are still criticizing her for not acting quickly enough.

But the tax eliminating proposal has existed in Albany in some form since at least early last year when Assemblyman Mike Durso (R-Nassau) and state Sen. Jack Martins (R-Nassau) introduced a bill to scrap levies on tips.

Durso said Hochul shouldn’t wait to pack the policy into the burgeoning state budget package, which isn’t likely to be passed before its April 1 deadline.

“We don’t need to add stuff to it, attach stuff to it that’s going to make it stink. Let’s just get it done,” Durso said.

“This is plain and simple. It’s going to help working class people,” he added. “I don’t see any pushback, and if there is pushback on it from any of my colleagues, shame on them because they obviously have never worked in these types of industries and understand how hard these people work.”

Hochul narrowly won reelection in 2022 against Republican Lee Zeldin, and polls have suggested Hochul isn’t a lock for reelection. Several polls showed Hochul either locked in a tight race or losing to Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.). Though Stefanik has since dropped her bid for governor, Hochul can’t afford to anger working-class voters, even if it is to spite Donald Trump.

Authored by Aaron Gifford via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

President Donald Trump prioritized education reform during his 2024 campaign and went to work quickly after taking the oath of office.

President Trump, joined by female athletes, signs the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order in the East Room of the White House on Feb. 5, 2025. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

A series of executive orders followed by actions against the status quo in both K–12 and higher education that would save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars prompted pushback from Democratic governors and the national teachers’ union. Several lawsuits will continue into 2026.

“These are reforms that conservatives have championed for decades,” the Department of Education proclaimed in a year-end post on its website. “And in one year, we’ve made them a reality.”

Here are five things to know about Trump’s education policy in 2025.

Ending the Department of Education

Trump appointed Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who supports his goal of returning policy decisions to states and shifting funding mechanisms to other federal agencies, thereby potentially putting herself out of a job. Both have acknowledged that officially eliminating the Education Department requires congressional approval.

McMahon immediately cut her staff in half and closed satellite offices outside Washington. So far, she’s announced plans to move all functions except special education, student loans/financial aid, the office of civil rights, and data and information services to other departments, though she previously suggested those programs could be absorbed by Health and Human Services, the Treasury Department, Justice Department, and Census Bureau, respectively.

Eliminating the federal bureaucracy would get more money directly into classrooms, McMahon announced last month, adding that these interagency agreements are allowed under the Economy Act, which authorizes agencies to conduct transactions with one another in the absence of cheaper private alternatives.

In the months ahead, as state block grant programs are established to replace the current federal education grant systems, McMahon will continue her nationwide school visits, gather input from education leaders, and establish best practices for districts and states aimed at improving K–12 academic achievement.

The National Education Association teachers’ union has called the moves “illegal, cruel, and shameful.”

Civil Rights

Trump signed an executive order prohibiting the use of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices such as race-based hiring, admissions and curriculum; mandatory diversity training; and affinity groups by race or ethnicity. This was followed by orders condemning campus anti-Semitism and protecting women’s sports programs under Title IX.

The Education and Justice departments immediately began enforcing these policies in schools, launching investigations and withholding billions in federal funding to colleges and universities with recent histories of civil rights violations and disruptive or violent anti-Semitic protests.

Trump reached settlements with several universities he investigated, including Columbia, Brown, Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern, Wagner College, and the University of Virginia.

Columbia will pay a $200 million fine plus $21 million to Jewish employees harassed by co-workers and students. Cornell University, also cited for both discriminatory student admissions practices and anti-Semitism, agreed to pay a $30 million penalty to the federal government and invest $30 million in research that directly benefits U.S. farmers.

The University of Pennsylvania, which was sanctioned for allowing a male to compete on the women’s swim team, was required to strip that athlete, Lia Thomas, of all awards, including his 2022 NCAA national championship, and send a letter of apology to all female swimmers who competed against him.

Trump attempted to freeze more than $500 million in research grants to the University of California-Los Angeles, but the school obtained a federal court order that said the funding must be released.

A legal battle with the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university, Harvard, is also ongoing. Trump’s attempt to withhold billions of dollars in research grants to the institution was met with a lawsuit, though the two sides have discussed a settlement. In September, Trump said a settlement could include $500 million for trade school programs that provide instruction on artificial intelligence, engines, and other vocations.

But most U.S. colleges and universities have not challenged federal policies and have removed online references to DEI programs.

“Faculties had collectively owned universities, and problems had been allowed to fester for years,” Jay Greene, formerly of the Heritage Foundation and now a member of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, previously told The Epoch Times. “Senior leadership at these schools gains back control. They are relieved, and they get to blame Trump. It’s a total win.”

Trump has taken far fewer civil rights actions against K–12 institutions, though he has threatened to withhold federal funding from states that allow males to compete in girls’ sports or permit schools to withhold information about their child’s sexuality or chosen gender from parents.

Higher Education Compact

After the 2025–2026 academic year began, the Trump administration presented its proposed Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education to nine universities.

They were offered preferred consideration for federal grants and flexibility in research costs if they agreed to eliminate preferential treatment by race, require SAT scores in student applications, limit undergraduate admission of foreign students to 15 percent, freeze tuition for five years, maintain a policy of institutional neutrality on political and social issues, and accept all transfer credits from military members and veterans.

Seven schools declined the offer, announcing that such a deal would compromise their institutional independence. The remaining two schools, Vanderbilt and the University of Texas, haven’t announced a decision yet.

The Education Department hasn’t indicated whether the compact has been, or will be, offered to additional colleges and universities.

Universal School Choice

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by Congress this year, includes a federal scholarship tax program supporting private school vouchers.

The program, which takes effect in 2027, allows a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for donors to qualified scholarship-granting organizations or to cover associated costs like transportation and supplies. There are income eligibility guidelines in place to prioritize needy families.

The program is optional for states, and governors will consider it in the months ahead.

Trump and McMahon have promoted school choice, saying the one-size-fits-all approach of assigned schools by ZIP code is largely to blame for declining test scores across the nation.

In April, the president spoke to Republican Texas state legislators before they passed a bill that provides $1 billion for private school vouchers in the first year of the program, plus $2,000 per student for homeschooling expenses and up to $30,000 for special education students who chose a different school.

In June, McMahon boosted federal funding to publicly funded charter schools by $60 million for an annual total of $500 million. Her Republican supporters in Congress plan to introduce a federal tax credit for charitable donations to start up new charter schools.

Student Loans and Higher Education Transparency

Trump overhauled the student loan policies of his predecessor, President Joe Biden, who attempted to forgive hundreds of billions of dollars in delinquent debt to more than 5 million student borrowers. He also capped student loan programs that under Biden allowed students and parents to borrow unlimited amounts.

“The Trump administration is righting this wrong and bringing an end to this deceptive scheme. The law is clear: If you take out a loan, you must pay it back,” Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said in a Dec. 9 statement.

The Education Department will soon begin garnishing wages of borrowers who default on loans. The agency has also denied almost 380,000 requests for lower monthly payments. The American Federation of Teachers has sued the administration to maintain Biden-era payback arrangements.

In applying for federal student aid, meanwhile, borrowers are now informed of their post-graduation earning potential based on data from colleges and universities.

In 2026, Trump is expected to push the bipartisan College Transparency Act, which would task the National Center for Education Statistics with analyzing higher education costs and financial aid, as well as evaluating student enrollment patterns, completion rates, and post-collegiate outcomes.