Can Trump take over other cities' police forces? Not really, experts say

ATLANTA – President Donald Trump said Monday he plans to take over the nation’s capital police force and activate 800 members of the National Guard to combat crime in Washington, D.C., and said he may replicate that model in other cities.

But the president has a unique privilege in Washington that doesn’t apply to cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta, creating a roadblock to federal law enforcement takeovers outside the capital city.

Trump cited what he said were alarming crime statistics, describing D.C. as a hotbed for crime with a higher rate of homicide than Islamabad, Pakistan, saying he was going to “take our capital back” from criminals and squalor.

The crime statistics he cited didn’t come from the administration’s own books. The FBI released statistics on crime across the U.S. last week showing that violent crime is down everywhere, including in the cities the president has highlighted as dangerous.

—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Harvard ready to pay $500 million for job training in Trump deal

Harvard University has signaled it’s willing to pay $500 million for workforce training programs as part of a settlement with the White House to restore more than $2 billion in frozen federal funds, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

The administration is open to Harvard and other colleges paying penalties in the form of contributions to workforce training programs, the person said. Last month, Brown University agreed to pay $50 million over 10 years for such programs in its home state of Rhode Island. Harvard has repeatedly ruled out paying a direct fine to the government, as Columbia University agreed to do.

Agreement on how to pay a penalty would bring the Ivy League university closer to ending a months-long standoff with the White House, which began over accusations that Harvard failed to confront campus antisemitism during pro-Palestinian student protests. It quickly expanded to target DEI and admissions practices, international student enrollment, and alleged faculty political bias and collaboration with China.

Harvard has pushed back, filing multiple lawsuits against the administration and publicly condemning a campaign that university President Alan Garber has called “unmoored from the law.”

—Bloomberg News

Don’t scan QR codes on unsolicited packages delivered to your house, FBI warns

The FBI is warning people of a new scam involving fake packages with QR codes designed to steal data.

If people scan the code on a package they were not expecting, it prompts them to provide personal and financial information. They also might download malicious software that steals data from their phones, according to an FBI scam alert issued late last month. The criminals often ship the package without sender information to entice the victims to scan the code.

The fake packages, while not widespread, are a variation of a “brushing scam,” which is used by online vendors to increase ratings of their products. In a traditional brushing scam, online vendors send merchandise to an unsolicited recipient and then use the recipient’s information to post a positive review of the product. In this variation, scammers have used QR codes on packages to facilitate financial fraud activities, the FBI reported.

People should not accept packages they are not expecting from unknown sources and should not use their phones to scan QR codes provided by unknown sources.

—The Denver Post

Ukraine claims drone attack on Russia’s Orenburg helium facility

Ukraine claimed a strike on a key helium plant in Russia amid intensified attacks on energy infrastructure this month.

Ukrainian military intelligence drones struck the plant located close to Orenburg, at some 1,200 kilometers (746 miles) from the nation’s border with Russia, according to a Ukrainian official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. The facility produces a critical component for missiles, space and aviation industries, said the official, who didn’t give more details on possible damage.

It wasn’t possible to independently verify Ukraine’s claims, and Gazprom PJSC, owner of the facility, didn’t immediately reply to a request for a comment.

Since the start of August, Ukraine has launched a series of drone attacks on Russia’s energy facilities, with operations at three oil refineries being disrupted in response to recent barrages from Moscow. Russian and Ukrainian military forces have been trading airstrikes ahead of a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and his counterpart Vladimir Putin scheduled for this Friday.

—Bloomberg News