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A man with down syndrome got to fulfill his dream to be an MMA fighter.

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Man with Down Syndrome Fulfills MMA Dream vs. UFCer Diego Sanchez

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MMA fighter Diego Sanchez helped made a fan's dreams come true. Issac Marquez loves everything about mixed martial arts. Marquez and Sanchez met at a MMA gym, and have been training with each other ever since...

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After-school worker accused of raping 13-year-old student

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FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports

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NEW YORK - A New York City after-school counselor was arrested Wednesday night on suspicion of raping a 13-year-old girl, police said.

Michael Jenkins, 24, supervises students at Angelo Patri Middle School on Webster Avenue at Folin Street in Fordham Heights, police confirmed to WPIX. He worked in a program that offers dance, music and other activities designed to give kids safe alternatives after school.

But investigators said the 13-year-old girl who reported the assault was not safe with Jenkins.

He allegedly met with the girl outside of the school on Monday and she went to his house willingly, a law enforcement source said. That's allegedly where the assault happened.

The teen, who attends the school where Jenkins worked, reported the incident to police on Wednesday and that night Jenkins was taken into custody.

Investigators do not believe this has been an ongoing pattern.

Jenkins faces multiple charges, including rape, forcible touching, criminal sex act, acting in a manner injurious to a child less than 17, and sex abuse, police said.

He's been suspended without pay and won't be allowed to work in any schools, the city's Department of Education said.

The agency emphasized that Jenkins does not work for them, but rather for a city program run by the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD).

"The safety of young people is our top priority, and we take allegations of this nature very seriously. The individual was immediately suspended without pay and he is no longer permitted in any schools. DYCD has suspended funding for the program as we determine whether the provider can continue to operate at this school," the agency said in a statement.

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After-school worker accused of raping 13-year-old student

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NEW YORK - A New York City after-school counselor was arrested Wednesday night on suspicion of raping a 13-year-old girl, police said. Michael Jenkins, 24, supervises students at Angelo Patri Middle School on Webster Avenue at Folin Street in Fordham Heights, police confirmed to WPIX.

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Firefighters are working to battle fast-moving wildfires in Southern California. Follow here for live updates.

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Woman tried to rescue as many of her 60 animals, mainly horses, from the fire in California as it spread to her barn. She managed to save only a portion due to the fact that the barn's roof collapsed.

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horses burned to death in california fires - cnn

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Horses burned to death in California fires

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Horse owners scrambled to rescue and evacuate hundreds of animals as wildfires raged across Southern California.

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Farm workers attempting to free a tractor laying field tile inadvertently struck a buried natural gas pipeline, causing a massive explosion that killed two and injured two others

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DIXON, Ill. -- Farm workers attempting to free a tractor laying field tile inadvertently struck a buried natural gas pipeline, causing a massive explosion that killed two and injured two others the morning of Tuesday, Dec. 5.
Update: The two people killed have been identified as father and son
The pipeline explosion happened around 9 a.m Tuesday on a farm near the intersection of Franklin Grove Road and Route 38 in rural Lee County, between Dixon and Rochelle.

Authorities are not releasing the names of the deceased or injured, pending notification of family. The two injured workers were transported to a nearby hospital for treatment, then subsequently transferred to a trauma center in Rockford. Lee County Sheriff John Simonton said one of the injured men is in critical but stable condition and the second is listed in stable condition.

Pipeline explosion press conference, Dec. 5:

The pipeline that was struck is owned by energy company Kinder Morgan. Officials from the company are on the scene and assisting the investigation. Kinder Morgan has a pair of pipelines in the area, said spokesman Dee Bennett. The one that was struck is a 20-inch, cross-country transmission pipe. Those are typically buried 4 to 5 feet underground.

"Unfortunately, a required one call notification was not provided to the company prior to the work being performed," read a statement from Kinder Morgan.

A witness, Nathan Hummel, told WQAD News 8 that firefighters started showing up to the area around 9 a.m. and that he could feel the heat about a quarter-mile away.

Hummel said his home is about a mile away from the blaze (as the crow flies).

"I can see the flames from my house... we took off to go find out what was going on," Hummel said. "I thought it was next door because of how big it was."

Hummel described seeing black smoke and flames that were shooting about 150 feet into the air. He said he saw what looked like two burned-up tractors and a pickup truck on fire.

During a mid-afternoon press conference on Tuesday, Dixon Fire Chief Tim Shipman said the fire scene was brought under control around 1:15 p.m. Kinder Morgan officials assisted by cutting off the fuel supply and helping to extinguish the fire.

Shipman said heavy winds during the day actually helped keep the fire away from nearby residences. Although roads near the area were closed as a precaution, no additional residential evacuations were necessary.

The National Transportation Safety Board was notified and will be assisting in the ongoing investigation.

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Two killed, two seriously injured in Lee County pipeline explosion

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DIXON, Ill. -- Farm workers attempting to free a tractor laying field tile inadvertently struck a buried natural gas pipeline, causing a massive explosion that killed two and injured two others the morning of Tuesday, Dec. 5.

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A one year old boy is dead after being shot in the head after someone driving by his house open fired.

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Police: 1-year-old dead in North Carolina drive-by shooting

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A 1-year-old boy is dead after being shot in the head by someone who fired into his house from a car.

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Giancarlo Stanton has interest in the Yankees for possible trade destinations.

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MLB Mike Chiari Brett Davis/Associated Press Twitter Logo Featured Columnist
Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton reportedly has interest in a potential trade to the New York Yankees, according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick.
This article will be updated to provide more information on this story as it becomes available. Get the best sports content from the web and social in the new B/R app. Get the app and get the game.
Per Crasnick, Stanton has a full no-trade clause, and the Yankees are among the teams he would be willing to waive it for.

Craig Mish of SiriusXM reported Thursday that the Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros are the clubs to which Stanton would approve a trade.

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Giancarlo Stanton Reportedly Has Yankees Among Preferred Trade Destinations

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MLB Mike Chiari Brett Davis/Associated Press Twitter Logo Featured Columnist Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton reportedly has interest in a potential trade to the New York Yankees, according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick. This article will be updated to provide more information on this story as it becomes available.

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Trump, Mattis turn military loose on ISIS, leaving terror caliphate in tatters

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Hundreds of ISIS fighters had just been chased out of a northern Syrian city and were fleeing through the desert in long convoys, presenting an easy target to U.S. A-10 "warthogs."

But the orders to bomb the black-clad jihadists never came, and the terrorists melted into their caliphate -- living to fight another day. The events came in August 2016, even as then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was vowing on the campaign trail to let generals in his administration crush the organization that, under President Obama, had grown from the "jayvee team" to the world's most feared terrorist organization.

"I will...quickly and decisively bomb the hell out of ISIS," Trump, who would name legendary Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis as secretary of defense, promised. "We will not have to listen to the politicians who are losing the war on terrorism."
ISIS CURSED, MOCKED IN MOSUL, WHERE OLD CITY REMAINS A HAUNTED WASTELAND
Just over a year later, ISIS has been routed from Iraq and Syria with an ease and speed that's surprised even the men and women who carried out the mission. Experts say it's a prime example of a campaign promise kept. President Trump scrapped his predecessor's rules of engagement, which critics say hamstrung the military, and let battlefield decisions be made by the generals in the theater, and not bureaucrats in Washington.

"I felt quite liberated because we had a clear mandate and there was no questioning that."
- U.S. Marine Col. Seth Folsom

At its peak, ISIS held land in Iraq and Syria that equaled the size of West Virginia, ruled over as many as 8 million people, controlled oilfields and refineries, agriculture, smuggling routes and vast arsenals. It ran a brutal, oppressive government, even printing its own currency.

The terror organization now controls just 3 percent of Iraq and less than 5 percent of Syria. Its self-styled "caliph," Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is believed to be injured and holed up somewhere along the lawless border of Syria and Iraq.

ISIS remains a danger, as members who once ruled cities and villages like a quasi-government now live secretly among civilian populations in the region, in Europe and possibly in the U.S. These cells will likely present a terrorist threat for years. In addition, the terrorist organization is attempting to regroup in places such as the Philippines, Libya and the Sinai Peninsula.

But the military's job -- to take back the land ISIS claimed as its caliphate and liberate cities like Mosul, in Iraq, and Raqqa, in Syria, as well as countless smaller cities and villages, is largely done. And it has taken less than a year.

"The leadership team that is in place right now has certainly enabled us to succeed," Brig. Gen. Andrew Croft, the ranking U.S. Air Force officer in Iraq, told Fox News. "I couldn't ask for a better leadership team to work for, to enable the military to do what it does best."

President Trump gave a free hand to Mattis, who in May stressed military commanders were no longer being slowed by Washington "decision cycles," or by the White House micromanaging that existed President Obama. As a result of the new approach, the fall of ISIS in Iraq came even more swiftly than hardened U.S. military leaders expected.

"It moved more quickly than at least I had anticipated," Croft said. "We and the Iraqi Security Forces were able to hunt down and target ISIS leadership, target their command and control."
IRAQI KURDS STILL LOVE US DESPITE ITS OPPOSITION TO KURDISH INDEPENDENCE, SAYS KURDISH LEADER
After the battle to liberate Mosul - ISIS' Iraqi headquarters - was completed in July -- the U.S.-led coalition retook Tel Afar in August, Hawija in early October and Rawa in Anbar province in November.

Marine Col. Seth Folsom, who oversaw fighting in Al Qaim near the Syrian border, agreed. He wasn't expecting his part of the campaign against ISIS to get going until next spring and figured even then, it would then "take six months or more."

Instead, ISIS was routed in Al Qaim in just a few days.

"We really had one mandate and that was enable the Iraqi Security Forces to defeat ISIS militarily here in Anbar. I feel that we have achieved that mission," Folsom said. "I never felt constrained. In a lot of ways, I felt quite liberated because we had a clear mandate and there was no questioning that."

Brig. Gen. Robert "G-Man" Sofge, the top U.S. Marine in Iraq, told Fox News his commanders have "enjoyed not having to deal with too many distractions and there was no question about what the mission here in Iraq was."

"We were able to focus on what our job was without distraction and I think that goes a long way in what we are trying to accomplish here," he said.

Sofge said criticism that loosening rules of engagement put civilians at risk is "absolutely not true."

"We used precision strikes, and completely in accordance with international standards," he said. "We didn't lower that standard, not one little bit. But we were able to exercise that precision capability without distraction and I think the results speak for themselves."

The U.S.-led coalition said this week the Coalition Civilian Casualty Assessment Team has added 30 new staffers to travel throughout the region. It said military leaders continue to "hold themselves accountable for actions that may have caused unintentional injury or death to civilians."

The coalition also said dozens of reports of civilian casualties have been determined to be "non-credible," and just .35 percent of the almost 57,000 separate engagement carried out between August 2014 and October 2017 resulted in a credible report of a civilian casualty.

In addition to air support, the U.S.-led strategy also includes training and equipping Iraqi troops on the ground.

While the Trump administration's success is often underplayed in the U.S. media, it is obvious on the ground in Iraq, according to a spokesman for Iraq's Ministry of Defense, Yahya Rasool.

"I was not optimistic when Trump first came to the office," Rasool said. "But after a while I started to see a new approach, the way the U.S. was dealing with arming and training. I saw how the coalition forces were all moving faster to help the Iraq side more than before. There seemed to be a lot of support, under Obama we did not get this."

Despite the victories on the battlefield, U.S. officials cautioned much work remains to be done.

"ISIS is very adaptive," noted Col. Ryan Dillon, the U.S.-led coalition spokesman. "We are already seeing smaller cells and pockets that take more of an insurgent guerrilla type approach as opposed to an Islamic army or conventional type force. So we have got to be prepared for that."

He said as a result the coalition is "adjusting some training efforts" so the Iraqi forces -- upwards of 150,000 have already undergone training -- are equipped to address such threats and ensure long-term stability.

Folsom said "the worst thing we could do" is not finish the job.

"If a country becomes a failed state, if it becomes a lawless region, you begin to set the conditions for what happened in the years before 9/11," he said. "In those ungoverned spaces where we don't know what is going on, that is where those seeds of extremism begin to blossom."

Hollie McKay has been a FoxNews.com staff reporter since 2007. She has reported extensively from the Middle East on the rise and fall of terrorist groups such as ISIS in Iraq. Follow her on twitter at @holliesmckay

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Trump, Mattis turn military loose on ISIS, leaving terror caliphate in tatters

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Hundreds of ISIS fighters had just been chased out of a northern Syrian city and were fleeing through the desert in long convoys, presenting an easy target to U.S. A-10 "warthogs." But the orders to bomb the black-clad jihadists never came, and the terrorists melted into their caliphate -- living to fight another day.

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Teen who stole an assault rifle from a police car, turns himself after his family saw the video that was sent out to the public.

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A 16-year-old from Florida turned himself in to police on Thursday after he was caught on surveillance video stealing an assault rife and bulletproof vest from a police car.

ABC affiliate WPLG says Christopher Clarke turned himself in at the urging of family and friends after the video was shared widely online.

Police said they were still searching for the items stolen from the vehicle.

Florida police were searching for the teen after he was caught stealing police equipment right out of a cop car, including an AR-15 assault rifle with three fully loaded magazines.

At approximately 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, the suspect was caught on surveillance camera stealing from a marked Opa Locka Police Department patrol vehicle while it sat in a neighborhood driveway, according to the Pembroke Pines Police Department.

In the video, the man walks up to the car, opens the unlocked passenger door and begins stealing equipment, such as a tactical vest with police markings. The suspect is seen making three trips to his car, including one carrying the rifle. He also made off with a Taser and cartridges, and a 16-round, .45-caliber magazine, according to police.

Pembroke Pines police believe the suspect was also responsible for additional vehicle burglaries which occurred around the same area Tuesday morning.

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Teens turns himself in after stealing AR-15 assault rifle from police car

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A 16-year-old from Florida turned himself in to police on Thursday after he was caught on surveillance video stealing an assault rife and bulletproof vest from a police car. ABC affiliate WPLG says Christopher Clarke turned himself in at the urging of family and friends after the video was shared...

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After North Charleston police officer, Michael Slager, shot and murdered Walter Scott; a 50-year-old, unarmed, black male, Slager has received 20 years in a federal prison.

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why partial justice for walter scott isn't nearly enough (opinion)  - cnn

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Why partial justice for Walter Scott isn't nearly enough

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The sentence former officer Michael Slager got, 20 years, is serious. But it also sends an awful message to officers and communities alike, says Issac Bailey.

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Full scale military invasion on isis

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Hundreds of ISIS fighters had just been chased out of a northern Syrian city and were fleeing through the desert in long convoys, presenting an easy target to U.S. A-10 "warthogs."

But the orders to bomb the black-clad jihadists never came, and the terrorists melted into their caliphate -- living to fight another day. The events came in August 2016, even as then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was vowing on the campaign trail to let generals in his administration crush the organization that, under President Obama, had grown from the "jayvee team" to the world's most feared terrorist organization.

"I will...quickly and decisively bomb the hell out of ISIS," Trump, who would name legendary Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis as secretary of defense, promised. "We will not have to listen to the politicians who are losing the war on terrorism."
ISIS CURSED, MOCKED IN MOSUL, WHERE OLD CITY REMAINS A HAUNTED WASTELAND
Just over a year later, ISIS has been routed from Iraq and Syria with an ease and speed that's surprised even the men and women who carried out the mission. Experts say it's a prime example of a campaign promise kept. President Trump scrapped his predecessor's rules of engagement, which critics say hamstrung the military, and let battlefield decisions be made by the generals in the theater, and not bureaucrats in Washington.

"I felt quite liberated because we had a clear mandate and there was no questioning that."
- U.S. Marine Col. Seth Folsom

At its peak, ISIS held land in Iraq and Syria that equaled the size of West Virginia, ruled over as many as 8 million people, controlled oilfields and refineries, agriculture, smuggling routes and vast arsenals. It ran a brutal, oppressive government, even printing its own currency.

The terror organization now controls just 3 percent of Iraq and less than 5 percent of Syria. Its self-styled "caliph," Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is believed to be injured and holed up somewhere along the lawless border of Syria and Iraq.

ISIS remains a danger, as members who once ruled cities and villages like a quasi-government now live secretly among civilian populations in the region, in Europe and possibly in the U.S. These cells will likely present a terrorist threat for years. In addition, the terrorist organization is attempting to regroup in places such as the Philippines, Libya and the Sinai Peninsula.

But the military's job -- to take back the land ISIS claimed as its caliphate and liberate cities like Mosul, in Iraq, and Raqqa, in Syria, as well as countless smaller cities and villages, is largely done. And it has taken less than a year.

"The leadership team that is in place right now has certainly enabled us to succeed," Brig. Gen. Andrew Croft, the ranking U.S. Air Force officer in Iraq, told Fox News. "I couldn't ask for a better leadership team to work for, to enable the military to do what it does best."

President Trump gave a free hand to Mattis, who in May stressed military commanders were no longer being slowed by Washington "decision cycles," or by the White House micromanaging that existed President Obama. As a result of the new approach, the fall of ISIS in Iraq came even more swiftly than hardened U.S. military leaders expected.

"It moved more quickly than at least I had anticipated," Croft said. "We and the Iraqi Security Forces were able to hunt down and target ISIS leadership, target their command and control."
IRAQI KURDS STILL LOVE US DESPITE ITS OPPOSITION TO KURDISH INDEPENDENCE, SAYS KURDISH LEADER
After the battle to liberate Mosul - ISIS' Iraqi headquarters - was completed in July -- the U.S.-led coalition retook Tel Afar in August, Hawija in early October and Rawa in Anbar province in November.

Marine Col. Seth Folsom, who oversaw fighting in Al Qaim near the Syrian border, agreed. He wasn't expecting his part of the campaign against ISIS to get going until next spring and figured even then, it would then "take six months or more."

Instead, ISIS was routed in Al Qaim in just a few days.

"We really had one mandate and that was enable the Iraqi Security Forces to defeat ISIS militarily here in Anbar. I feel that we have achieved that mission," Folsom said. "I never felt constrained. In a lot of ways, I felt quite liberated because we had a clear mandate and there was no questioning that."

Brig. Gen. Robert "G-Man" Sofge, the top U.S. Marine in Iraq, told Fox News his commanders have "enjoyed not having to deal with too many distractions and there was no question about what the mission here in Iraq was."

"We were able to focus on what our job was without distraction and I think that goes a long way in what we are trying to accomplish here," he said.

Sofge said criticism that loosening rules of engagement put civilians at risk is "absolutely not true."

"We used precision strikes, and completely in accordance with international standards," he said. "We didn't lower that standard, not one little bit. But we were able to exercise that precision capability without distraction and I think the results speak for themselves."

The U.S.-led coalition said this week the Coalition Civilian Casualty Assessment Team has added 30 new staffers to travel throughout the region. It said military leaders continue to "hold themselves accountable for actions that may have caused unintentional injury or death to civilians."

The coalition also said dozens of reports of civilian casualties have been determined to be "non-credible," and just .35 percent of the almost 57,000 separate engagement carried out between August 2014 and October 2017 resulted in a credible report of a civilian casualty.

In addition to air support, the U.S.-led strategy also includes training and equipping Iraqi troops on the ground.

While the Trump administration's success is often underplayed in the U.S. media, it is obvious on the ground in Iraq, according to a spokesman for Iraq's Ministry of Defense, Yahya Rasool.

"I was not optimistic when Trump first came to the office," Rasool said. "But after a while I started to see a new approach, the way the U.S. was dealing with arming and training. I saw how the coalition forces were all moving faster to help the Iraq side more than before. There seemed to be a lot of support, under Obama we did not get this."

Despite the victories on the battlefield, U.S. officials cautioned much work remains to be done.

"ISIS is very adaptive," noted Col. Ryan Dillon, the U.S.-led coalition spokesman. "We are already seeing smaller cells and pockets that take more of an insurgent guerrilla type approach as opposed to an Islamic army or conventional type force. So we have got to be prepared for that."

He said as a result the coalition is "adjusting some training efforts" so the Iraqi forces -- upwards of 150,000 have already undergone training -- are equipped to address such threats and ensure long-term stability.

Folsom said "the worst thing we could do" is not finish the job.

"If a country becomes a failed state, if it becomes a lawless region, you begin to set the conditions for what happened in the years before 9/11," he said. "In those ungoverned spaces where we don't know what is going on, that is where those seeds of extremism begin to blossom."

Hollie McKay has been a FoxNews.com staff reporter since 2007. She has reported extensively from the Middle East on the rise and fall of terrorist groups such as ISIS in Iraq. Follow her on twitter at @holliesmckay

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Trump, Mattis turn military loose on ISIS, leaving terror caliphate in tatters

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Hundreds of ISIS fighters had just been chased out of a northern Syrian city and were fleeing through the desert in long convoys, presenting an easy target to U.S. A-10 "warthogs." But the orders to bomb the black-clad jihadists never came, and the terrorists melted into their caliphate -- living to fight another day.

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Oj Simpson broke glasses at the hotel's Clique bar and was disruptive with hotel staff. Security was called to escort him from the premises, and he reportedly was permanently banned from the Cosmopolitan.

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NFL Tyler Conway Ethan Miller/Associated Press Twitter Logo Featured Columnist
O.J. Simpson reportedly was removed from the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday for allegedly being drunk and unruly.

According to a TMZ Sports report, Simpson broke glasses at the hotel's Clique bar and was disruptive with hotel staff. Security was called to escort him from the premises, and he reportedly was permanently banned from the Cosmopolitan.

Simpson, 70, was released from prison Oct. 1 after serving nine years in federal prison for armed robbery and kidnapping. He is currently out on parole, and it's unclear if this incident would constitute any violation because he was not arrested.

The Hall of Fame running back has been seen frequenting Vegas establishments since his release but has not made public comments. Simpson was previously charged with the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in 1994 before being acquitted in 1995.

The trial returned to the public spotlight in 2016, when FX and ESPN both ran original programming about the case.

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Report: O.J. Simpson Kicked out of Cosmopolitan Hotel for Being Drunk, Unruly

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NFL Tyler Conway Ethan Miller/Associated Press Twitter Logo Featured Columnist O.J. Simpson reportedly was removed from the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday for allegedly being drunk and unruly. According to a TMZ Sports report, Simpson broke glasses at the hotel's Clique bar and was disruptive with hotel staff.

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Snowflakes fell across parts of south Texas on Thursday, including San Antonio and Austin. It is not common for snow to fall in southern Texas. Citizens were shocked and the snowy flurries went viral on social media

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south texas receives rare snowfall  - cnn

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It's snowing in south Texas! Yes, you read that right

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Big and fluffy snowflakes fell across parts of south Texas on Thursday, including San Antonio and Austin.

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Roy Moore is losing support fast, recently he stated that "America used to be great even though we had slavery". This is not the first time the Moore has made remarks like this. Moore has also been accused of sexual assault recently.

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For instance, his praise for the time during which slavery existed in the US.

Comments from Moore that praised the era of US history that included slavery because, according to Moore, families were stronger, are getting new scrutiny in the final days of his campaign.

Here's the full passage, from the Los Angeles Times, back in September:

At Moore's Florence rally, the former judge outlined all the wrongs he sees in Washington and "spiritual wickedness in high places." He warned of "the awful calamity of abortion and sodomy and perverse behavior and murders and shootings and road rage" as "a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins."

In response to a question from one of the only African Americans in the audience - who asked when Moore thought America was last "great" -- Moore acknowledged the nation's history of racial divisions, but said: "I think it was great at the time when families were united - even though we had slavery - they cared for one another.... Our families were strong, our country had a direction."

At the same event, Moore referred to Native Americans and Asian Americans as "reds and yellows," and earlier this year he suggested the September 11 terrorist attacks were divine punishment.

The quote did not receive much attention at the time, but gained notice on social media Thursday night. A message left by CNN with Moore's campaign Friday morning was not immediately returned.

Leave aside the biblical condemnation at the top and the 'reds and yellows' slur at the bottom and you're left with the middle part, which seems to pine for era of this country that included slavery, a stain on the country that will never be washed away.

But Moore can apparently get beyond the slavery part since, according to him, families were strong and people cared for one another.

It says something about Moore, who is known for saying insensitive and aggressive things aimed at racial and ethnic groups and gays and lesbians, that he could say something this incredible and not have it gain much notice. In the intervening months, he was accused of making advances against a number of teenagers when he was in his 30s. He denies the accusations, but that storyline of accused molestation has dominated national coverage of the Alabama race.

The slavery quote, which is stunning, was originally published in the midst of the report by Lisa Mascaro from September 21 -- "In Alabama, the heart of Trump country, many think he's backing the wrong candidate in Senate race" -- before the Republican primary in the race, when President Donald Trump campaigned for Moore's opponent, appointed Sen. Luther Strange.

While he reluctantly backed appointed Strange in the primary, Trump has since endorsed Moore and accepted his denials of the abuse allegations. Trump is headed to nearby Florida for a rally Friday that will hit Mobile, Alabama media markets.

A day later, Trump is set to attend the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, a trip that has already caused tension because of Trump's own past belligerence on racial tensions. His appearance caused a boycott by two top African-American congressmen.

Democratic Reps. John Lewis and Bennie G. Thompson said Thursday in a statement that people should wait until after Trump's appearance to visit the museum.

"President Trump's attendance and his hurtful policies are an insult to the people portrayed in this civil rights museum," the two congressmen said. "The struggles represented in this museum exemplify the truth of what really happened in Mississippi. President Trump's disparaging comments about women, the disabled, immigrants and National Football League players disrespect the efforts of Fannie Lou Hamer, Aaron Henry, Medgar Evers, Robert Clark, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and countless others who have given their all for Mississippi to be a better place."

CNN's Terence Burlij contributed to this report.

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roy moore's incredible 'even though we had slavery' quote - cnnpolitics

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Moore's incredible 'even though we had slavery' quote

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Most of the national coverage of Roy Moore's effort to upset the establishment in his bid for Senate in Alabama has been viewed through the lens of the sexual abuse allegations against him -- but there are a slew of other reasons why Republicans were uneasy with his candidacy before those revelations were known.