Foreign actors hacked two Colorado water utilities’ computer systems last month, changing pumping cycles, disabling alarms and altering equipment settings before operators regained control, state officials said Thursday.

The intrusions did not affect drinking water quality or treatment processes, according to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ office. But the incidents add Colorado to a widening series of breaches in U.S. water and wastewater infrastructure.

High-profile cyberattacks have targeted more than 100 drinking water and wastewater systems across 12 states this year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, expanding the footprint of a threat that federal authorities warned this summer was disrupting water operations across the country.

WATER CYBERATTACK HITS AT LEAST 7 STATES

Colorado officials have not identified the actors behind the intrusions of the two small systems or said whether they are connected to the broader activity reported elsewhere in the country.

“These were brief incidents, and the risks were quickly addressed by the providers themselves, who subsequently alerted the state,” Polis spokeswoman Eric Maruyama said in a statement.

The hackers altered equipment settings, disabled remote access and alarms and changed pumping cycles, according to the governor’s office.

The incidents demonstrate how hackers can reach beyond traditional computer networks and gain access to operational technology used to control physical equipment at water plants, including pumps, valves and other machinery.

The water utility systems that were impacted provide drinking water to approximately 400 people.

IRANIAN HACKERS ATTACKED OUR WATER SYSTEMS. HERE ARE 5 THINGS OUR LEADERS NEED TO DO NOW

Federal authorities warned in July that malicious cyber actors were targeting internet-connected operational technology at water and wastewater utilities. At the time, the FBI and EPA said utilities in at least seven states had reported incidents, some of which degraded water operations.

The agencies said attackers had remotely accessed internet-facing programmable logic controllers, or PLCs, and tampered with device configurations, in some cases causing utilities to lose monitoring or control capabilities. Reported operational effects included loss of water pressure and flooding.

The Colorado breaches follow a series of attacks on water systems across the country this summer, including cyber activity affecting more than 30 community water systems in Minnesota.

Federal investigators have examined whether Iranian actors or hackers affiliated with Iran were responsible for the Minnesota attacks, though officials had not publicly attributed the activity at the time.

President Donald Trump disputed suggestions that Iran was behind the Minnesota attacks, saying during a Cabinet meeting, “They blame it on Iran. I don’t think so.”

He instead blamed Minnesota officials.

IRAN’S CYBERWAR TARGETS ORDINARY AMERICANS. WE NEED TO DISMANTLE THE HACKER NETWORK

The recent incidents have renewed attention to longstanding cybersecurity vulnerabilities within America’s water infrastructure, particularly among small and rural utilities that can have limited cybersecurity staff and resources.

Many utilities use internet-connected industrial control systems to remotely monitor and operate pumps, valves, water pressure and other equipment. Federal officials have urged operators to remove programmable logic controllers from direct exposure to the internet and strengthen authentication and access controls.

The EPA, which serves as the federal government’s sector risk management agency for water and wastewater systems, told Fox News Digital it is working with utilities, states and federal partners to identify vulnerabilities and strengthen cybersecurity.

Since fiscal year 2025, the agency has identified more than 900 vulnerabilities in over 650 water systems and helped eliminate about 700 at more than 500 utilities.

The EPA has also conducted more than 710 cybersecurity risk assessments and provided direct technical assistance to approximately 15,900 utilities.

The FBI declined to comment when reached by Fox News Digital.

A New York City socialist seeking to replace a retiring Democrat drew criticism Thursday after pledging to carry the “fight” inspired by Mexico’s struggle for independence into Congress. And critics pointed to her disclosure that she met with members of Mexico’s ruling left-wing party.

Claire Valdez, who is seeking Rep. Nydia Velázquez’s seat in a district that includes Bushwick and Ridgewood, is facing calls for the State Department to investigate her under the Logan Act. It’s a rarely enforced 1799 law that criminalizes certain unauthorized efforts by private citizens to influence foreign governments in disputes involving the U.S. Democrats have also invoked the law in connection with President Donald Trump.

In response to her post, immigration attorney and columnist Alicia Nieves tweeted at Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, a former ambassador to Mexico, calling for an investigation of Valdez after the candidate disclosed that she had met with members of Morena, Mexico’s ruling left-wing party.

“Given that she is currently a congressional nominee, not a member of Congress, and appears to have discussed facilitating support contrary to current U.S. policy as well as describing our country an ‘empire’ that has ‘stolen from us’ … I hope the administration will review whether these communications warrant investigation under the Logan Act.”

COLORADO’S SOCIALIST CANDIDATE CALLS FOR ‘MORE IMMIGRANTS INTO OFFICE’ TO STOP AMERICA’S ‘EXPLOITATIVE’ NATURE

The act, enacted in 1799, came after the John Adams administration and congressional Federalists objected to Pennsylvania politician George Logan’s unauthorized trip to France, where he sought to ease tensions during what was called the “Quasi-War.” Federalists feared private diplomacy could undermine the U.S. government’s foreign policy.

Adams and his Federalist allies also viewed Logan’s actions through the partisan tensions surrounding the 1800 presidential race against Thomas Jefferson.

In her tweet, Valdez wrote, “215 years ago, Mexicans fought an empire that demanded our land and our labor. And we won.

“I’ll carry that fight with me to Congress as New York’s first Mexican-American representative,” Valdez pledged. “And I’m strengthened not just by Mexico’s history but its present.”

She said she met “comrades” in the Morena party who are “standing up to the empires and corporations that have always taken from us — and building a government for the working class. Viva la Independencia, Viva México!”

MAMDANI-BACKED SOCIALIST PREVAILS IN CROWDED PRIMARY TO REPLACE RETIRING REP

Fox News Digital reached out to Valdez and the Mexican government for comment. Morena could not immediately be reached.

Critics also pointed out that Valdez’s father, Larry, is linked to a company that helped construct a Texas immigration center during the Obama administration. They contended that the connection conflicts with her opposition to immigration enforcement.

“This would be a great campaign for Congress in Mexico,” added Christina Pushaw, a top communications official for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Fox News Digital also reached out to community organizer Melvin Rivera, the Republican opponent facing Valdez, for comment.

Democrats cited the Logan Act in connection with Trump after he publicly remarked, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing” in reference to his 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton.

Then-Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada suggested that Trump had violated the Logan Act. The law has also been invoked against other public figures, including former Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, but no prosecution under the statute has resulted in a conviction.

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

Two men faced proceedings under the Logan Act but were never convicted. A grand jury indicted Kentucky farmer Francis Flournoy in 1803 after he advocated a separate Western United States allied with France. Jonas P. Levy was arrested and held to bail under the law in 1853 after writing to Mexico’s president.

Valdez, the Democratic nominee for New York’s 7th Congressional District, will face  Rivera and other candidates in the November general election. 

This post appeared first on https://www.foxnews.com

A Democrat running for the state legislature in battleground North Carolina remains on the ballot despite her party publicly abandoning her after inflammatory social media posts she made resurfaced.

The North Carolina House Democratic Caucus and a county party group both condemned posts by Shelly Headen in which the legislative candidate called for an attack on U.S. soil targeting red states and compared President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler.

But Headen remains a candidate because the filing deadline to drop out of the race was Aug. 20, and the general election ballots are finalized and were sent out to voters starting on Sept. 4.

Headen, who is challenging Republican state Rep. John Blust for the House District 62 seat in Greensboro-anchored Guilford County, posted a year ago, “I think our only hope is an attack on US Soil … preferably Alabama, Louisiana … where the stupid people live.”

WATCH: HUGH HEWITT’S TAKE ON THE HEADEN CONTROVERSY

In separate posts, she argued that the damage done by Trump was “getting close to surpassing Hitler” and claimed the “MAGA cult may be more destructive and evil than the Nazis.”

Breitbart reported that a Facebook post by Headen that pictured her at a memorial at the Nazis’ Dachau concentration camp in Germany, where tens of thousands of people were murdered during World War II, with the words, “This is where Trump supporters belong.”

Headen denied last week to the Greensboro News and Record that she posted the concentration camp image and said she believed the image was edited to include the words over a real photo.

Her old comments grabbed new national attention earlier this week when the White House Rapid Response account that supports Trump shared them on X and charged that Democrats “ARE SICK PEOPLE!”

DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB

North Carolina Republican U.S. Senate nominee Michael Whatley posted on social media a photo of Headen and former Gov. Roy Cooper, the Democratic Senate nominee, and argued, “Roy Cooper still stands with NC Dem who called for the genocide of Republicans. This is against everything America stands for.”

“These remarks are reprehensible – Roy strongly condemns them and all forms of political violence and he believes it’s up to all of us to speak responsibly,” Cooper’s campaign emphasized in a statement.

Headen, a certified public accountant and small business owner, told WFDD, a public radio station in North Carolina, that she didn’t remember making the posts but apologized to those hurt by them. And she added that she understood the party’s decision to drop support for her.

But in an interview with The Assembly, a digital-first news operation in North Carolina, Headen defended her posts, describing them as “a few angry moments.”

“I’ve sacrificed myself just like Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross, and Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln and all the people that put themselves out there to sacrifice for our country,” Headen also told The Assembly. 

“If a few angry moments on social media are the end, then so be it. MAGA will keep winning if we continue with not standing up for what’s right.”

The Assembly’s reporting preceded the move by Democrats to drop support.

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

“Shelly Headen’s posts are unacceptable and do not reflect the values we expect of our candidates,” the North Carolina House Democratic Caucus said in a statement. The caucus added that it “condemns these comments without qualification and will not support Shelly Headen’s candidacy.”

The Guilford County Democratic Party said in a statement, “We unequivocally reject and condemn the social media posts by Shelly Headen. These statements violate everything our party represents. Effective immediately, the county Democratic Party is formally withdrawing all financial, operational and organizational support for Shelley Headen’s campaign.”

Headen earlier this week told Fox News Digital she’s received death threats in recent days but declined to give any further responses regarding her posts.

In an article published Thursday in The Rhino Times, Headen reiterated, “I’ve been getting death threats, and now all I want to do is protect myself and my family. My whole world has been collapsing.”

And she acknowledged that she took down her social media pages, saying, “I don’t have access to any of my accounts anymore.”

Republicans have spotlighted the controversy.

North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall called Headen’s comments “Absolutely disgusting.”

And the North Carolina House Republicans wrote on X, “Democrat Shelly Headen who is “Running to Restore Human Decency” just posted that she wants an attack on US soil. It is unclear whether Shelly would prefer ISIS or China to attack the United States, but it’s clear she wants an attack.”

Meanwhile, the popular conservative X account Libs of TikTok argued that Headen “should drop out immediately. She doesn’t belong anywhere public office.”

The attention over the resurfaced comments comes a week after Headen faced a separate controversy following a move by State House Republicans to release two 2024 Guilford County Sheriff’s Office incident reports involving her and her husband, Gregory Thomas Headen.

The reports, which identify the alleged domestic offense as physical assault, list Headen as the suspect and her husband as the potential victim.

In a statement she released earlier this month, Headen said that during a stressful time in their marriage, she and her husband had “a couple of arguments that escalated.” She said that, during one argument, her husband grabbed her, causing her to fall backward and hit her head. She then called 911.

Headen, in her statement, described herself as having experienced abuse. And she argued that Republicans were using a private family matter for political gain.

This post appeared first on https://www.foxnews.com

A federal lawsuit filed Thursday alleges the city of Dearborn spent thousands of taxpayer dollars on public displays celebrating Muslim holidays while ignoring a Christian resident’s repeated requests for Easter and Passover recognition.

Margot Cleveland, a journalist with The Federalist, filed a civil rights lawsuit with the American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) against the city of Dearborn and Democratic Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, alleging the city violated her First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, including protections involving religious establishment, free speech and equal protection.

“The City of Dearborn spent taxpayer money to light up its streets and parks for Ramadan while stonewalling a resident who simply asked that Easter, Passover, and other Christian and Jewish holy days be treated the same way,” Robert J. Muise, AFLC co-founder and senior counsel, said in a statement. “That is a straightforward Establishment Clause violation, and the retaliation our client faced for speaking up about it only compounds the constitutional harm.”

PASTOR UNLEASHES ON DEARBORN AS RELIGIOUS TENSIONS ERUPT AT CITY COUNCIL MEETING: ‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’

Dearborn is home to one of the largest Arab American communities in the country. The city had 109,976 residents in the 2020 Census, and 54.5% reported Middle Eastern or North African ancestry. Michigan Avenue, the city’s main thoroughfare, is lined with businesses featuring Arabic-script signs and Middle Eastern cuisine. There are ten mosques within the city limits, according to an online directory.

Hammoud was first elected mayor in November 2021, becoming the first Muslim and Arab American to lead the city of Dearborn.

“What makes this case especially troubling is that City officials, up to and including the Mayor, responded to a citizen’s respectful request for equal treatment with silence, stonewalling, and outright hostility — including the Mayor’s own words telling a Christian resident he is ‘not welcome’ in his own city,” David Yerushalmi, an attorney on the case, said. “Our client is simply asking the City to treat Christians and Jews as equal citizens.”

Lawyers for Cleveland pointed to a September exchange between Hammoud and Christian pastor Ted Barham as evidence of what they allege is the city’s hostility toward Christians. Barham had raised concerns during a City Council meeting over the city’s decision to rename a street after Usama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News, who has made statements expressing support for Hezbollah.

TRUMP INAUGURATION PASTOR SAYS DEARBORN CHRISTIANS ‘AFRAID’ TO SPEAK OUT IN MUSLIM-MAJORITY CITY

In the exchange, Hammoud called Barham a “bigot” and an “Islamophobe.”

“And although you live here, I want you to know as mayor, you are not welcome here,” Hammoud told the Christian pastor. “And the day you move out of the city will be the day that I launch a parade celebrating the fact that you moved out of the city… because you are not somebody who believes in coexistence.”

But Cleveland’s lawsuit alleges that city leaders ignored her requests for the city to also recognize Christian and Jewish holidays after she began seeing “Ramadan Kareem” banners and large crescent moons displayed across the city in spring 2025. A FOIA request revealed that the city had spent $1,500 on Ramadan banners and $5,000 on the crescent-moon display. The Dearborn Police Department was also selling Ramadan-themed T-shirts.

In emails to the city, Cleveland said she did not want the city to stop celebrating Muslim holidays but wanted equal recognition for Christian and Jewish holy days.

“I much prefer to ensure equality of faith traditions, as opposed to a challenge to the display,” Cleveland wrote in an email.

MASSACHUSETTS HIGH COURT BLOCKS CITY FROM DISPLAYING CATHOLIC SAINT STATUES HONORING FIRST RESPONDERS

Not only did the city allegedly ignore Cleveland’s requests, but in February 2026, it expanded its Ramadan displays, commissioning crescent-and-star lights that were displayed on municipal streetlights across the city.

“This initiative reflects who we are as a city,” Hammoud said in a statement.

Tensions between Cleveland and city officials continued in April, when Cleveland alleges she was told she could attend a community meeting as a resident but not as a journalist. The lawsuit also alleges Hammoud made what it describes as a “snide comment” about residents who criticize the city on social media to monetize their posts.

The lawsuit also alleges that in February 2026, the city expanded its Ramadan displays, commissioning crescent-and-star lights for municipal streetlights across the city.

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

Cleveland pushed back, according to the lawsuit, saying she was simply “a concerned resident who was ignored when I asked for the City to treat Christians and Jews equally.”

“Despite the repeated requests, they treated her as if she were an outsider and not a full member of the political community,” Muise told Fox News Digital.

The lawsuit comes during Michigan’s closely watched 2026 U.S. Senate race, with Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, who is Muslim and the son of Egyptian immigrants, facing Republican nominee Mike Rogers for the state’s open Senate seat. Religion and antisemitism have become points of dispute in the race, with Republicans and some Democrats criticizing El-Sayed over his association with streamer Hasan Piker, who said the U.S. was worse than al Qaeda “pound for pound, as far as the number of deaths,” while arguing that U.S. military actions that kill civilians can amount to acts of terror.

At the same time, El-Sayed and his supporters have accused opponents of targeting him with anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Fox News Digital reached out to Hammoud’s office and Cleveland’s attorneys for comment.

While a bill to add a new swath of regulations to college sports is generating a swell of bipartisan support, some opponents are suggesting that the bill itself is racist.

The Protect College Sports Act, pushed by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., has so far survived two key hurdles in the Senate and is on its way to a final vote in the coming week.

However, NAACP President Derrick Johnson, the Congressional Black Caucus and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., one of a handful of Senate Democrats pushing against the bill, have argued that the bill would disproportionately affect Black student-athletes and put their newfound agency in decision-making granted by name, image and likeness (NIL) back into the hands of White coaches and college presidents.

SENATE MOVES TO REIN IN COLLEGE SPORTS ‘WILD WEST’ WITH SWEEPING NEW RULES FOR PLAYERS, SCHOOLS

“It’s a civil rights issue. That’s the reason the NAACP is strongly opposing this bill, because they see it as a civil rights issue,” Murphy told Fox News Digital. “I didn’t make that up. That’s the reality.

“The athletes who will be most affected by this bill are largely Black athletes, and the people who will be helped by this bill are largely White coaches and White college sports executives,” he continued. “I’m not the one who sees this as a civil rights issue. The NAACP opposes it because they see this as a civil rights issue.”

The Protect College Sports Act would broadly add restrictions to the transfer portal for student-athletes and create a uniform eligibility framework of five years, recruiting and tampering guardrails that establish when schools or agents can contact or recruit a student-athlete, a federal standard for NIL rules and a revenue-sharing cap.

Proponents of the bill, including former President Barack Obama’s brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, who is the executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, argued that the bill did not disenfranchise Black athletes.

SENATE ADVANCES LANDMARK PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT, IGNORING SEC AND BIG TEN OPPOSITION WITH CLOCK TICKING

“Well, you know everybody is entitled to their interpretation of what’s going on,” Robinson told Fox News Digital. “I would disagree with that, and I would point out that if we don’t fix this system, the same student-athletes they’re talking about are not going to be college educated, because you cannot get educated by transferring to four or five different schools. You can’t get a college degree doing that, so that’s what I would say.”

Robinson was one of several former coaches who made the trip to Washington, D.C., this week to promote and support the bill.

Craig Bohl, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association, told Fox News Digital the assertion that the legislation had racist undertones was “the farthest thing from the truth.”

CRUZ AND CANTWELL REFUSE TO BEND TO SEC AND BIG TEN CONCERNS IN REVISED COLLEGE ATHLETICS LEGISLATION

“You know, one of the things that has been good for me, you know, working 43 years, coaches care deeply about all our players,” Bohl said. “And while I appreciate their convictions on it, it’s a misguided statement.

“What we’re looking at is opportunities for all. We want players to have an opportunity for compensation,” he continued. “We want players to be able to have the ability to transfer. We also are looking for some stability with eligibility. We don’t need NFL players coming back playing in our game.”

The Congressional Black Caucus has argued against the bill for months and charged that its members would not support the legislation after the Supreme Court’s decision on the Voting Rights Act earlier this year.

“Honestly, some of those concerns initially were over redistricting, and, you know, I’m not solving that problem with this bill,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., one of the co-leads of the bill, told Fox News Digital.

“We’re just trying to address the chaos that exists right now in college athletics, where 27-year-olds are playing against 17-year-olds, unlimited transfers, graduation rates are plummeting.”

This post appeared first on https://www.foxnews.com