BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. (NewsNation Now) — Two Florida deputies credit their training with surviving a violent ambush during a traffic stop in late August. Brevard County deputies Brian Potters and Tyler Thoman had pulled over a car that had three adults and a 2-month-old baby inside.

Potters was talking to an adult who was sitting in the back seat, and said he’d watch the infant while that adult got out to speak with Thoman. When the adult got out, he had a gun and began firing. Potters had just finished telling the shooter that he, too, had kids, when the shooting began.

“We all always call routine traffic stops routine, but obviously, that’s not the case,” Potters said on “Dan Abrams Live” on Monday. “You always try to make small talk with folks, try to get the their opinion on things and what’s going on right there at that point in time, and it just went south real fast.”

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said there were 61 shots fired in the next minute. Potters was hit in the leg, but so was the gunman. Thoman, Potters and the shooter then circled a sheriff’s office vehicle. The attacker hit Potters with the butt of his firearm.

Potters and the shooter wrestled each other to the ground, when Thoman opened fire, killing the shooter.

“I heard Deputy Potters respond verbally to the firearm, which got my attention,” Thoman said. “And at that point, we reverted to our training and that was just to kind of get off the ax and get to cover — respond to the threat.”

Ivey called the shooter a “career criminal” and said he’d faced 40 charges over the years, including convictions on guns and drug charges.

Ivey presented the dashcam footage in a YouTube video. He said he was fine with the number of shots the deputies took at the shooter because “evil can never be dead enough.”

Abrams, whose show premiered Monday on NewsNation Now, said he will regularly highlight police work and some of the incredible — and dangerous — situations officers deal with every day.

Watch “Dan Abrams Live” weeknights at 8/7c on NewsNation.

ST. LOUIS– St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department released video and images connected to a downtown shooting that killed one person and injured three others last week. The group was gathered for a candlelight vigil for Demetrise Thomas who was shot and killed in the area hours earlier.

Police released the images and video and say they need help identifying the vehicles and the people riding in them.

Police Chief John Hayden said a few dozen people were gathered for the vigil when a dark-colored SUV drove past and someone in the vehicle opened fire at the crowd. Children at the vigil fled at the sound of gunfire and ran to Union Station for safety.

Thirty-four-year-old Cedric Owens died following the shooting. Three other women were injured.

Loved ones say Owens was a dedicated family man who worked hard and lived life ‘the way a man should.’ he worked at ups and was recently given a promotion.  

Anyone with information is urged to call the Homicide Division directly at 314-444-5371. Also, anyone with a tip who wants to remain anonymous and is interested in a reward can contact CrimeStoppers at 866-371-TIPS (8477). 

Broncos rookie safety Caden Sterns was presented with a new assignment before the regular season: Learn the “dime” position.

Good contingency planning by the coaches.

Sterns didn’t play a defensive snap in the Week 1 win over the New York Giants, but cornerback Ronald Darby’s hamstring injury forced a shuffling of personnel.

Darby was placed on injured reserve. Dime back Pat Surtain II moved to Darby’s starting spot. And Sterns replaced Surtain as the dime player (six-defensive back personnel).

In wins over Jacksonville and the New York Jets, Sterns played 28 snaps (primarily as the dime), making two tackles and intercepting a pass.

“I’m playing with obviously some really good guys who have helped me around,” Sterns said. “I’m still kind of getting used to dime — I started learning it only 2 1/2-3 weeks ago.”

Sterns will play dime for at least one more game (Sunday vs. Baltimore). Darby is eligible to play at Pittsburgh in Week 5, but the way Surtain is playing, the Broncos need to find a way to keep him on the field full-time.

Sterns allowed a third-down completion to the Jets on Sunday in man coverage, but in the final minute, after starting safeties Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson were done for the day, he intercepted quarterback Zach Wilson’s pass after it went through the hands of receiver Braxton Berrios.

Sterns’ takeaways about playing dime? He is lining up closer to the line of scrimmage and things move quicker … a lot quicker.

“Your head has to be on a swivel,” he said. “You need to understand where your help is if you’re playing zone and know how the puzzle pieces fit together so you can react off that.”

Sterns, a fifth-round pick (No. 152 overall), is used to being a quick study.

A five-star high school recruit from Cibolo, Texas, located 25 miles northeast of San Antonio, he originally committed to LSU before changing to Texas.

“It took our entire staff to get him flipped and make him a Longhorn,” said Craig Naivar, who was Texas’ safeties coach during Sterns’ career and now holds the same title at USC.

Sterns was an early enrollee and earned a starting spot as a true freshman in 2018.

“He kept showing up and making plays,” Naivar said in a phone interview this summer. “When he saw something and read something, he would react immediately. He played fast because of his instincts and eye discipline.

“We felt he was a guy that was mature for his age and the moment wasn’t too big for him.”

Sterns was a freshman star for the Longhorns, starting 13 games and totaling 62 tackles and four interceptions. The way Sterns was deployed by defensive coordinator Todd Orlando — safeties were interchangeable — would end up helping him with the Broncos. On some plays, he would line up at free safety, but rotate down to cover the slot receiver, much as he could be asked to do against Baltimore.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – We finally know who Meghan King’s new boyfriend is. The former Real Housewife of Orange County now lives in St. Louis. Page 6 reports that she is now dating President Joe Biden’s nephew, Cuffe Biden Owens.

King posted a pic of them together to Instagram over the weekend with the caption, “Trying my best to avoid any cheesy introductions like “my main squeeze”… so just meet my man. ❤️”

Cuffe Biden Owens, 42, is an attorney who lives in Los Angeles County. He has largely avoided the spotlight. But, his mother is involved with the president’s political career.

Former St. Louis Cardinals player Jim Edmonds and his ex-wife Meghan King finalized their divorce in May after splitting in October 2019. The former Real Housewife of Orange County moved with Edmonds to St. Louis County where they broke ground on a new home in 2018. They have three children together.

King and Edmonds split after a lewd text exchange was published in a tabloid. Explicit texts between Edmonds and the anonymous woman were sent when King was pregnant with twins.

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Lisa Vanderpump claims it was Kyle Richards who spread rumors regarding Erika Jayne and Thomas Girardi‘s money troubles at Andy Cohen‘s baby shower.

After Camille Grammer said on Twitter that “one of the Housewives mentioned it” at the January 2019 event, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum admitted that it was Kyle who told Camille the information about her supposed friend before taking aim at Erika’s behavior with her money.

“I had heard from Camille, she’d been told that there were definitely problems way back in [2019] when I left [RHOBH],” Lisa recalled to the Daily Mail on September 27.

Although Lisa, who announced her exit from RHOBH in June 2019, didn’t immediately give up Kyle’s name as the culprit, first saying that she “can’t say,” she eventually shared more after the host suggested it was someone who once got kicked out of her kitchen.

“I think it could be that person. Yes, it could be the person that [Ken Todd] kicked out of my house,” Lisa confirmed, giving a nod to the season nine moment in which her friendship with Kyle came to an end.

As fans will recall, Lisa’s husband threw Kyle out of their Beverly Hills home after Kyle suggested Lisa was lying about selling a negative story about Dorit Kemsley.

“But it didn’t surprise me when Camille told me it was Kyle that had told her the gossip about her supposed friend Erika Jayne. That’s how Kyle works,” Lisa continued.

Kyle’s name being dropped makes sense as Bethenny Frankel recently admitted she told Kyle and Lisa Rinna about the rumors of Erika and Tom having money issues four years ago after her then-boyfriend, Dennis Shields, told her Tom allegedly owed him $500,000.

Also during the interview, Lisa took aim at her former castmate, Erika, who is currently facing a $25 million lawsuit and claims of having embezzled millions from Thomas’ former clients, stating that the performer was never nice to her and behaved horribly with her finances.

“Erika Jayne was never nice to me, you know, even prior to this whole thing,” Lisa revealed. “I thought it was kind of obnoxious the way she behaved with money, even when I thought it was her own.”

“You know what? I had doubts,” she added.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 11 airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.

I’m sure that everyone knew at least one kid growing up who cheated at games and then accused everyone else of cheating if they didn’t win. The kid who flipped the game board over, or kicked the ball over the fence, and ran home.

I couldn’t help but think of my childhood sore loser as I felt the very foundation of the republic creak under the weight of former President Donald Trump’s “major announcement” on October 20, 2016, “that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election … if I win.”

And, of course, though Trump did win in 2016, he continued to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election that gave him the presidency. Unsurprisingly, his attacks on democracy were orders of magnitude worse when he lost in 2020.

With millions of outstanding ballots left to count, and the returns looking worse and worse for Trump, the president took to the East Wing of the White House on election night and told his supporters that he won a race that he would go on to lose.

I cannot find a substantive difference between the snot-nosed sore loser of our collective youth and Donald J. Trump. But, since GOP leaders have coddled Trump’s delusions instead of standing up to him, The Big Lie has now become a litmus test that spells doom for Republicans in Colorado and across the country in 2022. History suggests that Republicans should be gearing up to win a number of important elections up and down the ballot next year, but they can’t get on with winning in 2022 because they can’t get over losing in 2020.

Republican activists, primary voters, and both clueless and feckless politicians alike have set the bar for being a member of the Republican Party at “full-blown denial of reality.”

About 59% of Republican voters surveyed in a national CNN poll conducted earlier this month say that “believing that Donald Trump won the 2020 election” is either a very or somewhat important aspect of being a Republican. That’s three out of five self-identified Republicans saying that unless you believe a damnable lie, you are no longer welcome in the club.

That’s weird, but the consequences are real. Last week, Republican Heidi Ganahl previewed the announcement of her uphill candidacy for governor of Colorado with a video of her literally walking up a hill.

At Ganahl’s campaign kickoff event a few days later, The Colorado Sun’s Jesse Paul, The Denver Post’s Alex Burness, and 9News’s Marshall Zelinger all asked versions of the same question: Do you accept the outcome of the 2020 election?

Ganahl refused to answer, in fact, Ganahl chastised Zelinger for asking a “divisive question.”

This may endear Ganahl to a majority of Republicans, according to that CNN poll, but it will alienate the rest of Colorado voters. In survey after survey, the vast majority of Americans report that they believe President Joe Biden won the election fair and square, putting GOP candidates in a serious bind — do they pander to the delusions of Trump to win a primary election, or do they oppose conspiracy theories about the 2020 election to not alienate the rest of the voting public?

So what does Ganahl really believe? Does she represent the 59% of her fellow Republicans who think it’s important to believe The Big Lie? Or, does she actually know better but would rather not answer a very simple question for fear of angering the Trump base? Frankly, I’m not sure what’s worse, but it’s disqualifying either way.

Maybe this is why there is exactly one Republican with name recognition who has announced a bid for governor in Colorado. Republicans have no challengers for treasurer or attorney general. The only Republican who filed for secretary of state is some guy who has a website that looks like it was built when people were still using dial-up modems.

The truth is, Colorado is becoming further and further out of reach for statewide Republican candidates anyway. Colorado Republicans haven’t won a major statewide election since 2014 when former U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner eked out a win in a GOP wave year by less than 2 points. Since then, it’s been a death spiral for the right.

Republicans have to do a lot of things right to get back in the good graces of Colorado voters. I can’t think of a worse place to start than believing, or worse, pretending the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.

Ian Silverii is the founder of The Bighorn Company, a dad, a husband, and the former director of ProgressNow Colorado. Follow him on Twitter @iansilverii.

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Bethenny Frankel is readdressing Erika Jayne and Thomas Girardi‘s ongoing legal scandal.

After previously saying on the September 16 episode of her podcast, Just B With Bethenny Frankel, that “everybody knew” about the recently disbarred attorney‘s shady business dealings, claiming she heard reports from late ex-fiancé Dennis Shields, the Real Housewives of New York City alum is admitting that she doesn’t know much about Erika and Thomas’ lives.

“I don’t quote-unquote know Erika Jayne,” Bethenny explained in a preview clip from the September 28 episode of her show, which was shared by Us Weekly on Monday. “I’ve met her and we’ve done this sort of Instagram thing and she was at my house doing the crossover Housewives episode. I have no idea if she knew [about Tom’s actions]. I know nothing about their marriage, nothing about their life. … We’re not all experts on someone else’s lives.”

“I knew that I knew,” Bethenny continued. “I knew that I told people. This is about, like, some people you know, you know that their husbands are cheating on them … and maybe the spouses don’t know. Or maybe they don’t want to know.”

According to Bethenny, she finds it “alarming” that so many people are “piling on” the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star as she attempts to navigate a very tricky legal situation.

She also finds the RHOBH cast member, who she noted has been accused of “not being compassionate enough for the victims,” to be desperate to remain in the spotlight.

“I think she did the show because she likes fame and she wants to stay relevant,” Bethenny alleged. “She needs the money. … She’s on the show, which is not a great idea because they’re investigating the whole thing, but probably [is] something she needs or wants to do for her livelihood.”

As for why Erika hasn’t yet shared any key information in regard to the cases against her and Thomas, Bethenny said she’s likely staying neutral “because she’s not supposed to acknowledge that there are victims because she’s not supposed to say anything about it.”

“If I had a client who’s in the middle of something, I would say, ‘Say nothing.’ … And I double down on what I said before: the higher the lifestyle someone says that they have, the more you’re going to jump on and beat it like a dead horse,” Bethenny explained.

Bethenny went on to say that her “biggest takeaway” from Erika and Thomas’ legal scandal is that people should be “more modest” about their wealth.

“People need some sort of a mea culpa … [and] there’s a way to say it without incriminating yourself,” she stated. “We’re living in a crazy world and people are just out for blood. Absolutely out for blood. … [Erika’s] taking a real hit.”

While Erika fired back at the RHONY star’s previous comments with a statement from her attorney, accusing her of throwing dirt on her name, Bethenny said she doesn’t “feel bad” for what she said.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 11 airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.

CHICAGO (AP) — After five years of legal battles, gentrification concerns and a federal review, Barack and Michelle Obama were expected to attend a celebratory groundbreaking Tuesday on their legacy project in a lakefront Chicago park.

Construction on the site along Lake Michigan, near the Obama family home and where the former president started his political career on Chicago’s South Side, officially began last month. Work on the Obama Presidential Center is expected to take about five years.

The Obamas were scheduled to host an event, which will be streamed online to limit crowds amid the coronavirus pandemic, with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Barack Obama told ABC’s “Good Morning America” in an interview broadcast Tuesday that he hopes the center will bring an economic boost to Chicago’s South Side and also inspire the area’s young people.

“There’s young people who are enormously talented but often forgotten and so for us to be able to build a world-class institution that will attract millions of people hopefully will send a signal that those young people count, those young people matter,” he said.

The presidential center, which will sit on 19 acres (7.7 hectares) of the 540-acre (291-hectare) Jackson Park, will be unique among presidential libraries.

Obama’s presidential papers will be available in digital form. The sprawling campus center will include a museum, public library branch, athletic center, test kitchen and children’s play area.

The initial cost the center was projected at $500 million, but documents released by the Obama Foundation last month showed it is now roughly $830 million. Funds are being raised through private donations.

Progress on the center has been delayed by lawsuits and a federal review required because of the location of Jackson Park, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. At the same time, fears about displacing Black residents in the area developed into a yearslong battle resulting in city-approved neighborhood protections, including for affordable housing.

Obama chose Chicago over several cities including Honolulu, where he was born and spent his early years.

It’s a part of Chicago that has special significance for the Obamas. The center is near the University of Chicago where Obama taught law and where the Obamas got married and raised their two daughters. Michelle Obama also grew up on the South Side.

“Part of the reason we’re here is just about everything that’s important to me in my life started here,” Obama said in the “Good Morning America” interview.

Michelle Obama said in a video announcement that when it came time to plan the Obama Presidential Center the couple “wanted to give something back to the place that gave us so much.”

Whitney Rose was asked about Jen Shah‘s reportedly shady business on Sunday night’s episode of Watch What Happens Live.

Following the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, which saw a dramatic encounter between Jen and Meredith Marks, Whitney admitted to thinking Jen got her money from a “sugar daddy” as Jen, who is facing charges of money laundering and fraud, reacted to the claim on Twitter by suggesting Whitney’s remark was racially motivated.

“I never questioned if what she was doing was legal or not. I questioned the lifestyle, the amount of money. I always thought she had a sugar daddy, to be honest with you,” Whitney told Andy Cohen on the September 26 episode of WWHL. “I honestly just thought someone was giving her money. Nothing about her life made any sense, really.”

In response, Jen took to her Twitter page to fire back at Whitney with claims of racism.

“I’m a successful Polynesian businesswoman for twenty years married to a very successful black husband who’s been an attorney for 13 [years], NFL sports agent for 10 [years], Power5 football coach for 10 [years and] you’re [sic] assumption is I have a sugar daddy!” Jen tweeted on September 26.

JEN SHAH’S HUSBAND SHARRIEFF SHAH’S SALARY REVEALED!

Then, in a second post, she continued, “His name is Coach Shah. [Because] I’m brown [and] my husband is black, you question our [money].”

As WWHL continued, Whitney was asked about Meredith’s behavior toward Jen, who she accused of “liking” a number of disparaging tweets about her son, Brooks Marks.

“Shocking. I’ve never seen her engage like that,” Whitney said. “When she engages, though, she is like, chills down your spine, she’s going to crack that lake for sure, that ice. I thought we were all going in.”

Whitney then made it clear that she’s on Team Meredith when it comes to Jen’s “likes,” which Jen has blamed on her social media manager.

“I mean, it’s Meredith’s son. You don’t go after children and Jen’s taking it too far,” Whitney said.

Also on WWHL, during a game of “Icing for the Truth,” Whitney reacted to Jen’s claims of having no part of the “liked” tweet.

“I do not believe that she had no say,” Whitney confirmed, adding that Meredith has been a much better friend to Lisa Barlow in the midst of her drama with Jen than Lisa has been to her.

In addition to sharing that Meredith and husband Seth Marks are “absolutely” in a better place after struggling in their marriage amid season one, Whitney said there’s a “50/50” chance Heather Gay will return to the Mormon church, admitted that she’s probably the person Mary Cosby complains about the most, and she reacted to Jennie Nguyen saying she was not attracted to husband Duy’s face when they first met.

“That was a little rude but I do believe it because Duy is an amazing man and I’m sure, he got Jennie, so he must have something going on down there,” Whitney shared.

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City season two airs Sundays at 9/8c on Bravo.

Robyn Dixon appeared on Sunday’s episode of Watch What Happens Live, where she shared her honest opinion of Erika Jayne and the legal hardships the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star has been facing over the past several months.

Before offering an update on her depression struggles and reacting to Gizelle Bryant‘s drama with Ray Huger, the Real Housewives of Potomac cast member told host Andy Cohen that she wished people would give more “grace and understanding” to Erika.

“I kinda wish people would show Erika a little more grace and understanding,” Robyn admitted on the September 26 episode of WWHL. “I think what she’s going through is very, very, very difficult and to do that while filming, I can’t even imagine having to show up to every scene and answer questions about stuff that’s legally an issue.”

In January 2019, Robyn was introduced to Erika at Andy’s baby shower, where they quickly hit it off and later spent time together as a group with their castmates.

“She actually invited Gizelle and I out to drinks with the Beverly Hills ladies later. We went. We rode in the car with her. She was so hospitable, so sweet. So I am totally supportive of her just because I know, this is not easy what she’s dealing with,” Robyn explained.

Later, during the WWHL: After Show, a caller asked Robyn for a mental health update.

“I’m feeling a lot better, thanks to honestly a lot of the viewers of the show who have shown so much support and understanding,” Robyn shared. “So many people could relate to what I was going to and it kind of, like, energized me, like, ‘You know what, I’ve got this. Let me keep going.’”

“And [Juan Dixon] kind of regretted being so harsh on me,” she continued. “I think he was so used to me… holding everything down, doing everything. He wasn’t used to seeing me not doing things the way I normally do and he kind of realized, like, ‘Oh, this is a little deeper.’”

Robyn then assured another caller that the reason she was nervous about being $100,000 over budget on her and Juan’s new home was due to her past money struggles, saying she has “PTSD from money problems.”

In a separate WWHL clip, Robyn was asked what was the “worst thing” about Gizelle’s new home.

“I would have preferred for the west wing to be of the same material as the rest of the house,” answered Robyn without hesitation.

The Real Housewives of Potomac season six airs Sundays at 9/8c on Bravo.