The News

 The shooting occurred amidst a chase through the streets of Los Angeles on Tuesday, as officers tried to find three suspects who were alleged to have fled the scene of a car accident.

Lauren became involved when one of the alleged suspects ended up on the street where she lives with her husband, Weezer bassist Scott Shriner.

The 51-year-old emerged from her house with a weapon and refused to drop it despite "numerous" demands, according to an LAPD press release. She "then pointed the handgun at the officers," who shot her in the shoulder.

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 An "extra creamy" variety of butter was recently recalled due to coliform bacteria, raising alarms about potential fecal contamination.

The recall applied to one lot of 8-ounce Cabot Creamery Extra Creamy Sea-Salted Premium Butter. The products were distributed by Agri-Mark.

The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) reported that 189 cases, or 1,701 pounds, of the product were recalled beginning March 26. The impacted products contain the lot code 090925-055.

Agri-Mark told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that only 17 packages, or 8.5 pounds, of the product were sold in retail stores, and all those stores were located in Vermont.

According to the company, 99.5% of the tainted butter was recovered before reaching consumers. 

The FDA's website notes that the butter was also distributed in New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Arkansas.

The recall does not currently pose a significant public health threat. The recall is labeled as Class III by the FDA, its lowest category.

The FDA has classified this event as a Class III recall reserved for products that are not likely to cause adverse health consequences," Agri-Mark said in a statement.

Agri-Mark reported that 99.5% of the recalled dairy products were recovered before reaching consumers. (iStock)

"There have been no reported complaints or illnesses related to this product."

In an additional statement to Fox News Digital, Agri-Mark emphasized that recall was "very limited" and "voluntary."

"Agri-Mark has identified the cause and has taken the appropriate internal actions to address it," the company added, emphasizing that no other products were affected by the incident.

The butter was distributed to New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Arkansas and Vermont. (iStock)

"Agri-Mark is dedicated to food safety and producing quality products and is always monitoring its products for compliance," the company added.

There have been a variety of news reports that are incomplete and have dramatically misrepresented this recall with respect to the risk it posed to consumers."

The recalled butter contained a type of bacterium found in the gastrointestinal tracts of animals. (iStock)

Fox News Digital reached out to Cabot Creamery for additional comment but did not immediately hear back.

 Overnight, Dan Trachtenberg became the Predator whisperer. His Comanche action-horror prequel Prey breathed life into the uneven franchise, and its success opened the door to pitch future entries. One idea became Predator: Badlands, which is slotted for a November 7th, 2025 release date (with new details coming out of CinemaCon this past weekend). But what if I told you Trachtenberg completed another Predator film in secret that’ll be available before we enter the Badlands?

Because that’s the truth, and Bloody Disgusting has the exclusive first details.

Predator: Killer of Killers is a three-part animated anthology that showcases Yautja warriors hunting human prey across global history. It’ll premiere as a Hulu exclusive on June 6th, 2025. The voice cast includes Lindsay LaVanchy, Louis Ozawa, Rick Gonzalez, and Michael Biehn.

Here’s the official synopsis with all the glorious details:

“Predator: Killer of Killers, an original animated action-adventure film set in the Predator universe, will premiere June 6th, 2025, exclusively on Hulu. The anthology story follows three of the fiercest warriors in human history: a Viking raider guiding her young son on a bloody quest for revenge, a ninja in feudal Japan who turns against his Samurai brother in a brutal battle for succession, and a WWII pilot who takes to the sky to investigate an otherworldly threat to the Allied cause. But while all these warriors are killers in their own right, they are merely prey for their new opponent – the ultimate killer of killers.”

It’s a brilliant concept that passionate fans have long pondered since Predators can interrupt any era. Maybe King Arthur’s Camelot guard versus Predators or Blackbeard’s crew firing cannonballs at Predators. Wherever worthy adversaries exist, a Predator might challenge for dominance. Trachtenberg was so in love with the project that he co-directed alongside Josh Wassung (from animation company The Third Floor) while on location for Predator: Badlands. “We were writing the script for [Killer of Killers] while we were prevising stuff on [Badlands], and then [once on location] in New Zealand, on the way to shoot [Badlands], we would remote with everyone back here and [watch footage] thanks to Starlink.” 

When asked why on Earth he’d make two films at once, Trachtenberg chuckled and admitted, “This all was like a game of hopscotch…That was dumb. I hope I don’t do it again.”

Oh, I should probably tell you that I was lucky enough to watch the first twenty-ish minutes of Predator: Killer of Killers with Trachtenberg in attendance. That spanned the icy Viking revenge arc in its entirety, which, let me confirm, doesn’t lose a lick of Predator signatures through illustration versus a gore-forward, practical effects showcase. The spectacle of action sequences and brutal kill shots reminds me of Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge, Warner Bros. Animation’s hyper-violent and bone-shattering animated franchise starter. Another journalist quickly pointed out how the visual design resembles Netflix’s Arcane (complimentary), which Trachtenberg cited as an artistic inspiration.

Within the world of YouTube influencers, Piper Rockelle and her “squad” weren’t doing anything too radical. Rockelle and her friends filmed multiple videos a day where they sometimes attempted extreme “challenges,” pranked each other and posted “crush” content about their latest romantic interests and dramas.

But here was the rub: These burgeoning stars, with millions of followers, were all minors. And behind the scenes, they were allegedly being abused by Rockelle’s mother and manager, Tiffany Smith, as an explosive civil lawsuit from 11 former members of the “squad” alleged in 2022.

That story is now the subject of a Netflix documentary series, Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing, which releases on the platform on Wednesday. The series uses interviews with former “squad” members and their parents to weave the story of a former child pageant star and her “momager” rising to YouTube fame with the help of a circle of fellow child performers. As profits poured in, these kidfluencers allegedly logged punishing working without appropriate compensation while being subjected to emotional and occasionally sexual abuse from Smith.

Smith and director and editor Hunter Hill denied wrongdoing as part of a $1.85 million settlement with the 11 teens reached in 2024. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Smith and Hill’s attorney for comment.

Bad Influence is the latest in a number of projects exploring the murky world of social media fiefdoms predicated on videos about children, a list that includes Hulu’s An Update on Our Family and Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke.

In an interview, co-directors Kief Davidson and Jenna Rosher discussed the dangers of YouTube stardom for children, addressed a recent critique of these “kidfluencer” documentaries and spoke about the measures they took to work with minors on the series.

How did you first come across the story of Piper Rockelle and her “squad”?

Kief Davidson: I came across this story a while back. There was a lawsuit that was already getting a good amount of coverage in the press, and it was about these 11 families that were all suing Piper’s mom, Tiffany. For me as a filmmaker and also as a parent, I immediately thought that there was a big story here to tell. The first thing I did was I talked to my own kid about the story, thinking that he would fully embrace the idea. His response was, “If you do this, I’ll be so angry at you.” He’s like, “Well, do you know how hard these influencers work to make money?” So it really became sort of a door opener for a conversation between the two of us about the dark side of this and realize that this was such a great opportunity for parents and kids to connect.

How open did you find these former child influencers and their parents when it came to appearing in this series?

Davidson: The first thing we did after reading the article [about the lawsuit] was we contacted the lawyer of the families. That ultimately launched what would be close to an eight-month process of us trying to gain the trust of the families, to get them to understand what kind of project we were making. The families were already getting some heat over this because some of the reporting that was out there was [concerning] how could you put your kids in the situation to begin with? So there was a lot of concerns on their side about how do we do this without making things worse for [their] kids. They saw the greater good in this, but it was a long process getting them to understand what our point of view was, that we weren’t making a reality show on this and this was really going to be [their] forum to be able to put this message out there and bring awareness to an industry that people know very little about.

What ages were the members of the “squad” when you interviewed them?

Jenna Rosher: A few of them are adults, a few of them are minors. And we approached that with a lot of care. We went into it trying to create a space where they felt safe and could be heard. And spending months building the trust and really earning the trust and providing support, training, anything that they needed in having to revisit these moments in their life. But it was matched with such courage and, from these kids, a real strong desire to tell their story. Their biggest mission was to not have any kid go through what they went through. They felt really strongly about getting it out.

 Major League Baseball Hall of Famer and Boston Red Sox pitching icon Pedro Martinez says he had family members who were at the Dominican Republic nightclub when the roof collapsed on Tuesday, killing at least 113 people.

“I still have family members that are still in the [rubble] and we don’t know what happened to them but we just want to be strong, like we have always been,” Martinez said in an Instagram post.

 Venus retrograde in Pisces connects to Uranus in Taurus, urging us to lean into our wild side and to embrace unique selves. Be the person of your dreams and stand proud in your confidence.

Aries 

Today, consider looking at your life from an outsider’s perspective. You can take an observer’s role and consider deep self-reflection leading to a deeper understanding of the self.

Taurus 

Today is all about working in several facets of spirituality and expanding your consciousness. Focus on growing and healing. 

Gemini 

You are working out karmic cycles through learning your patterns. You might be faced with the truth about a family situation you once thought was resolved.

Cancer 

You tend to sacrifice your happiness for the good of your loved ones. Now, you can finally come to terms with what you want and make strides to attain it.

Leo

This is a day when you can step into your independence and gain emotional space from the judgments of others. It’ll come as a great relief to your psyche. 

Virgo 

Lately you feel as though you understand why you're with the people you're with. They want the best for you, and your relationship will strengthen significantly from that realization.

Libra 

You'll find refreshing tone to your life once you accept the truth about something you’ve been avoiding. Face the music, and see how special you are! Stop being so hard on yourself! 

Scorpio 

Stoke up the friendship vibe in your closest relationships. Try to inject humor into your fights. What were you really fighting about, anyway? 

Sagittarius 

Ask yourself where the illusion is in your romance and where other people can bring more maturity to the table. You might have to show tough love if you’ve supported someone unconditionally.

Capricorn 

You pay attention to so much that it can be daunting to even fully consider it in one sitting. Your sign is so responsible that it can often lead to caring for the entire family at once. Acknowledge all you do.

Aquarius 

There will be some emotional tests today. But with the overall energetic change and your commanding presence, you’ll be able to handle them all with ease. 

Pisces 

Certain debts that can be repaid do not have to be done simultaneously. Keeping your eye on the bigger picture will help you overcome obstacles and attain a better handle on your finances. 

A species of wolf that died out some 12,500 years ago lives again as the “world’s first successfully de-extincted animal,” according to Dallas-based biotech company Colossal Biosciences.

Colossal scientists have created three dire wolf pups by using ancient DNA, cloning and gene-editing technology to alter the genes of a gray wolf, the prehistoric dire wolf’s closest living relative, the company announced Monday. The result is essentially a hybrid species similar in appearance to its extinct forerunner.

The dire wolf, Aenocyon dirus, which was the inspiration for the fearsome canine featured in the HBO TV series “Game of Thrones,” was a top predator that once roamed North America. (HBO shares parent company Warner Bros. Discovery with CNN.) Dire wolves were larger in size than gray wolves and “had a slightly wider head, light thick fur and stronger jaw,” the company said.

Colossal has been working toward resurrecting the mammoth, dodo and Tasmanian tiger since 2021, but the company had not previously publicized its work on dire wolves.

“This massive milestone is the first of many coming examples demonstrating that our end-to-end de-extinction technology stack works,” said Ben Lamm, Colossal’s cofounder and CEO, in a news release. “Our team took DNA from a 13,000 year old tooth and a 72,000 year old skull and made healthy dire wolf puppies.”

The three dire wolves are living on a 2,000-acre site at an undisclosed location enclosed by 10-foot-tall (3-meter-tall) “zoo-grade” fencing, where they are monitored by security personnel, drones and live camera feeds. Colossal said the facility had been certified by the American Humane Society and registered with the US Department of Agriculture.

Dire wolf fossils and ancient DNA

Using ancient DNA extracted from two dire wolf fossils, Colossal’s scientists and collaborators said they were able to assemble two high-quality Aenocyon dirus genomes, or complete sets of genetic information.

The team compared the genomes with those of living canids such as wolves, jackals and foxes to identify the genetic variants for traits specific to dire wolves, such as white coats and longer, thick fur.

The company then used the information from the genetic analysis to alter gray wolf cells, making 20 edits in 14 genes before cloning the most promising cell lines and transferring them into donor eggs, according to the news release.

“Healthy developing embryos were then transferred into surrogates for interspecies gestation,” with three pregnancies that led to births of the first de-extinct species, Colossal revealed in its statement. The company confirmed to CNN that it used domestic dogs — specifically large, mixed-breed hounds — as surrogates.

Two male dire wolf pups were born on October 1, 2024, while a female pup was born on January 30, 2025, according to Colossal Biosciences.

Two of the wolves were born on October 1, 2024. 

Gene editing for de-extinction

To achieve its goal, the company essentially created a hybrid genome using CRISPR technology to cut away certain gray wolf gene variants and replace them with traits associated with dire wolves, said Love Dalén, a professor in evolutionary genomics based at the Centre for Palaeogenetics at Stockholm University, and an adviser to Colossal.

“There’s no secret that across the genome, this is 99.9% gray wolf. There is going to be an argument in the scientific community regarding how many genes need to be changed to make a dire wolf, but this is really a philosophical question,” Dalén said.

“It carries dire wolf genes, and these genes make it look more like a dire wolf than anything we’ve seen in the last 13,000 years. And that is very cool.”

Dalén, who said he had been “a little bit” involved in the analysis of the dire wolf genomes but had not personally met the dire wolf pups or been involved in the gene editing or cloning process, said the work by the scientists was a “huge leap” from anything done in the field in the past.

“The way I see this is that they have resurrected the dire wolf phenotype (the observable traits of a species) and we know from the genome that they probably looked a bit like these puppies. To me, it’s a dire wolf in that sense,” he said.

Colossal has raised at least $435 million since Lamm, a serial entrepreneur, and Harvard University geneticist George Church, founded the company in September 2021 and first announced plans to resurrect the mammoth. That endeavor has taken longer than Lamm initially projected, with the company saying it’s on track to introduce the first woolly mammoth calves in 2028.

The company hopes the same technologies that created the dire wolf can directly help endangered animals as well. Colossal said on Monday it has produced two litters of cloned red wolves, the most critically endangered wolf species, using a new, less invasive approach to cloning developed during the dire wolf research.

Many critics of de-extinction argue that the huge sums of money invested in the project could be better spent elsewhere — and that raising and breeding the hybrid creatures could imperil living animals used as surrogates. However, Christopher Preston, a professor of environmental philosophy at the University of Montana, said Colossal appears to be paying attention to animal welfare issues, noting the size of the facility and support from the American Humane Society.

“Colossal have taken thoughtful precautions to screen against any unintended genetic consequences of their edits, eliminating risky edits known to be associated with poor outcomes,” he added.