Transcript of Evening Wire: Hayden Panettierre’s Boyfriend Under Scrutiny & New York Times Forced To Pay MILLIONS | 8.21.26

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The FBI disrupts an ISIS-inspired attack on the New York State House. The New York Times is forced to pay a college athlete millions. And Hayden Panettiere's boyfriend comes under even more scrutiny. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Friday, August 21st, and this is Evening Wire.

A 35-year-old woman from Albany, New York is in federal custody for allegedly planting a bomb at the state Capitol building while lawmakers were inside. Reporter Drew Berkmeier has the details.

Federal prosecutors revealed Thursday that Jessica Bowie, 35, had pledged allegiance to ISIS and was, quote, hoping to strike while state senators were meeting. She's been charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. The complaint says Bowie converted to Islam roughly 5 years ago. Between May and July, accounts linked to her posted messages expressing support for terrorism. She then began communicating with an FBI confidential source in July about her plans. Bowie allegedly told the source she wanted to attack the New York State Capitol because she wanted to, quote, harm the enemies of God. She allegedly conducted surveillance of the Capitol and purchased materials to construct an explosive device. Undercover sources provided Bowie with an inert explosive device and a nonfunctional handgun, after which she was arrested.

Elon Musk is expected to spend up to $200 million to boost the GOP in the midterms. The tech tycoon plans to relaunch America PAC, the same political group that spent hundreds of millions helping elect President Trump in 2024, with a heavy focus on battleground states. The revived operation will prioritize door-knocking, digital advertising, and direct mail to energize conservative voters who typically skip midterms. The former DOJ chief, who quit Washington after a falling out with the White House, is expected to spend between $100 and $200 million with a major focus on Texas, where one prediction market currently favors Democrat James Talarico to upset Republican Ken Paxton in the make-or-break U.S. Senate race.

The New York Times was ordered to pay millions to a college athlete in a big defamation judgment. Reporter Brecca Stoll has more.

A federal jury on Thursday ordered the paper to pay a former University of Alabama men's basketball player $9.25 million in damages for falsely reporting that he was at the scene of a murder in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The Times falsely claimed in March 2023 that Kai Spears was in former Alabama basketball star Brandon Miller's vehicle at the scene of a January 2023 shooting that killed 23-year-old Jameah Harris. Spears was not in the vehicle. A Times spokesman said, quote, we're disappointed the jury found the Times liable for an honest mistake and that the paper is reviewing our legal options. Spears sued the Times in 2023, accusing the newspaper of libel and false light invasion of privacy. He argued that the article caused him emotional distress and has permanently linked his name to the murder.

Nathan Coughness, the academic who publicly raised plagiarism allegations against late Cambridge professor Jason Arday, has been suspended by Belgium's Ghent University while the school investigates him for alleged discrimination. Kofnis said on X that the university suspended him and he expects to be fired. Ghent confirmed the suspension as part of its investigation but declined to provide further details. Ardè, before his passing, had denied the plagiarism allegations but acknowledged making mistakes. More evidence then surfaced showing extensive plagiarism. Kofnis said that a source at Cambridge contacted him about the accusations and that he later published them. The allegations generated significant media attention and prompted scrutiny of other claims Ardè had made about his life and career. His family has since accused critics of spreading misinformation and harassing him. Others say the real blame for all of the public scrutiny falls on Cambridge for hiring a man who clearly was not qualified for the job and dismissing evidence of plagiarism.

New evidence has been presented in the Carmelo Anthony case that wasn't shown to the jury. Daily Wire reporter Zach Jewell has the details.

Carmelo Anthony was reportedly stalking an ex-girlfriend and obsessed with weapons and fighting. And had sent threatening texts just hours before he stabbed Austin Metcalf to death. Collin County Assistant District Attorney Bill Wersky presented several pieces of evidence on Thursday that the jury in Anthony's case never saw, including a statement from an ex-girlfriend who told a school assistant principal on April 2nd, 2025 that Anthony had been stalking her, according to the New York Post. She also said at the time that he was obsessed with guns and knives. Just hours before he stabbed Metcalf, he sent her a photo of the knife along with the statement, quote, I'm low-key on the verge.

Texas Senate Democratic candidate James Talarico said God is not a Christian and compared evangelism to forcing alcohol on young children in his latest unearthed sermon. Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham has the story.

In the nearly 20-minute sermon titled God is Not Christian: Confronting Christian Nationalism, Talarico seemingly downplayed the divinity of Jesus and appeared to reject a key passage from the Gospel of John stating that Christ is the only way to God. Here he is.

There are so many pathways to the sacred. The Islamic mystic Rumi said, every religion has love, but love has no religion. God is so much bigger than our human categories. God is not a Presbyterian. God is not a Christian. God is not a noun at all. God is a verb. God is not a being. God is being itself. God is love. And that's why Jesus is against anything that gets in the way of that love between neighbors, including religion.

Talarico then compared introducing children to Christianity to forcing them to drink alcohol. As his November election against Republican Ken Paxton approaches, Talarico faces an uphill battle with Texas's largest faith group, Evangelical Christians. A recent Fox News poll found that 78% of white evangelicals plan to vote against him, God willing.

8 people are dead after a plane carrying multiple Army engineers crashed Thursday near an isolated Alaskan radar station. The FAA says the crash occurred Thursday just afternoon when a Cessna aircraft went down near an Air Force-managed radar tracking site in Cape Newenham, Alaska. An investigation is underway about what caused the crash. U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Robert Davis called it a, quote, devastating loss to our military family and the communities we serve, and said they were carrying out a vital mission in a demanding environment. Two of the victims were members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Six passengers and two pilots with the flight company Security Aviation were also on the flight. Which took off from Anchorage.

Actress Hayden Panettiere's boyfriend raised so many red flags among her neighbors that her HOA put up wanted-style posters warning residents to not let him enter the property. About one year before Panettiere's sudden death on Sunday, the HOA posted warnings featuring photos of Bryan Hickerson, who had been linked to the Nashville actress for years despite his domestic abuse conviction. The posters instructed residents not to allow Hickerson into the building and to call the police if they saw him on the property. Mia Terrazas, who lived next door to Panettiere in her West Hollywood, California condo, told TMZ that the posters went up in August of 2025 following years of disturbances involving Hickerson and complaints about his presence in the common areas around the complex.

Walmart has some good news for shoppers. The company's received nearly all of its $2.9 billion in tariff refunds and says customers will start seeing lower prices in the third quarter. Groceries and general merchandise will be most impacted. CFO John David Rainey said Thursday, quote, we're investing heavily in price because customers need us to and because we believe it drives market share gains over time. Walmart and other companies that paid tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act are receiving refunds after the Supreme Court struck down the levies. So far, the government has refunded about $100 billion out of an estimated $166 billion.

And a motion-activated camera along the Bronx River captured what conservationists believe is the first river otter seen in the Bronx in about 100 years. Scientist R.J. Hawkins, working with the Wildlife Conservation Society's education department at the Bronx Zoo, spotted the animal on June 23rd during routine wildlife monitoring. River otters disappeared from the area generations ago due to pollution and trapping, so their return signals a healthier freshwater ecosystem after decades of restoration work. Following beavers, which came back to the river in 2007. Researchers note one sighting doesn't confirm a resident population, but they see it as encouraging proof that the river can support wildlife that was once lost to it.

All right, those are your drive home updates. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And in case you missed it earlier today, we covered some major stories including the FBI's new investigation into Eric Swalwell, the US national debt blowing past $40 trillion, and the state of play on the fringe right after primary flops. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with a weekend edition of Morning Wire.

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