WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 14: U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks during a news conference after a weekly Republican conference meetingin the U.S. Capitol Building on November 14, 2023 in Washington, DC. During the news conference House Republican leadership spoke to reporters about a range of topics including the upcoming vote on a continuing resolution to fund the government through early 2024. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Minnesota state law enforcement officials are working with the FBI to investigate the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officer. U.S. forces boarded a tanker carrying sanctioned oil after a two-week chase across the Atlantic, as the Trump administration expands plans to take control of Venezuela’s oil sales indefinitely. And Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new dietary guidelines flip decades of advice, elevating meat and dairy and alarming many public health researchers.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Rebekah Metzler, Kelsey Snell, Kate Bartlett, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from David Greenburg. Our technical director is Stacey Abbott.
And our deputy Executive Producer is Kelley Dickens.
A recently engaged Wisconsin woman will spend the next six years in prison after allegedly admitting to kissing an 11-year-old boy in her classroom — and later sending him 35,000 explicit text messages.
Madison Bergmann, 26, was working as a fifth grade teacher at River Crest Elementary School in Hudson, Wisconsin, until the victim’s father discovered the deluge of texts.
The boy’s dad told the court during Bergmann’s sentencing on Friday, December 19, that he found the messages “disturbing.”
The messages were sent over just three months, meaning she sent an average of over 2,000 messages to the victim every day. In the texts, Bergmann allegedly professed her affections for the boy and expressed her eagerness at touching him and “making out” with him again.
Her former coworker at the school, Abigail Faust, is also facing charges for inappropriate relationships with children, including a child whom she nannied in Washington County.
Bergmann pleaded guilty to one count of child enticement and two counts of sexual misconduct by school staff back in September.
After the father brought the text messages to the police, officers searched her classroom and found a folder with the victim’s name on it containing handwritten love letters that indicated they had kissed.
Bergmann was supposed to get married in 2024. It is unclear when she got engaged.
She started to cry as soon as she entered the courtroom for her sentencing. The state had been seeking a 12-year sentence for the disgraced teacher.
Bergmann’s lawyers had been pushing for a one-year sentence.
“I want to make it absolutely clear that I take full accountability for every boundary that was crossed,” she said through tears. “I hope that your family has been able to begin to heal and find some peace in your lives again. I know the journey will be long for your family.”
“To his own credit, [my son] is like ‘I have to live with this forever. Whatever punishment she receives should be forever,’” the victim’s father said, according to KARE11. “When I review the texts too, it’s very deliberate — talking about touching his leg, talking to my 11-year-old son about her period, talking about his erections … to me it’s very disturbing stuff.”
Bergmann pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal from prosecutors that saw a number of charges against her dropped, including first-degree sexual assault of a child, using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, exposing a child to harmful descriptions, and additional counts of sexual misconduct by school staff and child enticement.
When she is released from prison in six years, Bergmann will need to register as a convicted sex offender. She will also be placed on six years of extended supervision and is barred from having contact with minors without approval. The court has also placed restrictions on her internet use, according to KARE11.
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We’re embracing the festive spirit this summer, and from 4 to 19 December 2025, you can win some of the best experiences in Cape Town.
Win a R5000 V&A Waterfront gift voucher, R3000 dining voucher at Coy Restaurant, and one-night stay for 2 people at the Radisson RED Hotel valued at R2750.
The V&A Waterfront is one of Africa’s most visited destinations. Set in South Africa’s oldest working harbour, with the majestic Table Mountain as its backdrop, this iconic destination is a firm favourite among locals and international travellers.
Start your adventure with a R5000 shopping spree, giving you access to hundreds of stores, restaurants and attractions across this world-class neighbourhood.
Then tuck into a fine-dining feast at Coy Restaurant, overlooking spectacular Table Mountain views. Then unwind with a one-night stay for two at the Radisson RED Hotel in the heart of the Silo District.
The competition ends on 19 December 2025, at 23:59 pm SAST. The winner will be announced on Monday, 22 December, at 9am.
The prize is non-transferable and cannot be exchanged for cash.
Gift vouchers cannot be redeemed for cash.
The hotel stay prize at Radisson RED Hotel can be redeemed between May 2026 and September 2026. The stay is subject to availability and is not valid over block out dates.
The hotel stay is for two guests in a Mountain View room with breakfast.
In addition to the above, please view our T’s and C’s here.
The girlfriend of late Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland broke her silence after the NFL star’s sudden death.
“I’m grieving hard right now,” Catalina Mancera told the Daily Mail on Monday, November 10. “It will be a long time before I’ll feel ready to talk at any length.”
Mancera, 22, called the police the night before Kneeland’s death on the morning of Thursday, November 6. She expressed concern over Kneeland’s well-being, telling authorities her boyfriend had “a history of mental illness.”
After a brief police chase, Kneeland was found near his abandoned car on the Dallas Parkway, dead of an apparent suicide. He was 24 years old.
“We’re still in the early stages of everything,” Mancera added. “We are working on the funeral arrangements. I don’t know where it’s going to be yet.”
Kneeland was also survived by his father, Shawn, who is currently incarcerated in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and his three siblings: brothers, AJ and Shawn Jr., and sister, Yahmya.
The football star’s mother, Wendy, died in February 2024, just two months before he was selected in the second round by the Cowboys in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Mancera, a fashion designer, has been staying at the Plano, Texas, apartment where Kneeland lived prior to his death.
Courtesy of Catalina Mancera/Facebook
Nicole Kneeland-Woods, Marshawn’s cousin, told the Daily Mail that the NFL player started dating Mancera while he was a student-athlete at Western Michigan University.
“Marshawn shared a very special relationship with Catalina, whom he had been with since his sophomore year of college,” she said. “They supported each other through many stages of life. Catalina is an important part of our family and she’s hurting deeply too.”
Despite what 911 dispatchers allege Catalina told them, Nicole said, “There were no previous signs or indications that Marshawn was dealing with mental issues.”
“Marshawn was a strong, loving person who cared deeply about his family and everyone around him,” Nicole added.
In addition to the death of his mother, Marshawn also lost his grandfather in 2023, which Nicole said was “was incredibly hard for him.”
“But beyond that grief, Marshawn didn’t show signs of depression or mental health issues,” Nicole explained. “Our family is devastated and still trying to process something that feels unimaginable. We want people to remember Marshawn for his kindness, his sense of humor and his drive. He was loved deeply and that love will always be his legacy.”
Dallas Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, broke his silence about Marshawn’s death on Tuesday, November 11.
“I think we all have unfettered feelings about the people we love, people we work with, and this is just a time when you acknowledge that there’s no answers,” Jones, 83, said on Dallas’ 105.3 The Fan. “It makes you want to live life to the fullest. It makes you want to look for the very best in what we have for each other. And in some way make sense out of these times in terms of what they can mean from helping those that are here on earth right now.”
Jones added, “All of those things are very natural, come to mind, but his death is such a national awareness thing that it takes on some of that light when we think about how we go forward.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
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Nathalie Kelley is opening up about her experience working with Ryan Phillippe and his son, Deacon Phillippe, on the set of their show Motorheads.
“[Deacon is] the most charismatic, polite, thoughtful young man I have ever met,” Kelley, 40 exclusively told Us Weekly on Monday, November 10, referring to Phillippe’s son, whom he shares with ex-wife Reese Witherspoon, adding that he “gives me hope for the entire gender of men.
“I’m like, wow! If this is what the new generation of men are coming out, looking like, sounding like, acting like, then I feel more at ease about the future of our species,” she continued, while promoting the upcoming short film Yachapa, which highlights Quechua weavers and alpaquero families in Peru, and her partnership with alpaca fiber apparel PAKA. “Honestly, what an incredible young man.”
She also recalled how overjoyed Ryan was to let Deacon spread his wings for the Amazon Prime drama.
Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Fanatics
“I think it was [Deacon’s] first major acting role, and super sweet to see the father-son dynamic and how proud Ryan was,” Kelley said. “Ryan was trying to navigate how much to interfere and how much to let him be in his own process. I learned a lot from having my own kids on the show, from observing Ryan as a father and just realizing, like, how beautiful that the cycle of life is.”
Kelley explained that her time on the Motorheads set also “taught me a lot about motherhood,” describing the experience as “a really transformative process for me.”
“Because at the end of it, I decided that I actually did want to have children, and before that, I hadn’t wanted to. So it’s really beautiful how art and life mimic and imitate and feed one another,” she added. “I’ll always be grateful to Motorheads for giving me that kind of awakening and realization.
Kelley, who was born in Peru before moving to Australia, has already had a full circle moment in her partnership with PAKA, fulfilling a two-decade promise to herself.
“I grew up in Australia, which is [on] the other side of the world from Peru, and when I came home for the first time after moving there very young, I saw so much injustice and so many wrongs that I wanted to right when it came to my indigenous community. And I made a promise when I was 18 years old, that one day I was going to do something to right these wrongs and to make up for the fact that I had left,” she said. “I’d never forgotten that promise.”
For Kelley, accomplishing that goal was “my sweet surprise full circle moment.” And she’s not done yet.
The “Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift” star has “found a purpose” after reconnecting with her Peruvian roots.
“It feels like it’s just the beginning,” she told Us. “I realize that what they are looking for, beyond help, is allyship, and what Kris [Cody] is doing with PAKA, and what I can do as a storyteller with influence, with global influence, is be their allies and stand by and stand beside them.”
Courtesy of PAKA
Kelley said they are shining a light on “a supply chain that needs a lot of justice and reorienting, so that we can make sure that the people behind the alpaca fiber are being honored, as well as the animals and the ecosystems.”
She also shared that it’s important the local Quechua weavers are “being properly compensated and integrated into the supply chain in a meaningful and just way.”
“This is just the first step. Kris and I have a lifelong mission there,” Kelley teased.
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Emilia Clarke was the mother of looks at her first red carpet outing in years.
The Game of Thrones star, 39, stunned at the Global Gift Gala on Saturday, November 1, at the Kimpton Fitzroy Hotel in London. She served as the Honorary Chair of the event and was seen posing with Global Gift Foundation founder Maria Bravo, singer Christina Milian and others.
Clarke wore a black McQueen dress that featured a sheer lace bodice with frill accents, a low back and a long ruffled skirt. Her hair was styled down and parted to the side. Her natural makeup look was completed with dewy skin, pink lips and black eyeliner.
According to their website, the Global Gift Foundation aims to create a positive impact on the lives of children, women and families who are in a situation of vulnerability and/or risk of social exclusion.
Emilia was joined by her mom, Jenny Clarke, at the event as their charity SameYou was honored. SameYou advocates for better mental health treatment for people recovering from brain injuries. The organization helps survivors rebuild their lives after leaving the hospital and supports them with innovative emotional, social and physical rehabilitation programs.
Emilia herself survived two life-threatening brain hemorrhages while working on the early seasons of Game of Thrones. She initially believed something was wrong while completing a workout with her trainer in February 2011. Emilia said she “felt as though an elastic band were squeezing” on her brain in a 2019 essay for The New Yorker.
Emilia Clarke attends the Global Gift Gala London 2025.Photo by Hoda Davaine/WireImage
After being taken to the hospital, she was diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Clarke then underwent a “minimally invasive” brain surgery procedure. However, she later suffered from aphasia, which caused her to temporarily forget her name and led her to fear she would never recover.
Though the aphasia only lasted a week, she learned two years later that she suffered another brain aneurysm while undergoing a brain scan. Healthcare workers operated on her twice to resolve the issue, with the second surgery going right through her skull.
“The recovery was even more painful than it had been after the first surgery,” she explained to The New Yorker. “I looked as though I had been through a war more gruesome than any that Daenerys experienced.”
Emilia has kept a low profile following the conclusion of Game of Thrones in May 2019. She last appeared publicly at F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain in July 2024 and walked the carpet at the Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year 2023 in November of that year.
She is set to make a return to the screen soon, however, in the upcoming Prime Video series Criminal and Peacock’s spy thriller Ponies. She also voiced a character in the animated comedy The Twits, which was released on Netflix earlier this month.
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