CNBC faced a wave of online mockery Monday after releasing its annual quality-of-life rankings, which exclusively placed conservative red states in all 10 spots of the “worst places to live” — even as official U.S. Census data shows some of those states are leading the nation in population growth.Critics quickly took to social media to call out the outlet for what they alleged as blatant liberal bias embedded in its ranking criteria.Counting down from the tenth-worst place to the first, CNBC ranked the bottom ten states as Arkansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Missouri, Utah, Georgia, Louisiana, Indiana, Texas, and Tennessee. All 10 states are Republican-led and voted for President Donald Trump in 2024.”CNBC is placing increasing emphasis on Quality of Life, one of the 10 categories of competitiveness in our annual America’s Top States for Business study,” CNBC’s report states. “It is our annual ranking of every state’s business climate, now in its 20th year. Under this year’s methodology, the category makes up 11.6% of a state’s overall score, up from about ten percent last year. To score the states for quality of life, we use hard data on factors like crime rates, air quality and healthcare. We also consider the cost and…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A dog accidentally turned on a toaster inside a home in Maryland, igniting a fire and killing three other pets in the home, according to officials.Fire crews responded to a house on 4319 Foxglove Court in Belcamp for a single-family dwelling fire shortly after 5:30 p.m. on Friday, according to the Abingdon Fire Company.The crews were able to control the blaze in about 20 minutes.MASSIVE FIRE RIPS THROUGH PUB, KILLING AT LEAST 27 AS PATRONS FLEE SMOKE-FILLED VENUE The owners were not home at the time of the fire, and no people were harmed, fire officials said, according to Fox 45.Neighbors rescued two dogs from the home, but a third dog and two cats died in the fire, the outlet reported.The family’s bearded dragon was later found alive and survived after 24 hours in critical care.Fire officials said the fire started in the kitchen before spreading to other parts of the home. It was determined that one of the family’s dogs jumped onto the kitchen counter and accidentally turned on the toaster, igniting nearby combustibles. The dog that switched on the toaster was one of the two that were rescued by neighbors.The…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! St. Louis Cardinals budding star Jordan Walker broke the hearts of the Philadelphia Phillies faithful on Monday night, defeating Kyle Schwarber on a walk-off blast to win the 2026 Home Run Derby.Walker hit 12 home runs in his final round, edging out Schwarber’s 11 in a new format from MLB. With his parents watching, Walker’s final home run hit the left field seats and he celebrated in the only way you do when you win the Home Run Derby to be crowned the league’s best slugger during All-Star weekend.Once again, MLB introduced a new format to the Home Run Derby, this time giving all eight contestants 20 swings to hit as many home runs as possible. The one caveat: if your final swing results in a home run, you continue swinging until it doesn’t leave the yard. In this format, players didn’t have to battle a clock or focus on how far they hit balls to enter a bonus round. They could lock in and take their time if need be.Boston Red Sox star Willson Contreras, who has been paramount in the team’s turnaround this season prior to hitting the All-Star break,…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! ATLANTA — The FBI and Atlanta Police Department are getting ready for a massive security operation ahead of the World Cup semifinals between England and Argentina at Atlanta Stadium. Both agencies have used drones to search for potential threats on the ground and in the sky. The FBI is enforcing the Federal Aviation Administration’s Temporary Flight Restrictions around the venue. The FBI has confiscated more than 600 drones nationwide since the World Cup began. Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Atlanta Field Office Marlo Graham said 86 of those drones were seized in Atlanta. Graham said the FBI uses a “mechanism” that allows agents to see unauthorized drones in restricted airspace. Agents then work to mitigate the threat posed by unknown drones.”We’ve been able to safely land drones that have been unauthorized in the flight restricted area,” Graham said.  While the FBI treats every drone as a potential threat, Graham said the threat level can increase depending on the size of the drone and how close it gets to the stadium.”Obviously, the closer to the venue, the larger the crowd. We are fortunate here in Atlanta that we have a closed dome stadium,” Graham…

U.S. Central Command utilized three Corsair unmanned surface vessels to strike a submarine and ship maintenance facility at the Bandar Abbas naval base in Iran, marking the “first time American forces have employed sea drones in combat operations,” CENTCOM confirmed on X on Monday. The latest round of strikes by the U.S. comes after it revoked a license on July 7 that allowed Iran to sell oil. U.S. President Donald Trump declared the ceasefire between the two nations — which began on April 8 — to be over, but ceded that Iran had agreed to continue to negotiate. The U.S. military said it hit dozens of Iranian military targets on Sunday, which included the first-ever combat use of Corsair USVs to assist in degrading Iran’s ability to continue to attack commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Built by Saronic, the Corsair is a 24-foot USV that has a range of over 1,000 nautical miles and a payload capacity of 1,000 pounds while surging at 35 knots. According to the company, “it supports a variety of missions including ISR, surface surveillance, and logistics in both permissive and contested environments. Its embedded AI stack and open architecture allow rapid integration of…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! WWE legend Paul Heyman took a parting shot at UFC star Conor McGregor during a segment on “Monday Night Raw” as he welcomed The Vision back to the locker room.Austin Theory, Maxxine Dupri, Bron Breakker and Logan Paul walked to the back glowing as the group embarrassed Otis and Akira Tozawa in the ring a few moments before. Heyman, who appears to be on the outs with the group, praised them for what they did.COMPLETE PRO WRESTLING COVERAGE ON FOX NEWS DIGITAL In Heyman’s speech, he praised Paul’s recovery time.”Now that’s what I call a vision for the future,” Heyman told the group. “Happy? Ecstatic. I’m more than proud, especially, of all of you. Bron Breakker showed everyone tonight you don’t mess around with Bron Breakker. Logan Paul is healing faster than Conor McGregor.”You (Theory) stand by your woman, which makes me very proud of you young man. And Maxxine, wow.” Paul has been recovering from a tricep injury he suffered earlier this year.McGregor suffered a leg injury on Saturday night at UFC 329 when he tried to hit his opponent, Max Holloway, with a roundhouse kick. The fight was called in…

KYIV, Ukraine — Nine nations have joined Ukraine in a nascent anti-ballistic coalition to speed up production of Ukraine’s Freyja interceptor system and get it operational within a year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced at a meeting of defense allies in France on Monday.He first said a coalition of allies would work together to build the complicated weapon at last week’s NATO summit in Ankara, where U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to let Ukraine build its own Patriot interceptors after recognizing that, in Zelenskyy’s words, Ukraine is “a country that is ready to do this.”The initiative was launched as a result of a global shortage of anti-ballistic interceptors, as the war in Iran and nearby countries carries on into its fifth month and allied partners across the world push to stock up on defensive weapons.Nine European countries joined Ukraine as founding members in Paris: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.“We believe that the protection of Europe requires a global solution of integrated missile defence architecture to deter and defeat future missile threats — developed through collective effort, technological openness, and trusted industrial cooperation,” officials wrote in the joint statement formalizing the new coalition.Although…

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth on Monday announced the creation of a joint task force with the Department of Justice to identify and prosecute officials who leak “sensitive information” to the media.Hegseth said the Pentagon’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) may request and receive all information, support and records across the department regarding news media leak investigations.”To combat the dangers that leaks pose, effectively immediately, I have ​delegated tasking authority ​to the war department’s ‌office ⁠of general counsel, empowering OGC to request and receive ​all ​information, ⁠records and support across the ​department concerning ​media ⁠leak investigations,” he said in a video shared on X.”Leaked information risks lives, these new tools and processes will greatly assist us in protecting our joint force,” Hegseth continued. “The security of our nation cannot be a bargaining chip for those who seek momentary headlines, access to confidential and secret information is a sacred trust, and those who betray that trust will be met with the full force of the law.”TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SUBPOENAS NY TIMES JOURNALISTS IN GRAND JURY LEAK PROBE TIED TO AIR FORCE ONE REPORT The secretary also thanked Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche for his…

The U.S. Department of Justice and the Pentagon have created a joint task force to identify and prosecute what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described as unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information to news media.“I have delegated tasking authority to the War Department’s Office of General Counsel, empowering OGC to request and receive all information, records, and support across the department concerning media leak investigations,” Hegseth said in a Monday social media video.The move comes a few months after President Donald Trump threatened to jail the journalists who leaked information regarding the missing airman from a downed F-15E fighter jet over Iran.The president said the administration was looking for the “leaker” in an April press conference, alleging that it was unknown to Iranian officials there was a the missing pilot in their country until the information was shared with a U.S. media outlet.“We’re going to go to the media company that released it, and we’re going to say, ‘National security. Give it up or go to jail,’” Trump said at the time.Trump criticized the leak, saying it put the rescue mission at risk as the government of Iran announced an award for anyone who could capture the U.S. pilot.He did not name…

The WNBA has another Caitlin Clark television number to celebrate.And this one might be even more impressive than some of the bigger ones.Clark and the Indiana Fever helped deliver an average audience of 1.04 million viewers for Wednesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Sparks, according to USA Sports PR. The Fever lost, 106-92, and Clark played just 16 minutes in her return from a back injury that had kept her out for the previous two weeks. But that feels secondary to the bigger story here.WNBA WANTS A BIGGER STORY THAN CAITLIN CLARK, BUT TV RATINGS KEEP POINTING BACK TO HEROne million viewers is a monster number for the WNBA under almost any circumstance.But these weren’t exactly favorable circumstances.The game aired across USA Network and CNBC. Clark has drawn much bigger numbers on broadcast television, but this was cable-only.Additionally, this was not a weekend showcase game. It didn’t even air in a friendly weeknight window. The game, played in Los Angeles, started on a Wednesday night at 10 p.m. ET.And it still averaged more than one million viewers.According to USA Sports PR, citing Nielsen Big Data + Panel data, Fever-Sparks was the network’s most-watched WNBA game on record, up 149%…