United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York

A federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Halima Salman, 27, a U.S. citizen, of receiving military-type training from ISIS in Syria. Prosecutors said Salman traveled to Syria with her family as a teenager in 2016, married an ISIS fighter, and voluntarily underwent weapons training, later receiving a certificate of completion and authorization to carry an assault rifle. Evidence included photos and video recovered from her husband's phone showing her with an ISIS flag and an AK-47. She was convicted under the federal statute barring receipt of training from a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.

The Rockland County Republican Committee received a $138,000 contribution from businessman Jack Goldenberg this year, the largest single donation in the committee's records over two decades, according to state campaign finance filings. The donation lands in a pivotal election cycle, as Rockland County anchors one of the nation's most closely watched House races between Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who also chairs the county GOP, and Democratic challenger Cait Conley.

Goldenberg has limited political giving history but previously donated six figures to national Republican committees. His business dealings have drawn legal scrutiny, including a 2020 wrongful-termination ruling against his company and a Portuguese investigation into alleged market manipulation tied to his pharmaceutical firm, Chartwell Pharmaceuticals. A local Democratic candidate has also tied Goldenberg to a contested warehouse development, which he denies involvement in.

The flap underscores escalating money battles in the Lawler-Conley contest, where Conley reported raising $5 million last quarter and outside groups have already spent more than $20 million on advertising, with Republicans currently holding the spending edge.

Donald Ray McCray, 67, of Dallas has been sentenced to more than 17 years in federal prison after a jury convicted him of mailing threatening communications and a hoax weapon of mass destruction. Prosecutors said McCray sent threatening letters to U.S. district court judges in the Northern District of Texas and the Eastern District of New York, and mailed envelopes containing white powder to the federal courthouse in Fort Worth and to the court clerk in Amarillo while he was incarcerated in a Texas state prison in March 2025.

Officials said the letters threatened to kill state and federal government employees, including judges, and that McCray made further threats at a court hearing after being indicted in June 2025. He will be returned to state custody to face a separate charge of attempted murder of a prison guard. Authorities described the case as an attack on the integrity of the federal judiciary.