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Mississippi couple recounts shooting incident with an escaped monkey

admin - Latest News - November 5, 2025
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One of three monkeys that escaped from an overturned truck on a Mississippi highway was shot after a couple spotted it and tracked into a forest near Vossburg, Miss. George Barnett and his wife recounted the episode on video as a group tasked with tracking down the monkeys later showed up to secure its remains.



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Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleNov. 5, 2025, 12:34 PM ESTBy Bracey HarrisGeorge Barnett’s work as a small-town pastor means folks probably won’t challenge him when he tells of the day he picked up a hunting rifle and took aim at an escaped rhesus monkey in rural Mississippi.What started as a routine visit to his mom’s house in Vossburg on Monday is now the latest chapter in the not-so-tall tale that captivated much of the state, after a transport of research primates overturned in Jasper County just before Halloween. Barnett’s wife spotted the runaway monkey as a blur of fur crossing near a highway exit ramp late Monday afternoon. Once in the woods, it scampered into a tree and flashed its teeth. Barnett, 45, grabbed his rifle and fired twice, he said, sending the animal crashing to the ground. “As soon as I saw it, the only thing I thought about was, ‘What if this thing attacks one of those people that I grew up with, or my children,’” Barnett said.George and Kerri Barnett.Courtesy George BarnettThe monkey was one of three escapees from last week’s accident, when a truck crashed while carrying 21 primates from the Tulane National Biomedical Research Center near New Orleans. Barnett was the second Mississippi resident to take the monkey business into their own hands. On Sunday, Jessica Bond Ferguson opened fire after her 16-year-old son saw a monkey outside their home near Heidelberg, killing the animal. “I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,” she told The Associated Press.That leaves one runaway still missing, according to the state Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, which warned that it may be aggressive. Residents’ fears were partly driven by incorrect information that circulated just after the crash, when the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office warned that the monkeys carried diseases, including Covid, hepatitis C and herpes. Authorities killed five of the monkeys near the crash scene based on those concerns, which turned out to be false, Jasper County Sheriff Randy Johnson said.He confirmed the latest monkey shooting on Monday. Tulane clarified after the crash that the monkeys “had not been exposed to any infectious agents” and sent a team to assist. Thirteen of the monkeys reached their planned destination last week, according to the university. Animals rights organizations, like PETA, said the accident highlighted the plight of animals used in research and called for more transparency, including the release of the monkeys’ veterinary records.On Monday, PreLabs, a biomedical research company, said the monkeys were theirs.“We are cooperating with authorities and reviewing all safety procedures to ensure the continued wellbeing of both the animals and the community,” the statement said.The company did not respond to questions from NBC News.On Oct. 28, a truck carrying rhesus monkeys from Tulane University crashed in Mississippi.Jasper County Sheriff’s DepartmentKristen Moore, director of wildlife for the Hattiesburg Zoo, said she understands the worries, but she hopes the public will heed officials’ advice to stay clear of the last monkey. The primates, native to Asia, generally prefer running away over attacking.And for those wondering, they’re typically herbivores. So, pets should be OK.“If you have a cat, they’re not going to chase that,” she said.Barnett initially thought his wife, Kerri, was joking when she pointed out the furry creature running across the road shortly after 4 p.m. Monday. They had just taken the exit to his mother’s house, with their two young sons in the car.“Babe, there’s one of those monkeys,” he recalled Kerri saying.She was right. “This monkey was just walking across the street,” Barnett said. “Almost like he owned the neighborhood.”One day earlier, Barnett was getting ready for church when he heard about Ferguson’s story.Now, he was dialing 911 to report his own sighting in Vossburg, about 100 miles east of the state’s capital.“We just saw one of the monkeys right off Exit 118,” he told the dispatcher, according to a recording obtained by NBC News. “It’s sitting on the side of the road right off the exit.”Barnett’s 7- and 8-year-old boys in the backseat became hysterical. Normally they love playing outside at their grandmother’s, but they’d been staying indoors the past few days while the primates were on the loose.Barnett dropped his children off at his mom’s, grabbed a rifle and headed back.He walked into the woods, where the monkey had taken refuge in a tree.An experienced squirrel and deer hunter, he estimates the animal was 35 to 40 pounds. (Generally, the monkeys are 17 to 20 pounds, Moore said.) After he took two shots, the monkey dropped to the ground and took off, he said. Barnett didn’t chase after it.George Barnett, shown with his wife, Kerri, said he usually hunts squirrel and deer. Courtesy of George BarnettTwo men in a white truck who Barnett believes were with a transport company soon arrived. They tried to track the monkey based on a trail of blood, then got an assist from a drone that could detect the animal’s body heat, Kerri said. It was dark by the time a worker emerged with the deceased primate.Kerri documented the night on Facebook Live. The videos drew some pushback interspersed with praise, but Barnett believes he made the right choice. Most critics weren’t locals.“They’re not close around here, so they don’t have that fear,” he said.Meanwhile, he said he’s heard from congregants at his church in Buckatunna, about 40 miles away, who were excited about his adventure. He’s anticipating some questions at Wednesday night’s Bible study. Back in Heidelberg, a short distance from the accident site, Mayor Robert Barnett (no relation to George) said online jokes about the apocalypse have been circulating among the town’s roughly 600 residents. Crews in protective equipment have been spotted on the area’s highways. The mayor noted lightly there’s no quarantine in effect — he doesn’t want locals to be afraid or visitors to stay away.“I hated it happened in this type of way,” he said, “but at least people know about Heidelberg right now.” Bracey HarrisBracey Harris is a national reporter for NBC News, based in Jackson, Mississippi.
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Nov. 5, 2025, 9:46 AM EST / Updated Nov. 5, 2025, 10:04 AM ESTBy Alexander SmithRussia’s Vladimir Putin ordered top officials on Wednesday to submit plans for the possible resumption of nuclear testing, a direct response to President Donald Trump’s surprise instruction for the United States to begin testing for the first time in more than 30 years.In a televised meeting with his Security Council in Moscow, Putin said that he had warned the U.S. and others that if they “conduct such tests, Russia would also be required to take appropriate retaliatory measures.”He told the foreign and defense ministries “to do everything possible to gather additional information on this matter, analyze it in the Security Council, and submit coordinated proposals on the possible commencement of preparations for nuclear weapons testing.”Putin plans for nuclear testing in response to Trump00:51Several of Putin’s top officials backed the need for resumed tests.“We must respond appropriately to Washington’s actions,” Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said, urging his government “to begin preparations for full-scale nuclear testing immediately.”Gen. Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of the general staff, added, “If we do not take appropriate measures now, we will miss the opportunity to respond promptly to the United States’ actions, since preparation for nuclear tests, depending on their type, takes several months to several years.”Russian Ambassador in Washington Alexander Darchiev had sent a telegram to U.S. officials “to clarify these controversial statements by U.S. President Donald Trump,” Sergey Naryshkin, chief of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, told the council.But “representatives from both the White House and the U.S. State Department declined to comment,” he added, “stating that they would report the information to their superiors and contact the Russian side if it will be deemed necessary to provide clarification.”The Security Council meeting was supposed to focus on transport security. However, Speaker of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin asked members to first comment on Washington’s announcement of renewed nuclear tests.NBC News has contacted the Pentagon and State Department for comment.The move comes after Trump announced last week that he had instructed the Defense Department to “immediately” start testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with other nations.The U.S. has not conducted a nuclear test since 1992, China and France last did so in 1996 and the Soviet Union in 1990.Trump’s order was widely criticized by nuclear scientists and nonproliferation experts, who said that Washington had little to gain from live drills, which would likely only embolden Moscow and Beijing.The U.S. has only one viable testing location, the former Nevada Nuclear Test Site near Las Vegas, which would take at least two years to get up and running, experts said.There has been little clarity from Trump and his team. Asked whether he planned to resume actual explosive nuclear tests underground, the president told reporters Friday, “You’ll find out very soon, but we’re going to do some testing, yeah.”He added: “Other countries do it. If they’re going to do it, we’re going to do it.”On Sunday, his energy secretary, Chris Wright, told Fox News that “these will be nonnuclear explosions” that would develop “sophisticated systems so that our replacement nuclear weapons are even better than the ones they were before.”Given the seemingly conflicting public statements from officials in Washington, Russia was “not entirely clear about the United States’ future actions and steps regarding the conduct or nonconduct of nuclear weapons tests,” Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu told the meeting.A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launches at Plesetsk testing field in northern Russia in footage released on Oct. 22.Russian Defense Ministry via AFP – Getty ImagesFor his part, Putin has often rattled the nuclear saber since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He has warned Western nations not to intervene in the conflict, suggesting he would not be afraid to use Moscow’s arsenals were they to do so.Last month, he said that Russia had conducted the first hourslong test of a nuclear-powered, nuclear-capable cruise missile capable of evading U.S. missile defenses. In response, Trump said he had a nuclear submarine “right off their shores.”According to the Norwegian government, the missile, the the Burevestnik, was launched from Novaya Zemlya, an archipelago off the northern coast of Russia. Belousov referred to this site again on Wednesday.”The readiness of the forces and assets at the central test site on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago allows for” nuclear tests to be implemented “within a short timeframe,” he said.Alexander SmithAlexander Smith is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital based in London.Abigail Williams contributed.
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Nov. 11, 2025, 1:31 PM ESTBy Sahil KapurWASHINGTON — Senate Republicans say they’re open to extending a pot of Affordable Care Act funds that will expire at the end of the year — but only if Democrats acquiesce to stricter abortion restrictions on insurance plans.The demand presents a significant hurdle to reaching a bipartisan deal to extend ACA funding designed to avoid major premium hikes next year for more than 20 million Americans, as Democrats are adamant that existing abortion guardrails under Obamacare are sufficient.If the funds are not extended by the end of the year, some people insured under Obamacare could see their bills rise by thousands of dollars per month, raising concerns that millions will choose to go uninsured.Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said there will be a negotiation about an extension after the government reopens. He said one condition will be stricter rules pertaining to the Hyde amendment, which bars federal funding from being used for abortion.Senate Democrats only got a ‘pink promise’ on health care subsidies, says House Democrat08:00To satisfy Democratic demands to comply with the Hyde amendment when the first law passed in 2010, Obamacare does not allow federal funds to cover abortions. Some states allow people insured under Obamacare to access abortion coverage using state or other funding. Republicans want to change that.“That’s what we’re going to negotiate,” Thune told reporters before the Senate passed the bill to end the government shutdown. “A one-year extension along the lines of what [Democrats] are suggesting, and without Hyde protections — there’s just not even, doesn’t even get close.”Thune’s demand for more stringent abortion limits on Obamacare money is backed by colleagues, including Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.C., an outspoken proponent of extending the ACA funds, as well as Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Mike Lee, R-Utah.Rounds warned that “you won’t get any” Republican votes to extend the money without more stringent abortion limitations.“That’s the message that we shared with a lot of our Democratic colleagues is you can’t do it under your existing framework, and you’re never going to get any Republican votes. Because we believe strongly taxpayer dollars should not go to fund abortions,” he said. “They have a different point of view, but it’s pretty clear that Republicans are solid on that particular issue.”But Democrats say there’s no way they’ll agree to that.Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., responded with a flat “no” when asked if there’s any way Democrats agree to stricter abortion limitations in order to extend the ACA funds.“It’s a nonstarter,” Shaheen told NBC News, pointing to existing guardrails on abortion funding built into the ACA. “It’s not an issue. We already dealt with that issue.”Other Democrats share her opposition to changing those rules.Behind the push is a pressure campaign by Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, an influential group fighting to ban abortion in the U.S., to condition Republican support for ACA funding on tougher abortion restrictions.“Since Democrat offers to pass a ‘clean’ extension of these ACA subsidies would extend funding of elective abortion coverage through Obamacare, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America strongly opposes and will score against any such offers — even for one year,” SBA President Marjorie Dannenfelser told senators in a letter dated Nov. 7 and shared with NBC News. “A vote for this extension is a vote for abortion coverage. Votes will be scored, and double-weighted, in each member’s profile on SBA Pro-Life America’s National Pro-Life Scorecard.”Katie Keith, a Georgetown Law professor and founding director of its Center for Health Policy and the Law, said existing law bans any federal funds from flowing to abortion care through ACA plans, including the premium tax credits and cost-sharing reduction payments, consistent with the Hyde amendment.States have the option to create separate revenue streams where enrollees can pay a surcharge to gain abortion coverage through their plans. 25 states ban abortion coverage through ACA marketplaces entirely. The rest are split between requiring it through additional state funding or deferring to insurers.Still, even for states that allow ACA plans to cover abortion, “there are strict segregation requirements,” Keith said. “Since the law was enacted, no federal funds flow toward abortion care.”She said the same rule applies to Medicaid funding.“What critics of the current policy are arguing is they want Hyde plus-plus. This goes far beyond what Hyde requires,” she added. “It’s not about federal funds flowing toward the care, it’s about federal funds flowing toward coverage, even if it’s financed separately. … They want to knock out abortion coverage fully.”And if the SBA proposal becomes law, it would create a serious conflict with the dozen blue states that use their own funds to permit abortion coverage through the ACA marketplaces.“It could knock out federal subsidies for coverage altogether in those states if those funds cannot flow,” said Keith, who worked a stint in the Biden administration before returning to Georgetown.Daines, who sits on the Finance Committee that oversees health policy, said additional Hyde protections have “got to be in there, absolutely” — in any ACA deal.“We’ve got the language for it, the Hyde language,” he said. “Hyde has been a longstanding principle here of not allowing the federal taxpayers to be used for abortion.”Shaheen, a moderate Democrat who is not seeking re-election next year, is the author of a permanent ACA funding extension. She also helped craft the deal to reopen the government. She said she’s open to other reforms to the enhanced ACA tax credits, such as income-based limits, but going beyond existing abortion limitations is a red line.Other Democrats take a similar view.“I don’t think you’re going to get Democratic votes talking about abortion,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. “But there are conversations you can have about the structure of the subsidies once you get into a negotiation. I’ve heard their concerns about income caps and no-premium plans.”Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said the GOP’s abortion demand seems like a smokescreen to disguise the party’s unwillingness to continue that money, which was first passed during the Covid pandemic in 2021 and extended the following year. The subsidies limit premiums to 8.5% of an enrollee’s income.“At that point, they’re just unserious about extending the ACA [funds],” he said. “Once they get into restrictions on abortion, everyone knows what that means. It means that they would like to say they’re for extending ACA, but that they don’t have the votes to do it right now.”Schatz indicated that President Donald Trump, who softened his position on abortion during the 2024 campaign and said it should be left up to states, can steer his party to a viable solution.“This is solved in 10 seconds if Donald Trump wants it solved,” Schatz said.Sahil KapurSahil Kapur is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.Frank Thorp V and Scott Wong contributed.
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