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The man suspected of killing three people during a daylight mass shooting at the University of Nevada Las Vegas on Wednesday has been identified as a professor who failed to secure a job at the school, and claimed to have solved the mystery of the Zodiac Killer.

Anthony Polito, 67, had unsuccessfully applied to a professor position at UNLV before he unleashed his deadly rampage on the Las Vegas campus just before noon, according to ABC News, citing law enforcement sources.

Polito was armed with a handgun during his massacre and was killed following a shootout with two police detectives responding to the scene, the outlet reported.

The shooting began around 11:45 a.m. on the fourth floor of Beam Hall, UNLV’s business school, near the student union building.

Police found three people dead when they arrived at the building.

A fourth person was taken to an area hospital where they are listed as being in critical but stable condition. 9 Anthony Polito was identified as the suspect in Wednesday’s mass shooting that left three people dead at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Anthony Polito / Linkedin

Four others were hospitalized after suffering panic attacks and two officers were treated for minor injuries suffered while clearing buildings, LVMPD police said.

Politos LinkedIn account states he is a Semi-Retired University Professor based in Las Vegas and attended undergraduate at Radford University in Virginia where he graduated with a double major in Mathematics and Statistics before he earned his masters degree at Duke University and completed his Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Georgia.

He served as an associated professor for 15 and a half years at East Carolina University from Aug. 2001 to Jan. 2017. 9 Students evacuate one of the school’s buildings with their hands raised, as a police officer stands to the side with a gun drawn. via REUTERS

During that time, he also ran a personal website about his life, in which he posted a 15-page theory claiming he decoded the messages left by the Zodiac Killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s.

Just so you wont initially write off my solution as that of a total crackpot, let me first say that I have been a member of MENSA for 35 years, I hold a double undergraduate degree in Mathematics & Statistics (two skills closely associated with successful cryptographers) and I hold a masters degree and a doctoral degree from top-tier universities as well, Polito wrote in the introduction.

So I am not a dumb guy!

He further claimed to have solved the fate of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 and figured out the true meaning of Leonardo DiCaprios 2010 film Inception. 9 The campus was placed on lockdown almost immediately after the shooting was reported. Police evacuated students and staff on campus floor by floor, room by room, building by building.” via REUTERS

Elsewhere on his site, Polito wrote about his love of Las Vegas.

Hard to believe, looking back, but I have had the pleasure of making more than two dozen trips to Vegas over the last 15 years, his personal profile reads.

I dont gamble that much, but there is plenty to do there, thats for sure!!

Over the years, my steel trap mind collected more information and trivia about Vegas than probably anyone in this state east of I-95 (at least). 9 A SWAT vehicle arrives at the UNLV campus after a shooting on December 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Getty Images

Polito also used the site to list some of his favorite things, including sites in Vegas and his favorite music.

His website says he would generally listen to Frank Sinatra, but also enjoyed Selena, Elton John and Willie Nelson.

In his favorite movie section, Polito includes Apocalypse: Now and recommends Oliver Stones conspiracy-laden JFK and Ayn Rands conservative epic The Fountainheads. 9 The shooting began around 11:45 a.m. on the fourth floor of Beam Hall, UNLV’s business school, near the student union building. ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Polito writes that each of his favorite films argues a truth with powerful eloquence.

His site also lists people he credited as being the Great Minds of the Twentieth Century, including George Soros, Nikola Tesla and astronomer Carl Sagan.

In a section entitled Powerful Organizations Bent on World Domination, Polito includes the Rothchild family, the National Security Administration and even the Economics Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The section also linked back to a website created by far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. 9 People wait on the outskirts of the UNLV campus after a shooting on December 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Getty Images

But Polito has also received commendation for his work as a professor, writing on his LinkedIn: The greatest gifts and takeaways I possess from my many years within higher education are the many kind & positive comments students made regarding my instruction disposition toward them.

One student commented on his page, I had the chance to have Dr. Polito as my teacher for my Operations Management course that I took in fall 2013.

I was an international student from Canada at the time, and learned many new things in this course.

Dr. Polito teaches students about things that happen in the real world that we will be able to apply in our careers, the student claims. He definitely knows his course material and every new class covers interesting topics. 9 People cross Maryland Parkway as they are led off of the UNLV campus after a shooting on December 06, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Getty Images

Polito also published 109 pages of alleged positive feedback he has received from students on his site.

Polito is very organized with the prepared notes, one comment reads. He is approachable and seems very open to student concerns and ideas.

His real world experiences provide anecdotes that clarify course material. He is a definite asset to the Management Department. 9 Investigators determined the victims were not students, but instead faculty or staff at the school, which may be investigated as a potential motive into the shooting. via REUTERS

Another student reportedly wrote: Professor Polito knows what hes talking about.

He may seem to ramble on sometimes about certain things, but he keeps your attention and makes sure youre alert, which is better than having students fall asleep from boredom.

He teaches real life lessons that correlate with the book/course material, the student added. I enjoyed his class and Id recommend him to my peers.

The campus was placed on lockdown almost immediately after the shooting was reported. Police evacuated students and staff on campus floor by floor, room by room, building by building, LVMPD Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a Wednesday evening press briefing. 9 View of halted traffic after a shooting at UNLV. ZUMAPRESS.com

An apartment in Henderson, Nevada, believed to be Polito’s home, was being searched, as law enforcement officials continued to investigate the shooting while gearing up to work overnight and into the morning hours, a law enforcement official told ABC News.

The suspect’s phone has already been retrieved and detectives are looking for any clues inside the device that could hint at any form of motivation for the killings.

Investigators determined the victims were not students, but instead faculty or staff at the school, which may be investigated as a potential motive into the shooting.

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Nine of Gazan doctor’s 10 children killed in Israeli strike on Khan Younis

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Nine of Gazan doctor's 10 children killed in Israeli strike on Khan Younis

Nine of a doctor’s 10 children have been killed in an Israeli missile strike on their home in Gaza, which also left her surviving son badly injured and her husband in a critical condition.

Warning: This article contains details of child deaths

Alaa Al Najjar, a paediatrician at Al Tahrir Clinic in the Nasser Medical Complex, was at work during the attack on her home, south of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, on Friday.

Graphic footage shared by the Hamas-run Palestinian Civil Defence shows the bodies of at least seven small children being pulled from the rubble.

Rescuers can be seen battling fires and searching through a collapsed building, shouting out when they locate a body, before bringing the children out one by one and wrapping their remains in body bags.

In the footage, Dr Al Najjar’s husband, Hamdi Al Najjar, who is also a doctor, is put on to a stretcher and then carried to an ambulance.

The oldest of their children was only 12 years old, according to Dr Muneer Alboursh, the director general of Gaza’s health ministry, which is run by Hamas.

Rescuers removing the children's bodies from the rubble. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
Image:
Nine children were killed in the strike. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence

“This is the reality our medical staff in Gaza endure. Words fall short in describing the pain,” he wrote in a social media post.

“In Gaza, it is not only healthcare workers who are targeted – Israel’s aggression goes further, wiping out entire families.”

Rescuers placing the children's bodies in a van. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
Image:
Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence

British doctors describe ‘horrific’ and ‘unimaginable’ attack

Two British doctors working at Nasser Hospital described the attack as “horrific” and “unimaginable” for Dr Al Najjar.

Speaking in a video diary on Friday night, Dr Graeme Groom said his last patient of the day was Dr Al Najjar’s 11-year-old son, who was badly injured and “seemed much younger as we lifted him on to the operating table”.

Hamdi Al Najjar, Dr Al Najjar's husband who is also a doctor, being taken into hospital. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
Image:
Hamdi Al Najjar, Dr Al Najjar’s husband who is also a doctor, was taken to hospital. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence

The strike “may or may not have been aimed at his father”, Dr Groom said, adding that the man had been left “very badly injured”.

Dr Victoria Rose said the family “lived opposite a petrol station, so I don’t know whether the bomb set off some massive fire”.

Rescuers unload the children's bodies. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
Image:
Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence

‘No political or military connections’

Dr Groom added: “It is unimaginable for that poor woman, both of them are doctors here.

“The father was a physician at Nasser Hospital. He had no political and no military connections. He doesn’t seem to be prominent on social media, and yet his poor wife is the only uninjured one, who has the prospect of losing her husband.”

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Nineteen of Gaza’s hospitals remain operational, all of them are overwhelmed with the number of patients and a lack of supplies

He said it was “a particularly sad day”, while Dr Rose added: “That is life in Gaza. That is the way it goes in Gaza.”

Sky News has approached the Israeli Defence Forces for comment.

Read more:
Mum of emaciated baby in Gaza says ‘I don’t want to lose her’
Dad wrongly pronounced dead in Israeli bombing killed in airstrike

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Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza began when the militant group stormed across the border into Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducting 251 others.

Israel’s military response has flattened large areas of Gaza and killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.

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Environment

Humans step up as Texas steps back from autonomous trucking

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Humans step up as Texas steps back from autonomous trucking

Texas technology firm Aurora made headlines earlier this month by launching the first fully autonomous freight service in the US – but those celebrations may have been premature. According to the company’s CEO, human operators are back in the saddle.

In a blog post written by Aurora CEO, Chris Urmson, the company said the decision to put a human operator back behind the wheel of its tech-boosted Peterbilt Class 8 semi trucks was a result of pressure from the truck manufacturer’s parent company PACCAR. PACCAR apparently wanted a human in place, “because of certain prototype parts in their base vehicle platform.”

In Urmson’s own words:

A core part of our strategy has always been building a strong ecosystem of partners across the industry — from OEMs to logistics providers to regulators. These partnerships are essential to delivering a safe, scalable, commercial product.

One of those partners, PACCAR, requested we have a person in the driver’s seat, because of certain prototype parts in their base vehicle platform. We are confident this is not required to operate the truck safely based on the exhaustive testing (covering nearly 10,000 requirements and 2.7 million tests) and analysis that populates our safety case. PACCAR is a long-time partner and, after much consideration, we respected their request and are moving the observer, who had been riding in the back of some of our trips, from the back seat to the front seat. This observer will not operate the vehicle — the Aurora Driver will continue to be fully responsible for all driving tasks, including pulling over to a safe location if required. And we’ve shown we can do that safely, with the Aurora Driver operating for more than 6,000 driverless miles along our commercial launch lane between Dallas and Houston. This change has no impact on our near, mid and long-term development plans.

CHRIS URMSON, AURORA CEO

The re-introduction of human operators comes just as Texas State lawmakers are reviewing House Bill 4402 – a proposed law just passed out of the Texas House Committee on Transportation and would require trained human operators in autonomous vehicles, effectively banning fully self driving semi trucks in Texas.

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“Requiring a human operator in a driverless truck isn’t unreasonable — it’s common sense,” says Brent Taylor, President of Teamsters Joint Council 80 in Dallas, Texas, and Southern Region International Vice President. Adding, that, “there are hundreds of thousands of Texans who turn a key for a living. They have mortgages, medical bills, and families to support. We can’t let out-of-state billionaires steal their jobs with reckless automation. We must protect their livelihoods by passing this critical bill into law.”

The Teamsters have supported a number of bills nationwide that require human operators in autonomous commercial vehicles, including two such bills that have passed both houses in California, only to be vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom.

Electrek’s Take


Aurora “driverless” semi truck; via Aurora.

A national driver and equipment operator shortage continues to make headlines, but companies would rather avoid talking about operator pay plummeting – opting, instead, to invest big money into self-driving and autonomous technology to bridge the gap.

I remain convinced that we could solve that operator shortage by taking some of the billions being funneled into “self driving” and spent it on operators’ salaries. Heck, while operator salaries have increased about 24% since 1978, the CEOs at the truck and trucking companies have seen their pay soar dramatically, increasing over 1,000% in the same period. (!) You can’t say that last bit too loud, though: those guys are president now.

Go get ’em, Texas.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Aurora.


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Bollinger Motors circles the drain as court cases, debts pull it down [update]

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Bollinger Motors circles the drain as court cases, debts pull it down [update]

A federal court judge in Michigan has placed the once-promising electric truck brand Bollinger Motors’ assets into receivership following claims that the company’s owners still owe its founder, Robert Bollinger, more than $10 million.

UPDATE: Bollinger CEO, Bryan Chambers, says all is not lost.

Last week, we wrote about a multimillion dollar lawsuit that had thrown the Bollinger Brand into receivership, figuring that would be it for the startup electric truck brand. But our friends at Clean Trucking were able to connect with Bollinger CEO, Bryan Chambers, who says all is not lost.

“Receivership does not necessarily mean a company is headed toward liquidation,” explained Chambers. “In fact, receivership is often used to avoid liquidation and can be the best course of action to help a company move forward … we continue to sell and service our trucks and support our dealers and customers.”

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You can read more about Chambers’ comments here, and check out the original article (and official Michigan court filings) below.


Bollinger Motors first came to fame in the “draw a truck, get a billion dollars” stage of the EV revolution that saw Nikola rise to a higher market cap than Ford for a brief time. Robert Bollinger wasn’t able to capitalize quickly enough to get his trucks into production, though – and a late stage pivot to sell the brand to Mullen Automotive and launch a medium-duty commercial truck doesn’t appear to have been enough to save it.

Now, Automotive News is reporting on some of the more convoluted details of the deal, with Robert (for ease of distinguishing the man from the brand) claiming that Mullen Automotive owes him more than $10 million for a loan he made to the company in 2024.

Mullen’s response was perfectly clear: they didn’t even bother to show up to court.

Bollinger claims that at least two suppliers are also suing the company for unpaid debts. As such, the Honorable Terrence G. Berg has put the Bollinger brand into receivership, and its assets have been frozen in preparation for everything being liquidated. Worse, for Bollinger, the official court filings reveal a company that is really very much doing not awesome:

The testimony and evidence—which Defendant’s counsel conceded accurately reflected Defendant’s finances—showed that Defendant is in crisis. For months Defendant has owed more than twenty million dollars to suppliers, contractors, service providers, and owners of physical space. These debts are owed to parties who are critical for Defendant’s functioning. CEO Bryan Chambers testified that Defendant was locked out of its production facilities on May 5, 2025, and that the owner of the production facilities was seeking to permanently evict Defendant. The Court heard that Defendant had been prevented from accessing its critical manufacturing accounting system for a short time at the end of April 2025, before making a partial payment to restart services.

US DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN

I’m not sure if you caught all that, but Bollinger’s CEO has been locked out of the company’s facilities and is currently getting evicted, the company is more than $20 million in debt, and that debt is owed to people Bollinger absolutely needs in order to keep going.

You can read the full court decision, which I’ve embedded here, below. Once you’ve taken it all in, feel free to rush into the comments to say you told me so, since I really thought hoped the Bollinger B1 had a shot. Silly me.

Bollinger v. Bollinger case

SOURCES: Automotive News, Justia, Yahoo!.

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