An investigation is underway after at least two ballot boxes were set on fire Monday morning in Oregon and Washington state.

Local authorities said hundreds of ballots were affected.

Ballot boxes on set on fire

Police responded to a call about a fire in Portland about 3:30 a.m. Monday, the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement. An “incendiary device” was placed inside the box and security personnel extinguished the fire, officials said.

A second ballot box minutes away from the first was set on fire early Monday morning at a bus station in nearby Vancouver, Washington, according to the Vancouver Police Department. When officers arrived, they found a “suspicious device” next to the box, which was smoking and on fire, police said.

The box in Vancouver is in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, where one of the most competitive races in the country is taking place.

Other locations

Other fires affecting ballots have been recently reported across the country.

Last week, a mailbox outside a Phoenix post office was set on fire, damaging an unknown number of ballots. A 35-year-old man was charged with arson in that incident. The Phoenix Police Department said he told them it was not politically motivated.

Glenn Germany was giving a sermon at a Pennsylvania church in May when a man tried to shoot him.

The gun jammed and a congregation member and the pastor were able to disarm the suspected shooter. Because of that terrifying incident, Pastor Glenn Germany has started a GoFundMe to make improvements to church security.

Pastor Glenn Germany near-death experience

“After this experience, just about everything changed about mine and my family’s life overnight. I went from already being a busy man with 3 jobs to suddenly having even more on my plate – interviews, investigations, conferences, community repair, increased security measures – but nothing was removed from my plate,” the GoFundMe reads.

Seeking help

Germany is the pastor of Jesus Dwelling Place, a small church in East Pittsburgh located in a low income community. The congregation consists of about 70 people, around 15 children, 10 teenagers and 45 adults.

At the church, Germany wears many hats, from cutting grass, to plumbing, to preaching, to bookkeeping to engineering, even their live-streaming is done from his phone.

In addition to religious services, the church provides its primarily low and fixed-income congregants with housing advice, domestic violence and mental health awareness programs, and seminars on everything from improving health to credit scores.

To keep the church afloat, Germany and his family give more than $1,000 out of pocket every month. And now he is seeking support to keep the church safe.

“Since May 5th 2024, when that young man came into our church, from that day I had to put on a couple more hats. Prior to that day we did make my brother Pastor Gary Germany the Senior Pastor in order to take some things off my plate. But because of that incident my life has now taken on many new challenges in which I now seek support.”

To donate to the church, visit the GoFundMe.

Monica Mosley, a revered detective in South New Jersey, was shot and killed during a home invasion at her residence, authorities said.

New Jersey detective Monica Mosley killed

Detective Sgt. Monica Mosley, with the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, was fatally shot at her home in Bridgeton on Tuesday night, according to police.

The incident

Bridgeton Police responded to the home around 10:30 p.m. for a report of “several subjects kicking in a front door at a residence,” the Bridgeton Police Department said in a press release.

Mosley, 51, died at the scene, police said.

An individual who had been treated for a gunshot wound at a nearby hospital was detained for questioning in connection with the incident, police said. No additional information on the individual was released.

Law enforcement career

Mosley began her career in 2006 at the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office as a paralegal specialist. She then became a county detective in 2009, “where she served our community with honor, dignity and respect before her untimely passing,” Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae said in a statement.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy expressed he was “outraged and heartbroken by the murder” of Mosley.

“As a detective with the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, Sgt. Mosley served her community with distinction, working every day to ensure the safety and well-being of the people of Cumberland County,” he said in a statement. “This act of violence impacts our entire law enforcement community and all of New Jersey.”

No arrests have been made or charges filed in the case, police said.

Multiple agencies are investigating the deadly shooting, including the State Police Major Crime Bureau, the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office and the Bridgeton Police Department Criminal Investigation Bureau.