Drones latest: Biden insists flying objects pose ‘no danger’ as FBI issues urgent firearm and laser warning

Missouri’s Eureka Police Department said Tuesday that it had received several reports of mysterious lights in the sky.

Those lights, however, turned out to be a holiday display at Brookdale Farms.

Police in New York told The New York Times that they received 120 calls about drones last weekend.

However, most of the reports were not really about the drones at all, Rebecca Weiner, the department’s head of intelligence and counterterrorism, noted.

At least one person called about the planet Venus.

Weiner added that there has not been a marked increase in the number of actual drones spotted by the police.

Around 500 drones will fly above Central Park on New Year’s Eve, in place of the annual fireworks.

The decision was made due to drought in the region and following late-year fires in New York City.

The region has seen some relief since then and is no longer under a drought warning, but the watch remains.

The drones will project images that have to do with running, The New York Times reported. The spectacle coincides with the New York Road Runners’ Midnight Run.

Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett said Wednesday that he believes China is tied to recent drone sightings and that the aerial vehicles don’t fly over his state because people would shoot them down.

“There’s a reason you don’t see them flying over Tennessee, at least where I live, because everyone’s got a dadgum 12-gauge, brother. And, I hear they taste a whole heck of a lot like chicken,” he told The Benny Show.

New Jersey Republican Rep. Jefferson Van Drew is blasting comments from White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby regarding the ongoing drone sightings.

“For John Kirby to stand before the American people, red-faced and sputtering excuses, and claim there is nothing out of the ordinary going on here after weeks of mounting concern is either sheer incompetence, willful ignorance, or a cover-up,” he said. “People are reporting drones, some the size of SUVs, and instead of addressing those legitimate concerns, the administration is brushing them off and treating Americans like they are delusional. It is unacceptable.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer has called on President Biden to take immediate action to address “fear and concern” regarding recent drone sightings over New York.

“Residents are worried that their government is unable to identify these drones; they express trepidation over holiday travel to see and receive family, particularly from the Westchester County Airport, after Stewart International Airport in Orange County was shut down for an hour due to concerns over these drones,” Latimer wrote in a Monday letter. “Our residents are in need of more information regarding these drones.”

He also expressed his support for Sen. Chuck Schumer’s proposal to deploy advanced drone detection technology.

“The sum concern are the visual confirmed sights by military and first responders,” Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden told CBS Mornings in a clip that aired on Wednesday.

“The bigger concern over that is [that] we don’t have any identification on any of it,” he added.

Iowa Republican Rep. Zach Nunn is pinning drone “hysteria” on the Biden administration.

“I think that there’s a real hysteria around here, but I blame that right back on the White House,” he told ABC News.

“At this point, we need resolution and, clearly, we need leadership coming out of the White House to provide real answers that are clear, that are transparent and that are responsible for folks...” Nunn, who serves as a colonel in the Air Force Reserves, said.

Residents of New Jersey were confused and worried when a group of mysterious drones began to be seen flying in the skies above the state starting late last month. Now residents in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Florida, California and other states are experiencing the same thing.

Over the last few weeks, local, state and federal law enforcement officials in a string of states have been collecting and investigating reports of unexplained drone sightings

A cluster of drones, seemingly commercial grade, has consistently emerged over communities and even some restricted airspaces after sunset – first in northern New Jersey and now across the country.

Ariana Baio has the story.