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The Los Angeles Police Department removed a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Southern California early Sunday morning, pushing several dozen people out of the campus gates in the latest crackdown on student protesters there. The encampment had sprouted up nearly two weeks ago in Alumni Park, a central quad on U.S.C.’s campus in Los Angeles. Los Angeles police said on Sunday morning that they had made no arrests while clearing the encampment for the second time. The university cited security concerns, but the valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, said she believed she was being silenced. On Sunday, police officers in riot gear entered the campus before dawn, pushing about 25 protesters out of the campus’s metal gates.

Persons: Asna Tabassum Organizations: Los Angeles Police Department, University of Southern, Sunday Locations: University of Southern California, ’, Los Angeles

On Today’s Episode:With Israel Poised to Invade Rafah, Negotiators Try Again for Cease-Fire Deal, by Isabel Kershner and Edward WongCrackdowns at 4 College Protests Lead to More Than 200 Arrests, by Anna Betts, Matthew Eadie and Nicholas Bogel-BurroughsTrump and DeSantis Meet for First Time Since Bruising Primary, by Maggie Haberman and Nicholas Nehamas

Persons: Isabel Kershner, Edward Wong Crackdowns, Anna Betts, Matthew Eadie, Nicholas Bogel, Burroughs Trump, Maggie Haberman, Nicholas Nehamas Locations: Rafah

The sudden end to the standoff produced cheers from the protesters, and confusion for those who had been bracing for chaos. At Emory University in Atlanta, officers used pepper balls and wrestled protesters to the ground, ultimately arresting 28 people. On quads and lawns from coast to coast, colleges are grappling with a groundswell of student activism over Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza. Administrators are having to make controversial decisions over whether to call in the police, and are often criticized regardless of the route they take. “They don’t seem to have a clear strategy,” said Jennie Stephens, a professor at Northeastern who attended the protest there to support the students.

Persons: ”, Jennie Stephens, “ Organizations: Boston, University of Southern, Emerson College, Ohio State University, At Emory University, Northeastern Locations: Northeastern University’s, University of Southern California, Boston, Atlanta, Gaza

Nearly 200 protesters were arrested on Saturday at Northeastern University, Arizona State University and Indiana University, according to officials, as colleges across the country struggle to quell growing pro-Palestinian demonstrations and encampments on campus. More than 700 protesters have been arrested on U.S. campuses since April 18, when Columbia University had the New York Police Department clear a protest encampment there. In several cases, most of those who were arrested have been released. At Northeastern in Boston, protesters had set up an encampment on the campus’s Centennial Common this week that drew more than 100 supporters. The administration had asked the protesters to leave, but many students did not.

Organizations: Northeastern University, Arizona State University and Indiana University, Columbia University, New York Police Department, Northeastern Locations: Boston

Police officers swept onto the ordinarily serene campus of Emory University in Atlanta after demonstrators erected tents on Thursday morning, leading to the latest clash in a pro-Palestinian protest movement that has cascaded across American campuses this week. As the demonstrators at Emory screamed, officers wrestled with protesters on the ground and escorted others away. From a few dozen yards away, onlookers stared and recorded the scene with their cellphones. The authorities did not immediately say how many people had been arrested in Atlanta, but across the country, more than 400 protesters have been taken into police custody since April 18, when the arrests of more than 100 protesters at Columbia University in New York set off a wave of student activism nationwide. University administrators and law enforcement officials have responded by arresting students, removing encampments and threatening academic consequences as some Jewish students have expressed concern for their safety, and some politicians have demanded a crackdown on the growing demonstrations.

Organizations: Emory University, Emory, Columbia University, University Locations: Atlanta, New York

He had planned to lead a team of 15 local journalists reporting on the eclipse. Journalists at The Democrat & Chronicle have worked without a contract since 2019, said Susan DeCarava, president of the NewsGuild of New York, the union that represents them. Workers also seek a policy regarding the ethical use of artificial intelligence in reporting and writing articles, Mr. Craig said. “We had this incredible story that would touch a lot of people in our community,” Mr. Craig said. “Hopefully we’ll be back at the negotiating table tomorrow morning,” Mr. Craig said.

Persons: “ I’m, I’m, ”, Gary Craig, Susan DeCarava, “ Gannett, Ms, DeCarava, Craig, ’ bylines, “, ” Amy Garrard, ” Mr, we’ll Organizations: Democrat, Chronicle, Gannett, Journalists, The Democrat, The New York Times, ” Gannett, USA, Workers Locations: Rochester , N.Y, New York, newsrooms, United States, Rochester

“The tankers and cargo ships of 1950 aren’t the tankers and cargo ships of today,” said James Salmon, a spokesman for the Delaware River and Bay Authority. “It’s going to do a number on them,” he said of a modern ship and the hazard it poses to a bridge like the one in Baltimore. Image The new bridge ship collision protection system project on the Delaware Memorial Bridge will install eight stone-filled “dolphin” cylinders, each measuring 80 feet in diameter. Credit... Delaware River and Bay AuthorityThe situation with the Key Bridge is “unique,” said Jim Tymon, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, which represents state transportation departments. A protection system was subsequently built around the new pier.

Persons: ”, James Salmon, Francis Scott Key, Michael Rubino, don’t, Joseph Ahlstrom, It’s, “ It’s, Dali, hurtled, Jim Tymon, ” John Snyder, Pete Buttigieg, “, Paul, Gerald Desmond Bridge, Matt Gresham, Joong Kim, Michael Forsythe Organizations: Bay Authority, Port, SUNY Maritime College, New York State, American Association of State, Transportation, National Transportation Safety, Sunshine Skyway, Administration, Baltimore Sun, Union, National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, Liberty University Locations: Delaware, Bay, Baltimore, Port of Los Angeles, . Delaware, Maryland, Tampa Bay, Tampa, U.S, Minnesota, Union Pacific, St, New York, Bayonne, New Jersey, Staten Island, Long Beach, Calif, New Orleans, Mississippi, Port of New Orleans

Follow our live coverage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore. But after the cargo ship Dali lost power early Tuesday, there were precious few minutes to act. In those minutes, many people — from the ship’s crew, who sent out a mayday signal, to the transportation authority police officers, who stopped traffic heading onto the Francis Scott Key Bridge — did what they could to avert catastrophe, most likely saving many lives. And the Key Bridge was particularly vulnerable. As long ago as 1980, engineers had warned that the bridge, because of its design, would never be able to survive a direct hit from a container ship.

Persons: Francis Scott Key, Dali Organizations: Eastern Seaboard Locations: Baltimore

☆ Officials Identify 2 Bridge Collapse Victims by ID and Fingerprint
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | More About Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Now, officials say they will need to pause the recovery effort altogether — with four more victims not yet found — so that pieces of the crumpled bridge can first be removed from the Patapsco River. But, he said, other vehicles that fell from the bridge — possibly with the construction workers inside — are trapped behind debris that makes the area too dangerous for divers. Officials said one of the victims was identified by a driver’s license found with him, and another by his fingerprints. Wes Moore of Maryland said that divers started the search for victims less than an hour after the bridge collapsed. He said officials have been taking the recovery part of the search as seriously as they took the rescue effort, when they believed the missing victims might have still been alive.

Persons: Roland Butler, Francis Scott Key, ”, Colonel Butler, Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, Hernandez, Castillo, Wes Moore, Jacey Fortin Organizations: Maryland State Police, Coast Guard, Gov Locations: Baltimore, Patapsco, Mexico, Guatemala, Maryland

☆ Baltimore Bridge Collapse Victims Were Working to Support Families, Co-Worker Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A construction company employee who said he labored alongside the six men missing after a Baltimore bridge collapse on Tuesday said many of his co-workers were migrants working to support their relatives. “We’re low-income families,” said Jesus Campos, who has worked at the construction company, Brawner Builders, for about eight months. The executive, Jeffrey Pritzker, and the Coast Guard said that all of the missing workers were presumed dead, given how long it had been since the collapse. Mr. Pritzker said that Brawner’s owner was distressed and spent the early Tuesday hours near the bridge hoping for a rescue, and has also since met with families of all of the missing workers. He wore a black sweatshirt bearing the construction company’s name and milled about, waiting for news and speaking on the phone.

Persons: “, ”, Jesus Campos, Jeffrey Pritzker, Mr, Pritzker, “ It’s, Campos, Francis Scott Key Organizations: Brawner, Coast Guard Locations: Baltimore, Baltimore County

But ship collision barriers are standard around the support piers of bridges over major waterways like the entrance to Baltimore’s harbor. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in New York City, for example, has massive barriers of concrete and rocks around the bases of the piers that support it. It was not immediately clear how old the barriers are around the piers that supported the bridge in Baltimore. The bridge there was being fitted with devices designed to protect the piers in case of any ship crash. The bridge has massive barriers of concrete and rocks around the bases of the piers that support it and protect it from ship crashes.

Persons: Spencer Platt, Basil M, ”, “, Mr, Karatzas, Amy Chang Chien Organizations: Officials, China Central Television, Getty, Karatzas Marine Advisors Locations: Guangzhou, China, Baltimore, Baltimore’s, New York City, New York

☆ In Texas’ Largest Fire, a Race to Save Animals Big and Small
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | Desiree Rios | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Horses with singed tails and bellies licked by flames. Cows whose hides are spotted with burns. These are the scenes that emergency veterinarians and volunteers are finding as they traverse the wide-open fields of the Texas Panhandle, trying to save what animals they can and ease the suffering of many others. “Lots of burns,” said Dr. Laurie Shelton, a veterinarian who is part of Texas A&M’s Veterinary Emergency Team and among those who sprang into action after the Smokehouse Creek fire ignited last week. It’s a rough deal.”The Smokehouse Creek blaze is one of several major wildfires burning across the Texas Panhandle that were still difficult to contain over the weekend as dry, windy weather led to warnings of increased fire risk across the region.

Persons: ”, Laurie Shelton, “ Organizations: Texas Panhandle Locations: Texas

☆ ‘Pretty Sickening’: Texas Ranchers Face Crippling Losses
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-02 | by ( Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | Desiree Rios | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Justin Homen kept driving across his vast Texas ranch, but he only found the same bleak scenes: blackened grassland, charred cow carcasses and smoldering debris turned almost entirely to ash. Then he arrived at the place he thinks of as a hidden oasis: a pond and small lake that, in better times, bask in the emerald glow of looping, leafy trees and tall grass. As he stepped out of the cab of his truck and onto the singed grass, his mutter was nearly drowned out by the wind. “Pretty sickening.”On a normal Friday afternoon, he might check on his herd and then come here with an old friend, pour a glass of whiskey and cast a line into the pond. Now, he was facing the realization that almost all of his family’s century-old ranch, a swath of land nearly the size of Manhattan, had been burned this week when the largest fire in state history tore through the Texas Panhandle.

Persons: Justin Homen, mutter Organizations: Texas Panhandle Locations: Texas, Manhattan

☆ U.S. Airman’s Winding Path Ended in Self-Immolation to Protest Israel
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | Colbi Edmonds | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Dressed in his U.S. Air Force uniform, Aaron Bushnell walked up to the Israeli embassy in Washington one afternoon this week and calmly described his intention to “engage in an extreme act of protest” against Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. He proceeded to pour a flammable liquid over his buzz-cut head, pulled his camouflage cap tightly over his forehead and lit himself on fire. “Free Palestine!” he shouted several times before collapsing onto the cement. “It’s hard to wrap my head around,” said Ashley Schuman, 26, who has known Mr. Bushnell since childhood. How did you get here?’”

Persons: Aaron Bushnell, ”, Bushnell, “, Ashley Schuman, “ I’m Organizations: U.S . Air Force Locations: Washington, Gaza, Massachusetts, cyberdefense, Texas

Two teenagers were charged with resisting arrest and “gun-related” offenses in connection with a shooting that left one person dead and nearly two dozen others injured during a Super Bowl victory celebration in Kansas City, Mo., the authorities said on Friday. Additional charges are expected to be filed, according to a spokeswoman for the Office of the Juvenile Officer in Jackson County, Mo. The teenagers, who have not been publicly identified, remained in custody on Friday. The authorities have said that the shooting stemmed from a dispute among several people, and erupted on Wednesday afternoon outside the city’s Union Station, where thousands of Kansas City football fans were gathered for a rally. Twenty-two people were injured, and at least half of them were younger than 16, officials have said.

Organizations: Kansas City Locations: Kansas City, Mo, Jackson County, city’s

☆ 9 Key Revelations in Maui’s First Review of the Lahaina Inferno
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Mike Baker | Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Six months after a firestorm destroyed the town of Lahaina, Hawaii, a detailed new report on the tragedy reveals that a large number of victims died along a single street — a stark indication of the ferocity of the blaze that swept through the historic island town, killing 100 people. The 98-page report from the Maui Police Department on the Aug. 8 disaster came after months of pressure to provide more information about the fire and the government’s response to it, which has been criticized for failing to adequately warn residents in time for them to evacuate. It provides a detailed timeline of a fire that started near a downed electrical line in the morning hours, then flared up in the afternoon and burned through the city for hours. As residents fled for their lives, many were unable to leave because key exit routes were blocked by downed power lines, trees and the raging fire itself. The fire claimed victims across a distance of more than two miles, and possibly over many hours, the report showed, including in neighborhoods that were already ablaze before evacuation alerts were issued.

Organizations: Maui Police Department Locations: Lahaina , Hawaii

☆ New Murder Trial for Alex Murdaugh? A Judge Will Soon Decide.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At the climax of one of the most closely watched trials in South Carolina history, the packed courtroom was silent except for one woman: the court clerk, who read the guilty verdicts aloud in March 2023 that put Alex Murdaugh, a prominent lawyer, in prison for life for the murder of his wife and son. Now, a new court hearing is getting underway on Monday to determine whether the clerk, Rebecca Hill, improperly influenced the jurors who voted to convict Mr. Murdaugh, 55, and whether Mr. Murdaugh should have a new trial. A state police agency is investigating allegations from Mr. Murdaugh’s lawyers that Ms. Hill made comments during the trial that could have influenced the jurors’ votes. Among the allegations are that Ms. Hill told jurors not to be “fooled” by Mr. Murdaugh’s defense, that she had private conversations with a juror, and that she told jurors before they started deliberating that “this shouldn’t take us long.”Ms. Hill has not been charged, and she has denied many of the most serious allegations. She and the jurors are expected to testify on Monday at a hearing in Columbia, S.C., that is part of Mr. Murdaugh’s appeal of his convictions.

Persons: Alex Murdaugh, Rebecca Hill, Mr, Murdaugh, Hill, Ms Locations: South Carolina, Columbia

☆ Alabama Set to Carry Out First U.S. Execution by Nitrogen
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Alabama is set to carry out the first American execution using nitrogen gas on Thursday evening, potentially opening a new frontier in how states execute death row prisoners despite concerns from death penalty opponents about the untested method. As it stands, prison officials plan to begin the execution around 6 p.m. Central time. Mr. Smith, 58, is one of three men convicted in the 1988 murder of a woman whose husband, a pastor, had recruited them to kill her. The protocol released by prison officials calls for strapping Mr. Smith to a gurney in the state’s execution chamber in Atmore, Ala., after which a mask will be placed on his head and a flow of nitrogen will be released into it, depriving him of oxygen. It would be the second time the state has tried to kill Mr. Smith, after a failed lethal injection in November 2022 in which executioners could not find a suitable vein before his death warrant expired.

Persons: Kenneth Smith, Smith, strapping Mr, gurney Organizations: Alabama, U.S, Supreme Locations: Atmore, Ala

☆ The Alabama Execution Case: What We Know
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Anna Betts | Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Alabama carried out on Thursday the first execution using nitrogen gas in the United States, an untested method that was the subject of debate before it was used. Here are a few things to know about the case. According to court documents, Ms. Sennett, a mother of two, was stabbed 10 times in the attack by Mr. Smith and another man. Charles Sennett Sr., Ms. Sennett’s husband, had recruited a man to handle her killing, who in turn recruited Mr. Smith and another man. Mr. Sennett arranged the murder in part to collect on an insurance policy that he had taken out on his wife, according to court records.

Persons: Kenneth Smith, William C, Kenneth Eugene Smith, Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett, Sennett, Smith, Charles Sennett, Sennett’s Organizations: Alabama, Holman Correctional, U.S, Supreme Locations: United States, Atmore, Ala, Colbert County

☆ After a Botched Execution, Alabama Is Trying an Untested New Method
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | More About Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Mr. Smith, who had been on death row for more than a quarter-century after being convicted of murdering a woman, recalled thanking God for his final week alive and thinking of his family. At the time, the state was using the same method of execution that has been used in the vast majority of modern U.S. executions: lethal injection. And like many other states, Alabama had problems. Now, more than a year later, Alabama is preparing once again this week to execute Mr. Smith, this time employing a method that has never been used in a U.S. execution: nitrogen hypoxia. Alabama is one of several states that are looking at alternatives, including nitrogen hypoxia, and some states have recently authorized the use of a firing squad.

Persons: Kenneth Smith, Smith, God, Smith’s Locations: gurney, Alabama, U.S, Europe

Tracking Efforts to Remove Trump From the 2024 BallotStates with challenges to Trump’s candidacy Trump disqualified, decision appealed Challenge unresolved Challenge dismissed or rejected Alaska Ariz. Calif. Colo. Conn. Del. The ballot challenges focus on whether Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat make him ineligible to hold the presidency again. The Colorado Supreme Court and Maine’s secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, each found Mr. Trump ineligible under that provision. Several judges have dismissed cases at the request of Mr. Trump or the request of the person who filed the challenge. The Michigan and Minnesota Supreme Courts have each said Mr. Trump is eligible to appear on the primary ballot in those states.

Persons: Trump, Kan, Donald J, Trump’s, “, Biden, Shenna Bellows, Bellows Organizations: Fla ., Fla . Idaho Ill, New York Times, The U.S, Supreme, Colorado Supreme, Republican, Democrat, U.S Locations: Alaska Ariz . Calif, Colo, Conn, Del, Fla, Fla . Idaho, La . Maine, Mich, Minn, Mont, Nev, N.H . N.J, N.M, N.Y, N.C, Okla ., Pa, S.C . Texas Utah, Va, Wash, W.Va . Wis, Colorado and Maine, The, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota

Federal prosecutors said on Monday that a retired State Department official worked for decades as a secret agent for Cuba, and told an undercover F.B.I. agent that the United States was “the enemy.”In a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Miami, the prosecutors said that the diplomat, Manuel Rocha, had secretly aided Cuba’s “clandestine intelligence-gathering mission against the United States” since 1981 as he rose undetected through the ranks of the diplomatic corps and the National Security Council. Mr. Rocha, 73, appeared to have met with handlers from Cuba’s premier spy agency as recently as 2017, prosecutors said, and boasted that his 40 years of spying on behalf of the communist government in Havana had “strengthened the revolution immensely.”For more than two decades, Mr. Rocha handled matters related to Latin America in a series of roles at the State Department under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, including a stint as ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002. More recently, Mr. Rocha, a native of Colombia who grew up in New York, served as an adviser to the U.S. military command responsible for Cuba.

Persons: Manuel Rocha, Cuba’s, . Rocha, “, Rocha, Bill Clinton, George W, Bush Organizations: State Department, United, National Security Locations: Cuba, United States, Miami, Havana, America, Bolivia, Colombia, New York

Justice O’Connor set the tone in her chambers by hiring a large number of female clerks, setting herself apart from the other justices. And while she was demanding — accepting no excuses for mistakes, a lesson she drew from growing up on a ranch in the West — she also took an interest in her clerks and their personal lives. “She would give them career advice, she would give them jobs,” said the historian Evan Thomas, who interviewed 94 former O’Connor clerks for his biography of the justice, “First.”“She told them to get out and get exercise, always take care of your family, give good dinner parties, never be too busy to take care of people,” he said. “You had to have a life.”For the women who clerked under Justice O’Connor, there was a keen awareness of both the barriers she had broken and her desire to be viewed outside of that history. Some recounted her wish to have her headstone reflect only that she had been a good judge, her relief when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg became a second woman to sit on the court and her insistence that her gender did not shape her decisions.

Persons: O’Connor, ”, Evan Thomas, “, Justice O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Cristina Rodríguez Organizations: Yale Law School

Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd during a 2020 arrest that set off a wave of protests, was stabbed at a federal prison in Tucson, Ariz., on Friday, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that an inmate at the Tucson prison was stabbed at 12:30 p.m., though the agency’s statement did not identify Mr. Chauvin, 47, by name. No other inmates or prison staff were injured, and the situation was quickly contained, according to the people familiar with the situation. No details were immediately available on his condition, but one of the people with knowledge of the incident said that Mr. Chauvin survived the attack. Mr. Chauvin was serving a sentence of just over two decades in federal prison after he was convicted of state murder charges and a federal charge of violating the constitutional rights of Mr. Floyd.

Persons: Derek Chauvin, George Floyd, Chauvin, Floyd, Mr Organizations: Federal Bureau of Prisons Locations: Minneapolis, Tucson, Ariz

☆ Charleston Elects Republican Mayor for First Time Since 1870s
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-23 | by ( Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | More About Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The City of Charleston this week elected a Republican mayor for the first time since the mid-1870s, signifying a new chapter for the centuries-old southern city. The new mayor, William Cogswell, a former state representative and real estate developer, won a tight runoff election on Tuesday against Mayor John Tecklenburg, a Democrat who was seeking his third term in office. Mr. Cogswell’s election indicates a shift for Charleston, a stubbornly left-leaning city that has consistently elected Democratic mayors — including one to 10 terms — even as the state as a whole has not voted for a Democratic president since 1976. The mayor’s office in Charleston is technically nonpartisan, though mayors are often known to identify with a party. The city’s last Republican mayor served until 1877, according to city records and The Associated Press.

Persons: William Cogswell, Mayor John Tecklenburg, Cogswell Organizations: Republican, Mayor, Democrat, Charleston, Democratic, —, Associated Press, Mr Locations: Charleston, state’s

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