Category: U.S. News

The iconic lead vocalist of the Four Seasons, known for his distinctive high-pitched singing style that helped shape 1960s rock music, has scrapped all remaining concert dates for 2026 due to medical concerns.

“I’m so sorry to disappoint the folks who have purchased tickets to my shows, but I have decided to take the rest of the year off from touring to focus on my health,” the 92-year-old performer posted on social media Friday.

The singer, who remains the sole original band member still touring with the Four Seasons, had been conducting an extended goodbye tour called “The Last Encores” that began in October 2023. Earlier this year, April concerts were pushed back to summer and autumn dates. However, all eight remaining shows planned for 2026 across locations including Scottsdale, Arizona, and Detroit have now been completely canceled.

The musical group achieved stardom during the 1960s, though their popular songs — including “Sherry” and “December 1963 (Oh What a Night)” — crossed multiple generations. The band achieved worldwide sales of 100 million albums and earned Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recognition in 1990. The lead singer, who built a thriving individual music career as well, was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2026.

Despite his advanced age, the performer has maintained an intensive concert schedule throughout his career, though he suggested future shows remain possible.

“I’m looking forward to getting healthy and seeing you all again soon,” the singer wrote in his Friday statement.

A Massachusetts family of four lost their lives when a motorcoach collided with several vehicles on a Virginia interstate, and they were en route to a family wedding carrying homemade treats for the celebration.

The wedding ceremony will proceed as planned Sunday in South Carolina, but the occasion will also serve as a time to grieve for Dmitri and Ecaterina Doncev along with their children, Emily and Mark, according to a family member who spoke Saturday.

“A son, a father — the whole family — everyone that has been dear to us,” Carolina Bublik said.

The Doncev family perished early Friday when the motorcoach struck vehicles that had reduced speed for a construction area on Interstate 95 in Stafford County, Virginia. Another victim, a 25-year-old female from Worcester, Massachusetts, was killed in an SUV, according to authorities.

Additional individuals received medical treatment for injuries, with one person listed in critical condition, although most patients were released from the hospital, Mary Washington Healthcare reported.

An official from the National Transportation Safety Board was scheduled to address media regarding the crash investigation Saturday.

E&P Travel Inc., headquartered in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, operated the motorcoach. Virginia State Police named the driver as Jing S. Dong, 48, of Staten Island, New York.

Dmitri, 45, and Ecaterina, 44, moved to the United States from Moldova in 2008 and made their home in Greenfield, Massachusetts, Bublik explained.

Dmitri worked as a nurse at Holyoke Medical Center. Ecaterina worked as a hair stylist and had dedicated days to preparing desserts for the family wedding, Bublik noted.

Dmitri and his brother Iuri attempted to coordinate their travel while driving in different vehicles to South Carolina.

“At some point they ended up getting separated,” Bublik said. “Dmitri said, ‘You go ahead. I’ll catch up later.’ It was a big shock when Iuri arrived at the house. Dmitri should have arrived around the same time. When his car did not show up, and he wasn’t picking up the phone — that’s when the family started panicking.”

Civil liberties organizations have launched a federal court challenge against the nation’s biggest immigration detention facility in El Paso, Texas, citing alleged mistreatment and three deaths since the center opened nine months ago.

The American Civil Liberties Union, alongside other advocacy groups, filed the legal action representing four individuals currently detained at Camp East Montana, a large tent facility established as part of President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation strategy.

The lawsuit, submitted to United States District Court Western District of Texas, targets camp operator U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its parent organization, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This marks the first legal challenge to the desert facility located on the Fort Bliss military base, seeking better conditions for over 2,700 detainees, according to an ACLU statement.

The Department of Homeland Security has not yet provided a response to requests for comment. The agency previously stated that the $1.2 billion facility complies with federal immigrant detention standards.

“We’re suing to ensure that no other human being has to endure the inhumane treatment,” said Kyle Virgien, an attorney for the National Prison Project of the ACLU, which filed the lawsuit together with Human Rights Watch and the Texas Civil Rights Project.

A February inspection of the facility’s temporary structures, mandated by Congress, discovered 49 violations of detention standards, with 11 involving “use of force and restraints” and five concerning “medical care.”

The ACLU’s legal filing alleges that detainees face confinement in windowless spaces where they experience physical mistreatment by guards, inadequate medical and mental health services, widespread use of solitary confinement, and exposure to illnesses including measles and tuberculosis.

Venezuelan immigrant Erik Ivan Rodriguez, one of the named plaintiffs, stated he faced physical violence from officials attempting to force him to sign deportation documents. Gerald Akari Angye from Cameroon, another plaintiff, reported being assaulted by guards.

El Paso medical examiners determined that the January 3 death of a Cuban immigrant at Camp East Montana was a homicide, citing “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.”

Immigration authorities initially described Geraldo Lunas Campos’ death as resulting from “medical distress.” Officials later claimed he attempted suicide and died during a struggle with guards who tried to prevent it.

The ACLU’s lawsuit contends he was fatally beaten after requesting his asthma medication. The complaint also states that a fourth individual died shortly after release from the facility, where he had been refused cancer chemotherapy treatment.

Immigration detention fatalities reached a 20-year peak in 2025 as the Trump administration increased the number of people held for alleged violations.

MADISON, Wis. — A commercial flight heading to Minneapolis made an emergency landing in Wisconsin Friday evening after crew members dealt with a disruptive passenger onboard.

The aircraft, United flight 2005 departing from Chicago, touched down safely at Madison’s airport to handle what airline officials described as a security issue involving an unruly traveler, according to a company spokesperson’s email statement.

Law enforcement personnel already on the aircraft were able to subdue the disruptive individual without delay, said Carrie Springer, who speaks for the Dane County Regional Airport.

When the plane arrived at the gate, deputies from the Dane County Sheriff’s Office boarded and took the passenger into custody. Springer noted that federal investigators will take over the case.

The aircraft, a Boeing 737-900, was carrying 147 passengers along with six crew members. The airline reported no one sustained injuries during the incident.

After the disruptive passenger was removed, the flight resumed its original route and reached Minneapolis in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Though today’s generation requires less physical paper than previous ones, vintage paper collectibles continue to attract enthusiasts. At a Pennsylvania paper show, younger collectors who grew up in the digital era are discovering the appeal of antique postcards and comic books.

These digital natives represent an interesting contrast – individuals raised with technology who find value in tangible, historical paper items from decades past.

LONGVIEW, Wash. — A devastating industrial accident at a Washington state paper mill has claimed 11 lives after a massive chemical storage tank failed, releasing a torrent of dangerous substances that overturned vehicles and damaged buildings.

Washington state Sen. Jeff Wilson, who lives nearby and can view the facility from his home, has personal connections to the site through his former environmental cleanup business. When emergency sirens began wailing, his first thought was for his son who works at the industrial complex.

“I personally have been inside that tank and near that tank many times,” said Wilson, who has lived in Longview for 56 years. “I can assure you that we all know somebody there. … The casualties are our friends and neighbors.”

The failed storage vessel held more than 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) of chemicals used in wood processing for paper production. Tuesday morning’s catastrophic failure at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. sent a wave of corrosive materials across the facility with enough force to flip pickup trucks and cause structural damage.

This workplace tragedy ranks among the most fatal industrial accidents in recent U.S. history, striking a community where multiple generations have earned their livelihoods at local manufacturing facilities. The city’s origins trace back to a timber magnate who established the area’s first mills, creating a century-long bond between residents and the lumber and paper sectors.

Beyond supporting families in mourning, community members express concerns about the facility’s future operations. These positions provide essential employment in a sector that historically drove the region’s economy but has faced significant decline over recent decades.

Tokyo-based Nippon Paper Group, the facility’s parent organization, released a statement indicating they are evaluating how the incident will affect their financial results.

“Last night at the vigils, people who work in mills told me that they’re proud of their jobs and they’re proud of their work, and they don’t want to lose it,” U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, whose district includes Longview, told reporters Wednesday.

Local residents interviewed by The Associated Press emphasized the critical importance of these manufacturing positions for their community.

“If you’re a waitress, a grocery store worker, a teacher, a paraeducator as I was for 30 years — every walk of life here knows somebody and is related to somebody from these mills,” Cindy Stiebritz said in the antiques store where she volunteers.

Stiebritz noted that her husband’s parents first met while employed at the lumber operation owned by the city’s founder, Robert A. Long.

“Those mills, that is the backbone of this town,” Stiebritz added. “You feel like you’ve lost part of your family.”

The city’s manufacturing district sits alongside the Columbia River, housing timber, paper and chemical operations. Most residents in this community of nearly 40,000 can observe the facilities, steam from industrial boilers, or detect the distinctive sulfur scent associated with pulp and paper production from their neighborhoods.

The community’s industrial heritage is visible throughout downtown, where R. A. Long Square functions as a primary landmark and gathering spot, including for memorial services following the disaster. A recreational area surrounding an artificial lake, another Long initiative, provides green space where residents use walking trails and tree-lined roadways.

Officials report that investigators are still determining what caused the tank’s structural failure. The manufacturing site, operating since 1953 with approximately 1,000 employees, produces materials for tissues, printing paper, cups, plates, cartons and similar products.

Fundraising efforts for victims’ families reveal that those who perished included a grandfather known for helping others, two brothers with one serving as the primary income source for his partner and three children, and a husband survived by two children and an expecting wife.

Brianna Pesio, who serves customers at the Mill City Grill downtown, described Tuesday morning’s terror when her brother, employed at the adjacent lumber facility, couldn’t reach their father who works at the plant and has been there over 30 years.

“I just didn’t know if I lost my dad or not,” said Pesio, whose husband also works in a paper mill. “I drove over to my dad’s house and pounded on his door until he did wake up. He had just gotten off shift at 5 a.m.”

At the nearby Country Folks Deli, longtime server Gayle Leavitt mentioned her in-laws also spent decades working at the mill, adding: “That’s how this town has survived.”

Area representatives reinforced residents’ pride in manufacturing work and the economic significance of well-compensated positions in a region where other communities have suffered from timber industry contraction.

“This is a place where real people make real things. This is not the virtual world,” state Rep. Jim Walsh said at a news conference at the plant on Tuesday. “Real things and real industry always carries risks. But it’s our job to make sure that risk like this is well managed and, to the extent it can be, controlled.”

Stiebritz, the antiques shop volunteer, expressed hope that authorities determine the cause “so it never happens again.”

“If anything comes out of it, I hope lives can be saved,” she said, tearing up as she thought of the children who have lost their parents.

“This town is family. It’s one big family,” she added. “But we’ll make it though. We’re strong. We’ve got a lot of love.”

Long before Filipino American farm workers staged their famous California strike, Pablo Manlapit was building labor unions among Filipino plantation workers in Hawaii.

After arriving in Honolulu in 1910 to work sugar plantations, Manlapit witnessed the harsh treatment of fellow Philippine immigrants called “sakadas.” Ten years later, risking his career and family, he became Hawaii’s first Filipino attorney and established a Filipino workers’ union fighting for equal wages and eight-hour shifts.

He successfully convinced Japanese laborers, who earned higher wages, to join the movement. His organizing activities led to his involvement in the deadly 1924 Hanapepe Massacre on Kauai, where 16 workers and four officers died during labor violence.

The devastating incident destroyed the strike’s progress.

Manlapit faced imprisonment, exile to California, and eventual deportation. Though he continued advocating for workers’ rights throughout his life, he passed away in 1969 largely forgotten.

More than 100 years later, Manlapit has emerged as an inspiration for Filipino attorneys who never learned his story growing up. The Hawaii Filipino Lawyers Association is working to reverse his conspiracy conviction in a symbolic campaign aimed at securing Manlapit’s rightful place in labor history. The group argues that Manlapit’s achievements and broader Asian American and Pacific Islander history in Hawaii remain largely unknown on the mainland.

“It’s a story that needs to be told. A lot of us are second generation, so we don’t have knowledge of these stories,” said Daniel Padilla, the group’s president. “His story gets overshadowed … in the broader labor movement in California.”

New sexual abuse allegations against well-known Mexican American labor leader César Chavez have sparked discussions about Filipinos who played crucial roles in America’s farmworker movement.

This development motivated the Filipino attorney organization to pursue clearing Manlapit’s record. Their mission to reverse Manlapit’s conviction, the association states, focuses on “restoring what was taken from a movement that always belonged to many.”

Filipino Americans have traditionally been overlooked by historians, according to Kevin Nadal, president of the Filipino American National Historical Society. Hawaiian Filipino communities – separated by an ocean – received even less historical documentation over the years. Nadal, who teaches psychology at City University of New York, only discovered extensive information about Manlapit while researching a Filipino American Studies encyclopedia in 2020.

“It may have been documented through just like oral histories,” Nadal said. “We love oral histories but, if no one writes them down and then it doesn’t become published, then it just gets lost.”

Manlapit’s organizing efforts likely represent the first recorded instance of Filipino worker mobilization.

“It started with Hawaii,” Nadal said. “What was happening in Hawaii, it would have been really hard for people to know that it was happening in California.”

Recognition has increased in recent years. This past May during Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center collaborated with Hawaii U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono on a poster display featuring sakadas.

Workers who traveled from the Philippines to Hawaii’s plantations helped make Filipinos one of the state’s largest ethnic populations today. They comprised more than half the workforce. Hawaii later became home to America’s first and only governor of Filipino heritage, Ben Cayetano.

Cayetano, 87, said he never felt compelled to explore his Filipino heritage while growing up in poverty in Honolulu.

“I was born and raised here so I was more influenced by the local culture, which is a mixture of the Hawaiian culture and all the other cultures,” said Cayetano, who completed college and law school in Los Angeles.

However, recognizing sakadas and leaders like Manlapit serves as a way to honor the sakada who raised Cayetano as a single parent, he explained.

Growing up mixed-race in rural upstate New York, Becky Gardner struggled to connect with her mother’s Filipino heritage but heard family stories about her great-grandfather and grandfather who labored on Kauai plantations. Seeking to embrace those roots, Gardner relocated to Honolulu for law school.

While serving as an attorney in the state Office of Language Access, she promoted “Sakada Day,” honoring the Dec. 20 arrival of the first contract workers who departed the Philippines for Hawaii’s sugar and pineapple plantations.

During this work, Gardner discovered her own sakada ancestry.

She entered her great-grandfather’s name, Francisco Alcano, into an online Filipino laborer database and located records showing his 1928 arrival in Honolulu on a steamship named for President Grover Cleveland.

“It made me feel like I was part of Hawaii’s history too,” Gardner said.

The Hawaii Filipino Lawyers Association is examining whether Manlapit’s 1924 conviction was unjust and exploring legal options to clear his name after death, said Padilla, who received his law degree from the University of Hawaii.

They’re also considering establishing a fellowship at University of Hawaii’s law school to fund a legal researcher who could investigate the case as part of efforts to formally exonerate Manlapit.

Kainani Collins Alvarez, who grew up on Oahu aware of her sakada grandfather’s history, previously worked as a public defender and now operates a family-law practice. She hopes to contribute her criminal defense experience to the association’s Manlapit initiative. Half-white, she connects to Hawaii Filipinos through her mother and childhood time spent in the Philippines.

“For me, it’s really important to go back and rectify the truth,” she said. “History is built on the facts that we knew at the time.”

Manlapit was not present on Kauai during the 1924 massacre when striking Filipino sugar workers and police engaged in deadly conflict.

Despite Manlapit eventually receiving a pardon, the association seeks to highlight evidence proving his innocence, Alvarez explained.

Based on a Manlapit biography, he declared in a 1927 “farewell statement” his intention to establish his innocence: “I was railroaded to prison because I tried to secure justice and a square deal for my oppressed countrymen who are lured to the plantations to work for a dollar a day.”

A conviction reversal would carry greater significance than a pardon in certain respects, Nadal noted.

“It would mean more of understanding justice and ensuring that people realize that we can fight for justice and that justice can prevail,” he said.

Manlapit’s experience motivated Khara Jabola-Carolus to pursue a legal career in Hawaii. Similar to him, she began as an organizer and activist. She was raised in California and graduated from Hawaii’s law school.

“There’s a long history of Filipino organizing,” she said. “That’s why I wanted to be a lawyer here.”

She hopes more people will learn about Manlapit’s life with the same familiarity they have for famous Filipino entertainers.

“We need representation and access to seeing ourselves as heroes and movement leaders and not just entertainers,” she said. “Like Filipino Americans need to know Pablo Manlapit as much as they know Bruno Mars or Olivia Rodrigo.”

WASHINGTON — American military forces executed another attack Friday against a vessel suspected of drug smuggling in the Pacific Ocean’s eastern waters, resulting in three deaths in what represents the third such operation this week, bringing total fatalities beyond 200 individuals.

The military’s Southern Command revealed details of the most recent strike as part of an extended operation targeting suspected narcotics vessels moving through Caribbean and eastern Pacific waters, using standard terminology describing the boat as “engaged in narco-trafficking operations” and linked to a designated terrorist organization. No supporting evidence was presented.

Though military social media posts routinely feature attack footage, this instance appears unique in showing color video rather than the typical black and white imagery. The recording depicts a small watercraft floating on ocean waters before being struck and consumed by an explosive fireball. The footage transitions to what appears to be the burning vessel surrounded by a widespread field of packages or debris floating in the surrounding water.

This latest operation brings the cumulative death count to 202 individuals from the series of American strikes that commenced in early September, following two additional attacks reported on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Trump administration has announced that America is engaged in armed conflict with Latin American drug cartels, identifying them as responsible for narcotics flowing into American communities.

Southern Command stated in its X platform post that the strike occurred under orders from Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the senior U.S. commander for Latin America, who also conducted meetings with Cuban military officials near the U.S. Navy installation at Guantanamo Bay on Friday.

HONOLULU — Residents of Puna, an isolated and diverse area on Hawaii’s Big Island, are grappling with the shocking murders of three elderly men who embodied the region’s unconventional, off-the-grid way of life.

Almost a full day following Jacob Baker’s arrest, community members are wrestling with understanding the events and seeking explanations for why law enforcement focused on the 36-year-old as their primary suspect in the deaths of three men who were approaching or had reached their 70s.

Baker continues to be held in custody on suspicion of murder, burglary and additional charges.

Legal documents reveal Baker has had numerous encounters with law enforcement for various violations. Local Puna residents told The Associated Press that their worries about Baker had intensified in recent times, describing him as becoming more menacing.

Baker stands accused in the deaths of three individuals: a 69-year-old discovered partly underwater in a concrete pond, a 79-year-old found mere hundreds of feet away, and a third 69-year-old whose remains were located approximately 19 miles from the other two. By Friday, formal charges had not yet been filed by prosecutors.

Authorities named the first victim as Robert Shine and the third as John Carse. While the 79-year-old’s identity awaits official confirmation, acquaintances have identified him as Chitta Morse.

Police Chief Reed Mahuna stated that investigators discovered no links between the victims beyond two living in proximity to each other.

Those who knew Shine and Morse describe how both men relocated to Puna seeking its independent, tropical and community-oriented atmosphere.

Shine found joy in moving and dancing to rhythms at drum gatherings, typically held on Sunday afternoons, according to Donald Hyatt, a drummer.

Hyatt’s final encounter with Shine occurred at a gathering the previous month where a local rock band performed and Shine danced enthusiastically.

“He was dancing like he loved life,” Hyatt remembered. “Bob had a permanent smile. Always in good spirits.”

Morse relocated from Van Nuys, California four decades ago “to live off-grid and to live in a warm tropical place, and to eat fruit,” explained friend Jezuz Cinderland. “For 40 years he only ate raw food. Since he got to the island he just went completely raw and this was just the right environment for him to do it.”

On fertile volcanic land along Papaya Farms Road, Morse cultivated what Cinderland described as a “fruit forest,” producing coconuts, avocados and durian among other crops.

“He would just share all the fruit he had,” Cinderland noted. “The most fabulous abundance that you can imagine.”

Though Morse had once belonged to the raw-food commune that Cinderland joined when moving to Puna, Morse had become more isolated in recent years, Cinderland explained.

Shine belonged to Cinderland’s commune, which county officials have closed due to multiple code infractions, Cinderland said.

Janelle Honer, who also cultivated fruit along Papaya Farms Road, appears to represent the link connecting Baker to the victims, who frequently participated in communal meals and gatherings at Honer’s land.

Baker had been residing on Honer’s property while performing coconut tree climbing and trimming services, according to her former husband, Stephen Shaffer. Exchanging labor for housing arrangements is typical in Puna.

Hyatt explained that Baker departed the cabin on Honer’s land months earlier but recently returned asserting “squatter’s rights” and made threats toward Honer. Hyatt said he encouraged her to obtain a protective order.

The murders occurred just days following two women’s requests for temporary protective orders against Baker, claiming he had made threats and harassed them at an agricultural property. One woman was residing there while the other held partial ownership. A judge rejected both requests, citing insufficient evidence of harassment.

Baker had no legal representation listed and has accumulated 20 additional court cases over two decades, primarily traffic violations. Baker typically served as his own attorney in most instances.

Honer, who Shaffer indicated was traveling internationally, could not be contacted for comment.

A remembrance ceremony for the victims was scheduled for Saturday adjacent to Honer’s property.

Puna represents one of Hawaii’s few locations offering affordable property, though the region’s infrastructure has failed to match its population growth, according to Ashley Kierkiewicz, who serves Puna on the county council.

Despite Puna’s reputation as an unconventional frontier area, it also represents a culturally rich community where residents demonstrate resilience and mutual support, she noted.

Puna’s terrain combines dense jungle with stark lava rock formations, while the area also faces challenges including substance abuse, economic hardship and insufficient resources, said long-term resident Tiffany Edwards Hunt.

“People have this mistaken impression that they can come to Hawaii and heal,” she observed. “Hawaii can either really be kind to you or it can chew you up and spit you out.”

Mark Wyatt and Richard Valdez proved instrumental in Baker’s apprehension, contacting authorities when their security camera system alerted Valdez’s phone, showing Baker on their land Thursday. Their property sits roughly half a mile from Carse’s residence, though they barely knew him.

The footage depicts Baker without shirt or shoes, accompanied by a dog, walking near a roadway and crouching when vehicles passed, seemingly attempting to remain unseen.

“He was ducking from the traffic, so it was pretty obvious” that he was trying to avoid detection, Valdez explained.

Law enforcement apprehended Baker nearby after discovering him in a small cave, police reported.

Wyatt believes Baker had been concealing himself near his property at a crude campsite positioned on a cliff above the ocean. He said Baker took couch cushions from a storage container outside his residence plus some charcoal, using coconut palm fronds to camouflage the location.

Valdez hadn’t encountered Baker for approximately two years. During that earlier period, Baker lived adjacent to them, renting space from their neighbor while harvesting and selling coconuts along the area’s primary road. He remained next door for roughly six months, Valdez said.

“He told me he was from Maui and that he had just had a newborn baby and his girlfriend had left and that he was trying to get his life together,” Valdez recalled. “So he seemed pretty normal and conscientious, so it’s hard to fathom that this happened.”

Search teams on Friday found the body of another victim from Tuesday’s devastating chemical tank failure at a Washington state paper mill, bringing the confirmed death toll to 11 with two employees still missing.

The catastrophic incident occurred Tuesday morning when a massive storage tank holding over 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) of wood-processing chemicals failed at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. facility in Longview, a Columbia River community. The tank’s failure unleashed a torrent of caustic liquid known as white liquor, which has enough force to flip pickup trucks and damage facility structures. The chemical mixture causes serious burns upon contact and can damage lungs if its fumes are breathed in.

Recovery operations have proceeded carefully and systematically due to hazards from remaining chemicals and other industrial dangers, according to Matt Amos, Longview fire battalion chief.

Search teams located six bodies on Thursday.

Workers are avoiding the area immediately surrounding the failed tank while collaborating with engineers to assess which damaged structures nearby can be safely accessed.

During body recovery, teams must decontaminate remains before transferring them to the coroner’s office for identification. The search personnel also undergo decontamination procedures.

The incident’s cause remains under investigation.

Officials haven’t publicly identified the deceased, though family members and friends have started confirming identities and establishing online fundraising campaigns for the families.

Two brothers, Tyler and Brad Covington, who were employed together at the facility, were among those killed. An online fundraising effort for Tyler Covington’s family described how he “leaves behind his wife and their three beautiful children, who are now trying to navigate a future without the man who was their rock, protector, and greatest source of love and support.”

Gilbert Bernal, a grandfather who served as an electrician at the facility, was the first confirmed fatality, according to his friend Todd Cornwell.

“He was one of the most genuinely good people that you’ve ever met. He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it,” Cornwell said.

John Forsberg, another victim of the incident, was described as witty, kind and “wicked smart,” according to friend Kole Musgrove, who runs a trivia event at Ashtown Brewing in Longview, where Forsberg was a regular participant. The establishment plans to rename its trivia award the Forsberg Cup in his memory.

“It seemed like there was never a fact he didn’t know,” Musgrove said. “He was also a tremendous sport — he was always the first to cheer for another team when they won.”

A GoFundMe campaign has been established to help Forsberg’s two children.

CJ Doran, 26, was described as “the spiritual leader of their family, the joy of their home, and the family provider,” in a GoFundMe posting confirmed by the crowdfunding platform.

Additional victims included Jared Ammons, who had two children with a third expected, and Braydon Finkas, a facility electrician who, together with his longtime partner, Kaitlyn Kincaid, welcomed exchange students and others needing assistance, friend Rex Czuba said.

Finkas relocated to Cathlamet approximately four years ago to construct a home and establish a farm, Czuba explained. He consistently offered help to fellow farmers with hay cutting or equipment loading, or would purchase drinks for newcomers in their small community, he noted.

“He really jumped in and became a part of the community so quickly,” Czuba said.

The tank failure also left eight people injured, including one firefighter. Several sustained burns or breathing injuries, officials reported.

The facility’s Japanese parent company, Nippon Paper Group, issued an updated statement Friday expressing “heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families.”

Officials confirmed Friday that the chemical release hasn’t polluted air quality or drinking water supplies in and around Longview, a community of approximately 40,000 residents near Washington’s Oregon border.

The community, established where the Cowlitz and Columbia rivers meet by a Kansas City timber entrepreneur in the 1920s, maintains strong connections to paper and lumber manufacturing.

Multiple generations of families have been employed at the mills, and numerous residents interviewed by The Associated Press had relatives or friends working at the Nippon Dynawave facility. The extensive operation, which employs roughly 1,000 workers, produces materials for tissues, printing paper, cups, plates and cartons. The facility is located along the Columbia river adjacent to other timber, paper and chemical operations.

Workers continued efforts to flush water from drainage areas near the facility and dilute it before releasing it into the river.

While some contamination has entered the river, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported it has caused no observable impact.

ROMULUS, Mich. — Morning travelers at Detroit Metropolitan Airport experienced a frightening scene Friday when a confused elderly man drove his SUV directly through the terminal entrance doors, according to airport officials.

The 67-year-old motorist was taken into custody immediately after his vehicle came to a stop, according to Tadarial Sturdivant, vice president of emergency and support services.

Sturdivant described the driver as appearing “very disoriented” and making strange claims about being there to meet actor Tom Cruise and “to save his dad.”

“It is hard for me to put semblance behind it,” Sturdivant said.

One woman who tried to get out of the vehicle’s path suffered a potential leg injury but refused medical attention, officials reported.

According to Sturdivant, the vehicle had been moving in the wrong direction outside the Evans Terminal before managing to fit through spaces between concrete barriers at the entrance.

Those openings in the barriers are mandated by federal rules, Sturdivant explained. He noted that the suburban Detroit airport is currently developing plans for a redesign.

“It was scary, man, like, we didn’t know what to do,” Sedeq Arshuhtpi, who works at the airport, told WDIV-TV. “We don’t know what’s inside that car. There’s a lot of people around. There could be a threat, so everybody was nervous.”

This marks the second vehicle incident at the airport this year. In January, another motorist crashed into the airport’s McNamara Terminal at high speed, then got out of his car shouting incomprehensibly before being arrested.

A devastating multi-vehicle collision on Interstate 95 in Northern Virginia has claimed five lives and left more than 40 people injured, with three victims in critical condition, according to state police.

The tragic accident unfolded early Friday morning when a tour bus crashed into a sport utility vehicle, setting off a deadly chain reaction that ended with one vehicle bursting into flames.

Initial findings from the investigation indicate the bus operator did not slow down while approaching backed-up traffic in a work zone along the busy Interstate 95 corridor, which serves as a major transportation route running north and south through the region.

The impact sent the bus careening into a Chevrolet Suburban, which then collided with an Acura SUV and other vehicles. The bus continued forward, striking additional cars, while the Acura became engulfed in flames, state police reported in their official statement.

The collision happened around 2:35 a.m. in the highway’s southbound direction within Stafford County, located approximately 45 miles southwest of the nation’s capital.

The motor coach, run by E&P Travel, a charter bus company based in North Carolina, was transporting roughly 34 passengers and the driver from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Among those who lost their lives, four victims were trapped in the burning Acura vehicle: a 45-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman, a 13-year-old girl, and a 7-year-old boy, all residents of Greenfield, Massachusetts. The fifth fatality was a 25-year-old woman from Worcester, Massachusetts, who was traveling in the Chevrolet Suburban that was struck by the bus.

Emergency responders transported approximately 44 additional crash victims, including the bus operator, to nearby medical facilities for treatment. Three patients remain in critical condition at area hospitals.

State police spokesperson Matthew Demlein confirmed that criminal charges are being considered against the bus driver related to the incident, though he would not provide additional specifics about the potential charges.

CHICAGO (AP) — A towering granite structure rises from Chicago’s South Side, its nearly windowless facade resembling something from a science fiction movie rather than housing a cutting-edge presidential museum.

Workers are completing final preparations for the Obama Presidential Center before its official opening to the public on Juneteenth, over ten years since the location was selected. However, the design of the approximately $850 million complex — especially the prominent 225-foot tower on its northern edge — continues to split opinions in the city known as the birthplace of modern high-rise construction.

Some view it as an inappropriate choice for Barack Obama’s home city following an intense fight over placing it in a waterfront park typically featuring classical architectural styles. Others see it as a daring contribution that will influence Chicago’s famous skyline for generations.

Local residents have likened it to a grain storage facility, a vessel from “Star Wars,” and a tomb.

“It doesn’t fit in at all,” said Brenda Nelms, who has lived in the area since the 1970s and leads a group that advocates for nearby Jackson Park, which spans more than 500 acres.

Obama Foundation leadership, which has secured private funding, acknowledges they’ve heard all the criticism. They even recruited “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill for playful promotional content on May the 4th, a date celebrated by the movie series’ fans.

“Part of the joy of the center is everyone is going to have their unique experience,” said Valerie Jarrett, foundation CEO and a former Obama advisor. “The design of the building was intended to be inviting and opening to people whether they live across the street or around the world.”

Chicago sets a high standard for architectural excellence, from Louis Sullivan’s modern towers following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 to Helmut Jahn’s post-modern office structures.

Design discussions are so passionate in the nation’s third-largest city that Chicago Sun-Times architecture critic Lee Bey calls it “a spectator sport.” His first reaction to the Obama Presidential Center was that it appeared more appropriate for a graveyard.

The dramatic design features minimal windows, all strategically positioned. Foundation representatives explain this choice also helps shield interior artifacts from sunlight damage, including a replica Oval Office.

Bey noted the museum’s design becomes more logical when viewed alongside other shorter structures on the campus, which features a basketball court, children’s playground, public library branch and works by prominent artists.

Other famous Chicago buildings have received mixed initial reactions, he explained. The former John Hancock Center, a black 100-story structure marked by massive X-shaped supports, was likened to an oil rig shortly after its 1960s construction. Recently renamed 875 North Michigan Avenue for its street address, the building contains retail spaces, condominiums and offices.

“As we begin to experience buildings, we begin to imprint our own impressions,” Bey said. “The John Hancock becomes less of an oil derrick and more of the building that has your doctor’s office.”

Edward Keegan, a Chicago Tribune architecture columnist, has labeled the presidential museum “an un-Chicago building” due to its limited windows and unconventional form. Nevertheless, it provides a distinctive city perspective.

The building’s summit features a glass-walled “Sky Room” offering sweeping Chicago vistas, including northward views of downtown that are rare from such elevation.

“It doesn’t feel like any other place in Chicago,” he said. “It does feel unique and unexpected.”

The path to the museum’s completion was challenging, despite Obama maintaining strong support in the Democratic stronghold.

Legal challenges to halt construction began after the location announcement in 2015. Worries about displacing low-income and Black residents in nearby neighborhoods intensified. Community organizations pushed for housing protections, though area residents argue they remain insufficient as property values near the museum have skyrocketed.

Building the museum required removing nearly 20 acres of parkland and eliminating a portion of a major roadway, which residents claim was essential for connecting people from other city areas and suburbs to downtown.

During a recent stroll through a bird sanctuary adjacent to the center, activist Robin Kaufman, 82, explained she couldn’t fully appreciate the wildflowers near the secluded ponds as before. She observed ducks swimming in a lagoon but couldn’t overlook the center’s tower visible above the trees.

“Everywhere I go, you can see it, so you’re reminded of what’s going on and that’s distressing,” she said. “I’m very distrustful of anything they say.”

She and others worry about what additional developments might arrive in the area due to Obama’s presidential center.

“It’s a Trojan horse,” said Shannon Bennett with the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization. “It’s an extreme version of a scheme to transform these communities for another population.”

Multiple design decisions were made by the former president alongside New York-based architects, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. Obama selected a stone design and desired a tall tower for city panoramas near where he raised his family and taught law at the University of Chicago.

The tower’s structure represents four hands joining together in unity. Wrapping around one side are 5-foot concrete capital letters, featuring text from Obama’s 2015 speech marking the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march. It starts with “You are America.”

The Obama Foundation reports they have expanded some streets, created a new field for local school use, and the campus includes a new public library branch, basketball gymnasium for community access, a playground and gardens landscaped to harmonize with the surrounding park.

“The benefit of having this extraordinary facility far outweighs any costs,” Jarrett said. “It’s a symbol to the community of how important they are to us.”

Adam Rubin at the Chicago Architecture Center described it as a successful project thus far, while noting lingering questions about whether trading parkland for the center was justified.

“It really does have a sense of place,” he said of the museum. “Time will tell how people utilize it.”

The newly appointed president of Jackson State University will undergo a full year of specialized leadership coaching as she steps into a position that has experienced significant instability in recent years.

Denise Jones Gregory officially assumed the presidency on May 1 following a year in an interim capacity. She now leads an institution that has cycled through four different presidents over the past six years and faces multiple operational challenges, including insufficient student housing and damaged relationships with graduates stemming from the frequent leadership changes and concerns about the presidential selection process.

The executive coaching Gregory will receive was included in a $97,500 agreement that the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board executed with AGB Search last September, according to documents obtained by Mississippi Today. The company specializes in executive recruitment for higher education institutions.

This represents the first instance of a Jackson State president receiving such specialized training upon taking office.

According to Kim Bobby, a principal with AGB Search, the coaching program helps new presidents understand their institution and surrounding region while developing key relationships with board members, faculty, and community stakeholders. The firm customized the training to acknowledge Jackson State’s important role as a historically Black university, she explained.

“It’s not a generic process,” Bobby said. “It’s really designed looking to initiate a close relationship and establish communication expectations and protocols around the transition.”

Gregory, who graduated from Jackson State, assumes permanent leadership during a challenging period for higher education nationwide, with state legislators increasingly questioning universities’ effectiveness in student preparation and the current presidential administration pressuring institutions to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs while threatening research funding.

University presidents nationwide are serving briefer terms than previously — 5.9 years compared to 8.5 years twenty years ago — according to the American Council on Education.

In an email statement to Mississippi Today, Gregory acknowledged that like all universities, JSU “faces challenges that require steady attention and measurable progress.” She identified key issues including student retention support and providing academic assistance and practical opportunities.

Gregory also highlighted infrastructure concerns that need addressing. The university has difficulty maintaining adequate housing and completing building renovations on time, she noted. However, she pointed to a recent achievement: the university began construction Tuesday on a new dining facility with capacity for 550 people. Multiple housing projects are underway and scheduled for completion next year, she added.

Gregory is also focused on expanding scholarship opportunities and maintaining donor contributions to the university.

“Students and families want to invest in institutions where they can clearly see momentum, opportunity, support and long-term vision, and that is exactly what we are working to build,” she said.

The presidential position at JSU has historically been characterized by instability and leadership controversies.

Carolyn Meyers stepped down from JSU in 2016, leaving behind unresolved financial problems. Her replacement, William B. Bynum Jr., resigned in 2020 following his arrest in a prostitution operation.

The subsequent two presidents, Thomas Hudson and Marcus Thompson, both departed abruptly without providing explanations.

Gregory expressed her intention to provide stability. Moving from interim to permanent status helps “to ensure continuity with strong governance support and an effective transition,” she stated in an email.

University presidents are leaving their positions earlier than in the past due to job pressures and sometimes insufficient preparation, explained Judith Wilde, a George Mason University professor who researches college presidential searches. Training programs like AGB Search provides can assist presidents in managing an increasingly complicated role, she noted.

“I don’t think any president, even if they’ve been president before, is ready to become a president right now,” Wilde said. “Things are so different with the current administration. It has also become a job that is not Monday through Friday, nine to five.”

Presidential search companies engage with graduates, faculty, students and board members throughout the selection process. This provides them with valuable insights that help identify institutional needs, said Felecia Commodore, an education policy professor at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who studies HBCUs.

Female presidents, especially at HBCUs, often face greater scrutiny regarding their leadership capabilities than their male colleagues, Commodore observed. Gregory is the second woman in ten years to hold the permanent position at JSU.

“We see it happen more so with women, especially black women, that after there have been some challenges and sometimes crises at an institution, women are either put in as interim president or president and expected to fix everything,” Commodore said.

Gregory’s nearly year-long experience as JSU’s interim president may facilitate her transition to the permanent role, Wilde suggested.

Gregory informed Mississippi Today in an email that she used the past year building relationships with staff, faculty and leaders throughout the university community.

“If she showed that she is serious and does position herself with the knowledge, skills and expertise to lead a university, that shows her commitment to the institution and serving the community,” Wilde said.

Earlexia Norwood, incoming JSU National Alumni Association president, believes Gregory merits this type of coaching. Alumni have recently disagreed with JSU and IHL regarding presidents not receiving adequate support to lead Mississippi’s largest historically Black university.

“All the support possible should be given to her just like support is given to all Mississippi university presidents,” Norwood said. “That support is well overdue.”

Three members of a Latvian climbing expedition have perished after falling on Alaska’s Mount McKinley near a dangerous area known for multiple fatalities, officials announced Friday.

The mountaineers were part of a seven-person team from the Latvian Mountaineering Association when they fell Wednesday while crossing an area notorious for its hazardous exposed terrain where numerous accidents have previously occurred, according to the National Park Service.

Recovery of the victims’ remains has not yet been possible, park officials stated.

A fourth member of the climbing party who also fell was airlifted off the mountain and remains in critical condition, the Latvian Mountaineering Association confirmed in their announcement.

Weather conditions prevented Denali National Park and Preserve rangers from immediately reaching the accident site where the climbers had fallen.

The accident occurred close to Denali Pass, located approximately 18,200 feet above sea level on North America’s highest peak, which reaches 20,310 feet in elevation.

The remaining three climbers in the expedition provided assistance to their fallen teammates before making their way back to their base camp, park officials reported.

The team was ascending via the West Buttress route, which represents the most frequently used path to reach the summit. This route presents significant challenges including deep crevasses, steep icy terrain, and dangerous exposed ridge lines.

The mountain has claimed more than 130 lives throughout the park’s recorded history.

The section between Denali Pass and the high camp area at approximately 17,000 feet has been the site of numerous climbing accidents and fatalities over the decades, primarily due to unprotected falls, park data shows. The majority of fatal incidents along this pass occur during descent.

To enhance safety, park rangers and experienced mountain guides install and maintain snow pickets in this area, which climbers use to create anchor points for additional protection on steep terrain.

Mount McKinley attracts between 1,000 and 1,200 climbers annually, with most attempts occurring during May and June. A typical expedition requires approximately 17 days, and fewer than half of all climbers successfully reached the summit during the previous year, based on park records.

Last year’s climbing season resulted in two deaths on the mountain, both involving skiers, while rangers conducted 16 medical evacuations, according to park data.

As of Thursday, 516 climbers were currently on the mountain, according to Scott Carr, a park service spokesperson.

In a separate incident Wednesday, two additional climbers not associated with the Latvian group were also evacuated by helicopter, park officials noted.

Atlanta law enforcement officials have launched an internal investigation to identify whether a “high-ranking law enforcement officer” who engaged in sexual conduct with a federal judge in courthouse chambers belongs to their police force.

A federal judge serving in the 11th Judicial Circuit, covering Alabama, Florida and Georgia, was issued a “private reprimand” following a judicial inquiry that determined the judge engaged in “sexual intercourse in the judge’s chambers during business hours within hearing distance of staff” with a senior uniformed police officer.

The investigative findings did not reveal the identities of either the judge or the law enforcement officer, nor did it specify which courthouse within the 11th Circuit served as the location. The Associated Press has not been able to verify the names independently.

When contacted by telephone, William Pryor, the chief judge of the 11th Circuit, who established a committee to examine the accusations that emerged from a complaint filed by one of the judge’s law clerks, refused to provide comment or verify the judge’s identity.

Beyond the extramarital sexual relationship, investigators also determined the judge participated in a partisan political gathering. When initially confronted with these accusations last fall, the judge’s first response was to provide false denials, characterizing the claims as “outrageous” and “baseless.”

Regardless of the severe nature of the violations, the Judicial Council of the 11th Judicial Circuit decided in a February ruling to issue a private reprimand that maintained the judge’s anonymity. The Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the Judicial Conference of the United States upheld that decision last week.

“We need a lot of reform on who judges the judges when they act badly,” Georgia State University law school professor Eric Segall said. “Judges will protect judges.”

Federal judges enjoy protection from significant penalties due to their lifetime tenure and can only face removal through congressional impeachment, which supports the argument for publicly identifying them during disciplinary proceedings, he explained.

“I’m not one who likes to publicly embarrass people, but what else can we do?” Segall said.

Following the initial denials, the judge subsequently acknowledged the wrongdoing and provided honest testimony about the incidents, according to the investigative committee’s findings. The judge also terminated the relationship with the officer, making future similar conduct unlikely, investigators concluded. These circumstances, combined with the judge’s “otherwise exemplary service to the court,” led the committee to suggest a private rather than public reprimand, according to the report.

The judge also consented to compose apology letters to six former law clerks, decline the chief judge position when eligible and avoid serving on any Judicial Conference committee.

However, this misconduct will remain an “elephant in the room” until the judge makes a public acknowledgment of poor judgment, Segall stated.

“When you have a public position of deciding cases and controversies between adverse parties, your judgment and your character are very much in play,” he said. “The very first thing I tell my students is all of you will make mistakes in practice. You own it, you admit to it, you try your best to fix it and only then is it possible to move on.”

A federal immigration enforcement officer has been captured in Texas after being wanted for shooting a Venezuelan man during immigration operations in Minneapolis, officials announced.

Christian Castro, who works for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, was taken into custody on Friday, nearly two weeks after Minneapolis prosecutors filed assault and false reporting charges against him for the January 14 nonfatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.

Minnesota’s Hennepin County prosecutors reported that the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension tracked down Castro, 52, in Texas and coordinated with Department of Homeland Security Inspector General agents and Texas Rangers for his arrest.

“Today’s arrest is a critical step forward in our prosecution of Mr. Castro,” stated Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty.

Court records show no attorney listed for Castro, and it remains unclear whether he has legal representation. Requests for comment were sent to ICE, the Homeland Security Inspector General’s Office and the Texas Rangers.

Castro becomes the second federal agent facing charges related to their actions during the Minnesota enforcement operation, called Operation Metro Surge. ICE Director Todd Lyons has identified him as one of two agents who provided false information about what transpired during the incident.

Prosecutors allege Castro discharged his weapon through the front door of a residence, striking Sosa-Celis in the thigh after Castro and a colleague pursued a different individual, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, to the Minneapolis duplex where both men resided. Both Sosa-Celis and Aljorna had legal status in the United States, according to Moriarty.

Federal officials originally claimed Sosa-Celis and Aljorna attacked an officer using a broom handle and snow shovel. Those charges were later thrown out by a federal judge, prompting ICE and the Justice Department to investigate potential officer misconduct.

Following the announcement of charges, ICE released a statement saying federal prosecutors were examining officer statements and that personnel could face consequences including termination and criminal prosecution. ICE characterized the Hennepin County attorney’s actions as “unlawful and nothing more than a political stunt.” The DHS Inspector General’s Office, which Moriarty acknowledged for helping with the arrest, operates independently from ICE as an oversight body for DHS agencies.

Minneapolis authorities released surveillance footage last month showing the moments leading up to Sosa-Celis’s shooting, recorded by a municipal security camera from a distance.

The footage appears to capture someone holding a snow shovel outside the residence near the street, then moving back toward the house and throwing the shovel into the yard. This occurs as someone being pursued runs up from the street, falls on the sidewalk, gets back up, and continues toward the house.

The three individuals appear to struggle near the front steps for approximately 10 seconds. The precise moment of the shooting is not visible. A vehicle with emergency lights arrives, and another person approaches the scene.

The previous administration deployed thousands of officers to the Minneapolis and St. Paul region as part of President Donald Trump’s nationwide deportation initiative, viewing Operation Metro Surge as successful.

However, the extended operation created growing tensions, and the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers led to widespread civil unrest and scrutiny of officer behavior.

Minnesota officials and the previous administration have disagreed over jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute federal officers for actions taken while on duty.

Moriarty’s office filed assault charges last month against immigration agent Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. for allegedly pointing his weapon at occupants of a vehicle on a highway. He surrendered to authorities last week while his attorney contests the charges.

The county is also examining Good’s and Pretti’s deaths and filed a lawsuit against the previous administration in March seeking access to evidence from those cases and the Sosa-Celis shooting.

Emergency teams continued their search Friday for additional victims following a devastating gas explosion that leveled a Dallas apartment complex and claimed at least three lives, including one child.

The blast occurred Thursday afternoon in the Oak Cliff neighborhood south of downtown Dallas as fire crews were responding to reports of a gas leak. Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesperson Jason Evans confirmed that a child and two adults died in the incident, while at least five other people sustained injuries requiring hospitalization.

The powerful explosion sent shockwaves through surrounding homes before igniting a massive blaze that completely destroyed the two-story residential building. A towering column of black smoke could be seen from miles away following the blast.

Officials have cordoned off multiple blocks around the destruction site with police vehicles and tape. Workers wearing bright yellow safety vests could be observed Friday morning picking through the charred debris while the smell of smoke still lingered in the air. Multiple fire trucks and law enforcement vehicles remained stationed at the scene.

The exact number of residents who lived in the apartment complex remains unknown, and authorities have not ruled out finding more casualties as the search progresses.

Evans indicated that by Thursday evening, firefighters had manually examined less than half the disaster area, noting that some sections would need excavation equipment to properly investigate.

Dallas Fire-Rescue Deputy Chief Mark Berry explained that emergency responders were already en route to address the gas leak when the explosion occurred.

“We had the cavalry coming,” Berry said. “But the explosion had already taken place.”

Atmos Energy, the local natural gas utility, issued a statement saying fire officials informed them that an unaffiliated construction crew had damaged a gas pipeline near the fire location. The company declined to elaborate further but confirmed they had shut off gas service to the area and were cooperating with investigators.

The National Transportation Safety Board announced Friday it would dispatch an investigation team to examine the incident, as the agency handles gas pipeline accident investigations.

Local resident Sherry Woods, whose apartment sits across an alley from the blast site, described smelling gas while sitting outside her front door with her boyfriend moments before the explosion nearly knocked her over.

“All you heard was ‘boom.’ I shook like something was hitting me. It was scary to hear something like that. I felt the building shake,” Woods said.

Emergency officials established a family reunification center at a nearby high school to help locate missing residents. Hours after the fire, Frances Rizo was still attempting to reach her friend who lived in the destroyed building.

“She’s not answering her phone,” Rizo said.

Nearby resident Trish Thompson observed the scene Friday morning from across a grassy field, noting the empty space where the apartment complex had stood just one day earlier. She recalled hearing a “loud rumble, something more like a train to me” and seeing smoke and flames.

“Pray for them,” Thompson said.

For decades, Americans have balanced their influential worldwide presence with a sense of humor and lighthearted self-confidence that transforms potential criticism into something endearing.

Consider, for instance, the iconic cheesehead hat.

Crafted from furniture foam in bright yellow and bold defiance, this headwear emerged in the late 1980s as a response to mockery directed at Wisconsin sports enthusiasts, coming from a state that has historically branded itself as America’s dairy capital.

“Cheeseheads!” shouted residents from nearby Illinois as an insult. Rather than taking offense, Wisconsinites welcomed the label and flipped it completely around — especially when supporting a particular football franchise known as the Green Bay Packers.

Before long, Wisconsin athletic supporters began showing up to games sporting hats designed to look like oversized, textured chunks of cheddar cheese. (While the texture suggested Swiss cheese, American concepts of dairy products, particularly mass-produced varieties, represent yet another element of our national character.)

This phenomenon doesn’t suggest that one state monopolizes amusing headgear, even though the “Wisconsin Cheesehead” now has a place in the Smithsonian’s American History Museum. American athletics — particularly at the collegiate level — features fans who abandon all restraint and don horns or creature ears, or remove shirts to paint their bodies despite bitter cold temperatures.

This seasonal spectacle may be the most vibrant and innocent example of the “Hold my beer” enthusiasm that has characterized multiple generations of Americans both domestically and abroad.

We make noise. We engage in foolish behavior. We form groups around both trivial matters (athletics) and serious ones (today’s political climate).

Our track record includes accidentally achieving remarkable success. “I wasn’t thinking too deeply about it,” Ralph Bruno, the cheesehead hat inventor, previously shared with Milwaukee magazine regarding his creation, which now carries a trademark, belongs to a professional football organization and retails for $28.99 each.

Most importantly — quite literally, given this towering chunk of artificial dairy that might serve as a symbol — Americans are recognized for our capacity to find humor in ourselves.

STAFFORD, Va. — Five people lost their lives and 34 others were rushed to area hospitals after a bus collided with multiple vehicles on Interstate 95 in Virginia early Friday morning, according to state police.

The deadly accident occurred around 2:35 a.m. on the southbound lanes of I-95 in Stafford County. All fatalities were occupants of the vehicles that were struck by the bus, while three of those injured remain in critical condition, authorities reported.

“The preliminary investigation indicates that traffic was slowing southbound for an upcoming work zone,” state police said in a news release. “A bus failed to slow for traffic and struck six vehicles.”

Authorities have not yet disclosed the purpose of the bus or the number of passengers it was carrying.

The incident remains under active investigation with charges pending, according to police.

Highway officials kept southbound traffic lanes shut down for seven hours following the collision, forcing drivers onto alternate routes.

A blaze involving a train car in a rail yard close to New York’s Penn Station left five people injured and caused widespread disruptions to regional rail services during Friday morning’s commute, according to officials.

The incident led to service delays for New Jersey Transit and Amtrak trains heading into New York, while Long Island Rail Road service was temporarily halted. This comes just over a week following a strike that had previously shut down that rail system.

According to a post on X by New Jersey Transit, an Amtrak train car caught fire “in one of the Hudson River tunnels.” The agency reported that the blaze caused “overhead wire damage.”

“Impacts are expected to last through the morning rush hour,” the transit agency stated.

In its own X post, Amtrak announced it had halted service until at least noon Friday because of maintenance work following “from a now extinguished fire in the New York area.” The railroad warned that extended delays were anticipated for trains heading north from New York.

Amtrak did not provide details about the fire incident itself. The company has been contacted for additional information.

According to fire department officials, 100 firefighters were dispatched to battle the early Friday blaze, which resulted in five injuries. Two of the injured individuals required hospital transport. Information about their medical status was not immediately available.

Penn Station, located beneath Madison Square Garden, handles approximately 600,000 passengers each day through Amtrak, the New York subway system, New Jersey Transit and the LIRR.

A nationwide investigation has uncovered how for-profit residential facilities treating troubled teenagers are successfully accessing taxpayer-funded special education dollars, despite mounting concerns about safety at these private institutions.

The Associated Press investigation reveals that these facilities, part of what’s known as the troubled teen industry, continue receiving this funding due to a fragmented special education bureaucracy with significant oversight gaps.

These centers employ several strategies to maximize profits, including establishing individual contracts with school districts and enrolling students from other states — tactics that weaken regulatory supervision. Industry experts note these facilities also exploit a broad disability classification and use a network of educational consultants to generate referrals.

Meg Appelgate, who leads Unsilenced, an organization supporting former residential facility attendees, highlighted the lack of standardized regulations governing how these centers gain approval to provide special education services and the absence of transparency when students report abuse.

“It’s a huge issue,” Appelgate said. “It’s simply got too many holes in it and we have to shut it down.”

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act serves as the federal legislation enabling special education funding for residential placements. These services are outlined in each child’s Individualized Education Program plan, known as an IEP, supported by combined funding from local districts, states, and federal sources.

When the AP contacted education departments in all 50 states, officials indicated that individual school districts bear sole responsibility for ensuring proper use of special education funds. Most agencies reported they don’t monitor private residential placements, while states including Colorado and Maine informed the AP they don’t track students sent to out-of-state facilities.

“(C)hildren enter and exit these institutions frequently,” said Chloe Teboe, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Education.

A 2022 study requested by California lawmakers discovered only half of all states maintain certification processes, with few requiring facility inspections. Most state regulations addressed educational matters while overlooking elements like building safety standards or employee background screening.

This oversight gap becomes problematic as many residential programs depend heavily on students from distant states rather than local enrollees.

Calo Programs, located in Lake Ozarks, Missouri, reports serving children from 30 states as one of the nation’s largest facilities of this type, conducting substantial IEP business with Illinois and California. In 2025, special education funding from these states covered expenses for at least 24 children attending Calo.

Meanwhile, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education reported only two in-state students have been placed at Calo over the past ten years.

In a statement, Calo explained its specialized program attracts students nationwide because it effectively serves IEP students, and the company supports thorough external oversight built into district contracts.

“Calo works with a high-volume of school districts across the country, and those districts can attest to the quality of care, instruction, and academic support we provide to all students,” Calo said in a statement.

Jennifer Rodriguez, who directs the San Francisco-based Youth Law Center, described IEP funding as a problematic loophole in California that puts hundreds of vulnerable children at risk.

Her advocacy organization spearheaded last year’s effort to prohibit adoption subsidies from funding out-of-state facilities. California had previously banned foster care money for similar placements, yet the California Department of Education reports nearly 300 California students have been out of state during the current academic year.

“Education systems are often under a lot of pressure to meet specialized needs,” Rodriguez said. “They have completely different legal mandates, but you know the risk is the same … they’re exposing youth to the same harm — no matter who is funding them.”

California state Sen. Shannon Grove described communication as “broken” after child welfare systems stopped sending foster children out of state, prompting her to champion new legislation last year requiring education officials to conduct in-person student interviews and maintain quarterly phone conversations on unmonitored lines.

“We don’t even have a face-to-face interview with these kids who could be there for months, even years. That’s completely unacceptable,” Grove said.

Special education funding for residential placement frequently depends on the broad “emotional disturbance” disability classification.

Aaron Rachelle Campbell, a special education professor at Lincoln University of Missouri studying this trend, explained that residential centers are overusing this label, which is so expansive it lacks meaningful definition. The category can encompass anything from severe depression to classroom disruption, while the special education process doesn’t involve medical diagnosis determination.

“We don’t always see signs of it at the level that we would say is a (special education) diagnosis,” Campbell said.

Oregon state Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin worked to address this issue by establishing the country’s first registry for private educational consultants frequently hired to help parents secure IEP funding for placement.

Her 2021 legislation, which prohibited consultants from receiving payment from companies for referrals, faced strong industry opposition, including from Calo’s parent company, Embark Behavioral Health, which operates multiple facilities.

“Their argument was that without the education consultants, they would go out of business,” Gelser Blouin said.

Gelser Blouin also reported independently contacting the Embark admissions hotline that year to understand their position and was immediately directed to educational consultant contacts.

“So you go to the consultant and $10,000 later, they make a recommendation to you, which likely will include one of the facilities that is with Embark or many of those facilities,” Gelser Blouin said. “It’s this whole big racket.”

Calo disputed having any financial arrangements with educational consultants.

“In all cases, our relationship with referral partners is focused solely on supporting the families they refer to our care,” the company said in a statement.

Imy Wax, an educational consultant working in the Chicago area, stated that she and other credible professionals associated with the Independent Educational Consultants Association would never accept company payments for referrals.

She noted the current increase in families seeking IEP funding for residential programs has occurred alongside significant cost increases for such placements.

“What I’m seeing is that parents are financially frightened,” Wax said. “I see much more leaning into the school system than I did in the past.”

During this week’s news cycle, several notable developments captured attention across different sectors, according to a recent news quiz summary.

The pontiff directed criticism toward artificial intelligence technology, marking another instance of religious leadership weighing in on modern technological advances.

In the automotive sector, a luxury vehicle manufacturer made its initial move into the electric vehicle marketplace, signaling continued industry shifts toward electrification.

Additionally, a first lady generated headlines with an unexpected statement, adding to the week’s collection of surprising political commentary.

The quiz format highlights these diverse stories spanning technology policy, business developments, and political news from the past week.

Despite living in an era where physical paper plays a diminished role compared to previous generations, vintage paper collectibles continue to captivate enthusiasts. At a recent paper show in Pennsylvania, younger collectors who grew up in the digital world were spotted browsing for vintage postcards and comic books.

The event showcased how paper ephemera maintains its appeal even among those who have never known a world without smartphones and tablets. These collectors, born into the digital age, are finding value and interest in tangible pieces of history that previous generations once used in their daily lives.

A devastating blast at a Dallas apartment building has claimed the lives of at least three individuals, including one child, according to local officials. Emergency responders continue searching the scene as authorities warn additional casualties may be discovered.

The deadly incident occurred at a residential complex in the Texas city, though officials have not yet released details about what caused the explosion or the current condition of other residents who may have been affected.

DES MOINES, Iowa — A former school district leader in Iowa’s most populous district will discover Friday the length of his prison term for making false citizenship claims and unlawfully having weapons. His incarceration would precede expected deportation proceedings.

Ian Roberts, who hails from the South American nation of Guyana, entered guilty pleas in January to both charges, which could result in up to 20 years behind bars. Defense attorneys are requesting probation “to facilitate his removal from the United States,” while federal prosecutors seek a 37-month prison term — slightly more than three years — based on court filings.

Federal authorities accused Roberts of knowingly working without proper employment authorization throughout nearly his entire 20-year tenure in city school systems and providing a fake Social Security card when hired to lead the Des Moines public schools, an organization educating 30,000 students.

The remarkable case has spanned the academic year from Roberts’ September 26 arrest through Friday’s sentencing proceedings. Des Moines Public Schools announced last month it updated its conflict-of-interest guidelines following an audit that revealed Roberts directed district contracts to a consulting company where he had employment ties, confirming earlier Associated Press reporting from weeks after immigration authorities apprehended him.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers targeted Roberts and conducted a traffic stop while he drove his district-provided Jeep Cherokee. Officials say he attempted to escape before state troopers helped locate him. Law enforcement discovered a loaded firearm wrapped in cloth beneath the vehicle’s seat along with $3,000 in currency. Investigators found three additional weapons when searching his residence.

Defense lawyers stated in court papers that Roberts devoted his American life to serving the public and, while he failed to follow federal regulations, posed no danger to community safety. Following Roberts’ marriage to an American citizen, his legal team explained, immigration officials rejected his application for permanent residency because he hadn’t revealed a previous arrest. Roberts claimed he believed disclosure wasn’t necessary since prosecutors had dismissed those charges.

“While Dr. Roberts tried to adjust his status three more times, this initial mistake by Dr. Roberts sealed his fate,” his attorneys wrote. “In the background of his career for the next 24 years, this denial of his adjustment of status haunted Dr. Roberts like a ghost, eventually derailing his life and career.”

Numerous individuals wrote character references supporting Roberts to challenge his public portrayal and highlight his positive contributions. His defense team emphasized he likely faces removal to Guyana, where he will “be left without his career, without his wife, without his children, in a country where he has not lived for thirty years,” they wrote. “While it is the correct outcome, it is also going to already be incredibly harsh on Dr. Roberts.”

Federal prosecutors stated Roberts “placed his self-interest above the law and the duty he owed the public he served.” In seeking the three-year term, prosecutors outlined years of intentional misrepresentation regarding his immigration status. They indicated uncertainty about which documents Roberts used to demonstrate work eligibility from 2008 onward, years before receiving temporary authorization in 2018, but noted he “deliberately obtained employment without work authorization at school after school, within state after state” while aware of his unlawful presence.

Prosecutors maintained this history should influence the judge’s sentencing decision, arguing that potential deportation alone doesn’t justify a lighter punishment.

Roberts “cultivated a public image grounded in integrity, leadership, and authenticity,” prosecutors wrote. Yet, he “engaged in conduct that undermined those values.”

WASHINGTON — The weight of expectations followed Shrey Parikh into the Scripps National Spelling Bee as a top contender, but his self-assurance was evident each time he received a familiar word. When the competition ultimately came down to a lightning-round showdown with Ishaan Gupta, Shrey delivered a decisive performance.

The 14-year-old transformed what had been a tight, high-caliber championship into a commanding victory Thursday evening, blazing through the 90-second “spell-off” and correctly spelling 32 words to claim the title of America’s top young speller. Ishaan managed 25 correct spellings during the tiebreaker round.

Hailing from Rancho Cucamonga, California, Shrey had previously placed third in 2024 but suffered a setback at his school competition last year while fighting illness. Since then, he has dominated spelling competitions, claiming victories in multiple online contests against many of the same competitors he defeated this week in the nation’s capital. His championship prize includes a personalized trophy and $52,500 in prize money.

“Right now I’m probably the happiest I’ve ever been. I’m just so happy and relieved, and just such a flood of emotions,” Shrey said. “At my school bee last year, I was really dejected and just very upset. It didn’t even sink in until the next day. I had a really tough time, but I’m glad I was able to bounce back.”

Ishaan, a 12-year-old seventh-grader from Jersey City, New Jersey, had reached the semifinals previously, exceeded expectations by outperforming seasoned competitors in the finals, and remains eligible for next year’s competition.

Sarv Dharavane, a 12-year-old sixth-grader from Dunwoody, Georgia, claimed third place for the second year running and has two additional opportunities to better that result.

This marks the first time in the competition’s history that both second- and third-place finishers from a previous year have gone on to claim victory. Faizan Zaki captured last year’s title after finishing as runner-up two years prior, just ahead of Shrey, who is his close friend.

Dressed in business-casual attire featuring a dark, long-sleeved collared shirt, khakis and sneakers, the tall Shrey approached the microphone wearing a serious, nervous expression that immediately disappeared when he heard his word from pronouncer Jacques Bailly and nodded enthusiastically — his signature indication that he recognized the word.

When the announcement declared his spell-off victory, Shrey turned and offered his competitor a handshake.

His triumph can be attributed to rigorous preparation. Shrey worked with three coaches: Sam Evans, who has guided each of the last three champions; Sohum Sukhatankar, himself a co-champion in 2019; and Vijaya Ganesh, a veteran coach and mother of a former competitor. He engaged in continuous practice against other elite spellers, studied advanced materials thoroughly, and worked to minimize the factors that had caused the few surprising defeats in his extensive spelling career.

“The school bee last year was a blessing in disguise,” said Shrey’s father, Gaurav Parikh. “That’s very important in life to experience, you know, ups and downs. You’re not going to win everything. You’re going to learn how to deal with setbacks.”

Past competitors, coaches and other experts characterized this year’s finalists as exceptionally talented, and they demonstrated their abilities early by achieving a perfect 18-for-18 start, sailing through the initial spelling and vocabulary segments. Aiden Meng of Orinda, California, broke that perfect streak when he stumbled on “catometope” at the beginning of the second spelling round.

The audience then reacted with surprise when the elimination bell sounded for two contestants considered championship contenders: Oliver Halkett for “Faesulae” and Zwe Spacetime for “vaesite,” words featuring challenging etymological origins and vowel combinations.

The competition’s relocation to Constitution Hall, which had drawn criticism from spellers and their families due to logistical challenges, actually enhanced the event’s energy, with more intimate seating arrangements and improved sightlines bringing spectators closer to the competition.

New television host Mina Kimes of ESPN provided smooth commentary alongside veteran bee analyst Paul Loeffler.

One element absent from the new venue: The traditional confetti shower when the winner was announced. Shrey’s celebration remained subdued and respectful. However, there was no question that he had earned his victory.

“Shrey’s relentless,” Evans said. “I’ve really never seen someone put this much effort into spelling bees and learning everything that he possibly can.”

A 14-year-old student from Rancho Cucamonga, California, claimed victory at the Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday evening, taking home the $50,000 grand prize after a dramatic spell-off finale.

Shrey Parikh, an eighth-grader, outperformed his competitor by correctly spelling 32 words in a 90-second rapid-fire round. His opponent, 12-year-old seventh-grader Ishaan Gupta from Jersey City, New Jersey, managed 25 correct spellings from the same word list while sequestered during Parikh’s attempt.

The two finalists reached the climactic showdown after successfully navigating 18 rounds without a single misspelling during the final day of competition. Competition officials implemented the spell-off format in 2021 following the 2019 event that concluded with eight co-champions who continued spelling words without error.

According to event organizers, Parikh’s championship word was “bromocriptine,” defined by the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary as “a polypeptide alkaloid that is a derivative of ergot and mimics the activity of dopamine.”

Parikh secured his spot in the spell-off by successfully spelling “Philepitta,” a genus of Madagascan birds, while Gupta matched his performance in the 18th round with “Ertebolle” — referring to an Early Neolithic or Late Mesolithic culture in the Baltic region.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee stands as one of America’s most recognized academic competitions, with roots dating back to 1925 when the Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper launched a national spelling contest for students.

Throughout the years, the competition has transformed into an intensely competitive event attracting hundreds of participants from throughout the United States and internationally.

Participants earn their spots through local and regional competitions, tackling challenging and unusual words by often constructing unfamiliar terms using knowledge of etymology, pronunciation and meaning.

A total of 247 finalists, all 15 years old or younger, participated in the three-day televised national championship at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington.

A federal judge issued a decision Thursday determining that executions using nitrogen gas do not breach the Constitution’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, dismissing claims from an Alabama death row prisoner that the method inflicts excessive pain.

The decision followed the nation’s first comprehensive court trial examining whether this execution technique violates constitutional protections. Eight individuals have been put to death using this method – seven in Alabama and one in Louisiana. The court’s finding allows Alabama and additional states to proceed with nitrogen gas executions and represents a defeat for opponents who anticipated a thorough review of Alabama’s procedures would end its implementation.

This execution technique, initially implemented in 2024, requires securing a breathing apparatus over the condemned person’s face and substituting regular air with pure nitrogen gas, resulting in death through oxygen deprivation. Death row prisoner Jeffery Lee filed the legal challenge last year. The 58-year-old Lee faces execution by nitrogen gas on June 11 at a prison in southern Alabama.

“While Lee establishes that death by nitrogen hypoxia involves some suffering, he fails to show that the protocol is cruel and unusual in violation of the Eighth Amendment,” U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks wrote.

Legal representatives for both the state and Lee disagreed about the duration inmates remain conscious during nitrogen gas executions. Judge Marks determined the evidence demonstrates Alabama’s procedure “likely causes severe air hunger —the most severe form of breathing discomfort — for one to three minutes” but concluded this did not constitute a constitutional breach.

Lee’s legal team has indicated through court documents they plan to appeal the ruling.

The Alabama attorney general commended the judge’s ruling.

“After the first full trial on nitrogen hypoxia in the entire country, the district court found it to be constitutional. The district court considered all the evidence and concluded that nitrogen hypoxia is not cruel and unusual, affirming that the question of capital punishment belongs to the people and their representatives, not the courts, to resolve,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said.

Condemned individuals executed through nitrogen gas have exhibited varying degrees of trembling during the procedures, with state and defense attorneys disagreeing whether these movements are involuntary responses or indicators of distress. Alabama’s most recent nitrogen gas execution required more than 30 minutes to finish.

Judge Marks observed that Lee confronted a difficult legal standard since the U.S. Supreme Court has not determined any state’s execution method constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, five states have approved nitrogen gas for executions, though only two have actually implemented it.

Lee received a capital murder conviction for the deaths of Ellis and Thompson on Dec. 12, 1998, close to the small community of Orrville, Alabama. Prosecutors stated Lee entered a pawn shop carrying a sawed-off shotgun and fatally shot Jimmy Ellis, the shop’s owner, and Elaine Thompson, an employee.

A jury decided 7-5 that Lee should receive life imprisonment. Nevertheless, a judge overturned that recommendation and imposed a death sentence. Alabama eliminated the judicial override practice in 2017 and no longer permits judges to reject jury sentencing decisions in capital cases.

Lee’s attorneys did not provide an immediate response to the decision.

“The real torture of the death penalty is in the decades of waiting. With what we know about each of the available methods of being killed in Alabama or in the U.S., I can’t imagine anyone choosing conscious suffocation,” said Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, a group that opposes the death penalty.

He noted that Lee would not receive the death penalty if sentenced under current law since judicial override has been eliminated.

A woman from Ghana who is expecting a baby has been confined with her young son for over a week in a room without windows at Washington Dulles International Airport, despite entering the country legally, according to her legal representatives.

Annabella Gyasi, 38, and her four-year-old child arrived at the airport last Tuesday with plans to travel to Ohio for medical treatment. The boy, who was born with hand deformities, had a scheduled May 30 appointment at Akron Children’s Hospital to determine if he was ready for surgical intervention, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia stated in emergency court filings.

The family had previously visited the United States in 2024 seeking medical treatment but returned home when doctors determined the child was not yet old enough for the procedure.

However, U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained both mother and child after Gyasi, who is more than four months into her pregnancy, expressed fears about returning to Ghana due to persecution they had experienced there, her attorneys stated.

“Ms. Gyasi legally traveled to the U.S. to get necessary medical care for her son, but the illegal detention and inhumane treatment that she’s experiencing at Dulles is endangering her son’s health as well as her own,” said Sophia Gregg, senior immigrants’ rights attorney at the ACLU of Virginia.

Federal immigration authorities disputed claims of mistreatment.

“These allegations are false,” the Department of Homeland Security responded. “Everyone in CBP custody, including this individual, has access to appropriate care, including medical evaluation by a doctor, medication, and food.”

During her time in custody, Gyasi has required emergency hospital care on two occasions due to pregnancy-related complications, including bleeding and dizziness, but was brought back to the detention facility each time, her legal team reported. Medical staff during one hospital visit “expressed concern that she was not eating enough in detention and was over-stressed,” according to the civil liberties organization.

The mother repeatedly requested additional food for herself and her child from detention officers but was refused, her lawyers stated.

Concerned about her unborn child’s welfare, Gyasi told officials she would prefer deportation rather than continue without adequate nutrition. Food was provided only after she signed deportation paperwork, her attorneys said.

Her legal team subsequently informed Customs and Border Protection personnel that she had agreed to deportation only due to desperate circumstances.

Court documents from U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema revealed that immigration authorities claimed Gyasi could not legally enter using tourist visas and was being prepared for expedited removal because she had “admitted under oath that she came to the United States in order to seek asylum and her intent was not to leave the United States to return to Ghana.”

Judge Brinkema has scheduled oral arguments for Friday.

A federal judge conducted an extramarital relationship with a senior police officer — including engaging in sexual activity within courthouse chambers during working hours that court staff could hear — and initially denied the conduct before ultimately receiving only a confidential reprimand while staying in position, according to a judicial system investigation.

The 11th Judicial Circuit’s Judicial Council, covering Alabama, Florida and Georgia, issued a February ruling ordering the private reprimand. The United States Judicial Conference’s Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability upheld that decision last week. Authorities did not reveal the judge’s identity or specific courthouse location within the circuit.

While federal judges serve lifetime appointments, they face potential disciplinary measures including censure, public or private reprimands, and temporary case suspensions. Congressional impeachment represents the only removal method.

The investigation determined the judge and the unnamed officer engaged in “sexual intercourse in the judge’s chambers during business hours within hearing distance of staff” and that the judge attended a partisan political gathering. Initially, the judge called these claims “outrageous” and rejected them entirely.

When deciding on the confidential reprimand that protected the judge’s anonymity, the committee considered that the judge withdrew her false denials. The committee also determined the judge would probably not repeat such behavior, noting the relationship had ended and the judge promised to avoid partisan political activities going forward. The committee additionally weighed the judge’s “otherwise exemplary service to the court.”

“Although the special committee is deeply troubled by the conduct in which the judge engaged, the Subject Judge has demonstrated a strong propensity for rehabilitation and continued diligent service to the judiciary,” the committee’s report says.

Lester Tate, an attorney who frequently represents Georgia judges facing state judicial system misconduct charges, characterized the penalty as a “slap on the wrist.”

“I’m shocked that there was not a more severe punishment for the false statements that were made by this judge during the course of the investigation,” he said, adding that he always advises his clients that it is best to tell the truth.

Someone with a lifetime appointment who judges others must be truthful about their own shortcomings, and most people would probably consider “being held up for a little public scorn” fitting in this situation, Tate said.

The investigation began when one of the judge’s law clerks reported the judge had participated in sexual conduct with an officer repeatedly in the judicial office. Additional allegations included improper clerk supervision and an incident where the judge shouted and used profanity toward staff members.

William Pryor, the 11th Circuit’s chief judge, requested the judge address these allegations. The judge responded immediately and “specifically denied” every claim. In a subsequent email the following day, the judge suggested to Pryor that the law clerk might have fabricated the allegations as revenge for mandatory office work requirements. Pryor formed a special investigative committee.

The committee’s examination of entry logs and security recordings revealed an officer had regularly visited the judge’s chambers wearing uniform during lunch periods. Six clerks recalled observing someone matching the officer’s appearance, with three remembering hearing what could have been sexual activity from the judge’s office.

Three clerks remembered bringing summer interns on their initial day to observe the judge conducting a criminal case hearing. Immediately afterward, they informed the committee, the judge refused to have lunch with the interns, admitting to consuming too many martinis the previous evening at a primary election celebration for a district attorney friend.

The clerks reported the judge failed to provide adequate guidance and “rarely, if ever, substantively edited civil orders the clerks drafted.” While clerks described an “eggshell culture,” the committee found no evidence of abusive conduct.

The judge eventually confessed to maintaining an extramarital sexual relationship with the officer but rejected the staff mistreatment allegations, the committee documented. The judge acknowledged attending a “mixer” for former district attorney’s office employees, where the judge previously worked, but claimed it occurred in a separate room from the victory celebration.

The judge also agreed to compose apology letters to six former law clerks, decline the district chief judge position when eligible, and avoid serving on any Judicial Conference committees.

DENALI NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE, Alaska — Emergency teams are working to locate four mountaineers who tumbled down Alaska’s Mount McKinley, the continent’s highest mountain, according to Thursday reports from the National Park Service.

Officials have not determined the status of the fallen climbers after the incident was reported to park rangers during overnight hours, with rescue teams waiting for favorable weather to deploy helicopters to the location, according to an agency announcement. The mountaineers were members of a seven-person expedition.

The remaining three team members provided assistance to those who had fallen before heading back to their base location, the announcement states. The accident happened close to Denali Pass, at approximately 18,200 feet (5,547 meters). The climbing party retreated to what’s called high camp at roughly 17,000 feet (5,181 meters), the announcement states. McKinley reaches approximately 20,310 feet (6,190 meters).

Throughout the years, numerous mountaineering accidents and fatalities have taken place on the route connecting high camp and Denali Pass, primarily due to falls without proper safety equipment, the park reports.

Park officials and mountaineering instructors set up and service snow pickets — devices used to create anchoring systems for additional safety on challenging terrain like steep inclines — along the route from high camp to Denali Pass, according to the park. Mountaineers are encouraged to carry their own pickets should the safety equipment installed by officials and instructors be absent or covered by snowfall.

The park service reported that atmospheric conditions on the peak were getting better and would allow helicopter rescue missions shortly. The department did not provide immediate responses to requests for additional details.

A standard mountaineering period for Mount McKinley starts in late April and runs through mid-July, the park states. Officials could not immediately confirm the current number of climbers attempting the ascent.

On Wednesday, two different climbers were airlifted from the mountain by helicopter at approximately 11 p.m. in an unrelated emergency, though park officials stated they had no further details to provide.

A Manhattan courtroom was notably empty Thursday when Randy Santos received his sentence for the brutal murders of four homeless men he attacked with a metal pipe while they slept on city streets.

No family members or friends were present to share memories of Florencio Moran, Nazario Vásquez Villegas, Anthony Manson, or Chuen Kok, whose lives were cut short during Santos’ violent spree through Manhattan’s Chinatown area nearly seven years ago. Nobody was there to confront Santos directly about his mental illness-driven attacks or witness his apology.

Nobody watched as he received a sentence of 40 years to life behind bars.

“There are no victim impact statements here today. There’s nobody here to tell this court about their lives and how their absence is a loss,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Alfred Peterson told Judge Laura A. Ward.

“But I’m certain this court and this city understands the value of every life, and the gift of life that we’re afforded to live and make choices and have free will,” Peterson said, haltingly and emotionally at times. “That gift was taken away by Randy Santos.”

Santos, who was found guilty in February of first-degree murder, sat quietly with his court-appointed attorneys, using headphones to hear a Spanish interpreter translate the proceedings. A Chinatown activist who had organized Kok’s funeral observed from the gallery, sitting near Santos’ family members.

Speaking to the court in English, the 31-year-old defendant asked for a shorter sentence that would give him the chance to “be somebody” once released from prison.

Santos explained to the judge that his mental state — which defense attorneys said had convinced him he needed to murder 40 people or face death himself — “is much better now” thanks to daily medication. He vowed to spend his incarceration completing his education, improving his English skills, and learning job skills.

“I just want to say, I’m very sorry for what I did,” Santos said. “I apologize to the people for what I did. I feel very bad about what I did. I wish it never happened.”

Ward characterized Santos’ situation as representing the “coming together of three horrible symptoms of this city: homelessness, mental illness and narcotics abuse.” She noted these factors “are the constant in all our violent crime cases.”

Peterson described the case as “a study in how the life of a young man can go off track so horribly,” adding that Santos “clearly has his own challenges in life, much like the victims.”

During the trial, Santos’ defense team contended that his schizophrenia diagnosis, which came months prior to the killings, had filled his mind with irrational beliefs and made him violent. They unsuccessfully attempted to persuade jurors that he bore no criminal responsibility for the murders and should receive psychiatric treatment rather than imprisonment.

Since his arrest, Santos has moved between jail and psychiatric facilities multiple times.

“We ask that Mr. Santos not be sentenced to die in prison,” defense lawyer Arnold Levine told Ward, requesting a 20-year to life sentence. “He is not incorrigible or beyond redemption or hope.”

Ward expressed sympathy for Santos but said she struggled with the “difficult time getting past the fact that Mr. Santos targeted the most vulnerable people in our society. People who were doing nothing but sleeping on the street, homeless.”

The prosecution had sought a 50-year to life sentence. Beyond the murder convictions, Santos was also found guilty of attempted murder for attacks that seriously wounded two additional men.

Prior to announcing the sentence, Ward reviewed surveillance footage of the assaults. The video evidence included scenes of Santos repeatedly raising a 4-foot (1.2 meter) metal bar above his head before striking one victim’s head.

Witnesses included a couple on a date who observed Santos attacking another man with the same weapon, which he had picked up from the street, according to prosecutors. The only person to survive the 30-minute attack spree, 49-year-old David Hernandez, who was critically wounded, managed to reach a nearby street where officers were attempting to save another Santos victim.

Officers apprehended Santos while he was still carrying the blood-covered bar. Laboratory analysis revealed his DNA on one end and victims’ blood on the other, prosecutors stated. The victims’ ages spanned from 39 to 83 years old.

Following Santos’ removal from the courtroom in handcuffs, Chinatown activist Karlin Chan expressed that the sentencing provides the community with closure.

“He knew what he was doing,” Chan said, rejecting Santos’ apology as insincere. “At the end of the day here, he’s going to a place where he deserves to be: jail.”