California
American Arab group sues over state’s new antisemitism law
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee is challenging a new California law designed to protect Jewish students from discrimination, arguing it is unconstitutionally vague and violates their free speech rights.
The federal complaint, filed Sunday in San Jose, seeks to invalidate legislation Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last month, creating an Office of Civil Rights to help schools identify and prevent antisemitism. State lawmakers approved the legislation as political tensions have flared in the U.S. over Israel’s war in Gaza.
The new law, which takes effect Jan. 1, does not define antisemitism but gives educators the impression that they could be charged with discrimination “if they expose their students to ideas, information, and instructional materials that may be considered critical of the State of Israel and the philosophy of Zionism,” according to the complaint.
Jenin Younes, national legal director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, says the lack of guidance has a chilling effect on speech among educators.
“They censor themselves very broadly because they don’t know what’s going to get them into trouble,” she said.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of individual teachers and students in California public schools, and the Los Angeles Educators for Justice in Palestine.
In the complaint, middle school science teacher Jonah Olson, says students at his rural, largely Christian school district, often ask him what it means to be Jewish. He responds in part by saying that his Judaism does not include support for the State of Israel, and now he fears that might violate the law.
Parents who are part of the lawsuit say they fear their children will be prevented from learning about differing perspectives on Israel, Palestinians and the Middle East.
Students in public schools nationwide are generally protected against discrimination through state, federal and district policies, but supporters of the law say they needed to do more given a surge in harassment and bullying of Jewish and Israeli students.
The Anti-Defamation League, which supports the new law, said 860 antisemitic acts such as harassment, vandalism and assault were reported to the group last year at non-Jewish K-12 schools nationwide. The number is a 26% decrease from the previous year but much higher than the 494 reported in 2022.
New York
Driver convicted of murder after his truck plowed into a July 4 barbecue, killing 4
NEW YORK (AP) — A driver who crashed his pickup truck into a July Fourth barbecue and killed four people was convicted Monday of murder in the 2024 wreck in a New York City park.
A Manhattan judge delivered the verdict in Daniel Hyden’s trial, where victims’ relatives, survivors and witnesses described how a holiday gathering of friends and relatives suddenly became a horrific scene when the truck jumped a curb, tore through a chain-link fence and barreled into the group.
Ana Morel, 43; Emily Ruiz, 30; Lucille Pinkney, 59; and a nephew, Herman Pinkney, 38, were killed in the crash in Corlears Hook Park on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
“These individuals tragically died because of Mr. Hyden’s irresponsible, callous, criminal actions,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told reporters after the verdict. Seven other crash victims suffered injuries that still afflict many of them, he said.
Hyden, 46, of Monmouth, New Jersey, also was convicted of assault and aggravated vehicular homicide, Bragg’s office said.
Text and email messages seeking comment were sent to Hyden’s attorney.
Less than an hour before the wreck, Hyden was refused entry to a nearby party boat and clashed with security, according to testimony from police who responded to the boat scuffle. The officers testified that they didn’t witness anything warranting an arrest at that point, so they walked him to a park bench and departed.
He subsequently got behind the wheel of a Ford F-150.
Prosecutors argued that Hyden — who wrote a 2020 book about coping with addiction — was drunk, was speeding and didn’t hit the brakes until half a second before he hit the crowd, trapping four people beneath the truck. Prosecutors said he then tried to put the vehicle in reverse, but witnesses grabbed the keys to stop him.
Hyden’s lawyer suggested that the man had a foot injury that complicated his driving.
New York
State Attorney General Letitia James seeks to block Trump administration’s subpoenas
New York Attorney General Letitia James is challenging the legitimacy of the acting U.S. attorney in Albany as she pushes back against the Trump administration’s investigation of cases she brought against the president and the National Rifle Association, according to court documents unsealed Friday.
James in August filed a motion to block subpoenas issued by acting U.S. Attorney John Sarcone for records related to the legal actions, claiming the Justice Department’s probe of the cases was retaliatory.
She also argued that Sarcone had been improperly appointed to his position and, as a result, lacked legitimate authority to authorize the subpoenas.
The subpoenas seek records related to a major civil case the Democrat James filed against President Donald Trump over alleged fraud in his personal business dealings. Another subpoena seeks records from a lawsuit involving the National Rifle Association and two senior executives.
Dozens of court documents in the case have been filed under seal in U.S. District Court since August. A federal judge in Manhattan late Friday granted James’ motion to unseal most of the entries, making them public over the objection of the Justice Department.
Judge Lorna Schofield, however, has not yet ruled on the motion to quash the subpoenas.
“Unsealing this action is not only permissible but compelled,” she wrote. “One simple fact drives this conclusion: the information at issue is not secret.”
An email seeking comment was sent to Sarcone’s office. A phone message was not immediately returned late Friday.
James has accused the Trump administration of using the justice system as a “tool of revenge” against adversaries. The attorney general has sued Trump and his Republican administration dozens of times over his policies as president and over how he conducted his private business empire.
In October, James was indicted in a federal mortgage fraud case the president pressed the Justice Department to bring. She pleaded not guilty Monday allegations she lied on mortgage papers to get favorable loan terms when purchasing a house in Norfolk, Virginia, where she has family.
In her motion to quash Sarcone’s subpoenas, James cited anonymous media reports that they were part of a grand jury investigation into allegations that James violated Trump’s civil rights in 2022 when her office sued Trump, then a private businessman.
She argued Sarcone lacked authority to issue the subpoenas because he was improperly appointed by the Trump administration.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Sarcone to serve as the interim U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York in March. With the expiration of the 120-day interim term, Bondi designated him as first assistant U.S. attorney for the district, essentially improperly extending his role as acting U.S. attorney, according to James.
James’ lawyers in the mortgage fraud case have said they intend to challenge the appointment of the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, on similar grounds.
The indictment in that case followed the resignation of Erik Siebert as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Siebert was replaced with Halligan, a White House aide and former Trump lawyer who had never previously served as a federal prosecutor, and presented James’ case to the grand jury herself.
Indiana
Fired student newspaper adviser claims free speech violation in federal lawsuit
A faculty adviser for Indiana University’s student newspaper filed a federal lawsuit Thursday arguing his free speech and due process rights were violated when he was fired for refusing to ensure no news stories appeared in the homecoming print edition earlier this month.
A lawyer for the adviser, Jim Rodenbush, said it’s a case seeking “to have a court state that the First Amendment still matters.”
Rodenbush, in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, seeks reinstatement to his job and monetary damages. He was dismissed Oct. 14 for his “lack of leadership and ability to work in alignment with the university’s direction for the Student Media Plan,” according to David Tolchinsky, dean of the university’s media school, who also ended the newspaper’s print product.
“The question is if a university doesn’t like the content of the student newspaper, can it simply pull the plug on the student newspaper,” Rodenbush’s attorney, Jonathan Little, said.
Phone and email messages were left for university spokespersons. The school issued a statement earlier this month saying it was shifting publication from print to digital platforms for educational and financial purposes.
Editors of the Indiana Daily Student announced Thursday that the university backtracked on its decision to cut future print editions for the rest of the school year. Chancellor David Reingold authorized the paper to use its established printing budget through June 30, 2026. The next issue is scheduled to print Nov. 20.
Reingold said Thursday in a letter to the editors of the student paper that he recognizes the university “has not handled recent decisions as well as we should have.”
The chancellor noted that the “personnel matter” and the budget-related decision to pause printing fueled a perception that the school was trying to censor editorial content. He reminded editors that the paper is “not immune to the financial realities of this campus.”
“Let me be clear: my decision had nothing to do with editorial content of the IDS,” Reingold said. “And contrary to what has been posted on social media and published, Indiana University has never attempted to censor editorial content, period.”
In their own letter Thursday, student editors Mia Hilkowitz and Andrew Miller disagreed with the chancellor, saying the administration’s actions constituted censorship.
Subsidized by $250,000 a year because of dwindling ad revenue, the Indiana Daily Student, regularly honored as among the nation’s best collegiate news organizations, had its weekly print editions reduced to seven special sections a year. Rodenbush said this fall, administrators questioned why the special sections still had hard news content.
“Telling student journalists what they can and cannot include in a newspaper is censorship of ‘editorial content’ by any definition,” wrote Hilkowitz and Miller.
Rodenbush told Tolchinsky editorial decisions belonged to the student staff alone before Tolchinsky fired him and terminated future print editions.
The dismissal came days before the scheduled publication of the paper’s homecoming edition, which would have greeted tens of thousands of alumni returning to Bloomington to celebrate the undefeated Hoosiers football team, currently ranked No. 2 nationally.
“In a direct assault on the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, IU fired James Rodenbush when he refused the directive to censor student work in the campus newspaper and print only fluff pieces about the upcoming homecoming festivities,” the complaint reads.
American Arab group sues over state’s new antisemitism law
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee is challenging a new California law designed to protect Jewish students from discrimination, arguing it is unconstitutionally vague and violates their free speech rights.
The federal complaint, filed Sunday in San Jose, seeks to invalidate legislation Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last month, creating an Office of Civil Rights to help schools identify and prevent antisemitism. State lawmakers approved the legislation as political tensions have flared in the U.S. over Israel’s war in Gaza.
The new law, which takes effect Jan. 1, does not define antisemitism but gives educators the impression that they could be charged with discrimination “if they expose their students to ideas, information, and instructional materials that may be considered critical of the State of Israel and the philosophy of Zionism,” according to the complaint.
Jenin Younes, national legal director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, says the lack of guidance has a chilling effect on speech among educators.
“They censor themselves very broadly because they don’t know what’s going to get them into trouble,” she said.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of individual teachers and students in California public schools, and the Los Angeles Educators for Justice in Palestine.
In the complaint, middle school science teacher Jonah Olson, says students at his rural, largely Christian school district, often ask him what it means to be Jewish. He responds in part by saying that his Judaism does not include support for the State of Israel, and now he fears that might violate the law.
Parents who are part of the lawsuit say they fear their children will be prevented from learning about differing perspectives on Israel, Palestinians and the Middle East.
Students in public schools nationwide are generally protected against discrimination through state, federal and district policies, but supporters of the law say they needed to do more given a surge in harassment and bullying of Jewish and Israeli students.
The Anti-Defamation League, which supports the new law, said 860 antisemitic acts such as harassment, vandalism and assault were reported to the group last year at non-Jewish K-12 schools nationwide. The number is a 26% decrease from the previous year but much higher than the 494 reported in 2022.
New York
Driver convicted of murder after his truck plowed into a July 4 barbecue, killing 4
NEW YORK (AP) — A driver who crashed his pickup truck into a July Fourth barbecue and killed four people was convicted Monday of murder in the 2024 wreck in a New York City park.
A Manhattan judge delivered the verdict in Daniel Hyden’s trial, where victims’ relatives, survivors and witnesses described how a holiday gathering of friends and relatives suddenly became a horrific scene when the truck jumped a curb, tore through a chain-link fence and barreled into the group.
Ana Morel, 43; Emily Ruiz, 30; Lucille Pinkney, 59; and a nephew, Herman Pinkney, 38, were killed in the crash in Corlears Hook Park on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
“These individuals tragically died because of Mr. Hyden’s irresponsible, callous, criminal actions,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told reporters after the verdict. Seven other crash victims suffered injuries that still afflict many of them, he said.
Hyden, 46, of Monmouth, New Jersey, also was convicted of assault and aggravated vehicular homicide, Bragg’s office said.
Text and email messages seeking comment were sent to Hyden’s attorney.
Less than an hour before the wreck, Hyden was refused entry to a nearby party boat and clashed with security, according to testimony from police who responded to the boat scuffle. The officers testified that they didn’t witness anything warranting an arrest at that point, so they walked him to a park bench and departed.
He subsequently got behind the wheel of a Ford F-150.
Prosecutors argued that Hyden — who wrote a 2020 book about coping with addiction — was drunk, was speeding and didn’t hit the brakes until half a second before he hit the crowd, trapping four people beneath the truck. Prosecutors said he then tried to put the vehicle in reverse, but witnesses grabbed the keys to stop him.
Hyden’s lawyer suggested that the man had a foot injury that complicated his driving.
New York
State Attorney General Letitia James seeks to block Trump administration’s subpoenas
New York Attorney General Letitia James is challenging the legitimacy of the acting U.S. attorney in Albany as she pushes back against the Trump administration’s investigation of cases she brought against the president and the National Rifle Association, according to court documents unsealed Friday.
James in August filed a motion to block subpoenas issued by acting U.S. Attorney John Sarcone for records related to the legal actions, claiming the Justice Department’s probe of the cases was retaliatory.
She also argued that Sarcone had been improperly appointed to his position and, as a result, lacked legitimate authority to authorize the subpoenas.
The subpoenas seek records related to a major civil case the Democrat James filed against President Donald Trump over alleged fraud in his personal business dealings. Another subpoena seeks records from a lawsuit involving the National Rifle Association and two senior executives.
Dozens of court documents in the case have been filed under seal in U.S. District Court since August. A federal judge in Manhattan late Friday granted James’ motion to unseal most of the entries, making them public over the objection of the Justice Department.
Judge Lorna Schofield, however, has not yet ruled on the motion to quash the subpoenas.
“Unsealing this action is not only permissible but compelled,” she wrote. “One simple fact drives this conclusion: the information at issue is not secret.”
An email seeking comment was sent to Sarcone’s office. A phone message was not immediately returned late Friday.
James has accused the Trump administration of using the justice system as a “tool of revenge” against adversaries. The attorney general has sued Trump and his Republican administration dozens of times over his policies as president and over how he conducted his private business empire.
In October, James was indicted in a federal mortgage fraud case the president pressed the Justice Department to bring. She pleaded not guilty Monday allegations she lied on mortgage papers to get favorable loan terms when purchasing a house in Norfolk, Virginia, where she has family.
In her motion to quash Sarcone’s subpoenas, James cited anonymous media reports that they were part of a grand jury investigation into allegations that James violated Trump’s civil rights in 2022 when her office sued Trump, then a private businessman.
She argued Sarcone lacked authority to issue the subpoenas because he was improperly appointed by the Trump administration.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Sarcone to serve as the interim U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York in March. With the expiration of the 120-day interim term, Bondi designated him as first assistant U.S. attorney for the district, essentially improperly extending his role as acting U.S. attorney, according to James.
James’ lawyers in the mortgage fraud case have said they intend to challenge the appointment of the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, on similar grounds.
The indictment in that case followed the resignation of Erik Siebert as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Siebert was replaced with Halligan, a White House aide and former Trump lawyer who had never previously served as a federal prosecutor, and presented James’ case to the grand jury herself.
Indiana
Fired student newspaper adviser claims free speech violation in federal lawsuit
A faculty adviser for Indiana University’s student newspaper filed a federal lawsuit Thursday arguing his free speech and due process rights were violated when he was fired for refusing to ensure no news stories appeared in the homecoming print edition earlier this month.
A lawyer for the adviser, Jim Rodenbush, said it’s a case seeking “to have a court state that the First Amendment still matters.”
Rodenbush, in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, seeks reinstatement to his job and monetary damages. He was dismissed Oct. 14 for his “lack of leadership and ability to work in alignment with the university’s direction for the Student Media Plan,” according to David Tolchinsky, dean of the university’s media school, who also ended the newspaper’s print product.
“The question is if a university doesn’t like the content of the student newspaper, can it simply pull the plug on the student newspaper,” Rodenbush’s attorney, Jonathan Little, said.
Phone and email messages were left for university spokespersons. The school issued a statement earlier this month saying it was shifting publication from print to digital platforms for educational and financial purposes.
Editors of the Indiana Daily Student announced Thursday that the university backtracked on its decision to cut future print editions for the rest of the school year. Chancellor David Reingold authorized the paper to use its established printing budget through June 30, 2026. The next issue is scheduled to print Nov. 20.
Reingold said Thursday in a letter to the editors of the student paper that he recognizes the university “has not handled recent decisions as well as we should have.”
The chancellor noted that the “personnel matter” and the budget-related decision to pause printing fueled a perception that the school was trying to censor editorial content. He reminded editors that the paper is “not immune to the financial realities of this campus.”
“Let me be clear: my decision had nothing to do with editorial content of the IDS,” Reingold said. “And contrary to what has been posted on social media and published, Indiana University has never attempted to censor editorial content, period.”
In their own letter Thursday, student editors Mia Hilkowitz and Andrew Miller disagreed with the chancellor, saying the administration’s actions constituted censorship.
Subsidized by $250,000 a year because of dwindling ad revenue, the Indiana Daily Student, regularly honored as among the nation’s best collegiate news organizations, had its weekly print editions reduced to seven special sections a year. Rodenbush said this fall, administrators questioned why the special sections still had hard news content.
“Telling student journalists what they can and cannot include in a newspaper is censorship of ‘editorial content’ by any definition,” wrote Hilkowitz and Miller.
Rodenbush told Tolchinsky editorial decisions belonged to the student staff alone before Tolchinsky fired him and terminated future print editions.
The dismissal came days before the scheduled publication of the paper’s homecoming edition, which would have greeted tens of thousands of alumni returning to Bloomington to celebrate the undefeated Hoosiers football team, currently ranked No. 2 nationally.
“In a direct assault on the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, IU fired James Rodenbush when he refused the directive to censor student work in the campus newspaper and print only fluff pieces about the upcoming homecoming festivities,” the complaint reads.
