Florida
Captain charged in boat crash that killed 3 girls from Miami sailing camp
A tugboat captain has been charged in a deadly Miami collision that killed three girls from a sailing camp, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
Yusiel Lopez Insua, 46, of Miami, faces a charge of seaman’s manslaughter in the July collision, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Insua didn’t have a clear view as the tugboat pushed a barge full of construction debris in Biscayne Bay, according to the office. There was also no one assigned as lookout as it sailed through the body of water sandwiched between Miami and Miami Beach, the office said.
The sailboat was carrying a counselor and five girls when it stalled in the barge’s path, and Insua didn’t see it before the collision, according to the statement. The girls were ages 7 to 13, while the counselor was 19, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The counselor and two girls were dragged under the barge, but were able to escape. The other three became trapped in the wreckage and drowned, according to the office.
“Our hearts are with the families of the children who lost their lives in this tragedy,” Jason Reding Quiñones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said in a statement. “This information alleges a preventable loss of life on our waterways, including the failure to follow basic maritime safety rules and cellphone use during transit at or near the time of the collision.”
The internet had also been accessed on Insua’s cellphone around the time of the collision, according to a forensic review.
Insua faces up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted.
The Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida did not immediately respond to queries about whether Insua has a lawyer.
Four of the children were rushed to a hospital, where a 7-year-old and 13-year-old were pronounced dead, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Days later, the Coast Guard said that a 10-year-old who had been in critical condition had also died.
The sailing boat had been submerged beneath the barge in Biscayne Bay, where there are several small islands, including Star Island, peppered with ritzy mansions.
The children were in their last week of camp, according to the Miami Yacht Club.
Across the U.S. in 2024, there were over 550 deaths in recreational boating, but only a sliver of those — 43 — were caused by vessels crashing into each other, according to Coast Guard statistics.
Rhode Island
Judge rules that HUD effort to change criteria for homeless funding is unlawful
A federal judge in Rhode Island ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration’s effort to dramatically change the criteria to get tens of millions of dollars in funding to aid homeless people was unlawful.
Several nonprofits filed a lawsuit last year accusing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development of changing the rules for receiving $75 million to build housing for homeless families and individuals. The plaintiffs accused the Trump administration of issuing a new Notice of Funding Opportunity, or NOFO, for the Continuum of Care Builds program to better align with its social policies.
U.S District Judge Mary McElroy, nominated by President Donald Trump, said the department’s “slapdash imposition of political whims” was unlawful and she ordered it to scrap the new policy.
“Once again, this Court is faced with a case in which an executive agency has made a last-minute decision to make major, disruptive changes to grants within its purview, all for the express purpose of accomplishing the current administration’s policy objectives,” McElroy said in her ruling that the NOFO violated the Administrative Procedure Act, a law governing how federal agencies develop and issue regulations.
A spokesperson for HUD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Advocates for plaintiffs welcomed the ruling.
“For more than three decades, the federal government has supported housing providers and communities through HUD’s programs to help people experiencing homelessness move into stable housing,” Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, co-counsel for the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “We are pleased that the court has stopped the Trump-Vance administration from holding life-saving funding hostage to a political agenda.”
Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, said the ruling was “a victory for people across this nation who have overcome homelessness and stabilized in HUD’s permanent housing programs.”
“Today’s news reinforces a fundamental truth: that the work to end homelessness is not partisan, and never should be interfered with for political means,” Oliva said in a statement.
Plaintiffs argued the Trump administration was aiming to upend polices in place for decades to satisfy its political considerations, including whether jurisdictions “support sanctuary protections, harm reduction practices, or inclusive policies for transgender people.”
The Alliance and the Women’s Development Corporation argued that HUD lacked the authority to make the changes, adding that the new award process was “shockingly unlawful” and would “irreparably injure qualified applicants for these funds and the communities they serve.”
In its court filings, HUD argued the new criteria was an effort “to ensure the availability of funding to protect our Nation’s most vulnerable individuals and families from the trauma of homelessness while simultaneously promoting self-sufficiency.”
“Defendants acted reasonably and prudently because the NOFO conditions, focusing on public safety, cooperation with law enforcement and prohibitions on illegal drug use, are sufficiently related to the funding goals of self-sufficiency and reduction of trauma,” HUD wrote.
Colorado
Judge throws out DOJ lawsuit challenging sanctuary laws
DENVER (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday threw out a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit accusing Colorado and Denver of interfering with the enforcement of immigration laws.
The lawsuit claimed the state and its most populous city passed “sanctuary laws” violating the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. At issue were four state laws and two Denver laws that limit the use of resources for immigration enforcement and protect the rights and personal information of immigrants.
U.S. District Judge Gordon P. Gallagher said the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 1997 case that the federal government can’t “dragoon” state officers into carrying out federal law. He granted requests from Colorado and Denver officials to dismiss the lawsuit, concluding that “Colorado and Denver have the right to refuse to expend their resources to implement a federal regulatory program.”
The Department of Justice didn’t immediately return an after-hours request for comment.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston welcomed the ruling.
“Today’s ruling makes clear that we cannot be required to use local resources to enforce federal policies,” he said in a statement.
The Department of Justice filed similar lawsuits targeting state or city policies seen as interfering with immigration enforcement, including those in Los Angeles, New York City and Minnesota and cities there. A federal judge dismissed a case challenging Chicago’s laws last year.
There is no strict definition for sanctuary policies or sanctuary cities, but the terms generally describe limited local cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE enforces U.S. immigration laws nationwide but seeks state and local help, particularly for large-scale deportations, and requests that police and sheriffs alert it about people it wants to deport and hold them until federal officers take custody.
New York
Pioneering female NFL official sues league over her treatment, firing
NEW YORK (AP) — In a new lawsuit, one of the first three women to officiate an NFL game describes her three years at the pinnacle of her profession as a descent into the grip of a sexist institution unable to treat a woman as an equal.
Robin DeLorenzo cited gender-based scrutiny, humiliation and open hostility among the indignities she suffered from 2022 to 2025 as a league official.
The lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, filed Friday, sought reinstatement along with unspecified damages.
Brian McCarthy, an NFL spokesperson, said in an email that DeLorenzo was terminated after three seasons of documented underperformance.
“The allegations in this lawsuit are baseless, and we will vigorously defend against them in court,” he said.
A message seeking comment from the NFL Referees Association was not immediately returned.
In a 2023 interview with NFL.com, DeLorenzo described her thrill at progressing at her father’s urging through the ranks of officiating at the high school and college levels until the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating allowed her father to deliver the news to her that she had been promoted to the NFL.
“Once he gave me the news, my dad and I just stared at each other crying for about five minutes,” she told NFL.com. “It was the most magical night.”
The lawsuit, though, suggested that the magic quickly ended when the longtime New Jersey resident reported for duty after being sent man-sized clothing to wear and being told to let her ponytail show out the hole in the back of her hat, apparently to make clear a woman was on the field. It said repeated references to her hair eventually made her want to cut it off.
The lawsuit asserted that an NFL officials’ crew chief told then-Pittsburgh Steelers’ Coach Mike Tomlin one day during training camp that she should be made to sing in front of everyone, like rookie football players, because she was a new official.
As a result, she said, she “put on an utterly humiliating singing performance” in front of the Steelers’ players, all the men on her officiating crew and her boss, who she said had promised not to record her but did so anyway, according to the lawsuit.
In the following weeks, she was repeatedly shamed, harassed and subjected to profanity-laced trash talk by her crew chief, a man who had recently been accused of mistreating another female employee, the lawsuit said. By the end of the season, the crew chief would not even speak to her, it added.
In 2024, DeLorenzo was forced to attend “an alleged training opportunity,” over her union’s objection, that catered to lower-level college officials learning the trade — something no male official had ever been required to do, the lawsuit said.
“It was a male power play that served its purpose of humiliating plaintiff, shattering her confidence, and significantly hindering her NFL career,” the lawsuit said.
DeLorenzo was fired on Feb. 18, 2025.
“She worked her way through two decades of officiating — breaking barriers, making history, and outperforming expectations at every level — only to be met with hostility, retaliation, and systemic inequality the moment she stepped into a league that claims to champion opportunities for women,” the lawsuit said.
“Instead of supporting one of the only women on its officiating staff, the NFL exposed her to unchecked harassment, denied her the resources given to men, manipulated her training and grading opportunities, and ultimately ended her career based on tainted evaluations created by the very people who discriminated against her,” it said.
The lawsuit said the harm to her career was irreversible and the emotional and reputational damage was immense.
Captain charged in boat crash that killed 3 girls from Miami sailing camp
A tugboat captain has been charged in a deadly Miami collision that killed three girls from a sailing camp, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
Yusiel Lopez Insua, 46, of Miami, faces a charge of seaman’s manslaughter in the July collision, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Insua didn’t have a clear view as the tugboat pushed a barge full of construction debris in Biscayne Bay, according to the office. There was also no one assigned as lookout as it sailed through the body of water sandwiched between Miami and Miami Beach, the office said.
The sailboat was carrying a counselor and five girls when it stalled in the barge’s path, and Insua didn’t see it before the collision, according to the statement. The girls were ages 7 to 13, while the counselor was 19, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The counselor and two girls were dragged under the barge, but were able to escape. The other three became trapped in the wreckage and drowned, according to the office.
“Our hearts are with the families of the children who lost their lives in this tragedy,” Jason Reding Quiñones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said in a statement. “This information alleges a preventable loss of life on our waterways, including the failure to follow basic maritime safety rules and cellphone use during transit at or near the time of the collision.”
The internet had also been accessed on Insua’s cellphone around the time of the collision, according to a forensic review.
Insua faces up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted.
The Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida did not immediately respond to queries about whether Insua has a lawyer.
Four of the children were rushed to a hospital, where a 7-year-old and 13-year-old were pronounced dead, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Days later, the Coast Guard said that a 10-year-old who had been in critical condition had also died.
The sailing boat had been submerged beneath the barge in Biscayne Bay, where there are several small islands, including Star Island, peppered with ritzy mansions.
The children were in their last week of camp, according to the Miami Yacht Club.
Across the U.S. in 2024, there were over 550 deaths in recreational boating, but only a sliver of those — 43 — were caused by vessels crashing into each other, according to Coast Guard statistics.
Rhode Island
Judge rules that HUD effort to change criteria for homeless funding is unlawful
A federal judge in Rhode Island ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration’s effort to dramatically change the criteria to get tens of millions of dollars in funding to aid homeless people was unlawful.
Several nonprofits filed a lawsuit last year accusing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development of changing the rules for receiving $75 million to build housing for homeless families and individuals. The plaintiffs accused the Trump administration of issuing a new Notice of Funding Opportunity, or NOFO, for the Continuum of Care Builds program to better align with its social policies.
U.S District Judge Mary McElroy, nominated by President Donald Trump, said the department’s “slapdash imposition of political whims” was unlawful and she ordered it to scrap the new policy.
“Once again, this Court is faced with a case in which an executive agency has made a last-minute decision to make major, disruptive changes to grants within its purview, all for the express purpose of accomplishing the current administration’s policy objectives,” McElroy said in her ruling that the NOFO violated the Administrative Procedure Act, a law governing how federal agencies develop and issue regulations.
A spokesperson for HUD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Advocates for plaintiffs welcomed the ruling.
“For more than three decades, the federal government has supported housing providers and communities through HUD’s programs to help people experiencing homelessness move into stable housing,” Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, co-counsel for the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “We are pleased that the court has stopped the Trump-Vance administration from holding life-saving funding hostage to a political agenda.”
Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, said the ruling was “a victory for people across this nation who have overcome homelessness and stabilized in HUD’s permanent housing programs.”
“Today’s news reinforces a fundamental truth: that the work to end homelessness is not partisan, and never should be interfered with for political means,” Oliva said in a statement.
Plaintiffs argued the Trump administration was aiming to upend polices in place for decades to satisfy its political considerations, including whether jurisdictions “support sanctuary protections, harm reduction practices, or inclusive policies for transgender people.”
The Alliance and the Women’s Development Corporation argued that HUD lacked the authority to make the changes, adding that the new award process was “shockingly unlawful” and would “irreparably injure qualified applicants for these funds and the communities they serve.”
In its court filings, HUD argued the new criteria was an effort “to ensure the availability of funding to protect our Nation’s most vulnerable individuals and families from the trauma of homelessness while simultaneously promoting self-sufficiency.”
“Defendants acted reasonably and prudently because the NOFO conditions, focusing on public safety, cooperation with law enforcement and prohibitions on illegal drug use, are sufficiently related to the funding goals of self-sufficiency and reduction of trauma,” HUD wrote.
Colorado
Judge throws out DOJ lawsuit challenging sanctuary laws
DENVER (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday threw out a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit accusing Colorado and Denver of interfering with the enforcement of immigration laws.
The lawsuit claimed the state and its most populous city passed “sanctuary laws” violating the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. At issue were four state laws and two Denver laws that limit the use of resources for immigration enforcement and protect the rights and personal information of immigrants.
U.S. District Judge Gordon P. Gallagher said the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 1997 case that the federal government can’t “dragoon” state officers into carrying out federal law. He granted requests from Colorado and Denver officials to dismiss the lawsuit, concluding that “Colorado and Denver have the right to refuse to expend their resources to implement a federal regulatory program.”
The Department of Justice didn’t immediately return an after-hours request for comment.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston welcomed the ruling.
“Today’s ruling makes clear that we cannot be required to use local resources to enforce federal policies,” he said in a statement.
The Department of Justice filed similar lawsuits targeting state or city policies seen as interfering with immigration enforcement, including those in Los Angeles, New York City and Minnesota and cities there. A federal judge dismissed a case challenging Chicago’s laws last year.
There is no strict definition for sanctuary policies or sanctuary cities, but the terms generally describe limited local cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE enforces U.S. immigration laws nationwide but seeks state and local help, particularly for large-scale deportations, and requests that police and sheriffs alert it about people it wants to deport and hold them until federal officers take custody.
New York
Pioneering female NFL official sues league over her treatment, firing
NEW YORK (AP) — In a new lawsuit, one of the first three women to officiate an NFL game describes her three years at the pinnacle of her profession as a descent into the grip of a sexist institution unable to treat a woman as an equal.
Robin DeLorenzo cited gender-based scrutiny, humiliation and open hostility among the indignities she suffered from 2022 to 2025 as a league official.
The lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, filed Friday, sought reinstatement along with unspecified damages.
Brian McCarthy, an NFL spokesperson, said in an email that DeLorenzo was terminated after three seasons of documented underperformance.
“The allegations in this lawsuit are baseless, and we will vigorously defend against them in court,” he said.
A message seeking comment from the NFL Referees Association was not immediately returned.
In a 2023 interview with NFL.com, DeLorenzo described her thrill at progressing at her father’s urging through the ranks of officiating at the high school and college levels until the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating allowed her father to deliver the news to her that she had been promoted to the NFL.
“Once he gave me the news, my dad and I just stared at each other crying for about five minutes,” she told NFL.com. “It was the most magical night.”
The lawsuit, though, suggested that the magic quickly ended when the longtime New Jersey resident reported for duty after being sent man-sized clothing to wear and being told to let her ponytail show out the hole in the back of her hat, apparently to make clear a woman was on the field. It said repeated references to her hair eventually made her want to cut it off.
The lawsuit asserted that an NFL officials’ crew chief told then-Pittsburgh Steelers’ Coach Mike Tomlin one day during training camp that she should be made to sing in front of everyone, like rookie football players, because she was a new official.
As a result, she said, she “put on an utterly humiliating singing performance” in front of the Steelers’ players, all the men on her officiating crew and her boss, who she said had promised not to record her but did so anyway, according to the lawsuit.
In the following weeks, she was repeatedly shamed, harassed and subjected to profanity-laced trash talk by her crew chief, a man who had recently been accused of mistreating another female employee, the lawsuit said. By the end of the season, the crew chief would not even speak to her, it added.
In 2024, DeLorenzo was forced to attend “an alleged training opportunity,” over her union’s objection, that catered to lower-level college officials learning the trade — something no male official had ever been required to do, the lawsuit said.
“It was a male power play that served its purpose of humiliating plaintiff, shattering her confidence, and significantly hindering her NFL career,” the lawsuit said.
DeLorenzo was fired on Feb. 18, 2025.
“She worked her way through two decades of officiating — breaking barriers, making history, and outperforming expectations at every level — only to be met with hostility, retaliation, and systemic inequality the moment she stepped into a league that claims to champion opportunities for women,” the lawsuit said.
“Instead of supporting one of the only women on its officiating staff, the NFL exposed her to unchecked harassment, denied her the resources given to men, manipulated her training and grading opportunities, and ultimately ended her career based on tainted evaluations created by the very people who discriminated against her,” it said.
The lawsuit said the harm to her career was irreversible and the emotional and reputational damage was immense.
