Alaska
Wildlife agents can kill bears from helicopters, judge says
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska wildlife agents can resume shooting and killing black and brown bears — including from helicopters — as part of a plan to help recover a caribou herd that was once an important source of food for Alaska Native hunters, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Two conservation groups, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and Center for Biological Diversity, sought to halt the program while their lawsuit challenging its legality plays out. But Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman said the groups had failed to show that the state acted without a reasonable basis for approving the plan.
The timing of the ruling is important: The Mulchatna caribou herd in southwest Alaska is expected to begin calving soon. The babies are particularly susceptible to being eaten by bears or wolves.
State officials see the bear-killing program as important to helping the caribou herd recover. The herd, which once provided up to about 4,770 caribou a year for subsistence hunters from dozens of communities, peaked at around 190,000 animals.
But the caribou population began declining in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and by 2019 numbered around 13,000 animals. Last year, the population was estimated around 16,280, according to the state Department of Fish and Game. Hunting has not been allowed since 2021.
The state killed 180 bears from 2023 to 2024, most of them brown bears, plus 11 more last year, according to the conservation groups’ lawsuit. The groups argue that the Alaska Board of Game last year authorized reinstating the program without key data on the bears’ population numbers and sustainability.
Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the groups want to see the caribou herd thrive, “but the state simply hasn’t shown that the unrestrained killing of bears is going to help us get there.”
State attorneys have said that officials took a “hard look” at factors related to bear numbers in adopting the plan.
“The herd has persisted at low numbers but started showing a positive response since 2023, when bear removal during calving seasons began,” they wrote in a court filing.
The Alaska Department of Law welcomed Zeman’s decision “to allow this management program to continue during the upcoming caribou calving season, a crucial time for herd recovery,” spokesperson Sam Curtis said by email. The department represents the board and Department of Fish and Game.
Attorneys with Trustees for Alaska, representing the conservation groups, are reviewing the ruling and “will consider all available options,” spokesperson Madison Grosvenor said by email.
The program has been the subject of ongoing litigation. A judge last year, in a case previously brought by the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, found fault with the process in which it was adopted and concluded the state lacked data on bear sustainability.
Emergency regulations implemented by the state were later struck down. A subsequent public process was announced surrounding plans to reauthorize the program, which the board did last July.
California
Justice Dept. finds UCLA medical school illegally used race in admissions
The Justice Department found Wednesday that the medical school at the University of California, Los Angeles, illegally considered race in admissions as the Trump administration ramps up scrutiny of colleges’ processes for selecting students.
The finding escalates the Trump administration’s ongoing standoff with UCLA, which has focused mostly on the main campus’s response to allegations of antisemitic harassment.
The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA said in a written statement that its admission process is “based on merit” and that it is committed to complying with state and federal laws. It said it is reviewing the Justice Department findings.
Affirmative action in college admissions has been illegal since a 2023 Supreme Court ruling forbade it. The same ruling said colleges could continue to assess how applicants’ backgrounds might speak to broader characteristics, but Trump has accused colleges of using applicants’ personal statements and other proxies to consider race in admissions, which conservatives view as illegal discrimination.
In March, the Justice Department opened investigations into possible race-based discrimination in medical school admissions at Stanford, Ohio State and the University of California, San Diego. The Trump administration previously targeted undergraduate admissions at selective colleges, demanding they collect data to show they are complying with the Supreme Court ruling.
A year-long investigation into UCLA by the Justice Department found its medical school discriminated against white and Asian American students by favoring Black and Hispanic applicants.
As part of its evidence, the department cited data showing admitted students who were Black or Hispanic had lower average grade-point averages and test scores in 2023 and 2024. Among Black students admitted in 2024, the average GPA was 3.72, for example, compared with 3.84 for Asian Americans and 3.83 for white students.
The department says that’s evidence the medical school was using non-academic factors to achieve diversity goals.
“As a result of these practices, highly qualified White, Asian, and other students were denied admission on the basis of their race,” said Harmeet Dhillon, head of the department’s Civil Rights Division, in a letter of findings.
The department also took issue with an application document inviting students to volunteer whether they are part of a marginalized group and, if so, to discuss its impact. The question was included in the application process in 2024 and 2025, the department said.
California voters ended affirmative action in college admissions in a 1997 ballot measure. In a brief filed in the Supreme Court case, the UC system said the change led to a precipitous drop in underrepresented minorities, especially at the system’s most selective campuses.
The brief said UC went on to implement “numerous and wideranging race-neutral measures designed to increase diversity of all sorts, including racial diversity.” Even so, the system said it had struggled to increase campus diversity.
The Trump administration finding sets the stage for a voluntary resolution to bring UCLA into compliance with the Justice Department’s legal interpretation or, if none can be reached, potential legal action. Penalties could include a loss of federal funding.
In March, a coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit challenging a Trump administration policy that requires higher education institutions to collect data showing they aren’t considering race in admissions.
New York
Trump seeks to halt $83M payment in sexual abuse case
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s lawyer, hoping for an eventual Supreme Court victory, has asked a federal appeals court in New York to temporarily block a longtime columnist from collecting an $83 million defamation award.
The lawyer, Justin D. Smith, told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a filing Tuesday to stay its decision supporting the award so that Trump won’t have to pay writer E. Jean Carroll while he appeals to the high court.
A Manhattan jury awarded Carroll the payout in January 2024. Another jury in May 2023 awarded Carroll $5 million after concluding Trump sexually abused her in a Manhattan luxury department store dressing room in 1996 and then defamed her after she published her account of it in 2019.
Trump has vehemently denied sexually abusing Carroll or ever knowing her and has repeatedly accused her of making accusations against him for political purposes or to promote her memoir.
In court papers filed with the 2nd Circuit, Smith told the appeals court that Carroll’s lawyer does not oppose the request for a stay as long as Trump increases the bond posted after the verdict by $7.4 million to cover any post-judgment interest that would accrue during a possible Supreme Court review.
Attorney Roberta Kaplan, who represents Carroll, declined comment through a spokesperson.
Smith told the 2nd Circuit that Trump “will suffer irreparable harm” if he must pay Carroll now because she has said publicly that she plans to give the award away, meaning the president would not be able to recover the money if the high court reverses the verdict.
Smith said there was a “reasonable probability” that the Supreme Court will take up an appeal in part based on Trump’s insistence that he has absolute immunity from a lawsuit stemming from statements he made while he was president.
In support of his request, Smith cited arguments in a dissent by three 2nd Circuit judges to a decision last week in which the appeals court refused to put the case before all of the court’s active judges, leaving standing a three-judge panel’s September decision upholding the verdict.
He wrote that there was “at least a fair prospect that the Supreme Court will reverse the Panel.”
California
Search warrant served at home connected to killer of California college student Kristin Smart
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (AP) — Authorities served a search warrant Wednesday at a home connected to the man convicted of killing 19-year-old college student Kristin Smart in 1996, according to law enforcement and media reports.
Her remains were never found and she was declared legally dead in 2002. Paul Flores was convicted in October 2022 and ultimately sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that the search in the central coast town of Arroyo Grande is related to the ongoing investigation into Smart’s disappearance. Flores’ mother, Susan Flores, lives at the home, according to public records and reporting by a podcast that has closely followed the case.
“The Sheriff’s Office remains committed to bringing Kristin home to her family,” the sheriff’s statement said. “No further information is available.”
The “Your Own Backyard” podcast, which helped investigators crack the case by bringing forward additional witnesses, first reported the search and said the home belongs to Flores’ mother. Attempts to reach Susan Flores for comment were not immediately successful. The search was ongoing Wednesday afternoon.
Kristin Smart went missing from California Polytechnic State University in May 1996. Prosecutors alleged she was killed during an attempted rape and that the last person she was seen with was Flores, a fellow student.
Flores and his father, Ruben Flores, were arrested in 2021.
Prosecutors alleged Smart’s remains were buried on Ruben Flores’ property and later moved. He was acquitted of accessory charges. That property is different from the one searched on Wednesday.
Paul Flores was sentenced in March 2023 to prison, where he has been physically attacked at least twice.
In 2024, a judge ruled that Paul Flores must pay just over $350,000 to Smart’s family for costs they incurred after her death.
The family has said it would forgo restitution if Flores would tell them where Kristin’s body was. Flores’ attorney, Harold Mesick, said in 2024 that the defense did not know where her remains are. Flores maintains his innocence.
The county district attorney’s office said it was helping the sheriff’s office with the investigation.
“While those responsible for Kristin’s death — and those with knowledge of her whereabouts — could provide answers at any time, we remain firmly committed to using every lawful tool available to locate Kristin’s remains and to support her family until she is brought home,” District Attorney Dan Dow said in a statement.
Wildlife agents can kill bears from helicopters, judge says
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska wildlife agents can resume shooting and killing black and brown bears — including from helicopters — as part of a plan to help recover a caribou herd that was once an important source of food for Alaska Native hunters, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Two conservation groups, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and Center for Biological Diversity, sought to halt the program while their lawsuit challenging its legality plays out. But Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman said the groups had failed to show that the state acted without a reasonable basis for approving the plan.
The timing of the ruling is important: The Mulchatna caribou herd in southwest Alaska is expected to begin calving soon. The babies are particularly susceptible to being eaten by bears or wolves.
State officials see the bear-killing program as important to helping the caribou herd recover. The herd, which once provided up to about 4,770 caribou a year for subsistence hunters from dozens of communities, peaked at around 190,000 animals.
But the caribou population began declining in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and by 2019 numbered around 13,000 animals. Last year, the population was estimated around 16,280, according to the state Department of Fish and Game. Hunting has not been allowed since 2021.
The state killed 180 bears from 2023 to 2024, most of them brown bears, plus 11 more last year, according to the conservation groups’ lawsuit. The groups argue that the Alaska Board of Game last year authorized reinstating the program without key data on the bears’ population numbers and sustainability.
Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the groups want to see the caribou herd thrive, “but the state simply hasn’t shown that the unrestrained killing of bears is going to help us get there.”
State attorneys have said that officials took a “hard look” at factors related to bear numbers in adopting the plan.
“The herd has persisted at low numbers but started showing a positive response since 2023, when bear removal during calving seasons began,” they wrote in a court filing.
The Alaska Department of Law welcomed Zeman’s decision “to allow this management program to continue during the upcoming caribou calving season, a crucial time for herd recovery,” spokesperson Sam Curtis said by email. The department represents the board and Department of Fish and Game.
Attorneys with Trustees for Alaska, representing the conservation groups, are reviewing the ruling and “will consider all available options,” spokesperson Madison Grosvenor said by email.
The program has been the subject of ongoing litigation. A judge last year, in a case previously brought by the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, found fault with the process in which it was adopted and concluded the state lacked data on bear sustainability.
Emergency regulations implemented by the state were later struck down. A subsequent public process was announced surrounding plans to reauthorize the program, which the board did last July.
California
Justice Dept. finds UCLA medical school illegally used race in admissions
The Justice Department found Wednesday that the medical school at the University of California, Los Angeles, illegally considered race in admissions as the Trump administration ramps up scrutiny of colleges’ processes for selecting students.
The finding escalates the Trump administration’s ongoing standoff with UCLA, which has focused mostly on the main campus’s response to allegations of antisemitic harassment.
The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA said in a written statement that its admission process is “based on merit” and that it is committed to complying with state and federal laws. It said it is reviewing the Justice Department findings.
Affirmative action in college admissions has been illegal since a 2023 Supreme Court ruling forbade it. The same ruling said colleges could continue to assess how applicants’ backgrounds might speak to broader characteristics, but Trump has accused colleges of using applicants’ personal statements and other proxies to consider race in admissions, which conservatives view as illegal discrimination.
In March, the Justice Department opened investigations into possible race-based discrimination in medical school admissions at Stanford, Ohio State and the University of California, San Diego. The Trump administration previously targeted undergraduate admissions at selective colleges, demanding they collect data to show they are complying with the Supreme Court ruling.
A year-long investigation into UCLA by the Justice Department found its medical school discriminated against white and Asian American students by favoring Black and Hispanic applicants.
As part of its evidence, the department cited data showing admitted students who were Black or Hispanic had lower average grade-point averages and test scores in 2023 and 2024. Among Black students admitted in 2024, the average GPA was 3.72, for example, compared with 3.84 for Asian Americans and 3.83 for white students.
The department says that’s evidence the medical school was using non-academic factors to achieve diversity goals.
“As a result of these practices, highly qualified White, Asian, and other students were denied admission on the basis of their race,” said Harmeet Dhillon, head of the department’s Civil Rights Division, in a letter of findings.
The department also took issue with an application document inviting students to volunteer whether they are part of a marginalized group and, if so, to discuss its impact. The question was included in the application process in 2024 and 2025, the department said.
California voters ended affirmative action in college admissions in a 1997 ballot measure. In a brief filed in the Supreme Court case, the UC system said the change led to a precipitous drop in underrepresented minorities, especially at the system’s most selective campuses.
The brief said UC went on to implement “numerous and wideranging race-neutral measures designed to increase diversity of all sorts, including racial diversity.” Even so, the system said it had struggled to increase campus diversity.
The Trump administration finding sets the stage for a voluntary resolution to bring UCLA into compliance with the Justice Department’s legal interpretation or, if none can be reached, potential legal action. Penalties could include a loss of federal funding.
In March, a coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit challenging a Trump administration policy that requires higher education institutions to collect data showing they aren’t considering race in admissions.
New York
Trump seeks to halt $83M payment in sexual abuse case
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s lawyer, hoping for an eventual Supreme Court victory, has asked a federal appeals court in New York to temporarily block a longtime columnist from collecting an $83 million defamation award.
The lawyer, Justin D. Smith, told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a filing Tuesday to stay its decision supporting the award so that Trump won’t have to pay writer E. Jean Carroll while he appeals to the high court.
A Manhattan jury awarded Carroll the payout in January 2024. Another jury in May 2023 awarded Carroll $5 million after concluding Trump sexually abused her in a Manhattan luxury department store dressing room in 1996 and then defamed her after she published her account of it in 2019.
Trump has vehemently denied sexually abusing Carroll or ever knowing her and has repeatedly accused her of making accusations against him for political purposes or to promote her memoir.
In court papers filed with the 2nd Circuit, Smith told the appeals court that Carroll’s lawyer does not oppose the request for a stay as long as Trump increases the bond posted after the verdict by $7.4 million to cover any post-judgment interest that would accrue during a possible Supreme Court review.
Attorney Roberta Kaplan, who represents Carroll, declined comment through a spokesperson.
Smith told the 2nd Circuit that Trump “will suffer irreparable harm” if he must pay Carroll now because she has said publicly that she plans to give the award away, meaning the president would not be able to recover the money if the high court reverses the verdict.
Smith said there was a “reasonable probability” that the Supreme Court will take up an appeal in part based on Trump’s insistence that he has absolute immunity from a lawsuit stemming from statements he made while he was president.
In support of his request, Smith cited arguments in a dissent by three 2nd Circuit judges to a decision last week in which the appeals court refused to put the case before all of the court’s active judges, leaving standing a three-judge panel’s September decision upholding the verdict.
He wrote that there was “at least a fair prospect that the Supreme Court will reverse the Panel.”
California
Search warrant served at home connected to killer of California college student Kristin Smart
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (AP) — Authorities served a search warrant Wednesday at a home connected to the man convicted of killing 19-year-old college student Kristin Smart in 1996, according to law enforcement and media reports.
Her remains were never found and she was declared legally dead in 2002. Paul Flores was convicted in October 2022 and ultimately sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that the search in the central coast town of Arroyo Grande is related to the ongoing investigation into Smart’s disappearance. Flores’ mother, Susan Flores, lives at the home, according to public records and reporting by a podcast that has closely followed the case.
“The Sheriff’s Office remains committed to bringing Kristin home to her family,” the sheriff’s statement said. “No further information is available.”
The “Your Own Backyard” podcast, which helped investigators crack the case by bringing forward additional witnesses, first reported the search and said the home belongs to Flores’ mother. Attempts to reach Susan Flores for comment were not immediately successful. The search was ongoing Wednesday afternoon.
Kristin Smart went missing from California Polytechnic State University in May 1996. Prosecutors alleged she was killed during an attempted rape and that the last person she was seen with was Flores, a fellow student.
Flores and his father, Ruben Flores, were arrested in 2021.
Prosecutors alleged Smart’s remains were buried on Ruben Flores’ property and later moved. He was acquitted of accessory charges. That property is different from the one searched on Wednesday.
Paul Flores was sentenced in March 2023 to prison, where he has been physically attacked at least twice.
In 2024, a judge ruled that Paul Flores must pay just over $350,000 to Smart’s family for costs they incurred after her death.
The family has said it would forgo restitution if Flores would tell them where Kristin’s body was. Flores’ attorney, Harold Mesick, said in 2024 that the defense did not know where her remains are. Flores maintains his innocence.
The county district attorney’s office said it was helping the sheriff’s office with the investigation.
“While those responsible for Kristin’s death — and those with knowledge of her whereabouts — could provide answers at any time, we remain firmly committed to using every lawful tool available to locate Kristin’s remains and to support her family until she is brought home,” District Attorney Dan Dow said in a statement.
