Rep. Mike Lawler of New York wore blackface as part of a Halloween costume when he was a college student almost two decades ago, according to photographs recently obtained by The New York Times.

The images, taken around October 2006, show a 20-year-old Lawler at a campus social gathering dressed as Michael Jackson. He is wearing a black shirt and a red jacket and, in one photo, is striking a signature Jackson dance pose. His face has also been visibly darkened.

Lawler, a rising Republican standout from the Hudson Valley, has frequently described himself as an ardent Jackson fan. But the photos are the first known instance of Lawler, who is white, dressing as the Black musician by wearing blackface, a practice that has long been considered racist.

The images may come into play in Lawler’s fight for reelection this fall against Mondaire Jones, a Black former congressman, in the suburban swing seat. The Republican is also eyeing a run for governor in 2026.

Lawler, 38, did not dispute the photos’ authenticity. In a statement, he said that the costume was intended to be “truly the sincerest form of flattery, a genuine homage to my musical hero since I was a little kid trying to moonwalk through my mom’s kitchen.”

“The ugly practice of blackface was the furthest thing from my mind,” he said. “Let me be clear, this is not that.”

“I am a student of history and for anyone who takes offense to the photo, I am sorry,” he said, adding: “All you can do is live and learn.”

Court revives student loan program, for now

President Joe Biden’s latest attempt at student loan cancellation is free to move ahead — at least temporarily — after a judge in Georgia decided that a legal challenge should be handled by a court in Missouri.

Biden’s plan has been on hold since September after seven Republican-led states challenged it in federal court in Georgia. But on Wednesday, a federal judge decided not to extend the pause and instead dismissed Georgia from the lawsuit, finding that it lacked the legal right, or standing, to sue.

U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall opted to send the suit to Missouri, one of the remaining states in the case. On Thursday, those states filed a request asking the Missouri court to block the plan.

Without a new obstacle, the Biden administration could push the proposal toward the finish line as soon as Friday. The Education Department would be free to finalize a rule paving the way for cancellation, though it would likely take days or weeks to carry out.

Biden’s plan would cancel at least some student loan debt for an estimated 30 million borrowers.

Garth Brooks hit with sex-assault lawsuit

A woman who says she worked as a hair-and-makeup stylist for country star Garth Brooks alleged in a lawsuit filed Thursday that he raped her in a Los Angeles hotel in 2019.

The woman does not use her name and goes by Jane Roe in the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. Brooks forcefully denied the allegations in a statement and acknowledged he tried to get a court to stop Thursday’s lawsuit from being filed.

The woman says in the lawsuit she had worked for Brooks’ wife, country singer Trisha Yearwood, since 1999, and had started also working for Brooks in 2017.

She said the assault occurred when she traveled from Nashville, Tenn., to Los Angeles with Brooks, who was performing with soul singer Sam Moore at a Grammy Awards tribute to Moore in October 2019.

Brooks filed a preemptive lawsuit in federal court in Mississippi last month, in which both him and the woman are anonymous.

In court filings in that case, the plaintiff, going by John Doe, says the allegations are “wholly untrue,” and he first learned of them in July when she threatened to publicly sue him unless he gave her millions of dollars.

N. Korea threatens to use nuclear weapons

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to use nuclear weapons if his country’s sovereignty was threatened, Pyongyang’s state media reported on Friday.

North Korea’s military “would use without hesitation all the offensive forces it possesses, including nuclear weapons,” Kim said during a visit to an army training base on Wednesday, state-controlled KCNA news agency reported.

“If such a situation comes, the permanent existence of Seoul and the Republic of Korea would be impossible,” he said, using South Korea’s official name.

On Tuesday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol warned North Korea that any attempt to use nuclear weapons would be met with a firm and overwhelming response from South Korea and its U.S. ally.

Yoon said if North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, it would face the “resolute and overwhelming response” of its military and the South Korean-U.S. alliance.

In September, Kim revealed a uranium enrichment facility and expressed his desire to “exponentially” expand the country’s nuclear weapons arsenal.

Tropical storm makes landfall in Taiwan

Tropical Storm Krathon slammed into Taiwan’s populous southwestern coast Thursday, authorities said, bringing torrential rain and heavy winds that have caused landslides, floods and power outages. Two people had been killed, and over 200 have been injured.

The storm made landfall as a typhoon at 12:40 p.m. in Kaohsiung, a major port city home to 2.7 million people, Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration said. It was downgraded to a tropical storm Thursday evening, and the weather administration predicted it would weaken into a tropical depression Friday as it moved north over land.

Krathon had lingered near Taiwan’s southern coast for two days, weakening as it approached the island. Still, its slow pace has allowed it to wreak havoc, lashing some areas with relentless rain.

— From wire services