Bernard Kerik, NYPD’s ex-commissioner, dies

Bernard Kerik, who served as New York City’s police commissioner on 9/11 and later pleaded guilty to tax fraud before being pardoned during President Donald Trump’s first admininistration, has died. He was 69.

The New York Police Department confirmed his death Thursday on social media.

FBI Director Kash Patel said his death came “after a private battle with illness.”

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani reflected on his long history with his former police commissioner on his show Thursday.

“We’ve been together since the beginning. He’s like my brother,” Giuliani said through tears. “I was a better man for having known Bernie. I certainly was a braver and stronger man.”

Kerik, an Army veteran rose through the ranks of the NYPD to the top position of commissioner before falling from grace when he pleaded guilty to federal tax fraud and false statement charges in 2010.

Robert Jarvik, artificial heart designer, dies

Dr. Robert K. Jarvik, the principal designer of the first permanent artificial heart implanted in a human — a procedure that became a subject of great public fascination and fierce debate about medical ethics — died Monday at his home in Manhattan. He was 79.

His wife, writer Marilyn vos Savant, said the cause was Parkinson’s disease.

In 1982, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the University of Utah permission to implant what was designed to be a permanent artificial heart in a human. On Dec. 2 that year, Dr. William C. DeVries led the pioneering surgical team that implanted the Jarvik-7 model, made of aluminum and plastic, in a 61-year-old retired Seattle dentist, Barney B. Clark.

Clark survived for 112 days, attached to a 400-pound air compressor, that helped the Jarvik-7 pump blood through his body. But he never left the hospital, and he experienced seizures, kidney failure and a broken valve on the heart that needed replacing.

Driver charged in Liverpool car ramming

A driver who injured nearly 80 people when his car rammed into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans celebrating their team’s Premier League championship was charged Thursday with intentionally causing grievous bodily harm and six other serious counts, a prosecutor said.

Paul Doyle, 53, was also charged with dangerous driving and five other counts alleging different variations of causing or attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, Prosecutor Sarah Hammond said. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

The charges involve six victims, including two children.

Robinson countersues over abuse claims

Smokey Robinson has filed a defamation lawsuit against four former housekeepers who accused him of rape and prompted a police investigation.

Robinson and his wife, Frances Robinson, filed the counterclaim Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court against the women and their lawyers, whose allegations, they say, were “fabricated in an extortionate scheme.”

The filing is a fast and forceful legal and public pushback from the 85-year-old Motown music luminary in response to the women’s May 6 lawsuit and a May 15 announcement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department that its Special Victims Bureau is “actively investigating criminal allegations” against Robinson.

The Robinsons also filed a motion to strike the women’s lawsuit. The women are seeking at least $50 million, alleging Smokey Robinson repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted them in his home when they worked for him between 2007 and 2024.

Texas ban on social media for kids fails

A push in Texas to ban social media accounts for children under 18 has failed after lawmakers did not take a key vote on creating one of the nation’s toughest restrictions aimed at keeping minors off platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram.

The bill, which already passed the GOP-controlled state House, sought to go further than a Florida social media ban for minors under 14. Australia banned social media accounts for anyone under 16.

The legislative session ends Monday and early momentum behind the Texas measure slowed at the eleventh hour in the state Senate as lawmakers face a weekend deadline to send bills to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

Man sentenced for threats to kill officials

A man who blamed exposure to far-right extremist content for his online threats to kill Democratic election officials in Colorado and Arizona was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday.

U.S. District Judge S. Kato Crews said the penalty for such “keyboard terrorism” needed to be serious enough to deter others, particularly because threats against public officials are on the rise.

“The public must not accept this as the norm,” Crews said in handing down the sentence for Teak Ty Brockbank.

Brockbank, 45, pleaded guilty in October to making threats between September 2021 and August 2022 against Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold and former Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who is now governor.

Texas 13-year-old wins National Spelling Bee

Faizan Zaki nearly threw away his opportunity to go from runner-up to champion at the Scripps National Spelling Bee with a shocking moment of overconfidence. Given a second chance, he seized the title of best speller in the English language.

The 13-year-old from Allen, Texas, who lost in a lightning-round tiebreaker last year, outlasted eight other accomplished spellers to win the title on Thursday night, including two that he let back into the competition after his own careless flub.

Told to take a deep breath before his final word, “eclaircissement,” he didn’t ask a single question before spelling it correctly, and he pumped his fists and collapsed to the stage after saying the final letter.

— News service reports