


Hiker, 77, is dead after fall at Arches National Park
A 77-year-old man from Germany has died after falling on a hike at Arches National Park in Utah, authorities said Wednesday.
Rudolf Peters, from the town of Haltern am See in western Germany, was hiking in a rough section of a trail called The Windows Loop when he fell Tuesday, the National Park Service said in a statement.
Bystanders attempted to resuscitate Peters before rangers arrived, along with responders from the sheriff’s office and county emergency medical services. But he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The park service is investigating along with the sheriff’s office.
Trump taps wellness influencer for surgeon general
President Donald Trump is tapping Dr. Casey Means, a wellness influencer with close ties to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as his nominee for surgeon general after withdrawing his initial pick for the influential health post.
Trump said in a social media post Wednesday that Means has “impeccable ‘MAHA’ credentials” — referring to the “Make America Healthy Again” slogan — and that she will work to eradicate chronic disease and improve the health and well-being of Americans.
In doing so, Trump withdrew former Fox News medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat for U.S. surgeon general, marking at least the second health-related pick from Trump to be pulled from Senate consideration. Nesheiwat had been scheduled to appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today for her confirmation hearing.
Judge says migrants must get chance to fight deportations
Deporting migrants to Libya without a chance to challenge the removals would violate a court order, a federal judge said Wednesday, after immigration attorneys reported that authorities told people they would be sent to the country with a history of human rights violations.
U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy in Massachusetts previously found that any migrants deported to countries other than their homelands first must be allowed to argue that removal would jeopardize their safety.
He said that any “allegedly imminent” removals to Libya would “clearly violate this Court’s Order.” He also ordered the government to hand over details about the claims.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during a news conference in Illinois that she “can’t confirm” media reports of plans to remove people to Libya. Trump directed questions to DHS.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators clash with security guards
Police officers in helmets streamed into Columbia University early Wednesday evening to remove a group of mask-clad protesters who staged a Pro-Palestinian demonstration inside the school’s main library.
Videos shared on social media showed the long line of NYPD officers entering the library hours after dozens of protesters pushed their way past campus security officers, raced into the building, then hung Palestinian flags and other banners on bookshelves in an ornate reading room. Some protesters also appeared to have scrawled “Columbia will burn” across framed pictures.
Other videos showed campus security officers barring another group of protesters from entering the library.
The school requested the NYPD come in “to assist in securing the building and the safety of our community,” the university’s president, Claire Shipman, said.
Turkish Tufts University student can be sent to Vermont
A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld a judge’s order to take a Turkish Tufts University student from a Louisiana immigration detention center back to New England for hearings to determine whether her rights were violated and if she should be released.
Denying a government request for a delay, the three-judge panel of the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Rumeysa Ozturk after hearing arguments at a hearing Tuesday. Ozturk has been in Louisiana for more than six weeks after writing a newspaper editorial last year that criticized the school’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza.
The court ordered Ozturk to be transferred to ICE custody in Vermont no later than May 14.
Immigration court proceedings for Ozturk, initiated in Louisiana, are being conducted separately, and Ozturk can participate remotely, the court said.
Six people charged in Texas elections investigation
Six people in a rural Texas county, including two City Council members and a school board trustee, have been indicted in a widening elections investigation led by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, bringing felony charges to a case that Latino rights activists have criticized as politically driven.
The top executive in Frio County, home to about 18,000 residents, a county elections worker and a local resident were also among those indicted on May 1, Paxton said Wednesday. The charges expand an investigation that included raids last year on the homes of Latino campaign volunteers near San Antonio, including an 87-year-old woman, although none of them have been indicted.
Most of the six are charged with what is known in Texas as vote harvesting, a felony that often involves payment for collecting and dropping off other people’s absentee ballots. Several of the officials indicted in Frio County are accused of using Cash App to pay for vote harvesting services.
Republican concedes long-unsettled court election
The Republican challenger for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat conceded November’s election on Wednesday to Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs, two days after a federal judge ruled that potentially thousands of disputed ballots challenged by Jefferson Griffin must remain in the final tally.
In a statement provided by his campaign, Griffin said he would not appeal Monday’s decision by U.S. District Judge Richard Myers, who also ordered that the State Board of Elections certify results that after two previous recounts showed Riggs is the winner by 734 votes from more than 5.5 million ballots cast in the race.
— Denver Post
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