The University of Southern California further shook up its commencement plans Friday, announcing the cancelation of a keynote speech by filmmaker Jon M. Chu just days after making the controversial choice to disallow the student valedictorian from speaking. The private university in Los Angeles on Monday said it was canceling valedictorian Asna Tabassum's speech at the May 10 ceremony because of safety concerns. Tabassum, who is Muslim, has expressed support for Palestinians in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, and university officials said the response to her selection as valedictorian had “taken ..read more

The U.N. World Food Program has agreed to help deliver aid for the starving civilians of Gaza once the U.S. military completes a pier for transporting the humanitarian assistance by sea, U.S. officials said Friday. The involvement of the U.N. agency could help resolve one of the major obstacles facing the U.S.-planned project — the reluctance of aid groups to handle on-the-ground distribution of food and other badly needed goods in Gaza absent significant changes by Israel. An Israeli military attack April 1 that killed seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen intensified international ..read more

A California judge has tentatively sided with state Attorney General Rob Bonta in a dispute over the title of a proposed ballot measure that would require school staff to notify parents if their child asks to change gender identification at schools. A group backing the measure sued Bonta over the language he released, arguing it was biased and misleading. Bonta titled the measure the “Restrict Rights of Transgender Youth” initiative, but backers want it changed to the “Protect Kids of California Act." They also want the summary updated. But Sacramento Superior Court Judge Stephen Acquisto indi ..read more

A jury in southern Arizona is still deliberating in the trial of a rancher charged with fatally shooting an unarmed migrant on his property near the U.S.-Mexico border. Judge Thomas Fink sent jurors home for the weekend after they failed to reach a verdict Friday. They will resume deliberations in court Monday morning. The jury got the case Thursday afternoon after a nearly one-month trial in a presidential election year that has drawn widespread interest in border security. George Alan Kelly, 75, is charged with second-degree murder in the January 30, 2023, shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea ..read more

Video cameras stationed outside the Manhattan courthouse where former President Donald Trump is on trial caught the gruesome scene Friday of a man who lit himself on fire and the aftermath as authorities tried to rescue him. CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC were all on the air with reporters talking about the seating of a jury when the incident happened and other news agencies, including The Associated Press, were livestreaming from outside the courthouse. The man, who distributed pamphlets before dousing himself in an accelerant and setting himself on fire, was in critical condition. The incid ..read more

Mandisa, a contemporary Christian singer who appeared on “American Idol” and won a Grammy for her 2013 album ‘Overcomer’, has died. She was 47. A representative for the singer told The Associated Press that the singer was found dead in her home in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday. The representative said the cause of Mandisa's death was not yet known. Mandisa, whose full name was Mandisa Lynn Hundley, was born near Sacramento, California, and grew up singing in church. She gained stardom after finishing ninth on “American Idol” in 2006. As she left, host Ryan Seacrest told the singer that she ..read more

A Nigerian chess champion and child education advocate is attempting to play chess nonstop for 58 hours in New York City’s Times Square to break the global record for the longest chess marathon. Tunde Onakoya, 29, hopes to raise $1 million for children's education across Africa. He is playing against Shawn Martinez, an American chess champion, in line with Guinness World Record guidelines that any attempt to break the record must be made by two players who would play continuously for the entire duration. Onakoya had played chess for 42 hours by 10:00 a.m. GMT on Friday. Support is growing onli ..read more

Phish opened its four-night stay at the Sphere Thursday with a four-hour show that used the advanced technology in the $2.3 billion arena to deliver a show that even the band's most ardent fans have never experienced before. “We came in really wanting to do a show that was a great Phish show,” said Abigail Rosen Holmes, who is running the visual show. She said the band and its creative team wanted to mix the Sphere’s technical capabilities and consider “what can we do for Phish that we maybe couldn’t do for any other artist?” Here’s how Phish is creating a set of shows that even fans who’ve se ..read more

On Wednesday at 4 in the morning, the Brevard Sheriff’s Office says a vehicle pursuit ended when a burglary suspect ran over stop sticks, and then a foot pursuit began. The sheriff’s office said Abraham Garcia, 26, ran from the intersection of Babcock Street and US-192 to Elizabeth Street where he broke into a house in an attempt to hide. An arrest report said when Garcia shattered a window, the man living at the house grabbed his gun and hid in his bedroom. The sheriff’s office said the suspect was ultimately taken into custody and no one was hurt. Friday, Luis Cadana, who owns a house next d ..read more

A central Indiana man who won a primary election for a township board position while charged with killing his estranged wife has been found guilty of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. A Boone County jury convicted Andrew Wilhoite, 41, of Lebanon on Thursday, local news outlets reported. Wilhoite was charged with murder in the death of his wife, 41-year-old Elizabeth “Nikki” Wilhoite, who was reported missing by coworkers on March 25, 2022, when she did not show up for work. Her body was found in a creek near her home the next day. She had filed for divorce on March 17 and had recent ..read more