The pro-Palestinian protesters making themselves heard at universities across the country see their demonstrations as part of a tradition of anti-war activism on campus.   Hundreds of students have been arrested after setting up encampments on school grounds and demanding their institutions call for a cease-fire in Gaza and divest their endowments away from companies associated with Israel.   While universities and police have made changes over the decades in their handling of student protests, experts are pointing to similarities with years past on the activists' demands and public ..read more

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Harvey Weinstein's landmark New York sexual assault conviction was thrown out by an appeals court Thursday, and most of the dozens of civil cases filed against him since he became a central target in the #MeToo movement in 2017 have either been settled or dismissed. That doesn't mean the 72-year-old disgraced movie mogul and his lawyers don't have plenty of court time ahead. Prosecutors in Manhattan say they plan to retry him, and several other cases remain unresolved. Here's a look at those, and at some that have come and gone: THE LONE LOS ANGELES CONVICTION Weinstein was ..read more

NEW YORK (AP) — #MeToo founder Tarana Burke has heard it before. Every time there’s a legal setback, the movement is declared dead in the water. A legal success, and presto, it’s alive again. So Burke, who nearly two decades ago coined the phrase “Me too” from her work with sexual assault survivors, found herself again declaring after New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction: The #MeToo reckoning is greater than any court case. It’s still there, and it’s working. The most obvious proof, Burke said: “Ten years ago we could not get a man like Harvey ..read more

The students at an encampment at Columbia University who inspired a wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country dug in for their 10th day Friday, as administrators and police at college campuses from California to Connecticut wrestle with how to address protests that have seen scuffles with police and hundreds of arrests. Officials at Columbia and some other schools have been negotiating with student protestors who have rebuffed police and doubled down. Other schools have quickly turned to law enforcement to douse demonstrations before they can take hold. After a tent encampment ..read more

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – An Oregon woman's neglected stash of tickets was hiding a $1 million prize, lottery officials said Monday. Leslie Carr, 52, of Portland, had stashed the winning raffle ticket, which was drawn March 15, in a Tupperware container with a stack of other tickets, according to Oregon officials. Thankfully for Carr, she decided to get them scanned at a Fred Meyer grocery store in Happy Valley, where she bought the winning ticket. "I had no idea I was the winner," said Carr, who works as a medical receptionist. "If it weren’t for the billion-dollar Powerball winner making news ..read more

(The Hill) — A majority of Americans believe former President Trump is being treated differently than most criminal defendants in his hush money case, according to a new CNN poll. Another recent poll from The Economist/YouGov found that 24 percent of Americans think the former president is going to be convicted of a crime in the hush money case, 36 percent said they don’t believe the former president will be convicted and 39 percent said they weren’t sure. Trump’s hush money trial began last Monday, marking the first criminal trial of an American president. He has been ..read more

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The University of Southern California's decision Thursday to cancel its main graduation ceremony, a move that came 10 days after administrators said the student valedictorian who had expressed support for Palestinians would not be allowed to speak, left students and alumni stunned as protests over the Israel-Hamas war continue to spread on campuses nationwide. “It seems like USC isn’t really listening to their student body,” said Olivia Lee, a 2023 business administration graduate who said she is rethinking whether to recommend the private university to potential students. V ..read more

"Elia Corti, as we discussed last week, was a very prominent Barre granite sculptor," Vermont Historical Society director of collections and access Amanda Gustin said. "Mr. Corti was working professionally where there were two fairly widely followed left-leaning ideological factions competing for people's attention," Mike Hoey noted. "There's a lot of Italian immigration to Barre, and a lot of the people coming are from northern Italy and they're being sought after for their carving skills," Gustin continued. "They're often highly educated, but two of the factions were anarchists and socialist ..read more

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama lawmakers on Thursday advanced legislation that could see librarians prosecuted under the state's obscenity law for providing “harmful” materials to minors, the latest in a wave of bills in Republican-led states targeting library content and decisions. The Alabama House of Representatives voted 72-28 for the bill that now moves to the Alabama Senate. The legislation comes amid a soaring number of book challenges — often centered on LGBTQ content — and efforts in a number of states to ban drag queen story readings. “This is an effort to protect children. It is no ..read more

(The Hill) — University of Texas (UT) at Austin, demonstrators arrested during a pro-Palestinian protest on Wednesday will not be charged, Travis County Attorney Delia Garza’s office confirmed Thursday. The prosecutor’s office said it has decided not to move forward with the 46 trespassing cases it has reviewed from the protest, citing a lack of probable cause. “Legal concerns were raised by defense counsel,” Garza’s office said in a statement to The Hill. “We individually reviewed each case that was presented and agreed there were deficiencies in the probable cause affidavits.” Texas state po ..read more