Aurelia Butler

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    Judge Says Khalil’s Deportation Case Can Be Heard in New Jersey

    The Trump administration has sought to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate, though he is a legal permanent resident and has not been charged with a crime.A New York federal judge on Wednesday transferred the case of a Columbia University graduate detained by the Trump administration this month to New Jersey, where his lawyers will continue their efforts to seek his release.The order will not have any immediate effect on the detention status of the Columbia graduate, Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of pro-Palestinian protests on the university’s campus, who after his arrest was swiftly transferred from Manhattan to New Jersey and then to Louisiana. The Trump administration has sought to deport him, though he is a legal permanent resident who has not been accused of a crime.The White House has said that Mr. Khalil spread antisemitism and promoted literature associated with Hamas terrorists. Mr. Khalil’s lawyers deny that he has done so and say he is being retaliated against for promoting Palestinian rights and criticizing Israel, views that the Trump administration disagrees with.Mr. Khalil’s legal team had been trying to move his case out of Louisiana since he was transferred there. Had his case been heard there, a conservative appeals court in New Orleans could have set a broad precedent for deportations.The New York judge, Jesse Furman, ordered federal authorities not to remove Mr. Khalil from the country. On Wednesday, in moving the case to New Jersey, he left that order in place.Mr. Khalil himself is expected to remain in Louisiana until a new judge weighs in.Judge Furman noted that Mr. Khalil’s lawyers had accused the government of punishing him for participation in the pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and that his First and Fifth Amendment rights had been violated.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Food Safety Jeopardized by Onslaught of Funding and Staff Cuts

    The Trump administration halted some food testing and shut down a committee studying bacteria in infant formula. Earlier funding cutbacks under the Biden administration now threaten state labs and inspectors.In the last few years, foodborne pathogens have had devastating consequences that alarmed the public. Bacteria in infant formula sickened babies. Deli meat ridden with listeria killed 10 people and led to 60 hospitalizations in 19 states. Lead-laden applesauce pouches poisoned young children.In each outbreak, state and federal officials connected the dots from each sick person to a tainted product and ensured the recalled food was pulled off the shelves.Some of those employees and their specific roles in ending outbreaks are now threatened by Trump administration measures to increase government efficiency, which come on top of cuts already being made by the Food and Drug Administration’s chronically underfunded food division.Like the food safety system itself, the cutbacks and new administrative hurdles are spread across an array of federal and state agencies.At the Food and Drug Administration, freezes on government credit card spending ordered by the Trump administration have impeded staff members from buying food to perform routine tests for deadly bacteria. In states, a $34 million cut by the F.D.A. could reduce the number of employees who ensure that tainted products — like tin pouches of lead-laden applesauce sold in 2023 — are tested in labs and taken off store shelves. F.D.A. staff members are also bracing for further Trump administration personnel reductions.And at the Agriculture Department, a committee studying deadly bacteria was recently disbanded, even as it was developing advice on how to better target pathogens that can shut down the kidneys. Committee members were also devising an education plan for new parents on bacteria that can live in powdered infant formula. “Further work on your report and recommendations will be prohibited,” read a Trump administration email to the committee members.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    A Dyslexic Comedian Walks Into a Recording Booth …

    Phil Hanley stood in a womb-like studio, psyching himself up to record the final section of his memoir. Peppermint tea, check. Hands in meditation position, check. Sheaf of highlighted, color coded pages printed in extra large type, check.But when Hanley leaned into the microphone to read from “Spellbound,” his candid account of growing up dyslexic, he sounded more like an anxious student than the seasoned comedian he is.He eked out 13 words, then stumbled, exhaling sharply in triplicate, Lamaze style. He tried again, the same sentence with slightly different intonation. Puff, puff, puff. And again, making it through three more words. Puff, puff, puff. On his fourth attempt, Hanley choked up.It was his 60th hour in the booth at his publisher’s office, not counting practice sessions at home. Most authors are at the studio for a fraction of this time; the average recording length for a 7.5 hour audiobook is 15 hours. But because Hanley has severe dyslexia, the process was protracted. And complicated. And emotional.“The most traumatic moments of my life have been having to read out loud,” Hanley said. “I can’t even express how tiring it is to do the audiobook. It feels like chiseling a marble statue with a screwdriver and a broken hammer.”Nevertheless, he was hellbent on reading his own story. What would it say to the dyslexic community if he handed off the mic?We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Read the Order Transferring Mahmoud Khalil’s Case to New Jersey

    Case 1:25-cv-01935-JME Document 78 Filed 03/19/25
    Page 28 of 33
    Cnty., No. 24-CV-3850 (LTS), 2024 WL 3318225, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. June 17, 2024); Bynum v.
    N.J., No. 24-CV-618 (LTS), 2024 WL 1023210, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 26, 2024); Moussaoui v.
    Biden, No. 25-CV-691 (JGK), 2025 WL 457804, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 28, 2025); Darboe v.
    Ahrendt, 442 F. Supp. 3d 592, 596 (S.D.N.Y. 2020); see also, e.g., United States v. Posey, No.
    16-CR-87 (RJA), 2023 WL 7124522, at *2 (W.D.N.Y. Oct. 30, 2023) (noting a court’s “broad
    discretion” under Section 1406(a) “to transfer a habeas case to the proper judicial district”).
    Section 1406(a) provides for transfer “to any district . . . in which [the case] could have
    been brought.” Id. (emphasis added). By its plain terms, therefore, the statute calls for transfer
    of Khalil’s Petition to the District of New Jersey, the only district in which due to the
    immediate-custodian and district-of-confinement rules his “core” claims “could have been
    brought” at 4:40 a.m. on March 9, 2025. See, e.g., Alvarado v. Gillis, No. 22-CV-10082 (JLR)
    (KHP), 2023 WL 5417157 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 3, 2023), report and recommendation adopted, 2023
    WL 5396499 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 22, 2023) (ordering transfer of an immigration habeas petition to
    the district where the petitioner was detained at the time of filing); Ali v. DHS/ICE/Dep’t of
    Justice, No. 19-CV-8645 (LGS), 2020 WL 3057383, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. June 9, 2020) (same);
    Persaud v. ICE, No. 04-CV-282 (FB), 2004 WL 1936213, at *1 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 31, 2004)
    (“Although petitioner is currently confined in Alabama, at the time that he filed this petition he
    was confined in the Western District of Louisiana. Accordingly, the Court orders the petition to
    be transferred to the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.”); cf.
    Fuentes v. Choate, No. 24-CV-1377 (NYW), 2024 WL 2978285, at *10-11 (D. Colo. June 13,
    2024) (observing that when transfer is necessary due to improper venue under Padilla, “many
    courts choose to transfer habeas cases” to the district where the action “could have been brought
    at the time it was filed or noticed”). Indeed, the Court cannot do otherwise because where, as
    here, “a federal statute covers the point in dispute,” “that is the end of the matter; federal courts
    28
    28 More

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    She May Be the Most Powerful Producer Working in Theater

    Sonia Friedman may just be the most prolific and powerful theater producer working today.Over the past 30 years, she has become a peerless figure in the West End, where last year she had a record-setting seven shows running simultaneously, and on Broadway, where she has produced five of the past six Tony Award winners for best play. She has been entrusted both with prestige work by celebrated writers like Tom Stoppard and Stephen Sondheim and with stage adaptations of hugely valuable intellectual property like “Harry Potter,” “Stranger Things” and “Paddington.”But she’s endlessly restless. Taking for granted neither the sustainability of the business nor the security of her own place in it, she has become ever more worried about the industry’s future.A lifelong Londoner, Friedman spends about one-third of each year in New York, but she hasn’t bought an apartment, and only in January started renting, after decades of hotel stays.“I live, literally, with a suitcase in the hall,” she said during one of several interviews. “It could all end tomorrow here. It could all end tomorrow there. And it might. It really might. That’s always how I work. The drive is: It could all end tomorrow. It’s not necessarily a nice way to live, is it?”For years she has expressed concern about the high costs of producing on Broadway, particularly when compared to the West End, but her concern has intensified since the pandemic, as rising costs for labor, materials and services have driven show budgets — and ticket prices for hot shows — ever higher. She said, for example, that “The Hills of California,” a family drama by Jez Butterworth that she produced last year in both cities, faced production costs that were 350 percent higher in New York than in London.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    My Friend Is Refusing to Talk Politics With Me. Can She Do That?

    A reader feels spurned by a friend’s “self-righteous” declaration that she would no longer engage with him about politics after he revealed he didn’t plan to vote.My wife and I are longtime friends with another couple whose political views differ from mine. I have disagreed with the wife occasionally on some issues, and she with me — but always respectfully. Before the presidential election, I told her that I didn’t plan to vote because I could not support either candidate. She had a negative reaction to this and told me that, going forward, we should avoid political discussions if we want to remain friends. I found her statement self-righteous — as if she can be friends only with people who agree with her, and I should be careful not to express a different political opinion. Is that an acceptable ground rule for friendship?FRIENDEvery day now — and often, every hour — I am confronted by some reminder of what a divisive time this is in American life. (It’s depressing — and exhausting.) And worse, I have begun to lose faith that we will talk our way out of this mess. Most people I know seem to be done with being persuaded. Surely you must have noticed something along these lines.So, I am largely sympathetic with your friend. Rather than engaging in prolonged and pointless arguments, or jeopardizing a longtime friendship, she has suggested a boundary to reduce her aggravation during her leisure time. It doesn’t sound as if she is foisting her opinions on you. In fact, it seems pretty evenhanded to me — not self-righteous at all.Now, if her proposal bothers you, you can make a pitch for continued political debate. But frankly, if you weren’t motivated to vote by the starkly different views espoused by the candidates last year, knowing one of them was bound to win, it seems disingenuous to claim that you can’t make it through a dinner party without sounding off on politics. Find another topic! Your friend is trying to preserve her tranquillity and your friendship. I respect her for that.Miguel PorlanFeeling Left Out of the PictureMy husband and I have been married for 15 years. We have a teenage daughter. Sadly, both of his parents died long before we met. His sister hangs a large family photograph from 30 years ago above her mantel: It includes my husband’s ex-wife and another sibling’s ex, and it doesn’t include me or our daughter. When I mentioned the enormous photo to my husband, he said that their parents are in it, which is why his sister hangs it there. But why can’t she find a different photo? Is it fair that I’m upset?We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Pam Bondi Calls Tesla Vandalism ‘Domestic Terrorism,’ Promising Consequences

    Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday labeled a recent spate of attacks on Tesla dealerships across the country as acts of “domestic terrorism” directed at Elon Musk, as Trump allies have pressured the Justice Department to take aggressive action.In recent weeks, vandals in apparent protest of Mr. Musk’s polarizing efforts to drastically shrink the federal government and fire government workers have defaced or destroyed Tesla vehicles and damaged buildings in several cities. No serious injuries have been reported.Five more vehicles at a Tesla facility in Las Vegas were damaged on Tuesday in what the local authorities said was a targeted attack.“The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property is nothing short of domestic terrorism,” Ms. Bondi wrote in a statement. “We will continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes.”There is no federal domestic terrorism law, so those charged in the attacks would be charged under other federal statutes; Ms. Bondi did not specify what charges could be brought, but she said that if convicted, some of those accused could face sentences of at least five years in prison.Ms. Bondi’s remarks echoed President Trump’s labeling of the vandalism as terrorism. On Tuesday, he baselessly suggested in a Fox interview that the vandalism was paid for “by people very highly political on the left.”Congressional Republicans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, have pressured Ms. Bondi to call such attacks domestic terrorism — after successfully resisting efforts by Democrats in 2022 to pass legislation to counter the rise in activity by white supremacists and other far-right groups.Ms. Bondi supported Mr. Trump’s mass clemency for hundreds of his supporters who violently ransacked the U.S. Capitol, including some who assaulted police officers. The F.B.I. described those involved in the planning and perpetration of that attack as “domestic violent extremists,” whom they had previously identified in threat assessments.Several Tesla facilities have been targeted in the past several days.On Monday, police arrested a 26-year-old woman with spraypainting anti-Musk messages on the front windows of a Tesla facility in Buffalo Grove, Ill., on Friday. That same day vandals broke windows and defaced a dealership in the San Diego area with swastikas and slogans.The F.B.I. and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, working with the local police, are investigating vandalism of Cybertrucks at a Tesla dealership in Kansas City, Mo., the F.B.I.’s Kansas City field office said in a statement posted to Facebook. An unknown attacker fired more than a dozen shots at a Tesla dealership in Tigard, Ore., last week, damaging some of the vehicles and store windows. More

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    NYT Crossword Answers for March 19, 2025

    Evan Park and Jeffrey Martinovic connect with us on the astral plane.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — I go back and forth on my feelings about outer space. On the one hand, there is the terrifying unknown of what lies beyond our solar system, the infinite vastness of which makes me feel about as significant as a dust mote. On the other hand, planets are neat.Today’s New York Times Crossword, constructed by Evan Park and Jeffrey Martinovic, tipped the scales a little further in favor of the cosmos. The grid features a witty visual representation of a certain celestial event. It was tricky to identify, but all the more satisfying once I’d done so.Today’s ThemeStarting a crossword puzzle in the top-left corner is generally a decent solving strategy. But in this puzzle, that quadrant contains the most frustrating parts of the theme.We begin with a tricky rebus square at the intersection of 16A and 3D: A [Place to take a break] should be a REST AREA, and [Skills of the past] would normally be LOST ARTS. But we don’t have enough spaces for either of these entries unless we extract and condense the word STAR to the confines of that rebus square. (Here’s a quick how-to on entering more than one letter in a square.)So the cluster of four circled squares at 23-/27A and 5-/21D should contain similar rebuses, right? Wrong. They’re just plain circles, spelling S-T-A-R. But this inconsistency isn’t an oversight — it’s the beginning of a [Chewy fruit-flavored candy … or a description of what’s depicted visually in this puzzle]: STARBURST (10D).We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More