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      The Rapper Silentó Gets 30 Years in Prison for Fatal Shooting of His Cousin

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      The songwriter, whose real name is Ricky Hawk, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and three other charges in relation to the killing.Silentó, the rapper known for his viral hit “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty to charges related to the fatal shooting of his cousin.The rapper, whose real name is Ricky Lamar Hawk, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, possessing a firearm while committing a crime and concealing the death of another, District Attorney Sherry Boston of DeKalb County said in a statement.Mr. Hawk, 27, was arrested in connection with the shooting of his cousin, Frederick Rooks III, 34, in the early hours of Jan. 21, 2021, after the police found him bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds in a residential neighborhood in Decatur, Ga., seven miles northeast of Atlanta, according to a police report. Emergency workers pronounced him dead on the scene.Several people nearby heard gunshots, and security footage from doorbell cameras showed a white BMW S.U.V. fleeing the scene a few minutes after the gunfire, according to the district attorney’s office. A relative of Mr. Rooks told officers that he was last seen with Mr. Hawk, who had picked him up in a vehicle that matched the description.After he was taken into custody on Feb. 1, 2021, Mr. Hawk told investigators that he had shot Mr. Rooks, according to the district attorney’s office. Mr. Hawk initially faced a murder charge, which was dropped as part of the plea agreement on Wednesday.His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.On the day of his arrest, Mr. Hawk’s publicist at the time said that he had been “suffering immensely from a series of mental health illnesses” in recent years.Mr. Hawk became famous in 2015 while he was still in high school through his single, “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” which started a social media dance craze. Tutorial videos have millions of views, and the official music video has been watched about 1.9 billion times on YouTube.In 2019, Mr. Hawk went on the interview show “The Doctors” and described his struggles with depression.“Depression doesn’t leave you when you become famous,” he said. “It just adds more pressure.”“I don’t know if I can truly be happy,” he added on the show. “I don’t know if these demons will ever go away.”With a plea of guilty but mentally ill, the state’s Department of Corrections is responsible for evaluating and treating Mr. Hawk’s mental health needs, according to Georgia law. More

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      NYT Crossword Answers for June 12, 2025

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      Daniel Bodily’s puzzle scores.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — Maybe it’s because I talk about the tricky Thursday puzzles every week, but I sometimes feel as if I’ve seen so many commenters suggest that the puzzle they have just completed is more a means for the constructor to show off than it is a crossword for solvers to enjoy. But when pressed, the commenters often reveal that they did not completely understand the theme.That is not a reflection on the commenters, of course. Thursday crosswords in The New York Times can be much more complex than those on other days of the week. They require a flexible mind and a penchant for lateral thinking.But to cast a puzzle aside because you (not you specifically, the collective “you”) didn’t understand it defeats the purpose of trying to solve the puzzle in the first place.I think it’s OK to be bested by the constructor once in a while. It means that there’s still more to learn. A tough puzzle teaches us that we can’t win ’em all. Hopefully, it also teaches us how to accept defeat gracefully, in the form of not defenestrating your device, which would definitely void the warranty. It arms us with additional solving tools, knowledge and new neural pathways that we can use to triumph the next time around.Some solvers may want to shake their fists in the air and say, “Damn you, Daniel Bodily!” while trying to solve his crossword. But I hope everyone will also try to maintain a positive attitude about tricky puzzles like this one. If Thursday crosswords flummox you, remember that it’s much better for your stress level to do your best and sharpen your skills than to become angry because you aren’t sure what’s going on.That’s what Wordplay is for: Come here for clarification on the themes and clues. If you don’t see your question answered in the column, ask in the comments. There are plenty of veteran solvers who will be happy to help. (Note to veteran solvers: Be kind, please.)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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      Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Hits California Farms

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      Farmworkers hid in fields on Tuesday as word spread that ICE agents were conducting raids in California’s breadbasket, an activist said.As a community activist in California’s agricultural heartland, Hazel Davalos spends much of her day talking with migrant farm workers and volunteers. So as word spread Tuesday of immigration raids on the Central Coast and San Joaquin Valley, she heard accounts of some migrants hiding in the fields between rows of crops.Many could not leave the ranches where they work, said Ms. Davalos, executive director of Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, and others worried about being detained on their commute home. She knows of 40 workers who were detained Tuesday in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, she said.A video published by ABC News showed federal agents chasing a farmworker through the fields Tuesday in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles. Raids were also conducted at farms in Kern and Tulare counties, according to Teresa Romero, president of the United Farm Workers union.A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson would not confirm that any of the reported raids took place, but said in a statement that work-site immigration enforcement “protects workers from exploitation and trafficking.”A crowd formed at the back gate of Ambiance Apparel in Los Angeles on Friday after federal immigration agents gathered at the company.Alex Welsh for The New York TimesThe Trump administration is ramping up its immigration crackdown, with a focus on workplaces with undocumented laborers, such as farms, restaurants and construction sites. Estimates show more than eight million undocumented immigrants work in the United States.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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      Gaza Aid Group Says Hamas Attacked Its Palestinian Workers

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      The group, which has been harshly criticized by the U.N. and other aid providers, said at least five people had died in an attack on one of its buses.An aid group in Gaza backed by Israel and the United States said that on Wednesday night a bus carrying some of its Palestinian workers was attacked by Hamas, leaving at least five people dead and others injured.At the time of the attack, the bus was carrying about two dozen of the group’s workers and was en route to an aid distribution site in southern Gaza, according to a statement from the group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Some of the workers “may have been taken hostage,” it said, adding that it was still gathering information.“We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms,” said the foundation, which is run by American contractors. “These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons, and friends, who were risking their lives every day to help others.”The New York Times could not independently verify the attack. Hamas did not comment on the accusation that it had attacked workers from the group, and the Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The foundation said it held the militant group “fully responsible” for the deaths of “dedicated workers who have been distributing humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people.” The group called on the international community to condemn Hamas for the attack.“Tonight, the world must see this for what it is: an attack on humanity,” it said.The aid organization has repeatedly criticized Hamas, saying that for days it had “openly” threatened workers and civilians. On Saturday, the foundation said it was “impossible to proceed” with aid distribution because Hamas had menaced its staff.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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      Pentagon Is Reviewing Deal to Equip Australia With Nuclear Submarines

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      The 2021 pact, meant to help counter China’s ambitions in the Asia Pacific, will be examined to ensure that it meets “America First criteria,” a U.S. official said.The Trump administration is reviewing whether a security pact between the United States, Britain and Australia meant to equip Australia with nuclear submarines is “aligned with the president’s America First agenda,” a U.S. defense official said on Wednesday.When the deal was reached under President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s administration in 2021, it was billed as crucial for countering China’s growing military influence in the Asia Pacific. Now, its review appears to reinforce President Trump’s skeptical and transactional approach to longstanding alliances, including demands that allies spend more on their own defense.The Pentagon official said the review would ensure that the pact, known as Aukus, met “common-sense, America First criteria,” including ensuring that U.S. forces are at “the highest readiness,” that allies are doing their part, and that “the defense industrial base is meeting our needs.” The review was first reported by The Financial Times.Australia’s defense minister, Richard Marles, said both Australia and Britain had been notified about the review and that all three nations were still committed to the deal.“We’ve been aware of this for some time. We welcome it,” Mr. Marles said in a radio interview with ABC Melbourne on Thursday, Australia time. “It’s something which is perfectly natural for an incoming administration to do.”Australia sees the Aukus agreement as central to its defense strategy in the coming decades in a region increasingly shaped by China’s assertive military posturing. Nuclear submarines can travel much farther without detection than conventional ones can and would enable the Australian Navy to greatly extend its reach.Under the pact, Australia is scheduled to receive secondhand Virginia-class nuclear submarines from the United States in the 2030s while scaling up the capacity to build its own, using a British design. But there has been concern in both Washington and Canberra about whether the United States can build new submarines to replenish its fleet quickly enough for the older ones to be transferred to Australia.Elbridge Colby, the U.S. under secretary of defense for policy, said during his Senate confirmation hearing in March that he was skeptical about the pragmatic feasibility of the deal. The Financial Times reported that Mr. Colby was heading up the Pentagon review.“So if we can produce the attack submarines in sufficient number and sufficient speed, then great,” Mr. Colby said at the hearing. “But if we can’t, that becomes a very difficult problem.”Even before the review was announced, concern and anxiety had been building in Australia over whether it could continue to depend on its longstanding relationship with the United States, given the Trump administration’s treatment of allies.Mr. Marles, the Australian defense minister, said in the radio interview that he was confident the Aukus deal would proceed because “it’s in the interests of the United States to continue to work with Australia.”Michael D. Shear More

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      How “Pet Sounds” Became the Beach Boys Masterpiece

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      Brian Wilson’s 1966 masterpiece is now considered a crowning achievement of music. The album’s reputation grew over time.Making a list of the best rock albums ever is easy: Something old (the Beatles), something new (or newer; perhaps Radiohead), something borrowed (the Rolling Stones’ blues or disco pastiches) and Joni Mitchell’s “Blue.”And, of course, bursting into the top 10 — and often higher — of any respectable list: “Pet Sounds.”The overwhelming brainchild of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys’ chief songwriter whose death at 82 was announced on Wednesday, “Pet Sounds” is beautiful — with gorgeous vocal harmonies, haunting timbres and wistful lyrics of adolescent longing and estrangement. It was a landmark in studio experimentation that changed the idea of how albums could be made. But one thing that stands out about the Beach Boys’ masterpiece is how gradually it came to be widely celebrated, compared with many of its peers.“When it was released in the United States,” said Jan Butler, a senior lecturer in popular music at Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom, “it did pretty well, but for the Beach Boys, it was considered a flop.”Released in the spring of 1966, “Pet Sounds” represented a break from the catchy tunes about surfing, cars and girls that the group had consistently rode to the top of the charts. The opening track is called “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” but previous Beach Boys songs had described how nice it was.The album peaked at No. 10 — low for one of the most popular acts at the time — and was the first Beach Boys album in three years not to reach gold status, Butler wrote in a chapter of an academic book. The Beach Boys’ record company, Capitol, rushed out a greatest-hits that outsold the album of original music.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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      Defense Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia Ask Judge to Release Him Pretrial

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      The request came as lawyers in Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s separate civil case were poised to ask a different judge to hold the Trump administration in contempt for sidestepping one of her orders.Defense lawyers for Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran immigrant who was recently brought back to the United States to face a federal indictment after being wrongfully deported to a prison in El Salvador, said in court papers on Wednesday that he should remain free from custody as he awaits trial.The papers, filed in Federal District Court in Nashville, amounted to the opening salvo of efforts by the defense lawyers to challenge the charges that were filed last week against Mr. Abrego Garcia.“With no legal process whatsoever, the United States government illegally detained and deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia and shipped him to the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) in El Salvador, one of the most violent, inhumane prisons in the world,” the lawyers wrote.“The government now asks this court to detain him further,” they went on, asking Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr., who is handling the criminal case, to deny the request. Judge Crenshaw is set to hold a hearing on Friday to arraign Mr. Abrego Garcia and to hear arguments about whether to detain him before the trial.Mr. Abrego Garcia, a metalworker who was living in Maryland when he was arrested on March 12 and summarily deported three days later to El Salvador, had for weeks been trying through lawyers representing him in a separate civil case to enforce a court order instructing the Trump administration to take active measures toward securing his freedom.But after the administration repeatedly sought to sidestep and delay complying with that order, the Justice Department abruptly changed course. Top department officials announced on Friday that Mr. Abrego Garcia had been brought back to the United States to stand trial on charges of taking part in a yearslong conspiracy to smuggle thousands of undocumented immigrants across the country as a member of the violent street gang MS-13.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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      Duffy Backs Safety Audit After Deadly Crash Near National Airport

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      An investigation will examine what could have prevented an Army Black Hawk helicopter from ramming into an American Airlines flight on Jan. 29, killing all on board both aircraft.Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, on Wednesday endorsed calls for the department’s inspector general to audit air safety protocols around the nation’s capital after a fatal January crash between a commercial flight and a military helicopter, as officials told senators the Federal Aviation Administration and the Army would soon sign a policy agreement to avoid such accidents in the future.Mr. Duffy’s pledge to fully support the audit comes after a bipartisan majority of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation earlier this week called on the watchdogs overseeing the Department of Transportation and the Army to examine their safety measures. They asked both inspectors general to investigate whether changes could have helped prevent an Army Black Hawk helicopter from ramming into American Airlines Flight 5342 as it approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Jan. 29, killing all on board both aircraft, as well as a series of near misses that have occurred in the same region.The National Transportation Safety Board has already started an investigation into the Jan. 29 crash. On Wednesday, its chairwoman, Jennifer Homendy, told senators on the commerce committee during a closed-door meeting with N.T.S.B., F.A.A. and Army officials that the probe would be completed by Jan. 29, 2026, according to Senator Jerry Moran, Republican of Kansas and the chairman of the panel’s aviation subcommittee.In the meantime, the F.A.A. and the Army plan to conclude a memorandum of understanding for safely coordinating air operations, according to senators on the panel and Chris Rocheleau, the acting F.A.A. administrator, who told reporters after the closed-door briefing that they were “getting close” to an agreement.A crane lifted part of the fuselage from the wreckage of an American Airlines plane that crashed after a collision with a Black Hawk helicopter on the Potomac River in Arlington, Va., in February.Al Drago for The New York TimesSince the crash, the F.A.A. has closed the flight route used by the Army Black Hawk on Jan. 29 to military traffic, and the military has limited the availability of V.I.P. flights — the missions for which the Army pilots were training that night — to just a handful of senior officials, Mr. Moran said. Previously, he added, V.I.P. flights were available to generals with at least a three-star rank; now, they are only available to the secretary of defense, his under secretary, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his deputy.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