Geoff Bennett:
Meantime in Israel, ultra-nationalist Itamar Ben-Gvir regained his position as national security minister. He had left the government coalition in January to protest the cease-fire with Hamas.
A federal judge is moving the case of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil to New Jersey. That’s because the 30-year-old was being held there when his lawyers first challenged the legality of his detention. Khalil is currently at a facility in Louisiana as U.S. officials seek to deport him. ICE agents arrested Khalil earlier this month for his role in pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
He is a legal us resident with no criminal record, and his lawyers say the grounds for his arrest violate his First Amendment rights.
The White House says it’s suspending $175 million in federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania. It follows an investigation into Penn’s swimming program that focused on Lia Thomas, an openly transgender athlete who last competed for the school in 2022. A Penn spokesperson says they have not received details of the action, but in a statement added — quote — “We have been in the past and remain today in full compliance with the regulations that apply to not only Penn, but all of our NCAA and Ivy League peer institutions.”
Penn joins Columbia University as the second Ivy League school to be targeted by the administration in the last two weeks.
A jury in North Dakota found Greenpeace liable for defamation and other claims related to protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline. The environmental group must pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the Dallas-based energy transfer company and its subsidiary Dakota Access. The lawsuit accuses Greenpeace of defamation, trespass, nuisance, and other acts during the 2016 and 2017 protests near the reservation of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Activists opposed the oil pipeline’s construction as a risk to the local water supply. Greenpeace says its employees had little to no involvement in the protests.
The Federal Reserve held its benchmark interest rate steady today for the second meeting in a row. But even as it projects slower economic growth, the Central Bank signaled it still expects to cut rates twice this year. At a news conference today, Fed Chair Jerome Powell called the outlook uncertain. He explicitly cited tariffs as a potential obstacle to the Fed’s effort to bring inflation down to its 2 percent goal.
