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Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Karla Kerlin sentenced Maria Del Refugio Avalos, 40, to 25 years-to-life in prison.

A Fort Lauderdale man is thought to be the victim of a suspected bear attack after hiking in Montana's Glacier National Park, according to reports.

Culpo and McCaffrey welcomed their first child together in July 2025.

Culpo and McCaffrey welcomed their first child together in July 2025.

Every year, Angelenos are reminded of what it means to pay their share. We file, we write the checks, and we trust that the money serves a purpose.

UCLA Med School Illegally Using Race In Admissions: DOJ

A DOJ investigation into the University of California–Los Angeles (UCLA) found its medial school allegedly used applicants' race to discriminate against white and asian candidates. 

Royce Hall on University of California, Los Angeles, campus is seen in Los Angeles on Aug. 15, 2024. AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File

In a seven-page letter released on Wednesday, the agency’s Civil Rights Division wrote that UCLA "continues to intentionally discriminate against applicants based on their race after the Supreme Court’s decision in Harvard by granting and denying admission on the basis of race," citing a 2023 decision - Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard - which barred race-conscious admissions at colleges and universities, but still allowed schools to consider how race affected students if they wrote about their experiences in essays. 

The finding is the latest salvo in the clash between the Trump administration and woke institutions since last year, after federal investigators went after DEI initiatives in higher education.

"Racism in admissions is both illegal and anti-American, and this Department will not allow it to continue," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Rights Division.

The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA responded - saying its process was "based on merit and grounded in a rigorous, comprehensive review of each applicant." 

"We are confident in our practices and our mission to maintain access to a high-quality education to all qualified students," a spokesperson told the Epoch Times, which notes further: 

The medical school was reviewing the DOJ’s report and was “committed to providing equal opportunity to all applicants and fully complying with federal and state laws,” the spokesperson said.

The DOJ issued a letter to the university’s medical school on May 6 notifying officials of the school’s failure to comply with federal civil rights law for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 classes.

Federal law authorizes the DOJ to conduct periodic compliance reviews and investigations of practices and policies of institutions, such as UCLA, that receive federal funding.

A student walks near Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles on April 23, 2012. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

The DOJ found the medical school’s internal policies, literature, and email correspondence to leadership consistently demonstrated its intent to use race as a factor in admissions despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2023 in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard that found race-based admissions programs were unconstitutional.

The medical school allegedly used different academic metrics to discriminate against all racial groups except black and Hispanic applicants to accept more black and Hispanic applicants into its program, according to the DOJ.

If the DOJ determines that the institution can’t voluntarily change its practices to comply with federal law, the DOJ may seek enforcement through the courts, according to the letter.

The school is also facing a class-action lawsuit filed in May 2025 by Do No Harm, a nonprofit organization opposed to “radical, divisive, and discriminatory ideologies” in health care and medical education.

In the lawsuit, the group also claims UCLA’s medical school has ignored federal law by discriminating against applicants based on race.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 19:40

The infected group experienced diarrhea and vomiting on the 948-foot-long vessel that set sail on April 28 from Fort Lauderdale, the CDC reported.

California leads the nation in doctor shortages. A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of federal data shows that 6 million Californians live in Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), where less than half of the state’sprimary care needs are being met. In the Inland Empire, the ratio of primary care physicians falls to as low...

Kirk’s widow Erika, who is a victim representative in the case, has pushed for maximum press access – as have lawyers representing the media.

The knock on David Bailey during the pre-draft process was that while he was an elite pass rusher, he was not a good run defender.

Snoop Dogg grand opening in Long Beach postponed due to security concerns

Clinton-Appointed Federal Judge Rules DOGE's Terminations Of Humanities Grants Unlawful

Authored by Guy Birchall via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge ruled on May 7 that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) termination of hundreds of humanities grants last year was unconstitutional and involved “blatant” discrimination.

In April 2025, the Trump administration axed more than 1,400 grants, amounting to more than $100 million in congressionally appropriated funds awarded to scholars, writers, research institutions, and other humanities organizations.

The move was part of a whirlwind cost-cutting drive that tech billionaire Elon Musk was leading at DOGE as a “special government employee”—a role that is term-limited to 130 days. Musk departed that role after completing his term in May 2025.

However, Bill Clinton-appointed District Judge Colleen McMahon, ruling at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, said that the administration “engaged in blatant viewpoint discrimination,” ruling in consolidated cases brought by the American Council of Learned Societies, the Authors Guild, and others.

McMahon said the terminations violated the First Amendment right to free speech and the Fifth Amendment, which confers equal protection.

She also ruled that DOGE did not have the legal authority to terminate the grants.

“What mattered to DOGE was not whether a grant lacked scholarly merit, failed to comply with its terms, or fell outside NEH’s [National Endowment for the Humanities] statutory purposes. What mattered was that the grant concerned a ’minority group,'” she ruled.

“DOGE swept in race and ethnicity – including grants concerning Black, Asian, Latino, and Indigenous communities – as well as national origin and immigration status; religion and religious identity (including Jewish, Christian, and Muslim subjects); sex; and sexual orientation, as criteria for grant termination.”

McMahon also said that DOGE staffers using ChatGPT to establish the rationale behind axing some grants would not absolve the government of responsibility for its decisions.

“The government cannot escape liability for DOGE’s work by scapegoating ChatGPT,” she ruled.

Neither DOGE nor the White House has yet responded to the ruling. The Epoch Times has contacted both for comment.

According to DOGE’s website, the department has saved an estimated $215 billion in taxpayers’ money since it was established in January 2025.

That figure amounts to around $1,335.40 per taxpayer, according to DOGE.

The department’s work has been met with other litigation since it began, with the Trump administration in March asking the Supreme Court for a second time to halt lower courts’ attempts to access information about DOGE’s inner workings.

The Supreme Court intervened in the case last year, ruling that lower courts’ orders for the government to turn over information about the department’s activities were overbroad. An appeals court has since asked for less information, but the government told the Supreme Court on March 23 that the requests were still intruding too much on executive branch powers.

“The court of appeals has continued to approve intrusive discovery against a presidential advisory body without adequate consideration for the separation of powers, the FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] statute, and this Court’s previous order,” the government’s filing stated.

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sued DOGE last year after its FOIA requests were not honored.

The government has argued that DOGE is an advisory arm of the executive branch—not an agency—and is not required to submit to FOIA inquiries. But a district court in Washington ruled differently and ordered DOGE to comply with those inquiries.

The Supreme Court has yet to rule on the administration’s latest request.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 19:15

An FBI memo from 1966 chillingly detailed witness accounts of UFO sightings and extraterrestrial beings — complete with spacesuits and helmets, according to the newly released files from the Pentagon.

Judge Sparkle Sooknanan said she must consider several factors several factors including whether it is "tainted by improper collusion or corruption."

You have to admire the creativity of Sixers fans who understand the inevitability of Knicks fans invading the Xfinity Wireless Arena.

The flashy overhaul would transform the many decades-old complex into a futuristic mega-campus complete with rooftop terraces, giant digital displays, sleek new events halls and a massive glass atrium hovering over Pico Boulevard.

Joel Embiid pleaded with 76ers fans to keep their home playoff tickets against the Knicks.

She was the woman shrieking with unbridled joy in the background while her son was on the phone with Aaron Glenn congratulating him on being drafted in the seventh and final round.

Less than two years after he was taken with the No. 31 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, Waldschmidt reached the top level of the minor leagues and has thrived.

Thailand Emerges As Possible Hub In Nvidia Chip-Smuggling Channel To Alibaba

New details have emerged in the alleged AI chip diversion scheme involving the co-founder of Super Micro Computer.

Bloomberg reports that some of the $2.5 billion worth of servers containing advanced AI chips were allegedly routed through a Bangkok-based company before reaching Chinese AI leader Alibaba.

The Bloomberg report noted:

US prosecutors this year outlined a scheme in which Super Micro's co-founder allegedly worked with an unnamed Southeast Asian company and a "rotating cast" of third-party brokers to divert the AI semiconductors in violation of US trade rules.

The Southeast Asian firm the prosecutors didn't name, identified only as Company-1, is Bangkok-based OBON Corp., the people said.

Some of the $2.5 billion worth of servers sold to OBON allegedly went to Chinese AI leader Alibaba, according to the people, who requested anonymity to discuss a sensitive legal and geopolitical matter.

It is important to note that OBON is linked to Thailand's AI infrastructure buildout and the creation of Siam AI, Thailand's sovereign cloud champion.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang even appeared at a Siam AI event in December 2024, focused on sovereign AI. Siam AI's CEO, Ratanaphon Wongnapachant, said Siam AI was not involved and that he had left OBON when he launched Siam AI.

Washington has restricted exports of advanced Nvidia AI chips to China over national security concerns, leaving Chinese firms to either rent overseas computing resources or obtain chips through smuggling channels.

In mid-March, U.S. federal prosecutors charged three men: senior executive Yih-Shyan "Wally" Liaw, the co-founder; Ruei-Tsang "Steven" Chang; and Ting-Wei "Willy" Sun, with conspiring to divert $2.5 billion worth of Nvidia chips to China.

"OBON's purported involvement in the smuggling arrangement could deal a blow to Thailand's fledgling AI ambitions and reignite calls in Washington for restrictions on chip sales to the region," Bloomberg noted.

Shares of Super Micro have since recovered from the mid-March plunge that followed the co-founder's arrest by U.S. authorities.

Today's report outlines how Thailand's sovereign AI push may have served as a channel to smuggle advanced Nvidia chips to China.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 18:50