Author: CNN Newsource

By Lisa Valadez

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    Houston, TX (Houston Style Magazine) — Earlier today, a press conference was held on the steps of the U.S. District Courthouse for the Western District of Texas in Austin, where three Texas women announced the filing of a federal civil rights lawsuit challenging their continued bans from the Texas Capitol Complex.

The Austin Community Law Center said the lawsuit was filed on behalf of plaintiffs Angel Carroll, Jessica Cohen, and Jill Van Voorhis, and targets the Texas State Preservation Board along with state leaders including Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, Dustin Barrows, and other board members. The legal action challenges year-long criminal trespass notices issued following a peaceful protest in August 2025, which the plaintiffs argue remain in place despite the Travis County Attorney declining to pursue charges.

According to the lawsuit, the bans function as an unconstitutional restriction on First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, amounting to what the plaintiffs describe as a prior restraint on future political speech and assembly.

Speaking outside the courthouse, Carroll said the case stems from what she characterized as retaliation following protest activity connected to redistricting debates. She said that after the August 2025 demonstration, she and others were arrested and held in county jail for several hours before being released, and that prosecutors ultimately rejected the charges due to insufficient evidence. Carroll added that the broader implications of the case extend beyond the individuals involved.

“This is so much bigger than one night. When a government can arrest peaceful advocates, ban them from public spaces without charge, and offer no path to appeal, they are not simply bending the rules, they are dismantling the very framework that protects every American, regardless of party and ideology. This is an attempt to set another dangerous precedent and the implications will reach far beyond the walls of the Texas Capitol. If we allow the rights guaranteed to us by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to be quietly eroded without consequence, we will have failed not only ourselves, but every generation that comes after us,” Carroll said.

Carroll said that despite the dismissal of charges, she and the other plaintiffs remain barred from entering the Capitol Complex, including surrounding grounds and facilities, with no formal appeal process available. She described the restriction as overly broad and said it effectively prevents access to public spaces beyond the Capitol building itself.

The plaintiffs also referenced State Representative Nicole Collier of Fort Worth, who previously resisted compliance measures tied to the protest response and remained inside the House chamber for several days in solidarity with demonstrators. State Senator Sarah Eckhardt was also present at the press conference in support of the legal effort, along with attorney Brian McGiverin of the Austin Community Law Center.

The nonprofit law center, which focuses on civil rights litigation and public interest advocacy, said the lawsuit seeks to challenge what it views as unlawful restrictions imposed without due process. Carroll said the group is pursuing legal action after concluding that other avenues of redress had been exhausted.

The case is expected to proceed in federal court in the coming months.

Read full complaint here:

Case 1:26-cv-01169

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Lisa Valadez
Lisa@stylemagazine.com
713-748-6300

By Ashley Loose

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    PRESCOTT, Arizona (KNXV) — The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office says a bobcat believed to have been involved in multiple attacks in the Prescott area was killed by a dog Monday morning.

On Sunday evening, deputies responded to an attack involving a bobcat in the Inscription Canyon area. A man suffered “significant injuries” and was taken to a hospital for treatment, but the bobcat was not located.

On Monday morning, deputies and animal control officers responded to another incident in which a bobcat reportedly attacked a woman. This attack was more than seven miles away from the first incident.

A third attack was reported a short time later by a person who was walking in an area nearby. The walker’s German Shepherd dog “heroically intervened, successfully fending off and killing the bobcat,” YCSO says.

Officials say the dog was injured during the attack and is receiving care from a veterinarian.

Another dog was reportedly attacked by a bobcat, marking the fourth known incident in this string of attacks. Officials are now looking for any other possible victims or pets that may have been attacked.

All three people who were attacked are getting treatment for cuts and bites, and it’s believed that the same bobcat was involved in all of the attacks due to the extreme rarity of these occurrences. However, officials are asking the public to remain cautious.

Anyone with information or additional incident reports, including pets, is asked to contact the Arizona Game and Fish Department. You should seek immediate veterinary care if your animal was attacked, YCSO says.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Paula Wethington

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    ANN ARBOR, Michigan (WWJ) — Controversy has erupted over a history professor’s remarks during the University of Michigan spring commencement program Saturday in Ann Arbor.

Derek R. Peterson, a history professor and the outgoing Faculty Senate Chair, “made remarks regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict that were hurtful and insensitive to many members of our community,” U-M president Domenico Grasso said later in the day.

Grasso said that Peterson “deviated from the remarks he had shared before the ceremony.” Furthermore, the remarks made “were inappropriate and do not represent our institutional position.” The college president said in response that he will work in the coming weeks with university leadership to “review and refine future commencement programming.”

Short video clips of his remarks have been circulating on social media, during which the professor called out “pro-Palestinian student activists who have, over these past two years, opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza.”

Peterson provided a YouTube link to a longer clip of his speech. During the 5½ minute video link he posted, Peterson began his remarks with the fight to allow women to become students at the University of Michigan.

He challenged the graduates, when they sing the school’s fight song “The Victors,” to remember those first women students, and the first Jewish professors and Jewish students on campus.

He continued:

“Sing for the students of the Black Action Movement, whose members demanded a curriculum that would reflect the experience and identity of black people in this country.

“Sing for the pro-Palestinian student activities who have over these past two years opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza.

“The greatness of this institution does not only rest on the shoulders and on the accomplishments of our student athletes who deserve all the congratulations we can offer them.

“But the greatness of this university rests also on the courage and the conviction of student activists who have pushed this university down the path toward justice.

“It is to them that we can rightly sing ‘Hail! to the victors valiant. Hail! to the conquering heroes. Hail! to Michigan. The leaders and the best.”

Those publicly criticizing Peterson’s statements include two Republican-endorsed candidates for the Board of Regents election, Michael Schostak and Lena Epstein, who issued a joint statement saying, “Commencement ceremonies exist to unite the University community around academic achievement, personal growth, and the promise of what comes next. It should not become a stage for political activism that leaves students feeling excluded or uncomfortable during one of the most important milestones of their lives.”

“I am disgusted by this educational ‘leader’ who used his platform at spring commencement to attack Israel,” Schostak said while sharing the statement.

And Sarah Hubbard, a Republican who is currently serving as a U-M regent, said in a social media post, “While I wasn’t there yesterday to see it in person, what I have seen is incredibly troubling and disappointing. It is very difficult to execute meaningful consequences on tenured faculty but as a leader I can help set the tone and expectations for their conduct.”

Hubbard said she expects to discuss the circumstances both with the Board of Regents and the university administration.

“Make no mistake, we will not allow a 30-second soundbite to tear down the goodwill that so many on our campus have worked to build,” Grasso said. “Together, we have made Michigan a welcoming, safe and inclusive community – one that we can be proud of, reflects our values, and serves as a model for other institutions around the world. That work continues now and always.”

CBS News Detroit reached out to Peterson for comment, and he provided the following statement:

“I have respect for Regent Hubbard and her colleagues: theirs is not an easy job, and we here at Michigan benefit from their leadership.

“I would however urge Regent Hubbard to review the comments I actually made at yesterday’s commencement. It should not be controversial to have one’s “heart opened to the inhumanity and injustice of Israel’s war in Gaza”, which is what I credited activists with doing. Having an open heart to other people’s suffering is a fundamental human virtue. It is a quality that I hope we teach our students, whatever their political posture might be.

“So I am mystified about what I have done to earn Regent Hubbard’s ire. I have – like many of us here in Michigan – been convicted by the evidence of human suffering in Gaza; and I credit my awareness of that to pro-Palestinian activists. That is why I gave the speech that I did. On a day meant to honor students for their accomplishments, I thought it important that we would honor the student activists who have, over the course of time, pushed the institution toward justice.

“The University has taken down the commencement video. But here is my talk, if you’d like to hear the whole of it. As you will see, it is a talk about the salience of student activism in this institution’s long history.

“Allow me to add, if I may:

“The idea that graduations should be apolitical is ridiculous. Michigan is not a finishing school for polite young men and women. Our students are not wilting flowers. They have just finished their degrees at the foremost public university in the country. They can handle controversy.

“They do not need sentimental, cloying nostalgia. They need encouragement to face a flawed and unjust world head on, using the tools we’ve given them: critical reasoning, careful research, sympathy for the oppressed.

“That is why I spoke as I did. If parents want sentimental graduation ceremonies, perhaps they should send their kids to a different institution. Here at UM we teach our students to face controversies, not run away from them. That’s what being the leaders and the best is about.”

The keynote speaker for spring commencement was former basketball star Jalen A. Rose of Detroit. Three students were also chosen to represent their class as speakers.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Aaron Parseghian, Matt Schooley

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    Massachusetts (WBZ) — Stefon Diggs’ accuser, his former personal chef Mila Adams, is testifying Monday at his assault trial in Dedham, Massachusetts. The trial quickly got underway earlier in the day with jury selection and opening statements.

Judge Jeanmarie Carroll is overseeing the proceedings in Dedham District Court. Drew Virtue is the prosecutor and Andrew Kettlewell is Diggs’ defense attorney.

The former New England Patriots receiver is accused of attacking Adams last year. He’s charged with felony strangulation or suffocation and misdemeanor assault and battery in the incident at his home on December 2. He has pleaded not guilty.

Adams, who lived in Diggs’ home while working for him, walked into the Dedham police station on December 16 alleging that two weeks earlier, Diggs had smacked her across the face and choked her.

She told police they had been texting about money that she was owed when the confrontation occurred. Diggs has denied the allegations.

Personal chef Mila Adams testifies Adams was the first witness called to the stand after opening statements.

She said she known Diggs for around four years. Adams described her relationship with the NFL player as “complicated,” saying they started as friends. Adams said their relationship became sexual, then she came to work for him in February 2025.

Adams said Diggs agreed to pay her about $2,000 per week.

On December 2, Adams and Diggs were in an argument through text message, Adams said. That day she said she was lying across her bed reading a cookbook when Diggs opened the door and came in.

“He looks very angry … He was just very upset,” Adams said. “He smacked me with an open hand.”

Adams testified that Diggs used his right hand and hit her on the cheek.

While on the stand, Adams attempted to demonstrate how Diggs put his arm around her neck and choked her. She said she was unable to breathe.

There were several objections and sidebars during Adams’ testimony as she was asked about texts messages she deleted before going to the Dedham Police Department to file a report against Diggs.

Under cross-examination, Adams was asked about certain information that she did not include to police. Adams said she was concerned what would be made public, especially because at the time Diggs was dating rapper Cardi B.

“I didn’t put a lot of things. The most important thing was the attack in the police report. Me reporting anything outside of why he got upset, I didn’t feel the need to put it. I was scared out how it would be received by the public,” Adams testified. “He’s in a very public relationship with Cardi B. So I did not put a lot of things in the police report. My most important thing was him assaulting me and choking me and slapping me.”

The defense also showed videos and photos of Adams taken in the days after the alleged attack, attempting to highlight that she appeared in good spirits and had no visible injuries.

“There was no assault,” Stefon Diggs’ attorney argues Kettlewell began his opening statement earlier in the day by saying that there was no attack.

“The assault that the Commonwealth just described in their opening statement in only a few sentences never happened. Did not happen. There was no strangulation, there was no assault,” he told jurors. “There was no incident on December 2 or any other day.”

Kettlewell said the prosecution has no physical evidence, no medical records, and no photos or video to prove there was attack.

He also told the court also that in late December, Adams began demanding money. He later said she told police “a made up story.”

Stefon Diggs trial begins Earlier, Virtue gave his opening statement.

“I expect she’s going to tell you how he put her in the headlock, the difficulty she had breathing, that he threw her on the bed, and he left,” Virtue said.

The judge said she expects the trial to take two or three days for attorneys to present all of the evidence and for jurors to begin deliberating.

Carroll began Monday morning’s jury selection by asking prospective jurors a series of questions. When the judge asked if any member of the jury pool recognized the defendant, several people in the room said they did.

At the end of group questioning, jurors were called up individually to be questioned by the judge and attorneys.

The jury was seated before noon, just over two hours after the proceedings got underway. Opening statements began a short time later.

The Patriots released Diggs in March. He has not signed with another NFL team yet.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.