Massachusetts
U.S. immigration court blocks deportation of Tufts graduate student from Turkey, her attorneys say
An immigration court blocked the deportation of a Turkish Tufts University graduate student who was detained by immigration officials near her Massachusetts home, her attorneys said in court documents filed Monday.
Rümeysa Öztürk’s attorneys said the immigration court found on Jan. 29 that the Department of Homeland Security hasn’t proved that Öztürk should be removed from the U.S.
The immigration court also terminated Öztürk’s removal proceedings, the attorneys said in a letter to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has been reviewing her case.
The department has the option to appeal the immigration court’s decision, the notice from her attorneys said.
Öztürk is a PhD student studying children’s relationship to social media. She was arrested last March while walking down a street as the Trump administration began targeting foreign-born students and activists involved in pro-Palestinian advocacy. She had co-authored an op-ed criticizing her university’s response to Israel and the war in Gaza.
Video showed masked agents handcuffing her and putting her into an unmarked vehicle.
A petition to release her was first filed in federal court in Boston and then moved to Burlington, Vermont. Öztürk has been out of a Louisiana immigrant detention center since May and back on the Tufts campus outside Boston.
A federal judge said Öztürk raised serious concerns about her First Amendment and due process rights, as well as her health. The federal government appealed her release to the 2nd Circuit.
Öztürk’s attorneys told the 2nd Circuit that the government may try to detain their client again if it appeals the immigration court’s decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals.
The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately return an email message seeking comment.
Öztürk said it was heartening to know that some justice can prevail.
“Today, I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that despite the justice system’s flaws, my case may give hope to those who have also been wronged by the U.S. government,” she said in a statement released by her attorneys.
Pennsylvania
Former Pitt women’s basketball players call coach abusive, toxic in Title IX lawsuits
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Six former players on the women’s basketball team at the University of Pittsburgh have sued coach Tory Verdi and the school over what they call abusive coaching methods and say their efforts to seek help were ignored.
“These players aren’t soft. We aren’t talking about sensitive personality types,” lawyer Keenan D. Holmes told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “Obviously, there are expectations placed on players. But this went beyond basketball. It went beyond the bounds of common decency.”
Verdi, according to the lawsuit filed Friday, also tried to force players into the transfer portal, putting their scholarships at risk and threatening their academic and athletic futures.
The university denied the allegations in a brief statement issued Tuesday on behalf of both the coach and the school.
“The university is aware of these lawsuits and their allegations, which are without merit and will be vigorously defended,” the statement said.
Verdi has struggled over three seasons at Pitt after notching a winning record in seven seasons at the University of Massachusetts. According to the lawsuits, he once told his Pitt players: “Every night I lay in bed I want to kill myself because of you.”
He told one athlete, according to the legal complaint, “I don’t like you as a player, but I’d let my son date you.”
And he once divided the players by race and had them face off at practice, it said. Some of the women are now in counseling or therapy, and others have sought a red-shirt year of NCAA eligibility based on mental health problems, Holmes said.
The former players include Favor Ayodele of Spain, now at Grand Canyon University; Raeven Boswell, who left the team but stayed at Pitt to finish her degree; Isabella Perkins, now a student at Boston College; Jasmine Timmerson, now playing for Davidson College; and MaKayla Elmore and Brooklynn Miles, who had transferred to Pitt for their senior years.
Some of the players reached out repeatedly to Verdi’s supervisors in the athletic department for help, to no avail, the lawsuits said.
The women seek an acknowledgment that the school violated their civil rights under Title IX, which prohibits gender-based discrimination in education, along with the restoration of their school records and reputations, and compensatory and punitive damages.
California
Cadillac F1 team confident it can resolve lawsuit with Michael Bay
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Formula 1 team Cadillac is confident it can resolve a dispute with filmmaker Michael Bay, who is suing for $1.5 million for his ideas being used without permission in a Super Bowl commercial.
In a 19-page lawsuit filed on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court of California, Bay accused Dan Towriss, the principal owner and CEO of the Cadillac F1 team, of using his ideas for the commercial before he “abruptly decided to go in a different direction.”
Cadillac said in a statement to The Associated Press on Monday that it met with Bay a couple of times and “it became clear he couldn’t meet our timeline, and there ultimately wasn’t a path forward.”
“It’s unclear why he’s bringing this claim since the concept and creative were already developed and we were only exploring him as a director,” Cadillac said. “We’re confident this will be resolved appropriately. Even so, we still admire Michael Bay’s creative brilliance and would welcome the opportunity to work together in the future.”
In the commercial broadcast on Sunday during the Super Bowl, the team unveiled a new car with the famous “We Choose to Go the Moon” speech by former President John F. Kennedy.
In his lawsuit, Bay, the award-winning director of action movies and commercials, said Towriss vaguely told him about the JFK speech and he showed him a seven-minute clip from “Transformers 3” where he used the speech, and said “Towriss was thrilled.”
U.S. immigration court blocks deportation of Tufts graduate student from Turkey, her attorneys say
An immigration court blocked the deportation of a Turkish Tufts University graduate student who was detained by immigration officials near her Massachusetts home, her attorneys said in court documents filed Monday.
Rümeysa Öztürk’s attorneys said the immigration court found on Jan. 29 that the Department of Homeland Security hasn’t proved that Öztürk should be removed from the U.S.
The immigration court also terminated Öztürk’s removal proceedings, the attorneys said in a letter to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has been reviewing her case.
The department has the option to appeal the immigration court’s decision, the notice from her attorneys said.
Öztürk is a PhD student studying children’s relationship to social media. She was arrested last March while walking down a street as the Trump administration began targeting foreign-born students and activists involved in pro-Palestinian advocacy. She had co-authored an op-ed criticizing her university’s response to Israel and the war in Gaza.
Video showed masked agents handcuffing her and putting her into an unmarked vehicle.
A petition to release her was first filed in federal court in Boston and then moved to Burlington, Vermont. Öztürk has been out of a Louisiana immigrant detention center since May and back on the Tufts campus outside Boston.
A federal judge said Öztürk raised serious concerns about her First Amendment and due process rights, as well as her health. The federal government appealed her release to the 2nd Circuit.
Öztürk’s attorneys told the 2nd Circuit that the government may try to detain their client again if it appeals the immigration court’s decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals.
The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately return an email message seeking comment.
Öztürk said it was heartening to know that some justice can prevail.
“Today, I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that despite the justice system’s flaws, my case may give hope to those who have also been wronged by the U.S. government,” she said in a statement released by her attorneys.
Pennsylvania
Former Pitt women’s basketball players call coach abusive, toxic in Title IX lawsuits
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Six former players on the women’s basketball team at the University of Pittsburgh have sued coach Tory Verdi and the school over what they call abusive coaching methods and say their efforts to seek help were ignored.
“These players aren’t soft. We aren’t talking about sensitive personality types,” lawyer Keenan D. Holmes told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “Obviously, there are expectations placed on players. But this went beyond basketball. It went beyond the bounds of common decency.”
Verdi, according to the lawsuit filed Friday, also tried to force players into the transfer portal, putting their scholarships at risk and threatening their academic and athletic futures.
The university denied the allegations in a brief statement issued Tuesday on behalf of both the coach and the school.
“The university is aware of these lawsuits and their allegations, which are without merit and will be vigorously defended,” the statement said.
Verdi has struggled over three seasons at Pitt after notching a winning record in seven seasons at the University of Massachusetts. According to the lawsuits, he once told his Pitt players: “Every night I lay in bed I want to kill myself because of you.”
He told one athlete, according to the legal complaint, “I don’t like you as a player, but I’d let my son date you.”
And he once divided the players by race and had them face off at practice, it said. Some of the women are now in counseling or therapy, and others have sought a red-shirt year of NCAA eligibility based on mental health problems, Holmes said.
The former players include Favor Ayodele of Spain, now at Grand Canyon University; Raeven Boswell, who left the team but stayed at Pitt to finish her degree; Isabella Perkins, now a student at Boston College; Jasmine Timmerson, now playing for Davidson College; and MaKayla Elmore and Brooklynn Miles, who had transferred to Pitt for their senior years.
Some of the players reached out repeatedly to Verdi’s supervisors in the athletic department for help, to no avail, the lawsuits said.
The women seek an acknowledgment that the school violated their civil rights under Title IX, which prohibits gender-based discrimination in education, along with the restoration of their school records and reputations, and compensatory and punitive damages.
California
Cadillac F1 team confident it can resolve lawsuit with Michael Bay
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Formula 1 team Cadillac is confident it can resolve a dispute with filmmaker Michael Bay, who is suing for $1.5 million for his ideas being used without permission in a Super Bowl commercial.
In a 19-page lawsuit filed on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court of California, Bay accused Dan Towriss, the principal owner and CEO of the Cadillac F1 team, of using his ideas for the commercial before he “abruptly decided to go in a different direction.”
Cadillac said in a statement to The Associated Press on Monday that it met with Bay a couple of times and “it became clear he couldn’t meet our timeline, and there ultimately wasn’t a path forward.”
“It’s unclear why he’s bringing this claim since the concept and creative were already developed and we were only exploring him as a director,” Cadillac said. “We’re confident this will be resolved appropriately. Even so, we still admire Michael Bay’s creative brilliance and would welcome the opportunity to work together in the future.”
In the commercial broadcast on Sunday during the Super Bowl, the team unveiled a new car with the famous “We Choose to Go the Moon” speech by former President John F. Kennedy.
In his lawsuit, Bay, the award-winning director of action movies and commercials, said Towriss vaguely told him about the JFK speech and he showed him a seven-minute clip from “Transformers 3” where he used the speech, and said “Towriss was thrilled.”
