Massachusetts
NFL player pleads not guilty in assault allegation
BOSTON (AP) — New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs on Friday pleaded not guilty to felony strangulation and other criminal charges stemming from an alleged dispute with his personal chef.
The arraignment at Massachusetts’s Dedham District Court was postponed until after Super Bowl LX so Diggs could play in the NFL championship game.
At the arraignment, Diggs was scheduled to next appear for a pretrial hearing on April 1.
According to court records, the chef told Dedham officers she and Diggs argued about money he owed her for her work. During the Dec. 2 encounter at his home, she said, he “smacked her across the face” and then “tried to choke her using the crook of his elbow around her neck,” leaving her feeling short of breath.
Diggs’ arraignment was originally slated for Jan. 23 but was moved to Feb. 13 — five days after the Patriots’ 29-13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Diggs’ attorney has said he “categorically denies these allegations,” calling them unsubstantiated and motivated by a financial dispute. The Patriots released a statement saying they support him.
Investigators allege the woman first reported the incident to police on Dec. 16, two weeks after it occurred; she initially hesitated to file charges but later chose to do so, according to court documents.
The arraignment Friday was the first court appearance in the case. The judge was expected to address bail conditions and set future hearing dates.
California
Judge dismisses deportation case for Mexican father of 3 U.S. Marines
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An immigration judge has dismissed the deportation case against a landscaper who was arrested in Southern California last year, and the father of three U.S. Marines is now on a path toward legal permanent residency in the U.S.
The June detention of Narciso Barranco, who came to the U.S. from Mexico in the 1990s but does not have legal status, caught widespread attention as the crackdown on immigration by President Donald Trump’s administration drew scrutiny and protests.
Witnesses uploaded videos of the arrest in Santa Ana, a city in Orange County. Federal agents struggled with Barranco and pinned him to the ground outside an IHOP restaurant where he had been clearing weeds.
Barranco was taken to a Los Angeles detention center and placed in deportation proceedings. In July, he was released on a $3,000 bond and ordered to wear an ankle monitor.
In a Jan. 28 order terminating the deportation case, Judge Kristin S. Piepmeier said that Barranco, 49, had provided evidence that he was the father of three U.S.-born sons in the military, making him eligible to seek lawful status.
Barranco said he is still staying mostly at home and not taking any chances going out until his legal paperwork has been finalized.
The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that it would appeal the judge’s decision, which was first reported by the New York Times.
Barranco’s lawyer Lisa Ramirez said her client feels “extreme relief” now that immigration officers have removed his ankle monitor and discontinued his check-ins.
“The aggressive nature of the apprehension, it was traumatic,” Ramirez said Thursday. “Mr. Barranco has had zero criminal history. They came after him because he was a brown gardener in the streets of Santa Ana.”
Ramirez said Barranco has applied for Parole in Place, a program that protects the parents of U.S. military personnel from deportation and helps them obtain permanent residency. If that petition is approved, Barranco will receive a work permit. She estimated the process could take six months or more.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin reiterated previous government claims that Barranco refused to comply with commands and swung his weed trimmer at an agent.
His son Alejandro Barranco told The Associated Press in June that his father did not attack anyone, had no criminal record and is kind and hardworking. The U.S. Marine Corps veteran said the use of force was unnecessary and differed greatly from his military training. He aided the U.S. military’s evacuation of personnel and Afghan allies from Afghanistan in 2021.
Alejandro left the Marine Corps in 2023. His two brothers are currently active-duty Marines.
New York
Jeanine Pirro files a $250,000 negligence suit over a trip-and-fall
RYE, N.Y. (AP) — Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, has filed a $250,000 negligence lawsuit against her suburban hometown north of New York City and a power utility after claiming she tripped and fell while out walking.
Pirro said she tripped over a large wooden block protruding from a steel plate in a roadway on Aug. 28 in the Westchester County city of Rye, just weeks after she was confirmed as the Trump administration’s top prosecutor for the District of Columbia.
The plate was covering excavation related to gas-main work for Consolidated Edison, according to an amended complaint filed Wednesday in state court.
“As a result of defendants’ negligence, Ms. Pirro sustained serious personal injuries, including but not limited to bruises and contusions to the head, eye, face, and shoulder areas, together with pain, discomfort, and limitation of movement,” according to the complaint, initially filed last month.
The 74-year-old former Fox News host was confined to bed, required medical attention and “continues to experience pain and suffering,” according to the filing.
Representatives for Pirro, Con Ed and Rye declined to comment on the pending litigation Thursday.
In a motion to dismiss the claim, an attorney for Rye wrote that it “can hardly be said that the City was negligent in a duty to pedestrians at a location that was not a pedestrian walkway.” An attorney for Con Ed wrote in a separate court filing seeking dismissal that all the dangers and risks related to the incident “were open, obvious and apparent.”
Pirro has served as both a judge and the district attorney for Westchester County.
Florida
Lawyers say access to ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ is still hard to get
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Attorneys for detainees at a state-run immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz” said Thursday that they are still facing hurdles in getting access to their clients, despite state claims that those barriers have been removed.
Two attorneys filed statements with a federal court in Fort Myers, Florida, saying their clients were unable to call them using staff cellphones, and the attorneys were unable to make unannounced visits to the facility.
A state contractor late last month testified that both options were available to detainees and attorneys during a hearing over whether detainees at the facility were getting adequate access to their lawyers. U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell has yet to rule on whether to grant the detainees’ request that they get the same access to their attorneys as detainees do at federally-run detention centers.
The Florida Department of Emergency Management, the state agency overseeing the detention center, didn’t respond to an e-mailed inquiry on Thursday. The Everglades facility was built last summer at a remote airstrip by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to support President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Florida also has built a second immigration detention center in north Florida.
The former Everglades detainees’ lawsuit claims that their First Amendment rights were violated. They say their attorneys have to make an appointment to visit three days in advance, unlike at other immigration detention facilities where lawyers can just show up during visiting hours; that detainees often are transferred to other facilities before their attorneys’ appointments to see them; and that scheduling delays have been so lengthy that detainees were unable to meet with attorneys before key deadlines.
State officials who are defendants in the lawsuit have denied restricting the detainees’ access to their attorneys and cited security and staffing reasons for any challenges. Federal officials who also are defendants denied that detainees’ First Amendment rights were violated.
Nevada
Women’s rights group sues to stop school sports ballot measure
A women’s rights group is trying to keep a Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo-led proposed ballot initiative, which would limit transgender female student athletes to school sports based on their sex at birth, off the 2026 ballot.
Lombardo announced last month he would be leading the ballot initiative “to ensure girls’ sports are fair and athletes are safe.” If passed, the measure would amend the Equal Rights Amendment, which Nevada voters passed in 2022, to largely prevent K-12 and college transgender female student athletes from playing in a sport that best aligns with their gender identity. It makes exceptions for female student athletes to play in boys’ or men’s sports when there’s no team for females available.
However, a complaint filed Jan. 29 claims that the initiative’s description does not comply with state statute “because it is deceptive, misleading, and fails to explain the ramifications of the proposed amendment to allow voters to make an informed decision, and is therefore invalid.” It was filed by Sue Burtch, the executive director of the Nevada chapter of the National Organization for Women.
The complaint also questions whether female athletes being injured by transgender athletes or these athletes unfairly winning competitions is a serious and prevalent enough issue that it requires amending the state Constitution.
“Obviously, we all know the answer to these questions, and also that Proponents cannot point even to a single current instance of a school athlete competing against the terms of the proposed Petition,” the plaintiff’s memorandum of points and authorities states. “Proponents cannot satisfy the mandate to describe what their Petition would achieve if they cannot bring themselves to be honest about their project in the first instance.”
The plaintiff is asking the court to declare the initiative invalid, prohibit the secretary of state from placing the petition on the 2026 general election ballot or from taking further action upon it and prohibit the Protect Girls Sports PAC from being able to gather signatures on the petition.
Burtch’s attorney, Bradley Schrager, said a hearing on the case is scheduled for Feb. 20 in the First Judicial District Court in Carson City.
The ballot initiative was filed on behalf of the PAC, whose leaders include Lombardo, who will serve as its honorary chair, Assm. Heidi Kasama (R-Las Vegas), attorney Adriana Guzmán Fralick, who’s running in the Republican primary for Nevada attorney general, and Erica Neely, who is running in a Republican primary for the Assembly seat currently held by Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas). Yeager is not running for re-election.
Ben Kieckhefer, a former state senator who recently served as Lombardo’s chief of staff, is listed as someone who can withdraw or amend the initiative.
“This initiative is about fairness and safety in girls’ sports, nothing more,” Lombardo said in a Wednesday statement. “These efforts are simply an attempt to delay the signature gathering process.”
The Nevada Independent obtained audio where Lombardo can be heard describing the initiative as a necessary part of his re-election strategy that would get voters out to the ballot box in a non-presidential election year.
It’s not clear how many transgender student athletes, if any, there are in Nevada. However, the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association, which oversees athletics at more than 120 high schools in the state, and the NCAA have already passed policies that largely limit sports to athletes’ sex assigned at birth.
NFL player pleads not guilty in assault allegation
BOSTON (AP) — New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs on Friday pleaded not guilty to felony strangulation and other criminal charges stemming from an alleged dispute with his personal chef.
The arraignment at Massachusetts’s Dedham District Court was postponed until after Super Bowl LX so Diggs could play in the NFL championship game.
At the arraignment, Diggs was scheduled to next appear for a pretrial hearing on April 1.
According to court records, the chef told Dedham officers she and Diggs argued about money he owed her for her work. During the Dec. 2 encounter at his home, she said, he “smacked her across the face” and then “tried to choke her using the crook of his elbow around her neck,” leaving her feeling short of breath.
Diggs’ arraignment was originally slated for Jan. 23 but was moved to Feb. 13 — five days after the Patriots’ 29-13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Diggs’ attorney has said he “categorically denies these allegations,” calling them unsubstantiated and motivated by a financial dispute. The Patriots released a statement saying they support him.
Investigators allege the woman first reported the incident to police on Dec. 16, two weeks after it occurred; she initially hesitated to file charges but later chose to do so, according to court documents.
The arraignment Friday was the first court appearance in the case. The judge was expected to address bail conditions and set future hearing dates.
California
Judge dismisses deportation case for Mexican father of 3 U.S. Marines
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An immigration judge has dismissed the deportation case against a landscaper who was arrested in Southern California last year, and the father of three U.S. Marines is now on a path toward legal permanent residency in the U.S.
The June detention of Narciso Barranco, who came to the U.S. from Mexico in the 1990s but does not have legal status, caught widespread attention as the crackdown on immigration by President Donald Trump’s administration drew scrutiny and protests.
Witnesses uploaded videos of the arrest in Santa Ana, a city in Orange County. Federal agents struggled with Barranco and pinned him to the ground outside an IHOP restaurant where he had been clearing weeds.
Barranco was taken to a Los Angeles detention center and placed in deportation proceedings. In July, he was released on a $3,000 bond and ordered to wear an ankle monitor.
In a Jan. 28 order terminating the deportation case, Judge Kristin S. Piepmeier said that Barranco, 49, had provided evidence that he was the father of three U.S.-born sons in the military, making him eligible to seek lawful status.
Barranco said he is still staying mostly at home and not taking any chances going out until his legal paperwork has been finalized.
The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that it would appeal the judge’s decision, which was first reported by the New York Times.
Barranco’s lawyer Lisa Ramirez said her client feels “extreme relief” now that immigration officers have removed his ankle monitor and discontinued his check-ins.
“The aggressive nature of the apprehension, it was traumatic,” Ramirez said Thursday. “Mr. Barranco has had zero criminal history. They came after him because he was a brown gardener in the streets of Santa Ana.”
Ramirez said Barranco has applied for Parole in Place, a program that protects the parents of U.S. military personnel from deportation and helps them obtain permanent residency. If that petition is approved, Barranco will receive a work permit. She estimated the process could take six months or more.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin reiterated previous government claims that Barranco refused to comply with commands and swung his weed trimmer at an agent.
His son Alejandro Barranco told The Associated Press in June that his father did not attack anyone, had no criminal record and is kind and hardworking. The U.S. Marine Corps veteran said the use of force was unnecessary and differed greatly from his military training. He aided the U.S. military’s evacuation of personnel and Afghan allies from Afghanistan in 2021.
Alejandro left the Marine Corps in 2023. His two brothers are currently active-duty Marines.
New York
Jeanine Pirro files a $250,000 negligence suit over a trip-and-fall
RYE, N.Y. (AP) — Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, has filed a $250,000 negligence lawsuit against her suburban hometown north of New York City and a power utility after claiming she tripped and fell while out walking.
Pirro said she tripped over a large wooden block protruding from a steel plate in a roadway on Aug. 28 in the Westchester County city of Rye, just weeks after she was confirmed as the Trump administration’s top prosecutor for the District of Columbia.
The plate was covering excavation related to gas-main work for Consolidated Edison, according to an amended complaint filed Wednesday in state court.
“As a result of defendants’ negligence, Ms. Pirro sustained serious personal injuries, including but not limited to bruises and contusions to the head, eye, face, and shoulder areas, together with pain, discomfort, and limitation of movement,” according to the complaint, initially filed last month.
The 74-year-old former Fox News host was confined to bed, required medical attention and “continues to experience pain and suffering,” according to the filing.
Representatives for Pirro, Con Ed and Rye declined to comment on the pending litigation Thursday.
In a motion to dismiss the claim, an attorney for Rye wrote that it “can hardly be said that the City was negligent in a duty to pedestrians at a location that was not a pedestrian walkway.” An attorney for Con Ed wrote in a separate court filing seeking dismissal that all the dangers and risks related to the incident “were open, obvious and apparent.”
Pirro has served as both a judge and the district attorney for Westchester County.
Florida
Lawyers say access to ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ is still hard to get
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Attorneys for detainees at a state-run immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz” said Thursday that they are still facing hurdles in getting access to their clients, despite state claims that those barriers have been removed.
Two attorneys filed statements with a federal court in Fort Myers, Florida, saying their clients were unable to call them using staff cellphones, and the attorneys were unable to make unannounced visits to the facility.
A state contractor late last month testified that both options were available to detainees and attorneys during a hearing over whether detainees at the facility were getting adequate access to their lawyers. U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell has yet to rule on whether to grant the detainees’ request that they get the same access to their attorneys as detainees do at federally-run detention centers.
The Florida Department of Emergency Management, the state agency overseeing the detention center, didn’t respond to an e-mailed inquiry on Thursday. The Everglades facility was built last summer at a remote airstrip by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to support President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Florida also has built a second immigration detention center in north Florida.
The former Everglades detainees’ lawsuit claims that their First Amendment rights were violated. They say their attorneys have to make an appointment to visit three days in advance, unlike at other immigration detention facilities where lawyers can just show up during visiting hours; that detainees often are transferred to other facilities before their attorneys’ appointments to see them; and that scheduling delays have been so lengthy that detainees were unable to meet with attorneys before key deadlines.
State officials who are defendants in the lawsuit have denied restricting the detainees’ access to their attorneys and cited security and staffing reasons for any challenges. Federal officials who also are defendants denied that detainees’ First Amendment rights were violated.
Nevada
Women’s rights group sues to stop school sports ballot measure
A women’s rights group is trying to keep a Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo-led proposed ballot initiative, which would limit transgender female student athletes to school sports based on their sex at birth, off the 2026 ballot.
Lombardo announced last month he would be leading the ballot initiative “to ensure girls’ sports are fair and athletes are safe.” If passed, the measure would amend the Equal Rights Amendment, which Nevada voters passed in 2022, to largely prevent K-12 and college transgender female student athletes from playing in a sport that best aligns with their gender identity. It makes exceptions for female student athletes to play in boys’ or men’s sports when there’s no team for females available.
However, a complaint filed Jan. 29 claims that the initiative’s description does not comply with state statute “because it is deceptive, misleading, and fails to explain the ramifications of the proposed amendment to allow voters to make an informed decision, and is therefore invalid.” It was filed by Sue Burtch, the executive director of the Nevada chapter of the National Organization for Women.
The complaint also questions whether female athletes being injured by transgender athletes or these athletes unfairly winning competitions is a serious and prevalent enough issue that it requires amending the state Constitution.
“Obviously, we all know the answer to these questions, and also that Proponents cannot point even to a single current instance of a school athlete competing against the terms of the proposed Petition,” the plaintiff’s memorandum of points and authorities states. “Proponents cannot satisfy the mandate to describe what their Petition would achieve if they cannot bring themselves to be honest about their project in the first instance.”
The plaintiff is asking the court to declare the initiative invalid, prohibit the secretary of state from placing the petition on the 2026 general election ballot or from taking further action upon it and prohibit the Protect Girls Sports PAC from being able to gather signatures on the petition.
Burtch’s attorney, Bradley Schrager, said a hearing on the case is scheduled for Feb. 20 in the First Judicial District Court in Carson City.
The ballot initiative was filed on behalf of the PAC, whose leaders include Lombardo, who will serve as its honorary chair, Assm. Heidi Kasama (R-Las Vegas), attorney Adriana Guzmán Fralick, who’s running in the Republican primary for Nevada attorney general, and Erica Neely, who is running in a Republican primary for the Assembly seat currently held by Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas). Yeager is not running for re-election.
Ben Kieckhefer, a former state senator who recently served as Lombardo’s chief of staff, is listed as someone who can withdraw or amend the initiative.
“This initiative is about fairness and safety in girls’ sports, nothing more,” Lombardo said in a Wednesday statement. “These efforts are simply an attempt to delay the signature gathering process.”
The Nevada Independent obtained audio where Lombardo can be heard describing the initiative as a necessary part of his re-election strategy that would get voters out to the ballot box in a non-presidential election year.
It’s not clear how many transgender student athletes, if any, there are in Nevada. However, the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association, which oversees athletics at more than 120 high schools in the state, and the NCAA have already passed policies that largely limit sports to athletes’ sex assigned at birth.
