South Florida Local News

Today in History: March 21, civil rights activists begin march from Selma to Montgomery

Fri, 03/21/2025 - 01:00

Today is Friday, March 21, the 80th day of 2025. There are 285 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On March 21, 1965, civil rights demonstrators led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. began their third attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama — this time under the escort of U.S. Army and National Guard troops assigned by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Also on this date:

In 1952, the Moondog Coronation Ball, considered the first rock and roll concert, took place at Cleveland Arena.

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In 1963, the United States closed Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary; over 1,500 inmates had been jailed at the island prison off the coast of San Francisco, California over its three decades of use.

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter announced that the United States would boycott the Summer Olympic games in Moscow because of the Soviet Union’s failure to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

In 1990, Namibia became an independent nation as the former colony marked the end of 75 years of South African rule.

In 2012, meting out unprecedented punishment for a bounty system that targeted key opposing players, the NFL suspended New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton without pay for the coming season and indefinitely banned the team’s former defensive coordinator; NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell fined the Saints $500,000 and took away two draft picks.

In 2019, President Donald Trump abruptly declared that the U.S. would recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights — the first country to do so — in a major shift in American policy.

In 2022, a China Eastern Boeing 737 aircraft with 132 people on board crashed in a mountainous area of southern China, setting off a forest fire visible from space in the country’s worst air disaster in decades. (All 123 passengers and nine crew members would later be confirmed dead.)

Today’s Birthdays:

Football Hall of Fame coach Tom Flores is 88.
Actor Timothy Dalton is 79.
Actor Gary Oldman is 67.
Actor Matthew Broderick is 63.
Comedian-actor Rosie O’Donnell is 63.
Former soccer player Ronaldinho is 45.
Actor Sonequa Martin-Green is 40.
Actor Scott Eastwood is 39.
Tennis player Karolína Plíšková is 33.
Actor Jasmin Savoy Brown is 31.
Actor Jace Norman is 25.
Actor Forrest Wheeler is 21.

Daily Horoscope for March 21, 2025

Thu, 03/20/2025 - 21:00

General Daily Insight for March 21, 2025

What we want is currently subject to change. The Moon in Sagittarius is inspiring us to think more broadly than usual, especially as its helpful trine to healing Chiron encourages thinking up unique ways to improve our well-being. On top of that, the Moon’s square to Saturn will remind us of the importance of following our intuition. Meanwhile, retrograde Venus makes a potent sextile to alchemical Pluto at 5:32 pm EDT, potentially inspiring us with fresh desires — ones which deserve proper circumspection.

Aries

March 21 – April 19

You can shine among any company today. Alluring Venus in your bold sign is sextiling Pluto in your sociable 11th house, making you a very desirable commodity on the scene. However, Venus is retrograde at the moment, so you’ll want to be careful about skating along just because you can. Other people might find that a bit off-putting! Let other people shine, too — that way, everyone can emerge from this transit without feeling like their natural light was dimmed in any way.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

It isn’t easy to know what you want at the moment. Your ruler Venus, currently retrograde in your nebulous 12th house, is causing your usual value system to waver. That impact has extra emphasis as Venus aligns with Pluto in your aspirational 10th house. Brace yourself for any private uncertainty to become public or to impact your goals in other unexpected ways. You may also realize something you thought was meant for you is anything but. Don’t force yourself to follow outdated ideals.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

People can draw you out into the world, but make sure you’re following them for the right reasons. A sextile between Venus in your friendly 11th house and Pluto in your expansive 9th house is encouraging you to break down recent barriers, preferably with the help of your social circle. That said, Venus is retrograde, so someone may be acting for their own wrong reasons or otherwise have an ulterior motive. Likewise, Pluto can push you to extremes, so avoid the temptation to go overboard.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

Your ambitions can take you far, but beware letting them take you too far. A sextile between Venus in your 10th House of Achievement and Pluto in your 8th House of Shared Resources is stoking your inner fire to achieve more than ever before. This would be fine in theory, but Venus is still retrograde. That makes it difficult to know how much is too much and where to draw the line. Play it safe for now — future you will be grateful.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

You may want a bit of extra spice in your life, but don’t pile it on all at once. Unique flavors will be exceedingly tempting with Venus backstepping through your enticing 9th house, but they probably won’t be as delicious as you’d hope! You’re in danger of realizing this a bit too late as Venus sextiles Pluto. Keep reminding yourself that the things which look good from far away can become overwhelming when you’re confronted with them up close. Proceed carefully.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

Don’t expect too many results right now. A rare angle between Venus in your transformational 8th house and Pluto in your efficient 6th house is setting you up to aim big, but the problem is that Venus is presently retrograde, making it difficult to benefit from its bounty. You can lay the groundwork necessary for future success and make potential negotiations for future rewards. Just avoid setting things in stone, as the outcomes down the line may look different than you’re envisioning.

Libra

September 23 – October 22

Your relationships could feel like a bit of a roller coaster right now. Venus in your partnership-focused 7th house is locking into a supportive sextile with powerhouse Pluto in your light-hearted 5th house, which would normally spell out an exciting day with a plus-one. That doesn’t mean Venus Retrograde won’t throw any wrenches in the works! Perhaps you and an important person can’t seem to get on the same page. Nevertheless, you can find a way to enjoy yourselves if everyone remains flexible.

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

People may mean well, but that doesn’t always prove useful. There is a positive angle between Venus in your helpful 6th house and Pluto in your sensitive 4th house, but as Venus continues moving in reverse, the efforts of others to “help” could feel more like they’re running interference against you. As someone meddles, they could accidentally push a few of your buttons in the process. Politely set your boundaries, and do not hesitate to take space as you need it.

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

It won’t be easy to hold anything back right now. Venus in your 5th House of Inspiration is driving you to put yourself out there, and its sextile to Pluto in your 3rd House of Communication will make it easy for you to find your audience. Venus is retrograde at present, so you’ll want to be careful about showing off. Impressing your peers will be tough, and showboating won’t send the message you want to send when all is said and done.

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

This is a day to save, rather than spend — even though there’s an undeniable desire for pleasure and satisfaction in the air as Venus and Pluto connect across your domestic and financial zones. You may be tempted to throw your money around your house like it’ll replace itself! Normally you can make tasteful improvements with ease, but with Venus currently retrograde, what you splurge on today you will likely regret later on. Avoid setting yourself up for disappointment by keeping your wallet shut.

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

You can rub people the wrong way if you aren’t careful. A sextile between retrograde Venus in your chatter quadrant and impassioned Pluto in your quirky sign is making it difficult to get your words just right. Pluto can bring out your intensity, for better or for worse. Meanwhile, Venus is asleep at the wheel, so it won’t be bringing its usual pleasing ways to the table in order to help you out. Make an effort to stop yourself from going off on any tangents.

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

Be careful how you distract yourself today. An angle between Venus and Pluto — with Venus in your financial sector and Pluto in your subconscious sector — is tempting you to throw money at a certain issue. This isn’t bad in theory, but during Venus Retrograde, you need to analyze your motivations. Consider carefully if something will satisfy you in the long run before you start splashing out on indulgences. Purchases that seem like a good idea in the moment probably won’t last.

Barkov scores early in OT, Bobrovsky logs third shutout in March, Panthers edge Blue Jackets

Thu, 03/20/2025 - 19:00

By NICOLE KRAFT

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Aleksander Barkov scored a power-play goal 29 seconds into overtime and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 shots for his third shutout in March to lead the Florida Panthers to a 1-0 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.

The win snapped a two-game road losing streak and kept Florida level with Toronto atop the Atlantic Division.

Florida swept the season series between the teams and has won eight straight against Columbus since Dec. 13, 2022.

Elvis Merzlikins, back in the lineup after missing two games for the birth of his second child, made 27 saves for Columbus, which has lost five straight and has fallen out of the Eastern Conference wild-card race.

Takeaways

Florida: Bobrovsky stood tall, stopping 12 second-period shots.

Key Moment

Columbus committed a delay-of-game penalty with 29.7 seconds remaining in regulation when Kirill Marchenko cleared the puck over the glass in the defensive zone. The Panthers capitalized in overtime.

Key Stat

Bobrovsky recorded his second consecutive shutout and the fourth of his career in 16 starts against his former team. It was his fifth shutout of the season.

Up Next

The Panthers visit Washington on Saturday.

No. 5 Florida State slugs six home runs to cruise to series-opening victory over Hurricanes

Thu, 03/20/2025 - 18:14

CORAL GABLES — The Miami Hurricanes’ baseball series opener against rival Florida State started badly and only got worse.

The Hurricanes (13-10, 0-4 ACC) gave up three runs to the Seminoles (19-2, 4-0 ACC) in the first inning and fell 14-1 in a seven-inning, run-rule defeat at Mark Light Stadium in Coral Gables on Thursday night, dropping the first game of a three-game set. Miami has lost seven of its last nine games after starting the season 11-3.

“We’ve got to play better, though, in all aspects,” UM coach J.D. Arteaga said. “In all aspects. We’ve got to hit better, we’ve got to pitch better, we’ve got to play better defense, and we know that. We’re not playing very good baseball right now, and this is a very tough part of our schedule, and that’s a bad combination.”

The Seminoles clobbered Nick Robert’s pitches early in the game; center fielder Max Williams laced a line-drive homer just inside the right-field foul pole to put FSU up 2-0 in the first inning. Two batters later, second baseman Myles Bailey hit a solo home run to center field.

“They weren’t trying to (hit home runs),” Arteaga said. “And that’s good hitting.”

Robert rebounded to toss two scoreless innings, and center fielder Fabio Peralta got Miami on the board with a solo home run to right field in the bottom of the third.

FSU extended its lead back to three with an RBI single by designated hitter Jaxson West in the fourth inning. The Seminoles’ two-out rally put them up 6-1 on run-scoring hits by right fielder Gage Harrelson and Alex Lodise, which ended Robert’s night after 3 2/3 innings. Florida State ended the inning up 8-1.

The rout continued in the sixth inning on homers by Hunter Carns and Lodise, pushing the Seminoles’ lead to 11-1. Carns added a second home run in the seventh inning to extend the lead to 12-1. Lodise crushed another home run in the seventh, giving FSU its sixth long ball of the night, and a 14-1 lead.

While the Hurricanes’ staff struggled, Seminoles starter Joey Volini dominated. The junior left-hander pitched a seven-inning complete game, allowing one run on two hits while striking out nine.

Miami will look for redemption in Game 2 of the series at 8 p.m. Saturday.

“We’re just going to throw tonight in the garbage and focus on winning the series tomorrow and Saturday,” infielder Dorian Gonzalez Jr. said.

A Texas robotics company gets approval to search for missing Malaysian plane in a new part of the Indian Ocean

Thu, 03/20/2025 - 16:54

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s government has given final approval for a Texas-based marine robotics company to renew the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean more than a decade ago.

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Cabinet ministers agreed to terms and conditions for a “no-find, no-fee” contract with Texas-based Ocean Infinity to resume the seabed search operation at a new 5,800-square-mile site in the ocean, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said in a statement Wednesday. Ocean Infinity will be paid $70 million only if wreckage is discovered.

The Boeing 777 plane vanished from radar shortly after taking off on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 people, mostly Chinese nationals, on a flight from Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, to Beijing. Satellite data showed the plane turned from its flight path and headed south to the far-southern Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed.

An expensive multinational search failed to turn up any clues to its location, although debris washed ashore on the east African coast and Indian Ocean islands. A private search in 2018 by Ocean Infinity also found nothing.

The final approval for a new search came three months after Malaysia gave the nod in principle to plans for a fresh search.

Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Punkett earlier this year reportedly said the company had improved its technology since 2018. He has said the firm is working with many experts to analyze data and had narrowed the search area to the most likely site.

Loke said his ministry will ink a contract with Ocean Infinity soon but didn’t provide details on the terms. The firm has reportedly sent a search vessel to the site and indicated that January-April is the best period for the search.

“The government is committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of the passengers of flight MH370,” he said in a statement.

The release of a 1961 plan to break up the CIA revives an old conspiracy theory about who killed JFK

Thu, 03/20/2025 - 16:46

By JOHN HANNA

A key adviser warned President John F. Kennedy after the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961 that the agency behind it, the CIA, had grown too powerful. He proposed giving the State Department control of “all clandestine activities” and breaking up the CIA.

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The page of Special Assistant Arthur Schlesinger Jr.’s memo outlining the proposal was among the newly public material in documents related to Kennedy’s assassination released this week by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. So, too was Schlesinger’s statement that 47% of the political officers in U.S. embassies were controlled by the CIA.

Some readers of the previously withheld material in Schlesinger’s 15-page memo view it as evidence of both mistrust between Kennedy and the CIA and a reason the CIA at least would not make Kennedy’s security a high priority ahead of his assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. That gave fresh attention Thursday to a decades-old theory about who killed JFK — that the CIA had a hand in it.

Some Kennedy scholars, historians and writers said they haven’t yet seen anything in the 63,000 pages of material released under an order from President Donald Trump that undercuts the conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald, a 24-year-old Marine and onetime defector to the Soviet Union, was a lone gunman. But they also say they understand why doubters gravitate toward the theory.

“You have this young, charismatic president with so much potential for the future, and on the other side of the scale, you have this 24-year-old waif, Oswald, and it doesn’t balance. You want to put something weightier on the Oswald side,” said Gerald Posner, whose book, “Case Closed,” details the evidence that Oswald was a lone gunman.

The first ‘big event’ in the US to spawn conspiracy theories

But Jefferson Morley said the newly released material is important to “the JFK case.” Morely is vice president of the Mary Ferrell Foundation, a repository for files related to the assassination, and editor of the JFK Facts blog, and he rejects the conclusion that Oswald was “a lone nut.”

Morley said that even with the release of 63,000 pages this week, there is still more unreleased material, including 2,400 files that the FBI said it discovered after Trump issued his order in January and material held by the Kennedy family.

Kennedy was killed on a visit to Dallas, when his motorcade was finishing its parade route downtown and shots rang out from the Texas School Book Depository building. Police arrested Oswald, who had positioned himself from a sniper’s perch on the sixth floor. Two days later Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner, fatally shot Oswald during a jail transfer broadcast live on television.

“It was the first big event that led to a series of events involving conspiracy theories that have left Americans believing, almost permanently, that their government lies to them so often they shouldn’t pay close attention,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and author of “The Kennedy Half-Century”

The Bay of Pigs fiasco prompts an aide’s memo

Morley said Schlesinger’s memo provides the “origin story” of mutual mistrust between Kennedy and the CIA.

Kennedy had inherited the Bay of Pigs plan from his predecessor, President Dwight Eisenhower, and had been in office less than three months when the operation launched in April 1961 as a covert invasion to topple Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Schlesinger’s memo was dated June 30, 1961, a little more than two months later.

Schlesinger told Kennedy that covert all operations should be cleared with the U.S. State Department instead of allowing the CIA to largely present proposed operations almost as accomplished tasks. He also said in some places, such as Austria and Chile, far more than half the embassies’ political officers were CIA-controlled.

Ronald Neumann, former US ambassador to Afghanistan, Algeria and Bahrain, said most American diplomats now are “non-CIA,” and in most places, ambassadors do not automatically defer to the CIA.

“CIA station chiefs also have an important function for ambassadors, because the station chief is usually the senior intelligence officer at a post,” Neumann said, adding that ambassadors see a CIA station chiefs as providing valuable information.

But he noted: “If you get into the areas where we were involved in covert operations in supporting wars, you’re going to have a different picture. You’re going to have a picture which will differ from a normal embassy and normal operations.”

A proposal to break up the CIA that didn’t come to fruition

Schlesinger’s memo ends with a previously redacted page that spells out a proposal to give control of covert activities to the State Department and to split the CIA into two agencies reporting to separate undersecretaries of state. Morley sees it as a response to Kennedy’s anger over the Bay of Pigs and something Kennedy was seriously contemplating.

The plan never came to fruition.

Sabato said that Kennedy simply “needed the CIA” in the Cold War conflict with the Soviet Union and its allies like Cuba, and a huge reorganization would have hindered intelligence operations. He also said the president and his brother, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, wanted to oust Castro before JFK ran for reelection in 1964.

“Let’s remember that a good percentage of the covert operations were aimed at Fidel Castro in Cuba,” Sabato said.

Timothy Naftali, an adjunct professor at Columbia University who is writing a book about JFK’s presidency, discounts the idea of tensions between the president and the CIA lasting until Kennedy’s death. For one thing, he said, the president used covert operations “avidly.”

“I find that the more details we get on that period, the more it appears likely that the Kennedy brothers were in control of the intelligence community,” Naftali said. “You can you can see his imprint. You can see that there is a system by which he is directing the intelligence community. It’s not always direct, but he’s directing it.”

Associated Press writer David Collins in Hartford Connecticut, contributed to this report.

What’s happening with the Institute of Museum and Library Services after Trump’s executive order

Thu, 03/20/2025 - 15:45

By HILLEL ITALIE

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump has named a new acting director for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, one of seven independent government agencies cited in a recent executive order calling for their dismantling “to the maximum extent of the law.”

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Trump said that the order “continues the reduction in the elements of the Federal bureaucracy that the President has determined are unnecessary.”

Since taking office, Trump has shuttered or drastically curtailed agencies, including the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Institute of Museum and Library of Services, or IMLS, is a key source of funding for museums, libraries and educational institutions.

What is the Institute of Museum and Library Services?

IMLS was established in 1996 by a Republican-led Congress and has a mission to “advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development.” The institute combined the services of previous government agencies, including the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science and the Institute of Museum Services.

It distributes thousands of grants nationwide, totaling in recent years to more than $200 million annually. Awards in 2024 ranged from $240,000 for the Chicago History Museum to more than $1 million for several state library training programs named for former Republican first lady Laura Bush to nearly $25,000 for the Lorain Historical Society, which is based in the Ohio hometown of Nobel laureate Toni Morrison.

A spokesperson for Bush declined comment.

The building which houses the offices of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), is seen, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Who is the new director?

The new acting director, Keith Sonderling, had recently been confirmed as deputy secretary of the Department of Labor and was from 2020-2024 a commissioner on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He replaces Cyndee Landrum, who had been named acting director in March 2024.

“I am committed to steering this organization in lockstep with this Administration to enhance efficiency and foster innovation,” Sonderling said in a statement after his appointment Thursday. “We will revitalize IMLS and restore focus on patriotism, ensuring we preserve our country’s core values, promote American exceptionalism and cultivate love of country in future generations.”

Has the IMLS been targeted before?

During his first term, Trump repeatedly called for the IMLS to be shut down, but funding was maintained by Congress. The American Library Association in a statement this week condemned “eliminating the only federal agency dedicated to funding library services. … The Trump administration’s executive order is cutting off at the knees the most beloved and trusted of American institutions and the staff and services they offer.”

What happens now?

The library association has advised members that the status of current grants remains unclear. If the administration follows the same playbook it has in targeting other small agencies for closure, IMLS could be shut down.

The U.S. Institute of Peace was one of four agencies Trump ordered to be closed last month in an effort to shrink the size of government. On Monday, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency took control of USIP’s headquarters in Washington and used law enforcement to escort the independent think tank’s employees out of the building. Former USIP board members have sued the administration to stop the takeover but a judge on Wednesday declined to immediately block the administration’s actions.

Staff from DOGE have also moved fast in the past weeks to lay off staff, end grants and contracts and remove the leaders of two other agencies that invested in small businesses in Africa and Latin American and the Caribbean. Former board members and leaders of those organizations have also sued, but a judge ruled it would be legal to remove most staff and grants from the U.S. African Development Foundation.

Move to reverse Florida school start time law shifts in state House

Thu, 03/20/2025 - 15:29

Plans to repeal a law requiring later middle and high school start times by 2026 took a left turn Wednesday, as a Florida House subcommittee rewrote a bill that already had won strong support in two Senate hearings.

The measures presented to both chambers had been identical heading into the House hearing. They would kill the language mandating the changes, instead telling school districts to consider the benefits of later start times when adopting their schedules.

Sponsor Rep. Anne Gerwig, R-Wellington, instead introduced an amendment to flip the script. Instead of deleting the mandate, Gerwig proposed keeping it intact but adding a provision that would allow districts to work around it by submitting proof that they couldn’t meet the expectations.

The report would include documentation that the district considered different options and strategies to change the start times, along with possible unintended consequences it faced if it were to implement a plan.

That way, Gerwig said, the goal of following the research on student sleep needs would remain intact even as some schools demonstrated why they cannot follow through.

Concerns have included increased costs associated with buying more buses and hiring more drivers to accommodate anticipated route changes, and concerns about having elementary children waiting for buses in the dark if they are moved to the earliest start times.

The bill won strong support from colleagues and members of the public, who applauded the move to give more flexibility to local schools.

“This is a very important bill because it recognizes a glide path that allows districts to go in and look at what they need to do,” said Chris Doolin, a lobbyist for 36 small districts — 12 which have met the new start time requirements and 24 that have not.

More than two dozen people submitted cards of support for the bill, including representatives from three school districts, two unions and associations representing school boards, superintendents and parents.

“I think this is a lesson to all of us here that we should be listening to subject-matter experts,” said Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis, D-Ocoee, noting that district officials and others had warned of the potential costs and downsides of the start time shift in past years.

Rep. Jeff Holcomb, R-Spring Hill, said he agreed with that perspective.

“We all understand the science, and the science makes sense, but this is a logistical nightmare,” Holcomb said. “We’re listening to our school boards. We’re listening to our parents.”

But it will all be for nothing if the two chambers can’t come together on how to resolve the concerns, he added.

“I look forward to improving this bill, to make it more like the Senate’s,” Holcomb said.

Amazon ends privacy feature that let Echo users opt out of sending recordings to company

Thu, 03/20/2025 - 15:26

Amazon is ending a little-used privacy feature that let some users of its Echo smart speaker prevent their voice commands from going to the company’s cloud.

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Beginning on March 28, Amazon is ending the “Do Not Send Voice Recordings” option that kept audio from being sent to Amazon’s cloud and had it process locally on the device instead.

In an email sent to customers who’d been using the option, Amazon said it made the decision to “no longer support this feature” as it expands Alexa’s capabilities with generative artificial intelligence features that rely on being processed in the cloud.

While the change may sound alarming to some privacy-minded users, it was not widely used or available. It only worked on three devices: the 4th generation Echo Dot, the Echo Show 10 and the Echo Show 15 — and only for customers in the U.S. with devices set to English. Amazon said less than 0.03% of customers use it.

People still have the option to prevent Alexa from saving voice recordings. Those who’d been using the “Do Not Send” feature as of March 28 will automatically be opted into the “Don’t save recordings” option, Amazon said.

“The Alexa experience is designed to protect our customers’ privacy and keep their data secure, and that’s not changing. We’re focusing on the privacy tools and controls that our customers use most and work well with generative AI experiences that rely on the processing power of Amazon’s secure cloud,” Amazon said in a statement.

Judge calls Trump administration’s latest response on deportation flights ‘woefully insufficient’

Thu, 03/20/2025 - 15:12

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge instructed the Trump administration on Thursday to explain why its failure to turn around flights carrying deportees to El Salvador did not violate his court order in a growing showdown between the judicial and executive branches.

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U.S. District Judge Jeb Boasberg demanded answers after flights carrying Venezuelan immigrants alleged by the Trump administration to be gang members landed in El Salvador after the judge temporarily blocked deportations under an 18th century wartime law. Boasberg had directed the administration to return to the U.S. planes that were already in the air when he ordered the halt.

Boasberg had given the administration until noon Thursday to either provide more details about the flights or make a claim that it must be withheld because it would harm “state secrets.” The administration resisted the judge’s request, calling it an “unnecessary judicial fishing” expedition.

In a written order, Boasberg called Trump officials’ latest response “woefully insufficient.” The judge said the administration “again evaded its obligations” by merely repeating “the same general information about the flights.” And he ordered the administration to “show cause,” as to why it didn’t violate his court order to turn around the planes, increasing the prospect that he may consider holding administration officials in contempt of court.

The Justice Department has said the judge’s verbal directions did not count, that only his written order needed to be followed and that it couldn’t apply to flights that had already left the U.S. A Justice Department spokesperson said Thursday that it “continues to believe that the court’s superfluous questioning of sensitive national security information is inappropriate judicial overreach.”

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official told the judge Thursday the administration needed more time to decide whether it would invoke the state secrets privilege in an effort to block the information’s release.

Boasberg ordered Trump officials by Friday to submit a sworn declaration by a person “with direct involvement in the Cabinet-level discussions” about the state secrets privilege and to tell the court by next Tuesday whether the administration will invoke it.

In a deepening conflict between the judicial and executive branch, Trump and many of his allies have called for impeaching Boasberg, who was nominated to the federal bench by Democratic President Barack Obama. In a rare statement earlier this week, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rejected such calls, saying “impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”

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Today in History: March 21, civil rights activists begin march from Selma to Montgomery

Daily Horoscope for March 21, 2025

Barkov scores early in OT, Bobrovsky logs third shutout in March, Panthers edge Blue Jackets

No. 5 Florida State slugs six home runs to cruise to series-opening victory over Hurricanes

A Texas robotics company gets approval to search for missing Malaysian plane in a new part of the Indian Ocean

The release of a 1961 plan to break up the CIA revives an old conspiracy theory about who killed JFK

What’s happening with the Institute of Museum and Library Services after Trump’s executive order

Move to reverse Florida school start time law shifts in state House

Amazon ends privacy feature that let Echo users opt out of sending recordings to company

Judge calls Trump administration’s latest response on deportation flights ‘woefully insufficient’