AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

A crowd of students protests Cornell’s response to gang rape complaint

ITHACA, New York (AP) — Cornell students thronged a campus plaza to protest the university’s response to allegations of sexual assault at a fraternity house, and the school’s main administration building was splashed with graffiti and damaged overnight.

At a demonstration that overflowed the large space in front of the school’s student center, students, faculty members and others wore purple ribbons and held signs with such messages as “support survivors, expel rapists” and “Justice 4 every Jane Doe” — the name by which the woman who reported the assault is known in court papers. Other people watched from pathways, windows and a nearby hill.

“Too often, we are met with silence, we are met with statements, we are met with procedures, but not enough support,” student Athena Holloway told the crowd. “How much does it take for our university to stand with survivors?”

Hispanic studies professor Julia Chang added to applause: “Rape should not be inevitable.”

Speakers faulted fraternities, the university trustees and Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff, saying he and his administration have prioritized protecting the university’s reputation over students’ safety.

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Tennessee Republicans consider more execution options after Christa Pike lethal injection fails

Some of Tennessee’s top Republicans said Monday they want to explore alternative ways of executing condemned prisoners after the failed execution of Christa Pike, which relied on a large dose of pentobarbital.

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the state’s Republican candidate for governor, said Pike’s unsuccessful execution last week “should not be grounds to halt carrying out the death penalty.” Rather, she said, Tennessee needs to reevaluate the way it does executions.

“If it’s lethal injection, if it is electric chair, what we do know is we have to find a way to do this — and do it successfully,” Blackburn told The Associated Press.

Top legislative leaders have already spoken with Blackburn about potential changes to state execution laws during their 2027 session.

“We want to broaden it, include more methods,” House Speaker Cameron Sexton said. “What those are as of today, I’m not sure. But I don’t think there’s any method that’s off the table at this point.”

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Trump signs order extending tax-free use of red-dyed diesel during midterm stop in Nebraska

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday took his Republican midterm rescue mission to Nebraska, where he signed an executive order to ease limits on the tax-free use of red-dyed diesel, a decision he said would save “millions” for farmers and drive down the cost of all goods with just four weeks to go until the elections.

“Pete and Jim, this should absolutely ensure your election, I guarantee you that,” Trump said, addressing GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts, who is running against an independent candidate backed by national Democrats, and Gov. Jim Pillen, who is seeking a second term.

Diesel fuel prices have spiked in the aftermath of the Iran war, rattling voters and putting pressure on Republicans. Diesel fuel that is intended for off-road uses such as agriculture is exempt from federal and state excise taxes, and it is dyed for law enforcement purposes, the White House explained in a fact sheet. Temporarily removing the limits would reduce cost pressures on the businesses that rely on diesel.

“The typical trucker will save more than $100 every time they fill up,” Trump said, signing the executive order onstage before a crowd in Grand Island, Nebraska, in the solidly conservative south-central part of the state. He said the order will save farmers millions of dollars and drive down the cost of goods.

Patrick De Haan of GasBuddy, a platform that monitors national gasoline and diesel prices, noted last week, when news of the possible action began to surface, that such an order could save money for on-road users but not farmers, who already use red-dyed diesel.

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Supreme Court weighs local governments’ climate change lawsuits against oil and gas companies

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court grappled Monday with whether local governments can sue oil and gas companies in state court to help cover costs associated with climate change, an issue with potentially billions of dollars at stake.

Key justices appeared wary about the potential sweep of litigation, but torn over the complex questions of federal and state law raised by the case.

Officials in Boulder argue their lawsuit is an attempt to hold energy companies Suncor and ExxonMobil accountable for their contributions to climate change.

They say that worsening disasters such as floods and wildfires put a heavy financial burden on local communities, and the industry should bear part of that cost.

The city and county of Boulder first sued the oil companies in 2018, years before the 2021 Marshall Fire destroyed nearly 1,100 homes and left two people dead. Total damage was estimated at $2 billion, the costliest wildfire in Colorado history.

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Exclusive: Soldiers and Gold Star families press Army leadership after deadly Iranian drone strike

WASHINGTON (AP) — On a sunny, cloudless morning on March 1, the day after President Donald Trump started the war against Iran, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan was coordinating critical Army supplies out of Port Shuaiba in Kuwait.

In an instant, a drone crashed through the ceiling and exploded, killing Marzan, who had served in the military for 36 years. The force flung soldiers into the air, fragments of sheet metal and glass shards impaling them. The tin roof was peeled back “like opening up a sardine can,” one soldier recalled.

Six soldiers were killed and dozens were injured in the deadliest known strike on U.S. troops since Operation Epic Fury commenced on Feb. 28.

For many, the attack at Port Shuaiba has receded into memory as the war nears its eighth month. But to those there that day and their families, it showed the cost of a hastily drawn conflict. The planning had apparent flaws, and commanders did not take intelligence reports of the Iranian threat seriously enough, leaving wounded soldiers questioning Army leadership and the military medical system.

In the aftermath, many of the wounded — some with decades of service and combat experience — told The Associated Press that commanders had been warned that the facility, a rectangular building with wooden sides at a working seaport and industrial area south of Kuwait City, was particularly vulnerable to a drone strike.

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Former ‘American Idol’ singer Caleb Flynn is sentenced to life in prison for wife’s murder

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A former music pastor in Ohio who appeared briefly on “ American Idol ” was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, after a jury convicted him last week of murdering his wife while he was having an affair.

The judge said Caleb Flynn, 40, used his Christian faith to manipulate others and showed no remorse for actions marked by “layers of deceit, manipulation and cruelty.”

With tears rolling down his cheeks, Flynn apologized to his family just before being sentenced, starting with his two young daughters, who were home when he shot his wife in her sleep. He called their births the “greatest joy in this life.”

Although he said he accepted responsibility for his words and decisions, Flynn remained adamant that he was innocent.

“As I stand here before God, who is my ultimate judge, I am not lying when I say I did not kill my wife,” he said.

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Appeals court weighs judge’s authority to restore Trump administration funding cuts to Harvard

BOSTON (AP) — A federal appeals court heard opposing arguments Monday over whether a judge had the authority to restore billions of dollars in funding that the Trump administration cut from Harvard University.

U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs ruled last year that the cuts amounted to illegal retaliation for Harvard’s rejection of the administration’s demands for changes to Harvard’s governance and policies.

The government had tied the move to Harvard’s delays in dealing with antisemitism, but the judge said the university’s federally backed research had little connection to discrimination against Jews.

The ruling restored more than $2.6 billion in research funding for the wealthy Ivy League school.

Though the money has resumed flowing, a Justice Department attorney told a three-judge panel of the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday that Burroughs lacked the legal power to require the administration to pay it.

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2 people killed, including a student, after Florida school bus rolls over in crash

A Florida school bus carrying nearly 40 people overturned after being struck by an oncoming car on the way to a high school early Monday, killing a student and the driver of another vehicle that caught fire, authorities said.

A heavy presence of emergency responders rushed to the crash site in Winter Haven, south of Orlando, and 26 students were transported to a hospital, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. At least one person was in critical condition.

The crash left the bus upside-down on the side of the road. The front end was a mangled mess of metal and one of its four back tires appeared to be missing.

“It was a horrible crash,” Judd said. “It was a terrible, tragic morning. We had a beautiful 10th grade girl lose her life.”

The bus was headed to Winter Haven High School when an oncoming car crossed the center line and struck the side of the bus near the rear wheels, Judd said. The sheriff said the impact ripped the tire off the bus, which then crashed head-on into an oncoming Jeep that caught fire.

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Saudi-backed Yemeni forces expel Houthi rebels from several areas around key strait, officials say

ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Forces of the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen have recaptured several key areas around the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait from Iran-backed Houthi rebels, Yemeni officials said Monday, while the Houthis claimed attacks on Saudi oil facilities, airports and military bases as fighting escalated on Yemen’s western coast.

The Yemeni officials said forces allied with the internationally recognized government retook the crucial town of Dhubab just north of the strait, a vital shipping route that connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.

They also captured the towns of Bab and Hadeid, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters. Witnesses said they saw government tanks and forces entering the towns.

The government push came as part of a major offensive launched early Monday under air cover by a Saudi military coalition.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the Houthis’ military spokesman, claimed in a pre-recorded statement that the rebels used ballistic and cruise missiles and drones in attacks targeting King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and an oil refinery in the Red Sea city of Rabigh.

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Republican Sen. Tillis calls his vote for Hegseth the ‘biggest regret of my career’ in a new book

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Thom Tillis says in a new book that his deciding vote to confirm Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in January 2025 is the “biggest regret of my career” and that he also “should’ve stopped” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from becoming Health and Human Services secretary in the early days of President Donald Trump’s second term.

In “How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents,” to be published Tuesday, the North Carolina senator defends his decision at the time to not be “the lone voice in the wilderness” preventing Trump’s nominees from confirmation. But Tillis makes clear he was always skeptical of allegations about Hegseth’s turbulent management style, treatment of women and excessive drinking. Hegseth denied all the allegations.

“I know for a fact that there are others like me,” Tillis writes, “Republicans who agreed to go along with the early demands of the Trump team no matter how ridiculous they were, believing that failing to do so would mean the end of their political career, and who now see that things have gone way too far.”

He writes that he can count at least 30 of his GOP colleagues who have “expressed reservations (to put it mildly) about many of the president’s actions in private. Then, when the reporters showed up with their cameras and microphones, they’d have nothing but nice things to say.”

Tillis, who announced last year that he would not run for reelection in a “breaking point” with the president on his sweeping tax and spending cuts package, is publishing the book in his final months in office. He joins a long list of Republicans who have ratcheted up their public denunciations of Trump once they had less to lose politically.