Latest news with #Sessions'
NBC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Reba McEntire posts tribute to stepson Brandon Blackstock: 'His struggle is over'
Reba McEntire is honoring her stepson Brandon Blackstock following the news of his death. About a week after his family revealed he died, McEntire took to Instagram to share some kind words about Blackstock. 'Last week, my stepson/oldest son Brandon Blackstock went home to be with God,' she said in a post Tuesday. 'His struggle is over and he is in eternal peace in God's presence." 'There is no one else like him, and I'm thankful for the time we had together,' she continued. 'His legacy and laughter will be carried on through his family. Rest in peace cowboy. Happy trails to you til we meet again.' Blackstock is the son of McEntire's ex-husband Narvel Blackstock. The pair got married and were together until they announced their split in 2015. The talent manager is survived by his four children — Savannah and Seth, whom he shares with his first wife, Melissa Ashworth, and River and Remington, whom he welcomed with his ex-wife Kelly Clarkson. On Friday, Blackstock's family revealed he died from cancer. He was 48. In a statement, they said, 'He passed away peacefully and was surrounded by family. We thank you for your thoughts and prayers and ask everyone to respect the family's privacy during this very difficult time.' A few days later, the Silver Bow County Coroner revealed Blackstock's cause of death was melanoma. postpone the remainder of her August 'Studio Sessions' shows in Las Vegas. 'While I normally keep my personal life private, this past year, my children's father has been ill and at this moment, I need to be fully present for them,' she wrote on Instagram on Aug. 6. In 2020, Clarkson filed for divorce from Blackstock after seven years of marriage and cited 'irreconcilable differences' as the reason for their split.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk must be moved to Vermont, judge rules
A judge on Thursday denied the government's request to pause the transfer of Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk, who is fighting deportation after she co-wrote an essay about Israel and the war in Gaza, back to Vermont. U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions ruled that the federal government is now obligated to ensure that Öztürk, who is being held in Louisiana, is moved to Vermont by May 1. The Justice Department appealed Sessions' previous order to transfer Öztürk to Vermont, where her habeas corpus petition challenging her detainment was filed. Federal officials had also asked Session to pause the order from taking effect while it was on appeal. Brett Max Kaufman, a senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents Öztürk, criticized the government's attempts to pause her transfer. 'For four weeks, the government has been detaining Ms. Ozturk for writing an op-ed,' Kaufman said in a statement Thursday afternoon. 'And now, it is doing everything within its power to avoid having to justify what it has done, including filing a hail-mary appeal hoping to stop the district court from deciding her claims.' The Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In his order, Sessions said any delay of Öztürk's transfer could prolong 'the very detention that is at the heart of this case.' Last week, Sessions ordered the administration to transfer Öztürk back to Vermont while her habeas petition plays out in federal court. Her deportation case in immigration court in Louisiana would also proceed while she is detained in Vermont. The government appealed the order days later to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has yet to weigh in. Soon after, Öztürk's attorneys opposed the government's request to pause Sessions' previous order. 'Only one party — Ms. Öztürk — would suffer any harm from a stay, and that harm is irreparable,' Öztürk's attorneys wrote in court filings. 'By contrast, the government suffers no harm at all by holding Ms. Öztürk in detention in Vermont instead of Louisiana and being compelled to justify her continued detention.' Homeland security agents grabbed Öztürk, a doctoral student in the United States on a student visa, off a Massachusetts street in late March. DHS accused her of engaging 'in activities in support of Hamas.' Last year, Öztürk co-wrote an op-ed in the student newspaper that called on Tufts to 'acknowledge the Palestinian genocide' and divest from companies with ties to Israel. Tufts has said the essay did not violate its policies. Öztürk was moved to three locations, including Vermont, before she ended up in Louisiana, despite an order from a district court that said she could not be moved out of Massachusetts without notice. 'For nearly 24 hours, Ms. Öztürk's attorney was unable to locate her,' the ACLU said in a news release. Facilities in rural Louisiana have been the subject of human rights criticisms, and immigration advocates say the Trump administration has sent students to a jurisdiction that is more aligned with its immigration goals. 'They're being placed in facilities that have pretty horrendous conditions, a lot of difficulties with access to counsel and in what is really a more hostile legal jurisdiction to fight their case for the right to remain in the United States,' Mary Yanik, the director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at Tulane Law School in New Orleans, has told NBC News. On Tuesday, a congressional delegation led by Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., visited ICE facilities in Louisiana. The members met with Öztürk and Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist and green-card holder who was arrested and detained in early March. 'From our communications with these individuals, they're frightened, they're concerned. They want to go home,' Carter told reporters after the visit. 'They're happy to see that members of Congress are here to listen, to take good notes, to go back to Washington to ensure that due process is granted, health care is provided and fairness is the rule of day.' This article was originally published on
Boston Globe
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Judge orders detained Tufts PhD student be transferred from Louisiana to Vermont ahead of bail hearing
The ruling came days after a federal immigration judge in Louisiana was both 'a flight risk and a danger to the community.' The two rulings highlight the jurisdictional questions that have been raised about where her case should be heard: in an immigration court or a federal district court. Sessions' decision was a response to a petition by Öztürk's lawyers Wednesday night for her to be sent from Louisiana to Vermont by Friday. Advertisement 'Accordingly, the Court denies the government's request to dismiss the Petition and orders that Ms. Öztürk be transferred to ICE custody within the District of Vermont.' The court stayed its order for four days to allow either side to appeal. Öztürk's case was transferred to Vermont on April 4 after a federal judge in Boston decided it was the proper venue, denying the government's request to dismiss her petition altogether or transfer the case to a more favorable venue in Louisiana. Advertisement In the order filed Friday, Sessions wrote that the federal government ignored the order from the federal judge in Boston entirely. 'Ignoring an order, particularly one issued on an emergency basis in response to events that are currently unfolding, is not the approach the Court expects from the government,' he wrote. 'The remedy for the government ignoring the March 25, 2025, order is simple. Ms. Ozturk should be returned to the status quo at the time of issuance when she was in custody in the District of Vermont.' The White House did not immediately return a message seeking comment on the ruling Friday night. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration and customs enforcement, said it refers case-specific inquiries on visa revocations to the State Department. A spokesperson said the department does not comment on ongoing litigation. Öztürk was arrested in March as part of the Trump administration's pledge to deport students here on a visa who had, in the administration's view, expressed antisemitic views. Öztürk had coauthored a pro-Palestinian In his ruling Friday, Sessions wrote that the op-ed is the 'only specific act cited by the government so far' as justification for her arrest. He said the government has 'submitted no evidence to counter' Öztürk's First Amendment claim, or evidence 'to support an alternative, lawful motivation or purpose for' her detention. 'This Court does not believe that a reasonable reader of the op-ed would find a true threat or incitement of lawless action, let alone obscenity or defamation,' he wrote. Advertisement 'Tufts University has confirmed that the op-ed did not violate any Tufts policy, that no complaints were filed about the op-ed, that the speech in the op-ed was consistent with University guidelines, and indeed that it was just one of many op-eds discussing the issue published in the school newspaper.' Attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union who are representing Öztürk praised Sessions' order, calling it a 'crucial step for upholding the rule of law in our country.' 'With this ruling, a federal court has rightfully reaffirmed that Rümeysa Öztürk's case belongs in Vermont — significantly closer to her friends, community, and counsel,' Jessie Rossman, legal director for the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in a statement. 'At the same time, the judge sent a clear message that any attempt to manipulate the judiciary is simply wrong." Öztürk, a Turkish national and Fulbright scholar pursuing a doctorate in child and human development, was arrested while walking on a sidewalk by masked federal immigration agents on March 25, and was brought within a day to a rural Louisiana detention facility, where she has been held since despite raising health concerns. Her visa had been revoked days before her arrest, though she hadn't been notified that was the case. Earlier this week, Sessions, the federal judge in Vermont, raised the specter of a 'constitutional crisis' in the case. In the courthouse Monday, a government lawyer argued that Sessions had no authority to weigh in on Öztürk's detention, which is pending in the separate immigration court system. But Sessions pointed to a conflict of jurisdictional issues between the immigration system and the District Court. The immigration court makes decisions in the realm of removal proceedings. The District Court hears questions of due process and unlawful detentions. Advertisement At the time, Sessions said that if he were to find that Öztürk's arrest was unconstitutional and order her release, only for the government to say she can't be released, then 'we're in a constitutional crisis.' Sarah Sherman-Stokes, an immigration lawyer and associate director of the Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Clinic at Boston University School of Law, said that while it's a common practice for ICE to transfer people around the country, it's also common for federal judges to order them returned. 'Different courts have different decision-making authority,' Sherman-Stokes said. 'In this case what is different is that the federal government seemed determined to move her out of the reach of New England. That felt purposeful.' In his ruling, Sessions wrote that the government's argument on his judicial authority in the case versus the immigration court 'grants practically limitless, unreviewable power to detain individuals for weeks or months, even if the detention is patently unconstitutional.' In an affidavit, Öztürk, 30, said Advertisement Öztürk said she experienced several asthma attacks during her journey from Somerville to Louisiana and made multiple requests to speak with her attorney that were denied, according to the affidavit. She was not allowed access to a lawyer for more than 24 hours after she was apprehended, the affidavit said. Samantha J. Gross can be reached at
