Protesters take over Columbia University's Hamilton Hall; Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department' hits No. 1; Travis Kelce signs new deal with Chiefs

Hot Off The Wire

On the version of Hot off the Wire posted April 30 at 7 a.m. CT:

NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University in New York has limited campus access to students and essential employees after dozens of protesters took over a building. They barricaded the entrances and unfurled a Palestinian flag out of a window in the latest escalation of demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war.

Israel and Hamas are negotiating a cease-fire agreement meant to free hostages and bring some relief to the Palestinians in the besieged enclave.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Four officers trying to serve a warrant for a felon wanted for possessing a firearm were killed and four other officers were wounded in a shootout in North Carolina. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said the officers killed the suspect outside the Charlotte home Monday after he fired on them.

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s hush money trial will resume with testimony from the third prosecution witness, Gary Farro, a banker who helped Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen open accounts.

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III is returning to public duties with a visit to a cancer treatment charity, beginning his carefully managed comeback after the monarch’s own cancer diagnosis sidelined him for three months.

SHANGHAI (AP) — The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China staged a sit-in protest outside his lab after authorities locked him out of the facility. It's a sign of the Beijing’s continuing pressure on scientists conducting research on the coronavirus. Zhang Yongzhen wrote in an online post Monday that he and his team had been suddenly notified they were being evicted from their lab.

LONDON (AP) — London police say a man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and two police officers on Tuesday in the east London community of Hainault before being arrested.

In other headlines:

• A massive Powerball win draws attention to a little-known immigrant culture in the US.
• Politicians and dog experts vilify South Dakota governor after she writes about killing her dog
• How Columbia University's complex history with the student protest movement echoes into today.
• West Virginia's and North Carolina's transgender care coverage policies discriminate, judges rule.
• Supreme Court rejects Musk appeal over tweets that must be approved by Tesla.
• Philips will pay $1.1 billion to resolve US lawsuits over breathing machines that expel debris.
• Supreme Court will hear case claiming CBD product got trucker fired.
• Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department' hits No. 1, experiences largest streaming week ever.
• Britney and Jamie Spears settlement avoids long, potentially ugly and revealing trial.
• Two teams advance to the second round of the NBA playoffs, Florida puts away Tampa Bay in the Stanley Cup playoffs,the top two teams in the AL East meet in baseball, the Cubs get a 9th inning homer to beat the Mets. The Seattle Kraken fire coach Dave Hakstol. The Cowboys and running back Ezekiel Elliott are reuniting.
• Ahead of the Paris Olympics, police clear a migrant camp near City Hall.

—The Associated Press

About this program

Host Terry Lipshetz is managing editor of the national newsroom for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, Terry conducts periodic interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, co-hosts the Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the former producer of Across the Sky, a podcast dedicated to weather and climate.