Columbia grad student’s detention will stretch on

NEW YORK (AP) — A government lawyer has asked a federal judge to move the legal fight over the detention of Mahmoud Khalil to either New Jersey or Louisiana. The request was made Wednesday during a hearing in New York City. Khalil is a Columbia University graduate student whom the Trump Administration is trying to deport over his role in pro-Palestinian protests at the Ivy League school last year. Khalil is a legal U.S. resident and is married to an American citizen. After the 30-year-old’s detention last weekend, Judge Jesse M. Furman in New York ordered that Khalil not be deported while the court considers his lawyers’ legal challenge.

EPA head says he’ll roll back dozens of environmental regulations

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Environmental Protection Agency has announced a series of actions to roll back landmark environmental regulations, including rules on pollution from coal-fired power plants, climate change and electric vehicles. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said Wednesday his actions will eliminate trillions of dollars in regulatory costs and “hidden taxes,” lowering the cost of living for American families and reducing prices for such essentials such as buying a car, heating your home and operating a business. The Biden administration had said the power plant rules would reduce pollution and improve public health while supporting the reliable, long-term supply of electricity that America needs.

CDC nominee Weldon is likely to be pressed on his vaccine views at Senate hearing

NEW YORK (AP) — President Trump’s nominee to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is getting ready to appear before Congress. The Senate is being asked to confirm Dr. David Weldon, a former U.S. congressman from Florida. At Thursday’s Senate committee hearing, Democrats are likely to press Weldon on his vaccine views and his plans for the agency. He was known for criticizing the CDC and vaccine safety while in the U.S. House. Anti-vaccine advocates cheered his nomination last year. The 71-year-old retired congressman is considered to be closely aligned with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. health secretary who for years has been one of the nation’s leading anti-vaccine activists.

Archaeologists uncover the oldest known partial face fossil of a human ancestor

WASHINGTON (AP) — A fossil of a partial face from a human ancestor is the oldest in western Europe, archaeologists reported Wednesday. The incomplete skull — a section of the left cheek bone and upper jaw – was found in northern Spain in 2022. The fossil is between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old, according to research published in the journal Nature. “The fossil is exciting,” said Eric Delson, a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History, who was not involved in the study. “It’s the first time we have significant remains older than 1 million years old in western Europe.” A collection of older fossils from early human ancestors was previously found in Georgia, near the crossroads of eastern Europe and Asia. Those are estimated to be 1.8 million years old