Public schools that refuse to follow Trump's DEI directive are now in the crosshairs

Public schools that refuse to follow Trump's DEI directive are now in the crosshairs

Chicago school officials felt they needed to address the academic achievement gap between Black students and other kids on their campuses. So they created the Black Student Success Plan, a program to help those kids thrive. What they didn't know was that the program would become the center of a federal investigation and a symbol of rebellion against the Trump administration. Nor did they know that their district could lose federal funding. Thousands of campuses from at least a dozen states have rejected President Donald Trump's claim that diversity, equity and inclusion programming violated federal civil rights law, and his directive to schools to eliminate them. They've continued to host academic programs that benefit certain disadvantaged groups of students and allow books and curricula about racial and social justice to remain in their classrooms. U.S Department of Education officialswrote a memoto state officials on April 3 telling them schools must end programs that give advantages to students from one race or group over another. They first directed schools to comply with their order within 10 days,and then gave them an extension to comply by April 24. If they didn't, they said they risked losing federal dollars for violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination based on race, color and national origin in federally-funded agencies and programs. The 10-day mark and the extension has long passed. The Education Department's Office of Civil Rights has sincelaunched investigationsinto several alleged civil rights violations at dozens of universities and colleges, includingHarvard UniversityandYale University. Now the agency's focus has shifted to public schools that serve the nation's younger students. Trump's Education Department this month announced investigations into DEI programs atChicago Public Schoolsand another Illinois school district:Evanston-Skokie School District 65. Officials in Illinoisare part of those from at least 19 states thathave pushed backagainst Trump's directive and refused to cut programming that encourages diversity, equity and inclusion. Here's what we know about the ongoing conflict over DEI between public schools and the Trump administration's Education Department. 'Root out DEI':Why red states are enlisting in Trump's war on 'woke' A national grassroots organization that advocates against DEI programs in schools, called Defending Education,complainedon Feb. 21 about the Chicago program for Black students to the Education Department's Office of Civil Rights. Nicole Neily, president and founder of Defending Education, grumbled about how Chicago district leaders "made a conscious decision to allocate finite resources to some students and not others." "No student should be denied an educational opportunity because of the color of their skin, yet perversely, that's exactly what Chicago Public Schools has chosen to do – despite the fact that the district's own data clearly demonstrates that students of all races are struggling academically," Neily wrotein a news release about the case. On April 29, the U.S. Department of Education announced it had launched an investigation into the district and expressed concern that school leaders were giving "additional resources to favored students on the basis of race." Craig Trainor, an acting assistant secretary for the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, said the agency "will not allow federal funds, provided for the benefit of all students, to be used in this pernicious and unlawful manner," in a news release. Ben Pagani, a spokesperson for Chicago Public Schools, declined to comment on the pending investigation. But he said the Black Student Success Plan is codified in and mandated by Illinois state law and incorporated in thedistrict's five-year strategic plan. Another Illinois district is also facing scrutiny. The conservative national nonprofit organizationSoutheastern Legal Foundationfiled a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights on behalf of Stacy Deemar, a teacher at Evanston-Skokie School District 65, who alleged the district's policies and practices violate a federal civil rights law, according to a news release from the Education Department. The drama teacher complained about training seminars the district held "including one that employed racial stereotypes including concepts such as 'white talk' and 'color commentary' to describe how those of different races communicate." She also said the district was sponsoring affinity groups for "both students and staff that are formally restricted on the basis of race, including one for staff divided between 'individuals of color' and those who identify as 'White," according to a summary of the complaint. Hannah Dillow, a spokesperson forEvanston-Skokie School District 65, said in an email to USA TODAY that district officials were told that they were under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education on May 1. Dillow said that the teacher's complaint misrepresented the district's "lawful and important professional learning and student-focused initiatives that are designed to advance the work of ensuring that ALL students have access and opportunity to a robust, high-quality education." The district hopes for a "just and expeditious resolution" with the Education Department's OCR, Dillow said. Trump gave schools 2 weeks to ban DEI.Lawyers say it's not that simple. Some states and education groups have decried the anti-DEI in education directive in court. On April 25, 19 state attorneys generalfiled a lawsuitagainst the U.S. Education Department, as well as Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and Trainor, calling the directive issued in the April 3 memo "unlawful and unconstitutional." They argued the threat from the Trump administration to pull their funding if they didn't oblige was "subjective and illegal punishment for not acceding to an agenda to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion of any kind in schools." The Education Department and its staff "have acted to unlawfully imperil more than $13.8 billion that are spent to educate our youth," their suit claims. Any loss of federal funding for refusing to cut DEI programs could be "catastrophic" for students, the suit adds, because the states rely on federal dollars to fund schools and won't have a replacement for the money if that's cut. "For instance, loss of special education funding would devastate schools and districts' abilities to serve students with disabilities," the lawsuit reads. The Education Department did not respond to an inquiry from USA TODAY about the states' lawsuit. Special education expertsWorry about students with disabilities post-Education Department In the meantime, several states have continued with DEI programming. New York state officials have said they will not comply with the Trump administration's directives. "We understand that the current administration seeks to censor anything it deems 'diversity, equity & inclusion,'" wrote Daniel Morton-Bentley, counsel and deputy commissioner of the state Department of Education, in a letter to the federal Education Department. "But there are no federal or [New York] State laws prohibiting the principles of DEI." That means New York City Public Schools' mandatedBlack Studies curriculum programfor all students will continue, for example. Many other states haveshared wavering commitmentto continuing programs that incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion. The states that refused to comply could be protected from losing their federal funding – at least for now. On April 24, a New Hampshire judge and two other federal judgestemporarily bannedthe Trump administration from pulling federal funding from schools that refused to cut diversity, equity and inclusion programming. On Feb. 14, the Education Department sent a memo to school officials with a directive to "ensure that their policies and actions comply with existing civil rights law." The National Education Association and its New Hampshire chapter and the American Civil Liberties Union and its New Hampshire and Massachusetts chapters responded witha lawsuitagainst the federal department and its head staffers. The groups argued that the directive was on overstep for the Education Department, vague and a violation of teachers' rights. U.S. District CourtJudge Landya McCaffertysaid the Education Department's directive did not specifically define what kind of program the administration considers to be a DEI program that is in violation of the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Trump administrationGives states 10 days to certify they've ended DEI in schools Some schools in states that have not objected to the Education Department's anti-DEI directive have removed books that contain information about racial and social justice or cut programs that help LGBTQ+ and other marginalized students, leading one group of kids and parents to file a lawsuit against their schools. The American Civil Liberties Unionfiled a lawsuitagainst the Department of Defense Education Activity on behalf of 12 children of active duty service members. They said their schools are "quarantining library books and whitewashing curricula in (their) civilian schools" and have "systemically removed books, altered curricula, and canceled events." Those include academic materials about slavery, Native American history, LGBTQ+ identities and history, preventing sexual harassment and abuse and portions of AP Psychology curriculum, according to the lawsuit. Michael O'Day, a spokesperson for the agency that runs schools for children of military personnel, said it does not comment on pending litigation. Natalie Tolley, a parent of three students in these schools, said her children and their peers "deserve access to books that both mirror their own life experiences and that act as windows that expose them to greater diversity." "Learning is a sacred and foundational right that is now being limited for students in DoDEA schools," shewrote. "The implementation of these EOs, without any due process or parental or professional input, is a violation of our children's right to access information that prevents them from learning about their own histories, bodies, and identities. Contact Kayla Jimenez at kjimenez@usatoday.com. Follow her on X at @kaylajjimenez. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Public K-12 schools are now in crosshairs of Trump's DEI directive

byKonstantin Pynzar

in

May 23, 2025

Public schools that refuse to follow Trump's DEI directive are now in the crosshairs

Public schools that refuse to follow Trump's DEI directive are now in the crosshairs Chicago school officials felt they needed to addres...

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Demand, traffic falls at Newark airport following outages

Demand, traffic falls at Newark airport following outages

By Doyinsola Oladipo NEW YORK (Reuters) -Passenger traffic and demand have declined sharply at New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport, according to data from two travel companies, after a series of air traffic disruptions prompted cautious travelers to transit through nearby airports. Since April 28, the number of travelers selecting Newark as their arrival airport declined 19% and about 15% fewer travelers chose the airport for departure, according to Booking Holdings' unit Kayak. The data suggests that reports about safety have affected traveler behavior. Travelers are braving longer commutes to avoid Newark, the second-largest of three New York metropolitan area airports, after several telecom outages. On April 28, a 30- 90-second radar and telecommunications blackout led to dozens of diversions and cancellations and raised anxieties among flyers. The thousands of daily social media conversations about the airport remain 98% negative, according to social media analytics company Sprout Social. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said it will require flight cuts at Newark to address congestion. "If they can get into LaGuardia, that's their number one pick, then JFK and then Newark," Kayak CEO Steve Hafner told Reuters. "Even if they live on the west side of Manhattan, because you just can't afford to risk a three- or four- hour delay." Passenger arrivals at Newark from April 28 to May 20 declined about 13% from the year-ago period, according to Italy-based Data Appeal, a tourism data provider, while passenger arrivals to LaGuardia increased 5.7% in the same period, though JFK traffic fell 7% in that time due to reduced international travel demand. Before the outages, total passenger volumes in March were down 2.7% year-over-year at Newark, according to data from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. "I actually don't like any other airport other than Newark," said Gabrielle J., 24, of Newark who said she will fly from JFK to the Caribbean this summer. "As the outages happened, we were in the process of booking. So we were like, 'okay, now we definitely can't fly from Newark.'" Runway repairs at Newark set to be completed by June 15 have also contributed to the airport's lagging performance. "I've heard that it will hopefully get fixed by June. I would love for that to happen," said San Francisco resident Stef Anderson, 28. Anderson said her United San Francisco-to-Newark flight on May 16 was delayed by more than eight hours before eventually being canceled. She hopes her May 28 flight to Paris won't meet the same fate, because her premier silver status on United means she plans on sticking with that airline. "They have me in golden handcuffs - otherwise I would fly Alaska," she said. (Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

byKonstantin Pynzar

in

May 23, 2025

Demand, traffic falls at Newark airport following outages

Demand, traffic falls at Newark airport following outages By Doyinsola Oladipo NEW YORK (Reuters) -Passenger traffic and demand have declin...

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Trump delayed pollution limits on the nation’s dirtiest coal plants. Is one near you?

Trump delayed pollution limits on the nation's dirtiest coal plants. Is one near you?

Before leaving her East Texas home, Paulette Goree checks her air monitor. If the hue is green on the connected phone app, she steps outside to tend to her backyard garden where she grows tomatoes, squash and peppers. If it is red, she stays inside. Over the years, she has watched respiratory illnesses strike her family one by one. Her sister died from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Her father battled a lung disease. Her husband has it now. Goree has asthma herself. Goree, 72, lives in Beckville, a town of fewer than 800 people, just miles from the Martin Lake coal plant, a 2.4-gigawatt facility that has loomed over the region since the late 1970s. "We all know how harmful the Martin Lake pollution can be," Goree told USA TODAY, sitting inside her mustard-colored house. "The majority of the people in our little community suffer with some kind of respiratory ailment." Luminant Generation Company, which owns the facility, did not respond to multiple requests for comment regarding Goree's account and steps taken by it to reduce emissions. Last year, the EPA said the surrounding counties, Rusk and Panola, hadfailed to meet air quality standards, blaming Martin Lake as the major source. Luminant disagreed, calling the EPA's finding "unsupported." The agency stood by its analysis, reaffirming that not enough steps were taken to clean up the surrounding areas. But new federal actions could stall or even erase efforts to reduce air pollution. In April, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation that delays a key pollution rule, related to mercury and fine particles, for68 power plantsby two years, pushing the deadline to 2029. The Environmental Protection Agency has alsoproposed repealingthose updated standards entirely, meaning plants may never have to meet them at all. The rules, updated by the Joe Biden administration last year, would have required continuous monitoring and tighter pollution limits, especially for plants that burn lignite coal, a particularly dirty form of fuel. Operators decried the rule as too costly. Governors from several states sued. A USA TODAY review of federal data found thatmany of the 60-plus power plantsbenefiting from the exemption are among the nation's worst polluters, including six that rank within the nation's top 10 largest greenhouse gas emitters from 2023, the latest available year. Many of these companies have also paid hundreds of millions in environmental fines and settlements in recent decades. Several pollutants from coal plants have dropped in the past decade, which experts attribute largely to the EPA's 2012 standards for these pollutants. Even then, coal plants continue to emit large amounts of mercury, fine particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides – all of which can be harmful to public health. According to a USA TODAY analysis, these 68 power plants emitted 8% of total mercury emissions, a disproportionate figure considering these plants only formed less than a percent of the 14,000 facilities that reported emissions in 2020, the latest available year on EPA'sNational Emissions Inventory. Luminant Generation-owned Martin Lake in East Texas, where Goree lives, is one of the facilities on the exemption list. The plant is among the nation's top sulfur dioxide emitters and the sixth largest for nitrogen oxides, according to 2024'sEPA Clean Air Markets Program Data. It was also among the largest mercury emitters in 2020, according to the National Emissions Inventory data. Each time she sees the plant's three smokestacks in the distance, she finds herself thinking about the air her community is breathing, Goree said. Goree remembers her town through images of crickets singing and fireflies lighting up the night sky. She has always loved being outside, tending to her garden, or spending time near Martin Lake, a 5,000-acre body of water known for its bass and catfish. These days, though, fewer people fish there, she said. Fewer still picnic or hike in the nearby park, she added. "I just want to live out my retirement years in peace and quiet with clean air to breathe and fresh water to enjoy the outdoor life," she said, emphasizing that public health should be central to climate policy. "That's my biggest concern. It's something they can do to help the community, and they're just not doing it," Goree said. Farther south in Fort Bend County, longtime resident Haley Schulz spent years working in the oil and gas industry until motherhood and a deep dive into environmental research transformed her into an environmental rights advocate. She discovered she lives just 15 miles from W.A. Parish, the largest coal plant in Texas. Then things from her past started to make sense: her classmates always carrying inhalers, her own relentless cough that once sent her to the emergency room. "It felt like my chest was on fire," Schulz recalled. "It felt like I was having a heart attack every single time I had a tickle in my throat." Doctors diagnosed her with costochondritis from the nonstop cough, she said. While they could not say if pollution was to blame, Schulz said the irritation she feels after visiting parks near the plant speaks volumes. "That's not nature," she said after visiting parks near the plant. "That's the soot." Search the coal plant closest to you below. Includes facilities beyond the ones exempted from the EPA rule. USA TODAY reached out to NRG Energy, who operates the W.A. Parish plant and three others on the exemption list. The company spokesperson, Ann Duhon, didn't directly comment on Schulz's experience but said that the company does not see any short-term impacts due to the proclamation, which it said it is currently reviewing. "In recent years, NRG has invested millions of dollars installing environmental technologies at our facilities, which will remain in place regardless of any EPA rollbacks," the email statement said. About half of the companies or parent companies that operate the exempted power plants have a history of environmental violations, according to a review ofdata compiled by the nonprofit Good Jobs First. In 2006, the Alabama Power Company, a subsidiary of the Southern Company, agreed to settle for $200 millionwith the federal government over alleged violations of the Clean Air Act from its James H. Miller Jr. plant. The same year, East Kentucky Power Cooperative agreed to pay over $600 millionfor similar violations. Virginia Electric Power Co., a subsidiary of Dominion Energy which has a power plant on the exemption list, has a Clean Air Act settlement totaling $1.2 billionin 2003. More recently, in 2023, Dynegy Midwest Generation reached asettlementfor "disposal of coal ash that allegedly led to groundwater pollution." Coal operators spread across two dozen states, mostly in Republican-leaning counties, welcomed the move. Scott Brooks, spokesman for Tennessee Valley Authority, which has four of the exempted power plants, told USA TODAY, in an email: "This exemption will allow TVA to keep running these assets in a cost-effective way and help ensure reliability for our 10 million customers," adding that their facilities follow the previous and current standards. East Kentucky Power Cooperative Spokesperson Nick Comer said that the updated rules targeting mercury and air toxins would have forced it to turn off a coal-fired unit if just one of the 8000-plus fabric bags get a dime-sized hole. When resources are limited and market power is expensive, Comer said, "this could lead to tens of millions of dollars in costs for replacement power and market performance penalties." The Southern Company said in a statement to USA TODAY, "extending the current deadline will provide additional time needed both to address potential rule changes and further demonstrate compliance to the current requirements." Coal powered America's industrial revolution, but its role in the country's energy grid has declined significantly over the recent decades, down to just over15% of electricity in 2024, from about half at the beginning of this century. The shift has been driven not only by policy, but also by economics as cheaper and easier-to-maintain energy sources have emerged. Notably among them is natural gas, while wind and solar have been gradually increasing their contributions. The transition to renewable energy is "inevitable over the long term", said Julie McNamara, an associate policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "The Trump administration is attempting to take every measure it can to prop up coal plants, against economics, against public health, against climate," McNamara said. "This will provide potentially a little more money in the pockets of the coal plant owners, but it will not provide for the communities that house these coal plants," she said. According to the latestEnergy Information Administrationdata, hundreds of coal-fired plants have closed over the past decades, leaving only a couple hundred operational, many of which are scheduled for retirement within the next decade. The EPA is proposing broader changes to pollution control standards, includingrevisitingthe National Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particulate matter. This is how the agency defines what levels are considered unhealthy. The agency also wants toreconsiderthe Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program which requires the nation's largest facilities to tally up those emissions every year. Whether or not people breathe clean air isn't entirely up to the EPA. States and local governments play a key role, as they are responsible for writing and enforcing permits. But, experts say, the signals from the top might impact decision-making downstream. "If the message they're getting from the EPA is all this deregulation or these rollbacks still meet the definition of Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, then what you're telling that audience is, don't do anything," said Joseph Goffman, a former assistant administrator at the EPA office overseeing air pollution rules. The Trump administration also recently proposed a55% cutto the Environmental Protection Agency's budget that would bring thestaffingback to 1980s levels. "Even if there were no budget cuts, and the rules remained in place, the administration seems committed to maintain a deregulatory environment, including by not doing enforcement," Goffman said. When USA TODAY reached out to the EPA for a response, the agency's press office shared an unsigned emailed statement saying that the president may exempt any stationary source on grounds of national security interests or based on the determination that the technology is not available. "This is an authority that solely rests with the President, not EPA," the statement said. However, the regulatory agency did not respond directly to the questions sent by USA TODAY and referred to the White House. In an emailed statement, White House Assistant Press Secretary Taylor Rogers said: "President Trump's commonsense agenda unleashes American energy to protect our national security, lower the cost of living, and provide necessary electrical demands for emerging technologies such as AI. While the media refuses to acknowledge that American energy is much cleaner than foreign energy, hardworking Americans voted for President Trump to roll back harmful and radical regulations." In total, the EPA hasannouncedat least half a dozen plans to scrap or scale down rules and programs that have contributed to the progress of cleaning up the air and curbing the impacts of climate change. Ananya Roy, an epidemiologist at the Environmental Defense Fund, said the arguments for deregulation are to reduce costs and regulatory burden. "EPA's mission is supposed to be to protect public health, and in this instance, they won't be," Roy said. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Coal power plants get a pollution break. Check if you're near one

byKonstantin Pynzar

in

May 23, 2025

Trump delayed pollution limits on the nation’s dirtiest coal plants. Is one near you?

Trump delayed pollution limits on the nation's dirtiest coal plants. Is one near you? Before leaving her East Texas home, Paulette Goree...

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Stars convene for amfAR gala to raise millions for AIDS research

Stars convene for amfAR gala to raise millions for AIDS research

ANTIBES, France (AP) — Artwork by Adrien Brody and James Franco and a chance to sit courtside at a Knicks game with director Spike Lee were among the starry offerings at theannual amfAR Galato raise money for AIDS research. Held at the famous Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes on Thursday, the evening attracted scores of celebrities in the area for the Cannes Film Festival. Guests included Brody, Lee,Colman Domingo,Michelle Rodriguez, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, and Heidi Klum. This year's top items for sale included a Dodge Charger that featured in "Fast X," sold off by Rodriguez, raising 475,000 euros ($536,843). There were also some Chopard pear shaped yellow diamond earrings that reached 400,000 ($452,005) euros in the bidding. During the meal guests were also entertained with musical performances from Ciara, who opened the night, Adam Lambert and headlining the dinner with Duran Duran. Guest shimmied from their tables to the front of the room to stand in front of the stage and sing along to hits like "Notorious" and "View to a Kill" (which wouldn't be the only James Bond reference of the night). The sale included artwork from Brody — sold for 375,000 euros ($423,755) with lunch with the star thrown in — and Franco — (sold for 325,000 euros ($367,254) also with a lunch offered with the winning bid. Another highlight was a May 2025 George Condo painting that raised 1.15 million euros ($1.26 million). Lee came to the stageand offered a surprise lot, a walk-on part in his next movie. Part of the way through the bidding he added tickets to sit next to him courtside at a New York Nicks game next season, driving the price up to 400,000 euros ($452,005). Thefashion showis a regular feature of the auction curated by Carine Roitfeld, this year was Bond-inspired and saw 27 models turn the middle of the dinning room into a catwalk as they paraded through the room waving at guests they recognized and posing for photos on route. The collection made 450,000 euros ($508,505) for the charity, auctioned off as one complete lot. The Foundation for AIDS Research, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and advocacy. Since 1985, amfAR has raised nearly $950 million (841 million euros) in support of its programs and has awarded more than 3,800 grants to research teams worldwide. ___ Louise Dixon hascovered the amfAR galafor more than a decade. Among most memorable items she's seen sold at auction are a game of soccer with David Beckham and his friends, a private dinner performance from Andrea Bocelli at his family home and lunch with Robert De Niro that combined have raised more than 2 million euros. ___ For more coverage of this year's Cannes Film Festival, visit:https://apnews.com/hub/cannes-film-festival

byKonstantin Pynzar

in

May 22, 2025

Stars convene for amfAR gala to raise millions for AIDS research

Stars convene for amfAR gala to raise millions for AIDS research ANTIBES, France (AP) — Artwork by Adrien Brody and James Franco and a chanc...

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Diddy trial replay: What did Kid Cudi say about alleged break in, car explosion?

Diddy trial replay: What did Kid Cudi say about alleged break in, car explosion?

This story contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find disturbing. Rapper Kid Cudi took the stand inSean "Diddy" Combs' federal sex-crimes trial, levelingallegationsthat Combs broke into his home and locked his dog in a bathroom – and that his vehicleblew up in another incident– after the embattled mogul found out he was datingCassie Ventura Fine. The rapper, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, dated Ventura Fine briefly in 2011. But she told the court last week that when Combs learned of their relationship, helunged at her with a corkscrewand kicked her in the back. On May 22, jurors heard Mescudi's recollection of Combs' alleged abuse. The incidents are just some of the violent acts prosecutors say Combs undertook during a 20-year scheme to coerce women, including Ventura Fine, to take part in drug-fueled sex partiesknown as "freak offs"and prevent them from leaving his orbit. Jurors also heard fromGeorge Kaplan, a former assistant who alleged he saw Combs physically abuse multiple women during his time working for the rapper. Mylan Morales, a celebrity makeup artist, also told the court she saw injuries on Ventura Fine. Combs, 55, wasarrested in September 2024and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty. Diddy on trial newsletter:Step inside the courtroom as music mogul faces sex-crimes charges. Following Mescudi's testimony, Morales, a celebrity makeup artist who worked for both Combs and Ventura Fine, recalled aviolent January 2010 incident. Morales remembered falling asleep on a couch in a suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where she was staying with Ventura Fine the weekend of the Grammy Awards. She woke up when Cassie entered the hotel room, and Combs later burst in and demanded to know where Ventura Fine was. He went into the bedroom and shut the door, and Morales told jurors she heard"yelling and screaming." "I was just frantic, and I didn't know what to do," Morales said, adding Combs then opened the door and stormed out. She didn't see any injuries on Combs, but she said Ventura Fine "had a swollen eyeand a busted lip and knots on her head." She said Ventura Fine seemed "distraught, upset" but refused to go to a hospital. Asked why she didn't call the police, Morales said shefeared for her life, and she never spoke about the incident with Combs or Ventura Fine. More:What Kid Cudi revealed Cassie told him about Diddy Mescudi testifiedthat Combs broke into his home after learning of his relationship with Ventura Fine. The "Pursuit of Happiness" rapper said the incident started after he received a call in December 2011 from Ventura Fine, whosounded "scared"and told him Combs had found out about them. "I didn't think she was still dealing with him," Mescudi said, adding that he picked up Ventura Fine and took her to a hotel because he wanted to make sure she was safe. The musician said he received a call fromCombs' former assistant Capricorn Clarklater in the day, saying the rapper was inside Mescudi's Los Angeles house. Mescudi said he began driving to his home and called Combs on the way, asking if he was inside. Combs, who sounded "calm," responded that he was waiting for Mescudi to arrive and that he wanted to speak to him. Mescudi said no one was ultimately inside. But his dog was locked up in the bathroom, whereas he normally lets his dog roam around the house freely. Some gifts he received from the luxury brand Chanel had also been opened. Mescudi told the court he reacted to the alleged break in by getting back in his car and calling Combs again because he wanted to "confront" and "fight him." Combs said he was willing to meet, but after Mescudi reconsidered "the gravity of the situation,"he decided against it. "I didn't know who he was with," he said. "I didn't know what his intentions were." Mescudi saidhe called the policeand made a report. After the incident, he also said he saw changes in his dog's behavior, as the animal became "jittery and on edge all the time." In January 2012, Mescudi said he got a call from his dogsitter saying that his car was on fire.Mescudi told the courtthat by the time he returned home, law enforcement officers were on the scene and hesaw a Molotov cocktailand the major damage to his vehicle. Jurors were then shownphotos of the destroyed Porsche. There was a large hole in the roof of the car and smoke damage on the doors and interiors. The testimony is setting the stage for an expected argument that Combs orchestrated the explosion. The incident came weeks after Mescudi said hewent to Connecticut with Ventura Fineto visit her family for Christmas. During that time, Combs texted him a couple times, wanting to speak and "get to the bottom of it." Combs had he was "in the dark" about his relationship with Ventura Fine, but Mescudi responded: "You broke into my house. You messed with my dog. I don't really wanna talk to you." During cross-examination, Mescudi said he left his door unlockedthe day of the alleged break-inand that there was no forced entry or damage to furniture, just opened Christmas gifts and his dog in the bathroom. He confirmed that Combs was calm on the phone when they spoke after the alleged incident, not cursing at or threatening him. Asked whether he thought Combs would return to his homewith a firearm,Mescudi said "at that point I didn't know. Maybe he would … This crossed a line." Asked about Ventura Fine's reaction to the alleged break in, Mescudi said his one-time girlfriend was "just really shook by the circumstance of him finding out about us," he said. Mescudi confirmed that Ventura Fine had told him aboutCombs' alleged physical abuse, "that he would hit her, sometimes kick her." When asked whether he was in love with her, Mescudi said "yeah." "Ms. Ventura was leading two different lives," defense lawyer Brian Steel said, to which Combs gave a slight nod. "She played you. That's your words," Steel said, implying that Ventura Fine had made both Combs and Mescudi believe they were the only person she was seeing. Mescudi nodded and said yes. When asked about their breakup, Mescudi said they ended things because of "the drama." "It was just getting out of hand" he said, adding he "just wanted to give it some space, for my safety and for her safety." One strange delay in Combs' daily legal proceedings: There was a long exchange between prosecutors and defense lawyersabout Mescudi's dog. The defense wanted to make sure thatMescudi didn't testifyabout the long-term effects the alleged break-in may have had on the dog or how the pup might have been "traumatized." "There might be some dog lovers on the jury,"defense lawyer Brian Steelexplained, adding jokingly "He's not going to testify about what the dog thought …it's a serious issue." Combs laughed at exchange, and the lawyers agreed there would be no testimony about the dog's apparent emotions, but prosecutors could ask about the immediate effects after the break-in. See photos:Kid Cudi's Porsche damaged in explosion allegedly orchestrated by Diddy Mescudi's testimonywas mostly soft-spoken as he recalled a brief courtship with Ventura Fine – and thealleged ire it drew from Combs.Mescudi didn't appear affected by the packed courtroom and frequently asked the prosecution to repeat questions. Kid Cudi did quip back at Combs' attorneys during his cross-examination. One lawyer asked whether Mescudi and Cassie had an "intimate relationship" and said they did everything together. That included hiking, to which Mescudi retorted, "Exercised? No, no. We watched a movie or two." Steel said they did drugs together, and Mescudi responded with a mocking, puzzled expression. "When you say drugs, what do you mean?" he asked, adding "we smoked some weed, yeah." The rapperwas calm throughout his testimony, even while describing concerns for his own safety. "Why did you have safety concerns?" Mescudi was asked by Combs' attorneys about his relationship with Cassie, to which hit back "Because I knewSean Combs was violent." Combs, sitting at the defense table, appeared unphased by Mescudi's testimony, staring forward and not reacting to thefellow rapper's statements. He briefly looked at the photos of the car show to the jury and at one point held his hand up to his mouth, appearing to yawn. Frederic Zemmour, the general manager of the L'Ermitage Beverly Hills luxury hotel, took the stand as jurors saw activity logs for Combs' stays there. For one of Combs' stays in 2015, the hotel's documents said that the rapper "ALWAYS spills candle wax on everythingand usesexcessive amounts of oil," and that his room should be placed "out of order upon departure for deep cleaning." The notes also said to "please authorize an extra $1000 when guest stays with us to cover any room damages." A housekeeping note said to "monitor outside his room/down the hall to spray air freshener." On one occasion, the record showed there was "candle wax on carpetsand night stands" and that a charge of $500 should be added for damage and cleaning. George Kaplan,a former assistant for Combs, testified that he witnessedCombs physically abuse Ventura Finewhile they were all traveling to Las Vegas on a private plane. He recalled hearing glass break and shatter during the flight and looking back to see Combs standing over Ventura Fine, holding a whisky glass above her. Ventura Fine was on her back with her legs up, trying to create space, and Combs was "angry," he said. There was a "tremendous commotion," Kaplan testified, and Ventura Fine screamed, "Isn't anybody seeing this?" Kaplan said no one on the planedid anything to help her,and he feared checking on Ventura Fine would jeopardize his career. In another instance in 2015, Kaplan said he walked into the bedroom at Combs' home and found Ventura Finelying on the bed crying,appearing to have a bruise above her right eye. Kaplan said Combs "asked me to pick up several over-the-counter lotions," including witch hazel, which Kaplan later learned they used to create an anti-swelling mixture. Kaplan said he resigned at the end of 2015 because he wasn't "comfortable or aligned with the physical behavior I had seen" and felt guilty about covering up alleged abuse. Kaplan also recalled an incident at Combs' Miami house where the rapper "threw a bunch of green apples" atmodel Gina Huynh. The apples were in a decorative bowl displayed near the entrance of the house. Combs was "very angry," Kaplan said, throwing the apples "hard" as Huynh was "trying to shield herself." Despite seeing the violence, Kaplan said he left and assumed the behavior was normal for the entertainment industry. The same night, Kaplan said he heard a commotion near the front gate of the home between Huynh and other male voices who were screaming. Huynh reportedly dated Combs on-and-off during the late 2010s. The court saw a text message that Kaplan sent to Combs in 2018 that featured a photo of Kim Porter on horseback on a beach. The text read: "No possible words rn. I am so so sorry and sending all of my condolences. Please hang in there. Love you." Porter was Combs' on-and-off partner from the 1990s into the 2000s. She died in 2018 of pneumonia, and she's the mother offour of Combs' seven children. When asked howPorter compared to other girlfriends, such as Ventura Fine, Kaplan said, "she was a special figure to him," and "she was vaunted above" the title of mere girlfriend. Kaplan praisedCombs' childrento the jurors and repeatedly spoke highly of the professional opportunities the rapper gave him in his former role. Still, he said, he only showed up to the courtroom because he was subpoenaed by federal officials. "I desperately did not want to come here," he said, and he and Combs nodded to each other as he walked by on this way out. Combs is facing federal sex-crimes and trafficking charges in a sprawling lawsuit that has eroded his status as a power player and kingmaker in the entertainment industry. He wasarrested in September 2024and has been charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He haspleaded not guiltyto all five counts. Racketeering is the participation in an illegal scheme under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute, or RICO, as a way for the U.S. government to prosecute organizations that contribute to criminal activity. Using RICO law, which is typically aimed attargeting multi-person criminal organizations,prosecutors allegethat Combs coerced victims, some of whom they say were sex workers, through intimidation and narcotics to participate in "freak offs" — sometimes dayslong sex performances that federal prosecutors claim they have video of. The trial will not be televised, as cameras are typically not allowed in federal criminal trial proceedings. USA TODAY will be reporting live from the courtroom. Contributing: USA TODAY staff;Reuters If you are a survivor of sexual assault,RAINNoffers support through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) andHotline.RAINN.organd en EspañolRAINN.org/es. If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text "START" to 88788. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Diddy trial replay: Kid Cudi alleges Combs broke in, locked away dog

byKonstantin Pynzar

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May 22, 2025

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