SAN JOSE, Calif. — A dozen pro-Palestinian demonstrators who were arrested at Stanford University last year after they occupied and allegedly caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to a campus building are now facing charges.

The twelve people, current and former Stanford students, have been charged with felony vandalism and felony conspiracy to trespass, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday in a news release.

Those charged range in age from 19 to 32, the DA’s office said. They will be arraigned later this month at the Hall of Justice in San Jose.

A student journalist, who was arrested with the protesters but was not accused of participating in the vandalism, was not charged.

The Stanford takeover began around dawn on June 5, 2024, the last day of spring classes at the university in California’s Silicon Valley. Some protesters barricaded themselves inside the building, which houses the university president’s office. Others linked arms outside, The Stanford Daily reported at the time. The group chanted “Palestine will be free, we will free Palestine.”

The takeover ended three hours later.

Prosecutors accuse the demonstrators of spray-painting on the building, breaking windows and furniture, disabling security cameras and splattering a red liquid described as fake blood on items throughout the building. Damages were estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to prosecutors.

Cellphones belonging to those arrested showed communications about the planning of the operation, including a “do-it-yourself occupation guide,” prosecutors said.

The AP recorded at least 86 incidents last spring in which arrests were made at college or university campus protests against the war in Gaza across the U.S.

DENVER — People in Colorado will soon have to pass a background check and complete a state-sanctioned safety course to buy most semiautomatic guns with detachable magazines under a bill signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday.

Colorado, which has seen some of the country’s worst mass shootings — including the 2022 killings at the LGBTQ+ nightspot Club Q in Colorado Springs and the 1999 Columbine High School massacre — joins nearly a dozen other states in requiring some level of safety training or an exam to purchase a firearm.

One of the most restrictive gun control measures to be passed in the state as part of a long-running Democratic campaign to curtail gun violence, the law takes full effect in August 2026.

“We can’t afford not to do all we can to change the continuing impact of gun violence,” said bill sponsor and state Sen. Tom Sullivan, whose son, Alex, was killed in a 2013 shooting at a theater in Aurora. Speaking at the bill signing, he added that the measure is “just the next step we have undertaken on that effort.”

Republicans and other opponents contend that the measure violates the Second Amendment, and at last one organization, Rocky Mountain Gun owners, was considering a legal challenge.

The several layers of hurdles that the law requires to purchase these guns, and the accompanying costs and potential backlogs, make “it a more or less administrative ban,” said Ian Escalante, executive director of the gun rights group.

Previous attempts at securing an all-out ban on certain semiautomatic guns, as has been done in deeply Democratic states including New York and California, floundered in more purple Colorado where many including the governor have something of a libertarian streak.

“I really think this bill will make Colorado communities safer and prevent both accidents as well as reduce gun violence, and ultimately that means saving lives while protecting our Second Amendment rights,” Polis said.

The proposal was watered down from a flat ban on sale of most semiautomatics with detachable magazines, including rifles and some pistols. Proponents argued that allowing only permanently attached magazines would force a would-be shooter to reload bullet by bullet.

The final bill as signed is a concession to Polis and other Democrats wary of going too far.

___

Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation Monday to create a “turquoise alert” for when Native Americans go missing in the state.

The effort — which had overwhelming support among lawmakers — responds to a troubling number of disappearances and killings in Indian Country.

The “turquoise alert” system — taking its name from the blue-green mineral — will allow law enforcement to quickly share information. It will function much like “amber” and “silver” alerts that highlight the disappearance of children and the elderly. Cellphone alerts will be issued when law enforcement finds evidence of imminent danger in the disappearance of a Native American.

The legislation wasn’t just a policy achievement, but a victory for every Native American mother, daughter, sister and aunt who has ever been impacted by violence, said Tiffany Jiron, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women.

“This bill reflects our deep commitment to ensuring that no Indigenous person is left behind when they go missing,” Jirons said in a statement. “For far too long, Native women and girls have been overlooked, their cases ignored or delayed. The Turquoise Alert System is an essential step toward rectifying that injustice and ensuring that our people receive the protection they deserve.”

California, Washington and Colorado have similar alert systems, according to the New Mexico Department of Indian Affairs. Arizona lawmakers are considering their own alert system as the brutal death of San Carlos Apache teenager Emily Pike reverberates through Native American communities.

New Mexico has 23 federally recognized tribes, including large portions of the Navajo Nation and land holdings of the Fort Sill Apache. The safety concerns of those communities were on prominent display during the 60-day legislative session that wrapped up in March.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama lawmakers on Tuesday approved a ban on Glock switches and other conversion devices that convert semi-automatic weapons into machine guns, after a deadly year that included multiple mass shootings.

A bipartisan coalition pushed the Alabama legislation after several multiple mass shootings last year, including the shooting deaths of four people outside a Birmingham nightclub in September. The devices are already banned under federal law, but there’s currently no state law that bans them.

The Alabama Senate voted 24-2 to accept the House of Representatives changes to the bill. The measure now goes to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, who is expected to sign it after calling for its passage in her State of the State address.

“Passing gun safety legislation in Alabama is not easy. But the hard work of building a bipartisan coalition has resulted in the passage of this life-saving legislation,” said state Rep. Phillip Ensler, a Montgomery Democrat, who had urged the measure for three years.

“While laws cannot bring back victims of gun violence, this ban can help save lives moving forward,” he said.

Republican state Sen. Will Barfoot of Pike Road sponsored the bill that was approved this year. Possessing or selling the devices would be a Class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The measure will take effect immediately if it is signed into law.

The devices are banned under federal law and in 23 states, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. Supporters said a state ban will allow local law enforcement to prosecute people for the possession of the devices. Police say the devices produce a rapid, hard-to-control spray of bullets that increase the number of casualties during a shooting.

The bill passed without significant opposition, a rare consensus on gun legislation in the deeply red state. Alabama lawmakers in 2022 voted to end the requirement to get a permit to carry a concealed handgun in public.

Alabama has one of the highest rates of gun violence in the U.S. In 2022, there were 1,278 gun-related deaths in Alabama, which was the fourth-highest gun death rate in the country, ranking below Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A 13-year-old boy has been charged with murder in a fatal hit-and-run of a bicyclist in Albuquerque that was captured on video from inside the boy’s stolen car, law enforcement said Monday.

The teenager, who is believed to be the driver, and a 15-year-old have been charged with an open count of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, leaving the scene of an accident involving great bodily harm or death and unlawful possession of a handgun by a person, the Albuquerque Police Department said in a statement.

An 11-year-old, who police say was also involved, is too young to be charged with murder.

“APD detectives are working with the DA’s Office and CYFD to determine what charges he may face and whether he can be held on those charges,” according to the statement.

The 13-year-old is expected to be booked into the Juvenile Detention Center. Detectives are searching for the 15 and 11-year-olds.

Scott Dwight Habermehl, 63, was riding to his job at Sandia National Laboratory early in the morning in May when he was hit by a car after it swerved into the bike lane, according to police.

The crash was filmed from inside the car and circulated on social media. In the recording, a voice believed to be the 13-year-old can be heard saying he is about to hit the bicyclist, according to law enforcement. The car appears to accelerate and a voice believed to be the 15-year-old says, “Just bump him, brah.”

The driver asks, “Like bump him?”

A passenger says, “Yeah, just bump him. Go like…15…20.”

Loud sounds can then be heard in the recording, including “metal flexing,” according to law enforcement.

The video was posted on social media and reported to police. A middle school principal also reported the video to police after a student flagged it.

The Associated Press doesn’t typically name people under 18 accused of a crime.

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Court records say a passenger on a small regional flight to Miami attacked a flight attendant, kicked and punched the seat of the person in front of him and swallowed rosary beads as pilots returned to the airport in Savannah, Georgia.

The passenger was traveling with his sister, who said her brother told her before the violent outburst to “close her eyes and pray because Satan’s disciple(s) had followed them onto the plane,” according to an FBI agent’s affidavit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

No one was seriously hurt on the Monday night flight operated by Envoy Air, a regional carrier for American Airlines. The 31-year-old passenger was jailed on charges including misdemeanor battery, misdemeanor obstruction of police and a felony count of criminal property damage.

FBI Agent Savannah Solomon described the violent episode in her affidavit, saying there was probable cause to charge the man with a federal crime of interfering with a flight crew.

Solomon wrote that eight passengers were on the plane and flight attendants became concerned immediately after takeoff when they noticed one of them appearing to have a “fit of epilepsy” that included “stomping, incoherent yelling, and shaking.”

When a flight attendant approached the man, he turned in his seat and kicked the attendant in the chest, sending the worker flying into a window across the aisle, the agent wrote. The passenger then started kicking and punching the seat of the person in front of him, who moved before the back of the seat collapsed.

The pilots returned to the Savannah airport. After the plane landed, the man who had kicked the flight attendant charged toward the exit and threw punches at another flight attendant before being subdued by other passengers, the affidavit says.

He was apprehended by airport police and taken to a local hospital for “ingestion of rosary beads,” the affidavit says. Then the passenger was booked into the Chatham County jail.

Federal court records and online jail records did not list an attorney for the arrested passenger.

His sister told the FBI agent that they were traveling to Haiti “to flee religious attacks of a spiritual nature.” According to the affidavit, the woman said her brother had “swallowed the rosary beads because they are a weapon of strength in the spiritual warfare.”

The woman told the agent her brother was not suffering from mental health problems or medical issues.

NEWARK, N.J. — One Newark, New Jersey, police officer was killed and another was wounded in a shooting Friday evening, authorities said.

The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed in an email to The Associated Press that two Newark police officers were shot around 6:37 p.m. in the area of Broadway and Carteret.

The officers were taken to University Hospital in Newark and one was critically injured, the office said, noting the shooting remains under investigation.

They officers were shot in the line of duty, Robert W. Fox, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police-New Jersey State Lodge, said in a statement posted on Facebook.

“One Officer has made the ultimate sacrifice, and the other is receiving treatment for their wounds at the time of this release,” the statement said.

Joliet, Ill. — The trial of a suburban Chicago landlord accused of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in a 2023 attack on a Palestinian American woman and her young son is set to start Tuesday.

Joseph Czuba, 73, is charged in the fatal stabbing of six-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of Hanan Shaheen on Oct. 14, 2023. Authorities said the family was targeted because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas that erupted on Oct. 7, 2023 with a Hamas attack on southern Israel.

Opening statements start Tuesday morning in a trial that is expected to last about a week.

Czuba has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and other charges. His defense attorney, George Lenard, declined to comment before the end of the trial.

The attack on the family in Plainfield, nearly 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of Chicago, has renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination in the Chicago area’s large and established Palestinian community. The proceedings also come amid rising hostility against Muslims and Palestinians in the U.S. since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023.

“We firmly pray and hope that Mr. Czuba will be locked up for the rest of his life, so we can send a message that hate crimes against anyone on the basis of their religion and national origin are not tolerated,” Joe Milburn, a staff attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told reporters Monday ahead of jury selection.

Prosecutors allege Czuba became increasing paranoid about the war because of listening to commentary on conservative talk radio. Shaheen told police that Czuba was upset over the war and attacked them after she had urged him to “pray for peace.”

The boy — whose name was initially spelled Wadea Al-Fayoume by authorities — was stabbed 26 times. Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds and it took her weeks to recover.

The murder charge in the indictment against Czuba describes the boy’s death as the result of “exceptionally brutal or heinous behavior.” Czuba remained detained with prosecutors arguing that Czuba was a danger to Shaheen and others.

Hundreds attended the boy’s janazah, or funeral service, where the boy was remembered as kind and into sports and Legos.

Separately, the father of the boy, who is divorced from Shaheen and did not live at the home, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

LAKE STATION, Ind. — Police conducting a welfare check Friday afternoon discovered five people dead inside a home in northwest Indiana.

When officers arrived at the home in Lake Station, about 34 miles (55 kilometers) southeast of Chicago, they obtained a search warrant and found the bodies, according to a Lake Station Police Department statement.

Officials described it as an isolated situation and said there was no threat to the public.

There was no additional information about the victims and how they died.

“The Lake Station Police Department is asking for the public’s patience while more information is gathered and the appropriate individuals are notified before any additional information is released,” the statement posted on social media said.

CUMBERLAND, Md. — A Maryland court on Tuesday ordered a blogger known as Ziz who leads a cultlike group connected to six killings held without bail.

The blogger, Jack LaSota, 34, of Berkeley, California, was arrested Sunday along with Michelle Zajko, 32, of Media, Pennsylvania, and Daniel Blank, 26, of Sacramento, California. They face charges including trespassing, obstructing and hindering and possession of a handgun in a vehicle.

The Zizians have been tied to the killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland near the Canadian border in January and five other killings in three states.

LaSota, Zajko and Blank were arrested in Frostburg, Maryland, on Sunday afternoon.

The judge in the case ordered LaSota held without bail citing concerns about her being a flight risk and a danger to public safety. Prosecutors said LaSota “appears to be the leader of an extremist group known as Zizians” that has been linked to killings.

The three were expected to appear remotely for a bail hearing Tuesday at Allegany District Court in Cumberland, Maryland, court officials said.

The Zizians have been tied to the death of a woman during an attack on a California landlord in November 2022, the landlord’s subsequent slaying in January, the December 2022 deaths of Zajko’s parents in Pennsylvania and a highway shootout last month in Vermont that left U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland and a car passenger dead.

A Frostburg resident told police he wanted three “suspicious” people off his property after they’d parked two box trucks there and asked to camp for a month, according to police documents.

They were dressed in black and two wore gun belts holding ammunition, according to police. Officers found a rifle in the back of one truck and a handgun on the front floorboard. Zajko, who refused to put her hands behind her back and was taken to the ground, also was carrying a handgun, police said.

Maland, 44, was killed in a Jan. 20 shootout following a traffic stop in Coventry, Vermont, a small town about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the Canadian border. Felix Bauckholt, a passenger in the car, also died, and the driver, Teresa Youngblut, has pleaded not guilty to federal firearms charges.

Officials have said the guns they were carrying were bought by a person of interest in the Dec. 31, 2022, deaths of Richard and Rita Zajko in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania, and that Youngblut had been in close contact with a person of interest in a homicide in Vallejo, California.

Maximilian Snyder, who applied for a marriage license with Youngblut in November, is charged with the Jan. 17 stabbing death of Curtis Lind, a Vallejo landlord who had survived an earlier attack by members of the Zizian group and was set to testify against them.

Officials have offered few details of the cross-country investigation, but Associated Press interviews and a review of court records and online postings tell the story of how a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists, most of them in their 20s and 30s, met online, shared anarchist beliefs, and became increasingly violent.

Their goals aren’t clear, but online writings included topics such as radical veganism, gender identity and artificial intelligence.

At the middle of it all is “Ziz,” the leader of the strange group whose members are sometimes called “Zizians” in online forums.

LaSota published a dark and sometimes violent blog under the name Ziz and, in one section, described her theory that the two hemispheres of the brain could hold separate values and genders and “often desire to kill each other.”

LaSota, who used she/her pronouns, and in her writings says she is a transgender woman, railed against perceived enemies, including so-called rationalist groups, which operate mostly online and seek to understand human cognition through reason and knowledge. Some are concerned with the potential dangers of artificial intelligence.

LaSota has not responded to emails from the AP in recent weeks, and her attorney Daniel McGarrigle declined to comment on whether she is connected to any of the deaths. She’s wanted for arrest in two states for missing court appearances.

McGarrigle would only confirm Monday that he has represented LaSota and wouldn’t confirm her arrest or any details of the latest case. Attempts to reach attorneys for Zajko and Blank were not successful.

Pennsylvania state police records describe Daniel Blank as Michelle Zajko’s housemate in Vermont. In January 2023, police investigating the shooting deaths of Zajko’s parents detained both LaSota and Blank at a hotel where Zajko was staying. Blank was not charged. LaSota was charged with obstructing law enforcement and disorderly conduct.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Casey in Boston contributed to this story.