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NEW YORK (AP) — A notorious 1979 missing-child case will go to trial a third time after New York prosecutors vowed Tuesday to retry the man whose murder conviction was recently overturned in the disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz. In a case that has long been gnarled by time and uncertainty, a new set of prosecutors now will need to bring back witnesses, elicit memories and try to persuade another jury that Pedro Hernandez lured and killed the boy as he walked to his New York City school bus stop. “After thorough review, the district attorney has determined that the available, admissible evidence supports prosecuting” Hernandez on murder and kidnapping charges,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Sarah Marquez wrote, adding that prosecutors “are prepared to proceed.” “We are deeply disappointed in this decision as we remain convinced that Mr. Hernandez is an innocent man. But we will be prepared for trial and will present an even stronger defense,” Hernandez’s defense lawyers said in a statement. Under federal court rulings, jury selection for Hernandez’s retrial must begin by June 1, or he must be released from prison. Hernandez, now 64, worked at a nearby corner store when Etan disappeared on May 25, 1979. It was the first day his mother let him make the roughly block-long trip to the bus stop by himself. The first-grader’s body was never found. His case fueled a national focus on child disappearances and abductions. Etan was one of the first to appear on milk cartons, and his parents helped successfully advocate for a national hotline and other steps to help report and rescue vanished youngsters. The anniversary of Etan’s death became National Missing Children’s Day. The case affected parenting, as well as policing, contributing to a cultural shift toward tighter supervision of American kids. Hernandez didn’t become a suspect until decades later, when authorities learned that he had made various, somewhat inconsistent statements to confidants over the years about having killed a child or person in New York. Hernandez then told police in 2012 he had strangled Etan after offering him a soda and enticing him into the store basement. “Something just took over me,” Hernandez told authorities on video. With no physical evidence, the confession was crucial. His lawyers said it was delusional, false and made under pressure from police bent on closing a decades-old case. Hernandez had been diagnosed with a mental disorder, has a very low IQ and was on antipsychotic medication. Police questioned him for about seven hours without reading him his rights or recording the interaction — those steps were taken only after, according to police, he implicated himself for the first time. Hernandez’s first trial ended in a hung jury, because of one member’s misgivings about the defendant’s mental health and hourslong police questioning. Hernandez was convicted at a 2017 retrial and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. He is now 64. A federal appeals court ruled in July that his conviction was tainted by a judge’s “clearly wrong” response to a 2017 jury question about Hernandez’s confessions. The question was whether jurors had to disregard Hernandez’s recorded confessions if they concluded the first, unrecorded admissions were coerced. The jury was told the answer was simply “no.” It should have been “maybe,” with an explanation of options and legal principles for assessing such situations, the appeals judges said. They ordered his release unless his retrial begins “within a reasonable period,” leaving a lower court judge to specify how long. She then set the deadline at June 1.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is seeking to abandon a rule that sets tough standards for deadly soot pollution, arguing that the Biden administration did not have authority to set the tighter standard on pollution from tailpipes, smokestacks and other industrial sources. The action follows moves by the administration last week to weaken federal rules protecting millions of acres of wetlands and streams and roll back protections for imperiled species and the places they live. In a separate action, the Interior Department proposed new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems. The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule last year that imposed strict standards for soot pollution, saying that reducing fine particle matter from motor vehicles and industrial sources could prevent thousands of premature deaths a year. Twenty-five Republican-led states and a host of business groups filed lawsuits seeking to block the rule in court. A suit led by attorneys general from Kentucky and West Virginia argued that the EPA rule would raise costs for manufacturers, utilities and families and could block new manufacturing plants. In a court filing this week, the EPA essentially took the side of the challengers, saying the Biden-era rule was done “without the rigorous, stepwise process that Congress required” and was therefore unlawful. “EPA now confesses error and urges this Court to vacate the Rule” before Feb. 7, the agency said in a brief filed with the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Vacating the Biden-era rule would revert the soot standard to a level established a dozen years ago under the Obama administration. The Trump EPA is set to propose its own rule early next year. Environmental groups said the agency’s action — which follows a pledge by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to roll back the soot rule and dozens of other environmental regulations — threatens public health and undermines its obligations under the Clean Air Act. “EPA’s motion is a blatant attempt to avoid legal requirements for a rollback, in this case for one of the most impactful actions the agency has taken in recent years to protect public health,” said Hayden Hashimoto, an attorney at the nonprofit Clean Air Task Force. The 2024 rule set maximum levels of 9 micrograms of fine particle pollution per cubic meter of air, down from 12 micrograms established under former President Barack Obama. The rule sets an air quality level that states and counties must achieve in the coming years to reduce pollution from power plants, vehicles, industrial sites and wildfires. “An abundance of scientific evidence shows that going back to the previous standard would fail to provide the level of protection for public health required under the Clean Air Act,” Hashimoto said. EPA said in creating the rule that the new standard would avoid 800,000 cases of asthma symptoms, 2,000 hospital visits and 4,500 premature deaths, adding up to about $46 billion in health benefits in 2032. Then-EPA head Michael Regan said the rule would especially benefit children, older adults and those with heart and lung conditions, as well as those living near highways, factories and power plants. “Walking away from these clean-air standards doesn’t power anything but disease,” said Patrice Simms, vice president of healthy communities at Earthjustice, a nonprofit law firm that represents environmental groups in the legal case. President Donald Trump “has made it clear that his agenda is all about saving corporations money,” Simms said, adding under Zeldin, the EPA “has nothing to do with protecting people’s health, saving lives or serving children, families or communities.” Soot, made up of tiny toxic particles that lodge deep in the lungs, can result in severe health harms, including premature death, and comes from sources such as…

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin woman who won release from a mental institution after almost killing her sixth grade classmate in the name of horror villain Slender Man only to flee the state weeks later won’t fight extradition from Illinois. Morgan Geyser agreed not to contest her transfer from jail in Cook County, Illinois, to Wisconsin during a hearing Tuesday, a court spokesperson said. Wisconsin authorities now have 30 days to pick her up. Wisconsin health officials could revoke Geyser’s conditional release and send her back to the facility where she spent most of the past eight years. She also could face new charges in connection with her escape. Escape to Illinois According to police, Geyser cut off her GPS monitoring bracelet on Saturday evening and fled her Madison group home with a 43-year-old companion. Police found them Sunday evening sleeping on a sidewalk outside a truck stop in Posen, Illinois, a village of 5,300 people about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Chicago, and arrested them. Police have identified Geyser’s friend as male, but Geyser can be heard on officers’ body camera footage during their arrests saying that the individual is transgender and refers to the person as “she.” Her friend has been charged with trespassing and obstruction, but The Associated Press isn’t naming the companion because the person hasn’t been charged with aiding Geyser’s escape. The AP’s attempts to contact that person have been unsuccessful. The companion did call WKOW-TV on Monday, however, saying the two became friends at church and had seen each other daily for the past month. Geyser decided to flee because she was afraid her group home would no longer allow them to see each other, the person said. “She ran because of me,” the friend told the television station. ‘You’re not wanted for murder, right?’ Geyser and her companion took a bus overnight into Illinois, the friend said. The Posen officers’ body camera footage shows Geyser and her friend shivering in the cold outside the truck stop as officers try to ascertain their names and where they’re from. Geyser does most of the talking while her friend gathers their belongings and places them in a backpack, saying only “south” when asked where they’re from and giving officers a fake name. Her companion initially refused to give a name. As officers threaten to arrest them, Geyser clutches a stuffed dog toy and clings to her companion’s arm. When officers separate them, she insists that her friend doesn’t know Geyser’s name or what she’s done. When Geyser refuses to give her real name, an officer asks her: “You’re not wanted for murder, right?” Geyser repeatedly begs the officers to let her companion go. Pressed by officers, Geyser says: “I did something really wrong.” Geyser finally writes her real name on an officer’s notepad. As they’re running her for warrants, she tries to go to her friend, but an officer pushes her back. “Let me say goodbye, please,” Geyser says. “I’ll never see her again.” After they’re led into squad cars, one of the officers remarks: “I hope she didn’t commit a homicide. The way she’s talking, she’s saying it’s really, really bad.” The footage shows another officer discovering a notebook in the couple’s bags entitled “Homeless Couples Guidebook.” Companion: Geyser trying to move beyond Slender Man attack Geyser’s friend told WKOW that they understand each other and communicate in a “really good, healthy way” and she had explained her past. “I was like, ‘I don’t hate you. I think you’re clearly not that person anymore. You’re trying very hard to move away from it. That much is obvious,’” the companion said, adding later that Geyser was going to flee the group home with or without the friend and the person chose to go with her because Geyser wasn’t going to make it on her own. Stabbing meant to please horror character Geyser and her friend, Anissa Weier, lured one of their classmates, Payton Leutner, to a Waukesha park in 2014. Geyser stabbed Leutner…

A Portland mother and her three teenage children are in immigration detention in Texas. They were detained by border agents in New York after trying to seek asylum in Canada. The Congolese family was detained on Nov. 12 at the Champlain Port of Entry, after the Canada Border Services Agency denied their asylum claim, according to a statement from a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson. The family had first entered the U.S. without authorization in 2022, according to the spokesperson. An immigration judge issued a deportation order for the family in February of this year, and their appeal was dismissed in October. “To date, no member of the family unit has valid current or pending status changes with USCIS,” the spokesperson said, referring to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. One of the children, sixteen year old Joel Andre, is a student at Deering High School, and a fixture of Portland’s Kennedy Park neighborhood pickup soccer community. “It really sent shockwaves through the KP community,” said organizer Anthony Fiori. Fiori said Joel first arrived on the soccer scene in 2024, and immediately made a strong impression. “I was like, ‘Whoa, this kid’s skills are crazy,'” Fiori said. Beyond his talent on the field, fellow organizer Matheus Santana said Joel’s character has made him one the most well-liked and respected players in the community. “Every single person that encounters him loves him, wants to be on his team,” Santana said. “Not just because he’s a good player, but because he’s a fantastic teammate.” Fiori said he found out the family was in custody after seeing a GoFundMe page this week raising money for their legal fees. But he said Joel’s friends had noticed him missing from school for about a week. “So they were looking for him for like a whole week, very confused,” he said. “Why is he not in school? Like, what’s going on here? He’s not one to, you know, skip school like that.” On Friday, a spokesperson for Portland Public Schools said the whole district was devastated by Joel’s detention, and that of his sister, Casco Bay High School student Estafania Andre, adding that administrators and mental health professionals have been supporting students and staff. “To have students in class one week and then suddenly gone the next is traumatic,” the district said in a written statement. “We will continue to do all we can to support this family and others affected by immigration enforcement actions.” Joel and Estafania’s older sister, Olivia Andre, is also in ICE custody. But a spokesperson for Congresswoman Chellie Pingree’s office said ICE confirmed that it was not involved in the initial arrest of the family, and that it was Customs and Border Protection that “took custody of the family and transferred them directly to Texas.” ICE’s online detainee tracker shows the mother, Carine Balenda Mbizi, is currently being held in a family detention facility in Dilley, Texas. Pingree’s spokesperson said her office has not been able to confirm whether the family is being detained together. Online immigration court records indicate Mbizi was issued a deportation order in February, and that her appeal of that case was denied last month. Meanwhile, the family’s sudden absence is also being felt at their Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation. “Learning that they were detained was a surprise for me,” said Douglas Mpay, an ordained minister, who said he helped support the family when they first arrived at the church. He said they’ve been valued members of the congregation. “They are good people. They have a good influence, good friends in the community,” he said. “Really, really nice people.” Mpay started a GoFundMe that has since raised over $27,000 to cover the family’s legal fees. This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.

This story appears as part of a collaboration to strengthen investigative journalism in Maine between the BDN and The Maine Monitor. Read more about the partnership. Local governments across Maine have received just over $22 million in opioid settlement funds from pharmaceutical companies accused of fueling the overdose epidemic, with nearly $54 million more expected over the next decade and a half. The money is meant to go to prevention and harm reduction efforts, as well as treatment and recovery programs. But oversight is limited, and until recently there were no reporting requirements, meaning it was up to local officials how much they wanted to disclose about their plans. Since the settlements began distributing the money three years ago, advocates have raised concerns about some localities’ spending choices, particularly those related to police equipment, including questionable handheld drug-checking devices. Many municipalities and counties have struggled to determine how those choices should be made, getting caught up in the logistics of how to disburse the funds fairly, ultimately delaying much-needed help for vulnerable communities. That’s where a $2.5 million resource center comes in: one designed to help the local governments start spending the money appropriately and maintain data on where it’s going. So far, it has created guides, grant application templates and evaluation rubrics, and assisted with more than 100 requests from local officials. The next big project is creating public data dashboards. The Maine Opioid Settlement Support Center, run out of the University of Southern Maine’s Catherine Cutler Institute, was launched last summer with funding from the attorney general’s bucket of opioid settlement money. Maine expects to receive an estimated $261 million in settlements and bankruptcy agreements with more than a dozen pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors and retailers, including with Oxycontin-maker Purdue Pharma and the estate of their billionaire owners, the Sackler family. Agreements signed earlier this year, like the ones finalized this month with Purdue and the Sacklers, added more than $30 million to Maine’s share, though that number may still change as the Sackler bankruptcy case is finalized. Payments will be distributed through 2038. Maine’s share is split three ways: 50% to the Maine Recovery Council; 30% to 39 counties and municipalities, or direct share subdivisions; and 20% to the attorney general’s office. The center’s goal is to help the 39 localities receiving direct payments from the settlements spend their share in an evidence-based manner and to keep communities informed about how the money is being used. That includes creating several public dashboards, including one that will show how recipients are spending their money and another tracking the impact the spending has on local communities. The spending dashboard is expected to launch next February or March, said the center’s director, Dr. Lindsey Smith. A law passed earlier this year means that in January the subdivisions will be required to submit their first-ever annual report on spending to the attorney general’s office. Those reports will then be shared with the Maine Opioid Settlement Support Center for review and analysis, and later, with the Legislature. The center is working with the attorney general’s office to encourage subdivisions to submit their reports using a form created by the center, rather than on their own, in order to streamline the process and standardize the data collection. This dashboard would mark the first statewide public disclosure of local governments’ settlement spending. Over the past two years, The Monitor has made an ongoing effort to shed light on how the millions from these landmark settlements are being spent, including by sending out detailed surveys to local officials from the 39 subdivisions. When the settlement money was first distributed, many local governments didn’t know where to…