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Pomona College moved graduation to Shrine, and protesters followed

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When pro-Palestinian protesters set up an encampment last week on the stage at Pomona College where graduation was set to be held, the school’s leaders decided to move Sunday’s commencement to Los Angeles.

The graduation took place at the Shrine Auditorium, kicking off at 6 p.m. But protesters also moved. A group of more than 100 congregated outside the auditorium Sunday afternoon and clashed with law enforcement. L.A. police said protesters charged them, and one demonstrator said officers struck people in the stomach with batons.

The college had said there would be additional security measures at the event, and dozens of Los Angeles Police Department officers were present. Officers lined up outside the venue as protesters held up banners and shouted through bullhorns.

Several Pomona College graduates, dressed in full regalia, led the crowd in chanting, “Free Palestine.”

At times, the demonstrators pushed and shoved with police as officers attempted to secure the area around the auditorium. Officials told KABC-7 that some protesters charged at officers and one was arrested after attempting to strike an officer.

Later, about 6:30 p.m., the protesters marched away from the Shrine Auditorium and gathered in a courtyard where a Pomona College student, wearing his graduation gown, read a statement calling for an end to the war and for universities to divest from financial ties with Israel.

Tharwa Khalid, a member of a local chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement, said the protesters started on West 32nd Street and split into two groups, one on 32nd Street and another near Jefferson Boulevard.

The dynamic with police escalated from “zero to 100 with no warning,” she said.

Officers shoved Khalid and several others, pushing some people to the ground and striking them with batons, including hitting multiple female protesters in the stomach, Khalid said.

“A lot of my friends are bruised up right now and are not doing well physically,” Khalid said.

As officers pushed one Muslim protester to the ground, they pulled off her headscarf, Khalid said.

Khalid said she saw a legal observer with the National Lawyers Guild — wearing a neon green hat to be easily seen observing police activity — shoved to the ground by an officer.

“It just shows that they’re trying to intimidate students and punish them for exercising their 1st Amendment rights,” Khalid said.

People wear caps at a graduation ceremony.

Among protesters Sunday outside the Shrine Auditorium were those in their Pomona College caps and gowns from graduation.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

By nearly 7 p.m., most of the pro-Palestinian protesters had dispersed from the campus courtyard, and police had cordoned off an area surrounding the Shrine Auditorium.

A few family members of graduates arrived late to the ceremony with flowers in hand but were briefly turned away from the police-tape line. An officer stepped in, however, and allowed them through so they could attend the graduation.

LAPD Officer Tony Im, a public information officer, said he could not provide a statement or response Sunday evening regarding what protesters alleged happened because he had not been briefed.

Pomona College’s decision to move its commencement came after a decision by USC to cancel its traditional main campus commencement ceremony and hold an alternative celebration at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The event Thursday featured fireworks and a drone show.

As at USC, pro-Palestinian protests have roiled the Pomona campus, with student activists demanding that the college publicly call for a cease-fire and divest college endowment funds from corporations tied to Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the occupation of the West Bank. In April, police wearing riot gear arrested 19 protesters who had occupied the college president’s office.

Also on Sunday, about 30 students graduating from Harvey Mudd College, a private liberal arts college in Claremont, wore messages on their mortarboards reading “Cut defense ties,” referencing a demand for divestment from defense contracts that’s also been made at other colleges and universities, said a faculty member who asked not to be named over privacy concerns.

Some students took out small Palestinian flags as they walked across the stage after their names were called and posed with the flags in their photos with Mudd College President Harriet B. Nembhard, the faculty member told The Times. Other students pulled out banners, reading “Free Palestine” and “No tech for genocide.”

Saachi Patel, a student speaker graduating Sunday, said during her speech that her graduation and degree could only mean so much to her given the tens of thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children, killed by Israel’s bombardment and ground offensives, and how her school had not yet divested.

“Today I think of the student-led global uprisings and resistance that have been demanding colleges divest from apartheid and occupation and cut ties with war-profiteering companies,” Patel said, saying she stood with the Mudders Against Murder campaign, which earlier this year circulated a petition demanding the school divest.

Her microphone was not cut, and she was allowed to finish her speech. Several graduates gave her a standing ovation, and some families cheered, the faculty member said.

Times staff writer Jenny Gold contributed to this report.



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For sale: A piece of California’s country music history

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The famed Buck Owens Crystal Palace, where music legends including Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakam, Garth Brooks and a young Taylor Swift have played, is up for sale, with the foundation that runs the Bakersfield venue planning to list it for $7 million on Monday.

The nightclub, museum and steakhouse was owned by its namesake Buck Owens, the country music trailblazer who bucked the slick commercial melodies of Nashville for a distinctly West Coast twang. Owens opened the Crystal Palace in 1996, watching it become a premier venue for the biggest names in country music, including himself. Buck and the Buckaroos played there every Friday and Saturday night until his death in 2006.

Jim Shaw, a member of the Buckaroos and a director of the Buck Owens Private Foundation, said that after 28 years of running the famed venue, the Owens family plans to step back and find new owners amid a challenging business climate. The foundation said in a statement that “since Buck’s passing in 2006, we’ve tried to maintain the excellence that he expected, even as it became more and more difficult during these challenging times of increasing food and labor costs.”

The venue is not closing and scheduled events will continue as planned, Shaw said.

“It’s business as usual for now,” Shaw said. “Ideally, someone who wants to keep it exactly as it is will come forward.”

Owens’ youngest son, Johnny Owens, wrote on Facebook that the family’s hope “is that a buyer steps forward with a vision for the future and a reverence” for his father and the Bakersfield Sound.

The Crystal Palace, located on Buck Owens Boulevard, is a major tourism staple for Bakersfield. The 18,000-square-foot venue is next to the city’s downtown entrance.

“It’s the No. 1 tourist attraction in Bakersfield,” Shaw said. “There are people stepping forward and we are waiting to see what happens. I am getting a lot of phone calls. I’m anxious to see what happens.”



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2nd local radio host says they were given questions ahead of Biden interview

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A second local radio host on Saturday told ABC News that he was provided a list of questions in advance of his interview with President Joe Biden this week.

“Yes, I was given some questions for Biden,” Earl Ingram of CivicMedia told ABC News. Ingram, a prominent host of a Wisconsin radio station, interviewed Biden this week in the wake of his debate performance.

Ingram said he was given five questions and ended up asking four of them.

“I didn’t get a chance to ask him all the things I wanted to ask,” he said.

Ingram is the second interviewer who now says they were provided questions by Biden aides to ask the president this week. Earlier today, another local radio host who interviewed Biden this week told CNN she was given questions to ask Biden before the interview.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at Sherman Middle School, on July 5, 2024, in Madison, Wisconsin.  (Scott Olson/Getty Images)PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at Sherman Middle School, on July 5, 2024, in Madison, Wisconsin.  (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at Sherman Middle School, on July 5, 2024, in Madison, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

“We do not condition interviews on acceptance of these questions, and hosts are always free to ask the questions they think will best inform their listeners,” the Biden campaign told ABC News on Saturday.

Ingram told ABC he didn’t see anything necessarily wrong with the practice. “To think that I was gonna get an opportunity to ask any question to the President of the United States, I think, is a bit more than anybody should expect,” he said.

He continued that he was grateful for the opportunity to interview Biden at all.

“Certainly the fact that they gave me this opportunity … meant a lot to me,” Ingram said.

MORE: Wealthy Democratic donors sound alarm over Biden staying in race

On CNN earlier today, Andrea Lawful-Sanders, the host of WURD’s “The Source,” said Biden officials provided her with a list of eight questions ahead of their interview with Biden.

“The questions were sent to me for approval; I approved of them,” she said.

“I got several questions — eight of them,” she continued. “And the four that were chosen were the ones that I approved.”

Responding to Lawful-Sanders, Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said in a statement that it’s not “uncommon” for interviewees to share topics they would prefer. She noted that Lawful-Sanders was “free” to ask any questions she saw fit. She also noted that it was the campaign who sent over the questions and not the White House as other reports claim.

Lawful-Sanders did note in her interview with CNN that she ultimately “approved” the questions provided.

“It’s not at all an uncommon practice for interviewees to share topics they would prefer. These questions were relevant to news of the day – the president was asked about this debate performance as well as what he’d delivered for black Americans,” the statement said.

“We do not condition interviews on acceptance of these questions, and hosts are always free to ask the questions they think will best inform their listeners. In addition to these interviews, the President also participated in a press gaggle yesterday as well as an interview with ABC. Americans have had several opportunities to see him unscripted since the debate.”

A source familiar with the Biden booking operation told ABC News that moving forward they will “refrain” from offering suggested questions to interviewers.

“While interview hosts have always been free to ask whatever questions they please, moving forward we will refrain from offering suggested questions.”

2nd local radio host says they were given questions ahead of Biden interview originally appeared on abcnews.go.com



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President George W. Bush turns 78 years old

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George W. Bush, born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, was the 43rd President of the United States.

Bush was born to parents Barbara Bush and former President George H. W. Bush. He has five siblings; Jeb Bush, Marvin Bush, Neil Bush, Dorothy Bush Koch and Pauline Robinson Bush. Pauline was diagnosed with leukemia and passed away at age three.

He was formerly the Republican Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.

WHY FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH IS WINNING … THE POST-PRESIDENCY

Bush was first elected to the White House in November 2000, and officially began his first term as president in January 2001, after he defeated Democrat Al Gore during the presidential election. Bush was reelected to his second term as the incumbent in November 2004, when he prevailed over Democrat John Kerry, and led the United States until January 2009 before handing over his torch to former President Barack Obama.

Bush married Laura Bush on November 5, 1977, the day after her 31st birthday, in her hometown of Midland, Texas. The couple were engaged in September 1977, and married less than two months later in a Methodist church. Bush and Laura met at a barbecue, and he took her to play mini-golf on their first date. 

The Bush’s share twin daughters, Barbara Pierce Bush and Jenna Bush Hager, born on November 25, 1981. Today, the couple also share four grandchildren; Mila, Poppy, Hal and Cora.

GEORGE BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY ISSUE STATEMENT ON AFGHANISTAN WITH MESSAGE TO US TROOPS, VETERANS

During his presidency, Bush cared for his English springer spaniel, Spot Fetcher, who accompanied him to meetings in the Oval Office and on adventures throughout the White House. The dog was born to his parent’s dog, Millie.

On September 11, 2001, less than one year into Bush’s presidency, the Twin Towers in New York City were attacked by terrorists when airplanes hit both buildings, causing a collapse and thousands of lives lost. At the time, Bush was reading to elementary-aged children at a school in Sarasota, Florida. He was calmly and quietly advised of the attacks and quickly returned to Washington, where he was briefed alongside Vice President Dick Cheney.

Bush was regarded highly for his poise while learning of the attacks and for his demonstration of patriotism and leadership in the uncertain days and weeks following the hijackings of multiple planes on the day that shook America to her core.

SADDAM CAPTURED ‘LIKE A RAT’ IN RAID

On December 30, 2003, during Bush’s first term as POTUS, Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi leader and executor of the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., was captured by the American military

In the early morning of December 30, 2006, during Bush’s presidency, Hussein was hanged and executed for his crimes against humanity. Americans across the nation celebrated the death of Hussein and applauded Bush for promising the country he would take him out and following through.

While Bush was regarded for his dealings with the terrorist attacks, the signing of No Child Left Behind Act and the Patriot Act and the creation of the United States Department of Homeland Security, many Americans were unhappy with the sanctions of interrogation techniques, the war in Iraq and taxes while he was president.

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