By KATHY McCORMACK, Associated Press

A federal judge in Vermont who is considering whether he has jurisdiction over the case of a Turkish Tufts University student detained by immigration officials in Louisiana raised the possibility Monday of having her brought back to his court for a hearing.

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U.S. District Judge William Sessions took under advisement arguments over Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, a doctoral student taken by immigration officials as she walked along a street in the Boston suburb of Somerville on March 25. After being taken to New Hampshire and then Vermont, she was put on a plane the next day and moved to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Basile, Louisiana.

Ozturk’s lawyers are challenging the legal authority for ICE’s detention. They are asking that she be immediately released from custody, or in the alternative, be returned to Vermont for further proceedings.

A lawyer for the Justice Department said her case should be dismissed, saying the immigration court has jurisdiction. But Ozturk’s lawyers, who initially didn’t know where she was for hours and first petitioned for her release in Massachusetts, argued for her to be released from detention while her immigration case continues.

Lawyers for Ozturk in the immigration proceeding asked Monday that she be released on bond, her legal team in Vermont said.

Sessions brought up the idea of a hearing in his court in May if he were to assume jurisdiction over her petition.

“Why not do that at the same time that the removal proceedings continue on?” he said.

Lawyers on both sides said they would need to consult further to provide details on the amount of time needed for such a hearing.

Ozturk is among several people with ties to American universities whose visas were revoked or have been stopped from entering the U.S. after they were accused of attending demonstrations or publicly expressed support for Palestinians. On Friday, a Louisiana immigration judge ruled that the U.S. can deport Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil based on the federal government’s argument that he poses a national security risk.

Ozturk was one of four students who wrote an op-ed in the campus newspaper, The Tufts Daily, last year criticizing the university’s response to student activists demanding that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel.

Ozturk’s lawyers say her detention violates her constitutional rights, including free speech and due process.

“Ultimately, unfortunately, the heart of what’s happening is that she is stuck in detention for an op-ed,” her immigration attorney, Mahsa Khanbabai, said outside the federal building in Burlington after Monday’s hearing.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said last month, without providing evidence, that investigations found that Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group.

A State Department memorandum showed that Ozturk’s student visa was revoked on March 21 following an assessment that she had been involved in associations “‘that may undermine U.S. foreign policy by creating a hostile environment for Jewish students and indicating support for a designated terrorist organization’ including co-authoring an op-ed that found common cause with an organization that was later temporarily banned from campus.”

The Washington Post reported Sunday that another memorandum, written by an office within the State Department before Ozturk was detained, determined that there was no evidence showing that she took part in antisemitic activities or made public statements supporting a terrorist organization.

Ozturk’s lawyers said Monday that the memorandum has not been supplied to them.

A message seeking comment from the department on the report was emailed Monday afternoon.

A St. Paul man has been convicted by a federal jury after authorities intercepted more than 50,000 fentanyl pills being sent to him.

After a three-day trial in U.S. District Court, Kurtis Lavonte Gordon-Greenwood, 30, was convicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, one count of attempted possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.

The investigation into the St. Paul drug ring began in 2022 when law enforcement intercepted a UPS package to Gordon-Greenwood. The package, sent from Arizona, contained about 50,000 fentanyl pills, or more than five kilograms.

While searching his apartment, officers also found a shipping receipt for a FedEx package sent to Phoenix that contained three cell phones and a Taurus 9mm pistol with an extended magazine. Authorities in Phoenix intercepted the FedEx package to Phoenix and also found $8,240 cash inside.

“Firearms and drugs are a deadly combination – make no mistake that lives will be saved with Gordon-Greenwood off the streets,” Kirkpatrick said about the conviction. “Drugs are trafficked to Minnesota by air, vehicle or through the mail, as we saw in this case.”

Two co-defendants, Joshua Lanard Howse, 33, and Cornelius David Pierce, 34, also of St. Paul, have pleaded guilty for their roles in the conspiracy, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

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You have to give it to Donald Trump. The man is a marvel at multitasking.

In one sensational swoop, President Trump was able to set the global economy reeling, shatter our alliances, shred our standing in the world, tank consumer confidence, scupper the Kennedy Center and tart up the Oval Office, turning it into Caesars Palace on the Potomac.

And yet he still managed to find time to brag about winning his Jupiter golf club’s championship and sign an executive order relaxing restrictions on water pressure from shower heads — “I like to take a nice shower to take care of my beautiful hair,” the president cooed. He also ordered an investigation of an election security official he had fired four years ago for having the temerity to acknowledge that the 2020 election was not stolen.

“We’re living in a bizarro world where heroes are being targeted and scoundrels are in a position to target them,” David Axelrod, the Democratic strategist, told me.

Trump is also consumed with terms of surrender for top law firms and Ivy League universities in his quest to get even with those he feels went after him unfairly or embraced wokeness too avidly.

My Netflix algorithm searches for “revenge,” “lives ruined” and “mayhem.” But I don’t want that in my government.

Trump is engaging the full power of the presidency to settle scores. The White House was not meant for petty tyrants on revenge tours. In the biggest job in the world, Trump seems like a very small man.

“Revenge is the oxygen that keeps him afloat,” said Tim O’Brien, the Trump biographer.

And he has surrounded himself with small people who elaborately flatter him and puff him up in risible Cabinet meetings. Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, even has a Maoist golden Trump head on his lapel.

Barack Obama’s White House portrait was nudged aside for one of Trump pumping his fist after the assassination attempt.

The Emperor of Chaos told us to “BE COOL!” as markets cratered and people got “yippy,” as Trump put it. But how is that possible when everything is so unstable?

Trump may even turn into the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Jami Warner, the executive director of the American Christmas Tree Association, warned Friday on CNN that the holiday may be difficult for a lot of families accustomed to getting their cheap artificial trees, lights and ornaments from China, not to mention presents.

I had to go to summer school for algebra, but I don’t want a government that’s bad at math. O’Brien wrote in Bloomberg News that Trump’s “tragicomic ‘formula’” for tariffs “somehow positioned Cambodia and Thailand at the top of the heap of countries posing major economic threats to the U.S. and also caused tariffs to be imposed on uninhabited islands near Antarctica.”

The Republicans’ math on the budget bill is also fuzzy. You can’t give trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy and pretend it won’t cost anything.

Even before Trump opened a Pandora’s box of economic woe, we knew numbers weren’t his strong suit. He had six bankruptcies, and his father had to buy $3.4 million in chips to save one of his casinos.

The most conclusive evidence of his innumeracy was his appearance in 2006 on Howard Stern’s show with Ivanka and Don Jr. The Trump siblings’ insistence that they got into Wharton on their merits inspired Stern to give them a grade school-level pop quiz.

“What’s 17 times 6?” he asked.

After some nervous laughter, Don Jr. replied “96? 94?” His father interjected, “It’s 11 12. It’s 112.”

“Wrong!” Stern said, adding, “It’s 102!”

Donald Trump repeated “112.”

Trump should be alarmed that investors are skittish about buying U.S. government bonds, usually considered safe assets.

“And guess who owns a lot of U.S. debt?” O’Brien said. “China, Japan, Europe. Are they feeling good about us right now?”

As everyone else gets yippy — JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon warned of a recession — the president seems to be enjoying center stage, toying with the strings like a cat.

“All of this unnecessary, orchestrated dissent and doubt and damage for his own amusement,” O’Brien told me. “He’s the kid in the garage with matches standing next to the gasoline tank.”

Now that Trump’s tariff scheme has gone horribly awry — and the administration’s attempt to spin it as an “Art of the Deal” victory has fallen flat — it remains to be seen if this will be a “Wizard of Oz” moment when the curtain gets pulled back on the con man.

Will the global chaos puncture the sense of mastery that Trump has projected?

“This is not a reality show,” Axelrod said. “This is reality.”

He continued: “People like the idea of cutting waste and fraud and abuse until it means that the Social Security office in your hometown or veterans’ health programs close down, or there are measles outbreaks, because they don’t know what they’re doing. Do these add up so, at some point, people say: ‘You know what? This isn’t really working for me’”?

The former casino owner in the White House brags that he has never gambled. But he is gambling with Americans’ lives and futures. How strange, as even the dollar loses its allure, that a man long considered a branding savant has so badly mucked up the U.S. brand.

Maureen Dowd writes a column for the New York Times.

Minnesota is a Boogeyman of sorts to Denver. Not only did Minnesota end the Nuggets’ title defense a year ago, they also swept Denver in four regular season matchups this year.

So, Denver breathed a little sigh of relief when the Clippers edged the Warriors in overtime Sunday, meaning the Clippers, not the Wolves, would be the Nuggets’ first-round opponent. Now, Denver won’t see its Boogeyman unless the Nuggets and Timberwolves both advance to Western Conference Finals.

Minnesota, on the other hand, will see its version on Saturday night in Los Angeles when the Lakers and Wolves meet in Game 1 of the first-round series.

That boogeyman is Luka Doncic.

Minnesota was riding high off its thrilling conference semifinal win over Denver a year ago before it was promptly grounded by the Slovenian star in the West Finals. Doncic averaged 32.4 points, 9.6 rebounds and 8.2 assists while shooting 43% from 3-point range in the series, which Dallas won in five games.

A Minnesota defense that looked so ferocious throughout last year’s regular season and first two playoff rounds was tamed by one of the league’s top-five players. The Timberwolves threw a number of looks at Doncic throughout the series, all to no avail. By the end of the conference finals, Minnesota looked resigned to its fate. The Wolves simply could not beat this man.

Everyone will recall Doncic’s cold-blooded, stepback triple at the end of Game 2 to steal a Dallas victory and put the Mavericks up 2-0. Later, he scored 20 first-quarter points in a decisive Game 5 victory, sending the Wolves into the offseason with their tails tucked between their legs.

After that blowout defeat, Anthony Edwards was asked how the game got away from Minnesota.

“Luka,” Edwards said. “It’s that simple. He hit like three shots from the logo, pretty much. Nothing we can do about it.”

Can the Wolves find a legitimate solution this time around?

Doncic’s dominance over the Wolves extends beyond that. Including the playoffs, he’s 7-1 against Minnesota in his past eight meetings with the Wolves excluding the Christmas Day game in Dallas, which he left early in the second quarter.

The Lakers are more than just Doncic. Obviously, they have an all-time great in LeBron James, and Austin Reaves looks like a future all-star. Dorian Finney-Smith and Rui Hachimura are versatile pieces who help Los Angeles succeed on both ends.

But Los Angeles also has some potential deficiencies on the glass and with its perimeter defense. Minnesota has paths to success in this series. But those will only reveal themselves if the Wolves can prevent Doncic from taking over and controlling each contest in the same ways he did last spring.

Perhaps the experience of last year’s Conference Finals will better equip Minnesota for this series. There should be no lack of what to expect.

The Wolves also have different personnel options. Jaden McDaniels will likely again receive the opening assignment on Doncic, but Jaylen Clark did a solid job on Doncic when Minnesota lost in Los Angeles in late February, and Julius Randle’s physicality could provide a necessary changeup against the all-star at some point in the series.

Schematically, Minnesota can also approach the Doncic matchup a little differently considering the guard’s new roster with the Lakers doesn’t present the same lob threats that were so plentiful and dangerous in Dallas. Rudy Gobert can be more aggressive in his help on Doncic when the guard enters that 8- to 10-foot range with less concern about what may take place behind him.

“He’s a smart player. He’s seen every coverage possible in the world. It’s about how we execute it, how throughout the different coverages we’re able to rebound and, offensively, how we take care of the ball and do all these things that put us in a position to try to slow them down,” Gobert said Sunday. “We’ll see what coaches have in mind, but it’s about, no matter what we do, keep our physicality and keep playing to our strength.”

To do that, Minnesota must enter this first-round playoff series with the proper mindset and a true belief that it can contain Doncic — that a playoff matchup with the majestic maestro isn’t necessarily a death sentence. That history doesn’t always repeat.

That the Boogeyman doesn’t exist.

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