By BERNARD CONDON and TOM KRISHER, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A rare trial against Elon Musk’s car company began Monday in Miami where a jury will decide if it is partly to blame for the death of a stargazing university student after a runaway Tesla sent her flying 75 feet through the air and severely injured her boyfriend.

Lawyers for the plaintiff argue that Tesla’s driver-assistance feature called Autopilot should have warned the driver and braked when his Model S sedan blew through flashing red lights, a stop sign and a T-intersection at nearly 70 miles an hour in the April 2019 crash. Tesla lays the blame solely on the driver, who was reaching for a dropped cell phone.

“The evidence clearly shows that this crash had nothing to do with Tesla’s Autopilot technology,” Tesla said in a statement. “Instead, like so many unfortunate accidents since cellphones were invented, this was caused by a distracted driver.”

The driver, George McGee, was sued separately by the plaintiffs. That case was settled.

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A judgement against Tesla could be especially damaging as the company works to convince the public its self-driving technology is safe during a planned rollout of hundreds of thousands of Tesla robotaxis on U.S. roads by the end of next year. A jury trial is rare for the company, which often settles lawsuits, and this one is rarer yet because a judge recently ruled that the family of the stricken Naibel Benavides Leon can argue for punitive damages.

The judge, Beth Bloom of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, issued a partial summary judgement last month, throwing out charges of defective manufacturing and negligent misrepresentation against Tesla. But she also ruled plaintiffs could argue other claims that would make the company liable and ask for punitive damages, which could prove costly.

“A reasonable jury could find that Tesla acted in reckless disregard of human life for the sake of developing their product and maximizing profit,” Bloom said in a filing.

The 2021 lawsuit alleges the driver relied on Autopilot to reduce speed or come to a stop when it detected objects in its way, including a parked Chevrolet Tahoe that Benavides and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, had gotten out of near Key West, Florida, to look up at the sky. The Tesla rammed the Tahoe at highway speeds, causing it to rotate and slam into Benavides, tossing her into a wooded area and killing her.

In legal documents, Tesla denied nearly all of the lawsuit’s allegations and said it expects that consumers will follow warnings in the vehicle and instructions in the owners’ manual, as well as comply with driving laws. Tesla warns owners in manuals that its cars cannot drive themselves and they need to be ready to intervene at all times.

Former AP auto writer Krisher reported from Detroit.

Motorists using the St. Croix River bridge south of Stillwater will encounter single-lane closures this week as the bridge undergoes inspection by Wisconsin Department of Transportation engineers.

From now until Thursday, daily lane closures will occur between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. for eastbound traffic and between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. for westbound traffic, according to WisDOT officials.

Motorists might experience delays and should plan accordingly.

The bridge, which opened to traffic in August 2017, is inspected every two years.

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“My comprehensive housing initiative—called the ‘Blueprint for New York’—proposes the addition of over 50,000 units annually, with a groundbreaking approach to affordability: setting rents at 25 percent of each borough’s median income.”

Jim Walden, an attorney and former federal prosecutor, who is running for mayor in November. (Courtesy Jim Walden’s campaign)

Editor’s Note: City Limits has offered similar op-ed space to the other candidates running for NYC mayor this year to share their housing plans. If you’re a candidate interested in submitting a piece, email editor@citylimits.org.

Read Zohran Mamdani’s housing op-ed here.

Every day, New Yorkers face the difficult choice between paying rent and meeting their other basic needs. The city’s housing crisis is not just a policy failure; it’s a moral one. Our housing system has left too many behind, with sky-high rents, options that are not truly affordable, an aged and deteriorating housing stock, and public housing in disrepair. 

This crisis is not insurmountable. With bold leadership and innovative solutions, we can rebuild New York’s promise for all who call it home. My comprehensive housing initiative—called the “Blueprint for New York”—proposes the addition of over 50,000 units annually, with a groundbreaking approach to affordability: setting rents at 25 percent of each borough’s median income. 

Too often, “affordable housing” is affordable in name only. Rents are pegged to the Area Median Income (AMI), a metric skewed by the city’s wealthiest zip codes (as well as parts of Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties), leaving many New Yorkers priced out. One report aptly concluded that the current AMI calculation was “wildly divergent from actual income levels in New York City.”  We will replace this broken model with a revolutionary approach: rent set at 25 percent of each borough’s median income. 

At the core of any meaningful housing solution must be a commitment to revitalizing NYCHA, our city’s public housing lifeline. My plan centers on increasing NYCHA’s quality of life through a pilot program that builds out to the street, transforming underused lawns and parking lots into new, modern homes.

The added benefit is transforming segregated and capital-starved communities into economically integrated ones, but with supports to guard against gentrification. By adopting a “build-first” approach, current residents will move into new buildings before older ones are demolished so that no one is displaced. The plan also offers a path toward economic independence, a program for ownership and a key to unlock the door to generational wealth.

My initiative tackles New York City’s housing shortage through a variety of other strategies, including a re-evaluation of laws like 485-x to restore effective developer incentives that spur both construction and job creation. It also proposes repurposing underused assets among the city’s 15,000 properties to make them available for new residential development. To convert vacant commercial buildings into homes, the plan would adjust zoning codes and relax certain design requirements. making these transformations faster and more cost-effective.

More than 1,000 acres of abandoned lots—including sites in need of environmental remediation—would be rehabilitated and put to productive use as affordable housing. We will auction unnecessary properties, pre-approve building designs to speed construction, and allow flexible design rules for affordable units—maximizing every square foot for the benefit of New Yorkers. We will also acquire and auction vacant commercial spaces and “zombie” buildings, which are a blight on our neighborhoods and a wasted opportunity.

In short, we will use all available tools and leave no stone unturned. But we will not force large developments in communities that do not want or need them, giving local communities more control over development. We will empower local boards to approve targeted upzoning so that housing meets the needs and character of each neighborhood.

To cut through bureaucratic red tape, my plan creates a single, dedicated agency—partnering with the Real Estate Board of New York—to shepherd projects from approval to ribbon-cutting, with a goal of six months for small developments and 10 months for larger ones.

While doing all this, we will also innovate to make our existing system better for landlords and tenants. To better protect tenants, we will create a new licensing system that holds bad landlords accountable, and, in extreme circumstances, will take away their right to be landlords at all. For landlords, we will create a better system to extract abusive tenants through private arbitration—streamlining the process and reducing the backlog that plagues our housing courts. This means faster resolutions and real consequences for bad actors.

Finally, with all these benefits realized, developers will certainly make considerable profits. But, there is one more important innovation:  after projects are completed, we will impose a value-added tax (VAT) on profits. Why? Because my plan aims to give disadvantaged kids a head start in life—paid for by developers.

The VAT will fund a “Kids in Poverty” program, which I devised based on an idea from Bill Ackman. For the roughly 29,000 kids born into poverty, the KIP will assign a numerical account to each newborn, where the money will grow during their pre-adult lives. As long as these kids attend school regularly, it will provide at least $100,000 to each at adulthood, which would be ample for funding college, putting a downpayment on a home, or simply having a nest egg. In this way, we can use our housing solutions to help erase poverty.

Unlike other proposals, the Blueprint for New York is supported by a comprehensive 100-page blueprint, which identifies funding sources for its components. By speeding the development, we will add more than 50,000 truly affordable units annually. In the earliest years of the program, there will be set-asides for seniors, public servants and young professionals.

These set-asides reflect a necessary commitment to our senior and public servants (and will help with recruiting more police, firefighters and corrections officers) but will also help our business community attract the best and brightest young workers, on which our economy and prosperity depends.

While detailed and ambitious, this plan is specific and achievable. It is a plan that puts people ahead of politics and delivers real results, not more excuses.

Jim Walden is an attorney and former federal prosecutor who is running as an independent in the November general election for New York City mayor.

The post Opinion: A Housing Blueprint for New York appeared first on City Limits.

By JULIE WATSON, AMY TAXIN and OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press

Federal authorities now say they arrested more than 360 people at two Southern California marijuana farms last week, characterizing the raids as one of the largest operations since President Donald Trump took office in January.

One farmworker died after falling from a greenhouse roof during the chaotic raids on Thursday after the Department of Homeland Security executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities in Camarillo and Carpinteria, northwest of Los Angeles.

The raids came more than a month into an extended crackdown across Southern California that was originally centered on Los Angeles, where local officials say the federal actions are spreading fear in immigrant communities. A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in seven California counties, including Los Angeles.

What happened?

During the raid on the Camarillo site, crowds gathered seeking information about their relatives and to protest immigration enforcement. Authorities clad in military-style helmets and uniforms faced off with the demonstrators, and people ultimately retreated amid acrid green and white billowing smoke.

Glass House Brands is a major cannabis company in California that started a decade ago with a greenhouse in the Santa Barbara County community of Carpinteria.

Federal immigration agents talk to Rebecca Torres, second left, after she tried to block a military vehicle during a raid in the agriculture area of Camarillo, Calif., Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)

The company said it later expanded, buying another facility in the Ventura County community of Camarillo that included six tomato and cucumber-growing greenhouses. Glass House converted two of them to grow cannabis, according to the company’s website.

Relatives of workers at the Camarillo site said tomatoes are still grown at the location in addition to cannabis.

Arrest numbers keep rising

The federal government initially reported that some 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally were arrested.

Then on Saturday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said 319 people were arrested and said on X it was “quickly becoming one of the largest operations since President Trump took office.”

Milk is poured on a protester’s face after federal immigration agents tossed tear gas at protesters during a raid in the agriculture area of Camarillo, Calif., Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)

A day later, the arrest numbers, according to the Department of Homeland Security, were up to 361 from the two locations.

The government said four of the 361 arrested had prior criminal records, including convictions for rape and kidnapping.

One death reported from the raids

A farmworker who fell from a greenhouse roof during the raid at the farm in Camarillo died Saturday of his injuries.

Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first known fatality during one of the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration enforcement operations. Yesenia Duran, Alanis’ niece, confirmed his death to The Associated Press.

She posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe that her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to a wife and daughter in Mexico. Alanis worked at the farm for 10 years, his family said.

He called his wife in Mexico and told her he was hiding from federal agents during the raid Thursday. A doctor told his relatives that the ambulance crew who took him to a hospital said he fell about 30 feet, Duran said.

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Why was the business raided?

The government says it is investigating potential child labor, human trafficking and other abuse. Initially, DHS said 10 immigrant children were on the property. They later increased that number to 14.

Authorities declined to share the warrant for the operation. The administration has released no additional information about the children, including their ages and what they were doing on the property when authorities arrived. DHS has not provided details to back up its claim of possible trafficking or other abuse, and the company has not been charged with anything.

It was unclear if any of the minors were the children of farm workers at the sites or if they came to the U.S. without an adult.

Federal and state laws allow children as young as 12 to work in agriculture under certain conditions, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In California, children as young as 12 can work on farms outside of school hours, while those as young as 16 can work during school hours if they are not required to attend school, the agency said on its website.

No one under the age of 21 is allowed to work in the cannabis industry.

The California Department of Cannabis Control conducted a site visit in May 2025 and observed no minors on the premises, a spokesperson said. After receiving a subsequent complaint, the state opened an investigation to ensure full compliance with state law.

U.S. citizens were among those arrested

Four U.S. citizens were arrested during the raids for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers,” according to DHS, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.

Among those arrested was California State University Channel Islands professor Jonathan Caravello, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli posted on X.

Essayli said Caravello was arrested for throwing a tear gas canister at law enforcement and was to appear in court Tuesday.

The California Faculty Association said Caravello was taken away by agents who did not identify themselves nor inform him of why he was being arrested. The association said he was then held without being able to contact his family.

Caravello was attempting to dislodge a tear gas canister that was stuck underneath someone’s wheelchair, witnesses told KABC-TV, the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles.

Separately, the federal Bureau of Prisons said George Retes, 25, was in their custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles from Thursday to Sunday.

Retes’ family told KABC-TV on Sunday that he is a U.S. citizen, works as a security guard at the farm in Camarillo and is a disabled U.S. Army veteran. They said Retes was trying to drive away during the clashes between protesters and agents when an officer stopped him, broke his car window and shot pepper spray before dragging him out of his car and arresting him.

Retes’ sister, Destinee Magaña, told the television station on Sunday that the family had been trying to get in touch with her brother.

Federal agents “thought he was probably part of the protest, but he wasn’t, he was trying to reverse his car,” Magaña said.

Neither Retes nor Magaña responded to emails Monday from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The region prepares for more raids

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is now proposing to provide cash assistance to residents too scared to leave their homes to go to work.

The plan comes as part of a sweeping executive order the mayor signed on Friday that instructs Los Angeles officials “to bolster their protocols and training to prepare for federal immigration activity occurring on city property.”

The order also establishes a police department working group for immigrants and expands access to resources for impacted families. In addition, it seeks records from the federal government on what the city deems unlawful raids from federal agencies.

The monetary relief will not come from city funds but from philanthropic partners, officials said. Immigrant rights groups will distribute cash cards similar to those used to provide financial assistance to Angelenos struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. It wasn’t immediately clear how people will qualify to receive the cards.

The goal is to help people who have been deterred “from attending school and church, seeking city services, accessing health care, and going to work,” the order states.

Associated Press writer Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.