Current Events

Law enforcement is warning people to stay away from kratom after the deaths of two students at the University of Mississippi.

According to a news release from Lafayette County Metro Narcotics, these were 2 separate deaths with no evidence connecting them ... but packaged kratom was found in both investigations.

Kratom is sold without a prescription for pain relief and energy ... and it's also known as "gas station heroin."

LCMN wrote ... "Out of an abundance of caution, we encourage everyone to avoid kratom and any other medication or substance that was not prescribed to you or obtained from a trusted, regulated source."

The final independent autopsy report commissioned by Nolan Wells' family found signs of blunt force trauma to the back of his head and body ... findings Ben Crump believes demand answers.

Crump's legal team released the report Tuesday, shortly after holding a press conference in Atlanta -- and one day after a Mississippi grand jury declined to pursue criminal charges, saying the circumstances of Nolan's death were consistent with drowning.

The autopsy says a 12-by-8-inch area of discoloration on the back of Nolan's head was confirmed to be blood from blunt force trauma. It also identified three additional bruises -- two on his lower back and one near his left shoulder blade -- that were not documented in the preliminary autopsy report.

Ben Crump -- the attorney for Nolan Wells' family -- says the biggest unanswered question in his death comes down to three words -- "blunt force trauma" -- and his family will continue fighting for answers.

Crump spoke Tuesday after a grand jury declined to pursue criminal charges ... pointing to unexplained injuries on the back of Nolan's head and his back.

He said Mississippi officials are leaving the family with "we'll never know" ... but Nolan's family has three words of its own -- "we'll never stop."

Nolan Wells slipped and fell off a boat hours before he died off the coast of Mississippi ... according to a witness who testified before the grand jury that decided against filing criminal charges related to his death.

According to documents filed late last week, a witness said under oath that they saw Nolan "slip awkwardly off the side of a boat" at around 3:30 PM on the Fourth of July when he was at Horn Island.

The docs say the witness could not say whether Nolan hit his head when he slipped ... though the witness did say Nolan got right back up and continued to socialize with people on the boat.

Here's the heated exchange between lawyers for Nolan Wells' family and prosecutors in Mississippi ... and it's chock full of drama and friction.

The correspondence between Jackson County D.A. Angel Myers McIlrath and several of the family's attorneys was recently released as part of a grand jury report ... and it appears to show major communication issues between the two sides.

The D.A. sent an email to Gary Bufkin, Esq., July 29 ... stating there was no legal authority requiring her office to share information with civil counsel during an active investigation, adding that there was a process for death investigations, and she didn't think it was appropriate to deviate from it.

Ben Crump isn't buying the official line from Mississippi authorities that Nolan Wells simply drowned to death, saying the District Attorney never explained the injuries the teen sustained to the back of his head.

Crump -- the Wells family attorney -- issued a statement Monday night, claiming Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath is trying to close the chapter on Nolan's death "without getting to the bottom of what caused the blunt force trauma to the back of his head and body."

Crump also released the results of Nolan's second and final independent autopsy, finding that the 18-year-old's cause and manner of death were undetermined. 

Patrick Clancy is expecting his first child with new wife Rachel Danis, years after he lost his 3 children with first wife and their alleged killer, Lindsay Clancy.

Patrick and Rachel sat down for an interview with "60 Minutes" to discuss their reaction to Lindsay's murder trial gaining such wide public attention, and interviewer Ross Douthat hinted at the couple starting a family ... but he's now clarifying what he meant was Rachel is pregnant.

Douthat joined "CBS Mornings" Monday and told show host Nate Burleson plainly, "They are having a child" ... confirming the couple is soon to be parents.

The first photos of the baby at the center of the legal drama between the biological parents and surrogate McKenna West have been released ... and they are tough to look at.

TMZ obtained two photos of the newborn from his biological parents, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, and the images show a long scar down the middle of his chest from emergency heart surgery.

The child, who Omar and Nausheen call Rumi, is hooked up to all sorts of tubes and machines monitoring his health. It's a lot to take in.

The parents of the baby at the center of McKenna West's surrogacy battle are pushing back on her latest Supreme Court move ... saying the emergency relief she's seeking could put their son's health at risk.

Attorneys for Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed filed a response with the U.S. Supreme Court, obtained by TMZ, opposing McKenna's latest attempt to challenge the California ruling naming them the legal parents of baby Rumi.

Their lawyers say pausing the parentage ruling could create confusion over who gets to make medical decisions for Rumi ... potentially disrupting his treatment.

Startling new footage of the Los Angeles news helicopter crash that killed three people shows the final seconds before the craft's deadly impact ... and the blades of the airship appear to have been stalled.

The security footage -- taken from a nearby business -- was shared by Los Angeles Aerial Photography on social media and it shows the helicopter's descent in slow motion.

It looks like the blades are stalled ... and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash.

The holdout juror in the Lindsay Clancy case is calling BS on claims that he had reasonable doubt ... insisting he's convinced she meticulously planned to kill her kids.

Michael Péguy Desronvil is speaking out personally for the first time ... trying to clear up confusion about what went down in the jury room of Lindsay's murder trial that ended in an 11-1 deadlock.

In a statement to TMZ, Desronvil said, "I didn't have any doubts. As I tried to explain different possible theories during deliberation, I kept getting cut off as if I had doubts based on the evidence presented."

A group of college students sitting on their porch asked dozens of non-students gathering there for a street takeover to get off their property ... and were mercilessly attacked and beaten in response.

It all went down just outside York College in Pennsylvania on the night of Sept. 11 ... the students were pulled by their hair, beaten, punched, and kicked ... all while a crowd watched and recorded.

The onslaught happened after the students say they called police in the hopes of dispersing the raucous crowd ... they called cops five times.

Warren Buffett is officially stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway ... it marks a huge change at the company ... because for the last 56 years he's been holding the reins.

In a statement released Friday, the company praised Warren's "extraordinary contributions to Berkshire and its owners."

As Warren becomes chairman emeritus -- and continues to serve as a board director -- his son Howard will succeed him as chairman.

'Fast & Furious' is drifting past Griffith Observatory and straight onto the Hollywood Hills ... with scenes from the new Universal Studios ride lighting up the Hollywood Sign!

That's right ... Universal Studios Hollywood transformed the sign Thursday night into a tribute to the beloved action franchise to celebrate the opening of "Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift."

Check it out ... the basic white lettering is covered in the zooming lights of cars screaming by ... with "Fast & Furious" written in big letters across the "W."

A.I. researchers are having a "Jurassic Park" moment ... watching rogue agents get smarter, bolder, and harder to contain ... and this analogy compares robots to fictional velociraptors.

Jeffrey Ladish, a former Anthropic security engineer and now executive director of Palisade Research, joined "TMZ Live" Thursday and said people inside A.I. companies are getting seriously freaked out.

Ladish compared it to "Jurassic Park" ... saying researchers are having that "clever girl" moment as bots figure out how to get around the fences.

Neil deGrasse Tyson wants A.I. doomsday worriers to slow their roll ... he says we shouldn't pull the plug on A.I. just because there's a chance robots will kill us all ... telling us there are still lots of ways the fancy tech can improve our lives.

We got Neil in New York City on Thursday and asked him about whistleblowers saying A.I. could wipe out humanity by the end of the decade.

While acknowledging the new technology has the "risk of taking us all over," Neil stressed there's still a lot of positive ways to use A.I. -- and it's not all doom and gloom.