Current Events

The doctor who oversaw Christa Pike's failed execution in Tennessee also presided over another botched attempt back in May ... making him 0-for-2.

Dr. Mark Fowler -- who oversaw the administration of 2 lethal injections to Pike -- supervised the called-off execution of Tony Carruthers on May 21.

The Carruthers execution was stopped in its tracks after medical staff spent more than an hour trying -- and failing -- to insert a needle to establish a backup IV line and central line too ... NBC News reported.

The two roommates of a Jane Doe who accused 7 Cornell fraternity brothers of drugging her and raping her are sharing a timeline of how she processed the alleged sexual assault ... and it took her some time to fully process things.

One roommate texted Jane Doe around 3:05 AM on Oct. 20, 2024, asking her when she'd be coming home ... before Jane Doe responded she wasn't sure ... the New York Times reported.

That same roommate said Jane Doe returned around 11:15 AM ... and told both roommates that she had sex with multiple men and had taken ketamine.

A helicopter with 5 people aboard crashed into the water off SoCal's Catalina Island, leaving 2 dead ... and, ironically, the chopper was in the middle of a mission to save a patient.

Four of the medevac helicopter's occupants were pulled from the water Wednesday night in joint efforts by the U.S. Coast Guard, local fire departments and L.A. County Sheriff's Office just before 8 PM.

The chopper had just taken off from Catalina, heading back to mainland California, when it went down ... according to officials.

The wrong person was identified in the Cornell gang rape lawsuit, and his mother's home address became public record ... and now she says their family is being flooded with death threats ... and he's not even a Cornell student -- he's a United States Marine!!!

Sergeant Matthew Ingalls -- who serves in Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and has never gone to Cornell -- is not the Matthew Ingalls accused in Jane Doe's sexual assault lawsuit ... but somehow he was misidentified as Jane Doe's alleged rapist ... and now his family says they're paying the price.

The Marine's mother, Victoria Ingalls, told The Free Press that she and the rest of her family have been subject to non-stop harassment and death threats ever since she was mistakenly served with the lawsuit and their home address was added to the official court docket.

Online vigilantes began searching for "Matthew Ingalls" as soon as the lawsuit was filed ... and they found the address and posted it online, along with a phone number ... completely unaware that the wrong Matthew Ingalls was identified.

Cornell's Chi Phi fraternity moved quickly to dismiss multiple frat bros accused of sexual assault ... kicking them out days after their fellow student went to police in 2024 ... at least according to a fraternity executive.

Trey Robb, the interim executive director of Chi Phi's national organization, told the New York Times that the Cornell chapter unanimously voted to dismiss the members just 3 days after Jane Doe made a sworn statement to police.

Those members were later expelled from Chi Phi's national group.

However ... a source told the publication that only 4 members were kicked out ... and that the fraternity only knew about 4 accused at the time.

10:10 AM PT -- Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with one of the plane passengers who helped take down the attempted hijacker after returning safely to Israel.

He told the PM the stabbed pilot was able to open the door before collapsing to the ground ... giving passengers the chance to rush and subdue the attacker.

An Israel-bound commercial flight was sent into chaos Wednesday morning when two pilots got into a violent confrontation during what officials are calling a "terror attack attempt" ... and graphic video shows the captain drenched in blood after being stabbed.

The bloody footage shows the captain wearing an oxygen mask as he lies on his back in the galley ... his body is covered in blood-soaked bandages as he clings to life next to a blood-soaked wall, as bloodied passengers stand over him.

It looks like the pilot was stabbed several times ... and it appears his alleged attacker, his co-pilot, is unconscious by the time the video was shot ... his white uniform soaked in blood.

Two University of Wisconsin-Madison students say they were drugged at off-campus fraternity houses, with one also reporting a sexual assault ... another troubling set of allegations involving Greek life.

UW-Madison said both students came forward Sunday with separate allegations. In one case, a student said they were drugged Saturday night at a frat house and inappropriately touched at two different fraternity houses.

The other student said they were drugged at an off-campus frat Sept. 17 and later sexually assaulted at a residence hall. The university says the victim and suspect know each other.

A Florida teen's social media stunt ended in a trip to the hospital after cops say he was struck by a pickup truck while getting a haircut in the middle of a busy roadway.

Police in Ocala say three young men -- ages 18, 19 and 20 -- planted a chair in the median of a busy road Sunday night to film a haircut stunt for social media.

That's when cops say a Chevrolet Silverado and a Lexus SUV collided nearby, sending the pickup careening into the median and slamming into the 18-year-old, who was sitting in the barber's chair.

10:00 AM PT -- TMZ has learned that the passenger has unfortunately died ... their body has been turned over to the King County Medical Examiner.

A United Airlines passenger suffered a medical emergency Tuesday after he turned "deep purple" during a flight from Tokyo to Denver ... and the plane had to be diverted to Seattle for an emergency landing, according to witnesses and officials.

The horrific incident began about 6 and a half hours into the 10 and a half hour flight from Narita International Airport in Japan to Denver International Airport in Colorado, according to an eyewitness and the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA said the crew reported that a passenger was having a medical emergency.

The eyewitness tells TMZ ... she was woken up by a commotion near her seat and was shocked to see an unconscious man lying on the floor with 3 firemen and a stewardess surrounding him.

The lawyer defending 1 of the 7 frat brothers accused of gang raping a Cornell student in 2024 is claiming that while his client did react to the infamous "free p***y" Snapchat group message, he did not rape her.

Attorney Jeremy Saland, who represents defendant Scott Kretzschmar, told CNN that his client merely went upstairs following the "free p***y" group message ... after asking himself "what the heck does this mean?"

Saland claims that Kretzschmar just joked around and talked with the Jane Doe -- who he claims was conscious -- for 5 minutes.

7:13 AM PT The D.A. says he did not receive a police transcript.

The Cornell student at the center of a reopened criminal investigation told campus police, "I can say with 100% confidence I was raped" ... a detail that was not included in the district attorney's summary of the initial interview.

CBS News New York obtained a transcript of Jane Doe's November 2024 interview with Cornell University Police, conducted three weeks after the alleged assault at the Chi Phi fraternity house.

It's unclear if CBS NY obtained the full police interview transcript.

The transcript appears to conflict with Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten's characterization of Jane's original statement. Van Houten previously said she did not allege she was drugged against her will or gang raped, describing her drug use and sexual activity as "voluntary, conscious and consensual."

The D.A. has since reopened the case after Jane filed a civil lawsuit accusing seven Chi Phi fraternity members of drugging and sexually assaulting her over several hours.

As TMZ previously reported, Van Houten said the lawsuit presents a "dramatically different" account from Jane's original statement. The D.A. plans to present the case to a grand jury.

Jane’s attorney, Thomas Giuffra, previously told TMZ the police report included allegations of sexual assault and ketamine use. He also said the report was not materially different from the allegations in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims one fraternity member sent a Snapchat message to a group of Chi Phi members saying there was "free p***y" upstairs, allegedly inviting others to join the sexual assault.

Attorneys for two of the accused men have denied the allegations to CBS New York. Cornell says it imposed serious disciplinary sanctions, including suspensions and expulsions.

The Cornell student journalists who have long covered the alleged gang rape of their peer by 7 members of a fraternity say they want actual accountability from the University and District Attorney.

The Cornell Daily Sun's editor-in-chief, Sophia Dasser, and senior editor and writer, Cereese Qusba, went on CNN Tuesday night and expressed "shock" that their reporting went national and viral.

They've been all over this story for two years, but what really grabbed headlines was the accuser's recent civil lawsuit ... Cereese says reporting on all the graphic details and refusing to "sugarcoat anything in our coverage" resulted in lots of eyeballs.

The former Cornell student who says she was drugged and gang-raped by a slew of fraternity brothers made more than 20 handwritten corrections to her initial police statement, and the district attorney says there were "no gaps" in her account.

Tompkins County D.A. Matthew Van Houten told PEOPLE ... the woman "made 20-plus handwritten corrections to it, indicating that she was reading it carefully and that it was thorough."

The D.A. adds ... she told police what happened in "very specific detail and very comprehensive detail."

Matthew Ingalls, one of the Cornell students accused of sexually assaulting a classmate, was not fired from DataAnnotation over the case ... but the A.I. company says it did block him from its platform months before the alleged incident occurred.

A DataAnnotation spokesperson tells TMZ ... "Jane Doe’s allegations of assault are horrifying. While this individual had signed up on our platform, we blocked him in May 2024. He has had no access to our platform or our company at any point since then."

DataAnnotation is responding after social posts claiming it had canned Ingalls in the wake of Jane Doe's lawsuit accusing 7 Chi Phi fraternity brothers of gang raping her in October 2024.

The alleged rape victim in the Cornell University scandal is set to meet with the District Attorney this week, TMZ has learned. 

The Tompkins County D.A., Matthew Van Houten, revealed he is in communication with Jane Doe's lawyer about an interview. 

Van Houten said he spoke to Doe's team about cooperating with the "grand jury process and what that looks like."

Perez Hilton is reconnecting with his three kids during supervised visits at the residential treatment facility where he's focusing on his mental health and recovery.

The family announced on his website Tuesday that he initially spent time with his kids and his mother, Teresita Lavandeira, through video calls. He has since been able to see them in person several times for short, supervised visits.

The visits have been emotional but "incredibly meaningful and healing," according to the family, which says seeing his children again has meant "an enormous amount" to Perez.