Your Morning: Police breaking up UCLA pro-Palestinian encampment

What’s going on: Law enforcement agencies have taken steps to break up an encampment on the University of California, Los Angeles campus, setting off flash-bangs and moving in on pro-Palestinian protesters. While some protesters left, many stayed in place, chanting, “You don’t scare us” and “We’re not leaving.” The latest >

‘Professional agitators’: In New York City, police officers geared up with riot shields and zip ties stormed a Columbia University building being occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters late Tuesday. Police arrested at least 292 people at Columbia University and the City College of New York as tensions rose between authorities and protesters. NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Tarik Sheppard told “NewsNation Now” there was an overwhelming number of “professional agitators” mixed in with the students helping them to barricade in Hamilton Hall. “This is not how the students were locking themselves in. This is how the professional agitators will lock themselves in,” Sheppard says. “I don’t know the exact number, but we feel we were dealing with an overwhelming number of professionals and not the students who belong on that campus.” Watch the interview >

Northwestern, Brown protests end: Northwestern and Brown Universities no longer have situations involving pro-Palestinian protesters after cutting deals with protest leaders. Northwestern President Michael Schill and top administrators agreed to several protester demands, including full scholarships for some Palestinian students and guaranteed jobs for some Palestinian academics. “The University will support visiting Palestinian faculty and students at risk,” a university statement reads. Northwestern has committed to fully funding five student scholarships and two faculty spots for the next two years. Northwestern’s protests will continue through May, but students won’t be allowed to pitch tents except one for aid supplies. Protesters must also get school permission to use loudspeakers. Brown University administrators promised to hold a board vote in October on whether to end the school’s investments in companies linked to Israel. Before the vote, student leaders will meet with Brown administrators to lay out their arguments for divestment. The deals have drawn criticism from Jewish groups. The American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League Midwest say Northwestern “succumbed to the demands of a mob” and did little to make Jewish students on campus feel more secure. Full breakdown of the agreements >

Fraternity brothers protect flag: While enduring insults and flying water bottles, about a dozen fraternity brothers at the University of North Carolina stood their ground around the American flag Tuesday. “These people wanted to tear down the flag, and we were there to protect it,” Pi Kappa Phi member Brendan Rosenblum told NewsNation’s “On Balance.” “Me and my friends did not allow that to happen.” Watch the interview >

Biden keeps quiet: As protesters and police clash on college campuses across the country, President Joe Biden has stayed mostly mum about the situation. Biden’s last public comment came more than a week ago, when he condemned “antisemitic protests” and “those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., decried what he sees as the White House’s silence amid the protests. “The silence is deafening. The president needs to speak with moral clarity in this fateful moment of our country,” Johnson said in an exclusive interview with NewsNation’s Blake Burman on “The Hill.” Read more >

Exclusive: Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly says he and his wife are trying to “start life over again” after his trial in the fatal shooting of a migrant on his property along the southern border ended in a deadlocked jury. “It’s not my fault. I didn’t do it,” Kelly told NewsNation in an interview days after Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink declared a mistrial. “Somebody else is responsible for that.” Kelly, 75, was charged in connection to the death of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, an unarmed migrant. Second-degree murder and aggravated assault charges against Kelly have now been dropped after prosecutors chose not to retry his case. While Kelly’s trial is over, he’s facing new challenges. “We have no funds. Our life savings, it’s gone.” Watch the interview >

What to know: Researchers at the University of Houston think they have figured out what caused the Titan submersible to implode while on a dive to see the Titanic. Why they’re pointing to the shape and material of the submersible >

Refresh: The Titan submersible, owned by OceanGate Expeditions, lost contact with a support vessel as it started a journey to the wreckage site of the Titanic on June 18, 2023. That led to a multiday search effort to try to find the submersible before oxygen supplies would run out for the five people on board. At the end of the search, the U.S. Coast Guard determined the vessel suffered a catastrophic implosion that would have instantly killed all on board. The latest >

What’s happening: During a hearing Wednesday in Manhattan, prosecutors asked for a September retrial for Harvey Weinstein. It marked the disgraced movie mogul’s first court appearance since his 2020 rape conviction was overturned by an appeals court last week. Why Weinstein’s New York attorney is calling for a new trial in Los Angeles >

‘This is really scary’: A former news anchor who accused Weinstein of exposing himself to her in 2007 says she’s “heartbroken” that accusers will have to relive their trauma at a second trial this fall. “I wish we didn’t have to be here. I wish it wasn’t overturned in the first place,” Lauren Sivan told NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” on Wednesday. Jessica Mann is one of two women whose testimony helped put Weinstein in jail. In an interview with NewsNation’s Rich McHugh, Mann said testifying was “psychological hell” but that she has “no fear of going through another trial.” She added: “I’m learning what that’s going to require of me, but I have no fear and I’m ready.” If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. Read the full report >

Along the southern border: While Mexican drug cartels make billions smuggling humans across the southern border, wildlife trafficking has taken off in recent years. Last year, the International Criminal Police Organization warned the growing issue has pushed many species “to the brink of extinction.” What to know >

Watch: On May 9, NewsNation rides with the Border Patrol live, showing you the border the way no other news network can. See it during a special edition of “Dan Abrams Live” at 9 p.m. ET on May 9. Find your channel >