Three scheduled hearings involving convicted Idaho student killer Bryan Kohberger have been canceled without explanation, a move his family’s attorney says signals the opening stage of what could become an extended post-conviction legal battle.

Kohberger was taken into custody on Dec. 30, 2022, after being linked to the fatal stabbings of four University of Idaho students six weeks earlier.

He pleaded guilty in July 2025 under an agreement that removed the possibility of a death sentence. A year later, however, Kohberger asked to undo that plea, alleging that his attorneys provided ineffective representation and that he was misled before accepting the deal.

“This is only the beginning of a longer post-conviction relief process,” Jason Goldman, a New York attorney representing Kohberger’s family, said.

More details may emerge in an amended scheduling order from Judge Steven Hippler. The first of the hearings was scheduled for Thursday.

The revised order had not been released publicly.

Thursday’s proceeding was expected to consider a request by Kohberger’s new Idaho attorney, Greg Rauch, who wants Hippler removed from the case because of alleged concerns about possible judicial bias.

Two additional hearings scheduled for next year have also been canceled. The court’s revised timeline is expected to affect several deadlines set for the coming months.

The killings shocked the nation. Four University of Idaho undergraduates were stabbed during a home invasion at an off-campus rental house located just beyond the school’s Moscow campus.

The victims were Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.

For weeks, investigators had not publicly named a suspect. Kohberger’s arrest at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania therefore stunned the country.

At the time, he was pursuing a Ph.D. in criminology at Washington State University, located roughly 10 miles from the University of Idaho across the state border.

Kohberger did not provide a motive or explanation when he entered his guilty plea. In a handwritten post-conviction filing submitted in July, he instead asserted that he was innocent.

This is a developing story.

Staff working for Rep. Ilhan Omar reportedly sought to alter the Minnesota Democrat’s birth year in official state records several months after she won her congressional seat in 2018, according to a newly published report.

The Minnesota Legislative Reference Library had long listed the Somali-born lawmaker’s date of birth as October 4, 1981, including during her years in the state House. The same date also appeared in her Wikipedia biography and in coverage by outlets such as the BBC.

But emails obtained by the New York Post indicate that Omar’s aides contacted the library in May 2019 and asked officials to change the birth year to 1982.

In an email sent shortly after the record was updated, the library’s director said Omar’s team had reported that her birth year was wrong and requested that it be changed to 1982.

The message also said Omar’s aides were seeking identical updates from Wikipedia and the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

The discrepancy is significant because Omar has said she obtained U.S. citizenship through her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, after he was naturalized in 2000. That pathway was available only to children younger than 18.

Critics contend that if Omar was born in 1981, rather than 1982, she would have been over the age limit when her father became a citizen. In September 2018, Omar said she became a U.S. citizen through her father’s naturalization “before I turned 18.”

The report about the conflicting birth years emerged days after Homeland Security agents carried out a pre-dawn raid at Omar’s Washington, D.C., home on Monday. Agents were seen loading boxes of seized property into government vehicles.

People familiar with the long-running federal criminal investigation said authorities are examining whether false information was included on immigration documents.

Omar has categorically denied wrongdoing and described the raid as “an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.”

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The investigation expanded Tuesday when U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro confirmed that prosecutors were also reviewing Omar’s financial disclosure filings.

“We’re looking at the facts,” Pirro told Fox News.

Omar’s 2025 disclosure initially reported jointly held assets with her husband valued between $6 million and $30 million. She later amended the filing to show a substantially lower range, attributing the original figures to accounting mistakes.

Omar’s office has cited a recent recommendation from the House ethics watchdog to dismiss allegations related to the filings as part of her defense.

Also Tuesday, The New York Times reported that federal prosecutors had issued grand jury subpoenas to Omar’s sister, Sahra Noor, and at least one other relative while investigating the family’s immigration history.

The subpoenas do not establish that Omar committed a crime or wrongdoing. They do, however, indicate that the federal investigation involving the congresswoman remains active.

Noor runs a Minneapolis-based consulting firm that says it secured ‘more than $20 million in funding for health initiatives and consulted on projects backed by’ the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States Agency for International Development and other groups.

Omar has long faced allegations, including claims made to the Daily Mail by a Somali community leader, that her 2009 marriage to Ahmed Elmi was intended to help him obtain US immigration status.

Omar denies that Elmi was her brother or that the marriage was fraudulent. 

Asked about the search on Monday, Donald Trump told reporters: ‘I have nothing to do with it.’

The president insisted the matter was ‘really up to the DOJ,’ while still branding Omar ‘totally crooked, personally.’

Firefighters moved quickly to contain a brush fire that broke out in Brentwood early Wednesday, ahead of Santa Ana winds expected to raise wildfire risks across the region.

The fire began at approximately 2:50 a.m. near Vandergrift Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported.

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Ground crews and aircraft battled the flames, keeping the blaze to roughly 1.5 acres. Firefighters stopped its forward movement within an hour.

A Georgia man who had survived cancer and escaped what his sister called a “crazy” car fire just weeks earlier died after falling from a Six Flags roller coaster. His death has left his family struggling to understand how he could overcome so much, only to lose his life in a tragic amusement park accident.

Hassan Kariem, 42, died Monday after falling from the 200-foot-tall Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia. His sister, Andrea Clark, 35, told the New York Post on Tuesday that Kariem had been in remission since 2015 and survived a car fire only a few weeks before his death.

“He’s an amazing person,” Clark told the outlet through tears. “The coolest part about me was him.”

Clark, who called her brother “my hero,” described his sudden death as “unfair.” She said she could not comprehend how someone who had endured and overcome so much could be gone.

“He had other issues, but he’s healthy, he was able-bodied. I don’t understand it,” she said.

Clark also spoke about Kariem’s dedication to his family. She told the Post that he worked hard to support his loved ones and helped raise his fiancée’s daughter, whom he had known since she was 3 years old.

“He could do it all,” she said.

The grieving sister also denounced the spread of disturbing images that reportedly show her brother’s final moments as he fell from the roller coaster. She urged people not to share the footage.

“That’s just evil,” Clark told the Post. “It’s tragic, and I feel like we’ve gone too far as a society.”

Witnesses described a horrifying scene after Kariem reportedly fell from the ride. One parkgoer told local outlet WXIA that the victim appeared in a souvenir photo taken during the roller coaster’s run.

“He was in our pictures,” the witness said. “He fell and hit the car three different times.”

According to the park’s website, the Goliath hypercoaster reaches speeds of up to 70 mph. The ride includes a 170-foot initial drop, a second drop of 175 feet and a 540-degree spiral.

Atlanta Public Schools confirmed Tuesday that Kariem worked for the district as an IT manager and offered condolences to his family.

Six Flags said it was assisting authorities with the investigation. As a precaution, the amusement park chain also temporarily closed similar roller coasters at parks across the country.

Authorities have not yet determined what caused Kariem to fall from the ride.

Social media posts show that William Chapman spent the final hours before his death at a Yorkshire zoo visiting the gym and posing with a crossbow before making the journey that ended in tragedy.

Chapman, 24, had been classed as vulnerable and had a history of “significant” mental health problems. On Saturday afternoon, he entered the tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, near Doncaster.

The former child star was seen dancing to music through his headphones and pacing along a walkway shortly before climbing into the enclosure. Visitors described him as appearing “not attached to reality”.

Footage recorded by Chapman appears to show him slowly moving towards one of the park’s two rare Amur tigers. The five-year-old male tiger was named Altai.

Witnesses said the big cat pawed at Chapman before clamping its jaws around his neck minutes later.

Emergency services were called to the park at 1.35pm, but Chapman was pronounced dead. An inquest into his death is due to open at Doncaster Coroner’s Court on Thursday morning.

John Minion, a friend of the park’s owner, said he had been left “devastated” by the incident and was “first on the scene”.

After this newspaper identified Chapman on Tuesday, his family said they were heartbroken by the loss of their “amazing son”. They described him as “a bright, warm and engaging young man whom his family dearly loved – and William loved them back”.

The family said Chapman had been prescribed “strong medication” for his poor mental health, adding that “it will be for the coroner to decide what part this played in his death”.

A now-deleted Instagram account offers an insight into how Chapman spent the day before visitors made desperate attempts to save him.

Images uploaded on the day of his death showed Chapman at a gym and inside a flat in Doncaster, where he posed with a crossbow.

The first image showed Chapman outside a convenience store holding a can of Jack Daniel’s mixed with Coca-Cola Zero.

A second picture featured a soldier figurine alongside the words “SAS”, a heart emoji and the flag of Uganda.

In the hours before the incident at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, the former child actor shared photographs of the property where he was staying, tagging the location as “Doncaster”. One image showed a replica of an ancient Greek war helmet resting on his pillow.

Another photograph showed a living room and sofa, with Chapman’s shoes and grey tracksuit bottoms visible in the frame.

A crossbow and several darts could be seen in one corner, alongside two backpacks, a computer monitor and laundry. The image appeared to have been taken overnight or during the early hours, with darkness visible outside.

The account suggests Mr Chapman later spent time at a swimming pool and the gym in the hours before his death: a selfie taken in blue swimming trunks – which can also be seen in the same laundry in his living room – shows him wearing a blue wristband. 

He is then seen posing at the gym in grey tracksuit bottoms and a black sweater, the same outfit he would be seen wearing at the wildlife park hours later.

A final photograph, thought to be one of the last taken of Mr Chapman, shows him sitting on a kitchen worktop while posing with a copy of the Bible in one hand and a crossbow across his lap.

A crossbow dart is between his teeth, and tape emblazoned with the words ‘150lb Recurve Crossbow’ appears to be stuck to the cupboard beneath him.

In the background, a card featuring the word ‘Grandson’ is on display. The card, matched by the Mail to one sold by Amazon, wishes him a happy birthday, adding the message: ‘Believe there’s nothing you can’t do, there’s only one amazing you.’

Other images from his social media, posted around the same time, may have been taken earlier. These include a photo of Mr Chapman dressed all in grey outside the Pantheon in Paris, an image possibly alluding to a famous German influencer, and a picture seemingly taken outside a church. 

It’s unknown exactly when Mr Chapman arrived at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, but it appears to be in the hours after these final photographs were taken.

Guests at the park described how, after arriving at the Land of the Tigers attraction, he danced up and down the 300m walkway above the enclosure where Amur tigers Altai and Tschuna live, listening to music on his AirPods.

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Park visitor Del Taylor yesterday described how Mr Chapman had approached her while on the walkway and asked her to take photos of him with one of the tigers in the background.

‘He was so happy,’ she said in a since-deleted TikTok video in which she appealed for cruel trolls to stop making jokes about the tragedy. ‘And then he’s come and placed himself next to us and he’s passed me his phone, and he’s asked me for his photo, and if you’d have seen him, without saying too much, you would understand why I’m saying what I’m saying.’ 

A video clip caught the moment, which took place just before he entered the enclosure.

Mr Chapman can be heard saying: ‘Excuse me, can you grab a shot of myself with the tiger?’ while Altai lies in the background under a shaded tree, playing with a fallen branch.

A woman, believed to be Ms Taylor, agrees and takes a photo, before he asks three times for ‘one more’ picture and then says: ‘Thank you, lady.’

Just moments later, Mr Chapman then began climbing over the walkway in a bid to enter the pen.

A heroic older woman desperately tried to pull the 24-year-old back down, but witnesses said she simply ‘wasn’t strong enough’.

Mr Chapman then jumped into the enclosure below.

A final video clip shared on Instagram just minutes before emergency services were scrambled to the scene showed him filming tiger Altai, who was resting on a wooden raised platform within the enclosure, as he slowly walked towards him. 

In the background, he can be heard breathing heavily as shocked onlookers cry out ‘oh my God’. 

When the tiger attacked, Mr Chapman, a former pupil of the Jackie Palmer Stage School in High Wycombe, screamed ‘stop’ several times and appeared to make a gesture for ‘bad’ in Makaton – a language system generally used by individuals who struggle to communicate. He also told the 200kg cat to ‘stop being naughty’. 

Distressing footage shows how Altai appeared to paw at and toy with Mr Chapman, who was seen sitting and lying on the ground of the enclosure.

Witnesses said the tiger then jumped on to Mr Chapman’s neck.

Visitors were rapidly evacuated and emergency services, including an air ambulance, rushed to the scene, but Mr Chapman was confirmed to have died.

A friend of Mr Minion, who is a director at the attraction along with his wife Kate, said yesterday: ‘He is obviously devastated and was first at the scene. My heart goes out to him.’  

Zookeepers were said to have done ‘everything they could’ to drive tiger Altai off, firing five loud acoustic gun blasts in attempts to scare him. 

Two ambulances and a helicopter rushed to the park at 1.35pm, with a ‘black screen’ erected around the enclosure as lifesaving treatment was attempted.

In a statement released last night, Mr Chapman’s family said they are ‘utterly devastated by their loss and are struggling to come to terms with what has happened.

‘The publication and circulation of deeply offensive media content is causing them severe distress at an exceptionally vulnerable time. We ask people to stop doing this.

‘The family are hopeful that the relevant authorities will do their utmost to get to the bottom of why our amazing son did what he did.’

As well as being mocked by trolls online, footage of the attack was also posted by US President Donald Trump last night, who wrote: ‘Don’t ever mess with nature!’

On Wednesday morning, he also shared an AI-generated video of himself wrestling with and ultimately embracing the tiger, while The Lion Sleeps Tonight plays in the background. 

Mr Chapman’s family added: ‘William was a bright, warm and engaging young man whom his family dearly loved – and William loved them back.

‘Sadly, William suffered from significant mental illness over a number of years and was consequently prescribed strong medication.

‘It will be for the coroner to decide what part this played in his death. We would ask everybody to respect that process.’

Yorkshire Wildlife Park, which remains closed, confirmed that Altai will not be euthanised in the wake of the incident.

The licensing authority for Yorkshire Wildlife Park, City of Doncaster Council, has now launched a health and safety investigation into the man’s death. 

Dan Swaine, executive director of place at City of Doncaster Council, said: ‘As the relevant licensing authority for the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, I can confirm that, in line with our statutory duties, the council has launched a health and safety investigation.

‘We are also working with multiple agencies, including the police and health agencies, and are supporting the Yorkshire Wildlife Park in response to the incident.

‘At this time, we won’t be commenting further on the individual or the investigation and we ask that the privacy of those involved is respected at this difficult time.’

As a child, Mr Chapman appeared in the ITV production May Contain Nuts alongside Shirley Henderson and Darren Boyd.

He also played Edward Jenner in the BBC series True Stories.

Discarded syringes, drug paraphernalia and people sleeping along sidewalks formed a grim backdrop as Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton brought his campaign message to Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park, a neighborhood long associated with the city’s homelessness and drug crises.

During Tuesday’s visit, Hilton walked through the park and nearby alleys while criticizing taxpayer-funded nonprofits that provide clean needles and other drug-use supplies through harm-reduction programs.

“This is your tax money at work… Free crack pipes and needles being handed out to drug addicts. CEOs of these so-called ‘nonprofits’ making millions a year. The smell, the squalor, the inhumanity. All of it is funded by you,” Hilton said.

Hilton contended that such initiatives fail to address the root of addiction and instead allow drug use to continue.

“They call it ‘harm reduction,’ but all it does is keep people addicted. I’ll end this madness,” he said.

The difficult conditions around MacArthur Park were visible throughout the candidate’s tour.

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Video and photos from the visit showed Hilton passing a woman asleep in an alley and speaking with reporters as another person lay on the sidewalk near the park’s entrance.

Hilton has previously said he witnessed “crack pipes, injection drug use, and people folded over on fentanyl in the middle of a sunny day.”

One video attracted additional attention online after viewers noticed a homeless man moving through the background with his pants around his knees while Hilton described the area’s problems.

Hilton’s campaign comes against a challenging political backdrop for Republicans in Los Angeles. The City Council has 15 seats and no publicly identified Republican members, and the city has not elected a Republican mayor since Richard Riordan’s victory in 1993.

California’s most recent Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, left office in January 2011.

Among the conditions Hilton pointed to were overflowing trash and human feces, which he described as both a “moral failure” and a “taxpayer-funded drug market.”

California voters will decide between Democrat Xavier Becerra and Hilton in the Nov. 3 election.