Strapped into a harness, Josh Law was lowered from a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter into the rough, pitch-black Pacific Ocean, far off the coast of Mexico.

The helicopter’s rotors battered the surface, churning up spray and turbulence. In the darkness, the Coast Guard rescue swimmer could neither see clearly nor hear over the deafening aircraft. Waves reaching 6 to 8 feet crashed around him.

His only guide was the helicopter’s searchlight, which he followed in hopes of reaching the more than two dozen people thrown into the frigid water about 140 miles off Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.

Law would personally bring 16 of them to safety.

“I was experiencing exhaustion at that point,” Law, 24, told The Associated Press in his first interview since the rescue.

“We had very little sleep. But what I was experiencing was nothing compared to what they were at that point … I just had to keep that in mind.”

For the next two hours, during the predawn hours of Oct. 16, Law was the only person in the water helping survivors from the capsized boat reach safety.

Eleven other people were never located.

The Coast Guard ended its search late Sunday.

Law recounted the harrowing rescue along a remote stretch of ocean often used by migrant-smuggling boats.

Federal investigators are examining why the boat was in the area and where it had departed from.

It remains unclear whether the vessel had become lost, suffered engine trouble, was carried offshore by the current or was intentionally traveling that far out. Investigators recovered only fragments of the boat.

The Mexican consulate said all of the rescued people are Mexican nationals.

The Coast Guard said U.S. Customs and Border Protection was investigating and interviewing the survivors. The agency did not respond to multiple inquiries about whether the vessel was involved in migrant smuggling.

The alarm sounded, awakening the Coast Guard crew

The mayday call came in at about 1 a.m.

The caller reported that a boat was sinking in the Pacific Ocean off Ensenada, Mexico.

Minutes later, an alarm sounded at the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station in Ventura, northwest of Los Angeles, waking Law and his fellow crew members.

Helicopter pilot Lt. Miyako Miller assessed the flying conditions and plotted a course for the four-person crew over the vast ocean south of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Law gathered his dry suit, fins and medical equipment before securing himself in a harness attached to a cable that would lower him from the helicopter into the sea.

At about 2 a.m., the crew took off from the Coast Guard station in Ventura.

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Pilot says she was guided by the stars

Miller wore night vision goggles to help her fly in the dark. She said she relied on the stars, with no moonlight that night.

As the crew approached the reported location of the sinking, Miller spotted a tiny flicker of light in the distance.

Then she spotted what looked like debris floating in the water, but it was difficult to distinguish what it was. Miller carefully navigated the helicopter over the area, lowering the aircraft until it was hovering about 40 feet above the water.

“I’m doing my best to maintain my references externally by looking outside through the night vision goggles,” Miller said, adding that meanwhile “the flight mechanic is telling me where to position the helicopter.”

Some 250 miles southwest of Ensenada, Mexico, is Guadalupe Island, a biosphere reserve that is well known as a place brimming with great white sharks.

Law said he didn’t think about what was in the water as he hooked himself to a cable and zipped into the ocean, strapped in a harness.

There was no time to waste. While Law’s dry suit provided some warmth, he knew the others had already spent hours in hypothermic temperature waters.

Law said he was guided by a searchlight from the crew, which allowed him to catch a glimpse of the people in the water.

They were scattered across a wide area. Some were wearing life vests that had tiny lights that produced the flicker first spotted by Miller. Others clung onto one another, buoys and pieces of wreckage, shivering and treading water to stay afloat.

Law said he swam to them, flipped them on their backs, put his arm over them and pulled them up using the “buddy tow” technique. Kicking his legs to swim, he carried them to the spot where he could signal the flight mechanic to lower a basket for them to be picked up.

“With one hand, I’m holding the survivor. With the other, I am signaling to the helicopter and working with the device,” he said.

He placed them into the basket, one by one. Then it was hoisted up repeatedly to the helicopter where the crew got each person into the aircraft before lowering the basket again.

Law’s dry suit slowly filled up to his knees with water, feeling like weights pulling on him as he battled heavy waves while swimming back and forth.

With little fuel, the crew flew to San Diego where ambulances waited

With a packed helicopter and dwindling fuel, the crew decided to head to the Coast Guard station in San Diego where ambulances were waiting.

On the flight, Law treated three people with what he described as “bad” wounds, staunching the bleeding. Several of the injuries were “consistent with shark bites” and the Coast Guard provided life-saving first aid, the agency said in a statement Saturday.

Customs and Border Protection officers went to a hospital and said they would process the survivors according to immigration laws after they were medically cleared. Nearly half of those rescued have since been returned to Mexico, US officials said.

Law and his crew returned to Ventura that morning — it was by far the longest rescue operation he had ever done, he said.

The search for the 11 others continued for another two days to no avail. The Coast Guard, alongside Mexico and the US Navy, searched more than 2,441 square miles for a combined 89 hours.

Migrants are increasingly turning to the risky alternative offered by smugglers to travel by sea to avoid heavily guarded land borders. Small boats called pangas leave Baja at night and sometimes travel hundreds of miles north.

A proposed law in New Jersey could eventually ban chewing gum across the state.

The Protecting Against Microplastics Act, introduced by Democratic Assemblywomen Shama Haider and Margie Donlon, has triggered public backlash because it could also affect tea bags, cutlery and other everyday products sold in the Garden State.

The lawmakers cited research indicating that chewing gum can release microplastics into the body within the first few minutes of use.

If approved, the legislation would provide $3 million in taxpayer funding to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to oversee enforcement. The proposed restrictions would also cover plastic plates, cutlery, containers, cleaning products and cosmetics.

New Jersey is among several states seeking broader action on microplastic pollution, but Haider’s office said this would be the first bill to specifically target consumer products such as chewing gum.

Fourteen other states, including California, New York and Oregon, have raised concerns about what they described as the “rapidly growing evidence” that microplastics have a “negative impact on the environment and public health.”

Under the bill’s initial phase, chewing gum manufacturers would have to label products containing microplastics for two years.

Once that period ended, companies that continued using the material would be required to remove those products from store shelves.

The legislation would also impose fines of up to $25,000 on anyone selling chewing gum on the black market. Products would be exempt if they did not contain “intentionally added microplastics,” even when trace amounts were detected in their packaging.

Haider said the measure is not designed to permanently make the products unavailable, emphasizing that “this bill is focused entirely on public health.”

“It is my hope that by starting with a label requirement, the bill will give manufacturers the opportunity to remove microplastics before it gets to the point of prohibiting sales.”

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The proposal has drawn angry reactions on social media. One critic wrote: “With everything else going on, this is what we’re focusing on.”

Another questioned the proposal, asking: “How about we work on actual problems?”

Orville Morales, director of advocacy and health affairs at the New Jersey Dental Association, backed efforts to reduce microplastics in chewing gum but said the proposed legislation needs greater clarity.

Morales told NJ.com that his agency would work with lawmakers to refine aspects of the bill.

A 2024 University of California, Los Angeles study examined 10 chewing gum brands and found that roughly 94 percent of the microplastics were released during the first eight minutes of chewing.

According to the study, a person chewing around 160 to 180 pieces of gum throughout a year would consume about 30,000 microplastic particles.

An updated study one year later found that the intake might actually be up to 1,000 times higher, close to 30 million particles.

There is still no scientific consensus on the exact human health implications of microplastic consumption but the particles have been found in organs, with some experts warning of DNA and lung damage. 

The Democratic proposal would further establish the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to analyze microplastic pollution in the air and establish a program to reduce the particles in the Garden State’s ‘air, water and soil’ by using safer materials.

The bill was brought to the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee, which can approve or amend it, in mid September.

The committee’s next public meeting is yet to be announced and the bill would still need to pass both houses of state Legislature and receive final approval from the governor.

A Florida judge is facing criticism after asking a domestic violence suspect for cooking advice during a court hearing, including how to grill the perfect steak.

Broward County Judge Allison Gilman launched into an unexpected conversation with Christopher Johnson as he appeared Monday for a bond hearing on a domestic battery charge.

Johnson, a chef at a Florida sports bar, was arrested after allegedly pulling his ex-girlfriend’s hair and punching her in the mouth, leaving her with a busted lip, according to Sunrise police.

“If you were going to cook me a dish, what would it be?” Gilman asked, according to court footage obtained by WSVN.

“To make food, I’m gonna start with steak on the grill, man,” Johnson replied.

The discussion soon turned from what Johnson might cook to the judge’s own difficulties preparing steak on a grill.

“Steak on the grill. Right. See, I either burn it on the outside and then it’s not cooked enough on the inside, or I just overcook it,” Gilman said.

Johnson appeared to explain a grilling technique, gesturing as he described turning the steak between the 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock positions.

“You mean turn the steak?” Gilman asked.

“Ten o’clock, two o’clock,” Johnson repeated.

“Ten o’clock, two o’clock. So you keep it on the same side and you turn it. But are you flipping it? Do you flip it?,” Gilman replied.

The judge then raised another question about achieving the right texture.

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“How do you not make a steak chewy? That’s also another — but that’s for another day, I guess,” Gilman said.

Gilman set Johnson’s bond at $1,500 and asked whether he could afford it. He answered, “Yes.”

“Of course you can. With those kinds of things you’re cooking,” she said, adding that she would “have to” visit Johnson’s workplace for a meal.

The unusual exchange has since sparked criticism from domestic violence advocates.

Dr. Linda Parker, CEO of Women in Distress, called the conversation inappropriate given the allegations against Johnson.

“Turn the steak? What? We’re talking about steak in a domestic violence case? It just tells survivors, ‘I may not get the justice that I need,’” she told the outlet.

“This is not indicative of how this should look at all and I hope that something gets said to the judge,” Parker added.

Gilman was elected to the Broward County Court bench in 2020. She earned a bachelor’s degree in criminology from Florida State University and a law degree from St. Thomas University, and previously worked as a criminal defense attorney.

Johnson was previously arrested for aggravated battery involving the same woman when she was pregnant with their child, according to court records obtained by WSVN.

He has since been released on bond and was ordered to have no contact with the victim.

The steak talk was not Gilman’s first food-related courtroom exchange, either.

Earlier this month, while presiding over an unrelated case involving a man who said he worked at a seafood restaurant, the judge joked that she was not going to get into her “shrimp-making abilities.”

With the November 3 elections just days away, federal prosecutors are pressing California counties to help investigate thousands of people suspected of being illegally registered to vote.

The Trump administration has directed election officials throughout California to identify suspected noncitizen voters within 48 hours and set their ballots aside. The move represents a dramatic escalation of federal involvement in the midterm elections shortly before Americans cast their votes.

The demands, issued by the Department of Justice on Friday, included a clear warning that local officials who declined to cooperate could face significant federal scrutiny.

The sweeping action comes as President Donald Trump pursues a separate legal fight in Alaska. There, his administration is seeking to block certification of a pivotal Senate race if the Republican incumbent is defeated.

Taken together, the efforts mark a major expansion of federal involvement in election administration. Democrats and voting rights advocates have voiced concern that the intervention could influence the outcome of the vote.

In California, the Justice Department’s latest requests follow a lawsuit aimed at stopping officials from counting ballots cast by more than 20,000 people the administration believes may be noncitizens.

California officials, however, argue that the federal data is unreliable. They warn that the process could wrongly prevent eligible American citizens from having their votes counted.

The letters sent to counties across the overwhelmingly Democratic state give election administrators only 48 hours to verify the citizenship status of voters flagged by federal authorities.

For voters whose eligibility cannot be confirmed immediately, the Justice Department wants election officials to separate their mail-in ballots from the remaining ballots while additional checks are carried out.

Officials were told to “segregate — not cancel” the ballots as the investigations proceed.

The department is also seeking sensitive personal information, including Social Security numbers, identification records and voter-registration documents.

Federal prosecutors warned that counties that fail to comply could face “significant federal scrutiny.”

Bill Essayli, the First Assistant US Attorney, issued an equally forceful warning.

“Any election official who knowingly processes the ballot of a noncitizen is opening themselves to legal jeopardy,” he said.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kiersten Pels said the intervention was designed to “ensure the most secure election in California history.”

Federal prosecutors have also characterized the effort as a measure to safeguard eligible voters, denying that it is intended to benefit either political party.

‘We don’t care who you vote for,’ said Craig Missakian, the US attorney for California’s Northern District.

‘What we care about is making sure that every legitimate vote is counted, that we ensure a level playing field for all Americans.’

But the administration’s demands have already encountered resistance from election officials.

In Contra Costa County, where authorities received a list containing 407 names, officials said they would continue processing ballots normally rather than immediately setting them aside.

‘It’s 11 days from Election Day, and this is just not in line with regular precedents,’ county elections spokeswoman Dawn Kruger said to the New York Times.

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San Bernardino County received a list containing 1,133 names, while Santa Cruz County officials were asked to investigate 81 people.

Elsewhere, the government’s data appeared to raise immediate questions.

In rural Inyo County, election officials discovered that neither of the two individuals flagged by federal authorities had been issued a ballot.

Records also showed neither had previously voted in California.

In Mendocino County, officials said the names supplied by the Justice Department did not even belong to their jurisdiction.

‘It’s not our voters that were listed,’ county clerk-recorder Katrina Bartolomie said. ‘It’s from another county.’

Los Angeles County registrar Dean Logan accused federal authorities of adopting a ‘posture of intimidation,’ arguing that their intervention threatened local officials at a particularly sensitive moment.

California has more than 23 million registered voters, and more than 330,000 mail ballots had already been counted, according to state court filings.

Federal prosecutors announced earlier this week that 28 people identified through their investigation had been charged with offenses involving illegal registration, with some also accused of voting unlawfully.

Noncitizen voting is prohibited in federal elections, although research has consistently found it to be extremely rare.

Meanwhile, another election-related lawsuit is unfolding thousands of miles away in Alaska.

Trump acknowledged on Friday that he personally ordered his administration to pursue legal action that could prevent certification of the state’s Senate election if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses.

‘I’m the one that said do it,’ Trump told reporters before a campaign rally in Florida.

The dispute centers on another candidate, Daniel J Sullivan, whose nearly identical name Republicans fear could confuse voters and divert support from the incumbent in his contest against Democrat Mary Peltola.

The Justice Department wants Alaska prevented from certifying a Peltola victory while the second Sullivan remains on the ballot, pending an investigation into whether voters intended to support the Republican senator.

But Alaska’s Supreme Court has already rejected an attempt to remove the challenger, who insists he entered the race independently.

Even Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski criticized the federal intervention.

‘The Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit,’ she wrote.

Peltola condemned the legal challenge as ‘just flagrant, flagrant corruption in my opinion,’ accusing her opponent of using Washington connections to influence the election.

The Justice Department maintains it is protecting voters from confusion and ensuring the election reflects their intentions.

Attorney General Todd Blanche has also denied that the California litigation is intended to obstruct certification of the midterms.

‘It is not DOJ’s intention to, and it’s never our intention to, improperly interfere with elections or the state certification process,’ he said Thursday.