BURLINGTON: The recent shootings of three college students of Palestinian descent in Vermont’s largest city come as the small rural state, often ranked as one of the nation’s safest, is grappling with a spike in gun violence.
Two days after the students were shot and seriously wounded during their Thanksgiving break, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said it “was one of the most shocking and disturbing events in this city’s history.”
Statewide, Vermont has had 10 homicides and one suspicious death since October, including a double homicide in Burlington, Weinberger said. Burlington has seen 16 gunfire incidents so far this year, he said, adding that Vermont’s largest city is not alone.
“Many communities are experiencing an alarming rise in gun violence with recent shootings happening in Newport, Danville, St. Johnsbury, Brattleboro, Castleton, Leicester, Brookfield,” Weinberger said at the time.
Overall the country had a 6 percent decrease in national firearms homicides between 2021 and 2022, but Vermont saw a 185 percent jump, according to Vermont State Police Capt. Shawn Loan.
“So we went from seven firearms deaths in 2021 to 20 in 2022,” he said, adding that he did not yet have the current total for this year.
About half of the homicides in Vermont involved a firearm between 2017 and 2021, he said. Last year that rose to 86 percent, Loan said.
While authorities are investigating the shooting of the students as a possible hate crime, many of the homicides around Vermont this fall are likely drug-related and all are isolated from each other, Vermont State Police Director Col. Matthew Birmingham said.
“Vermont is experiencing many drug-related issues. Fentanyl is a huge problem for this state and the country, for that matter,” said Birmingham. “Our overdose death rate is climbing every year, which is a problem and something that should be on everybody’s radar.”
The shooting deaths this fall have taxed the short-staffed Vermont State Police, which has made arrests in two of them. The agency has a 15 percent vacancy rate — with 51 positions unfilled — and about a 25 percent functional vacancy rate meaning there are a certain number of people on family, military or other leave that are not available, Birmingham said.
“So that puts us in a challenging position. We’re doing more work — our calls for service go up every year — with less people,” he said.
Statewide, Vermont’s homicide rate last year was about 3.9 per 100,000, compared to Los Angeles at 3.1 and New York City at 2.3 per 100,000, Loan said. Burlington’s rate was 11.2 per 100,000, exceeding the rates in Philadelphia, Phoenix and Springfield, Mass., according to Loan.
“We don’t have enough ambulances to run, we don’t have enough homicide investigators because we’re not designed to have that high rate of violent crime. So it has a bigger effect,” he said.
In Burlington, the drug problem is spiraling out of control and it’s routine to see people injecting drugs downtown, in city hall park and in other places, said Andrew Vota, who has lived in the city for 25 years.
“It’s a citywide issue and people experience it in the downtown but they’re also experiencing it in their neighborhoods and it’s everywhere across the city and it’s scary,” he said of the drug activity.
Retail theft and other crime has increased and some businesses have left downtown.
Vota and Jane Knodell, a former chair of the Burlington City Council, drafted a letter this fall that now has been signed by about 1,500 residents in the city of about 45,000, that outlines concerns and makes recommendations.
“The increasing levels of violence, burglary, retail, automobile, and bike theft, unlawful public drug and alcohol consumption, drug dealing, graffiti, and other illegal activity are unacceptable,” the letter states.
The crimes come as the city’s police department tries to rebuild its staffing levels. In 2020, the City Council passed a resolution directing the department to reduce its maximum number of officers through attrition from 105 to 74, amid calls in Burlington and nationwide for racial justice and to defund police.
More than a year later, the City Council authorized the department to increase its staffing level to an effective number of 87, but then-Acting Police Chief Jon Murad said at the time that it would take years to rebuild the department. As of Nov. 15, Burlington had 69 sworn officers.
“I think the fundamental problem is the reduction in the police force because that’s kind of the back bone. Because they are a deterrent,” said Knodell, who did not support the cap.
The city has added security guards to the Church Street Marketplace, a pedestrian outdoor mall downtown, to help shoppers feel safe during the holiday season. Other businesses are planning to fill some of the vacancies, Weinberger said. The city also planned to hold a community public safety forum Thursday and has another one planned next week to discuss drug trafficking, gun crime, substance use and property crime.
After the shooting of the Palestinian students, suspect Jason J. Eaton, 48, was arrested the next day at his Burlington apartment. He has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder and is currently being held without bail. The shooting came as threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities have increased across the US since the the Israel-Hamas war erupted in early October.
Meanwhile, Vermont State Police are making progress on the investigations into other shooting deaths around the state this fall, Birmingham said, including that of a 77-year-old retired college dean who was shot while walking on a recreational trail in the small town of Castleton in October.
Castleton residents are still rattled. They don’t think police are doing enough and don’t feel safe walking on the trail, said Mark Brown, a business owner in town, who has organized a daily group walk Monday through Friday on the trail. A fundraising effort led by Brown has raised more than $25,000 for a reward leading to an arrest.
Some investigations will take longer than others, Birmingham said last month. “But I am confident that we are going to make progress on all of them that will end in resolutions for victims,” he said.
Shooting of Palestinian college students came amid spike in gun violence in Vermont
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Shooting of Palestinian college students came amid spike in gun violence in Vermont
- After the shooting of the Palestinian students, suspect Jason J. Eaton, 48, was arrested the next day at his Burlington apartment.
- Overall the country had a 6 percent decrease in national firearms homicides between 2021 and 2022
Drone, missile attack on Kyiv injures 21, officials say
A combined Russian missile and drone attack triggered fires in several districts of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Thursday, injuring 21 people, officials said.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko, writing on Telegram, said six fires were reported in Sviatoshynskyi district west of the city center, causing serious damage. Twenty-one people were being treated in hospital, including three children.
Klitschko had earlier said residents of one dwelling were trapped under rubble.
Fires and incidents of falling metal fragments were reported in other areas.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, 30 km (18 miles) from the Russian border, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said seven missiles had struck a series of targets. Windows were smashed in a high-rise apartment building, but there was no word on casualties.
Within an hour, Terekhov also reported a drone attack on the city, though there was no indication of any casualties.
India downgrades ties with Pakistan after attack on Kashmir tourists kills 26
- New Delhi suspends key water sharing treaty, and closes only land border crossing
- Pakistan prime ministers calls meeting Thursday to discuss response
SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: India announced a raft of measures to downgrade its ties with Pakistan on Wednesday, a day after suspected militants killed 26 men at a tourist destination in Kashmir in the worst attack on civilians in the country in nearly two decades.
Diplomatic ties between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors were weak even before the latest measures were announced as Pakistan had expelled India’s envoy and not posted its own ambassador in New Delhi after India revoked the special status of Kashmir in 2019.
Pakistan had also halted its main train service to India and banned Indian films, seeking to exert diplomatic pressure.
Tuesday’s attack is seen as a setback to what Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have projected as a major achievement in revoking the semi-autonomous status Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed and bringing peace and development to the long-troubled Muslim-majority region.
On Wednesday, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told a media briefing that the cross-border involvement in the Kashmir attack was underscored at a special security cabinet meeting, prompting it to act against Pakistan.
He said New Delhi would immediately suspend the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty “until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.”
The treaty, mediated by the World Bank, split the Indus River and its tributaries between the neighbors and regulated the sharing of water. It had so far withstood even wars between the neighbors.
Pakistan is heavily dependent on water flowing downstream from this river system from Indian Kashmir for its hydropower and irrigation needs. Suspending the treaty would allow India to deny Pakistan its share of the waters.
India also closed the only open land border crossing point between the two countries and said that those who have crossed into India can return through the point before May 1.
With no direct flights operating between the two countries, the move severs all transport links between them.
Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under special South Asian visas, all such existing visas were canceled and Pakistanis in India under such visas had 48 hours to leave, Misri said.
All defense advisers in the Pakistani mission in New Delhi were declared persona non grata and given a week to leave. India will pull out its own defense advisers in Pakistan and also reduce staff size at its mission in Islamabad to 30 from 55, Misri said.
“The CCS reviewed the overall security situation and directed all forces to maintain high vigil,” Misri, the most senior diplomat in the foreign ministry, said referring to the security cabinet.
“It resolved that the perpetrators of the attack will be brought to justice and their sponsors held to account...India will be unrelenting in the pursuit of those who have committed acts of terror, or conspired to make them possible,” he said.
There was no immediate response to the Indian announcement from Pakistan’s Foreign Office.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called a meeting of the National Security Committee on Thursday morning to respond to the Indian government’s statement, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar posted on X.
Tourist boom
India’s response came a day after the attack in the Baisaran Valley in the Pahalgam area of the scenic, Himalayan federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The region has been at the heart of India-Pakistan animosity for decades and the site of multiple wars, insurgency and diplomatic standoffs.
The dead included 25 Indians and one Nepalese national and at least 17 people were also injured in the shooting that took place on Tuesday.
It was the worst attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai shootings, and shattered the relative calm in Kashmir, where tourism has boomed as an anti-India insurgency has waned in recent years.
A little-known militant group, the “Kashmir Resistance,” claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message. It expressed discontent that more than 85,000 “outsiders” had been settled in the region, spurring a “demographic change.”
Indian security agencies say Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, is a front for Pakistan-based militant organizations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.
Pakistan denies accusations that it supports militant violence in Kashmir and says it only provides moral, political and diplomatic support to the insurgency there.
“We are concerned at the loss of tourists’ lives,” Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said in a statement earlier on Wednesday. “We extend our condolences to the near ones of the deceased and wish the injured a speedy recovery.”
Setback to Modi
In Kashmir, security forces rushed to the Pahalgam area and began combing the forests there in search of the attackers.
Police also released sketches of three of the four suspected attackers, who were dressed in traditional long shirts and loose trousers and one of them was wearing a bodycam, one security source said.
There were about 1,000 tourists and about 300 local service providers and workers in the valley when the attack took place, he said.
On Wednesday, the federal territory shut down in protest against the attack on tourists, whose rising numbers have helped the local economy.
Protesters turned out in several locations shouting slogans such as “Stop killing innocents,” “Tourists are our lives,” “It is an attack on us.”
“I want to say to the people of the country that we are ashamed, Kashmir is ashamed,” former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said. “We are standing with you in this time of crisis.”
Airlines were operating extra flights through Wednesday from Srinagar, the summer capital of the territory, as visitors were rushing out of the region, officials said.
Militant violence has afflicted Kashmir, claimed in full but ruled in part by both Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan, since the anti-Indian insurgency began in 1989. Tens of thousands of people have been killed, although violence has tapered off in recent years.
A dozen states sue the Trump administration to stop tariff policy
- The suit asks the court to declare the tariffs to be illegal, and to block government agencies
NEW YORK: A dozen states sued the Trump administration in the US Court of International Trade in New York on Wednesday to stop its tariff policy, saying it is unlawful and has brought chaos to the American economy.
The lawsuit said the policy put in place by President Donald Trump has left the national trade policy subject to Trump’s “whims rather than the sound exercise of lawful authority.”
It challenged Trump’s claim that he could arbitrarily impose tariffs based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The suit asks the court to declare the tariffs to be illegal, and to block government agencies and its officers from enforcing them.
A message sent to the Justice Department for comment was not immediately returned.
The states listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit were Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Vermont.
In a release, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes called Trump’s tariff scheme “insane.”
She said it was “not only economically reckless — it is illegal.”
The lawsuit maintained that only Congress has the power to impose tariffs and that the president can only invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act when an emergency presents an “unusual and extraordinary threat” from abroad.
“By claiming the authority to impose immense and ever-changing tariffs on whatever goods entering the United States he chooses, for whatever reason he finds convenient to declare an emergency, the President has upended the constitutional order and brought chaos to the American economy,” the lawsuit said.
Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, sued the Trump administration in US District Court in the Northern District of California over the tariff policy, saying his state could lose billions of dollars in revenue as the largest importer in the country.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai responded to Newsom’s lawsuit, saying the Trump administration “remains committed to addressing this national emergency that’s decimating America’s industries and leaving our workers behind with every tool at our disposal, from tariffs to negotiations.”
Palestinian student remains detained in Vermont with a hearing set for next week
- In court documents, the government argues that Mahdawi’s detention is a “constitutionally valid aspect of the deportation process”
- Mahdawi is still scheduled for a hearing date in immigration court in Louisiana on May 1, his attorneys said
BURLINGTON, Vermont: A large crowd of supporters and advocates gathered outside a Vermont courthouse Wednesday to support a Palestinian man who led protests against the war in Gaza as a student at Columbia University and was arrested during an interview about finalizing his US citizenship.
Mohsen Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident for 10 years, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on April 14. He made an initial court appearance Wednesday during which a judge extended a temporary order keeping Mahdawi in Vermont and scheduled a hearing for next week.
Mahdawi’s lawyers say he was detained in retaliation for his speech advocating for Palestinian human rights.
“What the government provided thus far only establishes that the only basis they have to currently detaining him in the manner they did is his lawful speech,” attorney Luna Droubi said after the hearing. “We intend on being back in one week’s time to free Mohsen.”
In court documents, the government argues that Mahdawi’s detention is a “constitutionally valid aspect of the deportation process” and that district courts are barred from hearing challenges to how and when such proceedings are begun.
“District courts play no role in that process. Consequently, this Court lacks jurisdiction over Petitioner’s claims, which are all, at bottom, challenges to removal proceedings,” wrote Michael Drescher, Vermont’s acting US attorney.
According to his lawyers, Mahdawi had answered questions and signed a document that he was willing to defend the US Constitution and laws of the nation. They said masked ICE agents then entered the interview room, shackled Mahdawi, and put him in a car.
“What we’re seeing here is unprecedented where they are so hellbent on detaining students from good universities in our country,” attorney Cyrus Mehta said. “These are not hardened criminals. These are people who have not been charged with any crime, they have also not been charged under any of the other deportation provisions of the Immigration Act.”
Mahdawi is still scheduled for a hearing date in immigration court in Louisiana on May 1, his attorneys said. His notice to appear says he is removable under the Immigration and Nationality Act because the Secretary of State has determined his presence and activities “would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences and would compromise a compelling US foreign policy interest.”
Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department was revoking visas held by visitors who were acting counter to national interests, including some who protested Israel’s war in Gaza and those who face criminal charges.
According to the court filing, Mahdawi was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. He recently completed coursework at Columbia and was expected to graduate in May before beginning a master’s degree program there in the fall.
As a student, Mahdawi was an outspoken critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and organized campus protests until March 2024.
US Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, a Democrat, met with Mahdaw i on Monday at the prison and posted a video account of their conversation on X. Mahdawi said he was “in good hands.” He said his work is centered on peacemaking and that his empathy extends beyond the Palestinian people to Jews and to the Israelis.
“I’m staying positive by reassuring myself in the ability of justice and the deep belief of democracy,” Mahdawi said in Welch’s video. “This is the reason I wanted to become a citizen of this country, because I believe in the principles of this country.”
Mahdawi’s attorney read a statement from him outside the courthouse Wednesday in which he urged supporters to “stay positive and believe in the inevitability of justice.”
“This hearing is part of the system of democracy, it prevents a tyrant from having unchecked power,” he wrote. “I am in prison, but I am not imprisoned.”
Meanwhile, the government is appealing a decision by a different Vermont judge who said another detained student, Rumeysa Ozturk of Tufts University, should be returned to Vermont.
On Tuesday, members of Congress from Massachusetts traveled to Louisiana to meet with Ozturk and Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil. US Sen. Ed Markey and US Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Jim McGovern expressed concern at a news conference Wednesday that the students, as well as other detainees, were being deprived of nutritious meals, sleep and blankets in the cold facilities.
Khalil and Ozturk have not committed any crimes, the delegation said — they are being unlawfully detained for exercising their right to free speech.
“They are being targeted and imprisoned because of their political views,” McGovern said.
Trump slams Ukraine’s President Zelensky for refusing to cede Crimea to Russia
- Trump wants Ukraine to give up the territory, seized by Russiain in 2014, as part of a potential peace plan
- Backed by the EU, Zelensky pushed back, saying Crimea is Ukrainian land and he is not authorized to cede it
- Russia had earlier rejected a US proposal for an immediate ceasefire by imposing far-reaching conditions
KYIV, Ukraine: President Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at Ukraine’s president, saying Volodymyr Zelensky is prolonging the “killing field” after pushing back on ceding Crimea to Russia as part of a potential peace plan.
Zelensky on Tuesday ruled out ceding territory to Russia in any deal before talks set for Wednesday in London among US, European and Ukrainian officials. “There is nothing to talk about. It is our land, the land of the Ukrainian people,” Zelensky said.
During similar talks last week in Paris, US officials presented a proposal that included allowing Russia to keep control of occupied Ukrainian territory as part of a deal, according to a European official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Trump called Zelenkyy’s pushback “very harmful” to talks.
“Nobody is asking Zelensky to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?” he wrote on social media.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 after sending troops to overrun it. Weeks later, Moscow-backed separatists launched an uprising in eastern Ukraine, battling Kyiv’s forces.
Trump also asserted they were close to a deal and that Ukraine’s leader can have peace or “he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country,” adding that Zelensky’s statement “will do nothing but prolong the ‘killing field,’ and nobody wants that!“
‘A very fair proposal’
Wednesday’s meeting was pared back at the last minute, while Vice President JD Vance said negotiations are reaching a moment of truth.
“We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say ‘yes’ or for the United States to walk away from this process,” Vance told reporters during a visit to India.
He said it was “a very fair proposal” that would “freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today,” with both sides having to give up some territory they currently hold. He did not provide details.
Trump, who is set to travel to Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday, told reporters later on Wednesday that he did not know if he would meet with Zelensky or other European leaders to discuss the war while in Italy. He also said that has found dealing with Zelensky harder than dealing with the Russians.
Trump who is set to travel to the Middle East next month said it was “possible” that he could meet with Putin while in Saudi Arabia, but that it is more likely he will meet with the Russian leader soon after that trip.
A senior European official familiar with the ongoing talks involving the American team said a proposal the United States calls “final” was initially presented last week in Paris, where it was described as “just ideas” — and that they could be changed.
When those “ideas” surfaced in media reports, Ukrainian officials were surprised to find that Washington portrayed them as final, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Zelensky said Wednesday that Ukraine is ready for any format of negotiations that might bring a ceasefire and open the door to full peace negotiations, as he mourned nine civilians killed when a Russian drone struck a bus earlier in the day.
“We insist on an immediate, complete and unconditional ceasefire,” Zelensky wrote on social media, in accordance with a proposal he said the US tabled six weeks ago.
Ukraine and some Western European governments have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet on that proposal as his army tries to capture more Ukrainian land. Western analysts say Moscow is in no rush to conclude peace talks because it has battlefield momentum.
Doubts over negotiations
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the talks in London to find an end to the more than three-year war would involve only lower-ranking officials, after the US State Department said Tuesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was unable to attend because of a scheduling issue.
Rubio’s abrupt cancelation raised doubts about the direction of negotiations. He had indicated that Wednesday’s meeting could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration remains engaged.
Commenting on those attending the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “as far as we understand, they so far have failed to bring their positions closer on some issues.” He said the Kremlin was still in consultations with American officials but wouldn’t publicly discuss details.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Moscow again later this week, according to Russian officials.
Even achieving a limited, 30-day ceasefire has been beyond the reach of negotiators, as both sides continue to attack each other along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line and launch long-range strikes.
A Russian drone struck a bus carrying workers in Marganets, in eastern Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region on Wednesday morning, killing eight women and one man, regional head Serhii Lysak wrote on social media. More than 40 people were injured, he said.
Lysak published photos of a bus with windows blown out and shards of glass mixed with blood spattered on its floor.
A Ukrainian delegation in London
Trump has pushed for an end to the war and said last week that negotiations were “coming to a head.” That comment came after Rubio suggested the US might soon back away from negotiations if they don’t progress.
Those still attending Wednesday’s meeting include retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
Andrii Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said on social media that a delegation including him, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov had arrived in London for the talks despite the alterations.
“The path to peace is not easy, but Ukraine has been and remains committed to peaceful efforts,” Yermak said. Officials would “discuss ways to achieve a full and unconditional ceasefire as the first step toward a comprehensive settlement and the achievement of a just and lasting peace.”
Several hours later, Yermak said that he, Sybiha and Umerov met with national security and foreign policy advisers from the countries “participating in the coalition of the willing” and “emphasized our commitment” to the US president’s peace efforts.
He asserted on social media that “Russia continues to reject an unconditional ceasefire, dragging out the process and trying to manipulate negotiations.”
Trump frustrated with both sides
Trump said repeatedly during his election campaign last year that he would be able to end the war “in 24 hours” upon taking office. But he has expressed frustration with Zelensky and Putin. Russia has effectively rejected a US proposal for an immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting by imposing far-reaching conditions.
Some European allies are wary of the American proposal for Ukraine to exchange land for peace. But an official said there’s also acknowledgment by some allies that Russia is firmly entrenched wholly or partially in five regions of Ukraine: Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
If the goal is to obtain a ceasefire immediately, “it should be based on the line of contact as it is,” said the senior French official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with French presidential policy.
