Columbia University protest occupation and 4 law enforcement killed in North Carolina: Morning Rundown

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupy a building at Columbia University as a campus protest escalates. A bank executive is expected to take the stand when Donald Trump's hush money trial resumes. And the World Health Organization's new research about how airborne diseases spread catches researchers' attention.

Here’s what to know today.

Students storm and occupy Columbia building, escalating pro-Palestinian protests

Protesters stormed and occupied a building on Columbia University’s main campus overnight, as the demonstration intensified despite school officials’ orders to leave and suspensions for students who stayed.

Palestinian flags flew from Hamilton Hall’s windows after its occupation early this morning. Protesters also renamed the building to “Hinds Hall,” in honor of Hind Rajab, the six-year-old girl who was killed in Gaza after begging first responders to save her life. A protester was heard yelling, “Let’s finish what they did in 1968,” apparently referring to the famous protest against the Vietnam War in which the same building was occupied.

A student protest group said its members had “reclaimed” the building and would stay there until Columbia gives in to the movement’s demands, which include cutting ties with Israeli institutions.

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The university said yesterday it would not be doing so, and began suspending students who defied a deadline to clear out of the pro-Palestinian protest encampment on campus.

The college confirmed the occupation of the building in an update early this morning, and said students should avoid the main campus in Morningside Heights today.

As protests grow at campuses across the U.S., overnight police arrested 17 protesters at the University of Utah, 13 people at Princeton and six people at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Follow our live blog for the latest developments.

More on this story:

• Students at Columbia University filed dueling discrimination complaints as confrontations between pro-Palestinian protesters and counterprotesters continue.

• Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged Hamas to accept what he said was an “extraordinarily generous” proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza and a hostage release agreement.

Trump trial resumes with focus on hush money transaction

The second week of witness testimony in Donald Trump’s hush money trial is scheduled to begin this morning with a focus on the hush money transaction at the center of the allegations against the former president. Up first on the witness stand will be Gary Farro, who in 2016 was an executive at First Republic Bank. Farro worked with then-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to set up a bank account for what prosecutors characterized as a shell company to mask the source of a hush money payment from Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump denies Daniels' claim that she was paid to keep quiet about her allegation that the two had a sexual encounter.

After Farro’s testimony, who will take the stand next is not clear. Prosecutors have been keeping their list of witnesses close to the vest, citing Trump’s comments against Cohen, Daniels and others despite a gag order. Here’s what else to know.

4 law enforcement officers killed in North Carolina

A U.S. marshal and three local officers working with a fugitive task force were fatally shot while serving a warrant at a home yesterday in Charlotte, North Carolina, officials said. Four other law enforcement officers were also injured. A suspect in the shooting was dead.

The task force was serving a warrant when the subject of the warrant began shooting with a high-powered rifle, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said. Task force members returned fire and killed the suspect in the home’s front yard, Jennings said. When a sergeant called for backup, four responding police officers were shot. Here’s what else officials said about the shooting and what we know so far about the victims.

WHO research overturns dogma on how diseases are spread

A new report from the World Health Organization concluded that transmission of airborne viruses and bacteria spreads when sick people exhale pathogens that remain suspended in the air and then are inhaled by others. The findings may seem obvious, but they actually mark a “complete U-turn,” as one scientist put it, from the widespread notion that respiratory viruses spread mainly through droplets that land directly in another person’s mouth, nose or eyes. Those types of infections happen, but the WHO’s findings mark an acknowledgment that has been long encouraged by some researchers.

The WHO research, motivated by grave missteps in the Covid pandemic, now has some scientists calling on the CDC to update its guidance for infection control in health care settings. But a committee advising the CDC appears poised to brush aside the updated science for a few reasons.

Politics in Brief

Hunter Biden: Lawyers for Hunter Biden plan to sue Fox News “imminently” over the network’s alleged “conspiracy and subsequent actions to defame” the president’s son, according to a letter sent to the network.

OAN’s retraction: One America News Network retracted an article that said former Trump attorney Michael Cohen had an affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels and claimed that Cohen “cooked up” the hush money scheme to extort the Trump Organization. In a statement, OAN said there is “no evidence” of either allegation.

Safety regulations: The Biden administration plans to require that all new cars and trucks come with pedestrian-collision avoidance systems by the end of the decade.

LGBTQ rights: Five Republican-led states sued the Biden administration over its new rules expanding Title IX, the federal civil rights law that protects students from sex-based discrimination in federally funded schools.

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Staff Pick: Two wives, two murder charges

Fran Smith has been missing for decades. Her body has never been found, but her husband’s secrets have been revealed. It was only when police were investigating Fran’s disappearance that they realized John Smith’s first wife had also gone missing years earlier. Reporter Tim Stelloh and the “Dateline” crew have all the details — Jamie Knodel, news editor

Select: Online Shopping, Simplified

There’s nothing worse than taking a shower and the water pooling because of a blocked drain. Here are the best drain cleaners, as recommended by plumbers, to keep your sinks and showers flowing smoothly.

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