Ted Cruz says FCC chair sounded like a mafia boss in threats against ABC over Jimmy Kimmel

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz says FCC chairman Brendan Carr sounded like an organized crime boss threatening the ABC network’s broadcasting licenses over comments by late night host Jimmy Kimmel.

The Texas Republican also emphasized how much he hates what Kimmel said about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk – and how much he likes and works closely with Carr.

Having high-ranking federal officials threaten a network in such a way, however, is “dangerous as hell” because it presents a slippery slope that could end with conservatives facing government censorship down the road, Cruz said.

“If the government gets in the business of saying ‘We don’t like what you the media have said, we’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like,’ that will end up bad for conservatives,” Cruz said on his Friday podcast.

—The Dallas Morning News

US court throws out Trump lawsuit against New York Times

WASHINGTON — A U.S. federal court on Friday threw out a defamation action brought by President Donald Trump against The New York Times, saying the complaint was needlessly long and detailed.

Judge Steven Merryday, from a district court in Florida, gave the president 28 days to amend the complaint. Complaints have to be phrased "fairly, precisely, directly, soberly, and economically," Merryday said. In its current form it runs to 85 pages, although it relates to only two cases of defamation, according to the judge.

"A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations," he wrote in his ruling, calling on Trump to cut his new version to 40 pages. On Monday, Trump announced that he would lodge a defamation action against the newspaper and a number of its journalists.

"The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

—dpa

Yellowstone hiker survives bloody encounter with a bear, possibly a grizzly

A hiker who was attacked by a bear — probably a grizzly — in Yellowstone National Park this week has been released from the hospital.

The 29-year old man had been hiking alone on the remote Turbid Lake Trail when he apparently surprised the bear, according to park officials. While trying to use bear spray, he sustained "significant but not life-threatening injuries to his chest and left arm," according to officials.

National Park Service medics responded to the scene, and the victim was able to walk with them to the trailhead, where he was loaded into an ambulance and taken to a nearby clinic. From there, a helicopter flew him to a hospital. He was released Wednesday.

As is true in the rest of the U.S., bear attacks are exceedingly rare in Yellowstone. Since the park was established in 1872, eight people have been killed by bears, according to the park's website. For comparison, 125 people have drowned and 23 have died from burns after falling into hot springs.

—Los Angeles Times

Estonia seeks NATO discussion after Russia breaches airspace

Three Russian fighter jets violated Estonia’s airspace in what the Baltic country called an unprecedented violation, an incident that triggered fresh NATO consultations and prompted accusations that Moscow is growing more brazen in testing the alliance.

NATO scrambled Italian-owned F-35 fighter jets as well as Swedish and Finnish quick-reaction aircraft, according to a spokesman from the alliance. The move is “not the type of behavior one would expect from a professional air force,” Colonel Martin O’Donnell said in a statement.

The breach would be Russia’s fourth incursion into Estonia this year and the third airspace violation in a North Atlantic Treaty Organization member this month, following incidents in Poland and Romania.

That’s coincided with President Donald Trump’s move to seek rapprochement with Vladimir Putin and hold off additional sanctions against the Russian leader, and his economy, over the war in Ukraine. Trump has abandoned the Biden-era policy of flowing billions of dollars of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, instead selling to European leaders to send to the country.

—Bloomberg News