After Pam Bondi became U.S. attorney general last year, conservative influencers, online sleuths and others who wanted the government to disclose all it knew about Jeffrey Epstein thought they might have a champion in the Department of Justice. So did some of the legions of women who have said they were sexually assaulted by the late financier and convicted sex offender with a roster of powerful friends in business, politics and beyond. But Bondi's handling of the “Epstein files” became a stubbornly problematic storyline that ran through her time as attorney general. Bondi rejected criticism of her handling of the issue, and Trump on Thursday praised her as “a Great American Patriot.”

A federal judge in New York has tossed out Blake Lively's sexual harassment claims against Justin Baldoni over the movie “It Ends With Us" but left intact claims for retaliation. The written ruling by Judge Lewis J. Liman in Manhattan was released late Thursday. Lively will still be allowed to put many of her allegations before a jury. Her lawyer says she looks forward to testifying. Lively sued Baldoni last December, alleging sexual harassment. Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios countersued Lively and her husband, “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of defamation and extortion. The judge dismissed Baldoni’s claims in June.

The founder of a Texas megachurch who resigned after pleading guilty to sexually abusing an Oklahoma woman in the 1980s has been released from an Oklahoma jail. Osage County officials say 64-year-old Robert Preston Morris was released early Tuesday. He served six months after pleading guilty last year to five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child. Under the agreement, he received a 10-year suspended sentence and must register as a sex offender. He also was ordered to pay his incarceration costs and restitution to the victim. Prosecutors say the abuse began in 1982 when the victim was 12 and Morris was a traveling evangelist staying in Hominy, Oklahoma.

Sexual abuse allegations against the revered labor leader César Chavez have led to a swift fallout, leaving many to reconcile the legacy of a man who fought tirelessly for the rights of farmworkers. Latino leaders and community leaders have quickly condemned the alleged abuse by Chavez. Now they are weighing the impact of his actions on the labor rights movement and how to move forward acknowledging Chavez actions and the impact he had on Latino civil rights. Reconciling with a tainted legacy is something various civil rights groups have had to as accusations and rumors are unearthed. For many Chavez’s reckoning is an example of why movements should not be tied to one person.

From California to Minnesota, elected leaders and civil rights groups are scrambling to distance themselves from César Chavez’s name in the wake of sexual abuse allegations. Efforts have been swift and widespread to rebrand events ahead of what typically was a day to celebrate the Latino rights advocate on his birthday, March 31. In Tucson, Arizona, a celebration was instead billed as a community and labor fair. In Grand Junction, Colorado, it’s now the Sí, Se Puede Celebration. The conversations behind the decisions have been anything but easy as supporters deal with conflicted feelings while sorting how best to honor the legacy of the farmworker movement.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill to rename César Chavez Day to Farmworkers Day following sexual abuse allegations against the Latino labor icon. State lawmakers approved the legislation earlier in the day. The state has honored Chavez with a state holiday on his birthday, March 31, for years. The swift change comes after allegations Chavez abused girls and women, including fellow labor icon Dolores Huerta. The two led a landmark farmworker labor movement in California’s agricultural heartland in the 1960s and 1970s. Chavez’s name is on scores of monuments, schools and streets around California and the country.

California lawmakers vote to rename César Chavez Day state holiday to Farmworkers Day after sexual abuse allegations.

Two teenage boys have been given probation after using artificial intelligence to create hundreds of fake nude photos of their classmates. The boys were 14 at the time. Authorities said the boys took images of the girls from school photos, yearbooks, Instagram, TikTok and FaceTime chats, and morphed them with images of adults depicting nudity or sexual activity. At least 59 girls were among the victims, many of them classmates with the boys at Lancaster Country Day School. Many called for the toughest sentence on Wednesday as they described their trauma. The judge said the boys' records will be expunged in two years if they don't reoffend.

The shattered legacy of Latino labor rights icon César Chavez has been particularly devastating among advocates who have long fought to raise awareness about sexual harassment and abuse against women farmworkers, which remains both widespread and underreported. Still, advocates say things have changed since Chavez’s time and important action has been taken especially after the #MeToo movement.

The shattered legacy of Latino labor rights icon César Chavez has been particularly devastating among advocates who have long fought to raise awareness about sexual harassment and abuse against women farmworkers, which remains both widespread and underreported. Still, advocates say things have changed since Chavez’s time and important action has been taken especially after the #MeToo movement.