Cornell gang rape investigation reopens; Trump hosts AI leaders at White House

A New York prosecutor reopens a 2024 Cornell University gang-rape investigation after a civil lawsuit brings new scrutiny to how the handling of the case.

Plus, former special counsel Jack Smith faces Senate Republicans Tuesday over his investigations into President Donald Trump and the authority behind them.

And Trump will meet with top AI leaders, including executives warning about risks he has dismissed as a “hoax.”

These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026.

Prosecutor reopens 2024 Cornell gang rape investigation

A New York prosecutor has reopened an investigation into allegations that a Cornell University student was gang-raped at a fraternity house in 2024.

The move follows the woman’s civil lawsuit filed earlier this month.

The woman, identified as Jane Doe, said seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity sexually assaulted her in October 2024. Her lawsuit alleges the members pressured her to snort ketamine, smoke marijuana and drink alcohol, which eventually incapacitated her.

The case has drawn new scrutiny over how both Cornell and local prosecutors handled the allegations.

The woman did go to campus police at the time. But Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said her initial sworn statement did not include allegations that she had been gang-raped or drugged. He said she reported consensual sex with two men but had trouble remembering parts of what happened after other men entered the room.

Van Houten is now defending his office’s 2024 decision not to pursue criminal charges.

“The question that we analyzed was: did Jane Doe consent to what happened?” Van Houten said. “And the law in New York is clear that if you are voluntarily intoxicated or under the influence of drugs, such that your judgment is impaired, that does not legally, under the penal law, constitute your inability to consent.”

Van Houten said his office will present evidence to a grand jury this fall.

Cornell said it supports the decision to reopen the investigation. The university said its own Title IX investigation led to a range of sanctions, including expulsions and suspensions. Cornell also closed the Chi Phi chapter in 2024 and said it remains barred from campus.

In announcing the new investigation Monday, Van Houten said, “Seeking justice sometimes requires us to reconsider or reopen cases when we are provided with additional evidence.”

Trump hosts AI leaders as safety debate reaches the White House

Some of the biggest names in tech head to the White House on Tuesday. Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson will meet with top AI executives as Washington debates how to regulate the technology and to what extent.

Expected at the meeting: OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Palantir CEO Alex Karp, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. Anthropic co-founder Tom Brown is also expected to attend.

Johnson said the goal is to find what he calls the “right balance” between regulation and innovation.

“Instead of just smothering this with red tape, which is always the government’s reflex, and I think would be wrong and frankly dangerous to national security if we did it here, we want to continue the innovation. We want to keep America’s lead over China and all of our other competitors, but we want to make sure that it’s being done in a safe way. So, a little oversight, a little transparency, I think, would go a long way here.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson

The meeting comes just two days after Trump had a private dinner with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. The CEO has pushed for slower AI development and stronger safeguards.

Trump has taken a very different view, rejecting calls to slow development and calling fears that AI could threaten humanity a “hoax.”

Jack Smith faces Senate panel over Trump investigations

On Tuesday morning, former special counsel Jack Smith will return to Capitol Hill to face some Republican senators who say his investigation targeted them. He is the sole witness at Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Smith led the two federal investigations that resulted in charges against President Trump: one related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and another concerning classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Both cases were dismissed after Trump’s reelection.

Republicans are expected to focus on how Smith’s team collected information during these probes.

Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley described it as “rampant abuse of authority and political targeting.” Reports from Grassley and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan in July said Smith’s investigation retrieved texts and messages involving 44 lawmakers. Additionally, a House Judiciary report indicates investigators subpoenaed phone records from over a dozen Republican members of Congress.

Democrats argue that Republicans aim to defend Trump and undermine the investigation.

Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., told Roll Call, “Well, they’re in denial. They think that President Trump won the 2020 election, and it is consistent with that fiction.”

Smith defends his decision to prosecute Trump, stating he would have pursued the same cases regardless of whether the president was Republican or Democrat.

Tennessee set to execute first woman in 200 years

For the first time in more than 200 years, Tennessee is set to execute a woman Wednesday.

Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, is scheduled to die by lethal injection for the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 at the time.

The 19-year-old and two other teenagers lured Slemmer into the woods in Knoxville, where they tortured and killed her. Pike was convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to death.

In the decades since, her attorneys have cited evidence of severe childhood abuse, sexual assault and mental illness, arguing that the jury did not hear the full extent of that history.

They’ve pushed to stop her execution, but Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has now denied her request for clemency.

Pike still has an appeal pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Unless the court intervenes, she will be executed on Wednesday.

Alito steps aside from major climate case without explanation

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito recused himself from a major climate change case just one week before the justices are set to hear it. The court announced Alito’s recusal Monday but didn’t say why.

The letter consists of a single line stating that Alito “has determined that he will not continue to participate in this case.”

The case pits ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy against the city of Boulder, Colorado. Boulder sued the companies in 2018, accusing them of contributing to climate change while concealing or misrepresenting the dangers of fossil fuels. The city and county seek billions of dollars in damages.

Alito does not own stock in ExxonMobil or Suncor, according to CBS, but his 2025 financial disclosure shows investments in two other energy companies, ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66.

In May, a coalition of left-leaning watchdog groups urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate Alito’s involvement in this case, citing his oil and gas holdings. At the time, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said Alito had no financial interest in any party and had been advised by the court’s legal counsel that recusal was not required.

The court is still set to hear arguments next Monday, the first day of its new term.

Senate passes sweeping college sports bill

The Senate took a major step toward a new future for college sports Monday night, passing the Protect College Sports Act with overwhelming bipartisan support (77-22).

Supporters say the bill aims to bring order to college sports, reshaped by player pay and the transfer portal.
If it becomes law, it would set a five-year eligibility window, impose new transfer limits and further regulate name, image and likeness deals.

The bill’s sponsor, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, said the changes would protect college athletes while preserving the future of college sports.

Today is a monumental day for college athletics.

The United States Senate voted to protect the hundreds of thousands of student athletes currently competing in college sports, the millions who will follow in their footsteps, and every college sports fan who wants to preserve… pic.twitter.com/2ysTFfEjRH

— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) September 29, 2026

Trump and the NCAA both pushed for the bill.

Opponents argue it goes too far, restricting players’ ability to earn money and limiting their leverage with schools and conferences.

Now it heads to the House, but timing is a concern. The House won’t return to session until after the midterms, leaving the bill’s next step unclear.

More from Straight Arrow:

Real estate listings get an AI makeover. When does it become false advertising?

Brenda Houston is a Dallas-based store designer with decades of experience working with some of the biggest names in luxury retail, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Giorgio Armani and David Yurman. 

But even her trained eye was no match for digitally altered real estate listing photos when she was searching for a New York City apartment for her 23-year-old niece and a house in San Diego for herself. 

The homes Houston visited in both cities, she told Straight Arrow, looked nothing like their online photos. 

In person, she said, what looked like wood floors were actually vinyl, beautiful views were brick walls, and rooms were too small to fit the furniture that had been digitally added. A landscaped backyard might be little more than dirt. 

“It’s all just one big illusion,” she said.

Despite her design expertise, Houston said she was fooled by altered photos. 

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