Minnesota, Louisiana win 2nd night Miss America prelims

Contestants from Louisiana and Minnesota won preliminary competitions on the second night of the Miss America competition in Atlantic City on Thursday.

The 51 contestants of the Miss America 2018 competition take the stage at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., for the first night of preliminary competition, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017. (Erin Grugan/The Press of Atlantic City via AP)

Miss Louisiana Laryssa Bonacquisti won the swimsuit competition while Miss Minnesota Brianna Drevlow won the talent competition with a classical piano recital.

They join winners from the first night of preliminary competition Wednesday night, Miss Texas and Miss Utah.

Miss Minnesota Brianna Drevlow, left, and Miss Louisiana Laryssa Bonacquisti, right, meet reporters after winning preliminary competitions Thursday night Sept. 7, 2017 in the Miss America competition in Atlantic City, N.J. Drevlow won for playing a rendition of "Rhapsody In Blue" on the piano, and Bonacquisti won the swimsuit competition. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

The third night of preliminaries will be held Friday and the next Miss America will be crowned Sunday night in a nationally televised finale.

This weekend, mothers whose sons were killed while serving in the military will be honored as part of the competition.

Miss America contestants take the stage for the second night of preliminary competition in Atlantic City N.J. on Thursday Sept. 7, 2017. The next Miss America will be crowned Sunday night. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

The Miss America Organization, the Got Your Back Network, Caesars Entertainment and others will host nine Gold Star mothers as honorary Miss Americas on Sunday. Three others also will be honored but can't make it to the ceremony.

They'll be put up and pampered at casinos, will meet with Pentagon officials and will be honored onstage at Boardwalk Hall before the nationally televised finale begins.

Miss America 2018 contestants walk the stage during the fitness competition during the second night of preliminaries at Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, N.J. Thursday, Sept, 7, 2017. (Edward Lea/The Press of Atlantic City via AP)

Among them will be Eileen Daly, of Brick, New Jersey, whose son Sgt. Ronald Kubik was killed in Afghanistan in 2010 and who posthumously was awarded the Silver Star.

Miss District of Columbia 2017, Briana Kinsey, walks the stage in the fitness competition during second night of Miss America 2018 preliminaries at Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, N.J. Thursday Sept. 7, 2017 . (Edward Lea/The Press of Atlantic City via AP)

"I am so grateful to this group for honoring my son and giving me the opportunity to go to Atlantic City," Daly told The Associated Press. "It comforts me so much to know that our fallen heroes are not forgotten for the sacrifice our sons and daughters made to give their lives for this country."

The 51 contestants of the Miss America 2018 competition take the stage at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ, for the first night of preliminary competition, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017. (Erin Grugan/The Press of Atlantic City via AP)

Her son was 21 when he died, an Army Ranger leading an assault team in Logar Province, Afghanistan. His mother said Kubik saved the lives of 10 fellow soldiers and 19 civilians on the day he was killed.

The mothers will stay at Caesars casino in Atlantic City. After breakfast Sunday, they will be given spa time, will have their hair and makeup done, will meet with military officials traveling from the Pentagon for the ceremony and will be brought onstage by former Miss Americas during the preshow activities, which are not televised.

Miss America 2018 contestants walk the stage during parade of states during the second night of preliminaries at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. Thursday, Sept, 7, 2017. (Edward Lea/The Press of Atlantic City via AP)

They will be given commemorative bracelets, will talk about their sons and will be named honorary Miss Americas for life.

"There's a lot of healing that takes place," said Kathleen Gagg, executive director of Got Your Back, which supports Gold Star families. "These women belong to a sorority that no one ever wants to be a part of."

Miss Oklahoma 2017 Triana Browne walks the stage in the fitness portion of the second night of the Miss America 2018 preliminaries at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ. Thursday Sept. 7, 2017 . (Edward Lea/The Press of Atlantic City via AP)

Dubbed "Project Gratitude," the event has honored about 130 women in the nine years it has been operating.

The women to be honored include four from Florida: Michele Marie Carey, of Oldster; Catherine Grace del Castillo, of Tampa; Margaret Eggers, of Cape Coral; and Jill Stephenson, of St. Petersburg. The others are Frances Ann Lee, of Fort Wright, Kentucky; Laura Gonzalez, of Indianapolis; Xiomara Edith Mena, of Falls Church, Virginia; Paula Rena Davis, of Frederick, Maryland; and three other New Jersey residents in addition to Daly: Amy Moore, of Robbinsville; Lucinda Malmo, of Red Bank, and Jacqueline Dixon, of Lindenwold.

Miss America 2018 contestants walk the stage during parade of states during the second night of preliminaries at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. Thursday, Sept, 7, 2017. (Edward Lea/The Press of Atlantic City via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University canceled its large university-wide commencement ceremony Monday following weeks of pro-Palestinian protests that have roiled its campus and others across the U.S., but said students will still be able to celebrate at a series of smaller, school-based ceremonies this week and next.

The decision comes as universities around the country are wrangling with how to handle commencements. Another campus shaken by protests, Emory University, announced Monday that it would move its commencement from its campus quadrangle in Atlanta to a suburban arena. But others, including the University of Michigan, Indiana University and Northeastern, have pulled off ceremonies with few disruptions.

Columbia’s decision to cancel its main ceremonies scheduled for May 15 saves its president, Nemat Shafik, from having to deliver a commencement address in the same part of campus where police dismantled a protest encampment last week.

Noting that the past few weeks have been “incredibly difficult” for the community, the Ivy League school in upper Manhattan said in its announcement that it made the decision after discussions with students.

“Our students emphasized that these smaller-scale, school-based celebrations are most meaningful to them and their families,” officials said. “They are eager to cross the stage to applause and family pride and hear from their school’s invited guest speakers.”

Most of the ceremonies that had been scheduled for the south lawn of the main campus, where encampments were taken down last week, will take place about 5 miles (8 kilometers) north at Columbia’s sports complex, officials said.

Speakers at some of Columbia’s still-scheduled graduation ceremonies include Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames, former CNN anchor Poppy Harlow, political scientist Ian Bremmer and Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, director of the National Institutes of Health. Also, actor Michael J. Fox is scheduled to receive a medal for distinguished service from Columbia’s Teachers College.

Columbia had already canceled in-person classes. More than 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on Columbia’s green or occupied an academic building were arrested in recent weeks.

Similar encampments sprouted up at universities around the country as schools struggled with where to draw the line between allowing free expression while maintaining safe and inclusive campuses.

The University of Southern California earlier canceled its main graduation ceremony while allowing other commencement activities to continue. Students abandoned their camp at USC on Sunday after being surrounded by police and threatened with arrest.

Other universities have held their graduation ceremonies with beefed-up security. The University of Michigan's ceremony was interrupted by chanting a few times Saturday, while in Boston on Sunday, some students waved small Palestinian or Israeli flags as Northeastern University held its commencement in Fenway Park.

At the University of California, Los Angeles, disruptions continued Monday following the dismantling of a pro-Palestinian encampment and some 200 arrests last week. Police detained numerous people in a parking structure. The university also said classes in one building, Monroe Hall, would move online “due to ongoing disruptions” but did not provide details.

Also Monday, police cleared a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California, San Diego, and arrested more than 30 people, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The protests stem from the conflict that started Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages. Student protesters are calling on their schools to divest from companies that do business with Israel or otherwise contribute to the war effort.

Hamas announced Monday that it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal to halt the war in Gaza, but Israel did not immediately comment. Details have not yet been released.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.

Emory's 16,000-student university is one of many that has seen repeated protests over the war.

Ceremonies scheduled for May 13 will now be held at the GasSouth Arena and Convocation Center in Duluth, almost 20 miles (30 kilometers) northeast of the university's Atlanta campus, President Gregory Fenves said in an open letter.

“Please know that this decision was not taken lightly,” Fenves wrote. “It was made in close consultation with the Emory Police Department, security advisors and other agencies — each of which advised against holding commencement events on our campuses.”

The university called outside police agencies to arrest 28 people after an encampment was erected on the quad on April 25. After initially claiming the protesters were outsiders, the university later said 20 were Emory students and three were faculty members. Police used pepper balls and electric stun guns to subdue some of the people who were arrested. Fenves later apologized.

Protests have continued on the campus since then, including some additional arrests.

Associated Press writer Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Authorities detain a protester on the campus of Emory University during a pro-Palestinian demonstration, in Atlanta, Georgia, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

CORRECTS CAPTION TO NYPD ARREST PRO-PALESTINIAN DEMONSTRATORS New York Police Department officers arrest pro-Palestinian demonstrators on 114th Street and Amsterdam Avenue on Tuesday night, April 30, 2024, in New York. The NYPD also stormed Columbia University’s campus after Columbia University President Minouche Shafik called on the department to dismantle encampments and remove individuals from Hamilton Hall. (Seyma Bayram via AP)

Staff members of the Columbia Daily Spectator, the college newspaper, work into the night as police cleared out demonstrators from Columbia University's campus, late Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. Left to right; Isabella Ramirez, editor in chief; Esha Karam, managing editor; Yvin Shin, head copy editor; Emily Forgash, deputy news editor; and Shea Vance, university news editor. (AP Photo/Jake Offenhartz)

FILE - Pro-Israel demonstrators gather for the "Bring Them Home Now" rally outside the Columbia University, April 26, 2024, in New York. Pro-Palestinian protesters have dominated university quads in the last two weeks, shutting down colleges and clashing with riot police. But there’s been a notable scarcity of student rallies in solidarity with Israelis. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)