A scuba dive boat captain has been jailed for four years for criminal negligence over a fire that killed 34 people.

Captain Jerry Boylan was also sentenced to three years supervised release by a federal judge in Los Angeles, California.

The blaze on the vessel named Conception in September 2019 was the deadliest maritime disaster in recent American history.

Boylan was found guilty of one count of misconduct or neglect of ship officer last year.

The charge is a pre-Civil War statute, known colloquially as seaman’s manslaughter, and was designed to hold steamboat captains and crew responsible for maritime disasters.

In a sentencing memo, lawyers for Boylan – who is appealing – wrote: “While the loss of life here is staggering, there can be no dispute that Mr Boylan did not intend for anyone to die.

“Indeed, Mr Boylan lives with significant grief, remorse, and trauma as a result of the deaths of his passengers and crew.”

The Conception was anchored off Santa Cruz Island, 25 miles south of Santa Barbara, when it caught fire before dawn on the final day of a three-day voyage, sinking less than 30 metres from the shore.

Thirty-three passengers and a crew member died, trapped below deck.

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The victims included an environmental scientist, a Singaporean data scientist and a family of three sisters, their father and his wife.

Boylan jumped overboard, and four crew members who followed suit also survived.

Boylan initially faced 34 counts of seaman’s manslaughter, meaning he could have faced a total of 340 years behind bars.

His lawyers argued the deaths were the result of a single incident and not separate crimes, so prosecutors instead charged Boylan with only one count.

While the criminal case has concluded, there are several ongoing lawsuits.

A woman has won a $1m prize on the lottery for the second time in 10 weeks.

Massachusetts State Lottery revealed Christine Wilson was the lucky ticketholder who hit the jackpot twice.

Ms Wilson, of Attleborough, Massachusetts, won her most recent prize playing the “100X Cash” $10 instant ticket game.

Back in February, she claimed the first $1m (£796,000) prize in the “Lifetime Millions” $50 (£40) instant ticket game.

On both occasions, she opted to receive her prize in the form of a one-time payment of $650,000 (£518,000).

When she won her first prize, Ms Wilson said that she planned to use some of her winnings to buy a new car.

She plans to put this latest windfall into savings.

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Ms Wilson bought her most recent ticket at Family Food Mart in the US town of Mansfield and the shop will receive a $10,000 (£7,900) bonus for its sale of the ticket, according to the Massachusetts State Lottery.

She bought her first $1m winning ticket at Dubs’s Discount Liquors in the same town.

President Joe Biden has spoken out for the first time following violence and arrests during demonstrations at multiple US universities, saying: “There is a right to protest but not a right to cause chaos.”

Tensions at universities across America have been building for days as demonstrators have refused to remove encampments and administrators have called in law enforcement to break them up.

There have been clashes between pro-Palestinian activists and counter-protesters, as well as between demonstrators and police.

Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Mr Biden said events at the universities “put to the test two fundamental American principles, the first is the right to free speech and for people to peacefully assemble, the second is the rule of law”.

“Both must be upheld”, the president continued. “We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people and squash dissent. But neither are we a lawless country. We’re a civil society. And order must prevail.”

He added: “Dissent is essential to democracy but dissent must never lead to disorder or denying the rights of others so students can’t finish the semester and college education.”

Mr Biden has at times criticised Israel’s conduct in its war in Gaza, but the US has continued to supply it with weapons.

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The president said the protests have not prompted him to rethink policies relating to the Middle East.

His remarks came after days of silence about the protests. During this time, Republicans have tried to use the scenes of unrest against the Democrats.

Mr Biden said he rejected efforts to use the situation to “score political points”. “This isn’t a moment for politics,” he said. “It’s a moment for clarity.”

Hundreds of protesters arrested

Overnight, police arrested pro-Palestinian protesters on multiple campuses, including at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where officers in riot gear fired rubber bullets at demonstrators and tore down an encampment that had been in place for a week.

Between 200 and 300 people were arrested at UCLA on Wednesday night, two law enforcement sources told Sky’s US partner NBC News.

Specific information on those arrested – such as whether they were students, staff or not affiliated with the university – may not be known for days.

The cost of the two-night operation to secure the campus and remove the encampment is in the multiple millions of dollars, they added.

Other arrests were made at the University of Texas, Yale, Dartmouth, and the New York State universities at Buffalo and Stony Brook.

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Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop working with Israel, or companies they say support the war on Gaza, have spread across the US.

Another prominent demonstration at Columbia University in New York was broken up by police on Tuesday night, with around 300 arrests being made.