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  • Wisconsin Becomes the 36th State to Limit Cellphones in Schools

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    MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin became the 36th state to limit cellphones and other electronic devices in school Friday, when its Democratic governor signed a bill requiring districts to prohibit phone use during class time.

    The measure passed with bipartisan support, though some Democrats in the Legislature said controlling gun violence should be a higher priority than banning cellphones.

    In signing the bill, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said he believes that decisions like this should be made at the local level, but “my promise to the people of Wisconsin is to always do what’s best for our kids, and that obligation weighs heavily on me in considering this bill.”

    Evers said he was “deeply concerned” about the impacts of cellphone and social media use on young people. He said cellphones could be “a major distraction from learning, a source of bullying, and a barrier to our kids’ important work of just being a kid.”

    This school year alone, new restrictions on phone use in schools went into effect in 17 states and the District of Columbia. The push to limit cellphone use has been rapid. Florida was the first state to pass such a law, in 2023.

    Both Democrats and Republicans have taken up the cause, reflecting a growing consensus that phones are bad for kids’ mental health and take their focus away from learning, even as some researchers say the issue is less clear-cut.

    Most school districts in Wisconsin had already restricted cellphone use in the classroom, according to a Wisconsin Policy Forum report. The bill passed by the Legislature on Oct. 14 would require school districts to enact policies prohibiting the use of cellphones during instructional time.

    Of the 36 states that restrict cellphones in school, phones are banned throughout the school day in 18 states and the District of Columbia, although Georgia and Florida impose “bell-to-bell” bans only from kindergarten through eighth grade. Another seven states ban them during class time, but not between classes or during lunch. Still others, particularly those with traditions of local school control, mandate only a cellphone policy, believing districts will take the hint and sharply restrict phone access.

    Under the Wisconsin bill, all public schools are required to adopt a policy prohibiting the use of cellphones during instructional time by July 1. There would be exceptions including for use during an emergency or perceived threat; to manage a student’s health care; if use of the phone is allowed under the student’s individualized education program; or if written by a teacher for educational purposes.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • The Latest: Trump Wants to Scrap the Filibuster to End the Government Shutdown

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    President Donald Trump is calling on the Senate to scrap the filibuster, so that the Republican majority can bypass Democrats and reopen the federal government.

    “THE CHOICE IS CLEAR — INITIATE THE ‘NUCLEAR OPTION,’ GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER,” Trump posted Thursday night on his social media site, Truth Social.

    The filibuster is a long-standing tactic in the Senate to delay or block votes on legislation by keeping the debate running. It requires 60 votes in a full Senate to overcome a filibuster, giving Democrats a check on the 53-seat Republican majority that led to the start of the Oct. 1 shutdown when the new fiscal year began.

    His call to end the filibuster came at a moment when certain senators and House Speaker Mike Johnson believed it was time for the government shutdown to come to an end. It’s unclear if lawmakers will follow Trump’s lead, rather than finding ways to negotiate with Democrats.


    US defense chief vows to ‘stoutly defend’ Indo-Pacific interests in talks with China

    The U.S. Secretary of Defense said Friday he told his Chinese counterpart during talks in Malaysia that Washington would “stoutly defend” its interests in the Indo-Pacific. He also signed a new agreement aimed at strengthening security ties with India.

    Pete Hegseth described as “good and constructive” his meeting with Chinese Admiral Dong Jun, held on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations defense ministers meeting in Kuala Lumpur. He said he raised U.S. concerns over Chinese activities in the South China Sea, around Taiwan and toward U.S. allies and partners in the region.

    “I highlighted the importance of maintaining a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific,” Hegseth wrote on social media platform X. “United States does not seek conflict (but) it will continue to stoutly defend its interests and ensure it has the capabilities in the region to do so.”

    China’s defense ministry issued a cautious response, emphasizing its longstanding positions. Dong Jun stressed the reunification of China and Taiwan is an “unstoppable historical trend” and urged the U.S. to be cautious in its words and actions on the Taiwan issue, the statement said.


    Advocates allege ‘inhumane’ conditions at Chicago-area ICE facility in new lawsuit

    Attorneys with the ACLU of Illinois and the MacArthur Justice Center say ICE agents have denied people being held at the Broadview facility private calls with attorneys and also coerced them into signing paperwork they don’t understand, leading some people to unknowingly relinquish their rights and face deportation.

    The lawsuit, which was filed Friday, also alleges that people at the facility have been denied food, water, hygiene and medical care, and places to sleep and shower.

    Alexa Van Brunt, lead attorney for the lawsuit, said community members are “being kidnapped off the streets, packed in hold cells, denied food, medical care, and basic necessities, and forced to sign away their legal rights.”


    Senate report details medical neglect in federal immigration detention centers


    Federal food aid could run dry

    The Department of Agriculture says that funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, will end Friday due to the government shutdown. But a federal judge in Boston on Thursday seemed skeptical of the administration’s argument that SNAP benefits could be suspended.


    UN human rights chief calls US strikes on alleged drug boats ‘unacceptable’

    U.N. Commissioner Volker Türk called for an investigation into the strikes, in what appeared to mark the first such condemnation of its kind from a United Nations organization. The U.S. has killed at least 61 people during 14 strikes since the campaign began in early September.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Jim McGreevey Is Back on the Ballot, 21 Years After Scandal Led Him to Resign as New Jersey Governor

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    JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — Two decades after resigning as New Jersey’s governor and stunning the political world as he declared “I am a gay American,” Jim McGreevey is back on the campaign trail, running for mayor of the state’s second-largest city.

    McGreevey, a Democrat, is one of seven candidates in a nonpartisan race to replace Steven Fulop as mayor of Jersey City, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan.

    He’s running, he said, because he’s concerned that the city of his birth is at a “tipping point,” with pricy downtown high-rises raising housing costs, young people struggling to find employment and what he says are underperforming schools.

    “This is not a cathartic exercise,” McGreevey told The Associated Press in an interview ahead of Tuesday’s election. “I’ve done that long ago. That was done 20-plus years ago. This is to make Jersey City better. To improve services. To balance the budget. To be responsive to familial needs.”

    McGreevey’s opponents include two city council members, a Hudson County commissioner, a city police officer and the former president of the city’s board of education. Fulop isn’t seeking a fourth term.

    If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, a runoff election will be held Dec. 2.


    Opponent: I never had to ‘resign in disgrace’

    McGreevey’s resignation is etched in New Jersey political lore.

    In a televised speech on Aug. 12, 2004, McGreevey said, as his wife and parents looked on, that he was quitting because he had engaged in an extramarital affair with another man. With that revelation, he became the country’s first openly gay governor.

    The circumstances of McGreevey’s exit were more complicated than his merely coming out. The man McGreevey had been involved with was Golan Cipel, a former Israeli naval officer he had appointed as the state’s homeland security adviser in 2002.

    Cipel, who met McGreevey in Israel and worked for his campaign as a Jewish community liaison, was not qualified for the $110,000-per-year position, in part because, as an Israeli citizen, he couldn’t obtain the necessary U.S. security clearances.

    Cipel quit a few months into his tenure and threatened to sue McGreevey for sexual harassment, hastening the governor’s resignation. Cipel has denied that any affair occurred, saying he was the victim of McGreevey’s “repeated sexual advances.”

    Some of McGreevey’s opponents in the mayoral race have argued that his conduct as governor should disqualify him with voters. One rival, city council member James Solomon, argued that McGreevey’s run is an extension of corruption that he claimed infected his time as governor.

    Another rival, former school board president Mussab Ali, said at a recent debate: “I have never had the experience of having to resign in disgrace.”

    “My opponents may care about what happened 20 years ago,” McGreevey said. “Folks in Jersey City are worried about their rent today, worried about the children’s individual education plan today. They’re concerned about the fact that the street is dirty or that there’s a sewer break on Montgomery (Street).”


    McGreevey: ‘This would be a great closing act’

    Jersey City is where McGreevey’s grandfather moved after leaving Northern Ireland, and where his father took him for meals at the VIP Diner — a time capsule where the pay phones still work.

    And it’s where McGreevey, 68, who now runs a prison reentry nonprofit, would like to finish his once-promising political career by managing a city of nearly 303,000 residents with a municipal budget of about $700 million.

    “This would be a great closing act,” McGreevey said, an American flag pin on his lapel. “And candidly, to get the city in the right place, it’ll require some time.”

    McGreevey said he’d long ago made peace with being out of politics. He got divorced, attended an Episcopal seminary, earned a Master of Divinity degree, volunteered at a Harlem ministry and took steps to become a priest before pivoting to nonprofit work.

    As executive director of the Jersey City-based New Jersey Reentry Corporation, he said he has seen the difficulty formerly incarcerated people and veterans have finding housing and employment.

    McGreevey launched his campaign on Halloween in 2023 and posted a video soon after acknowledging his past. The title: “Second chances are central to who I am.”

    His run has drawn parallels to another ex-governor looking for a second chance. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned after being accused of sexual harassment, is running for mayor of neighboring New York City.


    McGreevey: ‘I enjoy people more. I enjoy politics a lot less’

    McGreevey said his absence from public life has given him a perspective on how politics has changed and become more polarized.

    A former prosecutor and head of the state parole board, McGreevey entered politics in 1990 as a member of the state assembly. Before becoming governor in 2002, he was mayor of Woodbridge Township, a suburb of about 103,000 residents.

    “When I was a young Assemblyman, we would campaign hard on the Democratic ticket, but then, after I was elected, you would work with Democrats and Republicans on committees, on legislation,” McGreevey said. “My sense is today, whether it’s the city or the state or the nation, almost everything is viewed through a political lens as opposed to a governmental lens.”

    Twenty years away has also changed McGreevey, he says.

    “I enjoy people more. I enjoy politics a lot less,” he said.

    Whether enough people like McGreevey and his politics enough to give him that second chance will become clearer in the weeks ahead.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Lawyers for Comey Seek Grand Jury Transcript, Bringing Fresh Challenge to a Case Pushed by Trump

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey want to review a transcript and audio recording of grand jury proceedings in his criminal case, citing what they say were “irregularities” in the process that should result in the dismissal of an indictment pushed by President Donald Trump.

    The request is one in a series of challenges that defense lawyers have waged against a criminal case charging Comey with making a false statement to Congress five years ago.

    Defense lawyers last week asked for the case to be thrown out before trial on the grounds that it constituted a vindictive prosecution and because they say the hastily appointed U.S. attorney who filed the indictment was illegally appointed to the job.

    Comey’s lawyers leveled new arguments against that prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, saying in a filing Thursday that her inexperience had tainted the process, created confusion and raised the prosecution that legal and factual errors were presented to the grand jury that returned the indictment.

    As examples, they cite the fact that the indictment was secured after hours with only 14 grand juror votes and that Halligan erroneously signed two separate indictments — including one containing a charge that the grand jury rejected.

    “All available information regarding Ms. Halligan’s first-ever grand jury presentation smacks of irregularity,” Comey’s lawyers wrote. “It is virtually unheard of for a brand-new prosecutor to make her first grand jury presentation alone, without the supervision and guidance of an experienced prosecutor to ensure the absence of factual and legal errors.”

    Trump had announced his plan to nominate Halligan as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia just one day after the prosecutor who had held the job, Erik Siebert, resigned under Trump administration pressure. In declaring his support for Halligan, Trump complained in a Truth Social post directed to Attorney General Pam Bondi that “nothing is being done” on investigations into some of his foes and called for action, specifically referencing inquiries into Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California.

    “Although such inexperience alone would not ordinarily satisfy the defense’s burden for unsealing grand jury materials, that inexperience must be viewed alongside Ms. Halligan’s likely motive to obtain an indictment to satisfy the President’s demands, the inaccuracies in the indictment, and the determination of every career prosecutor to consider the case that charges were not warranted,” Comey’s lawyers wrote.

    In separate filings Thursday, Comey’s legal team also requested specific details about the conduct at the center of the criminal case, saying the terse indictment is not even clear as to what Comey is alleged to have done wrong. They also asserted that the answers he gave to “fundamentally ambiguous questions” at the Senate hearing at which he is alleged to have lied were “literally true” and that therefore the case must be dismissed.

    The indictment accuses Comey of having misled the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 30, 2020, in response to questions from Republican Sen. Ted Cruz about whether Comey had authorized a news media leak. But Comey’s lawyers say the indictment misstates his exchange with Cruz, attributing to Comey statements he did not make.

    The defense team says the indictment omits context from Cruz’s question that made clear he was asking Comey if he had authorized his deputy director, Andrew McCabe, to serve as an anonymous source to the news media. The lawyers say the indictment misleadingly suggests the questioning from Cruz concerned another person, a Columbia University law professor and Comey friend named Daniel Richman. An earlier FBI investigation into whether Comey had disclosed classified information through Richman concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge either man.

    “Senator Cruz’s questions are fundamentally ambiguous because people of ordinary intellect would not be expected to understand that he meant to ask a broad question about Mr. Comey’s interactions with anyone at the FBI — including Daniel Richman — during a colloquy focused on Mr. McCabe,” Comey’s lawyers wrote. “On the contrary, a reasonable person readily would have understood Senator Cruz to be asking only whether Mr. Comey had specifically authorized Mr. McCabe to be an anonymous source in news reports.”

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Ohio Panel Unveils Proposed US House Map That Could Help Republicans Win More Seats

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    Ohio’s Republican-led redistricting commission unveiled a proposed U.S. House map Thursday that could give Republicans a chance at winning two more seats in next year’s midterm elections, bolstering President Donald Trump’s efforts to hold on to a slim congressional majority.

    Ohio’s redistricting plan comes amid a nationwide battle for partisan advantage ahead of next year’s congressional elections. Trump kick-started the fray this summer by urging Republican-led states to reshape their U.S. House districts in an attempt to win more seats. Republican lawmakers in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina already have done so.

    Democrats in California have countered with their own redistricting plan being decided by voters in a Tuesday election. And other states, including Republican-led Indiana and Virginia‘s Democratic-led General Assembly, are convening in special sessions aimed at redistricting.

    Unlike those other states, which are voluntarily redrawing districts, Ohio is required by its state constitution to enact new congressional districts before the 2026 elections because the current map was adopted by Republican officials without bipartisan support. Republicans currently hold 10 of Ohio’s 15 congressional seats, but some Republicans view the mandatory redistricting as opportunity to expand upon that.

    The proposed map appears to increase Republican chances in the districts held by Democratic U.S. Reps. Greg Landsman in Cincinnati and Marcy Kaptur around Toledo, an area that gave Trump a majority in the 2024 presidential election. Kaptur won a 22nd term last fall by about 2,400 votes, or less than 1 percentage point. Landsman was reelected with more than 54% of the vote last year.

    Each seat could be pivotal, because Democrats need to gain just three seats nationally in next year’s elections to win control of the House from Republicans and impede Trump’s agenda. The president’s party historically has lost seats in midterm elections.

    The Ohio Redistricting Commission faces a Friday deadline to adopt a new map, which would require support from at least two Republicans and two Democrats on the seven-member panel.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • 4 Republicans Back Senate Resolution to Undo Trump’s Tariffs Around the Globe

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed a resolution Thursday that would undo many of President Donald Trump’s tariffs around the globe, the latest note of displeasure at his trade tactics in Washington that came just as the president celebrated his negotiations with China as a success.

    After a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea, Trump said he would cut tariffs on the Asian economic giant and China would in turn purchase 25 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans annually for the next three years. The Republican president claimed his trade negotiation would secure “prosperity and security to millions of Americans.”

    But back in Washington, senators — several from Trump’s Republican Party — have demonstrated their dissent with Trump’s tariff tactics by passing a series of resolutions this week that would nullify the national emergencies that Trump has declared to justify the import taxes. Already this week, the Senate approved resolutions to end tariffs imposed on Brazil and Canada. While the legislative efforts are ultimately doomed, they exposed fault lines in the GOP.

    The latest resolution, which would effectively end most of Trump’s tariff policies, passed on a 51-47 vote, with four Republicans joining with all Democrats.

    Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who backed Democrats on the resolutions, credited Trump for decreasing the tariffs on China, but said the result is “still much higher than we’ve had.”

    “It still will lead to increased prices,” he said.

    The votes were orchestrated by Democrats using a decades-old law that allows Congress to nullify a presidential emergency. But House Republicans have instituted a new law that allows the leadership to prevent such resolutions from coming up for a vote. Plus, Trump would surely veto legislation that inhibits his power over trade policy, meaning the legislation won’t ultimately take effect.


    Democrats can force a vote but not a result

    But Democrats have still been able to force the Senate to take up an uncomfortable topic for their Republican colleagues.

    “American families are being squeezed by prices going up and up and up,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, in a floor speech. He added that “in many ways, red states in rural areas are being hit the hardest,” and pointed to economic strain being put on farmers and manufacturers.

    Overall there has been little movement among Republicans to oppose Trump’s import taxes publicly. A nearly identical resolution failed in April on a tied vote after Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was absent. On Thursday, McConnell and Paul, as well as Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, voted along with all Democrats to pass the resolution.

    Those four Republicans helped advance similar resolutions this week to end the tariffs on Brazil and Canada. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, also voted in favor of the resolution applying to Brazil, but otherwise, GOP senators have held the line this week behind the president.

    “I agree with my colleagues that tariffs should be more targeted to avoid harm to Americans,” said Sen. Mike Crapo, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, in a floor speech. Yet he added that Trump’s negotiations “are bearing fruit” and praised his announcement that Beijing would allow the export of rare earth elements and start buying American soybeans again.

    Republicans representing farm states were especially enthused by the announcement that China would be purchasing 25 million metric tons of soybeans annually, starting with 10 million metric tons for the rest of this year.

    Sen. Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican, said the deal with China “absolutely” justifies Trump’s use of tariff threats to negotiate trade policy with other nations. He called the announcement “huge news” for Kansas farmers, but also acknowledged that they would still probably need financial help as they deal with the strain of losing their biggest customer for soybeans and sorghum.

    “It’s not like you can snap your finger and send over $15 billion worth of sorghum and soybeans together overnight,” he said.

    China had been the largest purchaser of U.S. soybeans until this year. It purchased almost 27 million metric tons in 2024, so Trump’s negotiated deal only guarantees to return soybean exports to China to less than their previous level.

    Democrats said that Americans shouldn’t be fooled by Trump’s announcement.

    “Donald Trump has folded, leaving American families and farmers and small businesses to deal with the wreckage from his blunders, from his erratic on again off again tariff policies,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Judge to Consider Demand to Force the Government to Keep Funding SNAP Food Aid Despite the Shutdown

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    BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge in Boston on Thursday will consider a motion that would require the Trump administration to continue funding the SNAP food aid program despite the government shutdown.

    The hearing in front of U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani comes two days before the U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to freeze payments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program because it said it can’t continue funding it due to the shutdown.

    The program serves about 1 in 8 Americans and is a major piece of the nation’s social safety net. Word in October that it would be a Nov. 1 casualty of the shutdown sent states, food banks and SNAP recipients scrambling to figure out how to secure food. Some states said they would spend their funds to keep versions of the program going.

    Democratic state attorneys general or governors from 25 states, as well as the District of Columbia, challenged the plan to pause the program, contending that the administration has a legal obligation to keep it running.

    The administration said it wasn’t allowed to use a contingency fund with about $5 billion in it for the program, which reversed a USDA plan from before the shutdown that said that money would be tapped to keep SNAP running. The Democratic officials argued that not only could that money be used: it must be. They also said a separate fund with around $23 billion is available for the cause.

    The program costs around $8 billion per month.

    It wasn’t immediately clear how quickly the debit cards that beneficiaries use to buy groceries could be reloaded after the ruling. That process often takes one to two weeks.

    To qualify for SNAP this year, a family of four’s net income can’t exceed the federal poverty line, or around $31,000 per year. Last year, SNAP provided assistance to 41 million people, nearly two-thirds of whom are families with children, according to the lawsuit.

    Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, New Jersey.

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  • AP Decision Notes: What to Expect in Minnesota on Election Day

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — The two-term mayor of Minneapolis who led the city during the murder of George Floyd is seeking reelection Tuesday against more than a dozen challengers, including a democratic socialist advocating for a change to the “status quo.”

    Beyond the mayoral race, voters will fill two vacancies in state Senate districts — one seat previously held by a Democrat who resigned after a burglary conviction, the other by a Republican who died in office. Democrats currently hold a one-seat majority in the chamber.

    Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, is one of 15 candidates on the ballot. His best-funded and highest-profile challenger is state Sen. Omar Fateh, who describes himself as a democratic socialist.

    Minneapolis implemented ranked choice voting in 2009, allowing voters to choose up to three candidates in order of preference on their ballot. If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, the candidates with the weakest performance are dropped — including the candidate with the lowest number of first-choice rankings and those with no mathematical path to win. The votes from those eliminated candidates are reallocated to voters’ next-highest choices. That process continues until a candidate receives 50% of the vote.

    Frey has been the top fundraiser in the race and has support from a political action committee that is funding digital ads criticizing Fateh. Frey also has backing from Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

    Fateh has framed his campaign as a fight against the “status quo” and asked his supporters to rank DeWayne Davis and Jazz Hampton as their two other top choices. All three are running as Democrats. Fateh has been endorsed by Rep. Ilhan Omar, who represents Minneapolis in Congress.

    Fateh, the son of Somali immigrants, could make inroads with the city’s sizable Somali American population in neighborhoods like Cedar-Riverside. His Senate district includes the heart of the city’s Somali American community.

    Every mayoral race since 2013 has gone to at least a second round of ranked-voting. In 2021, Frey won after two rounds of tabulation, in a reelection race that put a spotlight on his leadership after Floyd’s killing. In 2017, when Frey ousted an incumbent, it took six rounds of tabulation. In 2013, it took 34 rounds to declare Betsy Hodges the winner of the mayoral race.

    District 47 is vacant after its former senator, Democrat Nicole Mitchell, resigned. She was convicted of burglary for breaking into her estranged stepmother’s Detroit Lakes home.

    The Democratic nominee, state Rep. Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger, won the nomination with 82% of the vote. The Republican nominee is Dwight Dorau, who ran unopposed in the primary. Then-Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris carried the district with about 60% of the vote in 2024 and Mitchell last won with 59% of the vote.

    Most of the suburban district falls in Washington County, with a small portion stretching southward into Ramsey County. In Minnesota, each state Senate district is divided into two state House districts, and Hemmingsen-Jaeger represents half of District 47 in the state House.

    Hemmingsen-Jaeger’s House district includes parts of Maplewood and Woodbury. She won her seat in 2022 and won her 2024 reelection with about 60% of the vote.

    State Sen. Bruce Anderson, a Republican who was first elected to the Legislature in 1994, died in July, prompting a special election. Most of District 29 falls into Wright County, with smaller slices of the district stretching into Meeker and Hennepin counties.

    The Republican nominee, Michael Holmstrom Jr., won the August primary with 73% of the vote. He’s campaigned as a Buffalo business owner with a background in Republican activism, including opposition to abortion. He faces Democrat Louis McNutt, who ran unopposed in the primary. Past results indicate that the district favors Republicans. Anderson won his last several reelection campaigns with upwards of 60% of the vote, and Republican Donald Trump carried the district in 2024 with about 65%.

    Here’s a look at what to expect on Tuesday:

    Polls close at 8 p.m. local time, which is 9 p.m. ET.

    The AP will provide vote results and declare winners in the Minneapolis mayoral race and in the two state Senate special elections. Municipal elections will be held for local offices across the state, such as the Minneapolis City Council, St. Paul mayor and Duluth School Board, but those contests will not be included in AP’s vote tabulation.

    Any eligible voter in Minneapolis may participate in the mayoral general election. Eligible voters in state Senate districts 29 and 47 may participate in the special elections in their district.


    What do turnout and advance vote look like?

    As of June, there were about 253,000 registered voters in Minneapolis. In the 2021 mayoral election, turnout was about 54% of registered voters. About 20% of ballots in that election were cast before Election Day.

    As of Oct. 28, a total of 15,525 ballots had been cast in Minneapolis before Election Day.

    Both state Senate Districts 29 and 47 had about 59,000 registered voters as of June. About 68% of registered voters in District 29 voted in the 2022 general election, with about 16% of those voters casting ballots early or by absentee. In District 47, turnout in 2022 was about 69% of registered voters, with about 32% of voters casting ballots early or by absentee.


    How long does vote counting usually take?

    In the 2024 presidential election, the AP first reported results in Hennepin County at 9:34 p.m. ET, or 34 minutes after polls closed. The election night tabulation ended at 2:59 a.m. ET with more than 99% of total votes counted.

    In the 2022 general election, the AP first reported results in state Senate District 29 at 10:10 p.m. ET and in District 47 at 10:49 p.m. ET.

    Vote tabulation in District 29 stopped for the night at 1:22 a.m. ET with about 91% of total votes counted. In District 47, the election night vote tabulation stopped at 12:10 a.m. ET with nearly 100% of the vote counted.

    As of Tuesday, there will be 364 days until the 2026 midterm elections and 1,099 days until the 2028 general election.

    Associated Press writer Robert Yoon contributed to this report.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • AP Decision Notes: What to Expect in Texas on Election Day

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Texans will vote on a large menu of constitutional amendments Tuesday while some Houston voters will choose among 16 candidates from across the ideological spectrum in a special election to fill a vacant congressional seat.

    Voters will check off whether they are “for” or “against” 17 state constitutional amendments on issues ranging from parents’ rights, judicial conduct, changes to the bail system, state taxes and more. Plus, there are citywide ballot measures, local and municipal elections and a Fort Worth state Senate race.

    Most of the statewide ballot measures deal with taxes: capital gains (Proposition 2), animal feed (Proposition 5), and securities (Proposition 6), to name a few.

    Two ballot measures in particular reflect national Republicans’ political messaging. Proposition 15 affirms “that parents are the primary decision makers for their children,” an animating issue for Gov. Greg Abbott and congressional Republicans. Proposition 16 clarifies “that a voter must be a United States citizen,” though it is already illegal for people who are not U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections. The Tarrant County Democratic Party’s voting guide says it remains “neutral” on Propositions 15 and 16 since they restate “existing law,” while the Bexar County Democratic Party uses that same reasoning to oppose both ballot measures.

    Sixteen candidates are running in the 18th Congressional District, after the death of Rep. Sylvester Turner. If no candidate surpasses 50% of the vote, the top two vote getters will advance to a runoff election. Kamala Harris carried the Houston district, which includes George Bush Intercontinental Airport, by 40 percentage points in 2024, putting Democrats in a strong position to hold the seat.

    The seat is vacant after two of its representatives died within less than a year of one another. Longtime Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee died in July 2024. Her daughter, Erica Lee Carter, finished Jackson Lee’s term and endorsed Turner to fill the seat afterward. But Turner died two months into his term, spurring the upcoming special election.

    Lee Carter endorsed Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, who also won support from high-profile Texas Democrats including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Colin Allred, and Beto O’Rourke.

    Amanda Edwards – a former city council member who lost a primary challenge to Jackson Lee – is one of the top fundraisers in the race and has backing from EMILY’s List, a national group that supports women running for office. State Rep. Jolanda Jones, who represents part of Houston, is backed by LGBTQ+ Victory Fund. Isaiah Martin, who has more than 600,000 TikTok followers, is running as the self-described “Gen-Zer” candidate.

    There are five Republican candidates on the ballot, including Theodis Daniel, the father of a childhood cancer survivor who was made an honorary Secret Service agent during Trump’s last Joint Speech to Congress. Also on the ballot is independent candidate George Edward Foreman IV, the son of the late heavyweight boxing champion.

    Here’s a look at what to expect on Tuesday:

    Polls close statewide at 7 p.m. local time, but the state is split into two times zones. Polls in most of Texas close at 8 p.m. ET., while polls in the westernmost part of the state close at 9 p.m. ET. The 18th Congressional District is located entirely within the Central Time Zone, so polls there close at 8 p.m. ET.

    The AP will provide vote results and declare winners in the special election in the 18th Congressional District and for 17 statewide ballot measures.

    Any registered voter in Texas may cast a ballot on the 17 statewide ballot measures. Any voter registered in the 18th Congressional District may participate in the special election.


    What do turnout and advance vote look like?

    As of January, there were about 18.3 million registered voters in Texas. Voters do not register by party.

    In the 2024 presidential election, turnout was about 61% of registered voters. About 80% of voters in that election were cast before Election Day.

    There were just shy of 420,000 voters registered in the 18th Congressional District in that election, and roughly 52% of them voted in that election. About 78% of ballots were cast early or by absentee before Election Day.

    As of Oct. 28, a total of 759,969 ballots had been cast before Election Day. See the AP Early Vote Tracker for the latest update.


    How long does vote counting usually take?

    In the 2024 presidential election, the AP first reported results at 8 p.m. ET, just as polls closed in the Central Time Zone. By the time polls closed in the Mountain Time Zone at 9 p.m. ET, about 62% of votes had been counted. More than 99% of the vote had been counted by noon ET the following day.

    In the 18th Congressional District race that year, the AP first reported results at 8:31 p.m. ET. By 9:07 a.m. ET the following morning, 99% of the vote had been tabulated.

    As of Tuesday, there will be 364 days until the 2026 midterm elections and 1,099 days until the 2028 general election.

    Associated Press writer Robert Yoon contributed to this report.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • US Army Corps of Engineers Approves Enbridge Plan to Encase Aging Great Lakes Oil Pipeline

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    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday approved energy company Enbridge’s plans to encase a segment of an aging oil pipeline that runs beneath a Great Lakes channel, pushing past its own findings that construction could ruin the environmentally sensitive area.

    The corps initially planned to issue a permitting decision early next year. The agency fast-tracked the project in April after President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to identify energy projects for expedited emergency permitting.

    “The approval of the Enbridge Line 5 reroute application is a great success and will advance the President’s energy dominance agenda for America,” Adam Telle, assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, said in a statement.

    The corps released an environmental analysis in May that concluded tunnel construction would protect the pipeline but the work could destroy wetlands and archeological sites, harm bat habitats, disturb aquatic life, mar lake vistas and potentially trigger an underwater explosion.

    The corps still issued Enbridge a permit, saying Wednesday that the application complied with all applicable federal laws and regulations.

    Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

    Enbridge now needs only a permit from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy to begin the $500 million-plus project. Environmentalists have been pressuring the state to deny the application.

    Enbridge has been using the Line 5 pipeline to transport crude oil and natural gas liquids between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario, since 1953. Roughly 4 miles (6 kilometers) of the pipeline runs along the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac, a channel linking Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

    Concerns about the segment rupturing and causing a catastrophic spill have been growing since 2017, when Enbridge officials revealed that engineers had known about gaps in the segment’s coating for three years. A boat anchor damaged the line in 2018, further stoking fears.

    Enbridge officials maintain the segment is structurally sound. Still, they reached a deal with then-Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration in 2018 calling for the company to build a protective tunnel around the segment.

    Conservationists and a number of Native American tribes have balked at the proposal, calling it too risky and demanding Enbridge simply shut down the pipeline. The project has become entangled in multiple lawsuits.

    Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, sued in 2019 seeking to void the easement that allows Enbridge to operate the pipeline in the straits. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently weighing whether the case belongs in federal or state court.

    Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, ordered her regulators in 2020 to revoke the easement allowing the segment to operate in the straits. Enbridge filed a federal lawsuit that same year seeking to invalidate the order. Trump has inserted himself into that dispute, too. His administration filed briefs in September arguing Whitmer interfered with U.S. foreign policy when she revoked the easements.

    The Michigan Public Service Commission issued permits in 2023, prompting another lawsuit from environmental groups and tribes. A Michigan appeals court upheld the permits this past February.

    AP reporter Steve Karnowski contributed to this story.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Senate Is Voting on a Democratic Effort to Block Trump’s Tariffs on Canadian Imports

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is voting on legislation Wednesday that would nullify U.S. tariffs on Canada, just as President Donald Trump is engaged in trade talks in Asia as well as an increasingly bitter trade spat with U.S.’s northern neighbor that is one of its largest economic partners.

    Senators have taken a series of votes this week to terminate the national emergencies that Trump has used to impose tariffs. While the resolutions won’t ultimately take effect, they have proven to be an effective way for Democrats to expose cracks between the president’s trade policy and Republican senators who have traditionally supported free trade arguments.

    Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, the Democrat pushing the resolutions, said that higher prices caused by tariffs would force Republicans to break with Trump. “It will become untenable for them to just close their eyes and say, ‘I’m signing up for whatever the president wants to do,’” Kaine told reporters.

    Kaine, joined by other Democrats and Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, has forced the votes under a decades-old law that allows Congress to block a president’s emergency powers. However, House Republicans have passed new rules that allow leaders to prevent such resolutions from getting a vote in that chamber, and Trump could veto the legislation even if it did clear Congress.

    Wednesday’s vote happened as Trump was in Asia to advance trade talks with partners there. The president has also been jousting with Canadian officials amid a delicate negotiation to reduce tariffs between the two countries.

    Sen. Mike Crapo, the Republican chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, acknowledged in a floor speech that many “may be nervous about what comes next” as Trump remakes global trade. But he urged Congress to stay out of the way.

    “Let’s truly get a balanced, fair playing field in trade,” Crapo added.

    Yet there is increasing tension between GOP senators and the president over how soybean farmers have suffered from the trade war with China, as well as his administration’s plans to allow the purchase of more beef from Argentina.

    Vice President JD Vance visited Republicans during a closed-door luncheon this week and also argued that they should steer clear of trade policy while the president negotiates deals. But Vance’s efforts appeared to have little impact on those determined to vote against the tariffs.

    “Retaliatory tariffs on American products have turned agricultural income upside down for many of Kentucky’s nearly 70,000 family farms,” said Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former longtime Republican Senate leader, in a statement. “Bourbon has been caught in the crossfire from day one. And consumers are paying higher prices across the board as the true costs of trade barriers fall inevitably on them.”

    Trump said earlier this week he wanted to impose another 10% tariff hike on imports of Canadian goods because of an anti-tariff television ad aired by the province of Ontario. The television ad used the words of former President Ronald Reagan to criticize U.S. tariffs.

    Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has been trying to engage with Trump to ease the import taxes that have hit Canada hard. The U.S.-Canada economic relationship is one of the largest globally, totaling $909.1 billion in 2024, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. More than three-quarters of Canadian exports go to the U.S., and nearly $3.6 billion Canadian ($2.7 billion U.S.) worth of goods and services cross the border daily.

    Canada has also tried to turn to Asian trading partners amid the trade war.

    Democrats argued the trade war was impacting a range of industries, from farmers to shipbuilders. They also said it made little sense to engage in a trade war with a close military ally.

    Trump has invoked a national emergency to impose the tariffs, saying that fentanyl and other illegal drugs are entering the country from Canada. So far this year, less than 1% of the total fentanyl seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 66 pounds, was seized at the northern border.

    Kaine argued in a floor speech that Trump’s trade policy was actually hinging on his personal feelings. He claimed that Trump had “such thin skin that an ad on television quoting Ronald Reagan” had hurt his feelings and prompted an end to the negotiations.

    He asked, “How about that as a rationale for trade policy?”

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Virginia Democrats Advance Plan to Counter Trump-Spawned Redistricting in Red States

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    (Reuters) -The Democratic-controlled Virginia House of Delegates voted on Wednesday to amend the state constitution to allow legislators to redraw Virginia’s congressional maps next year, joining a multistate mid-decade restricting war spawned by President Donald Trump.

    Passage of the resolution, on a party-line vote of 51-42, sent the measure to the Virginia state Senate, where the Democratic majority in that chamber is expected to approve the measure as well.

    (Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles, Editing by Franklin Paul)

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  • Donald Trump Jr. Mocks ‘No Kings’ Protests and Praises Father’s Approach to Mideast at Saudi Summit

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Donald Trump Jr. on Wednesday mocked protesters who took part in “No Kings” demonstrations across the United States while praising his father’s business-first approach to the Middle East during a visit to Saudi Arabia.

    Trump spoke before business leaders and Saudi officials at the Future Investment Initiative, the brainchild of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who feted President Donald Trump during his Mideast tour in May to the kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

    In particular, Trump mocked the “No Kings” protests which drew tens of thousands of peoples to demonstrations across America, claiming it was “not an organic movement, it’s entirely manufactured and paid for by the usual puppets around the world and their” groups.

    “If my father was a king, he probably wouldn’t have allowed those protests to happen,” he said. “You saw the people that were actually protesting — it’s the same crazy liberals from the ‘60s and ’70s, they’re just a lot older and fatter.”

    Trump made the comments while visiting a nation ruled by an absolute monarchy where dissent is criminalized.

    The “No Kings” demonstrations, the third mass mobilization since his father’s return to the White House, came against the backdrop of a government shutdown that is testing the core balance of power in the United States in a way protest organizers warn is a slide toward authoritarianism.

    Trump separately acknowledged it was his first trip to Saudi Arabia and praised the changes he saw in the kingdom.

    “When my father came here, unlike the last presidents who visited here, it wasn’t an apology tour,” Trump said. “It was, ‘How do we work together? How do we grow our respective economies? How do we create peace and stability in the region?’”

    “There can be ‘America-First’ component to that, but there also can be a ‘Saudi-First’ component to that and everyone can actually benefit,” he added.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • AP Decision Notes: What to Expect in Atlanta on Election Day

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens is running for reelection Tuesday against three lesser-known candidates, arguing that Atlanta has seen major improvements during his first term in office.

    The race is nonpartisan, though Dickens is a Democrat. He faces former police officer Kalema Jackson, progressive Eddie Meredith and Republican Helmut “Love” Domagalski.

    Dickens’ campaign is spending $350,000 on ads, according to AdImpact, a firm that tracks advertising. He was the only candidate on air as of the week before Election Day.

    While Dickens was an underdog in his 2021 election, he’s in a much more favorable position this year. Atlanta has a long history of awarding mayors second terms if they seek reelection. Former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was an exception but she didn’t seek a second term.

    Candidates for Atlanta mayor must win a majority of votes to be elected. If no one surpasses that threshold, the top two vote getters would advance to a runoff election on Dec. 2.

    Dickens was elected in a runoff election in 2021 after finishing second in the initial election to Felicia Moore.

    Most of Atlanta’s voters are in Fulton County, with a smaller number in DeKalb County.

    Polls close in Atlanta at 8 p.m. ET.

    The AP will provide vote results and declare winners in the general election for Atlanta mayor.

    Registered voters in Atlanta may vote for mayor.


    What do turnout and advance vote look like?

    In 2024, about 199,000 people voted in the City Council At-Large election. About 75% of those votes were cast early in person, 5% cast by mail, and 20% cast in person on Election Day in person.

    As of Tuesday, nearly 23,000 ballots had been cast before Election Day.


    How long does vote counting usually take?

    A little more than 97,000 people voted in the 2021 race for Atlanta mayor. Dekalb County first reported results almost an hour after polls closed, and Fulton County first reported votes about 15 minutes later. The election night tabulation ended at 1:49 a.m., with 99% of votes counted.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • AP Decision Notes: What to Expect in Detroit on Election Day

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    DETROIT (AP) — Detroit voters will choose a new mayor Tuesday in the city’s first open-seat mayoral race in a dozen years.

    City Council President Mary Sheffield and Triumph Church pastor Solomon Kinloch, both Democrats, will face off for the city’s top job after placing first and second in the Aug. 5 nonpartisan primary. The winner will replace outgoing three-term Mayor Mike Duggan, who is running for governor of Michigan as an independent.

    Still, the next mayor will face numerous challenges, including a shortage of affordable housing and vast economic disparities along racial lines.

    Sheffield has led the field in fundraising throughout the campaign. As of the August primary, her campaign fund more than doubled that of her eight competitors combined.

    In the general election, she has far outraised and outspent Kinloch. As of Oct. 19, her campaign had spent more than $1.8 million on her campaign and had roughly $772,000 in the bank. By that same point, Kinloch had spent about $160,000 on the race and had less than $11,000 remaining in the bank.

    Since receiving more than 50% of the vote in the August primary, Sheffield has picked up key endorsements from Duggan, as well as from two of her former primary opponents, former city council president Saunteel Jenkins and city council member Fred Durhal. Jenkins received 16% of the primary vote, narrowly losing a spot on the general election ballot to Kinloch, who received about 17%. Durhal received about 3% of the vote.

    The Detroit electorate is overwhelmingly Democratic. In the 2024 presidential election, voters in the city supported Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris over Republican Donald Trump by about a 9-1 ratio.

    At a September rally in Howell, Michigan, Vice President JD Vance sent a public message to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that the administration is “happy” to send the National Guard to Detroit. “All you gotta do is ask,” he said.

    The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

    Michigan’s mandatory recount law does not apply to Detroit’s mayoral race. Instead, candidates may request and pay for a recount, with the payment refunded if the recount changes the outcome. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

    Here’s a look at what to expect on Tuesday:

    Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

    The AP will provide vote results and declare the winner in Detroit’s mayoral race.

    Any voter registered in Detroit may participate in the mayoral general election.


    What do turnout and advance vote look like?

    There were more than 518,000 registered voters in Detroit as of the August mayoral primary.

    Turnout in that primary was about 17% of registered voters. About 32% of mayoral primary voters cast their ballots in person, while the remaining 68% voted early in person or by absentee ballot.

    Turnout in the 2021 mayoral general election was about 19% of registered voters, with about 67% of voters casting early or absentee ballots.

    As of Monday, nearly 45,000 ballots had been cast in Detroit before Election Day.


    How long does vote counting usually take?

    In the August primary, the AP first reported results at 8:32 p.m. ET, or 32 minutes after polls closed. The vote tabulation ended for the night at 4:30 a.m. ET, with 100% of votes counted.

    As of Tuesday, there will be 364 days until the 2026 midterm elections and 1,099 days until the 2028 general election.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • The East Wing Demolition Was ‘Jarring.’ but a White House History Buff Sees a Silver Lining

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Stewart McLaurin knew it was coming.

    An entire wing of the White House, a building he calls “the most special, important building on the planet,” was going to be replaced to make way for a ballroom that President Donald Trump wants to add to the building.

    “When the reality of things happen, they strike us a little bit differently than the theory of things happening, so it was a bit of a jarring moment,” McLaurin told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Tuesday.

    McLaurin, who has led the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization for more than a decade, did not take a position on the changes. It’s not his job. “Ours is not to make happen, or to keep from happening — but to document what does happen, what happens in this great home that we call the White House,” he said.

    But he said he sees a silver lining from the “jarring” images: they have piqued public interest in White House history.

    “What has happened since then is so amazing in that in the past two weeks, more people have been talking about White House history, focused on White House history, learning what is an East Wing, what is the West Wing … what are these spaces in this building that we simply call the White House,” McLaurin said.


    Trump demolishes the East Wing

    The general public became aware of the demolition work on Oct. 20 after photos of construction equipment ripping into the building began to circulate online, prompting an outcry from Democrats, preservationists and others.

    In a matter of days, the entire two-story East Wing — the traditional base of operations for first ladies and their staffs — was gone. The demolition included a covered walkway between the White House, the family movie theater and a garden dedicated to first lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

    Trump had talked about building a ballroom for years, and pushed ahead with his vision when he returned to office in January. His proposal calls for a 90,000-square-foot structure, almost twice the size of the 55,000-square-foot White House itself and able to accommodate 1,000 people. The plan also includes building a more modern East Wing, officials have said.

    The Republican president ordered the demolition despite not yet having sign-off for the ballroom construction from the National Capital Planning Commission, one of several entities with a role in approving additions to federal buildings and property. The White House has yet to submit the ballroom plans for the commission’s review because it is closed during the government shutdown.

    Trump appointed loyalists to the planning commission in July. On Tuesday, he also fired the six members of the Commission of Fine Arts, a group of architectural experts that advises the federal government on historic preservation and public buildings. A new slate of members who are more aligned with Trump’s policies will be named, a White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly on personnel decisions. The Washington Post was first to report the firings.


    East Wing art and furnishings preserved

    It was the job of the White House curator and their staff to carefully remove, catalogue and store the art, the official portraits of former first ladies, and furnishings from the East Wing, McLaurin said.

    The White House Historical Association does not have a decision-making role in the construction. But it has been working with the White House to prepare for the changes.

    “We had known since late summer that the staff of the East Wing had moved out. I actually made my last visit on the last day of tours on August the 28th,” McLaurin said.

    Working with the curator and chief usher, the association used 3D scanning technology “so that every room, space, nook and cranny of the East Wing, whether it was molding or hinges or door knobs or whatever it was, was captured to the -nth degree” to be digitally recreated as an exhibit or to teach the history of that space, McLaurin said.

    A photographer also documented the building as it was being taken apart.

    It will be a while before any images are available, but McLaurin said items were found when flooring was pulled up and when wall coverings were pulled back that “no living person remembered were there. So those will be lessons in history.”


    White House has grown over the years

    Trump’s aides have responded to criticism of the demolition by arguing that other presidents have made changes to the White House, too. Trump has said the White House needs a bigger entertaining space.

    McLaurin said the building continues to evolve from what it looked like when it was built in 1792.

    “There is a need to modernize and to grow,” he said, noting that White House social secretaries for generations have chafed at the space limitations for entertaining. “But how it’s done and how it’s accomplished and what results is really the vision of the president who undertakes that project.”


    What the White House Historical Association does

    Jacqueline Kennedy created the historical association in 1961 to help preserve the museum quality of the interior of the White House and educate the public. It receives no government funding and raises money mostly through private donations and sales of retail merchandise.

    It is not the mission of the association to take a position on construction, McLaurin said. Its primary mandate is preserving the State Floor and some of the historic bedrooms upstairs in the private living quarters, and teaching the history of the White House, which is an accredited museum. The State Floor is made up of the Green, Blue and Red Rooms, the East Room and State Dining Room, the Cross Hall and Grand Foyer.

    “Ours is not to support — or to not support,” McLaurin said. “Our is to understand, to get the details.”

    Since the demolition, McLaurin said he has seen attendance spike at a free-of-charge educational center the association opened in September 2024 a block from the White House. “The People’s House: A White House Experience” is open seven days a week — including during the current government shutdown.

    The educational center saw its busiest days the weekend of Oct. 17-19, with about 1,500 daily visitors, up from a previous average of 900, he said.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • States Sue Over Trump Administration Suspending Food Benefits During Shutdown

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    BOSTON (Reuters) -A coalition of Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to stop President Donald Trump’s administration from suspending food aid benefits starting on November 1 amid the ongoing U.S. government shutdown.

    Attorneys general and governors from 25 states and the District of Columbia filed the lawsuit in Boston federal court after the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would not use $6 billion in contingency funds to pay for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, also known as food stamps.

    “The federal government has the money to continue funding SNAP benefits — they’re choosing to harm millions of families across the country already struggling to make ends meet,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a social media post.

    Democrats and Republicans in Congress have traded blame for the shutdown and for the risk that SNAP benefits, which provide food assistance to more than 41 million low-income Americans, could lapse in November. 

    The USDA’s shutdown plan had included the potential use of contingency funds for SNAP, but on Saturday the department updated its website to say no benefits would be issued on November 1 as scheduled, stating “the well has run dry.”

    The lawsuit argues the suspension of benefits is arbitrary and being carried out in violation of the law and regulations governing the program, which requires that “assistance under this program shall be furnished to all eligible households.”

    The lawsuit says the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 makes clear that the contingency funds should be used when necessary to carry out program operations.

    The plaintiffs, who are led by the attorneys general of Massachusetts, California, Arizona and Minnesota, say a failure by the federal government to issue monthly food assistance payments as a result of a lapse in appropriations would mark a first in the SNAP program’s 60-year history.

    The states say they will seek to have a judge issue a temporary restraining order forcing the USDA to use available contingency funds for November SNAP benefits and ensure that millions of families do not lose access to food assistance in the coming days.

    “Millions of Americans are about to go hungry because the federal government has chosen to withhold food assistance it is legally obligated to provide,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. 

    The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Idira Talwani, who was appointed by Democratic former President Barack Obama.

    A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture in a statement said Senate Democrats are appointing an inflection point where they either “hold out for the Far-Left wing of the party or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive timely WIC and SNAP allotments.”

    SNAP benefits are available for Americans whose income is less than 130% of the federal poverty line, or $1,632 a month for a one-person household, or $2,215 for a two-person household in many areas. 

    SNAP benefits are paid out on a monthly basis, though the exact date payments are distributed varies among states, which are responsible for the day-to-day administration of the benefits.

    The shutdown also threatens benefits for nearly 7 million participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC.

    (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Chizu Nomiyama)

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  • Republican US Rep. Randy Feenstra Officially Jumps Into 2026 Race for Iowa Governor

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    DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra on Tuesday confirmed that he is running for governor after a monthslong exploratory campaign in which he amassed support and raised money for an open election in a high stakes midterm year.

    Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds made a surprise announcement in April that she would not run for reelection next year. The two top-of-ticket statewide races in Iowa next year — for governor and for U.S. Senate — will both be open seats for the first time since 1968 after Reynolds and two-term Sen. Joni Ernst said they would retire from office at the end of their terms. It’s led to a shake-up on the ballot in the once-competitive state where Democrats are eyeing seats they think they can flip.

    Republicans now control the U.S. House by a razor-thin margin. Feenstra’s 4th Congressional District is overwhelmingly Republican, so next year’s race for his successor is not likely to be a competitive pickup opportunity for Democrats. That means Feenstra’s entry into the governor’s race will have little impact on Republicans’ efforts to maintain the balance of power in the House.

    But the other three congressional districts in the state have far more politically mixed electorates and stand to be some of the closest — and highest funded — races in the country. The one in Iowa’s northeastern corner, represented by Rep. Ashley Hinson, is now open after Hinson jumped into the race for Ernst’s Senate seat.

    Even before officially jumping in Tuesday, Feenstra has announced several millions in fundraising and nearly half a million in paid advertising. He could face a well-funded competitor in Sand, who has experience running a statewide campaign. As state auditor, Sand is the only Democrat currently elected statewide. Sand is running in a primary against longtime Democratic consultant Julie Stauch, but he reports a hefty $10 million in campaign cash, much of which comes from his extended family.

    Iowa state Rep. Eddie Andrews, former state Rep. Brad Sherman and former director of the state department of administrative services Adam Steen are already in the running against Feenstra for the GOP nomination. State Sen. Mike Bousselot is also exploring a campaign.

    There was much speculation about who would run for Reynolds’ seat after she unexpectedly opted out of another term — and who might enter with an endorsement from President Donald Trump in the first open GOP primary for Iowa governor since Trump took command of the party. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, long a supporter of Trump’s, had immediately said she was considering a bid but didn’t say one way or another until July.

    Feenstra took her lengthy pause before a decision as an opportunity to say in May that he was launching an exploratory campaign, which included raising nearly $4 million in five weeks and buying $400,000 in television and radio advertising. Bird ultimately chose not to run for governor.

    Feenstra was reelected to his third term last year by about two-thirds of voters in the region, which is heavily populated with conservative evangelical communities. Iowa’s 4th District is made up of counties marked by sprawling fields and pig farms in the northwest quadrant and along the Western border. The district could help Feenstra in the Republican primary; nearly 30% of active registered Republican voters in Iowa live there.

    The congressman was first elected to the U.S. House in 2020 after launching a well-funded primary campaign to oust former Rep. Steve King, a Republican who lost his seat after years of controversy involving his previous support of white supremacist groups.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • GOP Voters in Northern California Brace for Loss of Representation in Fight for US House

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    REDDING, Calif. (AP) — In a stretch of Northern California known for farming, ranching and a rural way of life, residents worry a ballot measure to redraw U.S. House maps is all but certain to dilute what little political power they possess in the heavily Democratic state.

    If Proposition 50 passes, voters in three northern counties that went strongly for President Donald Trump in the last three elections would share a representative with some of the state’s wealthiest and most liberal coastal communities. Rural voters would be outnumbered, making it unlikely for a Republican candidate to prevail.

    “Most of us see it as, you know, just massive gerrymandering, taking what little representation that we had away and now we’ll have absolutely nothing,” Patrick Jones, a former Shasta County supervisor, said in a recent interview in his family’s gun shop.

    Voting concludes Nov. 4 on the measure, which would create partisan U.S. House maps outside of normal once-a-decade redistricting handled by an independent commission. It’s an effort by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to counter a Trump-backed plan in Texas to gain five more Republican seats. He says it’s necessary to defend democracy, but California Republicans call it a power grab that will disenfranchise voters. Republicans currently hold nine of the state’s 52 congressional seats.

    In Redding, one of the largest cities north of Sacramento, bright yellow signs urging residents to defend fair elections and rural representation dot the highway. A local man recently led a one-person protest in front of City Hall, while more than 150 others showed up at a rally to reject what they see as a scheme by Democrats to take away their voices.

    But they face an uphill battle in the state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly 2-to-1. Democrats have returned nearly twice as many ballots. Labor unions and other Democratic allies have mobilized hundreds of volunteers to reach voters in solidly blue areas like Los Angeles with millions of voters. Two weeks before Election Day, just about 7,000 ballots had been returned in Shasta County, county clerk Clint Curtis said. He expects lower turnout than normal.

    TV advertising opposing the measure — a key investment in the sprawling state — has largely dried up. Some residents in Redding say they’ve heard little from Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa about a plan to fight the measure, though he’s scheduled an event Wednesday in another city in his district.


    Rural strongholds brace for political change

    Under the new maps, voters in Shasta, Siskiyou and Modoc counties — all conservative strongholds in the rural north — would be in the same congressional district with Marin County, which sits just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.

    LaMalfa’s current district includes farms that grow rice, olive and other tree nuts, and ranching is prevalent in the farthest northern reaches. Lassen National Volcanic Park, historic Shasta Dam and snow-capped Mt. Shasta are defining features. Redding has a population under 100,000. Distrust of government and belief in election conspiracies are common. In 2024, 67% of voters in Shasta County supported Trump.

    Marin County, meanwhile, went 80% for Democrat Kamala Harris. The median household income tops $140,000 — roughly double that of Shasta County. It’s part of a district that runs north up the Pacific coastline to Oregon and is known for redwood forests, wine production and cannabis farms. It’s represented by Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman.

    LaMalfa, a rice farmer, opposes the proposition and has spent at least $63,000 from his campaign fund to reach voters through text messages and yard signs. He also gave $50,000 to a statewide “no” campaign. Brenda Haynes, who works in LaMalfa’s district office, said the congressman has joined residents waving flags on highway overpasses. His campaign declined a request for a reporter to shadow him on the trail.

    “I think he’s done phone calls and stuff, but I haven’t really heard from him,” said Toby Ruiz, a retired state worker who’s lived in the area for most of his life.

    LaMalfa’s supporters say they appreciate his conservative stances and push for an important new water storage project.

    “I pretty much love the guy,” said Bob Braz, a Redding area native who owns a bait shop. “I stand for almost all the things that he’s done.”

    Those who don’t know much about LaMalfa’s record said they trust him because of his background.

    “I don’t hear much about him but he’s a farmer,” said Liz Jacobs, who moved from the Bay Area to Redding 20 years ago. She added: “I don’t know about somebody from the Bay Area with their progressive ideas.”

    Newsom and other Democrats say the measure is a tool to fight Trump’s agenda and counter Republican efforts to pickup seats elsewhere. Even if it passes and Democrats win five more seats, it may not help the party retain the House. Republicans in Missouri, North Carolina and Indiana are joining Texas in trying to draw more winnable seats in the 2026 midterms. Lawmakers in Virginia, meanwhile, are back in session to work on a map more friendly to Democrats. All of the efforts are sure to face legal challenges.

    “This is not the fight we want to fight. This was not our battle,” Newsom said in a recent virtual campaign event. “This is in reaction to something unprecedented that happened.”

    But voters in Redding see it as another way to silence their voices.

    They have long felt neglected by the Democratic-controlled Legislature in Sacramento, which they blame for raising the cost of living and infringing on local control. Lawmakers, for example, banned counties from hand-counting ballots in most cases after Shasta County leaders voted to get rid of their vote-counting machines in 2023.

    Some said they worry that national Republicans won’t put up a fight to hold the seats if the measure passes.

    “You would have to spend a huge amount of money to reach your base,” said Jones, the former county supervisor. “And they’re just simply not going to want to waste that amount of money because it would be better spent throughout the country elsewhere.”

    Not all voters are dreading a change.

    Warren Swanson, a Redding resident of more than 40 years, called LaMalfa “Do Nothing Doug.” His wife, Tara Swanson, also voted “yes” on the measure, partly because it promises to give map-drawing power back to the independent commission after the 2030 Census.

    “Do two wrongs make a right? It’s a tough one for those of us who think along those lines,” Tara Swanson said.

    Some liberal voters in Mt. Shasta in Siskiyou County are hoping to oust LaMalfa over his vote for Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill that will overhaul health care and food assistance programs. Mothers, families and older adults in town could go hungry because of changes to food assistance programs, said Colleen Shelly, a Mt. Shasta resident who works with the state food assistance program.

    But the fight is far from over for Republican voters in California, said Walter Stephen Rubke, a 38-year-old who moved to Redding last year. Many young people are supporting conservatives, he said, and he expects continual resistance from GOP voters even if the measure passes.

    “I see a hard path ahead,” he said. “But I feel confident. I feel hopeful.”

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Democrat Abigail Spanberger Backs Virginia Legislature’s Redistricting Push

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    BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic candidate for Virginia governor, said Monday that she would not oppose a push by the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature to redraw congressional districts ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

    Virginia Democrats earlier in the day began taking steps to change the state’s constitution to allow for a new congressional map, a change that must ultimately be approved by voters before it becomes law. The change is designed to counter President Donald Trump’s push to create more partisan districts in several Republican-run states.

    In an interview on her campaign bus just eight days before Election Day, Spanberger told The Associated Press that she would not stand in the way of the Democratic leaders in the state General Assembly, although it’s unclear whether congressional districts could be changed in time for the 2026 midterm elections.

    “What they are doing at this moment is keeping alive the option of taking action into the future,” said Spanberger, who would become the governor in January if she wins next week. “While I like to plan for everything, on this one, because I’m on the bus tour, because we are eight days away (from Election Day), I’m like, I will let the General Assembly take this step, and then we’ll talk calendar issues later.”

    Her position marks a shift of sorts from this summer when she said she had “no plans to redistrict Virginia.”

    Virginia Republicans, including Spanberger’s Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, blasted the move in a news conference outside the statehouse.

    “This, my friends, is not about party, it’s about principle,” Earle-Sears said, standing in front of a podium marked with the words, “Spanberger’s sideshow session.” “The voters created an independent redistricting commission. Only the voters have the right to decide a future, not gerrymandering Democrats.”

    The Democratic-led legislature’s push to enter Virginia into a redistricting battle comes after California made a similar move earlier this year.

    If Democrats gain just three more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, they would take control of the House and with it, the power to impede Trump’s agenda. But Republicans in other states, at Trump’s urging, are working aggressively to extend their advantage in redistricting moves of their own.

    In Virginia on Monday, the House amended its agenda to allow a redistricting constitutional amendment to be put forward, with details to come later. The state senate is expected to follow suit this week.

    Democratic state Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, who has championed Virginia’s current redistricting law, said he still supports the concept of a bipartisan redistricting commission, “but I’m also not going to let Donald Trump go around to states that have the majorities that he likes and try to make it so that he can’t lose.”

    Because Virginia’s redistricting commission was created by a voter-approved constitutional amendment, voters must sign off on any changes to the redistricting process. A proposed constitutional amendment would have to pass the General Assembly in two separate sessions and then be placed on the statewide ballot.

    Democrats are scrambling to hold that first legislative vote this year in order to take a second vote after a new legislative session begins Jan. 14.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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