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  • Democrat Jay Jones Wins Race to Be Virginia Attorney General Despite Texts Endorsing Violence

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    RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democrat Jay Jones was elected Tuesday as Virginia attorney general, riding a wave of voter dissatisfaction with the White House to overcome the revelation that in 2022 he sent widely condemned texts embracing violence against a fellow state lawmaker.

    The former Virginia delegate defeated Republican incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares weeks after it emerged that Jones had texted a fellow delegate suggesting the then-House speaker should get “two bullets to the head.” Jones apologized for the private messages both in statements and at a debate in October.

    Jones’ victory amid the controversy could signal trouble for Republicans heading into next year’s midterm elections. He weathered the storm in part by working to shift the debate away from his character and toward President Donald Trump’s administration.

    Jones campaigned against the impact of federal encroachment on Virginia since Trump took office in January — shrinking the civil service, levying tariffs and a Republican federal tax cut bill that Democrats argued imperiled the state’s health care system.

    The win could soon add Virginia to the roster of Democratic-led states legally challenging actions taken by Trump.

    A descendant of slaves, Jones is set to become the first Black attorney general in the former capital of the Confederacy. His victory is a landmark moment for Black Virginians in a statewide contest that was already poised to make history, with voters choosing between two women to elect the state’s first female governor.

    Miyares faced a difficult political climate in his bid for reelection. Ever since Democrat Jimmy Carter won the White House in 1976, every time a new president has been elected, Virginia has voted in a governor the following year from the opposite party.

    And while the state has had split tickets before — meaning voters backed candidates for statewide offices from a party that differs from the elected governor — they haven’t picked an attorney general from the opposite party in 20 years.

    Republicans had hoped to persuade swing voters to reelect Miyares but faced challenging headwinds in a state with tens of thousands of federal employees.

    Outrage over Jones’ text messages is unlikely to fade once Jones is sworn into office. Republicans, including Trump and Miyares, described his conduct from three years ago as disqualifying him from the attorney general’s position in 2025.

    Even Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Ghazala Hashmi, the party’s candidates for governor and lieutenant governor Tuesday, had stayed silent about whether Jones still had their endorsements. Jones did, however, speak at a Spanberger campaign rally on Saturday.

    Jones comes from a family of Hampton Roads politicians and civil rights pioneers. His father was also a Virginia delegate, and his grandfather was the first Black member of the Norfolk School Board. Jones previously ran for attorney general in 2021 but lost the primary to then-incumbent Mark Herring.

    Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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

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  • Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell Faces a Hard Reelection Fight Against Progressive Activist Katie Wilson

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    SEATTLE (AP) — Democratic Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell faces a tough reelection fight against progressive activist Katie Wilson as voters in the liberal city recoil from President Donald Trump’s second term and question whether the incumbent has done enough to address public safety, homelessness and affordability.

    Harrell, an attorney who previously served three terms on the City Council, was elected mayor in 2021 following the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial justice protests over George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police.

    With crime falling, more police being hired, less visible drug use and many homeless encampments removed from city parks, the business-backed Harrell seemed likely to cruise to re-election at this time last year. He’s been endorsed by Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson, Attorney General Nick Brown and former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

    But Trump’s return to office has helped reawaken Seattle’s progressive voters. The lesser-known Wilson, a democratic socialist running a campaign that echoes some of the themes of progressive mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in New York, trounced Harrell by nearly 10 percentage points in the August primary.

    “Voters in places like Seattle are frustrated with the status quo, particularly in the context of Trump’s attacks on blue cities,” said Sandeep Kaushik, a Seattle political consultant who is not involved in the race. “They’re kind of moving back into their progressive bunker and are much more inclined to say, ‘Yeah, we should go our own way with our own bold progressive solutions.’ That all that plays into Katie’s hands.”

    Wilson, 43, studied at Oxford College but did not graduate. She founded the small nonprofit Transit Riders Union in 2011 and has led campaigns for better public transportation, higher minimum wages, stronger renter protections and more affordable housing. She herself is a renter, living in a one-bedroom apartment in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, and says that has shaped her understanding of Seattle’s affordability crisis.

    Wilson has criticized Harrell as doing too little to provide more shelter and said his encampment sweeps have been cosmetic, merely pushing unhoused people around the city. Wilson also paints him as a city hall fixture who bears responsibility for the status quo.

    She has been endorsed by several Democratic organizations as well as by U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

    Harrell, 67, played on the Rose Bowl champion University of Washington football team in 1978 before going to law school. His father, who was Black, came to Seattle from the segregated Jim Crow South, and his mother, a Japanese American, was incarcerated at an internment camp in Minidoka, Idaho, during World War II after officials seized her family’s Seattle flower shop — experiences that fostered his understanding of the importance of civil rights and inclusivity.

    Harrell has said Wilson, who has no traditional management experience, isn’t ready to lead a city with more than 13,000 employees and a budget of nearly $9 billion. He also has criticized her for supporting efforts to slash the city’s police budget amid the 2020 racial justice protests.

    Wilson has said that proposal was based on some fundamental misunderstandings and that she since has learned a lot about how the police department works. She says she supports having a department that is adequately staffed, responsive and accountable to the community.

    Both Harrell and Wilson have touted plans for affordable housing, combatting crime and attempting to Trump-proof the city, which receives about $150 million a year in federal funding. Both want to protect Seattle’s sanctuary city status.

    Wilson has proposed a city-level capital gains tax to help offset federal funding the city might lose and to pay for housing; Harrell says that’s ineffective because a city capital gains tax could easily be avoided by those who would be required to pay it.

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

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  • Former Fox News Host Kimberly Guilfoyle Takes up Position as US Ambassador to Greece

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    ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former California prosecutor, television personality and close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, officially took office Tuesday as the first U.S. female ambassador to Greece.

    Guilfoyle, 56, who was once engaged to Donald Trump Jr., presented her diplomatic credentials to Greek President Constantine Tassoulas after being sworn in Sept. 29 in Washington.

    The former Fox News host’s arrival comes as the United States works to boost liquefied natural gas exports to eastern Europe through Greek port facilities.

    U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are expected in Athens this week for talks focused on expanding Western gas exports to war-torn Ukraine through a modified multinational pipeline network.

    Guilfoyle and the visiting officials are scheduled to meet with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and attend ministerial meetings organized by the Washington-based Atlantic Council.

    Since 2018, Greece and the United States have strengthened military ties, including expanding U.S. access to Greek bases and increased involvement of American defense contractors in Greece’s multibillion-dollar armed forces modernization program.

    Guilfoyle attended a black-tie welcome reception over the weekend in Athens. Joined by local business leaders and several Cabinet members, she took part in a lively Greek dance — linking arms with other guests and keeping pace as the music sped up.

    “I know we will do amazing things for these two exceptional countries,” she told attendees. “I will not disappoint the United States of America. I shall not disappoint Greece.”

    At Tuesday’s ceremony, Guilfoyle presented her credentials after the new ambassadors from Norway, Harriet Berg, and Canada, Sonya Thissen.

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

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  • Hegseth Praises South Korea’s Plans to Raise Its Military Spending and Boost Defense Capabilities

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    SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth praised South Korea’s plans to raise its military spending, saying Tuesday that the Asian ally will take a larger role in defending itself from North Korean aggressions as the allies must brace for regional contingencies.

    Modernizing the decades-long alliance between the U.S. and South Korea is a key issue between the U.S. and South Korea, as the U.S. apparently wants South Korea to increase its conventional defense capabilities so that Washington can focus more on China.

    After annual security talks with South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back in Seoul, Hegseth told reporters that he was “greatly encouraged” by Seoul’s commitment to increase defense spending and make greater investments in South Korean capabilities. He said the two agreed the investments would bolster South Korea’s ability to lead its conventional deterrence and defense against North Korea.

    In a speech at parliament earlier Tuesday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung asked lawmakers to approve an 8.2% increase in defense spending next year, which he said would help modernize the South Korean military’s weapons systems and reduce its reliance on the United States.

    “We face, as we both acknowledge, a dangerous security environment but our alliance is stronger than ever, “Hegseth said.

    Hegseth said that he and Ahn agreed to demonstrate works to maintain and repair U.S. warships in South Korea, a move that he said will harness South Korea’s world-class shipbuilding capabilities and also “ensure our most lethal capabilities remain ready to respond to any crisis.”

    Hegseth said the South Korea-U.S. alliance is primarily aimed at coping with potential North Korean provocations but must also keep other regional threats in view.

    “There’s no doubt flexibility for regional contingencies is something we would take a look at but we are focused on standing by our allies here and ensuring the threat of the DPRK is not a threat to the Republic of Korea and certainly continue to extend nuclear deterrence as we have before,” he said.

    DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea — North Korea’s official name — while Republic of Korea is South Korea’s formal name.

    In recent years, the U.S. and South Korea have been discussing how to integrate U.S. nuclear weapons and South Korean conventional weapons in various contingencies. South Korea has no nuclear weapons and is under the U.S. “nuclear umbrella” security commitment.

    Ahn denied speculation that South Korea could eventually seek its own nuclear weapons program or is pushing for redeployment of U.S. tactical weapon weapons that were removed from South Korea in the 1990s. He stressed that Seoul remains committed to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

    “Because we cannot have nuclear weapons, that’s why a system integrating U.S. nuclear capabilities and South Korea’s conventional weapons, the CNI (conventional-nuclear integration) framework, has been established,” he said.

    Hegseth and Ahn did not issue a joint statement after the meeting, leaving the details of their agreements unclear. It’s unusual for the two countries’ defense ministerial talks to end without an immediate joint statement. But Hegseth said there was “no daylight or differences” between the two countries, only “a bigger deal which takes a little more time.”

    North Korea didn’t immediately comment on the Hegseth-Ahn meeting.

    South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said earlier on Tuesday that it detected the North test-firing around 10 rounds of artillery toward its western seas Monday afternoon, shortly before Hegseth arrived at an inter-Korean border village with Ahn to kick off his two-day visit to South Korea.

    The joint chiefs said the North also fired the same number of rounds Saturday afternoon, before a summit between Lee and Chinese President Xi Jinping, where Lee called for a stronger role by Beijing to persuade the North to return to dialogue with Washington and Seoul.

    North Korea had expressed irritation over the agenda of the Lee-Xi meeting, ridiculing Seoul for clinging to a “pipe dream” that the North would one day give up its nuclear weapons.

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

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  • California Voters Take up Democrats’ Push for New Congressional Maps That Could Shape House Control

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    LOS ANGELES (AP) — The national battle to control the U.S. House shifts to California on Tuesday as voters consider a Democratic proposal that could erase as many as five Republican districts and blunt President Donald Trump’s moves to safeguard his party’s lock on Washington power.

    The outcome will reverberate into next year’s midterm elections and beyond, with Democrats hoping a victory will set the stage for the party to regain control of the House in 2026. A shift in the majority would imperil Trump’s agenda for the remainder of his term at a time of deep partisan divisions over immigration, health care and the future direction of the nation.

    “God help us if we lose in California,” Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom says.

    Democrats need to gain just three seats in the 2026 elections to take control of the House.

    Heavily Democratic California and its 52 congressional districts represent by far the Democrats’ best opportunity in an unprecedented state-by-state redistricting battle, which started when Texas Republicans heeded Trump’s demand that they redraw their boundaries to help the GOP retain its House majority. Democrats hold 43 of the state’s seats and hope to boost that to 48.

    Trump is fighting not just the Democrats but history. Midterm elections typically punish the party in the White House, but four GOP-led states so far have adopted new district maps to pack more Republican voters into key districts.


    Measure supported by Newsom, Obama

    California’s Proposition 50 asks voters to suspend House maps drawn by an independent commission and replace them with rejiggered districts adopted by the Democratic-controlled Legislature. Those new districts would be in place for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections.

    The recast districts aim to dilute Republican voters’ power, in one case by uniting rural, conservative-leaning parts of far northern California with Marin County, a famously liberal coastal stronghold across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.

    The measure has been spearheaded by Newsom, who has thrown the weight of his political operation behind it in a major test of his mettle ahead of a potential 2028 presidential campaign. Former President Barack Obama has urged voters to pass it as well.

    Newsom has sought to nationalize the campaign, depicting the proposal as a counterweight to all things Trump.

    “Republicans want to steal enough seats in Congress to rig the next election and wield unchecked power for two more years,” Obama says in one ad. “You can stop Republicans in their tracks.”

    Critics say two wrongs don’t make a right. They urge Californians to reject what they call a Democratic power grab, even if they have misgivings about Trump’s moves in Republican-led states.

    Among the most prominent critics is Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie star and former Republican governor who pushed for the creation of the independent commission, which voters approved in 2008 and 2010. It makes no sense to fight Trump by becoming him, Schwarzenegger said in September, arguing that the proposal would “take the power away from the people.”

    After an early burst of TV advertising, opponents of the plan have struggled to raise cash in a state with some of the nation’s most expensive media markets. Data compiled by advertising tracker AdImpact last week showed Democrats and other supporters with over $5 million in ad buys booked on broadcast TV, cable and radio. But opponents had virtually no time reserved, though the data didn’t include some popular streaming services like Hulu and YouTube or mail advertising.

    Total spending on broadcast and cable ads topped $100 million, with more than two-thirds of it coming from supporters. Newsom told people to stop donating in the race’s final weeks.

    Trump, who overwhelmingly lost California in his three presidential campaigns, largely stayed out of the fray. A week before the election, he urged voters in a social media post not to vote early or by mail — messaging that conflicts with that of top Republicans in the state who urged people to get their ballots in as soon as possible.


    The national House map is in flux

    Democrats hope to pick up as many as five seats in California if voters approve the new boundaries, offsetting the five that Republicans hope to pick up through their new Texas maps. Republicans also expect to gain one seat each from new maps in Missouri and North Carolina, and potentially two more in Ohio.

    Congressional district boundaries are typically redrawn every 10 years to reflect population shifts documented in the census. Mid-decade redistricting is unusual, absent a court order finding fault with the maps in place.

    Five other GOP-led states are also considering new maps: Kansas, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana and Nebraska.

    On the Democratic side, Illinois, Maryland, New York and Virginia have proposals to redraw maps, but major hurdles remain.

    A court has ordered new boundaries be drawn in Utah, where all four House districts are represented by Republicans, but it remains to be seen if the state will approve a map that makes any of them winnable for Democrats.

    Cooper reported from Phoenix and Nguyen from Sacramento, California.

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

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  • Trump’s Not Going to the Supreme Court Hearing on Tariffs. but His Treasury Secretary Will Be There

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump won’t be going in person to the Supreme Court hearing Wednesday that will determine the fate of the tariffs at the heart of his economic and foreign policy — but his treasury secretary says he will be there.

    “I’m actually going to go and sit the — hopefully in the front row and listen — have a ringside seat,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday on Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

    Trump had said he badly wanted to attend the arguments, but ruled out what would have been a highly unusual appearance, saying it would have been a distraction. “It’s not about me, it’s about our country,” he told reporters Sunday.

    On Monday, his top economic adviser said he would be there instead, signaling the importance of the case to the Trump administration. Asked whether his presence could be criticized as trying to intimidate the justices, Bessent told Fox: “They can say what they want. I am there to emphasize that this is an economic emergency.”

    Earlier this year, lower courts determined that the president did not have the power under IEEPA to set tariffs, but left them in place while the Supreme Court considered the issue.

    Bessent described the hearing as “a matter of national security.” But he has said there are contingencies in place. Last month, he told a group of reporters that in the event the court rules against the Trump administration, “there are lots of other authorities that we can operate under.”

    “Remember too,” he said, “we also have numerous trade deals in effect. So I don’t think that countries are going to back out of the trade deals,” he said.

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

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  • Huntington Beach Voter ID Measure Violates California Law, Appeals Court Says

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    SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A California appeals court ruled Monday that a Huntington Beach measure requiring voter identification at the polls violates state law.

    The Fourth District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana determined that the measure passed by voters in the seaside city of 200,000 people should be struck down because it conflicts with state election law, said Lee Fink, a lawyer for Huntington Beach resident Mark Bixby, who challenged the city’s measure. California Attorney General Rob Bonta also sued over the Huntington Beach law contending it would disenfranchise voters.

    “Voting is the fundamental right from which all other rights flow, and no matter where threats to that right come from — whether from Washington D.C. or from within California — we will continue holding the line,” Bonta said in a statement. “California’s elections are already fair, safe, and secure.”

    Corbin Carson, a Huntington Beach spokesperson, said the city is reviewing the appeals court’s ruling.

    Residents of Huntington Beach voted last year to let local officials require voter identification at the polls starting in 2026. The measure also allows the city to increase in-person voting sites and monitor ballot drop boxes in local elections.

    Bonta filed a lawsuit saying the measure conflicts with state law and could make it harder for poor, non-white, young, elderly and disabled voters to cast ballots. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, then signed into state law a measure barring local governments from establishing and enforcing laws that require residents provide identification to vote in elections.

    Huntington Beach, which is known as “Surf City USA” for its scenic shoreline dotted with surfers, has a history of sparring with state officials over the measures it can take under its city charter on issues ranging from immigration to housing. The GOP is dominant in Huntington Beach with nearly 57,000 registered voters versus 41,000 Democrats, county data shows.

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

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  • Baseball-World Series Game 7 Pulls in Nearly 26 Million Viewers on Fox

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    NEW YORK (Reuters) -Nearly 26 million viewers tuned in for Game 7 of the baseball World Series, the most since 2017, broadcaster Fox said on Monday after the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in a dramatic finale.

    The Dodgers were the first team in a quarter-century to win back-to-back titles on Saturday as they capped what pundits have declared one of the greatest-ever World Series.

    The decisive Game 7 averaged 25.98 million viewers, as a reliable stable of stars like Japan’s Shohei Ohtani bolstered the international appeal of the Canadian-American clash.

    It was the first time since the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros six years ago that the annual Fall Classic reached a full seven games.

    (Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; editing by Mark Heinrich)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Trial Starts for Assault Case Against DC Man Who Tossed Sandwich at Federal Agent on Viral Video

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Throwing a sandwich at a federal agent turned Sean Charles Dunn into a symbol of resistance against President Donald Trump’s law-enforcement surge in the nation’s capital. This week, federal prosecutors are trying to persuade a jury of fellow Washington, D.C., residents that Dunn simply broke the law.

    That could be a tough sell for the government in a city that has chafed against Trump’s federal takeover, which is entering its third month. A grand jury refused to indict Dunn on a felony assault count before U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office opted to charge him instead with a misdemeanor.

    Securing a trial conviction could prove to be equally challenging for Justice Department prosecutors in Washington, where murals glorifying Dunn’s sandwich toss popped up virtually overnight.

    Before jury selection started Monday, the judge presiding over Dunn’s trial seemed to acknowledge how unusual it is for a case like this to be heard in federal court. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, said he expects the trial to last no more than two days “because it’s the simplest case in the world.”

    A video that went viral on social media captured Dunn hurling his subway-style sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection agent outside a nightclub on the night of Aug. 10. That same weekend, Trump announced his deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops and federal agents to assist with police patrols in Washington.

    When Dunn approached a group of CBP agents who were in front of a club hosting a “Latin Night,” he called them “fascists” and “racists” and chanted “shame” toward them. An observer’s video captured Dunn throwing a sandwich at an agent’s chest.

    “Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!” Dunn shouted, according to police.

    Dunn ran away but was apprehended. He was released from custody but rearrested when a team of armed federal agents in riot gear raided his home. The White House posted a highly produced “propaganda” video of the raid on its official X account, Dunn’s lawyers said. They noted that Dunn had offered to surrender to police before the raid.

    Dunn worked as an international affairs specialist in the Justice Department’s criminal division. After Dunn’s arrest, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced his firing in a social media post that referred to him as “an example of the Deep State.”

    Before trial, Dunn’s lawyers urged the judge to dismiss the case for what they allege is a vindictive and selective prosecution. They argued that the posts by Bondi and the White House prove Dunn was impermissibly targeted for his political speech.

    Julia Gatto, one of Dunn’s lawyers, questioned why Trump’s Justice Department is prosecuting Dunn after the Republican president issued pardons and ordered the dismissal of assault cases stemming from a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

    “It’s an obvious answer,” Gatto said during a hearing last Thursday. “The answer is they have different politics. And that’s selective prosecution.”

    Prosecutors countered that Dunn’s political expressions don’t make him immune from prosecution for assaulting the agent.

    “The defendant is being prosecuted for the obvious reason that he was recorded throwing a sandwich at a federal officer at point-blank range,” they wrote.

    Dunn is charged with assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating and interfering with a federal officer. Dozens of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol were convicted of felonies for assaulting or interfering with police during the Jan. 6 attack. Trump pardoned or ordered the dismissal of charges for all of them.

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

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  • Trump Administration to Use Emergency Funds to Pay Partial Food Aid Benefits

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    (Reuters) -The Trump administration said it plans on Monday to partially fund food aid for millions of Americans after two judges ruled it must use contingency funds to pay for the benefits in November during the government shutdown.

    (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Chris Reese)

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  • Microsoft to Ship 60,000 Nvidia AI Chips to UAE Under US-Approved Deal

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Microsoft said Monday it will be shipping Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence chips to the United Arab Emirates as part of a deal approved by the U.S. Commerce Department.

    The Redmond, Washington software giant said licenses approved in September under “stringent” safeguards enable it to ship more than 60,000 Nvidia chips, including the California chipmaker’s advanced GB300 Grace Blackwell chips, for use in data centers in the Middle Eastern country.

    The agreement appeared to contradict President Donald Trump’s remarks in a “60 Minutes” interview aired Sunday that such chips would not be exported outside the U.S.

    Asked by CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell if he will allow Nvidia to sell its most advanced chips to China, Trump said he wouldn’t.

    “We will let them deal with Nvidia but not in terms of the most advanced,” Trump said. “The most advanced, we will not let anybody have them other than the United States.”

    The UAE’s ability to access chips is tied to its pledge to invest $1.4 trillion in U.S. energy and AI-related projects, an outsized sum given its annual GDP is roughly $540 billion.

    The UAE ambassador to the U.S., Yousef Al Otaiba, said in a statement earlier this year that the arrangement was “setting a new ‘Gold Standard’ for securing AI models, chips, data and access.”

    Microsoft’s announcement Monday was part of the company’s planned $15.2 billion investment in technology in the UAE, which is says has some of the highest per-capita usage of AI. Microsoft had already accumulated in the UAE more than 21,000 of Nvidia’s graphics processor chips, known as GPUs, through licenses approved under then-President Joe Biden.

    “We’re using these GPUs to provide access to advanced AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic, open-source providers, and Microsoft itself,” said a company statement.

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  • After Mistaken Deportation, Abrego Garcia Fights Smuggling Charges. Here’s What to Know

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    NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation helped galvanize opposition to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, has hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday in the human smuggling case against him in Tennessee.

    U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw will hear evidence on motions from the defense asking him to dismiss the charges and throw out some of the evidence.

    Here’s what to know about the latest developments in the case:


    Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia?

    Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen with an American wife and child who has lived in Maryland for years. He immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager to join his brother, who had become a U.S. citizen. In 2019, an immigration judge granted him protection from being deported back to his home country, where he faces danger from a gang that targeted his family.

    Facing mounting public pressure and a court order, Trump’s Republican administration brought him back to the U.S. in June, but only after issuing an arrest warrant on human smuggling charges in Tennessee. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges and asked Crenshaw to dismiss them.

    Abrego Garcia is charged with human smuggling and conspiracy to commit human smuggling, with prosecutors claiming he accepted money to transport within the United States people who were in the country illegally.

    The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding. Body camera footage from a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer shows a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia. There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. However, Abrego Garcia was eventually allowed to continue driving with only a warning.

    A Department of Homeland Security agent testified at an earlier hearing that he did not begin investigating the traffic stop until after the U.S. Supreme Court said in April that the Trump administration must work to bring back Abrego Garcia.


    What is the motion to dismiss about?

    In a recent ruling, Crenshaw found “some evidence that the prosecution against him may be vindictive” and said many statements by Trump administration officials “raise cause for concern.” Crenshaw specifically cited a statement by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, on a Fox News Channel program, that seemed to suggest the Justice Department charged Abrego Garcia because he won his wrongful-deportation case.

    The two sides have been sparring over whether senior Justice Department officials, including Blanche, can be required to testify in the case.

    Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Rob McGuire has argued in court filings that it doesn’t matter what members of the Trump administration have said about Abrego Garcia.

    “The relevant prosecutorial decision-maker, the Acting U.S. Attorney, has explained on the record that this prosecution was not brought for vindictive or discriminatory reasons,” McGuire writes in a court filing. He adds that any public statements by senior Trump administration officials about Abrego Garcia reflect public safety concerns that are “plainly consistent with a legitimate motivation to prosecute him.”


    What is the main motion to suppress evidence about?

    Another motion from Abrego Garcia asks the judge to suppress evidence in the case. It claims the 2022 traffic stop that ultimately led to the smuggling charges was illegal, so evidence from that stop should not be used at trial.

    In support, court filings say the state trooper who pulled him over stated that the speed limit was 65 mph (105 kph) when it was actually 70 mph (113 kph). The trooper accused him of driving at 75 mph (120 kph), but there is no record that the trooper used a radar gun or pacing to gauge the speed. Abrego Garcia said he was driving at 70 mph, correctly noting the speed limit.

    Attorneys for the government argue that the trooper made an honest mistake. The speed limit decreases to 65 mph about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) farther down the interstate. The attorneys also note that Abrego Garcia was driving in the left lane “consistent with an individual traveling in excess of the posted speed limit.” And the trooper, they said, had “no reason or motivation to manufacture a traffic violation against him.”

    Abrego Garcia currently can’t be deported to El Salvador thanks to the 2019 settlement that found he had a “well founded fear” of danger there. However, the Trump administration has said he cannot stay in the U.S. Over the past couple of months government officials have said they would deport him to Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana and, most recently, Liberia.

    The administration’s deportation agreements with so-called third countries have been contested in court by advocacy groups, which have noted that some immigrants are being sent to countries with long histories of human rights violations. But in June, a divided Supreme Court allowed the swift removal of immigrants to countries other than their homelands and with minimal notice.

    Abrego Garcia sued the Trump administration in a Maryland court over his earlier deportation, and the judge in that case has temporarily barred his removal. If the judge decides to lift that order, government attorneys have said they are ready to deport him right away.

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

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  • FDA’s Top Drug Regulator Resigns After Federal Officials Probe ‘Serious Concerns’

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Food and Drug Administration’s drug center abruptly resigned Sunday after federal officials began reviewing “serious concerns about his personal conduct,” according to a government spokesperson.

    Dr. George Tidmarsh, who was named to the FDA post in July, was placed on leave Friday after officials in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of General Counsel were notified of the issues, HHS press secretary Emily Hilliard said in an email. Tidmarsh then resigned Sunday morning.

    “Secretary Kennedy expects the highest ethical standards from all individuals serving under his leadership and remains committed to full transparency,” Hilliard said.

    The departure came the same day that a drugmaker connected to one of Tidmarsh’s former business associates filed a lawsuit alleging that he made “false and defamatory statements,” during his time at the FDA.

    The lawsuit, brought by Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, alleges that Tidmarsh used his FDA position to pursue a “longstanding personal vendetta” against the chair of the company’s board of directors, Kevin Tang.

    Tang previously served as a board member of several drugmakers where Tidmarsh was an executive, including La Jolla Pharmaceutical, and was involved in his ouster from those leadership positions, according to the lawsuit.

    Messages placed to Tidmarsh and his lawyer were not immediately returned late Sunday.

    Tidmarsh founded and led a series of pharmaceutical companies over several decades working in California’s pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Before joining the FDA, he also served as an adjunct professor at Stanford University. He was recruited to join the agency over the summer after meeting with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary.

    Tidmarsh’s ouster is the latest in a string of haphazard leadership changes at the agency, which has been rocked for months by firings, departures and controversial decisions on vaccines, fluoride and other products.

    Dr. Vinay Prasad, who oversees FDA’s vaccine and biologics center, resigned in July after coming under fire from conservative activists close to President Donald Trump, only to rejoin the agency two weeks later at the behest of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

    The FDA’s drug center, which Tidmarsh oversaw, has lost more than 1,000 staffers over the past year to layoffs or resignations, according to agency figures. The center is the largest division of the FDA and is responsible for the review, safety and quality control of prescription and over-the-counter medicines.

    In September, Tidmarsh drew public attention for a highly unusual post on LinkedIn stating that one of Aurinia Pharmaceutical’s products, a kidney drug, had “not been shown to provide a direct clinical benefit for patients.” It’s very unusual for an FDA regulator to single out individual companies and products in public comments online.

    According to the company’s lawsuit, Aurinia’s stock dropped 20% shortly after the post, wiping out more than $350 million in shareholder value.

    Tidmarsh later deleted the LinkedIn post and said he had posted it in his personal capacity, not as an FDA official.

    Aurinia’s lawsuit also alleges, among other things, that Tidmarsh used his post at FDA to target a type of thyroid drug made by another company, American Laboratories, where Tang also serves as board chair.

    The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court of Maryland, seeks compensatory and punitive damages and “to set the record straight,” according to the company.

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Judge Again Bars Trump Administration From Deploying Troops to Portland

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    PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge in Oregon on Sunday barred President Donald Trump’s administration from deploying the National Guard to Portland, Oregon until at least Friday, saying she “found no credible evidence” that protests in the city grew out of control before the president federalized the troops earlier this fall.

    The city and state sued in September to block the deployment.

    It’s the latest development in weeks of legal back-and-forth in Portland, Chicago and other U.S. cities as the Trump administration has moved to federalize and deploy the National Guard in city streets to quell protests.

    The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, followed a three-day trial in which both sides argued over whether protests at the city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building met the conditions for using the military domestically under federal law.

    In a 16-page filing late Sunday, Immergut said she would issue a final order on Friday due to the voluminous evidence presented at trial, including more than 750 exhibits.


    Judge says claims of protest violence are overstated

    The purpose of the deployment, according to the Trump administration, is to protect federal personnel and property where protests are occurring or likely to occur. Legal experts said that a higher appellate court order that remains in effect would have barred troops from being deployed anyway.

    Immergut wrote that most violence appeared to be between protesters and counter-protesters and found no evidence of “significant damage” to the immigration facility at the center of the protests.

    “Based on the trial testimony, this Court finds no credible evidence that during the approximately two months before the President’s federalization order, protests grew out of control or involved more than isolated and sporadic instances of violent conduct that resulted in no serious injuries to federal personnel,” she wrote.


    Ruling follows weeks of back and forth in federal court

    The complex case comes as Democratic cities targeted by Trump for military involvement — including Chicago, which has filed a separate lawsuit on the issue — seek to push back. They argue the president has not satisfied the legal threshold for deploying troops and that doing so would violate states’ sovereignty. The administration argues that it needs the troops because it has been unable to enforce the law with regular forces — one of the conditions set by Congress for calling up troops.

    Immergut issued two orders in early October that blocked the deployment of the troops leading up to the trial. She previously found that Trump had failed to show that he met the legal requirements for mobilizing the National Guard. She described his assessment of Portland, which Trump has called “war-ravaged” with “fires all over the place,” as “simply untethered to the facts.”

    One of Immergut’s orders was paused Oct. 20 by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But late Tuesday, the appeals court vacated that decision and said it would rehear the matter before an 11-judge panel. Until the larger panel rehears the case, the appeals court’s initial order from early October — under which the National Guard is federalized but not deployed — remains in effect.


    Federal witness describes ‘surprise’ at troop deployment

    During the Portland trial, witnesses including local police and federal officials were questioned about the law enforcement response to the nightly protests at the city’s ICE building. The demonstrations peaked in June, when Portland police declared one a riot. The demonstrations typically drew a couple dozen people in the weeks leading up to Trump’s National Guard announcement.

    The Trump administration said it has had to shuffle federal agents from elsewhere around the country to respond to the Portland protests, which it has characterized as a “rebellion” or “danger of rebellion” — another one of the conditions for calling up troops under federal law.

    Federal officials working in the region testified about staffing shortages and requests for more personnel that have yet to be fulfilled. Among them was an official with the Federal Protective Service, the agency within the Department of Homeland Security that provides security at federal buildings, whom the judge allowed to be sworn in as a witness under his initials, R.C., due to safety concerns.

    R.C., who said he would be one of the most knowledgeable people in DHS about security at Portland’s ICE building, testified that a troop deployment would alleviate the strain on staff. When cross-examined, however, he said he did not request troops and that he was not consulted on the matter. He also said he was “surprised” to learn about the deployment and that he did not agree with statements about Portland burning down.

    Attorneys for Portland and Oregon said city police have been able to respond to the protests. After the police department declared a riot on June 14, it changed its strategy to direct officers to intervene when person and property crime occurs, and crowd numbers have largely diminished since the end of that month, police officials testified.

    Another Federal Protective Service official whom the judge also allowed to testify under his initials said protesters have at times been violent, damaged the facility and acted aggressively toward officers working at the building.

    The ICE building closed for three weeks over the summer due to property damage, according to court documents and testimony. The regional field office director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, Cammilla Wamsley, said her employees worked from another building during that period. The plaintiffs argued that was evidence that they were able to continue their work functions.

    Oregon Senior Assistant Attorney General Scott Kennedy said that “without minimizing or condoning offensive expressions” or certain instances of criminal conduct, “none of these incidents suggest … that there’s a rebellion or an inability to execute the laws.”

    Johnson reported from Seattle.

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

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  • Mississippi Woman Kills Escaped Monkey Fearing for Her Children’s Safety

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    One of the monkeys that escaped last week after a truck overturned on a Mississippi roadway was shot and killed early Sunday by a woman who says she feared for the safety of her children.

    Jessica Bond Ferguson said she was alerted early Sunday by her 16-year-old son who said he thought he had seen a monkey running in the yard outside their home near Heidelberg, Mississippi. She got out bed, grabbed her firearm and her cellphone and stepped outside where she saw the monkey about 60 feet (18 meters) away.

    Bond Ferguson said she and other residents had been warned about diseases that the escaped monkeys carried so she fired her gun.

    “I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,” Bond Ferguson, who has five children ranging in age from 4 to 16, told The Associated Press. “I shot at it and it just stood there, and I shot again, and he backed up and that’s when he fell.”

    The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a social media post that a homeowner had found one of the monkeys on their property Sunday morning but said the office didn’t have any details. The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks took possession of the monkey, the sheriff’s office said.

    The Rhesus monkeys had been housed at the Tulane University National Biomedical Research Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, which routinely provides primates to scientific research organizations, according to the university. In a statement last week, Tulane said the monkeys do not belong to the university, and they were not being transported by the university.

    A truck carrying the monkeys overturned Tuesday on Interstate 59 north of Heidelberg. Authorities have said most of the 21 monkeys were killed. The sheriff’s department has said animal experts from Tulane examined the trailer and had determined three monkeys had escaped.

    The Mississippi Highway Patrol has said it was investigating the cause of the crash, which occurred about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the state capital, Jackson.

    Rhesus monkeys typically weigh about 16 pounds (7.2 kilograms) and are among the most medically studied animals on the planet. Video recorded after the crash showed monkeys crawling through tall grass beside the interstate, where wooden crates labeled “live animals” were crumpled and strewn about.

    Jasper County Sheriff Randy Johnson had said Tulane officials reported the monkeys were not infectious, despite initial reports by the truck’s occupants warning that the monkeys were dangerous and harboring various diseases. Nonetheless, Johnson said the monkeys still needed to be “neutralized” because of their aggressive nature.

    The monkeys had recently received checkups confirming they were pathogen-free, Tulane said in a statement Wednesday.

    About 10 years ago, three Rhesus macaques in the breeding colony of what was then known as the Tulane National Primate Research Center were euthanized after a “biosecurity breach,” federal inspectors wrote in a 2015 report. The breach involved at least one staff member failing to adhere to biosafety and infection control procedures, it said.

    The facility made changes in its procedures and retrained staff after that happened, according to the report from the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

    Rhesus macaques “are known to be aggressive,” according to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. It said the agency’s conservation workers were working with sheriff’s officials in the search for the animals.

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

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  • Trump’s Testing Plans for US Nuclear Weapons Won’t Include Explosions, Energy Secretary Says

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    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — New tests of the U.S. nuclear weapons system ordered up by President Donald Trump will not include nuclear explosions, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday.

    It was the first clarity from the Trump administration since the president took to social media last week to say he had “instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.”

    “I think the tests we’re talking about right now are system tests,” Wright said in an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Briefing.” “These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call noncritical explosions.”

    Wright, whose agency is responsible for testing, added that the planned testing involves “all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry and they set up the nuclear explosion.”

    The confusion over Trump’s intention started minutes before he held a critical meeting in South Korea with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump took to his Truth Social platform and appeared to suggest he was preparing to discard a decades-old U.S. prohibition on testing the nation’s nuclear weapons.

    Later that day, as he made his way back to Washington, Trump was coy on whether he really meant to say he was ordering the resumption of explosive testing of nuclear weapons — something only North Korea has undertaken this century — or calling for the testing of U.S. systems that could deliver a nuclear weapon, which is far more routine.

    He remained opaque on Friday when asked by reporters about whether he intended to resume underground nuclear detonation tests.

    “You’ll find out very soon,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, as he headed to Florida for a weekend stay.

    The U.S. military regularly tests its missiles that are capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, but it has not detonated the weapons since 1992. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which the U.S. signed but did not ratify, has been observed since its adoption by all countries possessing nuclear weapons, North Korea being the only exception.

    Russia responded to Trump’s nuclear testing comments by underscoring that it did not test its nuclear weapons and has abided by a global ban on nuclear testing.

    The Kremlin warned though, that if the U.S. resumes testing its weapons, Russia will as well — an intensification that would restart Cold War-era tensions.

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

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  • Trump Says China’s Xi Has Assured Him That He Won’t Take Action on Taiwan During Republican’s Term

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    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump says that Chinese President Xi Jinping has given him assurances that Beijing would take no action toward its long-stated goal of unifying Taiwan with mainland China while the Republican leader is in office.

    Trump said that the long-contentious issue of Taiwan did not come up in his talks with Xi on Thursday in South Korea that largely focused on U.S.-China trade tensions. But the U.S. leader expressed certainty that China would not take action on Taiwan, while he’s in office.

    “He has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘We would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in an excerpt of an interview with the CBS’ program “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday.

    U.S. officials have long been concerned about the possibility of China using military force against Taiwan, the self-ruled island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory.

    The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which has governed U.S. relations with the island, does not require the U.S. to step in militarily if China invades but makes it American policy to ensure Taiwan has the resources to defend itself and to prevent any unilateral change of status by Beijing.

    Asked if he would order U.S. forces to defend Taiwan if China attacked, Trump demurred. The United States, both Republican and Democratic administrations, have maintained a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan — trying not to tip their hands on whether the U.S. would come to the island’s aid in such a scenario.

    “You’ll find out if it happens, and he understands the answer to that,” Trump said of Xi.

    The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House also did not provide further details about when Xi or Chinese officials have conveyed to Trump that military action on Taiwan was off-the-table for the duration of the Republican’s presidency.

    The rest of the interview is scheduled to air later Sunday.

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

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  • The Latest: A Shuffle Is in Store for the AP Top 25 in College Football

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    No. 8 Georgia Tech was upset for the first time this season, defeated by North Carolina State. That leaves the Bowl Subdivision with four unbeaten teams, given that Navy also lost.

    All top 5 poll spots are likely to remain unchanged, given that No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana both reeled in victories and No. 3 Texas A&M and No. 4 Alabama were idle. That leaves No. 5 Georgia unlikely to move up despite a win this week, because the Bulldogs have already lost to the Crimson Tide.

    Promotions may be in store for No. 13 Texas Tech, No. 15 Virginia, No. 18 Oklahoma and No. 20 Texas, thanks to their wins this weekend.

    How high will they climb?

    Follow live updates from The Associated Press below for poll projections, game recaps and voter answers to fan questions, all in one place.

    Four top 10 teams came out on top of their matchups this week, but three lost games.

    Ohio State (1), Indiana (2), Georgia (5) and Ole Miss (7) notched conference wins on Saturday.

    Ohio State running back Bo Jackson, top, is tackled by Penn State defensive back Antoine Belgrave-Shorter during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

    The remaining top 10 teams weren’t as fortunate. NC State outscored No. 8 Georgia Tech 48-36, handing the Yellow Jackets their first loss of the season. No. 9 Vanderbilt dropped 34-31 to No. 20 Texas. And No. 10 Miami suffered its second defeat in the past three games, falling 26-20 to SMU in overtime.

    Texas (3), Alabama (4), Oregon (6) and BYU (T-10) were idle.


    Who votes in the poll and how does it work?

    No organization has been ranking teams and naming a major college football national champion longer than The Associated Press, which has done the job since 1936.

    AP employees don’t vote themselves, but they do choose the voters. AP Top 25 voters comprise around 60 writers and broadcasters who cover college football for AP members and other select outlets. The goal is to have every state with a Football Bowl Subdivision school represented by at least one voter.

    Voting is a straight points system: A first-place vote is worth 25 points, a second-place vote is worth 24 points, down to 1 point for a 25th-place vote.

    Then it’s just a summary of which teams are 1-25 based on the totals. Others receiving votes are also noted.

    Voting is done online, and the tabulation is automated.

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

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  • AP Has Declared Winners in Elections for Nearly 180 Years. This Is Why and How Race Calls Are Made

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    Those are among the questions The Associated Press will answer when the news organization tabulates votes and declares winners in hundreds of races that are on ballots nationwide Tuesday.

    It’s a role the AP has filled for nearly 180 years, since shortly after its founding.

    Determining a winner involves a careful and thorough analysis of the latest available vote tallies and a variety of other election data. The ultimate goal is to answer this question: Is there any circumstance in which the trailing candidate can catch up to the candidate who is leading the race. If the answer is no, then the leading candidate has won.

    Here’s a look at the AP’s role and its process for determining the outcome of elections, also known as calling a race:

    The United States does not have a nationwide body that collects and releases election results. Elections are administered locally, by thousands of offices, following standards set by the states. In many cases, the states themselves do not even offer up-to-date tracking of election results.

    The AP fills this gap by compiling vote results and declaring winners in elections, providing critical information in the period between Election Day and the official certification of results, which typically takes weeks.

    The AP’s vote count brings together information that otherwise might not be available online for days or weeks after an election or is scattered across hundreds of local websites. Without national standards or consistent expectations across states, it also ensures the data is in a standard format, uses standard terms and undergoes rigorous quality control.

    The AP hires vote count reporters who work with local election officials to collect results directly from counties or precincts where votes are first counted. These reporters submit them, by phone or electronically, as soon as the results are available. If any of the results are available from state or county websites, the AP will gather the results from there, too.

    In many cases, counties will update vote totals as they count ballots throughout the night. The AP is continuously updating its count as these results are released. In a general election, the AP will make as many as 21,000 vote updates per hour.

    As votes are coming in, the AP will analyze races to determine the winners.

    One key piece that the AP considers is how many ballots are uncounted and from what areas. In cases where official or exact tallies of the outstanding vote are unavailable, the AP estimates the turnout in every race based on several factors and uses that estimate to track how much of the vote has been counted and how much remains.

    The AP also tries to determine how ballots counted so far were cast and the types of vote, such as mail ballots or ballots cast in person on Election Day, that remain.

    That is because the method that voters choose can be correlated to the party they voted for. Since voting by mail became highly politicized in the 2020 election, Democrats have been more likely to vote by mail, while Republicans have been more likely to vote in-person on Election Day.

    In many states, it is possible to know which votes will be counted first, based on past elections or plans announced by election officials. In others, votes are clearly marked by type when released.

    This helps to determine if an early lead is expected to shrink or grow. For example, if a state first counts votes cast in person on Election Day, followed by mail-in votes, that suggests that an early Republican lead may narrow as more mail ballots are tabulated. But if the reverse is true and mail ballots are counted first, an early Republican lead could be the first sign of a comfortable victory.

    In almost all cases, races can be called well before all votes have been counted. The AP’s team of election journalists and analysts will call a race as soon as a clear winner can be determined.

    In competitive races, AP analysts may need to wait until additional votes are tallied or to confirm specific information about how many ballots are left to count.

    Competitive races where votes are actively being tabulated — for example, in states that count a large number of votes after election night — might be considered “too early to call.” A race may be “too close to call” if a race is so close that there is no clear winner even once all ballots except for provisional and late-arriving absentee ballots have been counted.

    The AP’s race calls are not predictions and are not based on speculation. They are declarations based on an analysis of vote results and other election data that one candidate has emerged as the winner and that no other candidate in the race will be able to overtake the winner once all the votes have been counted.

    Follow along as AP tabulates votes and calls races beginning Tuesday night. Check out results pages and notes from the decision team here.

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

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  • US Carries Out New Strike in Caribbean, Killing 3 Alleged Drug Smugglers

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    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The U.S. military has carried out another lethal strike on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Saturday.

    Hegseth in a social media posting said the vessel was operated by a U.S.-designated terrorist organization but did not name which group was targeted. He said three people were killed in the strike.

    It’s at least the 15th such strike carried out by the U.S. military in the Caribbean or eastern Pacific since early September.

    “This vessel—like EVERY OTHER—was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” Hegseth said in a posting on X.

    The U.S. military has now killed at least 64 people in the strikes.

    Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States. He has asserted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration when it declared a war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

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

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