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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.

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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Erika Kirk’s Words Spotlight Forgiveness in a Divided Nation

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    “That man, that young man — I forgive him.”

    Erika Kirk softly spoke those words about the gunman accused of assassinating her husband, conservative activist Charlie Kirk, as she struggled to hold back tears last month during his memorial service.

    Her public declaration inspired another. Hollywood actor Tim Allen said he was so moved by her words that he was forgiving the drunken driver who caused his father’s death 60 years ago. Barely two weeks after Charlie Kirk’s death, members of a Michigan congregation made public that they too were forgiving a gunman, the one who had just attacked their church, killing four people and injuring eight others.

    Their high-profile acts of forgiveness are all the more remarkable given the politically charged and highly polarizing climate gripping the U.S. It has pushed people of faith to contemplate what forgiveness means, particularly in the face of violence, trauma and unspeakable grief, and whether it could shift public consciousness toward compassion.

    While some see a glimmer of hope in this moment, others are skeptical. Miroslav Volf, professor of theology at Yale Divinity School, said he views President Donald Trump’s response to Erika Kirk’s words — that he hates his opponents — as the more typical sentiment.

    “Erika Kirk’s gesture is the outlier,” he said. “It was an extraordinary act of courage. But it was also telling that (Trump’s) response got the bigger reaction from the crowd at the memorial. You have to wonder about these two very different responses. How do we find space for grace when we are so at odds that we cannot recognize humanity on the other side of the divide?”


    Forgiveness, a mandate for Christians

    California pastor Jack Hibbs, who leads Calvary Chapel Chino Hills and is a friend of the Kirks, called her words an “incredibly powerful” message of hope for the shooter, and in keeping with the family’s deep commitment to the Gospel, which commands Christians to forgive even their enemies.

    “The Bible warns us that bitterness, when left alone, can grow up in and destroy your heart,” Hibbs said. “So forgiveness was given to us by God to set us free from what’s been done to us.”

    The Rev. Thomas Berg, visiting professor at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame, said he hopes Erika Kirk’s gesture “ignites some kind of meaningful national conversation about forgiveness.”

    He said forgiveness is not a one-time event, but a process that takes time and work. Berg, who counsels victims of sex abuse in the Catholic Church, warns that it should never be coerced but authentically given — an act that he says has the power to heal the deepest wounds.

    He would like to see more public expressions of forgiveness, which could serve as a balm for the country.

    “I hope this is not a passing moment,” he said. “The dynamic of forgiveness throws a wrench into the dysfunction of our partisan divides and our inability to have a reasonable exchange of ideas.”

    Dave Butler, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and science fiction writer based in Utah, believes forgiveness is a mandate for all Christians, as his church teaches. He started a crowdfunding initiative for the family of the Michigan shooter who opened fire on the Latter-day Saints congregation, which as of this week, had raised a little over $388,000.

    Butler said he started it because — in addition to the grieving church members who had lost loved ones in this mass shooting — there was the family of the gunman that was also traumatized.

    “They also did not choose this,” he said. “Nevertheless, they are now short a husband and a father. If we’re not really thoughtful, we might be inclined to see them more as antagonists rather than victims. More than 10,000 people have contributed and they understand what they’re doing is an act of forgiveness.”


    Forgiveness from the perspective of Anabaptists

    An often-cited modern example of forgiveness is the response of the Amish community around Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, after a gunman killed five Amish schoolgirls and wounded five more in 2006 before taking his own life. Local Amish immediately expressed forgiveness for the killer and supported his widow.

    Amish are part of the wider Anabaptist movement, which puts heavy emphasis on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, containing some of his most radical and counter-cultural sayings — to love enemies, live simply, bless persecutors, turn the other cheek and to endure sufferings joyfully. In it, Jesus says God will only forgive those who forgive others.

    While many outside the Anabaptists’ world have endorsed their beliefs about forgiveness — which they also voiced for Haitian kidnappers of Anabaptist missionaries in 2021 — others say the picture is more complex. Advocates for victims of sexual abuse in Anabaptist communities say victims and their families are often forced to reconcile with abusers after the latter make a confession and undergo a brief period of discipline.


    A complicated journey for trauma survivors

    The Jewish perspective on forgiveness is different in that it requires the perpetrator to seek forgiveness from the person who has been wronged, said Rabbi Jeffrey Myers. He heads Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh where 11 people from three congregations were killed after a gunman attacked it during Shabbat services on Oct. 27, 2018.

    “For me, it’s complicated because there are 11 dead people who cannot be sought for forgiveness,” Myers said, adding that he cannot offer forgiveness because the perpetrator — who faces execution — did not show remorse.

    “While the perpetrator has received a measure of justice as outlined by the judicial process, it didn’t give me closure because those 11 people are gone,” Myers said. “There is nothing that makes that pain go away.”

    What gives him some comfort is being able to help other congregations that are going through similar trauma. Myers said he was grateful to have received that support from the Rev. Eric Manning, pastor of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, a historically Black church where a self-proclaimed white supremacist shot and killed nine congregants on June 17, 2015 — including the church’s pastor at the time.

    “Today, as someone who belongs to that club no one should belong to, I view it as my sacred obligation to help,” Myers said. “Even if I can help one person, that’s gratifying, that feels healing.”

    Peg Durachko, whose husband Dr. Richard Gottfried, a dentist, was one of the victims in the synagogue shooting, said that as a Catholic, she looked to Pope John Paul II for inspiration as she read about how he visited the imprisoned man who shot him and offered forgiveness.

    “I recognize (the gunman) as a child of God who made bad choices to lead him in that direction,” she said. “I’m not his judge, God is. I want him to have eternal life. I don’t harbor hate or ill wishes to anyone, including him. I don’t want to carry this baggage of hate.”

    AP journalist Peter Smith in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.

    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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

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  • US Strikes Another Alleged Drug-Carrying Boat in the Pacific and Kills All 4 Aboard, Hegseth Says

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that the U.S. military carried out another strike on a boat he said was carrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing all four people aboard the vessel, as the Trump administration pursues its divisive campaign against drug cartels in the waters off South America.

    Hegseth, who’s been traveling in Japan and Malaysia, said in a social media post that intelligence determined the craft was “transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics.” He said the strike was conducted in international waters and no U.S. forces were harmed.

    A video posted by Hegseth shows a boat exploding into flames and smoke.

    The Trump administration has been conducting a nearly two-month campaign in the region, while building up an unusually large force of warships that are carrying Marines and aircraft. Their presence has fueled speculation that the moves are aimed at ousting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom the U.S. has accused of narcoterrorism.

    President Donald Trump has justified the attacks on the boats 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.

    The Trump administration has shown no evidence to support its claims about the boats that has been attacked, their connection to drug cartels, or even the identity of the people killed in the strikes.

    The strike announced by Hegseth on Wednesday makes it the 14th since the campaign began, while the death toll has grown to at least 61.

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  • Judge’s Order Blocking Removal of Man From US Wasn’t Received Until After He Was Deported, DHS Says

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    NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Immigration authorities did not receive word of a court order blocking the removal of a man living in Alabama until after he had been deported to Laos, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday, dismissing claims that officials violated the order.

    Chanthila “Shawn” Souvannarath, 44, was deported on Friday, according to his attorneys, a day after a federal judge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, told U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to keep him in the country so that he could present what the judge called a “substantial claim of U.S. citizenship.”

    Souvannarath was born in a refugee camp in Thailand but has lived most of his life in the U.S. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the judge’s order keeping him in the country “was not served” to ICE until after Souvannarath had been deported.

    “To the media’s chagrin, there was no mistake,” McLaughlin said in a statement.

    DHS and ICE did not respond to questions from The Associated Press seeking additional details on the timeline and how officials receive federal court orders.

    The American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Souvannarath, asked U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick to order his immediate return to the U.S., calling the deportation “unlawful.”

    “ICE has acted in direct opposition to a federal court order, which should disturb everyone,” said Nora Ahmed, legal director of the ACLU of Louisiana.

    The deportation comes as Trump administration officials have repeatedly clashed with the courts over their attempts to deport large numbers of immigrants. There have been previous cases of U.S. citizens being deported, including U.S.-born children.

    Souvannarath most recently lived in Arab, Alabama. Court records show he was granted lawful permanent residence in the U.S. before his first birthday. His father, a native of Laos, is a naturalized U.S. citizen, and Souvannarath claims his citizenship derives from that status.

    Souvannarath was taken into ICE custody in June following an annual check-in with immigration authorities. Two of his five children were with him when he was detained, his wife told the AP.

    McLaughlin said Souvannarath “lost his green card” and was ordered to be deported in 2006 following convictions for “heinous crimes” — assault and unlawful possession of a firearm — and “had no right to be in this country.” It was not clear why Souvannarath was not previously taken into ICE custody.

    In 2004, Souvannarath was convicted of unlawful firearm possession and assault against his then-girlfriend in King County, Washington. He had also been convicted of a misdemeanor assault against the same woman several years before, court records show.

    “20 years later, he tried a Hail Mary attempt to remain in our country by claiming he was a U.S. citizen,” McLaughlin wrote in her statement. “I know its shocking to the media — but criminal illegal aliens lie all the time.”

    Souvannarath’s wife, Beatrice, described him as a hard worker and loving father who stayed out of trouble since his run-ins with the law two decades ago. He’s mostly worked installing air conditioners and heaters, she said. “He doesn’t even drink,” she said.

    His wife said she received word last week that he was being deported and, days later, that he was in custody in Laos, a country he had not previously visited.

    Representing himself in court, Souvannarath filed an emergency motion seeking to halt his deportation. The judge, appointed by President Barack Obama, cited the “irreparable harm that would be caused by immediate deportation” in issuing a temporary restraining order pausing the deportation for 14 days.

    Before his deportation, Souvannarath had been detained at a newly opened ICE facility at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.

    __ Mustian reported from New York. Associated Press reporter Cedar Attanasio contributed from Seattle, Washington.

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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.

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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?”

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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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  • UN General Assembly Condemns US Embargo on Cuba for 33rd Year, but US Garners More Support

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    UNITED NATION (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to condemn the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba for a 33rd year. Yet the vote — as Hurricane Melissa tore through the island nation — softened Washington’s isolation on a longstanding issue in the Caribbean while new friction grows around its military buildup there.

    The vote in the 193-member world body was 165-7, with 12 abstentions. Last year, it was 187-2, with “no” votes from the U.S. and Israel and one abstention. This year, Argentina, Ukraine and Hungary were among countries that also opposed the measure.

    Rodríguez said his government had heard from other countries, mainly in Europe, that the U.S. State Department was encouraging them to vote against the resolution. The State Department did not respond to requests for comment.

    Before the vote, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Mike Waltz described the annual exercise as “political theater” by Cuba to “cast itself as the victim of aggression while plainly describing itself as “the enemy of the United States.”

    “I would suggest that our member states stop appeasing the regime with their votes and instead use this vote to send the world a message,” Waltz said during General Assembly debate Tuesday, adding that the vote also could signal to Cuba not to “blame all of its economic problems on the United States.”

    While not legally binding, General Assembly resolutions reflect world opinion, and the vote has given Cuba a yearly opportunity to emphasize that Washington stands apart on the decades-old economic restrictions.

    “We cannot underestimate the importance, the impact, of the powerful message year after year by the General Assembly, which is the most democratic, representative body of the international community,” Rodríguez told AP. “It is not binding, but it is powerful.”

    Urging countries Wednesday to back the resolution again, Rodríguez said that “doing so would be an act of justice in favor of a peace-loving people that is facing not only the blockade, but with the blockade, another monstrous hurricane.”

    The U.S. objects to the description of the economic restrictions as a blockade.

    This year’s vote happened not only as the hurricane raged but as the Trump administration intensifies its campaign against drug trafficking in the waters off South America.

    Maduro, in turn, has accused the United States of trying to destabilize his country and gain control of its oil reserves.

    Cuba, meanwhile, has struggled since 2020 with one of the worst economic and energy crises in its history. Its gross domestic product has shrunk, and residents have endured blackouts, food shortages and inflation. There have been waves of protests, and hundreds of thousands of Cubans have migrated, many to the United States.

    Cuban officials have blamed the economic squeeze on COVID-19 shutdowns, stricter U.S. sanctions and other factors. The island’s communist government says the country lost over $7.5 billion between March 2024 and February 2025 due to U.S. sanctions — a loss 49% bigger than during the same period a year earlier.

    The embargo was imposed in 1960 after Fidel Castro led a revolution that toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista and nationalized properties belonging to U.S. citizens and corporations.

    In July 2016, then-Cuban President Raul Castro and then-U.S. President Barack Obama officially restored relations. That year, the U.S. abstained, for the first time, on the General Assembly resolution calling for an end to the embargo.

    Of Cuba’s nearly 10 million residents, 80% have spent their entire lives under sanctions, which increased significantly during Trump’s first term, continued under his successor, President Joe Biden, and were tightened again after Trump returned to office this year.

    Associated Press writer Cristiana Mesquita in Havana contributed to this report.

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  • A Man Who Spent 43 Years in Prison Before His Conviction Was Overturned Now Faces Deportation

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    PHILADELPHIA (AP) — After waiting more than four decades to clear his name in a friend’s 1980 killing, Subramanyam Vedam was set to walk free from a Pennsylvania prison this month.

    Vedam and Thomas Kinser were the 19-year-old children of Penn State University faculty. Vedam was the last person seen with Kinser and was twice convicted of killing him, despite a lack of witnesses or motive.

    In August, a judge threw out the conviction after Vedam’s lawyers found new ballistics evidence that prosecutors had never disclosed.

    As his sister prepared to bring him home on Oct. 3, the thin, white-haired Vedam was instead taken into federal custody over a 1999 deportation order. The 64-year-old, who legally came to the U.S. from India when he was 9 months old, now faces another daunting legal fight.

    Amid the Trump Administration’s focus on mass deportation, Vedam’s lawyers must persuade an immigration court that a 1980s drug conviction should be outweighed by the years he wrongly spent in prison. For a time, immigration law allowed people who had reformed their lives to seek such waivers. Vedam never pursued it then because of the murder conviction.

    “He was someone who’s suffered a profound injustice,” said immigration lawyer Ava Benach. “(And) those 43 years aren’t a blank slate. He lived a remarkable experience in prison.”

    Vedam earned several degrees behind bars, tutored hundreds of fellow inmates and went nearly half a century with just a single infraction, involving rice brought in from the outside.

    His lawyers hope immigration judges will consider the totality of his case. The administration, in a brief filed Friday, opposes the effort. So Vedam remains at an 1,800-bed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in central Pennsylvania.

    “Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in an email about the case.


    ‘Mr. Vedam, where were you born?’

    After his initial conviction was thrown out, Vedam faced an unusual set of questions at his 1988 retrial.

    “During your teenage years, did you ever get into meditation?”

    Gopal Balachandran, the Penn State law professor who won the reversal, believes the questions were designed to alienate him from the all-white jury, which returned a second guilty verdict.

    The Vedams were among the first Indian families in the area known as “Happy Valley,” where his father had come as a postdoctoral fellow in 1956. An older daughter was born in State College, but “Subu,” as he was known, was born when the family was back in India in 1961.

    They returned to State College for good before his first birthday, and became the family that welcomed new members of the Indian diaspora to town.

    “They were fully engaged. My father loved the university. My mother was a librarian, and she helped start the library,” said the sister, Saraswathi Vedam, 68, a midwifery professor in Vancouver, British Columbia.

    While she left for college in Massachusetts, Subu became swept up in the counterculture of the late 1970s, growing his hair long and dabbling in drugs while taking classes at Penn State.

    One day in December 1980, Vedem asked Kinser for a ride to nearby Lewisburg to buy drugs. Kinser was never seen again, although his van was found outside his apartment. Nine months later, hikers found his body in a wooded area miles away.

    Vedam was detained on drug charges while police investigated, and was ultimately charged with murder. He was convicted in 1983 and sentenced to life without parole. To resolve the drug case, he pleaded no contest to four counts of selling LSD and a theft charge. The 1988 retrial offered no reprieve from his situation.

    Although the defense long questioned the ballistics evidence in the case, the jury, which heard that Vedam had bought a .25-caliber gun from someone, never heard that an FBI report suggested the bullet wound was too small to have been fired from that gun. Balachandran only found that report as he dug into the case in 2023.

    After hearings on the issue, a Centre County judge threw out the conviction and the district attorney decided this month not to retry the case.


    Trump officials oppose the petition

    Benach, the immigration lawyer, often represents clients trying to stay in the U.S. despite an earlier infraction. Still, she finds the Vedam case “truly extraordinary” given the constitutional violations involved.

    “Forty-three years of wrongful imprisonment more than makes up for the possession with intent to distribute LSD when he was 20 years old,” she said.

    Vedam could spend several more months in custody before the Board of Immigration Appeals decides whether to reopen the case. ICE officials, in a brief Friday, said the clock ran out years ago.

    “He has provided no evidence nor argument to show he has been diligent in pursuing his rights as it pertains to his immigration status,” Katherine B. Frisch, an assistant chief counsel, wrote.

    Saraswathi Vedam is saddened by the latest delay, but said her brother remains patient.

    “He, more than anybody else, knows that sometimes things don’t make sense,” she said. “You have to just stay with stay the course and keep hoping that truth and justice and compassion and kindness will win.”

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

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  • From Beaches to Ski Slopes, Photos Show How Cameras Keep Watch All Over China

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    The Chinese government has blanketed the country with the world’s largest network of surveillance cameras.

    Some cameras swivel, ensuring sweeping views of public squares. Others scan license plates of passing cars, allowing police to track vehicles in real-time. At night, cameras light up across China’s cities, shining lights down alleys and corners.

    Over the past few decades, the Chinese government has rolled out a series of high-tech surveillance projects aimed at bringing the entire country under watch, including “Sky Net” and the “Golden Shield”.

    The latest such project is called the “Xueliang Project,” or Sharp Eyes, a reference to a quote from Communist China’s founder, Mao Zedong, who once said “the people have sharp eyes” when urging them to root out neighbors opposed to socialist values.

    The cameras studding China are knitted together in policing systems that allow authorities to track and control virtually anyone in the country, often targeting perceived threats to the state like dissidents, religious believers or ethnic minorities. Following directives from Beijing to ensure “100 percent coverage” in key public areas, authorities have installed facial-recognition cameras across the country, including in unlikely locations:

    A slew of cameras greets visitors to Beijing, with a screen underneath announcing: “Amazing China travel starts here!”

    At times, entire neighborhoods have been demolished and rebuilt in part to make it easier for cameras to keep watch. The historic quarter of Xinjiang’s ancient silk road city of Kashgar, once a maze-like warren of twisting alleys, was demolished and rebuilt with wider avenues and thousands of camera that light up at night.

    China’s cities, roads and villages are now studded with more cameras than the rest of the world combined, analysts say — roughly one for every two people.

    The goal is clear, according to authorities: Total surveillance in every corner of the country, with “no blind spots” to be found.

    This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

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  • Trump’s Charm Offensive in Asia Sends Nikkei 225 to Record Heights

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    BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly higher Wednesday in Asia as Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index surged more than 2% to another record.

    U.S. futures were mixed and oil prices were little changed.

    U.S. President Donald Trump has been touring Asia and his upbeat comments on relations with major economies like Japan and China have helped fuel rallies while U.S. stocks have pushed further into record heights.

    In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was up 2.4% at 51,410.40.

    Still, South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.2% to 4,058.37.

    The Shanghai Composite index was up 0.5% at 4,006.21. It has been trading near decade highs ahead of Trump’s expected meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a regional summit in South Korea.

    The fact that a meeting is planned suggests there is room for some progress in easing tensions, experts say.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 1% to 8,926.20 after the release of higher than expected inflation data, an annual rate of 3.2%, dashed hopes for an interest rate cut anytime soon.

    Taiwan’s Taiex gained 1.2% and India’s Sensex was up 0.3%.

    The S&P 500 added 0.2% to 6,890.89. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% to 47,706.37, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8% to 23,827.49. All three indexes set all-time highs for a third straight day.

    Investors expect the Fed to announce a rate cut given the slowing job market. It would be the second time this year that it’s lowered the federal funds rate in hopes of helping the job market.

    United Parcel Service rallied 8% Tuesday after delivering stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

    PayPal climbed 3.9% after saying it made a bigger profit during the summer than analysts expected. It also said it plans to pay its shareholders a dividend every three months, while announcing a deal where internet users will be able to pay for purchases through OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

    Skyworks Solutions climbed 5.8% after saying it would merge with Qorvo in a cash-and-stock deal where Skyworks shareholders will own roughly 63% of the combined company, valued at $22 billion. Qorvo’s stock rose nearly as much, 5.7%.

    Microsoft was one of the strongest forces lifting the market after rising 2%. That sent the company’s total value on Wall Street above $4 trillion.

    On the losing end of Wall Street was Royal Caribbean, which lost 8.5% despite reporting a stronger profit than analysts expected. Its revenue for the latest quarter fell short of expectations.

    Homebuilder D.R. Horton sank 3.2% after reporting a weaker profit for the summer than analysts expected.

    Amazon, meanwhile, rose 1% after saying it will cut about 14,000 corporate jobs, or about 4% of its corporate workforce, as it ramps up spending on artificial intelligence while cutting costs elsewhere.

    In other dealings early Wednesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil inched up 2 cents to $60.17 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, also rose 2 cents, to $63.85 a barrel.

    The U.S. dollar rose to 152.36 Japanese yen from 152.11 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1631 from $1.1651.

    AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.

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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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  • Former Police Officer Accused of Killing Pregnant Woman Now Faces Charges in Death of Unborn Child

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    Matthew Farwell, 39, of Easton, is accused of strangling Sandra Birchmore in early 2021 after she told him that she was pregnant and that he was the father. Birchmore was 23 at the time.

    Farwell worked as an officer for the Stoughton Police Department from 2012 until 2022.

    Farwell, who was arrested and charged in August 2024, remains in federal custody. He was scheduled to go on trial next year on the initial charges.

    He is being represented by several federal public defenders who could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

    Birchmore began participating in the police explorers program when she was 12 years old, according to the indictment in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.

    Court documents say that Farwell, who was a police explorers volunteer, used his authority and access to groom, sexually exploit and then sexually abuse Birchmore when she was 15 and that he continued to have sex with her when she became an adult.

    “During some of the shifts when Farwell was supposed to be performing his duties as a Stoughton police officer, he was instead engaged in sex acts with Birchmore,” according to the indictment.

    In late 2020, Birchmore found out she was pregnant and told Farwell, according to the indictment.

    Farwell allegedly strangled Birchmore on or about Feb. 1, 2021, and then used his police knowledge to stage her apartment to make it look as though she had died by suicide, according to the indictment.

    When Farwell was indicted on the initial charges, Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara said that the department had worked with other agencies, including the FBI, to investigate.

    “The day after Sandra Birchmore was found dead in her Canton apartment, I ordered a lengthy and aggressive internal affairs investigation, the instructions of which made it clear that no stone should be left unturned,” McNamara said in a statement.

    “The alleged murder of Sandra is a horrific injustice,” McNamara said. “The allegations against the suspect, a former Stoughton Police Officer, represent the single worst act of not just professional misconduct but indeed human indecency that I have observed in a nearly three-decade career in law enforcement.”

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  • MacKenzie Scott Gives $60 Million to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy

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    MacKenzie Scott, one of the world’s richest women and most influential philanthropists, has donated $60 million to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, according to a Tuesday announcement from the nonprofit.

    The donation is among the largest single gifts Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has made to a nonprofit, and the largest the Center for Disaster Philanthropy has ever received.

    Patricia McIlreavy, CDP president and CEO, called the gift a “transformative investment” that would help the nonprofit “strengthen the ability of communities to withstand and equitably recover from disasters.”

    Founded in 2010, CDP offers advice and resources to donors seeking to maximize their impact on communities recovering from climate disasters and other crises. The organization emphasizes medium- and long-term recovery, two oft-neglected phases of disaster response.

    The $60 million grant would go toward “improving disaster preparedness, addressing the root causes of vulnerabilities to hazards and providing vital resources for the long-term recovery of disaster-affected communities,” according to a CDP statement.

    Scott, 55, amassed most of her wealth through shares of Amazon that she acquired after her divorce from the company’s founder and executive chairman, Jeff Bezos. Forbes estimates her current wealth to be about $34 billion.

    Soon after her divorce, Scott signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give away at least half of her wealth throughout her lifetime. She has donated more than $19 billion since 2019.

    The author of two novels is known for her quiet and trust-based giving. Scott rarely comments on her donations apart from sporadic essays published on her website, Yield Giving.

    Nonprofits are often surprised to learn they are receiving one of her grants, which come without restrictions on how groups can use the money.

    McIlreavy told The Associated Press she found out about the gift in September through a phone call. “There was a disbelief and joy mixed together,” she said.

    The lack of restrictions allows CDP to put some of the money toward general operations like staffing, an aspect of nonprofit work for which it is often difficult to fundraise.

    McIlreavy said nonprofits trying to raise money for administrative costs can sometimes feel like they are running a pizza shop. “People would come in and say ‘I want pizza, but I don’t want to pay for the staff to make it, or the trucks that bring in the cheese.’”

    The support comes as climate disasters continue to grow in frequency and cost, stretching the abilities of both governments and donors to respond.

    The U.S. has experienced at least 14 disasters this year that exceeded $1 billion in damages, according to Climate Central, totaling $101.4 billion. That count does not include the deadly July Texas floods, which are still being assessed.

    The uncertainty is challenging for survivors, and for donors and philanthropists who can’t anticipate where and when their support will be most needed, said McIlreavy.

    “When people are facing disasters across this country, not knowing what may come, how they may get assistance and from whom, that steals a bit of the hope that is intrinsic in any recovery,” she said.

    Several other groups announced this month that they received grants from Scott, including the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, which got $40 million, and the Freedom Fund, which received $60 million. Scott donated $70 million to UNCF, the nation’s largest private provider of scholarships to minority students, last month.

    Scott hinted at a new cycle of donations in an Oct. 15 essay on her website while downplaying her own giving and touting the power of smaller acts of kindness and generosity.

    “What if care is a way for all of us to make a difference in leading and shaping our countries?” Scott wrote. “There are many ways to influence how we move through the world, and where we land.”

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Man Pleads Guilty to Killing Catholic Priest Who Was Stabbed in His Rectory in Nebraska

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    OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The man accused of fatally stabbing a Catholic priest during a break-in at his home beside the church he served in a small Nebraska town pleaded guilty to murder and other charges Tuesday in the December 2023 killing.

    Kierre Williams changed his plea to guilty on murder, burglary and weapons charges during a routine pretrial hearing. He will be sentenced on Nov. 12 for killing the Rev. Stephen Gutgsell, 65, in the rectory next door to St. John the Baptist Church in Fort Calhoun. The killing occurred just hours before Gutgsell was scheduled to celebrate Mass.

    Williams’ attorney didn’t immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press on Tuesday.

    On the day of the attack, Gutgsell called 911 before dawn to report that a man had broken into the rectory and was in his kitchen holding a knife. A deputy who arrived at the home minutes later said he found Gutgsell lying near the kitchen, bleeding profusely from stab wounds. Gutgsell was rushed to a hospital in Omaha, where he died.

    Williams didn’t have a weapon at the time, but investigators later found a broken knife with a serrated blade lying in blood on the floor of Gutgsell’s bedroom.

    Williams has several felony convictions in other states, authorities said. At the time of the killing, he was working in a meatpacking plant in Sioux City, Iowa.

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  • Hurricane Melissa Is Among the Most Powerful Atlantic Hurricanes on Record

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    The monster storm strengthened Tuesday before hitting Jamaica, bringing with it maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph). It’s the strongest Atlantic hurricane to make landfall since Hurricane Dorian battered the Bahamas in 2019.

    The most powerful Atlantic storm in terms of wind speed, Hurricane Allen killed more than 200 people in Haiti before swooping into Texas in 1980. It’s highest sustained winds reached 190 mph (305 kph) but slowed before it hit land.

    The storm came ashore Tuesday in Jamaica as one the strongest Atlantic hurricanes in history. Its 185 mph (295 kph) sustained winds tied a record for the strongest speeds by an Atlantic storm while making landfall.

    The most intense hurricane to hit the Bahamas on record, more than 70 people died in the 2019 storm that packed 185 mph (295 kph) winds.

    This 2005 storm rapidly intensified, with winds topping out around 185 mph (295 kph). It slammed into Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula before hitting South Florida, where it carved a wide path of destruction.

    Hurricane Gilbert first made landfall in Jamaica and tore through the Caribbean in 1988 before slamming into Mexico, where 200 people died. At its peak, winds reached 185 mph (295 kph).

    This unnamed storm in 1935 remains one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the U.S. It devastated the Florida Keys and left damage along the Atlantic Coast. Its winds were measured at 185 mph (295 kph).

    The storm packing winds of 180 mph (290 kph) caused more than an estimated $700 million in damage across Puerto Rico and knocked power out to more than a million people in 2017.

    Weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, this storm with winds reaching 180 mph (290 kph) ripped through southwestern Louisiana. It caused more than $11 billion in damage.

    The catastrophic storm in 1998 set off mudslides and floods that left more than 11,000 dead, mostly in Honduras and Nicaragua. The hurricane hit the coast of Central America with winds at 180 mph.

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  • Kennedy Directs CDC to Study Alleged Harms of Offshore Wind Farms, Bloomberg News Reports

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    (Reuters) -U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff to probe the potential harms of offshore wind farms, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

    The move is part of a broader push by the Trump administration to scrutinize offshore wind development, which Trump himself has repeatedly criticized.

    In late summer, the Department of Health and Human Services, headed by Kennedy, instructed CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, to prepare research about wind farms’ impact on fishing businesses, the report said.

    Kennedy has met NIOSH director John Howard about the issue and listed particular experts for Howard’s team to contact, Bloomberg reported.

    The report added that the office of the U.S. surgeon general has also been involved in the initiative, which the HHS, prior to the ongoing government shutdown, aimed to have completed within a couple of months.

    The HHS did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

    (Reporting by Anusha Shah, Siddhi Mahatole and Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler and Alan Barona)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • What to Know as Federal Food Help and Preschool Aid Will Run Dry Saturday if Shutdown Persists

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    The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, helps about one in eight Americans buy groceries. A halt to SNAP benefits would leave a gaping hole in the country’s safety net. Vulnerable families could see federal money dry up soon for some other programs, as well.

    Aid for mothers to care for their newborns through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC, could run out the following week.

    Here’s a look at what would happen.

    Tuesday’s legal filing from attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia, plus three governors, focuses on a federal contingency fund with roughly $5 billion in it – enough to pay for the benefits for more than half a month.

    President Donald Trump’s Department of Agriculture said in September that its plan for a shutdown included using the money to keep SNAP running. But in a memo last week, it said that it couldn’t legally use that money for such a purpose.

    The Democratic officials contend the administration is legally required to keep benefits going as long as it has funding.

    The agency said debit cards beneficiaries use as part of SNAP to buy groceries will not be reloaded as of Nov. 1.

    With their own coalition, 19 Republican state attorneys general sent Democratic U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer a letter Tuesday urging passage of a “clean continuing resolution” to keep funding SNAP benefits.


    SNAP benefits could leave millions without money for food

    Most SNAP participants are families with children, more than 1 in 3 include older adults or someone with a disability, and close to 2 in 5 are households where someone is employed. Most have incomes that put them below the poverty line, about $32,000 in income for a family of four, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

    The average monthly benefit is $187 per person.

    People who receive the benefits say that without the aid, they’ll be forced to choose between buying food and paying other bills. Food banks are preparing for a spike in demand that they’ll have to navigate with decreased federal aid themselves.

    The debit cards are recharged in slightly different ways in each state. Not everyone receives their benefits on the first day of the month, though many beneficiaries get them early in the month.

    States expect retailers will be able to accept cards with balances on them, even if they’re not replenished.


    Some states seeking to fill void of SNAP benefit cuts

    State governments controlled by both Democrats and Republicans are scrambling to help recipients, though several say they don’t have the technical ability to fund the regular benefits.

    Officials in Louisiana, Vermont and Virginia have pledged to provide some type of backup food aid for recipients even while the shutdown stalls the federal program, though state-level details haven’t been announced.

    More funding for food banks and pantries is planned in states including New Hampshire, Minnesota, California, New Mexico, Connecticut and New York.

    The USDA advised Friday that states won’t be reimbursed for funding the benefits.


    Early childhood education

    More than 130 Head Start preschool programs won’t receive their annual federal grants on Nov. 1 if the government remains shut down, according to the National Head Start Association.

    Centers are scrambling to assess how long they can stay open, since nearly all their funding comes from federal taxpayers. Head Start provides education and child care for the nation’s neediest preschoolers. When a center is closed, families may have to miss work or school.

    With new grants on hold, a half dozen Head Start programs have already missed federal disbursements they were expecting Oct. 1 but have stayed open with fast-dwindling reserves or with help from local governments. All told, more than 65,000 seats at Head Start programs across the country could be affected.


    Food aid for mothers and young children

    Another food aid program supporting millions of low-income mothers and young children already received an infusion to keep the program open through the end of October, but even that money is set to run out early next month.

    The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children helps more than 6 million low-income mothers, young children and expectant parents purchase nutritious staples such as fruits and vegetables, low-fat milk and infant formula.

    The program, known as WIC, was at risk of running out of money in October because of the government shutdown, which occurred right before it was scheduled to receive its annual appropriation. The Trump administration reassigned $300 million in unspent tariff proceeds from the Department of Agriculture to keep the program afloat. But it was only enough for a few weeks.

    Now, states say they could run out of WIC money as early as Nov. 8.

    Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee. Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, New Jersey.

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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.

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