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  • Trump Administration Must Restore Grants for School Counselors, Judge Rules

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    Congress funded the mental health program after the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The grants were intended to help schools hire more counselors, psychologists and social workers, with a focus on rural and underserved areas of the country. But President Donald Trump’s administration opposed diversity considerations used to award the grants and told recipients they wouldn’t receive funding past December 2025.

    The preliminary ruling by Kymberly K. Evanson, a U.S. District Court judge in Seattle, applies only to some grantees in the sixteen Democratic-led states that challenged the Education Department’s decision. In Madera County, California, for example, the ruling restores roughly $3.8 million. In Marin County, California, it restores $8 million. The ruling will remain in effect while the case proceeds.

    The Education Department under Democratic President Joe Biden first awarded the grants. Biden’s administration prioritized giving the money to applicants who showed how they would increase the number of counselors from diverse backgrounds or from communities directly served by the school district.

    When Trump took office, his administration opposed aspects of the grant programs that touched on race, saying they were harmful to students. In April, his administration said the grants were canceled because they conflicted with the department’s priority of “merit, fairness, and excellence in education” and weren’t in the federal government’s best interest.

    In her ruling, Evanson called that decision arbitrary and capricious and said the states had made a case for real harm from the grant cuts. In Maine, for example, the grants enabled nine rural school districts to hire 10 new school mental health workers and retain four more — jobs the state said would be lost if the funding ended.

    “Congress created these programs to address the states’ need for school-based mental health services in their schools, and has repeatedly reaffirmed the need for those services over the years by reauthorizing and increasing appropriations to these programs,” Evanson wrote.

    “There is no evidence the Department considered any relevant data pertaining to the Grants at issue,” she wrote, and the department did not tell grantees why their work didn’t meet the “best interest” criteria.

    An Education Department spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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

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  • Takeaways From AP’s Report on the Growing Dangers of Heat on Pregnant Agriculture Workers

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    Agricultural workers are already among the most vulnerable to extreme heat. For pregnant workers, those risks are higher because the body must work harder to cool down and requires more liquids, making it more easily dehydrated. While protections exist, experts say they need better enforcement and more are needed. The Associated Press interviewed four agricultural workers who recounted experiences of working in extreme heat while pregnant.


    How much are temperatures rising?

    Average temperatures are increasing globally, including in the U.S.’s most agriculturally-productive states. Since the start of the 20th century, California temperatures have increased almost 3 F (1.67 C). Warming has accelerated, and seven of the past eight years in that state through 2024 have been the warmest on record. In Florida, average temperatures have increased by more than 2 F (1.11 C).

    When it comes to how the body reacts to heat, even small temperature increases can be significant.

    One study found that agricultural workers had more than 35 times the risk of heat-related deaths than other workers. In the U.S., an estimated one-third of farmworkers are women — an increasing share of the farm workforce.


    How are pregnant farmworkers more at risk?

    Pregnancy increases the risks of extreme heat because the body has to work harder to cool down. Heat exposure has been linked to increased risk of miscarriages, stillbirths, preterm births, low birth weight and birth defects.

    Combining pregnancy and heat with physical labor can more quickly overwhelm the body’s cooling system, increasing the likelihood of dehydration, heat illness and heat stroke.

    Farmworkers are also less likely to demand employers provide adequate shade, water or rest, or speak out when they’re feeling overheated for fear of being fired or having immigration enforcement officials called on them.

    Pregnant farmworkers in rural areas generally have less access to maternity care because clinics are farther away. Other times, they can’t miss hours of work or aren’t given time off. Many also don’t get employer-sponsored medical care or paid leave.

    Compounding these risks is the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Health care providers have reported seeing fewer walk-ins, patients delaying prenatal care and more pregnant patients whose first doctor’s visit was for labor and delivery, according to research by the group Physicians for Human Rights. Others have reported an increase in no-shows and canceled appointments.


    What protections are in place?

    No federal heat protections exist, although the Trump administration appears to be moving forward with a proposed rule. Some states, including California, have their own protections, while others, like Florida, have barred local governments from implementing their own. In states with protections, advocates say they’re not adequately enforced and pointed to a widespread distrust of reporting systems.

    More than 30 states and cities have laws requiring employers to provide accommodations for pregnant workers. Most recently, 2023’s federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” to pregnant workers, those who recently gave birth or have medical conditions related to birth or pregnancy. Other laws make it illegal to fire or discriminate due to those factors.

    Even so, some experts said there aren’t enough legal protections for pregnant workers. “It’s probably one of the reasons why we have some of the highest rates of maternal and infant mortality in high-income countries in the world,” said Ayana DeGaia, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington in Harborview.

    Others said it’s also unclear how some of these protections are enforced in agriculture and how they benefit women farmworkers.

    In Florida, a top U.S. producer of indoor plants and tropical foliage, the nursery industry’s mostly women workers have joined a fight for heat protections. In California, workers have been advocating for guaranteed compensation when they lose wages due to heat waves and other extreme weather events, as well as extra pay when they work during dangerous weather conditions.

    The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

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

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  • As Heat Gets More Extreme, Pregnant Farmworkers Are Increasingly at Risk

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    One hot day last summer, Clarisa Lugo was inspecting and counting corn and soybean plants in the middle of a 300-acre farm field in Illinois when she started throwing up and panting. Her heart raced, she stopped sweating and a pounding headache didn’t go away for hours.

    The heat index — a blend of temperature and humidity — had hit 105 F (40.56 C), and Lugo, who was eight months pregnant, was suffering from heat illness.

    “I remember that that day it was hard for me to go back to normal” despite drinking water and putting ice on her body, she recalled.

    Agricultural workers are already among the most vulnerable to extreme heat, and pregnant workers are coming under greater risk as temperatures rise because of climate change. Many in the U.S. are low-income Latino immigrants who toil under the sizzling sun or in humid nurseries open year round. Heat exposure has been linked to many extra risks for pregnant people, and while protections exist, experts say they need better enforcement and more safeguards are needed.

    Compounding these risks is the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Many people are too afraid to seek medical and maternal care, according to research and interviews with advocates and health care providers, and are increasingly fearful of retribution if they advocate for safe work environments.

    The Associated Press interviewed four agricultural workers who recounted experiences of working in extreme heat while pregnant. Three spoke under the condition of anonymity because they’re in the country illegally or fear reprisals from their employers.


    Temperature rise in big agricultural states

    California, one of the nation’s most agriculturally productive states, employed more than 893,000 agricultural workers in 2023, according to state data. Iowa, also among the top 10 agriculture-producing states, provides more than 385,000 jobs in the agriculture industry, according to a 2024 study.

    Since the start of the 20th century, California temperatures have increased almost 3 F (1.67 C), according to state and federal data. Warming has accelerated, and seven of the past eight years in that state through 2024 were the warmest on record. Iowa has seen temperatures increase by more than 1 F (0.56 C) during the same period while in Florida, another big agriculture state, average temperatures have increased by more than 2 F (1.11 C).

    When it comes to how the body reacts, even small temperature increases can make a difference.

    One study found that agricultural workers had more than 35 times the risk of heat-related deaths than other workers. But deaths are hard to track and are likely undercounted. In the U.S., an estimated one-third of farmworkers are women — an increasing share of the farm workforce.

    Lugo and her baby ended up fine. But others haven’t been so lucky.

    As one nursery worker in Florida put it: “I’ve wanted to leave this work,” but “I have to fight for my children.”


    Dangers of heat and exertion

    An agricultural worker recalled working in a Florida nursery in 2010 amid intense heat. She was four months pregnant and would spend hours carrying heavy pots of plants and bent over weeding and planting indoor foliage such as monsteras. At work one day, she felt painful abdominal cramping. She knew something was wrong when she saw blood in the toilet.

    “(At the hospital) they told me that I had already lost the baby,” she said. She believes the physical work combined with heat caused her miscarriage.

    Another nursery worker in Florida worked four months into her pregnancy in 2024, vomiting — sometimes after drinking water — and feeling nausea and headaches in part because of the heat.

    Her baby was born prematurely, at seven months. “(The doctor) told me that I spent too much time bent over … and I wasn’t eating well for the same reason, because of the heat,” she said.

    Pregnancy increases the risks of extreme heat because the body has to work harder to cool down. Heat exposure has been linked to increased risk of miscarriages, stillbirths, preterm births, low birth weight and birth defects.

    Combining pregnancy and heat with physical labor can more quickly overwhelm the body’s cooling system, increasing the likelihood of dehydration, heat illness and heat stroke. Even short-term exposure to heat can increase the risk of severe maternal health complications, such as high blood pressure disorders of pregnancy, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

    In the worst cases, it can kill.

    Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez was 17 and two months pregnant when she died in 2008 from heatstroke after pruning grapes in a California farm. Her supervisors failed to provide shade and water while she worked for hours in nearly triple-digit heat, authorities said.


    Unclear how sporadic regulations may benefit farmworkers

    No federal heat protections exist in the U.S., although the Trump administration appears to be moving forward with a proposed rule. Some states, including California and Washington, have their own protections, while others, like Texas and Florida, have barred local governments from implementing their own. In states with protections, advocates say they’re not adequately enforced and pointed to a widespread distrust of reporting systems.

    More than 30 states and cities have laws requiring employers to provide accommodations for pregnant workers. Most recently, 2023’s federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” to pregnant workers, those who recently gave birth or have medical conditions related to birth or pregnancy unless they will cause the employer “undue hardship.” Other laws make it illegal to fire or discriminate due to those factors.

    Even so, there aren’t enough legal protections for pregnant workers, said Ayana DeGaia, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington in Harborview. “It’s probably one of the reasons why we have some of the highest rates of maternal and infant mortality in high-income countries in the world,” she said.

    It’s also unclear how some of these protections benefit women farmworkers, said Alexis Handal, an associate professor at the University of Michigan, who led a recent study examining the experiences of the state’s women farmworkers.

    In Florida, a top U.S. producer of indoor plants and tropical foliage, the nursery industry’s mostly women workers have joined a fight for heat protections. In California, workers have been advocating for guaranteed compensation when they lose wages due to heat waves and other extreme weather events, as well as extra pay when they work during dangerous weather conditions.


    Immigration enforcement compounds challenges to care

    Trump’s immigration crackdown has instilled deep fear in immigrant communities.

    In California, a physician said her clinic recently had a patient suspected of carrying a fetus with birth defects. They set her up for specialty consultation and care about two hours from home. But the woman couldn’t access that care during her pregnancy. Arranging transportation and child care was difficult. The overarching reason, however, was fear, in part of being detained, said Dr. Katherine Gabriel-Cox, director of obstetrics, midwifery and gynecology at Salud Para La Gente, a community health center.

    She added that she hears similar stories “over and over.”

    It’s a growing concern nationally. Health care providers have reported seeing fewer walk-ins, patients delaying prenatal care, and more pregnant patients whose first doctor’s visit was for labor and delivery, according to a brief published in April by the group Physicians for Human Rights. Others have reported an increase in no-shows and canceled appointments.

    “I’d be concerned that people are not going to present for medical care until it’s too late,” said Katherine Peeler, medical adviser with Physicians for Human Rights and assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

    Pregnant farmworkers in rural areas already have less access to maternity care because clinics are farther away and finding transportation could be difficult. Other times, they can’t afford to miss hours of work or aren’t given time off. Many also don’t get employer-sponsored medical care or paid leave.


    Work and home conditions can heighten risks

    Farmworkers are less likely to demand employers provide adequate shade, water or rest, or speak out when they’re feeling heat illness for fear of being fired or having immigration enforcement officials called on them, said Juan Declet-Barreto, senior social scientist for climate vulnerability with the Union of Concerned Scientists.

    Some workers who spoke with the AP described employers who wouldn’t provide accommodations or water, face covers or other equipment to protect them from pesticides and heat. They continued working during pregnancy out of necessity.

    “There were times when my back and entire body hurt … but I had to do it,” said a third nursery worker from Florida. “No one was helping me, and so I had to keep going. If not, no one was going to pay my bills.”

    The nursery worker who had a miscarriage said she had to urinate often during pregnancy, but the portable toilets were up to a 10-minute walk away. Another described dirty bathrooms infested with flies. And another recalled pregnant women who were only allowed to use the bathroom during scheduled breaks.

    Yunuen Ibarra, programs director with Líderes Campesinas, a farmworker advocacy organization, said women working in agriculture who have been sexually assaulted at work can also be more vulnerable to heat. They might cover their bodies with extra clothing “to not feel exposed to a potential assault,” she said, which can raise their body temperature.

    At home, farmworkers might find little escape from extreme temperatures because they are more likely to lack air conditioning, be lower income or live in hotter areas, multiple studies have shown.

    As human-caused climate change continues, heat waves will only get longer, hotter and more frequent. Without adequate protections and enforcement, pregnant farmworkers and their unborn babies will suffer the consequences.

    “We can’t prevent temperatures from rising,” said Ibarra, “but we can prevent farmworkers from dying or feeling sick or being disabled due to heat-related illnesses.”

    The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

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

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  • California’s Santa Clara County Creating Barriers for Immigration Arrests on County Property

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    Santa Clara County leaders will establish ICE-free zones throughout Silicon Valley — raising physical barriers and locking gates to prevent federal immigration agents from unlawfully using county properties for surveillance and arrests.

    The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to follow Chicago’s lead and create an inventory of vacant lots, garages and other county-owned spaces federal authorities might use for immigration enforcement without court orders. They’ll also create signs warding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents away from these properties — and make them available for county residents to use.

    It comes amid parallel efforts to establish a similar policy across San Jose city properties. District 5 San Jose Councilmember Peter Ortiz was expected to introduce the proposal at the city’s Rules and Open Government Committee meeting Wednesday.

    District 1 Supervisor Sylvia Arenas spearheaded the county proposal.

    “The administration targets brown people in a way that’s just so vile. We all have an immigration story,” Arenas said before the vote. “I’m doing this for my parents, for my family and for my community.”

    The county’s plan marks the start of a spreading, national movement to lock ICE out of certain areas after Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an Oct. 6 executive order laying out the same rules. Meanwhile, Santa Clara County leaders have refined and expanded a three-stage plan to coordinate a counter-response to ICE raids. The plan received preliminary approval last month. It will escalate the county’s responses based on the scale of local ICE activity — be it targeted arrests or raids on schools or grocery stores — to provide legal aid, family shelter, food, child care, health services and communication to residents.

    Scores of residents turned out to speak in support of the county’s move at the meeting, mostly in Spanish. Some voiced hope the county’s efforts might counteract the specter of the federal government. Others voiced concerns about an ongoing struggle to obtain legal representation. Most speakers praised county officials for taking the initiative.

    “I’m a first generation immigrant myself and my family has been feeling the impacts of the threats coming in here,” Lucila Ortiz, political director of Working Partnerships USA, said in public comment. “It’s really heartwarming to see leaders like you passing items like this to make sure my family is safe.”

    Officials generally acknowledged the efforts might have the federal government breathing down the county’s neck. District 5 Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga asked whether the county could discuss its properties confidentially.

    “I just want to make sure we’re not doing anything to put a target on us,” she said before the vote.

    David Campos, a deputy county executive, said the county has to perform a balancing act.

    “We’re trying to be as transparent as we can with the public while also trying to protect the county and work with the board where appropriate,” he said at the meeting. “There are certain pieces we’re handling in a different way, a confidential way, as directed by the county (lawyers).”

    County Executive James Williams said the county will have to adapt to match the unpredictable nature of the federal government’s enforcement.

    “What’s happening is shifting daily, hourly,” Williams said. “There’s so much work in this space that by necessity has to remain nimble in order to be meaningfully responsive to what’s happening on the ground.”

    This story was originally published by the San Jose Spotlight and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

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

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  • Alicia Keys May Pop up When the National Tour of Her Musical ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ Comes to Your Town

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Alicia Keys’ semi-autobiographical, coming-of-age Broadway musical is all grown up and leaving the nest. And, like any happy parent, Keys may visit it every once in a while.

    “It feels so good to know that it’s going to go across the country and this cast, let me tell you, is out of control. They’re so good,” Keys says. “Obviously, everybody can’t get to New York City. Everybody can’t go to Broadway.”

    Those who catch the musical on the road may also get an extra treat. Keys says she’s liable to show up on some stops as a fairy godmother as it crosses the nation.

    “I love, as an artist, bringing my energy to other artists. That’s really a fulfilling feeling. So, I’ll be fairy godmothering. You never know where you’ll see me.”

    It centers on a young woman named Ali, who like Keys, is the daughter of a white mother and a Black father and is growing up in a subsidized housing development just outside Times Square in the once-rough neighborhood called Hell’s Kitchen. She learns to hone her music skills, falls in love and reconciles with her sometimes overbearing mom.

    Keys hopes audiences will come for her music, the story and the diverse cast: “It’s really exciting to be able to go somewhere and see yourself on the stage or to see your experience played out.”

    The Ali on tour is 18-year-old Maya Drake, a recent high school graduate from San Jose, California, who endured a long, rigorous audition process. She was a fan of Keys before the musical popped up on her radar.

    “The fact that I get to be in a show with somebody else’s music and, of all the people, it gets to be her — I got so lucky with that,” says Drake. “Just to have that connection is so special, and it makes the show feel 10 times more enjoyable.”

    As part of her audition process, Drake came to New York to watch “Hell’s Kitchen” on Broadway, starring Jade Milan as Ali. “It’s a lot seeing it for the first time and she never leaves the stage,” says Drake, who remembers thinking: “To be a part of something that big would just be crazy.”

    After the tour cast was announced, the actors were invited onstage at the Shubert Theatre to cheers after a performance, and Drake got to meet and speak to veterans like Jessica Vosk and Kecia Lewis, who won a Tony Award in the show.

    “That was a really special moment,” she says. “Sharing advice and getting insight from the people that are currently doing the show helped us understand what you’re about to get into and some things that can help.”

    The tour coincides with the publication of “Hell’s Kitchen: Behind the Dream,” a photo-heavy book that charts the show’s 13-year evolution — from crafting the show with book writer Kris Diaz and director Michael Greif to how it would end up with costumes, casting, choreography and staging.

    After Cleveland, the tour goes to Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Denver, Oklahoma City, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, San Diego and other cities.

    Drake is, naturally, looking forward to the show going to California, especially the stop in San Francisco, the closest stop for friends and family from San Jose. She’s also excited to be on the road.

    “I really have not traveled a bunch of my life, which is kind of ironic because I’m about to do a lot of traveling,” says Drake, who trained at the Children’s Musical Theater San Jose. “I’m definitely excited to go everywhere.”

    Keys, who watched the show win two Tony Awards and the 2025 Grammy for best musical theater album, thinks the musical about her old New York neighborhood can thrive away from the Big Apple.

    “This is a story inspired by my experiences growing up in New York City, for sure. And, yes, it is a New York story, 1,000%. The thing is, though, the story truly is timeless,” she says. “It’s such an emotional, honest, raw, authentic story that it doesn’t matter if it’s in Cleveland, or if it’s in Detroit, or if it’s in Manhattan or Atlanta.”

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

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  • ‘No Kings’ Protests Return as Trump Ramps up Authoritarian Practices, Organizers Say

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    Big crowds of protesters are expected Saturday in thousands of places around the U.S. in opposition to what some are characterizing as increasingly authoritarian practices by President Donald Trump.

    Some conservative politicians have condemned the protests as “Hate America” rallies, while others say that it represents a “patriotic” fight for First Amendment rights.

    Here is what to expect on Saturday.


    Organizers aim to boost political engagement

    Ezra Levin, a leading organizer of Saturday’s protests, said the demonstrations are a response to what he called Trump’s “crackdown on First Amendment rights.”

    He said those steps cumulatively represented a direct threat to constitutionally protected rights.

    Protests are planned for more than 2,500 locations nationwide — from the country’s largest city, New York, to small unincorporated, rural communities like East Glacier Ridge, Montana, with roughly 300 residents.

    Organizers will consider the day a success, Levin said, if people are galvanized to become more politically involved on an ongoing basis.


    Mostly peaceful protest in June

    The last “No Kings” protest took place on June 14 in thousands of cities and towns across the country, in large part to protest a military parade in Washington that marked the Army’s 250th anniversary and coincided with Trump’s birthday. “No Kings” organizers at the time called the parade “coronation” that was symbolic of what they characterized as Trump’s growing authoritarian overreach.

    Confrontations were isolated and the protests were largely peaceful.

    Police in Los Angeles, where protests over federal immigration enforcement raids erupted the week prior and sparked demonstrations across the country, used tear gas and crowd-control munitions to clear out protesters after the formal event ended. Officers in Portland also fired tear gas and projectiles to disperse a crowd that protested in front of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building well into the evening.


    Utah organizers focus on healing

    Four months later, no one has been charged. Experts have said state gun laws may shield both the shooter and the man who brandished a rifle but didn’t fire shots.

    Jamie Carter, an organizer of Saturday’s rally, said Utah activists considered not participating in this round of “No Kings” demonstrations, but “we also felt that we really had to get back out there.”

    Organizers are not affiliated with the groups who put on the June demonstration that turned deadly. Safety volunteers will be present but unarmed, and all have received de-escalation training, said Carter, of Salt Lake Indivisible. Attendees have been asked not to bring weapons.

    “We really want this to be a very uplifting, happy event of people coming together in a community to kind of try to erase and replace some of the bad memories,” she said.

    Trump’s crackdown against protests, especially in Democratic cities, has intensified since the June marches. He has since sent National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., and Memphis, Tenn. His efforts to deploy troops to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, have stalled in federal court.

    Organizers in Chicago are expecting tens of thousands of demonstrators at a popular Lake Michigan park, followed by a downtown march.

    Federal immigration agents have arrested more than 1,000 people in Chicago, the nation’s third largest city, with increasingly aggressive tactics since September. Protests have been frequent and well attended in recent weeks, and have boiled over in intense clashes outside a suburban federal immigration processing center.

    “People are angrier. It feels so much more immediate,” said Denise Poloyac with Indivisible Chicago. “They’re very concerned about what’s happening in Chicago and around the country.”

    The “No Kings” organizers have led numerous virtual safety trainings leading up to the protests with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is listed as an official partner on the “No Kings” website.

    The trainings informed viewers about their rights during protests — such as whether you are required to carry ID or if wearing a mask is allowed (both vary according to each state) — and emphasized de-escalation techniques for encounters with law enforcement.

    Each official protest has a safety plan, which includes designated medics and emergency meeting spots.


    Mixed response from elected officials

    The protests have already drawn swift condemnation from some of the country’s top politicians, with House Speaker Mike Johnson dubbing the event the “Hate America rally” at a news conference on Wednesday.

    Some state leaders, like Texas‘ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, have decided to activate the National Guard ahead of the protests.

    “Texas will deter criminal mischief and work with local law enforcement to arrest anyone engaging in acts of violence or damaging property,” Abbott said in a statement.

    Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom struck a more optimistic tone, saying he hopes Californians turn out in large numbers and remain peaceful. He said Trump “hopes there is disruption, there’s some violence” that he can exploit.

    Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; Juan A. Lozano in Houston, Texas; Terry Chea in San Francisco; and Sophia Tareen in Chicago.

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

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  • Court: National Guard Troops Sent to Illinois by Trump Can Stay but Can’t Be Deployed for Now

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    CHICAGO (AP) — National Guard troops sent to Illinois by President Donald Trump can stay in the state and under federal control, but can’t be deployed to protect federal property or go on patrol for now, an appeals court ruled Saturday.

    The decision comes after federal Judge April Perry on Thursday ruled to temporarily block the National Guard deployment for at least two weeks, finding no substantial evidence that a “danger of rebellion” is brewing in Illinois during Trump’s immigration crackdown.

    The appeals court on Saturday granted a pause in the case until it can hear further arguments.

    The on-again, off-again deployments stem from a political and legal battle over Trump’s push to send the Guard to several U.S. cities. His administration claims crime is rampant in those cities, despite statistics not always supporting that.

    If a president invokes the Insurrection Act, they can dispatch active duty military in states that fail to put down an insurrection or defy federal law. However, Perry said she found no substantial evidence that a “danger of rebellion” is brewing in Illinois during Trump’s immigration crackdown.

    She followed up Friday with an opinion that cites a mix of law and history, including the Federalist Papers, which were written in 1787-88 to support ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

    “There has been no showing that the civil power has failed,” Perry said. “The agitators who have violated the law by attacking federal authorities have been arrested. The courts are open, and the marshals are ready to see that any sentences of imprisonment are carried out. Resort to the military to execute the laws is not called for.”

    The judge said there was significant evidence that federal agents have been able to carry out their work, noting “huge increases in arrests and deportations.”

    The 500 Guard members from Texas and Illinois were mostly based at a U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood, southwest of Chicago. A small number were sent to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Broadview.

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  • What to Know About National Guard Deployments in Memphis and Other Cities

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    National Guard troops started patrolling in Memphis, Tennessee, on Friday, even after judges stalled President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy troops to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in other states.

    The troops, dressed in Guard fatigues and protective vests, with guns in their holsters, patrolled at a Bass Pro Shops store at the Pyramid, a Memphis landmark beside the Mississippi River. The patrols — part of Trump’s federal task force, were being escorted by a Memphis police officer.

    The Associated Press saw at least nine Guard members on Friday, but it was unclear how many troops in total were on the ground in Memphis or were expected to arrive later.

    A federal judge on Thursday blocked the deployment of troops in Chicago for at least two weeks, citing no significant evidence of a “danger of rebellion.”

    Trump has insisted that crime in Chicago, Portland, Oregon, and other Democrat-led cities is rampant and that federal intervention is needed to bring them under control, despite statistics not always backing up his claims.

    A separate court battle in Oregon has delayed a similar troop deployment to Portland.

    Here’s where things stand:


    Violent crime a problem in Memphis

    Trump announced Sept. 15 that he intended to deploy the Guard to Memphis. At the time, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, embraced the plan as part of broader law enforcement operations in the city.

    Memphis Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat who did not request the deployment, said he and other officials hope the task force will target violent offenders rather than scare, harass or intimidate residents.

    The city has recorded a high rate of violent crime for years, including assaults, carjackings and homicides. While this year’s statistics show improvement in several categories, including murders, violence remains a problem.

    Federal officials say agents from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, ICE and the U.S. Marshal’s service have made hundreds of arrests and issued more than 2,800 traffic citations since the task force began operating in Memphis on Sept. 29.


    Illinois deployment blocked

    Since the start of his second term, Trump has sent or discussed sending troops to many cities, including Portland; Baltimore; Memphis, Tennessee; the District of Columbia; New Orleans; and the California cities of Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

    A legal challenge disrupted — for now — the Republican president’s troop deployment plan for Chicago.

    U.S. District Judge April Perry in Chicago ruled Thursday that the Trump administration violated the 10th Amendment, which grants certain powers to states, and the 14th Amendment, which assures due process and equal protection, when he ordered National Guard troops to the city.

    Perry said her order would expire Oct. 23 at 11:59 p.m. and set an Oct. 22 hearing by telephone to determine if the order should be extended for another 14 days.

    State and city leaders celebrated the decision, including Gov. JB Pritzker, who said: “The court confirmed what we all know: There is no credible evidence of a rebellion in the state of Illinois. And no place for the National Guard in the streets of American cities like Chicago.”

    Officials at U.S. Northern Command directed questions to the Department of Defense, which declined to comment because it is barred from commenting on ongoing litigation.


    Troops arrive in Illinois and patrol outside Chicago

    Guard members from Texas and Illinois arrived this week at a U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood, southwest of Chicago. All 500 are under the U.S. Northern Command and have been activated for 60 days.


    Judge restricts federal agents’ use of force

    Also Thursday, another federal judge in Illinois temporarily ordered federal agents to wear badges and banned them from using certain riot control weapons against peaceful protesters and journalists outside the Broadview facility, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) west of Chicago.

    Judge Sara Ellis’ preliminary injunction restricts agents’ use of force, including pepper balls, rubber bullets and physical force such as pulling, shoving or tackling on protesters and journalists who don’t pose a serious threat to law enforcement.

    That order covers all of northern Illinois and also requires federal agents to wear “visible identification” such as badges, the subject of heated debate as viral footage has surfaced of masked, plainclothes officers involved in immigration enforcement in several U.S. cities.

    A lawsuit filed by a coalition of news outlets, media associations and protesters accuses ICE, the Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol of unleashing a campaign of violence and intimidation against peaceful protesters and journalists during weeks of protests outside the Broadview facility.

    Associated Press reporters across the U.S. contributed, including Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon; Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho; Sophia Tareen in Chicago; Jack Brook in New Orleans; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and Josh Boak and Konstantin Toropin in Washington, D.C.

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

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  • Man Convicted of Killing a 15-Year-Old Girl in Her Home in 2001 Is Executed by Injection in Indiana

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    CHICAGO (AP) — An Indiana man convicted in the 2001 rape and murder of a teenage girl was executed by injection early Friday in the state’s third execution since resuming capital punishment last year.

    Roy Lee Ward, 53, was put to death at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. Indiana Department of Correction said in a statement that the process started shortly after midnight and Ward was pronounced dead at 12:33 a.m.

    Ward’s last meal was from Texas Corral and included a hamburger. His last words reported by Indiana Department of Correction were “Brian is going to read them,” but it was unclear when exactly he made the statement.

    He was convicted in the rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne. Authorities said Ward attacked the girl with a knife and dumbbell in her family’s home near Dale, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Evansville. The crime rocked the small community of roughly 1,500 people.

    Ward had exhausted his legal options after more than two decades. His attorney, Joanna Green, said days before the execution that Ward was “very remorseful” about the crime.”

    Ward’s execution came amid questions about Indiana’s handling of the powerful sedative pentobarbital. Last year state officials ended a 15-year pause on executions, saying they’d been able to obtain drugs used in lethal injections that had been unavailable for years.

    The Indiana Department of Correction said it had obtained “enough pentobarbital to follow the required protocol” for Ward’s execution. Ward’s attorneys had raised concerns about the use of the drug and how the state stored it, including temperature issues.

    Among 27 states with death penalty laws, Indiana is one of two that bar media witnesses to executions. Ward’s witness list included attorneys and spiritual advisers.

    His case trailed through the courts for more than 20 years.

    Ward was convicted of the crimes in 2002 and sentenced to death. But after the Indiana Supreme Court overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial, he pleaded guilty in 2007. A decade later, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. In 2019, he sued Indiana seeking to stop all pending executions.

    Last month, the Indiana Supreme Court declined to stay the execution and Gov. Mike Braun rejected Ward’s clemency bid.

    The victim’s family members said they were ready for justice to be carried out, remembering Payne as an honor student and cheerleader with an influence beyond her short life.

    “Now our family gatherings are no longer whole, holidays still empty. Birthdays are sad reminders of what we lost,” her mother Julie Wininger told the parole board last month. “Our family has endured emotional devastation.”

    Ward skipped the parole board interview for his clemency bid, saying he didn’t want to force the victim’s family to travel to the prison and that he couldn’t always say what he meant. Attorneys say Ward was recently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, which affected his ability to communicate.

    One of his spiritual advisers, Deacon Brian Nosbusch, said ahead of the execution that Ward thought deeply about his actions.

    “He knows he did it,” Nosbusch said. “He knows it was horrendous.”

    Golden 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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  • Federal Court to Weigh Trump’s Deployment of National Guard Troops in Chicago Area

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    President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in Illinois faces legal scrutiny Thursday at a pivotal court hearing that will occur the day after a small number of Guard troops started protecting federal property in the Chicago area.

    U.S. District Judge April Perry will hear arguments over a request to block the deployment of Illinois and Texas Guard members. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and local officials strongly oppose use of the Guard.

    An “element” of the 200 Texas Guard troops sent to Illinois started working in the Chicago area on Wednesday, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Northern Command, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in order to discuss operational details not been made public. The spokesperson did not say where specifically the troops were sent.

    The troops, along with about 300 from Illinois, arrived this week at a U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood, southwest of Chicago. All 500 troops are under the Northern Command and have been activated for 60 days.

    The Guard members are in the city to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement buildings and other federal facilities and law enforcement personnel, according to Northern Command. Trump earlier sent troops to Los Angeles and Washington, and a small number this week started assisting law enforcement in Memphis.

    Those troops are part of the Memphis Safe Task Force, a collection of about a dozen federal law enforcement agencies ordered by Trump to fight crime in the city. Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee supports using the Guard.

    The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military’s role in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are unable to put down an insurrection or are defying federal law.

    Chicago and Illinois have filed a lawsuit to stop the deployments, calling them unnecessary and illegal. Trump, meanwhile, has portrayed Chicago as a lawless “hellhole” of crime, though statistics show a significant recent drop in crime.

    The Republican president said Wednesday that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Pritzker, both Democrats, should be jailed for failing to protect federal agents during immigration enforcement crackdowns.

    In a court filing in the lawsuit, the city and state say protests at a temporary ICE detention facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview have “never come close to stopping federal immigration enforcement.”

    “The President is using the Broadview protests as a pretext,” they wrote. “The impending federal troop deployment in Illinois is the latest episode in a broader campaign by the President’s administration to target jurisdictions the President dislikes.”

    Also Thursday, a panel of judges in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was scheduled to hear arguments over whether Trump had the authority to take control of 200 Oregon National Guard troops. The president had planned to deploy them in Portland, where there have been mostly small nightly protests outside an ICE building. State and city leaders insist troops are neither wanted nor needed there.

    U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut on Sunday granted Oregon and California a temporary restraining order blocking the deployment of Guard troops to Portland. Trump had mobilized California troops for Portland just hours after Immergut first blocked him from using Oregon’s Guard.

    The administration has yet to appeal that order to the 9th Circuit.

    Immergut, who Trump appointed during his first term, rejected the president’s assertions that troops were needed to protect Portland and immigration facilities, saying “it had been months since there was any sustained level of violent or disruptive protest activity in the city.”

    Associated Press writers Gene Johnson in Seattle and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

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  • Indiana Man Convicted in 2001 Rape and Murder of Teenager to Be Executed by Lethal Injection

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    CHICAGO (AP) — An Indiana man convicted in the 2001 rape and murder of a teenage girl was set to die by lethal injection early Friday in the state’s third execution since resuming capital punishment last year.

    Roy Lee Ward, 53, was scheduled to be put to death before sunrise at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.

    He was convicted in the rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne and sentenced to death. The brutal crime, which happened in the family’s home in Dale, rocked the small community of roughly 1,500 people.

    Attorneys said Ward has exhausted his legal options after many court battles.

    “He’s very remorseful about this horrible crime,” said his attorney Joanna Green.

    Ward’s execution comes amid questions about Indiana’s handling of pentobarbital. Last year state officials ended a 15-year pause on executions, saying they’d been able to obtain drugs used in lethal injections but which had been unavailable for years.

    The Indiana Department of Correction said it had obtained “enough pentobarbital to follow the required protocol” for Ward’s execution. Ward’s attorneys though have raised concerns about the use of the drug and how the state stored it, including temperature issues.

    Ward’s expected execution in Indiana on Friday is the first of eight that are set to be carried out in October in seven different U.S. states, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

    Among 27 states with death penalty laws, Indiana is one of two that bar media witnesses. Ward’s witness list includes attorneys and spiritual advisors.

    His case has trailed through the courts for more than 20 years.

    Ward was found guilty of the crimes in 2002 and sentenced to death. But after the Indiana Supreme Court overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial, he pleaded guilty in 2007. A decade later, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. In 2019, he sued Indiana seeking to stop all pending executions.

    Last month, the Indiana Supreme Court declined to stay the execution and Gov. Mike Braun rejected Ward’s clemency bid.

    The victim’s family members said they were ready for justice to be carried out, remembering Payne as an honor student and cheerleader with an influence beyond her short life.

    “Now our family gatherings are no longer whole, holidays still empty. Birthdays are sad reminders of what we lost,” her mother Julie Wininger told the parole board last month. “Our family has endured emotional devastation.”

    Ward, who declined interview requests through his attorneys, has said little publicly. He skipped a parole board interview for his clemency bid, saying he didn’t want to force the victim’s family travel to the prison and he can’t always say what he means.

    Attorneys say Ward was recently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, which affects his ability to communicate.

    One of his spiritual advisers, Deacon Brian Nosbusch, said Ward has thought deeply about his actions.

    “He knows he did it,” Nosbusch said. “He knows it was horrendous.”

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

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  • Indiana Set to Execute Man Convicted of 2001 Rape and Murder of Small-Town Teenage Girl

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    CHICAGO (AP) — Indiana will put to death a man who was convicted in the 2001 rape and murder of a teenage girl, the state’s third execution since resuming capital punishment last year.

    The execution of Roy Lee Ward is scheduled before sunrise Friday at the state prison in Michigan City, Indiana. The 52-year-old has exhausted his legal options to challenge the sentence.

    Ward’s execution by lethal injection comes amid questions about Indiana’s handling of pentobarbital, the drug it has used in recent executions.

    Here’s a closer look at the case:


    A brutal death shocks an Indiana town

    Authorities say Ward entered the home of 15-year-old Stacy Payne on July 11, 2001, raped her and struck and stabbed the girl repeatedly with a dumbbell and a knife. She was airlifted from her town of Dale to a hospital and died hours later.

    Matt Keller, former town marshal, discovered Stacy and arrested Ward who was still at the home.

    “I cannot imagine the immense pain, suffering, and sheer terror that Stacy experienced during the last moments of her young life,” Keller said at Ward’s clemency hearing in Indianapolis last month.

    Payne’s death rocked the southern Indiana community, which is home to about 1,500 people. Her father still lives at the house, her Raggedy Ann doll collection untouched.

    A nearby church has planned a prayer vigil to honor the girl hours before the execution “with the sharing of cherished memories.”

    Ward’s case has wound through the courts for decades. He was found guilty of murder and rape in 2002 and sentenced to death. But the Indiana Supreme Court overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial.

    Ward then pleaded guilty in 2007. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in 2017.

    Two years later, he sued Indiana seeking to halt all executions. He argued that Indiana’s manner of carrying out “capital punishment is arbitrary” and “offensive to evolving standards of decency.”

    The Indiana Supreme Court declined to stay the execution last month. That’s also when Gov. Mike Braun rejected Ward’s clemency after board members noted the killing’s “brutal nature.”

    Arguing against clemency, the state’s attorneys mentioned Ward’s criminal history, including indecent exposure charges and a robbery conviction.

    “He is a murderer and a rapist,” Deputy Attorney General Tyler Banks told the parole board. “He’s also predatory and manipulative.”

    Ward has exhausted his legal avenues, attorneys said.

    “He is pretty resigned to the fact that it’s happening and has been for awhile,” said Joanna Green, one of Ward’s attorneys. “He said, ‘If I could take every bit of the pain I caused with me, I would.’”


    Questions about execution drugs

    Indiana resumed executions in 2024 after a 15-year hiatus. State officials said they’d been able to obtain drugs used in lethal injections that had been unavailable for years.

    But those drugs came at a high cost, more than $1 million for four doses. In June, Braun said the state wouldn’t immediately buy more, raising questions about if Indiana would consider a new execution method. The first-term Republican cited the high cost and short shelf life.

    Ward’s attorneys challenged the use of the drug in court, saying it can cause flash pulmonary edema, in which fluid rushes through quickly disintegrating membranes into lungs and airways, causing pain similar to being suffocated. They noted that witnesses to the May execution of Ben Ritchie said the man lurched forward before he died.

    “There are still a lot of unanswered questions about what happened during Ben’s execution,” Green said.

    Among 27 states with death penalty laws, Indiana is one of two that bar media witnesses.

    Indiana Department of Correction officials confirmed Wednesday that the agency “has enough pentobarbital to follow the required protocol” for the execution but didn’t comment further.

    Green said they discovered through their lawsuit that the pentobarbital to be used in Ward’s execution is manufactured and not compounded. Ward’s attorneys said that means fewer concerns about the drug deteriorating quickly and they received assurances about proper handling of the drug, including temperature control. The lawsuit was dropped, as was another legal challenge over execution chamber conditions.


    Remembered for a love of life

    Relatives said Payne, who loved the song “You Are My Sunshine,” was full of life.

    An honor student and cheerleader, she was saving money from her pizzeria job, her mother Julie Wininger told the parole board.

    “Stacy’s life was so short but was filled with so much meaning,” she said.

    Wininger tallies each of the 8,000 plus days since Payne’s passing. She asked the parole board for justice to be carried out.

    “We will never see Stacy smile again,” Wininger said, crying. “We will never hear her voice, never have the joy of watching her grow into the incredible woman she was meant to be.”

    Ward, who declined interview requests through his attorneys, has said little publicly.

    He didn’t comment when sentenced in 2007. He also declined a parole board interview, saying he didn’t want to force the victim’s family travel to Michigan City. Attorneys also said he’s remorseful but has a hard time expressing it.

    Ward was recently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, an issue attorneys had raised in challenges.

    In a Sept. 17 affidavit, Ward said he declined a parole board appearance because “due to my learning disability and language impairments the messages I mean to convey are sometimes difficult for me to accurately express.”

    While behind bars, he lost relatives, including his mother who moved to Michigan City to be closer to him. Through a prison program, he took care of a cat named Sadie, who was rehomed ahead of his execution.

    He’s renewed his faith and was baptized in prison. He keeps close contact with spiritual advisers who say he’s expressed regret.

    “He’s not hiding the fact that it happened,” said Deacon Brian Nosbusch. “He’s definitely a changed person.”

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

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  • Staffing Shortages Cause More US Flight Delays as Government Shutdown Reaches 7th Day

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    Staffing shortages led to more flight delays at airports across the U.S. on Tuesday as the federal government shutdown stretched into a seventh day, while union leaders for air traffic controllers and airport security screeners warned the situation was likely to get worse.

    The Federal Aviation Administration reported staffing issues at airports in Nashville, Boston, Dallas, Chicago and Philadelphia, and at its air traffic control centers in Atlanta, Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The agency temporarily slowed takeoffs of planes headed to the first three cities.

    Flight disruptions a day earlier also were tied to insufficient staffing during the shutdown, which began Oct. 1. The FAA reported issues on Monday at the airports in Burbank, California; Newark, New Jersey; and Denver.

    Despite the traffic snags, about 92% of the more than 23,600 flights departing from U.S. airports as of Tuesday afternoon took off on time, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

    But the risk of wider impacts to the U.S. aviation system “is growing by the day” as federal workers whose jobs are deemed critical continue working without pay, travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt said. The longer the shutdown drags on, the more likely it is to affect holiday travel plans in November, he said.

    “I’m gravely concerned that if the government remains shut down then, that it could disrupt, and possibly ruin, millions of Americans’ Thanksgiving holidays,” Harteveldt said in a statement.

    Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday that there has already been an uptick in air traffic controllers calling out sick at a few locations. When there aren’t enough controllers, the FAA must reduce the number of takeoffs and landings to maintain safety, which in turn causes flight delays and possible cancellations.

    That’s what happened Monday afternoon, when the control tower at Southern California’s Hollywood Burbank Airport shut down for several hours, leading to average delays of two-and-a-half hours.

    When a pilot preparing for takeoff radioed the tower, according to communications recorded by LiveATC.net, he was told: “The tower is closed due to staffing.”

    Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said the shutdown highlighted some issues his union’s members already face on a regular basis due to a national airspace system that is critically understaffed and relies on outdated equipment that tends to fail.

    A couple of controllers missing work can have a big impact at a small airport already operating with limited tower staffing, he said.

    “It’s not like we have other controllers that can suddenly come to that facility and staff them. There’s not enough people there,” Daniels said Tuesday. “There’s no overtime, and you have to be certified in that facility.”

    Air travel complications are likely to expand once a regularly scheduled payday arrives next week and air traffic controllers and TSA officers don’t receive any money, the union leader said. If the impasse between Republican and Democratic lawmakers on reopening the government persists, the workers will come under more pressure as their personal bills come due, Daniels said.

    “It’s completely unfair that an air traffic controller is the one that holds the burden of ‘see how long you can hang in there in order to allow this political process to play out,’” he said.

    Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees chapter that represents TSA workers, said he was hearing concerns from members about how they will be able to pay bills, including child support and mortgage payments, and if they’re at risk for termination if they have to miss work during the shutdown.

    “The employees are struggling. They’re assessing what they need to do and they’re assessing how this is all going to work out,” said Jones, who has worked as a screener since the TSA was established.

    Some TSA officers already have called in sick, but Jones said he did not think the numbers were big enough to cause significant problems and delays at airports.

    Aviation unions and U.S. airlines have called for the shutdown to end as soon as possible.

    The unions are also making appeals to food banks, grocery chains and airports to secure support for workers during the shutdown. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was offering federal workers $15 food vouchers and allowing them to park in the terminal, according to Jones.

    John Tiliacos, the chief operating officer of Florida‘s Tampa International Airport, said the facility started preparing for the shutdown well before it began.

    Nicknamed “Operation Bald Eagle 2” among airport staff, the efforts center around pulling together resources for the roughly 11,000 federal employees who are working at the airport without pay, including security screeners and air traffic controllers.

    Tiliacos said the help would include a food pantry, free bus rides to work and a program with the local utility provider to keep the lights on at the homes of the workers.

    “Whatever we can do to make life a little easier for these federal employees that allows them to continue coming to work and focus on keeping our airport operational, that’s what we’re prepared to do,” he said.

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  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Professor Ting Lu Jointly Presented With €1 Million Future Insight Prize for Converting Waste Into Food

    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Professor Ting Lu Jointly Presented With €1 Million Future Insight Prize for Converting Waste Into Food

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    URBANA, Ill., July 13, 2021 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Ting Lu, a professor of bioengineering at The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign received the 2021 Future Insight Prize. Established by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, the Future Insight Prize aims to stimulate innovative solutions to solve some of humanity’s greatest problems and to realize dreams for a better tomorrow in the areas of health, nutrition and energy. The prize comes with €1 million ($1.19 million) of research funding to incentivize winners whose work has enabled significant progress towards making this vision a reality.

    This year, the theme of the Future Insight Prize is food generation with a target to convert non-edible biomass to edible biomass. Lu shared the prize with Stephen Techtmann, an associate professor of biological sciences at Michigan Technological University. The duo were presented with the prize by Mrs. Anja Karliczek, the Federal Minister of Education and Research of Germany, and Dr. Belén Garijo, the Chair of the Executive Board and CEO of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, during the 2021 Future Insight Days conference. Lu and Techtmann are recognized for their work, which uses microbes and chemicals to break down end-of-life plastics and transform them into edible food.

    “The winners of this year’s Future Insight Prize have created a ground-breaking technology with the potential to generate a safe and sustainable source of food while reducing the environmental harms associated with plastic waste and traditional agricultural methods,” said Garijo. “We congratulate Ting Lu and Stephen Techtmann for their promising research, and hope that the Future Insight Prize will help to accelerate their efforts.”

    Food is the most essential need for humans. However, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, there are 690 million people around the world who suffer from hunger. This problem is exacerbated by reductions of arable land, population growth, and threats to food production such as from the COVID-19 pandemic. The other pressing challenge is plastic pollution. Plastics are pervasive in modern society and each year, the world produces 380 million tons of new plastics. The UN Environment Programme published that 79% of all plastic waste is accumulated in the natural environment, which causes serious adverse impacts on the environment, wildlife and human health. By converting plastic waste to edible food, Lu and Techtmann strive to tackle food insecurity and plastic pollution, the two grand challenges of our modern society, simultaneously.

    Lu’s research at Illinois focuses on microbial synthetic biology. “Combining experimentation with modeling, my lab harnesses engineered gene circuits to program microbial cell functionalities for a variety of novel biotechnological applications, such as food generation in this case,” said Lu.

    Techtmann is an environmental microbiologist who studies microbial communities in diverse natural environments. His lab studies how complex microbial communities can cooperate to perform functions of industrial interest.

    “Our complementary expertise allows us to take plastic waste and turn it into something valuable,” Lu said.

    The core of the duo’s technology is to utilize synthetic microbial consortia – a combination of natural and rationally engineered microorganisms – for efficient conversion of waste to readily edible food. In addition, they use synthetic biology approaches to augment probiotics to improve food quality by increasing nutritional contents, improving the resistance to foodborne pathogens and further adding personalized therapeutic benefits.

    “I’m truly honored to receive the prize,” Lu said. “I’m also deeply grateful to Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany for creating such a visionary award and for providing resources and encouragement that allow us to advance the research.”

    With the prize, the duo plan to continue their research by enabling a fully biological solution for PET plastic conversion, augmenting the biosafety and health-promoting contents of food and further expanding the technology to additional plastics or other types of waste for food generation.

    “When I first started my own lab at Illinois, I wanted to work on something that’s both intellectually challenging and societally impactful. Food generation is such a topic,” said Lu, “As bioengineers, we are called to use science and technology in service of humanity by improving human health and nutrition. It’s a real privilege to use my knowledge and to partner with other researchers to tackle harrowing issues.” 

    Lu has a long-standing interest in food generation. In addition to this waste-to-food project, he has worked on the engineering of probiotic lactic acid bacteria that are involved in cheese and yogurt fermentation to reduce foodborne pathogens, increase food storage, and confer therapeutic effects. Lu has also participated in the Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) project, an international effort led by professors Stephen Long and Donald Ort at the University of Illinois and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, and the UK Government’s Department for International Development. The goal of the RIPE project is to increase agricultural production worldwide by improving photosynthesis efficiency, thereby helping to reduce hunger and poverty.

    The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is renowned for innovation in food sciences. Established in 1876, the Morrow Plots are the oldest experimental crop field in America and research there was instrumental in gaining knowledge on crop rotation, soil nutrient depletion and the effect of synthetic and natural fertilizers. The Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB), where Lu conducts some of his work, directly overlooks these plots that have been a source of inspiration for him.

    In addition to the department of bioengineering and IGB, Lu is affiliated with the department of physics, the Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

    About The Grainger College of Engineering

    The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is one of the world’s top-ranked engineering institutions, and a globally recognized leader in engineering education, research, and public engagement. With a diverse, tight-knit community of faculty, students and alumni, Grainger Engineering sets the standard for excellence in engineering, driving innovation in the economy and bringing revolutionary ideas to the world. Through powerful research and discovery, our faculty, staff, students and alumni are changing our world and making advances once only dreamed about, including the MRI, LED, ILIAC, Mosaic, YouTube, flexible electronics, electric machinery, miniature batteries, imaging the black hole, and flight on Mars. The world’s brightest minds from The Grainger College of Engineering tackle today’s toughest challenges. And they are building a better, cooler and safer tomorrow. Visit https://grainger.illinois.edu for more information.

    About Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

    Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, operates across healthcare, life science and electronics. Around 58,000 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people’s lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live. From advancing gene-editing technologies and discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence of devices – the company is everywhere. In 2020, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, generated sales of € 17.5 billion in 66 countries.

    The company holds the global rights to the name and trademark “Merck” internationally. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the business sectors of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany operate as EMD Serono in healthcare, MilliporeSigma in life science, and EMD Electronics. Since its founding in 1668, scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been key to the company’s technological and scientific advances. To this day, the founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed company.

    Media Contact
    The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    Huan Song (Department of Bioengineering)
    huansong@illinois.edu

    ###

    Source: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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