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  • Riverbank Fire: Road closures in place as crews mop up Stanislaus County fire

    Riverbank Fire: Road closures in place as crews mop up Stanislaus County fire

    TOMORROW MORNING. BACK TO YOU. HEATHER. THANK YOU. WE’RE TRACKING A GRASS FIRE IN STANISLAUS COUNTY. LET’S SHOW YOU THE LATEST IMAGES FROM THE SCENE. THE FIRE DESTROYED A BUILDING AND DAMAGED THREE OTHERS. AND THIS STARTED AS A VEGETATION FIRE NEAR THE COMMUNITY OF RIVERBANK NEAR THE STANISLAUS RIVER, FORCING THE CLOSURE OF PARTS OF HIGHWAY 108, WHICH REMAINS CLOSED TONIGHT. KCRA 3’S ANDRES VALLE IS LIVE IN RIVERBANK, SO CREWS ARE STILL WORKING ON THAT FIRE. WHAT KIND OF PROGRESS ARE THEY MAKING? WELL, THEY’RE DOING A REALLY GOOD JOB OF CLEARING OUT THE HOTSPOTS. THERE’S A COUPLE HOTSPOTS RIGHT BEHIND ME HERE AS FIRE CREWS ARE WORKING ON THIS AREA, THIS PROPERTY THAT WE’RE ON. THERE’S STILL CERTAIN SPOTS THAT ARE STILL GLOWING WITH A LITTLE BIT OF FLAMES ON THE GROUND AS WELL. BUT WE WATCHED THE BULLDOZERS GO BACK AND FORTH IN THIS AREA TO CLEAR SOME DIRT. A LOT OF THIS AREA IS KIND OF A RURAL, A LOT OF FARMLAND. I WOULD SAY OVER HERE. BUT AT ONE POINT IN THE NIGHT THERE WAS ABOUT 40 FIRE ENGINES TACKLING THIS FIRE. THREE STRUCTURES DAMAGED, ONE STRUCTURE LOST TOTALLY. A FAST MOVING GRASS FIRE PROMPTING A LARGE RESPONSE FROM MULTIPLE NEARBY FIRE DEPARTMENTS IN RIVERBANK AS FLAMES BURNED DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO HOMES. WE ARRIVED. THEY FOUND A FIRE DOWN BY THE STANISLAUS RIVER APPEARS TO BE SOME TYPE OF ENCAMPMENT. THEY TRIED TO ACCESS THE FIRE. IT SPREAD VERY QUICKLY. WE HAVE MIXED FUELS OUT HERE. A LOT OF LIGHT, FLASHY FUELS AND HEAVIER FUELS. THE WIND DRIVEN, FIRE CARRYING EMBERS TO AREAS NORTH OF HIGHWAY 108. THE DRY VEGETATION FUELING THE FIRE’S RAPID SPREAD AND CAUSING IT TO BURN IN MULTIPLE AREAS. YOU SEE, THE LINE AS HE WAS ABOUT TO JUMP IN THE SHOWER WHEN THE FIRE STARTED. MY SISTER, SHE CAME INTO MY ROOM SCREAMING LIKE, HEY, THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE! SO ME, I’M THE BIG BROTHER OF THE HOUSE. SO I JUMP IN A SURVIVAL MODE, GRABBED THE WATER HOSE AND I RAN OUTSIDE TRYING TO SPRAY THE FIRE UNTIL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT GETS HERE. USING THIS 50 FOOT GARDEN HOSE TO TRY TO STOP THE FLAMES FROM BURNING HIS HOME AND HIS FAMILY WERE OVERWHELMED, BUT THANKFUL THAT FIRE CREWS ARRIVED IN TIME AND THEIR HOME WAS SPARED. THANK GOD, GIVE ALL GLORY TO GOD FIRST, BECAUSE DEFINITELY THIS COULD HAVE ESCALATED MORE IN THE WHOLE HOUSE. COULD HAVE CAUGHT FIRE. SO LUCKILY IT DIDN’T. AND YEAH, LUCKILY IT DIDN’T. SO BACK OUT HERE LIVE, IT’S STILL EXTREMELY SMOKY. WE HAVE FIRE CREWS STILL OUT HERE WORKING ON THE MOP UP ON THE CLEANUP OF THIS FIRE. THEY WILL REMAIN HERE THROUGHOUT THE REST OF THE NIGHT TO MAKE SURE EVERYTHING’S OKAY. AS FAR AS THE FIRE GOES, INVESTIGATORS ARE NOW WORKING ON WHAT THE CAUSE OR WHO CAUSED THIS FIRE. BUT I WAS JUST SPEAKING TO A COUPLE OF THE RESIDENTS WHO TELL ME THEY STILL DON’T HAVE POWER AND THEY HAVE NO PLACE TO GO BECAUSE AGAIN, IT’S STILL REALLY SMOKY OUT HERE, AND THEY’RE HOPING THAT THEY DO GET SOME RESOURCES THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT. WE’

    Riverbank Fire: Road closures in place as crews mop up Stanislaus County fire

    Updated: 11:49 PM PDT Aug 20, 2025

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    Highway 108 is partially closed in Riverbank as crews work to to mop up the flames from a grass fire on Wednesday, according to Caltrans. The Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District said the Riverbank Fire was reported around 4:07 p.m near Adams Gravel Plant Road by the side of Highway 108 that is nearest to the Stanislaus River. Flames jumped Highway 108 between Snedigar and Mesa Roads due to winds driving the fast-moving grass fire, Stanislaus Fire said. Three structures were damaged and another was destroyed in the fire, which has burned between 10 and 15 acres. The road closure caused by the fire is between Claus and Snedigar roads on Highway 108, officials said. No injuries have been reported from the fire as of 9:30 p.m. The Modesto Fire Department is assisting with mop up and containment efforts. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    STANISLAUS COUNTY, Calif. —

    Highway 108 is partially closed in Riverbank as crews work to to mop up the flames from a grass fire on Wednesday, according to Caltrans.

    The Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District said the Riverbank Fire was reported around 4:07 p.m near Adams Gravel Plant Road by the side of Highway 108 that is nearest to the Stanislaus River.

    Flames jumped Highway 108 between Snedigar and Mesa Roads due to winds driving the fast-moving grass fire, Stanislaus Fire said. Three structures were damaged and another was destroyed in the fire, which has burned between 10 and 15 acres.

    The road closure caused by the fire is between Claus and Snedigar roads on Highway 108, officials said.

    No injuries have been reported from the fire as of 9:30 p.m.

    The Modesto Fire Department is assisting with mop up and containment efforts.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Republicans want voters to think Walz lied about his dog. False GOP claims could cause real damage

    Republicans want voters to think Walz lied about his dog. False GOP claims could cause real damage

    Republicans turned Tim Walz’s outing at a dog park nearly three years ago into an attack on the Democratic vice presidential nominee this week, working on a false online narrative to paint Walz as a liar.

    The intended takeaway was that Walz somehow lied about the identity of his dog, Scout, by describing two different dogs as his beloved pet in separate X posts. Social media users shared screenshots of the posts as alleged proof that the Minnesota governor exhibits a pattern of deceit, garnering thousands of likes, shares and reactions across platforms.

    In one post, from June 2022, Walz is pictured hugging a black dog. The caption reads, “Sending a special birthday shoutout to our favorite pup, Scout.” The other, posted in October 2022, showed Walz beside a brown and white dog with the caption: “Couldn’t think of a better way to spend a beautiful fall day than at the dog park. I know Scout enjoyed it.”

    In response, Walz supporters shared posts on social media showing that Walz was simply playing with someone else’s dog while mentioning Scout in the caption.

    The seemingly innocuous post was not the only fodder that has been used against Walz in recent days. A joke he cracked in a campaign video with Vice President Kamala Harris about eating “white guy tacos” was used to accuse him of lying about how much he seasons his food. Opponents have also taken issue with Walz describing himself as a former high school football coach, pointing out that he was the defensive coordinator.

    False and misleading claims of such a trivial nature might not seem particularly harmful, but a deluge of them could easily add up to real damage at the polls, according to experts. This is especially true when they go after a figure such as Walz, who is still relatively unknown on the national stage, though the fact that he is not at the top of the ticket could lessen the impact on the Harris-Walz campaign.

    “It might seem trivial, and in some cases they really truly are, but they’re trying to make a larger attack about character that fits in a bigger narrative that is being created around this persona,” Emily Vraga, a professor at the University of Minnesota who studies political misinformation, said of the recent attacks on Walz. “This becomes kind of a piece of the puzzle they’re trying to assemble.”

    She added that “the sheer amount” of false claims can create the perception that there is some truth to them, even if voters don’t believe every single one.

    Nathan Walter, an associate professor at Northwestern University who also studies misinformation, agreed that any one piece of misinformation doesn’t have to be significant in order to be damaging.

    “The idea is to attack someone’s personality, and then these attacks become really almost like the canary in the coal mine, right?” he said. “So if he lies about his dog, if he lies about his illustrious career as a coach, he probably lies about many other things.”

    Democrats have recently deployed a similarly shallow line of attack on the Republican ticket, Ohio Sen. JD Vance and former President Donald Trump, branding the pair as “weird.”

    Mixed in with the frivolous attacks on Walz is criticism about other inconsistencies. For example, earlier this month Walz went after Vance by saying, “If it was up to him, I wouldn’t have a family because of IVF.” But his wife Gwen Walz issued a statement last week that disclosed they had relied on a different fertility treatment known as intrauterine insemination, or IUI.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    Walz’s military record has also faced intense scrutiny from the right. One such concern is that he portrayed himself as someone who spent time in a combat zone when speaking out about gun violence in 2018. “We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at,” he said at the time.

    Walz never served in a combat zone during 24 years in the Army National Guard, but held many other roles. They included work as an infantryman and field artillery cannoneer, as well as a deployment to Italy in a support position of active military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Vraga described the more superficial attacks as a “spaghetti approach,” in which Republicans are throwing out a lot of claims to see if they stick in place of a meatier narrative, dominating online discourse in the meantime. Plus, the idea that Walz is a liar “plays into this established worldview that we have about politicians as untrustworthy,” according to Walter.

    Even in the polarized political climate of 2024, where many people on all sides hold strong beliefs unlikely to be changed by online name-calling, negative campaigning has the potential to repel potential voters altogether.

    Such attacks could be used to demobilize voters, especially those who are not deeply engaged. “You might just start feeling like, why bother with politics at all?” Vraga said. “It’s just nasty.”

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  • FACT FOCUS: A look at false and misleading claims made during Trump and Harris’ debate

    FACT FOCUS: A look at false and misleading claims made during Trump and Harris’ debate

    In their first and perhaps only debate, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris described the state of the country in distinctly different ways. As the two traded jabs, some old false and misleading claims emerged along with some new ones.

    Here’s a look.

    Trump overstates his economic record

    TRUMP: “I created one of the greatest economies in the history of our country. … They’ve destroyed the economy.”

    THE FACTS: This is an exaggeration. The economy grew much faster under Presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan than it did under Trump. The broadest measure of economic growth, gross domestic product, rose 4% a year for four straight years under Clinton. The fastest growth under Trump was 3% in 2018. The economy shrank 2.2% in 2020, at the end of Trump’s presidency. And a higher proportion of American adults had jobs under Clinton than under Trump. During the Biden-Harris administration, the economy expanded 5.8% in 2021, though much of that reflected a bounce-back from COVID.

    Trump’s record on manufacturing jobs examined

    HARRIS: “We have created over 800,000 manufacturing jobs. … Donald Trump said he was going to create manufacturing jobs. He lost manufacturing jobs.”

    THE FACTS: Those statements are missing context.

    There were 12,188,000 manufacturing employees in the U.S. when Biden took office in January 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Preliminary numbers for August 2024 put that number at 12,927,000. That’s a difference of 739,000 — close to the 800,000 number Harris has cited.

    Also of note is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of manufacturing employees dropped steeply in April 2020, by more than 1.3 million. Discounting that decline, there were only 206,000 more manufacturing employees in August than there were in March 2020, prior to the pandemic.

    Inflation has gone down

    TRUMP: “They had the highest inflation perhaps in the history of our country, because I’ve never seen a worse period of time.”

    THE FACTS: While praising the strength of the economy under his presidency, Donald Trump misstated the inflation rate under Biden. Inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022 after rising steadily in the first 17 months of Biden’s presidency from a low of 0.1% in May 2020. It’s now seeing a downward trend. The most recent data shows that as of July it had fallen to 2.9%. Other historical periods have seen higher inflation, which hit more than 14% in 1980, according to the Federal Reserve.

    Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025

    HARRIS: “What you’re going to hear tonight is a detailed and dangerous plan called Project 2025 that the former president intends on implementing if he were elected again.”

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    THE FACTS: Trump has said he doesn’t know about Project 2025, a controversial blueprint for another Republican presidential administration.

    The plan was written up by many of his former aides and allies, but Trump has never said he’ll implement the roughly 900-page guide if he’s elected again. He has said it’s not related to his campaign.

    Trump on abortions ‘after birth’

    TRUMP: “Her vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. He also says execution after birth, it’s execution, no longer abortion, because the baby is born, is okay.”

    THE FACTS: Walz has said no such thing. Infanticide is criminalized in every state, and no state has passed a law that allows killing a baby after birth.

    Abortion rights advocates say terms like “late-term abortions” attempt to stigmatize abortions later in pregnancy. Abortions later in pregnancy are exceedingly rare. In 2020, less than 1% of abortions in the United States were performed at or after 21 weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Trump’s taxing and spending plan examined

    HARRIS: “What the Wharton School has said is Donald Trump’s plan would actually explode the deficit.”

    THE TRUTH: The Penn-Wharton Budget Model did find that Trump’s tax and spending plans would significantly expand the deficit by $5.8 trillion over ten years. But it also found that Harris’ plans would increase the deficit by $1.2 trillion over the same period.

    Harris’ record on fracking examined

    TRUMP: “If she won the election, fracking in Pennsylvania will end on Day 1.”

    THE FACTS: Trump’s statement ignores the fact that without a law approved by Congress, a president can only ban fracking on federal lands.

    The federal government owns about 2% of Pennsylvania’s total land, and it is not clear how much of that is suitable for oil or gas drilling.

    Republicans have criticized Harris for “flip-flopping” on the issue, noting that Harris said in the 2020 campaign that she opposed fracking, a drilling technique that is widely used in Pennsylvania and other states.

    Harris has since said repeatedly that she won’t ban fracking if elected, and she reiterated that in Tuesday’s debate.

    Trump shares inflated numbers around migrants and crime

    TRUMP: “When you look at these millions and millions of people that are pouring into our country monthly — whereas, I believe, 21 million people, not the 15 people say, and I think it’s a lot higher than the 21 — that’s bigger than New York State … and just look at what they’re doing to our country. They’re criminals, many of these people are criminals, and that’s bad for our economy too.”

    FACTS: Trump’s figures are wildly inflated. The Border Patrol made 56,408 arrests of people crossing the border illegally from Mexico in July, the latest monthly figure available. Since Biden took office, the Border Patrol made about 7.1 million border arrests, though the number of people is considerably lower because many of those arrests were repeat crossers.

    The Biden administration also permitted legal entry for about 765,000 people on an online app called CBP One at land crossings in Mexico through July. It allowed another 520,000 from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to come by air with financial sponsors. Additionally, an unknown number of people crossed the border illegally and eluded capture.

    That doesn’t come close to “millions and millions of people” monthly. …. It is also unproven that “many of these people are criminals.”

    There have been high-profile, heinous crimes committed by immigrants. But FBI statistics do not separate out crimes by the immigration status of the assailant, nor is there any evidence of a spike in crime perpetrated by migrants. In 1931, the Wickersham Commission did not find any evidence supporting a connection between immigration and increased crime, and many studies since then have reached similar conclusions.

    Trump repeats false claims that noncitizens are being sought to vote

    TRUMP: “A lot of these illegal immigrants coming in, they’re trying to get them to vote. They can’t even speak English. They don’t even know what country they’re in practically and these people are trying to get them to vote, and that’s why they’re allowing them to come into our country.”

    THE FACTS: In recent months, Trump and other Republicans have been repeating the baseless claim that Democrats want migrants to come into the country illegally so they will vote.

    There’s no evidence for this, nor is there any evidence that noncitizens illegally vote in significant numbers in this country.

    Voting by people who are not U.S. citizens already is illegal in federal elections. It can be punishable by fines, prison time and even deportation. While noncitizens have cast ballots, studies show it’s incredibly rare, and states regularly audit their voter lists to remove ineligible voters from the rolls.

    Trump’s comments suggest that not speaking English is somehow prohibitive for voting in the U.S. — and that’s also not the case. In fact, the Voting Rights Act requires certain states to provide election materials in other languages depending on the voting-age population’s needs.

    Trump misrepresents crime statistics

    TRUMP, criticizing the Biden administration: “Crime is through the roof.”

    THE FACTS: In fact, FBI data has shown a downward trend in violent crime since a coronavirus pandemic spike. Violent crime surged during the pandemic, with homicides increasing nearly 30% in 2020 over the previous year — the largest one-year jump since the FBI began keeping records

    Violent crime was down 6% in the last three months of 2023 compared with the same period the year before, according to FBI data released in March. Murders were down 13%. New FBI statistics released in June show the overall violent crime rate declined 15% in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period last year. One expert has cautioned, however, that those 2024 figures are preliminary and may overstate the actual reduction in crime.

    Trump endorses false rumor about immigrants eating pets

    TRUMP: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats… They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

    THE FACTS: There’s no evidence to support the claim, which Trump and his campaign have used to argue immigrants are committing crimes at a higher rate than others.

    Authorities in Ohio have said there are no credible or detailed reports to support Trump’s claim.

    Jobs created under the Biden administration

    “TRUMP: “Just like their number of 818,000 jobs that they said they created turned out to be a fraud.”

    THE FACTS: This is a mischaracterization of the government’s process of counting jobs. Every year the Labor Department issues a revision of the number of jobs added in a 12-month period from April through March in the previous year. The adjustment is made because the government’s initial job counts are based on surveys of businesses. The revision is then based on actual job counts from unemployment insurance files that are compiled later. The revision is compiled by career government employees with little involvement by politically appointed officials.

    National Guard soldiers on Jan. 6

    TRUMP, speaking about the Jan. 6 insurrection: “I said I’d like to give you 10,000 National Guard or soldiers. They rejected me. Nancy Pelosi rejected me.”

    THE FACTS: That’s false. Pelosi does not direct the National Guard.

    Further, as the Capitol came under attack, she and then-Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell called for military assistance, including from the National Guard.

    The Capitol Police Board makes the decision on whether to call National Guard troops to the Capitol. It is made up of the House Sergeant at Arms, the Senate Sergeant at Arms and the Architect of the Capitol.

    The board decided not to call the guard ahead of the insurrection but did eventually request assistance after the rioting had already begun, and the troops arrived several hours later.

    There is no evidence that either Pelosi or McConnell directed the security officials not to call the guard beforehand.

    Trump falsely claims China is building ‘massive’ auto plants in Mexico

    TRUMP: “They’re building big auto plants in Mexico, in many cases owned by China.”

    THE FACTS: It’s not the first time Trump has claimed the Biden administration is allowing Chinese automakers to build factories just across the border in Mexico.

    At present, though, industry experts say they know of no such plants under construction, and there’s only one small Chinese auto assembly factory operating in Mexico. It’s run by a company called JAC that builds inexpensive vehicles from kits for sale in that country.

    Trump falsely claims evidence shows he won in 2020

    TRUMP: “There’s so much proof. All you have to do is look at it.”

    THE FACTS: The election was not stolen. The authorities who have reviewed the election — including Trump’s own attorney general — have concluded the election was fair.

    Biden’s victory over Trump in 2020 was not particularly close. He won the Electoral College with 306 votes to Trump’s 232, and the popular vote by more than 7 million ballots. Recounts in key states affirmed Biden’s victory, and lawsuits challenging the results were unsuccessful.

    Trump claims Putin endorsed Harris

    TRUMP: “Putin endorsed her last week, said ‘I hope she wins.’”

    THE FACTS: Russian President Vladimir Putin did wryly claim last week that Harris was his preferred candidate, but intelligence officials have dismissed the comment as not serious.

    U.S. intelligence agencies have said Russia favors Trump, who has openly praised Putin, suggested cutting funds to Ukraine and repeatedly criticized the NATO military alliance.

    Harris takes Trump’s ‘bloodbath’ comment out of context

    HARRIS: “Donald Trump, the candidate, has said in this election there will be a bloodbath if this and the outcome of this election is not to his liking. Let’s turn the page on that.”

    THE FACTS: Trump delivered the line at a speech in March in Ohio in which he was talking about the impact of offshoring on the American auto industry and his plans to increase tariffs on foreign-made cars. It was in reference to the auto industry that he warned of a “bloodbath” if his proposals aren’t enacted.

    “If I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country,” Trump said.

    Trump inflates numbers around new military equipment left in Afghanistan

    TRUMP, on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan: “We wouldn’t have left $85 billion worth of brand new, beautiful military equipment behind.”

    THE FACTS: That number is significantly inflated, according to reports from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, which oversees American taxpayer money spent on the conflict.

    The $85 billion figure resembles a number from a July 30 quarterly report from SIGAR, which outlined that the U.S. has invested about $83 billion to build, train and equip Afghan security forces since 2001. That funding included troop pay, training, operations and infrastructure along with equipment and transportation over two decades, according to SIGAR reports and Dan Grazier, a defense policy analyst at the Project on Government Oversight.

    Only about $18 billion of that sum went toward equipping Afghan forces between 2002 and 2018, a June 2019 SIGAR report showed.

    No one knows the exact value of the U.S.-supplied Afghan equipment the Taliban have secured, defense officials have confirmed it is significant.

    Trump misrepresents key facts of the Central Park Five case

    TRUMP: “They admitted, they said they pled guilty and I said, ’well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately … And they pled guilty, then they pled not guilty.”

    THE FACTS: Trump misstated key details of the case while defending a newspaper ad he placed about two weeks after the April 1989 attack in which he called for bringing back the death penalty. Trump wrongly stated that the victim was killed and that the wrongly accused suspects had pleaded guilty.

    Trump appeared to be confusing guilty pleas with confessions that the men — teenagers at the time — said they made to police under duress. They later recanted, pleaded not guilty in court and were convicted after jury trials. Their convictions were vacated in 2002 after another person confessed to the crime.

    The victim, Trisha Meili, was in a coma for 12 days after the attack but ultimately survived. She testified in court against the wrongly accused suspects, who are now known as the Exonerated Five. In 2002, Matias Reyes confessed to the crime and said he was the lone assailant. DNA testing matched Reyes to the attack, but because of the statute of limitations he could not be charged in connection with it.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Melissa Goldin, David Klepper, Ali Swenson, Matthew Daly, Chris Rugaber and Tom Krisher contributed to this story.

    ___

    Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

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  • Trump falsely accuses immigrants in Ohio of abducting and eating pets

    Trump falsely accuses immigrants in Ohio of abducting and eating pets

    COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday amplified false rumors that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were abducting and eating pets, repeating during a televised debate the type of inflammatory and anti-immigrant rhetoric he has promoted throughout his campaigns.

    There is no evidence that Haitian immigrants in an Ohio community are doing that, officials say. But during the debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump specifically mentioned Springfield, Ohio, the town at the center of the claims, saying that immigrants were taking over the city.

    “They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” he said.

    Harris called Trump “extreme” and laughed after his comment. Debate moderators pointed out that city officials have said the claims are not true.

    Trump’s comments echoed claims made by his campaign, including his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, and other Republicans. The claims attracted attention this week when Vance posted on social media that his office has “received many inquiries” about Haitian migrants abducting pets. Vance acknowledged Tuesday it was possible “all of these rumors will turn out to be false.”

    Officials have said there have been no credible or detailed reports about the claims, even as Trump and his allies use them to amplify racist stereotypes about Black and brown immigrants.

    While president, Trump questioned why the U.S. would accept people from “s—-hole” countries such as Haiti and some in Africa. His 2024 campaign has focused heavily on illegal immigration, often referencing in his speeches crimes committed by migrants. He argues immigrants are responsible for driving up crime and drug abuse in the United States and taking resources from American citizens.

    Here’s a closer look at how the false claims have spread.

    How did this get started?

    On Sept. 6, a post surfaced on X that shared what looked like a screengrab of a social media post apparently out of Springfield. The retweeted post talked about the person’s “neighbor’s daughter’s friend” seeing a cat hanging from a tree to be butchered and eaten, claiming without evidence that Haitians lived at the house. The accompanying photo showed a Black man carrying what appeared to be a Canada goose by its feet. That post continued to get shared on social media.

    On Monday, Vance posted on X. “Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country. Where is our border czar?” he said. The next day, Vance posted again on X about Springfield, saying his office had received inquires from residents who said “their neighbors’ pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants. It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false.”

    Other Republicans shared similar posts. Among them was Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who posted a photo of kittens with a caption that said to vote for Trump “So Haitian immigrants don’t eat us.”

    Hours before Trump’s debate with Harris, he posted two related photos on his social media site. One Truth Social post was a photo of Trump surrounded by cats and geese. Another featured armed cats wearing MAGA hats.

    A billboard campaign launched by the Republican Party of Arizona at 12 sites in metropolitan Phoenix plays off the false rumors. The billboard image resembles a Chick-fil-A ad, portraying four kittens and urging people to “Vote Republican!” and “Eat Less Kittens.”

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    Chick-fil-A said the party didn’t reach out to the restaurant chain before running the ad, declining to comment further. In a statement, the state party said the ad humorously underscores the need for border security.

    What do officials in Ohio say?

    The office of the Springfield city manager, Bryan Heck, issued a statement knocking down the rumors.

    “In response to recent rumors alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” Heck’s office said in an emailed statement.

    Springfield police on Monday told the Springfield News-Sun that they had received no reports of stolen or eaten pets.

    Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, held a news conference Tuesday to address the influx of Haitian immigrants to Springfield. He said he will send state troopers to Springfield to help local law enforcement deal with traffic issues and is earmarking $2.5 million over two years to provide more primary health care to immigrant families.

    DeWine declined to address the allegations, deferring comment to local officials. But he repeatedly spoke in support of the people of Haiti, where his family has long operated a charity.

    What do we know about a separate case 175 miles (281 km) away?

    An entirely unrelated incident that occurred last month in Canton, Ohio, quickly and erroneously conflated into the discussion.

    On Aug. 26, Canton police charged a 27-year-old woman with animal cruelty and disorderly conduct after she “did torture, kill, and eat a cat in a residential area in front (of) multiple people,” according to a police report.

    But Allexis Ferrell is not Haitian. She was born in Ohio and graduated from Canton’s McKinley High School in 2015, according to public records and newspaper reports. Court records show she has been in and out of trouble with the law since at least 2017. Messages seeking comment were not returned by several attorneys who have represented her.

    She is being held in Stark County jail pending a competency hearing next month, according to the prosecutor’s office.

    What do advocates for Haitian immigrants say?

    The posts create a false narrative and could be dangerous for Haitians in the United States, according to Guerline Jozef, founder and executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, a group that supports and advocates for immigrants of African descent

    “We are always at the receiving end of all kind of barbaric, inhumane narratives and treatments, specifically when it comes to immigration,” Jozef said in a phone interview.

    Her comments echoed White House national security spokesman John Kirby.

    “There will be people that believe it, no matter how ludicrous and stupid it is,” Kirby said. “And they might act on that kind of information, and act on it in a way where somebody could get hurt. So it needs to stop.”

    What is the broader context of Haitians in Ohio and the United States?

    Springfield, a city of roughly 60,000, has seen its Haitian population grow in recent years. It’s impossible to give an exact number, according to the city, but it estimates Springfield’s entire county has an overall immigrant population of 15,000.

    The city also says that the Haitian immigrants are in the country legally under a federal program that allows for them to remain in the country temporarily. Last month the Biden administration granted eligibility for temporary legal status to about 300,000 Haitians already in the United States because conditions in Haiti are considered unsafe for them to return. Haiti’s government has extended a state of emergency to the entire country due to endemic gang violence.

    Another matter cropping up and raised by Trump in an email Monday is the August 2023 death of an 11-year-old boy after a vehicle driven by an immigrant from Haiti hit the boy’s school bus. After that, residents demanding answers about the immigrant community spoke out at city council meetings.

    ___

    Catalini reported from Trenton, New Jersey, and Shipkowski from Toms River, New Jersey.

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  • 1-seat Democratic margin has Pennsylvania House control up for grabs in fall voting

    1-seat Democratic margin has Pennsylvania House control up for grabs in fall voting

    HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s legislative Republicans would like to pass additional voter ID requirements, restrict abortion and make election changes to improve their odds of winning judicial races. Democrats want to bump up the state’s minimum wage and widen civil rights for LGBTQ people.

    In the closely divided General Assembly, those proposals have gone nowhere.

    Next month the state’s voters will determine whether to change that dynamic, filling all 203 House seats and half the 50-member Senate. Democrats go into the election with a one-seat House majority, while in the Senate, Republicans have 28 seats and therefore majority control.

    Democrats would need to flip three Senate seats to get the chamber to a 25-25 deadlock, leaving Democratic Lt. Gov. Austin Davis to break ties on procedural votes but not final passage of legislation. They hope to thread the needle by taking GOP seats in Harrisburg, Erie and the Pittsburgh area while returning all of their own incumbents.

    This year, a few dozen legislative races across the country could determine party control in state capitols, affecting state laws on abortion, guns and transgender rights. Statehouse control is more politically important in the wake of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions weakening federal regulatory oversight, giving more power to states.

    In state House elections, it’s typical that only a couple dozen races are close enough to be competitive — a handful in the Philadelphia suburbs along with others scattered around the state.

    Democrats were aided by redrawn district lines when they flipped a net of 12 seats two years ago, retaking majority control after more than a decade in the legislative wilderness. A state House rule linking majority status to the results of elections rather than new vacancies has meant Democrats have maintained control of the chamber floor even as two members resigned this summer and gave Republicans a bare 101-100 margin. Those seats were filled Sept. 17 by Democrats who ran unopposed, and both are also unopposed in the General Election.

    This fall, more than half of the House districts have only one candidate on the ballot.

    Among the Republican targets in the House is Rep. Frank Burns, a Cambria County Democrat who has somehow stayed in office despite facing biennial GOP challenges in the very Republican Johnstown area. Another is Rep. Jim Haddock, a freshman Democrat who won a Lackawanna and Luzerne district by about 4 percentage points two years ago.

    Democrats have hopes of unseating Rep. Craig Williams, R-Delaware, who made an unsuccessful bid for the GOP’s attorney general nomination this spring. Outside Pittsburgh, Rep. Valerie Gaydos is also seen as relatively vulnerable.

    Rep. Nick Pisciottano, a Democrat, is giving up his Allegheny County district to run for state Senate. Rep. Jim Gregory lost the Republican primary to Scott Barger, who is unopposed in a Blair County district. Brian Rasel, a Republican, faces no other candidate to succeed Rep. George Dunbar, R-Westmoreland.

    Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Philadelphia, is unopposed for reelection but he’s also running for auditor general, raising the possibility the two parties could be tied after the votes are counted.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    The state Senate races widely seen as the most competitive are the reelection efforts of Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, and Sen. Devlin Robinson, R-Allegheny. Dauphin County Sen. John DiSanto, a Republican, is not seeking another term after his district saw significant changes through redistricting. State Rep. Patty Kim, D-Dauphin, and Nick DiFrancesco, a Republican and the Dauphin County treasurer, are facing off to succeed DiSanto.

    Democrats have to defend a Pittsburgh state Senate opening because of the retirement of Sen. Jim Brewster, a Democrat. Pisciottano is going up against Republican security company owner Jen Dintini for Brewster’s seat.

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  • Walz unveils Harris’ plan for rural voters as campaign looks to cut into Trump’s edge

    Walz unveils Harris’ plan for rural voters as campaign looks to cut into Trump’s edge

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday unveiled his ticket’s plans to improve the lives of rural voters, as Vice President Kamala Harris looks to cut into former President Donald Trump’s support.

    The Harris-Walz plan includes a focus on improving rural health care, such as plans to recruit 10,000 new health care professionals in rural and tribal areas through scholarships, loan forgiveness and new grant programs, as well as economic and agricultural policy priorities. The plan was detailed to The Associated Press by a senior campaign official on the condition of anonymity ahead of its official release.

    It marks a concerted effort by the Democratic campaign to make a dent in the historically Trump-leaning voting bloc in the closing three weeks before Election Day. Trump carried rural voters by a nearly two-to-one margin in 2020, according to AP VoteCast. In the closely contested race, both Democrats and Republicans are reaching out beyond their historic bases in hopes of winning over a sliver of voters that could ultimately prove decisive.

    Walz, wearing a flannel coat and a campaign camo hat, announced the plan during a stop in rural Lawrence County in western Pennsylvania, one of the marquee battlegrounds of the 2024 contest. He is also starring in a new radio ad for the campaign highlighting his roots in a small town of 400 people and his time coaching football, while attacking Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

    “In a small town, you don’t focus on the politics, you focus on taking care of your neighbors and minding your own damn business,” Walz says in the ad, which the campaign said will air across more than 500 rural radio stations in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. “Now Donald Trump and JD Vance, they don’t think like us. They’re in it for themselves.”

    The Harris-Walz plan calls on Congress to permanently extend telemedicine coverage under Medicare, a pandemic-era benefit that helped millions access care that is set to expire at the end of 2024. They are also calling for grants to support volunteer EMS programs to cut in half the number of Americans living more than 25 minutes away from an ambulance.

    It also urges Congress to restore the Affordable Connectivity Program, a program launched by President Joe Biden that expired in June that provided up to $30 off home internet bills, and for lawmakers to require equipment manufacturers to grant farmers the right to repair their products.

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  • This couple’s divided on politics, but bound together by love

    This couple’s divided on politics, but bound together by love

    They were arguing about abortion.

    It was on Interstate 74, driving past the endless cornfields of rural Illinois, when Lesley Dzik realized she’d been raising her voice at her husband, Matt. She stopped, and suggested they drop the topic. He agreed, and quiet settled into the cabin of the pickup truck.

    “I love you,” they told each other, and the hands that had been gesturing to articulate their opposing views collapsed into each other on the center console.

    The Dziks have navigated issues common to so many marriages, from parenting to money.

    But politics? That’s complicated.

    Husband and wife, Lesley, left, and Matt Dzik, argue about abortion as they drive through Champaign County, Ill., Sept. 21, 2024. Sometimes for the Dziks knowing when to end the conversation is more important than winning it. “He’s not good at stopping but I’m getting better at walking away,” said Lesley. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

    Lesley, 56, is a Republican. Matt, 68, is a Democrat. She is anti-abortion. Matt believes women should have the choice. She refused to be vaccinated during the pandemic. He got the shots.

    When they started dating, all it took was the sight of Democratic lawn signs outside his house ahead of the 2020 election to make her question if their relationship could work.

    But they both wanted it to work. Lesley read books by other politically divided couples for inspiration and eventually came across Braver Angels, a nonprofit started by a therapist after former President Donald Trump’s 2016 election to help people bridge the political divide. They found a community there that is both red and blue.

    “It gave me enough hope,” said Lesley. “I felt safe, I’m not alone.”

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    Matt Dzik, right, embraces his wife, Lesley, as he greets her after waking up in Champaign, Ill., Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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    Lesley Dzik looks out her kitchen window, in Champaign, Ill., Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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    Lesley Dzik, left, helps her husband, Matt, place a sheet of plywood at a renovation job he’s doing for a fellow church member in Urbana, Ill., Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

    They seem, in so many ways, the ideal couple. Matt, who is retired, routinely brings flowers home for her. She helps him with handy-man jobs he does for people who can’t afford professionals. He drives her to the library at the University of Illinois where she works. They volunteer together at a local theater so they can see shows for free.

    Lesley is deeply Christian. Matt, an Army veteran, was raised Catholic, but now sees himself as more spiritual than religious.

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    A sign encouraging voting sits behind Lesley Dzik, left, and her husband, Matt, in the lobby of The Station Theatre as they volunteer as ushers during a performance of “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,” in Urbana, Ill., Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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    Lesley, left, and Matt Dzik, stand in their backyard in Champaign, Ill., Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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    Lesley, left, and Matt Dzik, pose for a portrait in Urbana, Ill., Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

    I get worried with Matt because I believe the Bible is truth and Matt is iffy about that, I wonder what I got myself into.”

    But they attend church regularly and when they pray, they hold each other.

    Acts of kindness bring them together, whether helping a man who uses a wheelchair get to church or caring for a nonverbal boy so his parents can go out and his mother can work. But their political differences seem to worsen before presidential elections.

    At times, things get so heated, they don’t speak for days.

    A suggestion from their therapist that has helped them navigate their insecurities hangs on the refrigerator door. “Can I give you a hug?” it reads. “If no, then say, ‘I love you. You don’t suck. I’ll come back in ten minutes.’”

    At Braver Angel workshops they’ve learned some techniques to keep political talk civil. Speak to understand, one rule says, don’t speak to win.

    Their need for one another is too great to avoid the discomforts of their many disagreements.

    “We share the same heart,” said Lesley.

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    Attendees from across the political spectrum listen to a Braver Angels lecture on depolarization at the Rogers Free Library in Bristol, R.I., Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)vid Goldman)

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    A chart and clothespins with their names hangs on the refrigerator of Lesley and Matt Dzik as a communication tool to help express their feelings, in Champaign, Ill., Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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    Lesley Dzik pulls up an online workshop by Braver Angels, a non-profit that helps people bridge the political divide, to show her husband, Matt, at their home in Champaign, Ill., Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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    Lesley, right, and Matt Dzik, hold hands as they pray after reading the Bible, Sept. 22, 2024, at their home in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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    Matt, left, and Lesley Dzik transport Richard Wellbank to services at The Vineyard Church in Urbana, Ill., Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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    A message decorates the wall behind Lesley, left, and Matt Dzik, as they read the Bible at their home in Champaign, Ill., Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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    Lesley, left, and Matt Dzik, watch a seminary studies presentation by Lesley’s son on a laptop in their home in Champaign, Ill., Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

    I love looking in her eyes and seeing her smile, why would I want to lose that?

    – Matt Dzik

    They’ve found things they can agree on, like putting up a flagpole in their front yard and flying the American flag.

    “It’s much more inspiring than any yard sign will ever be for me,” she said. “It’s more enduring.”

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    Matt Dzik, right, drops his wife, Lesley, off at work at the engineering library at the University of Illinois in Urbana, Ill., Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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    Dotted Line with Center Square

    The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

    This story has been amended to clarify that the mother of a non-verbal boy is not a single mother.

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  • West Virginia lawmakers OK bills on income tax cut and child care tax credit

    West Virginia lawmakers OK bills on income tax cut and child care tax credit

    CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Bills aimed to reduce West Virginians’ income tax burden are headed to the desk of Gov. Jim Justice.

    One would reduce the state personal income tax by 2%. Another would provide a tax credit to help families pay for child care. The Republican governor is expected to sign both proposals, after they passed final legislative hurdles Tuesday during a special legislative session called by Justice.

    Cuts to the state personal income tax have been a priority for Justice, who is nearing the end of his second term as governor and running for the U.S. Senate. He signed a 21.25% tax cut into effect last year, and the tax is scheduled to drop by another 4% in the new year, per a trigger in the 2023 law that allows for further tax cuts if the state meets higher-than-anticipated revenue collections.

    Justice had initially been pushing the Legislature to consider cutting the tax a further 5% but amended that proposal to a more conservative 2% cut Monday.

    A 2% cut in personal income tax rates would take effect on the first day of the new year and return approximately $46 million to taxpayers. Del. Vernon Criss, the House Finance Committee chair, said he would have preferred a 5% tax cut, but an agreement couldn’t be made with the Senate to support that.

    “I still think we are moving in the right direction,” he said. “That’s what we all want.”

    The money to pay for the tax cut is coming from an expiring revenue bond and $27 million in savings the Justice administration said came from dissolving the former Department of Health and Human Resources into three new state agencies earlier this year.

    Several Democrats spoke against the proposal, expressing concern that the Justice administration had not provided details about where the savings were coming from and how the cut could effect state programs. West Virginia has the highest per capita rate of children in foster care in the nation.

    Democrat Del. Kayla Young said she’s never voted against a tax cut proposal during her time in the legislature, but the source of funding for this cut concerned her.

    “I don’t feel comfortable not knowing where this money is coming from,” she said.

    House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle said the tax cut won’t make a meaningful impact on most working-class West Virginians’ budgets — 40 cents a week, or just under $21 a year. He said the trigger system included in the 2023 income tax bill is a more responsible approach, and questioned why the governor was pushing a further tax cut “outside the scope of that in the 25th hour before the election.”

    “The policy of it is it’s taking money away from children,” he said. “And if we’re going to do a tax cut, I would submit to this body that we — all of us — do a little bit more work and make sure that money is not going to affect children.”

    Republican Del. Larry Kump of Berkeley County said he disagreed that a 2% cut wouldn’t be meaningful to families. He said he both grew up and lives in a working poor neighborhood, and has neighbors that have to make decisions between food and heat.

    “Even a little bit is meaningful. A gallon of milk helps with a family,” he said. “Anything we can do to reduce the tax burden on our taxpayers is a good thing.”

    A child and dependent tax credit passed by the state Legislature would allow people to receive a non-refundable credit of around $225 to apply to their taxes if they receive the federal child care tax credit, which is around $450 a year. Around 16,000 West Virginia families receive the federal child care tax credit.

    The credit is expected to return around $4.2 million to state taxpayers.

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  • Top US trade official sees progress in helping workers. Voters will decide if her approach continues

    Top US trade official sees progress in helping workers. Voters will decide if her approach continues

    WASHINGTON (AP) — As the U.S. trade representative, Katherine Tai is legally required to avoid discussing the presidential election. But her ideas about fair trade are on the ballot in November.

    Voters are essentially being asked to decide whether it is best to work with the rest of the world or threaten it. Do they favor pursuing worker protections in trade talks, as Tai has done on behalf of the Biden-Harris administration? Or should the United States jack up taxes on almost everything it imports as Donald Trump has pledged to do?

    After nearly four years in her job, Tai feels she is making progress on getting the U.S. and its trade partners to focus more on workers’ rights. Decades of trade deals often prioritized keeping costs low by finding cheap labor that could, in some cases, be exploited.

    “You can’t do trade policy by yourself,” Tai said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I am confident that the path that we are on is the right path to be on. I think the only question is how much progress we are able to make in these next years.”

    It is an approach that has drawn criticism from business leaders, economists and Republicans who say that the U.S. has not made enough progress on new trade partnerships and countering China’s rise.

    “There have been no trade deals, no talks to expand free trade agreements,” Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., said in an April congressional hearing with Tai. “Compared to China’s ambitious agenda, the United States is falling behind in every region in the world.”

    Trump says that broad tariffs of at least 20% on all imports -– and possibly even higher on some products from China and Mexico -– would bring back American factory jobs. Most economists say they would hurt economic growth and raise inflation, though the former president has dismissed those concerns.

    “If you’re a foreign country and you don’t make your product here, then you will have to pay a tariff, a fairly substantial one, which will go into our treasury, will reduce taxes,” Trump, the Republican presidential nominee this year, said at a recent rally in Erie, Pennsylvania.

    An Ivy League background and a blue-collar perspective

    Tai has degrees from Yale University and Harvard Law School, but strives for a blue-collar perspective on trade. She said that she has injected once-excluded labor union voices into the trade process.

    The Biden-Harris administration has not rejected tariffs. It kept the ones on China from Trump’s presidency. It has imposed a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles, even though there is not much of a U.S. market for these vehicles that can cost, without tariffs, as little as $12,000. Tai sees that as a way to shield an emerging industry against subsidized and unfair competition.

    But the administration also is looking to bolster U.S. workers in the face of competition from China through other industrial policies, such as funding for computer chip factories and tax breaks for technology in renewable energy sources.

    The reality, according to some economists, is that domestic factories did not simply lose jobs to China. There were productivity gains that meant some manufacturers needed fewer employers and there was a broader shift as more workers moved away from manufacturing and into the services sector. Those factors often get less emphasis from Tai, said Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

    “It seems to me that she’s focusing on the easy one — the one where you can blame the ’bad guy,’ China,” Lovely said.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    There is unfinished work.

    The trade pillar of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework spearheaded by Tai remains incomplete. That effort by Washington and its allies in Asia is meant to counterbalance China’s ascendance without needing a trade deal, but it puts more of a focus on workers’ rights and environmental protections than past proposals.

    “What I have discovered is that we actually all want the same thing,” Tai said. “Fundamentally, what we’re doing is innovating the way you do trade policy, innovating the way globalization is going to play out into the future.”

    Tai said she is trying to foster a trade policy with other countries that “allows for us to build our middle class together and to stop pitting them against each other, because that’s been the model we’ve been pursuing for the last several decades.”

    William Reinsch at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said it is not surprising that Asian countries involved in the initiative would say they support their middle-class workers. But he saidt Democrats have not provided the access to U.S. markets that trade partners want in return for the focus on workers.

    “The consistent message we have gotten from the Asian partners is that they are looking for tangible benefits, and the U.S. is not providing any,” he said. “Trying to rearrange the traditional social order, however meritorious that would be, can be an uphill battle.”

    The revised North American trade agreement is a model

    Tai sees herself as having a proof of concept that her approach to trade can thrive. It just happens to come from the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the revised North American trade deal signed during the Trump administration and cited by Trump as evidence that he knows how to negotiate with the rest of the world.

    In her interview, Tai said the agreement includes a “rapid response mechanism” that enables the government to penalize factories that violate workers’ rights. Tai said that as of late September, the U.S. government has invoked the mechanism 28 times and concluded 25 of those efforts.

    Tai said that has directly benefited 30,000 Mexican workers who could elect their own union representation, allowing them to receive higher wages, back pay and other benefits.

    “We are empowering workers through trade,” she said. “And by empowering Mexico’s workers, we are ensuring that America’s workers do not have to compete with workers in our neighboring country who are being exploited and who are being deprived of rights.”

    Praise for the agreement appears to be a rare point of convergence on trade between Trump and the Biden-Harris administration. But their perspectives are different. Trump tells voters that his threats of massive tariffs can cause foreign governments to accept America’s terms on trade and immigration.

    “I ended NAFTA, the worst trade deal ever made and replaced it with the USMCA, the best trade deal ever made,” he said Monday, referring to the North America Free Trade Agreement signed by Democratic President Bill Clinton.

    Tai, barred by the federal Hatch Act from weighing in on the presidential campaign from her office, is cautious in her remarks. But she disputes Trump’s claim.

    She notes that there were actually two negotiations on trade with Canada and Mexico. The first negotiation was among the Trump administration and the other two nations. But the second was between Trump’s team and congressional Democrats who needed to ratify the deal and that led to worker protections, a component Tai worked on when she was a congressional staffer.

    But then, she added, just getting a written deal on trade protections and rights is never enough. The text needs to be backed up by action.

    “They’re just words on the page unless it’s implemented,” she said.

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  • How important is Wisconsin? Trump’s now visited 4 times in 8 days

    How important is Wisconsin? Trump’s now visited 4 times in 8 days

    JUNEAU, Wis. (AP) — Donald Trump on Sunday visited Wisconsin for the fourth time in eight days as his campaign showers attention on a pivotal state where Republicans fret about his ability to match Democrats’ enthusiasm and turnout machine.

    “They say that Wisconsin is probably the toughest of the swing states to win,” Trump said in his opening remarks at an airplane hangar in a rural Juneau where the overflow crowd spilled out on to the tarmac. “I don’t think so.”

    Voters in Wisconsin are already casting absentee ballots and in-person early voting begins Oct. 22. Trump stood on stage for nearly two hours, touching the third rail of Wisconsin politics by overlapping with a Green Bay Packers game, drawing derision from Democrats. But that didn’t stop thousands of people from sticking with Trump as he urged supporters to begin to vote by mail and early, when the time comes, so they turn out “in record numbers.”

    “If we win Wisconsin, we win the presidency,” Trump said.

    Wisconsin is perennially tight in presidential elections but has gone for the Republicans just once in the past 40 years, when Trump won the state in 2016. A win in November could make it impossible for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris to take the White House.

    “In the political chatter class, they’re worried,” said Brandon Scholz, a retired Republican strategist and longtime political observer in Wisconsin who voted for Trump in 2020 but said he is not voting for Trump or Harris this year. “I think Republicans are right to be concerned.”

    Trump won the state in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton by fewer than 23,000 votes and lost to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 by just under 21,000 votes.

    On Tuesday, Trump made his first-ever visit to Dane County, home to the liberal capital city of Madison, in an effort to turn out the Republican vote even in the state’s Democratic strongholds. Dane is Wisconsin’s second most-populous and fastest-growing county; Biden received more than 75% of the vote four years ago.

    “To win statewide you’ve got to have a 72-county strategy,” former Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, said at that event.

    Juneau is a a town of 2,000 about 50 miles north of Madison in Dodge County, which Trump won in 2020 with 65% of the vote.

    Early arrivals filled the hangar, far exceeding the available seating. One large banner behind the bleachers inside said “Vote Early.”

    “Make sure we turn out because guess what, I’ve been to Madison,” said U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, who is from Juneau, at the event. “I’ve been to liberal Madison and they’re going to show up. We need to do the same thing because we are the firewall to keep this country independent and free.”

    Jack Yuds, chairman of the county Republican Party, said support for Trump is stronger in this part of the state than it was in 2016 or 2020.

    “I can’t keep signs in,” Yuds said. “They want everything he’s got. If it says Trump on it, you can sell it.”

    Trump’s campaign and outside groups supporting his candidacy have outspent Harris and her allies on advertising in Wisconsin, $35 million to $31 million, from when she became a candidate on July 23 through Oct. 1, according to the media-tracking firm AdImpact.

    Harris and outside groups supporting her candidacy had more advertising time reserved in Wisconsin from Oct. 1 through Nov. 5, more than $25 million compared with $20 million for Trump and his allies.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    The Harris campaign has 50 offices across 43 counties with more than 250 staff members in Wisconsin, said her spokesperson Timothy White. The Trump campaign said it has 40 offices in the state and dozens of staffers.

    Harris rallied supporters in Madison in September at an event that drew more than 10,000 people. On Thursday, she made an appeal to moderate and disgruntled conservatives by holding an event in Ripon, the birthplace of the Republican Party, along with former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, one of Trump’s most prominent Republican antagonists.

    Harris and Trump are focusing on Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, the “blue wall” states that went for Trump in 2016 and flipped to Biden in the next election.

    While Trump’s campaign is bullish on its chances in Pennsylvania as well as the Sunbelt states, Wisconsin is seen as more of a challenge.

    “Wisconsin, tough state,” said Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita, who worked on Republican Sen. Ron Johnson’s winning reelection campaign in 2022.

    “I mean, look, that’s going to be a very tight — very, very tight, all the way to the end. But where we are organizationally now, comparative to where we were organizationally four years ago, I mean, it’s completely different,” LaCivita said.

    He also cited Michigan as more of a challenge. “But again, these are states that Biden won and carried and so they’re going to be brawls all the way until the end and we’re not ceding any of that ground.”

    The candidates are about even in Wisconsin, based on a series of polls that have shown little movement since Biden dropped out in late July. Those same polls also show high enthusiasm among both parties.

    Mark Graul, who ran then-President George W. Bush’s 2004 campaign in Wisconsin, said the number of campaign visits speaks to Wisconsin’s decisive election role.

    The key for both sides, he said, is persuading infrequent voters to turn out.

    “Much more important, in my opinion, than rallies,” Graul said.

    Mark Seelman, from Watertown, said the energy and size of the crowd sends a message that Trump is strong in Wisconsin.

    “Everybody’s into it,” he said during Trump’s speech. “It’s time for a change.”

    ___

    Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, and Jill Colvin in Butler, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.

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  • Pennsylvania high court declines to decide mail-in ballot issues before election

    Pennsylvania high court declines to decide mail-in ballot issues before election

    HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has declined to step in and immediately decide issues related to mail-in ballots in the commonwealth with early voting already under way in the few weeks before the Nov. 5 election.

    The commonwealth’s highest court on Saturday night rejected a request by voting rights and left-leaning groups to stop counties from throwing out mail-in ballots that lack a handwritten date or have an incorrect date on the return envelope, citing earlier rulings pointing to the risk of confusing voters so close to the election.

    “This Court will neither impose nor countenance substantial alterations to existing laws and procedures during the pendency of an ongoing election,” the unsigned order said.

    Chief Justice Debra Todd dissented, saying voters, election officials and courts needed clarity on the issue before Election Day.

    “We ought to resolve this important constitutional question now, before ballots may be improperly rejected and voters disenfranchised,” Todd wrote.

    Justice P. Kevin Brobson, however, said in a concurring opinion that the groups waited more than a year after an earlier high court ruling to bring their challenge, and it was “an all-too-common practice of litigants who postpone seeking judicial relief on election-related matters until the election is underway that creates uncertainty.”

    Many voters have not understood the legal requirement to sign and date their mail-in ballots, leaving tens of thousands of ballots without accurate dates since Pennsylvania dramatically expanded mail-in voting in a 2019 law.

    The lawsuit’s plaintiffs contend that multiple courts have found that a voter-written date is meaningless in determining whether the ballot arrived on time or whether the voter is eligible, so rejecting a ballot on that basis should be considered a violation of the state constitution. The parties won their case on the same claim in a statewide court earlier this year but it was thrown out by the state Supreme Court on a technicality before justices considered the merits.

    Democrats, including Gov. Josh Shapiro, have sided with the plaintiffs, who include the Black Political Empowerment Project, POWER Interfaith, Make the Road Pennsylvania, OnePA Activists United, New PA Project Education Fund Pittsburgh United, League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania and Common Cause Pennsylvania.

    Republicans say requiring the date is an election safeguard and accuse Democrats of trying to change election rules at the 11th hour.

    The high court also rejected a challenge by Republican political organizations to county election officials letting voters remedy disqualifying mail-in ballot mistakes, which the GOP says state law doesn’t allow. The ruling noted that the petitioners came to the high court without first litigating the matter in the lower courts.

    The court did agree on Saturday, however, to hear another GOP challenge to a lower court ruling requiring officials in one county to notify voters when their mail-in ballots are rejected, and allow them to vote provisionally on Election Day.

    The Pennsylvania court, with five justices elected as Democrats and two as Republicans, is playing an increasingly important role in settling disputes in this election, much as it did in 2020’s presidential election.

    Issues involving mail-in voting are hyper-partisan: Roughly three-fourths of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania tend to be cast by Democrats. Republicans and Democrats alike attribute the partisan gap to former President Donald Trump, who has baselessly claimed mail-in voting is rife with fraud.

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  • Andy Kim and Curtis Bashaw clash over abortion and immigration in New Jersey Senate debate

    Andy Kim and Curtis Bashaw clash over abortion and immigration in New Jersey Senate debate

    NUTLEY, N.J. (AP) — Democratic Rep. Andy Kim and Republican Curtis Bashaw clashed over abortion and immigration Sunday in their first debate for New Jersey’s Senate seat, open this year after Bob Menendez’s conviction on bribery charges and resignation.

    Kim, a three-term representative from the 3rd District, hammered Bashaw for his support of former President Donald Trump and expressed skepticism about Bashaw’s position as an abortion rights supporter. Bashaw, a hotel developer from southern New Jersey and first-time candidate, sought to cast himself as a moderate and Kim as a Washington insider.

    The debate was briefly derailed at the start when Bashaw stopped speaking mid-sentence and stared ahead, nonresponsive. He was helped from the stage and left the room for roughly 10 minutes.

    “I got so worked up about this affordability issue that I realized I hadn’t eaten so much food today,” Bashaw said when he returned. “So I appreciate your indulgence.”

    Among the most pointed exchanges was over abortion. Both candidates support abortion rights, but Bashaw has said he supported the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that ended Roe v. Wade. New Jersey has enshrined abortion protections in state law.

    “I just fundamentally have a problem with using the term ‘pro-choice’ to describe yourself when you have talked about the important of the Dobbs decision being correctly decided,” Kim said.

    He also hammered Bashaw for his support of Trump, who has twice lost New Jersey’s electoral votes.

    “The one endorsement that he has made is for Donald Trump to be president of the United States,” Kim said. “And I guess we get a sense of his judgment from that.”

    Bashaw, who defeated a Trump-endorsed rival in the primary, didn’t defend the former president explicitly.

    “Elections are binary choices, and we all have to make a decision,” he said.

    He touted his own candidacy based on his credentials as a businessperson and resisted being typecast as a traditional Republican, pointing out that he backs abortion rights and is a married gay man.

    “I am pro-choice, congressman. I am for freedom in the home,” Bashaw said. “I don’t think government should tell me who I can marry. I don’t think it should tell a woman what she can do with her reproductive health choices.”

    Bashaw hammered on immigration repeatedly throughout, saying it’s “a crisis in New Jersey” and is costing the state.

    In a reflection of how Democratic-leaning New Jersey has been in Senate races, which Republicans haven’t won in more than five decades, Bashaw addressed his closing statements to women and moms of New Jersey.

    “I am a moderate, common-sense person that will work to be a voice for New Jersey,” he said.

    Kim declared his candidacy a day after Menendez’s indictment last year, saying it was time for the state to turn the page on the longtime legislator. It looked as if the Democratic primary in a must-win state for the party would be contentious when first lady Tammy Murphy entered the race, winning support from influential party leaders.

    But Kim challenged the state’s unique ballot-drawing system widely viewed as favoring the candidates backed by party leaders. A federal judge sided with Kim in his legal challenge, putting the system on hold for this election. Murphy dropped out of the race, saying she wanted to avoid a divisive primary, leaving a clear path to Kim’s nomination.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    Kim first won office to the House in 2018, defeating Republican Rep. Tom MacArthur. He got national attention after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection when he was photographed picking up trash in the building.

    Bashaw won a contested primary in June, defeating a Trump-backed opponent. The hotel developer from Cape May is running for office for the first time.

    Menendez was convicted this summer on federal charges of accepting bribes of gold and cash from three New Jersey businesspeople and acting as an agent for the Egyptian government. He has vowed to appeal the conviction.

    He resigned in August, capping a career in politics that spanned roughly five decades. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy appointed George Helmy as interim senator. Helmy said he’ll resign after the election is certified so Murphy can appoint whoever wins the election to the seat for the remainder of Menendez’s term, which expires in January.

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  • Voters in North Carolina and Georgia have bigger problems than politics. Helene changed everything

    Voters in North Carolina and Georgia have bigger problems than politics. Helene changed everything

    VILAS, N.C. (AP) — Brad Farrington pulls over to grab a case of water bottles being passed out in Vilas, a small rural community tucked away in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He’s on his way to help a friend who lost much of what he owned when Hurricane Helene blew through last weekend.

    His friend, like countless others across western North Carolina, is starting over, which explains why Farrington isn’t thinking too much about politics or the White House race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris right now.

    “I don’t believe people’s hope is in either people that are being elected,” he said.

    Farrington pauses, then gestures toward a dozen volunteers loading water and other necessities into cars and trucks.

    “I believe we’re finding a lot more hope within folks like this,” he said.

    In the election’s final weeks, people in North Carolina and Georgia, influential swing states, are dealing with more immediate concerns: widespread storm damage. If that weren’t enough, voters in Watauga County, a ticket-splitting Appalachian county that has become more Democratic in recent years, must contend with politicians laying blame while offering support as they campaign in a race that could be decided by any small shift.

    Large uprooted trees litter the sides of roads, sometimes blocking driveways. Some homes in Vilas are inaccessible after bridges collapsed and roads crumbled. More populous areas like Boone, home of Appalachian State University, saw major flooding.

    Residents wonder where are missing friends and relatives, is there enough food and water to last until new supplies arrive and how will they rebuild.

    The focus is on survival, not politics — and may remain that way for weeks.

    Politicians travel to affected battleground states

    Trump and Harris have visited North Carolina and Georgia five times since the storm hit. Trump was in North Carolina on Friday, and Harris was there the next day.

    After Trump went to Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday, 20-year-old Fermin Herrera said the former president clinched his vote with his display of caring, not out of any frustration with how President Joe Biden and Harris, the vice president, are handling the federal disaster response. Herrera already leaned toward voting for Trump.

    “I feel like everybody’s kind doing what they can,” he said. “All the locals are appreciating the help that’s coming.”

    Trump, who has his own mixed record on natural disaster response, attacked Biden and Harris for what he said was a slow response to Helene’s destruction. Trump accused the Democrats of “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas” and said there wasn’t enough Federal Emergency Management Agency money because it was spent on illegal immigrants. There is no evidence to support either claim.

    “I’m not thinking about voters right now,” Trump insisted after a meeting with Gov. Brian Kemp, R-Ga., on Friday. “I’m thinking about lives.”

    Biden pushed back hard, saying he is “committed to being president for all of America” and has not ordered aid to be distributed based on party lines. The White House cited statements from the Republican governors of Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee expressing satisfaction with the federal government’s response.

    FEMA’s head, Deanne Criswell, told ABC’s “This Week” that this “truly dangerous narrative” of falsehoods is “demoralizing” to first responders and creating “fear in our own employees.”

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    Criticism of aid efforts so soon after a natural disaster is “inappropriate,” especially when factoring in the daunting logistical problems in western North Carolina, said Gavin Smith, a North Carolina State University professor who specializes in disaster recovery. He said the perilous terrain from compromised roads and bridges and the widespread lack of power and cellphone service make disaster response in the region particularly challenging.

    Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has made several stops in western North Carolina, including Watauga County and surrounding areas, and Biden viewed the extensive damage via an aerial tour.

    A focus on recovering and rebuilding

    In Watauga County, Jessica Dixon was scraping muck and broken furniture off the ground with a shovel, then dumping it in the bucket of a humming excavator. The 29-year-old stood in a home she bought two years ago. It’s now gutted after a rush of water forced Dixon, her boyfriend and their two dogs to flee to safety.

    Without flood insurance, Dixon is not sure what will happen over the next month. She said she filled out a FEMA application but hasn’t checked her email since. She had given the presidential election some thought before Helene, but now she’s preoccupied with cleaning her home.

    “It wouldn’t change my views on anything,” said Dixon, who was planning to vote for Harris.

    The presidential election isn’t top of mind for 47-year-old Bobby Cordell, either. He’s trying to get help to neighbors in western Watauga County, which has become inaccessible in some parts.

    His home near Beech Mountain is one of those places, he said, after a bridge washed away. Cordell rescued his aunt from a mudslide, then traveled to Boone and has been staying in Appalachian State’s Holmes Convocation Center, which now serves as a Red Cross emergency shelter.

    He’s trying to send disaster relief back where he lives by contacting officials, including from FEMA. That conversation, he said, “went very well.”

    Accepting help isn’t easy for people in the mountains, he said, because they’re used to taking care of themselves.

    Now, though, the people who are trapped “need everything they can get.”

    Helping neighbors becomes more important in Helene’s aftermath

    Over the past week of volunteering at Skateworld, where Farrington stopped for water, it’s become harder for Nancy Crawford to smile. She’s helped serve more than 1,000 people, she said, but the emotional toll has started to settle in for “a lot of us that normally are tough.”

    That burden added to the weight she was already feeling about the election, which she said was “scary to begin with.” Crawford, a registered Republican, said she plans to vote for Harris. As a Latina of Mexican descent, she thinks Trump’s immigration policies would have harmful effects on her community.

    The storm, she said, likely won’t change her vote but has made one thing evident.

    “It doesn’t matter what party you are, we all need help,” she said.

    Jan Wellborn had a similar thought as she made her way around the Watauga High School gym collecting supplies to bring to coworkers in need. A 69-year-old bus driver for the school district, she said the outpouring of support she’s seen from the community has been a “godsend.”

    She takes solace from the county’s ability to pull together. The election matters, she said, but helping people make their way through a harrowing time matters more.

    “The election, it should be important,” Wellborn said. “But right now we need to focus on getting everybody in the county taken care of.”

    ——

    Associated Press writer Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.

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  • CBS News says it will be up to Vance and Walz to fact-check each other in veep debate

    CBS News says it will be up to Vance and Walz to fact-check each other in veep debate

    NEW YORK (AP) — CBS News, hosting vice presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz for the general election campaign’s third debate next week, says it will be up to the politicians — not the moderators — to check the facts of their opponents.

    The 90-minute debate, scheduled for 9 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday in a Manhattan studio that once hosted the children’s program “Captain Kangaroo,” will be moderated by the outgoing “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell and “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan.

    Tim Walz and JD Vance meet for their first vice presidential debate:

    During ABC’s debate between presidential contenders Kamala Harris and Donald Trump earlier this month, network moderators on four occasions pointed out inaccurate statements by Trump, and none by Harris. That infuriated the former president and his supporters, who complained it was unfair.

    Last spring, CNN moderators did not question any facts presented by Trump and President Joe Biden in the debate where Biden’s poor performance eventually led to him dropping out of the race.

    On Friday, CBS said the onus will be on Vance and Walz to point out misstatements by the other, and that “the moderators will facilitate those opportunities” during rebuttal time. The network said its own misinformation unit, CBS News Confirmed, will provide real-time fact-checking during the debate on its live blog and on social media, and on the air during post-debate analysis.

    With its plans, CBS News is clearly indicating it wants to take a step back from the heat generated by calling attention to misleading statements by candidates. Some argue that offstage fact-checking is too little, too late and not seen by many people who watch the event.

    It’s not the first time

    Angie Drobnic Holan, director of the international fact-checking network at the Poynter Institute, said she has seen examples of moderators who have successfully encouraged candidates to keep their opponents honest.

    “I’ll be interested in seeing how this works in practice,” she said. “Having said that, you’re basically off-loading one of your journalistic responsibilities onto the candidates themselves, so I don’t think that it’s ideal. It takes journalistic courage to be willing to fact-check the candidates, because the candidates are absolutely going to complain about it. I don’t think the moderators’ first goal is to avoid controversy.”

    During the ABC debate, moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis corrected Trump statements on abortion, the 2020 election, crime statistics and reports that immigrants in Ohio were eating pets.

    Unlike the two presidential debates, the two sides agreed that the vice presidential candidates’ microphones will not be turned off while their opponent is speaking, increasing the chance for genuine back-and-forth exchanges and the risk that the two men will talk over each other. CBS says it reserves the right to shut off a “hot mic” when necessary. Each candidate will have two minutes for a closing statement, with Vance winning a virtual coin toss and choosing to get the last word.

    The stakes are high for CBS News

    It’s a big moment for CBS News, long mired in third place in the evening news ratings. O’Donnell just announced she was stepping down from the role. Brennan is considered a rising star.

    Like with the presidential debates, CBS is making its feed available for other networks to televise, and many are expected to take advantage of the opportunity.

    There will be no audience when Vance and Walz meet at a West Side studio that, in its past, has hosted editions of “60 Minutes,” “CBS Sunday Morning,” “Inside the NFL,” “Geraldo” and “Captain Kangaroo.”

    It’s not known whether there will be other opportunities to see Trump and Harris together on the same stage before the Nov. 5 election. Harris has accepted an invitation from CNN for another debate on Oct. 23, but Trump has rejected it. In a poll taken by Quinnipiac University and released earlier this week, likely voters said by roughly a two-to-one margin that they’d like them face off again.

    CBS’ “60 Minutes” is looking to land both Harris and Trump for back-to-back interviews that will air on Oct. 7, but neither candidate has committed to it yet.

    ___

    David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.

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  • Jimmy Carter at 100: A century of changes for a president, the US and the world since 1924

    Jimmy Carter at 100: A century of changes for a president, the US and the world since 1924

    Already the longest-lived of the 45 men to serve as U.S. president, Jimmy Carter is about to reach the century mark.

    The 39th president, who remains under home hospice care, will turn 100 on Tuesday, Oct. 1, celebrating in the same south Georgia town where he was born in 1924.

    Here are some notable markers for Carter, the nation and the world over his long life.

    Booms most everywhere — but not Plains

    FILE – The Ku Klux Klan marches down Pennsylvania Ave. past the Treasury Building in Washington D.C. in 1925. (AP Photo, File)

    Carter has seen the U.S. population nearly triple. The U.S. has about 330 million residents; there were about 114 million in 1924 and 220 million when Carter was inaugurated in 1977. The global population has more than quadrupled, from 1.9 billion to more than 8.1 billion. It already had more than doubled to 4.36 billion by the time he became president.

    That boom has not reached Plains, where Carter has lived more than 80 of his 100 years. His wife Rosalynn, who died in 2023 at age 96, also was born in Plains.

    Their town comprised fewer than 500 people in the 1920s and has about 700 today; much of the local economy revolves around its most famous residents.

    When James Earl Carter Jr. was born, life expectancy for American males was 58. It’s now 75.

    TV, radio and presidential maps

    NBC first debuted a red-and-blue electoral map in the 1976 election between then-President Gerald Ford, a Republican, and Carter, the Democratic challenger. But NBC’s John Chancellor made Carter’s states red and Ford’s blue. Some other early versions of color electoral maps used yellow and blue because red was associated with Soviet and Chinese communism.

    Image

    FILE – Former Presidents George Bush, left, and Jimmy Carter, right, stand with President Clinton during a kick-off rally for the President’s volunteer summit at Marcus Foster Stadium in Philadelphia, PA., April 27, 1997. (AP Photo/Greg Gibson, File)

    It wasn’t until the 1990s that networks settled on blue for Democratic-won states and red for GOP-won states. “Red state” and “blue state” did not become a permanent part of the American political lexicon until after the disputed 2000 election between Al Gore and George W. Bush.

    Carter was 14 when Franklin D. Roosevelt made the first presidential television appearance. Warren Harding became the first radio president two years before Carter’s birth.

    Attention shoppers

    There was no Amazon Prime in 1924, but you could order a build-it-yourself house from a catalog. Sears Roebuck Gladstone’s three-bedroom model went for $2,025, which was slightly less than the average worker’s annual income.

    Image

    FILE – College student Chuck McManis watches President Jimmy Carter’s nationally televised energy speech from a service station in Los Angeles, as a gas station attendant fills up a customer’s car, July 15, 1979. (AP Photo/Mao, File)

    Walmart didn’t exist, but local general stores served the same purpose. Ballpark prices: loaf of bread, 9 cents; gallon of milk, 54 cents; gallon of gas, 11 cents.

    Inflation helped drive Carter from office, as it has dogged President Joe Biden. The average gallon in 1980, Carter’s last full year in office, was about $3.25 when adjusted for inflation. That’s just 3 cents more than AAA’s current national average.

    From suffragettes to Kamala Harris

    The 19th Amendment that extended voting rights to women — almost exclusively white women at the time — was ratified in 1920, four years before Carter’s birth. The Voting Rights Act that widened the franchise to Black Americans passed in 1965 as Carter was preparing his first bid for Georgia governor.

    Now, Carter is poised to cast a mail ballot for Vice President Kamala Harris. She would become the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to reach the Oval Office. Grandson Jason Carter said the former president is holding on in part because he is excited about the chance to see Harris make history.

    Image

    FILE – Former President Jimmy Carter, right, and Atlanta Braves team owner Ted Turner, left, watch early play during Game 6 of the National League Championship Series in Atlanta, Oct. 14, 1998. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)

    Immigration, isolationism and ‘America First’

    For all the shifts in U.S. politics, some things stay the same. Or at least come back around.

    Carter was born in an era of isolationism, protectionism and white Christian nationalism — all elements of the right in the ongoing Donald Trump era. In 2024, Trump is promising the largest deportation effort in U.S. history, while tightening legal immigration. He has said immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.”

    Five months before Carter was born, President Calvin Coolidge signed the Immigration Act of 1924. The law created the U.S. Border Patrol and sharply curtailed immigration, limiting admission mostly to migrants from western Europe. Asians were banned entirely. Congress described its purpose plainly: “preserve the ideal of U.S. homogeneity.” The Ku Klux Klan followed in 1925 and 1926 with marches on Washington promoting white supremacy.

    Trump also has called for sweeping tariffs on foreign imports, part of his “America First” agenda. In 1922, Congress enacted tariffs intended to help U.S. manufacturers. After stock market losses in 1929, lawmakers added the 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariffs, ostensibly to help American farmers. The Great Depression followed anyway. In the 1930s, as Carter became politically aware, the political right that countered FDR was driven in part by a movement that opposed international engagement. Those conservatives’ slogan: “America First.”

    Image

    FILE – Former President Jimmy Carter pulls notes out of his pocket before delivering remarks during a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Aug. 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

    America’s and Carter’s pastime

    Carter is the Atlanta Braves’ most famous fan. Jason Carter says the former president still enjoys watching his favorite baseball team.

    In the 1990s, when the Braves were annual features in the October playoffs, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were often spotted in the owner’s box with media mogul Ted Turner and Jane Fonda, then Turner’s wife. The Braves moved to Atlanta from Milwaukee between Carter’s failed run for governor in 1966 and his victory four years later. Then-Gov. Carter was sitting in the first row of Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium on April 9, 1974, when Henry Aaron hit his 715th home run to break Babe Ruth’s career record.

    When Carter was born, the Braves were still in Boston, their original city. Ruth had just completed his fifth season for the New York Yankees. He had hit 284 home runs to that point (still 430 short of his career total) and the original Yankee Stadium — “The House that Ruth Built” — had been open less than 18 months.

    Booze, Billy and Billy Beer

    Prohibition had been in effect for four years when Carter was born and wouldn’t be lifted until he was 9. The Carters were never prodigious drinkers. They served only wine at state dinners and other White House functions, though it’s a common misconception that they did so because of their Baptist mores. It was more because Carter has always been frugal: He didn’t want taxpayers or the residence account (his and Rosalynn’s personal money) to cover more expensive hard liquor.

    Carter’s younger brother Billy, who owned a Plains gas station and died in 1988, had different tastes. He marketed his own brand, Billy Beer, once Carter became president. News sources reported that Billy Carter snagged a $50,000 annual licensing fee from one brewer. That’s about $215,000 today. The president’s annual salary at the time was $200,000 — it’s now $400,000.

    The debt: More Carter frugality

    The Times Square debt clock didn’t debut until Carter was in his early 60s and out of the White House. But for anyone counting the $35 trillion debt, Carter doesn’t merit much mention. The man who would wash Ziploc bags to reuse them added less than $300 billion to the national debt, which stood below $1 trillion when he left office.

    Other presidents

    Carter has lived through 40% of U.S. history since the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and more than a third of all U.S. administrations since George Washington took office in 1789 — nine before Carter was president, his own and seven since.

    When Carter took office, just two presidents, John Adams and Herbert Hoover, had lived to be 90. Since then, Ford, Ronald Reagan, Carter and George H.W. Bush all reached at least 93.

    ——-

    This story was first published on Sep. 28, 2024. It was updated on Oct. 1, 2024 to correct that only one other former president, John Adams, lived to be at least 90. Herbert Hoover died at 90 in 1964.

    ___

    Follow Barrow at https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP

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  • California to apologize for state’s legacy of racism against Black Americans under new law

    California to apologize for state’s legacy of racism against Black Americans under new law

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will formally apologize for slavery and its lingering effects on Black Americans in the state under a new law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Thursday.

    The legislation was part of a package of reparations bills introduced this year that seek to offer repair for decades of policies that drove racial disparities for African Americans. Newsom also approved laws to improve protections against hair discrimination for athletes and increase oversight over the banning of books in state prisons.

    “The State of California accepts responsibility for the role we played in promoting, facilitating, and permitting the institution of slavery, as well as its enduring legacy of persistent racial disparities,” the Democratic governor said in a statement. “Building on decades of work, California is now taking another important step forward in recognizing the grave injustices of the past –- and making amends for the harms caused.”

    Newsom signed the bills after vetoing a proposal Wednesday that would have helped Black families reclaim or be compensated for property that was unjustly seized by the government through eminent domain. The bill by itself would not have been able to take full effect because lawmakers blocked another bill to create a reparations agency that would have reviewed claims.

    California entered the union as a free state in 1850. In practice, it sanctioned slavery and approved policies and practices that thwarted Black people from owning homes and starting businesses. Black families were terrorized, their communities aggressively policed and their neighborhoods polluted, according to a report published by a first-in-the-nation state reparations task force.

    Efforts to study reparations at the federal level have stalled in Congress for decades. Illinois and New York state passed laws in recent years creating reparations commissions. Local officials in Boston and New York City have voted to create task forces studying reparations. Evanston, Illinois, launched a program to provide housing assistance to Black residents to help atone for past discrimination.

    California has moved further along on the issue than any other state. But state lawmakers did not introduce legislation this year to give widespread direct payments to African Americans, which frustrated some reparations advocates.

    Newsom approved a $297.9 billion budget in June that included up to $12 million for reparations legislation that became law.

    He already signed laws included in the reparations package aimed at improving outcomes for students of color in K-12 career education programs. Another proposal the Black caucus backed this year that would ban forced labor as a punishment for crime in the state constitution will be on the ballot in November.

    State Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, a Democrat representing Culver City, called legislation he authored to increase oversight over books banned in state prisons “a first step” to fix a “shadowy” process in which the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation decides which books to ban.

    The corrections department maintains a list of disapproved publications it bans after determining the content could pose a security threat, includes obscene material or otherwise violates department rules.

    The new law authorizes the Office of the Inspector General, which oversees the state prison system, to review works on the list and evaluate the department’s reasoning for banning them. It requires the agency to notify the office of any changes made to the list, and it makes the office post the list on its website.

    “We need transparency in this process,” Bryan said. “We need to know what books are banned, and we need a mechanism for removing books off of that list.”

    ___

    Sophie Austin is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on X: @sophieadanna

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  • New York City Mayor Eric Adams pleads not guilty to taking bribes and illegal campaign contributions

    New York City Mayor Eric Adams pleads not guilty to taking bribes and illegal campaign contributions

    NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams pleaded not guilty Friday to federal bribery charges, firmly rejecting allegations that he accepted overseas travel, campaign cash and other perks from foreign interests seeking to harness his influence.

    Adams, a former police captain, entered the plea in a packed courtroom that’s just a short walk from City Hall, which has been roiled in recent weeks by a cascade of investigations, searches and subpoenas. The first-term Democrat maintains he did nothing wrong and has vowed to stay in office, rebuffing growing calls for him to quit.

    “I am not guilty, your honor,” Adams said, looking solemnly at the judge.

    His appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker came a day after prosecutors unsealed an indictment accusing him of taking $100,000 in flights and stays in opulent hotel suites from people tied to Turkey, and fueling his run for mayor with illegal donations that helped him qualify for more than $10 million in public campaign funds.

    Adams was released on the condition that he not contact any witnesses or people described in the indictment. The mayor is allowed to speak with relatives and staff, but not about anything pertaining to the allegations.

    Adams left the courtroom without commenting. He smiled at a court officer but ignored the rows of reporters he passed on his way out. Afterward, he stood silently outside the courthouse while his lawyer, Alex Spiro, railed against the charges to a crowd of cameras while onlookers shouted “Free Eric!” and “Lock him up!”

    “This isn’t even a real case. This is the airline upgrade corruption case,” Spiro said. He told the judge would file a motion next week asking for the case to be dismissed.

    Yet even as the mayor appeared in court, the investigation into his administration continued.

    One of Adams’ closest City Hall advisers, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, was met at the airport Friday by investigators from the U.S. attorney’s office and Manhattan district attorney’s office after she got off flight from Japan. The federal investigators served her with a subpoena. The local prosecutors took her phones and searched her house, according to her lawyer, Arthur Aidala. A TV news crew got footage of investigators carrying out boxes marked “documents” and “electronics.”

    “She will cooperate fully with any and all investigations and Ms. Lewis is not the target of any case of which we are aware,” Aidala said.

    Adams, 64, is due back in court Wednesday for a conference before U.S. District Judge Dale E. Ho, who will preside over the case going forward.

    In his 18-minute appearance Friday, Adams sat stoically with his hands folded in his lap as the magistrate judge read the charges aloud, her sturdy delivery underscoring the gravity of the case. He was at the courthouse for just under four hours.

    The criminal case and tumult in Adams’ administration, including the sudden resignation of his police commissioner and retirement of his schools chancellor, have created a political crisis for the mayor.

    Adams has so far weathered calls to resign, including from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, potential Democratic challengers in next June’s mayoral primary, and some Republicans. Top Democrats such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries have not called on Adams to quit, saying the legal process should be allowed to play out.

    Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who has the power to remove Adams from office, appeared to issue a warning to a mayor she has often portrayed as a close ally, saying in a statement that she was reviewing her “options and obligations” and expects “the mayor to take the next few days to review the situation and find an appropriate path forward to ensure the people of New York City are being well-served by their leaders.”

    Adams, who soared to office as a law-and-order champion of the middle class, is charged with five counts: wire fraud, bribery, conspiracy and two counts of receiving campaign contributions from a foreign national. If convicted of the most serious charge, wire fraud, he faces up to 20 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.

    Among other things, Adams is accused of allowing a senior Turkish diplomat and others to shower him with luxury accommodations to places like France, China, Sri Lanka, India, Hungary, Ghana and Turkey, including valuable business-class upgrades, high-end meals and even a trip to a Turkish bath. Most of the trips took place while Adams was Brooklyn borough president, before he ran for mayor.

    Adams is also accused of conspiring to take campaign contributions from foreign sources banned from giving to U.S. campaigns and disguising the payments by routing them through straw donors.

    In return, Adams allegedly did favors for his patrons, including helping ensure that Turkey’s newly built diplomatic tower in Manhattan wouldn’t be subject to a fire inspection that it was certain to fail.

    Spiro, whose roster of past and present clients includes Elon Musk, Alec Baldwin and Jay-Z, said it was neither unusual nor improper for an elected official to accept some travel perks. The mayor has denied ever knowingly accepting an illegal campaign contribution and said any help he gave people navigating city bureaucracy was just part of his job.

    Adams’ indictment is unlikely to be the last word on federal investigations involving city government.

    U.S. Attorney Damian Williams told reporters Thursday: “This investigation continues. We continue to dig, and we will hold more people accountable, and I encourage anyone with information to come forward and to do so before it is too late.”

    Federal prosecutors are believed to be leading multiple, separate inquiries involving Adams and his senior aides and relatives of those aides. In early September, federal investigators seized devices from the police commissioner, schools chancellor, two deputy mayors and other trusted Adams confidants.

    None of those other officials have been publicly accused of wrongdoing or charged with a crime.

    The Lower Manhattan courthouse is less than two blocks from the one where former President Donald Trump was tried and convicted of falsifying business records. Adams’ arraignment was in the same courthouse where a jury found Trump civilly liable for sexually assaulting the writer E. Jean Carroll in 1996 and in the very same courtroom where hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was arraigned last week on sex trafficking charges.

    ___

    Associated Press reporter Anthony Izaguirre in Albany contributed.

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  • Abortion-rights groups are courting Latino voters in Arizona and Florida

    Abortion-rights groups are courting Latino voters in Arizona and Florida

    PHOENIX (AP) — When Lesley Chavez found out she was pregnant at age 16, she saw her daughter as a blessing from God and never considered an abortion, a view reinforced by her devout Christian mother. If she could have voted at the time, Chavez would have opposed expanding abortion access.

    But 10 years later — as she and other Arizona residents braced for a possible ban on nearly all abortions — Chavez drove over 300 miles (480 kilometers) to California to help a friend get one. That experience with someone she knew who was struggling financially and couldn’t support another child was the final push that changed Chavez’s stance on the issue.

    “I just kind of felt like, dang, if I didn’t have nobody, I would want someone like me to be there. I would want someone that’s not going to judge me and actually help,” she said.

    Now, she helps deliver that message to other Latinos in Arizona, one of nine states that is considering constitutional amendments to enshrine abortion rights.

    As abortion-rights groups court Latino voters through door-knocking and Spanish-language ads, they say the fast-growing group could determine the outcome of abortion ballot measures across the U.S., particularly in states such as Arizona and Florida with large Latino populations.

    Like other Americans, Latinos have an array of personal feelings and connections to the issue that can be impacted by religion, culture, country of origin and other things, organizers say. But their views are often misunderstood and oversimplified by people who assume they are all Catholic and, therefore, anti-abortion, said Natasha Sutherland, communications director for Floridians Protecting Freedom, which is behind an abortion measure in that state.

    A recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about two-thirds of Hispanic Americans think abortion should be legal in all or most cases. About 4 in 10 U.S. Hispanics identify as Catholic, about one-third as Protestant or “other Christian,” and about one-quarter as religiously unaffiliated.

    Efforts to reach Latino voters often hinge on one-on-one conversations — “old-school, boots on the ground organizing,” said Alex Berrios, co-founder of the grassroots Florida group Mi Vecino, or “my neighbor.”

    Overall, about 14.7% of eligible voters, or 36.2 million people, are Latino, according to the Pew Research Center.

    In Florida, 18% of registered voters are Hispanic, or 2.4 million people, according to an October 2023 analysis by the nonpartisan Latino advocacy organization NALEO Educational Fund. More than 855,000 Latinos are expected to cast ballots in Arizona for the November election, making up about 1 in 4 Arizona voters, according to NALEO.

    As a lead canvasser for the grassroots Arizona group Poder in Action, Chavez has knocked on the doors of ambivalent Latino voters, persuading them to support a measure that would guarantee access to abortion until fetal viability, a term used by health care providers to describe whether a pregnancy is expected to continue developing normally or whether a fetus might survive outside the uterus. It’s generally considered to be around 23 or 24 weeks.

    Living United for Change in Arizona, or LUCHA, moved the measure to the top of its canvassing script because voters kept bringing up the issue. LUCHA campaigns to low-income Latino, Black and Indigenous voters.

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    “People initiated the conversation like, ‘Oh yeah I just heard on the news what happened with the 1800 abortion ban,’” Abril Gallardo, chief of staff for LUCHA, said, referring to the 1864 abortion ban that the Arizona Supreme Court signaled in April the state could enforce but that lawmakers later repealed.

    Another group, Mi Familia Vota, has put $200,000 toward its efforts to mobilize Latino voters to support the measure.

    The official campaign against the proposal— It Goes Too Far — has enlisted Hispanic volunteers in its effort to sway voters.

    Abortion is one of the most important issues in the upcoming election to about 4 in 10 Hispanic voters, below the economy, crime, and health care, and about on par with immigration, according to the AP-NORC poll.

    In Florida, abortion is illegal after the first six weeks of pregnancy. The November ballot measure would legalize abortion until fetal viability.

    “The Latino community is a huge part of any campaign in Florida,” Sutherland said. “We can’t win this without Latinos, so Latino outreach is essential.”

    Sutherland said her group uses bilingual phone banking and canvassing efforts, hosted a bilingual campaign launch rally, hired a Latino outreach manager and holds weekly Spanish-language meetings to discuss strategy.

    The opposing campaign has ads in Spanish and has a Spanish version of its website called “Vota No En La 4.”

    Berrios’ group, Mi Vecino, has focused on Florida’s 9th Congressional District, which includes Osceola County and Orlando and was the first majority Hispanic district to meet the signature requirement for putting abortion rights on the ballot. Berrios tells supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that they can vote for him and for abortion rights.

    “We saw a need for a culturally competent nonpartisan effort to engage and educate Hispanic voters on reproductive freedom,” Berrios said.

    For Latino men especially, it has been helpful to include messaging about limiting government decisions in family and health care decisions, several Florida organizers said.

    “You need to have conversations that are tailored to the person in front of you. For folks in Florida, for example, who escaped communism in their own countries, they’re really moved by things having to do with freedom and the power to determine the conditions of their own lives. We try to be as nuanced as possible,” said Lupe Rodriguez, executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice.

    Rocio Garcia, an assistant professor of sociology at Arizona State University, said that over time, Latinas, including those who are Catholic, have swung toward supporting abortion access, even if they would not get an abortion themselves.

    Alyssa Sanchez, a 23-year-old Mexican American who is Catholic, plans to vote for Arizona’s measure. Her family members have been supportive of the issue as long as she could remember.

    “You do still have to take Bibles, sayings, everything about the Catholic religion to your own interpretation,” said Sanchez, a lifelong Arizona resident. “And then battling that thought it just comes down to, I believe in people’s choice to their own bodies stronger than I believe in anything else.”

    Sinsi Hernández-Cancio, vice president for health justice at the National Partnership for Women & Families, said abortion-rights supporters cannot afford to assume Latino voters do not support abortion rights, especially in majority-Republican Florida, which requires 60% voter support to pass a constitutional amendment.

    “If you’re going to approach any voter with false assumptions, you’re not going to be able to connect,” she said.

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    Fernando reported from Chicago.

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  • FACT FOCUS: A look at claims made during the second night of the Democratic National Convention

    FACT FOCUS: A look at claims made during the second night of the Democratic National Convention

    The second night of the Democratic National Convention was filled with excitement as a celebratory roll call marked Vice President Kamala Harris’ nomination to be the party’s candidate for president. As speaker after speaker addressed the convention extolling her qualities to lead the country, they also spelled out differences with her opponents, former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance, at times misrepresenting the Republicans’ stances.

    Here’s a look at the facts.

    Missing context on Vance and the child tax credit

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer: “Senate Republicans pretend to care about middle-class families, but they voted no on expanding the child tax credit. And JD Vance didn’t even show up to vote.”

    THE FACTS: Vance did indeed skip an August vote on a bill to expand the child tax credit and restore some tax breaks for businesses.

    The bill failed to advance in the Senate as Republicans largely opposed the measure, arguing that they would be in position to get a better deal next year, The Associated Press reported at the time.

    But there’s more to the story.

    Vance has also said he would support expanding the child tax credit, currently at $2,000, to $5,000. He said the Senate vote was a “show vote,” when bills are designed to fail but allow parties to highlight issues before voters.

    The cost of Trump’s economic plan

    Schumer on Trump’s plan to create tariffs: “He wants to impose what is, in effect, a national sales tax on everyday products and basic necessities that we import from other countries. It will mean higher prices on just about every one of your daily needs. Donald Trump’s plan would cost a typical family $3,900 a year.”

    THE FACTS: Trump has proposed imposing a tariff of anywhere from 10% to 20% on all imports and up to 60% on imports from China.

    It’s Day 3 of the DNC, and there are 75 days until Election Day. Here’s what to know:

    Economists do expect it would raise prices on many goods. The Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, estimates it would reduce average incomes in the top 60% of earners by 1.8%. And the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a progressive advocacy group, has calculated that the higher tariffs would cost households an extra $3,900 a year.

    However, Trump has said the tariff revenue could be used to cut other taxes, which would reduce the overall cost of the policy.

    Trump’s changing views on the Affordable Care Act

    New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham: “Donald Trump and JD Vance want to dismantle our healthcare system, repeal the Affordable Care Act, and limit protections for preexisting conditions.”

    New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham speaking during the Democratic National Convention Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

    THE FACTS: Trump has repeatedly promised to replace former President Barack Obama’s health care law with a plan of his own. For example, three years after a Congress fully controlled by Republicans failed to repeal “Obamacare” in 2017, Trump urged the Supreme Court to overturn it.

    More recently, the Republican presidential nominee threatened to reopen the contentious fight.

    “The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare,” he wrote in a November 2023 post on his Truth Social site. “I’m seriously looking at alternatives. We had a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it. It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!”

    But Trump backed off a potential repeal in April. He said in a video posted to Truth Social that he is “not running to replace the ACA” and that he intends to make it “much better, stronger and far less expensive.”

    Another misrepresentation of Trump’s bleach comment

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, on Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic: “And Donald, well, Donald told us to inject bleach.”

    THE FACTS: This claim was also made on the first day of the Democratic National Convention by Rep. Robert Garcia of California.

    It’s an overstatement. Trump actually asked whether it would be impossible to inject disinfectant into the lungs.

    “And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute,” he said at an April 2020 press conference. “And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that, so that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me. So, we’ll see, but the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute. That’s pretty powerful.”

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    Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

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  • FACT FOCUS: A look back at some of the questionable claims made during the Democratic convention

    FACT FOCUS: A look back at some of the questionable claims made during the Democratic convention

    The Democrats’ star-studded, four-day convention drew to a close as Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the party’s nomination for president. The festivities were high on entertainment and praise for Harris and running mate Tim Walz. But while most speakers stuck to the script — and the facts — the convention was not without false information or statements that begged for additional context.

    Here’s a look at the facts around some of those claims.

    Trump’s views on an abortion ban

    VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS said Trump would “ban medication abortion and enact a nationwide abortion ban with or without Congress.”

    THE FACTS: While Trump has said in the past that he would support a national ban on abortion, he said Thursday morning on Fox & Friends: “I would never. There will not be a federal ban. This is now back in the states where it belongs.”

    In April, he said he would leave the issue up to the states in a video on his Truth Social platform.

    Days later, asked by a reporter upon arriving in Atlanta whether he would sign a national abortion ban, Trump shook his head and said “no.”

    But just a month earlier Trump suggested he’d support a national ban on abortion around 15 weeks of pregnancy. He also often brags about appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to an abortion.

    Trump has previously supported a federal ban on abortion at 20 weeks of pregnancy. In a letter to anti-abortion leaders during his 2016 campaign, Trump expressed his commitment to this view by vowing to sign the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.

    The Republican presidential nominee advocated for the bill again in 2018, at that year’s annual March for Life festival in Washington. The bill, which included exceptions for saving the life of a pregnant woman, as well as rape or incest, was passed by the House in 2017, but failed to move forward in the Senate.

    Trump told CBS News on Monday that he would not enforce the Comstock Act to restrict the sale of abortion medication by mail. The act, originally passed in 1873, was revived in an effort to block the mailing of mifepristone, the pill used in more than half of U.S. abortions.

    Trump and Project 2025

    COLORADO REP. JASON CROW: “Donald Trump’s Project 2025 would abandon our troops, abandon our veterans, our allies and our principles.”

    THE FACTS: Many speakers at the convention have linked Trump to Project 2025. Trump has repeatedly disavowed the conservative initiative, saying on social media he hasn’t read it and doesn’t know anything about it. At a rally in Michigan, he said Project 2025 was written by people on the “severe right” and some of the things in it are “seriously extreme.” He has also denied knowing who is behind the plan.

    Project 2025 has also said it is not tied to a specific candidate or campaign. And yet, it is connected in many ways to Trump’s orbit. Some of the people involved in Project 2025 are former senior officials from the Trump administration. The project’s former director is Paul Dans, who served as chief of staff at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management under Trump.

    Trump’s campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt was featured in one of Project 2025’s videos. John McEntee, a former director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office in the Trump administration, is a senior adviser. McEntee told the conservative news site The Daily Wire earlier this year that Project 2025’s team would integrate a lot of its work with the campaign after the summer when Trump would announce his transition team.

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    Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, penned the forward of a yet unreleased book written by Kevin Roberts, president of The Heritage Foundation, which created Project 2025.

    __ CROW again: “Trump plans to do Putin’s bidding by abandoning Ukraine and walking away from our NATO allies. In chapters two and three, he plans to fire our national security and military professionals and then replace them with MAGA loyalists.”

    THE FACTS: In regards to the Russia-Ukraine war, Project 2025 lays out three schools of thought about U.S. involvement, one of them being that it should not continue. However, it does not advocate for any one over the other.

    Crow’s claim that national security and military professionals will be replaced with Trump supporters does ring true. Among its recommendations are that senior CIA leaders “must commit to carrying out the President’s agenda and be willing to take calculated risks.” It also states that the National Security Council should be made up of “personnel with technical expertise and experience as well as an alignment to the President’s declared national security policy priorities.”

    Trump’s alleged comments about those captured or killed in military service

    ARIZONA SEN. MARK KELLY: “Trump thinks that Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice are suckers and losers.”

    THE FACTS: Kelly was among many DNC speakers who brought up similar claims. He was referencing allegations first reported in The Atlantic on Sept. 3, 2020, that Trump made disparaging remarks about members of the U.S. military who have been captured or killed, including referring to the American war dead at a World War I cemetery outside Paris in 2018 as “suckers” and “losers.”

    But the truth is that it hasn’t been proven definitively, one way or the other, whether Trump actually made these comments.

    The Republican presidential nominee said the day the Atlantic story came out that it is “totally false,” calling it “a disgraceful situation” by a “terrible magazine.”

    Speaking to reporters after he returned to Washington from a campaign rally in Pennsylvania soon after, Trump said: “I would be willing to swear on anything that I never said that about our fallen heroes. There is nobody that respects them more. No animal — nobody — what animal would say such a thing?”

    And yet, a senior Defense Department official with firsthand knowledge of the events and a senior U.S. Marine Corps officer who was told about Trump’s comments confirmed some of his remarks to The Associated Press after the Atlantic story was published, including the ones about “suckers” and “losers.”

    Walz’s accomplishments as governor

    MINNESOTA SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR, touting Tim Walz’s accomplishments as governor of the state: “Tim has delivered — paid leave, school lunches and the biggest tax cut in Minnesota history.”

    THE FACTS: Over the last two years, Walz has indeed signed legislation to create a paid family and medical leave program in Minnesota, and for free school breakfasts and lunches for all students regardless of income.

    Walz also signed what his administration and Democratic legislative leaders have touted as the largest tax cut in state history, about $3 billion worth as part of the two-year budget approved last year. It included a one-time refundable tax credit of $260 for single filers and up to $1,300 for a family with three children. It also established a child tax credit of up to $1,750 per child for lower-income families, subject to income limits. In addition, it exempted more people from state taxes on Social Security income, but left the tax in place for higher-income seniors.

    But critics take issue with his characterization of it as the biggest tax cut in state history. The Center of the American Experiment, a conservative think tank, points out that low-income Minnesotans don’t pay the state income tax, so in its view giving them tax credits amounts to income redistribution and welfare — not tax cuts.

    Republican legislators tried to hold out for permanent tax cuts for everyone, but Democrats control both chambers of the Legislature and went for targeted relief instead.

    Bill Clinton’s keeping score

    FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON on Wednesday: “Since the end of the Cold War in 1989, America has created 51 million new jobs. I swear I checked this three times. Even I couldn’t believe it. What’s the score? Democrats 50, Republicans one.”

    THE FACTS: The math shows Clinton is technically right, but the underlying story is more nuanced. There were four recessions since the end of the Cold War — each of them beginning during the Republican presidencies of George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Donald Trump. That’s the simplest explanation for the trend outlined by Clinton.

    Let’s get precise: The U.S. economy has added almost 51.6 million jobs since January 1989, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That includes a net 1.3 million jobs added under Republicans.

    It’s worth noting that this simple scoreboard is incomplete. There can be reasons for a recession that have nothing to do necessarily with the president — as market economies can have minds of their own. There can be bad policy choices in previous administrations that led to downturns happening later. And job growth generally comes from the combination of rising populations, improvements in workers’ skills and the actions of private employers. The U.S. economy is big and diverse enough that areas in the industrial Midwest struggled even as parts of the Sunbelt boomed.

    After George H.W. Bush endured a brief downturn, the economy recovered and 2.3 million jobs were added during his term. But Americans still felt the economy was poor and elected Clinton.

    Growth jumped during Clinton’s eight years as more women entered the labor force and 22.9 million jobs were added. But shortly after he left office, the tech bubble in the stock market burst and the U.S. economy entered into a brief recession. The economy shed jobs for a little over two years, then mounted a comeback only to slam headfirst into the mortgage bust and the 2008 financial crisis that produced the Great Recession and mass layoffs. Still, over eight years, George W. Bush added a little over 2.1 million jobs because the U.S. population was still growing.

    Democrat Barack Obama inherited the disastrous economy in early 2009 and endured a grindingly slow but successful recovery. The U.S. economy added 11.3 million jobs.

    Trump took the presidency and promised an unprecedented economic boom. The job market continued to build on its health during Obama’s final four years, only to get crushed by the coronavirus pandemic as shutdowns for health reasons led to unemployment. As a result, the country had 3.1 million fewer jobs when his term ended.

    President Joe Biden oversaw a recovery with additional pandemic aid and other investments that accelerated hiring, but it was accompanied by higher inflation that left much of the public feeling pessimistic about the economy. Still, his presidency — still ongoing — has added more than 15.8 million jobs.

    Whether Trump said women should be punished for having abortions

    ALEXIS MCGILL JOHNSON, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, on Wednesday: “Do we want a president who said women should be punished for having abortions?”

    THE FACTS: Asked whether he would be comfortable with states deciding to punish women who access abortions after the procedure is banned, Trump said in an April interview with Time magazine: “The states are going to say. It’s irrelevant whether I’m comfortable or not. It’s totally irrelevant, because the states are going to make those decisions.”

    Trump said outright during his 2016 campaign that women who get illegal abortions should receive “some form of punishment.” The comment came during a heated exchange with MSNBC host Chris Matthews at a town hall taping in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

    But Trump quickly did an about-face. His campaign sought within hours to take back his comment in two separate statements, ultimately saying he believes abortion providers — not their patients — should be the ones punished.

    The first statement said he believed the issue should rest with state governments, while the second entirely rejected the idea that a woman should face repercussions for undergoing an illegal abortion.

    “If Congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the federal courts upheld this legislation, or any state were permitted to ban abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman,” Trump said in the second statement. “The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb.”

    Trump faced backlash from both abortion-rights supporters and anti-abortion activists, The Associated Press reported at the time.

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    Associated Press writers Melissa Goldin in New York, Josh Boak in Chicago and Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis, contributed to this report.

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    Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

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