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  • As he leaves Phoenix’s blistering sun, AP’s climate news director reflects on desert life

    As he leaves Phoenix’s blistering sun, AP’s climate news director reflects on desert life

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    PHOENIX — I blink, and the edges of my eyelids feel like they are being singed. My cheeks burn as if they are being pressed with a hot iron ready to tackle a pile of wrinkled shirts. It is 4 p.m. I look at my 12-year-old son, whose face is flushed. He lets out a groan and puts his hand on his forehead to shield his eyes from the blistering sun.

    It is 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47 degrees Celsius).

    My family knows being in temperatures like this is dangerous. We’ve lived here for four years. This time, though, we are outside for only a few minutes to conduct an important experiment: How long will it take to cook a quesadilla on the sidewalk?

    Such is life these days in Phoenix, one of the hottest cities in the world. But for us, this summer is our last here; this weekend, I’m moving with my family to New York for my job as — wait for it — The Associated Press’ global climate and environment news director.

    I’M LEAVING TOWN DURING A UNIQUE SUMMER FOR PHOENIX

    Working with AP journalists around the globe on climate change stories, as I have for the past year since taking on this role, I recognize the irony. I’m leaving a city that is having a major climate change moment during a summer we may remember as an inflection point both in the advancement of global warming and its devastating extreme weather impacts and the developed world’s consciousness of what is happening. Developing countries have long been hit particularly hard by climate change.

    Earlier this week, Phoenix broke its own record for a major city with consecutive days over 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius). That isn’t just something for the record books, a quirky factoid for weather buffs. It’s significant because there is no end in sight to the heat — and all of July could see 110-degree temperatures or higher.

    That would be uncharted territory even for a city accustomed to dealing with extreme heat. It also raises questions about the long-term viability of a metropolitan area that was America’s fastest growing between 2010 and 2020, according to the U.S. Census.

    For decades, scientists have been warning that the continued burning of fossil fuels would lead to a warming of the planet and more frequent and intense extreme weather events. We have seen this play out in weather-related disasters around the globe, and Phoenix is not immune. But when the already extreme becomes super extreme, it provides a window into what could be a scary future.

    A ‘DESERT RAT’ MOVES ON

    “I’m a desert rat,” I’ve heard friends say, and four years in I know what they mean.

    The throngs that have moved here haven’t just come for the jobs, though booms in tech, higher education and other industries have brought many. Nor are they just here for cheaper housing compared to other major Western U.S. cities (it doesn’t exist anymore; Phoenix has gotten very expensive).

    Many people have a deep desire to be here, which may sound strange to many Americans who know only of the city’s infamous extreme summer heat. The Arizona desert, filled with giant saguaro cactuses, looming palm trees and menacing terrain, with the powerful sun always beaming above, has a beauty that evokes feelings of freedom and possibility.

    Eight months a year, Phoenix weather is nothing short of amazing. Sunny, temperatures ranging from 60 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit (16 to 29 degrees Celsius) and clear skies. Just about every day. The city and surrounding cities like Mesa, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Tempe, Chandler — all part of the larger metropolitan area locally referred to as “Valley of the Sun” — are easy to navigate because the land is flat. All has been designed in such a way that if feels like one big giant grid.

    Then the summer comes, and daily life must change drastically. Biking, hiking, camping and numerous other outdoor activities common during eight months, all but come to a halt. Construction workers do shifts that begin in the middle of the night and finish by the early morning. Kids go to trampoline parks, gyms and inside camps.

    People with pools at home take dips early in the morning and at night, as during the day the sun can make the water feel like a jacuzzi. Residents with means take their vacations out of state during the summer, or make weekend trips to Flagstaff, a two-hour drive north where temperatures are about 25 degrees cooler than Phoenix because of the high elevation.

    SOME THOUGHTS BEFORE DEPARTURE

    While most people figure out ways to cope, some are left behind. Homeless people, a population that has been growing, are particularly exposed. Shelters and cooling centers, which are essentially public buildings like libraries kept open for long hours, are all part of attempts to get them off the streets. With good reason: most heat-related deaths in Phoenix are not from people in their homes, but rather people outside.

    But for most residents, while the summers are brutal, we get into a flow because the weather has a rhythm.

    For several days at a time, the temperatures will top 110 degrees, sometimes into the high teens or get to 120 (49 degrees Celsius). But then, from one day to the next, the daily high temperatures will drop to the low 100s or even high 90s (32 to 38 degrees Celsius), which, after days of more intense heat, feels kind of breezy.

    The drops happen from cooler winds coming in, or intense bursts of rain, called monsoons. We all go outside, particularly in the mornings and late evenings, when temperatures drop enough to be outside and not feel like your body is trapped in an oven.

    After a few days of partial relief, the intense heat comes back. And we all go back inside and wait it out. We repeat the cycle while looking forward to the fall. That pattern of intense heat and temporary drops held even during 2020, also a record-breaking summer with 53 total days over 110.

    What worries me about this heat wave is that it’s not breaking. This could be a harbinger of future heat waves, in both Phoenix and around the world. As of Saturday, it’s 23 straight days of temperatures over 110 degrees; forecasts show the extreme heat could continue at least another 10 days. So far, city officials and most Phoenix residents, seem to be managing. But even if the city gets by largely unscathed, this period may well be viewed as the beginning of major changes — ones that are not for the better.

    And for those of you who have stayed with me this long, let’s not forget about the strange case of the sun-baked quesadilla. Did it cook? The answer: In 15 minutes, the cheese had melted into clumps, and the flour tortilla was hardened.

    “Gross,” said the 12-year-old. “I’ll take a bite,” I responded.

    Turns out he was right. We got rid of the quesadilla. Then, standing there in the Phoenix sun, we did the only sensible thing possible given everything around us: We went back inside and resumed packing, with our goodbye to this strangely baked city just ahead of us.

    ___

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Follow Peter Prengaman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/peterprengaman

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  • He came face to face with an alleged serial killer. 12 years later, his tip helped crack the case

    He came face to face with an alleged serial killer. 12 years later, his tip helped crack the case

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    NEW YORK — In the winter of 2010, shortly after police discovered the remains of his roommate and three other women buried on a remote stretch of Long Island shoreline, Dave Schaller provided detectives with a description of the person he believed to be the killer.

    More crucially, Schaller told them about his truck.

    The man they were looking for was a towering, Frankenstein-like figure with an “empty gaze” who drove a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche, Schaller recalled telling investigators. The man’s size stuck out, as did his unusual pick-up truck, which he’d used to flee the house Schaller shared with Amber Costello.

    On that night, Schaller said he came home to find the stranger threatening Costello, an occasional sex worker, who had locked herself in the bathroom. The two men came to blows, with the hulking intruder eventually leaving in the truck.

    Prosecutors say Costello was last seen alive on Sept. 2, 2010, as she left her home to meet that same client. A witness saw a dark-colored truck drive by the house again shortly after she left.

    “When they told me she was dead, he was the first person who jumped in my head,” Schaller told The Associated Press. “I’ve been picturing his face for 13 years.”

    On July 14, police arrested Rex Heuermann on charges of killing Costello and two other women, Melissa Barthelemy and Megan Waterman. He is the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes. Heuermann, an architect who worked in Manhattan, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

    The arrest marked a stunning breakthrough in the hunt for a serial killer who had eluded investigators and whose crimes gripped Long Islanders since the bodies of four women — all of them sex workers — were found wrapped in burlap near Gilgo Beach.

    Within months, the remains of six other bodies, including a toddler, were discovered elsewhere along the same beach highway. Heuermann has not been accused in any of those cases. Police have said the deaths may be the work of multiple killers.

    The arrest has brought a measure of relief to families of the victims at a moment when the trail appeared to have gone cold. But as new details emerge about how police finally caught the alleged killer, they’ve also raised questions about whether investigators adequately pursued a key lead — Schaller’s description of the stranger and his truck —that may have helped solve the case sooner.

    “This was crucial information, and I don’t know why they didn’t share it,” said Rob Trotta, a county legislator who worked as a Suffolk County Police detective until 2013. “They made some serious blunders here.”

    Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, who inherited the investigation when he took office in 2022, said the key to unraveling the case was the description of the truck, discovered by a state investigator after the launch of a new task force formed to take a fresh look at the evidence.

    When they ran it through a vehicle records database, one of the results turned up a hit: A man who owned a Chevy Avalanche lived in a neighborhood that investigators were already zeroing in on as the suspect’s likely location because of a sophisticated analysis of cellphone location data and call records. Heuermann fit the physical description provided by Schaller, too: He was 6 feet, 4 inches (193 centimeters) tall and weighed 240 pounds (109 kilograms).

    Tierney told the AP he did not know why police had not run a search earlier, but suggested the piece of information may have been “lost within a sea of other tips and information.”

    He stressed there were other elements that ultimately helped investigators arrest Heuermann, including new technology that helped match samples of DNA to the suspect.

    “What solved this case was a lot of dedicated investigators, analysts and attorneys from a bunch of agencies getting together and collaborating,” he said.

    But for Schaller, any feelings of relief over the arrest were soon eclipsed by anger and confusion.

    Speaking out for the first time since the arrest, he said he had met with homicide detectives on multiple occasions during the initial years of the investigation.

    During one of their final meetings, roughly two years after the women went missing, he said he picked the truck’s model out of a line-up of photographs provided by the detectives.

    “I gave them the exact description of the truck and the dude,” he said. “I mean come on, why didn’t they use that?”

    The question has vexed some law enforcement officials as well. Two high-ranking officials who worked closely on the case and attended briefings between 2011 and 2013 said they never heard anything about a witness statement describing the suspect and his vehicle.

    The law enforcement officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose information about the investigation.

    According to a vehicle history report, Heuermann bought the pickup — a dark green, first-generation edition — at a Chevrolet dealer on Long Island in 2002 and transferred ownership to his brother, Craig, in South Carolina in 2012.

    Authorities seized the vehicle last week. In a search warrant, they said they were looking for other clues in the vehicle or at property the brothers owned in Chester County, South Carolina, such as DNA, fluids, fingerprints, phones and what they described as possible “trophies” that may have belonged to the victims — clothing, jewelry, Bibles or photos.

    Investigators said they were also looking for any electronics, video recordings and writings related to the killings; burlap; duct tape; guns and ammunition; cutting tools; and a specific type of paper towel from the Bounty Modern Print Collection.

    While it’s not clear whether investigators pursued the tip about the vehicle before last year, those involved in the case pointed to fierce divisions between the various law enforcement agencies — as well as overlapping scandals that engulfed Suffolk County — as a potential explanation for a key clue slipping through the cracks.

    Shortly after taking over the Suffolk County police department in 2012, James Burke moved to end cooperation with the FBI amid federal scrutiny of his own misconduct.

    Four years later, Burke was sentenced to 46 months in prison after he was found to have conspired to cover-up his beating of a man who had discovered sex toys and pornography inside his car.

    The federal inquiry would also lead to prison sentences for Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota, who oversaw the early years of the Gilgo Beach case, as well as the county’s top anticorruption prosecutor, Christopher McPartland.

    “This was a dark cloud over the community,” recalled Tim Sini, who succeeded Burke as police commissioner and later became the county’s district attorney. “When you have the police department and the district attorney’s office blocking the FBI, that does not engender trust in law enforcement.”

    Sini said he inherited an investigation that was “in disarray,” with detectives blocked from cooperating not only with federal investigators, but with the neighboring police department in Nassau County, where Heuermann lived.

    He declined to say if he knew about the description of a suspect and its vehicle, but noted that his office invested heavily in technology that allowed investigators to track data from cellphone towers used by the suspect’s burner phone.

    The arrest, Sini said, was the result of painstaking detective work that spanned multiple administrations and relied on a wide range of evidence. But, he added, “I wouldn’t call it a major success. The case should’ve been solved earlier.”

    ___

    This story corrects the model of a truck to a Chevrolet Avalanche. A previous version referred to the vehicle as a Chrysler Avalanche.

    ___

    Associated Press journalists Michael R. Sisak, Robert Bumsted and Julie Walker contributed to this report.

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  • Sick of hearing about record heat? Scientists say those numbers paint the story of a warming world

    Sick of hearing about record heat? Scientists say those numbers paint the story of a warming world

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    The summer of 2023 is behaving like a broken record about broken records.

    Nearly every major climate-tracking organization proclaimed June the hottest June ever. Then July 4 became the globe’s hottest day, albeit unofficially, according to the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer. It was quickly overtaken by July 5 and July 6. Next came the hottest week, a tad more official, stamped into the books by the World Meteorological Organization and the Japanese Meteorological Agency.

    With a summer of extreme weather records dominating the news, meteorologists and scientists say records like these give a glimpse of the big picture: a warming planet caused by climate change. It’s a picture that comes in the vibrant reds and purples representing heat on daily weather maps online, in newspapers and on television.

    Beyond the maps and the numbers are real harms that kill. More than 100 people have died in heat waves in the United States and India so far this summer.

    Records are crucial for people designing infrastructure and working in agriculture because they need to plan for the worst scenarios, said Russell Vose, climate analysis group director for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He also chairs a committee on national records.

    In the past 30 days, nearly 5,000 heat and rainfall records have been broken or tied in the U.S. and more than 10,000 records set globally, according to NOAA. Texas cities and towns alone have set 369 daily high temperature records since June 1.

    Since 2000, the U.S. has set about twice as many records for heat as those for cold.

    “Records go back to the late 19th century and we can see that there has been a decade-on-decade increase in temperatures,” said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, keeper of the agency’s climate records. “What’s happening now is certainly increasing the chances that 2023 will be the warmest year on record. My calculations suggest that there’s, right now, a 50-50 chance.”

    The larger the geographic area and the longer stretch of time during which records are set, the more likely the conditions represent climate change rather than daily weather. So the hottest global June is “extremely unlikely” to happen without climate change, as opposed to one city’s daily record, Texas state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said.

    Still, some local specifics are striking: Death Valley has flirted this summer with the hottest temperature in modern history, though that 134 degree Fahrenheit (56.7 Celsius ) record is in dispute.

    Phoenix grabbed headlines among major U.S. cities on Tuesday when it marked a 19th consecutive day of unrelenting mega heat: 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) or more. It kept going, reaching a 22nd straight day on Friday. The daytime heat was accompanied by a record stretch of nights that never fell below 90 Fahrenheit (32.2 Celsius).

    “Everybody’s drawn to extremes,” Vose said. “It’s like the Guinness Book of World Records. Human nature is just drawn to the extreme things out of curiosity.”

    But the numbers can be flawed in what they portray.

    The scientific community “doesn’t really have the vocabulary to communicate what it feels like,” said Stanford University climate scientist Chris Field, who co-chaired a groundbreaking United Nations report in 2012 warning of the dangers of extreme weather from climate change.

    “I don’t think it captures the human sense, but it really does underscore that we live in a different world,” Field said of the records.

    Think of the individual statistics as brush strokes in a painting of the world’s climate, Cornell University climate scientist Natalie Mahowald said. Don’t fixate on any specific number.

    “The details of course matter, but the thing that really matters, especially for the impressionist painting, is when you step back and take a look at everything that’s happening,” Mahowald said.

    She and other climate scientists say long-term warming from burning coal, oil and natural gas is the chief cause of rising temperatures, along with occasional boosts from natural El Nino warmings across parts of the Pacific, like the planet is experiencing this year.

    El Nino is a natural temporary warming of parts of the Pacific that changes weather patterns worldwide and adds an extra warm boost. An El Nino formed in June and scientists say this one looks strong. For the previous three years El Nino’s cool flip side, La Nina, dampened a bit of the heat humans are causing.

    A super El Nino spiked global temperatures in 1998, then was followed by less warming and even some flat temperatures for a few years until the next big El Nino, Mahowald said.

    Weather won’t worsen each year and that should not become a common expectation, but it will intensify over the long run, she said.

    The University of Michigan’s Richard Rood used to blog about climate records for Weather Underground, but in 2014 he got sick of continuously new extremes and stopped.

    “I think we need to get away from that sort of record-setting sensationalism at some level and really be getting down to the hard work,” he said, addressing the need for people to adapt to a warmer world and get serious about slashing emissions causing hotter, more extreme weather.

    NOAA tracks weather observations from tens of thousands of stations throughout the U.S. and its global calculations incorporate data from more than 100,000 stations, Vose said.

    When those records come in, the agency checks their quality and calculates where the numbers fit historically. NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information in North Carolina is the arbiter of national records, while the local National Weather Service offices handle those for individual cities, Vose said.

    A special international committee deals with world records and, at times, scientists disagree on the reliability of 100-year-old data. Those disagreements come into play over questions such as determining the hottest temperature recorded on Earth.

    Validating records takes time. Because of a backlog of extreme weather events to analyze, officials haven’t finished approving 130 degree Fahrenheit records from 2020 and 2021 at Death Valley, Vose said.

    “Our primary job is keeping score, meaning what happened? How unusual was it?” he asked. “It’s not like we take great joy in saying it was the warmest year on record. Again.”

    It’s the bigger picture that matters, Northern Illinois University climate scientist Victor Gensini said.

    “Look at them all together in the aggregate sense of the atmospheric orchestra,” Gensini said. “There are so many clear signs that we are just not living in the same type of climate that we were.”

    ___

    Follow AP’s climate and environment coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

    ___

    Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears

    ___

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Tornado damages Pfizer plant in North Carolina as scorching heat and floods sock other parts of US

    Tornado damages Pfizer plant in North Carolina as scorching heat and floods sock other parts of US

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    RALEIGH, N.C. — A tornado heavily damaged a major Pfizer pharmaceutical plant in North Carolina on Wednesday, while torrential rain flooded communities in Kentucky and an area from California to South Florida endured more scorching heat.

    Pfizer confirmed that the large manufacturing complex was damaged by a twister that touched down shortly after midday near Rocky Mount, but said in an email that it had no reports of serious injuries. A later company statement said all employees were safely evacuated and accounted for.

    Parts of roofs were ripped open atop its massive buildings. The Pfizer plant stores large quantities of medicine that were tossed about, said Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone.

    “I’ve got reports of 50,000 pallets of medicine that are strewn across the facility and damaged through the rain and the wind,” Stone said.

    The plant produces anesthesia and other drugs as well as nearly 25% of the sterile injectable medications Pfizer supplies to U.S. hospitals, the company said on its website. Erin Fox, senior pharmacy director at University of Utah Health, said the damage “will likely lead to long-term shortages while Pfizer works to either move production to other sites or rebuilds.”

    The National Weather Service said in a tweet that the damage was consistent with an EF3 tornado with wind speeds up to 150 mph (240 kph).

    The Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office, where part of Rocky Mount is located, said on Facebook that they had reports of three people injured in the tornado, and that two of them had life-threatening injuries.

    A preliminary report from neighboring Nash County said 13 people were injured and 89 structures were damaged, WRAL-TV reported.

    Three homes owned by Brian Varnell and his family members in the nearby Dortches area were damaged. He told the news outlet he is thankful they are all alive. His sister and her children hid in their home’s laundry room.

    “They got where they needed to be within the house and it all worked out for the best,” Varnell said near a home that was missing exterior walls and a large chunk of the roof.

    Elsewhere in the U.S., an onslaught of searing temperatures and rising floodwaters continued, with Phoenix breaking an all-time temperature record and rescuers pulling people from rain-swamped homes and vehicles in Kentucky.

    Forecasters said little relief appears in sight from the heat and storms. For example, Miami has endured a heat index of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) or more for weeks, with temperatures expected to rise this weekend.

    In Kentucky, meteorologists warned of a “life-threatening situation” in the communities of Mayfield and Wingo, which were inundated by flash flooding this week from thunderstorms. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency there Wednesday as more storms threatened.

    Forecasters expect up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain could yet fall on parts of Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri near where the Ohio and Mississippi rivers converge.

    The storm system is forecast to move Thursday and Friday over New England, where the ground remains saturated after recent floods. In Connecticut, a mother and her 5-year-old daughter died after being swept down a swollen river Tuesday. In southeastern Pennsylvania, a search continued for two children caught in flash flooding Saturday night.

    Meanwhile, Phoenix broke an all-time record Wednesday morning for a warm low temperature of 97 F (36.1 C), raising the threat of heat-related illness for residents unable to cool off adequately overnight. The previous record was 96 F (35.6 C) in 2003, the weather service reported.

    Lindsay LaMont, who works at the Sweet Republic ice cream shop Phoenix, said business had been slow during the day with people sheltering inside to escape the heat. “But I’m definitely seeing a lot more people come in the evening to get their ice cream when things start cooling off,” LaMont said.

    Heat-related deaths continue to rise in Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located. Public health officials Wednesday reported that six more heat-associated fatalities were confirmed last week, bringing the year’s total so far to 18. All six deaths didn’t necessarily occur last week as some may have happened weeks earlier but were confirmed as heat-related only after a thorough investigation.

    By this time last year, there had been 29 confirmed heat-associated deaths in the county and another 193 under investigation.

    Phoenix, a desert city of more than 1.6 million people, had set a separate record Tuesday among U.S. cities by marking 19 straight days of temperatures of 110 F (43.3 C) or more. It topped 110 again Wednesday.

    National Weather Service meteorologist Matthew Hirsh said Phoenix’s 119 F (48.3 C) high Wednesday tied the fourth highest temperature recorded in the city ever. The highest temperature of all time was 122 F (50 C), set in 1990.

    Across the country, Miami marked its 16th straight day of heat indexes in excess of 105 F (40.6 C). The previous record was five days in June 2019.

    “And it’s only looking to increase as we head into the later part of the week and the weekend,” said Cameron Pine, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

    The region has also seen 38 consecutive days with a heat index threshold of 100 F (37.8 C), and sea surface temperatures are reported to be several degrees warmer than normal.

    “There really is no immediate relief in sight,” Pine said.

    A 71-year-old Los Angeles-area man died at a trailhead in Death Valley National Park in eastern California on Tuesday afternoon as temperatures reached 121 F (49.4 C) or higher and rangers suspect heat was a factor, the National Park Service said in a statement Wednesday.

    It is possibly the second heat-related fatality in Death Valley this summer. A 65-year-old man was found dead in a car on July 3.

    Human-caused climate change and a newly formed El Nino are combining to shatter heat records worldwide, scientists say.

    The entire globe has simmered to record heat both in June and July. Nearly every day this month, the global average temperature has been warmer than the unofficial hottest day recorded before 2023, according to University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer.

    Atmospheric scientists say the global warming responsible for unrelenting heat in the Southwest also is making extreme rainfall a more frequent reality.

    ___

    Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia. Associated Press reporters Anita Snow in Phoenix, Freida Frisaro in Miami, JoNel Aleccia in Temecula, California, and Rebecca Reynolds in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to this report.

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  • Justice Department tells Texas that floating barrier on Rio Grande raises humanitarian concerns

    Justice Department tells Texas that floating barrier on Rio Grande raises humanitarian concerns

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    The Justice Department has told Texas that a floating barrier of wrecking ball-sized buoys the state put on the Rio Grande violates federal law and raises humanitarian concerns for migrants crossing from Mexico

    ByPAUL J. WEBER Associated Press

    Guardsmen patrol as workers continue to deploy large buoys to be used as a border barrier along the banks of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, Wednesday, July 12, 2023. The floating barrier is being deployed in an effort to block migrants from entering Texas from Mexico. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

    The Associated Press

    AUSTIN, Texas — The Justice Department has told Texas that a floating barrier of wrecking ball-sized buoys the state put on the Rio Grande violates federal law and raises humanitarian concerns for migrants crossing into the U.S. from Mexico.

    President Joe Biden’s administration told Republican Gov. Greg Abbott that the barrier installed this month near the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, was “unlawful” in a letter dated Thursday and obtained by The Associated Press.

    “The floating barrier poses a risk to navigation, as well as public safety, in the Rio Grande River, and it presents humanitarian concerns,” reads the letter, which also informs the state that the Justice Department intends to sue if the barriers are not removed.

    Abbott’s office did not respond to a request for comment Friday, but on Twitter, the governor wrote that Texas was acting within its rights.

    “Texas has the sovereign authority to defend our border,” Abbott tweeted.

    The buoys are the latest escalation of Abbott’s multibillion-dollar operation to secure the state’s 1,200-mile (1,930-kilometer) border with Mexico. Other measures have included razor-wire fencing and arresting migrants on trespassing charges. The mission known as Operation Lone Star came under new scrutiny after a trooper said migrants had been denied water and that orders were given to push asylum-seekers back into the Rio Grande.

    The Texas Department of Public Safety said this week that the trooper’s accounts, which were made in an email to a supervisor, are under internal investigation.

    The buoy barrier covers 1,000 feet (305 meters) of the middle of the Rio Grande, with anchors in the riverbed.

    Eagle Pass is part of a Border Patrol sector that has seen the second-highest number of migrant crossings this fiscal year with about 270,000 encounters — though that is lower than it was at this time last year.

    The Biden administration has said illegal border crossings have declined significantly since new immigration rules took effect in May as pandemic-related asylum restrictions expired.

    ___

    Associated Press reporter Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington contributed to this report.

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  • Tornado damages Pfizer plant in North Carolina as scorching heat and floods sock other parts of US

    Tornado damages Pfizer plant in North Carolina as scorching heat and floods sock other parts of US

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    RALEIGH, N.C. — A tornado heavily damaged a major Pfizer pharmaceutical plant in North Carolina on Wednesday, while torrential rain flooded communities in Kentucky and an area from California to South Florida endured more scorching heat.

    Pfizer confirmed that the large manufacturing complex was damaged by a twister that touched down shortly after midday near Rocky Mount, but said in an email that it had no reports of serious injuries. A later company statement said all employees were safely evacuated and accounted for.

    Parts of roofs were ripped open atop its massive buildings. The Pfizer plant stores large quantities of medicine that were tossed about, said Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone.

    “I’ve got reports of 50,000 pallets of medicine that are strewn across the facility and damaged through the rain and the wind,” Stone said.

    The plant produces anesthesia and other drugs as well as nearly 25% of the sterile injectable medications Pfizer supplies to U.S. hospitals, the company said on its website. Erin Fox, senior pharmacy director at University of Utah Health, said the damage “will likely lead to long-term shortages while Pfizer works to either move production to other sites or rebuilds.”

    The National Weather Service said in a tweet that the damage was consistent with an EF3 tornado with wind speeds up to 150 mph (240 kph).

    The Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office, where part of Rocky Mount is located, said on Facebook that they had reports of three people injured in the tornado, and that two of them had life-threatening injuries.

    A preliminary report from neighboring Nash County said 13 people were injured and 89 structures were damaged, WRAL-TV reported.

    Three homes owned by Brian Varnell and his family members in the nearby Dortches area were damaged. He told the news outlet he is thankful they are all alive. His sister and her children hid in their home’s laundry room.

    “They got where they needed to be within the house and it all worked out for the best,” Varnell said near a home that was missing exterior walls and a large chunk of the roof.

    Elsewhere in the U.S., an onslaught of searing temperatures and rising floodwaters continued, with Phoenix breaking an all-time temperature record and rescuers pulling people from rain-swamped homes and vehicles in Kentucky.

    Forecasters said little relief appears in sight from the heat and storms. For example, Miami has endured a heat index of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) or more for weeks, with temperatures expected to rise this weekend.

    In Kentucky, meteorologists warned of a “life-threatening situation” in the communities of Mayfield and Wingo, which were inundated by flash flooding this week from thunderstorms. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency there Wednesday as more storms threatened.

    Forecasters expect up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain could yet fall on parts of Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri near where the Ohio and Mississippi rivers converge.

    The storm system is forecast to move Thursday and Friday over New England, where the ground remains saturated after recent floods. In Connecticut, a mother and her 5-year-old daughter died after being swept down a swollen river Tuesday. In southeastern Pennsylvania, a search continued for two children caught in flash flooding Saturday night.

    Meanwhile, Phoenix broke an all-time record Wednesday morning for a warm low temperature of 97 F (36.1 C), raising the threat of heat-related illness for residents unable to cool off adequately overnight. The previous record was 96 F (35.6 C) in 2003, the weather service reported.

    Lindsay LaMont, who works at the Sweet Republic ice cream shop Phoenix, said business had been slow during the day with people sheltering inside to escape the heat. “But I’m definitely seeing a lot more people come in the evening to get their ice cream when things start cooling off,” LaMont said.

    Heat-related deaths continue to rise in Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located. Public health officials Wednesday reported that six more heat-associated fatalities were confirmed last week, bringing the year’s total so far to 18. All six deaths didn’t necessarily occur last week as some may have happened weeks earlier but were confirmed as heat-related only after a thorough investigation.

    By this time last year, there had been 29 confirmed heat-associated deaths in the county and another 193 under investigation.

    Phoenix, a desert city of more than 1.6 million people, had set a separate record Tuesday among U.S. cities by marking 19 straight days of temperatures of 110 F (43.3 C) or more. It topped 110 again Wednesday.

    National Weather Service meteorologist Matthew Hirsh said Phoenix’s 119 F (48.3 C) high Wednesday tied the fourth highest temperature recorded in the city ever. The highest temperature of all time was 122 F (50 C), set in 1990.

    Across the country, Miami marked its 16th straight day of heat indexes in excess of 105 F (40.6 C). The previous record was five days in June 2019.

    “And it’s only looking to increase as we head into the later part of the week and the weekend,” said Cameron Pine, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

    The region has also seen 38 consecutive days with a heat index threshold of 100 F (37.8 C), and sea surface temperatures are reported to be several degrees warmer than normal.

    “There really is no immediate relief in sight,” Pine said.

    A 71-year-old Los Angeles-area man died at a trailhead in Death Valley National Park in eastern California on Tuesday afternoon as temperatures reached 121 F (49.4 C) or higher and rangers suspect heat was a factor, the National Park Service said in a statement Wednesday.

    It is possibly the second heat-related fatality in Death Valley this summer. A 65-year-old man was found dead in a car on July 3.

    Human-caused climate change and a newly formed El Nino are combining to shatter heat records worldwide, scientists say.

    The entire globe has simmered to record heat both in June and July. Nearly every day this month, the global average temperature has been warmer than the unofficial hottest day recorded before 2023, according to University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer.

    Atmospheric scientists say the global warming responsible for unrelenting heat in the Southwest also is making extreme rainfall a more frequent reality.

    ___

    Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia. Associated Press reporters Anita Snow in Phoenix, Freida Frisaro in Miami, JoNel Aleccia in Temecula, California, and Rebecca Reynolds in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to this report.

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  • North Dakota officer killed in Fargo ambush is to be laid to rest Saturday in Minnesota

    North Dakota officer killed in Fargo ambush is to be laid to rest Saturday in Minnesota

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    FARGO, N.D. — The Fargo police officer who was responding to a routine traffic crash when he was ambushed and fatally shot by a heavily armed man will be laid to rest Saturday.

    Jake Wallin, 23, was killed July 14 when a man armed with 1,800 rounds of ammunition, multiple guns and explosives began firing. Two other officers and a civilian were wounded before a fourth officer returned fire, killing gunman Mohamad Barakat. Police said the actions of that fourth officer likely spared the city from a bigger, bloodier attack.

    Wallin, who had been sworn in as a Fargo police officer in April and was still in field training, was cremated in his uniform. On Saturday, the Fargo Police Department will escort his cremains to Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, where a funeral service will be held.

    A military veteran, Wallin served in the Minnesota Army National Guard and was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq from November 2020 to July 2021, according to a spokesperson for the Minnesota National Guard.

    He will receive final military honors at a private interment.

    “He served his country, came back here and wanted nothing more but to serve in a position with purpose and meaning — his exact words — and he did that,” Fargo Police Chief David Zibolski said at a media briefing after the shooting.

    Authorities played a video that showed Wallin training with fellow recruits and speaking of his desire to become an officer.

    “Throughout my entire life, I’ve always wanted to work in some sort of position that had purpose behind my job, and police officer is always what kind of came to me,” Wallin said in the video. “I don’t want to be sitting in an office wondering why I’m here every day. I want to be out. I want to be doing something that I can tell myself at the end of the day I made a difference somehow.”

    Flags in Minnesota and North Dakota have been ordered flown at half-staff through Saturday.

    On Friday, North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley provided more details about the attack, which also wounded Officers Andrew Dotas and Tyler Hawes and the civilian, who had been involved in the crash.

    Barakat was a Syrian national who came to the U.S. on an asylum request in 2012 and became a U.S. citizen in 2019, Wrigley said.

    Over the last five years, he had been searching the internet for terms including “kill fast,” “explosive ammo,” “incendiary rounds,” and “mass shooting events,” Wrigley said.

    But perhaps the most chilling search was for “area events where there are crowds,” which on July 13 brought up a news article with the headline, “Thousands enjoy first day of Downtown Fargo Street Fair.” On the day of the attack, the downtown fair was in its second day and was less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the crash scene.

    Barakat also searched for information on the Red River Valley Fair, which was just a 6-mile (10-kilometer) drive from the scene, the attorney general said.

    Had Officer Zach Robinson not killed Barakat, authorities said, they shudder to think how much worse the attack might have been. Wrigley said Barakat had an “obvious motive to kill” and was driven by hate, but it was not directed toward any particular group.

    There was no evidence that suggested a hatred of police, and all evidence suggests that Barakat came upon the crash by “happenstance” and his ensuing ambush was a diversion from his much bigger intended target, Wrigley said.

    Exactly what that target was is unknown, and Wrigley described Robinson as “the last man standing in that blue line at that moment.”

    “What he was standing between was not just the horrible events that were unfolding there, but between the horrible events that Mohamad Barakat had envisioned, planned and intended and armed himself for,” he said.

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  • The Trump Organization and former fixer Michael Cohen settle his lawsuit over unpaid legal bills

    The Trump Organization and former fixer Michael Cohen settle his lawsuit over unpaid legal bills

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    NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s company and his former longtime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen have settled a lawsuit over Cohen’s claims that he was unfairly stuck with big legal bills after getting entangled in investigations into the former president.

    Lawyers for the two sides disclosed the settlement during a video conference with the judge Friday, three days before Cohen’s 2019 lawsuit was slated to go to trial in a Manhattan state court. Details of the agreement were not made public.

    Cohen said Friday the matter “has been resolved in a manner satisfactory to all parties,” and his attorney, Lauren Handelsman, said the terms were confidential. Messages seeking comment were left with lawyers for Trump’s company, the Trump Organization.

    The legal fees lawsuit was one of the more obscure branches of the thicket of legal troubles surrounding Trump and his company. Still, the trial stood to give a platform to Cohen — an ardent Trump loyalist who became an outspoken antagonist — and to put the ex-president’s son Donald Trump Jr. on the witness stand.

    Cohen claimed in his lawsuit that the Trump Organization had promised to pay his legal expenses and did so for a time, footing more than $1.7 million in legal fees.

    But, Cohen said, the company reneged after he began cooperating with federal prosecutors in their investigations related to Trump’s business dealings in Russia and attempts to silence women with embarrassing stories about his personal life.

    Cohen’s then-lawyers stopped representing him after the company stopped paying. His lawsuit said that harmed his ability to respond to the federal investigations.

    In court papers, the Trump Organization has disputed that it made certain promises and has said it satisfied any obligations it did have. The company also has argued that Cohen’s involvement in the federal investigations wasn’t an outgrowth of his former job but rather a personal decision to try to reduce his own criminal legal exposure as an indictment loomed.

    Jury selection in the case had begun Monday. Among the prospective jurors, more than half said they had strong opinions about Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. Several said their feelings toward him were intense enough that they would not be able to fairly evaluate evidence.

    While the former president would not have been a witness in the trial, Donald Trump Jr., who is a leader in the family business, was expected to testify.

    Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to multiple charges, admitting that he lied to Congress, violated campaign finance laws through excessive political contributions, lied to multiple banks to obtain financing and evaded income taxes by failing to report more than $4 million in income. He was sentenced to three years in prison, although he served nearly two-thirds of it at home, released after the COVID-19 outbreak overwhelmed the nation’s prisons.

    He then became a key witness in the New York grand jury proceeding that led to Trump’s April indictment on charges of falsifying Trump Organization records to protect his 2016 candidacy by suppressing claims that he had had extramarital sexual encounters.

    Trump denied those encounters, and he pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges. He cast the case as a Democratic district attorney’s attempt to blunt his ongoing campaign to return to the White House.

    Trump has now sued Cohen, accusing him of violating a company confidentiality agreement, breaching ethical standards for lawyers and maliciously “spreading falsehoods” about Trump. A Cohen spokesman, attorney Lanny Davis, has responded that Trump was abusing the legal system to harass Cohen.

    While Friday’s settlement resolves the suit over Cohen’s legal expenses, a trial is set for October in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ business fraud lawsuit against Trump’s company and the businessman-turned-president himself.

    Trump also faces a March trial date in the New York hush-money indictment; a trial set for May in Florida in the federal criminal case surrounding his handling of classified documents; and the second federal civil trial involving writer E. Jean Carroll’s claim that he defamed her in denying her sexual assault allegation.

    He also disclosed this week that the Justice Department had told him he was a target of an investigation into efforts to unravel his loss in the 2020 presidential election — a notification that could signal forthcoming charges. Separately, prosecutors in Georgia plan to announce charging decisions within weeks in their inquiry into attempts by Trump and his allies to reverse the vote outcome there.

    Trump has denied wrongdoing in all the matters and says prosecutors are ginning up charges to damage his ongoing presidential campaign.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak, Jake Offenhartz and Jill Colvin in New York and contributed to this report.

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  • Cupkin children’s cups sold on Amazon recalled over newly-detected lead levels

    Cupkin children’s cups sold on Amazon recalled over newly-detected lead levels

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    NEW YORK — More than 345,000 children’s cups are being recalled due to lead levels that exceed the federal content ban, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday.

    Soojimus is recalling 8-ounce and 12-ounce models of its Cupkin Double-Walled Stainless Steel Children’s Cups — sold in various colors on Amazon and the Cupkin website from 2018 through earlier this year.

    Consumers in possession of the recalled Cupkin cups are urged to stop using them immediately and contact Soojimus for a full refund. No illnesses or injuries related to the recall have been reported to date.

    According to Cupkin, liquid in the now-recalled cups is “not exposed to lead due to the double walled construction.” The exposure to lead can occur if the cup bottoms are mistreated, the brand said.

    In a response to the recall on its website, Cupkin noted that it initiated the voluntary recall after receiving consumer feedback and conducting additional testing. Lead was not detected during the products’ initial development, the brand added.

    “When we initially developed these cups, our manufacturing partner confirmed multiple times that absolutely no lead was used in any part of our production process,” Cupkin’s message read, adding that the cups were also tested by two separate third-party labs accredited by the CPSC.

    “Learning that our manufacturing partner and not one, but two CPSC-accredited labs let us down is a heavy set back both financially and emotionally,” Cupkin continued. “However, no matter the cost…we are going to be as transparent and proactive as possible to resolve this ASAP.”

    Soojimus and Amazon will be directly contacting all known purchasers of the recalled Cupkin cups, the CPSC said Thursday. To receive a refund, consumers can submit photographs of the cups showing their destruction and fill out a form on Cupkin’s website.

    “My wife and I have two little girls. As parents, our intentions with the Cupkin cups were to be lead-free from the beginning,” Max Kang, one of the co-founders of Cupkin, said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press. “I just want all of our customers to know that we take this very seriously and will rebuild from here.”

    Kang reiterated that their manufacturer initially confirmed no lead was used in the cups’ glass beads, which are placed at the bottom of the products for vacuum sealing. But the manufacturer later admitted fault, he said.

    Health officials maintain there is no safe level of lead, which can harm brain development in young children. Kids can be exposed to the metal through bits of old paint, contaminated dust and sometimes drinking water that passes through lead pipes.

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  • Mega Millions jackpot grows to $820 million with a possible cash payout of $422 million

    Mega Millions jackpot grows to $820 million with a possible cash payout of $422 million

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    The Mega Millions top prize has jumped to an estimated $820 million after there was no jackpot winner in the latest drawing

    FILE – A Mega Millions wagering slip is held in Cranberry Township, Pa., Jan. 12, 2023. The Mega Millions top prize has jumped to an estimated $820 million after there was no grand prize winner in the latest drawing, late Friday, July 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

    The Associated Press

    ST. LOUIS — Mega Millions has upped the ante by another $100 million.

    The lack of a jackpot winner in the lottery game’s latest drawing on Friday night sent the top prize soaring to an estimated $820 million.

    The numbers drawn late Friday were: 29, 40, 47, 50, 57 and gold Mega Ball 25. No tickets were sold hitting all those numbers for the estimated grand prize of $720 million.

    The estimated $820 million in the next drawing on Tuesday night would only be distributed to a winner who chooses an annuity paid over 29 years. Nearly all grand prize winners opt to take a cash payout, which for Tuesdays drawing is an estimated $422 million.

    The potential jackpot is the fifth largest in the history of the game, Mega Millions said in a statement early Saturday.

    Despite the game’s long odds of 1 in 302.6 million, players continue to purchase tickets as the size of the grand prize grows.

    The last time a Mega Millions player hit the top prize was April 18.

    Friday’s drawing resulted in eight tickets matching five white balls for a $1 million prize. Two each were sold in Florida, New Jersey and North Carolina, with one in California and another in Michigan, Mega Millions said.

    The Powerball jackpot also was approaching near-record levels before a tiny neighborhood store in downtown Los Angeles sold the winning ticket for Wednesday’s drawing, worth an estimated $1.08 billion.

    Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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  • Mega Millions jackpot grows to $820 million with a possible cash payout of $422 million

    Mega Millions jackpot grows to $820 million with a possible cash payout of $422 million

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    The Mega Millions top prize has jumped to an estimated $820 million after there was no grand prize winner in the latest drawing

    FILE – A Mega Millions wagering slip is held in Cranberry Township, Pa., Jan. 12, 2023. The Mega Millions top prize has jumped to an estimated $820 million after there was no grand prize winner in the latest drawing, late Friday, July 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

    The Associated Press

    ST. LOUIS — No winner for the Mega Millions top prize has sent the jackpot soaring to an estimated $820 million.

    The numbers drawn late Friday night were: 29, 40, 47, 50, 57 and gold Mega Ball 25.

    The estimated $820 million in the next drawing would only be distributed to a winner who chooses an annuity paid over 29 years. Nearly all grand prize winners opt to take a cash payout, which for Tuesday night’s drawing is an estimated $422 million.

    Despite the game’s long odds of 1 in 302.6 million, players continue to purchase tickets as the size of the grand prize grows.

    The last time a Mega Millions player hit the top prize was April 18.

    The Powerball jackpot also was approaching near-record levels before a tiny neighborhood store in downtown Los Angeles sold the winning ticket for Wednesday’s drawing, worth an estimated $1.08 billion.

    Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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  • Nervous Republicans turn to New Hampshire in hopes of stopping Trump

    Nervous Republicans turn to New Hampshire in hopes of stopping Trump

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    HUDSON, N.H. — They acknowledge Donald Trump‘s dominance, but weary Republicans across New Hampshire — even inside the governor’s office — are fighting to stop the former president from winning the first-in-the-nation primary.

    For now, however, they’re relying on little more than hope and prayers.

    Look no further than Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president, who repeatedly appealed to voters’ faith this week as he tried to resurrect his anemic presidential campaign while courting a few dozen voters in a former state lawmaker’s backyard.

    “I truly do believe that different times call for different leadership,” Pence told his modest crowd. “I know you all are going to do your job, because I have faith. I have faith in the American people.”

    More than a dozen high-profile Republicans are looking to New Hampshire, the state long known for shining on political underdogs, to help stop Trump’s march toward a third consecutive Republican presidential nomination. But so far, none has cracked the veneer of inevitability that has followed Trump through the early states on the presidential primary calendar despite — or perhaps because of — his mounting legal challenges.

    A significant portion of the Republican electorate remains open to a new presidential nominee with less baggage than Trump. But months after many of them entered the race, there is little sign that the former president’s rivals are breaking through.

    The strongest Trump alternative on paper, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has already begun to lay off staff amid unexpected financial challenges and stagnant poll numbers. Others have failed to break out of the single digits in early polls. And as Trump braces for the possibility of a third criminal indictment, his hold on the party appears to be stronger than ever.

    Pence, perhaps more than anyone, has been dragged down by the powerful undertow of Trumpism that has reshaped the political landscape for much of the last decade.

    Pence barely registered in a new poll released this week by the University of New Hampshire. And he admitted this week that he does not yet have enough donors to qualify for the opening presidential debate next month, an extraordinary position for a former vice president to find himself in. During multiple stops in New Hampshire this week, he appealed to voters to donate even $1 to boost his numbers.

    “Obviously, he wishes he was doing better,” said New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu. “You’re not going to find a better character and a better person than someone like Mike Pence. He’s just such a great guy. But his message, for whatever reason, isn’t quite resonating with folks.”

    Pence has managed to draw the wrath of Trump loyalists and critics alike.

    Among those who dislike Trump, Pence is viewed as a Trump acolyte who enabled his bad behavior for four years. And those who love Trump blame Pence for not blocking the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory on Jan. 6, 2021 — a power that the former vice president did not have.

    Trump loyalists infamously chanted, “Hang Mike Pence” while storming the U.S. Capitol and his political standing within the Republican Party has never recovered.

    “I think Mike Pence is genuinely destroyed,” said former New Hampshire GOP chair Jennifer Horn. “He cannot win. There’s no circumstance and no race that Mike Pence will ever win. It’s sad.”

    New Hampshire, a state that has traditionally shied away from the type religious conservatism Pence espouses, would be an unlikely staging ground for a comeback for the evangelical Christian who launched his 2024 campaign in Iowa. Still, politicians of all stripes have managed to break through over the years in a state that has often rewarded those willing to invest time and attention.

    Former President Bill Clinton became the “comeback kid” after finishing second here in 1992. The state also helped resurrect Republican John McCain’s struggling campaign in 2008. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a religious conservative like Pence, scored a strong second place finish in 2016.

    Still, the road to relevance for anyone not named Trump in 2024 will be steep.

    Pence is essentially trying to reinvent himself as he reintroduces himself to New Hampshire voters. He and his staff have embraced a new mantra: “He is well-known but not known well.”

    At his first New Hampshire stop this week, Pence largely avoided talking about his years as vice president and did not utter Trump’s name. He introduced himself this way: “I’m Mike Pence. I’m from Indiana. And I’m running for president.”

    Pence’s message on the stump is a throwback of sorts to the GOP’s conservative platform before Trump’s big-government populism took over.

    He called for a muscular foreign policy, a recommitment to social conservative values and a sharp reduction in federal spending. He did not mention his support for a federal abortion ban. Breaking from Trump, he also endorsed changes to Social Security for people under 40 to ensure the government-backed safety net program is financially stable.

    He spoke with authority, but Pence’s political challenges loomed over his New Hampshire tour.

    The host of Wednesday’s event, former state Senate majority leader Bob Clegg, encouraged every attendee to donate $1 to the Pence campaign to ensure he reaches the 40,000 individual donor threshold set by the Republican National Committee to qualify.

    “They can give more,” Pence quipped with a smile. He later added, “We’re working around the clock to make sure we get enough donors to be up on that debate stage.”

    Despite some chuckles, Pence’s allies privately acknowledge that failing to qualify for the first GOP debate would be a political death sentence.

    Pence’s national chairman, veteran Republican strategist Chip Saltsman, would say only, “We’re getting there” when asked how close the campaign was to the donor threshold.

    Saltsman dismissed Pence’s struggles as a byproduct of the crowded field, which includes wealthy candidates like North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who offered donors gift cards, and others like DeSantis, whose allied super PAC raised more than $100 million.

    “It’s a lot of ebb and flow,” Saltsman said. “And one thing I know for a fact is I haven’t seen a frontrunner in the summer make it to the Iowa caucus or the New Hampshire primary in the winter yet.”

    Sununu, the New Hampshire governor, is also betting on the weight of history to help stop Trump. He noted that primary voters typically wait until a few weeks before the primary to finalize their decision.

    New Hampshire’s primary is still six months away.

    In an interview, Sununu warned that Trump has no chance of winning the general election and would drag down the rest of the party with him if he’s on the November ballot.

    “I’m hoping that most people come to their senses,” Sununu said. “There’s still plenty of time for this roller coaster ride to play out.”

    Meanwhile, Pence is seeking the assistance of a higher power.

    “This is a nation of faith,” he told the modest collection of primary voters gathered in Clegg’s backyard. “If we will steer our party to a future built on those time-honored conservative principles that have carried our party to victory and to success for the American people over the last 50 years, and if we renew our faith in Him who has guided this great nation since they first set foot on Plymouth Rock — not too far from here — I truly do believe the best days for the greatest nation on earth are yet to come.”

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  • Oklahoma governor’s feud with Native American tribes continues over revenue agreements

    Oklahoma governor’s feud with Native American tribes continues over revenue agreements

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    OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt’s ongoing feud with many of the Native American tribes in the state has grown so contentious that fellow Republicans in the Legislature and the state’s attorney general are considering pushing him out of tribal negotiations altogether.

    Those agreements, called compacts, have been worked out between the state and tribes over the last couple of decades to divvy up revenue from gambling, vehicle tags and the sale of tobacco and motor fuel on tribal land, all of which provide major revenue streams into state and tribal coffers.

    Tribal casinos alone paid nearly $200 million to the state last year under agreements giving tribes the exclusive right to offer casino gambling.

    State Republican leaders are grumbling publicly that Stitt’s hostile posture toward the tribes, including vetoing the extension of some compacts, are costing more than just money. They say it’s also eroding the relationship with tribal leaders that, although sometimes testy, has been nurtured for decades during Republican and Democratic administrations.

    “Even (former) President Trump has mentioned he doesn’t know why the governor has such animosity toward the tribes,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, an Oklahoma City Republican. “It’s nonsensical.”

    Stitt’s relationship with many tribal leaders has deteriorated since he unsuccessfully tried to rework gambling contracts by renegotiating the state’s share of casino revenue early in his first term. Many of the state’s most powerful tribes attempted to use their political influence last year to prevent Stitt from winning a second term.

    This year, Stitt, himself a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, responded by vetoing virtually every legislative measure endorsed by the tribes, including a bill that would have allowed Native American students to wear tribal regalia at graduation ceremonies.

    Stitt says he is trying to negotiate the best deal for all of the state’s more than 4 million residents, particularly when it comes to the tobacco compacts.

    Stitt is concerned that unless the compacts are renegotiated, the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark McGirt decision on tribal sovereignty, which determined a large swathe of eastern Oklahoma remains a Native American reservation, could allow tribes to undercut non-tribal retailers across that area.

    Under the current compacts, tribal tobacco sales are limited to retail locations on tribal trust land, but since the McGirt decision, courts have determined more than 40% of the state is now within the boundaries of historical reservations.

    The feud between Stitt and the tribes has now spilled into the Republican-controlled Legislature, which is scheduled to meet in a special session Monday just to override Stitt’s vetoes of bills that would extend tribal compacts on tobacco and motor vehicles for another year.

    Treat said he is willing to give the governor another year to negotiate with the tribes “in good faith,” but that if no progress is shown the Legislature could take over the right to negotiate the compacts. Although the governor’s office historically has handled compact negotiations with tribes, Treat said state law also authorizes the Legislature to do so.

    Oklahoma’s Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond also has been critical of Stitt’s posturing against the tribes and urged the Legislature to let him assume the defense of Oklahoma’s interest in an ongoing legal fight over gambling compacts involving the governor’s office and Cherokee Nation.

    “Oklahoma’s relationship with our tribal nations has suffered greatly as a result of the governor’s divisive rhetoric and ceaseless legal attacks,” Drummond said.

    Five of Oklahoma’s most powerful tribes — the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole nations — issued a joint resolution last week accusing the governor of not negotiating in good faith and threatening “to undo decades of work and damage tribal-state cooperation for generations to come.” Stitt disputes he is not negotiating in good faith.

    Feuds between governors and Native American tribes are not unique to Oklahoma.

    Republican legislative leaders in Arizona in 2020 threatened to prevent tribes from renewing gambling licenses, a critical funding source for many tribes, if they had unresolved disputes over water rights.

    In Connecticut, during the height of the pandemic, the state’s governor engaged in a rare dispute with its two federally recognized tribes, the Mohegan Tribe and Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, over the tribes’ decision to reopen their massive casinos.

    But in Oklahoma, where the tribes are vitally important to the economy, particularly in depressed rural areas, even fellow Republicans are scratching their heads at Stitt’s continued hostility toward the tribes.

    Treat described Stitt’s 2021 choice not to renew tribal compacts over hunting and fishing a “stupid decision” that has cost the state $35 million. Stitt’s office said at the time the compacts were unfair because tribal citizens could purchase licenses at a cheaper rate.

    The number of licensed hunters and anglers in Oklahoma, which is used to calculate federal funds for wildlife conservation, has been reduced because many Native Americans have chosen to obtain licenses from the tribes, which no longer have an agreement to remit funds to the state.

    The governor’s concerns about the fallout from the McGirt Supreme Court decision were heightened last month when a federal appeals court determined the city of Tulsa had no authority to issue a speeding ticket to a Choctaw citizen.

    “Citizens of Tulsa, if your city government cannot enforce something as simple as a traffic violation, there will be no rule of law in eastern Oklahoma,” Stitt said.

    Stitt’s argument about a cascading effect of the McGirt decision has merit. Already, thousands of Native American taxpayers in Oklahoma have claimed an exemption from paying state income tax under regulations governing taxation of tribal citizens in “Indian Country.”

    An Okmulgee woman and Muscogee (Creek) citizen, Alicia Stroble, claims she is exempt from paying state income tax in a case pending before the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Several tribes have filed “friend of the court” briefs siding with Stroble’s position.

    “It’s not going to work,” Stitt said. “We can’t have two different systems.”

    While many tribal sovereignty issues remain unresolved following the McGirt decision, experts on tribal law say the solution can be found by working with the tribes rather than fighting them in court.

    “There has to be a way for us to work together, and that tends to be the answer to almost all the questions,” said Sara Hill, attorney general for the Cherokee Nation. “The alternatives are always painful, expensive litigation.”

    ___

    Associated Press reporters Felicia Fonseca in Arizona and Susan Haigh in Connecticut contributed to this report.

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  • Soldier killed, 5 others hurt in vehicle crash at Fort Bliss, Texas

    Soldier killed, 5 others hurt in vehicle crash at Fort Bliss, Texas

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    The military says a solider has been killed and five others have been hurt in the crash of a tactical vehicle at Fort Bliss in Texas

    FORT BLISS, Texas — A tactical vehicle crashed Friday at Fort Bliss in Texas, killing a soldier and injuring five others, the base reported.

    The accident took place at about 9:30 a.m. in a base training area, authorities said.

    The name of the dead soldier, the conditions of the injured and details of the accident weren’t immediately released.

    “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Soldier’s family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time,” Maj. Gen. James P. Isenhower III, senior commander of Fort Bliss and commander of the 1st Armored Division, said in a statement.

    Fort Bliss is home to the 1st Armored Division.

    The cause of the accident is under investigation.

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  • Report says plane rolled upside down in crash near California airport, killing father, injuring sons

    Report says plane rolled upside down in crash near California airport, killing father, injuring sons

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    Federal investigators say a single-engine plane rolled upside down before crashing near a Southern California airport, killing a father and severely injuring his three sons on the Fourth of July

    MURRIETA, Calif. — A single-engine plane rolled upside down before crashing near a Southern California airport on the Fourth of July, killing a father and severely injuring his three sons, federal investigators said in a preliminary report.

    The National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday released the report on the crash that killed Jared Newman, 39, of Temecula and injured his sons.

    Newman was at the controls of a Cessna 172N operated by a pilot school when it went down near French Valley Airport in Murrieta, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

    The plane had made a touch-and-go landing on a runway when it then climbed, veered left, and at about 60 feet (18 meters) above the ground dropped one wing, rolled over and disappeared behind a building, according to airport surveillance video cited in the NTSB report.

    “A witness reported that the airplane’s approach to runway 18 was ‘unstable’ and the flaps appeared to be fully extended,” the report said.

    The witness saw the plane slowly climb towards some buildings, its wings rocking back and forth before it disappeared behind the building, the report said.

    The plane apparently struck a 50-foot tall (15-meter) building in an industrial complex near the airport, the NTSB said.

    Televised news footage showed the plane upside down in a parking lot.

    The NTSB said skies were clear and cloudless at the time of the crash.

    The crash killed Newman and left his sons Caleb, Connor and Elijah Newman with serious injuries.

    Federal Aviation Administration records indicate Newman obtained his private pilot’s certificate on June 19, allowing him to carry passengers.

    Only days after the accident, six people died in the crash of a business jet that was trying to land at the same airport.

    That plane crashed in a field and burst into flames during the second of two landing attempts in fog just before dawn on July 8.

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  • US pulls plug on authorization for lithium exploration next to a national wildlife refuge in Nevada

    US pulls plug on authorization for lithium exploration next to a national wildlife refuge in Nevada

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    RENO, Nev. — Federal land managers have formally withdrawn their authorization of a Canadian mining company’s lithium exploration project bordering a national wildlife refuge in southern Nevada after conservationists sought a court order to block it.

    The Center for Biological Diversity and the Amargosa Conservancy said in a lawsuit filed July 7 that the project on the edge of the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge outside Las Vegas posed an illegal risk to a dozen fish, snail and plant species currently protected under the Endangered Species Act.

    They filed an additional motion this week in federal court seeking a temporary injunction prohibiting Rover Metals from initiating the drilling of 30 bore sites in search of the highly sought-after metal used to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles.

    But before a judge in Las Vegas could rule on the request, the Bureau of Land Management notified Rover Metals on Wednesday that its earlier acceptance of the company’s notice of its intent to proceed “was in error.”

    “The agency has concluded that proposed operations are likely to result in disturbance to localized groundwaters that supply the connected surface waters associated with Threatened and Endangered species in local springs,” said Angelita Bulletts, district manager of the bureau’s southern Nevada district.

    “BLM is rescinding the Acknowledgment of the Notice issued on April 6 (because) the operator cannot prevent unnecessary or undue degradation based on the record before it,” she wrote in the formal notice Wednesday.

    Conservationists said the reversal provides at least a temporary reprieve for the lush oasis in the Mojave Desert that is home to 25 species of fish, plants, insects and snails that are found nowhere else on Earth — one of the highest concentrations of endemic species in North America at one of the hottest, driest places on the planet.

    “This is a remarkable victory for our community here in the Amargosa Basin,” said Mason Voehl, the Amargosa Conservancy’s executive director. “Mining doesn’t belong near our beloved Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.”

    Rover Metals didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

    The company announced in April that it had received an “exploration drill permit” from the bureau for its Let’s Go Lithium project planned on 6,000 acres (2,428 hectares) of federal land near the California-Nevada line and Death Valley National Park.

    The company maintained that a formal environmental review wasn’t necessary under the National Environmental Policy Act at this stage of the work.

    But the Center for Biological Diversity said in a letter to the bureau in May the project planned within 2,000 feet (609 meters) of the refuge was subject to review even at the exploratory stage because of the presence of the protected species, including the endangered Devils Hole pupfish.

    It argued the company had to submit a formal plan of operations so the bureau could determine whether it complies with the law in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

    The agency said Wednesday it agrees.

    Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director at the center, said he was relieved that the combination of the lawsuit and “overwhelming public opposition compelled federal officials to slam the breaks on this project just days before drilling was supposed to start.”

    “We need lithium for our renewable energy transition, but this episode sends a message loud and clear that some places are just too special to drill,” he said.

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  • US pulls plug on authorization for lithium exploration next to a national wildlife refuge in Nevada

    US pulls plug on authorization for lithium exploration next to a national wildlife refuge in Nevada

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    RENO, Nev. — Federal land managers have formally withdrawn their authorization of a Canadian mining company’s lithium exploration project bordering a national wildlife refuge in southern Nevada after conservationists sought a court order to block it.

    The Center for Biological Diversity and the Amargosa Conservancy said in a lawsuit filed July 7 that the project on the edge of the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge outside Las Vegas posed an illegal risk to a dozen fish, snail and plant species currently protected under the Endangered Species Act.

    They filed an additional motion this week in federal court seeking a temporary injunction prohibiting Rover Metals from initiating the drilling of 30 bore sites in search of the highly sought-after metal used to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles.

    But before a judge in Las Vegas could rule on the request, the Bureau of Land Management notified Rover Metals on Wednesday that its earlier acceptance of the company’s notice of its intent to proceed “was in error.”

    “The agency has concluded that proposed operations are likely to result in disturbance to localized groundwaters that supply the connected surface waters associated with Threatened and Endangered species in local springs,” said Angelita Bulletts, district manager of the bureau’s southern Nevada district.

    “BLM is rescinding the Acknowledgment of the Notice issued on April 6 (because) the operator cannot prevent unnecessary or undue degradation based on the record before it,” she wrote in the formal notice Wednesday.

    Conservationists said the reversal provides at least a temporary reprieve for the lush oasis in the Mojave Desert that is home to 25 species of fish, plants, insects and snails that are found nowhere else on Earth — one of the highest concentrations of endemic species in North America at one of the hottest, driest places on the planet.

    “This is a remarkable victory for our community here in the Amargosa Basin,” said Mason Voehl, the Amargosa Conservancy’s executive director. “Mining doesn’t belong near our beloved Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.”

    Rover Metals didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

    The company announced in April that it had received an “exploration drill permit” from the bureau for its Let’s Go Lithium project planned on 6,000 acres (2,428 hectares) of federal land near the California-Nevada line and Death Valley National Park.

    The company maintained that a formal environmental review wasn’t necessary under the National Environmental Policy Act at this stage of the work.

    But the Center for Biological Diversity said in a letter to the bureau in May the project planned within 2,000 feet (609 meters) of the refuge was subject to review even at the exploratory stage because of the presence of the protected species, including the endangered Devils Hole pupfish.

    It argued the company had to submit a formal plan of operations so the bureau could determine whether it complies with the law in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

    The agency said Wednesday it agrees.

    Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director at the center, said he was relieved that the combination of the lawsuit and “overwhelming public opposition compelled federal officials to slam the breaks on this project just days before drilling was supposed to start.”

    “We need lithium for our renewable energy transition, but this episode sends a message loud and clear that some places are just too special to drill,” he said.

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  • US pulls plug on authorization for lithium exploration next to a national wildlife refuge in Nevada

    US pulls plug on authorization for lithium exploration next to a national wildlife refuge in Nevada

    [ad_1]

    RENO, Nev. — Federal land managers have formally withdrawn their authorization of a Canadian mining company’s lithium exploration project bordering a national wildlife refuge in southern Nevada after conservationists sought a court order to block it.

    The Center for Biological Diversity and the Amargosa Conservancy said in a lawsuit filed July 7 that the project on the edge of the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge outside Las Vegas posed an illegal risk to a dozen fish, snail and plant species currently protected under the Endangered Species Act.

    They filed an additional motion this week in federal court seeking a temporary injunction prohibiting Rover Metals from initiating the drilling of 30 bore sites in search of the highly sought-after metal used to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles.

    But before a judge in Las Vegas could rule on the request, the Bureau of Land Management notified Rover Metals on Wednesday that its earlier acceptance of the company’s notice of its intent to proceed “was in error.”

    “The agency has concluded that proposed operations are likely to result in disturbance to localized groundwaters that supply the connected surface waters associated with Threatened and Endangered species in local springs,” said Angelita Bulletts, district manager of the bureau’s southern Nevada district.

    “BLM is rescinding the Acknowledgment of the Notice issued on April 6 (because) the operator cannot prevent unnecessary or undue degradation based on the record before it,” she wrote in the formal notice Wednesday.

    Conservationists said the reversal provides at least a temporary reprieve for the lush oasis in the Mojave Desert that is home to 25 species of fish, plants, insects and snails that are found nowhere else on Earth — one of the highest concentrations of endemic species in North America at one of the hottest, driest places on the planet.

    “This is a remarkable victory for our community here in the Amargosa Basin,” said Mason Voehl, the Amargosa Conservancy’s executive director. “Mining doesn’t belong near our beloved Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.”

    Rover Metals didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

    The company announced in April that it had received an “exploration drill permit” from the bureau for its Let’s Go Lithium project planned on 6,000 acres (2,428 hectares) of federal land near the California-Nevada line and Death Valley National Park.

    The company maintained that a formal environmental review wasn’t necessary under the National Environmental Policy Act at this stage of the work.

    But the Center for Biological Diversity said in a letter to the bureau in May the project planned within 2,000 feet (609 meters) of the refuge was subject to review even at the exploratory stage because of the presence of the protected species, including the endangered Devils Hole pupfish.

    It argued the company had to submit a formal plan of operations so the bureau could determine whether it complies with the law in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

    The agency said Wednesday it agrees.

    Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director at the center, said he was relieved that the combination of the lawsuit and “overwhelming public opposition compelled federal officials to slam the breaks on this project just days before drilling was supposed to start.”

    “We need lithium for our renewable energy transition, but this episode sends a message loud and clear that some places are just too special to drill,” he said.

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  • ‘Barbenheimer’ arrives as moviegoers flock to a Mattel-mushroom cloud double feature

    ‘Barbenheimer’ arrives as moviegoers flock to a Mattel-mushroom cloud double feature

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    NEW YORK — Waves of pink-clad moviegoers passed under cardboard palm trees on the frenzied first day of “Barbenheimer.”

    After a feverish drumbeat propelled forward by a mushroom cloud of memes, the most anticipated day on the year’s movie calendar finally arrived as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” — two movie opposites brought together by cross-marketing fate — landed in theaters.

    “I think it’s the contrast,” said Lucy Ruiz, 17, as she and a friend made their way into the first showing of “Barbie” on Thursday at the Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers, New York. “If you want to do both in the same day, it’s like two sides of the same coin.”

    For Ruiz, the second half of her “Barbenheimer” would have to wait. “Maybe next week,” she said of seeing “Oppenheimer.”

    But many are flocking to see both on opening weekend. The National Association of Theater Owners says some 200,000 moviegoers in North America have booked same-day tickets to each movie. The movie of the summer has turned out to be not “Indiana Jones” or “The Flash,” but a double feature.

    “I don’t think I’ve seen anything like this,” says Michael O’Leary, president of the theater association, who compared the phenomenon to a sold-out Taylor Swift concert tour. “But while that’s an amazing special event that captures the cultural attention, it’s not accessible to everybody the way these two movies are. This is a phenomenon open to everyone, regardless of where they live.”

    As of Friday, it was already clear “Barbenheimer” had morphed into the movie event of the year. The collision of Greta Gerwig’s bright satire of the Mattel doll and Christopher Nolan’s three-hour opus on J. Robert Oppenheimer, the so-called father of the atomic bomb, wasn’t cannibalizing ticket sales for either but fueling excitement for the most jarring and color-clashing of movie weekends.

    Studios forecasts had hovered around an $80 million opening weekend for “Barbie” and about $40 million for “Oppenheimer.” But it’s likely that both will greatly exceed those totals, and maybe even — especially in the case of “Barbie” — double them.

    Warner Bros. said Friday that “Barbie” took in $22.5 million in Thursday previews, the best such tally of the year and a clear sign that the film will easily sail past $100 million for the weekend. Universal Pictures’ “Oppenheimer” notched $10.5 million in preshow ticket sales, a likewise strong start.

    “Barbenheimer” is poised to be not just a viral trend but a box-office behemoth. For a movie industry that still hasn’t entirely recovered its pre-pandemic footing, it’s a much-needed jolt of moviegoing joy in a summer season where many of the top releases have fallen shy of expectations. Overall sales on the year are running about 20% below the box-office pace of 2019.

    As much as the “Barbenheimer” fanfare has been driven by internet fascination, it’s in many ways an old-school movie weekend. Both movies are roundly acclaimed, original works by two of the best filmmakers working today. “Oppenheimer” has been hailed as a masterpiece; in my review, I called it “a kinetic thing of dark, imposing beauty.” The Associated Press’ Jocelyn Noveck called “Barbie” “brash, clever, idea-packed (if ultimately TOO packed) and most of all eye-poppingly lovely.”

    For some moviegoers, “Barbenheimer” is their first blush with the once common practice of catching a double feature. Jack Robinson, 17, had tickets to see both movies with friends Saturday. He planned to don a suit for “Oppenheimer” before changing into pink for “Barbie.”

    “I used to go to the movies a lot with my family and friends before corona happened. I’m very excited,” said Robinson. “It’ll be interesting to not leave the movie theater. Usually, it’s like bathroom and go home.”

    In recent years, theater owners have often bemoaned not having enough films in the marketplace as streaming made inroads and studios increasingly concentrated their release schedules on fewer but bigger films. But “Barbenheimer” points to the possible reward when a varied group of films collective rise the box-office tide.

    “Barbenheimer” may have momentarily eclipsed last week’s top film, “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” — which, despite Tom Cruise’s lobbying, is losing IMAX screens to “Oppenheimer” this weekend. But having three big movies in close proximity to one other, O’Leary said, “is a good problem to have.”

    “It’s certainly preferable to the alternative,” said O’Leary.

    Parrot Analytics found that global demand for the casts of each film — all of whom have been publicly enthusiastic about seeing their rival movie — grew at virtually the same rate between late April and mid-July. The audience demographics are almost opposite one another. “Barbie” is appealing to a largely female and younger audience, while “Oppenheimer” is most popular with males and those over the age of 30, Parrot found.

    Yet in a much-divided America, “Barbenheimer” has been the great pop-culture unifier of 2023. There is harmony in contrast.

    “I’m doing ‘Barbie’ first and then ‘Oppenheimer’ because I know ‘Oppenheimer’ is going to be something I have to digest,” says Jill Kupnick of Brooklyn.

    Movie theaters are catering to the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon with double feature tickets and plenty of “Barbie”-themed promotions of candy and cocktails. But most are programming their own “Barbenheimer” days. Freelance writer Kelsey Weekman called it “the closest we’ve come to having school spirit week as adults.”

    “I have a friend who has outfits picked out and knows how she’s styling her hair,” Krupnick says. “There’s a level of play involved that you rarely see in more mainstream cinema. It’s more common with Marvel movies or in the fantasy genre than something like this.”

    “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” have melded together so much that it’s become possible — despite their vast differences — to confuse one for the other. At the Yonkers Alamo Drafthouse, a sharply dressed man wearing a pink shirt beneath a blazer inquired about showtimes for “Oppenheimer.”

    A clerk courteously answered and then, noticing the man’s attire, asked, “Did you want times for ‘Barbie,’ too?”

    ___

    Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

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  • ‘Barbenheimer’ arrives as moviegoers flock to a Mattel-mushroom cloud double feature

    ‘Barbenheimer’ arrives as moviegoers flock to a Mattel-mushroom cloud double feature

    [ad_1]

    NEW YORK — Waves of pink-clad moviegoers passed under cardboard palm trees on the frenzied first day of “Barbenheimer.”

    After a feverish drumbeat propelled forward by a mushroom cloud of memes, the most anticipated day on the year’s movie calendar finally arrived as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” — two movie opposites brought together by cross-marketing fate — landed in theaters.

    “I think it’s the contrast,” said Lucy Ruiz, 17, as she and a friend made their way into the first showing of “Barbie” on Thursday at the Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers, New York. “If you want to do both in the same day, it’s like two sides of the same coin.”

    For Ruiz, the second half of her “Barbenheimer” would have to wait. “Maybe next week,” she said of seeing “Oppenheimer.”

    But many are flocking to see both on opening weekend. The National Association of Theater Owners says some 200,000 moviegoers in North America have booked same-day tickets to each movie. The movie of the summer has turned out to be not “Indiana Jones” or “The Flash,” but a double feature.

    “I don’t think I’ve seen anything like this,” says Michael O’Leary, president of the theater association, who compared the phenomenon to a sold-out Taylor Swift concert tour. “But while that’s an amazing special event that captures the cultural attention, it’s not accessible to everybody the way these two movies are. This is a phenomenon open to everyone, regardless of where they live.”

    As of Friday, it was already clear “Barbenheimer” had morphed into the movie event of the year. The collision of Greta Gerwig’s bright satire of the Mattel doll and Christopher Nolan’s three-hour opus on J. Robert Oppenheimer, the so-called father of the atomic bomb, wasn’t cannibalizing ticket sales for either but fueling excitement for the most jarring and color-clashing of movie weekends.

    Studios forecasts had hovered around an $80 million opening weekend for “Barbie” and about $40 million for “Oppenheimer.” But it’s likely that both will greatly exceed those totals, and maybe even — especially in the case of “Barbie” — double them.

    Warner Bros. said Friday that “Barbie” took in $22.5 million in Thursday previews, the best such tally of the year and a clear sign that the film will easily sail past $100 million for the weekend. Universal Pictures’ “Oppenheimer” notched $10.5 million in preshow ticket sales, a likewise strong start.

    “Barbenheimer” is poised to be not just a viral trend but a box-office behemoth. For a movie industry that still hasn’t entirely recovered its pre-pandemic footing, it’s a much-needed jolt of moviegoing joy in a summer season where many of the top releases have fallen shy of expectations. Overall sales on the year are running about 20% below the box-office pace of 2019.

    As much as the “Barbenheimer” fanfare has been driven by internet fascination, it’s in many ways an old-school movie weekend. Both movies are roundly acclaimed, original works by two of the best filmmakers working today. “Oppenheimer” has been hailed as a masterpiece; in my review, I called it “a kinetic thing of dark, imposing beauty.” The Associated Press’ Jocelyn Noveck called “Barbie” “brash, clever, idea-packed (if ultimately TOO packed) and most of all eye-poppingly lovely.”

    For some moviegoers, “Barbenheimer” is their first blush with the once common practice of catching a double feature. Jack Robinson, 17, had tickets to see both movies with friends Saturday. He planned to don a suit for “Oppenheimer” before changing into pink for “Barbie.”

    “I used to go to the movies a lot with my family and friends before corona happened. I’m very excited,” said Robinson. “It’ll be interesting to not leave the movie theater. Usually, it’s like bathroom and go home.”

    In recent years, theater owners have often bemoaned not having enough films in the marketplace as streaming made inroads and studios increasingly concentrated their release schedules on fewer but bigger films. But “Barbenheimer” points to the possible reward when a varied group of films collective rise the box-office tide.

    “Barbenheimer” may have momentarily eclipsed last week’s top film, “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” — which, despite Tom Cruise’s lobbying, is losing IMAX screens to “Oppenheimer” this weekend. But having three big movies in close proximity to one other, O’Leary said, “is a good problem to have.”

    “It’s certainly preferable to the alternative,” said O’Leary.

    Parrot Analytics found that global demand for the casts of each film — all of whom have been publicly enthusiastic about seeing their rival movie — grew at virtually the same rate between late April and mid-July. The audience demographics are almost opposite one another. “Barbie” is appealing to a largely female and younger audience, while “Oppenheimer” is most popular with males and those over the age of 30, Parrot found.

    Yet in a much-divided America, “Barbenheimer” has been the great pop-culture unifier of 2023. There is harmony in contrast.

    “I’m doing ‘Barbie’ first and then ‘Oppenheimer’ because I know ‘Oppenheimer’ is going to be something I have to digest,” says Jill Kupnick of Brooklyn.

    Movie theaters are catering to the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon with double feature tickets and plenty of “Barbie”-themed promotions of candy and cocktails. But most are programming their own “Barbenheimer” days. Freelance writer Kelsey Weekman called it “the closest we’ve come to having school spirit week as adults.”

    “I have a friend who has outfits picked out and knows how she’s styling her hair,” Krupnick says. “There’s a level of play involved that you rarely see in more mainstream cinema. It’s more common with Marvel movies or in the fantasy genre than something like this.”

    “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” have melded together so much that it’s become possible — despite their vast differences — to confuse one for the other. At the Yonkers Alamo Drafthouse, a sharply dressed man wearing a pink shirt beneath a blazer inquired about showtimes for “Oppenheimer.”

    A clerk courteously answered and then, noticing the man’s attire, asked, “Did you want times for ‘Barbie,’ too?”

    ___

    Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

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