Category: U.S. News

DOYLESTOWN, Pennsylvania — Betsy Halsey, 63, still keeps mementos from America’s 1976 bicentennial in her childhood bedroom. But the retired teacher says her deep opposition to President Donald Trump means she has no interest in marking the nation’s 250th birthday.

“I don’t want to be at the same party with people feeling enthusiastic about where our country is going,” said Halsey, who lives in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and regularly votes Democratic.

Just a short distance away in Langhorne Manor, 70-year-old Republican and laundromat owner Dan Marrazzo has a very different outlook. He plans to celebrate by cooking for friends and family, convinced that America is doing well under Trump. “The poorest person in America has a better lifestyle than some of the richest people in the rest of the world,” he said.

As the country approaches its semiquincentennial — marking 250 years since the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence from Great Britain — the sharp political fault lines of the Trump era are putting pressure on what has long been a unifying summer tradition: honoring the nation’s founding with fireworks, parades, and patriotic decorations.

With Trump placing his stamp on the official anniversary events, and with his second term defined by contentious positions on immigration, the economy, and foreign policy, many citizens are finding it hard to separate the celebration from the controversy.

“The very idea of celebrating has become political and partisan,” said Beverly Gage, a historian at Yale University. “What is striking about our moment is how widespread the pessimism seems to be.”

A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that one in five Americans say they will not celebrate Independence Day this year — including roughly a quarter of Democrats and 8% of Republicans. Additionally, two out of five Americans do not believe the country will survive another 250 years.

To get a clearer picture of how Americans are feeling ahead of the anniversary, Reuters spoke with more than two dozen residents, activists, historians, and elected officials in Bucks County, where both Halsey and Marrazzo live.

Once considered a political afterthought, Bucks County has become a snapshot of the cultural and partisan divisions tearing at the fabric of the country. Located in Pennsylvania — a critical swing state — the county was won by Trump in 2024 by fewer than 300 votes out of roughly 400,000 cast.

Trump has made himself a central figure in the birthday festivities. Last year, the White House launched Freedom 250, a public-private partnership to coordinate anniversary events, even though a congressionally chartered commission called America250 had already spent years developing plans.

Freedom 250’s flagship event is the Great American State Fair, a two-week exhibition on the National Mall. Trump held a campaign-style rally to open the fair and is scheduled to deliver another on July 4 itself — drawing criticism that he is converting the national celebration into a political showcase.

Several states led by Democrats and a number of musical performers declined to take part, citing concerns about the event’s close ties to Trump. The U.S. Mint is also planning to release a 250th anniversary commemorative gold coin featuring Trump’s image.

Back in Bucks County, college professor and former Democratic school board member Tabitha Dell’Angelo, 56, said she has no plans to celebrate July 4 this year — a departure from her usual routine — because of her concerns about the country’s direction.

“I love my country. I am a proud American,” she said. “But this version of the celebration does not feel like it’s about America, but instead a celebration of Trump.”

The county is home to some of the nation’s most storied Revolutionary War landmarks, tucked among its river towns, wooded neighborhoods, and farmland. Yet it has also been a battleground over unproven claims of election fraud, debates about book bans, and disagreements over how American history should be presented in classrooms.

Residents said that despite the holiday’s traditional themes of shared identity and history, it has done little to ease their worries about divisions at both the local and national level. Many are wrestling with fundamental questions: Are there still common values that hold Americans together? Or has partisan loyalty overtaken patriotism?

Jim Worthington, 69, a Trump supporter and health club owner, said he cannot understand why anyone would choose to skip the 250th anniversary celebrations. He believes the simple fact of America’s long existence is reason enough to celebrate, regardless of who holds office.

“This is a celebration of 250 years of history, the greatest experiment in the history of the world,” Worthington said.

Doylestown Councilman Connor O’Hanlon, 30, a Democrat, pointed out that his generation has grown up entirely in an era of intense partisanship, shaped by “an overall nihilism and cynicism about the direction our country is going in.” Still, he believes July 4 should be an opportunity to reflect on shared values — though some of his neighbors are doubtful many remain.

Doreen Stratton, a writer and activist in Doylestown, can trace her family roots to the earliest days of the republic — her great-great-grandfather was among the small number of free Black residents living in Philadelphia in 1776. She now worries that decades of progress, particularly for Black Americans, is being reversed under an administration that has rolled back certain civil rights protections for minorities.

“I almost look at it like I’m in mourning,” she said of the approaching holiday.

The conflicting emotions have put local event organizers in a difficult position: how do you mark the occasion without pushing people away?

Dick Creter, whose nonprofit America Celebrates is organizing festivities in New Hope, Pennsylvania, and neighboring Lambertville, New Jersey, said multiple people have reached out wanting assurance that the events would stay nonpartisan.

“I think that to let the celebration of our 250 go by without embracing it, regardless of your political stance, is a mistake,” Creter said.

Historians point out that previous milestone anniversaries also fell during troubled times. In 1876, the country was still healing from the wounds of the Civil War. In 1976, the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal had badly damaged public trust in government.

“One thing I’m very aware of is how poor people are at judging their own historical moment,” said Yale’s Gage. “The story of some of the deepest moments of crisis in America were followed by the moments of deepest change.”

At Washington Crossing Historic Park in Bucks County, a stone marker commemorates the famous 1776 crossing, when George Washington led his troops through a Christmas night snowstorm across the Delaware River to launch a surprise attack on British-allied German soldiers in New Jersey — a turning point in the Revolutionary War.

In preparation for the 250th anniversary, the park conducted research into the contributions of women, Black soldiers, and civilians to the war effort, responding to questions from visitors, said Jennifer Martin, executive director of the nonprofit that manages the park.

“It’s important that we are telling accurate stories, and that we are not allowing the political climate to influence how we tell histories,” she said.

John Godzieba, a retired police officer who has portrayed Washington in reenactments at Washington Crossing for more than 15 years, believes most Americans will find a way to come together on the day — even if only briefly.

“Maybe on July 5, they’ll go back to being angry and disenchanted about the country,” he said. “But I think on July 4, they will be here.”

Luigi Mangione, the 28-year-old accused of gunning down a major health insurance executive on a New York City sidewalk in 2024, is scheduled to appear in federal court Monday for a pretrial hearing.

Mangione is charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was shot outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel. The case drew widespread attention and, while condemned by public officials, also became a symbol for many Americans frustrated with rising healthcare costs and the practices of the health insurance industry.

Monday’s court session before U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett in Manhattan is expected to address jury selection procedures and scheduling matters ahead of Mangione’s federal trial, currently set for November.

The federal case has narrowed significantly since charges were first filed. Judge Garnett dismissed the murder and weapons charges in January, citing legal technicalities. That decision eliminated the possibility of a federal death penalty in this case. However, Mangione could still face a life sentence if convicted on the remaining stalking charges. Capital punishment is an option in federal murder cases but is not available under New York state law.

Mangione has entered a not guilty plea in the federal proceedings. He also faces a separate set of charges in New York state court, where Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has brought murder, weapons, and forgery charges against him. That state trial is scheduled to begin in September before Justice Gregory Carro in Manhattan, and Mangione has pleaded not guilty in that case as well.

Thompson was the head of UnitedHealth Group’s insurance division. He was killed in the early morning hours outside a hotel where an investor conference was being held. Mangione was taken into custody in Pennsylvania following a five-day manhunt.

The case has attracted a vocal group of supporters who have rallied behind Mangione, raising money for his legal defense and showing up at court hearings to express solidarity, citing grievances against the health insurance industry.

WASHINGTON — A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that Americans have become significantly less proud of their country’s history and democratic system over the past ten years.

The survey, conducted in April during a period when the United States and Iran were engaged in an ongoing conflict following joint U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, found that pride across several key national attributes has fallen since 2017 — including the country’s military and its political influence on the world stage.

Separate new Gallup polling reinforces those findings, showing that just 53% of American adults describe themselves as “extremely” or “very” proud to be American. That marks the lowest point in Gallup’s trend on this question, which stretches back to 2001.

Researchers say the decline reflects a broader erosion of patriotic feeling during a turbulent stretch of American life — one that spans much of President Donald Trump’s first term in office, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a period of rising inflation that fueled voter frustration with President Joe Biden. The timeframe also includes Trump’s return to the presidency, during which he has pursued more aggressive stances on immigration and foreign policy.

Democrats account for much of the drop. The party’s members have grown increasingly disillusioned with the country since Trump’s first term.

Despite the declining pride, most Americans still say that being an American is “extremely” or “very” important to their personal identity — suggesting that a sense of national belonging persists even as criticism of the country’s past and present grows.

Pride in the way American democracy functions has dropped 14 percentage points since February 2017, falling from 42% to 28%. Pride in the U.S. armed forces has declined 19 percentage points over the same period, and pride in the nation’s history is down 14 points. In each case, Democrats are the primary driver of the decline, with some movement among independents as well.

Karla Galdamez, a 48-year-old Democrat and former U.S. history teacher from California, feels the country has gone backward under the current administration. While she is not proud of Trump, she says she takes pride in how much the country has accomplished over 250 years.

“It’s a country that really wanted to be different and really wanted to be better,” she said. “Despite some of the very ugly history that we have of segregation and slavery … if you look at the trajectory of the last 250 years, we’ve done nothing but get better and move toward a more egalitarian nation.”

According to the new Gallup poll, only 14% of Democrats and 28% of independents say they are “extremely” proud to be American, compared with 70% of Republicans.

The AP-NORC poll found that Republicans are particularly proud of the nation’s military. About nine in ten Republicans say the armed forces make them “extremely” or “very” proud, compared with roughly six in ten Americans overall.

Samantha Fulks, a 40-year-old Republican from San Antonio, Texas, wears her patriotism openly. She flies an American flag in her front yard, displays Trump flags in the back, and plans to dress in red, white and blue for the Fourth of July. Fulks comes from a military family and, while she questions the necessity of U.S. involvement in Iran, she remains firmly behind the troops.

“I still support our troops no matter what they do,” Fulks said.

Matt Stafford, a 39-year-old from Massachusetts, is proud to be American but finds the country’s political system deeply frustrating. He has a bald eagle tattooed on his back to symbolize the United States, its freedoms, and “all the things we’re supposed to stand for as a country.” A self-described centrist who calls himself “politically homeless,” Stafford wants both parties to stop pulling toward the extremes and start focusing on everyday Americans.

“I love America, but our biggest problem is how we’re pushing both sides — like the left and the right — to the extremes,” he said.

The polls also highlight how deeply partisanship shapes national identity. Republicans are far more likely than Democrats or independents to say being an American is highly important to who they are as a person.

A generational divide also stands out. About three-quarters of Americans age 60 and older say being American is highly important to their identity, compared with only about one-third of adults under 30.

The AP-NORC survey found that 73% of Black Americans say their race or ethnicity is “extremely” or “very” important to how they see themselves — a higher share than those who say the same about being American.

Vincent Harris, a 60-year-old from California, says his identity as a Black man takes precedence because of the way Black men are treated in this country.

“A lot of people are scared of Black men just because we are Black and we are male. And that’s crazy,” Harris said. “People don’t even take you for who you are as a person; they just look at your race.”

About half of Hispanic Americans say their race or ethnicity is highly important to their identity, compared with 22% of white Americans. Black and Hispanic adults are also more likely than white adults to say their family ancestry or country of origin plays a significant role in how they see themselves.

Harris, who also identifies as a gay man, says that despite the challenges he has faced, being an American is still something he values deeply because of the freedoms it provides.

“It’s great to be an American — regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or whatever. As long as you have that freedom of choice as an American, that’s a great thing,” Harris said. “Right now, I wouldn’t live in any other country in the world. I’m here. I love it.”

The AP-NORC poll surveyed 2,596 adults between April 16 and 20, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to represent the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all adults is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

A Washington state attorney who marketed herself as a champion for immigrants is now at the center of multiple lawsuits and a legal ethics investigation, accused of running a massive visa fraud operation that left tens of thousands of people vulnerable to deportation.

Alexandra Lozano allegedly built a system that fabricated stories of domestic abuse and human trafficking in order to file humanitarian visa applications — all without her clients’ knowledge, according to the lawsuits and investigators. Critics say she took advantage of immigrants’ fear and desperation, emptying their bank accounts while putting their futures at risk.

Among the accusations: hiring workers without proper legal credentials, rushing through applications on an assembly-line basis, and even forging clients’ signatures on documents they had never seen.

Gabriel Martinez Garcia, 30, said his family paid $30,000 and trusted Lozano completely — only to be betrayed. Despite his mother being married to a naturalized U.S. citizen, he says Lozano’s actions resulted in his mother being placed in deportation proceedings. “I put the trust of my family with her,” he said. “We believed in her and then she just let us down.”

Lozano’s firm, Luz del Camino Legal, shut its doors this month as the allegations mounted. Rather than face disciplinary action from the bar association, she permanently gave up her law license. She denies any wrongdoing.

The scale of the alleged fraud is staggering. Bar records show her signature appears on more than 53,000 pending cases. While it remains unclear how many of those cases involved fraud — or whether any clients knowingly participated — those who filed suit say they were completely in the dark.

Erika Gonzalez, an attorney with the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, said the fallout from Lozano’s collapse is hitting the immigration system “like a tidal wave.”

Lozano’s practice centered on two federal laws: the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 and the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which applies to all genders. These programs are designed to protect abuse victims by keeping their immigration status from being used against them by abusers. The evidence requirements are intentionally flexible to help real victims — but immigration attorneys say that flexibility also makes the programs easier to exploit.

According to attorneys now representing many of Lozano’s former clients, the firm would probe clients about problems in their personal or work lives, then shape those situations into abuse narratives that didn’t actually qualify under the legal standards for these humanitarian programs.

Clients often obtained work permits quickly, but ran into serious problems years later when applying for permanent residency and their claims faced closer examination.

Angelo Calfo, the attorney representing Lozano, defended her record, saying clients were supposed to review their applications before signing and that any false statements were their responsibility. “Alexandra’s practice has always been to fight for her clients, zealously pursue every lawful option available to them, and support their efforts to build lives in this country,” his statement read.

The bar association formally accused Lozano of fraud in May, and her firm closed on June 10. According to emails obtained by the Associated Press, she is now under investigation by the fraud unit of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on the matter.

Immigration service scams are on the rise nationally. Federal Trade Commission data analyzed by the AP shows at least 920 such scams were reported in 2025 alone — more than the combined total from the first three years of the previous administration. Experts believe the real number is much higher, since many immigrants are reluctant to report fraud.

Lozano is accused of using hundreds of employees based in Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina to provide legal advice and handle visa applications — meaning clients may never have spoken with a licensed U.S. attorney at all.

Rafael Alvarez, who worked for Lozano from 2022 to 2024 in Colombia, said he was directed to embellish case details. “Alexandra was telling us to please invent more information about the abuse because it is not real abuse,” he said. “There were a lot of cases that were not true.”

The firm’s former chief operating officer, Amy Rios, testified in 2024 that Luz del Camino Legal earned $1.7 million by teaching other law firms its approach to humanitarian visa cases and had “changed the way many attorneys now approach immigration law.” At least two other firms — one in Texas and one in Ohio — are now accused in recent lawsuits of copying Lozano’s methods, which both firms deny.

Erika Sanchez and her husband entered the country without authorization. After being told by multiple lawyers that there was no legal way to adjust their immigration status from inside the United States, Lozano promised them a successful outcome after a single consultation in 2020, according to a lawsuit filed in May by the couple and seven other former clients.

The couple said the firm asked them to sign blank pieces of paper, which they trusted. They lived frugally and paid Lozano more than $32,000. “We truly did believe that she was doing the right thing,” Sanchez said. They later discovered that the application filed for her husband contained fabricated claims that his teenage daughter had abused him. He is now in deportation proceedings.

Some clients didn’t learn of the alleged fraud until years after the fact. Nora Murillo Moreno said she was only informed of the false abuse claims in her application the day before her green card interview. “Should I say what really happened, or what is written?” she recalled thinking. “I knew things didn’t match.”

The surge in Lozano’s caseload appears to mirror a dramatic rise in humanitarian visa applications overall. Domestic abuse visa applications more than tripled between fiscal years 2020 and 2025, climbing from roughly 15,000 to more than 53,000 per year. Applications from parents claiming abuse by a child increased nearly twelvefold. Human trafficking visa applications jumped from around 1,000 to more than 37,000 during the same period.

In December, the immigration agency announced it would overhaul the domestic violence visa program, citing what it called “rampant fraud” based solely on the spike in applications, without providing additional evidence. The changes narrow the definition of abuse and give more weight to statements from accused abusers.

Cecelia Levin, an attorney with the nonprofit Alliance for Immigrant Survivors, argued that restricting access for real abuse victims is the wrong approach. She said the focus should instead be on prosecuting attorneys who run fraudulent operations like the one Lozano allegedly operated.

Immigration attorneys say Lozano’s social media presence was filled with warning signs, including claims that the Virgin Mary personally blessed all of her cases.

In 2023, the Washington bar said it had concerns about Lozano’s practice but dismissed an ethics complaint against her, determining she was shielded by legal disclaimers. The complaint had alleged deceptive advertising and other misconduct. Sara Niegowski, a spokesperson for the bar, said the organization moved to block Lozano from practicing law “as quickly as possible.”

Former clients are now scrambling to recover their case files from the shuttered firm. Hundreds attended recent consultations with volunteer attorneys in Washington and Oregon. Many have joined a lawsuit seeking compensation for legal malpractice, while a separate class action aims to recover the attorney fees they paid.

Vicente Omar Barraza, the attorney leading the malpractice lawsuit, said hundreds of former clients have told him they still have no idea what was written in their applications. He fears many have permanently lost their best chances at legal immigration status.

Martinez Garcia, whose mother is now facing deportation despite what he says was Lozano’s mishandling of her case, said the uncertainty weighs on him every day. “I’m just praying really, really, really hard for her,” he said. “None of this should have happened.”

Authorities in San Jose, California are investigating a deadly shooting that took place Sunday at a popular entertainment area that has been serving as a World Cup fan zone during the international soccer tournament.

San Jose police confirmed that one person was killed at the scene and a second victim was rushed to a nearby hospital with injuries described as life-threatening. The shooting took place at San Pedro Square, a gathering spot that has drawn large crowds to watch World Cup matches on big screens.

“One victim was pronounced deceased on scene. The second victim was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries,” police wrote in a post on social media platform X.

Officers noted the shooting is being handled as a homicide investigation. “This incident is being investigated as a homicide. Several surrounding streets are closed in the area,” police added.

Notably, no World Cup games were being screened at the time of the violence. The only match scheduled for that day had ended around 2 p.m. local time.

The San Francisco Bay Area has been a hub for World Cup activity, hosting five matches so far. The most recent game was a knockout round matchup on Wednesday between Bosnia and co-host nation the United States. Dozens of fan zones are spread throughout the region.

A Reuters journalist at the scene reported a heavy law enforcement presence, with multiple police vehicles and a person on a stretcher — partially covered by a white sheet — being quickly moved away from the area by uniformed personnel. Most nearby bars were shuttered and the scene was cordoned off following the incident.

A security guard who witnessed the aftermath, speaking anonymously because she was not authorized to talk to the media, described what she saw. “The person was still moaning and groaning. There was blood around his neck and upper back,” she said. “Police were talking to security and a couple of witnesses.”

Whether you’re in the mood for a mystery, a musical throwback, or a coming-of-age story, this week’s streaming and entertainment arrivals have something for everyone. Here’s a look at what’s worth your time, as highlighted by entertainment journalists at The Associated Press.

First up, the film “Obsession” — which surprised everyone with its box-office performance — is now available at home. Director Curry Barker’s feature arrives Tuesday, June 30, on premium video-on-demand. Despite being made on a modest $750,000 budget, the Focus Features release has pulled in over $337 million in ticket sales worldwide since hitting theaters in mid-May. The story follows a character named Bear (played by Michael Johnston), who uses a One Wish Willow to make his crush (played by Inde Navarrette) fall in love with him.

Millie Bobby Brown is back as Sherlock Holmes’ younger sister in “Enola Holmes 3,” dropping July 1 on Netflix. In this third chapter, Enola is preparing for her upcoming wedding to Lord Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge) when her brother Sherlock (Henry Cavill) goes missing after being kidnapped.

Music fans have reason to celebrate as well. Madonna is releasing “Confessions II” on Friday — a follow-up to her widely praised 2005 dance album “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” making it a 21-year gap between the two records. The original was celebrated as a triumphant comeback, producing hit songs including “Hung Up,” “Sorry,” “Get Together” and “Jump.” Early previews of the new album include the track “I Feel So Free,” the house-influenced “Love Sensation,” and a collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter titled “Bring Your Love.”

Oscar winner Jean Dujardin, known for his role in “The Artist,” takes on the iconic role of Zorro in a new French limited series of the same name. Set in 1821 Los Angeles, the show follows Don Diego de la Vega, a wealthy nobleman who hasn’t used his Zorro persona in two decades. When he unexpectedly becomes the city’s mayor, he’s thrust back into vigilante life while juggling family and political pressures. The series begins streaming Tuesday, June 30, on MHz Choice and its subscription channels available through Prime Video and Roku.

Prime Video is also launching “Elle” on Wednesday, July 1 — a prequel series to the beloved “Legally Blonde” films. The show takes viewers back to Elle Woods’ teenage years, before her Harvard law school days. When her father lands a new job, the upbeat, pink-loving California girl is uprooted to Seattle, where she finds herself navigating a school steeped in grunge culture, complete with Nirvana on the airwaves and flannel-wearing cheerleaders. Newcomer Lexi Minetree steps into the role of the younger Elle, and the resemblance to Reese Witherspoon is striking. A second season has already finished filming.

History buffs may want to tune in Sunday, July 5, for “Ralph Lauren’s American Icons” on the History Channel app, History.com, and On Demand. The special explores the story behind a USPS stamp collection designed by Ralph Lauren to mark America’s 250th birthday. The collection features 13 stamps capturing iconic American imagery, and the program includes previously unseen archival footage along with interviews with David Lauren, Ken Burns, and others.

Finally, gamers can look forward to “Rhythm Heaven Groove,” arriving Thursday, July 2, on the Nintendo Switch. Continuing a long tradition of rhythm-based games on Nintendo platforms dating back to the Game Boy era, this new title challenges players to chop vegetables, punch fruit, and swing sledgehammers — all in time to the beat. The package includes 80 single-player minigames as well as Beatspell, a rhythm-driven role-playing adventure. Up to four players can also compete or cooperate in 30 multiplayer challenges.

Alex Murdaugh, the fallen South Carolina attorney whose legal downfall became a national true crime obsession, is set to appear in court Monday for a pretrial hearing as prosecutors and defense lawyers work toward a potential murder retrial.

Last month, the South Carolina Supreme Court threw out Murdaugh’s murder convictions and life sentence. Monday’s court session is expected to be relatively brief in legal terms, with the main agenda items being deadlines for exchanging evidence and scheduling future hearings and a possible retrial date.

The hearing is drawing enormous media attention, with dozens of outlets — ranging from international news agencies to local TV stations to true crime podcasters — descending on the Lexington County courthouse to document every moment involving the once-prominent Southern lawyer.

For many observers, Monday also offers a rare public glimpse at how the now-58-year-old Murdaugh has been changed by prison life. He continues to serve time in a South Carolina facility, where he is simultaneously working through a 40-year federal sentence and a 27-year state sentence tied to his financial crimes — charges stemming from his guilty plea to stealing roughly $12 million from clients and his family’s law firm.

Before the hearing officially begins at 10 a.m. Monday, the court may also take up a request from Murdaugh’s defense team. His attorneys are asking the judge to allow him to appear in civilian clothing rather than a prison jumpsuit and to have his restraints removed during hearings and throughout any future retrial.

As his legal team put it in their written request: “Mr. Murdaugh’s convictions for non-violent, white-collar crimes in no way justify presenting him to the jury pool as a shackled prisoner in a prison jumpsuit via video cameras at televised pretrial hearings.”

Defense attorneys have also submitted additional pretrial motions, including one requesting that DNA found beneath his wife’s fingernails — which investigators said came from an unknown, unrelated man — be sent to a private laboratory for independent testing.

Murdaugh’s legal team is also seeking to provide him with a laptop without internet access in prison so he can review evidence without requiring everything to be printed. They are additionally pushing to move the next trial out of Colleton County, where both the killings took place and the first trial was held.

Murdaugh has consistently denied killing his wife, Maggie, and their younger son, Paul, whose bodies he said he discovered outside their home in 2021. While he has acknowledged being a thief, an insurance fraudster, a liar, and a poor attorney, he has firmly maintained his innocence in the murders.

A jury found him guilty of two counts of murder in 2023 and sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole.

However, during that trial, several jurors reported that the Colleton County clerk of court — who was assigned to manage the evidence and oversee the jury — told them to pay close attention to Murdaugh’s body language when he testified and warned them not to be misled by what he said.

The state Supreme Court determined that guidance amounted to an implicit suggestion that Murdaugh was guilty, which led to the overturning of his convictions.

The justices also raised concerns about the extensive testimony during the murder trial regarding Murdaugh’s financial crimes. While some background is appropriate, they said detailed accounts of how he stole from vulnerable or disabled clients could have unfairly swayed jurors who were supposed to focus solely on whether he committed the killings.

The U.S. Justice Department has quietly ended its criminal investigation into Abbott Laboratories over how the company managed a baby formula manufacturing plant connected to potentially deadly bacteria and the deaths of infants, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm the report. Neither the Justice Department nor Abbott Laboratories responded to requests for comment made outside of normal business hours.

The situation dates back to 2022, when Abbott pulled its infant formula products from shelves and shuttered its Michigan manufacturing facility after investigators discovered traces of a dangerous bacteria at the site. That recall and plant closure deepened a nationwide baby formula shortage that had already been building due to pandemic-related supply chain disruptions.

At the time, Abbott maintained there was no evidence directly connecting its products to any infant illnesses. A company spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that no unopened, distributed Abbott infant formula products have tested positive for the bacteria that made babies sick.

According to the Journal’s report, some prosecutors felt they had enough evidence to bring criminal charges against the company. However, top decision-makers within the department chose to close the case. Rather than pursuing prosecution, officials opted for a lesser approach — recovering money Abbott received from selling formula through federally funded nutrition programs.

A Justice Department spokeswoman explained the decision to the Wall Street Journal, saying: “Ensuring the safety of our nation’s food supply is a top priority for the Trump administration; however, this Department of Justice does not believe in regulation by prosecution.”

The Journal also reported that prosecutors had been weighing a misdemeanor charge against Abbott for allegedly violating the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, along with a separate count for allegedly misleading the government. Prosecutors had also been considering charges against at least one individual before the case was dropped.

Congress has approved what is being called the most far-reaching housing legislation passed in decades, raising hopes that relief may be on the way for Americans struggling with the cost of finding a place to live.

The sweeping new bill is drawing attention from housing policy experts across the country, including Vincent Reina, a housing specialist at the University of Pennsylvania, who is examining whether this kind of legislation can truly move the needle on affordability.

The push to make housing more accessible and affordable has been a growing concern for many households, and this congressional action represents one of the most significant attempts in recent memory to address the issue at the federal level.

What began with the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York City has grown into a worldwide celebration spanning continents. Pride Month brought marches and festivals to cities across the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia throughout June, wrapping up Sunday with landmark parades in New York and San Francisco.

The monthlong observance highlights and celebrates LGBTQ+ communities around the globe, with this year’s events drawing participants and spectators in cities large and small. The iconic U.S. parades on Sunday served as the grand finale to a month filled with colorful events worldwide.

A photo gallery curated by AP photo editors captured the scope of Pride celebrations from around the world.

Authorities in Fortuna, California, have uncovered a disturbing scene at an animal shelter that marketed itself as a “no-kill” facility — the buried remains of at least 117 dogs, many of which appear to have been shot.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday that searches of Miranda’s Rescue Animal Sanctuary, a 50-acre property, also turned up 21 canine skulls, hundreds of bones, and additional animal remains scattered across the grounds.

During a search conducted Thursday, investigators identified an area inside a barn that they believe was used as a site where dogs were killed. More than 600 dog collars were discovered nearby.

Sheriff William Honsal described the scene as “horrific.” As of now, no criminal charges have been filed in connection with the case.

The shelter’s founder, Shannon Miranda, has not responded to requests for comment. However, a statement posted to the shelter’s website on June 18 said that media reports and online commentary “have presented an incomplete and, in some cases, inaccurate picture of our work.”

“At Miranda’s Rescue, our mission is to save as many animals as we safely can — always balancing compassion for animals with our responsibility to protect families, children, other pets, and the public,” Miranda wrote.

The sheriff’s office said the investigation began in April after officials received what they described as “credible information” pointing to “allegations of felony animal abuse, animal cruelty, fraud, and conspiracy.”

According to an affidavit from an earlier search of the property, two animal advocates initially brought the situation to authorities. One of them owns land adjacent to the shelter and had set up trail cameras near a suspected burial area. The two later entered the shelter’s property and dug up dog remains themselves.

Using ground-penetrating radar, investigators located 117 intact remains in various stages of decomposition buried in an open field. On-site X-rays of 70 of those remains revealed bullet fragments in many of them, leading investigators to conclude that gunshot wounds were likely the cause of death for a significant number of the animals.

The shelter reportedly collected fees from other shelters when accepting animal transfers, as well as donations intended to cover food, housing, veterinary care, medications, and staffing costs. Hundreds of dogs were said to have been brought to the facility by private individuals and other animal shelters.

In his earlier statement, Miranda maintained that the rescue does not euthanize animals simply to free up space, but acknowledged that there are limited circumstances in which it may occur.

“There are rare circumstances in which euthanasia may be necessary — when an animal is suffering from a terminal condition or when it poses a serious, ongoing danger to people or other animals,” Miranda wrote. “In those situations, we make the most humane and responsible decision we can, always with public safety and animal welfare in mind.”

Sheriff Honsal made clear the investigation is far from over. “This investigation is just getting started,” he said. “There is a tremendous amount of data to process, witnesses to interview, and evidence to examine.”

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Sunday that the National Mall’s reflecting pool is once again open for visitors after sustaining damage, and that work on a new Washington, D.C. golf course is set to begin this September.

Trump made the announcements via his Truth Social platform, touting both developments as significant achievements. On the golf course, he wrote: “We will build one of the Greatest Golf Courses anywhere in the World which, importantly, will also be made available to the Public.”

The president emphasized that the planned course would not be exclusively private, noting that public access is a key component of the project. Ground is expected to break on the facility in September.

Military officials say multiple agencies are continuing their search for a U.S. Marine who went missing during a training exercise in the waters off southern California.

Search crews first launched their efforts early Thursday morning, just after midnight, according to a Navy news release. The Marine was reported missing from the USS Anchorage while the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit were conducting integrated training operations together.

This marks at least the second time in six weeks that the U.S. military has had to mount a search for missing service members. Earlier, in May, the Army confirmed that the remains of two U.S. Army soldiers — who had gone missing during military exercises in Morocco — were recovered, bringing a multinational search to a close. That operation had utilized air assets, naval resources, and artificial intelligence technology.

In a news release this week, the Navy offered its condolences, stating: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and all who are affected during this difficult time.”

By Friday evening, the Navy had shifted from a search-and-rescue operation to a search-and-recovery mission. The missing Marine’s identity is being withheld until the service member’s family has been notified.

So far, the search has covered approximately 2,400 square miles — or about 6,200 square kilometers — and has drawn resources from three surface ships and 12 aircraft belonging to the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Air Force.

The USS Anchorage, an amphibious transport dock ship, is home-ported at Naval Base San Diego.

New Mexico has put in place a program aimed at making childcare free for families living in the state, and early results are drawing national attention.

Reporter Katerina Barton joined NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe to discuss how New Mexico’s free childcare initiative is playing out and what the policy looks like in practice for state residents.

The conversation highlights that New Mexico is not alone in pursuing this type of approach — but it is among the states leading the way in making childcare accessible at no cost to families.

July 4th weekend is almost here, and that means millions of Americans will be reaching for one of the holiday’s most beloved staples — the hot dog. But before you start cooking, there’s a big question to answer: which method actually delivers the best result?

It turns out the humble hot dog can be prepared in a surprising number of ways, each with its own pros and cons. The classic backyard grill is always a crowd favorite, but the microwave, air fryer, and slow cooker are all in the running as well.

Whether you’re feeding a small family or a big holiday crowd, the cooking method you choose can make a real difference in taste and texture. An in-depth look at all the options can help you decide which approach is right for your celebration this Fourth of July weekend.

It has been five years since a beachfront condominium building in the Miami Beach community of Surfside, Florida came crashing down in one of the deadliest building collapses in American history — but for the Gonzalez family, moving forward has proven to be an enormous challenge.

The family survived the catastrophic collapse, but they were left with devastating injuries that have continued to affect their daily lives in the years since the tragedy. Their struggle to heal — both physically and emotionally — is ongoing.

As the five-year anniversary of the collapse arrives, the Gonzalez family’s story serves as a sobering reminder that for survivors, the disaster did not end when the rubble was cleared.

Three firefighters are dead and two more are injured after responding to the rapidly spreading Snyder wildfire burning along the border of Utah and Colorado, according to the U.S. Wildland Fire Service.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis declared a disaster emergency in response to the blaze on Saturday, a move that allows the Colorado National Guard to step in and assist with firefighting efforts.

The fire has consumed an estimated 28,000 acres and is currently at zero percent containment, according to a statement released by the Colorado governor’s office.

The fire originated Saturday morning as the Snyder Mesa Fire in Grand County in eastern Utah before crossing the state line into Colorado. Once there, it merged with two smaller blazes — the Jones and Knowles fires in Mesa County — combining to form what is now being called the Snyder Fire.

Authorities have issued evacuation warnings for several smaller communities located in Mesa County, Colorado, as the fire continues to spread.

Sunday marks the pinnacle of Pride Month, with massive parades taking place in New York City and San Francisco — along with several other cities — on the anniversary of the Stonewall uprising of 1969, a pivotal moment that helped reshape and energize the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.

Pride events have long blended festivity with advocacy, and this year is no different. The parades and festivals happening across the country this month come as President Donald Trump’s administration moves to dismantle transgender rights protections and roll back diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Earlier this year, the administration removed a rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument, though it ultimately backed down following a legal challenge.

“As LGBTQIA+ events and symbols are being erased, it’s vital that our community have safe spaces to show up and march to make clear: We are here,” said Chris Piedmont, a spokesperson for New York parade organizers Heritage of Pride, in a statement released Friday. “We will not be erased.”

On the other side of the political spectrum, several Republican governors have declared June under conservative-themed names such as “Nuclear Family Month,” with some openly framing the designations as a pushback against Pride. Other prominent Republicans, including Vice President JD Vance, have weighed in on Major League Baseball’s handling of San Francisco Giants players who chose to add Bible verses to their rainbow-themed Pride Night caps.

Against this charged political backdrop, both the NYC Pride March and the San Francisco Pride Parade are moving forward as two of the largest and most historic celebrations of their kind in the world.

Both events trace their origins to 1970 gatherings held to honor the Stonewall rebellion, which occurred on June 28, 1969, when customers at a New York gay bar known as the Stonewall Inn fought back against a police raid, sparking a wave of LGBTQ+ activism that continues to this day.

The Stonewall Inn remains an operating bar. The Stonewall National Monument is centered around a small park directly across the street, located roughly half a mile from the Pride March route at its nearest point.

Also taking place in Manhattan on Sunday is the Queer Liberation March, a newer event created by activists who felt the main Pride March had become too corporate and institutionalized.

This year, some transgender rights advocates pushed Pride organizers to prohibit certain New York City hospital groups from participating in the march. Those hospitals recently announced they would no longer offer gender-affirming treatments for transgender youth — decisions that came in response to funding pressure from the Trump administration. At least some of those hospitals also received federal Justice Department subpoenas seeking transgender patients’ medical records, though a judge has temporarily put that demand on hold.

Heritage of Pride said it has been in discussions with the hospitals over the matter. The organization also pointed out that parade contingents are organized by LGBTQ+ employee groups within those institutions, not by the hospital executives who made the decisions about care.

Organizers of the San Francisco parade were asked whether they faced similar pressure, but no response was immediately available.

Other cities hosting Pride parades on Sunday include Seattle, where a World Cup soccer match on Friday took on an added dimension after the nations whose teams were playing — Iran and Egypt — unsuccessfully attempted to have the Pride celebrations called off.

A steelworkers strike that erupted in Homestead, Pennsylvania back in 1892 may be more than 130 years old, but its lessons are still being felt in today’s economy.

NPR’s Don Gonyea traveled to Homestead to take a closer look at one of the most consequential labor battles in American history — and to ask what it can tell us about the state of workers and the economy right now.

The Homestead strike stands as one of the defining moments in the story of organized labor in the United States, and the community where it all unfolded remains a touchstone for understanding how workers have fought for their rights over the decades.

WASHINGTON — A towering dinosaur rib cage. A sandcastle built from 7,000 pounds of sand hauled in from the Jersey Shore. Two rocking chairs sitting in an unstaffed booth. These are among the sights greeting visitors at the Great American State Fair, now open on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The fair is organized by Freedom 250, a group established by President Donald Trump to oversee his administration’s official celebratory events. Its formation created friction with America 250, a separate organization created by Congress to plan the country’s 250th anniversary festivities. The National Mall event is scheduled to run through July.

Early crowds on Friday were light, with little wait at security checkpoints. Once inside, visitors were greeted by a 110-foot Ferris wheel — the only ride at the fair — and a decorative arch similar to those the president has featured at other events.

Talking with attendees, a common thread emerged: the fair was a worthwhile concept, but one that didn’t quite live up to its potential.

A familiar fair atmosphere was provided by goats, sheep, and a calf — courtesy of the Washington High School Future Farmers of America chapter from Jefferson County, West Virginia — whose sounds echoed across the Mall. Baby chicks drew enthusiastic crowds, and a cowboy performance featuring bucking broncos was also on the schedule.

Visitors said they were drawn by a desire to see states celebrate their individual identities and by hopes for a nonpartisan moment of American togetherness.

Sharyn Bovat, who said she lives in Florida but has been staying in the Washington area after suffering a heart attack this year, offered a nuanced take. “There’s nice people, nice events, nice family events,” she said. “Half the country is divided with the other half. I wish they would create a USA 250 for all the people. I’m tired of the politics.”

Bovat pointed to the decorative arch as the element that gave the event a political feel. “It makes me think of Germany,” she said.

The state exhibit booths were housed in structures designed to echo the neoclassical style of the nearby National Gallery of Art. Inside, visitors found a range of Americana on display.

Montana’s booth featured a massive replica rib cage from an apatosaurus — a close relative of the more widely recognized brontosaurus. Virginia took visitors through the state’s contributions to American history, while Washington, D.C. displayed a large banner for visitors to sign and a tree decorated with cherry blossoms. South Carolina offered a putting green, and Texas went big with a space capsule, an Alamo facade, and a statue of Big Tex.

Arizona drew the longest line, thanks to an interactive display that placed visitors virtually into the state’s landscape. New Jersey’s booth featured the elaborate sandcastle crafted from Jersey Shore sand over four days by a local artist.

Andy Walters and his wife Kirsten made the trip from Wapakoneta, Ohio — the hometown of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong — with their three children. “I think it’s nice. I wish all the states were participating,” Andy said. “It’s a little underwhelming but it’s a great idea.”

Kirsten Walters said she’d love to see similar events held more regularly, without the political undertones. “We’re excited to be here and participate,” she said.

While most states did participate — treating the fair largely as a tourism showcase — the event did not achieve full representation. Maine, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania all declined to send delegations, citing concerns over cost, scheduling conflicts, or the event’s perceived politicization.

Several booths, including those for Hawaii and Alaska, were left unstaffed. Hawaii’s booth did feature a pair of rocking chairs, which weary visitors were happy to use.

Alonzo Lewis Jr. and Kelly Domizio, visiting from Rome, New York, took a seat in those chairs and shared their impressions. “This was really pretty cool,” Domizio said. “Been going to all the different states.”

But Lewis saw it differently. “Was it necessary, I don’t think so,” he said. “It feels forced. There’s so much separation.”

Domizio recalled the nation’s bicentennial celebration in 1976. “There was a sense of pride” and togetherness back then, she said. “We are enjoying the day but it feels forced.”

One hundred and fifty years after the Battle of Little Bighorn, Native American youth converged on the site of the famous conflict to commemorate the anniversary of what stands as a landmark victory in their history.

The gathering served as both a remembrance of the battle and a celebration of the lasting resilience of Native American cultures, as the next generation honored the significance of the moment at the very ground where it unfolded.

Federal highway safety regulators announced Saturday that they have officially closed their investigation into power steering failures in certain Tesla electric vehicles, citing a recall the automaker completed earlier this year.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the probe covered approximately 376,241 Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles from the 2023 model year. The investigation had been classified as an engineering analysis at the time it was closed.

The agency first opened a preliminary evaluation back in July 2023 after Tesla owners reported trouble turning their steering wheels or noticed that significantly more effort was required to steer their vehicles.

By early 2024, regulators had elevated the investigation to a more detailed engineering analysis to dig deeper into the reported steering defect.

Tesla then moved to recall approximately 376,000 of its U.S. vehicles in early 2025, citing a failure of the power steering assist system that made the cars more difficult to control — especially at lower speeds — and increased the risk of a crash. The company, however, stated that the recall was not a direct response to the federal investigation, which was still open at that point.

As part of the recall, Tesla deployed an over-the-air software update intended to stop overvoltage breakdown and reduce stress on motor drive components located on the vehicle’s printed circuit board — the root cause of the increased steering effort.

With the recall now in place, the NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation determined there was no longer a need to continue its engineering analysis and formally closed the case.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has officially closed its preliminary investigation into 441,002 Honda vehicles following the automaker’s decision to recall certain Odyssey models, the agency announced Saturday.

The federal regulator launched the probe in October of last year, targeting approximately 441,000 units of the 2018-2022 Honda Odyssey minivan. The investigation was triggered by consumer complaints that side airbags were deploying without warning while vehicles were being driven — in some cases, the unexpected deployments were tied to hitting potholes.

The investigation came to a close after Honda issued a recall in April aimed at addressing the problem of unintended side airbag deployment.

In Honda’s recall filing with the safety agency, the company reported that between January 24, 2017 and April 2, 2026, it had received 130 warranty claims and 25 injury reports connected to the issue. No deaths were reported in connection with the problem.

The recall applied to select 2018-2022 Honda Odyssey models, and Honda reached out to affected customers in late May of this year.

HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut judge has released video footage from 2018 showing correctional officers repeatedly striking inmate J’Allen Jones, who was in the middle of a mental health crisis, shortly before his death at a state prison.

The footage was made public Friday by a Hartford state judge overseeing a lawsuit filed by Jones’ family against eight officers and a prison nurse. Both sides agreed to certain portions of the video being edited out before its release, following years of legal proceedings.

The Department of Correction had fought to keep the video sealed since 2019, arguing its release could create security risks by revealing the prison’s physical layout and staffing patterns. However, Jones’ family, the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, and local NAACP officials pushed for the video to be made public, arguing that transparency was essential in understanding how Jones died.

Ron Murphy, an attorney representing Jones’ family, drew a stark comparison in court documents, writing: “The events in the video are as disturbing as the events in the video of George Floyd’s death” — referring to the man killed by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020. “But in some ways, the video of J’Allen’s death is worse.”

Jones, 31, originally from Atlanta, was serving a 10-year sentence for robbery at Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown — approximately 25 miles west of New Haven — when he died on March 25, 2018. At the time, correctional officers were attempting to escort him to the prison’s medical unit for mental health treatment.

Segments of the 52-minute recording show Jones handcuffed behind his back, and later with his legs restrained, as officers struck his legs and torso with their knees and fists after he refused a strip search. At one point, an officer pins Jones face-down on a bed with a knee on his back while other officers hold him in place.

Court documents indicate Jones was experiencing a schizophrenic episode at the time. He can be heard yelling in the video, much of it difficult to understand. He repeatedly shouts, “In the blood of Jesus Christ!” and at one point tells officers, “I command you … to uncuff me now!”

Throughout the video, officers repeatedly instruct Jones to stop resisting and calm down, with one officer telling him they are only trying to help.

Roughly 17 minutes into the footage, Jones appears to begin struggling to breathe after the spit bag is placed over his head and pepper spray is directed at his face. Nearly five minutes later, he appears to lose consciousness as officers struggle to hold him upright and place him in a wheelchair. At approximately the 24-minute mark, an officer asks for a nurse to come check on Jones.

“Right now he’s just being dead weight, and I just want to make sure he’s OK,” the officer says, speaking toward a camera being held by another officer.

Around 28 minutes into the video, a nurse begins performing CPR and an officer radios for someone to call 911. An ambulance does not appear until more than 43 minutes into the recording. Jones was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

In the hours following Jones’ death, the Department of Correction released a brief statement saying Jones had become “non-compliant and combative with staff and then became non-responsive.” The statement made no mention of officers striking Jones and noted there were no immediate signs that excessive force had been used. It said life-saving measures were taken and Jones was transported to a hospital.

The medical examiner’s office concluded that Jones died from “sudden death during struggle and restraint with chest compression and pepper spray exposure in person with hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.” His death was ruled a homicide, though that classification does not automatically mean a crime took place.

In January 2019, a state prosecutor concluded that no crimes were committed in connection with Jones’ death.

An internal Correction Department review also found that excessive force was not used. However, it determined that the eight officers and the nurse violated department policy by failing to recognize for more than seven minutes that Jones was in medical distress — though the report noted this was not intentional.

Department records show all nine staff members received one-day suspensions without pay as punishment. The correctional officers’ union did not respond to a request for comment.

Jones was Black. His attorney noted that eight of the nine defendants are white, and one is Black. In court filings seeking the video’s release, Murphy stated it was important for the public to view the footage and consider “whether his race or schizophrenia played any role in how his cries for help and gasps for air were perceived and handled.”

“I hope everyone who chooses to watch the video does so with an open heart, remembering that J’Allen Jones was a father and a son and that his family grieves every day,” Murphy said in a statement released Friday afternoon, adding that he hoped the footage would lead to improvements within the prison system.

Murphy also urged viewers to be cautious: “I found the video very difficult to watch as it depicts the painful death of another human being. So please take care of yourself while watching and if you experience overwhelming feelings, consider taking a break or reaching out to someone for support. Thank you.”

The Correction Department’s interim commissioner, Sharonda Carlos, responded to questions from The Associated Press about the video and how officers handled the situation. In a statement, she said the agency is continuously working to improve the services it provides to inmates dealing with mental health issues.

“Any loss of life in our facilities is a tragedy that we feel deeply, and our sympathy remains with Mr. Jones’ family and loved ones,” she said.

Carlos added that she appointed a psychiatrist to lead the department’s inmate medical services in May, and that the agency is rolling out significant improvements to its mental health training for staff.

“Behind every individual in our care is a family hoping for their well-being, and we do not take that responsibility lightly,” she said.

PHOENIX (AP) — A leader of a polygamous religious sect who is already serving a 50-year federal prison sentence for orchestrating sexual abuse involving children has now been convicted on state child abuse charges as well. The verdict came Friday, following a trial centered on the discovery of three young girls trapped inside a sweltering, unventilated trailer he was towing through Arizona.

The incident came to light in 2022 when a passerby spotted small fingers poking through gaps in the trailer doors and contacted authorities. Law enforcement pulled over Samuel Bateman’s vehicle in Flagstaff and found three girls inside, ranging in age from 11 to 14. The enclosed trailer contained only a makeshift toilet, a sofa, and a few camping chairs.

In his separate federal case, Bateman was found guilty of coercing girls as young as 9 years old into sexual acts with him and other adults, as well as plotting to abduct girls from protective custody. That case has been featured in a Netflix documentary series titled “Trust Me: The False Prophet.”

Bateman had previously claimed to have more than 20 so-called “spiritual wives,” at least 10 of whom were under the age of 18. He chose to represent himself during the state trial and took the stand in his own defense, telling jurors he would never hurt those he loves. Under cross-examination, however, he admitted he was aware the girls had been riding in a hot trailer with poor ventilation for an extended period of time.

“I just trusted myself as a driver,” he said. “I ask God to bless me every time we hopped in that vehicle.”

Because Bateman represented himself, he repeatedly brought up his federal conviction during proceedings — even though the judge had specifically barred that information from being presented to jurors. The judge repeatedly ordered those remarks stricken from the record.

The jury took just roughly 40 minutes to return a guilty verdict on all three child abuse counts.

Federal authorities described Bateman as a self-proclaimed prophet who traveled widely across Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and Nebraska while building a splinter group connected to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That sect has historically been centered in the adjoining communities of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah.

Bateman and his followers adhered to the practice of polygamy, which traces its roots to early teachings of the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The mainstream church officially abandoned polygamy in 1890 and now strictly forbids it.

Bateman was known as a close follower of Warren Jeffs, the former leader of the sect, who is currently serving a life sentence in Texas after being convicted of sexually assaulting children.

A Minnesota man facing charges in one of the largest fraud cases in the state’s history has been apprehended overseas. Abdikerm Abdelahi Eidleh, 42, of Burnsville, Minnesota, was taken into custody Thursday in Mogadishu, Somalia, according to U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen.

Eidleh is among dozens of individuals indicted back in 2022 in connection with an alleged scheme to defraud a federal meals program out of approximately $250 million. Court records do not indicate whether he has legal representation, and he has not yet had the chance to enter a plea.

Prosecutors say Eidleh worked for an organization called Feeding Our Future, which claimed to be distributing millions of meals to children in need during the pandemic through a federal child nutrition program. However, authorities allege that only a small fraction of the federal dollars actually went toward feeding children. The rest, they say, was funneled through shell companies and used to purchase real estate, luxury vehicles, and fund travel.

Specifically, Eidleh is accused of fabricating child nutrition program sites, falsely reporting that thousands of children were being fed there each day, and setting up shell companies that posed as meal vendors at those locations. He faces 31 counts in total, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, federal programs bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering.

Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Department of Justice’s National Fraud Enforcement Division described Eidleh as a central figure in what he called “one of the largest fraud schemes in Minnesota history.”

“He not only stole taxpayer dollars, but he also robbed vulnerable children of critical resources they desperately needed. Rather than answer for his crimes in the United States, he fled to Somalia in a futile attempt to evade justice,” McDonald said.

President Donald Trump previously cited this fraud case as part of his reasoning for initiating a large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota late last year.

LOS ANGELES — A California appeals court on Friday let stand Harvey Weinstein’s 2022 rape and sexual assault conviction, though it directed the trial judge to issue a new sentence in the case.

The ruling was handed down unanimously by a three-judge panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal.

A spokesperson for Weinstein, Juda Engelmayer, responded to the ruling via email, stating: “We are disappointed by today’s decision and respectfully disagree with the Court of Appeal’s conclusions regarding the fairness of Mr. Weinstein’s trial. At the same time, the court correctly recognized that his sentence cannot stand.”

The California decision arrived just one day after New York prosecutors announced they would not pursue a fourth trial against Weinstein in that state. The #MeToo-era New York case was dropped Thursday after the accuser stated she could not endure testifying once more.

Weinstein, the former Hollywood film producer, still has a separate sexual felony conviction in New York and continues to be held behind bars. However, the New York rape charge had remained unresolved following an overturned conviction and two trials that ended with hung juries.

In California, the 74-year-old was found guilty in December 2022 on one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault against an Italian model and actor who was referred to during trial proceedings as Jane Doe 1. He received a 16-year prison sentence following that conviction.

Weinstein’s legal team had argued on appeal that Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench unfairly restricted testimony from the head of a film festival during the Los Angeles County trial, and they had sought a completely new trial rather than just resentencing.

Meanwhile, in New York, Weinstein is awaiting a September sentencing on his standing assault conviction, which involves a different woman. Prosecutors there are seeking a 20-year prison term. His California sentence would only begin after his New York sentence is served.

Following the Los Angeles trial, Jane Doe 1 publicly revealed her identity as Evgeniya Chernyshova when she filed a civil lawsuit against Weinstein.

Chernyshova testified that Weinstein showed up uninvited at her hotel room during the 2013 LA Italia Film Festival and assaulted her.

The defense had argued that the trial judge wrongly blocked Weinstein’s attorneys from questioning Chernyshova about Facebook messages between her and festival director Pascal Vicedomini, which they claimed would have demonstrated the two had a romantic relationship.

The Associated Press has a standard practice of not identifying individuals who allege sexual abuse unless they choose to go public, as Chernyshova did. Her attorney also confirmed she gave her consent to be named.

New Mexico’s attorney general launched a criminal investigation Friday to find out whether agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration violated state law by letting hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills make their way onto the streets of Albuquerque.

The unusual probe comes just days after the Associated Press published a report revealing that DEA agents repeatedly watched fentanyl shipments move through the area without intervening — a deliberate tactic used from 2023 to 2025 in hopes of building larger criminal cases against drug trafficking networks.

Both current and former DEA agents, including whistleblower David Howell, told the AP that the approach was a dangerous gamble with public safety and may have run afoul of U.S. Justice Department guidelines designed to protect the public.

All of this unfolded during what has become the deadliest drug epidemic in American history — and while the DEA was simultaneously running a public awareness campaign called “One Pill Can Kill,” which warned that even tiny amounts of fentanyl can be fatal.

The criminal investigation transforms what had been a debate over law enforcement strategy into a direct legal question: did federal agents break the law while pursuing bigger targets?

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, a Democrat, made clear that federal agents “are not above the law,” while acknowledging they do have significant legal protections when performing official duties.

Despite those protections, Torrez announced he would begin “demanding documents and information about the DEA’s conduct, in New Mexico and nationally, to determine whether what occurred here reflects a broader pattern of reckless or unlawful behavior.”

In a letter to Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham — who had called for the investigation earlier in the week — Torrez wrote: “If those allegations are accurate, the consequences for New Mexicans were not abstract. They were fatal.”

He went on to say that “New Mexico already ranks among the states hardest hit by fentanyl overdose deaths, and the families who have lost children, siblings and parents to this crisis deserve a full accounting of what the federal government knew, what it did and what it failed to do.”

The DEA initially pushed back against Howell’s allegations in a statement to the AP, but later asked the Justice Department’s independent watchdog to conduct its own review of the matter.

“Should that review identify areas of improvement, the DEA will of course implement changes to better their practices,” the Justice Department said in a statement. “We welcome a partnership with Governor Lujan Grisham, as well as New Mexico state and local leaders, to fight the scourge of fentanyl and keep her constituents safe.”

While many local and state leaders in New Mexico have voiced outrage over the allegations, that anger is not universally shared — particularly among families who have lost loved ones to overdoses. Paul E. Martin, founder of United Against Fentanyl, a nonprofit representing 5,000 victims’ family members, offered a more measured take.

“Law enforcement makes mistakes,” Martin said. “But the DEA are the men and women putting their lives on the line. Their entire business is the removal of illegal and toxic drugs from our streets.”

A rare moment of open tension between two Supreme Court justices played out on Thursday, only to be quietly walked back the very next day.

Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the majority opinion in an asylum case, appeared to directly challenge Justice Sonia Sotomayor while opinions were being delivered from the bench. Sotomayor had written the dissenting opinion in the case. The public back-and-forth was considered highly unusual by court observers, as justices rarely address each other’s written opinions in such a direct manner during proceedings.

The moment did not go unnoticed. By Friday, the Supreme Court moved to address the situation, describing what had occurred as a misunderstanding between the two justices.

Such exchanges on the bench are uncommon in the nation’s highest court, where justices typically allow their written opinions and dissents to speak for themselves without additional verbal commentary directed at colleagues.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced Friday that it will prohibit the importation of equipment made by a group of Chinese manufacturers, marking another step in the federal government’s ongoing effort to limit Chinese-made electronic devices from entering the country.

The FCC had previously acted in 2022 to block approvals of new models of telecommunications and video surveillance equipment produced by Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision, and Dahua. Those companies were added to a list of firms considered to pose risks to U.S. national security.

The newly announced import ban is scheduled to go into effect in July.

A woman who shared a post about immigration activity on social media in January found herself facing federal agents five months later — agents who demanded she delete what she had written.

Paigelynne Gonyea originally posted about an immigration surge in Minneapolis at the start of the year. This week, officials from ICE came to her and alleged that one of her social media posts had doxxed — meaning it revealed the personal information of — a federal agent.

The encounter took place at a polling location in Syracuse, New York on June 23, 2026, and was recorded on video by another poll worker who was present at the scene.

Back in January, a Minneapolis woman named Paigelynne Gonyea took to social media to share posts about a surge in immigration enforcement activity happening in her city.

Five months later, that decision caught up with her in a way she likely did not expect. ICE officials showed up at her door this week, telling her that one of her posts had revealed the personal identity of one of their agents — a practice commonly known as doxxing.

The agents reportedly pressured her to remove the posts in question from her social media accounts.

After nearly two weeks on the loose in the Texas Hill Country, a giraffe named Gracie has been found alive and well — and by all accounts, she enjoyed her time in the wild.

Gracie was located on Friday, approximately 4 miles south of her enclosure, during a helicopter search of the area. Real County Sheriff Nathan Johnson confirmed the discovery, noting that Gracie’s owner, Vick Jones, immediately reached out to a veterinarian and began assembling a team to safely return her to the ranch.

“She’s in good shape,” Jones said. “She’s standing there, swishing her tail.”

The roughly 3-year-old giraffe, who tips the scales at no less than 1,200 pounds, was found within half a mile of both a pond and a creek, with plenty of surrounding plant life to graze on. Jones estimated she had likely been in that particular spot for about a week.

Returning the 10-foot-tall animal to Cedar Hollow Ranch — located roughly 100 miles west of San Antonio — required careful planning. Veterinarians needed to sedate Gracie and place a hood over her eyes before she could be moved. The transport plan called for first loading her onto an open-pasture trailer, then transferring her to a taller, enclosed trailer specifically built to accommodate giraffes.

Much of the remote terrain where Gracie was found is inaccessible by vehicle, which is why a helicopter was used in the search. While the roughly 2,700 residents of Real County had been asked to watch for her, Gracie was ultimately discovered on uninhabited private property.

“We didn’t bother her,” Jones said of the moment she was spotted. “She’s got water. She looked in really good shape.”

The Texas Hill Country is home to one of the highest concentrations of exotic captive animals anywhere in the United States. Sheriff Johnson noted that reports of missing animals in the area are not uncommon — he said he’s received calls about missing wildebeests, water buffalo, zebras, and monkeys — though a missing giraffe was a first for him.

The region’s mild climate, rugged landscape, and abundant vegetation made it a manageable environment for Gracie. In her native Africa, giraffes typically do best in dry and semi-dry savannahs and open grasslands.

Jones believes Gracie never intended to leave the ranch. She had arrived at Cedar Hollow Ranch back in May and had developed a habit of wandering up to a rocky area to feed on trees growing from the rock face, always returning to her enclosure afterward.

On the day she went missing, Jones said, Gracie wandered into that rocky area to feed and came back down on the wrong side of a gate. At that point, continuing forward was simply easier than turning back.

The rocky terrain had not been fenced because giraffes had never ventured there before Gracie did — and installing fence posts in solid rock requires jackhammering. Jones said he now plans to have that fence built, and Gracie will remain in her enclosure at the ranch until the work is complete.

Despite her impressive size, Jones said Gracie posed no danger to anyone who might have crossed her path during her time on the loose.

“If you move toward her, she’s taking off,” he said.

MIAMI — A 35-year-old nurse living in Kentucky has drafted her will, designated a legal guardian for her four children, and transferred her property into their names. She says she felt compelled to prepare as though she might not survive — because if she is deported back to Haiti, a country she left at the age of 9, she fears for her life.

Her anxiety intensified after the Supreme Court ruled Thursday to allow the Trump administration to strip legal protections from migrants who fled violence and natural disasters in Haiti and Syria. The decision sent waves of panic through those communities nationwide, leaving hundreds of thousands of people facing potential deportation.

“I have been living with this internal fear, it’s like preparing for a funeral, just in case I die when going to another country,” said the nurse, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of being targeted for deportation.

She is one of approximately 350,000 Haitians who hold Temporary Protected Status, a designation that has allowed many of them to live and work legally in the United States for decades — many with children who are U.S. citizens. The ruling, set to take effect July 27, also affects around 6,000 Syrians and could open the door to ending protections for as many as 1.3 million people from 17 different countries.

Congress established Temporary Protected Status in 1990 as a way to halt deportations to countries considered too dangerous due to natural disasters, civil conflict, or widespread instability. The program allows recipients to work legally in the U.S. but does not offer a route to citizenship. It can be renewed in up to 18-month intervals if the homeland security secretary determines conditions in the home country remain unsafe.

The Biden administration roughly doubled the number of people covered under TPS. The Trump administration moved to end those protections, arguing the program was designed to be short-term, that the affected countries are now safe, and that the previous administration expanded it too broadly without properly screening recipients.

For TPS holders, life has long been uncertain — but Thursday’s Supreme Court decision may represent the most serious threat yet to their ability to legally live and work in the United States.

The Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, was thrust into the national spotlight during the 2024 presidential campaign when Trump repeated unfounded claims that Haitians in that city were eating residents’ pets. Those claims have no basis in fact.

Even so, that community has been under relentless pressure since those remarks, according to Viles Dorsainvil, executive director of the Haitian Community Help and Support Center in Springfield.

Thursday’s ruling only deepened the anxiety. Dorsainvil said people are unsure whether to pull their money out of the bank, whether they can legally work, or whether their children can continue attending school. Many are already making contingency plans to leave behind their U.S. citizen children if they are forced out of the country.

“As a Haitian, I always say that life has not been easy for us, nothing has been easy for us and this is another chapter in our life. And we’ve been in that type of situation since after the presidential campaign when they came up with that type of conspiracy theory of us eating cats and dogs,” Dorsainvil said. “We’ve been targeted. We’ve been in the spotlight for their political agenda.”

Dorsainvil said his primary focus right now is keeping people calm and urging them not to make desperate decisions that could put them or their children in greater danger.

A Haitian mother in Florida — a 37-year-old with a 17-month-old son — woke up Thursday morning to the news of the ruling.

“I was reading it and I just for a moment there I just felt like I couldn’t breathe, like as if something was just sitting on my chest, like my lungs couldn’t extend,” she said, her voice breaking.

She also asked not to be named, fearing detention and deportation.

“I did not expect this. It is so hard to accept. Maybe I am in denial but I think this can’t be real,” she said. “I had so much hope.”

She came to the United States in 1995 at age 7 and completed high school here, but was unable to pursue a college degree due to her lack of legal status. That changed in 2010, when the U.S. extended TPS protections to Haitians following a devastating earthquake. With repeated renewals amid the gang violence that has since overtaken the country and displaced more than a million people, she was eventually able to apply, attend school, and become a nurse. She was scheduled to begin a new job in just two weeks — but now she is uncertain whether she is even authorized to work.

Industry groups warn that the long-term care sector — including nursing homes and facilities serving people with disabilities — could be especially hard hit, since TPS holders are heavily represented in caregiving roles.

The Kentucky nurse said she is trying to stay focused on her job caring for people with disabilities, but she cannot stop imagining the worst: being separated from her children, who are 13, 12, 8, and 2 years old, and being sent to a country she left more than two decades ago — one she now reads about only in terms of gang warfare, kidnappings, and killings.

“I don’t want to go there. I am very Americanized,” she said. “It’s like someone saying, hey, do you want to go live in a horror movie? Like, you know, no, I don’t.”

Dozens of community organizations across the American South are set to receive a financial boost this summer, as a nonprofit dedicated to Black women and girls announces a new round of grant funding.

The Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium will distribute $350,000 among 24 Southern community groups operating across thirteen states. The money is intended to support organizations tackling pressing issues affecting underserved Black women and girls, including maternal health, prevention of gender-based violence, and educational assistance.

The announcement arrives at a challenging time for organizations focused on underserved communities, many of which are feeling the financial squeeze following the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The administration has used civil rights laws — historically seen as protections for marginalized groups — to pursue investigations into what it describes as “anti-white racism” and “illegal DEI” practices within corporations, nonprofits, and government agencies.

“We’ve seen this retrenchment in philanthropy, and people are not putting resources on the ground,” said Chanceé Lundy, the organization’s executive director. “Organizations are struggling, and we want to make sure that people know that we see them. We value the work that we’re doing, and we want to be able to help fill some of the gaps that they are experiencing.”

Alongside the grant announcement, the consortium is launching its summer “Joy and Justice” tour, a series of community-building events, resource drives, and festivals planned for nine cities. The majority of tour stops will be held at schools and community centers located in predominantly Black neighborhoods. One event is planned at the Virginia Capitol, where agency leaders advocating for diversity in state government are expected to participate.

Southern Black Girls has managed to hold on to support from some major corporations and foundations, but Lundy described maintaining those relationships as “extremely difficult” for most organizations right now, given that backing race- and gender-conscious groups could draw scrutiny from the federal government.

LaTosha Brown, a voting rights activist and co-founder of the organization, put it bluntly: “We’re being punished for who we are.”

President Donald Trump defeated former Vice President Kamala Harris — the first Black woman nominated for president by a major political party — in the last election. According to an AP VoteCast survey, roughly nine out of ten Black women supported Harris. Brown said Black women’s long history of involvement in progressive politics has made them a “target” in the current political environment.

“We have always been anchored, particularly in the social justice movements of this country, and I don’t think that that’s any different now. I think in many ways it has been exacerbated, just given the environment,” Brown said.

Both Brown and Lundy pointed out that Black women have historically faced discrimination and exclusion across the South, even as they remained essential contributors to the region’s economy and culture. Lundy reflected on stories of earlier generations of Black women who cared for white families that supported Jim Crow-era policies — laws that underfunded Black schools, suppressed voting rights, and allowed political violence against Black communities.

“You have to have a deep, deep sense of humanity to be able to do that,” Lundy said. She added that the tour is also about honoring Black women’s role in American history as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary. “We’ve kept our humanity intact through it all, and I think this moment requires that.”

Lundy said her ultimate hope is that the tour and grants will help young Black girls realize their full potential. Her message to them, she said, is a joyful one: “You matter now in this moment. And you’re not a victim. You are actually the solution, that you are the antidote to what is happening right now.”

The Utah judge overseeing the murder case connected to the killing of Charlie Kirk found prosecutors in contempt of court Friday, citing public statements they made to media outlets regarding the guilt of the accused, Tyler Robinson.

Judge Tony Graf determined that those statements crossed the line established by his own restrictions on what either side in the case is permitted to say publicly. However, Graf turned down a request from the defense to remove the death penalty from consideration as a consequence for the violation. He concluded that the issue could be better addressed through the jury selection process, which is designed to identify and exclude potentially biased jurors.

Robinson has not yet entered a plea in the case. The 23-year-old, who is from southwestern Utah, faces a charge of aggravated murder in connection with the September 10 assassination of Kirk, a political ally of President Donald Trump. Kirk was shot in the neck while speaking before a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University.

Defense attorneys had argued that Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard went on what they described as a “media tour,” discussing ballistics evidence in the case and stating that prosecutors had sufficient evidence to prove Robinson committed the murder.

Judge Graf acknowledged that the comments were not made with any intention of tainting the jury pool, but he still characterized the statements about Robinson’s guilt as “unreasonable” given the court’s existing restrictions on public commentary about the case.

Legal experts had previously noted that eliminating the death penalty as an option would have been a highly unusual and extreme remedy for such a violation.

A man who authorities say faked his own death and fled to Europe to escape rape charges in the United States has died after being transported from a Utah prison to a hospital, officials announced Friday.

Nicholas Rossi, 38, had been serving a sentence of at least 10 years following his 2025 convictions on two separate sexual assault charges.

Rossi passed away Thursday night due to “complications of an existing medical condition after choosing to discontinue medical treatment,” according to Richard Piatt, a spokesperson for the Utah Department of Corrections.

Piatt confirmed that Rossi’s victims and family members had been informed of his death. He declined to provide specifics about the nature of Rossi’s health issues, though Rossi had appeared in a wheelchair and relied on supplemental oxygen during court proceedings.

Also known by the name Nicholas Alahverdian, Rossi was brought back to the United States from Scotland in 2024 after being extradited to face charges in Utah.

Utah investigators had been searching for Rossi after a DNA match from a rape kit collected more than a decade earlier identified him in 2018. Shortly after charges were filed, an online obituary surfaced claiming he had died on February 29, 2020, from non-Hodgkin lymphoma. However, Rhode Island police, a former attorney, and a former foster family all raised serious doubts about whether he had actually died.

He was taken into custody in Scotland the following year while being treated for COVID-19. Hospital workers recognized him by his distinctive tattoos, including a Brown University crest tattooed on his shoulder — despite the fact that he never attended the school.

Throughout the legal proceedings, Rossi maintained that he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who was being wrongfully accused. Investigators say they uncovered at least a dozen different aliases he had used over the years in an effort to avoid being caught.

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge brought the arson trial of the man accused of igniting the catastrophic 2025 Palisades Fire to an abrupt halt Friday, declaring a mistrial after jurors announced they were hopelessly deadlocked. Federal prosecutors wasted no time signaling their intention to bring the case back to court.

The jury in the trial of 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht had informed the court a day earlier that deliberations had reached a complete standstill. Rinderknecht faced three federal charges: arson, malicious destruction by means of a fire, and timber set aflame.

Judge Anne Hwang formally ended the proceedings, stating, “The court finds there is a manifest necessity to declare a mistrial because the jury is deadlocked.” The split stood at 10 jurors favoring not guilty and two pushing for conviction.

In a note submitted to the court Thursday, jurors described the situation plainly: “We have people on both sides that are dead set, unwavering and unwilling to change their opinion.” The jury also indicated there was nothing the court could do to break the impasse and confirmed they were divided on every single charge.

Prosecutors had asked Judge Hwang to instruct the jury to continue deliberating, but she declined, citing a “risk of coercion” given how firmly entrenched both sides appeared to be.

Defense attorney Steve Haney characterized the vote tally as a “pretty resounding indication” that his client did not commit the crime.

U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli pushed back strongly, declaring that prosecutors “fully intend to retry this case before a new jury and obtain guilty verdicts on all charged counts.” He added, “The evidence is strong that Jonathan Rinderknecht is responsible for igniting the fire on January 1, 2025, which eventually became the Palisades fire.”

Rinderknecht has maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings. The fire he is accused of starting became one of the most destructive wildfires in the history of California. Prosecutors contend he lit a fire on January 1, 2025, which smoldered undetected in underground root systems before erupting again on January 7. The Palisades Fire ultimately claimed 12 lives and leveled thousands of homes across the hillside communities of Pacific Palisades and Malibu. Recovery has been painfully slow — only 17 homes have been cleared for occupancy.

The trial got underway on June 8 and included eight days of detailed testimony from investigators, expert witnesses, and people who lived in the surrounding area. Jurors spent a total of 13 hours deliberating over two days before concluding they could not reach a unanimous decision.

Prosecutors used security camera footage to argue the fire originated at a location known as the Hidden Buddha clearing, a hillside spot accessible via a neighborhood trail. Rinderknecht, who was working as an Uber driver that evening, dropped off his final passenger in the same neighborhood shortly before midnight.

He called 911 more than a dozen times that night, and cell phone location data placed him at the clearing. Records showed him walking down the trail while making those calls. Prosecutors also noted that Rinderknecht told investigators he had not seen or heard anyone else at the location.

To establish motive and state of mind, prosecutors introduced a wide range of digital records pulled from his phone, email, Uber account, OpenAI account, and various social media platforms. Investigators reviewed thousands of exchanges between Rinderknecht and the AI chatbot ChatGPT, which he regularly used as a personal journal several times a week.

In one entry, he wrote: “Why am I so angry all the time?” He also expressed frustration over wealth inequality and climate change, feeling powerless to make any difference.

Digital records also showed he had searched for information about Luigi Mangione, who is charged with murdering United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. On Reddit, he searched the phrase “lets kill all the billionaires.” He also looked up the home address of DoorDash CEO Tony Xu, including whether Xu had children or security cameras at his residence.

Prosecutors also highlighted his romantic frustrations. He had reached out to a woman earlier on New Year’s Eve asking about her plans, and after she turned him down, he sent her angry and offensive messages from a separate phone.

After firefighters arrived to battle the blaze, Rinderknecht followed them and recorded video of the fire. While doing so, he also asked ChatGPT whether a person could be held responsible for a fire accidentally started by a cigarette. He screen-recorded both his 911 calls and that ChatGPT exchange — something prosecutors presented as an attempt to mislead investigators.

On January 6 — the day before powerful Santa Ana winds fanned the smoldering roots back into a full-scale inferno — Rinderknecht recorded a selfie video in which he said he was experiencing a mental breakdown.

Prosecutors also referenced a recorded interview Rinderknecht gave to agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in late January, before he was considered a suspect. ATF agent Matthew Beals spoke with him for approximately eight hours, at one point driving with him to the fire site so Rinderknecht could walk through his movements during the timeframe when the fire began.

Agent Beals testified that Rinderknecht’s account of events conflicted with the geolocation data from his phone and the timestamps on his 911 calls. Beals also said Rinderknecht grew “agitated” during questioning, at one point accusing the agent of treating him like a suspect, and repeatedly brought up his frustrations with politics when asked about the fire.

In one recorded moment, Rinderknecht speculated about why someone might hypothetically set a fire in Pacific Palisades: “If people are specifically targeting this area, I’m thinking it’s probably because they’re like, ‘Oh, do people think they can have their own little road up here in paradise and just, you know, be here with their money while we’re basically being slaves for them?’”

Arson behavioral expert Kevin Kelm testified that Rinderknecht’s conduct was consistent with what he described as a “revenge, or societal revenge motivated” arsonist.

The defense, meanwhile, argued that fireworks — not Rinderknecht — were the most probable cause of the fire. One firefighter testified to hearing fireworks in the area around midnight on New Year’s Eve. Three additional witnesses called by the defense — two Pacific Palisades residents and a neighborhood security guard — said they either saw flashes of light or heard fireworks, and two of them reported seeing a group of teenagers running down the trail afterward.

Two defense expert witnesses also cast doubt on the federal investigation, pointing out that the scene of the January 1 fire was left unsecured for 13 days, leaving it potentially compromised. Both concluded fireworks were the most likely cause.

Former Los Angeles fire investigator Ed Nordskog testified that he had responded to dozens of fires on both the Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve, the majority of which were caused by fireworks. He accused government investigators of falling victim to confirmation bias in their pursuit of Rinderknecht. “They’re choosing to look at information in a very sinister way when they should be a little more open about it,” he said.

Defense attorney Haney also noted that a search of Rinderknecht’s entire digital history turned up no searches related to arson, fire-starting techniques, or purchases of fire-starting materials. While investigators found his DNA on a barbecue lighter in his vehicle, they could not prove that lighter caused the fire — only that it was started with an “open flame,” Haney said.

Haney argued that calling 911 repeatedly and remaining on scene while firefighters worked was itself evidence of innocence. “No arsonist sets a fire and calls 911 for them to put it out … and then waits around to be arrested,” he said.

LOS ANGELES — Ann Blyth, a gifted actress and singer who earned an Academy Award nomination at just 17 years old for her unforgettable performance in “Mildred Pierce” alongside Joan Crawford, has passed away. She was 98 years old.

Her daughter, Eileen McNulty, confirmed that Blyth died Wednesday from natural causes at her residence in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Her family was gathered around her at the time of her passing.

Considered one of the final living links to Hollywood’s golden studio era, Blyth built a remarkable career that spanned youth pictures, dramatic films, and big-screen musicals. She shared the screen with some of cinema’s biggest names, including Bing Crosby, Gregory Peck, and Robert Mitchum. By the close of the 1950s, she had stepped away from film to focus on raising her children, though she continued performing in television productions, concert tours, and stage musicals ranging from “Show Boat” to “The Sound of Music.”

Her path to stardom began early. At 13, she landed her first major role as Paul Lukas’s daughter in Lillian Hellman’s anti-Nazi stage play “Watch on the Rhine,” which also featured Bette Davis. She spent nearly a year performing the show on Broadway, followed by another year on a national tour.

When the production traveled to Los Angeles, Universal Studio took notice and signed her to a contract at $175 per week. The dark-haired young actress with a naturally melodic singing voice went on to appear alongside a young Donald O’Connor in modest musical productions such as “Chip Off the Old Block” and “Bowery to Broadway.” It was a loan-out to Warner Bros. for “Mildred Pierce” that truly launched her career into a higher orbit and opened the door to more mature roles.

Much like “Double Indemnity,” which Billy Wilder adapted for the screen in 1944, “Mildred Pierce” was rooted in a James M. Cain thriller built around themes of revenge and scheming. Crawford took home the 1945 Oscar for Best Actress, playing a waitress who climbs her way to restaurant ownership. Blyth received a supporting actress nomination for her portrayal of Mildred’s spoiled and calculating daughter, Veda, who seduces her mother’s second husband — played by Zachary Scott — and then shoots him in a fit of jealous fury.

The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, the same filmmaker behind “Casablanca,” and stands as a celebrated example of film noir, set largely in shadowy nighttime scenes. For Blyth, the role was a sharp departure from the lighthearted musicals that had defined her early work — especially striking given that magazine profiles of her had carried titles like “Incorruptible!”, “Angelic Annie,” and “Ann Blyth: Success Without an Enemy.”

In 1946, her career was nearly derailed when she broke her back in a toboggan accident. She endured seven months confined to a body cast and another seven months in a wheelchair. During that difficult stretch, she leaned heavily on her Roman Catholic faith.

“The busy, exciting world I had known faded away, and my life slowed down to little things,” she once told The Associated Press. “But even here I found myself blessed, for a new sense of prayer began to unfold to me.”

After her recovery, she returned to the screen in a series of films, including roles opposite Sonny Tufts in “Swell Guy,” Howard Duff in “Brute Force,” and Mickey Rooney in the boxing picture “Killer McCoy.” She also demonstrated her dramatic range playing a young woman in love with a man suspected of murdering his wife — portrayed by Charles Boyer — in “A Woman’s Vengeance.”

Her most compelling post-“Mildred Pierce” dramatic work came in “Another Part of the Forest,” Lillian Hellman’s prequel to her celebrated drama “The Little Foxes.” Blyth took on the role of a young Regina Hubbard, a character previously brought to life on Broadway by Tallulah Bankhead and on film by Bette Davis.

Her career shifted direction again in 1951 when she starred opposite Mario Lanza in “The Great Caruso.” Her bright soprano voice proved a natural complement to his powerful tenor, and the two were set to reunite for “The Student Prince.” However, the notoriously difficult Lanza withdrew from the project after recording his musical numbers, leaving British actor Edmund Purdom to appear on screen while lip-syncing to Lanza’s recordings. Blyth also co-starred with Howard Keel in “Rose Marie” and “Kismet.”

Among her other notable films were “Top o’ the Morning” with Bing Crosby, “The World in His Arms” with Gregory Peck, and a reunion with Donald O’Connor in “The Buster Keaton Story.” Her final film appearance came in 1957 with “The Helen Morgan Story,” which starred Paul Newman alongside her.

Blyth was born in 1928 in Mount Kisco, New York, to an Irish mother and an English father who worked as a valet. She grew up in New York City. After her father left the family, her mother — known as Nan Blyth — supported herself and her two daughters by taking in laundry and working in beauty parlors.

Nan Blyth had high aspirations for her daughter’s future in entertainment, and by age 5, young Ann was already performing on a New York radio program. She continued as a radio performer and spent three years studying and performing with the San Carlo Opera Company.

Reflecting on those early years after achieving fame, Blyth once said: “I’d become blue and despondent when I failed to get a job, and my mother’s encouraging words made me want to try again.” Tragically, her mother died of cancer before she witnessed her daughter’s breakthrough in “Mildred Pierce.”

In 1953, Blyth married Dr. James McNulty, the brother of tenor and comedian Dennis Day. The couple had five children and remained together until Dr. McNulty’s death in 2007. In a memorable moment in television history, Blyth performed the song “Secret Love” at the Academy Awards ceremony just weeks before the birth of her son Timothy in 1954 — visibly pregnant as she sang the lyrics, “Once I had a secret love … and my secret love’s no secret anymore.”

Billionaire investor Leon Black sat before a U.S. House committee Friday and made a firm declaration: he had no part in — and no knowledge of — the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s “heinous conduct.”

“Let me state unequivocally that I have never abused a woman. I have never been with an underage woman,” Black said in his opening statement to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

He continued: “I have never engaged in sex trafficking. I have never paid Epstein for access to women. I was never blackmailed by Epstein.”

Black is among several individuals with ties to Epstein who have been called in for private interviews with the panel, which is examining the federal government’s handling of the Epstein case. Epstein, a well-known financier with connections to powerful figures in politics and business, pleaded guilty in 2008 to state prostitution charges and spent 13 months behind bars.

He was taken into custody again in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges involving minors. His death later that year in a Manhattan jail cell was officially ruled a suicide.

Black stepped away from his role leading private equity firm Apollo Global Management in 2021, following an independent law firm review that revealed he had paid Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning services. In 2023, he also agreed to pay $62.5 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands to settle potential legal claims stemming from an Epstein-related investigation.

Several women have filed lawsuits against Black alleging sexual abuse. Two of those cases have been dismissed, while a third remains active. Black has denied all allegations and has not faced any criminal charges.

Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said the panel has hundreds of questions ready for Black — covering financial dealings and communications with survivors.

“Of all the witnesses that have come thus far, this one has the potential to be the most groundbreaking deposition, in my opinion,” Comer told reporters.

Black told the committee he would voluntarily answer questions related to his payments to Epstein and the services provided, but said he would not speak about his personal life.

In his testimony, Black noted that he had known Epstein for 18 years before ever paying him anything. He said Epstein helped him resolve what he described as a “massive estate problem.”

Black acknowledged he was aware of Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea, but said he was told at the time “it was an isolated incident resulting from a fake ID.” He said he now regrets giving Epstein another chance in 2013, and that he cut off the professional relationship in 2018 “after more than a year of increasing turmoil in our professional arrangements.”

A school board director in Bellingham, Washington is facing significant public backlash over her dual role as an elected education official and owner of a local adult novelty shop called “Wink, Wink.”

The store offers sex education classes targeting children as young as nine years old. According to promotional materials, the sessions run longer than four hours and carry a price tag of up to $50 per child.

Advertisements for the classes describe the curriculum as covering “gender and sexual identities, defining sexuality and the many ways to have a baby.”

The store has also recently held an event billed as a “Queer Youth Open Mic Night,” adding further fuel to the controversy surrounding the school board director’s outside business activities.