Supreme Court makes it harder to charge Capitol riot defendants with obstruction, charge Trump faces
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has made it harder to charge Capitol riot defendants with obstruction, a charge that also has been brought against former President Donald Trump. The justices ruled Friday the charge of obstructing an official proceeding must include proof that defendants tried to tamper with or destroy documents. Only some of the people who violently attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, fall into that category. The decision could fuel claims of political retribution by Trump and his Republican allies. Special counsel Jack Smith has said the charges faced by Trump would not be affected. The charge was enacted in 2002 in response to the financial scandal that brought down Enron Corp.
A halting Biden tries to confront Trump at debate but sparks Democratic anxiety about his candidacy
ATLANTA (AP) — A raspy and sometimes halting President Joe Biden repeatedly sought to confront Donald Trump in their first debate ahead of the November election. But Biden’s uneven performance crystallized the concerns of many Americans that at age 81, he is too old to serve as president. It sparked a fresh round of calls for the Democrat to step aside. Meanwhile, the 78-year-old Trump’s rhetoric offered Americans an unwelcome reminder of the bombast he launched daily during his tumultuous four years in office, as he struggles to win over skeptical voters. He declined to clearly state he would accept the results of the November election.
Biden’s debate performance spurs Democratic panic about his ability to lead party against Trump
ATLANTA (AP) — Above all, Joe Biden’s allies have wanted him to demonstrate strength and energy on the debate stage this week to help put to rest questions about the 81-year-old Democrat’s physical and mental acuity. But on the biggest stage in U.S. politics on Thursday, Biden did not meet their modest expectations. And by the end of the 90-minute affair, the Democratic president’s allies panicked about his chances against 78-year-old Republican former President Donald Trump this fall. They cited a Biden debate performance punctuated by repeated stumbles, uncomfortable pauses, and a quiet speaking style that was often difficult to understand. Publicly and privately, Democrats question whether the party could or should replace Biden.
FACT FOCUS: Here’s a look at some of the false claims made during Biden and Trump’s first debate
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have met for their first debate of the 2024 season, and there was no shortage of false claims. The Associated Press examined their statements during the 90-minute debate Thursday night. Trump once again falsely asserted that the U.S. had the greatest economy in history during his presidency and spread misleading claims about Jan. 6, migrant crime and the environment. Biden also had some misfires. For example, he overstated it when he asserted that Trump encouraged people to drink bleach to address COVID-19.
Supreme Court allows cities to enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outside
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers representing cities are applauding a Supreme Court ruling that cities can enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outdoors in West Coast areas where shelter space is lacking. The Oregon case decided Friday is the most significant to come before the high court in decades on the issue and comes as a rising number of people in the U.S. are without a permanent place to live. The high court struck down a ruling by a San Francisco-based appeals court that found outdoor sleeping bans amount to cruel and unusual punishment. Leaders in the West had argued the lower court ruling made it harder for them to manage outdoor encampments encroaching on sidewalks and other public spaces.
Indictment accuses former Uvalde schools police chief of delays while shooter was “hunting” children
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The police chief for schools in Uvalde, Texas, failed to identify an active shooting, did not follow his training and made critical decisions that slowed the law enforcement response to stop a killer who was “hunting” victims and ultimately killed 21 people at Robb Elementary. That’s according to an indictment unsealed Friday. Pete Arredondo was arrested and briefly booked into ail before he was released Thursday night on 10 state jail felony counts of abandoning or endangering a child in the May 24, 2022, attack that killed 19 children and two teachers. It was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history.
A decade after the Islamic State group declared a caliphate, it’s defeated but remains lethal
BAGHDAD (AP) — The Islamic State group declared its caliphate a decade ago. IS is now defeated but it still carries out deadly attacks around the world. The group that shocked the world with its brutality and once controlled parts of Iraq and Syria now relies mainly on sleeper cells. The loss of the last sliver of land they once controlled made them move to other parts of the world. They now operate mainly in Afghanistan and Africa. The 10th anniversary of the IS declaring a caliphate comes amid concerns that if the U.S. withdraws from Iraq and Syria the extremists will again try to launch a resurgence.
Texas Supreme Court upholds ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Supreme Court has upheld the state’s ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors, rejecting pleas from parents that it violates their right to seek care for their transgender children. The 8-1 ruling Friday from the all-Republican court leaves in place a law that went into effect in September 2023. A group of families and doctors sued to overturn the law, saying it discriminates against transgender children with devastating effects on families who are denied treatment. Texas is the largest of least 25 states that have passed laws banning some gender-affirming care for minors.
Iowa’s Supreme Court tells lower court to let strict abortion law go into effect
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has reversed a lower court ruling that put a temporary block on the state’s strict abortion law, and is telling the lower court to let the law take effect. In Friday’s ruling, the high court told the lower court to dissolve the temporary injunction and continue with further proceedings. The new law bans most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant. Iowa joins more than a dozen other states with restrictive abortion laws following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Until the lower court follows through on the high court’s instruction, abortion remains legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge shows price pressures easing further
WASHINGTON (AP) — A measure of prices that’s closely tracked by the Federal Reserve suggests that inflation pressures in the U.S. economy are continuing to ease. Consumer prices were flat from April to May, the mildest such performance in more than four years. Measured from a year earlier, prices rose 2.6% last month, slightly less than in April. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core inflation rose 0.1% from April to May, the smallest increase since the spring of 2020, when the pandemic shut down the economy. The latest figures will likely be welcomed by the Fed’s policymakers, who have said they need to feel confident inflation is slowing sustainably toward their 2% target before they’d start cutting interest rates.
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