MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge told attorneys for the state of Florida on Tuesday that an order freezing the enforcement of a new state immigration law absolutely did apply to all of the state’s local law enforcement agencies, despite a recent letter to the contrary from the state’s attorney general.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams said during a hearing in Miami that she planned to issue a preliminary injunction against a state statute that makes it a misdemeanor for undocumented migrants to enter Florida by eluding immigration officials.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the legislation into law in February as part of President Donald Trump’s push to crack down on illegal immigration.

The judge had issued a 14-day temporary restraining order on April 4, shortly after the lawsuit was filed by the Florida Immigrant Coalition and other groups with support from the American Civil Liberties Union. She then extended it another 11 days after learning the Florida Highway Patrol had arrested more than a dozen people, including a U.S. Citizen. The lawsuit claims the new law violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution by encroaching on federal duties.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Williams asked Jeffrey DeSousa, who is representing the Florida Office of the Attorney General, why Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier released a memo to law enforcement agencies last week saying they didn’t need to follow her order.

DeSousa said his office’s position is that a judge’s order can only apply to the named parties in the lawsuit being tried. Williams asked what would be the point of allowing law enforcement officers to arrest people without probable cause when prosecutors weren’t allowed to prosecute them, though DeSousa didn’t have a clear answer.

DeSousa also argued that the immigrant groups filing the lawsuit could have named the individual law enforcement agencies in their complaint, rather than just the Florida attorney general, the statewide prosecutor and Florida’s 20 state attorneys.

ACLU attorney Oscar Sarabia Roman said it would not have been practical to individually name all 373 of the state’s law enforcement agencies in their complaint. He added that the judge’s order should have the authority to prevent local police from enforcing the new law.

After Williams issued her order extension April 18, Uthmeier sent a memo to state and local law enforcement officers telling them to refrain from enforcing the law, even though he disagreed with it. But five days later, he sent another memo saying that the judge was legally wrong and that he couldn’t prevent local police officers and deputies from enforcing the law. No additional arrests have been reported since Uthmeier’s second memo.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court has suspended a judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities.

The FBI took Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan into custody on Friday morning at the county courthouse. She faces federal charges of concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest and obstructing or impeding a proceeding.

The state Supreme Court issued a two-page order Tuesday noting that Dugan faces two federal charges and saying it is in the public interest to temporarily relieve her of her duties.

Her attorney had no immediate comment.

Democrats have accused the Trump administration of trying to chill the nation’s judiciary.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has told Congress that it intends to designate Haitian gangs as foreign terrorist organizations, according to people familiar with the notification.

The State Department had similarly labeled eight Latin American crime organizations as it ratcheted up pressure on cartels operating in the U.S. and anyone assisting them, and the new move indicates that the administration plans to put similar pressure on gangs from Haiti. The designation carries with it sanctions and penalties for anyone providing “material support” for the group.

It comes after a series of steps against the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which was designated a foreign terror organization and then dubbed an invading force under an 18th-century wartime law to justify the deportation of Venezuelan migrants to a notorious El Salvador prison under President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

According to the notification sent to congressional committees on April 23, the Trump administration said it intends to designate the Haitian gangs Viv Ansamm and Gran Grif as foreign terrorist organizations, according to two people familiar with the message, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not yet been made public.

A third person confirmed the foreign relations committees in the House and Senate received the notification. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The designation follows a Trump administration move in February to nix protections that shielded half a million Haitians from deportation.

___

Amiri reported from the United Nations. Danica Coto contributed to this story from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore $12 million that Congress appropriated for Radio Free Europe, a pro-democracy media outlet at risk of going dark for the first time in 75 years.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth granted the temporary restraining order for the U.S. Agency for Global Media to disburse money for April 2025 for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty pending the outcome of a lawsuit seeking to keep the station on the air.

Lamberth, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, found that the administration could not unilaterally revoke funding approved by by Congress.

Attorneys for the media outlet say President Donald Trump’s administration has terminated nearly all of its contracts with freelance journalists, missed payments on leases and furloughed 122 employees. They warn that more employees will be furloughed and more contracts will be canceled on May 1 if funding isn’t restored.

“By the end of May, RFE/RL will be forced to cancel the contracts supporting its core live news broadcasting and reporting operations. In June 2025, RFE/RL will almost entirely cease its operations,” .

Government attorneys argued that the judge doesn’t have jurisdiction over what amounts to a contract dispute that belongs in the Court of Federal Claims.

“Plaintiff seeks to place this Court as the arbiter of the grant agreement terms between the parties. But doing so would put the Court in an improper policymaking role,” .

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty started broadcasting during the Cold War. Its programs are aired in 27 languages in 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. Its corporate headquarters are in Washington; its journalistic headquarters are based in the Czech Republic.

The Trump administration has tried to make deep cuts at other government-operated, pro-democracy media outlets, including Voice of America.

On April 22, however, Lamberth agreed to block the administration from dismantling Voice of America. The judge ruled that the administration illegally required Voice of America to cease operations for the first time since its World War II-era inception.

__

Associated Press writers Lindsay Whitehurst and Rebecca Boone contributed to this story.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida is poised to ban fluoride in public drinking water, over the concerns of dentists and public health advocates who say the mineral is a safe, effective way to protect people of all ages from developing cavities.

Florida lawmakers gave final approval to the bill Tuesday. The measure now goes to the desk of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose administration has advocated against the fluoridation of community water systems, arguing high levels could pose a risk to children’s intellectual development.

Fluoride strengthens teeth by , according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water is considered among the greatest public health achievements of the last century.

“As dentists, we see the direct consequences fluoride removal has on our patients and it’s a real tragedy when policymakers’ decisions hurt vulnerable kids and adults in the long term,” Brett Kessler, president of the American Dental Association, said in a statement earlier this month. “Blindly calling for a ban on fluoridated water hurts people, costs money, and will ultimately harm our economy.”

While Florida’s bill doesn’t specifically reference fluoride, it will require the mineral and some other additives be removed from water sources across the state, said bill sponsor Republican state Rep. Kaylee Tuck.

“Anything that relates to water quality, removing contaminants, things like that, we’re not touching that,” Tuck said. “It’s anything that has to do with health. So fluoride, vitamins, whatever else it is.”

Utah became the first state to pass a ban last month, approving legislation that bars cities and communities from deciding whether to add the mineral to their water systems.

Fluoride has come under increased scrutiny under the influence of U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is setting the gears of government in motion to stop fluoridating water.

Some local officials in Florida have already voted to remove the mineral from their community water systems, ahead of state lawmakers’ push to ban fluoride.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Tuesday she is “deeply disappointed” by the passage of the bill, adding that it disregards “the overwhelming consensus of dentists, doctors and medical experts and will end a practice that has been in place for decades to protect our health.”

Levine Cava said that ending fluoridation, which is a safe and cost-effective way to prevent tooth decay, will have “long-lasting health consequences, especially for our most vulnerable families.”

The mayor said the decision should be left to local communities.

About one-third of community water systems, serving more than 60% of the U.S. population, fluoridated their water, according to a 2022 analysis by the CDC.

___ Associated Press writer Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Florida contributed to this report. Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Edited by porsi. For movement after 1:00 a.m. Wednesday, April 30. Photos linked.

Voters in Alaska, Missouri and Nebraska were asked last year whether they wanted to require employers to provide paid sick leave to their workers. They overwhelmingly said yes.

Now some lawmakers in each of those states are trying to roll back the benefits, citing concerns from businesses about costs.

The efforts mark the latest attempt by legislators to alter laws backed by the voters they represent. In February, for example, Michigan enacted revisions to a paid sick leave law initiated by voters seven years ago, delaying the date when small businesses must comply and allowing a longer period before new employees are eligible.

Though some voters are outraged, some lawmakers contend that citizen activists who crafted the initiatives overlooked the realities of running a business.

Restaurant owner Tim Hart, who employs about two dozen workers at his steakhouse in Hannibal, Missouri, said the paid sick leave requirement imposes a double financial hit because he must pay one person to stay home and another to fill the shift.

“When this goes into effect, we very likely won’t survive,” said Hart, who has urged the state Senate to halt the law.

The paid sick leave laws are set to kick in Thursday in Missouri, July 1 in Alaska and Oct. 1 in Nebraska.

McDonald’s restaurant worker Richard Eiker is among those who stand to benefit. He signed a petition putting the initiative on the Missouri ballot and traveled recently from Kansas City to the state Capitol to lobby lawmakers to let the law stand.

In 40 years on the job, Eiker has never received paid sick leave — not even when he was struggling with a kidney stone.

“I just took some pain medication and just went into work anyway and just worked past the pain,” Eiker said. “It would have been nice to have stayed home.”

Lower-wage workers are less likely to get paid sick leave

Federal law requires many employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for personal or family medical issues. But there is no federal mandate to pay for sick days.

Nonetheless, 79% of private-sector employees received paid sick leave last year, according to the Department of Labor. Part-time workers were significantly less likely to receive the benefit than their full-time counterparts. And just 58% of employees in the bottom quarter of income earners received paid sick leave, compared with 94% in the top quartile.

Though still discretionary for many employers, the number of states mandating paid sick leave has grown significantly since Connecticut enacted the first such law in 2012. Last year’s ballot measures raised the total to 18 states and the District of Columbia. Three additional states require paid leave for any reason, without specifying sickness.

Many paid sick leave laws, including the ones in Alaska, Missouri and Nebraska, apply to any employer with at least one worker. But some states exempt the smallest businesses, with cutoffs ranging from five to 25 employees. The number of annual paid sick days also varies.

Missouri lawmaker wants it to be ‘less onerous’ for employers

On Tuesday the state Supreme Court upheld Missouri’s paid sick leave law against a challenge from business groups. But efforts to revise it continue.

In March, Republican House members passed legislation to repeal the paid sick leave requirement. That was then blocked by minority-party Democrats in the Senate. So Republicans are pushing an alternative that would delay the law until later this year, exempt smaller businesses and take away workers’ ability to sue over alleged violations.

The intent is to “just make it a little less onerous on employers,” said Republican state Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, a small business owner who is backing the bill.

But many workers already have it tough, Democratic lawmakers said.

“When there’s people living paycheck to paycheck, just missing a little bit of work can really put them behind,” Democratic state Sen. Patty Lewis said.

Nebraska senator warns of ‘huge overstep’ by colleagues

Legislation pushed by Republican lawmakers in Nebraska state would carve out exceptions from paid sick leave for 14- and-15-year-old employees, temporary and seasonal agricultural workers and businesses with 10 or fewer employees.

The legislation also would strip workers of the ability to sue employers who retaliate against them for using paid sick leave.

Supporters of the revisions say they aim to protect small businesses from higher costs. Opponents say they are essentially gutting the law.

“We’re talking about just whole swaths of the ballot language being stricken by this,” state Sen. John Cavanaugh said during recent debate. “That is a huge overstep by this Legislature to say that we know better than the people who voted for this.”

Alaska labor leader foresees ‘long battle’ over voters’ wishes

A bill by state Rep. Justin Ruffridge would exempt seasonal workers and businesses with fewer than 50 employees from the sick leave requirement. That could exclude many catering to Alaska’s summer tourists.

Ruffridge, a member of the House’s Republican minority, said small business owners should be able to choose whether to spend money on sick leave benefits or other measures to grow their businesses.

Joelle Hall, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO, which supported the ballot measure, doubts Ruffridge’s bill will gain traction in the final weeks of this year’s session.

But, she said, “I believe this is the beginning of a long battle to protect the voters’ wishes from the wills and the whims of the businesspeople who don’t want to pay sick days.”

___

Beck reported from Lincoln, Nebraska, and Bohrer from Juneau, Alaska.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — An Iraqi man living in upstate New York has been charged with illegally voting in the 2020 election, according to U.S. prosecutors, who said Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency assisted in the investigation.

Akeel Abdul Jamiel, 45, was living in South Glens Falls, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Albany, when he voted in Saratoga County “fully knowing he was not a United States citizen,” according to an April 25 charging document.

He is charged with voting by aliens, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison.

“Election security is and will continue to be one of the FBI’s highest national security priorities,” Craig Tremaroli, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Albany field office, said in a Justice Department news release.

Attempts to reach Jamiel were unsuccessful. Messages emailed to addresses used by Jamiel in the past either bounced back or didn’t result in an immediate response. A message was also left at a phone number listed for Jamiel in a court filing in an unrelated lawsuit. Court records did not indicate whether he has an attorney.

President Donald Trump has blamed widespread voter fraud for his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election, despite analyses showing that claim was false. Public records indicate Jamiel registered as a member of New York’s Conservative Party the month before the election.

“Only American citizens can vote in American elections,” the Justice Department post said. “Thanks to our partnership @DOGE, this DOJ has charged an Iraqi man for illegal voting in the 2020 election.”

It isn’t clear who Jamiel voted for in the election. In a 2019 lawsuit, however, he identified himself as a Trump supporter.

In the suit against New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Jamiel claimed his rights were being violated because New York was too tolerant of illegal immigration. He included several letters in the suit that he had sent to the White House complaining that America was “under invasion” by people entering the country illegally. Jamiel also included a letter he had received from the White House in response, signed by Trump, thanking him for his correspondence.

Since DOGE was established by Trump to reduce waste and fraud in government, its staffers have scrutinized departments managing the government workforce and federal properties. The prosecutor’s office did not elaborate on DOGE’s role in the investigation of Jamiel.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York is expected to create a new criminal charge to levy against people who wear a mask while committing another crime.

The proposal is set to be included in a sweeping state budget bill that will be taken up by lawmakers in the coming days, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday.

The measure would make it a misdemeanor for a person to “use a mask to conceal their identity when committing a Class A misdemeanor or higher crime or fleeing the scene immediately after committing such a crime,” her office said.

The move comes almost a year after the governor floated the idea banning masks in the New York City subway system because of what she described as concern about people hiding their faces while committing antisemitic acts.

The idea drew swift pushback from critics who argued a mask ban could stifle protests if people participating wanted to hide their identities to avoid professional or personal repercussions. Masks were required on New York City subways during the COVID-19 pandemic, and some transit riders have continued covering their faces in an effort to protect themselves against poor air quality underground.

Hochul, a Democrat, had admitted that a mask ban would be difficult to craft and noted that it would have to include exemptions for health, cultural or religious reasons. No legislation immediately emerged on the subject.

Months later, state Sen. James Skoufis, a Democrat, introduced a bill that would have made it a crime for people to wear face masks to harass or threaten someone. Hochul appeared open to the senator’s approach, but critics argued the proposal could lead to subjective enforcement and the proposal did not make it far in the legislative process.

The idea reemerged during recent negotiations over the state budget, carried new weight as the Trump administration has cracked down on international students and scholars who have criticized Israel or participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Hochul, at a press conference on Monday, said the term mask ban “was probably an overstatement” but still claimed victory on the issue.

“What people are looking for is to not have someone be able to get away with wearing a mask when they’re harming another person, or committing a crime or harassing, or threatening. We got to that, that’s exactly what this does,” she said.

In an interview, Skoufis said the current proposal responds to concerns about mask wearing while “reducing the subjectivity that could be involved with law enforcement.”

The Trump administration’s recent actions influenced negotiations on the policy, Skoufis said.

“Where we landed provides no — and I mean no — additional opportunity or tool or mechanism to ICE or federal law enforcement that does not already exist for them here in New York state,” he said, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Allie Bohm, senior policy counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said Hochul’s initial mask ban proposal was “deeply unpopular” and would have endangered protestors who are now concerned with being identified by the Trump administration.

“We have a federal government that has made clear that it is planning to target and is targeting people it disagrees with, and that very much includes protestors,” Bohm said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As part of their big tax bill, Republicans in Congress are pumping billions of dollars into President Donald Trump’s mass deportation and border security plan with nearly 20,000 new officers, stark new fees starting at $1,000 on migrants seeking asylum and $46.5 billion for a long-sought border wall.

Tuesday launched the first of back-to-back public hearings as House Republicans roll out the fine print of what Trump calls his “ big, beautiful bill ” — which is focused on $5 trillion in tax breaks and up to $2 trillion in slashed domestic spending. But it also pours some $300 billion to beef up the Pentagon and border security as the Trump administration says it’s running out of money for deportations.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing to have the bill wrapped up by Memorial Day and then send it to the Senate, which is drafting its own version.

“We are on track,” Johnson, R-La., said at his weekly press conference.

This was always expected to be the hard part, where Republicans who have control of the House and Senate begin to fill in the difficult details of what, until now, has simply been a framework for Trump’s tax package at the cornerstone of the GOP’s domestic agenda.

As Trump rounds his 100th day in office, the GOP’s stiff border security and deportations provisions come as Americans are American-born toddlers and small children in tow.

Democrats are fighting back in the House and Senate, and the halls of public opinion, but as the minority party in Congress, they have little ability to stop the forward march of the package.

Instead, they used Tuesday’s hearings to try to shame Republicans into rethinking their approach.

“Do a little soul searching before you vote for this,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, at one point during the debate.

Building the US-Mexico border wall and hiring bonuses for officers

Central to the Homeland Committee’s section of the legislation is $46.5 billion to revive construction of Trump’s wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, with some 700 miles of “primary” wall, 900 miles of river barriers, and more.

There’s also $4 billion to hire an additional 3,000 new Border Patrol agents as well as 5,000 new customs officers, and $2.1 billion for signing and retention bonuses.

Democrats kept the committees in session for hours debating amendments to change the package. Most were expected to fail.

Among the first Democratic amendments offered was from Rep. Troy Carter of Louisiana to prohibit the use of funding to deport American children. Another from Rep. Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island would stop the money from being used to send Americans to foreign prisons.

“What world are we living in?” Magaziner asked.

He said allowing Republicans to “keep trampling on rights, soon everyone’s rights” will be under threat.

Chairman Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., as he gaveled the committee open, said, “It is critical that the Republican majority do what the people elected us to do.”

GOP goals: 1 million deportations, 100,000 detention beds — including for families and children

For the first time, the U.S. under the legislation would impose a $1,000 fee on migrants seeking asylum — something the nation has never done.

Experts said the new fee on asylum seekers would put the U.S. on par with a few others, including Australia and Iran.

And that’s not all. There would be new fees on various other legal paths to entry, including a $3,500 fee for those sponsoring unaccompanied children to enter the U.S., a $2,500 penalty if sponsors of unaccompanied children skip court appearances and a $1,000 fee for individuals paroled into the U.S.

The Judiciary Committee is expected to meet Wednesday on its $110 billion section of the bill.

Overall, the plan is to remove 1 million immigrants annually and house 100,000 people in detention centers. It calls for 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and investigators.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegesth comes under fire

Meanwhile, the House Armed Services Committee started drilling down Tuesday into its section of the package, with some $100 billion in new spending, only to be tangled by questions from Democrats over funding for Ukraine, Trump’s plan for a big military parade and calls for Hegseth to be fired or resign.

Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., a veteran herself, offered an amendment that would prohibit the provisions from going into effect until Hegseth “is no longer Secretary of Defense.”

Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, a combat veteran, had an amendment to prevent money on Trump’s parade, which is planned for June in Washington, saying there shouldn’t be a military parade for a “draft dodger,” a reference to Trump’s medical deferral from Vietnam War-era service.

And Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., proposed halting any money for a make-up studio for the Pentagon secretary. It was reported that Hegseth, a former Fox News host, sought such a room for his appearances.

Tax breaks, spending cuts still to come

Other portions of the GOP legislation are still a work in progress, including the provisions on tax breaks for individual filers, and spending cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and other programs.

Those proposals are expected to be unveiled with hearings in the weeks to come.

___

Associated Press writer Leah Askarinam contributed to this report.

HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Republican President Donald Trump landed in Michigan on Tuesday and shared a hug with a longtime antagonist, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, as they appeared together to announce a new fighter jet mission being placed at an Air National Guard base outside Detroit and ease fears that the installation could close.

Trump delivered the news at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County, shortly after arriving in Michigan for an evening rally marking his 100th day in office. He was joined by Whitmer, who has softened her stance toward Trump in hopes of finding common ground — with securing a new mission for the base a top priority.

For decades, Trump said the base has “stood as a crucial pillar of North American air defense.”

“In recent years, many in Michigan have feared for the future of the base. They’ve been calling everybody, but the only one that mattered is Trump,” he said. “Today I have come in person to lay to rest any doubt about Selfridge’s future.”

After Trump and Whitmer hugged upon the president disembarking Air Force One, she climbed in his motorcade to ride to the base. During his remarks, Trump said the governor has been “very effective” in advocating for the base.

State officials had been pushing for years to replace the base’s aging fleet of A-10 aircraft, which are set to be retired, to help ensure Selfridge remains in operation. Trump had suggested that new fighter jets could secure Selfridge’s future, including the likes of F-16s or F-35s.

Located 30 miles north of Detroit, the base generates an estimated $850 million in statewide economic impact and supports about 5,000 military and civilian personnel, according to the office of Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.

For years, Whitmer has pressed multiple administrations — including Trump’s first term and former Democratic President Joe Biden’s — to secure a new mission for the base, calling it “a key defense hub and economic anchor.” The Air Force announced in 2017 that Selfridge had lost out on a bid for F-35A Lightning.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveled separately from the president to Selfrdige for the announcement. But military implications aside, Trump’s announcement handed Whitmer a victory — though it remains to be seen what political price she may have paid to secure it.

The governor has been frequently mentioned as a potential presidential candidate. As she works to raise her profile nationally, Whitmer has vowed to find common ground with Trump where she can. But some Democrats view the president and his administration as so harmful that they’d rather see the party oppose Trump and his team whenever possible.

Earlier this month, Whitmer traveled to Washington to meet with Trump to discuss Selfridge and other issues affecting Michigan, including the steep tariffs Trump has imposed on Canada and other U.S. trading partners. The governor said she was unexpectedly ushered into the Oval Office, where she stood awkwardly as the Republican president signed executive orders and assailed his political opponents during a photo opportunity.

At one point, a photo captured Whitmer trying to hide her face from the cameras by holding up a folder.

Trump had told Whitmer during her visit that he hoped to keep the base “open, strong, thriving.”

“It’s a great piece of property. It’s a great location, and it’s a great state,” Trump said. “So I think we’re going to come back with a very good answer.”

He followed through on that Tuesday, at a time when Michigan has seen its unemployment rate rise for three consecutive months, including a 1.3% jump in March, reaching 5.5%, according to state data. That fare exceeds the national average.

__

Weissert reported from Warren, Michigan.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The state of New Mexico must create a remedial plan to improve K-12 education after falling short of providing an adequate public school education to Native American students and others from low-income households, a judge ruled Tuesday.

The order from state district court Judge Matthew Wilson builds on a landmark 2018 ruling that spurred a multibillion-dollar spending spree on public schools in New Mexico — without yet resolving underlying failures to meet state constitutional obligations to educate an array of at-risk students, including those studying English as a second language and students with disabilities.

“The defendants are ordered to come up with comprehensive remedial plan to address the continuing violation of at-risk students’ constitutional rights,” Wilson said. “A court-ordered plan would provide guidance to the legislature and the executive branches of government, particularly when making difficult budgetary decisions that need to survive political and economic shifts.”

New Mexico historically has been at the bottom of the list when it comes to educational outcomes nationwide. Struggles to address lagging test scores and low graduation rates predated the coronavirus pandemic. Lawmakers have been pouring public resources into efforts to improve attendance, boost access to broadband internet, shore up school staffing and more amid a windfall in state government income from oil and natural gas production.

Filed more than a decade ago on behalf of students and school districts rooted in Native American and Hispanic communities, the litigation known as the Yazzie- Martinez case identified systemic issues within the state’s education system.

The administration of Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham acknowledged that there is room for improvement while highlighting a 62% increase in annual K-12 spending by state government since 2016 to $4.2 billion in the 2024, and the enactment of “dozens of new at-risk initiatives and legislation.”

The judge rejected a request to put a state legislative agency on education and accountability at the helm of the remediation plan. He called instead for the state Public Education Department to work with the plaintiffs and commission a plan from an outside consultant or expert.

Attorney General Raúl Torrez in 2023 announced his support for the plaintiffs in efforts to make the state comply with its obligations to students.

The remedial plan could take five years to carry out and possibly resolve litigation.

The governor this month vetoed proposed legislation to expand specialized schools dedicated to Native American language and culture by declining to sign the bill without comment.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has dismissed many of former President Joe Biden’s nominees to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, including Doug Emhoff, the husband of former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Emhoff, who is Jewish and who led the Biden administration’s efforts to combat antisemitism, criticized Trump’s action, saying, “Let me be clear: Holocaust remembrance and education should never be politicized.”

He added, “To turn one of the worst atrocities in history into a wedge issue is dangerous — and it dishonors the memory of six million Jews murdered by Nazis that this museum was created to preserve.”

Others dismissed alongside Emhoff include former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain and former domestic policy adviser Susan Rice.

About two dozen states led by Democrats sued the Trump administration Tuesday over the dismantling of AmeriCorps, the 30-year-old federal agency for volunteer service, and over the cancellation of hundreds of millions of dollars in grant funding for state and community projects across the U.S.

The federal lawsuit filed against the agency and its interim head alleged that President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting efforts through the Department of Government Efficiency illegally gutted the agency created by Congress and reneged on grants funded through the AmeriCorps State and National program, which was budgeted $557 million in congressionally approved funding this year.

The agency oversees a number of programs that dispatch hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of people to serve in communities across the country.

“In an attempt to dismantle the agency, the Trump administration and its DOGE demolition team made abrupt and drastic cuts to staff and volunteers and terminated grants,” said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser in a statement. “We are suing to stop this illegal dismantling of AmeriCorps and preserve the spirit of community service in our state and nation.”

At least 85% of AmeriCorps staff were put on administrative leave this month, according to the complaint, with at least some notified last week that they would be let go because of a reduction in force.

AmeriCorps employs more than 500 full-time federal workers and has an operating budget of roughly $1 billion.

In addition, it sends roughly 200,000 corps members across the country as part of its service programs. Most corps members get a living stipend during their service and become eligible for funding for future education expenses or to apply for certain student loans.

A specific program, AmeriCorps’ National Civilian Community Corps, also covers basic expenses and housing for some 2,000 young people participating in a roughly 10-month service term. Those corps members, who work with community organizations and respond to natural disasters, were informed earlier this month they would be dismissed early.

As part of the AmeriCorps State and National grant program, state volunteer commissions distributed more than $177 million in formula-based distributions, as well as $370 million in competitive grants that supported nearly 35,000 corps members serving at 300 organizations, according to announcements in May.

Notices of grants being terminated were sent late Friday, explaining “the award no longer effectuates agency priorities” and directing grantees to immediately shut down the projects, according to a copy reviewed by The Associated Press.

Corps members would no longer be participating in the program and would no longer receive a stipend.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to each of the 52 state and territory volunteer commissions were impacted, according to Rachel Bruns, chief engagement officer with America’s Service Commissions. That includes Washington, Puerto Rico and Guam; South Dakota does not have a state volunteer commission.

Bruns said commissions in Wisconsin, Alabama, Wyoming, Oregon and Maine have reported that their entire portfolios for that grant program have been cut.

There was no “rhyme or reason” given to the grantees that were affected, Bruns said, noting that there are cases of one organization seeing their funding cut in one state but not another. The cuts affect projects like after-school programs, services for veterans, food pantries, efforts to prevent child abuse and home builds.

“We don’t know what this means for these services in some of these communities that were impacted,” Bruns said.

___

WASHINGTON (AP) — Harvard University is promising to review its academic offerings and admissions policies in response to a pair of internal reports on antisemitism and anti-Arab prejudice at the Ivy League campus commissioned in the aftermath of last spring’s pro-Palestinian protests.

Harvard released the reports on Tuesday while the university simultaneously battles the Trump administration over demands to limit campus activism — reforms the government says are necessary to root out campus antisemitism. The administration has frozen $2.2 billion in federal funding and Harvard responded with a lawsuit in a clash that is being watched closely across higher education.

In a campus message, Harvard President Alan Garber said Harvard has made “necessary changes and essential progress” over the last year but promised further action.

“We will redouble our efforts to ensure that the University is a place where ideas are welcomed, entertained and contested in the spirit of seeking truth,” Garber wrote.

Garber convened two panels to study campus antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias last year, with an initial round of recommendations released last June. The final reports total more than 500 pages and include dozens of recommended changes.

Harvard said it will begin implementing at least some of the recommendations, with potential updates to admissions, hiring and discipline systems.

In a list of “actions and commitments,” Harvard said it will review admissions processes to make sure applicants are evaluated based on their ability to “engage constructively with different perspectives, show empathy and participate in civil discourse.”

It pointed to a recently added application question asking students about a time they strongly disagreed with someone. The antisemitism task force called for that kind of questioning, saying Harvard should reject anyone with a history of bias and look unfavorably on “exhibitions of hostility, derision or dismissiveness.”

Still, it appears to fall short of the Trump administration’s demands around admissions, which called on Harvard to end all preferences “based on race, color, national origin, or proxies thereof” and implement “merit-based” policies by August. The Supreme Court has rejected the use of race in college admissions, but many colleges look at factors including students’ family income and geography to bring a diverse class to campus.

Responding to complaints that Harvard’s instruction had become too politicized and anti-Israel, the university said it will work to hold professors to new standards of “excellence.” Deans will make sure faculty promote intellectual openness and refrain from endorsing political positions “that may cause students to feel pressure to demonstrate allegiance,” the university said.

Courses and curriculum will also be reviewed to reflect those standards.

Other changes include required antisemitism training for students and staff, along with expanded academic offerings on Hebrew, Judaic, Arab and Islamic studies. Harvard will put money toward a research project on antisemitism along with a historical overview on Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians at the university.

In his message, Garber said Harvard will accelerate a campus-wide effort to promote viewpoint diversity, though he didn’t elaborate. Viewpoint diversity is among the top concerns of the White House, which demanded that Harvard hire an external auditor to make sure the student body and every academic department represent diverse views.

Harvard is the first university to openly defy the Trump administration as it uses its hold on colleges’ federal funding to press its political agenda.

The administration has argued that universities did not do enough to check antisemitism at campus protests last year. Garber has said Harvard will not bend to the demands, calling it a threat to academic freedom and the autonomy of all universities.

___

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

Congress has overwhelmingly approved bipartisan legislation to enact stricter penalties for the distribution of non-consensual intimate imagery, sometimes called “revenge porn.” Known as the Take It Down Act, the bill is now headed to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.

The measure was introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, and later gained the support of First Lady Melania Trump. Critics of the bill, which addresses both real and artificial intelligence-generated imagery, say the language is too broad and could lead to censorship and First Amendment issues.

What is the Take It Down Act?

The bill makes it illegal to “knowingly publish” or threaten to publish intimate images without a person’s consent, including AI-created “deepfakes.” It also requires websites and social media companies to remove such material within 48 hours of notice from a victim. The platforms must also take steps to delete duplicate content. Many states have already banned the dissemination of sexually explicit deepfakes or revenge porn, but the Take It Down Act is a rare example of federal regulators imposing on internet companies.

Who supports it?

The Take It Down Act has garnered strong bipartisan support and has been championed by Melania Trump, who lobbied on Capitol Hill in March saying it was “heartbreaking” to see what teenagers, especially girls, go through after they are victimized by people who spread such content. President Trump is expected to sign it into law.

Cruz said the measure was inspired by Elliston Berry and her mother, who visited his office after Snapchat refused for nearly a year to remove an AI-generated “deepfake” of the then 14-year-old.

Meta, which owns and operates Facebook and Instagram, supports the legislation.

“Having an intimate image – real or AI-generated – shared without consent can be devastating and Meta developed and backs many efforts to help prevent it,” Meta spokesman Andy Stone said last month.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a tech industry-supported think tank, said in a statement Monday that the bill’s passage “is an important step forward that will help people pursue justice when they are victims of non-consensual intimate imagery, including deepfake images generated using AI.”

“We must provide victims of online abuse with the legal protections they need when intimate images are shared without their consent, especially now that deepfakes are creating horrifying new opportunities for abuse,” Klobuchar said in a statement after the bill’s passage late Monday. “These images can ruin lives and reputations, but now that our bipartisan legislation is becoming law, victims will be able to have this material removed from social media platforms and law enforcement can hold perpetrators accountable.”

What are the censorship concerns?

Free speech advocates and digital rights groups say the bill is too broad and could lead to the censorship of legitimate images including legal pornography and LGBTQ content, as well as government critics.

“While the bill is meant to address a serious problem, good intentions alone are not enough to make good policy,” said the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights advocacy group. “Lawmakers should be strengthening and enforcing existing legal protections for victims, rather than inventing new takedown regimes that are ripe for abuse.”

The takedown provision in the bill “applies to a much broader category of content — potentially any images involving intimate or sexual content” than the narrower definitions of non-consensual intimate imagery found elsewhere in the text, EFF said.

“The takedown provision also lacks critical safeguards against frivolous or bad-faith takedown requests. Services will rely on automated filters, which are infamously blunt tools,” EFF said. “They frequently flag legal content, from fair-use commentary to news reporting. The law’s tight time frame requires that apps and websites remove speech within 48 hours, rarely enough time to verify whether the speech is actually illegal.”

As a result, the group said online companies, especially smaller ones that lack the resources to wade through a lot of content, “will likely choose to avoid the onerous legal risk by simply depublishing the speech rather than even attempting to verify it.”

The measure, EFF said, also pressures platforms to “actively monitor speech, including speech that is presently encrypted” to address liability threats.

The , a nonprofit that helps victims of online crimes and abuse, said it has “serious reservations” about the bill. It called its takedown provision unconstitutionally vague, unconstitutionally overbroad, and lacking adequate safeguards against misuse.”

For instance, the group said, platforms could be obligated to remove a journalist’s photographs of a topless protest on a public street, photos of a subway flasher distributed by law enforcement to locate the perpetrator, commercially produced sexually explicit content or sexually explicit material that is consensual but falsely reported as being nonconsensual.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A key player in the U.S. government’s battle to combat the flow of deadly fentanyl is a team at a little-known research lab in northern Virginia that’s working to analyze seized narcotics and gather intelligence to find ways to stop the supply.

Attorney General Pam Bondi traveled to the Drug Enforcement Administration lab on Tuesday to meet with chemists who are tasked with identifying the ever-evolving tactics employed by cartels to manufacture drugs flowing across the southern border.

“We are trying to reverse engineer what the cartels are doing at any given time,” senior DEA research chemist David Guthrie told Bondi. “Whenever something new shows up, it’s our job to figure out how that got in there. Did they change the recipe? Are they using a new compound?”

Bondi donned a blue DEA lab coat as she toured the facility in an effort to put a spotlight on a key Trump administration priority to combat the illicit flow of fentanyl that’s blamed for tens of thousands of overdose deaths every year.

The chemists showed Bondi the ease with which cartels are able to produce fentanyl, and detailed how their team is working to identify new compounds to help law enforcement keep illicit drugs off the street.

“That’s how easy it is to kill Americans,” Bondi said after watching blue pills shoot out of a pill press seized by investigators that’s capable of producing 15,000 pills an hour.

The Trump administration has sought to increase pressure on violent drug cartels and criminal gangs, charging an alleged high-ranking member of Tren de Aragua in Colombia with terrorism offenses earlier this month.

The White House has linked the fentanyl issue to his tariffs, saying the president is working to hold Mexico, Canada, and China “accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country.”

___

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

___

April 29

The Washington Post says “this time” the US should stop a genocide

This month marked a grim milestone for Sudan, the unfortunate African country suffering what is considered the . On April 15, the country’s brutal civil war entered its , with an estimated , about 12 million displaced and no settlement in sight.

The next day, the State Department for the first time characterized the atrocities being committed in Sudan’s western Darfur region as a citing the systematic killings of men and boys and the against women and girls from the Masalit community. The U.S. statement named the paramilitary , or RSF, which has been locked in a battle with the Sudanese armed forces, as the perpetrator of the ethnic cleansing. The Biden administration had as responsible for genocide.

Declaring an ongoing genocide is one thing. Doing something immediately to alleviate it is more important. The United States and the world must not fail to act.

The State Department’s declaration happened to come on the eve of the anniversary of another mass atrocity. Fifty years ago, on , the seized control of the Cambodian capital, , and launched a fanatical experiment to through the systematic extermination of professionals, businesspeople, intellectuals and ethnic minorities. Up to 3 million people perished from summary executions, forced labor and starvation in the nearly that ensued. This horror, too, took place amid global indifference.

At the time, the United States was in retreat from Southeast Asia, scarred by its humiliating military failure in Vietnam. A from President Gerald Ford’s national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft, outlined reports of widespread executions of former government officials, soldiers, teachers, students and anyone showing signs of having been educated. nor his successor, took action to stop the bloodletting or even to raise awareness of it.

Now that the Trump administration has recognized a genocide is occurring in Sudan, what, if anything, can the United States do to end it?

Sudan’s civil war defies any easy solution. The conflict stems from a power struggle between who once were allies: , the armed forces commander, and , known as Hemedti, commander of the RSF, which is the contemporary offshoot of the Janjaweed militia that, in the early 2000s, terrorized Darfur and was responsible for Sudan’s first genocide. When the generals’ tenuous alliance snapped two years ago, their artillery and tank battles left much of the capital, Khartoum, .

In late March, there seemed to be when Burhan’s forces managed to . But Hemedti retreated west to his stronghold in the Darfur and Kordofan regions, where he has set up a rival “ .” And he has with a militia group called the , a remnant of South Sudan’s independence war. Hemedti’s moves to declare a rump state now risk splintering Sudan. Meanwhile, the massacres of the Masalit people and other non-Arab minority groups continue.

The participants in Sudan’s civil war include a volatile mix of regional and international players, with their own agendas and long-standing rivalries. Burhan is backed by Egypt, as well as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Iran, hoping to , is also backing the Sudanese armed forces, and other weapons. And Turkey drones and missiles. The RSF, for its part, is supported by the as well as Libya, Chad, the Central African Republic and South Sudan. Hemedti has also been welcomed in , and .

With such a combustible brew, the temptation might be to turn a blind eye. But this would be wrong — just as it was wrong for the United States half a century ago to of Cambodia’s killing fields.

Strong action does not have to mean direct intervention. The Trump administration could halt arms sales to the UAE and impose sanctions, until the country ends its military and financial support for Hemedti’s RSF. Other countries that seem to support the RSF should be warned. And the United States should appoint a special envoy to the region to kick-start diplomacy by leaning on Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other U.S. allies to bring their client to the negotiating table.

President Donald Trump wants to be known as a peacemaker. Sudan might not be high on his priority list, but he should nevertheless pay attention. By helping to reach a peace agreement there, he could stop a genocide and end the world’s biggest humanitarian nightmare.

ONLINE:

___

April 27

The New York Times says the West must stand up to Erdogan, Turkey’s autocracy

The United States has long been willing to befriend unsavory foreign governments, sometimes with good reason. In a dangerous world, democracies cannot afford to alienate every nondemocracy. But any alliance with an autocratic regime requires at least a careful weighing of trade-offs. How valuable is the relationship to American interests? And how odious is the regime’s behavior?

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has personified this dilemma for much of his 22 years in power. Turkey, at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and the Middle East, is an important American partner, with the second-largest military in NATO. Yet Turkey has been sliding toward autocracy over the past decade. Mr. Erdogan has changed its Constitution to expand his power, brought the , manipulated elections, , shut down media organizations and arrested journalists and protesters.

Last month, Mr. Erdogan took the assault on democracy to a new level. With dissatisfaction with his government growing, it in the next presidential election, Ekrem Imamoglu, the popular mayor of Istanbul, along with almost 100 of Mr. Imamoglu’s associates on dubious charges. The arrests put Turkey on the path that Russia has traveled over the past two decades, in which a democratically elected leader uses the powers of his office to turn it into an autocracy. “This is more than the slow erosion of democracy,” Mr. Imamoglu in these pages. “It is the deliberate dismantling of our republic’s institutional foundations.”

The response from the rest of the world has been weak. A short time after Mr. Imamoglu’s arrest, President Trump said of Mr. Erdogan, “I happen to like him, and he likes me.” Many European leaders stayed quiet. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said only that the arrest was “deeply concerning.” There are no easy answers, given Turkey’s strategic importance and Mr. Erdogan’s grip on power. But the world’s democracies are getting the balance wrong. They can do more to support Turkey’s people and pressure Mr. Erdogan.

A crucial point is that Turkish voters seem to have tired of Mr. Erdogan. If elections were held today, Mr. Imamoglu would probably win, according to polls and political analysts. A self-described social democrat, Mr. Imamoglu, 54, is a member of the Republican People’s Party, which Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded in 1919 as a resistance group and which later became the first governing party of the modern Turkish republic. The party is committed to a secular government for Turkey.

Mr. Imamoglu became mayor of Istanbul in 2019 in an upset victory over Mr. Erdogan’s candidate — two upset victories, in fact, because Mr. Erdogan’s party annulled the first vote and Mr. Imamoglu then won a second election more decisively. He has since compiled an impressive governing record, developing the area around the Golden Horn, a major waterway in Istanbul, and providing free milk for children. His stance on external affairs has been moderate; he condemned Hamas for its terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, and has since criticized Israel for its assault on Gaza. Mr. Erdogan, by contrast, as a liberation group, and called for Israel’s destruction.

For all their differences — Mr. Imamoglu is a secular progressive, while Mr. Erdogan, 71, is a religious conservative — Mr. Imamoglu has the potential to be a version of what Mr. Erdogan once seemed to be: a pragmatic and popular Turkish leader who could provide stability at home while helping restrain conflicts of the Middle East. In his early years in power, Mr. Erdogan gathered a broad political coalition, brought the army officer corps under civilian control, grew the economy, fostered a moderate Islamism, tried to resolve a long conflict with the Kurdish minority and normalized relations with Greece, a neighbor and longtime rival. His approach prompted George W. Bush and Barack Obama to .

Over time, though, Mr. Erdogan became more extreme, and more focused on consolidating power. He took power in 2003 as prime minister and, after being elected president in 2014, moved to change the Constitution to transfer power to that office. Since then, he has often prioritized his authority over everything else. “The healthy paranoia and self-confidence of a successful politician metastasized into egomania and vindictiveness,” Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations . “He destroyed every institutional check and balance — such as they were — in the Turkish political system.” The arrest of Mr. Imamoglu is a sign that Mr. Erdogan aspires to be Turkey’s president indefinitely.

His next step toward that goal may be an attempt to avoid the term limits that would prevent him from running for re-election in 2028, when the next election is scheduled. He could do so by calling for earlier elections or changing the Constitution again.

It is notable that Mr. Erdogan ordered his rival’s arrest only two months after Mr. Trump returned to the White House. Mr. Trump has shown disdain for democracy, both through his attempts to and through his repeated praise for autocrats like Vladimir Putin. The Trumpist view of the world is a version of might makes right, which emboldens like-minded leaders to use their own might to crush domestic opposition.

But Mr. Trump’s influence on Mr. Erdogan contains a silver lining: It is a sign that Mr. Erdogan can be affected by the attitudes of foreign governments. As with any country, Turkey needs to care about its relationships with the rest of the world. And other democracies, including the European nations, Canada, Japan and India, have reason to be unhappy with Mr. Erdogan’s recent moves. Even Mr. Trump has cause for concern.

Turkey’s drift toward Islamist extremism suggests that it could become another country that supports terrorism and threatens Israel. The most obvious is in Syria, Turkey’s southern neighbor, which is trying to emerge from Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship. In Europe, political leaders who are anxious about Mr. Putin’s ambitions and the rise of authoritarianism in Hungary should be worried that Turkey will become another sign that democracy is in retreat. Europe does have levers to influence Mr. Erdogan: Germany is Turkey’s largest trading partner, and several other Western European nations are not far behind.

By speaking up, these countries can make Mr. Erdogan’s life less comfortable. They can make clear that Turkey is risking cooperation on a wide range of issues that matter to it, such as trade, migration and military supplies. The rest of the world may not be able to prevent Turkey’s slide toward authoritarianism and extremism. But it should certainly try.

After Mr. Imamoglu’s arrest, hundreds of thousands of Turks filled streets with . Doing so required courage. Authorities responded by arresting hundreds of protesters, many of whom are facing sham trials. Their bravery deserves more than global silence.

ONLINE:

___

April 28

The Wall Street Journal says Trumps second term might have been sunk by tariffs

Presidential second terms are rarely successful, and on the evidence of his first 100 days ’s won’t be different. The President needs a major reset if he wants to rescue his final years from the economic and foreign-policy shocks he has unleashed.

There’s no denying his energy or ambition. Mr. Trump is pressing ahead on multiple fronts, and he has had some success. His expansion of U.S. energy production is proceeding well and is much needed after the Biden war on fossil fuels. He has ended the border crisis in short order.

He is also rolling back federal assaults on mainstream American values—such as by policing racial favoritism. Mr. Trump was elected to counter the excesses of the left on climate, culture and censorship, and he is doing it.

On other priorities, the execution hasn’t matched the promises. That would seem to apply to DOGE, which we’ve supported but has been so frenetic it isn’t clear what it is achieving. Easy targets like USAID make for symbolic victories but no fundamental change in the growth of government. The Trump budget will offer more reform proposals, if the White House can get them through Congress. He badly needs a pro-growth tax bill.

Even on popular causes, one problem has been needless excess. Harvard and other universities need to change, but trying to dictate their curriculum and faculty choices is an intrusion on free speech and risks defeat in court. His deportation of criminals is worthwhile, but denying due process and toying with the courts will sour the effort. The White House motto seems to be that if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing too much.

That’s especially true on tariffs, which could sink his Presidency. Mr. Trump was elected to control inflation and raise real incomes, but tariffs do the opposite. They guarantee at least a one-time increase in prices on imported goods that will flow through the economy. They portend shortages for consumers, and for businesses that source goods and components from abroad.

The tariffs are the largest economic policy shock since Richard Nixon blew up Bretton Woods in 1971, which unleashed inflation that Nixon tried to stop with wage and price controls and a tariff. The economic consequences arguably doomed Nixon’s second term, perhaps as much as Watergate.

It’s a mistake to think the tariff damage is only domestic. The willy-nilly assault on friends and foes has shaken global confidence in U.S. reliability. Ken Griffin, the investor and major donor to Mr. Trump, summed it up last week as a self-inflicted blow to the American brand. The U.S. is needlessly ceding global economic leadership.

China is already taking advantage by courting U.S. allies as a more dependable giant market. This will make it much harder to build a trade alliance to stop China’s often predatory economic behavior. Mr. Trump last week called us “China Loving,” which must amuse Beijing. Mr. Trump’s tariffs on allies are the real gift to Xi Jinping.

There are signs Mr. Trump is finally recognizing some of the tariff risks, as he now talks of doing some 200 trade deals. He is also saying he might unilaterally cut his 145% tariff on Chinese imports. We’d like nothing better than to see a retreat—a “Mitterrand moment,” as we about the reversal by the 1980s French socialist. But Mr. Trump remains a long way from making such a pivot, and those trade deals won’t be easy to strike.

Mr. Trump’s second-term foreign policy so far is a work in progress. He is trying to reclaim Middle East sea lanes from the Houthis after ’s timidity. And he is restoring “maximum pressure” on Iran to abandon its nuclear program. These are hopeful signs.

The main cause for alarm is his one-sided pursuit of peace in Ukraine. Until this weekend he had said scarcely a discouraging word about while squeezing Ukraine to make concessions that could doom it to future marauding. Much will hang on the details of an armistice, if there is one, and not merely for Europe’s future.

Joe Biden’s retreat from Afghanistan destroyed American deterrence. A debacle in Ukraine would do the same for Mr. Trump, with ramifications for Iran, North Korea and especially Chinese ambitions in the Pacific. Don’t be surprised if China decides to snatch Taiwan’s outer islands or tries a partial blockade. Mr. Trump told us in October that he’d respond to such a provocation with tariffs, but he’s already playing that card without success.

ONLINE:

___

April 27

The Guardian capitalism and the cosmos – is space a private asset?

In 2015, a rare moment of US congressional unity passed the – to mine asteroids as if they were open seams of ore and harvest planets like unclaimed farmland. Quietly signed by President Barack Obama, it now reads as a premature act of enclosure: staking titles in a realm we scarcely understand. Though some expressed concerns at the time, it was justified by the idea of inevitable progress. Such naivety evaporated with Donald Trump. Space had been humanity’s last commons, shielded by a 1967 Outer Space treaty. Mr Trump declared it dead in 2020, signing the Artemis Accords and enlisting 43 allies, including the UK, in the legalisation of heaven’s spoils. In March, Mr Trump vowed to plant the – and beyond. The age of celestial commons was brief, if it ever began.

A new report by the Common Wealth thinktank, titled , warns that a powerful coalition – composed of private corporations, billionaires such as , and “ ” thinktanks – is working to extend earthly ownership structures to space. The report’s author, Durham University’s Carla Ibled, calls it “the transfer of shared resources into the hands of a few”. The 1967 treaty bans state exploitation of space, but is vague on private claims – a loophole now fuelling a tycoon-led scramble for the stars. The aim is obvious: to act first, shape norms and dare others to object.

Companies are targeting mines for “platinum group” metals, for fuel and for nuclear fusion. These are, admittedly, more likely to be business cases more than functioning businesses. Space law, however, is being fashioned to allow appropriation under the guise of peaceful, commercial activity. Some bizarrely argue that off‑planet mining is social justice – shifting pollution from Earth to “ ” space to spare local communities environmental harm. Common Wealth rightly sees this as a modern-day movement. Space isn’t a prize for private conquest. It’s a shared realm needing democratic, ethical stewardship – not corporate extraction in legal disguise.

Building a worldwide democratic, collective model is not easy. There is no global body that has clear authority over space resource governance. There is an embryonic one in the . Previous attempts to create new frameworks – like the 1979 Moon Agreement – have failed to gain traction among major space powers. There are also longstanding concerns that privatisation is a cover for the of the cosmos. Notably, the UK has yet to adopt a space resource licensing system – unlike its fellow Artemis Accords founders the US, Luxembourg, United Arab Emirates and Japan. Reviving cold war lines in the stars, Russia and China defend space as common property against western-style celestial land grabs.

There is no viable commercial model for the extraction of space resources and their return to Earth for sale. Nasa’s Moon rock returns helped justify space property rights. Dr Ibled warns that humanity’s last commons is slipping into private hands. Some have proposed an , consent-based for space – which would treat it not as endless bounty but as a realm worthy of restraint and respect, where survival uses like water extraction would be permitted. Creating equitable global governance is hard. But that’s no excuse not to try. The stakes, after all, are planetary.

ONLINE:

___

April 27

The Philadelphia Inquirer on the first 100 days of Trump’s second term

President Franklin D. Roosevelt coined the term as he moved with warp speed to lift the country out of the Great Depression.

As the 100th day of ’s second presidential term approaches, he has with haste and brute force.

But instead of building up the United States, Trump is tearing it apart.

No elected official has done more damage to America in the half century or so since Watergate than Trump. In just a few months, his words and deeds have made the country , , and less stable.

Trump has inflicted pointless pain and suffering on individuals, families, and businesses. He has made America less free, less efficient, less healthy, less respected, and more lawless.

At every turn, Trump has created costly chaos for no good reason. Even worse, he has acted with a and vengeance that on pathological.

The blitz has been so relentless that it is hard to believe he has only been back in power for roughly 100 days.

Amid the tumult, one thing is clear: Trump is not making America great. In fact, his actions are un-American.

Each day brings a fresh new hell.

It started on Day One when Trump rewarded lawlessness at the highest levels by granting sweeping pardons to more than 1,500 of the insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and police officers, the building, and threatened to Vice President Mike Pence.

It continued with Trump’s that ranged from the ridiculous ( the Gulf of Mexico) to the unconstitutional ( birthright citizenship).

Then it morphed into reckless attacks on government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of Education, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

No doubt, the federal government could run more smoothly. But firing of federal employees with no rhyme or reason will make the government .

Elon Musk, the unelected point person overseeing the government purge at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, slashed jobs and issued ridiculous , while on nearly every American.

Damage done, Musk will soon to save his failing car company, while keeping the his other businesses receive from the government.

But after all the upheaval, Musk DOGE will only reduce spending by $150 billion. In a government that $7 trillion a year, that’s 2% — far short of Musk’s of cutting $2 trillion.

Musk’s stated paltry savings can’t even be trusted since the reports are with errors. One of DOGE’s biggest involved a $1.9 billion contract that was canceled last fall by the Biden administration.

Unaccounted for is the to people’s and the hollowed-out departments Musk leaves behind. It is easy to criticize the government until you need a VA appointment, Medicare coverage, a Social Security check, or Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance.

Firing air traffic controllers amid a run of airplane crashes is depraved.

Closing embassies and ending foreign aid will destabilize hot spots around the world, turn countries against America, and lead to senseless deaths. One group that 15,000 people have died from the administration’s immolation of the international relief group USAID. Researchers say that number to 25 million because of cuts to global health funding.

Firing FBI agents, CIA spies, and U.S. Justice Department prosecutors benefits criminals and leaves the country more vulnerable to espionage.

Then there are Trump’s tariffs. Just to see how that is going. Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs have , , and on consumers.

Over one three-day stretch, Trump’s tariff moves from pension funds, investment accounts, and retirement savings. Trump inherited an economy that was the . But in just three months, he made America , and likely .

Along the way, Trump has picked needless fights with our strongest allies in Europe, Canada, and Mexico. He’s threatened to take and the . It has been a disgusting display of , , and that has made America .

Even worse, Trump has in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Trump is in war criminal Vladimir Putin’s — where he has .

The of Ukraine and its valiant President Volodymyr Zelensky will go down as one of the most disgraceful and costly foreign policy blunders ever by an American president — with a from complicit Republican lackeys.

Then, there have been aimed at ending diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Sadly, many support the end of DEI without understanding the .

While perhaps imperfect, programs that strive for the fair treatment of all people, especially those who faced systemic discrimination for generations, are a worthy goal to live up to the founders’ vision of a more perfect union.

Trump prefers to go backward, declaring, “Our country will be woke no longer.”

Note that the opposite of woke is lulled. And the opposite of diversity, equity, and inclusion is homogeneity, inequality, and exclusion.

In other words, Trump is at war with a bedrock principle in the Declaration of Independence: “All men are created equal.”

He is also at war with higher education, science, public health, and the legal community — institutions and bulwarks that have long distinguished the United States.

Trump has spent the past few months threatening and bullying universities, law firms, and media companies. He appears to take sick pleasure in abusing his power, but the upshot of the attacks will weaken America.

Cutting off research funding will , slow discoveries for cancer and other rare diseases, while leaving the country less prepared to combat the next pandemic.

Trump’s assault on higher education — despite his benefiting from an Ivy League degree — will result in and fewer college graduates to fill jobs in fields that face shortages like engineering, nursing, and teaching.

It will lead to and more inequality, as only the wealthy will be able to afford tuition. Chasing away foreign students will also undermine America’s higher education dominance, while benefiting other countries like China, which will fill the void.

Trump’s roundup and deportation of migrants and foreign students — including many who are in the — is perhaps his most un-American act.

Instead of trying to fix America’s broken immigration system, Trump human rights, constitutional protections, and court rulings.

Many judges have by applying the law and serving as a check on the executive branch — just as the founders designed the system. But the in the legislative branch have ignored their constitutional duty and enabled Trump.

As legal experts debate whether Trump has created a , others say we have crossed the Rubicon.

Former Vice President Al Gore the Trump administration’s abuse of power and war on truth with Nazi Germany.

A Harvard professor who studies how democracies slip into authoritarianism , “We are no longer living in a democratic regime.”

Much has been in Trump’s first 100 days. It will be up to voters, lawmakers, and the courts to stop him before there is no turning back.

ONLINE:

In the final days of the Washington legislative session, lawmakers hashed out agreements to approve a bill that sets limits on rent increases and a measure that gives striking workers unemployment benefits. The two bills await decisions by Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Democrat.

If signed into law, the rent stabilization bill would be among the first in the nation, adding Washington to states like Oregon and California that have sought new ways to curb homelessness. Washington joined Oregon in efforts to give striking workers unemployment payments, following recent walkouts by Boeing factory workers, hospital nurses and teachers in the Pacific Northwest.

Washington passed its bill on a 27-21 vote with some changes, while Oregon lawmakers continue to discuss the plan. The bill started with a 12-week cap on unemployment benefits. That was cut to four weeks in the House before the conference committee reached a compromise of six weeks.

Democratic state Sen. Marcus Riccelli, who sponsored Washington’s bill, said it will level the playing field for workers, even with the shorter benefits period.

“A strike is a last resort, but the bill gives striking workers the ability to afford basic needs like food and housing,” Riccelli told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “The whole thing for me is when there’s not a safety net, they face tremendous pressure to end the strike quickly.”

The Employment Security Department must report strike data to the Legislature starting in 2026, so they can assess impacts, Riccelli said. The bill sunsets on Jan. 1, 2036.

Only two states, New York and New Jersey, give striking workers unemployment benefits. Senate Democrats in Connecticut have revived legislation that would provide financial help for striking workers after the governor vetoed a similar measure last year.

Washington’s rent-control bill made it through both houses, but two unexpected amendments added on the Senate floor sent House Bill 1217 into a conference committee. Those amendments increased the cap from 7% to 10% plus inflation and exempted single-family homes.

Opponents of the bill warned that developers would leave the state if it became law and argued that similar policies in Oregon and California only added to those states’ financial burdens instead of slowing the homeless crisis.

Oregon passed a rent-control bill in 2019, and lawmakers updated the measure to cap rent increases at either 7% plus the annual 12-month average change in the consumer price index for the U.S. West, or 10% — whichever is lower.

The Washington legislature’s conference committee managed to get the cap down a bit, to 7% plus inflation or 10% — whichever is lower. They also restored protections for the 38% of renters who live in single-family homes. The rent-increase cap for manufactured homes remains at 5%.

Lawmakers approved the plan Sunday on a 54-44 vote, with five Democrats joining the Republican opposition.

Michele Thomas, director of policy for Low Income Housing Alliance, said the policy was hard-fought and she was happy the state made a step toward better protections for tenants.

“Excessive rent increases threaten nearly 1 million renter households in our state with displacement and homelessness, as rents continue to rise,” she said. “This bill will help keep people in their homes as we continue to fight for stronger protections and for more affordable housing for our communities.”

A federal judge in California has barred Border Patrol agents from arresting someone suspected of living in the U.S. illegally unless they have a warrant or a reason to believe the person might flee before a warrant can be obtained.

Tuesday’s ruling from U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston also says Border Patrol agents can’t stop people without having reasonable suspicion or return them to their countries of origin via “voluntary departure” unless that person is informed of their rights and agrees to leave. The ruling only applies to people within the court’s Eastern District of California, Thurston said, where dozens of people were swept up in January after the Border Patrol launched an immigration enforcement action dubbed “Operation Return to Sender.”

The American Civil Liberties Union sued Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. Border Patrol officials on behalf of the labor union United Farm Workers and people who were targeted during the Border Patrol raids.

The ACLU said border patrol agents spent nearly a week unconstitutionally detaining people who “appeared to be farmworkers or day laborers, regardless of their actual immigration status or individual circumstances.” The detainees were bussed to the border, held without any way to contact family or attorneys, and coerced into signing papers that said they had waived their right to see an immigration judge and voluntarily agreed to leave the country, the ACLU said.

“The evidence before the Court is that Border Patrol agents under DHS authority engaged in conduct that violated well-established constitutional rights,” Thurston wrote. She said the Border Patrol would have to provide a report showing exactly who is detained or arrested without warrants, and why, every 60 days until the lawsuit is concluded.

Attorneys for the Border Patrol had argued the judge lacked jurisdiction to consider the case, because federal law says that immigration matters can generally only be appealed once an immigration judge has issued a final order. Besides, the government’s attorneys said, the lawsuit is moot because the U.S. Border Patrol has already issued new guidance and training to its agents detailing exactly when people may be stopped or arrested without warrants, and what rights detainees have after their arrest.

But Thurston said the Border Patrol can’t claim the lawsuit is moot simply because it issued a new policy after it was sued. The language in the new policy isn’t strong enough to guard against the illegal stops, Thurston said, and there is no reason to believe that the policy wouldn’t be changed again in the future.

___