Author: Wolf Blitzer
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz pledged Wednesday night to do everything in his power to protect Minnesotans from the chaos that he said President Donald Trump has unleashed on the country and the world.Delivering his annual State of the State speech to a joint session of the Legislature, the Democratic governor said Minnesota is as strong as it has ever been, but it is a “moment of great uncertainty for our nation.” And he said that is no accident, but the result of the Republican president’s choices.“The president of the United States has chosen – chosen! –…
HOUSTON (AP) — The State Bar of Texas rescinded a speaking invitation to the NAACP’s president after the civil rights group challenged the Trump administration’s dismantling of the Education Department, citing new rules over speaking topics the bar says could be deemed political.Derrick Johnson, the NAACP’s president and CEO, had been set to speak during the state bar’s annual meeting in June in San Antonio. He said Wednesday he was shocked his invitation to speak was taken away. “They have decided to censure free speech on notions of being political when it’s not political,” Johnson told The Associated Press. “This…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has charged an alleged high-ranking member of Tren de Aragua in Colombia with terrorism offenses, making the first case of its kind against a member of the gang the Trump administration has designated a foreign terrorist organization, officials said Wednesday. The case is part of a broad push to target Tren de Aragua or TdA, a Venezuelan gang that has been blamed for drug smuggling and violence in the United States. President Donald Trump has labeled the gang an invading force under an 18th century wartime law to deport Venezuelan migrants to a notorious…
The Trump administration on Wednesday continued to resist a federal judge’s orders to produce information about the steps it has taken, if any, to return a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador.Drew Ensign, a deputy assistant attorney general, filed a sealed motion asking for a stay of the judge’s order to provide sworn testimony and documents about the U.S. government’s efforts to retrieve Kilmar Abrego Garcia.The request comes just hours after U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland had castigated the Trump administration in a written filing Tuesday for ignoring her orders, obstructing the legal process and…
PENN YAN, N.Y. (AP) — A decade ago, Scott Osborn would have eagerly told prospective vineyard owners looking to join the wine industry to “jump into it.”Now, his message is different.“You’re crazy,” said Osborn, who owns Fox Run Vineyards, a sprawling 50-acre (20-hectare) farm on Seneca Lake, the largest of New York’s Finger Lakes. Scott Osborn, owner of Fox Run Vineyards, stands for a photo, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP) Scott Osborn, owner of Fox Run Vineyards, stands for a photo, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP)Read…
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A large crowd of supporters and advocates gathered outside a Vermont courthouse Wednesday to support a Palestinian man who led protests against the war in Gaza as a student at Columbia University and was arrested during an interview about finalizing his U.S. citizenship.Mohsen Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident for 10 years, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on April 14. He made an initial court appearance Wednesday during which a judge extended a temporary order keeping Mahdawi in Vermont and scheduled a hearing for next week.Mahdawi’s lawyers say he was detained in retaliation for…
CHATSWORTH, N.J. (AP) — A fast-moving wildfire was burning in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens, but officials on Wednesday lifted earlier evacuation orders and a stretch of a major highway that was closed due to the blaze has reopened.More than 1,300 structures were threatened and about 3,000 residents had been evacuated, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said. Officials said Wednesday morning that evacuation orders were lifted. Shelters were open at two high schools, according to the Barnegat Police Department.The Garden State Parkway, one of New Jersey’s busiest highways, reopened Wednesday morning after officials closed a roughly 7-mile (12-kilometer) stretch in…
NEW YORK (AP) — Five years after Harvey Weinstein ’s original #MeToo trial delivered a searing reckoning for one of Hollywood’s most powerful figures, the ex-studio boss is on trial again after an appeals court threw out the landmark rape conviction.Opening statements are set for Wednesday in a trial that could take six weeks. It’s happening at the same Manhattan courthouse as his first trial, and two accusers who testified then are expected to return. But Weinstein’s retrial is playing out at a different cultural moment than the first, which happened during the height of the #MeToo movement. And along…
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Hubert Montoya burst out laughing when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security emailed to say he should leave the country immediately or risk consequences of being deported. He is a U.S. citizen.“I just thought it was absurd,” the Austin, Texas, immigration attorney said.It was an apparent glitch in the Trump administration’s dismantling of another Biden-era policy that allowed people to live and work in the country temporarily. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is quietly revoking two-year permits of people who used an online appointment app at U.S. border crossings with Mexico called CBP One, which brought…
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) — Survivors and relatives of people killed in a 2022 mass shooting at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago were set to speak Wednesday at the sentencing hearing for the gunman, who chose not to attend.Robert E. Crimo III, 24, pleaded guilty last month to the shooting that left seven people dead and dozens more injured. He changed his plea moments before opening statements at his trial after years of unpredictable legal proceedings.Crimo is not attending the hearings or watching from jail, said Lake County sheriff’s spokesman Christopher Covelli. He has previously skipped court, including during…