HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaii-based soldier faces charges in military court in connection with the suspected killing of his pregnant wife, the Army said Wednesday. His wife’s body has not been found.

The charges against Pfc. Dewayne Arthur Johnson II stem from the disappearance of his wife, Mischa Johnson, last year, U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii said in a news release. The 19-year-old was last seen on July 31 at her home on Schofield Barracks, an Army installation on Oahu, when she was six months pregnant. She is presumed dead, the Army said.

The Army said the “general nature of the charges” are for the killing of his wife, intentionally killing her unborn child and obstruction of justice. Other charges involve providing false official statements, possession of child sexual abuse images and the production and distribution of child sexual abuse images, the Army said.

The Army took Johnson into custody in August. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had a civilian attorney. A phone number listed for him rang unanswered Wednesday.

Johnson, from Frederick, Maryland, is a calvary scout. He enlisted in the Army and attended training at Fort Moore, Georgia, in November 2022. He was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division in 2023.

Johnson’s case will be assigned to a military judge who will schedule dates for an arraignment, pretrial hearings and a trial, the Army said. Charging documents will be available after Johnson is arraigned, according to a spokesperson for the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel.

Audrey Mcavoy, The Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Elephants trumpeted, touched trunks and flapped their oversized ears upon reuniting with their herd after a complex, five-day move from an urban Australian zoo to a much larger enclosure.

The nine Asian elephants were transported 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Melbourne Zoo in the heart of the city to an enclosure 10 times bigger at the Werribee Open Range Open Zoo, Zoos Victoria said on Thursday. Police escorts and synchronized traffic lights aided their journey in three convoys of trucks.

The animals’ reactions demonstrated they were happy with their move, the elephants’ manager Erin Gardner said.

“The behaviors that we saw that indicated to us that they felt really comfortable and also excited to see each other were lots of ear flapping, trunk touching, lots of vocalizations,” Gardner told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“So, roaring, trumpeting, tweaks and squeaks. And so all those interactions helped us understand that they are happy to see each other and feeling comfortable. By the afternoon, those calves were playing together and interacting and I just couldn’t believe how well they traveled,” Gardner added.

Planning the move began almost two years ago by training the elephants to enter and exit the transport crates, veterinarian Bonnie McMeekin said.

“Without that training and comfort, I think it would have been really hard to do it safely,” McMeekin said.

The elephants weighing a combined 23 metric tons (25 U.S. tons) were given mild sedatives to reduce their stress during their 40-minute journeys. The adults were also tethered around their ankles to hold them steady on the road.

The trucks mostly traveled around 60 kph (37 mph) but took turns cautiously, McMeekin said. The crates were air-conditioned and purpose built, three of them specifically for mothers and calves to travel together.

The herd has one adult male, five adult females and three calves, all 2 years old.

The adult male, who is the most solitary member of the herd, made the journey alone on Feb. 6 in a crate hoisted onto a truck by a crane. On Saturday, one truck carried an aunt and another carried a crate with a mother and calf. Two mothers with calves plus the herd matriarch followed in three crates on Monday, when the herd was reunited.

McMeekin said two days was a long time for females in a herd to be separated.

The herd on Wednesday was introduced into their new 21-hectare (52-acre) enclosure that has two 3.5-meter- (11-foot-) deep swimming pools. The enclosure is as big as the entire Melbourne Zoo where the herd had outgrown their 2-hectare (5-acre) habitat.

Their new 88 million Australian dollar ($55 million) home has mud wallows, specially designed elephant barns and a communal sleeping area filled with 3,300 metric tons (3,600 U.S. tones) of sand.

The herd will have three weeks to settle into their new home before the habitat is opened to the public.

Rod Mcguirk, The Associated Press

An off-duty Halifax Regional Police officer has been charged by Nova Scotia's police watchdog with harassment in relation to allegations involving "a female known to him."

The 4 Nations Face-Off will give fans a long-awaited taste of best-on-best hockey but the NHL and NHLPA have even bigger plans for the next tournament in 2028.

The league and players’ association announced Wednesday in Montreal that they are moving forward with the next World Cup of Hockey in 2028.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the league will begin accepting bids from host cities for the tournament soon. He later added that the tournament will take place in February and that the league is hoping to get bids from cities in Europe to host games.

A press release added that the tournament will be played on NHL-sized ice and with NHL rules and officials. Bettman said there will be at least eight teams in the tournament and no melded teams like those featured in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

The 2028 World Cup of Hockey will follow NHL players participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh confirmed that the hope is to have best-on-best competitions every two years but added that it will be taken one tournament at a time.

The last World Cup of Hockey was played in Toronto in 2016 with Canada defeating Team Europe in the best-of-three championship. That eight-team tournament also featured the United States, Sweden, Finland, Czechia, Russia and Team North America, which featured the best Canadian and American under-23 players.

The 4 Nations Face-Off will see Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden compete in a one-week sprint for glory in Montreal and Boston. The puck will drop on the tournament Wednesday night when Canada clashes with Sweden, followed by the United States facing Finland on Thursday.

All games in the tournament can be seen on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

Two Dartmouth flag stores are seeing their Canadian flags flying off the shelves ahead of the weekend.

PHOENIX (AP) — Lawyers for 25,000 people incarcerated in Arizona have asked a judge to take over health care operations in state-run prisons and appoint an official to run them, saying the state is not capable of fixing deep failures in care even though it has been required to do so over the last decade.

In a filing Tuesday, the attorneys said a takeover is urgently needed because the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry lacks the leadership to comply with changes ordered by a judge in a 2012 lawsuit over the quality of medical and mental health care for prisoners.

The first constitutional violation in the case was found in 2015, they said, and “A decade later, defendants still have not demonstrated the will, knowledge, or capacity to reform their prison healthcare system.”

Arizona settled the case in 2014 but for years was dogged by complaints that it failed to follow through on its promises. The court slapped the state with contempt fines of $1.4 million in 2018 and $1.1 million in 2021. The settlement was eventually thrown out due to Arizona’s noncompliance, and a trial was ordered.

In a blistering 2022 verdict, U.S. District Court Judge Roslyn Silver ruled that the state was violating prisoners’ constitutional rights by providing them with inadequate care, knew about the problem for years and refused to correct it.

She also said prison health care deficiencies resulted in preventable deaths and issued an injunction requiring corrections authorities to fix the constitutional violations.

In September 2019 lawyers representing the prisoners made a similar request for a takeover, also known as a receivership. Though Silver has previously shied away from granting that, she later said she would revive that possibility if the state acts in bad faith or fails to comply with the court-ordered changes.

Lawyers for prisoners pointed to a recent report from a court-appointed expert who said health care for prisoners “remains poor, has shown little improvement since the start of the Injunction, and continues to place the residents at significant risk of serious harm, including death.”

The corrections department and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ office did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the request.

Past receiverships have been ordered for prisons in other states. In California in 2005, a federal judge seized control of the prison medical system after finding that an average of one inmate a week was dying of medical neglect or malpractice.

The Arizona lawsuit does not cover the nearly 10,000 people incarcerated in private prisons for state convictions.

Jacques Billeaud, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday cleared the way for President Donald Trump’s plan to downsize the federal workforce with a deferred resignation program.

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston found a group of labor unions didn’t have legal standing to challenge the program, commonly described as a buyout.

Trump wants to use financial incentives to encourage government employees to quit. According to the White House, tens of thousands of workers have taken the government up on its offer.

The deferred resignation program has been spearheaded by Elon Musk, who is serving as Trump’s top adviser for reducing federal spending. Under the plan, employees can stop working and get paid until Sept. 30.

Labor unions argued the plan is illegal and asked for O’Toole to keep it on hold and prevent the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, from soliciting more workers to sign up.

A Justice Department lawyer has called the plan a “humane off ramp” for federal employees who may have structured their lives around working remotely and have been ordered to return to government offices.

buildings.

The Associated Press

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said she has been “disappointed” with the approach taken by the province to date.

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina House members advanced Wednesday a Republican package to boost state recovery funding after Hurricane Helene as committees fleshed out details on how best to spend another $500 million to address the historic flooding.

The House’s budget-writing committee voted for the latest spending proposal, which would emphasize repairs for damaged homes, private bridges and roads, assistance to farmers who lost crops and rebuilding infrastructure adjacent used by small businesses.

GOP House leaders had unveiled a version last week, but several amendments adjusted the measure in a special Helene recovery committee on Tuesday. A House floor vote is expected next week, said Rep. John Bell, the House rules chairman and co-chairman of the recovery committee.

The package remains less than half of the $1.07 billion that new Democratic Gov. Josh Stein sought in new recovery spending earlier this month from legislators.

Stein’s package contains several initiatives the House plan currently lacks, including money to recompense local governments in the mountains for lost or spent revenues and for two business grant programs designed to help small businesses directly.

Senate GOP leaders will have their own competing spending ideas that will figure into negotiations with House counterparts. Both Stein and Republican lawmakers want to get more Helene spending out the door early this year to address immediate needs. Additional funds are expected in the two-year state budget that would take effect July 1.

The legislature already has appropriated close to $1 billion since last fall for Helene aid in the weeks after it made landfall in late September.

“This is just the next step in this process,” House Speaker Destin Hall told Tuesday’s committee meeting. “Somebody asked me earlier, ‘How many bills are we going to need to do this?’ And my answer is — and I know you all feel the same — it’s going to be as many as it takes for us to get it done to rebuild western North Carolina.”

North Carolina state officials reported that Helene damaged 74,000 homes and thousands of miles in both state-maintained and private roads, bridges and culverts. State officials projected the storm caused a record $59.6 billion in damages and recovery needs.

Congressional legislation approved in December and other federal actions are projected to provide over $15 billion to North Carolina for rebuilding.

The state House proposal seeks to maximize federal matching funds, avoid mistakes from previous storm recovery efforts and prevent the distribution of too much money to programs ill-equipped to get it out the door, Bell said.

“This body is very strategic in what we’re trying to do,” Bell said Wednesday.

Adjustments that House Republicans made this week to their preliminary bill included shifting $75 million to create a state Agriculture Department program to address agricultural crop and infrastructure losses.

Another $60 million initially earmarked for repairs of state facilities would be used for other purposes. Nearly all of it — $55 million — would help small businesses, although not in the form of direct payments, as Stein and other Democrats want.

Instead, the proposed infrastructure grant program would allocate money to local governments to repair “qualifying infrastructure needs” like utilities, broadband and sidewalks that would benefit small businesses trying to reemerge from the storm. Bell said Wednesday that a grant program could be open to abuses by businesses that aren’t located specifically in the damaged region.

With Republicans falling one seat short of retaining a veto-proof majority in the General Assembly after the November election, Stein and Democratic allies may be able to yield more leverage to fashion a package to their liking.

For example, Democratic Rep. Eric Ager of Buncombe County offered an amendment Tuesday to create a direct payment program to small businesses that Stein sought, running it through the state Revenue Department.

“We’re losing businesses in western North Carolina every day and we’ve got to find a solution,” Ager said, adding that it “would really go a long way in keeping some folks solvent through to the summer when business picks back up again.”

While Ager pulled his amendment before a vote because earlier committee action took away his funding source, Bell suggested to Ager and later to reporters that new language to help small businesses may be considered.

Senate leader Phil Berger told reporters later Wednesday he wouldn’t prejudge the House plan before it reaches his chamber, including whether $500 million was the appropriate spending level for now. But “clearly we need to do a separate Helene bill as soon as possible,” Berger said.

Democratic Sen. Julie Mayfield of Buncombe County said separately that some Senate Republican colleagues were working on a forgiveable loan program as an alternative to outright grants to help businesses.

Gary D. Robertson, The Associated Press

TORONTO (AP) — Jerome Drayton, who finished sixth at the Montreal Olympics, won the 1977 Boston Marathon and held the Canadian men’s marathon record for 43 years, has died. He was 80.

Drayton died unexpectedly on Monday in Toronto, according to Cardinal Funeral Homes. Runners World magazine said he died during knee surgery.

Born in Germany with the name Peter Buniak, Drayton changed his name after immigrating to Canada in 1956. He won Detroit’s Motor City Marathon in 1969 in a North American record time of 2 hours, 12 minutes, and shaved 47 seconds off the mark in winning the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan later that year.

He won the 1973 Canadian championship before finishing third in Boston in 1974. Three years later — his fifth try in Boston — he pulled ahead when eventual four-time winner Bill Rodgers began to tire in the 77-degree heat and gave Canada its first victory in the race in three decades. Drayton finished second at the New York Marathon that fall.

“Jerome remains the most recent Open Division Men’s Champion from Canada, and set the stage for generations of world class Canadian marathoners to follow in his footsteps,” Boston Athletic Association President Jack Fleming said.

Drayton also set a world record on the track for the 10-mile run in 1970 in 46:37.6, and was the top Canadian in the men’s marathon at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. The Canada Sports Hall of Fame, which inducted him in 1978, said that Drayton held 12 national titles and set 13 records in his career.

After retiring, Drayton worked as a consultant with the Sports and Fitness Division of Ontario’s Ministry of Youth, Culture and Recreation.

“He was a runner who cared not only about his own performance but the growth and development of the sport,” Fleming said. “The feedback and interest he showed in the Boston Marathon undoubtedly helped shape the marathon in the late 70s and beyond.”

The Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined on Wednesday to hear a case that seeks to restore collective bargaining rights lost in 2011 to tens of thousands of teachers, nurses and other public workers.

The court’s decision means the case must first go through a lower appeals court before it will likely end up before the state Supreme Court.

Wisconsin’s anti-union law has been challenged for years

Seven unions representing teachers and other public workers in Wisconsin filed the lawsuit seeking to overturn the anti-union 2011 law, known as Act 10. The law had withstood numerous legal challenges before a Dane County circuit court judge in December found the bulk of it to be unconstitutional, setting up the appeal to the state Supreme Court.

The Act 10 law effectively ended collective bargaining for most public unions by allowing them to bargain solely over base wage increases no greater than inflation. It also disallowed the automatic withdrawal of union dues, required annual recertification votes for unions, and forced public workers to pay more for health insurance and retirement benefits.

Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost in December ruled that the law violates equal protection guarantees in the Wisconsin Constitution by dividing public employees into “general” and “public safety” employees. Under the ruling, all public sector workers who lost their collective bargaining power would have it restored to what was in place before 2011.

The judge put the ruling on hold pending the appeal.

The union law divided Wisconsin and the country

The law’s introduction in 2011 spurred massive protests that stretched on for weeks. It made Wisconsin the center of a national fight over union rights, catapulted then-Gov. Scott Walker onto the national stage, sparked an unsuccessful recall campaign and laid the groundwork for Walker’s failed 2016 presidential bid.

The law’s adoption led to a dramatic decrease in union membership across the state. The nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum said in a 2022 analysis that since 2000, Wisconsin had the largest decline in the proportion of its workforce that is unionized.

In 2015, the GOP-controlled Wisconsin Legislature approved a right-to-work law that limited the power of private-sector unions.

If the lawsuit is successful, all public sector workers who lost their collective bargaining power will have it restored. They would be treated the same as the police, firefighter and other public safety unions who remain exempt.

Divisions remain over the effectiveness of the law

Supporters of the law have said it gave local governments more control over workers and the powers they needed to cut costs. Repealing the law, which allowed schools and local governments to raise money through higher employee contributions for benefits, would bankrupt those entities, backers of Act 10 have argued.

Democratic opponents argue that the law has hurt schools and other government agencies by taking away the ability of employees to collectively bargain for their pay and working conditions.

Public sector unions that brought the lawsuit are the Abbotsford Education Association; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Locals 47 and 1215; the Beaver Dam Education Association; SEIU Wisconsin; the Teaching Assistants’ Association Local 3220 and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 695.

Scott Bauer, The Associated Press

The Halifax firefighters' union is asking the municipality to pay for preventive cancer screenings at private clinics, after they say members were denied through the provincial health system.

Former prime ministers are asking Canadians to fly the red maple leaf this weekend amid U.S. president Donald Trump's threats to Canada's economy and sovereignty. Saturday is also National Flag Day in Canada and 2025 is its 60th anniversary. Watch Amy Smith with Carol Aylard, manager of the Flag Shop.

The chief of a rural Nova Scotia fire department is sounding the alarm over what he calls poor communication between agencies during an emergency, saying it could cost someone's life.

OTTAWA — A former top advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’s worried the U.S. might put intelligence sharing on the table in talks about Canada’s laggardly defence spending.

Vincent Rigby says he’s afraid that at some point, intelligence will become a negotiating tool as the Donald Trump White house seeks to extract gains from Canada.

Rigby was Trudeau’s national security and intelligence adviser during the early years of the pandemic.

Trump and other U.S. lawmakers have been sharply critical of Canada for failing to meet its NATO commitment of spending two per cent of its GDP on defence.

Canada currently only spends about 1.37 per cent, but Trudeau has pledged to meet the target by 2032.

Canada benefits from national intelligence as part of the “Five Eyes” intelligence sharing group of countries, which includes Australia, Britain, New Zealand and the U.S.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2025.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press

Announcement comes a day after Natural Resources Minister John Lohr sent a letter to mayors and wardens throughout Nova Scotia, upping pressure on municipalities and towns to fall in line behind Houston and say “yes” to resource development in the province.

The post ‘Let’s unload this turkey’: Australian gold miner St Barbara says it will ‘separate’ from its operations in Nova Scotia appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court denied the final appeal Wednesday of James Dennis Ford, who is scheduled to be executed in Florida for the 1997 murders of a married couple.

The court’s ruling came without comment. The 64-year-old inmate is set to receive a lethal injection Thursday evening at Florida State Prison outside Starke. It would be Florida’s first execution in 2025.

Ford was convicted by a jury of murdering Gregory Malnory, 25, and 26-year-old Kimberly Malnory during a fishing outing in 1997 at a remote sod farm in southwest Florida. Ford and Gregory Malnory were coworkers at the Charlotte County farm, court records show.

The couple’s 22-month-old daughter witnessed the killings and spent hours strapped in a seat in the couple’s pickup truck that was open to the elements, suffering numerous insect bites and dehydration before workers found her and her parents’ bodies.

Ford’s lawyers tried several unsuccessful appeals, most recently contending in part that he should be spared because he had the mentality of a 14-year-old when the killings happened. The courts rejected that.

The Associated Press

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil´s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is pressing the country’s environmental regulator to approve exploratory drilling near the mouth of the Amazon River, defending the push by saying new oil revenues could finance a transition to green energies.

The offshore site, Bloc 59, is located in the Equatorial Margin, about 160 kilometers (99 miles) off Brazil’s eastern coast. In May 2023, Ibama, the environmental regulator, rejected a license, citing issues such as a weak wildlife protection plan in the event of an oil spill that could affect one of the world’s most biodiverse regions. State-owned oil company Petrobras appealed and a decision is pending.

“I want it (oil) to be explored. But before exploring, we need to research and see if there is oil and how much oil there is,” Lula said Wednesday during an interview with radio station Diario. “What we can’t do is stay in this endless chatter that drags and drags—Ibama is a government agency, but it seems like it’s working against the government.”

Offshore drilling near the Amazon would certainly draw scrutiny to Brazil, which is hosting the next United Nations climate summit, COP30. It’s scheduled to take place in November in Belem, a port city located near the mouth of the Amazon, a few hundred miles from Bloc 59. A central push of the annual climate talks has been to reduce the use of fossil fuels such as oil, which when burned released greenhouse gas that heat up the planet.

In an attempt to reconcile both agendas, Lula said that the oil money would be used to finance clean energy projects. Brazil is a major oil-producing country, with an output roughly as big as Iraq, and is increasingly an exporter. On the other hand, about 90% of its electricity comes from renewable sources, primarily hydropower, according to government figures.

“We will follow all the necessary procedures to ensure no harm to nature, but we can’t ignore the wealth beneath us and choose not to explore it—especially because this wealth will provide the funds for the much-needed and long-awaited energy transition,” he said.

Exploring for new sources of oil near the Amazon just ahead COP30 will harm Brazil’s image as a climate leader, said Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, a network of 133 environmental, civil society and academic groups.

“President Lula often says that Brazil should lead by example,” he told The Associated Press. “Exploring more oil is not a model action in the climate agenda.”

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

Fabiano Maisonnave, The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Emergency Management Agency has yanked back more than $80 million from New York City, officials said Wednesday, escalating a dispute between the Trump administration and the nation’s largest city over money meant to cover hotel costs for migrants. The Democratic-led city had failed earlier to persuade a judge to block the Republican White House from withholding funding.

Gone is a $59 million grant that Washington challenged earlier in the week, as well as a second award for $21.5 million, City Comptroller Brad Lander said. The money was discovered to be missing overnight, and he said no one in his office had been aware that the federal government had access to the city’s bank account.

A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams said city officials had contacted the White House about getting back the money, are seeking an emergency meeting with FEMA and exploring legal options.

It’s the first big test for Adams’ relationship with Trump’s team after the U.S. Justice Department on Monday directed federal prosecutors in Manhattan to drop corruption charges against the mayor, with a top official saying the administration wanted Adams free to aid President Donald Trump’s immigration objectives.

The grants were applied for and awarded during the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden but were not disbursed until last week, the city said.

Soon after, Trump adviser Elon Musk flagged $59 million in payments, writing on X that his so-called Department of Government Efficiency had discovered the money was used to house migrants in “luxury hotels.” Musk gave no evidence to support his claim.

FEMA’s acting administrator said in court documents filed Tuesday that the money was being clawed back over concerns about “illegal activities” at a hotel.

Lander questioned whether the move was legal, saying he had never seen a case where someone was “authorized to come into your bank accounts and take it back because of shifting political winds.”

This is “the first critical test of whether we still have independent leadership at City Hall,” said Lander, an Adams critic who is challenging him in June’s Democratic primary.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested at a briefing Wednesday that the administration felt paying for hotels for migrants in the city was not a worthy expense while FEMA deals with costly disasters elsewhere.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X that she “has clawed back the full payment that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally gave to NYC migrant hotels.”

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the administration can continue efforts to withhold the FEMA money from the city. U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island said that money was not subject to an order, still in effect, aimed at preventing an administration pause on federal funding.

On Tuesday, four federal employees were fired the payments to reimburse the city for hotel costs for migrants, with Homeland Security Department officials saying the workers had circumvented agency leadership to make the transactions. Such payments have been standard for years through a program that helps with costs to care for a surge in migration.

The city started leasing the Roosevelt Hotel as an intake center for homeless migrants seeking city services in 2023, after it closed in the fall of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Under city law, New York must offer shelter to anyone who needs it, and at the time the regular homeless shelter system was overwhelmed with new arrivals. The hotel now serves as both a place where migrants must go to apply for services and as a temporary shelter for hundreds of families who can stay for only 60 days.

The Shelter and Services Program, with money coming from Congress and administered by FEMA, has become a flashpoint for criticism by Republicans, who incorrectly claim it’s taking funds from people hit by hurricanes or floods.

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Associated Press reporters Michael R. Sisak in New York and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

Jake Offenhartz And Michael Casey, The Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Jeanette Wallace Hyde, a longtime activist and fundraiser in North Carolina and national Democratic politics who served in the 1990s as the U.S. ambassador to several Caribbean countries, has died at age 86.

Hyde died on Monday at her Raleigh home following a period of declining health, family member Tom Hendrickson said Wednesday.

Hyde and her late husband, Wallace, were a political power couple, opening their home to state and national Democratic candidates. Hendrickson said the likes of Bill and Hillary Clinton and Al Gore, as well as state political notables Terry Sanford, Jim Hunt, Mike Easley, Beverly Perdue and Roy Cooper, visited the Hyde home for fundraisers.

Hyde was also involved in Democratic political strategy, particularly efforts to boost women’s influence in politics, as well as pushing for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, according to an obituary provided by the family. She served as a co-chair of the Clinton-Gore campaign in North Carolina in 1992.

Once president, Bill Clinton in 1994 appointed Hyde as ambassador to Barbados, Dominica, St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Kitts and Nevis. The Hydes lived in Barbados for four years, with her ambassadorship ending in 1998.

“Ambassador Hyde was a force to be reckoned with in our party,” state Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton said Wednesday on X, adding that the state party “is a better place because of her steadfast leadership and grit.”

Hyde, who was born in Yadkin County in North Carolina’s mountains, had a varied career outside of politics, at one time teaching on the Greek island of Crete and working as a social worker and counselor with the North Carolina state courts system, the obituary said. She once operated multiple locations of her own clothing store in Fayetteville and was a cofounder of both Triangle Bank and North State Bank.

Hyde also served on many boards, including the state Board of Transportation. She received many awards, and her own education and philanthropic work was wide-ranging, with many links to Wake Forest University, where she once attended.

Wallace and Jeanette Hyde married in 1985. Wallace Hyde, whose career included work in the insurance field and education, died in 2013.

Jeanette Hyde’s survivors include four nieces, a nephew and a stepson. A memorial service will be held next Tuesday at White Memorial Presbyterian Church in Raleigh.

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The headline has been corrected to correct that Hyde died at age 86, not 89.

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Todd Blanche, criticized the criminal cases against the Republican president as “partisan lawfare” during his Wednesday confirmation hearing to become the second in command at the Justice Department, while skeptical Democrats pressed him on whether he would be able to stand up to pressure from the White House.

Blanche, who just months ago was defending Trump in criminal cases brought by the department, sought to assure lawmakers that politics would play no role in his decisions as deputy attorney general. But his defense of his former client, whom he cast as the victim of a politically motivated justice system, is unlikely assuage concerns about his loyalty to Trump.

Blanche, a former federal prosecutor in New York, would serve under Attorney General Pam Bondi, who in one of her first actions after being sworn into office last week announced the formation of a group that will scrutinize the work of special counsel Jack Smith and others who brought cases against the president.

Blanche was a key figure on Trump’s defense team, both in the two criminal cases brought by the Justice Department and the New York hush money case that ended in a conviction of 34 felony counts. The federal cases were withdrawn after Trump won the 2024 election because of longstanding department policy prohibiting the federal prosecution of a sitting president.

If confirmed by the Senate, Blanche would enter as the department faces questions over its independence from the White House after leadership this week ordered the dismissal of the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who has cultivated a warm relationship with the president.

Emil Bove, another former Trump defense attorney who’s serving as acting deputy role until Blanche’s arrival, said the decision was made not because of the strength of the evidence, but because the charges were brought too close to Adams reelection campaign and were distracting from the mayor’s efforts to assist in the Trump administration’s law-and-order priorities.

Blanche and Bondi, a longtime Trump ally and former Florida attorney general, have echoed Trump’s claims that the department under former President Joe Biden was “weaponized” against conservatives. Blanche told lawmakers that representing Trump opened his eyes to what he described as the abuse of the criminal justice system. Blanche vowed that political considerations would never influence his decisions at the department.

“Partisan lawfare in our justice system wastes taxpayer money, makes communities less safe, and ruins lives,” he said. “This should never happen in America. America deserves better, and it will stop now.”

“We will work to restore the American people’s faith in our justice system, focusing the Department of Justice on the criminals who undermine our safety and destroy our lives, on protecting citizens’ rights, and on ensuring that our government can do the job that the voters chose for it to do,” he added.

Former Attorney General Merrick Garland has defended his department’s work, telling staff in his farewell address last month: “You have worked to pursue justice, not politics.” And Smith, the special counsel, has said politics played no part in the decisions of his team, which charged Trump with illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after his first term and conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election after he lost to Biden.

Democrats focused much of their questions on their concerns about Blanche’s closeness to Trump, who has made clear his desire to use the justice system to exact revenge on his political opponents.

“There will be times — if history is any guide — that the president will ask you to do things that are illegal or immoral,” said Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat. “I need to be sure that you’re willing to say ‘no’ to the president United States when he does it.”

Blanche responded that he rejected the premise, saying he didn’t think the president would ever ask him to do anything illegal or immoral. When pressed again, Blanche said only: “I will follow the law, senator. Period.”

Those concerns are more than theoretical for Democrats given the requests Trump has made of his officials during his first term.

For instance, Trump urged then-FBI Director James Comey to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, demanded that his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, rescind his decision to recuse from the Russia investigation and urged his White House counsel to seek the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller.

None of those requests were granted, but each was later investigated as a potential act of obstruction of justice. Sessions and Comey were later fired by Trump.

Republicans said Blanche’s record as a prosecutor and defense attorney makes him the perfect choice to help lead a department they say has lost credibility in the eyes of many Americans.

“When most people would have turned away in the face of overwhelming advance adversity and personal risk, Mr. Blanche stood up for what he knew was right,” said Florida GOP Sen. Ashley Moody. “And regardless of the pressure he faced inside his own firm or the criticisms he received in the media, Mr. Blanche had the integrity to fulfill his duty, not only to President Trump as his attorney, but to fulfill what he believed was the promise of our nation.”

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Associated Press reporter Eric Tucker contributed reporting.

Alanna Durkin Richer And Michael Kunzelman, The Associated Press

Nova Scotia Health has announced new security measures which will be coming to the Halifax Infirmary emergency department following last month’s violent incident.

Starting Friday, anyone entering the department will have to go through a metal detector and anything that’s deemed a weapon or something that could be used as a weapon will be confiscated.

NS Health said people coming to the emergency department should expect delays as these new measures are implemented, adding discretion will be used by security if a patient arriving needs urgent and immediate care.

This all comes after a patient stabbed two people and injured two others in the emergency department late last month.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A $10 million settlement between county officials in Springfield, Illinois, and the family of Sonya Massey is the “first step in getting full justice” for the Black woman fatally shot in her home last summer by a sheriff’s deputy, lawyers said Wednesday.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump told reporters the settlement, approved Tuesday night by the Sangamon County Board, is poignant, particularly because Massey would have turned 37 on Wednesday and because a criminal trial and legislative changes await.

“It is bittersweet,” Crump said in an online news conference. “This is our first step in getting full justice for Sonya Massey. … We want civil accountability, criminal culpability and we want legislative changes. We want the laws to prevent something like this from happening again.”

Ex-sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson, 30, faces a first-degree murder charge in the shooting after responding to a call from Massey, who suffered mental health challenges, about a suspected prowler. He shot her while she was moving a pot of hot water from her stove.

Joining Crump, his associates and family members was state Rep. Justin Slaughter, a Chicago Democrat who has introduced legislation to provide more accountability to the hiring of police officers in part by ensuring their records at previous departments are fully disclosed. Grayson worked for six police departments in four years and had some disciplinary and legal problems.

“My heart is heavy today,” said Massey’s father, James Wilburn, who thanked Slaughter and Springfield Democratic state Sen. Doris Turner for their legislation to rein in “frequent flyers who go from one department to another” so “no one else would have to feel the kind of hurt that we are feeling today.”

Sangamon County officials said they would pay the award from a settlement account and reserves from other county funds. Disbursement of the money will be decided by a court but will go to Massey’s two teenage children, attorney Antonio Romanucci said. A court also decides compensation for attorneys, but “the lion’s share will go to the family,” Crump said.

The case has drawn national attention as another example of police shooting Black people in their homes. It forced the premature retirement of Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell, who hired Grayson, and prompted an agreement with the Justice Department for more training on non-discriminatory policing, de-escalation techniques and dealing with mental health disabilities.

Massey, whose mental health issues were the subject of several 911 calls from herself and her mother in the days leading up to the shooting, called emergency responders early July 6 to report a suspected prowler. Grayson and another deputy responded. During a conversation in her living room, Grayson noticed a pot of water on the stove and directed the other officer to remove it.

Massey retrieved the pot and joked with Grayson about how he backed away from it, then told Grayson, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.” Grayson yelled at her to drop the pot and drew his weapon. Massey apologized and ducked behind a counter. Grayson fired three shots, striking her just below the left eye.

Grayson remains jailed despite a unanimous 4th District Appellate Court ruling in November that his pre-trial detention was improper. The panel of justices said prosecutors failed to show there were no conditions under which Grayson could be released without posing a threat to the community. Illinois eliminated cash bail in a law Slaughter sponsored which took effect in 2023, allowing judges to order detention only with sufficient cause.

The Illinois Supreme Court is considering an appeal of that ruling.

John O’connor, The Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration can continue efforts to withhold tens of millions of dollars meant to cover hotel costs for migrants in New York City.

U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island ruled that the government’s bid to withhold Federal Emergency Management Agency money sent to New York to house migrants was not subject to an order, still in effect, that’s aimed at preventing a sweeping Trump administration pause on federal funding.

“Because the Defendants are seeking to terminate funding ‘on the basis of the applicable authorizing statutes, regulations, and terms,’” McConnell said, he “sees no need for further clarification.” He denied a motion for an emergency hearing on the issue and affirmed a temporary restraining order preventing the funding freeze.

On Monday, Elon Musk, the head of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, posted on X that his team had discovered payments used to house migrants in “luxury hotels” with money intended for disaster relief. Musk and DOGE have consolidated control over much of the federal government and are working to cut costs and shrink the workforce.

On Tuesday, four federal employees were fired, with Department of Homeland Security officials saying they circumvented leadership to make the transactions. Such payments have been standard for years through a program that helps with costs to care for a surge in migration.

FEMA’s acting administrator, Cameron Hamilton, said in court documents filed Tuesday that the Republican administration yanked funding from the Shelter and Services Program because of concerns the money was “facilitating illegal activities” at a Manhattan hotel used to house migrants.

New York started leasing the Roosevelt Hotel as an intake center for homeless migrants seeking city services in 2023, after it closed in the fall of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Under city law, New York must offer shelter to anyone who needs it, and at the time the regular homeless shelter system was overwhelmed with new arrivals. The hotel now serves as both a place where migrants must go to apply for services and as a temporary shelter for hundreds of families who can stay for only 60 days.

Hamilton said that the federal government can pause or end payments if recipients don’t abide by the terms and that FEMA is reaching out to New York to get more information and “ensure that federal funds are not being used for illegal activities.”

The Shelter and Services Program, with money coming from Congress and administered by FEMA, has become a flashpoint for criticism by Republicans, who incorrectly claim it’s taking funds from people hit by hurricanes or floods.

Michael Casey, The Associated Press

LANSDOWNE, ONT. — Canada’s new fentanyl czar Kevin Brosseau says he will bring an “intensity” to efforts to eliminate the scourge of fentanyl on both sides of the border.

Touring a border point near Lansdowne, Ont. on his first day on the job, the former senior Mountie says his mandate is to bring people together, to integrate the work and to produce results.

Brosseau spent more than 20 years with the RCMP and more recently was deputy national security and intelligence adviser to the prime minister.

He says that if he could send a message to U.S. President Donald Trump, it would be that his appointment demonstrates how seriously Canada takes the fentanyl crisis.

Brosseau spoke alongside Public Safety Minister David McGuinty, who said cool heads and a disciplined approach should prevail as Canada faces the threat of hefty U.S. tariffs on all goods exported to the United States.

The minister says tariffs would be a lose-lose scenario for both countries.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2025.

David Baxter, The Canadian Press

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A recording released by the federal government appears to include audio of the implosion of the experimental submersible that went missing on its way to the wreck of the Titanic.

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration passive acoustic recorder located about 900 miles (1,448 kilometers) away from the implosion site picked up the sound, U.S. Coast Guard officials said in a statement. The recording became public on Feb. 7.

The brief, staticky recording includes a loud noise that sounds somewhat like an underwater thunderclap. It then goes silent for its remaining few seconds.

The Coast Guard said in a statement that the audio clip “records the suspected acoustic signature of the Titan submersible implosion” on June 18, 2023, the day the submersible went missing.

The implosion of the Titan killed all five people on board and set off a Coast Guard investigation and international debate about the future of private deep-sea travel. The Titan vanished on its way to the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean, setting off a five-day search that ended with authorities telling the world that the vessel had been destroyed with no survivors.

Concerns were raised after the implosion because of the Titan’s unconventional design and its creator’s refusal to submit to independent safety checks. OceanGate, the Washington state-based company that owned the submersible, suspended operations in July 2023.

Titan operator Stockton Rush, who co-founded OceanGate, was among those who died in the implosion. The implosion also killed two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

A Coast Guard panel performing a lengthy investigation into the submersible disaster heard two weeks of testimony last September. The testimony included dramatic moments, such as when a former OceanGate scientific director said the Titan malfunctioned during a dive just a few days before its implosion.

The Coast Guard is expected to release more information about the implosion in the future. A spokesperson for the agency said Wednesday the investigation is still ongoing and a final report will be released after it is completed.

Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — South Sudan’s deputy president says a Cabinet reshuffle this week that saw the removal of multiple senior officials threatens a fragile peace agreement reached with the president in 2018.

Riek Machar, whose political rivalry with President Salva Kiir has in the past exploded into civil war, called for the reinstatement of Health Minister Yolanda Awel Deng and Gen. Alfred Futuyo Karaba, governor of Western Equatoria state.

Other officials sacked by Kiir include two other vice presidents and the spy chief.

Machar said Tuesday that the unilateral dismissals violate the 2018 power-sharing agreement following which he returned to Juba, the capital, with the title of first vice president of South Sudan.

Kiir’s “persistent violations through unilateral decisions and decrees threaten the very existence” of the agreement, his statement said.

There was no immediate comment by Kiir or his government.

South Sudan has five vice presidents, according to the 2018 agreement, which ended five years of civil war and was reached with the help of the U.S. and others.

There were high hopes for peace and stability once oil-rich South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011. But the country slid into civil war in December 2013 largely based on ethnic divisions when forces loyal to Kiir started battling those loyal to Machar.

The 2018 peace agreement is yet to be fully implemented. Challenges include the government’s failure to implement promised reforms such as completing the unification of the army command. Presidential elections, repeatedly postponed, are now scheduled for 2026.

United Nations experts have previously warned that the stability of South Sudan remains at risk because of missed deadlines and political gridlock on key issues in the unity government’s agreement.

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This story has been corrected to remove a statement incorrectly attributed to Vice President Riek Machar about threatening to quit a 2018 peace agreement after President Salva Kiir fired multiple officials this week.

Deng Machol, The Associated Press

St Barbara says separating its Nova Scotia operations from the company would "unlock the full value potential."

Amid a changing relationship between Canada and the U.S., staff with Halifax regional council will be looking at whether the municipality should continue using the Elon Musk-owned social media platform X.

QUÉBEC — Former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre says he won’t appeal a party decision to reject his candidacy for the Quebec Liberal leadership.

Coderre writes in a message posted to Facebook on Tuesday night that he is “disgusted” by the situation, complaining he was the victim of leaks and that “the dice were loaded” against him.

On Friday, the Quebec Liberal Party announced it had rejected Coderre’s bid to enter the race and said he had five days to appeal.

The party had said before its decision that it had not received all documents needed to make his candidacy official, which Coderre disputes.

Coderre’s candidacy had been in limbo after media outlets reported that Coderre owed nearly $400,000 in provincial and federal taxes, but Coderre said Tuesday that all sums owed to tax authorities were secured and guaranteed.

Other candidates in the leadership race, to be decided on June 14, include former federal cabinet minister Pablo Rodriguez, former CEO of the Fédération des Chambres de commerce Charles Milliard, tax lawyer Marc Bélanger and Beauce farmer Mario Roy.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2025.

The Canadian Press

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — The sudden closure in the Central African Republic of the orthopedic trauma surgery unit at the capital ‘s main hospital following the deaths of two people, including a government minister’s niece, has sparked concern among patients and relatives.

The unit at Bangui Community University Hospital was closed by the health ministry on Feb. 3 following the deaths, which are being investigated. The inquiry panel is also assessing the quality of service delivery at the hospital.

The hospital has faced problems operating smoothly due to frequent power cuts, said Joseph Bindoum, head of the Central African Republic’s League for Human Rights, which investigated the deaths.

Patients’ families and some activists have criticised the closure and accused the government of “punishing” patients who have been left without proper care.

In a protest at the hospital on Tuesday, families called for the reopening of the unit, which is one of the few such facilities in the mineral-rich country of about 6 million people.

“The closure of the operating unit violates the patients’ right to health,” Bindoum said, echoing concerns from worried families. “Doctors … do not have the means (to work well),” he added.

Irène Gassengue’s son has been lying with fractured limbs in a hospital bed with no medical attention for a week even though she already paid for his surgery.

“I am angry because the minister of health decided on his own to close the surgical unit,” Gassengue said. She fears the delayed surgery is causing his health to deteriorate. “It is scandalous,” she said.

The two patients who died included Larissa Yagasso Nguianbga, whose uncle is Energy Minister Arthur Bertrand Piri and an ally of President Faustin Archange Touadéra.

Although no official reason has been given for the deaths, a doctor at the surgery unit said Nguianbga died after a power cut that led to the breakdown of some equipment. The doctor spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to talk about the issue publicly.

The authorities are asking French medical charity Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, if it can help in treating patients requiring urgent care. “An arrangement has been put in place,” Health Minister Dr. Pierre Somse said.

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For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Jean-fernand Koena, The Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina House members advanced Wednesday a Republican package to boost state recovery funding after Hurricane Helene as committees fleshed out details on how best to spend another $500 million to address the historic flooding.

The House’s budget-writing committee voted for the latest spending proposal, which would emphasize repairs for damaged homes, private bridges and roads, assistance to farmers who lost crops and rebuilding infrastructure adjacent used by small businesses.

GOP House leaders had unveiled a version last week, but several amendments adjusted the measure in a special Helene recovery committee on Tuesday. A House floor vote is expected next week, said Rep. John Bell, the House rules chairman and co-chairman of the recovery committee.

The package remains less than half of the $1.07 billion that new Democratic Gov. Josh Stein sought in new recovery spending earlier this month from legislators.

Stein’s package contains several initiatives the House plan currently lacks, including money to recompense local governments in the mountains for lost or spent revenues and for two business grant programs designed to help small businesses directly.

Senate GOP leaders will have their own competing spending ideas that will figure into negotiations with House counterparts. Both Stein and Republican lawmakers want to get more Helene spending out the door early this year to address immediate needs. Additional funds are expected in the two-year state budget that would take effect July 1.

The legislature already has appropriated close to $1 billion since last fall for Helene aid in the weeks after it made landfall in late September.

“This is just the next step in this process,” House Speaker Destin Hall told Tuesday’s committee meeting. “Somebody asked me earlier, ‘How many bills are we going to need to do this?’ And my answer is — and I know you all feel the same — it’s going to be as many as it takes for us to get it done to rebuild western North Carolina.”

North Carolina state officials reported that Helene damaged 74,000 homes and thousands of miles in both state-maintained and private roads, bridges and culverts. State officials projected the storm caused a record $59.6 billion in damages and recovery needs.

Congressional legislation approved in December and other federal actions are projected to provide over $15 billion to North Carolina for rebuilding.

The state House proposal seeks to maximize federal matching funds, avoid mistakes from previous storm recovery efforts and prevent the distribution of too much money to programs ill-equipped to get it out the door, Bell said.

“This body is very strategic in what we’re trying to do,” Bell said Wednesday.

Adjustments that House Republicans made this week to their preliminary bill included shifting $75 million to create a state Agriculture Department program to address agricultural crop and infrastructure losses.

Another $60 million initially earmarked for repairs of state facilities would be used for other purposes. Nearly all of it — $55 million — would help small businesses, although not in the form of direct payments, as Stein and other Democrats want.

Instead, the proposed infrastructure grant program would allocate money to local governments to repair “qualifying infrastructure needs” like utilities, broadband and sidewalks that would benefit small businesses trying to reemerge from the storm. Bell said Wednesday that a grant program could be open to abuses by businesses that aren’t located specifically in the damaged region.

With Republicans falling one seat short of retaining a veto-proof majority in the General Assembly after the November election, Stein and Democratic allies may be able to yield more leverage to fashion a package to their liking.

For example, Democratic Rep. Eric Ager of Buncombe County offered an amendment Tuesday to create a direct payment program to small businesses that Stein sought, running it through the state Revenue Department.

“We’re losing businesses in western North Carolina every day and we’ve got to find a solution,” Ager said, adding that it “would really go a long way in keeping some folks solvent through to the summer when business picks back up again.”

While Ager pulled his amendment before a vote because earlier committee action took away his funding source, Bell suggested to Ager and later to reporters that new language to help small businesses may be considered.

Gary D. Robertson, The Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago Democrat who once set much of Illinois’ political agenda as the longest-serving legislative leader in U.S. history was convicted of some charges Wednesday in a mixed verdict in his high-profile corruption trial.

Jurors convicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan 10 counts and acquitted him of seven, but could not reach a decision on six counts. They returned the verdict after deliberating more than 10 days in a bribery case that led to the downfall of a man who was nicknamed the “Velvet Hammer” for his forceful yet quiet leadership style.

The backbone of federal prosecutors’ case was hours of videos and phone calls secretly recorded by a onetime Chicago alderman turned FBI informant. But the most surprising moment was when the normally private Madigan took the stand himself, strongly denying all wrongdoing.

“When people asked me for help, if possible, I tried to help them,” he testified.

Madigan, who was speaker for more than three decades and once led the Democratic Party of Illinois, was charged in a 23-count indictment with racketeering conspiracy, using interstate facilities in aid of bribery, wire fraud and attempted extortion.

Among multiple schemes, he was accused of using his influence to pass legislation favorable to utility companies that doled out kickbacks, jobs and contracts to his loyalists. An attorney, Madigan was also accused of benefiting from private work that was illegally steered to his law firm.

“Time and again, Madigan abused the tremendous power he wielded,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Schwartz during closing arguments.

The trial, which began in October, featured more than 60 witnesses, including a congresswoman, business leaders and former state legislators. Prosecutors presented photographs, transcripts and recordings on alleged schemes. For instance, he allegedly tried to have state-owned land in Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood transferred to the city for development and expected developers of a hotel project to hire his tax firm.

The trial was also a glimpse into how Madigan, who famously didn’t use a cellphone or email, operated behind closed doors. The lines between his roles were often blurred. Madigan, who represented a district near Midway International Airport on Chicago’s southwest side, often had meetings at his downtown law office, whether they were for political or legal work. Elected officials or his political advisers met alongside business contacts. Even in meetings about tax work, he was called “the speaker,” the recordings show.

On the stand, Madigan cast himself as a devoted public servant with a tough upbringing in a working-class Chicago neighborhood. But federal prosecutors on cross-examination, sometimes in tense exchanges, probed about his comments on the secret recordings, including one where he chuckled that some of his loyalists “made out like bandits.”

Madigan, 82, left political office in 2021 while under investigation and was indicted the following year.

During the trial, he watched the proceedings intently, taking notes on a legal pad. Several of his family members attended, including his daughter, Lisa Madigan, who served four terms as Illinois attorney general. She declined to seek reelection in 2018.

First elected to the Legislature in 1970, Michael Madigan was the Illinois House speaker from 1983 to 2021, except for two years when Republicans were in control. He decided which legislation would be voted on, oversaw political mapmaking and controlled several campaign funds.

Standing trial alongside Madigan was longtime confidant Michael McClain, who prosecutors called Madigan’s “mouthpiece.” Jurors were deadlocked on all of the charges McClain faced. The onetime state legislator and former lobbyist also stood trial last year in a related case and was convicted with three others of a bribery conspiracy involving ComEd, the state’s largest utility company.

Sophia Tareen, The Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Russia’s stockpiles of Cold War-era weapons and larger population have allowed it to withstand heavy battlefield losses in Ukraine as the West fails to provide Ukraine the aid needed to mount a counteroffensive, according to an annual review of the global military situation.

While Russia lost 1,400 tanks last year and has seen an estimated 800,000 soldiers killed or wounded since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began some three years ago, Moscow has been able to keep its forces up to strength, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said in the report released Wednesday. The same isn’t true for Ukraine, which has suffered a “serious drain on its personnel,” though no reliable figures exist on such losses because of its sensitive political nature.

“The pledged Western military supplies appear insufficient to enable a sustained Ukrainian counteroffensive,” IISS said. “While Ukraine has proved its ability to resist Russia’s invasion in the air, land and maritime domains, it has found it difficult to mobilize sufficient troops to keep pace with its casualties.”

Some observers, including U.S. President Donald Trump, see an opportunity for a peace deal in the grinding war of attrition, which is weakening Russia’s economy. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said last weekend that Trump was prepared “to tax, to tariff, to sanction” to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.

But Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow for Eurasia and Russia at IISS and a former British ambassador to Belarus, discounted the chances for a ceasefire.

“The most important underlying fact is Russia’s and specifically Putin’s clearly stated determination to continue the war,’’ Gould-Davies said. “And in particular … the clarity with which Putin on several occasions, even in the past couple of months, has said he’s not interested in a ceasefire, he’s not interested in a freeze in the conflict. He’s only been interested in a full and final end to the war, which would require the resolution of a wide range of difficult international political, legal and bureaucratic issues.”

As the war in Ukraine drags on, conflict flares in the Middle East and China takes an increasingly assertive stance in Asia, countries around the world are rebuilding military stockpiles that were allowed to decline after the Cold War.

Global defense spending jumped to $2.46 trillion last year, an increase of 7.4% after inflation, according to IISS, a London-based think tank that has produced its annual report on the balance of military power for the past 65 years.

Russia increased defense spending by 41.9% to the equivalent of $145.9 billion, dwarfing the $28.4 billion spent by Ukraine but close to total European defense spending. Moscow is now spending about 6.7% of its economic output on defense, compared with 3.6% before the invasion of Ukraine.

While stockpiles of armor and artillery have allowed Russia to keep pace with battlefield losses, that may become more difficult over time.

Putin has restrained the mobilization of troops to maintain support for the war, which is fueling inflation in Russia and draining funds from social programs such as education and healthcare, IISS said. In addition, remaining weapons stockpiles are likely to need costly refurbishment before they can be used on the battlefield.

“The present course is unsustainable,’’ Gould-Davies said. “But that’s not to say something is unsustainable in the shorter term.”

Concern about Russian aggression has led many NATO countries to increase their own defenses.

European countries boosted military spending by 11.7% last year, driven by a 23.2% increase in Germany, IISS said. Even so, German defense spending equaled 1.8% of economic output, below the 2% target for members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Trump has repeatedly criticized other members of the military alliance for failing to pay their fair share of the collective defense bill.

Total NATO defense spending rose to $1.44 trillion last year, with $442 billion, or less than a third, coming from the bloc’s European members, IISS said.

Danica Kirka, The Associated Press

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — The food bank system in one of Ontario’s largest cities says it’s been forced to lay off staff and cut programs in order to keep feeding the growing number of residents who rely on food donations.

Food Banks Mississauga says it is reducing its paid workforce by 16 per cent and cancelling two programs to ensure its long-term sustainability.

The organization says that was “the only path forward” to avoid decreasing the amount of food it can give out, with local food bank usage at an all-time high.

It says one in 13 residents in Mississauga, a city of nearly 800,000 people, rely on food banks and it expects to serve 100,000 visitors a year by 2027.

Feed Ontario says more than a million people across the province visited a food bank in 2023-2024, and nearly 40 per cent of surveyed food banks were forced to reduce the amount of food they give out.

Food Banks Mississauga says demand for emergency food has grown faster than donations received and its money cannot stretch as far.

“We have been forced to make this painful but necessary decision to lay off staff and cancel programs to preserve our resources to support food bank visitors,” Food Banks Mississauga CEO Meghan Nicholls said in a statement Wednesday.

“This is one of the most difficult decisions we’ve had to make as an organization, and unfortunately, it is the only path forward to maintain the same level of service we provide to our community.”

Nicholls said food banks have been a “Band-Aid solution” to gaps in social assistance programs and stretching that too far has resulted in her organization’s restructuring.

Food Banks Mississauga is urging people to review the platforms of Ontario’s political parties and to “vote for representatives who pledge to address poverty and food insecurity” in the Feb. 27 provincial election.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2025.

The Canadian Press

Councillors in Halifax on Tuesday voted in favour of a motion that will see municipal staff prepare a report looking into the viability of moving the city away from using the social media platform known as “X”.

The motion was brought forward by councillor Laura White, who cited growing concern about the platform’s governance going against municipal values of “evidence-based decision making and diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.”

After a lengthy discussion, councillors voted 13 to 3 in favour of the motion. Councillors David Hendsbee, Trish Purdy and John Young voted against it.

“The clincher for me right now is the owner, the very public owner who’s not just another megalomaniac billionaire, but is part and parcel of the presidency in the United States that very much wishes our country ill,” said councillor Sam Austin.

Councillor Trish Purdy said while she doesn’t support or use X, she was voting against the motion because she believes council should be neutral and not make political statements.

Regional staff will now come back to council with a report that determines the feasibility of abandoning X. The report, per White’s motion, would provide a timeline for discontinuing use and provide alternative options to distribute information to residents.

NEW YORK (AP) — A lawyer for New York City Mayor Eric Adams expressed confidence Wednesday that the criminal case against the Democrat is dead and buried, even though the Justice Department official who ordered the charges dismissed left the door open to the case being brought back next fall.

“There is no looming threat. This case is over. It will not be brought back,” the attorney, Alex Spiro, told reporters. “Despite a lot of fanfare and sensational claims, ultimately there was no evidence that he broke any laws ever.”

But as Spiro touted what he described as total victory over a “misguided prosecution,” the reality of the Justice Department’s move, outlined in a two-page memo sent Monday, is more complicated.

In that letter, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said the order to halt the case was made without “assessing the strength of the evidence” against Adams — but was instead intended to allow him to focus on executing the Trump administration’s priorities around immigration and crime.

The directive was contingent on Adams agreeing that the case could be reopened in November following the mayoral election, Bove wrote.

Those unusual terms have drawn skepticism from some Democrats, and fierce rebuke from the mayor’s Democratic primary challengers, who contend that Adams has agreed to carry out Trump’s hardline immigration agenda in exchange for his freedom.

Speaking to reporters in his office Wednesday, Spiro denied that Adams had made any such promise. But he acknowledged that immigration and other policy issues were discussed at a meeting between the mayor’s legal team and Justice Department officials ahead of the directive to halt the case.

“The functioning of the government, and the mayor’s ability to enforce national security issues, terrorism threats, immigration issues and everything else, of course it came up,” Spiro said.

The order directs the acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Danielle Sassoon, to dismiss the charges “as soon as is practicable.” A spokesperson for her office declined to comment. There have been no new filings in the case two days after the memo and Adams had not signed anything yet, his lawyer said.

Adams pleaded not guilty in September to charges that he accepted about $100,000 of free or deeply discounted international flights, hotel stays, meals and entertainment in return for illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and members of the Turkish business community.

Prosecutors also allege he personally directed campaign staffers to solicit donations from foreign nationals, which are banned under federal law. Those contributions were disguised in order to allow Adams to qualify for a city program providing a generous, publicly-funded match for small dollar donations.

His trial was scheduled to start in April.

Jake Offenhartz And Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press

The Nova Scotia government has announced plans for two new schools that will be built in the fast-growing areas of Dartmouth and Bedford.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s unconventional pick for director of national intelligence, awaited a final Senate vote Wednesday on her nomination to oversee and coordinate the work of America’s 18 different intelligence agencies.

Initial skepticism about the military veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii over her past comments sympathetic to Russia, a meeting she held with now-deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad and her previous support for government leaker Edward Snowden has faded among the Republicans who hold the majority in the Senate. Democratic opposition is strong.

Her chances of confirmation increased when Republicans fell in line following a pressure campaign by Trump allies, including Elon Musk.

As Trump works to reshape vast portions of the government, intelligence agencies including the CIA have issued voluntary resignation offers to staffers. Cybersecurity experts, meanwhile, have raised concerns about Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency gaining access to sensitive government databases containing information about intelligence operations.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created to address intelligence failures exposed by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Republicans have increasingly criticized the office, saying it has grown too large and politicized. Trump himself has long viewed the nation’s intelligence services with suspicion.

Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East. She ran for president in 2020, but has no formal intelligence experience and has never run a government agency or department.

Gabbard’s past praise of Snowden drew condemnation during her Senate hearing. Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, fled to Russia after he was charged with revealing classified information about U.S. surveillance programs.

Gabbard said that while Snowden revealed important facts about such programs that she believes are unconstitutional, he violated rules about protecting classified secrets. “Edward Snowden broke the law,” she said.

A 2017 visit with Assad was another flashpoint during the hearing. After that trip, Gabbard faced criticism that she was legitimizing a dictator. There also were more questions when she said she was skeptical that Assad had used chemical weapons.

Assad was recently deposed following a civil war in which he was accused of using such weapons.

Gabbard also has repeatedly echoed Russian propaganda used to justify the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. In the past, she has opposed a key U.S. surveillance program known as Section 702, which allows authorities to collect the communications of suspected terrorists overseas.

Republican senators who had been wary of Gabbard said they were won over by her promise to refocus on the office’s core missions: coordinating federal intelligence work and serving as the president’s chief intelligence adviser.

David Klepper, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Eight government watchdogs have sued over their mass firing that removed oversight of President Donald Trump’s new administration.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Washington asks a judge to declare the firings unlawful and restore the inspectors general to their positions at the agencies.

They said in the filing that they play a critical, nonpartisan role overseeing trillions of dollars in federal spending and the conduct of millions of federal employees.

Congress was not given the legally required 30-day notices about the removals, something that even a top Republican decried.

Trump has said he would put new “good people” in the jobs.

The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the lawsuit.

The administration dismissed more than a dozen inspectors general in a Friday-night sweep on the fourth full day of Trump’s second term. Though inspectors general are presidential appointees, some serve presidents of both parties. All are expected to be nonpartisan.

At the time of the firings in late January, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said there may have been good reasons for the terminations but that Congress needed to know.

The role of the modern-day inspector general dates to post-Watergate Washington, when Congress installed offices inside agencies as an independent check against mismanagement and abuse of power.

Democrats and watchdog groups said the firings raise alarms that Trump is making it easier to take advantage of the government.

Trump, said at the time the firings were “a very common thing to do.” The inspector generals’ lawsuit says that isn’t true.

__

AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

Lindsay Whitehurst, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Newly filed affidavits of U.S. Agency for International Development workers describe a lieutenant of Trump ally Elon Musk and other outsiders directing the immediate termination of hundreds of U.S. aid and foreign assistance programs abroad this week, without required documentation or justification.

The accounts of USAID employees were filed late Tuesday in support of a lawsuit by two associations for government employees. The groups are suing to roll back the dismantling of USAID by Trump’s Republican administration and Musk’s government-cutting teams.

The accounts offer some of the most detailed looks of the scenes inside the agency and confusion abroad and describe Musk’s teams at the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, at work overseeing the purge of longstanding U.S. aid and development programs abroad as recently as Monday.

When USAID contract officers on Monday emailed agency higher-ups asking for the required authorization and justification needed to cancel USAID programs abroad, a lieutenant of Musk responded to the email, one of the contract workers said in one of the sworn accounts filed with the federal court.

The decisions on killing the programs came from the “most senior levels,” the Musk associate wrote to the USAID staffers.

Other affidavits from staffers describe similar scenes from agency contract officers and tensions and uncertainty at home and abroad as USAID workers dealt with the shutdown of their agency.

A federal court hearing Wednesday on the lawsuit by the groups representing government employees was postponed because of heavy snow.

The Trump administration in its own filings in the case made clear it would present an unforgiving argument for dismantling USAID: The more than 60-year-old aid and development agency is rife with “insubordination” and must be shut down for the Republican administration to decide what pieces of it to salvage.

The argument was made in an affidavit by political appointee and deputy USAID administrator Pete Marocco.

USAID staffers deny insubordination and call the accusation a pretext to break up the agency, among the world’s biggest donors of humanitarian and development assistance.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, an appointee of Trump, dealt the administration a setback Friday in its dismantling of the agency, temporarily halting plans to pull all but a fraction of USAID staffers off the job worldwide.

Nichols is slated to hear arguments in a rescheduled hearing later this week on a request from the employee groups to keep blocking the move to put thousands of staffers on leave as well as broaden his order. They contend the government has already violated the judge’s order, which also reinstated USAID staffers already placed on leave but declined to suspend the administration’s freeze on foreign assistance.

Trump and Musk’s cost-cutting DOGE have hit USAID particularly hard as they look to shrink the size of the federal government, accusing its work of being wasteful and out of line with Trump’s agenda.

In the court case, a government motion shows the administration pressing arguments by Vice President JD Vance and others questioning if courts have the authority to check Trump’s power.

“The President’s powers in the realm of foreign affairs are generally vast and unreviewable,” government lawyers argued.

USAID staffers and supporters call the aid agency’s humanitarian and development work abroad essential to national security.

They argue each step of the administration’s breakup of USAID has been unnecessarily cruel to its thousands of workers and devastating for people around the world who are being cut off from clean water, life-saving medical care, education, training and more since Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 freezing foreign assistance.

“This is a full-scale gutting of virtually all the personnel of an entire agency,” Karla Gilbride, attorney for the employee associations, told the judge last week.

The American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees argue that Trump lacks the authority to shut down the agency without approval from Congress. Democratic lawmakers have made the same argument.

In an affidavit ahead the hearing that was scheduled Wednesday, Marocco, a returning USAID political appointee from Trump’s first term, presents without evidence a description of agency workers stalling and resisting the administration’s orders to abruptly cut off funds for programs worldwide and subject each one to a rigorous review.

In the face of “deceit,” “noncompliance” and “insubordination,” USAID’s new leaders “ultimately determined that the placement of a substantial number of USAID personnel on paid administrative leave was the only way to … faithfully implement the pause and conduct a full and unimpeded audit of USAID’s operations and programs,” Marocco stated.

Staffers deny resisting the funding freeze. They argue that the cutoff of money and resulting collapse of U.S.-funded programs abroad, the shutdown of the agency’s website and lockout of employees from systems made it impossible for those reviews to take place.

Nichols also agreed last week to block an order giving thousands of overseas USAID workers who were being placed on administrative leave 30 days to move back to the U.S. on government expense.

Both moves would have exposed the workers and their spouses and children to unwarranted risk and expense, the judge said.

Nichols pointed to accounts that the Trump administration had cut off some workers from government emails and emergency alert systems they needed for their safety.

Nichols cited statements from agency employees who had no home to go to in the U.S. after decades abroad, who faced pulling children with special needs out of school midyear and other difficulties.

Ellen Knickmeyer And Lindsay Whitehurst, The Associated Press

Creative thinkers, and going beyond the reactionary notion of "common sense."

The post ‘Endless curiosity and tireless intellect’: Remembering Misti Yang and Donald Shoup appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

United Way will create, manage program if council approves contribution agreement.

The post Halifax council approves funding for community mediation pilot to go to budget adjustment list appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

These are uncertain times. Nova Scotians deserve careful, measured action to buffer the threat of extremist and reactionary policies that may become more commonplace in other jurisdictions and threaten both our natural capital and economy.

The post Nature Nova Scotia responds to Premier Tim Houston appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

BRUSSELS — Defence Minister Bill Blair says Canada is working hard to accelerate its defence spending to get to the two per cent threshold that it has committed to as part of NATO.

The minister is in Brussels to meet with NATO allies and the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

U.S. President Donald Trump has complained that Canada is not meeting its NATO spending commitments and talked about Canada becoming the 51st state.

Blair called the 51st state comments “disrespectful and concerning.”

The minister pointed to Norad as an example of how Canada and the U.S. work together on continental defence.

He says Norad is an incredibly effective alliance where the two countries have worked together and that Canada has already committed almost $38.6 billion to Norad modernization.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2025.

The Canadian Press

Only three councillors voted against the motion, with Coun. Trish Purdy saying HRM should remain neutral on its position on X.

The post Council approves motion for staff report on Halifax ditching X appeared first on Halifax Examiner.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek lawmakers on Wednesday elected as president a former parliamentary speaker and leading advocate for the return of the disputed Parthenon sculptures from the British Museum in London.

Constantine Tassoulas, 65, was elected with 160 votes in the 300-member parliament in the fourth round of voting for the largely ceremonial post. He takes over from Katerina Sakellaropoulou, the first woman to serve as Greece’s head of state, who was not nominated for a second five-year term.

Speaking shortly after the results were formally announced, Tassoulas said his election was “a supreme honor for me, but above all a precious responsibility.”

A lawyer by trade, Tassoulas is also a member of the governing center-right New Democracy party and served as culture minister a decade ago, helping reinvigorate Greece’s campaign to reclaim the 2,500-year-old Parthenon sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles.

During his tenure as culture minister, he hosted lawyer Amal Clooney in Athens, who lent her support to the Greek bid for the sculptures’ return. Clooney, the wife of actor George Clooney, helped raise international awareness of the campaign.

The sculptures were removed from the Acropolis in Athens by British diplomat Lord Elgin in the early 1800s and have since been kept in the British Museum. The Greek government contends their removal was illegal and has long sought their return, seeking to reunite them with other Parthenon artifacts displayed in a museum in the Greek capital.

Greek officials believe the return of the sculptures is more likely now due to the U.K. Labour government’s perceived openness to loan agreements. Ongoing discussions on a potential arrangement would likely include an offer to facilitate rotating exhibitions of ancient Greek artifacts at the British Museum.

The Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights office on Wednesday estimated that up to 1,400 people may have been killed in Bangladesh over three weeks last summer in a crackdown on student-led protests against the now-ousted former prime minister.

In a new report, the Geneva-based office says security and intelligence services “systematically engaged” in rights violations that could amount to crimes against humanity and require further investigation.

Citing “various credible sources,” the rights office said it estimated that as many as 1,400 people may have been killed in the protests between July 15 and Aug. 5 — the day longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India amid the uprising.

Thousands more were injured in the weeks leading up to and after the protests, and the vast majority of those killed and injured “were shot by Bangladesh’s security forces,” the report said.

Over 11,700 people were detained, the report said, citing information from security services. It said that about 12 to 13% of people estimated to have be killed —- or as many as about 180 people — were children.

In some cases, “security forces engaged in summary executions by deliberately shooting unarmed protesters at point blank range,” it said.

U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk cited signs that “extrajudicial killings, extensive arbitrary arrests and detentions, and torture” were conducted with the knowledge and coordination of the political leadership and top security officials as a way to suppress the protests.

The U.N. fact-finding team was deployed to Bangladesh at the invitation of the country’s interim leader, the Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, to look into the uprising and violent crackdown.

The team of investigators said the interim government has reportedly made 100 arrests in connection with attacks on religious and indigenous groups. The report said “many perpetrators of acts of revenge, violence and attacks on distinct groups apparently continue to enjoy impunity.”

The human rights situation in Bangladesh continues to raise concerns, the U.N. office said.

While the government has changed, “the system has not necessarily changed,” Rory Mungoven, head of the rights office’s Asia-Pacific region, told reporters. “Many officials and people who had served or been appointed under the previous regime continue to function,” he said.

Such a situation creates “a potential conflict of interest” and could impede reforms and accountability, Mungoven added.

The investigators issued dozens of recommendations to the government, such as steps to improve the justice system and setting up a witness protection program. It also recommended banning the use of lethal firearms by security forces to disperse crowds unless they are faced with “imminent threat of death or serious injury.”

What began as peaceful demonstrations by students frustrated with a quota system for government jobs unexpectedly grew into a major uprising against Hasina and her ruling Awami League party.

A High Court decision in early June that reinstated the quota system was the “immediate trigger” to the protests, which were also fueled by long standing grievances about economic inequality and a lack of rights, the report said.

Jamey Keaten, The Associated Press

The Kremlin said Wednesday that a Russian citizen was freed in the United States in exchange for Moscow’s release of American Marc Fogel, but refused to identify them until they arrive in Russia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the unidentified individual would return to Russia “in the coming days,” and when they are on the Russian soil, their name would be revealed — unlike during past prisoner exchanges between Moscow and Washington, when Russians and Americans were released simultaneously and their identities were revealed right away.

Fogel, an American history teacher who was deemed wrongfully detained by Russia, has been released and was returned to the U.S. on Tuesday in what the White House described as a diplomatic thaw that could advance negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Fogel was arrested in August 2021 and was serving a 14-year prison sentence.

Steve Witkoff, a special envoy for U.S. President Donald Trump, left Russia with Fogel and brought him to the White House, where Trump greeted him.

“I feel like the luckiest man on Earth right now,” Fogel said as he stood next to Trump with an American flag draped around his shoulders.

Fogel, who is from Pennsylvania and was expected to be reunited with his family by the end of the day, said that he would forever be indebted to Trump.

The president declined to say if he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about Fogel, but Fogel praised the Russian leader as “very generous and statesmanlike in granting me a pardon.”

Asked about the terms of the deal, Trump said: “Very fair, very, very fair, very reasonable. Not like deals you’ve seen over the years. They were very fair.”

He didn’t say what the United States provided in exchange for Fogel’s release.

The Associated Press