Without other developments in the Mississippi lawsuit, the clinic will close at the end of business Wednesday and the state law will take effect Thursday.

One of the clinic’s attorneys, Hillary Schneller of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the judge should have blocked the law.

“People in Mississippi who need abortions right now are in a state of panic, trying to get into the clinic before it’s too late,” Schneller said. “No one should be forced to live in fear like that.”

Mississippi legislators passed the “trigger” law before the U.S. Supreme Court recently overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. The clinic, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, sought a temporary restraining order that would have allowed it to remain open while the lawsuit played out in court.

“This law has the potential to save the lives of thousands of unborn Mississippi children,” Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said after the judge’s ruling. “It is a great victory for life. I also believe it is critical that we showcase to every mother and child that they are loved and that their communities will support them.”

The closely watched lawsuit was part of a flurry of activity nationwide since the Supreme Court ruled. Conservative states have moved to halt or limit abortions while others have sought to ensure abortion rights, all as some women try to obtain the medical procedure against the changing legal landscape.

Elsewhere in the South, Florida’s new 15-week abortion ban was blocked but then quickly reinstated Tuesday after an appeal from the state attorney general in a lawsuit challenging the restriction. Judge John C. Cooper issued the order temporarily halting the law after reproductive health providers argued that the state constitution guarantees a right to the procedure. The state quickly appealed his order, automatically putting the law back into effect.

The Florida law makes exceptions if the procedure is necessary to save the pregnant woman’s life, prevent serious injury or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality. It does not allow for exemptions for pregnancies caused by rape, incest or human trafficking.

The law, which went into effect Friday, was passed by the GOP-controlled legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis this spring.

In Louisiana, the state attorney general has asked the state Supreme Court to allow enforcement of a ban on most abortions. Louisiana’s anti-abortion statutes include so-called triggers that were designed to instantly take effect if the U.S. Supreme Court were to reverse abortion rights. But a state judge in New Orleans last week blocked enforcement of the law pending a court hearing on a lawsuit filed by a north Louisiana abortion clinic and others.

The Louisiana suit says the law is unclear on when the ban takes effect and on medical exceptions. The attorney general’s application to the Supreme Court, filed over the holiday weekend and announced Tuesday, says the order blocking enforcement should be dissolved.

The north Louisiana clinic’s attorneys argued in a Tuesday afternoon brief that it’s premature for the high court to get the case before the district judge and an appellate court have had a chance to more fully consider the issues.

Mississippi was one of several states with a trigger law contingent on the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. The law passed in 2007 and has never been challenged in court. It says abortion will be legal only if the pregnant woman’s life is in danger or if a pregnancy is caused by a rape reported to law enforcement. It does not have an exception for pregnancies caused by incest.

The clinic’s lawsuit cited a 1998 Mississippi Supreme Court ruling that said the state constitution invokes a right to privacy that “includes an implied right to choose whether or not to have an abortion.”

The state attorney general’s office argued that the 1998 ruling was rooted in U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 1973 and 1992 that established or protected abortion rights but were overturned on June 24. But Rob McDuff, a Mississippi Center for Justice attorney representing the clinic, argued that state justices never said their ruling was made because of the federal Constitution.

“They never said it would evaporate if Roe was ever overruled,” McDuff said in court Tuesday.

The state attorney general’s office said the Mississippi Constitution does not recognize a right to abortion and the state has a long history of restricting the procedure.

“In the past two weeks, the state of the law has changed dramatically,” the state solicitor general, Scott Stewart, argued Tuesday in court.

The lawsuit was filed three days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in a case that originated in Mississippi. The clinic had continued to see patients, but owner Diane Derzis said it will close if the near-ban on abortions takes effect.

In rejecting the clinic’s request hours after the hearing, Halford wrote, “The plain wording of the Mississippi Constitution does not mention abortion.” She added that it is “more than doubtful” that the Mississippi Supreme Court would continue to uphold its 1998 ruling now that the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned its own previous abortion rulings.

McDuff told The Associated Press that clinic attorneys will review Halford’s decision and consider whether to appeal it to the state Supreme Court.

Outside the courthouse in Mississippi’s capital city, several women held signs supporting abortion rights while two men took turns using a microphone to tell abortion rights supporters that God would punish them for eternity.

“You’re bloodthirsty. Bloodthirsty, abominable filth in the eyes of God,” said one of the anti-abortion protesters, Allen Siders. “Consider your ways today, sinners. Consider your ways today. Shame on you.”

An abortion-rights supporter performed an improvised dance in front of Siders to mock him, and several women laughed.

____

Anthony Izaguirre reported from Tallahassee, Florida, and Kevin McGill reported from New Orleans.

The development came in a civil enforcement case the federal government initiated in May against Envigo RMS, which owns and operates the facility in Cumberland that breeds beagles for medical research.

After federal officials accused the company of a series of animal welfare violations, U.S. District Court Judge Norman Moon issued a restraining order imposing a series of restrictions on the facility. In June, company officials announced plans to close it.

On Friday, Envigo and the government jointly filed a transfer plan that called for the removal of “all” of the facility’s beagles by the Humane Society of the United States, which will transport the dogs to shelters where they can be adopted.

According to court documents, Envigo will cover a monetary fee for each dog to help defray the costs to the shelters of preparing the beagles for adoption.

Court records show Moon issued an oral order approving the transfer plan Tuesday. The removal process is expected to take about 60 days, according to the draft plan.

Hundreds of dogs determined to be in “acute distress” had already been seized from the facility.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Norfolk-based animal rights group that had investigated the facility, celebrated Tuesday’s development.

“Envigo’s surviving victims will soon be given the opportunity to have what every dog deserves — the freedom to enjoy life, love, and respect for their individuality as members of a family home,” PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch said in a statement.

During his hearing, Joshua Tyler Funk, 24, of Mount Holly, entered a guilty plea for murder, news outlets reported. In exchange for his plea, the other charges filed against him were dropped. Funk was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Mount Holly police officer Tyler Herndon was one of several officers to respond to a call at Mount Holly Car Wash and Arcade on Dec. 11, 2020, according to a news release at the time from Charlotte-Mecklenburg police.

Herndon was shot during a shootout between Funk and the responding officers, officials said.

At issue is a September directive from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that paused deportation unless individuals had committed acts of terrorism, espionage or “egregious threats to public safety.” The guidance of President Joe Biden’s administration updated the policy under the administration of then-President Donald Trump, which removed people in the country illegally regardless of criminal history or community ties.

A federal judge put the Biden policy on hold after Arizona, Ohio and Montana sued to stop it, arguing it would lead to an increase in crime and strain law enforcement resources. After the government appealed, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the judge’s preliminary injunction.

The appeals court said states couldn’t prove the injuries they alleged, and said the guidance only instructs federal agents on how to enforce a law the national government has considerable authority over.

The Homeland Security guidance “does not impose any direct costs on the States or threaten the loss of any federal funding,” wrote chief circuit Judge Jeff Sutton.

Emilee Cantrell, press secretary for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, said in a statement the court’s “decision unfortunately allows President Biden to continue his dangerous immigration policies.”

“The border crisis has devastating impacts in Montana and states across the nation,” Cantrell said. “Attorney General Knudsen will continue to use every available tool to make the Biden administration do its job and secure the border.”

Messages were left with the Arizona and Ohio attorneys general seeking comment.

New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas announced Tuesday that a special master appointed by the court cleared the way for ongoing negotiations and set a date in July for a status update.

The Supreme Court would have to approve any agreement reached by the states. In the case of an impasse, the trial would continue later this year.

“We assembled the best legal and scientific team in the nation to disprove that our farmers and our communities owed billions in damages to Texas, and we are now on the cusp of an exciting historic settlement agreement that will protect New Mexico water for generations to come,” Balderas said in a statement.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office did not immediately respond to questions about the negotiations or a possible settlement.

The battle over the Rio Grande has become a multimillion-dollar case in a region where water supplies are dwindling due to increased demand along with drought and warmer temperatures brought on by climate change.

The river through stretches of New Mexico marked record low flows again this year, resulting in some farmers voluntarily fallowing fields to help the state meet downstream obligations mandated by water-sharing compacts that date back decades.

Texas has argued that groundwater pumping in southern New Mexico is reducing the river’s flow and cutting into how much water makes it across the border. New Mexico argues that it has been shorted on its share of the river.

The first phase of trial was completed last fall, with testimony from farmers, hydrologists, irrigation managers and others. More technical testimony was expected to be part of the next phase.

A robust start to the monsoon season has given the Rio Grande somewhat of a reprieve after state and federal water managers had warned that stretches of the river closer to Albuquerque would likely go dry this summer as New Mexico’s mega-drought continues.

Tricia Snyder, the interim wild rivers program director for the group WildEarth Guardians, said policymakers need to fundamentally rethink how to manage and value river systems.

“Like many river basins throughout the American West, we are approaching a crisis point,” she said. “Climate change is throwing into sharp relief the cracks in western water management and policy and the unsustainable water allocation included in that.”

Snyder and others have said that status quo has resulted in water resources being tapped out in the West and that all users — from cities and industry to farmers and Native American tribes — will need a seat at the table during future discussions on how to live within a river’s means.

The latest federal map shows about three-quarters of the western U.S. are dealing with some level of drought. That is less than three months ago. But federal agriculture officials reported Tuesday that weekly rainfall accumulations for several locations were still well below average.

In New Mexico, the driest areas were on the eastern side of the state, where precipitation has totaled 25% of normal or less. That has affected cotton and hay crops as well as cattle and sheep herds.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Tuesday filed petitions with the judge overseeing the special grand jury as part of her investigation into what she alleges was “a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.”

The move marks a major escalation in a case that could pose a serious legal challenge to the former president as he weighs another White House run. While the special grand jury has already heard from top state officials, Tuesday’s filings directly target several of Trump’s closest allies and advisers, including Giuliani, who led his campaign’s legal efforts to overturn the election results.

“It means the investigation is obviously becoming more intense because those are trusted advisers, those are inner circle people,” said Robert James, former district attorney in DeKalb County, which neighbors Fulton.

The special grand jury has been investigating whether Trump and others illegally tried to meddle in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia as he desperately tried to cling to power after Democrat Joe Biden’s victory. Trump continues to insist that the election was stolen, despite the fact that numerous federal and local officials, a long list of courts, top former campaign staff and even Trump’s own attorney general have all said there is no evidence of the fraud he alleges.

The investigation is separate from that being conducted by a congressional committee that has been examining the events surrounding the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 as well as the Department of Justice’s own sprawling probe. Trump is also facing other legal challenges, including in New York, where he, his namesake son and his daughter Ivanka have agreed to answer questions under oath beginning next week in the New York attorney general’s civil investigation into his business practices.

The escalation comes as Trump has been mulling announcing a third presidential run as soon as this summer as he seeks to deflect attention from the ongoing investigations and lock in support before a long list of other potential candidates, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, make their own moves.

Willis, who took this unusual step of requesting a special grand jury earlier this year, has confirmed that she and her team are looking into a January 2021 phone call in which Trump pushed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes needed for him to win the state. She has said the team is also looking at a November 2020 phone call between Graham and Raffensperger, the abrupt resignation of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta on Jan. 4, 2021, and comments made during December 2020 Georgia legislative committee hearings on the election. Raffensperger and other state officials have already testified before the special grand jury.

Willis also filed petitions for five other potential witnesses: lawyers Kenneth Chesebro, Cleta Mitchell, Jenna Ellis, John Eastman and Jacki Pick Deason. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney signed off on the requests, which are similar to subpoenas, deeming them necessary to the investigation.

In the petition submitted to the judge, Willis wrote that Graham, a longtime ally of the former president, actually made at least two telephone calls to Raffensperger and members of his staff in the weeks after the November 2020 election. During those calls, Graham asked about reexamining certain absentee ballots “in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump,” she wrote.

A Graham spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

In the petition for Giuliani’s testimony, Willis identifies him as both a personal attorney for Trump and “a lead attorney for the Trump Campaign’s legal efforts seeking to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.”

As part of those efforts, she wrote, he and others presented a Georgia state Senate subcommittee with a video recording of election workers that Giuliani alleged showed them producing “suitcases” of unlawful ballots from unknown sources, outside the view of election poll watchers.

Within 24 hours of the hearing on Dec. 3, 2020, Raffensperger’s office had debunked the video and said that it had found that no voter fraud had taken place at the arena. Nevertheless, Giuliani continued to make statements to the public and in subsequent legislative hearings claiming widespread voter fraud using that debunked video, Willis wrote.

“There is evidence that (Giuliani’s) appearance and testimony at the hearing was part of a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere,” the petition says.

Giuliani’s attorney, Bob Costello, said he had no comment and that his client had not been served with any subpoena.

To compel the testimony of an out-of-state witness, a prosecutor in Georgia has to file a petition and then a judge has to sign a certificate approving the petition, said Danny Porter, a former longtime district attorney in Gwinnett County in Atlanta’s suburbs.

The next step is to deliver the petition to a prosecutor wherever the witness lives, and serve it to the witness, who is entitled to a hearing. If the person objects to going to Georgia to testify, they have to be able to show that either their testimony isn’t needed or that it would be an undue hardship for them, Porter said.

Special grand juries are impaneled in Georgia to investigate complex cases with large numbers of witnesses and potential logistical concerns. They can compel evidence and subpoena witnesses for questioning and, unlike regular grand juries, can also subpoena the target of an investigation to appear before it.

When its investigation is complete, the special grand jury issues a final report and can recommend action. It’s then up to the district attorney to decide whether to ask a regular grand jury for an indictment.

It’s not clear exactly what charges Willis could ultimately choose to pursue against Trump or anyone else. In a letter she sent to top-ranking state officials last year, she said she was looking into “potential violations of Georgia law prohibiting the solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local government bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration.”

Trump has denied that he did anything wrong.

___

Colvin reported from New York.

The settlement announced Tuesday calls for a $98,000 payout to be paid out among the six men who filed the suit and were held without terrorism charges at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

The men — Ahmer Iqbal Abbasi, Anser Mehmood, Benamar Benatta, Ahmed Khalifa, Saeed Hammouda, and Purna Raj Bajracharya — said they were detained in restrictive conditions and, in some cases, abused by members of the staff.

The settlement is somewhat unusual because federal courts at nearly every level, including the Supreme Court, had thrown out large chunks of the lawsuit. A federal district court judge threw out the remaining part of the suit last year. Though the plaintiffs filed an appeal, there had been little action in the case for months.

Though the Justice Department does not admit guilt as part of the settlement agreement, Bureau of Prisons Director Michael Carvajal wrote a letter to each of the men saying the Justice Department had determined they were “held in excessively restrictive and unduly harsh conditions of confinement and a number of individuals were physically and verbally abused by certain MDC officers.”

The letter went on to say: “Under the exceptional circumstances of this unique case and before the facts have been fully litigated or there has been any final judgment by the court in this case the Federal Bureau of Prisons has agreed to provide funds to the former Warden of the MDC, Dennis Hasty, to indemnify him for the settlement of your claims. This will resolve all of your claims in this litigation.”

“I don’t know that the director of the Bureau of Prisons has ever signed a letter of this nature before to individual clients, so that is unique,” said Rachel Meeropol, senior staff attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, who represents the men.

Meeropol called the court battle a failure of the justice system, pointing to limitations on claims against federal officials.

“Under the court actions, there’s no way people for people who have been injured to get justice,” Meeropol said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Instead we’re seeing this pretty amazing work around with the defendants finding a way to make themselves be held responsible when the court said no. I think it’s a unique acknowledgment of this situation and the way that what happened were procedural obstacles to true justice.”

The Justice Department declined to comment.

The lawsuit originally sought accountability from high-level members of George W. Bush administration, and a settlement was reached in 2008 with the original five plaintiffs. Others were added.

In 2017 the Supreme Court threw out parts of the suit but tossed one claim, against the former warden of the federal lockup, back to a lower court. A federal judge in Brooklyn dismissed the remaining parts of the suit last year, finding that the men did not have the right to sue for their injuries, though the judge did not address whether there were constitutional violations.

The settlement closes a chapter on a troubling era in federal criminal justice when Muslim, Arab and South Asian men were rounded up in the days and weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks. Soon, more than 1,000 were arrested in sweeps across the New York metropolitan area and nationwide. Most were charged only with overstaying visas and deported back to their home countries. But before that happened, many were held in detention for months, with little outside contact, especially with their families.

They were, according to the 9/11 Commission report, arrested as “special interest” detainees. Immigration hearings were closed, detainee communication was limited, and bond was denied until the detainees were cleared of terrorist connections. Identities were kept secret.

A review conducted by the Justice Department’s inspector general said the Justice Department’s “hold until cleared” policy meant a significant percentage of the detainees stayed for months despite immigration officials questioning the legality of the prolonged detentions and even though there were no indications they were connected to terrorism. Compounding that, they faced “a pattern of physical and verbal abuse” particularly at the federal jail in Brooklyn. Conditions were, the report said, “unduly harsh.”

“I am glad that the case is coming to an end after two decades of litigation. However, it is a bittersweet conclusion for me,” Benatta said in a statement released by the Center for Constitutional Rights, one of the plaintiff attorneys, along with Covington & Burling LLP, and attorneys Michael Winger and Alexander Reinert.

“I don’t believe justice is properly served, considering the detrimental consequences the defendants’ actions have had on my life,” he said. “I can’t help but feel let down by the whole judicial system – federal courts had the opportunity to remedy the situation but chose not to intervene, and, by doing so, they left the door open for future mistreatment and abuse to take place without any ramifications.”

Floyd County Sheriff John Hunt fought back tears at the funeral for his deputy and longtime friend, William Petry, who along with two other officers walked into a hail of bullets from a gunman holed up in his home Thursday evening.

Petry, a veteran officer who joined the Floyd County sheriff’s office after retiring from the state police a few years ago, was honored Tuesday during an emotional funeral service in Prestonsburg, the county seat.

“William loved law enforcement. He loved the job. He loved the people,” Hunt said in a eulogy for his longtime friend Tuesday morning. “He is a hero … and I know he will never be forgotten.”

The shooting is likely Kentucky’s deadliest incident for law enforcement in nearly 100 years and one of the deadliest in the nation since 2016, when three Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police officers were fatally shot by a gunman. Petry and Prestonsburg police Capt. Ralph Frasure, both 60 years old, died at the scene and Prestonsburg Officer Jacob Chaffins, 28, died in a hospital Friday night. A police dog was also fatally shot.

The man arrested in their deaths, 49-year-old Lance Storz, was taken into custody in the small community of Allen after family members helped police secure his surrender Thursday night.

Dozens of uniformed law enforcement officers gathered Tuesday at the funeral at Prestonsburg’s Mountain Arts Center. Petry’s family gave permission for media to livestream the event on local news stations. Frasure, Chaffins and the police dog, Drago, will be laid to rest after funeral services later this week.

Chaffins, who joined the department in 2019, left behind a wife and young daughter. He also served on the Prestonsburg Fire Department and was a member of the National Guard. Frasure had been married for more than 40 years and had four grandchildren. He had been an officer with Prestonsburg police since 1983.

Frasure’s daughter wrote in a Facebook post Friday that her father “was a great man who loved his family like no other.”

“An evil evil man took my daddies life today,” Stacy Frasure McGuire wrote. “I know I should forgive but how do I do that?”

Floyd County Deputy Kevin Thacker said he took a phone call from Petry last week, a typical issue about a towed car, he said. But at the end of the call, as had become ritual, Petry told him he loved him.

“That was his last words to me,” Thacker said at the funeral. “And I’ll never forget that.”

Police went to the house in Allen on Thursday after a family member called to say Storz’s wife was being held in the home against her will and was being abused, Hunt said in a news conference over the weekend. The wife was waiting for them when they arrived, telling the officers Storz was asleep, so she was able to get outside. Four officers, including Petry, returned to serve a protective order against Storz, Hunt said. Storz watched them approach from a window and began shooting, Hunt said.

The officers’ deaths were the most in a single incident since a 1923 prison riot in Eddyville that left three corrections officers dead, Prestonsburg Police Deputy Chief Ross Shurtleff said Sunday. Storz is facing three counts of murder of a police officer and is being held in jail on a $10 million cash bond.

Petry’s death will be a huge loss for the department, Hunt said, because he worked so well with younger, inexperienced officers who revered his experience and calm.

The young officers “respected him like nobody I’ve ever seen in such a short time,” Hunt said.

Four other officers were injured in the shooting, though none wounds were life-threatening, state police said over the weekend. One civilian was also hurt in the shooting, state police said.

U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in Northern California eliminated the Trump-era rules even as two wildlife agencies under President Joe Biden are reviewing or rescinding the regulations. The decision restores a range of protections under the Endangered Species Act — including some that date to the 1970s — while the reviews are completed. Environmental groups hailed the decision, which they said sped up needed protections and critical habitat designations for threatened species, including salmon in the Pacific Northwest.

Tigar’s ruling “spoke for species desperately in need of comprehensive federal protections without compromise,” said Kristen Boyles, an attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice. “Threatened and endangered species do not have the luxury of waiting under rules that do not protect them.”

The court ruling comes as two federal agencies — the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service — review five Endangered Species Act regulations finalized by President Donald Trump’s administration, including critical habitat designations and rules requiring federal agencies to consult with the wildlife or fisheries services before taking actions that could affect threatened or endangered species.

Fish and Wildlife also said it will reinstate the decades-old “blanket rule,” which mandates additional protections for species that are newly classified as threatened. Those protections were removed under Trump.

Critical habitat designations for threatened or endangered species can result in limitations on energy development such as mining or oil drilling that could disturb a vulnerable species, while the consultation rule and a separate rule on the scope of proposed federal actions help determine how far the government may go to protect imperiled species.

Under Trump, officials rolled back protections for the northern spotted owl, gray wolves and other species, actions that Biden has vowed to review. The Biden administration previously moved to reverse Trump’s decision to weaken enforcement of the century-old Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which made it harder to prosecute bird deaths caused by the energy industry.

The bird law reversal was among more than 150 business-friendly actions on the environment that Trump took and Biden wants to reconsider, revise or scrap, including withdrawal last month of a 2020 rule that limited which lands and waters could be designated as places where imperiled animals and plants could receive federal protection.

A spokesman for the Interior Department, which oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service, said Tuesday the agency is reviewing the court ruling.

Fish and Wildlife, along with the marine fisheries service, announced in June 2021 that it was reviewing the Trump-era actions on endangered species. The reviews could take months or years to complete, officials said.

Industry groups and Republicans in Congress have long viewed the Endangered Species Act as an impediment to economic development, and under Trump they successfully lobbied to weaken the law’s regulations. Environmental groups and Democratic-controlled states battled the moves in court, but many of those cases remained unresolved.

Ryan Shannon, a lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity, another environmental group, said he was “incredibly relieved” that “terrible” Trump-era rules on endangered species were thrown out by the Oakland, California-based Tigar, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President Barack Obama.

“I hope the Biden administration takes this opportunity to strengthen this crucial law, rather than weaken it, in the face of the ongoing extinction crisis,” Shannon said Tuesday.

Rebecca Riley of the Natural Resources Defense Council said the court ruling “ensures that the previous administration’s ‘extinction package’ will be rolled back.”

She and other advocates called on the Biden administration to ensure the Endangered Species Act “can do its job: preventing the extinction of vulnerable species.”

Gordon, a Highland Park resident and an anti-gun violence activist, knew the familiar questions from victims of mass shootings across the country — how could such violence come to their school, their supermarket or movie theater, their city.

The latest act of mass violence to hit the U.S. came Monday in the northern Chicago suburb, when police said a gunman climbed to the top of a business along Highland Park’s Independence Day parade route and opened fire. Seven people died and more than 30 people were wounded.

The violence has focused attention on Highland Park’s 2013 ban on semi-automatic weapons and large-capacity magazines.

Illinois officials have long contended that legal and illegal weapons are easily purchased in surrounding states, hampering even the toughest local laws’ effectiveness. Authorities said Tuesday that the suspected gunman, a 21-year-old resident of nearby Highwood, legally purchased the rifle used in the attack in the Chicagoland area but did not say exactly where he bought it.

They also have not specified the type of weapon used, only describing it as high powered and “similar to an AR-15.”

Highland Park’s clampdown survived a legal challenge from a local pediatrician and the Illinois State Rifle Association that ended at the U.S. Supreme Court’s doorstep in 2015 when justices declined to hear the case.

Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering responded to the win, at the time arguing: “Banning assault weapons and large capacity magazines is a common sense step to reducing gun violence and protecting our children, our law enforcement and our communities from potential mass violence and grief.”

Two conservative justices — Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Antonin Scalia — said they would have heard the case and struck Highland Park’s limits.

“The overwhelming majority of citizens who own and use such rifles do so for lawful purposes, including self-defense and target shooting,” Thomas wrote.

For Gordon and other activists in Highland Park, Monday’s violent attack was a push to continue working toward national restrictions on such weapons and ammo.

Highland Park’s local and federal elected officials back gun restrictions, showing it by their presence at anti-gun violence rallies and their votes. Police were also stationed all along the parade route. But that didn’t stop the killings on Monday, Gordon said.

“People have to realize, there’s nothing that makes any community immune,” she said. “The only thing that’s going to help any of us is if we vote out legislators who refuse to do anything about guns.”

Gordon helped organize an anti-gun violence arts event in town last month following the mass shootings at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and a school in Uvalde, Texas. Weeks later, she was fielding phone calls from friends who fled their city’s holiday parade in terror.

Gordon said since the shooting she’s received dozens of emails from friends and neighbors, expressing their shock that such violence could hit their home. She said it gives her hope that influential voices can make a change — tempered by her belief that national change is the only hope of preventing future mass shootings.

“You can’t protect people all the time,” she said. “This is a gun issue.”

The Buffalo and Uvalde killings did prompt Congress to pass the most sweeping gun violence bill in a decade. The package toughens background checks for the youngest gun buyers, keeps firearms from more domestic violence offenders and helps states put in place red flag laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people adjudged to be dangerous.

But it was signed into law just days after the Supreme Court’s ruling struck down a New York law that restricted peoples’ ability to carry concealed weapons. And it didn’t include more sweeping proposals long backed by activists including an assault-style weapons ban and background checks.

“I know there’s much more work to do, and I’m never going to give up, but this is a monumental day,” President Joe Biden said after signing the bill on June 25.

Nicholson, who decided to run for governor after Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson decided to seek a third term, had consistently trailed in the polls behind former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and construction business co-owner Tim Michels. Donald Trump endorsed Michels.

Nicholson said in a statement announcing the end of his campaign that it became clear to him that the only way forward “is attacking the other candidates in the race on the airwaves and running a very negative campaign.”

“While our team has the capability to do that, that is not something I want to do — nor do I believe that it would be good for the party to do so,” Nicholson said in his statement. “This election is too important for our state and our movement.”

A Marquette University Law School poll released on June 22 had Nicholson at 10% compared with 27% for Michels and 26% for Kleefisch. State Rep. Timothy Ramthun was at at 3%, with 32% of respondents undecided.

Nicholson ran for U.S. Senate in 2018, losing in the Republican primary.

Nicholson said he would not endorse anyone before the upcoming primary. The Republican winner will advance to face Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in a race that’s a national priority for both parties. Whoever wins will be governor during the 2024 presidential race in the state. Evers has served as a block on the Republican-controlled Legislature, vetoing numerous bills making it more difficult to vote absentee that were passed after Donald Trump lost the state in 2020.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric had said Friday that the secretary-general’s personal envoy, Staffan de Mistura, would “conduct a new phase of visits” to all concerned parties in the region “in the coming days,” starting in the Moroccan capital of Rabat on Saturday.

But Monday, Dujarric said in a note to U.N. correspondents that de Mistura “has decided not to proceed with a visit to Western Sahara during this trip, but looks forward to doing so during his upcoming visits to the region.”

The Polisario Front’s U.N. representative, Sidi Omar, responded in a statement obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press saying the group “deeply deplores” that Morocco “has once again resorted to obstructionism and delay tactics to prevent the personal envoy … from conducting his first visit to the territory.”

Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony believed to have considerable offshore oil deposits and mineral resources, in 1975, sparking a conflict with the Polisario Front. The U.N. brokered a 1991 cease-fire and established a peacekeeping mission to monitor the truce and help prepare a referendum on the territory’s future that has never taken place because of disagreements on who is eligible to vote.

The Polisario Front ended the 29-year cease-fire with Morocco in November 2020 and resumed its armed struggle following a border confrontation with Morocco that continues today.

Morocco has proposed wide-ranging autonomy for Western Sahara. But the Polisario Front insists the local population, which it estimates at 350,000 to 500,000, has the right to a referendum.

Omar said in the statement that Morocco’s obstruction of de Mistura’s visit “demonstrates beyond any doubt that the occupying state has no political will to engage constructively in the U.N. peace process in Western Sahara.”

The U.N. spokesman insisted in response to a question Tuesday that de Mistura “did not lose freedom of movement” and said “this was not billed as a regional visit.” Dujarric said the U.N. envoy has made clear that “there will be, in time, visits to other parties.”

Dujarric said de Mistura had “a useful meeting” Tuesday with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita on the political process on Western Sahara.

Morocco’s Foreign Ministry said that at the meeting with de Mistura, “the Moroccan delegation reiterated its support for a political resolution that is solely based on the Moroccan autonomy initiative.”

The ministry said Morocco also reaffirmed its commitment to roundtables and the U.N. Security Council resolution adopted in October extending the peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara and calling for a political resolution that is “realistic, pragmatic, sustainable and based on compromise.”

Hurt politically by inflation at a 40-year high and damages wrought by the pandemic, the president is anchoring his message to workers in the former election bellwether of Ohio. The Buckeye State has been trending strongly Republican with Donald Trump easily carrying it twice, and this is Biden’s fourth visit as president as he labors to personally reverse that electoral tide.

Biden’s speech at the Iron Workers Local 17 Training Center is timed to the announcement of a final administrative rule that is tied to his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package from last year. The rule allows troubled multi-company pensions to be made financially whole, ensuring full benefits for 2 million to 3 million workers and retirees.

Details about Biden’s remarks were shared by two administration officials who insisted on anonymity to preview his speech.

The roughly 200 pension plans receiving assistance faced possible insolvency without government aid. Without the full benefits, workers and retirees could struggle to pay for housing, food and other essentials. The financial support should help keep the pension funds solvent for roughly 30 years until 2051.

That’s important, several retirees said.

Bill DeVito, 73, was an iron worker for almost 50 years before retiring a decade ago. When his pension was cut 40% in 2017, he said, “it was devastating.”

“The thing of it is, we had a lot of politicians over the years saying, hey, we’ll try to help you, we’ll do everything we can, and nobody’s ever done anything for us until Joe Biden come along,” he said. He said that other Ohio Democrats in Washington kept pushing, too.

Jeffrey Carlson, 67, of the Cleveland suburb of North Ridgeville, said that a year before he retired in 2017, he learned his pension would be cut, too.

“I’m grateful for anything that we could get back,” he said. “I know I earned it. I worked hard.”

Carlson, a long-time Democrat, said he knows public opinion has turned against Biden, but he still supports the president.

“I think he’s doing what he has to do and trying to make the best of it, and I think he’s looking out for, as a whole, looking out for our side of it, for the working man.”

Multiemployer plans are created through agreements between companies and a union, and are insured by the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). In 2014, Congress passed the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act that allowed plans, for the first time, to cut workers and retirees’ benefits in order to ensure that pensions projected to run out of money remained solvent.

The American Rescue Plan passed in March 2021 included a special finance assistance program that allows struggling multiemployer pension plans to apply to the PBGC for assistance. The final rule being unveiled by the Biden administration is designed to make it easier for the pensions’ investments to receive a higher rate of return.

The effort to highlight a program to bolster union workers comes as Democrats hope to pick up a U.S. Senate seat in Ohio, where a strong showing with working class voters could play pivotal role.

Republican Rob Portman is leaving the Senate after two terms. Vying to replace him are Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan and Republican J.D. Vance, the author of the memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” who secured an endorsement during the primary from Trump. Ohio voters backed Trump in 2016 and 2020, with his margin of victory each time at roughly eight percentage points.

While Biden boasts of steady job growth — unemployment sits at 3.6% — Americans have largely been discontented with the Democratic president’s handling of the economy as inflation continues to rise, interest rates increase and the stock market wobbles. Just 28 percent approve of Biden’s stewardship of the economy, down from 51% a year ago, according to an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll published last week.

Biden has made extensive commitments to boost Ohio’s economy. But his efforts suffered a recent setback as Intel postponed the July 22 groundbreaking for a computer chip plant near the state capital of Columbus. The decision came after a planned investment of more than $50 billion in the semiconductor industry stalled in Congress.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Twitter last week that he would block the computer chip bill if congressional Democrats pursue passage of their budget and domestic agenda as planned in the face of Republican opposition.

Biden has highlighted the planned computer chip plant as a commitment to U.S. manufacturing, part of the message he hopes to stress by aiding pensions for plant workers.

His efforts to fund the distressed pensions would extend the solvency of the government’s PBGC multiemployer insurance program from 2026 to 2055. Full benefits would be restored to 80,000 workers and retirees who have had their benefits cut.

Biden has often emphasized his administration’s efforts supporting trade union members, who are a major part of his political identity. The president likes to proclaim that the middle class built America and that “unions built the middle class.” In an April speech to union workers in Washington, he offered support for Amazon employees in Staten Island, New York, who had voted to form a union by declaring, “By the way, Amazon, here we come. Watch.”

In May, during an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Conference, Biden derided Trump, as “the great MAGA king,” poking fun at the former president’s “Make America Great” campaign slogan that has resonated with many blue-collar voters in the industrial Midwest.

He is hitting repeatedly on an economic theme against Republicans heading into November’s midterm elections, saying that the GOP for all its criticism of him has few tangible solutions to major policy problems facing the country, including spiking inflation.

___

AP writer Julie Carr Smyth contributed from Columbus, Ohio.

It’s why Dahle, an affable farmer and state senator from the sparsely populated northeast corner of the state, goes out of his way to make one thing clear: “I’m not a crazy Republican. I’m a reasonable person.”

Whether voters believe he is what he says and not how Democrats portray him will determine how Dahle does against Newsom, a first-term Democrat who is an overwhelming favorite in November.

Republicans haven’t won a statewide office in California since 2006 because their candidates generally are little-known, little-funded and identified — rightly or wrongly — as strong social conservatives in a state that’s socially liberal. The GOP has seen its share of registered voters shrink to the point where Democrats now have a roughly 2-to-1 advantage and there are nearly as many independents as Republicans.

Under California’s primary system, all candidates compete against each other and the two with the most votes advance to the general election. Newsom won last month with 56%, while Dahle received just 17% in a field of more than two dozen candidates.

With Dahle locked in as their opponent, Newsom’s campaign moved quickly to identify him as the antithesis to what most Californians want.

“Dahle is a Trump Republican who wants to abolish abortion rights, repeal California’s gun safety laws and is searching for any shred of relevance after getting absolutely crushed by Governor Newsom in (the) primary vote,” said Newsom campaign spokesperson Nathan Click.

Dahle acknowledges voting for Trump, calls himself “pro-life” and says he is a strong defender of the Second Amendment. But he says his record is more nuanced than Newsom’s campaign claims.

While he voted for Trump, he has not publicly amplified Trump’s lie that he was the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election. He voted against a proposal to make abortion a constitutional right in California but went against his party and voted for a 2021 bill that would have made contraceptives — including the morning-after pill — much cheaper.

On guns, Dahle voted against a Newsom-backed bill to let private citizens sue people who sell illegal firearms and a bill that would ban the marketing of guns to children. Dahle’s office would not comment on a new bill aimed at limiting where people can carry concealed firearms, a response to the U.S. Supreme Court last month overturning the state’s law.

He wants to make it a felony to steal a gun, supports enhancements for gang members and others jailed previously who commit new crimes using guns. And he voted for a bill to strengthen a unique California program that confiscates guns from convicted felons who aren’t supposed to have them.

His plan to beat Newsom is to focus on what he thinks are the real problems people care about — record high gas prices, rising crime and the state’s high cost-of-living — while portraying Newsom, a millionaire businessman and former San Francisco mayor, as an out-of-touch elitist.

“The facts are (Newsom) is a failure. Show me something he is succeeding at. And that’s what we’re going to talk about,” Dahle said.

As governor, Dahle said he would push to suspend the state’s gas tax, which at 53.9 cents per gallon is the second-highest in the country. He says he would remove Newsom’s appointments to the state Parole Board, which he says often lets “violent criminals out before their sentences are up.”

And Dahle said he would push through hundreds of new permits for oil and gas drilling in the state at a time when California regulators are working on Newsom’s plan to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars and lawn equipment.

Newsom won in 2018 with nearly 62% of the vote. He defeated a recall last year by about the same margin. He has $23 million in his campaign account and a record state budget surplus of nearly $100 billion, of which about $9.5 billion will be returned to most taxpayers in rebates to help offset high gas prices.

Dahle has just under $400,000 in his campaign account. He’s asking supporters to donate $1 a day to his campaign. He needs about 200,000 people to do this to catch up with Newsom’s fundraising — which isn’t likely to happen.

“The key to his success would be in drawing the earned media attention necessary in order to define himself beyond the party label,” said Rob Nehring, former chair of the California Republican Party and the 2014 Republican nominee for lieutenant governor. “If this is only a party preference vote even in a strong Republican year, he’s likely to come up short.”

Dahle was raised in Bieber, a tiny community of a few hundred people in the northeast corner of the state. His grandfather, a World War I veteran, came to California during the Great Depression and got a land grant in Siskiyou County that, according to family legend, he won when his name was pulled from a pickle jar. The deed is signed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dahle said.

Dahle didn’t go to college. He tried farming out of high school, but quickly lost money. To pay his creditors, he packed a lunch and stood outside of a lumber mill every morning for three days until the owner hired him. He worked construction for a few years, including some long hours in a gold mine, before starting a seed business that he still owns.

He won his first race for the Lassen County Board of Supervisors by beating a popular teacher from the town of Susanville where most of the voters lived. He won a seat in the state Assembly by beating Rick Bossetti, a former professional baseball player and mayor of Redding, the largest city in the region with about 90,000 people.

And he was elected to the state Senate by beating Kevin Kiley, a fellow Republican in the Assembly who lived in a much more populated area.

“He did the things that you need to do and he surprised his opponents,” said Jim Chapman, a Democrat-turned-independent who served on the board of supervisors with Dahle. “ He’s got a very charismatic demeanor and right off the bat, from the moment I met him, I knew this guy was going to go somewhere.”

Government life has seemed to suit Dahle and his family. He proposed to his wife, Megan, during a supervisors meeting. Now, Megan is a Republican in the state Assembly. They’re like most married couples, except when they disagree it can be part of a public record.

“I just tease him and tell him, well, he was probably wrong,” Megan Dahle said of the times they voted differently on legislation. “He’s a farmer, so he works hard and he has great relationships with people. They can trust him.”

When he arrived in Sacramento, Dahle endeared himself to legislative colleagues in both parties by hosting tours of his district, which includes picturesque farmland in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada. In 2016, he worked with a bipartisan group of lawmakers to pass a law aimed at stopping patients from receiving surprise bills from health care providers outside their insurance network.

Last year’s recall election essentially cleared the field of Republicans this year, as none of the top candidates opted to challenge Newsom again. That created an opportunity for Dahle, who will be termed out of the Senate in 2024. He realizes his success rests on a sudden political reversal in a state that’s been moving more left with each election.

“I’ve seen the pendulum swing, and when it swings, it swings fast,” Dahle said. “So my message is, ‘Hey, do you want what you’ve been getting? How about try something different?’”

IEA: High prices, uncertainty will slow growth in gas demand

BERLIN (AP) — The International Energy Agency says high prices for natural gas and supply fears due to the war in Ukraine will slow the growth in demand for the fossil fuel in the coming years. In a report published Tuesday, the Paris-based agency forecast global demand for natural gas will rise by 140 billion cubic meters between 2021 and 2025. That’s less than half the increase of 370 bcm seen in the previous five-year period, which included the pandemic downturn. The revised forecast is mostly due to expectations of slower economic growth rather than buyers switching from gas to other fossil fuels, such as coal or oil. The IEA said gas-saving measures and the switch to renewable energy sources also had a lesser impact.

___

Many won’t rely on virtual options after COVID: AP-NORC poll

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new poll shows that many Americans don’t expect to rely on the digital services that became commonplace during the pandemic after COVID-19 subsides. That’s even as many think it’s a good thing if those options remain available in the future. The poll comes from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll shows that close to half or more of U.S. adults say they are not likely to attend virtual activities, receive virtual health care, have groceries delivered or use curbside pickup after the coronavirus pandemic ends. Still, close to half of adults also say it would be a good thing if virtual options continue.

___

US indexes shake off an early slump and eke out gains

Major stock indexes shook off an early slump and ended with meager gains on Wall Street Tuesday as worries about the economy continue to weigh on markets. Oil prices slumped, bringing the price of U.S. crude back below $100 a barrel for the first time since early May. Tech stocks staged a turnaround and ended higher. The S&P 500 eked out a gain of 0.2% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average remained in the red, losing 0.4%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which helps set mortgage rates, fell to 2.82%.

___

Carrier SAS files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in US

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Scandinavian Airlines has filed for bankruptcy in the United States. The airline group said Tuesday’s announcement would not affect its operations and flight schedule. But the chief executive of SAS said the pilots’ strike had accelerated the move to seek bankruptcy protection voluntarily in the U.S. Filing for Chapter 11 in New York puts civil litigation on hold while the business reorganizes its finances. Pilots say their pay and conditions are inadequate and the company is not rehiring pilots laid off during the pandemic. They claim the company negotiated for months but never intended to reach a deal with them.

___

Biden to Ohio, spotlighting rescued pensions for millions

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is taking a message of shoring up workers’ pensions to Ohio, hoping to reinvigorate his political standing with blue-collar voters. The state has been trending strongly Republican in recent years, with Donald Trump easily carrying it twice. But the Democrats have hopes of winning a Senate seat that is coming open. Biden on Wednesday is announcing a new rule that will allow major new financial support for troubled pensions that cover some 2 million to 3 million workers.

___

In major blow, 2 key ministers quit Boris Johnson government

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is clinging to power after two of his most senior Cabinet ministers quit, saying they had lost confidence in Johnson’s leadership amid shifting explanations about his handling of a sexual misconduct scandal. Treasury chief Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid resigned within minutes of each other Tuesday, costing Johnson the support of the men responsible for tackling two of the biggest issues facing Britain — the cost-of-living crisis and surging COVID-19 infections. Both men cited Johnson’s credibility after a day in which the prime minister was forced to backtrack on earlier statements about a misconduct scandal that has rattled his government for the past six days.

___

Profiles of Sunak and Javid, who quit Johnson’s Cabinet

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is facing a fresh crisis after two of his most senior Cabinet ministers resigned within minutes of each other. Treasury chief Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid quit saying the government under Johnson’s leadership was no longer competent or “acting in the national interest.” Both Javid and Sunak are key members of the Cabinet and both are seen as potential successors to Johnson, leaving his position perilous. Sunak was, until recently, widely regarded as the party’s brightest rising star. Javid, 52, has been health secretary since June 2021, leading Britain’s COVID-19 response. Before that, he served as treasury chief, but resigned in early 2020 after clashing with Johnson

___

Australian central bank boosts rate for 3rd month in a row

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s central bank has lifted its benchmark interest rate for a third time in three straight months, changing the cash rate to 1.35% from 0.85%. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s half a percentage point rise on Tuesday was the same size as its June increase. When the bank lifted the rate by a quarter percentage point at its monthly board meeting in May, it was the first rate hike in more than 11 years. Increases at the June and July board meetings were widely expected. Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe said in May it was “not unreasonable” to expect the cash rate to climb to 2.5%.

___

Smithfield Foods settles pork price-fixing lawsuit for $42M

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Smithfield Foods will pay restaurants and caterers $42 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the giant meat producer of conspiring to inflate pork prices. Smithfield didn’t admit any wrongdoing but the deal will likely only add to concerns about how the lack of competition in the industry affects meat prices. The meat industry argues that supply and demand, not anticompetitive behavior, determine prices, but the industry’s practices have been questioned by the White House, Congress and trade groups. The restaurant companies that sued said the major meat processors shared confidential information to help them coordinate efforts to limit the supply of hogs and inflate prices.

___

Reports: Twitter challenges India order to block content

NEW DELHI (AP) — Media reports say Twitter has challenged the Indian government in court over its recent orders to take down some content on the social media platform. The Press Trust of India and the Bar and Bench legal news site report that he lawsuit was filed on Tuesday. It represents part of a growing confrontation between Twitter and Indian officials over new laws giving the government more power to police online content. Experts say the rules amount to censorship. Indian officials call them necessary to tackle disinformation and hate speech. Twitter has complied with most content takedown orders in the past but also resisted the new rules, calling them a potential threat to freedom of expression.

___

The S&P 500 rose 6.06 points, or 0.2%, to 3,831.39. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 129.44 points, or 0.4%, to 30,967.82. The Nasdaq rose 194.39 points, or 1.7%, to 11,322.24. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 13.57 points, or 0.8%, to 1,741.33.

___