CNN left off Air Force One for Trump's upcoming trip, White House signals in new media restriction
The White House has signaled that CNN will be left off Air Force One for President Donald Trump’s Saturday trip. It is the latest media restriction imposed by the administration in an ongoing dispute with First Amendment implications. CNN was replaced by the conservative Real America’s Voice News. The news came just after journalists from three news outlets that Trump banned last week from the White House grounds returned to the executive complex with TV cameras, laptops and microphones in hand. Trump is scheduled travel to Knoxville, Tennessee, and attend a college football game between Tennessee and Texas.
Supreme Court lets Trump administration use revamped federal voter eligibility database for now
NEW YORK (AP) — The Supreme Court is allowing states to resume using a controversial federal tool to check voter eligibility before the November elections. The emergency ruling lifts a lower court’s restrictions for now on the Trump administration's revamped version of the program, called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE. The Department of Homeland Security tool has been a central pillar of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on noncitizen voting, although its use remains voluntary. A federal judge had blocked its use, saying SAVE violates voter privacy and can lead to wrongful voter purges. Voting law experts advise that a 90-day rule barring systematic voter purges near an election will likely limit the ruling's impact on the midterms.
Xi says he'll see Trump again soon as he wraps up US visit with a look at the Constitution
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has confirmed he'll have two more meetings with China’s Xi Jinping later this year. Xi wrapped up his state visit to the U.S. on Friday with a trip to the National Archives, where Trump showed him the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Xi's three-day visit has been criticized for being heavy on pomp and light on substance, though Trump says they talked about the Iran war. Xi invited Trump to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, in November. The leaders will meet again a month later at the G20 summit at the Trump National Doral Miami golf club in Florida.
Iran proposes a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in 7 days if the US meets its conditions
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iran has offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks on its nuclear program in seven days if the United States lifts its naval blockade, waives sanctions on Iranian oil sales and observes a ceasefire that would include Lebanon. Iran’s foreign minister detailed the proposal to reporters outside the U.N. Security Council on Friday. The deal mirrors the so-called Memorandum of Understanding reached in June, but with an accelerated timetable and would also set a start date for the resumption of nuclear talks with the United States. The earlier agreement quickly collapsed as Iran resumed attacks on shipping in the strait.
Roads flood in New Jersey, inundate some homes, as first major signs of nor'easter take shape
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Thousands are without power on the U.S. East Coast, while roads are flooding in some coastal New Jersey communities. The events Friday night signaled the first major signs of a powerful nor’easter expected to create dangerous conditions through the weekend. Tens of millions of people are in the path of the storm that is already beginning to lash the region with strong winds and rain. The National Weather Service says dangerous flooding is expected along the Mid-Atlantic coast, particularly near New Jersey and Delaware. Concerts have been canceled, along with dozens of flights going into airports in Boston, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard on Friday and Saturday.
Hurricanes in the Pacific threaten Hawaii and Mexico with floods and high surf
HILO, Hawaii (AP) — Residents on Hawaii’s Big Island are bracing for potentially life-threatening and catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Nolo. The U.S. National Weather Service said Nolo was about 145 miles south of the Big Island on Friday evening. Tropical storm conditions are expected to begin on land Friday evening. Forecasters are warning the island could see 10 to 15 inches of rain and 50-mph wind gusts. Meanwhile, Hurricane Polo is churning off Mexico's western coast as a Category 5 hurricane. It is expected to turn toward the Baja California peninsula. Storm conditions there are expected to begin late Sunday into Monday.
Trump said he would campaign in midterm battlegrounds. He's starting in deep red states instead
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — President Donald Trump has vowed to campaign in 35 of the most competitive battleground races in the final sprint to November’s midterm elections. Instead, he will begin October by stumping in Alabama and Oklahoma, two of the most Republican states in the nation. Trump is sure to draw crowds to the venues. But the rallies are another sign of the uphill fight that his party faces as they pour cash into red states once considered safe, trying to shore up candidates facing an unhappy electorate that has soured on Trump and his policies.
Supreme Court rejects a Trump-backed Missouri congressional map for the third time
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Supreme Court has turned away an attempt to use a new Missouri congressional map backed by President Donald Trump. Friday's decision puts an end to a long-running legal dispute as absentee voting is underway in the midterm elections. The justices halted a last-minute revival of the Republican-friendly map by lower-court judges. The decision leaves in place a Missouri Supreme Court ruling requiring the state to hold the November election using a map adopted in 2022. A new map passed last year was aimed at helping Republicans gain an additional U.S. House seat. It was used in the August primary. But Missouri’s top court later ruled that it can’t take effect unless approved in a statewide referendum.
Appeals court appears divided in case over Venezuelan migrants deported to El Salvador prison
WASHINGTON (AP) — A panel of appeals court judges appears to be divided on whether to reverse or uphold an order for the Trump administration to facilitate the return of dozens of Venezuelan migrants who were deported from the U.S. to a notorious prison in El Salvador last year. A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard arguments Friday from attorneys for the government and the migrants who were flown to El Salvador without any notice or opportunity to challenge their removals from the U.S. The administration appealed after District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to make arrangements for some of the deported Venezuelan migrants to return to the U.S. at the government’s expense.
Tasia Fortune's hanging was 'staged' after her death in a drug dispute, Mississippi police say
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A police detective says Tasia Fortune was apparently killed in a drug dispute before her body was hung in a tree in a “staged” lynching behind an abandoned home in the Mississippi capital this summer. Police Det. Samuel Dukes, citing the medical examiner's opinion, offered the testimony Friday during a hearing for the first of two men who have been arrested in the killing. Like Fortune, both defendants are Black. A third man turned himself in Friday. Fortune's hanging body was discovered on Aug. 3. The case has attracted widespread attention because it has recalled actual lynchings in the Southern state.
