WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has a great economic story to tell voters a decade from now, less so in 2024.

On Thursday, the Democratic president will head to upstate New York to celebrate Micron Technology’s plans to build a campus of computer chip factories made possible in part with government support. But the initial phase of the project would open the first plant in 2028 and the second plant in 2029, with more time expected for the next two factories to be completed.

Staring down a rematch with Republican Donald Trump, Biden is asking voters to believe in a vision for the U.S. economy that is still largely a promise. This at a moment when voters are most worried about enduring pressures from high inflation, which have led most to rate Biden poorly on the economy.

Biden is campaigning on the future, just as Trump, the former president, taps into a past when U.S. manufacturing was the world standard. The Democrat is trying to convince voters to think about how historians will later recall his presidency.

“We’re going to look back on this 20 years from now and be talking about what a revolutionary period this was for the country,” Biden told unionized electricians last week. “We’re going to make a real gigantic difference.”

It’s a unique message in an era of near-instant gratification. Compared to when Biden began in politics in the 1970s, people can immediately stream music and videos on their smart phones, order a pizza with finger swipe or text a friend thousands of miles away.

Trump, for his part, is telling voters that Biden’s policies will hurt jobs tied to making gasoline-powered autos and ultimately send work to China. On Tuesday, he vented about how the rising value of the dollar against foreign currencies would hobble U.S. manufacturing by making American-made goods too costly.

“It sounds good to stupid people, but it is a disaster for our manufacturers and others,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “They are actually unable to compete and will be forced to either lose lots of business, or build plants, or whatever, in the ‘smart’ Countries.”

The former president at a recent Pennsylvania rally lamented the loss of factory jobs that once made the United States “the greatest country in the history of the world,” saying that the country has since “lost its confidence, willpower and sight.”

The Biden administration helped jumpstart the Micron project by agreeing to provide $6.1 billion in government support that will also cover a memory chip factory in Idaho that would be operating in 2026. The money also helps pay for the first two factories in Clay, New York, but not the second pair to be opened later. The funding is part of the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act that, along with the administration’s funding for renewable energy projects, has boosted factory construction spending to record levels.

There are also factories planned by Intel in Arizona and Ohio, TSMC in Arizona, Samsung in Texas and other chipmakers. Their efforts will power artificial intelligence and electric vehicles, among other technologies that Biden believes will cement America’s position as the world’s largest economy. Biden has gone to Arizona and Ohio to celebrate chip factories and previously went to New York in 2022 for the Micron project.

For decades, voters have heard politicians pledging a manufacturing boom without much to show for it. Factory employment peaked in the late 1970s and has steadily drifted downward because of automation, outsourcing to cheap countries and the closures that come with each recession.

In celebrating the Micron project, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, noted that Trump, while president, famously told voters that electronics maker Foxconn would open a sprawling set of factories in Wisconsin.

At the time, Trump took a victory lap, saying that the Taiwan-headquartered company would be bringing manufacturing jobs to the United States.

“I will tell you they wouldn’t have done it here, except that I became president, so that’s good,” Trump said in June 2018.

That project notoriously flamed out, feeding a sense of cynicism about what the government can do. Microsoft agreed in 2023 to buy the land for a data center after Foxconn failed to deliver on its 13,000 promised jobs.

Schumer said an interview that voters will find that this time is different, predicting they will see the United States as pulling ahead of China on the technologies that are essential for national security and economic growth, allowing more jobs and needed technology to stay in America.

“We want to be proud of our economy and there was too much of a feeling that we were losing out to China and other countries,” Schumer said.

By Andrew Goudsward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on Thursday on Donald Trump’s claim that he enjoys sweeping immunity from criminal prosecution for actions he took as president, a claim that has delayed by months a case accusing him of trying to overturn his 2020 defeat.

Here is a look at why Trump’s claims have delayed a trial and what is likely to happen next:

WHY HAS THE IMMUNITY APPEAL DELAYED THE ELECTION SUBVERSION CASE?

The federal case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith charging Trump with trying to overturn his election defeat — one of four criminal cases the Republican presidential candidate faces — has been paused since December while the immunity argument plays out. 

Criminal defendants are not usually able to appeal court rulings until after a trial if they are convicted, but Trump was able to file an immediate appeal because the immunity argument bears on whether he must even face a trial.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, granted Trump’s request for a pause while his appeal plays out, and prosecutors acknowledged the issue would need to be resolved before Trump can face a jury.

The March 4 trial initially scheduled in the case was postponed; no new date has been set.

WHY IS TRUMP SEEKING DELAY?

If Trump wins the Nov. 5 election, he could order the U.S. Justice Department to drop its election subversion case, and another case involving his mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House. He could also try to use his powers as president to pardon himself of any federal crimes.

Delaying the trial until after the election would also prevent voters from hearing potentially damaging testimony about Trump’s refusal to accept his defeat in 2020 and his attempts to hold on to power.

HOW MIGHT THE SUPREME COURT RULE?

If a majority of the Supreme Court, whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three Trump appointees, agrees with Trump’s claim, it could decide to dismiss the case in its entirety.

The justices could also adopt the position of lower courts and find that Trump has no immunity from the charges, setting the stage for a trial.

A third option would recognize that presidents may be protected from prosecution in some circumstances and direct the trial court to determine whether that immunity applies to the allegations against Trump. 

That outcome could prompt further delays as the trial judge decides whether parts of the prosecution’s case will need to be tossed out.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE COURT RULES?

The court is expected to release its decision by June and if it does not order the case dismissed, the prosecution would resume.

Chutkan, the judge, has signaled that Trump’s legal team will likely have about three months to prepare his defense after that, which could leave Chutkan to decide whether to schedule a trial beginning in September or even October — when early voting will be underway in some states.

Trump’s lawyers are likely to argue that trying the case at the peak of the presidential campaign would amount to election interference. 

Prosecutors have argued the public has a right to a speedy trial.

The Supreme Court could throw another wrinkle into the case with its ruling on a separate case on whether a federal obstruction law applies to participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Two of the counts against Trump relate to that law and Trump’s role in the riot.

Prosecutors have argued that the charges against Trump could survive even a narrower interpretation of the law, but it will be up to the judge to decide what impact the Supreme Court’s opinion will have on Trump’s case.

COULD THE IMMUNITY RULING AFFECT OTHER CRIMINAL CASES AGAINST TRUMP? 

Trump has made presidential immunity claims in two other criminal cases, a state prosecution accusing him of attempting to overturn the election results in Georgia and the federal case over mishandling classified documents. 

A ruling that Trump is entitled to some legal protection for official actions could complicate those cases. Prosecutors have called Trump’s immunity argument in the classified documents case frivolous, noting that the charges relate to Trump’s conduct after he left the White House in 2021.

An opinion denying Trump’s immunity claim would remove a significant hurdle for prosecutors in both cases, blunting Trump’s attempts at further delaying the trials. 

The ruling would not affect the ongoing criminal trial in New York over hush money payments to a porn star, which does not involve official actions Trump took as president.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis)

By Jack Queen

(Reuters) – Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial is set to resume in New York on Thursday with a former tabloid publisher testifying about efforts to help Trump’s 2016 presidential bid by burying negative stories, including an alleged affair with a former Playboy model.

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, 72, is a key witness in the case against the former U.S. president, who is accused of falsifying business records documenting a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an affair she said she had with Trump in 2006.

Pecker, who has not been charged with a crime, testified on Tuesday that the Enquirer paid two people for stories of Trump’s alleged sexual misbehavior but never published them — a practice known as “catch and kill.”

He is expected to testify on Thursday about a similar payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who said she had a yearlong affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007.

McDougal is also expected to testify during the trial, along with Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who says he arranged the Daniels payment and was reimbursed by Trump.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts and denied having an affair with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. He has also denied having an affair with McDougal.

Hush money payments themselves are not illegal, and Trump’s lawyers have argued the Daniels payout was personal and unrelated to his campaign.

Prosecutors say the payment was a campaign expense that should have been disclosed and that Trump’s arrangement with the Enquirer deceived voters by suppressing stories of alleged extramarital affairs at a time when he faced accusations of sexual misbehavior.

The trial is the first of a past or present U.S. president and carries political risks for Trump as he prepares for a November rematch with President Joe Biden and fends off three other criminal indictments, all of which he has pleaded not guilty to.

Also on Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear Trump’s arguments that he is immune from prosecution for actions taken as president, an appeal that has held up his prosecution on charges related to his attempts to reverse his 2020 election defeat.

Trump, who is required to be present for the New York trial, previously asked for permission to attend the Supreme Court arguments, but his request was rejected by Justice Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the criminal case.

Trump has also complained that the trial, which began on April 15 and is expected to last six to eight weeks, is preventing him from campaigning, though he uses his courthouse appearances as mini-stump speeches.

Merchan has imposed a limited gag order on Trump that bars him from publicly attacking witnesses, jurors and other people close to the case, including court staff and their families.

Prosecutors have asked Merchan to fine Trump $1,000 apiece for 10 social media posts they said violated the order, including one where he called Cohen and Daniels “sleazebags.”

Trump has said the gag order violates his right to free speech and says he is being treated unfairly by Merchan.

(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

By Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration on Thursday announced it has finalized rules targeting carbon, air and water pollution from power plants that it says could cut over 1 billion metric tons from carbon emissions by 2047 even as demand for electricity grows.

The Environmental Protection Agency tightened a proposal to slash carbon emissions from existing coal and new gas plants, and updated and finalized long-standing rules to reduce mercury and toxic air pollutants and clean up wastewater and coal ash discharge.

“EPA is cutting pollution while ensuring that power companies can make smart investments and continue to deliver reliable electricity for all Americans,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.

Regan had said in 2022 he intended take on several regulations together to reduce carbon emissions from power plants, and help states, utilities and plant operators make better investment and plant retirement decisions.

The new rules come as electric utilities brace for a spike in demand from data centers powering technology like generative AI, as well as from the growth of electric vehicles.

The United States is projected this year to add more electric generation capacity than it has done in two decades, with 96% being clean energy, White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi told reporters.

Among the changes the EPA made to the carbon rule is dropping hydrogen as a “best system of emission reduction” for gas plants to achieve new standards.

Now it is just carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) that could be used for the longest-running existing coal units and new gas turbines that run more than 40% of the time. The EPA initially proposed that the standards apply to plants that run more than 50% of the time.

The agency also said coal plants that plan to run past 2039 will be required to install CCS technology starting in 2032 in the final rule. It had initially proposed requiring CCS for plants that will be running past 2040.

The Edison Electric Institute, an investor-owned utility trade group, said it appreciated EPA’s approach of bundling the different pollution rules to ease compliance, but was disappointed the agency didn’t heed its concerns around CCS viability.

“CCS is not yet ready for full-scale, economy-wide deployment, nor is there sufficient time to permit, finance, and build the CCS infrastructure needed for compliance by 2032,” EEI President Dan Brouillette said.

Regan told reporters the agency was confident in the technology, which has been bolstered by Inflation Reduction Act tax incentives, and support from “multiple power companies.”

The agency also said it has launched a process to get feedback on how to reduce carbon emissions from existing gas plants. The EPA removed coverage of existing gas plants from the initial proposal last month and gave no new timeline for developing a rule to cover the current fleet.

The EPA also reduced mercury emissions limits for lignite coal plants by 70% and emissions limits associated with toxic metals by 67%, the first update of that rule since 2012, while also finalizing measures that would eliminate 660 million pounds of pollution per year being discharged into U.S. waterways and protect communities from coal ash contamination.

Environmental groups praised the rules for helping to drive down power sector emissions alongside the IRA, putting the administration closer to its goal of net-zero emissions in the sector by 2035.

“The age of unbridled climate pollution from power plants is over,” said Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito, top Republican on the Senate environment committee, said she plans to introduce a resolution aiming to overturn the rules.

“President Biden has inexplicably doubled down on his plans to shut down the backbone of America’s electric grid through unachievable regulatory mandates,” she said.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Tom Hogue)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former senior U.S. official who until recently helped oversee human-rights compliance by foreign militaries receiving American military assistance said Wednesday that he repeatedly observed Israel receiving “special treatment” from U.S. officials when it came to scrutiny of allegations of Israeli military abuses of Palestinian civilians.

The allegation comes as the Biden administration faces intense pressure over its ally’s treatment of Palestinian civilians during Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. And matters because of who said it: Charles O. Blaha. Before leaving the post in August, he was a director of a State Department security and human rights office closely involved in helping ensure that foreign militaries receiving American military aid follow U.S. and international humanitarian and human rights laws.

Blaha said his departure from the State Department after decades of service was not related to the U.S.-Israeli security relationship. He is the second senior State official involved in that relationship to assert that when it comes to Israel, the U.S. is reluctant to enforce laws required of foreign militaries receiving American aid.

“In my experience, Israel gets special treatment that no other country gets,” Blaha said. “And there is undue deference, in many cases, given” to Israeli officials’ side of things when the U.S. asks questions about allegations of Israeli wrongdoing against Palestinians, he added.

He spoke to reporters at an event where he and other members of an unofficial, self-formed panel of former senior U.S. civilian and military officials released a report pointing to civilian deaths in specific airstrikes in Gaza. They said there was “compelling and credible” evidence that Israeli forces had acted illegally.

Blaha’s comments echoed those of another State Department official and panel member, Josh Paul. Paul resigned as a director overseeing arms transfers to other countries’ militaries in October in protest of the U.S. rushing arms to Israel amid its war in Gaza.

Asked about the allegations from the two, a State Department spokesman, Vedant Patel, said “there is no double standard, and there is no special treatment.”

Israeli officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel consistently says it follows all laws in its use of U.S. military aid, investigates allegations against its security forces and holds offenders accountable.

Israel historically is the United States’ biggest recipient of military aid, and Biden on Wednesday signed legislation for an additional $26 billion in wartime assistance. But Biden has come under growing pressure over that support as Palestinian deaths mount.

The latest Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, when Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a cross-border attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel. Israel responded with an offensive in Gaza that has caused widespread devastation and killed more than 34,000 people, according to local health officials.

In coming days, the administration says it will announce its official findings from reviews it did into allegations of especially serious human rights abuses by specific Israeli military units. Those units would be barred from receiving U.S. military aid if the U.S. review confirms those allegations.

Separately, the Biden administration also is expected to disclose by May 8 whether it has verified assurances from Israel that the country is not using U.S. military aid in a way that violates international or human rights law. Both Israel’s written assurance and the U.S. verification were mandated by a new presidential national security memo that Biden issued in February.

The February agreement was negotiated between the Biden administration and members of his own Democratic Party, who had been pushing for the U.S. to begin conditioning military aid to Israel on improving treatment of Palestinian civilians.

Panel members released their report Wednesday to urge the U.S. to scrutinize specific attacks in Gaza that the former officials argued should lead to a conclusion that Israel was wrong when it confirmed it was complying with the laws. If that determination is made, the U.S. could then suspend military aid.

Wednesday’s unofficial report points to 17 specific strikes on apartments, refugee camps, private homes, journalists and aid workers for which the former U.S. officials and independent experts allege there’s no evidence of the kind of military target present to justify the high civilian death tolls.

They include an Oct. 31 airstrike on a Gaza apartment building that killed 106 civilians, including 54 children. Israeli officials offered no reason for the strike, and a Human Rights Watch probe found no evidence of a military target there, the officials said. Israel has said in many of the instances that it is investigating.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — With graduations looming, student protesters doubled down early Thursday on their discontent of the Israel-Hamas war on campuses across the country as universities, including ones in California and Texas, have become quick to call in the police to end the demonstrations and make arrests.

While grappling with growing protests from coast to coast, schools have the added pressure of May commencement ceremonies. At Columbia University in New York, students defiantly erected an encampment where many are set to graduate in front of families in just a few weeks.

Columbia continued to negotiate with students after several failed attempts — and over 100 arrests — to clear the encampment, but several universities ousted demonstrators Wednesday, swiftly turning to law enforcement when protests bubbled up on their campuses.

Police peacefully arrested student protesters at the University of Southern California, hours after officers at the University of Texas at Austin aggressively detained dozens in the latest clashes between law enforcement and those protesting the Israel-Hamas war on campuses nationwide.

Tensions were already high at USC after the university canceled a planned commencement speech by the school’s valedictorian, who publicly supports Palestine, citing safety concerns. After scuffles with police early Wednesday, a few dozen demonstrators standing in a circle with locked arms were detained one by one without incident later in the evening.

Officers encircled the dwindling group sitting in defiance of an earlier warning to disperse or be arrested. Beyond the police line, hundreds of onlookers watched as helicopters buzzed overhead. The school closed the campus.

Hours earlier in Texas, hundreds of local and state police — including some on horseback and holding batons — bulldozed into protesters, at one point sending some tumbling into the street. Officers pushed their way into the crowd and made 34 arrests at the behest of the university and Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, according to the state Department of Public Safety.

A photographer covering the demonstration for Fox 7 Austin was in the push-and-pull when an officer yanked him backward to the ground, video shows. The station confirmed that the photographer was arrested. A longtime Texas journalist was knocked down in the mayhem and could be seen bleeding before police helped him to emergency medical staff.

Dane Urquhart, a third-year Texas student, called the police presence and arrests an “overreaction,” adding that the protest “would have stayed peaceful” if the officers had not turned out in force.

“Because of all the arrests, I think a lot more (demonstrations) are going to happen,” Urquhart said.

Police left after hours of efforts to control the crowd, and about 300 demonstrators moved back in to sit on the grass and chant under the school’s iconic clock tower.

In a statement Wednesday night, the university’s president, Jay Hartzell, said: “Our rules matter, and they will be enforced. Our University will not be occupied.”

North of USC, students at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, were barricaded inside a building for a third day, and the school shut down campus through the weekend and made classes virtual.

Harvard University in Massachusetts had sought to stay ahead of protests this week by limiting access to Harvard Yard and requiring permission for tents and tables. That didn’t stop protesters from setting up a camp with 14 tents Wednesday following a rally against the university’s suspension of the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee.

Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies enabling its monthslong conflict. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus as graduation nears, partly prompting a heavier hand from universities.

At New York University this week, police said 133 protesters were taken into custody, while over 40 protesters were arrested Monday at an encampment at Yale University.

Columbia University averted another confrontation between students and police earlier Wednesday. University President Minouche Shafik had set on Tuesday a midnight deadline to reach an agreement on clearing an encampment, but the school extended negotiations for another 48 hours.

On a visit to campus Wednesday, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, called on Shafik to resign “if she cannot bring order to this chaos.”

“If this is not contained quickly and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard,” he said.

On Wednesday evening, a Columbia spokesperson said rumors that the university had threatened to bring in the National Guard were unfounded. “Our focus is to restore order, and if we can get there through dialogue, we will,” said Ben Chang, Columbia’s vice president for communications.

Columbia graduate student Omer Lubaton Granot, who put up pictures of Israeli hostages near the encampment, said he wanted to remind people that there were more than 100 hostages still being held by Hamas.

“I see all the people behind me advocating for human rights,” he said. “I don’t think they have one word to say about the fact that people their age, that were kidnapped from their homes or from a music festival in Israel, are held by a terror organization.”

Harvard law student Tala Alfoqaha, who is Palestinian, said she and other protesters want more transparency from the university.

“My hope is that the Harvard administration listens to what its students have been asking for all year, which is divestment, disclosure and dropping any sort of charges against students,” she said.

On Wednesday about 60 tents remained at the Columbia encampment, which appeared calm. Security remained tight around campus, with identification required and police setting up metal barricades.

Columbia said it had agreed with protest representatives that only students would remain at the encampment and they would make it welcoming, banning discriminatory or harassing language.

___

Perry reported from Meredith, New Hampshire. Contributing to this report were Associated Press journalists in various locations including Joey Cappelletti, Will Weissert, Larry Lage, Steve LeBlanc, Dave Collins, Jim Salter, Haven Daley, Jesse Bedayn, John Antczak, Julie Walker and Joseph Krauss.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — It looks like the third time is the charm as the 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage festival prepares, again, for The Rolling Stones to perform.

The festival, which spans two weekends, is set to open Thursday with dozens of acts playing daily on 14 stages spread throughout the historic Fair Grounds race course. The Stones play next Thursday, May 2, tickets for which have long been sold out.

In 2019, festival organizers thought they had landed the legendary rock band, but the appearance was canceled because lead singer Mick Jagger had heart surgery. They tried again in 2021, but a surge in COVID-19 cases ultimately forced the fest to cancel.

Now, says festival producer Quint Davis, “It’s gonna be special.”

This will be the first time the Stones play Jazz Fest.

Opening day acts include rock bands Widespread Panic and The Beach Boys, reggae artist Stephen Marley and jazz vocalist John Boutte.

“The talent is great, the weather is projected to be good and people’s expectations are going to be met,” Davis said.

Blue skies, sunshine and temperatures in the 80s were forecast for opening day Thursday. Similar weather was expected for the rest of the first weekend, which runs through Sunday and showcases performances by Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Jon Batiste, country megastar Chris Stapleton, R&B singer Fantasia, rock band Heart, Cajun fiddler Amanda Shaw and The Cute Guys, jazz pianist Patrice Rushen, and blues and folk artist Ruthie Foster.

Anticipation for the Stones’ performance is palpable, Davis said.

“All I’m hearing is ‘How can I get a ticket?’” he said of fans trying to see the marquee performance. “Unfortunately for some, that day sold out in like a day-and-a-half after tickets went on sale. I think people have just waited so long for this.”

The Rolling Stones in October released “ Hackney Diamonds,” their first album of original material since 2005 and their first without drummer Charlie Watts, who died in 2021. Though he hasn’t seen a set list, Davis said fans can expect to hear a mix of greatest hits and new releases. No special guests are expected to perform with the Rolling Stones, but Davis said “never say never.”

“Just expect euphoria,” he said laughing. “I think maybe we’re going to need some ambulances on site because people are going to spontaneously combust from the excitement. And, they’re playing in a daylight event. They’re gonna be able to make eye contact with the audience. That’s going to create a really special bond.”

Acts on the festival’s 14 stages usually play simultaneously beginning when gates open at 11 a.m. and continuing until the music ends at 7 p.m. But the other stages will shut down next week when the Stones take the stage.

“We didn’t want to have 13 empty stages and no people in front of them when the Stones start singing favorites like ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ and ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash,'” Davis said. “Everyone who bought a ticket for that day primarily bought one to see The Stones.”

Davis said tickets for the festival’s other days remain available and can be purchased online through their website.

Much of Jazz Fest celebrates the Indigenous music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana but the music encompasses nearly every style imaginable: blues, R&B, gospel, Cajun, Zydeco, Afro-Caribbean, folk, Latin, rock, rap, contemporary and traditional jazz, country, bluegrass and everything in between.

Colombia’s rhythms, from music to dance and food, also will be highlighted this year as part of the festival’s cultural exchange. Close to 200 Colombian artists are scheduled to participate, including headliners Bomba Estéreo on Saturday, ChocQuibTown’s lead singer Goyo in a guest appearance with local band ÌFÉ on Sunday, and salsa legends Grupo Niche closing the celebration on May 5.

And don’t forget the food. During the festival, food available on site includes crawfish bread, pecan catfish meuniere and catfish almondine, cochon de lait and turducken po-boys, boudin, crawfish étouffée, jambalaya, crawfish Monica and shrimp and grits.

Columbia University president Minouche Shafik is no stranger to navigating complex international issues, having worked at some of the world’s most prominent global financial institutions.

At the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, for example, she tackled both the European debt crisis and the Arab Spring.

It remains to be seen, however, if her experience with world conflicts has sufficiently equipped her to navigate the thorny challenges she faces amid ongoing student protests over the Israel-Hamas war.

“The reason you protest is to call attention to an issue,” said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education. “And you do that by challenging the normal order of things. It’s not a problem to be solved, but a tension to be managed.”

The task before her — to balance the demands of students, faculty and politicians — is also a reflection of just how complex governing universities has become in this day and age, when college footprints have grown ever larger, observers say. And it echoes the experience of a growing number of university leaders who, like Shafik, come from nonacademic backgrounds.

Thus far, it seems no one is happy with Shafik’s responses to the protests that began last week at Columbia.

Her decision to ask New York City police to intervene, resulting in the arrests of more than 100 protesters, only served to motivate the demonstrators, who quickly regrouped — and to inspire other students at campuses around the country.

Shafik initially appeared to have weathered the grilling by Republican lawmakers who have expressed growing concern about antisemitism on college campuses. She struck a more conciliatory tone before the House Education and Workforce Committee than the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, who were forced to step down after they were widely criticized for emphasizing free speech protections during their appearances before the same panel.

But Columbia’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors responded angrily to her congressional testimony, accusing her of capitulating to demands from lawmakers who they said made “slanderous assaults” on faculty and students. The AAUP submitted a motion of censure against Shafik. While it does not call for her resignation and is largely symbolic, it reflects the intensity of anger on campus toward her actions.

And now lawmakers are piling on again.

Republicans in New York’s delegation to the U.S. House on Monday wrote a letter urging Shafik to resign, saying she had failed to provide a safe learning environment in recent days as “anarchy has engulfed the campus.” During a visit to Columbia on Wednesday, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called for Shafik to resign “if she cannot bring order to this chaos.”

In a written statement to Congress preceding her in-person testimony, Shafik described a childhood in Egypt and then in the Southeast as schools were desegregating, saying those experiences gave her the skills necessary “to engage with and learn from people with a wide array of backgrounds and experience overcoming discrimination firsthand.”

But that may not be enough; Shafik’s position at Columbia also appears to require a fair amount of political finesse.

It’s not only that she must try to balance principles of free speech and academic freedom with creating a safe environment on campus. Like other college presidents these days, she also is charged with balancing the pillars of shared governance between the faculty, the board and the administration, said Katherine Cho, assistant professor of higher education at Loyola University Chicago.

“Oftentimes, all three groups have different ideas of what the college is and how well the president is doing their job … and the president might have a different definition of how they think that they’re successful,” Cho said.

When she arrived at Columbia last year, Shafik was the first woman to take on the role of president and one of several women newly appointed to take the reins at Ivy League institutions.

Her experience in finance, rather than academia, puts her in line with more and more university leaders who come from nonfaculty backgrounds.

After obtaining her master’s degree at the London School of Economics, she went on to earn a doctorate at Oxford University. She rose through the ranks at the World Bank, eventually becoming the bank’s youngest-ever vice president.

Shafik also worked at the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, followed by stints at the International Monetary Fund and the Bank of England, before taking over the leadership of the London School of Economics.

At the time of Shafik’s appointment, Columbia Board of Trustees chair Jonathan Lavine described her as a leader who deeply understood “the academy and the world beyond it.”

“What set Minouche apart as a candidate,” Lavine said in a statement, “is her unshakable confidence in the vital role institutions of higher education can and must play in solving the world’s most complex problems.”

Shafik also framed her international experience as foundational to her leadership of Columbia in her testimony to lawmakers.

“These experiences have shown me that education is the single most powerful tool to make our communities and our world better,” she said in her written statement. “And, amid these challenging times, I believe it is important for the Columbia community to realize the powerful impact of our core educational mission.”

___

The Associated Press’ education 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.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A memorial at the National Cathedral in Washington on Thursday will honor the seven World Central Kitchen aid workers killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza earlier this month.

José Andrés, the celebrity chef and philanthropist behind the Washington-based World Central Kitchen disaster relief group, is expected to speak at the celebration of life service, and famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma will perform, organizers said.

The Biden administration said Thursday that Douglas Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, and U.S. Assistant Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell would be among senior administration figures attending.

The aid workers were killed April 1 when a succession of Israeli armed drones ripped through vehicles in their convoy as they left one of World Central Kitchen’s warehouses on a food delivery mission. Those who died were Palestinian Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha; Britons John Chapman, James Kirby and James Henderson; dual U.S.-Canadian citizen Jacob Flickinger; Australian Lalzawmi Frankcom; and Polish citizen Damiam Sobol.

After an unusually swift investigation, Israel said the military officials involved in the strike had violated policy by acting based on a single grainy photo that one officer had contended — incorrectly — showed one of the seven workers was armed. The Israeli military dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others.

The aid workers, whose trip had been coordinated with Israeli officials, are among more than 220 humanitarian workers killed in the six-month-old Israel-Hamas war, according to the United Nations. That includes at least 30 killed in the line of duty.

The international prominence and popularity of Andres and his nonprofit work galvanized widespread outrage over the killings of the World Central Kitchen workers. The slayings intensified demands from the Biden administration and others that Israel’s military change how it operates in Gaza to spare aid workers and Palestinian civilians at large, who are facing a humanitarian crisis and desperately need aid from relief organizations as the U.N. warns of looming famine.

World Central Kitchen, along with several other humanitarian aid agencies, suspended work in Gaza after the attack. “We haven’t given up,” World Central Kitchen spokesperson Linda Roth said last week. “We are in funeral mode right now.”

Religious leaders of a range of faiths are set to participate in Thursday’s services. Funerals were held earlier in the workers’ home countries.

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AP writer Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed to this report.

Action in courts and state capitals around the U.S. this week have made it clear again: The overturning of Roe v. Wade and the nationwide right to abortion did not settle the issue.

One iteration of the issue was back before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday for the second time in a month.

Meanwhile, Arizona lawmakers took a step toward repealing a near-total ban before enforcement can begin; California’s governor pitched providing an outlet to abortion providers and patients from neighboring Arizona if that ban takes take effect; and Tennessee moved closer to criminalizing helping a minor go out of state for an abortion without parental consent.

Here’s what to know about the latest developments.

Three Republican lawmakers joined Democrats in the Arizona House to advance a bill repealing an abortion ban that was first put on the books in 1864, decades before Arizona became a state.

Democrats, including Gov. Katie Hobbs, had been pushing for a repeal since the Arizona Supreme Court ruling earlier this month that found the ban can be enforced since Roe v. Wade’s overturning. Republicans had used procedural moves to block a vote on a repeal, which appears to have enough support to pass the state Senate.

The state’s attorney general, also a Democrat, said enforcement won’t begin until at least June 8.

There’s been pressure on Arizona lawmakers to repeal from the state’s governor, President Joe Biden, and the governor of neighboring state California. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced a measure that would allow doctors from Arizona to provide abortions for Arizona patients in California.

Under the proposed California legislation, Arizona providers could work in California without additional licenses though November.

Fourteen other states are already enforcing bans on abortion in all stages of pregnancy. But California has not proposed this kind of help for any of them, possibly because none shares a border with it.

At least one ballot measure on abortion could be before Arizona voters in November in the political battleground state.

The conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned Roe v. Wade less than two years ago, seemed skeptical about the Biden administration’s contention in arguments Wednesday that Idaho should be forced to allow abortion during medical emergencies.

The administration argued that a federal law that requires care hospitals that accept Medicaid provide emergency care even when patients cannot pay means that hospitals must also provide abortions in emergency situations when a patient’s health is at serious risk.

Idaho’s exceptions are narrower than that, allowing abortion only when the woman’s life is at risk.

It was the second time in a month that abortion was before the high court. It’s also considering whether to roll back the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approvals for a drug that’s often used in combination with a second drug for medication abortions — which are now the most common method of abortion in the U.S.

Rulings on both cases are expected by June.

With a state Senate vote Wednesday, Tennessee became the second state to give full legislative passage to a measure banning taking a minor out of the state without parental consent to obtain an abortion.

If Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, signs it into law, it would impact only the part of the journey in Tennessee — not the actual crossing of a state line.

Abortion is banned in all stages of pregnancy in Tennessee and five of the eight states it borders.

Idaho passed a similar law last year, but a court has put enforcement on hold because of a legal challenge. A Tennessee law would also likely also face court challenges.

California’s governor has also fought against this measure and others like it that were proposed in other states, launching an ad campaign against them earlier this year.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills on Monday signed a bill making her state at least the 14th with a law intended to protect those who provide abortion for out-of-state patients from legal action in those other states.

Maine’s law will take effect in the summer.

It’s a reminder that abortion policy has flowed in two directions since the end of Roe v. Wade in 2022: Most GOP-dominated states have sought to tighten access, while most Democrat-controlled ones have moved to protect or expand it.

Like several of the others, Maine’s measure also applies to gender-affirming health care. In addition to imposing abortion bans or restrictions, most Republican-controlled states have also adopted bans on gender-affirming care for transgender minors.