ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Air National Guard has delayed its plan to downgrade the status of about 80 members of its Alaska unit, a move that would have threatened national security and civilian rescues in the nation’s most remote state.

The Alaska Air National Guard confirmed the delay in an email to The Associated Press on Friday.

Efforts by the state’s politicians and Alaskans “have been instrumental in getting this delay which will allow everyone involved the time to conduct more thorough research and analysis,” wrote Alan Brown, an Alaska guard spokesperson.

The Air National Guard headquarters in Virginia did not respond to emails from the AP seeking comment.

The changes to balance top-earning positions among the other 53 state and territorial units will still be completed by Oct. 1.

Alaska was slated to convert 80 of the highly paid Active Guard and Reserve members — who are essentially the equivalent of full-time active-duty military — to dual status tech positions, a classification with lower wages, less appealing benefits and different duties.

Many say they will quit rather than accept the changes, which could include seeing their pay cut by more than 50%.

Local guard leaders argued Alaska needed the personnel in the higher classification to fulfill its requirements to conduct national security missions that other units don’t have, such as monitoring for ballistic missile launches from nations such as Russia, North Korea and China.

The Alaska guard also said its ability to fly refueling tankers to accompany U.S. and Canadian fighter jets when they intercept Russian bombers that come close to Alaska or Canada would be greatly curtailed.

The guard also plays a vital role in conducting civilian search-and-rescue missions in Alaska, sending military helicopters and cargo planes through violent storms to rescue people from small Alaska Native villages when weather prevents air ambulances from flying.

Last year, the guard conducted 159 such missions, including flying to an Alaska island just 2 miles from a Russian island to pick up a pregnant woman with abdominal pains. In one recent rescue, two paramedics parachuted into an Alaska Native village because that was the fastest way to reach a critically ill woman with internal bleeding. Another involved flying to a western Alaska village to pick up a pregnant woman who began bleeding when her water broke and delivering her to a hospital in Anchorage, more than 400 miles (644 kilometers) away.

If the staff conversions went through, the guard estimated the number of rescues would drop to about 50 a year.

The downgrades in Alaska have been delayed until Sept. 30, 2025, giving the service more time to study how the changes would affect its Alaska operations and if the changes should be made at all, according to a joint statement from the state’s congressional delegation.

“The strain this uncertainty put on Alaska Air National Guard members –- who Alaskans depend on in the most dire of emergencies –- for them to worry about their jobs, their benefits, their ability to provide for their families, is unacceptable,” U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, said in the statement.

“Delaying the implementation of the misguided directives is a win -– but it should never have come to this,” she said.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Three Northern California law enforcement officers have been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of a man who was pinned facedown during a 2021 incident that drew comparisons to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The charges against James Fisher, Cameron Leahy and Eric McKinley were announced Thursday by Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price.

The charges were filed just before the statute of limitations were to expire and marked a reversal of a decision by a previous district attorney who cleared the officers of wrongdoing.

Mario Gonzalez, 26, died in the city of Alameda on April 19, 2021. McKinley, Fisher and Leahy were all Alameda police officers at the time. McKinley and Leahy are still with that department but Fisher is now a Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputy.

The officers confronted Gonzalez after receiving 911 calls that said he appeared disoriented or drunk. According to police video, he resisted being handcuffed and they pinned him to the ground for several minutes before he became unconscious.

The county coroner’s autopsy report listed the cause of death as “toxic effects of methamphetamine” with the contributing factors of “physiologic stress of altercation and restraint,” morbid obesity and alcoholism. Then-District Attorney Nancy O’Malley subsequently found that the officers’ actions were reasonable.

A second, independent autopsy done at the request of Gonzalez family lawyers found that he died of “restraint asphyxiation.” The district attorney’s office noted the second autopsy in announcing the involuntary manslaughter charges.

Defense attorneys denounced the charges as politically motivated, noting that an effort to oust Price has gathered enough signatures to force a recall election this year.

Fisher’s attorney, Michael Rains, said the charges are a “desperate effort to shore up her chances of remaining in office,” Bay Area News Group reported.

The district attorney waited “until the 11th hour” before the statute of limitations was set to expire and just days after it was confirmed she would face a recall, attorney Alison Berry Wilkinson, who represented the three officers in previous investigations and now represents Leahy, said in an email to The Associated Press.

“There is no new evidence,” Berry Wilkinson wrote. “This is a blatantly political prosecution.”

Berry Wilkinson said the officers’ actions were reasonable, necessary and lawful, and the death was due to drug toxicity.

“We are confident a jury will see through this charade and exonerate the officers, just as the two prior independent investigations did,” the attorney said.

An attorney for McKinley was not immediately available for comment Friday.

Price said she was “walled off” from the case review, which was conducted by her office’s Public Accountability Unit.

Last year, Alameda settled two lawsuits over Gonzalez’s death. The city agreed to pay $11 million to his young son and $350,000 to his mother.

“A wrong has been righted,” Adante Pointer, the attorney for Gonzalez’s mother, told the news group.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Staring down a decision so consequential it could alter the course of history — but also end his own career — House Speaker Mike Johnson prayed for guidance.

A conservative Christian, the speaker wrestled over whether to lead the House in approving $95 billion in desperately needed war-time aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies, which many in his own Republican majority opposed — some so strongly they would try to boot him from office.

Or, he could do nothing, halting the flow of U.S. aid and potentially saving his own job but ensuring his place as the House speaker who led America’s retreat from the global stage and left Ukraine to fend for itself as it loses ground against the Russian invasion.

As Johnson met with colleagues late into the night this week at the speaker’s office, they prayed on it.

“And then he told me the next day: I want to be on the right side of history,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Not quite six months on the job, Johnson’s leadership will help determine if the U.S. is able to hold its standing as what the speaker has called a “beacon of light” for the world, or if the military and humanitarian aid is left to crumble at a pivotal moment for the country, its allies and the speaker’s own livelihood. Voting is expected this weekend.

“He’s learning,” said Newt Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker.

Gingrich praised Johnson for not being cowed by the hard-right Republicans seeking to remove him from office, and instead reaching into his own deep well of beliefs as a Ronald Reagan-era Republican with an expansive view of the role of U.S., its allies and his own speakership to make a decision.

“This is the U.S. House. This is not a political playground,” Gingrich said. “We’re talking about real history, we’re talking about whether Russia potentially occupies Ukraine.”

Johnson tumbled into the speaker’s office last fall, a relative unknown who emerged only after a chaotic internal party search to replace Kevin McCarthy, who was the first speaker in U.S. history to he booted from office.

Almost an accidental speaker, Johnson had no training and little time to prepare. One of his main accomplishments was helping to lead Donald Trump’s failed legal efforts to overturn the 2020 election loss to Joe Biden in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

From the start, the question hanging over the fourth-term Louisiana lawmaker was apparent: Would Johnson become a speaker with a firm grasp of the gavel, utilizing the power of the office that is second in the line of succession to the president?

Or would the House speaker, who portrays himself as a “servant leader” in the Christian tradition, be beholden to the unruly, essentially ungovernable Republican majority, many aligned with former President Trump.

“This is a Churchill or Chamberlain moment,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic leader, referring to British leaders from the World War II era.

After months of dithering delays over the Ukraine aid, Johnson appeared this week determined to move past the populist far-right flank, and rely on Democrats to push the package forward, highly unusual in the deeply polarized House.

He had met recently with Trump, who objects to much overseas aid and has invited Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” in Ukraine, presenting his plan and avoiding public criticism from the former president.

Trump also gave Johnson a needed nod of support by panning the effort from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the presidential hopeful’s strongest allies in Congress, to evict the speaker.

In return, Johnson told Trump he could be the “most consequential president yet” if he is returned to the White House.

At the same time, Johnson has been speaking privately with President Biden, who gave Johnson a boost by quickly endorsing his foreign aid plan.

Still, what used to be considered the way Congress worked, the shared commitment to bipartisan compromise, has become such a political liability that more Republicans, including Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona, said they would join Greene’s effort to oust Johnson. Some others said he should simply resign.

“I don’t think he’s being courageous. I think he’s fallen right in line with the swamp,” said Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., a hardliner who voted to oust McCarthy and is considering the same for Johnson.

During his short term as speaker, Johnson has made a practice of convening lawmakers behind closed doors at his Capitol office for what are often long meetings. What some view as maddening sessions of endless arguing, shrinking the power of the speakership, others appreciate as him listening to lawmakers.

As crowds of spring tourists ushered past his office this week, Johnson holed up with lawmakers. One meeting dragged until midnight. The next day he displayed an unusual resolve.

“History judges us for what we do,” Johnson said during an impromptu press conference in Statuary Hall.

“I could make a selfish decision and do something that’s different, but I’m doing here what I believe to be the right thing,” he said.

Johnson disclosed that his son is headed to the Naval Academy this fall.

“To put it bluntly, I would rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys,” he said.

“This is a live-fire exercise for me, as it is so many American families. This is not a game. This is not a joke.”

With the threat of his removal intensifying, Johnson said he would “let the chips fall where they may” on his own job.

On Friday, an overwhelmingly majority of the House, more than 300 more Democrats than Republicans, voted to push the package toward passage.

Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., said of Johnson: “I, for one, am just very proud of what we would all refer to as a profile in courage in the face of these kinds of threats.”

But Democrats said they were baffled and saddened it took Johnson so long to do what they see as the right thing.

“This is a profile in delay,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md.

Some Democrats are saying that, unlike their refusal to help McCarthy stay in office, they would vote to save Johnson’s job — if he wants it.

A growing list of Republican House speakers, starting with Gingrich, were chased from office or, like John Boehner and Paul Ryan, simply exited early.

___

Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Bangkok -based plastics firm has agreed to pay $20 million to settle with the U.S. over 467 “egregious” violations of Iran sanctions, the U.S. Treasury announced on Friday.

SCG Plastics Co. used U.S. banks to process $291 million in sales of Iranian high-density polyethylene resin from 2017 to 2018, according to the signed settlement agreement between the firm and Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The resin, used for product bottles and industrial items, was manufactured by an Iranian joint venture owned in part, by SCG Plastics’ parent company, SCG Chemicals and the National Petrochemical Company of Iran, which is a government entity.

The settlement states that SCG Plastics used “shipping and documentation practices that obfuscated the product’s Iranian origin and Iranian parties’ involvement,” which caused banks to unknowingly process transfers in violation of OFAC’s sanctions on Iran.

“As a result of these transactions, significant economic benefits were conferred to Iran’s petrochemical sector, a major source of revenue generation for the Iranian regime,” Treasury says. OFAC determined that the 467 violations of Iran sanctions were “egregious” and fined the company $20 million, which is to be paid within 90 days.

While SCG Plastics is no longer in operation, a signed agreement between OFAC and the firm releases SGC Plastics from any liability related to the sanctions violations.

The fines come as U.S. administration officials have announced plans to impose more sanctions on Iran after Tehran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel that could fuel a wider war in the Middle East.

On Thursday, the U.S. and U.K. imposed a new round of sanctions on Iranian people and firms associated with drone production.

“We will continue to deploy our sanctions authority to counter Iran with further actions in the days and weeks ahead,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

“We have also vigorously enforced our sanctions, including by levying historic fines and exposing sanctions evasion schemes and networks. Our actions make it harder and costlier at every turn for Iran to continue its destabilizing behavior.”

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas appeals court has ruled that Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton can face discipline from the state bar association over his failed effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

A disciplinary committee of the State Bar of Texas accused Paxton in 2022 of making false claims of fraud in a lawsuit that questioned President Joe Biden’s victory. On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeals said Paxton can be sanctioned by the committee because the lawsuit seeks to punish him in his personal capacity as an attorney and not as a public official.

“The focus of the Commission’s allegations is squarely on Paxton’s alleged misconduct — not that of the State,” Judge Erin Nowell, an elected Democrat, wrote in the 2-1 opinion.

The lone Republican on the panel, Judge Emily Miskel, was in dissent.

A similar lawsuit was also brought against one of Paxton’s top deputies. Earlier this week, a coalition of state Republican attorneys general urged the Texas Supreme Court to reject efforts by the bar to impose discipline. All nine members of the state’s highest civil court are Republicans.

“As in that case, we will appeal this ruling and we have full confidence the Supreme Court of Texas will not allow false claims by the State Bar and partisan political revenge to affect professional licensure of the state’s lawyers,” Paxton spokeswoman Paige Willey said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for the State Bar of Texas and the committee accusing Paxton declined to comment on the ruling.

Paxton is among the highest-profile attorneys to face a threat of sanctions for aiding in efforts led by former President Donald Trump to throw into question Trump’s defeat.

The state bar’s disciplinary group’s punishments against an attorney can range from a written admonition to a suspension or disbarment. The disciplinary process resembles a trial and could include both sides eliciting testimony and obtaining records through discovery.

Paxton is not required to have bar membership in order to serve as attorney general.

State bar officials began investigating complaints over Paxton’s election lawsuit in 2021. A similar disciplinary proceeding was launched by the group against Paxton’s top deputy. That case awaits a ruling by the Texas Supreme Court.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York state lawmakers are on the verge of passing a $237 billion budget that includes sweeping plans to build housing, shutter unlicensed cannabis storefronts and help manage the city’s migrant crisis.

The raft of proposals is expected to pass through the Legislature late Friday and potentially into the weekend, almost three weeks after the budget was due.

The governor and leaders of the state Senate and Assembly weighed countless political and business demands during their negotiations behind doors. They also contended with a cyberattack that temporarily shut down the statehouse’s bill drafting office just as legislation started to flow.

The housing agreement, the crown jewel for Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, was the most contentious issue of the spending plan.

The goal is to tackle one of the state’s most pressing problems: a housing crisis in New York City, where supply is ever shrinking and prices are astronomical. To do so, Hochul turned to a familiar idea: a tax break for developers who agree to include below-market-rate apartments in new buildings.

New York first offered a tax incentive for developers to build in the 1970s, when the city was in dire financial shape, then more recently required buildings to offer some discounted apartments in order to qualify for the program, known as 421-a.

The incentive has always been controversial. Critics bash it as a giveaway for developers, who in turn respond that the cost of building in the city makes doing so unprofitable. Opponents also point out that it cost the city a lot of money: about $1.8 billion in one of its final fiscal years.

As for its effectiveness, a report from the Furman Center, a housing and urban policy research group at New York University, found 68% percent of the more than 117,000 housing units built between 2010 and 2020 benefited from the program.

State lawmakers let the 421-a tax break expire in 2022, with lawmakers in the state Legislature thwarting an effort from Hochul to adjust the program.

This year, the plan was to resurrect the tax incentive but also weave in the interests of labor unions fighting for wage standards and progressives who have long wanted stronger protections for tenants against sharp rent increases and evictions.

The end product is something called 485-x. And though the formal budget language has not yet been released, officials have said it includes a tax break for developers if they rent a percentage of their apartments for below market rate, a wage deal for construction workers and a package of protections for tenants.

The state will also offer tax incentives to turn vacant office space into apartments and will set aside a pot of money to build apartments on state-owned land, as part of the larger strategy to jump-start the housing supply.

“This is a great deal for New Yorkers,” Hochul said in an interview this week on Spectrum News NY1.

Hochul has presented the agreement as a big legislative victory on a pressing problem, especially after her prior plans to drive construction in the state have failed in the statehouse. It also marked an important moment of compromise with progressive Democrats at a critical time for her party.

In a few months, New York is set to be a congressional battleground where races in New York City’s suburban districts could decide which party controls the House. Hochul, who has taken a more prominent role in her party’s messaging strategy, has appeared eager to carry Democratic political wins into the campaign season, and has already begun to tout her budget wins in public.

The governor also pushed to legislate other headline-grabbing issues, including how to handle the large number of international migrants who have overwhelmed New York City’s homeless shelters. Others include retail theft concerns that have resulted in cumbersome security measures at many stores, and unlicensed cannabis storefronts that have become ubiquitous in the city.

Over the objections of progressives, Hochul pushed through a measure to enhance criminal penalties for assaulting retail workers, though at the bargaining table she agreed to make the crime a Class E felony rather than a more stringent felony classification she had first proposed.

The budget also includes $40 million to establish law enforcement teams dedicated to organized retail theft and a $5 million tax credit for small businesses to install security measures.

On the bootleg marijuana shops, the budget is set to have a measure allowing local law enforcement to more easily shut down unlicensed stores. The move is intended to solve bureaucratic problems that have embarrassingly stymied government efforts to close thousands of bootleg retailers, which operate in glitzy storefronts on seemingly every street corner in New York City.

The state will also spend $2.4 billion to provide migrants shelter services, legal aid and health care, among other things, another proposal from the governor’s office.

The budget, composed of several dense pieces of legislation, has been slowly introduced in incremental steps this week and is expected to be finalized in a set of votes late Friday night and potentially into the weekend.

NEW YORK (AP) — A jury of 12 people and six alternates was seated on Friday in former President Donald Trump’s hush money criminal case.

The completion of jury selection sets the stage for opening statements in the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president to begin Monday, as well as weeks of testimony in a case charging Trump with falsifying business records to suppress stories about his sex life emerging in the final days of the 2016 election.

The jury includes a sales professional, a software engineer, an English teacher and multiple lawyers.

The process initially progressed very quickly, with seven jurors seated by the end of Tuesday. But two jurors were later dismissed on Thursday, one after expressing concerns about her ability to be impartial and the other amid questions about whether he had provided accurate answers about his past during the selection process.

Shortly after the jury was seated Friday, emergency crews responded to a park across the street from the courthouse, where a person was on fire. The man was taken to a hospital where he was in critical condition in the burn unit, police said at a news conference later in the day.

The hush money case is the first of Trump’s four indictments to reach trial.

At the heart of the allegations is a $130,000 payment made to porn actor Stormy Daniels by Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer, to prevent her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump from becoming public in the final days of the 2016 race.

Prosecutors say Trump obscured the true nature of such payments in internal business documents. Trump has said none of the alleged sexual encounters occurred. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Currently:

— The hush money case is just one of Trump’s legal cases. See the others here

— Judge in Trump case orders media not to report where potential jurors work

— Social media searches play central role in jury selection for Trump’s trial

— Only 1 in 3 US adults think Trump acted illegally in New York hush money case, AP-NORC poll shows

Here’s the latest:

An attorney for Donald Trump argued Friday in an appeals court for an interim stay of the former president’s hush money trial, say that jury selection was rushed and prevented the seating of a fair and impartial jury.

“The way that such a large cross section of people were immediately disqualified because of the biases they mentioned to the court is proof positive … to the predispositions of these people,” Clifford Robert said.

Robert argued for an interim stay of the trial pending a motion to have the trial venue moved outside of Manhattan.

In a brief response, Steven Wu, the appellate chief for the Manhattan district attorney’s office, accused Trump’s attorneys of mischaracterizing the jury selection process, which he described as “unusually detailed and careful.”

He added that Trump had “amplified and stoked the very press coverage” that had caused some jurors to reconsider if they could serve impartially.

“We have 18 ordinary New Yorkers ready to serve on Monday morning when this trial should begin,” Wu added. “It would be unfair to them and it would be unfair to the public for this trial to be delayed further.”

A decision on the appeal is expected this afternoon.

Donald Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors in his hush money case are sparring over the prosecution’s request to seal four pieces of evidence.

This includes phone records and approximately 39,000 contacts stored in Michael Cohen’s cellphone.

Prosecutors had sought to keep that evidence out of public view because it pertained to third parties not involved in the case. Judge Juan M. Merchan agreed over the objections of Trump’s lawyers, who argued prosecutors were trying to make an end run around transparency and trampling Trump’s right to a public trial.

Court has resumed in Donald Trump’s hush money trial.

With jury selection complete, the former president and lawyers in the case have returned to court for a hearing on prosecutors’ desire to question the former president — if he testifies — about his recent civil court losses.

Trump raised his fist before returning to the courtroom.

The man who set himself on fire across the street from the courthouse where Donald Trump’s hush money trial is taking place is in critical condition in a burn unit, police said Friday.

The man first walked into the park around 1:30 p.m., took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories and spread them around the park before he doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials said.

Officials believe the man had traveled from Florida to New York in the past few days.

Authorities said they were reviewing the security protocols outside the courthouse.

“We are very concerned. Of course we are going to review our security protocols,” Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said.

Donald Trump’s legal team has asked the New York state appellate court to intervene in his hush money trial, filing another application with a midlevel appeals court on Friday.

A hearing was scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

The documents weren’t immediately publicly available, but Trump’s lawyers have gone to the appeals court before trying to get the trial delayed or moved out of Manhattan. They have argued that Trump can’t get a fair trial there because of intense publicity.

The trial judge had rejected that request.

New York police are expected to hold a news conference at 2:45 p.m. Friday after a man set himself on fire in the park across the street from the courthouse where Donald Trump’s hush money trial is taking place.

Passersby rushed to douse the flames and the man was rushed away on a stretcher by emergency crews.

Judge Juan M. Merchan, seemingly unaware of what was unfolding outside the courthouse on Friday afternoon, told newly selected jurors in Donald Trump’s hush money trial that opening statements are set for Monday at 9:30 a.m.

Merchan is expected to hold a hearing Friday at 3:15 p.m. on the prosecution’s desire to question the former president, should he testify, regarding his recent civil court losses.

Emergency crews rushed away a person on a stretcher after fire was extinguished outside the Manhattan courthouse where jury selection was taking place Friday in Donald Trump’s hush money criminal case.

No other details were immediately available from police.

A full jury of 12 people and six alternates had been seated in Trump’s hush money case just minutes earlier, drawing the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president a step closer to opening statements.

A jury of 12 people and six alternates was seated on Friday in former President Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial.

The completion of the jury selection process tees up the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president for opening statements and weeks of testimony in a case charging Trump with falsifying business records to suppress stories about his sex life emerging in the final days of the 2016 election.

The jury includes a sales professional, a software engineer, an English teacher and multiple lawyers.

Two more alternates in Donald Trump’s hush money case have been selected, leaving just two more alternate juror slots to be filled.

A second alternate juror has been selected in Donald Trump’s hush money case. The individual joins the other 12 jurors and the first alternate who were sworn in during jury selection proceedings on Thursday. Four more alternates are still needed.

An alternate juror listens to the testimony, just like all the other jurors, but doesn’t join in the deliberations unless one of the main jurors needs to drop out or is removed.

Another individual was dismissed from jury selection in Donald Trump’s criminal trial Friday after blurting out that she felt anxious during a separate panelist’s questioning.

“With this line of questioning, I’m getting the same anxiety and self-doubt” that other excused jurors were raising, the woman said.

Her comment came as Trump lawyer Susan Necheles asked a different jury candidate several questions about her ability to fairly evaluate the credibility of a witness like ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who went to prison for lying to Congress and other crimes.

At least a half-dozen potential jurors have been excused from consideration during the fourth day of jury selection, with several citing anxiety and nervousness brought on by potentially being connected to the high-profile trial.

Over the past few days, more than a couple of prospective jurors in Donald Trump’s hush money trial have highlighted the stress and anxiety they have felt during the selection process.

One woman was being questioned Friday by a prosecutor about her ability to decide the case based only on courtroom evidence when she began to cry.

“I feel so nervous and anxious right now,” the woman said through tears. “I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t want someone who feels like this to judge my case either. I don’t want to waste the court’s time. I don’t want to waste anyone’s time.”

After conferring briefly with the prosecution and defense, Judge Juan M. Merchan dismissed the woman from consideration.

The outsized media attention and public interest in the case isn’t the only thing driving some would-be jurors to their breaking points, though. Those called into the courtroom are also answering a lengthy list of personal questions, revealing details about their family life and brushes with the law that have stirred other emotional responses.

A section of the questionnaire asking would-be jurors in Donald Trump’s hush money trial what they like to do in their spare time has revealed an eclectic array of hobbies and passions.

During the week, the court has been introduced to Manhattanites who enjoy metalworking, scuba diving and seeing the New York Philharmonic. There were also several yogis, hikers and one man who said he cleans his local dog park as “meditation.”

One woman said she takes her kids to Rubik’s Cube competitions and another said she used to be an amateur boxer, though noted that “black eyes were frowned upon” in her profession. Earlier in the week, a different prospective juror joked that he had no spare time, adding later, “I guess my hobby is my family.”

New York is the most populous city in the U.S., but Donald Trump’s hush money trial has shown that it can also feel a lot like a small town.

One prospective juror said she had connections to not one but two people who’ve been in Trump’s orbit: the former president’s ex-lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who backed Trump in 2020 but later ran against him.

The woman disclosed that she works at the same company as a Cohen relative — though they’ve never crossed paths — and that someone in her family is friends with Christie. Despite that, she assured the court that she could be fair and impartial.

The latest questionnaire round in jury selection in Donald Trump’s hush money trial began Friday with a prospective juror saying she has anxiety and isn’t sure she can serve. She said that she takes medication for the condition and that as more days pass, “I don’t think I will be able to be completely fair” and focused on the trial.

Judge Juan M. Merchan excused her.

Because 22 prospective jurors are being questioned, Merchan granted a prosecutor’s request for five extra minutes of questioning. Instead of 20 minutes, prosecutors will have 25 questions to inquire of the group.

Another potential juror, a woman with adult children, said she doesn’t believe in watching the news. She added that her husband sends her news that seems important and that she has no strong opinions on Trump.

As potential jurors ran through the questionnaire, Trump appeared to lean over at the defense table, scribbling on some papers and occasionally exchanging notes with his lawyers.

But when another potential juror mentioned that he follows the White House Instagram account, including when Trump was in office, the former president looked up and toward the jury box.

Donald Trump shuffled through papers at the defense table Friday morning after walking into Manhattan court for the fourth day of jury selection in his hush money trial.

He turned stoic and stern as news photographers came in to snap pictures of him, as is the daily custom before court resumes.

Twenty-two possible jurors are being brought in as jury selection is set to resume. As many as five alternate jurors must be selected before jury selection is over. One alternate was already sworn in at the end of the day Thursday.

Donald Trump lost a bid Thursday to pause a string of lawsuits accusing him of inciting the U.S. Capitol attack, while the former president fights his 2020 election interference criminal case in Washington.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington denied defense lawyers’ request to put the civil cases seeking to hold Trump responsible for the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on hold while a separate criminal case accusing him of conspiring to overturn his election defeat to President Joe Biden plays out.

The lawsuits brought by Democratic lawmakers and police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 seek civil damages for harm they say they suffered during the attack, which aimed to stop Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory.

Speaking to reporters inside the lower Manhattan courthouse, former President Donald Trump once again railed against his hush money trial, demanding Judge Juan M. Merchan lift a gag order limiting what he can say publicly about witnesses.

“The gag order has to come off. People are allowed to speak about me and I have a gag order,” he said.

Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office are currently looking to fine Trump over violating his gag order after disparaging witnesses in the case on social media. A hearing is set for next week.

Donald Trump raised his right fist as he headed to his motorcade while leaving Trump Tower on Friday.

Soon afterward, the former president arrived at the court in Manhattan where more potential jurors will be questioned in his hush money case.

A third panel of potential jurors will be questioned Friday in Donald Trump’s hush money case, drawing jury selection a step closer to completion.

After a jury of 12 New Yorkers was seated Thursday, lawyers were expected to turn their attention to picking remaining alternates who can vow to set aside their personal views and impartially judge the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Judge Juan M. Merchan has suggested that opening statements in the criminal trial could begin as early as Monday.

Trump has pleaded not guilty.

The trial will place Trump in a Manhattan courtroom for weeks, forcing him to juggle his dual role as criminal defendant and political candidate against the backdrop of his hotly contested race against President Joe Biden.

Jury selection in Donald Trump’s hush money case proceeded at a plodding pace Thursday when two of the initial seven seated jurors were dismissed.

But late in the day, lawyers settled on the remaining seven in quick succession, along with one alternate. Judge Juan M. Merchan has said his goal is to have five additional alternates.

Even with the roster of 12 jurors set, it’s still possible that the lineup may change as proceedings continue Friday.

Judge Juan M. Merchan was expected to hold a hearing Friday to consider a request from prosecutors to bring up Donald Trump’s prior legal entanglements if he takes the stand in the hush money case.

Manhattan prosecutors have said they want to question Trump about his recent civil fraud trial that resulted in a $454 million judgment after a judge found Trump had lied about his wealth for years. He is appealing that verdict.

Trump says he did nothing wrong and has cast himself as the victim of a politically motivated justice system bent on keeping him out of the White House. He has lashed out on social media about the judge, prosecutors and potential witnesses, prompting the district attorneys to seek sanctions for possible violations of a gag order in the criminal case.

After Thursday’s court proceedings, Trump complained to reporters that he should have been out campaigning but was in court instead for what he said was a “very unfair trial.”

“Everybody’s outraged by it,” he said. “You know the whole world’s watching this New York scam.”

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A group backing a proposed ballot measure in California that would require school staff to notify parents if their child asks to change gender identification at schools is battling the attorney general in court Friday, arguing he released misleading information about the proposal to the public.

The group is suing Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, in Sacramento Superior Court. They want the measure’s title to be changed from the “Restrict Rights of Transgender Youth” initiative to the “Protect Kids of California Act” and update what they say is a biased summary of the proposal.

“It’s an abuse of the attorney general’s power to oversee these ballot measures where he’s legally obligated to be neutral and draft a title and summary that’s impartial,” said Dean McGee, a lawyer with the Liberty Justice Center, which is representing proponents of the measure.

The initiative would also ban transgender girls in grades 7 through college from participating in girls’ and women’s sports, along with barring gender-affirming surgeries for minors, with some exceptions.

It is part of a nationwide debate over local school districts and the rights of parents and LGBTQ+ students. States across the country have sought to impose bans on gender-affirming care, bar trans athletes from girls and women’s sports, and require schools to “out” trans and nonbinary students to their parents. Some lawmakers in other states have introduced bills in their legislatures with broad language requiring that parents be notified of any changes to their child’s emotional health or well-being.

The proposed ballot measure in California has so far received at least a quarter of the more than 500,000 signatures it needs by May 28 to end up on the ballot in November, according to the secretary of state’s office. But backers of the measure say the title and summary Bonta released for the proposal are hindering their ability to garner enough support before time runs out. They want the secretary of state to extend their deadline by 180 days.

They want to remove language released by Bonta’s office that says the initiative would bar gender-affirming care for transgender youth “even if parents consent or treatment is medically recommended” and require schools to notify parents of their child’s request to be treated as a gender different from school records “without exception for student safety.” They also want the summary to say the measure would define “male” and “female.”

Bonta’s office did not respond to emails seeking comment Thursday on the lawsuit.

California citizens can place initiatives on the ballot if they gather enough supporting signatures, but the attorney general is typically responsible for writing the title and summary language that appears before voters. California judges can step in if they rule the attorney general is not using impartial language. In recent years, California judges have ordered the state to correct misleading information about proposals to repeal a gas tax and raise taxes on business properties.

Ballot measure summary language released by the attorney general can have a “huge impact” on how people vote, said Bob Stern, former president of the Center for Governmental Studies.

“For some people, that’s the only time that they’ll see any information about the measure — is when they go in to vote,” Stern said.

Stern believes the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, not the attorney general, should release ballot measure summaries, because attorney generals are elected officials who often have a future in politics. Bonta, for example, is expected to run for governor in 2026.

Bonta is currently fighting a Southern California school district in court over a policy that, in part, required school staff to notify parents if their child asked to change their gender identification at school. Bonta said the policy discriminated against gender non-conforming students. The district, Chino Valley Unified, updated the rule last month to remove mention of gender identification changes. The updated rule is more broad, requiring school staff to notify parents if a child requests any changes to their “official or unofficial records.”

Kathie Moehlig, head of San Diego-based nonprofit TransFamily Support Services, said the proposed ballot measure and similar proposals at the school district level have left children she works with scared that “their very being is going to be legislated out of existence.”

“Schools don’t have an agenda to make kids trans. Schools have an agenda to keep all students safe.” Moehlig said. “The unfortunate truth is that there are some kids who are in homes where sharing about their gender identity or sexual orientation would make them unsafe.”

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Sophie Austin reported from Sacramento. Austin is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: @sophieadanna

PHOENIX (AP) — A jury in southern Arizona resumed its deliberations Friday in the trial of a rancher charged with fatally shooting an unarmed migrant on his property near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Jurors received the case Thursday afternoon after a nearly one-month trial in a presidential election year that has drawn widespread interest in border security. George Alan Kelly, 75, is charged with second-degree murder in the January 30, 2023, shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea.

Cuen-Buitimea, 48, lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. Court records show Cuen-Buitimea had previously entered the U.S. illegally several times and was deported, most recently in 2016.

Some on the political right have supported the rancher as anti-migrant rhetoric and presidential campaigning heat up.

Prosecutor Mike Jette said Kelly recklessly fired nine shots from an AK-47 rifle toward a group of men, including Cuen-Buitimea, about 100 yards (90 meters) away on his property.

Kelly said he fired warning shots in the air, but he didn’t shoot directly at anyone.

Jette said Cuen-Buitimea suffered three broken ribs and a severed aorta. His unarmed body was found 115 yards (105 meters) away from Kelly’s ranch house.

Although investigators found nine spent bullet casings from Kelly’s AK-47 on the home’s patio, the bullet that killed Cuen-Buitimea was never recovered.

Jette encouraged jurors to find Kelly guilty of reckless manslaughter or negligent homicide if they can’t convict him on the murder charge. A second-degree murder conviction would bring a minimum prison sentence of 10 years.

Jette, a Santa Cruz deputy county attorney, pointed out contradictions in Kelly’s early statements to law enforcement, saying variously that he had seen five or 15 men on the ranch. According to testimony during the trial, Kelly also first told Border Patrol agents that the migrants were too far away for him to see if they had guns, but later told a county sheriff’s detective that the men were running with firearms.

Defense attorney Brenna Larkin urged jurors to find Kelly not guilty, saying in her closing argument that Kelly “was in a life or death situation.”

“He was confronted with a threat right outside his home,” Larkin said. “He would have been absolutely justified to use deadly force, but he did not.”

No one else in the group was injured, and they all made it back to Mexico.

Kelly’s wife, Wanda, testified that the day of the shooting she had seen two men with rifles and backpacks pass by the ranch house. But her husband reported hearing a gunshot, and she said she did not.

Also testifying was Daniel Ramirez, a Honduran man living in Mexico, who said he had gone with Cuen-Buitimea to the U.S. that day to seek work and was with him when he was shot. Ramirez described Cuen-Buitimea grabbing his chest and falling forward.

The trial that started March 22 included jurors visiting Kelly’s nearly 170-acre (69-hectare) cattle ranch outside Nogales.

Kelly was also charged with aggravated assault. He earlier rejected a deal that would have reduced the charge to one count of negligent homicide if he pleaded guilty.

By Stephanie Kelly

(Reuters) – The role Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, will play in his White House bid is coming into focus, as the wealthy lawyer injects millions of dollars into their independent campaign and amplifies their stances on social media.

Shanahan, a political neophyte tapped in March to be the independent candidate Kennedy’s vice presidential pick, gave $2 million one day after her candidacy was announced, campaign filings showed this week.

That money allowed the campaign to stay out of the red during an expensive push to be listed on state election ballots alongside Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican candidate Donald Trump. Kennedy’s campaign raised $5.4 million in March and spent $4.5 million, the filings showed.

Kennedy recently gained ballot access in Michigan, a key battleground state, his campaign said Thursday. He is already on the ballot in Utah and has collected the necessary signatures to be on the ballot in New Hampshire, Nevada, Hawaii, North Carolina, Idaho, Nebraska, and Iowa, it added.

Shanahan, the former wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, previously gave $4 million to a pro-Kennedy super PAC, an outside spending group that has no contribution limits, to help fund an ad in this year’s NFL Super Bowl, she told the New York Times.

The dual role being played by Shanahan of both messenger and financial powerhouse is unique. “I can’t think of instances where the vice presidential candidate has been a major donor,” said Joel Goldstein, a professor at Saint Louis University School of Law.

Still largely unknown, Shanahan has gradually offered more of her policy stances on social media and in podcasts, but since her elevation to the ticket has not apparently conducted interviews with traditional news outlets. The Kennedy campaign declined a request for an interview with Shanahan.

She was a guest on Stanford University Professor Jay Bhattacharya’s podcast earlier this month to discuss chronic diseases, fertility issues and the free-speech rights of advocates who opposed pandemic-era lockdowns.

Shanahan writes frequently on social media platform X about health-related issues, including skepticism around the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.

A variety of institutions, including the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deem the vaccines safe.

Kennedy, known for his anti-vaccine advocacy, has used podcasts like “The Joe Rogan Experience” and social media in a bid to attract younger voters dissatisfied by the choice between Biden and Trump, who are 81 and 77 years old, respectively.

Kennedy is backed by 15% of registered voters, versus 39% for Biden and 38% for Trump, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Shanahan will join Kennedy in a virtual event on Monday for Earth Day, where they will discuss “why protecting the environment is essential to protecting the health of Americans,” Shanahan said on X.

She traveled earlier this month to Yuma, an Arizona town on the Mexico border, and afterwards detailed the campaign’s emphasis on border security, along with pathways for legal immigration. In another post, she highlighted her own mother’s emigration from China to the U.S.

On abortion, a key issue for many voters after the 2022 Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, Shanahan wrote on X earlier this month that the idea that anyone could control her body is “wrong,” but that she would “not feel right terminating a viable life living inside of me, especially if I am both healthy and that baby is healthy.”

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly in New York; Editing by Trevor Hunnicutt and Jonathan Oatis)