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Texas appeals court overturns voter fraud conviction for woman on probation

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A Texas appeals court has overturned a Fort Worth woman’s voter fraud conviction and five-year prison term for casting an illegal provisional ballot.

Crystal Mason did not know that being on probation for a previous felony conviction left her ineligible to vote in 2016, the Second District Court of Appeals in Fort Worth ruled on Thursday.

Prosecutors maintained that Mason read and signed an affidavit accompanying the provisional ballot affirming that she had “fully completed” her sentence if convicted of a felony.

Justice Wade Birdwell wrote that having read these words on the affidavit didn’t prove Mason knowingly cast the provisional ballot illegally.

“Even if she had read them, they are not sufficient … to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she actually knew that being on supervised release after having served her entire federal sentence of incarceration made her ineligible to vote by casting a provisional ballot.”

Mason, a former tax preparer, had been convicted in 2012 on charges related to inflating refunds for clients and served nearly three years of a five-year sentence in prison. Then she was placed on a three-year term of supervised release and had to pay $4.2 million in restitution, according to court documents.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals previously ordered the court to review whether there was sufficient evidence to convict Mason, ruling that Texas election law requires that individuals know they are ineligible to vote to be convicted of illegal voting.

Mason’s long sentence made both state Republican and Democratic lawmakers uneasy. In 2021, after passing a new voting law measure over Democrats’ objections, the GOP-controlled state House approved a resolution stating that “a person should not be criminally incarcerated for making an innocent mistake.”

Mason, in a statement released by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said she is overjoyed.

“I was thrown into this fight for voting rights and will keep swinging to ensure no one else has to face what I’ve endured for over six years, a political ploy where minority voting rights are under attack,” Mason said.

Kim Cole, an attorney for Mason, called the prosecution malicious and politically motivated.

“The state’s prosecution specifically stated that they wanted to ‘send a message’ to voters. They deliberately put Crystal through over six years of pure hell,” Cole said in the statement.

Prosecutors did not immediately return a phone call for comment Friday morning.


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Biden says he’s working to secure release of Wall Street Journal reporter held for a year in Russia

NEW YORK (AP) — On the one-year anniversary of the Russian detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, President Joe Biden said the U.S. is working every day to secure his release.

“Journalism is not a crime, and Evan went to Russia to do his job as a reporter — risking his safety to shine the light of truth on Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine,” Biden said in a statement Friday.

Gershkovich was arrested while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. The Federal Security Service, or FSB, alleges he was acting on U.S. orders to collect state secrets but provided no evidence to support the accusation, which he, the Journal and the U.S. government deny. Washington designated him as wrongfully detained.

On Friday, there was a giant blank space on the front page of The Wall Street Journal, with an image at the top of the page of Gershkovich in the newspaper’s signature pencil drawing and a headline that read: “His Story Should be Here.”

A recent court hearing offered little new information on Gershkovich’s case. He was ordered to remain behind bars pending trial at least until June 30, the fifth extension of his detention.

But the periodic court hearings at least give Gershkovich’s family and friends and U.S. officials a glimpse of him. And for the 32-year-old journalist, it’s a break from his otherwise largely monotonous prison routine.

Biden said in the statement that he would never give up hope.

“We will continue working every day to secure his release,” the Democratic president said. “We will continue to denounce and impose costs for Russia’s appalling attempts to use Americans as bargaining chips. And we will continue to stand strong against all those who seek to attack the press or target journalists — the pillars of free society.”

Biden said that the U.S. was working to free all Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad.

Another American accused of espionage is Paul Whelan, a corporate executive from Michigan. He was arrested in 2018 in Russia and sentenced two years later to 16 years in prison. Whelan, who said he traveled to Moscow to attend a friend’s wedding, has maintained his innocence and said the charges against him were fabricated.


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EPA sets strict emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks and buses in bid to fight climate change

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday set strict emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks, buses and other large vehicles, an action that officials said will help clean up some of the nation’s largest sources of planet-warming greenhouse gases.

The new rules, which take effect for model years 2027 through 2032, will avoid up to 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the next three decades and provide $13 billion in net benefits in the form of fewer hospital visits, lost work days and deaths, the EPA said. The new standards will especially benefit an estimated 72 million people in the United States who live near freight routes used by trucks and other heavy vehicles and bear a disproportionate burden of dangerous air pollution, the agency said.

“Heavy-duty vehicles are essential for moving goods and services throughout our country, keeping our economy moving. They’re also significant contributors to pollution from the transportation sector — emissions that are fueling climate change and creating poor air quality in too many American communities,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said.

“Reducing emissions from our heavy-duty vehicles means cleaner air and less pollution. It means safer and more vibrant communities. It means lower fuel and maintenance costs for truck owners and operators. And it means healthier Americans,” Regan said.

The new rules for heavy trucks and buses come a week after the EPA announced new automobile emissions standards for passenger vehicles. Those rules relax initial tailpipe limits proposed last year but get close to the same strict standards set out by the EPA for model year 2032.

The auto industry could meet the limits if 56% of new passenger vehicle sales are electric by 2032, along with at least 13% plug-in hybrids or other partially electric cars, the EPA said.

The rule for trucks is more complex, with a range of electric-vehicle or other non-traditional sales projected, depending on the type of vehicle and use, the agency said. For instance, 30% of “heavy-heavy-duty vocational” trucks would need to be zero-emission by 2032, the EPA said, while 40% of short-haul “day cabs” would need be zero emission vehicles.

The new rules for cars and trucks come as sales of EVs, which are needed to meet both standards, have begun to slow. The auto industry cited lower sales growth in objecting to the EPA’s preferred standards unveiled last April for passenger vehicles, a key part of President Joe Biden’s ambitious plan to cut planet-warming emissions.

“Our Clean Trucks plan works in tandem with President Biden’s unprecedented investments in America and delivers on this administration’s commitment to tackling climate change while advancing environmental justice,” Regan said.

The new rule will provide greater certainty for the industry, while supporting U.S. manufacturing jobs in advanced vehicle technologies, Regan said. Over the next decade, the standards “will set the U.S. heavy-duty sector on a trajectory for sustained growth,” he said.

Industry groups strongly disagreed. They lambasted the new standards as unreachable with current electric-vehicle technology and complained about a lack of EV charging stations and power grid capacity limits.

The American Trucking Associations and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represent large swaths of the industry, predicted supply chain failures and said that smaller independent firms would likely hang onto older diesel trucks that spew more pollution, running counter to the EPA’s goals.

The new limits lower zero-emission sales rates proposed for the 2027 through 2029 model years but require higher sales later, resulting in a practical mandate for electric and hydrogen-powered trucks, the trucking associations said in a statement. The EPA rule limits choices for trucks and buses to unproven technology, the group said.

“The post-2030 targets remain entirely unachievable,” said Chris Spear, the trucking group’s CEO. “Any regulation that fails to account for the operational realities of trucking will set the industry and America’s supply chain up for failure.”

Todd Spencer, president of the independent drivers association, which represents small trucking companies, said the Democratic administration “seems dead-set on regulating every local mom-and-pop business out of existence with its flurry of unworkable environmental mandates.”

The American Petroleum Institute, the top lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, said in a joint statement with the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers that the new rule “is yet another example of the Biden administration’s whole-of-government effort to eliminate choices for American consumers, businesses and industries.”

The rule relies principally on zero-emission vehicles and “disincentivizes the development of other fuel-based technologies — including American-made renewable diesel — that are working in today’s heavy-duty fleet to reduce emissions,” the groups said.

They called for the rule to be overturned by Congress but said they are prepared to challenge it in court.

Regan said the EPA crafted the limits to give truck owners a choice of powertrains including advanced combustion vehicles, hybrids and electric and hydrogen fuel cells.

“There’s a list of options that truck drivers, owners and operators can choose from … while we (do) not sacrifice the very stringent environmental goals that we have set,” he told reporters Thursday.

The EPA calculated that new trucks would save operators a total of $3.5 billion in fuel and other costs from 2027 to 2032, paying for themselves in two to four years. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act also provides tax credits that subsidize the purchase price of new electric vehicles, Regan said.

The new emissions limits will bring immediate health benefits, especially in communities burdened by heavy truck traffic, said Harold Wimmer, CEO of the American Lung Association.

“Transportation is the largest source of pollution driving climate change,” he said in a statement. “These strong standards that will help drive toward a zero-emission future for trucks, buses and other heavy-duty vehicles are a critical part of the solution.”

Margo Oge, a former director of the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, said medium and heavy diesel trucks make up less than 6% of vehicles on the road “but spew more than half the smog and soot Americans breathe” and contribute to global warming. The EPA standards “are a big step in the right direction to fight climate change and help us breathe cleaner air,” she said.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the EPA at https://apnews.com/hub/us-environmental-protection-agency.


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An inflation gauge closely tracked by the Federal Reserve shows price pressures easing gradually

WASHINGTON (AP) — A measure of inflation that is closely tracked by the Federal Reserve slipped last month in a sign that price pressures continue to ease.

The government reported Friday that prices rose 0.3% from January to February, decelerating from a 0.4% increase the previous month in a potentially encouraging trend for President Joe Biden’s re-election bid. Compared with 12 months earlier, though, prices rose 2.5% in February, up slightly from a 2.4% year-over-year gain in January.

Excluding volatile food and energy costs, last month’s “core” prices suggested lower inflation pressures. These prices rose 0.3% from January to February, down from 0.5% the previous month. And core prices rose just 2.8% from 12 months earlier — the lowest such figure in nearly three years — down from 2.9% in January. Economists consider core prices to be a better gauge of the likely path of future inflation.

Friday’s report showed that a sizable jump in energy prices — up 2.3% — boosted the overall prices of goods by 0.5% in February. By contrast, inflation in services — a vast range of items ranging from hotel rooms and restaurant meals to healthcare and concert tickets — slowed to a 0.3% increase, from a 0.6% rise in January.

The figures also revealed that consumers, whose purchases drive most of the nation’s economic growth, surged 0.8% last month, up from a 0.2% gain in January. Some of that increase, though, reflected higher gasoline prices.

Annual inflation, as measured by the Fed’s preferred gauge, tumbled in 2023 after having peaked at 7.1% in mid-2022. Supply chain bottlenecks eased, reducing the costs of materials, and an influx of job seekers made it easier for employers to keep a lid on wage growth, one of the drivers of inflation.

Still, inflation remains stubbornly above the Fed’s 2% annual target, and opinion surveys have revealed public discontent that high prices are squeezing America’s households despite a sharp pickup in average wages.

The acceleration of inflation began in the spring of 2021 as the economy roared back from the pandemic recession, overwhelming factories, ports and freight yards with orders. In March 2022, the Fed began raising its benchmark interest rate to try to slow borrowing and spending and cool inflation, eventually boosting its rate 11 times to a 23-year high. Those sharply higher rates worked as expected in helping tame inflation.

The jump in borrowing costs for companies and households was also expected, though, to cause widespread layoffs and tip the economy into a recession. That didn’t happen. The economy has grown at a healthy annual rate of 2% or more for six straight quarters. Job growth has been solid. And the unemployment rate has remained below 4% for 25 straight months, the longest such streak since the 1960s.

The combination of easing inflation and sturdy growth and hiring has raised expectations that the Fed will achieve a difficult “soft landing″ — taming inflation without causing a recession. If inflation continues to ease, the Fed will likely begin cutting its key rate in the coming months. Rate cuts would, over time, lead to lower costs for home and auto loans, credit card borrowing and business loans. They might also aid Biden’s re-election prospects.

Michael Pearce, economist at Oxford Economics, said that even a 0.3% January-to-February uptick in consumer prices was probably still too hot for the Fed’s inflation fighters. The central bank has signaled that it expects to cut rates three times this year, and Wall Street investors have been eagerly awaiting the move. Pearce wrote that a June rate cut now looks more likely than the May cut that he and his Oxford colleagues had previously expected.

The Fed tends to favor the inflation gauge that the government issued Friday — the personal consumption expenditures price index — over the better-known consumer price index. The PCE index tries to account for changes in how people shop when inflation jumps. It can capture, for example, when consumers switch from pricier national brands to cheaper store brands.

In general, the PCE index tends to show a lower inflation level than CPI. In part, that’s because rents, which have been high, carry double the weight in the CPI that they do in the PCE.

Friday’s government report showed that Americans’ incomes rose 0.3% in February, down sharply from a 1% gain in January, which had been boosted by once-a-year cost-of-living increases in Social Security and other government benefits.


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Biden threatens Russia with costs on Evan Gershkovich arrest anniversary

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden said on Friday the U.S. will impose costs for Russia’s “appalling attempts” to use Americans as bargaining chips in a statement to mark the one-year anniversary of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich’s arrest in Russia.

Gershkovich, 32, became the first U.S. journalist arrested on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War when he was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on March 29 last year.

“As I have told Evan’s parents, I will never give up hope either. We will continue working every day to secure his release,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House that called the journalist’s detention “wholly unjust and illegal.”

“We will continue to denounce and impose costs for Russia’s appalling attempts to use Americans as bargaining chips,” Biden added.

The Kremlin said on Thursday complete silence was needed when it came to discussions about possible prisoner exchanges involving Gershkovich.

The reporter, the Journal and the U.S. government all deny he is a spy. The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said Gershkovich had been trying to obtain military secrets.

He has now spent a year at Moscow’s high-security Lefortovo prison, which is closely associated with the FSB, and his detention has been extended to June 30.

Top leaders in the U.S. Congress from both parties including Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson also issued a joint statement on Friday calling the journalist’s arrest baseless and unjust.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Gershkovich’s arrest had made Russia’s already restrictive media landscape “more oppressive.”

In their statements on Friday, Biden and Blinken also condemned the detention of Paul Whelan, an ex-Marine arrested in Moscow in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison on spying charges in 2020. He and the U.S. government deny the charges.

“To Evan, to Paul Whelan, and to all Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad: We are with you. And we will never stop working to bring you home,” Biden said.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)


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AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Wisconsin’s presidential primaries and ballot questions

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will compete Tuesday in the Wisconsin presidential primaries, a contest that’s now less about winning delegates and more about carrying the pivotal state in November. Wisconsin voters will also decide two proposed constitutional amendments that would shape how elections in the state are run and paid for.

Trump, a Republican, and Biden, a Democrat, unofficially sealed their parties’ nominations on March 12, and while they aren’t competing head-to-head on Tuesday’s ballot, their campaigns are now fully focused on what’s expected to be another close general election fight in the Badger State.

Biden visited Wisconsin on March 13 to unveil $3.3 billion in infrastructure funding for more than 40 states, including a $36 million project in Milwaukee. Later in the trip, he opened his state campaign headquarters, also in Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s most populous city and home of this summer’s Republican National Convention. Trump will make his first visit to Wisconsin in a primary night rally in Green Bay on Tuesday.

Biden and Trump are the only major candidates remaining in their respective primary fields, but voters in both contests may vote instead for “Uninstructed Delegation,” the equivalent of the “Uncommitted” ballot option that has appeared in several other states.

In 2016, Trump edged Democrat Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin by 22,748 votes, a margin of just 0.76 percentage points. Four years later, Biden carried the state by an even smaller margin of 20,682 votes, or 0.63 percentage points.

Also before voters in Tuesday’s primary are a pair of Republican-backed statewide ballot measures that would affect how elections are run. One proposal would bar the use of private grant money in administering elections, an effort to curb the influence of what supporters of the measure have dubbed “Zuckerbucks,” a reference to a one-time donation made by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife to a liberal group that helped defray the costs of elections in communities across the country in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. The other measure would enshrine existing laws about who can be a poll worker into the state’s constitution. No Democratic lawmakers supported the measures when they were before the state legislature.

Here’s a look at what to expect on Tuesday:

Wisconsin’s presidential primary and spring election will be held Tuesday. Polls close at 9 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press will provide coverage for the presidential primaries as well as two statewide ballot measures, known as Questions 1 and 2. The presidential candidates on the Democratic ballot are Biden and Dean Phillips. The candidates on the Republican ballot are Trump, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy. In both primaries, voters may also select “Uninstructed Delegation” or write in the name of another candidate.

Any registered voter in Wisconsin may participate in either the presidential primary or in the spring election.

Wisconsin’s 82 pledged Democratic delegates are allocated according to the national party’s standard rules. Eighteen at-large delegates are allocated in proportion to the statewide vote, as are 10 PLEO delegates, or “party leaders and elected officials.” The state’s eight congressional districts have at stake a combined 54 delegates, which are allocated in proportion to the vote results in each district. Candidates must receive at least 15% of the statewide vote to qualify for any statewide delegates, and 15% of the vote in a congressional district to qualify for delegates in that district.

There are 41 delegates at stake in the Republican presidential primary. Seventeen delegates will be awarded to the winner of the statewide vote. Twenty-four delegates will be allocated according to the vote in each of the state’s eight congressional districts. The top vote-getter in a congressional district will be awarded three delegates from that district. This is the same method Maine and Nebraska use to award electoral votes in the general election.

In the presidential race, Biden and Trump are the favorites in their primaries as neither candidate faces a strong challenge. The first indications that they are winning statewide on a level consistent with the overwhelming margins seen in most other contests held this year may be sufficient to determine the statewide winners.

For the constitutional amendments, the fault lines hew closely to traditional partisan lines, with Republican state lawmakers backing the two measures and Democrats in opposition. Thus, the state’s vote history and political demographics will inform the race-calling process.

In 2016, Clinton lost statewide despite winning Milwaukee County with 66% of the vote, Dane County, the home of Madison, with 70% and LaCrosse with 51%. Four years later, Biden won Milwaukee with 69% of the vote, Dane with 76% and LaCrosse with 56%, eking out a narrow statewide victory. Trump carried Brown County, the home of Green Bay,) in 2016 and 2020 with about 52% of the vote, but Biden improved upon Clinton’s showing there by about 4 percentage points. Turnout for Tuesday’s primaries should be much lower than in a presidential election, but if the “No” votes in these and other counties are closer to Clinton’s numbers than to Biden’s, that’s an indicator the measures will pass.

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

As of March 1, Wisconsin had 3.4 million registered voters. The state does not register voters by party.

Turnout in the 2022 midterms was about 14% of registered voters in the Democratic primaries for governor and U.S. Senate and between 19% and 20% in the Republican primaries.

About 26% of votes in the 2022 Wisconsin primaries were cast before Election Day. In the 2020 presidential primaries, which were held in the first weeks of the pandemic, pre-Election Day voting made up 74% of the total vote. In the 2016 presidential primaries, it was at about 10% of the total vote.

As of Wednesday, 166,596 votes had been cast before Election Day, about 73% by mail and about 27% in person.

In the 2022 midterm primaries, the AP first reported results at 9:14 p.m. ET, or 14 minutes after polls closed. The election night tabulation ended at 3:01 a.m. ET with about 99.8% of total votes counted.

As of Tuesday, there will be 104 days until the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, 139 days until the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and 217 days until the November general election.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.


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AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Mississippi’s US House primary runoff

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Republicans will compete on Tuesday for the right to challenge 16-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Bennie Thompson in Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District. Ron Eller and Andrew Scott Smith were the top vote-getters in the March 12 primary, but neither received the vote majority needed to avoid the runoff election.

Eller, a military veteran and physician assistant, placed first in the primary with about 47% of the vote compared with about 36% for Smith, who has worked in commercial real estate and has a background in pumpkin farming. Eller also ran for the seat in 2022, placing second in the primary but losing the runoff to Republican Brian Flowers, who went on to lose to Thompson in the general, 60% to 40%.

In terms of policy issues, Eller touts what he calls “The E-3 Plan,” for education, economics and energy, while Smith calls his platform “The 10 Rs,” which starts with “Restore Economic Dominance” and ends with “Rip Apart the Deep State.” On border security, Eller has calls to “build the wall now” and cut off sanctuary cities from federal funding, while Smith supports a combination of “physical barriers, advanced technology, and increased personnel.” Smith also calls for legalizing marijuana and restoring voting rights for former felons who have completed their sentences.

Thompson was unopposed in the Democratic primary. He has held a version of this seat since 1993, when he was elected in a special election to replace Democrat Mike Espy, who left to serve as secretary of agriculture under President Bill Clinton.

The massive district stretches along the Mississippi River bordering Arkansas and Louisiana and comprises about 40% of the state’s geography. It includes most of the state capital of Jackson. The current boundaries were adopted in 2022. Voters in the district supported Democrat Joe Biden over Republican Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, 63% to 36%.

Here’s a look at what to expect on Tuesday:

The Republican primary runoff election in Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District will be held Tuesday. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press will provide coverage for the Republican primary runoff election in Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District. The two candidates who advanced from the March 12 primary are Ron Eller and Andrew Scott Smith.

Voting in Tuesday’s Republican runoff is available to anyone who voted in the March 12 Republican primary as well as any registered voter in District 2 who did not participate in any party’s primary for this seat. In other words, anyone who voted in the March 12 Democratic primary for this seat may not vote in the Republican runoff.

Eller fell about 3.5 percentage points short of clinching the nomination outright on primary night. His best performances were in the district’s more populous counties of Hinds, which includes most of Jackson, and Warren. He received majorities in both counties. He won most of the counties in the Delta, while Smith was ahead in the northern and northeastern regions of the district. For Smith to catch and overtake Eller in the runoff, he would need to eat into Eller’s lead in the vote-rich Jackson area and surrounding counties, while padding his vote majorities in midsize counties like Panola and Grenada.

About 36,000 votes were cast in the March 12 primary. Turnout for runoff elections tends to be lower than the primaries that preceded them. In a close contest, low turnout could delay the race-calling process, as determining the winner could depend on a handful of untabulated ballots.

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

Turnout in 2023 was about 9% of registered voters in the Democratic primary for governor and about 18% in the Republican primary. There were just shy of 2,067,000 total registered for those primaries.

As of March 26, only 19 pre-Election Day ballots had been cast in the Republican primary runoff election. In 2023, pre-Election Day voting made up about 8% of the total vote in the gubernatorial primaries.

In the March 12 primary, the AP first reported results at 8:07 p.m. ET, or seven minutes after polls closed. The election night tabulation ended at 12:35 a.m. ET with about 97% of total votes counted.

As of Tuesday, there will be 217 days until the November general election.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.


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US monthly inflation slows; consumer spending surges

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. prices increased less than expected in February, with the cost of services outside housing and energy slowing significantly, keeping a June interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve on the table.

The report from the Commerce Department on Friday also showed consumer spending rising by the most in just over a year last month, underscoring the economy’s resilience. The United States continues to outperform its global peers despite higher borrowing costs, thanks to persistent labor market strength.

“Core services inflation is slowing and will likely continue throughout the year,” said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina. “By the time the Fed meets in June, the data should be convincing enough for them to commence its rate normalization process.”

The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 0.3% last month, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis said. Data for January was revised higher to show the PCE price index climbing 0.4% instead of 0.3% as previously reported. Goods prices rose 0.5% last month, boosted by a 3.4% jump in the cost of gasoline and other energy products.

There were also strong increases in the prices of recreational goods and vehicles as well as clothing and footwear. But prices for furnishings and household equipment, and other long-lasting manufactured goods were subdued.

In the 12 months through February, PCE inflation advanced 2.5% after increasing 2.4% in January.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the PCE price index gaining 0.4% on the month. Though price pressures are subsiding, the pace has slowed from the first half of last year.

Fed officials last week left the U.S. central bank’s policy rate unchanged in the current 5.25%-5.50% range, having raised it by 525 basis points since March 2022.

Policymakers anticipate three rate cuts this year. Financial markets expect the first rate reduction in June. Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Wednesday, “there is no rush to cut the policy rate” right now, but he did not rule out trimming borrowing costs later in the year.

Most U.S. financial markets were closed for the Good Friday holiday, with the exception of the foreign exchange market. The dollar slipped against a basket of currencies on the data.

Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the PCE price index increased 0.3% last month. That followed an upwardly revised 0.5% gain in January. The so-called core PCE price index was previously reported to have advanced 0.4% in January.

Core inflation increased 2.8% year-on-year in February, the smallest gain since March 2021, after rising 2.9% in January. The Fed tracks the PCE price measures for its 2% inflation target. Monthly inflation readings of 0.2% over time are necessary to bring inflation back to target.

Services prices increased 0.3%, slowing after a 0.6% jump in January. The cost of housing and utilities rose 0.5%. There were also solid increases in the prices of recreation services as well as financial services and insurance.

But the cost of dining out and hotel and motel rooms was unchanged, while transportation services barely rose and healthcare increased marginally.

PCE services inflation excluding energy and housing gained 0.2% last month after surging 0.7% in January. Policymakers are monitoring the so-called super core inflation to gauge their progress in fighting inflation.

With inflation slowing consumers boosted their spending. Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, jumped 0.8% last month. That as the largest gain since January 2023 and followed a 0.2% rise in January.

When adjusted for inflation, consumer spending rebounded 0.4% after dropping 0.2% in January. The increase in the so-called real consumer spending suggested that consumption likely retained most of its momentum in the first quarter, which bodes well for the economy’s prospects.

But much of the spending was funded from savings as growth in personal income slowed. The saving rate dropped to 3.6%, the lowest level since December 2022, from 4.1% in January.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)


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AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Arkansas’ state house primary runoffs

WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters in three Arkansas state House districts will return to the polls Tuesday to complete some unfinished business from the March 5 primaries, including one race in which Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her father, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, are supporting different candidates.

The top two finishers from races in which no candidate received a majority of the vote in the primary will compete in runoff elections for a spot on the November ballot.

In southwestern Arkansas, Arnetta Bradford and Dolly Henley advanced to the runoff for the Republican nomination in District 88, where Republican state Rep. Danny Watson is not seeking another term.

Despite a huge fundraising disadvantage, Bradford led Henley in the March 5 primary, 47% to 45%, a vote margin of 63 votes. Bradford, a local coffee shop owner, has raised $9,200 for her campaign, the bulk of which came from two donations made in December totaling $6,600 from Sanders’ political action committee. It was the governor’s latest show of support for Bradford. A week after taking office in January 2023, Sanders appointed Bradford to the Black History Commission of Arkansas. She named Bradford’s shop “Arkansas Business of the Month” later that year and held an official government event there in January.

Henley, a longtime local government parks and recreation official and the wife of Washington Mayor Paul Henley, raised $77,650 for her campaign and had more than $34,000 in the bank about a week before the runoff. Bradford’s campaign had $300 in the bank, according to state campaign finance records. Among Henley’s campaign donors is Huckabee, who gave $1,000 in January. Huckabee’s hometown of Hope is in the district.

In Democratic-leaning eastern Arkansas just west of Memphis, runoff candidates are vying for their party’s nod to replace two retiring Democratic members.

In District 35, Jessie McGruder and Raymond Whiteside are the finalists for the Democratic nomination to succeed state Rep. Milton Nicks, who has held the seat since 2015. McGruder, a junior high school football coach, received the most votes in the primary, falling about 3 percentage points shy of the vote majority needed to avoid a runoff. Whiteside, a community development specialist for West Memphis and a former teacher and journalist, was second with about 24% of the primary vote.

In District 63, the race to replace outgoing Democratic state Rep. Deborah Ferguson pits Hughes Mayor Lincoln Barnett against insurance executive and former West Memphis mayoral candidate Fred Leonard for the Democratic nomination. Barnett was the vote leader in the March 5 primary, falling 1.5 percentage points short of clinching the nomination outright. But he was still only 108 votes ahead of Leonard.

Republicans have full control of the state government in Arkansas, with a Republican governor and supermajorities in both chambers of the state legislature. In the state House, Republicans have an 82-18 advantage over Democrats.

Here’s a look at what to expect on Tuesday:

The Arkansas state House primary runoff elections will be held on Tuesday. Polls close at 8:30 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press will provide coverage for Democratic primary runoff elections in state House Districts 35 and 63 and the Republican primary runoff in state House District 88.

Voters who participated in the March 5 primary for a specific state House seat may vote only in the same party’s runoff for that seat. In other words, voters who cast ballots in the Republican primary on March 5 may not vote in a Democratic runoff for the same seat, and Democratic primary voters can’t vote in a Republican runoff in the same district. Voters who did not participate in any party’s primary on March 5 may participate in the runoff. All voters must be registered in the district holding the runoff.

Runoffs tend to be lower-turnout events than the initial elections that prompted them. This could slow the race-calling process for a competitive contest in smaller jurisdictions where the total votes cast in a local race might number in the hundreds or low thousands in a regularly scheduled election. In these cases, determining the outcome could rest on a handful of ballots that have yet to be tabulated. In all three Arkansas state House runoff races, the vote margins between the top two candidates were relatively small: 311, 108 and 63 votes.

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

The AP may declare a winner in a race that is eligible for a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

In the March 5 primaries in Arkansas, overall turnout was 21% of about 1.7 million registered voters. More than half of March 5 primary voters in the three state House districts holding runoffs Tuesday cast their ballots before primary day. Pre-Election Day voting made up 51% of the total votes cast in the District 35 Democratic primary, 56% in the District 62 Democratic primary and 50% in the District 88 Republican primary.

As of Thursday, 2,731 votes had already been cast for Tuesday’s elections.

In the March 5 primary, the AP first reported results at 8:36 p.m. ET, or six minutes after polls closed. The election night tabulation ended at 3:28 a.m. ET with more than 99% of total votes counted.

As of Tuesday, there will be 217 days until the November general election.

___

Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.


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AP Decision Notes: What to expect in the April 2 presidential and state primaries

WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters in the pivotal swing state of Wisconsin and three Northeastern states will have a chance to indicate their support or opposition to their parties’ presumptive nominees in presidential primaries Tuesday. Wisconsin voters will also decide the fate of two Republican-backed statewide ballot measures that will shape how elections in the state are run and funded.

Farther south, Arkansas and Mississippi voters will return to the polls to decide a handful of legislative seats that were forced to runoffs in primaries held in March.

Although multiple names remain on the presidential ballots in Wisconsin, Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump face no major challengers and already have secured more delegates than they need to win their parties’ nominations at the conventions this summer. Voters in Connecticut and Rhode Island will have the additional option of voting “uncommitted” if they want to register a protest vote against Biden, a Democrat, or Trump, a Republican. Wisconsin voters have a similar option, although it’s called “Uninstructed Delegation” on their ballot.

Delaware was also scheduled to hold a Republican presidential primary on Tuesday, but the contest was canceled on March 19 after former candidate Nikki Haley had her name removed from the ballot, leaving Trump the only remaining candidate. A Democratic primary there would also have been held Tuesday, but Biden was the only candidate to file for the ballot, so the event was never scheduled. In both cases, the parties awarded all the state’s delegates to Biden and Trump, as they were the only candidates remaining in their contests.

In the presidential race, Biden and Trump are the favorites in their primaries as neither candidate faces a strong challenge. In all four contests, the first indications that they are winning statewide on a level consistent with the overwhelming margins seen in most other contests held this year may be sufficient to determine the statewide winners.

For the Wisconsin constitutional amendments, the fault lines hew closely to traditional partisan lines, with Republican state lawmakers backing the two measures and Democrats in opposition. Thus, the state’s vote history and political demographics will inform the race-calling process.

As for the races in Arkansas and Mississippi, runoffs tend to be lower-turnout events than the initial elections that prompted them. For local races, in which turnout for regularly scheduled elections is already relatively low, this could slow the race-calling process in particularly close contests since determining the outcome could rest on a handful of votes. For example, in Arkansas state House District 63, only 108 votes separated the first- and second-place candidates, out of 1,700 total votes cast.

The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

Here are the April 2 contests at a glance:

Democrats: 436

Republicans: 179

Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, Wisconsin

Arkansas (runoff), Mississippi (runoff), Wisconsin

8 p.m. EDT: All polls close in Connecticut, Mississippi, Rhode Island

8:30 p.m. EDT: All polls close in Arkansas

9 p.m. EDT: All polls close in New York, Wisconsin

STATE HOUSE PRIMARY RUNOFF, DISTRICT 35 (D): Jessie McGruder, Raymond Whiteside

STATE HOUSE PRIMARY RUNOFF, DISTRICT 63 (D): Fred Leonard, Lincoln Barnett

STATE HOUSE PRIMARY RUNOFF, DISTRICT 88 (R): Arnetta Bradford, Dolly Henley

WHO CAN VOTE: Voters who participated in the March 5 primary for a specific seat may only vote in the same party’s runoff for that seat. In other words, voters who cast ballots in the Republican primary on March 5 may not vote in a Democratic runoff for the same seat. Voters who did not participate in any party’s primary for a specific seat on March 5 may also participate in the runoff. All voters must be registered in the district holding the runoff.

FIRST VOTES REPORTED (March 5 primary): 8:36 p.m. ET

LAST ELECTION NIGHT UPDATE: 3:28 a.m. ET with about 99.7% of the total votes counted

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY (D): Biden, Dean Phillips, Marianne Williamson, Cenk Uygur, “Uncommitted.” 60 delegates at stake

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY (R): Trump, Ryan Binkley, Ron DeSantis, Haley, “Uncommitted.” 28 delegates at stake

WHO CAN VOTE: Only voters registered with a party may participate in that party’s primary. Democrats can’t vote in the Republican primary or vice versa.

FIRST VOTES REPORTED (2022 primaries): 8:08 p.m. ET

LAST ELECTION NIGHT UPDATE: 12:52 a.m. ET with about 99.9% of the total votes counted

U.S. HOUSE PRIMARY RUNOFF, DISTRICT 2 (R): Ron Eller, Andrew Smith

WHO CAN VOTE: Voters who participated in the March 12 primary for District 2 may only vote in the same party’s runoff. In other words, voters who cast ballots in the Democratic primary on March 12 may not vote in Tuesday’s Republican runoff. Voters who did not participate in any party’s primary for this seat on March 12 also may participate in the runoff. All voters must be registered in the 2nd Congressional District.

FIRST VOTES REPORTED (March 12 primary): 8:07 p.m. ET

LAST ELECTION NIGHT UPDATE: 12:35 a.m. ET with about 97% of the total votes counted

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY (D): Biden, Dean Phillips, Marianne Williamson. 268 delegates at stake

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY (R): Trump, Chris Christie, Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy. 91 delegates at stake

WHO CAN VOTE: New York has a closed primary system, which means only Democrats may vote in the Democratic primary and only Republicans may vote in the Republican primary.

FIRST VOTES REPORTED (2022 primaries): 9:01 p.m. ET

LAST ELECTION NIGHT UPDATE: 2:49 a.m. ET with about 94% of the total votes counted

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY (D): Biden, Dean Phillips, “Uncommitted,” Write-in. 26 delegates at stake

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY (R): Trump, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, “Uncommitted,” Write-in. 19 delegates at stake

WHO CAN VOTE: Rhode Island voters registered with a specific political party may cast ballots only in their own party’s primaries. Voters who are not affiliated with any party may participate in any party primary, but doing so will automatically affiliate them with that party in state records.

FIRST VOTES REPORTED (2022 primaries): 8:10 p.m. ET

LAST ELECTION NIGHT UPDATE: 11:03 p.m. ET with about 97% of total votes counted

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY (D): Biden, Dean Phillips, “Uninstructed Delegation,” Write-In. 82 delegates at stake

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY (R): Trump, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, “Uninstructed Delegation,” Write-In. 41 delegates at stake

STATEWIDE BALLOT MEASURE, QUESTION 1: “Use of private funds in election administration. Shall section 7 (1) of article III of the constitution be created to provide that private donations and grants may not be applied for, accepted, expended, or used in connection with the conduct of any primary, election, or referendum?”

STATEWIDE BALLOT MEASURE, QUESTION 2: “Election officials. Shall section 7 (2) of article III of the constitution be created to provide that only election officials designated by law may perform tasks in the conduct of primaries, elections, and referendums?”

WHO CAN VOTE: Any registered voter in Wisconsin may participate in either primary.

FIRST VOTES REPORTED (2022 primaries): 9:14 p.m. ET

LAST ELECTION NIGHT UPDATE: 3:01 a.m. ET with about 99.8% of the total votes counted

Connecticut, Rhode Island, Wisconsin (as “Uninstructed Delegation”)

As of Tuesday, there will be 104 days until the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, 139 days until the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and 217 days until the November general election.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.


Brought to you by www.srnnews.com


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