RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democratic Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced Tuesday that he is dropping his bid for Virginia governor in 2025 and will instead run for lieutenant governor.

“After careful consideration with my family, I believe that the best way to ensure that all Virginia families do get the change they deserve is for our party to come together, avoid a costly and damaging primary and, for me to run instead for Lieutenant Governor,” Stoney said in a statement.

When Stoney entered the gubernatorial race in December, it set up a Democratic nomination contest with U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer who has cultivated an identity as a bipartisan consensus builder over three terms in Congress.

After growing up in a working poor family, Stoney said he got into public service and the governor’s race to make sure families like his get a fair shot at success. As he spent the last few weeks with his wife and their new daughter, he said he thought about the future he wanted for his daughter and all Virginia families.

Stoney said it was not an easy decision. There was a path to victory in the gubernatorial race, but he said it was narrow and he believed running for lieutenant governor was the right path for him, his family, the Democratic party and Virginia’s future.

“As LG, I believe I can be an effective advocate for Virginia families to ensure that everyone in our state does in fact get that fair shot at success. Given everything at stake in the next Governor’s race — from reproductive rights to education funding and tax fairness — I believe this is a time when Democrats must stand united and avoid an ugly primary for Governor.”

No Republicans have announced campaigns for governor yet, though state Attorney General Jason Miyares and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears are seen as likely contenders. Under state law, Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin cannot seek a second consecutive term.

Virginia State Sen. Aaron Rouse also announced his candidacy for lieutenant governor Tuesday morning. The retired NFL player and former Virginia Beach councilman said Democrats must retake control of statewide offices in 2025.

“I’ve built my career on winning in tough spots when it matters — whether it be under the glare of NFL lights or flipping the State Senate seat needed to ensure we blocked Republicans’ assaults on reproductive freedom and voting rights,” Rouse said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is meeting with another foreign leader while he’s in New York for his criminal hush money trial.

The presumptive GOP nominee will host former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso at Trump Tower on Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not been formally announced.

Aso is just the latest foreign leader to spend time with Trump in recent weeks as U.S. allies prepare for the possibility that he could win back the White House this November.

“Leaders from around the world know that with President Trump we had a safer, more peaceful world,” said Trump spokesperson Brian Hughes in a statement. “Meetings and calls from world leaders reflect the recognition of what we already know here at home. Joe Biden is weak, and when President Trump is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, the world will be more secure and America will be more prosperous.”

Trump met last week with Polish President Andrzej Duda at Trump Tower and also met recently with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Trump was close with Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese prime minister who was assassinated in 2022. Aso is vice president of the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party and served as deputy prime minister and finance minister under Abe.

Trump has threatened to impose broad new tariffs if he wins a second term.

Early Tuesday morning, he complained about the U.S. dollar reaching a new high against the Japanese yen, calling it “a total disaster for the United States.”

“When I was President, I spent a good deal of time telling Japan and China, in particular, you can’t do that,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “It sounds good to stupid people, but it is a disaster for our manufacturers and others.”

The U.S. dollar is trading at above 150 yen recently, up from 130-yen mark a year ago, which has made it more costly for Japan to import goods but has boosted exports.

President Joe Biden hosted current Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House for talks and a state dinner earlier this month. During the visit, the leaders announced plans to upgrade U.S.-Japan military relations, with both sides looking to tighten cooperation amid concerns about North Korea’s nuclear program and China’s increasing military assertiveness in the Pacific.

NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University’s main campus will switch to hybrid learning for the rest of the semester amid protests over Israel’s war with Hamas that have roiled colleges across the U.S., officials announced.

“Safety is our highest priority as we strive to support our students’ learning and all the required academic operations,” the Ivy League university’s provost, Angela V. Olinto, and chief operating officer, Cas Holloway, said in a statement late Monday.

The move came after more than 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on Columbia’s upper Manhattan campus were arrested last week.

Students have protested Israel’s war in Gaza at many campuses in recent weeks, including at New York University a few miles south of Columbia, where an encampment swelled to hundreds of protesters and police began to make arrests Monday night.

A police spokesperson said he did not know how many NYU protesters had been arrested. University spokesperson John Beckman said NYU was carrying on with classes Tuesday.

Since the war began, colleges and universities nationwide have struggled to balance safety with free speech rights. Many schools long tolerated protests but are now doling out more heavy-handed discipline.

NEW YORK (AP) — A veteran tabloid publisher was expected to return to the witness stand Tuesday in Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys in opening statements Monday painted competing portraits of the former president — one depicting him as someone who sought to corrupt the 2016 presidential election for his own benefit and another describing him as an innocent, everyday man who was being subjected to a case the government “should never have brought.”

David Pecker, the National Enquirer’s former publisher and a longtime friend of Trump’s, was the only witness Monday. He is expected to tell jurors Tuesday about his efforts to help Trump stifle unflattering stories during the 2016 campaign.

Prosecutors say Pecker worked with Trump and Trump’s then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, on a “catch-and-kill” strategy to buy up and then spike negative stories. At the heart of the case are allegations that Trump orchestrated a scheme to bury unflattering stories about his personal life that might torpedo his campaign.

Prosecutors say Trump obscured the true nature of those payments in internal business documents.

He has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Before testimony resumes Tuesday, the judge will hold a hearing on prosecutors’ request to sanction and fine Trump over social media posts they say violate a gag order prohibiting him from attacking key witnesses.

The case is the first criminal trial of a former American president and the first of four prosecutions of Trump to reach a jury.

Currently:

— Key takeaways from the opening statements in Donald Trump’s hush money trial

— Key players: Who’s who at Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial

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

— Trump’s $175 million bond in New York civil fraud judgment case is settled with cash promise

— Without cameras to go live, the Trump trial is proving the potency of live blogs as news tools

Here’s the latest:

A man has been taken into custody by court officers after causing a disturbance in the overflow courtroom for Donald Trump’s hush money trial.

The man had been admitted to the overflow courtroom, which is located next to the main courtroom, but officers said he declined to sit down and obey the rules of the court on Tuesday morning. He left the room and officers escorted him off the floor in handcuffs moments after the hearing began.

Court staff have repeatedly warned journalists and members of the public about violating rules in the overflow room, where a video feed of the trial’s proceedings is shown with a slight delay. At least two reporters have been barred from covering the trial after violating rules against recording and taking photographs, according to a court spokesperson.

A court system spokesperson confirmed an arrest but did not immediately provide details.

One of the prosecutors in Donald Trump’s hush money case says the former president violated a gag order barring him from publicly attacking witness yet again.

As a hearing began Tuesday about prosecutors’ claims that Trump violated the gag order 10 times in recent weeks, Christopher Conroy accused him of violating it again on Monday in remarks outside the courtroom door about his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen.

Conroy pointed to Trump’s comments about Cohen’s representation of him and characterization of Cohen as a liar.

Before testimony in Donald Trump’s hush money trial resumed Tuesday, Judge Juan M. Merchan held a hearing on the prosecution’s request that Trump be held in contempt of court and fined at least $3,000 for allegedly violating his gag order.

Prosecutors cited 10 posts on Trump’s social media account and campaign website that they said breached the order, which bars him from making public statements about witnesses in the case.

They called the posts a “deliberate flouting” of the court’s order.

In one post, from April 10, Trump described his former lawyer-turned-foe Michael Cohen and porn actor Stormy Daniels as “two sleaze bags who have, with their lies and misrepresentations, cost our Country dearly!”

Prosecutors are seeking a $1,000 fine — the maximum allowed by law — for each of the first three alleged violations. They did not specify the punishment they are seeking for the seven other posts, which date to the morning jury selection began in the trial last week.

Shortly after court resumed Tuesday morning, Donald Trump sat at the defense table alone as his lawyers and prosecutors left the courtroom with Judge Juan M. Merchan for a closed-door conference.

There was no indication as to what the conference was about.

One of the lawyers had asked the judge if they could all approach the bench, to which the judge agreed. A moment later the group walked out of the courtroom to a side room out of view and earshot of reporters.

Before entering the courtroom, Trump had focused on events well outside of the hush money trial.

“It’s a big day in Pennsylvania,” he said in the courthouse’s hallway, urging people to vote in the state’s GOP primary happening today.

Trump, in a red tie, said the pro-Palestinian protests happening at local colleges are “a disgrace. And it’s really on Biden.” He added that President Joe Biden has the wrong tone and the wrong words. “What’s going on is a disgrace to our country and it’s all Biden’s fault.”

Donald Trump plans to meet with another foreign leader while he’s in New York for his criminal hush money trial.

The presumptive GOP nominee will be meeting with former Japanese prime minister Taro Aso after court Tuesday at Trump Tower. That’s according to two people familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not been formally announced.

Several foreign leaders have met with Trump in recent weeks as U.S. allies prepare for the possibility that he could re-take the White House.

“Leaders from around the world know that with President Trump we had a safer, more peaceful world,” said Trump spokesperson Brian Hughes.

Trump was close with Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese prime minister who was assassinated in 2022.

___

Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed to this report.

Donald Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records — a charge punishable by up to four years in prison — though it’s not clear if the judge would seek to put him behind bars.

A conviction would not preclude Trump from becoming president again, but because it is a state case, he would not be able to pardon himself if found guilty. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Donald Trump’s attorney used his opening statement to attack the case as baseless, saying the former president did nothing illegal.

The attorney, Todd Blanche, challenged prosecutors’ claim that Trump agreed to pay porn actor Stormy Daniels in order to aid his campaign, saying Trump was trying to “protect his family, his reputation and his brand.”

Blanche indicated the defense will argue that the very point of a presidential campaign is to try to influence an election.

“It’s called democracy,” Blanche told jurors. “They put something sinister on this idea, as if it was a crime. You’ll learn it’s not.”

Blanche also portrayed the ledger entries at issue in the case as pro forma actions performed by a Trump Organization employee. Trump “had nothing to do with” the allegedly false business records, “except that he signed the checks, in the White House, while he was running the country,” Blanche said.

And he argued that the records’ references to legal expenses weren’t false, since Cohen was Trump’s personal lawyer at the time.

Donald Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal Trump Organization business records. But prosecutors made clear they do not want jurors to view this as a routine paper case.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said Monday the heart of the case is a scheme to “corrupt” the 2016 election by silencing people who were about to come forward with embarrassing stories Trump feared would hurt his campaign.

“No politician wants bad press,” Colangelo said. “But the evidence at trial will show that this was not spin or communication strategy. This was a planned, coordinated, long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, to help Donald Trump get elected through illegal expenditures to silence people who had something bad to say about his behavior.”

Two journalists covering Donald Trump’s hush money trial were removed and expelled on Monday for breaking rules prohibiting recording and photography in the overflow room, where reporters who can’t get into the main courtroom watch the proceedings on large screens, according to court officials.

One of the banned journalists had previously been warned for violating the rules during jury selection.

Uniformed court officers have been making daily announcements reminding reporters of the rules. Signs posted in the overflow room and around the courthouse make clear that photography and recording are not allowed.

Donald Trump’s hush money trial will adjourn early on Tuesday in observance of Passover. Judge Juan M. Merchan plans to end court proceedings at 2 p.m. for the holiday.

Prosecutors on Monday made history as they presented their opening statements to a jury in the first criminal trial against a former U.S. president, accusing Donald Trump of a hush money scheme aimed at preventing damaging stories about his personal life from becoming public.

The dueling statements painted very different portraits of the man who, before serving in the White House, was best known for being a major real estate developer and his reality TV show, “The Apprentice.”

One depicted him as someone who sought to illegally corrupt the 2016 presidential election for his own benefit and the other described him as an innocent, everyday man who was being subjected to a case the government “should never have brought.”

By Andrew Chung and John Kruzel

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday steps into the contentious unionization drive at Starbucks as the coffee chain challenges a judicial order requiring it to rehire seven employees at a Tennessee cafe who were fired as they pursued efforts to organize.

The justices are set to hear arguments in the company’s appeal of a lower court’s approval of an injunction sought by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board ordering the reinstatement of the workers. It is a case that could make it harder to bring a quick halt to labor practices challenged as unfair under federal law while the NLRB resolves complaints.

The case centers on the legal standard that federal courts must use to issue a preliminary injunction requested by the NLRB under the a federal law called the National Labor Relations Act. Such orders are intended as an interim tool to halt unfair labor practices while a case is proceeding before the board.

Under section 10(j) of the labor law, a court may grant an injunction if it is deemed “just and proper.” Starbucks contends that if the lower courts had applied stricter criteria, similar to the standard used by some other courts and in non-labor legal disputes, the case would have come out differently.

About 400 Starbucks locations in the United States have unionized, involving more than 10,000 employees. Both sides at times have accused the other of unlawful or improper conduct.

Hundreds of complaints have been filed with the NLRB accusing Starbucks of unlawful labor practices such as firing union supporters, spying on workers and closing stores during labor campaigns. Starbucks has denied wrongdoing and said it respects the right of workers to choose whether to unionize.

In a break from the acrimony, both sides in February said they had agreed to create a “framework” to guide organizing and collective bargaining and potentially settle scores of pending legal disputes.

The case began in 2022, when the workers at the Poplar Avenue store in Memphis became among the first to unionize. Early in their efforts, they allowed a television news crew into the Starbucks cafe after hours to talk about the union campaign. Seven workers present that evening were fired, including several who belonged to the union organizing committee.

Despite the dismissals, employees there later voted to join Workers United.

The union filed unfair labor charges with the NLRB over the firings and other discipline by managers. The NLRB sought an injunction, alleging that Starbucks unlawfully fired the workers for supporting the union drive and to send a message to other workers.

U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman granted the injunction in 2022, reinstating the workers in order to address the “chilling effect” of the dismissals on the unionization effort while the NLRB resolves the case. The Cincinnati, Ohio-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the injunction in 2023.

The 6th Circuit rejected the company’s argument that Lipman should have used a stringent four-factor test to weigh the bid for an injunction, as courts typically do in non-labor disputes. This test includes an assessment of whether the side seeking relief would suffer irreparable harm and is likely to succeed on the merits of the case.

The Supreme Court’s ruling is expected by the end of June.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung and John Kruzel in Washington; Additional reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany; Editing by Will Dunham)

By Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Billions of dollars in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan should easily win approval in the U.S. Senate this week, after the House of Representatives abruptly ended a months-long stalemate and approved the assistance in a rare Saturday session.

The Senate on Tuesday will take up the package of four bills passed by the House, one providing $61 billion for Ukraine, a second with $26 billion for Israel, a third with $8.12 billion “to counter communist China” in the Indo-Pacific and a fourth that includes a potential ban on the social media app TikTok, measures for the transfer of seized Russian assets to Ukraine and new sanctions on Iran.

The package could pass the Democratic-led Senate as soon as late Tuesday, and head to the White House, where Democratic President Joe Biden has promised to sign it quickly into law.

That would clear the way for shipments of military assistance to Ukraine within days, providing a morale boost as its troops fight Russian invaders. The influx of weapons should improve Kyiv’s chances of averting a major Russian breakthrough in the east, analysts said, although it would have been more helpful if the aid had come closer to when Biden requested it last year.

It was not immediately clear how the money for Israel would affect the conflict in Gaza – Israel already receives billions of dollars in security assistance from the United States. The package includes humanitarian assistance, which supporters hope will help Palestinians in Gaza.

HUMANITARIAN CONCERNS

The Israel bill passed the House by an overwhelming 366 to 58 – with 21 Republicans and 37 Democrats opposed. The Republican “no” votes came from hardliners who generally oppose foreign aid. Democrats who voted no said they wanted more done to ease the devastating humanitarian toll of Israel’s campaign in Gaza as it retaliates for the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas fighters that killed 1,200 people and resulted in around 250 being taken hostage.

The Israeli military assault that followed those attacks has killed more than 34,000 people in Gaza, according to Gaza health authorities.

The Senate passed security aid for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific more than two months ago, with the support of 70% of the 100-member chamber, both Republicans and Democrats.

“The House has acted, now it’s the Senate’s turn, and the finish line is now in sight,” Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement after the House vote. “To our friends in Ukraine, to our allies in NATO, to our allies in Israel, and to civilians around the world in need of aid: rest assured America will deliver yet again.”

The White House said Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a phone call on Monday that his administration would provide new security assistance “to meet Ukraine’s urgent battlefield and air defense needs” as soon as he signs the supplemental spending bills into law.

Congressional aides said the funding for Ukraine includes $8 billion in Presidential Drawdown Authority, which lets Biden send equipment to Ukraine from U.S. stocks.

The House passed the Ukraine funding by 311-112, with all 112 “no” votes coming from Republicans, many of whom were bitterly opposed to providing further assistance to Kyiv. Only 101 Republicans voted for it, forcing Speaker Mike Johnson to rely on Democratic support and prompting calls for his ouster as House leader.

However, the House left Washington for a week-long recess, without triggering a vote to remove Johnson.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan; editing by Don Durfee and Jonathan Oatis)

(Repeats to additional subscribers with no changes to text )

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) -Nine months into the U.S. launch of the first drug proven to slow the advance of Alzheimer’s, Eisai and Biogen’s Leqembi is facing an unexpected hurdle to widespread use: an entrenched belief among some doctors that treating the memory-robbing disease is futile.

Alzheimer’s experts had anticipated bottlenecks due to Leqembi’s requirements, which include additional diagnostic tests, twice-monthly infusions and regular brain scans to guard against potentially lethal side effects.

And those issues have played a role in slow adoption since the drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to interviews with 20 neurologists and geriatricians from rural, urban, academic and community practices in 19 states.

In interviews with Reuters, seven doctors treating patients for Alzheimer’s attributed their own reluctance to prescribe Leqembi to concerns about the drug’s efficacy, cost and risks. 

“I don’t think it’s a good Alzheimer’s drug. I think that’s the problem,” said Dr. James Burke, a neurologist at the Ohio State University who has been an outspoken critic of Leqembi. “It’s certainly nothing like the home run that we’re looking for.”

Another six scientists, all leaders in the field, said “therapeutic nihilism” – the belief that Alzheimer’s is a hopelessly intractable disease – was playing a bigger role than anticipated in suppressing demand from primary care doctors, geriatricians and neurologists who could be sending patients to memory specialists for treatment.

Dr. Reisa Sperling, a neurologist and Alzheimer’s researcher at Mass General Brigham in Boston, likens some doctors’ skepticism to Leqembi to fatalistic attitudes about cancer treatment 30 years ago: “You can’t really do anything about it, so why would you even want to get tested?”

Alex Scott, Eisai’s chief administrative officer, acknowledged that skepticism has weighed on the launch along with slower-than-expected adoption by large health systems.

He suggested that some of the doctors’ hesitancy could be a holdover from the decades-long journey to prove that removing the Alzheimer’s protein beta amyloid from the brain could slow the course of the disease. Before Esai released the promising results of its Leqembi trial, some thought that area of research “a fool’s errand,” Scott said.

“We are beginning to make more and more progress every single month. So we’re still quite encouraged,” Scott said. “This is a new journey, and I think it takes some time for providers to figure it out.”

‘SIGNIFICANT RISKS, MARGINAL BENEFIT’

Leqembi was the first amyloid-targeting drug granted full FDA approval after it slowed the decline in cognition in people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s by 27% in a clinical trial.

Of the 10,000 Americans the companies hoped to treat by the end of March, Eisai announced only a couple thousand had begun treatment as of the end of January. An Eisai spokeswoman declined to provide updated numbers.

Even for treatments that do not require dramatic changes to medical practice, adoption of new drugs is notoriously slow. Several studies have estimated that it can take 17 years on average for clinical research to be translated into routine practice.

The disease is estimated to affect more than 6 million Americans, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Fewer than half of U.S. neurologists recommend Leqembi to patients, according to a January survey by life sciences market researcher Spherix Global Insights.

Dr. Michael Greicius, a professor at Stanford University’s Center for Memory Disorders, said there is little evidence that Leqembi benefits patients in a meaningful way.

“If we take the trial result at face value, the differences between placebo and treatment are likely small enough as to be undetectable by patients and family members or physicians,” said Greicius, who does not recommend Leqembi to patients.

He said the long wait for an Alzheimer’s drug has put doctors in the position of feeling obligated to offer a treatment “even if the evidence for it is very slim.”

Other doctors have raised concerns about the risk of brain swelling and bleeding associated with Leqembi as well as the costs associated with the $26,500 annual drug, frequent MRIs and twice-monthly infusions.

“There are significant risks associated with these drugs, there are significant costs, and I would say there is marginal benefit,” said Dr. Eric Widera, a geriatrician and professor at University of California San Francisco, referring to amyloid-lowering treatments.

In an editorial published in November in the Journal of Gerontological Nursing, Donna Fick, president of the American Geriatrics Society, advised doctors that the group recommends caution in the use of lecanemab, which is sold under the brand name of Leqembi. 

“It is not yet clear whether treatments such as lecanemab that remove amyloid from the brain produce clinically important slowing of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease.”

‘YOUR ENEMY IS NIHILISM’

Dr. Jonathan Liss, a neurologist from Columbus, Georgia, who serves on Eisai’s scientific advisory board and has tested Leqembi in clinical trials, said he first warned about nihilism at a November 2022 conference following a presentation of Leqembi’s breakthrough study.

Eisai had asked its scientific advisors how the drug might fare against future rivals. Liss cautioned that rivals were not the enemy; “your enemy is nihilism,'” he recalled. “All of the neurologists around the table started applauding.”

Dr. Nathaniel Chin, a geriatrician with the University of Wisconsin’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, said he was the target of negative comments on social media after he urged geriatricians to embrace such treatments in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Geriatricians, geriatric social workers and nurses objected, arguing that the drug’s statistically significant benefit was not clinically meaningful to patients, especially given the risks, he said.

“I would ask the question, ‘Is it ethical to withhold a medication that is FDA-approved and covered by insurance from someone who knows the risk and is willing to take it?'” Chin said.

Dr. Priya Singhal, executive vice president and head of development at Biogen, acknowledged some apathy among physicians about the treatment but said that infrastructure and lack of access to neurologists have been bigger issues.

Singhal said the companies are working with physician and patient advocacy groups and developing educational programs and materials aimed at diagnosing early-stage patients, managing side effects and understanding the drug’s benefits.

The companies said they intend to increase their salesforce by 30% as they aim for 100,000 patients by 2026.

For the moment, Leqembi is the only Alzheimer’s drug on the market designed to slow the course of the disease. A decision on Lilly’s donanemab has been delayed until the FDA convenes an advisory panel.

Lilly neuroscience president Anne White said in an interview that she sees doctor hesitancy as an issue that the company hopes to address by making clear which patients benefit from such treatments.

In the early stages of Alzheimer’s, many patients are still independent, and to be able to remain so for longer is very meaningful, she said.

‘PEACE AND QUIET’

Lyn Castellano, 64, who founded and ran a St. Louis breast cancer charity for 20 years and trained therapy dogs, started taking Leqembi last September, nearly a year after she found herself struggling with keeping track of appointments and was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment.

Castellano said the prospect of bleeding in the brain – a possible side effect of the drug – was her biggest concern, but her family believed the drug may offer a chance at slowing the disease.

She is one of more than 140 patients being treated by physicians from Washington University in St. Louis, and has had 13 infusions and two MRIs without incident.

Dr. Suzanne Schindler, an Alzheimer’s researcher who is treating Castellano, said Leqembi “forces clinicians to completely change the way they have practiced medicine for many years.”

She said she is candid about Leqembi’s modest benefit as well as the risks. About 80% of those she believes are good candidates have opted for the treatment, she said.

While Castellano can’t tell if Leqembi is helping, she says the treatment has given her hope, and she doesn’t mind the twice monthly infusions.

“I get to go, sit back in a nice chair, have my dog with me and read a book for a couple hours. It’s about the only place I get some peace and quiet.”

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; editing by Caroline Humer and Suzanne Goldenberg)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration on Tuesday set a new goal to protect vast U.S. water sources, from rivers to wetlands, as part of a series of announcements marking Earth Week.

The administration plans to announce a new goal of protecting, restoring and reconnecting 8 million acres (3.2 million hectares) of threatened wetlands and 100,000 miles (161,000 km) of rivers and streams, according to White House documents.

The White House, which is hosting a water summit on Tuesday, also plans to pledge $1 billion to deliver clean water to households on Native American land.

Half of Tribal households do not have access to clean drinking water or adequate sanitation, the administration said. Meanwhile, much of the country’s west has been plagued by drought for decades, driven by climate change.

The Biden administration last year weakened a rule regulating waterway pollution after a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that limited the regulatory reach of the Environmental Protection Agency.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

By Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden visits Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday to tie opponent Donald Trump to new abortion restrictions, hoping to boost his own chances in a state that has drifted out of Democrats’ reach in recent elections.

Earlier this month, Florida’s Supreme Court cleared the way for a six-week abortion ban starting May 1, a time-frame before many women realize they are pregnant.

Biden’s re-election campaign quickly declared battle, saying he would win the state in November because of the ban. U.S. voters overwhelmingly reject strict abortion bans, polls and state ballot initiatives show.

Abortion is a top issue in the 2024 election, and Democrats believe harsh restrictions like in Florida and Arizona, which earlier this month upheld a 160-year-old abortion ban, will push voters to back Biden.

Biden will tell Americans in Florida and nearby states their freedoms are at risk, campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez.

“When Florida’s ban takes effect, it will severely restrict reproductive health care access across the entire Southeastern United States, including neighboring battlegrounds of Georgia and North Carolina,” she added.

Abortion access is now almost nonexistent in Southern states due to new laws, nearly all of them backed by Republicans, forcing women to cross state lines.

Trump’s stance on the issue has been muddied in recent weeks. The Republican distanced himself from the Arizona ruling even as he took credit for appointing the three Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and made state restrictions possible.

UPHILL BATTLE

Florida has a hefty 30 Electoral College votes and for a long time was a highly coveted battleground state, but Republicans have pulled away from Democrats there in recent years.

Some Biden aides think that Democrats’ optimism in the state could be misplaced.

Trump won Florida in 2020 with 51.2% of the vote compared with Biden’s 47.9%. In 2022, Republican Ron DeSantis won the governors race in a landslide, with 59.4% of the vote.

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried told Reuters she has seen more investments in advertising, staffing and opening new offices in the state from the Biden campaign. Biden, she said, understands the fight to win Florida “is an uphill battle, but it’s one worth taking.”

A compilation of opinion polls by FiveThirtyEight, the election data website, shows Trump with a substantial lead in Florida.

“The idea that Donald Trump has Florida in the bag could not be further from the truth. He owns not only the state of abortion rights across the country, he owns the restrictions that will play out in Florida,” Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign’s communications director told reporters on a call.

Along with the six-week ban, the Florida Supreme Court also approved an initiative to let voters decide whether to amend the state’s constitution to establish a right to an abortion. That initiative will be on the Nov. 5 ballot alongside the presidential race.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Trevor Hunnicutt, Heather Timmons and Stephen Coates)

An independent panel that reviewed the neutrality of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, after Israel alleged that a dozen of its employees in Gaza had participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, released its report on Monday.

Here are some of its key recommendations to strengthen the neutrality of the agency, known as UNRWA.

— UNRWA, established by the U.N. General Assembly in 1949, does not have an executive board but it does have an advisory body, which must put neutrality on its agenda at all meetings and create a working group on neutrality and integrity issues.

— UNRWA faces challenges due to increased politicization of its staff and must announce procedures to deal with future allegations of neutrality breaches, and identify and implement additional ways to screen staff early in the recruitment process.

— UNRWA should reinforce its regular sharing of digital staff lists with host countries and Israel by ensuring the inclusion of additional information, including ID numbers and jobs. In response, host countries and Israel must provide UNRWA with results of their screening and “any red flags.”

— UNRWA’s international staff in Gaza is less than 1% of its total staff and there needs to be more senior international staff in the field to provide oversight on neutrality issues.

— UNRWA’s management and internal oversight reform efforts “are commendable and should be expanded,” including by creating a centralized neutrality investigation unit.

— UNRWA must implement “a zero-tolerance policy” on school textbooks used in its schools spreading antisemitic views or promoting discrimination and incitement to hatred.

— The politicization of UNRWA staff unions is “one of the most sensitive neutrality issues” and the agency should request an independent body to vet every staff union representative on their neutrality.

— It is “imperative” for UNRWA to enhance its engagement with donor nations to promote trust and strengthen their partnership.

— The international community has a responsibility to help and support UNRWA in addressing neutrality issues.