AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT
Trump search inventory reveals new details from FBI seizure
WASHINGTON (AP) - Along with highly classified government documents, the FBI agents who searched former President Donald Trump's Florida estate found dozens of empty folders marked classified but with nothing inside and no explanation of what might have been there, according to a more detailed inventory of the seized material made public on Friday.
The agents also found more than 10,000 other government documents kept by Trump with no classification marked.
The inventory compiled by the Justice Department reveals in general terms the contents of 33 boxes and containers taken from Trump's office and a storage room at Mar-a-Lago during the Aug. 8 search. Though the inventory does not describe the content of the documents, it shows the extent to which classified information - including material at the top-secret level - was stashed in boxes at the home and mixed among newspapers, magazines, clothing and other personal items.
And the empty folders raise the question of whether the government has recovered all of the classified papers that Trump kept after leaving the White House.
The inventory makes clear for the first time the volume of unclassified government documents at the home even though presidential records were to have been turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration. The Archives had tried unsuccessfully for months to secure their return from Trump and then contacted the FBI after locating classified information in a batch of 15 boxes it received in January.
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Red flag laws get little use as shootings, gun deaths soar
Chicago is one of the nation's gun violence hotspots and a seemingly ideal place to employ Illinois' "red flag'ť law that allows police to step in and take firearms away from people who threaten to kill. But amid more than 8,500 shootings resulting in 1,800 deaths since 2020, the law was used there just four times.
It's a pattern that's played out in New Mexico, with nearly 600 gun homicides during that period and a mere eight uses of its red flag law. And in Massachusetts, with nearly 300 shooting homicides and just 12 uses of its law.
An Associated Press analysis found many U.S. states barely use the red flag laws touted as the most powerful tool to stop gun violence before it happens, a trend blamed on a lack of awareness of the laws and resistance by some authorities to enforce them even as shootings and gun deaths soar.
AP found such laws in 19 states and the District of Columbia were used to remove firearms from people 15,049 times since 2020, fewer than 10 per 100,000 adult residents. Experts called that woefully low and not nearly enough to make a dent in gun violence, considering the millions of firearms in circulation and countless potential warning signs law enforcement officers encounter from gun owners every day.
'œIt's too small a pebble to make a ripple,'ť Duke University sociologist Jeffrey Swanson, who has studied red flag gun surrender orders across the nation, said of the AP tally. 'œIt's as if the law doesn't exist.'ť
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EXPLAINER: Mississippi capital's water woes are extensive
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi's capital city is struggling with the near collapse of its water system, prompting emergency declarations from President Joe Biden and Gov. Tate Reeves.
Jackson has dangerously low water pressure this week, and many of the city's 150,000 residents have been without water flowing from their faucets.
Problems started days after torrential rain fell in central Mississippi, altering the quality of the raw water entering Jackson's treatment plants. That slowed the treatment process, depleted supplies in water tanks and caused a precipitous drop in pressure.
When water pressure drops, there's a possibility that untreated groundwater can enter the water system through cracked pipes, so customers are told to boil water to kill potentially harmful bacteria.
But even before the rainfall, officials said some water pumps had failed and a treatment plant was using backup pumps. Jackson had already been under a boil-water notice for a month because the state health department had found cloudy water that could make people ill.
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Trump White House lawyers arrive for Jan. 6 grand jury
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House counsel under then-President Donald Trump and his top deputy arrived at a federal courthouse on Friday to appear before a federal grand jury investigating efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election.
Pat Cipollone was the top White House lawyer at the end of the Trump administration as Trump and outside allies pressed for ways to overturn the Republican's loss to Democrat Joe Biden, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Cipollone vigorously resisted efforts to undo the election and has said he did not believe there was sufficient fraud to have affected the outcome of the race. Trump has insisted the election was rife with fraud and was stolen from him despite the fact that numerous federal and local election officials of both parties, a long list of courts, top former campaign staffers and even his own attorney general have said there is no evidence of the fraud he alleges.
Cipollone and Patrick Philbin, a deputy White House counsel, also have cooperated with a separate House committee probe into the deadly Jan. 6 attack and attempts to subvert the election.
Their grand jury appearances underscore how Justice Department officials examining schemes to overturn the presidential contest have been seeking the cooperation of senior Trump White House officials and advisers who opposed those efforts.
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Yoga sect allegedly exploited women to lure men like Domingo
BUENOS AIRES (AP) - An Argentina-based yoga group sexually exploited vulnerable women it called 'œgeishas'ť to get money and influence from wealthy and powerful men around the world, including opera star Placido Domingo, who knew the organization's leaders for more than two decades, according to interviews with former members and local authorities.
A sprawling investigation into the sect-like Buenos Aires Yoga School, which operated for over 30 years in Argentina's capital, has uncovered what authorities are calling a criminal organization involved in sex trafficking, money laundering, involuntary servitude, illegal practice of medicine and other crimes. Nineteen members have been arrested in the investigation that reaches into the U.S., where six more suspects are sought.
Despite its name, the school did not offer yoga classes. Leaders are accused of preying on people to join its ranks with promises of eternal happiness and then exploiting them sexually and financially, according to charging documents.
Former members of the school and officials investigating the case told The Associated Press that the group forced female members to work as 'œgeishas'ť who were assigned to make guests feel welcome at the school, with sex part of the expectations. Influential or wealthy men were matched up with members of the 'œGeishado VIP,'ť one of many groups of women that were forced to have sexual encounters in exchange for money and influence that benefited sect leaders, according to the charging documents. Some of the women were sent to the United States and Uruguay to have sex with men, a practice that amounted to slavery, authorities said.
Former member Pablo Salum said his mother and sister were among the women exploited in Argentina, and described orgies and sexual abuse of children.
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Apparent assassination attempt against VP roils Argentina
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - As Argentina's powerful Vice President Cristina Fernández stepped from her car outside her apartment building and began shaking hands with a throng of a well-wishers, a man pushed forward with a gun, pointed it just inches from her face and pulled the trigger with a distinct click.
The loaded weapon evidently jammed.
Fernández's security detail seized the gunman and took him away, and the 69-year-old former president of Argentina was unhurt. But the apparent assassination attempt against the deeply divisive figure Thursday night shook Argentina - a country with a history of political violence - and worsened tensions in the sharply divided nation.
The gunman was identified as Fernando André Sabag Montiel, a 35-year-old street vendor and Brazilian citizen who has lived in Argentina since 1998 and had no criminal record, authorities said. He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
Sabag Montiel wielded a .38-caliber semiautomatic handgun that was 'œcapable of firing'ť and was 'œoperating normally,'ť according to a judicial official who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
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Serena Williams' US Open run inspiring people of all ages
NEW YORK (AP) - Imagine if they could bottle a potion called 'œJust Serena.'ť
That was Serena Williams' succinct, smiling explanation for how she'd managed - at nearly 41, and match-rusty - to defeat the world's second-ranked player and advance Wednesday to the third round of a U.S. Open that so far, doesn't feel much like a farewell. 'œI'm just Serena,'ť she said, to roaring fans.
Clearly there's only one Serena. But as superhuman as many found her achievement, some older fans in particular - middle-aged, or beyond - said they saw in Williams' latest run a very human and relatable takeaway, too. Namely the idea that they, also, could perform better and longer than they once thought possible - through fitness, practice and grit.
'œIt makes me feel good about what I'm doing still at my age,'ť said Bess Brodsky Goldstein, 63, a lifelong tennis enthusiast who was attending the Open on Thursday, the day after Williams' triumph over 26-year-old Anett Kontaveit.
Goldstein pursues her passion for the sport more vigorously than most women her age. She plays several times a week and participates in an age 55-and-up USTA mixed-doubles league in New England. (She also plays competitive golf.)
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College Football Playoff to expand to 12 teams by '26 season
After 14 1/2 months of haggling over details and questioning motivations, a plan to expand the College Football Playoff from four teams to 12 was finally approved Friday to set the stage for a multibillion-dollar tournament as soon as the 2024 season.
What still needs to be determined is just how quickly the four-team model can be converted and implemented, but it will happen no later than 2026. When it does, major college football's championship tournament will triple in size.
'œThis was a very historic day for college football," said Mississippi State President Mark Keenum, the chairman of the CFP's Board of Managers that pressed ahead after a process that started in June 2021 with an ambitious plan was derailed for months by provincialism and mistrust.
In a unanimous vote, the 11 university leaders who make up the board approved the original 12-team proposal that calls for the six highest-ranked conference champions and six at-large picks - as determined by a selection committee - to make the playoff.
The top four seeds would be conference champions and receive byes into the second round. First-round games would be played on campuses and the rest at bowl sites.
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EXPLAINER: Should you get a new COVID booster? If so, when?
John Wherry will wait until later in the fall to consider getting an updated COVID-19 booster. The University of Pennsylvania immunologist knows it's too soon after his shot late this summer, especially since he's not at high risk from the virus.
It's the kind of calculation many Americans will face as booster shots that target currently circulating omicron strains become available to a population with widely varying risks and levels of immunity.
Here are some things to know:
HOW ARE THE NEW BOOSTERS DIFFERENT?
They're combination or 'œbivalent'ť shots that contain half the original vaccine that's been used since December 2020 and half protection against today's dominant omicron versions, BA.4 and BA.5. It's the first update to COVID-19 vaccines ever cleared by the Food and Drug Administration.
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Barbara Ehrenreich, 'myth busting' writer and activist, dies
NEW YORK (AP) - Barbara Ehrenreich, the author, activist and self-described 'œmyth buster'ť who in such notable works as 'œNickel and Dimed'ť and 'œBait and Switch" challenged conventional thinking about class, religion and the very idea of an American dream, has died at age 81.
Ehrenreich died Thursday morning in Alexandria, Virginia, according to her son, the author and journalist Ben Ehrenreich. She had recently suffered a stroke.
'œShe was, she made clear, ready to go,'ť Ben Ehrenreich tweeted Friday. 'œShe was never much for thoughts and prayers, but you can honor her memory by loving one another, and by fighting like hell.'ť
She was born Barbara Alexander in Butte, Montana, and raised in a household of union supporters, where family rules included 'œnever cross a picket line and never vote Republican.'ť She studied physics as an undergraduate at Reed College, and received a PhD in immunology at Rockefeller University. Starting in the 1970s, she worked as a teacher and researchers and became increasingly active in the feminist movement, from writing pamphlets to appearing at conferences around the country. She also co-wrote a book on student activism, 'œLong March, Short Spring,'ť with her then-husband, John Ehrenreich.
A prolific author who regularly turned out books and newspaper and magazine articles, Ehrenreich honed an accessible prose style that brought her a wide readership for otherwise unsettling and unsentimental ideas. She disdained individualism, organized religion, unregulated economics and what Norman Vincent Peale famously called 'œthe power of positive thinking.'ť