Pennsylvania
Trump can’t force election changes by blocking counterterrorism funds to states, judge says
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday blocked the authority of President Donald Trump’s administration to withhold some federal counterterrorism funding from states that don’t meet its election administration demands.
Courts have largely rejected the administration’s previous efforts, which reflect untrue claims about widespread voting fraud and come ahead of November’s midterm elections where Democrats seek to take control of one or both chambers of Congress and check Trump’s power.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in Washington, D.C., wrote in a 24-page opinion that federal agencies didn’t have the authority from Congress to add such conditions to the grants, and that the conditions didn’t meet legal thresholds requiring them to relate to the underlying grant purpose.
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor its subagency handling the grants, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, immediately responded to a request for comment. The grant conditions were the latest in a line of actions by Trump’s administration to shape how elections are run, a task that has long been the job of states.
The plaintiffs that sued were Columbus, Ohio; Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee; and El Paso and Harris counties in Texas, joined by two other Texas counties, Dallas and Travis.
They declared victory and said what the Trump administration had sought was a gross abuse of power.
“The end result is exactly what we wanted,” said Tyler Chance Yarbro, the director of law for Nashville and Davidson County.
A Harris County commissioner, Lesley Briones, accused the Trump administration of using the safety and security of communities as a “bargaining chip for partisan politics.”
Twenty-five state attorneys general or governors filed a similar lawsuit.
Over the summer, a FEMA antiterrorism grant announcement included a list of election-related requirements, saying that 20% of grants for states and urban areas would be withheld until they comply.
The program includes more than $1 billion for states and local and tribal governments for a variety of programs aimed at preventing terror at crowded places, online, with border security — and around elections. FEMA expects to award 56 grants.
The list of items for states includes verifying the citizenship of all registered voters and election workers.
Places that use electronic voting systems that use barcodes or QR codes to count votes would have to submit plans to switch to hand-marked paper ballots. Every jurisdiction would have to show it audits results.
In the lawsuit, the cities and counties said FEMA had no authority to impose those conditions, “not under its governing statute and not under the Constitution.”
Congress authorized FEMA to help jurisdictions protect critical infrastructure from terrorism and cyberattacks, not to decide who can vote, how ballots must be counted or how states maintain voter rolls, the cities and counties wrote.
“Never before has FEMA purported to regulate how states and counties run elections,” they said in the lawsuit.
Washington
Judge declares mistrial in DC Council member Trayon White’s bribery case
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge declared a mistrial on Monday after a jury failed to reach a verdict in the bribery case against a Washington, D.C., Council member accused of accepting cash from an associate in exchange for using his elected position to help extend city contracts for the associate’s businesses, court records show.
Justice Department prosecutors intend to retry Trayon White, who pleaded not guilty to one count of bribery and denies breaking the law.
White’s trial began on Sept. 15. Jurors began deliberating last Wednesday after hearing several days of testimony. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras declared a mistrial after jurors indicated they couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict, according to online court filings.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro noted that White was captured on video receiving “piles of cash” for what prosecutors said was part of a $156,000 bribe.
“Rest assured that we will retry this case and every corruption case to verdict,” Pirro said in a statement.
White was arrested in 2024 on a charge that he accepted bribes in exchange for pressuring D.C. employees to extend city contracts for violence intervention services. Authorities say they secretly recorded conversations between White and an FBI informant who gave White $35,000 in cash on four occasions.
Other D.C. Council members voted unanimously to oust White from the council after his arrest. But he won a special election last year to retake the Ward 8 council seat vacated by his expulsion.
Michigan
A’s outfielder sues Tigers for damages after knee slammed into Comerica Park fence
DETROIT (AP) — Athletics outfielder Zack Gelof has filed a lawsuit against the Detroit Tigers, Ilitch Holdings and the Detroit-Wayne County Stadium Authority for damages after his right knee slammed into a Comerica Park fence during a game last summer.
“We are aware of the lawsuit and do not comment on pending litigation,” the Tigers said in a statement on Tuesday.
Gelof was hurt in the third inning of a 4-1 loss to the Tigers on July 9 while making a sliding catch in foul territory and colliding with a metal fence. The 26-year-old infielder immediately grabbed his knee in obvious pain, a tear in his uniform pants showed where his leg made contact with the fence. He was left with a deep cut under his right knee cap, just missing the tendon, and didn’t play again until Aug. 10.
“This injury could have easily prevented through the most basic and inexpensive design,” said Gelof’s attorney, Jon Marko. “It doesn’t take a stadium design expert to realize that sharp metal fencing in an area where players are required to slide and play around is a recipe for disaster like the one that occurred here.
“All they had to do was put cheap padding up like they did after Zack was injured and this entire incident could have been avoided. My son’s little league diamond is safer.”
Gelof hit .256 with 22 homers and 55 RBIs — both career highs — in 111 games during his fourth season. The A’s finished the season 64-98, putting them ahead of only the Los Angeles Angels and the Colorado Rockies in the majors.
Mississippi
Prosecutors won’t seek to retry former officer who fatally shot a Black motorist
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s attorney general said she will not retry a former police officer after jurors failed to reach a verdict on a manslaughter charge stemming from the fatal shooting of a Black motorist.
Jurors on Monday deadlocked on the charge against former Mississippi Capitol Police officer Michael Rhinewalt and acquitted a second former Capitol Police officer, Steven Frederick, who was also charged with manslaughter in the September 2022 shooting of 25-year-old Jaylen Lewis.
The case has raised questions about policing in the majority-Black city of Jackson and prompted a lawsuit from Lewis’ mom. Frederick and Rhinewalt, who are white, were officers when they shot Lewis.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office, which prosecuted the two former officers, said in a statement that it “followed the process” and will not pursue a new trial against Rhinewalt.
“In the case of a tie, the benefit of the doubt goes to our law enforcement officers,” the statement said, adding that the “men and women who wear the uniform have earned that.”
The two former officers testified that they opened fire on Lewis in self-defense after he rammed a police vehicle and drove toward them.
“Both of them were in fear for their life and each other’s safety,” Merrida Coxwell, an attorney for Frederick, told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday. “It was horrible and it was tragic. All he had to do was stop.”
Prosecutors said Lewis and his passenger did not know they were being stopped by police. The officers were driving unmarked cars and were in plain clothes with vests.
Rhinewalt is also charged with aggravated assault in another police shooting in 2022. Sherita Harris says she was shot in the head by Rhinewalt during a pursuit after a traffic stop.
Rhinewalt and another Capitol Police officer charged in that case say Harris fled after they exited their patrol vehicle, and they heard gunshots from the car as they gave chase. Both officers have pleaded not guilty.
Rhinewalt’s lawyers did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails from the AP.
California
Police arrest couple in the public shooting death of their son-in-law
DUBLIN, Calif. (AP) — A couple in their late 70s gunned down their son-in-law in a California city park over the weekend, authorities said, and court documents showed the victim had been in a bitter custody dispute with their daughter.
Jonathan McKinsey, a 40-year-old gaming engineer for The New York Times, was shot to death Saturday afternoon in the parking lot of a sports complex in Dublin, east of San Francisco. A police sergeant was driving nearby and saw him on the ground as witnesses began calling 911 and pointing out the couple, who were still near the scene, Dublin Police Services said in a news release.
Authorities arrested Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 76 and from Dublin, on suspicion of murder and other charges. They were due to appear in court Wednesday morning. It was not immediately clear if either had obtained a lawyer, and phone numbers listed for their daughter, Candice Jang, were disconnected.
The killing occurred a week before a hearing was scheduled in McKinsey and Jang’s divorce case. The couple had been married since about 2012 and had three young children, court records show.
Court records show that Jang reported McKinsey to police in 2023, accusing him of shoving one of their children and using rough physical discipline with them generally.
Last October, she obtained a domestic violence protection order against McKinsey after he was arrested and charged with misdemeanor child abuse in another case. Police said he acknowledged having slapped one child and also charged him with endangering another. At the time of his killing, he was out on bail and had been trying to enter a mental health diversion program, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
McKinsey responded to his wife’s court filing by requesting a domestic violence protection order against her and filing for divorce. He since had sought more time with the three children, noting that he had been limited to two hours of supervised visits per week since last fall, Alameda County court documents show.
In his petition for a protection order, McKinsey, who was transgender, alleged that Chen had directed anti-LGBTQ+ slurs at him and at one of their children, the Mercury News reported. He also accused Jang of being abusive during medical procedures related to his transition.
McKinsey joined The New York Times in January 2023. He was director of engineering for New York Times Games and based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the paper said. A spokesperson declined to comment further.
Trump can’t force election changes by blocking counterterrorism funds to states, judge says
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday blocked the authority of President Donald Trump’s administration to withhold some federal counterterrorism funding from states that don’t meet its election administration demands.
Courts have largely rejected the administration’s previous efforts, which reflect untrue claims about widespread voting fraud and come ahead of November’s midterm elections where Democrats seek to take control of one or both chambers of Congress and check Trump’s power.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in Washington, D.C., wrote in a 24-page opinion that federal agencies didn’t have the authority from Congress to add such conditions to the grants, and that the conditions didn’t meet legal thresholds requiring them to relate to the underlying grant purpose.
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor its subagency handling the grants, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, immediately responded to a request for comment. The grant conditions were the latest in a line of actions by Trump’s administration to shape how elections are run, a task that has long been the job of states.
The plaintiffs that sued were Columbus, Ohio; Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee; and El Paso and Harris counties in Texas, joined by two other Texas counties, Dallas and Travis.
They declared victory and said what the Trump administration had sought was a gross abuse of power.
“The end result is exactly what we wanted,” said Tyler Chance Yarbro, the director of law for Nashville and Davidson County.
A Harris County commissioner, Lesley Briones, accused the Trump administration of using the safety and security of communities as a “bargaining chip for partisan politics.”
Twenty-five state attorneys general or governors filed a similar lawsuit.
Over the summer, a FEMA antiterrorism grant announcement included a list of election-related requirements, saying that 20% of grants for states and urban areas would be withheld until they comply.
The program includes more than $1 billion for states and local and tribal governments for a variety of programs aimed at preventing terror at crowded places, online, with border security — and around elections. FEMA expects to award 56 grants.
The list of items for states includes verifying the citizenship of all registered voters and election workers.
Places that use electronic voting systems that use barcodes or QR codes to count votes would have to submit plans to switch to hand-marked paper ballots. Every jurisdiction would have to show it audits results.
In the lawsuit, the cities and counties said FEMA had no authority to impose those conditions, “not under its governing statute and not under the Constitution.”
Congress authorized FEMA to help jurisdictions protect critical infrastructure from terrorism and cyberattacks, not to decide who can vote, how ballots must be counted or how states maintain voter rolls, the cities and counties wrote.
“Never before has FEMA purported to regulate how states and counties run elections,” they said in the lawsuit.
Washington
Judge declares mistrial in DC Council member Trayon White’s bribery case
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge declared a mistrial on Monday after a jury failed to reach a verdict in the bribery case against a Washington, D.C., Council member accused of accepting cash from an associate in exchange for using his elected position to help extend city contracts for the associate’s businesses, court records show.
Justice Department prosecutors intend to retry Trayon White, who pleaded not guilty to one count of bribery and denies breaking the law.
White’s trial began on Sept. 15. Jurors began deliberating last Wednesday after hearing several days of testimony. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras declared a mistrial after jurors indicated they couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict, according to online court filings.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro noted that White was captured on video receiving “piles of cash” for what prosecutors said was part of a $156,000 bribe.
“Rest assured that we will retry this case and every corruption case to verdict,” Pirro said in a statement.
White was arrested in 2024 on a charge that he accepted bribes in exchange for pressuring D.C. employees to extend city contracts for violence intervention services. Authorities say they secretly recorded conversations between White and an FBI informant who gave White $35,000 in cash on four occasions.
Other D.C. Council members voted unanimously to oust White from the council after his arrest. But he won a special election last year to retake the Ward 8 council seat vacated by his expulsion.
Michigan
A’s outfielder sues Tigers for damages after knee slammed into Comerica Park fence
DETROIT (AP) — Athletics outfielder Zack Gelof has filed a lawsuit against the Detroit Tigers, Ilitch Holdings and the Detroit-Wayne County Stadium Authority for damages after his right knee slammed into a Comerica Park fence during a game last summer.
“We are aware of the lawsuit and do not comment on pending litigation,” the Tigers said in a statement on Tuesday.
Gelof was hurt in the third inning of a 4-1 loss to the Tigers on July 9 while making a sliding catch in foul territory and colliding with a metal fence. The 26-year-old infielder immediately grabbed his knee in obvious pain, a tear in his uniform pants showed where his leg made contact with the fence. He was left with a deep cut under his right knee cap, just missing the tendon, and didn’t play again until Aug. 10.
“This injury could have easily prevented through the most basic and inexpensive design,” said Gelof’s attorney, Jon Marko. “It doesn’t take a stadium design expert to realize that sharp metal fencing in an area where players are required to slide and play around is a recipe for disaster like the one that occurred here.
“All they had to do was put cheap padding up like they did after Zack was injured and this entire incident could have been avoided. My son’s little league diamond is safer.”
Gelof hit .256 with 22 homers and 55 RBIs — both career highs — in 111 games during his fourth season. The A’s finished the season 64-98, putting them ahead of only the Los Angeles Angels and the Colorado Rockies in the majors.
Mississippi
Prosecutors won’t seek to retry former officer who fatally shot a Black motorist
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s attorney general said she will not retry a former police officer after jurors failed to reach a verdict on a manslaughter charge stemming from the fatal shooting of a Black motorist.
Jurors on Monday deadlocked on the charge against former Mississippi Capitol Police officer Michael Rhinewalt and acquitted a second former Capitol Police officer, Steven Frederick, who was also charged with manslaughter in the September 2022 shooting of 25-year-old Jaylen Lewis.
The case has raised questions about policing in the majority-Black city of Jackson and prompted a lawsuit from Lewis’ mom. Frederick and Rhinewalt, who are white, were officers when they shot Lewis.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office, which prosecuted the two former officers, said in a statement that it “followed the process” and will not pursue a new trial against Rhinewalt.
“In the case of a tie, the benefit of the doubt goes to our law enforcement officers,” the statement said, adding that the “men and women who wear the uniform have earned that.”
The two former officers testified that they opened fire on Lewis in self-defense after he rammed a police vehicle and drove toward them.
“Both of them were in fear for their life and each other’s safety,” Merrida Coxwell, an attorney for Frederick, told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday. “It was horrible and it was tragic. All he had to do was stop.”
Prosecutors said Lewis and his passenger did not know they were being stopped by police. The officers were driving unmarked cars and were in plain clothes with vests.
Rhinewalt is also charged with aggravated assault in another police shooting in 2022. Sherita Harris says she was shot in the head by Rhinewalt during a pursuit after a traffic stop.
Rhinewalt and another Capitol Police officer charged in that case say Harris fled after they exited their patrol vehicle, and they heard gunshots from the car as they gave chase. Both officers have pleaded not guilty.
Rhinewalt’s lawyers did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails from the AP.
California
Police arrest couple in the public shooting death of their son-in-law
DUBLIN, Calif. (AP) — A couple in their late 70s gunned down their son-in-law in a California city park over the weekend, authorities said, and court documents showed the victim had been in a bitter custody dispute with their daughter.
Jonathan McKinsey, a 40-year-old gaming engineer for The New York Times, was shot to death Saturday afternoon in the parking lot of a sports complex in Dublin, east of San Francisco. A police sergeant was driving nearby and saw him on the ground as witnesses began calling 911 and pointing out the couple, who were still near the scene, Dublin Police Services said in a news release.
Authorities arrested Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 76 and from Dublin, on suspicion of murder and other charges. They were due to appear in court Wednesday morning. It was not immediately clear if either had obtained a lawyer, and phone numbers listed for their daughter, Candice Jang, were disconnected.
The killing occurred a week before a hearing was scheduled in McKinsey and Jang’s divorce case. The couple had been married since about 2012 and had three young children, court records show.
Court records show that Jang reported McKinsey to police in 2023, accusing him of shoving one of their children and using rough physical discipline with them generally.
Last October, she obtained a domestic violence protection order against McKinsey after he was arrested and charged with misdemeanor child abuse in another case. Police said he acknowledged having slapped one child and also charged him with endangering another. At the time of his killing, he was out on bail and had been trying to enter a mental health diversion program, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
McKinsey responded to his wife’s court filing by requesting a domestic violence protection order against her and filing for divorce. He since had sought more time with the three children, noting that he had been limited to two hours of supervised visits per week since last fall, Alameda County court documents show.
In his petition for a protection order, McKinsey, who was transgender, alleged that Chen had directed anti-LGBTQ+ slurs at him and at one of their children, the Mercury News reported. He also accused Jang of being abusive during medical procedures related to his transition.
McKinsey joined The New York Times in January 2023. He was director of engineering for New York Times Games and based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the paper said. A spokesperson declined to comment further.
