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from the Associated Press
A Texas woman who pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $109 million from a youth development program for military families has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. Janet Yamanaka Mello, a former civilian employee of the U.S. Army at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio was sentenced Tuesday in federal court after pleading guilty in March. U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza says Mello stole money intended to care for military children. Defense attorney Albert Flores says his client deeply ashamed and remorseful and hopes the items she bought are sold to reimburse the government.
Two occupants of a fishing vessel are safe Tuesday after a whale surfaced under their boat, capsizing it off the New Hampshire shore. The U.S. Coast Guard said the incident occurred Tuesday near Odiorne Point State Park. The Coast Guard posted to X that they had received a mayday call stating that a 23-foot center console boat had turned over because of a whale breach. A good Samaritan recovered both people from the water. No injuries were reported. The whale also appeared not to be injured, and the vessel has been salvaged.
A surprise eruption of steam, water and dark-colored rock and dirt that shot dozens of feet into the sky sent people running for safety in Yellowstone National Park. The hydrothermal explosion happened Tuesday morning in Biscuit Basin, a group of hot springs a couple miles north of Old Faithful Geyser. Video posted online shows a couple dozen people watching from a boardwalk as the eruption sprayed and grew in front of them. They ran to get clear as water and debris began to fall. The eruption damaged the boardwalk but no injuries are reported. The basin is closed for visitor safety.
A proposal to change Ohio’s troubled political mapmaking system has qualified for the November ballot. Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, the state's elections chief, said Tuesday that Citizens Not Politicians had submitted 535,005 valid signatures in 58 counties, well over the roughly 414,000 needed to make the ballot. The campaign submitted more than 700,000 petition signatures on July 1. The group’s amendment aims to replace the current Ohio Redistricting Commission with an independent body selected directly by citizens. Their bipartisan campaign follows fierce disagreements and multiple court battles over the state's current maps.
Family members of a woman killed in 1998 are pressing Utah officials to proceed with the convicted killer’s scheduled Aug. 8 execution. Relatives of victim Claudia Benn offered emotional testimony about the crime on Tuesday before Utah's parole board. They said her slashing and stabbing death still traumatizes their close-knit Native American community. Inmate Taberon Dave Honie has asked the board to commute his death sentence to life in prison as an act of mercy. He testified Monday that he wasn’t in his “right mind” when he killed his girlfriend’s mother after a day of heavy drinking and drug use. The victim's relatives oppose his request to the parole board to commute his sentence to life in prison.
The Federal Trade Commission has ordered information from eight companies that the agency says offer products and services that use personal data to set prices based on a shopper’s individual characteristics. The FTC said on Tuesday it is seeking to better understand the “opaque market” of “surveillance pricing.” It says such products and services include consumer data such as credit history and location to charge different customers different prices for the same goods. The agency has sent orders to Mastercard, Revionics, Bloomreach, JPMorgan Chase, Task Software, PROS, Accenture and McKinsey & Co. for more information. In response, Revionics said it “does not develop software that recommends pricing targeted to specific individuals.”
Multiple wildfires in the Canadian Rockies’ largest national park have sent up to 25,000 visitors and residents fleeing west over the last open mountain road. They navigated through darkness and soot Tuesday following a government alert during the area’s busiest tourist time of the year. Hundreds of wildfires are burning in western Canada, and those fleeing Jasper National Park and Jasper town in Alberta province were given the unusual order later to make a vast U-turn east if they needed a place to stay. That's because to the west, British Columbia province already has more than 300 wildfires of its own.
Comments Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance made in 2021 questioning Vice President Kamala Harris’ leadership because she did not have biological children have resurfaced. It's testing Vance in his early days campaigning as part of Republicans' presidential ticket. During Vance’s Senate bid, he referred to Democrats as "a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.” He said that included Harris. Vance said, “How does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?” Harris' campaign says that “every single American has a stake in this country’s future.”
The Anti-Defamation League says the Philadelphia school district has failed to protect Jewish students from “a virulent wave of antisemitism” that swept through classrooms after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. The ADL filed a complaint Tuesday with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. The Jewish advocacy group wants the school district to issue a statement denouncing antisemitism and to take disciplinary action against teachers and students who engage in discrimination and harassment. A school district spokesperson declined to comment on an active investigation. A group of pro-Palestinian teachers called Philly Educators for Palestine accused the ADL of “multiple inaccuracies.”
Sparks flew as a Nevada judge rebuked a defense attorney and a former Los Angeles-area gang leader lashed out against prosecutors during his renewed effort to be freed from jail to house arrest ahead of his trial in the 1996 killing of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur. The judge last month rejected a hip-hop music figure's attempt to underwrite Duane “Keffe D” Davis’ $750,000 bail bond. The judge on Tuesday said she'll issue a decision soon. She also accused defense lawyer Carl Arnold of playing up the case for the media, which Arnold denied. Davis has been jailed since his arrest last September. He has pleaded not guilty to murder and is due for trial in November.
Google’s corporate parent Alphabet Inc. delivered another quarter of steady growth amid an AI-driven shift in the ubiquitous search engine that is the foundation of its internet empire. The second-quarter report released Tuesday indicated Google is still reeling in advertisers. It comes on the heels of the May introduction of an artificial intelligence feature that produces conversational responses to people’s search queries while downplaying its traditional display of related links to other websites. Alphabet posted double-digit growth in both its revenue and profit during the April-June period, eclipsing analyst projections. The company's stock seesawed from slightly declines to minor gains after the report came out.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington this week is looming as a particularly fraught one between two allies. The Israeli leader is coming to address Congress on Wednesday at a moment of extreme political flux in the United States. Netanyahu also aims to speak with U.S. leaders who are wary of his record of interjecting himself in American politics. At stake in the visit are hopes for progress in U.S.-led efforts to mediate an end to the nine-month Israel-Hamas war. President Joe Biden and Netanyahu are expected to meet Thursday, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a White House announcement. Vice President Kamala Harris will also meet with Netanyahu separately that day.
The Knights of Columbus, the world’s largest Catholic fraternal group, has covered up defining features of the mosaics in its Washington D.C. shrine after the famous ex-Jesuit artist who designed them was accused of abusing women. The influential charitable organization announced earlier this month that it was covering the works as a sign of solidarity with victims of abuse. For now, it is being covered with paper, but as soon as possible, it will be completely covered with fabric that is appropriate for a worship space. The Rev. Marko Rupnik has been accused by more than 20 women of psychological, spiritual and sexual abuse, prompting questions about what to do with his artwork.
The head of the Pennsylvania State Police says two local law enforcement officers stationed in the complex of buildings where the gunman opened fire at former President Donald Trump left to go search for the man before the shooting. Pennsylvania State Police Col. Christopher Paris' testimony before a congressional hearing Tuesday raises questions about whether a key post was left unattended as the gunman climbed on a roof. The revelation comes amid growing questions about a multitude of security failures that allowed the 20-year-old gunman to get onto the roof and fire eight shots with an AR-style rifle into the crowd minutes after Trump began speaking.
Protesters against the Gaza war have staged a sit-in at a congressional office building ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress, and Capitol Police have made multiple arrests. Netanyahu arrived in Washington Monday for a visit that includes meetings with President Joe Biden and a Wednesday speech before a joint session of Congress. On Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of demonstrators organized by Jewish Voice for Peace and wearing identical red T-shirts that read “Not In Our Name” took over the Rotunda of the Cannon Building, chanting “Let Gaza Live!” After about a half-hour of clapping and chanting, officers from the U.S. Capitol Police issued several warnings, then began arresting protestors.
British and Spanish maritime officials say a fishing boat carrying 27 people has sunk nearly 200 miles (320 kilometers) off the coast of Falkland Islands, leaving at least six people dead and seven people missing. Spanish authorities said Tuesday that 14 people made it onto a life raft and were rescued by two other fishing boats that were nearby when the 176-foot (54-meter) vessel, called the Argos Georgia, sank in the South Atlantic off Argentina. The Falkland Islands — the British-controlled archipelago disputed by Argentina, which it calls Las Islas Malvinas — said it had received an emergency signal on Monday from the Argos Georgia.
Iowa’s strict abortion law will take effect Monday, banning most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant. The law was passed last year, but a judge had blocked it from being enforced. When the Iowa Supreme Court reiterated in June that there's no constitutional right to an abortion in the state, they ordered the hold be lifted. The district court judge’s orders Monday say the law will go into effect next Monday. Currently, 14 states have near total bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy and three states ban it after about six weeks. Iowa abortion providers have said they will continue to provide services in compliance with the law.
The director of the Secret Service has resigned in the aftermath of the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. The shooting unleashed an outcry about how the agency failed in its core mission to protect current and former presidents. Kimberly Cheatle, who had served as Secret Service director since August 2022, faced growing calls to resign and several investigations into how a gunman was able to get so close to Trump at an outdoor campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Her departure is unlikely to end the scrutiny of the long-troubled agency after the failures of July 13. Cheatle's deputy director was appointed as acting director.
Tesla's 2Q profit falls 45% to $1.48 billion as sales drop despite price cuts and low-interest loans
Tesla’s second-quarter net income fell 45% compared with a year ago as the company’s global electric vehicle sales tumbled despite price cuts and low-interest financing. The Austin, Texas, company said Tuesday that it made $1.48 billion from April through June, less than the $2.7 billion it made in the same period of 2023. It was Tesla’s second-straight quarterly net income decline. Second quarter revenue rose 2% to $25.5 billion, beating Wall Street estimates of $24.54 billion, according to FactSet. Excluding one time items, Tesla made 52 cents per share, below analyst expectations of 61 cents. Earlier this month Tesla said it sold 443,956 vehicles from April through June, down 4.8% from 466,140 sold the same period a year ago.
Payment processing giant Visa Inc. said its fiscal third-quarter profits rose 9% on an adjusted basis as it benefits from consumers and businesses moving their payments from cash to credit and debit cards. The San Francisco-based company said it earned $4.87 billion, or $2.40 a share, compared to a profit of $4.16 billion, or $2.00 a share, in the same period a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, Visa earned $2.42 a share, which was slightly better than what analysts had expected, according to FactSet.
This week’s new streaming entertainment releases include the long-awaited debut album from Ice Spice, the movie “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” mixing new and old franchise stars and Kate Upton hosts the new competition series “Dress My Tour,” where fashion and music intersect. The biopic “Bob Marley: One Love” stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as the reggae legend and Wayne Brady allows cameras into his life for a new reality series. Guy Ritchie has an amped-up, action-movie set during World War II in “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” and fans of the original video game Legend of Zelda are sure to find Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure cozily familiar.
European climate agency: Last Sunday was the hottest day on Earth in all recorded history.
Stock market today: A torrent of profit reports leaves Wall Street mixed as small stocks keep rising
U.S. stocks held steady in a calm day on Wall Street, as earnings reporting season ramped up for big companies. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite edged down 0.1%. Nvidia was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500, and UPS tumbled after delivering weaker profit for the spring than analysts expected. But the smaller stocks in the Russell 2000 index continued their big run and rose 1%. They’ve flipped the market’s leaderboard recently and zoomed higher amid hopes for coming cuts to interest rates.
Steve Bannon's trial in border wall fundraising case set for December, after his ongoing prison term
While Steve Bannon is serving a four-month federal prison term, he's got another trial coming up. A New York state judge on Tuesday set a December trial date for the conservative strategist. He is charged in New York with scheming to con donors who gave money to build a border wall, and he has pleaded not guilty. Bannon, who's a longtime Donald Trump ally, wasn't in court Tuesday. He's in a federal penitentiary in Connecticut after being convicted of defying a congressional subpoena related to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Georgia is refusing to provide state funding for the new Advanced Placement course in African American Studies. That's leading at least some school districts to cancel the classes. Advocates are complaining and citing similar attacks on learning about Black history in Florida, Arkansas and some other places. The decision was made by state Superintendent Richard Woods, an elected Republican. A spokesperson wouldn't say why he won’t recommend approval of the class to the state Board of Education. The course gained national attention last year when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would ban the course for pushing a political agenda.
An Oscar Mayer Wienermobile got into a pickle on a Chicago highway. Police say one of Oscar Mayer’s hot dog-shaped Wienermobiles ended up flipped onto its side after crashing on a suburban Chicago highway. Illinois State Police say the Wienermobile hit a car Monday morning along Interstate 294 and its driver lost control and overcorrected, causing the vehicle to roll onto its side near the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook. No injuries were reported. The Wienermobile was later hauled away on a flatbed truck. A spokesperson for the Oscar Mayer brand, which has several Wienermobiles, tells the Chicago Sun-Times it’s “grateful that everybody involved is safe and there were no injuries.”
French President Emmanuel Macron says he'll maintain his centrist caretaker government through the end of the Olympic Games in mid-August to avoid “disorder.” His announcement in a TV interview came shortly after the leftist coalition that won the most votes in this month’s parliamentary elections selected little-known civil servant Lucie Castets as their choice for prime minister. Macron said the country is not in a position to change course until after the Olympics. There is no firm timeline for when Macron must name a new prime minister. The parliamentary elections left the National Assembly with no dominant political bloc in power for the first time in France’s modern Republic.
U.S. airline regulators have opened an investigation into Delta Air Lines, which is still struggling to restore operations on Tuesday, more than four full days after a faulty software update caused technological havoc worldwide and disrupted global air travel. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced the Delta investigation on the X social media platform Tuesday morning “to ensure the airline is following the law and taking care of its passengers during continued widespread disruptions.” By midday Tuesday on the U.S. East Coast, Delta and its Delta Connection partners had canceled nearly 500 flights, or about two-thirds of all cancellations in the United States.
For the second time in weeks, a Missouri prison has ignored a court order to release an inmate whose murder conviction was overturned. Just as in the case of Sandra Hemme, actions by the state’s attorney general are keeping Christopher Dunn locked up. St. Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser on Monday tossed out Dunn’s conviction for a 1990 killing. He has spent 33 years behind bars. Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey appealed the judge’s ruling, and a corrections department spokeswoman says the agency is “awaiting the outcome of that legal action.” St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore, who initiated the effort to overturn Dunn's conviction, says the judge made it “very clear” that Dunn should be released immediately.
The Treasury Department is ordering the nation’s banking industry to start disclosing its holdings of Russian assets, with the goal of eventually seizing those billions of dollars in assets and selling them to aid the devastated Ukrainian economy. The disclosure is required under a new law passed by Congress earlier this year known as the REPO Act, which gives the U.S. government the authority to seize Russian state assets held by U.S. banks, with the goal of eventually selling them and giving those funds to Ukraine. It's estimated that the U.S. banking system holds as much as $6 billion in Russian assets in trust.
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey says he is resigning from office Aug. 20 following his conviction for taking bribes for corrupt acts including acting as an agent of the Egyptian government. That's according a letter the senator sent to fellow Democrat, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday. The resignation gives Murphy the ability to appoint someone to the Senate for the remainder of Menendez’s term, which expires Jan. 3. Menendez was convicted of charges he sold the power of his office to three businessmen who sought favors. Menendez says he's innocent. His attorney hasn't returned messages seeking comment.
Delegates to the Democratic National Convention are rallying behind Vice President Kamala Harris as the party's new presidential candidates. Since President Joe Biden dropped out his reelection bid Sunday, Harris already has amassed support from enough convention delegates to become her party's nominee against Republican Donald Trump. Some delegates surveyed by The Associated Press said they are now more enthusiastic about the presidential campaign. Delegates are to convene next month in Chicago for their convention. Arizona delegate Gabriella Cázares-Kelly said, “Before it felt like a convention, but now it feels like a party.”
The Senate will consider legislation this week that aims to protect children from dangerous online content, moving forward with what could become the first sweeping new regulation of the tech industry in decades. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Tuesday that he will bring the bipartisan bill up in the Senate, with hopes of passing it before the chamber leaves for its August recess. The legislation had stalled for months even as more than two-thirds of the Senate signed on to support it and families of children who have suffered online harm advocated for its passage.
A group of 2,000 migrants from dozens of countries have set out on foot from Tapachula, a city in southern Mexico, as they attempt to reach the U.S.. However, recent similar attempts have failed, with groups of migrants disbanding after a few days without leaving the region. Several members of the group said they hoped to reach the U.S. before the November presidential election as they fear that if Donald Trump wins, he will follow through on a promise to close the border to asylum-seekers. These groups are sometimes led by activists. Other times, by the migrants themselves who get tired of waiting for asylum appointments in the U.S.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled that a cease-fire deal that would free dozens of hostages in Gaza could be taking shape. Netanyahu is in Washington to address Congress. The Israeli military has ordered the evacuation of part of a crowded area in the Gaza Strip it had designated a humanitarian zone, while the Health Ministry in Gaza says over 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the nine-month war. Egypt, Qatar and the United States are pushing Israel and Hamas toward a phased deal that would stop the fighting and free remaining hostages.
A Wisconsin man has been charged with fleeing to Ireland to avoid a prison sentence for joining a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol over three years ago. A court filing Tuesday charges 56-year-old Paul Kovacik with defying a court order to surrender to serve three months behind bars for participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. Kovacik was arrested last month after he voluntarily returned to the U.S. from Ireland. He is now serving his prison sentence in Chicago. Kovacik told authorities that he withdrew an asylum claim to the Irish government and returned to the U.S. because he felt homesick.
In her first rally as a presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris Harris is framing the race with Donald Trump as a choice between “freedom” and “chaos.” Democratic leaders Charles Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries endorsed Harris on Tuesday, capping off their party’s swift embrace of her 2024 candidacy. Meanwhile, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle stepped down from her job following the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. Cheatle had been facing growing calls to resign and several investigations into how the shooter was able to get so close to the Republican presidential nominee.
Golden fields of wheat no longer produce the bounty they once did in Morocco. A six-year drought has imperiled the country’s entire agriculture sector, including farmers who grow cereals and grains used to feed humans and animals. The North African nation projects this year’s harvest will be smaller than last year in both volume and acreage, putting farmers out of work, requiring more imports and raising the price of flour for everyday consumers. It's one place in which climate change is wreaking havoc and presenting new political, economic and social problems.
President Joe Biden is now testing negative for COVID-19 prior to his Oval Office address to the nation. His doctor has released a statement on Tuesday saying his symptoms are resolved. The president is scheduled to return to the White House on Tuesday and address the nation from the Oval Office on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET regarding his decision to drop his 2024 Democratic reelection bid. Biden posted on X that he’ll speak “on what lies ahead” and how he’ll “finish the job for the American people.” The president has not been seen publicly since July 17 but did call into a campaign meeting Monday to express support for Vice President Kamala Harris’ bid to replace him.
Southwest Airlines is under increased scrutiny by federal safety officials. The move comes after a series of recent incidents including planes flying too low over water and taking off from a closed runway. The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday it has increased its oversight of Dallas-based Southwest. Twice within recent weeks, Southwest jets have flown unusually low while still several miles away from airports where they intended to land. The FAA declined to provide details, but noted that it continually adjusts oversight of airlines based on risk. The FAA appears to be reacting to concern about airline safety since an unused exit blew off a Boeing 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.
