New York Attorney General Letitia James is challenging the legitimacy of the acting U.S. attorney in Albany as she pushes back against the Trump administration’s investigation of cases she brought against the president and the National Rifle Association, according to court documents unsealed Friday.

James in August filed a motion to block subpoenas issued by acting U.S. Attorney John Sarcone for records related to the legal actions, claiming the Justice Department’s probe of the cases was retaliatory.

She also argued that Sarcone had been improperly appointed to his position and, as a result, lacked legitimate authority to authorize the subpoenas.

The subpoenas seek records related to a major civil case the Democrat James filed against President Donald Trump over alleged fraud in his personal business dealings. Another subpoena seeks records from a lawsuit involving the National Rifle Association and two senior executives.

Dozens of court documents in the case have been filed under seal in U.S. District Court since August. A federal judge in Manhattan late Friday granted James’ motion to unseal most of the entries, making them public over the objection of the Justice Department.

Judge Lorna Schofield, however, has not yet ruled on the motion to quash the subpoenas.

“Unsealing this action is not only permissible but compelled,” she wrote. “One simple fact drives this conclusion: the information at issue is not secret.”

An email seeking comment was sent to Sarcone’s office. A phone message was not immediately returned late Friday.

James has accused the Trump administration of using the justice system as a “tool of revenge” against adversaries. The attorney general has sued Trump and his Republican administration dozens of times over his policies as president and over how he conducted his private business empire.

In October, James was indicted in a federal mortgage fraud case the president pressed the Justice Department to bring. She pleaded not guilty Monday allegations she lied on mortgage papers to get favorable loan terms when purchasing a house in Norfolk, Virginia, where she has family.

In her motion to quash Sarcone’s subpoenas, James cited anonymous media reports that they were part of a grand jury investigation into allegations that James violated Trump’s civil rights in 2022 when her office sued Trump, then a private businessman.

She argued Sarcone lacked authority to issue the subpoenas because he was improperly appointed by the Trump administration.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Sarcone to serve as the interim U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York in March. With the expiration of the 120-day interim term, Bondi designated him as first assistant U.S. attorney for the district, essentially improperly extending his role as acting U.S. attorney, according to James.

James’ lawyers in the mortgage fraud case have said they intend to challenge the appointment of the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, on similar grounds.

The indictment in that case followed the resignation of Erik Siebert as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Siebert was replaced with Halligan, a White House aide and former Trump lawyer who had never previously served as a federal prosecutor, and presented James’ case to the grand jury herself.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Two airmen at a Wyoming U.S. Air Force base have pleaded guilty to making false statements about the deadly shooting of a third that prompted the suspension of Sig Sauer M18 pistol use at nuclear weapons sites for a month, the Air Force said in a statement Friday.

The gun pause by the Air Force Global Strike Command after the death of Brayden Lovan, 21, in late July was lifted in late August after Air Force officials determined the M18 was safe to carry.

Lovan was an airman with the 90th Security Forces Squadron, 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base outside Cheyenne.

Details about his death were released for the first time Friday, including that the alleged shooter, Marcus White-Allen, had pointed the gun at Lovan’s chest in a “joking manner.” White-Allen after the shooting allegedly urged the other two surviving airmen to lie about what happened, according to the statement.

White-Allen, who was arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter and making a false statement, was found dead on base on the morning of Oct. 8. Air Force officials have not disclosed details surrounding White-Allen’s death, saying it was still under investigation.

Laramie County Coroner Rebecca Reid has not returned phone messages seeking information about White-Allen’s death. A person who answered the coroner’s office phone Friday said Reid had no comment.

Airmen Sarbjot Badesha and Matthew Rodriguez each pleaded guilty this week to making false official statements related to Lovan’s death July 20, according to the Air Force statement.

Badesha was sentenced to 30 days in confinement and forfeiture of $1,545, while Rodriguez was sentenced to 10 days in confinement, 15 days restriction to base and forfeiture of $500. Both also received administrative demotions.

The two reported hearing White-Allen’s gun go off and then seeing Lovan on the ground, according to the statement.

White-Allen allegedly told Badesha, “Here’s the story. Tell them that I slammed my duty belt on the desk and it went off.” White-Allen allegedly told Rodriguez to tell emergency responders that White-Allen’s “holster went off,” according to the statement.

Neither airman initially reported that information, leading investigators to believe at first that White-Allen’s M18 accidentally discharged, according to the statement.

Other U.S. service branches continued to use the M18 while Global Strike Command suspended its use. The suspension occurred while lawsuits against Sig Sauer allege its P320 pistol can go off without the trigger being pulled.

The New Hampshire-based gunmaker denies the claims, saying the pistol is safe and the problem is user error. It has prevailed in some cases.

President Donald Trump is returning to “60 Minutes” this weekend, his first appearance on the show since he settled a lawsuit this summer with CBS News over the newsmagazine’s interview with Kamala Harris.

Trump was interviewed by CBS’ Norah O’Donnell Friday at Mar-a-Lago for the appearance, which will air this Sunday.

The president has a checkered history with television’s most popular newsmagazine. But he has signaled friendlier relations with CBS News after the takeover of its parent company this summer by new Paramount CEO David Ellison, the son of wealthy supporter Larry Ellison.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday moved to limit the use of fluoride supplements used to strengthen children’s teeth, the latest action by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his deputies against a chemical that is a mainstay of dental care.

The FDA said that the products are no longer recommended for children younger than 3 and those who are older but don’t face serious risks of tooth decay. Previously, the products have been prescribed for children as young as six months.

The action stopped short of FDA statements in May suggesting regulators would seek the removal of the products from the market. Instead, the agency sent letters to four companies warning them not to market their products outside the new limits.

Fluoride tablets and lozenges are sometimes recommended for children and teens at increased risk of tooth decay or cavities because of low fluoride in their local drinking water. Companies also sell drops for babies.

The FDA released a new scientific analysis Friday, concluding that fluoride supplements have limited benefits for children’s teeth and may be linked to emerging safety concerns, including gut issues, weight gain and cognition.

“For the same reason fluoride may work to kill bacteria on teeth, it may also alter the gut microbiome, which may have broader health implications,” the agency said in a statement.

The agency also sent a form letter to dentists and other health providers warning about the risks of the products.

Those claims have been disputed by the American Dental Association, which has said there are no significant health problems associated with fluoride when used at the levels prescribed by dentists. The supplements can cause spotting or discoloration of teeth due to the extra fluoride, a downside the FDA also noted.

Dentists have warned that restricting fluoride supplements may result in more cavities and dental problems in rural communities, which are less likely to have fluoridated water. Kennedy is also seeking to end the practice of adding fluoride to drinking water throughout the U.S.

Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1962, the agency set guidelines for how much should be added to water.

Kennedy, a former environmental lawyer, has called fluoride a “dangerous neurotoxin” tied to a range of health dangers.

The FDA regulates most dental products, including fluoride-containing toothpastes, supplements, mouthwashes and rinses. The agency’s actions don’t affect toothpastes, mouthwash or fluoride treatments used by adults or those offered in dentists’ offices.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

FORT COLLINS, Colo (AP) — President Donald Trump’s efforts to help the U.S. coal industry at home are being undermined by falling sales abroad amid his trade war with China, new government reports show.

China has stopped importing U.S. coal, accounting for most of a 14% decline in U.S. coal exports so far this year, according to analysts and the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Trump’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week suggests trade progress. But whether it will include the U.S. coal industry is still uncertain.

“It’s hard to tell whether that’s just going to maintain the status quo or if that’s going to be an increase in exports of coal and soybeans to China,” coal analyst Seth Feaster with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis said Friday.

Trump has been easing up on regulations and opening up mining on federal lands. The result has been to “keep our lights on, our economy strong, and America Energy Dominant,” Interior Department spokesperson Charlotte Taylor said in an e-mailed statement Friday.

The administration has also reduced royalty rates for coal extracted from federal lands and in September pledged $625 million to bolster coal power generation, including by recommissioning or modernizing old coal plants amid growing electricity demand from artificial intelligence and data centers.

Recent government coal lease sales in Montana, Wyoming and Utah, however, have failed to draw bids deemed acceptable by the Interior Department.

So far this year, U.S. coal production is up about 6%, due not to Trump policies but higher natural gas prices, Feaster said.

Meanwhile, coal exports fell 14% from January through September compared to the same time last year, according to an EIA report released Oct. 7.

The drop followed an additional Chinese tariff of 15% on U.S. coal in February and a 34% reciprocal Chinese tariff on imports from the U.S. in April, the EIA said in a report issued Friday.

The U.S. exports about one-fifth of the coal it produces. Most goes to India, the Netherlands, Japan, Brazil and South Korea.

China is not a top destination, taking in only about one-tenth of U.S. coal exports. But it has had an outsized effect on overall U.S. coal exports by halting all coal from the U.S. since April, said Andy Blumenfeld, a coal analyst at McCloskey by OPIS.

Almost three-quarters of U.S. coal exported to China last year was metallurgical coal used in steelmaking. The rest was thermal coal burned in power plants to produce electricity, according to Blumenfeld.

Nearly all U.S. metallurgical coal is mined in Appalachia, while the bulk of U.S. thermal coal comes from massive, open-pit mines in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana.

Appalachia would therefore benefit most from a resumption of U.S. coal exports to China, noted Blumenfeld by email.

“There is optimism,” Blumenfeld wrote. “But there is little documentation to back that up right now.”

Most coal headed for China last year went through Baltimore, with lesser amounts via the Norfolk, Virginia, area and Gulf of Mexico, according to Blumenfeld.

Relatively little thermal coal from the Western U.S. is exported due to the cost of hauling it by rail to the West Coast, where there has also been political resistance to building port facilities to export more coal.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina state lawmaker accused by authorities of sex-related crimes involving a 15-year-old resigned his legislative seat on Friday. His departure came just after the House speaker announced a committee to investigate his alleged misconduct.

The House clerk’s office received a letter signed by Democratic Rep. Cecil Brockman of High Point to resign effective immediately.

House leaders from both parties, as well as Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, had called on Brockman to resign since his arrest three weeks ago on two counts each of statutory sexual offense with a child and taking indecent liberties with a child.

Brockman, who had served in the House since 2015, wrote that he needed to focus on his defense given the serious allegations against him.

“As a result, I am currently unable to fulfill my duty and service to my constituents,” Brockman said. Democratic officials in Brockman’s Guilford County district will now choose someone to complete his two-year term through the end of 2026.

Republican House Speaker Destin Hall had announced earlier Friday a bipartisan House committee “to investigate the charges and recommend expulsion if necessary” from the chamber, a Hall news release said. The state constitution gives the House authority to remove its members. The full House last voted to remove a member in 2008.

Hall said later Friday that Brockman’s “departure spares the House from a difficult expulsion process and brings closure to this troubling chapter.”

Records show Brockman, 41, remained in jail Friday on a bond of just over $1 million. A court hearing on a request by Brockman’s attorney to reduce the bond is scheduled for Monday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs has been transferred to a prison in New Jersey to serve out the remainder of his four-year prison sentence on prostitution-related charges.

The hip-hop mogul is currently incarcerated at the Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institute, located about 34 miles (55 kilometers) east of Philadelphia on the grounds of the joint military base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, according to his listing in the federal Bureau of Prisons inmate database as of Friday.

It’s not immediately clear when Combs was moved from the troubled Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he had been held since his arrest last September.

Lawyers for Combs and spokespersons for the agency didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment Friday.

Combs’ lawyers had asked a judge earlier this month to “strongly recommend” transferring him to the low-security male prison so that he could take part in the facility’s drug treatment program.

FCI Fort Dix, one of several dozen federal prisons with a residential drug treatment program, would best allow Combs “to address drug abuse issues and to maximize family visitation and rehabilitative efforts,” Teny Geragos, his lawyer, wrote in a letter.

Combs has already served about 14 months of his 50-month sentence and is set to be released from prison on May 8, 2028, though he can earn reductions in his time behind bars through his participation in substance abuse treatment and other prison programs.

Earlier this week, Combs’ lawyers asked a federal appeals court to quickly consider the legality of his conviction and sentence. The 55-year-old wants his appeal to be considered soon enough that he can benefit from a reduction of time spent in prison if the appeals court reverses his conviction, his lawyers said.

President Donald Trump has also said Combs had asked him for a pardon, though the Republican did not say if he would grant the request.

The founder of Bad Boy Records was convicted in July of flying his girlfriends and male sex workers around the country to engage in drug-fueled sexual encounters in multiple places over many years. However, he was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put him behind bars for life.

In a letter to the judge before he was sentenced, Combs said he has gone through a “spiritual reset” in jail and was “committed to the journey of remaining a drug free, non-violent and peaceful person.”

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The woman remembers when she first moved to the neighborhood more than 20 years ago, and the streets were full of empty storefronts and seemingly relentless poverty.

Today, Minneapolis’ Lake Street corridor is jammed with businesses, many owned by Somali refugees.

“Look at what we did around here,” said Nasra Hassan, a community health worker whose family came to Minneapolis fleeing Somalia’s civil war, speaking one day after the Trump administration slashed the number of refugees allowed into the United States. “Because of us this place is thriving.”

Minnesota’s large Somali community was among the immigrant groups that helped revitalize the Lake Street corridor, which has long called out to newcomers to America. But scattered across the city are other communities and many other businesses built by refugees. They came to escape violence in Mexico, and war in Myanmar. Recent years have seen them arrive from the Congo and Ukraine.

“Where would America be without us?” Hassan asked.

The presidential order caps annual refugee admissions at 7,500, a decrease of more than 90% from last year’s ceiling of 125,000 and the lowest number since the program began in 1980.

Trump indefinitely suspended the refugee resettlement program — which historically had widespread bipartisan support — on his first day in office in 2025, part of his administration’s crackdown on immigration.

But the Thursday order marks a major break for a nation that has long seen itself as a refuge for people in need.

The directive “shut the door on our proud, centuries-long tradition of welcoming those fleeing violence and persecution, leaving thousands in limbo and many more in peril,” Murad Awawdeh, head of the New York Immigration Coalition, said in a statement. He called for “prioritizing those most at-risk, including Afghans, Sudanese, Congolese, Somalis, religious minorities,” and others.

Traditionally, refugee applicants must show a well-founded fear of persecution because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group, or political opinion.

But the Thursday announcement made specific mention of just one group: white South Africans.

Those admitted, it said, “shall primarily be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa,” the descendants of Dutch and French colonial settlers, and “other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands.”

Trump insists Afrikaners are victims of racial persecution, including violence, a claim that has little apparent basis in fact and is strongly denied by the South African government.

Afrikaners are a small minority in South Africa but are tightly woven into the country’s life, whether as farmers, wealthy business leaders or government officials.

Minnesota’s Somali community

Minnesota is home to the largest Somali community in the United States, roughly 87,000 people according to the latest census figures, most of whom live in the Minneapolis area. They have been coming to Minnesota, often as refugees, since the 1990s, drawn by generous social services and an ever-growing diaspora community.

They have become increasingly prominent in the state. Somali-Americans have served on the Minneapolis and St. Paul city councils. They are in the state legislature. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar represents part of the state in the U.S. House.

Today, the Somali community is concentrated in a handful of Minneapolis neighborhoods, including in the Lake Street corridor around the Karmel Mall and its dozens of Somali businesses.

The mall has clothing stores, travel and money transfer agencies, bakeries and a seemingly endless number of coffee shops: Faida Kafe, Sharif’s Coffee, Lativa Cafeteria, Happy Café, and more.

Across the street is a grocery store advertising goat and camel meat. Nearby are Somali-owned auto body shops, more clothing stories and still more coffee shops.

Fartun Weli, a prominent Somali activist, said refugees – from Somalia, Latin America and elsewhere – have seeped deeply into Minnesota life, whether as health care aides or helping stabilize the workforce of shrinking small towns. She wonders what will happen if they can no longer find a haven in the U.S.

“Who is going to take care of our elders, or work in our factories?” she asked.

A New York judge dismissed a legal challenge Friday from Texas seeking to enforce a more than $100,000 civil judgment against a doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to a Dallas-area woman in an early test of the state’s “shield law” designed to protect providers.

Republican Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton wanted a New York court to enforce a civil decision from Texas against Dr. Margaret Carpenter, who practices north of New York City in Ulster County, for allegedly prescribing abortion medication via telemedicine.

But acting Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck refused to file the judgment, saying he was a government employee who had to comply with New York’s shield law, which protects providers from other states’ reach.

New York is among at least eight states with shield laws. Opponents of the laws argue they violate a constitutional requirement that states respect the laws and legal judgments of other states.

Justice David Gandin ruled that Bruck followed New York law and granted his motion to dismiss the petition from Texas. The judge, sitting in Kingston, wrote that the medical services Carpenter rendered are legal in New York and that they fall “squarely within the definition of ‘legally protected health activity’” under the state’s shield law.

Bruck said he was relieved.

“It seemed very clear to me that as a government employee I should not be complying with this,” he said. “Since there was no precedent for the shield law yet, it feels really good to set that precedent.”

It was not clear if the trial court judge’s ruling would be appealed. An email seeking comment was set to Paxton’s office.

A Texas judge in February ordered Carpenter to pay more than $100,000 in penalties for prescribing abortion pills to a woman near Dallas after she failed to appear in court. The judge also issued an injunction barring Carpenter from prescribing abortion medication to Texas residents.

The ruling in Texas was handed down on the same day New York Gov. Kathy Hochul rejected a request from Louisiana to extradite Carpenter, who was charged in that state with prescribing abortion pills to a pregnant minor.

Gandin also denied a motion from Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James to intervene in the case, which could have escalated the interstate court battle. The judge said her intervention was not warranted because the constitutionality of New York’s shield law was not at issue in this case.

RAEFORD, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina deputy shot and killed a 13-year-old boy wanted in the killing of his grandmother when the teenager charged toward the officer with a piece of lumber the boy had picked up during a chase, authorities said Friday.

The State Bureau of Investigation will review Thursday’s shooting involving the Lee County sheriff’s deputy, which is a standard protocol.

The events began in Raeford, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southwest of Raleigh, where the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office said 68-year-old Connie Linen was pronounced dead in her home. Authorities say she was a victim of a homicide but haven’t released details about how she was killed. Deputies initially came to the home in response to a well-being check.

Detectives determined Linen’s grandson to be a suspect, and authorities had completed paperwork charging him with first-degree murder, the Hoke Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said it was told about the homicide, and officers later found the boy behind an abandoned mobile home in the Cameron area.

When deputies approached the boy, he ran away, authorities said. The teenager grabbed a two-by-four from a yard during the pursuit and charged toward an officer, who shot the teen, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said. The office’s news released described the boy as 5 feet, 11 inches (1.8 meters) tall and 150 pounds (68 kilograms).

Lee County Sheriff Brian Estes and the State Bureau of Investigation didn’t immediately respond to emails Friday seeking more information about the shooting and the investigation.

“This has been a tragic and emotional situation for everyone involved,” Hoke County Sheriff Roderick Virgil said Friday. “We ask that our community come together with compassion and understanding as we all process this difficult event.”

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The man who opened fire in a Michigan church and set it ablaze last month was motivated by “anti-religious beliefs” against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the FBI confirmed Friday.

While friends close to the gunman in the deadly shooting have said he long harbored hatred against the church, the FBI had previously declined to specify the motivation behind the attack that left four people dead and the church burned to the ground, except to say it was a “targeted” act of violence.

The gunman, Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, was killed by law enforcement responding to the shooting.

“I am confirming this is a targeted act of violence believed to be motivated by the assailant’s anti-religious beliefs against the Mormon religious community,” Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit field office, said in a prerecorded video message.

Sanford drove his pickup truck into the side of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel in Grand Blanc Township, 60 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Detroit, on Sunday, September 28, while congregants gathered for services. Authorities previously said he used gasoline as an accelerator to light the church on fire in the course of the shooting. The building was destroyed.

Body camera footage released by Grand Blanc Township police shows an officer yelling, “Drop the gun! Drop the gun! Drop it now!” One of the officers tells another, “I’ve got your back, back here man. Yeah stay there. Shoot him!”

The FBI said Friday that nine people were injured in the attack. The previous official count had been eight.

“During our investigation, an additional individual was determined to be “injured” during the Grand Blanc critical incident,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

The four people who were killed have been identified through family and friends as Craig Hayden, William “Pat” Howard, John Bond and Thelma Armstrong.

Lisa Louis, who was in the chapel when her father, Hayden, was fatally shot, wrote in a letter that after looking into the shooter’s eyes, she forgave him, “with my heart.”

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon church and based in Utah, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this month, leaders of the church preached a message of love and forgiveness while gathered to mourn its late president, who died a day before the Michigan attack.

A spokesperson for the FBI did not immediately respond to a request seeking further information on what led the agency to its conclusion of anti-religious beliefs.

Authorities have released little information about Sanford and the attack. People who knew him have said he began vocalizing anti-Mormon sentiments years ago after living in Utah, where he dated and broke up with a girlfriend who was a member of the Mormon faith. Sanford had moved to Utah after leaving the Marines and told his friends he had become addicted to methamphetamines.

An attorney acting as a spokesperson for Sanford’s family did not immediately return a request for comment.

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s request to add a documentary proof of citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form cannot be enforced, a federal judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington, D.C., sided with Democratic and civil rights groups that sued the Trump administration over his executive order to overhaul U.S. elections.

She ruled that the proof-of-citizenship directive is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers, dealing a blow to the administration and its allies who have argued such a mandate is necessary to restore public confidence that only Americans are voting in U.S. elections.

At least 11 people have been sickened, including three who were hospitalized, with salmonella infections linked to Sam’s Club stores nationwide and online, federal health officials said Friday.

Member’s Mark Super Greens Powder Supplements have been pulled from store shelves because they contain moringa leaf powder that may be contaminated with salmonella bacteria, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Infections were confirmed in seven states: Florida, Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina, New York, South Carolina and Virginia. Illnesses were reported between May and September.

The source of the salmonella was traced to a single lot of organic moringa leaf powder imported from Vallon Farm Direct in Jodhpur, India, according to an investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. State health officials in Virginia and Michigan collected and tested samples of the product from the homes of people who fell ill.

Moringa is a plant native to India and other countries prized for essential nutrients including protein, amino acids, vitamins and minerals, according to research published by the National Institutes of Health. Its leaves can be dried and powdered.

Consumers should not eat the supplements and should throw them away or return them to the store for a refund.

Symptoms of salmonella poisoning include diarrhea, fever, severe vomiting, dehydration and stomach cramps. Most people who get sick recover within a week. Infections can be severe in young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems, who may require hospitalization.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has opened the door for sanctions to be imposed on Nigeria for allegedly failing to rein in the persecution of Christians in the West African country.

Trump announced Friday that he would designate Nigeria “a country of particular concern” as it relates to religious freedom, a move that had been pushed by some U.S. lawmakers.

The designation does not necessarily mean that sanctions, which could include a ban on all non-humanitarian aid, will be imposed, but it is one step ahead of that.

“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria,” Trump said in a social media post. “Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN.’”

The Nigerian government vehemently rejects the claims, and analysts say that while Christians are among those targeted, the majority of victims of armed groups are Muslims in Nigeria’s Muslim-majority north, where most attacks occur.

Trump said he would be asking several U.S. lawmakers to look into the matter and report back on what the response to the designation should be.

“The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other Countries. We stand ready, willing, and able to save our Great Christian population around the World!” Trump said.

Designating a “country of particular concern” under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act is an executive prerogative that normally follows recommendations from both the congressionally mandated U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and the State Department.

The State Department usually releases its annual Report on International Religious Freedom in the spring, but has not yet done so this year. The report may or may not include “particular concern” designations, which can be done at any time. And, such designations, which authorize U.S. penalties, do not necessarily impose sanctions.

The State Department’s most recent religious freedom reports cover 2023 and were released last year under the Biden administration. These reports, like others on broader human rights and human trafficking, cover the previous calendar year and are often late in being submitted.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has been trying to rally fellow evangelical Christians to urge Congress to designate Nigeria as a violator of religious freedom with claims of “Christian mass murder.”

He called Trump’s action “a critical step in holding accountable and changing the behavior of Nigerian officials.” Cruz said his legislation would take it further, including targeting those who implement blasphemy and sharia laws in Nigeria.

“I am committed to working with the administration and my colleagues to advance my bill and implement these necessary measures,” Cruz said in his statement.

Nigeria was first placed on the “country of particular concern” list by the U.S. in 2020 in what the State Department called “systematic violations of religious freedom.” But, the designation did not single out attacks on Christians. The designation was lifted in 2023 in what many saw as a way to improve ties between the countries ahead of a visit by then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois lawmakers have sent Gov. JB Pritzker legislation prohibiting federal authorities from making immigration arrests near courthouses, but even one of the measure’s top sponsors questions whether it can survive a court challenge.

The proposal adopted early Friday also allows lawsuits when people believe their constitutional rights have been violated during civil immigration arrests.

The legislation imposes civil damages for false imprisonment when someone attending a court hearing or appearing as a party or witness to a legal proceeding is arrested. Proponents say courts must be accessible to everyone to pursue remedies to violations of their rights.

Democratic Senate President Don Harmon, a lead sponsor, acknowledged the measure will face a court challenge.

“It’s not just about the constitutionality of the law, which I think is sound, but it’s the reality that the courts are stacked against us,” Harmon said. “The federal government can try to remove it from state courts to federal courts. They can try to substitute the government itself for the individual defendants, but that’s not a reason not to try.”

Pritzker, a Democrat, supports the idea and will review the plan when it reaches his desk, spokesperson Matt Hill said.

Two weeks ago, the top judge in Cook County, home to Chicago, issued an order with the same prohibition. It’s unclear whether the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has followed the dictum, but at the time, federal officials dismissed it, saying “there are no legal sanctuaries where you can hide and avoid the consequences for breaking the law.”

The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement, which began two months ago in Chicago and its suburbs, is intended to round up migrants living in the country illegally, particularly those with criminal records. But witnesses have reported repeated incidents in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detain people regardless of citizenship or legal status.

“No one should have to choose between seeking justice and risking their freedom,” said co-sponsoring Sen. Celina Villanueva. “Courthouses must be places where people can resolve disputes, testify and support loved ones, not sites of fear or intimidation.”

The legislation, approved largely along party lines, also requires hospitals, day care centers and higher education institutions to create policies delineating how they would handle immigration agents inside their facilities.

Other states have taken similar action or otherwise adopted practices to protect immigrants. California has limited immigration enforcement action in courthouses since 2017. Guidance published by California Attorney General Rob Bonta says the state can’t control federal immigration action, but “the state has a responsibility to provide safe and secure access to court facilities to all residents regardless of immigration status.”

In September, Connecticut Supreme Court Chief Justice Raheem Mullins issued a policy prohibiting warrantless arrests inside state courts, as well as banning the use in judicial buildings of face coverings, routinely worn by ICE officers.

“Judges, staff, litigants, members of the public, they all must be able to conduct their business in our courthouses without fear of disruption,” Mullins said.

Continued staffing shortages in air traffic control facilities around the country were again causing delays at airports on Friday as the government shutdown neared the one-month mark.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has been warning that travelers would start to see more flights delayed or canceled as the nation’s controllers continue to work without pay during the shutdown, which began Oct. 1.

“Every day there’s going to be more challenges,” Duffy told reporters Thursday outside the White House after a closed-door meeting with Vice President JD Vance and aviation industry leaders to talk about the shutdown’s impact on U.S. travel.

The Federal Aviation Administration reported staffing-related delays Friday at a number of airports, including in Boston, New York City, Nashville, Houston, Dallas and Newark, New Jersey. The airports in Boston, Nashville and New York City were experiencing delays averaging two hours or longer.

Aviation analytics firm Cirium says flight data showed a “broader slowdown” Thursday across the U.S. aviation system for the first time since the shutdown began, suggesting staffing-related disruptions may be spreading.

On Thursday, many major U.S. airports reported below-average on-time performance, with fewer flights departing within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure times, according to Cirium. The data does not distinguish between the different causes of delays, such as staffing shortages or bad weather.

Staffing-related delays at Orlando’s airport on Thursday, for example, averaged nearly four and a half hours for some time, according to the FAA.

Most controllers are continuing to work mandatory overtime six days a week during the shutdown without pay, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association has said. That leaves little time for a side job to help cover bills, mortgage and other expenses unless controllers call out.

Duffy said controllers are also struggling to get to work because they can’t afford to fill up their cars with gas. Controllers missed their first full paycheck on Tuesday.

“For this nation’s air traffic controllers, missing just one paycheck can be a significant hardship, as it is for all working Americans. Asking them to go without a full month’s pay or more is simply not sustainable,” Nick Daniels, president of NATCA, said Friday in a statement.

Last weekend, a shortage of controllers led to the FAA issuing a brief ground stop at Los Angeles International Airport, one of the busiest in the world. Flights were held at their originating airports for about two hours Sunday until the FAA lifted the ground stop.

Some U.S. airports have stepped in to provide food donations and other support for federal aviation employees working without pay, including controllers and Transportation Security Administration agents.

Before the shutdown, the FAA was already dealing with a shortage of about 3,000 air traffic controllers.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is a major piece of the U.S. social safety net used by nearly 42 million, or about 1 in 8 Americans, to help buy groceries.

Originally known as the food stamp program, it has existed since 1964, serving low-income people, many of whom have jobs but don’t make enough money to cover all the basic costs of living.

Public attention has focused on the program since President Donald Trump’s administration announced last week that it would freeze SNAP payments starting Nov. 1 in the midst of a monthlong federal government shutdown. The administration argued it wasn’t allowed to use a contingency fund with about $5 billion in it to help keep the program going. But on Friday, two federal judges ruled in separate challenges that the federal government must continue to fund SNAP, at least partially, using contingency funds. However, the federal government is expected to appeal, and the process to restart SNAP payments would likely take one to two weeks.

Here’s a look at how SNAP works.

Who’s eligible?

There are income limits based on family size, expenses and whether households include someone who is elderly or has a disability.

Most SNAP participants are families with children, and more than 1 in 3 include older adults or someone with a disability.

Nearly 2 in 5 recipients are households where someone is employed.

Most participants have incomes below the poverty line, which is about $32,000 for a family of four, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, says nearly 16 million children received SNAP benefits in 2023.

Who’s not eligible?

People who are not in the country legally, and many immigrants who do have legal status, are not eligible. Many college students aren’t either, and some states have barred people with certain drug convictions.

Under a provision of Trump’s big tax and policy law that also takes effect Nov. 1, people who do not have disabilities, are between ages 18 and 64 and who do not have children under age 14 can receive benefits for only three months every three years if they’re not working. Otherwise, they must work, volunteer or participate in a work training program at least 80 hours a month.

How much do beneficiaries receive?

On average, the monthly benefit per household participating in SNAP over the past few years has been about $350, and the average benefit per person is about $190.

The benefit amount varies based on a family’s income and expenses. The designated amount is based on the concept that households should allocate 30% of their remaining income after essential expenses to food.

Families can receive higher amounts if they pay child support, have monthly medical expenses exceeding $35 or pay a higher portion of their income on housing.

How do benefits work?

The cost of benefits and half the cost of running the program is paid by the federal government using tax dollars.

States pay the rest of the administrative costs and run the program.

People apply for SNAP through a state or county social service agency or through a nonprofit that helps people with applications. In some states, SNAP is known by another, state-specific name. For instance, it’s FoodShare in Wisconsin and CalFresh in California.

The benefits are delivered through electronic benefits transfer, or EBT, cards that work essentially like a bank debit card. Besides SNAP, it’s where money is loaded for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, program, which provides cash assistance for low-income families with children, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

The card is swiped or inserted in a store’s card reader at checkout, and the cardholder enters their PIN to pay for food. The cost of the food is deducted from the person’s SNAP account balance.

What can it buy?

SNAP benefits can only be used for food at participating stores — mostly groceries, supermarkets, discount retail stores, convenience stores and farmers markets. It also covers plants and seeds bought to grow your own food. However, hot foods — like restaurant meals — are not covered.

Most, but not all, food stores participate. The USDA provides a link on its website to a SNAP retail locator, allowing people to enter an address to get the closest retailers to them.

Items commonly found in a grocery and other participating stores that can’t be bought with SNAP benefits include pet food, household supplies like toilet paper, paper towels and cleaning products, and toiletries like toothpaste, shampoo and cosmetics. Vitamins, medicines, alcohol and tobacco products are also excluded.

Sales tax is not charged on items bought with SNAP benefits.

Are there any restrictions?

There aren’t additional restrictions today on which foods can be purchased with SNAP money.

But the federal government is allowing states to apply to limit which foods can be purchased with SNAP starting in 2026.

So far, a dozen states — 11 of them Republican-controlled plus Colorado — have received permission to do so.

All of them will bar buying soft drinks, most say no to candy, and some block energy drinks.

ARTESIA, N.M. (AP) — Emergency crews responded Friday to an explosion at an oil refinery in New Mexico as thick smoke emerged from the plant and drifted across parts of the city of Artesia before crews were able to extinguish the flames.

Artesia Police Commander Pete Quiñones said there were no fatalities but injuries were reported. Eddy County Emergency Manager Jennifer Armendariz said, “I do know that there were some injuries, but I can’t confirm the number.”

The Eddy County Office of Emergency Management had posted on social media earlier Friday for people to avoid the intersection near the refinery since it was being prepared for a landing zone for a medical helicopter.

Authorities said the smoke had dissipated by Friday afternoon and roads were reopened.

A person who answered the phone Friday said a manager at HF Sinclair Navajo Refinery was not immediately available for comment.

The refinery sits adjacent to Artesia’s main intersection, which serves as an artery from the Permian Basin in the southeastern corner of the state to the rest of New Mexico. The company’s website notes that the facility has a crude oil capacity of 100,000 barrels per day, but it wasn’t immediately clear how full the plant was at the time of the incident.

The plant serves markets in the southwestern United States by processing oil acquired from the basin, which is one of the busiest in the world. It operates alongside a refining facility in Lovington, about 65 miles (105 km) away.

___ Associated Press writers Morgan Lee in Santa Fe and Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque contributed to this report.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s Democratic governor on Friday signed a bipartisan bill that will allow candidates to remove their names from the ballot, addressing an issue that arose last year when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to get himself removed from the presidential ballot.

At the time, the only way a certified candidate’s name could be removed from the ballot in Wisconsin was if they died.

Kennedy, who ran for president in 2024 as an independent, wanted to withdraw his name from the ballots in Wisconsin and six other swing states after dropping his bid in late August and endorsing Republican President Donald Trump. Kennedy did not fight for removal in most states where the presidential race was not competitive.

Kennedy successfully removed his name from the ballot in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada. He remained on the ballot in Michigan because courts there said he made his request too late, as well as in Wisconsin, where his removal was forbidden by state law.

Wisconsin’s law for removal is one of the most restrictive in the country, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Gov. Tony Evers signed the measure without comment.

Under the new law, candidates for state and federal offices can rescind their names from the ballot. However, it will not apply to major party candidates because of the unique ways in which they are selected. Independent candidates for president, like Kennedy was, can withdraw.

To withdraw, a candidate must submit a sworn statement to the Wisconsin Elections Commission and pay a nominal fee.

Kennedy took his fight to get off the ballot in Wisconsin and Michigan to the U.S. Supreme Court, but his emergency request was rejected without comment. His request came after early voting had begun in both states.

In Wisconsin, Kennedy got fewer than 18,000 votes, or about 0.5% of the vote total. In Michigan, he got about 27,000 votes, also roughly 0.5% of the total. Trump won Wisconsin by about 29,000 votes and he won Michigan by about 80,000 votes.

Kennedy is serving as Trump’s secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin became the 36th state to limit cellphones and other electronic devices in school Friday, when its Democratic governor signed a bill requiring districts to prohibit phone use during class time.

The measure passed with bipartisan support, though some Democrats in the Legislature said controlling gun violence should be a higher priority than banning cellphones.

In signing the bill, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said he believes that decisions like this should be made at the local level, but “my promise to the people of Wisconsin is to always do what’s best for our kids, and that obligation weighs heavily on me in considering this bill.”

Evers said he was “deeply concerned” about the impacts of cellphone and social media use on young people. He said cellphones could be “a major distraction from learning, a source of bullying, and a barrier to our kids’ important work of just being a kid.”

This school year alone, new restrictions on phone use in schools went into effect in 17 states and the District of Columbia. The push to limit cellphone use has been rapid. Florida was the first state to pass such a law, in 2023.

Both Democrats and Republicans have taken up the cause, reflecting a growing consensus that phones are bad for kids’ mental health and take their focus away from learning, even as some researchers say the issue is less clear-cut.

Most school districts in Wisconsin had already restricted cellphone use in the classroom, according to a Wisconsin Policy Forum report. The bill passed by the Legislature on Oct. 14 would require school districts to enact policies prohibiting the use of cellphones during instructional time.

Of the 36 states that restrict cellphones in school, phones are banned throughout the school day in 18 states and the District of Columbia, although Georgia and Florida impose “bell-to-bell” bans only from kindergarten through eighth grade. Another seven states ban them during class time, but not between classes or during lunch. Still others, particularly those with traditions of local school control, mandate only a cellphone policy, believing districts will take the hint and sharply restrict phone access.

Under the Wisconsin bill, all public schools are required to adopt a policy prohibiting the use of cellphones during instructional time by July 1. There would be exceptions including for use during an emergency or perceived threat; to manage a student’s health care; if use of the phone is allowed under the student’s individualized education program; or if written by a teacher for educational purposes.