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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A veteran water expert from Arizona says the Trump administration withdrew his nomination to lead the federal agency that oversees water management in the western U.S., leaving the Bureau of Reclamation without permanent leadership this year.

Ted Cooke told The Associated Press late Wednesday that he was preparing for a Senate confirmation hearing early this month but his name was removed from the agenda. He wasn’t told until this week that there was an unspecified issue with his background check. Cooke said the White House didn’t offer any details and asked only that he withdraw himself from consideration.

“The real story here is that I’ve been sacrificed on the altar of political expediency because of party politics and maybe Colorado River basin intrigues,” Cooke said, adding that he believes he was given a fabricated excuse “to avoid having any discussion on what the real issue is.”

Cooke said he didn’t know what the issue was.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested that he is working to reestablish a U.S. presence at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, four years after America’s chaotic withdrawal from the country left the base in the Taliban’s hands.

Trump floated the idea during a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as he wrapped up a state visit to the U.K. and tied it to the need for the U.S. to counter its top rival, China.

“We’re trying to get it back,” Trump said of the base in an aside to a question about ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

While Trump described his call for the U.S. military to reestablish a position in Afghanistan as “breaking news,” the Republican president has previously raised the idea. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about whether it or the Pentagon has done any planning around returning to the sprawling air base, which was central to America’s longest war.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed 48 of President Donald Trump’s nominees at once, voting for the first time under new rules to begin clearing a backlog of executive branch positions that had been delayed by Democrats.

Frustrated by the stalling tactics, Senate Republicans moved last week to make it easier to confirm large groups of lower-level, non-judicial nominations. Democrats had forced multiple votes on almost every one of Trump’s picks, infuriating the president and tying up the Senate floor.

The new rules allow Senate Republicans to move multiple nominees with a simple majority vote — a process that would have previously been blocked with just one objection. The rules don’t apply to judicial nominations or high-level Cabinet posts.

“Republicans have fixed a broken process,” Thune said ahead of the vote.

The Senate voted 51-47 to confirm the four dozen nominees. Thune said that those confirmed on Thursday had all received bipartisan votes in committee, including deputy secretaries for the Departments of Defense, Interior, Energy and others.

Among the confirmed are Jonathan Morrison, the new administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and Kimberly Guilfoyle as U.S. ambassador to Greece. Guilfoyle is a former California prosecutor and television news personality who led the fundraising for Trump’s 2020 campaign and was once engaged to Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr.

NEW YORK (AP) — Three months after his release from an immigration jail, Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil is facing the growing threat of deportation for his role in campus protests against Israel.

In court documents made public Wednesday, an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled that Khalil should be deported for failing to disclose information on his green card application.

The decision marked a setback for Khalil, a lawful U.S. resident and recent Columbia University graduate student who became the first person targeted by President Donald Trump’s aggressive crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists. But while the ruling puts him one step closer to a final order of removal, it is far from the last word in the case.

For now, Khalil remains protected from detention and deportation under a separate judicial order. His legal team has said they intend to appeal the immigration judge’s ruling, which Khalil has characterized as “further evidence of retaliation” from a “kangaroo court.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/36082993

A federal raid at a popular Mexican restaurant in Colorado's high country quickly grew into a community protest Tuesday, as Homeland Security agents said they were there to execute a criminal search warrant but left without making any arrests.

Agents blocked off Hacienda Real on Summit Boulevard in Frisco with crime scene tape before seizing computer towers and other evidence in bags. At the same time, the owner, Luis Flores, said they also asked for employee records, including immigration documents tied to his staff.

"I just want to thank you for the support," Flores said of the crowd that gathered outside his restaurant, tapping his chest. "It's just too hard."

More than 30 community members and school officials gathered, voicing frustration over the heavy federal presence.

A federal raid at a popular Mexican restaurant in Colorado's high country quickly grew into a community protest Tuesday, as Homeland Security agents said they were there to execute a criminal search warrant but left without making any arrests.

Agents blocked off Hacienda Real on Summit Boulevard in Frisco with crime scene tape before seizing computer towers and other evidence in bags. At the same time, the owner, Luis Flores, said they also asked for employee records, including immigration documents tied to his staff.

"I just want to thank you for the support," Flores said of the crowd that gathered outside his restaurant, tapping his chest. "It's just too hard."

More than 30 community members and school officials gathered, voicing frustration over the heavy federal presence.

DENVER — The debate over the gas stove inside your home is headed to court.

Lawmakers passed a new Colorado law requiring safety labels on new gas stoves being sold. The law would require labels in both English and Spanish. Advocates say this would help people understand the impact of gas stoves on the air quality inside their homes.

On the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) website, the agency shared:

“There is evidence that particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, benzene, formaldehyde, and methane can be released into indoor air from gas stoves.1"
"According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air pollutants can build up to levels that may affect people’s health if the space is not properly ventilated.2”

If a company doesn't comply with the safety label requirement, they could face a $20,000 penalty for deceptive trade practices, according to the new law.

Two days after CDPHE posted about the gas stoves, the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) filed an emergency injunction. It was filed the same day the law was supposed to go into effect.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Francisco supervisor was recalled Tuesday after he successfully pushed to turn a stretch of coastal highway used heavily by neighborhood motorists into a car-free park despite strong objections by his constituents.

Supervisor Joel Engardio became the fifth elected official to be ousted in a recall vote in four years. He conceded, saying in a statement that he accepts the outcome and still stands by his decision to help create a park called Sunset Dunes.

“Sunset Dunes is a success. It’s good for the environment, good for our local economy, and it’s bringing joy to people of all ages,” Engardio wrote. “Very soon, we will wonder why this was ever a controversy. We won’t be able to imagine San Francisco without a coastal park and all the benefits it offers.”

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine expects there will be around $3.5 billion by next month in a fund to buy weapons from the United States and help sustain its more than three-year fight against Russia’s all-out invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday.

The financial arrangement known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL, pools contributions from NATO members, except the United States, to purchase American weapons, munitions and equipment.

“We received more than $2 billion from our partners specifically for the PURL program,” Zelenskyy said at a joint news conference in Kyiv with visiting European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. “We will receive additional money in October. I think we will have somewhere around $3.5-3.6 billion.”

Zelenskyy declined to provide details of what weapons the first shipments would include, but said that they would definitely contain missiles for Patriot air defense missile systems and munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS.

An end to the war appears no closer, despite months of U.S.-led peace efforts.

PROVO, Utah (AP) — During the frantic search to find Charlie Kirk’s assassin, the 22-year-old man now charged with capital murder texted his romantic partner and confessed to carrying out an attack he planned for more than a week, court documents said.

Prosecutors revealed a series of incriminating texts, a hidden note and DNA evidence while announcing the charges and their intent to seek the death penalty against Tyler Robinson in the killing of Kirk, a prominent conservative activist and confidant of President Donald Trump.

Investigators say that sometime after Robinson fired a single fatal shot from the rooftop of a Utah Valley University building overlooking where Kirk was speaking to about 3,000 people on Sept. 10, he texted his partner and said to look under a keyboard.

There was a note, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it,” according to court documents.

After expressing shock, his partner who lived with Robinson in southwestern Utah, asked Robinson if he was the shooter. Robinson responded, “I am, I’m sorry.”

Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray said that DNA on the trigger of the rifle bolt-action rifle used to kill Kirk on the campus in Orem, south of Salt Lake City, matched Robinson. That rifle had been a gift from Robinson’s grandfather, the prosecutor said.

Robinson appeared briefly Tuesday before a judge by video from jail. He mostly stared ahead as the judge read the charges and said he would appoint an attorney to represent him. Robinson’s family has declined to comment to The Associated Press since his arrest.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Democrat Xp Lee won a special election Tuesday to fill the Minnesota House seat of a top Democratic leader who was assassinated, restoring a 67-67 tie and preserving a power-sharing deal that has forced both parties to work together.

Rep. Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, held the seat until her death in June.

Lee is a former Brooklyn Park City Council member. He defeated Republican real estate agent Ruth Bittner in the heavily Democratic district.

Lee promised he would “work hard every day” to honor Hortman’s legacy.

“We did our best to make her proud: knocking on doors daily, making phone calls, and texting every neighbor we could,” Lee said in a victory statement.

Lee’s win maintains a power-sharing arrangement that existed for most of the 2025 legislative session, after the 2024 elections cost House Democrats their majority.

Former House Speaker Hortman brokered that agreement, which ended Democrats’ three-week boycott. Under the deal, she agreed to end her six-year tenure as speaker and let Republican Lisa Demuth take the position. Hortman then took the title speaker emerita. Most legislative committees became evenly split between Republican and Democratic members, with co-chairs from each party.

The tie in the House meant some level of bipartisan agreement was required to pass anything in this year’s session.