WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court panel on Thursday rejected longtime Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon’s bid to stay out of prison while he fights his conviction for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the U.S. Capitol attack.

Bannon is supposed to report to prison by July 1 to begin serving his four-month sentence for contempt of Congress.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, earlier this month granted prosecutors’ request to send Bannon to prison after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld his conviction.

Bannon’s lawyers had asked the appeals court to allow him to remain free while he continues to fight the conviction all the way up to the Supreme Court, if necessary.

Bannon was convicted nearly two years ago of two counts of contempt of Congress: one for refusing to sit for a deposition with the Jan. 6 House Committee and the other for refusing to provide documents related to his involvement in efforts by Trump, a Republican, to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to Joe Biden, a Democrat.

NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors showed jurors at Sen. Bob Menendez ’s trial on Thursday multiple instances when he researched the value of gold as he tried to help a New Jersey businessman who authorities say bribed him with gold and cash.

The evidence about the Democrat’s online searches was prominently displayed to a New York jury as prosecutors traced the history of his text messages and internet queries as he allegedly tried to aid Fred Dabies, a prominent New Jersey real estate developer who is on trial with him.

The evidence is considered crucial in the government’s effort to prove that Menendez and his wife received gold bars, cash and a luxury car from 2018 to 2022 from three New Jersey businessmen who benefited from favors Menendez allegedly delivered in return.

Menendez, Dabies and another businessman and codefendant, Wael Hana, have pleaded not guilty. His wife, Nadine Menendez, faces trial at a later date after she recovers from breast cancer surgery. She too has pleaded not guilty.

A third businessman pleaded guilty prior to trial and testified against the other defendants before the trial entered its sixth week in Manhattan federal court.

The gold bars found in the home Menendez shared with his wife in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, took a prominent role early in the trial when an FBI agent described a 2022 search of the residence the senator moved into after the couple was married in 2020, two years after they began dating.

The search found gold bars worth more than $100,000 and over $486,000 in cash, some stuffed in the pockets of coats hanging in closets or in shoes and boots. A Mercedes-Benz that prosecutors say was a bribe was parked in the garage.

On Thursday, the topic of gold came up repeatedly as another FBI agent described internet searches Menendez conducted when he researched the price of gold in April 2019, twice in May 2021, again in October 2021, twice in December 2021, once in January 2022 and again in March and May 2022.

Among the searches, Agent Paul Van Wie said, were instances when Menendez researched the worth of a gram, an ounce and a kilo of gold. The agent said a search of Menendez’s internet history since 2008 showed that the senator had never searched for gold prices during that span until April 5, 2019.

Defense lawyers have said gold bars found in the home belonged to Nadine Menendez and that she kept the senator in the dark about gifts she accepted when she was strapped for cash.

Prosecutors sought to prove Thursday through emails, text messages and the online searches for the price of gold that Menendez was interested in gold as he allegedly sought to recommend a new federal prosecutor for New Jersey who could help Dabies get a favorable outcome to a criminal case against him.

The online searches also occurred as Menendez allegedly used his international clout to help Dabies secure a $95 million investment from a Qatari investment fund by taking actions favorable to Qatar’s government.

Daibes has been credited with the construction of a string of luxury waterfront buildings, known as the “gold coast,” in the New Jersey town of Edgewater.

Prosecutors showed the jury email and text correspondence Thursday reflecting that Menendez introduced Daibes to a member of Qatar’s royal family who was a principal in the investment firm and also met with Qatari officials and made public statements supportive of Qatar as the real estate deal was being negotiated.

After the deal was signed in May 2022, prosecutors say, Daibes gave Menendez at least one gold bar.

In the 2022 search of the Menendez home, FBI agents found two 1-kilogram gold bars and nine 1-ounce gold bars with serial numbers showing they had previously been possessed by Daibes, along with about 10 envelopes of cash with tens of thousands of dollars bearing the fingerprints or DNA of Daibes, according to the evidence shown to jurors.

In August 2021, evidence shown to the jury Thursday showed, Menendez used an encrypted messaging application to send Daibes the text of a press release in which he praised the government of Qatar, before texting Daibes: “You might want to send to them. I am just about to release.”

When Menendez was charged last fall, he held the powerful post of chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a position he relinquished after he was charged. He has resisted calls, including from prominent Democrats, that he resign from the Senate.

DOVER, Del. (AP) — A bill allowing doctor-assisted suicide in Delaware failed to win approval in the state Senate on Thursday after narrowly clearing the House earlier this year, but it could come back next week.

The legislation failed in the Democrat-led Senate in a 9-9 tie after three members of the Democratic caucus spoke against the measure. No Republican lawmakers voted for it.

Two Republicans were absent and Smyrna-area Democrat Sen. Kyra Hoffner tearfully declined to vote on the measure she co-sponsored. In a strategic move that could allow the bill to come back for a vote next week before the legislative session ends, Majority Leader Bryan Townsend, of Newark, switched his vote from “yes” to “no.” Under Senate rules, a motion for reconsideration can be made by a member who voted on the prevailing side, which in this case includes the “no votes” and members not voting.

“I just can’t get there,” Stanton Democrat Sen. Jack Walsh explained as he spoke about his older sister’s 10-year fight against breast cancer. He also recounted the plea made by the late college basketball coach Jim Valvano in a 1993 speech marking the start of the V Foundation for Cancer Research as he himself was dying from cancer: “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”

“My sister lived by that motto. … And that’s what I live by. Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up,” Walsh said.

The bill is the latest iteration of legislation that has been repeatedly introduced by Newark Democrat Rep. Paul Baumbach since 2015, and the only version to make it to a floor vote. After lengthy debate in April, House lawmakers voted 21-16 for the measure, which needed at least 21 affirmative votes for passage.

Currently, only 10 states, along with the District of Columbia, have laws legalizing doctor-assisted suicide.

Opponents have expressed ethical concerns about the Delaware legislation and questioned the need for it, given advances in hospice and palliative care in recent years.

Baumbach has said the measure is not intended to replace palliative or hospice care, but to complement them. Townsend noted during Thursday’s debate that the vast majority of doctor-assisted suicides in other states involve people who are under hospice care.

The legislation allows an adult resident of Delaware who is diagnosed with a terminal illness and expected to die within six months to request lethal prescription drugs from a doctor or advanced practice registered nurse who has primary responsibility for the terminal illness. A consulting physician or nurse would have to confirm the diagnosis and prognosis of the patient, who must have “decision-making capacity.”

The patient would have to be evaluated by a psychiatrist or a psychologist if any of the medical professionals was concerned that he or she lacks decision-making capacity. A person also would not qualify for doctor-assisted suicide solely because of age or disability.

The patient would have to make two oral requests for a lethal prescription, followed by a written request, and would have to wait at least 15 days after the initial request before receiving the drugs. The attending doctor or nurse would have to wait at least 48 hours after the written request, which must be signed by two witnesses, before prescribing the drugs.

Supporters say those conditions serve as “guardrails” to ensure that a terminally ill person does not act rashly and is not pressured for family, financial or other reasons to end his or her life.

Wilmington-area Democrat Sen. Spiros Mantzavinos, one of the Democrats who opposed the measure was not convinced, however.

“Should this become law, guardrails can be uninstalled, and modified,” he said.

NEW YORK (AP) — Amtrak trains were temporarily suspended Thursday afternoon from Philadelphia to New Haven, Connecticut, by a circuit breaker malfunction, the national rail service said.

The technical issue led to a widespread loss of power on the tracks between Penn Station in New York City and Union Station in Newark, New Jersey at around 3 p.m.

As a result, trains operating between Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station and New Haven’s Union Station have been are temporarily suspended until further notice, according to Amtrak.

The agency said crews were working to restore power but that significant travel delays were expected.

Earlier Thursday, Amtrak warned on the social platform X that soaring temperatures across a swath of the country may require trains to operate at lower speeds, resulting in delays of up to a hour between noon and 7:30 p.m. for the remainder of the week.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Witnesses say they heard an Ohio man demand the keys to a Jeep that was being towed behind a Missouri couple’s RV before he brutally stabbed them both and killed the man at an Interstate 80 rest area.

James Thompson Jr., 22, was formally charged with first-degree murder and 10 other felonies Thursday morning — a day after the attack at a rest area just outside Grand Island in eastern Nebraska. Thompson — who is from Elyria, Ohio — is represented by the Hall County public defender, who declined to comment on the case.

Part of the attack was captured on a trucker’s dash cam, but some of it happened out of sight inside Gary and Mary Weaver’s RV around 7 a.m. Wednesday, according to the affidavit Hall County Sheriff’s Sgt. Joshua Moline filed in court.

Moline said the video showed a man enter the RV and make stabbing motions toward the woman before going out of view. Then when the woman came out, the man followed and stabbed her several times in the head before she fell to the ground — stopping briefly to yell at the trucker in the semi.

Deputies found Gary Weaver inside the RV with wounds in his chest and head. The 72-year-old died later at a Grand Island hospital. Mary Weaver, 71, was sitting on the ground bleeding beside the RV. She was initially in critical condition with what the sheriff described as life-threatening injuries, but she improved to stable condition Thursday.

The Jeep had been detached from the RV and had blood on it. The Weavers, who are from Eureka, Missouri, had been traveling across Nebraska before they were attacked.

Thompson fled the rest area in a Ford Focus before officers arrived, but a Nebraska State Trooper quickly spotted him exiting the highway at Wood River. Thompson sped away at 120 mph over I-80 and passed another driver before crashing into the Platte River. He was arrested nearby with blood on his shirt and several cuts on his hand.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Federal authorities raided a home belonging to Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao early Thursday as part of a California investigation that included a search of at least two other houses, officials said.

FBI agents carried boxes out of 80 Maiden Lane, a four-bedroom home that property records link to the first-term mayor, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Thao’s spokesperson Francis Zamora referred inquiries to the FBI.

“The FBI conducted court-authorized law enforcement activity on Maiden Lane in Oakland this morning. We are unable to provide additional information at this time,” a bureau statement said.

Agents also conducted searches about three miles to the south at two homes owned by members of the politically influential Duong family that owns the recycling company Cal Waste Solutions, the Chronicle said. The firm has been investigated over campaign contributions to Thao and other elected city officials, the local news outlet Oaklandside reported in 2020.

One of the properties is owned by Andy Duong and the other is connected to David and Linda Duong, according to records cited by the Chronicle.

Phone messages and emails seeking comment on the raid from Cal Waste Solutions officials were not immediately returned. Personal phone numbers for members of the Duong family could not be found.

Thao, 38, assumed office in January 2023 after a stint on the Oakland City Council.

CINCINNATI (AP) — A man who apparently entered a restricted area to retrieve his lost keys at a theme park in Ohio was critically injured when he was struck by a steel roller coaster, police and park officials said.

The 38-year-old man appeared to have entered a fenced area at Kings Island Wednesday night, according to a statement issued by the park near Cincinnati. He was found on the ground with an injury, but details on his condition were not been disclosed. He remained hospitalized.

The man dropped his keys while riding the Banshee, an inverted roller coaster where the train dangles from the track, and then went into the restricted area and was struck by the coaster, according to Mason police.

According to the park’s website, the Banshee is the world’s longest steel inverted roller coaster and reaches speeds of 68 mph (109 kph).

The roller coaster was shut down and will remain closed while the investigation continues. No other injuries were reported.

The park is in Mason, which is about 24 miles (38 kilometers) northeast of Cincinnati.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Nearly three decades after two young women were found with their throats slashed in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, federal authorities announced Thursday that they have identified a convicted serial rapist from Ohio as the person they believe was responsible for the killings.

The bodies of Julianne “Julie” Williams, 24, and her partner, Laura “Lollie” Winans, 26, were found bound and gagged at their campsite in the park in 1996. The killings sent a wave of fear through the LGBTQ+ community, but the FBI said during a news conference Thursday that there is no evidence that the women were targeted because of their sexual orientation.

The long-unsolved killings were reviewed by a new investigative team starting in 2021, said Stanley Meador, the Special Agent in Charge of the Richmond FBI office. Recently, a private lab pulled DNA from several pieces of evidence from the crime scene and sent the genetic profile to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, a database used by law enforcement agencies to match DNA to a criminal suspect.

They got a positive match to Walter “Leo” Jackson Sr., a convicted rapist originally from the Cleveland, Ohio, area. Meador said the FBI then got DNA from the original swab taken from Jackson when he was charged in another rape in Ohio, which confirmed the match. He said the recent DNA testing found there is only a one in 2.6 trillion chance that the DNA found at the crime scene came from someone other than Jackson.

This week, FBI officials were able to tell the families of the two women who they believe committed the killings, Meador said.

“They’ve been seeking answers far too long.” Meador said.

Jackson, who worked as a house painter, died in prison in 2018 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, at age 70. He had served at least four separate prison terms after being convicted of kidnapping and multiple rapes and assaults.

The recent retesting of crime scene evidence showed that both Williams and Winans were sexually assaulted, said Christopher Kavanaugh, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia. Kavanaugh said authorities investigated whether the rapes and killings could be considered hate crimes. But he said they found no evidence that Jackson knew of their sexual orientation or targeted them for that reason.

“Make no mistake, this crime was brutal, this crime was definitely hateful, nevertheless we do not have any evidence” that the crime was motivated by anti-gay bias, Kavanaugh said.

Authorities were vague when asked whether the same DNA testing could have been done years ago and identified the suspect earlier.

In 2001, authorities arrested another man in the killings. Darrell David Rice, a computer programmer from Maryland, was charged with capital murder, and authorities alleged that he selected Williams and Winans because of his hatred of women and gay people.

Rice had pleaded guilty in 1998 in the attempted abduction of a female bicyclist he tried to force into his truck, also in Shenandoah National Park. He was serving an 11-year prison sentence when he was charged with killing WIlliams and Winans. The charges were eventually dropped after forensic testing showed that hairs found at the crime scene ruled him out as a possible suspect.

Williams, who was from St. Cloud, Minnesota, and Winans, who grew up in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, were both experienced hikers and were passionate about environmental issues, Kavanaugh said. They were hiking with a golden retriever named Taj when they were last seen by park personnel on May 24, 1996. Their bodies were discovered on June 1, 1996, at their campsite near Skyline Resort.

Meador said the FBI is continuing to work with other law enforcement agencies to determine if Jackson is responsible for other unsolved crimes.

“Our investigation will not stop,” he said.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — There is sufficient evidence for a Southern California judge to stand trial on a murder charge in the shooting death of his wife, a judge ruled Thursday.

The decision came after a preliminary hearing for Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, who was arrested in August and charged with killing his wife in their home in the upscale neighborhood of Anaheim Hills.

The hearing was held before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Eleanor J. Hunter to avoid a conflict. Until the shooting, Ferguson was presiding over criminal cases in a courtroom about 25 miles (40 kilometers) away in the Orange County city of Fullerton.

Prosecutors declined to comment after the hearing. Ferguson’s attorney, T. Edward Welbourn, said the shooting was a tragic accident.

Ferguson is scheduled to be arraigned in Los Angeles on July 5 on one count of murder and weapons-related enhancements. He remains free on $1 million bail and is required to use monitoring devices for GPS and blood alcohol content.

Ferguson was arrested on Aug. 3 at his home after police found his wife, Sheryl Ferguson, shot to death. Prosecutors said in court filings that the couple had been arguing and the judge had been drinking when he pulled a pistol from an ankle holster and shot her in the chest. Authorities said they later found 47 weapons, including the pistol used in the shooting, and more than 26,000 rounds of ammunition at the judge’s home.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A bill signed into law this week makes Louisiana the only state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every classroom in public schools and colleges — and stirs the long-running debate over the role of religion in government institutions.

Under the new law, all public K-12 classrooms and state-funded universities will be required to display a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” next year.

Civil liberties groups planned lawsuits to block the law signed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, saying it would unconstitutionally breach protections against government-imposed religion. “We’re going to be seeing Gov. Landry in court,” said Rachel Laser, the president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

State officials are stressing the history of the Ten Commandments, which the bill calls “foundational documents of our state and national government.”

Similar bills requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms have been proposed in other statehouses — including Texas, Oklahoma and Utah.

Reasonable and needed or unconstitutional and harmful?

At Archbishop Shaw High School, a Catholic-run school in suburban New Orleans, the head of school, the Rev. Steve Ryan, said he was pleased that the Ten Commandments will be posted on public school walls.

“These laws, which are part of the Judeo-Christian tradition, are good safeguards for society. They are actually reasonable,” Ryan said.

In Baton Rouge, Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican ally of Landry, said she was looking forward to defending the law.

“The 10 Commandments are pretty simple (don’t kill, steal, cheat on your wife), but they also are important to our country’s foundations,” she said on social media.

Opponents of the law argued that eroding the constitutional barrier between religion and government is illegal and unfair.

“We’re worried about public school families and students in Louisiana,” Laser said. “They come from a variety of different traditions and backgrounds, different religious beliefs, nonreligious beliefs and students in those classrooms will be made to feel like outsiders when they see the government endorsing one set of narrow religious beliefs over others.”

Louisiana’s 2020 teacher of the year, Chris Dier, echoed those fears, and said he doesn’t intend to post the Ten Commandments in his classroom.

“I don’t believe in doing something that is unconstitutional and harmful to students,” he said. It is unclear whether there is a punishment for refusing to comply with the mandate.

The law was praised by former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was removed from office in 2003 after disobeying a federal judge’s order to remove a 5,280-pound (2.4 metric tonne) granite Ten Commandments display from the state court building.

“Nobody can make you believe in God. Government can’t tell you that, but it must acknowledge the God upon which this nation is founded,” Moore said.

Members of the Islamic Society of North America and the Council on American-Islamic Relations expressed concerns about the law.

“Is it to highlight universal principles that everyone should embrace? Or is the intent to send a message to Muslim students or others that, ‘Your religion — not welcome here, only one understanding of one religion is welcome here?'” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy director of CAIR.

Mitchell said Muslims respect the Ten Commandments, which are largely reinforced by similar passages throughout the Quran and the teachings of the prophet Muhammad. But he said the context is troubling for reasons including the use of a Ten Commandments translation associated with evangelicals and other Protestants.

Earlier Ten Commandments controversies

In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says Congress can “make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The high court found that the law had no secular purpose but rather served a plainly religious purpose.

In its most recent rulings on Ten Commandments displays, the Supreme Court held in 2005 that such displays in a pair of Kentucky courthouses violated the Constitution. At the same time, the court upheld a Ten Commandments marker on the grounds of the Texas state Capitol in Austin. Those were 5-4 decisions but the court’s makeup has changed, with a 6-3 conservative majority now.

The main differences in the two cases — at least according to the one swing vote, then-Justice Stephen Breyer — was that the Kentucky counties’ officials demonstrated an unmistakable track record of religious motives in the posting, whereas the motives behind the Texas display were more on the “borderline” between religious and secular. Plus, Breyer said, the Texas monument had passed a test of time, standing among other monuments for decades without legal challenge.

Other religion-government fights

After he was removed as chief justice of Alabama Supreme Court in 2003 for his refusal to remove the Ten Commandments monument, Moore was elected to the post again, but was suspended from the bench in 2016 after a judicial discipline panel ruled he had urged probate judges to refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Moore disputed the accusation.

Louisiana has had a prominent role in the church-state legal fight before. In 1987, the Supreme Court struck down a 1981 Louisiana statute that required instruction on evolution to be accompanied by teaching on “creation science.” The court found that the statute had no identifiable secular purpose and the “pre-eminent purpose of the Louisiana Legislature was clearly to advance the religious viewpoint that a supernatural being created humankind.”

Mississippi has mandated the display of “In God We Trust” in schools since 2001. Louisiana passed a similar mandate that became law last year.

The latest pushes to post the Ten Commandments follow a major victory for the religious right in 2022: The Supreme Court ruled that a high school football coach in the state of Washington who knelt and prayed on the field after games was protected by the Constitution.

How the Ten Commandments are viewed

Jews and Christians regard the Ten Commandments as having been given by God to Moses, according to biblical accounts, on Mount Sinai. Not every Christian tradition uses the same Ten Commandments. The order varies as does the phrasing, depending on which Bible translation is used. The Ten Commandments in the signed Louisiana legislation are listed in an order common among some Protestant and Orthodox traditions.

Disputes over the law likely won’t just be about whether the commandments should be mandated on school room walls, but also which version, said James Hudnut-Beumler, a professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

“The Ten Commandments always look universal until you put a shortened list up on the wall and discover that there’s room for dispute.”

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Cline reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Associated Press writers Stephen Smith in New Orleans; Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama; Mark Sherman in Washington; Holly Meyer in Nashville, Tennessee; Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi; and Peter Smith in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday issued a disaster declaration for parts of southern New Mexico, freeing up funding and more resources as crews worked, under the threat of flooding and lightning, to battle a pair of deadly wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced thousands of people to flee.

The declaration will help with recovery efforts including temporary housing, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property and other emergency work in Lincoln County and on lands belonging to the Mescalero Apache Tribe.

Residents of Ruidoso, a mountain village, fled the larger fire with little notice as it swept into neighborhoods on Monday. More areas were evacuated on Tuesday as the fire ballooned, consuming homes nestled among the the ponderosa pines that dominate the hillsides.

The flames advanced Thursday along the mountain headwaters of Eagle Creek and the Rio Ruidoso with 0% containment. Crews used heavy equipment to build fire lines while water and retardant dropped from the air.

“The big concern right now is flooding,” Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford told the KWMW “W105” radio on Thursday. “We got less than two-tenths of an inch of rain yesterday but because of all the burn scar, there’s nothing holding it up. We had flooding already over the bridges.”

An estimated 1,400 structures have been destroyed or damaged, and Crawford estimated about half were homes. Whole portions of some communities were lost, he said.

“These are things that are burnt to the foundations and all the trees around it,” he said. “It’s devastating.”

The rain helped to keep the fire from spreading and high humidity levels and cooler temperatures were expected to help keep the flames in check again Thursday, said Brandon Glenn, with the incident management team that is assigned to the fires.

Hundreds of firefighters have been trying to prevent spot fires, while others are assessing roads and trying to get around to structures and contain pockets of unburned fuel that might flare up.

“It’s a lot of work just getting folks in,” Glenn said during a briefing.

Authorities say a badly burned 60-year-old man who died was found near the popular Swiss Chalet Inn in Ruidoso. His family said he had arranged for a ride from friends but they were unable to get to him Monday since the roads were blocked. It appeared he was overcome after he tried to set out on foot.

On Wednesday, officers discovered the skeletal remains of an unidentified second person in the driver seat of a burned vehicle.

A couple of residents spent Thursday driving around Ruidoso and neighboring Alto, providing reports via social media of what they were seeing. There were neighborhoods where the ground was turned to ash, the trees were blackened and homes were reduced to their foundations, with only fireplaces remaining.

“I am speechless. I’m so sorry everyone,” said Logan Fle, as he drove down one road.

Other homes were still standing, police officers were patrolling and utility crews were working in some areas.

Much of the Southwest has been exceedingly dry and hot in recent months. Those conditions, along with strong wind, whipped the flames out of control, rapidly advancing the South Fork Fire into Ruidoso in a matter of hours. Evacuations extended to hundreds of homes, businesses, a regional medical center and the Ruidoso Downs horse track.

Nationwide, wildfires have scorched more than 3,344 square miles (8,660 square kilometers) this year — a figure higher than the 10-year average, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Nearly 20 wildfires burning in California, Arizona, Colorado and Washington state and elsewhere are considered large and uncontained.

The two southern New Mexico wildfires have consumed more than 36 square miles (94 square kilometers).

The cause of the fires is under investigation.

“This is the one that we always feared the most, and it’s hit,” Crawford said.

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Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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AP Ruidoso wildfires page: https://apnews.com/hub/ruidoso

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The California Supreme Court on Thursday removed a measure from the November ballot that would have made it harder to raise taxes, siding with Gov. Gavin Newsom and his Democratic allies in the state Legislature.

The measure would have required voter approval for tax increases passed by the state Legislature. It also would have raised the threshold required for voter approval of certain local government tax increases to a two-thirds vote at the polls. Currently those tax increases can take affect if a simple majority of voters approve.

The measure would have applied retroactively to most tax increases approved since Jan. 1, 2022. Local governments warned that would mean they could have lost billions of dollars in revenue that had previously been approved by voters.

Newsom has opposed many tax increases during his time in office. But he sued to block this measure, saying it would harm local governments and take away the Legislature’s ability to raise taxes.

Supporters of the ballot measure argued that California has become too expensive and voters need more control over taxes. In a unanimous decision, the court ruled the measure could not be enacted by ballot initiative because it “would substantially alter our basic plan of government.” Justice Goodwin Liu wrote the opinion. “The Supreme Court’s decision to take this dangerous initiative off the ballot avoids a host of catastrophic impacts, protecting billions of dollars for schools, access to reproductive health care, gun safety laws that keep students safe in classrooms, and paid family leave,” said Jonathan Underland, spokesperson for the campaign that opposed the initiative.

MORRILTON, Ark. (AP) — An Alabama man wanted in connection with homicides in Oklahoma and Alabama was apprehended Thursday in Arkansas after a search that spanned multiple southern states, Arkansas State Police said.

Stacy Lee Drake, 50, was taken into custody around 10 a.m. in a wooded area in Morrilton, state police said. He was taken into custody “without incident,” the agency said in a brief statement.

Drake is wanted in connection with homicides and carjackings in Oklahoma, Arkansas State Police said. They said he’s also wanted on other felony warrants from multiple jurisdictions on charges including aggravated robbery, carjacking and murder.

A man and a woman were found dead inside a business near Gans, Oklahoma, near the Arkansas state line, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said. Both had injuries consistent with homicide, and the agency said Drake is a person of interest.

Arkansas authorities initially said Drake was wanted in three Oklahoma homicides, but OSBI spokesperson Hunter McKee said Thursday that Drake has been connected only to the two in the Gans area.

“We’re still investigating what else the suspect might have been involved in,” McKee said, but he added that Drake was not wanted for any other Oklahoma slayings.

The bodies of the two victims were sent to the state medical examiner for identification and to determine the causes of their deaths, the OSBI said.

Drake’s last known address was in Birmingham, Alabama. He was being held Thursday in the Conway County Detention Center in Arkansas. Drake had an extradition hearing scheduled for Friday morning, the jail’s administrator said. It was not immediately clear if Drake had an attorney.

In Alabama, Drake is accused of killing Russell Andrews on May 14, according to the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. Capt. Jack Kennedy of the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit said there is a warrant for Drake on a murder charge. News outlets reported that Andrews, 62, was found dead inside the Alcoholic Anonymous building.

Tuscaloosa authorities said Andrews’ vehicle was stolen when he was killed and hours later was picked up by cameras travelling along an interstate near the Arkansas-Oklahoma border.

SQUAM LAKE, N.H. (AP) — As New England baked in a heat wave Thursday, guests at one campground were keeping their food and beer cold with blocks of ice harvested months earlier from a frozen lake.

And while some relief is expected in the eastern Great Lakes region and New England starting Friday, the National Weather Service said scorching temperatures will linger across the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic region, and even rise in places, including California and Arizona, where they could eclipse 100 degrees (nearly 38 degrees Celsius).

On Squam Lake in central New Hampshire, ice blocks about the size of microwaves that had been packed in sawdust since winter were lifted from an insulated storage hut. It’s been a tradition at the rustic Rockywold Deephaven Camps for more than a century, keeping fresh ice available throughout the summer and into the fall.

Angela Wilcox, who has vacationed at the camp for 16 years, took her children and nephews boating Thursday in search of the lake’s coldest swimming spot.

“This is the hottest it’s ever been, especially in June,” Wilcox said. “We’re kind of shocked.”

Heat index readings combining temperature and humidity were expected to surpass 100 degrees (37.7 C) in many locations across the country, possibly setting some all-time records, the weather service said, and because record overnight temperatures could prevent natural cooling, heat danger could build up indoors.

“Those without access to reliable air conditioning are urged to find a way to cool down,” the service said in its forecast.

In a study published Thursday, a group of scientists said human-caused climate change has drastically increased the odds of experiencing the killer heat baking the Southwestern United States, Mexico and Central America this month. Last year, the U.S. recorded its most heat waves — abnormally hot weather lasting more than two days — since 1936.

Ocean waters are warmer as well, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico, where the season’s first named storm, Alberto, was dumping heavy rain and causing flash flooding along a stretch of the coast from Mexico to Louisiana. This year’s hurricane season is forecast to be among the most active in recent memory.

It’s made for an unusually early start to summer extremes in the northeastern U.S.

It was already nearing 90 degrees (32.2 C) in New Hampshire as John Dupont opened his kettle corn stand at Concord’s 50th annual Market Days Festival. He and his daughter set up two fans and were prepared to drape icy towels around their necks.

“This year is a little challenging because of all the heat. Our kettle gets up to 150,000 BTUs,” he said.

At Johnson’s Dairy Bar in Northwood, Camryn Hildredth tried to offer customers an empty dish for that heartbreaking moment when a scoop of rapidly melting ice cream topples out of the cone, but not all would listen.

“Everybody asks if we have AC. We do not,” she said. “It’s very hot and we get long lines, so it can get very rough sometimes.”

In Burlington, Vermont, Jack Hurlbut said he’s never been so hot in his life. “I live in Vermont for a reason, you know what I mean?” the 28-year-old said.

Hurlbut, who is homeless, joined others in a shady spot on a lawn outside the public library, which was serving as a cooling center.

New York’s state parks had free admission Thursday, and select state-run pools and beaches opened early for swimming, Gov. Kathy Hochul said. New York City’s beaches were available, and although its public pools don’t open until next week, the city keeps a list of hundreds of free air-conditioned sites.

“The humidity is pretty insane,” said Anne-Laure Bonhomme, a health coach who was sightseeing in New York with her family.

Many school districts in New Jersey switched to early dismissals as the school year winds down, and at least two rescheduled their high school graduation ceremonies due to concerns about excessive heat and humidity.

With much of Indiana sweltering, highway crews are starting shifts at 6 a.m., two hours earlier than in cooler seasons, and taking more frequent breaks in air-conditioned trucks in between filling potholes and other roadwork, said Kyleigh Cramer, a spokesperson for the Indiana Department of Transportation.

“They’re able to get in those trucks and cool off right then and there because being out on the road is a little bit different than being in an office,” Cramer said.

Some relief is coming: A cold front is moving into areas near Lake Michigan later Thursday and on Friday, the weather service said. Chicago broke a 1957 record for June 17 on Monday, with a high of 97 degrees (36.1 C).

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Ramer reported from Northwood, N.H. Associated Press writers from across the country contributed, including Lisa Rathke, Kathy McCormack, Rick Callahan and Bruce Shipkowski. Follow AP’s coverage of weather at https://apnews.com/hub/weather

NEW YORK (AP) — Some 580,000 glass coffee mugs are being recalled across the U.S. after dozens of burn and laceration injuries were reported by consumers.

According to a Thursday notice from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the now-recalled JoyJolt-branded “Declan Single Wall Glass Coffee Mugs” can crack or break when filled with hot liquids.

To date, the CPSC added, there have been 103 incidents of these glasses breaking at the base — resulting in 56 injuries. That includes 35 reports of burns across the body from spilled hot liquids and 21 cuts, with seven requiring medical attention like surgery and stitches.

The 16-ounce coffee mugs, distributed by New York-based MM Products Inc., were sold online at the company’s JoyJolt website as well as Amazon.com from September 2019 through May 2022 in sets of six for between $20 and $25. The recalled glasses have model number JG10242 — which can be found on the side of the products’ packaging and order confirmation.

Consumers in possession of these recalled mugs are urged to immediately stop using them, and contact MM Products for a full refund. Registration is also available online at JoyJolt’s recall page.

On this page, the company notes that it issued the voluntary recall because “your safety is our top priority” — later adding that it appreciates impacted customers’ understanding and cooperation.

Amazon is shifting from the plastic air pillows used for packaging in North America to recycled paper because it’s more environmentally sound, and it says paper just works better.

The company said Thursday that it’s already replaced 95% of the plastic air pillows with paper filler in North America and is working toward complete removal by year’s end.

“We want to ensure that customers receive their items undamaged, while using as little packaging as possible to avoid waste, and prioritizing recyclable materials,” Amazon said.

It is the company’s largest plastic packaging reduction effort in North America to date and will remove almost 15 billion plastic air pillows from use annually.

Almost all customer deliveries for Prime Day this year, which happens next month, will contain plastic no air pillows, according to Amazon.

The e-commerce giant has faced years of criticism about its use of plastic from environmental groups, including a nonprofit called Oceana, which has been releasing its own reports on Amazon’s use of plastic packaging.

Matt Littlejohn, senior vice president of strategic initiatives at Oceana, said that Amazon’s efforts to reduce plastic packaging is welcome news, but that there’s still more that the company can do.

“While this is a significant step forward for the company, Amazon needs to build on this momentum and fulfill its multiyear commitment to transition its North America fulfillment centers away from plastic,” Littlejohn said in a prepared statement. “Then, the company should expand these efforts and also push innovations like reusable packaging to move away from single-use packaging everywhere it sells and ships.”

There has also been broad support among Amazon investors who have urged the company to outline how will will reduce waste.

The company disclosed the total of single-use plastic across global operations for the first time in 2022 after investors sought more details on plans to reduce waste. The company said that it used 85,916 metric tons of single-use plastic that year, an 11.6% decrease from 2021.

Amazon began transition away from plastic air pillows in October at an automated fulfillment center in Ohio. The company said that it was able to test and learn at the center there, which helped it move quickly on transitioning to recycled paper filling.

The transition process included changing out machinery and training employees on new systems and machines.

Amazon discovered through testing that the paper filler, which is made from 100% recyclable content and is curbside recyclable, offers the same, if not better protection during shipping compared with plastic air pillows, the company said.

Christian Garcia, who works at Amazon’s fulfillment center in Bakersfield, California, said in a release that the paper filler is easier to work with and that the machinery gives staff more space so that it’s easier to pack orders.

Ongoing efforts to reduce waste include a campaign to ship items without any additional packaging, the company said. In 2022, 11% of all of Amazon’s packages shipped worldwide were without added delivery packaging.

Other efforts include piloting new technology with artificial intelligence and robotics company Glacier to use AI-powered robots to automate the sorting of recyclables and collect real-time data on recycling streams for companies. It’s also partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy on new materials and recycling programs.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Fifteen people were shot after an illegal “sideshow” took over a peaceful Juneteenth celebration in Oakland, California, police said Thursday.

Investigators are seeking multiple shooters — more than 50 shell casings were recovered at the scene — following the violence Wednesday night at Lake Merritt, but no arrests had been made by Thursday afternoon.

About 20 vehicles — mostly all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes — arrived around 8:15 p.m. Wednesday and started a sideshow on the north side of the lake as 5,000 people attended the Juneteenth event.

Sideshows, also known as street takeovers, involve stunts like doughnuts, drifting and burnouts. Street takeovers often involve hundreds of spectators. Cars block access to an intersection, stopping traffic in all directions and making it harder for police to respond. It’s become a widespread problem around the country, including Oakland and other cities across the U.S.

Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell on Thursday said one person walked across the hood of a sideshow vehicle. Multiple occupants got out and attacked the person, whose injuries required them to be hospitalized.

Some of the people in the crowd also attacked police officers, Mitchell said during a news conference. A woman was taken into custody for assaulting an officer while the officer was giving first aid to a gunshot victim.

Detectives are combing social media for leads to the shooters’ identities, Mitchell said.

At least one gunshot victim was in critical condition. The victims’ ages ranged from 20 to 30 years old. Other injuries included the loss of fingers and minor gunshot wounds.

“The opportunity to celebrate with your family and friends should never be marred by gunfire,” Mitchell said.

June 19, or Juneteenth, marks the day in 1865 enslaved people in Galveston, Texas found out they had been freed — after the end of the Civil War, and two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

Juneteenth was designated a federal holiday in 2021 and has become more universally recognized beyond Black America. Many people get the day off work or school, and there are a plethora of street festivals, fairs, concerts and other events.

In 2021, a shooting during a Juneteenth celebration at Lake Merritt left several people injured and a 22-year-old San Francisco man dead.

An investigation into how and why a Jewish student group was erased from a New Jersey high school yearbook found the omission was caused by negligence and carelessness, but was not done on purpose or out of malice, the school district announced Wednesday.

East Brunswick Public Schools hired a law firm to investigate after the situation came to light earlier this month and caused an uproar. A photo of a group of Muslim students appeared in the spot reserved for the Jewish Student Union, and the names of the Jewish group’s members were omitted from the page.

It was the yearbook advisor who placed the incorrect photo on the page, the probe concluded. The advisor said she was rushing to finish production and mistakenly grabbed the wrong photo from a computer folder that stored yearbook images for the Coptic Club, the Muslim Student Association and the Jewish Student Union. The advisor also said it was “too late” to ask for a roster of Jewish Student Union members for inclusion, according to the probe’s written findings.

“I conclude that the use of the incorrect photograph was not purposeful, but rather was a highly unfortunate error,” Yaacov Brisman of Brisman Law, who conducted the probe, said in the report. “I have no basis to find that she acted out of any animus, racial, religious, or political, towards Jewish or Muslim students.”

Brisman said the educator “was at best careless, but her actions can also be considered negligent,” and that she should have “exercised greater attention to detail” and shown more sensitivity. The report suggested an overhaul of the yearbook production process but did not make a recommendation on discipline.

The district said Wednesday it plans more oversight over the yearbook production and review process and that it will also launch a “tolerance training program” next school year.

“While I’m grateful that the results of this investigation show that these actions were serious mistakes without malice, we must now focus on repairing the deep hurt and division that has been created in our school and community,” said East Brunswick Schools Superintendent Victor Valeski. “We will make sure that there is accountability for the mistakes that were made.”

East Brunswick’s mayor had called the yearbook omission a “blatant Anti-Semitic act” and said the probe should consider whether it was a hate crime worthy of prosecution. The New Jersey office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations had called for a “transparent and fair investigation” and said the yearbook incident had triggered “heinous backlash” against Muslim students.

Messages were sent to East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen and CAIR seeking comment on the results of the probe.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Seven people were wounded Wednesday evening in a shooting in Philadelphia, police said.

The shooting happened just before 6:30 p.m. in North Philadelphia.

The victims include a 19-year-old man who was shot in the leg, a 31-year-old woman shot in the hand, a 23-year-old man shot in the buttock, and two women — ages 47 and 29 — who were shot in the thigh, according to police.

A 16-year-old girl was being treated for two graze wounds, police said. An 18-year-old female victim was also wounded in the shooting, according to authorities.

All of the victims were in stable condition, police said.

Investigators were still working to gather additional details. Police said no weapons were recovered at the scene and no arrests have been made.