AP-Newswatch

Supreme Court halts enforcement of the EPA’s plan to limit downwind pollution from power plants

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is putting the Environmental Protection Agency’s air pollution-fighting “good neighbor” plan on hold while legal challenges continue. It’s the conservative-led high court’s latest blow to federal regulations. The justices Thursday rejected arguments by the Biden administration and Democratic-controlled states the plan was cutting air pollution and saving lives in 11 states. The regulation will remain on hold while the federal appeals court in Washington considers a challenge to the plan from industry and Republican-led states. The rule is intended to restrict smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that burden downwind areas with smog-causing pollution. Energy-producing states Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia challenged it.

The Supreme Court rejects a nationwide opioid settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected a nationwide settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that would’ve shielded Sackler family members who own the company from civil lawsuits over the toll of opioids but also would’ve provided billions of dollars to combat the epidemic. The justices Thursday blocked an agreement hammered out with state and local governments and victims. The Sacklers would’ve contributed up to $6 billion and relinquished ownership of the company but kept billions more. The agreement provided that the Connecticut-based company would emerge from bankruptcy as a different entity, with its profits used for treatment and prevention. The high court had put the settlement on hold last summer, after the Biden administration objected.

The Supreme Court allows emergency abortions in Idaho for now in a limited ruling

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has cleared the way for Idaho hospitals to provide emergency abortions for now in a procedural ruling that leaves key questions unanswered. Thursday’s ruling could mean the issue ends up before the conservative-majority court again soon. The ruling came after an opinion was briefly posted on the court’s website accidently and quickly taken down, but not before it was obtained by Bloomberg News. The Biden administration had argued doctors must be allowed to provide emergency abortions when a pregnant patient’s health is at serious risk. But Idaho said its law does allow abortions to save the life of a pregnant woman and federal law doesn’t require wider exceptions.

How the Biden-Trump debate could change the trajectory of the 2024 campaign

ATLANTA (AP) — Both President Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump hope to jolt a campaign that many voters are just beginning to watch. Thursday’s debate in Atlanta offers unparalleled opportunities for both candidates to try to shape the political narrative. For the Democratic president, the debate gives him the chance to reassure voters that, at 81, he’s capable of guiding the U.S. through a range of challenges. The 78-year-old Trump, meanwhile, could use the moment to try to move past his recent felony conviction in New York. Their performances have the potential to alter the trajectory of the election.

Protesters rally in Bolivia, boosting the president and denouncing the thwarted military coup

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Crowds of Bolivians chanting in support of the president have flooded the streets, denouncing a failed coup attempt that had threatened to pitch the long-troubled South American democracy into chaos. The nation of 12 million watched in shock and bewilderment Wednesday as Bolivian military forces appeared to turn on the government of President Luis Arce, seizing control of the capital’s main square with armored personnel carriers, crashing a tank into the presidential palace and unleashing tear gas on protesters. Analysts say that the surge of public support for President Arce on display Thursday provides the embattled leader with a badly needed reprieve from his political rivalry with his erstwhile ally, former President Evo Morales.

Is she a murderer or was she framed? Things to know about the Boston-area trial of Karen Read

DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — Trial-watchers in a Boston suburb want to know: Did Karen Read kill her police officer boyfriend by slamming into him with her Lexus and then leaving him in the snow after a night out drinking? Or did John O’Keefe get out of her SUV and get beaten up in a fight involving other officers, who dumped his body in a panic and framed Read for his murder? Those are the questions a Massachusetts jury is deciding in a case that created a carnival atmosphere. Outside the courtroom, a self-proclaimed “sidewalk jury” of true crime bloggers and pink-shirted supporters eagerly awaits a verdict.

Ballot box binge: Votes loom in coming days from Mongolia to Iran to Britain in a busy election year

Even in a busy year of elections, the next few days stand out. Voters go to the polls over the next week in fledgling democracies like Mauritania and Mongolia, in the Islamic Republic of Iran and in the stalwart democracies of Britain and France. U.S. President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump were set to hold the first of two TV debates before their expected November standoff. But other countries are facing hard choices that could reorient global politics at a time of war, increasing suspicion among some big powers and worries about issues like inflation and taxes.

Julian Assange is now free to do or say whatever he likes. What does his future hold?

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — One of the most polarizing and influential figures of the information age, Julian Assange is now free after five years in a British prison and seven years in self-imposed exile in a London embassy. What’s next for the WikiLeaks founder remains unclear. Assange landed in his homeland of Australia this week after pleading guilty to obtaining and publishing U.S. military secrets in a deal with Justice Department prosecutors. His wife, Stella Assange, welcomed him home and said he planned to swim every day in the ocean and generally enjoy his freedom. She said her husband would continue to defend human rights but she did not specify how. Assange himself has given no clues.

Prospect of low-priced Chinese EVs reaching US from Mexico poses threat to automakers

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s auto industry has grown concerned that Chinese carmakers may be preparing to set up shop in Mexico to exploit North American trade rules. The Chinese could then send ultra-low-priced electric vehicles streaming into the United States, devastating the U.S. auto industry, which envisions American EVs as the core of their business in the coming decades. To defuse the threat, the U.S. does have a range of options that it might be forced to deploy. Whatever steps the U.S. government might take, though, would likely face legal challenges from companies that want to import the Chinese EVs.

Back to Woodstock, with Wi-Fi: Women return after 55 years to glamp and relive the famous festival

BETHEL, N.Y. (AP) — Beverly Grant hitchhiked to the Woodstock festival in August 1969 without a ticket and slept on straw. Ellen Shelburne arrived in a VW Microbus and pitched a pup tent. After 55 years, the two longtime friends finally got back to the garden — but this time they stayed in a luxury glamping tent. The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, which runs the site, recently rolled out the tie-dyed carpet for the 76-year-old women to promote its new luxury camping — or glamping — facilities and to delve deeper into Shelburne’s trove of photos from the festival held in Bethel, New York.