AP-Newswatch

Beryl unleashes high winds, heavy rains in Texas, stranding residents and leaving 2M without power

MATAGORDA, Texas (AP) — Tropical Storm Beryl was unleashing heavy rains and powerful winds along the Texas coast, knocking out power to more than 2 million homes and businesses and flooding streets with fast-rising waters. Two people were killed when trees fell on their homes. First responders raced Monday to rescue stranded residents. Police in the Houston suburb of Rosenberg urged residents to stay off the roads after one of their high-water vehicles was hit by a falling tree while returning from a rescue. More than 1,000 flights have been canceled at Houston’s two airports. The National Hurricane Center said damaging winds and flash flooding will continue as Beryl continues pushing inland.

Biden tells Hill Democrats he won’t step aside amid party drama: ‘It’s time for it to end’

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden in a letter to congressional Democrats is standing firm against calls for him to drop his candidacy after his dismal debate performance. Biden wrote in a two-page letter Monday “the question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it’s time for it to end.” Biden stresses the party has “one job,” which is to defeat presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in November. Biden’s letter was sent from his campaign to Democratic lawmakers as they return to Washington following the July 4 recess.

Republicans move at Trump’s behest to change how they will oppose abortion

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Republican National Committee’s platform committee is adopting a policy document that reflects former President Donald Trump’s position — opposing a federal abortion ban and ceding limits to the states. It is the first time a national abortion ban has been omitted in 40 years. The new platform language relies on the Constitution’s 14th Amendment to say that states are “free to pass laws” concerning abortion. The move comes as Trump imposes his priorities on the committee as he seeks to steer clear of strict abortion language, even while taking credit for setting up the 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court.

The far right seemed to have a lock on France’s legislative elections. Here’s why it didn’t win

PARIS (AP) — French far-right leader Marine Le Pen appeared to be nearer to power than ever last week after her National Rally party triumphed in the opening round of legislative elections. It looked like an impressive opening position to possibly win or get close to an absolute parliamentary majority in the decisive runoff. But what Le Pen hoped would be a watershed victory turned into another setback. Although her party won more National Assembly seats than ever, it again hit a wall of voters who don’t believe the National Rally should govern France or has shed its links to racism, antisemitism and the country’s still painful World War II past of collaboration with Nazi Germany.

Officials in Oregon’s Multnomah County, home to Portland, report 4 suspected heat-related deaths

DEATH VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Authorities in Oregon’s Multnomah County, home to Portland, have reported at least four suspected heat-related deaths. The region continued to swelter under an early heat wave Monday. Officials say the county medical examiner is investigating at least three heat-related deaths reported on Friday and Sunday. Officials added that a fourth man transported from outside the county died from a suspected heat-related illness at a Portland hospital on Saturday. Authorities say it will take investigators weeks or months to confirm the causes of death. Oregon’s most populous city broke daily record temperatures on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Judge rules Alec Baldwin’s role as co-producer not relevant in fatal set shooting of cinematographer

A New Mexico judge has decided that actor Alec Baldwin’s role as co-producer isn’t relevant to the involuntary manslaughter trial over a fatal shooting on the set of the Western film “Rust.” The actor has appeared in court Monday for a pretrial hearing over a single charge of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a cinematographer. Halyna Hutchins was killed in October 2021 when a gun Baldwin was holding went off during a rehearsal. Baldwin has pleaded not guilty. The three-time Emmy winner has gone from star and leading man to bit player, remaining a household name for nearly 35 years largely on the strength of his real-life personality.

Russia’s heaviest bombardment of Kyiv in 4 months hits a children’s hospital

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Dozens of Russian missiles blasted cities across Ukraine, striking apartment buildings and a large children’s hospital in the capital, where local residents joined emergency crews to search through piles of rubble. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday’s daytime barrage targeted five Ukrainian cities with more than 40 missiles of different types. Ukraine’s air force reported intercepting 30 missiles. Officials said at least 31 people were killed, and more than 150 people were wounded. It was Russia’s heaviest bombardment of Kyiv in almost four months, hitting seven of the city’s 10 districts. Among the other targets was Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s birthplace in central Ukraine, where 10 people were killed.

Gaza destruction likely helped push Hamas to soften cease-fire demands, several officials say

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Several officials in the Middle East and the U.S. believe the level of devastation in the Gaza Strip caused by a nine-month Israeli offensive likely has helped push Hamas to soften its demands for a cease-fire agreement. Hamas over the weekend appeared to drop its longstanding demand that Israel promise to end the war as part of any cease-fire deal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday boasted that military pressure “is what has led Hamas to enter negotiations.” In recent internal communications seen by The Associated Press, messages signed by several senior Hamas figures in Gaza urged the group’s exiled political leadership to accept the cease-fire proposal pitched by U.S. President Joe Biden.

Is college worth it? Poll finds only 36% of Americans have confidence in higher education

A new poll finds Americans are increasingly skeptical about the value and cost of college. More than two-thirds of adults surveyed in the poll released Monday by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation say they feel the U.S. higher education system is headed in the “wrong direction.” Overall, only 36% of adults say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education. The dimming view of whether college is worth the time and money cuts across all demographics. But confidence has dropped most sharply among Republican respondents.

Alice Munro’s daughter alleges sexual abuse by the late author’s husband

TORONTO (AP) — The daughter of the late Nobel laureate Alice Munro is alleging that she was sexually abused by the author’s second husband, Gerard Fremlin, whom Munro remained with because she “loved him too much” to leave. Munro died in May at age 92 and was one of the world’s most celebrated and beloved writers and a source of ongoing pride for her native Canada, where a reckoning with the author’s legacy is now taking place. Andrea Robin Skinner wrote in the Toronto Star that her stepfather first assaulted her when she was 9.