BY JOEY CAPPELLETTI LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Elissa Slotkin had less than half an hour to reckon with a retirement announcement that would reshape Michigan’s political landscape. The state’s senior senator and the third-ranking Democrat in the chamber, Debbie Stabenow, was about to reveal that she would retire in 2024. Rep. Slotkin, a Democratic congresswoman from Holly, soon met with her team to mobilize for a run at a U.S. Senate seat that Democrats had not expected would be hard to defend in the narrowly divided chamber. A powerhouse fundraiser who had won in one of the nat ..read more

BY REBECCA SANTANA WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump says he’d use the National Guard as part of efforts to deport millions of migrants across the country if he’s reelected, signaling that he’s doubling down on anti-immigration rhetoric that fueled his previous rise to power. Trump’s comments came during a lengthy in-person and telephone interview with Time magazine earlier this month. The accompanying story was published online on Tuesday. Trump didn’t say how exactly he’d carry out the deportation operations and what role the National Guard would play in them. Trump, th ..read more

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK, JENNIFER PELTZ, JAKE OFFENHARTZ AND COLLEEN LONG NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump was held in contempt of court Tuesday and fined $9,000 for repeatedly violating a gag order that barred him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others connected to his New York hush money case. If he does it again, the judge warned, he could be jailed. Prosecutors had alleged 10 violations, but New York Judge Juan M. Merchan found there were nine. Trump stared down at the table in front of him as the judge read the ruling, frowning sli ..read more

BY JILL COLVIN NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump met privately with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the weekend, marking a détente between the former rivals after a brutal Republican primary contest marked by insults and bruised egos, according to three people familiar with the discussion. The meeting, which lasted three hours, was organized to help the men bury the hatchet and discuss potential joint fundraising efforts, according to one of the people, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity to share details of the private get-together. The govern ..read more

BY MATT BROWN AND STEVE PEOPLES NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump says he wants to hold a major campaign event at New York’s Madison Square Garden featuring Black hip-hop artists and athletes. Aides speak of Trump making appearances in Chicago, Detroit and Atlanta with leaders of color and realigning American politics by flipping Democratic constituencies. But five months before the first general election votes are cast, the former president’s campaign has little apparent organization to show for its ambitious plans. His campaign removed its point person for coalitions and ..read more

BY AMY BETH HANSON HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Montana law that appeared to require people to cancel any previous voter registrations before signing up to vote in the state, or risk facing felony charges. U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris said Wednesday that he agreed with the plaintiffs who argued the law was vague and overbroad and could cause people to decide not to register to vote for fear of being charged with a crime. The penalties include fines of up to $5,000 and up to 18 months in prison. “The Court’s ruling protects Montanans and their co ..read more

BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE AND CHRIS MEGERIAN WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden picked up the endorsement of North America’s Building Trades Unions at a Wednesday event where the president and his allies set out to dismantle Republican Donald Trump’s reputation as a successful real estate developer. “Donald Trump is incapable of running anything,” said Sean McGarvey, the organization’s president. “God help us if he gets anywhere near the White House in the future.” The event, held in a Washington hotel ballroom with a boisterous crowd of union members, was another salvo in the ba ..read more

BY MARC LEVY HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — When Nikki Haley suspended her presidential campaign, she refused to endorse Donald Trump as the last remaining major candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination — and apparently so did some of her supporters in Pennsylvania. Haley won almost 17% of Pennsylvania’s primary vote Tuesday, or 1 in 6 votes, to Trump’s 83%, despite not campaigning for president since she ended her bid in early March. Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes up for grabs in the presidential election make it a premier battleground state. So should those ..read more

BY DAVID A. LIEB A conservative quest to limit diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives is gaining momentum in state capitals and college governing boards, with officials in about one-third of the states now taking some sort of action against it. Tennessee became the latest when the Republican governor this week signed legislation that would prohibit banks and other financial institutions from considering a customer’s participation — or lack thereof — in “diversity, equity and inclusion training” or “social justice programming.” That came shortly after the Democratic governor in Kansas ..read more

BY MATTHEW BROWN BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration on Thursday finalized a new rule for public land management that’s meant to put conservation on more equal footing with oil drilling, grazing and other extractive industries on vast government-owned properties. Officials pushed past strong opposition from private industry and Republican governors to adopt the proposal. GOP members of Congress said in response that they will seek to invalidate it. The rule from the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management — which oversees more than 380,000 square mi ..read more