Associated Press WICHITA, Kan. — A 45-year-old man has pleaded guilty in the theft of a bronze Jackie Robinson statue that was cut off at the ankles and found days later smoldering in a trash can in a city park in Kansas. Ricky Alderete entered the plea during his arraignment Thursday. A judge signed off on it Friday. Authorities arrested him in February, with court records alleging he entered a Wichita home with the intent to kidnap someone as part of an effort to interfere with law enforcement. He then was charged later that month with felony theft and aggravated criminal damage to property ..read more

By Alayna Treene | CNN As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sustains his support in public polls and makes steady progress on gaining ballot access in states across the country, his independent presidential bid is confounding the campaign of former President Donald Trump and its Republican allies. In recent weeks, Kennedy has gone from a perceived nuisance to a political problem that the Trump campaign is eager to swiftly extinguish, according to conversations with multiple people close to the former president. Trump himself has noticeably escalated his attacks on Kennedy in recent weeks, including postin ..read more

By Ellen Knickmeyer, Aamer Madhani and Matthew Lee | Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Biden administration said Friday that Israel’s use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but wartime conditions prevented U.S. officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes. The finding of “reasonable” evidence to conclude that the U.S. ally had breached international law in its conduct of the war in Gaza was released in a summary of a report being delivered to Congress on Friday. It is the strongest statement that the Biden administration has ma ..read more

Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Powerful storms left thousands without electricity Friday in Florida and other Southeastern states, where damaging winds toppled trees onto homes and power lines following days of deadly severe weather that produced tornadoes in Michigan, Tennessee and other states. The National Weather Service said wind gusts of 71 mph (114 kph), just shy of hurricane force, were recorded in Tallahassee, where images posted on social media showed mangled metal and other debris from damaged buildings littering parts of Florida’s capital city. The storm knocked two chimneys ..read more

Kacen Bayless | (TNS) The Kansas City Star JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Cole County judge will decide whether the Missouri Republican Party can block a candidate with alleged ties to the Ku Klux Klan from running for governor as a Republican. Circuit Court Judge Cotton Walker held a one-day trial in Jefferson City on Thursday over a lawsuit from the state party seeking to remove the candidate, Darrell Leon McClanahan III, from the August ballot. McClanahan, who resides in Milo, a small village in southwestern Vernon County, filed to run for governor as a Republican and paid his $500 filing fee ..read more

Noah Bierman | (TNS) Los Angeles Times President Joe Biden spent his Earth Day in a national forest this year with an explicit pitch to young people: a climate jobs corps intended to excite Gen Z the way John F. Kennedy’s Peace Corps inspired their grandparents. Biden took a selfie with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive New York Democrat, to remind voters that he was the first president to truly embrace elements of her Green New Deal, signing a signature $369-billion spending package in 2022 — the biggest climate bill in American history — to ignite the re ..read more

Matt Vasilogambros | (TNS) Stateline.org Preventing people who are not United States citizens from casting a ballot has reemerged as a focal point in the ongoing Republican drive to safeguard “election integrity,” even though noncitizens are rarely involved in voter fraud. Ahead of November’s presidential election, congressional and state Republican lawmakers are aiming to keep noncitizens away from the polls. They’re using state constitutional amendments and new laws that require citizenship verification to vote. Noncitizens can vote in a handful of local elections in several states, but alre ..read more

Arthur Allen | (TNS) KFF Health News When doctors began using the drug sotorasib in 2021 with high expectations for its innovative approach to attacking lung cancer, retired medical technician Don Crosslin was an early beneficiary. Crosslin started the drug that July. His tumors shrank, then stabilized. But while the drug has helped keep him alive, its side effects have gradually narrowed the confines of his life, said Crosslin, 76, who lives in Ocala, Florida: “My appetite has been minimal. I’m very weak. I walk my dogs and get around a bit, but I haven’t been able to golf since last July.” H ..read more

David Matthews | New York Daily News Stormy Daniels blasted Donald Trump on social media Thursday night, just a few hours after she finished testifying against the former president in his Manhattan hush-money trial. “Real men respond to testimony by being sworn in and taking the stand in court. Oh…wait. Nevermind,” she wrote in a post on X — a taunting reference to Trump not testifying in the case and using his own social media accounts to rail against the proceedings. The zinger came after Trump’s lawyers unsuccessfully requested a mistrial based on Daniels’ testimony. If ..read more

Jessie Hellmann | (TNS) CQ-Roll Call WASHINGTON — Six months after the launch of the Biden administration’s “birthing friendly” designation for hospitals, advocates are questioning the next steps for the tool aimed at incentivizing better care for patients. Beginning last fall, hospitals that achieved the designation received an icon on Care Compare, a federal website aimed at helping consumers pick health care providers. But it’s not difficult for hospitals to receive the designation, with 2,225 — that is, most eligible hospitals — having received it as of April. Of the nearly 1,000 acut ..read more