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July 14 (UPI) — Billionaire investor Warren Buffet left the Gates Foundation out of his annual charitable stock gifts and said he would give all his stock for the year to his charities run by his children.

Berkshire Hathaway said that Buffet, 95, will donate 9 million Class B shares of the company to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and 1 million shares each to the Susie Buffet-run Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation, which was founded by Peter and Jennifer Buffet. “My goal is to dispose of all of my Berkshire shares within about eight years,” Buffett said in a statement announcing the gifts. “As I explained last year, my children are unfortunately growing older. I have every hope that the three of them are able to carry out the disposal of my shares by Dec. 31, 2034.”

In previous years, the Gates Foundation was the largest recipient of his Berkshire donations. Buffett has donated more than $47 billion of Berkshire stock to the Gates foundation. The Wall Street Journal reported that Buffett was waiting for the outcome of a probe into the foundation’s involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, the sex offender who died by suicide while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges.

In March, Buffett told CNBC that he hadn’t spoken to Gates “at all since the whole thing was unveiled.”

Forbes values Buffett’s net worth at $147 billion, making him the 10th wealthiest person in the world.

July 14 (UPI) — Two Supreme Court Justices are planning to testify before Congress Tuesday about the Court’s budget ask for extra security amid growing threats.

Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett plan to appear before the House Appropriations subcommittee that approves funding for the Court to discuss the request for a $16.6 million budget increase to improve security for the justices at work and home. But questioning could veer toward several recent controversial decisions the Court made in its 2025-2026 term.

The budget increase requested is $20.6 million for fiscal year 2027. It asks for $14.6 million to give each justice six more security agents and 25 extra officers at the Supreme Court building, The Washington Post reported. The request also includes $2 million for a residential security office to coordinate home security.

It will be the first time Court justices have gone before Congress since 2019.

Supreme Court justices regularly face personal attacks from politicians and the public who may be displeased with their decisions.

Barrett’s home was “swatted” in May, when a caller reported gunshots at her home to lure police there. In October, a woman was sentenced to eight years in prison for planning to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Chief Justice John Roberts spoke out in March against personal attacks on judges after President Donald Trump criticized the justices for striking down his tariffs.

“Personally directed hostility is dangerous and has got to stop,” Roberts said during a speech in Houston.

Sending justices to Congress has become rare. Until 2011, at least one justice had appeared before Congress every year. Since then, there have been only three appearances.

July 14 (UPI) — The consumer price index for the year ending in June rose 3.5%, less than economists expected, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.

For the month, consumer prices fell by 0.4% due in part to the energy index dropping by 5.7%. It was the largest decline in the energy index in more than six years, following a spike in energy prices due to the Iran war and closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The consumer price index decline for the month followed a 0.5% increase in May, also making the decrease a six-year best for a single month.

The energy index remains high for the 12 months ending in June, up by 15.7%. This is bolstered by a 26.7% increase in the index for gasoline.

Energy services decreased by 0.7% on a per-month basis, putting the annual rate of inflation at 3.9%. Electricity fell by 1% to an annual 4% increase while utility gas service rose by 0.5% to an annual 3% rate of inflation.

June’s index beat estimates by the Dow Jones consensus, which projected a 0.2% decrease in the consumer price index with annual inflation at about 3.8%.

The index for all items not counting volatile food and energy, known as core inflation, remained steady between May and June. Core inflation measured at 2.6% for the year ending in June after reading at 2.9% in May.

The index for food rose by 0.2%, as did the indexes for food at home and food away from home. The annual index for food rose by 3%.

Tuesday’s report comes as new Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh appears before Congress. In his prepared remarks, Warsh will tell Congress that the “number one objective is to get monetary policy right.”

“That is our clear and constant aim, the star we steer by,” Warsh’s prepared statement reads. And if we get policy right — and we will — the inflation surge of the last five years will be a thing of the past.”

July 14 (UPI) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order Tuesday putting a moratorium on building large data centers for one year.

Hochul, a Democrat, signed the executive order pausing environmental permits and said that the delay would give the state legislature time to create new laws that protect the electrical grid, environment and communities.

The order is the first statewide ban in the United States.

“As data center development threatens to hike up utility bills, deplete our natural resources, and create uncertainty for New Yorkers, it’s my responsibility to take action and lead,” Hochul said in a statement. “New York will lead the way in creating the strongest standards in the nation for data center development, ensuring that when companies succeed because of New York, New Yorkers succeed, too.”

The order will temporarily block the state from approving permits for data centers that use 50 or more megawatts of power. During that time, the state will create a regulatory framework for assessing how the projects affect the environment.

The ban won’t delay projects that already have the needed permits.

Hochul also called on lawmakers Tuesday to repeal sales tax exemptions for data centers.

New York has fewer data centers than some other states, such as Texas and Virginia. But some projects have sparked local battles around the state.

Though states once courted the artificial intelligence companies’ investment, sentiment has since soured. Data centers use an enormous amount of electricity and are adding a huge burden to the electrical grid.

A May Gallup poll showed that more Americans would rather live near a nuclear power plant than a data center.

In Monterey Park, Calif., voters recently blocked data center construction permanently. But in April, Maine Gov. Janet Mills vetoed legislation that blocked construction of data centers because she said it could block a project in a town that supported a local data center.

The Seminole Nation passed a complete moratorium that bans development on its tribal land.

Hochul’s team didn’t say how many proposed data centers the moratorium would affect, but Cleanview lists 25 proposed facilities in the state, and a planned 300-megawatt facility near Ithaca has seen protests and backlash from locals, The Washington Post reported.

Lawmakers in New York recently passed a bill that called for a one-year moratorium but Hochul’s action allows the governor to move quickly while she reviews the legislation, the office said.

“This is an important victory for the thousands of New Yorkers who demanded that their government take action to put a pause on hyperscale data centers,” said Mitch Jones, managing director for policy and litigation at environmental group Food & Water Watch.

July 14 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has signed a pair of executive orders shrinking two southern Utah national monuments by more than a million acres each, sparking anger from environmentalists who say the moves will open the formerly protected lands to exploration.

The executive orders reduce the size of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument from 1.87 million acres to about 181,500 acres and the Bears Ears National Monument from 1.36 million acres to 121,100 acres. Both are located in redrock country.

Trump signed the orders on Monday in the Oval Office while surrounded by Utah’s Republican leadership, including Gov. Spencer Cox, Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis and several GOP House representatives.

“This is a big day for Utah,” Cox said.

The executive orders mark the latest development in the nearly decade-long tug-of-war over the size of the monuments, though Republicans have opposed Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and its 1.7-million-acre boundary since President Bill Clinton designated it in 1996. The Bears Ears National Monument was designated by President Barack Obama in late 2016.

During his first term, Trump shrunk both monuments — Bears Ears by 85% and Grand Staircase-Escalante by almost half — only for President Joe Biden to restore both of them to their previous boundaries in 2021.

Republicans, including Cox, argue that the monuments violate the Antiquities Act, which limits the designation to the smallest parcel of land necessary for the proper care and management of the objects to be protected. In a White House fact sheet on the executive orders, the Trump administration argues that the term “objects of historic or scientific interest” has been stretched to include landscapes and biodiversity.

“Now, we care. We definitely care about protecting these antiquities and will continue to do so. The problem is with these giant monument designations, there are resources that come with those,” Cox said at the White House press conference.

“We’re grateful that the president has made a determination that we need to rightsize these monuments.”

He added that this will not remove protections already in place, but will make “the monuments more manageable so that we have the resources necessary to continue to protect these antiquities.”

Trump criticized the size of the monuments, saying the designations prevented the public from using the land.

“You can’t go hunting. You can’t go fishing. You can’t do anything. You can virtually not even walk on it,” he said, though the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources states that people can hunt and fish in both monuments.

Environmental groups have been fighting to maintain the size of both monuments since Trump originally shrunk them, pointing to the fact that Grand Staircase-Escalante was designated due to its wide array of scientific and historic resources and Bears Ears was created following a proposal by five Tribal Nations.

Scott Braden, executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said Monday’s executive orders make clear that Utah is the “epicenter of Republican efforts to dismantle and obliterate America’s system of public lands.”

“These two landscapes deserve to be protected for current and future generations of Utahns and Americans, not opened to exploitation,” Braden said in a statement, adding that the group would challenge the executive orders in court.

“We are confident that President Trump’s reckless and unlawful acts will be rejected and the monuments restored.”

According to the Center for Western Priorities, the executive orders may open the land formerly part of the monuments for sale or lease to oil, gas, mining and logging companies within 60 days.

“The people of Utah and the entire country have spoken with one voice: These lands belong to all of us, not Mike Lee, President Trump or the mining companies his kids are in business with,” CWP Executive Director Aaron Weiss said in a statement.

July 13 (UPI) — Pete Hegseth, secretary of the U.S. Defense Department, announced Monday that the Pentagon will team up with the Justice Department to “identify and prosecute” those leaking information to the press.

In a video posted on social media, Hegseth said he has delegated tasking authority to the department’s office of general counsel, empowering it to “request and receive all information, records and support across the department concerning media leak investigations.”

“Leaked information risks lives; these new tools and processes will greatly assist us in protecting our joint force,” Hegseth said. He thanked acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for “his help in this important project.”

The task force announcement comes after the Trump administration issued subpoenas this weekend to New York Times journalists, demanding they testify in front of a federal grand jury “in regard to an alleged violation of federal criminal law.” The Times reported last week, using anonymous sources, about security concerns involving President Donald Trump‘s new Air Force One, which was donated by Qatar.

Representatives from the Times also said a senior FBI official contacted a reporter and senior editor before the story ran, wanting the article to be withheld and asking for the names of sources.

A top newsroom lawyer for the Times said the journalists report the facts and “advance the American public’s right to know how their government is operating and their taxpayer dollars are being used.”

“This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs,” lawyer David McCraw said.

Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Covington said in response to the Times that reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are.”

Earlier in 2026, the Justice Department also issued subpoenas to journalists at The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. It withdrew them after the news organizations challenged the attempt. Federal agents also raided the home of a Washington Post reporter in January in connection with a government contractor’s handling of classified information.

July 13 (UPI) — More than 2,800 cases of cyclospora infection have been reported, largely concentrated in Michigan, state health officials reported Monday.

Cyclospora is a parasite that is known to cause “explosive” and “watery diarrhea,” stomach pains, loss of appetite, and weight loss. The outbreak comes about one year after the Trump administration cut funding to state and local health department programs focused on foodborne illnesses such as cyclosporiasis.

On Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 843 confirmed cases and 1,500 suspected cases of cyclosporiasis across 31 states. There have been 86 hospitalizations, including 44 in Michigan, and no deaths.

“CDC is aware that states are likely to report higher case counts of cyclosporiasis than reflected in CDC data and is working closely with states to update numbers as additional cases are confirmed,” the CDC said in a statement.

The largest concentration of cases has been in Michigan, where about 2,640 suspected cases have been reported. Neighboring Ohio has reported 177 cases. Neither state’s health departments have identified a source for the outbreak.

Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive for the State of Michigan, said the state’s health department believes the outbreak is most likely related to produce.

As of Thursday, cases have been reported in 43 Michigan’s 83 counties, including 215 in Monroe and 160 in Wayne County.

July 13 (UPI) — A federal judge in Florida said Monday that President Donald Trump sued the Internal Revenue Service for an “improper purpose” to reach a settlement with the Justice Department earlier this year.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in the Southern District of Florida added that the settlement Trump reached with the Justice Department protecting him and his family from tax audits is no longer valid.

Williams said Trump’s settlement with a Cabinet-level agency that he presides over is an attempt to “manipulate the judicial process.”

“The nature of the suit itself and the conduct of the Parties and counsel from its filing make plain that this was an attempt to use the Court to provide some legitimacy to an agreement to confer immunity to people and entities affiliated with the President and to earmark billions of dollars from American taxpayers to redress grievances not defined in the law,” Williams wrote.

“In abdicating its responsibility to zealously defend the interests of the United States, the Government entered into a ‘settlement’ that deviated from its litigation posture in similar actions, disregarded DOJ policies, and accomplished objectives beyond those authorized, as well as those specifically prohibited, by law.”

Trump reached a settlement with the government after suing the IRS for $10 billion over a contractor leaking his tax information. Trump is the first president or nominee from the two major political parties in more than 40 years to not disclose his tax information.

Williams has referred Trump’s attorney in the lawsuit, Alejandro Brito, to the Florida bar. The bar will consider whether Brito should be disciplined based on Williams’ finding in her order. She is also sending a copy of her order to the State Bar of New York, where Acting Attorney Todd Blanche is a member.

July 13 (UPI) — The attorneys general of 12 states sued Monday to block the proposed merger of Paramount and Warner Bros., saying it would undermine competition in the entertainment industry.

A news release announcing the lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James said Paramount Skydance Corp.’s purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. “would combine two of the five major film studios and two of the five major basic cable companies, creating a massive conglomerate in markets for basic cable and theatrical film releases.”

“For over a century, Paramount and Warner Bros. have competed to create movies and television that bring people together, inspire and sustain generations of artists, and help us understand the world,” James said. “This merger would destroy that competitions, creating a massive company with unprecedented power and influence over news and entertainment across the globe.”

The release said the merger would increase costs for consumers and put jobs at risk.

The lawsuit comes one month after the Justice Department approved the planned merger, saying it doesn’t harm consumers in the United States.

Warner Bros. shareholders gave their blessing to the merger in April after Paramount offered to buy the company for $31 per share — a deal worth $110 billion.

Joining New York in the lawsuit were Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington.

Deadline reported that Paramount could threaten to leave California in retaliation for the state’s involvement in the lawsuit. California Attorney General Rob Bonta described the two companies as “behemoths” in the entertainment industry and said their merger would lead to higher prices, lower quality and less content for consumers.

“California’s film and entertainment industry touches the lives of Americans daily — it comes into the living rooms of families, has a starring role in many young people’s first dates, and is a point of immense pride and employment for Californians up and down our state,” he said in a news release.

“Consolidation here not only leads to higher prices — it also leads to fewer opportunities for important stories to come to life, and fewer ways for audiences to encounter stories, ideas, and perspectives beyond their own experiences.”

July 12 (UPI) — A major heat dome expanded from the interior West into the Upper Midwest on Sunday on its way to smothering the East later this week, forecasters said.

The heat in the East is expected to be shorter and less intense than the early July heat wave, but parts of the West are coming within a few degrees of all-time record highs.

Dangerous heat is also gripping even the Desert Southwest, where communities are used to extreme temperatures. The pattern will raise the risk of heat exhaustion, heatstroke and heat-related deaths.

Motorists are urged to carry plenty of water with them in the event of a breakdown.

Temperatures climbed well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit across much of the Great Basin, the Cascades and Sierras east to the western Rockies, eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, western Colorado and northern Arizona this weekend.

The building heat dome has already pushed season-high temperatures into the 110s in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Palm Springs, Calif.

The heat expanded north this weekend, bringing highs of 106 in Salt Lake City, 107 in Bismarck, N.D., and 110 in Billings, Mont. Those temperatures are 10-25 degrees above historical averages during what is typically the hottest part of the year.

As the heat shifts east into the north-central United States early this week, some daily record highs will be challenged. As the hot air spreads east of the Rockies into more humid air, AccuWeather RealFeel Temperatures will run as much as 10-15 degrees higher than the actual air temperature.

While the North American monsoon will begin to temper the heat across parts of the West with increasing clouds and thunderstorms, multiple days of 90-degree heat are forecast across the Midwest, including Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland.

Minneapolis and Chicago can expect at least four consecutive days with highs at or above 90.

“Temperatures will peak in the mid- to upper 90s in the Interstate 95 cities of the mid-Atlantic and New England during the heat surge this week,” AccuWeather Vice President of Forecast Operations Dan DePodwin said. “While high temperatures will still create dangerous conditions, the heat will be somewhat less intense and shorter-lived than the early July heat wave.”

Humidity levels with the heat in the Midwest and Northeast this week will be significantly lower when compared to the week of Independence Day.

July 12 (UPI) — Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham died suddenly on Saturday night, two days after his 71st birthday, his office announced.

Graham had just returned from a trip to Ukraine, where he toured a drone factory and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, CBS News and The Washington Post reported.

“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” his office said in a statement posted to X.

“Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period,” the statement said.

Graham had been scheduled to appear on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday morning, which instead featured an interview with President Donald Trump, who said that he’d spoken with the senator on Saturday after he’d returned from Ukraine.

“Other than being tired, he was fine,” Trump said.

Graham, who was first elected to the Senate in 2002, had already won South Carolina’s Republican Senate primary and now will have to be replaced on the ticket.

The state is expected to hold a special primary in the next few weeks so that voters can choose a new candidate.

July 11 (UPI) — A housing bill passed by Congress became law at midnight Saturday when President Donald Trump refused to sign it, but didn’t veto it.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is a comprehensive law that was designed to make housing more affordable and increase housing supply. Trump refused to sign it because he wanted Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, an election reform bill that would require those registering to vote to provide proof that they are U.S. citizens.

But Congress doesn’t have the votes to pass the SAVE Act.

On Friday, Trump announced that he again would not sign the ROAD to Housing bill.

“I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” he said on Truth Social.

The housing bill includes measures that modernize building standards, encourage renovating older homes, encourage communities to build more housing with funding and grant programs, local governments to reform restrictive zoning policies around building housing and effectively ban private equity from buying up single-family homes. Critics of the bill say it doesn’t go far enough, but they acknowledge it’s a good first step.

“This bill becoming law is a genuine milestone — and I don’t use that word lightly,” Dennis Shea of the Bipartisan Policy Center told the BBC. “Getting Congress to move on housing supply and affordability has been a long time coming, and the American people made clear they were ready for it.”

Earlier this year, a BPC survey found that 89% of voters wanted congressional action to make housing more affordable.

Congressional leaders had planned a bill signing ceremony last month, ready to show voters that they are trying to bring down costs, a key issue to Americans. But hours before it was scheduled to begin, Trump canceled it.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., criticized Trump’s ongoing refusal to sign Friday.

“At the stroke of midnight, a huge bipartisan bill to lower housing costs became law without the President’s signature. Why did President Trump sit on the landmark housing bill for more than 2 weeks? Maybe because there was nothing in it for him personally – no gold-encrusted ballroom, no Qatari jet, no $2 billion crypto deal. Nothing in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing except ways to make housing more affordable,” she said in a statement. “Donald Trump couldn’t pick up the pen because he just isn’t interested in lowering costs for American families.”

At 4 a.m. Saturday, she posted on X: “BREAKING: the clock struck midnight and our bipartisan housing bill is now law. Trump refused to sign it, but he couldn’t stop it.”

“This law is GROUNDBREAKING. It will build more housing, bring down costs, and for the first time, stop private equity from buying up homes,” she said.

Trump had called the housing bill “so unimportant” and “a yawn.”

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., defended the bill without criticizing Trump’s comments.

He said, “the president has a lot going on, and I think it’s safe to say he’s not read through every line of that piece of legislation.

“What he was saying is in comparison to ensuring election integrity, which is now represented by the SAVE America Act, nothing is as important,” Johnson said. “That’s not to say that there are not also incredibly important issues, and the cost of living and affordability is among them. It’s top of mind.”

“So I hope he does sign it. If he doesn’t, it’s still law; we’ll still celebrate it,” Johnson said. “But he’s trying to make a point and I think he’s making it very effectively.”

July 11 (UPI) — President Donald Trump threatened to “decimate and destroy” Iran if they carried out an assasination attempt on him.

“1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME! Orders have already been given, and the U.S. Military is ready, willing, and able, for a one year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran – PRAISE BE TO ALLAH!,” the president said on Truth Social Friday night.

The comments are likely in response to new intelligence from Israel that Iran has a plan to kill the president, reported by The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. Also, Iran has been holding funeral rites for its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and photos have emerged of mourners carrying signs that say, “Kill Trump.” Khameinei was killed by an American and Israeli attack on Iran in February.

In a post on X Saturday, Khamenei’s son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei promised to avenge the deaths of those killed in U.S. strikes.

“This vengeance is what our nation is demanding, and this must definitely be done,” Mojtaba Khamenei said.

On Friday, Trump told The New York Post that he “left instructions” for the military to attack if anything happened to him.

“I’ve been on their list for a long time. That’s what we’re dealing with,” he said. “The only thing is, I’ve left instructions — if anything happens, to just literally bomb them at levels that they’ve never seen before.”

He said there was no new intelligence on a plot.

“No, no. Israel came up with nothing. No, no,” he said. “I’ve been No. 1 [on Iran’s kill list] for a long time, and it’s the way life is, you know.”

July 11 (UPI) — One person was found dead and hundreds evacuated in Missouri after an intense day of flash flooding across the state, authorities said Saturday.

More than 350 people were rescued in Iron, Reynolds and Crawford counties on Friday as floodwaters rapidly took over the area.

Officials said 250 of those were staff and children at Camp Taum Sauk, all of whom were safely evacuated. Another 100 were water rescues.

“It was very harrowing,” Jennifer Box, mother of of two you boys at the camp, told The New York Times. “We knew they were safe, but we didn’t know how to get to them, and that’s kind of your worst nightmare.”

One Crawford County woman, Faith Gregory, was found dead a mile downstream from her home in Huzzah Creek, officials said.

Authorities said Gregory was swept away after part of her home collapsed in the floodwaters.

“It’s definitely not the outcome we were hoping for, but it’s a tragic reminder of how strong Mother Nature can be and how forceful it can be,” Missouri State Highway Patrol Sergeant Eddie Young told FOX Weather.

The region was battered by more than 12 inches of rain, leaving many area residents remained strained throughout Saturday.

“But they’re OK,” spokeswoman Kate Moore, of Missouri Region C, told ABC News. “They’re just stranded because the roads are washed away. We have a lot of damage — the trees, buildings, a lot of things have gone and ripped the roads away.”

July 11 (UPI) — Top members of the far-right group Proud Boys had their convictions dismissed on Friday, ending the federal case against the men accused of leading the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly granted a request by the Department of Justice to wipe out the seditious conspiracy charges against Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl, Dominic Pezzola and Joseph Biggs.

President Trump pardoned more than 1,500 of the rioters who stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

But he had only commuted the sentence of the four Proud Boys leaders, leaving them out of jail but still convicted.

Trump’s DOJ in April asked a federal court to fully dismiss the charges against the four men.

Kelly, a Trump appointee, granted the request but added, “No one should mistake the court’s granting of the government’s motion for its agreement with those decisions.”

“In light of fundamental separation of powers principles … the proper course here is for the court simply to grant the motion in full,” Kelly said, according to Politico.

The attack on the Capitol resulted in injuries to more than 140 police officers and caused $3 million in damage.

“As the court has said many times, the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was a perilous event,” Kelly wrote in his decision, as reported by The Washington Post.

“It was an attack on people, including police officers, many of whom were injured,” he added. “It was an attack on a coordinate branch of government — Congress — that the founders saw fit to give a place of primacy in Article I of the Constitution. And it was an attack on the Constitution’s mechanism to facilitate the peaceful transfer of power from one president to the next.”

Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio saw the dismissal as vindication.

“We took the worst they threw at us — the raids, the solitary, the lies, and we stood tall,” he wrote on X after the ruling. “Trump dropped the pardons and now the rest is crumbling. Justice is SERVED!”

“Proud Boys don’t lose,” Tarrio added. “We WIN. This is OUR victory.”

July 10 (UPI) — A bipartisan group of senators on Friday reached an agreement with the Trump administration on a long-stalled effort to sanction buyers of Russian energy resources.

First introduced in 2025, the Sanctioning Russia Act would have imposed 500% tariffs on countries purchasing petroleum and natural gas from Russia.

But the legislation — spearheaded by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. — has repeatedly failed to pass muster.

The senators now believe they finally have a version of the bill that could be approved in both chambers and signed into law by the president.

“As Russia intensifies its slaughter of civilians, it is imperative that the legislative and executive branches work together to create tools to exact a heavy price on those who buy Russian oil and natural gas, fueling the Putin war machine,” the senators said in a statement.

Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker, R-M.S., and Senate Foreign Relations Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., also signed into the statement.

The senators did not provide details on the updated text of the legislation.

Speaking to reporters in Kyiv on Friday, however, Graham said he’s “never been more optimistic than I am today that we have the formula to end this war.”

He added he hopes the sanctions will “help Ukraine be more lethal [and] let those supporting Russia to know it’s going to be a price to be paid if you keep doing it,” Ukrinform reported.

July 10 (UPI) — Maine Democrats are hoping to convene by the end of July to find a Senate nominee to replace Graham Platner, it was reported on Friday.

Party leadership has been scrambling to replace Platner since he was accused by a former partner of sexually assaulting her while he was drunk.

Platner dropped out of the race on Wednesday under intense pressure from politicians and groups that had previously endorsed him.

Now, Democrats are hoping to choose delegates within a week, and hold a state convention to pick a replacement the following weekend, The New York Times reported.

The party has not finalized plans, including a date or location for the convention, The Times reported.

Whoever they chose will run against Republican Sen. Susan Collins, the five-term incumbent.

Platner has denied the accusations.

“It’s not the false allegations, though, that have brought us to where we are,” he said in announcing his departure from the race. “It’s the fact that they’re being used by the political establishment to put structural pressure on us.”

On Monday, a woman who once dated Platner said he forced her to have sex with him five years ago.

“I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me,” Jenny Racicot, 41, told Politico. “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.'”

Raciot added Platner was “very drunk and wouldn’t take no for an answer,” the New York Post reported.

Maine Democrats are hoping to have a nominee by July 27, according to The Times.

July 10 (UPI) — Canada and the state of Michigan on Friday announced that a long-planned new bridge linking Ontario and Detroit will open at the end of July, 14 years after construction started.

The $4.4 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge between the two cities is set to open on July 27 and is set to offer improved transit on what leaders from Canada and Michigan called one of the busiest transportation corridors in North America.

The mile-and-a-half-long bridge includes new ports of entry on either side, with Canada and the United States establishing a 15-year economic development fund that has been tied to profits from crossing tolls.

President Donald Trump earlier this year threatened to prevent the bridge from opening over disagreements with previously existing trade agreements, his administration’s tariff regime and objections to Canada making trade deals with China.

“The Gordie Howe International Bridge has always been a great deal for our state,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement.

“Thousands of Michigan workers built this critical bridge, which will speed up auto production, lower costs, ease traffic, strengthen agriculture and give people on both sides of the border better-paying jobs and brighter futures,” she said. “This bridge is a testament to the enduring partnership between Michigan and Canada.”

The bridge project originated with the state’s then-Republican Gov. Rick Snyder agreeing to the six-line bridge because it would alleviate congestion accommodate future travel and create new transportation capabilities between U.S. and Canadian manufacturing regions.

Canada’s minister for housing and infrastructure, Gregor Robinson, hailed the completion and impending opening of the bridge as “strengthening one of the world’s most important trade corridors.”

“This nation-building project is a testament to what Canada can accomplish when we come together with a shared vision,” Robinson said in a statement.

“The Gordie Howe International Bridge will create new opportunities, strengthen our economy and bring economic benefits on both sides of the boarder for generations,” he said.

July 10 (UPI) — Apple on Friday filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and former Apple employees that work their for stealing confidential product information for the artificial intelligence company’s use.

The lawsuit specifically names two former Apple employees who allegedly handed over information to OpenAI when they joined the company that related to products they worked on at their former employer, The Hill reported.

In its filing, Apple said that OpenAI has been telling employees it hires away from the company to bring design information, prototypes and other information on how it makes its products.

There are, reportedly, more than 400 former Apple employees working for OpenAI, in addition to the company’s partnership with former Apple design chief Jony Ive’s io and his effort to lead the AI company’s hardware development.

“At Apple, our teams are constantly developing breakthrough technologies to create the best products and services in the world, and protecting their work and intellectual property is something we take very seriously,” an Apple spokesperson told 9to5Mac.

“Recently, significant evidence has emerged suggesting individuals employed by OpenAI wrongfully took Apple’s secret and confidential information regarding our unreleased technologies, process and products,” the spokesperson said.

Apple alleged its former vice president of product design, Tang Tan, has told Apple employees that he is interviewing for roles at OpenAI that they should bring things from Apple headquarters for “show and tell” sessions.

OpenAI denied the allegations in a statement, saying that the company remains “focused on building innovative technology that empowers people” and has “no interest in other companies’ trade secrets.”

July 10 (UPI) — The Trump administration on Friday rescinded a key provision of the Endangered Species Act that protected habitat crucial to imperiled wildlife.

For 50 years, the ESA definition of “harm” included not only specific species, but also their habitat from modification or degradation.

But on Friday, the administration said it was reversing the rule to focus on “actions that directly injure or kill listed wildlife.”

“For years, federal agencies abused the ESA to obstruct lawful land use and burden American families and businesses,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement.

“That approach turned routine activity into a regulatory trap, drove up costs that impacted people’s lives, and expanded federal authority beyond what Congress intended,” Burgum said. “This action restores common sense, respects private property, provides much-needed certainty for landowners and follows the statute Congress actually passed.”

Enacted in 1973, the ESA has played a vital role in maintaining biodiversity.

Conservation experts say the act was key in saving many species from extinction, including the whooping crane, bald eagle and gray wolf.

Environmental advocates have vowed to sue over the rule change.

“For the first time ever, a presidential administration now claims that species protected by the Endangered Species Act shouldn’t be safe from habitat modification that destroys where they live, raise their young, or search for food,” Earthjustice attorney Kristen Boyles said in a statement.

“Let’s be clear: there is no support for the Trump administration’s rule — no scientific support, no legal support, no public support,” Boyles added. “We will see the Trump administration in court.”

July 10 (UPI) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday deported a man who was convicted of repeatedly sexually assaulting a child and ordered removed from the country in 2006.

Tou Lue Vang, who legally entered the United States in 1994, was convicted in 2006 of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for repeatedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl over the course of two years.

Vang was ordered to be deported to Laos in October 2006 but because of that country’s limits on how many deportees it accepts he, like many ethnic Laotians and Hmong, was permitted to stay, The New York Times reported.

Having been in the country legally ever since, Vang applied for a pardon during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown last year to prevent himself from being deported — which was granted in June.

“ICE deported Tou Vang, an illegal alien convicted child rapist,” Lauren Bis, acting assistant secretary of homeland security, said in a press release.

“This monster repeatedly sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl,” Bis said.

Vang was convicted repeatedly sexually assaulting the girl between 2002 and 2004, and justified his actions as being “a cultural thing … to marry and have sex with girls as young as 12,” and also suggested that the girl was just as guilty as he was of a crime, ICE said last week.

The Times reported that Vang has not been charged with serious crimes since his conviction and supervised release while awaiting his 2006 deportation.

ICE arrested Vang in December 2025, with plans to deport him, based on his prior conviction, but a Minnesota judge ordered that he be released from custody in February 2026.

Vang’s pardon request, which the Minnesota Clemency Review Commission granted on June 10, could prevent him from being deported, the federal government and legal experts have said.

The State Department said Friday that it had terminated Vang’s legal status in the United States and deported him immediately.

“Americans should never have to live in fear that foreign sex predators — shielded from deportation by their own elected officials — could endanger them or their children,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

“That’s why I terminated his legal status in the United States,” Rubio said. “Vang has now been removed from our country and will never pose a threat to any American ever again.”