- WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans are moving this week to try and reopen the Department of Homeland Security and end the longest partial government shutdown in history. The first votes could come as soon as Tuesday as GOP leaders attempt a new workaround to unlock the funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. […]
- WASHINGTON (AP) — Two U.S. officials killed in a vehicle crash as they returned from destroying a clandestine drug lab in a rugged region of Mexico over the weekend were working for the CIA, according to a U.S. official and two other people familiar with matter. Two Mexican investigators also were killed in the crash, […]
- The scriptural passage that President Donald Trump plans to read Tuesday evening in a livestreamed Bible-reading marathon dates back to the depiction of an ancient event — but it’s one that carries a highly charged significance in the current religious and political climate. It has long been quoted and promoted by those who believe America […]
- NEW YORK (AP) — A Bangladeshi immigrant is rightly serving a life prison sentence for a fizzled 2017 subway bombing attack beneath New York City’s Times Square, a federal appeals panel said Tuesday while reversing his conviction for providing material support to the Islamic State extremist group. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said […]
- WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that the U.S. military will no longer require all American troops to get the flu vaccine, citing “medical autonomy” and religious freedom. “The notion that a flu vaccine must be mandatory for every service member, everywhere, in every circumstance at all times is just overly broad […]
- Leading candidates to square off in TV debate at critical point in California governor’s race
on April 22, 2026 at 4:18 amLOS ANGELES (AP) — Six leading candidates for California governor will meet in a televised debate Wednesday — all of them eager for a breakout moment in a chaotic race with no clear leader. With mail ballots scheduled to go to voters early next month in advance of the June 2 primary election, candidates are running short on time to break into contention. Under California election rules, only the top two vote-getters advance to the November election, regardless of party. Democrats have been fretting for months that a crowded field could result in two Republicans making it to November, a result that would be a historic calamity for Democrats in a famously left-leaning state. The debate will bring together the two leading Republicans — conservative commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco — and four Democrats, former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter,billionaire Tom Steyer, former Biden administration health secretary Xavier Becerra and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan. With candidates angling for an advantage in front of a television audience, it is possible the debate could devolve into 90 minutes of shouting matches, finger-pointing and verbal backstabs as candidates compete for attention. The campaign has just come through an unstable period, with U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell — one of the leading Democrats — leaving the race and then Congress following sexual assault allegations that he denies. Another Democrat, former state controller Betty Yee, dropped out Monday after lagging in polls since entering the race in 2024, then endorsed Steyer. Meanwhile, Becerra picked up the support of Democratic Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. Becerra and Mahan were late additions to the debate lineup, after Swalwell exited the race. Both candidates have been getting fresh attention — and endorsements — in the reordered contest. Becerra picked up Rivas’ endorsement on Tuesday. Mahan, meanwhile, has been rolling out advertising to lift his campaign. Democrats mostly agree on policy issues, including the need to bring down household costs and counter President Donald Trump’s agenda. So they will be looking for ways to stand out on stage, either by stressing their own records and trying to sully those of competitors. Porter, who became a social media celebrity by brandishing a white board at congressional hearings while grilling CEOs, could become the state’s first woman governor. Steyer, a hedge fund manager-turned-liberal activist who ran an unsuccessful campaign for president in 2020, is known for his involvement in climate issues. Becerra is the most experienced politician in the group, after serving in the Biden administration, and as state attorney general, a congressman and state legislator. Mahan has been arguing that he has made gains against homelessness and crime while leading Northern California’s largest city. Look for California to be at the center of the stage, too. Democrats have dominated government in the nation’s most populous state for years. Republicans haven’t won a statewide election in two decades, so Hilton and Bianco will be pounding familiar campaign themes, including faulting Sacramento’s one-sided politics for the state’s troubles. Those themes also include pointing out that billions in spending has done little to slow the long-running homeless crisis; the state has some of the nation’s highest taxes, utility bills and gas prices; heavy government regulation is driving away jobs; and soaring home prices are out of reach for many families. The race remains wide open. Polling in late March and early April by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found a cluster of candidates in close competition: Democrats Steyer and Porter, Republicans Hilton and Bianco, and Swalwell. Other candidates were trailing. The polling was conducted before Swalwell withdrew. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- Trump’s Cuba threats revive exile hopes, fears over property claims
on April 22, 2026 at 4:18 amDeeply ingrained in Raul Valdes-Fauli’s family lore is the November 1960 day when an agent of Fidel Castro’s revolution showed up at his family’s Pedroso Bank in Havana, with a machine gun, and demanded they leave. Calling his father and uncle gusanos — or worms, a Spanish-language term coined by Castro to denigrate those fleeing the island — the agent seized the bank and in an instant dispossessed a family that arrived from Spain in the 16th century. “They told them this was now the people’s bank,” said Valdes-Fauli, an attorney and former mayor of the Miami suburb of Coral Gables. “They couldn’t even take family pictures off the walls of their office.” Seven decades later such traumatic episodes are resurfacing with urgency, as President Donald Trump’s threats of military intervention, backed by a naval blockade of fuel shipments that has brought the island’s already-anemic economy to its knees, have spawned negotiations between Washington and Havana. Many Cuban Americans are convinced that 2026 could — finally — be the year of regime change on the communist-run island. But that cautious optimism among exiles is tempered by concern they could be cut out. Their nightmare scenario: a repeat of what happened recently in Venezuela, where Trump ousted Nicolás Maduro only to join forces with his former allies in a partnership where demands for democracy are taking a back seat to oil industry dealmaking. “I hope that he doesn’t do what he did in Venezuela, which is keep the thieves in power,” said Valdes-Fauli, who married a Venezuelan. An emotional element of the talks, and one of the toughest to resolve, is the potential for hundreds of thousands of legal claims by Cuban Americans whose homes, businesses and land were seized after Castro took power in 1959. Nick Gutiérrez’s home is full of fading land titles, black-and-white photographs and obscure books including one torn-apart tome — “The Owners of Cuba, 1958” — that describes the 550 biggest fortunes taken over by the revolution. As president of the National Association of Cuban Landowners in Exile, Gutiérrez advises Cuban exile families on how to seek compensation for the forced collectivism. For decades that was a lonely mission relegated to the legal fringes, because there was never any hope of getting Cuba to pay. “A lot of it just fell on deaf ears,” Gutiérrez said. But with rising speculation about possible regime change, real interest in the issue has exploded among those who previously saw costly litigation as a fool’s errand, as well as younger Cuban American entrepreneurs eager to help rebuild a country they barely know but whose heritage they proudly carry. “Now we’re talking about the existential issue of whether the Cuban dictatorship will survive until next month,” said Gutiérrez, whose parents fled the island two years before he was born. Untangling property claims in Cuba is akin to battling a multiheaded hydra, said Robert Muse, a Washington attorney who specializes in U.S. laws relating to Cuba. In the hierarchy of property losses, those with the strongest standing under U.S. law are the 5,913 claims certified by the Justice Department in 1972 for $1.9 billion. They include corporations like ExxonMobil and Marriott International whose assets were seized as part of Castro’s nationalization drive of everything from oil refineries and the telephone system to hair salons and shoeshine stands. Under U.S. law those claims — worth $10 billion today — must be resolved for a full restoration of economic and diplomatic relations. In practice, however, the executive branch is authorized to assume control of private losses for a lump-sum payment and fold the dispute into any settlement with Havana. In a break from the past, Cuba has signaled a willingness to discuss the claims — as part of a broader conversation over its demand for compensation for damages wrought by the U.S. trade embargo, enacted in 1962. A thornier issue is Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act. The law allows exiles to sue any company deemed to be “trafficking” in property confiscated by Cuba. All past U.S. presidents suspended Title III because of objections from U.S. allies doing business in Cuba. Similarly, many exiles viewed the legislation as an empty threat because of the remote prospect of ever collecting from a bankrupt government. But Trump lifted the suspension in 2019, and about 50 lawsuits have since been filed. The floodgates to more claims could open soon depending on two cases argued before the U.S. Supreme Court this year. One of the cases, brought by Exxon, seeks $1 billion from Cuban state-owned entities. The other was filed by the Delaware-based company, Havana Docks, against four cruise liners that paid Cuba’s government to disembark nearly 1 million tourists at a port it once operated after President Barack Obama reestablished diplomatic relations. Muse likened the legal risks of doing business in Cuba to a “stalactite” formed over several decades, deterring investment and political compromise. “You can’t have a restitution remedy for hundreds of thousands of claimants,” Muse said. “It’s unworkable.” However if Havana’s stated aim to attract foreign capital is sincere, it has incentives to cut deals with Cuban Americans willing to invest in the country, Gutiérrez said. A model for that would be the former Communist states in Eastern Europe that compensated for property seizures at the conclusion of the Cold War, helping their economies surge ahead. Trump, Muse said, may have the right mix of business sense, impatience with convention and political freedom as a second-term president to work through the complex mess. A signal that he is unlikely to be bogged down by legal haggling, Muse added, was when he hosted oil executives at the White House following Maduro’s ouster and told them they would have to write off any unpaid claims from asset seizures in Venezuela. Gutiérrez worries that Trump’s eagerness for a trophy that has evaded 12 Democratic and Republican presidents could get the better of him. But he is reassured by the president’s longstanding friendship with Cuban Americans who are among his most ardent supporters. “Trump doesn’t have moral qualms of doing business with bad guys,” Gutiérrez said. “But he knows how important this is to us, and that gives us some comfort he won’t sell us out.” Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- Petroleum infuses a multitude of everyday items the Iran war could make more expensive
on April 22, 2026 at 4:18 amNEW YORK (AP) — It might be hard to imagine the Iran war weighing on stuffed toys with names like Snuggle Glove, Bizzikins and Wobblies, but even plush playthings are not immune when oil shipments from the Middle East are constrained. Like many soft toys, the creatures developed by a manufacturer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, are made with polyester and acrylic, synthetic fibers derived from petroleum. Three weeks after the war started, suppliers in China notified Aleni Brands that getting the materials already was costing them 10% to 15% more, CEO Ricardo Venegas said. “I think this situation demonstrates how much oil permeates throughout our system, and we can’t get away from it,” said Venegas, who founded Aleni Brands last year and is in the process of adding product lines. “Who would have thought that the price of a toy would have a direct relationship with oil?” It’s not just toys. Petrochemicals derived from oil and natural gas go into making more than 6,000 consumer products, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Computer keyboards, lipstick, tennis rackets, pajamas, soft contact lenses, detergent, chewing gum, shoes, crayons, shaving cream, pillows, aspirin, dentures, tape, umbrellas and nylon guitar strings are just a few of them. So far, the war’s most tangible and immediate effect for many people outside the conflict zone has been spiking gasoline prices. Travelers also are seeing higher airfares and flight fees as airlines respond to the rising cost of jet fuel. Consumers may find themselves paying more for food, furniture or any of the myriad of goods transported by trucks that run on diesel. But crude oil isn’t just refined as fuel. It gets turned into chemicals, waxes, oils and other mixtures that appear in a vast array of everyday items, including most made with plastic and rubber. Petroleum derivatives also are used in a lot of packaging. With disruptions to global oil supplies now in their eighth week, higher production costs also could make things more expensive for shoppers, according to trade groups and some companies. Venegas, a 30-year toy industry veteran, said he would absorb higher material costs for now but expects to increase prices for customers by early 2027, if the war goes on another three to six months. While 85% of global oil consumption is in the form of fuel, the rest goes into a wide range of consumer products, according to Gernot Wagner, a climate economist at Columbia University’s School of Business. Crude oil is mostly a complex mixture of hydrocarbons, which are compounds made of carbon and hydrogen atoms. Refineries and chemical plants separate and break them down to convert them into smaller chemical building blocks known as petrochemicals. Six petrochemicals — ethylene, propylene, butylene, benzene, toluene and xylenes — are the major foundations of plastics and synthetic materials like nylon and polyesters, which manufacturers in turn use to design and deliver products. More from the Department of Energy: Automobile parts, ballpoint pens, curtains, dice, eyeglasses, fertilizer, golf balls, hearing aids, insect repellant, kayaks, luggage, mops and nail polish. Materials account for a big share of production costs for many manufacturers, including those that supply carpets, clothing and tires, according to Andrew Walberer, partner and global lead in the chemicals practice of global strategy and management consultancy Kearney. Take a button-down shirt, for example. Walberer estimated that materials account for 27%-30% of how much it costs a manufacturer to make one. Labor costs contribute 10% to 30%. Business expenses tied to marketing, distribution and administration comprises the rest, he said. Experts say if oil holds above $90 per barrel for the next several months, cost pressures will accelerate throughout the supply network. Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America CEO Matt Priest said most of the trade organization’s members keep a two- to three-month inventory of finished products, providing a temporary cushion against higher materials costs. Roughly 70% of the materials in synthetic shoes are petrochemical-based, and 30% of the costs for those materials are directly tied to oil price rate swings, according to a report the organization published last month on the U.S. footwear industry’s “exposure to oil prices & the impact on shoe costs.” The FDRA analysis estimated that between materials, factory energy and transportation, companies paying more for petroleum could translate into a 1.5% to 3% increase in the price shoppers pay for a pair of shoes by late summer and the fall. By the end of April, U.S. shoe and clothing manufacturers need to start signing contracts with suppliers, mostly outside the U.S., for orders of polyester staple fiber and polyester filament yarn to get their designs on retail shelves and online for the holiday shopping season, according to Nate Herman, executive vice president of the American Apparel & Footwear Association. One kilogram, or a little over two pounds, of the materials used in polyester textiles, has increased in price from an average of 90 cents before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran to $1.33 per kilogram, Herman said. He estimated that each garment will cost 10 cents to 15 cents more to produce as a result. Some businesses are looking for ways to offset rising costs. Lisa Lane is the founder of Rinseroo, which sells portable shower head, bathtub and sink attachments for cleaning, pet grooming, and bathing. She recently tripled the number of the slip-on hoses she procures from China each month after her manufacturer said the cost would be 30% higher in another 30 days. She had a few days to decide whether to place a three-month advance order. The components of Rinseroo’s products include petroleum derivatives like polyvinyl chloride, Lane said. After purchasing 240,000 units instead of her usual 80,000, she is also evaluating cost-cutting options. Lane said she wants to hold off on increasing prices for retailers that sell the attachments since Rinseroo did that last year to offset higher U.S. tariffs on imports from China. For example, a hose for washing pets in a bathtub went up to $33.95 from $29.95 on retail websites, she said. “We want to stay at that sweet spot where people want to continue to buy from us and feel like they’re getting a good value,” Lane said. Another company, which sells wound care products like bandages, dressings, pads and sponges to nursing homes and other medical facilities, plans to raise its prices by 15% in a matter of weeks. Gentell CEO David Navazio noted that adhesives in the products rely on several petrochemicals. Including energy for production and materials, Navazio estimated the company’s costs are going up by 20%. Gentell, which is based in Yardley, Pennsylvania but has its main manufacturing location in Toronto, also makes private label products for other companies, including a medical technology firm that supplies retail stores like CVS. Because bandages and dressings are necessities, Navazio said he doesn’t think his business will suffer if it raises customer prices. Less certain is whether prices will come down once the war ends and oil shipments stabilize. “In the past, I’ve seen transportation costs come down, but I’ve never seen prices of raw material come down,” he said. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- Senate hearings with RFK Jr. put Cassidy’s competing loyalties to Trump and science on display
on April 22, 2026 at 4:18 amBill Cassidy’s roles as a lawmaker, a doctor and a political candidate will collide on Wednesday as he questions Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in two high-stakes Senate hearings. The Louisiana Republican chairs one of the Senate committees that oversees Kennedy’s department and sits on another, giving him two chances to interrogate the secretary about his plans for an agency responsible for public health programs and research. As a doctor, Cassidy has clashed with Kennedy’s anti-vaccine ideas even though he provided crucial support for the health secretary’s nomination last year. At the same time, Cassidy is fighting for his political future in next month’s primary, where President Donald Trump has endorsed one of his opponents in an unusual attempt to oust a sitting senator from his own party. How Cassidy handles the hearings could affect his chances at a pivotal moment of his reelection campaign and set the tone for how Congress oversees the nation’s health agenda at a time of rampant distrust and misinformation. Cassidy hasn’t faced Kennedy in public since September. In the subsequent months, Kennedy has attempted a dramatic rollback of vaccine recommendations that, if not blocked by an ongoing lawsuit, could undermine protections against diseases like flu, hepatitis B and RSV. After a backlash, Kennedy has also pivoted to spending more time talking about less controversial topics like healthy eating — albeit with his own spin, including sharing exaggerated claims that various ailments can be cured by diet alone. Cassidy will have to decide on Wednesday whether to grill Kennedy on vaccines, an issue deeply important to him, or put their differences aside and prioritize loyalty to the Trump administration. “He’s taken a risk showing any sort of resistance to RFK,” said Claire Leavitt, an assistant professor at Smith College who studies congressional oversight. “He may pay an electoral price for that.” Cassidy has spent years walking a political tightrope. He’s one of the few Republican senators who voted to convict Trump during an impeachment trial after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. As a liver doctor, he advocated for babies to receive hepatitis B vaccines shortly after birth, a step that could have prevented the disease in his patients. But when Trump nominated Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, Cassidy supported him. He did so after securing various commitments, including that Kennedy would work within the current vaccine approval and safety monitoring system and support the childhood vaccine schedule. The vote for Kennedy did not appear to mollify Trump. The president endorsed U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, one of Cassidy’s two primary opponents. Cassidy also faces opposition from Kennedy’s allies in the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, a group that includes both anti-vaccine activists and a wide variety of other crusaders for health and the environment. The MAHA PAC, aligned with Kennedy, has pledged $1 million to Letlow’s campaign. While the organization hasn’t publicly said so, some have questioned whether the support is partly in retaliation against Cassidy for criticizing Kennedy’s vaccine policy agenda. “I’m not really sure what MAHA’s beef is,” Cassidy told reporters earlier this month. “Let me point out that I am the reason that Robert F. Kennedy is now the secretary of HHS. He would not have gotten there otherwise.” Cassidy argues that he has “strongly supported” the MAHA agenda, especially when it comes to the fight against ultraprocessed foods. However, the physician-turned-senator acknowledged that he and MAHA have “disagreed on vaccines.” “We’ve seen, frankly, that I am right,” Cassidy added, pointing to recent measles-related deaths of children who were not vaccinated. At a hearing in September, he slammed Kennedy’s decision to slash funding for mRNA vaccine development. He interrogated Kennedy over his attempt to replace members of a vaccine committee, suggesting the new members could have conflicts of interest. He also raised concerns that Kennedy’s vaccine policy decisions could be making it harder for Americans to get COVID-19 shots. Later that month, Cassidy convened a hearing featuring former U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez, who was ousted by Kennedy less than a month into her tenure after they clashed over vaccine policy, and former CDC Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry, who resigned in August citing an erosion of science at the agency. “I want to work with the president to fulfill his campaign promise to reform the CDC and Make America Healthy Again. The president says radical transparency is the way to do that,” Cassidy said at the time. Political consultants said they expect Cassidy’s primary opponents, Letlow and Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, to seize on any sound bites from Wednesday’s hearings that can make Cassidy seem at odds with the Trump administration. But Dorit Reiss, a vaccine law expert at UC Law San Francisco, said the political risk of advocating for vaccines may not be as strong among Republicans as some people assume. “He’s probably not alienating voters by focusing on the issue and calling it out,” she said. Louisiana political consultant Mary-Patricia Wray said she thinks most diehard MAHA voters already know who they are voting for, and it’s probably not Cassidy. Instead, she said, he may still be able to appeal to Democrats who switch their party registration to vote in the primary, as well as a wide swath of still-undecided Republican voters who care about the same health care affordability issues he advocates for every day in Congress. “If I was advising Bill Cassidy, I would tell him your goal here is not to get out unscathed,” Wray said. “Your goal is to prove that your consistency on issues regarding public health is an asset in your campaign, not a detriment.” Also at stake if Cassidy doesn’t make it to November’s general election is what will happen to his responsibility to oversee the massive U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee. Leavitt, the Smith College professor, said seniority typically plays the most important role in who chairs Senate committees. She said another Republican in today’s increasingly hyper-partisan Congress may not be as willing as Cassidy to check Kennedy’s power. Reiss, the vaccine law expert, said she wishes Cassidy had done more hearings or introduced legislation to rein in Kennedy. And she said the senator bears the blame for allowing Kennedy to bring unfounded vaccine fears into the government in the first place. “His original sin, of course, was voting for Kennedy at all,” Reiss said. ___ Associated Press writer Sara Cline contributed to this report. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- Navy veteran charged in series of Atlanta-area shootings dies in jail
on April 22, 2026 at 4:18 amATLANTA (AP) — A man charged in a string of shootings near Atlanta that left three people dead, including a Department of Homeland Security employee who was walking her dog, died in jail Tuesday night, authorities said. Olaolukitan Adon Abel, 26, was found in his cell unresponsive, according to a statement from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office. Officials performed lifesaving measures on the U.S. Navy veteran, but he was later pronounced dead. The official cause of death has not been determined, but officials don’t suspect foul play, according to the office. Officials are conducting an internal review. Adon Abel was accused of killing Prianna Weathers, 31, and DHS auditor Lauren Bullis, 40, in last week’s attack. Authorities had also been seeking an additional murder charge for Tony Mathews, 49, who was injured in the attack and died Sunday. Authorities haven’t offered a potential motive for the shootings. It’s unclear if Adon Abel knew any of the victims — police have said they believe at least one was targeted at random. Adon Abel’s roommates told The Associated Press that shortly before the shootings, he got in an intense argument over the air conditioning in their home and stormed out. He lived with six others in separate units of the home. The United Kingdom native was granted U.S. citizenship in 2022 while serving in the U.S. Navy and stationed in the San Diego area. The attacks quickly drew the Trump administration’s attention, with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin raising concern that Adon Abel was granted U.S. citizenship when Democrat Joe Biden was president. Mullin cataloged a litany of Adon Abel’s previous alleged crimes, but it is unclear whether any of them occurred before he became a citizen. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
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