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Nature, Published online: 02 December 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03911-xScientists are testing whether GLP-1 drugs can help to cut cravings for cigarettes, alcohol and opioids as well as food.

Stan Kroenke doesnt need federal help to make a business flourish. He is worth an estimated $20 billion, a fortune that has allowed him to become one of Americas largest property owners and afforded him stakes in storied sports franchises, including the Denver Nuggets and Englands Arsenal soccer club.Yet Kroenke, whose wife is an heiress to the Walmart fortune, benefits from one of the federal governments bedrock subsidy programs, one that props up ranching in the West.As owner of the Winecup Gamble Ranch, which sprawls across grasslands, streams and a mountain range east of Elko, Nevada, Kroenke is entitled to graze his cattle on public lands for less than 15% of the fees he would pay on private land. The public lands grazing program, formalized in the 1930s to contain the rampant overgrazing that contributed to the Dust Bowl, has grown to serve operations including billionaire hobby ranchers, mining companies, utilities and large corporate outfits, providing benefits unimagined by its founding law.President Donald Trumps administration plans to make the program even more generous pushing to open even more of the 240 million acres of Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service grazing land to livestock while reducing oversight of the environmental damage. This, members of the administration contend, will further its goal of using public lands to fuel the economy and eliminate the national debt.Thats the balance sheet of America, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said of federal lands at his confirmation hearing in January, and, if we were a company, they would look at us and say, Wow, you are really restricting your balance sheet.ProPublica and High Country News set out to investigate the transformation of the grazing system, established to prevent abuse of public lands, into a massive subsidy program. In the late 1970s, Congress raised the fees to graze on public lands to reflect open market prices at the time. But the fees have barely budged in decades. The government still charges ranchers $1.35 per animal unit month, a 93% discount, on average, on the price of grazing on private lands. (An animal unit month represents the typical amount of forage a cow and her calf eat in a month.)Our analysis found that in 2024 alone, the federal government poured at least $2.5 billion into subsidy programs that public lands ranchers can access, not including the steep discount on forage. Subsidies benefiting public lands ranchers include disaster assistance after droughts and floods, cheap crop insurance, funding for fences and watering holes, and compensation for animals lost to predators.Benefits flow largely to a select few like Kroenke. Roughly two-thirds of all the livestock grazing on BLM acreage is controlled by just 10% of ranchers, our analysis showed. On Forest Service land, the top 10% of permittees control more than 50% of grazing. This concentration of control has been the status quo for decades. In 1999, the San Jose Mercury News undertook a similar study and found that the largest ranchers controlled the same proportion of grazing within BLM jurisdiction as they do today.Meanwhile, as we previously reported, the agencies oversight of livestocks environmental impact has declined dramatically in recent years. Lawmakers have allowed an increasing number of grazing permits to be automatically renewed, even when environmental reviews have not been completed or the land has been flagged as being in poor condition.The Trump administrations push to further underwrite the livestock industry supports ranchers like Kroenke, whose Winecup Gamble is advertised as covering nearly 1 million acres. More than half of that is federal public land that can support roughly 9,000 head of cattle, according to an advertisement in brokerage listings. Last year, Kroenke paid the government about $50,000 in grazing fees to use the BLM land around the ranch an 87% discount on the market rate, according to a ProPublica and High Country News analysis of government data. Previous owners enjoyed similar economic benefits. Before Kroenke, the ranch belonged to Paul Fireman, the longtime CEO of Reebok, who used losses from companies affiliated with the ranch as a $22 million tax writeoff between 2003 and 2018, internal IRS data shows. And before Fireman, it was owned by others, including Hollywood superstar Jimmy Stewart of Its a Wonderful Life fame.The land where Kroenke runs his cattle has been degraded by overgrazing, according to the BLM.Kroenkes representatives did not return messages seeking comment. Fireman declined to comment.On the Winecup Gamble Ranch near the Nevada-Utah border, billionaire owner Stan Kroenke has access to steeply discounted forage on more than half a million acres of Bureau of Land Management grazing allotments. Aerial support provided by LightHawkThe Trump administrations retooling of this system is being worked out behind closed doors. In May, the BLM sent a draft of proposed revisions to federal grazing regulations what would be the first updates to them since the 1990s to the U.S. Department of the Interior, according to communications reviewed by ProPublica and High Country News.In October, the administration released a 13-page plan to fortify the American Beef Industry. In addition to instructing the BLM and Forest Service to amend grazing regulations, including those that govern how ranchers obtain permits to graze their herds and how environmental damage from their animals is assessed, the plan called for taxpayers to further underwrite ranching by increasing existing subsidies for drought and wildfire relief, for livestock killed by predators and for government-backed insurance.The Forest Service did not respond to requests for comment. The White House referred questions to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which said in a statement, Livestock grazing is not only a federally and statutorily recognized appropriate land use, but a proven land management tool, one that reduces invasive species and wildfire risk, enhances ecosystem health, and supports rural stewardship.In a statement, a BLM spokesperson said that the agencys mandate includes sustaining a healthy and economically viable grazing program that benefits rural communities, supports Americas ranching heritage, and promotes responsible stewardship of public lands. The grazing program plays an important role in local economies and land management, providing tools to reduce wildfire risk, manage invasive species, and maintain open landscapes.Ranchers say that taxpayers benefit from helping them continue their work, since public lands grazing can prevent private land from being sold and paved over. Bill Fales and his family run a ranch in western Colorado that has been in his wifes family for more than a century, and their cattle graze in the nearby White River National Forest. The wildlife here is dependent on these ranches staying as open ranch land, he said. As development elsewhere carves up habitat, Fales said, the public and private lands his cattle graze are increasingly shared by elk, bears, mountain lions and other species.Ranchers and their advocates also point to the livestock industrys production of meat, leather and wool. And as a pillar of rural economies, ranching preserves a uniquely American way of life.The major trade groups representing public lands ranchers did not respond to requests for comment.While the country loses money on public lands ranching, both ranchers and critics of the system agree on one thing: Without subsidies, many smaller operators would go out of business.The Industry That Conquered the WestSettlers covered much of the West with cattle beginning in the mid-1800s, spurred by laws and incentives meant to realize the countrys manifest destiny. As the nation expanded, settlers, with the backing of the federal government and the military, seized the Indigenous land that would later be called the public domain.Unchecked grazing followed.On the Western slope of Colorado and in nearby States I saw waste, competition, overuse, and abuse of valuable ranges and watersheds eating into the very heart of Western economy, observed Rep. Edward Taylor, a Colorado Democrat, as Congress was considering how to properly manage grazing in the 1930s. The livestock industry, through circumstances beyond its control, was headed for self-strangulation.So, in 1934, as Depression-era dust storms darkened the skies over the Great Plains, worsened by overgrazing that denuded grasslands, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Taylor Grazing Act, named for the lawmaker. It divided much of the public domain into parcels, called allotments, and established a permit system to lease them a decade at a time.Congress modernized laws governing public lands in 1976 with the passage of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which required federal agencies to balance competing uses, such as grazing, mining, timber, oil drilling and recreation. Two years later, Congress passed a law that brought grazing fees in line with the value of forage on the open market at the time.Today, ranching interest groups justify their subsidies by arguing that their livestock feed the country. According to Agriculture Department research, ranching on federal lands accounts for $3.3 billion in economic output annually and supports nearly 50,000 jobs.But grazing on public lands sustains just 2% of the nations beef cattle while accounting for a vanishingly small proportion of the countrys agriculture industry.The Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service Oversee Millions of Acres of Grazing Allotments Across the WestSource: Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Lucas Waldron/ProPublicaProPublica and High Country News analysis found that the government support disproportionately benefits the largest ranchers, who account for a majority of the public-land grazing.The J.R. Simplot Co. is the largest rancher on BLM land. Founded as a family business in Idaho nearly a century ago, it made a fortune in part by selling potatoes to McDonalds. The business has since ballooned into a multinational agricultural conglomerate. J.R. Simplot benefits significantly from subsidized forage, paying $2.4 million below market rate to graze nearly 150,000 animal unit months on federal lands last year, according to an analysis of BLM and Forest Service data.The company did not respond to a request for comment.Industrywide, the $21 million collected from ranchers by the BLM and Forest Service was about $284 million below market rate for forage last year.Cattle owned by the ranching company BTAZ Nevada graze in sagebrush habitat on the Forest Services Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in central Nevada.Fales, the Colorado rancher, relies on access to cheaper forage on federal land. To him, it makes sense that grazing there is less expensive. Private leases are almost always more productive land, he said. And unlike private leases, public leases typically require ranchers to pay for the maintenance of infrastructure like fences and water tanks beyond what land management agencies fund.The full cost to taxpayers, including grazings impact on the land, is unknown.Even before Trump began to aggressively downsize the federal workforce, it was impossible for agencies limited staff to monitor the public lands for environmental damage from excessive grazing. The number of BLM rangeland managers fell by 39% from 2019 through 2024, according to the most recent Office of Personnel Management data. By June 2025, after the Trump administration spurred a mass exodus from the federal workforce, the number had shrunk by another 9%, according to internal BLM employment data.Now, each rangeland manager is responsible for an average of 716 square miles, making it impossible for them to inspect their entire territory every year, BLM employees said.Just Good BusinessFor many of the countrys largest ranchers, the benefits of running cattle on public lands extend beyond profits from selling beef.In June, Air Force Two landed in Butte, Montana, where Vice President JD Vance transferred to a motorcade of black SUVs that shuttled him south to a sprawling cattle operation near Yellowstone National Park. Vance had traveled to this remote ranch to meet with its owner Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire founder of Fox News.In 2021, Murdoch purchased the Beaverhead Ranch for $200 million from a subsidiary of Koch Industries, the conglomerate controlled by conservative billionaire Charles Koch. Peggy Rockefeller Dulany, an heir to the Rockefeller fortune, owns a massive ranch nearby. Dulanys ranch did not respond to a request for comment.This is a profound responsibility, Murdoch told The Wall Street Journal through a spokesperson when he bought the ranch. We feel privileged to assume ownership of this beautiful land and look forward to continually enhancing both the commercial cattle business and the conservation assets across the ranch.Ultrawealthy families like the Murdochs, Kochs and Rockefellers own cattle ranches for a variety of reasons. Some want a taste of cowboy-themed luxury or the status gained from controlling vast and beautiful landscapes.For some, its also good business. Even hobby ranches qualify for big property tax breaks in certain jurisdictions. Business expenses related to ranching can be deducted from federal taxes. And federal agencies assign grazing permits to the owners of nearby private ranches, called base properties, inflating the value of those properties and making them stable long-term investments. Real estate agents touted Murdochs ranch as encompassing 340,000 acres, but two-thirds of that land is public and leased from the Forest Service and BLM.As with Kroenkes operation, taxpayers help underwrite grazing at Murdochs ranch.Beaverhead paid less than $25,000, 95% below market rate, to graze on federal lands last year, according to an analysis of agency data.At least one of Beaverheads BLM allotments in the picturesque Centennial Valley a several-thousand-acre parcel known as Long Creek AMP is failing environmental standards as a result of grazing. Matador Ranch and Cattle, which was formed from the aggregation of Beaverhead and a smaller ranch purchased by Murdoch in 2021, declined to comment for this story.Public lands grazing can also help advance unrelated businesses.Nevada Gold Mines controls millions of acres of federal grazing permits around its main money-making operations, including the massive Goldstrike Mine north of Carlin, Nevada. Aerial support provided by LightHawkCattle congregate at a watering hole near northern Nevadas Cortez Mountains, cutting paths into a checkerboard of public BLM lands and private Nevada Gold Mines property. Aerial support provided by LightHawkChris Jasmine, Nevada Gold Mines manager of biodiversity and rangelands, oversees a livestock operation that grazes around 5,000 head of cattle on public and private lands.The Southern Nevada Water Authority, which serves the Las Vegas Valley, is continually searching for new sources of water. Beginning in the 2000s, the utility purchased land hundreds of miles from Las Vegas in order to acquire its groundwater rights. Those properties were associated with public lands grazing permits, which the utility inherited. Bronson Mack, the water authoritys spokesperson, said in a statement that it continues the grazing operation as part of its maintenance and management of property assets, ranch assets, and environmental resources in the area.Mining companies are among the biggest public lands ranchers, in part because grazing permits afford them greater control over areas near their mines. Copper-mining companies like Freeport-McMoRan, Hudbay Minerals and Rio Tinto all run large cattle operations in Arizona, for example.A Hudbay representative sent a statement that said, Ranching and mining have coexisted in Arizona for generations, and we operate both with the same commitment to land stewardship and care for our neighboring communities. The other companies did not respond to requests for comment.Nevada Gold Mines, which owns 11 ranches surrounding its northern Nevada operations, is the behemoth of the group. A joint venture between the worlds two largest gold mining companies, the company holds millions of acres of grazing permits.We own them for access, explained Chris Jasmine, the companys manager of biodiversity and rangelands. Access to mineral rights, water rights and mitigation credits.Many of Nevada Gold Mines grazing permits surround its open pits, including the largest gold mining complex in the world. Access to that land makes it easier for the company to participate in programs that give it credits in exchange for environmental restoration projects. Then, the company can either sell these credits to other companies or use them to offset its environmental impacts and expand its mines.Jeff Burgess, who tracks public lands grazing subsidies via a website he calls the Arizona Grazing Clearinghouse, said such massive government assistance provides little benefit to taxpayers.When does the spigot stop? When do we stop throwing away money? asked Burgess, who wants to see subsidies shrink. Its a tyranny of the minority.A Modern Grazing EmpireIn central Nevadas Reese River Valley, a redbrick farmhouse that once served as the headquarters of the Hess Ranch has been reduced to crumbling chimneys and shattered windows. Despite its dilapidated appearance, this ranch is one of the private base properties that has allowed a little-known company called BTAZ Nevada to assemble a livestock empire that stretches across roughly 4,000 square miles of public lands, according to a Western Watersheds Project analysis of BLM and Forest Service data.This empire illustrates the livestock industrys consolidation, the subsidies that prop it up and the environmental harm that often follows.Based in Fremont, Nebraska, BTAZ belongs to the Barta family, which owns Sav-Rx, an online provider of prescription medication. The contact phone number BTAZ provided to the BLM is a Sav-Rx customer service line. The family patriarch, Jim Barta, was convicted in 2013 on felony charges for conspiracy to commit bribery. (The conviction was overturned after a judge ruled that Barta had been subjected to entrapment. Barta has since died.)The Bartas operation, now among the largest beneficiaries of the public lands grazing system, includes permits in Nevada, Oregon and Nebraska. Last year, BTAZ paid the government $86,000, $679,000 less than the market rate, according to agency data.In the Toiyabe Range of Nevada, where BTAZs BLM and Forest Service grazing allotments border each other, cow feces covered the ground surrounding a stock tank fed by mountain streams. A dead raven floated on the waters surface. The BLM listed allotments in this area as failing land health standards due to grazing in 2020 and again in 2024.Paul Ruprecht, Nevada director of the environmental group Western Watersheds Project, examines a water trough that straddles a boundary between BLM and Forest Service lands in central Nevadas Reese River Valley and is used by a BTAZ herd.Cow bones litter the ground on a BTAZ grazing allotment, near a degraded creek, the type of ecosystem that once supported the threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout.The Hess Ranch sits abandoned in the Reese River Valley. It is one of several properties that allow BTAZ access to hundreds of thousands of acres of federal grazing permits across central Nevada.Higher in the mountains, the evidence of BTAZs grazing was even clearer: swaths of ground chewed and trampled bare, discarded plastic piping, cow feces and bones in an unfenced creek. Streams like these were once suitable habitat for native Lahontan cutthroat trout. But activities such as grazing and development have degraded so much habitat that the threatened species now occupies only 12% of its historical range, according to a 2023 survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.This is completely unnecessary, Paul Ruprecht, Nevada director of the Western Watersheds Project, said as he surveyed the damage. Its not supporting the local economy, at least in any major way; its not providing significant amounts of food for anyone; its being heavily subsidized at every turn by taxpayers; its not adding anything to the scenery or the wildlife.BTAZ did not respond to requests for comment.Youre Going to Lose Your Small RancherSmaller ranchers have access to most of the same subsidies as the wealthiest ranchers, but the money isnt enough to protect them from harsh economic headwinds.Roughly 18,000 permittees graze livestock on BLM or Forest Service land. The bottom half accounts for less than 4% of the animal unit months on BLM land and less than 10% on Forest Service land, an analysis of the agencies data found.The smaller operations lack the economies of scale available to larger corporations, making it difficult for them to survive on agricultures thin profit margins. Theyre also more vulnerable to shifting conditions on the ground. Climate change has strained their water supplies. And more than 70,000 wild horses and burros now compete with livestock for forage.Consolidation in the meatpacking industry is further squeezing ranchers. The four largest operations have taken over more than 80% of the market, giving them leverage to lower the prices paid to ranchers.Burgess, who tracks public lands grazing subsidies in Arizona, argues the federal government should stop supporting ranchers who would otherwise go out of business. They refuse to face the reality that a lot of people arent going to be able to raise cattle profitably, so theyre just throwing money at it, he said, calling the system a vestige of the past.That could have ripple effects, shuttering businesses in rural towns. It could also force small ranchers to sell their private land perhaps to developers who would build on the open spaces, perhaps to wealthy owners like Kroenke or BTAZ.Mike and Danna Camblin run a small cattle operation near the Yampa River in northwest Colorado. Years of drought have forced them to downsize their herd, while each year they must tie up much of their money in their operation until they can sell their animals. Even with beef prices breaking records, they couldnt turn a profit without subsidized drought insurance and other government support including the ability to graze cheaply on federal land.Mike Camblin, first image, and his wife, Danna, ranchers in northwest Colorado, use virtual fencing technology, second image, to help rotate their cattle without the need for physical fences that disrupt wildlife movement.Most of these BLM leases have been in the family for years and years, and, if you take care of it, the BLM will allow you to continue to stay, he said. If they lose their federal grazing permits or otherwise cant make the economics work, the Camblins might have to sell their private land. Mike has mixed feelings about the influence of government assistance on his industry, saying it tethers us to those subsidies.Thats where they screwed up, they started subsidizing a lot of these guys clear back in the Dust Bowl, Mike said of the biggest ranches. Some larger operators who dont need government assistance take advantage of the system, he said, speaking favorably of an income-based metric that limits richer producers access to certain agricultural subsidies.Smaller ranchers precarious financial situation can lead to environmental harm, as they may run too many livestock for too long on federal land where grazing is cheaper.The Camblins make environmental stewardship part of their operation monitoring soil and plant health and rotating their several hundred head of cattle among pastures to let the ground rest but that adds costs.A cow turd will tell you more than anything else, Mike remarked as he eyed a fresh one left by his cattle. If its flat, that means the cow is getting enough protein from the grass, he said. If it degrades rapidly, that means insects are attracted to the plentiful organic matter. I spend more time looking down than at the cattle.Technology helps them rotate their herds. Dannas smartphone displayed a satellite view of the area. The interface showed purple cow icons confined within red polygons virtual fences that shock the cattle via collars should they stray. Unlike physical fences, virtual fences dont get in the way of migrating wildlife, and the Camblins can redraw them in an instant to shift their cattle to less-grazed areas.Leasing the collars for the system cost nearly $18,000 last year, Mike said.Silvia Secchi, a University of Iowa economist who studies agriculture, said federal grazing subsidies need to be reimagined so they benefit the American public instead of enriching the wealthiest ranchers. She suggested potential solutions like subsidizing co-ops that allow smaller ranchers to access economies of scale, capping the size of ranching operations that pay below market rate for forage and ending disaster payments for climate change-fueled droughts that are here to stay.We have baseline subsidies that are going up and up and up because we are not telling farmers to change the way you do things to adapt, Secchi said.Secchi and the Camblins agree that ending all public support would have repercussions for rural communities and landscapes. Mike acknowledged it could put his and Dannas operation at risk.Youre going to lose your small rancher, he said.Danna Camblin, on horseback, moves her familys herd of cattle to a new pasture to give the land time to recover.MethodologyTo pull back the curtain on the federal public lands grazing system, ProPublica and High Country News pored over government documents and data gleaned from more than 100 public records requests filed with the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service and state agencies across the West. We interviewed ranchers, conservationists, researchers and federal rangeland managers. We also toured grazing allotments in Arizona, Colorado, Montana and Nevada.To identify the largest public lands ranchers and the share of public lands ranching controlled by the top 10% of permittees we relied on BLM and Forest Service datasets, which included roughly 50,000 bills the agencies had sent to operators. We sued the BLM to obtain its data. Our analysis covered the most recent grazing fee year effectively a fiscal year for cows which ran from March 2024 through February 2025. To gauge the size of ranching operations, we used the number of animal unit months a measure of livestock foraging billed to each permittee. We researched connections among the largest operators, grouping related entities. For example, we counted subsidiaries as part of their parent companies.To calculate how much ranchers save using federal allotments instead of grazing their herds on private property, we multiplied the annual open market grazing price in that state by the number of animal unit months for which the permittee was billed, before subtracting what the federal government had billed the permittee for those animal unit months. We ascertained each states average free market rate by using U.S. Department of Agriculture research for grazing fee year 2024, which the BLM publishes annually.Our list of the largest ranchers on Forest Service land by acreage was compiled by the agency and provided to us in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. We contacted all of the ranchers named as the largest permittees to ask for comment on the accuracy of our findings, and several confirmed that the agency had provided the correct acreage.Mark Martinez of S. Martinez Livestock, which holds large permits on Forest Service lands, noted that livestock dont graze the entire permitted acreage every year. This is because some of the land is in poor condition due to wildfire and some is avoided for environmental reasons, while animals also graze each pasture for only part of the year.We consulted with various researchers as we compiled a list of subsidies the Agriculture Department pays to public lands ranchers. Our estimates were based on data from the Agriculture Departments Farm Service Agency and Risk Management Agency and included figures from the following: Livestock Forage Program; the Federal Crop Insurance Programs Pasture, Rangeland, Forage category; Livestock Indemnity Program; Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish; the temporary Emergency Livestock Relief Program; Livestock Risk Protection policies specific to beef cattle; and the Grassland Conservation Reserve Program.The post Wealthy Ranchers Profit From Public Lands. Taxpayers Pick Up the Tab. appeared first on ProPublica.

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Two months into President Donald Trumps second term, his administration gave states an ultimatum: Cooperate with his teams immigration crackdown or lose your federal homeland security funding.Oregon and 19 other states including Illinois, New York and California fought back and won. A federal judge ruled in September that the Department of Homeland Security couldnt attach such strings to its grants, which states rely on for counterterrorism and emergency planning. For Oregon, nearly $18 million was at stake. The money in the past has paid for everything from bomb detectors to a security analysts salary.But after winning in court, Oregon officials logged in to a federal grant website to formally accept the money, only to find the button to do so was disabled. They thought it might be a system glitch until they talked to counterparts in other states. The button did not come back online.Homeland Security officials signaled to the states that despite losing in court, they were likely to appeal. If states wanted the money now, they would have to sign a declaration promising to cooperate with immigration enforcement if they lost in the future. States argued this would violate the judges order, and they won in court again.Finally in October, the department officially removed the immigration wording to which states had objected and that the judge had said wasnt legal.But the administration continued to dangle the money out of reach. This time, the department rolled out a whole new set of criteria that made it harder for all states sanctuary or not, blue or red to obtain any federal terror or emergency management funding at all. They required states to estimate their populations net of people who had been deported and they dramatically tightened the deadline for spending the money.Trump and his appointees have faced intense scrutiny since September, when he cited violent radical left terrorism as the reason for ordering National Guard troops to Portland. The city disputes the characterization and has been fighting the deployment in court.Meanwhile, a quieter battle has been playing out over money to fight the extremist threats that emergency management officials say actually exist in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere.Oregon auditors reported that data from a security think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, puts the state at No. 6 nationally for violent extremist attacks from 2011 to 2020. In more recent years, the FBI announced a set of attacks on electrical substations in Oregon and Washington they suspected to be the work of neo-Nazis, as well as a series of Portland area ballot-box fires that the agency linked to an extremist of unspecified ideology.Insurrection, conflict, violence, bombings, all those kinds of things the dollars that we use absolutely are invested to help prevent, and help us prepare to respond to, those types of incidents, said Mark Ferdig, who runs the Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization in the Portland area, which is funded almost entirely by grants from the Department of Homeland Security.But in social media posts and in press briefings, the White House indicated that Trump doesnt trust Portland to use federal funding in ways that match the presidents priorities.He is genuinely serious about wanting to restore order in Americas cities, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an October briefing, but its become apparent that the local and elected officials in Oregon do not feel the same.The Department of Homeland Security declined an interview request for this story. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, an arm of the department that distributes grant funding, responded to written questions from an unnamed press office email.Cities and states who break the law and prevent us from arresting criminal illegal aliens should not receive federal funding. The President has been clear on that, the email said.It said that for too long, FEMAs programs have strayed from their core mission turning taxpayer money into a slush fund for woke projects based on outdated and flawed methodologies.The agency denied holding back homeland security grants, pointing to the money it made available in September if states agreed to help with immigration enforcement.Lynn Budd, director of the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security and past president of the National Emergency Management Association, said states should not be compelled to align themselves with any federal administrations politics when money for disaster victims and counterterrorism is on the line.There should not be any political ideology involved in the grants, Budd said.Eroding CapabilitiesThe administrations latest iteration of changes to homeland security grants has added obstacles that, this time around, threaten to make every state a casualty.For example, states must officially certify their current population count net of people deported. States suing the government said in a court filing that the most likely source for a deportee count would be the Department of Homeland Security itself and that when North Carolina officials asked, they got no response. The states said the federal agency gave Michigan only an approximate number of recently removed individuals and that FEMA provided no indication of whether such estimates would be good enough. (Asked about providing states with deportee counts, a FEMA spokesperson said the agency could not comment on pending litigation.)Theres also a much shorter window for all states to spend the money the department gives out: within the next 10 months, rather than three years. Emergency managers say the requirement is challenging because it takes time for local governments to propose specific spending to state officials, for the state to distribute the money, and for the locals to hire people or put out bids for construction.Budd called the new deadline pretty devastating for all states, including Wyoming. She said states have received no explanation for the changing grant requirements.Do you have your crystal ball? I dont have mine, Budd said. Thats one of the most frustrating things is the lack of communication.Asked about the reason for the latest changes, FEMA said they were intended to prevent fraud and abuse and werent related to the courts rejection of earlier requirements forcing states to aid in immigration enforcement.These changes are neither arbitrary nor capricious, the agencys email stated. They are part of a methodical, reasonable effort to ensure that federal dollars are used effectively and in line with the Administrations priorities and todays homeland security threats.While all states are affected now, sanctuary jurisdictions like Oregon remain the main force battling the administration in court. (Oregons sanctuary law, originated in the 1980s and enhanced in 2021, bars law enforcement officers from participating in immigration enforcement without a judicial warrant.)Oregon estimates that without the federal money, two-thirds of its counties wont be able to perform basic emergency management functions to prepare for and respond to disasters.In Portland, the states largest city and the one with the highest terrorism risk, an average of $5 million a year in homeland security grants over the past two decades has paid for law enforcement training, rescue vehicles, bomb squad gear, mobile X-ray scanners and barriers that prevent cars from plowing into crowds.The grant programs were established by Congress in the wake of 9/11 and initially focused on international terrorism, but local governments have since used them to boost their states overall disaster preparedness and combat the growing threat of domestic extremism.Firefighters bought a drone with homeland security money and used it to investigate the arson of a 120-year-old church building in Portland. They flew the drone through wreckage investigators couldnt set foot in because the building was likely to collapse. Investigators used it again when a 110-year-old brick apartment complex burned down.During last years election, an arsonist set off incendiary devices on two ballot drop boxes in Portland and Vancouver, Washington, destroying hundreds of ballots. However, both ballot boxes were equipped with fire suppression devices that the homeland security grants had paid for. They prevented many more ballots from burning, local law enforcement said.One of the ballot drop boxes damaged by an arsonist in last years elections in Portland Jenny Kane/APHomeland security money also pays for an intelligence analyst who briefs law enforcement on emerging terrorism risks and assesses the vulnerabilities of public infrastructure like water treatment plants. The analyst prepares threat assessments for major public events like professional sports games or the downtown waterfront Rose Festival, determining whether the airspace overhead should be temporarily restricted and identifying places where someone could leave a suspicious backpack.Those major investments that we make in planning projects and equipment and supplies and training, I think that that will essentially go away, said Ferdig, who runs the Portland areas disaster preparedness organization. Well see more significant and rapid erosion of our capability if we are training less. And if theres less equipment over time, its just going to dissipate. And that is worrisome.Ferdig and other Portland emergency managers started getting nervous about federal funding in early March, when they noticed that FEMA had temporarily turned off several of the computer systems used to pay grants to state and local governments. There was no warning.Ferdig knew Trump had openly talked about abolishing FEMA and had ordered his cabinet to review the agency. The technical difficulty felt ominous to Ferdig.Weeks later, the administration made its first attempt to withhold emergency funds from sanctuary states, prompting the lawsuit from Oregon and 19 other states.The Ideology of ExtremistsThe administrations aggressive stance on local counterterror funding is not just about pressuring states on immigration policy, according to Mary McCord, a former acting assistant attorney general for national security under President Barack Obama. It may also be driven by the types of political extremism the money is being used to combat.When Oregon auditors reviewed the states efforts to combat extremism in 2022, they noted that incidents of extremist violence in the state between 2011 and 2020 were split nearly equally across political orientations.That doesnt fit the Trump administrations narrative, said McCord, who is now director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at the Georgetown University Law Center.In public statements and a September presidential memo on Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence, Trump has painted political violence as coming solely from left-wing groups. His administration has designated antifa, a term for loosely affiliated participants in Americas anti-fascist movement, as a terrorist organization.State and local counterterror funding is being withheld because it was perceived by this administration to be all directed against the right, McCord said. It is a multifaceted strategy of trying to say, There is no violence on the right. The violence is all coming from the left.Lindsay Schubiner, director of programs for the Western States Center, said Trumps actions on disaster response and counterterrorism are disturbing when coupled with his recent deployment of the National Guard to Portland to deal with immigration protesters. Schubiners Portland-based nonprofit, which tracks extremism in the Northwest, has previously labeled the Trump administration a threat to democracy.The administration is undermining the power of states and localities by holding back funding that allows them to serve their residents, Schubiner said, while at the same time relying on federal troops or attempting to try to increase control over communities, quash dissent and consolidate his power.The White House has made clear that it does, in fact, intend to take more control over Portlands domestic security efforts, saying the local response has been too ideologically biased.On Oct 3., the day before a judge blocked Trump from deploying the National Guard to Portland, Leavitt, his press secretary, railed against the city and its police force for arresting a conservative journalist while doing nothing about radical left-wing lunatics she said were acting as a violent mob. (The Portland Police Bureau is among the local agencies that have benefited from homeland security grants in the past.)Leavitts comments were a response to ongoing nightly protests at the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland. ProPublica previously reported that, while incidents of varying intensity have occurred between officers and protesters, there has been no evidence to support the administrations claim of a coordinated assault on the facility.Read MoreRiots Raging: The Misleading Story Fox News Told About Portland Before Trump Sent TroopsLeavitt said the federal presence in Portland would surge to protect the ICE facility. At the same time, she broached the subject of cuts to various forms of federal aid to the city.We think its despicable that these local elected officials who swear an oath to protect their people are preventing law enforcement from doing their jobs on the ground, Leavitt said.The press secretary said White House officials, at Trumps direction, were already looking into ways to reduce the citys funding. She did not specify the type of funding or how the White House effort fit with the Department of Homeland Securitys ongoing battle with states over grant money.We will not fund states that allow anarchy, Leavitt said.The post Oregon Struggles to Land Federal Counterterrorism Money as Trump Orders Troops to Stop Terrorists Hindering ICE appeared first on ProPublica.

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Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool)2025-12-02T05:04:12Z NEW YORK (AP) Luigi Mangione is due back in court on Tuesday for the second day of a hearing in his bid to bar New York prosecutors from using evidence that they say links him to last years killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.The pretrial hearing in Mangiones state murder case kicked off Monday with prosecutors playing surveillance videos of the Dec. 4, 2024, killing and security footage of his arrest five days later at a McDonalds in Pennsylvania.Mangione, 27, gripped a pen in his right hand, making a fist at times, as prosecutors played the audio of a 911 call from a McDonalds manager relaying concerns from customers that Mangione looked like the suspect in Thompsons death.Mangiones lawyers are asking Judge Gregory Carro to block prosecutors from showing or telling jurors about items seized from his backpack during his arrest, including a 9 mm handgun that prosecutors say matches the one used in the killing and a notebook in which they say Mangione described his intent to wack a health insurance executive. The defense contends the items should be excluded because police didnt have a warrant to search his backpack. They also want to suppress some statements Mangione made to law enforcement personnel, such as allegedly giving a false name, because officers started asking questions before telling him he had a right to remain silent. Mangione, the Ivy League-educated scion of a wealthy Maryland family, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges. The state charges carry the possibility of life in prison, while federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Neither trial has been scheduled. The next hearing in the federal case is scheduled for Jan. 9. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on Mangiones lawyers want to bar evidence from both cases, but this weeks hearing pertains only to the state case. Five witnesses testified on Monday, including a Pennsylvania prison officer who said Mangione told him that at the time of his arrest he had a backpack with foreign currency and a 3D-printed pistol. Another prison officer said his superintendent told him Mangione was being held under constant watch because the facility did not want an Epstein-style situation, referring to Jeffrey Epsteins 2019 jail suicide.More law enforcement officers are expected to take the witness stand on Tuesday.Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind as the executive walked to a midtown Manhattan hotel for his companys annual investor conference. Prosecutors say delay, deny and depose were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.Mangione was arrested as he ate breakfast at a McDonalds in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan after the restaurants manager told a 911 dispatcher, I have a customer here that some other customers were suspicious of that he looks like the CEO shooter from New York.The manager told the dispatcher that she searched online for photos of the suspect that police disseminated. But, as Mangione sat in the restaurant, she said she could only see his eyebrows because he had a beanie pulled down close to his eyes and was wearing a medical face mask. On Monday, a few dozen Mangione supporters watched the hearing from the back of the courtroom.One wore a green T-shirt that said: Without a warrant, its not a search, its a violation. Another woman held a doll of the Luigi video game character and had a smaller figurine of him clipped to her purse.Court officials say the hearing could take more than a week.

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Special Envoy Steve Witkoff attends a meeting with Ukrainian officials Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, in Hallandale Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)2025-12-02T10:10:51Z U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff was due to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, taking to the Kremlin an embryonic peace plan that Washington hopes can bring about an end to the nearly four-year war in Ukraine.Coinciding with Witkoffs trip, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went to Ireland, continuing his visits to European countries that have helped sustain his countrys fight against Russias invasion.After months of frustration in his efforts to stop the fighting, U.S. President Donald Trump is deploying officials to get traction for his peace proposals. Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law, will join the meeting between Putin and Witkoff, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. He said that the talks would take as long as needed and will involve only Witkoff, Kushner and an interpreter from the U.S. side. So far, the talks have followed parallel lines, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sitting down with Ukrainian officials, and now Witkoff heading to Moscow.Zelenskyy said that he met Tuesday with the Ukrainian delegation that returned from the latest round of negotiations with the U.S. representatives in Florida. Rubio said that those talks made progress, but added that theres more work to be done. Zelenskyy said that the Florida talks took as their cue a document that both sides drafted at an earlier meeting in Geneva. The Ukrainian leader said that document was now finalized, although he didnt explain what that meant. Ukrainian diplomats are working to ensure that European partners are substantially involved in decision-making, Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app, and warned about what he said were Russian disinformation campaigns aimed at steering the negotiations.Ukrainian intelligence will provide partners with the information we have about Russias true intentions and its attempts to use diplomatic efforts as cover to ease sanctions and block important collective European decisions, Zelenskyy said. Zelenskyy was meeting with political leaders and lawmakers in Dublin on his first official visit. Ireland is officially neutral and isnt a member of NATO, but has sent nonlethal military support to Ukraine. More than 100,000 Ukrainians have moved to Ireland since Russia launched its war on Feb. 24, 2022.Though this weeks consultations could move the process forward, few details have become public. It remains unclear how envoys are going to bridge the gap between the two sides on such basic differences as who keeps what territory. European officials say the road to peace will be long.European leaders, who fear Russias future territorial ambitions and are trying to figure out how they can fund Ukraines fight beyond this year, are trying to make their voices heard after being largely sidelined by Washington. They are also working on future security guarantees for Ukraine.French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that he and Zelenskyy, who was on a trip to Paris, spoke by phone with Witkoff. They also spoke to leaders of eight other European countries as well as top European Union officials and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. Macron said that the coming days will see crucial discussions between U.S. officials and Western partners. Zelenskyys visit to Paris followed Sundays meeting between Ukrainian and U.S. officials, which Rubio described as productive.Diplomats face a hard time trying to bridge Russian and Ukrainian differences and persuading them to strike compromises. The key obstacles over whether Kyiv should cede land to Moscow and how to ensure Ukraines future security appear unresolved.Zelenskyy is under severe pressure in one of the darkest periods of the war for his country. As well as managing diplomatic pressure, he must find money to keep Ukraine afloat, address a corruption scandal that has reached the top echelons of his government, and keep Russia at bay on the battlefield.The Kremlin late Monday claimed that Russian forces have captured the key Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region. Zelenskyy, however, said in Paris that fighting was still ongoing in Pokrovsk on Monday.___Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Rose petals are scattered to Pope Leo XIV as he leaves after visiting the Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross in the town of Jal el-Dib, north of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)2025-12-02T04:49:51Z BEIRUT (AP) Pope Leo XIV prayed Tuesday at the site of a deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion that has become a symbol of dysfunction and official impunity and called for justice to prevail, as he offered words of consolation to Lebanons people including in the war-battered south on the final day of his first overseas trip.Relatives of some of the 218 people killed by the blast held up photos of their loved ones as Leo arrived at the scorched site. They stood side by side as Leo prayed silently first at a monument to the dead, then greeted each one, grasping their hands.The emotional encounter took place next to the shell of the last grain silo standing at the site destroyed by the Aug. 4, 2020, blast and the piles of burned cars torched in its wake. The explosion did billions of dollars in damage as hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate detonated in a port warehouse. Five years on, the families of those killed are still seeking justice. No official has been convicted in a judicial investigation that has been repeatedly obstructed, angering Lebanese for whom the blast was just the latest evidence of impunity after decades of corruption and financial crimes. The visit clearly sends the message that the explosion was a crime, said Cecile Roukoz, whose brother, Joseph Roukoz, was killed and who was on hand to meet the pope. There should be a message, the country should end impunity and ensure justice is served.When he arrived in Lebanon on Sunday, Leo urged the countrys political leaders to pursue the truth as a means of peace and reconciliation. In a homily Sunday after praying at the site, Leo referred explicitly to the blast and called for Lebanon to be a place of justice. Pope calls for justice at MassAn estimated 150,000 worshippers packed the Beirut waterfront for Leos final Mass, which he celebrated immediately after praying at the nearby blast site. In his homily, Leo named the many problems the Lebanese people have faced, from economic crises to the blast and renewed fears of war. He said its natural to feel paralyzed by powerlessness in the face of evil and oppressed by so many difficult situations.But he urged them not to be resigned, and to find ways to remain hopeful and grateful. He insisted, though, that justice was part of the equation.Let us cast off the armor of our ethnic and political divisions, open our religious confessions to mutual encounter and reawaken in our hearts the dream of a united Lebanon, he said. A Lebanon where peace and justice reign, where all recognize each other as brothers and sisters.Lebanon, stand up! Be a home of justice and fraternity! Be a prophetic sign of peace for the whole of the Levant! An emotional visit to the hospitalThe American pope opened his final day in Lebanon with an emotional visit to the De La Croix hospital, which specializes in care for people with psychological problems. Awaiting him were some familiar-looking faces: young boys dressed up as Swiss Guards and cardinals, and even one dressed as the pope himself in all white.The mother superior of the congregation that runs the hospital, Mother Marie Makhlouf, was overcome as she welcomed the pope, telling him that her hospital cares for the forgotten souls, burdened by their loneliness.Leo said the facility stands as a reminder to all of humanity. We cannot forget those who are most fragile. We cannot conceive of a society that races ahead at full speed clinging to the false myths of well-being, while at the same time ignoring so many situations of poverty and vulnerability, he said.For Lebanon, (the visit) means a lot, said pilgrim Maggie Claudine, who was waiting for Leo at the hospital. We hope that peace will prevail, and that is what we wish for. We want to live in comfort. Families of blast dead seek justiceLeo has sought to bring a message of peace to Lebanon as it copes with the economic crises, the aftermath of last years devastating war between Hezbollah and Israel and the fallout from the port blast.Among those on hand to welcome Leo at the blast site was Lebanon Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed, whose mother was killed. Another was Mireille Khoury, whose 15-year-old son, Elias, was killed. When Leo approached her, Khoury pointed to the building where they lived across the port, where Elias died as he was hanging out in his room.Khoury said Lebanon cannot heal from its wounds without justice and accountability. She has been among the relatives who have called for finalizing the stalled investigation that implicated a long list of political, security and judicial officials. The probe has been obstructed by officials who have largely refused to cooperate.Justice is the basis of building any country, she told The Associated Press in an interview before the pope arrived in Lebanon. Our children were killed in their homes. They were killed because someone kept (ammonium) nitrate in the main port of the city near a residential area. Khoury said the popes prayer and support would bring some relief, but said she would not give up on her pursuit for justice.I will not say that this anger will fully just disappear, Khoury said. But I think it will give some sort of relaxation of this anger that is in my heart until justice is served.The fate of the ports massive grain silos, which absorbed much of the shock of the explosion, has also been a matter of debate.The Lebanese government at one point planned to demolish the damaged silos but decided against it after families of the blasts victims and survivors, who want them preserved, protested. The port, meanwhile, is largely functional again but still hasnt been fully rebuilt.Calls for peace in the southPope Leo XIV referenced the ongoing conflict in southern Lebanon in his farewell speech at the Beirut airport and sent a message of support to people of the south.Christians in the south had been disappointed that his visit did not include a visit to their areas, which were battered by last years war between Israel and Hezbollah and are still the target of regular airstrikes that Israel says aim to stop Hezbollah from rebuilding.I greet all the regions of Lebanon that I was unable to visit: Tripoli and the north, the Beqaa and the south of the country, which is currently experiencing a state of conflict and uncertainty, Leo said. He also referred to the cities of Sidon and Tyre, which are mentioned in the New Testament, as biblical places.May the attacks and hostilities cease, he said. We must recognize that armed struggle brings no benefit. While weapons are lethal, negotiation, mediation and dialogue are constructive.Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged the pope to keep Lebanon in his prayers.The Lebanese are a faithful people who deserve life, he said. As we bid you farewell, we do not only part with an honored guest, but with a father who brought us comfort, and reminded us that the world has not forgotten Lebanon.___Mroue reported from Jal el-Dib, Lebanon. Associated Press journalist Fadi Tawil in Beirut contributed to this report.___Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. NICOLE WINFIELD Winfield has been on the Vatican beat since 2001, covering the papacies of St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and the Francis pontificate and traveling the world with them. KAREEM CHEHAYEB Chehayeb is an Associated Press reporter in Beirut. twitter instagram mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)2025-12-02T04:44:42Z BANGKOK (AP) World shares were mixed on Tuesday after U.S. stocks gave back some of last weeks rally, pressured by rising global bond yields. The future for the S&P 500 rose 0.2% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1%.In Germany, the DAX advanced 0.7% to 23,748.88, while the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.4% to 8,126.11. Britains FTSE 100 was also up 0.4%, at 9,737.80. In Asian trading, Tokyos Nikkei 225 ended flat at 49,303.45, with financial shares the biggest gainers after the governor of the central bank hinted at a possible hike to interest rates this month.In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng added 0.2% to 26,095.05, while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.7% to 3,897.71. Australias S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2% to 8,579.70.The Kospi in South Korea jumped 1.9% to 3,994.93, led by buying of technology shares like Samsung Electronics, which surged 2.6%. Chip maker SK Hynix leaped 3.7%. Taiwans benchmark Taiex climbed 0.8%, while the Sensex in India lost 0.6%.On Monday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.5% and broke a five-day winning streak. The Dow industrials dropped 0.9% and the the Nasdaq composite dipped 0.4%. Last weeks rally was largely due to rising hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate next week to help shore up the slowing job market. Jobs are under pressure at U.S. manufacturers, and the majority in a survey by the Institute for Supply Management said theyre still focused more on managing headcount than on hiring. Several manufacturers also said tariffs are continuing to make things complicated. Conditions are more trying than during the coronavirus pandemic in terms of supply chain uncertainty, one manufacturer told the ISM. Yields for longer-term Treasurys rose in the bond market, part of a worldwide climb for yields after Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda indicated the central bank may raise its benchmark rate at its meeting later this month. Japans benchmark interest rate has remained near zero for years in hopes of reviving sluggish growth. Now inflation is holding above the Bank of Japans target of about 2%. The prospect of the Bank of Japan resuming its hiking cycle a bit sooner than previously thought has sent tremors through global bond and equity markets this week, but we suspect they could nonetheless weather further tightening, Thomas Mathews of Capital Markets said in a commentary.When bonds are paying higher yields, they can attract investors who would otherwise buy stocks or cryptocurrencies. Higher yields undercut prices for all kinds of investments, particularly those seen as the most expensive.Bitcoin, which was soaring around $125,000 in October, dropped toward $85,500. Thats down roughly 6% from a day earlier. It was trading around $87,500 early Tuesday. Crypto industry stocks fell, with Coinbase Global down 4.8% and Robinhood Markets losing 4.1%. On the winning side of Wall Street was Synposys, which rose 4.9%. It said Nvidia is investing $2 billion in its stock as part of an expanded partnership. Nvidia, which has become Wall Streets most influential stock, swung from an early loss to a gain of 1.6%. The markets had a mixed reaction to what seems like a strong start for the holiday shopping season. Consumer spending during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday retailing bonanza was expected to exceed expectations, despite uncertainty over the outlook for the U.S. economy. In other dealings early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gave up 6 cents to $59.26 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, shed 13 cents to $63.04 per barrel. The dollar rose to 156.05 Japanese yen from 155.48 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1604 from $1.1611. ELAINE KURTENBACH Based in Bangkok, Kurtenbach is the APs business editor for Asia, helping to improve and expand our coverage of regional economies, climate change and the transition toward carbon-free energy. She has been covering economic, social, environmental and political trends in China, Japan and Southeast Asia throughout her career. twitter mailto

Nature, Published online: 02 December 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03910-yEurope must reform the ways in which science is evaluated. To boost innovation, it must improve research culture.

Nature, Published online: 02 December 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03933-5The single-celled organism can grow at 63 C, a record for eukaryotic life.

Nature, Published online: 02 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09975-zAuthor Correction: Videorate tunable colour electronic paper with human resolution

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Republican congressional candidate Matt Van Epps, center, and his wife Meg Wrather, left, greet a poll worker after casting their ballots at an early voting site in the special election for the seventh district, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)2025-12-02T05:09:40Z NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) President Donald Trump and Republicans will try to bounce back from recent losses around the country when Tennessee voters choose the next representative for the reliably conservative 7th U.S. House Congressional District on Tuesday. The special election, which was organized after Republican Rep. Mark Green resigned this summer, saw an unexpected surge of spending in recent weeks, flooding the airwaves and filling residents mailboxes with campaign flyers.Matt Van Epps, the Republican candidate, has been backed by more than $1 million from MAGA Inc. Its the first time the Trump-supporting super PAC has spent money on a campaign since last years presidential race, a reflection of this contests outsize importance. House Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP chair Joe Gruters rallied supporters in Tennessee on Monday. Trump addressed the crowd by phone and later held a tele-rally for Van Epps, his second of the general election. Democrats recently won by wide margins in New Jersey, Virginia and elsewhere, and a strong showing in Tennessee could further embolden the party ahead of midterm elections next November. The House Majority PAC has put $1 million behind state Rep. Aftyn Behn, the Democratic candidate. National party chair Ken Martin visited to campaign for Behn. Former Vice President Kamala Harris participated in a canvassing kickoff while in Nashville on a book tour. And former Vice President Al Gore, a Tennessee native, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez headlined a virtual rally on the elections eve. Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on The 7th District is one of three seats redrawn in 2022 to erode the influence of Nashville, the states largest city and a Democratic stronghold. Only about 1 in 5 of its registered voters are in Nashville, and last year it went to Green by 21 percentage points and to Trump by a similar margin. Democrats say closing the gap would signal that their party has momentum going into next year. Republicans remain confident that they can defend the seat, and they hope to dismiss Democratic claims that even red districts are now in play as Trump struggles with low approval ratings and persistent economic dissatisfaction. However there are concerns about turnout due to the timing, as early voting went into Thanksgiving week with Election Day the following Tuesday. Trump held a virtual rally in November with Van Epps, a former state general services commissioner from Nashville who previously served as an Army helicopter pilot, to boost his candidacy.Republicans have tried to turn Behns own words against her in television advertising, such as when she described herself as a radical or claimed to be bullying immigration agents and state police officers. A frequent target are comments Behn made about Nashville years ago, when she said I hate this city and complained about bachelorette parties. For the most part, Behn has answered questions about those remarks by redirecting to cost of living issues. But she has responded specifically about Nashville, saying she wants it to be a place where working people can thrive even if she gets annoyed at some tourist draws. Behn, a self-proclaimed pissed-off social worker, has condemned Trumps tariffs and tax cut legislation, both of which Van Epps supports. She also has criticized Republicans reluctance to release files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Van Epps originally opposed a House vote to force the Justice Department to disclose more Epstein documents but changed his stance to mirror Trump after the president backed the measure.Democratic allies sought to eat away at Van Epps base by urging conservatives to back independent candidate Jon Thorp instead. That messaging came in mailers from Your Community PAC, which has spent more than $16 million supporting Democratic candidates across the country since last year.

A man walks with a Prada shopping bag in front of a Versace shop, at the Montenapoleone luxury fashion street, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)2025-12-02T10:24:54Z MILAN (AP) The Prada Group closed the purchase of Milan fashion rival Versace in a $1.375 billion cash deal that puts the fashion house known for its sexy silhouettes under the same roof as Pradas ugly chic aesthetic and Miu Mius youth-driven appeal. The highly anticipated deal is expected to relaunch Versaces fortunes, after middling post-pandemic performance as part of the U.S. luxury group Capri Holdings.Prada said in a one-line statement that the acquisition had been completed after receiving all regulatory clearances. Capri Holdings, which owns Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo, said the money would be used to pay down debt. Donatella Versace welcomed the deal in an Instagram post, which also marked the birthday of the brands late founder, her brother, Gianni Versace. Today is your day and the day Versace joins the Prada family. I am thinking of the smile you would have had on your face,' she wrote in a post that also featured a 1979 photo of Gianni Versace with Miuccia Prada. Versaces futurePrada heir Lorenzo Bertelli is set to steer Versaces next phase as executive chairman, in addition to his roles as group marketing director and sustainability chief.The son of co-creative director Miuccia Prada and longtime Prada Group chairman Patrizio Bertelli has said he doesnt expect to make any swift executive changes at Versace, although he also noted that the company, which is among the top 10 most recognized brands in the world, has long been underperforming in the market. FILE- Prada Group Chief Marketing Officer Lorenzo Bertelli attends the presentation of the Axiom and Prada-designed spacesuit that will be used by NASA from 2026, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File) FILE- Prada Group Chief Marketing Officer Lorenzo Bertelli attends the presentation of the Axiom and Prada-designed spacesuit that will be used by NASA from 2026, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Prada has underlined that the 47-year-old Versace brand offered significant untapped growth potential.Versace is undergoing a creative relaunch under a new designer, Dario Vitale, who previewed his first collection during Milan Fashion Week in September. He was previously head of design at Miu Miu, but his move to Versace was unrelated to the Prada deal, executives have said. Customers look at a Prada shop window, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) Customers look at a Prada shop window, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Capri Holdings paid $2 billion for Versace in 2018, but had been struggling to position the brands bold profile in the recent era of quiet luxury.Capri Holdings chairman John D. Idol said in a statement that Prada is the ideal partner to guide this celebrated luxury house into its next era of growth.'Versace represented 20% of Capri Holdings 2024 revenue of 5.2 billion euros,Prada said when the deal was announced in April that Versace would represent 13% of the Prada Groups pro-forma revenues, with Miu Miu coming in at 22% and Prada at 64%. The Prada Group, which also includes Churchs footwear, reported a 17% boost in revenues to 5.4 billion euros last year.Pradas in-house manufacturingThe Prada Group has already begun preparations to incorporate crosstown rival Versace into its Italian manufacturing system, a point of pride for the group. Making a bag for one brand or another, the know-how is the same, Bertelli told reporters last week at the groups Scandicci leather goods factory, which already makes bags for the Prada and Miu Miu brands and will soon add Versace. Artisans stitched handles onto leather bags, and cut leather with laser machines inside the leather goods factory, where trainees were learning the trade as part of Pradas 25-year-old academy. It has trained some 570 new artisans in an in-house training program in the Tuscany, Marche, Veneto and Umbria regions. Last year, Prada hired 70% of the 120 artisans who trained in the academy. The number of trainees rose by 28% to 152 this year.The Prada Group has invested 60 million euros in its supply chain this year, including a new leather goods factory near Siena, a new knitwear factory near Perugia, as well as increasing production at its Churchs footwear factory in Britain and expanding another Tuscan factory. Thats on top of 200 million euros in investments from 2019-24. A leather good operator works at the Prada factory in Scandicci, Italy, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) A leather good operator works at the Prada factory in Scandicci, Italy, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More Leather good operators work at the Prada factory in Scandicci, Italy, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Leather good operators work at the Prada factory in Scandicci, Italy, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More COLLEEN BARRY Barry covers all things Italy for The Associated Press. Her focus includes fashion and design, overtourism and the environment, politics and sometimes the Vatican. twitter instagram mailto

Nature, Published online: 02 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09872-5Author Correction: The first-principles phase diagram of monolayer nanoconfined water

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