AP News in Brief at 12:04 a.m. EST

The president told the crowd gathered at a casino and resort in Mount Pocono that inflation was no longer a problem and that Democrats had used the term “affordability” as a “hoax” to hurt his reputation. But his remarks weaved wildly to include grievances he first raised behind closed doors in his first term in 2018 — and later denied saying — asking why the U.S. doesn't have more immigrants from Scandinavia.

“Why is it we only take people from s—-hole countries, right?” Trump said onstage. "Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few?”

Trump said he objected to taking immigrants from “hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia and many other countries." He added for emphasis that those places “are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.”

Tuesday’s gathering in the swing state — and in a competitive House district — was an official White House event, yet it seemed more like one of his signature campaign rallies that his chief of staff said he would hold regularly ahead of next year’s midterms. But instead of being in an arena that could draw several thousand attendees, it was held in a conference center ballroom at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, a small town of about 3,000 residents.

Opponents of Trump-backed redistricting in Missouri submit a petition to force a public vote

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Opponents of Missouri's new congressional map submitted thousands of petition signatures Tuesday calling for a statewide vote on a redistricting plan backed by President Donald Trump as part of his quest to hold on to a slim Republican majority in next year's elections.

Organizers of the petition drive said they turned in more than 300,000 signatures to the secretary of state's office — well over the roughly 110,000 needed to suspend the new U.S. House districts from taking effect until a referendum election can be held next year.

The signatures still need to be formally verified by election authorities and Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, who could declare the referendum petition unconstitutional. A legal fight appears likely.

A referendum could create a significant obstacle for Republicans, who hope the new districts could help them win a currently Democratic-held seat in the Kansas City area.

Republican Attorney General Catherine Hanaway issued a statement saying the new House districts took effect Tuesday and will remain in place unless Hoskins determines the referendum petition is constitutional and contains sufficient signatures. Petition sponsors said the new districts were immediately suspended when they submitted signatures, which is how the secretary of state's office handled things during Missouri's most recent referendum petition in 2017.

Hegseth tells congressional leaders he is weighing release of boat strike video

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told congressional leaders Tuesday that he was still weighing whether to release the full video of an attack on an alleged drug boat that killed two survivors, even as he faced intensifying demands from Congress for disclosure.

Hegseth provided a classified briefing for congressional leaders alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe at the Capitol. Inside the secure room, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer asked the defense secretary whether he would allow every member of Congress to view the video of the attack from September.

Schumer said Hegseth's response was: “We have to study it.”

Lawmakers are demanding a full accounting from the Department of Defense on the military campaign and the particular attack that killed two people who were clinging to the wreckage of an initial strike. Legal experts say that action may have violated the laws governing the use of deadly military force. The situation has awakened the Republican-controlled Congress to its oversight role after months of frustration about the trickle of information from the Pentagon.

Schumer described the briefing as “very unsatisfying” and added that “Democrats and Republicans had a right to see it, wanted to see it, and should see it.”

Democrat wins Miami mayor’s race for the first time in nearly 30 years

MIAMI (AP) — Democrat Eileen Higgins won the Miami mayor’s race on Tuesday, defeating a Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump to end her party’s nearly three-decade losing streak and give Democrats a boost in one of the last electoral battles ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Higgins, 61, will be the first woman to lead the city of Miami. She spoke frequently in the Hispanic-majority city about Trump’s immigration crackdown, saying she has heard of many people in Miami who were worried about family members being detained. She campaigned as a proud Democrat despite the race being officially nonpartisan and beat Trump-backed candidate Emilio Gonzalez, a former city manager, who said he called Higgins to congratulate her.

“We are facing rhetoric from elected officials that is so dehumanizing and cruel, especially against immigrant populations,” Higgins told The Associated Press after her victory speech. “The residents of Miami were ready to be done with that.”

With nearly all votes counted Tuesday, Higgins led the Republican by about 19 percentage points.

The local race is not predictive of what may happen at the polls next year. But it drew attention from the two major national political parties and their leaders. The victory provides Democrats with some momentum heading into a high-stakes midterm election when the GOP is looking to keep its grip in Florida, including in a Hispanic-majority district in Miami-Dade County. The area has shifted increasingly rightward politically in recent years, and the city may become the home of Trump’s presidential library.

Luigi Mangione’s notes to self: 'Pluck eyebrows,' 'Keep momentum, FBI slower overnight'

NEW YORK (AP) — Pluck eyebrows. Buy less conspicuous shoes. Take a bus or a train west toward Cincinnati and St. Louis. Move around late at night. Stay away from surveillance cameras.

A to-do list and travel plans found during Luigi Mangione’s arrest and revealed in court this week shed new light on the steps he may have taken — or planned to take — to avoid capture after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killing last year.

“Keep momentum, FBI slower overnight,” said one note. “Change hat, shoes, pluck eyebrows,” said another.

The notes, including a hand-drawn map and tactics for surviving on the lam, were shown on Monday at a pretrial hearing as Mangione’s bid to prevent prosecutors from using evidence seized during his Dec. 9, 2024, arrest at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Excerpts of body-worn camera footage of the arrest, previously unseen by the press or the public, were released on Tuesday.

US stocks hold in place in the countdown to the Federal Reserve’s meeting on Wednesday

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks largely held in place on Tuesday as Wall Street waits to hear what the Federal Reserve will say Wednesday about where interest rates are heading.

The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1% and remained near its all-time high set in October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 179 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.1%.

JPMorgan Chase was the heaviest weight on the market after a top executive, Marianne Lake, said the bank’s expenses could rise to $105 billion next year.

That would be up 9% from an estimated $95.9 billion in expenses this year, though Lake also said JPMorgan Chase is “feeling pretty good about the underlying financial health of the borrowers in our portfolio.” Its stock fell 4.7%.

Another drop came from Toll Brothers, which lost 2.4% after the homebuilder reported weaker results for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Supreme Court questions limits on political party spending in federal elections, hearing GOP appeal

WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared to back a Republican-led drive that would erase limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and president and overturn a quarter-century-old decision.

A day after the justices indicated they would reverse a 90-year-old precedent limiting the president's power to fire independent agency heads, the court took up a 2001 decision that upheld a provision of federal election law that is more than 50 years old.

The lawsuit, which originated in Ohio, includes Vice President JD Vance, who joined in the Republican challenge to the limits when he was a senator from Ohio. The arguments touched on whether Vance would run for president in 2028, and whether his plans should figure in the outcome.

The case is the latest in which the conservative majority could upend congressionally enacted limits on raising and spending money to influence elections. The court’s 2010 Citizens United decision opened the door to unlimited independent spending in federal elections.

Two hours of arguments showed entrenched divisions between the liberal and conservative justices over campaign finance restrictions.

What to know about the Justice Department's Jeffrey Epstein files

NEW YORK (AP) — The clock is ticking for the U.S. government to open up its files on Jeffrey Epstein.

After months of rancor and recriminations, Congress has passed and President Donald Trump has signed legislation compelling the Justice Department to give the public everything it has on Epstein — and it has to be done before Christmas.

On Tuesday, a federal judge said the department could release grand jury transcripts and other documents from the sex trafficking case brought against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer had previously rejected the Justice Department's unsealing requests before the transparency law was passed. In Tuesday's ruling, he cautioned that people shouldn't expect to learn much new information from the records, saying they “do not reveal any heretofore unknown means or methods of Epstein's or Maxwell's crimes.”

Last week, a different federal judge gave the department permission to release transcripts of a grand jury investigation into Epstein’s abuse of underage girls in Florida.

While there’s sure to be never-before-seen material in the thousands of pages likely to be released in the Florida transcripts and other Epstein-related records, a lot has already been made public, including by Congress and through litigation.

Storms bring heavy rain to the Pacific Northwest, snow and freezing rain to the Upper Midwest

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The first of a series of powerful storms dumped heavy rain and swelled rivers in the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday, closing roads and prompting high water rescues.

Residents in parts of Oregon and Washington grappled with power outages, flooding and school closures, while drivers navigated debris slides and water that closed roads and submerged vehicles.

Fire officials northeast of Seattle said crews conducted several rescues, using inflatable kayaks to pull people from stranded cars and carrying another person about a mile (1.6 km) to safety after they were trapped in a wooded area by rising water.

Forecasters warned that the worst was still to come, with some major rivers expected to crest later in the week.

“We're starting to see a lot of rivers begin to rise and move very rapidly with lots of runoff with the rain,” said Harrison Rademacher, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Seattle office.

Australia's social media ban leaves a 15-year-old worried about losing touch with friends

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Riley Allen, a 15-year-old schoolboy living on an Outback sheep ranch, doesn’t know how he’ll keep in touch with his circle of far-flung friends once Australia's world-first social media ban takes effect on Wednesday.

Riley’s family lives 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Wudinna, a community of just over 1,000 in South Australia state. But some of his school friends live as far as 70 kilometers (43 miles) away.

“I don’t think the impact will be very positive for us. We don’t have a lot out here to get in contact with each other,” Riley said.

“I’m not sure how we’re going to keep in touch over the holidays with each other,” he said, referring to the Southern Hemisphere summer break that starts on Thursday.

Riley and others younger than 16 will be banned by law from holding accounts with Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube and Twitch from Wednesday. The platforms face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars ($32.9 million) if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove the accounts.