AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT

Investigators obtained clues including a palm print, a shoe impression and a high-powered hunting rifle found in a wooded area along the path the shooter fled. But they had yet to name a suspect or cite a motive in the killing they were treating as the latest act of political violence to convulse the United States across the ideological spectrum.

The photos of a person in a hat, sunglasses and a long-sleeve black shirt, as well as a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, suggested that law enforcement thought tips from the public might be needed to crack the case. Two people who were taken into custody shortly after Wednesday's shooting at Utah Valley University were later released, forcing officials to chase new leads on a separate person of interest they pursued Thursday.

One clue was a Mauser .30-caliber, bolt-action rifle found in a towel in the woods. A spent cartridge was recovered from the chamber, and three other rounds were loaded in the magazine, according to information circulated among law enforcement and described to The Associated Press. The weapon and ammunition were being analyzed by law enforcement at a federal lab.

The attack, carried out in a broad daylight as Kirk spoke about social issues from a university courtyard, was captured on grisly videos that spread on social media.

How Charlie Kirk shaped a generation of young people into a conservative force

Charlie Kirk began plotting a way to mold young minds into conservatism at an age when he was still sorting out his own path. Looking to channel his political inclinations into action after a rejection from West Point, Kirk was 18 when he launched a grassroots organization from an Illinois garage that would grow alongside the rise of President Donald Trump and fuel the “Make America Great Again” movement.

Kirk admitted later he had “no money, no connections and no idea what I was doing” when he started Turning Point USA in 2012. But his rhetorical gifts for countering progressive ideas by inflaming cultural tensions and making provocative declarations instantly resonated with college audiences during the Obama administration and Trump's first presidency.

As video clips of his early campus appearances spread online, it helped him secure a steady stream of donations that transformed Turning Point into one of the country’s largest political organizations, attracting young people to star-studded gatherings and making it a presence at high schools and colleges around the country.

“No one understood or had the heart of the youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” Trump said on Wednesday after Kirk was assassinated while speaking at a college in Utah.

In the early stages, Kirk described his group as a student organization that advocated for free markets and limited government. He needled peers who bashed capitalism and backed presidential candidate and democratic socialist Bernie Sanders yet “shamelessly enjoy the fruits of the free market,” like Starbucks, Amazon and Netflix.

Charlie Kirk's shooting death exposes security gaps at political events

The assassination of Charlie Kirk offers the latest example of how ordinary security measures can be defeated in an era of escalating political violence, when anyone associated with the political process is a potential target, including influencers.

Kirk was in a familiar setting Wednesday before a large crowd at a university in Utah, a red state where voting trends largely aligned with his pro-MAGA politics. The conservative firebrand appeared with his own security team, as he has at events on other campuses.

In hindsight, those with experience protecting high-profile officials and dignitaries say more could have been done to prevent the shooting.

Security experts interviewed by The Associated Press questioned whether the event was sufficiently staffed but also acknowledged the limitations of both campus police forces and outdoor venues. They said only the inner ring closest to Kirk appeared to be secure, leaving the outer and middle rings exposed.

The killing, apparently carried out from a nearby rooftop, had eerie parallels to the assassination attempt last year against Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, where a 20-year-old gunman managed to climb on top of a nearby building and open fire during a campaign stop.

Judge temporarily blocks US effort to remove dozens of immigrant Guatemalan and Honduran children

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A federal judge in Arizona temporarily blocked the Trump administration from removing dozens of Guatemalan and Honduran children living in shelters or foster care after coming to the U.S. alone, according to a decision Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Rosemary Márquez in Tucson extended until at least Sept. 26 a temporary restraining issued over the Labor Day weekend. Márquez raised concern over whether the government had arranged for any of the children's parents or legal guardians in Guatemala to take custody of them.

Laura Belous, attorney for the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, which represents the children, said in court that the minors had expressed no desire to be repatriated to their native countries of Guatemala and Honduras amid concerns they could face neglect, possible child trafficking or hardships associated with individual medical conditions.

Lawyers for the children said their clients have said they fear going home, and that the government is not following laws designed to protect migrant children.

A legal aid group filed a lawsuit in Arizona on behalf of 57 Guatemalan children and another 12 from Honduras between the ages 3 and 17.

Majority of Brazilian Supreme Court panel convicts Bolsonaro of attempting a coup

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — The majority of a panel of Brazilian Supreme Court justices on Thursday voted to convict former president Jair Bolsonaro of attempting a coup to remain in office despite his 2022 electoral defeat, in a ruling that will deepen political divisions and likely prompt a backlash from the United States government.

The far-right politician who governed Brazil between 2019 and 2022 was found guilty on five counts by four members of a five-justice panel. The latest to rule were Cármen Lúcia and Cristiano Zanin on Thursday, a day after another justice, Luiz Fux, disagreed and voted to acquit the ex-president of all charges.

The panel is now deciding on Bolsonaro’s sentence, which could amount to decades in prison.

U.S. President Donald Trump said hours later that he was “very unhappy” with the conviction. Speaking to reporters as he departed the White House, he said he always found Bolsonaro to be “outstanding.”

The conviction, he added, is “very bad for Brazil.”

NC lawmakers likely to propose tougher pretrial release laws after fatal stabbing

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's top legislative leaders said Thursday that they are aiming to advance a package of proposed laws in part designed to tighten pretrial release rules following the fatal stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte commuter train that prompted national attention and calls for tougher-on-crime policies.

More oversight of and less discretion for local magistrates who make decisions on criminal suspects — like the man now accused of murder in last month's death of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska — likely will be introduced when the Republican-controlled General Assembly reconvenes Sept. 22.

“We must deliver justice for Iryna and the countless families across our state that have fallen victim to a justice system that does not support them and does not keep them safe,” Senate leader Phil Berger said at a Legislative Building news conference.

The package — outlines of which were offered by Berger and House Speaker Destin Hall — also could include an effort to restart the death penalty in the state and prevent the governor and other executive branch officials from creating commissions that Berger contends encourage local policies favoring perpetrators. He mentioned a task force established in 2020 by then-Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper addressing racial inequities in the criminal justice system following the death of George Floyd.

The suspect in Zarutska's stabbing, Decarlos Brown Jr., was arrested soon after the Aug. 22 attack. But last week's release of train video showing what looked like a random attack brought criticism from President Donald Trump and conservative activists who blamed government and judicial officials.

Judge issues nationwide block on Trump policy that cuts off Head Start for people in US illegally

A federal judge has issued a nationwide block on a Trump administration directive that prevented children in the U.S. illegally from enrolling in Head Start, a federally funded preschool program.

Head Start associations in several states filed suit against the policy change by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The ruling by a federal judge in Washington state on Thursday comes after a coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general succeeded in temporarily halting the policy’s implementation within their own states.

With the new ruling, the policy is now on hold across the country.

Andrew Nixon, an HHS spokesman, said the agency disagrees with the court’s decisions and is evaluating next steps.

In July, HHS proposed a rule reinterpretation to disallow immigrants in the country illegally from receiving certain social services, including Head Start and other community health programs. Those programs were previously made accessible by a federal law in President Bill Clinton’s administration.

Israel's strike on Qatar has infuriated Arab leaders. That bodes ill for Trump's Mideast priorities

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Just a few months ago, the rulers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump to their palaces with camel parades and pomp. Now, those same leaders are united in anger after Israel’s strike targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar's capital, Doha.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called for “an Arab, Islamic and international response to confront the aggression” and deter Israel’s “criminal practices.”

The UAE’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan flew to Qatar and embraced its ruling emir, a scene that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago, when the UAE and Saudi Arabia led a boycott of the country after accusing it of supporting terrorist groups, something strongly denied by Doha.

Israel’s attack in Qatar violated “all international laws and norms,” Sheikh Mohammed said.

The strike has triggered the worst fears of leaders in the oil-rich Gulf: that the U.S. might abandon its decades-old commitment to protect them from regional aggressors in the mold of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein or – it now seems – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump administration requests emergency ruling to remove Cook from Fed board

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates.

The request represents an extraordinary effort by the White House to shape the board before the Fed's interest rate-setting committee meets next Tuesday and Wednesday. At the same time, Senate Republicans are pushing to confirm Stephen Miran, President Donald Trump's nominee to an open spot on the Fed's board, which could happen as soon as Monday.

Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board. Trump has accused Cook of mortgage fraud because she appeared to claim two properties as “primary residences” in July 2021, before she joined the board. Such claims can lead to a lower mortgage rate and smaller down payment than if one of them was declared as a rental property or second home. Cook has denied the charges.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb ruled that the administration had not satisfied a legal requirement that Fed governors can only be fired “for cause,” which she said was limited to misconduct while in office. Cook did not join the Fed’s board until 2022.

In their emergency appeal, Trump’s lawyers argued that even if the conduct occurred before her time as governor, her alleged action “indisputably calls into question Cook’s trustworthiness and whether she can be a responsible steward of the interest rates and economy.”

Trump marking 9/11 by attending a New York Yankees game

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump was attending the New York Yankees game on Thursday night to mark the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, after honoring the memories of the victims at the Pentagon earlier in the day.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Trump was even expected to stop by the locker room as his team hosts the Detroit Tigers.

“The fact that he’s gonna be here, it’s something that I’m excited to be a part of,” said Boone, who added that he hoped he and the president would have the chance to “interact for a few minutes.”

A presidential visit always prompts extra security at sporting events, but things were heightened after conservative activist and close Trump ally Charlie Kirk was assassinated in Utah on Wednesday. When Trump attended the Sept. 11 observance ceremony at the Pentagon earlier Thursday, authorities moved the ceremony inside as an added precaution.

Trump's attendance at the Yankees game on Sept. 11 recalled President George W. Bush's ceremonial first pitch 24 years earlier as the Yankees played the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series — a moment that came to symbolize national resilience after the attacks mere weeks earlier.