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

The notice said one Border Patrol officer fired his Glock and a CBP officer fired his, according to a notification to Congress obtained by The Associated Press.

Investigators from CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility conducted the analysis based on a review of body-worn camera footage and agency documentation, the notice said. The agency is required to report in-custody and certain other deaths involving its agents and officers to Congress.

A Customs and Border Protection official said in the notice that officers tried to take Pretti into custody and he resisted, leading to a struggle. During the struggle, a Border Patrol agent yelled, “He’s got a gun!” multiple times, the official said.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Shooting involving Border Patrol leaves 1 in critical condition near US-Mexico border

One person was shot and in critical condition Tuesday in a shooting involving the Border Patrol near the U.S.- Mexico border, authorities in Arizona said.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said the FBI had asked it to “lead the use-of-force investigation involving the agent.” It noted that such investigations are standard when a federal agency is involved in a shooting in the county.

“We ask the community to remain patient and understanding as this investigation moves forward,” the department said in a statement.

In response to an Associated Press request for details of the shooting, the FBI said it was “investigating an alleged assault on a federal officer” near Arivaca, Arizona, a community about 10 miles from the border.

An FBI spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email and telephone call asking about how the alleged assault was related to the shooting but said the agency would participate in a planned 4 p.m. MT press conference with the sheriff’s department on the shooting.

Trump visits Iowa trying to focus on affordability during fallout over nurse's Minneapolis shooting

CLIVE, Iowa (AP) — President Donald Trump arrived in Iowa on Tuesday as part of the White House’s midterm-year pivot toward affordability, even as his administration remains mired in the fallout in Minneapolis over a second fatal shooting by federal immigration officers this month.

The Republican president first made a stop at a local restaurant, where he met some locals and sat for an interview with Fox News Channel — in which he said he was attempting to “de-escalate a little bit” in Minnesota. Afterwards, he was scheduled to deliver a speech on affordability at the Horizon Events Center in Clive, a suburb of Des Moines.

The trip is expected to also highlight energy policy, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said last week. It’s part of the White House’s strategy to have Trump travel out of Washington once a week ahead of the midterm elections to focus on affordability issues facing everyday Americans — an effort that keeps getting diverted by crisis.

The latest comes as the Trump administration is grappling with the weekend shooting death of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse killed by federal agents in the neighboring state of Minnesota. Pretti had participated in protests following the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Even as some top administration officials moved quickly to malign Pretti, Trump said he was waiting until an investigation into the shooting was complete.

As Trump left the White House on Tuesday to head to Iowa, he was repeatedly questioned by reporters about Pretti's killing. Trump disputed language used by his own deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, who on social media described Pretti as an “assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.” Vice President JD Vance shared the post.

Bitter cold grips the eastern US as winter storm deaths rise and power outages linger

Three Texas siblings who perished in an icy pond were among several dozen deaths in U.S. states gripped by frigid cold Tuesday as crews scrambled to repair hundreds of thousands of power outages in the shivering South and forecasters warned the winter weather is expected to get worse.

Brutal cold lingered in the wake of a massive storm that dumped deep snow across more than 1,300 miles (2,100 kilometers) from Arkansas to New England and left parts of the South coated in treacherous ice.

Freezing temperatures hovered Tuesday as far south as Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina, and were forecast to plunge again overnight. Parts of northern Florida were expected to sink to 25 F (minus 3.9 C) late Tuesday into early Wednesday.

The arctic misery over the eastern half of the U.S. was expected to worsen Friday and Saturday. The National Weather Service said another winter storm could hit parts of the East Coast this weekend, and more record lows were forecast as far south as Florida.

“This could be the coldest temperature seen in several years for some places and the longest duration of cold in several decades,” the agency’s Weather Prediction Center warned Tuesday.

Activists say Iran's crackdown has killed at least 6,159 people, as the country's currency plunges

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests has killed at least 6,159 people while many others still are feared dead, activists said Tuesday, as a U.S. aircraft carrier group arrived in the Middle East to lead any American military response to the crisis. Iran's currency, the rial, meanwhile fell to a record low of 1.5 million to $1.

The arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and guided missile destroyers accompanying it provide the U.S. the ability to strike Iran, particularly as Gulf Arab states have signaled they want to stay out of any attack despite hosting American military personnel.

Two Iranian-backed militias in the Mideast have signaled their willingness to launch new attacks, likely trying to back Iran after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened military action over the killing of peaceful protesters or Tehran launching mass executions in the wake of the demonstrations.

Iran has repeatedly threatened to drag the entire Mideast into a war, though its air defenses and military are still reeling after the June war launched by Israel against the country. But the pressure on its economy may spark new unrest as everyday goods slowly go out of reach of its people — particularly if Trump chooses to attack.

Ambrey, a private security firm, issued a notice Tuesday saying it assessed that the U.S. “has positioned sufficient military capability to conduct kinetic operations against Iran while maintaining the ability to defend itself and regional allies from reciprocal action.”

Trump's immigration crackdown led to drop in US growth rate last year as population hit 342 million

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration contributed to a year-to-year drop in the nation's growth rate as the U.S. population reached nearly 342 million people in 2025, according to population estimates released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The 0.5% growth rate for 2025 was a sharp drop from 2024's almost 1% growth rate, which was the highest in two decades and was fueled by immigration. The 2024 estimates put the U.S. population at 340 million people.

Immigration increased by almost 1.3 million people last year, compared with 2024's increase of almost 2.8 million people. If trends continue, the annual gain from immigrants by mid-2026 will drop to only 321,000 people, according to the Census Bureau, whose estimates do not distinguish between legal and illegal immigration.

In the past 125 years, the lowest growth rate was in 2021, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, when the U.S. population grew by just 0.16%, or 522,000 people and immigration increased by just 376,000 people because of travel restrictions into the U.S. Before that, the lowest growth rate was just under 0.5% in 1919 at the height of the Spanish flu.

Births outnumbered deaths last year by 519,000 people. While higher than the pandemic-era low at the beginning of the decade, the natural increase was dramatically smaller than in the 2000s, when it ranged between 1.6 million and 1.9 million people.

Trump's use of AI images pushes new boundaries, further eroding public trust, experts say

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Trump administration has not shied away from sharing AI-generated imagery online, embracing cartoonlike visuals and memes and promoting them on official White House channels.

But an edited — and realistic — image of civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong in tears after being arrested is raising new alarms about how the administration is blurring the lines between what is real and what is fake.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s account posted the original image from Levy Armstrong's arrest before the official White House account posted an altered image that showed her crying. The doctored picture is part of a deluge of AI-edited imagery that has been shared across the political spectrum since the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by U.S. Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis.

However, the White House’s use of artificial intelligence has troubled misinformation experts who fear the spreading of AI-generated or edited images erodes public perception of the truth and sows distrust.

In response to criticism of the edited image of Levy Armstrong, White House officials doubled down on the post, with deputy communications director Kaelan Dorr writing on X that the “memes will continue.” White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson also shared a post mocking the criticism.

Investigators say deadly midair collision near DC followed years of ignored warnings about traffic

WASHINGTON (AP) — National Transportation Safety Board members were deeply troubled Tuesday over years of ignored warnings about helicopter traffic dangers and other problems, long before last year's midair collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk, which killed 67 people near Washington, D.C.

The board heard hours of testimony from investigators who outlined their findings in the collision and subsequent crash near Reagan National Airport a year ago. Key themes emerged, including “overwhelmed” air traffic control, a failure to alert the jet's pilot about the other aircraft and a history of missed opportunities to reroute helicopter traffic.

“I’m sorry for you, as these pages of these reports are written in your family members' blood,” board member Todd Inman told the audience. “I’m sorry that we have to be here.”

Family members listened intently during the hearing. Some were escorted out, including two in tears, as an animation of the flights was displayed on video screens. Others wore black shirts bearing the names of crash victims.

“The negligence of not fixing things that needed to be fixed killed my brother and 66 other people. So I’m not very happy,” Kristen Miller-Zahn, who watched from the front row, said during a break.

TikTok settles as social media giants face landmark trial over youth addiction claims

LOS ANGELES (AP) — TikTok agreed to settle a landmark social media addiction lawsuit just before the trial kicked off, the plaintiff’s attorneys confirmed.

The social video platform was one of three companies — along with Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube — facing claims that their platforms deliberately addict and harm children. A fourth company named in the lawsuit, Snapchat parent company Snap Inc., settled the case last week for an undisclosed sum.

Details of the settlement with TikTok were not disclosed, and the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At the core of the case is a 19-year-old identified only by the initials “KGM,” whose case could determine how thousands of other, similar lawsuits against social media companies will play out. She and two other plaintiffs have been selected for bellwether trials — essentially test cases for both sides to see how their arguments play out before a jury and what damages, if any, may be awarded, said Clay Calvert, a nonresident senior fellow of technology policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.

Joseph VanZandt, co-lead counsel for the plaintiff, said in a statement Tuesday that TikTok remains a defendant in the other personal injury cases, and that the trial will proceed as scheduled against Meta and YouTube.

Wall Street sets a record while the US dollar's value slides again

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street ticked to a record on Tuesday, as stocks zigzagged following mixed profit reports from UnitedHealth, General Motors and other big companies.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% and edged past its prior all-time high set a couple weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 408 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.9% as the stock market cleaved between winners and losers.

The swings were even bigger in foreign-currency markets, where the U.S. dollar’s value slid against its peers again. Shortly after U.S. stocks finished Tuesday’s trading, the dollar was down more than 1% against the euro, the Japanese yen and the Australian dollar, among others. An index measuring the U.S. dollar’s strength against several of its competitors dropped to its lowest point since 2022.

The slide continues a sharp drop for the U.S. dollar since President Donald Trump threatened tariffs against several European countries that he said opposed his taking control of Greenland. Such threats, along with worries about risks like the U.S. government’s heavy debt, have periodically pushed global investors to step back from U.S. markets, a move that’s come to be called “Sell America.”

On Wall Street, Corning helped lead the market higher and climbed 15.6% after announcing a deal with Meta Platforms worth up to $6 billion. Corning will supply optical fiber and cable to help build out data centers for Meta, enough that Corning is expanding its optical-fiber manufacturing facility in Hickory, North Carolina.