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

President Donald Trump said in an interview that aired Sunday that he “won't be extorted” by Democrats who are demanding negotiations to extend the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies. Echoing congressional Republicans, the president said on CBS' “60 Minutes” he'll negotiate only when the government is reopened.

Trump said Democrats “have lost their way” and predicted they’ll capitulate to Republicans.

“I think they have to,” Trump said. “And if they don’t vote, it’s their problem.”

Trump’s comments signal the shutdown could drag on for some time as federal workers, including air traffic controllers, are set to miss additional paychecks and there's uncertainty over whether 42 million Americans who receive federal food aid will be able to access the assistance. Senate Democrats have voted 13 times against reopening the government, insisting they need Trump and Republicans to negotiate with them first.

Trump administration says SNAP will be partially funded in November

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday that it will partially fund SNAP for November, after two judges issued rulings requiring the government to keep the nation’s largest food aid program running.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, had planned to freeze payments starting Nov. 1 because it said it could no longer keep funding it during the federal government shutdown. The program serves about 1 in 8 Americans and is a major piece of the nation’s social safety net. It costs more than $8 billion per month nationally. The government says an emergency fund it will use has $4.65 billion — enough to cover about half the normal benefits.

Exhausting the fund potentially sets the stage for a similar situation in December if the shutdown isn't resolved by then.

It’s not clear exactly how much beneficiaries will receive, nor how quickly they will see value show up on the debit cards they use to buy groceries. November payments have already been delayed for millions of people.

“The Trump Administration has the means to fund this program in full, and their decision not to will leave millions of Americans hungry and waiting even longer for relief as government takes the additional steps needed to partially fund this program,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, who led a coalition of Democratic state officials in one of the lawsuits that forced the funding, said in a statement.

Republicans seek to tap into Trump energy on eve of Election Day in New Jersey, Virginia

TOTOWA, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Republicans are trying to ride the coattails of Donald Trump’s 2024 electoral momentum, with gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli courting voters in a key — and traditionally Democratic — stronghold that contributed to the president's gains in the state.

Ciattarelli and Virginia candidate Winsome Earle-Sears are crisscrossing their respective states, while Trump is expected to speak at telephone rallies with voters later Monday. This comes after their opponents, U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, campaigned over the weekend alongside former President Barack Obama.

It’s a delicate balance for Republicans, who want to catch some of Trump’s electoral energy by drawing infrequently voting conservatives to the polls while not dismissing concerns about increasing costs. Democrats are urging voters to see the off-year election as a referendum on Trump’s economic policies and his efforts to expand his power.

Ciattarelli paid a visit to a crowded Irish bar in Passaic County, one of the traditionally blue areas that highlighted Trump’s strength in 2024. It's also a county where the Department of Justice is set to send poll watchers.

At the bar, a reporter pointed out the president's absence on the campaign trail and asked Ciattarelli: Is Trump a “liability” to him? The candidate was also asked to respond to attacks from his opponent that he would not stand up to the Republican president.

NYC mayoral candidates make final push ahead of Election Day

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo decried socialism as he shook hands in Manhattan and the Bronx, Democrat Zohran Mamdani walked over the Brooklyn Bridge with supporters at sunrise and Republican Curtis Sliwa campaigned on Coney Island as New York City’s mayoral candidates sprinted through their last full day of campaigning before Tuesday’s election.

The campaign hurtled toward its end after a final stretch that included the conclusion of early voting, President Donald Trump weighing in on the race during a prime-time interview and Cuomo releasing AI-driven attack ads.

More than 735,000 votes were cast during the city’s nine days of early, in-person voting — more than four times the number of ballots cast during the only other mayor's race to allow early voting, in 2021.

The tally was well short of the nearly 1.1 million early, in-person votes cast during last year's presidential election, but some voting locations saw large crowds Sunday, the last day of early voting. The line at one polling place in downtown Brooklyn snaked around the building and, at one point, took an hour to cast a ballot.

Cuomo has a packed schedule Monday, setting out to hit each of the boroughs for a get-out-the-vote effort. He wasted little time in attacking Mamdani.

What's on the ballot in the first general election since Donald Trump became president

WASHINGTON (AP) — One year after Donald Trump retook the White House and set into motion a dramatic expansion of executive power, the Republican president figures prominently in state and local elections being held Tuesday.

The results of those contests — the first general election of Trump's second term — will be heralded by the victors as either a major repudiation or resounding stamp of approval of his second-term agenda. That's especially true in high-profile races for Virginia and New Jersey governor, New York City mayor and a California proposition to redraw its congressional district boundaries.

More than half of the states will hold contests on Tuesday. Here's a look at some of the major statewide and local races on the ballot:

In New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli are the nominees to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. Sherrill is a four-term U.S. representative and former Navy helicopter pilot. Ciattarelli is a former state Assemblyman backed by Trump. In 2021, Ciattarelli came within about 3 percentage points of toppling Murphy.

In Virginia, Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger look to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. While Spanberger has made some efforts to focus on topics other than Trump in stump speeches, the president remained a major topic of conversation throughout the campaign, from comments Earle-Sears made about him in 2022 to some of his more polarizing policies, such as the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill tax and spending cut measure and the widespread dismissal of federal workers, many of whom live in northern Virginia.

Israel hands over bodies of 45 Palestinians after Hamas returns the remains of 3 soldiers

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel handed over the bodies of 45 Palestinians on Monday, the Red Cross said, a day after militants returned the remains of three hostages. Israeli officials identified the three as soldiers who were killed in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023 that triggered the war in Gaza.

The exchange marked another step forward for the tenuous, U.S.-brokered ceasefire intended to end the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas.

Since the truce took effect on Oct. 10, Palestinian militants have released the remains of 20 hostages, with eight now remaining in Gaza.

For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians. With Monday's return, the bodies of 270 Palestinians have been handed back since the start of the ceasefire.

The Red Cross said it had facilitated the transfer of 45 Palestinian bodies to Gaza on Monday morning. Zaher al-Wahidi, a spokesperson at the Gaza Health Ministry, told The Associated Press that Nasser Hospital received the bodies around noon.

Diane Ladd, 3-time Oscar nominee, dies at 89

OJAI, Calif. (AP) — Diane Ladd, a three-time Academy Award nominee and actor of rare timing and intensity whose roles ranged from the brash waitress in “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” to the scheming parent in “Wild at Heart,” has died at 89.

Ladd’s death was announced Monday by daughter Laura Dern, who issued a statement saying her mother and occasional co-star had died at her home in Ojai, California, with Dern at her side. Dern, who called Ladd her “amazing hero” and “profound gift of a mother,′ did not immediately cite a cause of death.

“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” Dern wrote. “We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”

A gifted comic and dramatic performer, Ladd had a long career in television and on stage before breaking through as a film performer in Martin Scorsese’s 1974 release “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” She earned an Oscar nomination for supporting actor for her turn as the acerbic, straight-talking Flo, and went on to appears in dozens of movies over the following decades. Her many credits included “Chinatown,” “Primary Colors” and two other movies for which she received best supporting nods, “Wild at Heart” and “Rambling Rose,” both of which co-starred her daughter. She also continued to work in television, with appearances in “ER,” “Touched by Angel” and “Alice,” the spinoff from “Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore,” among others.

Through marriage and blood relations, Ladd was tied to the arts. Tennessee Williams was a second cousin and first husband Bruce Dern, Laura's father, was himself an Academy Award nominee. Ladd and Laura Dern achieved the rare feat of mother-and-daughter nominees for their work in “Rambling Rose” and they also were memorably paired in “Wild at Heart,” a personal favorite of Ladd's and winner of the Palme d'Or at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. In the dark, farcical David Lynch noir, her character, Marietta, is willing to try anything — including murder — to keep her daughter (Laura Dern) away from her ex-con lover, played by Nicolas Cage. Ladd would be called upon by the director for some Lynchian touches, and countered with some of her own.

Tylenol, Kleenex, Band-Aid and more put under one roof in $48.7 billion consumer brands deal

Kimberly-Clark is buying Tylenol maker Kenvue in a cash and stock deal worth about $48.7 billion, creating a massive consumer health goods company.

Shareholders of Kimberly-Clark will own about 54% of the combined company. Kenvue shareholders will own about 46% in what is one of the largest corporate takeovers this year. The deal must still be approved by the shareholders of both companies.

The combined company will have a huge stable of household brands under one roof, putting Kenvue’s Listerine mouthwash and Band-Aid side-by-side with Kimberly-Clark’s Cottonelle toilet paper, Huggies and Kleenex tissues. It will also generate about $32 billion in annual revenue.

Kenvue has spent a relatively brief period as an independent company, having been spun off by Johnson & Johnson two years ago. J&J first announced in late 2021 that it was splitting its slow-growth consumer health division from the pharmaceutical and medical device divisions.

Kenvue has since been targeted by activist investors unhappy about the trajectory of the company and Wall Street appeared to anticipate some heavy lifting ahead for Kimberly-Clark.

After mistaken deportation, Abrego Garcia fights smuggling charges. Here's what to know

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation helped galvanize opposition to President Donald Trump's immigration policies, has hearings Dec. 8-9 in the human smuggling case against him in Tennessee.

U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw will hear evidence on motions from the defense asking him to dismiss the charges and throw out some of the evidence. The hearing was originally scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. An order filed Monday explains the government “needs more time to finish collecting and producing documents.” The two sides have been fighting over what documents and testimony the government will be required to provide to Abrego Garcia as he tries to prove the charges against him were motivated by a desire to punish him for the embarrassment of his mistaken deportation.

Here's what to know about the latest developments in the case:

Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen with an American wife and child who has lived in Maryland for years. He immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager to join his brother, who had become a U.S. citizen. In 2019, an immigration judge granted him protection from being deported back to his home country, where he faces danger from a gang that targeted his family.

While he was allowed to live and work in the U.S. under Immigration and Customs Enforcement supervision, he was not given residency status. Earlier this year, he was mistakenly deported and held in a notoriously brutal Salvadoran prison despite having no criminal record.

Atlanta Braves hire Walt Weiss as their manager, succeeding Brian Snitker

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Braves hired Walt Weiss on Monday as their manager, promoting from within for the successor to 2021 World Series winner Brian Snitker.

Weiss has been the Braves’ bench coach since 2018 and was on Snitker’s staff four years ago when they won the fourth championship in franchise history. Snitker also was an internal hire, coming from Triple-A in 2016, when he replaced Fredi González midseason and then got the full-time job the following year.

This is Weiss’ second major league managing job after four seasons with the Colorado Rockies (2013-16). Weiss finished his playing career as a shortstop with Atlanta from 1998-2000.

Snitker, who turned 70 last month, announced in early October that he would not be returning for an 11th year with the club. General manager Alex Anthopoulos said at the time that he did not have a list of candidates but wanted to move quickly to make a hire.