AP News in Brief at 9:04 p.m. EST

House lawmakers made their long-awaited return to the nation's capital this week after nearly eight weeks away. Republicans used their slight majority to get the bill over the finish line with a mostly party-line vote of 222-209. The Senate has already passed the measure.

Democrats wanted to extend an enhanced tax credit expiring at the end of the year that lowers the cost of health coverage obtained through Affordable Care Act marketplaces. They refused to go along with a short-term spending bill that did not include that priority. But Republicans said that was a separate policy fight to be held at another time.

“We told you 43 days ago from bitter experience that government shutdowns don’t work,” said Rep. Tom Cole, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. "They never achieve the objective that you announce. And guess what? You haven’t achieved that objective yet, and you’re not going to.”

The shutdown magnified the stark partisan divisions within Congress, and that split screen was reflected when lawmakers debated the spending measure on the House floor.

Epstein email says Trump 'knew about the girls' as White House calls its release a Democratic smear

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jeffrey Epstein wrote in a 2019 email to a journalist that Donald Trump “knew about the girls,” according to documents made public Wednesday, but what he knew — and whether it pertained to the sex offender’s crimes — is unclear. The White House quickly accused Democrats of selectively leaking the emails to smear the president.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released three emails referencing Trump, including one Epstein wrote in 2011 in which he told confidant Ghislaine Maxwell that Trump had “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with a sex trafficking victim.

The disclosures seemed designed to raise new questions about Trump’s friendship with Epstein and about what knowledge he may have had regarding what prosecutors call a yearslong effort by Epstein to exploit underage girls. The Republican businessman-turned-politician has consistently denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and has said he ended their relationship years ago.

The version of the 2011 email released by the Democrats redacted the name of the victim, but Republicans on the committee later said it was Virginia Giuffre, who accused Epstein of arranging for her to have sexual encounters with a number of his rich and powerful friends. Epstein took his own life in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges.

The emails made public Wednesday are part of a batch of 23,000 documents provided by Epstein’s estate to the Oversight Committee.

Trump urges Israel to pardon Netanyahu, sparking concerns over US influence

JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday sent a letter to Israel's president asking him to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a long-running corruption trial that has bitterly divided the country.

It was the latest attempt by Trump to intervene in the case on behalf of Netanyahu, raising questions about undue American influence over internal Israeli affairs. Trump also called for a pardon for Netanyahu during a speech to Israel's parliament last month, when he made a brief visit to promote his ceasefire plan for the war in Gaza.

In Wednesday's letter to President Isaac Herzog, Trump called the corruption case “political, unjustified prosecution.”

“As the Great State of Israel and the amazing Jewish People move past the terribly difficult times of the last three years, I hereby call on you to fully pardon Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been a formidable and decisive War Time Prime Minister, and is now leading Israel into a time of peace,” Trump wrote.

Netanyahu is the only sitting prime minister in Israeli history to stand trial, after being charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases accusing him of exchanging favors with wealthy political supporters.

Judge signals hundreds of people detained in Chicago immigration crackdown could be released on bond

CHICAGO (AP) — Hundreds of people who have been arrested and detained in the Chicago area during the Trump administration's immigration crackdown could soon be released on bond while they await immigration hearings, a federal judge signaled Wednesday.

During a hearing in Chicago, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings said he would order the full release of 13 detained individuals based on a 2022 consent decree outlining how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can make so-called warrantless arrests.

He also gave government attorneys a Friday deadline to comb through a list of 615 people detained at county jails and federal facilities nationwide to see if they qualify for alternatives to detention under the decree, such as using an ankle monitor, while their immigration cases proceed. The judge said he'd issue an order for their release next week, and in the meantime would temporarily pause any deportation proceedings for people who might qualify for bond under the decree.

Attorneys for the detainees hailed Cummings' move as a win and said they plan to bring more cases.

“All of the tactics of ICE have been unlawful in the vast majority of arrests,” said Mark Fleming, a lawyer with the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center.

More Americans are unhappy with the way Trump is managing the government, AP-NORC poll shows

WASHINGTON (AP) — Approval of the way President Donald Trump is managing the government has dropped sharply since early in his second term, according to a new AP-NORC poll, with much of the rising discontent coming from fellow Republicans.

The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research was conducted after Democrats' recent victories in off-year elections but before Congress took major steps to try to end the longest shutdown in U.S. history. It shows that only 33% of U.S. adults approve of the way the Republican president is managing the government, down from 43% in an AP-NORC poll from March.

That was driven in large part by a decline in approval among Republicans and independents. According to the survey, only about two-thirds of Republicans, 68%, said they approve of Trump’s government management, down from 81% in March. Independents’ approval dropped from 38% to 25%.

The results highlight the risks posed by the shutdown, which Trump and his administration have tried to pin squarely on Democrats, even as U.S. adults have cast blame on both parties as the funding lapse has snarled air traffic, left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks and compromised food aid for some of the most vulnerable Americans. But it could also indicate broader discontent with Trump's other dramatic — and polarizing — changes to the federal government in recent months, including gutting agencies and directing waves of mass layoffs.

Republicans have generally been steadfast in their support for the president, making their growing displeasure particularly notable.

Adelita Grijalva sworn in as the House's newest member, paving the way for an Epstein files vote

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Adelita Grijalva was sworn in as the newest member of Congress on Wednesday, more than seven weeks after she won a special election in Arizona to fill the House seat last held by her late father.

Grijalva was sworn in by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Wednesday shortly before the House returned to session to vote on a deal to fund the federal government. After delivering a floor speech, Grijalva signed a discharge petition to eventually trigger a vote to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein, giving it the needed 218 signatures.

Grijalva’s seating brings the partisan margin in the House to a narrow 219-214 Republican majority. She vowed to continue her father’s legacy of advocating for progressive policies on issues like environmentalism, labor rights and tribal sovereignty.

In a speech on the House floor after being sworn in, Grijalva said it was time for Congress “to restore a full and check and balance to this administration.”

“We can and must do better. What is most concerning is not what this administration has done, but what the majority of this body has failed to do,” she said.

Appeals court weighs arguments on law cutting Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood

Attorneys representing Planned Parenthood argued Wednesday that Congress cannot strip the nation's largest abortion provider of its Medicaid funding with the hope that doing so may result in fewer abortions.

“The only fact in the record is that when you defund Planned Parenthood members from providing non-abortion care, the result is an increase in abortions,” said Planned Parenthood attorney Alan Schoenfeld to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

The arguments are the latest development in a legal battle over a spending law passed by Congress — and then signed into law by President Donald Trump in July — that ended Medicaid reimbursements for Planned Parenthood.

Under the tax and spending cut bill, organizations that provide both abortions and receive more than $800,000 a year in Medicaid reimbursements would no longer be eligible to receive such funding.

Planned Parenthood quickly sued to block the law, saying it violates the Constitution, while anti-abortion activists applauded the legislation.

All 14 victims identified from fiery UPS cargo plane crash in Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A grandfather and his young granddaughter. An electrician with two young children. A woman standing in line at a scrap metal business.

They were among the 14 people who died in the fiery crash of a UPS plane in Louisville last week. Their names were released Wednesday as Mayor Craig Greenberg lamented the lives that will “forever be unfinished.”

“As we share the names of those who we‘ve lost, our city feels the full weight of this unimaginable tragedy,” Greenberg said at a news conference. “Behind every one of these names is a circle of family, friends, stories that will forever be unfinished.”

Eight days after the plane plowed into the ground in a massive fireball, the local coroner's office said it completed the grim tasks of recovering victims' remains, identifying them and notifying their loved ones. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board remain at the crash site, Greenberg said.

Victims included three pilots on board when the crash happened during takeoff at UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub located at Muhammad Ali International Airport. They were Capt. Richard Wartenberg, First Officer Lee Truitt and International Relief Officer Capt. Dana Diamond.

US Mint presses final pennies as production ends after more than 230 years

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The U.S. ended production of the penny Wednesday, abandoning the 1-cent coins that were embedded in American culture for more than 230 years but became nearly worthless.

When it was introduced in 1793, a penny could buy a biscuit, a candle or a piece of candy. Now most of them are cast aside to sit in jars or junk drawers, and each one costs nearly 4 cents to make.

“God bless America, and we’re going to save the taxpayers $56 million,” Treasurer Brandon Beach said at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia before hitting a button to strike the final penny. The coins were then carefully placed on a tray for journalists to see. The last few pennies were to be auctioned off.

Billions of pennies are still in circulation and will remain legal tender, but new ones will no longer be made.

The last U.S. coin to be discontinued was the half-cent in 1857, Beach said.

Pirates ace Paul Skenes wins first Cy Young Award and Tigers star Tarik Skubal goes back-to-back

Paul Skenes’ meteoric rise to the top is complete.

The young Pittsburgh Pirates ace was a unanimous choice for the National League Cy Young Award on Wednesday night, becoming the first pitcher in 40 years to win Rookie of the Year one season and baseball’s premier pitching prize the next.

Detroit left-hander Tarik Skubal took home his second straight American League Cy Young Award minutes earlier, joining elite company after another spectacular season in which he helped propel the Tigers to a playoff berth.

“I think a lot of it is not being complacent with who I am today,” Skubal said. “I still think there’s more to tap into. I don’t think this is the finished version of myself.”

The 23-year-old Skenes — selected first overall by the Pirates in the 2023 amateur draft after a standout career at Air Force and LSU — was a marvel for the last-place Pirates, leading the majors in ERA (1.97) while striking out 216 batters in 187 1/3 innings during his first full season in the big leagues.