AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

By The Associated Press

North Carolina GOP overrides veto of 12-week abortion limit, allowing it to become law

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Legislation banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy will become law in North Carolina after the state’s Republican-controlled General Assembly successfully overrode the Democratic governor’s veto late Tuesday.

The House completed the second and final part of the override vote after a similar three-fifths majority — the fraction necessary — voted for the override earlier Tuesday in the Senate. The party-line outcomes represent a major victory for Republican legislative leaders who needed every GOP member on board to enact the law over Gov. Roy Cooper’s opposition.

Cooper vetoed the measure over the weekend after spending last week traveling around the state to persuade at least one Republican to side with him on the override, which would be enough to uphold his veto. But in the end, the four Republicans targeted by Cooper — including one who recently switched from the Democratic Party — voted to override.

Republicans pitched the measure as a middle-ground change to state law, which currently bans nearly all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, without exceptions for rape or incest.

The votes came as abortion rights in the U.S. faced another tectonic shift with lawmakers in South Carolina and Nebraska also considering new abortion limits. North Carolina and South Carolina have been two of the few remaining Southern states with relatively easy access.

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Trump-backed Daniel Cameron to face Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear in November

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Daniel Cameron won the Republican primary for Kentucky governor on Tuesday, becoming the first major-party Black nominee for governor in the state’s history and setting up a November showdown with Democratic incumbent Andy Beshear.

Cameron, the state’s attorney general who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, claimed a convincing victory over a 12-candidate field that included Kelly Craft, who served as United Nations ambassador in the Trump administration, and state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles. Beshear easily dispatched two under-the-radar Democratic challengers in his own primary.

Cameron, the state’s first Black attorney general, would be the state’s first Black governor if elected. He played up the historic nature of his nomination in his victory speech Tuesday, saying his campaign aims to “embody the promise of America, that if you work hard and if you stand on principle, anything is possible.”

“To anyone who looks like me, know that you can achieve anything,” Cameron told his supporters. “Know that in this country and in Kentucky, all that matters are your values.”

The race now shifts to the general election, which will be one of November’s most closely watched contests and could provide clues heading into next year’s presidential race. Beshear, a popular Democratic governor, will face a tough reelection bid in a Republican-dominated state after a first term marked by a series of tragedies — the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters and a mass shooting that killed one of his closest friends.

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Democrats keep Pennsylvania House majority, positioning party to prevent limits on abortion rights

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrats maintained their narrow Pennsylvania House majority Tuesday by winning a special election and along with it continued control over how the chamber will handle abortion, gun rights and election law legislation.

Heather Boyd won a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives representing the Philadelphia suburbs, beating Republican Katie Ford for a vacancy created by the resignation of Democratic Rep. Mike Zabel. Zabel quit the Legislature in March, shortly after a lobbyist accused him of sexually harassing her.

Boyd’s win gives Democrats 102 seats, the minimum needed to control the agenda in the 203-member House. The state Senate has a Republican majority.

The Democrats’ victory in the Delaware County district means first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro will have at least one chamber to aid his agenda going into the final month of budget negotiations. The result could also affect a proposed constitutional amendment limiting abortion rights that legislative Republicans are one House floor vote away from putting before voters as a referendum.

Boyd is a former congressional and state legislative aide. Her district was once Republican but has given solid margins to Democratic candidates in recent elections.

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DeSantis criticizes Trump for implying Florida abortion ban is ‘too harsh’

Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized Donald Trump on Tuesday for implying Florida’s new six-week abortion ban is “too harsh,” stepping up his attacks on the former president as he prepares to challenge him for the 2024 Republican nomination.

DeSantis was responding to a question about Trump’s comments in an article published Monday by The Messenger about the six-week ban the Florida governor recently signed into law. “Many people within the pro-life movement feel that that was too harsh,” Trump told the online outlet.

DeSantis contended the law has widespread support among opponents of abortion and noted the former president didn’t say what limits he would back on the procedure.

“Protecting an unborn child when there’s a detectable heartbeat is something that almost 99% of pro-lifers support,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Florida, taking questions after he signed a measure to combat human trafficking.

“As a Florida resident, you know, he didn’t give an answer about, ‘Would you have signed the heartbeat bill that Florida did, that had all the exceptions that people talk about?’” DeSantis added.

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State media reports Chinese fishing boat sinks in Indian Ocean; 39 on board missing

BEIJING (AP) — State media reports that a Chinese fishing boat operating in the Indian Ocean has sunk and all 39 crew members on board are missing.

Broadcaster CCTV said the sinking happened around 3 a.m. Tuesday. The crew includes 17 from China, 17 from Indonesia and five from the Philippines, the report said.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Qiang have ordered Chinese diplomats abroad, as well as the agriculture and transportation ministries, to assist in the search for survivors.

The Lupenglaiyuanyu No. 8 was based in the eastern province of Shandong, operated by the Penglaiyingyu Co. Ltd.

China is believed to operate the world’s largest fishing fleet. Many of them stay at sea for months or even years at a time, supported by Chinese state maritime security agencies and a broad network of support vessels.

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George Santos expulsion coming before House as Democrats force vote

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats took steps Tuesday to force a vote on expelling New York Rep. George Santos from Congress, an effort that is expected to be defeated but puts Republicans in the uncomfortable position of taking a stand on an indicted colleague.

The freshman GOP congressman has been charged with embezzling money from his campaign, falsely receiving unemployment funds and lying to Congress about his finances. He has denied the charges and has pleaded not guilty.

Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., introduced a resolution in February to expel Santos, something the House has only done twice in recent decades and requires the approval of a two-thirds majority. He brought the measure Tuesday to the House floor under a process that gives lawmakers until Thursday to dispense with it.

Republicans could vote to table the effort. They could also refer it to the House Ethics Committee for consideration, which House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., indicated was his preferred route. Both efforts require a majority vote. Republicans could also just allow the House to vote on Garcia’s expulsion resolution, but that is unlikely.

“I wanted him to resign. We gave him plenty of time to do it,” Garcia said of his decision to bring the measure up this week. “His other Republican freshmen also want him to resign and it’s time for him to go.”

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Debt limit progress as Biden, McCarthy name top negotiators to avert national default

WASHINGTON (AP) — Debt-limit talks shifted into an encouraging new phase Tuesday as President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy named top emissaries to negotiate a deal to avert an unprecedented national default. Biden cut short an upcoming overseas trip in hopes of closing an agreement before a June 1 deadline.

The fresh set of negotiators means discussions are now largely narrowed to what the White House and McCarthy will accept in order to allow lawmakers to raise the debt limit in the coming days. The speaker said after a meeting with Biden and congressional leaders that a deal was “possible” by week’s end, even as — in McCarthy’s view — the two sides remained far apart for the moment.

Biden was publicly upbeat after a roughly hourlong meeting in the Oval Office, despite having to cancel the Australia and Papua New Guinea portions of his overseas trip that begins Wednesday. Biden will participate in a Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, but then return to Washington on Sunday.

“There’s still work to do,” Biden said. “But I made it clear to the speaker and others that we’ll speak regularly over the next several days and staff’s going to continue meeting daily to make sure we do not default.”

Senior White House officials, as well as top aides to the four congressional leaders — McCarthy, R-Calif., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. — have been meeting daily.

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Elizabeth Holmes loses latest bid to avoid prison and gets hit with $452 million restitution bill

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes appears to be soon bound for prison after an appeals court Tuesday rejected her bid to remain free while she tries to overturn her conviction in a blood-testing hoax that brought her fleeting fame and fortune.

In another ruling issued late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila ordered Holmes to pay $452 million in restitution to the victims of her crimes. Holmes is being held jointly liable for that amount with her former lover and top Theranos lieutenant, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, who is already in prison after being convicted on a broader range of felonies in a separate trial.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision on Holmes’ attempt to avoid prison comes nearly three weeks after she deployed a last-minute legal maneuver to delay the start of her 11-year sentence. She had been previously ordered to surrender to authorities on April 27 by Davila, who sentenced her in November.

Davila will now set a new date for Holmes, 39, to leave her current home in the San Diego area and report to prison.

The punishment will separate Holmes from her current partner, William “Billy” Evans, their 1-year-old son, William, and 3-month-old daughter, Invicta. Holmes’ pregnancy with Invicta — Latin for “invincible,” or “undefeated” — began after a jury convicted her on four counts of fraud and conspiracy in January 2022.

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Man and 12-year-old boy arrested after fatal shooting at Sonic restaurant in Texas

KEENE, Texas (AP) — A 12-year-old boy and a 20-year-old man have been arrested on a murder warrant in the fatal shooting of a Sonic Drive-In employee in Texas, police said.

Matthew Davis, 32, was shot and killed Saturday night as he fought with Angel Gomez, 20, in the parking lot of the restaurant in Keene, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Dallas, police said.

The boy was at the restaurant with Gomez, who was causing an unspecified disturbance in the parking lot, and shot Davis several times after taking a gun from Gomez’s vehicle, according to a police statement.

Davis was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

The boy used an AR-style rifle in the shooting, Police Chief James Kidd told The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday.

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The Wembanyama sweepstakes and draft lottery has a winner: It’s the Spurs

CHICAGO (AP) — Victor Wembanyama is set to follow in the footsteps of David Robinson and Tim Duncan, and the San Antonio Spurs are ready to welcome the French phenom.

It sure seems like an ideal pairing.

The Spurs hit the lottery jackpot on Tuesday, landing the No. 1 pick and the right to draft one of the most highly touted prospects in NBA history.

Not since LeBron James made the jump from St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, to the NBA two decades ago has a player come with this much fanfare. At 7-foot-3 and with the ability to shoot like a wing player and pass like a point guard, the 19-year-old Wembanyama is expected to make an immediate impact.

And he had a message for San Antonio.

The Associated Press

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