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

In ‘blue wall’ push, Biden defiantly says he’s ‘not going anywhere’ as he slams Trump, Project 2025

DETROIT (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday forcefully defied the growing number of critics in his own party who have called on him to exit the race, pivoting to warnings about a second Donald Trump term and declaring he was “not done yet.”

As a raucous Detroit crowd chanted “don’t you quit!” and “we got your back!” Biden said — again — that he was still running for reelection and vowed to “shine a spotlight on Donald Trump” and what the Republican would do if he returned to the White House. Biden lambasted an expansive far-right policy agenda crafted by conservative think tanks that Trump has scrambled to distance himself from, while ticking off several items on his own wish list for the first 100 days of his second term.

At the same school where, four years ago, then-candidate Biden positioned himself as a bridge to the next generation of Democratic leaders, the embattled president, who has been under pressure for more than two weeks to step aside, made it clear he was going nowhere.

“You made me the nominee, no one else — not the press, not the pundits, not the insiders, not donors,” Biden said, to cheers. “You, the voters. You decided. No one else. And I’m not going anywhere.”

The show of force from Biden at the evening rally was part of his team’s relentless sprint to convince fretting lawmakers, nervous donors and a skeptical electorate that at the age of 81, he is still capable of being president. But a spate of travel to battleground states, interviews with journalists and a rare solo news conference have not tamped down the angst within the party about Biden’s candidacy and his prospects against Trump in November.

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Republicans are gathering in Milwaukee to nominate Donald Trump again. Here’s what to expect

For all the usual stagecraft, the Republican National Convention that opens Monday is different from Donald Trump’s previous nominating affairs.

In 2016 and 2020, Trump was the underdog heading into fall and faced criticism from within his own party. This year, he will accept the Republican nomination with his party in lockstep behind him and Democrats in turmoil over President Joe Biden’s viability.

There will be the usual convention tasks throughout the four days. Delegates, almost 2,400 of them, must approve a platform and formally designate the presidential ticket: Trump and his yet-to-be-named running mate. They’ll hear from both national candidates and a slew of others rallying support for Trump and taking aim at Democrats.

The GOP expects a triumphant moment.

“The political environment is not only great for Donald Trump, but it’s really great for Republicans running for Senate, governor, House seats, all the way down,” said Henry Barbour, an influential Republican National Committee member who has sometimes criticized Trump in the past.

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Alec Baldwin weeps in court as judge announces involuntary manslaughter case is dismissed midtrial

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico judge on Friday brought a sudden and stunning end to the involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin, dismissing it in the middle of the actor’s trial and saying it cannot be filed again.

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case based on misconduct of police and prosecutors over the withholding of evidence from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film “Rust.”

Baldwin cried, hugged his two attorneys, gestured to the front of the court, then turned to hug his crying wife, Hilaria, the mother of seven of his eight children, holding the embrace for 12 seconds. He climbed into an SUV outside the Santa Fe County courthouse without speaking to the media.

“The late discovery of this evidence during trial has impeded the effective use of evidence in such a way that it has impacted the fundamental fairness of the proceedings,” Marlowe Sommer said. “If this conduct does not rise to the level of bad faith it certainly comes so near to bad faith to show signs of scorching.”

The case-ending evidence, revealed during testimony Thursday, was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff’s office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins’ killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammo unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin’s lawyers alleged they “buried” it and filed a motion to dismiss the case.

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What’s next for Alec Baldwin after involuntary manslaughter case dismissal

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A New Mexico judge dismissed the involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin over the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in a sudden move Friday.

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case based on the misconduct of police and prosecutors over the withholding of evidence from the defense. She said the case cannot be filed again.

Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer of the film “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on the set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the gun fired.

He and other producers still face civil lawsuits from Hutchins’ parents and sister, which white collar defense attorney Mark Sedlander told The Associated Press are more common for workplace accidents like the fatal shooting.

“By civil law standards, it is common for someone like Mr. Baldwin to be held responsible for what happened, but it is relatively unusual in the criminal context,” Sedlander said in an interview before the case was dismissed.

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Pelosi and Democratic leaders try to guide their party through Biden uproar

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nancy Pelosi’s phone lit up the night of President Joe Biden’s debate performance with a question that has yet to be fully resolved: Now what?

Calls kept coming the morning after Biden’s agonizing face-off against Republican Donald Trump, and anxious lawmakers surrounded Pelosi later on the House floor.

Two weeks on, the situation shows no signs of letting up.

The uproar that has shaken the 2024 election, and siphoned attention away from Trump and his MAGA agenda, leaves Democrats at a painful standstill, at odds over whether to stick with Biden as their presumptive nominee or press on with the once-unthinkable option of trying to persuade the president to end his reelection campaign.

Pelosi as the former House speaker, along with Rep. Jim Clyburn, a veteran leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, are playing oversized roles as generational allies of the 81-year-old president but also trusted voices from Capitol Hill who can bring frank concerns to Biden. Their work, in public and private, is giving space to the current congressional leadership headed by House Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to navigate the Biden question and the party’s political future.

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Judge ends Rudy Giuliani bankruptcy case, says he flouted the process with his lack of transparency

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge threw out Rudy Giuliani ’s bankruptcy case on Friday, slamming the former New York City mayor as a “recalcitrant debtor” who thumbed his nose at the process while seeking to shield himself from a $148 million defamation judgment and other debts.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane criticized Giuliani for repeated “uncooperative conduct,” self-dealing, and a lack of transparency. The judge cited failures to comply with court orders, failure to disclose sources of income, and his apparent unwillingness to hire an accountant to go over his books.

“Such a failure is a clear red flag,” Lane wrote.

Dismissing the case ends his pursuit of bankruptcy protection, but it doesn’t absolve him of his debts. His creditors can now pursue other legal remedies to recoup at least some of the money they’re owed, such as getting a court order to seize his apartments and other assets.

Giuliani is now free to also pursue an appeal of the defamation verdict, which arose from his efforts to overturn Republican Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential election loss.

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Just a Category 1 hurricane? Don’t be fooled by a number — it could be more devastating than a Cat 5

Here’s a troubling phrase hurricane forecasters hate but often hear: “It’s just a Category 1. Nothing to worry about.”

Or even worse: “Tropical storm? Just some wind and rain.”

But look at Hurricane Beryl, which hit Texas this week as a “mere” Category 1 storm — far weaker in wind strength than when it swept through the Caribbean as a Cat 5 just days earlier — yet still knocked out power to 2.7 million customers. The storm has been blamed for eight deaths in the U.S.

Beryl is not the only example. By the numbers, Tropical Storm Fay in 2008 didn’t even register on the scale of dangerous storms before it made four separate landfalls in Florida. In this case, it was not Fay’s strength, but its speed — or lack thereof — that turned out to be the key. The listless storm parked itself over the state for days, dumping as much as 25 inches (64 centimeters) of rain in some places. Floods killed crops and destroyed homes. Roads were so flooded that alligators swam alongside first responders as they rescued people stranded in their homes.

The Saffir-Simpson Scale — which measures the strength of a hurricane’s winds on a scale of Category 1 to Category 5, with 5 being the strongest — was introduced to the public in 1973, the year that gas prices spiked from 39 cents to 55 cents a gallon and Tony Orlando and Dawn had the #1 hit of the year with “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree.”

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The collapse of a school in northern Nigeria leaves 22 students dead, officials say

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A two-story school collapsed during morning classes Friday in north-central Nigeria, killing 22 students and sending rescuers on a frantic search for more than 100 people trapped in the rubble, authorities said.

The Saints Academy college in Plateau state’s Busa Buji community collapsed shortly after students, many of whom were 15 years old or younger, arrived for classes.

A total of 154 students were initially trapped in the rubble, but Plateau police spokesperson Alfred Alabo later said 132 of them had been rescued and were being treated for injuries in various hospitals. He said 22 students died. An earlier report by local media had said at least 12 people were killed.

Dozens of villagers gathered near the school, some weeping and others offering to help, as excavators combed through the debris from the part of the building that had caved in.

One woman was seen wailing and attempting to go closer to the rubble as others held her back.

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Emergency workers uncover dozens of bodies in a Gaza City district after Israeli assault

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Civil defense workers on Friday dug bodies out of collapsed buildings and pulled them off rubble-covered streets, as they collected dozens of Palestinians killed this week by an Israeli assault in a district of Gaza City.

The discovery of the bodies came after Israeli troops reportedly pulled out of parts of the Tal al-Hawa and Sinaah neighborhoods following days of bombardment and fighting there. The Israeli military launched an incursion into the districts earlier this week to fight what it said were Hamas militants who had regrouped.

The grisly scenes of the dead underscored the horrifying cycle nine months into the Gaza war.

After invading nearly every urban area across the tiny territory since October, Israeli forces are now repeatedly re-invading parts as Hamas shifts and maintains capabilities. Palestinians are forced to flee over and over to escape the changing offensives – or to remain in place and face death. Cease-fire negotiations push ahead, nearing but never reaching a deal.

Videos circulating on social media showed civil defense workers wrapping bodies, including several women, in blankets on the rubble-strewn streets of Tal al-Hawa and Sinaah. A hand poked out of the smashed concrete where workers dug into a collapsed building. Other video showed burned-out buildings.

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SpaceX rocket accident leaves company’s Starlink satellites in wrong orbit

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A SpaceX rocket has failed for the first time in nearly a decade, leaving the company’s internet satellites in an orbit so low that they’re doomed to fall through the atmosphere and burn up.

The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from California on Thursday night, carrying 20 Starlink satellites. Several minutes into the flight, the upper stage engine malfunctioned. SpaceX on Friday blamed a liquid oxygen leak.

The company said flight controllers managed to make contact with half of the satellites and attempted to boost them to a higher orbit using onboard ion thrusters. But with the low end of their orbit only 84 miles (135 kilometers) above Earth — less than half what was intended — “our maximum available thrust is unlikely to be enough to successfully raise the satellites,” the company said via X.

SpaceX said the satellites will reenter the atmosphere and burn up. There was no mention of when they might come down. More than 6,000 orbiting Starlinks currently provide internet service to customers in some of the most remote corners of the world.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the problem must be fixed before Falcon rockets can fly again.

The Associated Press