Contributing Writers

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Ellen Ash Peters, who was the first woman to serve as Connecticut’s chief justice and wrote the majority opinion in the state Supreme Court’s landmark school desegregation ruling in 1996, has died. She was 94.Peters, who also was the first female faculty member at Yale Law School, passed away Tuesday, according to the Connecticut Judicial Branch. The cause and location of her death were not immediately disclosed.

Former President Donald Trump holds a two-point edge over President Biden in Wisconsin, according to a new poll on their 2024 presidential election rematch.Trump stands at 51% support among registered voters in the crucial Midwestern battleground, with Biden at 49%, according to a Marquette Law School Poll released on Wednesday.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., is expected to blame his wife during his federal corruption trial as part of a defense strategy, newly-unsealed court documents reveal.In court documents obtained by Fox News Digital, attorneys for Sen. Menendez argued for his case to be severed because of his intention to introduce evidence that would imply his wife, Nadine, is guilty. Severing a case means that the co-defendants would be tried separately in two trials, rather than in one as a couple.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., posted to social media that the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to him that Laken Riley’s alleged murderer was paroled into the U.S. illegally because the Central Processing Center in El Paso, Texas, was capped.Jose Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, has been charged in the murder of Riley. The 22-year-old Augusta University nursing school student was killed Feb. 22, while jogging at the University of Georgia in Athens.U.S.

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan released a statement Tuesday announcing that new sanctions will be placed against Iran in the wake of the regime’s attacks against Israel last weekend.The new sanctions come amid Republican criticism of the Biden administration for purportedly not being tough enough on Iran, after the White House extended a waiver that allowed Iran to access to $10 billion of previously escrowed funds in November 2023.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin voters with disabilities should be able to cast their ballots electronically and failure to provide that option for the upcoming Aug. 13 primary and November presidential election is discriminatory and unconstitutional, a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the battleground state alleges.The lawsuit seeks to require that electronic absentee voting be an option for people with disabilities, just as it is for military and overseas voters.

Rep. David Trone, D-Md., who was recently blasted for using a disparaging term for Black people during a House hearing, is officially the largest self-funded candidate of a Senate primary race in U.S. history.Trone contributed $18.5 million of his own money to his Maryland Senate campaign, Fox News confirmed. And he brought in a total of over $40 million, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., declared that it was the U.S.’s “biblical admonition” to help and support Israel during a Monday night speech.The House GOP leader was addressing an emergency meeting of Christians United For Israel, convened after Iran’s weekend missile attack on the Middle East American ally.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden urged the U.S. House to immediately take up Senate-passed supplemental funding for Ukraine and Israel on Monday as he hosted Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala in the Oval Office.The visit came as Biden aimed to highlight the efforts other nations are making to support Ukraine.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Paris Hilton joined California state lawmakers Monday to push for legislation aimed at cracking down on the industry that cares for troubled teens by requiring more transparency from youth treatment facilities.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., unveiled a plan for moving foreign aid through the House of Representatives during a closed-door meeting with Republican lawmakers on Monday. The Republican leader had been under pressure to act on Israel and Ukraine funding as the situation in both conflicts grows more dire, while also navigating fraught divisions in the House GOP conference over conditions for giving aid overseas.

California officials are suing the beachside city of Huntington Beach over a voter ID amendment it passed last month with support from a majority of residents. The lawsuit, from California Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, challenges Huntington Beach’s voter ID law, Measure A, which amends the city’s charter to allow voter ID requirements by 2026.

The defense team for former President Trump is challenging the jury selection in his criminal hush money trial, saying there are concerning issues that need to be addressed. Trump’s defense submitted a pre-trial letter to the court on Friday laying out two concerns relating to jury selection. The letter came the same day that Judge Juan Merchan dismissed a last-ditch effort by the Trump team to delay the trial, which begins Monday.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released its monthly update touting that the number of migrant encounters had decreased since last month. In March, the Border Patrol recorded 137,480 encounters between ports of entry along the southwest border. The encounters between ports of entry along the southwest border were 45% lower than in December 2023, and 16% lower than in March 2023.

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. nuclear-powered submarines are the crown jewel of American military might and key to deterring adversaries like China. The Biden administration signed a historic three-way partnership with Australia and the United Kingdom, known as AUKUS in 2021. The agreement promotes deeper information and technology sharing between the three countries and the U.S. agreed to share nuclear submarine technology with Australia for the first time ever. Also a first; the U.S.

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump will make history as the first former president to stand trial on criminal charges when his hush money case opens Monday with jury selection.The case will force the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to juggle campaigning with sitting in a Manhattan courtroom for weeks to defend himself against charges involving a scheme to bury allegations of marital infidelity that arose during his first White House campaign in 2016.

A federal judge on Friday denied Hunter Biden’s request to dismiss a gun case against him that his lawyers argue is politically motivated. U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika rejected all of Biden motions, which cited vindictive and selective prosecution, thereby moving the case forward to trial.