Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wants impeachment articles dismissed

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wants the impeachment articles brought against him dismissed before the trial against him starts in September.

In one of two new motions filed with the Texas Senate on Monday, his lawyers argued that the bulk of the alleged corrupt acts occurred before his most recent election and are therefore off limits.

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Missouri plans to spend $50 million on railroad crossing improvements in response to a 2022 fatal Amtrak derailment. Gov. Mike Parson and state transportation officials on Thursday outlined options for how to spend about $19 million of that, including improvements at 27 crossings and closure of 17 others. The site of last year's crash is among those recommended to be shuttered. The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday that poor design contributed to last year's derailment, which killed four people and injured 146 others. Before the crash, area residents had expressed concerns for nearly three years about the safety of the crossing.

The fatal stabbing of a gay man after a confrontation between a group of friends who were dancing to a Beyoncé song and a group of young men who apparently took offense has outraged New York City’s LGBTQ community and spurred Beyoncé herself to post a tribute. No arrests have been made in Saturday’s stabbing of O’Shae Sibley at a Brooklyn gas station. Police have released little information. A friend of Sibley's who was there said he died “because he stood up for his friends.” A witness says the young men harassed Sibley’s group because their behavior offended them.

Tunisia’s interior minister has conceded that small groups of sub-Saharan migrants trying to enter the country are pushed back into the desert border areas. In an interview with The Associated Press, Kamel Fekih says the security forces don't engage in “collective” expulsions, dumping migrants into the sizzling hot border regions with Libya and Algeria. He rejected as “false allegations” remarks earlier this week by the deputy spokesman for the U.N. Secretary-General Farhan Haq who called on Tuesday for an “immediate end” to “the expulsion of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers from Tunisia to the borders with Libya and also Algeria.”

Copper Beech Farm, with 50 acres of waterfront property in the tony New York suburb of Greenwich, has sold for just under $139 million. Sotheby’s International Realty says that's believed to be the most expensive property ever sold in Connecticut. The estate, once owned by a family that helped start what is now U.S. Steel, dates back to the late 19th century. The main house is a 13,500-square foot mansion with eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms. There also is a three-bedroom gatehouse and a two-bedroom carriage house with a clock tower. The estate includes a swimming pool, a grass tennis court, an apple orchard and two private beaches. The property was put on the market in February with an asking price of $150 million.

The actors and writers strike have resulted in most Hollywood film and television productions being shut down, from the “Gladiator” sequel to the live action “Lilo & Stitch." But some independent films and television productions are being granted waivers by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists that will allow them to continue with union actors. It's a move that union leadership says is an essential negotiating tactic, but that’s also proved divisive and confusing to many sweating it out on the picket lines while movie stars like Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey still get to work.

Kyle Dubas has decided not to hire a general manager to work under him as Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations. Dubas will serve as GM himself. The team announced the unsurprising development along with the promotions of U.S. women's star Amanda Kessel and retired NHL defenseman Trevor Daley to special assistant to the GM jobs. Dubas joined the Penguins earlier this offseason after the Toronto Maple Leafs decided not to extend their longtime executive. Pittsburgh also promoted Andy Saucier to director of pro personnel and Erik Heasley to director of minor league and amateur scouting.

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Thursday

All Times EDT

Thursday

Makers of the popular Logos Bible Study app want to get back to basics. On July 7, Logos’s parent company Faithlife announced plans to do away with its church management services. These included Faithlife Giving, a tool for collecting tithes and donations from congregants, and Faithlife Mini…

A panel of U.S. health advisers is recommending that babies get a new drug to protect them against a respiratory virus. An infection with RSV is a coldlike nuisance for most healthy people, but it can be life-threatening for the very young and the elderly. The expert panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday endorsed the one-time shot for infants born just before or during the RSV season and for those less than 8 months old before the start of the season. The season is typically November through March. The CDC director is expected to adopt the panel's recommendation.

Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny said he’s expecting a “Stalinist” sentence when a court is due to give its verdict Friday in an “extremism” trial held inside a strict-regime prison.

A light rain fell on the Mojave National Preserve, where firefighters continued their nearly weeklong battle Wednesday against an unusual desert wildfire that has incinerated countless Joshua trees and threatens to forever alter California’s high desert landscape.

Officials say several passengers suffered minor injuries when a commuter train derailed in New York City. A Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesperson says about 100 riders were on the Long Island Rail Road train Thursday when it derailed shortly after 11 a.m. east of the Jamaica station. A Fire Department spokesperson says 10 people suffered minor injuries and additional passengers are being evaluated. The passengers were moved to a rescue train. Officials say eight train cars derailed. Eastbound LIRR trains are bypassing several other stations because of the derailment.

United States co-captain Lindsey Horan brushed aside criticism leveled at the team by former striker-turned-pundit Carli Lloyd, calling it outside noise. Now an analyst with Fox Sports, Lloyd didn’t hold back after the Americans eked out a spot in the knockout round at the Women’s World Cup with a scoreless draw against Portugal. Lloyd called her former team “uninspiring” and she criticized players for dancing and laughing with fans after the match on Tuesday.

Hang on to those friendship bracelets, Swifties; Taylor Swift is firmly staying in her Eras tour era through 2024.

Nutritious ingredients and regular meals are essential for physical health, but what and how someone eats can affect their mental health just as much. Not only does it matter what goes into one’s body, but it is also the way in which someone prepares and enjoys a meal that can improve their …

For 100 years, the Cape Cod League has given top college players the opportunity to hone their skills and show off for scouts while facing other top talent from around the country. Using wooden bats and riding buses like they would in the minor leagues, they get a sense of what pro ball might be like. College players who are invited settle in with host families, maybe pick up a part-time job but mostly work on getting the attention of major league scouts. So many of them have: Through this season’s opening day rosters, more than 1,700 Cape League alumni have played in the major leagues; in 2022 alone, there were 377.

As box office analysts have noted with equal parts glee and alarm, it hasn’t been the hottest summer for the big film franchises. “Fast X” flailed. “The Flash” fizzled. The latest adventures of Indiana Jones and the Impossible Missions Force performed less stratospherically than expected. Me…

Zimbabwe’s main opposition party says that one of its supporters was stoned to death by ruling party activists while on the way to a political rally. Police have confirmed that one man was killed in an “incident of public violence” but made no reference to his political affiliation. The death comes three weeks before an election already marred by accusations of violence and intimidation of opponents of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his ruling ZANU-PF party. The southern African nation has a history of violent and disputed balloting. It will hold general elections later in August for president, the parliament and local governments.

Six former law enforcement officers in Mississippi have been charged with federal civil rights offenses against two Black men who were brutalized for more than an hour during a home raid before an officer allegedly shot one of the men in the mouth. The charges were unsealed Thursday as the former officers, all of whom are white, appeared in federal court. The Justice Department in February launched a civil rights probe into allegations levied by the two men. They said the five Rankin County sheriff’s deputies and another officer burst into a home without a warrant on Jan. 24 and subjected them to brutality.

The former personal lawyer of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has joined the ranks of the country’s Supreme Court amid criticism that their relationship poses a conflict of interest. Cristiano Zanin became a high court justice Thursday, filling the seat vacated by the April retirement of Justice Ricardo Lewandowski. Lula appointed Zanin in June, drawing accusations from the opposition that he is jeopardizing the impartiality of the nation's highest court by placing a friend as one of its justices. Lula denies that the two are friends. Zanin helped Lula overturn a graft conviction stemming from Brazil's sprawling “Car Wash” corruption investigation. That allowed Lula to get out of jail in time to run successfully for his third presidential term.

Wildgen joins Christopher Merrill (poetry), Karen Karbo (memoir), Jeanne McCulloch (memoir), and Rex Weiner (storytelling strategies) in the acclaimed creative writing retreat's teaching lineup

Former Mississippi officers charged with federal civil rights offenses against 2 Black men during home raid.

A judge has ordered criminal charges dropped against the final executive accused of lying about problems building two nuclear reactors in South Carolina that were abandoned without generating a watt of power. The judge says she tossed the charges Wednesday because ratepayers of the utility that lost billions of dollars on the project were improperly allowed on the grand jury that indicted Westinghouse Electric Co. executive Jeffrey Benjamin. But federal judge Mary Geiger Lewis also ruled nothing is stopping prosecutors from properly seeking another indictment. Prosecutors say they are not going away as they review the ruling. Benjamin's attorneys praised the judge for protecting his rights.

North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop has announced he'll run for state attorney general next year rather than seek to remain in Congress. Bishop confirmed his bid on Thursday on a Charlotte radio station. The Republican former state legislator is a member of the House Freedom Caucus that's been pressuring House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from the right. His 8th Congressional District east of Charlotte is solidly conservative. Bishop says he sees the AG's post as a way to counter federal overreach and buttress law enforcement during a time of increasing violence. Current Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein is running for governor next year.

In "Shortcomings," a delighted film festival crowd gets an early peek at what is very clearly meant to be "Crazy Rich Asians," the 2018 romantic comedy that would go on to be a cross-cultural blockbuster.

Phoenix hosts the Atlanta Dream after Diana Taurasi scored 29 points in the Phoenix Mercury's 72-71 loss to the Indiana Fever. Thursday's game will be the second meeting this season between the two teams. The Dream won the last matchup 78-65. Phoenix is 5-6 at home, and Atlanta is 7-6 on the road.

Dallas hosts the Chicago Sky after Arike Ogunbowale scored 27 points in the Dallas Wings' 76-65 win against the Seattle Storm. Friday's game is the second meeting this season between the two teams. The Sky won the last matchup 94-88. Dallas is 9-3 at home, and Chicago is 5-6 on the road.

In the picturesque town of Sale, the shock and euphoria of Morocco’s soccer team advancing to the knockout round of the Women’s World Cup were palpable. At the Hollywood cafe, Ghita Alaoui says “We did not expect this accomplishment.” Especially after a 6-0 loss to Germany in the opener. But a 1-0 victory over Colombia on Thursday propelled Morocco beyond the group stage — a first for an Arab or North African nation. While men’s soccer has long been the dominant sport in Morocco, reactions to the women’s success have shown a remarkable shift.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is challenging all countries to tell Russia to stop using the Black Sea and Ukraine’s grain as “blackmail” and stop treating the world’s hungry and vulnerable people as leverage in its “unconscionable war.” America’s top diplomat lashed out at Russia at a U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday for ignoring the world’s appeals and pulling out of the year-old deal that allowed Ukraine to ship more than 32 tons of grain from Black Sea ports to needy countries. He said Russia's response has been "bombing Ukrainian granaries, mining port entrances, threatening to attack any vessel in the Black Sea.”

MINNEAPOLIS — Fans of the Replacements are going to get a second dosage of the 1985 album that delivered one good dose of thunder.

Police officers responding to a report of someone with a gun threatening to “end it all” outside a downtown Florida hotel discovered the person in question was the director of the Miami-Dade police force. Newly released bodycam footage provides a fresh look at the July 23 incident. Officials say hours later, Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez stopped his vehicle, with his wife, Jody Ramirez, inside, south of Tampa and shot himself in the head. News outlets report that Ramirez is still in stable condition at a Tampa hospital after surgery last week. In the meantime, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has appointed an interim police director.

The Islamic State group has announced the death of its little-known leader, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurayshi, who had been heading the extremist organization since November. Thursday's announcement did not say when he was killed. Al-Qurayshi is the fourth IS leader to be killed since the group was founded by Iraqi militant Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and declared a caliphate in large parts of Syria and Iraq in June 2014 before its defeat years later. An IS spokesman said in an audio message that al-Qurayshi “was martyred” in rebel-held northwestern Syria by members of Syria’s al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham when they tried to detain him in the province of Idlib.

What sounds like a standard biopic takes an unexpected turn in Minnesota filmmaker Bill Pohlad's "Dreamin' Wild."

A U.S. judge blocked a proposed water pipeline through a wilderness area in southwest Montana that was intended to help a rare fish species that’s seen sharp declines due to habitat loss, warming temperatures and other pressures. The mile-long pipeline was intended to move oxygenated water that’s beneficial for fish from a creek to a lake in the Red Rock Lakes Wilderness. The judge said Wednesday that environmentalists raised valid concerns that the pipeline and its construction would disturb the wilderness area, where motor vehicles and structures are largely prohibited under federal law. The number of grayling in Montana’s Centennial Valley plummeted from more than 1,100 fish in 2015 to 73 fish last year.

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