Treasury Secretary refuses to say whether Trump remains exempt from IRS audits

WASHINGTON (AP) – Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent refused to say Wednesday whether President Donald Trump and his family would still get immunity from IRS audits after the administration abandoned plans for a $1.776 billion compensation fund that would have benefited the president’s allies.

Man who killed his girlfriend's baby is set to be Florida's eighth execution of 2026

STARKE, Fla. (AP) – A Florida man who confessed to killing his girlfriend’s infant daughter and throwing her body in a pond three decades ago is set to be executed Tuesday evening.

ICE detainees across the US describe medical neglect

An Albanian man’s pain grew so unbearable, he said, he pulled out his own tooth as he languished for months in a New Mexico immigration detention center. A Honduran mother of two said she was hospitalized for a heart problem after she was denied blood pressure medications while held in Florida. A Venezuelan man said his leg grew purple and swollen from flesh-eating bacteria when staffers at a Vermont facility did not bring him to a scheduled doctor’s appointment.

From unfilled gas tanks to fewer frills, retailers see US consumers rethink their spending

NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. consumers haven’t stopped spending money since the Iran war drove up fuel prices, but many shoppers are reassessing what they buy and where, according to company executives and retail analysts.

Xi and Kim push for greater ties between China and North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un underscored their commitment to deepen cooperation and rebuild their complicated traditional alliance, as Xi is on a rare visit to Pyongyang in a likely attempt to reassert Beijing’s unique influence over its socialist neighbor.

How Trump has used the presidency to benefit himself and his allies

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump tried to create a near $1.8 billion fund that could be funneled to his supporters as a means of settling a lawsuit he filed against his own government – even arguing that he “gave up a lot of money in allowing” it. After drawing outcry in Congress and the courts, however, the White House is reconsidering the fund.

A guide to the bookstores owned by your favorite authors

NEW YORK (AP) – When Ann Patchett opened Parnassus Books in 2011, two major bookstores in Nashville had closed and physical bookstores in general seemed endangered as Amazon’s share of the market kept growing. Amazon remains the dominant force, but physical, brick-and-mortar stores have rebounded – and stores owned by authors such as Patchett are now a niche unto themselves, found everywhere from Brooklyn to New Mexico.

Florida sues OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, claiming serious risks of ChatGPT

MIAMI (AP) – The state of Florida filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman on Monday, claiming the company knowingly released and aggressively marketed ChatGPT to the public while concealing serious risks. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said during a news conference that the company suppressed internal safety warnings.

'Scary Movie' tops box office, slaying 'Masters of the Universe'

NEW YORK (AP) – The summer box office is booming – but not because of the usual suspects. After three weeks of indie horror dominance at the box office, the slasher spoof “Scary Movie” topped ticket sales with $55 million over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, easily besting the far-from-mighty “Masters of the Universe.”