AP Wire
  • Updated

Environmental groups have asked a federal appellate court panel to lift its temporary halt on closing an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades. Known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” the center remains open due to arguments by Florida and the Trump administration. They claimed the state hadn't gotten federal reimbursement, so it wasn’t required to follow federal environmental law. On Tuesday, during a hearing in Miami, the judges questioned how much control the federal government had over the state-built facility. Florida was notified in late September of $608 million in federal funding approval. The environmental lawsuit was one of three federal challenges to the facility since it opened.

  • Updated

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that a “whole civilization will die tonight” but said Iran still has time to capitulate ahead of a deadline he set for 8 p.m. Tuesday in Washington. Trump on Monday threatened to blow up every bridge and power plant in Iran if it does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, an action that would be so far-reaching that some experts in military law said it could constitute a war crime. The U.S. has already struck military targets on the Iranian oil hub of Kharg Island , according to a White House official on Tuesday, while Israeli warplanes struck bridges and railways in Iran.

AP Wire
  • Updated

Russia and China have vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The resolution, sponsored by Bahrain, had been repeatedly watered down because of opposition from Russia and China. The vote took place just hours before an 8 p.m. Eastern time deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump for Iran to open the strategic waterway or face attacks on its power plants and bridges. One-fifth of the world’s oil typically passes through the strait, and Iran’s stranglehold during the war has sent energy prices soaring.

AP Wire
  • Updated

President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed back deadlines for Iran to cut a deal or open the Strait of Hormuz. But his latest deadline for Tuesday came with his most perilous threat yet. Trump wrote on Truth Social that “a whole civilization will die tonight."  The Republican president initially set a deadline for March 23 but postponed it several times, now suggesting Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern will be final. Iran's state-run news agency reported Monday that it rejected a ceasefire proposal. Trump has threatened to attack bridges, electrical plants and oil wells if a deal isn't struck.

AP Wire
  • Updated

An Indiana politician says someone fired 13 shots at his front door and left behind a note reading “No Data Centers” on his doorstep. Indianapolis councilman Ron Gibson said he and his 8-year-old son weren’t harmed in the incident early Monday. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department says officers called to a home on East 41st Street on Monday morning found evidence of gunshots being fired at a house, but no injuries were reported. Police say they believe it was an isolated, targeted incident and the FBI is assisting. Gibson supported the Indianapolis Metropolitan Development Commission’s decision last week to approve a rezoning petition for a project for Metrobloks, a data center developer, in Gibson’s district.

AP Wire
  • Updated

Airstrikes are pounding Tehran, and Iranian officials are urging young people to form human chains to protect power plants. That comes hours before the expiration of U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest deadline Tuesday for the Islamic Republic to reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz or face punishing strikes on its infrastructure. Trump has extended previous deadlines but suggested the one set for 8 p.m. in Washington was final. The rhetoric on both sides reached a fever pitch. Trump threatened to destroy all of Iran’s power plants and bridges if Tehran does not allow traffic to fully resume in the strait. Iran’s president said 14 million people have volunteered to fight.

Democrats are hoping to increase liberal control of the state Supreme Court in battleground Wisconsin in an election that has focused largely on abortion rights as cases affecting congressional redistricting, union rights and other hot button issues also await. Tuesday’s election in the swing state stands in stark contrast to the previous two, where national spending records were set in battles over majority control. The race features Democratic-backed Chris Taylor and Republican-supported Maria Lazar. Both Taylor and Lazar are state appeals court judges. Liberals won control of the court in 2023, ending 15 years under a conservative majority. They held onto control in last year's vote.

  • Updated

U.S. President Donald Trump says he’s “not at all” concerned about committing possible war crimes as he the destruction of Iran’s bridges and power plants if they don’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Speaking to reporters at the White House, the president refused to say whether any civilian targets would be off-limits if Iran doesn't meet his Tuesday 8 p.m. ET deadline. Iran on Monday rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal and said it wants a permanent end to the war. Israel and the United States also carried out a wave of attacks on Iran, which responded with missile fire on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbors.