AP News in Brief 08-31-18

Police: Passengers injured in New Mexico bus crash

THOREAU, N.M. — New Mexico State Police are reporting serious injuries among the passengers aboard a commercial bus that crashed along Interstate 40.

Authorities say police and rescue workers are on the scene but they did not provide details as to how many people were injured or what caused the crash. They said passengers are being transported to the hospital.

The crash happened Thursday afternoon near the town of Thoreau in western New Mexico. Traffic was being diverted as the westbound lanes of the interstate were closed due to the crash.

State transportation officials warned travelers to expect delays.

Trump allies fret over West Wing vacancies as threats loom

WASHINGTON — Increasingly convinced that the West Wing is wholly unprepared to handle the expected assault from Democrats if they win the House in November, President Donald Trump’s aides and allies are privately raising alarm as his circle of legal and communications advisers continues to shrink.

With vacancies abounding in the White House and more departures on the horizon, there is growing concern among Trump allies that the brain drain at the center of the administration could hardly come at a more perilous time. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s swirling probe of Russian election interference and potential obstruction of justice by Trump has reached ever closer to the Oval Office, and the upcoming midterm elections could grant his political adversaries the power of subpoena or, more worryingly, the votes to attempt impeachment.

Nine current and former White House staffers and administration allies are expressing concerns that the West Wing is simply unprepared for the potential troubles ahead. They spoke on the condition of anonymity over concerns about estranging colleagues.

Attrition, job changes and firings have taken their toll across the White House, but their impact has been felt particularly in the communications and legal shops — two departments crucial to Trump staving off the looming threats. The upcoming departure of White House counsel Don McGahn has highlighted the challenges in an office that has shrunk by a third since last year.

McGahn’s deputy and chief of staff, Annie Donaldson, is also expected to leave soon after McGahn departs, two staffers said. Similarly, the White House press office is down to four press secretaries working on day-to-day White House matters, including Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and the regional and Cabinet affairs media teams in the communications office have been hollowed out.

The looming, final battle for Syria’s rebels

BEIRUT — In a corner of northwestern Syria packed with nearly 3 million people, the government and its opponents are preparing for a final, bloody showdown.

The campaign for Idlib, the opposition’s only remaining stronghold in the country and now a refuge for over one million displaced Syrians, is likely to be the last major theater of battle after seven years of brutal civil war.

It is also potentially the most dangerous.

The U.N. and aid workers are bracing for disaster, warning that up to 800,000 people are in danger of renewed displacement if a government offensive gets underway. A massive military buildup in nearby areas suggests an assault — at least to regain parts of the province — may be imminent.

Turkey, which backs the rebels in Idlib, has warned against a military solution and is reportedly negotiating with Russia in an effort to avoid a full-scale offensive.

Friends call John McCain hero, maverick at Arizona funeral

PHOENIX — A former vice president, an NFL star and other friends remembered Sen. John McCain as a “true American hero” — and a terrible driver with a wicked sense of humor and love of a good battle — at a crowded church service Thursday for the maverick politician that ended to the tune of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”

Addressing an estimated 3,500 mourners, former Vice President Joe Biden recalled “the sheer joy that crossed his face when he knew he was about to take the stage of the Senate floor and start a fight.”

Biden, a Democrat who was among the fast friends the Republican senator made across the aisle, said he thought of McCain as a brother, “with a lot of family fights.”

The service for the statesman, former prisoner of war and two-time presidential candidate unfolded at North Phoenix Baptist Church after a motorcade bearing McCain’s body made its way from the state Capitol past Arizonans waving American flags and campaign-style McCain signs.

Family members watched in silence as uniformed military members removed the flag-draped casket from a black hearse and carried it into the church. McCain died Saturday of brain cancer at age 81.

What’s lost when the president can’t show up?

WASHINGTON — What’s lost when the president of the United States can’t — or won’t — show up?

As the remembrances for the late Sen. John McCain shift from Arizona to Washington the rest of this week, President Donald Trump will be glaringly missing. The McCain family asked him to stay away from the four-day tribute to the storied Republican lawmaker. And even if they hadn’t, it’s unlikely Trump would have been eager to eulogize one of his fiercest critics.

But Trump’s absence is about more than just a personal feud between two dramatically different politicians. His inability to seize the ceremonial, symbolic power of the presidency, both in times of sorrow and joy, threatens to change an important aspect of the office itself and remake Americans’ expectations of their commander in chief.

“There’s a loss,” says Julian Zelizer, a political historian at Princeton University. “A lot of the stuff (Trump) does become norms. That’s the power of a presidency. Now a president can be this way.”

The American presidency has always been tangled in partisan divisions. Most recent presidents have been elected by narrow margins after campaigns focused on party loyalists. Like Trump, his predecessors have frequently stuck to friendly environs, preferring the adulation of supporters to the criticism of detractors.

Judge blocks Saturday’s grizzly hunts in Wyoming, Idaho

MISSOULA, Mont. — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the opening of the first public grizzly bear hunts in Wyoming and Idaho in more than 40 years, as he considers whether the government was wrong to lift federal protections on the animals.

U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen’s order came just two days before the states prepared to open their grizzly bear hunting seasons on Saturday. It will remain in effect 14 days.

“The threat of death to individual bears posed by the scheduled hunts is sufficient” to justify a delay in the state’s hunting seasons, Christensen wrote.

The move marked a victory for wildlife advocates and Native American tribes that sued over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision in 2017 to lift federal protections for 700 grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park.

From wire sources

“We’re thrilled,” said Mike Garrity, the executive director for plaintiff Alliance for the Wild Rockies. “Now the judge has time to rule without grizzly bears being killed starting Saturday morning.”

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Trump stumps for Republican Senate hopeful Braun in Indiana

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — President Donald Trump sought to turn up the pressure on Sen. Joe Donnelly at an Indiana rally Thursday night, saying the state must defeat the vulnerable Democrat because “Joe’s not going to vote for us on anything.”

Appearing in Evansville, Trump aimed to boost support for wealthy Republican businessman Mike Braun, who is facing off against Donnelly in what is viewed as one of the nation’s most competitive Senate races. The rally came as Trump kicks up his campaign travel with the midterm elections approaching.

Trump, who last visited the state in May, called Braun a “special guy” and said he will “be a truly great senator.” Before the rally, he attended a private roundtable and fundraising reception.

Braun took the stage and pledged to be a “true ally” to Trump, “not somebody that says something when you’re in Indiana and does something differently when you’re in D.C.”

In a state the president carried by roughly 19 percentage points in 2016, both candidates have sought to stress their connections to Trump. Braun has welcomed Trump’s backing, greeting him at the airport as he arrived in Indiana on Thursday afternoon.

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Franklin’s funeral billed as a spiritual service, with stars

DETROIT — Organizers of Aretha Franklin’s funeral insist it will be a service, not a show. Yet the Queen of Soul’s final send-off on Friday certainly will encompass many elements, emotions and grand entrances that were hallmarks of her more than six decades on sacred and secular stages.

And it boasts a lineup of speakers and singers that would rival any of the hottest revues, past or present.

To be sure, the invitation-only funeral at Detroit’s Greater Grace Temple, which caps off a week of events that included high-profile public viewings and tribute concerts, comes with all-star speakers and performers: Among those offering words will be former President Bill Clinton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Smokey Robinson. Songs will be provided by Steve Wonder, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Fantasia, Faith Hill, Shirley Caesar, Chaka Khan and more.

The street outside Greater Grace will be lined with pink Cadillacs — a nod to Franklin’s funky ’80s tune, “Freeway of Love,” which prominently featured the car in the lyrics and video. Her casket has been carried this week by a 1940 Cadillac LaSalle hearse that also took Franklin’s father, legendary minister C.L. Franklin, and civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks to their final resting places at Woodlawn Cemetery, where the singer will join them.

Bishop Charles Ellis III of Greater Grace knows well of the boldface guest-list and surrounding pomp and circumstance, but he has a higher mission in mind for the service that may well exceed five hours.

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Government accuses Harvard of ‘outright racial balancing’

WASHINGTON — In its latest push to end the use of race in college admissions, the Trump administration on Thursday accused Harvard University of “engaging in outright racial balancing” and sided with Asian-American students who allege the Ivy League school discriminated against them.

Harvard denied the bias claim and said it would defend the right to consider race as a factor in admissions.

The Justice Department weighed in on a lawsuit filed in 2014 by Students For Fair Admission, which argues that one of the world’s most prestigious universities discriminates against academically strong Asian-American applicants in favor of others who may be less qualified.

The agency said in a “statement of interest” that Harvard has failed to demonstrate that it does not discriminate on the basis of race and that its use of personal qualities in determining worthy applicants “may be infected with racial bias.”

The Supreme Court permits colleges and universities to consider race in admissions decisions, but says that must be done in a narrowly tailored way to promote diversity and should be limited in time. Schools also bear the burden of showing why their consideration of race is appropriate.