ACROSS THE NATION

Trump signs US-Denmark-Greenland agreement to bolster Arctic security after prolonged tensions

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an agreement with Denmark and Greenland aimed at strengthening Arctic and North Atlantic security, paving the way for more U.S. bases in Greenland and easing tensions over his repeated calls for the vast island to become part of the United States.

The signing on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York comes days after Trump announced the deal to bolster the U.S. military presence on Greenland but keep it under Danish control. The agreement would still apply if Greenland eventually chooses independence.

"This is tremendous for Europe and for the United States and for everybody," Trump said just before the agreement was signed. "And for Greenland, it's going to be incredible."

Trump has expressed his desire to acquire Greenland since as long ago as 2019 and, during his second term, issued threats to seize the semiautonomous territory from Denmark, a NATO ally. On Tuesday, he did not respond to questions about whether a U.S. acquisition of Greenland was off the table.

Officials from the U.S., Greenland and Denmark negotiated for months behind the scenes, searching for solutions to address some of Trump's security concerns about the mineral-rich island.

Trump's designs on Greenland strained relations within NATO, with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warning a U.S. takeover would amount to the end of the Atlantic alliance.

The standoff unsettled many of Greenland's roughly 56,000 people and drove a wedge between the U.S. and Denmark and its European Union partners, who stepped up security exercises on and monetary support for the island.

Trade and hopes for a resource grab have factored into concerns about Greenland's future. About two-thirds of its territory sits inside the Arctic Circle, where melting sea ice has opened additional shipping routes.

The United States was prominent in Greenland for decades but, since 1945, the U.S. military presence in Greenland has decreased from thousands of soldiers on 17 bases and installations to roughly 200 soldiers on the remote Pituffik Space Base in the northwest. The base supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly ahead of the signing, Trump said the U.S. would "immediately begin the process of developing a large military presence in the appropriate locations," including "building two very major military bases."

Denmark's parliament approved a bill last year to allow U.S. military bases on Danish soil, widening a 2023 agreement made with the Biden administration that gave U.S. troops broad access to air bases in Denmark.

Trump previously insisted the U.S. needed to "take Greenland," to prevent Russia or China from doing the same. Though Trump said he would rather " make a deal " for the territory, he added, "one way or the other, we're going to have Greenland."

The agreement, released by all three governments after the signing, allows for Washington to "modernize and expand" its activities at Pituffik.

It also says the U.S. can set up "defense areas" at Narsarsuaq in the south and Mestersvig in the east, and that it "may establish additional defense areas in Greenland and strengthen its military operations or facilities." Washington is to award contracts for goods and services related to setting up, maintaining or dismantling such bases "to Greenlandic sources to the maximum extent possible."

'You should not be here,' Trump tells CNN at UN as standoff with media outlets persists

NEW YORK (AP) -- On a day of high-stakes diplomacy on the global stage, President Donald Trump began his United Nations visit by telling a prominent U.S. journalist, "You should not be here."

"It's an honor to be here," Trump said as he entered U.N. doors Tuesday ahead of his speech to the General Assembly and faced Kaitlan Collins of CNN, a frequent target of his ire. "I'm surprised that CNN is here covering me. You should not be here covering me. You said you weren't going to cover me."

As Collins noted later on air, CNN said nothing of the kind. The administration had banned CNN from White House grounds days earlier -- along with MS NOW and Politico -- and removed the network from pool duty. But CNN had been admitted into the U.N. as regularly credentialed media.

In any case, the tense moment was a stark reminder of how dramatically the bitter conflict between Trump and news outlets whose coverage he objects to as "fake news" has escalated in just a few days.

The current ban was the subject of a joint lawsuit filed Monday by the three outlets, asking a judge to find the administration's move unconstitutional. The White House had until Tuesday to respond, and a hearing is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

Later Tuesday, Trump doubled down on his remarks and said negative coverage was dangerous for the country.

Asked whether he would allow the outlets back in if the court rules against the White House, he said, "Well, it probably will, because this is a judge who's not a particularly fair judge." He was referring to U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, whom he appointed in 2017 and who ordered a CNN journalist's access restored in a similar case in 2018.

"So you never know," Trump added. "I think we have a right to clean out fake news."

Trump's comments echoed others he's made since announcing the ban Friday. He has referred to "purposely negative stories," but cited no specific stories -- only generally "fake news" -- as justification for the ban.

The ban and lawsuit are part of a long-running conflict between the president -- especially in his second term -- and media outlets he finds unfavorable. Trump has responded in the courtroom, or with regulatory action. He's also lashed out at individual reporters in person or over social media, sometimes in strikingly personal terms -- as he has with CNN's Collins, most recently in a speech at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

On air, after her exchange with Trump on Tuesday, Collins said: "We never said we were not going to cover the president. We will do our best to cover him each and every day."

Man shot by ICE in Texas is back in detention after leaving hospital, attorney says

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- A Venezuelan man shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Texas was back in a federal detention center Tuesday after being taken to a hospital for a second time with a bullet still lodged in his back, according to his attorney.

A federal judge also ordered Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, who was shot Sunday in Austin, to appear in court next week following a lawsuit that sought to stop his removal from the U.S.

Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, Perez's attorney, said in a video posted to social media Tuesday that the 28-year-old man was "still in a lot of pain."

Perez was being held at a federal detention facility in the remote South Texas town of Pearsall, according to Texas Democratic U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, who has joined others in his party in sharply criticizing the shooting that occurred amid a surge in ICE enforcement during President Donald Trump's second term. The violent encounter has also sparked protests in Austin, including a gathering outside the Texas Capitol on Monday night.

Perez was making a DoorDash delivery Sunday afternoon when ICE officers in an unmarked truck sideswiped his car twice, Lincoln-Goldfinch has said. He was shot and taken to a hospital, then released into ICE custody with a bullet still in his back. Perez went back to the hospital Monday evening after complaining of pain and was taken back into ICE custody around midnight, Lincoln-Goldfinch said.

Court filings from Perez's lawyers indicated he was forced to sleep on a cement floor at an ICE temporary processing center, and then at 4 a.m. Monday, ICE transferred him to the Pearsall facility. A temporary restraining order from his attorneys said he was also subject to interrogation without legal representation present.

Lincoln-Goldfinch wrote on social media that he was taken back to the hospital around 5 p.m. Monday after he began experiencing a loss of sensation in his arm.

California farmers are struggling to sell grapes as demand for wine drops

LODI, Calif. (AP) -- It's harvest time in California wine country, but many growers are struggling to sell their grapes as changing drinking habits have caused demand to plunge. The decline is forcing some growers to tear out vineyards that their families have grown for generations.

Wine sales have decreased by more than 20% over a five-year period, causing prices paid for grapes to drop and prompting California growers to take roughly a quarter of the state's vineyards out of production. Many growers are having to decide whether to harvest at a loss, leave grapes on the vine or replace vineyards with crops more in demand such as almonds, walnuts, pistachios and olives.

Third-generation grower Bill Berryhill said it means another year of losing money and wasting hundreds of tons of healthy grapes.

"It's just sickening," said Berryhill, standing in a vineyard of unsold merlot grapes. "You raise a beautiful crop, and it's really a nice vintage this year, and you drop it on the ground. It's sad. All your work is just down the toilet."

Berryhill, who owns Berryhill Family Vineyards near Lodi in the San Joaquin Valley, said he can't find buyers for grapes grown on 200 of his 500 acres. He plans to remove 50 acres (20 hectares) of vineyards when the harvest season is over.

"I will lose money for sure. It's just a matter of how much," Berryhill, 68, said. "This has been a big loser for three years now."

At its peak during the pandemic, California had almost 600,000 acres of vineyards, but farmers have removed or stopped actively growing wine grapes on roughly 25% of that land, said Jeff Bitter, president of Allied Grape Growers, which represents about 500 farmers statewide.

This year, about half of California's wine grape crop entered the harvest season without contracts with buyers, compared with 70 to 80% with contracts in a typical year, Bitter said.

If they're lucky, growers can sell their uncontracted grapes at a loss to buyers making concentrated syrup.

Even as growers have abandoned or removed tens of thousands of acres of vineyards in California in recent years, too many grapes are still being produced, Bitter said.

Texas investigators seek evidence of manslaughter, other crimes in 27 flood deaths at Camp Mystic

Camp Mystic faces a criminal investigation that could include manslaughter or negligent homicide charges in the deaths of 27 girls amid devastating flooding in Texas last year, court documents show.

In applications for search warrants executed last week, investigators sought to obtain the electronic communications of the camp's owners, saying they could provide evidence of manslaughter, negligent homicide, child abandonment or other crimes. No charges have been brought, and a representative of the camp did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Brant Johnston, with the Texas Rangers, wrote in an affidavit that Camp Mystic had inadequate emergency plans, failed to conduct emergency drills or training, and in some cabins did not have enough adult counselors. Its owners neglected to take precautions by relocating children from low-lying cabins despite having monitored late-night flood warnings, Johnston wrote.

"Young campers cannot reasonably be expected to independently recognize a rapidly developing, life-threatening hazard or to organize and execute an evacuation absent direction from an adequate number of adult supervisors," Johnston wrote.

He concluded: "Camp Mystic, LLC was aware of and consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death to the campers in their care."

Twenty-five campers and two teenage counselors at the Christian all-girls camp were killed as the raging Guadalupe River surged beyond its banks before dawn on July 4, 2025. Camp Mystic owner Richard Eastland also died in the flood.

For decades, Camp Mystic was a summer staple and an institution for generations of families, who dropped off their girls at the sleepaway camp to ride horses, canoe, fish and attend Bible studies. The camp did not reopen this year, and it has filed for bankruptcy reorganization.

All told, the destructive flooding killed at least 136 people along a several-mile stretch of the river, raising questions about how things went so terribly wrong.

Attorneys for some of the victims' families welcomed the search warrants but said they should not have been necessary.

Hayden Panettiere died from an overdose involving fentanyl. She had just gone to rehab, coroner says

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) -- Actor Hayden Panettiere died from an accidental overdose of several drugs, including fentanyl, and had been in rehab just weeks before, according to a coroner's report obtained by The Associated Press.

Panettiere, 36, was found unresponsive in an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, on Aug. 16. Her on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach Hickerson were at the home.

A combination of fentanyl and its chemical byproduct, as well as the anti-anxiety medication alprazolam, a muscle relaxer and a drug used to treat major depression and other serious mental health disorders, was found in Panettiere's system, according to a statement from the Greenville County Coroner's Office.

A more detailed report released to the AP said a senior deputy coroner who came to the Airbnb apartment to investigate Panettiere's death found blue pressed pills and a straw on a table that would later test positive for fentanyl. A white powdery substance was found in her suitcase in a sunglasses case, according to the report.

When the investigator called Panettiere's father, he said she planned to spend her birthday five days later in Greenville, then head to Ukraine to visit her daughter.

The investigator talked to two men in the apartment with Panettiere. Both names were blocked out, but police have said her boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach were with her.

One of the men said he saw Panettiere putting on makeup at 10:30 a.m. the day she died.

He went back to sleep and woke up to a knock at the door. Both men found Panettiere face down in a sitting position on a sofa bed with her legs crossed. He said that wasn't unusual, but he couldn't wake her and noticed she was deep purple. He administered two doses of Narcan and then called 911 when she didn't respond, according to the report.

The investigator wrote in her report that the man told her he didn't know if Panettiere used any illegal drugs in the past two days, but "she was very good at hiding them."

Asked for comment on the coroner's initial report, Kasey Kitchen, a publicist for the family, told The Associated Press that "the investigation is still ongoing and the case is complex."

Greenville Police confirmed Tuesday that their investigation into Panettiere's death is continuing.

Paramedics responded to Panettiere's apartment last month after a 911 call and performed CPR and other advanced resuscitation efforts for more than 40 minutes before she was declared dead. The autopsy found no signs of trauma that could have contributed to her death, Greenville County Coroner Mike Ellis said in a statement.