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Ironworker challenges Rep. Max Miller as the Ohio congressman fights to hold seat amid abuse claims

BROOK PARK, Ohio (AP) -- Janie Grosjean was torn about voting for embattled Republican Rep. Max Miller this year.

The 75-year-old from Wooster, a historic college town in Miller's northeast Ohio district, has led an interdenominational women's Bible study for nearly three decades. She has been alarmed at allegations of domestic abuse against Miller by his ex-wife and more than one ex-girlfriend, leading some of his colleagues in Congress over the summer to say he should step down.

Both of Ohio's U.S. senators, fellow Republicans Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno, Miller's former father-in-law, said Miller was unfit to serve in Congress. The House has opened an ethics investigation.

Despite her reservations, Grosjean voted a straight GOP ticket when it came time to fill out her ballot. She said the Republican Party is pursuing the "biblically based" platform she wants to support.

"I'm very disappointed in the things that have come out, but I went ahead and voted for him, anyway," she said outside the Wayne County early voting center last week. "That was my decision, because of the background of what the parties believe."

It's the kind of response that Miller, 43, and other Republicans are hoping for as they try to hold their majority in the U.S. House amid deep anxiety over rising costs and the war in Iran.

Miller's has been a safe GOP-leaning district, but it is one Democrats now feel optimistic they can flip. Their candidate is Brian Poindexter, a 46-year-old union ironworker who has attracted a strong following among the many service and manufacturing workers in Ohio's 7th Congressional District.

"I've been able to reach that blue-collar guy, that union guy that Democrats have lost," Poindexter said recently while wrapping up a campaign appearance focused on high gas prices -- across from a Circle K, where unleaded subject to a gas tax holiday was selling for $3.68 per gallon -- in Brook Park, the Cleveland suburb where he was a longtime councilman. "I'm overwhelmed that people from all over the political spectrum have decided to jump on board and say, 'Hey, I want to support this guy.'"

Miller defied bipartisan calls in August to step aside and proceeded with his reelection campaign, likening his situation in a CNN interview to the notorious "Access Hollywood" tape that was leaked during Trump's first run for the White House in 2016, when Trump ultimately defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.

It was believed then that Trump's chance at winning had evaporated, Miller said: "But guess what? He stayed in, and he was resilient."

In ads, Democratic-aligned groups have hammered Miller over the abuse allegations leveled by his former wife, the senator's daughter Emily Moreno. Her allegations include claims that he threw boiling water at her and held a gun to her head, as well as details of an investigation into their 2-year-old daughter's broken collarbone.

A historical society with pilot's help bought Neil Armstrong's boyhood home and will offer tours

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- Ken Schreiber was 9 when Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon in 1969 -- a moment he would never forget. Like Armstrong, he too became a military fighter pilot.

So when Schreiber read a story in August that Armstrong's boyhood home in Ohio was for sale and later learned no one had come forward to preserve it, he surprised even himself by making an offer.

The sale was finalized Monday. The local historical society will take ownership thanks to Schreiber's $400,000 donation.

"I just thought somebody has got to step up to the plate," said Schreiber, who spent 20 years in the U.S. Air Force and retired as a pilot with American Airlines. He remembered his father's advice to "make a mark in life."

The Auglaize County Historical Society plans to restore the well-preserved home to its appearance during Armstrong's boyhood, when he built model planes in the dining room and tested them in a basement wind tunnel he created.

The goal is to have the home ready for its first public tours by 2030, marking the 100th anniversary of Armstrong's birth, said Gerald Siesel, the historical society's president.

The two-story home in Wapakoneta has long been a stop for visitors to the Armstrong Air and Space Museum curious about the astronaut's early life, but it has never been open to the public.

The historical society has already started researching what the house would've looked like in the 1940s and talking with community leaders about raising money to renovate and maintain the home, Siesel said.

"Even now when this opportunity came our way, we realized we can't do it ourselves," he said.

Shooting near Ohio mosque leaves 1 dead but was not connected to the building, police say

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A shooting in a neighborhood near a mosque in Ohio's capital city left one person dead Monday but was not connected to the house of worship or those who were inside, police said.

Federal and local authorities descended on the area as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said in a post on X that agents were responding to a report of a shooting at the mosque, northeast of downtown Columbus.

Police later said the shooting happened in the parking lot of an apartment complex next to the mosque.

"At the mosque, unfortunately, there was an event going on that had nothing to do with what was going on outside," said Sgt. James Fuqua. "… But it's super important that I make it clear that this shooting had nothing to do with an attack on the mosque itself."

The ATF did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking further information.

Mississippi AG says officer's force was justified during shoplifting call in which boy was killed

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Mississippi's attorney general says a Senatobia officer was justified in using force when he responded to a shoplifting call and fired at a moving vehicle that investigators said was driving toward police, killing a 1-year-old boy who was inside the car.

The conclusion of the state's investigation into the shooting death of Kohen Wiley follows months of mourning and calls for justice, both nationally and in the small town where the shooting took place, about 40 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee.

The shooting occurred in mid-June as Senatobia officers responded to a shoplifting call at a Walmart, where they saw Vellesiya Wiley, Kohen's mother, carrying her son as she and a friend left the store, got into a car and began driving away. Wiley and her friend are both Black. Police believed they stole diapers and baby clothes. Kohen's mother has denied she or her friend stole anything, and neither of them have been charged with shoplifting or any other counts, according to online state and county court records.

According to a statement released shortly after the shooting by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the car drove toward law enforcement, prompting an officer to fire into the car, striking Kohen and his mother's friend.

Martin Zummach, an attorney who represents the officer who fired the shot that killed Kohen, says the attorney general's findings cleared his client of criminal wrongdoing. He said the driver of the vehicle "tried to kill" his client and other officers who were present.

"He had no choice but to fire his weapon," Zummach told The Associated Press.

In a video released days after the shooting, Vellesiya Wiley disputed that her friend, who was driving, headed toward the officers.

Supreme Court agrees to review a Reconstruction-era ban on distilling spirits in private homes

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to consider whether Congress had the constitutional authority to impose a ban on distilling spirits in private homes more than 150 years ago.

Plaintiffs challenging the prohibition on home distilling claim the 1868 law is an antiquated relic of Reconstruction-era politics. They argue that Congress overstepped its taxation powers when it enacted the home distilling ban as part of a tax reform measure designed to curb fraud by commercial distillers.

Government attorneys counter that Congress properly restricted where spirits can be distilled to prevent producers from evading federal excise taxes. They warn that lifting the ban would violate Supreme Court precedent and erode congressional powers.

Federal law makes home distilling a crime punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Separate challenges to the law divided two federal circuit courts, which issued conflicting decisions in April, only 11 days apart.

A three-judge panel from the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the federal ban in a case brought by John Ream, a brewpub owner from Newark, Ohio, who wants to distill whisky at home for his personal consumption.

A Fifth Circuit panel ruled in favor of different plaintiffs -- members of the Texas-based Hobby Distillers Association -- and concluded that statutory prohibitions on in-home distilling are outside the scope of Congress' taxing power under the Constitution.

The Supreme Court agreed to review the Fifth Circuit decision, which was the Justice Department's preference.

Plaintiffs' attorney Robert Alt said they are "thrilled" that the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.

"Our country's founders would be rolling over in their graves to learn that a pastime in which even George Washington partook, which is as American as apple pie and certainly a lot older, has quite absurdly been turned into a federal crime," Alt said in a statement.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs in both cases argue that Congress could ban a broad array of activities inside private homes -- including cooking, gardening and remote work -- under the government's interpretation of the 19th century law.

Supreme Court rejects effort to revive Khalid Sheikh Mohammed plea deal

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an effort to revive a plea deal for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

The agreement would have spared Mohammed the risk of execution in exchange for his guilty plea and a sentence of life in prison without parole.

Mohammed is accused of developing and directing the plot to crash hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon 25 years ago. Another of the hijacked planes crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.

The plea agreement was approved by military prosecutors and the Pentagon's senior official for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stepped in.

Austin threw out the deal in 2024, saying a decision on the death penalty in an attack as grave as Sept. 11 should only be made by the defense secretary.

Relatives of the Sept. 11 victims were split on the agreements for Mohammed and two co-defendants. Some said a trial is the best path to justice, while others saw it as the best hope for bringing the long, painful case to a conclusion.

Defense attorneys had argued that Austin, who served under President Joe Biden, acted too late. But a divided appeals court panel found Austin acted within his authority.

A trial date has been set for 2028.

Trump signs an order aimed at boosting women's health research, a plan backed by the first lady

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Monday directed the federal government to bolster federal research into women's health through all stages of their lives, a move pushed by his wife, first lady Melania Trump.

The Republican president signed an executive order creating a Women's Health Division at the National Institutes of Health and a separate White House Women's Health Task Force. The panel was set to hold its first meeting on Monday.

"Beginning today we will change the reality of women's health," Melania Trump said. "Previous generations fought for women's rights. Our generation will fight to discover the cures that will ensure a woman can live her life in health and to the fullest."

The president spoke after his wife and said the order will "promote new research and really go after the understudied diseases affecting women." The order is also intended to promote diagnostic technology and improve treatment.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who recently completed treatment for breast cancer, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will lead the White House task force. Donald Trump said the panel will coordinate with various federal agencies and programs. The order does not include specific funding goals.

The initiative follows meetings the first lady had with the president, Kennedy and other federal health officials to help shape the order and the task force.

The president called it a "historic action" and praised her work.

"She's accomplished so much," he said before pivoting into unscripted commentary about White House renovations, including the patio stone now covering what used to be the Rose Garden lawn.

Shifting back to women's health, the president expressed surprise that some of the order's requirements had not already been imposed.

"Who the hell wouldn't have a women's health division?" he said, after recalling that he'd asked Melania Trump, "Are you sure they don't have that?"

The NIH has an Office of Research on Women's Health, established in 1990 to advance understanding of the biological and social factors that influence women's health and disease, according to its website.

A goal of the new Women's Health Division is to improve the government's ability to coordinate research, according to a fact sheet distributed by the White House.

The executive order signed Monday calls for more research into key areas of women's health, including maternal health, mental health, endometriosis, infertility, fibroids and menopause. It also mentions other health concerns, including Alzheimer's and heart disease, osteoporosis and stroke.