Minutes earlier, while patrolling the hallways of Judson High School in Converse, Texas, he had confronted a 15-year-old accused of pushing an assistant principal. The teenager, Jeremiah Johnson, cursed at the officer and walked away.

Officer Laue grabbed repeatedly at Jeremiah’s arms and backpack, body camera footage of the encounter shows. When the boy pushed away, the officer wrapped his arms around him and took him to the floor.

Now Jeremiah was handcuffed in the school’s cramped police office. As another officer tried to lower Jeremiah into a chair, Officer Laue rammed his fists into the boy’s belly.

“Sit the f--- down!” Officer Laue shouted.

Since 2022, when a gunman killed 21 people at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas has spent billions of dollars installing police officers at public schools. Under state law, officers are supposed to stay out of “routine student discipline.” But over the past few years, they have used physical force in thousands of cases, including to stop seemingly minor misbehavior.

The incident at Judson High offers an extraordinary glimpse into a confrontation gone wrong. What makes it so unusual is that the student and the officer, as well as a teacher, discussed it with a reporter. The 33-minute episode, from November 2023, was also captured on body camera footage, which was reviewed by The New York Times and The San Antonio Express-News.

The case underscores a concern that has been raised by parents and advocates since schools began stationing law enforcement on their campuses: that officers might clash with vulnerable students, derailing their lives.

Ian Adams, a professor of criminology at the University of South Carolina who reviewed the footage for The Times and The Express-News, called it “horrific.” The way Officer Laue shoved his fists into Jeremiah, Mr. Adams said, went beyond the bounds of “normal policing.”

As Jeremiah folded into the chair, he gasped. “I can’t even breathe,” he said.

Officer Laue yelled at him to shut up, using an expletive. Then, he smacked Jeremiah on the side of the head.

A principal’s accusation

That morning, Elizabeth De Alba, an assistant principal, contacted Officer Laue over her walkie-talkie. The two met up in a crowded hallway, his body camera footage shows.

“He pushed me,” she told the officer, pointing out Jeremiah, who was walking ahead of them in a black sweatshirt, his hood up.

Jeremiah grew up in a working-class neighborhood on the eastern edge of San Antonio. His parents used drugs, records show, so his great-aunt and -uncle, Debra and Calvin Johnson, adopted him when he was a toddler. They raised him alongside nine other children.

The Johnsons described Jeremiah as a quiet, serious child who sang in the choir at his family’s Pentecostal church. He enjoyed school, but struggled with his class work. In eighth grade, school officials determined he had a learning disability, records show.

Jeremiah liked typical teenage things: video games and action movies; teasing his sisters and doting on his baby niece. But by the time he enrolled at Judson High, he had been in several fights and was introduced to a gang by his older, biological brother.

He first crossed paths with Officer Laue in February 2023, when he was a freshman. The officer restrained him to keep him from fighting with another student, police records show. The next week, Officer Laue received a tip about two photos on social media that showed Jeremiah in a bedroom holding a gun, according to the records. Jeremiah had it for protection from a rival gang, he told a reporter in a recent interview.

Nine months later, Ms. De Alba accused Jeremiah, then a sophomore, of pushing her in the hallway. So Officer Laue navigated his way through a crowd of students to confront him, the footage shows.

The teenager met the officer with profane language and racial slurs.

Officer Laue told Jeremiah he was under arrest, and moved to cuff him. But the boy wrenched free, knocking the officer’s body worn camera to the ground.

Ms. De Alba, a former reserve police officer, picked it up. She filmed the struggle, holding the camera upside down.

Officer Laue, 6-foot-2 with a sturdy frame, kicked Jeremiah’s legs out from under him. The teenager, nearly as tall but thin, fell backward.

The officer straddled him; when a second officer arrived, they put Jeremiah in handcuffs and then hoisted him up.

They led the boy toward the school police office. “Let’s go,” Officer Laue said.

From Combat to the Classroom

A few minutes later, Officer Laue stood over Jeremiah, berating him. He taunted him for crying. He told him he would go to jail and stay there.

“That’s your future,” Officer Laue said.

The episode inside the office was captured entirely on the second officer’s body camera. That officer, Richard Radziski, repeatedly urged his colleague to calm down. Five times, he raised his hand and signaled Officer Laue to stop. But the disparagement continued.

At one point, Officer Laue accused Jeremiah of assaulting a school administrator. Jeremiah insisted he had not, and urged him to check the school surveillance cameras.

“You think I believe you over her?” Officer Laue asked.

Jeremiah shook his head. “Of course you don’t,” he answered.

Officer Laue, then 41, had been working for the school district police department for two years. It was his first job in law enforcement, and like all new officers, he went through the police academy. He received the 20 hours of state-mandated training specific to school policing. (Texas’ training is half the minimum recommended by the National Association of School Resource Officers.)

Before policing, Officer Laue served in the U.S. Army. He enlisted in 2004, records show, and during his nine years of service he deployed twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. For a time after his discharge, he operated technical equipment in the West Texas oil fields.

In an interview earlier this year, Officer Laue told The Times and The Express-News that he had thought his military experience would give him an advantage in law enforcement. But initially, he found Judson High unnerving. The crowded hallways made him “a little agoraphobic,” he said.

Still, he enjoyed mentoring students. Some, he said, had even asked him to come to their graduations.

When asked about the incident with Jeremiah, Officer Laue said that he had “put pressure on his midsection” only to get him into the chair.

He acknowledged that he had been “riled up” in the office, but could not say why.

“I don’t get that mad very often,” he added.

‘I Got You’

Inside the school that day, word was spreading that Jeremiah had been tackled and handcuffed. His physical education teacher, Kirk Logan, raced to the school police office as soon as he heard.

On his mind was the history of violence between police officers and Black people like Jeremiah and himself, he said in an interview.

“I’m not going to let it get there,” he recalled thinking.

Mr. Logan had a friendly relationship with Jeremiah — they talked often about music, sports and making good choices. He had recently served on a school committee that drew up a set of disability accommodations for the teen, records show. Such Individualized Education Program documents, known as I.E.P.s, are used for many students in public schools.

Part of Jeremiah’s plan advised school employees to avoid “power struggles” and to let him cool down if he got upset. It is unclear if that document, which was finalized days before the incident, was provided to Officer Laue.

When Mr. Logan arrived in the school police office, Jeremiah rose from his chair, footage shows. He begged the teacher to call his mother.

“Sit down or I’ll put you down!” Officer Laue shouted.

Mr. Logan positioned himself between Jeremiah and the officer.

He cupped the back of Jeremiah’s head. “Hey, Jeremiah,” he said, touching his forehead to the boy’s. “I got you.”

Several minutes later, Ms. De Alba arrived and shared her account of what had happened: She said that she had caught Jeremiah skipping class and suspended him, and then he pushed her.

Jeremiah interrupted, saying he had not skipped class. “When did I push you?” he asked.

Officials for the Judson school district did not provide any surveillance footage of the interaction between Ms. De Alba and Jeremiah to The Times and The Express-News, saying its release would compromise campus security.

Ms. De Alba and Officer Radziski declined to comment for this article. Both still work for the school district, payroll records show.

‘An ugly day’

Jeremiah was charged as a juvenile with assault and resisting arrest. The assault charge was later reduced to making a threat, court records show. He was put on probation, which was extended after he was caught smoking marijuana and repeatedly broke his evening curfew. At one point, he had to wear an ankle monitor, he said, which he hid under his pant leg around his classmates.

He stopped going to school last fall. Now 18, Jeremiah says he no longer hangs out with the boys in the gang. He spends his free time playing games on his phone and listening to songs by Lil Poppa and NBA YoungBoy, who rap about betrayal and feeling misunderstood.

He recently got a job washing dishes — a step toward getting his life together. He wants an apartment and to be able to support himself. More education may be in his future, but he does not plan to return to Judson High.

Since the episode with Officer Laue, he said, he has a visceral reaction to seeing police officers on the street. “I just go into shock,” he said.

His takeaway from what happened? Officers “show no mercy.”

Officer Laue said that he had been reprimanded for yelling at Jeremiah and ordered to take an anger management course. A district spokeswoman declined requests for an interview and did not respond to written questions about the encounter.

In an email, the spokeswoman said that the district “takes all matters involving student safety and student concerns seriously” and is “committed to continuously reviewing its practices.”

The only record in Officer Laue’s personnel file that the school district released was his resignation letter. He left a year and a half after the incident.

He told The Times and The Express-News that he did not like policing and that he is now an emergency medical technician. “It’s more of a feel-good profession,” he said. “I don’t have to be mean to people.”

The officer added that he had “nothing against” Jeremiah and hoped he was doing well.

After the arrest, he recalled, he watched surveillance footage of the interaction between the teenager and Ms. De Alba. Based on what he could see in that video, it appeared Jeremiah “might have brushed past her,” Officer Laue said.

“I wouldn’t have called that an assault,” he said.

Had he seen the footage before confronting Jeremiah, he said, he would have turned him over to a school administrator and declined to press criminal charges.

Looking back, he added, the whole situation could have unfolded a lot differently. “I wish we didn’t have an ugly day,” he said.

Asher Lehrer-Small contributed reporting. Kitty Bennett and Kirsten Noyes contributed research. Produced by Rumsey Taylor.

Prompted by an Iranian assassination threat, Trump secretly flew out of last month’s NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on an alternate military aircraft while the White House made it appear he was with the press pool on Air Force One, according to a report published by The Washington Post.

The president’s media company has tried a half-dozen businesses to lift its stock, but nothing has worked. Now it’s getting back to its roots, telling investors Monday that Truth Social will focus on selling early high-speed access to his administration’s announcements on social media, a move raising ethical questions.

The Latest:

Russian attacks kill 10 in Ukraine as Zelenskyy says Moscow is getting more North Korean missiles

Russia attacked Ukrainian cities with missiles, drones and glide bombs Tuesday, killing at least 10 civilians, officials said, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow is getting more North Korean help to extend its 4-year invasion.

Zelenskyy said Russian forces used ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea in the overnight attack, and is preparing to deploy more North Korean troops to Russia. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un already sent thousands of troops and huge supplies of weapons to support Putin’s invasion.

Now Ukraine says Russia aims to exploit Kyiv’s critical shortage of Patriot air defense interceptors, which worsened after U.S. diplomacy to end the war fizzled and Washington turned its attention to the Iran war.

“Every step Russia takes — increasing ballistic missile production, bringing in North Korean equipment, preparing for mobilization — all of this shows that Moscow is preparing not for peace, but for escalation,” Zelenskyy said on social media.

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Trump told Ukraine it had no cards. Then Kyiv took the war to Russia

When Trump told the Ukrainian president in the Oval Office last year that he had “no cards” in the fight against Russia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy already had a bold plan to take the fight deep inside Russian territory.

While Trump was warmly welcoming President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and encouraging Ukraine to accept an unfavorable peace deal, Ukraine was smuggling drones for an attack that destroyed Russian bombers worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

And since then, Kyiv’s campaign of longer-range strikes has targeted Russian air defenses, oil infrastructure and military suppliers, embarrassing Putin and impressing Trump. When Trump and Zelenskyy met at a NATO summit in July, the American president said the Ukrainian leader had “been very effective” in the war.

An Associated Press analysis shows how Ukraine has shifted the narrative about the war in Washington, but it’s still not clear if it will be able to push Putin toward the negotiating table.

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Houthi rebels attack vessel in Bab el-Mandeb, killing four

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels fired missiles on a vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Tuesday and killed four people, Yemeni authorities said.

The transportation ministry of Yemen’s internationally recognized government said the dead included three Pakistani nationals and an Indonesian.

The ministry statement said the Houthis fired three ballistic missiles on the Yemeni commercial vessel, and then fired another missile that targeted rescue teams, wounding a Yemeni rescuer.

With the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut down by Iran, there has been a renewed focus on the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait at Yemen’s southern tip, which is an alternate route for Saudi Arabia to ship its oil.

Congressional Democrats probe alleged coordination between ICE and Iran to deport detainees

Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Adam Schiff are requesting access to all potential communications between two private immigration detention centers and Iranian diplomats, according to two letters shared with The Associated Press.

Iranian asylum seekers sued last month, alleging that the Department of Homeland Security endangered them by sharing details of their application records with the Iranian government.

The applicants said they were forced to meet with Iranian Interests Section officials who had confidential information about their claims of persecution in Iran for converting to Christianity, for their sexuality or for participating in the Women, Life, Freedom protests against the Iranian government, according to court filings.

“These allegations that ICE shared asylum application records with the Iranian government are FALSE,” a DHS statement said.

In rejecting Trump’s Gaza plan, Netanyahu reprises a balancing act he has mastered

It’s possibly the most important job of any Israeli prime minister: maintain good relations with the United States while pushing back on demands seen as undermining Israel’s security.

No one has managed the balancing act longer than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader.

But with the Iran war at a stalemate, and U.S. President Donald Trump looking to advance peace efforts elsewhere, Netanyahu’s task is getting harder less than three months away from Israeli elections.

On Sunday, Netanyahu rejected Trump’s latest plan to advance the stalled ceasefire in Gaza, saying Israel will not withdraw from any of the roughly 60% of the territory it controls until Hamas has been completely disarmed — something the militant group controlling the other 40% has long resisted.

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Houthis hit Red Sea port city, threatening regional shipping

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels renewed attacks Tuesday on government-controlled areas in Yemen as the violence threatened to reignite civil war and raised fears over new threats to regional shipping lanes.

Yemen’s military said the rebels targeted the government-held port city of Mokha and the central province of Marib with missiles and drones but did not provide further details. The Houthis also hit Mokha with missiles and drones over the weekend and killed at least seven people, it said.

The escalation by the Houthis against government forces in Yemen and oil facilities in neighboring Saudi Arabia aims to threaten the kingdom’s alternative route for shipping its oil. The attacks could reignite Yemen’s civil war following a 2022 truce, and open a new front in the Middle East war.

Iran and Germany’s foreign ministers describe their call

Iran’s Abbas Araghchi said on his Telegram channel that in a call with Germany’s Johann Wadephul late Monday, he had “emphasized that making the Strait of Hormuz secure requires an end to the United States’ aggressive actions and unlawful interventions, including the naval blockade and other violations of U.S. obligations.”

Wadephul said on X that he had emphasized “the Strait of Hormuz needs to be opened unconditionally ensuring free and safe navigation for all.”

Iranian foreign minister underlines Tehran’s demands

Iran’s foreign minister says Tehran is insisting that the Strait of Hormuz won’t be reopened until the U.S. meets its conditions, after Trump said he wants compensation from Iran “for all of the people that they have killed” in the past.

Abbas Araghchi told reporters that Iran has “astonished the whole world” in the war against the United States and Israel, proving “that it is a tough and invincible power.”

Iran effectively closed the strait by threatening shipping after Israel and the U.S. attacked the country on Feb. 28.

Oil prices jumped, gasoline over $4 after Trump’s latest Iran war comments

Oil prices are settling in a state of uncertainty about when the Strait of Hormuz will reopen to global energy supplies, after jumping about 7.5% since Trump scoffed at Iranian demands for compensation for war damage.

Motor club AAA says the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline ticked up overnight to $4.01.

Brent crude oil was trading at about $87.61 a barrel early Tuesday, and U.S. benchmark crude at $82.19. Shares of major U.S. oil companies — including Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips — were close to unchanged after jumping 4.5% on Monday.

Higher oil prices mean consumers pay more for all manner of products as companies pay more for fuel to produce and transport goods. Accordingly, the main event for Wall Street this week will be Wednesday’s update on U.S. inflation.

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Former Air Force Secretary says he’ll sue Trump administration to restore his security clearance

Former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on Monday said he’ll sue to force the Trump administration to restore his security clearance, which it revoked Friday after claiming he had disclosed sensitive information about the Qatari-gifted jet now serving as Air Force One.

Kendall, a West Point graduate who served as President Joe Biden’s head of the Air Force, said on CNN Monday that he’ll sue the administration, noting it has a history of retaliating against critics by stripping their clearances. “As my mother taught me years ago, you stand up to bullies,” said Kendall, who has denied disclosing classified information.

Mark Zaid, a prominent national security attorney who sued the administration after his own clearance was revoked by the Trump administration, confirmed in a post on X that Kendall had hired him. “More to come,” Zaid wrote.

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As Trump Media scraps some businesses, it’s doubling down on Truth Social and the president

The president’s media company has tried its hand at a half-dozen new lines of business to lift its stock, but nothing has worked. Now it’s getting back to its roots.

In a conference call with investors Monday, the company behind Truth Social said it will be unwinding much of its expansion and doubling down on its original media business by selling a form of White House access, a move that has raised big ethical questions among Democrats and government watchdogs.

Trump started Truth Social after he was kicked off Twitter and Facebook, but the two reinstated him more than three years ago, so the company has had to transform itself. Instead of a “free speech” forum, it now acts more like a “hear it here first” site, a second White House press office where people get scoops from the president on everything from the Iran war to tariffs to the future of the U.S. central bank.

But shares of the parent company, Trump Media & Technology, kept falling so it decided to become more than a media company and branched into unrelated industries like online betting, finance, investment funds, buying and storing bitcoin and nuclear energy.

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Trump used elaborate ruse to fly out of Turkey following summit because of Iran threat, report says

Catering trucks are parked at Air Force One on the tarmac as the motorcade carrying U.S. President Donald Trump arrives on the tarmac to depart following the NATO summit at Ankara International Airport in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump secretly flew out of last month’s NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on an alternate military aircraft while the White House made it appear that the Republican president was flying on Air Force One, according to a report published by The Washington Post on Monday.

The Post said the operation was prompted by an Iranian assassination threat against Trump. The ruse was carried out as journalists and some White House staff members were led to believe they were on the same plane as the president as he began his journey back to Washington from the annual gathering of NATO country leaders.

The Post cited material reviewed by the newspaper, a U.S. official familiar with the operation and another person with knowledge of the president’s travel. The Associated Press has not independently confirmed the report.

The White House did not respond directly to questions about the Post report of the secret operation to whisk Trump out of the country on a third aircraft, or the reported elaborate ruse to make it appear he was on the baby blue Air Force One jet flying to Mildenhall.

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Trump pivots back to sanctions for Iran as other strategies to end his war fizzle

The Trump administration is hoping that months of bombing have pushed Iran’s economy to a breaking point that will force its leadership to cave to demands to end its nuclear program and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil and natural gas tankers.

The president on Monday said that since Iran is seeking compensation as part of any peace talks, he now intends to demand the same for the U.S. side. It’s part of a larger pivot this weekend by Trump to argue that Iran is now on the cusp of financially collapsing, even though it has already endured decades of financial sanctions, which are often a longer-term strategy rather than an immediate tool of warfare that can halt a conflict.

The shift comes as U.S. stockpiles of key weapons have dwindled and as stop-start talks seem again to have stalled. But Trump insists the pressure can lead to a breakthrough.

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Officers responded to the shooting around 3:30 a.m. in the 5500 block of Culebra Road, which is located near Harefield Drive.

The man told SAPD that the fight broke out near a dollar store, though officers could not locate the crime scene.

No information was provided on the shooter.

The man was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound to his lower body, police said.

SAPD said its investigation is ongoing. Further information was not readily available.

Read also:

• Shooting that killed man, wounded mother doesn’t appear random, Bexar County sheriff says

Minnesota voters will settle a moderate-versus-progressive Democratic U.S. Senate primary between centrist U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. In the race for governor, Mike Lindell, known as the MyPillow Guy, leads a crowded Republican primary with President Donald Trump’s endorsement, while Sen. Amy Klobuchar faces minimal opposition for the Democratic nomination.

The Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor is another high-profile clash between the party’s establishment and progressive wings, as democratic socialist Francesca Hong tries to rise above establishment candidate David Crowley. In a Republican primary for U.S. House, Trump-backed candidate Michael Alfonso, the 26-year-old son-in-law of U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, is seeking to win Duffy’s former district.

And Republicans in South Carolina are casting ballots in a special primary election to replace the late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham on the state’s general election ballot. The crowded race has attracted top party members, including two congressmen and a former governor — but Trump has endorsed Graham’s sister, Sen. Darline Graham, a political unknown appointed to serve out the final months of her late brother's current term.

Here's the latest:

Darline Graham has gone from political sibling to interim senator and candidate in special primary

She had already been known as Lindsey Graham’s sister and lifelong supporter, but since her brother’s death a month ago, Darline Graham has been thrust into the political spotlight.

A day after the late senator’s sudden death was announced, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster named Darline Graham to serve the remaining months on his current term, which expires in January. She was sworn in the next day and took his spot on powerful committees, including Judiciary.

Days later, Darline Graham was among the candidates jumping into a special GOP primary to replace her late brother on November ballots. She’s appeared at various stump events and one debate, although Senate business kept her off the campaign trail as other hopefuls traversed the state.

Minnesota’s Senate primary is another Democratic factional fight of moderates vs. progressives

U.S. Rep. Angie Craig has support from the party’s establishment, while Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is backed by prominent figures on the left including Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The primary will again take the temperature of Democratic voters a week after progressive Abdul El-Sayed won a bitter and divisive primary in Michigan that fired up the left and fueled anxiety among party leaders that Democrats will alienate moderate swing voters.

Craig says her record of winning repeatedly in a battleground House district will ensure the seat stays in Democratic hands. Flanagan says Craig hasn’t stood firm enough against President Donald Trump and wealthy donors.

Voters for progressive Francesca Hong dismiss electability concerns

Wisconsin voter Jesse Heer said Hong understands “what it’s like to live here and have to afford to live here.”

Heer, a 32-year-old business owner from Madison, said Hong’s focus on affordability issues was the top reason he voted for her. And he’s not buying the argument from other Democrats, including Hong’s more moderate challenger, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, that she will have a harder time winning in the general election.

“I think she’s a good candidate,” Heer said. “I think a lot of people agree.”

Hong voter Kelly McClurg, 40, of Sun Prairie, says Hong has shown “she’ll be able to push back more” on issues that Democrats care about, like affordability.

McClurg said if fellow Democrats believe in her, and don’t assume she can’t beat Republican Tom Tiffany, “she can win.”

Wisconsin Democratic voters who are divided in the primary say they will unite

Wisconsin voters who cast their ballots Tuesday for the gubernatorial candidate favored by more mainstream Democrats say they are confident the party will unite even if the progressive challenger wins.

David Zimmerman, a 79-year-old retired industrial engineering professor, voted for Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. Crowley is endorsed by Gov. Tony Evers and is seen as the pick of more moderate Democrats.

Zimmerman says he worries “a lot” about progressive candidate Francesca Hong’s ability to defeat Republican Tom Tiffany in November.

“I think she’s going to have trouble winning,” Zimmerman said.

But both Zimmerman and fellow Crowley voter Julie Martinson, 69, predict Democrats will come together even if Hong wins. They said they would vote for her in November.

“There’s no reason we can’t galvanize around her and get her in there,” Martinson said.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont seeks a rare third term

No Connecticut governor has served three consecutive terms in modern times. Former Republican Gov. John G. Rowland was elected to a third consecutive term in November 2002 but he resigned in 2004 amid a corruption scandal.

In Tuesday’s Democratic primary, Lamont, 71, takes on state Rep. Josh Elliott, 42, who is running left of the current governor.

One of two Democratic governors who attended President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Lamont has carefully chosen which issues to criticize the Republican president on. That tactic has prompted complaints from more liberal Democrats in Connecticut.

Low turnout expected in Alabama special primary

The state is holding special primaries in four congressional districts after it won permission from the U.S. Supreme Court to change its congressional maps. The state tossed out the results of May primaries and scheduled the Tuesday special primaries using the new map.

Turnout for party primaries is typically low. It was 23% in the May primary and 10.7% for the June runoff. It is expected to be particularly low in a special late-summer primary, when people are unaccustomed to voting.

Six Republicans are seeking the GOP nomination in the redrawn 2nd Congressional District. The winner will challenge Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures in November.

Republican candidates and party officials have been trying to promote the special primary and get voters to the polls. The primaries will be decided without a runoff.

Polls are open for South Carolina’s special GOP primary to replace late Sen. Lindsey Graham

Polling places opened across the state at 7 a.m. EDT, and voters have until 7 p.m. to cast their ballots.

It’s only been two months since South Carolina voters made their picks in the primary elections in June. But Graham’s sudden death last month set into motion a special primary to pick a Republican replacement for the general election ballot in November.

Candidates have only had a matter of weeks to campaign.

There were three days of early voting last week, and Tuesday’s special election also coincides with the first day of school in some areas, so polling places have changed for many who typically are assigned to vote at schools for summertime primaries.

Polls open in Wisconsin with Democratic primary race for governor topping the ballot

The topsy turvy race pits democratic socialist Francesca Hong against the governor’s endorsed candidate David Crowley.

Hong has ridden a wave of support from liberals to bolster her insurgent campaign. Crowley had quit the race but got back in — with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ endorsement.

Crowley rejoined the race after Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez dropped out last month amid a campaign finance scandal.

Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes had the highest name recognition after a 2022 U.S. Senate run, but he also dropped out less than two weeks before the primary amid questions about inappropriate behavior.

In the Republican primary for governor, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany has Trump’s endorsement and faces nominal opposition.

Progressives look to capitalize on the energy from El-Sayed’s win in Michigan

Progressive candidates for governor in Wisconsin and U.S. Senate in Minnesota are increasing the pressure on a Democratic establishment that has spent the year on its heels.

Today’s primaries come a week after Abdul El-Sayed narrowly defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s divisive and costly U.S. Senate primary. El-Sayed’s victory has energized the left while stoking fears among Democratic Party leaders that the shift to the left, particularly in battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin, will make it more difficult to win in November.

Hobbs' selection Tuesday of John Giles, a former mayor of Mesa, a Phoenix suburb that is Arizona’s third-largest city, is an overture to the Republicans and conservative independents she must win in a state that was once a GOP stronghold. Republicans have expanded their voter registration advantage over Democrats since Hobbs eked out a narrow win over Kari Lake, a fierce ally of President Donald Trump, in 2022.

Hobbs is considered the most vulnerable Democratic governor in the country. Giles, a registered Republican for decades, changed his party affiliation to independent on May 17 and voted in the Democratic primary last month, according to county voting records.

The Republican nominee is U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, who last week picked Sine Kerr, a farmer and Republican former state lawmaker, to be his running mate. Kerr's rural roots balance Biggs' base in parts of metro Phoenix.

In an interview with The Associated Press before Hobbs publicly announced that she had picked Giles, he said he still considers himself to be a conservative and said he stuck around the Republican Party probably longer than he should have in a crusade to save it. "A few months ago, I realized that it was time to give up that crusade,” Giles said.

Giles led a conservative city for a decade

Giles, who was Mesa's mayor from 2014 to 2025, has been a vocal Trump critic and has endorsed Democrats, including Trump's 2024 rival, then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Giles spoke in favor of Harris at the Democratic National Convention, saying Trump's policies would hurt Mesa.

Giles also backed Democrats running against Trump allies, including Hobbs in her 2022 race against Lake and the state's current U.S. senators, Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego.

As mayor, Giles signed a proclamation promoting equal treatment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents in housing and accommodations, a controversial move in the conservative city.

The Biggs campaign, in anticipation of Hobbs' announcement, launched a website highlighting Giles’ support for Harris in 2024 and his participation in the Democratic convention. Drew Sexton, a senior adviser in the Biggs campaign, issued a statement early Tuesday saying Hobbs’ selection of Giles “is of no surprise to Arizonans who have been paying attention. As Kamala Harris’ favorite Arizona mayor, Giles is aligned with Hobbs on all the issues that have hurt Arizonans the most over the past four years.”

Sexton also said Giles “has been an aspiring Democrat since he first voted for Joe Biden in 2020.”

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Giles can be an ambassador for Hobbs. Church members make up about 6% of the Arizona population. Latter-day Saints, widely known as Mormons, have been a reliably Republican voting bloc for decades, but many have been ambivalent about Trump since his first run for the White House.

Democrats have been working to woo Latter-day Saints turned off by Trump's penchant for foul language and demeaning rhetoric toward women and people of color, which clashes with the church’s values of humility, morality and compassion.

Biggs is also a member of the church.

Picking a Republican running mate hones the bipartisan image Hobbs has tried to create, contrasting with Biggs' background as a far-right congressman and, before that, the state Senate president. But it also risks inflaming tensions on the left.

In the AP interview, Hobbs said she takes a nonpartisan approach to her work in government. When she was asked whether some supporters might be frustrated because she picked a former Republican as her running mate, she said, “It shouldn't be a surprise.”

Both Hobbs and Giles portray Biggs as an extreme partisan. Giles said it’s disingenuous for Biggs to present himself as more of a moderate when he was “unapologetic about being the most conservative person in the room – in any room.”

Arizona is electing a lieutenant governor for the first time

Arizona is one of just five states without a lieutenant governor position, along with Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon and Wyoming.

That will change in January.

Voters added the post in 2022 to more clearly define the line of succession. Until then, the secretary of state will continue to serve as the next in line to be governor.

Gubernatorial succession is especially relevant in Arizona, where five governors since 1975 have entered the office through succession rather than election.

In fact, of Arizona's 12 governors over the past 50 years, only one, Republican Doug Ducey, entered and left the office through the typical pathways of being elected and serving out a full term. Among the others, one died, one was impeached and removed, one resigned after being convicted of fraud and two quit to accept presidential appointments.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.

Mayors and governors from Cali, Pereira, Choco and Manizalez said Tuesday at least 179 people had died in those four areas; the federal government, which last updated its estimates in the hours after the 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Monday, has said at least 111 died.

Around 1,600 buildings across the region have been reported damaged or collapsed. Soldiers, rescue personnel and families picked through the rubble, passing large pieces of concrete by hand along lines of volunteers.

Standing near the remains of his brother’s collapsed apartment building in Pereira, Jairo Vargas said he made the 220-kilometer (135-mile) drive from Medellin, hoping to find his brother alive.

“I’m absolutely certain he’s here. Absolutely certain, Vargas said, adding that his brother’s car is parked outside. But he fears his sibling did not survive.

“The debris surrounding my brother is soft,” he said, as heavy machinery rumbled through the debris. “It’s possible that it’s protecting him, but we can’t hear any noises anymore. I don’t know. I have little hope.”

Colombia's new president faces his first serious challenge

Choco, the region surrounding the quake’s epicenter, is one of Colombia's poorest and most neglected regions, often beset by warring armed groups. Much of Choco is accessible only by boat, through the jungle or by airplane. Little was known about the extent of damage there.

President Abelardo De la Espriella, who was inaugurated just days earlier, traveled to Choco’s capital, Quibdo, on Monday night and announced he was mobilizing “the entire military and police apparatus” to respond, deploying engineers, rescue workers and search dogs.

“Choco will never again be the ‘land of the forgotten,’” he said.

The earthquake presents the first major test for de la Espriella, who is a divisive figure because of his pledge to crack down on criminal groups in the Andean nation.

Desperate residents seek news of their loved ones

Families posted information about missing loved ones on citizen-run websites.

Dana Carolina Zamora posted an image of her missing 60-year-old uncle, Miguel Ángel Zamora, cradling his dog. The farmer was living in a rural area of El Cairo, not far from the quake's epicenter in San Jose Del Palmar.

Local authorities said 80% of El Cairo, a town of about 7,000 people, was damaged. Zamora said her uncle lived in a traditional house of sticks and mud.

“We are afraid. We hope that is not the case, that he is all right and that it is only a communication failure. But we haven’t heard anything from him,” Zamora said.

The earthquake left many people unnerved after back-to-back quakes devastated neighboring Venezuela in late June, destroying hundreds of buildings and killing more than 6,300 people.

Mónica Sánchez owns a small company that makes work uniforms. Her home city, Pereira, was one of the worst hit, and a wall inside the factory collapsed. Sánchez and her 12 workers got outside just in time.

“It was shocking — the city fell down around us,” she said.

Pereira’s municipal government said at least 58 buildings collapsed, while Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder said at least 40 buildings had collapsed.

Both cities enforced curfews Monday night to prevent looting. And in Pereira, the city government has banned privately owned vehicles from circulating, to clear the way for ambulances, police and rescue workers.

The U.S. State Department has announced it would provide $15.5 million for emergency shelter, food and other aid. Governments across Latin America have also lined up to help.

“This has been a tragedy for the whole city, for thousands of families,” Pereira Mayor Mauricio Salazar told local media, his voice quavering. “But here we are, and we will continue forward with the hand of God.”

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Suarez reported from Bogota and Janetsky reported from Mexico City.

The arrest warrants identified the suspects as Kyle Erin Torres-Carcovich, 45; Martin Sanchez Jr., 58; and Robert Barnett, 38.

According to court records, Torres-Carcovich, Barnett and Sanchez are all charged with failure to report a felony with serious bodily injury or death results, which is considered a Class A misdemeanor.

Sanchez is also charged with tampering with physical evidence with intent to impair, a third-degree felony, jail records show.

License plate reader on suspect vehicle

Bexar County sheriff’s deputies responded to the shooting around 2:30 a.m. Monday at the intersection of Waterside Drive and Crestway Road.

Upon arrival, deputies located a 31-year-old man unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds inside a black Mitsubishi Lancer, the affidavit states.

He was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators detained multiple people at the shooting scene who reported that they were traveling toward Waterside Drive and noticed a white Volvo sedan parked on the side of the road with a blonde female driver.

Witnesses told investigators that when their vehicle stopped at the Waterside and Crestway intersection, the white Volvo pulled up beside them and multiple gunshots came from the vehicle.

Approximately a minute before the shooting call came out, the affidavit said the white Volvo was located at New World Drive and Miller Road, which is around half a mile away from the crime scene. Investigators used a license plate reader on the vehicle.

A sergeant later drove by a home around 11:25 a.m. in the 1900 block of Clay Oak Drive. The affidavit said the address was associated with the Volvo since it was a loaner from a dealership.

The sergeant said he saw a woman and a man standing beside the white Volvo parked inside a residential parking garage. The pair were cleaning the vehicle, according to the warrant.

The white Volvo was located back at the dealership in the 1300 block of Northeast Loop 410. The driver of the vehicle, identified as Barnett, and the passenger, Torres-Carcovich, were detained as they pulled into the location, court documents state.

The suspect’s vehicle was confirmed to have the same Texas license plate detected on the reader approximately a minute before the shooting call, the affidavit said.

In subsequent interviews with investigators, court documents state Barnett and Torres-Carcovich said they were aware a shooting occurred on Waterside Drive.

Torres-Carcovich stated that Sanchez fired a weapon out of the Volvo’s window, which struck the victim’s vehicle. She also told investigators that she and Barnett discussed contacting law enforcement, but decided against it.

‘I’m going to light them up’

Barnett allegedly told authorities that Sanchez, who was sitting directly behind him, said, “I’m going to light them up” before the shooting, the affidavit states. Torres-Carcovich also told deputies that Sanchez fired the gunshots.

In Sanchez’s interview with investigators, he said that the purpose of the late-night meetup was to obtain narcotics, according to the affidavit. His timeline of events leading up to the shooting, however, was inconsistent with investigators’ account, the warrant said.

Investigators later obtained surveillance footage from a Valero gas station at approximately 3:10 a.m., which was around 40 minutes after the shooting call.

The footage showed Torres-Carcovich, Barnett and Sanchez at the gas station. Sanchez was allegedly seen “rummaging” through the back seat of the Volvo and throwing items into a trash can.

According to the warrant, investigators searched the trash can and discovered multiple shell casings.

Read also:

• Man hospitalized after being shot in fight on West Side, police say

Christian Rodriguez, 30, took a plea deal on a lesser charge of aggravated assault with weapon in Judge Joel Perez’s 437th Criminal District Court.

He had been originally charged with murder, though it was waived as part of the plea deal.

2020 murder in north Bexar County

The incident happened in Sept. 2020 in the 25000 block of Whistling Acres in north Bexar County.

According to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, deputies received a call after a neighbor found a man, later identified as Jorge Rodriguez, with multiple stab wounds.

Upon arrival, deputies located Jorge Rodriguez. The sheriff’s office said Christian Rodriguez barricaded himself in a back room with a knife.

Negotiators and a mental health unit later contacted Christian Rodriguez and convinced him to leave the room, drop the knife and surrender to authorities.

Jorge Rodriguez was later pronounced dead, deputies said.

READ ALSO:

• BCSO: Man charged in slaying of father after he barricades self inside home
• Authorities ID man found dead in home where son barricaded himself

Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.

Houthi attack killed 3 Pakistanis and an Indonesian, Yemen says

Four people were killed Tuesday by Houthis firing missiles on a vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb strait, Yemeni authorities said.

The Transportation Ministry of Yemen’s internationally recognized government said the dead included four Pakistani nationals and an Indonesian. A ministry statement said the Houthis fired three ballistic missiles on the Yemeni commercial vessel.

They are the first known deaths from Houthi attacks on shipping off Yemen in the latest bout of fighting in the Arab country.

With the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut down by Iran, there has been a renewed focus on the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb strait at Yemen’s southern tip, which is an alternate route for Saudi Arabia to ship its oil.

The deadly vessel strike came amid Houthi attacks on the government-held port city of Mokha on the Red Sea and other areas of the country. Dozens government troops and civilians have been killed in attacks since last week, according to the Yemeni military.

The strikes are part of an escalation by the Houthis against government forces in Yemen and oil facilities in neighboring Saudi Arabia, which supports the Yemeni government, and the kingdom’s shipping in the Red Sea.

The Houthi attacks could reignite Yemen’s civil war following a 2022 truce, and open a new front in the Middle East war.

Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the Houthis’ chief negotiator and spokesperson, accused Saudi Arabia in a social media post of exploiting the ceasefire to tighten an air and sea blockade it imposed in 2015.

He said the Houthis are open for negotiations but any settlement must include lifting the blockade.

Iranian foreign minister underlines Tehran's demands

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters that the country had “astonished the whole world” in the war against the United States and Israel, proving “that it is a tough and invincible power.”

Iran has refused to back down on demands that the U.S. end its blockade of Iranian ports, lift sanctions on the Islamic Republic and fulfill other conditions before Tehran will consider reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran effectively closed the strait after Israel and the U.S. attacked the country on Feb. 28. Attacks on the key waterway — through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil supplies passed before the war — and uncertainty around its future have kept energy prices a major focus of U.S. politics ahead of November’s midterm elections.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday in an Oval Office exchange with reporters that the U.S. Navy’s blockade is preventing Iran from selling its oil on the international market, effectively choking the Iranian economy.

“Yeah, they can make trouble," Trump said, "but they’re broke.”

Pakistani official returns to Iran hoping to east tensions with US

Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi traveled Tuesday to Tehran for talks aimed at encouraging Iran to resume negotiations with the United States under an interim peace deal brokered by Pakistan in June, two officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media and they provided no further details.

Pakistan’s government had not publicly announced Naqvi’s visit. It is his sixth trip to Iran as part of Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts to ease tensions between Iran and the U.S.

—Munir Ahmed in Islamabad

Former Syrian President Assad sentenced to death in absentia

In Syria, a court sentenced former President Bashar Assad along with his younger brother to death for crimes against humanity and war crimes during Syria’s 14-year conflict that left about half a million people dead.

Assad and his brother Maher, who fled to Russia after insurgents marched into Damascus in December 2014, were sentenced in absentia at the Fourth Criminal Court in the Syrian capital.

The order advocates separating the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three different single-disease shots and administering all childhood immunizations at separate appointments whenever possible. It also directs the nation's health department to improve research on vaccines, which are already extensively studied, and present a plan to offer separate measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines for children, since that is not currently an option in the United States.

The renewed focus on vaccines marks a departure from the Trump administration’s recent efforts to emphasize less controversial health policies related to healthy eating, drug price negotiations and medical fraud crackdowns ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Public health experts have raised concerns that spacing out shots as Trump suggests can lead to an increased risk that children become infected with a vaccine-preventable disease before returning for another visit. Childhood vaccines — and how and when to give them in combination — go through rigorous studies, and safety tracking continues for years as the shots are used.

Trump called the announcement a “major victory for parents rights, religious and constitutional rights, and for the gold standard science.”

Speaking about the order at the Oval Office on Monday, Trump repeatedly suggested the number or timing of vaccines could play a role in rising rates of autism spectrum disorder, even as scientific consensus and decades of studies have firmly concluded there is no link. The order also includes several changes to the childhood vaccine schedule that his health department has already attempted, but that have been blocked by a federal judge. A White House official who insisted on anonymity to brief reporters said Trump was within his right to provide his own recommendation through the executive order and said the lawsuit blocking the health department's schedule was a separate issue.

Dr. Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the announcement spreads uncertainty, fear and confusion where “there doesn't need to be any of that.” He disputed Trump's recommendations and said previous ones should stand.

“Science about vaccines and their efficacy has not changed,” he said. “The distribution of viruses and other pathogens in our environment has not changed. Children in this country have not changed in the last 48 hours."

Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Republican chair of the Senate health committee, slammed the executive order in a social media post, saying vaccines are safe and do not cause autism.

“I'm a doctor. This executive order is wrong,” the Louisiana senator wrote. “The President does not have the expertise to make these changes.”

Who is in charge of vaccine policy?

Even as the order calls for revised vaccine recommendations, states, not the federal government, have the authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren. The order advises states with school vaccine mandates to consider updating their laws to reflect the administration's preferred schedule, according to a White House fact sheet.

Last December, Trump ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to review how peer nations approach vaccine recommendations and consider revising U.S. guidance accordingly. The department responded by cutting the number of vaccines it recommends for every child, a move that has since been blocked in court.

Changes to federal childhood vaccine recommendations customarily require approval from the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The newly Senate-confirmed CDC director, Dr. Erica Schwartz, oversaw policies promoting vaccination of service members while in a leadership position at the U.S. Coast Guard.

However, public health law expert Lawrence Gostin at Georgetown University said the Supreme Court's interpretation of Trump's power may allow him to supersede Schwartz if she does not agree to new recommendations.

“This is clearly the first test for Dr. Erica Schwartz,” Gostin said in an email. “The President is placing her in an untenable position.”

Asked on a call with reporters why the president was advocating splitting MMR into three single-disease vaccines, the White House official did not provide any studies supporting the decision. They said that was Trump's long-held view and that some countries provide individual measles vaccines in certain circumstances.

Kush Desai, a Trump spokesperson, told The Associated Press that the president is “one of countless parents who have voiced questions and concerns about the combined MMR vaccine" and said the plan to develop single-disease vaccines would “give parents more options on timing and frequency for their children,” ultimately increasing vaccine uptake.

Studies of babies and toddlers in the U.S. have shown that the use of combination shots for childhood vaccines, rather than single ones, increased the likelihood of completing all recommended vaccinations by the age of 2.

Announcement follows other Trump administration vaccine actions

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist before he entered politics, set out to overhaul immunization guidance at HHS in the first year of Trump’s term. He fired an entire 17-member vaccine advisory committee, installing replacements who made far more restrictive recommendations that have since been halted by a federal judge. He also personally directed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism, without supplying any new evidence to support the change.

Throughout his second term, Trump has been fixated on connecting autism to vaccines. He has recently ramped up pressure on Kennedy to identify the cause of autism, something Kennedy had pledged to do with new research unveiled last year. Trump publicly prodded the health secretary for an update on autism research in a Cabinet meeting last month.

“How are you doing on the autism research?” Trump asked.

“We will have an answer for you,” Kennedy said.

Scientific consensus and decades of studies have firmly concluded there is no link between childhood vaccines and autism. Racine reiterated that point on Monday, noting that the potential link had been studied in “over 40 methodologically well-designed studies in over seven countries involving over 5 million children.”

“I'm not sure that there is anything that has been as thoroughly looked at as this question," he said. “And the answer is unequivocally no."

In the Oval Office, Kennedy repeated his assertion that he believes an unknown environmental factor is to blame for rising autism diagnoses and said that his department will deliver research findings “as soon as they are ready.”

Monday's order comes as students are returning to classrooms around the country and the nation contends with a measles outbreak that experts say could result in the U.S. losing its measles elimination status.

Doctors have raised concerns that Trump's falsehoods on vaccines could stoke vaccine hesitancy. Federal data shows U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates have been dropping, with the share of children with exemptions rising to an all-time high in the 2024-25 school year.

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This story was first published on Aug. 10, 2026. It was published again on Aug. 11, 2026, to correct the name of the agency where Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. set out to overhaul immunization guidance. The agency was HHS, not DHS.

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Associated Press writers Laura Ungar and Mike Stobbe contributed to this report. Swenson reported from New York.