Can Biden win again? Here's how past incumbents fared
WASHINGTON (AP) — No president wants to give up the power and prestige that comes with the office after only one term, and Joe Biden is no exception. He's pushing forward even though polls show a majority of Americans don't want to see him run again.
We went back to look at when modern presidents announced their decisions to seek a second term, what their Gallup approval ratings were at the time and how things turned out for them.
One theme: Primary battles are a sign of whether a president will win reelection. That’s good news for Biden, who appears to have avoided any significant challengers.
HARRY TRUMAN
He was vice president when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died in 1945, near the end of World War II. Truman decided to run for a full term of his own, and he announced his candidacy on March 8, 1948. He had an approval rating of 53% in a poll conducted two months earlier. Truman was expected to lose the general election to Thomas Dewey, a Republican, but he pulled off a narrow victory.
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7 bodies found during search for missing Oklahoma teens
HENRYETTA, Okla. (AP) — Authorities discovered the bodies of seven people Monday while searching a rural Oklahoma property for two missing teenagers, state investigators confirmed.
The bodies were found near the town of Henryetta, a town of about 6,000 located about 90 miles (145 kilometers) east of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokesman Gerald Davidson said.
He said the state medical examiner will have to identify the victims, but authorities were no longer searching for the missing teens or a man they may have been with.
“We’ve had our share of troubles and woes, but this one is pretty bad,” Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddy Rice told reporters.
Rice declined to confirm the identities of any of the victims, where the bodies were found or any details about weapons that may have been discovered on the property.
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Man who lost wife, son in Texas mass shooting tells story
CLEVELAND, Texas (AP) — Wilson Garcia hadn’t even asked his neighbor to stop shooting his gun.
People in their rural town north of Houston are used to people firing their weapons to blow off steam, but it was late Friday night, and Garcia had a month-old son who was crying.
So, Garcia said, he and two other people went to his neighbor’s house to “respectfully” ask that he shoot farther away from their home.
“He told us he was on his property, and he could do what he wanted,” Garcia said Sunday after a vigil in Cleveland, Texas, for his 9-year-old son who was killed in the attack that soon followed.
The suspect, 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza, remained at large Monday despite a search involving more than 250 law enforcement officers from multiple jurisdictions.
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US readies second attempt at speedy border asylum screenings
SAN DIEGO (AP) — President Joe Biden scrapped expedited asylum screenings during his first month in office as part of a gutting of Trump administration border polices that included building a wall with Mexico. Now he is preparing his own version.
Donald Trump’s fast-track reviews drew sharp criticism from internal government watchdog agencies as the percentage of people who passed those “credible fear interviews” plummeted. But the Biden administration has insisted its speedy screening for asylum-seekers is different: Interviews will be done exclusively by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, not by Border Patrol agents, and everyone will have access to legal counsel.
The decision to use fast-track screenings comes as COVID-19 asylum restrictions are set to expire on May 11 and the U.S. government prepares for an expected increase in illegal crossings from Mexico. The Texas border cities of El Paso, Laredo and Brownsville have declared local states of emergency in recent days to prepare for the anticipated influx.
Normally, about three in four migrants pass credible fear interviews, though far fewer eventually win asylum. But during the five months of the Trump-era program, only 23% passed the initial screening, while 69% failed and 9% withdrew, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Those who get past initial screenings are generally freed in the United States to pursue their cases in immigration court, which typically takes four years. Critics say the court backlog encourages more people to seek asylum.
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Met Gala 2023 live updates: Fashion highlights from carpet
NEW YORK (AP) — Fashion's biggest night is underway — after all, it is the first Monday in May. Follow along for real-time updates on the 2023 Met Gala from The Associated Press. We'll be bringing you news in all formats, all day and all night, from the carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and behind the scenes. This year's theme revolves around late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.
Live updates are contributed by Leanne Italie, Jocelyn Noveck, Beatrice Dupuy, Lindsey Bahr, Elise Ryan, Mallika Sen and other AP journalists.
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IS RIHANNA AT THE MET GALA?
Yes! About an hour and a half after reporters were told to expect one more guest in about 15 minutes, Rihanna herself arrived at the Met Gala. She ascended the steps in voluminous white bedecked with rosettes that doubled as a hood, accompanied by A$AP Rocky in a kilt-type layer over jeans (reminiscent of mid-aughts Disney Channel couture).
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Chinese electric vehicle brands expand to global markets
YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — Osamu Furukawa has driven lots of Japanese cars for his business converting classic gasoline-powered models to electric. But his favorite ride is an import: A battery-powered SUV from China’s BYD Auto.
BYD Auto is part of a wave of Chinese electric car exporters that are starting to compete with Western and Japanese brands in their home markets. They bring fast-developing technology and low prices that Tesla Inc.'s chief financial officer says “are scary.”
Furukawa said he ordered an ATTO 3 when it went on sale Jan. 31, for its user-friendly features and appealing price of 4.4 million yen ($33,000) — or about one-quarter less than a Tesla.
“It’s perfect,” Furukawa said in his office in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo.
Other ambitious Chinese EV exporters include NIO, Geely Group’s Zeekr and Ora, a unit of SUV maker Great Wall Motors.
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At least 6 dead after dust storm causes crashes in Illinois
DIVERNON, Ill. (AP) — A windstorm in central Illinois kicked up dangerous clouds of blinding dust off farm fields Monday, causing numerous crashes that killed at least six people on Interstate 55, police said.
The late morning crashes involved 40 to 60 cars and multiple tractor-trailers, two of which caught fire, Illinois State Police Maj. Ryan Starrick said.
He said at least six people died, all in the northbound lanes, and more than 30 people on both sides of I-55 were transported to hospitals with injuries.
“The only thing you could hear after we got hit was crash after crash after crash behind us,” said Tom Thomas, 43, who was traveling south to St. Louis.
I-55 was shut down in both directions in Montgomery County, 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of St. Louis, and likely won't reopen until Tuesday.
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Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot dies at 84
TORONTO (AP) — Gordon Lightfoot, Canada's legendary folk singer-songwriter known for “If You Could Read My Mind" and "Sundown” and for songs that told tales of Canadian identity, died on Monday. He was 84.
Representative Victoria Lord said the musician died at a Toronto hospital. His cause of death was not immediately available.
Considered one of the most renowned voices to emerge from Toronto’s Yorkville folk club scene in the 1960s, Lightfoot went on to record 20 studio albums and pen hundreds of songs, including “Carefree Highway," “Early Morning Rain” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
In the 1970s, Lightfoot garnered five Grammy nominations, three platinum records and nine gold records for albums and singles. In the more than 60 years since he launched his career, he performed in well over 1,500 concerts and recorded 500 songs.
He toured late into his life. Just last month he cancelled upcoming U.S. and Canadian shows, citing health issues
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Oklahoma governor signs gender-affirming care ban for kids
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma on Monday became the latest state to ban gender-affirming medical care for minors as Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill that makes it a felony for health care workers to provide children with treatments that can include puberty-blocking drugs and hormones.
Oklahoma joins at least 15 other states with laws banning such care, as conservatives across the country have targeted transgender rights.
Stitt, who was reelected in November, made the ban a priority of this year’s legislative session, saying he wanted to protect children. Transgender advocates and parents of transgender children say such care is essential.
Stitt signed bills last year that prohibit transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams and prevent transgender children from using school bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity.
“Last year, I called for a statewide ban on all irreversible gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies on minors so I am thrilled to sign this into law today and protect our kids,” Stitt said in a statement released after the signing. “We cannot turn a blind eye to what’s happening across our nation, and as governor I am proud to stand up for what’s right and ban life-altering transition surgeries on children in the state of Oklahoma.”
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Devils blank Rangers in Game 7, face Canes in second round
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The New Jersey Devils surprised a lot of hockey experts this past season in going from an NHL also-ran to one of the top teams in the league.
The Devils unleashed another stunner to open the playoffs against their river-rival New York Rangers — 22-year-old Swiss goaltender Akira Schmid.
Schmid rebounded from his only bad game and made 31 saves in Game 7 to lead the Devils to a 4-0 victory over the Rangers on Monday night in an wildly entertaining series.
“We believe in each other," Devils captain Nico Hischier said. “We knew even last year didn’t go our way, lots of injuries, we have a good group here. We got a lot of good characters here. We’re a team that plays with a lot of speed and it’s hard to handle if you do that.”
Coming off a franchise best 52-win season, the Devils will open the Eastern Conference semifinals on Wednesday against the Metropolitan Division-winning Hurricanes in Raleigh, North Carolina. Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is on Friday night.
The Associated Press
