Senate passes Trump’s big tax and spending cuts bill as Vance breaks a 50-50 tie

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader John Thune says Republicans “got the job done” in passing President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts. Vice President JD Vance broke a 50-50 tie for Republicans on Tuesday after a tense overnight session. The bill goes back to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson had against big revisions from his chamber’s version. But senators did make changes, particularly to Medicaid health care. Still, Johnson vows to send it to Trump's desk by his July Fourth deadline. Three Republican senators joined all Democrats in voting against the bill, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says would increase the deficit by nearly $3.3 trillion over the decade.

What's in the latest version of Trump's big bill that passed the Senate

WASHINGTON (AP) — At some 887 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations. Now it’s up to the Republican-controlled Congress to decide whether President Donald Trump’s signature domestic policy package will become law. The Senate passed the bill Tuesday with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. Now, it's the House's turn to consider. The bill would make permanent many of the tax breaks passed in Trump's first term while also adding new ones, such as no tax on tips or overtime.

Trump says Israel has agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urges Hamas to accept deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says Israel has agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and warned Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. Trump announced the development Tuesday as he prepares to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks at the White House on Monday. The U.S. leader has been increasing pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas to broker a ceasefire and hostage agreement and bring about an end to the war in Gaza. Trump says, “I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE."

US won't send some weapons pledged to Ukraine following a Pentagon review of military aid

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is halting some shipments of weapons to Ukraine amid concerns that its own stockpiles have declined too much. The munitions were previously promised to Ukraine under the Biden administration to aid its defenses during the more than three-year-old war. The pause reflects a new set of priorities under President Donald Trump. A U.S. official says a Pentagon review determined that stocks were too low on some weapons previously pledged, so pending shipments of some items won’t be sent. A White House spokesperson said the decision was made “following a review of our nation's military support and assistance to other countries across the globe.” The Pentagon's top policy adviser stressed the need to keep “preserving U.S. forces’ readiness.”

Trump tours Florida immigration lockup and jokes about escapees having to run from alligators

OCHOPEE, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump toured an isolated new immigration detention surrounded by alligator-filled swamps in Florida’s Everglades. He suggested during Tuesday's tour that the site could be a model for future lockups nationwide, as his administration races to expand the infrastructure necessary for increasing deportations. Trump called the lockup “Alligator Alcatraz.” That’s a moniker that has alarmed immigrant activists but appeals to the White House’s aggressive approach to deportations. Trump delighted in the area's allegators. He even said of migrants that will soon be held at the center, “We’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator if they escape prison.”

Jury reaches verdict on 4 of 5 counts in Diddy trial but is told to keep deliberating

NEW YORK (AP) — The jury in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial says it has reached a verdict on four of five counts against the hip-hop mogul. The jury was stuck on the top charge, racketeering conspiracy. Tuesday's partial decision remains under wraps. Jurors are due to continue deliberating about the racketeering conspiracy charge Wednesday. Prosecutors, Combs’ defense team and Judge Arun Subramanian reasoned that after just two days of deliberations, it was too soon to give up on reaching a verdict on all counts. So rather than taking a partial verdict, Subramanian told the jury to continue weighing the remaining charge.

UPenn updates swimming records set by Lia Thomas, settling with feds on transgender athletes case

WASHINGTON (AP) — The University of Pennsylvania has changed three school records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas. The school says it also will apologize to female athletes it says were “disadvantaged” by Thomas' participation on the women's swimming team. The moves were part of a resolution of a federal civil rights case that found the school violated the rights of female athletes. Thomas in 2022 became the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I title. The school now shows other athletes holding the school’s top times in Thomas’ events, noting she set records under rules in place at the time.

Bryan Kohberger's decision to accept plea deal came after efforts to strike death penalty failed

MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) — Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students as part of a deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty. A change of plea hearing is set for Wednesday. The 30-year-old Kohberger is accused in the stabbing deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen at a rental home near campus in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022. Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania weeks after the killings. He had been a criminal justice graduate student at Washington State University.

Daughter of assassinated civil rights leader sees painful echoes of political violence in America

Jackson, Miss. (AP) — Civil and voting rights activists gathered in Jackson, Mississippi, to honor what would have been the 100th birthday of civil rights leader Medgar Evers. Evers was assassinated by a white supremacist in 1963. The 2025 Democracy in Action Convening, a four-day conference, celebrated Evers last week. Former Georgia state Rep. Stacey Abrams headlined the four-day conference. Abrams, also a voting rights activist, railed against recent actions by President Donald Trump’s administration and denounced recent acts of political violence.

Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, whose ministry was toppled by prostitution scandals, dies at 90

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Jimmy Swaggart, the televangelist whose multimillion-dollar ministry was crippled by his encounters with prostitutes, has died. He was 90. His death was announced Tuesday. The Louisiana native was best known for being a captivating Pentecostal preacher with a massive following before being caught on camera with a prostitute in New Orleans in 1988, one of several TV preachers brought down in the 1980s and 1990s by sex scandals. He continued preaching for decades, but with a reduced audience. In a tearful 1988 sermon, he wept and apologized, telling parishioners across the nation, “I have sinned against you.”