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1 can (10 ounces each) red enchilada sauce, divided
1 egg
3/4 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup masa harina (corn flour)
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1-1/2 teaspoons paprika
1-1/2 teaspoons ground ancho chilies
1-1/2 teaspoons ground guajillo chiles
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 teaspoon salt
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Measure 3/4 cup enchilada sauce into small bowl; set aside. Add remaining enchilada sauce, Ground Beef, egg, bell pepper, onion, ketchup, cheese, masa, black pepper, remaining spices, pepper sauce and salt; mix thoroughly but lightly.
Shape beef mixture and place into 8 x 4-1/2-inch loaf pan. Bake in 350°F oven 40 minutes. Spread reserved enchilada sauce over meatloaf. Bake an additional 5 to 10 minutes or until instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 160°F. (Cooking times are for fresh or thoroughly thawed ground beef. Ground beef should be cooked to an internal temperature of 160°F. Color is not a reliable indicator of ground beef doneness.)
Let stand 10 minutes before cutting. Cut into slices and serve.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Catholic cardinals broke with tradition Thursday and elected the first U.S. pope, making Chicago-born missionary Robert Prevost the 267th pontiff to lead the Catholic Church in a moment of global turmoil and conflict.
Prevost, a 69-year-old member of the Augustinian religious order who spent his career ministering in Peru, took the name Leo XIV.
In his first words as Pope Francis’ successor, uttered from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, Leo said, “Peace be with you,” and emphasized a message of “a disarmed and disarming peace” dialogue and missionary evangelization.
He wore the traditional red cape and trappings of the papacy — a cape that Francis had eschewed on his election in 2013 — suggesting a return to some degree of tradition after Francis’ unorthodox pontificate. But in naming himself Leo, the new pope could also have wanted to signal a strong line of continuity: Brother Leo was the 13th century friar who was a great companion to St. Francis of Assisi, the late pope’s namesake.
Cardinal Robert Prevost, a missionary who spent his career ministering in Peru and leads the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops, was elected the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church. Prevost, 69, took the name Leo XIV (AP Video)
“Together, we must try to find out how to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, establishes dialogue, that’s always open to receive — like on this piazza with open arms — to be able to receive everybody that needs our charity, our presence, dialogue and love,” Leo said in near-perfect Italian.
Prevost had been a leading candidate for the papacy, but there had long been a taboo against a U.S. pope, given the geopolitical power the country already wields. But Prevost was seemingly eligible because he’s also a Peruvian citizen and had lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as bishop, and cardinals may have thought the 21st century world order could handle a U.S.-born pope.
Francis, history’s first Latin American pope, clearly had his eye on Prevost and in many ways saw him as his heir apparent. He sent Prevost to take over a complicated diocese in Peru, then brought him to the Vatican in 2023 to serve as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations from around the world, one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church. Earlier this year, Francis elevated Prevost into the senior ranks of cardinals, giving him prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals had.
Since arriving in Rome, Prevost has kept a low public profile but was well-known to the men who count. Significantly, he presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope.
Celebrating the new pope
The crowd in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers Thursday when white smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel shortly after 6 p.m. on the second day of the conclave, the most geographically diverse in history. Priests made the sign of the cross and nuns wept as the crowd shouted, “Viva il papa!”
Waving flags from around the world, tens of thousands of people waited for more than an hour to learn who had won and were surprised an hour later, when the senior cardinal deacon appeared on the loggia, said “Habemus Papam!” — “We have a pope!” in Latin — and announced the winner was Prevost.
He spoke to the crowd in Italian and Spanish, but not English, honoring Pope Francis and his final salute to the crowd on Easter Sunday.
“Greetings … to all of you, and in particular, to my beloved diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, where a faithful people have accompanied their bishop, shared their faith,” he said in Spanish.
U.S. President Donald Trump said it was “such an honor for our country” for the new pope to be American.
“What greater honor can there be?” he said. The president added that “we’re a little bit surprised and we’re happy.”
The last pope to take the name Leo was Leo XIII, an Italian who led the church from 1878 to 1903. That Leo softened the church’s confrontational stance toward modernity, especially science and politics and laid the foundation for modern Catholic social thought. His most famous encyclical, Rerum Novarum of 1891, addressed workers’ rights and capitalism at the beginning of the industrial revolution and was highlighted by the Vatican in explaining the new pope’s choice of name.
An Augustinian pope
Vatican watchers said Prevost’s decision to name himself Leo was particularly significant given the previous Leo’s legacy of social justice and reform, suggesting continuity with some of Francis’ chief concerns.
“He is continuing a lot of Francis’ ministry,’’ said Natalia Imperatori-Lee, the chair of religious studies at Manhattan University in the Bronx. But Imperatori-Lee also said his election could send a message to the U.S. church, which has been badly divided between conservatives and progressives, with much of the right-wing opposition to Francis coming from there.
“I think it is going to be exciting to see a different kind of American Catholicism in Rome,’’ Imperatori-Lee said.
Archbishop Bernard Hebda, of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, told reporters he never thought he would see an American pope, given the questions of how an one would navigate dealing with a U.S. president, especially Trump.
“How is it that the Holy Father is able to deal with President Trump, for example — whoever our American president? Would those ties be too close or too distant?” he said. “And so I just never imagined that we would have an American pope, and I have great confidence that Pope Leo will do a wonderful job of navigating that.”
Leo was expected to celebrate Mass with cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on Friday, planned to deliver his first Sunday noon blessing from the loggia of St. Peter’s and lined up an audience with the media Monday in the Vatican auditorium, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.
Beyond that, he has a possible first foreign trip at the end of May: Francis had been invited to travel to Turkey to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, a landmark event in Christian history and an important moment in Catholic-Orthodox relations. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, welcomed Leo’s election and said he hoped he would join the anniversary celebration.
The new pope was formerly the prior general, or leader, of the Order of St. Augustine, which was formed in the 13th century as a community of “mendicant” friars — dedicated to poverty, service and evangelization. Vatican News said Leo is the first Augustinian pope.
Prevost’s election thrilled American students studying in Rome who happened to be in St. Peter’s Square to witness history.
“That’s the first American pope in history. How exciting!” said Alessandra Jarrett, a 21-year-old political science student at Rome’s John Cabot university. “Crazy that we’re able to be here and see it, and this was even our last day in school.”
Sister Bernadette, a 50-year-old nun from Houston, Texas, was studying spirituality in Rome at the same university where Prevost did graduate studies, the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, known as the Angelicum.
“He touched the heart of everyone, and he acknowledged the great work of Francis, which he wants to continue embracing the world and embracing all of our brothers and sisters in Christ,” she said.
The past of Pope Leo
Francis moved Prevost from the Augustinian leadership back to Peru in 2014 to serve as the administrator and later bishop of Chiclayo.
He remained in that position, acquiring Peruvian citizenship in 2015, until Francis brought him to Rome in 2023 to assume both the bishops’ dossier and the presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. In that job he would have kept in regular contact with the Catholic hierarchy in the part of the world that counts the most Catholics. Counting North, Central and South America, the region had 37 cardinal electors going into the conclave.
The bells of the cathedral in Peru’s capital of Lima and at Holy Name Cathedral in downtown Chicago tolled after Prevost’s election was announced. People outside the Lima cathedral said they wanted Prevost to visit.
“For us Peruvians, it is a source of pride that this is a pope who represents our country,” said elementary school teacher Isabel Panez, who happened to be near the cathedral when the news was announced. “We would like him to visit us here in Peru.”
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Giada Zampano, Helena Alves in Rome, Franklin Briceno in Lima, Peru and Colleen Barry in Schiavon, Italy contributed to this report.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
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This story has corrected the number of Augustinian popes. Vatican News says Pope Leo XIV is the first Augustinian pope, not the seventh.
By MAKIYA SEMINERA and GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Gun access, parental rights and the response to illegal immigration were front and center this week in North Carolina as Republican lawmakers worked to keep their high-priority bills alive, while many other pieces of legislation are likely dead for two years.
Unlike other years with chaotic late-night sessions full of political bargaining, the lead-up to Thursday’s biennial “crossover deadline” looked more orderly and even wrapped up a day early.
GOP legislative veterans chalked it up to a disciplined House work schedule from new Speaker Destin Hall, and perhaps because fewer “controversial” bills were considered. It doesn’t hurt that parliamentary maneuvers can be used to bypass the deadline and move bills later — if top leaders allow. There are also exceptions for bills involving spending or taxes, constitutional amendments and other topics.
“There are so many ways to skin a cat,” Senate leader Phil Berger told reporters.
Among other things, legislators advanced measures making it easier to retain a concealed handgun permit, as well as ensure immigrants unlawfully in the country can’t get certain state benefits, and make it so minors need a parent’s consent for more kinds of medical treatments. Since bills on these topics passed one General Assembly chamber, they met the deadline.
Here’s a look at some of the recent activity:
Gun access appeared as a leading issue
After a brief debate, the GOP-led House passed a bill that creates lifetime concealed handgun permits and eases training requirements for some people renewing expired permits with fixed durations.
Democratic Rep. Marcia Morey warned that having renewals safeguards the public, because a lifetime permit wouldn’t account for changing circumstances like addiction or mental illnesses.
But Republican proponents emphasized that permits — with or without renewals — don’t prevent bad behavior. Earlier this year, Senate Republicans approved legislation that would allow concealed carry without a permit.
And in the past week, the House and Senate approved competing bills that would allow private K-12 school governing boards to give permission to certain employees or volunteers to carry a concealed handgun on campus for student and staff safety.
Advancing Trump’s immigration agenda
Amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, the House passed a bill Wednesday that would bar several state agencies from supplying benefits to immigrants unlawfully in the country. State public universities are also instructed to verify applicants as legal U.S. residents to be considered for instate tuition and financial aid, according to the bill.
Republicans in both chambers have already signaled support for Trump’s immigration policies through bills previously advanced this session.
Emphasis on parents’ rights and protections
Minors would be limited in their ability to consent to most medical treatments on their own, except for pregnancy, according to a bill passed Tuesday in the House. A handful of House Democrats joined Republicans in approving it.
Under current law, minors can provide sole consent for treating sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, substance abuse and mental health conditions. Minors could still consult with doctors about those issues, but the bill maintains parents’ “essential role” in determining the best medical course of action for their children, Republican Rep. Jennifer Balkcom said.
Some Democrats spoke against the bill, saying it would endanger teenagers who feel less inclined to seek treatment for sensitive issues.
The Senate approved legislation Wednesday that would prevent parents from being cited for neglect because they raised their child consistent with the child’s sex assigned at birth.
What didn’t meet crossover?
One House bill with momentum that fell short would have expanded the state’s capital punishment methods from lethal injection to include death by electrocution and a firing squad.
The legislation, which had cleared two committees, would make electrocution the default execution method but allow death-row offenders to choose another option if correction officials have it available.
North Carolina hasn’t carried out a state execution since 2006 in part due to a legal impasse involving lethal injections and litigation over racial bias in capital trials.
What’s ahead?
House and Senate leaders will decide the fate of measures from the other chambers.
The state budget process also revs up as House Republicans hope to pass their two-year spending plan before Memorial Day weekend. Negotiations with Senate Republicans, who approved their budget last month, will follow.
In the background is new Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, who has his own ideas on a budget and other legislation. Veto threats could wield Stein more influence since Republicans are now one seat short of a veto-proof majority. Republicans have been able to sway some Democrats on key measures.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Panthers have released veteran Jadeveon Clowney after selecting two edge rushers in the NFL draft.
Clowney, the No. 1 pick in the 2014 draft, had 5 1/2 sacks last season for the Panthers.
He had one year left on his contract.
The Panthers drafted Texas A&M’s Nic Scourton in the second round and Mississippi’s Princely Umanmielen in the third round in the NFL draft with an eye towards getting younger at the position.
By SEUNG MIN KIM and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would pull the nomination of conservative activist Ed Martin Jr. to be the top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital, after a key Republican senator said he could not support him for the job due to his defense of Jan. 6 rioters.
“We have somebody else that will be great,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the status of Martin’s confirmation. He said it was disappointing, but “that’s the way it works sometime.”
A spokesperson for Ed Martin didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Martin has served as acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia since Trump’s first week in office. But his hopes of keeping the job faded amid questions about his qualifications and background, including his support for rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol over four years ago.
Martin stirred up a chorus of critics during his brief but tumultuous tenure leading the nation’s largest U.S. Attorney’s office. He fired and demoted subordinates who worked on politically sensitive cases. He posted on social media about potential targets of investigations. And he forced the chief of the office’s criminal division to resign after directing her to scrutinize the awarding of a government contract during Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration.
Martin’s temporary appointment is due to expire on May 20.
North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said Tuesday that he wouldn’t support Martin’s nomination. Tillis, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said his opposition stemmed from Martin’s defense of rioters who breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Other Republicans seemed likely to oppose Martin’s nomination as well.
In response to a committee questionnaire, Martin initially failed to disclose that he made over 150 appearances on the Russian government-funded RT and Sputnik networks before he took office. He later included them in a follow-up letter.
Dozens of former prosecutors from the office publicly opposed Martin’s nomination. In a letter to the committee, more than 100 office veterans described him as “an affront to the singular pursuit of justice for which this Office has stood for more than two centuries.”
Martin also had some prominent supporters, including Elon Musk, Charlie Kirk and Donald Trump Jr. His backers touted his record of fighting for conservative causes and his efforts to reduce violent crime in Washington.
Martin was a leading figure in Trump’s “Stop the Steal” movement. He spoke at a rally in Washington on the eve of the Capitol riot. He represented three Jan. 6 defendants and served on the board of the nonprofit Patriot Freedom Project, which reports raising over $2.5 million to support riot defendants.
In office, Martin oversaw the dismissals of hundreds of Jan. 6 cases after Trump pardoned defendants, commuted sentences or vowed to throw them out. Martin also ordered an internal review of prosecutors’ use of a felony charge against hundreds of Capitol rioters, directing employees to hand over files, emails and other documents.
Martin’s opponents also honed in on his public praise for a Capitol riot defendant, Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, who openly espoused white supremacist and antisemitic ideology and photographed himself sporting a Hitler mustache. He referred to Hale-Cusanelli as a friend who is “an extraordinary guy.”
Martin told committee members that he condemns Hale-Cusanelli’s hateful comments as “abhorrent and deplorable.” He claimed he didn’t learn about them until after he presented him with the award during an event at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Martin practiced law in Missouri but never worked as a prosecutor or tried a case before Trump appointed him in January. Martin chaired the Missouri Republican Party before becoming president of conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum in April 2013. He co-authored a book about Trump with Schlafly, who died in 2016.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — At least 123 vultures died in South Africa’s flagship national park after eating the carcass of an elephant that was poisoned by poachers with agricultural pesticides, park authorities and an animal conservation group said Thursday.
Another 83 vultures that were rescued from the site and transported for treatment by helicopter or a special vulture ambulance were recovering.
The mass poisoning was one of the worst seen in the famous Kruger National Park in northern South Africa, said SANParks, the national parks agency.
Vultures are key to wildlife ecosystems because of the clean up work they do feeding on the carcasses of dead animals. But that also makes them especially vulnerable to poisoning by poachers, either intentionally or as a result of the killing of other animals. Hundreds of vultures typically feed on a carcass.
The elephant had been poisoned by poachers in a remote part of the huge park to harvest its body parts for the illegal wildlife trade, SANParks and the Endangered Wildlife Trust said.
Many vulture species are endangered in Africa because of poisoning and other threats to them. The affected birds in Kruger included Cape vultures, endangered lappet-faced vultures and critically-endangered white-backed and hooded vultures.
“This horrific incident is part of a broader crisis unfolding across southern Africa: the escalating use of poisons in wildlife poaching,” SANParks and the Endangered Wildlife Trust said in their joint statement. “Poachers increasingly use agricultural toxins to target high-value species.”
The Kruger National Park covers approximately 20,000 square kilometers (7,722 square miles) and is nearly twice the size of small countries like Jamaica and Qatar.
Rangers say they face a daily battle to guard species like rhinos, elephants and lions from poachers.
Vulture conservation organization Vulpro, which was not involved in the rescue, said the poisoning came at the start of the breeding season and many other birds that weren’t found at the site could still be affected.
8 ounces assorted mushrooms, such as shiitake, cremini and oyster, cut into quarters
1 cup baby carrots
Chopped fresh parsley leaves (optional for garnish)
Directions
Combine beef Stew Meat, flour, salt, thyme and pepper in large bowl; toss to coat. Place beef mixture in 4-1/2 to 5-1/2-quart slow cooker.
Combine broth, tomato paste, wine and garlic in small bowl; mix well. Add broth mixture to beef. Add potatoes, mushrooms and carrots; mix well.
Cover and cook on HIGH 5 to 6 hours, or on LOW 8 to 9 hours, or until beef and vegetables are tender. (No stirring is necessary during cooking.) Stir well before serving. Garnish with parsley, if desired.
Alternate Cooking Method:
This recipe can be made in a 6-quart electric pressure cooker. Combine beef Stew Meat, flour, salt, thyme and pepper in large bowl; toss to coat. Place beef in pressure cooker. Combine broth, tomato paste, wine and garlic in small bowl; mix well. Add broth mixture to beef. Cut potatoes into 2-inch pieces or, if smaller, keep whole. Cut carrots into 2-inch pieces. Add potatoes, whole mushrooms and carrots; mix well. Close and lock pressure cooker lid. Use beef, stew or high-pressure setting on pressure cooker; program 25 minutes on pressure cooker timer. Use quick-release feature to release pressure; carefully remove lid. Stir well before servings. Garnish with parsley, if desired. (This recipe variation was tested in an electric pressure cooker at high altitude. Cooking at an altitude of less than 3000 feet may require slightly less cooking time. Refer to the manufacturer’s instructions.)
The Atlantic Coast Conference is hoping its men’s basketball programs trade two fewer league games for marquee nonconference matchups in an effort to reverse a dwindling haul of NCAA Tournament bids.
The league announced Wednesday it is reducing its 20-game men’s basketball schedule to 18. The change comes after Commissioner Jim Phillips has been vocal about spending the past two seasons examining the conundrum of the ACC getting fewer bids — down to four this year, its fewest since 2013 — despite having teams regularly playing deep into March.
Going to 18 games could make room for schools to add quality nonconference matchups to help their schedule strength — and therefore the ACC’s stature, provided the league wins its share of measuring-stick games, unlike last year. It will shake up the scheduling model, which will mean ACC teams won’t face one league member each year.
In a statement, Phillips said the move — first reported by CBS Sports — is “a direct result of our ongoing strategic review and analysis” and gives them more control of scheduling by freeing up two slots. It also comes as the league implements a new revenue-distribution model that will factor in TV viewership in its payouts to league schools, which could offer even more incentive to schedule marquee opponents that fans want to watch to boost the bottom line.
“This decision reflects our on-going prioritization to do what’s best for ACC Men’s Basketball,” Phillips said, “and we appreciate the thoughtfulness of our membership and the support from our television partners.”
The new model will have the league schedule running from late December into the first Saturday of March. Each team will play one primary partner at home and away every year, with those pairings — such as famed rivals Duke and North Carolina or instate opponents Virginia and Virginia Tech — designed to create some protection for long-running series.
The others primary pairings are Boston College-Notre Dame, Clemson-Georgia Tech, California-Stanford, Florida State-Miami, Louisville-SMU, N.C. State-Wake Forest and Pittsburgh-Syracuse.
Each team also will play a home-and-away series against a partner that will change each year, then play one game against 14 of the remaining 15 teams.
It won’t be perfect. Aside from the fact that some teams won’t play each another, there are hiccups such as no guarantees that neighboring rivals UNC and North Carolina State will have their typical home-and-away meetings; the Tar Heels and Wolfpack have played those every year reaching back to their Southern Conference days long before the ACC’s birth in May 1953.
Still, Phillips had been clear the league had to make changes to address the newfound shakiness in a sport widely and long regarded as its crown jewel.
The ACC had played an 18-game schedule from the 2012-13 season through 2018-19, then moved to a 20-game slate for the 2019-20 season with its ESPN-partnered launch of the ACC Network. At the time, the ACC was coming off a fourth straight season with at least seven NCAA bids — including a record nine in 2018 and 2019 — while having three No. 1 seeds in 2019 and winning three of five national titles (Duke in 2015, North Carolina in 2017 and Virginia in 2019).
The league had seven bids during the “bubble” 2021 tournament in Indiana, then fell to five for three straight seasons before sliding to four this year, its first as an expanded 18-team basketball conference. By comparison, the ACC had 12 teams the last time it got just four bids in 2013.
And yet, the league also had both UNC and Duke in the Final Four in 2022, Miami there in 2023, N.C. State in 2024 and Duke again in April.
The ACC’s move comes after a similar change for the Big 12, which announced in March that it would drop from 20 games to 18 after its coaches had expressed concerns about a grinding schedule with no time for rest. The SEC, which got a record 14 bids from its 16 teams last year, plays 18 games while the Big Ten plays 20.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina elections board ousted its widely respected executive director Wednesday in a partisan move that will put Republicans in control of election operations in the political swing state, which includes the certification of results.
The removal of Karen Brinson Bell, who had held the job for nearly six years during a time when the board had Democratic majorities, came after Republicans took away the authority to appoint election board members from the Democratic governor late last year, overriding a veto while they still held a supermajority in the legislature. Republicans handed that power to the elected state auditor, a Republican.
Meeting for the first time with its new GOP majority, the North Carolina State Board of Elections agreed in a party-line vote to replace Brinson Bell with Sam Hayes, the top lawyer for the Republican House speaker. The board declined to consider her request to speak at the end of the meeting, adjourning instead.
“While I would have liked to have continued to serve the county board of elections and the voters of North Carolina in this capacity, the state board has made a different decision,” Brinson Bell said after the meeting to those remaining in the audience.
Brinson Bell led the board during the voting difficulties of the early COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and through last year’s presidential balloting after a devastating hurricane hit the state.
Democratic board member Siobhan O’Duffy Millen told her Republican colleagues before the 3-2 vote to hire Hayes that how they parted ways with Brinson Bell was “a shabby way to treat a nationally admired executive election director.”
Nonetheless, her removal was not surprising, given that there’s precedent for a new director to get hired with a changing partisan majority, and Republican legislative leaders have clashed over the years with Brinson Bell. Still, the circumstances are extraordinary.
Republicans have sought board changes for years
The board’s partisan composition was altered just last week through the state law enacted by Republican lawmakers in December over the veto of then-Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat. It stripped the governor of his appointment powers not only to the state election board, but also to the chairs of county election boards. Republicans are also expected to install new GOP majorities on the local boards next month.
The GOP has tried several times since 2016 to remove the governor’s authority to choose members of the election board, whose duties include carrying out campaign finance laws, certifying election results and setting rules on a host of voting administration details.
New Democratic Gov. Josh Stein sued over the law, and some trial judges ruled that it had to be blocked. But the appointment switch took effect after a state Court of Appeals panel ruled the law could still be implemented starting May 1. The executive director is chosen for a two-year term set to begin May 15.
Election leaders praise outgoing director
Brinson Bell received high marks from colleagues for helping administer elections during the pandemic and when a photo identification requirement was carried out in the first general election in 2024.
She also oversaw the effort to hold the presidential election in the state last year after Hurricane Helene laid waste to numerous counties when it struck in September. The storm and subsequent flooding knocked out power and damaged water treatment systems across western North Carolina. Nonetheless, election officials managed to open nearly all of the 80 voting sites initially planned for the hardest hit areas on the first day of early in-person voting, just weeks later.
Some Republican officials complained about long lines at early-vote sites in some counties, and with mixed results lobbied to get more open.
Brinson Bell was selected recently to serve as the incoming president of the National Association of State Election Directors — a position Brinson Bell said she can no longer hold after losing her job.
David Becker, a former U.S. Justice Department lawyer who now leads the Center for Election Innovation & Research, said the GOP’s “highly partisan power grab” has “resulted in the removal of one of the most highly respected election officials in the country.”
Justin Roebuck, the chief election official in Ottawa County, Michigan, said Brinson Bell’s “departure will be a significant loss — not only for North Carolina voters but for the entire election administration community that has benefited from her leadership.”
Pandemic litigation built animosity
State Republicans have been unhappy with Brinson Bell going back years. They focused on her role in a legal settlement in 2020. The settlement extended to nine days after the November election the time for mail ballots postmarked by Election Day to be received and counted. State law at the time had set the limit at three days.
Brinson Bell defended her actions and those of the board, saying they helped more mail-in ballots get counted after worries about Postal Service delays during the pandemic.
GOP leaders also have criticized the previous board for what they called errors in how election laws were carried out for the 2024 election. It led to litigation and formal protests in last November’s race for a state Supreme Court seat that dragged on for months.
After last November’s election, Brinson Bell publicly asked that Senate leader Phil Berger -– the state’s most powerful Republican elected official -– to retract a comment suggesting that results were being manipulated during the canvassing period to lead to favorable results for Democrats. She said such words could lead to threats against local election workers. Berger declined to withdraw his comments.
Republican chairman says he seeks trust in elections
Francis De Luca, a Republican who chairs the new elections board, said his goal was that “we get things so we have fair elections, make voting easy and make sure we follow the law. And make sure there is trust in the election system.”
Republican Donald Trump has won the state each of the three times he has run for president.
Hayes, the incoming election director, has been general counsel to previous Speaker Tim Moore and current Speaker Destin Hall. His career has largely been spent working for state agencies, and he has been highly involved with election-related litigation filed against GOP lawmakers.
While she was not allowed to speak during the meeting, Brinson Bell stayed afterward and addressed the audience and the two Democratic members of the election board, who remained after their GOP colleagues had left.
“We have done this work under incredibly difficult circumstances and in a toxic political environment,” she said, adding that she hoped election workers are “supported and rewarded for their work rather than vilified by those who don’t like the outcome.”
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Associated Press writer Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday, brushing off President Donald Trump’s demands to lower borrowing costs, and said that the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.
The Fed kept its rate at 4.3% for the third straight meeting, after cutting it three times in a row at the end of last year. Many economists and Wall Street investors still expect the Fed will reduce rates two or three times this year, but the sweeping tariffs imposed by Trump have injected a tremendous amount of uncertainty into the U.S. economy and the Fed’s policies.
During a press conference after the release of the policy statement, Powell underscored that the tariffs have dampened consumer and business sentiment but have yet to noticeably harm the economy. At the moment, Powell said, there’s too much uncertainty to say how the Fed should react.
“If the large increases in tariffs that have been announced are sustained, they’re likely to generate a rise in inflation, a slowdown in economic growth, and a rise in unemployment,” Powell said. The impacts could be temporary, or more persistent, he added.
“There’s just so much that we don’t know,” he added. “We’re in a good position to wait and see.”
It is unusual for the Fed to say that the risk of both higher prices and more unemployment have increased. But economists say that is the threat created by Trump’s sweeping tariffs. The import taxes could both lift inflation by making imported parts and finished goods more expensive, while also raising unemployment by causing companies to cut jobs as their costs rise.
As a result, the tariffs have put the Fed in a difficult spot. The Fed’s goals are to keep prices stable and maximize employment. Typically, when inflation rises, the Fed raises rates to slow borrowing and spending and cool inflation, while if layoffs rise, it would reduce rates to spur more spending and growth.
Powell said the Fed’s next moves will depend in part on which indicator worsens the most: inflation or unemployment.
“Depending on how things play out, it could include rate cuts, it could include us holding where we are, we just need to see how things play out before we make those decisions,” he said.
Krishna Guha at EvercoreISI said the Fed’s assessment of current conditions likely pushes back the timetable for a rate cut. “The combination of the two-sided risk assessment and the characterization of the economy as solid suggest the Committee is not looking to tee up a June cut at this juncture.” Many economists think the Fed may not be ready to cut until September.
Trump announced sweeping tariffs against about 60 U.S. trading partners in April, then paused most of them for 90 days, with the exception of duties against China. The administration has subjected goods from China to a 145% tariff. The two sides are scheduled to hold their first high-level talks since Trump launched his trade war this weekend in Switzerland.
The central bank’s caution could lead to more conflict between the Fed and the Trump administration. On Sunday, Trump again urged the Fed to cut rates in a television interview and said Powell “just doesn’t like me because I think he’s a total stiff.”
With inflation not far from the Fed’s 2% target for now, Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argue that the Fed could reduce its rate. The Fed pushed it higher in 2022 and 2023 to fight inflation.
Asked at the press conference whether Trump’s calls for lower rates has any influence on the Fed, Powell said, ”(It) doesn’t affect doing our job at all. We’re always going to consider only the economic data, the outlook, the balance of risks, and that’s it.”
If the Fed were to cut rates, it could lower other borrowing costs, such as for mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards, though that is not guaranteed.
Trump also said he wouldn’t fire Powell because the chair’s term ends next May and he will be able to appoint a new chair then. Yet if the economy stumbles in the coming months, Trump could renew his threats to remove Powell.
A big issue facing the Fed is how tariffs will impact inflation. Nearly all economists and Fed officials expect the import taxes will lift prices, but it’s not clear by how much or for how long.
Tariffs typically cause a one-time increase in prices, but not necessarily ongoing inflation. Yet if Trump announces further tariffs — as he has threatened to do on pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and copper — or if Americans worry that inflation will get worse, that could send prices higher in a more persistent way.
Economists and the Fed are closely watching inflation expectations, which are essentially a measure of how much consumers are concerned that inflation will worsen. Higher inflation expectations can be self-fulfilling, because it Americans think prices will rise, they can take steps that push up costs, such as asking for higher wages.
For now, the U.S. economy is mostly in solid shape, and inflation has cooled considerably from its peak in 2022. Consumers are spending at a healthy pace, though some of that may reflect buying things like cars ahead of tariffs. Businesses are still adding workers at a steady pace, and unemployment is low.
Still, there are signs inflation will worsen in the coming months. Surveys of both manufacturing and services firms show that they are seeing higher prices from their suppliers. And a survey by the Federal Reserve’s Dallas branch found that nearly 55% of manufacturing firms expect to pass on the impact of tariff increases to their customers.
“The bottom line is that inflation will be rising significantly over the next six months,” Torsten Slok, chief economist at the Apollo Group, said in an email.
Yet the tariffs could also weigh heavily on the economy, particularly because of the uncertainty they have created. Business surveys show that firms are postponing investment decisions until they have greater clarity. Many companies have withdrawn their financial forecasts for 2025 due to the uncertainty around tariffs.
