AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

By The Associated Press

Walker is Wisconsin GOP choice as Midwest tests Trump appeal

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A fiery Donald Trump loyalist and a one-time Trump skeptic seized Republican nominations for governor in two states Tuesday, while Vermont Democrats picked the nation’s first transgender nominee for governor to represent them in November.

The results came as voters across four states cast ballots and the 2018 midterm season lurched toward its finale.

Trump renewed his grip on the modern-day GOP as his pick for Kansas governor, Secretary of State Kris Kobach, scored a delayed victory against Gov. Jeff Colyer, who became the first incumbent governor to be defeated this season. Elsewhere in the Midwest, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker won the right to seek a third term, while former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty was fighting to resurrect his political career and prove he fits in Trump’s GOP.

Both Walker and Pawlenty criticized Trump before he became president, but they have since rallied behind him.

Meanwhile, accusations of domestic violence involving the Democratic National Committee’s second-in-command threatened to undermine Democratic enthusiasm, particularly in Minnesota, a state where women dominated on Tuesday.

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Report: Pennsylvania priests molested over 1,000 children

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Hundreds of Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania molested more than 1,000 children — and possibly many more — since the 1940s, and senior church officials, including a man who is now the archbishop of Washington, D.C., systematically covered up the abuse, according to a grand jury report released Tuesday.

The “real number” of abused children might be in the thousands since some secret church records were lost, and victims were afraid to come forward, the grand jury said.

“Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing. They hid it all,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said at a news conference in Harrisburg.

The report put the number of abusive clergy at more than 300. In nearly all of the cases, the statute of limitations has run out, meaning that criminal charges cannot be filed. More than 100 of the priests are dead, and many others are retired or have been dismissed from the priesthood or put on leave.

“We are sick over all the crimes that will go unpunished and uncompensated,” the grand jury said.

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Ex-White House aide says Trump trying to silence her

NEW YORK (AP) — Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman declared Tuesday that she “will not be silenced” by President Donald Trump, remaining defiant as her public feud with her former boss appeared to shift to a possible legal battle.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Manigault Newman, who is promoting her new book about her time in Trump’s orbit, said she believes the president’s campaign organization is trying to keep her from telling her story. She commented just hours after Trump’s campaign announced it was filing an arbitration action against her, alleging violations of a secrecy agreement she signed.

“I will not be intimidated,” she told the AP. “I’m not going to be bullied by Donald Trump.”

Still, the former reality TV star-turned-political aide declined to answer several questions about her experiences during her year as the highest-ranking African-American aide in Trump’s White House, citing the arbitration action. She said she’d been interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office, but would not discuss details.

She did defend herself against criticism that she didn’t do enough to help African-Americans at the White House, which currently has no African-American in a senior role following her departure.

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Vermont nominates 1st US transgender candidate for governor

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A former Vermont utility executive on Tuesday became the first transgender candidate to be nominated for governor, and she’ll face the Republican incumbent, who survived a bitter backlash from his base over gun restrictions he supported.

GOP Gov. Phil Scott defeated a challenge from Springfield businessman Keith Stern in his quest to win a second term. He will face Christine Hallquist, who won the Democratic primary to run for the state’s highest office in November, when she would become the nation’s first transgender governor if elected.

Scott said he expected the race to be closer than it was.

“I know there are some who are still upset with me who may not welcome tonight’s result but there’s so much more that unites us than sets us apart,” Scott said. “And no one agrees with their friends all the time, but as our success shows we can make a lot of good progress when we have clear priorities and we pull in the same direction.”

Hallquist said her campaign would focus on improving the state’s economy, yet she acknowledged the symbolism of being an openly transgender candidate.

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Italian bridge collapse sends cars plunging, killing 26

MILAN (AP) — A 51-year-old highway bridge in the Italian port city of Genoa collapsed in a driving rain Tuesday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 15 others as it sent dozens of vehicles tumbling into a heap of concrete and twisted steel.

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte called it “an immense tragedy … inconceivable in a modern system like ours, a modern country.”

The disaster, on a major interchange connecting Genoa and other northern cities with beaches in eastern Liguria into France, focused attention on Italy’s aging infrastructure, particularly its concrete bridges and viaducts built in the postwar boom of the 1950s and 1960s.

What caused the Morandi Bridge to fall remained unknown, and prosecutors said they were opening an investigation but had not identified any targets. Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said the collapse was “unacceptable” and that if negligence played a role “whoever made a mistake must pay.”

Early speculation focused on the structural weakness of the span.

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Judge may acquit women or call defence in Kim Jong Nam trial

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Two Southeast Asian women on trial in Malaysia for the brazen assassination of the North Korean leader’s half-brother could be acquitted Thursday or called to enter their defence in a case that has gripped the world.

Indonesia’s Siti Aisyah, 25, and Vietnam’s Doan Thi Huong, 29, are accused of smearing VX nerve agent on Kim Jong Nam’s face in a crowded airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 13, 2017. The women have said they thought they were taking part in a prank for a hidden-camera show.

They are the only two suspects in custody and face the death penalty if convicted. If the defence is called, the trial could take several more months.

If the women are acquitted, they may not be freed right away as prosecutors could still appeal the decision as well as push forward with separate charges for overstaying their visas.

Here’s a look at arguments that were raised during the trial:

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Somali-American wins Minnesota Democratic US House primary

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Somali-American legislator Ilhan Omar neared another first Tuesday by winning a Democratic congressional primary in a Minneapolis-area district so reliably liberal that her victory is likely her ticket to Congress.

Omar, who drew national attention just two years ago by becoming the first Somali-American elected to a state legislature , led a field that included former state House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher.

“Tonight we are celebrating because we engaged and empowered our community and we won!” Omar said in a statement. “Our campaign staff, our volunteers, and the people of the Fifth Congressional District are the inspiration we need to get up every day and fight for a democracy that guarantees a more just and equitable society.”

Rep. Keith Ellison left the seat to run for state attorney general, winning his primary Tuesday night for that job. The race was one of three in Minnesota sparked by decisions incumbent Minnesota Democrats to leave Congress.

Elsewhere, five Democrats in northeastern Minnesota’s 8th District sought to succeed Rep. Rick Nolan, who had planned to retire before he wound up joining Attorney General Lori Swanson’s ticket for governor. Former state Rep. Joe Radinovich and state Rep. Jason Metsa were top contenders in a field that included former KBJR-TV anchor Michelle Lee, North Branch Mayor Kirsten Kennedy and liberal activist Soren Sorenson.

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New Mexico bail reforms shaped ruling in compound case

TAOS, N.M. (AP) — A judge’s decision to allow the release of an extended family accused of child abuse at a ramshackle desert compound in New Mexico prompted a political uproar Tuesday by prominent Republican lawmakers.

The controversy was stoked even further when court officials condemned threats of violence made against the judge who issued the ruling and evacuated several administrative court offices as a precaution.

State District Court Judge Sarah Backus on Monday cleared the way for the release of four defendants, despite assertions by prosecutors that the group was training children to use firearms for an anti-government mission and should remain in jail pending trial.

The father of a severely disabled boy who was kidnapped in Georgia will not be released because an arrest warrant has been issued for him in that state.

Another defendant, Jany Leveille, was taken into custody by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Tuesday, Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe announced. The 35-year-old native of Haiti is the mother of six children taken into state custody during the compound raid.

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Somali-American nears new historic mark with primary win

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The nation’s first Somali-American state legislator is poised to set the same historic mark in Congress after winning a crowded Democratic primary in Minnesota Tuesday to replace Rep. Keith Ellison.

State Rep. Ilhan Omar captured the Democratic nomination for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, defeating a former Minnesota House Speaker and longtime state senator. It puts another notch in the meteoric political rise of a woman who spent her childhood in a Kenyan refugee camp and immigrated to the United States at age 12 before winning her seat in the state House in 2016.

A Republican has not won the heavily liberal Minneapolis-area congressional seat in many decades, making Tuesday’s primary the de facto election. The seat opened when Ellison launched a last-minute bid for attorney general, leaving the seat after six terms.

Omar leaned heavily on her biography to win the race to replace him, positioning herself as the candidate best equipped to counter President Donald Trump in Congress. She defeated former House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and state Sen. Patricia Torres Ray, among other candidates, to advance to the November election.

Omar won her state House seat in 2016 after defeating a well-regarded, 44-year incumbent in a Democratic primary. She’s served just a single term in the House, stuck in the minority and boasting few legislative accomplishments.

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California could reshape pot rules as legal market struggles

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The nation’s largest legal marijuana market is struggling.

Illicit sales continue to thrive. A shaky supply chain has customers looking at barren shelves in some shops. There are testing problems. And a proposal to allow home marijuana deliveries in cities that have banned pot sales could lead to a courtroom fight.

A Los Angeles hearing Tuesday provided a window into the state’s emerging cannabis economy, in which early enthusiasm for broad legal sales has been followed by anxiety and frustration across a swath of the industry.

The state’s top marijuana regulator, Lori Ajax, said after the hearing that the state remains in a challenging transition period as it attempts to transform what was once a largely illegal market into a multibillion-dollar, regulated economy.

“Unfortunately, there is confusion out there,” Ajax said.

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