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Analysis: Rising energy prices could help Russia pay for fight in Ukraine

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The Iran war’s disruption of Middle East oil and gas supplies and soaring prices are strengthening Russia’s ability to profit from its energy exports, a pillar of the Kremlin’s budget and a key to paying for its own war in Ukraine. Prices for Russia’s oil exports have risen from under $40 per barrel as recently as December to about $62 per barrel — first on fears of war and then due to interruption of almost all tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for some 20% of the world’s oil consumption. Russian oil still trades at a ...

Texas judge declines to close Camp Mystic

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas judge on Wednesday declined to order the closure of Camp Mystic, the all-girls youth camp where 25 girls and two counselors were killed in catastrophic floods last year. While a lawsuit filed by one of the girls’ families is pending, District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble did order Camp Mystic’s owners not to alter or demolish the cabins where campers were housed during the floods and to avoid using the portion of the camp closest to the Guadalupe River where those cabins were located. The family of 8-year-old Cile Steward, who was swept away in the ...

Trump says deal on data centers will lower electricity costs

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump invited technology companies to the White House on Wednesday to commit to developing their own power generation as he tries to ease tensions over the cost of electricity used by data centers to develop artificial intelligence. “They need some PR help because people think that if a data center goes in there, electricity prices are going to go up,” Trump said. “It’s not going to happen.” The “ratepayer protection” pledge touted by the president comes as affordability has become a top concern for an American public wary of the ...

Lou Holtz, college football staple, dies at 89

(AP) — Lou Holtz, the College Football Hall of Fame coach who led Notre Dame to the 1988 national championship and won 249 games over 33 seasons at six schools, has died. He was 89. Notre Dame announced on Wednesday that Holtz died in Orlando, Florida, surrounded by his family. Spokeswoman Katy Lonergan said a cause of death was not provided by the family. Holtz became the first and so far only coach to lead six different teams to bowl games during a career in which he compiled a record of 249-132-7. He still ranks 10th all-time in career victories by a Football Bowl Subdivision ...

House committee votes to subpoena Bondi

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Oversight Committee voted Wednesday to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to answer questions over the Justice Department’s handling of files regarding the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation. Five Republicans joined Democrats to support the subpoena proposed by GOP Rep. Nancy Mace in a sign of continued frustration among conservatives with the department’s review and release of a tranche of documents related to the disgraced financier. The move amounted to a sharp rebuke of Bondi by Republicans who have been clamoring for information about ...

Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales acknowledges affair with former aide

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas acknowledged for the first time Wednesday having an affair with an aide who later died after setting herself on fire, a revelation that came on the same day the House Ethics Committee announced it was initiating an investigation into the congressman. Gonzales, appearing on the “Joe Pags Show,” was asked if he had a relationship with the aide, Regina Ann Santos-Aviles. “I made a mistake and I had a lapse in judgment, and there was a lack of faith, and I take full responsibility for those actions,” Gonzales ...