Headline News from The Associated Press
AP Headline News - Jul 04 2024 10:00 (EDT)
This is AP News, I'm Rita Folle. President Biden's on a public events blitz after his rocky performance in last week's debate. He says he is staying in the race for the White House. In an interview that aired this morning, he talked with Andrea Lawful Sanders, host of the source on WURD Radio in Philadelphia. She asked him what makes this election so important. Well, first of all, the guy I'm running against is convicted felon who is said he wants to be a dictator on day one, not a joke. He means it. And he's appointed a Supreme Court that is outrageous in terms of the decisions it's made. Well, not just on choice, but on freedom across the board. Two Democratic lawmakers have called on President Biden to drop out of the race. Hurricane barrel is eyeing Mexico. Hurricane barrel weakened overnight, but remains a category three storm as it rumbles by south of the Cayman Islands with winds of 120 miles per hour. Heavy rainfall flooding, major hurricane force winds, National Hurricane Center director Michael Brennan. Hurricane warnings are in effect for Little Cayman, Cayman, Brack, and Grand Cayman. And then thinking farther downstream, barrel is going to move towards the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and then across into the Gulf of Mexico and potentially threatened northeastern Mexico and south Texas. The storm ripped off roofs in the Grenadines and jumbled fishing boats and Barbados before lashing Jamaica. I'm Jennifer King. So many Americans have been jamming airports and crowding highways during this holiday week that they're expected to break travel records. Of course, it's going to be miserably hot in some areas of the country, 111 today in Bakersfield, California. The Lebanese Hezbollah group says it has launched over 200 rockets at several military bases in Israel. Payback, it says, for a strike that killed one of its commanders. This is AP News. Now to prisoners and concerns about them working in the brutal heat. A federal judge has ordered Louisiana to take steps to protect the health and safety of incarcerated workers toiling in the fields of a former slave plantation. U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson says they face substantial risk of injury or death in blistering summer temperatures. The judge gave the state seven days to provide a plan to improve conditions at Louisiana State Penitentiary. The state immediately appealed that decision. The order comes amid growing nationwide attention on prison labor, a practice that has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry. When incarcerated at the Louisiana Penitentiary filed a class action lawsuit last year, alleging cruel and unusual punishment and forced labor in the prisons' fields. I'm Lisa Dwyer and I'm Rita Foley, AP News.