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

Biden administration sues Texas governor over Rio Grande buoy barrier that’s meant to stop migrants

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Justice Department on Monday sued Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over a newly installed floating barrier on the Rio Grande that is the Republican’s latest aggressive tactic to try to stop migrants from crossing into the U.S. from Mexico.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge in Austin to force Texas to remove a roughly 1,000-foot (305-meter) line of bright orange, wrecking ball-sized buoys that the Biden administration says raises humanitarian and environmental concerns. The suit claims that Texas unlawfully installed the barrier without permission between the border cities of Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Mexico.

The buoys are the latest escalation of Texas’ border security operation that also includes razor-wire fencing, arresting migrants on trespassing charges and sending busloads of asylum-seekers to Democratic-led cities in other states. Critics have long questioned the effectiveness of the two-year operation, known as Operation Lone Star. A state trooper’s account this month that some of the measures injured migrants has put the mission under intensifying new scrutiny.

In anticipation of the lawsuit, Abbott sent President Joe Biden a letter earlier Monday that defended Texas’ right to install the barrier. He accused Biden of putting migrants at risk by not doing more to deter them from making the journey to the U.S.

“Texas will see you in court, Mr. President,” Abbott wrote.

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Gene therapy eyedrops restored a boy’s sight. Similar treatments could help millions

MIAMI (AP) — Dr. Alfonso Sabater pulled up two photos of Antonio Vento Carvajal’s eyes. One showed cloudy scars covering both eyeballs. The other, taken after months of gene therapy given through eyedrops, revealed no scarring on either eye.

Antonio, who’s been legally blind for much of his 14 years, can see again.

The teen was born with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, a rare genetic condition that causes blisters all over his body and in his eyes. But his skin improved when he joined a clinical trial to test the world’s first topical gene therapy. That gave Sabater an idea: What if it could be adapted for Antonio’s eyes?

This insight not only helped Antonio, it also opened the door to similar therapies that could potentially treat millions of people with other eye diseases, including common ones.

Antonio’s mom, Yunielkys “Yuni” Carvajal, teared up thinking about what Sabater did for her son.

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Justice Department to make prosecutor in Hunter Biden case available to testify before Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — The lead prosecutor in the case against President Joe Biden’s son Hunter says he is willing to testify publicly this fall, setting up a clash with House Republicans who have demanded he come in soon for a closed-door interview.

In a two-page letter to Rep. Jim Jordan on Monday, the Justice Department offered to make U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware available before the House Judiciary Committee for a public hearing after the August break as Republicans continue to escalate their ongoing investigation into his handling of the probe into Hunter Biden.

“The Department believes it is strongly in the public interest for the American people and for Congress to hear directly from U.S. Attorney Weiss on these assertions and questions about his authority at a public hearing,” Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte wrote to Jordan.

House Republicans, led by Jordan — chair of the Judiciary Committee — had requested last month for Weiss and nearly a dozen other officials to come in for transcribed interviews with the committee as part of its investigation into claims the Justice Department improperly interfered in the case into Hunter Biden’s financial dealings. Weiss’ probe ended last month with a plea deal that will likely spare Biden from time behind bars.

The congressional inquiry was opened after testimony from two IRS agents who worked on the Hunter Biden case detailed what they called a pattern of “slow-walking investigative steps” and delaying enforcement actions in the months before the 2020 presidential election won by his father. The Justice Department — under then-former President Donald Trump — had issued a memo in February 2020 warning prosecutors to take care in charging cases with potential political overtones around the time of an election, to avoid any possible influence on the outcome.

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Why is Israel’s judicial overhaul so divisive?

JERUSALEM (AP) — For seven months, tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul the judiciary and weaken the Supreme Court.

On Monday, the first piece of that legislative package passed: Lawmakers approved a measure that prevents judges from striking down government decisions on the basis that they are “unreasonable.”

Here’s a look at what the overhaul is — and why it has drawn the most sustained and intense demonstrations the country has ever seen.

The overhaul calls for sweeping changes aimed at curbing the powers of the judiciary.

The proposals include a bill that would allow a simple majority in parliament to overturn Supreme Court decisions. Another would give parliament the final say in selecting judges.

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Elon Musk reveals new ‘X’ logo to replace Twitter’s blue bird

Goodbye, Twitter. Hello, X.

Elon Musk has unveiled a new “X” logo to replace Twitter’s famous blue bird as he follows through with a major rebranding of the social media platform he bought for $44 billion last year.

The X started appearing at the top of the desktop version of Twitter on Monday, but the bird was still dominant across the smartphone app. At Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco, meanwhile, workers were seen removing the iconic bird and logo Monday until police showed up and stopped them because they didn’t have the proper permits and didn’t tape off the sidewalk to keep pedestrians safe if anything fell.

As of early afternoon, the “er” at the end of Twitter remained visible.

The haphazard erasure of both the physical and virtual remnants of Twitter’s past were in many ways typical of the chaotic way Musk has run the company since his reluctant purchase.

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An Arizona woman died after her power was cut over a $51 debt. That forced utilities to change

PHOENIX (AP) — Stephanie Pullman died on a sweltering Arizona day after her electricity was cut off because of a $51 debt.

Five years later, the 72-year-old’s story remains at the heart of efforts to prevent others in Arizona from having their power cut off, leaving them without life-saving air conditioning in temperatures that have topped 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) on every day this month.

“Stephanie Pullman was the face of the fight that helped put the disconnect rules in place for the big, regulated utilities in Arizona,” said Stacey Champion, an advocate who pushed for new regulations. “But we need more.”

Arizona Public Service, known as APS, disconnected Pullman’s power in September 2018 at a time when outside temperatures in her retirement community west of Phoenix reached 107 degrees Fahrenheit (41.6 Celsius). Just days before, a $125 payment was made toward Pullman’s past-due bill of $176.

Her body was found inside her home during a subsequent wellness check.

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Abortion messaging roils debate over Ohio ballot initiative. Backers said it wasn’t about that

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The fraught politics of abortion have helped turn an August ballot question in Ohio that would make it harder to change the state constitution into a cauldron of misinformation and fear-mongering.

State Issue 1, the sole question on the ballot, calls for raising the threshold for passing future changes to the Ohio Constitution from a simple majority to 60%. Starting next year, it also would double the number of counties where signatures must be gathered, from 44 to all 88, and do away with the 10-day grace period for closing gaps in the total valid signatures submitted.

Republican state lawmakers and the GOP elections chief urgently advanced the proposal as an abortion rights question was working its way toward the ballot this fall. However, they insisted it had nothing to do with thwarting that measure.

But early summer messaging on social media and in churches has consistently urged a yes vote on the August amendment “to protect life” — and that’s just one example of the loaded messages confronting voters during the campaign.

Protect Women Ohio, the campaign against the fall abortion issue, is airing pro-Issue 1 ads suggesting that abortions rights proponents at work in the state “encourage minors to get sex change surgeries and want to trash parental consent.” The fall abortion amendment would protect access to various forms of reproductive health care but makes no mention of gender surgery, and the attorneys who wrote it say Ohio’s parental consent law would not be affected.

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Ohio investigates why a police dog was deployed on a surrendering truck driver

CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Several Ohio agencies are investigating why an officer allowed his police dog to attack a truck driver who was surrendering with his hands raised, despite State Highway Patrol troopers urging the officer to hold the dog back.

The lengthy pursuit on July 4 and the ensuing attack were captured on a police body camera. The chase began on state highway 35, when state troopers tried to stop a commercial semitruck that was missing a mudflap and failed to halt for an inspection, according to a Ohio State Highway Patrol incident report made available to The Associated Press.

The nearby Circleville Police Department was called in to assist, including a K9 police dog, authorities said. The truck driver, Jadarrius Rose, 23, of Memphis, Tennessee, who is Black, initially refused to get out of the truck and later defied instructions to get on the ground, according to the Highway Patrol incident report and the body cam video.

“The suspect failed to stop for marked patrol units with lights and sirens activated,” the report said. Rose eventually got on his knees and raised his hands in the air.

A Circleville police statement does not say if the officer will face any disciplinary action, and does not identify him. A person who answered the phone at the police department on Monday declined to comment and wouldn’t give their name.

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Russia says Moscow and Crimea hit by Ukrainian drones while Russian forces bombard Ukraine’s south

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian authorities accused Ukraine of launching a drone attack on Moscow early Monday that saw one of the aircraft fall near the Defense Ministry’s main headquarters, while the Russian military unleashed new strikes on port infrastructure in southern Ukraine.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said there were no casualties when the drones struck two nonresidential buildings in Moscow. Separately, a Ukrainian drone struck an ammunition depot in Russian-annexed Crimea, forcing a halt in traffic on a major highway, Russian authorities said.

In Moscow, Russian media reported that one of the drones fell on the Komsomolsky highway near the capital’s center, shattering shop windows and damaged the roof of a house just about 200 meters (just over 200 yards) away from the towering riverside Defense Ministry building. The ministry’s main headquarters has Pantsyr air defense systems placed on the roof.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the drone targeted the Defense Ministry’s headquarters, which is located 2.7 kilometers (1.7 miles) away from the Kremlin, or was heading to some other target in central Moscow.

Another drone hit an office building in southern Moscow, gutting several upper floors — more visible damage compared to earlier drone strikes on the Russian capital.

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In ‘Barbie,’ ‘Oppenheimer’ smash success, audiences send message to Hollywood: Give us something new

NEW YORK (AP) — In the massive movie weekend of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” there were many winners. Greta Gerwig, who made history for female directors. Christopher Nolan, who set a non-Batman career high. Movie theaters, more crowded than anytime post-pandemic. Lovers of unlikely double features. The color pink. Matchbox Twenty.

But one of the most important triumphs in the moviegoing monsoon of “Barbenheimer” was originality. Here are two movies that are neither sequels nor reboots pushing the box office to highs not seen in years. “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” became a meme because of their worlds-apart differences but they’re each indelibly the work of those filmmakers.

“Barbie,” based on the Mattel doll, had some extremely well-known intellectual property going for it. And the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb comes from no small moment in history. Nolan is himself a brand, too.

But Hollywood’s biggest zeitgeist in years was propelled by a pair of movies without a roman numeral, a Jedi or a superhero in sight. At the same time, some of the most dependable franchises in movies, from Marvel to “Fast and the Furious,” are no longer leading the pack.

The movie business may be shifting. Audiences are showing a renewed taste for something fresh. “Barbenheimer” could, just maybe, be a turning point.