By STEVE KARNOWSKI and JIM SALTER (Associated Press)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Two years after the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department following the killing of George Floyd, Attorney General Merrick Garland is visiting Minneapolis to make an announcement in “a civil rights matter.”

Justice Department and city officials declined on Thursday to confirm that Friday’s news conference at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis is to announce findings of that police department investigation. But a Justice Department advisory said Garland will be joined by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Police Chief Brian O’Hara and others. Also, a link to a Justice Department public webinar scheduled for Friday afternoon has the heading, “DOJ Presentation for MPD Investigative Findings.”

The “pattern or practice” investigation was launched in April 2021, a day after former officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter in the May 25, 2020, killing of Floyd. The Black man repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe then went limp as Chauvin knelt on his neck for 9 1/2 minutes.

The killing was recorded by a bystander and sparked months of mass protests as part of a broader national reckoning over racial injustice.

The federal investigation concerns whether the Minneapolis Police Department engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing. Such investigations typically look at the use of force by officers, including force used during protests, and whether the department engages in discriminatory practices. The investigation also was expected to assess the way the department handled misconduct allegations and how it held officers accountable.

A similar investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights led to a “court-enforceable settlement agreement” to revamp policing in the city and address the problems identified in the state investigation. Frey and state Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero signed the agreement in March.

The state investigation, which concluded in April 2022, found “significant racial disparities with respect to officers’ use of force, traffic stops, searches, citations, and arrests.” And it criticized “an organizational culture where some officers and supervisors use racist, misogynistic, and disrespectful language with impunity.”

Lucero said the legally binding agreement requires the city and the police department to make “transformational changes” to fix the organizational culture of the force, and that it could serve as a model for how cities, police departments and community members elsewhere work to stop race-based policing.

The federal investigation could prompt a separate but similar court-enforceable agreement, known as a consent decree, that would overlap the settlement with the state. Several police departments in other cities operate under consent decrees for alleged civil rights violations.

Floyd, 46, was arrested on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill for a pack of cigarettes at a corner market. He struggled with police when they tried to put him in a squad car, and they put the handcuffed man on the ground instead. As Chauvin pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck, J. Alexander Kueng held Floyd’s back, Thomas Lane held Floyd’s feet and Tou Thao kept bystanders back.

Chauvin, who is white, was sentenced to 22 1/2 years for murder. He also pleaded guilty to a federal charge of violating Floyd’s civil rights and was sentenced to 21 years in that case. He is serving the sentences concurrently at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Arizona.

Kueng, Lane and Thao were convicted of federal charges in February 2022. All three were convicted of depriving Floyd of his right to medical care, and Thao and Kueng were also convicted of failing to intervene to stop Chauvin during the killing. Lane and Kueng have since pleaded guilty to a state count of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter, and in exchange counts of aiding and abetting murder were dropped.

Lane, who is white, is serving his 2 1/2-year federal sentence at a facility in Colorado. He is serving a three-year state sentence at the same time. Kueng, who is Black, is serving a three-year federal sentence in Ohio, while also serving a 3 1/2-year state sentence.

Thao, who is Hmong American, got a 3 1/2-year federal sentence. The judge in the state case found him guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter in May. Thao had said it “would be lying” to have pleaded guilty, and he agreed to let the judge decide the case. The judge set sentencing for Aug. 7.

___ Salter reported from O’Fallon, Missouri.

___

Find AP’s full coverage of the death of George Floyd at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd

ALBANY, Ga. (AP) — Damaging winds and possible tornadoes toppled trees, damaged buildings and blew cars off a highway Wednesday as powerful storms crossed the South from Texas to Georgia.

The National Weather Service issued numerous tornado warnings, mainly in southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia, and cautioned that gusts of hurricane-force winds exceeding 90 mph (145 kph) were possible in parts of northeast Louisiana and central Mississippi. Some areas also were pelted with large hail.

Witnesses posted video of tornadoes hitting Abbeville and Eufala in Alabama.

In Georgia, authorities in Troup County told WSB-TV that a person was struck by lightning Wednesday afternoon. There was no immediate word on that person’s condition.

Tens of thousands of people across both Alabama and Georgia were without power Wednesday night amid the storms, according to each of the state’s power providers. At one point, the outages were affecting close to 50,000 people in Alabama alone.

Forecasters said severe storm threats could persist into Thursday, with the greatest risk across southern Alabama and Georgia into the Florida Panhandle as well as Oklahoma and parts of northern Texas and southern Kansas.

Felecia Bowser, meteorologist in charge for the National Weather Service in Tallahassee, Florida, called the far-reaching inland storm system unprecedented for this time of year.

“In June, we’re usually gearing up more for tropical weather,” Bowser said. “This type of widespread, aggressive precipitation that we’re seeing today usually occurs more so in the spring.”

Two people escaped unharmed from a home that was destroyed Wednesday as storms raked rural southwest Georgia, Calhoun County Sheriff Josh Hilton said. He told WALB-TV the home in Quail County Plantation, near the county line with neighboring Early County, was demolished.

Video posted on social media showed a large funnel cloud churning on the horizon near the rural city of Blakely, and officials in nearby communities reported downed trees and snapped power lines. Connie Hobbs, the elected commission chairman for neighboring Baker County, said hail stones up to golf-ball size rained down in her yard.

Tornado warnings were issued for southwest Georgia’s largest city, Albany, and surrounding Dougherty County on Wednesday afternoon. County government spokeswoman Wendy Howell said there had been no reports of significant damage or injuries.

“The big concern is flooding,” Howell said as rain hammered at windows Wednesday evening. “We’re such a flat area, and there’s already water standing” on and alongside the roads.

In Alabama, the Eufaula Police Department said confirmed tornado damage was reported in the city near the Georgia state line. Eufaula Mayor Jack Tibbs told WSFA-TV that no injuries were immediately reported, but the storm collapsed a wall of a building and downed 30 or 40 trees.

Local news outlets showed viewer-submitted video of a tornado rumbling through nearby Henry County, Alabama, and of roof damage in the area.

Sheriff Larry Rowe of Cass County in eastern Texas told KYTX-TV that some vehicles were blown off a highway Wednesday afternoon as the county was under a tornado warning. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — A former manager at the Harvard Medical School morgue, his wife and three other people have been indicted in the theft and sale of human body parts, federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania announced Wednesday.

Cedric Lodge, 55, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, stole dissected portions of cadavers that were donated to the school in the scheme that stretched from 2018 to early 2023, according to court documents. The body parts were taken without the school’s knowledge or permission, authorities said, adding that the school has cooperated with the investigation.

Lodge sometimes took the body parts — which included heads, brains, skin and bones — back to his home where he lived with his wife, Denise, 63, and some remains were sent to buyers through the mail, authorities said. Lodge also allegedly allowed buyers to come to the morgue to pick what remains they wanted to buy.

Bodies donated to Harvard Medical School are used for education, teaching or research purposes. Once they are no longer needed, the cadavers are usually cremated and the ashes are returned to the donor’s family or buried in a cemetery.

In a message posted on the school’s website entitled “An abhorrent betrayal,” deans George Daley and Edward Hundert called the matter “morally reprehensible.” They said Lodge was fired May 6.

“We are appalled to learn that something so disturbing could happen on our campus — a community dedicated to healing and serving others,” the deans wrote. “The reported incidents are a betrayal of HMS and, most importantly, each of the individuals who altruistically chose to will their bodies to HMS through the Anatomical Gift Program to advance medical education and research.”

Paula Peltonovich and her sister, Darlene Lynch, said they were shocked to learn that their father’s remains were among those said to be stolen. They said their parents were both police officers in New Hampshire who wanted to donate their bodies to science.

While the woman fear they may never know what happened to their father’s remains, they have asked the school to return the body of their mother, who died in March. Their father died in 2019.

“Who could do something like that? What kind of person? No respect at all for the family,” Peltonovich told WMUR-TV about the defendants. “They need to pay.”

The indictment charges the Lodges and three others — Katrina Maclean, 44, of Salem, Massachusetts; Joshua Taylor, 46, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania; and Mathew Lampi, 52, of East Bethel, Minnesota — with conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods.

Taylor’s lawyer, Christopher Opiel, declined comment Thursday. It was not known if any of the other defendants had a lawyer who could comment on their behalf.

According to prosecutors, the defendants were part of a nationwide network of people who bought and sold remains stolen from the school and an Arkansas mortuary. The Lodges allegedly sold remains to Maclean, Taylor, and others in arrangements made through telephone calls and social media websites.

Taylor sometimes transported stolen remains back to Pennsylvania, authorities said, while other times the Lodges would mail remains to him and others. Maclean and Taylor resold the stolen remains for profit, authorities said.

Maclean owns Kat’s Creepy Creations, a store in Peabody, Massachusetts, where authorities say she sold and stored human remains. Its Instagram page notes the store sells “creations that shock the mind & shake the soul,” along with “creepy dolls, oddities and bone Art.”

The indictment cites a transaction where Maclean allegedly sold human skin to a Pennsylvania man who tanned it to create leather. After MacLean shipped more human skin to the man, she contacted him to confirm the shipment arrived because she “wanted to make sure it got to you and I don’t expect agents at my door,” court papers said.

In another instance, MacLean allegedly agreed to buy “two dissected faces for $600” from Cedric Lodge in October 2020.

The indictment also alleged that over a three-year period, Taylor transferred 39 payments for human remains totaling $37,355.56 to a PayPal account operated by Denise Lodge. One payment for $1,000 included the memo “head number 7,” while another for $200 read “braiiiiiins.”

Denise and Cedric Lodge both made their initial court appearances Wednesday in federal court in Concord, New Hampshire, and were each released on personal recognizance bail. They declined comment as they left the courthouse.

Two other people have been charged in the case.

Jeremy Pauley, age 41, of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, allegedly bought some remains from Candace Chapman Scott, of Little Rock, Arkansas, who allegedly stole them from a mortuary where she worked. Authorities have said Scott stole body parts from cadavers she was supposed to have cremated, noting many of the bodies had been donated to and used for research and educational purposes by a medical school in Arkansas.

Pauley allegedly sold many of the stolen remains to other people, including individuals, including Lampi. Pauley and Lampi bought and sold from each other over an extended period of time and exchanged more than $100,000 in online payments, authorities said.

Scott and Pauley have both pleaded not guilty.

By LISA MASCARO (AP Congressional Correspondent)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Moments after Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he hoarded classified documents and then conspired to obstruct an investigation about it, the Republicans in Congress had his back.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy dashed off a fundraising email decrying the “witch hunt” against the former president and urging donors to sign up and “stand with Trump.”

Across the Capitol, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell steered clear of criticizing the former president, saying only, “I’m not going to start commenting on the various candidates we have for president.”

And at a public meeting in the Capitol basement, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene compared the case against Trump to the federal prosecution of people at the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, suggesting in both instances it was the Justice Department, not the defendants, under scrutiny.

The mounting legal jeopardy Trump finds himself in has quickly become a political rallying cry for the Republicans, many of whom acknowledged they had not fully read the 49-page federal indictment but stood by the indicted former president, adopting his grievances against the federal justice system as their own.

It’s an unparalleled example of how Trump has transformed the Republican Party that once embraced “law and order” but is now defending, justifying and explaining away the grave charges he faces with multiple counts of violating the Espionage Act by hoarding classified documents containing some of the country’s most sensitive national security secrets.

At the same time, Trump is rewriting the job description of what it means to lead a major American political party. Making another run for the White House, Trump is attacking the U.S. justice system that is foundational to democracy and emboldening Republican lawmakers to follow along.

“Stand with Trump,” tweeted Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the fourth-ranking House GOP leader.

“I will be standing right next to President Trump tonight in total support,” tweeted Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama before he dashed to join the former president at his private Bedminster golf club for a campaign event after the federal court hearing.

“I stand by him right now,” said Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., outside the Capitol. “Ten toes down.”

Despite two impeachment trials, New York state charges of hush money payments to porn star, a pair of probes into Trump’s efforts to undo the 2020 election and now the federal case over his classified documents, Trump has shown an ability to not just withstand legal scrutiny but to thrive off it.

As Trump’s defenders in Congress see it, he will rise politically, precisely because of all the investigations against him. Republicans in Congress are reframing the historic indictment of a former president as an unfair political persecution.

“I’ve been pretty clear on this all the way through: I think the country is very frustrated, when you don’t feel like there’s equal justice.” McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol.

“This president hasn’t even been out of office for four years, but you’re holding him to a standard you’ve never held anybody else to.”

Republican Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida said the case smacks of a “two-tier” justice system, adding that constituents tell her they “never in a million years would have voted for Trump, but this is insane.”

“A bogus investigation,” said Donalds.

“Political hit job,” said Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri, who said he did read the whole indictment.

Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio said Trump is merely the “latest victim” of the Justice Department. He announced he would be blocking all DOJ nominees unless the attorney general changes course.

“If Merrick Garland wants to use these officials to harass Joe Biden’s political opponents, we will grind his department to a halt,” Vance said in a statement.

Republicans also see the federal case against Trump as a winning political strategy to motivate aggrieved voters to the polls in 2024 elections, when the House and one-third of the Senate will be up for another term alongside the presidential nominees.

House Republicans are fundraising off the indictment, and the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Rep. Richard Hudson, joined Trump on the plane from a campaign rally in Georgia to one in North Carolina where the congressman introduced the former president on stage.

“A lot of people are going to vote,” Trump told the Bedminster crowd. “They know what we’ve gone through.”

In a 37-count indictment, prosecutors alleged Trump knowingly stored highly sensitive national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida and then schemed to provide false information to investigators who tried to retrieve the government papers. He could face a potentially lengthy prison sentence, if convicted.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said, “The Trump indictment speaks for itself.”

“And the trial will speak for itself,” Jeffries said. “And I have every confidence in the jurors and the American people to arrive at the outcome that is just.”

Some Republicans acknowledge that Trump’s hoarding of the documents — in dozens of boxes in the bathroom, on a ballroom stage and spilled in a storage room – was problematic. Prosecutors said the papers included material about nuclear programs, defense and weapons capabilities, among others, some of the most secret information the U.S. government owns.

Sen. Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Trump should have never stored the documents at his home, but suggested there was no real harm done since Trump didn’t appear to give away the documents to China, Saudi Arabia or other countries. Rubio was more worried the indictment of Trump will “release a fury” across a politically divided nation.

Only a few GOP voices in Congress dared to publicly raise serious questions about Trump’s behavior.

“The real question is, why did he do it?” said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, the only Republican senator who voted twice to convict Trump in the impeachment trials. “Why should the country go through all this angst and turmoil when all he had to do is turn in the documents when asked?”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said of what she’s seen in the indictment, “it looks pretty damning to me.”

About the same time Trump was pleading not guilty to the charges, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida was leading a panel discussion with Greene and others about the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by a mob of pro-Trump supporters trying to challenge and overturn Biden’s election.

Greene opened her remarks saying it was “heavy on my heart that we’re doing this today.”

She compared the two historic moments in U.S. history — “when President Trump was being arraigned all because of the weaponized government that has been weaponized against each of you.”

Trump had encouraged the mob to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 and fight for his presidency as Congress was certifying the election won by Biden. Some 1,000 people have been charged by the Justice Department in the Capitol riot, including members of extremist groups convicted of sedition.

Many of those defendants were backing Trump’s false claims of a stolen election. Five people died in the siege of the Capitol, including Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt who was shot and killed by Capitol Police.

Greene and the others claim the prosecutions of Jan. 6 rioters and Trump are evidence of a “weaponization” of the justice system.

“It all started on the day, on Jan. 6, when we were just doing our constitutional duty to object” to Biden’s election, she said.

Asked afterward if they were trying to rewrite Jan. 6 history, Gaetz, a Trump ally, said: “We’re trying to correct history.”

___

Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Stephen Groves, Kevin Freking and Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.

___

This story has been corrected to show that Sen. Rubio is the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, not the Republican chairman.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A truck driver who hated Jewish people turned a sacred house of worship into a “hunting ground” when he burst into a Pittsburgh synagogue and killed 11 congregants, a federal prosecutor said Thursday, asking jurors to return a conviction in the nation’s deadliest antisemitic attack.

Robert Bowers is charged with 63 criminal counts, including hate crimes resulting in death and obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death. Some of the charges carry a potential death sentence.

In closing arguments Thursday, a prosecutor told the jury that Bowers targeted his victims because of their religion.

“He is filled with hatred for Jews,” prosecutor Mary Hahn said, noting Bowers had an extensive history of posting antisemitic and white supremacist content online. “That is what propelled him to act.”

Bowers’ attorney was expected to address the jury after the government finished its presentation, followed by jury deliberations.

The defense did not call any witnesses or present any evidence after conceding at the trial’s outset that he attacked and killed worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018. Seven people were injured in the attack, including five responding police officers.

Prosecutors say the 50-year-old was motivated by his hatred of Jewish people. Over 11 days of testimony, jurors learned that Bowers had extensively posted, shared or liked antisemitic and white supremacist content on Gab, a social media platform popular with the far right.

The defense has sought to raise questions about motive, suggesting to jurors that his rampage was not spurred by antisemitism but his delusional belief that Jews were committing genocide by helping refugees settle in the United States.

The jury could begin deliberating as early as Thursday afternoon.

Assuming the jury returns a conviction, the trial would enter what’s expected to be a lengthy penalty phase, with the same jurors deciding Bowers’ sentence: life in prison or the death penalty. Bowers’ attorneys have focused their efforts on trying to save his life.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Closings arguments are underway Thursday in the federal trial of a truck driver who killed 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in the nation’s deadliest attack on Jews.

Robert Bowers is charged with 63 criminal counts, including hate crimes resulting in death and obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death. Some of the charges carry a potential death sentence.

Bowers’ attorneys did not call any witnesses or present any evidence after conceding at the trial’s outset that he attacked and killed worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018. Seven people were injured in the attack, including five responding police officers.

Prosecutors say the 50-year-old was motivated by his hatred of Jewish people. Over 11 days of testimony, jurors learned that Bowers had extensively posted, shared or liked antisemitic and white supremacist content on Gab, a social media platform popular with the far right.

The defense has sought to raise questions about motive, suggesting to jurors that his rampage was not spurred by antisemitism but his delusional belief that Jews were committing genocide by helping refugees settle in the United States.

The jury could begin deliberating as early as Thursday afternoon.

Assuming the jury returns a conviction, the trial would enter what’s expected to be a lengthy penalty phase, with the same jurors deciding Bowers’ sentence: life in prison or the death penalty. Bowers’ attorneys have focused their efforts on trying to save his life.

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — Jurors in federal court have awarded $25.6 million to a former Starbucks regional manager who alleged that she and other white employees were unfairly punished after the high-profile arrests of two Black men at a Philadelphia location in 2018.

Shannon Phillips won $600,000 in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages on Monday after a jury in New Jersey found that race was a determinative factor in Phillips’ firing, in violation of federal and state anti-discrimination.

In April 2018, a Philadelphia store manager called police on two Black men who were sitting in the coffee shop without ordering anything. Phillips, then regional manager of operations in Philadelphia, southern New Jersey, and elsewhere, was not involved with arrests. However, she said she was ordered to put a white manager who also wasn’t involved on administrative leave for reasons she knew were false, according to her lawsuit.

Phillips said she was fired less than a month later after objecting to the manager being placed on leave amid the uproar, according to her lawsuit.

The company’s rationale for suspending the district manager, who was not responsible for the store where the arrests took place, was an allegation that Black store managers were being paid less than white managers, according to the lawsuit. Phillips said that argument made no sense since district managers had no input on employee salaries.

The lawsuit alleged Starbucks was instead taking steps to “punish white employees” who worked in the area “in an effort to convince the community that it had properly responded to the incident.”

During closing arguments on Friday, Phillips’ lawyer Laura Mattiacci told jurors that the company was looking for a “sacrificial lamb” to calm the outrage and show that it was taking action, Law360 reported. Picking a Black employee for such a purpose “would have blown up in their faces,” she said.

Starbucks denied Phillips’ allegations, saying the company needed someone with a track record of “strength and resolution” during a crisis and replaced her with a regional manager who had such experience, including navigating the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, Law360 reported.

Phillips’ attorney, however, cited earlier testimony from a Black district manager, who was responsible for the store where the arrests took place, who described Phillips as someone beloved by her peers and worked around the clock after the arrests.

In an email to The Associated Press, Mattiacci confirmed the award amount and said the judge will consider awarding back pay and future pay, as well as attorney’s fees. Mattiacci told the New Jersey Law Journal that she will seek about $3 million for lost pay, and roughly $1 million on her fee application. Starbucks declined comment Tuesday.

In the April 2018 incident, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson were arrested in a Starbucks coffee shop near tony Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia shortly after the manager called police to report that two men were refusing to either make a purchase or leave the premises. They were later released without charges.

Video of the arrest prompted national outcry and led the current CEO of Starbucks to personally apologize to the men. The company later reached a settlement with both men for an undisclosed sum and an offer of free college education. The company also changed store policies and closed locations across the country for an afternoon for racial-bias training.

The two men also reached a deal with the city of Philadelphia for a symbolic $1 each and a promise from officials to set up a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs. The Philadelphia Police Department adopted a new policy on how to deal with people accused of trespassing on private property — warning businesses against misusing the authority of police officers.

A coalition of music publishers, including Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music and Sony Music Publishing, is suing Twitter over “massive copyright infringement” involving the companies’ respective music catalogs.

Seventeen music publishers, who hold the rights to music from artists including Drake, Taylor Swift and Adele, filed the joint lawsuit in Tennessee federal court. They seek more than $250 million in damages.

Elon Musk’s X Corp, which owns Twitter, is the sole defendant.

“Twitter stands alone as the largest social media platform that has completely refused to license the millions of songs on its service,” David Israelite, chief executive of the National Music Publishers’ Association, said in a statement. “Twitter knows full well that music is leaked, launched, and streamed by billions of people every day on its platform. No longer can it hide behind the (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and refuse to pay songwriters and music publishers.”

Israelite accused Twitter of platforming leaked music, copyrighted music videos and other material. Under DMCA rules, Twitter and other social media websites are protected against copyright strikes over user-uploaded material, provided they work to remove infringing material and punish the offending users.

However, the lawsuit argues Twitter has failed to do so.

“Twitter further claims that it expeditiously removes content in response to valid claims, nearly always within hours of initial reports, if not in minutes,” the lawsuit reads. “But the reality is that Twitter routinely ignores known repeat infringers and known infringements, refusing to take simple steps that are available to Twitter to stop these specific instances of infringement of which it is aware.”

The 17 publishers suing Twitter are ABKCO Music, Anthem Entertainment, Big Machine Music, BMG Rights Management, Concord, Hipgnosis, Kobalt, Mayimba, Peer, Reservoir Media Management, Sony Music Publishing, Spirit Music Group, the Royalty Network, Ultra Music Publishing, Universal Music Group Publishing, Warner Chappell and Wixen.

In response to questions about the lawsuit, Twitter’s press department sent an auto-reply of the poop emoji.

Twitter has long drawn the ire of music publishers, even before Musk purchased the site in October 2022. In a 2020 hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee, the Recording Industry Association of America accused Twitter of taking no action to stop “industrial scale piracy” on its website.

According to The New York Times, Twitter had recently considered licensing music from the three major labels, but talks fell through after Musk assumed control of the company.

NEW YORK — U.S. Army Pvt. Cole Bridges attempted to help the Islamic State group murder U.S. soldiers abroad — and offered advice on attacking New York City.

“Cole Bridges attempted to orchestrate a murderous ambush on his fellow soldiers in service of ISIS and its violent ideology,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement Wednesday. “Bridges’ traitorous conduct was a betrayal of his comrades and his country.”

The 22-year-old former soldier from Ohio pleaded guilty Wednesday to plotting to aid America’s enemies. Prosecutors praised the FBI and the U.S. Army for their help in subverting Bridges’ “malign intent.” He will be sentenced on Nov. 22.

Bridges joined the Army in 2019, according to prosecutors, who said he was assigned as a cavalry scout in the Third Infantry Division based in Fort Stewart, Georgia. It was around that time he began consuming jihadist propaganda online. Prosecutors said Bridges participated in supporting ISIS on social media.

Roughly a year later, he began communicating with an FBI agent posing as an ISIS ally with contacts in the Middle East.

“During these communications, Bridges expressed his frustration with the U.S. military and his desire to aid ISIS,” prosecutors said. “Bridges then provided training and guidance to purported ISIS fighters who were planning attacks, including advice about potential targets in New York City.”

The turncoat is also accused of attempting to provide ISIS with sections of a U.S. Army training manual and offering guidance regarding military combat tactics. That included volunteering instructions on how to fortify buildings to repel U.S. offensives and using explosives to ambush American soldiers.

Bridges, who also used the last name Gonzales, seemed to become emboldened as time passed.

“In January 2021, Bridges provided (his contact) with a video of himself in his U.S. Army body armor standing in front of a flag often used by ISIS fighters and making a gesture symbolic of support for ISIS,” prosecutors said.

Bridges followed that video with a second tape featuring him narrating a propaganda ad supporting violence against U.S. troops.

He faces a 20-year sentence for attempting to provide material support to ISIS and another 20 years for scheming to murder American military personnel.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Old Dominion linebacker Jason Henderson and punter Ethan Duane have been named preseason first-team All-Sun Belt selections by Phil Steele, while teammates Javon Harvey, Terry Jones and LaMareon James made the third team.

Henderson led the country with 186 tackles last season, breaking the ODU and Sun Belt single-season records, and was a second-team All-American.

Duane averaged 42.9 yards per punt and led the Sun Belt with 28 punts downed inside the 20.

ODU will opens the season Sept. 2 at Virginia Tech.

Four W&M players are All-Americans

William & Mary linebacker John Pius and three of his teammates have been selected to the Bluebloods Preseason All-America Team.

Pius made the first team, while defensive end Nate Lynn and left tackle Charles Grant were on the second team and running back Bronson Yoder was on the third team.

Pius was the runner-up for the Buck Buchanan Award, which honors the national defensive player of the year in the FCS. He was also the CAA Defensive Player of the Year.

COLLEGE BASEBALL

UVA trio make NCBA All-America list

Three Virginia players have been named National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBA) All-Americans.

Catcher Kyle Teel and pitcher Connelly Early each made the first team, while third baseman Jake Gelof was on the second team.

Teel, a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and a finalist for the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award, is hitting .417 with 67 runs, 25 doubles, 13 homers and 69 RBIs.

Early is 12-2 with a 3.06 ERA and 98 strikeouts in 82.1 innings this season.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

NSU, Hampton to play in Paradise Jam

The Norfolk State and Hampton men’s basketball teams will compete in the Paradise Jam on Nov. 17-20 in St. Thomas at the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Other schools in the field include Florida Gulf Coast, Fordham, Kent State, San Jose State, Missouri State and Abilene Christian.

It will be the Spartans’ fourth appearance in the tournament. They also competed in 2015, 2011 and 2005.

NSU will open play against Fordham at 2 p.m. on Nov. 17. The Spartans finished 22-11 last season after falling to Howard by a point in the MEAC Tournament championship game.

* Hampton basketball stars Marquis Godwin and Najee Garvin have been invited to participate in the inaugural HBCU All-Star Dream Classic on Aug. 5 at Rucker Park in New York.

* Dominic Parker has returned as assistant head coach to the Christopher Newport men’s basketball team after previously spending two seasons on the Captains’ staff. The Raleigh, North Carolina, native was an assistant coach at Guilford College the past three seasons.

Briefly

* Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, a former Old Dominion star, has a torn labrum in his right shoulder and will undergo season-ending surgery. Pasquantino was hitting .247 with nine homers and 26 RBIs though his first 61 games, but he began feeling some discomfort in his shoulder during a game against Baltimore on June 9. He had an MRI exam Monday that revealed the extent of the injury.

* Virginia golfer Ben James has earned first-team All-America honors from Golfweek. He was one of only two freshmen to receive the honor. He posted a school-record stroke average of 69.0 in 13 tournaments and had 11 top-six finishes this season.

* Golfweek has named Virginia women’s golfer Amanda Sambach a first-team All-American. She set school records with three victories and a 71.31 stroke average this season.

* Old Dominion swimmer Brynn Jewell finished second in the non-wet suit female division of the Great Chesapeake Bay 4.4-Mile Open Water Swim on Sunday. The annual event consists of a 4.4-mile swim across Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay.