By ERIC TUCKER and JILL COLVIN (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump arrived in Florida on Monday ahead of a history-making federal court appearance on dozens of felony charges accusing him of illegally hoarding classified documents and thwarting the Justice Department’s efforts to get them back.

Trump’s Tuesday afternoon appearance in Miami will mark his second time since April facing a judge on criminal charges. But unlike a New York case some legal analysts derided as relatively trivial, the Justice Department’s first prosecution of a former president concerns conduct that prosecutors say jeopardized national security, with Espionage Act charges carrying the prospect of a significant prison sentence.

Ahead of his court date, he and his allies have been escalating efforts to undermine the criminal case against him and drum up protests. He’s ratcheted up the rhetoric against the Justice Department special counsel who filed the case, calling Jack Smith “deranged” as he repeated without any evidence his claims that he was the target of a political persecution. And even as his supporters accuse the Justice Department of being weaponized against him, he vowed Monday to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate President Joe Biden and his family if Trump is elected to a second term.

Trump landed in Miami around 3 p.m. Monday and got into a waiting SUV. He was expected to huddle with advisers before his court appearance, as he looks to line up additional lawyers following the departure before his indictment last week of two attorneys who had handled the defense for months.

He’s encouraged supporters to join a planned protest at the Miami courthouse Tuesday, where he will face the charges and surrender to authorities.

“We need strength in our country now,” Trump said Sunday, speaking to longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone in an interview on WABC Radio. “And they have to go out and they have to protest peacefully. They have to go out.”

“Look, our country has to protest. We have plenty to protest. We’ve lost everything,” he went on.

He also said there were no circumstances “whatsoever” under which he would leave the 2024 race, where he’s been dominating the Republican primary.

Other Trump supporters have rallied to his defense with similar language, including Kari Lake, the unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arizona who pointedly said over the weekend that if prosecutors “want to get to President Trump,” they’re ”going to have to go through me, and 75 million Americans just like me. And most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA.”

Trump’s calls for protest echoed exhortations he made ahead of a New York court appearance in April, where he faces charges arising from hush money payments made during his 2016 presidential campaign, though he complained that those who showed up to protest then were “so far away that nobody knew about ’em,” And just like in that case, he plans to address supporters in a Tuesday evening speech hours after his court date.

After his court appearance, he will return to New Jersey, where he’s scheduled a press event to publicly respond to the charges. He’ll also be holding a private fundraiser.

Trump supporters were also planning to load buses to head to Miami from other parts of Florida, raising concerns for law enforcement officials who are preparing for the potential of unrest around the courthouse. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said the city would be ready, and police chief Manuel A. Morales said downtown could see anywhere from a few thousand up to 50,000 protesters. He said the city would be diverting traffic and possibly blocking streets depending on crowd size.

“Make no mistake about it,” Morales said. “We are taking this event extremely serious. We know there is a potential of things taking a turn for the worse but that’s not the Miami way.”

The Justice Department unsealed Friday an indictment charging Trump with 37 felony counts, 31 relating to the willful retention of national defense information. Other charges include conspiracy to commit obstruction and false statements.

The indictment alleges Trump intentionally retained hundreds of classified documents that he took with him from the White House to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, after leaving the White House in January 2021. The material he stored, including in a bathroom, ballroom, bedroom and shower, included material on nuclear programs, defense and weapons capabilities of the U.S. and foreign governments and a Pentagon “attack plan,” the indictment says. The information, if exposed, could have put at risk members of the military, confidential human sources and intelligence collection methods, prosecutors said.

Beyond that, prosecutors say, he sought to obstruct government efforts to recover the documents, including by directing personal aide Walt Nauta — who was charged alongside Trump — to move boxes to conceal them and also suggesting to his own lawyer that he hide or destroy documents sought by a Justice Department subpoena.

Some fellow Republicans have sought to press the case that Trump is being treated unfairly, citing the Justice Department’s decision in 2016 to not charge Democrat Hillary Clinton for her handling of classified information through a private email server she relied on as secretary of state. But those arguments overlook that FBI investigators did not find any evidence that Clinton or her aides had willfully broken laws regarding classified information or had obstructed the investigation.

New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, speaking Sunday on CBS News, said there was a “huge difference” between the two investigations but that it “has to be explained to the American people.”

The Justice Department earlier this month informed former Vice President Mike Pence that it would not bring charges over the presence of classified documents in his Indiana home. A separate Justice Department special counsel investigation into the discovery of classified records at a home and office of President Joe Biden continues, though as in the Clinton case, no evidence of obstruction or intentional law-breaking has surfaced.

Trump’s own former attorney general, William Barr, offered a grim assessment of Trump’s predicament, saying on Fox News that Trump had no right to hold onto such sensitive records.

“If even half of it is true,” Barr said of the allegations, “then he’s toast. I mean, it’s a pretty — it’s a very detailed indictment, and it’s very, very damning. And this idea of presenting Trump as a victim here — a victim of a witch hunt is ridiculous.”

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Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami and Terry Spencer in Doral, Florida contributed to this report.

Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP

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More on Donald Trump-related investigations: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump

By CAROLYN THOMPSON (Associated Press)

A boat carrying hospitality workers capsized Monday during a tour of a historic underground cavern system built to carry water from the Erie Canal beneath the western New York city of Lockport, killing one person who became trapped beneath the overturned vessel, officials said.

All 29 people on board the flat-bottomed boat operated by Lockport Cave Tours were thrown into water between 5 feet and 6 feet deep when the craft tipped over toward the end of the roughly 300-foot route.

The tours take visitors on an underground boat ride through a dimly lit, rough-hewn tunnel, which was blasted out in the 19th century to transport canal water as an industrial power source.

Some passengers dunked into the water were able to get to safety on their own. Rescue crews using an inflatable boat rescued about 16 others, Lockport Fire Chief Luca Quagliano said.

Jeremy Swiatowy, 42, watched as rescue workers breached the wall to the tunnel with a sledgehammer before shimmying through the hole to reach people inside.

“The water in the caves is super cold,” he said.

When rescuers reached the boat, some passengers had climbed on top of its upturned hull, Quagliano said at a news conference.

Authorities did not immediately release the name of the man who died. His wife was taken to a hospital.

A total of 11 people were brought to hospitals, mostly with minor injuries, the fire chief said.

All of the passengers were hospitality employees from across Niagara County, according to Andrea Czopp, chief operating officer at Destination Niagara USA. The agency organized the outing as part of a familiarization tour, she said.

Authorities said the specially built motorboat holds up to 40 people, who sit in rows about four across. During the ride, about two to three feet of space separate the boat and cave walls on either side.

Nobody on board had a life preserver, authorities said. It was unclear whether they were required or offered.

The company that operates the tours did not immediately respond to phone calls and an email seeking comment.

Lockport Mayor Michelle Roman said the attraction, located about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Niagara Falls, has operated since the mid-1970s, without incident. It will remain closed during an investigation.

“This is very sad for everybody,” she said.

Police Chief Steven Abbott said the cave and canal are private property.

“We have a lot of questions that need to be answered,” he said.

Video footage from the scene outside the Lockport Cave office showed one person talking as she was loaded onto an ambulance. Others wrapped in white towels were being escorted to a bus as a steady rain fell.

The water tunnel was once the subject of an episode of the Syfy network show “Ghost Hunters.”

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Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz in New York City and Michael Hill in Albany contributed to this report.

Newport News kicked off a series of events Monday to celebrate the Juneteenth holiday, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, by raising the Juneteenth flag inside City Hall.

Next week, on June 19, the city will mark the day with a Juneteenth Freedom Festival, but it will not include a parade like it did last year, as the city is dedicating those resources toward the popular Southeast Community Day parade instead.

At Monday’s event, city officials emphasized the importance of recognizing Juneteenth, which became a paid state holiday in Virginia in 2020 and a federal holiday in 2021.

The holiday, also known as Emancipation Day, recognizes June 19, 1865. On that date, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas — more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation — and announced the Civil War had ended and that all enslaved African Americans there were freed.

“I think it’s important that in the city of Newport News, we recognize and honor our history, our culture and our legacy,” Mayor Phillip Jones said. “And as long as I’m mayor, we will continue to do Juneteenth events in Newport News.”

The ceremony, held inside due to weather, included prayer, reflection, singing the national anthem and “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” sometimes known as the Black national anthem. Jones recounted the inhumane treatment and slavery that millions of African Americans had been subjected to for more than 200 years after arrival in the United States.  He said the holiday is a time to “celebrate human freedom and the resilience of African Americans as we reflect on the grievous legacy of slavery and rededicate ourselves to justice and opportunity for all Americans.”

David Freeman, assistant to the city manager, urged those watching to continue “the work of building a more just and equitable society for all.”

“We remember and acknowledge the long and difficult journey Black Americans have endured and celebrate our resiliency and strength,” Freeman said. “It is also a day of hope, a day to look forward to a future where all people are treated with equality, dignity and respect.”

City offices are closed on Juneteenth and Newport News will celebrate the day with a free festival from noon to 5 p.m. The event features musical entertainment from The Champagne Band, United Souls, The Unifics and R&B singer Bobby V, as well as food and craft vendors, informational exhibits, and children’s activities.

Missing from the activities will be a parade. Last year, the city hosted an inaugural Juneteenth parade. But this year, after considering whether it could afford to fund both the Juneteenth parade and the Southeast Community Day parade, a popular, longstanding parade, the city opted to scale back.

The Southeast Community Day Parade, typically held in September, was drastically scaled down last year after the City Council changed the special events permit ordinance so organizers — not the city — would be responsible for paying all associated costs. Previously, Newport News had fronted costs for parades and festivals — even those not sponsored by the city. The change meant the parade would have cost organizers almost $15,000, so organizer Andrew Shannon withdrew his permit and hosted a much smaller unofficial event on the sidewalks.

Jones said the community wanted the southeast parade instead of the Juneteenth parade, so the city allocated resources to make that a reality.

Even without a parade, former Vice Mayor Saundra Cherry, chair of the Downtown Newport News Merchants and Neighbors Association and longtime advocate for getting the city to celebrate Juneteenth, praised the city’s efforts to expand education and awareness of the holiday.

“Our No. 1 goal will continue to be unity in the community,” she said.

Josh Janney, [email protected].

Police are investigating a shooting in Portsmouth that left a man and woman hospitalized Thursday afternoon.

The shooting occurred near the intersection of Portsmouth Boulevard and Frederick Boulevard. Both victims were shot, but police have not shared further information about their condition.

No information about a possible suspect has been released.

This is a developing story.

Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, [email protected]

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON and JOSHUA GOODMAN (Associated Press)

MIAMI (AP) — Florida’s shift to the right is perhaps nowhere more notable than in this vibrant swath of the state’s southeast coast where the latest Donald Trump drama is unfolding.

Republicans have made steady inroads in this former Democratic stronghold in recent years, culminating in the GOP carrying Miami-Dade County in last year’s midterm elections. The party’s broader future could now hinge on what happens next in south Florida -– but for a very different reason.

Trump, the former president who is again the front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination, will make his first appearance in federal court Tuesday in Miami, where he faces 37 felony counts related to charges of illegal retention of classified information.

The charges have propelled Miami into the center of a storyline that, until recently, was largely thought to be unfolding in a grand jury room in Washington. And it has brought to the forefront Trump’s rising popularity among Florida’s Latinos, some of whom have drawn comparisons between the former president’s prosecution and events abroad in which opposition leaders have been arrested or prosecuted in kangaroo courts — despite the U.S. tradition of respect for the rule of law and an independent judiciary.

“These are the sort of things that you see in the Caribbean and Latin America, where you have the party in power persecuting the opposition,” said Kevin Marino Cabrero, a Miami-Dade County commissioner who is friends with Trump and served as the Florida state director for his 2020 reelection campaign. “This community, what it sees is injustice being committed.”

Miami-Dade is the state’s most populous county and home to 1.5 million Latinos of voting age. Democrat Hillary Clinton carried the county over Trump by nearly 30 percentage points in 2016. But Trump made gains in 2020, getting the margin down to 7 percentage points against Democrat Joe Biden.

Last year, the county flipped, with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who built his brand as a MAGA politician lifted by Trump from relative obscurity, defeating his Democratic opponent by more than 11 points.

The shift was on display last week when, on the day his indictment was unsealed, Trump was playing golf with Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, whose district covers parts of Miami-Dade. In 2016, the Cuban-born congressman voted for Hillary Clinton, but he backed Trump in 2020, even supporting efforts to reject the results of the election in the hours after the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

On Monday, Trump arrived at his golf resort in the Miami suburb of Doral, sometimes called “Doralzuela″ because of its large population of Venezuelans. They make up one of the groups where the GOP has seen dramatic gains.

“There is no equal justice for all,” said Ernesto Ackerman, a member of the Venezuelan-American Republican Club. “Trump has been persecuted for six years. They are looking for excuses to impeach him because they are terrified of him.”

As if to stir up that Miami base, Trump in North Carolina over the weekend reminded voters of his hardline stance against Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, contrasting it with the Biden administration’s efforts to ease sanctions on the socialist leader.

“When I left,Venezuela was ready to collapse, we would’ve taken it over and would’ve gotten all that oil,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Greensboro. “But now we’re buying oil from Venezuela, so we’re making a dictator very rich.”

Miami is also a hotbed for the far right, raising concerns that protests could get out of hand on Tuesday. At a news conference on the eve of Trump’s court appearance, Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales declined to get into the specifics of the security precautions but said he didn’t expect any problems.

On Monday, security guards and federal officers were stationed outside the Wilkie D. Ferguson Federal Courthouse, a sleek, glass high-rise that’s lined by palm trees. More than a dozen media tents were set up outside to cover the historic case.

Alex Otaola, a Cuban-born YouTube personality who is running for Miami-Dade County mayor, is rallying his multitude of followers to show up to protest against Trump’s prosecution. Otaola is known for organizing pro-Trump caravans in Miami’s Little Havana and other neighborhoods.

“Those of us who believe that America’s salvation only comes if Donald Trump is elected for a second term, we will gather on Tuesday,” Otaola said in a YouTube clip.

Miami has seen its share of high-profile national security cases before – from the 1990s prosecution of Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega to the trial of American al-Quaeda recruit Jose Padilla.

While Trump will make his initial appearance Tuesday in Miami, the case was filed in West Palm Beach, 70 miles to the north. It has been initially assigned there to Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who was criticized for rulings in his favor during a dispute last year over a special master assigned to review the seized classified documents.

There’s also the question of whether the fast-changing politics of South Florida could provide some tactical advantages to the former president’s defense. Palm Beach County also turned red in the recent midterm elections.

Former federal prosecutor David Weinstein said Trump may have been summoned for his first appearance in Miami because of the large media interest and larger federal law enforcement required to keep the proceedings safe.

Although Trump contests the notion that he is enjoying the attention a federal indictment is giving him, he often boasts about the love he receives from his followers.

Before last year’s midterm elections, Trump held a rally with U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in Miami that was attended by thousands of supporters. They held aloft signs reading “Cubans for Trump,” “Nicaraguans for Trump” and “Venezuelans for Trump.”

After Trump referred to Hispanics as “great people,” the crowd cheered and began to chant, “We love you! We love you!”

“Oh, do I love you, too,” Trump said. “You have no idea how much.”

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Associated Press writer Gisela Salomon contributed to this report from Miami.

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More on Donald Trump-related investigations: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump

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This story has been corrected to show that Trump lost Miami-Dade County to Biden in 2020 by 7 points, not 9 points.

By RON TODT, MIKE CATALINI and MARC LEVY (Associated Press)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver of a tractor-trailer hauling gasoline lost control on an off-ramp and flipped the tanker truck on its side in a wreck that set it afire and destroyed a section of the East Coast’s main north-south highway, Pennsylvania’s top transportation official said Monday.

In the first official accounting of a wreck that threw hundreds of thousands of morning commutes into chaos and disrupted untold numbers of businesses, state Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll said the driver was northbound “trying to navigate the curve, lost control of the vehicle, landed on its side and ruptured the tank.”

As a result, Interstate 95 will be closed in both directions for weeks at the start of summer travel season. The elevated southbound portion of I-95 will have to be demolished, as well as the northbound side, Carroll said. Motorists should avoid the northeast corner of the sixth-largest city in the country, transportation officials said.

Pennsylvania State Police said a body recovered from the wreckage has been turned over to the Philadelphia medical examiner and coroner. Authorities are in the process of identifying the remains, police said.

The accident also disrupted the automotive route from Canada to Florida through the Boston, New York and Washington metropolitan areas, increasing Americans’ dependence on air travel and on the interstate rail network.

Videos shared on social media showed a number of close calls around the accident, with people driving through the area as flames licked upward from the fire below. The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to investigate the accident.

Carroll said the damaged I-95 segment carries about 160,000 vehicles daily. State police don’t know if the driver was speeding and no other vehicle has been found. Officials said they had been in contact with the trucking company, but they did not identify it.

Carroll said the highway span was 10 to 12 years old, had appeared sound and they blamed the damage on the heat of the fire, which took about an hour to control.

Gov. Josh Shapiro signed a disaster declaration Monday, saying it gives state agencies the ability to skip normal bidding-and-contracting requirements so the span can be repaired faster.

Shapiro said his flight over the area showed “just remarkable devastation.”

“I found myself thanking the Lord that no motorists who were on I-95 were injured or died,” he said.

High heat from the fire or the impact of an explosion could have weakened the steel beams supporting the overpass, according to Drexel University structural engineering Professor Abi Aghayere. Bridges like the one that collapsed don’t typically have fire protection, like concrete casing, he added. It could have been coated in a fire-retarding paint, but even then the beams could have been weakened.

“It just gives you time,” he said.

Among many transportation changes across the region, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority said it was operating three extra morning and late afternoon trains on its Trenton, New Jersey, line, and adding capacity to regularly scheduled lines during peak hours following the collapse.

The collapsed section of I-95 was part of a $212 million reconstruction project that wrapped up four years ago, state Transportation Department spokesman Brad Rudolph said. PennDOT rated the 104-foot span as in “good” condition earlier this year, with another inspection set for 2025.

Shapiro, a Democrat, said the complete rebuild of I-95 would take “some number of months,” and in the meantime officials were looking at “interim solutions to reconnect I-95 and get traffic through the area.”

Joseph L. Schofer, a retired professor of civil and environmental engineering from Northwestern University, said a big challenge for PennDOT in quickly replacing the bridge could be getting heavy-duty steel beams of a hundred feet or more.

Ensuring the precise length necessary — either by finding the construction records or taking measurements — and finding a fabricator to make them could take time, he said.

“You can’t go online to Amazon and order it and have it delivered the next day,” said Schofer, who also hosts a podcast on infrastructure.

In California, a similar situation happened with a highway ramp in Oakland. It was replaced in 26 days, he said.

“Now that’s almost a miracle,” Schofer said. In Atlanta, an elevated portion of Interstate 85 collapsed in a fire, shutting down the heavily traveled route through the heart of the city in March 2017. It took authorities there 43 days to replace it, Schofer said.

In Pennsylvania, officials were also concerned about the environmental effects of runoff into the nearby Delaware River.

After a sheen was seen in the Delaware River near the collapse site, the Coast Guard deployed a boom to contain the material. Ensign Josh Ledoux said the tanker had a capacity of 8,500 gallons (32,176 liters), but the contents did not appear to be spreading into the environment.

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Catalini reported from Trenton, New Jersey and Levy from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Employees want to feel safe and valued at work.

As a gay man, a sense of belonging is important to my personal and professional well-being.

I am thankful that my employer provides a range of diverse employee resource groups, or ERGs, that foster inclusion and belonging, including groups for women and people with disabilities.

I am a member of the company’s Pride employee resource group. Being involved has given me more confidence to come out at work and among my family.

I began working for Dominion Energy in 2015 in customer service. Now, I work as a customer projects designer helping with service calls for businesses and residents.

The Pride employee resource group was launched in 2017 as an internal community for staff who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer. Allies are welcome, too.

Employee resource groups help employees bring their whole selves to work. A lot of times, members of the LGBTQ+ community are hiding who they are, but it is comforting to work for an employer who wants and encourages you to bring your full self to work. It’s a relief.

People spend a lot of time at work, so it’s helpful to be able to be the same person they are at home at work among colleagues. When you’re not stressed or hiding, you can be focused on your job and more productive.

In the Pride ERG, I have been able to share my story and connect with those who have stories similar to mine. We are able to connect on a personal level as well as a professional level.

I also serve as the community-focused lead for the resource group and as a liaison to local organizations to have a presence in the community at festivals, career fairs and more. We also partner with local charities that benefit the LGBTQ+ community.

We want people outside of the organization to know that we have these types of resources in the company. It helps to show that our company is an inclusive and diverse employer.

Here are my top 3 reasons for joining an ERG:

To connect with colleagues: Sometimes it’s hard to talk to someone who can’t relate. In the group, I can talk to those who understand how I am feeling, with no fear of judgment.

To network and learn about the company: Meeting other people in the group has allowed me to learn about various career paths within the company. Your possibilities are endless as far as your career.

To gain confidence and resources: Being a member has given me a boost of confidence. If I want to wear a certain thing, or if I want to do something different with my hair, I do not feel ashamed. Also, this group has helped me with coming out to my family and knowing what to say, whereas I used to feel afraid.

If your workplace offers resource groups, I encourage you to consider joining or starting one.

Ryan Key is a customer projects designer for Dominion Energy in Hampton Roads. He serves on the leadership team for the company’s Pride employee resource group.

By DAVID BAUDER (AP Media Writer)

Washington Post publisher and chief executive Fred Ryan is leaving the newspaper after nine years in charge.

Newspaper owner Jeff Bezos announced Ryan’s departure in a memo to staff on Monday. He’ll continue as publisher and CEO for two more months before leaving to lead the Center on Public Civility at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, the newspaper said.

The Post has been aggressive in transitioning to a digital world, but has still suffered from the financial problems of many organizations in the media industry.

Ryan oversaw the appointment of Sally Buzbee — the former Associated Press executive editor — as the Post’s top editor, replacing Marty Baron in 2021.

By FRANCES D’EMILIO (Associated Press)

ROME (AP) — Silvio Berlusconi cast a spell over Italy — and nearly led it to financial ruin.

Many Italians admired the media mogul for his wealth, his charm and his brash, boastful style, and they kept returning him to power, making him the country’s longest-serving premier.

Nothing seemed to shake the one-time cruise ship crooner — not his corruption trials or diplomatic gaffes, not accusations that he was wrecking the country, not even the lurid scandals stemming from sex-fueled “bunga bunga” parties with young women at his villas that turned him into a global joke.

Berlusconi — who died Monday at the age of 86 — had a hold on Italian politics that he summed up in 2009: “The majority of Italians in their hearts would like to be like me.”

That affection faded in 2011 when Europe’s debt crisis turned Italy’s economy into a shambles, and many blamed Berlusconi, forcing him from office. Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” rose from the crowd outside the government palazzo where he handed in his resignation to end his third and final term as premier, a leadership tenure spaced out over 17 years.

His Forza Italia political party lost much of its support in recent years but was a coalition partner with current Premier Giorgia Meloni, a far-right leader who came to power in 2022. Berlusconi held no position in the government, and his death is unlikely to have any repercussions on the stability of the government; allies have already declared their intention to keep the party going.

Berlusconi was admitted to the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan on Friday, his second recent hospitalization for treatment of chronic leukemia. A state funeral will be held Wednesday in the city’s Duomo cathedral, according to the Milan Archdiocese.

Once Italy’s richest man, Berlusconi used his television networks and other media holdings to launch his long political career, inspiring both loyalty and loathing.

Supporters saw him as a capable and charismatic statesman who sought to elevate Italy on the world stage. To critics, he was a populist who threatened to undermine democracy by wielding political power as a tool to enrich himself and his businesses.

But there was no arguing he radically changed Italian politics when he entered the public arena in the 1990s, introducing U.S.-inspired campaigns.

For a while, Berlusconi seemed untouchable.

Criminal cases against him were launched but ended in dismissals when statutes of limitations ran out in Italy’s slow-moving justice system, or he was victorious on appeal. Investigations targeted the tycoon’s steamy parties involving young women and minors, or his businesses, which included the soccer team AC Milan, the country’s three biggest private TV networks, magazines and a daily newspaper, and advertising and film companies.

Ultimately, only one charge would stick — tax fraud, stemming from a film rights deal.

When it was upheld by Italy’s top criminal court in 2013, he was stripped of his Senate seat, and banned from public office for several years in keeping with anti-corruption laws. Even then, he bounced back to become a lawmaker in the European Parliament at age 82 and returned to Italy’s Senate in 2022.

He stayed at the helm of Forza Italia, the center-right party he created when he entered politics and named for a soccer cheer, “Let’s go, Italy.” With no groomed successor in sight, voters started to desert it.

Berlusconi’s party was eclipsed as the dominant force on Italy’s political right — first by the League, led by anti-migrant populist Matteo Salvini, then by Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, with its roots in neo-fascism. Following elections in 2022, Meloni formed a government with their help.

Berlusconi lost his standing as Italy’s richest man, although his sprawling media holdings and luxury real estate still left him a billionaire several times over.

In 2013, guests at one of his parties included an underage Moroccan dancer whom prosecutors alleged had sex with Berlusconi in exchange for cash and jewelry. After a trial spiced by lurid details, a Milan court initially convicted Berlusconi of paying for sex with a minor and using his office to try to cover it up. Both denied having sex with each other, and he was eventually acquitted.

The Catholic Church, at times sympathetic to his conservative politics, was scandalized by his antics, and his wife of nearly 20 years divorced him, but Berlusconi was unapologetic, declaring: “I’m no saint.”

Pope Francis sent a telegram of condolence to his family.

His second term, from 2001-06, was perhaps his golden era, when he became Italy’s longest-serving head of government and boosted its global profile through his friendship with U.S. President George W. Bush. Bucking widespread sentiment at home and in Europe, Berlusconi backed the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

As a businessman who knew the power of images, he used U.S.-style party conventions and slick advertising that broke with the gray world of Italian politics, in which voters essentially chose parties and not candidates. His rivals had to adapt.

Berlusconi saw himself as Italy’s savior from what he described as the Communist menace — years after the Berlin Wall fell. From the start of his political career in 1994, he portrayed himself as the target of a judiciary he described as filled with leftist sympathizers, and he always proclaimed his innocence.

When the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement gained strength, Berlusconi branded it a menace worse than Communism.

His close friendship with longtime Socialist leader and former Premier Bettino Craxi was widely credited for helping him become a media baron. Still, Berlusconi billed himself as a self-made man, saying, “My formula for success is to be found in four words: work, work and work.”

He boasted of his libido and entertained friends and world leaders at his villas. In one party, newspapers reported the women were dressed as “little Santas.” At another, photos showed topless women and a naked man lounging poolside.

“I love life! I love women!” an unrepentant Berlusconi said in 2010.

He occasionally selected TV starlets for posts in his Forza Italia party. “If I weren’t married, I would marry you immediately,” Berlusconi reportedly said in 2007 to Mara Carfagna, who later became a Cabinet minister. Berlusconi’s then-wife publicly demanded an apology.

Berlusconi was nicknamed “Papi” — or “Daddy” — by an aspiring model whose 18th birthday bash he attended, also to his wife’s irritation. Later, self-described escort Patrizia D’Addario said she spent the night with him on the evening that Barack Obama was elected U.S. president in 2008.

He loved to compose and sing Neapolitan songs, harking back to his days as a cruise ship entertainer. Like millions of Italians, he had a passion for soccer, and often was in the stands at AC Milan.

He delighted in flouting political etiquette. He sported a bandanna when hosting British Prime Minister Tony Blair at his estate on the Emerald Coast of Sardinia, and it was later revealed he was concealing hair transplants. He posed for photos at international summits while making an Italian gesture — which can be offensive or superstitious, depending on circumstances — in which the index and pinkie fingers are extended like horns.

He stirred anger after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States by claiming that Western civilization was superior to Islam.

When criticized in 2003 at the European Parliament by a German lawmaker, Berlusconi likened his adversary to a concentration camp guard. Years later, he drew outrage when he compared his family’s legal woes to what Jews must have felt in Nazi Germany.

Berlusconi was born in Milan on Sept. 29, 1936, the son of a middle-class banker. He earned a law degree, writing his thesis on advertising. He started a construction company at 25 and built apartment complexes for middle-class families on Milan’s outskirts, part of a postwar boom.

But his astronomical wealth came from the media. In the late 1970s and 1980s, he circumvented Italy’s state TV monopoly RAI by creating a de facto network in which local stations all showed the same programming. RAI and his Mediaset television network accounted for about 90% of the national market in 2006.

When the “Clean Hands” corruption scandals of the 1990s decimated the political establishment that had dominated postwar Italy, Berlusconi filled the void, founding Forza Italia in 1994.

His first government, also in 1994, collapsed after eight months when a volatile ally who led an anti-immigrant party yanked support. But aided by an aggressive campaign, including a mass mailing of glossy magazines recounting his success story, Berlusconi swept to victory in 2001.

Shuffling his Cabinet occasionally, he stayed in power for five years, setting a record for government longevity in Italy. But it wasn’t easy.

A Group of Eight summit he hosted in Genoa in 2001 was marred by violent anti-globalization demonstrations and the death of a protester shot by a police officer. Berlusconi faced fierce domestic opposition and alienated some allies by sending 3,000 troops to Iraq after the ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003. For a time, Italy was the third-largest contingent in the U.S.-led coalition.

At home, he constantly faced accusations of sponsoring laws aimed at protecting himself or his businesses, but he insisted he always acted in the interest of all Italians. Legislation passed when he was premier allowing officeholders to own media businesses but not run them was deemed by his critics to be tailor made for Berlusconi.

An admirer of U.S. President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Berlusconi passed reforms that partially liberalized the labor and pension systems, among Europe’s most inflexible. He also was chummy with Putin, who stayed at his Sardinian estate, and he visited the Russian leader, notably going to Crimea after Moscow illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014.

In 2006, as Italy was ridiculed as “the sick man of Europe,” with its economy mired in zero growth and its budget deficit rising, Berlusconi narrowly lost the general election to center-left leader Romano Prodi, who had been president of the European Union Commission.

In 2008, he bounced back for what would be his final term as premier. It ended abruptly in 2011, when financial markets lost faith in his ability to keep Italy from succumbing to the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis. To the relief of economic powerhouse Germany, Berlusconi reluctantly stepped down.

Health concerns dogged him over the years. He suffered from heart ailments, prostate cancer and was hospitalized for COVID-19 in 2020.

During a political rally in 2009, a man threw a souvenir statuette of Milan’s cathedral at Berlusconi, fracturing his nose, cracking two teeth and cutting his lip.

Berlusconi was first married in 1965 to Carla Dall’Oglio, and their two children, Marina and Piersilvio, were groomed to hold top positions in his business empire. He married his second wife, Veronica Lario, in 1990, and they had three children, Barbara, Eleonora and Luigi.

They also divorced, and at the time of his death he was in a relationship with Marta Fascina, 33, who was elected to parliament last year for Berlusconi’s party.

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Retired Associated Press Rome bureau chief Victor L. Simpson contributed.

Early voting for Virginia primaries begins Friday, May 5 and runs through June 17.

Election Day for primary races is June 20.

But before then, voters can cast ballots in person at their local registrar’s office or vote by mail.

District boundaries have changed as a result of the once-a-decade redrawing of political maps. This year’s primaries and general elections will be the first for state lawmakers under new district boundaries.

Here’s what you need to know to vote early.

Below find The Virginian-Pilot’s 2023 Primary Election Guide, which will be updated with additional coverage.

The guide covers only candidates running in competitive primary races in the state Senate and House of Delegates. Uncontested races are not included. A separate election guide will be published for the general election.

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Virginia Senate

District 17 (parts of Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Western Tidewater and Southside Virginia) – Republican primary – Emily M. Brewer faces Hermie Sadler for GOP nomination

District 18 (parts of Chesapeake and Portsmouth) – Democratic primary – Two longtime Virginia legislators face off | Sens. Louise Lucas and Lionell Spruill duke it out in primary: Abortion, voting rights, taxes remain hot topics

District 19 (parts of Chesapeake and Virginia Beach) – Republican primary – Three Republicans face off in newly redrawn district

District 21 (part of Norfolk) – Democratic primary – Angelia Williams Graves takes on Andria McClellan |  With no Republican opponent, Democratic primary for District 21 likely a battle for Senate seat

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Virginia House of Delegates

District 84 (parts of Chesapeake, Suffolk, Franklin and Isle of Wight County) – Republican and Democratic primary – Both Republicans and Democrats battle

District 89 (parts of Chesapeake and Suffolk) – Republican primary – 3 Republicans square off in House District 89 firehouse primary | Results: Baxter Ennis wins GOP nomination

District 92 (parts of Norfolk and Chesapeake) – Democratic primary – Democrats Bonita Anthony and Kim Sudderth | With no incumbents, Norfolk candidates compete in wide open primaries for Districts 92 and 94

District 94 (part of Norfolk) – Republican primary – 3 Republicans vying for nomination | With no incumbents, Norfolk candidates compete in wide open primaries for Districts 92 and 94

District 95 (parts of Virginia Beach and Norfolk) – Democratic primary – Alex Askew battles Rick James | Virginia Beach delegate faces former aide, others in Democratic primary for House District 96

District 96 (part of Virginia Beach) – Democratic primary – Four Democrats fight for nomination  | Virginia Beach delegate faces former aide, others in Democratic primary for House District 96