By JILL COLVIN and HOLLY RAMER (Associated Press)

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wasted no time going after Donald Trump while launching his presidential campaign on Tuesday, calling the former president and current Republican primary front-runner a “lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog” and arguing that he’s the only one who can stop him.

Christie began his run with a town hall in New Hampshire. The former governor and federal prosecutor ran for president and lost to Trump in 2016 and went on to become a close off-and-on adviser before breaking with the former president over his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election.

Now that Trump is trying again for the White House, Christie is out to do everything in his power to deny him. After criticizing other Republican primary rivals for being afraid to directly challenge Trump, Christie made clear that he had no such concerns.

“The person I am talking about, who is obsessed with the mirror, who never admits a mistake, who never admits a fault, who always finds someone else and something else to blame for whatever goes wrong — but finds every reason to take credit for anything that goes right — is Donald Trump,” he told a small, mostly friendly crowd at Saint Anselm College.

“A lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog is not a leader,” Christie said, saying Trump “made us smaller by dividing us even further and pitting us one against the other.”

But he also said President Joe Biden “is doing the same thing, just on the other side.” He noted that he’d known Biden for decades and said the president is “out of his depth” because “he’s not the guy he used to be,” referencing the 80-year-old Biden’s advanced age.

But Christie’s chief target was Trump.

“There’s a big argument in our country right now about whether character matters, and we have leaders who have shown us over and over again that not only are they devoid of character, they don’t care.” Christie said. “We can’t dismiss the question of character anymore, everybody. If we do, we get what we deserve, and we will have to own it.”

Christie enters a growing primary field that already includes Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. Former Vice President Mike Pence will be formally launching his own campaign in Iowa on Wednesday.

During his time as governor, Christie established a reputation as a fighter with a knack for creating viral moments of confrontation. But he faces an uphill battle to the nomination in a party that remains closely aligned with the former president, despite Trump’s reelection loss in 2020 and Republicans’ poorer-than-expected showing in the 2022 midterm elections.

Christie argues that unless top Republicans dare confront Trump, there will be a repeat of the 2016 GOP primary, when Trump rolled over a host of alternatives with more political experience who split the support of voters opposing him.

Christie said Tuesday that the only way to win the GOP nomination was to topple Trump, but he was in the race to win the White House, not just the primary. He made fun of Trump’s failed promise to wall off the entire southern U.S. border and have Mexico pay for it but said that voters who believed Trump in 2016 now knew better.

Anti-Trump Republicans are particularly eager to see Christie spar with Trump on a debate stage — if, of course, Trump agrees to participate in primary debates and Christie meets the stringent fundraising criteria set by the Republican National Committee for participation.

JP Marzullo, a former state representative and former vice chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, previously backed Trump but is now supporting Christie.

“I think he’ll actually unite some of the voters, and he’ll get to independents,” Marzullo said of the former governor, adding, “I think it’s time for a change.”

Christie’s campaign will test the appetite among Republican voters for someone who has expressed support for many of Trump’s policies but has criticized the former president’s conduct. The former governor has rejected Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen and has urged the party to move on or risk future losses.

Other Republicans with similar views, including former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, have opted against their own campaigns, expressing concerns that having more candidates in the race will only benefit Trump.

Christie was at one point seen as one of the Republican Party’s brightest political stars as the popular Republican governor of a Democratic state. But despite persistent urging from top donors and party officials, he declined to run for president in 2012. By the time he announced in 2016, his reputation had been tarnished by the “Bridgegate” scandal in which aides were accused of wreaking traffic havoc in Fort Lee, New Jersey, in an apparent effort to punish the city’s mayor for failing to endorse his reelection bid.

In the packed 2016 GOP primary, Christie portrayed himself as a brash, tough-talking East Coaster who could “tell it like it is” — only to be eclipsed by the brasher Trump.

Christie opting to start his 2024 bid at a New Hampshire town hall recalled his first run at the White House, when he focused on the state, holding dozens of New Hampshire town hall events only to finish sixth in its primary. He dropped out of that race afterward.

Two weeks later, Christie stunned even some former aides when he endorsed Trump, becoming the first sitting governor and former rival to get behind the emerging GOP front-runner. His announcement undercut rival Marco Rubio at a crucial moment — the day after a debate that had been seen as a possible turning point in the race — helping to pave the way for Trump’s nomination and eventual win.

“The line of supporting Donald Trump starts behind me,” Christie has said.

The former governor, who has known Trump for nearly 20 years, has had a complicated friendship with the former developer and reality TV star. At times, he was one of Trump’s closest advisers: He was on the shortlist to serve as Trump’s vice president, oversaw Trump’s early White House transition efforts, said he was offered — and turned down — multiple Cabinet positions, and helped Trump prepare for each of his general election debates in 2016 and 2020. (It was during those debate preparations that Christie believes he caught COVID-19, landing him in intensive care.)

But Christie also clashed with Trump at times and has described the former president’s refusal to accept his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden as a breaking point. In appearances and interviews, Christie says he was “incredibly disappointed and disillusioned” by Trump’s refusal to concede, which culminated in his followers’ violent storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6 in an effort to halt the certification of Biden’s win.

___

Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press Writer Will Weissert contributed to this story from Washington.

By JILL COLVIN and HOLLY RAMER (Associated Press)

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wasted no time going after Donald Trump while launching his presidential campaign on Tuesday, calling the former president and current Republican primary front-runner a “lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog” and arguing that he’s the only one who can stop him.

A onetime federal prosecutor, Christie was among the crowded field of 2016 Republican presidential candidates steamrolled by Trump. Now that Trump is running for the White House a third time, this year’s crop of rivals have no choice but to criticize him relentlessly, or risk political history repeating itself, Christie says.

Kicking off his campaign with a town hall at Saint Anselm College, Christie suggested that other top Republicans have been afraid to challenge Trump or even mention his name much while campaigning — but made it clear he had no such qualms.

“A lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog is not a leader,” Christie said, adding, “The person I am talking about, who is obsessed with the mirror, who never admits a mistake, who never admits a fault, who always finds someone else and something else to blame for whatever goes wrong — but finds every reason to take credit for anything that goes right — is Donald Trump.”

Christie enters a growing primary field that already includes Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. Former Vice President Mike Pence will be formally launching his own campaign in Iowa on Wednesday.

Mere weeks after dropping out of the 2016 race, Christie became the first sitting governor and former rival to endorse Trump. He went on to become a close off-and-on adviser before finally breaking with Trump over his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election.

During his time as governor, Christie established a reputation as a fighter with a knack for creating viral moments of confrontation. But he faces an uphill battle to the nomination in a party that remains closely aligned with the former president, despite Trump’s reelection loss in 2020 and Republicans’ poorer-than-expected showing in the 2022 midterm elections.

Anti-Trump Republicans are particularly eager to see Christie spar with Trump on a debate stage. But that happen only if Trump agrees to participate in primary debates and Christie meets the stringent fundraising criteria set by the Republican National Committee for participation.

JP Marzullo, a former state representative and former vice chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, previously backed Trump but is now supporting Christie.

“I think he’ll actually unite some of the voters, and he’ll get to independents,” Marzullo said of the former governor, adding, “I think it’s time for a change.”

Christie began criticizing Trump by name mere moments into his half-hour speech Tuesday, saying the former president had “made us smaller by dividing us even further and pitting us one against the other.”

He also said President Joe Biden “is doing the same thing, just on the other side.” Christie noted that he’d known Biden for decades and that he was a nice guy, but said that the president is “out of his depth” because “he’s not the guy he used to be,” referencing the 80-year-old Biden’s advanced age.

But Christie’s chief target was Trump.

“There’s a big argument in our country right now about whether character matters, and we have leaders who have shown us over and over again that not only are they devoid of character, they don’t care.” Christie said. “We can’t dismiss the question of character anymore, everybody. If we do, we get what we deserve, and we will have to own it.”

Christie advisers are planning a nontraditional, nationally focused campaign based on earned media attention, instead of focusing on specific states. Their candidate said staying aggressive against Trump was key and scoffed Tuesday at what he said were Trump’s failed promises, including a pledge to wall off the entire southern U.S. border and have Mexico pay for it.

“The reason I’m going after Trump is twofold,” Christie said. “One, he deserves it. And two, it’s the way to win.”

Christie will test the appetite among Republican voters for someone who has expressed support for many of Trump’s policies but has criticized the former president’s conduct. The former governor has urged the party to move on or risk future losses.

Other Republicans with similar views, including former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, have opted against their own campaigns, expressing concerns that having more candidates in the race will only benefit Trump.

Christie was at one point seen as one of the Republican Party’s brightest political stars as the popular Republican governor of a Democratic state. But despite persistent urging from top donors and party officials, he declined to run for president in 2012. By the time he announced in 2016, his reputation had been tarnished by the “Bridgegate” scandal in which aides were accused of wreaking traffic havoc in Fort Lee, New Jersey, in an apparent effort to punish the city’s mayor for failing to endorse his reelection bid.

The former governor has known Trump for nearly 20 years but their relationship has been complicated. Christie was on the shortlist to serve as Trump’s vice president, oversaw Trump’s early White House transition efforts, said he was offered — and turned down — multiple Cabinet positions, and helped Trump prepare for each of his general election debates in 2016 and 2020.

But Christie also clashed with Trump at times and has described the former president’s refusal to accept his 2020 election loss to Biden as a breaking point.

Christie opting to start his 2024 bid at a New Hampshire town hall recalled his first run at the White House, when he focused on the state, holding dozens of New Hampshire town hall events only to finish sixth in its primary. He dropped out of that race shortly afterward.

After his speech Tuesday, Christie took extended questions from the audience — a common occurrence in early voting states that DeSantis was hesitant to do when launching his campaign. Christie also talked openly about his underwhelming 2016 performance, despite concentrating so heavily on New Hampshire.

“I lost,” Christie laughed. “You people did that to me in 2016.”

___

Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press Writer Will Weissert contributed to this story from Washington.

By COURTNEY BONNELL and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS (AP Business Writers)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Global prices for wheat and corn soared Tuesday after a major dam in Ukraine collapsed, renewing market fears about the fragility of the country’s ability to ship food to Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia as it fights a war with Russia.

Wheat prices gained 2.4% in early trading Tuesday on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, to $6.39 a bushel. The cost of corn rose more than 1%, to $6.04 a bushel, and oats gained 0.73%, to $3.46 per unit. Prices were higher earlier in the day but faded.

The destruction of the Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power station, which sits in a Russian-controlled area on the Dnieper River, raised concerns about disruption to Ukraine’s affordable supplies of wheat, barley, corn and sunflower oil getting to developing nations where people are struggling with hunger and high food prices.

“Anytime this war shows signs of getting further escalated, there’s a lot of concern,” said Joseph Glauber, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. “Markets react to that.”

Ukraine and Russia are both major agricultural suppliers and the war’s disruption to their exports worsened a global food crisis tied to droughts and other factors. Breakthrough agreements brokered by the U.N. and Turkey last year got food moving again through the Black Sea, but it’s faced setbacks.

Russia briefly pulled out of the deal last year, has threatened to leave again, is accused of slowing shipments from Ukraine and has only agreed to renew the deal for two months at a time.

“People are going to be watching to see what happens with the agreement,” said Glauber, former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “This reminds everyone that it’s not just pro forma, that this could be a very serious development if indeed the agreement is broken.”

There are massive agricultural fields in southern Ukraine where the dam burst, and while the collapse has endangered crops in the path of the floodwaters, Glauber says less wheat has been planted in that area because it’s near the fighting and a lot is growing elsewhere.

The collapse has threatened drinking water supplies, with officials also warning of a looming environmental disaster — pointing to oil escaping from the dam machinery and significant flooding.

Andrey Sizov, managing director of Black Sea agricultural markets research firm SovEcon, said the dam collapse looked “like a big escalation with dire consequences and huge headline risk.”

“This could be just the start of the bull run,” Sizov wrote on Twitter early Tuesday.

The wheat futures rally overnight and early Tuesday lost steam as the day progressed. As of around 3 p.m. ET, for example, the price of wheat was down to $6.27 a bushel.

Wheat, vegetable oil and other food commodity prices have fallen from record highs last year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — thanks in part to the Black Sea grain deal — but the relief in prices has not made it to markets, grocery stores and kitchen tables.

Citi commodities analysts called the dam breach a “reminder of lingering inflationary risk in the goods market.”

It’s possible temporary jumps in prices follow significant news events, like the dam collapse, analysts say.

But circumstances are key — and expectations for food exports from Ukraine will likely “continue to diminish as we recognize that Ukrainian production will continue to be severely impaired because of the war,” said Joe Janzen, assistant professor at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.

The supply of grain Ukraine is able to export is 40% lower than it was two years ago, Glauber said.

___

Bonnell reported from London.

By TRÂN NGUYỄN and OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ (Associated Press)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration said Tuesday that three dozen migrants whom the state flew from the U.S. southern border to California on private planes all went willingly, refuting allegations by California officials that the individuals were coerced to travel under false pretenses.

Two planes arrived in Sacramento, on Friday and Monday, each carrying asylum-seekers mostly from Colombia and Venezuela. The individuals had been picked up in El Paso, Texas, taken to New Mexico and then put on charter flights to California’s capital of Sacramento, said California Attorney General Rob Bonta. He’s investigating whether any violations of criminal or civil law occurred.

Alecia Collins, a spokeswoman for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said in a statement that “through verbal and written consent, these volunteers indicated they wanted to go to California.” She also shared a video compilation that appeared to show people signing consent forms and thanking officials for treating them well.

The clips had no time stamps, and Collins declined to share additional details about when and where they were recorded.

It was the DeSantis administration’s first acknowledgment that it coordinated the flights.

This isn’t the first time DeSantis’ administration has transported migrants from Texas to other states. Last fall, Florida flew 49 Venezuelans to the upscale Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard. The move was intended to protest federal immigration policy.

Last month, DeSantis, who recently announced a presidential bid, signed into law a bill approving $12 million for a program to relocate migrants, even if they never step foot in Florida.

Bonta, who met with some of the migrants who arrived Friday, said they told him they were approached by two women who spoke broken Spanish and promised them jobs in El Paso. The women traveled with them by land from El Paso to Deming, New Mexico, where two men then accompanied them on the flight to Sacramento. The same men were on the flight Monday, Bonta said.

He said the asylum seekers have court dates in New York, Utah and Colorado and carried a document that “purports to be a consent and release form” that is designed to shield Florida from liability.

“Of course, what’s important is what is actually said and represented and told to the individuals and we’ve got good indications of what that was and the fact that it was false, misleading, and deceptive,” Bonta said.

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and faith-based groups are working together to help the newcomers, who are staying at two undisclosed locations in the city and have been given food, clothing and cellphones to contact their families.

“Sacramento should be a model for the rest of the state and the rest of the nation,” Steinberg said at a news conference Tuesday.

None of the migrants spoke at the news conference.

Gabby Trejo, executive director of Sacramento ACT, a collaboration of religious congregations in the Sacramento area, said all of the migrants had already been given pending court dates by U.S. immigration officials before they were approached in Texas by people promising jobs. Trejo said that they had been “lied to and deceived.”

“They couldn’t have landed in a better place because Sacramentans know what it means to come together and we are here to walk with them,” Trejo said.

Sacramento ACT did not immediately respond to a request for comment later Tuesday about the video released by DeSantis’ administration and the assertions that all the migrants went to California willingly.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, meanwhile, doubled down on its criticism of DeSantis.

“This is exploitative propaganda being peddled by a politician who has shown there are no depths he won’t sink to in his desperate effort to score a political point,” said Anthony York, a spokesman for Newsom.

Newsom indicated in a tweet Monday that California may consider kidnapping charges against DeSantis. Such charges would likely be extremely difficult to prove, particularly given the migrants signed waivers. Bonta has not directly said he is considering kidnapping charges.

As the migrants arrived in California Monday, a Texas sheriff’s office announced it had recommended misdemeanor and felony charges for “unlawful restraint” over the two flights to Martha’s Vineyard last year. Johnny Garcia, a spokesman for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, said the office is not naming suspects at this time, and it’s not clear whether the local district attorney will pursue the charges.

DeSantis’ latest apparent move to send migrants to California’s capital city appears to be a direct shot at Newsom. Though Newsom has no plans to run for president in 2024, he and DeSantis have frequently used each other as political foils as they cast their own governing approach as a model for the nation. Beyond immigration policy, the two have sparred on abortion access, LGBTQ+ and civil rights, and a host of other cultural issues.

On the campaign trail, DeSantis has been eager to slap at progressive policies in Democratic strongholds such as New York and California, claiming that Florida’s population boom in recent years has been driven by people fleeing blue-state policies.

DeSantis is currently positioned as the strongest Republican alternative to former President Donald Trump in the GOP’s crowded primary, although Trump maintains a big lead in early polls.

It’s not yet clear if the new arrivals in Sacramento plan to stay in California or will eventually seek to go elsewhere, advocates said. Four who arrived on the first flight on Friday have already been picked up by friends or family members, but the rest remain in the care of local advocacy groups.

The faith-based coalition is also connecting the migrants with medical and legal services, said Shireen Miles, a longtime Sacramento ACT volunteer. She said several people have court hearings as soon as next week in places such as Chicago, New York and Denver, which immigration attorneys are working to reschedule.

Since they arrived, advocates have taken the migrants to a thrift store to pick out clothing and have let them choose what meals to eat, advocates said.

“We’re allowing them to define what their needs are and how we can best meet them,” said Cecilia Flores, of Sacramento ACT. ___

Rodriguez reported from San Francisco. Associated Press writers Anthony Izaguirre in Tallahassee, Fla., Paul J. Weber in Austin, Texas, Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed.

___

Find more AP coverage of immigration: https://apnews.com/hub/immigration

By R.J. RICO (Associated Press)

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta City Council early Tuesday approved funding for the construction of a proposed police and firefighter training center, rejecting the pleas of hundreds of activists who packed City Hall and spoke for hours in fierce opposition to the project they decry as “Cop City.”

The 11-4 vote just after 5 a.m. is a significant victory for Mayor Andre Dickens, who has made the $90 million project a large part of his first term in office, despite pushback to the effort. The City Council also passed a resolution requesting two seats on the Atlanta Police Foundation’s board.

In a statement, Dickens said the passage of the budget resolution “marks a major milestone for better preparing our fire, police and emergency responders to protect and serve our communities.”

“Atlanta will be a national model for police reform with the most progressive training and curriculum in the country,” he said.

The decentralized “Stop Cop City” movement has galvanized protesters from across the country, especially in the wake of the January fatal police shooting of Manuel Paez Terán, a 26-year-old environmental activist known as “Tortuguita” who had been camping in the woods near the site of the proposed project in DeKalb County.

For about 14 hours, residents again and again took to the podium to slam the project, saying it would be a gross misuse of public funds to build the huge facility in a large urban forest in a poor, majority-Black area.

“We’re here pleading our case to a government that has been unresponsive, if not hostile, to an unprecedented movement in our City Council’s history,” said Matthew Johnson, the executive director of Beloved Community Ministries, a local social justice nonprofit. “We’re here to stop environmental racism and the militarization of the police. … We need to go back to meeting the basic needs rather than using police as the sole solution to all of our social problems.”

The training center was approved by the City Council in September 2021 but required an additional vote for more funding. City officials say the new 85-acre (34-hectare) campus would replace inadequate training facilities and would help address difficulties in hiring and retaining police officers that worsened after nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice three years ago.

But opponents, who have been joined by activists from around the country, say they fear it will lead to greater militarization of the police and that its construction will exacerbate environmental damage. Protesters had been camping at the site since at least last year, and police said they had caused damage and attacked law enforcement officers and others.

Though more than 220 people spoke publicly against the training center, a small handful voiced support, saying they trusted Dickens’ judgment.

Council members agreed to approve $31 million in public funds for the site’s construction, as well as a provision that requires the city to pay $36 million — $1.2 million a year over 30 years — for using the facility. The rest of the $90 million project would come from private donations to the Atlanta Police Foundation, though city officials had, until recently, repeatedly said the public obligation would only be $31 million.

The highly scrutinized vote occurred in the wake of the arrests Wednesday of three organizers who lead the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which has provided bail money and helped to find attorneys for arrested protesters.

Prosecutors have accused the three activists of money laundering and charity fraud, saying they used some of the money to fund violent acts of “forest defenders.” Warrants cite reimbursements for expenses including “gasoline, forest clean-up, totes, covid rapid tests, media, yard signs.” But the charges have alarmed human rights groups and prompted both of Georgia’s Democratic senators to issue statements expressing their concerns.

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock tweeted that bail funds held important roles during the Civil Rights Movement and said the images of the heavily armed police officers raiding the home where the activists lived “reinforce the very suspicions that help to animate the current conflict — namely, concerns Georgians have about over-policing, the quelling of dissent in a democracy, and the militarization of our police.”

Devin Franklin, an attorney with the Southern Center For Human Rights, also invoked Wednesday’s arrests while speaking before the City Council.

“This is what we fear — the image of militarized forces being used to effectuate arrests for bookkeeping errors,” Franklin said.

Numerous instances of violence and vandalism have been linked to the decentralized “Stop Cop City” movement, including a January protest in downtown Atlanta in which a police car was set alight, as well as a March attack in which more than 150 masked protesters chased off police at the construction site and torched construction equipment before fleeing and blending in with a crowd at a nearby music festival. Those two instances have led to more than 40 people being charged with domestic terrorism, though prosecutors have had difficulty so far in proving that many of those arrested were in fact those who took part in the violence.

In a sign of the security concerns Monday, dozens of police officers were posted throughout City Hall and officials temporarily added “liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes” to the list of things prohibited inside the building.

In a statement Tuesday after voting against the facility, council member Keisha Sean Waites said $67 million in taxpayer funds could be better spent elsewhere, including on “affordable housing, resources for the homeless and unsheltered, infrastructure improvements, mental health services, health care for the uninsured, rental and mortgage assistance, including providing housing and salary increasing for our first responders and law enforcement officers.

“These resources directly impact the root causes of crime, which policing does not,” Waites said.

Chesapeake is poised to hire Interim City Attorney Catherine Lindley for the permanent role.

Chesapeake City Council is expected to vote on Lindley’s appointment at the June 13 meeting. The city confirmed to The Virginian-Pilot Tuesday that an offer had been made to and accepted by Lindley, but a vote on her contract is still needed to make it official.

Lindley began her role as interim in January after the departure of Jacob Stroman, who had been on the job in Chesapeake for about four years. He was hired for the same role in Charlottesville this week.

The Pilot previously reported that Stroman’s departure came on the heels of two legal opinions he rendered months earlier warning Chesapeake council members about alleged violations with a public records request that ultimately lead to a lawsuit still being battled in court.

Lindley was first hired as an assistant city attorney in 2007. It’s not yet known what Lindley’s salary will be, but she’s currently earning about $236,560, according to salary information previously provided to The Pilot.

She obtained degrees from James Madison University and Regent University, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Both Mayor Rick West and Council member Ella Ward told The Pilot that while they can’t speak for all of the council, both feel confident in her leadership, knowledge and competence for the job.

“Because of her legal ability and her leadership and managing skills, and her just having been there, she’s no question the choice for me,” West said, adding he believes she’ll be the choice for the rest of City Council as well.

“She just hit the ground running and we’ve been pleased so far,” Ward said.

In Charlottesville, Stroman will replace Lisa Robertson, who departed in December. The Charlottesville City Council unanimously approved the hire this week after city leaders interviewed five candidates in what Charlottesville City Manager Michael Rogers called a “very competitive process.”

It’s unclear what Stroman’s new salary will be, but he was earning at least $200,000 when he left Chesapeake, according to his former employment agreement with the city.

Stroman also served brief stints in the Virginia attorney general’s office and as a chief staff attorney for the Virginia Supreme Court, according to a resume included in the Charlottesville meeting agenda packet. He also served as county attorney in Spotsylvania, Isle of Wright and Gloucester.

LaMond Pope | Chicago Tribune (TNS)

Anderson Comás thought of those who feel like they don’t have support and wanted to do his part to help when he decided to come out as gay in February.

“I wanted to open that door for those people that are fighting for their dreams,” Comás said during a videoconference call Friday. “I feel like they cannot do it because of people’s opinions, so I wanted to share a little bit to help, to open that door and to inspire all of them to keep fighting.”

The Chicago White Sox minor-league pitcher made an impact with his Feb. 19 Instagram post.

“At first I didn’t think it was going to be that big, going viral in so many countries,” he said. “I was in every news (outlet), every social media. A lot of people talking about me.

“It made me happy because if they get to more people, I can help more people to see the message I wanted to send so they can feel like they have someone to support them and know how they feel. It made me feel great.”

So has the support for him throughout the organization.

“Nothing changed here because my teammates, my coaches, some of them knew,” Comás said. “They were great about it. They really love me here because I’ve been very respectful with my teammates and all my coaches. Nothing changed.”

We are all so proud of you, Anderson! ❤️🏳️‍🌈 pic.twitter.com/8ykBdwZelo

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) February 19, 2023

Erin Santana, the manager of international player development and education, was incredibly helpful.

“She’s like our mom here, the mom of Latinas here,” Comás said. “I was really comfortable with her and I told her about that even before the coming out. I told her, ‘I know I’m going to do this. What do you think?’ And she loved it. So I shared my story with her first because I was really comfortable with her and then I did the coming out.

“Because I talk to them more, Erin Santana and (assistant general manager) Chris Getz, they’ve been really supportive about it. My strength coach (for the Arizona Complex League Sox), Daniel Cobian, he’s always been supporting me too. I have a lot of support here on the team.”

Comás heard from many people after his Instagram post.

“I got like 1,000 messages in my IG DMs from people still in the closet, but they were happy I did that,” he said. “They were feeling better about it. They were happy to see people out there for them to feel better about themselves. It made me feel like I did a good thing.”

Comás, 23, has been in the Sox organization since signing as an international free agent from the Dominican Republic in 2016. He was an outfielder from 2017-21 and is in his second season as a pitcher.

Comás went 1-0 with a 6.35 ERA in 11 relief appearances in 2022. He’s continuing to work on his pitching this spring in Arizona.

“The decision (to pitch), I think Chris Getz was the one, they asked me if I wanted to do it and I said, ‘Yeah, let’s give it a try,’” he said. “Because I’m lefty and I’m tall (6-foot-3), I wanted to try that new thing. At first I was a little bit lost because I didn’t even know how to throw breaking balls. But now I felt like I have been progressing a lot.

“Now I feel like a real pitcher. At first I was afraid of throwing the ball. It wasn’t that easy but it was a new thing. I just worked on it and then I came back ready this year. It’s been good because I just love the game. No matter if I hit or pitch, I love this game, so I will be doing that.”

Comás knows he already has made a meaningful mark beyond strikeouts.

“I decided to do it because now it’s 2023, people are changing and now I feel comfortable about that,” Comás said. “So that’s why I did it. I waited for the right time.

“I just felt like now is the right time. Now is when I feel good with myself. Now I accept myself. I love myself enough to tell people and feel great about it.

“At first I was afraid to say it, for people to know about me. Now I feel strong enough to say it to people without caring what they say about me.”

©2023 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By DOUG FERGUSON (AP Golf Writer)

The PGA Tour ended its expensive fight with Saudi Arabia’s golf venture and now is joining forces with it, making a stunning announcement Tuesday of a merger that creates a commercial operation with the Public Investment Fund and the European tour.

As part of the deal, the sides immediately are dropping all lawsuits involving LIV Golf.

From the golf side, still to be determined is how players like Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson can rejoin the PGA Tour after defecting last year for signing bonuses reported to be in the $150 million range.

From the commercial side, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund joins the PGA Tour board of directors and leads the new business venture as chairman, though the PGA Tour will have a majority stake.

News of the deal came as a surprise to many watchers of the lawsuits and Saudi Arabia’s inroads into U.S. politics, sports and culture.

“This is a huge development and obviously upends a world of golf, which has been perhaps more tradition-bound in the past,” said Kristian Ulrichsen, a Middle East fellow at Houston’s Baker Institute.

Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has made a point of seeking out investments, like LIV, where it could shake up existing industries, Ulrichsen said.

“That’s sort of one of their mantras, is to try to be disruptive and to take on the status quo,” he said. “And in this case, they seem to have succeeded.”

As for PGA Tour players, most were bewildered by the shocking turnaround. It didn’t help that a news outlet broke the embargoed announcement before PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan could send a memo to the players. Most learned of the development on social media.

“I love finding out about morning news on Twitter,” two-time major champion Collin Morikawa tweeted.

Many were not happy. Wesley Bryan tweeted, “I feel betrayed, and will not … be able to trust anyone within the corporate structure of the PGA Tour for a very long time.”

Byeong Hun An added on Twitter: “I’m guessing the liv teams were struggling to get sponsors and pga tour couldn’t turn down the money. Win-win for both tours but it’s a big lose for who defended the tour for last two years.”

The announcement comes a year after LIV Golf began. Monahan was at the Canadian Open that week and said pointedly about any player who joined LIV or was thinking about it: “Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?”

Now they are partners, giving Saudi Arabia a commercial voice in golf’s premier organization.

“They were going down their path, we were going down ours, and after a lot of introspection you realize all this tension in the game is not a good thing,” Monahan said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

“We have a responsibility to our tour and to the game, and we felt like the time was right to have that conversation.”

Monahan was headed to Toronto to meet with players at the Canadian Open, though most top players are not there. And while this likely will only lead to greater riches in golf, there still was explaining to do on why the tour would merge with a group that tried to take away some of the PGA Tour’s best players and was seen as the latest example of “sportswashing.”

“I understand the criticism,” Monahan said. “For me, you take the information you have at the time and make decisions in the best interests. Things have changed. This was the right time to have this conversation.”

The deal was in the works for the last seven weeks, when Monahan first met with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Public Investment Fund. Players typically approve changes to the schedule and other competition matters. On this one, they were left out.

“No one had word of this,” Monahan said. “Our players expect us to operate in the best interests of the tour.”

Instead, he cited guidance from corporate members of the PGA Tour board.

Still, Monahan has his toughest work ahead of him.

He sought loyalty from his players against a league accused of taking part in sportswashing, an attempt by Saudi Arabia to shift focus away from its human rights abuses, such as the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Now the very group that posed such a threat is now the commercial partner of the PGA Tour and European tour.

“The divisiveness is now over, and two years of disruption and distractions … is over and now we can concentrate on building our respective tours,” said Keith Pelley, CEO of the European tour. “And we are building it with PIF, who is clearly committed to the game.”

Along the way, PGA Tour players also got rich. The tour raised prize money at elite events to $20 million, the same purse for LIV’s individual competition. The 2024 schedule has been reshaped for roughly 16 tournaments like that.

“In the short term, I expect a lot of questions and criticism,” Monahan said. “In the long run, players who stayed with the PGA Tour will see they benefited in many ways.”

The agreement combines the Public Investment Fund’s golf-related commercial businesses and rights — including LIV Golf — with those of the PGA and European tours. The new entity has not been named.

Al-Rumayyan will join the board of the PGA Tour, which continues to operates its tournaments. The PIF will invest in the commercial venture.

“From the very beginning, the whole initiative was how to grow the game of golf,” Al-Rumayyan said. “And I think what was achieved today was exactly that.”

Augusta National and the Royal & Ancient welcomed the news because it ends the bitter feud. Augusta National said the deal “represents a positive development in bringing harmony to men’s professional golf.” R&A CEO Martin Slumbers said it would help golf “move forward in a collaborative, constructive and innovative fashion.”

As for the new role of Greg Norman, Al-Rumayyan said only that Norman is LIV Golf’s commissioner and details of his future role would be announced in the coming weeks.

Monahan’s memo to players indicated a strong Saudi Arabian presence. He said PIF would make a financial investment to become a “premier corporate sponsor” of the PGA Tour, the European tour and other international tours.

The PIF initially will be the exclusive investor in the new entity and will have the exclusive right to further invest, including a right of first refusal on any capital that may be invested.

Al-Rumayyan has been spotted wearing a “MAGA” hat during LIV events at courses owned by former President Donald Trump.

Trump predicted last July that a merger was inevitable and said anyone not signing with the Saudi league would be losing out. He weighed in Tuesday and called it a “glamorous deal for the wonderful world of golf.”

Monahan said the merger came together the last seven weeks, with PGA Tour board member Jimmy Dunne responsible for bringing together Monahan and Al-Rumayyan. Dunne and Ed Herlihy, chairman of the PGA Tour’s board, will serve on the board of the commercial venture.

Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau were among 11 players who filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour last August. LIV joined as plaintiffs, and the PGA Tour countersued.

The concern for PIF was whether its leaders could be deposed, which Saudi Arabia wanted to avoid. Being open to depositions would leave the kingdom’s leaders more vulnerable to legal action, including lawsuits demanding they reveal business deals in the United States.

A federal judge had ruled the PIF could not claim immunity from the Foreign Service Immunity Act because of its commercial work with LIV Golf in the U.S.

The PIF appealed the ruling to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which was likely to extend the lawsuit deep into 2024 if not longer.

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Associated Press writer Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington and AP Sports Writer Steve Douglas in Stockholm contributed to this report.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM (Associated Press/Report for America)

The Human Rights Campaign declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. on Tuesday and released a guidebook pointing to laws it deems discriminatory in each state, along with “know your rights” information and resources to help people relocate to states with stronger LGBTQ+ protections.

Sounding the alarm about the current political climate, the nation’s largest organization devoted to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans said travel advisories aren’t enough to help people already living in states where lawmakers have targeted LGBTQ+ people.

“We need champions right now,” HRC President Kelley Robinson said in an interview with The Associated Press. President Joe Biden and other LGBTQ+ rights supporters with decision-making authorities, she said, need to be more than just allies.

The declaration is a call to action for “people in power at every level” of government and the business community, she said, urging them to fight for LGBTQ+ rights with the same fervor as they’ve fought for abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer.

“When Dobbs fell, you saw a federal response to deal with the abortion crisis that we’re in,” Robinson said. “We are in a crisis of even greater scale to the health and well-being of the LGBTQ+ community, and we need that same sort of response.”

Just a few days into Pride Month, the campaign said it’s taking action in response to an “unprecedented and dangerous” spike in discriminatory legislation sweeping state houses this year, with more than 525 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced and more than 70 signed into law so far in 2023 — more than double last year’s number. In a report released Tuesday, it said the new laws are a result of coordinated Republican efforts, supported by “well-funded extremist groups.”

A recent Associated Press analysis found that many bills seeking to ban or restrict gender-affirming health care for transgender youth, who have been the primary targets of state legislation this year, sprang not from grassroots or constituent demand, but from the pens of a few powerful conservative interest groups.

The HRC guidebook, meanwhile, provides information about filing complaints for civil rights violations and points to resources for financing moves and finding employment, particularly in the 17 states with a trifecta of Democratic leadership in both legislative chambers and the governor’s office. It also offers tips on how to engage in local advocacy and how to navigate tough conversations about LGBTQ+ policies with friends and family.

“The amount of calls I get every day from parents asking how they can move to another state because they’d rather mourn their home than their child is real,” Robinson said. “This is a different level of urgency and demanded a different level of response.”

The emergency declaration is the first in the 43-year history of the HRC, which encompasses a foundation focusing on research, advocacy and education, national and state lobbying campaigns and a political action committee that supports and opposes candidates for office. It comes as Republican-dominated legislatures around the country have restricted various aspects of transgender existence, from pronoun usage and bathroom access to medical care and more.

Among the latest, one of a series of bills that could receive final passage as soon as Tuesday in Louisiana would broadly ban K-12 public school employees from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity in the classroom. The legislation is similar to the Florida law critics call “Don’t Say Gay.”

As many LGBTQ+ Americans are celebrating their identities this month against the backdrop of a dizzying array of new restrictions, some trans people and their families are scrambling to flee their home states. Others have suddenly found themselves without access to medical care many credit as life-saving, and are turning to often-dangerous “do-it-yourself” hormone treatments to avoid involuntarily reversing their physical transitions.

And as Pride Month festivities kick off this week, organizers are beefing up security amid threatened protests by some extremist groups. A mass shooting last fall inside a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs left many LGBTQ+ community members feeling especially vulnerable.

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Hannah Schoenbaum is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.