Last year, U.S. Jesuits announced a racial reconciliation initiative in partnership with descendants of people once enslaved by the Catholic order. A leader of those descendants is now expressing deep dissatisfaction with the lack of progress. The initiative proposed a billion-dollar trust to fund educational grants for descendants with the Jesuits committing to contribute and raise the first $100 million. Joseph Stewart, himself a descendant, has asked that the Jesuits transfer proceeds from past land sales and the sale of remaining plantation lands to the trust by Christmas. The Jesuits have said while the process is complicated, they are still committed to it.

First lady Jill Biden has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing “mild symptoms.” The White House announced it on Tuesday. The first lady has been vacationing with President Joe Biden in South Carolina and began experiencing symptoms Monday. She has been prescribed the antiviral drug Paxlovid and will isolate at the vacation home for at least five days. Joe Biden tested negative for the virus on Tuesday morning but will wear a mask indoors for 10 days in line with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance. The president recovered from a rebound case of the virus Aug. 7. The Bidens have been twice-vaccinated and twice-boosted with the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.

A mural painted by a Lithuanian immigrant in a Vermont synagogue more than 100 years ago has been painstakingly restored and moved. It was hidden behind a wall for years, and experts say it is a rare piece of art. The colorful triptych was painted by sign painter Ben Zion Black in 1910. It is now known as the “Lost Mural." Experts say it's a rare representation of art that graced wooden synagogues in Europe that were largely destroyed during the Holocaust. About $1 million was raised for the project. The renewed mural was unveiled this summer. Tours are ongoing.

In the 1980s, Wilbur Slockish Jr. served 20 months in federal prison on charges of illegally poaching salmon from the Columbia River. His story represents the decadeslong fight for tribal fishing rights along the river. Native tribes who have lived in the Columbia River Basin for generations view stewardship of the river, the salmon and their habitat as part of a divine contract. They believe the Creator made the river and food sources to offer them sustenance. The people in turn were to be caretakers of these resources. Slockish says he went to prison to fight for his people's right to practice their faith.

The Columbia River, which natives call Nch’i-Wána, or “the great river,” has sustained Indigenous people in the region for millennia. The river’s salmon and the roots and berries that grow around the area, are known as “first foods” because of the belief that they volunteered to sacrifice themselves for the benefit of humans at the time of Creation. These foods are prominently featured in longhouse ceremonies and rituals. The foods and the river are still threatened by industrialization, climate change and pollution. Many Indigenous people still live along the river because their blood lines are here and the practice of their faith requires them to do so.

The Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest, which Natives call  Nch’i-Wána, or “the great river,” has sustained Indigenous people in the region for millennia. The river's salmon and the roots and berries that grow around the area, are known as “first foods" because of the belief that they volunteered to sacrifice themselves for the benefit of humans at the time of Creation. These foods are prominently featured in longhouse ceremonies and rituals. The foods and the river are still threatened by industrialization, climate change and pollution. Many Indigenous people still live along the river because their blood lines are there and the practice of their faith requires them to do so.

Federal officials on Tuesday are expected to announce water cuts that would further reduce how much Colorado River water some users in the seven U.S. states reliant on the river and Mexico receive. Cities, farms and water managers in Arizona, Nevada and Mexico are widely anticipating Tuesday’s reductions. They are based on a plan states signed in 2019 to help keep more water in one of the river's key storage reservoirs. But the cuts come as Western states grapple with another, larger looming deadline on the Colorado River about how to share the dwindling water source as it yields less and less to go around.

The Alaska primary on Tuesday will feature two elections. In one, Alaskans get their first shot at using ranked choice voting in a statewide election in a U.S. House special special in which Sarah Palin seeks a return to elected office. The former governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee faces Republican Nick Begich and Democrat Mary Peltola in the race to fill the remainder of Rep. Don Young's term. Young died in March. The winner may not be known until late August. The other election is the state primary in which the top four vote-getters in the races for U.S. Senate, House, governor and legislature will advance to the general election.

Prosecutors say rapper A$AP Rocky has been charged with two felonies for pulling a gun on a former friend and firing in Hollywood last year. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged the 33-year-old New York native, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, with two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm on Monday. They say the rapper twice pulled a gun on a man in November, and the second time fired two shots. The man received a minor injury. Mayers is scheduled to enter a plea to the charge Wednesday. Representatives didn't immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

Donald Trump’s longtime finance chief is expected to plead guilty as soon as Thursday in a tax evasion case, according to three people familiar with the matter. Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg is accused of failing to pay taxes on fringe benefits he got from the company. A judge has scheduled a hearing for Thursday. The three people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case. They said the purpose of the hearing was for Weisselberg to enter a guilty plea. One of Weisselberg’s lawyers confirmed that Weisselberg was engaged in plea negotiations but didn't specify terms of a potential deal.

Jury selection is underway at R. Kelly’s federal trial in his hometown of Chicago. The judge questioning would-be jurors is paying special attention to whether they watched a 2019 documentary about sex abuse allegations against the R&B singer. Kelly faces charges that he rigged his 2008 state child pornography trial by threatening and paying off a girl whom he allegedly filmed himself having sex with when he was around 30 and she was no older than 14. Jurors acquitted Kelly on all charges in that 2008 trial. Jury selection is expected to continue into Tuesday.

Preliminary autopsy results for the three victims of a house explosion in a southern Indiana neighborhood show they died of blunt force trauma and compression asphyxia. The Vanderburgh County Coroner’s Office said Monday that a married couple who lived at the center of the Wednesday explosion in Evansville, 43-year-old Charles Hite and 37-year-old Martina Hite, both died of blunt force trauma to their chests. It says 29-year-old neighbor Jessica Teague died of compression asphyxia. Chief Deputy Coroner David Anson says final autopsy reports and toxicology are pending. The explosion also injured a fourth person and damaged 39 homes, leaving 11 uninhabitable.

Former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill, whose time in office was marred by allegations that he drunkenly groped four women during a party, is seeking the Republican nomination to replace U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski following her death in a highway crash. Hill is among at least five candidates in a growing field of candidates for Saturday’s Republican caucus to take Walorski’s place on the November election ballot in northern Indiana's solidly GOP 2nd Congressional District. The other candidates include Rudy Yakym, who Walorski’s husband endorsed Monday. Yakym is an executive with Elkhart distribution company Kem Krest and a former Walorski campaign staffer.

Strict anti-abortion laws that took effect in Oklahoma this year led to the quick shuttering of every abortion facility in the state. But questions remain for those who work directly with women who may seek their advice or help getting an abortion out of state. Clergy members, social workers and even librarians have raised concerns about being exposed to criminal or civil liability for even discussing the topic. University of Oklahoma law professor Joseph Thai says those fears are well founded. He describes Oklahoma’s anti-abortion laws as the strictest in the nation so far and sweeping in both substance and scope. The criminal provisions make it a felony to “advise" a woman or provide any means to help her get an abortion.

Starbucks is asking the National Labor Relations Board to suspend all union elections at its U.S. stores. The request came Monday in response to a board employee's allegations that regional NLRB officials improperly coordinated with union organizers. In a letter sent to the board, Starbucks said an unnamed career NLRB official told the company about the activity, which happened in the board's St. Louis office in the spring while it was overseeing an election at a Starbucks store in Overland Park, Kansas. The labor board says it doesn't comment on open cases. More than 220 U.S. Starbucks stores have voted to unionize since late last year. The company opposes unionization.

Seven Western U.S. states face a deadline from the federal government to come up with a plan to use substantially less Colorado River water in 2023. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is expected to publish hydrology projections on Tuesday that will trigger agreed-upon cuts for states relying on the river. States face the threat of proposing additional cuts or having them mandated by the federal government. Prolonged drought, climate change and overuse are jeopardizing the water supply that more than 40 million people rely on. States acknowledge painful cuts are needed, but are stubbornly clinging to the water they were allocated a century ago.

Some Florida schools have moved library books and debated changing textbooks in response to a law critics call “Don’t Say Gay.” Educators are cautiously making changes as they wait to see how the new law governing lessons on gender and sexual orientation will be interpreted and enforced. The law was championed by Florida’s GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis. It bans lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. It also forbids any lessons on those topics for students of any grade if they are not age-appropriate. Some worry it will stifle classroom discussion and leave LGBTQ teachers and kids feeling ostracized.

Authorities say three people were injured in a shooting outside a Chicago-area amusement park’s entrance that sent visitors scrambling for safety and prompted the park to close early. The Gurnee Police Department says officers responded about 7:50 p.m. Sunday to Six Flags Great America, about 45 miles north of Chicago. Police said the shooting “appeared to be a targeted incident.” Police say a white sedan entered the parking lot and drove toward the park’s front entrance. The suspects got out and shot at another person in the parking lot before driving away. Police say two people had non-life-threatening wounds. A third had a shoulder injury and declined to be taken to a hospital. The amusement park reopened as scheduled Monday morning.

Two former Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s killing told a judge that they have rejected plea deals that would have resulted in three-year prison sentences. The statements from Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng on Monday at a brief hearing in Minneapolis set the stage for trial in October. The pair are charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s death. They and Thomas Lane were working with Derek Chauvin when he pinned Floyd’s neck with his knee for more than nine minutes as the 46-year-old Black man said he couldn’t breathe and eventually grew still. Thao said “it would be lying” for him to accept a plea deal.

A project in the country's top coal-producing area seeks to pump the carbon dioxide produced by burning that coal back underground. The project is one of dozens nationwide that stand to get a big boost from tax credits in the new climate bill plus a share of $2.5 billion in funding for carbon capture and storage in last year's infrastructure bill. It's also part of Wyoming's vision of becoming a center for carbon capture and storage. The work near the Dry Fork Station power plant outside Gillette so far involves drilling two injection wells nearly two miles underground. Proponents of carbon storage say the technology is straightforward but others are skeptical it can ever be done economically.

The impacts of climate change have been felt throughout the Northeastern U.S. with rising sea levels, heavy precipitation and storm surges causing flooding and coastal erosion. This summer has brought another extreme: a severe drought that has made lawns crispy and has farmers begging for steady rain. The heavy, short rainfall brought by the occasional thunderstorm tends to run off, not soak into the ground. Water supplies are low or dry. Many communities are restricting nonessential outdoor water use. Fire departments are combatting more brush fires and crops are growing poorly. Farmers in the region say this summer's harsh weather has made their jobs more challenging.

Actor Anne Heche has died, nine days after she was injured in a fiery car crash. She was 53. Spokeswoman Holly Baird said Sunday night that Heche “been peacefully taken off life support.” She had been on life support after suffering burns and a major brain injury when her car crashed into a home. Heche first came to prominence on the NBC soap opera “Another World” in the late 1980s before becoming one of the hottest stars in Hollywood in the late 1990s. She was a constant on magazine covers and in big-budget films opposite actors including Johnny Depp and Harrison Ford.

Pennsylvania state police say a man drove into a crowd at a fundraiser for victims of a recent deadly house fire. One person was killed and 17 others were injured Saturday. He then returned home and beat his mother to death. Police said 24-year-old Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes was arraigned early Sunday on two counts of criminal homicide. They allege that he told them he was upset about an argument with his mother, saw the crowd in Berwick and drove through it. Court documents don't list an attorney for him. State police say Sura Reyes is not currently a suspect in the fire, which killed seven adults and three children.

One of the last remaining Navajo Code Talkers says Sunday that the code based on his then-unwritten native language was the hardest thing to learn. Thomas H. Begay spoke at a Phoenix ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the elite World War II group and its code that confounded Japanese military cryptologists. Hundreds of Navajos were recruited by the U.S. Marines to serve as code talkers during the war. The 98-year-old Begay is one of three who is still alive to talk about it. The Code Talkers participated in all assaults the Marines led in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945 including Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Peleliu and Iwo Jima.

Police say three people were killed and another injured when they were struck by a car during a hit-and-run on a Chicago street. Chicago police say a sedan hit the four males around 5 a.m. Sunday on the city’s South Side and then drove away. No one was in custody. Video circulating online purported to show them being struck by a fast-moving car, but police declined to release further information. Three victims were pronounced dead at a Chicago hospital. The fourth was taken to a different Chicago hospital. Their names and ages were unknown Sunday.

Salman Rushdie's agent says the author is “on the road to recovery” two days after suffering serious injuries in a stabbing at a lecture in upstate New York. The announcement followed news that the lauded writer was removed from a ventilator Saturday and able to talk and joke. Andrew Wylie continued to caution that although Rushdie’s “condition is headed in the right direction,” his recovery would be a long process. The 75-year-old suffered a damaged liver and severed nerves in an arm and an eye, Wylie had previously said, and was likely to lose the injured eye. Twenty-four-year-old Hadi Matar pleaded not guilty in the attack.

The judge in penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz will soon decide whether the jury will be told about some brain exams his lawyers had conducted on him. His attorneys this week will tell Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer that she should permit the tests be shown in their upcoming presentation. They say the tests bolster their claim that Cruz suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome. The prosecution says the tests are junk science and should not be shown to the jury. Cruz has pleaded guilty to murdering 17 at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. His ongoing trial is to determine whether he is sentenced to death or life without parole.

As part of an effort to keep illegal drugs and other contraband out of state prisons, New York is taking away one of the few pleasures of life behind bars. It will no longer let people send inmates care packages from home. The state began phasing in the new policy last month. Friends and family will no longer be allowed to deliver packages in person during prison visits. They also won’t be allowed to mail boxes of goodies unless they come direct from third-party vendors. New York had been one of the few states that still allowed families to send packages to inmates from home.

Lt. Gov. Josh Green is the Democratic Party’s candidate to be Hawaii’s next governor. Green defeated U.S. Rep. Kaiali’i Kahele and former Hawaii first lady Vicky Cayetano in Saturday’s primary election. Green has served as second-in-command to Hawaii Gov. David Ige for the past four years. Ige has served two four-year terms and is not eligible to run for re-election. The winner of the Democratic primary would be the favorite to win the general election in the liberal state. Former Lt. Gov. James R. “Duke” Aiona won the Republican primary for governor, defeating mixed martial arts championship fighter B.J. Penn.

At the 7th annual Basque Fry in Gardnerville, a lineup of GOP national heavyweights and local Nevada politicians fired up a crowd of 1,500 Republicans with a message of urgency. The midterm elections are in 80 days and will decide which party controls both the State House in Carson City and Congress in Washington D.C. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called Nevada Republican Senate nominee Adam Laxalt’s race “the single best pickup opportunity for Republicans.” Lawmakers referenced a portion of the Inflation Reduction Act and gas prices as reasons why they're poised to take the Senate. Others criticized the FBI search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.

Author Salman Rushdie has been taken off a ventilator and is able to talk, a day after being stabbed as he prepared to give a lecture. Rushdie's agent confirmed information contained in a tweet by another author Saturday. Earlier in the day, the man accused in the attack in upstate New York pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges. A judge ordered Hadi Matar held without bail after the district attorney told her Matar took steps to purposely put himself in position to harm Rushdie. Rushdie, the renowned author of “The Satanic Verses” remains hospitalized with serious injuries.