AP Top News at 11:19 a.m. EDT

Trump plans to tour Texas flood damage as the scope of the disaster tests his pledge to shutter FEMA

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — As President Donald Trump heads to Texas on Friday for a firsthand look at the devastation from catastrophic flooding, he has remained conspicuously quiet about his previous promises to do away with the federal agency in charge of disaster relief. The Trump administration isn’t backing away from its pledges to shutter the Federal Emergency Management Agency and return disaster response to the states. But since the July 4 disaster, which has killed at least 120 people and left more than 170 missing, the president has focused on the once-in-a-lifetime nature of what occurred and the human tragedy rather than the government-slashing crusade that’s been popular with Trump’s core supporters.

A Texas family clung to life on their roof, capturing the terrifying flooding in photos and video

Jane Towler was up late in a small cabin along the Guadalupe River as thunder boomed through a thrashing rain. It was 4 a.m. and water was pooling on the floor. Suddenly, her phone rang. It was her friend from a nearby cabin. “Jane, we’re f—ed!” Brian Keeper said frantically. “The water’s in my house! Get out!” Towler’s grandfather bought the property in Texas Hill Country in the 1930s, and she’s lived through many floods in her 70 years, losing a canoe or chairs here and there. But last Friday was different. The river would swell 26 feet (nearly 8 meters) in 45 minutes and lay waste to homes and buildings, sweep away cars and trucks, and claim the lives of more than 100 people, including many summer campers.

US is selling weapons to NATO allies to give to Ukraine, Trump says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is selling weapons to its NATO allies in Europe so they can provide them to Ukraine as it struggles to fend off a recent escalation in Russia’s drone and missile attacks, President Donald Trump and his chief diplomat said. “We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%,” Trump said in an interview with NBC late Thursday. “So what we’re doing is, the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons (to Ukraine), and NATO is paying for those weapons.”

State Department is firing over 1,300 employees under Trump administration plan

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The U.S. State Department is firing more than 1,300 employees on Friday in line with a dramatic reorganization plan from the Trump administration that critics say will damage America’s global leadership and efforts to counter threats abroad. The department is sending layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with domestic assignments in the United States, according to a senior department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters before individual notices were emailed to affected employees. Foreign service officers affected will be placed immediately on administrative leave for 120 days, after which they will formally lose their jobs, according to an internal notice obtained by The Associated Press.

As Trump seeks to be a peacemaker, Netanyahu leaves Washington without breakthrough on Gaza deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to Washington this week netted President Donald Trump another nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize he covets, but the ceasefire the U.S. leader sought for the war in Gaza didn’t emerge. Despite Trump throwing his weight behind a push for a 60-day truce between Israel and Hamas, no breakthrough was announced during Netanyahu’s visit, a disappointment for a president who wants to be known as a peacemaker and has hinged his reputation on being a dealmaker. “He prides himself or being able to make deals, so this is another test case,” said Rachel Brandenburg, the Israel Policy Forum’s Washington managing director and senior fellow.

Pennsylvania man who posted video of father’s severed head online is found guilty of murder

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania man who posted a video of his father’s severed head on YouTube was convicted of murder Friday. Bucks County Judge Stephen A. Corr found Justin D. Mohn, 33, guilty in the January 2024 shooting death of his father at their home in the Philadelphia suburb of Levittown. Prosecutors said Mohn shot his father, Michael F. Mohn, 68, with a newly purchased pistol, then decapitated him with a kitchen knife and machete. The 14-minute YouTube video he posted was live for several hours before it was removed. Mohn testified during the trial that he shot his father while trying to arrest him on what he said were false statements and treason but his father resisted, so he fired at him.

How US views of immigration have changed since Trump took office, according to Gallup polling

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just months after President Donald Trump returned to office amid a wave of anti-immigration sentiment, the share of U.S. adults saying immigration is a “good thing” for the country has jumped substantially — including among Republicans, according to new Gallup polling. About 8 in 10 Americans, 79%, say immigration is “a good thing” for the country today, an increase from 64% a year ago and a high point in the nearly 25-year trend. Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults say immigration is a bad thing right now, down from 32% last year. During Democratic President Joe Biden’s term in office, negative views of immigration had increased markedly, reaching a high point in the months before Trump, a Republican, took office.

Texas floodwaters damaged crops and endangered livestock. Now farmers and ranchers are cleaning up

BEND, Texas (AP) — Across a wide swath of Texas, the inundated rivers that ravaged communities also tore through farms and ranches. In the town of Bend, about two hours north of Austin, Boyd Clark waded into rising waters to help one of his stranded ostrich hens. Matthew Ketterman spent several agonizing hours trapped on top of his truck amid coursing rapids after driving out to check the fences on his exotic game ranch outside Burnet, about an hour south of Bend. And the overflowing San Gabriel River knocked Christmas trees sideways and staff had to get petting zoo animals into a temporary pen at Sweet Eats Adventure Farm in Georgetown, about 65 miles east of Ketterman’s ranch.

US stocks move lower and pull S&P 500 back from its record

U.S. stocks are down in morning trading Friday, pulling the market back from all-time highs, as the Trump administration escalates its tariff threats against Canada. The S&P 500 was down 0.4% a day after setting a record high. The benchmark index is on pace to post its first weekly loss in three weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 279 points, or 0.6%, as of 11:06 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower a day after climbing to an all-time high. Both indexes are also headed for weekly losses. Bond yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.40%, from 4.34% late Thursday.

‘The Salt Path:' A book that captured the hearts of millions, but now mired in controversy

LONDON (AP) — “The Salt Path” is a memoir of resilience and courage that captured the hearts of millions and which was subsequently adapted for the big screen, with actors Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs taking the lead roles. But now, the book and the film are mired in a controversy that could see them suffer that very modern phenomenon — being canceled. On Friday, publisher Penguin Michael Joseph agreed with author Raynor Winn to delay the publication of her next book, according to long-time specialist magazine The Bookseller. The delay is the latest blowback from a bombshell report in last Sunday’s “The Observer” newspaper in the U.K.