By ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kash Patel has been well-known for years within Donald Trump’s orbit as a loyal supporter who shares the president-elect’s skepticism of the FBI and intelligence community. But he’s receiving fresh attention, from the public and from Congress, now that Trump has picked him to lead the FBI.

As he braces for a bruising and likely protracted Senate confirmation fight, Patel can expect scrutiny not only over his professed fealty to Trump but also for his belief — revealed over the last year in interviews and his own book — that the century-old FBI should be radically overhauled.

Here’s a look at some of what he’s proposed for the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency. How much of it he’d actually follow through on is a separate question.

He’s mused about shutting down the FBI’s Washington headquarters

The first FBI employees moved into the current Pennsylvania Avenue headquarters 50 years ago. The building since then has housed the supervisors and leaders who make decisions affecting offices around the country and overseas.

But if Patel has his way, the J. Edgar Hoover Building could be shut down, with its employees dispersed.

“I’d shut down the FBI Hoover Building on day one and reopen it the next day as a museum of the ‘deep state,’” Patel said in a September interview on the “Shawn Kelly Show.” “Then, I’d take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals. Go be cops. You’re cops — go be cops.”

Such a plan would undoubtedly require legal, logistical and bureaucratic hurdles and it may reflect more of a rhetorical flourish than a practical ambition.

In a book last year titled, “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth and the Battle for Our Democracy,” he proposed a more modest reform of having the headquarters moved out of Washington “to prevent institutional capture and curb FBI leadership from engaging in political gamesmanship.”

As it happens, the long-term fate of the building is in flux regardless of the leadership transition. The General Services Administration last year selected Greenbelt, Maryland, as the site for a new headquarters, but current FBI Director Christopher Wray has raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest in the site selection process.

He’s talked about finding ‘conspirators’ in the government and media

In an interview last year with conservative strategist Steve Bannon, Patel repeated falsehoods about President Joe Biden and a stolen election.

“We’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,” Patel said. The same applies for supposed “conspirators” inside the federal government, he said.

It’s not entirely clear what he envisions, but to the extent Patel wants to make it easier for the government to crack down on officials who disclose sensitive information and the reporters who receive it, it sounds like he’d back a reversal of current Justice Department policy that generally prohibits prosecutors from seizing the records of journalists in leak investigations.

That policy was implemented in 2021 by Attorney General Merrick Garland following an uproar over the revelation that the Justice Department during the Trump administration had obtained phone records of reporters as part of investigations into who had disclosed government secrets.

Patel himself has said that it’s yet to be determined whether such a crackdown would be done civilly or criminally. His book includes several pages of former officials from the FBI, Justice Department and other federal agencies he’s identified as being part of the “Executive Branch Deep State.”

Under the FBI’s own guidelines, criminal investigations can’t be rooted in arbitrary or groundless speculation but instead must have an authorized purpose to detect or interrupt criminal activity.

And while the FBI conducts investigations, the responsibility of filing federal charges, or bringing a lawsuit on behalf of the federal government, falls to the Justice Department. Trump intends to nominate former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi as attorney general.

He wants ‘major, major’ surveillance reform

Patel has been a fierce critic of the FBI’s use of its surveillance authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and in his “Shawn Kelly Show” interview, called for “major, major reform. Tons.”

That position aligns him with both left-leaning civil libertarians who have long been skeptical of government power and Trump supporters outraged by well-documented surveillance missteps during the FBI’s investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign.

But it sets him far apart from FBI leadership, which has stressed the need for the bureau to retain its ability to spy on suspected spies and terrorists even while also implementing corrective steps meant to correct past abuses.

If confirmed, Patel would take over the FBI amid continued debate over a particularly contentious provision of FISA known as Section 702, which permits the U.S. to collect without a warrant the communications of non-Americans located outside the country for the purpose of gathering foreign intelligence.

Biden in April signed a two-year extension of the authority following a fierce congressional dispute centered on whether the FBI should be restricted from using the program to search for Americans’ data. Though the FBI boasts a high compliance rate, analysts have been blamed for a series of abuses and mistakes, including improperly querying the intelligence repository for information about Americans or others in the U.S., including a member of Congress and participants in the racial justice protests of 2020 and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Patel has made clear his disdain for the reauthorization vote.

“Because the budget of FISA was up this cycle, we demanded Congress fix it. And do you know what the majority in the House, where the Republicans did? They bent the knee. They (reauthorized) it,” Patel said.

In his book, Patel said a federal defender should be present to argue for the rights of the accused at all FISA court proceedings, a departure from the status quo.

He has called for reducing the size of the intelligence community

Patel has advocated cutting the federal government’s intelligence community, including the CIA and National Security Agency.

When it comes to the FBI, he said last year that he would support breaking off the bureau’s “intel shops” from the rest of its crime-fighting activities.

It’s not clear exactly how he would intend to do that given that the FBI’s intelligence-gathering operations form a core part of the bureau’s mandate and budget. Wray, who’s been in the job for seven years, has also recently warned of a heightened threat environment related to international and domestic terrorism.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, then-FBI Director Robert Mueller faced down calls from some in Congress who thought the FBI should be split up, with a new domestic intelligence agency created in its wake.

The idea died, and Mueller committed new resources into transforming what for decades had been primarily a domestic law enforcement agency into an intelligence-gathering institution equally focused on combating terrorism, spies and foreign threats.

Frank Montoya Jr., a retired senior FBI official who served as the U.S. government’s national counterintelligence executive, said he disagreed with the idea of breaking out the FBI’s “intel shops” and viewed it as a way to defang the bureau.

Doing so, he said, “makes the bureau less effective at what it does, and quite frankly, it will make the intelligence community less effective at what it does.”

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 3, the 338th day of 2024. There are 28 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Dec. 3, 1984, a cloud of methyl isocyanate gas escaped from a pesticide plant operated by a Union Carbide subsidiary in Bhopal, India, causing an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 deaths and more than 500,000 injuries.

Also on this date:

In 1947, the Tennessee Williams play “A Streetcar Named Desire” opened on Broadway.

In 1967, a surgical team in Cape Town, South Africa, led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard (BAHR’-nard) performed the first human heart transplant on Louis Washkansky, who lived 18 days with the donated organ from Denise Darvall, a 25-year-old bank clerk who had died in a traffic accident.

In 1979, 11 people were killed in a crush of fans at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum, where the British rock group The Who was performing.

In 1989, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev concluded two days of positive bilateral discussions in Malta in a symbolic end to the Cold War.

In 2015, Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered the armed services to open all military jobs to women, removing the final barriers that had kept women from serving in combat.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Singer Jaye P. Morgan is 93.
• Rock singer Ozzy Osbourne is 76.
• Rock singer Mickey Thomas is 75.
• Actor Daryl Hannah is 64.
• Actor Julianne Moore is 64.
• Olympic figure skating gold medalist Katarina Witt is 59.
• Actor Brendan Fraser is 56.
• Singer Montell Jordan is 56.
• Actor Holly Marie Combs is 51.
• Actor/comedian Tiffany Haddish is 45.
• Actor Anna Chlumsky (KLUHM’-skee) is 44.
• Actor Amanda Seyfried is 39.
• Rapper Lil Baby is 30.
• Actor Jake T. Austin is 30.

A program that provides federal funds to groups in Detroit working to reduce homicides and shootings is showing reductions of 83%, 73% and 61% in some of the city's most violent areas.

The numbers come as Detroit is on pace to continue setting historic lows in those crimes, according to the city.

ShotStoppers ' metrics measure the level of homicides and shootings in the current quarter compared to the same quarter in the two prior years and were released Monday by Mayor Mike Duggan.

Detroit officials highlight success of 'Shotstopper' program

The program kicked off in 2023. Going by names like Force Detroit, Detroit 300, Detroit Friends and Family, and New Era Community Connection, activists and residents are empowered to use their own strategies to prevent violence. Those strategies include teaching young people to think critically, improving training opportunities for adults, drug prevention and blight removal.

Each group also is alerted by the police department whenever there is a shooting in their zone, Duggan told The Associated Press last week.

Because an hour later there will be a retaliation, Duggan said. The key is getting people to make different decisions. Theyve brokered agreements with groups beefing with one another. What theyre doing is making a difference.

The six groups focus on parts of the city that between 2018 and 2022 were hotspots for homicides and shootings. The recent drops in what the city calls Community Violence Intervention or CVI zones are from August through October and are compared to the same three-month period in 2023 and 2022.

Homicides and shootings were down 35% in areas not part of the CVI zones.

The 83% reduction in the Detroit Friends and Family CVI zone on Detroit's far northeast side was achieved through mediation strategies inside jails and juvenile facilities, working with the area's youth and looking at the goings-on within social networks, said Ray Winans, the group's founder.

It's not so much what we say to them. It's more so what we hear from them, Winans told The Associated Press last week. We want to hear what their stories are. We know our stories and support them while they are going through theirs'.

This is a group of young men and women whose brains aren't fully developed yet, he added. We don't look at leadership in the sense of traditional leadership. We serve as an example of what's possible. We deal with behavior modifications.

Tamica Nixon, 48, has relatives who live in Winans CVI zone. She said just a year or so ago the sound of gunshots was prevalent.

There were so many gunshots you would think thats the type of things you would hear in a war, Nixon said following Duggans announcement at a neighborhood church. Everything has really improved now. Its safer.

The program is similar in name to the gunshot detection technology, ShotSpotter, which has been used and later dropped by Chicago and several other police departments in the United States.

Violent crime in Detroit has been trending down for several years, with annual homicides being at their lowest since 1966 when there were 214 homicides.

In 2023, Detroit recorded 252 homicides and 804 nonfatal shootings. Those numbers were 309 and 955, respectively, in 2022. The city recorded 308 homicides in 2021 compared to 323 in 2020. There also were 1,064 nonfatal shootings in 2021, down from 1,170 the year before.

Officials have placed some credit to the drop in violent crime citywide to the hiring of about 200 new police officers over the past few years and a partnership between the city, Wayne County and the state that improves coordination among agencies and courts. ShotStoppers' success only appears to add to the lower numbers.

The project currently is funded by $10 million from the American Rescue Plan Act and each group started with a $175,000 base budget per quarter. Bonus grants are awarded to the groups that significantly cut serious violence in their areas.

With federal funding expiring in April, the statewide $100 million Public Safety & Violence Prevention Trust Fund being considered by Michigan lawmakers In Lansing could continue funding for the program. If approved, Detroit plans to add two new groups.

By ROB GILLIES, Associated Press

TORONTO (AP) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Donald Trump that Americans would also suffer if the president-elect follows through on a plan to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products, a Canadian minister who attended their recent dinner said Monday.

Trump threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if they don’t stop what he called the flow of drugs and migrants across their borders with the United States. He said on social media last week that he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, whose responsibilities include border security, attended a dinner with Trump and Trudeau at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on Friday.

Trudeau requested the meeting in a bid to avoid the tariffs by convincing Trump that the northern border is nothing like the U.S. southern border with Mexico.

“The prime minister of course spoke about the importance of protecting the Canadian economy and Canadian workers from tariffs, but we also discussed with our American friends the negative impact that those tariffs could have on their economy, on affordability in the United States as well,” LeBlanc said in Parliament.

If Trump makes good on his threat to slap 25% tariffs on everything imported from Mexico and Canada, the price increases that could follow will collide with his campaign promise to give American families a break from inflation.

Economists say companies would have little choice but to pass along the added costs, dramatically raising prices for food, clothing, automobiles, alcohol and other goods.

The Produce Distributors Association, a Washington trade group, said last week that tariffs will raise prices for fresh fruit and vegetables and hurt U.S. farmers when the countries retaliate.

Canada is already examining possible retaliatory tariffs on certain items from the U.S. should Trump follow through on the threat.

After his dinner with Trump, Trudeau returned home without assurances the president-elect will back away from threatened tariffs on all products from the major American trading partner. Trump called the talks “productive” but signaled no retreat from a pledge that Canada says unfairly lumps it in with Mexico over the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States.

“The idea that we came back empty handed is completely false,” LeBlanc said. “We had a very productive discussion with Mr. Trump and his future Cabinet secretaries. … The commitment from Mr. Trump to continue to work with us was far from empty handed.”

Joining Trump and Trudeau at dinner were Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department, and Mike Waltz, Trump’s choice to be his national security adviser.

Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., Kirsten Hillman, told The Associated Press on Sunday that “the message that our border is so vastly different than the Mexican border was really understood.” Hillman, who sat at an adjacent table to Trudeau and Trump, said Canada is not the problem when it comes to drugs and migrants.

On Monday, Mexico’s president rejected those comments.

“Mexico must be respected, especially by its trading partners,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said. She said Canada had its own problems with fentanyl consumption and “could only wish they had the cultural riches Mexico has.”

Flows of migrants and seizures of drugs at the two countries’ border are vastly different. U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border during the last fiscal year, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border.

Most of the fentanyl reaching the U.S. — where it causes about 70,000 overdose deaths annually — is made by Mexican drug cartels using precursor chemicals smuggled from Asia.

On immigration, the U.S. Border Patrol reported 1.53 million encounters with migrants at the southwest border with Mexico between October 2023 and September 2024. That compares to 23,721 encounters at the Canadian border during that time.

Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US$2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day. About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports as well.

Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing for national security.

DETROIT (AP) General Motors has reached an agreement to sell its stake in a nearly completed electric vehicle battery plant in Lansing, Michigan.

The company said Monday that it has a nonbinding agreement for the sale to joint venture partner LG Energy Solution of South Korea. The companies expect to close the sale by the end of March.

Financial details were not released Monday. But GM, which has sunk about $1 billion into the Lansing factory, said it expects to recoup its investment.

The company said it will rely on joint venture factories in Warren, Ohio, and Spring Hill, Tennessee, to supply factories that make seven electric vehicles now on sale in the U.S.

Nearly all automakers in the U.S. have had to slow plans to build electric vehicle and battery factories after EV sales growth eased from huge growth in 2023.

Through September, U.S. new EV sales were up 7.2% to about 936,000, according to Motorintelligence.com. Thats slower growth than the 47% increase in 2023. But EV sales this year still are likely to surpass last years record of 1.19 million. The EV share of new vehicle sales this year is 7.9%, up from 7.6% last year.

The 2.8 million square foot Lansing plant employs about 100 people and is on track to have about 1,700 workers, GM said. It was to open this year, but its opening date now is unclear.

GM also announced Monday that it reached agreement with LG to develop prismatic battery cells for electric vehicles. The rectangular cells can store more energy, reducing battery sizes and cutting weight and cost compared with pouch cells GM now uses.

The post Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares steps down as carmaker continues struggle with slumping sales appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

Jake DeBrusk scored a hat trick, including the game-winner in overtime, and goaltender Kevin Lankinen set an NHL record for most consecutive road wins to start a season as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-4 on Sunday.

DeBrusk scored two power-play goals in a 43-second span early in the second period and assisted on Erik Brannstrom's goal that tied the game with 3:20 left in regulation. Pius Suter also scored for Vancouver.

Lankinen is now 10-0-0 on the road this season, surpassing previous record-holders Glenn Hall (1965-66) and Cam Talbot (2023-24). Talbot, Detroit's starting goaltender on Sunday, played for Los Angeles last season.

Jonatan Berggren had a goal and an assist, while Alex DeBrincat, Michael Rasmussen and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored for the Red Wings.

Talbot left the game in the second period with a lower-body injury after making 12 saves. Ville Husso replaced him and made 15 saves, allowing three goals.

Takeaways

Vancouver: The Canucks are 4-1 on their current six-game road trip and 10-2 on the road this season.

Detroit: Tarasenko, the biggest offensive addition the Red Wings made in free agency during the offseason, has scored in back-to-back games after a 16-game drought.

Key moment

Penalties to Simon Edvinsson and Justin Holl late in the first period gave Vancouver a 5-on-3 advantage that carried over into the second period. DeBrusk took advantage of Detroit's penalty-kill unit, ranked last in the league, to scored on a tip-in and a rebound.

Key stat

Suter, a fifth-year center who played two seasons with Detroit, has six goals in 11 career games against the Red Wings.

Up next

The Canucks complete a six-game road trip at Minnesota on Tuesday while the Red Wings visit Boston on Tuesday.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

DETROIT (AP) — Tyrese Maxey scored 28 points and the Philadelphia 76ers won their fourth game of the season by beating the Detroit Pistons 111-96 on Saturday night.

Jared McCain added 19 points and Ricky Council IV scored 17 for Philadelphia, which had lost seven of its previous eight games.

Malik Beasley had 19 points for the Pistons. Jaden Ivey had 15 points and Marcus Sasser scored 12. Simone Fontecchio had 11 rebounds for Detroit — the only player on either team to reach double figures in assists or rebounds.

Takeaways

Sixers: Andre Drummond left the game in the first quarter with a left ankle injury. Paul George was listed as out on the pregame injury report, but started after missing the last three games with a bone bruise on his left knee and scored 11 points.

Pistons: Cade Cunningham was a late scratch with a sprained left sacroiliac joint. Starters Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway, Jr. and Jalen Duren combined for eight points on 3-for-16 shooting. Combined, they missed all seven of their 3-point attempts.

Key Moment

The Sixers scored 11 points in 101 seconds to take an early 22-7 lead. Maxey, George and Kelly Oubre Jr. hit three straight 3-pointers before Oubre finished the run with a mid-range jumper. Philadelphia led by as many as 18 points in the first quarter and 57-52 at halftime.

Key Stat

After starting the game with a 22-7 run, the Philadelphia starters began the second half with a 27-10 run to take an 84-62 lead late in the third quarter. KJ Martin replaced Drummond in the rotation after his injury.

Up Next

Both teams return to action on Tuesday night. The Sixers travel to Charlotte for a game with the Hornets while the Pistons play host to the Milwaukee Bucks.

— By DAVE HOGG, Associated Press

KALAMAZOO (AP) — Zahir Abdus-Salaam ran for a touchdown and caught another as Western Michigan defeated Eastern Michigan 26-18 on Saturday to become bowl eligible, snapping a three-game losing streak.

Abdus-Salaam scored on a 22-yard run for a 23-8 lead in the third quarter and he celebrated by jumping into a snowbank bordering the end zone.

The Broncos (6-6, 5-3 Mid-American Conference) blocked a punt for safety that started a run of 16 points in under four minutes. Abdus-Salaam scored on a 31-yard screen pass then Joey Pope recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff to set up Jalen Buckley’s 15-yard TD run with 19 seconds before the half ended.

Eastern Michigan’s Delmert Mimms II scored two third-quarter touchdowns. The teams exchanged field goals for the only fourth-quarter scoring.

The Eagles got the ball back with 2:18 remaining but on their first play Bilhal Kone intercepted a tipped pass. Eastern Michigan (5-7, 2-6) lost its last five games.

Abdus-Salaam rushed for 135 yards and Buckley 103 on 19 carries apiece. Hayden Wolff threw for 126 yards and a score. Abdus-Salaam had 40 yards receiving.

Mimms rushed for 127 yards on 18 carries. Cole Snyder was only 7 of 22 for 91 yards passing.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A fight broke out at midfield after Michigan stunned No. 2 Ohio State 13-10 on Saturday as Wolverines players attempted to plant their flag and were met by Buckeyes who confronted them.

Police had to use pepper spray to break up the players, who threw punches and shoves in the melee that overshadowed the rivalry game.

Ohio State police said in a statement “multiple officers representing Ohio and Michigan deployed pepper spray.” Ohio State police will investigate the fight, according to the statement.

After the Ohio State players confronted their bitter rivals at midfield, defensive end Jack Sawyer grabbed the top of the Wolverines’ flag and ripped it off the pole as the brawl moved toward the Michigan bench. Eventually, police officers rushed into the ugly scene.

Ohio State coach Ryan Day said he understood the actions of his players.

“There are some prideful guys on our team who weren’t going to sit back and let that happen,” Day said.

The two Ohio State players made available after the game brushed off questions about it.

Michigan running back Kalel Mullings, who rushed for 116 yards and a touchdown, didn’t like how the Buckeyes players involved themselves in the Wolverines’ postgame celebration. He called it “classless.”

“For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game,” he said in an on-field interview with Fox Sports. “It’s just bad for the sport, bad for college football. But at the end of the day, you know some people got to — they got to learn how to lose, man. … We had 60 minutes, we had four quarters, to do all that fighting.”

Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said everybody needs to do better.

“So much emotions on both sides,” he said. “Rivalry games get heated, especially this one. It’s the biggest one in the country, so we got to handle that better.”

— By MITCH STACY, Associated Press

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By JESSICA DAMIANO

A neighbor texted me this week asking for advice about controlling carpenter bees. She was hoping for an exterminator recommendation, but I gave her a simple, do-it-yourself solution that is easier on the wallet and environment, and even more effective.

It got me thinking about the importance of taking a beat to learn whether insects actually pose any harm — and, if so, how much — rather than immediately reaching for a spray can or calling in the big guns.

We’re all familiar with beneficial insects like ladybugs, dragonflies and bees, but it’s high time we reconsider our definition of “pests” and collectively add other, less-familiar insects to the friendly bug list. Native beetles, assassin bugs and even wasps are among those that make significant contributions to the environment despite their threatening appearance.

Great Britain’s Royal Horticultural Society has even removed the pest designation from slugs and snails, typically considered garden menaces. As it happens, they, too, play an essential role in the ecosystem, consuming rotting vegetation and serving as an important food source for birds, frogs and other animals, with some species even helping to control algae.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise — everything on Earth has a purpose, whether we realize it or not.

Fortunately, as gardeners learn more about the relationships between different life-forms, they are viewing insects as essential components of a sustainable landscape rather than nuisances.

I told my neighbor that the pesticide an exterminator would use in an attempt to eradicate her carpenter bees would also kill other pollinators and beneficial insects. Plus, those chemicals would need to be applied repeatedly to maintain control, hence the “service plan” upsell.

Carpenter bees are big and, to the uninitiated, scary-looking. But the males don’t have stingers, and the females only use theirs if they are blatantly disturbed. Still, they do “drill” holes in wooden surfaces.

What to do

I recommended sealing the holes with wood putty to prevent the bees from accessing their nests and force them to relocate. In addition, carpenter bees do not like painted surfaces, so painting bare wood would discourage hole-drilling in the first place (as well as protect it from the elements).

Spraying nest openings with almond or citrus oil, which the bees detest, also would provide an effective deterrent.

If you must act

Common sense should prevail, as particularly severe infestations might warrant a stronger approach. If so, seek out an organic control, such as diluted Neem oil, sprayed only after dark to avoid exposing pollinators. Homemade soap sprays made by mixing 1 tablespoon of dish soap into a quart of water can be used to control soft-bodied insects on plants, if necessary.

Planting nectar-rich flowering native plants will support native insects like ladybugs, lacewings and parasitic wasps.

Avoid planting the same crops in the same beds year after year. Rotating them will essentially starve pests that target specific plants, and provide a clean slate when you reintroduce them to the bed two or three years later.

And learn to accept some “pest” activity. A few leaf nibbles shouldn’t justify eradication. These measures should only be taken when a damage threshold is crossed. In many cases, it won’t be.

The circle of life

A single nest of baby birds consumes between 6,000 and 9,000 caterpillars, insects and worms in just their first few weeks of life. Encourage prospective avian parents to nest on your property by setting up a feeder and providing fresh, clean water. They’ll do a great job and work for free.

And that’s undoubtedly the best exterminator a gardener can hope for.

Jessica Damiano writes weekly gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. You can sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.

By ROB GILLIES, Associated Press

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on this threat to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products, he would be raising prices for Americans and hurting American business.

Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if the countries don’t stop what he called the flow of drugs and migrants across southern and northern borders. He said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders.

“It is important to understand that Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out. There’s no question about it,” Trudeau said to reporters in Prince Edward Island in Atlantic Canada.

“Our responsibility is to point out that he would not just be harming Canadians, who work so well with the United States, but he would actually be raising prices for Americans citizens as well and hurting American industry and business.”

Trudeau said Trump got elected because he promised to bring down the cost of groceries but now he’s talking about adding 25% to the cost of all kinds of products including potatoes from Prince Edward Island.

Those tariffs could essentially blow up the North American trade pact that Trump’s team negotiated during his initial term. Trudeau noted they were able to successfully re-negotiate the deal, which he calls a “win win” for both countries.

“We can work together as we did previously,” Trudeau said.

Trump made the tariff threat Monday while railing against an influx of illegal migrants, even though the numbers at the Canadian border pale in comparison to the southern border.

The U.S. Border Patrol made 56,530 arrests at the Mexican border in October alone — and 23,721 arrests at the Canadian one between October 2023 and September 2024.

Trump also railed about fentanyl from Mexico and Canada, even though seizures from the Canadian border are few in comparison to the Mexican border. U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border last fiscal year, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border.

Canadian officials say lumping Canada in with Mexico is unfair but say they are ready to make new investments in border security.

“We’re going to work together to meet some of the concerns,” Trudeau said. “But ultimately it is through lots of real constructive conversations with President Trump that I am going to have, that will keep us moving forward on the right track for all Canadians.”

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday she is confident that a tariff war with the United States will be averted. Trump posted on social media that he had spoken with her and she had agreed to stop unauthorized migration across the border into the United States.

When Trump imposed higher tariffs during his first term in office, other countries responded with retaliatory tariffs of their own. Canada, for instance, announced billions of new duties in 2018 against the U.S. in a tit-for-tat response to new taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum.

Canada is already examining possible retaliatory tariffs on certain items from the U.S. should Trump follow through on his threat to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products, a senior official told The Associated Press this week.

A government official said Canada is preparing for every eventuality and has started thinking about what items to target with tariffs in retaliation. The official stressed no decision has been made. The person spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly.

In the U.S., business groups were quick to warn about rapidly escalating inflation. House Democrats put together legislation to strip a president’s ability to unilaterally apply tariffs this drastic, warning that they would likely lead to higher prices for autos, shoes, housing and groceries.

Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US$2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day.

About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports are from Canada.

Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing in for national security.

Canada is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the world, and 77% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S.

“Canada has reason to fear because Trump is impulsive, often influenced by the last thing he sees on Fox News,” said Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. “He can leverage that by catering to what he thinks will sound and look good to the public rather than to what happens or will happen.”

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vaping is coming before the Supreme Court next week as federal regulators ask the high court to uphold its block on sweet, flavored products following a spike in youth e-cigarette use.

The Food and Drug Administration has denied more than a million marketing applications for candy- or fruit-flavored products that appeal to kids, part of a wider crackdown that advocates say helped drive down teen vaping after an “epidemic level” surge in 2019.

Vaping companies, though, said the agency unfairly disregarded arguments that their sweet e-liquid products would help adults quit smoking traditional cigarettes without putting kids at greater risk.

Republican Donald Trump’s administration could take a different approach after he vowed in a September social-media post to “save” vaping.

The Supreme Court on Monday is hearing arguments in the FDA’s appeal of a decision from the conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. While other courts upheld FDA refusals, the appeals court sided with the Dallas-based company Triton Distribution.

It tossed out a decision blocking the marketing of nicotine-laced liquids like “Jimmy The Juice Man in Peachy Strawberry” that are heated by an e-cigarette to create an inhalable aerosol.

Triton said the FDA had unfairly changed its requirements without enough warning.

“It sort of pulls the chair out from the applicants,” said Marc Scheineson, a former FDA associate commissioner and attorney who now represents other small electronic tobacco companies.

The FDA was slow to regulate the now multibillion-dollar vaping market, and even years into the crackdown flavored vapes that are technically illegal nevertheless remain widely available. The agency has approved some tobacco-flavored vapes, and recently allowed its first menthol-flavored electronic cigarettes for adult smokers.

The marketing refusals combined with age-limit enforcement on the federal and state levels have helped drive down youth nicotine use to its lowest level in a decade, said Dennis Henigan, vice president for legal and regulatory affairs at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

He says the FDA was clear in its requirements and fears a court decision that leads to wider availability for flavored vape products, which are the dominant choice among the 1.6 million high school students who still vape. “We think that would be a real harm to public health,” Henigan said.

By BEN NUCKOLS, Associated Press Sports Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The NCAA’s yearslong efforts to get lawmakers to address myriad problems in college sports could finally pay off in the new, Republican-controlled Congress.

Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who is set to take over as chair of the powerful Commerce Committee, said recently that a college sports bill will be a top priority, accusing Democrats of dragging their feet on needed reforms. He still needs Democratic support for any bill to pass the necessary 60-vote threshold in the Senate, and that means some compromise with lawmakers who are more concerned about athlete welfare than giving the NCAA more authority.

“Clearly the situation is much more doable with Republicans in control,” said Tom McMillen, a former Democratic congressman who played college basketball and for several years led an association of Division I athletic directors. “From the standpoint of the NCAA’s perspective, this is sort of an ideal scenario for them.”

What’s at stake

Cruz and others want to preserve at least parts of an amateur athlete model at the heart of college sports that has provided billions of dollars in scholarships and fueled decades of success by the United States at the Olympics.

The broad outlines of a bill have been debated for years, with those conversations influenced by millions of dollars in lobbying by the NCAA and the wealthiest athletic conferences. The NCAA has found a more receptive audience on Capitol Hill since Charlie Baker, a former Republican Massachusetts governor, took over as its president in March 2023.

There is some bipartisan consensus that Congress should grant the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption that would allow it to make rules governing college sports without the constant threat of lawsuits, and that national standards for athlete name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation are needed to override a patchwork of state laws.

Those are the key elements of legislation that Cruz has backed for more than a year. Staffers from his office and those of fellow Republican Jerry Moran of Kansas and Democrats Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Cory Booker of New Jersey spent months negotiating a bill that would have been introduced in the current, divided Congress, but those talks stalled.

Bipartisan support key

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the outgoing Commerce Committee chair, has been working to advance college sports reform since 2019 but struggled to build consensus on legislation. Still, she agrees with Cruz on at least one problem that Congress could solve — one she saw play out in her home state with the dissolution of the Pac-12 Conference.

“Right now, big schools and their boosters are pitted against smaller schools. We need a predicable national NIL standard that will ensure a level playing field for college athletes and schools,” Cantwell said in a statement to The Associated Press.

A Supreme Court decision in 2021 paved the way for athletes to receive NIL compensation, and now a pending $2.8 billion settlement of multiple antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA has set the table not only for damages paid to past athletes for the NIL money they couldn’t earn but revenue-sharing by schools to their current and future college stars.

Beyond those changes the NCAA was forced to make by the courts, the organization has expanded health benefits for athletes and made new scholarship guarantees. Those new rules took effect Aug. 1, and the NCAA argues they obviate the need for Congress to mandate such benefits.

“We believe that in the next session, members of Congress are going to see the results of those positive changes, and our goal is to build on those and address the remaining issues that only Congress can address,” said Tim Buckley, the NCAA’s senior vice president of external affairs.

Prickly employment issue

The NCAA’s chief goal — and one that seems achievable with Republicans in charge — is “preventing student-athletes from being forced into becoming employees of their schools,” Buckley said.

There are several pending efforts by athletes seeking the ability to unionize, with at least one already tied in up court.

The NCAA has sent athletes to Capitol Hill to tell Congress they don’t want employee status, and some Democrats who previously supported athlete employment have acknowledged the potential drawbacks. Those include drastic cuts to women’s and Olympic sports that might be needed for universities to meet their payroll obligations and financial complications for athletes whose scholarships and other benefits would become taxable.

“For example, the historically Black colleges and universities came together and said, ‘If you force us to treat student-athletes as employees, it’s going to cause us to cancel most of our athletic programs.’ That would be a disastrous outcome,” Cruz said in an appearance at Texas A&M University in September.

Still, overly broad anti-employment language in any bill could imperil its chances of passage. Democrats are hesitant to approve legislation that is seen as too friendly to the NCAA. Booker, a moderate on the issue of athlete employment and a former football player at Stanford, nonetheless emphasized in a statement that he would only support an athlete-friendly bill.

“For too long, the college sports system put power and profits over the rights and well-being of college athletes. And while we’ve made some hard-fought progress in recent years, there’s still more to do,” Booker said. “My advocacy on their behalf will continue in the next Congress.”

Cruz could also face pressure from his own side of the aisle. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who spent more than two decades as a Division I football coach, has called for Congress to mandate penalties for players who break NIL contracts.

While Cruz understands the need for compromise, he intends to use the power he has to advance his — and, to some extent, the NCAA’s — priorities.

“As chairman, I can convene hearings. I’m in charge of every hearing the Commerce Committee has,” Cruz said on a recent episode of his weekly podcast. “I can decide what bills get marked up and what bills don’t, and it gives you the ability to drive an agenda that is just qualitatively different.”

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By JILL COLVIN

NEW YORK (AP) — A number of President-elect Donald Trump ‘s most prominent Cabinet picks and appointees have been targeted by bomb threats and “swatting attacks,” Trump’s transition team said Wednesday. The FBI said it was investigating.

“Last night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and Administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

She said the attacks ranged from bomb threats to swatting, in which attackers initiate an emergency law enforcement response against a target victim under false pretenses. The tactic has become a popular one in recent years.

“In response, law enforcement and other authorities acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted. President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action,” Leavitt said.

Among those targeted were New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump’s pick to serve as the next ambassador to the United Nations, Matt Gaetz, Trump’s initial pick to serve as attorney general, and former New York congressman Lee Zeldin, who has been tapped to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

Susie Wiles, Trump’s incoming chief of staff, and Pam Bondi, the former Florida Attorney General whom Trump has chosen as Gaetz’s replacement, were also targeted, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity amid the ongoing investigation. Wiles and Bondi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The FBI said in a statement that it was “aware of numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees” and was “working with our law enforcement partners. We take all potential threats seriously, and as always, encourage members of the public to immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement.”

Stefanik’s office said that, on Wednesday morning, she, her husband, and their 3-year-old son were driving home from Washington for Thanksgiving when they were informed of a bomb threat to their residence in Saratoga County.

“New York State, County law enforcement, and U.S. Capitol Police responded immediately with the highest levels of professionalism,” her office said in a statement. “We are incredibly appreciative of the extraordinary dedication of law enforcement officers who keep our communities safe 24/7.”

The New York State Police said a team was dispatched to sweep Stefanik’s home on Wednesday morning in response to the bomb threat but did not locate any explosive devices. A spokesman for the agency directed further questions to the FBI.

Zeldin said in a social media post that he and his family had been threatened.

“A pipe bomb threat targeting me and my family at our home today was sent in with a pro-Palestinian themed message,” he wrote on X. “My family and I were not home at the time and are safe. We are working with law enforcement to learn more as this situation develops.”

Police in Suffolk County, Long Island said emergency officers responded to a bomb threat Wednesday morning at an address listed in public records as Zeldin’s home and were checking the property.

In Florida, meanwhile, the Okaloosa County sheriff’s office said in an advisory posted on Facebook that it “received notification of a bomb threat referencing former Congressman Matt Gaetz’s supposed mailbox at a home in the Niceville area around 9 a.m. this morning.”

While a family member resides at the address, they said “former Congressman Gaetz is NOT a resident. The mailbox however was cleared and no devices were located. The immediate area was also searched with negative results.”

Gaetz was Trump’s initial pick to serve as attorney general, but he withdrew from consideration amid allegations that he paid women for sex and slept with underage women. Gaetz has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and said last year that a Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls had ended with no federal charges against him.

The threats follow a political campaign marked by disturbing and unprecedented violence. In July, a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing the then-candidate in the ear with a bullet and killing one of his supporters. The U.S. Secret Service later thwarted a subsequent assassination attempt at Trump’s West Palm Beach, Florida, golf course when an agent spotted the barrel of a gun poking through a perimeter fence while Trump was golfing.

Public figures across the political spectrum have been targeted in recent years by hoax bomb threats and false reports of shootings at their homes.

The judges overseeing the civil fraud case against Trump in New York and the criminal election interference case against him in Washington, D.C. were both targeted earlier this year. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who recently abandoned the two criminal cases he brought against Trump, was also the subject of a fake emergency call on Christmas Day last year.

Earlier this year, schools, government buildings and the homes of city officials in Springfield, Ohio received a string of hoax bomb threats after Trump falsely accused members of Springfield’s Haitian community of abducting and eating cats and dogs.

And in 2022, a slew of historically Black colleges and universities nationwide were targeted with dozens of bomb threats with the vast majority arriving during the celebration of Black History Month.

The U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement Wednesday that, “Anytime a Member of Congress is the victim of a ‘swatting’ incident, we work closely with our local and federal law enforcement partners. To protect ongoing investigations and to minimize the risk of copy-cats, we cannot provide more details at this time.”

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called the threats “dangerous and unhinged.”

“This year, there was not just one but TWO assassination attempts on President Trump. Now some of his Cabinet nominees and their families are facing bomb threats,” he wrote on X. “It is not who we are in America.”

Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer, Colleen Long and Eric Tucker in Washington and Anthony Izaguirre in Albany, New York contributed to this report.

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY

The states that saw the most active attacks against election certification two years ago certified the results of this year’s races without controversy this week, prompting the Arizona secretary of state to proclaim that “election denialism” is a thing of the past.

Others said they weren’t so sure. Certification proceeded normally this year in part because Donald Trump won the presidential race, quieting his supporters after he had spent the campaign making unsubstantiated claims that he could lose only through widespread cheating.

The statewide certification votes Tuesday in Nevada and New Mexico follow a vote Monday to certify the results in Arizona. In all three states, the certification process was tumultuous during the 2022 midterms when Democrats won most statewide offices.

Those controversies followed attempts by Trump and his allies to halt or challenge certification in Michigan, Georgia and other battleground states in 2020, disrupting what until then had been a routine administrative process. This year, some who have been the most vocal in questioning the integrity of elections have instead been celebrating Trump’s victory.

“The results are being accepted in the manner that they are, in part, because those who have been eroding trust or casting doubt on the integrity of U.S. elections have a result they feel good about,” said David Levine, a former local election official in Idaho who now advises on election administration issues. “Hopefully we can get back to a place where Americans can feel confident in the results even if it’s one they disagree with.”

On Tuesday, Nevada and New Mexico certified their statewide results with little discussion. During Monday’s certification in Arizona, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes reflected on the lack of controversy this year.

“I think the age of election denialism, for all intents and purposes, is dead,” he said.

Sitting next to Fontes, state Attorney General Kris Mayes, a fellow Democrat, said she was more skeptical. Her Republican opponent in 2022 spent two years challenging his loss.

“Do I think election denialism is dead? No, I don’t,” she said. “We’ll see over the next couple of election cycles what happens, but I don’t think we’re there yet.”

Public confidence in elections has dropped since Trump challenged his loss in 2020 and made false claims of widespread fraud, particularly among Republicans. Some Republicans began targeting the certification process, when local and state boards certify the results after local election officials provide them with the final tally of votes. A firestorm erupted in Georgia over the summer when the state election board, with a new pro-Trump majority, attempted to politicize the certification process with changes later blocked by the courts.

While certification battles did not surface after the Nov. 5 election, a vocal segment within the Republican Party remains deeply skeptical of election processes, particularly of the availability of mail ballots and the use of ballot scanners to tally votes.

During a forum Monday on the social platform X led by the group Cause of America, the group’s director expressed doubt about voting equipment. Shawn Smith, who also is a retired Air Force colonel, argued the certification process suppresses legitimate concerns and goes against “the sovereignty of the people.”

Although not as widespread as four years ago, this sentiment did surface sporadically at the local level this month. In Washoe County, Nevada, which includes Reno and voted narrowly for Vice President Kamala Harris, the vote to certify the results was 3-1 with one abstention. Commissioner Jeanne Herman has consistently voted against certification and did not make a public comment about her vote this year.

Commissioner Mike Clark, a staunch Trump supporter who had also previously voted against certification, said he would abstain and left before the vote.

“I am not an election denier and clearly the person I wanted to win, won this state,” Clark said before leaving the meeting. “However, that does not mean that all the protocols were followed and that we can truly certify the election.”

Such skepticism, whether in Nevada or elsewhere, leaves the door open to certification disputes during future elections.

The questioning of election results isn’t limited to Republicans. Even though Harris quickly conceded after losing all seven presidential battleground states, online posts among her supporters continue to raise concerns about her loss.

One Reddit community that has amassed 23,000 members features a steady drumbeat of Democrats scrutinizing a result they can’t believe is real. Some posting in the group have issued calls to contact Harris and her running mate to ask them to demand a recount or otherwise object to the outcome.

Among the battlegrounds, Michigan was among those where Trump and his allies pressed to halt certification of the 2020 election for Democrat Joe Biden amid false claims of fraud and manipulation. Two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers who initially opposed certification eventually relented. The state board of canvassers eventually voted to certify, even after one Republican member abstained.

This year, the state board voted unanimously on Nov. 22 in favor of certifying and praised the state’s election workers.

In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger certified his state’s results on Nov. 22. Four years ago, the Republican state official was facing immense pressure from Trump and his allies to investigate their unsubstantiated claims of fraud.

Also certifying results Tuesday, and doing so unanimously, was the state Board of Elections in North Carolina. It was the only presidential battleground state won by Trump in 2020 — and the only one where he and his allies didn’t make claims of fraud.

Cassidy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ken Ritter in Las Vegas, Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, and Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.

By FATIMA HUSSEIN and JOSH BOAK

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is turning to two officials with experience navigating not only Washington but the key issues of income taxes and tariffs as he fills out his economic team.

Trump on Tuesday announced he has chosen international trade attorney Jamieson Greer to be his U.S. trade representative and Kevin Hassett as director of the White House National Economic Council.

While Trump has in several cases nominated outsiders to key posts, these picks reflect a recognition that his reputation will likely hinge on restoring the public’s confidence in the economy.

The president-elect also announced a number of other key personnel choices, including Vince Haley, who led Trump’s speechwriting department in his first term, as director of the Domestic Policy Council.

Trump said in a statement that Greer was instrumental in his first term in imposing tariffs on China and others and replacing the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, “therefore making it much better for American Workers.”

Greer previously served as chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s former trade representative who is deeply skeptical of free trade. Greer is currently a partner at the King & Spalding law firm in Washington. He was not immediately available for comment.

If confirmed as trade representative, Greer would be responsible for negotiating directly with foreign governments on trade deals and disputes, as well as memberships in international trade bodies such as the World Trade Organization.

He told The New York Times in June that the view of Trump officials was that tariffs “can help support U.S. manufacturing jobs in particular, especially to the extent that they’re remediating an unfair trade practice.”

His nomination comes a day after Trump promised to slap huge new tariffs on foreign goods entering the United States — including a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China — as one of his first executive orders.

As director of the White House National Economic Council, Hassett brings into Trump’s administration a major advocate for tax cuts.

Trump said Hassett “will play an important role in helping American families recover from the inflation that was unleashed by the Biden Administration” and that together they would “renew and improve” the 2017 tax cuts, many of which are set to expire after 2025.

Hassett, 62, served in the first Trump term as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. He has a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and worked at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute before joining the Trump White House in 2017.

As part of Hassett’s farewell announcement in 2019, Trump called him a “true friend” who did a “great job.” Hassett became a fellow at the Hoover Institution, which is located at Stanford University. He later returned to the administration to help deal with the pandemic.

In Trump’s second term, Hassett would join a White House seeking to preserve and expand its 2017 tax cuts at a time when deficit pressures are weighing on federal borrowing costs.

He has argued that the tax cuts helped to meaningfully boost household incomes. Inflation-adjusted median household incomes jumped more than $5,400 in 2019 to $81,210. But the tax cuts also came with higher budget deficits as any economic gains failed to offset lost revenues, setting up a challenge for the incoming Trump administration to manage the debt even as it cuts taxes and seeks to hold down inflation.

Also included in Tuesday’s nomination announcements was private investor, campaign donor and art collector John Phelan, chosen to serve as Navy secretary. Phelan co-founded MSD Capital, the private investment firm for Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies. It is unclear whether Phelan served in the Navy or military.

Boak reported from Nantucket, Massachusetts. Associated Press writer Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this report.