By JILL COLVIN and MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Department of Justice is preparing to send federal election observers to California and New Jersey next month, targeting two Democratic states holding off-year elections following requests from state Republican parties.

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The DOJ will announce Friday that it is planning to monitor polling sites in Passaic County, New Jersey, and five counties in southern and central California: Los Angeles, Orange, Kern, Riverside and Fresno. The goal, according to the DOJ, is “to ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.”

“Transparency at the polls translates into faith in the electoral process, and this Department of Justice is committed to upholding the highest standards of election integrity,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Election monitoring is a routine function of the Justice Department, but the focus on California and New Jersey comes as both states are set to hold closely-watched elections with national consequences on Nov. 4. New Jersey has an open seat for governor that has attracted major spending by both parties and California is holding a special election aimed at redrawing the state’s congressional map to counter Republican gerrymandering efforts elsewhere ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The DOJ’s efforts are also the latest salvo in the GOP’s preoccupation with election integrity after President Donald Trump spent years refusing to accept the results of the 2020 election and falsely railing against mail-in voting as rife with fraud. Democrats fear the new administration will attempt to gain an upper hand in next year’s midterms with similarly unfounded allegations of fraud.

The announcement comes days after state Republican parties in both states wrote letters to the DOJ requesting their assistance.

California’s House districts at stake

The letter from the California GOP, sent Monday and obtained by the AP, asked Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, to provide monitors to observe the election in the five counties.

“In recent elections, we have received reports of irregularities in these counties that we fear will undermine either the willingness of voters to participate in the election or their confidence in the announced results of the election,” wrote GOP Chairwoman Corrin Rankin.

FILE – California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

The state is set to vote Nov. 4 on a redistricting proposition that would dramatically redraw California’s congressional lines to add as many as five additional Democratic seats to its U.S. House delegation.

Each of the counties named, they alleged, has experienced recent voting issues, such as sending incorrect or duplicate ballots to voters. They also take issue with how Los Angeles and Orange counties maintain their voter rolls.

California is one of at least eight states the Justice Department has sued as part of a wide-ranging request for detailed voter roll information involving at least half the states. The department has not said why it wants the data.

Most Californians vote using mail ballots returned through the postal service, drop boxes or at local voting centers, which typically leaves polling places relatively quiet on Election Day. But in pursuit of accuracy and counting every vote, the nation’s most populous state has gained a reputation for tallies that can drag on for weeks — and sometimes longer.

In 2024, it took until early December to declare Democrat Adam Gray the winner in his Central Valley district, the final congressional race to be decided in the nation last year.

Trump has long had a tortured relationship with heavily Democratic California, where a Republican has not carried the state in a presidential election since 1988.

Passaic County the target in New Jersey

California’s request echoed a similar letter sent by New Jersey Republicans asking the DOJ to dispatch election monitors to “oversee the receipt and processing of vote-by-mail ballots” and “monitor access to the Board of Elections around the clock” in suburban Passaic County ahead of the state’s governor’s race.

Republican Jack Ciattarelli, left, and Democrat Mikie Sherrill participate in the final debate in the New Jersey governor’s race, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in New Brunswick, N.J. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

The New Jersey Republican State Committee told Dhillon that federal intervention was necessary to ensure an accurate vote count in the heavily Latino county that was once a Democratic stronghold, but shifted to President Donald Trump’s column in last year’s presidential race.

The county could be critical to GOP gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli’s hopes against Democrat Mikie Sherrill. But the letter cited previous voter fraud cases in the county and alleged a “long and sordid history” of vote-by-mail shenanigans.

In 2020, a judge ordered a new election for a city council seat in Paterson — the largest city in Passaic County — after the apparent winner and others were charged with voter fraud.

But Michael Zhadanovsky, a spokesman for New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, a Democrat, said in a statement responding to the letter that it “would be highly inappropriate for the federal government to interfere in this November’s state election.”

He said New Jersey “is committed to ensuring the integrity of our elections” and protecting the right of every eligible voter “to have their vote counted.”

Election observers are nothing new

The DOJ has a long history of sending observers to jurisdictions across the country that have histories of voting rights violations to ensure compliance with federal civil rights laws.

Last year, when the Biden administration was still in power, some Republican-led states said they would not allow federal monitors to access voting locations on Election Day.

Trump has for years railed against mail voting as part of his repeated false claims that former President Joe Biden’s victory in 2020 was rigged. He alleges it is riddled with fraud, even though numerous studies have found no evidence of widespread fraud in U.S. elections.

Earlier this year, Trump pledged to ban vote-by-mail across the country, something he has no power to do under the U.S. Constitution.

The DOJ’s effort will be overseen by Dhillon’s Civil Rights Division, which will deploy personnel in coordination with U.S. attorney’s offices and work closely with state and local officials, the department said

“The Department of Justice will do everything necessary to protect the votes of eligible American citizens, ensuring our elections are safe and secure,” Dhillon said in a statement.

The department also is soliciting further requests for monitoring in other jurisdictions.

David Becker, a former DOJ attorney who has served as an election monitor and trained them, said the work is typically done by department lawyers who are prohibited from interfering at polling places.

But Becker, now executive director of the Center for Election Integrity & Research, said local jurisdictions normally agree to the monitors’ presence.

If the administration tried to send monitors without a clear legal rationale to a place where local officials didn’t want them, “That could result in chaos,” he warned.

All local election offices and polling places already have observers from both political parties to ensure rules are followed. While voter fraud does occur, it is rare and there are numerous safeguards in place to prevent it.

Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and Mike Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

It’s dark outside, and teenager Casey Becker is home alone, making popcorn on the stove and preparing to pop a scary movie into the VCR while she waits for the arrival of her boyfriend, Steve. 

The teen, portrayed by actress Drew Barrymore, picks up the phone and hears a deep, ominous voice on the other end.

It’s one of the most chilling moments in horror cinema, and one that journalist and author Ashley Cullins has never forgotten.

It’s a pivotal moment from director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson’s 1996 horror-comedy film “Scream,” and the catalyst for Cullin’s debut book, “Your Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Franchise Rewrote the Rules of Horror.” 

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, what am I watching?’” Cullins recalled during a recent phone interview. She was just 13 when she watched “Scream” for the first time on VHS at home alone.  

“Casey’s parents are coming up the driveway, and they’re so close, and she’s just crawling and you’re yelling: ‘Just throw the phone! It’s a cordless phone! They’ll hear you,’” Cullins said with a nervous laugh, as she continued to share the famous scene, mimicking how she herself was screaming at her TV screen. 

“It’s so scary and then suddenly you’re right into the movie and there’s this fun group of teenagers who make you forget how scared you were just a few moments ago,” she said. “Only for (the horror) to start all over again. It’s a terrifying rollercoaster ride: You’re scared one minute, then you’re laughing the next.” 

Cullins, an entertainment journalist who has worked for publications like The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and The Ankler, channeled her teenage self while writing an oral history of “Scream” for The Hollywood Reporter to mark the 25th anniversary of the film in 2021. That article is what led to the book deal – and ultimately her first New York Times Bestseller.

The book is a deep dive into the world of “Scream,” a film that studios were initially hesitant to produce, but that went on to become a massive franchise, spawning sequels and a seventh film due to hit theaters in 2026.

The film’s antagonist, Ghostface, has become synonymous with the haunting season as the knife-wielding, black-and-white masked villain lurks proudly alongside other horror icons: Leatherface (“The Texas Chain Saw Massacre”), Freddy Kruger (“A Nightmare on Elm Street”), Chucky (“Child’s Play”), Jason Voorhees (“Friday the 13th”) and Michael Myers (“Halloween”). 

“Scream” stood out because of the self-aware nature of the film, Cullins noted. All of the aforementioned horror movies existed in the world Williamson created and were referenced heavily in the first two films, and because “Scream” broke all of the rules, big-name directors like John Carpenter (“Halloween,” “The Thing”) and Eli Roth (“Cabin Fever,” “Hostel”), along with audiences, found the films fun and inspiring. 

“Eli is not only a filmmaker; he’s a student of horror,” Cullins said of interviewing Roth, who shared how “Scream” had informed his latest horror flick, “Thanksgiving.” “As a fan I feel like ‘Scream’ did change horror and I think the people who worked on these movies feel like ‘Scream’ changed horror, but I wanted to talk to people who had no incentive to feel one way or another about it.

“It was fascinating to hear what Eli Roth, Michael Kennedy (“Heart Eyes,” “Freaky” director), and John Carpenter had to say,” she says. “It was all just very interesting.” 

Cullins kept a spreadsheet of all the interviews she conducted for the book, which included 85 “Scream” franchise actors, directors, producers, writers, executives and crew, as well as a slew of horror genre icons not involved with the film. In all, she did about 100 interviews, including “Scream” honcho Williamson. 

“I could not have done this without Kevin Williamson, if I had to just choose one person,” Cullins said. Actress Neve Campbell, who is Williamson’s final girl, Sidney Prescott, in the franchise, is a close second, she added. And she would have loved to have included director Wes Craven, but he died in 2015. She did speak to people that he worked closely with, though. 

“I think you feel his presence in the book,” she said. “Wes Craven intentionally created an atmosphere where people he worked with felt valued. I talked to one of his assistants, Carly Feingold, who told me that he had photos of everybody on the crew and made a point to learn everyone’s birthdays, so he’d remember to reach out to say ‘Happy Birthday’ to them.

“I don’t know many regular people who go out of their way to be that conscious of the people around them, let alone a successful Hollywood director. I think that kind of care sets a tone, and that atmosphere made people want to do their best work and it helped people bond,” she says. “There was this sort of strange alchemy of the environment that Wes created on set. The fact that in the very beginning nobody had any major expectations for ‘Scream’ and then it’s this surprise success that shows that environment works, and I think that has very much carried on.” 

Williamson and Craven weren’t on board for all of the “Scream” films, but in a full-circle moment, Williamson, who wrote the original script in his West Hollywood apartment and finished it off over a three-day stay in a Palm Springs condo – is back on for the seventh “Scream” film, this time serving as its director. And Campbell, who bowed out of the sixth installment, is back as well as the screenplay focuses on the story of Sidney Prescott. 

“I’m very excited for Sidney’s story, and I think that Kevin needed to direct one of these,” she said. “Everything I’ve learned about the film, I love it. I cannot wait for it to be out in the world. I got to go on set and it was amazing and just a surreal experience. To see Kevin and Neve interact with him directing her and them looking at the monitors to watch stuff back – it was very cool, and I think people are going to be so happy with it.” 

One other surreal element to the process is that she was able to get the voice of Ghostface in the franchise, Roger L. Jackson, to narrate the audiobook.

“It is so wonderful, and it was the only idea I had – I didn’t have a second choice,” she said. “I’m over the moon that he said ‘Yes,’ because it’s just so perfect.” 

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By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday that the U.S. military conducted its 10th strike on a vessel suspected of carrying drugs overnight, killing six people and bringing the death toll of the campaign against drug cartels to at least 46 people.

In a post to social media, Hegseth said that the vessel was operated by the Tren de Aragua gang and the strike occurred in the Caribbean.

The pace of the strikes has quickened in recent days from one every few weeks in September when they first began to three in one week now. Two of the strikes this week were also carried out in the eastern Pacific, expanding the area in which the military was willing to conduct the strikes.

By TERESA CEROJANO and MATT OTT, Associated Press

Markets on Wall Street climbed early Friday after long-awaited government data showed that inflation remained elevated but that prices rose less than feared last month. The report buttressed expectations that the Federal Reserve will offer up another interest rate cut when the central bank’s officials meet next week.

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Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.7% while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.5%.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury immediately fell after the release of the inflation report, dropping to 3.97% from 4.01%.

Friday’s inflation report — released more than a week late — showed that the costs of some imported goods rose while rental prices cooled.

Consumer prices increased 3% in September from a year earlier, up from 2.9% in August. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices also rose 3%, a decline from 3.1% in the previous month. Both figures are above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

The report on the consumer price index is being issued more than a week late because of the government shutdown, now in its fourth week. The Trump administration recalled some Labor Department employees to produce the figures because they are used to set the annual cost-of-living adjustment for roughly 70 million Social Security recipients.

The figures reflect a smaller increase than many economists had forecast, and will likely encourage the Federal Reserve to cut its key interest rate when it meets next week for the second time this year.

Oil prices were higher following Thursday’s 5% surge after the U.S. and Europe imposed more sanctions on Russian oil.

Early Friday, U.S. benchmark crude gained 17 cents to $61.96 per barrel, while Brent crude rose 25 cents $66.24 per barrel.

Intel climbed 6.8% after it blew past Wall Street’s third quarter profit projections. It was Intel’s first earnings report since President Trump announced that the U.S. government was taking a 10% stake in the struggling chipmaker. The company has been slashing jobs and delaying major projects in an effort to shore up its finances to better compete with rivals that have since overtaken it.

Shares of Ford Motor Co. jumped 4.4% after the automaker easily beat Wall Street’s sales and profit targets. Revenue rose 9% from the same period last year, reaching a record $50.5 billion.

Gold, which has been soaring to records most of the year, fell 1.7% Friday to $4,075.10 per ounce.

At midday in Europe, Germany’s DAX rose 0.1%, while Britain’s FTSE 100 edged less than 0.1% higher. In Paris, the CAC 40 fell 0.3%.

Chinese benchmarks gained after the ruling Communist Party wrapped up an important planning meeting Thursday without any major policy changes.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained more than 0.7% to 26,160.15, while the Shanghai Composite index added 0.7% to 3,950.31.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rebounded Friday from the previous day’s losses, adding 1.4% to 49,299.65. Tech shares were among gainers as sentiment was boosted by the White House confirmation of Trump’s meeting with Xi.

Data released Friday showed Japan’s core inflation rate rose to 2.9% in September from 2.7% in August. Despite price pressures, the Bank of Japan is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged at a meeting next week: newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has expressed a preference to keep rates low.

In Seoul, the Kospi surged 2.5% to 3,941.59, a fresh record, as gains on Wall Street and news of the Trump-Xi summit lifted investor sentiment and eased trade worries.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped nearly 0.2% to 9,019.00 after preliminary data showed Australia’s factory activity contracted to 49.7 in October from 51.4 in September.

India’s BSE Sensex fell more than 0.5%, while Taiwan’s stock market was closed for a holiday.