By JOHN RABY, Associated Press

A judge on Monday allowed the continued deployment of more than 300 West Virginia National Guard members to the nation’s capital.

Kanawha County Circuit Judge Richard D. Lindsay made the ruling after hearing arguments in a lawsuit by a civic organization.

Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey authorized the Guard’s deployment in August to support President Donald Trump’s crime-fighting efforts in Washington, D.C. The West Virginia Citizen Action Group then filed a lawsuit claiming Morrisey exceeded his authority.

Under state law, the group argued, the governor could deploy the National Guard out of state only for certain purposes, such as responding to a natural disaster or another state’s emergency request.

Morrisey’s office has argued the deployment was authorized under federal law.

Lindsay previously heard arguments in the case Oct. 24 and Nov. 3.

The civic group originally claimed that it was harmed by the deployment by being forced to refocus its resources away from government accountability and transparency. The state attorney general’s office sought to reject the case, saying the group has not been harmed and lacked standing to challenge Morrisey’s decision. Lindsay continued both of the previous hearings and ordered the state to specifically focus on whether what Morrisey did was lawful.

Trump issued an executive order in August declaring a crime emergency in the nation’s capital, although the Department of Justice itself says violent crime there is at a 30-year low.

Within a month, more than 2,300 Guard troops from eight states and the District of Columbia were patrolling under the Army secretary’s command. Trump also deployed hundreds of federal agents to assist them.

While the West Virginia National Guard has said its deployment could last until the end of November, it is consulting with the governor’s office and others on the possibility of extending the stay. Formal orders were issued last week extending the deployment of the district’s National Guard in the city through the end of February.

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By Queenie Wong, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Consumers don’t have to worry about products arriving in time for the holidays, though they may be facing higher prices, say officials at one of America’s largest ports.

Imports at the Port of Long Beach are flowing smoothly through its facilities despite the government shutdown and tariff uncertainties, port executives said. Still, they acknowledge that the volume and prices of products in the millions of containers coming through the port suggest that imports are becoming more costly and consumers are more cautious.

Until now, retailers, manufacturers and other intermediaries have absorbed much of the cost of tariffs, but that is changing as it becomes more apparent which tariffs are here to stay, Mario Cordero, chief executive of the Port of Long Beach, said Friday during a virtual news conference.

“Consumers will likely see price escalation in the coming months as shippers continue to pass along the cost of tariffs on goods, and a higher percentage of these costs will be passed on to the consumer,” he said.

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Cordero, who drinks Starbucks coffee, said he’s seen the price of a cup of coffee increase by 15% and that more consumers are going to discount stores to find deals. However, potential price hikes could be offset if the United States and China strike further trade agreements.

The Port of Long Beach, a gateway for trade between the United States and Asia-Pacific, released new data that offers a glimpse into how President Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs are affecting goods imported from key trade partners, such as China.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court also started to hear arguments as the justices examine the legality of Trump’s tariffs.

Over the past year, the port saw a drop in the movement of containers filled with certain goods such as winter apparel, kitchen appliances and toys that people typically buy as gifts, a sign that consumers are likely wary about spending.

Still, the impact of tariffs on cargo volume hasn’t been as bad as some experts predicted. Cordero said some experts had projected that the port could see as much as a 35% drop in cargo volume.

“Clearly today, it’s fair to say that the worst scenarios some predicted did not occur,” Cordero said. “The challenges were many, and there’s no doubt that many companies and their workers suffered, but cargo volume is turning out to be just as high this year as it was last year.”

In fiscal year 2025, which runs from October 2024 to September 2025, the port surpassed 10 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) for the first time, up 11% from the same period last year. TEU is a measurement used to describe cargo capacity for container ships and terminals.

While the port saw a decline in the amount of TEUs moved in October compared with the same period in 2024, Cordero said he thinks the port will end 2025 in “positive territory.”

In October, there were 839,671 TEUs moved. That’s because retailers and shippers started shipping goods earlier than normal to avoid fees and to stock up their warehouses because of tariffs.

The Port of Long Beach is an economic engine for California. Officials say it helps create 691,000 jobs in Southern California. More than 2.7 million U.S jobs are connected to the Port of Long Beach, they say.

©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By Kate Sullivan, Bloomberg News

U.S. President Donald Trump said he is nominating John Coale as a special envoy to Belarus and asked President Alexander Lukashenko to consider releasing more political prisoners.

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Trump credited Coale — who is currently serving as a deputy special envoy to Ukraine and was previously one of the Trump’s lawyers — for the release of “100 Hostages” and said he “is going for an additional 50.”

“I would like to thank, in advance, the Highly Respected President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, for his consideration on the release of these additional people,” Trump posted on social media.

Lukashenko, who is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been sanctioned by various countries, including the U.S., for undermining democracy in the former Soviet republic.

Bloomberg previously reported that in September, Coale told Lukashenko during an in-person meeting that Trump had ordered the removal of sanctions on the Belarus state airline, Belavia. U.S. sanctions on Belavia were lifted in November.

Coale also passed on a letter from Trump at the time conveying birthday greetings to Lukashenko, according to video posted on the Belarus state-run Belta news service.

In August, Trump held what he described as a “wonderful” call with Lukashenko and said he thanked him for an earlier release of political prisoners and that the two leaders discussed the additional releases.

©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By DEE-ANN DURBIN, Associated Press

Wendy’s plans to close hundreds U.S. restaurants over the next few months in an effort to boost its profit and make its remaining stores more appealing.

The Dublin, Ohio-based chain said during a conference call with investors Friday that it planned to begin closing restaurants in the fourth quarter of this year. The company said it expected a “mid-single-digit percentage” of its U.S. stores to be affected, but it didn’t give any more details.

Wendy’s ended the third quarter with 6,011 U.S. restaurants. If 5% of those locations were impacted, it would mean 300 store closures.

The new round of closures comes on top of the closure of 240 U.S. Wendy’s locations in 2024. At the time, Wendy’s said that many of the 55-year-old chain’s restaurants are simply out of date.

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Ken Cook, Wendy’s interim CEO, said Friday the company believes closing locations that are underperforming – whether it’s from a financial or customer service perspective – will help improve traffic and profitability at its remaining U.S. restaurants.

Cook became Wendy’s CEO in July after the company’s previous CEO, Kirk Tanner, left to become the president and CEO of Hershey Co.

“When we look at the system today, we have some restaurants that do not elevate the brand and are a drag from a franchisee financial performance perspective. The goal is to address and fix those restaurants,” Cook said during a conference call with investors.

Cook said in some cases, Wendy’s will make improvements to struggling stores, including adding technology or equipment. In other cases, it will transfer ownership to a different operator or close the restaurant altogether.

U.S. fast food chains have been struggling to attract lower-income consumers in the past few years as inflation has raised prices. Cook said he expects lower-income consumers to remain pressured for the rest of this year.

In the first nine months of this year, Wendy’s said its U.S. same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, fell 4% compared to the same period last year. Wendy’s revenue fell 2% to $1.63 billion in the same period, while its net income fell 6% to $138.6 million.

Cook said $5 and $8 meal deals — which have been matched by McDonald’s — have helped bring some traffic back to its U.S. stores. But Wendy’s isn’t doing a good job of bringing in new customers, Cook said, so the company plans to shift its marketing to emphasize its value and the freshness of its ingredients.

Wendy’s shares dropped 7% Friday. On Monday, they were down 5% in afternoon trading.