By STEVE KARNOWSKI

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man accused of trying to join the Islamic State group pleaded guilty Monday to attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

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Abdisatar Ahmed Hassan, 23, changed his plea to guilty during an appearance before U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank in St. Paul.

When Hassan was charged in February, prosecutors said he had expressed admiration on social media for the man who carried out a Jan. 1 truck attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans that killed 14 people. That attacker was killed by police. His truck bore the flag of the militant Islamic State group.

Prosecutors say Hassan tried twice in December to travel from Minnesota to Somalia to join the group and fight on its behalf but failed both times. The FBI had been tipped beforehand about a social media user who had expressed support for the Islamic State group and the Somali militant group al-Shabab, and agents conducted surveillance of Hassan on both attempts.

The first time Hassan tried to travel to Somalia, according to court documents, the airline denied him boarding because he lacked the proper travel documents. He missed the second flight while federal officers questioned him, but he wasn’t detained until his arrest in February.

The FBI said it observed Hassan driving with the group’s flag the day before his arrest.

“There is no margin for error when it comes to terrorism,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said in a statement. “Hassan flew the ISIS flag, venerated attacks on the homeland, and wanted to kill Americans. We are not taking chances. We will not let Minnesota become a safe haven for terrorists.”

Hassan, a naturalized U.S. citizen, remains in custody. A sentencing date has not been set. Under a plea agreement, the government agreed not to seek a sentence longer than 17 years, while the defense is free to recommend anything it wants. The final decision is up to the judge.

A New York man accused of plotting an attack on behalf of the Islamic State group in 2019 was sentenced last week to nine years in prison.

Hassan was the latest of several Minnesotans suspected of leaving or trying to leave the U.S. to join the Islamic State group in recent years, along with thousands of fighters from other countries. In 2016 nine Minnesotans were sentenced on charges of conspiring to join the group, and one who actually fought for the group in Iraq was sentenced last year to 10 years in prison.

PERHAM, Minn. — Betsy Gilman last month finally won the gold medal she has been chasing for decades.

Thirteen countries were represented at the World Masters Barefoot Championships that took place Sept. 7-13, 2025, in Chartres, France. Betsy Gilman (center) brought home the gold for the U.S. (Courtesy of Betsy Gilman / Forum News Service)

The 55-year-old Perham resident represented the U.S. at the World Masters Barefoot Championships in Paris, where she collected several medals — including the gold for women of all ages in the barefoot ski jump.

Gilman set a goal for the gold in her mid-30s. While she has received medals in competitions before, the closest she got in the barefoot ski jump was silver. Every year that passed, gold seemed less likely.

But on this day, on a secluded lake in France, Gilman had tied for first place in the barefoot jump, reaching a distance of 8 1⁄2 meters (or roughly 28 feet).

While her personal record is 10 ½ meters (34 feet), she was happy with her jump due to unfavorable conditions.

The tie-breaker required both skiers to give it their all in a “sudden death” match, but high winds benched them. On the last day of the competition, the waters were still rough by barefoot jump standards. Gilman explained the danger of rippling water begins when a skier touches the ramp.

“It’s more slippery on the jump than it is in the water,” she said. “So when you come into the jump, you need to have equal pressure on both feet. If there’s waves, you’re compensating. So if you come in and you have more weight on one foot than the other, you can go off weird.”

The judges informed the skiers that if neither jumped, no gold or silver would be awarded.

“The other woman didn’t want to do it,” Gilman said. Despite the risk of injury, accepted. “All I had to do was a little jump and land it. So that’s exactly what I did.”

In barefoot skiing, Gilman also won gold in her age division 45-54, in slalom and in trick skiing. With all ages included, she placed fourth overall in slalom and fourth in tricks for barefoot skiers. With all the points she collected, she also came home with a bronze medal in all age divisions for her category.

Much was gained on the 19-year journey to the gold.

Gilman is a lifelong skier. She has trained at the World Barefoot Center in Florida since 2008, but it was in 2016 when she decided to take time off from work and chase the gold. She retreated to her family cottage on Big Pine Lake and had the “best summer” of her life. For six months, she trained for the championship competition.

“I’m not the best in slalom,” she said. “I’m not the best in tricks, but I love to jump. I love it. So, I was like, well, that’s a goal I can chase and enjoy doing it.”

Gilman explained the jump became her favorite event because it combined the speed she loves with the skill to glide over a ramp on bare feet and ride away.

While skiing can be done at most ages, barefoot jumping is typically reserved for younger athletes. Gilman explained using feet instead of skis can be hard on the body. Skidding across the water on bare feet isn’t the issue, but rather the crashes into the water. For perspective, she explained those on two skis may travel upward of 18 mph, whereas barefoot jumpers typically go around 42 mph, with the top allowed speed being 44 mph in competitions.

When they take off from an 18-inch high ramp at that speed, a lot can happen.

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As she began to compete, Gilman found success. She returned home with medals, but the gold in the barefoot jump remained elusive. By not achieving her goal with ease, she found something more valuable.

The years of competing provided a network of friends from all over the world to share her passion for water skiing. When she was feeling down, after the first day of competition in France didn’t go her way, it was the reminder of what matters that pulled her up.

Gilman explained that competitors have three jumps, and the longest distance is the one that is scored. After the first day, she called her husband Ryan and rattled off things that went south that prevented her from showcasing the best of her abilities. He listened and then replied with a simple question.

“He asked, ‘Why are you there?’” she recalled. The question helped her focus on the value of the experience. She was there because she wanted to explore a part of France with friends, and have fun competing. “So he goes, well, just go do that. And then after that, I didn’t think about it anymore.”

Benching the mind can sometimes free up an athlete to perform at their peak. For Gilman, it appeared to help. But the competitive nature of an athlete is always under the surface.

“My goal now is to be the oldest woman barefoot jumper in the world,” she said. “And I’m not far off. I think that the oldest woman who jumps is 58.”

By TRÂN NGUYỄN

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed a law that aims to prevent people from using powerful artificial intelligence models for potentially catastrophic activities like building a bioweapon or shutting down a bank system.

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The move comes as Newsom touted California as a leader in AI regulation and criticized the inaction at the federal level in a recent conversation with former President Bill Clinton. The new law will establish some of the first-in-the-nation regulations on large-scale AI models without hurting the state’s homegrown industry, Newsom said. Many of the world’s top AI companies are located in California and will have to follow the requirements.

“California has proven that we can establish regulations to protect our communities while also ensuring that the growing AI industry continues to thrive. This legislation strikes that balance,” Newsom said in a statement.

The legislation requires AI companies to implement and disclose publicly safety protocols to prevent their most advanced models from being used to cause major harm. The rules are designed to cover AI systems if they meet a “frontier” threshold that signals they run on a huge amount of computing power.

Such thresholds are based on how many calculations the computers are performing. Those who crafted the regulations have acknowledged the numerical thresholds are an imperfect starting point to distinguish today’s highest-performing generative AI systems from the next generation that could be even more powerful. The existing systems are largely made by California-based companies like Anthropic, Google, Meta Platforms and OpenAI.

The legislation defines a catastrophic risk as something that would cause at least $1 billion in damage or more than 50 injuries or deaths. It’s designed to guard against AI being used for activities that could cause mass disruption, such as hacking into a power grid.

Companies also have to report to the state any critical safety incidents within 15 days. The law creates whistleblower protections for AI workers and establishes a public cloud for researchers. It includes a fine of $1 million per violation.

It drew opposition from some tech companies, which argued that AI legislation should be done at the federal level. But Anthropic said the regulations are “practical safeguards” that make official the safety practices many companies are already doing voluntarily.

“While federal standards remain essential to avoid a patchwork of state regulations, California has created a strong framework that balances public safety with continued innovation,” Jack Clark, co-founder and head of policy at Anthropic, said in a statement.

The signing comes after Newsom last year vetoed a broader version of the legislation, siding with tech companies that said the requirements were too rigid and would have hampered innovation. Newsom instead asked a group of several industry experts, including AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, to develop recommendations on guardrails around powerful AI models.

The new law incorporates recommendations and feedback from Newsom’s group of AI experts and the industry, supporters said. The legislation also doesn’t put the same level of reporting requirements on startups to avoid hurting innovation, said state Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, the bill’s author.

“With this law, California is stepping up, once again, as a global leader on both technology innovation and safety,” Wiener said in a statement.

Newsom’s decision comes as President Donald Trump in July announced a plan to eliminate what his administration sees as “onerous” regulations to speed up AI innovation and cement the U.S.’ position as the global AI leader. Republicans in Congress earlier this year unsuccessfully tried to ban states and localities from regulating AI for a decade.

Without stronger federal regulations, states across the country have spent the last few years trying to rein in the technology, tackling everything from deepfakes in elections to AI “therapy.” In California, the Legislature this year passed a number of bills to address safety concerns around AI chatbots for children and the use of AI in the workplace.

California has also been an early adopter of AI technologies. The state has deployed generative AI tools to spot wildfires and address highway congestion and road safety, among other things.

Associated Press reporter Matt O’Brien contributed to the report.

By JEFFREY COLLINS

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Former Republican South Carolina Rep. RJ May admitted in court Monday that he sent hundreds of videos of children being sexually abused to people across the country on social media.

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May pleaded guilty to what prosecutors in court papers called a “five-day child pornography spree” in the spring of 2024.

May, who resigned earlier this year, is accused of using the screen name “joebidennnn69” to exchange 220 different files of toddlers and young children involved in sex acts on the Kik social media network, according to court documents that graphically detailed the videos.

“Bear with me. This is very hard to read,” U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling said as he haltingly read a brief description of each video for television reporters outside of court since cameras aren’t allowed in federal courtrooms.

May, 38, pleaded guilty to five counts of distributing the videos and faces five to 20 years in prison on each charge. He will have to register as a sex offender and could be fined up to $250,000, according to his plea agreement.

The five counts represented the worst videos May shared, Stirling said.

Felony convictions bar May from voting or having a weapon

The felony convictions means the political consultant and National Rifle Association member cannot vote, hold public office, carry a gun or serve on a jury the rest of his life.

May’s sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 14 — the second day of the South Carolina legislature’s 2026 session.

The evidence against May included logs of his laptop and cellphone use, showing he was uploading and downloading the child sexual abuse videos at the same time he was emailing work files, making phone calls, doing web searches and messaging someone on Kik asking for “Bad moms. Bad dads. Bad pre teens.”

May mostly spent Monday’s hourlong hearing answering the judge’s questions. At the end, when Judge Cameron McGowan Currie asked May if he had anything else he wanted to say, May answered, “not at this time, your honor.”

May changed his mind about pleading guilty after hearing

May changed his mind and decided to plead guilty just hours after a Wednesday pretrial hearing in which he acted as his own attorney.

During Wednesday’s hearing, May made arguments to the judge to throw out the warrant used to search his home, laptop and mobile devices. She denied May’s request just hours after prosecutors filed documents detailing May’s plea on Friday.

Prosecutors showed May used his phone to upload and download videos through his cell network and home wireless network and also showed him charts explaining in stark, factual ways what was on each video May is charged with distributing.

May also tried to keep out any evidence about whether he used a fake name to travel to Colombia three times. Prosecutors said they found videos on his laptop of him allegedly having sex on the trips. A Homeland Security agent testified the women appeared to be underage and were paid. U.S. agents have not been able to locate the women.

May admitted to using the fake name Monday in court but was not asked about the videos.

May was a rising Republican political force in South Carolina

May was in his third term in the South Carolina House and was attacking fellow Republicans to go in a more conservative direction before he resigned.

“We as legislators have an obligation to insure that our children have no harm done to them,” May said in January 2024 on the House floor during a debate on transgender care for minors.

After his election in 2020, he helped create the Freedom Caucus. He also helped the campaigns of Republicans running against GOP House incumbents.