The Campbell’s Co. said Tuesday it has placed one of its executives on leave while it investigates claims that he made racist comments and mocked the company’s products and customers in an audio recording.

Martin Bally, Campbell’s vice president of information technology, was named in a lawsuit filed last week by Robert Garza, a former Campbell’s employee. The lawsuit was filed in Michigan, where both men live. Campbell’s is headquartered in New Jersey.

In the lawsuit, Garza claimed he met with Bally in November 2024 to discuss his salary. During the meeting, which Garza allegedly recorded, Bally described Campbell’s as “highly process(ed) food” and said it was for “poor people.”

Garza claimed that Bally made racist remarks about Indian workers, whom he called “idiots,” according to the lawsuit. Garza said Bally also told him that he often went to work high after consuming marijuana edibles.

Garza said he told his manager, J.D. Aupperle, on Jan. 10 that he wanted to report Bally’s comments to Campbell’s human resources department. Garza said Aupperle didn’t encourage him to report the comments but also gave him no advice on how to proceed.

On Jan. 30, Garza was terminated from Campbell’s. He is seeking monetary damages from Campbell’s. He also names Bally and Aupperle in the lawsuit, saying they were responsible for his termination.

In its statement Tuesday, Campbell’s said that if the comments on the audio recording were in fact made by Bally, they are unacceptable.

“Such language does not reflect our values and the culture of our company,” the company said. “We do not tolerate that kind of language under any circumstances.”

Campbell’s added that the comments were allegedly made by someone in IT “who has nothing to do with how we make our food.”

“We are proud of the food we make, the people who make it and the high-quality ingredients we use to provide consumers with good food at a good value,” Campbell’s said. “The comments heard on the recording about our food are not only inaccurate — they are patently absurd.”

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By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is seeking to abandon a rule that sets tough standards for deadly soot pollution, arguing that the Biden administration did not have authority to set the tighter standard on pollution from tailpipes, smokestacks and other industrial sources.

The action follows moves by the administration last week to weaken federal rules protecting millions of acres of wetlands and streams and roll back protections for imperiled species and the places they live. In a separate action, the Interior Department proposed new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems.

The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule last year that imposed strict standards for soot pollution, saying that reducing fine particle matter from motor vehicles and industrial sources could prevent thousands of premature deaths a year.

Twenty-five Republican-led states and a host of business groups filed lawsuits seeking to block the rule in court. A suit led by attorneys general from Kentucky and West Virginia argued that the EPA rule would raise costs for manufacturers, utilities and families and could block new manufacturing plants.

In a court filing this week, the EPA essentially took the side of the challengers, saying the Biden-era rule was done “without the rigorous, stepwise process that Congress required” and was therefore unlawful.

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“EPA now confesses error and urges this Court to vacate the Rule” before Feb. 7, the agency said in a brief filed with the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Vacating the Biden-era rule would revert the soot standard to a level established a dozen years ago under the Obama administration. The Trump EPA is set to propose its own rule early next year.

Environmental groups said the agency’s action — which follows a pledge by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to roll back the soot rule and dozens of other environmental regulations — threatens public health and undermines its obligations under the Clean Air Act.

“EPA’s motion is a blatant attempt to avoid legal requirements for a rollback, in this case for one of the most impactful actions the agency has taken in recent years to protect public health,” said Hayden Hashimoto, an attorney at the nonprofit Clean Air Task Force.

The 2024 rule set maximum levels of 9 micrograms of fine particle pollution per cubic meter of air, down from 12 micrograms established under former President Barack Obama. The rule sets an air quality level that states and counties must achieve in the coming years to reduce pollution from power plants, vehicles, industrial sites and wildfires.

“An abundance of scientific evidence shows that going back to the previous standard would fail to provide the level of protection for public health required under the Clean Air Act,” Hashimoto said.

EPA said in creating the rule that the new standard would avoid 800,000 cases of asthma symptoms, 2,000 hospital visits and 4,500 premature deaths, adding up to about $46 billion in health benefits in 2032. Then-EPA head Michael Regan said the rule would especially benefit children, older adults and those with heart and lung conditions, as well as those living near highways, factories and power plants.

“Walking away from these clean-air standards doesn’t power anything but disease,” said Patrice Simms, vice president of healthy communities at Earthjustice, a nonprofit law firm that represents environmental groups in the legal case.

President Donald Trump “has made it clear that his agenda is all about saving corporations money,” Simms said, adding under Zeldin, the EPA “has nothing to do with protecting people’s health, saving lives or serving children, families or communities.”

Soot, made up of tiny toxic particles that lodge deep in the lungs, can result in severe health harms, including premature death, and comes from sources such as vehicle exhaust pipes, power plants, and factories.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Rev. Jesse Jackson has been released from a Chicago hospital where he was treated for a rare neurological disorder, his son said Tuesday.

The 84-year-old civil rights leader was discharged Monday from Northwestern Memorial Hospital, his son and family spokesperson Yusef Jackson said.

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In 2013, Jackson, who now receives round-the-clock care at home, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The diagnosis was changed last April to progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP, a neurodegenerative disorder which can have similar symptoms to Parkinson’s.

Yusef Jackson thanked “the countless friends and supporters who have reached out, visited and prayed for our father,” as well as the medical and security staff at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

“We humbly ask for your continued prayers throughout this precious time,” Yusef Jackson said.

A protégé of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., the two-time presidential candidate and internationally known founder of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition was hospitalized Nov. 14.

Visitors included former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, fellow civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton and television court arbitrator Judge Greg Mathis.

After announcing his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2017, Jackson continued to work and make public appearances, including at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In 2023, he stepped down as leader of Rainbow/PUSH, which he began as Operation PUSH in 1971, but continued going to the office regularly until a few months ago.

His family says that Jackson uses a wheelchair, struggles to keep his eyes open and is unable to speak. Relatives, including his sons, Illinois U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson and Jesse Jackson Jr., a former Illinois congressman seeking reelection, have been caring for him in shifts.

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and MIKE HOUSEHOLDER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic lawmakers who appeared in a social media video urging U.S. troops to defy “illegal orders” say the FBI has contacted them to begin scheduling interviews, signaling a possible inquiry into the matter.

It would mark the second investigation tied to the video, coming a day after the Pentagon said it was reviewing Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona over potential violations of military law. The FBI and Pentagon actions come after President Donald Trump accused the lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” in a social media post.

“President Trump is using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass Members of Congress,” a group of four Democratic House members said in a statement Tuesday. “Yesterday, the FBI contacted the House and Senate Sergeants at Arms requesting interviews.”

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Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, one of the six Democratic lawmakers in the video, told reporters Tuesday that “last night the counterterrorism division at the FBI sent a note to the members of Congress, saying they are opening what appears to be an inquiry against the six of us.” She said Trump “is attempting to use the FBI to scare us.”

“Whether you agree with the video or don’t agree with the video, the question to me is: is this the appropriate response for a president of the United States to go after and seek to weaponize the federal government against those he disagrees with?” said Slotkin.

The FBI declined to comment Tuesday, but Director Kash Patel, in an interview with journalist Catherine Herridge, described it as an “ongoing matter” in explaining why he could not discuss details.

Asked for his reaction to the video, Patel said, “What goes through my head is the same thing that goes through my head in any case: is there a lawful predicate to open up an inquiry and investigation, or is there not? And that decision will be made by the career agents and analysts here at the FBI.”

Householder reported from Inkster, Michigan. Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington also contributed to this report.