By MARK SCOLFORO, Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A man who scaled an iron security fence in the middle of the night, eluded police and used beer bottles filled with gasoline to ignite the occupied Pennsylvania governor’s mansion pleaded guilty Tuesday to attempted murder and other charges.

Cody Balmer, 38, also entered pleas to terrorism, 22 counts of arson, aggravated arson, burglary, aggravated assault of Gov. Josh Shapiro, 21 counts of reckless endangerment and loitering in the April 13 attack that did millions of dollars in damage to the state-owned brick building.

Under a plea deal, Balmer was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison.

Cody Balmer, accused of setting a fire at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s official residence arrives at Dauphin County Courthouse on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025 in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Shapiro and members of his family had to be awakened and evacuated, but no one was injured. The multiple endangerment charges reflected the number of people in the residence at the time, including the governor’s family, guests and state troopers.

The fire was set hours after they celebrated the Jewish holiday of Passover with a Seder in the residence. Prosecutors played video clips that showed Molotov cocktails going off and a figure inside and outside the residence. Judge Deborah Curcillo called the video “horrific” and “very frightening.”

Balmer told police he planned to beat Shapiro with a small sledgehammer if he had encountered him after breaking into the building, according to court documents. Balmer turned himself in the next afternoon to face charges of attempted homicide, terrorism, aggravated arson and aggravated assault.

Police say Balmer broke in through the southern wing of the residence, into a room often used to entertain crowds and display art. Investigators recovered two broken glass beer bottles containing gasoline. The fire charred walls, tables, buffet serving dishes, plates and a piano. Window panes and brick around doors and windows were also damaged.

Shapiro’s Jewish faith and the attack during the Passover weekend raised questions about Balmer’s motivation, but Balmer told The Associated Press in a May letter from jail that had not been a factor in his decision.

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“He can be Jewish, Muslim, or a purple people eater for all I care and as long as he leaves me and mine alone,” Balmer wrote.

He said in a brief June 9 video interview from Camp Hill State Prison that he did think beforehand about whether children might be injured.

“Does anyone ever consider children?” Balmer said in June. “It doesn’t seem that way. I sure as hell did. I’m glad no one got hurt.” Asked why he felt Shapiro had somehow done him wrong, Balmer replied: “I’m not going to answer that.”

Balmer’s mother said days after his arrest that she had tried to get him assistance for mental health issues, but “nobody would help.” Court proceedings had been delayed while he received mental health treatment, his lawyer has said.

At a court hearing a few days after the fire, Balmer told a judge he was an unemployed welder with no income or savings and “a lot of children.”

The residence, built in 1968, did not have sprinklers. Work to fix the damage and to bolster its security features continues.

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Political Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Barack Obama is entering the fight for U.S. House control by appearing in a 30-second ad urging California voters to approve a November ballot proposal that could add as many as five Democrat-held House seats in California.

Proposition 50 would dramatically reshape California’s congressional districts with the intent of adding Democratic seats in Congress. It’s crafted to gain Democratic House control, aimed at offsetting President Donald Trump’s moves in Texas and elsewhere to help win more Republican seats in the 2026 midterm election.

A sample ballot is pictured before early voting starts in California’s statewide special election, Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Paula Ulichney-Munoz)

“Republicans want to steal enough seats in Congress to rig the next election and wield unchecked power for two more years,” Obama says in the ad, looking directly into the camera. “You can stop Republicans in their tracks.”

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has framed the election as a referendum on all things Trump, who is unpopular in liberal-leaning California outside of his conservative base. Voting on the proposal is underway and concludes Nov. 4.

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Republicans and other opponents say the proposal amounts to a Democratic power grab that would set aside district lines crafted by an independent commission that was created by voters more than a decade ago.

The duel between California and Texas, the nation’s two most populous states, has spread nationally. North Carolina Republican legislative leaders announced plans Monday to vote next week on redrawing the state’s House district map, taking up Trump’s call to secure more GOP seats nationwide and resist rival moves by Democrats.

Republicans hold a 219-213 majority in the U.S. House, with three vacancies.

If approved in California, it’s possible the new political map could slash five Republican-held House seats while bolstering Democratic incumbents in other battleground districts. That could boost the Democratic margin to 48 of California’s 52 congressional seats, up from the 43 seats the party now holds.

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and left in place the $1.4 billion judgment against him over his description of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as a hoax staged by crisis actors.

The Infowars host had argued that a judge was wrong to find him liable for defamation and infliction of emotional distress without holding a trial on the merits of allegations lodged by relatives of victims of the shooting, which killed 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut.

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The justices did not comment on their order, which they issued without even asking the families of the Sandy Hook victims to respond to Jones’ appeal. An FBI agent who responded to the shooting also sued.

Jones filed for bankruptcy in late 2022, and his lawyers told the justices that the “plaintiffs have no possible hope of collecting” the entire judgment.

He is separately appealing a $49 million judgment in a similar defamation lawsuit in Texas after he failed to turn over documents sought by the parents of another Sandy Hook victim.

In the Connecticut case, the judge issued a rare default ruling against Jones and his company in late 2021 because of what she called Jones’ repeated failure to abide by court rulings and to turn over certain evidence to the Sandy Hook families. The judge convened a jury to determine how much Jones would owe.

The following year, the jury agreed on a $964 million verdict and the judge later tacked on another $473 million in punitive damages against Jones and Free Speech Systems, Infowars’ parent company, which is based in Austin, Texas.

In November, the satirical news outlet The Onion was named the winning bidder in an auction to liquidate Infowars’ assets to help pay the defamation judgments. But the bankruptcy judge threw out the auction results, citing problems with the process and The Onion’s bid.

The attempt to sell off Infowars’ assets has moved to a Texas state court in Austin. Jones is now appealing a recent order from the court that appointed a receiver to liquidate the assets. Some of Jones’ personal property is also being sold off as part of the bankruptcy case.

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, Associated Press Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and global economies will grow a bit more this year than previously forecast as the Trump administration’s tariffs have so far proved less disruptive than expected, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday, though the full impact of those policies is still emerging.

The United States’ economy will expand 2% in 2025, the IMF projected in its influential semi-annual forecast, the World Economic Outlook. That is slightly higher than the 1.9% forecast in the IMF’s last update in July and 1.8% in April. The U.S. should grow 2.1% next year, also just one-tenth of a percent faster than its previous projection, the IMF said.

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The global economy, meanwhile, will grow 3.2% this year, up from a 3% estimate in July, the IMF forecast, and 3.1% in 2026, the same as its previous estimate.

The figures represent a bit of a round-trip for the IMF: In January, before Trump began imposing tariffs, it had forecast global growth of 3.3%, only slightly higher than its newest estimate. While the U.S. and world economies have fared better than expected, it’s too soon to say they are fully in the clear, the IMF said, as Trump has continued to make tariff threats and it can take time for changes in international trade patterns to play out.

The reasons for the better performance “are clear,” IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said in a blog post.

“The United States negotiated trade deals with various countries and provided multiple exemptions,” Gourinchas wrote. “Most countries refrained from retaliation, keeping instead the trading system largely open. The private sector also proved agile, front-loading imports and speedily re-routing supply chains.”

By front-loading imports, many companies were able to stock up on goods before the duties took effect, enabling them to avoid or delay price increases.

Yet many of those factors only reflect “temporary relief, rather than underlying strength in economic fundamentals,” the IMF’s report said.

The IMF also said that import price data in the U.S. shows that so far importers and retailers are paying most of the tariffs, not overseas companies, as many Trump administration officials have predicted. Over time, those firms are likely to pass on more of the price hikes to consumers, the IMF said.

There are signs that some downsides of the higher tariffs are starting to emerge, the IMF outlook said. Core inflation, which excludes the volatile food and energy categories, has ticked up to 2.9%, according to the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure, up from 2.7% a year ago. Hiring has ground to nearly a halt, which could partly reflect a more cautious approach by many firms in the wake of the uncertainty created by the higher tariffs.

The IMF’s forecasts are modestly more optimistic than many private-sector economists’ expectations. The National Association for Business Economics, a group of academic and business economists, on Monday forecast that the U.S. would grow just 1.8% this year and 1.7% in 2026.

Nearly two-thirds of the economists surveyed by the NABE said they think the administration’s duties are nevertheless slowing growth, by up to a half-percentage point.

Other trends are offsetting some of the downsides of tariffs in the U.S., Gourinchas said. For example, a clampdown on immigration has reduced the supply of workers at the same time that hiring has slowed. As a result, the unemployment rate has remained low.

An artificial intelligence-driven investment boom in data centers and computing power has also provided a lift to the economy, Gourinchas noted in his blog post.

China, meanwhile, has weathered the hit from U.S. tariffs by sending more of its goods to Europe and Asia, rather than the United States, and its currency has depreciated, which has made its exports cheaper. The IMF is forecasting that China’s economy will expand 4.8% this year and 4.2% in 2026, the same as in July.

In Europe, Germany is bolstering growth by increasing government spending to build up its military, Gourinchas said. The IMF now expects the 20 countries that use the euro to grow 1.2% this year, up from a 1% forecast in July, and 1.1% next year, the same as three months ago.

The IMF is a 191-nation lending organization that works to promote economic growth and financial stability and to reduce global poverty.