By JIM VERTUNO AND NADIA LATHAN, Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Justice Department on Wednesday sought to block a Texas law that for decades has given college students without legal residency in the U.S. access to reduced in-state tuition rates, the latest effort by the Trump administration to crack down on immigration into the country.

Texas was the first state in the nation in 2001 to pass a law allowing “Dreamers,” or young adults without legal status, to be eligible for in-state tuition if they meet certain residency criteria. And while two dozen states now have similar laws, the Trump administration filed the lawsuit in conservative Texas, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and state lawmakers have long sought to support his hardline goals on the border.

The lawsuit also comes just a few days after the end of the state legislative session, where a repeal bill pushed by group of Republicans was considered but ultimately did not come up for a vote.

The lawsuit now asks a federal judge to block the Texas law. It leans into recent executive orders signed by Trump designed to stop any state or local laws or regulations the administration feels discriminate against legal residents.

“Under federal law, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “The Justice Department will relentlessly fight to vindicate federal law and ensure that U.S. citizens are not treated like second-class citizens anywhere in the country.”

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Texas has about 57,000 undocumented students enrolled in its public universities and colleges, according to the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, a nonpartisan nonprofit group of university leaders focused on immigration policy. The state has about 690,000 students overall at its public universities.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and state Attorney General Ken Paxton, did not immediately comment on the lawsuit, and staff did not immediately respond to email messages seeking comment.

The lawsuit was filed in the Wichita Falls division of the Northern District of Texas, which the state and conservative litigants have often chosen to file lawsuits challenging the federal government and issues such as healthcare and gay and transgender rights.

The Texas law was initially passed by sweeping majorities in the Texas Legislature and signed into law by then-Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, as a way to open access to higher education for students without legal residency already living in the state. Supporters then and now argue it boosts the state’s economy by creating a better educated and better prepared work force.

“Targeted attacks on Texas students who are seeking an affordable college education, led by the Trump administration, won’t help anyone, they only hurt us all,” said Luis Figueroa of Every Texan, a left-leaning public policy group.

The difference in tuition rates is substantial. For example, at the flagship University of Texas at Austin, a state resident paid about $11,000 in tuition for the 2024-2025 academic year compared to about $41,000 for students from outside of Texas. Other expenses for housing, supplies and transportation can add nearly $20,000 more, according to school estimates.

The law allows for students without legal resident status to qualify for in-state tuition if they have lived in the state for three years before graduating from high school, and for a year before enrolling in college. They must also sign an affidavit promising to apply for legal resident status as soon as possible.

But the policy soon came under fire from conservatives and critics who called it unfair to legal residents as debates over illegal immigration intensified. In the 2012 Republican presidential primary, Perry ended up apologizing after saying critics of the law “did not have a heart.”

Legislative efforts to repeal the Texas law have repeatedly failed, but have started to gain traction elsewhere. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, earlier this year signed a bill that will repeal that state’s in-state tuition law in July.

By MATT BROWN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Oversight Committee is requesting interviews with members of former President Joe Biden’s innermost circle as Republicans ramp up their investigation into the final moves of the Biden administration.

Oversight Chairman James Comer of Kentucky, a Republican, requested transcribed interviews with five Biden aides, alleging they had participated in a “cover-up” that amounted to “one of the greatest scandals in our nation’s history.”

“These five former senior advisors were eyewitnesses to President Biden’s condition and operations within the Biden White House,” Comer said in a statement. “They must appear before the House Oversight Committee and provide truthful answers about President Biden’s cognitive state and who was calling the shots.”

Interviews were requested with White House senior advisers Mike Donilon and Anita Dunn, former White House chief of staff Ron Klain, former deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed and Steve Ricchetti, a former counselor to the president.

Comer reiterated his call for Biden’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, and former senior White House aides Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, Ashley Williams and Neera Tanden to appear before the committee. He warned subpoenas would be issued this week if they refuse to schedule voluntary interviews.

“I think that people will start coming in the next two weeks,” Comer told reporters. He added that the committee would release a report with its findings “and we’ll release the transcribed interviews, so it’ll be very transparent.”

Democrats have dismissed the effort as a distraction.

“Chairman Comer had his big shot in the last Congress to impeach Joe Biden and it was, of course, a spectacular flop,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, the Maryland Democrat who served as the ranking member on the oversight committee in the previous Congress. “And now he’s just living off of a spent dream. It’s over. And he should give up the whole thing.”

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Republicans on the committee are eager to pursue the investigation.

“The American people didn’t elect a bureaucracy to run the country,” said Rep. Brandon Gill, a freshman Republican from Texas. “I think that the American people deserve to know the truth and they want to know the truth of what happened.”

The Republican inquiry so far has focused on the final executive actions of Biden’s administration, which included the issuing of new federal rules and presidential pardons that they claim may be invalid.

Comer cited the book “Original Sin” by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson, which details concerns and debates inside the White House and Democratic Party over Biden’s mental state and age.

In the book, Tapper and Thompson wrote, “Five people were running the country, and Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board.”

Biden and members of his family have vigorously denied the book’s claims.

“This book is political fairy smut for the permanent, professional chattering class,” said Naomi Biden, the former president’s granddaughter.

Biden withdrew from the presidential race last summer after a debate against Trump in which he appeared to lose his train of thought multiple times, muttered inaudible answers and misnamed different government programs.

The disastrous debate performance pushed questions about his age and mental acuity to the forefront, ultimately leading Biden to withdraw from the presidential race. He was replaced on the ticket by Kamala Harris, who lost the election to President Donald Trump.

A former teacher of a charter school in St. Paul was sentenced to one month of house arrest and three years of probation Wednesday for having criminal sexual contact with his 16-year-old student in 2023 after he was fired for continuing to contact the girl.

Brandon Michael Bunney, who had taught at Hmong College Prep Academy, pleaded guilty in Ramsey County District Court in March to felony fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct after reaching an agreement that included a stayed prison sentence to probation and no more than two months in the workhouse.

Brandon Michael Bunney (Courtesy of the Scott County Sheriff’s Office)

Bunney, 43, of Savage, was initially charged in February 2024 with third-degree criminal sexual conduct for incidents between July 25, 2023, and mid-September that year while being in a position of authority over her.

Bunney’s attorney, Marsh Halberg, said Wednesday the charge stemmed from a consensual relationship with the 16-year-old within 120 days of his May 18 firing from the school.

In general, the legal age of consent in Minnesota is 16, however, the statute for third-degree criminal sexual conduct includes a “120-day rule” that prohibits anyone who was in a position of authority over someone from having sexual contact with them during the time frame.

“Had they waited a few more weeks to enter into their relationship, no offense would have been committed,” Halberg wrote in a sentencing memo.

Rumors of an inappropriate relationship between Bunney and the girl began to surface at Hmong College Prep in spring 2023, the criminal complaint said. School administration told him several times to stop contacting the girl, and he was fired from his teaching job for failing to do so.

After his firing, Bunney began spending more time with the girl. Numerous messages between them began six days after he was fired. By July 2023, Bunney was sending the girl messages describing sexual acts he wanted to engage in with her, the complaint said.

She told police it started with sexual touching in his car on St. Paul’s East Side and progressed to sexual penetration at an Apple Valley house where he lived at the time, the complaint said.

In an interview with police, Bunney said he was fired from the high school because of a “perception that I hung out with a student,” the complaint said. He said that “a bunch of people had concerns” and he was told to “kinda ghost” the girl, but he didn’t.

Three months after his firing from Hmong College Prep, Bunney joined Nicollet Middle School in Burnsville. He taught math at the school until Feb. 23, 2024, when he was arrested and officials at Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District 191 say they learned of the allegations from police.

Bunney’s wife of 14 years filed for divorce in April 2024, according to court records.

‘These are two consenting people’

Halberg told the court Wednesday that it was around September 2024 when Bunney understood the law, that he “kind of did a 180 in the sense of acknowledgement. And, before that, it was like, why is it anybody’s business? These are two consenting people, age of consent.”

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Halberg said Bunney has been cooperative and remorseful, and that a psychosexual exam concluded he has less than a 3% chance of reoffending.

Halberg asked Judge Richard Kyle to give Bunney no jail time or, in the alternative, that he serve any time sentenced on electronic home monitoring with work release privileges.

Kyle imposed the latter, adding, “but I’m going to reduce the amount that’s been requested. I think a little bit is appropriate, given what happened here.”

Bunney’s sentence is a stay of imposition, which means the felony conviction will be considered a misdemeanor if he successfully completes probation. His conditions of probation include registering as a predatory offender; no contact with the victim; and no position of authority — paid or volunteer — over minors.

NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors in Harvey Weinstein’s sex crimes retrial are due to start deliberating Thursday, with dozens of witnesses, scores of documents and two days of closing arguments to sift through.

The seven-woman, five-man jury will start its private discussions after getting legal instructions from the judge Thursday morning.

Closing arguments concluded Wednesday, with prosecutor Nicole Blumberg saying the former movie studio boss “held the golden ticket” to show-business success and used it to sexually assault women who were afraid to cross him.

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Weinstein, 73, has pleaded not guilty to raping a woman in 2013 and forcing oral sex on two others in 2006. Defense lawyer Arthur Aidala told jurors Tuesday that Weinstein had entirely consensual encounters with the women, arguing that they were “using him” to advance their fledgling careers in entertainment.

Over the last seven years, the case has been seen as something of a crucible for the #MeToo movement. The anti-sexual-misconduct outcry took flight after allegations against Weinstein became public in 2017.

He was later convicted of sex crimes in New York and California. The New York conviction was overturned last year, and the case was sent back for retrial.

The new trial was expanded to include an accuser who wasn’t part of the first trial. One of the criminal sex act charges is based on her allegations.

Weinstein chose not to testify.