Minnesota expects to pay the Internal Revenue Service about $6.8 million — with the final total still subject to IRS calculation — after discovering it mishandled tax rules for health and dental benefits for former spouses of state employees.

Minnesota Management and Budget sent a letter to lawmakers on June 18 requesting the approval of an initial $2.47 million of an estimated $6.8 million in total owed to the IRS. In that letter, MMB said it found an error in February of 2025 with how the state provided insurance coverage for ex-spouses of state employees under the State Employee Group Insurance Program medical and dental insurance plans.

“The total amount due to the IRS will be approximately $6.8 million, subject to final calculation by the IRS,” the letter reads. “MMB intends to draw on a variety of sources to make this payment, including: the MMB general fund appropriation, contributions from other state agencies based on the number of ex-spouses historically covered, and the available balance within the SEGIP administrative fund.”

MMB said in the letter that the state had been following past guidance from state insurance regulators, which required continuation of coverage if, at the time of a divorce, the ex-spouse and one or more children in common were covered.

“These benefits were provided on a pre-tax basis,” the letter says. “MMB determined that those benefits should have been provided on a post-tax basis to comply with federal tax requirements.”

The state is still working on an agreement with the IRS that requires the state to pay the amount equivalent to what the state should have withheld and sent to the IRS for Medicare and Social Security tax contributions and income tax for the last three tax years, according to the letter from MMB.

A separate letter from MMB obtained by Forum News Service to state employees on July 23 says affected employees would be subject to an extra tax in 2025. An example calculation within that letter estimated an extra tax of roughly $583 for those who covered one former spouse on their insurance.

MMB declined to comment on the matter at this time, as negotiations with the IRS are ongoing.

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By RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A U.S. Army sergeant accused of shooting five fellow soldiers at a Georgia base was charged Tuesday with attempted murder, aggravated assault and domestic violence as the Army revealed that one of the victims was the suspect’s romantic partner.

The charges were issued as Sgt. Quornelius Radford made his first appearance Tuesday in a military courtroom at Fort Stewart, where officials say he opened fire with a personal handgun on members of his supply unit. The hearing officer ordered Radford, 28, to remain in pretrial confinement.

Radford was arrested Aug. 6 after officials say soldiers disarmed and restrained him until military police arrived.

All five of the wounded soldiers survived the attack. Radford was charged with six counts of attempted murder — the sixth referring to a soldier he shot at and missed, said Michelle McCaskill, a spokesperson for the Army’s Office of Special Trial Counsel, which is prosecuting Radford.

A sign welcoming people to Fort Stewart in Georgia is seen on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Radford also faces six counts of aggravated assault and a single count of domestic violence.

“That charge is there because one of the victims was the intimate partner of the accused,” McCaskill said.

She said she did not know whether Radford’s partner was among the five people he wounded. The Army has not released the victims’ names.

Fort Stewart officials have declined to comment on the shooter’s motives.

Under military law, attempted murder carries a potential penalty of life imprisonment.

Radford was represented by Army defense attorneys at his hearing Tuesday. Phone and email messages left with Fort Stewart’s Trial Defense Service were not immediately returned.

Now that he’s been charged, Radford faces pretrial proceedings to determine whether there is enough evidence for him to stand trial by court-martial.

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The largest Army post east of the Mississippi River, Fort Stewart is home to thousands of soldiers assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division. It is located about 40 miles southwest of Savannah.

Radford served as a supply sergeant in the division’s 2nd Armored Brigade. Army records show he enlisted in 2018.

Soldiers in Radford’s unit said they followed the sound of gunfire into the hallways of an office building where they found hazy gunsmoke in the air and wounded victims on the floor and in nearby offices.

Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the 3rd Infantry’s commander, credited soldiers with saving lives by immediately rendering first aid, in some cases using their bare hands to staunch bleeding gunshot wounds.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll visited Fort Stewart the day after the shootings to award Meritorious Service Medals to six soldiers who helped restrain the gunman and treat the victims.

By NATALIE MELZER, Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday hinted that ceasefire efforts in Gaza are now focused on a comprehensive deal that would release the remaining hostages all at once, rather than in phases.

Arab officials told The Associated Press last week that mediators Egypt and Qatar were preparing a new framework for a deal that would include the release of all remaining hostages in one go in return for a lasting ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The long-running indirect talks appeared to break down last month. But a Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo for ceasefire talks on Tuesday, Egypt’s state-run Qahera news channel reported, a sign that efforts have not been abandoned after 22 months of war.

Israel has threatened to widen its military offensive against Hamas to the areas of Gaza that it does not yet control, and where most of the territory’s 2 million residents have sought refuge.

Those plans have sparked international condemnation and criticism within Israel, and could be intended to raise pressure on Hamas to reach a ceasefire. Hamas still holds 50 hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war. Israel believes around 20 of them are alive.

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

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‘I want all of them’

In an interview with Israel’s i24 News network broadcast Tuesday, Netanyahu was asked if the window had closed on a partial ceasefire deal. Egyptian Foreign Ministry Badr Abdelatty told reporters that Cairo is still trying to advance an earlier proposal for an initial 60-day ceasefire, the release of some hostages and an influx of humanitarian aid before further talks on a lasting truce.

“I think it’s behind us,” Netanyahu replied. “We tried, we made all kinds of attempts, we went through a lot, but it turned out that they were just misleading us.”

“I want all of them,” he said of the hostages. “The release of all the hostages, both alive and dead — that’s the stage we’re at.”

He added, however, that Israel’s demands haven’t changed, and that the war will end only when all hostages are returned and Hamas has surrendered. He has said that even then, Israel will maintain open-ended security control over the territory.

Hamas has long called for a comprehensive deal but says it will only release the remaining hostages in return for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The group has refused to lay down its arms, as Israel has demanded.

UN warns about starvation, malnutrition

The United Nations on Tuesday warned that starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at the highest levels since the war began.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric reported the warning from the World Food Program and said Gaza’s Health Ministry told U.N. staff in Gaza that five people died over the last 24 hours from malnutrition and starvation.

The ministry says 121 adults and 101 children have died of malnutrition-related causes during the war.

“Against this backdrop, humanitarian supplies entering Gaza remain far below the minimum required to meet people’s immense needs,” Dujarric said.

The U.N. and its humanitarian partners are doing everything possible to bring aid into Gaza, he said, but still face significant delays and impediments from Israeli authorities that prevent the delivery of food and other essentials at the scale needed.

Hamas-led combatants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in that 2023 attack. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals.

Israel’s air and ground offensive has since displaced most of Gaza’s population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory toward famine. It has killed more than 61,400 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children.

The ministry says 121 adults and 101 children have died of malnutrition-related causes during the war.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.

Israel says it struck combatants disguised as aid workers

In a separate development, the Israeli military said it recently struck a group of combatants in Gaza who were disguised as aid workers and using a car with the logo of international charity World Central Kitchen.

The army said it carried out an airstrike on the men after confirming with the charity that they were not affiliated with it and that the car did not belong to it.

World Central Kitchen confirmed that the men and the vehicle were not affiliated with it. “We strongly condemn anyone posing as World Central Kitchen or other humanitarians, as this endangers civilians and aid workers,” it said in a statement.

The military shared video footage showing several men in yellow vests standing around a vehicle with the charity’s logo on its roof. The military said five of the men were armed.

The charity, founded in 2010, dispatches teams that can quickly provide meals on a mass scale in conflict zones and after natural disasters.

In April, an Israeli strike killed seven World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza. Israel quickly admitted it had mistakenly killed the aid workers and launched an investigation.

In November, an Israeli strike killed five people, including a World Central Kitchen worker who Israel said was part of the Hamas attack that sparked the war. The charity said at the time that it was unaware the employee had any connection to the attack.

Associated Press reporters Samy Magdy and Fay Abuelgasim in Cairo and Edith M. Lederer in New York contributed.