By RIO YAMAT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — President Donald Trump has pardoned a Nevada Republican politician who was awaiting sentencing on federal charges that she used money meant for a statue honoring a slain police officer for personal costs, including plastic surgery.

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Michele Fiore, a former Las Vegas city councilwoman and state lawmaker who ran unsuccessfully in 2022 for state treasurer, was found guilty in October of six counts of federal wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was out of custody ahead of her sentencing, which had been scheduled for next month.

In a lengthy statement Thursday on Facebook, the loyal Trump supporter expressed gratitude to the president while also accusing the U.S. government and “select media outlets” of a broad, decade-long conspiracy to “target and dismantle” her life.

The pardon, issued Wednesday, comes less than a week after Fiore lost a bid for a new trial. She had been facing the possibility of decades in prison.

Federal prosecutors said at trial that Fiore, 54, had raised more than $70,000 for the statue of a Las Vegas police officer who was fatally shot in 2014 in the line of duty, but had instead spent some of it on cosmetic surgery, rent and her daughter’s wedding.

“Michele Fiore used a tragedy to line her pockets,” federal prosecutor Dahoud Askar said.

FBI agents in 2021 subpoenaed records and searched Fiore’s home in Las Vegas in connection with her campaign spending.

In a statement, Nevada Democratic Party Executive Director Hilary Barrett called the pardon “reckless” and a “slap in the face” to law enforcement officers.

Fiore, who does not have a law degree, was appointed as a judge in deep-red Nye County in 2022 shortly after she lost her campaign for state treasurer.

She was elected last June to complete the unexpired term of a judge who died but had been suspended without pay amid her legal troubles. Pahrump is an hour’s drive west of Las Vegas.

In her statement Thursday, Fiore also said she plans to return to the bench next week.

Nye County said in an email to The Associated Press that it is awaiting an update from the state Commission on Judicial Discipline on Fiore’s current suspension. The AP sent emails seeking comment to the commission, as well as Fiore’s lawyer.

Fiore served in the state Legislature from 2012 to 2016. She was a Las Vegas councilwoman from 2017 to 2022.

While serving as a state lawmaker, Fiore gained national attention for her support of rancher Cliven Bundy and his family during armed standoffs between militiamen and federal law enforcement officers in Bunkerville, Nevada, in 2014 and Malheur, Oregon, in 2016.

By JONATHAN J. COOPER

PHOENIX (AP) — Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said Thursday that party officers should be banned from taking sides in primaries, countering DNC Vice Chair David Hogg’s plan to raise money for candidates challenging Democratic incumbents.

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Martin’s proposal escalates a public feud between the new DNC boss and Hogg, who rose to prominence as a gun-control advocate after surviving the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Both were elected by DNC members earlier this year.

Martin said he’s drafting proposed bylaw changes to require officers to remain neutral in all Democratic primaries.

Martin said party neutrality is crucial to maintaining the confidence of voters, pointing to the bitter feud that emerged after supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign believed he was stymied by party insiders putting their thumb on the scale in favor of Hillary Clinton, who won the nomination but went on to lose the general election to Donald Trump.

“You can’t be both the player and the referee,” Martin wrote in an opinion piece published by Time.

Hogg has said he’ll raise millions of dollars through a political action committee unaffiliated with the DNC to support primary challengers running against longtime incumbents in solidly Democratic congressional districts. He says the party needs a shakeup to bring in leaders who will more aggressively confront Trump and connect with younger voters.

FILE – David Hogg talks to people after speaking at the 60th Anniversary of the March on Washington at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Aug. 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Hogg said in a statement posted on social media that he is not breaking any current DNC rules, and his actions don’t interfere with the party’s responsibilities, including setting a presidential nominating calendar, supporting state Democratic parties, building data infrastructure and creating the campaign infrastructure for a future Democratic presidential nominee.

Voters don’t view Democrats as a “real alternative to the Republican Party,” he said.

“That will not change if we keep the status quo,” Hogg said. “We have no other option but to do the hard work of holding ourselves and our own party accountable.”

Also on Thursday, Martin said the DNC would increase its financial support for state Democratic parties by $5,000 to $17,500 per month, with an additional $5,000 monthly for Republican-led states.

John McCarthy, the chief finance officer for the city of St. Paul, is leaving City Hall after 18 years.

McCarthy has been named as the new chief financial officer of the League of Minnesota Cities, the state’s largest municipal membership association. He will join the league on June 2, replacing current CFO Mark Ruff, who announced his decision to step down earlier this year.

McCarthy will oversee all of the league’s financial reporting, accounting, budgeting and accounts payable. He has worked for the city’s Office of Financial Services since 2007 and has served as the city’s chief financial officer since 2019.

A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said plans for “interim leadership” will be announced in coming weeks.

The league represents more than 830 member cities through advocacy, education, training and policy development.

Jay Willms

On Wednesday, the St. Paul City Council officially swore in Jay Willms as director of city council operations. Willms, who was previously a principal fiscal analyst with Ramsey County and before that delivered nonpartisan budget analysis for the state Senate, had served since June 2023 as the council’s chief budget officer.

He replaces Brynn Hausz, who was director of city council operations until November 2024. Willms had served as the interim director since that time.

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By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

Google’s profits soared 50% in this year’s opening quarter, overcoming the competitive and legal threats that its internet empire is facing amid an economy roiled by a global trade war.

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The numbers released Thursday by Google parent Alphabet Inc. indicated the company is rising to the challenge so far, but investors are likely to remain concerned about the turbulent times ahead.

The Mountain View, California, company earned $34.5 billion, or $2.81 per share, during the January-March period, up from $23.7 billion, or $1.89 per share, at the same time last year. Revenue rose 12% from last year to $90.2 billion. The results easily exceeded analysts’ projections, according to FactSet Research.

“We continued to see healthy growth and momentum across the business,” Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai told analysts Thursday during a conference call.

Alphabet’s stock gained more than 4% in extended trading after the numbers came out. The shares had fallen by 16% since the end of last year.

Google’s first-quarter performance illustrated the continuing power of its long-dominant search engine in a sea of uncertainty. While grappling with competitive threats emerging as artificial intelligence reshapes technology, Google is also battling court decisions condemning its search engine and digital ad network as illegal monopolies.

The AI-driven upheaval has opened new opportunities for people to find helpful advice, insights and information through more conversational search options from the likes of OpenAI and Perplexity.

Google’s long-dominant search engine is countering the new competition with a feature called AI Overviews that appear above web links in its results. It is also testing a conversational tool called AI Mode that would usher in an even more radical change to its business model.

“The company delivered a sound response to those questioning the solidity of the search business amid ever-increasing AI demand,” Investing.com analyst Thomas Monteiro said.

But Google is trying to keep its business intact as by the U.S. Justice Department attempts to break up the company and impose other restraints after a federal judge last year branded its search engine an illegal monopoly. To make matters worse, its digital ad network also was found to be illegally abusing its power earlier this month in another case brought by the Justice Department.

President Donald Trump’s trade war has injected more uncertainty into the mix by rattling the financial markets amid fears the tariffs will reignite inflation while dragging the economy into a recession. Although Google’s digital services aren’t directly impacted by the tariffs, a recession would likely curtail the spending on ads that generate most of Alphabet’s revenue.

But there were few signs of a slowdown in the past quarter. Google’s ad revenue during the period totaled $66.9 billion, an 8% increase from the same time a year ago.

Although Google’s executives are mostly upbeat during Thursday’s call, they also acknowledged conditions should the trade war trigger a recession.

“We are obviously not immune to the macro environment,” said Philipp Schindler, Alphabet’s chief business officer.

The past quarter’s steady growth emboldened Alphabet to stand firm on plans to invest $75 billion on AI and other technologies this year while also pursuing approval of a $32 billion deal to buy cybersecurity firm Wiz.

This story has been corrected to reflect Alphabet’s first-quarter profit increased 50% from the same time last year, or $2.81 per share, and that its revenue for the January-March period totaled $90.2 billion. The story also has been corrected to reflect Google’s ad revenue for the first quarter totaled $66.9 billion, an 8% increase from a year ago. An earlier version reported the incorrect dollar amounts and percentage change.