By OLIVIA DIAZ

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democrats passed a new congressional map through the Virginia legislature on Friday that aims to help their party win four more seats in the national redistricting battle. It’s a flex of state Democrats’ political power, however hurdles remain before they can benefit from friendlier U.S. House district boundaries in this year’s midterm elections.

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A judge in Tazewell, a conservative area in Southwest Virginia, has effectively blocked a voter referendum on the redrawn maps from happening on April 21 by granting a temporary restraining order, issued Thursday.

Democrats are appealing that decision and another by the same judge, who ruled last month that Democrats illegally rushed the planned voter referendum on their constitutional amendment to allow the remapping. The state’s Supreme Court picked up the party’s appeal of the earlier ruling.

If Democrats get to carry out a referendum, voters will choose whether to temporarily adopt new congressional districts and then return to Virginia’s standard process after the 2030 census. Democrats wanted to publish the new map ahead of the April vote.

President Donald Trump launched an unusual mid-decade redistricting battle last year by pushing Republican officials in Texas to redraw districts to help his party win more seats. The goal was for the GOP to hold on to a narrow House majority in the face of political headwinds that typically favor the party out of power in midterms.

Instead, it created a national redistricting battle. So far, Republicans believe they can win nine more House seats in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Democrats think they can win six more seats in California and Utah, and are hoping to fully or partially make up the remaining three-seat margin in Virginia.

Democratic lawmakers in Virginia have sought to portray their redistricting as a response to Trump’s overreach.

“The president of the United States, who apparently only one half of this chamber knows how to stand up to, basically directed states to grab power,” Virginia’s Democratic Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell said in February. “To basically maintain his power indefinitely — to rig the game, rig the system.”

Republicans have sounded aghast. House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore described the remap as a way for liberals in northern Virginia’s Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William counties to commandeer the rest of the state.

“In southwest Virginia, we have this saying … They say, ‘Terry, you do a good job up there, but you know, Virginia stops at Roanoke,” Kilgore said, referring to how some people across Virginia’s Appalachian region feel unrepresented in state politics. “That’s not going to be the same saying anymore, because Virginia is now going to stop just a little bit west of Prince William County.”

Virginia is currently represented in the U.S. House by six Democrats and five Republicans who ran in districts imposed by a court after a bipartisan legislative commission failed to agree on a map after the 2020 census.

Legislation that would put the Democrats’ more gerrymandered map into effect if voters approve the referendum now awaits the signature of Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who has indicated that she would support it.

“Virginia has the opportunity and responsibility to be responsive in the face of efforts across the country to change maps,” Spanberger said as she approved the referendum.

Democratic candidates are already lining up in anticipation. “Dopesick” author Beth Macy and former U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello launched campaigns in red areas that would be moved into districts with more registered Democrats.

Virginia Del. Dan Helmer and former federal prosecutor J.P. Cooney, who helped investigate Trump and was fired by him, have launched campaigns in a formerly rural district that would now mostly include voters just outside the nation’s capital. And former Democratic congresswoman Elaine Luria is mounting a comeback against Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans, who ousted her in 2022, in a competitive district that the map has made slightly more favorable to Democrats.

By JOHN WAWROW

MILAN (AP) — Alina Muller instantly understood the significance her bronze medal-clinching overtime goal in a 2-1 win over Sweden meant not only to girls back home in Switzerland, but in the bigger picture of women’s hockey.

Muller has spent the past 12 years experiencing the ups and downs, fitful starts and stops her sport has endured since first splashing on the Swiss hockey scene as a 15-year-old by scoring her nation’s first bronze-medal clinching goal at the 2014 Sochi Games.

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These Milan Cortina Games, however, were different for Muller and the rest of the competitors. They represent the first Olympics since the Professional Women’s Hockey League was launched in the summer of 2023.

“Just a few years ago there would have been a hundred people in the stands, and now it’s crazy to see,” said Muller, the former college star at Northeastern and now in her third season with the Boston Fleet.

“Every year, it’s getting more exciting. We’re getting more physical, more athletic, faster, faster game,” she added. “And the stadiums are filling up.”

For a sport and league banking on enjoying a post-Olympic boost, the tournament delivered on many fronts.

U.S. captain Hilary Knight is heading home with a gold medal in closing her Olympic career. The tournament featured two thrilling medal finals, both ending in overtime, with the Americans beating Canada 2-1. And the competitive gap the U.S. and Canada have long enjoyed appears to be closing ever so slightly.

“This is just the new normal,” Canada coach Troy Ryan said following the loss Thursday.

“Largely because of the impact of the PWHL, you saw a lot of closer games,” added Ryan, who also coaches the PWHL Toronto Sceptres. “You saw international teams that have PWHL players in it showcase better than they previously did.”

Four years after Czechia broke through by winning its first medal, a bronze, at the world championships, Switzerland and Sweden climbed the ranks by reaching the medal round as the fifth- and sixth-seeded teams.

Just as important were the lack of lopsided scores, which previously raised questions as to whether anyone can catch Canada and the U.S. The most one-sided outcome was the top-seeded Americans’ 6-0 win over host Italy in the quarterfinals.

That’s a large departure from the past when Canada routed the Italian hosts 16-0 at the 2006 Turin Games, followed by Canada’s 18-0 win over Slovakia in 2010. Four years ago in Beijing, five games were decided by seven or more goals, including Canada’s 10-3 win over Switzerland in the semifinals.

In Milan, nine games were decided by one-goal margins, including four of eight in the knockout and medal rounds.

“What the entire world enjoyed in Milan was the highest level of Olympic women’s hockey we’ve ever seen,” PWHL executive vice president of hockey operations and Hockey Hall of Famer Jayna Hefford told The Associated Press. “The speed, the skill, the physicality, it’s all been elevated, and the competitive balance is stronger than ever.”

PWHL hats were notable around Milan, and the league’s Olympic pins so in demand they were traded in to pay for at least one dinner.

And the league’s influence on international competition is only expected to grow with more roster spots opening on the horizon. After adding two franchises last year, the eight-team PWHL is preparing to expand by as many as four more for next season.

The growth is a reflection of the league’s desire to attract even more talent from Europe. And the timing coincides with a deep and talented prospect class eligible for this year’s draft. It’s a group topped by Americans Caroline Harvey, the tournament MVP, Abbey Murphy and Laila Edwards, and also includes Sweden’s Josefin Bouveng, Finland’s Elisa Holopainen and Swiss goalie Andrea Braendli.

“I think it’s a big game changer,” Swedish coach Ulf Lundberg said of the PWHL.

“I’ve been there watching a lot of games and I can see it,” added Lundberg, whose team featured seven U.S. collegiate athletes. “It’s big events for every game and it’s for real, so I think it’s very important for women’s hockey.”

There’s a payoff, too, for PWHL players. They now have a league to return to, with the PWHL schedule resuming next week, rather than spend much of the next four years playing and practicing in relative obscurity as they’ve done in the past.

“I think it’s just the reality that women’s hockey isn’t going to go silent. It’s not going to go dark,” U.S. forward and Minnesota Frost captain Kendall Coyne Schofield said, a day before the gold medal final. “You’ll be able to see every one of these players in tomorrow night’s game a week from now, which is pretty awesome and hasn’t been the case for the existence of women’s hockey and the Olympic games.”

AP Winter Olympic: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI

President Donald Trump has long spread conspiracy theories about voting designed to explain away his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Now that he’s president again, Trump has stocked his administration with those who have promoted his falsehoods and in some cases helped him try to overturn his loss.

Those election conspiracists now holding official power range from the attorney general to lawyers filing lawsuits for the Justice Department. Kurt Olsen, a lawyer who unsuccessfully pushed the Justice Department in 2020 to back the president’s false claims, is now leading a sweeping probe of the vote from that election.

The most dramatic action from that mandate was the seizure in late January of ballots and 2020 election records from Fulton County in Georgia, a Democratic stronghold that includes Atlanta. The county has long been a target of election conspiracy theorists aligned with Trump, and the affidavit for the search warrant shows the action was based on 2020 claims that in many cases had been thoroughly investigated.

Election officials across the country, especially those in states controlled politically by Democrats, are bracing for more turmoil during this year’s elections, when control of Congress is on the line.

“The election denial movement is now embedded across our federal government, which makes it more powerful than ever,” said Joanna Lydgate, chief executive officer of States United Democracy Center, which tracks those who promote election conspiracy theories. “Trump and his allies are trying to use all of the powers of the federal government to undermine elections, with an eye to the upcoming midterms.”

Trump has remade the federal government as an arm of his own personal will, and his attorney general, Pam Bondi — who helped try to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss — has declared that everyone working at the Justice Department needs to carry out the president’s demands. Even with all the issues facing him in his second term, from persistent concerns about the economy to his immigration crackdown, Trump continues to push the false claim that he won the 2020 presidential election.

Some of the people who populate his administration are, like Bondi, longtime supporters who continued to help Trump even as he sought to overturn an election. Some played minor roles in supporting the false claims about the 2020 presidential election. Still others have pushed conspiracy theories, often fantastical or debunked, that have helped persuade millions of Republicans that Trump had the 2020 election stolen from him.

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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Portland, Oregon, company is recalling nearly 3.4 million pounds of frozen chicken fried rice products sold at Trader Joe’s stores and in Canada because they may contain pieces of glass, U.S. Agriculture Department officials reported.

Ajinomoto Foods North America Inc. pulled Trader Joe’s Chicken Fried Rice from stores nationwide. The frozen product — containing fried rice, vegetables, chicken meat and eggs — is sold in 20-ounce plastic bags. The affected packages have best-by dates of Sept. 8 through Nov. 17, 2026. The products are stamped with the establishment number P-18356 inside the USDA mark of inspection.

The company also recalled cardboard packages containing six bags of frozen Ajinomoto Yakitori Chicken with Japanese-Style Rice with best by dates of Sept. 9 to Nov. 12, 2026. Those products were sold only in Canada.

The problem was detected after four consumers complained of finding glass. No injuries have been reported. Consumers should avoid eating the product and throw it away or return it to the store where it was purchased.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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