WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is voting Monday on whether to confirm former wrestling executive Linda McMahon as the nation’s education chief, a role that would place her atop a department that President Donald Trump has vilified and vowed to dismantle.

McMahon would face the competing tasks of winding down the Education Department while also escalating efforts to achieve Trump’s agenda. Already the Republican president has signed sweeping orders to rid America’s schools of diversity programs and accommodations for transgender students while also calling for expanded school choice programs.

At the same time, Trump has promised to shut down the department and said he wants McMahon “to put herself out of a job.”

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A billionaire and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, McMahon, 76, is an unconventional pick for the role. She spent a year on Connecticut’s state board of education and is a longtime trustee at Sacred Heart University but otherwise has little traditional education leadership.

McMahon’s supporters see her as a skilled executive who will reform a department that Republicans say has failed to improve American education. Opponents say she’s unqualified and fear her budget cuts will be felt by students nationwide.

At her confirmation hearing, McMahon distanced herself from Trump’s blistering rhetoric. She said the goal is to make the Education Department “operate more efficiently,” not to defund programs.

She acknowledged that only Congress has the power to close the department, and she pledged to preserve Title I money for low-income schools, Pell grants for low-income college students, and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Yet she suggested some operations could move to other departments, saying Health and Human Services might be better suited to enforce disability rights laws.

Weeks before McMahon’s confirmation hearing, the White House was considering an executive order that would direct the education secretary to cut the agency as much as legally possible while asking Congress to shut it down completely. Some of McMahon’s allies pressed the White House to hold the order until after her confirmation to avoid potential backlash.

Created by Congress in 1979, the Education Department’s primary role is to disburse money to the nation’s schools and colleges. It sends billions of dollars a year to K-12 school and oversees a $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio.

Trump argues the department has been overtaken by liberals who press their ideology on America’s schools. During his campaign, he vowed to close it and grant its authority to states.

Schools and states already wield significantly greater authority over education than the federal government, which is barred from influencing curriculum. Federal money makes up roughly 14% of public school budgets.

Already, the Trump administration has started overhauling much of the department’s work.

Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has cut dozens of contracts it dismissed as “woke” and wasteful. It gutted the Institute of Education Sciences, which gathers data on the nation’s academic progress, and the administration has fired or suspended scores of employees.

Some of the cuts have halted work that’s ordered under federal law. At her hearing, McMahon said the agency will spend money that’s directed by Congress, and she played down DOGE’s cuts as merely an audit.

McMahon is a longtime Trump ally who left WWE in 2009 to launch a political career, running unsuccessfully twice for the U.S. Senate. She has given millions of dollars to Trump’s campaigns and served as leader of the Small Business Administration during his first term.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis was up and receiving therapy on Monday after apparently overcoming a setback in his recovery from pneumonia. The Vatican said he is stable, off mechanical ventilation and is showing no sign of new infection following a respiratory crisis late last week.

“The pope rested well all night,” the Vatican said in its update from Gemelli hospital, where Francis has been hospitalized since Feb. 14.

On Monday, he had coffee and breakfast and was undergoing therapy.

Catholic faithful attend a nightly rosary prayer for the health of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Sunday, March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)

Earlier, doctors reported the 88-year-old pope spent all day Sunday without using the noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask that pumps oxygen into his lungs that he had to use following the coughing episode and crisis on Friday. Francis did continue to receive high flow supplemental oxygen through a nasal tube.

The respiratory crisis sparked fears of a new lung infection because Francis inhaled some vomit. Doctors aspirated it and said they needed 24 to 48 hours to determine if any new infection took hold.

On Sunday evening, they said Francis remained stable, with no fever or signs of an infection, indicating he had overcome the crisis. His prognosis remained guarded, however, meaning he wasn’t out of danger.

Francis on Sunday also received a visit from the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and his chief of staff, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra. The content of their talks wasn’t known, but even when at the Vatican, Francis meets at least weekly with them.

He again skipped his weekly noon blessing to avoid even a brief public appearance from the hospital. Instead, the Vatican distributed a message written by the pope from the 10th floor in which he thanked his doctors for their care and well-wishers for their prayers, and prayed again for peace in Ukraine and elsewhere.

“From here, war appears even more absurd,” Francis said in the message, which he drafted in recent days. Francis said he was living his hospitalization as an experience of profound solidarity with people who are sick and suffering everywhere.

“I feel in my heart the ‘blessing’ that is hidden within frailty, because it is precisely in these moments that we learn even more to trust in the Lord,” Francis said in the text. “At the same time, I thank God for giving me the opportunity to share in body and spirit the condition of so many sick and suffering people.”

The Argentine pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli on Feb. 14 after his bronchitis worsened and turned into a complex pneumonia in both lungs.

On Sunday night at the Vatican, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski presided over the evening Rosary prayer in St. Peter’s Square.

“Let us pray together with the entire church for the health of the Holy Father Francis,” said Krajewski, who is the pope’s personal Almoner, a centuries-old job of handing out alms. Francis has elevated the job to make it an extension of his own personal charity.

The American Cardinal Robert Prevost, who heads the Vatican’s powerful office for bishops, was celebrating Monday night’s prayer.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

By MEG KINNARD, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday night will deliver the first joint congressional address of his second presidency.

It’s not officially called the State of the Union, a title reserved for a president’s annual address to Congress during other years of an administration. But it is an opportunity for Trump to lay out his priorities for the year.

Here’s information on how to tune in to Trump’s joint address on Tuesday:

What time is the joint address?

Trump’s remarks to Congress are slated to begin Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET.

What channel will carry the address?

A number of networks have said they plan to air the Republican president’s address across their broadcast and streaming platforms, with special programming before and afterward.

Where does the address happen?

Trump’s speech will take place in the U.S. House chamber. Larger than the Senate chamber, it can accommodate both House and Senate lawmakers as well as other officials who are typically invited to such events.

Who else will be there?

Members of the U.S. Supreme Court and Trump’s Cabinet will attend.

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There’s always one Cabinet member missing, though. Called the “designated survivor,” that person — who by position is in the presidential line of succession — is intentionally left out of such events to ensure that someone could assume the office of the president in case of a catastrophic or mass-casualty event.

The president typically invites guests who join the event from the balcony above the House floor and are seated with the first lady. Sometimes, there are personal connections, and other times the guests have an association with an issue the president intends to highlight in his remarks.

In his first joint address after taking office in 2017, Trump invited the widow of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, as well as the widows of two California police officers killed by a man living in the country illegally.

What happens afterward?

As there is a post-State of the Union address, the opposing party — in this case, the Democrats — will offer a message in response to the joint congressional address.

This year, Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who previously served in the House, will give the Democrats’ response, which is also televised. Democratic leaders have said that in her message, Slotkin will likely focus on economic issues.

The party has also tapped Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York, chair of the Hispanic Caucus, to give a Spanish-language response. On Saturday, Trump signed an executive order designating English as the official language of the United States, a measure that allows government agencies and organizations that receive federal funding to choose whether to continue to offer documents and services in languages other than English.

Why isn’t this called the State of the Union?

By tradition, a State of the Union address is intended as a look back on the prior year. Trump just took office — albeit for a second time — on Jan. 20, so he’s only been in office this go-round for just over a month.

Instead, newly inaugurated presidents typically use their first joint congressional addresses to look forward, setting a tone for their legislative agenda. According to the Congressional Research Service, the average number of policy requests in a first-year address is 42.

Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, Associated Press Business Writer

Kroger Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen has resigned after an internal investigation into his personal conduct.

Kroger, the nation’s largest grocery chain, said Monday that the investigation into McMullen’s personal conduct was unrelated to the business, but was found to be inconsistent with its business ethics policy.

Board member Ronald Sargent will serve as chairman and interim CEO, effective immediately.

Sargent has been on Kroger’s board since 2006 and has served as the lead director of the company since 2017. He’s worked in several roles at the grocery chain across stores, sales, marketing, manufacturing and strategy. Sargent is also the former Chairman and CEO of Staples.

McMullen, 64, began his career with Kroger in 1978 as a part-time stock clerk and bagger at a store in Lexington, Kentucky. He worked his way up through the company, becoming chief financial officer in 1995 and chief operating officer in 2009. McMullen was named Kroger’s CEO in 2014 and became the company’s chairman the following year.

Kroger said its board was made aware of the situation on Feb. 21 and immediately hired an outside independent counsel to conduct an investigation, overseen by a special board committee.

The company said that McMullen’s conduct is not related to its financial performance, operations or reporting, and did not involve any Kroger associates.

Kroger will conduct a search for its next CEO, with Sargent agreeing to remain as interim CEO until someone is appointed to the role permanently.

Shares of Kroger, based in Cincinnati, fell about 1.3% before the opening bell.