By TODD RICHMOND

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge charged with helping a man who is in the country illegally evade U.S. immigration agents who were trying to detain him at her courthouse filed a motion to dismiss the case Wednesday, arguing that there’s no legal basis for it.

Related Articles

Trump surgeon general pick praised unproven psychedelic therapy, said mushrooms helped her find love

Maryland loses triple-A bond rating from Moody’s rating agency

Hotline between military and air traffic controllers in Washington hasn’t worked for over 3 years

Trump marvels at wealth of his Arab hosts while he eyes White House and Air Force One upgrades

Democrats are deeply pessimistic about the future of their party, poll finds

Attorneys for Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan argue in their motion that her conduct on the day in question amounted to directing people’s movement in and around her courtroom, and that she enjoys legal immunity for official acts she performs as a judge. They cite last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in President Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case that found that former presidents have absolute immunity from prosecution for official acts that fall within their “exclusive sphere of constitutional authority” and are presumptively entitled to immunity for all official acts.

“The problems with the prosecution are legion, but most immediately, the government cannot prosecute Judge Dugan because she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts,” the motion says. “Immunity is not a defense to the prosecution to be determined later by a jury or court; it is an absolute bar to the prosecution at the outset.”

The judge overseeing her case is Lynn Adelman, a former Democratic state senator. Former President Bill Clinton appointed him to the bench in 1997.

A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Milwaukee didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Federal prosecutors charged Dugan in April with obstruction and concealing an individual to prevent arrest. A grand jury indicted her on the same charges on Tuesday. She faces up to six years in prison if convicted of both counts.

Her attorneys insist Dugan is innocent. She’s expected to enter a not guilty plea at her arraignment Thursday.

Dugan’s arrest has escalated a clash between the Trump administration and Democrats over the Republican president’s sweeping immigration crackdown. Democrats contend that Dugan’s arrest went too far and that the administration is trying to make an example out of her to discourage judicial opposition to the crackdown.

Dugan’s case is similar to one brought during the first Trump administration against a Massachusetts judge, who was accused of helping a man sneak out a courthouse back door to evade a waiting immigration enforcement agent. That case was eventually dismissed.

According to prosecutors, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz illegally reentered the U.S. after being deported in 2013. He was charged in March with misdemeanor domestic violence in Milwaukee County and was in Dugan’s courtroom for a hearing in that case on April 18.

Dugan’s clerk alerted her that immigration agents were in the courthouse looking to arrest Flores-Ruiz, prosecutors allege in court documents. According to an affidavit, Dugan became visibly angry at the agents’ arrival and called the situation “absurd.” After discussing the warrant for Flores-Ruiz’s arrest with the agents, Dugan demanded that they speak with the chief judge and led them away from the courtroom.

She then returned to the courtroom, was heard saying something to the effect of “wait, come with me,” and then showed Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out a back door, the affidavit says. The immigration agents eventually detained Flores-Ruiz outside the building following a foot chase.

Dugan’s dismissal motion also accuses the federal government of violating Wisconsin’s sovereignty by disrupting a state courtroom and prosecuting a state judge.

“The government’s prosecution here reaches directly into a state courthouse, disrupting active proceedings, and interferes with the official duties of an elected judge,” the motion states.

The state Supreme Court suspended Dugan from the bench last month, saying the move was necessary to preserve public confidence in the judiciary. A reserve judge is filling in for her.

By BRIAN WITTE

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland lost its triple-A bond rating from Moody’s on Wednesday, a rating the state has cited for more than 50 years as a sign of strong fiscal stewardship.

Related Articles

Hotline between military and air traffic controllers in Washington hasn’t worked for over 3 years

Trump marvels at wealth of his Arab hosts while he eyes White House and Air Force One upgrades

Democrats are deeply pessimistic about the future of their party, poll finds

A pregnant Cuban emigre worries about her baby’s citizenship as Supreme Court weighs a Trump order

Democratic congressman pushes articles of impeachment against Trump, but colleagues criticize it

Moody’s downgraded the state’s credit rating to Aa1. Maryland had received a triple-A bond rating from Moody’s since 1973. The state has benefitted from the higher rating by paying the lowest rates when it sells bonds to pay for infrastructure, likes roads and schools.

“The downgrade was driven by economic and financial underperformance compared to Aaa-rated states, which is expected to continue given the state’s heightened vulnerability to shifting federal policies and employment, and its elevated fixed costs,” Moody’s said.

Gov. Wes Moore and other leading Maryland Democrats blamed President Donald Trump’s mass layoffs of federal workers, which is having a big impact on the region. The District of Columbia also recently received a credit-rating downgrade.

“To put it bluntly, this is a Trump downgrade,” Moore said in statement made jointly by the presiding officers of the state’s legislature, Comptroller Brooke Lierman and Treasurer Dereck Davis, who are all Democrats. “Over the last one hundred days, the federal administration’s decisions have wreaked havoc on the entire region, including Maryland.”

Maryland Republicans described the downgrade as “a harsh indictment of the state’s current direction under Governor Wes Moore.”

“Donald Trump didn’t downgrade Maryland’s bond rating — Annapolis Democrats did. And now they’re scrambling for someone else to blame,” Republican Sen. Steve Hershey, the Senate minority leader, said in a statement. “This is the result of reckless spending, bloated budgets, and an economy that’s been hollowed out by overregulation and overreliance on the federal government.”

Moody’s had noted earlier this year that federal cuts pose a greater threat to Maryland than any other state.

Maryland lawmakers recently concluded a challenging legislative session to balance the state’s budget. They closed a $3.3 billion budget deficit for the next fiscal year with a combination of tax increases, budget cuts and fund transfers.

Maryland lawmakers also directed the governor’s budget office to keep track of the impact of federal cuts, alert them if it reaches $1 billion and make recommendations on how to deal with the impact.

The Democrats’ statement noted that Moody’s acknowledged that the state had closed its budget gap, even as it remains exposed to the economic consequences of federal funding cuts and layoffs.

“Maryland still holds one of the highest possible credit ratings in the nation,” the joint statement said, “and as we have for decades, we will always pay our debts.”

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A former food delivery driver pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to steal more than $2.5 million from DoorDash by getting the company to pay for deliveries that never occurred, federal prosecutors said.

Sayee Chaitanya Reddy Devagiri pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in San Jose to a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Devagiri, 30, of Newport Beach, California, admitted to working with three others in 2020 and 2021 to defraud the San Francisco-based delivery company, federal prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Devagiri used customer accounts to place high-value orders and then used an employee’s credential to gain access to DoorDash software and manually reassign the orders to driver accounts that he and others controlled. He then caused the fraudulent driver accounts to report that the orders had been delivered when they had not, and manipulated DoorDash’s computer systems to pay the fraudulent driver accounts for the nonexistent deliveries, officials said.

Devagiri would then use DoorDash software to change the orders from “delivered” status to “in process” status and manually reassign the orders to driver accounts he and others controlled, beginning the process again, prosecutors said.

Devagiri is the third defendant to be convicted of his role in this conspiracy. Two co-defendants previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, authorities said.

Devagiri faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. He is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 16, 2025.

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

More than 1,000 Starbucks baristas at 75 U.S. stores have gone on strike since Sunday to protest a new company dress code, a union representing the coffee giant’s workers said Wednesday.

Related Articles

Ford recalls nearly 274,000 Navigator and Expedition SUVs due to risk of loss of brake function

Chinese businesses view tariff pause with caution and uncertainty

Sony racks up record profit on robust performance for music, movies and games

American Eagle tumbles after pulling financial guidance for 2025

Trump administration rescinds curbs on AI chip exports to foreign markets

Starbucks put new limits starting Monday on what its baristas can wear under their green aprons. The dress code requires employees at company-operated and licensed stores in the U.S. and Canada to wear a solid black shirt and khaki, black or blue denim bottoms.

Under the previous dress code, baristas could wear a broader range of dark colors and patterned shirts. Starbucks said the new rules would make its green aprons stand out and create a sense of familiarity for customers as it tries to establish a warmer, more welcoming feeling in its stores.

But Starbucks Workers United, the union that represents workers at 570 of Starbucks’ 10,000 company-owned U.S. stores, said the dress code should be subject to collective bargaining.

“Starbucks has lost its way. Instead of listening to baristas who make the Starbucks experience what it is, they are focused on all the wrong things, like implementing a restrictive new dress code,” said Paige Summers, a Starbucks shift supervisor from Hanover, Maryland. “Customers don’t care what color our clothes are when they’re waiting 30 minutes for a latte.”

Summers and others also criticized the company for selling styles of Starbucks-branded clothing that employees no longer are allowed to wear to work on an internal website. Starbucks said it would give two free black T-shirts to each employee when it announced the new dress code.

Starbucks said Wednesday that the strike was having a limited impact on its 10,000 company-operated U.S. stores.

“Thousands of Starbucks partners came to work this week ready to serve their customers and communities,” the company said in a statement. “It would be more productive if the union would put the same effort into coming back to the table to finalize a reasonable contract.”

Starbucks Workers United has been unionizing U.S. stores since 2021. Starbucks and the union have yet to reach a contract agreement, despite agreeing to return to the bargaining table in February 2024.

The union said this week that it filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board alleging Starbucks’ failure to bargain over the new dress code.