By ADRIAN SAINZ

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Three former Memphis were acquitted Wednesday of state charges, including second-degree murder, in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols after he ran away from a traffic stop in 2023.

A jury took about 8 1/2 hours over two days to find Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith not guilty on all charges after a nine-day trial in state court in Memphis.

The three defendants still face the prospect of years in prison after they were convicted of federal charges last year.

Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, fled a traffic stop after he was yanked out of his car, pepper-sprayed and hit with a Taser. Five officers who are also Black caught up with him and punched, kicked and hit Nichols with a police baton, struggling to handcuff him as he called out for his mother just steps from his home. Nichols died Jan. 10, 2023, three days after the beating.

Former Memphis officer Desmond Mills Jr., who was also charged in Nichols’ death, testified as a prosecution witness.

Mills and another officer involved in the beating, Emmitt Martin, have agreed to plead guilty to the state charges and are not standing trial under deals with prosecutors. They also pleaded guilty in federal court, where sentencing for all five officers is pending.

The officers had been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Jurors deliberated for a second day on Wednesday in the trial of three former Memphis police officers charged with murder in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols.

The 12-person jury began deliberating Tuesday in the trial of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who have pleaded not guilty to state charges including second-degree murder. They already face the possibility of years in prison after they were convicted of federal charges last year.

Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, fled a Jan. 7, 2023, traffic stop after he was yanked out of his car, pepper-sprayed and hit with a Taser. Five officers who are also Black caught up with him and punched, kicked and hit Nichols with a police baton, struggling to handcuff him as he called out for his mother near his home.

Footage of the beating captured by a police pole camera also showed the officers milling about, talking and laughing as Nichols struggled. His death led to nationwide protests, calls for police reforms in the U.S., and intense scrutiny of police in Memphis, a majority-Black city.

The jury for the state trial was chosen in Hamilton County, which includes Chattanooga, after Judge James Jones Jr. ordered the case be heard from people outside of Shelby County, which includes Memphis. Defense lawyers for the officers had argued that intense publicity made seating a fair jury difficult.

The officers are charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. Jurors can also decide to convict on lesser charges.

Demetrius Haley, left, Tadarrius Bean, and Justin Smith, Jr., rear, three former Memphis Police Department officers charged with fatally beating Tyre Nichols in 2023, sit in the courtroom during their trial, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, Pool)

Prosecutors have argued that the officers used excessive force in trying to handcuff Nichols and were criminally responsible for each others’ actions. The officers also had a duty to intervene and stop the beating and tell medical personnel that Nichols had been struck in the head, but they failed to do so, prosecutors said.

Former Memphis officers Desmond Mills Jr. and Emmitt Martin also were charged in the case. They have agreed to plead guilty to the state charges and are not standing trial. They already pleaded guilty in federal court, where sentencing for all five officers is pending.

During the trial, defense attorneys refuted accusations that the officers used unnecessary force to subdue Nichols. They argued that Nichols was actively resisting arrest by running away and failing to give his hands to officers so that he could be handcuffed. They also say their use of force complied with police department policies.

Mills testified that he regrets his failure to stop the beating, which led to Nichols’ death three days later from blunt-force trauma. Dr. Marco Ross, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy, testified that Nichols suffered tears and bleeding in the brain.

Defense attorneys have said the officer who acted with the most violence was Martin, who kicked and punched Nichols several times in the head but is not standing trial.

Mills said Nichols was actively resisting arrest and not complying with orders to present his hands to be cuffed. But Mills also admitted Nichols never punched or kicked any officers.

The five officers were part of a crime suppression team called the Scorpion Unit that was disbanded after Nichols’ death. The team targeted drugs, illegal guns and violent offenders to amass arrests, while sometimes using force against unarmed people

The trial comes months after the U.S. Justice Department said in December that a 17-month investigation found that the Memphis Police Department uses excessive force and discriminates against Black people.

By GARY D. ROBERTSON

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Republican challenger for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat conceded last November’s election on Wednesday to Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs, two days after a federal judge ruled that potentially thousands of disputed ballots challenged by Jefferson Griffin must remain in the final tally.

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In a statement provided by his campaign to The Associated Press, Griffin said he would not appeal Monday’s decision by U.S. District Judge Richard Myers, who also ordered that the State Board of Elections certify results that show Riggs is the winner by 734 votes from over 5.5 million ballots cast in the race.

Griffin’s decision sets the stage for Riggs to be officially elected to an eight-year term as an associate justice.

“While I do not fully agree with the District Court’s analysis, I respect the court’s holding — just as I have respected every judicial tribunal that has heard this case,” Griffin said. “I will not appeal the court’s decision.”

Myers delayed carrying out his order for seven days in case Griffin wanted to ask the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review his decision. Democrats, meanwhile, had called on Griffin to accept defeat.

Riggs is one of two Democrats on the seven-member state Supreme Court, and winning improved the party’s efforts to retake a court majority later in the decade. Griffin is a state Court of Appeals judge whose term ends in 2028.

“I wish my opponent the best and will continue to pray for her and all the members of our court system here in North Carolina. I look forward to continuing to serve the people of North Carolina,” Griffin said.

While the Associated Press declared over 4,800 winners in the 2024 general election, the North Carolina Supreme Court election was the last race nationally that was undecided.

Riggs said in a news release Wednesday that she was “glad the will of the voters was finally heard.”

“It’s been my honor to lead this fight — even though it should never have happened — and I’m in awe of the North Carolinians whose courage reminds us all that we can use our voices to hold accountable any politician who seeks to take power out of the hands of the people,” she said.

Myers ruled that Griffin’s efforts after the Nov. 5 election to remove from the election total ballots that state appeals courts agreed were ineligible under state law would have damaged federal due process or equal protection rights of affected voters had they been implemented.

A protester listens to speeches during a rally for Democratic Associate Justice Allison Riggs in Raleigh, N.C., on Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Makiya Seminera)

Griffin filed formal protests that initially appeared to cover more than 65,000 ballots. Ensuing state court rulings whittled the total to votes from two categories, covering from as few as 1,675 ballots to as many as 7,000, according to court filings. Griffin hoped that removing ballots he said were unlawfully cast would flip the outcome to him.

Democrats and voting rights groups had raised alarm about Griffin’s efforts, which in one category of ballots had only targeted six Democratic-leaning counties. They called it an attack on democracy that would serve as a road map for the GOP to reverse election results in other states. Griffin said Wednesday that his legal efforts were always “about upholding the rule of law and making sure that every legal vote in an election is counted.”

Most of the ballots that state appeals courts found ineligible came from military or overseas voters who didn’t provide copies of photo identification or an ID exception form with their absentee ballots. The appeals courts had permitted a 30-day “cure” process for those voters so their ballots could still count if they provided ID information.

Myers, who was nominated to the bench by President Donald Trump, agreed with Riggs and her allied litigants that the “retroactive invalidation” of those ballots violated the rights of service members, missionaries, or others working or studying abroad who cast their ballots under the rules for the 2024 election.

“You establish the rules before the game. You don’t change them after the game is done,” Myers wrote in his order.

The other category of ballots was cast by overseas voters who have never lived in the U.S. but whose parents were declared North Carolina residents. A state law had authorized those people to vote in state elections, but state appeals courts said it violated the state Constitution. Myers wrote that there was no process for people mistakenly on the list to contest their ineligibility, representing “an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote.”

Griffin said Wednesday the rulings of state appeals judges still recognized that the state election board failed to follow laws and the state constitution.

“These holdings are very significant for securing our state’s elections,” he said.

By JOSH FUNK

The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that it plans to upgrade the technology used to get radar data to air traffic controllers directing planes to the troubled Newark, New Jersey, airport, and improve staffing to alleviate problems that have caused hundreds of flights to be canceled there.

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At the same time, the agency plans pursue a broader multibillion-dollar plan that will be announced Thursday for long-overdue upgrades to the nation’s air traffic control system.

A January midair collision between a passenger jet and Army helicopter over Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people, followed by a string of other crashes and mishaps, raised alarms about aviation safety and prompted officials to reexamine the system.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says flying remains the safest way to travel because of existing precautions, but the problems in Newark demonstrate the desperate need for upgrades.

“We are on it. We are going to fix it. We are going to build a brand new system for all of you and your families and the American people,” Duffy said.

The radar system air traffic controllers in Philadelphia use to direct planes in and out of the Newark airport went offline for at least 30 seconds on April 28. That facility relies on radar data sent over lines from New York that may have failed. Some of those lines are old copper phone lines instead of much more reliable fiber optic lines that can handle more data. The reason the FAA is relying on those lines is because the agency moved the Newark controllers out of the New York facility to Philadelphia last summer to address staffing issues.

The FAA says it plans to replace any old copper wires with fiber optics and add three new data lines between its New York facility and Philadelphia. The agency is also working to get additional controllers trained and certified.

It wasn’t immediately clear how quickly either of those steps will be completed, but Duffy has said he hopes the situation in Newark will improve by summer. Several controllers remain on extended trauma leave after the radar outage.

In the meantime, the FAA has slowed traffic in and out of Newark to ensure flights can be handled safely, leading to cancellations. On Wednesday, Newark led the nation in cancellations with 41 canceled departures and 43 canceled arrivals, according to FlightAware.com. That’s even after United Airlines cut 35 flights a day from its schedule at the airport starting last weekend.

“We’ve slowed down the traffic. Safety is our mission. We love efficiency, but safety is critical for us. And so, if we feel like there’s issues in the airspace, we’ll slow it down,” Duffy said. “We’re looking at bringing in all of the airlines that serve Newark and having all of them with all of us have a conversation about how do we manage the flights out of Newark.”

By CAITLYN DAPROZA of Rochester Institute of Technology and PATRICK WHITTLE of The Associated Press

SKANEATELES, N.Y. (AP) — Farmer Jeremy Brown taps the nose of a young calf. “I love the ones with the pink noses,” he says.

This pink-nosed animal is just one of about 3,200 cattle at Twin Birch Dairy in Skaneateles, New York. In Brown’s eyes, the cows on the farm aren’t just workers: “They’re the boss, they’re the queen of the barn.”

Brown, a co-owner at Twin Birch, is outspoken on the importance of sustainability in his operation. The average dairy cow emits as much as 265 pounds (120 kilograms) of methane, a potent climate-warming gas, each year. Brown says Twin Birch has worked hard to cut its planet-warming emissions through a number of environmentally sound choices.

“Ruminants are the solution, not the problem, to climate change,” he said.

Wearing a weathered hoodie and a hat promoting a brand of cow medicine, Brown was spending a windy Friday morning artificially inseminating some of the farm’s massive Jerseys and Holsteins. He stepped over an electric manure scraper used to clean the animals’ barn.

The electric scraper means the dairy doesn’t have to use a fuel-burning machine for that particular job. Twin Birch also recycles manure for use on crops, cools its milk with water that gets recirculated for cows to drink and grows most of its own feed.

Despite all that, the farm has no desire to pursue a U.S. Department of Agriculture organic certification, Brown said. Doing so would add costs and require the farm to forego technology that makes the dairy business, and ultimately the customer’s jug of milk, more affordable, he said.

He raises a question many farmers have been asking: Is organic farming just a word?

Declining enthusiasm for the organic certification

An increasing number of American farmers think so. America’s certified organic acreage fell almost 11% between 2019 and 2021. Numerous farmers who implement sustainable practices told The Associated Press that they have stayed away from the certification because it’s costly, doesn’t do enough to combat climate change and appears to be losing cachet in the marketplace. Converting an existing farm from conventional to organic agriculture can cost tens of thousands of dollars and add labor costs.

The rules governing the National Organic Program were published in 2000, and in the years after, organic farming boomed to eventually reach more than 5 million acres. But that has been declining in recent years.

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Any downward trend is significant, as organic farms make up less than 1% of the country’s total acreage, and organic sales are typically only a tiny share of the nationwide total.

Shannon Ratcliff, a farmer and co-owner of organically certified Shannon Brook Farms in Watkins Glen, New York, attributes the decline to a 2018 fraud case in Iowa involving a farmer selling grain mislabeled as certified organic. “The whole thing went crazy — work requirements for farmers ramped up and inspection levels were higher,” she said.

It’s also just a tough business, Ratcliff said.

Her co-owner, Walter Adam, also thinks younger generations’ interest in farming of any kind is also declining.

“It takes six months to learn everything,” Adam said. “We can’t find anybody as willing to work on the farm.”

Adam drives to Manhattan each week to sell their meat and eggs at markets, and spends Sunday mornings helping Ratcliff with business at the Brighton Farmers Market in Brighton, New York.

Frank Mitloehner, a professor in animal science in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at University of California Davis, said lack of flexibility and efficiency are driving farmers away from organic in an era of rising prices for farmers. He said organic standards need to be overhauled or the marketplace risks organic going away completely.

“I am in awe that so many organic farmers were able to produce that way for that long,” he said. “It seems that they are losing consumer base in these financially troubling times.”

But the label still matters to some buyers

Still, there are consumers determined to buy organic. Aaron Swindle, a warehouse employee at a chain supermarket, spends every Sunday morning shopping for organic groceries at the Brighton Farmers Market.

“The taste quality is different when it’s growing nearby,” Swindle said. He calls the Finger Lakes of New York a “trifecta,” a region that contributes dairy, produce, and meat for its residents.

John Bolton, owner of Bolton Farms in Hilton, New York, said he has some reservations about organic certification, but he’s pursuing it for his hydroponic farm, which grows produce in nutrient-rich water instead of soil. It produces greens such as kale and chard and is popular as a supplier for restaurants in western New York, and draws waves of regular customers at the Rochester Public Market on weekends.

Bolton doesn’t use pesticides. On a chilly day this spring, he was at his greenhouse unloading 1,500 ladybugs to do the work of eliminating the operation’s aphids. That’s the kind of practice organic farms use to earn the certification, he said.

He said his operations aren’t immune to the dangers posed by climate change. Abnormally hot days affect their greenhouse, he said: “It’s devastating to not only the people but the plants.”

But Bolton described the organic certification as economically and environmentally beneficial to his farm. Getting the certification will carry an expense, but he is confident it will be worth the price.

“It helps with sales. And you feel good about it – you’re doing the right practices,” Bolton said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is a collaboration between Rochester Institute of Technology and The Associated Press.

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