By JONATHAN J. COOPER

SUN CITY, Ariz. (AP) — Susan Hemphill said she’s always been frugal with her spending. But the recent volatility in the stock market caused by President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs and an escalating trade war with China have made her even more cautious.

These days, Hemphill is staying closer to home in Sun City, Arizona, a 55-and-older community near Phoenix. No more day trips to Sedona, the retired union organizer said, fighting tears as she wondered aloud whether she could run out of money.

“I’m so tired of Trump playing with our lives,” said Hemphill, who voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in November. “I’m too old for this. I just really want to be retired. I want to enjoy — I don’t want to worry.”

Trump was elected with a promise to improve the economy, lower taxes and control inflation, addressing voters who said overwhelmingly that the economy was the top issue facing the country. But for retirees like Hemphill, the Republican president’s economic stewardship has been defined by the roller coaster of the stock market and fears his tariffs will lead to higher inflation.

“Some are considering curtailing their spending, such as saving their tax refunds instead of spending them, while others are adjusting their investment strategies by moving money into more conservative allocations like bonds and gold,” said Prudence Zhu, a Phoenix-area financial adviser, in an email. “While this is often an emotional response, it’s not necessarily the optimal strategy in most cases.”

How all of those issues shake out could have a notable impact on the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election, as the center of political gravity shifts increasingly toward battleground states in the South and the West, places like Arizona that are popular with retirees.

Like other emerging political battlegrounds Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina, Arizona’s population has exploded over the past half-century, welcoming newcomers who have transformed its politics.

Though Arizona has moved from reliably Republican to a battleground, Trump enjoys overwhelming support in Sun City, where Hemphill is among the 40,000 residents in a community that sprouted from the desert in the 1960s. Trump won every precinct in Sun City, most of them by double digits.

Trump supporters like Paul Estok said they’re confident that the president has a handle on the situation and that things will stabilize with time.

“I’m real happy about what’s going on,” said Estok, who gets three pensions from the various government agencies where he worked as a union stationary engineer in the Chicago area. He’s confident the pensions are secure.

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The tariffs Trump announced on much of the world sparked turmoil in the stock market earlier this month, before the president abruptly hit pause on most of them. But the drama isn’t over. Trump said the 90-day pause would be used to negotiate over tariffs with other countries, but he increased the tax rate on Chinese imports to 145%.

Estok said he’s thrilled to see a president tough enough to impose tariffs despite the economic consequences. Echoing Trump, he said other countries “have been taking so much advantage of us.”

“No one’s ever stepped up and said, ‘Hey, enough’s enough,’” Estok said, climbing into his truck after stopping at a grocery store on his way home from the golf course.

Don Welling, an 82-year-old Trump voter, said those alarmed by the tariffs are misguided. He didn’t enjoy seeing his portfolio take a dip, but he wasn’t worried.

“If people would pay attention to what he said when he was campaigning, things would be better,” Welling said as he loaded groceries into his golf cart.

Some retirees said they’re worried about the effect Trump’s federal cost-cutting is having on Social Security. While Trump insists he will not cut benefits, his administration has eliminated thousands of jobs at the Social Security Administration, leading to complaints about long call wait times.

Karl Feiste winced to see his investments fall 20% in the days after Trump announced his tariffs, but he said, so far, his losses are only on paper.

“If that turns around, then I can still continue to do what I’ve been doing,” said Feiste, a Vietnam War veteran who voted for Harris. “But I’m not planning on buying a car. I’m not planning on moving. I’m not planning on taking extravagant vacations. I’m wondering what’s going to happen to the market because that basically dictates what leisure money I have.”

He worries his Social Security checks, which make up half his income, could eventually fall victim to Trump’s aggressive government cost-cutting.

“That smarts,” Feiste said. “Because I can’t live if he takes my Social Security.”

Trump carried Arizona voters who were age 65 or older, winning 52% of this group compared with Harris’ 47%, broadly in line with his national margin among seniors, according to AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of voters and nonvoters that aims to tell the story behind election results.

Older Arizona voters were less likely than voters overall to consider “the economy and jobs” the most important issue facing the country, and they were more likely to consider immigration the top problem. About 3 in 10 seniors said the economy was the biggest problem, compared with about 4 in 10 Arizona voters overall.

Hans Vinge, 62, took a prime golf cart parking spot during a grocery store run one recent morning. A former Republican disillusioned by the party’s ideological shift under Trump, he thinks the president is doing too much, too fast, with unrealistic expectations for what his tariffs can accomplish.

“We’re not ready right now. These companies aren’t going to come from offshore into America,” Vinge said. “It’s going to take 10, 15 years to get these companies in to Americanize everything, which is great. But it’s just it’s too disruptive right now.”

Vinge, who is retired from the Air Force and splits his time between North Dakota and Arizona, said it’s too stressful to follow the news day to day, but it’s hard to avoid. When he last peeked at the balance of his retirement account, it had fallen $23,000 in one week, he said.

“It’s disappointing to see something that’s been doing well for you,” Vinge said. “I wish I would’ve invested more in gold.”

Associated Press writer Linley Sanders in Washington contributed.

By BRIAN MELLEY, JILL LAWLESS and SYLVIA HUI

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a woman is someone born biologically female, excluding transgender people from the legal definition in a long-running dispute between a feminist group and the Scottish government.

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The court said the unanimous ruling shouldn’t be seen as victory by one side, but several women’s groups that supported the appeal celebrated outside court and hailed it as a major win in their effort to protect spaces designated for women.

“Everyone knows what sex is and you can’t change it,” said Susan Smith, co-director of For Women Scotland, which brought the case. “It’s common sense, basic common sense, and the fact that we have been down a rabbit hole where people have tried to deny science and to deny reality, and hopefully this will now see us back to reality.”

A unanimous decision

Five judges ruled that the U.K. Equality Act means trans women can be excluded from some groups and single-sex spaces such as changing rooms, homeless shelters, swimming areas and medical or counseling services provided only to women.

The court said the ruling did not remove rights for trans people still protected from discrimination under U.K. law. But it said certain protections should apply only to biological females and not transgender women.

The ruling brings some clarity in the U.K. to an issue that has polarized politics in some other countries, particularly the United States. Republican-controlled states over the last four years have been banning gender-affirming care for minors, barring transgender women and girls from sports competitions that align with their gender and restricting which public bathrooms transgender people can use.

Since returning to office in January, President Donald Trump has signed orders to define the sexes as only male and female and has tried to kick transgender service members out of the military, block federal spending on gender-affirming care for those under 19 and block their sports participation nationally. His efforts are being challenged in court.

The U.K. case stems from a 2018 law passed by the Scottish Parliament saying 50% of the membership of the boards of Scottish public bodies should be women. Transgender women with gender recognition certificates were to be included in meeting the quota.

“Interpreting ‘sex’ as certificated sex would cut across the definitions of ‘man’ and ‘woman’ … and, thus, the protected characteristic of sex in an incoherent way,” Justice Patrick Hodge said in summarizing the case. “It would create heterogeneous groupings.”

Trans rights advocates condemn the judgment

The campaign group Scottish Trans said it was “shocked and disappointed” by the ruling, saying it would undermine legal protections for transgender people enshrined in the 2004 Gender Recognition Act.

Maggie Chapman, a Green Party lawmaker in the Scottish Parliament, said the ruling was “deeply concerning” for human rights and “a huge blow to some of the most marginalized people in our society.”

“Trans people have been cynically targeted and demonized by politicians and large parts of the media for far too long,” she said. “This has contributed to attacks on longstanding rights and attempts to erase their existence altogether.”

Groups that had challenged the Scottish government uncorked a bottle of champagne outside the court and sang, “Women’s rights are human rights.”

“The court has given us the right answer: the protected characteristic of sex — male and female — refers to reality, not to paperwork,” said Maya Forstater of the group Sex Matters. In 2022, an employment tribunal ruled that she had been the victim of discrimination when she lost out on a job after posting gender-critical views online.

The British government welcomed the latest ruling, saying it would provide clarity and confidence for women.

“Single-sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this government,” it said.

Scotland’s semi-autonomous government said it accepted the judgment.

“We will now engage on the implications of the ruling,” First Minister John Swinney posted on X. “Protecting the rights of all will underpin our actions.”

‘One’s bodily reality’

For Women Scotland had argued that the Scottish officials’ redefinition of woman went beyond Parliament’s powers. But Scottish officials then issued new guidance stating that the definition of woman included someone with a gender recognition certificate.

FWS sought to overturn that.

“Not tying the definition of sex to its ordinary meaning means that public boards could conceivably comprise of 50% men and 50% men with certificates, yet still lawfully meet the targets for female representation,” the group’s director Trina Budge said previously.

The challenge was rejected by a court in 2022, but the group was granted permission last year to take its case to the Supreme Court.

Aidan O’Neill, a lawyer for FWS, told the Supreme Court judges — three men and two women — that under the Equality Act “sex” should refer to biological sex as understood “in ordinary, everyday language.”

“Our position is your sex, whether you are a man or a woman or a girl or a boy, is determined from conception in utero, even before one’s birth, by one’s body,” he said. “It is an expression of one’s bodily reality. It is an immutable biological state.”

Harry Potter author backed challenge

The women’s rights group counted among its supporters author J.K. Rowling, who reportedly donated tens of thousands of pounds to back its work. The “Harry Potter” writer has been vocal in arguing that the rights for trans women should not come at the expense of those who are born biologically female.

Rowling said she was “so proud” of the “extraordinary, tenacious” For Women Scotland campaigners who took the case on a years-long battle through the courts.

Rowling wrote on X that “in winning, they’ve protected the rights of women and girls across the U.K.”

Opponents, including Amnesty International, said excluding transgender people from sex discrimination protections conflicted with human rights laws.

Amnesty submitted a brief in court saying it was concerned about the deterioration of the rights for trans people in the U.K. and abroad.

“A blanket policy of barring trans women from single-sex services is not a proportionate means to achieve a legitimate aim,” the human rights group said.

Associated Press writers Kwiyeon Ha in London and Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this story.

A western lowland gorilla ‘Nyati’ born at Como Zoo in October 2017 has died, according to zoo officials.

Nyati was euthanized on Tuesday following what zoo officials say was “a significant decline in her quality of life due to long-term neurological complications.”

The gorilla’s medical issues started in 2020 with a diagnosis of Baylisascaris procyonis — a parasitic infection likely contracted at a young age. It was successfully treated but the parasite caused permanent brain lesions leading to gradual degeneration that affected her coordination, mobility, and motor skills.

For the last five years, veterinary and animal care staff at the zoo provided the gorilla with support such as medications, physical therapy, environmental modifications, and consultations with specialists.

“Nyati was deeply loved, not just by her care team, but by everyone who came to know her,” said Wes Sims, director of Animal Care and Health at Como Zoo, in a statement. “Her life was shaped by medical challenges, but also by resilience, thoughtful care, and compassion. The decision to let her go was extremely difficult, but it was the most humane option for her.”

Nyati was a member of Como Zoo’s family troop of western lowland gorillas. She was the daughter of Schroeder and Alice, and lived alongside her parents and fellow troop members.

Western lowland gorillas originate in central and western Africa and are critically endangered. In the wild, they face threats such as habitat loss, poaching, and disease outbreaks.

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By BIANCA VÁZQUEZ TONESS, AP Education Writer

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — In a high-stakes standoff, President Donald Trump’s administration says it will freeze $2.2 billion in federal research grants for Harvard University, which is pushing back on demands for changes to campus policy.

The feud between the Republican administration and the nation’s wealthiest college will be closely watched across higher education as the White House uses federal funding as leverage to pursue compliance with its political agenda.

But the impact will be felt most immediately by researchers at the Ivy League school and its partner institutions. While some have cheered Harvard’s stand against demands to crack down on protesters and pursue more viewpoint diversity among faculty, others worry life-saving scientific research will be endangered.

Across the university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, federal money accounted for 10.5% of revenue in 2023, not counting financial aid such as grants and student loans.

What research will be affected?

Harvard has not released a list of affected grants, and it’s possible the university doesn’t yet have a clear idea of what might be frozen.

At other campuses hit with funding freezes, the details of the cuts only became clear over time as work orders were halted. At Brown University, a White House official said it was planning to freeze half a billion dollars in federal money on April 3, but university officials said Tuesday they still did not know which programs might be targeted.

At Harvard, an Education Department official said hospitals affiliated with the university will not be affected.

Five Boston-area teaching hospitals affiliated with Harvard Medical School, considered among the world’s top medical institutions, operate as financially independent non-profits. Their staff often have teaching appointments at Harvard Medical School and their research is funded largely by federal grants.

But the work that could be vulnerable to cuts includes research at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, which says 46% of its budget last year was funded through federal grants. Among other things, this paid for research on cancer, Alzheimer’s, stroke and HIV.

Why doesn’t Harvard use its sizable endowment to pay for research?

Harvard has a $53 billion endowment, the largest in the country. But Harvard leaders say the endowment is not an all-purpose account that can be used for anything the university pleases.

Many donors earmarked their contributions for a specific goal or project. And Harvard has said it relies on some of the endowment to help subsidize tuition costs for middle class and low-income students.

Last week, Harvard started working to borrow $750 million from Wall Street to help cover general expenses. The university has described the effort as part of contingency planning for a range of possible scenarios

What will this mean for undergraduate students?

Losing federal research grants could mean fewer research opportunities for Harvard undergraduate students. If the funding cuts drive away faculty, it could also mean less exposure to top-tier researchers.

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Just last month Harvard had expanded financial aid so middle class families wouldn’t have to pay as much for tuition, room and board. It’s not clear whether losing federal grants might affect those plans.

Outsiders have suggested Harvard and other universities should cut back on top-tier amenities to students to free up money for research.

Harvard enrolls about 7,000 undergraduate students and around 18,000 students in graduate programs.

Associated Press writers Cheyanne Mumphrey in Phoenix and Collin Binkley in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

The Associated Press’ education 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.