By CEDAR ATTANASIO and JULIE WALKER

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s “bodega cats” are beloved fixtures in the Big Apple — but they’re on the wrong side of the law.

The convenience store cats that live at many of the city’s bodegas and delis look innocent enough, spending their days lounging in sun-soaked storefronts or slinking between shelves of snack foods as they collect friendly pets from customers.

Officially, though, state law bars most animals from stores that sell food, with bodega owners potentially facing fines if their tabby is caught curling up near the tins of tuna and toilet paper.

The pets’ precarious legal position recently came into the spotlight again when a petition circulated online that advocated for the city to shield bodega cat owners from fines, racking up more than 10,000 signatures.

But inspecting bodegas is a state responsibility. The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets said in a statement that its goal is to ensure compliance with food safety laws and regulations, though it noted that inspectors aim to offer “educational resources and corrective action timelines and options” before looking at fines.

Many fans argue that the cats actually help keep the stores clean by deterring other ubiquitous New York City creatures, like rodents and cockroaches.

However, some shopkeepers say the felines’ most important job is bringing in customers.

At one bodega in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, a fluffy gray and white cat named Mimi has become even more of a star attraction after a customer posted a video of her to TikTok that was viewed over 9 million times.

Sydney Miller, the customer who shared the video, said the experience has helped her build a lasting rapport with Mimi’s caretaker, Asam Mohammad, a Yemeni immigrant who has only been in the U.S. for a few years.

“Ultimately, the cats are a symbol of community building and the special, unique type of connection that happens in a city like New York,” said Miller, a poet and digital content producer.

Mohammad said that one of Mimi’s offspring, a white furball named Lily, is also now a big hit with customers.

“He’ll play with anybody,” said Mohammad. “Before, it’s Mimi, but now all of them are famous.”

Another of Mimi’s kittens, Lionel, has taken up residence at a nearby bodega owned by the same family, where he is more than a salesman or a pest control technician.

On a recent evening, Mohammad’s cousin Ala Najl, who is Muslim, had been fasting for Ramadan since 5 a.m. and had another hour and 17 minutes to go. Feeling a bit restless, Najl decided to play with Lionel. He unrolled his red prayer rug, baiting the muscular cat into a friendly game of tug-of-war.

The playful tussle helped distract Najl as he fought through hunger pangs.

“Yes, he helps me for that,” Najl said.

At another Greenpoint bodega, shopkeeper Salim Yafai said his cat, Reilly, is so popular that one longtime customer even tried to buy him, asking Yafai for a price.

“I said $10,000. He said $1,000. I said, ‘No.’” Yafai said.

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO and DIDI TANG

A notice to customers dazzled by the low-priced products on Chinese shopping apps: the days of getting trendy clothing, tools and gag gifts that cost less than lunch delivered to your door in 10 days are probably numbered.

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President Donald Trump is ending a little-known but widely used exemption that has allowed as many as 4 million low-value parcels — most of them originating in China — to arrive in the U.S. every day tax-free.

An executive order the president signed Wednesday will eliminate the “de minimis provision” for goods from China and Hong Kong on May 2. The tax exemption, which applies to packages valued at $800 or less, has helped China-founded e-commerce companies like Shein and Temu to thrive while cutting into the U.S. retail market.

“Shoppers had a full array of product and options of timing,” Marshal Cohen, chief retail advisor at market research firm Circana, said. “Now, they’re going to have a limited array of options and timing: so you can still buy this product, but you may have to wait three or four weeks.”

U.S. politicians, law enforcement agencies and business groups have described the long-standing policy as a trade loophole that gave inexpensive Chinese goods an advantage and served as a portal for illicit drugs and counterfeits to enter the country.

The sweeping tariffs Trump announced on Wednesday also aim to end the duty-free exception for all imported goods worth less than $800, but only when the U.S. government has the personnel in place to process parcels from every country.

What will be the effect on prices and shipping times?

A White House fact sheet said small packages of Chinese products sent through the international postal network will be subject to a duty rate of either 30% of their value or $25 per item, an amount that will increase to $50 per item after June 1.

Commercial carriers such as FedEx and UPS will be required to report shipment details and remit the appropriate duties to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, according to the White House. After Trump’s latest round of tariffs, the tariff rate for Chinese products will be at least 54%.

Supporters of the de minimis exception have argued that its elimination would drive up costs and hurt low-income consumers and small businesses.

The tariff costs threaten to deal a blow to the U.S. operations of companies like Shein and Temu, which rapidly expanded in the U.S. using the de minimis provision to deliver ultra-cheap fast fashion items from China.

FILE – Pages from the Shein website, left, and from the Temu site, right, are shown in this photo, in New York, June 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, FIle)

However, it’s unclear what impact the loss of the tax exemption will have on the two online retailers, as well as on American companies like Amazon and Walmart, whose platforms include virtual marketplaces where international sellers offer products.

Shein and Temu already have been building warehouses in the U.S. so they could get orders to U.S. shoppers more quickly. Shein recently opened a fulfillment and logistics hub in the Seattle area. Neither company could be reached for comment Thursday.

Ram Ben Tzion, chief executive officer of the digital vetting platform Publican, said he expected the companies to “be forced to rethink their business strategy and possibly explore opting out of the U.S. market.”

In an emailed statement to AP, FedEx said it would support its customers to adapt to the new regulatory requirements and said it would be important for shippers to have “paperwork completed correctly ahead of pick-up” for shipments to move smoothly.

Hilton Beckham, an assistant commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said the federal agency was ready to implement the latest tariffs.

“Our automated systems are fully updated to capture, assess, and administer all new duties, and clear guidance will be provided to support uniform enforcement across the nation,” Beckham said.

Ben Tzion, of Publican, said he would “highly doubt” the U.S. government was ready to process the huge number of low-value shipments to be taxed starting next month.

The Hong Kong government said the HongKong Post would “temporarily maintain” postal services to the U.S through May 2 but “will not collect any so-called tariffs on behalf of the U.S. authorities.”

What is the de minimis provision?

Introduced in 1938, the de minimis exception was intended to facilitate the flow of small packages valued at no more than $5, the equivalent of about $109 today. The threshold increased to $200 in 1994 and $800 in 2016. But the rapid rise of cross-border e-commerce, driven by China, has challenged the intent of the decades-old customs exception rule.

Souvenir apparel vendor Duane Jackson completes a sale of “Make America Great Again” caps, that are made in China, at his location in New York’s Times Square, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Chinese exports of low-value packages soared to $66 billion in 2023, up from $5.3 billion in 2018, according to a February report by the Congressional Research Service. And the U.S. market has been a major destination.

The Chinese government, which sees cross-border e-commerce as a critical part of its foreign trade, has introduced favorable policies, including financial support and infrastructure building, to foster its growth.

Former President Joe Biden proposed a rule last year that said foreign companies can’t avoid tariffs simply by shipping goods that they claim to be worth $800 or less. Trump tried in February to end the exception but his initial order was called off within days when it appeared the U.S. was not prepared to process and collect tariffs on the millions of parcels.

U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut, said she was pleased Trump acted a second time to eliminate the rule.

“For too long, this customs loophole has let foreign exporters flood our market with cheap goods and helped drug traffickers move fentanyl past our borders — resulting in factory closures, job losses, and deaths,” DeLauro said.

An explosion of cheap goods

In 2023, for the first time, more than 1 billion such packages came through U.S. customs, up from 134 million in 2015. By the end of last year, Customs and Border Protection said it was processing about 4 million small shipments a day.

The cheap prices and increasing popularity of Shein and Temu squeezed fast-fashion retailers like Forever 21 and H&M. Forever 21 blamed the tax exemption in part for its decision to file for bankruptcy last month and close its U.S. stores,

“We have been unable to find a sustainable path forward, given competition from foreign fast-fashion companies, which have been able to take advantage of the de minimis exemption to undercut our brand on pricing and margin,” Chief Financial Officer Brad Sell said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Amazon launched late last year a low- cost online storefront featuring electronics, apparel and other products priced under $20, in an apparent effort to compete with Temu and Shein. Amazon shipped the products to U.S. customers from a warehouse it operates in China, according to documentation the company provided to sellers.

By SEUNG MIN KIM

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday endorsed a proposal that would allow new parents in Congress to vote by proxy, rather than in person.

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Trump’s position, articulated to reporters on Air Force One on Thursday, puts him at odds with House Speaker Mike Johnson, who mounted an aggressive push to kill that effort this week but was foiled by nine of his own members, along with all Democrats.

Though the president said he would defer to Johnson on the operations of the House, he also said that “I don’t know why it’s controversial.” Trump said he had spoken to Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, the leading Republican proponent of the effort.

“You’re having a baby, I think you should be able to call in and vote,” Trump told reporters on Thursday as he traveled to Florida. “I’m in favor of that.”

Luna and Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen of Colorado have led an effort that would allow new parents in Congress to vote by proxy for 12 weeks as they care for their newborns. It has the support of the majority of the House, with 218 lawmakers signing on to a so-called discharge petition that would force the measure on the House floor for consideration.

But Johnson is an adamant opponent of casting votes by proxy, saying that doing so is an affront to the Constitution and invoked similar efforts instituted by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

“It was quickly abused. Republicans put an end to it then, and we cannot allow it again,” Johnson said in a lengthy social media post this week. The speaker says he is working on “every possible accommodation” aside from being able to vote by proxy to aid new mothers in Congress.

Johnson attempted to squash the proxy effort in a dramatic floor vote earlier this week, but nine of his own Republicans joined all Democrats in rejecting his plan, 206-222. The speaker canceled House votes for the rest of the week while supporters of the proxy voting plan were undeterred and vowed to continue to push for it.

Balks will haunt.

The Twins are just seven games into their season and, already, two balks from their starting pitchers have proven costly.

The second, which was called on Joe Ryan on Thursday, moved runners to second and third in the fourth inning. With the infield drawn in, they both came around to score as a Brendan Rodgers single got past a diving Carlos Correa to break a 2-all tie.

The Twins would never lead after that, dropping their home opener 5-2 to the Houston Astros in front of announced crowd of 36,783 fans at Target Field on Thursday afternoon.

The game couldn’t have started much better for the Twins — Ryan struck out all three batters he faced in the first and the Twins jumped out to a two-run lead — but the Astros wound up scoring five unanswered runs and the Twins managed just two hits after the first.

Minnesota’s only runs of the game came in the first. Matt Wallner jump-started the offense, tripling off the wall in center field. He scored on a Correa ground ball. After Byron Buxton beat out an infield hit and stole second, he scored the second run of the game on a Trevor Larnach RBI knock.

But the Twins couldn’t do much else off Astros starter Hunter Brown, who lasted six innings and struck out eight in his outing. At one point in the game, Houston pitchers retired 15 straight Twins batters, a streak that was broken up by an eighth-inning error.

The Astros, meanwhile, erased the Twins’ lead almost immediately with Ryan surrendering back-to-back home runs to Christian Walker and Jeremy Peña to begin the second. Two more runs scored in the fourth after the costly balk and a fifth came around in the sixth on consecutive doubles off reliever Louie Varland.

Houston scored its five runs without the help of nine-time All-Star Jose Altuve. The veteran, now playing left field for the Astros, struck out five times, the last coming in the ninth with the crowd on its feet cheering.

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