WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday revived a Republican challenge to a law that allows the counting of late-arriving mail ballots, a target of President Donald Trump.

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The high court ruled 7-2 that Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill. has the legal right to challenge the law, even though the ballots likely had little effect on a race he won handily.

The state had argued that allowing the lawsuit would open the floodgates for more election litigation and “cause chaos” for election officials. Bost said vote-total considerations shouldn’t affect his ability to come to court.

The Illinois law allows ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they are received up to two weeks later. More than a dozen states, as well as the District of Columbia, accept mailed ballots received after Election Day as long they are postmarked on or before that date, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The Supreme Court will also consider the broader issue of whether states can continue to count late-arriving mail ballots in the spring.

The Trump administration weighed in to support Bost. The Republican president has asserted that late-arriving ballots and drawn-out electoral counts undermine confidence in elections.

An Apple Valley man has been spared prison time for shooting a man during an argument at a mobile home park in Mounds View last year.

Alex Robert Quevedo-Holmes, 21, was sentenced Monday in Ramsey County District Court to nearly a year in the workhouse and four years of probation for the daytime shooting of a 22-year-old, who was struck in the thigh in the 2100 block of Buckingham Lane on March 13, 2025.

Alex Robert Quevedo-Holmes (Courtesy of Mounds View Police Department)

Quevedo-Holmes had pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and Quevedo-Holmes’ attorney asked Judge Thomas Gilligan Jr. for a downward departure from state sentencing guidelines, arguing the victim was the primary aggressor before and during the incident. The judge granted the departure request, which was objected to by the prosecution, and stayed a three-year prison term for four years.

According to the criminal complaint, a woman told police the man who was shot is her former boyfriend and that she has a child with him. She said she met Quevedo-Holmes at a bar a week earlier and that he spent the night at her residence.

The man texted her that he was going to beat up Quevedo-Holmes and then arrived just before noon. The two men argued outside, the woman got between them to break it up and told her ex to leave. He approached Quevedo-Holmes, who shot him.

The man was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center with severe blood loss.

Quevedo-Holmes ran from the scene, leading to a search by several law enforcement agencies, a SWAT response and “a shelter in place” issued. He was arrested without incident in South St. Paul the next day.

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By PAUL WISEMAN, Associated Press Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale prices rose modestly in November, the government said in report delayed by the federal government shutdown.

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The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it reaches consumers — rose 0.2% in November from October and 3% from a year earlier.

The numbers are old. They were supposed to come out Dec. 11, but the report was delayed by last fall’s 43-day government shutdown. The Labor Department will put out December’s producer price index on Jan. 30; it was originally scheduled to come out Wednesday.

Gasoline prices rose sharply in November. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core wholesale prices were unchanged from October and up 3% from November 2024.

President Donald Trump’s sweeping taxes on imports were expected to drive inflation sharply higher, but their impact so far has been more modest than expected.

The Labor Department reported Tuesday that consumer price inflation cooled last month, rising a modest 0.3% from November and 2.7% from December 2024. But it remains above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

By NICOLE WINFIELD

ROME (AP) — One of the best-preserved ancient Roman homes on the Palatine Hill is opening to the public for the first time, albeit via a livestreamed tour of its hard-to-reach underground frescoes and mosaics.

The House of the Griffins was first discovered during the excavations in the early 20th century of the Palatine Hill, the verdant hill that rises up from the Roman Forum and dominates views of central Rome today with its striking red brick ruins.

The hill, located just off the Colosseum, was the site of temples and homes of leading citizens during Rome’s Republican era, which is traditionally dated from 509 B.C. to 27 B.C. It became the aristocratic quarter during the Roman Empire that followed, when new palaces were built on top of the older homes.

The House of the Griffins is one of those earlier Republican-era homes, and was hidden to the world underground after the Emperor Domitian built his palace on top of it in the first century A.D.

Now for the first time, the general public can virtually visit the House of the Griffins and its newly restored frescoes, including the decoration that gives the home its name: An arched lunette fresco featuring two griffins — the half-eagle, half-lion mythological creatures.

Visitors won’t actually walk through the home’s intimate rooms, which are only accessible via a perilously steep staircase underground. Rather, visitors above ground will watch as a tour guide wearing a head-mounted smartphone descends into the domus and walks through its rooms, livestreaming the visit and narration.

The live, virtual tour serves multiple purposes: It allows visitors to “see” a domus that, because of its underground location, would otherwise be off-limits. And by limiting the number of people in its rooms, the livestreaming protects the delicate frescoes from too much humidity and carbon dioxide.

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Project chief Federica Rinaldi said archaeologists don’t know much about the family who lived there, but said they were clearly well-off. The level of decoration recalls some of the elegant homes of the era in Pompeii: The frescoes feature richly colored faux marble designs, and floor mosaics of three-dimensional cubes.

“Its location at the highest point of the hill, its distribution over several levels that take advantage of the slopes of the Palatine Hill itself, and its preservation make it today an almost textbook reference,” she said. “It was certainly a domus of the highest standard.”

Starting on March 3, the livestreamed tours will be held weekly, on Tuesdays, with one in Italian and one in English, though more are foreseen. Groups are limited to a dozen people and require reservations, as well as an additional ticket beyond the typical Colosseum-Palatine Hill entrance fee.

The restoration of the House of the Griffins is one of 10 projects funded by the European Union in the archaeological park and is part of an effort to spread tourists out beyond the must-see Colosseum and Forum, which often get overwhelmed with visitors.

“It’s a great occasion to value the full territory of the park,” said the head of the park, Simone Quilici.

Paolo Santalucia contributed to this report.