By SCOTT BAUER and TODD RICHMOND

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin authorities have asked a state court to revoke the conditional release of Morgan Geyser, the woman who in 2014 almost killed her sixth grade classmate in the name of horror villain Slender Man and escaped from a group home earlier this week.

Related Articles

Campbell’s fires executive who was recorded saying company’s products are for ‘poor people’

Two National Guard members shot in an attack just blocks from the White House

College basketball player in Oklahoma dies after being injured during game

Scientists capture the crackling sounds of what they believe is lightning on Mars

Feast on sports week: what to watch during Thanksgiving Week

A Waukesha County Circuit Court judge agreed on Wednesday to seal the petition filed by the Department of Corrections late Tuesday seeking to revoke Geyser’s conditional release. A Waukesha County judge earlier this year approved releasing Geyser from a state mental institution to live in a group home.

Geyser cut off her GPS monitoring bracelet on Saturday night and fled the group home in Madison, Wisconsin, with a 43-year-old companion, authorities said. Geyser was found by police outside of Chicago on Sunday night, about 170 miles from Madison.

Geyser did not fight her extradition to Wisconsin in a Chicago court appearance Tuesday. Wisconsin authorities have 30 days to pick her up.

Geyser’s attorney, Tony Cotton, did not respond to an email Wednesday seeking comment on the state’s request to revoke her release.

The judge set a motion hearing for Dec. 22.

If Geyser’s conditional release is revoked, she could be sent back to the mental institution where she spent most of the past eight years. She also could face new charges in connection with her escape.

Geyser’s companion has been charged with trespassing and obstruction, but The Associated Press isn’t naming the companion because the person hasn’t been charged with aiding Geyser’s escape. The AP’s attempts to contact that person have been unsuccessful.

The companion did call WKOW-TV on Monday, however, saying the two became friends at church and had seen each other daily for the past month. Geyser decided to flee because she was afraid her group home would no longer allow them to see each other, the person said.

“She ran because of me,” the friend told the television station.

Geyser and her companion took a bus overnight into Illinois, the friend said.

Geyser and her friend, Anissa Weier, lured one of their classmates, Payton Leutner, to a Waukesha park in 2014. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times, narrowly missing her heart, while Weier cheered her on. All three girls were 12 years old at the time. Leutner barely survived.

Geyser and Weier later told investigators they attacked Leutner in hopes of impressing Slender Man and becoming his servants. They said they were afraid Slender Man would hurt their families if they didn’t carry out the attack.

Slender Man was created online by Eric Knudson in 2009 as a mysterious figure photo-edited into everyday images of children at play. He grew into a popular boogeyman, appearing in video games, online stories and a 2018 movie.

Both Geyser and Weier were ultimately committed to a state mental institution — Geyser for 40 years and Weier for 25. Wisconsin law allows people committed to state institutions to petition for release. Weier earned conditional release in 2021. Geyser, now 23, won conditional release in September after four requests and was placed in the group home.

State health officials tried to block her release in March, telling the judge that Geyser didn’t volunteer to her therapy team that she had read “Rent Boy,” a novel about murder and selling organs on the black market. They also alleged that she has been communicating with a man who collects murder memorabilia, and has sent him her own sketch of a decapitated body and a postcard saying she wants to be intimate with him.

The judge concluded that Geyser wasn’t trying to hide anything and proceeded with her release, which was finalized in September.

Bauer reported from Madison, Wisconsin.

By CHRISTINE FERNANDO

CHICAGO (AP) — Newly released transcripts of private interviews with a senior U.S. Border Patrol official and other authorities leading the immigration crackdown in the Chicago area reveal tense exchanges as leaders dodged questions about high-profile uses of force.

Related Articles

Judges allow North Carolina to use a map drawn in bid to give Republicans another US House seat

FACT FOCUS: It is not illegal for voters to show ID in New York and California

Trump administration’s effort to end 1960s school desegregation cases faces a hurdle

Russia’s frozen assets at center of negotiations over Ukraine peace deal

Government push to unseal court records offers clues about what could be in the Epstein files

Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol leader behind the operation that has netted more than 3,000 arrests since September, sat for the sworn deposition over three days in late October and early November. He left Chicago this month to lead a similar operation in North Carolina and is expected to oversee another in New Orleans starting as soon as next week.

Hundreds of pages of transcripts from the deposition released Tuesday shed light on key moments noted by U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis in a blistering 223-page opinion this month in a lawsuit alleging federal agents used excessive force against protesters, journalists and clergy members.

Ellis issued a preliminary injunction earlier this month restricting agents from using physical force and chemical agents like tear gas and pepper balls, unless necessary or to prevent “an immediate threat.” A federal appeals court later temporarily halted the order. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, called the appeals court ruling “a win for the rule of law and for the safety of every law enforcement officer.”

Deposition transcripts reveal tense clashes between attorneys

The deposition was heated from its first moments as U.S. Department of Justice attorney Sarmad Khojasteh complained about an attorney representing the coalition of protesters, journalists and faith leaders not shaking Bovino’s hand as they arrived.

“That was noted,” Khojasteh said on Oct. 30. “I get your position. This is like the hill you’re going to die on here. That’s fine. Treat him with respect. Treat me with respect.”

“Treat the process with respect, sir,” the plaintiffs’ attorney Locke Bowman responded.

The tense standoffs between the attorneys also included Khojasteh calling Bowman a “petulant old man” as Bowman accused Khojasteh of hindering the proceedings through constant objections.

“Stop it. Just stop it,” Bowman finally said after Khojasteh consistently objected to questions throughout the deposition.

Bovino evades questions about immigration agents’ use of force

The transcripts also include hours of Bovino giving evasive responses as he defended agents’ use of force and characterized protesters as “violent rioters.”

He was repeatedly questioned over an Oct. 23 protest in the historically Mexican-American neighborhood of Little Village, where Bovino initially claimed he threw tear gas canisters after being hit with a rock, which he said hurt but did not break skin. As he was questioned, Bovino admitted he was “mistaken” and the rock was thrown after he threw the tear gas. Ellis has accused Bovino of lying about the incident in court.

When he was asked if he threw “a canister of CS gas,” Bovino said he did not.

“Okay. Why not?” he was asked.

“You said canister. I threw two. That’s — that’s plural,” Bovino responded.

Bovino also said he believed agents were justified in using tear gas in a residential neighborhood prior to a Halloween parade before admitting he had not reviewed any footage of the incident.

He continued to dodge questions, even after being shown a clip of himself tackling a man to the ground during a protest outside a federal immigration facility in the west Chicago suburb of Broadview. After attorneys played footage of the man’s arrest, Bovino repeatedly denied that he tackled “an older gentleman” in the video and dodged questions on whether he used force. Bovino acknowledged that he made physical contact with the man, but denied that he applied force.

Other officials dodge questions about ‘Operation Midway Blitz’

Private interviews with other federal officials — Russell Hott, a US. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement official, and Daniel Parra, deputy chief patrol agent at Customs and Border Protection — also showed bickering between attorneys and lawyers representing the federal government consistently objecting to questioning.

During his deposition, Hott acknowledged that ICE agents do not receive regular training on crowd control and that he too had no crowd control experience before arriving in Broadview, the site of tense demonstrations over the last few months. He also admitted that the consistent use of tear gas and pepper balls stopped after Illinois State Police took over responding to these protests.

Hott also dodged questions about use of force, including by saying he doesn’t know the context when asked if use of force was justified against a pastor shot in the head with pepper balls while praying. Parra, meanwhile, repeated “I do not recall” when asked about specific incidents in use of force reports presented by attorneys during his deposition.

Parra also admitted that Border Patrol agents do not typically work in dense urban areas or in situations where they encounter protesters — an issue brought up by Ellis in court as she slammed agents for engaging in high-speed car chases and using crowd control techniques she said were inappropriate for urban areas.

“This isn’t the border,” she said.

Parra also said he could not “think of at the moment” any evidence that Ellis’ restrictions on use of force are adversely affecting Border Patrol enforcement operations. This comes after attorneys argued in court that complying with the requirements would halt immigration enforcement operations.

By GARY D. ROBERTSON and JONATHAN MATTISE

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A federal three-judge panel on Wednesday allowed North Carolina to use a redrawn congressional map aimed at flipping a seat to Republicans as part of President Donald Trump’s multistate redistricting campaign ahead of the 2026 elections.

Related Articles

FACT FOCUS: It is not illegal for voters to show ID in New York and California

Trump administration’s effort to end 1960s school desegregation cases faces a hurdle

Russia’s frozen assets at center of negotiations over Ukraine peace deal

Government push to unseal court records offers clues about what could be in the Epstein files

Immigrant with family ties to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is detained by ICE

The map targets the state’s only swing seat, currently held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Don Davis, an African American who represents more than 20 counties in the state’s northeast. The 1st District has been represented by Black members of Congress continuously for more than 30 years.

The three-judge panel unanimously denied preliminary injunction requests after a hearing in Winston-Salem in mid-November. The day after the hearing, the same judges separately upheld several other redrawn U.S. House districts that GOP state lawmakers initially enacted in 2023. They were first used in the 2024 elections, contributing to a Republican gain of three more congressional seats.

Trump’s redistricting push, Democrats’ return fire

North Carolina is one of several states this year in which Trump has broken with more than a century of political tradition by directing the GOP to redraw maps in the middle of the decade — without courts requiring it — to avoid losing control of Congress in next year’s midterms.

Democrats need to gain just three seats to win control of the House and impede Trump’s agenda. Besides North Carolina, Republican-led legislatures or commissions in Texas, Missouri, and Ohio all have adopted new districts designed to boost Republicans’ chances next year.

In California, voters countered by adopting new districts drawn to improve Democrats’ chances of winning more seats. And the Democratic-led Virginia General Assembly also has taken a step toward redistricting with a proposed constitutional amendment.

Thus far, many lower courts have blocked Trump’s initiatives, only for the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court to put those rulings on hold. That includes a recent ruling in Texas, where a redrawn U.S. House map is engineered to give Republicans five more House seats.

North Carolina GOP seeks one-seat swing

North Carolina’s Republican-controlled General Assembly gave final approval on Oct. 22 to changes that could help preserve a slim Republican majority in the U.S. House. Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s approval wasn’t needed.

In a statement, North Carolina Republican Senate leader Phil Berger said the decision “thwarts the radical left’s latest attempt to circumvent the will of the people” in a state that voted for Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024.

“As Democrat-run states like California do everything in their power to undermine President Trump’s administration and agenda, North Carolina Republicans went to work to protect the America First Agenda,” Berger said.

The ruling covers two lawsuits.

In one filed by the state NAACP, Common Cause and voters, the plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction on First Amendment grounds. They say Republican lawmakers unconstitutionally targeted North Carolina’s “Black Belt” instead of Democratic-voting areas with higher white populations because in 2024 they organized and voted for their preferred candidates and had sued over the 2023 configuration of the district.

In the second lawsuit, filed by voters, the case for a preliminary injunction rested in part on an argument that the use of five-year-old Census data due to the mid-decade redrawing of districts violates the Constitution, including the 14th Amendment’s one-person, one-vote guarantee. Additionally, it says lawmakers relied on race in mapmaking in violation of the First and 14th Amendments.

Attorneys for the Republican lawmakers defending the districts wrote that the objectives in redrawing the map were political and allowable, not racial, and were part of a “nationwide partisan redistricting arms race.” They rejected assertions about old Census data and retaliation over activities protected by the First Amendment, saying they don’t align with Supreme Court precedent.

Judges allow other districts from 2023 map

Republicans now hold 10 of the state’s 14 House seats — thanks to the 2023 map — and they hope to flip an 11th under the latest redistricting changes to the 1st District and the adjoining 3rd District. This effort happened in a state where Trump got 51% of the popular vote in 2024 and statewide elections are often close. Candidate filing in these and scores of other 2026 North Carolina races has been slated to begin Dec. 1.

The litigation challenging the October changes to the map said the boundaries approved by Republicans would result in the Black voting-age population in the 1st District falling from 40% in the 2023 map to 32%.

Republicans in part moved counties in the 1st District with significant Black -– and usually highly Democratic -– populations to the 3rd District currently represented by Republican Greg Murphy. Recent election results indicate both the 1st and 3rd would be favorable for Republicans.

Many of the same plaintiffs challenging the newly altered 1st District sued earlier over the House map enacted in 2023, alleging that Republicans unlawfully fractured and packed Black voters to weaken their voting power.

But the judges — all nominated by Republican presidents — recently dismissed the claims against five other congressional districts and three legislative districts, writing that those who sued failed to prove legislators drew the maps “with the discriminatory purpose of minimizing or canceling out the voting potential of Black North Carolinians.”

Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee.

By MELISSA GOLDIN

As the leadup to the 2026 midterm elections begins, social media users — among them billionaire X owner Elon Musk, who briefly served as a top advisor to President Donald Trump — are using false information to advocate for more voter ID laws in the U.S.

Related Articles

Judges allow North Carolina to use a map drawn in bid to give Republicans another US House seat

Trump administration’s effort to end 1960s school desegregation cases faces a hurdle

Russia’s frozen assets at center of negotiations over Ukraine peace deal

Government push to unseal court records offers clues about what could be in the Epstein files

Immigrant with family ties to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is detained by ICE

“America should not have worse voter ID requirements than every democratic country on Earth,” Musk wrote in a recent X post, which had been liked and shared approximately 310,000 times as of Wednesday. “California and New York actually banned use of ID to vote! It is illegal to show your ID in those states. The only reason to do this is fraud.”

But voter registration requirements and guidance for poll workers paint a different picture.

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: It is illegal for voters to show ID when casting a ballot in New York and California.

THE FACTS: This is false. Voters in both states need to show ID when it is necessary to complete their registration, but it is not required otherwise. Poll worker guidance published by New York and California instructs workers not to ask voters for ID unless records indicate that it is needed.

“There is nothing unlawful about that voter presenting a form of photo identification at a poll site in addition to fulfilling the signature verification requirement outlined in the state’s consitution,” Kathleen McGrath, a spokesperson for the New York State Board of Elections, said of voters whose identity has already been verified. “In fact, in some counties, voters are allowed to scan their license in an effort to expedite the looking up of their voter record on the e-pollbook, but this cannot be legally required.”

The California secretary of state’s office similarly said that “California law does not prohibit a voter from voluntarily presenting their identification.”

In New York, voters provide their Department of Motor Vehicles number or the last four digits of their social security number when registering to vote. They may also use another form of valid photo ID or a government document that shows their name and address, such as a utility bill or a bank statement. Voters will be asked for ID at the polls if their identify cannot be verified before Election Day, according to the state’s registration form.

Recent guidance for New York poll workers states: “Do not ask the voter for ID unless ‘ID required’ is next to their name in their voter records.”

California has similar identification processes. If voters do not provide a driver’s license number, a state ID number or the last four digits of their social security number when registering, another form of ID must be provided if they are voting for the first time in a federal election and registered by mail or online, according to the secretary of state’s office.

FILE – A sheriff’s deputy inspects ballots with the aid of a dog at the L.A. County Ballot Processing Center Nov. 4, 2025, in City of Industry, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File)

“Poll workers must not ask a voter to provide their identification unless the voter list clearly states identification is required,” reads recent guidance for California poll workers released by the state.

County election officials automatically mail ballots to all active registered voters. In the 2024 general election, 80.76% of voters voted by mail. Some counties in California do not offer in-person voting at all.

Musk’s post also includes an image that lists 114 countries under the title, “Full or partially democratic countries that require ID to register to vote or cast a ballot on election day in all districts.” All of them have a green checkmark to their left except for the U.S., which has a red “x.”

Although many countries listed in the image require ID for one or both of these actions, there are at least two exceptions — New Zealand and Australia. In New Zealand, voters can register without ID by filling out a signed enrollment form and do not need to present ID at the polls. Australian voters do not need ID to cast a ballot and may have someone who is already registered confirm their identity when submitting an enrollment form.

Representatives for Musk did not respond to a request for comment.

Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.