By BERNARD CONDON

NEW YORK (AP) — Give Marjorie Taylor Greene credit where it’s due: As stocks tanked on tariff fears, she showed her faith in the president not just with words but dollar bills.

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The Republican congresswoman, an avid supporter of the Trump administration’s trade policies, not only bought stocks last week as others dumped them in a panic — she scooped up some of the biggest losers.

Lululemon, Dell Computer, Amazon, the parent of Restoration Hardware and a few others hit hard by Trump’s tariff threats were down 40% on average late last week when she pounced.

Data from a required three-page financial holdings document doesn’t disclose exactly how much she paid for the stocks, only ranges and dates.

But however much she spent, some of her bets are working out so far, at least as of Wednesday’s close.

RH, formerly called Restoration Hardware, is Greene’s clear winner. It jumped more than a third since since Friday’s close when she bought it after a stunning collapse in price that shook even the head of the furniture retailer.

“Oh, sh…!,” said RH CEO Gary Friedman in a conference call last week as the stock plunged.

Dell has jumped 9% since Greene bought the stock last week after it had lost more than half its value.

Lawmakers from both major parties have proposed bills banning members from stock trading because of the apparent conflict of interest in owning shares of companies they can heavily influence with positions they can take in office.

But none of the clunkily named bills — The Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust in Congress Act, for instance — has been passed. A new bill, The End Congressional Stock Trading Act, was proposed last month.

Asked whether she made the stock purchases herself and about possible conflicts of interest, Greene said in a statement: “I have signed a fiduciary agreement to allow my financial advisor to control my investments. All of my investments are reported with full transparency.”

The MAGA supporter has been outspoken in her support of Trump’s tariffs.

“Tariffs are a powerful proven source of leverage to protect our national interests,” she posted on X earlier this year, adding “We will win this trade war.”

Investors are not completely convinced.

After surging on Wednesday when Trump called a partial halt to the import taxes, stocks were heading down again Thursday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bobby Witt’s tie-breaking sacrifice fly capped a two-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning for the Kansas City Royals, helping them knock off the Twins, 3-2, on Thursday afternoon.

The Twins dropped three of four games in their brief road trip to Kauffman Stadium and fell to 4-9 overall to start the season.

Cole Sands couldn’t keep a 2-1 lead after relieving Bailey Ober and striking out the first batter of the seventh. Freddy Fermin was hit by a pitch in the right shoulder and took third base after Drew Waters lined a flat split-finger fastball to right for a single.

Jonathan India worked a 10-pitch at-bat, mostly seeing cut fastballs, until he dropped a bloop single to left to drive in Fermin. Witt followed with a sacrifice fly to deep center, perhaps held up by a stiff 23 mph wind.

It was the first run allowed this season by Sands (1-1) in six appearances.

Ty France hit a solo home run for the second straight day, and Ryan Jeffers added an RBI single for the Twins. Minnesota failed to complete a rally in the ninth against closer Carlos Estévez, who allowed two batters aboard with one out before Matt Wallner struck out and Willi Castro grounded out.

Kansas City nicked Ober for a run in the first, hitting three straight singles, with Salvador Perez knocking in Witt to give the Royals the lead. Ober retired Cavan Biggio and struck out Maikel Garcia to limit the damage.

Ober pitched out of another pickle in the sixth after third baseman José Miranda booted a grounder for an error against Witt. With two outs, Witt stole second base and Biggio drew a walk.

Ober’s last pitch, his 73rd, resulted in a fly to deep center, caught by Harrison Bader for the third out. Ober let out a scream and pumped his fist. He’s had a tough start to the season, suffering from stomach flu-like symptoms the first week of the season. He lost eight pounds as a result, along with some stamina, but against the Royals dropped his ERA from 12.15 to 7.11.

By FATIMA HUSSEIN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. budget deficit has grown to more than $1.3 trillion in the first half of the 2025 fiscal year — the second highest six-month deficit on record, according to Treasury Department data released Thursday.

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The deficit for October through March spans the administrations of President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump. The previous high in the four decades of recordkeeping was $1.7 trillion in the first half of fiscal year 2021, when the government was tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Treasury official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the data said the increased spending was in part due to a mix of expenditures, including cost of living increases to Social Security payouts, higher Medicare and Medicaid costs, increased disaster assistance to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Defense Department spending.

The widening deficit, which occurs when spending exceeds the amount of money being raised, comes as the Trump administration has touted a plan to reduce waste and spending in the federal government through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE.

It also comes as House Republicans narrowly approved their budget framework Thursday, which advances $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and seeks at least $1.5 trillion in cuts to federal programs and services.

DOGE has recommended plans to lay off a large portion of the 2.4 million members of the civilian federal workforce, eliminate entire agencies, including the Education Department, and cut other government services.

The new Treasury Department data shows a deficit of $1.307 trillion for October through March, the first six months of the fiscal year 2025. And spending is $139 billion more in the first three months of 2025 compared to the same period last year, with borrowing over that period $41 billion higher.

In the Oval Office on Thursday, Musk said DOGE expected to achieve $150 billion in savings during the next fiscal year by reducing waste and fraud, which he described as “very common.” That’s much lower than his previous target of cutting $1 trillion — a number he used last month in a Fox News interview.

Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said Thursday, “The numbers are undeniable. We are racking up debt at an alarming pace, and it’s unlikely to end any time soon. In fact, lawmakers seem hellbent on adding to that sum with trillions of unpaid-for tax cuts and spending increases.”

“We need to correct the unsustainable course we are on and start focusing on fixing our nation’s finances before it is too late,” MacGuineas said.

Tensions remain within the Republican conference about the scope of the proposed tax and spending cuts. Some want more in tax cuts than what is in the blueprint, while others want steeper spending cuts.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has frequently spoken about the need to tamp down on spending.

He told Bloomberg Television earlier this month that the nation would creep closer to hitting the statutory debt ceiling on the so-called X-date, as soon as the early summer. “We are going to go onto the warning track sometime in May or June,” Bessent said.

Associated Press reporters Lisa Mascaro, Kevin Freking and Chris Megerian contributed to this report.

Honora Rodriguez was going about her day at Kaposia Library in South St. Paul, where she is the branch manager, when a man came in to return an overdue vinyl – nearly 50 years late.

Zef Miller tried to return a long overdue Cat Stevens record to South St. Paul’s Kaposia Library on April 7, 2025. Miller had checked it out in 1976 when he was in the eighth grade. (Honora Rodriguez / Kaposia Library)

As an eighth-grader in 1976, Zef Miller checked out Cat Stevens’ “Greatest Hits” vinyl record from the now-closed South St. Paul Library. On Monday, he brought the very same record to Kaposia Library, wanting to return it to its rightful owners and see how much he owed in overdue fees, Rodriguez said.

“I went to check out the new library with my grandchildren and I had to open a new library card,” Miller told the Pioneer Press on Thursday. Opening a new library card got him thinking about the last time he used one.

“I went there many times and checked out many albums. I was too poor to buy them then,” Miller said of the South St. Paul Library.

“It got lost in my other albums, I guess it wasn’t something I cherished at the time,” Miller said of the Cat Stevens record, which he never intended to keep past its due date.

“(The record) was checked out three years before I was born,” said Rodriguez, who has worked as a librarian since 2007. “It’s the oldest return I’ve seen,” she said.

“It’s been in my record collection for 50 years,” said Miller, adding that he listened to it “one last time” before bringing it in.

Yusuf Islam, who is more commonly recognized by his former stage name Cat Stevens, rose to fame with hits like “Wild World,” “Father And Son” and “Morning Has Broken.”

The singer-songwriter changed his name and converted to Islam in the late 1970s. After converting, he took a step back from the entertainment industry and became involved in charity work before being inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

How much does he owe?

When the record was initially checked out, the South St. Paul Library at the northeast corner of Third and Marie avenues was an independent city-run library.

The nearly 100-year-old library, which was built in 1927 when Calvin Coolidge was president, was closed in December 2023 due to the lack of space, accessibility and modern amenities.

South St. Paul is now home to the one-year-old Kaposia Library at 131 N. Seventh Ave., which, lucky for our Cat Stevens fan, is part of the Dakota County Library system.

Unbeknownst to Miller, the Dakota County Library system terminated its late fees as of Jan. 2, 2024.

Before this change, readers were charged 30 cents for each day a book was kept past due, Rodriguez said.

Hypothetically, if this same rule applied to vinyls, this particular earworm would have set Miller back around $5,250 to return.

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Rodriguez assured that the library would charge a replacement fee at most, but it’s still fun to do the math.

“My son said they would take the album and put it on a wall of shame,” Miller said with a laugh, but so much time had passed that the library wouldn’t take it back.

“The reluctant returner was ready to settle up, but we let him know: We’re fine free AND no longer circulate vinyl! So, this time, the record gets to stay with him,” Rodriguez wrote on the Dakota County Library Facebook page.

Before other music enthusiasts get any ideas, note that while late fees no longer accumulate, if an item is overdue by 42 days, it will be considered lost and billed to the account holder.