AP News in Brief at 12:04 a.m. EDT

Deadlocked jury in Lindsay Clancy trial goes home after a fifth day without a verdict

PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — Jurors in the Lindsay Clancy trial went home without a verdict Wednesday following a fifth day of deliberations and twice saying they can’t agree whether the Massachusetts mother is criminally responsible for killing her three young children.

The jury will return again Thursday morning. The judge told jurors to keep deliberating Wednesday when they said for a second straight day that they were at an impasse — a sign there’s a growing chance of a hung jury and the trial ending without a resolution.

Clancy, a 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse, doesn’t deny strangling her children in the basement of their home in 2023. Her attorney argues that postpartum psychosis led to her actions, while prosecutors say she knew what she was doing when she killed Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy, ages 5, 3 and 8 months.

“I know it’s been a long day,” Judge William Sullivan said, “so at this point, what I’m going to do is, first off thank you for your time and commitment to this case. I’m going to ask you to come back tomorrow morning.”

Clancy stared at the jury with no expression when Sullivan earlier in the day explained to the courtroom that the jurors were at a standstill.

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What to know about a reported US airstrike that hit a wedding in Iran

CAIRO (AP) — A U.S. missile hit a home in southern Iran where dozens were gathered to celebrate the wedding of a fisherman’s daughter, according to a rights group and Iranian media.

Iranian state media said four people — two women and two children — were killed and more than 60 were wounded. The rights group said one of the children, a teenager, was killed by another strike on a nearby communications tower.

Heavy explosions shook the coastal town of Kuhestak on the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, and security footage carried by Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency showed fireballs lighting up the night sky. It came amid the latest round of American bombardment in southern Iran that the U.S. military said was targeting air defenses, radar systems and maritime assets.

Kuhestak is one of a string of small towns that dot the barren coastline along the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint that has become a central front in the six-month war. Kuhestak is located about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the town of Minab, where more than 100 children were killed in a U.S. missile strike that hit a primary school on Feb. 28, the opening day of the war launched by the U.S. and Israel.

U.S. Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said the U.S. military was looking into the reports of the strike on a wedding. He would not say if the military had launched a formal investigation.

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2 people killed and suspect is dead in downtown Minneapolis shooting

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Gunfire could be heard throughout a downtown Minneapolis apartment building as police responded to an active shooting Wednesday that left three people dead, including the suspect, and five others wounded, authorities said.

The five wounded by gunfire included two Minneapolis police officers, while a sixth person, another officer, suffered other injuries, police Sgt. Garrett Parten said at a news conference. All three officers are in stable condition, according to Hennepin County Medical Center.

A 911 call about shots fired at the building came in just after 4:30 p.m. Officers were dispatched and less than two minutes later they were inside the building and quickly found victims, said Interim Police Chief Bill Peterson.

Officers heard more gunshots and followed them to a higher floor, where they found “a haze that significantly limited their visibility,” he said. Peterson did not provide additional details about the haze.

One officer was shot in the leg and another was shot twice in the abdomen, he said. All three injured officers were expected to make a full recovery, he said.

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Lawmakers ask Army to explain why it told a military unit to stop specializing in drone warfare

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is pressing the Army to explain why it told a unit based in Europe to stop specializing in drone warfare, an order that comes as the world’s battlefields rapidly evolve and military tactics increasingly rely on uncrewed systems to fight.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade was building its own drones and practicing the kind of warfare that Ukraine has pioneered against Russia and that Iran has fought against the U.S. — warfare that has killed and wounded American troops. The brigade of 600 soldiers was set up in November to be deployed anywhere that drones were needed.

“We have deep concerns that eliminating this specialized drone unit will limit our ability to learn from allies, particularly the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and hinder our efforts to modernize drone warfare at the speed necessary to compete on the modern battlefield,” the lawmakers said in a letter shared with The Associated Press.

It requests a briefing from the Army to explain its decision and was sent Tuesday to departing Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Gen. Christopher LaNeve, the Army’s acting chief of staff. It was signed by Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, independent Sen. Angus King of Maine and Republican Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio.

“This specialized unit was a prudent response in a moment when the character of warfare is changing faster than a conventional formation’s ability to adapt,” the lawmakers say.

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Tiger Woods pleads no contest to reckless driving charge over rollover crash in Florida

STUART, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods pleaded no contest to a reckless driving charge and his driver’s license was suspended for five years Wednesday following a March rollover crash in Florida, where he initially was accused of driving under the influence.

Woods, still one of golf’s most influential figures and as recognizable as any athlete in the world, has had a remarkable fall since winning the 2019 Masters for his 15th major. The first person of Black heritage to win the Masters in 1997, his career has been derailed by multiple back and knee surgeries, car crashes and dependence on pain medication.

He was arrested in March after his SUV clipped a truck and rolled over on its side on a beachside residential road near his home on Jupiter Island.

A sheriff’s report said deputies found two pain pills in his pocket and he showed signs of impairment. He did a Breathalyzer test, which came out negative, but refused to take a urine test.

He pleaded not guilty to the original DUI charge.

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Scams in the US are at a record high. Yet most victims get no help and some end up losing even more

When Simon’s wife of 43 years passed away, it felt a bit like he’d died too.

In his overwhelming grief, Simon sought companionship online, like so many other lonely widows and widowers. Almost immediately he met Emily. But over the next few months, Emily, who Simon realized too late was a fake, stole $800,000 from him.

And that was just the beginning.

Simon was stuck paying back $185,000 he had borrowed, and tens of thousands of dollars in additional taxes on money he had withdrawn and lost. He tried to report the crime to his local police and the FBI, he said, but nothing came of it. Instead, he was contacted by yet another scammer — offering to connect him with the Secret Service to recoup his losses in exchange for even more money.

Like Simon, virtually every American has been targeted by scammers in some way, exclusive new polling data shows. Scams in the U.S. have surged to a record high, causing billions in losses for Americans.

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Immigrant rights group seeks to block use of federal databases it says could purge legal voters

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An immigrant rights group sued the Trump administration Wednesday to block the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from using federal databases that it alleged are being used to target naturalized citizens who are eligible to vote.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington on behalf of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, alleges that DHS and the U.S. Justice Department are interfering with fair elections by using inaccurate federal databases in an attempt to buttress allegations of voter fraud.

The federal government is engaging in an “attack on the freedom to vote,” Angelica Salas, the coalition’s executive director, said at a downtown Los Angeles news conference. “This is voter intimidation.”

The lawsuit — filed on behalf of the coalition by the UCLA Voting Rights Project — becomes part of a swirl of legal moves that states, including California, have taken to fend off federal actions that threaten to create confusion during the midterms.

“It’s not an accident the federal government is trying to interfere with the right to vote. … They believe they can intimidate naturalized U.S. citizens,” said Xavier Becerra, the Democratic nominee for California governor who is acting as a senior adviser to the voting project.

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Former Tropical Storm Edouard lingers over Texas, flooding homes and roadways

LIVINGSTON, Texas (AP) — Texas authorities rescued dozens of people from stranded cars, homes surrounded by floodwaters and an assisted living facility Wednesday as former Tropical Storm Edouard lingered over rural parts of the state and dumped nearly 2 feet of rain in some places.

Heavy rains from the storm, which weakened into a tropical depression after making landfall Tuesday, were expected to threaten the eastern part of the state through Thursday morning, the National Weather Service said.

Meanwhile, a burst of tropical weather persisted in the Pacific Ocean, where three hurricanes were churning in open waters.

In Texas’ hard-hit Hardin County, about 85 miles (137 kilometers) northeast of Houston, officials said flooding, downed trees and powerlines, debris, and power outages were still creating hazardous conditions.

Between 18 inches (45 centimeters) and 20 inches (51 centimeters) fell in parts of the county over the last two days, the weather service said. The average local monthly rainfall for September is just 5.51 inches (14 centimeters), said Nick Slaughter, a meteorologist with the weather service.

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Cassandra Wilson, the two-time Grammy Award-winning jazz singer, has died

NEW YORK (AP) — Cassandra Wilson, the two-time Grammy Award-winning jazz singer, songwriter and producer has died. She was 70.

Dubbed America’s best singer by Time magazine in 2001, Wilson was best known for her genre-bending voice, which expanded the boundaries of traditional blues-based jazz and worked effortlessly across folk, pop, R&B, country and beyond. At the heart of all her work was her idiosyncratic contralto, a soulful sound distinctly tied to her roots.

As Jon Batiste put it in a eulogy on Wednesday, Wilson sounded like the South.

She died in her native Jackson, Mississippi, on Tuesday morning, the Hinds County Coroner Jeramiah Howard confirmed.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Cassandra Wilson, the Grammy Award-winning and legendary jazz artist. Cassandra Wilson transitioned peacefully at home, surrounded by family, close friends, and her manager,” said a statement from her manager to jazz radio station WBGO.

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NBA suspends Clippers owner Ballmer, fines team $30M, Kawhi Leonard $700K in cap circumvention case

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The NBA imposed a sweeping punishment against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday for violating salary cap circumvention rules, suspending owner Steve Ballmer for one year, fining the team $30 million and forcing it to forfeit five first-round draft picks.

Also, two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard was hit with a $700,000 penalty, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank was banned for six months and team president of business operations Gillian Zucker was suspended for one year.

The Clippers will give up one first-round pick in each draft from 2029-2033.

The league came down hard on the organization after a nearly yearlong investigation led by an outside law firm.

The Clippers had said multiple times that they had done nothing wrong and expected to be exonerated.