AROUND THE NATION

US and Iran escalate strikes across Mideast; bridges and a water plant hit

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The United States and Iran escalated their attacks across the Middle East on Friday, trading strikes aimed at infrastructure and military targets as their battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensified.

The U.S. expanded its attacks against Iran by hitting more bridges and energy sites and collapsing a tower at a key Iranian port, following through on President Donald Trump's threats to pressure Tehran to ease its chokehold on the waterway vital to world energy supplies.

In response, Iran launched missiles into U.S.-allied nations in the Mideast, including Qatar, a mediator in the war, and Kuwait, where one of the desert nation's water desalination plants was damaged.

The region has endured days of back-and-forth attacks in a conflict increasingly focused on control of the strait, and the collapse of an interim ceasefire leaves no clear end in sight for the war that began more than four months ago. The U.S. Central Command said late Friday it had launched its seventh straight night of attacks aimed at degrading Iran's military.

Iranian officials say recent U.S. strikes have killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds, with new casualties reported Friday, when the U.S. military also acknowledged more injured service members.

In a statement early on Saturday, the Iranian military claimed that two oil tankers exploded and caught fire as they attempted to transit a mined route in the Strait of Hormuz. It did not provide further details.

Iran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic after the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28. That sent the price of oil soaring and gave Iran significant leverage in negotiations. The price of oil rose Friday above $86 a barrel, close to its highest level in a month, as crossings through the strait fell to a three-week low, according to an international shipping tracker.

In an address to the American public on Thursday evening, Trump insisted the war was going well. "We are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly," he said.

Before the war began, the U.S. had been in talks with Iran over its nuclear program. Trump now faces political pressure to bring the war to a close and avoid the kind of prolonged Middle East conflict he had campaigned against.

The U.S. airstrikes hit bridges overnight into Friday in Iran's southern Hormozgan province, Iranian state television reported. The attacks hit Bandar Khamir, a city on Iran's coast on the Strait of Hormuz.

The highway and railway bridge strikes appeared aimed at cutting off Bandar Abbas, Iran's main port, from roads leading into the Islamic Republic's central region onward to Tehran, the capital.

Iran acknowledged "attacks on power infrastructure" during the U.S. airstrike campaign for the first time Friday when its Energy Ministry issued a call for people to use less power in southern provinces "experiencing extreme heat." The ministry did not specify what was hit.

Iranian authorities said at least 46 people have been killed and more than 400 wounded in recent U.S. strikes, including eight killed in a strike on a bridge Friday.

U.S. officials acknowledged 13 additional U.S. service members -- 10 Army soldiers and three Navy sailors -- had been injured since Monday, but offered no further details. Since the war began, 14 U.S. service members have been killed and 427 wounded.

Central Command said it hit dozens of military and military infrastructure targets in Friday's airstrikes.

The strikes collapsed a tower at Iran's Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman, a key trade route for landlocked, neighboring Afghanistan, the state-run IRNA news agency reported and the U.S. military later confirmed.

Chabahar port, which Iran had been running with support from India, has been a repeated target of American airstrikes.

Iran said the tower oversees commercial traffic into the port. But Central Command said it was part of a maritime surveillance network used by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard to "track and target" commercial vessels in the strait.

On Friday evening Iranian state media reported explosions around Iran, including in the central and south of the country. Local authorities said the U.S attacked around Ahvaz city without elaborating. IRNA also reported the sound of explosions in Lar, Yazd and Sirik.

Wildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota pushes farther into the US and engulfs DC in haze

NEW YORK (AP) -- Millions of people in the Great Lakes, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states muddled through another day of unhealthy air from uncontrolled wildfires on Friday.

The thick smoke enveloped the nation's capital in a gloomy, eerie haze and prompted Major League Baseball's Cleveland Guardians to postpone their game against Pittsburgh Pirates in Ohio.

Warnings of dangerous conditions were expected to remain in effect through Saturday across a wide swath of the U.S., though there's potential for temporary improvement with storms forecast in some affected areas during the weekend.

D.C. resident Stewart Verdery awoke Friday to take in his usual sunrise view of the city's famous landmarks from a rooftop, only to be greeted by a darkened horizon and no monuments in sight.

"It's pretty crazy to wake up at sunrise and not see the sun when it's not even raining," he said by phone after posting a video of the surreal scene on X. "And it smells like somebody's having the world's largest cookout."

There may be pockets of relief at times, such as this weekend, but the smoky conditions won't be gone anytime soon as the fires continue to burn largely unchecked, cautioned Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service based in Maryland.

Wildfires are burning in the Ontario area of Canada as well as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota, which U.S. officials have closed as they fight to put out the blazes.

"The source of the smoke is going to continue on for certainly a week, probably," Oravec said. "It's just going to depend upon which way the wind's blowing as to where the smoke is going to affect the most."

On Friday, communities in Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan, including Detroit, again registered some of the worst air quality in the world, according to IQAir, an air quality monitoring website.

Not far behind Detroit was Washington, D.C., where the smoke created eerie scenes. The Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and other national landmarks were enveloped in an orange-hued haze throughout much of the day.

People, particularly those with heart or lung disease, older adults and children, were urged to limit or avoid going outside until air quality improved.

Long-term exposure to smoky conditions can complicate existing health problems and lead to chronic and deadly issues, including respiratory illness, cardiovascular and neurological diseases and premature death, officials warned.

Trump urges Darline Graham to run for full Senate term as funeral scheduled for Lindsey Graham

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- President Donald Trump said Friday that Darline Graham, the sister of the late Lindsey Graham, has his support to run for a full term to replace her brother in the U.S. Senate.

He wrote on social media that she "has been a WINNER all of her life and, should she accept, has my Complete and Total Endorsement."

"RUN, DARLINE, RUN!" Trump added.

The president said he had discussed a potential campaign with Darline Graham at the White House. Four people familiar with the deliberations, none of whom were authorized to speak publicly, had previously said that she privately expressed interest in running.

Trump's endorsement dramatically reshapes the scramble to fill Lindsey Graham's seat after he died last weekend. The president had previously suggested he could back a potential candidacy from Rep. Russell Fry. Several other noteworthy politicians -- including Fry, Rep. Nancy Mace, Rep. Ralph Norman and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette -- have been eyeing a run.

The filing period for a special primary runs from July 21 to July 28, and the primary is scheduled for Aug. 11.

Plans for Lindsey Graham's funeral were also announced Friday. There will be a service in Washington on July 28 and more in South Carolina on July 29.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham to serve the remainder of her brother's term, which ends in January.

The first woman to represent the state in the Senate, Darline Graham called it "such an honor," as dozens of her brother's staffers and campaign advisers stood behind her, some with eyes glassy from welling tears.

"Lindsey has always been there for me. And now, I will be there for him," she said.

Lindsey Graham died Saturday at age 71. A preliminary report from the medical examiner said he suffered a tear in his aorta.

He never married or had a family of his own, but his sister was often by his side for the political touch points of his career, speaking at events and appearing in some of his campaign ads. After both of their parents died when Darline Graham was only 13, her old brother became her legal guardian and later adopted her, to ensure his military benefits would flow to her.

In forging a relationship with Darline Graham -- who is new to politics but was a constant in her brother's political career -- Trump could be angling to develop another ally to help steer his agenda through the Senate.

Although they had at times a tumultuous relationship, Lindsey Graham had been one of Trump's top Senate confidants, and the day after his death, the president said he was "like a member of the family."

In his announcement Monday, McMaster made no reference to Darline Graham as a placeholder or symbolic appointment.

However, a person familiar with McMaster's thinking but unauthorized to speak publicly said the governor, in selecting Darline Graham, had never contemplated that she would run for the seat herself.

Lawmakers demand answers after 'bombshell' report about ICE officer shooting in Maine

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic members of Congress are demanding answers about Homeland Security's vetting and training of immigration enforcement agents after it was disclosed that the ICE officer involved in a deadly shooting this week in Maine had a history of mental health issues and violent behavior.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that David Brouillette, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine, is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood, according to several of his close relatives.

The AP reached out to congressional leaders and several key lawmakers of both major political parties for response.

The top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said Brouillette's history of violence and mental health issues and the death in Biddeford, Maine, "directly call into question the supposed vetting and training ICE does of its recruits."

"This senseless tragedy must be investigated and the officer responsible should be taken off our streets and face justice for his actions," Thompson said in a statement to the AP.

Brouillette didn't respond to text messages or an email seeking comment, but three relatives who said they had spoken to him since the shooting, including an ex-wife and a daughter, said he told them he acted in self-defense.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who led a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year as Democrats tried to impose restraints on immigration enforcement operations, said the consequences of failing to put guardrails on ICE are now being measured in lives.

President Donald Trump's administration "rushed 12,000 agents onto our streets without ensuring they were fit to carry a badge and a gun -- and Republicans gave this rogue agency vast power and no accountability," Schumer said in a statement. "They empowered ICE. Now they must work with us to prevent more killings."

The report on Brouillette's troubling past comes as the Department of Homeland Security has been on a hiring spree, fueled by vast sums of money from Republicans in Congress to help carry out Trump's mass deportation agenda. It raises fresh questions about the department's efforts to quickly hire, vet, train and dispatch recruits who are being sent to patrol communities across America.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the Republican chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee, referred back to her prior statement that "an impartial investigation into the shooting in Biddeford needs to proceed, as the details surrounding this tragedy are important."

Collins had said earlier that it is "extremely unfortunate" that the agent did not have a body-worn camera.

Lettuce at Taco Bell in 5 states confirmed as a source of diarrhea-causing parasite

ATLANTA (AP) -- Federal health officials have identified lettuce from Mexico served at Taco Bell locations across five U.S. states as a source of a widespread outbreak of diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Thursday warned consumers not to eat shredded iceberg lettuce from Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. A record number of cyclospora cases have been reported in more than 30 states, and experts have said not every recent U.S. illness might be caused by a single source.

A Food and Drug Administration investigation so far has identified a single supplier of the lettuce. The federal warnings to consumers did not identify the company, but Taylor Fresh Foods, of Salinas, California, said FDA testing indicated it was "a specific independent farm" affiliated with the company.

The FDA was working with the supplier "to determine if potentially contaminated shredded iceberg lettuce remains on the market," including in other states, the CDC said. "Taco Bell has committed to stop using any lettuce from the supplier identified by FDA's traceback investigation."

Taylor Farms has been tied to foodborne outbreaks in the past. The company said in a statement Friday afternoon that it was voluntarily removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the U.S. market.

"As a family owned and operated company, we are deeply concerned for those who became ill, their families, and the many Americans whose trust in the safety of their fresh produce has been shaken," the statement said.

CDC, FDA and public health officials in several states have been investigating a multistate outbreak of cyclospora infections.

The illness is not usually life threatening and is typically treated with antibiotics.

On Thursday, ahead of the federal government's confirmation, Taco Bell issued a statement saying that it had taken "immediate action to voluntarily remove potentially impacted lettuce from a supplier in select states. The affected ingredient from our supplier is being indefinitely removed from our supply chain nationwide and will be replaced within 24 hours in select states."

In a statement, federal health officials stressed that other "brands, restaurants, retailers, or distribution channels" could be tied to the outbreak as the investigation continues.

Michigan investigators are trying to figure out if the lettuce went to other restaurants or stores because many of the ill people said they didn't eat at Taco Bell, state health officials said Friday.

There is no evidence the outbreak "is related to poor food handling or preparation at any single restaurant or fast-food chain," Michigan health officials said in a statement.

For that reason, they continue to recommend that consumers purchase whole heads of lettuce instead of pre-washed, bagged lettuce or pre-mixed salad kits. Taylor Fresh Foods said in its statement that no Taylor Farms-branded salad kits contain iceberg lettuce.

Some past outbreaks linked to the company involved products sold under different brand names.

North Carolina health officials on Friday reported their count has now surpassed 300 cases, but said the recent illnesses there are not considered to be linked to the outbreak in and around Michigan. They said the most commonly reported foods include parsley, cilantro and lettuce, but it's not clear if those ingredients were the source of the infections, they said.

Texas floods have left high waters and a big cleanup job after hundreds of people are rescued

UVALDE, Texas (AP) -- First responders in storm-battered Texas again rushed to save people trapped in high waters Friday, as more heavy rain widened the danger from floods that have killed at least two people and left hundreds more in need of rescue.

A week of punishing downpours dumped more than 2 feet in some areas. The rain was expected to taper off, but another round of showers worsened already swollen rivers and flooded rural communities near the border with Mexico that had largely been spared major damage.

Near Ozona, a small town about 200 miles west of San Antonio, floodwaters spilled over Interstate 10. More than 50 people were rescued by boat from flooded apartments and a water-logged RV park.

A section of a bridge also collapsed over the Nueces River in Uvalde County, where months worth of rain has fallen in a span of days. In Uvalde, about 80 miles southwest of San Antonio, floodwaters rushed through Miguel Vasquez's home twice this week, leaving a layer of mud and knocking over his refrigerator and other items.

Debris was strewn around his neighborhood and a neighbor's shed teetered over a washed-away section of the property. He said Friday that he'd been caught in the waters' current and nearly been swept away and drowned in trying to get to his house Wednesday.

"I had to grab on with my hands and my feet. You couldn't swim," he said. "People think that when there's a flood, you can swim. Swimming's not going to help you. It'll take you. The current's too strong."

Nearly 1 trillion gallons of water fell on the three hardest-hit counties over three days -- enough to fill 1.5 million Olympic-sized swimming pools or supply 11 million homes for a year.

Uvalde County alone got more rain in that period than California has seen over the last month, according to Ryan Maue, former chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

The Hill Country is especially prone to flash floods because the area's signature limestone is covered by just a thin layer of soil. During heavy rains, water can quickly shoot downhill before filling the narrow river basins.

Emergency personnel across a wide swath of southern and central Texas have rescued more than 570 people, including stranded drivers and people trapped in homes, Gov. Greg Abbott said. Hill Country residents were beginning to clean up after floodwaters again barreled down the Guadalupe River and through communities still reeling from deadly floods a year ago.