Arizona
Top officials in Maricopa County agree on how to oversee elections
PHOENIX (AP) — Election officials in Arizona’s most populous county reached an agreement this week on how to jointly oversee the vote, ending a prolonged legal battle.
Republican Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap sued the predominantly GOP board of supervisors in June 2025, alleging it illegally took control of certain aspects of election administration. The board called the lawsuit frivolous and said Heap was wasting taxpayer money.
They reached a settlement this week to resolve the lawsuit after mediated negotiations, and the board approved it.
“This deal gets us out of the courtroom,” board Chair Kate Brophy McGee, said after Tuesday’s vote. “I’m sick of drama. We are done with being on the front page going forward.”
Heap said his objective was simple: to ensure his office’s statutory responsibilities are carried out lawfully.
“I am pleased we have reached an agreement that, when implemented, will restore those responsibilities and establish a clear framework for administering elections moving forward,” Heap said in a statement jointly released with the board.
Under the agreement, an interim plan proposed by Heap and approved by the Arizona Supreme Court will govern the July 21 primary. Early voting began in late June.
Heap will oversee much of early voting, selection of ballot drop box locations and other duties. The board will handle other areas, including Election Day voting, ballot tabulation and voting location equipment maintenance. The board also will fund a new $15 million information technology system and related positions for the recorder.
Heap was backed in the lawsuit by America First Legal, a conservative public interest group founded by Stephen Miller, a deputy chief of staff in the White House. Heap had claimed the board transferred funding, IT staff and some key functions — including management of drop boxes and establishment of early voting sites — away from his office through an agreement negotiated with his predecessor.
Heap defeated incumbent recorder Stephen Richer, in a GOP primary, and won the 2024 general election.
The two were at odds over election administration in Maricopa County. In the past, Heap has stopped short of repeating false claims that the 2020 and 2022 elections were stolen. But he has said voters don’t trust the state’s voting system and that it is poorly run. Richer, also a Republican, relentlessly defended the legitimacy of the vote.
Supervisor Steve Gallardo, a Democrat, did not vote to approve the settlement and criticized Heap during Tuesday’s board meeting.
“Honestly, I don’t think he wants to have an election that is conducted transparent or even an election that’s not compromised,” Gallardo said. “Now, with this, he owns it.”
Kentucky
Ghost gun company ordered to pay $100M in the death of teen in historic verdict
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A ghost gun company has been ordered to pay more than $100 million in the death of a Kentucky teenager who had purchased the company’s pistol-building kit online.
The verdict — believed to be the largest-ever against a gun dealer — was awarded by a jury Wednesday following a trial focused on whether the vendor, Husky Armory LLC, skirted federal regulations barring the sale of the gun-assembly kits to those under 21.
In a wrongful-death lawsuit, the family of Henry Willis said he was just 18 when he purchased the Glock G19 pistol “build kit” from Husky Armory’s website in 2023. He assembled the handgun in his garage — telling his father it was a transistor radio — and used it to end his life six days later.
Everytown Law, which represented the family, said the $104.2 million payout was the largest ever reached against a gun seller, surpassing the $73 million settlement awarded to the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting by the rifle-maker Remington.
It comes a little over a year after the Supreme Court upheld regulations enacted by the Biden administration that mandated serial numbers on the homemade weapons and required buyers to complete background checks and age verification.
Attorneys for Willis said Husky Armory had flouted each of those requirements.
Their website advertised the product as having “everything you need to build your own Glock style pistol from the comfort of your home,” noting the weapon could be assembled by “nearly anyone with a brain,” according to the lawsuit.
Inquiries to Husky Armory LLC and its owner, Cody Yurk, were not immediately returned. The company, which is based in Omaha, Nebraska, was not present for the trial, according to the family and their attorneys.
At a news conference Thursday, Willis’ mother, Laura Herp, described her son as a “kind, gentle child” who had struggled with mental health issues in the months leading up to his death.
“A child in crisis should never be able to access a deadly weapon,” Herp said. “Companies like Husky Armory thrive off selling to folks who shouldn’t have access to firearms, and they didn’t care who Henry was. They didn’t even bother showing up to the trial.”
A state court in Louisville had previously issued a default judgment against the vendor for failing to respond to the lawsuit. Following a two-day trial this week, a jury awarded $4.2 million in economic damages and $100 million in punitive damages to the family.
“This historic verdict sends a powerful message to ghost-gun sellers who set up businesses to profit by circumventing critical safeguards like background checks and age verification,” said Dana Mulhauser, an attorney for Everytown Law. “Henry should be home with his family today, and Laura deserved more time and opportunity to help her son heal.”
Ohio
2 of 8 men charged in alleged plot to attack the White House UFC event plead not guilty
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Two of the eight men indicted in an alleged drone and sniper plot to attack President Donald Trump’s UFC cage-fighting show on the White House lawn pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal conspiracy charges.
Clothed in jail garb and shackled, Tycen Proper, 19, of Danville, Ohio, and Chandler Scaggs, 21, of Chapmanville, West Virginia, entered the pleas before U.S. District Court Judge Edmund Sargus Jr. in Ohio, where the case has been consolidated. They and the other six defendants are each charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and conspiracy to commit murder on federal government territory and to murder a federal government official.
Sargus scheduled their trial to begin Sept. 14.
“What would have happened or could have happened, that’s never going to be clear, because, thank God, there was an intervention here and this thing was disrupted,” U.S. Attorney Dominick Gerace II told reporters last week as he detailed the group’s July 9 indictments. “But, in my view, when I look at what’s been alleged there, it seems pretty likely that someone or multiple people were driving to Washington, D.C., to do something.”
Attorneys for Proper and Scaggs declined to comment after the hearing.
According to the indictment, the plot began in May. Members of the group — citing grievances about government corruption, water-guzzling data centers and the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files — began amassing money, firearms, ammunition, body armor, explosives, drones, medical equipment, communications equipment and other items.
The attack was planned to take place at the cage-fighting show dubbed UFC Freedom 250, which was held on the South Lawn of the White House to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary. Law enforcement officials said they learned of the possible threat four days before the event was scheduled to take place.
One of the defendants told investigators that they planned to fly explosive-laden drones into the event and then shoot panicked crowd members as they fled, according to a federal affidavit.
The Justice Department announced charges against seven people from across the country last month, including from Ohio, Missouri, Washington, Nebraska and California. Officials said the suspects harbored fringe conspiracy theories and hoped the attack would destabilize the government.
Four alleged conspirators charged in Missouri, Nebraska and California the weekend of the event and two more charged about a week later in Washington and Missouri are still in the process of being moved to Ohio to face charges.
They are likely to be tried as a group.
Scaggs was arrested separately later, but was brought to Ohio ahead of the other out-of-state defendants.
Louisiana
Man charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a marshal trying to arrest him
A Louisiana man has been accused of murder in the fatal shooting of a deputy U.S. marshal who joined other officers in trying to arrest him at his home after he failed to show up for trial on rape and sexual battery charges.
Clarence A. Frazier Jr., 48, of Alexandria, faces one count in federal court of murder of a federal officer, Deputy Marshal Drew Hanson, a crime punishable by either life in prison or death.
Authorities filed a complaint against him after he was taken into custody Monday, based on an FBI agent’s affidavit, and a federal magistrate unsealed the complaint Tuesday.
Acting U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche said in a statement that Frazier would be “held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
A federal public defender representing Frazier did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages seeking comment.
Marshals and sheriff’s detectives entered Frazier’s home Monday to serve an arrest warrant for contempt of court and found him in a bedroom, the FBI agent, James Rimmer, said in his affidavit. According to other authorities, Frazier shot at the officers and fatally wounded Hanson.
He then barricaded himself in the bedroom and was arrested after a standoff, Rimmer said.
Frazier had a trial scheduled to start that day in Rapides Parish District Court in a case filed by prosecutors in 2024, according to online court records. He was charged with one count of third-degree rape, punishable by up to 25 years in prison, and one count of sexual battery on a person with infirmities, punishable by up to 20 years, according to court records.
Frazier was a registered sex offender, according to an online list maintained by the local sheriff’s department, though it did not provide details about his previous conviction.
Top officials in Maricopa County agree on how to oversee elections
PHOENIX (AP) — Election officials in Arizona’s most populous county reached an agreement this week on how to jointly oversee the vote, ending a prolonged legal battle.
Republican Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap sued the predominantly GOP board of supervisors in June 2025, alleging it illegally took control of certain aspects of election administration. The board called the lawsuit frivolous and said Heap was wasting taxpayer money.
They reached a settlement this week to resolve the lawsuit after mediated negotiations, and the board approved it.
“This deal gets us out of the courtroom,” board Chair Kate Brophy McGee, said after Tuesday’s vote. “I’m sick of drama. We are done with being on the front page going forward.”
Heap said his objective was simple: to ensure his office’s statutory responsibilities are carried out lawfully.
“I am pleased we have reached an agreement that, when implemented, will restore those responsibilities and establish a clear framework for administering elections moving forward,” Heap said in a statement jointly released with the board.
Under the agreement, an interim plan proposed by Heap and approved by the Arizona Supreme Court will govern the July 21 primary. Early voting began in late June.
Heap will oversee much of early voting, selection of ballot drop box locations and other duties. The board will handle other areas, including Election Day voting, ballot tabulation and voting location equipment maintenance. The board also will fund a new $15 million information technology system and related positions for the recorder.
Heap was backed in the lawsuit by America First Legal, a conservative public interest group founded by Stephen Miller, a deputy chief of staff in the White House. Heap had claimed the board transferred funding, IT staff and some key functions — including management of drop boxes and establishment of early voting sites — away from his office through an agreement negotiated with his predecessor.
Heap defeated incumbent recorder Stephen Richer, in a GOP primary, and won the 2024 general election.
The two were at odds over election administration in Maricopa County. In the past, Heap has stopped short of repeating false claims that the 2020 and 2022 elections were stolen. But he has said voters don’t trust the state’s voting system and that it is poorly run. Richer, also a Republican, relentlessly defended the legitimacy of the vote.
Supervisor Steve Gallardo, a Democrat, did not vote to approve the settlement and criticized Heap during Tuesday’s board meeting.
“Honestly, I don’t think he wants to have an election that is conducted transparent or even an election that’s not compromised,” Gallardo said. “Now, with this, he owns it.”
Kentucky
Ghost gun company ordered to pay $100M in the death of teen in historic verdict
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A ghost gun company has been ordered to pay more than $100 million in the death of a Kentucky teenager who had purchased the company’s pistol-building kit online.
The verdict — believed to be the largest-ever against a gun dealer — was awarded by a jury Wednesday following a trial focused on whether the vendor, Husky Armory LLC, skirted federal regulations barring the sale of the gun-assembly kits to those under 21.
In a wrongful-death lawsuit, the family of Henry Willis said he was just 18 when he purchased the Glock G19 pistol “build kit” from Husky Armory’s website in 2023. He assembled the handgun in his garage — telling his father it was a transistor radio — and used it to end his life six days later.
Everytown Law, which represented the family, said the $104.2 million payout was the largest ever reached against a gun seller, surpassing the $73 million settlement awarded to the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting by the rifle-maker Remington.
It comes a little over a year after the Supreme Court upheld regulations enacted by the Biden administration that mandated serial numbers on the homemade weapons and required buyers to complete background checks and age verification.
Attorneys for Willis said Husky Armory had flouted each of those requirements.
Their website advertised the product as having “everything you need to build your own Glock style pistol from the comfort of your home,” noting the weapon could be assembled by “nearly anyone with a brain,” according to the lawsuit.
Inquiries to Husky Armory LLC and its owner, Cody Yurk, were not immediately returned. The company, which is based in Omaha, Nebraska, was not present for the trial, according to the family and their attorneys.
At a news conference Thursday, Willis’ mother, Laura Herp, described her son as a “kind, gentle child” who had struggled with mental health issues in the months leading up to his death.
“A child in crisis should never be able to access a deadly weapon,” Herp said. “Companies like Husky Armory thrive off selling to folks who shouldn’t have access to firearms, and they didn’t care who Henry was. They didn’t even bother showing up to the trial.”
A state court in Louisville had previously issued a default judgment against the vendor for failing to respond to the lawsuit. Following a two-day trial this week, a jury awarded $4.2 million in economic damages and $100 million in punitive damages to the family.
“This historic verdict sends a powerful message to ghost-gun sellers who set up businesses to profit by circumventing critical safeguards like background checks and age verification,” said Dana Mulhauser, an attorney for Everytown Law. “Henry should be home with his family today, and Laura deserved more time and opportunity to help her son heal.”
Ohio
2 of 8 men charged in alleged plot to attack the White House UFC event plead not guilty
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Two of the eight men indicted in an alleged drone and sniper plot to attack President Donald Trump’s UFC cage-fighting show on the White House lawn pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal conspiracy charges.
Clothed in jail garb and shackled, Tycen Proper, 19, of Danville, Ohio, and Chandler Scaggs, 21, of Chapmanville, West Virginia, entered the pleas before U.S. District Court Judge Edmund Sargus Jr. in Ohio, where the case has been consolidated. They and the other six defendants are each charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and conspiracy to commit murder on federal government territory and to murder a federal government official.
Sargus scheduled their trial to begin Sept. 14.
“What would have happened or could have happened, that’s never going to be clear, because, thank God, there was an intervention here and this thing was disrupted,” U.S. Attorney Dominick Gerace II told reporters last week as he detailed the group’s July 9 indictments. “But, in my view, when I look at what’s been alleged there, it seems pretty likely that someone or multiple people were driving to Washington, D.C., to do something.”
Attorneys for Proper and Scaggs declined to comment after the hearing.
According to the indictment, the plot began in May. Members of the group — citing grievances about government corruption, water-guzzling data centers and the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files — began amassing money, firearms, ammunition, body armor, explosives, drones, medical equipment, communications equipment and other items.
The attack was planned to take place at the cage-fighting show dubbed UFC Freedom 250, which was held on the South Lawn of the White House to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary. Law enforcement officials said they learned of the possible threat four days before the event was scheduled to take place.
One of the defendants told investigators that they planned to fly explosive-laden drones into the event and then shoot panicked crowd members as they fled, according to a federal affidavit.
The Justice Department announced charges against seven people from across the country last month, including from Ohio, Missouri, Washington, Nebraska and California. Officials said the suspects harbored fringe conspiracy theories and hoped the attack would destabilize the government.
Four alleged conspirators charged in Missouri, Nebraska and California the weekend of the event and two more charged about a week later in Washington and Missouri are still in the process of being moved to Ohio to face charges.
They are likely to be tried as a group.
Scaggs was arrested separately later, but was brought to Ohio ahead of the other out-of-state defendants.
Louisiana
Man charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a marshal trying to arrest him
A Louisiana man has been accused of murder in the fatal shooting of a deputy U.S. marshal who joined other officers in trying to arrest him at his home after he failed to show up for trial on rape and sexual battery charges.
Clarence A. Frazier Jr., 48, of Alexandria, faces one count in federal court of murder of a federal officer, Deputy Marshal Drew Hanson, a crime punishable by either life in prison or death.
Authorities filed a complaint against him after he was taken into custody Monday, based on an FBI agent’s affidavit, and a federal magistrate unsealed the complaint Tuesday.
Acting U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche said in a statement that Frazier would be “held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
A federal public defender representing Frazier did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages seeking comment.
Marshals and sheriff’s detectives entered Frazier’s home Monday to serve an arrest warrant for contempt of court and found him in a bedroom, the FBI agent, James Rimmer, said in his affidavit. According to other authorities, Frazier shot at the officers and fatally wounded Hanson.
He then barricaded himself in the bedroom and was arrested after a standoff, Rimmer said.
Frazier had a trial scheduled to start that day in Rapides Parish District Court in a case filed by prosecutors in 2024, according to online court records. He was charged with one count of third-degree rape, punishable by up to 25 years in prison, and one count of sexual battery on a person with infirmities, punishable by up to 20 years, according to court records.
Frazier was a registered sex offender, according to an online list maintained by the local sheriff’s department, though it did not provide details about his previous conviction.
