WASHINGTON (AP) — She’s an Iraq War combat veteran and sexual assault survivor who has advocated for years to improve how the military handles claims of sexual misconduct. But when Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, appeared initially cool to the nomination of President-elect Donald Trump ’s choice of Pete Hegseth to serve as defense secretary — a man who once said women should not serve in combat and who has himself been accused of sexual assault — she faced an onslaught of criticism from within her own party, including threats of a potential primary challenge in 2026. “The American people spoke,” said Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of the Family Leader and a conservative activist in Ernst’s home state. “When you sign up for this job, it’s a big boy and big girl job, and she’s feeling the pressure of people vocalizing their disappointment, their concern with how she’s handling this.” The pressure campaign against Ernst, once a rising member of the GOP leadership, shows there is little room in Trump’s party for those who can’t get to yes on Hegseth or any of his other picks for his incoming administration It underscores the power Trump is expected to wield on Capitol Hill in a second term and serves as a warning to other lawmakers who may be harboring their own concerns about other Trump selections, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health secretary and Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence. “If the king wants a different senator from Iowa, we’ll have one. If he doesn’t, we won’t,” said Iowa talk show host Steve Deace, suggesting on his show Monday that he would be willing to jump in against Ernst if Trump wanted a challenger. “I think someone’s got to be made an example out of, whether it’s Joni or someone else.” Ernst's allies say she can handle criticism People close to Ernst, a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel, stress her mettle and say her eventual decision will depend on her assessment of Hegseth, a former “Fox & Friends Weekend” host and veteran, and nothing else. “Has there been Twitter pressure? Sure. But Joni’s a combat veteran. She’s not easily pressured,” said David Kochel, an Iowa Republican strategist and longtime Ernst friend and adviser. Ernst has worked steadily to shore up her relationship with Trump after declining to endorse him before the Iowa caucuses that kicked off this year's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. During a recent visit to Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Florida club, she met with Trump and billionaire Elon Musk with ideas for their budget-slashing Department of Government Efficiency. She heads up a newly formed DOGE caucus in the Senate. Trump has not tried personally to pressure Ernst to back Hegseth, according to a person familiar with their conversations who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose them. And he has not targeted her — or any potential holdouts — publicly in social media posts. He also hasn't had to. The response to Ernst built quickly, first in whispers following her initially cool remarks after meeting with Hegseth, then into a pile-on from powerful figures in the “Make America Great Again” movement. Only about 2 in 10 Americans approve of Hegseth’s nomination, according to Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs polling . About one-third of Republicans approve of him as a pick, and 16% disapprove. Another 1 in 10 Republicans, roughly, are neutral and say they neither approve nor disapprove. Trump allies had been concerned that a successful effort to derail Hegseth’s candidacy would empower opposition to other nominees, undermining his projections of complete dominance of the party. In the narrowly held Senate, with a 53-47 GOP majority in the new year, any Trump nominee can only afford a few Republican “no” votes if all Democrats are opposed. Those piling on included Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who warned that Ernst’s political career was “in serious jeopardy" and that primary challengers stood at the ready. One social media post from the CEO of The Federalist featured side-by-side photos comparing Ernst to ousted Rep. Liz Cheney , R-Wyo., whom Trump recently said deserves to be jailed, along with other members of the House committee that investigated the Capitol riot. Building America’s Future, a conservative nonprofit, announced plans to spend half a million dollars supporting Trump's pick of Hegseth, the Daily Caller first reported . The group has already spent thousands on Facebook and Instagram ads featuring Ernst’s photo and is running a commercial urging viewers to call their senators to back him. Criticism mounted at home, too. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, who quickly endeared herself to Trump when she became the highest-ranking state official to endorse him ahead of this year’s caucuses, wrote an op-ed for the conservative Breitbart news site that was seen as a not-so-subtle warning. “What we’re witnessing in Washington right now is a Deep State attempt to undermine the will of the people," she wrote. Local Republican groups also encouraged Iowans to call Ernst’s office and urged her to back Trump's picks. While incumbents have particular staying power in Iowa, Trump has a track record of ending the careers of those who cross him. Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller defended the tactics. “Right now, this is President Trump’s party,” he said Tuesday at The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council Summit in Washington. “I think voters want to see the president being able to put in his people.” A warning of what is to come Ernst has gradually appeared to soften on Hegseth. By Monday, after meeting with him once again, she issued a statement saying they had had “encouraging conversations.” Ernst said Hegseth committed “to completing a full audit of the Pentagon” and to hire a senior official who will “prioritize and strengthen my work to prevent sexual assault within the ranks.” “As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources,” she said. But for many Republican senators who have found themselves on the wrong side of Trump, it was hard not to see the campaign against Ernst as a warning. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska Republican who also met with Hegseth this week, said the attacks seemed “a little more intense than usual,” while acknowledging that she is “no stranger” to similar MAGA-led campaigns. She was reelected in 2022 after beating a Trump-endorsed challenger. Murkowski said the potential attacks don’t weigh into her decision-making, but added, “I’m sure that it factors into Sen. Ernst’s.” ___ Colvin reported from New York and Fingerhut from Des Moines, Iowa.Energy Transfer set for seven straight sessions of gains
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DENVER – Amid renewed interest in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey triggered in part by a new Netflix documentary, police in Boulder, Colorado, refuted assertions this week that there is viable evidence and leads about the 1996 killing of the 6-year-old girl that they are not pursuing. JonBenet Ramsey, who competed in beauty pageants, was found dead in the basement of her family’s home in the college town of Boulder the day after Christmas in 1996. Her body was found several hours after her mother called 911 to say her daughter was missing and a ransom note had been left behind. The details of the crime and video footage of JonBenet competing in pageants propelled the case into one of the highest-profile mysteries in the United States. Recommended Videos The police comments came as part of their annual update on the investigation, a month before the 28th anniversary of JonBenet’s killing. Police said they released it a little earlier due to the increased attention on the case, apparently referring to the three-part Netflix series “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey.” In a video statement, Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn said the department welcomes news coverage and documentaries about the killing of JonBenet, who would have been 34 this year, as a way to generate possible new leads. He said the department is committed to solving the case but needs to be careful about what it shares about the investigation to protect a possible future prosecution. “What I can tell you though, is we have thoroughly investigated multiple people as suspects throughout the years and we continue to be open-minded about what occurred as we investigate the tips that come into detectives," he said. The Netflix documentary focuses on the mistakes made by police and the “media circus” surrounding the case. JonBenet was bludgeoned and strangled. Her death was ruled a homicide, but nobody was ever prosecuted. Police were widely criticized for mishandling the early investigation into her death amid speculation that her family was responsible. However, a prosecutor cleared her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, and brother Burke in 2008 based on new DNA evidence from JonBenet's clothing that pointed to the involvement of an “unexplained third party” in her slaying. The announcement by former district attorney Mary Lacy came two years after Patsy Ramsey died of cancer. Lacy called the Ramseys “victims of this crime.” John Ramsey has continued to speak out for the case to be solved. In 2022, he supported an online petition asking Colorado’s governor to intervene in the investigation by putting an outside agency in charge of DNA testing in the case. In the Netflix documentary, he said he has been advocating for several items that have not been prepared for DNA testing to be tested and for other items to be retested. He said the results should be put through a genealogy database. In recent years, investigators have identified suspects in unsolved cases by comparing DNA profiles from crime scenes and to DNA testing results shared online by people researching their family trees. In 2021, police said in their annual update that DNA hadn’t been ruled out to help solve the case, and in 2022 noted that some evidence could be “consumed” if DNA testing is done on it. Last year, police said they convened a panel of outside experts to review the investigation to give recommendations and determine if updated technologies or forensic testing might produce new leads. In the latest update, Redfearn said that review had ended but that police continue to work through and evaluate a “lengthy list of recommendations” from the panel. ____ Amy Beth Hanson contributed to this report from Helena, Montana.By DARLENE SUPERVILLE WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he is “so proud” that a women’s health research initiative he launched last year at his wife’s urging has already invested nearly $1 billion because a healthy female population improves U.S. prosperity. “That’s a fact,” he said in closing remarks at the first White House Conference on Women’s Health Research. “We haven’t gotten that through to the other team yet,” Biden said, referencing President-elect Donald Trump and his incoming administration. Trump’s three conservative nominees to the Supreme Court from his first term as president voted to overturn a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion . Democrats campaigned on reproductive rights and women’s health issues in this year’s elections. Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump’s transition team, said the president-elect will keep his promise to improve health in the U.S. “President Trump campaigned on making America healthy again for ALL Americans including men, women, and children, and he will deliver on that promise,” Leavitt said in an email. Women make up half of the U.S. population, about 168 million people, but medical research into their unique health circumstances has largely been underfunded and understudied, officials have said. Jill Biden has said she brought the idea for the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research to the president after Maria Shriver, herself a women’s health advocate and member of the influential Kennedy political family, brought it to her. The first lady told the researchers, advocates, and business and philanthropic leaders attending the conference that she will keep pressing the issue after she leaves her role. “My work doesn’t stop in January when Joe and I leave this house,” she said. “I will keep building alliances, like the ones that brought us here today, and I will keep pushing for funding for innovative research.” The first lady said the U.S. economy loses about $1.8 billion in working time every year because of how menopause affects women. And she is interested in learning more about extreme morning sickness during pregnancy. “I heard this a couple weeks ago and I was particularly interested because my own granddaughter was going through the same thing, ’cause we’re going to be great-grandparents,” Jill Biden said. Related Articles Health | Homebound seniors living alone often slip through health system’s cracks Health | Weight loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy are all the rage. Are they safe for kids? Health | US life expectancy gap widens to 20 years among groups, researchers found Health | Rural governments often fail to communicate with residents who aren’t proficient in English Health | Who gets obesity drugs covered by insurance? In North Carolina, it helps if you’re on Medicaid Granddaughter Naomi Biden Neal and her husband, Peter Neal, are expecting their first child. Since its launch, the women’s health research initiative has attracted nearly $1 billion in federal funding, including from the Defense Department and National Institutes of Health. “In one year, everybody in this room kicked butt,” Shriver said at the conference. “Not until the Bidens did anyone ever think to make women’s health and research a priority for the federal government, so let that sink in.” President Biden closed the conference with a nod to the influence of his wife, who, after her remarks, sat in the front row beside their daughter Ashley Biden, who runs a women’s shelter in Philadelphia. ‘You stepped up kid,” Biden told the first lady. Then he told the audience, “In case you wonder, when she speaks, I listen.”
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You may know of him from Dragon’s Den — or Shark Tank- or Fox News. Now, Kevin O’Leary is promising to bring a $70 billion AI data centre to northwestern Alberta. “$70 billion is probably the largest real estate project ever proposed in Canada. It’s certainly the largest data centre proposed in globally right now,” said O’Leary. O’Leary, who calls himself Mr. Wonderful, announced Wonder Valley on Monday. It’s a 7,000 acre data centre park — to be built about 42 kilometres south of Grande Prairie in the MD of Greenview. Why there? Well, in an interview with CityNews he said it’s because of low taxes, a talented work force and an abundance of natural gas for power generation. “We could probably be the world’s leaders in the development of AI technology and AI data centres because of one thing: our power. No one can compete with the power we have and that’s exactly what AI needs,” said O’Leary. Local officials say highway 40 is already being upgraded to handle the boom. Most of the workers, 3,000 to 5,000 during construction and about 1,000 ongoing are expected to commute south from Grande Prairie. “What you’re doing is just taking a really consistent economy and you’re just giving it a jolt. And that jolt is just diversification,” said Kyle Reiling, MD of Greenview Executive Director. O’Leary says he’s already optioned the land, the power turbines are expected to be up and running in 24 months and the data centres will be built in phases. He says he’s been working with the premier’s office on this, adding a likely change to a conservative government in Ottawa is giving him and other investors a renewed confidence in doing business in Canada. “This will provide thousands of jobs during the construction phase, over the next 5 to 7 years. And many of those will be high-paying jobs, luckily Alberta has a very trained number of people who can do this,” said O’Leary. Last week, the Alberta government announced a plan to attract $100 billion in AI data centre investment. O’Leary agrees that’s possible and his project could go a long way to realizing that.
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