LOS ANGELES (AP) — San Francisco has earned an unwelcome national reputation for car burglaries that U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff was reminded of the hard way: The Democratic congressman had his luggage swiped from his car while it was parked in a downtown garage.

With his formal clothing gone, Schiff ended up at a fundraising dinner Thursday for his U.S. Senate campaign dressed like he was headed to a Los Angeles Dodgers game — in shirt sleeves and an insulated vest. Others who attended the event were mostly decked out in suit jackets and ties.

Schiff’s campaign confirmed the burglary and declined further comment, citing an ongoing investigation.

“Yes, they took my bags,” the congressman lamented to the San Francisco Chronicle, adding that he didn’t want to dwell on his firsthand experience as a crime victim.

Statistically, reported auto break-ins are down in San Francisco, but vehicles with busted windows and sprinkles of broken glass remain a common sight in the city. Visitors and residents are constantly reminded to remove valuables from parked cars.

It was advice Schiff neglected to follow.

In August, the city’s police chief announced a crackdown on fighting auto smash-and-grabs. The San Francisco Police Department reported nearly 900 break-ins in February, down from 1,850 in July. There were more than 3,000 reported thefts in September 2022.

Schiff, a former federal prosecutor, rose to national prominence as the lead prosecutor in then-President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial. Schiff says on his campaign website that he is “committed to reforming our broken criminal justice system and keeping California families and communities safe.”

Schiff was the target of plenty of social media snark following the crime: “Democrats have nobody to blame but themselves,” one user wrote on the social platform X.

The burglary involving a prominent member of Congress recalled the July 2021 robbery and assault of former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer in nearby Oakland, another San Francisco Bay Area city that has struggled with crime rates. She was pushed by an assailant and had her cell phone stolen, but was not seriously injured.

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Blood reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Janie Har in San Francisco contributed.

By Tim Reid

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Kristi Noem, a contender to become Republican Donald Trump’svice presidential running mate, defended herself on Friday against Democratic attacks over her account of shooting a dog on her family farm.

Noem, the governor of South Dakota, describes killing an “untrainable” dog called Cricket which she “hated” in an upcoming memoir, excerpts of which were first published by The Guardian on Friday. She also said she shot to death a goat.

Noem said the dog ruined a hunt and later attacked chickens owned by a local family, behaved like a “trained assassin,” and was “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with.”

“I realized I had to put her down,” Noem writes.

The Democratic National Committee seized on the excerpts, calling them “horrifying” and “disturbing” and tried to make a 2024 election argument about the shooting of the animals.

“If you want elected officials who don’t brag about brutally killing their pets as part of their self-promotional book tour, then listen to our owners – and vote Democrat,” the DNC said in a statement, giving voice to the dogs.

Responding on X, Noem said, “We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm. Sadly, we just had to put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years.”

Noem is on a list of candidates being considered by Trump to be his vice presidential running mate, friends and allies of Trump have told Reuters. Trump faces a general election rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden on Nov. 5.

Colleen O’Brien, senior director at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), decried Noem’s decision to kill the dog.

She criticized Noem for allowing “this rambunctious puppy loose on chickens and then punishing her by deciding to personally blow her brains out rather than attempting to train her or find a more responsible guardian who would provide her with a proper home.”

(Reporting by Tim Reid, editing by Ross Colvin and Sandra Maler)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday formally began planning for a potential presidential transition, aiming to ensure continuity of government no matter the outcome of November’s general election.

Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, sent memos to all executive departments and agencies, directing them to name a point person for transition planning by May 3. It’s the routine first step in congressionally mandated preparedness for presidential transitions.

Next week, White House chief of staff Jeff Zients — who also chaired Biden’s 2020 transition effort — will lead the first meeting of the White House Transition Coordinating Council, which consists of senior White House policy, national security and management officials, as required by the Presidential Transition Act.

The act provides federal support for major party candidates to prepare to govern so that they can have personnel in place to take policy actions on their first day in office. Making sure presidential candidates are ready to take charge of the federal government became a heightened priority after the Sept. 11 attacks, and the act has been updated several times since to provide additional resources to candidates and to require incumbents to plan for a handoff with even greater intensity.

Young’s letter is nearly identical to the one sent four years ago by Trump administration acting director Russell Vought, for a transition process that started out orderly, but derailed when then-President Donald Trump refused to concede his defeat to Biden. It took until Nov. 23, two weeks after the election was called, for Trump’s General Services Administration to name Biden as the “apparent winner” of the 2020 race — a required step for the transition to begin.

The law requires presidential candidates and the General Services Administration to reach a memorandum of understanding that governs everything from the provision of federal office space to access to sensitive documents by Sept. 1, though often it is reached sooner. Candidates must first formally secure their party’s nomination at their conventions before the memorandum of understanding can be signed.

Transition teams begin vetting candidates for jobs in a future administration, including beginning the time-consuming security clearance process for likely appointees who need to be ready to take their posts on Inauguration Day.

Biden in February launched a separate task force aimed at addressing the “systemic” problem of mishandling classified information during presidential transitions, days after a Justice Department special counsel’s sharply critical report said he and his aides had done just that when he left the vice presidency in 2016.

DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — A judge upheld the disqualification of a candidate who had had planned to run against the judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s 2020 Georgia election interference case.

Tiffani Johnson is one of two people who filed paperwork to challenge Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee. An administrative law judge earlier this month found that she was not qualified to run for the seat after she failed to appear at a hearing on a challenge to her eligibility, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger adopted that decision.

Johnson last week filed a petition for review of that decision in Fulton County Superior Court. After all of McAfee’s colleagues on the Fulton County bench were recused, a judge in neighboring DeKalb County took up the matter and held a hearing Thursday on Johnson’s petition.

At the end of the hearing, DeKalb Superior Court Judge Stacey Hydrick upheld the decision that said Johnson is not eligible, news outlets reported. A representative for Johnson’s campaign did not immediately respond to an email Friday seeking comment.

The ruling leaves McAfee with a single challenger, civil rights attorney Robert Patillo, in the nonpartisan race for his seat.

With early voting set to begin Monday for the May 21 election, it’s likely too late to remove Johnson’s name from the ballot. The law says that if a candidate is determined not to be qualified, that person’s name should be withheld from the ballot or stricken from any ballots. If there isn’t enough time to strike the candidate’s name, prominent notices are to be placed at polling places advising voters that the candidate is disqualified and that votes cast for her will not be counted.

Georgia law allows any person who is eligible to vote for a candidate to challenge the candidate’s qualifications by filing a complaint with the secretary of state’s office within two weeks of the qualification deadline. A lawyer for Sean Arnold, a Fulton County voter, filed the challenge on March 22.

Arnold’s complaint noted that the Georgia Constitution requires all judges to “reside in the geographical area in which they are elected to serve.” He noted that in Johnson’s qualification paperwork she listed her home address as being in DeKalb County and wrote that she had been a legal resident of neighboring Fulton County for “0 consecutive years.” The qualification paperwork Johnson signed includes a line that says the candidate is “an elector of the county of my residence eligible to vote in the election in which I am a candidate.”

Administrative Law Judge Ronit Walker on April 2 held a hearing on the matter but noted in her decision that Johnson did not appear.

Walker wrote that the burden of proof is on the candidate to “affirmatively establish eligibility for office” and that Johnson’s failure to appear at the hearing “rendered her incapable of meeting her burden of proof.”

Walker concluded that Johnson was unqualified to be a candidate for superior court judge in the Atlanta Judicial Circuit. Raffensperger adopted the judge’s findings and conclusions in reaching his decision to disqualify her.

A lawyer Johnson, who said in her petition that she has since moved to Fulton County, argued that Johnson failed to show up for the hearing because she did not receive the notice for it.

Without addressing the merits of the residency challenge, Hydrick found that Johnson had been given sufficient notice ahead of the hearing before the administrative law judge and concluded that the disqualification was proper.

BEIJING (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday in the latest high-level contacts between the superpowers aimed at keeping tense relations under control.

The visit brought little progress on contentious issues, including China’s support for Russia in Ukraine, tensions over Taiwan and the South China Sea and U.S. complaints about cheap Chinese exports. However, there was some effort to ease the mood by emphasizing educational and other cultural exchanges. Following are details of some of the issues:

UKRAINE AND CHINA’S SUPPORT FOR RUSSIA

Blinken raised concerns about China’s support for Russia’s military, saying its supply of so-called dual-use goods was “having a material effect in Ukraine” and raising the threat Russia poses to countries in Europe.

“China is the top supplier of machine tools, microelectronics, nitrocellulose, which is critical to making munitions and rocket propellants, and other dual-use items that Moscow is using to ramp up its defense industrial base,” Blinken told a news conference.

He did not respond when asked whether Washington would impose sanctions over China’s support for Russia, which U.S. officials warn risks hurting the broader bilateral relationship, even as ties stabilize.

China says it has not provided weaponry to any party and that it is “not a producer of or party involved in the Ukraine crisis”. However, it says that normal trade between China and Russia should not be interrupted or restricted.

TAIWAN

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi said the U.S. must not step on “red lines” covering sovereignty, security and development interests – an apparent reference to Taiwan, the democratically governed island China claims as its own, and the disputed South China Sea.

Russia’s Ukraine invasion has raised fears China might be emboldened to move against Taiwan, which the U.S. is required by law to provide with the means to defend itself.

President Joe Biden, who met Xi Jinping in November in San Francisco, says Washington does not support Taiwan’s independence, but has upset Beijing by appearing to suggest it would defend the island if it were attacked.

Underscoring the discord, hours before Blinken landed in China on Wednesday, Biden signed a bill that included $8 billion to counter China’s military might, as well as billions in defense aid for Taiwan and $61 billion for Ukraine.

ECONOMIC RELATIONS

China and the United States are the world’s two largest economies and still have robust trade ties. These have been hit by U.S. concerns about the size of its trade deficit with China, Washington’s imposition of restrictions on trade in goods that could bolster China’s military, and efforts to diversify supply chains away from China since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wang said the U.S. had taken “endless” measures to suppress China’s economy, trade, science and technology, equating such steps to containment. Xi reiterated Beijing’s concerns that the U.S. was suppressing its economic development.

“This is a fundamental issue that must be addressed, just like the first button of a shirt that must be put right, in order for the China-U.S. relationship to truly stabilize, improve and move forward,” Xi said.

DRUGS AND OTHER ISSUES

Curbing China’s supply of the chemicals used to make fentanyl, a killer drug having a devastating effect among American youth, has been a top U.S. priority.

During his three-day trip, Blinken met China’s minister of public security, Wang Xiaohong, to discuss the issue.

He said China has made some progress dealing with what he called the number-one killer of Americans between the ages of 18 and 45, but “more needs to be done.”

Blinken also said the countries also agreed to hold their first talks on artificial intelligence in coming weeks.

PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE TIES

To lighten the mood after days of serious engagement, Blinken popped into a Beijing record store and bought an album by Chinese rocker Dou Wei and Taylor Swift’s “Midnights.”

One of the aims of his trip has been to emphasize the importance of “people-to-people ties” in improving relations.

Blinken, a keen musician and guitar player, described music as “the best connector, regardless of geography.”

He also said Xi had said he wanted to “significantly increase” the number of American students in China. Blinken said there were more than 290,000 Chinese students in the United States, but fewer than 900 Americans studying in China.

(Reporting by Simon Lewis, Antoni Slodkowski and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

By Jarrett Renshaw

NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday that he would participate in a debate with Donald Trump, his Republican opponent in November’s election.

“I am, somewhere. I don’t know when,” the Democratic president said in an interview with broadcaster Howard Stern. “I’m happy to debate him.”

The remarks were Biden’s clearest yet on the prospect of a presidential debate. Biden had not previously committed to debate Trump, saying last month it would depend on the former president’s behavior.

Trump, who refused to debate his rivals before winning the Republican primary race last month, has in recent weeks been challenging Biden to engage in a one-on-one match-up with him, offering to debate the incumbent Democrat “anytime, anywhere, anyplace.”

Earlier this month, Trump’s top two campaign advisers sent a letter to an independent commission that normally sanctions such events calling for an accelerated debates timetable, holding more than the usual three and starting them earlier in the campaign cycle.

A dozen leading U.S. news organizations have also urged the candidates to publicly commit to debating each other.

Their statement suggested that debates for the current race be sponsored, as they have every election cycle since 1988, by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.

Biden’s camp has been concerned that once on stage Trump will not abide by rules set by the Commission, and some Biden advisers say they would prefer not to elevate Trump by putting him on the same stage with the Democratic incumbent.

Biden has a lead among registered voters of 41% to 37% over Trump, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found earlier this month.

Asked during a trip to Las Vegas in early February about Trump calling for Biden to debate him, Biden said, “If I were him, I would want to debate me too. He’s got nothing to do.”

Biden and Trump faced each other in two televised presidential election debates during the 2020 campaign.

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Writing by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – President Joe Biden appeared on a live radio broadcast with interviewer Howard Stern on Friday, telling family stories and saying his stutter prepared him for the hard knocks of life.

Biden said the stutter that he has had since childhood was the best thing that happened to him. Biden eventually conquered the stutter but it occasionally returns in his public speaking.

The Stern interview came as Biden was in New York for political events. It was heavy on biographical details as the Democrat attempts to make himself more approachable to voters.

Biden also said his father, Joseph Robinette Biden senior, showed him tough love, telling a story about getting knocked out while playing football when he was in the fourth grade.

“My dad walked out with us and said, Joey get up. Just get up. Gotta get up,” he said.

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw, Steve Holland and Katherine Jackson)

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans’ majority could tighten by another vote after Tuesday’s special congressional election in Buffalo — at least, temporarily.

Voters are choosing a replacement for Democrat Brian Higgins, a longtime House member who cited the “slow and frustrating” pace of Congress before resigning in February. Democrats have a long record of success in the 26th Congressional District, and their nominee is highly favored to win on Tuesday.

Rather than holding a traditional primary, local party officials handpick the nominees in New York special elections for Congress. Democrats chose Buffalo state Sen. Tim Kennedy, while Republicans nominated West Seneca Town Supervisor Gary Dickson.

After a messy redistricting process in 2022, New York just recently approved new congressional maps, which will go into effect for the 2024 election. For now, New York is filling Higgins’ vacancy under the old congressional lines. However, the 26th District changes very little under the revised maps, which means whoever wins the special election to fill the remainder of Higgins’ term will face a similar electorate in November.

A Democratic victory would shrink Republicans’ 218-212 majority by one member — but not necessarily for long. Three special elections in previously Republican-held districts are on the calendar before the end of June.

Here’s a look at what to expect on Tuesday:

The congressional district election will be held on Tuesday. Polls close at 9 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press will provide coverage for the special election in New York’s 26th Congressional District. Kennedy’s name appears on the ballot under the Democratic Party and the Working Families Party. Dickson appears as the nominee for the Republican and Conservative parties.

Any voter registered in New York’s 26th Congressional District may participate in this special election.

New York’s 26th runs along the Niagara River, which separates western New York from Canada. Most of the Republican vote in the district stems from the area that falls in Niagara County, at its northern tip. However, that’s the least populous portion of the district. Most of the votes come from the southern part of the district in Erie County, which leans heavily toward Democrats.

Democrats have been successful in the congressional district in recent elections. Higgins represented a House seat in Buffalo for two decades, and Joe Biden carried the district by double digits in 2020 when he defeated President Donald Trump.

For lots of voters in the congressional district, the two nominees will be familiar names. For over a decade, Kennedy has represented Buffalo in the state Senate in a district that overlaps with the 26th Congressional District. Dickson, meanwhile, appeared on the ballot in West Seneca in 2019 and 2023, though in a much smaller election for town supervisor.

Dickson said he believes his path to victory depends on not only consolidating votes in the northern portion of the district but also winning over working-class voters in the southeast corner and flipping suburban voters who are frustrated with high taxes in Amherst. As of the latest filing deadline on April 10, Kennedy’s campaign had spent 50 times more on the race than Dickson’s had.

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

A recount is required if a candidate wins by 20 votes or fewer or by less than half a percentage point. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is eligible for a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

As of Nov. 1, there were 512,774 registered voters in New York’s 26th Congressional District. Of those, nearly 50% were Democrats and 22% were Republicans. The last race for the district took place in November 2022. At the time, 48% of registered voters turned out.

But there’s been another House special election in New York more recently, when Democrat Tom Suozzi replaced Republican George Santos on Long Island in February. As of Nov. 1, there were more than 570,000 registered voters in the 3rd District, and about 30% voted in the special election.

Santos had won office in what had been a reliably Democratic district partly by falsely portraying himself as an American success story — a son of working-class immigrants who made himself into a wealthy Wall Street dealmaker. But many elements of Santos’ life story were later exposed as fabrications, and he was indicted on multiple charges including allegations he stole money from Republican donors. He has pleaded not guilty.

Ahead of Tuesday’s special election, just over 8,700 early votes had been cast by April 23. Nearly 69% of those early votes came from registered Democrats, while 19% came from Republicans.

In the 2022 election, the AP first reported results at 9:43 p.m. ET, or 43 minutes after polls closed. The election night tabulation ended at 11 p.m. ET, with about 86 % of total votes counted.

(Reuters) -The allies of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump are drafting proposals that would attempt to erode the Federal Reserve’s independence if he wins, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

A small group of the former president’s allies has produced a nearly 10-page document outlining a policy vision for the central bank, according to the report.

The group argues that Trump should be consulted on rate decisions and would have the authority to remove Jerome Powell as Fed Chair before his term ends in 2026, the report added.

Trump had picked Powell in 2017 to lead the U.S. central bank but turned against him soon after. He said in February that he would not reappoint Powell and believed the Fed chief would lower interest rates to help President Joe Biden’s prospects for re-election.

The Journal said it could not determine if the former president was aware of or signed off on the effort, but some people close to the discussions believe the work has received his blessing.

The former president has had informal discussions with advisers about possible candidates to lead the Fed and has asked associates whether they would be interested in the job, the report said.

The Trump campaign played down the report on Friday, sharing an earlier statement with Reuters in response.

“Let us be very specific here: unless a message is coming directly from President Trump or an authorized member of his campaign team, no aspect of future presidential staffing or policy announcements should be deemed official,” the statement from campaign co-chairs Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said.

However remote the likelihood of such a plan becoming reality in its entirety or in part, the prospect of Trump having extensive sway over Fed policy decisions that wield tremendous influence over the direction of the world’s largest economy and global asset markets was already resonating.

Among the pegs supporting the U.S. dollar’s stature as the world’s reserve currency, for instance, is the Fed’s ability to set monetary policy on its own without political oversight. That status in turn is key to granting the U.S. government a nearly unchecked ability to borrow on global bond markets at relatively low interest rates despite having a $26 trillion debt load, dubbed the “exorbitant privilege.”

“If Fed independence is eroded it would be absolutely disastrous,” said Citigroup Global Chief Economist Nathan Sheets, who served as under secretary for international affairs for the U.S. Treasury under Trump’s predecessor, Democrat Barack Obama.

“When I think about the risk for markets and the dollar, any policy change that eroded Fed independence in an appreciable way would be greeted by the market very vigorously and adversely and be a source of great pressure and volatility,” he said. “Any gains a political actor might think they glean would be so small compared to the potential cost that they might have … it leaves me optimistic it is not a game worth playing.”

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Howard Schneider in Washington; Editing by Anil D’Silva, Chizu Nomiyama and Andrea Ricci)