by Eric Tucker WASHINGTON  — A federal judge on Wednesday held Rudy Giuliani liable in a defamation lawsuit brought by two Georgia election workers who say they were falsely accused of fraud, ruling that the former New York city mayor gave “only lip service” to complying with his legal obligations while trying to portray himself as the victim in the case. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said the punishment was necessary because Giuliani had ignored his duty as a defendant to turn over information requested by election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea’ ArShaye Moss, as part of their lawsuit. The decision moves the case…

by Gene Chamberlain LAKE FOREST, Ill.  — The Chicago Bears have revamped their defense after finishing near the bottom of the league on that side of the ball last season. Coach Matt Eberflus believes those efforts were successful, but he needs to see his defensive starters playing together — or even practicing together — first. Injuries have prevented Chicago’s full first-team defense from taking the field since training camp began. “Every year is different,” Eberflus said. “Sometimes you get certain types of injuries one year and sometimes you don’t. But you’re still dealt with the job to get guys ready…

by Darlene Superville WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will observe next month’s 22nd anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil at an Alaska military base with service members and their families, the White House announced. Biden will not participate in any of the observances at 9/11 memorial sites in New York City, Virginia or Pennsylvania. Instead, the president will stop in Alaska for a Sept. 11 observance at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage on his way back to Washington after a trip to Asia. Biden is scheduled to travel to India from Sept. 7-10 to attend a…

by John Seewer TOLEDO, Ohio  — Samuel “Joe” Wurzelbacher, who was thrust into the political spotlight as “Joe the Plumber” after questioning Barack Obama about his economic proposals during the 2008 presidential campaign, and who later forayed into politics himself, has died, his son said Monday. He was 49. His oldest son, Joey Wurzelbacher, said his father died Sunday in Wisconsin after a long illness. His family announced this year on an online fundraising site that he had pancreatic cancer. “The only thing I have to say is that he was a true patriot,” Joey Wurzelbacher — whose father had…

by Steve Peoples and Brendan Farrington TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  — Ron DeSantis scoffed when the NAACP issued a travel advisory this spring warning Black people to use “extreme care” if traveling to Florida. The leading civil rights group argued that the state’s loose gun laws and the Republican governor’s “anti-woke” campaign to deny the existence of systemic racism created a culture of “open hostility towards African Americans and people of color.” Just three months later, DeSantis is leading his state through the aftermath of a racist attack that left three African Americans dead. Black leaders in Florida — and across the…

Kimberlee Kruesi and Jonathan Mattise NASHVILLE, Tenn.  — Republican lawmakers voted Monday to temporarily silence a Democratic member of the so-called Tennessee Three during an already tense House floor session after determining the young Black member violated newly enacted rules designed to punish disruptive members. The move directed at Rep. Justin Jones prohibited him from speaking on and debating bills for the remainder of the day, which came a week into a special session that Republican Gov. Bill Lee called in reaction to a deadly shooting at a Christian elementary school in Nashville in March. The House and Senate are…

by Agency reports CHICAGO  — A shooting that wounded two women at Friday night’s Chicago White Sox-Oakland Athletics game most likely involved a gun that went off inside Guaranteed Rate Field, Chicago’s interim police superintendent said Monday. Officials have said little about where the bullets came from, or if someone brought a gun into the stadium, but Fred Waller, interim superintendent of Chicago Police Department, said Monday that investigators have nearly ruled out the possibility that the shots came from outside the ballpark, the Chicago Tribune reported. “We’re dispelling a lot of things,” Waller said during a brief media availability. “(A shot) coming from…

by Kate Brumback ATLANTA  — Mark Meadows testified in court Monday that actions detailed in a sweeping indictment that accuses him of participating in an illegal conspiracy to overturn then-President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss were all part of his job as White House chief of staff. The extraordinary testimony — from a former top presidential aide who now faces charges alongside his old boss — came in the first courtroom skirmish in a case that’s likely to have many. Meadows’ claims were part of his argument that the case should be moved from a state court to federal court.…

by Russ Bynum JACKSONVILLE, Fla.  — A campus security officer tipped off by observant students likely stopped the killer who fatally shot three people at a nearby Dollar General Store from carrying out his racist attack at Edward Waters University, the president of the historically Black institution said Monday. Students reported seeing a young, white man, pull into a campus library parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida, and begin putting on tactical gear Saturday, Edward Waters University President Zachary Faison Jr. said. They immediately flagged down a security officer who was on patrol to tell them what they saw. The officer approached the…

by Michael Tarm CHICAGO  — A judge on Monday refused to dismiss the case against a father who helped his son obtain a gun license three years before authorities say the younger man fatally shot seven people at a 2022 Fourth of July parade in suburban Chicago. Illinois prosecutors charged Robert Crimo Jr. under a unconstitutionally vague law, his lawyer argued at a hearing earlier this month in Waukegan, north of Highland Park where the shooting took place. Lake County Judge George Strickland rejected that argument, as well as a defense contention that prosecutors charged Crimo Jr. too late — after a…