ALIQUIPPA COUNCIL PROMOTED TWO OFFICERS TO SERGEANTS LAST NIGHT. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO WAS THERE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

A TEENAGE BOY WAS STRUCK A VEHICLE IN A HIT AND RUN IN AMBRIDGE LAST NIGHT. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS DETAILS. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

WEATHER FORECAST FOR THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4TH, 2018

TODAY – THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY THROUGHOUT THE DAY.
HIGH – 74.

TONIGHT – SOME CLOUDS. LOW – 46.

FRIDAY – MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGH – HIGH NEAR 70.

SATURDAY – PARTLY CLOUDY. A SHOWER OR
THUNDERSTORM IS POSSIBLE. WARM.
HIGH – 81.

SUNDAY – SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS IN THE MORNING.
REMAINING PARTLY CLOUDY THROUGHOUT THE
DAY. ANOTHER WARM DAY. HIGH AGAIN OF 81.

The Latest: The Latest: Grassley says ‘no hint of misconduct’ in report
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh (all times local):
10:15 a.m.
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary says the FBI found “no hint of misconduct” in its background investigation of sexual misconduct claims against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Sen. Chuck Grassley says he’s received a briefing from staff on the confidential report. And the Iowa Republican says in a statement that “there’s nothing in it that we didn’t already know.”
He says the FBI couldn’t find any people who could “attest to any of the allegations” against Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh denies the allegations.
The FBI report was given to the Senate overnight. Senators are reading it Thursday in a secure room in the Capitol complex, but aren’t expected to discuss specific details of what they learn.
Grassley said it’s time to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination. The senator calls the federal judge one of “most qualified nominees to ever come before the Senate.”
___
9:20 a.m.
Some senators might need to wait until Friday for the chance to see the FBI report on sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
A Democratic senator says lawmakers are being told that time slots for reading the report are getting full.
Illinois’ Tammy Duckworth tells reporters that “it’s so backed up I might have to wait until tomorrow. They’re so swamped.”
Senators are expected to begin reviewing the confidential FBI report on Thursday in a secure room in the Capitol complex.
Kavanaugh denies the allegations of sexual misconduct when he was in high school and college.
___
5:50 a.m.
The White House says it has received the FBI’s supplemental background investigation into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and senators have enough time to review it and vote.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley tweeted early Thursday he also had received the file. Grassley is expected to read it Thursday morning, followed by his colleagues.
White House spokesman Raj Shah says senators “have been given ample time to review this seventh background investigation” into Kavanaugh, who denies accusations of sexual misconduct when he was in high school and college.
Shah says the White House is “confident the Senate will vote to confirm” Kavanaugh.
Democrats argue Republicans have been rushing to confirm him.
The full Senate is preparing to weigh in on Kavanaugh’s nomination with an initial vote on Friday.
___
5:15 a.m.
The Senate Judiciary Committee says it has received an FBI report on sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley tweeted early Thursday, “Supplemental FBI background file for Judge Kavanaugh has been received.”
Grassley is expected to read the FBI report on Thursday morning, followed by his colleagues. Because the report is confidential, senators will not be allowed to talk about what’s in it.
Republicans agreed to ask the FBI for an additional background check on Kavanaugh after his first accuser, Christine Blasey (BLAH’-zee) Ford, testified last week that he sexually assaulted her when they were in high school. Kavanaugh denies the accusation.
Ford’s attorneys have said she was not contacted for an interview. But the FBI spoke to a second woman, Deborah Ramirez, who claims Kavanaugh exposed himself to her when they were in college. Kavanaugh says that accusation is false.
___
1:30 a.m.
The full Senate is preparing to weigh in on Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court with an initial vote on Friday.
In setting the voting process in motion, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is likely to call for a final vote over the weekend.
Allegations of sexual misconduct when Kavanaugh was in high school and college have rocked President Donald Trump’s effort to put the conservative appeals court judge on the high court. Kavanaugh denies the accusations.
Although Kavanaugh has denied the allegations of three women, they proved so controversial that Trump directed the FBI to re-open a background investigation.
Senators are expected to begin reviewing the FBI report on Thursday in a secure room in the Capitol complex. They are not supposed to divulge the contents of the agency’s background reports.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh (all times local):
10:15 a.m.
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary says the FBI found “no hint of misconduct” in its background investigation of sexual misconduct claims against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Sen. Chuck Grassley says he’s received a briefing from staff on the confidential report. And the Iowa Republican says in a statement that “there’s nothing in it that we didn’t already know.”
He says the FBI couldn’t find any people who could “attest to any of the allegations” against Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh denies the allegations.
The FBI report was given to the Senate overnight. Senators are reading it Thursday in a secure room in the Capitol complex, but aren’t expected to discuss specific details of what they learn.
Grassley said it’s time to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination. The senator calls the federal judge one of “most qualified nominees to ever come before the Senate.”
___
9:20 a.m.
Some senators might need to wait until Friday for the chance to see the FBI report on sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
A Democratic senator says lawmakers are being told that time slots for reading the report are getting full.
Illinois’ Tammy Duckworth tells reporters that “it’s so backed up I might have to wait until tomorrow. They’re so swamped.”
Senators are expected to begin reviewing the confidential FBI report on Thursday in a secure room in the Capitol complex.
Kavanaugh denies the allegations of sexual misconduct when he was in high school and college.
___
5:50 a.m.
The White House says it has received the FBI’s supplemental background investigation into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and senators have enough time to review it and vote.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley tweeted early Thursday he also had received the file. Grassley is expected to read it Thursday morning, followed by his colleagues.
White House spokesman Raj Shah says senators “have been given ample time to review this seventh background investigation” into Kavanaugh, who denies accusations of sexual misconduct when he was in high school and college.
Shah says the White House is “confident the Senate will vote to confirm” Kavanaugh.
Democrats argue Republicans have been rushing to confirm him.
The full Senate is preparing to weigh in on Kavanaugh’s nomination with an initial vote on Friday.
___
5:15 a.m.
The Senate Judiciary Committee says it has received an FBI report on sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley tweeted early Thursday, “Supplemental FBI background file for Judge Kavanaugh has been received.”
Grassley is expected to read the FBI report on Thursday morning, followed by his colleagues. Because the report is confidential, senators will not be allowed to talk about what’s in it.
Republicans agreed to ask the FBI for an additional background check on Kavanaugh after his first accuser, Christine Blasey (BLAH’-zee) Ford, testified last week that he sexually assaulted her when they were in high school. Kavanaugh denies the accusation.
Ford’s attorneys have said she was not contacted for an interview. But the FBI spoke to a second woman, Deborah Ramirez, who claims Kavanaugh exposed himself to her when they were in college. Kavanaugh says that accusation is false.
___
1:30 a.m.
The full Senate is preparing to weigh in on Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court with an initial vote on Friday.
In setting the voting process in motion, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is likely to call for a final vote over the weekend.
Allegations of sexual misconduct when Kavanaugh was in high school and college have rocked President Donald Trump’s effort to put the conservative appeals court judge on the high court. Kavanaugh denies the accusations.
Although Kavanaugh has denied the allegations of three women, they proved so controversial that Trump directed the FBI to re-open a background investigation.
Senators are expected to begin reviewing the FBI report on Thursday in a secure room in the Capitol complex. They are not supposed to divulge the contents of the agency’s background reports.

US terminates 1955 treaty with Iran after UN court ruling
By MATTHEW LEE, AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — In response to a U.N. court order that the U.S. lift sanctions on Iran, the Trump administration said Wednesday it was terminating a decades-old treaty affirming friendly relations between the two countries. The largely symbolic gesture highlights deteriorating relations between Washington and Tehran.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said withdrawing from the 1955 Treaty of Amity was long overdue and followed Iran “groundlessly” bringing a complaint with the International Court of Justice challenging U.S. sanctions on the basis that they were a violation of the pact.
Meanwhile, national security adviser John Bolton said the administration also was pulling out of an amendment to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations that Iran or others, notably the Palestinians, could use to sue the U.S. at The Hague-based tribunal. Bolton told reporters at the White House that the provision violates U.S. sovereignty.
“The United States will not sit idly by as baseless politicized claims are brought against us,” Bolton said. He cited a case brought to the court by the “so-called state of Palestine” challenging the move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as the main reason for withdrawing.
Bolton, who last month unleashed a torrent of criticism against the International Criminal Court, noted that previous Republican administrations had pulled out of various international agreements and bodies over “politicized cases.” He said the administration would review all accords that might subject the U.S. to prosecution by international courts or panels.
Earlier, Pompeo denounced the Iranian case before the U.N. court as “meritless” and said the Treaty of Amity was meaningless and absurd.
“The Iranians have been ignoring it for an awfully long time, we ought to have pulled out of it decades ago,” he told reporters at the State Department.
The little-known treaty with Iran was among numerous such ones signed in the wake of World War II as the Truman and Eisenhower administrations tried to assemble a coalition of nations to counter the Soviet Union. Like many of the treaties, this one was aimed at encouraging closer economic relations and regulating diplomatic and consular ties.
Its first article reads: “There shall be firm and enduring peace and sincere friendship between the United States of America and Iran.”
The treaty survived the 1979 overthrow of the Shah in Iran’s Islamic revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis that crippled American-Iranian relations for decades.
But amid a broader push to assert U.S. sovereignty in the international arena and after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal this year, the administration determined that the court case made the treaty irrelevant.
Pompeo said the ruling was a “useful point for us to demonstrate the absolute absurdity” of the treaty.
The court case is legally binding, but Pompeo said the administration would proceed with sanctions enforcement with existing exceptions for humanitarian and flight safety transactions.
“The United States has been actively engaged on these issues without regard to any proceeding before the ICJ,” he said.
At the same time, he criticized the ruling.
“We’re disappointed that the court failed to recognize that it has no jurisdiction to issue any order relating to these sanctions measures with the United States.”
The ruling said Washington must “remove, by means of its choosing, any impediments arising from” the re-imposition of sanctions to the export to Iran of medicine and medical devices, food and agricultural commodities and spare parts and equipment necessary to ensure the safety of civil aviation.
It said the exceptions mentioned by Pompeo “are not adequate to address fully the humanitarian and safety concerns” raised by Iran.
The first set of sanctions that had been eased under the terms of the nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration was reimposed in August. A second, more sweeping set of sanctions, is set to be reimposed in early November.
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, praised the court ruling, saying on Twitter that it was “another failure for sanctions-addicted” U.S. and a “victory for rule of law.” He said it was imperative for other countries ‘to collectively counter malign US unilateralism” and he accused the U.S. of being an “outlaw regime.”
The court said the case will continue and the U.S. can still challenge its jurisdiction but no date has been set for further hearings.
___
Associated Press writers Susannah George, and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.

Have astronomers found 1st moon outside our solar system?
By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronomers may have found the first moon outside our solar system, a gas behemoth the size of Neptune.
Plenty of planets exist beyond our solar system, but a moon around one of those worlds has yet to be confirmed. Two Columbia University researchers presented their tantalizing evidence for a moon Wednesday.
The potential moon would be considerably larger than Earth — about the size of Neptune or Uranus. The planet it orbits is as big as mammoth Jupiter. This apparent super-size pairing of a gaseous moon and planet is 8,000 light-years away.
Researchers Alex Teachey and David Kipping evaluated 284 planets outside our solar system that had already been discovered by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope. Only one planet held promise for hosting a moon, one around the star known as Kepler-1625, which is about the size of our sun but older.
So last October, the pair directed the Hubble Space Telescope at the star in an attempt to verify — or rule out — the possibility of a moon orbiting the planet Kepler-1625b. They were on the lookout for a second temporary dimming of starlight. The main dip in stellar brightness would be the planet itself crossing in front of its star. Another dip could well be a moon — known as an exomoon outside our solar system.
The more powerful and precise Hubble telescope detected a second and smaller decrease in starlight 3 ½ hours after the planet passed in front of the star — “like a dog following its owner on a leash,” as Kipping put it. The observation period, however, ended before the moon could complete its transit. That’s why the astronomers need another look with Hubble, hopefully next spring.
Despite the evidence, Teachey stressed “we are urging caution here.”
“The first exomoon is obviously an extraordinary claim and it requires extraordinary evidence,” Teachey said. “Furthermore, the size we’ve calculated for this moon, about the size of Neptune, has hardly been anticipated and so that, too, is reason to be careful here.”
He added: “We’re not cracking open Champagne bottles just yet on this one.”
If indeed a moon, it would be about 2 million miles (3 million kilometers) from its planet and appear twice as big in its sky, as the moon does in ours. The astronomers are uncertain how this potential moon might have formed, given its size.
“If confirmed, this finding could completely shake up our understanding of how moons are formed and what they can be made of,” NASA’s science mission chief Thomas Zurbuchen said in a statement.
According to the researchers, another compelling piece of evidence in favor of a moon is that the planet passed in front of its star more than an hour earlier than predicted. A moon could cause that kind of an uncertain, wobbly path, they noted.
Kipping said that’s how the Earth and moon would appear from far away. This particular planet — or exoplanet — is about the same distance from its star as Earth is to the sun.
Another planet could cause the same gravitational nudge, the researchers noted, although Kepler observations have come up empty in that regard. Kepler-1625b is the only planet found so far around this star.
For Teachey and Kipping, the best and simplest explanation is that Kepler-1625b has a moon.
“We’ve tried our best to rule out other possibilities,” Kipping told reporters. “But we were unable to find any other single hypothesis which can explain all of the data we have.”
Their findings were published in the journal Science Advances . The journal’s deputy editor, Kip Hodges, praised the researchers for their cautious tone, given the difficult and complicated process of identifying an exomoon.
“If this finding stands up to further observational scrutiny, it represents a major milestone in the field of astronomy,” Hodges said.
The Columbia astronomers said they may be able to clinch this as early as next year, with more Hubble viewing. In the meantime, they’re encouraging other scientists to join in and embracing the scrutiny that’s sure to come.
Whether confirmed or not, the subject offers insight into how rare — or how common — our own solar system might be.
Moons are abundant in our own solar system, with close to 200. Of the eight planets in our solar system, only Mercury and Venus have none.
Given that both the planet and its potential moon are gas giants, no one is suggesting conditions that might support life.
“But going forward, I think we’re opening the doors to finding worlds like that,” Teachey said.
___
The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The Latest: McConnell nixes Dems’ request for FBI briefing
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and sexual misconduct allegations against him (all times local):
4:20 p.m.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is declining Democrats’ request for a briefing by FBI agents on the investigation into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
McConnell said in a letter Wednesday to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that he believes Democrats would only use such a briefing to delay Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
The GOP leader also said a briefing by FBI agents would be “unprecedented and irregular” and not in keeping with previous practice.
The FBI is expected to soon provide senators with the results of its investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh when he was in high school and college. Kavanaugh has denied the claims.
The FBI’s files are confidential. Only senators and authorized staff will be able to read them.
___
2:30 p.m.
Republican senators expect to receive the results of a new FBI background investigation into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as soon as Wednesday afternoon.
The second-ranking Senate Republican, Sen. John Cornyn, says he hopes “we’ll see it soon, perhaps as early as today.”
Republican Sen. Bob Corker cautioned that the timing was not certain. He says delivery of the final FBI report could be pushed to Thursday.
Once the FBI files are delivered, senators are expected to view them in a secure facility.
The senators say Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected later Wednesday to file cloture on Kavanaugh’s nomination. That would set up a key procedural vote on Friday.
A handful of Republicans and Democrats are undecided on Kavanaugh. Their votes will likely decide whether he is confirmed.
___
2:05 p.m.
Sen. Dick Durbin says there are “quite a few” people coming forward to tell the FBI what they know about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but he’s concerned they are not being heard.
The No. 2 Senate Democrat told The Associated Press that he understands the FBI might be overwhelmed in its investigation. But the Illinois senator said Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is “hell bent” on confirming Kavanaugh with votes this week.
Durbin said in the AP interview that he’s heard from “a lot of colleagues” who know people who want to speak to investigators about Kavanaugh. But they’re frustrated the calls are not being taken, he said.
The FBI is investigating existing allegations of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh has denied the accusations. Senators expect to receive the FBI’s report soon.
___
1:40 p.m.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders is defending President Donald Trump’s decision to go after the woman who has claimed she was sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Sanders told reporters Wednesday at a rare White House briefing that: “The president was stating the facts” at a Mississippi rally Tuesday night.
Sanders is also blasting Democrats, accusing them of launching a “full scale assault on” Kavanaugh’s integrity. She’s calling it “a coordinated smear campaign.”
Three wavering Republican senators have lambasted Trump for going after Christine Blasey Ford. Just last week, Trump had described her testimony as “very credible.”
The FBI is conducting a revived background check into Ford’s accusation, which Kavanaugh denies.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the chamber will vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination later this week.
___
1:30 p.m.
Some senators are using police escorts on Capitol Hill as protesters seek to confront them over Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell opened the Senate on Wednesday saying senators would not be intimidated from doing their jobs. He says the vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation will be this week.
But GOP senators are expressing unease over protesters confronting them at their Senate offices, and at restaurants and airports. Republicans discussed security matters behind closed doors earlier this week at a private lunch.
Kavanaugh denies the allegations of sexual misconduct, including Christine Blasey Ford’s accusation that he assaulted her in high school.
Last week women confronted Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona in an elevator. The exchange weighed on him, he said, as he forced Republicans to delay voting for further investigation.
___
1:25 p.m.
Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy is brushing off remarks from President Donald Trump that raised questions about the Democrat’s drinking habits. Trump slammed Leahy at a rally Tuesday night in a bid to turn the tables on Democrats who have gone after Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s beer drinking.
Trump told a crowd in Mississippi they should do an online search for “Patrick Leahy slash drink.”
Leahy, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday that he “must be doing something right” to draw fire from Trump. “By now just about everyone who stands up to this president has been targeted for his bogus attacks and smears,” Leahy said.
He said Trump’s “shameful mocking of a sexual assault victim is by far the biggest outrage.”
Trump mocked Kavanaugh’s chief accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her. Kavanaugh denies the allegations.
___
12:45 p.m.
A third Republican senator wavering on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is criticizing President Donald Trump’s mocking of a woman who accuses Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in the 1980s.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski says Trump’s remarks about accuser Christine Blasey (BLAH’-zee) Ford were “wholly inappropriate” and “unacceptable.”
The president on Tuesday mimicked Ford’s responses to questions at a Senate hearing last week when she described her allegations about Kavanaugh, who denies assaulting anyone.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins says Trump’s comments were “just plain wrong.” Arizona’s Jeff Flake tells NBC’s “Today” show Trump’s remarks were “kind of appalling.”
GOP leaders say an FBI report on Kavanaugh will be completed soon. They plan a Senate vote on him this week.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway is defending Trump.
___
12:30 p.m.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley is calling for an end to “personal attacks & destruction” targeting Christine Blasey (BLAH’-zee) Ford, the California college professor who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers.
The Iowa Republican senator also calls for an end to personal attacks on Kavanaugh.
Grassley’s tweet comes after President Donald Trump mocked Ford at a political rally in Mississippi on Tuesday evening.
Grassley tweets he has a “long history” of respecting people with courage to step forward. He says his committee gave Ford “serious consideration” as soon as he learned about her.
Grassley says people can decide who to believe but he pleads with them to “stop personal attacks” of Ford, Kavanaugh and their families.
Kavanaugh has denied Ford’s accusation.
___
11 a.m.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway is defending President Donald Trump after he mocked a woman who has accused his Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault.
Conway told reporters at the White House Wednesday that Christine Blasey Ford has “been treated like a Fabergé egg by all of us, beginning with me and the president.” She said Trump was “pointing out factual inconsistencies.”
The president, at a rally in Mississippi Tuesday night, mimicked Ford’s responses to questions at a Senate hearing last week when she described her allegations about nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.
Conway argued that “those who pretend they are searching for truth are already voting against him.” She also said Democratic senators running for re-election in states Trump carried in 2016 should know that their voters “want him to be confirmed.”
___
10:55 a.m.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says President Donald Trump has reached a “new low” with his “outright mockery” of Brett Kavanaugh’s chief accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.
The Democratic leader said Wednesday in a floor speech that Trump should apologize for mocking Ford at a rally Tuesday night in Mississippi. The president made fun of Ford’s inability to remember some details about the night she says she was assaulted by Kavanaugh.
Schumer said even those who doubt Ford’s allegations can refrain from the “nasty, vicious attacks.” He said Trump is “degrading” the way people are treating one another and doing “permanent damage” to the country with his comments.
Ford told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Kavanaugh groped her in a bedroom at a high school party and tried to undress her. Kavanaugh denied the accusation.
___
10:50 a.m.
Democratic Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand says President Donald Trump’s comments about Brett Kavanaugh’s chief accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, are “disgraceful.”
The New York senator told reporters Wednesday that Trump’s remarks at a Mississippi campaign rally show “he has no empathy for survivors of sexual violence.”
Trump mocked Ford’s inability to remember specific aspects of the incident in which she alleges Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her 35 years ago. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.
Gillibrand, a potential presidential candidate in 2020, said she has turned over to the FBI information Wednesday from a constituent who wanted to testify about Kavanaugh’s behavior.
The FBI is conducting a background investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh. Republicans plan to move to a vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination once the report is received.
___
10:40 a.m.
Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon is asking a federal judge to step in and order the release of more than 100,000 documents related to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The motion is part of a long-shot lawsuit Merkley recently filed in federal court. He is requesting that records from Kavanaugh’s time in the George W. Bush White House be produced by the Trump administration before the Senate votes on Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
The Trump administration cited executive privilege in withholding about 100,000 pages of documents from Kavanaugh’s work as legal counsel. The administration said internal White House deliberations need to remain secret.
But Merkley says the Senate cannot fulfill its constitutional duty to provide advice and consent on the Supreme Court nominee without seeing Kavanaugh’s full record.
___
10:35 a.m.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the “far left” is trying to “bully” Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh with a “mudslide” of sexual misconduct allegations.
McConnell in a floor speech Wednesday says the Senate will vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination this week. He says senators will not be intimidated by the protesters opposed to Kavanaugh who have been confronting them in the hallways of the Capitol, at airports and at their homes.
McConnell says “there’s no chance in the world they’re going to scare us out of doing our duty.”
The FBI is nearing completion of its expanded investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanagh. Once the Senate receives the FBI’s report, Republicans are expected to move toward a vote.
A handful of senators are undecided on Kavanaugh. Their votes will likely decide whether he is confirmed.
___
10:05 a.m.
The FBI has finished an interview with Chris Garrett, a high school friend of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Garrett’s lawyer, William Sullivan, says Garrett has voluntarily cooperated with the FBI’s reopened background check of Kavanaugh and has finished his interview.
He declined to comment further.
Garrett is at least the fifth person known to have been interviewed by the FBI since last Friday, when the White House directed the FBI to look into allegations of sexual misconduct dating back to Kavanaugh’s high school and college years.
Other people questioned include people who were said to have been present at a high school party where California professor Christine Blasey Ford says she was assaulted as a teenager in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh denies the allegations.
___
9:50 a.m.
A second Republican senator wavering on Brett Kavanaugh is criticizing President Donald Trump’s mocking of a woman who’s accused the Supreme Court nominee of sexually attacking her in the 1980s.
Susan Collins of Maine tells reporters that Trump’s remarks about Christine Blasey (BLAH’-zee) Ford were “just plain wrong.”
The president, at a rally in Mississippi on Tuesday night, mimicked Ford’s responses to questions at a Senate hearing last week when she described her allegations about Kavanaugh.
Another undecided GOP senator also has criticized Trump. Arizona’s Jeff Flake tells NBC’s “Today” show that Trump’s remarks were “kind of appalling.”
GOP leaders say an FBI report on Kavanaugh will be completed soon. They plan a Senate vote on him later this week. It is unclear whether he will be confirmed.
___
7:20 a.m.
Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake says President Donald Trump’s mocking of Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, was “not right” and “kind of appalling.”
But Flake isn’t saying whether he’ll vote to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Ford alleges Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were in high school. He denies the accusation.
Trump mocked Ford at a rally in Mississippi on Tuesday night, listing what he described as holes in her account as his audience laughed.
Flake told NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday that mocking “something this sensitive at a political rally is just not right.” Flake added, “I wish he hadn’t done it. It’s kind of appalling.”
Flake, who is retiring from the Senate, said last week he would vote to confirm Kavanaugh, but then called for an expanded FBI investigation of the accusations, delaying the confirmation timetable. Flake said Wednesday he’d be concerned if the FBI only followed up on a few leads.
___
12:15 a.m.
The FBI investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is being questioned by lawyers for two of his accusers.
Attorneys for the woman who says she was sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh at a party when they were teenagers, Christine Blasey Ford, are asking the FBI why its agents haven’t contacted her.
A lawyer for the woman who says Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a college party, Deborah Ramirez, says he’s seen no indication that the FBI has reached out to any of the 20 people who Ramirez says may be able to corroborate her account.
In Congress, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he is certain that the FBI’s report will be finished and the Senate will vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination this week.
___
For more coverage of Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, visit https://apnews.com/tag/Kavanaughnomination

Beatles recording engineer Geoff Emerick dies at 72
By GREGORY KATZ, Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Geoff Emerick, the Beatles studio engineer who entered the music business in his mid-teens and by his early 20s had helped make history through his work on such landmark albums as “Revolver” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” has died. He was 72.
Abbey Road Studios, home to the Beatles and many other recording artists, confirmed the death Wednesday and vowed to ensure that Emerick’s legacy lives on. Colleague William Zabaleta told Variety that Emerick collapsed and died Tuesday while they were talking on the telephone. He said Emerick had suffered from heart problems in recent years.
Paul McCartney, in an online tribute Wednesday, wrote that Emerick “had a sense of humor that fitted well with our attitude to work in the studio and was always open to the many new ideas that we threw at him. He grew to understand what we liked to hear and developed all sorts of techniques to achieve this. … We spent many exciting hours in the studio and he never failed to come up with the goods.”
A London native fascinated by music and technology from an early age, Emerick wasn’t widely known to the general public, but he was an invaluable part of the Beatles’ legacy as they became increasingly ambitious and experimental in the studio and helped transform rock music into an art form. He was on hand during the Beatles’ early EMI sessions, in 1962, as an assistant under lead engineer Norman Smith. He was promoted after Smith left to become a producer in the mid-1960s.
“Geoff Emerick used to do things for the Beatles and be scared that the people above (in the EMI hierarchy) would find out,” producer George Martin later said for a 1990s Beatles documentary. “Engineers then weren’t supposed to play about with microphones and things like that. But he used to do really weird things that were slightly illegitimate, with our support and approval.”
His first album as Beatles engineer was “Revolver,” the 1966 release that marked the band’s full embrace of such studio effects as backward tape loops and double tracking. In one famous story that Emerick told on numerous occasions, he came up with a unique solution when John Lennon told him he wanted his voice to sound like “the Dalai Lama singing from a mountaintop 25 miles away from the studio” on the tripped out “Tomorrow Never Knows.” Emerick found a way to process Lennon’s voice through a revolving speaker to produce a landmark of psychedelic music.
“That sort of won John over,” Emerick said in 2016.
On Wednesday, Lennon’s widow, Yoko tweeted that she was “shocked” by Emerick’s death.
“He was the best engineer,” Ono wrote. “Not only was he the best engineer, he was very, very kind.”
He had other innovations on the Beatles’ most complex and anticipated album, “Sgt. Pepper,” which came out in 1967. He enhanced the sound of Ringo Starr’s drums on “A Day In the Life” by loosening the skins and wrapping a microphone in a tea cloth and placing it in a glass container. Under his supervision, McCartney recorded bass lines after the rest of a given track was done, an unusual sequence at the time.
By 1968, the Beatles had tired of studio tricks and were otherwise growing apart, in part because of Lennon’s relationship with Ono. Emerick became frustrated during the recording of the double “White” album and briefly quit.
“The expletives were really flying,” he later told Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn. “There was one instance just before I left when they were doing ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ for the umpteenth time. Paul was re-recording the vocal again and George Martin made some remark about how he should be lilting onto the half-beat or whatever and Paul, in no refined way, said something to the effect of ‘Well you come down and sing it.’ I said to George ‘Look, I’ve had enough. I want to leave. I don’t want to know any more.'”
He returned for the Beatles’ final studio sessions, for “Abbey Road,” and worked with McCartney on his solo “Band On the Run” album, for which Emerick’s engineering brought him a Grammy. He also won engineering Grammys for “Sgt. Pepper” and “Abbey Road” and received a lifetime achievement honor in 2004. Other artists he worked with included Cheap Trick, Elvis Costello, Jeff Beck, and, early in her career, Judy Garland.
In 2006, he published his memoir “Here, There and Everywhere,” which received some criticism at the time from Beatles fans for its apparent bias toward McCartney at the expense of the other band members, especially George Harrison.
“A lot of people think I’m being hard on George,” he told CNN at the time. “But I haven’t glossed anything over. It’s my memory, it’s the way I perceived, from my situation, the way we went through those albums.”
On Wednesday, McCartney wrote that Emerick visited him earlier this year while he was recording his “Egypt Station” album, which came out last month.
“We kept in touch through the years and our phone calls or messages always gained a giggle or two,” McCartney wrote. “He was his usual cheerful friendly self (earlier this year) and gave me the thumbs up to the mixes we played him. I’ll always remember him with great fondness and I know his work will be long remembered by connoisseurs of sound.”
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AP National Writer Hillel Italie contributed from New York.