Late ballots knock Pratt out of LA runoff; Trump draws spotlight at NBA Finals

The wait is over. Los Angeles has its mayoral matchup. Karen Bass and Nithya Rahman are headed to November. Spencer Pratt is out. Plus, Apple is giving Siri a major AI upgrade, what your iPhone may soon be able to do for you. And the NBA finals turn into a political sideshow. Trump shows up at the Garden and the crowd lets him know what it thinks

the stories that matter clear and credible from across the country to around the world

these are your unbiased updates from straight arrow good morning i'm craig de grelli we begin this morning with a major shake-up in los angeles

politics after trailing on election night city council member nithia raman has surged into second

place and locked up a spot in the November mayoral runoff. The turnaround happened as elections

workers counted thousands of mail-in ballots in the days after last week's primary. Under

California's election system, the top two finishers advanced in November, regardless of party

Rahman, a progressive city council member, passed former reality TV personality Spencer Pratt over

the weekend and expanded her lead in the latest count. Pratt had come in second on election night

and quickly became a national political story, drawing attention from conservatives and President Trump

As Pratt's lead shrank, both he and Trump questioned the slow-moving count

Trump claimed, without evidence, the election was rigged, while elections officials noted that California routinely takes days to process mail-in ballots

because there are so many of them, and California law allows them to be counted up to seven days after the election

Rahman will now face incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in November. Bass finished first in the primary but failed to win an outright majority

forcing the first mayoral runoff involving an incumbent Los Angeles mayor in more than two decades

A federal judge has struck down one of President Trump's biggest attempts to curb legal immigration

Ruling his $100,000 fee on skilled worker visas was illegal. The ruling targets a Trump policy announced last September that raised the cost of obtaining a new H-1B visa from a few thousand dollars to $100,000

The H program is widely used by technology companies hospitals universities and other employers to hire highly skilled foreign workers A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled the administration exceeded its authority

finding the fee functioned as a tax that Congress never approved. A coalition of 20 states challenged

the policy, arguing it would worsen shortages of workers in fields including health care

research, and education. Trump defended the fee when he announced it, saying it would encourage

employers to hire more American workers. Judge Leo Sorokin rejected the administration's argument

that the fee was simply a regulatory payment. The judge also pointed to a recent Supreme Court

ruling that blocked Trump's tariff policy, writing that presidents cannot impose taxes or penalties

without authorization from Congress. The White House says it will appeal. A spokesperson told

Straight Arrow, quote, President Trump has clear legal authority to restrict entry of any class of

aliens he determines is not in America's best interests. And that is exactly what he did

President Trump is making it official he wants his former personal defense lawyer to run the

Justice Department. The White House formally sent Todd Blanche's nomination to the Senate on Monday

seeking to make him attorney general permanently. Blanche has been serving as acting attorney

general since Trump fired Pam Bondi in April. Before joining the administration, Blanche

represented Trump in several high-profile criminal cases, including the New York business fraud trial

The president first signaled the move last week. Monday's filing makes it official and sets up a

Senate confirmation battle. Some Republicans have already raised concerns. North Carolina Senator

Tom Tillis has said he has not decided whether he will support Blanche and has suggested his vote

could depend on how Blanche addresses January 6th. During his short tenure leading the department

Blanche has overseen a series of high-profile investigations and prosecutions involving some

of Trump's most prominent critics. That includes a case against former FBI Director James Comey

over a social media post showing seashells arranged to read 8647. The Justice Department

has also pursued cases involving former Cuban leader Raul Castro and other Trump adversaries

Blanche has defended the department's actions and says his priority is carrying out the president's

agenda while focusing on crime, public safety, and stopping illegal immigration. The company that helped kick off the AI boom is taking its first step toward Wall Street OpenAI has confidentially filed paperwork for an initial public offering giving the company the option to go public after a review by federal regulators

The company announced the filing Monday, but made clear a stock market debut is not imminent

In a post on its website, OpenAI said it has not decided on timing and added that some of its plans

may be easier to pursue as a private company. The move is the latest milestone

for CEO Sam Altman's company, which helped push artificial intelligence into the mainstream with the launch of ChatGPT in 2022

It also comes just a week after rival Anthropic filed confidentially for its own IPO

setting up a race between two of the biggest names in AI. And the competition doesn't stop there

Elon Musk's SpaceX is also preparing to go public with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google all listed as AI competitors in its filing

OpenAI is now valued at more than $850 billion, making it one of the most valuable private companies in the world

Similar topic now, Apple is making its biggest AI play yet, and it's betting a much smarter Siri can help it catch up to the competition

At its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple revealed a major overhaul of Siri

turning the digital assistant into a more conversational AI tool that can handle complex tasks and work across apps and devices

Apple showed Siri researching concert tickets, helping plan events, finding information in emails and texts

and answering follow-up questions in a more natural way. The company is also weaving AI deeper into its software, adding new tools for search, photos, Safari, and other apps

At Apple, we believe privacy in AI is non-negotiable. Apple intelligence uses on-device processing as well as private cloud compute

which ensures your data is not stored or accessible to Apple or anyone else

Your data is only used to execute your request. And outside experts can continue to verify this promise at any time

Monday's event also carried extra significance for Apple. It was the final worldwide developers conference for CEO Tim Cook

who is set to step down later this year after more than a decade leading the company

Apple says the new Siri AI will begin rolling out later this year Investors appeared underwhelmed by the announcements with shares falling during Monday event as the company enters what some ysts are calling

a prove-it phase for its AI strategy. Finally this morning, it was billed as the biggest sporting event in New York in decades

The New York Knicks hosting the San Antonio Spurs in a home game of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden

President Trump, as expected, attended the game. Security was extraordinarily tight. Fans were urged to arrive several hours early just to deal with a tremendous amount of security

Secret Service screened everybody entering the arena. The president, accompanied by his granddaughter, was seen saluting the flag from his seat in a suite

Many fans booed the president as he was shown on the jumbotron during the national anthem

although there was a smattering of cheers mixed in. At halftime, Trump, who was invited by Knicks owner James Dolan, headed down to the court

Fans with their cell phones took pictures and video of him. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver also stopped by for a conversation

As for the game itself, it wasn't a great night for the president's team

The Knicks fell to the Spurs 115-111, with Victor Wembenyama scoring 32 points

New York still leads the series two games to one, with Game 4 back at the Garden on Wednesday night

All right, before we head out, here's what we're tracking today. Voters head to the polls in Maine

Nevada, North Dakota, and South Carolina for primary elections that could shape key races

this fall. At 11, First Lady Melania Trump honors winners of the Presidential Artificial

Intelligence Challenge, recognizing some of the country's top young innovators. That same hour

NASA unveils its next Artemis crew and outlines plans for a mission focused on practicing key

maneuvers needed for future lunar landings. At one Eastern, the Southern Baptist Convention

opens its annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, bringing thousands of delegates together for

two days of votes, debate, and policy decisions. At Straight Arrow, we give you facts first

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Those here are Unbiased Updates for this Tuesday. We'll see you back here tomorrow. For all of us here at Straight Arrow

I'm Craig DeGrelli. Have a great day