Platner

withdraws

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Graham Platner has submitted his paperwork to formally withdraw from Maine’s U.S. Senate race, officially ending an upstart yet troubled campaign whose dissolution threatens Democrats’ pursuit of chamber control.

Platner’s paperwork was received Friday by the Maine secretary of state’s office. Maine is considered a key state for control of the narrowly divided Senate, and Democrats were desperate for a candidate capable of defeating Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

Crews drain

pool again

WASHINGTON (AP) — Crews are draining the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool again as President Donald Trump’s problem-plagued effort to renovate the site pushes past his initial July 4 deadline.

The president initially suggested his renovations would last a century. But, within weeks of the project originally reaching completion last month, the water was beset by an algae bloom and pieces of the new coating appeared to be peeling off the bottom.

Trump has blamed the peeling on vandals, though critics allege it’s from shoddy repair work.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told a conservative podcaster that the draining was planned and that the water might still contain debris from the Independence Day fireworks display over the National Mall.

Detainees tell

of shooting

HOUSTON (AP) — Three men who survived a fatal shooting involving federal immigration officers in Houston say no officer was threatened.

A lawyer said Friday that the men told him an officer shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo through the passenger side window Tuesday during an attempted traffic stop. The Department of Homeland Security says Salgado Araujo rammed an ICE vehicle.

But attorney Hugo Balderas-Ibarra says video footage shows no damage to Salgado Araujo’s van. ICE hasn’t release any other evidence to support their version of events. Balderas-Ibarra says Homeland Security may also try to deport the men quickly so they can’t tell their side of the story.

UK killing

investigated

LONDON (AP) — British police have arrested a suspect in the killing of Ann Widdecombe, a former British member of Parliament and reality TV contestant.

Widdecombe, who was 78, was found dead in her home in southwest England on Thursday with serious injuries. A 26-year-old British man is in custody. That’s according to Devon and Cornwall Police. Authorities say the crime is not being treated as terror-related or politically motivated.

Widdecombe was a former Conservative lawmaker and later joined the Brexit Party. She was known for her socially conservative views and appearances on reality TV shows, such as Strictly Come Dancing.