AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Democrats in late-night dash to salvage Biden’s $3.5T deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — Determined not to let his $3.5 trillion government overhaul collapse, President Joe Biden cleared his schedule late Thursday and Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed the House into an evening session as the Democratic leaders worked to negotiate a scaled-back plan centrist holdouts would accept.

At immediate risk was a promised vote, still possible late Thursday night, on the first piece of Biden’s proposal, a slimmer $1 trillion public works bill that is widely supported but has faltered amid stalled talks on his more ambitious package. Progressives are refusing to back the roads-and-bridges bill they view as insufficient unless there’s progress on Biden’s broader plan that’s the heart of the Democratic agenda. In the narrowly held House, Pelosi has few votes to spare.

Democrats are deeply at odds, and are at risk of an embarrassing setback — if not collapse of the whole enterprise — if they cannot resolve the standoff over Biden’s big vision. After days of talks, those differences only deepened when Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced he was willing to go not quite half as high as the president wants — $1.5 trillion — toward the president’s broader package.

With Biden working the phones and top White House officials arriving at Pelosi’s office, they were trying to ease off the stalemate and salvage the president’s vision. The idea is to reach agreement on the contours of Biden’s broader package, proceed with the $1 trillion public works bill and negotiate the rest of Biden’s big health care, education and climate change bill in the days to come. Lawmakers were told to stick around for possible late-night votes.

All this on a day that saw a partial win for Democrats, with Congress passing and Biden signinglegislation to keep the government running past Thursday’s fiscal yearend deadline and avert a federal shutdown that had been threatened by Republican blockades.

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Biden signs bill to avert partial government shutdown

WASHINGTON (AP) — With only hours to spare, President Joe Biden on Thursday evening signed legislation to avoid a partial federal shutdown and keep the government funded through Dec. 3. Congress had passed the bill earlier Thursday.

The back-to-back votes by the Senate and then the House averted one crisis, but delays on another continue as the political parties dig in on a dispute over how to raise the government’s borrowing cap before the United States risks a potentially catastrophic default.

The House approved the short-term funding measure by a 254-175 vote not long after Senate passage in a 65-35 vote. A large majority of Republicans in both chambers voted against it. The legislation was needed to keep the government running once the current budget year ended at midnight Thursday. Passage will buy lawmakers more time to craft the spending measures that will fund federal agencies and the programs they administer.

“There’s so much more to do,” Biden said in a statement after the signing. “But the passage of this bill reminds us that bipartisan work is possible and it gives us time to pass longer-term funding to keep our government running and delivering for the American people.”

The work to keep the government open and running served as the backdrop during a chaotic day for Democrats as they struggled to get Biden’s top domestic priorities over the finish line, including a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill at risk of stalling in the House.

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N. Korea says 4th new test-firing was anti-aircraft missile

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Friday it had test-fired a newly developed anti-aircraft missile in the fourth round of weapons firings in recent weeks, even as it pushes to reopen dormant communication channels with South Korea in a small reconciliation step.

In September, North Korea resumed its first missile tests in six months but still offered conditional talks with Seoul in what some experts say is an attempt to extract concessions in its nuclear diplomacy with the U.S. Earlier this week, North Korea leader Kim Jong Un expressed his willingness to restore communication hotlines with South Korea in coming days to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The Korean Central News Agency said the anti-aircraft missile test is “of very practical significance in studying and developing various prospective anti-aircraft missile system.”

It said the test was aimed at confirming the practicality of operation of the launcher, radar and battle command vehicle as well as the combat performance of the missile.

South Korea, Japan and the United States typically publicly confirm North Korean missile launches soon after they occur, but did not do so for Thursday’s test, indicating it may not have been a major weapons test.

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School board group asks US for help policing threats

A group representing school board members around the country asked President Joe Biden on Thursday for federal assistance to investigate and stop threats made over policies including mask mandates, likening the vitriol to a form of domestic terrorism.

The request by the National School Boards Association demonstrates the level of unruliness that has engulfed local education meetings across the country during the pandemic, with board members regularly confronted and threatened by angry protesters.

School board members are largely unpaid volunteers, parents and former educators who step forward to shape school policy, choose a superintendent and review the budget, but they have been frightened at how their jobs have suddenly become a culture war battleground.The climate has led a growing number to resign or decide against seeking reelection.

“Whatever you feel about masks, it should not reach this level of rhetoric,” NSBA Interim Executive Director Chip Slaven told The Associated Press by phone.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said responsibility for protecting school boards falls largely to local law enforcement but “we’re continuing to explore if more can be done from across the administration.”

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Ethiopia expels UN officials amid Tigray blockade pressure

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopia said Thursday it is kicking out seven United Nations officials whom it accused of “meddling” in the country’s internal affairs, as pressure grows on the government over its deadly blockade of the Tigray region.

The expulsions are the government’s most dramatic move yet to restrict humanitarian access to the region of 6 million people after nearly a year of war. The U.N. has become increasingly outspoken as the flow of medical supplies, food and fuel has been brought to a near-halt.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “shocked” by the announcement and expressed “full confidence” in U.N. staff, saying they are guided by impartiality and neutrality. In a statement, he said the U.N. is engaging with Ethiopia’s government “in the expectation that the concerned U.N. staff will be allowed to continue their important work.”

Ethiopia’s government has accused humanitarian workers of supporting the Tigray forces who have been fighting its soldiers and allied forces since November. Aid workers have denied it. Thousands of people have died in the conflict marked by gang rapes, mass expulsions and the destruction of health centers, with witnesses often blaming Ethiopian soldiers and those of neighboring Eritrea.

The U.N.’s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, this week told The Associated Press that the crisis in Ethiopia is a “stain on our conscience” as children and others starve to death in Tigray under what the U.N. calls a de facto government blockade. Just 10% of needed humanitarian supplies have been reaching Tigray in recent weeks, he said.

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AP: Military units track guns using tech that could aid foes

Determined to keep track of their guns, some U.S. military units have turned to a technology that could let enemies detect troops on the battlefield, The Associated Press has found.

The rollout on Army and Air Force bases continues even though the Department of Defense itself describes putting the technology in firearms as a “significant” security risk.

The Marines have rejected radio frequency identification technology in weapons for that very reason, and the Navy said this week that it was halting its own dalliance.

RFID, as the technology is known, is infused throughout daily civilian life. Thin RFID tags help drivers zip through toll booths, hospitals locate tools and supermarkets track their stock. Tags are in some identity documents, airline baggage tags and even amusement park wristbands.

When embedded in military guns, RFID tags can trim hours off time-intensive tasks, such as weapon counts and distribution. Outside the armory, however, the same silent, invisible signals that help automate inventory checks could become an unwanted tracking beacon.

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Senators push Facebook exec on Instagram policies for youth

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators fired a barrage of criticism Thursday at a Facebook executive over the social-networking giant’s handling of internal research on how its Instagram photo-sharing platform can harm teens.

The lawmakers accused Facebook of concealing the negative findings about Instagram and demanded a commitment from the company to make changes.

During testimony before a Senate Commerce subcommittee, Antigone Davis, Facebook’s head of global safety, defended Instagram’s efforts to protect young people using its platform. She disputed the way a recent newspaper story describes what the research shows.

“We care deeply about the safety and security of the people on our platform,” Davis said. “We take the issue very seriously. … We have put in place multiple protections to create safe and age-appropriate experiences for people between the ages of 13 and 17.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the subcommittee chairman, wasn’t convinced.

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Ban on ‘surprise’ medical bills on track for Jan. 1 rollout

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Thursday put final touches on consumer protections against so-called “surprise” medical bills. The ban on charges that hit insured patients at some of life’s most vulnerable moments is on track to take effect Jan. 1, officials said.

Patients will no longer have to worry about getting a huge bill following a medical crisis if the closest hospital emergency room happened to have been outside their insurance plan’s provider network. They’ll also be protected from unexpected charges if an out-of-network clinician takes part in a surgery or procedure conducted at an in-network hospital. In such situations, patients will be liable only for their in-network cost sharing amount.

The rules released Thursday spelled out for the first time a key part of the new system: a behind-the-scenes dispute resolution process that hospitals, doctors and insurers will use to haggle over fees, without dragging patients into it.

When an insurer and a service provider disagree over fair payment, either side can initiate a 30-day negotiation process. If they still can’t come to an agreement, they can take the matter to an independent arbitrator.

The arbitrator will use as a guide a set amount intended to balance the value of the medical services provided with goal of keeping costs from ballooning out of control. Clear justification will be required for the final payment to end up higher or lower.

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A ‘dangerous cabal’? Alito says high court is no such thing

Justice Samuel Alito pushed back Thursday against criticism, including some from colleagues, that recent Supreme Court actions in major cases have been done hastily and in the shadows. “A dangerous cabal” improperly deciding important matters — hardly, he said.

Alito, in remarks at the University of Notre Dame, took aim at critics of three recent decisions in which the court’s conservatives prevailed over dissents by liberals.

In rapid succession beginning in late August, the court reinstated a Trump-era immigration program, allowed evictions that had been paused by the coronavirus pandemic to resume and let a Texas law severely limiting abortion go into effect.

All three cases came to the court as emergency motions, and were decided quickly and without the court’s more typical full briefing and oral argument. That process has been called the court’s “ shadow docket.”

“Our decisions in these three emergency matters have been criticized by those who think we should have decided them the other way, and I have no trouble with fair criticism of the substance of those decisions,” Alito said.

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Scarlett Johansson, Disney settle lawsuit over ‘Black Widow’

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Scarlett Johansson and the Walt Disney Co. on Thursday settled her lawsuit over the streaming release of “Black Widow,” bringing a swift end to what had begun as the first major fight between a studio and star over recent changes in rollout plans for films.

Johansson filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court two months ago, saying the streaming release of the Marvel movie breached her contract and deprived her of potential earnings.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the two sides released a joint statement in which they pledged to continue working together.

“I am happy to have resolved our differences with Disney,” said Johansson, who has played Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow, in nine movies going back to 2010’s “Iron Man 2.” “I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve done together over the years and have greatly enjoyed my creative relationship with the team. I look forward to continuing our collaboration.”

Alan Bergman, chairman of Disney Studios Content, said he is “pleased that we have been able to come to a mutual agreement.”