COLU @ CONCEPTS

NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno and his wife have purchased an oceanfront mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. Leno paid $13.5 million for the 18,000-square-foot home, called Seafair. It has eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms and comes with a pool, a tennis court and a private beach. Lucky for Leno, who collects cars, it also boasts a six-car garage. The house sits on 9 acres (3.64 hectares) and was built in 1936. It was previously owned by Denver mining heir Verner Zevola Reed Jr., who was an American banker and diplomat. Reed served as U.S. ambassador to Morocco from 1981 to 1985. Leno is a frequent visitor to the seaside resort town, where he has been known to stop in at the city’s Audrain Automobile Museum. Source: www.apnews.com 

NEWBURGH, N.Y. (AP) — Old Rockefeller Center Christmas trees never really die, they just get built into the wall frames and floor supports of affordable homes. For the past decade, the ornament-laden trees that have been lit up with glitz, songs and dancing Rockettes have gone on to be milled into lumber used in dozens of Habitat for Humanity homes from Philadelphia to Pascagoula, Mississippi. Each tree yields a truckload of 100 or more boards, all stamped with an image of the tree and the year it was on display. Wood from three of the Rockefeller trees has gone 50 miles (80 kilometers) up the Hudson River to the hardscrabble city of Newburgh, New York, which has helped create an unlikely Rockefeller Row of four homes on the same block. “They didn’t just cut it and throw it away. They used it in something good. And what better than my home?” says Viridiana Perez, who was visiting her family’s soon-to-be home being built with wood from last year’s 94-foot (28-meter) Nor...

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The federal government, in the most complete statistical snapshot of immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump, says Border Patrol arrests plunged to a 45-year low while arrests by deportation officers soared. The Border Patrol made 310,531 arrests during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, a decline of 25 percent from 415,816 a year earlier and the lowest level since 1971. Despite the significant decline, arrests increased every month since May — largely families and unaccompanied children. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose officers pick up people for deportation away from the border, made 143,470 arrests, an increase of 25 percent from 114,434 a year earlier. After Trump took office, ICE arrests surged 40 percent from the same period a year earlier. The numbers released by the government Tuesday show that deportation officers are taking Trump’s call for an immigration crackdown to heart, even without the funding increase that the presi...

SANTA PAULA, Calif. (AP) — Ferocious winds in Southern California whipped up an explosive wildfire that prompted evacuation orders for nearly 8,000 homes, authorities said. The blaze broke out Monday and grew wildly to more than 48 square miles (124 sq. kilometers) in the hours that followed, consuming vegetation that hasn’t burned in decades, Ventura County Fire Sgt. Eric Buschow said. At least 150 structures have burned so far, fire officials said. There was no immediate word whether the structures were homes or businesses. More than 27,000 people have been evacuated and one firefighter was injured. There was no word on the extent of the injuries. The winds were pushing it toward Santa Paula, a city of some 30,000 people about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles. Many of the evacuated homes were in that city. However, evacuation orders were expanded to houses in Ventura, which is 12 miles (19 kilometers) southwest and has 106,000 residents. “The fire grow...

ROWLAND, N.C. (AP) — They put down their pompoms and lined up along the football field behind their tiny high school in their tiny town. Their classmates marched the American flag onto the field. “The Star-Spangled Banner” began, and six teenage girls with blue bows in their hair each dropped to one knee. They had for days been quietly planning this protest, against discrimination and police brutality, but also against the nation’s ratcheting racial tensions, against those white supremacists they’d seen on television with torches in a city not so far away. They had agreed in the moments before that they were ready to accept the consequences, and braced for the response. No one booed. No one applauded them, either. No television cameras zoomed in for a close-up. As the anthem ended, some of them wondered if anyone had noticed at all. They got to their feet and launched their first cheer. “Go Mustangs!” By morning, however, the culture wars splintering the nation would l...

DETROIT (AP) — A relative says John Conyers, who is battling sexual harassment allegations from former female staffers, won’t seek re-election to a 28th term in Congress. Michigan state Sen. Ian Conyers, a grandson of John Conyers’ brother, told The New York Times for a story Tuesday that the 88-year-old Democrat’s doctor “advised him that the rigor of another campaign would be too much for him, just in terms of his health.” Ian Conyers told the newspaper that his great-uncle — the longest-serving current U.S. House member — “is not resigning. He is going to retire.” The report didn’t specify how Ian Conyers knew of the congressman’s plans. He said he plans to run for John Conyers’ seat in Washington, D.C. The Associated Press left the younger Conyers a message seeking comment Tuesday. John Conyers’ attorney, Arnold Reed, would not confirm or deny that the congressman was planning to retire in a phone conversation with The Associated Press early Tuesday. He sa...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is taking up the highly anticipated case of the Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. Tuesday’s clash at the high court pits baker Jack Phillips’ First Amendment claims of artistic freedom against the anti-discrimination arguments of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, and two men Phillips turned away in 2012. The commission ruled that Phillips violated the state’s anti-discrimination law when he refused to make a wedding cake for Charlie Craig and David Mullins. The argument is the first involving gay rights since the Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that states could not prevent same-sex couples from marrying. The Trump administration is supporting Phillips in his argument that he can’t be forced to create a cake that violates his religious beliefs. It appears to be the first time the federal government has asked the justices to carve out an exception from an anti-discrimination law. Protesters on ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican leaders in Washington are coming to grips with the possibility — perhaps even probability — that Alabama’s Roy Moore will win his special election next Tuesday and join them in the capital. Looking past allegations of sexual misconduct with Alabama teenagers, President Donald Trump now has endorsed Moore, and the Republican National Committee quickly followed suit late Monday, announcing it was returning the support it had pulled last month. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, who once called on Moore to get out of the race, changed his rhetoric over the weekend to say that it was Alabama voters who should decide. The changed tone — and Trump’s decision to do away with any facade of distancing himself from the race — make it clear they are increasingly confident in Moore’s chances of victory despite the continued unease of some other Republicans. The special election is next Tuesday for the seat once held by Jeff Sessions, now the U.S. a...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — President Donald Trump’s rare move to shrink two large national monuments in Utah triggered another round of outrage among Native American leaders who vowed to unite and take the fight to court to preserve protections for lands they consider sacred. Environmental and conservation groups and a coalition of tribes joined the battle Monday and began filing lawsuits that ensure that Trump’s announcement is far from the final chapter of the yearslong public lands battle. The court cases are likely to drag on for years, maybe even into a new presidency. Trump decided to reduce Bears Ears — created last December by President Barack Obama — by about 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante — designated in 1996 by President Bill Clinton — by nearly half. The moves earned him cheers from Republican leaders in Utah who lobbied him to undo protections they considered overly broad. Conservation groups called it the largest elimination of protected land in Amer...