On the version of Hot off the Wire posted April 19 at 7:30 a.m. CT:

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago is one of several big American cities grappling with a surge of migrants. With help from state and federal funds, the city has spent more than $300 million to provide housing, health care and more to over 38,000 mostly South American migrants. The speed with which these funds were marshaled has stirred widespread resentment among Black Chicagoans. But community leaders are trying to ease racial tensions and channel the public’s frustrations into agitating for the greater good. The outcry is having wider implications in an election year: The Biden administration is advocating a more restrictive approach to immigration in its negotiations with Republicans in Congress.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Millions of Indians are voting in a six-week election that’s a referendum on Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The first round of voting is being held across 21 states. Modi is seeking a rare third term in office. He is up against a broad opposition alliance that hasn’t named their candidate for prime minister if they win. India’s voters will elect 543 members for the lower house of Parliament during the staggered elections running until June 1. The votes will be counted on June 4.

NEW YORK (AP) — A jury of 12 people has been seated in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York. Alternates are now being selected. The rapid progress Thursday afternoon propels the case closer to opening statements and weeks of testimony in a case charging the Republican with falsifying business records to suppress stories about his sex life in the final days of the 2016 election. The jury includes a sales professional, a software engineer, an English teacher and multiple lawyers. The case centers on $130,000 Trump’s lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen paid to porn actor Stormy Daniels. Trump faces 34 felony counts. He denies any wrongdoing.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States has vetoed a widely backed U.N. resolution that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine. The resolution that faced a vote Thursday would have raised the Palestinians' status from a non-member observer state to full membership. U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the Security Council that the U.S. veto “does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood, but instead is an acknowledgment that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties.” This is the second Palestinian attempt for full membership and it comes as the war in Gaza has put the more than 75-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict at center stage.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An apparent Israeli drone attack on Iran saw troops fire air defenses at a major air base and a nuclear site near the central city of Isfahan. The assault Friday comes in retaliation for Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country. Speaking at the G7 meeting in Capri, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the U.S. received “last-minute” information from Israel about the attack on Isfahan. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not dispute that immediately after Tajani’s remarks, but said: “We were not involved in any offensive operations.” The apparent attack came on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 85th birthday, with Israeli politicians also making comments hinting that the country had launched an attack.

In other headlines:

—The Associated Press

About this program

Host Terry Lipshetz is managing editor of the national newsroom for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, Terry conducts periodic interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, co-hosts the Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the former producer of Across the Sky, a podcast dedicated to weather and climate.