WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday denied a request by the American Library Association to halt the Trump administration's further dismantling of an agency that funds and promotes libraries across the country, saying that recent court decisions suggested his court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon had previously agreed to temporarily block the Republican administration, saying that plaintiffs were likely to show that Trump doesn't have the legal authority to unilaterally shutter the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which was created by Congress.
But in Friday's ruling, Leon wrote that as much as the “Court laments the Executive Branch’s efforts to cut off this lifeline for libraries and museums,” recent court decisions suggested that the case should be heard in a separate court dedicated to contractual claims.
He cited the Supreme Court's decision allowing the administration to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in teacher-training money despite a lower court order barring the cuts, saying that cases seeking reinstatement of federal grants should be heard in the Court of Federal Claims.
The American Library Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed a lawsuit to stop the administration from gutting the institute after President Donald Trump signed a March 14 executive order that refers to it and several other federal agencies as “unnecessary.”
The agency’s appointed acting director then placed many agency staff members on administrative leave, sent termination notices to most of them, began canceling grants and contracts and fired all members of the National Museum and Library Services Board.
The institute has roughly 75 employees and issued more than $266 million in grants last year.
However, a Rhode Island judge's order prohibiting the government from shutting down the museum and library services institute in a separate case brought by several states remains in place. The administration is appealing that order as well.
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, N.J., Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
SEMMERING, Austria (AP) — After dominating the first four World Cup slaloms this season, Mikaela Shiffrin has only just managed to keep her winning streak intact ahead of the 2026 Olympics.
Not that Sunday's night slalom in Austria, the final event of the calendar year, could make the American ski star particularly happy.
Shiffrin came from half a second behind in the first run to edge out world champion Camille Rast of Switzerland, but then slammed race conditions on the Panorama course.
“I have to say this: It was not safe to ski for the girls,” Shiffrin told Austrian TV. "For me, don’t question it, bib 4 on the first run, it’s not a problem, right. But for these women who were starting bib 13, 15, 18, in the 60s (start numbers), this is not OK.”
The recent mild weather affected the course and organizers attempted to harden its surface by injecting water and salt beforehand.
However, the surface broke on an increasing number of spots during the afternoon run, which started at 2.15 p.m.
Conditions then slightly improved for the evening session 3½ hours later, when temperatures dropped.
“It was a very challenging and distracting day," Shiffrin said. “My understanding is that there were no big injuries, but the way the surface was breaking ... The second run was a bit better, for sure, but I am frustrated with how that went for these women.”
Only 40 out of the 77 starters completed the first session and a deficit of 5.94 seconds was still enough to qualify for the final run.
“It should be a good show, but it should be something that the athletes want to do and are not terrified on the start, looking at the first two turns with these enormous holes. There is a way to do it better, and that's that,” Shiffrin said.
Doing it better is certainly what Shiffrin did in her final run.
The American was fourth, more than half a second off the pace, in the opening session on the rapidly deteriorating course, but posted the fastest time in the evening to beat first-run leader Rast, who finished 0.09 seconds behind. Italian-born prodigy Lara Colturi, 19, who competes for Albania, was 0.57 back in third.
“It was a really hard day today, tough conditions, a really big fight, and the pressure's on. And oh, I did my best, best possible run,” Shiffrin said in a course-side interview after her record-extending 106th career win.
“It didn't feel like good. I didn't expect to come down with the green light. It's been one of those days, it's like: ‘Let’s refocus and be positive and try'.”
Five wins in a row to begin a season matches Shiffrin's personal best start from 2018-19.
She won the final race of last season and then dominated the first four slaloms of the current Olympic campaign, winning them by an average margin of 1.5 seconds, before adding Sunday’s narrow win.
In the first run, Shiffrin was one-hundredth of a second ahead of Rast halfway down the course but lost considerable time on the Swiss racer in the bottom section.
“It’s a pretty tough one. I think, probably, a little bit like overskiing, too round, compared to what’s possible," said Shiffrin, who was the 2014 Olympic champion and holds the women’s World Cup record of 69 slalom victories.
She extended her lead over second-placed Colturi to 220 points in the slalom standings. The World Cup schedule includes three more slaloms in January before the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, and then two in March. A race win is worth 100 points.
Croatia's Zrinka Ljutic, who won the race last season and went on to take the slalom globe, was a massive 3.75 seconds behind in eighth.
Shiffrin's teammate Paula Moltzan was seventh after the first run but straddled a gate in the second, a day after she crashed and fell on her back and head in a giant slalom on the same hill. That race was won by Austria's Julia Scheib, who does not compete in slalom.
The women's World Cup travels to Slovenia for a giant and slalom in Kranjska Gora next weekend.
AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin, winner of an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, poses with the trophy in Semmering, Austria, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin, center, winner of an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, poses with second placed Switzerland's Camille Rast, left, and third placed Albania's Lara Colturi, in Semmering, Austria, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin speeds down the course on her way to win an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin smiles after winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)
Albania's Lara Colturi speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
Switzerland's Camille Rast speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
