KHQA-TV (Quincy, IL)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The candidates for California governor will meet face to face Tuesday in the only scheduled debate of the campaign, giving Republican Steve Hilton perhaps his best chance of gaining ground on Democrat Xavier Becerra. The hourlong matchup on CNN comes just days before mail ballots are expected to begin arriving at homes in advance of the Nov. 3 general election. Looking to replace outgoing Democratic Gov.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — State officials nationwide are focusing on rising gas and diesel prices tied to the war in Iran, offering gas tax holidays and other measures to ease costs as affordability remains a top voter concern in the critical midterm elections. The high gas prices took center stage in Ohio on Wednesday, as lawmakers passed a 90-day state gas tax holiday with broad bipartisan support.

Three Republican states went to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to challenge abortion “shield laws” protecting providers in three Democratic states, escalating the legal conflict over pills that account for a majority of abortions. The attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana contend that the laws in California, Massachusetts and New York undermine their abortion bans and their states' sovereignty.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A 40-year-old man was arrested early Wednesday on suspicion of plotting to attack the Texas State Capitol, authorities said. The Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement that it received “credible information about an individual planning a violent attack" for Thursday in Austin. The tip came in Tuesday evening, and SWAT officers made the arrest around 3 a.m. Wednesday at a residence in Converse, Texas, near San Antonio.

A woman who filed a lawsuit saying she was sexually assaulted by seven men at a Cornell University fraternity house told police weeks after the incident that she could “say with 100% confidence I was raped,” according to a transcript obtained by CBS News New York. The transcript, which has not been publicly released, raises new questions surrounding the local district attorney's decision not to prosecute anyone at the time.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Republican campaign chairman said Wednesday that President Donald Trump's team has assured senators “money will not be our problem” heading into the midterm elections, as MAGA Inc. promises to dump millions more into battleground races to keep GOP control of the Senate. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina is linking his party even closer to the president, as Trump hits the trail to rally voters as Republicans try to boost what has been sluggish enthusiasm.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed laws Wednesday aimed at protecting workers from the threats of artificial intelligence, including potential job losses and workplace surveillance. He also signed an executive order to require state agencies to continue to refer to the technology as “artificial intelligence” instead of the term “ super intelligence ” President Donald Trump recently ordered U.S. diplomats to use.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Venezuelan delivery driver who was shot in his car by a federal immigration agent in Texas will remain in custody on charges that he assaulted an officer while trying to escape arrest, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge has now granted Paramount’s settlement agreement with 12 states that sued over the company’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, allowing the companies to soon close their $81 billion mega merger. In a Wednesday order, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín ruled that the proposed consent decree was a “fair, reasonable, and good faith approach to address the competitive harms” alleged by the states' lawsuit.

Photo blurred due to graphic nature of the dog’s wounds. (Courtesy: Shelbina Police Department) SHELBINA, Mo. — Police and veterinarians provided an update Wednesday on a terrible animal abuse case in Shelbina, Missouri. A five- to six-year-old pit bull, that has been nicknamed Frank, the Tank, was found Tuesday suffering from eight critical wounds, including at least four gashes to his head and face. Police believe those wounds were intentionally inflicted.