COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump endorsed three Republican gubernatorial candidates Friday, wading into contests in South Carolina…

Attorneys say a woman fired by an Indiana university over her Facebook post criticizing Charlie Kirk will receive $225,000 in a legal settlement. The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana says Tuesday that Ball State University agreed to the payout to settle a First Amendment lawsuit by Suzanne Swierc. She was fired last September from her administrative job at Ball State. She was among many American public and private workers targeted by Kirk's supporters for making critical social media posts following Kirk's assassination last year. The president of Ball State defended the woman's firing in a statement, saying her post caused extraordinary damage to the school's reputation.

California is one of the most heavily Democratic states in the country. But in a U.S. House district southeast of Los Angeles, the campaign is being shaped by a different dynamic: Two sitting GOP lawmakers are duking it out over who is most loyal to President Donald Trump. Rep. Ken Calvert is the longest serving Republican in the state’s House delegation. He is running ads calling rival Rep. Young Kim a “traitor” to the president. Kim has dubbed herself a “Trump Republican” and aired spots accusing Calvert of “sabotaging President Trump’s agenda.” The Republican-versus-Republican primary resulted from the national fight over redistricting, which in California could result in five fewer Republican-held seats.

Tennessee officials will pay $835,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a man who was jailed for more than a month over a Facebook post he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Retired police officer Larry Bushart spent 37 days in jail last year before authorities dropped the felony charge against him. He was arrested after he refused to remove memes joking about Kirk's death. The Perry County sheriff said one of Bushart's posts alarmed residents because it referenced a school shooting. Bushart says he was exercising his free speech rights and never should have been arrested.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Republicans will keep duking it out among themselves as they head toward a runoff to pick their candidates for governor…

President Donald Trump has endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, supercharging his effort to oust incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a Republican primary runoff. Paxton and Cornyn qualified for the May 26 runoff after a March 3 primary. Trump wrote on social media that Paxton is “a true MAGA Warrior.” Although the four-term Cornyn has backed Trump’s agenda in Washington, Paxton pitched himself as a political warrior for the Make America Great Again movement. Trump’s endorsement Tuesday puts him at odds with his party’s establishment, which is convinced Cornyn is the better candidate for November’s general election. The runoff had been shaping up as a bitter and expensive battle for the future of the Republican Party.