Midday Roundup: Presidential contest heads west

Decision day. Voters in Arizona and Utah are weighing in on the presidential selection process tonight. Democrats in Idaho also are caucusing. Republicans in that state voted March 11. Analysts expect GOP front-runners Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Donald Trump to split tonight’s contests, with Cruz taking Utah and Trump winning in Arizona. Utah is only a winner-take-all state if the victor gets more than 50 percent of the vote, which might be a tall order for Cruz. Even in his home state of Texas, Cruz only brought in 43.8 percent of the vote. But with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., out of the race, Cruz might have a better chance of topping the 50 percent mark. Utah has 40 delegates up for grabs. All of Arizona’s 58 delegates will go to the top vote-getter, regardless of the vote total percentage. On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders is favored to win in Utah and Idaho, while Hillary Clinton is ahead in the polls in Arizona. Visit WORLD’s Election Center ’16 this evening for vote totals as they come in.

AIPAC apology. The president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the largest pro-Israel lobbying group in the United States, took a shot at Donald Trump this morning, apologizing if Trump’s criticism of President Barack Obama offended anyone. “While we may have policy differences, we deeply respect the office of the United States and our president, Barack Obama,” Lillian Pinkus said. “There are people in our AIPAC family who were deeply hurt last night, and for that we are deeply sorry. We are disappointed that so many people applauded a sentiment that we neither agree with or condone.” Trump was one of several presidential candidates who spoke at the AIPAC conference yesterday, telling attendees Obama may have been the worst thing ever to happen to Israel. Although some predicted a walkout and protests, the crowd gave Trump at least a tepid welcome. The most noteworthy part of Trump’s speech was the way he delivered it: using a teleprompter and uncharacteristically calm rhetoric.

All bark? U.S. officials are dismissing Russian warnings about cease-fire violations in Syria. Outbreaks of fighting have been common during the spotty three-week cease fire. Russia blames rebels fighting to topple its ally, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, for the violations. Russia’s military command gave the United States until today to show good faith in pressuring the rebels to honor the cease fire, or else Russian forces, who had been pulling out of Syria, would reenter the fighting. But U.S. officials say the matter has already been dealt with through diplomatic channels between the two nations. Meanwhile, a Russian court has sentenced a Ukrainian military officer to 22 years in prison for allegedly killing two journalists in a mortar attack. Nadiya Savchenko insists she was captured by Russian-backed rebels before the journalists were killed. The United States and the European Union condemned Savchenko’s trial as a sham and called on Russia to release her.

Working vacation. Some Senate Republicans are skipping a scheduled two-week break to block President Obama from using a recess appointment to install a Supreme Court justice. A small group of senators will stay behind to keep the upper chamber active during the break. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told Meet the Press the move will cost Republicans seats in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is “leading his senators over a cliff,” Reid said. Last week, the president nominated Merrick Garland—an appellate court judge in Washington, D.C.—to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Republicans insist Obama’s successor should choose the next Supreme Court justice.

Creeping up. As temperatures climb, gas prices are on the rise in most parts of the country, as well. The average price of a gallon of gas has climbed to more than $2 nationwide, shooting up 25 cents in the last four weeks. Gas prices could continue to rise with the cost of crude oil on the rebound. But that’s not the only reason. In April, most of the country’s refineries start making more expensive gasoline with smog prevention characteristics used during the warmer summer months. Right now, Los Angeles has the nation’s highest pump prices at $2.72 a gallon. On the opposite end, a gallon of gas is only $1.66 in Newark, N.J.

WORLD Radio’s Kent Covington and Jim Henry contributed to this report.