内容摘要：Avocados grow at Ridgecrest Avocados in Somis, Calif., on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Avocados grow at Ridgecrest Avocados in Somis, Calif., on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Rapper Ye, formerly Kanye West, and Drake were among the celebrities who championed Hoover’s early release. West pleaded Hoover’s case to Trump during a bizarre Oval Office meeting in 2018.Three years later, Drake and Ye headlined a “Free Larry Hoover” benefit concert in Los Angeles to help call attention to prison reforms.

Trump’s move confused many, including Safer, who said the commutation was “extremely disappointing” given the years of trauma, drug addiction and lives lost in gang wars.“There are some crimes that are so heinous and so extraordinary that they do not qualify for mercy,” Safer said.Hoover’s many previous attempts for a sentence reduction or parole have been swiftly rejected, including a federal judge denying Hoover’s request for a lower sentence in 2021. Last year, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board unanimously rejected his bid for parole and before that in 2022 with a 10-1 vote.

Attorneys have said Hoover became a symbol of gang culture, making it hard for courts to consider resentencing him, but that Hoover has since denounced gangs and is a changed man.For instance, Hoover was illiterate when he entered prison and has since taught himself, earned his GED certificate and taken classes on robotics and art history.

Hoover remains eligible for parole in Illinois and has a hearing later this year.

“He’s not responsible for all gang violence that ever has occurred,” said attorney Jennifer Bonjean.This is the second story in a two-part series examining how the United States could curb deaths from pregnancy and childbirth.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.Across the U.S., programs at all levels of government — federal, state and local — are striving to reduce maternal mortality and erase the racial gap.

Many are making headway in their communities and paving the way for other places.The Associated Press examined efforts that are focused on individual patient needs and efforts seeking to improve medical care generally. Here are key takeaways.