During a series of meetings and events on Thursday the two discussed divisive issues such as the Iran war, trade, technology and Taiwan.

During those meetings, Trump said Xi told him China wants to help negotiate an end to the war and a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. China is the largest buyer of Iranian oil and Trump hopes Xi will use that leverage to prod Iran into a deal on U.S. terms. Trump also said Xi assured him that China wouldn’t provide Iran with military equipment.

Trump has taken a decidedly rosy outlook on the U.S.-China relationship during this trip. But that has collided with some difficult truths about the thorniest issues between the two superpowers including Taiwan, the Iran war and trade.

In a summit marked by fanfare and flattery, Xi warned Trump that differences over Taiwan, a self-governed island claimed by Beijing as its own territory, could bring the U.S. and China into clashes or conflict. Trump authorized an $11 billion arms package for Taiwan in December, but has not moved forward with delivery. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned later on Thursday it would be “a terrible mistake” for China to take Taiwan by force.

Trump also focused on trade and deals for China to buy more agricultural products and passenger planes, setting up a board to address their differences and avoid a repeat of the trade war ignited last year after Trump’s tariff hikes.

Here is the latest:

Trump says ‘fantastic trade deals’ struck during ‘incredible’ visit

The White House so far hasn’t released details of any deals struck during Trump’s summit with Xi in Beijing.

Trump told Fox News about soybeans, airplanes and oil in an interview that followed his two-hour sit-down with Xi on Thursday.

Meeting with Xi again on Friday, Trump praised the visit as “incredible.”

He said “a lot of good has come of it,” including “some fantastic trade deals” that are “great for both countries.”

Trump says he and Xi discussed Iran

“We feel very similar about (how) we want it to end,” the president said of the U.S. and Israel’s war in Iran. “We don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump added of both sides and the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed, “We want the straits open.”

He said of the conflict in Iran, “We want them to get it ended because it’s a crazy thing there. A little bit crazy. And it’s no good, it can’t happen.”

Trump and China’s leader had a working tea before heading into a closed-door lunch.

Xi promises to send rose seeds to Trump

Trump and Xi spent about 10 minutes walking Zhongnanhai’s gardens.

“These are the most beautiful roses anyone has ever seen,” Trump remarked while walking past green columns and archways.

Trump said the pair had struck “fantastic trade deals” without providing details.

Xi said he would send rose seeds to Trump.

Trump tore up the lawn around the White House Rose Garden last year to make room for a patio space reminiscent of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

Trump also has said he would like more roses there, recently complaining that the White House’s garden “didn’t have too many roses.”

Trump and top aides have tea and lunch with Xi and his team

The White House shared the list of participants for the meetings.

Trump is joined by David Purdue, the U.S. ambassador to China; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Xi is joined by Xie Feng, China’s ambassador to the United States; Cai Qi, a director of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China; Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi; Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Ma Zhaoxu and He Lifeng, vice premier of the State Council.

China calls again for reopening the Strait of Hormuz

China reiterated a call to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in a bilateral meeting with the U.S. and called for a diplomatic solution to the Iran war.

“Now that the door for dialogue has been opened, then it shouldn’t be shut again,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Friday, adding that the solution should “take into account the concerns of all parties on the Iran nuclear issue.”

“Shipping routes should be reopened as soon as possible,” the ministry said.

Trump has demanded a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program as a condition to end the war.

The ministry did not say if China would help negotiate an end to the war, as Trump told Sean Hannity of Fox News in an interview.

Instead, the ministry promoted a four-point peace proposal from Xi, which is light on specifics but mentions upholding national sovereignty and international law.

Trump’s visit has deepened trust, China says

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Trump’s meetings with Xi during his visit have promoted mutual understanding, deepened trust, advanced cooperation and injected “stability” into the world, according to Chinese state media.

“The two heads of state also reached important consensus on properly handling each other’s concerns and agreed to strengthen communication and coordination on international and regional issues,” the spokesperson said.

Xi and Trump agreed on a new framework of “constructive, strategic stability” for their countries, the spokesperson added, referring to a diplomatic framework described previously as focused on managing differences and limiting competition with an eye toward maintaining stability and peace.

Trump says China could buy US oil as Iran war drags on

Trump suggested there could be a deal for China to buy oil from the United States after talks in Beijing.

Xi “said he likes the idea,” Trump said in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News. “I think it will happen.”

“They’ve agreed they want to buy oil from the United States. They’re going to go to Texas. We’re going to start sending Chinese ships to Texas and to Louisiana and to Alaska,” Trump said.

There were no immediate details of the deals.

Beijing limited U.S. energy imports to a “bare minimum” after Trump imposed significant trade tariffs in 2025 and U.S. crude exports to China effectively halted more than a year ago, according to trade data and analytics platform Kpler.

Despite the global energy shock from the Iran war, China’s ample oil stockpile has so far been able to cushion it from bigger economic impacts. Russia has been a major source for crude imports for China.

China was the biggest buyer of Iranian oil before the Iran war began.

Trump and Xi meet in garden at Zhongnanhai

Photos showed the leaders shaking hands on a road alongside a waterway.

Xi also was seen talking to Trump, who admired the garden.

The walled gardens feature winding paths, roses in pink, yellow and red, manicured lawns and carefully tended trees.

A clock chimed 11 as Trump arrived.

Trump heads to more meetings with Xi

The president’s motorcade is on the way to Zhongnanhai, the Chinese central leadership compound next to the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Its gardens will host Trump and Xi when they pose for an official photo marking Trump’s trip, then head into a working tea.

The pair also are expected to have a closed-door lunch before Trump leaves to return to Washington on Friday afternoon.

Trump says it would be ‘very insulting’ for US to turn away Chinese students

The Trump administration announced last year it would start revoking the visas of some Chinese students, including those with ties to the Communist Party or studying in critical fields.

Asked about the issue during the Fox News interview, Trump said, “I frankly think that it’s good that people come from other countries and they learn our culture, and many of them want to stay here.”

Nearly a quarter of all foreign students in U.S. colleges and universities in the 2023-2024 school year, about 270,000, were from China.

Trump cited a figure of 500,000 Chinese students in the interview and said, “if you want to see a university system die, take a half a million people out of it.”

“It’s something I’m always looking at. But it’s a very insulting thing to tell a country, we don’t want your people in our schools,” he said.

Trump and Xi will talk at Zhongnanhai

Next to Beijing’s Forbidden City lies a secretive compound wrapped around two man-made lakes built for the pleasure of emperors.

Today, Zhongnanhai, or “middle and southern seas,” is synonymous with China’s seat of power as the primary residence of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the headquarters of the central government.

Zhongnanhai is often compared to the White House, the Kremlin or South Korea’s Blue House. But unlike the other presidential residences, Zhongnanhai does not serve as the main venue for diplomatic visits.

China’s top leaders reserve the highly secure grounds for only their closest allies and carefully selected dignitaries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Xi has called his closest friend, was received at Zhongnanhai at least twice, in 2024 and 2025.

Xi also welcomed former U.S. President Barack Obama to Zhongnanhai in 2014. The two leaders took an evening stroll and had dinner.

Tiger bag worn by Musk’s son goes viral in China

Elon Musk’s 6-year-old son showed up Thursday at the Great Hall of the People decked in Chinese-style clothing and wearing a tiger bag that has since gone viral in China.

The tiny, tiger-head crossbody bag is produced by artisanal brand YASTEE, which works with embroiderers in south China to make handcrafted goods.

A bag like the one worn by Musk’s son takes several days to make and decorate by hand, according to local media.

The bag went viral on Chinese social media and sold out in hours on the company’s online stores.

Trump says some US business leaders met Xi for the first time

The president said in the interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News that he asked them to join his meeting with Xi at the Great Hall of the People even though their participation wasn’t scheduled.

Trump said the American business executives were nearby in the building “and I said I think I can get them in five minutes.”

Trump wouldn’t identify which executives participated but said they introduced themselves and said a few words, and seemed to impress Xi. He said most of them had never met the president of China.

“He actually said that was very good. That was a good idea,” Trump said of Xi. “But it was very different from what the schedule had.”

Trump says he talked to Xi about U.S. credit card companies’ access to China

Trump, whose delegation for the trip included the CEOs of Mastercard and Visa, said he also raised with Xi expanding access to the China market for U.S.-based credit card companies.

“I said, ‘What about using Visa in China?’” Trump said in his Fox News interview. “For some reason they were blackballed and maybe that’ll come off.”

China allows foreign cards to be linked to instant pay apps such as Alipay and WeChat Pay. But physical card usage is limited mainly to international hotels, high-end shopping malls, and some upscale restaurants.

Visa and Mastercard have been long pushing for inroads to Chinese consumers and businesses in the world’s second largest economy.

Trump raised issue of Jimmy Lai’s release with Xi

Trump asked about the release of Jimmy Lai, the 78-year old former newspaper publisher and pro-democracy activist who is serving a 20-year sentence in Hong Kong, in his meeting with Xi, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with NBC News Thursday.

“We would like to see him released. We would be open to any arrangement that would work for them, as long as he’s given his freedom,” said Rubio.

Lai was the publisher of Apple Daily, a tabloid that was critical of Chinese and Hong Kong government authorities.

Trump describes Xi as ‘warm’ but not prone to small talk

“He’s all business,” Trump told Sean Hannity of Fox News in a taped interview that followed Thursday’s meeting with the Chinese leader. “There’s no games. There’s no talking about how nice the weather is.”

Trump said Xi is a “very smart person” and that they have a “good relationship.”

“He’s all about China,” Trump said.

Trump says Iran has gone back and forth on US extraction of ‘nuclear dust’

The president suggested during the Fox News interview that Irian officials at first “said very strongly” that the U.S. could send it teams to collect hundreds of pounds of enriched uranium believed to be buried under nuclear sites badly damaged by U.S. military strikes last year.

But then, he said, Iran reneged.

“They agreed to it. They take it back. They agree, you know it’s back and forth,” he said.

Whether Iran would be willing to relinquish enriched uranium is a key point in negotiations to end the war.

Trump has long insisted Tehran is willing to do so, but Iran has largely rejected such assertions.

Trump added during the interview that Iran says only the U.S. and China had sufficient technology to remove the enriched uranium, given that its buried deep underground.

Trump describes Xi as ‘warm’ but not prone to small talk

“He’s all business,” Trump told Sean Hannity of Fox News in a taped interview that followed Thursday’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. “There’s no games. There’s no talking about how nice the weather is.”

Trump said Xi is a “very smart person” and they have a “good relationship.”

“He’s all about China,” Trump said.

Trump is wrapping up his whirlwind Beijing visit

Trump and Xi are scheduled to hold more talks Friday.

They are set to spend time together at Xi’s official residence in Beijing before Trump flies back to Washington.

Trump has taken a decidedly rosy outlook on the U.S.-China relationship during this trip. But that is colliding with some difficult truths about the thorniest issues between the two superpowers including Taiwan, the Iran war and trade issues.

US farmers hope Trump can negotiate more soybean purchases

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC that “there’s going to be some agricultural purchases” made as a result of this trip.

U.S. soybean farmers were hit especially hard by Trump’s trade war with China and have urged him to persuade Beijing to buy more of their crop.

China is on track to fulfill its commitment to buy 12 million metric tons (13.2 million tons) of U.S. soybeans this year, although that is well below the 25 million to 30 million metric tons (27.5 million to 33 million tons) purchased in past years.

China, the biggest foreign buyer of U.S. soybeans, stopped buying them altogether last year after Trump hiked tariffs on all Chinese goods. After Trump met with Xi in October, the White House said China agreed to purchase 12 million metric tons.

The American Soybean Association hopes Trump can secure a deal for an additional 8 million metric tons (8.8 million tons) by Aug. 31.

Trump started his last day in Beijing by boasting on social media that Chinese leader Xi Jinping had “congratulated me on so many tremendous successes” and had been referring only to his predecessor, former U.S. President Joe Biden, when he “very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation.”

Xi then welcomed Trump at his official residence, Zhongnanhai, on Friday for the final talks of the summit. The Chinese leader led Trump on a short walk through the grounds that feature ancient trees and Chinese roses. The leaders strolled through a covered passageway with green columns and archways painted with birds and traditional Chinese mountain scenes.

They then gathered in an ornate pavilion with top aides for talks over tea. The two are also expected have a working lunch before Trump departs for Washington.

“It’s been really a great couple of days," Trump told reporters as he sat with Xi before the start of their meeting with aides.

But Trump's rosy outlook on the U.S.-China relationship collides with some difficult truths about the thorniest issues between the two superpowers.

Beijing has shown little public interest in U.S. entreaties to get more involved in solving the conflict in Iran, even though Trump said in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity that Xi had in their conversations offered to help. And the White House believes China can still do more to stem the flow of Chinese-made precursor chemicals into Mexico used to make illicit fentanyl that has wreaked havoc on many U.S. communities.

Xi, meanwhile, warned Trump during private talks that their differences on the self-ruled island of Taiwan, if handled poorly, could hurtle the world's dominant powers toward “clashes and even conflicts,” according to Chinese government officials.

Trump appeared impressed by the bucolic grounds. The compound is wrapped around two manmade lakes that had been built for the pleasure of emperors. Zhongnanhai is often compared to the White House, the Kremlin or South Korea’s Blue House. But unlike the other presidential residences, Zhongnanhai does not serve as the main venue for diplomatic visits. The invitation appears to be an attempt by Xi to extend a personal touch to a U.S. leader who appreciates big gestures.

“I think he’s a warm person, actually. But he’s all business,” Trump said of Xi in the Fox News interview. “There’s no games.”

Before the final talks got underway Friday, China's foreign ministry issued a statement asserting that Xi and Trump's meetings were injecting “stability” into the world.

Taiwan remains the most important issue for China

Xi's sharp language on Taiwan loomed large over Thursday's talks, even as Trump sought to play up the notion that the U.S. and China share a “special relationship."

But Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC News that U.S. policy toward Taiwan was “unchanged” and cautioned that it would be “a terrible mistake” for China to try to take Taiwan by force. He also framed Xi's comments as standard practice.

“They always raise it on their side. We always make clear our position, and we move on to the other topics,” said Rubio, who was among senior aides to join Trump for the talks.

China in recent weeks has sought to put more focus on its view that Taiwan sits at the “core” of its interests and is key to ensuring a stable relationship with the U.S.

Trump has demanded Taiwan increase defense spending, and in December, the White House announced an $11 billion weapons package for Taiwan, the largest ever to the island democracy.

But the U.S. has yet to begin fulfilling the arms sales, and Trump had said he expected to discuss the matter with Xi in Beijing. He’s also groused that Taiwan “stole” America’s semiconductor business and called on Taiwan to pay the U.S. for protection.

Ma Chun-wei, an expert in China-Taiwan relations at Taiwan’s Tamkang University, said the elevated defense relationship between Washington and Taipei has caused China to toughen its rhetoric over Taiwan.

“For Xi Jinping, he must show that the Taiwan issue is in China’s hands. He must demonstrate this image, or else he would be criticized,” Ma said.

China wants the Strait of Hormuz opened

The leaders agreed that the Strait of Hormuz — effectively closed since the start of the Iran conflict — needs to be reopened to support global energy demands About 20% of the world’s oil flowed through the strait before the war started on Feb. 28.

Trump said in the interview that Xi privately offered assistance on resolving the war, though it was unclear what that would mean, given China's strategic partnership with Iran.

“He’d like to see the Hormuz Strait open," Trump said. "He said if I can be of any help whatsoever, I would like to help.”

Trump reinforced in comments with Xi by his side that they were in agreement that the critical strait must be reopened.

The president also said Xi was also opposed to any implementation of tolls on vessels crossing the strait and expressed interest in China potentially purchasing U.S. oil to reduce Chinese dependence on Gulf oil in the future.

Trump earlier this week had downplayed the importance of talks with Xi on the 11-week-old Iran war that has led to surging energy prices and threatens to plunge the global economy into recession if the conflict does not conclude soon.

But before Air Force One could land in Beijing, Rubio said administration officials would make the case to the Chinese officials about why they should be invested in prodding Iran to come to terms to end the war.

Indeed, the Chinese, who have been critical of the U.S. and Israeli bombardment of Iran, hold unique leverage as Iran’s biggest trading partner. The Chinese government has managed to weather the economic damage caused by the war with the help of its strategic oil reserves, but that backstop is not limitless. Economists say the Iran conflict could still have a big impact on China’s export-driven economy.

Will Trump announce any major business deals?

The White House, ahead of the visit, insisted that Trump wouldn’t be making the trip without an eye toward securing results before he leaves, suggesting there could be announcements coming on trade.

Those could still come, with the U.S. side hoping to nail down Chinese commitments to buy U.S. soybeans and beef. Trump told Fox News that Xi had indicated a commitment for China to buy 200 Boeing jets from the U.S.

The leaders on Thursday discussed increasing U.S. agricultural purchases by the Chinese and opportunities for both sides to expand investment into each other's markets, according to the White House. Trump administration officials also want to work toward establishing a Board of Trade with China to address commercial differences between the countries.

Trump, whose delegation for the trip included the CEOs of Mastercard and Visa, said he also raised with Xi expanding access to the China market for the U.S.-based credit card companies.

___

Mistreanu reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Huizhong Wu and Darlene Superville and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.

Just six months earlier, thousands of miles away, this same young man was pulling all-nighters to play Madden NFL on his Xbox at his home near Minneapolis. Sometimes he'd pause to snack on pizza rolls and Diet Coke, or check his texts for the next hangout at TopGolf or Buffalo Wild Wings.

Two separate worlds. Both are home to Jalue Dorje.

A typical American teen, he grew up loving rap music, video games and football. He is also an aspiring spiritual leader who, from an early age, was recognized by the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan Buddhist leaders as a reincarnated lama.

Now he’s 19. He graduated from high school last year and moved to northern India to join the Mindrolling Monastery, about 7,200 miles (11,500 kilometers) from his home in Columbia Heights. Recently, he came to Nepal to meet his parents, who flew from Minneapolis, and attended sacred rituals and teachings conducted by the abbot of Shechen Monastery.

Maroon and golden monastic robes had replaced his usual hoodies and sweatpants. But he still quoted from Drake (the rapper) and Shantideva (the 8th-century Indian monastic). And beneath his robes, he wore white Crocs decorated with Jibbitz charms of “The Simpsons.” He wore them often at Shechen Monastery, near the 1,500-year-old Boudhanath stupa, one of Tibetan Buddhism’s most sacred sites.

Each morning, he’d awake at dawn. After prayers, he walked from his hotel through crowded Kathmandu streets lined with fruits, incense and spices, dodging mopeds near the soaring white dome and spire of Boudhanath with its colorful Tibetan prayer flags and the painted, ever-watching eyes of the Buddha.

On a recent day, he strode to the monastery and took off his Crocs before entering a prayer hall reserved for monks with doctorates and lamas like himself. Incense wafted. The sound of ancient instruments — cymbals, bells and drums — punctuated the monastic chants.

Standing before three huge gold statues of the Buddha, Dorje bowed to Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche, the monastery’s spiritual head, and presented him with a golden plate that symbolizes the entire universe, and a “khata” — a white Tibetan ceremonial scarf.

It was the first mandala, or offering, Dorje had made since his long journey to follow his predestined spiritual path. It was a moment, he says, when he realized how far he’d come.

“This is the real one, you know? We’re here and this is really happening,” he says. “I’m doing what the prophecy fulfilled.”

A reincarnation cycle dating to 1655

Since the Dalai Lama recognized him at age 2, Dorje had spent much of his life training to become a monk, memorizing sacred scriptures, practicing calligraphy, learning the Buddha’s teachings.

The process of identifying a lama is based on spiritual signs and visions. Dorje was four months old when he was identified by Kyabje Trulshik Rinpoche, a venerated master of Tibetan Buddhism. He was later confirmed by several lamas as the eighth Terchen Taksham Rinpoche — the first was born in 1655.

Jalue Dorje’s parents took him to meet the Dalai Lama in 2010 when Tibetan Buddhism's spiritual leader visited Wisconsin. The Dalai Lama cut a lock of Dorje’s hair in a ceremony. He advised the parents to let their son stay in the U.S. to perfect his English and then send him to a monastery.

“From my parents’ end, educating me was a really big one,” Dorje says. “They followed the words of his holiness; he laid the foundation, and they took that gamble.”

As a child, he often wondered why he couldn’t sleep later on weekends and watch cartoons like other kids. One day, it would pay off, his dad would tell him, “like planting a seed that one day would sprout.”

He remembered the early mornings of recitation and memorization. He recalled people who posted messages online doubting that he was a reincarnated lama, and how that troubled his parents. And how they both worked hard cleaning hotel rooms and doing laundry at hospitals while raising him.

“It wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns every day,” Dorje says. “We overcame a lot.”

Fluent in English and Tibetan, Dorje excelled in public school. Although he was officially enthroned as a lama in a 2019 ceremony in India, his parents let him stay in the U.S. until graduation.

Growing up, he kept a photo of the Dalai Lama in his room above DVD collections of “The Simpsons,” “South Park,” and “Family Guy,” next to the manga graphic novel series ″Buddha.”

On his bedside table, he kept a journal where he diagramed plays he’d like to try as a left guard with his school football team. On a wall in his living room he hung a poster with his senior year photo wearing sunglasses and his football uniform, touching thumb tips to index fingers in a meditation gesture.

He had a deal with his father, who would give him Pokémon cards in return for memorizing Buddhist scriptures. He collected hundreds, sometimes sneaking them in his robes at ceremonies. “I remember,” he says, “when I first learned my Tibetan ABCs, when I was able to recite it all by memory, my dad was so happy.”

A love of sports

The days were long. Every morning he awoke to recite sacred texts. Then school, followed by football practice. He returned home for tutoring on Tibetan history and Buddhism. At night, he practiced calligraphy or listened to rappers. When he got his license, he drove around listening to Taylor Swift.

What would he have been if not a spiritual leader? “Sports journalist would have been cool,” he says. He loves to write. An avid fan, he roots for the Atlanta Hawks in basketball, Real Madrid in soccer, and the Atlanta Falcons in football.

His favorite athlete is U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu: “She brings so much swagger, but it doesn’t overshadow the sports.” In high school, he wrote an award-winning story about Tibet for the student newspaper.

On the football field, his teammates praised his positivity; he reminded them to have fun and keep losses in perspective. But in the final game of his senior season, he shed tears, realizing it would likely be his last game ever.

He often helped with events representing the local Tibetan community. For his 18th birthday, more than 1,000 people gathered at the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota for the last party before joining the monastery in India.

Finding his groove

On the long plane ride, his mind wandered.

“I was like, ‘Dang! I’m missing the first week of NFL!’” He packed light: headphones, laptop, a fantasy football magazine and a book on Guru Rinpoche, the Indian Buddhist master who brought Tantric Buddhism to Tibet.

His parents flew with him to New Delhi and then drove north to Dehradun, near the Himalayan foothills, in the equivalent of a college dropoff. They bought him a larger bed. They painted his monastic room and erected a shrine where he could pray at dawn and dusk.

He is an only child, and his parents cried when saying goodbye. The farthest and longest that he'd gone from home on his own previously was a three-day camping trip in northern Minnesota.

“Everything leading up to this point in the history of all your lifetimes — the billions and billions of lifetimes you accumulated — leads to your family,” Dorje says. “To have such great parents is a result of a great past life’s merit. But not only past life merit, but the connection of karma — and love.”

Early on, his mother, Dechen Wangmo, worried about her then-toddler son during long prayer sessions.

“Would he be hungry? What if he fell asleep?” she recalled thinking. She kept worrying about him as a teenager: “He’s a tulku,” she says, using the Tibetan term for a reincarnated lama, “but he’s my son.”

To her relief, he thrived. While his friends attended history, science and literature classes in U.S. colleges, he took lessons on Buddhist philosophy, and practiced his calligraphy and chanting in India.

“He’s kind of found his groove at the monastery,” says Kate Thomas, one of his tutors in Minneapolis.

Becoming a ‘leader of peace’

Despite the 10-hour time difference, he kept in contact with friends back home through texts and WhatsApp. On time off, he built Legos, walked to an arcade to play the FIFA soccer video game and watched Marvel superhero films and NBA and NFL games on his laptop. He was especially psyched about the halftime Super Bowl show: “That was an incredible performance by Bad Bunny — I can ’t lie!”

It was his first time experiencing a life of asceticism, eating a daily ration of rice and lentils and washing his own clothes by hand. But he adjusted, getting along with monks from all over Asia, discussing spirituality, popular culture and sports.

“Dudes are dudes!” he says.

It was the first time that he was hanging out with other “tulkus' — reincarnated spiritual masters around his own age. Among them was Trulshik Yangsi Rinpoche, 13. He's believed to be the reincarnation of Kyabje Trulshik Rinpoche — the Tibetan Buddhist master who first recognized Dorje as a tulku at four months old.

At the monastery, they bonded over their love of Tintin comics. Dorje became his English teacher.

“I think of him as my spiritual teacher,” Dorje said after sharing a meal with the younger lama. “I’m profoundly grateful that I get to repay my debt to the one who found me and improving his English.”

Yangsi Rinpoche smiled, then reflected: “He’s my best friend.”

Just hours after Dorje blessed thousands — including his parents — on the last day of the 12-day rituals, the family awoke before dawn to visit the ancient Maratika or Halesi Mahadev Caves, 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Mount Everest. They drove for eight hours on dirt roads, crossing mountains and valleys, for a pilgrimage to caves sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists.

After exploring the caves in awe, Dorje sat cross-legged on the rocky ground next to his father, Dorje Tsegyal. They prayed together, as they had done almost daily since his childhood.

Following several years of contemplation and asceticism, Dorje hopes to return to the United States to teach in Minnesota’s Buddhist community at the Nyingmapa Taksham Buddhist Center. His goal: become “a leader of peace,” following the example of the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and Gandhi.

It’s a long path that began soon after his birth. He feels ready. “This,” he says, “is just the beginning.”

__

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

That’s the mantra of a multiracial group of civil rights leaders and activists organizing opposition to a mostly white conservative alliance dismantling the Voting Rights Act and political districts that allowed Black and other nonwhite voters to choose more of their elected leaders for the last half-century.

“We have to respond as quickly as possible,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in an interview. “The real question,” Johnson told The Associated Press, “is how do we as a country really address the effort to shrink us backwards into a 1950s reality?”

Johnson’s 117-year-old association, which was at the forefront of legal and legislative fights for Black political rights in the 20th century, is among scores of groups coming together Saturday in Alabama for a rally and tribute to the Civil Rights Movement that helped bring about the 1965 Voting Rights Act. They plan events in Selma, where voting rights advocates were attacked by white law enforcement officers on Bloody Sunday, and Montgomery, where a rescheduled march concluded two weeks later.

Unlike 61 years ago, the Alabama events are not the pinnacle of a protracted movement. Instead, civil rights activists hope they serve as a catalyst for a renewed crusade after the U.S. Supreme Court, two weeks ago, further weakened the VRA by no longer allowing race to be considered in how congressional and other districts are drawn.

They acknowledge difficulty in countering a white-dominated conservative network entrenched in the White House, Capitol Hill, federal courts and many state legislatures of the Old Confederacy, where a majority of Black Americans still live.

The VRA “was the foundational nucleus of the Civil Rights Movement,” said Jared Evans of the Louisiana-based Power Coalition for Equity and Justice. “They’ve taken that from us,” he said, with the recent Louisiana v. Callais decision on congressional districts and the earlier Shelby v. Holder decision in 2013 that rolled back federal oversight of election procedures in states and localities with a history of discrimination.

Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, who is senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached, said from his pulpit that the result is “Jim Crow in new clothes.”

Warnock pointed to King and the last voting rights movement. “We need political power. We need economic power. We need personal power,” he said, assuring parishioners that “your adversaries know that your voice matters” because they're “bending over backwards” to diminish it.

Evans reached further back into history to say what must happen next.

“Our response must be and will be a second Reconstruction period,” Evans said.

Some Democrats want an answer from Congress

The ultimate goal, organizers said, is to win more elections, sway policy fights and protect diverse political representation at all levels.

U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, a Black lawmaker who represents Selma, Alabama, said an immediate priority is to “reform and reintroduce” Democrats' flagship voting bill, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act.

Sewell, whose seat ultimately could be threatened under redistricting, said Democrats want to “completely” eliminate partisan gerrymandering.

She also said the legislation would “bring back pre-clearance,” the requirement for certain federal approvals that the court struck down in Shelby.

“We need to come up with a modern-day formula for showing just how egregious the behavior of these state actors is,” Sewell said.

The Supreme Court ruled in Callais that states do not have to draw majority nonwhite districts under the Voting Rights Act and, in fact, should not consider race at all when drawing boundaries. By arguing that the law's remedies to combat discrimination had themselves become racist, the decision allows states to redraw heavily Black districts that have historically elected Democrats while arguing that the designs are based on party interests, not race.

President Donald Trump praised the decision as “a BIG WIN for Equal Protection under the Law, as it returns the Voting Rights Act to its Original Intent, which was to protect against intentional Racial Discrimination.”

Groups mobilized for redistricting sessions

Many of the same groups who’ll be in Alabama on Saturday have already gone to Southern statehouses, where white Republican lawmakers moved swiftly to redraw congressional districts after Callais.

Alabama and Louisiana lawmakers reverted to a single majority-Black district, each scrapping a second district that had been ordered by lower federal courts under now-reversed VRA interpretations. Tennessee lawmakers gutted a majority Black district by splitting greater Memphis into three different sprawling districts — itself an obvious racial gerrymander the court had previously forbidden, Evans said.

Anticipating the Callais outcome, Florida and Texas proceeded with redistricting before it came down. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a term-limited Republican, has called a June session to redraw congressional lines for the 2028 cycle. Mississippi and South Carolina have delayed the matter for now.

South Carolina state Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey was among the few white Republicans who pushed back against GOP redistricting plans. He said that not even pressure from Trump could sell him on disenfranchising Black South Carolinians instead of doing what's best for his state.

Other white conservatives are still talking openly about ousting Reps. Jim Clyburn and Bennie Thompson, the only Black U.S. House members from South Carolina and Mississippi, respectively.

Evans, the Louisiana activist, predicted the fight ahead won't just be about congressional representation.

“Look for them to go after state house and state senate seats — and then it will be the local level,” he said, adding that “it’s going to be an entire erasure of Black representation.”

The issue is more than a partisan Washington fight

Heavily minority districts drawn under the VRA before Callais nearly always elect Democrats. Black Americans have overwhelmingly aligned with the party since President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, sparking a decades-long migration of most white Southern politicians to the Republicans. Latino and Hispanic voters still lean Democratic in most places as well.

The immediate fight shapes the midterm campaign scramble for control of the U.S. House during the final years of Trump’s presidency. Trump initially pushed Republican-run states to redistrict to protect the party's fragile House majority.

But Johnson, the NAACP leader, said all voters should see more than partisan warfare or a regional battle over race.

Beyond party allegiance, Johnson argued, white conservatives want to curtail a range of rights “depending on how you pray, depending on who you love,” while also pushing economic policies that punish workers across racial and ethnic lines. From legislation to the confirmation of federal judges who decide constitutional questions, those policy outcomes start with election results.

“It’s not a Black problem,” Johnson said. “That’s an American problem.”

There is no singular movement or leader yet

Evans, Johnson and others acknowledged the complexity in harnessing disparate organizations and galvanizing voters on issues like redistricting and gerrymandering. But they insist the brazen nature of Republicans' course has spurred engagement.

Johnson said he was on an organizing call in Mississippi this week that had 8,000 participants. Evans pointed to packed hallways in the state Capitols in Baton Rouge and Nashville, respectively.

The NAACP and allies have challenged new maps in multiple states, despite Callais. Many groups want to spur midterm turnout among Black voters, and others are disenchanted with white conservatives’ maneuvers in racially diverse places.

Johnson stressed the need for perseverance.

The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision was seismic, with a unanimous court declaring segregated public schools unconstitutional and reversing 19th-century precedents denying Black Americans' fundamental rights.

But it took 17 years — and many more court battles — for it to be implemented in most Southern school districts. Fights over mandated student busing continued beyond the South. It was a decade after Brown before Congress and Johnson enacted the movement’s seminal laws.

There's no clear leader of a modern movement.

Johnson said it’s worth remembering that even with King at the helm before his assassination, “there was tension around strategy” in the 1950s and 1960s.

But even “through that tension, through many episodes, we were able to get directly in the right place.”

Grabbing viewers’ attention as one of 25 acts competing in quick succession in Saturday’s grand final in Vienna means pulling out all the stops, both musically and visually.

In the case of this year’s favorites to win, the Finnish duo of pop singer Pete Parkkonen and classical violinist Linda Lampenius, that involves jets of flame, a valuable 18th-century violin and a team of “ninjas” working to avert disaster.

The pair’s song “Liekinheitin,” or “Flamethrower,” is a favorite with both fans and betting markets with its melding of pop and classical influences — and its spectacular staging.

Here’s what it takes to create the eye-catching performance.

Permission to play

Parkkonen and Lampenius dub their sound “new pop with a classical touch." Their song of burning love is an explosion of energy in which Parkkonen’s passionate vocals act as counterpoint to Lampenius’ frenetic fiddling.

The Finnish delegation had to secure special permission for Lampenius to play live. Eurovision rules state that lead vocals must be performed live, but instruments are prerecorded, to help speed changeovers between songs.

Lampenius says “Flamethrower” was “written as a duet,” and both performers need to be live for it to work.

“It’s a woman and a man, it’s a female voice and a male voice. So I do all my lyrics through my violin, by playing, and you (Parkkonen) are singing it with words. But we are talking. We are (equally) as important, both of us.”

The pair were not certain when they arrived in Vienna that Eurovision organizers would allow the request. They were only given final approval after performing in front of an audience in a live rehearsal.

The European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision, said contest rules allow that “live audio capture of instruments may exceptionally be permitted where artistically justified.”

Lampenius had brought two violins just in case – a treasured Gagliano made in 1781 so live performance would “sound perfect,” and a cheaper instrument to use if she had to rely on playback. That would remove any risk to the Gagliano from the slightly hazardous staging.

Practice makes perfect

Lampenius and Parkkonen say they have been rehearsing for this moment since November. They won Finland’s national selection contest for Eurovision in February and say by now they have performed the song hundreds of times.

It is crucial to get it right. The performance builds to a climax that sees jets of flame spurt from a stage on which Lampenius, fanned by a leaf blower and wearing a flowing dress, is playing her precious violin.

Lampenius concedes it's “a bit scary when you think of it."

But she says she is secure in the knowledge she has black-clad stagehands who call themselves “ninjas” on hand to keep her dress away from the flames – an essential piece of the performance that goes unseen by viewers watching at home.

“They’re running with me – first one guy carrying my dress when I’m running, then the other one catching me during my run,” she said. “And he helps me also when I jump up on the stage and do the pirouette.”

For the striking final pose in which Lampenius perches atop chairs in high heels, violin aloft, Parkkonen combines singing with his role as a security spotter, there to catch her if she topples over.

“That’s my work,” the singer said.

“The history of nature is made up of both extreme beauty and violence, volcanoes and butterflies, shifting tectonic plates and marsupials, the bones of the stegosaurus and the light of Milky Way,” the author and bookseller said Thursday night as she stood before hundreds at the Manhattan-based cultural institution museum and accepted the PEN/Audible Literary Service Award.

“To spend a day in this museum is to understand that the world had plenty of action before we got here, and it will continue to have plenty of action. And so, let us marvel that people still want to write books, and that we want to read them.”

Patchett and film producer Jason Blum were among the featured speakers and Amy Tan, Walter Isaacson and Rebecca Yarros among the table hosts for the fundraising dinner, which raised more than $2 million for the century-old literary and free expression organization. The gala took place as writers and journalists face persecution worldwide and after recent reports from PEN and the American Library Association documenting the continued surge in book bans in the U.S., with thousands of works being pulled from schools and libraries.

“First, they come for your freedom of expression. Without that freedom to raise your voice, it is much easier to strip away all of your other rights,” PEN co-CEO Summer Lopez said during her remarks. “We believe that hidden in the horrors of this moment is also an opportunity — to mobilize people and ignite a movement for free expression, here and everywhere."

Blum, the producer whose credits range from Jordan Peele's Oscar-nominated “Get Out” to such horror franchises as “Halloween” and “Paranormal Activity,” received PEN's Business Visionary award. He was introduced by the actor-singer Maya Hawke, who remembered him as a cherished childhood friend — he is her godfather — and an ongoing role model who “builds a safe and boundaried structure and then gives creatives freedom and control within that. Like a good father, or godfather.”

Blum wryly noted that horror films don't have a rich history of critical praise. He read off some of the insults he had come across, or alleged he came across: “For the young, the ignorant, and the idle" and “Extremely provocative of that sensation in the palate and throat which leads to nausea.”

But those remarks, he added, date back to the 19th century, and they were directed at the mass market sensation of the time — the novel.

“So all forms of storytelling, especially when they’re new and different, need protection from the forces of snobbery and suppression," he said.

The PEN gala, hosted by author-actor B.J. Novak, has long been a mix of star power and social causes. The Iranian writer-dissidents Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee and Ali Asadollahi were this year's recipients of the PEN/Barbery Freedom to Write Award, given to writers who have faced government harassment and imprisonment. PEN President Dinaw Mengestu, pointing out that neither was able to attend and that their absence was signified by two empty chairs, asked the audience to imagine a time of no empty chairs “on this stage or on any stage in this world.”

One of the night's longest ovations was given to the Tennessee-based activists Tatiana Silvas and Keri Lambert, whose anti-censorship Rutherford County Library Alliance has fought book bans in the Rutherford area. The library alliance was this year's winner of the PEN/Benenson Courage Award

“Libraries are not simply buildings filled with books. They are one of the few institutions that truly belong to everyone, regardless of age, income, background or beliefs,” Lambert said. “Defending libraries is really about defending democracy itself. A healthy community depends on informed citizens, open dialogue and the freedom to explore ideas. Libraries make all of that possible.”

If you could answer this question correctly, you could have taken home the big trophy in the 2026 Orange County Public Schools Math Bee Invitational on Thursday.

News 6 anchor Ginger Gadsden hosted the event at St. Luke’s Founder’s Hall in Orlando.

Shaun Ragoo from Meadow Woods Elementary School won first place, with Brayan Maquin of Rolling Hills Elementary and Carter Vang of Engelwood Elementary tying for second place.

OCPS says nearly 2,800 students from 34 schools participated in the math bee, with 527 making it to their school finals and 34 making it to the regional finals.

Fourteen students will compete in Thursday’s final.

Aside from shiny trophies, there are cash prizes. First place gets $1,000, second place gets $400, and the third-place runner-up gets $200.

The runner-up received $250, and third place netted $100.

The math bee started at Pineloch Elementary in 2011 in five classrooms with over 100 students. After a few years of expansion, the first Go Full STEAM Orange County Math Bee Invitational was held in May 2015 with seven participating schools.

The 2026 event is the 16th year of the math bee and the 11th GFS OCPS Math Bee Invitational.

The Fourth Grade Math Bee Invitational was developed by Go Full STEAM in cooperation with Orange County Public Schools to create excitement for mathematics and encourage students to consider careers in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math)-related fields and to see the importance of mathematics in their personal lives and future careers.

For more information about Go Full STEAM, visit gofullsteam.org.

[WATCH: Isaiah Edouard wins 2025 Orange County Math Bee]

The deal was signed in Amman, Jordan, after 14 weeks of negotiations observed by U.N. officials and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the deal and called on the parties to move swiftly toward implementing it so families could soon be reunited, a U.N. spokesperson said.

Abdelkader al-Murtada, the Houthi head of the National Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs, who was involved in the talks, said that 1,100 of the almost 1,700 detainees are Houthi-affiliated, while seven Saudis and 20 Sudanese are among the 580 detainees that will be released by the other side.

The head of the government delegation, Yahya Kazman, said in a post on X that a “number of politicians and media professionals" held by the Houthis will also be released. He did not give details.

U.N. Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said the deal covered the largest release of “conflict-related detainees.” The ICRC in a statement said both sides agreed on the identities of the detainees to be released, and added that the Geneva-based organization is ready to facilitate their repatriation.

It was not immediately clear when the release would start.

Guterres also called on the government and the Houthis to build on the positive momentum generated by the deal and to engage constructively toward an inclusive political process for a just and lasting peace in Yemen, Guterres’ deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said.

“The Secretary-General further urges the Houthis to immediately and unconditionally release all arbitrarily detained personnel from the United Nations, NGOs, civil society and diplomatic missions,” Haq said.

The agreement builds on negotiations held in Oman in December 2025, Grundberg said. Both sides at the time discussed the release of 2,900 detainees.

Yemen plunged into civil war in 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition, including the United Arab Emirates, intervened the following year in an attempt to restore the government to power.

The conflict has pushed the economy to the brink of collapse and caused severe food insecurity in northern provinces, according to the World Food Program.

___

Chehayeb reported from Beirut.

Suzuki and Jake Evans capped a three-goal second period surge by scoring 68 seconds apart in a 6-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night, giving the Canadiens a 3-2 lead in their second-round playoff series.

Montreal didn't lead until Evans swept a loose puck over the goal line behind Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to put the Canadiens up 4-3 with 3:45 remaining in the second period. Ivan Demidov set up the goal when his shot glanced off Luukkonen’s glove and then dribbled behind him.

Suzuki then scored 10 seconds into a power-play opportunity by converting Juraj Slafkovsky’s one-handed pass from the end boards and beating Luukkonen through the legs with a shot from the lower right circle.

“The power-play goal was huge, felt like it gave us a little bit of breathing room,” Suzuki said. “Just kept trying to put the foot on the gas a little bit, too.”

Demidov, Cole Caufield, Josh Anderson and Alexandre Texier also scored for Montreal, which will host Game 6 on Saturday night.

Dobes allowed three goals on the first four shots he faced before stopping the final 32. The rookie goalie was pleased with coach Martin St. Louis' decision to keep him in the game, especially after Dobes acknowledged he sagged after rookie Konsta Helenius beat him through the legs to put Buffalo up 3-2.

“I told him thank you for leaving me and trying to prove myself,” Dobes said. “I’m really proud of myself too for not giving up and keep making saves.”

Josh Doan and Jason Zucker also scored for the Atlantic Division champions, who are facing elimination for the first time this postseason.

Luukkonen allowed five goals on 23 shots, and was pulled after two periods -- the second time he’s been yanked this postseason. Alex Lyon mopped up, allowing a goal on three shots. Lyon is potentially in line to regain the starting duties after losing the job following a 6-2 loss in Game 3.

“It’s not good enough. Not good enough,” Sabres forward Alex Tuch said. “I thought we had a pretty good start actually, too. We should have locked it down better and played better defensively. It’s frustrating.”

The Sabres have dropped two of three at home in the series, and are 2-4 overall in the playoffs. On the bright side, they’re 4-1 on the road, including a 3-2 win at Montreal on Tuesday.

Montreal finally got much-needed production from its top line, with Suzuki (goal, two assists), Slafkovsky (three assists) and Caufield getting on the scoresheet. The trio had combined for four goals and five assists in the first four games of the series.

Most encouraging was Caufield’s goal being the line’s first in a five-on-five situation in the series.

“Very good for the confidence,” said Slafkovsky. “We stuck with it, and it’s good for confidence. But it doesn’t matter. In two days, we got to do it again and play our best game of the season.”

Montreal is one win from advancing to the semifinal round of the playoffs for the first time since the Covid pandemic altered 2021 playoffs. The Canadiens eventually reached the Stanley Cup Final and lost to Tampa Bay in five games.

Buffalo and Montreal combined for five goals in the first 10:15, including Doan and Texier scoring nine seconds apart.

The five goals were scored in a span of 8:15, which ranks 11th on the playoff list of fastest between two teams.

Buffalo’s deficiencies continue being exposed. After allowing 12 goals in six games of their first-round series against Boston, the Sabres have allowed 21 already to Montreal — and 19 in the past four.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Those records reveal that Black — whose real name is Bill Kapri, 28 — was booked in Broward County on charges of fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement, and resisting an officer without violence.

Jail records further show that he was taken into custody on Thursday by Pompano Beach police. Few other details have been released at this time about the reason for this latest arrest.

The incident comes after Kapri was booked into the Orange County jail last week on a charge of trafficking in MDMA.

[RELATED: Rapper Kodak Black jailed in Orange County on drug trafficking charges]

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, that arrest stemmed from an incident in November 2025, at the Children’s Safety Village on Fairvilla Road.

Police said they were investigating calls about gunshots and found two vehicles there. After smelling freshly burnt cannabis, the officer searched the vehicles, finding a pink bag that contained what appeared to be MDMA.

The affidavit reveals the bag is the same one seen on Black’s Instagram account, along with other paraphernalia, like a pair of scissors and a lighter.

In that case, the judge set his bond at $75,000, a high figure due to his 12 previous felony convictions. Regardless, Kapri later bonded out.

[RELATED: Prosecutor wanted high bond because Kodak Black is a rapper]

Kapri has also faced previous legal issues.

In 2023, police in Plantation arrested Kapri after finding him asleep at the wheel with white powder around his mouth, officials said. Although authorities said the powder initially tested positive for cocaine, a lab test later revealed it was oxycodone, for which Kapri obtained a prescription.

The arrest was a violation of his probation from an unrelated case, which led to him being locked up in Miami for two months.

Kapri was also arrested in 2022 on charges of trafficking in oxycodone and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription. He was freed on bond with regular drug testing as a condition of his release. Kapri was ordered into drug rehab for 30 days in 2023 after missing a drug test and then testing positive for fentanyl several days later, according to court records.

In January 2021, then-President Donald Trump commuted a three-year federal prison sentence the rapper had for falsifying documents used to buy weapons. Kapri had served about half his sentence.

[RAW VIDEO: Kodak Black in court after Orange County arrest]

As Kodak Black, Kapri has sold more than 30 million singles, with massive hits such as “Super Gremlin,” which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

FIFA announced Thursday that, for the first time, the final at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19 will include a Super Bowl-style concert.

Soccer's governing body said the show would support the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, which is raising $100 million to help children access education and soccer.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said it would bring together “music and football on the biggest stage in sport for a very special cause.”

“When you have a position of responsibility, you want to do everything you can to have a real impact,” Infantino said at the Global Citizen NOW conference in New York on Thursday. “Not everyone can become a world champion, but everyone can become a little bit better by having the right education. So we embrace that.”

The show will be curated by Coldplay's Chris Martin, who came up with the idea four years ago while watching the previous World Cup, said Hugh Evans, CEO of the nonprofit Global Citizen, which has partnered with FIFA on the halftime show and the education fund.

Shakira said at the conference that she’s spent her entire adult life “making songs and building schools,” referring to the work of her nonprofit, Barefoot Foundation.

“Finally, during this World Cup, those two paths meet,” said the “Hips Don't Lie” superstar, who added she is hoping for her homeland of Colombia to make it to the World Cup final.

The Super Bowl is famed for its halftime show, attracting the world's biggest stars for spectacular performances. This year featured Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny. Previous headliners included Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Madonna, Prince, Bruce Springsteen and Rihanna.

But halftime shows are not commonplace in soccer, with events such as the Champions League final featuring a prematch concert. On May 30, the Killers will headline a concert before European club soccer's biggest game between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in Budapest.

Evans told The Associated Press in an interview that everyone involved in the halftime show are huge soccer fans who wanted to ensure the performances would be “significantly shorter than the 15-minute mark,” which is the traditional interval in a match. “Soccer fans around the world can be rest assured knowing that we’re very respectful of the game," Evans said.

Hamish Hamilton, who directed the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony and most Super Bowl halftime shows in recent memory, will direct the World Cup halftime show, said Evans.

The World Cup is co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico and runs through June and July.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

City leaders and members of the design team presented the updates during a meeting at Orlando City Hall, announcing the memorial has now reached the 60% design phase.

The newly released renderings show several interior design elements planned for the memorial’s visitor center, including a disco ball reflecting light across nearby walls, artwork installations and photographs honoring the 49 victims killed in the June 12, 2016 mass shooting at Pulse nightclub.

The renderings also include a timeline detailing how events unfolded the night of the attack.

“It is incredibly challenging. I think they’ve done a very admirable job,” senior project manager Dan Michael Trbovich said during the meeting.

Trbovich said the design team has worked to create a memorial space where visitors can reflect and honor the victims.

“To see this evolution of everybody having an idea of what we thought it was going to be,” Trbovich said. “The interesting thing is what came out of the discussion was something very remarkable — something we would have not anticipated.”

Previous renderings released in March highlighted the exterior design of the memorial, which includes columns, a water wall and a reflecting pond.

The design team also announced plans to repurpose concrete from the original Pulse site and incorporate it into the memorial.

Not everyone attending Thursday’s meeting supported the updated designs.

Pulse Memorial Advisory Board member Nancy Rosado expressed concerns about the interior concept, saying it felt “too much of a museum-esque quality.”

Rosado also raised concerns about representation of the Latino community, which was disproportionately impacted by the shooting.

“The Latino community was also disproportionately impacted and I feel like we are being minimized,” Rosado said. “I don’t see any emphasis of that or any focus of that interior design that we saw.”

The city has set the memorial’s budget at $12 million. Construction is expected to begin in September and finish about a year later.

The permanent memorial will be built at the former Pulse nightclub site in Orlando.

Edward Busby Jr. was pronounced dead at 8:11 p.m. following a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a stay over his disabilities claims. The execution capped a series of last-minute legal efforts by Busby's attorneys seeking to spare his life.

Busby was condemned for the suffocation death of Laura Lee Crane, a retired professor from Texas Christian University. Prosecutors said she was abducted from a grocery store parking lot in January 2004 and left to suffocate in the trunk of her car with duct tape wrapped heavily around her face, covering her mouth and nose.

The execution was the 600th in Texas since it resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1982. Busby also was the fourth person executed this year in Texas and the 12th nationwide. Earlier Thursday, Oklahoma executed Raymond Johnson for killing his ex-girlfriend and her 7-month-old daughter nearly 20 years ago.

When asked by the warden if he had a final statement, Busby repeatedly apologized and asked for forgiveness.

“I am so sorry for what happened,” he said while strapped to the death chamber gurney. “Miss Crane was a lovely woman. I never meant anything bad to happen to her.” He said he wished he could “take it all back” and added he had “no right to get in that car.”

“I’ll take the blame if that helps."

He said he had surrendered his life to God and urged a sister, who was praying and watching through a window a short distance away, to find a church and “pick up your cross.”

"I’m here because this is the will of God,” he said before the injection got underway.

As the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began flowing, he took a sharp breath, closed his eyes and gasped. Then he made snoring sounds that got progressively quieter. Within 40 seconds, all movement and sounds ceased. He was pronounced dead 38 minutes afterward.

Busby’s execution had been in doubt after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week issued a stay of execution to further review his claims of intellectual disability. But the Supreme Court overturned the stay Thursday at the request of the Texas Attorney General’s Office. The attorney general’s office had argued that similar appeals were previously rejected and were “meritless” and based on “conflicting evidence.”

Busby’s lawyers quickly sought another stay but it was denied by a lower court.

The Supreme Court in 2002 had barred the execution of intellectually disabled people. But it has given states some discretion to decide how to determine such disabilities.

Busby's attorneys had argued against putting him to death because a defense expert as well as one hired by the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, both found he was intellectually disabled.

The district attorney’s office had previously recommended Busby’s sentence be reduced to life in prison. But the trial judge in Busby’s case disagreed with the findings of intellectual disability and in 2023 upheld the death sentence.

In a statement Wednesday, the district attorney's office said it requested Thursday's execution date because it believed that under current law Busy was not intellectually disabled.

Two other prior execution dates for Busby had been delayed by courts.

Prosecutors have said Busby and his co-defendant, Kathleen Latimer, abducted Crane in her car from a Fort Worth grocery store parking lot and later put in her vehicle’s trunk as they drove around. Prosecutors said she died in the trunk after suffocating from having 23 feet (7 meters) of duct tape wrapped over her entire face.

Busby was subsequently arrested in Oklahoma City driving Crane’s car and led authorities to her body in Oklahoma just north of the state line with Texas.

Latimer is in prison serving a life sentence for murder.

Bryan Mark Rigg, an author and historian who represented the Crane family as a witness to the execution, said they “neither support or oppose the death penalty. However, they are united in their respect for the rule of law.”

Rigg said as a child he was a student of Crane, who for decades helped children overcome learning disabilities and “was discarded in a field like a piece of trash.” He said the execution was not about vengeance but “accountability under the law and about remembering the life of an extraordinary educator.”

___

Lozano reported from Houston. Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://x.com/juanlozano70

The Reggio Approach, used in public daycare centers and preschools in the northern city of Reggio Emilia, values a child’s inherent curiosity and potential, with teachers acting as facilitators, not instructors, and parents and the surrounding community actively involved. And Princess Catherine, who has made early development her signature cause, is spending two days seeing it up close.

“I love that you put children and childhood at the heart of the community, and I’m really fascinated to learn more about it,” she said as she arrived at one of the town’s preschools on Wednesday.

Reggio partially grew out of the Montessori philosophy and both Italian approaches have spread around the world, standing as counterpoints to models in places like the U.S. and Britain that emphasize standardization and testing for children so young they haven’t begun to read.

Reggio appeals to some Italian parents who themselves received education with rote learning — but only to a point, according to Kathryn Ramsay, a longtime early-childhood educator who runs a Reggio-inspired project north of Rome.

“When the children are 3 or 4, they’re totally fine with it,” Ramsay said. “And then when they hit 5, they (the parents) start getting a little twitchy because they’re thinking about Grade 1,” when children have to sit still for longer periods and learn to read and write.

A postwar approach to childcare

The Reggio Approach was born as Italy began to rebuild after World War II and a group of mothers in hard-hit Reggio Emilia, a center of anti-Fascist resistance, banded together.

“They sold the metal from a German tank for funds and they hand-carried stones from the river to reconstruct a place for the children to be cared for while the rest of the village went about the business of putting life back together,” said Margie Cooper of the North America Reggio Emilia Alliance.

An innovative pedagogical expert, Loris Malaguzzi, built on Montessori and other educational reform movements to help articulate Reggio’s child-centered approach, which covers children aged 0-6.

His poem exploring how young children communicate and make sense of their world through drawing, painting, dancing and singing served as something of a manifesto. Valuing the capacities and experiences of children was unheard of at the time.

“The child was only an adult in formation and didn’t have things to say or competencies already realized,” said Roberta Cardarello, senior professor of didactical and special pedagogy at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.

The Reggio Approach spread to other towns, especially in the north’s left-leaning municipalities. But Italy’s central government in Rome — headed by conservative Christian Democrats until the 1990s — resisted promoting it widely, perhaps because of its association with Reggio Emilia’s communist history.

Today, that red scare is gone, but the model’s adoption often depends on whether cash-strapped local administrations invest in training or teachers have trained independently, according to Elisabetta Nigris, professor of didactic programs and evaluation at the University of Studies Milan-Bicocca.

How Reggio works and what are its outcomes

Reggio employs features common in high-quality programs, including a focus on adults and children in relationship that promotes social and emotional well-being, according to Sylvi Kuperman, senior researcher at the Center for the Economics of Human Development at the University of Chicago. Her 2017 study on Reggio in Italy found greater high school graduation and employment outcomes compared to kids who didn’t receive formal childcare.

Children typically spend multiple years with the same teacher, she said. They participate in meal preparation. Classrooms feature windows and natural materials, like wood. Gardens and artwork are a staple.

On Thursday, Catherine visited the “Salvatore Allende” daycare and preschool in Reggio Emilia, playing with children in the garden, using a magnifying glass to look in the grass and at one point letting a slimy newt crawl in her hand.

“In London, we have newts like this too,” she said.

Catherine’s visit is significant for Britain, since the Reggio Approach isn’t recognized in its national educational policy, and most early childhood programs are run by private organizations for profit, said Peter Moss, emeritus professor at the University College London’s Institute of Education.

But he stressed that Reggio developed in a very particular time and context that is hard to replicate.

“Reggio Emilia is a reaction to 20 years of authoritarian rule under Mussolini and, after that fell, of course a lot of places in Italy were asking the question ’How do we make sure that never happens again?’”

A Reggio-inspired center called Wild Joy

At Ramsay’s Reggio-inspired, bilingual project north of Rome, there is a large grassy garden but no typical playground equipment or bright decorative posters lining the schoolhouse walls. Rather, the tiny log cabin with a covered porch is spare and neutral-toned. Most learning takes place outside: the “mud kitchen,” where kids play at a table with dishes, a digging pitch, a big rock to climb up and slide down in the dirt. Called “Wild Gioia” (Wild Joy), it currently has five children enrolled, aged 3-6.

Ramsay points to evidence suggesting that the best preparation for reading and writing is play, because it teaches children to concentrate.

“They don’t learn to concentrate by being told what to concentrate on,” she said. “They’re learning to concentrate by having the freedom to be able to follow their own interests.”

___

Winfield reported from Rome. Hollingsworth reported from Kansas City, Missouri.

It wasn't immediately clear who was behind these incidents, but they happened as a senior Iranian official reiterated his country’s claim of control over the waterway and another said it had a right to seize oil tankers connected to the U.S.

The turmoil in the strait, which a fifth of the world’s oil passed through before the war, has been a sticking point for weeks in talks between the U.S. and Iran to end the conflict. Iran's grip on the vital waterway has jolted the world economy and spiked fuel prices far beyond the Middle East.

The ongoing instability in the region comes as U.S. President Donald Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. The White House said both sides had agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open.

Just last week, tensions flared in the strai t when U.S. forces fired on and disabled Iranian oil tankers that it said were trying to breach its blockade of Iran’s ports.

Seizures and attacks in Hormuz ongoing

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said it received reports that the ship seized Thursday was taken by unauthorized personnel while anchored 38 nautical miles (70 kilometers, 44 miles) northeast of the UAE port of Fujairah, an important oil export terminal that has been repeatedly attacked during the war with Iran.

The U.K. maritime center did not name the ship seized Thursday and said it is investigating. The British military said the vessel is heading toward Iranian waters.

Indian authorities said Thursday that an Indian-flagged cargo ship sank off the coast of Oman after an attack sparked a fire aboard the vessel while it was en route from Somalia to Sharjah, another UAE port. They did not say who attacked the ship.

The attack on the Indian-flagged cargo ship Haji Ali occurred Wednesday, according to Mukesh Mangal, a senior official in India’s shipping ministry. He said all 14 Indian crew members were rescued by Oman’s coast guard and were safe.

India’s foreign ministry called the incident “unacceptable” and condemned continued attacks on commercial shipping and civilian mariners. The ministry did not identify who carried out the attack.

Seizures come at tense diplomatic moment

Iranian semiofficial news agencies reported that Chinese ships began passing through the strait Wednesday night under new Iranian protocols. According to the reports, Tehran agreed to facilitate the passage of several Chinese vessels after requests from China’s foreign minister and Beijing’s ambassador to Iran. The ships began their passage as Trump arrived in China.

The seizure of a ship off the coast of the UAE happened hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he had quietly visited the country during the Israeli-U.S. war with Iran, though the UAE swiftly denied it.

The Gulf nation normalized relations with Israel in 2020. Iran has criticized that agreement and has repeatedly suggested over the years that Israel maintained a military and intelligence presence in the UAE.

Netanyahu’s decision to go public with the sensitive meeting was likely an effort to drum up support for his flagging party ahead of Israeli elections, said Yoel Guzansky, a senior researcher at the Institute of National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

“It’s amazing, it’s the deepest cooperation we’ve ever had … that during a war, Israel is defending an Arab state against Iran. It shows how complicated the Middle East is,” he said.

The UAE is trying to highlight its cooperation with Israel but not with Netanyahu and his government, Guzansky said, because many in the UAE are against Israel’s policies in Gaza.

“They’re trying to differentiate between security cooperation and cooperating with this government,” said Guzansky, who previously worked for the national security council within the Israeli prime minister's office.

Iran sets demands for new talks

Iran said it will not enter more talks with the United States unless five conditions are met, including paying reparations for the war and accepting Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency reported, citing an informed source.

The White House is again unlikely to accept those demands, which would essentially formalize Iran's control over a waterway that was open to international traffic before the war.

Iran’s senior vice president, Mohammadreza Aref, said Thursday that the strait belongs to Iran and that Tehran would not give it up “at any price,” state TV reported. “It has always been our property,” Aref said.

Iran defends right to seize ships

Iran’s judiciary spokesperson told the state-owned Iran Daily newspaper on Thursday that Iran has the legal and judicial right to seize oil tankers in the strait that are connected to the U.S. because the U.S. has violated international maritime laws and committed piracy. The spokesperson, Asghar Jahangir, did not explicitly refer to the tanker seized on Thursday.

Iran seized a number of ships, including a tanker identified as the Ocean Koi, last week, saying it was attempting to disrupt oil exports and Iranian interests, according to the official IRNA news agency. It said the tanker was seized in the Gulf of Oman and carrying Iranian oil when it was taken to Iran’s southern coast.

The U.S. sanctioned the Ocean Koi in February as part of a “shadow fleet” transporting Iranian oil.

Top US military leader says Iran's threats impact shipping

The top U.S. commander in the Middle East said Thursday he believes Iran’s military capabilities have been “dramatically degraded,” but its leaders are impacting shipping in the strait with rhetoric alone.

“Their voice is very loud, and the threats are clearly heard by the merchant industry and the insurance industry,” Adm. Brad Cooper told lawmakers in Congress.

He said the U.S. has the military power to permanently reopen the strait and escort ships. But he deferred to policymakers about the best path forward amid a “time of sensitive negotiations.”

__

Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel, Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

Leo’s speech at Rome’s La Sapienza University marked the first time a pope has visited the campus since Pope Benedict XVI called off a planned speech there in 2008 in the face of protests from faculty and students.

The American pope was warmly welcomed on Thursday, including by some of Sapienza’s newest students: Young Palestinians who arrived in Italy this week on a “humanitarian corridor” from Gaza to continue their studies at the university. The Italian government, working with Catholic organizations, has brought hundreds of Palestinians to study and receive medical care in Italy since the Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza began in 2023.

Leo met some of the Gaza students during a brief greeting at the campus chapel, and again after his speech in the main lecture hall of the university, which was founded by Pope Boniface VIII in 1303.

In his speech, Leo denounced how military spending had increased dramatically this year, especially in Europe, at the expense of education and healthcare, while “enriching elites who care nothing for the common good.”

He called for better monitoring of how AI was being developed and used in military and civilian contexts “so that it does not absolve humans of responsibility for their choices and does not exacerbate the tragedy of conflicts.”

“What is happening in Ukraine, in Gaza and the Palestinian territories, in Lebanon, and in Iran illustrates the inhuman evolution of the relationship between war and new technologies in a spiral of annihilation,” he said.

The pope said education and research must move instead in the opposite direction that values life “the lives of peoples who cry out for peace and justice!”

Leo has identified AI as one of the most critical matters facing humanity, especially its application in warfare and everyday life. They are themes he’s expected to explore more fully in his first encyclical, due to be released in the coming weeks.

Nada Rahim Jouda, 19, was one of the Gazans who met Leo, just two days after she arrived in Italy. She was still marveling at her new life studying business science in Rome, a city that she said was “like heaven for me.”

“Everything here is green and it’s not gray and troubles everywhere and miserable people in the streets,” she said.

But Jouda remains concerned for the family she left behind: her mother, recovering from leukemia, and younger sisters aged 17 and 13. Over the course of the war in Gaza, the family was forced to move four times, and her mother was unable to receive care or check-ups for her cancer.

“They all rely on me. I’m the only hope that they have,” she said.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Ratcliffe met with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, Interior Minister Lázaro Álvarez Casas and the head of Cuban intelligence services, and discussed intelligence cooperation, economic stability and security issues. A CIA official confirmed the meetings to the AP.

Ratcliffe was there "to personally deliver President Donald Trump’s message that the United States is prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes,'' the CIA official said.

An official statement from Cuba's government noted that Thursday's meeting "took place ... against a backdrop of complex bilateral relations.”

While the U.S. stressed that Cuba cannot continue to be a “safe haven for adversaries in the Western Hemisphere,” the Cuban delegation insisted that the island presents no threat to U.S. security. Cuban officials also took issue with the nation's continued inclusion on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Rodríguez Castro previously secretly met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of a Caribbean Community summit in St. Kitts in February. While he’s never occupied a government post, he served as his grandfather’s bodyguard and later as head of Cuba’s equivalent of the Secret Service.

U.S. and Cuban officials also met earlier this year i n Cuba. The ongoing meetings between U.S. and Cuban officials mark the first U.S. government flights to land in Cuba other than at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay since 2016.

Thursday's meeting comes weeks after the Cuban government confirmed that it had recently met with U.S. officials on the island as tensions between the two sides remain high over the U.S. energy blockade of the Caribbean country and as Cuba’s power grid has collapsed and energy to its eastern provinces has been cut. The U.S. blockade of fuel to the island has heightened its economic woes, with reduced work hours and food spoilage as refrigerators stop working.

Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department reiterated that the U.S. will provide Cuba with $100 million in humanitarian assistance and support for satellite internet “if the Cuban regime will permit it.”

In late January, Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba. Though Trump also has threatened to intervene in the country, and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said recently that his country was prepared to fight if that should happen, sources told the AP earlier this month that military action is not imminent.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

___

Tucker reported from Washington, D.C.

___

This version is corrected to show that the U.S. aid offer is $100 million.

Her resignation came after Latvia’s Defense Minister Andris Spruds, from the Progressives Party, was forced to resign last week over the government’s handling of multiple incidents involving stray drones suspected to be from Ukraine crossing into Latvian territory. Silina said at the time Spruds had lost her trust and that of the public.

The drones incidents "clearly demonstrated that the political leadership of the defense sector has failed to fulfill its promise of safe skies over our country,” Silina said on Sunday, explaining Spruds' resignation.

On May 7, two suspected Ukrainian drones entered Latvia, one of them crashing at a fuel storage facility. Spruds said they were likely Ukrainian drones targeting Russia, which ended up in Latvia by mistake.

Multiple Ukrainian drones headed for Russia had hit the territories of the three countries in the Baltic region since March. Critics say the incidents have shown weaknesses in Latvia's ability to respond to military threats.

The Latvian governing tripartite coalition, which also included an agrarian party, had been under strain for months over multiple issues.

Silina's resignation comes just months ahead of general elections due in October.

“My priority has always been, and remains, the well-being and security of Latvia’s people,” Silina wrote on X on Thursday. “Parties and coalitions change, but Latvia endures. And my responsibility to society comes above all else.”

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics, tasked with appointing a new head of government, is set to meet with representatives of all parliamentary parties on Friday.

On Sunday, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the incidents in Latvia were “the result of Russian electronic warfare deliberately diverting Ukrainian drones from their targets in Russia.” He offered Ukraine's help to the Baltic states and Finland to prevent such incidents in the future.

They also made sure to poke plenty of fun at upcoming opponents, themselves and offseason flubs.

The Indianapolis Colts pointed the finger at themselves in their Simpsons’ cartoon. First, they referenced the long drought since their last win in Jacksonville along with Homer Simpson disappearing into the hedge for the team’s road game against the Jaguars.

The video also had Bart Simpson writing repeatedly on the chalkboard: “We will not include Tyreek Hill in these videos.”

The New York Jets went with a “ football is ART (craft blend)” approach mixing uniquely named daubs of paint colors to mix and draw out their opponents by the date.

Their season opener against the Titans features colors “Dolly Denim” and “Bachelorette Blush” for a team in a town known for Dolly Parton and bachelorette parties. Playing the Dolphins uses spray tan, del boca vista, major key and finkle — a reference to the Ray Finkle character in the 1994 movie “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" — and raspberry beret and minnetonka blue for the Vikings.

New Orleans used a “season forecast” approach that included people such Jim Cantore from The Weather Channel. The Los Angeles Rams tapped the movie “Napoleon Dynamite” for “A Dynamite schedule” reveal.

The Buccaneers went with a nod to the TV show “Baywatch" protecting Tampa Bay, while Las Vegas used Kirk Cousins and rookie Fernando Mendoza in the Raiders' take on the 2008 movie “Step Brothers.”

Pittsburgh went long with a video lasting more than 4 minutes, 36 seconds that leaned into local style, customs, food and “Pittsburghese” with “Ready to yinzify your DNA, n'at?" Actor Billy Gardell, a Pittsburgh native, walks a new security guard through it all with the schedule buried at the end.

Video game style

The Los Angeles Chargers went even longer using Halo Infinite for a reveal video lasting 6:12 and they opened with a post asking if they should make their schedule release video with the game spelling out “NO” with the words “yes.”

The Chargers reminded Baltimore of the Ravens backing out of their trade with the Raiders for Maxx Crosby.

They also made an apparent reference to Patriots coach Mike Vrabel's offseason in the headlines with a mention of "Next Photo Dump 1 Mile.”

Smells like a champion

The reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks had actor Josh Lucas introducing the schedule in the form of a cologne commercial, with opponents having their own signature scents such as “Substation” for the San Francisco 49ers.

Short but sweet

Jacksonville took advantage of perhaps the most famous offseason haircut with quarterback Trevor Lawrence getting his long locks cut short on camera after introducing the Jaguars' schedule that then plays out on the screen edited down to less than 2 minutes.

Fan assistance

The Tennessee Titans went back to the streets quizzing random people in their schedule reveal in a twist to the team's 2023 schedule reveal. This time, the Titans went with “You never know who you'll see on the street” set to the Who song “Who Are You” asking random people if they were a big name with a specific opponent.

Artistic reveal tease

The Atlanta Falcons tapped the approach used by the social media account (at)ArtButMakeItSports to preview their schedule release. The Falcons had a thread Thursday morning using “Art but make it our 2026 opponents” featuring paintings for each team.

For the actual release, Atlanta went with a Falcons style “This is SportsCenter” series of commercials.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

As dawn broke on a clear day in Kyiv, a scene of devastation came into focus in the capital’s leafy Darnytsia neighborhood, located between a suburban forest and the Dnieper River.

Wisps of smoke rose from the collapsed nine-story apartment block, where emergency workers dug under concrete slabs and took people away on stretchers. The building's entrance was smashed in the strike, preventing residents from escaping.

All 18 apartments in the building were destroyed, officials said. Among the dead was a 12-year-old girl, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Nine people were killed, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration. About 20 were people believed to be missing.

Klitschko declared Friday to be a day of mourning for the victims.

Ukrainian officials noted that the attack coincided with U.S. President Donald Trump’s trip to China. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have sufficient leverage to compel Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his 4-year-old invasion of Ukraine.

“At the very time when leaders of the most powerful countries are meeting in Beijing, and the world hopes for peace, predictability and cooperation, Putin launched hundreds of drones, ballistic and cruise missiles at the capital of Ukraine,” Sybiha wrote on X.

“Only pressure on Moscow can make him stop,” Sybiha said of Putin.

Massive aerial assaults on Ukraine this week

Russia fired ballistic and cruise missiles in the attack, Zelenskyy said, adding that Moscow had launched more than 1,560 drones against Ukrainian population centers since Wednesday. In all, some 180 sites across the country were damaged, including more than 50 residential buildings, he said.

British Defense Secretary John Healey called Thursday's attack “shocking” and said he had accelerated U.K. deliveries of air defenses.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the military aimed at Ukraine’s military-industrial complex, including air bases and fuel and transport facilities, claiming it hit all its targets. Among the weapons deployed, it said, were Kinzhal missiles, which Moscow says can fly 10 times the speed of sound.

Russia has hammered Ukraine with large-scale aerial attacks following a May 9-11 ceasefire that Trump said he asked Zelenskyy and Putin to heed. Fighting continued over those 72 hours, although reportedly at a reduced intensity.

The attacks undercut recent suggestions from Trump and Putin that the war, which began with Moscow's all-out invasion of its neighbor in 2022, is nearing its end.

Residents describe '

a terrible night’

More than 30 people were injured in the apartment building collapse, while emergency workers rescued 28 residents, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

Lyudmila Hlushko, 78, said she heard explosions and the sound of rockets about 3 a.m. “Then the house shook violently and there was a loud bang, breaking the glass in my house,” she told The Associated Press.

The blast shattered windows throughout the neighborhood.

“It was a terrible night,” said another resident, Nadiia Lobanova. “We’re used to this. Well, it’s impossible to get used to this, but somehow we held on.”

Damage was reported in six districts of the capital, Tkachenko said.

The Kyiv office of defense contractor Skyeton, specializing in reconnaissance drones, was destroyed in the overnight attack, although the company said it had anticipated such a development and had relocated its production.

Russian drones also struck a vehicle carrying U.N. staff who were delivering aid to residents of Kherson in southern Ukraine, Sybiha said. The vehicle was marked and was attacked twice, in two different locations, but nobody was hurt, he said.

Russia's biggest attacks since its full-scale invasion

The Ukrainian cities of Kremenchuk, Bila Tserkva, Kharkiv, Sumy and Odesa also were bombarded, officials said.

“We are now experiencing the largest strikes since the start of the full-scale invasion,” air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.

Ukraine’s air defense forces are under severe strain, he said. Even so, the interception rate of drones and missiles was over 93%, Zelenskyy said.

Air defenses shot down or jammed 693 Russian targets overnight, including 41 missiles and 652 drones of various types nationwide, the air force said.

Fifteen missiles and 23 drones scored direct hits across 24 locations, it said. Debris from downed drones fell in another 18 locations.

Strikes on energy infrastructure left customers in Kyiv and 11 other regions temporarily without power, national grid operator Ukrenergo said.

On Wednesday, a rare daytime attack on Kyiv killed at least six people, Zelenskyy said. That assault, which involved 800 drones, struck about 20 regions and was among the longest such attacks of the war.

In other developments Thursday:

— The Hungarian government summoned the Russian ambassador over a drone attack near Hungary’s border with Ukraine. The step marked a stark shift in tone by new Prime Minister Péter Magyar toward Moscow after years of cozy relations with the Kremlin under former leader Viktor Orbán.

— Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina resigned after her government’s coalition partner withdrew its support and left her without a majority. The government has been under pressure over its handling of multiple incidents involving stray drones suspected to be from Ukraine crossing into Latvian territory.

___

Associated Press journalists Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed.

___

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

District spokesperson Clay Coarsey says the agency’s four core missions are: water supply, flood protection, water quality, and natural systems.

Those priorities are now under more pressure as dry conditions worsen.

Lake County is the latest area declared in extreme drought.

Coarsey says the shortage isn’t limited to one place.

“We have a water shortage not just in Lake County but extending up to where the district ends, bordered with Georgia.”

The district says low rainfall is the biggest factor behind the shortage.

Flagler and Marion Counties are also under Phase Three water restrictions, which is why residents are seeing tighter rules.

Coarsey says the district also wants the messaging to be consistent from county to county.

“We wanted to make it very clear so if you went from one county to another you wouldn’t hear different things.”

For many people, the most noticeable change is landscape irrigation.

Instead of watering twice a week, the district is limiting lawn watering to one day a week in Phase Three areas.

The goal is to reduce stress on the aquifer, which supplies drinking water.

Some residents point to development and growth, but Coarsey says the district’s data shows that’s not the main driver.

“The development is not the driver. The driver behind this is those deficit rainfall conditions.”

The district says restrictions could be eased later this summer — but only if conservation improves and rainfall increases enough to make a significant difference.

After hearing talk of a possibility, we also asked about whether restaurants in Phase Three zones might stop automatically serving water at restaurants unless customers ask.

The district says that is not part of its rules — but if restaurants choose to do that anyway, the district says they would have its full support.

“We can disagree on all sorts of things, but we’ve got to have something in common or we don’t have a country,” Thomas said at a judicial conference near Miami. “These documents, our founding documents, our founding history, whether we think it’s perfect or it shouldn’t be amended, or we might disagree about how far it goes, but we can say this is something that we all treasure.”

Thomas' remarks came in response to an interview with one of his former Supreme Court clerks, Kasdin Mitchell, who was nominated this month by President Donald Trump to serve on the federal bench in Dallas.

Thomas — who recently became the second longest-serving justice in Supreme Court history — looked back on his upbringing in the segregated South and his more than three decades on the high court.

But he gave no indication that, at age 77, he is looking to retire anytime soon and give President Trump the opportunity to further cement his influence on the Supreme Court and nominate his fourth justice, the most of any president in almost a century.

“Justice Marshall said you take a job for life, you do it for life,” referring to Thurgood Marshall, the Supreme Court's first African American justice, who Thomas replaced on the high court.

But he said his long tenure had given him a unique perspective on the cynicism that pervades so much of society and contributes to Americans' distrust in government.

He spoke about the example set by his grandfather, the son of a freed slave with barely any formal education, who nonetheless believed in America's promise of a more perfect union, to describe his judicial philosophy in a limited form of government.

“One of the rods in this society versus so many of the others where the rights are parceled down by a government is that we were taught from the cradle that we were equal in God’s eyes, that was self-evident," said Thomas. "If you look at Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King or Abraham Lincoln, they all speak in terms of these transcendent rights beyond the ability of man to take away even though man had the power to infringe upon them.”

The court’s order allows women seeking abortions to continue obtaining the drug, mifepristone, at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor. Access is likely to remain uninterrupted at least until into next year as the case plays out, including a potential appeal to the high court.

The justices granted emergency requests from makers of mifepristone, who are appealing a federal appeals court ruling that would require women to see a doctor in person and halt delivery of mifepristone through the mail. The federal Food and Drug Administration, which first approved mifepristone for use in abortion in 2000, stopped requiring in-person visits five years ago.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented, with Thomas writing that the two companies, Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, are not entitled to the court's action to spare them “lost profits from their criminal enterprise.”

Anti-abortion groups, frustrated with President Donald Trump’s administration, are pushing the FDA to move faster with a review that they hope will result in restrictions on mifepristone, including blocking its prescribing via telehealth platforms. The Republican administration says the work takes time.

Earlier this week, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned after months of criticism from Trump’s political allies, including abortion opponents.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and similarly aligned groups had called on Trump to fire Makary over the slow pace of the mifepristone review.

The court is dealing with its latest abortion controversy four years after its conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright.

The case before the court stems from a lawsuit Louisiana filed to roll back the Food and Drug Administration’s rules on how mifepristone can be prescribed. The state claims that the policy undermines the ban there, and it questions the safety of the drug, which has repeatedly been deemed safe and effective by FDA scientists.

Alito, who wrote the opinion overturning Roe, agreed that the state's efforts have been thwarted by medical providers and private organizations that mail the pills to women in Louisiana, despite the abortion ban. Danco and GenBioPro “are obviously aware of what is going on yet nevertheless supply the drug and reap profits from its felonious use in Louisiana,” he wrote.

Thomas said those who mail the pills are in violation of the Comstock Act, a 19th-century law that has long gone unenforced and bans mailing any “article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing which is advertised or described in a manner calculated to lead another to use or apply it for producing abortion.”

Lower courts concluded that Louisiana is likely to prevail, and a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that mail access and telehealth visits should be suspended while the case plays out.

The drug is most often used for abortion in combination with another drug, misoprostol. Medication abortions accounted for nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. in 2023, the last year for which statistics are available.

Telehealth prescribers were prepared to switch to sending abortion patients a regimen that uses only misoprostol.

While Thursday’s ruling keeps the status quo in place for now, abortion-rights advocates warn that the case isn’t settled forever.

“We are relieved that access to mifepristone remains protected for now, but this should never have been on the table in the first place,” Serra Sippel, executive director of The Brigid Alliance, which helps coordinate and fund travel and other logistics to assist women traveling for abortion, said in a statement. “Patients and providers should not be forced to wait on court rulings to know whether people can access critical health care.”

The decision is “extremely disappointing” but not a defeat, said Gavin Oxley, a spokesperson for the anti-abortion advocacy group Americans United for Life. “The Supreme Court still has the opportunity to hear the case in full and bring justice to Louisiana,” he said.

The current dispute is similar to one that reached the court three years ago, when the justices blocked a 5th Circuit ruling in a suit filed by anti-abortion doctors and kept mifepristone widely available, over dissents from Alito and Thomas.

Then, in 2024, the high court unanimously dismissed the doctors’ suit, reasoning they did not have the legal right, or standing, to sue.

In the current dispute, mainstream medical groups, the pharmaceutical industry and Democratic members of Congress have weighed in cautioning the court against limiting access to the drug. Pharmaceutical companies said a ruling for abortion opponents would upend the drug approval process.

Debate over the safety of mifepristone has churned for more than 25 years. The FDA has eased a number of restrictions initially placed on the drug, including who can prescribe it, how it is dispensed and what kinds of safety complications must be reported.

Despite those determinations, anti-abortion groups have filed a series of petitions and lawsuits against the agency, generally alleging that it violated federal law by overlooking safety issues with the pill.

Trump’s administration has been unusually quiet at the Supreme Court. It declined to file a written brief recommending what the court should do, even though federal regulations are at issue.

The case puts the administration in a difficult place. Trump has relied on the political support of anti-abortion groups but has also seen ballot question and poll results that show Americans generally support abortion rights.

Both sides took the administration’s silence as an implicit endorsement of the appellate ruling.

___

Associated Press writer Ali Swenson contributed to this report from New York. Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, N.J.

___

Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

The case has drawn attention to Becerra in his bid for California governor, with voting underway and concluding June 2. Several of Becerra's rivals blasted him over the scandal at a televised debate Thursday night, trying to make him appear unfit for office. Becerra punched back, noting he hasn't been implicated.

“Accept the facts,” he said.

Dana Williamson entered the plea in court in Sacramento. In the agreement, she admits to three of the 23 counts of which she was initially charged. Williamson is a former top campaign adviser to Becerra and formerly served as Gov. Gavin Newsom's chief of staff. Newsom hasn't been implicated.

The plea deal says the maximum sentence for the bank fraud charge is 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. But Williamson’s defense attorney, McGregor Scott, said he expected it to be no more than three years based on federal sentencing guidelines. He plans to argue for even less.

The federal indictment alleged that Williamson developed a plan with co-conspirators including Sean McCluskie, a longtime Becerra aide. The scheme was to siphon money from one of Becerra's dormant state campaign accounts to give to McCluskie to pad his salary after he accepted a job as Becerra's chief of staff in Washington.

McCluskie signed a plea agreement Oct. 30 in which he admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, according to court filings. He agreed to pay back the $225,000 he took from the account.

Scott said McCluskie dreamed up the theft scheme because he was facing financial difficulties and Williamson joined because she wanted to help him out of a tough spot.

“She was simply trying to help a friend in a pinch as best she could,” Scott told reporters.

Becerra is a former member of Congress who was appointed California attorney general in 2017 to fill a vacancy and reelected in 2018 with Williamson running his campaign. Former President Joe Biden later appointed him as secretary of Health and Human Services.

Becerra hasn't commented on Williamson's plea deal. In November, he said the “accusations of impropriety by a long-serving trusted adviser are a gut punch.”

Williamson is a longtime Democratic power player in Sacramento known for her savvy and aggressive style, often unafraid to spar publicly and privately with those who disagree with her. She was a Cabinet secretary for former Gov. Jerry Brown before opening her own political affairs firm and later rejoining state government as Newsom’s chief of staff.

The indictment accused Williamson of filing fraudulent tax forms for her business from 2021 to 2023 claiming more than $1 million in business deductions for personal expenses, including luxury handbags and jewelry; private jet travel; vacations in Mexico; installation of a home HVAC system; and several hundred thousand dollars paid to various relatives for fake jobs.

Aronimink waited 64 years to host another PGA Championship and made up for lost time in a big way Thursday, including the biggest logjam in a major championship since 1969.

When the long day was over, most predictable was seeing Scheffler's name atop the leaderboard at 3-under 67, along with six other players. Another surprise: It's the first time the world's No. 1 player has at least a share of the lead after 18 holes of a major.

Scheffler wasn't buying it.

“Is it a really a lead when you're tied with like six guys?” he told ESPN with a laugh.

Scheffler took advantage of two long birdie putts and one big break on the 17th hole for his lowest start to a tournament since January. He was tied with six others — former PGA champion Martin Kaymer perhaps the most surprising — on a tough day in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Joining them at 67 were Aldrich Potgieter, Stephan Jaeger, Min Woo Lee, Ryo Hisatsune and Alex Smalley. The seven-way tie was the largest since nine players shared the lead in the 1969 PGA Championship at NCR Country Club in Dayton, Ohio.

“At this moment, it’s anybody’s tournament,” Scheffler said. Indeed, 48 players were within three shots of the lead. The difference between missing the cut and being part of the lead was six shots.

And to think it could have been eight players. Higgo had a 69, which included a two-shot penalty before he even hit a shot for being 10 seconds late to the tee for his group's starting time.

Masters champion Rory McIlroy bogeyed his last four holes for a 74 that sent him to the practice range for most of the afternoon.

Not since Oakland Hills in 2008 — Jeev Milkha Singh and Robert Karlsson at 2-under 68 — has the low score to par after the first round of the PGA Championship been worse than 3 under. Aronimink with its severely sloped greens, fast fairways and plenty of wind that shooed away morning clouds was every bit a major challenge.

Scheffler has struggled with opening rounds for most of the year since opening with a 63 in his season debut at The American Express, his only victory. But this was quality work. He missed only one fairway, which cost him one of his two bogeys on the day.

“Definitely the best start I’ve gotten off to this year, maybe besides American Express,” Scheffler said. “Your scores are definitely going to be lower if you hit the ball on the fairway, but it’s still really, really difficult to make birdies.”

He made one from just inside 40 feet on the par-4 seventh, and another birdie from just inside 30 feet on the par-4 10th. And even the No. 1 player in the world needed a little help.

Scheffler was in the thick collar of rough to the right of the par-3 17th, facing a chip over a ridge and down toward the hole. But his golf ball was close enough to a sprinkler cap that he was given free relief, dropped on the fringe and putted it to close range for a par.

Kaymer won the PGA Championship in 2010 at Whistling Straits, giving him a lifetime exemption. Kaymer joined LIV Golf in 2022 and has yet to finish in the top 10 in the few European tour events he has played since then. He is No. 1,160 in the world ranking. He hasn't been in the top 10 after one round of any major since the 2020 PGA Championship.

During the champions dinner on Tuesday, he said one PGA of America officer asked the German if he planned to play this week.

“I said, ‘Yeah, that’s why I’m here. I’m not flying from Europe to here to have a New York strip with you guys, you know?’ Of course, I'm playing. And that really motivated me.”

Patrick Reed was the only player who made it around Aronimink without a bogey, his two birdies giving him a 68 and in the large group with Xander Schauffele and Shane Lowry, who played the two par 5s in 3 under.

Jordan Spieth, lacking only the PGA Championship for the career Grand Slam, bogeyed two of his last three holes — and did not birdie the par-5 ninth, the easiest hole at Aronimink — to join the group at 69 that included Brooks Koepka, Rahm and Justin Thomas.

“Just didn’t quite finish the way I wanted to the last three holes, but under par was a good score,” Spieth said. “It was blowing really hard, and it was cold this morning. The course played very, very difficult. It was a good start. I’m going to need to improve on it, I think, each day.”

Rahm was headed for another rough start in a major until he holed out for eagle from the 11th fairway, chipped in for birdie on the tough par-3 eighth and shot 69. He was told some people thought scoring would be better in the morning. This surprised him.

“People thought it would be lower?” he replied. “Have you been out there? Have you seen this course?”

McIlroy had the toughest finish. He struggled out of the damp, dense rough. He struggled on the greens. He closed with four straight bogeys and described his round in one word that translates loosely to doo-doo.

No one struggled quite like Bryson DeChambeau, who didn’t make a birdie until he ended on the par-5 ninth. That kept him from matching his highest score in the PGA Championship. He shot 76 and now has to work toward avoiding a second straight missed cut in a major.

___

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Glossip wore a gray short-sleeved shirt and jeans as he walked out of the jail hand-in-hand with his wife, Lea Glossip.

“I'm just thankful for my wife and my attorneys. Just thankful,” he said. "It's overwhelming, but it’s amazing at the same time.”

Earlier Thursday, Judge Natalie Mai issued an order setting bond at $500,000. Glossip must wear an electronic monitoring device and will not be allowed to travel outside Oklahoma. He also must not contact any witnesses in the case, or consume any drugs or alcohol.

His attorney Donald Knight had suggested Glossip was counting on contributions to raise the money.

“Mr. Glossip has many supporters and we are hopeful those supporters can afford the bail,” Knight said.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out his conviction, and his longstanding claims of innocence have drawn support from Kim Kardashian and other prominent figures.

Glossip had been sentenced to death over the 1997 killing in Oklahoma City of his former boss, motel owner Barry Van Treese, who was beaten with a baseball bat in what prosecutors have alleged was a murder-for-hire scheme.

The Supreme Court ruled last year that prosecutors’ decision to allow a key witness to give testimony they knew to be false violated Glossip’s constitutional right to a fair trial.

Glossip has remained behind bars after Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced the state would seek to retry him on a murder charge but not pursue the death penalty again.

“The court fully expects that the state will rigorously prosecute its case going forward and the defense will provide robust representation for Glossip,” the judge wrote in the order. “The court hopes that a new trial, free of error, will provided all interested parties and the citizens of Oklahoma, the closure they deserve.”

During his time on death row, courts in Oklahoma set nine different execution dates for Glossip, and he came so close to being put to death that he ate three separate last meals. In 2015, he was even held in a cell next to Oklahoma’s execution chamber, waiting to be strapped to a gurney and die by lethal injection.

But the scheduled time for his execution came and went. Behind the walls of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, prison officials were scrambling after learning one of the lethal drugs they received to carry out the procedure didn’t match the execution protocols. The drug mix-up ultimately led to a nearly seven-year moratorium on executions in Oklahoma.

“Mr. Glossip now has the chance to taste freedom while his defense team continues to pursue justice on his behalf against a system that the United States Supreme Court has found to be guilty of serious misconduct by state prosecutors,” Knight said.

Van Treese’s family had asked the Supreme Court to leave Glossip’s conviction and sentence intact. Attorneys for the family did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.

Glossip’s case attracted international attention after actress Susan Sarandon — who won an Academy Award for her portrayal of death penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean’s fight to save a man on Louisiana’s death row in the 1995 movie “Dead Man Walking” — took up his cause in real life. Glossip’s case also was featured in the 2017 documentary film titled “Killing Richard Glossip.”

“Both Richard and I are grateful for the court’s decision,” Glossip’s wife, Lea, said in a text to The Associated Press. “We have been praying for this day.”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting became the first senior minister to quit Thursday in what was seen as a precursor to challenging Starmer's leadership. He said he had lost confidence in Starmer, who should not serve out the rest of his term.

“You have shown courage and statesmanship on the world stage — not least in keeping Britain out of the war in Iran,” Streeting wrote in an excoriating resignation letter. “But where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift.”

But Streeting stopped short of saying he was the best candidate to lead the party at the next election due by 2029, suggesting Starmer should step aside to allow a “broad” field of candidates to debate the future of the party.

Starmer is under growing pressure to step down after disastrous results for his Labour Party last week in local and regional elections. The election drubbing cemented doubts among many party members about Starmer’s judgment, vision and leadership ability — a brutal indictment on a leader who returned Labour to power in July 2024 after 14 years in opposition.

Starmer responded in a generous letter to Streeting, saying he was “truly sorry” to see him leave the government and praised his stewardship of the state-run National Health Service.

Making no reference to Streeting's criticisms, Starmer laid out his hope the two “can work together to show that Labour in power can address the problems our opponents exploit, can install hope where they want despair, and can bring people together where they want division.”

Starmer moved quickly to replace Streeting, appointing James Murray, formerly a Treasury minister, to the health portfolio.

If Starmer doesn't step down, any challenger would need support from a fifth of Labour lawmakers, or 81, to trigger a leadership contest.

For days, Streeting had been expected to launch a bid Thursday, but the wording of his statement stoked speculation he doesn't have enough votes yet, or that he is giving Starmer a chance to announce his resignation on his own terms.

Another likely challenger, former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, said Thursday that she had reached an agreement with authorities to clear up questions about her taxes that forced her to leave the Cabinet last September. Rayner told the Guardian newspaper that Starmer should “reflect on” his position, adding that she was ready to “play my part” in any leadership election if Streeting triggered a contest.

A third rival, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, is ineligible for the leadership because he doesn't have a seat in Parliament, but on Thursday afternoon a Labour lawmaker said he would step aside to make room and Burnham said he would seek permission from party to enter a special election. He could then mount a leadership challenge if elected.

“I grew up in this area and have lived here for 25 years,” Burnham said on X. “I care deeply about it and its people. I know they have been let down by national politics.”

Race to unseat Starmer heats up

Pressure for Starmer to step aside has intensified since Labour suffered heavy losses in local and regional elections last week, underscoring voter frustration with a government that has failed to deliver on pledges to boost economic growth and improve living standards for working people.

A stagnant economy and stubbornly high inflation have made it difficult for Starmer’s government to deliver on the promises it made when winning a landslide election victory less than two years ago.

Starmer has vowed to remain in office, warning lawmakers that any leadership contest would destabilize the government when it should be focused on issues like the cost of living crisis and war in the Middle East.

The leadership wrangles overshadowed some positive news for the government.

Official figures showed the British economy grew 0.6% in the first three months of the year — more than had been anticipated and larger than the previous quarter, despite the negative impact from the Iran war. More growth means more tax revenues to fund Labour’s priorities and potentially lower borrowing.

Treasury chief Rachel Reeves said the figures showed her policies were working and the party shouldn't put hard-won economic stability at risk “by plunging the country in chaos at a time when there is conflict in the world.”

Streeting himself hailed figures showing that waiting lines for NHS appointments — one of his signature priorities — fell for the fifth straight month, an achievement he is likely to point to if he runs for leader.

Streeting comes from a faction of the left-leaning Labour Party that sees itself as the modernizing wing, as does Starmer. Rayner is a favorite of members who think the party has strayed too far from its working-class roots and those who want the party to do more to boost the minimum wage and raise taxes on the rich.

Efforts to depose a Labour leader are relatively rare

Unlike the Conservative Party, Labour has never ousted a prime minister in midterm.

“They don’t do ruthless on their leader,’’ said Jonathan Tonge, a professor of politics at the University of Liverpool. “They don’t tend to depose their leader. The Conservatives, they readily do ruthless.’’

Even if Starmer survives this current bout of jitters, he will likely face another challenge in a few months given the level of fragmentation in British politics, he added.

“He’s got a huge parliamentary majority, he’s got more than 400 MPs, and yet his prime ministership may be on the brink of disintegration,” Tonge said.

Legislation passed unanimously by the Senate on Thursday would allow Capitol Police officers to apply to extend their service until age 62, while a bill passed by the House earlier this year would allow them to serve until age 65. That would raise the current age from 60 for officers who apply for waivers to work beyond the legal forced retirement age of 57 or after 20 years of service, whichever comes later.

Raising the age could help the Capitol Police force stem personnel shortages, which Chief Michael Sullivan told Congress earlier this year “span all operational units.”

“We have 300 officers right now that could say I’m done, I’m ready to walk away,” Sullivan told House, appropriators in March, as officers hit their age limit or 20 years of service. “That would be catastrophic for us.”

California Sen. Alex Padilla, the top Democrat on the Senate Rules Committee, authored the bipartisan bill with Senate Rules Committee Chairman Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Padilla said the legislation is a modest step as increased security measures are put in place to address the rise in threats.

By keeping older officers on the force, Padilla said, “we’re talking about officers who have served for a long, long time and have a tremendous amount of institutional memory, experience and expertise."

“After bicameral and bipartisan discussions, I hope to see this measure signed into law,” Padilla said.

Nearly 60 sworn officers are already working on a retirement waiver, according to the House Administration Committee, more than double the size of a typical USCP recruitment class.

“No officer should be forced to retire when they can still do the job,” said Republican Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, the chairman of that panel.

Capitol Police has struggled to maintain officers

The Capitol Police has made improvements across the board since widespread security failures on Jan. 6, 2021, when the force was overwhelmed by thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters who swarmed the grounds and broke into the building as they violently protested his defeat. Many officers left the department afterward, and retention and budget struggles remain.

The department’s budget request this year topped $1 billion for the first time as department leaders look to hire more officers and better protect members. Sullivan told lawmakers that the department has around 1,250 uniformed officers and needs 150 more to staff every post without paying overtime.

“I’m concerned with the overtime that we put on our folks every single day,” Sullivan said in the March oversight hearing. “There’s drafts on a consistent basis and it pushes the men and women that we have to the limit.”

Funding for the department’s protective intelligence, which protects members, is “very slim,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said a number of officers have left the force for other federal agencies that have better benefits.

“There’s nothing keeping folks here,” he said.

Huge spike in lawmaker threats taxes police force

Part of the reason for the shortages is the increased need for member protection. Threats against lawmakers have more than doubled in the last five years.

According to the department, almost 15,000 threats were investigated against members of Congress in 2025, a 58 percent increase from 2024. Sullivan said that the number of threats in 2026 is on track to be even higher.

The department has overhauled its security measures for members, boosting security for lawmakers and their families in districts around the country, and is working with local police departments that it reimburses. A January report said the force has seen an increase in reporting after a new center was launched two years ago to receive and process threat reports.

Lawmakers in both parties receive a “wide range of threats,” the report said.

All of that requires more personnel and experience, Sullivan said.

“While we focus on those individuals at the beginning of their career, we also need to focus on that experience that’s at the end of their career,” he told lawmakers.

A student with a weapon was taken into police custody at Seminole High School in Sanford, and another was taken into custody at Lyman High School in Longwood.

Tips led to the discoveries.

The district says extra law enforcement and K9 weapon detection officers will be at both campuses, per safety protocols.

Sanford police later identified the student at Seminole High School as a 17-year-old, who was reportedly found hiding in a close at arrested without further issue. Police added that they found the gun near where the teen was, and no other students were harmed during the incident.

That student now faces charges of possession of a firearm under the age of 18; disruption of school function; and possession of a firearm on a school campus.

“I commend the swift action and bravery of the student that came forward reporting another student having a gun on campus,” Sanford Police Chief Cecil Smith stated. “Those actions are a prime example of what we mean when we say, ‘See something, say something.’”

After both incidents, Superintendent Serita Beamon sent a notice to all Seminole County Public Schools families, urging parents to make sure students are not coming to school with weapons, whether it’s a gun or a knife, by checking backpacks and making sure weapons at home are securely locked away.

The following is Beamon’s full statement:

“Our schools must remain sanctuaries for learning and growth, yet today that safety was compromised by two separate incidents involving firearms at Lyman High and Seminole High.

“While there was no indication of an intent to harm in these instances, to be very clear: the presence of a weapon on school grounds is dangerous, unacceptable, and a felony offense. These are not minor lapses in judgment; they are serious crimes that carry long-term consequences that will permanently impact a student’s life and future.

“It is imperative that our families partner with us by ensuring that all firearms, knives, or other weapons in the home are securely locked away and that you are actively aware of what your child is bringing to school in their backpack each day.

“Our collective safety depends on vigilance, and we urge everyone to continue to “see something and say something” by utilizing our anonymous reporting platforms, including the P3 Campus and FortifyFL apps, or the SpeakOut hotline at 1-800-423-TIPS.

“We are grateful for the strong relationships with our law enforcement partners who act immediately to ensure the safety of our students and staff.

“As we look to close out this school year strong, I’m asking for all of us to work together to help our students make good choices and keep our campuses safe and vibrant places for students and staff to thrive.”

Seminole schools sent this series of messages to Seminole High School parents as the situation unfolded:

Initial Message:

Seminole High and the Ninth Grade Center are both on a Code Red out of an abundance of caution while law enforcement investigates a possible issue. We will provide an update as soon as possible.

First Update:

Seminole High and the Ninth Grade Center remain on a Code Red out of an abundance of caution. Law enforcement has apprehended an individual of interest. As a reminder, please do not come to campus at this time. We will provide an update as soon as we are able.

Second Update – Transition to Code Yellow

The Code Red at Seminole High and the Nine Grade Center have been downgraded to a Code Yellow at this time. We will provide an update with more information as soon as possible.

Third Update – Code Yellow Closed

The Code Yellow at Seminole High and the Ninth Grade Center has been lifted. All students and staff are safe, and regular school operations are ongoing. We will send an email with more information shortly.

Fourth Update – Information and Email to Families

Dear ‘Noles,

I wanted to provide you with information about what led to the Code Red at Seminole High School this afternoon. Our administration received a tip that a student had a weapon on campus. We immediately engaged our law enforcement partners and conducted a search, and found the individual who was reported, and a weapon was found in their bag. Law enforcement immediately took this individual into custody.

Per our standard safety protocols, there will be additional police presence on campus, as well as a weapon-detection K9. We are thankful for our strong partnership with law enforcement and their quick response.

At this time, the campus is secure, and all school operations are ongoing as usual.

Principal Pfeiffer

Source: Seminole County Schools

The lawsuit represents a direct challenge to the authority of the office that enforces ethics standards for attorneys in the nation’s capital, where several high-profile investigations of Trump-allied lawyers are playing out.

“The D.C. Bar will no longer be permitted to probe sensitive executive branch deliberations and target executive branch officials with whom they happen to politically disagree, and federal attorneys will once again be free to share their candid legal advice with their bosses and colleagues,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, a top Justice Department official, said in a statement.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Washington. An email seeking comment to the D.C. Bar's Board on Professional Responsibility, among the defendants named in the complaint, did not receive an immediate response.

The complaint chiefly concerns the ethics case against Jeffrey Clark, a senior lawyer in the first Trump administration Justice Department who was deeply engaged in legal efforts to undo the results of the 2020 election that President Donald Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

A disciplinary panel has recommended that Clark be stripped of his law license, but the lawsuit seeks to bring an end to those proceedings, calling them “unlawful” and tainted by politicization.

Clark, who has denied any wrongdoing, applauded the lawsuit on X on Wednesday evening, saying, “This is an important step to vindicate the separation of powers.”

In an attempt to bolster its claims of bias in the disciplinary process, the Justice Department asserted that bar authorities had treated Clark more harshly than a former FBI lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, who pleaded guilty to doctoring an email during the investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign.

The lawsuit also backs Ed Martin, an ardent Trump loyalist who now serves as the Justice Department's pardon attorney. The Office of Disciplinary Counsel accused Martin in March of professional misconduct for a threatening letter that he sent to Georgetown Law School’s dean last year, when Martin was the top federal prosecutor for Washington.

Martin was the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia when he warned the Georgetown dean that his office wouldn’t hire the private school’s students if it didn’t eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

“The Office of Disciplinary Counsel and the Board on Professional Responsibility, as D.C. institutions, have no authority to decide whether a federal government attorney — no less the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia — is upholding his oath of office or whether his official acts comport with the Constitution," the lawsuit states.

The Justice Department last week filed what's known as a statement of interest in support of Martin, who had earlier complained about “uneven behavior” by the disciplinary counsel that filed the ethics charges against him.

The top-ranked Sinner landed shots on the lines repeatedly in a 6-2, 6-4 triumph over No. 14 Andrey Rublev to reach the semifinals Thursday and move past Novak Djokovic with a record 32nd consecutive victory in Masters 1000 events — the biggest tournaments outside the Grand Slams.

“I don’t play for records. I play just for my own story. And obviously at the same time it means a lot to me,” Sinner said.

The last Italian man to raise the singles trophy on the red clay of the Foro Italico was Adriano Panatta in 1976. Panatta will present the title to this year’s champion on Sunday, with Italian President Sergio Mattarella also slated to attend the final.

“It’s a special tournament for me,” Sinner said.

Sinner’s semifinal opponent will be 2023 Rome champion Daniil Medvedev, who came back to beat Spanish qualifier Martin Landaluce 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.

The other semifinal will feature Casper Ruud of Norway against Luciano Darderi, an Argentine-born Italian.

Huge partisan support

With nearly everyone inside the 10,500-seat Campo Centrale cheering for Sinner, many supporters wore hats and T-shirts in orange — his theme color.

One group of fans held up a sign that said, “Sinner, Facce Sogna” — “Sinner, Make us dream.”

Sinner lost last year’s final in Rome to Carlos Alcaraz, who is now sidelined due to a right wrist injury, while Jasmine Paolini in 2025 became the first Italian woman to raise the trophy in 40 years.

Sinner broke serve in the opening game for a third straight match and never lost control against Rublev, who was once ranked as high as No. 5.

Rublev noticed there were “many points where he played really well or close to the line or in a line. But he’s No. 1 and it’s normal. You need to force him to miss and it takes a lot of focus to be able to play at that level.”

Sinner had only one brief lapse when Rublev broke him late in the second set.

“It was a bit breezy, a bit windy, so it was very tough conditions,” Sinner said. “I felt we both didn’t play at our best today.”

Sinner said he felt fatigued toward the end.

“I’m going to be all right. It’s normal that one day in the tournament you are slightly tired,” he said. “It has been very long days for me.”

Unbeaten since October

Sinner hasn’t been beaten in a Masters event since he retired with cramps in extreme heat against Tallon Griekspoor in Shanghai in October.

Djokovic won 31 straight Masters matches in 2011.

Including all tournaments, Sinner’s winning streak reached 27 matches. He was last beaten by Jakub Mensik in the Qatar Open quarterfinals on Feb. 19 — and he hasn't even dropped a set since his opening match of his previous tournament, the Madrid Open.

Sinner is also aiming to become the second man after Djokovic to triumph at all nine Masters events. Djokovic has won each event at least twice.

The Italian Open is the only Masters event that Sinner hasn’t won.

Coco Gauff back in final

In the women’s tournament, Coco Gauff beat 36-year-old Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-3 to reach the final for a second straight year.

Gauff will face two-time Rome champion Elina Svitolina in the final after the Ukrainian beat three-time champion Iga Swiatek 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

Gauff saved a match point in a three-set victory over Iva Jovic in the fourth round and then came back from a set down to defeat Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals.

Against Cirstea, Gauff got 78% of her first serves in and had only one double fault.

“I'm just happy to be through in straight sets today," Gauff said. "It's been a marathon week.”

Gauff was beaten by Paolini in the 2025 Rome final, then went on to win the French Open.

Svitolina won Rome in 2017 and 2018.

___

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Mike Macdonald, Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks will face off against Mike Vrabel, Drake Maye and the New England Patriots after raising their championship banner on Sept. 9 in the first of the NFL’s 272 games.

The Seahawks dominated the Patriots in a 29-13 victory in February that secured the franchise’s second NFL title.

The game will mark just the third time that the teams that played in the Super Bowl face off again in Week 1. The last time came in 2016, when the Broncos beat the Panthers. Overall, the Super Bowl opponents have met 11 times the following season, including each of the last three years. The defending champions are 8-3 in those games.

The Eagles followed up a Super Bowl victory with another win over the Chiefs in Week 2 last year.

"Yes, it was definitely a key data point for us,” NFL executive Hans Schroeder said. “We saw what a big draw that was and so we just thought it was really fun. I think it’s been a decade since we did Denver and Carolina in Super Bowl 50 and came back in Week 1 the next year. We thought it was a fun way to start the season again with New England in Seattle, coming off that Super Bowl, certainly a ton to play for. Let our fans see if they play again.”

The NFL season will be opening on a Wednesday for just the second time in league history — the Giants hosted the Cowboys on Sept. 5, 2012.

The opener will be Vrabel’s first game since the reigning AP Coach of the Year missed Day 3 of the NFL draft to seek counseling following the publication of photos of him and longtime football reporter Dianna Russini at an Arizona resort. The photos led to Russini’s resignation from The Athletic less than a week later.

The Seahawks will play at least six other stand-alone games, including Christmas night at home against the Los Angeles Rams. The Patriots have five other stand-alone games.

Week 1

Other opening week highlights were announced before the full schedule release on Thursday night.

The San Francisco 49ers will face the Rams in Melbourne on Sept. 10 in the first of a record nine international games. The Cowboys and Giants meet in the first Sunday night game of the season while the Broncos and Chiefs go head to head in the first Monday night game.

Raiders fans get to see No. 1-overall pick Fernando Mendoza — probably on the sideline watching Kirk Cousins start — in Week 1 when Las Vegas hosts Miami.

Thanksgiving weekend

Josh Allen and the Bills host Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs on Thanksgiving night to complete a tripleheader. The Bears-Lions and Eagles-Cowboys matchups were previously released.

Aaron Rodgers — maybe — and the Steelers host the Broncos on Black Friday.

The Packers and Rams are playing on Thanksgiving Eve.

Christmas week

Santa Claus has to go through Philadelphia on Christmas Eve when the Eagles host the Texans on “Thursday Night Football.”

The Christmas Day tripleheader features the Packers-Bears, Bills-Broncos and Rams-Seahawks.

The two games on Saturday, Dec. 26, haven’t been determined.

International games

The league will play across four continents, starting with the Week 1 game in Australia. Sixteen of the league’s 32 teams will play at least one of their 17 regular-season games outside the United States.

The 49ers and Jacksonville each have two international games. San Francisco also faces Minnesota in Mexico City in Week 11. The Jaguars have consecutive games in London in Weeks 5 and 6 against the Eagles and Texans. The Colts and Commanders also face off in London in Week 4.

The Steelers play the New Orleans Saints on Oct. 25 in Paris in the NFL’s first regular-season matchup in France.

The Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens go head to head in Rio de Janeiro in Week 3. The Bengals and Falcons are in Madrid in Week 8 and the Patriots and Lions play in Munich in Week 9.

Spotlight teams

Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and the Eagles lead the way with eight stand-alone games. The Cowboys, Bills, Packers and Rams are tied with the Seahawks with seven. Teams could add or lose prime-time games depending on flex scheduling.

Familiar foes

Micah Parsons and the Packers will host the Cowboys this time around on Sunday night, Oct. 18. The two teams played to a 40-40 tie in Dallas in Week 4 last season, a month after Parsons was traded from Dallas to Green Bay.

___

AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow and AP Sports Writer Joseph Reedy contributed.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

The Colombian superstar Shakira and Afrobeats icon Burna Boy have teamed up for “Dai Dai,” the official song for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

It's a mesh of their musical landscapes: Afrobeats and Latin rhythms, an undeniably global, multilingual pop track. In one verse, they name a number of the world's most famous soccer players and countries competing in this year's World Cup: “Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia,” Shakira cheers. “Mexico, Japan, Korea, Netherlands.”

After the first chorus, Shakira and Burna Boy take turns tackling their own verses, singing back and forth, before joining in a duet.

The song arrived shortly after it was announced that Shakira, Madonna and K-pop group BTS will co-headline the FIFA tournament's first-ever final halftime show on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, just outside New York City. The lineup was curated by Coldplay's Chris Martin.

The show will support the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, which is raising $100 million to help children access education and soccer.

Shakira first teased “Dai Dai” last week, sharing a minute-long teaser clip of her dancing in the center of the field of Maracaná Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. She included a snippet of the opening verse: “Here in this place / You belong,” she sang in English, a male voice harmonizing with her now identifiable as Burna Boy. “What broke you once / Made you strong.”

She is no stranger to World Cup anthems. Her song “Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)” was the official song of the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa and is widely regarded as one of the best.

It's also not uncommon for sponsors of the FIFA World Cup to release their own singles for the tournament. In March, Coca-Cola shared its own official anthem for the World Cup, a reimagination of Van Halen’s “Jump” that features Colombian singer J Balvin, drummer Travis Barker, pop/R&B singer Amber Mark and guitarist Steve Vai.

It is similarly multilingual: Balvin wrote a new verse in Spanish for the anthem, bringing in Brazilian funk and hip-hop to the classic rock staple. “‘Jump’ is not a fútbol song,” he told The Associated Press about the original track, using the Spanish word for soccer. “So that’s why I had to put the Latin love and passion for fútbol (in the lyrics).”

The World Cup is co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico and runs through June and July.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Igor Mykhaylovych Lytvynchuk, 38, made arrangements to surrender in the Seattle area on Wednesday as special agents with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were seeking to arrest him, Assistant U.S. Attorney Aislinn Affinito in Honolulu said.

He is charged with harassing and attempting to harass a protected animal.

Lytvynchuk, who lives in Covington, Washington, was in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Thursday. A judge ordered him released pending another court appearance in Honolulu on May 27.

Greg Geist, a federal public defender who represented Lytvynchuk at the hearing, said Lytvynchuk hired an attorney in Hawaii, whose name was not immediately listed in the case docket. After the hearing, Geist declined to acknowledge questions from an Associated Press reporter or identify the attorney Lytvynchuk hired.

Two supporters who attended the hearing declined to comment.

The video drew widespread condemnation and demands for prosecution in Hawaii, including from Maui’s mayor.

A state Department of Land and Natural Resources officer last week investigated a report of Hawaiian monk seal harassment in Lahaina, the community that was largely destroyed by a deadly wildfire in 2023. A witness showed the officer video of the seal swimming in shallow water while a man watched from shore.

“In the cellphone video, the man can be seen holding a large rock with one hand, aiming, and throwing it directly at the monk seal," prosecutors said in a criminal complaint. The rock, described by a witness as the size of a coconut, narrowly missed the seal's head, but caused the “animal to abruptly alter its behavior,” the complaint said.

When a witness confronted the man, he said "he did not care and was ‘rich’ enough to pay any fines," according to the complaint.

Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said the charges send a clear message that cruelty toward protected wildlife won't be tolerated. He identified the seal as “Lani,” a known and beloved character along Lahaina's waterfront, whose return after the wildfires brought a sense of healing and hope during a difficult time.

But the state natural resources department said in an email that it likely was not Lani, as it lacked certain markings.

“Humanity and the instinct to protect what is vulnerable are still values people can unite around," Bissen said in an emailed statement.

The mayor said he called the U.S. attorney in Honolulu to advocate for prosecution.

Lytvynchuk is charged with violations of the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Hawaiian monk seals are a critically endangered species. Only 1,600 remain in the wild.

If convicted, Lytvynchuk faces up to one year in prison for each charge. He also faces a fine of up to $50,000 under the Endangered Species Act and a fine of up to $20,000 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

___

Kelleher reported from Honolulu. Associated Press writer Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu contributed to this report.

But Global Citizen is preparing for its most ambitious production yet: the first-ever FIFA World Cup halftime show on July 19, curated with help from Coldplay vocalist Chris Martin. Super Bowl-style performances — uncommon in soccer — will feature Madonna, Shakira and BTS. Also Thursday, Shakira released the official World Cup song “Dai Dai” featuring Afrobeats giant Burna Boy.

Organizers aim to direct the tournament's billions of projected viewers worldwide toward a humanitarian initiative launched alongside soccer's international governing body. Leveraging what Global Citizen founder Hugh Evans called the “complementary” unifying powers of soccer and music, the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund aims to raise $100 million for grassroots groups providing underserved children with access to education and sports.

“I hope that on the world’s biggest stage, finally, the importance of investing in education steals the show,” Shakira told the Global Citizen NOW summit in New York on Thursday. Later, she told The Associated Press in an interview that she wanted to help the “many children who are being left behind.”

"That should be our first concern,” Shakira said. “I’m so excited that finally we’re gonna use a global event like this one as a platform to discuss what’s most important: kids’ education.”

That push could be complicated, however, by the staggering cost of match attendance. A dollar from every World Cup ticket sale will go toward the education fund. But with tickets selling for four- to five-figures, not to mention the high price of travel and lodging, some host cities are lowering their attendance expectations.

Further complicating their message of unity is FIFA President Gianni Infantino's tightening connection to President Donald Trump, whose restrictive immigration policies and recent military pursuits amount to what critics consider an unwelcoming environment atypical of an international sporting event.

Infantino awarded FIFA’s new peace prize to Trump in December. Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, was also appointed to the education fund's board.

Evans is not focused on politics, though. “I’m a pragmatist," he told the AP. “I’ve always believed that if we can do something so unbelievably positive, it has the potential to unite people at a time when the world needs it most.”

Thursday's Global Citizen NOW summit speakers emphasized their ability to build cross-sector support for causes like the education fund. The annual spring gathering draws entertainers, business executives and world leaders to discuss shared solutions to ending extreme poverty, oftentimes aligned with the United Nations’ ambitious list of “sustainable development goals” ranging from eliminating hunger to achieving gender equality.

They've raised $47 million so far for the education fund, according to a Thursday announcement at a Global Citizen summit in New York City. Corporate sponsors Bank of America, MetLife and Cisco put in $15 million between them, according to Evans. MetLife is donating an additional $5 for every video that fans post online of themselves juggling a soccer ball with the hashtag #FootworkForFutures.

Indian education entrepreneur Sunny Varkey and his Varkey Foundation contributed $3 million. Also being donated are ticket proceeds from The Weeknd’s high-grossing world tour as well as the joint tour recently announced by Usher and Chris Brown. Shakira announced Thursday she will donate 100% of her “Dai Dai” proceeds plus $1 from every ticket to her newly expanded tour in the United States.

Evans is now turning to heads of state for more financial support. He invited existing or future World Cup host countries to supplement funding.

“It has the potential to say to the whole world: We are global citizens... We’re all on this amazing planet together. Let’s solve the world’s biggest problems together," Evans said, adding that the move can foster a human approach rather than a “nationalistic” one.

Evans cited the 27 inaugural FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund grantees, released earlier this week, as inspiration. Among the recipients was Hit the Books, a Harlem-based nonprofit that uses mixed martial arts as the hook to provide students with additional educational resources.

The grants range from $50,000 to $250,000. Jhae Thompson, executive director of Hit the Books, said the support is meaningful because many nonprofits support hundreds of children on incredibly small budgets.

“What we are really leveraging is the foundation of what a young person needs in order to build character, to build discipline, to build confidence,” Thompson told the Global Citizen NOW audience.

Global Citizen has pursued partnerships in new regions as traditional actors including the U.S. cut their international aid budgets. That expansion includes the Middle East, represented by the addition of Mariam AlMheiri to their board.

AlMheiri, who heads the International Affairs Office at the Presidential Court of the United Arab Emirates, emphasized that “when you look at a football, everyone's happy" — a positive association she hopes will translate into support for the education fund.

Marcus Samuelsson, a multiple James Beard Award-winning chef and avid soccer fan, noted that this World Cup is spread across three different countries: the United States, Mexico and Canada. The tournament, he added, has expanded from its origins as a competition largely between South American and European nations to represent countries in Africa and Asia, too.

He hopes that wide geographic spread inspires curiosity about global issues.

““You start thinking about these countries. You maybe want to go there on vacation, maybe you want to go there, volunteer and help out. Whatever gets you going,” Samuelsson told AP. "And it can start by falling in love while watching them.”

___

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Sen. Ronald dela Rosa ’s exit from the heavily guarded Senate came after volleys of gunshots were fired Wednesday night by the building's security personnel during an argument with government agents positioned in an adjacent building, sparking chaos that apparently helped the senator to slip out.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. made a late-night TV statement to ask the public to remain calm. A police investigation was underway, including into suspicions that the incident was instigated to provide dela Rosa a cover to escape.

“There is no obstruction of justice,” Senate President Alan Cayetano said of dela Rosa’s escape while in the Senate’s protective custody.

He told a news briefing that he did not see any ICC warrant of arrest against dela Rosa and the senator was free to leave the premises.

Critics, however, said Cayetano and the Senate's security chief should be held responsible for dela Rosa's escape.

Dela Rosa, 64, served as the former national police chief of Rodrigo Duterte, who was president from 2016 to 2022. Duterte was arrested in March last year on a ICC warrant for alleged crimes against humanity in connection with deadly anti-drugs crackdowns he launched and for which he is now facing a trial in The Hague.

A warrant unsealed Monday by the ICC charges dela Rosa with the crime against humanity of murder of “no less than 32 persons” between July 2016 and the end of April 2018, when he led the national police force under Duterte and enforced his bloody crackdowns.

Dela Rosa has questioned the ICC warrant's legality and asked the Supreme Court to immediately stop the Philippine government from enforcing it. The court asked dela Rosa and government officials Wednesday to provide more details in 72 hours.

Dela Rosa and Duterte have separately denied authorizing extrajudicial killings although the former president has openly threatened drug suspects with death while he was in office.

Dela Rosa’s legal predicament came as political disputes escalated between the Duterte family and Marcos. Vice President Sara Duterte, the former president’s daughter, has blamed Marcos for what she said was the “kidnapping” of her father and handover to a foreign court.

The disputes reflect the deep divisions that have long plagued the rambunctious Asian democracy.

On Monday, Sara Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives, which is dominated by Marcos’ allies, over alleged unexplained wealth, misuse of state funds and a public threat to have Marcos, his wife and the House speaker assassinated if she herself was killed in their intensifying conflict.

She has denied any wrongdoing but has refused to answer specific allegations in detail.

The Senate will convene into an impeachment court on Monday at the earliest to prepare for the trial of the vice president, Cayetano said.

Cayetano, a key ally of Rodrigo Duterte, wrested the presidency of the Senate Monday after he got the support of 13 of 24 senators. He gained the majority after dela Rosa, who has been absent for months due to fears of his possible arrest, suddenly showed up in the Senate Monday, arriving in Cayetano’s car.

National Bureau of Investigation agents tried to serve the ICC arrest warrant, but dela Rosa darted toward a narrow stairway into the Senate plenary hall and sought the help of allied senators, who took him into protective custody.

___

Associated Press journalist Joeal Calupitan contributed to this report.

Newsom is eager to safeguard programs that have defined his tenure as the leader of the nation’s most populous state and one of the world’s largest economies. As he gears up for a possible presidential run in 2028, the Democrat is promoting the budget as fiscally responsible, saying it protects California's values but also builds up the state's rainy day funds — a pointed rebuke to critics who say the state spends more than it has.

The state’s spending has grown more than $100 billion since 2020, according to legislative budget analysts.

“We’re cutting deficits. But we’re not cutting corners,” Newsom said.

Newsom can’t seek a third term and will leave office in January.

Revenues, driven mostly by the booming stock market and the artificial intelligence industry, are $16.5 billion higher than projections in January. That will help the state avoid a $2.9 billion deficit projected in January, guarantee no budget hole next year and cut the shortfall the following year in half, his office said. Newsom also wants to set aside $9.7 billion in a holding account to help balance future budgets.

California faced tens of billions of dollars in budget deficits several years in a row, forcing painful cuts last year such as a rollback on a promise to provide free healthcare to low-income immigrants without legal status. Nonpartisan budget analysts previously projected the state will see budget holes upward of $20 billion each year in the next few years. Newsom and the analysts sometimes differ in their estimations.

Still, Democrats are bracing for federal funding cuts in healthcare and the impacts of high costs on everything from gas to energy because of the war in Iran. State officials repeatedly have said California can't backfill all the federal dollars.

Republican lawmakers said Newsom's plan didn't go far enough to address future budget problems. Republicans are largely excluded from budget negotiations because Democrats have supermajorities in both chambers.

“Governor Newsom appears to define fiscal success narrowly: if the budget doesn’t collapse on his watch, it’s a balanced one,” Assemblymember David Tangipa said in a statement.

Newsom also blasted President Donald Trump and his policies, including in his budget presentation a photo depicting the president and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as characters in the movie “Dumb and Dumber.” Trump “doesn’t particularly give a damn about the financial situation of the average American," Newsom said.

The budget proposal will officially kick off the final stretch of negotiations between Newsom and Democrats in the Legislature, who have to pass a budget by the end of June.

State lawmakers this year are considering several proposals to increase taxes on corporations to help with budget problems. Newsom has largely avoided raising taxes to boost revenues in past years. Now, he wants to cut fees for new small businesses, limit some tax credits starting in 2027 and impose a sales tax on some digital software and cloud-based services.

The two tax measures could generate more than $1 billion the first year of implementation, according to the governor's estimation. Newsom is against a ballot initiative for a one-time tax on billionaires that will likely go before voters in November.

He also proposed to increase the monthly premiums for adult patients without legal status in the state-funded healthcare program, up to $50 from $30. The premiums were part of last year's budget and are set to take effect in July for adults under 60 years old. Democrats in the Senate already signaled they will fight the plan.

California has a progressive tax system that relies on rich people, meaning it gets about half its revenues from just 1% of the population. When the economy is good, rich people pay more in taxes and revenues can soar quickly. When the economy is bad, they pay less and revenues can drop just as fast.

The state could also see a revenue boost from expected upcoming initial public offerings by several major artificial intelligence companies, which are expected to be the largest IPOs in history. But legislative budget experts warned of a potential AI bubble that could worsen the state's finances.

Newsom’s Thursday proposal also includes a $300 million plan to backfill some of the loss of government-sponsored health subsidies, a $5 billion education grant for teacher training and $100 million to help Los Angeles-area homeowners rebuild after the devastating wildfires last year.

The new U.S. House districts, which still need House approval, would be used for primary elections poised to be postponed from Saturday until November.

The high court's ruling has led to a flurry of redistricting efforts in Southern states as Republicans seek to capitalize on a weakened federal Voting Rights Act. While most of those efforts are voluntary, Louisiana must redraw its U.S. House map in response to the ruling that it had illegally used race to gerrymander a majority-Black district.

The debate over the shape of Louisiana's new districts is playing out as South Carolina's governor ramps up pressure on lawmakers to also redistrict ahead of the midterms. Republican Gov. Henry McMaster on Thursday called a special session on redistricting to start Friday.

President Donald Trump has encouraged numerous Republican-led states to redraw House voting districts to their advantage in a bid to hold on to control of the closely divided chamber in November.

Republicans think they could win as many as 15 additional House seats in seven states that already have adopted new voting districts. Democrats think they could gain up to six seats from two other states because of new House districts. But there's no guarantee those seats will turn out as expected. Litigation is continuing in some states, and voters will have the ultimate say on who wins.

Democrats had hoped to win up to four additional seats from new House districts in Virginia. But Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s office confirmed Thursday that the state will hold this year’s elections under the current districts as it appeals last week’s Virginia Supreme Court ruling invalidating a voter-approved amendment authorizing the new districts.

Louisiana map scraps snaking district

Legislation in Louisiana seeks to address the Supreme Court ruling by scrapping a district that snakes over 200 miles (321 kilometers) northwest from the capital, Baton Rouge, to Shreveport, creating a voting bloc with a majority of Black residents. Democratic U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields represents the current 6th District.

Under the new plan, that district would instead be clustered around predominantly white communities in the Baton Rouge area and southern Louisiana.

The new plan keeps a New Orleans-based, majority-Black district represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Troy Carter while also adding a portion of Baton Rouge to it.

Fields, a Baton Rouge resident, said he won’t decide whether to seek reelection until the maps are finalized. But he said he won’t challenge Carter in a primary.

The newly proposed House map is similar to one used in 2022 that resulted in five Republicans and one Democrat winning election. Republican state Sen. Jay Morris said the new map packs Democrats into the 2nd District held by Carter to allow Republicans to prevail elsewhere.

“These maps are drawn to maximize Republican advantage for the incumbent Republicans that we have in Congress,” Morris said.

Democratic state Sen. Sam Jenkins suggested Republicans are “using partisanship as cover for discriminatory practices against a group of people, particularly Black voters and Democrats.”

“If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck,” Jenkins said.

“It’s not quacking,” Morris said.

“It’s quacking pretty loud, it’s quacking all over the state,” Jenkins replied.

Republican senators defeated an alternative from Democrats that would have kept two Democratic-leaning districts. Republicans opted not to pursue a 6-0 Republican map because it was infeasible, said Louisiana Senate President Cameron Henry, a Republican.

A federal judge struck down Louisiana's 2022 map for violating the Voting Rights Act. Then in 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Alabama had to create its own second largely Black congressional district. In light of the Alabama ruling, the Louisiana Legislature passed a revised map, creating a second majority-Black district that was used in the 2024 elections. That map also was challenged, leading to an April 29 Supreme Court ruling that Louisiana’s districts relied too heavily on race.

Louisiana House primary could shift to November

After the Supreme Court ruling, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry postponed Louisiana’s U.S. House primaries, which were scheduled for Saturday.

A bill given final approval Wednesday by the Legislature would shift the election to an open primary on Nov. 3. All U.S. House candidates, regardless of their party affiliation, would be on the ballot for voters in their district. If no one wins a majority outright, the top two vote-getters would enter a run-off on Dec. 12.

A new qualifying period for House candidates would run from Aug. 5-7.

The system is similar to how Louisiana's congressional elections previously occurred. Landry pushed the Legislature to end the state’s unique jungle primary system in 2024. Closed party primaries went into effect this year, and more than 250,000 votes already had been cast, according to the Louisiana secretary of state. The canceled congressional votes would be shielded from public records law.

Rep. Beau Beaullieu, the bill’s Republican sponsor, said that with congressional redistricting, there would not be sufficient time for closed primaries and a primary run-off before the Nov. 3 general election.

A closed primary remains in place for Louisiana's U.S. Senate race, which has not been suspended and pits incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy against Trump-backed challenger U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow.

South Carolina to work overtime on redistricting

South Carolina's regular legislative session ended Thursday, but McMaster quickly called lawmakers back into session Friday to continue working on redistricting and other matters.

It could be next week before the House can finish the redistricting bill, which would also move congressional primaries to August, Republican House Majority Leader Davey Hiott said. All primaries are currently scheduled for June 9. Early voting begins May 26, and that’s likely the deadline to finish redistricting, he said.

The redistricting work “will be long. It will be boring. It will be confrontational,” Hiott told reporters.

If the proposal passes the House, it then heads to a more skeptical Senate, where Republican Judiciary Committee Chairman Luke Rankin has said he will “demand the process” without elaborating. During the last regular redistricting at the start of the decade, Rankin’s committee held a month of meetings across the state and encouraged the public to submit its own maps.

Only one of South Carolina's seven U.S. House seats currently is held by a Democrat — longtime U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn. Some Republicans worry it is impossible to guarantee seven GOP districts in a state where the Democratic presidential candidate has gotten more than 40% of the vote every election this century. There are also concerns about holding two statewide elections in a little over two months. South Carolina’s elections leader said it may require employees to work 24 hours a day.

___

Brook reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Collins from Columbia, South Carolina; and Lieb from Jefferson City, Missouri. Associated Press reporter Safiyah Riddle contributed from Montgomery, Alabama.

In announcing the partnership, the kingdom's public investment fund (PIF) said sport was a “priority sector” and soccer was crucial to the “ongoing transformation of Saudi Arabia.”

PIF announced this month that it was pulling the plug on future funding for LIV Golf, the breakaway tour that it has poured billions of dollars into, raising questions about its long-term plans for other sports after its enormous spending in recent years.

While the value of the World Cup deal, which covers North America and Asia, was not disclosed, it further strengthens ties between Saudi Arabia and world soccer's governing body FIFA.

2034 host and TV

The oil-rich kingdom has won the rights to host the 2034 edition of the World Cup and PIF was a commercial partner for last year's Club World Cup.

The PIF-owned SURJ Sports Investment also owns a stake online streamer DAZN, which broadcast the Club World Cup.

According to FIFA accounts, television broadcasting rights had contributed “the lion’s share” of its annual revenue in 2025, worth more than $1 billion.

Soccer has been a major focus for Saudi Arabia as it looks to move away from its heavy reliance on oil and explore other revenue-generating sectors.

That has included enticing some of the sport's biggest stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Karim Benzema to its domestic league and buying Premier League club Newcastle. Winning the right to host the World Cup is its standout achievement so far.

F1 and boxing, tennis

Investment in other sports includes hosting a number of world championship boxing matches, Formula One racing and tennis.

Critics have accused the kingdom of “sportswashing” — using sports to rebrand its public image in the face of its human rights record and the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

The launch of the contentious LIV Golf tour in 2022 was a major disruptor for the sport, luring top players like Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson away from the PGA. LIV Golf's spending is expected to exceed $6 billion by the end of the year.

While there has been a slowdown of top soccer players heading to the Saudi league after its earlier aggressive recruitment drive, PIF outlined its ongoing commitment to the world's most popular sport.

“PIF continues to expand its global footprint in sport, with football at the heart of this growth," head of corporate brand Mohamed AlSayyad said.

___

James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Per the FL511, the crash happened in the northbound lanes just before mile marker 18.8.

In a release, fire officials said that there were five patients involved in total, with one being taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and another being transported as a trauma alert.

Meanwhile, the remaining three patients refused to be transported, but were treated by crews on scene, officials added.

“The scene has been turned over to law enforcement,” the release reads. “Lanes will be shut down for cleanup.”

FHP reports show troopers chased a driver through Central Florida at speeds reaching 130 miles per hour before using a PIT maneuver near Apopka Boulevard and Lake Pleasant Road on April 17.

According to the arrest report, the maneuver caused the vehicle to crash into a brick wall in the Chelsea Park neighborhood.

The driver, identified as 25-year-old Deon Justice, faces charges including aggravated fleeing with injury or damage, reckless driving, leaving the scene of a crash involving property damage, and resisting an officer without violence.

Pat Oates lives next to the damaged wall and says the hole has been a constant frustration ever since the crash.

Oates says the wall belongs to the homeowners association and is managed by Trident Management. She says she spent weeks trying to get answers about when repairs would begin.

“You call the phone number and it says to leave a message that they’ll return the phone call. They’ve yet to return one phone call,” Oates said.

She also says the damage changed how she uses her own backyard.

“I’m trying to get my wall back in place so that my dog can have her yard back,” she said.

After News 6 contacted Trident Management on Thursday, the company responded saying repairs are now scheduled for Monday.

In a statement, Trident Management said the matter had already been resolved with Geico and disputed claims that they failed to respond to Oates.

The company said it has “proof that the insurance company has issued the check and the work has been scheduled with our chosen vendor.”

Oates says she’s hopeful the repairs finally happen but still has doubts.

“Lamine Yamal chose to incite hate against Israel while our soldiers combat the terrorist organization Hamas, an organization that massacred, raped and burned Jewish children, women and the elderly on Oct. 7, (2023)” minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Thursday.

The 18-year-old Yamal waved a large Palestinian flag from an open-top bus during a victory parade by Barcelona’s team through the city on Monday. The parade drew some 750,000 people to celebrate the league title clinched the previous day, local authorities said.

Yamal, who is Muslim, posted pictures of him holding the flag on his Instagram account.

Spain’s government and a large part of its population have been highly critical of Israel’s military operations that killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza in response to the 2023 Hamas surprise attack.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has previously called for Israel to be banned from sports events over its actions in Gaza, defended Yamal on social media.

“Those who consider waving a state’s flag to be ‘inciting hatred’ have either lost their minds or been blinded by their own ignominy,” Sanchez wrote on X. “Lamine has simply expressed the solidarity with Palestine that millions of Spaniards feel. Yet another reason to be proud of him.”

There has been a global backlash against Israel over the humanitarian toll of the war in Gaza, which has spread to sport and culture. Protests have been seen in soccer, cycling and basketball. Last year's Spanish Vuelta was repeatedly disrupted by protesters angry with the participation of an Israeli-backed cycling team.

Spain is also one of five countries boycotting this year’s Eurovision Song Contest to protest Israel’s inclusion.

Yamal is set to star for Spain at next month’s World Cup to be played in North America.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

During his nearly 30 years behind bars, Glossip came so close to execution multiple times that he was served “last meals” on three separate occasions in 2015. He has long insisted he is innocent in the murder of his former boss, Oklahoma motel owner Barry Van Treese. The U.S. Supreme Court threw out his conviction and death sentence last year.

Here is a look at key events in Glossip's case and appeals.

Jan. 7, 1997: Barry Van Treese is beaten to death at an Oklahoma City motel that he owned. Two of his employees, Justin Sneed and Richard Glossip, are soon arrested in connection with the killing.

Aug. 14, 1998: Glossip is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Prosecutors argue at his trial that Van Treese was killed in a murder-for-hire scheme. Motel handyman Sneed testified that he killed their boss after Glossip promised to pay him $10,000.

July 17, 2001: The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals throws out Glossip's murder conviction and orders him a new trial.

Aug. 27, 2004: Glossip is sentenced to death again after second trial ends with a new murder conviction.

April 29, 2014: Oklahoma uses the surgical sedative midazolam for the first time during the execution of Clayton Lockett, who writhes and groans on the gurney. The execution process gets halted, but Lockett dies 43 minutes later. The state later blames an improperly placed intravenous line, not the new drug mix.

Nov. 20, 2014: Glossip’s scheduled execution is delayed to allow Oklahoma to obtain drugs and train staff on a new protocol.

Jan. 28, 2015: After Glossip has been served what is supposed to be his final meal, the U.S. Supreme Court halts his execution and those of two other Oklahoma prisoners while considering their legal challenge to the state's use of midazolam in executions.

June 29, 2015: A divided U.S. Supreme Court upholds Oklahoma’s use of midazolam during executions.

Sept. 15, 2015: For the second time, Glossip is served what is supposed to be his last meal: chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and a dinner roll, fish and chips, a bacon cheeseburger and a strawberry malt.

Sept. 16, 2015: Hours before Glossip is scheduled for execution, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals grants him a two-week reprieve to review claims of new evidence supporting his innocence.

Sept. 29, 2015: For the third time, Glossip is served what is supposed to be his final meal: a medium pizza, two orders of fish and chips, a bacon cheeseburger and a strawberry malt.

Sept. 30, 2015: Prison officials are preparing to execute Glossip when Oklahoma's governor stays the procedure because one of the lethal drugs being used didn't match the state's execution protocol.

Oct. 2, 2015: The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, at the request of the state's attorney general, puts all executions on indefinite hold as officials review Oklahoma's execution procedures.

Feb. 13, 2020: Oklahoma announces plans to resume executions using a three-drug lethal injection protocol.

May 5, 2023: The U.S. Supreme Court again halts Glossip's execution, set for May 18, at the urging of Oklahoma's Republican attorney general, who has concluded Glossip's trial was “unfair and unreliable.”

Feb. 25, 2025: The U.S. Supreme Court throws out Glossip's murder conviction and death sentence, ruling prosecutors violated his right to a fair trial by allowing Sneed, their key witness, to give testimony they knew was false.

June 9, 2025: Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond says he plans to try Glossip again for murder. While agreeing his previous trial was unfair, Drummond says he doesn't believe Glossip is innocent.

May 14, 2026: An Oklahoma judge orders a $500,000 bond for Glossip, granting him a chance to leave jail while awaiting trial. Hours later, Glossip walks out of an Oklahoma City jail.

___

Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia.

In a letter to a lawyer for Yale, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said a DOJ investigation found that Black and Hispanic students have a much higher chance of admission to the medical school than white or Asian students, despite having lower grade-point averages and lower test scores.

“Yale has continued its race-based admissions program despite the Supreme Court and the public’s clear mandate for reform,” Dhillon said in a statement. “This Department will continue to shed light on these illegal practices, and demand that institutions of higher education comply with federal law.”

The university replied in a statement that its School of Medicine “is confident in the rigorous admissions process we follow,” and it will review the Justice Department letter.

“The students admitted to Yale School of Medicine demonstrate exceptional academic achievement and personal commitment; its program of medical education encourages curiosity and critical thinking, and its graduates go on to become leaders in clinical care, research, and public service,” the school said.

Since President Donald Trump returned to office last year, his administration has been putting pressure on universities to stop using race as a basis for admission, which conservatives view as illegal discrimination. And a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2023 banned the use of affirmative action in college admissions, in cases involving Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

Last week, the Justice Department notified the University of California, Los Angeles, that its medical school illegally considered race in admissions.

In the letter to Yale, Dhillon alleged the New Haven, Connecticut, school was violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibiting discrimination and said the DOJ is seeking to enter into a voluntary resolution agreement with the university. She also noted in the letter that the agency has the authority to take the school to court to enforce Title VI if it cannot obtain compliance through voluntary means.

The DOJ cited differences in grade-point averages and standardized test scores as evidence of racial preferences in the incoming classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025. In Yale’s most recent class, Black students had a median GPA of 3.88 and a median MCAT score in the 95th percentile, compared to Asian students who had a median GPA of 3.98 and white students with a 3.97 median GPA. Both Asian and white students of that class had median MCAT scores in the 100th percentile.

“Based on our preliminary review of the applicant-level data, Yale’s use of race resulted in a Black applicant being as much as 29 times higher odds of getting an interview for admission than an equally strong Asian applicant with similar academic credentials,” Dhillon's letter said.

The Justice Department also described Yale’s use of a holistic admissions process as a means for the school to consider race.

The letter also cited Yale’s amicus brief in the Student for Fair Admissions lawsuit that led to the 2023 Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action, where the school said it would not be able to maintain diverse classes without explicit consideration of race. The department said the fact that Yale was able to maintain similarly diverse classes despite that brief as evidence that the school had engaged in race discrimination.

Dhillon wrote that the lack of any change in Yale's admissions outcomes after the Supreme Court ruling showed "a willful failure to comply with that decision.”

In March, a coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit challenging a Trump administration policy that requires higher education institutions to collect data showing they aren’t considering race in admissions.

____

Associated Press writer Annie Ma in Washington contributed to this report.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols didn’t rule from the bench on the plaintiffs’ request for an order blocking officials from implementing Trump’s March 31 order, his second related to elections since winning his second term in the White House. The case is one of multiple lawsuits filed to block the order on the grounds that only states and Congress, and not the president, are given power under the Constitution to decide how elections are run.

Trump's initial executive order to revamp elections by requiring documentary proof of citizenship, issued last year, was largely halted by multiplefederal judges on similar grounds. He issued his latest order only after the voting bill he backed stalled in Congress. The current legal fight comes as the country is in the midst of primary elections and election officials are preparing for the intricacies of holding the fall's midterm elections.

“I understand the time pressure here,” said Nichols, who questioned both sides but gave no clear indication of which way he's leaning.

The president can’t rewrite election rules to give himself and the Republican Party a partisan advantage, the plaintiffs’ attorneys said. They argued that the executive order’s requirements are illegal and designed to coerce states into limiting voter registration and ballot access.

“It is harming our clients every day in the middle of an election season,” said Orion Nevers, an attorney representing the NAACP.

Democrats are more likely to vote by mail. Since even before his 2020 loss, Trump has falsely implied there is mass fraud involved in the practice and fought to curtail it, even after his baseless claims led to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and were repeatedly debunked by audits and reviews, including some run by Republicans.

Since returning to office, Trump has said he wants Republicans to “take over” elections in Democratic areas and launched investigations of the 2020 vote.

His latest executive order calls on the Department of Homeland Security to make a list of eligible voters in each state and seeks to prohibit the U.S. Postal Service from sending absentee ballots to those not on each state’s approved list.

The administration is asking the judge to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims. Justice Department attorney Stephen Pezzi on Thursday suggested that the litigation is premature, calling it “shadowboxing” for the plaintiffs to challenge a list that hasn’t yet been created.

“It’s a little hard to address these questions in the abstract,” Pezzi said.

Nichols, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, asked Pezzi why it would be lawful to disseminate the list to states.

“I think it would be the plaintiffs’ burden to explain why it’s unlawful,” Pezzi replied. “I don’t mean to be cute with that answer.”

Trump’s executive order requires federal agencies to compile a list of adults the U.S. government has purportedly “confirmed” to be U.S. citizens and to share it with each state at least 60 days before each federal election.

“There isn’t a way to lawfully compile it,” said Lalitha Madduri, an attorney for Democratic Party plaintiffs.

Danielle Lang, who represents the League of United Latin American Citizens, said the executive order is aimed at creating “the maximum amount of chaos and confusion” for local election officials.

“They need clear direction,” Lang said.

___

Riccardi reported from Denver.

Kylian Mbappé came on as a substitute after an injury layoff and was booed by part of the crowd, as was Vinícius Júnior earlier.

“I’ve being booed before in my career," Mbappé said. "It's part of it. Sometimes they are not happy”

A couple of banners against president Florentino Pérez were held up briefly before being removed by security officials. Pérez saluted some of the fans, but at one point he appeared to get into an verbal altercation with some of the team's supporters near the VIP tribunes, according to Spanish media reports.

The match capped a chaotic week for Madrid, which started with an altercation between players in training that led the club to fine Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni 500,000 euros ($589,000) each. Then came the loss to Barcelona in the clasico on Sunday that allowed its rival to clinch the league title, and on Tuesday Pérez called for new elections after saying he was the victim of an “organized campaign” to unseat him.

An edgy Pérez confronted journalists and made widespread accusations in a hastily scheduled news conference.

Madrid has endured two straight seasons without winning a major title. It was eliminated by Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, was ousted by second-division club Albacete in the Copa del Rey and lost the Spanish Super Cup final to Barcelona.

García put Madrid ahead in the 43rd minute and Jude Bellingham sealed the win in the 79th after an assist by Mbappé, who replaced García in the 68th.

In the fight against relegation, Girona moved out of the drop zone after a 1-1 draw with eighth-place Real Sociedad at home. Cristhian Stuani scored a second-half equalizer for Girona.

Conference League finalist Rayo Vallecano, sitting in 11th place, drew 1-1 at 13th-place Valencia.

Barcelona's hopes of reaching the 100-point mark ended Wednesday with a 1-0 loss at Alaves. The Catalan club clinched its second straight league title on Sunday with a 2-0 win over rival Real Madrid at home.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

He's hoping his name is still in the No. 1 spot on May 24.

The Mexican driver who finished second in 2022 and 2024 and third last year in IndyCar's biggest race of the season posted the fastest lap of the day on the third day of practice on Indy's 2.5-mile oval, going 227.308 mph. Four-time race winner Helio Castroneves, who tried his hand at Cup cars earlier this year, posted a 226.977.

“I like love the whole month, the practice days going into qualifying. The whole thing of qualifying on its own weekend, I love that," O'Ward said. “I really enjoy watching as well, and it's cool to see the big runs, big numbers and then going out there yourself and trying to beat that.”

The only thing that would be better than beating the competition in practice would be celebrating with a sip of milk after the 500.

But as O'Ward knows, Thursday's numbers don't mean much heading into qualifications Saturday and Sunday — or race day.

All 33 cars will have their power cranked up with a turbocharged boost Friday and before starting their four-lap qualifying runs Saturday.

Because of that, most teams used the six-hour practice session to work on qualifying runs, banking information on race-day setups and simply trying to get more answers about what works well and what won't during the race.

And the speeds were not nearly as quick as Wednesday when Conor Daly and defending Indy winner Alex Palou topped 228.

Only five drivers — O'Ward, Castroneves, Marcus Armstrong, Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi — hit 226.

“You couldn’t ask for better weather, not only in terms of the wind conditions, but the temperature, everything is just perfect,” Castroneves said as the Brazilian again tries to become Indy's first five-time winner. ”We know it’s going to be like this Saturday (in qualifying), but at the end of the day we felt comfortable. The starting point is one of the best balances I’ve had on qualifying weekend. We’ll see what we’ve got tomorrow.”

But speed was only part of Thursday's story.

Two-time race winner Takuma Sato posted the fastest non-tow speed at 223.828 while Team Penske teammates Scott McLaughlin and David Malukas were second and third in non-tow speeds at 223.738 and 223.391.

Rossi, the 2016 Indy winner, was the busiest driver of the day. He turned 68 laps less than 24 hours after his crew with Ed Carpenter Racing changed his engine.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

In a release, deputies said the three minors were spotted on camera kicking the front doors of four homes as part of a “door-kicking challenge.”

The incidents happened around 9 p.m. on the 900 block of Feather Drive; 2200 block of Venus Avenue; and 900 block of Elkcam Boulevard, the release shows.

Anyone with information is urged to contact detectives at dgalarza@volusiasheriff.gov.

It’s not the only door-kicking incident that the sheriff’s office has reported on, though.

Deputies also noted an incident over the weekend where a 12-year-old was caught participating in the challenge, and he was eventually arrested on Tuesday.

“(The child) told detectives he did it because he was bored,” the sheriff’s office revealed. “Despite multiple warnings, we continue to see this dangerous trend in our community... Parents, PLEASE talk to your kids about how dangerous this is. This may seem like harmless fun, but it has real consequences. Aside from a felony charge, it could get your child killed.”

Around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Deputy Robert Fitch responded to the 11775 NW 10th Place area in Dunnellon for a suspicious person call.

The moment Fitch stepped out of his vehicle, Heriberto Medina Marquez, 38, lunged at him with a knife, knocked him to the ground, and stabbed him multiple times in the chest, deputies said in a news release.

At one point, Fitch can be heard in the body camera video saying, “He had something in his hand. I can’t confirm if it was a knife, but I was on the ground, and he was steady, hitting my chest, but my vest got it."

Another deputy arrived on scene as Medina Marquez emerged from the woods nearby, where he had fled after the attack. Deputies took him into custody without further incident. Investigators later recovered two folding knives at the scene, both with suspected fresh blood on them, the sheriff’s office said.

“I should have killed you, you know that, right?” Medina Marquez told deputies after being taken into custody.

Medina Marquez was booked into the Marion County Jail on charges of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, providing a false name to law enforcement, and resisting without violence. He is being held without bond.

It is the latest step that President Donald Trump's administration has taken to pull back regulations on coal mining and coal-fired power and empower fossil fuels as a primary energy source to feed the rapid growth of artificial intelligence data centers.

In its proposed rule, the EPA said a 2024 rule under President Joe Biden misjudged the effectiveness and cost of the regulation, and had the effect of shutting down coal-fired power plants at a time when energy demand is spiking.

Changing the rule is critical to making electricity more affordable and reliable, while advancing the economy, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement.

“The AI and data center revolution is creating an electricity and baseload power demand that cannot be met under the overly restrictive policies of past administrations,” Zeldin said. “The Trump EPA will continue doing its part to address these burdensome regulations on the coal-fired power plant sector that hold American communities back from the new opportunities presented by this new 21st century energy reality.”

In 2024, the EPA strengthened wastewater rules over coal-fired power plants that keep coal ash — a byproduct of burning coal — in unlined, uncovered dumps that leach toxic heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic and selenium into groundwater.

In the rule, the EPA required plant owners to report whether the groundwater was contaminated and, if so, pump and treat the contaminated groundwater before discharging it into streams and rivers, Thom Cmar, an attorney for environmental advocacy group Earthjustice, said.

The EPA initially had given power plant owners until Dec. 31, 2029, to meet the new limits.

The EPA said the rule proposed Thursday, if finalized, would reduce power generation costs by as much as $1.1 billion a year. Coal and power industry trade associations cheered the EPA's move. Environmental groups slammed it as a public health danger and giveaway to the coal-power industry.

Earthjustice said the lakes, rivers and other waterways that will see more pollution as a result of the EPA’s proposal are often sources of drinking water that tens of millions of people rely on. Coal-fired power plants are by far one of the largest sources of toxic pollutants in America’s rivers, lakes and streams, Earthjustice said.

“This plan would eliminate safeguards on hundreds of millions of pounds of wastewater with neurotoxins and cancer-causing contaminants. It would allow coal power plants to avoid cleaning up contamination that threatens our drinking water sources," Cmar said.

The proposal unveiled Thursday would exempt contaminated groundwater seeping into waterways from the mandatory treatment requirements, Earthjustice said. Power plant owners would only be required to treat the contaminated groundwater if they were already complying with the 2024 rule to pump it to the surface to treat it, Earthjustice said.

States could, however, still investigate whether power plants are polluting the groundwater and, if they are, try to force owners to treat the polluted groundwater under federal clean water laws, Cmar said.

“The problem is, at the state level, many states are reluctant to use that tool that they all have to hold up the permitting process and force the companies to do an adequate job of documenting and limiting the pollution,” Cmar said.

The EPA said dozens of coal-fired power plants — likely up to 104 — are polluting groundwater through the uncontrolled runoff. It found seven plants were complying with the rule to pump and treat the groundwater, it said.

The EPA had estimated in 2024 that its new rule that year would reduce pollutant discharges by 660 to 672 million pounds per year, provide $3.2 billion in public health benefits each year and especially benefit “low-income communities and communities of color that are disproportionately impacted by pollution from coal-fired power plants.”

It had projected that electricity bills for the average residential household would increase by less than $3.50 per year.

___

Follow Marc Levy at http://twitter.com/timelywriter

On Iran, Trump said Xi told him that China wants to help negotiate an end to the war and a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. China is the largest buyer of Iranian oil — and Trump has hoped Xi would use that leverage to prod Iran into a deal on U.S. terms. Trump also said Xi assured him that China wouldn’t provide Iran with military equipment.

In a closed-door meeting, Xi warned Trump that differences over Taiwan, a self-governed island that Beijing claims as its own territory, could bring the U.S. and China into clashes or conflict. In December, Trump authorized an $11 billion arms package for Taiwan, but has not yet moved forward with delivery. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later warned that it would be “a terrible mistake” for China to take Taiwan by force.

Trump also hopes to focus talks on trade and deals for China to buy more agricultural products and passenger planes, setting up a board to address their differences and avoid a repeat of the trade war ignited last year after Trump’s tariff hikes.

Meanwhile, Adm. Brad Cooper, a top U.S. military leader in the Middle East, is testifying before the Senate for the first time since the Iran war began.

Here's the latest:

Trump says Xi wasn’t talking about him when he called the US a ‘declining nation’

Trump started his last day in Beijing with a defensive social media post, claiming that Chinese leader Xi Jinping was not talking about him when he “very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation.”

The U.S. president, who did not explain the origin of those remarks, said they referred to former President Joe Biden.

The U.S. president said that Xi had only been complimentary about Trump’s own actions after returning to the White House last year.

“In fact, President Xi congratulated me on so many tremendous successes in such a short period of time,” Trump posted.

Trump administration uses X. Lawsuit plaintiffs use court

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s X posting Thursday in which he released images of design plans for one of Washington’s historic golf courses has begat a court filing by the lawyers in a civil case against those plans.

Lawyers representing the DC Preservation League filed a plaintiff’s notice of factual development to alert the court that members of the Trump administration continue talking about design plans for one of the city’s most popular and historic golf courses even though the legality of its plans is tied up in court.

“As with every other public development since Plaintiffs filed this case, this announcement further confirms that Defendants ‘will’ be converting East Potomac into championship-style course at the expense of numerous existing features of East Potomac Park,” lawyers for the DC Preservation League wrote.

US Supreme Court preserves access to abortion pill mifepristone, while lawsuit plays out

The Supreme Court on Thursday preserved access to a drug used in the most common method of abortion, rejecting lower-court restrictions while a lawsuit continues.

The court’s order allows women seeking abortions to continue obtaining mifepristone at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor. Access is likely to remain uninterrupted at least into next year as the case plays out, including a potential appeal to the high court.

The justices granted emergency requests from makers of mifepristone, who are appealing a federal appeals court ruling that would require women to see a doctor in person and halt delivery of mifepristone through the mail.

The federal Food and Drug Administration, which first approved mifepristone for use in abortion in 2000, stopped requiring in-person visits five years ago.

CIA director meets with officials in Havana, Cuban government says

The Cuban government says CIA Director John Ratcliffe met Thursday with counterparts from the

Caribbean country ’s Ministry of the Interior during a high-level visit to the island.

According to official reports, the meeting served as a platform for Cuba to present evidence asserting that the nation poses no threat to U.S. national security.

An official statement noted that the meeting took place “against a backdrop of complex bilateral relations.”

Thursday’s meeting comes weeks after the Cuban government confirmed that it had recently met with U.S. officials on the island as tensions between the two countries remain high over the U.S. energy blockade of Cuba.

House Republicans barely defeat legislation to halt Iran war

A Democratic effort to pass legislation that would have put a check on Trump’s ability to launch further attacks against Iran barely failed to pass the House in a tie vote.

The war powers resolution failed on a 212-212 vote tally. Three Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Tom Barrett of Michigan, joined with Democrats to vote in favor of the resolution. Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of Maine voted against it.

It was the first time the House has voted on the war since the close of a 60-day window in which presidents must gain congressional approval for such a conflict.

The House vote — and a close Senate vote the day before — showed how a small but potentially crucial number of Republicans are now standing in opposition to Trump continuing the war without congressional approval.

Justice Department accuses Yale medical school of illegally using race in admissions

The Department of Justice is accusing Yale University of illegally considering race in its medical school admissions. This is the second such DOJ allegation against a medical school this month.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a letter to Yale dated Thursday that data show Black and Hispanic students have a higher chance of admission to the medical school than white or Asian students, despite slightly lower grades and test scores. Last week, the DOJ notified the University of California, Los Angeles, of similar allegations.

The DOJ seeks a voluntary resolution with Yale but says it may take legal action if compliance isn’t achieved voluntarily. Yale officials haven’t commented yet.

▶ Read more

Trump administration aims to relax limits on toxic wastewater from coal-fired power plants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants to relax limits that require coal-fired power plants to prevent the release of toxic heavy metals into streams and rivers.

The EPA said Thursday that a 3-year-old rule was unduly costly for the energy industry at a time when energy demand is spiking, and that its new rule will lower the cost of power generation.

It’s the latest step that President Donald Trump’s administration has taken to pull back regulations on coal mining and coal-fired power. Coal and power industry trade associations cheered the EPA’s proposal.

Environmental groups slammed it as a public health danger and giveaway to the coal-power industry.

“This is another example of the Trump administration endangering the health of Americans as a favor to corporate polluters,” Thom Cmar, an attorney for environmental advocacy group Earthjustice, said in a statement.

▶ Read more

In new lawsuit, Justice Department challenges efforts to sanction Trump administration lawyers

The Justice Department is challenging efforts to sanction attorneys from the first and second Trump administrations, asserting in a lawsuit that the District of Columbia Bar is unfairly playing politics with the legal disciplinary process.

The lawsuit represents a direct challenge to the authority of the office that enforces ethics standards for attorneys in the nation’s capital where several high-profile investigations of Trump-allied lawyers are playing out.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Washington. The D.C. Bar’s Board on Professional Responsibility did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

▶ Read more

House Democrats call for Lutnick to resign as commerce secretary

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are telling Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to resign following the release of his interview transcript in the House’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

Lutnick was neighbors with Epstein for years in New York City. The commerce secretary has insisted he barely knew Epstein, a wealthy financier who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges.

But discrepancies have emerged between an interview that Lutnick gave on a podcast in 2025 and his later admissions that he had actually met up with Epstein twice after a 2005 tour of Epstein’s townhouse that disturbed Lutnick and his wife.

Demanding his resignation, Democratic lawmakers told Lutnick in a letter, “You lied to the American people and attempted to conceal your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein in your public statements.”

Emails show FBI Director Kash Patel’s Hawaii trip included ‘VIP snorkel’ at a Pearl Harbor memorial

Government emails obtained by The Associated Press show that FBI Director Kash Patel went on a “VIP snorkel” session last summer at the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.

The FBI didn’t publicize the excursion or Patel’s return to Hawaii after official visits to Australia and New Zealand.

With few exceptions, snorkeling and diving are off-limits around the USS Arizona. The sunken battleship is now a military cemetery reachable only by boat. It has stood as one of the nation’s most hallowed sites since Japan bombed and sank the ship in 1941. It entombs more than 900 sailors and Marines at Pearl Harbor.

A Navy spokesperson confirms the outing but says the service wasn’t able to track down who initiated it.

▶ Read more

US Border Patrol chief announces his resignation in a Fox News interview

The head of the federal agency that patrols the borders of the United States says he’s resigning.

Michael Banks of the U.S. Border Patrol told Fox News on Thursday that his resignation was effective immediately, saying, “It’s just time.”

In the interview, Banks said he believes he’s improved border security significantly.

“I feel like I got the ship back on course from the least secure, disastrous, chaotic border to the most secure border this country has ever seen,” he said.

The Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection had no immediate comment.

▶ Read more

US announces additional $1.8 billion in funding for UN humanitarian aid

By EDITH M. LEDERER

Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, made the announcement at a press conference Thursday, saying the money will be earmarked for life-saving aid to victims of natural disasters, famine and “people who are truly in critical need.”

The $1.8 billion, to be allocated over the coming year, is in addition to the $2 billion the Trump administration announced in December.

President Donald Trump shut down the international aid agency USAID, throwing global humanitarian efforts into turmoil.

U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher called his agency “overstretched, under-resourced and literally under attack” and reiterated its 2026 plan to reach 87 million of the world’s most needy at a cost of $23 billion — even though 300 million people need humanitarian help.

Before Waltz’s announcement, he said, the U.N. had raised about $7.4 billion. He said the U.S. is now “the single largest national donor” to the United Nations.

Top Democrat on Senate Foreign Relations Committee criticizes Trump’s China summit

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Trump’s visit to China has so far demonstrated a “lack of a coherent foreign policy” and that the U.S. is in a weakened position as a result of the war with Iran.

Shaheen told reporters that she had wished Trump had taken a stronger stance at his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, especially regarding Taiwan.

Trump in December authorized an $11 billion arms package for Taiwan — the largest weapons sale ever to the island — but has not yet moved forward with delivery.

Shaheen, who led a bipartisan group of senators on a visit to Taiwan in March, said the American president has “missed the fact that strong deterrence is the best way to have a stable relationship with China.”

Interior Secretary releases plans for historic DC golf course

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced the design plans for one of Washington’s historic golf courses.

In a posting on the social platform X, Burgum promised local golfers in the National Capital Region would enjoy “championship-quality golf at affordable, highly discounted rates.”

Commenters were overwhelmingly critical, suggesting better uses for taxpayer dollars.

The golf course is the subject of a lawsuit by the nonprofit DC Preservation League. It is challenging the Republican administration’s takeover of the golf course and its use as a dumping ground for debris from the demolition of the East Wing of the White House. Democracy Forward, a national legal organization that is co-representing the league, did not respond to a call for comment.

The suit is one of several legal battles challenging Trump’s efforts to remake public spaces in the city, including plans to build a 250-foot-tall (76-meter-tall) triumphal arch near the Lincoln Memorial. Preliminary site work began there this week.

Vance talks up Sen. Susan Collins during Maine appearance

Vice President JD Vance used part of a speech in Bangor, Maine, to promote the state’s Republican candidates.

Sen. Susan Collins is in a tough reelection fight this year with progressive activist Graham Platner as the likely Democratic opponent. Vance praised Collins for her independence and lack of partisanship.

“Sometimes I get frustrated with Susan Collins. I almost wish she was more partisan,” Vance said. “If she was as partisan as I wish she was she would not be a good fit for the people of Maine.”

Vance also encouraged attendants to vote for former Gov. Paul LePage, who is seeking election to a congressional seat held by Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, who is leaving office.

Senate hearing on Middle East ends with thoughts on disarming Hezbollah

The Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with the top U.S. military leader in the Middle East ended with a focus on the challenge of disarming Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group.

Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the committee’s Republican chair, noted how Hezbollah has continually fired rockets into Israel, while Israel had launched a ground offensive into southern Lebanon focused on Hezbollah, displacing a million people.

Wicker asked Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads U.S. Central Command, if the offensive was necessary.

“It is an option among options, of which there are few to deal with the Hezbollah problem,” Cooper said.

Wicker later said, “It would be a tremendous achievement” for Israel, Lebanon and the United States “if Hezbollah could be eliminated.”

Senators approve withholding their own pay during government shutdowns

Senators have unanimously approved a resolution to withhold their pay during government shutdowns. Lawmakers said the measure approved Thursday would discourage future funding standoffs after a series of record-breaking shutdowns.

The proposal requires the secretary of the Senate to hold senators’ salaries during shutdowns and release the money once funding resumes. It’ll take effect the day after the Nov. 3 general election.

Republican Sen. John Kennedy, the bill’s sponsor, says the measure ensures lawmakers share the burden faced by unpaid federal workers.

“This is about putting our money where our mouth is,” said Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, in a floor speech Wednesday.

Two shutdowns in the past year created significant financial hardship for tens of thousands of federal workers, particularly at the Department of Homeland Security. The department reopened last month after a 76-day partial shutdown and a 43-day full government shutdown last year.

▶ Read more

Trump says Xi told him China would not give Iran ‘military equipment’

The U.S. president said that Chinese leader Xi Jinping assured him in their conversations that China would not provide weapons to Iran.

“He said he’s not going to give military equipment. That’s a big statement,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “He said that today. That’s a big statement.”

Trump has previously said that Xi has offered him this same assurance on weapon sales.

But the statement sidestepped questions about China providing Iran with intelligence, electronic components or revenues from the purchase of oil.

Trump said that Xi said China would like to continue buying petroleum from Iran.

“But at the same time, he said, you know, they buy a lot of their oil there and they’d like to keep doing that,” the president said.

Trump says Xi offered to help broker peace with Iran

President Donald Trump said that Chinese leader Xi Jinping told him in meetings that his country “would like to be of help” in negotiating an end to the Iran war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz to oil shipments.

“But he said, ‘I would love to be a help, if I can be of any help whatsoever,’” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “He’d like to see the Hormuz strait open. He said, ‘If I can be of any help whatsoever, I would like to help.’”

Before leaving for the state visit in Beijing, Trump said the U.S. did not need China’s assistance on resolving the conflict.

US commander says reducing civilian deaths is a passion, but admits to job cuts

Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military leader in the Middle East, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that reducing civilian casualties is a particular passion of his. But he admitted that an office in U.S. Central Command focused on civilian-harm reduction was cut from 10 employees to one.

Cooper said those people are still focused on reducing civilian casualties but are “integrated into other capacities.” The admiral added that dozens if not hundreds of people are focused on reducing civilian deaths.

Under questioning from Democratic lawmakers, he declined to estimate civilians casualties in the Iran war. He said the bombing of a school at the beginning of the war is still under investigation. He said there’s no evidence that corroborates reporting that several schools and hospitals were also bombed.

Elon Musk’s young son accompanies him in Beijing

His 6-year-old son was spotted in a Chinese-style outfit as he walked with his father in the Great Hall of the People, where Trump and Xi met in a high-stakes summit.

Musk is part of the U.S. business delegation that met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Thursday in the same venue.

In a video posted by China’s state media, the boy is seen wearing a blue Chinese-style vest with golden-colored knot buttons on the side, drawing praise on Chinese social media.

Musk posted on his social media site X that the boy is learning Mandarin Chinese.

US commander says Iran can still strike targets in the region

The top U.S. military commander in the Middle East conceded that Iran still maintains a “very moderate if not small capability to continue strikes” in the region amid questions from lawmakers Thursday.

In response to questions from Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Cooper also said the U.S. has the military power to permanently reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

However, when Slotkin pressed on why Cooper hasn’t done so, especially amid rising gas prices rising for Americans, Cooper deferred to policymakers amid ongoing peace negotiations.

American forces battling Iran are adopting tactics from Ukrainians, US commander says

Adm. Brad Cooper told the Senate Armed Services Committee that American forces have learned a lot from the Ukrainian military, which is battle-hardened from its war with Russia.

“We adopted a large number of tactics, techniques and procedures that the Ukrainians have passed us that have helped us defend Americans,” Cooper said.

Ukraine has passed on expertise to the U.S. specifically regarding anti-drone warfare. Iran had launched swarms of drones against U.S. and allied forces, killing some Americans.

The nonbinding memorandum of understanding among the Rays, Hillsborough County and the city of Tampa outlines the costs of a stadium, which would include $967 million of tax dollars. Elected officials for the city and county are expected to vote on the deal at separate meetings next week.

“The Rays respectfully but resolutely encourage Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa to approve the MOU and make possible a Forever Home for our community’s Tampa Bay Rays, breathe new life into the Dale Mabry Campus of Hillsborough College, and create a new privately financed neighborhood that will be an inviting and inclusive destination to work, live, learn, and play," Rays CEO Ken Babby said in a statement.

The Rays ownership reached an agreement earlier this year with Hillsborough College to build the stadium and mixed-use entertainment district on the college campus and to renovate some of the college's buildings. The property is located next to the New York Yankees’ spring training facility and across a highway from Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Rays have said they hope to have the new stadium built within three years.

Since the team took the field in 1998, the Rays have played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, except for moving home games to the Yankees' Steinbrenner Field in 2025 following hurricane damage at the Trop. The Rays lease runs through at least the 2028 season. The team returned to the Trop last month for the start of this season.

A proposed $1.3 billion redevelopment deal for a new ballpark adjacent to the Trop fell through last year, raising new questions about the future of the team, which was bought last September by Patrick Zalupski’s ownership group.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

The plaintiff in the lawsuit against Mitchell’s Funeral Home claimed the facility “presented, displayed, and utilized” her mother’s body during another family’s funeral service without the plaintiff’s knowledge or consent.

The plaintiff alleged that she later learned from local news and other third parties that her mother’s body “had been wrongfully presented at a separate funeral service intended for another deceased individual.”

News 6’s Mike Valente walked inside Mitchell’s Funeral Home in an attempt to ask those in charge about the allegations. An employee inside said she did not know anything about the lawsuit and that the owner was not around to speak.

“Most common mistakes are mistakes that involve the disposition of the actual remains and not necessarily the service,” said Ortavia Simon, an attorney who specializes in funeral service law at Simon Law Group.

Simon also owns a funeral home in Orange County.

“It just sort of happens to be a mistake that shocks the conscience here,” Simon said.

Although shocking, Simon said that a lawsuit such as this one would have a better chance of succeeding if the plaintiff were able to prove that either her emotional distress manifested itself in a physical way or if funeral home staff acted with intentional conduct.

The complaint alleges emotional distress and negligence, but does not attempt to characterize motives or intent on the part of the defendant.

“I think that the complaint may not withstand a motion to dismiss because it does not allege facts that at least show that there are all of the elements that are required,” Simon said.

The lawsuit is at least the second one alleging Mitchell’s Funeral Home of negligent conduct during May of 2024.

A lawsuit filed last year claimed that in anticipation of the plaintiffs’ mother’s funeral, the funeral home presented the incorrect body to them.

“Despite Plaintiffs’ insistence on this fact, DEFENDANT MITCHELL’S FUNERAL HOME, INC. continued to convey false claims that the body was Plaintiffs’ mother, through both statements and actions sought to convince Plaintiffs that the body was that of their mother,” the lawsuit stated.

Edwards, serving his second term in the House, said he welcomed the inquiry and planned to fully cooperate with the committee.

“I am confident the investigation will expose the facts, not politically motivated fiction,” Edwards said.

The investigation follows an Axios report stating that three sources told the publication that they witnessed conduct by Edwards toward two female staffers in their 20s that they described as inappropriate. The sources said Edwards’ behavior crossed professional boundaries and created an uncomfortable work environment. Axios said the sources were granted anonymity to protect against retaliation.

The Ethics Committee said in its investigation announcement that it would make no further public comment on the matter and that disclosing the review does not, by itself, indicate that any violation occurred.

The committee's investigation comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of lawmakers’ behavior toward female staffers following the resignations of Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell and Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales. Both were facing calls for their expulsion before they stepped down.

New Mexico produces more oil than any other state besides Texas, and the state's revenue from taxes, royalties and lease sales helps cover the cost of college tuition, all school meals, health insurance and a new initiative for free universal child care.

Now that oil prices are surging from the conflict with Iran, money is flooding into the state treasury and creating an uncomfortable situation for Democrats who oppose the war and would rather reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

“It’s hard for people to think about, ‘Oh great, we have this windfall,’ and children are getting killed on the other side of the world,” said Deb Haaland, the former U.S. Interior Department secretary running for governor.

Haaland is one of two Democrats running to succeed Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who is wrapping up her second term in office. A former congresswoman and state party chair, Haaland worked to limit unfettered oil and gas exploration while serving in President Joe Biden's Cabinet.

Now she wants to use money amid the energy boom to increase New Mexico's child tax credit and boost the refundable working families tax credit, payouts that would most benefit people with low incomes.

“We have obligations to try to have a better world overall," said Haaland, a member of Laguna Pueblo who could become the first female Native American governor in the U.S. “I think we can do that.”

Her rival for the Democratic nomination, Albuquerque-based District Attorney Sam Bregman, said he wants to offset inflation with one-time $500 checks from the state to residents making less than $200,000 a year. He also wants to waive personal income taxes on residents 65 and older.

“It is the resources of the people that’s generating that revenue,” he said. “We ought to give it back to the people."

For every $1 fluctuation in the average annual price of oil, New Mexico sees a roughly $59 million swing in state government income.

That means the state is likely to see a $850 million surge in annual state government income for the budget year ending in June alone based on war-time price changes — equivalent to 12% of annual general fund spending, according to the state Legislature’s budget and accountability office.

New Mexico sends much of its relatively heavy crude oil from its patch of the Permian Basin to Texas distribution hubs and refineries along the Gulf Coast. Prices could remain high with no end in sight for the war despite a fragile ceasefire.

A nest egg that moderates dependence on oil

In New Mexico, surges in oil income automatically flow into a series of trust accounts designed to gradually reduce the state’s reliance on fossil fuels, helping the state generate investment income to underwrite Medicaid, early childhood education, infrastructure projects and an expansion of mental healthcare.

The strategy has tempered discomfort among many Democrats with dependence on oil income, in a state with entrenched swaths of extreme poverty and the nation’s highest enrollment rate in Medicaid.

“For New Mexico and New Mexicans and especially the progressive left — which sort of controls the state — it’s always something they really don’t want to admit or talk about or get angry about,” said Lonna Atkeson, a political science professor who has analyzed voting behavior in New Mexico and directs the LeRoy Collins Institute at Florida State University. “Like, ‘We should not be funding our stuff with that money.’ I’ve heard those arguments."

The winner of this year's governor's race will take the helm of a state investment council overseeing a roughly $68 billion state nest egg, including investments that defray costs for K-12 public education.

New Mexico is not alone in reaping the financial benefits of the war. In Alaska, the state forecast an additional $1.05 billion for the current fiscal year and the one beginning July 1.

“It really is this small group of energy-reliant states like North Dakota, Alaska, New Mexico and Wyoming that are going be affected most directly,” said Justin Theal, who researches state fiscal trends as a senior officer for The Pew Charitable Trusts. He described the situation as “a double-edged sword.”

“It raises costs for households and businesses which can potentially dampen consumer spending and reduce sales taxes that almost every state relies on as well,” Theal said.

Wartime oil prices hold silver lining for New Mexico

Three contenders for the Republican nomination are advocating for even more aggressive tax relief while oil prices are riding high.

“Republicans are using the ‘e-word' — eliminate income taxes,” said Albuquerque-based pollster Brian Sanderoff, president of Research and Polling Inc. A Republican last won election to statewide office in 2016.

At the same time, they're questioning whether universal childcare will be financially sustainable.

The program is coming under direct fire in a lawsuit from cannabis entrepreneur and Republican candidate for governor Duke Rodriguez. He previously served as human service secretary under former Gov. Gary Johnson, a crusader for limited government who unsuccessfully ran for president as a Libertarian.

The lawsuit alleges the childcare program was implemented in November by Lujan Grisham without required authorization from the Legislature — though supporting legislation was passed this year. A court has ordered the administration to respond within 30 days.

Reflecting on the state’s oil income, Rodriguez says, “We don’t have a resource problem, what we have is a real results problem. We just spend and spend and spend with no accountability.”

Republican businessman Doug Turner describes wartime oil prices as an opportunity to overhaul the state tax code and wants means testing for childcare benefits. He lost the 2010 Republican primary to then-district attorney Susana Martinez, who went on to serve two terms as governor.

Gregg Hull, a former three-term mayor of Rio Rancho on the outskirts of Albuquerque, wants New Mexico to join the ranks of states with no personal income tax like Texas and Wyoming. Personal income taxes account for about $2.2 billion in annual state government income, offsetting about a fifth of annual general fund obligations.

Hull said he wants to double down on the oil economy by funneling budget surpluses to infrastructure projects in the state's main oil-production zone.

“This morning, when I was looking at a price of a barrel of oil, I said, ‘Well, that’s not great for consumers, but it’s awesome for New Mexico,'” Hull said.

___

Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, contributed to this report.

Musk, the world's richest man, was a co-founder of OpenAI, which started in 2015 and went on to create ChatGPT. His lawsuit filed in 2024 accuses OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his top deputy of betraying a plan to keep it as a nonprofit and shifting into a moneymaking mode behind his back.

The trial’s outcome could sway the balance of power in AI — breakthrough technology that increasingly has raised fears about its potential impacts on the economy, society and even humanity's survival. Scrutiny of Altman’s leadership comes at a crucial time for the company and its competitors, Musk’s own AI firm and Anthropic, formed by a group of seven ex-OpenAI leaders.

All three firms are moving toward planned initial public offerings that are expected to be among the largest ever. Musk is seeking damages and changes to OpenAI’s business structure, as well as Altman’s ouster from company leadership. If Musk wins, it could derail OpenAI’s IPO plans.

Timing of lawsuit is key question

One of the jury’s tasks is to decide if Musk filed his lawsuit in time. Much of the testimony has centered on OpenAI’s early years after its founding, but there’s a relatively short timeline to allege the claims Musk is making of breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment.

OpenAI has argued that Musk waited too long and cannot claim harms that occurred before August 2021.

The judge wrote in a court filing last month that “if the jury finds that Musk failed to file his action within the statute of limitations, it is highly likely” that she will “accept that finding and direct verdict to the defendants.”

If the jury decides the lawsuit was filed in time, it then has to decide if OpenAI had a “charitable trust” that was broken by OpenAI and its executives. Musk's other claim means jurors must determine whether Altman, Greg Brockman — co-founder and president — and OpenAI unjustly enriched themselves at Musk's expense.

For Microsoft, a co-defendant in the trial, the jury has to decide whether the company aided and abetted that breach. Musk invested $38 million in OpenAI during its first years, and Microsoft became OpenAI's biggest investor after Musk's departure.

Musk lawyer focuses on Altman's credibility

Altman and Brockman were in the courtroom Thursday, while Musk was in China with President Donald Trump and other prominent tech executives.

Musk’s attorney, Steven Molo, told jurors the Tesla CEO was “sorry he could not be here.”

In his closing arguments, Molo doubled down on claims of Altman's untrustworthiness, pointing to testimony from witnesses who called the OpenAI CEO a “liar.”

"I confronted Sam Altman with the fact that five witnesses in this trial, all people that he’s known for years and worked with, called him a liar under oath. Liar’s a very powerful word in a courtroom,” Molo said.

Those five people were Musk and another co-founder Ilya Sutskever, who was OpenAI’s chief scientist, as well as OpenAI’s former chief technology officer Mira Murati and two ex-board members, Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley.

“Sam Altman’s credibility is directly at issue in this case. He’s the defendants' main witness. The defendants absolutely need you to believe Sam Altman. If you cannot trust him, if you don’t believe him, they cannot win. It’s that simple,” Molo said.

Because Musk, Altman and Brockman never signed a contract that could show they had a charitable trust that OpenAI then broke, Musk's side has made the case that jurors should consider emails and other communication between them — along with everything from OpenAI's website to press interviews — as constituting such a trust.

A question of money

In a terse exchange while jurors were out of the room, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers sharply criticized Musk’s attorney for suggesting to jurors Thursday that Musk wasn’t seeking any money in the lawsuit.

While Musk, before the trial, abandoned a bid for damages for himself, he is still seeking an unspecified amount of money to be paid to fund the altruistic efforts of OpenAI’s charitable arm.

Musk is seeking “billions of dollars of disgorgement,” the judge said, ordering Molo to either retract his statement or “drop your claim for billions of dollars.” They later agreed that the judge would correct the statement to jurors.

OpenAI says Musk has no evidence

Sarah Eddy, a lawyer for OpenAI, said it was Musk who has misrepresented details surrounding OpenAI's nonprofit founding and his subsequent falling out with the other co-founders.

“Mr. Molo says that Sam Altman can’t be trusted,” she said. “Mr. Musk is the one whose testimony is contradicted by every other witness.”

As OpenAI has argued throughout the trial, Eddy said Musk knew of and supported plans for OpenAI to form a for-profit company that would still support its mission to benefit humanity.

“Mr. Musk, he has tried to persuade you that his years-ago donations to OpenAI came with specific strings attached, that these strings were strong enough to last forever to tie OpenAI up in knots as it tries to pursue its mission, and that these strings gave Mr. Musk perpetual rights over OpenAI,” Eddy said. "But Mr. Musk has come nowhere close to making that case.”

She brought up testimony that Musk had discussed his children inheriting control of OpenAI.

“He wanted dominion over AGI,” she said, referring to artificial general intelligence, a term for advanced AI technology that surpasses humans at many tasks. “That’s why this was such a high stakes conversation. Mr. Musk wanted total control. Maybe, maybe he’d give it up over time, or maybe not. But it was up to him and that was the problem.”

Protesters outside court bash both sides

Outside the courthouse, more than a dozen protesters bashed both parties as billionaires who were eroding the environment, workforce and people’s mental health and whose industry would wipe out humanity.

There were signs that read “Stop replacing healthcare workers with chatboxes!” and “No future for workers in Musk-Altman fascist world.”

It doesn’t matter which side wins in court, said Saru Jayaraman, who is part of a campaign to push a $30 hourly wage on election ballots this fall.

“The thing is, we’re all losing, that’s the main point. Who’s really winning? The two of them,” she said, referring to Altman and Musk.

Phoebe Thomas Sorgen, a peace activist from nearby Berkeley, said there needs to be a global ban on artificial intelligence and used a slang term to say everyone is awful here, except for the jurors and activists.

“Both parties in this trial are completely hypocritical. They both claim that they’re developing AI for the benefit of humanity and that’s a lie. They’re developing it for greed.”

___

Associated Press Writer Janie Har contributed to this story. O'Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

Republican U.S. Rep. Max Miller filed a defamation lawsuit against Emily Moreno, his one-time spouse, on Wednesday in Cleveland, citing “the considerable reputational and financial harm” caused to him by her accusations that he was “a violent and abusive husband and father.”

Miller, a two-term congressman up for reelection this fall, alleges that Moreno, her attorney Andrew Zashin and his law firm have engaged in a defamatory campaign against him by spreading knowingly false information about him to media outlets including The Daily Mail, a British tabloid, and the New York Post. The action contends that the resulting damage to his reputation undermines his chances of reelection.

Those outlets have “circulation measured in the tens of millions of print and online readership,” the complaint states, and their articles have been read, viewed or discussed by Miller's constituents, his congressional colleagues, ”his political supporters and donors, the media, and the general public.”

The suit seeks compensatory damages in excess of $25,000, punitive damages sufficient to deter future similar conduct and attorney's fees.

“Congressman Miller is seeking to hold those responsible accountable and to obtain damages for the significant personal, professional, and political harm that he has suffered,” his spokesman said in a statement.

Zashin declined comment.

The incident brings to mind a similar situation that played out as Miller, a White House aide to President Donald Trump during the Republican's first term, made his first run for Congress in 2021.

Miller's former girlfriend, one-time White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, raised allegations in her book and in a Washington Post op-ed at the time that a former White House staffer later identified as Miller had physically abused her while they were dating. Miller responded by filing a defamation lawsuit against her. He voluntarily dismissed the suit with prejudice in August 2023, just before the case was set to go to trial.

Moreno’s spokesperson, Stefan Mychajliw, cited the earlier lawsuit in a statement Thursday.

“Mr. Miller is upset because he’s tried to silence Emily Moreno the same way he silenced Stephanie Grisham — and Emily won’t let him," he said, suggesting Miller is "running the same playbook against a woman with photographs of her bruises and burns.” He added, “Mr. Miller will not silence Ms. Moreno.”

Miller married Emily Moreno in 2022. They had a daughter in 2023.

He filed for divorce in August 2024, as her father, Bernie, was making a successful run for U.S. Senate backed by Trump. The abuse allegations — most recently, Moreno said Miller threw boiling water at her, an allegation he denies — come amid a messy custody battle that has included Miller seeking a restraining order against his ex-wife and subpoenaing the senator to testify. The divorce was finalized last June.

Miller's spokesperson provided documentation that several allegations that he had abused his daughter were investigated by the Cuyahoga County Division of Children and Family Services and deemed unsubstantiated.

Amid the drama, Democrat Brian Poindexter, a five-term local councilman and union ironworker, is looking to oust Miller and flip Ohio's 7th Congressional District in November.

Lebanese officials are hoping that the two-day negotiations will yield a new ceasefire deal and pave the way for tackling a series of thorny issues, including the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah.

A U.S. State Department official described the full day of discussions on Thursday as “productive and positive” and said the U.S. looks forward to day two on Friday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the closed-door session and did not offer additional details.

The Trump administration has been pushing for a breakthrough between the two neighbors that have been officially in a state of war since Israel was created in 1948.

Hezbollah, however, is not part of those talks and has been vocally opposed to Lebanon engaging in direct negotiations with Israel.

Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group have continued to trade near-constant fire across the border despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire on April 17. Initially a 10-day truce, it was then extended for another three weeks.

Talks move to a higher level

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who attended the first Israel-Lebanon meetings in Washington in April, was with President Donald Trump on a visit to China and did not attend Thursday's session.

The current round of talks represents a step toward more serious negotiations, with higher-level envoys from Lebanon and Israel taking part after the initial preparatory sessions were headed by the ambassadors of the two countries to Washington.

Lebanon's envoy heading up Thursday's talks, Simon Karam, is an attorney and well-connected former Lebanese ambassador to the U.S. who recently represented Lebanon in indirect talks with Israel over implementation of the ceasefire that preceded the latest outbreak of war between Israel and Hezbollah. On the Israeli side, Deputy National Security Adviser Yossi Draznin was set to attend.

There are still large gaps in what the two sides want from the direct talks. Israeli officials have focused on disarming Hezbollah and described the negotiations as a precursor to a potential normalization of diplomatic relations. Lebanese officials have said they are seeking a security agreement or armistice that would stop short of normalization.

Trump has publicly called for a meeting between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while Aoun has declined to meet or speak directly with Netanyahu at this stage — a move that would likely generate blowback in Lebanon.

Lebanon hopes for ceasefire

A senior Lebanese official familiar with the negotiations in Washington said Thursday Lebanon wants a complete ceasefire first and then would negotiate withdrawal of Israeli forces. The issue of Hezbollah’s weapons would be dealt with politically in Lebanon after that, he said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to speak frankly about the talks.

He said Lebanon is “relying heavily on the U.S. administration” to provide it with leverage in the negotiations with Israel and believes that Trump is “sincere” in his desire to help Lebanon.

The official said that when Trump and Aoun spoke recently, Trump did not pressure Aoun to meet or speak with Netanyahu and was understanding when Aoun explained his reasons for declining. According to the official, Aoun told Trump that if he went to Washington and shook hands with Netanyahu and the talks later fell apart, it could have internal repercussions in Lebanon and discredit Trump.

Aoun told Trump that if the two countries are able to reach a security deal, he would come to the White House and “inaugurate” it and Trump responded by saying “I like that,” the official said.

If Israel agrees to a ceasefire and withdraws from the territory it is occupying in southern Lebanon, the official said, he believes Hezbollah would agree to an arrangement under which it would hand over its weapons to the Lebanese army, which could keep some of them and destroy others. Under this plan, Lebanon could consider allowing individual Hezbollah fighters to join the Lebanese army if they meet eligibility requirements, he said.

Meanwhile, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter in an interview with Israeli news site Walla News Thursday said Israel aims “to negotiate for full peace as if Hezbollah does not exist — borders, embassies, visas, tourism, everything.” Despite Lebanese officials’ assertions that diplomatic normalization is not currently on the table, he said he believes “it is possible to reach such an agreement within a few months.” But, he added, “it would be conditioned on the success of the second track — dismantling Hezbollah.”

Hezbollah and Israel trade fire

Thursday’s talks opened hours after a Hezbollah drone exploded inside Israel, injuring three civilians, two of them severely, according to the Israeli military and hospitals. It was the first instance of civilians injured by Hezbollah projectiles since the ceasefire, according to reports from Israel’s rescue service, Magen David Adom.

Israel has struggled to halt frequent Hezbollah drone attacks on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon and over the border in northern Israel.

Israel has also continued to carry out strikes in Lebanon. On Wednesday, Israel struck seven vehicles in Lebanon — three of them on the main highway just south of Beirut — killing 12 people including a woman and her two children, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. Later strikes in southern Lebanon killed another 10 people, including six children, the ministry said.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says that since the war began on March 2, 2,896 people have been killed — including around 400 since the nominal ceasefire was implemented — and 8,824 wounded. Eighteen Israeli soldiers, two Israeli civilians inside Israel and a defense contractor working in southern Lebanon have been killed on the Israeli side.

U.N. peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon have also been caught in the crossfire and six have been killed.

___

Associated Press writers Joseph Federman in Jerusalem and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.8% to set an all-time high for a second straight day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 370 points, or 0.7%, and finished above the 50,000 level for the first time since the war with Iran began, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.9% to its own record.

Cisco helped lead the market after reporting better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The tech giant’s stock leaped 13.4% for its best day in nearly 15 years, and CEO Chuck Robbins said it saw “very strong, broad-based demand for our products.”

Big Tech behemoths in particular are pouring cash into artificial-intelligence technology, and Cisco gave a forecast for profit in the current quarter that easily topped analysts’ expectations.

Such voracious demand for AI, and the big profits it’s producing, have been major reasons the U.S. stock market has set records throughout this year. Cerebras Systems, an AI processor company, raised $5.55 billion after selling its stock in an initial public offering, and its shares surged 68.1% in their debut on the Nasdaq Thursday.

Corporate earnings reported so far this season have “reinforced that this is still an AI-led market, but one where the impact is broadening quickly,” according to Gargi Pal Chaudhuri, chief investment and portfolio strategist at BlackRock.

“What started with a handful of companies is now driving earnings growth across semiconductors, infrastructure, and even parts of the industrial economy,” she said.

Outside of AI, other stocks rallying after delivering better-than-expected profit reports included StubHub Holdings, up 13.7%, Viking Holdings, up 5.5% and Yeti Holdings, up 6.2%.

All three companies sell products that aren’t day-to-day essentials, such as concert tickets, river cruises and insulated water bottles. Strong results from them could be an indicator that customers are still willing to spend even though U.S. consumers have been telling surveys they’re feeling discouraged about the economy.

Whether U.S. households will keep spending and support the economy is a big question because pressure has been bearing down on them due to high oil prices and inflation created by the Iran war. A report released Thursday said that shoppers overall spent less at U.S. retailers last month than economists expected. But the deceleration after factoring out gasoline and automobile sales wasn’t quite as bad as economists thought it would be.

A separate report, meanwhile, said more U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, which could be an indication of more layoffs. The number, though, remains relatively low compared with history.

Treasury yields flitted up and down in the bond market immediately after the reports, but they largely remained steady. The yield on the 10-year ticked up to 4.47% from 4.46% late Wednesday.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 56.99 points to 7,501.24. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 370.26 to 50,063.46, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 232.88 to 26,635.22.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe following a mixed finish in Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1%, while South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.8% to another record thanks to gains for AI-related stocks.

Stocks were virtually flat in Hong Kong and down 1.5% in Shanghai as Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Beijing.

Some investors hope Trump could encourage Xi to use China’s close economic ties with Iran to get it to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The strait’s closure because of the war has kept oil tankers pent up in the Persian Gulf instead of delivering crude to customers worldwide, which has driven up prices.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 0.1% to settle at $105.72 Thursday, and it remains well above its price of roughly $70 from before the war.

___

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

The money will be allocated over the coming year and adds to the $2 billion that the Trump administration pledged in December. Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said at a press conference that the new funding is just “the latest step.”

The new contribution brings total U.S. support for U.N. humanitarian programs to $3.8 billion across 21 countries, according to the State Department, which said the money would be prioritized for locally run projects that help the most vulnerable populations.

The department said the initial contribution delivered "life-saving assistance to 21.1 million people more quickly, more efficiently, and with greater focus on those facing the most acute humanitarian needs in less than four months.”

Still, the money is a fraction of what the U.S. has contributed in the past and reflects what President Donald Trump’s administration believes is still a generous amount that will maintain America’s status as the world’s largest humanitarian donor.

The Trump administration has cut billions in U.S. foreign aid, prompting U.N. agencies to slash spending, aid projects and thousands of jobs. Other traditional U.N. donors like Britain, France, Germany and Japan also have reduced aid allocations.

U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher called his agency “overstretched, under-resourced and literally under attack” and reiterated its 2026 plan to reach 87 million of the world’s most needy at a cost of $23 billion — even though 300 million people need humanitarian help.

Before Waltz’s announcement, he said, the U.N. had raised about $7.4 billion. He welcomed the new U.S. contribution and called the United States “the single largest national donor” to the United Nations.

Fletcher urged donors to reach the $23 billion goal this year, but also to provide more funding to help some of the 200 million-plus people worldwide not expected to get aid this year because of the financial crisis.

Waltz pointed to significant changes in U.N. humanitarian operations that the U.S. has pushed for to cut costs, including pooling warehouses, vehicle fleets and back-office operations among U.N. agencies.

He slammed what he called a narrative in the media that the U.S. has walked away from helping people in need, saying it’s “absolutely false.”

Under Trump, the U.S. has been taking an à la carte approach to paying dues to the United Nations, picking which operations and agencies it believes align with Trump’s agenda and avoiding those that no longer serve U.S. interests. The State Department has said that “individual U.N. agencies will need to adapt, shrink, or die.”

Critics say the Western aid cutbacks have been shortsighted, driven millions toward hunger, displacement or disease, and harmed U.S. soft power around the world.

The United Nations says the U.S. owes $2.2 billion to its regular operating budget and $1.8 billion to a separate budget for its far-flung peacekeeping operations, though the Trump administration insists it owes less.

In February, the administration paid about $160 million to the regular budget. Waltz said Thursday that “we will have an additional substantial tranche towards the regular budget coming soon.”

The verdict, reached Wednesday after a trial in federal court in Chicago, resolves one of the last remaining wrongful death lawsuits filed in connection with the disaster that killed all 157 people aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.

Samya Stumo, who grew up in Sheffield, Massachusetts, had recently joined a nonprofit focused on strengthening health systems in developing countries. A 2015 graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, she was traveling to Uganda for what would have been her first major project with the organization when the plane crashed minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on March 10, 2019.

A spokesperson for UMass after the crash described her as someone known “for engaging others by earning their respect, friendship and trust.”

Jurors awarded $21 million for the pain and suffering and emotional distress that Stumo experienced aboard the doomed flight, $16.5 million for the loss of companionship suffered by her family and $12 million for their grief, according to attorneys representing her estate.

“We are gratified for the opportunity to try the compensatory damages case," attorneys Shanin Specter and Elizabeth Crawford said in a statement Wednesday evening announcing the verdict.

It is the second verdict tied to the crash. Boeing has reached confidential pre-trial settlements in most of the dozens of wrongful death lawsuits filed in connection with the Ethiopian Airlines disaster and a similar 737 Max crash five months earlier off the coast of Indonesia that together killed 346 people.

The fatal crashes became a defining crisis for Boeing and the 737 Max program. Investigators found that a flight-control system repeatedly forced the nose of the then-new planes downward based on faulty readings from a single sensor, and pilots in both crashes were unable to regain control.

The verdict follows a November 2025 jury award of $28.45 million to the family of Shikha Garg, a United Nations environmental consultant who also died in the 2019 crash. That case marked the first civil jury trial stemming from the disaster, with jurors similarly tasked only with calculating damages because Boeing has accepted liability.

“We are deeply sorry to all who lost loved ones on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. While we have resolved nearly all of these claims through settlements, families are entitled to pursue their claims through the court process, and we respect their right to do so," a Boeing spokesperson said Thursday in a statement.

The Ethiopian Airlines crash prompted a worldwide grounding of the 737 Max that lasted more than a year and triggered multiple investigations into Boeing’s safety culture and regulatory oversight.

Federal prosecutors later charged Boeing with misleading regulators about the Max's flight-control system, though in November, the federal judge in Texas overseeing the long-running criminal case approved a Justice Department request to dismiss it. Prosecutors reached an agreement with Boeing, requiring the company to invest an additional $1 billion in fines, family compensation and safety improvements.

Stumo’s family has been among the most outspoken relatives seeking accountability from Boeing and changes to federal aviation oversight. Her father, Michael Stumo, has publicly pressed Boeing, regulators and Congress over what families viewed as failures that allowed the 737 Max to keep flying after the first crash off the coast of Indonesia.

Tyler Brown, 46, who appeared in Cambridge District Court via video from a hospital bed, did not speak and appeared to have his eyes closed for most of the brief hearing. He nodded when the judge said not guilty pleas had been entered on his behalf to charges of armed assault with intent to murder and six other charges, including possessing a gun without a license.

Judge David Frank ordered him to remain in custody, either at the hospital or in jail, pending a hearing on May 21. Brown's attorney, Carolyn McGowan, declined to speak at the hearing other than answering the judge's questions about scheduling matters. The Committee for Public Counsel Services/Public Defender Division, where she is listed as a senior trial counsel, did not respond to a request for comment.

Brown is accused of opening fire Monday afternoon on a heavily traveled road along the Charles River in Cambridge. Panicked drivers abandoned their vehicles or hid under them seeking cover.

One man, who was struck in the back of the head, has since been released from the hospital, while another driver who was shot four times in the leg remains hospitalized, Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Nicole Allain said.

About an hour before the shootings, Brown connected with his parole officer via video conference. Armed with a gun, he said on video that he had relapsed and wanted to end his life. The parole officer called police, who began searching for Brown and, using phone records, found him in Cambridge.

The complaint describes what led up to the shootings. According to investigators, Brown had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression and had been released Friday from a psychiatric hospital.

According to the complaint, Brown is on parole and probation for offenses including armed assault to murder and other gun-related convictions. His parole was set to end this week, though his probation continued.

Meghan Kelly, a spokesperson for the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, said Brown was not licensed to carry a firearm.

Allain described Brown’s criminal history going back to 1994, when he was convicted of armed robbery in Michigan. He also was convicted of escape in Michigan in 1997 and drug offenses in New Hampshire in 2007.

In Massachusetts, he has been convicted of multiple assault and gun-related charges, most recently in 2021, when he was convicted of firing at officers.

Prosecutors said then that he should serve at least 10 years in prison, due to the “level of brazen violence” and because he was on probation for a 2014 conviction on assault and witness intimidation charges. A judge instead ordered Brown to serve five to six years in state prison and three years of probation with credit for nearly 18 months spent in custody.

At the time, the judge’s decision sparked outrage and criticism among local officials concerned that violent offenders were not being held accountable — concerns that have resurfaced. “Talk about a ball drop,” said the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association in a statement on social media.

During a 2021 sentencing hearing, a police officer who Brown shot at called him "a very dangerous individual who doesn't care who he hurts," according to an audio recording of the proceedings. A probation officer expressed concern that the incident he was on probation for and the one he was being sentenced for were similar and he was a “danger to the community due to his random acts of violence.”

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders told the court then that she considers factors like psychiatric issues and childhood trauma Brown endured in imposing a sentence. But Sanders seemed especially moved by the support expressed in letters from Brown's family and the community, including city officials, who were impressed with “his commitment to turn his life around.”

“Mr. Brown, I do realize I’m kind of taking a chance on you,” the judge told him. “When experienced officers, experienced probation officers tell me this guy is a danger to the community, I hear that. I can't look into a crystal ball and figure out what is going to happening once you get out. But I do understand I am taking a risk here. I just pray that you know my intuitions are right.”

___

An earlier version of this report misattributed information about the suspect's background to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan. It actually came from Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Nicole Allain.

Lindsey Brooke Isaacs, 23, is accused of causing the hit-and-run crash on I-4 near DeBary that killed a Flagler County deputy administrator, his wife and a motorcyclist in October. She faces charges of leaving the scene of a deadly crash and several counts of vehicular homicide — and could face life in prison if convicted.

Isaacs did not appear for her scheduled arraignment. She has been out on bond for two weeks after the state said it lacked sufficient evidence to keep her jailed before trial. The State Attorney’s Office has not yet formally charged her in the case.

Prosecutors say there is new evidence, but declined to say what it was.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers say Isaacs was driving a Dodge Durango when she sideswiped a car, struck a motorcycle and set off a chain reaction. Her attorney, Patrick McGeehan, posted a video to social media following her release from custody.

“Major development in the case that doesn’t usually happen and is completely out of the ordinary,” McGeehan said in the video. “We maintain her innocence. We have fought back and pushed back against the FHP and the state.”

News 6 asked FHP whether investigators are still actively working the case and whether another driver could be responsible for the deaths. In a statement, the agency said:

“This case involved three fatalities, and cases such as these are incredibly complex, requiring reconstruction and countless hours of investigation to confirm or rule out potential leads. If the involvement of another vehicle and/or person is identified at a future time, an update will be provided.”

Isaacs is due back in court in three weeks.

I’m half Filipino, and I’m constantly trying to reconnect with that side of myself — to find the foods, stories and spaces that feel like a home away from home. So, when I heard about Kaya, a MICHELIN Green Star restaurant in Orlando’s Mills 50 district, I walked in curious about the menu.

From the outside, Kaya looks unassuming. Inside, it felt like I’d stepped into a kind of found family — a restaurant where hospitality is as intentional as the cooking.

Chef Lordfer Lalicon, Kaya’s executive chef and co-owner, has spent more than two decades in the restaurant world, including time in high-level kitchens where precision and sourcing are treated as part of the craft. But the heart of his cooking is much more personal. He told me he didn’t start cooking until college because he was missing home, and that feeling still guides the way he builds his menu — Filipino flavors rooted in memory, presented with an elevated approach that doesn’t erase what people grew up loving. That same mindset is also a big part of why Kaya earned a MICHELIN Green Star, with a commitment to local sourcing and sustainability that keeps the restaurant rooted in the community, from the farmers and fishermen they rely on to the way they use ingredients with intention.

I ate my way through a meal that felt both comforting and surprising.

The dish everyone told me not to miss was kare kare, a Filipino classic built around deep, slow-cooked richness. Kaya’s version uses braised oxtail that’s tender enough to fall apart, with a peanut-forward sauce that’s savory and lush without being heavy. Sweet potato adds softness and sweetness, while bagoong (fermented krill paste) brings the salty, funky punch that makes the whole dish snap into focus.

The raw preparations were just as memorable. Kaya’s kinilaw leaned bright and clean, with delicate fish, citrus and coconut working together in a way that felt refreshing, not fussy.

There were vegetables, too, that didn’t feel like an afterthought. The Bahay Kubo salad was colorful and layered — earthy-sweet and lightly tangy — with a creamy element that tied everything together.

Then came the adobo risotto, a twist on one of the most classic Filipino flavors everyone knows and loves. It still had that soy backbone and hit of vinegar, but in a creamy risotto form. The mushrooms were deeply flavorful and savory enough that I didn’t miss the meat at all, and the whole dish felt both familiar and completely new at the same time.

As the menu unfolded, Kaya’s point of view came into focus. Let’s get one thing straight. This isn’t fusion.

Jamilyn Bailey, Kaya’s co-owner and general manager, explained how the restaurant thinks about honoring memory while still letting Filipino food evolve.

“Food always kind of changes. But for a lot of folks who haven’t been back or have a memory that’s like really strong for them, we don’t want to take away from that. That’s so real, you know? But we always want Filipino food to be bigger, to be more and to be, something that folks can enjoy,” she said.

Kaya’s cooking is rooted in what people remember and miss, expressed in a way that feels new, elevated and shared with everyone at the table.

Kape Kaya: Saturday mornings that turn into a community line

Kaya’s community-first energy doesn’t stop after dinner service. Every Saturday, Kape Kaya turns the restaurant into a bakery pop-up with pastries and coffee — and a line that starts early. The menu changes every week, so there are always new flavors to try.

Chef Clarice Lam told me she loves watching people get curious once flavors from different communities start going mainstream. “Once you see flavors from different like ethnic groups going mainstream, then I feel like that’s when people, really kind of open up and they start to feel more comfortable, like trying new things” she said.

I came for the pastries, and I left thinking about how much storytelling can fit inside a pastry box. My spread included a Filipino Cuban bear claw, an ube halaya blueberry apple fritter, a Hong Kong milk tea egg tart and a kalamansi meringue croissant that hit with bright citrus and sweetness. There was also a strawberry rhubarb bibingka and an ensaymada cruffin that felt like pure comfort with a modern twist.

Even the savory side had the same intention. The spring pea sourdough was fresh and herbaceous, and I still can’t stop thinking about the thick em cookie — the kind that makes the line make sense.

Kape Kaya feels like Kaya in daytime form: approachable, joyful and inviting, a weekly reminder that this restaurant’s version of community includes whoever is willing to show up hungry.

The name Kaya is layered. Kaya comes from the phrase kaya natin, which means we can do it.

But it also speaks to ownership in the broadest, most generous sense.

“Our Kaya. As in, Kaya belongs to all of us,” Bailey said. “Everyone is involved in making this restaurant come to life.”

That is not just branding. It’s something you can feel in the dining room.

For me, Kaya was not just a great dinner. It was a reminder that food can carry identity, memory and belonging all at once.

The flavors are Filipino, authentically Filipino — not fusion — with familiar dishes told in a new way.

And the hospitality is the kind that changes how you hold yourself at the table. You come in as a guest, and you leave feeling like you were part of the family. That’s the kind of food that sticks with you, because it doesn’t just fill you up. It brings you home.

He struggled mightily off the tee, a recipe for trouble at Aronimink. He was tentative over his putts, with three misses from the 7-foot range that could have made him feel a lot better.

The result was a 4-over 74 that left McIlroy chasing the wrong kind of history as the Masters champion goes for the second leg of the calendar Grand Slam. Not since the late Payne Stewart in 1989 has a player started the PGA Championship with a 74 and gone on to win.

The question by a PGA of America moderator when it was over sounded innocuous: “How would you describe your opening round?” The response was one word. A four-letter stinky word.

McIlroy had said earlier this week at Aronimink that “strategy off the tee is pretty nonexistent. It's basically bash driver down there and then figure it out from there."

He never quite figured it out Thursday.

McIlroy was hanging around par for so much of the day, right there with Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm in his group, not bad golf given the testing conditions at Aronimink.

But he started missing fairways — a lot of them.

His lone bogey on his front nine came on the opening hole from the right rough — he managed to only get that scooting down the fairway. But the miss to the right on the par-4 fourth (his 13th of the day) cost him another bogey. He holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-3 fifth. All was well.

And then it wasn't.

“I missed the fairway right on 4, the fairway right on 6, the fairway right on 7, fairway right on 9,” he said. "From there, it’s hard. I didn’t have great angles, either. Then obviously you start missing it just off the edges of these greens, it gets tricky.

“I just got on that bogey train at the end.”

McIlroy also opened with a 74 at Quail Hollow in the PGA Championship last year, his first round as the Masters champion. The frustrations were different. A year ago, he was irritated about learning the face of his driver had become too thin to conform to regulations (and then even more irritated when the news was leaked to the media without context).

This was simply a weakness in his game he thought he had corrected.

“I’m just not driving the ball well enough. It’s been a problem all year for the most part,” McIlroy said. “I miss it right, and then I want to try to correct it. And then I’ll overdo it, and I’ll miss it left. It’s a little bit of back and forth that way. So that’s pretty frustrating, especially when I pride myself on driving the ball well.”

He hit only five of the 14 fairways. He was in the short grass on No. 1 after making the turn. He played from the rough the rest of the round. McIlroy was in the hay right of the seventh hole and could only manage to hack that across the fairway into more rough on the left, leaving him 15 feet for par that he didn't convert.

His final hole was the par-5 ninth, another drive that sailed right. From there, he put it in the worst spot — a bunker 67 yards from the pin — and barely got that onto the green, leaving him 70 feet a way for birdie. He ran that 8 feet by and missed it coming back.

As for that blister causing problems, McIlroy offered another one-word answer: “No.”

This was about his driver, mainly, which McIlroy felt good about after his final round Sunday in the Truist Championship, and the 12 holes of practice at Aronimink he played this week.

“I honestly thought I’d figured it out,” he said. “Just once I get under the gun, it just seems like it starts to go a little bit wayward on me.”

___

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Weinstein, who's 74 and has a history of heart trouble and other health woes, looked pale but alert as he was brought into court in the wheelchair he has used for years. He said he felt “good, fine.”

The ex-studio boss was in a courthouse holding area Wednesday when jurors, after a few hours of deliberating, sent a note asking to rehear some of accuser Jessica Mann ’s testimony and to review a lengthy prosecution timeline of emails and other evidence.

After defense lawyers, prosecutors and Judge Curtis Farber convened in court to decide how to respond, Weinstein attorney Marc Agnifilo said court officers had told him Weinstein was experiencing chest pains.

Weinstein wasn't brought into court at that point, and Farber ultimately sent jurors home Wednesday a bit earlier than planned, telling them there were “unforeseen reasons” for the early dismissal.

Jurors got the requested information Thursday, revisiting testimony that Agnifilo had highlighted in his closing argument: a moment when Mann said she was “spacing out” as a defense lawyer asked why she didn’t want a friend to know that anything sexual had happened between her and Weinstein. The defense was trying to suggest that she was worried about her reputation, not an alleged rape that Weinstein says never happened.

Jurors returned to their closed-door discussions. Over the ensuing hours, the jury asked to rehear Mann's testimony about the alleged rape and the lead-up to it, and to go over the judge's instructions on reasonable doubt. That's the legal bar that evidence must clear to justify a conviction.

Jurors ultimately went home for the night without reaching a verdict. Deliberations are to resume Friday.

Mann, 40, has testified that she willingly had some sexual interludes with the then-married producer, but that he subjected her to unwanted sex in a Manhattan hotel room in March 2013 after she repeatedly said no.

Weinstein's lawyers maintain that the encounter was consensual. They have emphasized that Mann subsequently continued seeing Weinstein and expressing warmth toward him. Mann has said she was mired in complicated feelings about him, herself and what had happened.

Her viewpoint changed in 2017, when a series of sexual misconduct allegations against the Oscar-winning Weinstein propelled the #MeToo campaign to hold people — especially powerful men — accountable for sexual misbehavior. Weinstein has said he “acted wrongly” but never assaulted anyone.

Some of those accusations generated criminal convictions against Weinstein in New York and California.

An appeals court overturned his 2020 New York conviction on charges that involved Mann and another accuser. At a retrial last year, jurors failed to reach a verdict on Mann's portion of the case, leading to this retrial. Weinstein is charged with one count of rape in the third degree.

The current jury heard nearly three weeks of testimony, five days of it from Mann. Weinstein did not testify.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted. Mann, however, has agreed to be named.

The video, captured the night of May 2, shows officers responding to Wat Navaram Buddhist Temple at 2381 Narcissus Ave. in Sanford after a caller reported someone was actively trying to set the building on fire. As officers approached on foot, an alarm could be heard going off in the distance.

As officers walked toward the building, they spotted a man in a yellow shirt quickly getting into a Toyota RAV4.

[WATCH: Bodycam shows suspect in Sanford Buddhist temple attack]

In the video from one officer’s body-worn camera, he can be heard shouting multiple commands, including, ‘Hey! Come here! Sanford Police." According to the arrest report, the driver placed the vehicle in reverse and began to drive away. The video shows that even after the officer tapped on the front passenger door to get the driver’s attention, the man kept going.

Singhasouk Danny Phanouvong, 51, of Atlanta, was arrested after leading law enforcement on a chase that ended on Interstate 95 North in St. Johns County. He faces charges of first-degree arson, burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, criminal mischief to a religious property, fleeing and eluding law enforcement at high speed and resisting an officer with violence.

Security footage obtained by News 6 shows a man pushing things over, grabbing items and kicking them as he walks through the space. According to an attorney for the temple, Joe Panyanougvong of Durham Law Group PC, the entire incident lasted between 45 minutes and an hour.

[WATCH: Video shows man destroying, setting fire to Sanford Buddhist temple]

“There was a person that was a former member of the temple, likely experiencing some type of mental health crisis, and for reasons unknown, came down here and basically severely damaged and vandalized the temple and some of the property outside the temple,” Panyanougvong explained to News 6.

Two weeks after the fire, members of Wat Navaram Buddhist Temple are working to restore what was damaged. On Thursday, our News 6 team went back to visit the site where there are still broken items scattered around and black burn marks on the ceiling.

Despite the damage, the community has found a way to keep gathering. Panyanougvong told News 6 on Thursday that they have purchased two tents and portable air conditioning units to host worship and lunch ceremonies while repairs are ongoing.

Online records show Phanouvong is being held at the jail in Volusia County without bond.

Vance, dubbed the “fraud czar” by President Donald Trump, made an appearance in the state's politically competitive 2nd Congressional District to stump for former Gov. Paul LePage, a Trump ally who is vying to flip the U.S. House seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. Jared Golden.

He compared LePage to the current governor, Democrat Janet Mills, who has sparred with the Trump administration over the issue of transgender athletes in high school sports. Mills is prevented by term limit laws from running again and recently dropped out of a heated Democratic primary race for the Senate seat held by Republican Susan Collins, one of the most vulnerable candidates in the chamber.

“Let’s kick Janet Mills to the curb and let’s send Paul LePage to Washington to help us fight the fraudsters and protect all of you,” Vance told the crowd of a few hundred people at Bangor International Airport.

While Vance has mentioned the anti-fraud efforts in his stops around the country in recent weeks on behalf of Republican candidates, Thursday’s visit was the first expressly billed as a stop to talk about the fraud-fighting efforts rather than the economic-focused message he’s delivered in other visits.

The event showcased how the vice president is leveraging his high-profile role leading Trump's anti-fraud task force for Republicans as they face crucial midterm elections this year, especially as the administration’s economic message has been clouded by rising costs from the Iran war. Early voting is already underway in Maine for the state’s June 9 primary elections for offices including governor, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House.

The state has supported Democratic presidential candidates in consecutive elections going back to 1992, though Trump carried Maine's 2nd Congressional District in the last three elections, capturing one of the state's four electoral votes.

Vance could make fraud a centerpiece of a 2028 run

Vance’s message also provided a preview of how the vice president, seen as a likely 2028 GOP presidential candidate, could use the fraud crackdown as a central piece of his own political message in a future campaign.

“You are the first victim of fraud,” Vance told attendees as signs hung nearby that read “PROTECTING TAXPAYER DOLLARS” and “FIGHTING FRAUDSTERS.”

Vance went on and added a few minutes later, “My friends, this has gone on for far too long. You have been fleeced by your own government for far too long, and we are stopping it every single day.”

Mills said in a statement that Vance’s attacks were an attempt to distract from surging costs and the unpopular Iran war.

“Maine people deserved to hear about how the Trump Administration is making their lives better by lowering costs, improving health care, building housing, and fixing child care — but we got none of that because the President and Vice President don’t actually care about these issues or the hardships they are causing our state and people,” Mills said.

The visit to Maine came after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said earlier in the year that he was calling for corrective action on alleged fraud in government health programs in Maine, a request characterized by Mills as a “political attack.”

Mills recently dropped out of the Democratic primary race to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins, effectively ceding the nomination to progressive activist and oyster farmer Graham Platner. The seat is critical to Democratic hopes of reclaiming control of the chamber in this year's midterms.

Vance, however, didn't mention Platner and instead focused much of his attention on Mills and LePage, the sole Republican vying for the nomination in Maine's 2nd Congressional District.

Republicans are bullish about their chances of the seat, which encompasses Bangor and which backed Trump for president in the last three elections even as the state itself supported the Democratic presidential candidate.

Vance portrayed LePage as a partner-in-arms with his anti-fraud effort and told the crowd Thursday: “Fraud has festered in Maine because this guy is no longer the governor of Maine.”

Collins draws praise from Vance for her independence

While Collins is not always a reliable vote for the Trump administration, Vance took pains to praise the longtime senator for her independence and lack of partisanship.

“Sometimes I get frustrated with Susan Collins. I almost wish she was more partisan,” Vance said. “If she was as partisan as I wish she was, she would not be a good fit for the people of Maine.”

Collins was in Washington on Thursday and not among the candidates who joined Vance for the trip.

Before Vance arrived, LePage told the crowd that if elected to represent Maine's 2nd Congressional District, he would work with the Trump administration to crack down on fraud in social safety programs, which he characterized as rampant in his state.

“The American people are done being taken for a ride. It’s time for the Maine people and the Maine taxpayer to be put front and center,” he told the crowd.

Maine Center for Economic Policy, a left-leaning policy group that advocates for low- and middle-income residents, said in a statement that the Trump administration's characterizations of fraud and social programs in the state were inaccurate.

“Fraud should always be investigated and stopped. But Mainers deserve facts, not political fearmongering designed to undermine health care for hundreds of thousands of people,” the statement said.

In the governor's race, seven Republicans, five Democrats and sevreal independents are vying to replace Mills. Vance noted that some of the candidates were in attendance at the rally but declined to endorse any of them when a reporter asked whether he would.

A few dozen demonstrators stood across the street from the airport holding signs denouncing Vance and the Trump administration. One held a giant caricature of the vice president’s head that has become a popular meme.

Nirav Shah, the former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention director who is running for governor, said in an email to supporters and the media that Vance is visiting Maine as the costs of necessities such as heating oil and gas surge in the state.

“That is the record JD Vance is bringing to Maine on Thursday. That is the record the Maine Republicans hosting him are ‘honored’ to celebrate,” Shah said.

___

Price reported from Washington.

Soto exited a 3-2, 10-inning win over the Tigers in the seventh inning on Wednesday night, four innings after he fouled a ball off his right foot. X-rays were negative and Soto batted third as the designated hitter in Thursday’s matinee.

“I wasn’t concerned, I’ve done it before,” Soto said Thursday. “It was getting swollen big time, so I just tried to make a smart move. I know how to handle it.”

Manager Carlos Mendoza said Lindor, who was injured April 22 while scoring from first on a double hit by Francisco Alvarez, underwent an MRI Wednesday that showed “signs of healing,” though the All-Star shortstop is nowhere near a return.

Mendoza said Lindor has been cleared to do more work in the weight room before beginning a running program.

“Positive sign,” Mendoza said. “We’ve just got to let it heal.”

Mendoza said there was no timetable for Lindor to begin baseball activities. Lindor has been sidelined for the Mets’ last 18 games — four more than he missed the previous four seasons combined.

Alvarez, who suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee while fouling off a pitch in Tuesday’s 10-2 win over the Tigers, underwent surgery Thursday morning. Mendoza said the Mets expect Alvarez to miss up to eight weeks.

Alvarez is the Mets’ 12th player currently on the injured list, joining Lindor as well as right-handers Reed Garrett (Tommy John surgery), Justin Hagenman (fractured rib), Tylor Megill (sprained right elbow), Dedniel Núñez (Tommy John surgery) and Kodai Senga (lumbar spine inflammation); left-hander A.J. Minter (left lat surgery); infielders Ronny Mauricio (broken left thumb), Jorge Polanco (bruised right wrist) and Jared Young (torn left meniscus); and outfielder Luis Robert Jr. (lumbar spine disk herniation).

In addition, Soto missed 15 games last month because of a strained right calf.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

Weekend forecast: More sunshine, heat, and a slim chance for showers

High temperatures are expected to push into the low 90s from Friday through Sunday. An onshore breeze will keep things feeling comfortable at the coast, but also bring an elevated rip current risk to beaches

Clouds, if any, will be scarce and radar is expected to stay quiet. As some moisture tries to return late Saturday and Sunday, only a “dotted shower or two” is possible, mostly in southern parts of the state, with rain chances staying low—generally about 20 to 30 percent. This dry stretch should continue into early next week, with highs remaining in the upper 80s to low 90s.

Expect perfect conditions for evening dog walks, according to the News 6 Pinpoint Weather Dog Walking Forecast—no rain boots or rain gear needed. And if you want to show off your pet’s weather style, submit a photo at ClickOrlando.com Pins for a chance to be featured on air!

Looking ahead: Hurricane season preparation begins

With hurricane season officially two weeks away, now’s a good time to stay weather aware. Starting May 15, the National Hurricane Center will begin issuing tropical outlooks four times a day, highlighting areas in the Atlantic with potential for tropical development. The first storm name on the 2026 list is Arthur. Jordan Patrick explains that an El Niño pattern is expected, which is likely to bring “slightly less than average” tropical activity this year, but Central Florida is always encouraged to keep an eye on the tropics as the season gets underway.

DeChambeau wasn't sure how to play that shot, telling officials, “I'm so confused right now.”

Confused by the lie, confounded by the course, DeChambeau is on the brink of missing the cut of his second straight major following his breakdown at the Masters.

DeChambeau, a two-time U.S. Open champion, was a disaster in his opening round at Aronimink Golf Club and shot a 6-over 76, about six weeks after Amen Corner put him through the wringer again at the Masters.

Take the eighth hole at Aronimink.

DeChambeau flubbed a pitch from the rough so badly that the ball landed short of the green and rolled right back to his feet on the closely mown area around the putting surface.

The initials on his yardage book seemed to sum up DeChambeau's day.

B.A.D.

This 76 is his worst score to par ever in the PGA Championship. This is the fifth time he shot 4-over or higher in the first round of a major. He made the cut in two instances, the 2018 U.S. Open and 2021 Masters.

His round over, DeChambeau headed straight to the scoring tent, and he then stormed through the parking lot and to the driving range.

DeChambeau pounded ball after ball, stopping after most shots to review his form on the mobile phone video shot by a member of his team. He did not speak to the media.

DeChambeau, one of the main players in LIV Golf, might not rush to add video from the range or the bulk of his shots at Aronimink to his YouTube channel. He's a hit on the platform, registering millions of views while he pals around on the course with Stephen Curry, Adam Sandler and Kevin Hart, and his Break 50 series has helped him earn more than 2.7 million subscribers and growing to his channel.

The good times haven't extended to the majors.

He's missed the cut in three of his last five Masters and is going to need a terrific rebound on Friday to have any shot at spending the weekend in suburban Philadelphia.

What hasn't faded is his popularity.

Not even his much-derided and debated departure to LIV has dampened the enthusiasm for DeChambeau and his lethal driver. His tee shot on No. 4 seemed to fly as high as the Goodyear Blimp that flew overhead the hole and had fans rooting him on — "He smoked that thing!" — as he walked to find his ball.

He averaged nearly 336 yards on his drives, yet the short game failed him.

On the 11th hole, he tapped a putt that rolled and rolled and rolled some more until it landed almost off the green. DeChambeau finished with one of his six bogeys on the round, including a double-bogey on eight.

DeChambeau had a bit of a wait on No. 8 for the group ahead of him to finish. He folded his arms, stared straight ahead and could only search for answers. He snacked on beef jerky but not even a quick snack could help him snap into a successful end to this hole.

Funny thing, DeChambeau actually two-putted after his ball found the bottom stair of the staircase off the second hole and he saved par.

He couldn't save much else, though he finished the round with his lone birdie of the day on the par-5 ninth.

DeChambeau is in the final year of his LIV contract and the rival league to the PGA Tour faces a murky future now that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund has pulled its financial backing. Even if the league doesn't fold, could it find another investor willing to scrape up the cash needed to keep a talent like DeChambeau?

DeChambeau said earlier this month that “egos would need to get dropped” by the PGA Tour and LIV officials if there was going to be reconciliation in the golf world.

DeChambeau, who won LIV Golf events in Singapore and South Africa earlier this year, could simply step back and focus on social media content and playing the four majors if he fails to re-sign with LIV or find a path back to the PGA.

Ratings for the LIV Tour have been anemic, meaning most people see DeChambeau four times a year — at the majors.

DeChambeau gears his content toward a younger audience, and Aronimink fans packed the tee box area and lined the ropes rows deep to catch a rare glimpse of him in the Northeast, though one grumbled after the end of the round, “I hope he can fist bump better than he can play golf.”

His future in limbo, DeChambeau could find himself with two extra days to film content for his YouTube channel — he posted a PGA practice round to social media — if he can't figure out a way into the weekend.

___

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Riddle, who transferred to Georgia from East Carolina ahead of the upcoming season, was observed weaving through traffic at roughly 95 miles per hour on Friday night in an SUV, according to the report. Glynn County police officers stopped Riddle and noted nervous behavior and an odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle.

The report detailed Riddle's compliance as police discovered a bag inside a backpack containing “a large amount of multicolored packaging, some with a leafy substance stating marijuana, and some containing vapes stating THC.”

Riddle was charged with two felony counts related to marijuana and controlled substances, according to the report.

The Glynn County Police Department didn't immediately respond to an information request from The Associated Press.

“We are aware of the charges and are actively gathering additional information," a spokesperson for the football team told the AP. "As this is an ongoing legal matter, we will not be providing further comment at this time."

Riddle had 133 total tackles, 10 pass deflections, and six interceptions, including one pick-six, over two seasons at East Carolina.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

In all, 83 bills have already been approved by the governor as of Wednesday, May 13, with many of these new laws set to take effect later this year.

You can find the full list below. Be sure to check back, as News 6 will update this list as more laws are signed.

HB 1D — Redistricting

House Bill 1D redistricts the state’s congressional districts using 2020 Census data.

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered. pic.twitter.com/mKFQdQ2Xbo

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) May 4, 2026

DATE OF EFFECT: May 4

HB 35 — Traffic Offenders

House Bill 35 revises the term “habitual traffic offender” to add the offense of driving without a valid license.

This crime will be added to the list of offenses for which a certain number of convictions in a five-year period requires the state to designate the person as a habitual traffic offender.

Once a person is designated as a habitual traffic offender, he/she can generally be prosecuted for a third-degree felony for driving a motor vehicle thereafter.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 52 — Security Services

Senate Bill 52 refers to a state statute that regulates private investigative and security services.

More specifically, the law expresses that this statute doesn’t apply to volunteers who provide armed security services at churches, mosques, synagogues or other places of worship.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 89 — Veterinary Prescriptions

House Bill 89 requires licensed veterinarians to clearly inform clients of their right to receive a written prescription for medication that can be filled at the pharmacy of a client’s choice.

The law also mandates that if the veterinary clinic is able to fill the prescription, the vet should disclose that option to the client, as well.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 91 — Candidate Qualification

House Bill 91 requires that someone who wants to run for office must affirm that he/she hasn’t changed his/her name in the year prior to qualification, with few exceptions.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 1

SB 118 — R.V. Park Assessments

Senate Bill 118 revises how special assessments may be levied against R.V. parks.

The bill does this by prohibiting local governments from levying special assessments against areas over 400 square feet for each R.V. parking space or campsite.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 21

SB 124 — Florida Virtual Schools

Senate Bill 124 amends state statutes regarding the Florida Virtual School, which was founded in 1997 to provide students in the state with tech-based educational opportunities.

More specifically, the law makes several technical changes, such as including all full-time and part-time FLVS students for the purposes of full-time equivalent student calculations.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 182 — Teacher Mentors

Senate Bill 182 establishes the School Teacher Training and Mentoring Program, aimed at improving teacher effectiveness in public schools.

Under this program, qualified teachers can be placed as mentors in schools that have a “D” or “F” grade, thereby improving the performance of these schools.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 212 — Sex Offenders

Senate Bill 212 amends state statutes regarding sexual offenders and predators in the state.

Under this law, those convicted of certain sex offenses against children 16 years of age or younger may not live within 1,000 feet of a public swimming pool.

[BELOW: Florida attorney general unveils Sanford ‘house of horrors’]

Current law already prohibits these sorts of sex offenders from living near schools, childcare facilities, parks and playgrounds, though this bill cracks down even harder via the following rules:

• Contacting Children: Such offenders may be arrested without a warrant if they knowingly contact a minor at any park, playground or public swimming pool.
• School Grounds: Such offenders may be arrested without a warrant if they’re purposefully present in any pre-K-12 school while the school is still in operation, with few exceptions.
• Prowling Offenders: The bill increases the restricted distance for loitering and prowling by such sex offenders from 300 feet to 500 feet of places where children congregate.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 245 — Child Pornography

House Bill 245 replaces the term “child pornography” with “child sexual abuse material” under state law.

This shift does not change any other elements of the law, including offenses related to child pornography.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 246 — Specialty Plates

Senate Bill 246 grants permission for five new specialty license plates, which are as follows:

• Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
• Miami Northwestern Alumni Association
• Outsider
• St. Petersburg College
• First Responders Resiliency

The bill also revises certain requirements for the existing “Florida Wildflower” and “Fraternal Order of Police” plates.

DATE OF EFFECT: Oct. 1

HB 249 — State Flagship

House Bill 249 redesignates the official state flagship.

More specifically, the law replaces the current state flagship (the schooner Western Union) with the S.S. American Victory.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

[BELOW: New Florida bill could change meaning of ‘criminal gang member’]

HB 271 — Bail Bonds

House Bill 271 subjects foreign and alien bail bond insurers doing business in Florida to the same reporting requirements as domestic bail bond insurers.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 288 — Electric Cooperatives

Senate Bill 288 revises a state statute that prohibits certain bylaws, tariffs and policies from being used by rural electric cooperatives.

Under this law, the statute is limited to only those cooperatives that sell electricity at retail.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 290 — FDACS

Senate Bill 290 makes a number of changes to state law related to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS).

Some of these changes include a prohibition on local governments from banning gas-powered landscape equipment, and criminal penalties for those receiving unauthorized help on a CDL exam.

You can read a list of more changes here.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 302 — Coastal Resiliency

Senate Bill 302 prohibits any dredging or filling of submerged lands at the Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve, with some exceptions provided for public safety and environmental protection.

This law is also expected to streamline the permitting process for nature-based methods aimed at improving coastal resiliency, helping to accelerate restoration timelines.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 386 — Farm Equipment

Senate Bill 386 sets up a process for consumers and manufacturers to remedy defective farm equipment.

If farm equipment is defective, this law lets buyers report the defect to the manufacturer during the warranty period or the one-year period after the original delivery date of the farm equipment.

The law also requires the manufacturer to either replace or refund any defective farm equipment.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 399 — Development Regulations

House Bill 399 requires application fees for development permits to be reasonably related to the costs associated with processing the application and prohibits fees based on a percentage of project costs.

The legislation also mandates that each local government’s land development regulations must include factors for assessing compatibility of residential uses.

DATE OF EFFECT: March 27

SB 422 — Airport Broadcasts

Senate Bill 422 prohibits airports from using information derived from automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) systems emitted from certain aircraft as a means of collecting fees from owners.

This rule is limited to aircraft with a gross weight of 12,499 pounds or less operating under FAA rules and applies under the following two scenarios:

• The operation for which a fee would be assessed is a departure or a landing, including touch-and-go landings
• The fee would be assessed based on an aircraft entering into the airspace of the airport where the fee is assessed

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 428 — Drowning Prevention

Senate Bill 428 amends the Swimming Lesson Voucher Program, raising the age limit to include children between 1 and 7 years of age.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 441 — Conservation Lands

House Bill 441 requires that when a water management district considers selling conservation lands, the governing board publish the following information at least 30 days before meeting:

• The district-owned parcels of land for sale or proposed for exchange
• The privately owned parcels proposed for exchange
• The portions of those parcels that will be preserved in a permanent conservation easement
• A statement from the district explaining why those lands are no longer needed for conservation purposes

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 445 — Dangerous Crimes

House Bill 445 adds certain offenses dealing with child exploitation and certain kinds of computer porn to the list of dangerous crimes under Florida law.

This means that someone arrested for one of these offenses can’t be given nonmonetary pretrial release at a first appearance hearing.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 453 — High School Diplomas

House Bill 453 allows student with disabilities to substitute one school year of participation in the Special Olympics for the P.E. requirement for a standard high school diploma.

Furthermore, the law specifies that two years of marching band satisfies both the one-credit requirement in P.E. and the one-credit requirement in performing arts.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 484 — Data Centers

Senate Bill 484 prohibits utilities from passing data center costs — including electricity costs — onto residential and small business customers.

Furthermore, the law prohibits utilities from serving data centers controlled by foreign countries of concern, and it allows local communities to set stricter standards on such centers.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 488 — Transportation

Senate Bill 488 amends various provisions related to topics like motor vehicle registration, licensing and tax-related requirements. These new rules include the following:

• Creates penalties for counterfeiting or illegally altering fuel tax licenses and the related permits
• Revises penalties and interest calculations for delinquent tax payments
• Provides penalties for specific offenses related to the misuse of motor fuel-tax related documents and establishes detailed requirements for recordkeeping by motor carriers
• Increases the amount of estimated damage resulting from a crash that is required to be reported to law enforcement from $500 to $2,000

DATE OF EFFECT: Oct. 1

SB 490 — Public Records (FLHSMV)

Senate Bill 490 expands a public records exemption for email addresses collected by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

This expansion includes email addresses that are used to provide customers with general notifications.

DATE OF EFFECT: Oct. 1

HB 491 — Faith-Based Content (BIPs)

House Bill 491 allows Batterers’ Intervention Programs (BIPs) to offer supplemental faith-based activities as a voluntary service to participants referred to a BIP by court order or by consent for acts of domestic violence.

That said, the law also preserves current rules, which require all mandatory BIP curricula to be based on a psychoeducational or cognitive behavioral therapy intervention model.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 504 — Body Cameras

Senate Bill 504 requires governmental agencies that allow code inspectors to wear body cameras to set up policies addressing proper use and storage of these cameras, as well as the recorded data.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 506 — Public Records (Body Cameras)

Senate Bill 506 creates a public records exemption for code inspectors’ body camera recordings if the footage is recorded:

• Inside a private residence
• Inside a facility that offers health care, mental health care, or social services
• In a place that a reasonable person would expect to be private

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 559 — Animal Welfare

House Bill 559 establishes a new third-degree felony offense if an adult:

• causes or entices a minor to commit aggravated animal cruelty; fighting or baiting animals; or sexual activities involving animals
• commits in the presence of a minor aggravated animal cruelty; fighting or baiting animals; or sexual activities involving animals

The law also requires a juvenile court to order a minor who commits animal cruelty to undergo a psychological evaluation and potentially receive certain treatments.

DATE OF EFFECT: Oct. 1

HB 569 — Forensic Client Services

House Bill 569 allows the Agency for Persons with Disabilities to house non-forensic clients and forensic clients within the same wards in secure APD facilities.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 572 — Public Ethics

Senate Bill 572 revises the term “relative” in the Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees to include foster parents and foster children.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 1

HB 589 — Sewage Treatment

House Bill 589 refers to owners and builders of single-family homes that need to have an onsite sewage treatment and disposal system (OSTDS).

Under this law, local governments may no longer require these people to receive a construction permit for the OSTDS before issuing a building or plumbing permit, so long as there’s proof that the OSTDS permit has been applied for.

DATE OF EFFECT: May 6

SB 598 — Funeral Services

Senate Bill 598 makes several revisions to a state statute that regulates funeral and cemetery services.

For example, the law prohibits licensees from contracting to become the sole provider of funeral services for any firm that provides medical or end-of-life care to the public.

Furthermore, SB 598 allows licensees to dispose of human remains that have been in their lawful possession for at least 90 days if the legally authorized person of the decedent fails to direct the disposition.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 628 — Trump Highway

Senate Bill 628 renames over a dozen roadways across the state.

The bill also designates the Tallahassee airport at 3300 Capital Circle SW as the “Bobby Bowden-Tallahassee International Airport.”

Furthermore, SB 628 designates 124 miles of SR-80 stretching from SR-A1A in Palm Beach County to US-41 in Lee County as the “President Donald J. Trump Highway.”

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 679 — Trademark Registration

House Bill 679 mandate that the Florida Department of State use the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s schedule of classes of goods and services as the state’s classification for trademark purposes, rather than the general classes for trademarks for goods and services set in statute.

Furthermore, the bill requires that agency to set up a website where applicants can apply for a trademark or renew a trademark and provides that the website must safeguard the applicant’s information to ensure data integrity.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 686 — Agricultural Enclaves

Senate Bill 686 deals with agricultural enclaves: pockets of agricultural land that are mainly surrounded by development.

Under this bill, enclave owners may submit development plans for single-family housing.

Local governments won’t be allowed to enact regulation for one of these enclaves that is more burdensome than for other types of applications for comparable uses, either.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1 (Provisions expire Jan. 1, 2028)

HB 697 — Drug Prices

House Bill 697 makes it unlawful for a PBM to force a pharmacy to take a loss when dispensing a drug or to reimburse a nonaffiliated pharmacy less than an affiliated pharmacy.

Furthermore, the law requires PBMs to allow in-network pharmacies to submit consolidated appeals comprised of multiple adjudicated claims featuring identical drugs, day supplies, and dates of service.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 803 — Building Permits

House Bill 803 limits local government regulation of glazing requirements on commercial buildings, and provides for lower fees when a private provider is retained for commercial construction projects.

The law also mandates that certain building permits expire after one year after issuance or on the effective date of the next edition of the Florida Building Code — whichever is later.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 844 — Sickle Cell Disease

Senate Bill 844 requires that the standard continuing education course on prescribing controlled substances include information regarding the treatment of pain for patients with sickle cell disease.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 848 — Stormwater Treatment

Senate Bill 848 allows ERP applicants to use compensating stormwater treatment as a mitigation measure when existing ambient water quality prevents compliance with water quality standards.

Furthermore, ERP applicants for regional stormwater managements systems must provide documentation of adequate financial responsibility, along with a graphic depicting the drainage area served by the system.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 883 — Insurance Companies

House Bill 883 allows protected cell captive insurance companies to operate and be domiciled in Florida, thus creating a regulatory framework for such companies.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 895 — Trustee Settlement

House Bill 895 establishes a summary procedure for trustee liability and claims discharge under the Florida Trust Code.

This applies to non-adversarial irrevocable trust administrations where the trustee has substantially complied with certain trustee duties, negating the need for judicial process to achieve such discharge.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 29

HB 905 — Foreign Influence

House Bill 905 aims to limit influence in the state from “foreign countries of concern,” including places like Iran, North Korea, Cuba, China and Russia.

The law accomplishes this by prohibiting charities from accepting contributions from these countries, restricting preplanned adoption/surrogacy agreements with citizens of these nations, and setting up harsher penalties for crimes committed to benefit such groups.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 919 — Donald Trump Airport

House Bill 919 preempts to the state the ability to name major commercial service airports.

More specifically, the law renames the Palm Beach International Airport as the “President Donald J. Trump International Airport.”

All other major airports, including the Orlando International Airport, may keep their current names for now.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

[BELOW: New Florida law could let lawmakers rename Orlando airport]

HB 927 — Local Land Planning

House Bill 927 requires certain local governments to create a registry of qualified contractors to conduct pre-application reviews of plans, permits or plats submitted in line with local land development rules.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 929 — Chickee Regulation

House Bill 929 prohibits local governments from enacting an ordinance that prevents a member of the Miccosukee or Seminole tribes from constructing a chickee under certain conditions.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 961 — Electronic Signatures

House Bill 961 requires that insurance companies implement secure control processes and procedures for electronic signatures that are acceptable to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 991 — Elections

House Bill 991 makes several revisions to the Florida Election Code, including:

• Driver’s License: Requires the state to include a person’s legal status on any new, replacement or renewal driver’s licenses and ID cards
• Voter Oath: Voter registration applicants must affirm that they are U.S. citizens and may face criminal penalties for perjury if that is not the case
• Forms of ID: Debit/credit cards, student IDs, retirement center IDs, neighborhood association IDs, and public assistance IDs are no longer acceptable forms of identification for voters
• Campaign Contributions: Political parties and candidates may not willfully accept a contribution from a foreign national in connection with any election held in the state.
• Federal Courts: Requires the state to provide voter registration lists to federal courts to aid in their jury selection process, and requires those courts to provide the state with information about voters being ineligible due to convictions, death, or being a non-U.S. citizen
• Statute of Limitations: Creates a five-year statute of limitations for the prosecution of a felony under the Election Code
• New Penalties: Provides new fines and penalties for those who violate the law of involvement of foreign nationals in state elections
• Early Voting: Election supervisors must use local time when uploading the results of all early voting and vote-by-mail ballots by 7 p.m. the day before the election

DATE OF EFFECT: Jan. 1, 2027

SB 1004 — Pet Sales

Senate Bill 1004 implements several new consumer protections related to the sales of cats and dogs in Florida.

The new provisions include the following:

• Requiring pet dealers to disclose financing terms before a sale is finalized
• Allowing consumers to terminate financing agreements without penalty if an animal is later found unfit for purchase due to illness or disease
• Requiring pet dealers to provide veterinary medical records documenting examinations, medications, and treatments provided to the animal
• Requiring written notice informing consumers of their rights under Florida law, including the ability to return or exchange a sick animal and seek reimbursement of veterinary costs
• Making violations enforceable under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1073 — School Board Bill of Rights

House Bill 1073 establishes a District School Board Members’ Bill of Rights, which does the following:

• Provides members with access to school district documents necessary to fulfill the duties required under the State Constitution and Florida
• Allows members to consult with the district’s CFO on budget information
• Lets members request documents or information from school staff, subject to legal restrictions and administrative approval
• Grants members the ability to publicly comment on district school board business, except for student/employee disciplinary matters or other issues prohibited by law

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 1074 — Penny Extinction

Senate Bill 1074 lets vendors round cash transactions to the nearest nickel if the penny is no longer available. The businesses are expected to round transactions as follows:

• If the final digit ends in 1 or 2 cents? Round to 0 cents.
• If the final digit ends in 3, 4, 6, or 7 cents? Round to 5 cents.
• If the final digit ends in 8 or 9 cents? Round to 10 cents.

However, this doesn’t apply to noncash transactions, such as gift cards, credit cards or checks.

DATE OF EFFECT: May 11

[A LOOK BACK: What to know after the penny-rounding bill passed the Florida Senate]

HB 1093 — Vertiports

House Bill 1093 includes vertiports and charging systems as qualifying projects for funding under public-private partnerships between state and private entities.

In addition, the law allows the FDOT to fund all of the project costs of a public vertiport if federal funds aren’t available.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1103 — Vessel Restrictions (I)

House Bill 1103 allows local governments to administer provisions of law concerning vessels at risk of becoming derelict and long-term anchoring permits.

Furthermore, the law lets cities and counties regulate vessel speed and operation within 300 feet of a confluence of water bodies presenting a blind corner (up to 1,000 feet) if the extended area is necessary to ensure safe navigation and visibility for approaching vessels.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1113 — Vessel Restrictions (II)

House Bill 1103 allows local governments to authorize a code enforcement officer to administer the provision of law concerning vessels at risk of becoming derelict on state waters.

This can be done by way of local ordinances.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1121 — Disability Services

House Bill 1121 revises aging and disability services provided by the Department of Elder Affairs.

More specifically, the law adds food and nutritional supplements as allowable uses of subsidy payments under the Home Care for the Elderly Program.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 1134 — DEI Policy Ban

Senate Bill 1134 prohibits local governments from funding, promoting, or enacting any DEI policies, initiatives, and programs.

DATE OF EFFECT: Jan. 1, 2027

HB 1137 — Alcoholic Beverage Taxes

House Bill 1137 allows alcoholic beverage distributors to take a deduction from alcoholic beverage excise taxes for standard product losses, including breakage, spoilage, evaporation, and expiration.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 21

HB 1153 — Juvenile Justice

House Bill 1153 includes “juvenile detention officers” and “juvenile probation officers” in multiple state statutes related to correctional officers.

This allows such positions to be eligible for a Medal of Heroism or Valor, as well as subjects a person to first-degree aggravated manslaughter if he/she causes such an officer to die through culpable negligence.

DATE OF EFFECT: March 30

HB 1159 — Sexual Offenses

House Bill 1159 sets up harsher penalties for various sexual offenses. These changes include:

• CSAM: Replacing the term “child pornography” with “child sexual abuse material” in Florida statutes
• Harsher Penalties: Increases penalties for use of a child in a sexual performance; possession and transmission of child porn; creation of generated child porn; possession of a child-like doll; and certain sex acts involving animals
• Mandatory Sentencing: Adults must receive a mandatory minimum sentence for certain offenses related to using children in sexual performances and transmitting child porn
• Repeat Offenders: Raises mandatory minimum sentences for certain repeat sex offenders
• Life Felony: Creates a life felony for aggravated use of a child under 12 years old in a sexual performance
• Generated Child Porn: Creates a second-degree felony for transmitting generated child pornography
• No Pets: Prohibits anyone convicted of certain sex offenses involving animals from owning or working with animals for at least five years

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1201 — Student Health

House Bill 1201 updates statutory provisions regarding the care of students with epilepsy or seizure disorders and expands the definition of schools to include charter schools.

The law also requires schools to display a poster identifying the basic steps of responding to someone having a seizure.

Lastly, the law requires the FDOH to include required education and training for schools in its epilepsy education program.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1217 — Greenhouse Gases

House Bill 1217 prohibits the state and local governments from adopting or enforcing net-zero greenhouse gas emissions policies, including carbon taxes.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1219 — Spoil Island

House Bill 1219 designates a mangrove island within Jupiter Sound as the “Andrew ‘Red’ Harris Spoil Island.”

The island will be named for Andrew “Red” Harris, a native of Jupiter who started his own insurance brokerage agency in 2011 and was killed in a boating accident roughly three years later.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1279 — Teacher Funding

House Bill 1279 lets school districts provide immediate pay incentives to high-performing teachers who choose to teach in lower-performing schools, even without collective bargaining.

The law also allows bonuses for districts and teachers who offer Florida Advanced Courses (FACTs), in line with bonuses offered for other advanced courses like AP, AICE and IB.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 1296 — Union Crackdown

Senate Bill 1296 provides for the decertification of partisan school unions, fast-tracking salary increases that some unions have stalled.

The law requires at least 50% participation in union certification elections, meaning that unions can no longer be recertified through elections with just a handful of voters.

Furthermore, SB 1296 increases penalties for illegal strikes, raising the maximum fine from $20,000 per day to $40,000 per day for such organizations.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1337 — Estate Authority

House Bill 1337 amends several provisions of Florida law to reduce the necessity for court involvement or formal proceedings in the distribution of a decedent.

More specifically, this bill does the following:

• Gives a personal representative more authority with respect to a decedent’s safe deposit box
• Expressly allows a personal representative to institute a proceeding to enforce his/her authority as personal representative
• Increases the amounts of what Florida law considers “small estates,” such that procedures other than formal probate proceedings may be instituted to dispose of the subject property under certain conditions

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1417 — Department of Environmental Protection

House Bill 1417 repeals the Environmental Regulation Commission, which is expected to streamline rulemaking for environmental protection.

This law also requires erosion and sediment control plans for the construction of solar facilities to include stormwater best management practices.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1443 — Parkinson’s Disease Registry

House Bill 1443 requires the Florida Institute for Parkinson’s Disease at USF to set up a statewide Parkinson’s disease registry.

Under this legislation, physicians who diagnose a patient with Parkinson’s disease must report nationally recognized performance measures to the registry beginning on Jan. 1, 2027.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

[BELOW: Here’s what to know about Florida’s ‘license plate’ law]

HB 1445 — Public Records (Parkinson’s Disease Registry)

House Bill 1445 creates a public record exemption for patient-identifying information held in the Parkinson’s disease registry set up by HB 1443.

The exemption will be repealed on Oct. 2, 2031, unless reenacted by lawmakers.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1471 — Terrorist Organizations

House Bill 1471 makes several changes to state law regarding terrorist organizations. Many of those revisions are as follows:

• Terrorist Designations: Creates a process by which the state may designate groups as domestic or foreign terrorist organization if certain conditions are met
• Religious Laws: Courts and tribunals are prohibited from enforcing religious or foreign laws against someone if such application would violate his/her constitutional rights
• Private Schools: Prohibits private schools participating in state scholarship programs from being owned or funded by terrorist groups, terrorist supporters, or criminal gangs
• State Universities: Prevents institutions in the Florida College System from using state funds to support programs that advocate for terrorist organizations
• Visa Students: Public colleges must report information about the current status of students who are attending on a visa if they promote terrorist organizations
• Student Expulsions: If a student promotes a terrorist organization while enrolled at a public university, the student must be immediately expelled and assessed an out-of-state fee

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1473 — Public Records (Terrorism)

House Bill 1473 creates a public record exemption tied to HB 1471 for certain information that would require Florida’s Chief of Domestic Security to provide to the governor and cabinet in certain situations.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1509 — Veterinarian Licensure

House Bill 1509 revises requirements for veterinarian licensure by endorsement.

More specifically, the law removes the requirement that such applicants have held a valid, active out-of-state license for the three years immediately preceding their application.

Instead, such an applicant’s valid, active out-of-state license be “in good standing.”

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 4005 — Naples Airport Authority

House Bill 4005 revises the method of selection for the Naples Airport Authority board from a body appointed by the city to one elected by the residents of Collier County.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 6

HB 4019 — Lake County

House Bill 4019 limits the compensation of healthcare providers for medical services to inmates housed in a Lake County detention center to 110% of the Medicare allowable rate if the provider doesn’t have a contract with the county.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 14

HB 4037 — Pasco County

House Bill 4037 revises term limits for board members on the Pasco County Mosquito Control District from two terms to three terms, starting with the 2026 general election.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 23

HB 4041 — Indian River County

House Bill 4041 limits the compensation of healthcare providers for medical services to inmates housed in an Indian River County detention center to 110% of the Medicare allowable rate if the provider doesn’t have a contract with the county.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 14

HB 4059 — Polk County

House Bill 4059 limits the compensation of healthcare providers for medical services to inmates housed in a Polk County detention center to 110% of the Medicare allowable rate if the provider doesn’t have a contract with the county.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 14

SB 7000 — Public Records (Emergency Shelters)

Senate Bill 7000 continues a public records exemption for addresses and telephone numbers of those who provide public emergency shelter during a storm or catastrophic event.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 23

SB 7006 — Public Records (Florida PSC)

Senate Bill 7006 continues a public records exemption for for portions of hearings conducted by the Florida Public Service Commission.

More specifically, this exemption extends to proprietary confidential business information that is already exempt under state law.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 1

HB 7011 — Public Records (Aquaculture)

House Bill 7011 continues a public records exemption for certain aquaculture records held by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

That exemption refers to the following:

• Shellfish receiving and production records generated by licensed shellfish processing facilities
• Audit records and supporting documentation required for submerged land leases
• Aquaculture production records and receipts generated by certified aquaculture facilities

DATE OF EFFECT: March 27

SB 7016 — Public Records (Loan Programs)

Senate Bill 7016 continues a public records exemption for certain details held by an economic development agency pursuant to the administration of a state/federally funded small business loan program.

More specifically, the exemption protects tax returns, financial information and credit information.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 1

SB 7022 — Public Records (Exam Instruments)

Senate Bill 7022 expands the public records exemption for examination and assessment instruments.

It does so by adding public schools, district school boards, university boards of trustees, the State Board of Education, and the Board of Governors as additional records custodians.

The law also extends the existing public records exemption through 2031.

DATE OF EFFECT: May 11

SB 7026 — Public Records (Trade Secrets)

Senate Bill 7026 continues a public records exemption for trade secrets held by an agency, which are kept confidential.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 23

The 41-year-old man slipped unnoticed past motion detectors in a remote corner of Denver International Airport, which sprawls across open plains and covers an area twice the size of Manhattan. He quickly scaled an 8-foot perimeter fence topped with barbed wire, then walked unobstructed onto the runway where he was fatally struck by a Frontier Airlines jet as it attempted to take off late Friday night.

Surveillance video showed the man getting pulled into an aircraft engine that instantly burst into flames, forcing the pilot to abort the takeoff and evacuate the 224 passengers and seven crew members. Twelve people had minor injuries.

Aviation and risk experts said the Denver runway collision represents a clear security failure. They noted it could have been far worse if the pilot didn't safely stop the aircraft that was traveling 150 miles per hour (241 kph).

“People ought to be concerned. This was really an unprecedented risk. But now there is precedent,” said Eric Chaffee a law professor at Case Western Reserve University and an expert on risk, including in the aviation industry.

“The individual ended up with a bad result. But having somebody basically damage a plane is really quite concerning because of all those lives aboard any given aircraft,” Chaffee added. “There ought to be new measures put into place to prevent this type of tragedy."

15 seconds to scale the fence

Some aviation experts disagreed that new regulations were needed. They said installing blanket surveillance or impregnable defenses around airports was cost prohibitive, given the relative rarity of dangerous events like Friday's collision.

The Denver medical examiner ruled the intruder's death a suicide.

Officials from the city-owned airport promised a review of their protocols and defended their perimeter security program. During a Tuesday news conference, Denver airport CEO Phillip Washington said the airport received “perfect scores” following federal inspections of airfield safety and perimeter integrity.

Airport officials said in response to questions from The Associated Press that annual inspections by the Federal Aviation Administration found two discrepancies over the past decade, both from 2019. One was a response vehicle that got delayed 20 seconds during an aircraft rescue firefighting drill, and the other was a problem with driver training records.

The airport did not answer questions about inspections of the perimeter fence and whether any problems have been found. Those fences are under oversight from a separate federal agency, the Transportation Security Administration.

The FAA referred questions about the perimeter security to TSA. The AP sent emails to TSA seeking comment on Denver’s inspection results and documents detailing its security protocols.

“Safety is something we take very, very seriously,” Washington told reporters Tuesday. He added that making the perimeter fence taller or topping it with razor wire wouldn’t necessarily have made a difference, because someone who was motivated could still find a way in.

During Friday's breach, an alarm from a ground detection sensor was triggered shortly before the intruder entered the airport along its eastern boundary, about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from the terminal. An airport worker watching video surveillance cameras attributed the alarm to a herd of deer — and missed the intruder.

It took the man about 15 seconds to scale the fence and two minutes more to reach the runway, Washington said. Airport officials didn't know he was on the runway until the pilot notified the control tower that the plane hit somebody.

Airport perimeter breaches are a regular problem, with perhaps dozens annually nationwide, said security expert Jeff Price, who managed security at the Denver airport in the 1990s. Denver International Airport is surrounded by about 36 miles (58 kilometers) of fence, which officials say is patrolled by security workers and continuously inspected.

The vast majority of airport trespassers don’t pose a real threat to others, according to Price and other experts. A man died at the Austin airport in 2020 after a Southwest Airlines jet struck him on a runway. Police later ruled it was a suicide.

Worries about copycats

Two law firms notified Denver officials Tuesday that they are preparing to sue on behalf of Frontier passengers, seeking in excess of $10 million in damages. The firms alleged “multiple failures” in the airport perimeter security system, without providing specifics, and said their eight clients suffered mental and physical injuries.

Steven Wallace, former director of accidents investigations at the Federal Aviation Administration, described the Denver fatality as a “one-off event” that would not justify costly improvements to airport perimeter security programs nationwide.

Wallace acknowledged that some perimeter fences can easily be breached. There are no set rules for their construction, and their primary role is to keep out wildlife that could interfere with flight operations, he said.

“I just don’t see how you’re going to think of and deal with every possible way a human could get into an airport,” he said.

Jim Hall, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, suggested there is now a higher likelihood for a repeat of Friday's collision given the potential for copycats. Hall said Denver should consider adding more personnel and surveillance to properly monitor its fence.

“With the amount of cameras and technology that is available, they need to address the problem,” he said. “They've had a failure, and they don’t need to have another one."

Michael Banks' decision, announced in a Fox News interview and later confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security, is the latest leadership shake-up of officials implementing President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown and comes as the Republican administration appears to be recalibrating its approach to its centerpiece policy of mass deportations.

“It’s just time,” Banks was quoted as saying in a report on the Fox News website, which said the resignation was effective immediately. “I feel like I got the ship back on course," he said, referring to what he described as previous chaos at the southern border. Banks said it was “time to enjoy the family and life."

In a statement, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner, Rodney Scott, thanked Banks for his service “during one of the most challenging periods for border security.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It was not clear who will replace Banks. He led an agency at the forefront of Trump's high-profile immigration enforcement efforts but kept a lower profile than some other officials such as Gregory Bovino, a now-retired commander who became a public face of the immigration crackdown.

Border Patrol participated in immigration enforcement operation in US cities

CBP is one of the federal agencies that participated since last year in a series of immigration enforcement operations, carried out primarily in cities governed by Democrats — an effort that triggered a spike in arrests and led to the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis this year at the hands of federal immigration officers.

Banks' resignation takes place two months after Markwayne Mullin, a former Republican senator from Oklahoma, became homeland security secretary. DHS oversees CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly known as ICE.

Banks is stepping down at the same time that ICE is also going through a leadership transition. Todd Lyons, the acting ICE director, is leaving later this month and will be replaced by David Venturella, who worked for years for private contractors before returning to government service.

CBP was established in 2003 and handles customs, immigration, and agricultural regulations to secure U.S. borders. It has a workforce of over 20,000 agents assigned to patrol the more than 6,000 miles of land borders, and an operating budget of $1.4 billion, according to information from its website.

As head of CBP, Banks became a pivotal figure in the Trump administration’s hardline policy to reconfigure immigration law enforcement in the United States. He oversaw the expansion of prosecutions for illegal border crossings, intensified coordination between the Border Patrol and ICE, and supervised the implementation of broader internal enforcement operations within the country’s borders.

Banks had a long career at Border Patrol

Banks returned to the Border Patrol last year after a long agency career that had never landed him in its senior ranks. His star had risen as border czar to Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, during a period when illegal crossings reached record highs and the state launched a multibillion-dollar enforcement surge that led to turf battles with the Biden administration.

Banks kept a relatively low public profile as arrests for illegal crossings that have plunged to their lowest levels since the mid-1960s, a trend that began toward the end of that Democratic administration.

Banks did not appear publicly at the Border Security Expo this month in Phoenix, an annual conference at which government officials update contractors on the state of the border. Scott, who was Banks’ supervisor, is a close ally of Trump border czar Tom Homan and has acted more as the agency’s public face.

Banks, who grew up in a small town in Warner Robins, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta, Georgia, has said his first job was picking peaches at an orchard when he was 14 years old. He worked with migrant farm workers and learned “compassion and humility,” he said, in an interview published last year on the CBP website.

Banks, in the interview, said he was “honored” to have returned to the agency.

“The United States Border Patrol will be unapologetic in its enforcement of our nation’s laws,” he said.

——-

Elliot Spagat in San Diego, California contributed to this report.

That's unnerving workers across sectors, with many fearing what the rapid adoption of AI will mean for their job prospects. Even if AI isn't replacing people directly, some businesses have announced reductions as they redirect money to the technology or tout new ways to streamline operations — raising alarm about what might be left over for payrolls and future openings.

But corporate explanations are often very vague. AI is rarely the sole reason companies cite when taking layoffs, with most still pointing to wider corporate restructuring or macroeconomic headwinds. Some executives have also suggested that, while they’re making cuts to move around resources now, AI and its demand could open up new roles down the road. Still, it’s hard to know if that’s the real driver or just the message a business wants to tell Wall Street.

Regardless, here are some companies that have announced layoffs recently while at least nodding to the role of AI along the way.

Cisco

On Wednesday, Cisco Systems announced plans to cut under 4,000 jobs, or about 5% of its workforce. The announcement arrived the same day the tech giant unveiled record revenue for its third fiscal quarter, amid soaring demand for its AI tools and infrastructure.

CEO Chunk Robbins told employees in a memo that “the companies that will win in the AI era will be those with focus, urgency, and the discipline to continuously shift investment" — and that meant “making hard decisions.” But he said Cisco would also help employees impacted by the cuts find new opportunities, “whether internal or external.”

Block

Financial services provider Block in February moved to lay off more than 4,000 of its 10,000 plus employees. And the parent of payment platforms like Square and Cash App was vocal about reconfiguring to capitalize on AI.

“The core thesis is simple. Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,” CEO Jack Dorsey said in a letter to shareholders at the time. “A significantly smaller team, using the tools we’re building, can do more and do it better."

Dow

Not only tech companies have pointed to AI when initiating layoffs. In January, chemicals maker Dow, Inc. announced plans to cut about 4,500 jobs — as part of broader push to “streamline” operations. That included putting more emphasis on AI and automation.

Pinterest

Also in January, Pinterest said it would lay off under 15% of its workforce as the company pivots more of its money to AI. The image-sharing platform said the cuts were part of broader “transformation initiatives” — which included reallocating the company’s resources to AI-focused roles and prioritizing AI-powered products.

Lufthansa Group

Last fall, Lufthansa Group said it would shed 4,000 jobs by 2030 — pointing to the adoption of AI, digitalization and consolidating work among member airlines.

Cuts at Meta and other big names arrive amid broader AI ramp-up

While perhaps not explicitly mentioning or tying the technology to recent layoff announcements, a host of other big names — including Meta, Microsoft and Amazon — are also cutting thousands of jobs while investing billions of dollars toward AI.

Meta, for example, plans to lay off about 8,000 workers, or about 10% of its workforce, starting next week. When announcing the cuts last month, the Facebook owner more broadly cited the need to offset certain investments and broader efficiency.

Still, the move arrives as Meta continues to ramp up spending on AI infrastructure and highly-paid AI expert hires. And earlier this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said 2026 will be when, “AI starts to dramatically change the way that we work.”

These roles are independent reporters who embed themselves in their assigned communities around the Orlando DMA as exclusive News 6 Community Correspondents, where they report, shoot, and edit major news stories from their beats. 

Beachside: Brevard County

This independent journalist will report, shoot, and edit major stories about the things that matter most to Brevard County, embedding into these coastal communities on Florida’s actively growing Space Coast.

Close to Beachside: West Volusia County

This independent journalist will focus on the things that matter most to West Volusia County and DeLand, Deltona, and as many as 12 other distinct communities centered around the historic St Johns River.  Just 30 minutes from the beach and the hustle of Orlando’s city center, West Volusia County is big enough to matter, but small enough that your coverage can actually have a real impact.

In the Backyard of Theme Parks: Osceola County

This independent journalist will report, shoot, and edit major stories about the things that matter most to St Cloud, Poinciana, and the greater Osceola County area, a rapidly growing area south of Orlando.  To be clear, this is not a theme parks beat, but this reporter would live nearby, making it a great way to spend personal time.  Also, if you’re bilingual in Spanish, this is the beat for you!

TV Station Neighbors: Apopka & North Lake Co.

This embedded journalist will work out of the television station as a home base.  He or she would report, shoot, and edit major stories about the things that matter most to Apopka, the second largest city in Orange County, Florida, and nearby communities in beautiful northern Lake County.

The heart of Florida: Marion County

Sprawling live oaks, rolling hills, grand lakes, and breathtaking glimpses of old Florida bump right into the hustle and bustle of the Sunshine State’s rapid modernization! This journalist will report, shoot, and edit major stories about the things that matter most to Ocala, The Villages, and Marion County, living and working in communities in the heart of Florida’s horse country, and one of the fastest growing areas in the U.S., right along the I-75 corridor.

What kind of reporter are we looking for?

Graham Media Group, in Market #15 Orlando, Fla., is looking for an experienced reporter who is a fair, driven, and tech-savvy journalist who can work quickly and independently to cover a specific set of communities.

This role at WKMG News 6 is perfect for you if you excel at delivering fair, fact-based reporting, using compelling visuals and creative storytelling techniques you create and execute, which can hold people’s attention. 

You are an expert at developing trust rapidly with viewers and sources and can use those relationships to break high-impact local news stories first in the market.  You have a bit of a competitive edge, whether you’re covering breaking news first or asking the first question at every news conference.  And you can balance that competitive spirit with a strong team-first mentality in the newsroom that inspires the teammates around you.

Ultimately, you care deeply about standing up for what’s right, and you’re motivated by a call to serve, delivering relevant, hyper-local reporting that informs our audiences, helps keep them safe, holds others accountable, and improves our communities for the better.

POSITION OVERVIEW

As a News 6 Community Correspondent, you will embed yourself in an assigned geography and its associated county, where you will develop enterprise hard news stories that directly impact people in your area.

You work independently, reporting, shooting, and editing your own stories efficiently every day, with occasional options to partner with experienced photojournalists on certain stories.  You also get to work with a veteran broadcast journalist as your individual coach to help you master your reporter skillset, style, and storytelling craft.

You are comfortable with a rapidly changing workday, and you can quickly master new technologies, from cameras to content and editing software.  You know how to quickly deliver reports and storytelling on TV, vertical social media videos, and YouTube/digital formats.  You’re also game to try new equipment and techniques while still delivering quality high-impact local journalism.

It’s also important to have a strong on-camera presence/delivery that is clear, conversational, and commanding.  Your live experience ranges from successfully gathering relevant information first at breaking scenes to wall-to-wall live coverage, like the kind that accompanies hurricanes.  This live delivery helps you execute well on linear, digital, and streaming platforms.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Report, shoot, and edit your own stories efficiently, every day.
• Be the expert on the news that matters to your assigned geography or associated county.
• Pitch enterprise stories vetted in advance from your assigned beat.
• Produce digital articles, videos, vertical videos, and other visuals/graphics as needed that drive engagement with your stories.
• Report stories that are fair, balanced, and use process language often, when appropriate.
• Ask the right questions in interviews that capture key emotion or insights.
• Synthesize complex documents and break them down into conversational terms.
• Execute creative storytelling standups and teases that include movement and complement your reporting.
• Turn high-quality journalism despite daily deadline pressure.

KEY QUALIFICATIONS

• Several years of successful reporting in 2 television markets preferred; at least one of those was a medium market or a very active market with a high volume of news.
• A college degree in Journalism, Communications, or a related field is preferred.
• Proficiency in multiple newsroom producing and editing systems, social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and verified internet search and research techniques and databases.
• Being bilingual in Spanish is preferred but not required.
• Work a flexible schedule including nights, weekends, and holidays, as news and business needs require.
• Have a valid driver’s license with a safety record acceptable to Graham Media Group.
• Create good solutions for problems or when something doesn’t go as planned.
• Partner productively with platform producers and newsroom leaders.
• Have experience partnering with a photojournalist.

Interested candidates should send their resume and links to their reporting work to WKMGCareers@wkmg.com.

WKMG-TV - Graham Media Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In addition to complying with the requirements of federal law, WKMG-TV/ GMG will comply with applicable state and local laws prohibiting employment discrimination.  Any offer of employment is conditional upon the successful completion of a pre-employment drug screening, investigative background check, employment/education verifications and reference checks.

Aliyah said she has difficulty focusing, and she finds it hard to concentrate when she’s learning from a screen. She’ll watch Netflix in class on her school laptop, hiding her earbuds behind her long, curly hair.

“It’s very hard to get into the mindset of being in school,” Aliyah said.

Aliyah’s mother saw her grades were falling and asked the school to take away her laptop. But she was told that wasn’t possible.

Across the country, parents are voicing concerns about excessive screen time in schools and lobbying educators to go back to pencil and paper. In places like Lower Merion Township, where Aliyah goes to high school, some are taking it even further. Over 600 people in the affluent Philadelphia suburb have signed a petition asking to preserve parents' ability to opt their children out of using digital devices during the school day. The public school district has pushed back, saying it’s not feasible to let hundreds of students opt out of technology that is essential to the curriculum.

Disagreement over how tech is used in the classroom

At a meeting Monday night, school board members said they were considering many ways to respond to parental concerns about technology, but allowing opt-outs was not one of them.

“There is not an option for us to not have technology in schools,” said Lower Merion School Board member Anna Shurak.

The board was meeting to discuss updates to the district’s technology policies, including repealing a policy that allows opt outs. Over 100 people showed up to protest, many wearing buttons that said “Screens Down, Pencils Up.”

Many emphasized they’re not anti-tech — in fact, most parents agree that learning how to responsibly use computers is an essential life skill. They just don’t want tech to dominate the classroom.

“Teaching how to use technology is not the same thing as using technology to teach everything else,” said Sara Sullivan, a parent.

Technology has become inescapable at schools

The debate in Lower Merion raises the question of whether technology has become so intertwined with learning that it’s impossible to opt out. Kids use devices to play educational games, submit their homework, access online resources and write essays — but parents are questioning the value of gamified edtech software.

Subashini Subramanian said the software her second-grade daughter uses for math, DreamBox, incentivizes rushing through levels to gain points. When she encouraged her daughter to think through the problems methodically, the 8-year-old said, “If I go through all the steps, it’s slowing me down. I have to click, click, click.”

At the school board meeting, many parents said they were exhausted from battling their kids over screen time. Adam Washington says his son struggles with screen addiction, so sometimes he takes away his phone or TV — only to find him watching YouTube on the school laptop instead.

“The screen is killing him. It is killing me, and him, together with our relationship,” Washington said.

Another parent at the meeting questioned what students would do instead of using their computers.

“Opting out is not a solution. It’s avoiding the hard work of finding a solution,” Seth Ruderman said.

Parental pushback on edtech has led to change

The pushback on technology in the classroom has gained steam around the country. At least 14 states have proposed laws to limit screen time in schools, according to Ballotpedia, with four states — Alabama, Tennessee, Utah and Iowa — passing such legislation.

In Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest school district said it will ban screens until second grade, require daily caps for screen time per grade, ban YouTube and require an audit of all education technology contracts.

In Vermont, proposed legislation would allow not just parents but also teachers to decline to use classroom tech. Democratic State Rep. Angela Arsenault, a bill co-sponsor, said she’s responding to parents' worries about edtech.

“Parents in many districts and states just aren’t being listened to or not being heard when they ask that their students not be forced to use these products,” Arsenault said.

The Lower Merion school district said it’s listening to community concerns and has already made changes, including blocking some problematic websites flagged by parents.

“We have wonderful teachers who have continuously prioritized human interaction and relationships,” Superintendent Frank Ranelli wrote in a letter to parents. He declined to comment to the AP for this story.

The district said it is looking into possible changes, including stronger cellphone restrictions, not allowing the youngest students to take devices home and installing software to monitor students in class.

However, surveillance software can bring its own problems and poses risks to student privacy. In 2010, the Lower Merion School District paid $610,000 to settle lawsuits by two students who alleged the district had spied on them via the webcam on their school-issued laptops.

Kids want ways to hold themselves accountable

High school student Mia Tatar, 16, raised concerns at the board meeting that there’s been an unintended consequence to the anti-tech backlash. The internet filters on school computers are now so strict, she said she’s been blocked while doing research on appropriate topics for school, like breast cancer.

Mia said students need to learn how to responsibly use technology, and adding filters or getting rid of laptops won’t do that.

“It doesn’t teach kids how to hold themselves accountable and how to be responsible for regulating their own screen time once they’re in the world,” Mia said in an interview.

Her friend Elliot Campbell, 15, said there should be strict limits on screen use in the youngest grades, but students should get more freedom as they get older.

“If we lose our laptops or if we lose the partial freedom we have on them, it’s not going to prepare us for college,” Elliot told board members at the hearing.

Fellow high schooler Joaquin Imaizumi takes a different view. He said it’s “completely unfair” to expect children to regulate their usage of devices that even adults find addictive.

“This isn’t about learning to constrain yourself,” he said in an interview. “We don’t give someone drugs and say, ‘OK, now learn how to deal with this.’”

His biggest concern is that devices make it far too tempting to access AI tools like ChatGPT, which he sees eroding his classmates' ability to think for themselves.

“I’ve seen the atrophy of my peers’ thinking, which is existentially concerning,” Joaquin said.

The influence of AI starts early. A second-grader named Lillian Keshet, who got up to speak at the board meeting, said Google Docs will give her “suggestions” about what to write in class.

“I’m a pretty good writer by myself,” Lillian said. “I don’t need your suggestions, Google!”

___

Associated Press writer Jocelyn Gecker contributed to this report from San Francisco.

___

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Edward Harold King, who left the bench at the end of last year, and Yechiel “Sam” Sprei, a politically connected real estate developer, were arrested by IRS Criminal Investigation agents on wire fraud conspiracy charges after federal prosecutors say they duped a pair of investors into forking over $6.5 million for a bogus property bid and then failed to return all but a fraction of the money.

The allegations are similar to claims made against King in civil lawsuits and in complaints to the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, whose investigation precipitated his resignation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Wang told a judge at the men’s initial court appearance on Wednesday that the transaction described in the criminal case was “one of several schemes that the government has been investigating." Discussing Sprei's finances, the prosecutor said “it’s safe to say many, many millions of dollars” have moved through his bank accounts in the last few years.

King, 72, and Sprei, 37, were released on bail and are scheduled to return to Brooklyn federal court on Monday to finalize their bond arrangements. King and his lawyer, Michael Vitaliano, declined to comment as they left the courthouse. The former judge cut through trees in a nearby park to avoid reporters and photographers. Sprei's lawyer, Ezra Lent, declined to comment.

In court, Wang said that during Sprei’s arrest, the developer lied to federal agents that he had no electronic devices on him other than his cellphone. Agents executing a search warrant seized the phone and then found a second phone while patting Sprei down, Wang said.

If convicted, King and Sprei could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

“As alleged, the defendants stole millions of dollars from investors by cynically leveraging King’s position as a sitting judge to lend false legitimacy to supposed investment opportunities,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said in a statement.

King resigned on Dec. 31, 2025, just three years after becoming a judge, after the Commission on Judicial Conduct informed him that it was investigating complaints mirrored in his criminal case.

Among the complaints, the commission said, were that King was involved in a scheme to defraud real estate investors and that he continued to act as a lawyer — including by accepting funds into his own attorney escrow accounts — despite rules barring full-time judges from practicing law, acting as fiduciaries or engaging in business activities. King denied the allegations.

According to federal prosecutors, King and Sprei pitched investors on fictitious investment opportunities with false promises that their money would be kept safe in attorney escrow accounts and returned on demand if the investors decided to end their involvement.

In November 2024, prosecutors said, Sprei and King offered two investors an opportunity to buy commercial real estate in Freehold, New Jersey, through a bankruptcy auction. In order to proceed, Sprei told them, all bidders first needed to show “proof of liquidity” and that they could do so by depositing $6.5 million in King’s escrow account, prosecutors said. Sprei told the investors that King was both an independent escrow agent and a judge, according to prosecutors.

The investors wired the money to King's account, where they were told it would be left untouched and not spent or transferred without their permission, prosecutors said. Within days, prosecutors said, King and Sprei transferred several million dollars to a bank account in Sprei’s name.

Later, when the investors exercised their right to have the money back, King offered up excuses and alternatives, at one point saying he would have his lawyer deposit the funds with an unspecified court, prosecutors said. King and Sprei eventually returned $1.5 million to the investors, but have yet to cough up the rest, prosecutors said.

King became a judge in 2023. He won a seat on the New York City Civil Court in Brooklyn and was appointed to the state’s main trial court in June 2024.

Prior to that he was in private practice and, according to news articles about his campaign, was appointed by courts to manage assets in real estate disputes. He also served as an administrative law judge for the city's Parking Violations Bureau and as legal counsel to the state assembly.

When the state commission accepted King's resignation, its administrator Robert Tembeckjian called the allegations "so egregious as to warrant his permanent departure from the bench.”

It has all the ingredients for a rich story of love and loss that spans generations and was perfectly adapted to the stage for the Dr. Phillips Center’s Broadway in Orlando series.

The musical is based on the 1996 bestselling novel written by Nicholas Sparks.

It opens with Noah Calhoun, an older man, reading a love story to an older woman, Allie, in a nursing home who has Alzheimer’s disease. As the famous novel and 2004 Blockbuster movie go, the woman is actually Noah’s wife, and he’s desperate for her as he says, to come back to him.

I was fortunate enough to see The Notebook at the Dr. Phillips Center on opening night with one of my closest friends and am so grateful that I did.

I can honestly say this is my favorite musical of the season and now one of my favorite musicals of all time. I would go back and see it over and over and over again if I could.

The songs and singing were powerful, and the acting was absolutely outstanding. The entire cast rightly deserved their lengthy standing ovation after the performance.

The musical switches between their youthful days, when Allie, who came from a wealthy family, was forbidden to see lumberman Noah, to years later when they chose each other and began their life together. Aaron Ramey, an understudy who portrayed older Noah on opening night, did an amazing job bringing to life a never-ending devotion to his beloved wife, portrayed by Sharon Catherine Brown.

At times, there was not a dry eye around me.

Thankfully, there were plenty of lighthearted moments, too. If we can’t laugh, we’ll just cry even more. As someone who’s worked in the news business for 26 years, I pride myself on the ability to keep my feelings in check; a master at compartmentalizing emotions, but man, that lump in my throat was nagging at me, and my eyes were awfully watery.

Whether it’s forbidden love or the mortal realization that comes with aging, it’s a tale that everyone can relate to in one way or another-- some painfully more so than others. I know for some people in the audience who’ve experienced similar love and loss due to this devastating disease, the story was even more heart-wrenching.

As I was leaving the Dr. Phillips Center after the show, I couldn’t help but notice that I was feeling similar to how I felt after seeing Kimberly Akimbo, only times a million. Grateful. Grateful for family, friends, loved ones, and good health. What more could you ask for?

For more information on showtimes and tickets, click here.

[WATCH: ‘The Notebook The Musical’ cast member talks Orlando stop]

Higgo arrived on the first tee box at what he estimated to be 30 seconds after his listed tee time and was assessed a two-stroke penalty. His first swing of the championship turned out to be his third because of the penalty.

The South African still managed a 1-under 69, even though he could only wonder how easily that could have been a 67, the low score of the morning wave.

“I was there on time,” Higgo said. “But the rule is if you’re one second late, you’re late.”

Due to tee off at Aronimink Golf Club at 7:18 a.m., he was told as he arrived he had been penalized. The rules state a golfer must be on the tee box and ready to play at the assigned time, regardless of the order. He was third to play.

Higgo said it's the first time he's been penalized for being late to the tee box. The good news? If he had been five minutes late, he would have been disqualified.

“It wasn’t a surprise,” he said. “I was late. I mean, my caddie was yelling at me to get to the tee.”

The 27-year-old kept his composure and went on to “par” the opening hole, but his 4 became a 6.

“Obviously, it wasn’t great,” he said of being penalized. “I knew that I firstly had to get a driver, and I have to hit a tee shot. It was OK. I just kind of focused on what I need to do. ... I wasn’t going to give up and shoot 80. There was only one thing that I could do, and that was make birdies and pars and hit it where I wanted to hit it.”

Higgo said the whole episode made him focus on making birdies in the first round. He did just that, finishing with four birdies and a bogey for a 69.

He attempted to argue his case to officials after the round, to no avail. He even had the support of his playing partners. He said he believed he was within the time limit, yet conceded he might have been a bit tardy and grudgingly accepted his fate.

He attributed it to his casual approach to being late, though he's not the type who arrives 10 minutes early. He said he could have added time for his walk from the range to the putting green and ultimately the first tee.

“I was obviously too casual,” he said.

Higgo managed to erase the two-stroke penalty on the front nine. He rolled in a birdie putt from about 35 feet on the par-4 third hole and made a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-5 ninth to get back to even par.

After a bogey at the 10th, Higgo made birdie on the two par-3 holes on the back nine, with a 27-foot putt at the 14th and hitting to just over 5 feet and making the putt at the 17th.

“I played great, made a lot of good swings, made some good putts,” said Higgo, who has two PGA Tour victories and six international wins. “Did everything that I could do.”

___

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

After finally getting some relief, drivers are once again feeling pain at the pump.

The average price of gas in Florida jumped eight cents overnight. It went from $4.31 to $4.39. While this still doesn’t beat Florida’s all-time $4.89 a gallon, it is still draining some drivers.

“There are some bills you cannot cut to survive,” Rinaldo Santos is having to adjust to his new normal, which includes searching for gas he can actually afford.

He went to a Wawa in Winter Garden that was significantly cheaper than the rest of the gas in the area. He was filling up his tank for $4.19 a gallon. When News 6 drove through Winter Garden, most gas prices seemed to be over the state average, at a staggering $4.59 a gallon.

“This affects everything,” said Santos, pointing out that the high cost of gas also impacts how much people are able to spend on groceries.

Gina Capoverde has had to completely redo her budget.

“Grocery store money, fun money that we used to have a little extra to do whatever, now it’s just going toward gas,” she explained.

With Memorial Day coming up, travel is on the top of mind for many.

“Rising fuel prices definitely add to the expense, but it’s not causing people to cancel their plans – in many cases, people are just making adjustments," said AAA’s Mark Jenkins.

“I’m actually heading to get my RV out of storage, and it’s diesel and do a 2,500-mile trip,” said Steve Amburgey. When it comes to Steve, he says gas is worth the expense.

“I’m willing to pay the sacrifice,” said Amburgey.

Fouls are up so far in the first week of the WNBA season with teams averaging 21.6 fouls — that's up just under two per game from the same point last year (19.9). That number dropped over the course of the year with 17.5 fouls on average per game for each team.

“Fouls are up. I don't think if we are going to get rid of rough play that we saw in previous seasons there is any other outcome other than at the beginning fouls will be up," said Monty McCutchen, who is the head of WNBA officiating, on a Zoom call with The Associated Press. "That's a fairly safe assumption.”

The increased fouls aren’t really leading a major increase in free throws with 21.9 being attempted this season to 21.4 last year at this point. By the end of the year, 18.2 free throws were attempted by each team on average.

The WNBA formed an officiating task force in the offseason as part of the “state of the game” group that included players and coaches. The hope was to clean up some of the league’s growing concerns around physicality.

“What came out of our meetings was we didn’t really change any rules or change an interpretation,” said Sue Blauch, who is the head of referee performance and development for the WNBA. “When we drilled down to the nitty gritty, it came down to we needed to strictly enforce our current guidelines. So that’s what you’re seeing more of. A more stricter enforcement of freedom of movement. That will allow the game to open up and the players to showcase their talents.”

McCutchen said the taskforce spent many hours discussing what players, coaches and the league wanted from officials.

“That amount of hours gives clarity to Sue on the day-to-day portion for teaching our staff," he said. "There will be some over calibration when we try to impart freedom of movement. I think we’ve experienced a little bit of that.”

McCutchen said the officiating group will continue to meet frequently to make sure that “our alignment can become finer and finer as we move into our best parts of our season.”

Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve is on the task force and knows it will take a little bit of time to get everyone on the same page.

“Obviously, we’ll continue to work with the league on getting right because we’re not the only team sitting here wondering why everything is a foul,” she said.

Increased fouls also lead to longer games. The New York Liberty’s overtime win over Washington went for 2 hours, 41 minutes.

“It disrupts everyone’s flow,” Liberty star Breanna Stewart said. “This game was 2 hours and 41 minutes long. That’s insane. … I know it’s going to take time of, like, figuring out what’s the standard of what’s going to be called, but there’s calls that are being called that are unnecessary on both sides, and then there’s no flow.”

Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale also noticed a difference so far.

“I guess we just have to adapt, because that’s going to happen," she said. "It’s been a long time since I had three fouls in the first half and almost fouling out. I guess show our hands and see what we can do.”

Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark got a technical foul during the team's win over Los Angeles on Wednesday night. After the game, she praised the officials for their efforts.

“I think the refs are doing a tremendous job. I deserved the technical they gave me. But it’s great for the game," she said. 'They’re going to keep the hands off; they’re going to make the play be good. Obviously they called a lot of fouls tonight but it’s going to even out. So, you’ve got to give them credit. They’re doing the right thing.”

___

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Olympia Outten was among 11 people on the charter flight that had taken off from the Bahamas before going down.

According to Outten, the pilot lost sight of land during a storm, and the aircraft had engine trouble before it went down.

“I said, ‘How are you going to put the plane in the water? If you put the plane in the water, how are we going to live?” Outten said.

The impact injured many of the passengers, and the aircraft started filling with water.

“All I saw was that water around us and my niece, she was on the wing. She told me, ‘Auntie, swim!’ I said ‘I can’t swim,’” Outten said.

Everyone was able to make it to a life raft, which was adrift for more than five hours before the group was rescued.

“When I saw the plane, I jumped for joy in all of my heart. I waved my hands in the air and said ‘Thank you, Jesus,” Outten said.

U.S. Air Force pilots from the 920th Rescue Wing spotted the life raft after a routine training mission nearby.

All 11 people onboard the aircraft were taken to Holmes Regional Medical Center and survived their injuries.

“They saved us, and they saved me and my family,” Outten said. “If it wasn’t for them, we probably would still be there right now.”

🎭 35th Annual Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival

May 12 – May 25| Loch Haven Park, Orlando

The Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival returns for its 35th year with more than 1,000 performances spanning theatre, comedy, dance, storytelling, musicals, and international acts. This year’s theme, “35 Years Weird,” celebrates the festival’s bold and creative spirit. Festivalgoers can enjoy outdoor entertainment on the Fringe Lawn, visual art displays, themed events, Kids Fringe activities, poetry slams, and exciting new additions, including FringeMart and the Eco-Fringe Expo. As the longest-running Fringe festival in the United States, Orlando Fringe continues to unite artists and audiences from around the world.

🚴 5th Annual Sanford’s Ride to Freedom

Saturday, May 16| 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.

More than just a bike ride, Sanford’s Ride to Freedom is a powerful journey through Central Florida’s rich history in honor of Florida’s Emancipation Day. Riders will travel through historically significant communities, including Georgetown, Goldsboro, Bookertown, and Midway while taking in scenic landmarks like the Sanford Riverwalk and Sanford/Orlando International Airport. Every registered participant receives a complimentary event shirt, snacks, drinks, and lunch during the historical celebration at Hopper’s Academy. The family-friendly 12-mile route is perfect for all ages and skill levels.

🏖️ Ocala’s First-Ever Sand Sculpture Competition & Sand and Sun Festival

Saturday, May 16 | 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. | Citizens’ Circle, Downtown Ocala

Ocala Cultural Arts is bringing the beach to downtown Ocala for the very first Sand and Sun Festival. Nationally acclaimed professional sand sculptors will create giant works of art while visitors enjoy live music, artisan vendors, food trucks, and community performances throughout the day. Kids can join the fun at the Sandcastle Playground, where they can build their own sandy masterpieces. Guests will also have the chance to vote for their favorite sculpture in the Fan Favorite competition. This free event promises a full day of creativity and family fun.

🌺 Military & Veterans Appreciation Day at the Gardens

Saturday, May 16 | 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Active-duty military members and veterans are invited to enjoy free admission during Military & Veterans Appreciation Day at the Gardens. This special event honors those who have served by offering a relaxing day surrounded by beautiful landscapes and peaceful scenery. It’s a chance for military families and veterans to unwind, recharge, and be celebrated for their dedication and service.

⚽ Orlando City SC vs. Atlanta United FC

Saturday, May 16| Kickoff at 7:30 p.m. | Inter&Co Stadium, Orlando

Get ready for big-time energy and nonstop soccer action as Orlando City takes on Atlanta United Saturday night. Fans can expect an electric atmosphere inside Inter&Co Stadium filled with excitement, passionate supporters, and family-friendly entertainment. Whether you’re a longtime soccer fan or just looking for a fun night out, this matchup is sure to deliver plenty of thrills.

🎎 Asian Cultural Festival

Sunday, May 17 | 3 p.m. – 8 p.m. | Ocoee Lakeshore Center at Bill Breeze Park

The Asian American Heritage Council of Central Florida hosts its annual Asian Cultural Festival, celebrating the rich traditions and talents of Asian American communities across the region. Guests can experience cultural performances, music, dance, art, and delicious cuisine representing China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and more. This free community event offers a vibrant and engaging celebration of culture, diversity, and heritage for the entire family.

“The Notebook” tells the tear-jerking love story of Allie and Noah. They’re both from different worlds, but despite all of life’s challenges to pull them apart, their journeys lead them back to each other.

The musical first opened on Broadway in 2024. That same year, it was announced that there would be a North American tour, which started in 2025.

The show will be inside Walt Disney Theater at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, May 12–17.

Click here for ticket information.

After Orlando, the musical will head to Tampa. It will be back in Florida next year in March for stops in Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers.

While the authors did not blame the USAID cuts for the increase in violence, they said the findings demonstrate that “large-scale, sudden aid cuts can destabilize fragile settings.” They, however, added that this is not evidence that more aid reduces conflict, instead it only shows “the effect of a sudden and unexpected disruption.”

For many years, USAID had provided crucial support to African countries wrecked by conflict and violence. By eliminating more than 90% of foreign aid contracts, the Trump administration effectively cut some $60 billion in funding.

The study by researchers from several universities in Europe and the United States said the abrupt withdrawal of USAID resources also interrupted contracts, staffing and aid procurement.

“The abrupt withdrawal of USAID led to a significant and sustained increase in conflict across Africa’s most USAID-dependent regions,” said the study, published in the Science journal.

The researchers said they examined whether the abrupt shutdown of USAID was followed by an increase in violence in regions of Africa that had historically received the most support and found that there was a correlation.

Africa is facing a threat from jihadis more than any other region in the world, conflict experts say. The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data, or ACLED, said Wednesday in a new report that jihadis in the region have been more involved in violence across the board and have been increasingly targeting civilians in the last four years.

USAID had long been the key funding partner for many African countries, helping to provide funding that helped governments and aid groups respond to multiple crises across different sectors.

In Nigeria for example, USAID support had helped victims of the militant Boko Haram group, which emerged in 2002. In Ethiopia's fragile Tigray region, officials relied heavily on U.S. funds as full-scale recovery efforts were yet to start after the war there killed hundreds of thousands.

And in northern Ivory Coast, a front line of the global fight against extremism, USAID had made significant financial commitments to counter the spread of al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.

The findings from the study underscore the lasting impact of funding cuts, said Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health, who was not among the authors of the study.

“The lasting problem with the shuttering of USAID is likely going to be that for much of its conflict prevention work, even if you put back all the money ... the experience is gone,” Raymond said.

Also, some USAID programs may have helped prevent spillover from conflict zones, said Ladd Serwat, senior Africa analyst at ACLED.

“We now see increasing insurgency and spillover, so some of those programs may have supported these communities from insurgent threats, and now they are no longer active,” said Serwat.

A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit also heard arguments from a government attorney who urged them to reverse lower-court decisions in favor of four law firms. The panel didn't specify how or when it would rule after Thursday's two-hour hearing.

Paul Clement, who represented the law firms, said Trump impermissibly punished the firms because of their relationships with clients and attorneys who “raised the president’s ire.”

“The executive orders here strike at the heart of the First Amendment and the ability of lawyers to zealously represent their clients,” he said. “Lawyers cannot zealously represent their clients while walking on eggshells for fear of reprisals.”

Deputy Associate Attorney General Abhishek Kambli accused district court judges of rushing to judgment and overstepping their authority because they “clearly didn't like the content” of Trump's executive orders.

“President Trump is not beneath the law," Kambli said. "He is entitled to the benefit of the Supreme Court and this court's precedent on his authority to decide matters such as security clearance determinations and investigating anti-discrimination.”

District court judges in Washington, D.C., consistently ruled that the White House cannot enforce Trump's executive orders against the firms of Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, Susman Godfrey and WilmerHale. Trump sanctioned firms with attorneys who had done work that Trump opposed or had been associated with prosecutors who investigated the Republican president.

Trump ordered the suspension of security clearances for attorneys at the targeted firms, the termination of federal contracts and the barring of employees from federal buildings. Other major firms sought to avert orders by preemptively reaching settlements that required them to collectively dedicate hundreds of millions of dollars in free legal services in support of causes supported by the Trump administration.

The new inductees into the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress include Swift’s blockbuster 2014 pop album “1989,” Beyoncé’s era-defining 2008 anthem “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” Khan’s genre-blending hit “I Feel for You,” Vince Gill’s emotional ballad “Go Rest High on That Mountain” and The Go-Go’s groundbreaking debut album “Beauty and the Beat.”

They were among the 25 recordings entering the archive in the class of 2026, acting Librarian of Congress Robert Newlen announced Thursday. The selections were chosen for their “cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage.”

“Music and recorded sound are essential, wonderful parts of our daily lives and our national heritage,” Newlen said in a statement. “The National Recording Registry works to preserve our national playlist for generations to come.”

Other recordings entering the registry include Ray Charles’ groundbreaking country crossover album “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music,” Reba McEntire’s “Rumor Has It,” Rosanne Cash’s “The Wheel” and Weezer’s self-titled debut known as “The Blue Album.”

Classic singles from Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Byrds, José Feliciano and Paul Anka also earned inclusion.

Among the more unconventional selections are the soundtrack to the influential 1993 video game "Doom" and the radio broadcast of “The Fight of the Century,” the legendary 1971 heavyweight boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

The oldest recording in this year’s class is Spike Jones and His City Slickers’ 1944 single “Cocktails for Two.” The newest is Swift’s “1989.”

This year also marks the first recordings by Swift and Beyoncé selected for the registry. The Library of Congress said more than 3,000 public nominations were submitted for consideration this year.

The justices ruled unanimously in favor of Shawn Montgomery, whose parked vehicle was hit by a speeding truck driver on an Illinois highway in 2017. He wants to sue C.H. Robinson, the country’s largest freight broker by size, over its role in putting the driver on the road despite what he called “serious red flags.”

The decision does not mean Montgomery will necessarily win the lawsuit, which the company is contesting. But the ruling opens the door to increased liability for freight brokers, a key part of the industry.

The Trump administration and companies such as Amazon had argued that letting the suit go forward would expose logistics companies to liability under a “patchwork” of state laws.

The Transportation Intermediaries Association, an industry group, said the decision was “deeply disappointing.”

“This is like asking travel agents to evaluate the safety of a given airline despite the fact that the airline has been licensed to fly by the federal government,” said Chris Burroughs, the group's president and CEO. “We are working with our members to assess potential next steps to mitigate the consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision."

Montgomery's lawyers say the trucker had been cited for careless driving in another crash months earlier and that the carrier he worked for had been involved with at least three crashes in a span of about five months. Montgomery's lawsuit said C.H. Robinson should share liability because it hired the carrier despite those problems.

Montgomery's appeal was backed by more than two dozen states. They said a win for him would help bolster safety in an industry that moves billions of tons of goods across billions of miles every year.

The company argued the suit, filed under state law, must be tossed out because brokers rely on the federal government to regulate carriers and federal law trumps state law.

But in an opinion by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Supreme Court disagreed. The justices found Montgomery's claims can move forward because they fall under an exception for safety regulations. The high court overturned a lower-court ruling in the company's favor.

The decision could increase insurance costs for freight brokers that eventually “cascade through the economy" and result in higher prices for consumers, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a concurrence joined by Justice Samuel Alito.

Still, “truck safety is a matter of life and death," Kavanaugh wrote.

C.H. Robinson, which is based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, pointed to another part of his concurrence, where he said the decision does not mean brokers will be “routinely subject” to lawsuits.

“We will keep working with policymakers, advocates, carriers, our customers, and others across the industry to strengthen the national safety system and advance practices that reduce accidents on America’s roads," said Dorothy Capers, the company's chief legal officer.

The ruling could have far reaching effects if brokers can be held liable for the actions of the trucking companies they hire, said Brian Watt, who runs a freight logistics company in Florida.

Brokers will now have to focus more on the safety records of the truckers they contract with to haul all kinds of goods, including hazardous materials, instead of just looking for the cheapest and fastest option.

“More than 28,000 federally licensed brokers currently operate in the United States with virtually no meaningful federal safety oversight regarding how they select carriers,” Watt said in a post on LinkedIn. He said there are tougher standards for brokers that arrange shipments out of ports and on railroads, but that highway shipments face fewer restrictions.

The Transportation Department has been cracking down on the trucking industry over the past year by trying to force unqualified drivers, trucking companies and schools out of the industry.

___

Associated Press writer Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.

The bipartisan support for the measure comes at a time when federal closures have become longer and more frequent, frustrating lawmakers who say there should be punishment when Congress fails at its most basic legislative duty.

Under the resolution, senators’ pay would be withheld by the secretary of the Senate whenever a government shutdown affects one or more agencies, then released once funding is restored. It will take effect the day after the Nov. 3 general election and does not apply to the House.

“Shutting down government should not be our default solution to our refusal to work out our issues and our differences,” said Sen. John Kennedy, the bill’s sponsor, in a floor speech Wednesday.

“This is about putting our money where our mouth is,” said Kennedy, R-La.

Two shutdowns in the past year created significant financial hardship for tens of thousands of federal workers, particularly at the Department of Homeland Security. The department reopened last month after a 76-day partial shutdown, the longest agency funding lapse in history.

The DHS shutdown came just a few months after a 43-day lapse of the entire federal government, which was the longest such closure on record.

The Constitution stipulates that lawmakers must be paid so they have received salaries during shutdowns even as federal workers went without paychecks. When the full government shutdown began in October amid a dispute over health care subsidies, Sen. Lindsey Graham proposed a constitutional amendment to require members to forfeit their paychecks when the government is closed.

“If members of Congress had to forfeit their pay during government shutdowns, there would be fewer shutdowns and they would end quicker,” Graham, R-S.C., said at the time.

Graham said his legislation was the most “constitutionally sound” way to deal with the problem, but the process would have been much more laborious as three-fourths of states must ratify an amendment.

Lawmakers in previous shutdowns have often pledged to forgo their paychecks while federal workers went unpaid. Senators earn an annual salary of $174,000, but many are independently wealthy.

Kennedy told reporters Wednesday that he pushed his measure to ensure there is “shared sacrifice” during shutdowns. He added that it does not go as far as he would like, but that it’s a start.

Asked why it does not extend to the other chamber of Congress, Kennedy said “the House’s business is the House’s business” while also touching on the tensions between the Senate and House.

“There’s a very strong undercurrent of animosity among some of my friends in the House,” Kennedy said.

“It’s quickly becoming like two kids fighting in the back of a minivan,” he said.

Imagine what that can do to a human body. Now, imagine that it’s almost completely exempt from gun regulations.

How can that be? Well, under federal and most state laws, many antique or replica guns aren’t technically considered firearms. In most places, even convicted felons can own them.

“I suspect the average judge would be surprised to find that out,” says Second Amendment scholar and gun-rights attorney Dave Hardy, himself the proud owner of two Civil War-era long guns.

During a National Rifle Association event back in 2000, the late actor Charlton Heston famously hoisted a flintlock — the single-shot weapon that won the Revolution and was still in wide use a half century after Congress debated the Second Amendment — into the air and said the Democrats would have to take it “from my cold, dead hands.”

He needn’t have worried.

A blast from the past

During debate over the Gun Control Act of 1968, Sen. John Goodwin Tower argued that flintlocks and many other antique or replica guns should be exempt from regulation.

The Texas Republican said it was needed “to relieve an unnecessarily burdensome problem for serious collectors of antique firearms and for historians and museums.” Treating all weapons the same, he argued, would unfairly target collector items “which have little, if any, practical use as a firearm in the modern connotation.”

The provision defines an antique as any weapon “with a matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar type of ignition system” manufactured “in or before 1898” — as long as it hasn't been modified to fire modern ammunition. This generally means muzzleloaders that use black powder or a black powder substitute, though some early cartridge guns are included.

You can even own and fire a cannon.

Don't go off half cocked

Most states have adopted that language either verbatim or by direct reference to the federal provision. But, as military historian Patrick Luther says, “it’s a patchwork.”

“I live in NY (New York) and bought a civil war musket,” Luther, a Marine veteran with the website milsurpia.com, said in an email. “It was very similar to buying a regular firearm. Buying the blackpowder for the rifle felt not much different than buying a T-shirt.”

At least three states — Hawaii, Ohio and North Dakota — treat a smoothbore musket the same as an AK-47 or AR-15. Reenactor Jason Monhollen, an officer in the U.S. Army, says that’s “comparing apples and oranges.”

“It seems silly to put restriction on something that would be such a terrible weapon if you wanted to, you know, kill people,” says Monhollen, who portrays a private and carries a French Charleville musket in the 2nd North Carolina Regiment. “There’s just much better things. You can kill more people quickly with a car than you can with a musket.”

But these weapons are still deadly.

Not just a toy

Maryland changed its law after a convicted sex offender killed his ex-girlfriend with a six-shot, .44-caliber cap and ball revolver purchased on the internet.

“It may have loaded like an 1851 weapon, but it fired like a 2017 manufactured modern handgun that was capable of lethal force,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy told reporters at the time.

Shadé's Law, passed in 2019, now prohibits people convicted of certain violent crimes from buying or possessing such weapons. But many states allow convicted felons to have these weapons; West Virginia makes an exception for people under an active protective order.

Some states’ laws are confusing or vague.

Montana law mentions “antique or replica arms” in a code regulating firearms and ammunition manufactured in the state. But nowhere in the code are those weapons defined.

Wisconsin uses the federal definition, but the only reference comes in a law regarding “look-alike” firearms.

And, of course, many local ordinances, like the one in Wake County, North Carolina, prohibit the firing of any “barreled weapon capable of discharging projectiles.” In many jurisdictions, it’s illegal to brandish even a toy gun at someone.

“Federal law does not exclude antique firearms from location-based restrictions,” Austin Gunderson, counsel for the North Dakota Legislative Council, said in an email.

Stray bullets

Sometimes, attempts to strengthen gun laws have had unintended consequences.

The attorney general of New Jersey, one of the 13 original states, recently had to offer guidance when a new law targeting ghost guns seemed to require all firearms — including antiques and even air guns — to have serial numbers.

When New York toughened its gun laws in 2022, it required background checks for transfers and purchases of antique guns, and barred firearms of any kind from certain “sensitive places” like parks and museum sites — just the kinds of places reenactors appear most.

An exemption was later carved out for people “lawfully engaged in historical reenactments, educational programming involving historical weapons of warfare, or motion picture or theatrical productions.” But that hasn’t stopped out-of-state reenactors from worrying their muskets will be confiscated at the George Washington Bridge, says Justin Costantino, adjutant of the Long Island Companies of the 3rd New York Regiment.

“If the New York State Police department wants to charge me with weapons possession while I’m wearing a cocked hat and carrying around a Charleville ’66,” says Costantino, a graduate student in history, “then please, don’t call my lawyer. Call the New York Post!”

Then again, Costantino hates to hear a mother at a reenactment tell her child, “Oh, no. Don’t worry, sweetie. It’s not real.”

“It’s not really loaded, but it is really a weapon,” he says. “It’s really gunpowder. And if you stand close to it, you’ll feel the kind of breath of hot air ... They’re still things that we have to take very seriously, and you have to be safe with.”

___

AP Writer Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, contributed to this report.

U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy's Wednesday ruling is the latest setback for the U.S. Department of Justice, where at least seven other federal courts have agreed to quash or limit the expansive civil subpoenas sent to more than 20 doctors and hospitals last summer.

McElroy's decision also echoed similar concerns raised by judges surrounding the expansive scope of the subpoenas, describing the Justice Department as having “immense prosecutorial authority and discretion” but no longer trustworthy it will enforce its power fairly and honestly.

“DOJ has proven unworthy of this trust at every point in this case,” McElroy wrote.

A DOJ spokesperson said Thursday that they would appeal and continue with their investigations.

“The Rhode Island court’s attack on the professionalism and integrity of DOJ attorneys is outrageous and unjustified,” the department said.

According to the subpoenas, the DOJ had demanded Rhode Island Hospital hand over the birth dates, Social Security numbers and addresses of every patient who received transgender care over the past five years. It also included instructions to provide all documents detailing adverse side effects in minor patients who received gender-related care, assessments that formed the basis for prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy, as well as patient intake forms and guardian authorization.

The Justice Department has repeatedly argued that the information sought in the subpoenas is needed to investigate possible fraud or unlawful off-label promotion of drugs. Most recently during a hearing in Rhode Island, the DOJ said that the investigation was taking place in the Northern District of Texas, where the court's chief judge ordered Rhode Island Hospital to comply with the subpoena before McElroy's decision voided the subpoena.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brantley Mayers told McElroy during the hearing that the DOJ is investigating potential “misbranding” of drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, such as puberty blockers for young people. While off-label prescribing is legal, Mayers said that the DOJ is concerned that pharmaceutical companies are providing “financial incentives” to Rhode Island doctors to prescribe the drugs.

The subpoenas were crucial in getting the names of children and their families so the DOJ could interview them.

McElroy rejected that argument.

"The administration has publicly characterized gender-affirming care for minors as abuse, directed the DOJ to bring its practice to an end, and celebrated when hospitals curtailed such programs as a result of this subpoena campaign," McElroy wrote.

The Rhode Island decision is the latest development in the fight over transgender youth health records. Earlier this week, 11 families filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to block the DOJ from obtaining the documents. The lawsuit, filed in Maryland’s federal court, is backed by families with transgender children who have received care from hospitals across the U.S.

And separately, a New York hospital announced that it received a grand jury subpoena from federal prosecutors in Texas seeking information about children who received gender-affirming care and the medical providers who administered it.

NYU Langone is the first hospital system to publicly acknowledge receiving a subpoena for such records as part of a federal criminal investigation. But the institution said in its statement Tuesday it was one of several that received a subpoena out of the Northern District of Texas on May 7. It said it was deciding on how to respond.

“The government cannot use its subpoena power to intimidate families out of seeking lawful medical care. To trans and gender-diverse children and their families, we want you to know that you are valued, you are not alone,” Kevin Love Hubbard, an attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee of Rhode Island, who represented the plaintiffs in the case, said in a statement.

Gender-affirming care includes a range of medical and mental health services to support a person’s gender identity, including when it’s different from the sex they were assigned at birth. It may include counseling, medications that block puberty, hormone therapy to produce physical changes or surgeries to transform chests and genitals, although those are rare for minors.

Most major medical groups say access to the treatment is important for those with gender dysphoria and see gender as existing along a spectrum.

At least 27 states have adopted laws restricting or banning the care for minors, while several others have adopted laws or policies protecting access to transgender health care.

The exchange at a highly anticipated summit in Beijing underscored just how far apart Trump and Xi still are on thorny issues, including the war in Iran, trade disputes and Washington's relations with Taiwan, which is self-ruled but which China claims as part of its territory.

It also suggested that Trump’s three-day visit to China is likely to be longer on pageantry and symbolism than substantive political or economic breakthroughs.

The pair met for about two hours behind closed doors at the Great Hall of the People after an elaborate welcome ceremony featuring booming cannons, a band playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and China’s national anthem, and hundreds of schoolchildren jumping and waving flowers and American and Chinese flags.

According to a post on X by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, Xi told Trump that “the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-U.S. relations.”

"If it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability. Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy,” she wrote.

That comment followed a brief public exchange before the meeting began in which Trump told Xi: “You’re a great leader. Sometimes people don’t like me saying it, but I say it anyway, because it’s true.”

“It’s an honor to be your friend,” Trump said before promising that the U.S.-China relationship "is going to be better than ever before.”

Trump later told Fox News' Sean Hannity in an interview that Xi said during their conversations that he “would like to be of help” in negotiating an end to the Iran war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz to oil shipments.

Xi was far more stark in his opening public remarks, expressing hope that the U.S. and China could avoid conflict and asking “whether the two countries can transcend the ‘Thucydides Trap’ and forge a new model for relations between major powers.”

That's a term, popular in foreign policy studies, referring to the idea that when a rising power threatens to displace an established one, the result is often war. Xi has used the term for years, but using it as Trump offered optimism was noteworthy and foreshadowed his closed-door comments on Taiwan.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio later said U.S. policy toward Taiwan was “unchanged” but warned that it would be “a terrible mistake” for China to take Taiwan by force.

“They always raise it on their side. We always make clear our position, and we move on to the other topics,” Rubio, who is traveling with the president, said in an interview with NBC News.

Both emphasized the importance of China-US relations

After their meeting, Xi took Trump on a tour of the Temple of Heaven, then hosted a state banquet for him. The Chinese leader used his evening toast to note that he and Trump had kept U.S.-China relations “generally stable” in a turbulent world.

“Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand,” Xi said, referring to Trump’s political movement. “We can help each other succeed and advance the well-being of the whole world.”

In his toast, Trump said his visit had been “a great honor” punctuated by a “fantastic" day. He said matters “all good for the United States and China” were discussed.

Trump also said Xi would make a reciprocal visit to the White House on Sept. 24 — a date not previously announced.

The positive tone was reflected in the White House assessment of the earlier meetings, which said both leaders had touched on ways to enhance economic cooperation, including expanding market access for American businesses in China and increasing Chinese investment into U.S. industries.

The White House readout did not mention Taiwan directly, but, in relation to Iran, said both sides had agreed that the strait must remain open. The strait’s closure has stranded tankers and caused energy prices to spike, threatening global economic growth.

The war is dominating Trump's domestic agenda and stoking fears about the prospect of a weakening U.S. economy as November’s midterm elections — when Republicans hope to maintain control of Congress — approach.

China is the largest purchaser of Iranian oil, and Rubio said in an interview with Fox News that Trump would make the case for Beijing to exert its influence on Iran, noting that administration officials would underscore that “economies are melting down because of this crisis,” which means consumers are “buying less Chinese product.”

It's not clear if Trump persuaded Xi to wield his influence. The White House instead said Xi opposed any implementation of tolls on vessels crossing the strait — as Iran has proposed — and expressed interest in China potentially purchasing more U.S. oil to reduce Chinese dependence on Gulf oil in the future.

When asked Thursday at a congressional hearing whether China is providing intelligence to Iran to help it target U.S. forces, Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, would not discuss intelligence but said the Iranian military "is largely made up of Russian and Chinese equipment.”

Taiwan issues remain contentious

Xi's warning about Taiwan reflects China's displeasure with a U.S. plan to sell weapons to the island. The Trump administration has approved an $11 billion arms package for Taiwan, but has yet to begin fulfilling it.

The U.S. has a longstanding commitment to help the island defend itself if attacked, but Trump has shown greater ambivalence toward Taiwan, fueling speculation about whether the president could be persuaded to dial back American support.

Taiwan said after the Xi-Trump meeting that it was grateful for Washington's “long-term support.”

“The government views all actions that contribute to regional stability and the management of potential risks from authoritarian expansion positively,” Michelle Lee, a spokesperson for Taiwan’s premier, told reporters. She added that the U.S. “has also repeatedly reiterated its firm and clear position of support for Taiwan.”

US still hopes to secure trade wins

The White House has insisted that Trump would not be making the trip without an eye toward securing concrete results, suggesting there could be coming announcements on trade.

That likely includes a Chinese commitment to buy U.S. soybeans, beef and aircraft. Trump told Fox News that Xi had indicated a commitment to buying 200 jets from Boeing.

Trump administration officials also want to work toward establishing a board of trade with China to address commercial differences between the countries.

Trump and Xi discussed trade on Thursday, with Xi saying that China’s door of opportunity will open wider. Xi also met with a collection of U.S. business leaders who accompanied Trump.

The U.S. and China reached a trade truce last year that calmed each side’s threats to impose steep tariffs on the other. The White House says there have been ongoing discussions and mutual interest in extending the agreement.

The leaders also discussed further stemming the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals into the United States and increasing Chinese purchases of U.S. agricultural products, according to the White House.

___

Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim, Darlene Superville and Michelle L. Price in Washington, Simina Mistreanu in Bangkok and Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

Raymond Johnson, 52, was pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m. Thursday following a three-drug injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, prison officials said.

He was sentenced to death for killing 24-year-old Brooke Whitaker and her 7-month-old daughter, Kya, in June 2007.

“To Brooke and Kya and your family, I want to apologize for my actions and the pain I caused you,” Johnson said while strapped to a gurney inside the death chamber. “I hope people can speak your names without my name attached to it. I hurt you. One day, I hope you can forgive me.”

Johnson's spiritual advisor, Kurt Borgmann, read Scripture in the chamber during the execution, which lasted about 11 minutes. A tear rolled out of Johnson’s left eye as Borgmann began to speak. A doctor entered the room and declared Johnson unconscious about six minutes after the first drugs began to flow.

Oklahoma uses the sedative midazolam, followed by vecuronium bromide to halt breathing and potassium chloride to stop the heart.

Angie Short, one of Whitaker's aunt, criticized the delays in an execution originally scheduled for May 2024, saying Whitaker's mom died about five months after that.

“Because of the delays, my sister didn't get to witness justice,” Short said. “This couldn't bring them back. But we'll no longer have to see his face on TV. He's no longer associated with Brooke and Kya. Now I think we can finally begin to heal after 20 years.”

Prosecutors said Johnson and Whitaker had been arguing at her home in Tulsa before he repeatedly hit her over the head with a metal claw hammer. Whitaker’s skull was fractured and she had more than 20 lacerations on her face and scalp. But she was still conscious and begged Johnson to spare her and Kya, who was sleeping in a bedroom, prosecutors said in documents prepared for Johnson’s clemency hearing in April.

“She begged him to call 911. She begged him to let her mom come get baby Kya. She begged him to think of her children,” the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said. Whitaker had three other children.

Johnson retrieved a gas can from a tool shed in the backyard, doused Whitaker and the house with gasoline, lit a dish towel on fire, threw it at Whitaker and left, the attorney general’s office said. Whitaker died from head injuries and smoke inhalation while her daughter died from severe burns.

“I pray that Brooke’s and Kya’s family find some measure of peace today after enduring unimaginable pain and grief for nearly two decades,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement.

Johnson’s attorneys did not file a last-minute appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution. His attorneys unsuccessfully argued in earlier appeals that Johnson’s arrest was illegal, police coerced his confession from him and that his trial lawyer conceded his guilt in Whitaker’s death without his permission.

In April, Oklahoma’s five-member Pardon and Parole Board voted unanimously to deny Johnson clemency. During that clemency hearing, Johnson apologized to the victims’ family and asked for forgiveness, saying he was a changed person.

“I apologize. No excuses, no justifications, a sincere apology. And to know that it’s sincere, look at my actions. Look at my life. Look how I’ve changed. I’m living a remorseful life. I’m living it,” Johnson said in an interview with Death Penalty Action, a national anti-death penalty group.

Whitaker’s family members asked for the lethal injection to proceed.

“Executing him will not give me my mom or sister back, it will not take away almost 20 years of pain. What it will do is finally stop him from continuing to hurt us,” Logan Kleck, Whitaker’s oldest daughter, said in a letter to the board. Kleck did not witness the execution.

In addition to his first-degree murder conviction, Johnson also served nine years of a 20-year sentence after being convicted of manslaughter in 1996.

Johnson was the second person put to death this year in Oklahoma and the 11th in the country.

___

Lozano reported from Houston. Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://x.com/juanlozano70

Named Psyche like the asteroid it’s after, the robotic explorer will slingshot past the red planet at 12,333 mph (19,848 kph) on Friday.

It will be an especially close flyby, with Psyche passing within 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) of Mars, equivalent to the distance between the U.S. east and west coasts. Then it will barrel toward the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that is home to its enticing target.

All of the spacecraft’s science instruments will be on for the Mars pass. NASA’s two Mars rovers along with a small fleet of U.S. and European orbiters will make surface and atmospheric observations at the same time for comparison.

Psyche's cameras already are photographing Mars, appearing as a crescent on approach and a nearly full sphere once it’s in the rearview mirror. The different views will serve double duty, allowing operators to fine-tune their instruments while providing “just plain beautiful photos,” Arizona State University’s Jim Bell, the imaging team leader, said in a statement.

While the asteroid belt is swarming with millions of objects, most are made of rock or ice. Only a small percentage are thought to be metal-rich like Psyche, a potato-shaped asteroid roughly 173 miles long and 144 miles wide (278 kilometers by 232 kilometers).

Scientists suspect the asteroid may be the exposed nickel and iron core of a fledgling planet that was stripped down by cosmic collisions. Studying such an object up close can yield information about the dawn of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago, and why and how Earth spawned life.

Launched in 2023, the spacecraft is midway through its six-year roundabout journey to Psyche in the outer fringes of the asteroid belt, three times farther from the sun than Earth. It should arrive in 2029, slipping into orbit around the asteroid for two years of study. The van-sized spacecraft runs on solar electric propulsion, using xenon gas thrusters.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The two-time World Series MVP shortstop is hitless in his last seven games for the Texas Rangers. That is part of a longer 0-for-27 span, also a career long, that includes 11 strikeouts.

“You're obviously still working on things and you'd like to see some better results, but you're not getting them,” Seager said after going 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in a wild 6-5 comeback win over Arizona on Wednesday night.

While he has started 42 of the Rangers’ 43 games, the 32-year-old Seager said physically he feels “completely fine.” He has played 24 in a row since his only game off April 16.

“It’s one of those things that you’re going to figure it out out there,” Seager said. "It’s always been like my focus, right, you’re going to figure it out swinging. So right now, I want to keep going out there and trying to figure it out.”

The Rangers had a day off Thursday, when his .179 batting average ranked 167th out of 174 qualified MLB hitters. Seager, in the fifth season of a $325 million, 10-year deal, has 28 hits and 22 walks but 50 strikeouts account for 27.5% of his 182 plate appearances. He has seven home runs and 20 RBIs.

His last hit was an RBI single in the fourth inning at Yankee Stadium on May 6. Seager's solo homer in the first inning put Texas ahead to stay in that 6-1 win over New York, but strikeouts in his final two at-bats started his hitless span. He is 6 for 61 (.098) with 23 K's over his last 16 games.

This is the latest in any of his 12 seasons that Seager, a .285 career hitter in 4,500 at-bats over 1,173 games, has been below .200. He never finished a game under that mark in eight of those seasons, including three times he went 1 for 5 (.200) in openers (2016, 2020 and 2024) before having at least three hits in the second game.

“Corey still feels good to go,” first-year Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “I like him in the lineup. So I’m going to continue putting him there if his body feels good and his mind is right. And it is, so that part is good."

Schumaker did acknowledge that there is a date picked for Seager to sit out a game around one of the team's off days. The manager didn't say if that would be Friday at Houston, or coincide with their only remaining scheduled off day this month, next Thursday between road series against Colorado and the Los Angeles Angels.

Texas sat slumping first baseman Jake Burger for two games last weekend. He went 3 for 3 on Tuesday night, then matched a career high with four RBIs on Wednesday, a three-run homer and then a tying RBI single in the ninth inning.

Seager was hitting .194 after 10 games last year, which had been his latest sub-.200 mark, then went 14 for 30 (.467) his next eight games. He finished the season at .271 with 21 homers and 50 RBIs, even with an 0-for-25 span over six-plus games in June. He was limited to 102 games overall because of hamstring issues and an appendectomy.

“Someone told me a long time ago ... that when you are in a funk, it just means you’re going to get really, really hot,” Schumaker said. “There’s some really big names right now that have had tough months, and that’s OK to start the season. And that just means, in my opinion, that he’s going to have a really good five months.”

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

We previously told you about the shows coming to the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando and The Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts in Melbourne. Now, we’re learning about the shows people living in Daytona Beach can expect to see.

New subscriptions for the 2025/26 Broadway in Daytona Beach season will go on sale later this summer. Click here to join the waitlist.

Here’s a look at the shows and dates, including summaries provided by Peabody Auditorium:

Cirque Dreams Holidaze: Dec. 2, 2025

CIRQUE DREAMS HOLIDAZE dazzles with a brilliantly breathtaking holiday spectacular for the whole family. As the original cirque holiday theatrical event, this annual tradition wraps a Broadway-style production around awe-inspiring contemporary circus arts. Guests will be on the edge of their seats as a cast of holiday characters come to life, captivating audiences while defying gravity. Broadway World exclaims, “Lose yourself for 90 minutes and go back to those wonderful dreams you had as a kid.”

Enchanting and fun for children to seniors and everyone in between, CIRQUE DREAMS HOLIDAZE features a world-renowned cast of performers including an ensemble of aerial circus acts, sleight-of-hand jugglers, fun-loving skippers, eye-popping acrobatics, and much more. Singers, dancers, toy soldiers, and reindeer invoke the dreams behind a child’s eye on the most magical of nights.

Reimagined for 2025, CIRQUE DREAMS HOLIDAZE features original music, fresh twists on beloved holiday favorites sung live, new sets, dazzling scenery, and stunning costumes – making it the ultimate holiday gift!

Clue Live On Stage: Dec. 9, 2025

A mansion. A murder. A mystery.

Murder and blackmail are on the menu when six mysterious guests assemble at Boddy Manor for a night they’ll never forget! Was it Mrs. Peacock in the study with the knife? Or was it Colonel Mustard in the library with the wrench? Based on the fan-favorite 1985 Paramount Pictures movie and inspired by the classic Hasbro board game, Clue is the ultimate whodunit that will leave you dying of laughter and keep you guessing until the final twist.

Blue Man Group: Jan. 20, 2026

Dive into the thrilling Blue Man Group experience – a blend of captivating music, interactive art and audience engagement. Blue Man Group creates a fun, disruptive and out of the ordinary atmosphere that exhilarates the senses and uplifts spirits for audiences of all ages. Join over 50 million fan who’ve experienced the magic of Blue Man Group across the world!

Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man: Feb. 2, 2026

There’s trouble in River City when a fast-talking salesman gets his heart stolen by the town librarian. Meredith Willson’s six-time, Tony Award-winning musical comedy The Music Man follows fast-talking traveling salesman, Harold Hill, as he cons the people of River City, Iowa, into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys’ band that he vows to organize – this, despite the fact that he doesn’t know a trombone from a treble clef. His plans to skip town with the cash are foiled when he falls for Marian, the librarian, who transforms him into a respectable citizen by curtain’s fall. Featuring songs such as “Seventy-Six Trombones,” “Trouble,” “‘Til There Was You,” “Pickalittle” and “Gary, Indiana,” The Music Man is a family-friendly story to be shared with every generation.

Tina – The Tina Turner Musical: Feb. 18, 2026

An uplifting comeback story like no other, TINA – The Tina Turner Musical is the inspiring journey of a woman who broke barriers and became the Queen of Rock n’ Roll.

Set to the pulse-pounding soundtrack of her most beloved hits, this electrifying sensation will send you soaring to the rafters.

One of the world’s best-selling artists of all time, Tina Turner won 12 Grammy Awards and her live shows were seen by millions, with more concert tickets sold than any other solo performer in music history.

Featuring her much loved songs, TINA – The Tina Turner Musical is written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Katori Hall.

Beetlejuice: May 19-20, 2026

He earned his stripes on Broadway… now the ghost-with-the-most is coming to Daytona Beach!

It’s showtime! Based on Tim Burton’s dearly beloved film, this hilarious musical tells the story of Lydia Deetz, a strange and unusual teenager whose whole life changes when she meets a recently deceased couple and a demon with a thing for stripes. With an irreverent book, an astonishing set, and a score that’s out of this Netherworld, BEETLEJUICE is “SCREAMINGLY GOOD FUN!” (Variety). And under its uproarious surface (six feet under, to be exact), it’s a remarkably touching show about family, love, and making the most of every Day-O!

His ninth studio album — and his first since his extravagant loss in a very public feud with Kendrick Lamar — arrives Friday.

The beef between two of hip-hop’s biggest stars erupted in the spring of 2024, with the pair trading a series of vitriolic tracks that culminated with Lamar’s release of “Not Like Us.” The hit song was a direct attack on Drake, spurring Drake’s defamation lawsuit against their shared label that was dismissed. Drake’s appeal of the dismissal is pending, but in hip-hop spaces, Lamar’s victory over Drake is undisputed.

The Canadian rapper is at a crossroads. He's still one of the most popular artists on the planet, and a successful entrepreneur with businesses spanning music, fashion, sports, online gambling and beyond. But he hasn't had a smash single in a few years.

In hip-hop, where reputation is central to cultural clout, where does he stand?

Drake after Lamar

“The Kendrick battle absolutely dethroned Drake. Up until then, he was considered the leader of the pack, insofar as sales and hit records,” says Sowmya Krishnamurthy, author of “The Blueprint: Inside the Business of Roc-A-Fella Records.”

“He also just hasn’t been able to recover with a hit record. I often like to say all is forgiven with a hit,” she said.

Since the feud began, Drake has had only a few modest successes: “Nokia” and “What Did I Miss?” peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Peter A. Berry, a music journalist with work in XXL and Complex, takes it a step further: “People have beefed in rap before and people have lost public rap battles. But the loss that Drake took to Kendrick Lamar on a national and global stage is probably the biggest loss any rapper has ever taken in a big rap conflict.”

He points to “Not Like Us” taking home record and song of the year at the 2025 Grammys, a first for a rap diss track. The victory lap concluded with Lamar performing the chart-topper onstage at the Super Bowl halftime show.

Not only did Drake lose the battle, but he was struck by his own weapons: “Not Like Us” is a rap song so catchy it bordered on pop, fueled by meme-able lyrics — the kind of thing Drake has long been known for. (See: “Kiki, Do you love me?” from 2018's “In My Feelings,” or even “YOLO” from 2011's “The Motto.”)

And yet, he's still one of the most popular artists of the 21st century. Just last month, Spotify named him the third-most streamed artist in the history of their platform, globally, just behind Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny.

“He remains this kind of immutable pop culture force,” says Berry, even though he hasn't had a long-lasting, multiweek No. 1 hit since 2018's “Nice for What,” “God's Plan” and “In My Feelings.”

“Drake's music hasn't evolved,” Krishnamurthy adds. The lack of innovation, she says, in addition to fractured, algorithmic listening habits has made Drake less successful than in years past.

His 2021 album, “Certified Loverboy,” is largely considered a turning point, where the ubiquitous hits and critical praise slowed.

“It just feels very sort of scattered and disorganized. It’s almost like he’s throwing things at the wall and hoping for something to stick,” says Krishnamurthy, analyzing Drake's lack of huge singles.

That's why “Iceman” feels so pivotal. “Let’s say it doesn’t perform to certain standards. It will get harder and harder to see him as a viable artist,” she said.

What does Drake need ‘Iceman’ to accomplish?

Drake's album rollout seems to reflect the pressure of the moment.

“Iceman” is no surprise release. He's been teasing it for weeks, with livestreams and themed YouTube skits. He covered his favored courtside seats at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena in ice and turned a parking lot in downtown Toronto into a massive ice block installation. Fans used blowtorches, sledgehammers and pickaxes to reveal the album’s release date.

“Drake has been a genius-level marketer,” says Matthew Ismael Ruiz, a culture critic. “He’s masterful at commanding attention. The ice block was smart because it forced people to talk about it. It was a physical impediment to anyone in that community — and that instantly goes viral.”

“Of all the things he’s done in the last few years, this ‘Iceman’ album rollout has been unambiguously great,” says Berry. “It’s reminding people that he can be kind of unpredictable.”

But inventive promo can only do so much. Ultimately, Drake would benefit from a massive hit. “We’re about to go into the summer. If he can come out with a song of the summer, I think that would be really great for him,” says Krishnamurthy.

Reputationally, Ruiz believes the collaborations on “Iceman” will be revealing — and that keeping the track list closely guarded could be telling. “The features will be the best indication of his pull in the industry,” he says — concrete proof of who supports him after the Lamar beef.

This could be his comeback album, Krishnamurthy says — and not just in terms of streams. “Reputation, culture, these are things that cannot be quantified,” she says. “Maybe he does spectacular commercially and that is great, but that doesn’t mean that the music is good or has any lasting impact.”

Because ultimately, “Drake is very concerned with his own mythology,” says Berry.

Even if “Iceman” goes No. 1, if it doesn't stay there, if it doesn't improve Drake's reputation with hip-hop fans, if it isn't met with acclaim — it may very well be a disappointment.

“That one was,” the coach said, “something.”

Something, indeed.

The Avalanche advanced to the Western Conference final for the eighth time since relocating to Denver courtesy of a Brett Kulak goal in a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild in Game 5. It's just the second time in the last nine playoff appearances the Avalanche have made it past the second round.

On the other occasion, in 2022, the team went on capture the Stanley Cup championship.

With a team led by Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, it's always a Cup-or-bust scenario. This team especially, given a regular season with captain Gabriel Landeskog on the ice, their depth — the Avalanche had 16 different players score in the Wild series — and the play of their stars.

Stanley Cup favorite

Among the preseason favorites, they led the NHL most of the regular season in capturing their fourth Presidents’ Trophy, which goes to the team with the best record.

Like Carolina, the Avalanche are rolling into the conference finals. The Hurricanes advanced with a pair of sweeps while the Avalanche required nine games, including a first-round sweep of the Los Angeles Kings. As of Thursday, Colorado is a slight favorite over the Hurricanes to win the Cup.

Next up for Colorado is either Vegas or Anaheim. Colorado was 2-0-1 against both the Golden Knights and the Ducks in the regular season.

Bednar understands the lofty expectations year in and out, given his talented roster. Criticism comes with the territory.

“It's hard to win,” Bednar said. "But I wouldn't want it any other way. I don't think our players would want it any other way.

“People are going to get on you because you didn't win the Cup. I'd still rather be fighting for that, having earned that type of reputation because of the way you play through the regular season and the group that you put together as an organization and the high expectations, rather than, “Let’s just try and make the playoffs.'”

Not much rattles the Avalanche these days. Not even a three-goal hole, which set up a frantic finish and the overtime winner from Kulak, who took a pinpoint pass from Martin Necas and lined it into the net to send the capacity crowd into a frenzy.

It was Kulak's first goal since Jan. 19 when he was with Pittsburgh before being traded to Colorado the following month. It was also the first time the Avalanche won a series on home ice since 2008, when they beat the Wild in Game 6 of the conference quarterfinals.

“In an environment like this, where the building felt like it was going to start shaking at any moment, it was exciting," said Landeskog, who played in his first regular season since 2022 after being sidelined with a knee injury. “Now, it’s kind of a sigh of relief.”

Banged-up Avalanche have chance to heal

The Avalanche have a few days to heal. They were without forward Artturi Lehkonen and defenseman Sam Malinski the last two games of the Wild series due to upper-body injuries. Makar momentarily left Wednesday's game after a collision, but returned.

“The playoffs are a long grind and you want to keep your focus narrow," said Kulak, who made the Stanley Cup Final with Edmonton last season. “We can get some rest.”

Colorado has a 3-4 record in the conference finals since arriving in town before the 1995-96 season. All three times the team has advanced, though, a banner has followed — 1996, 2001 and 2022.

“They’re a really good team,” Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes said.

Depth on display

A strength of Colorado has been its depth. The 16 different players to score in the second round is tied for the most in a singles series, according to NHL Stats.

“The depth is what's going to win, coming down the stretch here in the playoffs,” Landeskog said. “Guys are stepping up all over the place.”

In net, too, even if a goalie dilemma may now be a storyline.

Scott Wedgewood took over in the second period after Mackenzie Blackwood surrendered three first-period goals. Wedgewood stopped all seven shots he faced in the second and third periods (he saw none in OT).

“Just proud,” Wedgewood said of making the conference final. "Proud of our group ending it and finding a way to do that because we knew going into the series, it wasn’t going to be an easy out. There’s a long road ahead, a lot of stories to write and just preparing for that.”

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl