The landslide occurred in Pengshui County on Friday morning on the outskirts of Chongqing municipality, when massive amounts of rocks and soil washed down a slope, burying more than 10 residential buildings, state broadcaster CCTV said. Ten people were rescued and sent to the hospital, while more than 1,100 people have been relocated.

Associated Press photos and videos showed that one of the fallen rocks appeared larger than a multistory building, with ruins scattered across the steep terrain. One of the damaged buildings had its top part crushed and a car was seen half-buried near another building.

The landslide contained about 18,000 cubic meters (635,500 cubic feet) of rocks and debris, and the largest single rock was around 3,000 cubic meters (106,000 cubic feet), Wang Chuanjun, head of Planning and Natural Resources in Pengshui County, told a news conference on Friday.

CCTV said persistent rain hit Pengshui from Friday night to Saturday morning, with 19.2 centimeters (nearly 8 inches) recorded at a weather station. The unstable weather made the rescue operation more challenging, it said. As the rain eased slightly, rescue teams entered the site to conduct on-the-ground inspections of the collapsed buildings and riverbank areas.

While rescue operations are being carried out on one side of the massive rocks, teams will later need to look beneath them, where they may risk injury if the boulders become unstable and slide, CCTV reported. Once the search of the surrounding areas is complete, officers will drill into the boulders and fill the holes with explosives to break them apart, it said.

Beyond the deployment of excavators, a CCTV video report showed a search dog barking to alert a rescuer about signs of life.

Volunteers rode on motorbikes to deliver supplies to rescuers and some stranded residents. Other residents in Pengshui reported that the water supply to their homes was only available at certain intervals.

China's National Development and Reform Commission on Saturday allocated a relief fund of 30 million yuan ($4.4 million) to support the restoration of infrastructure and public service facilities following the disaster.

The rain-triggered landslide occurred near a stretch of the Wujiang River, which cuts through karst mountains peppered with small towns and terraces.

Pengshui County is located in the southeast part of Chongqing, bordering the provinces of Hubei and Guizhou.

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Leung reported from Hong Kong. Associated Press video producer Wu Jia contributed to this report.

The thick smoke enveloped the nation’s capital in a gloomy, eerie haze and prompted Major League Baseball's Cleveland Guardians to postpone their game against Pittsburgh Pirates in Ohio.

Warnings of dangerous conditions were expected to remain in effect through Saturday across a wide swath of the U.S., though there's potential for temporary improvement with storms forecast in some affected areas during the weekend.

D.C. resident Stewart Verdery awoke Friday to take in his usual sunrise view of the city's famous landmarks from a rooftop, only to be greeted by a darkened horizon and no monuments in sight.

“It’s pretty crazy to wake up at sunrise and not see the sun when it’s not even raining,” he said by phone after posting a video of the surreal scene on X. “And it smells like somebody’s having the world’s largest cookout.”

No end in sight for smoky conditions

There may be pockets of relief at times, such as this weekend, but the smoky conditions won't be gone anytime soon as the fires continue to burn largely unchecked, cautioned Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service based in Maryland.

Wildfires are burning in the Ontario area of Canada as well as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota, which U.S. officials have closed as they fight to put out the blazes.

“The source of the smoke is going to continue on for certainly a week, probably,” Oravec said. “It’s just going to depend upon which way the wind’s blowing as to where the smoke is going to affect the most.”

On Friday, communities in Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan, including Detroit, again registered some of the worst air quality in the world, according to IQAir, an air quality monitoring website.

Not far behind Detroit was Washington, D.C., where the smoke created eerie scenes. The Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and other national landmarks were enveloped in an orange-hued haze throughout much of the day.

People, particularly those with heart or lung disease, older adults and children, were urged to limit or avoid going outside until air quality improved.

Long-term exposure to smoky conditions can complicate existing health problems and lead to chronic and deadly issues, including respiratory illness, cardiovascular and neurological diseases and premature death, officials warned.

For Maria Travela, Friday was her first day outside since after smoke from the wildfires blanketed the Chicago area early Thursday.

“Now it’s better. This morning, it was bad,” said Travela, who has asthma and wore a mask as she crossed a bridge over the Chicago River downtown. “They were saying that, for people like me, with asthma, any kind of issues like that, it would be bad for your lungs.”

Trump criticizes Canada

Hundreds of wildfires are burning in Canada, including about 190 in northern Ontario, Premier Doug Ford said at a news conference. Flames destroyed the Namaygoosisagagun First Nation community, and 10 northern Ontario communities have been evacuated or were being evacuated, with more possible.

The increase of fire in vast Canadian forests has largely been blamed on climate change.

In response to the smoke, U.S. President Donald Trump made a social media post Friday that blamed Canada for its forest management and threatened additional tariffs on Canada.

The Canadian government didn't initially respond to questions about Trump's comments.

Asked about a Michigan lawmaker's criticism about the smoke, Ford noted Canada has helped the U.S. fight fires in the past.

“If there’s some politicians out there chirping away, maybe what you should do rather than complain is send support, send help, because we have done the exact same thing for our American friends and that’s what you’re supposed to do,” Ford said.

Conditions should improve for Sunday's World Cup final

In the New York City area, there was also concern about how the smoky air might impact Sunday's World Cup final between soccer powerhouses Spain and Argentina at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

Oravec said winds will continue pushing the wildfire smoke east in the U.S., though conditions should be better on game day than on Saturday.

On Thursday, a thick haze tinged with orange and yellow darkened skies across several states and partly obscured Manhattan’s skyline.

Officials from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other Northeast states distributed free K95 face masks, canceled outdoor programming and opened libraries and other public buildings as cooling centers where people could get a respite from the sooty air.

As Friday progressed, air quality measures improved from “unhealthy” to “moderate” in some places in and around New York City. A strong sun broke through a thin veil of smoke, and clear blue sky was visible across much of the region by Friday afternoon.

Rainstorms could bring reprieve in some places

Saturday brings a high chance of thunderstorms across much of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, which will help dampen the bad air.

Organizers of the All-American Soap Box Derby in Ohio hope air quality improves enough to allow for Saturday’s championship races. The major annual competition in Akron scrubbed Friday's events over air quality concerns.

“I think they made the right choice,” said Dayna Lincoln, a pediatric nurse practitioner from Hodgdon, Maine, whose family drove 15 hours for their 9-year-old daughter’s race on Saturday.

“I’m glad they’re not forcing the kids out into it,” she said. “There are kids with asthma and adults with respiratory conditions who could really suffer.”

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Associated Press reporters Jim Morris in Vancouver, British Columbia, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Cybele Mayes-Osterman in Chicago contributed to this story.

There were no casualties or major damage, but the June 25 attack set off a chain of hostilities that would put the two countries on a path back toward all-out war less than a month after they agreed to stop fighting.

Each strike and counterstrike chipped away at the pillars of the agreement, which has now collapsed, though there are still efforts to salvage it. Red lines set by both sides have been crossed. A return to full-scale war that would further destabilize the Middle East and disrupt the world economy appears increasingly likely.

Here's a look at how we got here.

Iran attacks ships using a route bypassing its control

The attack on the cargo ship came after Iran had warned vessels not to use an alternative route through the Strait of Hormuz that is overseen by the U.S. military and intended to be outside Tehran's control.

Iran had largely shut down the waterway — which carried a fifth of the world's traded oil and gas in peacetime — after the surprise U.S.-Israeli attack on Feb. 28 that started the war. Tehran has come to see control over the strait, and its far-reaching economic impact, as a key pressure point in its confrontation with the U.S.

The preliminary agreement called for the strait to be fully reopened, but it also contained language suggesting Iran would manage traffic and potentially charge fees in the future. Iran has seized on that, saying it has the right to control the strait and that the alternative route is a violation of the deal.

The U.S. and others dispute that, saying the strait should be open to all and toll-free, as it was before the war.

US strikes Iran, which retaliates against Gulf states

The U.S. launched strikes on Iran a day after the June 25 attack, hitting what the U.S. military said were missile and drone locations and coastal radar sites.

The following day, Iran attacked a tanker using the alternative route through the strait, and the U.S. responded with more strikes. This time, Iran lashed out at nearby Gulf states, attacking Kuwait and Bahrain, both of which host American troops.

The two sides pulled back the following week, each sending delegations to Qatar, which had played a key role in mediating the agreement. But they did not meet directly.

Iran reiterated its warning against using the alternative route as it prepared for the dayslong funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening U.S.-Israeli strikes. The funeral began on July 4, with crowds calling for revenge against U.S. President Donald Trump.

Fighting resumes after attacks on 3 ships

Days later, Iran attacked three ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. responded with a wave of strikes that it said targeted air defense systems, radars and over 60 small boats used by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Such boats have been used to harass ships in the strait.

The U.S. also revoked a waiver that had allowed Iran for the first time in years to sell its oil on the international market for U.S. dollars. The waiver was part of the interim deal.

Iran condemned the U.S. strikes and the restoration of oil sanctions as violations of the agreement while insisting it had the right to control the strait, which the military command says is an “unbreakable red line.” Iran also broadened its retaliatory strikes, hitting Bahrain, Kuwait and mediator Qatar.

Trump, after departing from a NATO summit, offered mixed messages.

He said the U.S. strikes were in response to the attacks on shipping, warning that “if it happens again, it will get much worse!” But he also appeared to rule out long-term military action, saying “anything that happens is going to happen very fast." He also suggested the U.S. military might “just finish the job.”

The fighting has steadily escalated since then. On Wednesday, the U.S. restored its blockade on Iran's ports, which had been lifted as part of the interim agreement.

The next red line is civilian infrastructure, and it may have been crossed

In recent days, the U.S. has expanded its strikes to northern Iran, hitting targets far from the strait. On Friday, it struck bridges and power stations in the south, collapsing a tower that it said was used by the Revolutionary Guard for maritime surveillance at one of Iran's main ports.

Iran said Saturday that U.S. strikes have killed at least 50 people and wounded more than 500 since hostilities resumed.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to target civilian infrastructure in Iran, at one point earlier in the war vowing to annihilate Iran's “whole civilization.” Until now, he has repeatedly backed off from such threats, citing diplomatic progress.

But Iran's leaders may already believe that yet another line has been crossed. On Friday and again Saturday, Iran attacked a water desalination plant in extremely arid Kuwait.

Trump has also mused about taking control of the strait by force, possibly by seizing one or more strategic islands held by Iran. That would likely require a far larger naval presence and potentially tens of thousands of ground troops.

The region has endured days of back-and-forth attacks in a conflict increasingly focused on control of the strait, an essential waterway that used to carry a fifth of the world's crude oil. The collapse of an interim ceasefire leaves no clear end in sight for the war that the U.S. and Israel began more than four months ago.

The U.S. Central Command said early Saturday that its seventh straight night of strikes had hit “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.”

The most significant damage on Saturday occurred in Kuwait after Iran struck a water desalination plant and an oil facility, according to the Kuwait authorities and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Both declined to provide locations.

The strikes injured several people at the oil facility and caused a fire at the desalination plant, forcing several power generation units offline. It was the second attack against a desalination plant in two days in the tiny desert nation, which depends on desalination for 90 percent of its drinking water.

Several firefighters and a worker were injured while battling two other blazes sparked by Iranian strikes, according to the Kuwait Fire Force.

Kuwait briefly closed its airspace in the morning due to missile threats, and Kuwait Airways said it was rescheduling most flights to and from the capital.

Iran targets several Mideast nations

Iraq said it shot down attack drones over the city of Irbil. Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency said that the kingdom’s air defense systems had downed Iranian missiles, while air sirens sounded multiple times in Bahrain, according to the government.

Iranian officials say recent U.S. strikes have killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds in Iran. The U.S. military also acknowledged that several more service members were injured.

Iran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic after the war started Feb. 28. That sent the price of oil soaring and gave Iran significant leverage in negotiations. The price of oil rose Friday above $86 a barrel, close to its highest level in a month, as crossings through the strait fell to a three-week low, according to an international shipping tracker.

In an address to the American public on Thursday evening, Trump insisted the war was going well. “We are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly,” he said.

Before the war began, the U.S. had been in talks with Iran over its nuclear program. Trump now faces political pressure to bring the war to a close and avoid the kind of prolonged Middle East conflict he had campaigned against.

Infrastructure hit in Iran

U.S. airstrikes hit an electricity and desalination plant in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, Iranian state television reported. The attacks hit Bonji, a village on Iran’s coast on the Strait of Hormuz.

Overnight strikes damaged two tunnels and a bridge, disrupting one of the main highways towards Bandar Abbas, a city which sits near the narrowest part of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran's state-run news agency. Iran also reported strikes on the strategic Qeshm Island inside the Strait.

The previous day, Iranian state media reported that the U.S. hit highways and railway bridges, seemingly aimed at cutting off Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port, from roads leading into the Islamic Republic’s central region onward to Tehran, the capital.

Iran acknowledged “attacks on power infrastructure” during the U.S. airstrike campaign for the first time Friday when its Energy Ministry issued a call for people to use less power in southern provinces “experiencing extreme heat.” The ministry did not specify what was hit.

Iranian authorities said at least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 wounded in U.S. strikes in the past three weeks, including eight killed in a strike on a bridge Friday.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday stepped up its warning that countries hosting U.S. forces should be “prepared to receive a corresponding response,” according to Iran's State TV, as pro-Iranian protesters continued their nightly demonstrations in the capital, as they have done for more than 100 days.

U.S. officials acknowledged 13 additional U.S. service members — 10 Army soldiers and three Navy sailors — had been injured since Monday, but offered no further details. Since the war began, 14 U.S. service members have been killed and 427 wounded.

Strikes come as Iran and US vie for Strait of Hormuz

Iran has said the strait must be under its sole control and that vessels should pay fees to Tehran — even though the world for decades has considered it an international waterway.

Trump has returned in recent days to his threats to target Iranian power stations and bridges to try to compel Iran to loosen its hold on the strait, through which about a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded once passed in peacetime. The U.S. also reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil.

Crossings through the strait fell to a three-week low of just eight vessels on Thursday, according to MarineTraffic.com.

A growing amount of the region’s energy is being shipped through pipelines, but not nearly enough to offset the decline in shipping through the strait.

___

Ezzidin reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Stella Martany in Irbil, Iraq and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

“Jesus never had no porno / Jesus never had cocaine / Jesus never had Ibiza / He never even went to Spain,” the Australian singer-songwriter crooned, prompting sporadic chuckles across the venue.

This mix of the absurd and sincere reflects a kind of artistic engagement with existential questions that is increasingly resonating with people, many of whom are disconnected from organized religion. Some scholars even have a name for it: “reverent irreverence.”

When Cameron reached the chorus, the laughter stopped. “But every time he spoke / The people gathered round / When he washed their feet / The demons all came out / So when’s he gonna come again?" he sang over a wistful electric guitar.

Funny to some, potentially offensive to others, there’s a palpable earnestness to “Jesus Never Had No Porno” and other Cameron songs invoking similar themes.

“You’ve been disarmed with laughter. Now you’re kind of open to anything. You’re open to profound sadness or hope,” Cameron said in an Associated Press interview ahead of his album, “Late to Set," dropping July 24. “That’s my entire life. It’s serious, but it’s funny.”

Art still loves religion, regardless of whether people believe in it

This phenomenon of irony collapsing into sincerity is being interpreted by some as a way for younger generations to grapple with ritual, meaning and authenticity, even as participation in organized religion in the United States has dropped dramatically in recent decades.

“Religion is understood as a source of power, whether or not you believe in it,” said Kathryn Lofton, who studies religion and pop culture at Yale University.

As the world feels increasingly chaotic and stripped of moral boundaries, Lofton is seeing more skeptics seeking out sacred settings where they can experience transcendence and community.

Despite the rise of people unaffiliated with an organized religion — so-called “nones" — it remains a creative touchstone. Its enduring usefulness as a shared language extends to the upper echelons of popular culture, from Beyoncé’s engagement with Yorùbá religion and other African diasporic spirituality, to Rosalía's 2025 concept album, “Lux,” inspired by Catholicism, female saints and mysticism.

These themes are not siloed to overtly evangelistic channels, like contemporary Christian radio. But when religion is invoked by comedians or artists whose work is assumed to be funny, it can have a distinct appeal to people who see themselves as impervious to the cultural and political associations with traditional faiths.

“Someone who is playing with it, is humorous about it, has a sense of irony — it’s a way for them to engage these kinds of questions and at the same time retain plausible deniability that they really are interested in religion,” said Leigh Eric Schmidt, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

Making jokes that are ‘seriously full of God’

Throughout Nathan Fielder’s HBO docuseries, “The Rehearsal,” religion is a recurring theme as he explores ideas surrounding interfaith relationships, antisemitism, forgiveness and numerology.

“I was raised Jewish and I still do all the holidays and stuff,” he narrates in one episode, adding he “hadn’t been to synagogue in years because it’s so boring.”

For some fans, ambiguity is what attracts them to Fielder’s humor. “You never know if he’s serious or not," said Shelah Marie, a 41-year-old wellness influencer from Atlanta.

“There’s an increasing level of disassociation that we have to feel in order to maintain sanity. It is psychotic, the amount of information that we receive,” she said. “Maybe being absurd is our protection.”

Cameron Winter, the front man of the rock band Geese, blurs these lines in his debut solo album “Heavy Metal.” “God is real, God is real / I’m not kidding, God is actually real,” he belts.

Though saying one is “not kidding” may invite skepticism, his commanding voice carries such gravity that it's hard to dismiss his proclamation as mere sarcasm.

“It’s a fine line,” said Schmidt, who co-organized a series of lectures in 2024 titled “Reverent Irreverence: Parody, Religion, and Contemporary Politics.” “You’re not going to convince people that you’re not just making fun of them sometimes."

One of those talks was on The Church of Stop Shopping, led by director Savitri D and the character of the Reverend Billy, played by actor and playwright William Talen. As this anti-consumerist collective satirizes tropes surrounding conservative Protestant denominations, “irony gives way to an articulation of communal values that are sincerely held,” said sociologist George González, who wrote a book on the group.

In a testament to that sincerity, Neil Young had the Stop Shopping Choir open for him on his 2024 tour.

“We’re an adopted church for lots of post-religious people,” said Talen, reflecting on what it means to be “seriously full of God at the same time that you’re seriously full of bull(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk).”

‘Reverent irreverence' encourages authenticity in the age of AI

Christian theologian Harvey Cox wrote in the 1960s about how effectively humor can be used to attract people to church, noting that when society's icons are used “to say something different in an ironical manner, we heap nuance upon nuance and combine satire, hope and playfulness.”

Now these artists are exploring the relationship between humor and faith with audiences that are feeling the impact of artificial intelligence on creativity and culture.

“We can no longer tell surface from depth and treasure from knockoff,” González said. “Is my art real or did an algorithm produce it?”

Cameron is acutely aware of this tension, joking that humans are on track to exist solely in the service of tech companies. “Aren’t we all just eventually going to be in gestating pods where they fill up every orifice with a way to extract experience out of us?”

But that anxiety has coincided with a search for transcendence. Although he didn’t grow up going to church, Cameron has tried to make a habit of it as an adult.

“Just to try and ground myself in something ritualistic,” he said. “Magic is real and God is real, and you know those things are pretty widely accepted, I think.”

___

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.

Kyiv's forces are continuing their relentless aerial campaign against energy infrastructure and military targets inside Russia, aiming to undermine Moscow’s war effort and make Russians feel the consequences of the Kremlin's all-out invasion of Ukraine that is well into its fifth year.

Two sprawling warehouses of Russia's major online retailer, Wildberries, were hit by Ukrainian drones overnight, according to Russian officials: one in the town of Kotovsk in the Tambov region, some 360 kilometers (roughly 220 miles) from the border with Ukraine, and another one in the city of Elektrostal, about 50 kilometers (some 30 miles) east of Moscow.

Both caught fire, but Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim said later on Saturday morning that the fire in Kotovsk has been put out. Images and footage released by Russian online outlets showed a fire raging at the Elektrostal facility, with massive plumes of smoke towering over it.

A Ukrainian drone also hit an oil depot in the city of Noginsk, just north of Elektrostal, sparking a fire and prompting evacuations of a nearby maternity hospital and a residential building, according to the governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post on Saturday that Ukrainian long-range strikes hit two “significant logistical facilities in the Moscow and Tambov regions."

“These facilities were used by the aggressor to supply sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment,” he wrote. An oil facility was also hit, he said.

Seven night shift workers were killed at the warehouse in Kotovsk, and 25 others were wounded, Tambov regional governor Yevgeny Pervyshov said.

A total of 37 people were wounded in the Moscow region, Vorobyov said, adding that one of those later died in the hospital.

In Elektrostal, drone debris also hit a kindergarten building, Vorobyov said, sparking a fire that has since been put out.

In the city of Vladimir, some 180 kilometers (over 110 miles) east of Moscow, a Ukrainian drone hit a residential building, sparking a brief fire, Vladimir governor Alexander Avdeyev said. There were no casualties, he added.

Ukrainian special operations also conducted strikes against targets in the Sea of Azov and in occupied territory, Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine’s General Staff in a statement on Saturday also mentioned a strike on the fuel depot in Noginsk, which it said supplies fuel, including to the Russian armed forces. It also reported hitting two tankers, two floating cranes and a tugboat in the Black and Azov seas, saying the vessels were used to transport oil, fuel and military cargo.

Separately, the military said it struck a Project 10410 Svetlyak patrol ship in Kerch, describing it as the second vessel of that class hit in two days, as well as a railway bridge over the Bila River near Sabivka in the occupied Luhansk region that it said Russia uses for military logistics.

Overall, the Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight intercepted 379 Ukrainian drones over 19 Russian regions, as well as the illegally annexed Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

That work was far from done when a new round of storms began pummeling the state this week, triggering catastrophic flash floods in some of the same areas devastated in 2025. At least two people died. Hundreds needed rescue.

But residents in some hard-hit areas said a year of preparation did make a difference. Newly installed flood sirens sounded in the darkness, warning people to get out. Phones buzzed with alerts that weren't sent out in last year's disaster.

Still, stories of people surprised to find their homes inundated by rising rivers illustrate the challenges of trying to bolster early warning systems in a vast, rural area known as Flash Flood Alley.

Some agencies were more proactive about sending wireless alerts

Over the last decade, a variety of Texas state and local agencies missed opportunities to implement flood warning systems along the Guadalupe River, the AP reported after last summer’s floods killed 136 people, including 28 at a sleepaway camp for girls.

That changed after the tragedy as lawmakers and others scrutinized a lack of preparedness by government agencies and riverside camps.

Unlike last summer, when local officials in Kerr County said they had been reluctant to “cry wolf” and order evacuations and failed to send out wireless alerts to warn of flash floods, Kerr County issued four alerts and the city of Kerrville issued one early on Thursday as the risk for flooding became apparent, according to an Associated Press review of available data.

They warned residents along Quinlan Creek to evacuate to higher ground, and of “extremely dangerous” flash flooding. Those alerts came alongside flood watches, warnings and emergencies sent to broadcast outlets, weather radios and mobile phones by the National Weather Service. People who signed up for the CodeRED notification emergency system in Kerr County also received text message warnings.

“Last year, we got no alarms. We had no idea what was going on,” said Suzanne Sutphin Gschwind, of Kerrville.

“This year, very different,” she said, with multiple texts and calls coming in from local authorities, a weather channel and her doorbell camera. One night the warnings arrived “about every two hours.”

“I think we would all like to err on the side of too much,” she said.

The warnings didn't reach everyone

Between the early morning hours of Tuesday and about 9 a.m. Thursday, the National Weather Service sent 38 alerts to people in certain southwest Texas communities, including 14 tornado warnings and 24 warnings that flooding was occurring or imminent and could be “life threatening.”

Those Weather Service notifications, though, often don’t contain the highly localized information put in alerts sometimes sent by municipal and county emergency agencies — and people in some places may not have gotten any of those local alerts, which can be more decisive for people considering whether to seek high ground.

An Associated Press review of wireless emergency alert data did not find any listed as sent by agencies in Uvalde County, which was hit hard by flooding, though agencies in that county might have used other means to alert the public.

Jaclyn Gonzales was awakened at 2 a.m. Wednesday by a friend who called to warn that a tornado might be headed toward her Uvalde-area home. When she jumped out of bed, the floor was wet.

“It was the shock of the water to my feet that made me really wake up,” she said.

Kat Sprawls only learned floodwaters were nearing her Batesville home when a friend called her at 3:30 a.m. Friday. It took five or six calls before she woke up, because she had her phone on do-not-disturb mode.

“There's no warning system at all. It's just like the flood in Kerrville last year — we had no warnings,” Sprawls said. “Over half of Batesville is under water now."

Zavala County Sheriff's Department secretary Jessica Belmarez said the department is updating its Facebook page with evacuation information and that law enforcement officers were going door-to-door in affected areas, including Batesville.

The network of flood sirens is expanding

Newly installed sirens in Ingram and in Kerr and Kendall counties were used this week to warn residents, said state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, who authored legislation in 2025 to help fund the sirens. Twenty-eight additional counties are also eligible for flood warning funding. Most are in the process of putting together implementation plans for review by the Texas Water Development Board.

“Between the outdoor sirens, and the cellphone alerts, the response was very positive in getting people out of the way and to higher ground,” Bettencourt said. “It’s an enormous improvement over a year ago.”

Three of six new sirens installed in Kerr County were used to warn people to seek high ground, said Tara Bushnoe, manager of the Upper Guadalupe River Authority. The other three were in areas with only minor flooding, Bushnoe said.

The small town of Comfort had one warning siren for years. The volunteer fire department recently installed two more.

“Some people just don’t want to leave — that’s our problem here,” said Danny Morales, the assistant fire chief. “But we did set them off twice, probably an hour from one to another, just because we had people just lingering, and not wanting to move."

Private companies are working to fill the gaps

Ian Cunningham founded River Sentry after the 2025 floods, building flood siren towers for privately owned sites like RV parks, camps and hotels. The sirens are triggered by rising water levels.

So far, the company has installed 104 sirens along the Guadalupe River, Cunningham said, including several near the site of an RV park where more than three dozen people died in 2025.

“We installed them about three months ago and did not expect them to be used so soon,” Cunningham said.

Hononu, which has developed water-level sensor technology and a real-time data network, received a state contract that will make it easier for agencies to purchase its flood warning technology.

Watch Duty, a fire-tracking app used by millions, expanded earlier this year to help monitor floods.

Officials say the changes saved lives

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the lessons of 2025 led to a better emergency response this time.

“Everybody in Texas has been far more prepared to deal with what has happened this year,” Abbott said during a news conference in Uvalde. “Lives have been saved.”

___ Associated Press reporters Jamie Stengle in Dallas, Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia and Jesse Bedayn in Uvalde, Texas, contributed to this report.

Authorities tightened security around New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, a designated public protest ground enclosed by police barricades, where activist Sonam Wangchuk has been camped along with students and Cockroach Party activists who demand the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, after allegations that exam papers were leaked in advance.

The movement also seeks sweeping reforms to the examination system and compensation for families of students who died by suicide over the leaks or exam results.

The 59-year-old engineer and education reformer’s strike has become a rallying point for the party, which began in May after Supreme Court Chief Justice Surya Kant compared some unemployed young people to “cockroaches” during a hearing on another issue. Supporters embraced the insult as a badge of resilience, turning it into a satirical political campaign that amassed more than 21 million Instagram followers in a few days.

Delhi Police said Wangchuk was taken to hospital after his health worsened during the hunger strike, and that a brief commotion occurred when some protesters tried to block the move.

Sachin Sharma, a deputy commissioner of police, said Wangchuk’s hospitalization was carried out following medical advice and a court directive.

“Mr. Sonam Wangchuk has been taken from here to an appropriate government hospital, a much-needed medical intervention, under medical supervision,” Sharma said.

The Cockroach Party said in a social media post that the government “forcefully abducted” Wangchuk “without his or his family’s consent” two days before their planned march to India’s Parliament.

Saurav Das, chief spokesperson of the Cockroach Party, disputed the police account, saying the court had not ordered Wangchuk’s forcible removal. He questioned the medical grounds for the move, noting that no doctor had examined him shortly before he was taken away, and alleged that authorities were trying to curb a protest movement that had been gaining momentum.

Shortly after the incident, Abhijeet Dipke, a Boston University student and founder of the Cockroach Party, announced he would begin a hunger strike and called for nationwide protests.

Dipke told The Associated Press at the protest ground that police used force while removing Wangchuk and alleged that he was “kidnapped by the police like criminals and goons” after “covering him in sheets.”

The party founder reaffirmed the movement’s plan to march to India’s Parliament, scheduled for Monday, when its session begins.

“The resolve and the movement will only get stronger from here,” Dipke said.

Meanwhile, Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali J. Angmo, in a letter to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, said “lack of transparency has shaken their trust” and sought her husband be shifted to a medical center of their choice. She said nothing should be given to Wangchuk orally or intravenously without her consent.

Authorities deployed additional police and paramilitary soldiers and erected barricades around Jantar Mantar. Police said the heightened security measures were precautionary and urged protesters to cooperate with authorities.

Whether it becomes a named system or not doesn’t change our local forecast very much. The biggest impact will be periods of scattered showers and thunderstorms, along with breezy southerly winds.

What it means for Central Florida

Expect another round of scattered afternoon and evening storms today, with the greatest coverage will be focused inland. Storms will be capable of producing frequent lightning, wind gusts up to 55 mph, heavy downpours, and isolated pockets of minor flooding.

Rain chances remain elevated through Sunday and Monday, although forecast trends have shifted the Gulf low a little farther west. That means Central Florida may see slightly less widespread rain than earlier forecasts suggested, but afternoon storms are still expected each day.

Heat Stays in the Forecast

Even with the increase in clouds and storms, it will remain hot and humid. Afternoon highs will reach the low to mid 90s, with heat index values between 100 and 107 degrees.

We’ll Be Watching Closely

The Gulf system will continue to be monitored over the next several days. While tropical development remains limited, Central Florida can expect an active weather pattern through at least Monday.

As confidence increases in the system’s track and strength, we’ll continue to update the forecast both on-air and online.

There's one big caveat — it only works if it's used.

The Arizona Diamondbacks and three-time All-Star Ketel Marte learned that the hard way Friday night when Marte failed to challenge a called strike three by umpire Bill Miller for the final out in a 5-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. Television replays showed that the 100 mph sinker from Riley O'Brien was high and out of the strike zone.

The D-backs still had both of their ABS challenges remaining.

“I was looking for a breaking ball,” Marte said through an interpreter. “Got the two-seamer and I was a little bit surprised.”

D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said he hadn't talked to Marte about the gaffe and would address it with him Saturday. It was a tough night for the veteran second baseman, who also made an error in the first inning that led to two unearned runs.

“Clearly — I don't want to speak for Ketel — you guys will have a chance to talk to him, but he thought it was a strike," Lovullo said. "Sometimes you've got to trust your own instincts. Possibly thought it was a good pitch, checked off of it and lost the ability to challenge as soon as he stepped across home plate.”

The D-backs had plenty of other mistakes that led to the end of their four-game winning streak. One of the most frustrating: Pinch runner Jorge Barrosa was picked off in the ninth after Nolan Arenado drew a leadoff walk.

Lovullo said the team would learn from the mistake and the manager refused to pin the loss on Marte.

“We're not perfect, it's frustrating of course, but there are 15 other things that happened in this game that are still eating at me right now and we'll address them one by one,” Lovullo said.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Now, modern-day Greeks hope their tallest mountain will be inducted into UNESCO’s World Heritage List as a mixed cultural and natural site. The nomination is to be discussed when the World Heritage Committee meets in Busan, South Korea from Sunday through July 29.

“Olympus is our life. It is the place we grew up in,” said Evagelos Geroliolios, mayor of Dion-Olympus, based in Litochoro, the mountain’s main town. “It is the place we see every day, but at the same time, it is also a place which carries with it myth, history, biodiversity, extraordinary beauty and a very great cultural weight.”

Seat of the gods

Few locations are as central to ancient Greek mythology as Mount Olympus. It was here that Zeus was said to have established his court after overthrowing his father, Cronus, in a 10-year war that ended the reign of the Titans.

Interest in Olympus may receive another boost with the theatrical release this week of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” a new adaptation of Homer’s epic, in which the mountain serves as the home of Zeus and the Olympian gods who influence Odysseus’ journey.

On one of Olympus’s lower peaks, excavations have uncovered an open-air sanctuary, with the oldest finds dating to the Hellenistic period, which ran from 323 B.C. to 30 B.C. According to Greece’s original UNESCO nomination, the sanctuary is believed to have been one mentioned by the ancient philosopher and historian Plutarch, who in the 2nd century wrote of processions to one of Olympus’s peaks for animal sacrifices to Zeus.

The mountain retained religious significance into the Christian era. Α chapel on the peak of Prophet Elias, at 2,803 meters, is believed to be the highest altitude chapel in the Christian Orthodox world. The mountain’s Enipeas Gorge holds the remains of a monastery founded in 1542, while a roughly 20-minute walk from there leads to the Holy Cave of St. Dionysios, a chapel built into a cave from where a small spring flows, believed to carry holy water.

The mountain’s slopes, which reach practically to the sea, also host a wealth of flora and fauna, including endemic species. It is this blending of culture, myth, natural beauty and biodiversity that locals hope will see their mountain declared a World Heritage site.

“It is a place we love. It is a place that many people from all over the world visit to see, to live, to experience. We want to protect it,” Geroliolios said. Its inclusion on UNESCO’s list would be “something very big that goes beyond not just local boundaries, but national boundaries. It is something that concerns the entire world. It is very important.”

Inclusion in the World Heritage List is far from certain

Greece began the process to have Mount Olympus recognized as a World Heritage site in 2014, inscribing it on its Tentative List — the mandatory first step in any nomination. The Tentative List is where countries include sites they can then formally nominate over the next five to 10 years.

The nomination process includes a preliminary assessment followed by submission of a full nomination file, which is then evaluated over 14 months by advisory bodies, including the International Council on Monuments and Sites, ICOMOS, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Recommendations by the advisory bodies are then discussed during the World Heritage Committee’s annual meeting, where representatives of 21 countries vote on nominated sites.

Greece's Mount Olympus nomination is far from certain. A draft of the Busan meeting's agenda indicates the committee will refer the nomination back to Greece and request further details.

Still, locals hope the mountain’s cultural and natural wonders will secure it a place and will play a role in securing more protection for the mountain.

The need for protection

The mayor, Geroliolios, said inclusion on the World Heritage list “places some greater obligations on our part to protect this environment.”

Environmental protection is also foremost in the mind of mountain guide Babis Marinidis, president of the Alpine Club of Litochoro.

Including Olympus on UNESCO’s World Heritage list would likely attract more people to the mountain and the surrounding area, Marinidis said. “How many people can this mountain, this ecosystem, bear?” he asked. Although much of Olympus was designated a national park decades ago and there are regulations in place, many are openly flouted, with Marinidis saying visitors regularly ignore “no swimming” or “no camping” signs.

The ever-growing number of visitors had led local authorities to consider imposing entrance fees and registering visitor numbers. “I used to be against that,” Marinidis said. “But now with so many people, I believe some limit must be imposed.”

Mount Olympus has claimed many lives

The mythological home of the gods attracts hikers and mountaineers from across the world. While technical climbing experience isn’t mandatory to reach the summit, the mountain is also not to be trifled with.

With its combination of changeable weather and treacherous terrain, it has claimed many lives. The most recent fatality was on July 11, when a 64-year-old Greek hiker died after collapsing on a trail. In May, rescue crews found the body of a 25-year-old Spanish man days after he went missing while attempting to reach the summit in the snow.

“You need to be careful,” and safety measures must always be kept in mind, said 32-year-old hiker Triantafyllos Giannospyros, who was visiting the mountain for the first time. “But with care and with good organization, it isn’t something you should be afraid of.”

Stavroula Vourou, who runs a hotel in Litochoro, the town from where many hikers set off, echoed his sentiment.

“Everyone sets off to go up and conquer a mountain that needs respect,” she said. “You respect this mountain, it respects you too.”

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Becatoros contributed from Athens, Greece. Srdjan Nedeljkovic in Litochoro, Greece, contributed to this report.

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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.

The region has endured days of back-and-forth attacks in a conflict increasingly focused on control of the strait. The collapse of an interim ceasefire leaves no clear end in sight for the war that the U.S. and Israel began more than four months ago.

The U.S. Central Command said early Saturday that its seventh straight night of strikes had hit “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.”

Kuwait said Saturday it was intercepting Iranian missiles and drones, while Iraq said it had shot down attack drones over the city of Irbil. Jordan's state-run Petra news agency said that the kingdom's air defense systems had downed Iranian missiles, while air sirens sounded in Bahrain according to the government there.

Iranian officials say recent U.S. strikes have killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds, with new casualties reported Friday, when the U.S. military also acknowledged more injured service members.

Iran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic after the war started Feb. 28. That sent the price of oil soaring and gave Iran significant leverage in negotiations. The price of oil rose Friday above $86 a barrel, close to its highest level in a month, as crossings through the strait fell to a three-week low, according to an international shipping tracker.

In an address to the American public on Thursday evening, Trump insisted the war was going well. “We are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly,” he said.

Before the war began, the U.S. had been in talks with Iran over its nuclear program. Trump now faces political pressure to bring the war to a close and avoid the kind of prolonged Middle East conflict he had campaigned against.

Bridges and 'electrical infrastructure' hit in Iran

The U.S. airstrikes had hit bridges in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, Iranian state television reported. The attacks hit Bandar Khamir, a city on Iran’s coast on the Strait of Hormuz.

The highway and railway bridge strikes appeared aimed at cutting off Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port, from roads leading into the Islamic Republic’s central region onward to Tehran, the capital.

Iran acknowledged “attacks on power infrastructure” during the U.S. airstrike campaign for the first time Friday when its Energy Ministry issued a call for people to use less power in southern provinces "experiencing extreme heat.” The ministry did not specify what was hit.

Iranian authorities said at least 46 people have been killed and more than 400 wounded in recent U.S. strikes, including eight killed in a strike on a bridge Friday.

U.S. officials acknowledged 13 additional U.S. service members — 10 Army soldiers and three Navy sailors — had been injured since Monday, but offered no further details. Since the war began, 14 U.S. service members have been killed and 427 wounded.

Tower at key port collapses in US strike

U.S. strikes conducted overnight into Friday collapsed a tower at Iran’s Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman, a key trade route for landlocked, neighboring Afghanistan, the state-run IRNA news agency reported and the U.S. military later confirmed.

Chabahar port, which Iran had been running with support from India, has been a repeated target of American airstrikes.

Iran said the tower oversees commercial traffic into the port. But Central Command said it was part of a maritime surveillance network used by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard to “track and target” commercial vessels in the strait.

On Friday evening Iranian state media reported explosions around Iran, including in the central and south of the country. Local authorities said the U.S attacked around Ahvaz city without elaborating. IRNA also reported the sound of explosions in Lar, Yazd and Sirik.

Iran retaliates by targeting Qatar, a mediator in the war

On Friday, Qatar warned the public to take shelter as a barrage of Iranian missiles targeted the nation. People heard explosions overhead as air defenses fired to intercept the missiles. Qatar’s Interior Ministry said falling debris wounded a child.

Iran also targeted Bahrain and Kuwait early Friday.

In Kuwait, authorities said Iran attacked a power and water desalination plant, causing widespread damage to the station. Kuwait said it extinguished the blaze and was working to assess the damage and get the station working again. About 90% of the country's drinking water comes from desalination.

A spokesman for Kuwait’s defense ministry said Iranian drone attacks on its army’s “facilities and camps” injured an unspecified number of personnel.

Jordan's military said it intercepted three incoming missiles Friday morning launched by Iran.

Explosions also could be heard Friday morning in Irbil and Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region as air defenses targeted incoming fire. The attack apparently targeted the Iranian Kurdish dissident group Komala, killing at least nine people and wounding others, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Iran did not immediately claim the attack but has targeted Komala in the past.

Also on Friday, a tanker came under attack traveling through the Strait of Hormuz taking the route closest to Oman, the British military said. The report from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said the ship sustained minor damage without any of its crew being injured.

Iran did not immediately acknowledge any attack. In recent days, it has openly targeted ships using the route, which is overseen by the U.S. military and intended to be outside of Tehran’s control.

Strikes come as Iran and US vie for Strait of Hormuz

Iran has said the strait must be under its sole control and that vessels should pay fees to Tehran — even though the world for decades has considered it an international waterway.

Trump has returned in recent days to his threats to target Iranian power stations and bridges to try to compel Iran to loosen its hold on the strait, through which about a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded once passed in peacetime. The U.S. also reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil.

Crossings through the strait fell to a three-week low of just eight vessels on Thursday, according to MarineTraffic.com.

A growing amount of the region’s energy is being shipped through pipelines, but not nearly enough to offset the decline in shipping through the strait.

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Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran; Annika Wolters in Rayong, Thailand; Stella Martany in Irbil, Iraq; Gene Johnson in Seattle; and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

After an eight-second conversation, the New York manager left in his ace.

Seven pitches later, Max Muncy drove a hanging slider into the right-field second deck, lifting the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2-1 victory Friday night in their first game back in the Bronx since winning the first of consecutive World Series titles in 2024.

"On me,” Boone said three times after the game along with three variations of “I probably should grab him there.”

In his 10th major league start since returning in May from Tommy John surgery, Cole took a three-hit shutout with eight strikeouts into the seventh.

New York led on an unearned run against Roki Sasaki in the fourth. Jasson Domínguez doubled, took third when center fielder Andy Pages dropped the ball while picking it up by the warning track and scored on Dalton Rushing’s passed ball.

Cole fell behind Betts 3-0, got a pair of called strikes and missed outside with a fastball. With a pair of left-handed hitters coming up in Muncy and Kyle Tucker, Boone had lefty Brent Headrick warmed up in the bullpen.

When Boone started to the mound, Cole thought he had a chance to remain in the game.

“I figured he was going to give me a conversation,” the 35-year-old right-hander said. “He asked me to get Muncy and I said, `Of course.'”

While some teams rely on pitch counts and formulas, at this stage of Cole's season Boone went with his own evaluation.

“You’re reading body language. You're reading conversation,” Boone explained. “I have a thought in my head going out there, so I’m making the decision as I’m walking out there.”

Cole got ahead 0-2 in the count against Muncy, who then fouled off a changeup. A slider at the top, outside corner was called a ball.

“I was like, dude, it’s so close,” Cole said. “I mean, I feel like under an inch it’s like flip it. You've just got to kind of I guess go with your gut, but at the same time my mindset is I can always make another pitch."

Muncy fouled off a slider, took an outside fastball and drove Cole's 103rd and final pitch 416 feet into the right-field second deck. Cole turned his neck briefly, didn't bother to watch the ball land and slapped his bare hand into his glove.

“I didn’t really give the pitch a chance,” Cole said. “He pulled out a great swing.”

Muncy left Yankee Stadium without speaking with reporters.

“It was a tough decision for Boonie," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Max spoiled some good pitches and then got a pitch in his wheelhouse and put a good swing on it.”

Los Angeles last played in the Bronx in Game 5 of the 2024 Series when Cole had a 5-0 lead. Errors by the 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner and Aaron Judge in center led to five unearned runs in the fifth. Los Angeles went on to win 7-6 and take the title.

Great defensive play by Pages and Betts

On a night with smoke in the air from Canadian wildfires, Los Angeles began the second half by improving to a big league-best 62-36. New York (54-43) dropped to 18-20 without Judge, still sidelined by a fractured rib.

New York’s Trent Grisham was thrown out trying to score from first on Ben Rice’s eighth-inning double off the right-center field wall.

Pages picked up the ball on a bounce, wheeled and made a throw to Betts that tailed. With his back to the plate, the shortstop moved to his left to catch it and threw across his body.

Rushing caught the relay about 5 feet up the first-base line, swiped his mitt across the plate and tagged the left leg of a sliding Grisham.

"We gave one away I thought early with the defense and to make a play like that defensively was big,” Roberts said.

Boone didn't fault third base coach Luis Rojas for the send. Grisham, who returned July 3 from a strained right hamstring, didn't run hard off the bat and then sped up.

“I’m conscious of my hammy. I’m coming back from it,” Grisham said.

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

But behavioral scientists say the increasing flood of choices — whether it comes to shopping, social lives or relationships — is doing the opposite.

The idea that more choice is better is baked into Western culture, but research shows that having more options can make people anxious, indecisive and, paradoxically, less happy with what they pick, said Barry Schwartz, an emeritus psychology professor at Swarthmore University and author of “The Paradox of Choice.”

“There have been hundreds of studies showing that there can be too much of a good thing,” Schwartz said.

To minimize the mental noise, he said, limit the number of choices you make, and your brain will thank you for it.

More is often more confusing

Schwartz offered several examples of cases where more options left people worse off.

In the case of Medicare Part D prescription drug plans, people in states with more choices were less likely to choose any of them, he said. The same goes for 401(k) investments. The more options a company had, the less likely employees were to sign up, even when the employer offered matching money.

Less consequential choices are no different. Schwartz pointed to one often-cited study that showed shoppers at a gourmet grocery store bought more jars of artisanal jam when they were presented with six flavors rather than with a wider array of 24. In a follow-up study, students were more likely to complete an extra-credit assignment when they were given six topics to choose from instead of 30.

Schwartz’s research expanded on those findings to learn the emotional responses to this phenomenon.

“Instead of being liberated by all this choice, you’re paralyzed,” he said. “You can do anything, and you can’t figure out which of those many things to do.”

People also often end up making worse decisions since more options suggest more potentially bad outcomes, he said. And once someone finally decides from all the possibilities, they may be less satisfied with even a good choice because they fear there was a better alternative.

Schwartz said the satisfaction problem is especially acute for people whose aim is to get the best, whom psychologists call maximizers.

“People who are maximizers especially suffer from the proliferation of options,” he said. “Only the best will do.”

The tendency isn’t true for all people in all situations, Schwartz noted. Car buffs will gladly dive into the details of nearly unlimited choice when buying a new one.

“But you don’t feel that way when it comes to buying jam,” he said.

The brain doesn't like making decisions

Daniel Willingham, a psychology professor and neuroscience researcher at the University of Virginia, said the phenomenon occurs because the brain is designed to save people from having to think.

Problem-solving requires more energy than relying on memory, a fact that has roots in evolutionary survival mode, Willingham said. When faced with a goal, whether it be an immediate need like responding to a threat or something longer term like finding shelter, the mind first searches for what’s worked before. The problem-solving part of the brain only kicks in afterward.

“Another way to put it is that if you’re thinking, things are not going well,” he said.

That explains why sometimes people move through parts of their day on autopilot, he said. Throughout the day, people are confronted with hundreds of situations where they could do something different, but they almost always take the same route to work.

Schwartz said the proliferation of choices also has become tangled with identity in the social media age, where everyone can easily compare their choices to others.

“When all you’ve got to choose from is Lee’s and Levi’s, nobody expects the jeans they buy to fit perfectly,” he said. “When there are 2,000 options, well, now, dammit, you do expect your jeans to fit perfectly.”

Limit your choices and move on

David Epstein said that after researching his book, “Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better,” he began to shift away from his maximalist tendencies. Now, he limits his opportunities for making choices, such as when he bought 10 of the same well-fitting T-shirts in different colors.

He was following the example of Herbert Simon, a psychologist and 1978 Nobel laureate in economics, who had three sets of clothes and ate nearly the same thing every day. Simon introduced the term “satisficing,” a combination of satisfying and sufficing that means setting good-enough criteria for decisions and moving on.

Epstein sets satisficing rules for himself when shopping online by first focusing on the purpose of the purchase.

“When I find one that does that, I’m buying it, instead of reading all the reviews and getting sucked into, ‘Well, this one has all these other features.’”

Willingham and Schwartz suggested farming out some decisions. If you’re looking for a new phone, find a friend who is happy with theirs and buy that one.

For larger decisions like financial planning, you’ll be happier if you rely on someone else’s professional expertise, Willingham said.

“If you’re thinking, ‘Well, I’m a clever guy, I can figure that out,’ I think 9 times out of 10, you’re fooling yourself,” he said.

Schwartz acknowledged that for people who have trouble making decisions, changing is difficult. But it’s worth it.

“What happens over time is you find it easier to make decisions, you end up more satisfied with the decisions you make, and all of a sudden, you’ve got an extra two hours in every day,” he said.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Albert Stumm writes about wellness, food and travel. Find his work at https://www.albertstumm.com

But World Cup tourists from other lands have taken in more than just the food and the size.

Their views of the United States — in many cases forged through the sometimes distorted establishing shots presented by the news media, TikTok and fuzzy word of mouth — are now informed by what they've seen with their own eyes. And in many cases, the spectacles have contradicted — or at least augmented — what they knew when they arrived.

Many landed expecting the politically fractured country that global headlines often trumpet. Instead, they found Uber drivers brimming with recommendations and locals willing to open their homes to strangers. Even as game attendees grappled with the sticker shock of ticket prices, some Americans they met didn't even know the World Cup was going on — or didn't care.

Here's what some tourists told The Associated Press about their experience in the United States over the past few weeks — and what impressions they'll take home when they go.

Americans welcome fans warmly

From Asia and across Europe and Africa all the way to Latin America, in thousands of social media posts, most World Cup tourists have agreed on one thing: Americans are hospitable. Locals cheered alongside international fans for their teams at sports bars, parades through city streets and, of course, World Cup matches.

Sebastian Reader, a 28-year-old from London, has long been fascinated by American culture and decided to make a three-month trip out of the World Cup. He has followed the English team wherever it played and said he's experienced friendliness in bigger cities like Chicago and Boston as well as less-populated states like Arkansas.

In Dallas, a person he met in a Mexican restaurant showed him his truck and revved the engine for him. Another local he met at a bar invited him and his friend over to his front porch, where they talked about movies and sports until 2 a.m.

“That felt like a proper American experience in Dallas,” Reader said. “He had, I would call it like a proper American setup, like a TV outside, a beer fridge, massive fly zappers, and then massive fans as well.”

Harry Gunns, 30, also of London, visited Texas and California in the past year. But he said visiting for the World Cup was the first time he experienced “hospitality in its absolute abundance,” from Uber drivers to hotel staff. On his posts online, Americans have responded with tons of recommendations for places to visit and where to eat, and some have even invited him over for a homecooked meal.

“It almost feels like you’re home straight away, is the best way I can describe it,” Gunns said. “Because in the U.K. specifically, it takes a while for people to warm up to you, but over here you get that immediately.”

Many locals he spoke to didn’t know the U.S. was hosting the World Cup, but Gunns hopes the influx of tourists opened up Americans to the beloved sport.

Zineb Benlamlih, a 28-year-old from Morocco, visited New York for the World Cup and found herself salsa dancing with a group of 50-year-olds in Central Park. “It’s so nice being able to talk to anyone, like a stranger would be your family,” she said.

Victoria Phillips-Hunter from Carlisle, England, raved about the hospitality staff, having worked in hospitality herself.

“Honestly I completely understand why the staff in America work and survive off the tips because they absolutely deserve the tips,” said Phillips-Hunter, 34. “And they make you want to be there and you know they put 100% effort into looking after you.”

Tourists find less division than expected

Tourists blamed news coverage for the sense that American politics is divisive but said the reality on the ground felt different.

Phillips-Hunter had been nervous before her trip because of videos she had seen on social media of people who had been dragged out of cars or shot by Immigration Customs and Enforcement officers.

“All of that was portrayed on videos on social media, it came across that it can happen absolutely anywhere. So you always have to have your wits about you and just be a bit wary,” she said. But she added that her experience in the U.S. was so positive that she hopes to do a longer trip.

Gunns believes some have boycotted visiting the U.S. because of President Donald Trump.

“I think in the media we get an impression that (Americans) are very proud Americans, and Texans are very proud Texans, which is brilliant but oftentimes that gets portrayed as they don’t like anyone else or maybe (are) not as accepting about everyone else," he said. "But that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Benlamlih had friends from Chad and Somalia eager to attend the Cup, but they were unable to enter because of U.S. travel restrictions.

“You have this aspect of, ‘Oh my God, I want to go to the World Cup,’ which for Morocco is such an amazing experience,” she said. “And on the other side, you have such a bad global image of the U.S. at the moment, like obviously from a political point of view.”

Rafal Kolankowski, originally from Poland, said that despite the reputation of the U.S. in other countries, “there’s a reason why so many people want to move here.”

“Obviously, you have propaganda in other countries. ‘USA this, USA that.’ They come to the U.S., and they have a positive opinion on how the U.S. is," said Kolankowski, who now coaches varsity boys' soccer at Plum High School outside Pittsburgh.

Reader said that though he came in expecting to see political polarization, he found Americans to be friendly throughout the republic.

“There’s an impression of what’s going on here that is, I guess, quite divided,” he said. Americans were curious to know what he thinks of Trump, or America's robust car culture as opposed to London’s public transit.

He solved one problem with a simple decision that he has stuck to: Avoid conversations about politics. That's something many Americans can understand, too.

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Associated Press writer Will Graves contributed from Pittsburgh.

Hours ago, China said the U.S. recently confirmed to China that the President’s Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization would end, the ministry said in a statement responding to media questions. That announcement had appeared to be a sign that the city's preferential privileges might be restored.

But a statement from a State Department spokesperson sent to the AP said that U.S. President Donald Trump “allowed the national emergency to end, but Executive Order 13936 otherwise remains in effect.”

As the order states, Hong Kong is no longer sufficiently autonomous to justify differential treatment in relation to mainland China under certain laws and provisions, it said.

National emergency declaration had expired

The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement Friday that the national emergency declared in the executive order had expired and that it delisted people who were sanctioned under the order. But it said people who remain sanctioned under the Hong Kong Autonomy Act of 2020 have been added to a different sanction list.

The statement showed Hong Kong leader John Lee and his predecessor, Carrie Lam, were removed from the first list but added to the second one.

The declaration had significant overlap with the other act linked to Hong Kong, and 39 of the 48 people affected by the expiration would continue to be sanctioned under that act, according to a Treasury Department spokesperson who was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

"The non-renewal is consistent with sanctions modernization efforts that streamline sanctions for greater efficiency and effectiveness, including by ensuring our sanctions are not duplicative," it said.

Trump signed executive order in first term

Trump signed the executive order in July 2020 in his first term in response to Beijing imposing a national security law.

China considers the law for Hong Kong necessary to restore stability in the city after massive anti-government protests in 2019. The pro-democracy movement back then posed one of the biggest challenges to the Communist Party in Beijing and the Hong Kong government since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Under the order, it eliminated the preferential treatment for Hong Kong to the extent permitted by law and in the national security, foreign policy, and economic interest of the United States.

The full implications of the U.S. decision not to renew the declaration were not immediately clear. The White House referred questions about the executive order lapsing to the Treasury Department.

China-US relations

China’s Commerce Ministry said on Friday evening that the U.S. made commitments on Hong Kong issues and other matters during the U.S.-China trade talks in Madrid last year. It struck a positive tone in its statement.

“The U.S. side’s actions represent an important step in fulfilling the consensus reached during the bilateral economic and trade talks. China appreciates it,” it said.

The Hong Kong government said in a statement that it noted the “positive shift in the U.S. policy” toward the city.

“Safeguarding Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability serves the common interests of China and the U.S. and also aligns with the general expectation of the international community,” it said.

It said it hopes the U.S. will respect China’s sovereignty and the rule of law in Hong Kong and resume normal economic and trade exchanges with the city.

The U.S. policy change, which came two months after Trump met with his counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing. It could be seen as another sign of warming ties between Beijing and Washington ahead of Xi’s expected visit to the U.S. later this year. Earlier this month, a pastor of a prominent underground church who was detained in China in October was released after Trump brought up his case with Xi.

But it is unclear whether the differences on how they understand the change could cast a shadow over that.

Six years after the national security law's introduction, many leading activists, including pro-democracy former media tycoon Jimmy Lai, were imprisoned under it. Critics say the Western-style civil liberties that Beijing promised to maintain for 50 years after the handover have declined.

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Associated Press writer Joshua Boak in Washington contributed to this report.

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This story has been updated to correct the details of the U.S. decision. A previous version of the story said the United States confirmed it would not renew the executive order.

Ohtani was 0 for 4 with a pair of warning-track flyouts as the leadoff batter and designated hitter in Friday's 2-1 win over the New York Yankees that opened the second half. The four-time MVP is not slated to pitch this weekend and likely will make his next start Wednesday at Philadelphia.

Roberts said Ohtani had the procedure after Sunday's game against Arizona. Ohtani last pitched on July 3.

“It gives him some relief in his knee, which we were hoping to get, and then the four days off from activity, which gets it all to kind of settle in,” Roberts said. “I think we are certainly more prepared to back off on the workload if it calls for it, but Shohei wants to be out there as much as he possibly can.”

Ohtani is batting .293 with 22 homers and 58 RBIs while going 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings over 14 starts on the mound. The four-time MVP skipped Tuesday night’s All-Star Game.

“Part of his wear and tear, just part of being an athlete, being a baseball player, the running, the pitching, the swinging of the bat, all that stuff has effects on the body,” Roberts said.

He will try to give Ohtani days off after his pitching starts if possible.

“Safe to say that even if there isn’t an off day behind it, I would like to give him that next day off,” Roberts said. “So ideally, yeah, he would have the scheduled off day behind it. But that’s not always possible, kind of with the schedule and also where he’s at.”

Ohtani probably will throw off a mound in the next few days to test the knee. He has been landing more in an open stance to lessen torque on the left knee, which Roberts said likely will not need offseason surgery.

Roberts said he doesn't know whether catcher Will Smith, who hasn't played since June 5 because of neck inflammation, will return this season but hopes the three-time All-Star can contribute this year. Roberts said Smith “didn’t feel like he was making any improvement.”

“He’s taking a week, at least a week of just really doing no activity to hopefully calm his neck down, to then build up,” Roberts said. “Early on we’ve been trying to get him ready, moving around, doing some baseball stuff, but he hasn’t been able to get over the hump.”

Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz, recovering from surgery on April 22 to remove loose bodies from his right elbow, was to pitch Friday in his third minor league rehab appearance and then throw again Sunday.

“He’s got to assure us that he’s in a good spot to close out,” Roberts said.

Left-hander Blake Snell, sidelined since his season debut on May 9 because of loose bodies in his pitching elbow, is to start for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Saturday.

Tyler Glasnow, a right-hander out since May 6 because of lower back spasms, has been throwing bullpens.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Police said they responded to a report of a shooting at the complex around 11:34 a.m.

“Upon arrival, officers located a juvenile suffering from a gunshot wound,” officers wrote.

According to the Orlando Fire Department, the patient was transported to Arnold Palmer Hospital as a trauma alert.

However, police later announced that the juvenile victim succumbed to their injuries.

News 6 has contacted the Orlando Police Department for details on the nature of the emergency and the age of the person who was transported to the hospital.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office shared video from its STAR Unit helicopter on social media on Friday. The incident happened on July 6.

The video shows a silver sedan speeding along U.S. 192, weaving in and out of lanes. As the vehicle continued onto Poinciana Boulevard, his speed increased.

At one point, the video shows a law enforcement vehicle trying to stop the car, but deputies say the driver refused to stop.

The sheriff’s office deployed spike strips on Poinciana Boulevard, which disabled the car.

Just before the vehicle hit the spike strips, the pilot in the helicopter unit is heard saying on the video that the car was going at about 135 mph.

The driver stopped at a shopping plaza and tried to run away, but deputies took him into custody. He’s identified as Stone Ivia Mwaki.

Montes said combining air support with tactics such as spike strips has proven to be one of the safest ways to apprehend dangerous drivers.

“For us, we have found that utilizing our helicopter to monitor them and backing up with our ground units has been very successful,” she said.

Residents who watched the newly released video said they were shocked by the speeds shown and relieved no one was hurt.

“I’m really thankful because that could have been really bad,” one nearby resident said after learning the pursuit passed through their neighborhood.

According to the sheriff’s office, drivers often continue speeding even after deputies disengage, making it important for the helicopter to maintain visual contact until the suspect can be stopped safely.

Mwaki faces charges of fleeing and eluding, reckless driving, super speeding, driving with a suspended license, possession of cannabis, possession of drug paraphernalia, and resisting an officer without violence.

Shohei Ohtani went 0 for 4 with a pair of warning-track flyouts, five days after the four-time MVP had a lubricant injected into his irritated left knee.

Los Angeles began the second half by improving to a big league-best 62-36. New York (54-43) dropped to 18-20 without captain Aaron Judge, still sidelined by a fractured rib.

On a night with smoke in the air from Canadian wildfires, New York led on an unearned run against Roki Sasaki in the fourth. Jasson Domínguez doubled, took third when center fielder Andy Pages dropped the ball while picking it up by the warning track and scored on Dalton Rushing's passed ball.

Cole (3-5), who struck out eight, issued his first walk to Mookie Betts starting the seventh.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone went to the mound and left in the 35-year-old former Cy Young Award winner. Muncy fell behind 0-2 and with a 2-2 count on the seventh pitch drove a hanging slider into the right-field second deck for his 18th home run.

Cole had a 5-0 lead over the Dodgers in Game 5 of the 2024 Series before errors by the pitcher and Judge in center led to five unearned runs in the fifth. Los Angeles went on to win 7-6 and take the title.

Jack Dreyer (4-1) threw a called third strike to Domínguez that stranded two runners in the sixth, then retired the side in order in the seventh. New York's Trent Grisham was thrown out trying to score from first on Ben Rice's eighth-inning double. Pages threw to Betts, who relayed to Rushing as Pages got his big league-high 13th outfield assist.

Tanner Scott pitched a perfect ninth for his 14th save in 16 chances.

Sasaki allowed the unearned run and five hits in 5 2/3 innings. He reached 100 mph with 21 pitches — Sasaki had thrown 12 this season coming in. He is 0-2 with a 5.05 ERA in eight starts since May 23.

Up next

Yankees LHP Ryan Weathers (3-7, 4.15 ERA) and Dodgers RHP Emmet Sheehan (4-6, 4.81) start Saturday.

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

The Utah Department of Health and Human Services' decision cites a multitude of noncompliance citations in 2026 for the Provo Canyon School’s Provo campus, including not protecting “a client from potential harm or acts of violence,” and “using cruel and unnecessary practice on a child." More than a dozen of the citations were noted on Friday.

“No child should be hurt in a program that is meant to protect them; particularly programs that require the authorization of the state to operate,” Shannon Thoman-Black, director of the division of licensing and background checks at the health and human services department, said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the state revoked the license for the Provo Canyon School’s other campus in Utah, saying the school has “failed to provide applicable health and safety services for clients.”

Paris Hilton, the media personality who spent almost a year at the school in the late 1990s, said the latest announcement means she finally feels a sense of “peace.”

“This horrific chapter of abuse, neglect, and trauma has finally come to an end,” she said in a statement.

The school, which is described on its website as a psychiatric residential treatment facility for youth ages 12 to 18, has until Aug. 15 to stop providing services at its Provo campus. In the interim, Utah officials will be monitoring the facility at least once a week, according to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services.

Staci Bradley, the school’s director of business development, said in a statement that they do not agree with the state’s decision and “are carefully reviewing all available legal and administrative avenues, including the appeals process.”

The facility has 15 days to request a hearing before the department.

Hilton alleges that school staff members beat her, watched her shower, fed her unknown pills and locked her in solitary confinement without clothing.

“Today means no child will ever have to endure what we did at Provo Canyon School again,” she said.

She has testified about her experiences there in Congress and state legislatures around the U.S., helping pass laws to protect teens in Utah and more than a dozen other states. Utah has long played an outsized role in the troubled teen industry, a network of private, for-profit residential centers for children with behavioral issues.

In June, Hilton returned to the Provo Canyon School to support two families who filed lawsuits alleging that their children were mistreated at the school.

The school is under new ownership, and the administration has said it can’t comment on anything that came before the change, including Hilton’s time there.

News 6 got an inside look Friday at how those ballots are checked and counted, including a new audit system that will scan every ballot a second time.

During one demonstration, a machine sent a ballot into a separate tray after it could not process it automatically. Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Amy Pennock said that does not mean the ballot is rejected. It means a worker must examine it before it can move forward.

“They’re counted at every step of the way,” Pennock said.

The county’s intake machine counts, time-stamps and numbers each returned envelope. It also captures an image of the voter’s signature, which election workers compare with the signature in the voter registration system.

Pennock said workers also count each batch by hand, and at least two people remain with the ballots as they move through the process.

The county is adding another check this election through a new system called Clear Ballot.

After the primary tabulator reads the marks and adds up the votes, the audit system will scan every ballot again. Election officials can then compare the independent second count with the first.

Previously, the county used a hand count to audit a smaller sample of ballots.

“Auditing 100% of the ballots gives me more confidence that we have done the process right,” Pennock said.

Machines are only one part of the county’s election preparations. News 6 also observed ballot counters undergoing mandatory, hands-on training. Pennock said Seminole County trains about 700 election workers each year.

The elections office also invites members of the public who have questions or concerns about ballot counting to schedule a tour.

“We’ve had some of those individuals that have been skeptical of the process come in,” Pennock said. “When they see how it works, they’re like, ‘OK, I feel a heck of a lot better.’”

Monday, July 20, is the deadline to register to vote or change party affiliation for the primary. Election Day is Aug. 18.

He wrote on social media that she “has been a WINNER all of her life and, should she accept, has my Complete and Total Endorsement.”

“RUN, DARLINE, RUN!” Trump added.

The president said he had discussed a potential campaign with Darline Graham at the White House. Four people familiar with the deliberations, none of whom were authorized to speak publicly, had previously said that she privately expressed interest in running.

Trump's endorsement dramatically reshapes the scramble to fill Lindsey Graham's seat after he died last weekend. The president had previously suggested he could back a potential candidacy from Rep. Russell Fry. Several other noteworthy politicians — including Fry, Rep. Nancy Mace, Rep. Ralph Norman and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette — have been eyeing a run.

The filing period for a special primary runs from July 21 to July 28, and the primary is scheduled for Aug. 11.

Plans for Lindsey Graham’s funeral were also announced Friday. There will be a service in Washington on July 28 and more in South Carolina on July 29.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham to serve the remainder of her brother's term, which ends in January.

The first woman to represent the state in the Senate, Darline Graham called it "such an honor,” as dozens of her brother’s staffers and campaign advisers stood behind her, some with eyes glassy from welling tears.

“Lindsey has always been there for me. And now, I will be there for him," she said.

Lindsey Graham died Saturday at age 71. A preliminary report from the medical examiner said he suffered a tear in his aorta.

He never married or had a family of his own, but his sister was often by his side for the political touch points of his career, speaking at events and appearing in some of his campaign ads. After both of their parents died when Darline Graham was only 13, her older brother became her legal guardian and later adopted her, to ensure his military benefits would flow to her.

In forging a relationship with Darline Graham — who is new to politics but was a constant in her brother's political career — Trump could be angling to develop another ally to help steer his agenda through the Senate.

Although they had at times a tumultuous relationship, Lindsey Graham had been one of Trump's top Senate confidants, and the day after his death, the president said he was “like a member of the family.”

In his announcement Monday, McMaster made no reference to Darline Graham as a placeholder or symbolic appointment.

However, a person familiar with McMaster's thinking but unauthorized to speak publicly said the governor, in selecting Darline Graham, had never contemplated that she would run for the seat herself.

Sen. Tim Scott, another South Carolina Republican, said he would not endorse any candidate in the primary because he also serves as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

But, he said, “as Tim Scott, the voter of South Carolina, I might indeed wade into the water at some point.”

“I think the truth of the matter is that Darline has so far been off to a remarkable start,” Scott told reporters, asking about her as a possible special primary contender. “‘Why not her?’ would be my question.”

When he died, Lindsey Graham had millions in his campaign account and was expected to raise much more heading into the general election. But those aren’t funds that Darline Graham could directly access, if she were to run, according to Bradley A. Smith, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission.

Under federal rules, Lindsey Graham's campaign would be limited to transferring just $2,000 to a potential Darline Graham candidacy. However, Smith said there is no limit on how much it could transfer to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which could — thanks to a Supreme Court decision last month — “spend an unlimited amount in coordination with Darline’s campaign.”

“It can’t be earmarked for Darline’s campaign, but in those circumstances I’m sure that the party will make sure she’s not short of cash,” said Smith, now serving as a professor at Capital University Law School in Ohio.

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Kim reported from Washington. Associated Press reporter Thomas Beaumont contributed from Des Moines, Iowa.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

This is the first time a federal appeals court has struck down a state ban on such weapons, and it comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is set to consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles violate the Second Amendment. Just last week, a different federal appeals court upheld Illinois' ban on semiautomatic weapons.

Friday's appeals court ruling in the New Jersey case goes further than a July 2024 ruling from a federal judge, who said that the state's ban on AR-15s specifically was unconstitutional but upheld the provision barring larger magazines. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Friday in its opinion that the state's ban on all semiautomatic rifles it deems to be “assault firearms” and restriction on “large capacity ammunition magazines” were unconstitutional.

New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, a Democrat whose office defended the law, said in a statement that the decision is “as unfortunate as it is legally incorrect.”

“Every other federal circuit court to consider the issue has come out the other way,” Davenport said. “Assault weapons and large capacity magazines play a dangerous role in the modern epidemic of mass shootings, and New Jersey acted reasonably and lawfully in restricting them. We are considering our options.”

John Commerford, executive director of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, called the ruling a “historic victory for the NRA, the Second Amendment, and law-abiding Americans."

In addition to New Jersey, 10 states, as well as the District of Columbia, have laws that generally ban the manufacture, sale, and transfer of assault weapons, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The District of Columbia, New Jersey and 11 other states cap magazine capacity at 10 rounds generally or for certain types of firearms.

Adam Winkler, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that Friday's ruling was surprising because federal courts of appeals have upheld assault weapons bans in the past. On the other hand, he added, the decision "may be foretelling the Supreme Court’s coming opinion on assault weapons bans.”

“What this Third Circuit opinion shows is that there are very few gun laws that are safe from being struck down right now," Winkler said. ___

Kelety reported from Phoenix.

Over the past year, Sea and Shoreline, in partnership with Conservation Florida and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, has planted 250,000 native eelgrass plants across a 50-acre stretch of the lake, a project that organizers say could have a ripple effect all the way to the Florida Everglades.

Josie Wittling, an environmental advisor with Sea and Shoreline, describes the work in simple terms.

“Underwater farmers - we’re underwater farmers out here,” she said.

The project, which began in August 2025, involves planting native eelgrass, also known scientifically as Vallisneria, using a combination of herbivory exclusion devices, or cages, and mechanical planting units, or MPUs, spread across the lake’s northwest shoreline.

Each month, a team of biologists dons masks, snorkels and fins to scrub the cages clean of algae and check on the progress of the plants.

“We come out here and clean every single cage across the 50-acre project. We look for Vallisneria and how it’s growing, how it is doing, and we make sure that our cages are in good condition,” Wittling said. “We clean them because sometimes you can get some algae growth and that can block light.”

Eelgrass is more than just an aquatic plant it’s a cornerstone of a healthy freshwater ecosystem.

“This is a special plant because it does a lot more than just look pretty,” Wittling said. “It filters the water, it provides oxygen, it provides habitat for fish - they lay their eggs there, it acts as a nursery, and it’s like an all-in-one helpful aid to a good ecosystem in this freshwater system.”

Ben Collins, Director of Philanthropy at Conservation Florida, added that the scale of the project carries significant ecological weight.

“A single native eelgrass plant can give 50,000 liters of oxygen into the lake,” Collins said. “So over our 50-acre project, we’re talking about two and a half million liters back into East Lake Toho every day. And that oxygen is really the heartbeat of a healthy lake, from the fish to the wildlife to the water quality.”

East Lake Toho is no ordinary body of water. It sits near the headwaters of the Florida Everglades system, making its health critical to the broader environmental chain.

“This lake is really important because it’s part of the headwaters of the Everglades,” Wittling explained. “It’s like a giant water filtration system. All of these lakes are super important for the ecosystem and the health of it.”

Collins echoed that sentiment and put the project’s location in sharp geographic context.

“Here we are five miles from Orlando International Airport. We’re in the Orlando Metro,” he said. “This is one of the largest, fastest-growing areas in the country, and so protecting and restoring a 12,000-acre freshwater lake in the heart of that kind of development is not only a symbol that resonates with Florida, but that’s exactly the kind of work Conservation Florida is built to do.”

The cages play a critical protective role during the plants’ most vulnerable period.

Samantha Stauffer, Senior Coordinator at Sea and Shoreline, explained why the cages are essential.

“What they do is they help protect the plants for 12 months and get those roots established,” she said.

Once the roots are established, grazing from turtles or other wildlife is less of a threat - even if an animal grazes the plant down to the ground, healthy roots mean it will grow back. The cages are set to be removed after 12 months, which is rapidly approaching for the East Lake Toho project.

Wittling described the layout: each PVC pole in the water marks five cages, and inside each cage are five pots of eelgrass grown in Sea and Shoreline’s nursery. Surrounding each cage are the MPUs, smaller plants used to fill the gaps and encourage the eelgrass to spread naturally.

The project represents a broad collaboration. Sea and Shoreline, an aquatic restoration company founded in 2014, handles the on-the-ground science and maintenance. Conservation Florida, a nonprofit land conservancy, serves as a key partner and helped identify the need for restoration. Funding comes from the state of Florida and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“Our mission at Sea and Shoreline is to restore and enhance aquatic ecosystems for the habitat and wildlife that depend on them,” Stauffer said.

One year into the project, the results have exceeded expectations.

“This project is just working,” Wittling said. “We come here every single month and the grass is doing incredibly well. The MPUs have in some areas covered the ground so full that you cannot see the sand.”

Stauffer agreed. “This project has been wildly successful,” she said. “The eelgrass has taken off, and the cages that we put in place have really helped with that.”

Collins said the evidence extends beyond what’s visible underwater.

“We know because the things that matter to everyday Floridians, like populations of American alligators and river otters, snowy egrets, bald eagles, largemouth bass, those are here and in healthy supplies,” he said. “We’re seeing the wildlife and the water quality that makes Florida feel like home.”

For Wittling, who joined Sea and Shoreline straight out of school, the project has been more than a first job - it’s been a calling.

“I always knew I didn’t want to work in an office,” she said. “I am very much nature-oriented. It’s part of the reason I think so many people love Florida. The nature connects all of us.”

She said the experience has taught her as much about community as it has about science.

“I got to know so many families around here, so many communities, and we all share the same thing in common, just loving Florida and loving what it has to offer outside,” Wittling said. “It is a collaborative effort out here.”

Collins added a personal connection to the lake’s history and meaning.

“‘Tohopekaliga’, it means something like ‘we will gather together here,’” he said. “I think that’s such a fitting name. Not just because this has for generations been the intersection of wild Florida and the Florida community right here on this lake, but now today, this represents us coming together. Conservation Florida, the state of Florida, Sea and Shoreline all pulling in the same direction.”

With the one-year cage removal approaching, the team is looking ahead with optimism.

“One plant can actually grow as high as seven feet,” Stauffer said. “We expect that just that one plant can expand to other areas.”

Collins encouraged anyone interested in following the project or getting involved to visit ConservationFlorida.org.

“For every dollar given, we’re seeing $36 of conservation impact,” he said. “You can read the whole story about what’s happening here on East Lake Toho, learn about our partners, and see everything we’re doing across the 67 counties in the state of Florida - permanently protecting water, wildlife, and wild places.”

Crowley will announce his return to the race Saturday, less than two weeks after he dropped out and endorsed Rodriguez. spokesperson Brandon Weathersby confirmed. The move caps a tumultuous chain of events that began Monday, when Rodriguez said she had fired her campaign manager after discovering her campaign had hundreds of thousands of dollars less on hand than expected.

On Friday, Rodriguez, a leading establishment Democrat from the pivotal Milwaukee suburbs, abruptly ended her campaign, saying the financial concerns would be a distraction were she to continue running in the Midwestern battleground state.

“As we have continued to dig into our financial reports, it has become clear there are issues that would be an ongoing distraction,” Rodriguez said in a social media post Friday. “Part of being a leader is taking swift action, doing the right thing and being as honest as possible when there's a problem."

“And because I believe that, I cannot, in good conscience, allow these questions to become a cloud over an election Democrats need to win,” she added.

The shake-up comes less than a month from the primary election on Aug. 11, when Democrats will be choosing a successor to Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat who opted not to seek a third term.

The remaining Democratic candidates include democratic socialist Francesca Hong and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes. The winner of the primary will advance to the general election against Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany, who faces only token primary opposition.

Crowley grew up in the 53206 ZIP code, which a 2013 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee study found was the most incarcerated ZIP code in the country, with a majority of men who lived there having spent time behind bars. The area is also known for high rates of poverty, a high concentration of vacant lots and poor healthcare.

Before suspending his campaign, Crowley leaned into his background, highlighting how his family was once homeless in Milwaukee but he rose to become a community organizer and was elected to the state Assembly in 2016 at age 30. He served until the middle of 2020, when he was elected as executive of Milwaukee County, the state’s largest county. He was the first Black person to hold that job and also the youngest at age 33.

Barnes Campaign Manager Darby O’Connor said Crawley failed to gain traction, and predicted that restarting his campaign will empower Republicans.

“This Hail Mary serves no purpose other than playing spoiler and handing our state to Trump’s handpicked candidate in Tom Tiffany,” O'Connor said in a statement.

Democrats are hoping to hold onto the governor’s office as they also eye flipping majority control of the state Legislature, which Republicans have held since 2011.

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Associated Press writers Scott Bauer and Jonathan J. Cooper contributed.

Judge hasn't played since May 31 because of a stress fracture in his right ribs. He had a scan during the All-Star break and called the result positive news.

“Part of it's healing. The other part of it's still trying to bridge together,” the three-time AL MVP said before the Yankees started the second half Friday night against the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

Judge and the Yankees were waiting for an evaluation of the scans from Dr. Gregory J. Pearl, chair of the department of vascular surgery at Baylor Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital in Texas. Judge will need another scan before he is cleared for baseball activities and given a timeframe for a return.

“I’m going to wait for the doctors to kind of tell us what to do and what they see when they look at it,” Judge said. “We've got a big team of guys looking at this just so we get the best answer and have the right plan.”

Judge is hitting .248 with 17 homers and 38 RBIs but had just one homer in his last 18 games before going on the injured list. The 34-year-old outfielder has done lower-body work, used a treadmill and climbed steps — but no baseball activities or heavy weightlifting. He's stopped the bicycle work he did earlier during the layoff.

“It’s feeling better. It was a couple weeks that were tough, couldn’t do a lot, but now we’re feeling 10 times better,” he said. “So that was my big complaint, well, if I’m feeling better, how about we start moving? But I think they just don’t want to start adding baseball activities and other stuff and all of a sudden we have a setback and it pushes everything back.”

When he is able to play, Judge doesn't want to go on a minor league injury rehabilitation assignment.

“I hate rehab games, so I've got to talk with them about all that, because why waste at-bats in a rehab game?” Judge said.

New York was 36-23 when he last played but was 18-19 since as the second half began Friday.

“I feel good about the fact that he will be back but it's just a matter of when,” manager Aaron Boone said.

Fried pitches in minors and other Yankees injury news

Left-hander Max Fried, out since May 14 because of a left elbow bone bruise, made his first rehab start Friday for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre against Worcester, allowing two runs and five hits over three innings with three strikeouts and no walks. Fried threw 32 of 52 pitches for strikes.

Fried gave up Andrew Knizner's RBI single in the first and Kenedy Corona's home run on a changeup in the second. He will have at least one more minor league outing before returning to the Yankees' rotation.

Shortstop prospect George Lombard Jr. homered for the RailRiders in his return from the injured list. He hadn't played for Scranton since June 16 because of sprained fingers on his left hand.

Left-hander Carlos Rodón, who has not pitched since June 28 because of left elbow inflammation, threw 10 pitches off a mound Friday but has not progressed to a bullpen session.

Designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton, who hasn’t played since April 24 because of a strained right calf, started a running progression outdoors.

Clarke Schmidt, coming back from Tommy John surgery on July 11 last year, was set to throw an inning of batting practice Saturday.

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

And before they left, they all got a selfie with Lionel Messi.

Let that be the latest proof of Messi's power: Even the biggest stars in the sports universe clearly enjoy a chance to be around the best soccer player of all-time. They'll all be watching Sunday — along with probably 1.5 billion other people worldwide — when Messi and Argentina face Spain in the World Cup final.

“We will give it our all,” Messi said.

The star-studded news conference was expected to be Messi's last public appearance before Sunday's final in East Rutherford, New Jersey. FIFA decided to use Fanatics Fest — a four-day celebration of sports in New York, replete with autograph signings and celebrity appearances — as the backdrop for its preview news conferences, meaning hundreds of people got the chance to get a glimpse of Messi in the sort of setting not usually open to the public.

“It goes beyond words what Messi means as a player and what he means for Argentina,” Spain captain Rodri said. “Obviously, for me, he’s the greatest of all times.”

The idea for the appearance by Messi and the other players and coaches from Argentina and Spain was simple: Instead of having traditional media asking questions, the stars got to do the asking.

Brady probed Messi about a remarkable photo that has gone viral this week of him bathing a cute baby boy who grew up to be Spain star Lamine Yamal — “What a crazy picture,” Messi said. Djokovic asked Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni about dealing with pressure, then posed a version of that same question to Messi.

And when Messi finished, Djokovic simply said, “Gracias, Leo.” Djokovic then asked Spain coach Luis de la Fuente and captain Rodri about staying calm in big moments, before Brady asked Messi about the infamous photo with Yamal, and Rodri about what he'll say to teammates before Sunday's final. Durant then came out, asking Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez about what it would mean to win back-to-back World Cups.

The Argentina and Spain sides, to their credit, seemed to enjoy the show. The World Cup final is a spectacle, and so was the preview event.

“It's one more game,” Scaloni said. “We cannot really think about the fact that it's a World Cup final.”

It was not the easiest of roads for Argentina to get back to the final, even though the defending champions (7-0-0) are the only unbeaten and untied team left in the tournament; Spain (6-0-1) drew its opening match against Cape Verde.

Argentina had to rally from a 1-0 second-half deficit to beat England in the semifinals, had to rally from a 2-0 second-half deficit to beat Egypt in the Round of 16, and got taken to extra time by both Cape Verde (in the round of 32) and Switzerland (in the quarterfinals).

“I've said many times: We never stop fighting,” Messi said.

With that, the defending champions got their ticket to New York. And when Messi walked onto that stage Friday, not many of those who were jammed inside the theater applauded — since they were holding their phones instead, hoping to capture images of the moment.

Messi knew what they wanted. He smiled and waved. They roared.

When the event wrapped up, everyone — the players, the coaches, actor and comedian Kevin Hart, rapper and producer Travis Scott, England great Rio Ferdinand, Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin and more — gathered for that selfie with the fans in the background.

“Sunday is going to be a great show,” Scaloni said.

It seemed like Messi may have taken a quick look at the case holding the trophy before he departed. Either way, it's not like he needs a reminder of what's at stake. No team has won back-to-back World Cups since Brazil in 1958 and 1962, and Messi now has a chance to add one more accomplishment to his already overstuffed resume.

"We've got a group of players and a group of coaches that are working incredibly hard every single day to try to bring happiness to my country," Martinez said. “We're going to give absolutely our best, with Leo, with the team that we have, to bring the World Cup back to my country and celebrate with our people.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, on July 7 as he was driving to a Houston construction job site with three co-workers, one of whom was his brother. The shooting sparked protests in the sprawling Texas city, echoing Salgado Araujo’s family’s calls for transparency. The family describes him as a hardworking father very close to obtaining legal status in the U.S. after living in the country for 35 years.

The shooting came just days before two other men in Florida and Maine died as part of President Donald Trump's federal immigration crackdown, renewing scrutiny on the Department of Homeland Security's law enforcement tactics.

Aaron Reitz, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said for the first time on Thursday that ICE officers were targeting two Guatemalan men who were potentially subject to deportation. He said they were driving a van similar to the one Salgado Araujo was driving when he was killed. In an earlier statement released the day Salgado Araujo was killed, DHS said he was targeted in an immigration enforcement operation, and he was living in the country without legal permission.

Reitz also said that the officers believed that Salgado Araujo and the passengers in his car fit the description of the Guatemalan men the agents were looking for.

Four officers driving two separate law enforcement vehicles attempted to pull over Salgado Araujo's van using their police lights. Salgado Araujo then made a U-turn and drove over a median to evade getting pulled over, Reitz said.

Later that morning, the officers again encountered Salgado Araujo's van and for the second time tried to pull him over, this time effectively surrounding the vehicle, Reitz said. Two of the four agents got out of their cars and told Salgado Araujo to put the vehicle in park. Just before he was shot, one of the agents was “partially inside the van or immediately next to it” when Salgado Araujo tried to reverse and then drive forward again, Reitz said.

An earlier DHS statement accused Salgado Araujo of weaponizing his vehicle. The agency said he rammed his van into a law enforcement vehicle and said an officer opened fire in self-defense. The most recent statement from the U.S attorney's office, however, didn't mention any collision between Salgado Araujo's van and a law enforcement vehicle. It also didn't explicitly say that the officer feared for his life. There are no reported injuries for the officers involved.

The latest statement didn't name the officer who killed Salgado Araujo, nor did it specify if the officer who fired the shot was the same person who was next to, or partially inside, the van.

Reitz also said in the statement that officers “saw in plain view several small bags of a white, crystal-like substance inside the van” and that the FBI later executed a search warrant to investigate for possible illicit substances. Salgado Araujo’s brother, who was in the van when the shooting happened, has been in ICE detention since the incident. His attorney said the white substance was a salt mixture that the men used as electrolytes to stay hydrated while doing manual labor in the grueling Texas heat.

Few photos or videos surrounding the shooting in Houston have emerged on social media, unlike other deaths involving federal immigration officers.

Kyle Bylin discovered his birth family after taking an at-home test he chose randomly during a Christmas gift-exchange. That led to his biological aunt on a genealogy platform. Her nephew, Jeremy Morrison, then had his DNA tested. The results were irrefutable.

“That’s when my mind was just completely blown,” Bylin said. “We could have never imagined that it was an actual birth switch that occurred.”

Morrison said he was convinced as soon as he saw a photo of Bylin's brother and realized they looked very much alike.

Bylin and Morrison were the only babies born on Jan. 26, 1988, at Unity Medical Center in Grafton, North Dakota, according to their lawsuit filed in state court last week. Somehow, they went home with the wrong parents.

A hospital statement says there’s no evidence staff was responsible for the switch.

But Bylin, born Jeremy Morrison, says he still has the hospital bracelet that misidentified him as Kyle Bylin.

The hospital records no longer exist

Two years have passed since the DNA tests shattered what they thought they knew about their families — including disorienting moments, emotional family meetings and thoughts about the what-ifs.

“Kyle is still my son — that is never going to change,” Evelyn Newton, who raised him as her own, told The Associated Press in a phone interview Friday. “But I feel robbed of the life I should have had with my biological son. You can't go back and replace 35 years. First steps, driving a car, getting married — how do you make up for that?”

The hospital doesn't dispute that the babies were switched at some point. It says it's working to better understand what happened, but has uncovered no evidence that its administration or staff were responsible for the lives-altering error.

“We recognize the profound impact this discovery has had on them and their families,” Unity Medical's statement says. “Unfortunately, because of the passage of nearly four decades, the medical and staffing records that might have provided additional clarity no longer exist, and no members of the delivery team from that time are still employed by the hospital.”

The knowledge hasn't changed the way Morrison feels about the family he's always known. He still thinks of the parents he grew up with — Elizabeth O'Toole and Terry Morrison — as his parents. And aside from some challenging times — like wishing he had a sibling to lean on when he was 7 and they divorced — he says his childhood was fine.

“I was loved. I played sports. I did well in school,” Morrison said. “A DNA test is not going to take away 38 years of memories.”

The shocking truth led to emotional encounters

Morrison now lives in Colorado City, Colorado, and works as a welding inspector for a wind energy company. Had he not been switched at birth, he figures he'd still be with his biological brother and father, working on the North Dakota grain farm where Bylin grew up.

Newton said she never had any thought that Kyle might not be their biological son as she and her then-husband, Keith Bylin, were raising him. True, the immediate family had light hair and Kyle’s was dark. But her husband had relatives with dark hair, and Newton herself was adopted, so she didn’t know what her own blood relatives looked like.

For Bylin, questions about nature versus nurture have become more personal. As he pursued an academic career far from North Dakota, he figured the political debates over Thanksgiving dinner were just a staple of American family life.

“You’re just kind of shaking your fist, like, how can this be my family? How am I so different from them?” Bylin said. “It turns out that we’re just totally different people, period.”

Bylin and Morrison have now met their biological parents — the encounters were welcoming but awkward, they said. They have yet to meet each other, but have spoken on the phone.

“We’ve tried to unite as a group and just recognize that no matter what, there’s different ways that this can be socially messy,” Bylin said. “Everyone’s getting to know people that they didn’t know before.”

Others have discovered they were switched at birth

Such cases are rare, but at-home DNA tests are making them easier to uncover:

1. In 2024, two women sued the government of Norway alleging a breach of human rights after discovering they had been switched.

2. Two men who believe they were switched at birth in 1942 sued a Roman Catholic diocese in West Virginia in 2020, alleging negligence and breach of duty by the hospital where they were born.

3. In 2018 in Pennsylvania, testing revealed that two girls had been switched some 75 years earlier .

4. In 2016, the Canadian government launched an investigation after DNA evidence indicated two men from a northern Manitoba Indigenous community were switched at birth in 1975.

Modern tech helps hospitals prevent switches

Dr. Jonathan Marron, a pediatric oncologist who also teaches at Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics, says such mix-ups should happen “pretty close to never” nowadays.

“As often as all clinicians, doctors, nurses, social workers, everybody else, gripe about the electronic health records,” the digital backstop is a clear benefit, Marron said.

Attorney Tim O’Keefe said he tried for a year to reach a monetary settlement with the hospital before filing a lawsuit claiming emotional distress due to negligence and medical malpractice. The families have spent this time adjusting to new realities.

“I know the truth now, but we’re still working to build relationships,” Morrison said. “I mean, it’s not like I can go back in time and rebuild what’s already lost. It’s a work in progress, just like me.”

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Susan Montoya Bryan contributed from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Johnson reported from Seattle, Schuettler from Phoenix. Schuettler is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

A week of punishing downpours dumped more than 2 feet (60 centimeters) in some areas. The rain was expected to taper off, but another round of showers worsened already swollen rivers and flooded rural communities near the border with Mexico that had largely been spared major damage.

Near Ozona, a small town about 200 miles (322 kilometers) west of San Antonio, floodwaters spilled over Interstate 10. More than 50 people were rescued by boat from flooded apartments and a water-logged RV park.

A section of a bridge also collapsed over the Nueces River in Uvalde County, where months worth of rain has fallen in a span of days. In Uvalde, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio, floodwaters rushed through Miguel Vasquez’s home twice this week, leaving a layer of mud and knocking over his refrigerator and other items.

Debris was strewn around his neighborhood and a neighbor’s shed teetered over a washed-away section of the property. He said Friday that he'd been caught in the waters' current and nearly been swept away and drowned in trying to get to his house Wednesday.

“I had to grab on with my hands and my feet. You couldn’t swim," he said. "People think that when there’s a flood, you can swim. Swimming’s not going to help you. It’ll take you. The current’s too strong.”

Almost a trillion gallons of water fell in a flood-prone area

Nearly 1 trillion gallons of water fell on the three hardest-hit counties over three days — enough to fill 1.5 million Olympic-sized swimming pools or supply 11 million homes for a year.

Uvalde County alone got more rain in that period than California has seen over the last month, according to Ryan Maue, former chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

The Hill Country is especially prone to flash floods because the area’s signature limestone is covered by just a thin layer of soil. During heavy rains, water can quickly shoot downhill before filling the narrow river basins.

Emergency personnel across a wide swath of southern and central Texas have rescued more than 570 people, including stranded drivers and people trapped in homes, Gov. Greg Abbott said. Hill Country residents were beginning to clean up after floodwaters again barreled down the Guadalupe River and through communities still reeling from deadly floods a year ago.

Giant border buoys set adrift on the Rio Grande

Floodwaters on the Rio Grande temporarily closed the two international bridges on the border with Mexico at Eagle Pass, stranding a few people on the wrong side. About 600 huge buoys placed on the river to deter migrants from crossing into the U.S. illegally were set adrift by the rising waters, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar said.

Cuellar said about 480 of them were captured by noon Friday. Critics have worried about the damage the buoys might do if they became untethered and got caught along banks and against bridge piers. Each is about 15 feet (4.6 meters) long and weighs 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms).

In the Hill Country, Serena Reyna woke up Thursday morning to find her Kerrville boutique, Nu Accents, covered in debris after four feet of floodwater rushed into the store. She described the store as “a total loss.”

“The floors, I mean they’re soaked in mud and still you know an inch of water in some spots," she said.

The Texas Department of Transportation said high waters closed a 50-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 57 and that parts of the roadway were not expected to reopen until Monday.

In all, roughly 6 million residents across Texas were under a flood watch at various points this week.

Residents in hard-hit Uvalde return to flooded homes

Floodwaters had overrun Uvalde and cut off most outside routes, making it one of the hardest hit cities. The waters were receding Friday, and officials said a major highway, Route 90, had reopened.

One person died while driving on a flooded road, swept away near Uvalde, authorities said.

Another victim, 65-year-old John Mark Steward of Kerrville, died after his mobile home was swept into Goat Creek on the Guadalupe River, his wife said. The same river was wrecked by flash floods last year when two dozen children and counselors died at Camp Mystic. Authorities on Thursday said summer campers were safe.

In Ozona, the seat of Crockett County, authorities used seven rescue boat teams to get people out of the hardest-hit areas. They were taken to the local civic center for shelter.

Eddie Martin, the county's emergency management director, said the area received 6 inches of rain after midnight, on top of nearly 10 inches of rain before that.

“We have more and more accidents on the interstate,” he said. “We have more and more water pouring into the neighborhoods where we’ve been pulling people out of.”

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Stengle reported from Dallas and Hanna, from Topeka, Kansas. Also contributing reporting were Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut; Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas; Michael Phillis in Washington, and Anna Wilder in Austin, Texas.

Instead of receiving automatic protections, imperiled species will need individualized protection plans once they are added to the threatened species list. That's a potentially lengthy process in which companies could seek exemptions for oil and gas drilling, mining and other development where those species live.

Opponents said it would make it harder to save wildlife that’s awaiting federal protections and in danger of disappearing, such as monarch butterflies and alligator snapping turtles.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement that the Endangered Species Act had been used for too long “to stop almost any new project in America, driving up costs for families, weakening our competitiveness, and undermining our national security.”

“Success should be measured by species recovery and delisting, not by adding more species to the list,” Burgum added.

A second change finalized Friday requires officials to analyze economic impacts when deciding whether habitat is critical to a species’ survival. Critics say it gives corporations an opportunity to put their thumb on the scale so that officials will allow development in those areas.

“If you're exempting certain industries that cause habitat destruction, in many instances you'll be exempting the main threat to those species,” said Noah Greenwald with the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity.

Officials made similar changes during Trump’s first term but they were reversed under former Democratic President Joe Biden.

The rules that gave what some consider “blanket protections” to threatened species were first adopted for wildlife in 1975 and for plants in 1977.

Two groups, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Property and Environment Research Center, sued the Biden administration in 2024 after officials restored the blanket protections rule. They argued the rule unfairly imposed the same restrictions on landowners when a species' status improves from endangered, which is more dire, to threatened.

That removed incentives for landowners to participate in species recovery, said Jonathan Wood, vice president at the Montana-based research center.

Wood said the Trump administration's approach allows officials to “better reward progress and encourage proactive conservation.”

There have been no species added to the endangered or threatened lists in Trump’s second term. By comparison, more than 20 species were added in Trump’s first term, and about 60 during Biden’s presidency.

About 30 species are currently proposed to be listed as threatened. Besides monarchs and alligator snapping turtles, they include California spotted owls and various snakes, fish, clams and insects.

Changes to government policies for endangered plants and wildlife have come faster and extended further in Trump's second term than in his first.

The administration in March exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said environmentalists’ lawsuits threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies as the U.S. wages war against Iran.

Last week, Interior officials sharply narrowed the definition of what constitutes “harm” to a species. The change would allow development on critical wildlife habitat so long as the animals themselves are not immediately killed or injured.

This week officials sharply reduced the amount of critical habitat in the U.S. Rocky Mountains designated for Canada lynx, forest dwelling wildcats that are threatened by climate change and other pressures.

Also this week, Burgum said in a visit to Montana that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would turn over more management authority for grizzly bears to states where the bruins live. That's been a longstanding priority for the Republican governors of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

The Endangered Species Act is credited with bringing back iconic animals including the bald eagle and American alligator from the brink of extinction.

Burgum noted Friday that 97% of the species that have been given protections still have them. That’s a frustration for Republican lawmakers who say species should be taken off the endangered and threatened lists more quickly once they’ve recovered.

The tablets have access to video and league-provided data, and also included a custom tab where teams could access other programs. MLB made the custom tabs inaccessible to teams starting Wednesday night, when the second half of the season started.

“In many cases, the custom tab had expanded the use of the dugout iPads beyond their originally intended purpose to include recommendations regarding substitutions, pitch calling, and other in-game decisions traditionally made by players and coaches," MLB executive vice president of baseball operations Morgan Sword wrote in a June 11 memo to general managers, assistant GMs and video coordinators.

The memo, first reported by The Athletic, was obtained by The Associated Press.

“I read the article and I was like, I can’t believe what I’m seeing. Teams are making decisions off of AI? Man, that’s just crazy,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said.

Ottavino said on his YouTube livestream “Baseball & Coffee” that the Mets had been using AI and cited spending by team owner Steve Cohen on the software. Ottavino pitched for the Mets from 2022-24 and is now a broadcaster on the New York Yankees' YES Network.

“The Mets were actually the team, the main team, that got cracked down on,” Ottavino said. “They had an AI program that was very expensive apparently and they were bragging about it a little bit early on in this — the year. Some of the coaches that I know were talking about it from around the league and they had basically an AI program helping them pick pitches and I think some other stuff.”

“But MLB got wind of it and nipped that right in the bud, so apparently they weren't the only team, but I knew about it from the Mets angle," he said. “They tried to throw some money at the situation. Steve ponied up for — I think this program from what I heard was several hundred thousand dollars to have.”

The Mets did not comment when asked whether they had a response.

A review by the competition committee found clubs had been compliant with the regulations.

“Instituting this prohibition beginning with the second half of the season is intended to provide clubs that have relied on the custom tab with appropriate lead-time to make any necessary adjustments," Sword wrote.

Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider called it “a little weird to kind of see the whole report on it, where you can do things kind of in real time that can sway your decision one way or another.”

“I think the biggest thing is calling pitches and kind of seeing how that can evolve in real time via technology,” he said.

MLB started a pilot program allowing use of iPads in dugouts with restrictions late in the 2015 season and expanded their use in 2016 under a deal with Apple. Video was eliminated in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season following the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal, then returned in 2021.

“It hasn’t impacted us at all but I know AI is entering our arena for sure," Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. "It’s entering everyone’s arena. You better get on it, or you’re going to get rolled over by it.”

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AP Baseball Writer David Brandt and AP freelance writer Ian Harrison contributed to this report.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

In a release, Uthmeier said he sent the letter because the city had put up signs banning firearms at Tucker Ranch Recreation and Nature Complex, which Uthmeier argued violates state law.

“Florida law declares that the regulation of firearms, including possession, is entirely preempted by the State,” he wrote. “Any municipal ordinance, rule, or regulation that regulates firearms is void.”

To demonstrate his point, Uthmeier brought up Broward County, which tried to ban “weapons” in taxis, though the ordinance was deemed invalid due to the state’s preemption.

As a result, Uthmeier declared that Winter Garden’s prohibition on guns in parks is “null and void.”

“Winter Garden is not permitted to enforce any rule purporting to prohibit firearms in this way,” he continued.

We sent a letter to the City of Winter Garden because their signs banning firearms at Tucker Ranch Recreation and Nature Complex violate Florida law.

Failure to correct these signs will result in appropriate legal action by my office. pic.twitter.com/rHA8XCM9gG

— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) July 15, 2026

Uthmeier thus urged the city to remove references to “firearms” and “weapons” from the sign at Tucker Ranch Recreation and Nature Complex.

He provided a deadline of Aug. 15 for Winter Garden to confirm the change, as well as to verify that the city will not enforce any unlawful regulations of firearms. That said, the city confirmed on Thursday that it has already removed the signs.

[RELATED: Winter Garden park removes weapons ban signs after Florida attorney general warning]

In a dramatic late-evening development after a 4-under 66, DeChambeau was taken back out to the fifth hole for a rules review. Footage taken during his round showed him stomping around in high grass to the right of the fairway trying to figure out his shot 72 yards out from the hole.

DeChambeau was seen in a lengthy, heated exchange with rules officials — at one point, he waved his arms and pointed in clear frustration — before being driven back to the scoring tent, where he was followed by officials including R&A chief executive Mark Darbon.

The verdict then came in: DeChambeau was deemed to have inadvertently improved the area of his intended swing by tamping down a section of grass behind the ball that might have affected his backswing on the shot.

His bogey 5 on the No. 5 was turned into a triple-bogey 7 and the two-shot penalty turned his score to a 68, leaving him three shots behind, tied for fifth place.

DeChambeau left for the range, saying only, “Are you guys having a good night?” as he walked past dozens of reporters, and stopped to sign an autograph before hitting balls in twilight.

Just after midnight local time, DeChambeau posted on X: “Obviously disappointed with the ruling. I don’t agree with it, but it is what it is. This fires me up. Onto the weekend. Let’s get it.”

The post suggested DeChambeau had made up his mind to keep playing. Earlier Friday night, his agent, Brett Falkoff, was asked if the two-time U.S. Open champion would play Saturday and he replied: “We’ll see.”

It is proving an action-packed trip to Royal Birkdale for DeChambeau, who was accused by Nick Faldo of having “zero clue of strategy” when the three-time Open champion spoke on the Sky Sports Golf podcast ahead of the tournament.

After shooting 67 in the first round, DeChambeau skipped media, though later agreed to take a few questions from the R&A.

His answers were pointed. “I feel like I did a really good job today of being incredibly strategic," he said, before later adding: "I feel like my strategy was nice today.”

DeChambeau — one of the most high-profile players in golf — left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf in 2022 and still plays on the breakaway circuit, while continuing to produce videos on his YouTube channel that has 2.77 million subscribers.

He draws attention more than pretty much any golfer, as Friday proved.

The ruling explained by the R&A

At issue for DeChambeau was whether he violated Rule 8 that governs the intended swing.

“An improvement means to alter one or more of the conditions affecting the stroke so that the player gains a potential advantage for the stroke," Grant Moir, the R&A's executive director for governance, told media.

“The player," Moir continued, “must take the least intrusive course of action to deal with the particular situation and is not entitled to a normal stance or swing.”

Moir said this applied “even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson’s case.”

He makes the cut at a major for the 1st time this year

DeChambeau missed the cut in each of the first three majors of 2026.

If he does turn up for the third round, he will play with fellow American Sam Burns in the third-to-last group.

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

The body was identified as Tondra Madruga, 58, also known as Tondra Miller, the San Francisco medical examiner said Friday. She was one of three people missing after the Volare, a 49-foot (15-meter) cabin cruiser, sank Wednesday afternoon with 20 people aboard after being hit by a wave and capsizing. The group was on the boat to scatter the ashes of a loved one.

The San Francisco Police Department’s Marine Unit located on Friday the submerged wreckage of the Volare in the vicinity of where it sank.

The boat was believed to be submerged on the rocky seabed in water 120 feet (36 meters) deep. The marine unit has been using boat-mounted sonar to locate the vessel, and is now using a remotely operated vehicle to assess the wreckage and determine if it can be recovered safely, police said.

Madruga’s body was recovered Thursday by the marine unit two days after the boat sank.

“Our family is heartbroken by the loss of our beloved mother, daughter, sister, and aunt, Tondra Madruga,” family member Quin Madruga said on Facebook. “Our hearts remain with every family impacted, and we sincerely appreciate your kindness and understanding.”

One man, Clifford Boisa, died immediately after being retrieved from the chilly water. The U.S. Coast Guard suspended search efforts Wednesday evening but police are still looking for the two missing. The rest were rescued by good Samaritans and first responders as the boat capsized.

Ralph Boisa said his extended family and close friends were on the boat Tuesday to celebrate the life of his daughter, who died over a decade ago. Madruga was a friend.

The two people who remain missing are Ralph Boisa's sister, Carol, and Clifford Boisa's wife, Jackie, he said.

Madruga's body was discovered in San Francisco Bay near Treasure Island, a former naval station, when a boater first reported it, police said.

The bay is notorious for its strong currents, and within hours of the boat’s sinking, rescuers were also searching the open ocean beyond the Golden Gate Bridge.

Crews searched more than 800 square miles (over 2,000 square kilometers), according to the Coast Guard. That is an area roughly half the size of Rhode Island.

In the midst of all the late drama was Jon Rahm getting an official conduct warning for throwing his club after a bad tee shot.

The real emotion came in the twilight hours with no spectators around — DeChambeau standing in high grass on the fifth hole with two rules officials, pleading his case and ultimately losing the argument. His 4-under 66 became a 68, and he went from one shot behind Herbert to three behind. And then he went to the range until the only light came from the video boards.

DeChambeau has turned down media at the majors dating to his missed cut at the Masters in April. Just after midnight local time, he posted on X: “Obviously disappointed with the ruling. I don’t agree with it, but it is what it is. This fires me up. Onto the weekend. Let’s get it.”

Herbert, who was at 8-under 132, was slightly disappointed with his record-tying round because he missed a 5-foot par putt that would have given him a 61.

“Very, very proud to put my name on that list of guys that have shot 62 in a major championship. So it’s kind of holding two emotions there at the same time,” Herbert said. “It’s a pretty good problem to have, too, to be disappointed you shot 62.”

Burns didn't even know he tied a record when he holed a bunker shot on the 18th for his third straight birdie, just 22 minutes after Herbert shot his 62.

But there was no mistaking the frustration of DeChambeau, who tends to draw attention no matter what he does. He has been more visible on his successful YouTube channel than in the majors, particularly having missed the cut in all three of them until this week.

Six-time major champion Nick Faldo criticized him for having no strategy for links golf, and DeChambeau responded by working his way into contention with plenty of power.

DeChambeau was hand-slapping with the gallery after he made a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th to get within one shot of Herbert going into the weekend. That changed when officials asked him to review his shot from the fifth hole.

DeChambeau asked to be taken to the scene of the infraction, in thick, high grass to the right of the 321-yard hole, and television cameras picked him up arguing with Grant Moir, the R&A executive director of governance, and Mark Luiten, a chief referee from the European tour.

He drove well to the right and was stomping around as he tried to figure out how to navigate a shot 72 yards from the hole. At issue was whether he violated Rule 8 that governs the intended swing.

Officials eventually deemed a section of grass behind the ball was tamped down by his movement, which might have affected his backswing on the shot.

“A player is allowed to fairly take their stance by taking reasonable actions to get to the ball and take a stance, if in some situations that improves the condition affecting the stroke,” Moir said. “But when doing so, the player must take the least intrusive course of action to deal with the particular situation and is not entitled to a normal stance or swing.”

He said the rule applies even when there is no intention to improve the area.

Even more drama followed when DeChambeau stormed off to the range. His agent, Brett Falkoff, was asked if the two-time U.S. Open champion would play on Saturday and replied, “We'll see.”

DeChambeau appeared to confirm in his late-night social media post that he planned to play.

Herbert was long gone when all this was taking place, with mixed emotions about a short miss on the final hole but proud to become the sixth person to shoot 62 in a major. And then Burns made it seven with his astonishing finish — a 40-foot birdie putt from off the green at the 16th, a 20-foot birdie on the 17th and the first birdie of the day on the 18th with his bunker shot.

Burns wasn’t even supposed to be at The Open. His wife was due with their second child this week, but when she had a daughter earlier than expected — July 3 — Burns decided last Friday to cross the Atlantic for another shot at a major. He was runner-up by one shot in the U.S. Open.

When the dust finally settled on the brown-baked links of Royal Birkdale, the only clarity was Herbert having his first 36-hole lead in a major. And golf's oldest championship, which rarely lacks for drama, had almost more than it could handle.

Defending champion Scottie Scheffler couldn't buy a putt until a 12-footer for par on the final hole gave him a 68 and left him only four shots behind.

“All you can do is continue to give myself opportunities,” Scheffler said. “I was hitting some good putts as well, the balls just weren’t dropping. ... If I continue to strike it like I did today and yesterday over the next couple days, I’ll be in a good spot.”

Jackson Suber (69) and Ryan Gerard (67), a pair of newcomers to links golf, were tied for second with Cameron Young, who has powerfully put together a pair of 67s as he looks more like the player who dominated the spring.

Rahm, who missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the final hole and shot 67, was very much in the mix just four shots behind and not about to change his intensity, even though another conduct violation would be a two-shot penalty.

“It’s not like I’m going to ... if I try to alter who I am too much, it might cost me a little bit on the course,” Rahm said. “But certainly shouldn’t have moments like the one on 15. I get it.”

Sixteen players were separated by four shots going into the weekend, which includes hometown star Tommy Fleetwood, who had three birdies over the last five holes for a 67.

The cut was at 1-over 141 and a few of England's best hopes won't be around — Matt Fitzpatrick, the No. 3 player in the world, and Justin Rose at No. 10.

Herbert, who has won on five tours around the world and most recently on LIV Golf, made the cut for only the 10th time in 18 majors. He made it look easy until the final hole, and now his thoughts shift from having his name in the record book to his name on the claret jug.

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

All that's left for the world No. 1 is to find his range on the greens.

Scheffler missed seven birdie putts from 15 feet or less — four of them inside 10 feet — in a bogey-free, second straight 68 at Royal Birkdale that could have yielded so much more.

“I did a lot of good stuff," Scheffler said. "I gave myself a lot of opportunities. Wish I holed a few more putts.”

The two putts for birdie he did make were from 3 feet at No. 5 — the hole where playing partner Bryson DeChambeau incurred a two-stroke post-round penalty — and 6 feet at the par-5 No. 14.

Four shots back from leader Lucas Herbert, Scheffler sees himself in a good position going into the weekend.

“Just continue to knock on the door, continue to give myself opportunities,” he said. “If I continue to strike it like I did today and yesterday over the next couple days, I’ll be in a good spot.”

The last player to retain the British Open title was Padraig Harrington in 2008.

Ten-hut! The Army captain makes the weekend at Birkdale

Marcus Plunkett, who left the Army as a captain to pursue golf, achieved one goal in his British Open debut. He made it to the weekend.

Plunkett was at 2-over par with seven holes to play when he nearly chipped in on the par-5 14th and tapped in for birdie, then had no stress in closing with six pars for a 71. The cut was 1-over 141, and he wound up making it on the number.

“When I got out of the Army and kind of embarked on this journey, this was the goal for sure,” said Plunkett, who currently plays on the Asian Tour. “I got out and just wanted to see how far I could take this. Very grateful and feeling very fortunate and lucky to be in a position like this.”

He was a transportation officer in the U.S. Army, mainly overseeing the movement of convoys. How does that carry over to golf?

“I think the thing that separates a lot of people in the military — if you take out the physical fitness aspect — is just being able to stay calm under pressure and make sound decisions,” he said. “That’s definitely something I try to carry with me.”

David Duval is not finished yet

David Duval has made only one cut the last 13 times the 2001 champion has played in the British Open, and this year's hopes ended with a six-hole stretch he played in 6-over par around the turn. He shot 77 and was headed north to the Senior British Open.

Duval said what hurt him this week was coming over from Firestone in Ohio, where the greens were rolling 13 1/2 on the Stimpmeter. Links greens typically are slower and "I left them all 6 to 10 feet short,” he said.

But he's not done with the British Open just yet.

Duval said he would be back next year for The Open at St. Andrews, always a celebration. The following year is Royal Lytham & St. Annes, where the former No. 1 player won his only major championship in 2001.

“Then I’ll look at where they’re playing after that,” Duval said. “Obviously at this point in my life and career, I have to look at kind of an exit. But if things hold true to the five-year St. Andrews schedule, ’32 would be (when) I’m 60.”

Open champions are exempt through age 60. Duval doesn't turn 61 until November 2032. And he likes the idea of one more walk over the Swilcan Bridge.

“Walk up 18 on Sunday, preferably, and give away my stuff and be done,” he said.

Divots

Harry Hall is the only player to have missed the cut in all four majors this year. Bryson DeChambeau and J.J. Spaun made the cut in a major for the first time. ... The social media post from Tiger Woods on Friday was his first in 40 days. “Lookin' good out there,” he posted to Tommy Fleetwood, who was wearing a Sun Day Red logo (on a light blue shirt).

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AP Sports Writer Steve Douglas contributed to this story.

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

Twenty-three states had a filed a lawsuit last year accusing the administration of using the clause to make cuts to everything from crime prevention to food security to scientific research. They were concerned that it would be used to cancel current and future grants.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani granted a summary judgment preventing the administration from relying on the clause to make cuts and denied a motion by the government to dismiss the case.

“Defendants’ interpretation of the Termination Clause is not clearly supported by the text of the provision, runs counter to the regulatory scheme, receives no support in the rulemaking history, and would violate the Spending Clause’s requirement that conditions be imposed unambiguously,” Talwani, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, wrote.

The lawsuit argued that the Office of Management and Budget promulgated the use of the clause in question to justify what it described as a “nationwide slash-and-burn campaign.”

The clause, which was first introduced in 2020 and revised in 2024, says federal agents can terminate a grant if the award “no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.” The states argued that the language, put in place during the Biden administration, was for the first time being used to terminate grants.

“Instead of working with us to keep the public safe and lower costs for hardworking New Jerseyans, the Trump Administration has recklessly and illegally gutted federal funding for public safety, disaster preparedness, scientific research, clean water, and more,” New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said in a statement.

"Today’s decision is an important win for all New Jerseyans and confirms that the Trump Administration defied the law when it embarked on its campaign to gut critical federal funding to the states,” she continued. “The President and his allies cannot hold critical programs hostage to their personal whims and political ideologies, destabilizing the country by yanking essential federal funding that was already awarded to the states.”

Calling the case an “extraordinarily unusual lawsuit," lawyers for federal government argued it should be dismissed because some of those grants have already been terminated and plaintiffs' argument about the impact to future grants was far too speculative. They also accused the states of “raising blanket, undifferentiated objections” to the termination of thousands of grants without seeking relief that would “restore a single grant.”

“That mismatch between the allegedly unlawful agency ‘decision’ on one hand, and the amorphous relief requested in this suit, on the other, creates a set of jurisdiction and justiciability defects that doom this lawsuit at the threshold,” lawyers wrote in the motion to dismiss.

A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget did not respond to a request for comment.

In a release, deputies said the incident happened on June 29 at the Walgreens store along Lakeland Highlands Road.

Upon arrival, deputies learned that three suspects had entered the store together, with one distracting the store clerk as the other two filled bags with several containers of body wash, the release states.

Afterward, the trio left the store together without paying for the stolen items, which were valued at nearly $650, investigators noted.

Upon a review of the surveillance footage, though, investigators said they recognized one of the “female” suspects as 47-year-old Gerald Cobbs due to his extensive history of previous arrests.

“Cobbs is known to dress as a female,” the release reads. “Further investigation revealed that Cobbs had recently been arrested by the Lakeland Police Department on an active warrant and was already being held in the Polk County Jail.”

As a result, Cobbs now faces an additional charge of petit theft with prior convictions, though detectives said they’re still trying to identify his two accomplices.

Per the sheriff’s office, Cobbs’ criminal history includes 27 felony convictions and 17 misdemeanor convictions, most of which are for theft offenses.

He’s already been incarcerated eight times, serving a combined total of over 11 years in state prison on non-consecutive terms, deputies added. He was most recently released from prison in October 2025.

“This suspect has made a career out of stealing, and despite spending more than 11 years in prison, he continues to victimize businesses in our community,” Sheriff Grady Judd said. “Our Organized Crime detectives recognized him almost immediately because they’ve dealt with him so many times before. If he would put as much effort into earning an honest living as he does into stealing, he wouldn’t keep ending up in jail.”

Now those images of the long-haired Messi, his hands covered in soap suds as if anointing Yamal as soccer's Next Big Thing, have become the most talked about — and gawked about — in the runup to Sunday’s World Cup final, when Messi’s Argentina will play Yamal’s Spain for the biggest trophy in the sport.

“I have never been a believer or thought that anything was destined to occur, but I am beginning to have my doubts. This is beyond all reasonable explanations,” Monfort told The Associated Press from his home in Barcelona on Friday.

Monfort, who works as a freelance photojournalist for the AP, took the photos in 2007 as part of a charity calendar produced by local newspaper Sport and UNICEF.

Luck dictated that Yamal’s mother, who appears in the calendar photo, won a raffle of families in the city of Mataró, near Barcelona, who wanted to participate. Soccer destiny then deemed that her baby boy, who would become a star for Barcelona some 15 years later, was paired up with the Argentine who would become one of the greatest of all time.

A tearful Messi left Barcelona in 2021 when the club was in financial trouble. Yamal erupted at the club two years later. The journey is now complete, from bathtub to World Cup final, where the 19-year-old Yamal will face a Messi who is 20 years his senior.

“He is one of the best players in the world right now, so I wish him the best. He’s only 19 years old and he has all of his future ahead,” Messi said in Spanish on Friday. “That picture, it was crazy. Him as a baby, and now we are facing each other. What a crazy picture. I just wish him the best of luck.”

The famous photo was forgotten until ...

Monfort had no recollection of the photos until Yamal’s father posted one on social media during the 2024 European Championship, when a teenage Yamal was enjoying his international breakout and led Spain to the title.

The photo went viral then. But now, with the World Cup final looming, Monfort said, interest in his photos has skyrocketed.

“This has exploded all over the world, and the fact that the final is in the U.S. has given it the extra push,” Monfort said. “And now this has culminated with the final between Messi and Yamal. It is better than any film script.”

Monfort said he has been bombarded by queries for the photos by professional media outlets, while also seeing his images reproduced countless times on social media and the internet without any credit or compensation.

Yamal's Spain teammate Mikel Merino had the same reaction as most people who see the photos.

“The first time I saw it, I thought it was AI and that it wasn’t even real,” Merino said Friday. “It’s unbelievable that two of the best players to have played the game — and hopefully Lamine, in the future, will be one of those — share a picture like that. Hopefully we’re going to see a very bright final with those two protagonists at their best, playing and giving all the fans a great spectacle.”

Barcelona fans are torn by love of both Messi and Yamal

Like many Barcelona fans, Monfort's loyalty is split. It is common to see children wearing both Yamal’s Barcelona and Spain shirts, as well as any Messi shirt, whether from his Barcelona years or Argentina or his current club, Inter Miami, on the city’s streets.

Monfort, 58, is considering traveling to see the final in New Jersey, but whether he watches it in person or at home, he said he will have trouble cheering for one team or the other.

“My heart is split. I don’t know if I want Messi or Yamal to win,” said Monfort, a lifelong Barcelona supporter.

“I have an everlasting love for the best player of all time (Messi),” he said, but “Yamal has broken the mold here” and represents a new, diverse Spain, thanks to his parents from Morocco and Equatorial Guinea. “Maybe they can both win. I wouldn't rule it out after everything we have seen.”

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AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds in New York contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

David Brouillette has a history of terrifying and violent behavior, according to those relatives. They accuse him of attacking women in his life over the years, and one shared a voicemail with the AP from last winter in which he told her that he thought someone should slit her throat.

Brouillette’s troubling past further challenges how thoroughly the Department of Homeland Security has vetted recruits as it went on a hiring spree to help carry out President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration agents since Trump launched the crackdown after retaking office, including 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian national who was shot and killed by Brouillette on Monday while in his car near his home in the coastal Maine city of Biddeford.

DHS, which hasn't released the name of the officer who killed Durán Guerrero, has said the “vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.”

Brouillette didn’t respond to text messages or an email seeking comment. Three relatives who said they had spoken to him since the shooting, including an ex-wife and daughter, said he told them he acted in self-defense.

When reached for comment about Brouillette's record and his role in Monday's shooting, ICE spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement that, “We will never confirm or deny attempts to dox our law enforcement officers," and that “The ICE officer in question has nearly a decade of federal law enforcement experience with required training including use of force training.”

The White House referred all questions about the shooting and Brouillette to ICE.

A new career in ICE

Brouillette, 37, told his ex-wife Ashley Brouillette late last year that he had been hired by ICE. She said that because of his long history of psychiatric issues, she thought he was having a mental health episode and she didn't believe him. She didn’t realize he’d been telling the truth until this week, when videos began circulating online of the moments surrounding the shooting.

Ashley Brouillette told the AP that she spoke to her ex-husband in a Facebook audio call, and he acknowledged that he had killed Durán Guerrero. Their 18-year-old daughter, Madison Brouillette, also told the AP that her father called her Wednesday and said that he shot and killed Durán Guerrero.

David and Ashley Brouillette were high school sweethearts who got married in 2007. She said she divorced him in 2009 because he had become physically violent with her, which began after she got pregnant with their daughter.

According to Ashley Brouillette, he once threw boiling water at her while she was holding their child — an incident her mother Avis Collins also recounted.

The abuse continued after she left him, she said.

David Brouillette doesn't appear to have a criminal record in Maine, as a check with the Maine Department of Public Safety returned no records for him.

But hundreds of family court records obtained from the Augusta District Court clerk’s office detail years of allegations of physical and verbal abuse raised by his second ex-wife on behalf of herself and his daughters.

The ex-wife — whom the AP is not identifying because she fears retaliation — alleged that he had stalked and harassed her and physically and verbally abused his daughter, according to multiple requests for temporary protection orders. Brouillette tackled his teenage daughter and smashed spaghetti in her hair, and during another outburst, he dragged his daughter around the house as she cried, she said.

“Dave needs counseling or something for his PTSD & depression,” she wrote in an application for a temporary protective order on behalf of his teenage daughter which a judge granted in 2021.

In court filings, David Brouillette said that his second ex-wife had slandered him.

His oldest daughter, Madison Brouillette, said she also witnessed her dad’s volatility.

“I watched my dad struggle a lot with a lot of things,” she told the AP. She said she came home from school once and he told her he had been sitting on a tree stump with a gun to his head.

“If you don’t really, truly take care of yourself, there’s no way you can protect other people. And with my dad, he never wanted to get help,” she said.

An immediate relative of David Brouillette who spoke on the condition that their name not be used said he was diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder and attention deficit disorder as a child — a diagnosis that Ashley Brouillette confirmed. The immediate relative described him as “extremely mentally ill" and said he attempted suicide twice at age 12 and was hospitalized multiple times.

The relative said they've been estranged for years, after they broke off contact because they feared he would harm them. He did not respond to their outreach this week, the relative added.

A military deployment and law enforcement aspirations

Growing up in Gardiner, a city of about 6,000 people roughly 60 miles (97 kilometers) northeast of Biddeford, where Monday's shooting occurred, David Brouillette was enchanted by law enforcement and the military, his relatives said.

High school yearbook photos show he was a member of the school’s Naval Junior ROTC, and he wrote that he planned to go to college and become a police officer.

Brouillette was initially rejected by military recruiters because of his mental health diagnoses, but recruiters encouraged him to go off his medications for a year and reapply, which he did, his immediate relative said.

He was eventually able to enlist.

According to U.S. military records, Brouillette enlisted as a chemical equipment repairer in the Maine Army National Guard but then changed jobs to be a medical logistics specialist. He was in the Guard from November 2007 until January 2010, according to records provided by the Pentagon.

A 2009 article in the Kennebec Journal listed Brouillette as a private in the Maine Army National Guard’s 152nd Maintenance Company in Augusta.

In January 2010 he joined the regular Army as a human intelligence collector. Brouillette deployed to Afghanistan from May 2012 to February 2013 and eventually left the Army as a sergeant in December 2015.

His immediate relative believes Brouillette's time abroad worsened his emotional struggles: “Afghanistan destroyed him -- trained him to be a killing monster, a machine. They took someone who was extremely mentally ill and turned him into a killing machine.”

Life after the Army

After his discharge, Brouillette held a hodgepodge of jobs — some in or adjacent to law enforcement — and was injured in an accident while training to become a firefighter, public records and court documents show.

Brouillette worked for the Maine Correctional Center — a medium-security prison — and for the state’s Health and Human Services Department, spending less than a year at each.

In 2019, court documents show, he was a police officer at a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center near the state capital, Augusta. A Veterans Affairs department spokesperson on Thursday referred questions about Brouillette’s employment to DHS.

But by the end of 2021, he wrote in a text message included in court filings, he was broke, going to school full-time and making money delivering food for DoorDash.

Brouillette was enrolled in a firefighting program at Southern Maine Community College and was struck in the head by a steel beam while unloading a trailer at a training facility, according to a lawsuit he filed over his injury.

He sustained a concussion and post-concussive syndrome, with symptoms including impaired memory, cognitive deficits, headaches, vertigo and light sensitivity, and was unable to complete the program, according to the lawsuit, which was settled out of court.

In recent years, court filings show, he was collecting disability pay through the VA. He also drove a truck, but quit in January 2025, citing health issues.

In March 2025, Brouillette passed an exam to become a real estate sales agent. His license was active until December. In a Facebook post, Realty of Maine announced Brouillette would be working in the firm’s Bangor office.

“David lives in Maine after retiring from the United States Army,” said the post, which has since been deleted. Brouillette is no longer listed as an agent on the firm’s website. Messages seeking comment were left for Realty of Maine.

In March, the Maine agency that handles child support matters filed a lien against him, public records show. The filing suggests that Brouillette may have been in line for a permanent impairment or disability settlement.

‘I don’t think he sees himself as a killer’

In late 2025, around the time he joined ICE, his ex-wife Ashley said he left a three-minute voicemail mocking her for taking out a restraining order against him. According to the message she shared with AP, he repeatedly called her “disgusting” and suggested that she and the other women and girls in her “bloodline” should die.

“And all of you should have your f——--g throats cut,” the voicemail said. “Yeah, you should. Am I threatening that I’m gonna do that? Nope. Nope. But do I think that you should have your f——-g throats cuts? Or should have had them cut? Yep.”

She said she cut off contact with him until Wednesday, when his picture began circulating online.

Ashley Brouillette reached out to his current wife on Facebook and they spoke on the phone for several minutes. Her ex-husband spoke with her, according to cellphone screenshots of the phone exchange she shared with the AP. He acknowledged he had fatally shot Durán Guerrero.

“He was asking if I could tell them that he was a good person and not to talk about the abuse and stuff that I had endured while with him and he said that the most important thing is his character right now,” she said.

She said he told her he is now hiding in protective custody.

“I asked him why he did it,” she said. “He said it was a justified shooting. The guy was trying to run him over with a car.”

His daughter also said he told her it was justified.

“I don’t think he sees himself as a killer,” Madison Brouillette said.

“I think he thinks that he genuinely did the right thing,” she added. “All he said was that he did what he had to do. He said that he had to protect himself.”

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This story was updated to correct that that Gardiner is northeast of Biddeford.

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Brook reported from New Orleans, Sisak reported from New York and Galofaro reported from Louisville, Kentucky. Associated Press reporter Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out Ahmed Abu Khatallah's sentence and transferred the case back to the district court in Washington, D.C., for resentencing.

A district court judge initially sentenced Khatallah to 22-year prison sentence in 2018, but the appeals court rejected it four years ago as a “shockingly” light punishment under the circumstances. The appeals court panel concluded that the 28-year sentence, which U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper handed down in 2024, remains unreasonably lenient.

The D.C. Circuit judges said a 28-year sentence does not reflect the seriousness of Khatallah’s crimes.

“Khatallah helped prepare for and execute a premeditated, armed attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost. He pressured a Libyan security force not to patrol the Mission during the attack. And his only stated regret was that the terrorists did not kill every American at the Mission,” the appellate ruling says.

The latest appeal was decided by Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson, J. Michelle Childs and Florence Pan.

Khattala was captured in 2014 and convicted of multiple terrorism-related charges after a 2017 trial, but the jury acquitted him of murder.

The Benghazi attack became a political flashpoint in Washington. A Republican-led congressional panel's report blamed Democratic President Barack Obama's administration, including then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for security failures and a slow response to the compound attacks.

Trump used the primetime address to the nation to elevate his yearslong push to raise doubts about the legitimacy of U.S. elections and dispute his 2020 loss — this time, to justify his push to pass a strict voter ID bill. His allegations of interference and influence didn’t include key context. Nor did he produce evidence that votes had been manipulated or that the election outcome had been altered.

Here's the latest:

‘May the best team win,’ Trump says of World Cup final

Trump is set to attend the World Cup final between Argentina and Spain, but he’s being diplomatic on which team he hopes wins.

At a FIFA reception at Trump Tower on Friday alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Trump noted the final match would be between “two amazing teams.”

He did, however, single out Argentina star Lionel Messi for his play, calling out the pass he made for Argentina’s winning goal against England and a hat trick that Messi pulled off early in the tournament.

Trump called the 2026 World Cup “one of the all time greatest sporting events in history,” adding that the tournament galvanized more than just the sporting world.

“So good luck to Spain and Argentina on Sunday and may the best team win,” Trump said.

US and Iran escalate strikes across Mideast; bridges and a water plant hit

The United States and Iran escalated their attacks across the Middle East on Friday, trading strikes aimed at infrastructure and military targets as their battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensified.

The U.S. expanded its attacks against Iran by hitting more bridges and energy sites and collapsing a tower at a key Iranian port, following through on President Donald Trump’s threats to pressure Tehran to ease its chokehold on the waterway vital to world energy supplies.

In response, Iran launched missiles into U.S.-allied nations in the Mideast, including Qatar, a mediator in the war, and Kuwait, where one of the desert nation’s water desalination plants was damaged.

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Trump threatens Canada with tariffs over wildfire smoke

The president said he was “holding Canada responsible” for the U.S. “being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air.”

In a post on his social media site, Trump called the situation “totally unacceptable” and said that summer smoke from fires in Canada is “becoming a yearly occurrence.”

He said he’d call Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday, and added that the “cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the TARIFFS Canada is currently paying.”

The Trump administration has imposed import tariffs on some Canadian products, though the Supreme Court declared many such levies unconstitutional.

Unmentioned was the World Cup final in New Jersey on Sunday, but the White House says administration officials are monitoring the wildfire situation.

Trump urges Darline Graham to run for full Senate term as funeral scheduled for Lindsey Graham

President Donald Trump said Friday that Darline Graham, the sister of the late Lindsey Graham, has his support to run for a full term to replace her brother in the U.S. Senate.

He wrote on social media that she “has been a WINNER all of her life and, should she accept, has my Complete and Total Endorsement.”

“RUN, DARLINE, RUN!” Trump added.

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13 US troops injured in latest Iran fighting

The number of service members injured in the Iran war has gone up by 13 troops since Monday, according to the Pentagon’s official casualty count.

According to data in the Defense Casualty Analysis System, the 13 injured troops include 10 Army soldiers and three Navy sailors. No additional information was available, including the date or location of their injuries.

The new injuries come during a week of renewed and intense fighting between Iran and the U.S., with both sides launching strikes for several consecutive days.

Capt. Tim Hawkins, spokesman for U.S. Central Command, declined to offer any details about the injuries or what U.S. bases and assets have been hit in the renewed wave of fighting.

The total U.S. casualty count for the conflict now stands at 14 dead and 427 wounded. Central Command has previously said the majority of the wounded suffered traumatic brain injuries.

DHS secretary says ICE hitting arrest records ‘every single day’

Mullin said the department is ramping up enforcement and hitting records for the number of arrests.

“Our arrests are up. We’re hitting single day records every single day,” Mullin said.

Mullin also said the agency deported 442,637 people in 2025 and so far this year has deported 403,294.

“We’re trying to perfect our ability to work with local law enforcement, state law enforcement,” he said.

ICE and DHS do not release regular data related to deportations, arrests and detention, leading to criticism that there’s no way to verify their work.

Unlike his predecessor Kristi Noem, Mullin has attempted to keep a lower profile for immigration enforcement operations. But the recent shooting deaths of two people who were killed by ICE officers during operations has brought the department back into the spotlight.

Trump’s envoy greeted by protests in Venice on latest stop of super yacht diplomacy tour

The billionaire U.S. ambassador to Italy was met by protests when he arrived in Venice on Friday aboard his luxury yacht as part of a coastal diplomacy tour marking the 250th anniversary of American independence.

Hospitality mogul Tilman Fertitta’s arrival represents an unwelcome display of American wealth and influence for many Italians at a time when they see the Trump administration as upending the post-World War II international order.

The so-called Coastal Diplomacy 250 tour of 13 Italian coastal regions on a super yacht is intended to celebrate “our shared history, our economic partnership, and the cultural bonds that make the U.S.-Italy relationship so special,” Fertitta said in a social media post.

In Venice, many of the same groups that protested the wedding last year of Jeff Bezos to Lauren Sanchez are mobilizing against Fertitta’s arrival aboard the 117-meter (384-foot) luxury yacht, Boardwalk, which features two helipads, a pair of swimming pools and a fully equipped spa and gym.

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Mullin won’t comment on ICE shootings and says arrests are up

The Homeland Security secretary said during a news conference that he hadn’t heard about allegations of violent behavior against a deportation officer who shot and killed a Colombian man in Maine earlier this week.

Relatives of the officer told The Associated Press he struggled with serious mental health issues, had a history of violent behavior and never should have been given a badge and gun.

Mullin said the shooting was being investigated and he’d allow the investigation to go forward.

“We understand that it’s being investigated, and we’ll allow the investigation to go through. That’s all I’m going to say about that,” said Mullin.

He wouldn’t comment on whether the officer was on leave but said that was standard practice in the aftermath of any shooting.

DHS secretary pledges to aggressively chase voter fraud cases

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said if anyone votes illegally in the upcoming midterm elections, “we will hunt you down, we will find you and we will prosecute you.”

In a White House briefing doubling down on Trump’s primetime election claims, Mullin also threatened fines, penalties or prison time for state election officials who refuse to hand over sensitive voter data to DHS.

He said states that don’t elect to use DHS’s recently updated tool for identifying noncitizen voters, will become “a priority” for investigations.

The comments come as a federal judge has blocked the use of DHS’s updated system, citing voter privacy and the fact that it can result in the wrongful purging of eligible voters.

Why American elections are so complicated — and secure

In his speech to the nation Thursday evening, President Trump said Americans deserve secure elections, and he claimed to be using federal authority to prevent them from being “stolen.”

In fact, one of the strongest security features of U.S. elections is the fact that they aren’t conducted at the federal level. America votes in more than 10,000 different election jurisdictions, each with different rules set by state and sometimes local governments.

That structure makes the nation’s elections extraordinarily complicated — and also safe from widespread fraud. And when misconduct does happen — rarely — security protocols frequently catch it.

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ICE has seen a surge in new hires

In January, Homeland Security said it had hired 12,000 new officers and agents since the hiring surge began and said thousands of those new officers were already out on the streets assisting with investigations. The number includes both deportation officers and agents for Homeland Security Investigations, a separate agency that falls under ICE.

ICE has said the majority of new hires are police and military veterans. But evidence has been mounting that applicants with questionable histories were either not fully vetted before they were brought on or were hired in spite of their past, an investigation by The Associated Press earlier this year found.

Maine shooting and officer’s background raise new questions about ICE’s rapid hiring

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been rapidly expanding its workforce, hiring thousands of new officers as part of the Trump administration’s attempt to ramp up immigration arrests and deportations.

The supersizing of ICE — fueled by an infusion of billions of dollars granted by Congress — has raised concerns about the agency’s hiring practices and whether officers being brought on are receiving proper vetting. Those concerns have been rejected by the Department of Homeland Security.

Relatives of the ICE officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine this week told The Associated Press he struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood and never should have been given a badge and gun to patrol American streets.

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Lawmakers demand answers after ‘bombshell’ report of ICE officer shooting in Maine

Democratic members of Congress demanded answers about Homeland Security’s vetting and training of immigration enforcement agents after it was disclosed Thursday that the ICE officer involved in a deadly shooting this week in Maine had a history of mental health issues and violent behavior.

The Associated Press reported that David Brouillette, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine, is an Army veteran who’s struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood, according to several of his close relatives.

The AP reached out to congressional leaders and several key lawmakers of both parties for response.

The top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said Brouillette’s history of violence and mental health issues, as well as the death in Maine, “directly call into question the supposed vetting and training ICE does of its recruits.”

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To air or not to air? Nation’s TV networks struggle to find the right balance for Trump speech

As President Trump threatened sanctions for those who didn’t cover his address live Thursday night, the nation’s broadcast and cable news operations wrestled with the thorniest of questions: To air or not to air?

Networks and their news operations, broadcast and cable alike, spent the hours leading up to Trump’s address debating how to cover it — and struggling to balance delivering the news with handing over their airwaves to potential falsehoods about the 2020 elections.

In the end, a patchwork quilt of coverage was largely united by one common strategy: real-time fact-checking as much as was possible even while the president was still speaking.

The dilemma took place against a backdrop of deep tension between the media and a president working to exert control over it by whatever means he can. Even in his speech itself, Trump excoriated networks that chose not to carry it live.

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Rubio set for Asia trip

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is heading to the Philippines next week to attend meetings with foreign ministers at a gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.

The State Department says Rubio is going to meet with his counterparts and senior officials from governments in the region as he pushes for a free and open Indo-Pacific.

Rubio is scheduled to leave for Manila on Sunday and head back to the U.S. on Thursday.

China rejects Trump’s election interference claim as ‘groundless accusations’

China on Friday said it has never interfered in U.S. elections and has no interest in doing so, urging Washington to stop making what it described as “groundless accusations” after President Trump accused Beijing of meddling in the 2020 election.

In an address to the nation Thursday, Trump again raised doubts about the U.S. elections results in 2020 and accused China of interfering in them.

“The relevant allegations by the U.S. are entirely fabricated and aimed at vilifying China,” said China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian. “We have no interest in interfering in US elections and have never done so.”

In a daily briefing in Beijing, Lin called on the U.S. to stop making groundless accusations against China.

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Former intelligence official calls Trump’s address ‘dangerous’

Sue Gordon, principal deputy director of national intelligence in Trump’s first term, called the president’s address “a dangerous speech about an incredibly important topic.” She said the intelligence community throughout Trump’s first term was alarmed about foreign interference in elections, but Trump scoffed at them, angered at the investigation of his campaign’s relationship with Russia.

“He had an entire term to deal with it and I don’t know how you can believe how the same community that told him about it, that was excoriated about it” wouldn’t warn him in 2020, Gordon said on CNN.

Conservative commentator John Solomon, who joined the White House staff last month and was seated in the East Room for Trump’s speech, later told MS NOW “the intelligence community has zero evidence that someone has flipped — that a foreign power flipped — a vote in 2020, ’22 or ’24.”

But, he added, “We’re not through all the documents.”

Trump doesn’t raise doubts about his election wins

President Donald Trump began Thursday night with a stark warning about what he described as flaws in the voting system and said he was releasing previously classified documents related to the 2020 and 2018 elections, when he lost the presidential election and when his party suffered losses.

Trump’s speech presented allegations of interference and influence in ways that lacked key context and did not produce evidence that votes had been manipulated or that the election outcome had been altered.

Notably, he focused on China but glossed over Russia, a country intelligence officials have said favored Trump in 2016 and 2020 and engaged in wide-ranging influence campaigns aimed at boosting him over Democrat Joe Biden in the latter campaign.

Trump’s Thursday night address hinged on contradictions

A twice-elected president complained about his one personal defeat, alleged a cover-up by officials in his own first administration and surfaced claims about countries attempting to harm his own prospects while staying silent on steps taken by other nations to boost him.

Trump used the remarks to justify his push to pass a strict voter ID bill in Congress that hasn’t advanced because it lacks enough support from his fellow Republicans.

“America is back and doing really well, but we still have a major challenge that must be urgently addressed, because no country can be great without fair and honest elections,” he said.

Ester, who died on July 9 at the age of 78, was among a few remaining witnesses to King’s assassination and its immediate aftermath in Memphis. With the passing of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. in February and Ester this month, King aide and former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young is believed to be the last surviving eyewitness to the shooting.

Ester Grew up in Memphis attending Centenary United Methodist Church, where her pastor was civil rights leader the Rev. James Lawson.

“We used to joke about colored water being Kool-Aid and the white water just being water, and so that satisfied us as children,” Ester told The Associated Press in 2018, around the 50th anniversary of King’s death. “But until you see the racism, until you see what has been withheld from you because of your color — is what started to really truly anger me. And I knew if there was a movement that could help change any of that, I had to be in it.”

Civil rights issues were often discussed from the pulpit of her church, Ester said. Lawson was very involved in the sanitation workers’ strike, so it was natural for her to become involved too.

“I got to the point that I didn’t miss a mass meeting,” she said. “I picketed every day that the picket lines were up.”

Even 50 years later, she clearly remembered the impact of hearing King's speech at the Mason Temple the night before he was assassinated and how it seemed to foreshadow his death the next day.

“He had seen the mountaintop,” Ester said. “It was evident on the balcony — how calm."

Ester had gone to the Lorraine Motel for dinner on April 4, 1968, when she saw King chatting on the balcony with people below. Then she heard a shot.

“He was speaking calmly and pleasantly to a crowd,” she said. "And so he was happy at that moment. But to lay there with his eyes open, looking toward heaven. He had seen the promised land, and he may not get there with us, but he promised that we as a people will see the promised land.”

Ester said she ran to King and saw he was struggling for air. She tried to loosen his belt and asked someone to bring towels to try to staunch the bleeding. After King was taken away by ambulance, she had to stay at the hotel, where she was questioned by police.

When she was finally allowed to go home, her parents asked if she was OK.

“I said, ‘No, I’m not OK. There’s something wrong with this.’ And it was many months later that I guess at some point, I just broke down," Ester said.

She left Memphis to work elsewhere that summer, and as soon as she finished school, she left for good.

“It’s just too much to ... it hurt me that it happened, but it hurt me that it happened in my hometown, that that’s the legacy for this city,” she said.

Ester moved to Mobile, Alabama, where she found work as a neighborhood organizer at the Dumas Wesley Community Center, a Christian service program supporting children, seniors and people experiencing homelessness, according to her obituary. She later was named the executive director of the center, serving in that role until she retired in 2006.

In 1986, she was commissioned as a deaconess in the United Methodist Church, a type of lay minister . She remained active in the church throughout her life and held leadership roles that included serving as the national vice president of United Methodist Women.

Methodist Bishop David Graves met Ester when he was assigned to the Alabama-West Florida Conference in 2016. He wrote in a remembrance that Ester did not take to him at first, but gradually they came to love each other.

“Thank you, Clara Ester, for a life well lived and for loving me. It changed me,” he wrote. “Clara will be missed immensely, but what a day of rejoicing is going on in heaven. For love will always find a way for those who trust in Jesus and seek to love even in our differences.”

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Former Associated Press reporter Adrian Sainz contributed from Memphis.

Watching for Organization

The more organized this low becomes, the less rainfall Central Florida will see this weekend.

If this low remains disorganized and not well-defined, the shield of tropical moisture associated with it will be allowed to spread eastward over our area.

If it becomes more organized, the moisture will become more tightly wound near the center. In this case, the moisture, and therefore rain chances, will shift further west.

Saturday

While not a washout, the addition of tropical moisture in our skies will help to charge our sea breeze to squeeze out a decent amount of showers and thunderstorms. Our Saturday morning will start dry with a mix of sun and clouds. This will allow our temperatures to climb into the low 90s by lunchtime. This will be the spark, in addition to the added moisture, for off and on storms to roll through.

Expect off and on scattered storms moving from south to north from early afternoon towards sunset. With the moisture and general instability lingering around, isolated showers are possible through the overnight.

Sunday

Rain coverage Sunday will heavily influenced on the track and organization of this low in the Gulf. Afternoon storms are still expected in the afternoon after temperatures reach the low 90s after a partly cloudy morning.

Like Saturday, storms will occur on a rolling basis from South to north. If the low becomes more organized and pulls moisture further west, our coverage will be more scattered. If it remains disorganized and the moisture shield remains on top of Central Florida, coverage will be more widespread.

Next Week

As this low begins to move away from the state next week, moisture will move out of our skies and slightly drier air will gradually work in. Rain chances will gradually decline to near, or just below, average values by mid-week with highs returning to the mid-90s.

Heavy, pungent wildfire smoke darkened skies in the U.S. from the Great Lakes to parts of the East Coast, reducing visibility and prompting warnings that breathing the air outside could be dangerous.

Officials in many cities urged residents to stay inside or wear masks outside as air quality reached unhealthy to hazardous levels, meaning it’s unhealthy for anyone, regardless of health conditions. The National Weather Service said a lingering high pressure system has trapped the smoke close to the ground.

The air quality index was 203 when the game was postponed at 4:45 p.m. EDT, which is deemed to be very unhealthy and hazardous.

Northeast Ohio has been experiencing smoky and hazy skies for the past two days.

“We want to be safe for our players. We want to make sure that it’s not too smoky and obviously for the fans as well. It’s just not safe to be out in that environment if it’s not playable,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said before the postponement was announced. “We can’t control the weather. We can’t control mother nature. So we got to do what’s best and what’s smart for both teams and for the fans.”

A split doubleheader is scheduled for Saturday, with the start times being 1:10 p.m. EDT and 7:10 p.m. EDT.

New York City was also experiencing hazy skies and poor air quality levels. The Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers are scheduled to begin a three-game series Friday night.

“Obviously they’re monitoring it to see if it gets any worse,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ll be communicating with our guys a lot. We’re able to test oxygen levels and things like that if guys are having trouble. So, we’re paying attention to it, and we’ll take the guidance from the league and the weather and the smoke people.”

Thursday night's game in Philadelphia between the Mets and Phillies was moved to 6:10 p.m. EDT from 7:10 p.m. It was the only game on the big league schedule coming out of this week’s All-Star break.

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Donald Trump's struggling media company plans to sell Wall Street traders the chance to see posts from “highest-ranking” accounts — including possibly his own — milliseconds before others.

That could mean big money for them, and Trump.

Trump's posts are often important enough to rattle financial markets, sending prices soaring and plunging within seconds. Until this moment, presidential policy announcements were considered sort of public property that should be free and available to all at the same time.

The president has the most followers on Truth Social — 12.9 million — so presumably will be included in the mix of high-ranking accounts.

Truth Social’s public parent, Trump Media & Technology, did not respond to emailed questions, including whether Trump’s posts will be excluded from the offering, but the planned service is attracting plenty of attention — and not just from traders.

“It’s odious, selling access to highest bidders on Wall Street," said Dylan Hedler-Gaudette, an expert on federal ethic rules at watchdog Project on Government Oversight. “Everything he says has market implications."

How the new business hopes to make money

Called Truth PSI, the service announced in a short press release Thursday would allow Wall Street trading firms and institutions to see certain posts earlier than other users so they could profit off subsequent moves in stocks, bonds and interest rates.

The Trump Media release did not give any sense of the size of the new business but quotes CEO Kevin McGurn as saying he expects it to become a “meaningful" source of revenue as part of a strategy to "monetize proprietary assets.” The company added that it expects to launch the service next month.

The customers that Truth Social is targeting are high frequency traders who jump ahead of others in reacting to news to buy and sell bonds and other financial instruments. And a few thousands of a second often spells the difference between profits and losses.

Trump posts are big news, and big money makers

When Trump announced his sweeping tariffs on April 2 last year, it was major political and financial news —- and many found out first on Truth Social.

“It's Liberation Day in America," Trump posted hours before a formal Rose Garden announcement, sending stocks plunging nearly 5% over the next few hours. Safe haven investments like gold and Treasury bonds soared.

A few days later, Trump reversed course by suspending the tariffs for 90 days with an announcement again on Truth Social, writing, "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!”

Stocks soared 9.5% that day, adding $4 trillion to investor wealth as measured by the S&P 500 index.

“It’s yet more brazen corruption,” said Kathleen Clark of Washington University School of Law and an expert in government ethics rules. “Trump can line his pockets by selling access.”

His Iran war posts are must reading for oil traders, too

Trump has announced major decisions and musings about other topics, including staff changes, immigration crackdowns, and matters of war and peace in Ukraine and Iran.

“THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!,” he posted on June 24 last year about a short-lived Iran deal, sending oil prices plunging instantly.

No other social media platform has such access to the president, and presumably banks and traders will have to pay up for it.

Trump Media did not state in its release how much it plans to charge but said it has already signed up customers.

The law doesn't bar Trump from doing this

The service is similar to others at rival social media firms but with a key difference: It’s the president posting. But there appears to be nothing to stop Trump from doing this, at least legally.

Conflict of interest laws would bar U.S. government officials from owning a company that profits off their office by selling access to their decisions through public posts, says Washington University’s Clark. But the president and vice president, she notes, are excluded from the provision.

Despite that, all presidents since the law was passed decades ago have acted as if it applied — selling individual stocks, dumping business holdings or putting their financial assets in a blind trust so they wouldn’t know what was being bought and sold on their behalf while they wielded power — but Trump has refused.

No response from the White House, or his businesses

The White House referred questions, including those about the president profiting off its office, to the company that owns Truth Social. Several messages sent to that company, Trump Media & Technology, have not been returned. And Trump’s own family company, the Trump Organization, declined to comment.

Trump himself has repeatedly denied that there any conflicts between his obligation to act in the public interest and the opportunity to make money off the presidency.

The White House has previously said Trump only does what is good for the country and is not involved in his family business.

Trump Media needs the help

The new service is the latest in a series of moves to try to revive the fortunes of Trump Media whose stock has plunged more than 70% since the president took office last year

The company has been diversifying into various businesses — crypto, financial services and nuclear fusion — but all to no avail.

It recently replaced its longtime CEO, former Congressman Devin Nunes, with McGurn — but the stock kept sinking anyway.

The stock rose 0.6% on the news Thursday, and up by half that amount the next day at $9.66. Before Trump took office last year, it closed at $40.

According to an arrest affidavit from the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded around 8:41 a.m. July 16 to a welfare check after a neighbor reported seeing a child outside the home without clothing. The child was found by a neighbor and brought back to the residence before deputies arrived.

Deputies made contact with Carla Nishikura, 41, who told the responding deputy the child had left the home through the garage while she was sleeping. The affidavit states the child is diagnosed with autism, is non-verbal and has a history of eloping.

Nishikura also told deputies that she typically secures interior door handles with zip ties but forgot to do so the night before, which allowed the child to open doors and leave the house.

Inside the residence, the deputy reported noticing a strong odor consistent with fecal matter. The affidavit says feces was observed coating floors, walls and the ceiling in the kitchen and living room. The child involved in the welfare check was described as naked and barefoot, and two additional children were also inside the home, according to the report.

A bedroom in the home contained only a bed frame without a mattress, the affidavit states, and the floor was described as covered with fecal matter, cracked eggs and urine.

“During the investigation, I observed [REDACTED] using a tool to scrape fecal matter from the wall and manipulate it with her hands,” one deputy wrote.

Deputies also noted cracked electrical outlet covers exposing wiring that was accessible to children.

Investigators revealed that a cleaning crew had previously been set up to take care of the home, though the crew ultimately declined “due to the biohazard conditions.”

“One of the children reported they were instructed not to enter [REDACTED] bedroom due to the risk of exposure to the biohazard materials,” the affidavit continues. “The child stated that the fecal matter in the room had been present for approximately one month and described it as ‘hard as a rock.’”

According to investigators, Nishikura acknowledged that she was aware of the home’s condition but claimed that she was unable to manage the home and children on her own.

Regardless, Nishikura was arrested and now faces three felony counts of child neglect without great bodily harm, records show. Bond was listed at $2,500 per count.

Speaking from the White House on Thursday night, he described shocking revelations, like Chinese meddling to undermine his failed candidacy in 2020 and a cover-up by the “deep state.” He claimed, “Americans were blatantly lied to about the security of our election infrastructure.”

But a review by The Associated Press found no such confirmation in the collection of newly declassified reports, investigation files, intelligence analysis and assorted correspondence. Many pages are so heavily redacted that their findings are unclear. Others outline vulnerabilities and assessments that have been well-documented for years. There’s no evidence that China or any other foreign entity manipulated the vote in 2020 or any other year.

“The White House promised a bombshell, and they delivered a dud,” said David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, who attended a White House briefing on the material ahead of the speech. Despite what appeared to be a concerted effort by administration officials, ”there was absolutely nothing here that was news, nothing here that even calls into question past elections and certainly not the 2020 election."

Here’s a look at what the documents say.

China has our data. Lots of it

“Starting during the 2020 election cycle, the People’s Republic of China carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history, resulting in China’s illicit acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files,” Trump said Thursday night.

There is no evidence, however, that China actually used that information in any way.

It has long been established that China collects immense volumes of data on Americans unrelated to any efforts to manipulate votes or alter election outcomes. And public versions of voter files are widely available, including online, and can be bought and sold by campaigns and political parties so they know which doors to knock on and where to send mail.

China’s efforts to influence the 2020 campaign were already well-documented, and there was no assessment of any direct election interference. The records released Thursday night do not refute that conclusion, but reveal an internal intelligence community debate about how to characterize Beijing’s efforts and motives.

The emails show that a dissenting viewpoint was that China had taken steps to “denigrate” Trump. But that perspective, instead of being hidden, was already reflected in the intelligence community assessment produced after the election.

China on Friday called Trump’s allegations “groundless” and “entirely fabricated” and said it has never interfered in U.S. elections and has no interest in doing so.

Noncitizens may or may not be more common on voter rolls

In his remarks, Trump touted the release of a new Department of Homeland Security investigation, based on state voter rolls and public records, that he said had identified approximately 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote in federal elections.

The report said the agency uncovered more than a quarter of a million noncitizens illegally registered to vote in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada, based on public records, which are often erroneous or incomplete. Another 28,000 noncitizens, it claimed, were found on voter rolls in 25 states using the new Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system.

There is no allegation, however, that any of those people actually voted, which would be a crime.

That data has also not been verified. Reports have found that the SAVE database is plagued with errors, including outdated information that has often classified naturalized citizens as noncitizens. Indeed, a federal judge has barred the database from being used over fears that voters will be wrongly purged from voter rolls.

Studies have found noncitizen voting to be extremely rare. Noncitizens are also allowed to vote in some local elections, and could be on the rolls for that reason.

Documents detail Russia’s election efforts

Trump has spent years criticizing the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia meddled in the 2016 election to help him win. But the documents shed new light on the country’s ongoing efforts.

One declassified document from 2020 portrays Russia as the country that has tried the most to penetrate American election systems — but in an effort to defeat Joe Biden. It notes how Russia worked to amplify claims that Biden, while serving as vice president, engaged in inappropriate behavior involving Burisma, the Ukrainian energy firm that employed his son Hunter, a charge frequently repeated by Trump and Republicans.

“Their aim is to defeat the former Vice President and ensure the President’s victory,” reads the document from the National Intelligence Council.

The document went on to state that both China and Iran wanted Trump to lose. But it included a chart documenting each country’s known efforts. Only Russia was marked as having been known to have engaged in “targeting, accessing, or manipulating election processes or election-related systems.”

Russia has continued to deny interfering in U.S. affairs.

Michigan

in the spotlight

Many of the documents released involve a Michigan case in which a seemingly pro-Biden canvassing operation submitted thousands of questionable voter registrations to a local election official in 2020. The official did not accept the registrations and alerted authorities.

The documents include notes from at least one FBI agent that are heavily redacted but indicate that the agent unsuccessfully pushed for further investigation and charges through 2024. Michigan Republicans in 2023 complained the state’s Democratic attorney general did not charge anyone.

However, the case was closed “because logical investigation and/or leads have been exhausted, and the investigation to date did not identify a criminal violation or a priority threat to national security,” according to one of the records.

Vulnerabilities in voting systems

The documents, Trump told the nation, included intelligence “revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure” that leave it vulnerable “to hacking, exploitation and foreign interference.”

One report included a list of recent breaches -- mostly by Russia — and called on state and local election officials to step up their defenses to prevent information from being used to obtain absentee ballots or alter voter rolls. Election officials acknowledge that voting machines also carry risk -- which is why they don’t rely on them alone to ensure the accuracy of the vote. Safeguards like physical security, equipment testing, paper ballot backups and post-election audits help to catch machine errors or threats.

But it is unclear what the administration is doing to facilitate their efforts. Earlier this month, Trump ousted members of a bipartisan federal election commission that distributes federal grants to states, oversees the testing of voting systems and maintains the national voter registration form, after the group resisted his efforts to require potential voters to document their U.S. citizenship before registering.

Trump has also cut millions of dollars in federal funding from the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA, which helped state and local election officials keep elections secure, and disbanded an FBI task force focused on investigating foreign influence operations, including those that target U.S. elections.

The documents make repeated reference to the risks posed by large databases of voter information, including registration databases and election websites that could be accessed or manipulated by foreign adversaries.

But the SAVE system, which Trump has been pushing states to adopt, has been criticized as an unlawful, centralized federal database of voter information, which could be another target.

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Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi, Ali Swenson, Katie Vogel and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

Under the proposed change, all Volusia County residents with free passes, as well as anyone who purchases an annual Volusia County off-beach parking pass, would be able to park in city lots. Those lots include Grayce K. Barck North Beach Community Park, Esther Street, Flagler Avenue, Marianne Clancy Park and 27th Avenue Park.

“We used to park in different spots and didn’t know where we could be and then we’d get tickets,” said resident Hannah.

It’s a welcome change for people who live in the area and have pushed for a simpler system.

“It makes it so much easier to keep it together so you don’t get a ticket and think you’re already covered,” said resident Melissa Wyman.

[WATCH: Volusia sheriff’s beach parking pilot aims to protect children, sparks debate]

The city has already approved the switch. Now, the Volusia County Council must do the same. If approved, current city annual parking passes would remain valid through the end of the year. Starting Jan. 1, 2027, anyone holding only a city permit would need to sign up for a County Park Volusia pass — which is free for Volusia County residents. Those who already have a county pass would not need to take any additional steps.

The city stands to lose approximately $17,000 a year in revenue — and slightly more in citation income — by giving up the lots. City officials said they decided the trade-off is worth it for the convenience of a single pass.

A key question for beachgoers is whether broader access to the lots will mean more congestion.

“I work in Orlando and I know a lot of people who like to come to the beach here and if they can buy the pass they’ll definitely use the parking here,” said Hannah.

News 6 asked the city about the concern, and a spokesperson said the city does not expect an increase in traffic. Officials said they will continue to monitor parking and traffic conditions, as they do now, and assess any changes once the new system takes effect.

For park-goers in New Smyrna Beach, the appeal is simple: less confusion and fewer tickets.

“It’s happened before to my mom, who’s elderly. She’s been a resident her whole life here, and then she gets a ticket because she was parked in a boat ramp that she thought was part of a pass but not part of it, and then she’s got to go to the office, but then they do it online. It’s just been too much confusion - make it one thing,” said Wyman.

The new system would also extend the county permit’s reach to the city’s three public boat ramp parking areas. The Volusia County Council is scheduled to discuss the proposal at its August meeting.

The landslide occurred at around 9:08 a.m. in Pengshui County on the outer edge of the Chongqing municipality, when massive amounts of rocks and soil washed downslope, burying more than 10 residential buildings, state broadcaster CCTV said.

Ten people were rescued from the debris, including two who were seriously injured, Pengshui County Mayor Ren Xujiang said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping asked authorities to determine the cause of the disaster, state media said.

The landslide contained about 18,000 cubic meters (636,000 cubic feet) of rocks and debris, and the largest single rock was around 3,000 cubic meters (106,000 cubic feet), said Wang Chuanjun, head of Planning and Natural Resources in Pengshui County, at a news conference.

Wang also warned of persistent risk of further collapse under extreme weather conditions, such as heavy rainfall or prolonged periods of clear and hot weather, based on experts’ field inspections that found scattered unstable rock masses remain at the top and along the sides of the steep cliff.

Water, electricity and gas supplies were cut off within a 1-kilometer (0.6-mile) radius of the landslide to prevent further disruptions. Over 800 rescuers worked on site, a local government statement said.

Xinhua said drones were used to conduct surveys of the landslide sites.

Residents said local officials and communities organized an evacuation after small rocks fell and unusual sounds were heard from the hills. The landslide happened during the evacuation, local newspaper Chongqing Daily reported.

Images by CCTV showed part of a mountainside collapsing onto a residential area. Several buildings were located next to the collapse site, while rescue crews combed through the debris. Rescue efforts were hindered by the unstable terrain and the risk of another landslide, according to the broadcaster.

Images shared on social media showed orange-clad rescuers using excavators to dig through the rubble. At one point, a team of rescuers pulled a survivor out of the debris.

Large slabs of rock had slid beside buildings into a waterway below. Two buildings that looked about five and 15 stories high were damaged but still standing.

The rain-triggered landslide occurred near a section of the Wujiang River, which cuts through karst mountains peppered with small towns and terraces.

Authorities said they sent more than 13,000 disaster relief items to Chongqing, including tents, folding beds and family emergency kits.

Pengshui County is located in the southeast part of Chongqing, bordering the provinces of Hubei and Guizhou.

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AP video producer Wu Jia contributed to this report from Chongqing.

About 20 units in the Buena Vista Place Apartments were impacted by the strike earlier this month.

“I’m still trying to process everything,” said Lizelba Garcia, who had to leave her apartment unit after her building was condemned by Orange County.

News 6 originally spoke with Garcia last week, as she rushed to get her belongings out of her apartment.

[WATCH: Windermere apartment units condemned after lightning strike]

Although they don’t yet have access to their apartment, Garcia and her son met with News 6 Friday in the apartment’s parking lot to discuss their current situation.

“I’ve been trying to stay calm, not let my emotions get to me,” Garcia’s son, Jayden Padilla, said. “But deep down, I really feel like sometimes crying.”

Garcia said that Buena Vista management said that she may not be able to return to her apartment for 10 months.

News 6 has reached out repeatedly to management since the lightning strike, but we have not yet heard back.

After reaching out to Orange County about Buena Vista Friday, a spokesperson sent the following statement:

“The structure remains posted as unsafe with no occupancy approved at this time. The engineer, fire systems contractor, and electrical contractor have indicated that temporary emergency repairs have been made.

Representatives from Building Safety and the Office of the Fire Marshal met with the project coordinators to detail permitting and inspection requirements that must be completed before occupancy can be restored.

Building Safety is committed to assisting our customers and restoring compliance to the building and occupancy for the residents as quickly as possible."

Garcia and her family are currently staying with her sister, but the living situation has not been ideal.

“Sometimes it just feels like too much because there’s 13 people in one house,” Padilla said. “It just gets a bit overwhelming.”

Garcia said Buena Vista has told her family that they can relocate to a different unit in the complex by the end of July.

The man was arrested Thursday morning inside 30 Rockefeller Center in Midtown by an officer responding to reports of a disorderly individual inside the building, police said Friday.

NBC News says in a statement that an individual approached Melvin after entering an unauthorized area in a vestibule near Studio 1A. Melvin notified security, who held the man until police arrived, according to NBC.

No altercation occurred and no injuries were reported. NBC did not say how the man gained access to the area.

“We are reviewing the incident and our security protocols and remain committed to providing a safe and secure environment for everyone who works at and visits our studios,” the network said in a statement.

The man has been charged with burglary, menacing and criminal trespass as hate crimes, as well as harassment. It was not clear Friday if has appeared in court or if he has an attorney.

Police did not say what led to the hate crime enhancements on the charges. Police records show a court date has been scheduled for Wednesday.

Melvin, who is Black, discussed the incident on-air Friday morning.

“Unfortunately, an intruder made his way into an unauthorized area here at Studio 1A,” Melvin said. “Thankfully, he was apprehended quickly. He was placed under arrest. We are just very happy that everyone is safe.”

Melvin also posted about the incident on Instagram.

“Hey everyone. I’ve heard from so many of you over the last few hours,” he wrote on Thursday. “I’m doing just fine. Thanks for reaching out."

Longtime “Today" show meteorologist Al Roker also took to social media to thank everyone reaching out to check on Melvin.

“We are both okay,” Roker posted on Instagram. “It’s moments like these that serve to pull us together. You all, like Craig, said ‘You come after one of us, you come after all of us.’”

Melvin and Roker are among a relatively small group of prominent Black journalists and anchors with regular, highly visible roles on national broadcast network news programs.

Melvin joined NBC and MSNBC in 2011, according to the “Today” show’s website. He replaced Hoda Kotb in 2025 as co-host of the 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. hours of “Today.” He had been hosting the show’s third hour while serving as the news anchor during the first two hours.

Roker also is a feature anchor on “Today” and co-host of the show’s third hour. He joined the show in 1996. Roker also co-hosted the “Wake Up with Al” morning show on the Weather Channel from 2009 to 2015.

Merino is trying not to focus on it.

It remains unclear how much, if at all, the smoke will affect the final. The World Health Organization forecast calls for an improvement to “moderate” air quality in East Rutherford.

“For a game that is as important as a World Cup final, you have to be able to shut out external factors as much as possible,” Merino said Friday. “Luckily, we are being careful with every detail thanks to the federation and the organizers of the World Cup.”

Spain practiced outside in hazardous conditions in East Hanover, New Jersey, on Thursday, alarming experts who thought the team should have held the session inside instead. Messages sent to FIFA and the Spanish Football Association asking whether that was considered or possible were not returned.

Air quality improved Friday, but the uncertainty lies in what will follow what could be up to 1.25 inches (3.17 centimeters) of rain expected to fall Saturday.

“Following that, it looks like there is another smoky air mass following in behind that system, but it’s not clear right now how much or how it might reach New York or New Jersey, when it comes to actually Sunday,” said Mark Parrington, senior scientist at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. “If the fire intensity really picks up again through (Saturday), it’s possible it puts more smoke into the atmosphere that then might quickly follow that rain event.”

Jonathan Belles, senior meteorologist for The Weather Channel app and weather.com, expects to have improved confidence in the forecast as game time gets closer.

“The question is whether smoke behind that (rain) system reaches ground level over northern New Jersey on Sunday and, if so, how concentrated it becomes,” Belles said. “Current forecast models range from little to no ground level smoke to levels that could become more concerning for players and fans.”

Smoke from wildfires — which are burning more of North America as Earth warms — attacks nearly every system in the body, killing tens of thousands of people a year, numerous medical studies show.

It attacks the body immediately, spiking asthma cases with increased ambulance runs within hours. Smoke can trigger inflammation in different parts of the body, often attacking a person’s weakest points, which can then cascade into different effects of an immune system trying to fight a nasty irritant, doctors and scientists say.

There could be an impact on players' performance even if the air conditions are moderate, according to University of California, San Diego professor of medicine Chantal Darquenne.

“It’s kind of a dose dependent effect," Darquenne said. "If it’s moderate, it’s going to be less of an effect, but it’s still going to be there, especially because they are doing vigorous exercise during these events.”

President Donald Trump was set to meet with FIFA President Gianni Infantino later Friday. Members of the administration, including Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, have been discussing the matter with soccer's governing body and monitoring the wildfire situation, according to a White House official. The person was granted anonymity to confirm internal discussions.

Trump said he’d impose new tariffs on Canada over the wildfire smoke but made no mention of the World Cup final.

“We are holding Canada responsible,” the president posted on his social media site. He added that the U.S. “is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous, and totally unacceptable!”

Roughly 80,000 fans are expected at the final, which takes place in the large, open-air stadium in the Meadowlands that is home to the NFL's New York Giants and Jets.

“There’s the obvious sort of respiratory illness, cardiovascular issues, vulnerable people with asthma and things like this,” Parrington said. “Then for sure they’re going to feel the effects.”

During a rehearsal Thursday night at MetLife Stadium for Sunday’s halftime show, some members of the New York Philharmonic wore masks and some used outdoor-friendly instruments rather than the regular ones they play.

The haze has caused complaints across sports, with athletes critical about the decision to play in hazardous conditions. Before his New York Yankees played at home roughly 12 miles (19.31 kilometers) from the Meadowlands, manager Aaron Boone said he was not hearing much about the smoke.

“Obviously they’re monitoring it to see if it gets any worse,” Boone said. “We’ll be communicating with our guys a lot. We’re able to test oxygen levels and things like that if guys are having trouble. So, we’re paying attention to it, and we’ll take the guidance from the league and the weather and the smoke people.”

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SNTV videographer Davidde Corran in East Hanover, New Jersey, AP White House reporters Seung Min Kim and Will Weissert and AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington and AP Sports Writers Ron Blum in New York and Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Thursday warned consumers not to eat shredded iceberg lettuce from Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. A record number of cyclospora cases have been reported in more than 30 states, and experts have said not every recent U.S. illness might be caused by a single source.

A Food and Drug Administration investigation so far has identified a single supplier of the lettuce. The federal warnings to consumers did not identify the company, but Taylor Fresh Foods, of Salinas, California, said FDA testing indicated it was “a specific independent farm” affiliated with the company.

The FDA was working with the supplier “to determine if potentially contaminated shredded iceberg lettuce remains on the market,” including in other states, the CDC said. “Taco Bell has committed to stop using any lettuce from the supplier identified by FDA’s traceback investigation.”

Taylor Farms has been tied to foodborne outbreaks in the past. The company said in a statement Friday afternoon that it was voluntarily removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the U.S. market.

“As a family owned and operated company, we are deeply concerned for those who became ill, their families, and the many Americans whose trust in the safety of their fresh produce has been shaken,” the statement said.

Taco Bell says it will use a different supplier

CDC, FDA and public health officials in several states have been investigating a multistate outbreak of cyclospora infections.

The illness is not usually life threatening and is typically treated with antibiotics.

On Thursday, ahead of the federal government's confirmation, Taco Bell issued a statement saying that it had taken “immediate action to voluntarily remove potentially impacted lettuce from a supplier in select states. The affected ingredient from our supplier is being indefinitely removed from our supply chain nationwide and will be replaced within 24 hours in select states.”

It's possible other businesses could be linked to the outbreak

In a statement, federal health officials stressed that other “brands, restaurants, retailers, or distribution channels” could be tied to the outbreak as the investigation continues.

Michigan investigators are trying to figure out if the lettuce went to other restaurants or stores because many of the ill people said they didn’t eat at Taco Bell, state health officials said Friday.

There is no evidence the outbreak “is related to poor food handling or preparation at any single restaurant or fast-food chain,” Michigan health officials said in a statement.

For that reason, they continue to recommend that consumers purchase whole heads of lettuce instead of pre-washed, bagged lettuce or pre-mixed salad kits. Taylor Fresh Foods said in its statement that no Taylor Farms-branded salad kits contain iceberg lettuce.

Some past outbreaks linked to the company involved products sold under different brand names.

North Carolina health officials on Friday reported their count has now surpassed 300 cases, but said the recent illnesses there are not considered to be linked to the outbreak in and around Michigan. They said the most commonly reported foods include parsley, cilantro and lettuce, but it’s not clear if those ingredients were the source of the infections, they said.

Cyclospora cases have been rising for years

Cyclospora is a microscopic, spherical parasite that commonly causes watery diarrhea “with frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the CDC. Outbreaks tend to occur most often in the late spring and summer.

The heat-loving parasite infects the bowels and spreads through feces. In the past, people have been infected by consuming fruits or vegetables that were exposed to feces-contaminated irrigation water.

The illness, called cyclosporiasis, is less common than foodborne illnesses caused by other germs, including salmonella and E. coli. Many cases are never linked to a specific food or other source and, for years, few U.S. cyclospora outbreaks were reported. But the number started rising about a decade ago, with a particularly notable spike in 2018 and 2019.

Previously, 2019 saw the most reported U.S. cyclosporiasis cases, with about 4,700. The current surge has far surpassed that. Michigan — the apparent epicenter of the current outbreak — is reporting more than 5,000 cases, and more than 2,000 additional probable and suspected cases have been reported in other states.

No deaths have been reported. But Michigan officials say more than 100 people in that state have been hospitalized, and health officials say dozens more have been hospitalized in other states.

Experts attribute the increasing trend in cases to climate change and better detection. They also say it’s likely that cyclospora cases historically were underreported, for several reasons.

Some common tests used to check for food poisoning have not been geared to detect cyclospora. Technicians aren’t able to grow the parasite in labs, making it hard to draw evidence from contaminated produce. And it can be hard to figure out what food sick people had in common because sometimes it’s a single ingredient that might be common in multiple recipes — like basil or cilantro.

Taco Bell and Taylor Farms have been tied to past outbreaks

The FDA’s traceback investigation identified a single supplier of iceberg lettuce from Mexico used by the Taco Bell locations where people who got sick ate, federal officials said.

The Mexican food chain is among the restaurants linked to foodborne illness outbreaks in the past.

Taylor Farms also was tied to a 2013 cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to salad mix and a 2024 E. coli outbreak tied to onions served at McDonald's.

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Stobbe reported from New York.

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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 S&P 500 fell 1% to finish its first losing week in the last three and only its third since the end of March. Just a couple days earlier, it had climbed within 0.5% of its all-time high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 406 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.4%.

Chip stocks and other AI darlings once again were at the center of the shaky trading. They’ve been under pressure for weeks on worries that their prices shot too high and that voracious demand for computer memory and processors may be unsustainable if AI ends up producing less profit and productivity than promised.

Nvidia was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 after dropping 2.2%. Its recent losses forced it to briefly cede the No. 1 ranking as the most valuable company on Wall Street Friday, but it finished the day back above Apple.

Applied Materials sank 5.6% to trim its surge for the year to 106%. Micron Technology swung between a loss of 5.8% and a gain of 3.2% before slipping 0.5%.

Earlier in the morning, tech sold off worldwide. Indexes tumbled 6.5% in Taipei, 4% in Tokyo and 3% in Shanghai as stocks like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. dropped 7.3%.

South Korea’s stock market was closed for a holiday, offering some respite, if only temporary. It’s been at the center of the AI swings because it’s dominated by two huge tech companies, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. This past week alone, Seoul’s Kospi stock index had one day where it surged 6.2% and two others where it sank 6.4% and 8.9%.

News of a powerful Chinese AI model by startup Moonshot, Kimi K3, further shook markets. Similar to when China’s DeepSeek announced its AI model in early 2025, another low-cost rival to big Western AI models like ChatGPT and OpenAI could potentially hurt demand for computer chips and other components.

European stock indexes, which have less of an emphasis on AI and tech, had milder moves.

Adding to the pressure on Wall Street were drops for several stocks following their latest earnings reports. Companies are under pressure to deliver big growth for the spring to justify the big moves upward their stock prices have already made.

Netflix sank 7.3% after its revenue for the latest quarter fell just short of analysts’ expectations, even though its profit was bigger than expected. Its forecasts for upcoming revenue and profit in the summer also fell below expectations.

Intuitive Surgical, a maker of robotic surgical systems, dropped 14.1% despite topping expectations for the latest quarter. Analysts pointed to worries about slowing procedure growth because of the expiration of enhanced tax credits that helped lower the cost of health insurance for many Affordable Care Act enrollees.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX fell 5.4% and touched its lowest level since its stock began trading on the Nasdaq just over a month ago. The owner of the xAI business has been swept up in the swings for AI stocks, and it also had to abort a test flight of its mega Starship rocket Thursday within a second or so from blasting off.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 76.08 points to 7,457.69. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 406.55 to 52,146.42, and the Nasdaq composite sank 361.70 to 25,520.24.

More climbs for oil prices also pressured the stock market.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 4.6% to settle at $88.10, up from roughly $76 a week ago.

The United States expanded its airstrike campaign against Iran early Friday by hitting more bridges and collapsing a tower at a key Iranian port. That raised further worries about whether oil tankers will be able to use the Strait of Hormuz to carry crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.

High oil prices have sent Treasury yields upward in the bond market, which threaten to slow the economy and undercut prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments. Higher yields have already sent the average 30-year mortgage rate to its highest level in nearly a year.

But longer-term Treasury yields eased Friday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.55% from 4.57% late Thursday.

A report suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers is improving more than economists expected, while expectations for upcoming inflation eased. That’s important for the Federal Reserve, which is considering hikes to interest rates to keep a lid on inflation.

If expectations for inflation remain anchored, it could prevent a vicious cycle where people make moves in anticipation of higher inflation, which only worsen it.

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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

The league said Friday that its investigation determined that Gold provided confidential, non-public inside information regarding 2026 draft selections by the Cardinals before the picks were announced, and Gold also participated in parlay bets on NFL and college games. The league didn’t say who Gold had provided with the information.

“The Gambling Policy, which is annually reviewed with all NFL personnel, strictly prohibits anyone in the NFL from participating in or facilitating any form of sports gambling, and from providing third parties non-public information,” the NFL said in a statement. “Although there is no reason to believe the integrity of any NFL game was affected, the League takes any violation of the Gambling Policy with the utmost seriousness.”

The Cardinals also issued a statement, saying: “The NFL’s policies and expectations for all employees are clear, comprehensive, and consistently communicated. We fully support the league’s decision in this matter, which involves a single employee. Our focus remains on preparing for the start of training camp next week and the 2026 season.”

Gold, who is in his 13th season with the Cardinals, was promoted to director of college scouting in June 2025. He spent the previous three years (2022-24) as the assistant director of college scouting after working for four seasons (2018-21) as a college scouting coordinator.

Gold has the right to appeal the suspension. He couldn't immediately be reached for comment Friday.

The NFL has strict gambling policies for players and club and league personnel. The league has also dedicated significant resources to its gambling education program, reaching more than 20,000 people associated with the league.

The policy says players must not:

— place any bet on NFL football;

— throw or fix any NFL game or event, or otherwise manipulate or attempt to manipulate any play or other aspect of an NFL game;

— share confidential, non-public information regarding any NFL game, player or event with any third party.

NFL players — but not league or club staff — are allowed to legally place bets on other sports as long as they are off club property or not traveling with the team. They also are allowed to take part in traditional fantasy football leagues (prize money cannot exceed $250) and legally gamble at casinos on personal time.

The NFL said the Cardinals fully cooperated with the investigation and the league has seen no indication that any other member of the organization, coach or player was aware of or involved in this activity. The league also said there was no indication that any play or game was affected by this activity.

The NFL’s review included interviews with relevant people and an examination of electronic records.

At least 15 players have been suspended by the league for gambling violations since 1963, including several in recent years, but none since Isaiah Rodgers (then with the Indianapolis Colts) was suspended indefinitely in June 2023.

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

The arrest happened just after midnight on June 30 near the intersection of State Road 434 and Wekiva Springs Road in Longwood.

According to a Seminole County Sheriff’s Office arrest report, deputies first encountered Kenneth Bevan Jr. after he was asked to leave a nearby bar. Deputies say they warned him not to ride his e-bike home — but that warning went unheeded.

The report says Bevan walked to a nearby 7-Eleven on SR 434, where he purchased a 12-pack of Budweiser. Deputies say they watched him place the beer on the front of the e-bike and begin riding eastbound on SR 434.

Body camera footage captures a deputy confronting Bevan shortly after.

“We told you that you were gonna get a DUI if you got caught driving that bike. Did you not remember?” a deputy says in the video.

“I’m just going home,” Bevan responds.

“Yeah, but you can’t. We just told you, you have to walk the bike home,” the deputy replies.

Deputies then got Bevan off the bike and began questioning him. The arrest report notes deputies observed Bevan swaying while standing, slurred speech, glossy eyes and the odor of alcohol.

“Are you familiar with what a DUI is?” a deputy asks in the footage.

“I’ll walk the bike home if you want me to,” Bevan says.

The offer came too late. Moments later, Bevan told deputies he was not looking for trouble.

“I’m not trying to do any trouble. You know?” Bevan says in the video.

“I hear you,” the deputy responds.

“I’m a good man,” Bevan adds.

When Bevan declined a field sobriety test — saying only, “No, I just want to go home” — deputies placed him in handcuffs shortly after.

“Right now you’re under arrest for driving under the influence, ok?” a deputy says in the footage.

“On a bicycle?” Bevan responds.

According to the arrest report, Bevan was also cited for operating the bicycle without a required front light during nighttime hours. At the Seminole County Jail, he refused to provide a breath sample — a separate charge under Florida law.

Court records show he has pleaded not guilty to the DUI charges. News 6 has reached out to his attorney for comment.

Bevan is an assistant principal at Winter Springs High School. When contacted about the arrest, a school district spokesperson described it as a personal matter, noting it occurred during the summer while Bevan is outside of his contract period.

Narvaez and Jarren Duran each drove in three runs for Boston, which had entered the All-Star break with nine straight wins, all on the road. With their first 10-game win streak since last July, the Red Sox (47-48) moved within one game of .500 for the first time since their third game of this season.

Boston has allowed 14 runs during the streak, its fewest over a 10-game span during the live ball era (since 1920).

Yoshida, Navarez and Caleb Durbin each had three hits. The Red Sox outhit the AL East-leading Rays 15-3.

Bennett (5-3) struck out three as he won his fourth straight start. After issuing his only walk with one out in the first, the left-hander retired nine straight before Junior Caminero singled in the fourth.

Alex Gamboa worked the final three innings for his first save.

With the Red Sox leading 2-0, Yoshida hit the first pitch of the fourth by Griffin Jax (5-7) to right field, wrapping it around Pesky's Pole for his fourth homer of the season. Navarez cleared the Green Monster in the seventh for his third homer.

Duran chased Jax with a two-run single as part of Boston's six-run sixth inning. Jax allowed seven runs on eight hits in five-plus innings as his ERA jumped from 3.47 to 4.08.

All-Star Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras served the fifth and final game of his suspension for his actions during a benches-clearing incident against Washington last month. The suspension was reduced from seven games on appeal.

Up next

Rays RHP Mason Englert (0-2, 3.82 ERA) and Red Sox LHP Eduardo Rivera (0-0, 0.00) were set to pitch Friday's nightcap.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

The majors have been getting serious about conduct this year, collaborating on a policy but leaving each organization in charge of what it deems a serious offense.

Rahm, who shot 3-under 67 and was four shots out of the lead, hit his tee shot left of the green on the 15th hole and flung his iron forward and it bounced a few times.

The R&A said Rahm was issued the official warning “under The Open serious misconduct policy.” The policy typically is in play for the entire tournament, meaning if there is another incident, it would be a two-shot penalty. The third violation is disqualification.

Rahm said he didn't think about his outburst until he saw an R&A official on the 17th hole.

“When he was walking up to me, I knew exactly what it was for,” he said.

The USGA bypassed the warning and went straight to a two-shot penalty for Joaquin Niemann in the first round of the U.S. Open when on the sixth hole — his 15th of the round — he threw his wedge that traveled some 70 yards. With hardly any spectators, no one captured public video although officials would have had access from the ShotLink cameras.

Rahm was paired with Sergio Garcia in the final round of the Masters when Garcia hit a poor tee shot on the second hole and smashed his driver into the turf and against a bench that was holding a water cooler. Garcia was issued an official warning.

Rahm said before the tournament and on Friday after he finished his round that he was not about to change his nature.

“I don’t always love the word ’emotional.' I’m definitely more intense and passionate than a lot of the players out here, especially at work,” he said “It’s not like I’m going to ... if I try to alter who I am too much, it might cost me a little bit on the course. But certainly shouldn’t have moments like the one on 15. I get it.”

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

The newest Kimi K3 model from Beijing-based startup Moonshot, run by a Pink Floyd-loving entrepreneur who earned his doctorate in Pittsburgh, appears to be catching up to the best versions of Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's ChatGPT.

“This may be the single biggest release of the year,” and marks a moment when open-source Chinese models are surpassing closed U.S. models, said Anastasios Angelopoulos, co-founder and CEO of Arena, a platform for evaluating AI systems.

Kimi K3 topped the charts in Arena's ranking of what it calls “front-end coding capability,” a measure of an AI large language model's performance. “More results are rolling in that are likely to continue to show it is at the top of the pack,” Angelopoulos said on social media.

It was not likely a coincidence that K3's unveiling came shortly before Chinese President Xi Jinping's opening address Friday to the nation's annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai.

American-led restrictions have blocked China from accessing some of the world’s most advanced technologies, spurring China’s efforts to build its own know-how and intensifying the rivalry between the world’s two biggest economies.

“The development of artificial intelligence should not be a solo performance by any single country but rather a symphony of global cooperation,” Xi said at the event.

Chinese AI models have shown large strides

K3 follows another major AI model release last month from the Chinese startup Zhipu, or Z.ai. Its new flagship GLM-5.2 model is already widely used by software developers around the world who say it can perform work almost as well as top U.S. models at a lower price.

The hype over the new Chinese model resembles the market-shaking panic that followed Chinese startup DeepSeek 's new model release in early 2025, though not everyone finds it justified. The response to K3 is an “overreaction shockingly similar” to DeepSeek's release last year, said tech analyst Patrick Moorhead on social media. He said it could be good for parts of the broader AI industry but poses a revenue challenge to Anthropic and OpenAI.

During the conference, which runs until Monday, tech giant Huawei has also been showcasing a new AI computing system called the Atlas 950 SuperPoD, a signal that China increasingly is amassing the domestic hardware it needs despite U.S. restrictions on imports from chipmakers like Nvidia.

Moonshot hasn’t said what hardware it used to build K3, but the startup is a partner with Huawei.

The price to use K3 is the highest yet for a Chinese AI model, but is still half as expensive as OpenAI’s high-performing GPT-5.6 Sol model, according to a Friday report by Bank of America research analysts.

U.S. politicians and several major U.S. AI companies including Anthropic and OpenAI have accused Chinese AI models of illicit “distillation” of their models to extract their technologies, a claim that Beijing says is “groundless.”

Anthropic in February accused DeepSeek, Moonshot and a third China-based AI lab, MiniMax, of engaging in campaigns to “illicitly extract Claude’s capabilities to improve their own models” using the distillation technique that “involves training a less capable model on the outputs of a stronger one.”

Anthropic said that distillation can be a legitimate way to train AI systems but it’s a problem when competitors “use it to acquire powerful capabilities from other labs in a fraction of the time, and at a fraction of the cost, that it would take to develop them independently.”

But it can go both ways. San Francisco-based startup Anysphere, maker of the popular coding tool Cursor, has acknowledged that one of its top products was based on Moonshot’s K2.5 model. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is planning to close a deal to buy Cursor for $60 billion later this year.

K3 marks a leap for ‘open-source’ AI models

Moonshot co-founder and CEO Yang Zhilin earned his Ph.D. in 2019 at Carnegie Mellon University, where he is said to have made fundamental contributions to the machine-learning field and was known for a love of rock bands like Pink Floyd.

The pride among his former colleagues at the Pennsylvania school transcends the U.S.-China rivalry.

“What a huge win for the open-source community! It feels like just yesterday Zhilin was graduating from my lab at CMU,” wrote his former adviser Russ Salakhutdinov, who is also a former director of AI research at Apple.

Developers who build “open-source” AI make key components of the technology accessible for anyone to examine, modify and build upon. Proponents say open-source practices promote innovation, while critics warn that making powerful AI models publicly accessible poses safety and security dangers. ___

Associated Press writer Chan Ho-him contributed to this report.

News 6 found the train around 3 p.m., stopped near Yates Street and Beardall Street — just a few blocks away from Golfview Street and North Orange Blossom Trail.

One of the box cars was seen leaning over, with the wheels from a few tanker cars slipping off the tracks.

While the issue doesn’t appear to be blocking traffic, News 6 is checking to see if it’s making any other trains in the area late.

No additional information has been provided at this time.

The Irish character actor died Thursday night in Dublin after a period of ill health, her agent, Phil Belfield said in a statement.

Fricker won the Academy Award in 1990 for best supporting actress for her portrayal of the determined mother of Christy Brown, a writer and painter who was born with cerebral palsy and could control only his left foot. Daniel Day-Lewis, who played Brown, won the award for best actor.

“She was just an amazing actress, amazing character, forceful personality, great writer,” the movie's director, Jim Sheridan, told Irish national broadcaster RTE. “She could be obsessive — in everything she did — life, work, love. But no real malice or anything, she was just a very strong personality and a good laugh.”

Fricker said she was stunned when she won the Oscar, never thinking it was possible. In her acceptance speech, she thanked Brown “just for being alive” and paid tribute to his mother, saying “anybody who gives birth 22 times deserves one of these."

She later spoke of how the award doomed her to being typecast to forever playing roles as mothers. Later in life, she said she used the weighty statuette to prop open her bathroom door.

Fricker, who appeared in more than 90 films and television shows between 1964 and 2024, was known for her role as the “pigeon lady” in the 1992 film “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” where she played a homeless woman who befriended Macaulay Culkin’s character in New York’s Central Park.

She also featured in the original cast of the BBC medical drama “Casualty” and appeared alongside Cate Blanchett in “Veronica Guerin,” the story of an Irish investigative journalist who was murdered in 1996.

“We will never see her like again and the world is lesser for the lack of her,’’ Belfield said. “I was honored to know, love and work with her and she will always have a place in my heart and in the heart of so many film and TV fans the world over.”

Born in Dublin in 1945, Fricker received the city’s highest honor earlier this year when she was awarded the Freedom of the City.

In her autobiography “She Died Young: A Life in Fragments,” Fricker describes both happy childhood escapades with her sister Grania and her struggles to overcome sexual violence and mental health issues, which caused her to be institutionalized several times. Published in September 2025, the book appeared on the Irish Sunday Times bestseller list.

Simon Harris, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, said the country had lost a national treasure.

“She truly was among the greatest exports this country has ever produced and an ambassador for Irish talent on the world stage,'' he said. "Quite simply, we will never see the like of her ever again.

Fricker was married to director Barry Davies from 1979 until they divorced in 1988. She became pregnant several times but suffered miscarriages, which led to severe depression much of her life.

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Associated Press writer Brian Melley in London contributed to this report.

The FAA said that after months of review the agency decided that Boeing's final safety checks on its planes are good enough to ensure they are airworthy.

Since September, Boeing and the agency had been taking weekly turns performing the safety checks that are required before aircraft are cleared for delivery and declared safe to fly. The FAA said Friday that the plane maker and government inspectors were both issuing similar findings as they issued airworthiness certificates.

Federal regulators took full control over 737 Max approvals in 2019, after the second of two crashes that were later blamed on a new software system Boeing developed for the aircraft. The FAA ended the company’s right to self-certify 787 Dreamliners in 2022, citing ongoing production quality issues.

“Safety drives everything we do, and this step forward is only possible because we are confident it can be done safely,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said.

Government inspectors will continue to oversee Boeing’s factories, but Bedford said they will now be able to focus more on finding and addressing potential defects earlier in the manufacturing process. The plane maker said it will continue working to improve safety.

“Boeing will continue to work under the oversight of the FAA in building safe, high-quality commercial airplanes that comply with all airworthiness certification requirements,” Boeing said in a statement.

Over the past year the FAA has also been easing the monthly production limits it imposed on Boeing's 737 Max jets after a panel flew off one of those planes operated by Alaska Airlines midflight in January 2024. That limit has gradually increased from 38 per month to reach 47 per month this summer.

It was a learning experience even for someone with a résumé featuring six Super Bowl titles as a head coach and ranking as one of the NFL's all-time leaders in coaching wins.

“Look, I learn every year, I learn things every day,” Belichick said Friday morning during the Atlantic Coast Conference’s preseason football media days.

“Every week is a learning experience for me. Try to listen to the people that are around me that work for us, that do various things, whether it’s academics, training, nutrition, offense, defense, special teams, so forth. Try to do the best I can to help put it all together.

"Recruiting, fundraising — you name it. There are a lot of different things and I can improve in all of them.”

It was a rough debut for the 74-year-old Belichick, best known for his time hoisting trophies and winning with relentless precision alongside star quarterback Tom Brady with the New England Patriots.

His arrival at the college level was a spectacle, one that put a national spotlight on a school with a football program that had long been an ACC also-ran compared to its tradition-rich men's basketball program being among the nation's blueblood elite.

There's less buzz this time around. There’s no curiosity to imagining what it will look like for Belichick to roam a college sideline sporting his trademark hoodie garb. And the Tar Heels’ poor on-field performance offers little reason to expect a big leap in Year 2.

Yet similar to what he was known for in his Patriots tenure, Belichick is focused on his internal evaluation. And he sees cause for optimism.

“Last year when we started, we were literally starting from scratch," he said. “We're above that now for sure.”

Belichick is hoping there's more continuity from spring drills

Belichick has pointed numerous times to the Tar Heels getting a late run into recruiting after his December hiring, starting with jumping into the transfer portal and then pulling from the high school ranks. That meant pulling together a roster to get started with spring drills, then going through more waves of roster changes leading into preseason camp.

“The biggest thing last year was just how behind we were,” Belichick said of his December 2024 arrival.

By the time the Tar Heels started last season, they had 70 new players.

“This time a year ago, we didn’t have a quarterback who had taken a snap even in spring ball for us,” Belichick said.

“Last year we didn’t have any player-run practices. We couldn't actually line up a team and run against another team without the coaches being out there because we didn't have anybody that knew enough on either side of the ball to do that. Whereas this year these guys have done it all spring and all summer."

To that point, the Tar Heels have plenty of newness on the roster with 60 new players, 40 true freshmen and 17 redshirt freshmen. But UNC also had 35 of the first-year freshmen arrive in time to go through spring practices while there's enough returnees to offer continuity and better stability.

“Culture's a lot different, work ethic's different,” Belichick said. “I'm not taking anything away from the guys that were here. But compared to a year ago, we just know a lot more about what we’re doing and how to do it and our culture’s a lot different.”

UNC knows what to expect for Belichick's second season

Belichick's appearance at this ACC Kickoff event last year was the center of attention. So too was his nationally televised Labor Day debut in front of a sellout home crowd against TCU.

Yet the Tar Heels lost that game in a blowout in what turned out to be a harbinger of frustration to come. And Belichick's mere presence on the sideline only magnified the pressure that arose from on-field troubles and unwanted off-field headlines, from an assistant coach's suspension to tabloid-like interest in Belichick's relationship with 25-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson.

“Seeing a guy like Coach Belichick, who’s constantly in the spotlight — I mean, the guy could cure cancer and people would still write negative pieces about him," offensive lineman Christo Kelly said.

“But seeing how he handles himself through everything, seeing how he’s continued to block out the noise, it really sets the standard for what we should be doing.”

By the end of the year, Belichick had fielded a team that had more losses by double-digit margins (five) than total wins, with two home losses ending in an empty stadium with Tar Heels fans having fled early for the exits. UNC's three wins against Bowl Subdivision opponents came against teams with a combined 8-28 record (Charlotte, Syracuse and Stanford), while the Tar Heels failed to make a bowl for the first time since 2018.

“We really felt like it was all Carolina — Carolina for Carolina, nobody else was really rooting for us, everybody wanted to see Coach Belichick fail,” receiver Jordan Shipp said.

“It was just like we knew that we were in this by ourselves. And everybody that was here last year, we know that feeling. So now we know what to expect.”

The same goes for Belichick, who was asked in the afternoon what he had learned about himself at UNC.

“That I like coaching in college,” Belichick said. “I didn’t know whether I would or wouldn’t, but I do.”

___

AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

The deals, signed at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, also involved other industries, including healthcare, communications and infrastructure.

It's not clear when the oil deals will be able to create viable alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world's oil flows. Goldman Sachs estimates that pipelines in just one country take at least two and a half years to build, and these pipelines would travel through two or more nations.

Iran has sought to close the Strait repeatedly since the U.S.-Iran war began Feb. 28, causing sharp gyrations in oil and gas prices.

On Friday afternoon, the price of West Texas crude rose nearly 5% to $88 a barrel, up from about $67 before the war began. It had topped $110 in early April before falling back after a truce was reached. It has since risen on renewed conflict between U.S. and Iran.

Thomas Barrack, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, said the oil pipeline agreements would lead to a program “that will make the Strait of Hormuz an afterthought.”

The signings followed a meeting between Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Falah al-Zaidi Thursday with executives of Chevron in Houston, at which al-Zaidi urged the U.S. energy company to expand and accelerate its investments in Iraq.

In a speech Friday, al-Zaidi said Iraq’s economy is seeking long-term investment and partnerships, not merely contractors to carry out projects.

Al-Zaidi stressed his government’s commitment to communication, dialogue and cooperation with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, describing it as “the place where economic decisions are made."

On Friday, Chevron signed three agreements with the Iraqi government. Jake Spiering, Chevron's president of corporate business development, said two would focus on boosting oil production, while a third would involve “investing in a pipeline that’s going to create another export route out of Iraq to world markets. This is very important for energy security.”

Also Friday, the State Department welcomed an agreement between Iraq and Syria “to advance the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Iraq-Syria crude oil pipeline as a priority infrastructure project."

“The United States welcomes the engagement of a U.S.-led international consortium to execute the technical and financial aspects of this project,” the department said.

The pipeline will connect southern Iraq’s Basra to western Iraq’s Haditha and go from there to the Ceyhan port in Turkey and the port of Baniyas on Syria’s coast, Iraqi officials have said. The pipeline is projected to carry about 2 million barrels of oil per day.

In a note released earlier this week, analysts at Goldman Sachs estimated that seven different pipelines in the region under development could, by the end of 2028, carry about 60% of the oil currently shipped through the Strait.

The pipelines could carry roughly 14 million barrels per day by then, Goldman estimated. Roughly 23 million barrels per day were shipped through Hormuz before the Iran war.

After the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran Feb. 28, oil-rich Iraq — which is home to both Iran-backed militias and U.S. bases — found itself in the crosshairs. Syria, meanwhile, has been one of the few regional countries that has managed to stay on the sidelines of the conflict. Damascus has promoted Syria — still grappling with the aftermath of its own 14-year civil war — as a bastion of stability and has offered it as an alternative transit route for energy shipments.

With the war dramatically reducing oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz, some oil shipments have instead been trucked from Iraq into Syria and shipped to European markets via Syria’s Baniyas port, bypassing the Hormuz route. A key border crossing between northern Iraq and Syria reopened in April after being closed for more than a decade, with officials touting it as an additional route for energy exports.

The overland route is less efficient and more expensive than shipping exports through the strait. The pipeline project envisioned would allow for exporting a larger volume of oil from Iraq to Syria and Turkey.

It's the latest attack on essential infrastructure across the Middle East that have exposed extreme vulnerabilities in one of the world’s driest regions, which relies almost exclusively on technology to produce freshwater that sustains cities, hotels, industry and some agriculture.

Kuwaiti authorities said the strikes damaged a large number of power generation units and sparked a fire. They added that a fire has been contained, and that they activated emergency contingency plans.

In Kuwait, about 90% of drinking water comes from desalination, along with roughly 86% in Oman and about 70% in Saudi Arabia. The process removes salt from seawater, most commonly by pushing it through ultrafine membranes in a process known as reverse osmosis.

Hundreds of desalination plants sit along the Persian Gulf coast, putting systems that supply water to millions within range of Iranian missile or drone strikes. Without them, major cities could not sustain their current populations.

For people living outside the Middle East, the main concern of the Iran war has been the impact on energy prices. Fighting and attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz have upended world markets and pushed oil prices to record highs.

But the infrastructure that keeps Gulf cities supplied with drinking water are equally vulnerable.

Throughout the past few months, Iran has struck close to several desalination plants in the Gulf. Kuwait previously reported damage at the Doha West desalination plant early in the war, which resulted from debris from intercepted drones or attacks on the nearby port.

Iran accused the U.S. of striking Iranian desalination plants on Qeshm Island on March 8, cutting off water supplies for 30 villages, though Washington did not acknowledged the strike.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have also targeted Saudi desalination facilities amid regional tensions in the past.

Many Gulf desalination plants are physically integrated with power stations as co‑generation facilities, meaning attacks on electrical infrastructure could also hinder water production. Desalination plants have multiple stages — intake systems, treatment facilities, energy supplies — and damage to any part of that chain can interrupt production.

Gulf governments and U.S. officials have long recognized the risks these systems pose for regional stability: if major desalination plants were knocked offline, some cities could lose most of their drinking water within days.

A 2010 CIA analysis warned attacks on desalination facilities could trigger national crises in several Gulf states, and prolonged outages could last months if critical equipment were destroyed.

More than 90% of the Gulf’s desalinated water comes from just 56 plants, the report stated, and “each of these critical plants is extremely vulnerable to sabotage or military action.”

The desalination plants are also vulnerable to climate change, including storm surges and extreme rainfall that can overwhelm infrastructure, as warming oceans increase the likelihood and intensity of cyclones in the Arabian Sea. ___

Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel.

___

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment.

Argentines and Spaniards have long been united by blood ties and a relationship of mutual admiration, but the World Cup final between these two Spanish-speaking nations has placed many of them at a crossroads: Should they support La Furia or La Albiceleste on Sunday?

“It feels like being caught between a rock and a hard place,” admitted Juan Manuel Posada, a 75-year-old Spaniard originally from Asturias who settled in Buenos Aires in 1968.

The clash in New Jersey will mark the first All-Spanish-speaking World Cup final since the inaugural 1930 tournament, when host Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in Montevideo.

Buenos Aires was founded by a Spaniard

It was a Spaniard, Pedro de Mendoza, who founded Buenos Aires in the mid-16th century. The battles for independence did not alter the strong cultural influence of the Iberian Peninsula on the young nation — an influence that deepened with the waves of Spanish migration in the first half of the 20th century.

“It’s as if I’d arrived just yesterday. My heart is in Asturias, in Spain, and with the Spanish national team. Without a doubt,” said Posada, a fan of the Spanish club Sporting de Gijón who, in his adopted country, became a supporter of Independiente de Avellaneda. “If Spain wins, great, but if Argentina wins, I won’t be upset at all,” he added in the Asturian accent he still retains.

Manuel Fernández Acevedo is 81 years old; he left Baiona, in Vigo, with his family when he was very young to settle in Argentina, where his daughter and granddaughter were born. Torn between the two countries, he said, “May the best team win. If Spain wins, that’s great, and if it’s Argentina’s turn, that’s fine, too.”

A deep relationship

Just as literature, gastronomy, and music were enriched by that bond of brotherhood, football also felt its impact, with Argentina's Alfredo Di Stéfano and Lionel Messi standing out as the greatest icons at Real Madrid and Barcelona, respectively.

Surprisingly, there is no classic football rivalry between the two countries, partly because, in nearly a century of World Cup history, the Spanish and Argentines have faced each other only once. That encounter was during the group stage of the 1966 World Cup, resulting in a victory for La Albiceleste.

Of course, a final is a different story altogether.

Back to Posada. “I have an Argentine grandson who said to me the other day, ‘Grandpa, if Spain wins, I’ll wear the Spain shirt and carry the flag, and we’ll celebrate. But if Argentina wins, you have to come wearing my country’s shirt and carrying its flag.’ I told him that was fine, but I don’t think we could go out to the Obelisk to celebrate wearing a Spain shirt.” The laughing Posada was referring to the Buenos Aires monument that serves as the epicenter of celebrations for La Albiceleste’s victories.

On the other side of the Atlantic

First, the military dictatorship from 1976-83, and later, consecutive economic crises starting in the 2000s, drove thousands of Argentines to settle in Spain in search of a better quality of life. According to the most recent Spanish census figures (as of January 2025), 450,883 people born in Argentina were residing in Spain.

For them, too, Sunday’s final is a special occasion.

“I see them as just another rival but with respect — knowing we’re in their country and that, in the end, we’re all brothers,” said Nahuel Barreta, 19, who has been living in Málaga for a year. “It feels like home here. We’re going to watch the match at a downtown bar with friends — it’s our usual ritual. I’ve never experienced a World Cup like this.”

In recent days, social media has seen a wave of viral posts featuring Argentine-Spanish couples temporarily parting ways until after Sunday’s match, as well as the amusing tactics they use to convince their children to root for one of the finalists.

It really feels like a familia affair.

___

AP correspondent Suman Naishadham in Madrid contributed to this report.

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Executive Director Zeynep Portway said the organization is housing more people than ever, but the need keeps growing.

“The demand that’s coming in is much higher than what we can do,” Portway said.

The comments came Thursday in Orlando as the center held another public town hall, part of an effort leaders said has continued for close to two years to keep the community informed about the growing need to serve people without housing and others struggling to get by.

Several speakers shared personal stories during the meeting, including one person who said, “I am still homeless.” She says this has been since 2005. Another attendee who works for a non-profit described living on the edge financially, saying they are “living check to check” and feel “just a check away” from being in the same situation as people they work with every day.

Rev. Dr. Joy Davis, who runs Spirit of Joy Ministries and partners with the Samaritan Resource Center to provide services like a food pantry, described the strain on nonprofit groups trying to keep services going in extreme heat. “Staying afloat means I have to beg for volunteers,” Davis said, describing trips to pick up food and bring it back in a heat index around 105 degrees.

The center also shared a snapshot of its recent workload. Leaders said that in June alone, they served close to 800 people experiencing homelessness, including more than 100 children. They said they also helped six people find jobs.

Portway urged the community to look for practical ways to help, including housing options. “If you have a spare bedroom you wanna rent it out, we have people we can put into them without charging 900 dollars for a bed,” Portway said.

Members of the faith-based community who attended the town hall said another way to help is to contact elected officials and push for more solutions. Local pastor Jose Rodriguez said homelessness should be seen as something that can affect anyone.

“It’s an everyday person problem and we don’t recognize homelessness as an everyday person problem,” Rodriguez said.

Greetings, friends. It’s Haley.

My trusty friend and Texan, Tim, recently visited Universal’s newest park with family and provided me with feedback and a visual tour.

The resort opened earlier this month and is designed specifically for families with young children, offering seven imaginative lands packed with beloved characters, rides, and even quiet sensory gardens.

Overall, Tim enjoyed himself. Since the park is 20 acres, he said it was easy to get around, and the wait times didn’t exceed 15 minutes.

“This is definitely a one-day park, but if you have little ones, I think they’ll love it,” Tim said.

He also said the food at Puss in Boots Del Mar was a “chef’s kiss” and raved about the Minion Mac and Cheese Cone.

Some of the criticism the park has been facing is the lack of character, and I will say, I can see that based on footage taken in Shrek’s Swamp. I think the plain concrete gives it an unnatural look, whereas DreamWorks Land at Universal Studios went as far as putting in mud-resembling pavement with ogre footprints and donkey hoof prints.

It appears adults are comparing Universal Kids to Universal Epic Universe, which is apples to oranges.

Click here for a quick visual tour of the park.

Closing fast 🏎️

Universal Orlando is accelerating the closing date for Fast & Furious – Supercharged, the immersive street-racing attraction at Universal Studios Florida.

The ride, based on the blockbuster film franchise, will shutter sooner than originally anticipated next month.

I was surprised when Universal said it was originally targeting 2027 for a closing date, given the widespread consensus that few fans will mourn its loss.

Legoland Florida

Let the building begin 🧱

Starting Monday, LEGO Festival is back at Legoland Florida Resort, and this year, you can battle Pokémon AND feel the Formula One racing buzz, all included with park admission.

I spoke with a Legoland Florida spokesperson about this year’s event, and her must-do advice is simple — grab your wristband at the gate, knock out three build challenges and leave with a free Lego Creator set as the ultimate souvenir.

Click here for a complete guide.

Walt Disney World

‘Art’ your calendars ✍️

Walt Disney Animation fans, the wait is almost over.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios is bringing the magic of animation to life with the opening of the Magic of Disney Animation experience at the Animation Courtyard.

Click here for the opening date, visuals, and a guide.

SeaWorld Orlando

Release day! 🐢

Nine green sea turtles are back cruising the Atlantic after SeaWorld Orlando nursed them back to health following a rough Florida winter that left them cold, stressed, and malnourished.

See the turtles’ return to the Atlantic in the video here.

As always, keep me in the loop through my email or reach out to me on X or Instagram.

See you next week!

- Haley

Experts said the threats — issued just months before midterm elections that will determine control of Congress — were likely hollow because Trump's voting initiatives have been stalled by judges and the Constitution gives states control over how elections are run.

Nevertheless, Mullin's remarks, delivered from the White House complex one day after Trump's primetime address on the topic, could further doubts about election processes and create headaches for states as they prepare for November.

“We absolutely can build confidence in the American people, but the states have to do their part,” Mullin said.

Trump continues to falsely claim that Democrat Joe Biden won only because of fraud in 2020, and he’s tried to marshal the powers of the federal government to rewrite that history since he returned to office last year — even though judges and his own attorney general in his first term concluded the election was legitimate.

Mullin insisted that the president was not relitigating the 2020 election, “although he definitely could at this point.”

"This is just about exposing what took place and making sure it never happens again,” he said.

Mullin's claims of noncitizen voters rely on incomplete data

During his remarks, Mullin advanced an unsubstantiated claim Trump made Thursday that the federal government had found 250,000 noncitizen voters on the rolls in California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He said the Department of Homeland Security's investigation was conducted using public data, which election experts say is insufficiently detailed and updated to properly identify whether a registered voter is a noncitizen.

Election officials in California and Pennsylvania said they would review the Trump administration's findings but noted that they conduct their own voter list maintenance and noncitizen voting is exceedingly rare. Research has supported that finding.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, responded to Mullin's threats with a post on social media.

“California has free, fair, and secure elections and we will fight for them,” he wrote. "Try us."

In Nevada, Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, also a Democrat, said he was confident in the integrity of the state's voter file.

“We are constantly looking at the information to figure out how many registered voters in Nevada don’t have a Social Security number on file," he said. “We have done significant work to make sure our voter rolls are as clean as possible.”

Mullin also pledged to aggressively monitor public voter lists to pursue potential voter fraud cases before and after the 2026 election.

“If you are an illegal or you are voting illegally, we will hunt you down, we will find you and we will prosecute you,” he said.

He urged states to participate in DHS' recently overhauled SAVE program, a federal tool central to the Trump administration’s efforts to nationalize elections. At least 25 states have used it to check their voter rolls since April 2025, after the Trump administration significantly expanded its search abilities, and the Trump administration has demanded that states submit their sensitive voter data to the program to fully audit their voter lists.

Mullin said if state officials don’t participate in SAVE, they could face fines, penalties or prison time.

But the overhauled program’s use was recently blocked by a federal judge over concerns about privacy and wrongful purges of eligible voters. The case included voters whose registrations were wrongly flagged by the program, temporarily threatening their place on the rolls.

David Becker, the executive director of the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation and Research, said Mullin was making empty threats.

“Every court to consider the DOJ’s demands — 15 of them to date, six of those judges appointed by President Trump — have confirmed that the federal government cannot legally demand access to states’ sensitive voter data,” he said. “What he’s suggesting is illegal.”

In addition, Trump's efforts to pass the SAVE Act, federal legislation that would require proof of citizenship for voter registration, has stalled in the Senate. Republicans don't have enough votes to change the filibuster rules and pass it without Democratic support.

Cybersecurity support for election officials has been diminished in Trump's second term

Mullin also elevated Trump's concerns about vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines — which voting experts have long acknowledged. While Trump suggested Thursday that these risks make it possible to “rig” the vote, election officials say there are numerous safeguards in place to prevent that, including physical security, voting machine tests, postelection reviews and paper ballot backups in most of the country.

To address the concerns, Mullin said the nation’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which sits under DHS, would release an updated election infrastructure plan within 30 days and provide cyber threat resources to election officials if they participate in SAVE.

However, Trump has broadly dismantled the agency’s election security operation.

CISA was largely absent from its long-held role assisting states in last year’s elections after the Trump administration conducted a review of its election work, placed more than a dozen election-focused staffers on administrative leave and slashed $10 million from two cybersecurity initiatives, including one dedicated to helping state and local election officials. The agency is also still without a Senate-confirmed director and has cycled through a series of acting leaders.

Aguilar said his state has stepped up and will protect its own elections in the absence of federal help.

“The fact that they think they’re going to come in prior to the general election in November and provide us infrastructure, that's nuts,” he said. “Actions speak louder than words, and in their case, it's all been talk.”

___

Swenson reported from New York.

The turtles were among dozens the SeaWorld Orlando Rescue Team rescued following an unusually cold Florida winter that left many suffering from cold stress and severe malnutrition.

[RELATED: Melbourne Beach manatee, Melby, recovers at SeaWorld after storm drain rescue]

Once at SeaWorld Orlando, the turtles were treated for a range of conditions. Some needed diagnostics and nutritional support. One needed something far more intensive — extensive shell repair. Eventually, all nine made a full recovery.

The release took place at River to Sea Preserve in Flagler County.

So far this year, the SeaWorld Orlando Rescue Team has rescued 38 sea turtles and successfully returned 27 to the wild.

Running July 20 through Aug. 16, this year’s event is bigger than ever, featuring five immersive zones — including two brand-new additions — and is included with regular park admission.

“Lego Festival is back officially, and it is bigger and better than even last year,” said Brittany Williams, spokesperson for Merlin Entertainments Florida. “We’re bringing back the three fan-favorite zones — Creative, Chill and Music — but now for the first time this year, we will have the Thrill Zone featuring Lego F1 and the Play Zone featuring Lego Pokémon.”

Play Zone brings Lego Pokémon to life

The all-new Play Zone is headlined by Lego Pokémon, where guests can pose with a giant Lego Pikachu, build their own Poké Balls and interact with fan-favorite characters including Pikachu, Charmander and Squirtle.

Guests will also get an early look at the new Lego Pokémon Smart Play sets before they hit shelves in August — at no additional cost.

Thrill Zone brings race day energy

The brand-new Thrill Zone shifts gears with Lego F1 taking center stage. Families can race against the clock in the Brick Stop Challenge, a hands-on pit stop tire change built around teamwork.

“The Lego F1 Thrill Zone is all about bringing the excitement of Formula One to life,” Williams said. “Families get to become pit crew — the challenge is to change the tires on an F1 car.”

The Pit Lane Hype Show brings race day energy to life through live drums and percussion. Kids and adults can also design, build and race their own Lego F1 brick vehicles — and experiment with how design changes impact speed.

Tips for making the most of Lego Festival

Williams recommends guests grab a wristband and event guide as soon as they enter the park.

“That’s going to unlock all of the things that there are to do at the Lego Festival,” she said. “One of the key things you don’t want to miss is the three build challenge — if you participate in at least three of them and get a stamp at each one, you’ll get a complimentary three-in-one Creator set.”

For families looking to extend the fun, Williams also recommends staying on-site at one of three Legoland hotels, where guests receive complimentary access to festival transformation stations featuring glitter, temporary tattoos and more before heading into the park.

The fan-favorite Music, Creative and Chill-Out zones also return.

For tickets and more information, click here.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said late Thursday that Jamaican officials were still attempting to contact the third citizen.

“During the discussion, the men were advised of the consular assistance available to them and of the government’s readiness to facilitate their return to Jamaica,” the Foreign Ministry said.

The Jamaican government advised the pair that authorities "could not determine their immigration status in the United States or secure their return there. Both men maintained that they did not wish to return to Jamaica.”

Contact was established through the Jamaican Consulate in Miami and a legal adviser representing the men, who haven't been identified.

Jamaica’s outreach followed diplomatic inquiries directed at U.S. officials in Washington, alongside formal representations made to Eswatini’s government through Jamaica’s diplomatic mission in Pretoria, South Africa.

The growing number of third-country deportations by the U.S. government to places including Eswatini have been widely criticized by lawyers and human rights groups.

Eswatini is a tiny kingdom bordering South Africa where the king holds absolute power and has been accused of clamping down on pro-democracy movements.

Orville Etoria, who was the first Jamaican national sent to Eswatini under the program, was repatriated to his country last September.

His lawyers have accused the U.S. of deporting him unlawfully there in July 2025 and said that he and others were repeatedly denied visits by a lawyer.

Etoria was repatriated with help from the International Organization for Migration, or IOM, a U.N. agency.

The Israeli military said it targeted a “terrorist cell” belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group. It said it was aware that civilians may have been harmed in the strike.

The Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza confirmed the number of casualties in the strike in central Gaza, saying people were struck at the funeral for a Palestinian killed in a strike earlier on Friday. In that attack, which killed two people, the Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas militant, without elaborating.

Israeli fire also killed three more people on Friday, including two women, in northern Gaza, Gaza City and Khan Younis, according to local health officials.

The Palestinian Hamas militant group, which has fought a bruising war with Israel, called the strike on the funeral “a heinous crime."

Israel and the militant group agreed to a ceasefire deal in October aimed at halting a two-year-long war.

The heaviest fighting has subsided but at least 1,123 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.

The ministry, which has been part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants but says women and children make up most of the dead.

Militants have carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel says its strikes are in response to that and other violations. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.

In recent weeks, Israel has ramped up its strikes in Gaza, targeting people in cars, tents, buildings and on the street. It says it is going after Hamas and other militants but civilians have also been killed.

According to the independent monitoring group, Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, Israel carried out 40 attacks targeting militants in June, the highest monthly total since the start of the ceasefire.

The war began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,264 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

Federal health officials identified iceberg lettuce from Mexico served at Taco Bell locations in five states as a source of widespread infections from the diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora. A U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigation identified a single supplier as the source of the suspect lettuce.

Taco Bell issued a statement on Thursday saying that “the affected ingredient from our supplier is being indefinitely removed from our supply chain nationwide and will be replaced within 24 hours in select states.” The company described the move as precautionary.

A federal official who was briefed on the outbreak investigation and not authorized to discuss it identified the supplier as Taylor Farms, a company based in Salinas, California, that produces fresh vegetables for commercial use and meal kits and bagged lettuce products sold at supermarkets.

Federal health officials stressed that other “brands, restaurants, retailers, or distribution channels” could be identified as the investigation continues.

Here’s a brief history of some other recent outbreaks that roiled restaurant companies and sometimes changed how food safety is regulated in the U.S.

Taylor Farms provided onions implicated in an outbreak linked to McDonald's hamburgers

E. coli bacteria caused a 2024 food poisoning outbreak tied to raw onions on McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers. The outbreak sickened at least 104 people in 14 states, including 34 who were hospitalized, according to the FDA. One person in Colorado died.

McDonald's said the onions came from Taylor Farms and temporarily pulled the Quarter Pounder off its menu in the affected states. Other national restaurant chains temporarily stopped using fresh onions in some of their locations.

Likely E. coli contamination gets lettuce pulled from Wendy’s sandwiches

Wendy’s pulled lettuce from sandwiches in its restaurants in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania in August 2022 after some people reported falling ill.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at the time that it was trying to determine whether romaine lettuce was the source of an E. coli outbreak that sickened at least 37 people and whether romaine used at Wendy’s was also served or sold at other businesses.

One person was also sickened in Indiana, according to the CDC.

Extensive E. coli outbreak at Chipotle leads to criminal charges

In 2015, Chipotle was hit by an E. coli outbreak that sickened more than 50 people and it temporarily shut down dozens of restaurants on the West Coast, but that was just the beginning. A month later, 30 Boston College students, including at least eight members of the men’s basketball team, complained of gastrointestinal symptoms after eating at a Chipotle restaurant.

Federal officials declared the outbreak over by February 2016, but the chain shut down every one of its restaurants to retrain employees and allow them to regroup.

By the end of the year, however, Chipotle Co-CEO Montgomery Moran stepped down as sales plunged.

In 2020 Chipotle Mexican Grille agreed to pay a record $25 million fine to resolve criminal charges that it served tainted food that sickened more than 1,100 people in the U.S. between 2015 and 2018.

The company admitted that poor safety practices, such as not keeping food at proper temperatures to prevent pathogen growth, sickened customers in Los Angeles and nearby Simi Valley, as well as Boston, Sterling, Virginia, and Powell, Ohio.

Taco Bell removes green onions nationwide after an E. coli outbreak sickens dozens

In December 2006, Taco Bell ordered the removal of green onions from its 5,800 restaurants nationwide after samples taken by investigators appeared to contain a harsh strain of E. coli. The outbreak sickened at least 71 people in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware, with most of them hospitalized, according to the CDC.

Eight people developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic-uremic syndrome.

Eventually, it was determined that contaminated lettuce was the probable cause, with the vegetable used in numerous dishes on the menu.

Almost immediately, Taco Bell launched a newspaper ad blitz and sent its president on a string of media interviews to assure customers that its food was safe.

Deadly outbreak traced to Jack in the Box hamburgers leads to regulatory changes

Four deaths and more than 700 illnesses in Washington, Idaho, California, and Nevada between 1992 and 1993 eventually were traced to undercooked Jack in the Box restaurant hamburgers contaminated with E. coli.

The ensuing investigation by federal regulators changed regulatory practices in the U.S., experts say.

An investigation by the CDC identified five slaughter plants in the U.S. and one in Canada as the likely sources of animals used in the contaminated lots of meat and identified potential control points for reducing the likelihood of contamination. The animals slaughtered in domestic slaughter plants were traced to farms and auctions in six western states. No one slaughter plant or farm was identified as the source.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture mandated a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point system, which helps identify and control hazards within the system of food production. The system provided for more monitoring and controls to rapidly limit the spread of outbreaks.

Jack in the Box lost more than $44 million in 1993 and did not post another annual profit for another three years.

The verdict underlined the determination by authorities to stamp out any remaining sign of dissent ahead of September's vote as the fuel crisis caused by Ukrainian strikes on oil facilities across Russia threatened to erode public support for the Kremlin.

The charges against Nadezhdin, 63, were based on a 2023 online video in which he briefly showed a picture of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who at that time was serving a 19-year prison sentence on charges of extremism that were widely seen as politically motivated. Navalny later died in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16, 2024.

Nadezhdin rejected the case against him as absurd and argued authorities were trying to keep him from campaigning in September's parliamentary vote. The court in Dolgoprudny, a town on Moscow’s northern outskirts where he lives, convicted him and ordered him to pay a fine of 1,000 rubles (about $13).

The Kremlin's main United Russia party is seeking to preserve its dominance in the lower house of parliament in a race against so-called “systemic” opposition, including the Communist Party and a couple of other parties that vote in sync with the Kremlin on key issues. The campaign comes amid signs of growing public fatigue as fuel shortages and economic pain from the Ukraine conflict increase, an environment that reduces the tolerance by the authorities for even token opposition.

Nadezhdin's run for parliament triggers a quick response

In January 2024, Nadezhdin collected thousands of signatures in his run for president as he openly called for a halt to the fighting in Ukraine. But he was kept off the March 2024 ballot after Russia’s Supreme Court ruled that more than 9,000 signatures submitted by his campaign were invalid — enough to disqualify him. Putin faced only token opposition in the election and easily won a fifth term.

A veteran politician, Nadezhdin worked in the government in the 1990s when he was an adviser to Sergei Kiriyenko, now a top Putin aide. He also served as a lawmaker and more recently became a member of a municipal council, one of the few remaining liberal voices on Russia's political scene.

Last month, Nadezhdin declared his bid to run for the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, but the Justice Ministry quickly branded him a “foreign agent” — a designation that carries strong pejorative connotations and brings additional government scrutiny. It also bars him from holding public office, but he was still able to wage his symbolic campaign for a parliament seat until Friday’s verdict.

Another blow came Monday, when police detained Nadezhdin for a few hours before making the charges that were punishable by a fine or a 15-day jail term. He said he was considering going abroad but was barred from leaving Russia.

He told the court that he was too sick to serve any prison time, saying he “will just die” behind bars. “The real goal of what's going on here is to shut my mouth and prevent me from running for the State Duma,” he said.

Nadezhdin complained of feeling sick at Friday’s hearing, which was interrupted to let an ambulance team check his condition.

After the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, authorities ramped up their crackdown on dissent and free speech, relentlessly targeting rights organizations, independent media, members of civil society organizations, LGBTQ+ activists and some religious groups. Hundreds of people have been jailed and thousands of others have fled the country.

Another Putin critic is arrested

Also on Friday, Ilya Remeslo, a pro-Kremlin activist and blogger who has become a Putin critic, was arrested in St. Petersburg on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military — an accusation widely used against those who oppose the government's policies.

Remeslo was escorted to Moscow, where a court ordered him to remain in jail for two months pending an official investigation, according to his lawyer, Sergei Badamshin.

The charges against Remeslo were based on his criticism of the military action in Ukraine and calls for Putin’s resignation that he made in March. Soon after, he was placed in a psychiatric clinic and spent a month there in what he cast as a punishment for his remarks.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that David Brouillette, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine, is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood, according to several of his close relatives.

The AP reached out to congressional leaders and several key lawmakers of both major political parties for response.

The top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said Brouillette’s history of violence and mental health issues and the death in Biddeford, Maine, “directly call into question the supposed vetting and training ICE does of its recruits.”

“This senseless tragedy must be investigated and the officer responsible should be taken off our streets and face justice for his actions,” Thompson said in a statement to the AP.

Brouillette didn’t respond to text messages or an email seeking comment, but three relatives who said they had spoken to him since the shooting, including an ex-wife and a daughter, said he told them he acted in self-defense.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who led a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year as Democrats tried to impose restraints on immigration enforcement operations, said the consequences of failing to put guardrails on ICE are now being measured in lives.

President Donald Trump's administration "rushed 12,000 agents onto our streets without ensuring they were fit to carry a badge and a gun — and Republicans gave this rogue agency vast power and no accountability,” Schumer said in a statement. “They empowered ICE. Now they must work with us to prevent more killings.”

The report on Brouillette’s troubling past comes as the Department of Homeland Security has been on a hiring spree, fueled by vast sums of money from Republicans in Congress to help carry out Trump’s mass deportation agenda. It raises fresh questions about the department's efforts to quickly hire, vet, train and dispatch recruits who are being sent to patrol communities across America.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the Republican chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee, referred back to her prior statement that “an impartial investigation into the shooting in Biddeford needs to proceed, as the details surrounding this tragedy are important.”

Collins had said earlier that it is “extremely unfortunate” that the agent did not have a body-worn camera.

The senator ensured $20 million for expanded use of body-worn cameras and $2 million for de-escalation training as part of the Homeland Security funding bill that Congress approved to end the department shutdown.

“The Democratic government shutdown delayed enactment and implementation of these important safety measures,” she said.

At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration agents since Trump launched the crackdown after retaking office, including 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, the Colombian national who was shot and killed by Brouillette on Monday while in his car near his home in the coastal Maine city of Biddeford.

“This bombshell is absolutely appalling — exactly the intolerable danger that we feared as a result of arrest quotas and inadequate training,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., in a statement to the AP.

“This agent clearly should never have had a gun — let alone one provided to him by the United States government. And now a man is dead. I’m going to continue demanding answers and accountability,” he said.

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said Trump and his administration have encouraged ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection “to enter and terrorize our communities, even if those agents are untrained, improperly vetted, or lack experience.”

“The killing of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was horrifying,” he said in a statement to the AP, “and there must be a credible, independent, and transparent investigation so that those responsible are held accountable.”

The Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York, referred to his request earlier in the week that the department brief lawmakers from both parties on ICE’s use of force policies and the status of body camera deployment.

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And the lunar lander — a groundbreaking piece of America — is up there still, far away.

NASA put 12 men on the lunar surface more than half a century ago, beginning with Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. The two became the first humans to explore another world when their lander, bearing the patriotic name Eagle, settled onto the Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969. “The Eagle has landed,” Armstrong radioed as a spellbound Earth erupted in cheers and tears.

Just 6½ hours later came the most momentous and memorable line of all. Armstrong descended the ladder and stepped onto the gray, gritty dust: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

At 23 feet (7 meters), the Apollo lunar module stood a little taller than a giraffe and looked just as ungainly. It had two sections: a lower descent stage with four legs and an upper stage that housed the crew. The descent stage got the moonwalkers to the lunar surface and remained behind as the men blasted back into lunar orbit.

All six descent stages will be there for perpetuity, clumped around the equator on the moon’s near side.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and other countries’ satellites around the moon have photographed them. Resembling whitish splotches from orbit, the descent stages pinpoint the touchdown sites not only of Eagle but Intrepid, Antares, Falcon, Orion and Challenger. Its moon landing nixed, Apollo 13’s lunar module Aquarius was turned into a lifeboat that got its crew of three safely home. The ascent stages are scattered all over the moon — smashed to bits, no longer needed once the moonwalkers were back inside the command module. Some speculate, however, that Apollo 11's ascent stage might still be orbiting.

For NASA’s new Artemis program, private businesses are handling lunar lander details and operations. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are scrambling to get their landers ready for a docking test in low-Earth orbit with a NASA crew capsule next year. If Artemis III’s docking rehearsal goes well, NASA could launch its first moon landing with astronauts since Apollo as early as 2028. SpaceX’s Starship is so tall that moonwalkers will need a 10-floor elevator to descend to the lunar surface. The Apollo astronauts used a nine-rung ladder.

On that long-ago day, President Richard Nixon said in a phone call to Armstrong and Aldrin as the pair stood alongside the U.S. flag they had just planted 240,000 miles (385,000 kilometers) from home. Said Nixon: “For one priceless moment in the whole history of man, all the people on this Earth are truly one.”

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Part of a recurring series, “American Objects,” marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. For more American objects, click here. For more stories on the anniversary, click here. 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 Titans announced the honor Friday following Johnson's announcement June 29 on ABC’s “ Good Morning America ” that he was diagnosed with ALS, the fatal nervous system disease a year earlier.

“Chris Johnson holds a special place in the hearts of our organization and our fans,” Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said. “His stats speak for themselves, and he will forever remain a leader in our record books, but the man behind the yardage deserves just as much celebration."

Johnson was the 24th pick overall in 2008 by the Titans and played six of his 10 seasons in the NFL with Tennessee. He rushed for 7,965 yards and had 58 total touchdowns in that span. Those totals both rank fourth for a franchise that also had Earl Campbell, Eddie George and Derrick Henry.

He earned the nickname “CJ2K” in 2009 when he finished with 2,006 yards rushing to join O.J. Simpson, Eric Dickerson, Barry Sanders, Terrell Davis and Jamal Lewis in the exclusive 2,000-yard club. Johnson also had 2,509 yards from scrimmage, a single-season record that still stands in the NFL.

That earned him The Associated Press NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award.

Johnson will be inducted at halftime of the Titans' opener against the New York Jets, the team the running back played for in 2014. He becomes the 20th inductee into the Titans' Ring of Honor with former radio analyst and assistant coach Dave McGinnis being inducted posthumously later this season.

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

The 18-year-old, who once found classes boring and put in only enough effort to pass, found renewed purpose to come to school everyday.

“It motivates me. I like making connections with the kids, I like helping them,” Dillon said.

It began in his junior year when he enrolled in career training courses. Soon, Dillon said, his grades improved. He graduated in June from Chief Leschi Schools in Washington and is now considering going to college for a teaching degree.

Administrators at the school say a shift in focus to technical training and career readiness is paying off, with more students not only staying in school but graduating on time.

Those gains are emblematic of progress across the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education, which oversees 183 primary and secondary schools serving over 40,000 students. In 2015, just over half of high schoolers at BIE schools graduated within four years. That number soared to a record high of 79% by 2025.

Some BIE educators attribute that surge to local innovations. Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Billy Kirkland says they reflect the Trump administration’s commitment to Native American students, including efforts to strengthen teacher training. In addition, the way graduation rates are reported across BIE schools was changed to address flawed data collection that previously depressed the numbers.

But concerns loom that changes reshaping the BIE under the Trump administration — including the planned dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education and continued fallout from cuts instituted by DOGE — could undermine progress and prevent struggling schools from improving.

Reporting standards net more accurate data

The surge in graduation rates reflects, in part, more accurate reporting rather than a sudden leap in student academic improvement, according to agency officials.

For years, school administrators across the system used flawed methods to track graduation rates, often counting students who had transferred to other schools as dropouts.

“We had to come to a consensus and set an accountability framework for our schools,” said Carmelia Becenti, the agency’s chief academic officer.

Beginning in 2018, BIE began standardizing data collection methods. In the years since, Becenti said, the data has painted a more accurate and encouraging picture.

An AP analysis of BIE data found that graduation rates across the system are up 55% since new reporting standards began rolling out, with 11 of its secondary schools reporting 100% growth or higher.

New approaches help students connect

Less than one-third of BIE schools are operated by the agency itself. The rest are run by tribes and receive federal funding. At some of those, educators say data collection is only part of the story.

Don Brummett, superintendent of Chief Leschi Schools, said his staff has been working to correct a “disconnect” between the high school's previous laser focus on getting students ready for college and many students’ goals of finding a job upon graduation.

“We devalued the trades. That was a mistake,” Brummett said.

The school launched its career and technical curriculum in 2020 with funding from the Puyallup Tribal Council. Since then, Brummett has seen students who might otherwise have dropped out instead enter health sciences, education and fisheries management and find new motivation to stay in school.

Dillon, the recent graduate, said hands-on job training was a better match for his learning style.

“It was kind of the first time I felt excited to go to school,” said Dillon, reflecting on his time helping second graders practice reading skills and learn the life cycle of a frog.

Between 2019 and 2025, Chief Leschi Schools reported four-year graduation rates rose from 53% to 87%.

A focus on trades is just one of the ways tribal-controlled BIE schools have innovated to keep students on track. At Choctaw Central High School, a BIE school operated by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw, administrators said a COVID-era experiment in virtual learning contributed to a surge in graduation rates from roughly 70% to 93%.

“For certain kids that have more responsibilities at home, kids that need to work, we saw that (virtual learning) gave them a flexible schedule and an opportunity to earn their diploma,” said principal Alaric Keams.

When pandemic lockdowns lifted, the district maintained a virtual learning option for all high schoolers.

But not all tribal governments have the resources to pay for these kinds of programs or take over management of BIE schools.

Peter Lengkeek, chairman of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, says the BIE-operated high school serving his community is chronically understaffed and crumbling under a backlog of deferred maintenance, including a gymnasium with sinking walls and a rodent infestation. It has reported graduating fewer than 60% of students on time in recent years.

“If we were able to, we would step in and try to remedy a lot of these things,” said Lengkeek. “We have to rely on the government to fulfill its treaty promise.”

Tribal leaders push back against education changes

From the dismantling of the federal Department of Education to DOGE reductions that swept out longtime staffers, as well as repeated threats of deep funding cuts, tribal leaders fear the progress that has been made could be undermined.

In November 2025, the Department of Education began handing off oversight of dozens of programs that serve Native students to BIE.

At a tribal consultation session in February in Washington, D.C., dozens of tribal leaders spoke in opposition, saying the transition could overwhelm the already understaffed and stretched BIE with additional responsibilities. Several accused the department of ignoring its legal responsibility to seek their input before moving forward.

“We are here too late,” said Herschel Gorham, lieutenant governor of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. “The ink was dry on the agreements before the tribes were ever notified. That should never, ever happen.”

Jason Dropik, executive director of the National Indian Education Association, said turmoil at the agency's Washington office trickles down to schools, pointing to a Trump administration executive order that aimed to turn the BIE into a school choice system but was scaled back after an outcry from tribes.

“That caused some delays and disruptions to services,” Dropik said. “When drastic changes go into motion without tribal consultation, there can be unintended consequences for our students.”

Lengkeek worries the BIE could be consumed by political upheaval while schools like the one serving his community continue to underperform.

“This system holds the future of our nations in its hands,” Lengkeek said. “We need stability. We need increased funding. We need infrastructure.”

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This story is published through the Global Indigenous Reporting Network at The Associated Press.

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This story has been updated to correct that 11 BIE secondary schools, not nine, reported 100% growth or higher.

Trump's amplification of debunked theories about the election six years ago and his inability to accept his loss led to one of the darker moments in American history when a mob of his supporters led a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in the final days of his first term.

Now back in power, Trump opted to revisit the subject, despite persistent voter concerns about the cost of living, American forces escalating strikes on Iran in a conflict for which there is no end in sight, and an immigration crackdown facing bipartisan scrutiny for its sometimes deadly tactics.

His address Thursday hinged on contradictions.

A twice-elected president complained about his one personal defeat, alleged a cover-up by officials in his own first administration and surfaced claims about countries attempting to harm his own prospects while staying silent on steps taken by other nations to boost him.

Trump used the remarks to justify his push to pass a strict voter ID bill in Congress that has not advanced because it lacks enough support from his fellow Republicans.

“America is back and doing really well, but we still have a major challenge that must be urgently addressed, because no country can be great without fair and honest elections,” he said.

Trump doesn't raise doubts about his election wins

Trump began Thursday night with a stark warning about what he described as flaws in the voting system and said he was releasing previously classified documents related to the 2020 and 2018 elections, when he lost the presidential election and when his party suffered losses.

Trump’s speech presented allegations of interference and influence in ways that lacked key context and did not produce evidence that votes had been manipulated or that the election outcome had been altered.

Notably, Trump focused on China but glossed over Russia, a country that intelligence officials have said favored Trump in 2016 and 2020 and engaged in wide-ranging influence campaigns aimed at boosting him over Democrat Joe Biden in the latter campaign.

Despite focusing on China in his speech, Trump did not criticize or issue a warning to Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he has long praised.

Election security experts say America’s decentralized voting system, with the power over elections residing with the states instead of the federal government, is a strength. Americans vote in more than 10,000 different jurisdictions with different rules, making the nations’ elections extraordinarily complicated but safe from widespread fraud.

No credible intelligence has emerged showing that the vote count in 2020 was manipulated by foreign actors. Repeated audits and reviews -- manyrun by Republicans, including Trump’s own then-attorney general -- have found no significant fraud occurred in 2020.

Even if substantiated, Trump’s claims did not amount to conduct that would have altered the outcome of any race, let alone the 2020 race for the White House.

He also did not raise doubts about his election wins in 2016 or 2024.

As Trump spoke, the White House unveiled a website containing documents that were presented without context and included selectively released pieces of investigation files, intelligence analysis and correspondence.

Former intelligence official calls address ‘dangerous’

Sue Gordon, principal deputy director of national intelligence in Trump’s first term, called the president’s address “a dangerous speech about an incredibly important topic.” She said the intelligence community throughout Trump’s first term was alarmed about foreign interference in elections, but Trump scoffed at them, angered at the investigation of his campaign’s relationship with Russia.

“He had an entire term to deal with it and I don’t know how you can believe how the same community that told him about it, that was excoriated about it” wouldn’t warn him in 2020, Gordon said on CNN.

Conservative commentator John Solomon, who joined the White House staff last month and was seated in the East Room for Trump’s speech, later told MS NOW that “the intelligence community has zero evidence that someone has flipped – that a foreign power flipped -- a vote in 2020, ‘22 or ’24.”

But, he added, “We’re not through all the documents.”

Trump urged the Justice Department to conduct investigations and prosecutions, though it was unclear from his speech what sort of criminal conduct — if any — could be identified, proven and charged.

In a contrast with his concerns about foreign interference in elections, Trump in his new budget proposes a $707 million cut in the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, the group charged with protecting American election systems from overseas cyberattacks. Trump and other conservatives have been frustrated that the organization pushed back on election claims in 2020 and beyond.

Some networks did not air it live

In past presidencies, primetime addresses have typically been reserved for major milestones or nationally significant events.

Trump last spoke to the nation in April, giving an address on the Iran war a month after it started. He said then that the U.S. would accomplish its objectives “very shortly” and that “the hard part is done, so it should be easy.” The war, however, has dragged on and strikes between the U.S. and Iran have intensified this week.

Trump also delivered a politically charged primetime speech in December in which he sought to blame the challenging economic climate on Democrats.

ABC, NBC and CNN did not air Thursday's remarks live but carried them in full on their streaming services.

CBS and MS NOW both cut away from Trump’s speech before he finished, while Fox News continued to carry his address.

Trump called out the media outlets for not carrying it live, accused them of being “part of a plot" and suggested their broadcast licenses be revoked.

Networks typically — but not always — carry presidential addresses to the nation live. In 2022, when Biden delivered a primetime address full of warnings about Trump and his adherents’ “extreme ideology,” the networks did not carry it live.

In 2014, the major networks chose to stick with their primetime programming instead of airing an address by President Barack Obama on his plans for immigration reform.

Democrats accuse Trump of seeking to discredit next election

Democrats warned that Trump was trying to revive false claims of past stolen elections in order to delegitimize the 2026 midterm elections, in which Trump’s Republican Party is facing headwinds.

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia called Trump’s claims “totally bogus.”

“The fact is our intelligence agencies unanimously agreed that China did not even try to change a single vote in the 2020 election,” Warner said in a statement on X. “A single concurring opinion suggested China may have tried to sway voters’ opinions … but that’s been public knowledge since 2021."

Rep. Joseph Morelle of New York, the ranking Democrat on the administration committee that handles federal voting issues and elections, said Trump is trying to sow confusion before the midterm elections.

“This is a pretext for the president, I think, calling into dispute the 2026 elections,” Morelle said on C-SPAN, adding that “we have secure elections.”

“I heard no concrete allegations that foreign actors actually changed the results of an American election,” Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware said on CNN.

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Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Lisa Mascaro and Will Weissert in Washington, Ali Swenson and Jocelyn Noveck in New York and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.

He was the most productive tight end in the NFL, a near-unanimous All-Pro selection and made his second straight Pro Bowl.

McBride’s success has also landed him the top spot at tight end in a preseason survey by The Associated Press. He received five first-place votes from a panel of eight AP Pro Football Writers who ranked the top five players at the position, basing selections on current status entering the 2026 season. First-place votes were worth 10 points. Second- through fifth-place votes were worth 5, 3, 2 and 1 points.

George Kittle finished second with three first-place votes. Brock Bowers came in third, followed by Sam LaPorta and Kyle Pitts.

1. Trey McBride, Arizona Cardinals

McBride had a breakout year in 2024 and followed that up with a record-setting season in 2025.

He caught 126 passes last season, breaking Zach Ertz’s record for most in a season by a tight end, had 1,239 receiving yards, and his 11 receiving touchdowns tied for first. McBride also led tight ends with 566 yards after the catch.

He got one second-place vote and two thirds to go with the five firsts in voting for this season's Top 5.

2. George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers

Kittle had 57 receptions for 628 receiving yards and seven touchdowns in only 11 games last season, averaging 11.0 yards per reception.

He had just two drops and 259 yards after the catch.

The seven-time Pro Bowl pick and two-time All-Pro is one of the best blocking tight ends in NFL history.

Kittle, who tore his Achilles in San Francisco’s playoff victory over the Eagles, got two second-place votes to go with the three firsts and appeared on seven ballots.

3. Brock Bowers, Las Vegas Raiders

After a sensational All-Pro rookie season, Bowers was plagued by injuries last year. He caught 64 passes for 680 yards and seven TDs in 12 games and made his second Pro Bowl.

Bowers gained 296 yards after the catch, and had three drops. A dynamic receiver, Bowers is still a work in progress as a blocker.

He received three second-place votes and was on each ballot.

4. Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions

LaPorta was limited to nine games because of injuries last season and had 40 catches for 489 yards and three TDs.

He wasn’t charged with any drops and totaled 273 yards after the catch. LaPorta is one of the best all-around tight ends in the league and an asset in Detroit’s run game because of his outstanding blocking skills.

5. Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons

Pitts earned second-team All-Pro honors after a career-high 88 catches for 928 yards and five TDs last season.

Pitts, who was the highest-drafted tight end in NFL history in 2021 when the Falcons selected him No. 4 overall, lived up to expectations as a rookie when he made the Pro Bowl. But he was disappointing until a breakthrough season last year.

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

It's a delicate balance for the candidates, who are vying to face Collins in a contest that could decide control of the Senate as Platner’s shadow hangs over the race. In their first debate Thursday night, one of the first questions candidates were asked was: What was Graham Platner's best idea?

Moving past Platner is just one of the challenges facing Democrats. The never-before-used process to pick a new nominee means candidates have less than three weeks to pull off what typically takes campaigns months or years, from organizing volunteers to raising money and preparing for debates.

The whiplash many of the candidates are facing was on display Thursday.

Asked by debate moderators about President Donald Trump's decision to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife earlier this year, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows gave inaccurate information about Collins not pushing back against Trump, a Republican. When a moderator called her on it, Bellows said she was on vacation on the Kennebec River last week after previously focusing on her unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign and hadn't expected to be running for the Senate.

“When I need to know the facts, I will. I’ll do my homework," said Bellows, who lost to Collins in 2014.

The field of 12 candidates also includes former public health leader Nirav Shah and union-backed logger Troy Jackson, who campaigned alongside Platner in a failed bid for governor.

Platner's exit means the clock is ticking

Platner quit the Senate race last week after he was accused of rape, which he denies, and his campaign quickly imploded as supporters revoked their endorsements and resources.

Democrats have until July 27 to choose a new nominee, according to state law. The Maine Democratic Party's succession plan calls for a state party convention at which 601 delegates will meet on July 25 and vote for Platner's replacement. The majority of the convention delegates will be selected this weekend from each of the state’s 16 counties.

Candidates hoping to replace Platner have been recruiting delegates who will vote for them at the convention. The candidates also must collect 500 voter signatures needed to qualify for the convention vote.

“I don’t think anyone’s happy that we’re in this situation,” said Dan Jenkins, a Maine Democrat who has applied to be a delegate. “We would have preferred that this had broken many, many months ago and then Graham had exited the race when there was a time for a democratic process. But it's where we are.”

Some candidates might see a boost from prior campaigns

Jackson is among the handful of candidates pivoting to the Senate race after running for other political offices, likely giving them a leg up in not having to launch from scratch.

Our Revolution, a progressive organization founded by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont that had originally backed Platner, has thrown its support behind Jackson, the former Maine Senate president. Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, has not endorsed in the race.

Shah, former director of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, also unsuccessfully ran in this year’s Maine Democratic governor’s primary. He has been pitching Platner’s supporters that he’s also an outsider who can unify a fractured Democratic Party.

“You have an important place in this campaign, and we welcome your voices,” Shah said earlier this month speaking to Platner’s base.

Bellows also ran for governor. She's hoping that her previous battles with Trump will bolster her argument that she’ll be an advocate for the working class.

Bellows previously tried to unseat Collins in 2014 as the Senate Democratic nominee and lost to her in a landslide. She later went on to win a seat as a state senator before becoming Maine’s secretary of state. She’s since downplayed her prior loss to Collins by pointing to the Democratic establishment’s unwillingness to take on the Republican in 2014.

Another candidate, Jordan Wood, initially announced his intent to run in the Maine Democratic Senate primary. He dropped out last fall to run in the state’s 2nd District but lost that race.

Candidates seize on recent ICE shooting

The fatal shooting by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Maine this week has been top of mind among the potential Senate nominees.

The Embassy of Colombia has identified the man killed Monday in Biddeford, roughly 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Portland, as Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian national. The Department of Homeland Security has since said an ICE officer fired his weapon when the man officers were pursuing attempted to flee the scene, threatening “public safety.”

Many have rushed to connect Collins to the embattled federal agency.

All the candidates who debated Thursday said they agreed with the call to “abolish ICE,” though Wood stopped short of saying the agency should be completely dissolved.

“I believe that when I say we have to abolish it, what I mean is that we need a new law enforcement agency that has the trust of the people,” Wood said.

Jackson disagreed, calling ICE a “rogue agency that goes around doing things that they’re being told to on high.”

Candidates asked about Platner's best ideas

Platner attracted more than 150,000 votes during the June 9 primary, an eye-opening number that signaled a progressive base eager to support a candidate known for his promise to defend the working class and ability to rally large crowds.

With little more than a week until the state convention to find Platner's replacement, it still remains unknown just who will be able to capture that same excitement seen among Platner's base.

When pressed during Thursday's debate about Platner's best idea on the campaign trail, Jackson pointed to his commitment to “Medicare for All.” As a gubernatorial candidate, Jackson also voiced support for replacing job-based and individual private health insurance with a government-run plan that guarantees coverage for all with no premiums, no deductibles and only minimal copays for certain services.

Bellows said that she agreed with Platner’s description that democracy in the U.S. has been corrupted by those in power.

Shah said he would take up Platner's commitment to “abolish ICE,” while Wood said he admired Platner's decision to say that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, something Israel denies.

“Graham got into this race saying, ‘this is genocide.’ And I learned that it is so important in these moments to draw those moral lines,” Wood said.

In just the past six months, several shootings involving children have left families devastated and communities searching for answers.

Among the recent cases:

• Orange County (Christmas Day 2025): A 16-year-old admitted to accidentally shooting a 13-year-old.
• Polk County (June 2026 ): A 6-year-old accidentally shot himself in the leg.
• Orange County (July 2026): Two children were injured after a deputy accidentally discharged a firearm.
• Osceola County (July 2026): A 2-year-old was killed after investigators say a 4-year-old found an unsecured gun and fired it while the family was visiting Central Florida on vacation.

“I don’t believe there’s such a thing as an accidental discharge,” said News 6 Traffic Safety Expert Trooper Steve Montiero.

With 19 years of law enforcement experience, Trooper Steve explained that responsible gun ownership begins long before someone pulls the trigger, adding that owning a firearm is both a constitutional right and a serious responsibility.

The four cases of unintentional shootings above resulted in seven minors being impacted both as victims of the physical shootings and as children impacted by being the ones who shouldn’t have had access to a gun and pulled the trigger or witnessed it.

Recently, Osceola County Sheriff Chris Blackmon described multiple failures that allowed a 4-year-old to access a weapon inside a vehicle, ultimately shooting and killing their 2-year-old cousin.

“If it’s in a holster, maybe it’d make it harder for the child to manipulate,” Blackmon said. “But it’s literally laying out by itself. So it’s easy to grab, and you pull the trigger—you can’t recall that. It’s not a video game.”

Authorities say the shooting serves as a painful reminder that even a few moments of carelessness can have irreversible consequences.

Simple steps can save lives

Montiero says every gun owner should have basic safety equipment readily available, like a firearm holster if applicable, a safety lock or a case for the weapon.

And he says even seasoned gun owners and enthusiasts can forget that it doesn’t matter how quickly you think you may have to handle a firearm, always:

1. Keep a firearm pointed in a safe direction.
2. Identify your target before pulling the trigger.
3. Store firearms in a locked safe or secured with a gun lock when not in use.

Resources

• Free Gun Locks: In Central Florida, free gun safety locks are most reliably available through local sheriff’s offices and police departments. These agencies often partner with Project ChildSafe to provide gun locks and educational materials to residents at no cost.
• Project ChildSafe Kits: The Orange County Sheriff’s Office and Seminole County Sheriff’s Office provide free gun safety kits and lockboxes to promote family and youth safety.
• Court-Ordered & Voluntary Training: The Florida Safety Council (offices in Orlando) provides state-recognized, basic firearms safety and awareness courses.
• Shooters World Orlando: Located roughly 5 miles from Rosemont at 4847 S. Orange Blossom Trail, this facility offers highly rated introductory courses like “First Shots,” defensive handgun training, and private lessons.
• Oak Ridge Gun Range: Located at 1221 Florida Mall Ave, this local facility hosts a specialized “Pistol & Home Defense” training class on the first Tuesday of every month. Details can be found on the Oak Ridge Gun Range page.
• Florida Firearms Training: For comprehensive building-block courses, concealed carry certifications, and defensive instruction, review the class menu on Florida Firearms Training.
• Decision Tactical: Immersive one-of-a-kind gaming experiences that include simulated shooting ranges and scenarios that are fun for the entire family. 430 Towne Center Cir Ste A, Sanford, FL 32771

Kerr, the 2023 world champion over the 1,500 meters metric mile, has called it “Project 222” — for each second he aims to take in breaking Hicham El Guerrouj’s mark of 3 minutes, 43.13 seconds.

“It’s in my favor," Kerr said Friday at a news conference at London Stadium that staged track and field at the 2012 Olympics. “My body is capable of the mark and so my job tomorrow is to have my mind to be available to let my body do its job.”

The 28-year-old Kerr has targeted the mile race at the Diamond League meeting as a main goal in a track season with neither Olympics nor world championships.

“I’m very excited. It’s been on my mind, my team’s mind, for a long time,” said the 1,500 silver medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The mile is not a championships event yet has iconic status in track history, with the four-minute barrier finally broken in 1954 by another British runner, Roger Bannister.

El Guerrouj’s record set in 1999 is more than 16 seconds faster than Bannister, and Kerr is the sixth-fastest athlete on the all-time list. One of his rivals Saturday is No. 4 in that list.

Yared Nuguse set a United States record three years ago, 0.84 slower than El Guerrouj, in a race won by Jakob Ingebrigtsen at Eugene, Oregon.

While Bannister’s feat running 3:59.4 is remembered in track lore, he held the record just a few weeks before Australian John Landy lowered it by 1.4 seconds.

Jim Ryun of the U.S. later held the record for nine years until Filbert Bayi of Tanzania took it in 1975.

A stellar 10 days in August 1981 saw a British rivalry play out: Sebastian Coe took Steve Ovett’s mile record, Ovett got it back then Coe beat it again clocking 3:47.33.

In the 45 years since, the mile record was held only by Steve Cram, Noureddine Morceli and El Guerrouj.

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

With several riders closing in behind them, Schmid made the decisive move with 200 meters left and held off Tejada before lifting his front wheel at the line in celebration. Olympic mountain bike champion Tom Pidcock finished just behind in third.

Pogacar's yellow jersey group cruised in a few minutes later as the high temperatures of recent heat waves finally dropped.

Four-time Tour champion Pogacar remains 3 minutes, 36 seconds ahead of two-time champion Jonas Vingegaard in the overall standings, and 4:06 ahead of Remco Evenepoel in third place. Pidcock climbed up to fourth at 4:15 behind Pogacar.

Stage 13 was the longest of this year’s race at 206 kilometers (128 miles) and featured a sharp nine-kilometer Category 1 climb — the second-hardest climbing category — up Ballon d’Alsace. Schmid won in just over four hours.

A large group of riders formed at the front at the foot of the big climb, with Pogacar's yellow jersey group not contesting the stage win. The group was whittled down on the descent toward the finish in the northeast city of Belfort, and became a two-way duel to the line.

Saturday's 14th stage is a mountain stage with three big climbs in the Alsace region and ending at Le Markstein ski resort.

The race concludes with its traditional finish in Paris on July 26. ___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

If you felt shaking along Florida’s east coast on Thursday, you’re not alone. But it wasn’t an earthquake.

A strong “experimental explosion” was reported in the waters off Central Florida on Thursday afternoon, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The USGS website indicates that the explosion happened around 3:04 p.m., roughly 91 miles east-northeast of Ponce Inlet.

Per the agency, the event registered a preliminary magnitude of 3.9. However, few other details about what may have caused the explosion have been provided at this time.

“The recorded ground motions from this event are more typical of an explosion than a naturally occurring earthquake,” the USGS website reads. “The Navy has conducted Full Ship Shock Trials in this region in the past.”

[A LOOK BACK: U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford performs shock trials on an aircraft carrier in 2021]

News 6 has reached out to Navy officials for more information and is awaiting additional details.

Anyone who felt the impact of the explosion is urged to report their experience here.

The USS Ted Stevens is conducting tests as part of the certification process for its missile program.

According to the Navy, the guided-missile destroyer’s system will have offensive and defensive capabilities.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported the strong explosion about 91 miles east-northeast of Ponce Inlet at about 3:04 p.m. Thursday. The explosion registered a preliminary magnitude of 3.9.

According to the statement from the Navy spokesperson:

“Future USS Ted Stevens (DDG 128) is currently underway off the Atlantic Coast and has successfully completed the first of two scheduled test events for Full Ship Shock Trials (FSST) as part of the certification process for the DDG 51 Flight III program. FSST validates a ship’s shock hardness and ability to sustain operations in a simulated combat environment using live ordnance. These trials are complex evolutions, conducted during a precise operating schedule in compliance with exacting environmental and safety requirements.”

Navy Spokesperson

The USGS noted that the Navy has conducted Full Ship Shock Trials in that area in the past.

On Friday, the Navy said the USS Ted Stevens would conduct another test in about two weeks.

News 6’s Matt Austin drove four hours to Everglades City to find the people who do this on purpose. Turns out, they’re not who you’d expect.

“OK — I just got a text from the python hunter. She says the bugs are raging.”

That text came from Kaylyn Glenn, a tenth-generation Floridian and semi-pro python hunter we met at a restaurant with a name that says it all: Wild Man’s Pizza, Pasta and Pythons.

“It’s nighttime. It’s time to party,” Glenn said, as the sun started to drop.

She’s not who you picture when you hear “snake hunter.” Neither are her friends. Jerry Miller, a park ranger, showed up to hunt an invasive apex predator wearing shorts, “I brought my grandma down here and we caught like an 8-footer.”

Here’s how the job actually works. At sunset, you climb into the back of a pickup truck wrapped in lights. Once the sun is down, the truck creeps along while everyone scans the edge of the road for a shimmer that doesn’t belong.

“We’re gonna get our spotlights, and we’re gonna be looking for the pythons,” Glenn explained. “Shine back with a very small hint of blue.”

We got a hit almost immediately. Snake spotted. Tourists driving by pulled over to see what all the fuss was about — including a couple visiting from Poland.

The road was packed with hunters that night, and the mosquitoes were just as committed to the hunt as we were. The noise out there — frogs, insects, night birds — sounds like a natural casino running nonstop across 1.5 million acres of wilderness.

That wilderness has quietly been emptied out. Pythons have eaten their way through most of the small mammals that used to call the Everglades home. “You used to see deer foraging. I haven’t seen probably three deer in the last few years,” Glenn told us. “Their population has been decimated.”

The stakes are real: $10,000 goes to whoever brings in the most snakes by the end of the competition. But on this particular night, luck wasn’t on anyone’s side. We searched from the truck. We searched on foot — wool socks turned out to be a terrible decision. We heard a splash in the water that turned out to be a gator, not a python. We spotted massive, stoic owls perched in the trees, plenty of other snakes, bullfrogs, and gators lurking in the dark.

Then, around 1 a.m., the rain turned relentless. Even with hundreds of thousands of pythons estimated to be living in the Everglades, by 2 a.m. we had to call it a night — without catching a single one.

The Florida Python Challenge runs through July 19. We’ll let you know who wins.

Herbert bent over with hands on his knees after missing a 5-foot par putt on the 18th hole at Royal Birkdale, knowing the 30-year-old Australian was an inch away from being the first man with a 61. Burns wasn't even aware of the record when he holed a bunker shot to cap a birdie-birdie-birdie finish.

“I'm absolutely disappointed, and at the same time, so proud of today,” Herbert said. "Very, very proud to put my name on that list of guys that have shot 62 in a major championship. So it's kind of holding two emotions there at the same time.

“It's a pretty good problem to have, too, to be disappointed you shot 62.”

Most remarkable about Burns is that the 29-year-old American — the runner-up at the U.S. Open last month — wasn't even planning to play in The Open. His wife was due this week, and when she gave birth to a daughter earlier than expected, Burns decided a week ago Friday to make the trip.

Still steaming from a bogey-bogey-bogey finish on Thursday for a 3-over 73, his goal was to get back under par and keep his hopes alive in the championship.

“The finish there the last three holes was just a bonus,” Burns said.

And what a finish. He holed from 40 feet off the green at the 16th for birdie, made a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th and then made the first birdie of the day on the tough 18th by splashing out of the pot bunker and calmly raising his right arm when it went in.

“It was a tricky bunker shot because I had to land it in the fringe there and use the slope down to the hole. Definitely very lucky for it to go in,” Burns said.

That two record-tying rounds happened so close together was reminiscent of Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele — also two groups apart — each with 62 in the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club in 2023.

The record was first set by Branden Grace in 2017, also at Royal Birkdale. It had been matched four times since then at two majors — Schauffele and Fowler at the U.S. Open, and Schauffele and Shane Lowry at 9-under 62 in the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla.

The amazing rounds came one week after Haeran Ryu set the women’s major record with a 60 at the Evian Championship in France, where all lowest scores in LPGA majors have been set.

Herbert's round was simply flawless until the final hole. A self-described golf nerd, he allowed himself a thought about a record score on a par-70 links after three straight birdies to start the round. And the birdies kept coming until he was 8 under through 12 holes, with the two reachable par 5s still to play.

“I might not play 12 better holes in my life,” he said.

Herbert was a foot away from a mid-iron into the par-5 14th, but it just caught a pot bunker, and he had to save par from a greenside bunker. But he holed a 7-foot birdie putt on the 16th to reach 9 under, and he missed a 10-foot birdie attempt on the par-5 17th.

He went into the right rough off the 18th tee, came up short of the green and from 50 feet away on the baked fairway, Herbert rolled it some 5 feet short of the hole. The putt looked left of the cup from the moment it left his putter.

“I didn’t hit a bad putt. I can at least sleep easy tonight knowing I didn’t hit a bad putt,” Herbert said. “I just misread it. It’s pretty tough when you’ve got a putt for the major championship record to get everything to work and to get everything to sync perfectly still and straight.”

Three of the seven rounds of 62 have come at Royal Birkdale, and weather played a role. There was a breeze for so much of the morning, and players took aim. Eric Cole was first out with a 64. Patrick Reed (66) reached 6 under through 12 holes before he slowed.

“It’s pretty benign, and if you were ever going to do it, this was the morning for it,” said Herbert, who now plays on LIV Golf and has won on five tours. “These guys are good. I’m probably not as surprised as you think that there’s another 62 out there. I’m probably more surprised at myself shooting 62, to be honest.”

Of the seven rounds of 62 in the majors, Schauffele at the PGA Championship is the only one to leave with the trophy.

___

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

What struck Le then, and amazes him still, is Pannakara’s iron-clad determination.

“When he decides to do something, he goes all the way,” said Le, secretary of the temple — the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth. “He’s never been afraid of obstacles. He always finds a way through them.”

That indomitable will was in full display during the meditative Walk for Peace that Pannakara led earlier this year with an international group of monks and his rescue dog, Aloka, who has become a mascot for the movement. The 2,300-mile (3,700-kilometer) journey started in Fort Worth on Oct. 26 and ended in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 14.

An ascetic walks into the spotlight

Pannakara’s discourses on mindfulness and kindness in churchyards, town squares and in front of the Lincoln Memorial drew large, diverse crowds. Millions worldwide followed along online.

Within weeks, the Walk for Peace had propelled this obscure monk into the spotlight as a leading voice for inner peace and unity in an increasingly divided nation. His popularity continues to soar, with some drawing comparisons with the Dalai Lama, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the late Thich Nhat Hanh, a revered Zen master and peace activist who shared Pannakara’s Vietnamese roots.

Pannakara, who traveled to Southern California last weekend with Aloka for several speaking engagements, said he doesn’t care for all the attention.

“There is no fame for monks,” he said. “I made a vow to walk to raise awareness of peace, loving kindness and compassion. That’s what it’s about.”

As part of his Theravada Buddhist practice, he follows “Vinaya” — a strict code of monastic rules. That means no social media accounts, personal possessions or handling money, and the practice of celibacy and modesty.

He doesn't eat after noon and, according to Le, sleeps sitting up, which is not mandatory for Theravada monks, but adopted by some as an ascetic practice to deepen mindfulness.

The pivot from engineer to monk

Pannakara was born in Dak Lak, Vietnam, in 1981, the youngest of 10 children. He says his family was Buddhist in “name only.” He immigrated to the U.S. in 1997 and graduated with a degree in information technology from the University of Texas at Arlington. He said his first exposure to Buddhism was in the U.S. through temple summer camps and youth leadership.

Pannakara stepped away from his engineering career to become a novice monk and became fully ordained in 2010 by his teacher, the Most Venerable Ratanaguna, who he has often cited as his source of inspiration. There was not one life-changing event that prompted his decision, he said, but the cumulative effect of seeing his loved ones suffer and people trying to step on each other to move up.

“To me everything just seemed fake,” he said.

Le recalls that Pannakara’s parents were inconsolable.

“Even on the day he was ordained, his mother came, and she cried a lot,” he said, adding that they eventually accepted it.

Le said Pannakara was a quick learner, completing several projects on their campus including landscaping, a new kitchen, homes for the monastics and a memorial hall for deceased members.

At his teacher’s direction, Pannakara traveled to Myanmar between 2018 and 2020 to study and practice Vipassana meditation, an ancient technique taught by the Buddha himself as core for attaining enlightenment. When COVID hit, he returned to Fort Worth and organized food drives, said Amanda Phan, a temple member.

“(Pannakara) is a rare human being,” she said. “He is an embodiment of kindness, compassion, wisdom — a bodhisattva — a being whose purpose is to relieve others from their suffering.”

Transformative journey tracing the Buddha's steps

In late 2022, Pannakara joined about 100 monks in a 2,100-mile (3,380-kilometer), 112-day pilgrimage tracing the footsteps of the Buddha — from his birthplace in Lumbini, Nepal, to Bodh Gaya where he attained enlightenment; Sarnath, the site of the first sermon; and Kushinagar, where he died. The monks emulated Buddha's journey — walking barefoot, eating one meal a day, and sleeping under the stars.

“I had learned the Buddha’s teachings from the Tipitaka (Buddhist canon),” Pannakara said. “But with this walk, I experienced it.”

He also learned about himself — about his strength to bear adversity and pain.

“I learned that we can do much more than we think we’re capable of,” he said.

That journey also brought Aloka into his life. Aloka means light in Pali.

“Even when he faced challenges and almost died he walked with us,” Pannakara said of his dog.

It was on a previous trip to Bodh Gaya — under the Bodhi tree where the Buddha attained enlightenment — that Pannakara said he had a vision to build stone stupas to preserve the sacred teachings for generations to come. Seven years later, he told Ratanaguna about his desire. With his teacher’s blessing, the plan for the $200-million Dhammacetiya project was born — 840 stupas bearing Buddha’s teachings in 10 languages, built to last 4,000 years.

Pannakara knelt before an assembly of monastics and visitors during the temple’s 2022 International Vesak Ceremony and vowed that if he is unable to complete the project in this lifetime, he would “be reborn to continue this project until its completion.” This project and the peace walks — which he plans to do more of — together uphold his vow to promote peace and preserve the Buddha’s teachings, he said.

Ajahn Nisabho, a Seattle-based Theravada Buddhist monk, said he was moved by Pannakara's authenticity and commitment.

“The story of his quilted robe that he stitched it together from pieces of cloth he picked up during the walk in India — he was honoring that past and that ethos,” Nisabho said. “As a fellow monk, it was inspiring for me to see floods of people walking behind him during the peace walk.”

A conscious decision to steer clear of politics

The Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi, a senior Theravada monk who spoke at the conclusion of the Walk for Peace in Washington, said Pannakara was wise to remain silent on politics during his walk. But Bodhi, 81, hopes he does speak up on critical social issues like poverty, hunger, housing and the climate.

“I just hope that as (Pannakara) becomes more established and gets accustomed to publicity, he’ll consider taking a stand on these issues that have deep moral and spiritual significance,” he said.

Nisabho believes Pannakara made the right decision to steer clear of politics and activism. He said there are not many spaces today that are able to welcome the kind of diversity the peace walk attracted — with the exception of Dolly Parton “who brings truckers and drag queens together.”

“The vision of a monastic is the one chance someone has, to be inspired toward awakening and find an escape from suffering,” Nisabho said. “If you bring politics into that, you cause damage by alienating half the country.”

___

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.

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The Digital Revenue Accelerator (DRA) is a high-impact role designed to drive digital revenue growth and position Graham Media Group as a market leader in digital advertising solutions. As the station’s digital sales authority, the DRA partners with local sales teams to identify untapped opportunities, craft innovative client-centric strategies, and close high-value, multi-platform deals. This role demands a competitive mindset, a deep understanding of the digital advertising landscape, and the ability to accelerate revenue growth through strategic execution and collaboration.

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• Strategic Mindset: Demonstrated ability to develop and execute innovative, results-driven digital strategies.
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• Collaborative Leadership: Ability to work seamlessly across teams and departments, driving alignment and shared success.

Preferred Attributes

- Competitive mindset with a focus on achieving and exceeding goals.

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Contact:

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Coach Didier Deschamps takes charge of his last game for France on Saturday when Les Bleus face England at the World Cup in Miami. The winner gets third place, an anti-climactic award brought about by agonizing semifinal defeats.

It is a disappointing end to Deschamps' reign when many observers touted his star-studded attack to win another World Cup. Zinedine Zidane is widely expected to be confirmed as France's new coach in the coming days by the French soccer federation.

The Deschamps years

France won the World Cup under Deschamps in 2018, lost a gut-wrenching final on penalties in 2022, and fell short tactically against Spain on Tuesday.

In his 14 years in charge, Deschamps won just one major trophy — albeit the biggest of all — having lost the European Championship final on home soil in 2016.

Some observers suggest that was not quite enough given the talent at France's disposal — including Kylian Mbappé, Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann and Ballon d'Or winners Ousmane Dembélé and Karim Benzema — while others argue France was remarkably consistent under Deschamps, who is now 57.

Whatever the view, France's next coach has big shoes to fill and a big aura will help. As arguably France's greatest ever player, and a prolifically successful coach with Real Madrid, Zidane seems the perfect fit.

Polar opposites as players, Zidane and Deschamps are forever linked by glory.

The industrious midfielder Deschamps was France's tireless captain when it won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, while Zinedine was the unstoppable creative force that drove that brilliant team to new heights.

Here's a look at how France might look with Zidane in charge.

What would Zidane change?

France's 2-0 defeat to Spain in the World Cup semifinal was more crushing than the score suggests.

France was found wanting tactically when put under sustained pressure by the slick Spanish. Completely dominated in midfield, France got its pressing game all wrong. The attack was blunted and Deschamps had no Plan “B” to turn things around.

Deschamps has had his detractors over the years — chief among them Christophe Dugarry, his former France teammate — who said his approach was too restrictive and lacked sufficient creativity in central midfield.

Zidane would doubtless want a more expansive approach, such as during his heyday when he roamed the field as a playmaker. Michael Olise or Rayan Cherki could fill that role.

Both are technically gifted although neither are a playmaker by definition like Zidane was. Another option could be Dembélé dropping deep into that role, as he has done well with Paris Saint-Germain.

Benzema's return?

Zidane is a huge fan of Benzema and they became close friends when Zidane coached him at Real Madrid.

They won three straight Champions League titles together from 2016-18 and Benzema became a more complete player, as well as a ruthless finisher, under Zidane's guidance. Benzema is 38 and his advanced age may prove a stumbling block.

But given how the age-defying Lionel Messi has dazzled at this World Cup aged 39, Zidane may think Benzema — a Ballon d'Or winner in 2022 — has something left to give. Especially if he plays in a more withdrawn role, where he can use his excellent technical skill and passing ability to good effect.

Critics of Deschamps never forgave him for leaving out Benzema for the best part of six years, due to Benzema's alleged part in a “sex-tape scandal” targeting then-France teammate Mathieu Valbuena.

However, France won the World Cup without Benzema.

He was finally recalled in time for the European Championship in 2021, where he was France's top scorer with four goals, and combined brilliantly with Mbappé when they won the Nations League later that year.

Benzema fell out with Deschamps after being released from the 2022 World Cup because of a thigh injury, with Benzema contesting events leading to his departure.

It would be a big call for Zidane to recall him, but it's not impossible.

Five years away from the game

One question is how ready Zidane would be for such a high-pressured job, giving that he has not coached since leaving Madrid after his second spell in 2021.

Yet he will also be fresh after several years away from the stress and scrutiny of management.

Should the 54-year-old Zidane take charge, his first game would be away to Turkey in the Nations League on Sept. 25, followed by a match in Belgium three days later.

Home fans would need to wait until Oct. 2 for a glimpse of Zidane at Stade de France, when France plays Italy.

Zidane's last game as a player for France was against Italy in the 2006 World Cup final. He scored early with a Panenka-style penalty, before an infamous moment saw him red-carded for headbutting Italy defender Marco Materazzi during extra time.

France lost the final on penalty kicks but the French public quickly forgave Zidane — affectionally known as “Zizou” — for getting sent off, such was his deep bond with the nation.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Whether you're hoping Argentina will become the first repeat champion since Brazil in 1958 and 1962, or that young superstar Lamine Yamal will score for Spain, everyone's a winner across these 10 tracks.

Read on below and then stream the full playlist on Spotify, here.

“Dai Dai,” Shakira and Burna Boy (2026)

Kick off your World Cup final listening party with this year's official anthem: “Dai Dai” from Colombian superstar Shakira and Afrobeats icon Burna Boy. The song is the perfect intersection of their musical languages, Afrobeats and Latin rhythms, on an undeniably global, multilingual track. After the first chorus, they take turns tackling verses, singing back and forth, before joining in a duet. It's a message of unity and victory. Take it from Shakira herself: “Fútbol is a thing that unites so many cultures and people of different walks of life,” she told the AP. “The big responsibility of making a World Cup song is that you’ve got to make a song that represents people’s feelings, emotions, and passion.”

“DNA (More Than A Game),” Andrea Bocelli, David Guetta, EJAE and Megan Thee Stallion (2026)

You read that artist list correctly. On this World Cup song, tenor Andrea Bocelli, EDM star David Guetta, singer-songwriter EJAE from “KPop Demon Hunters” and rapper Megan Thee Stallion team up for the genre-agnostic “DNA (More Than A Game).” Performed in English, Italian and Korean, it's surprisingly anthemic and has a strong empowerment message. “’Cause it’s more than just a game / it’s our DNA,” Bocelli and EJAE harmonize on the chorus.

“It's a kind of music very, very far from the scores that I’m used to performing in general, but sometimes it’s very nice to do something different and to discover new atmospheres,” Bocelli told the AP. “It's very happy, the song. I think it gives happiness.” That it does.

“La Copa de la Vida (The Cup of Life),” Ricky Martin (1998)

A Spanglish global smash and one of the most addictive World Cup anthems of all time, Puerto Rican superstar Ricky Martin was really onto something when he released “La Copa de la Vida (The Cup of Life)” for the 1998 tournament held in France. It is the standard to which all World Cup anthems should be held — from its unmistakable soccer themes to its multilingual mambo-pop, unyielding horns section and Eurodance-club intensity. Ale, ale, ale!

“Despechá,” Rosalía (2022)

Supporters of Spain are more than familiar with this up-tempo, merengue-pop tune — it has become a celebratory track for the team upon victory, played after they score and post-match. And now that the 2010 World Cup champions are in the final, it's not unlikely it's played out loud on stadium speakers again. It's a cool pick from a team with swagger — and fitting for this playlist.

“Mi Gran Noche,” Raphael (1967)

The legendary Spanish singer Raphael is central to celebrations in the country this World Cup season. “Mi Gran Noche” is just one gem in his treasure trove of hits — a '60s Latin pop classic with intergenerational appeal, played in clubs, bars, football clubs, on the radio and television specials and beyond. There’s a reason it has stood the test of time, with its big band brass and cheerful chorus.

“La Roja Baila,” Sergio Ramos, Niña Pastori and RedOne (2016)

What do you get when you combine Spanish footballer Sergio Ramos, flamenco-pop singer Niña Pastori and Moroccan record producer RedOne (known for his work with Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and many more)? “La Roja Baila,” the Spanish team's official anthem for the 2016 European Championship. (It translates to “The Red One Dances,” a reference to the team's nickname, La Roja.) The results that year weren't in Spain's favor, but that's no reason to stop chanting along to the song's cheery post-chorus: “España ey ey! / Cantamos gol, gol / España ey ey! / La Roja baila.” (“Spain, hey hey! / We sing goal, goal! / Spain, hey hey! / La Roja dances!”)

“La Cumbia de los Trapos,” Yerba Brava (2000)

It was Argentina's signature song in 2022, when they won in Qatar, and it has been their statement track this tournament, too. Argentine band Yerba Brava's 2000 hit “La Cumbia de los Trapos” was written as a soccer anthem, and a soccer anthem it has remained. It's a high-energy cumbia with a title that directly references “los trapos,” or “the rags” — the flags flown in Argentine stadiums.

“Matador,” Los Fabulosos Cadillacs (1993, remastered 2008)

Ska-samba-reggae-rock group Los Fabulosos Cadillacs' “Matador” is heard when Argentina scores. The hit — with its Afro-Argentine candombe rhythms, big brass and chant-along chorus — is undeniably spirited. On first listen, it's an upbeat party record. On closer inspection, it's an indictment of the late-'70s and early-'80s period of dictatorship in Argentina.

“Dumbai,” Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso (2024)

The Argentine duo of Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso is making some of the most exciting music in the modern mainstream. Call it genre-averse, hook-heavy Latin pop with trance and trap beats atop tropical rhythms performed through an absurdist, comedic lens — that is, if you have to call it anything. “Dumbai” is arguably one of their more reserved tracks but still a fun romp about a fun night out.

“Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” Shakira featuring Freshlyground (2010)

No such playlist would be complete without the greatest World Cup anthem committed to record: “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” also courtesy Shakira. It was the official anthem of the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa and featured the South African band Freshlyground. The song, with its soca-influenced beat and reference to the 1986 song “Zangaléwa,” recorded by Cameroonian band Golden Sounds, manages to do what all World Cup songs should: Take local sounds and make them global, all without sacrificing hook and rhythm. It's an earworm with a capital “E.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Through DNA testing and old-fashioned sleuthing, the Maryland teenager who died in one of the last big battles of the American Revolution can now take his place in history, just in time for the 250th birthday of the nation he fought to create.

“There was a sense of divine timing, I guess,” said Allison Peacock, founder of FHD Forensics, a company that helped with the search. “I don’t know what else you want to call it.”

Pumphrey died Aug. 16, 1780, at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina. It was one of the Continental Army’s most devastating defeats, where British Gen. Charles Lord Cornwallis routed patriot forces under Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates.

Many of the 900 killed were left where they fell, abandoned to the predations of wild animals, South Carolina’s scorching heat and its ruinous humidity.

Bones emerge from a Revolutionary War battlefield

Archaeologists surveying the area in 2020 came across human bones protruding from the ground. Eventually, 14 sets of remains were identified — 12 of them Continental soldiers. The others were determined to be connected to the British side and were reburied at the battlefield.

The Richland County Coroner’s Office had worked with Texas-based FHD Forensics on modern-day cases and asked for their help. Peacock took to calling it the case of “America’s oldest John Doe.”

“What we did is pretty much the same as what we do with any other John Doe case,” she said. “Nobody really knew for sure whether we could get genetic profiles suitable for a genealogy investigation on 240-plus-year-old remains. But we got lucky.”

Unlike most, Pumphrey and four comrades received a cursory burial beneath a thin layer of dirt. He was dubbed “Camden 9B,” because his were the second set of remains retrieved from burial nine. The remains were examined and cataloged.

The 12 Continentals were later reinterred with full military honors. Camden 9B’s headstone read: “UNKNOWN. REV WAR. BATTLE OF CAMDEN. AUG 16 1780.”

DNA unlocks a centuries-old mystery

Meanwhile, samples from two of the soldiers were sent to Astrea Forensics in California for DNA extraction and sequencing.

“Typically, in a case like this, we work with teeth, because teeth are in the jaw and are protected, the roots are protected,” said Peacock. “In this case, they were just coming up with nothing on the teeth.”

With remains this old, it's often difficult to separate the human DNA from all the other genetic material in the grave, said Astrea co-founder and scientific adviser Kelly Harkins Kincaid.

“It gets colonized by the microbial environment in the soil and the water in the environment,” she said.

Although she's worked with DNA samples as old as 10,000 years, this was the oldest sample her company has ever used to try to reconstruct a family tree.

From a petrous portion of the temporal bone, a delicate structure behind the ear at the base of the skull, they successfully extracted DNA that generated Pumphrey's entire genome. Peacock’s team then uploaded the data to FamilyTreeDNA and GEDmatch to trace three types of DNA matches: autosomal, X chromosome and Y chromosome.

“We got 20,000 matches to work with,” she said. “So, it was a lot to kind of comb through.”

An orphan soldier's life comes into focus

One of those matches, from the maternal line, was Russ Hudson.

The retired federal agent in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, offered to help do archival research. A profile began to emerge of a young orphan from Maryland’s Anne Arundel County, dispossessed and looking for his way in life.

“I learned that probably when he was 13, he went to Baltimore and he enlisted in the militia,” Hudson said. “And who knows what his story was? What did he accomplish in order to become a member of the militia at such a young age?”

Because no birth record has been found, it’s unclear how old Pumphrey was when he went to war. He signed his reenlistment papers with an “X.” But he was young enough that, when he died, the growth plates around his knees had not yet fully closed, Peacock said.

A witness to history

Researchers now know Pumphrey and his comrades from the 7th Maryland Regiment were with George Washington in the snows at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Peacock said his unit was involved in some of the major contests in the Northern Theater, including the battles of Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth.

She figures he had marched 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) before he met his end in the pinelands of South Carolina.

“We don’t really know what John Pumphrey’s cause of death was because they did not find a particular injury on his body,” she said. “It’s possible that he had a soft tissue injury, like a bayonet injury, but it’s a little hard to tell after 246 years.”

An unexpected twist and an emotional reunion

Work continues on the other set of remains, Camden 11A. One thing is certain: Peacock is related to him.

“One of the first things I do when I take on a case is I run my DNA against the remains to see if it’s somebody I’m related to, just on the wild chance that it might be,” she said. “It’s never happened before, but I am related to Camden 11A. So, I’m very motivated to get him identified.”

Last month, Peacock was confident enough in the research to put a name to Camden 9B. Relatives wept during an emotional ceremony at the 19th-century Benson-Hammond House in Anne Arundel County.

“The fact that some archaeologists just happened to stumble on bones that were protruding from the earth, and knowing that it would be difficult to identify those people by DNA, I just found it really exciting,” Becky Berman of Daytona Beach, Florida, Pumphrey’s first cousin, several times removed, told The Associated Press.

For Hudson, the retired federal agent, the story won’t be over until the U.S. government confirms the research and replaces his fifth great-uncle’s “UNKNOWN” gravestone. He said America owes it to John Pumphrey.

“He sacrificed himself, along with some others,” Hudson said, his eyes tearing up, “for the sake of this new nation.”

“I kept reading how you have to wait to sing this big repertoire,” Brownlee said. But there was one bit of Wagner — Wolfram’s “Song to the Evening Star” from “Tannhäuser” — that’s “a little bit lighter. I figured it was more appropriate.”

So he brought it to his teacher, Thomas Rowell, at the University of South Alabama and asked what he thought.

“I just laughed at him and told him to go away,” Rowell recalled. “He knew that big voice was there, and he was so eager to try on the clothes, but they didn’t fit for a while. It was still a very young instrument.”

Reminded of that exchange nearly 20 years later, Brownlee smiles. “I was a bit ambitious,” he said. “But this was just me.”

Now that ambition — what he calls “a fire in my belly that burns brighter every day,” — has helped propel Brownlee at age 37 to the very top of his profession. And he’s done it by singing a lot of Wagner.

All hail a new Wotan

He just made his debut as Wotan, embattled king of the gods, in “Die Walküre” at the Bavarian State Opera House, part two of a complete “Ring” cycle directed by Tobias Kratzer. He had previously sung the role in “Das Rheingold,” the opera that opens the cycle.

The critics reached for superlatives. “A heroic baritone straight out of a textbook,” wrote Markus Thiel in Merkur, “with a powerful, resonant voice, a force of nature.” Carlota Moseguí in Platea Magazine praised his voice and said Brownlee “possesses all the qualities to become the definitive Wotan of his generation.”

Next, Brownlee heads to the Wagner shrine in Bayreuth, Germany, where he will star as the title character in “Der Fliegende Holländer” (“The Flying Dutchman.”) And his upcoming season is one Wotan after another.

“It’ll be ‘Siegfried’ time in Munich, then ‘Walküere’ time in Buenos Aires, then ‘Rheingold’ time in Barcelona,” he said. Add to that two of the “Ring” operas in Frankfurt and then two complete cycles next summer back in Munich.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing to have a student who goes that far, especially from a small regional state university like ours,” said Rowell, who remains close friends with Brownlee and officiated his wedding to mezzo-soprano Jennifer Feinstein. “I have to pinch myself. I’m enjoying it vicariously.”

Does Brownlee worry at all about damaging his voice from so much heavy singing?

“I don’t think you’re supposed to say this, but no, not really,” he replied. “We like to put this big stamp on Wagner and say ‘Be Careful!’” But he said he finds the demands of each opera different enough to help him avoid burnout.

Still, he promises that his roles the following season will be more varied, including a return to one of his favorites — Baron Scarpia in Puccini’s “Tosca.” And down the road are two Verdi roles — the villainous Iago in “Otello,” and the comic Falstaff.

Of the latter, he said, “I want to flex a different muscle. I talk fast, I’m a bubbly, fun guy, but what I do on stage is so serious all the time. Boy it would be fun to just be a jolly fat guy!”

From Conway Twitty to Richard Wagner

Just how did a boy from a working-class family in a small town outside Mobile, Alabama, become one of a handful of go-to singers in the world for these demanding roles?

His first success as a vocalist actually came as the youngest grandchild in a large extended family, performing Conway Twitty imitations to grab attention. Classical music had to wait until he fell under the spell of his high school choral director.

When he went to college, he planned to study conducting, but Rowell heard him sing and cajoled him into joining the Mobile Opera chorus.

“I went in the first day and I hated it,” Brownlee recalled. “I said, this is in Italian, who cares? That’s for stuffy elite people, not for us blue-collar fellas.”

Still, his curiosity made him determined to figure out why some people loved the art form. So he sat by the side of the stage one night to watch the emotional final scene of Verdi’s “La Traviata,” when the heroine dies after being reunited with her lover.

“When she said, ‘O, gioia!’ and she fell into his arms, and now she’s dead, Alfredo’s weeping over her, and Germont is feeling half-responsible, I was weeping uncontrollably,” he said. “And I didn’t even know what they were saying.”

That’s when he started taking voice lessons, and from there followed years of study and apprenticeships both in the U.S. and later in Germany. Along the way he competed twice in the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions.

The first time, still in his early 20s, he made it to the semifinals in New York. “I did not go on to the finals, which was absolutely correct,” he said. “Failure is a great lesson.” (Coincidentally, one of the winners that year was Ryan Speedo Green, who will be singing Wotan in the Met’s upcoming “Ring” cycle.)

Brownlee returned in 2015, and this time he took home one of the top prizes. Other awards have followed, including in 2025, best male singer at the International Opera Awards and the Richard Tucker Award for most promising American singer.

Finding fame far from home

Yet this American singer is still barely known to most opera audiences in his native country. Brownlee’s career has so far been largely in Germany, where he and Feinstein are raising their two daughters and are currently applying for dual citizenship.

“I can perform anywhere in Europe and be home in two hours to see my girls,” he said. “In America that’s just not something you can do,”

He may be rooted in Europe for now, but major U.S. houses are beckoning with increasing urgency.

When he appeared at Chicago’s Lyric Opera this past spring as the prophet Jochanaan in Richard Strauss’s “Salome,” general director John Mangum called his performance “absolutely thrilling.” He said Brownlee is “definitely going be at the top of our list” as the company charts its future Wagner performances.

And Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, who heard him sing a major role for the first time during the Munich run of “Walküre,” said “I was blown away. … We’ll definitely be offering him big roles at the Met in upcoming seasons.”

He'll have to do much, much more to lift the claret jug.

The world No. 2 bounced back with a 3-under 67 in the second round at the British Open on Friday, ensuring he'll make the cut with his score of 1-under par overall.

The projected cut is currently at level par.

McIlroy knew he'd left a few shots out there, though, especially when he saw that two other morning starters — Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns — tied the major championship record with rounds of 62 in gorgeous conditions.

“It was a little better today,” McIlroy said, “but still didn’t feel 100% comfortable. Hopefully try to figure that out as the week goes on.”

He might have left it too late.

McIlroy was seven shots off the clubhouse lead held by Herbert, on 8-under par. More relevant might be No. 4-ranked Cameron Young being at 6 under, while players like top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau were just starting out their second rounds and already higher on the leaderboard.

McIlroy, who won the Open just down the road in Hoylake in 2014, struggled on the greens in shooting 72 on Thursday and said he still hasn't figured them out.

“I felt like I hit good putts and they did something completely different to what I saw in the read, and I think that’s a little unnerving,” he said.

McIlroy was, however, very happy with his driving. He drove the green on the par-4 ninth hole — for the second straight day — with a 377-yard tee shot that settled 11 feet from the pin, setting up the third of his four birdies on Friday.

Yet, for all his excellence off the tee, he has only made one birdie on the par 5s this week.

McIlroy hopes the conditions allow him to be aggressive off the tee over the weekend.

It might be his only hope of a victory.

“I think any time I can get a driver in my hand, I’m going to try to,” he said. "I just feel like with how I’m feeling with the driver, I think it’s a big advantage if I can get the ball down there and take out some of these fairway bunkers.

“l continue to do that when I can, and then I’m still trying to figure out these greens a little bit.”

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