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Former FSU, NFL player gives away more than 300 backpacks in Orlando

Alex Cook — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 17:25:56 +0000

Former Florida State University and NFL fullback James Coleman helped hundreds of Central Florida students get ready for the new school year Saturday with a backpack and school-supply giveaway in Orlando.

The event at West Oaks Elementary School included more than 300 backpacks filled with notebooks, pens, crayons, glue and other classroom essentials.

Coleman said each backpack contained about $40 to $50 worth of supplies.

“It doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you’re kind of stressed on times, that $40 to $50 comes a long way,” Coleman said.

For parents buying supplies for several children, the savings can quickly add up.

Thelma Tong attended the giveaway with her daughters and said preparing four children for school can be difficult and expensive.

“I appreciate it very much,” Tong said. “Without them, we wouldn’t be able to make it out here.”

Coleman estimated a family receiving four backpacks could save about $200.

He said higher everyday costs are affecting families across the community, including people who may appear financially comfortable.

“The reality is, I make good money and I feel it,” Coleman said. “So I know other people must feel it as well.”

The giveaway was part of Coleman’s seventh annual Community Giveback Week.

Coleman said the event is meant not only to provide supplies, but also to show students that people in their community are invested in their success.

Thunderstorms will clear wildfire smoke from Northeast ahead of World Cup final, meteorologists say

Jennifer Mcdermott And Philip Marcelo, Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 17:20:52 +0000

Smoke from the Canadian wildfires that has engulfed the Northeast in haze is expected to mostly clear from the New Jersey area just in time for the World Cup final on Sunday, thanks to thunderstorms passing through the area, meteorologists say.

Warnings of unhealthy air quality remained in effect Saturday across a wide swath of the United States. At MetLife Stadium, where the final is taking place, it rained heavily and thunder boomed. State police urged people to leave the stadium seating bowl and field and take shelter. Volunteers and staff dashed inside for cover as ponchos were handed out. The sky was the same thick, soupy gray it has been for days.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill warned residents Saturday about the potential for damaging winds, tornadoes, flash flooding and large hail. Spain’s training session ahead of the final against Argentina was suspended at a nearby field because of the storms and lighting in the area. And FIFA said it was in close contact with local authorities as it continues to monitor the impacts from the wildfire smoke and the storms on the conditions on field at MetLife Stadium.

Storms will help clear the air

This storm front will largely move the smoke out of the Northeast before the final between Spain and Argentina, said Tyler Roys, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather. MetLife Stadium, which has been renamed the New York/New Jersey Stadium for the matches, is an open-air stadium.

“There could be some lingering smoke that would make things hazy, but very faint," Roys said. "In terms of the thickest smoke, the smoke that has really been eye-popping and leads to poor air quality, that is not expected across New York City or much of the Northeast.”

Meteorologist says the air quality for the game ‘won’t be dangerous'

WFLA-TV Chief Meteorologist and Climate Specialist Jeff Berardelli, in Tampa, Florida, echoed that, saying the storm front would “sweep the atmosphere clean," leaving only a thin smoke that World Cup spectators may still smell in the air.

The air quality index shows an improvement from unhealthy air for sensitive groups on Saturday to “moderate” air quality Sunday in East Rutherford, which means little to no health risk for the general public.

“It won't be dangerous anymore,” Berardelli said. “It's going to be dramatically better.”

Temperatures are forecast to be around 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius), with light breezes and low humidity for the start of the final.

“You couldn’t have asked for much better weather for the World Cup,” Berardelli added.

Both Roys and Berardelli expect the heavier smoke Sunday to be concentrated closer to the fires, hanging over parts of the Midwest and the Great Lakes region.

Wildfires have been igniting across Canada and northern Minnesota this month. Berardelli said they are burning longer and faster because of climate change. The Canadian Wildland Fire Information System showed hundreds of active fires Saturday.

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McDermott reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Ukrainian drones hit warehouses and other sites across Russia, killing 9 and wounding over 80

Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 08:56:17 +0000

Ukrainian drones struck two sprawling warehouses, one of them just east of Moscow, as part of attacks overnight and on Saturday afternoon that killed nine people and wounded more than 80, Russian officials said.

Kyiv's forces have pressed 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 (220 miles) from the border with Ukraine, and another in the city of Elektrostal, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Moscow.

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

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

A total of 61 people were wounded in the Moscow region, Vorobyov said: 20 sought outpatient care, while 40 others were hospitalized. One person died of their injuries, he said.

One more person was killed and another wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Belgorod region on Saturday afternoon, according to local authorities.

Both warehouses caught fire, Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim said, and the blaze in Kotovsk was 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.

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.

In the city of Vladimir, some 180 kilometers (110 miles) east of Moscow, a Ukrainian drone hit a residential building, sparking a brief fire, Vladimir Gov. 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 said in a statement on Saturday that the fuel depot in Noginsk that was targeted overnight supplied 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-class 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.

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

The World Cup final awaits, with Messi and defending champion Argentina set to face Spain

Tim Reynolds, Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 17:09:11 +0000

Lionel Messi rarely loses. Spain never loses.

That's been how things have worked in recent years, anyway. Soccer's best player and soccer's dominant team are set to collide Sunday in a World Cup final worthy of the sport's grandest stage. Messi and Argentina will face a Spain squad that is unbeaten in 37 consecutive matches going back to early 2024.

For Spain, it's a chance at a second World Cup title to go along with the one from 2010 and to cement itself as the unquestioned dominant force in the game right now. For Argentina, it's a chance to become the first back-to-back men's World Cup champion since Pele and Brazil did it in 1958 and 1962. And for Messi, it's a chance to write the perfect ending to what he has indicated will be his final run with his national team.

“On Sunday, we will watch a great show," said Spain coach Luis de la Fuente, who has guided his side to a 28-0-9 record during this unbeaten run. “Two great national teams — two superteams, in my opinion — very similar in some aspects in terms of attitude, footballers’ talent. I think that it’s going to be an amazing final.”

In simplest terms, the matchup looks like best player vs. best team.

In actuality, it's so much more than that.

The Messi-Spain history

There is history there, given that Messi was born in Argentina but spent part of his youth and most of his club career in Spain, and would have been eligible — if he wanted — to play for that national team instead. Spain tried to convince Messi many times. He never wavered.

Sunday will be the first time he plays against Spain since a friendly in 2010, when Argentina routed the then-reigning World Cup champions. He obviously understands the enormous stakes around this match and insists the approach will be simple regardless — spending a Sunday afternoon with some friends, kicking the ball around, albeit with 80,000 people watching in the stadium and probably somewhere around 2 billion watching worldwide.

And there's also the incredible storyline of how Messi and Spain star Lamine Yamal, who were photographed together nearly two decades ago when Yamal was a baby, will be sharing the pitch in a World Cup final.

“We grew up playing soccer with passion, eager to play,” Messi said in his native Spanish. “We played everywhere. We played on the street. We played at school. We played with teams. We didn’t think about the pressure. It was just natural play.”

But there will be pressure Sunday, and tons of it. Win or lose, Argentina knows this is likely the end of the Messi era in blue and white.

“The best footballer that the world has seen,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said.

Messi's short-lived retirement

It wasn't always that way. Go back a decade, and this run — Copa América champions in 2021, World Cup champions in 2022, Copa América champions again in 2024 — almost never happened for Argentina.

Messi retired from the national team in 2016, after he and Argentina lost that year's Copa América final to Chile in penalty kicks — one of which he missed. Fortunately for all parties involved, the retirement only lasted a few weeks. But he had grown tired of always coming up short in big matches for his national team, and was ready to step away from that squad at 29.

“I'm done,” Messi said that night — at MetLife Stadium, which just happens to be the site of this World Cup final.

He wasn't done, of course. He continued starring for Barcelona, then Paris Saint Germain, then Inter Miami. He's the two-time defending Most Valuable Player in Major League Soccer, the star of that league's reigning champions, someone who can still create goals in the biggest moments with virtual ease.

“He is pure history,” Scaloni said. “History. A legend.”

Spain chasing defensive history

Spain is chasing history as well. La Roja — “the red” — are the favorites for Sunday, deservedly so after giving up just one goal in the team's first seven matches of this tournament. Spain has not spent a single second trailing at this World Cup; Argentina has trailed for more than 100 minutes, including stoppage time.

Defensive performances like this simply do not happen, even in the World Cup. There are three teams — Spain in 2010, Italy in 2006 and France in 1998 — who won the title and gave up a total of two goals in the tournament. This Spain team is in line to do even better than that.

“Argentina is far more than Messi,” Spain captain Rodri said. "They’ve proven that they’re a very complete team with top players. ... We are the best two teams playing in a collective manner as a group. Of course, we need to be mindful of Leo, but many other players.”

So, it's down to two. The 104th and final match of the biggest World Cup in history — 48 teams, spread out over the U.S., Canada and Mexico — comes down to the defending champions against the heirs apparent, the biggest star in the game against those who have idolized him and now can end his reign.

It was not a World Cup without challenges. The tournament had geopolitical discomfort and controversy, like an Iranian team facing what it said were onerous travel restrictions as its country was at war with the U.S., criticism of FIFA for lifting U.S. star Folarin Balogun’s red-card suspension following urging from President Donald Trump — who will be at Sunday's match to present the trophy — and the British government wanting an investigation of Argentina’s team after players posed with a banner claiming sovereignty over the Falkland Islands after their semifinal win against England.

But in the end, the World Cup will close as it always does, with one side celebrating and one side devastated.

“They’ve got their strengths. So do we," Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez said. “I wish it will be a final that goes down in history.”

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AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno in New York contributed.

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Safety fears limit Ebola response in Congo, with more than 12 attacks recorded

Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:10:54 +0000

At least a dozen attacks on health facilities and workers have been recorded during Congo's Ebola outbreak as safety fears restrict the response in the worst-affected region, authorities said Saturday.

Many health workers and other frontline workers in Ituri province have also gone on strike over unpaid salaries, further complicating response efforts in what’s been declared the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record. So far 2,181 cases have been recorded, including 864 deaths.

The Bundibugyo virus responsible for this outbreak is less common than others that cause Ebola disease, and there is no approved vaccine or treatment.

Many of the attacks have been carried out by angry mobs who have stormed treatment centers or targeted response teams in the field, Pierre Akilimali, incident manager for the Ebola response, said at a press briefing in Bunia, the capital of Ituri.

The attacks are not limited to healthcare teams and affect frontline workers like burial teams, according to Dr. Adelard Lufongola, operations manager for the Ebola response.

“Members of the various response teams have been held captive in some health zones. Teams responsible for safe and dignified burials have been threatened and continue to be threatened in some cemeteries and within several communities,” Lufongola said at the briefing.

Ebola spreads in the human population through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen, and with contaminated surfaces and materials. Traditional funerals in which loved ones wash and prepare bodies have been restricted, which has angered some residents.

In Ituri, which accounts for around 90% of all cases, health and aid workers have been seen leaving remote communities considered hot spots and heading to Bunia in recent days, locals told The Associated Press.

U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric on Thursday told reporters that humanitarian actors are “deeply concerned by escalating violence” impacting the Ebola response and that access to treatment centers and surrounding communities remains constrained.

“The worsening security situation has forced several humanitarian partners involved in the Ebola response to temporarily relocate staff to Bunia which is relatively safer,” he said.

The most recent attack recorded was on Wednesday, when residents in the town of Nyakunde attacked a hospital and touched an Ebola treatment center nearby.

Officials said treatment and care resumed on Thursday at the center after its occupants, including some patients, fled in the aftermath of the attack. Concerns, however, remained about risks of transmission amid the chaos.

“I fear that the aid workers involved in combating this Ebola outbreak are going to leave the area. This risks making the task of eradicating the outbreak more difficult,” said Christophe Munyanderu, a civil society leader in Ituri’s Irumu territory.

Rescuers race to find survivors in the rain after a landslide in China kills at least 8

Andy Wong, Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 05:09:28 +0000

Rescue crews on Saturday raced to find survivors from a landslide in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing that killed at least eight people and left 34 missing.

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.

Mount Olympus, home of the ancient Greek gods, vies for World Heritage status

Costas Kantouris And Elena Becatoros, Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 05:26:34 +0000

Snow-capped for much of the year, Mount Olympus, mythological home of ancient Greece’s 12 Olympian gods, has captured the imagination through the millennia. Rising to 2,918 meters (9,573 feet) from a base practically at sea level, the ancient Greeks believed the throne of Zeus, king of the gods, stood on the highest of its craggy, often mist-shrouded peaks.

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 reported from Athens, Greece. Associated Press journalist Srdjan Nedeljkovic 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.

Kimi Antonelli beats Red Bull's team effort to qualify on pole for F1's Belgian Grand Prix

Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 12:15:00 +0000

It took two of Kimi Antonelli's rivals working together to put the Formula 1 standings leader to the test. It still wasn't enough.

The 19-year-old Italian beat a display of Red Bull formation flying to take pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix in qualifying on Saturday and boost his push to be the youngest-ever champion.

Max Verstappen had set the fastest time after smart coordination with Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar to give him the strongest possible slipstream on his lap. Hadjar stayed in front through the high-speed Blanchimont corners, only moving across at the very last moment to avoid being hit by his own teammate.

Mercedes driver Antonelli found a new level of pace on his lap to beat Verstappen by 0.317 of a second and dedicated the pole position as a birthday present to his father Marco, a sportscar racer who turned 62 on Saturday.

“Let's go, man, let's go,” he said over the radio. “Happy birthday, dad.”

With Verstappen starting second and teammate and title rival George Russell third on the grid, Antonelli is hoping he can cling on to the lead in the long run-up into the forested hills on the first lap Sunday and that if there's overtaking, “hopefully it's just off in the distance.” Beyond that, he said, he'll just focus on managing his tire wear.

Verstappen said Hadjar's help was the difference between being second and sixth but that his Red Bull still can't keep up with Antonelli's Mercedes in race conditions.

“He did amazing. I initially thought ‘Oh my god, it’s too close.’ Actually it worked out well to the last corner. It was close but I trusted him," Verstappen said of Hadjar, who had nothing to gain because of a penalty which sends him to the back of the grid.

“The gap in qualifying even with a massive tow is still three-tenths, so I don’t really expect to race (Mercedes) tomorrow,” Verstappen added.

Lando Norris qualified third-fastest for McLaren but a grid penalty means he drops 10 places. Antonelli’s teammate George Russell is set to move up to third on the grid, but once again he struggled to match the 19-year-old Italian.

Russell complained that trying to match Antonelli was like “battling with one had behind your back,” in comments to Sky Sports, and said the team had “changed everything” in an attempt to narrow down why he's struggled to keep up.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were fifth and sixth on a disappointing day for Ferrari following Leclerc's surprise win at the British Grand Prix. Even getting on track was a small victory for Hamilton after a crash in practice meant Ferrari had to rebuild his car in a hurry.

Russell closed the gap to Antonelli to 25 points in the standings at the British Grand Prix after the latest in a series of car problems for the Italian, but has consistently been off his teammate's pace, except for a win at the Austrian Grand Prix last month.

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This story has been corrected to specify that Antonelli's father was marking his 62nd birthday, not 61st.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Josh Kerr of Britain breaks the men’s mile world record that stood since 1999

Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 14:48:44 +0000

Josh Kerr, the British runner who helped stoke a revival in middle-distance drama on the track, added a new chapter Saturday by running the mile in 3 minutes, 42.66 seconds to break the 27-year-old record for the distance.

At a Diamond League meet in London, Kerr broke Moroccan great Hicham El Guerrouj’s mark of 3 minutes, 43.13 seconds, set in Rome in 1999. The 28-year-old native of Edinburgh celebrated with a lap of honor at London Stadium.

“It was just me, my shoes and the track,” he said. “I was absolutely deaf in that last 110 meters.

Kerr finished more than three seconds clear of American Yared Nuguse in 3:45.69.

In an interview with the BBC, Kerr said the crowd support as he closed in on the record was “just incredible.”

“I didn't take my foot off the gas," he continued, “but ... I started to glide and I was like ‘oh wow this feels incredible.’ It's incredible because I'm slowing down. So, I was like ‘I better get to the line.’ So, crossing the finish line, seeing 42-something — anything — was my goal, so it was great.”

The 28-year-old Kerr’s previous best time was 3:45.34 in 2024.

Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the 2021 Olympic champion, put a charge in the slightly shorter but more widely contested 1,500-meter race in the leadup to the Paris Olympics, going back and forth on a number of issues, including Kerr's suggestion that his rival could only run his top times with the help of pacesetters, the likes of which aren't allowed at major championships.

Kerr, who won worlds at the distance in 2023, frequently sparred back and forth with Ingebrigtsen on the track and online in the early 2020s. When the Paris Games rolled around, Ingebrigtsen faded to fourth while American Cole Hocker pulled a huge upset, with Kerr finishing second.

Last year at world championships, Ingebrigtsen faltered in a preliminary heat while Kerr pulled up lame and limped into the finish in a race won by Issac Nader of Portugal.

This year, with no worlds or Olympics on the schedule, Kerr made the mile his key target. It's a distance that isn't run as much in big events but that still has huge historical significance, most of it surrounding Roger Bannister's breaking of the once-intimidating four-minute barrier in 1954.

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Former NFL player arrested in connection to business fire, according to West Melbourne Police

Chris Raines — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 15:45:29 +0000

A former NFL player is facing serious charges in connection with a fire at a West Melbourne landscaping business.

Police say the suspect set fire to multiple company vehicles at Tropic Care of Florida after breaking into the property and taking a can of gas from an unlocked work vehicle Wednesday morning.

The fire caused major damage to vehicles and the business, police said.

West Melbourne police say their investigation identified Javian Hawkins as the suspect.

Detectives say Hawkins had recently been fired, and witnesses familiar with him identified him in surveillance footage.

Officers say evidence gathered during the investigation supports his involvement.

Hawkins was arrested and faces multiple charges, including arson and criminal mischief. He is being held at the Brevard County Jail.

Hawkins is a former NFL player. He played college football at the University of Louisville and spent time on multiple NFL practice squads, according to the league’s official website.

Early morning crash leaves motorcyclist dead, according to state troopers

Chris Raines — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 15:15:16 +0000

A Kissimmee man is dead after an early-morning motorcycle crash involving a tractor-trailer in Orange County, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Troopers say the crash happened around 2 a.m. Sunday on Taft Vineland Road near Sidney Hayes Road.

Investigators say the motorcyclist failed to stop and ran into the tractor-trailer in front of him.

The motorcyclist died at the scene, and the truck driver was not injured, troopers say.

The crash remains under investigation.

Sen. Ossoff fuels reelection campaign with attacks on Trump

Bill Barrow, Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 14:29:11 +0000

Nearly a decade ago, Jon Ossoff was a 30-year-old Democratic congressional candidate promising Georgia suburban voters he would “cut wasteful spending” and make “both parties in Washington” be “accountable to you.” His Republican opponent even complained that Ossoff “talks like a Republican.”

Nobody would make that mistake today. After losing that race in 2017 and narrowly winning a U.S. Senate seat during a runoff in 2021, Ossoff is running for reelection with a full-throated broadside on President Donald Trump as a “national disgrace” leading a “Mar-a-Lago mafia” and “the most corrupt administration of all time.”

The 39-year-old senator has always been a vessel for Trump opposition, no matter his message on the campaign trail. But not until now has Ossoff openly embraced the role. His approach is being noticed across the Democratic spectrum, from activists hungry for the right message in the 2026 midterms to those pining for viable presidential candidates in 2028.

This week, as Trump renewed his fixation on false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election that brought Ossoff to Washington, the senator never missed an opportunity to denounce the “world’s most famous sore loser.”

“The senator is definitely having a moment, and these breakout moments can certainly become a launching pad for something bigger,” said Lis Smith, a Democratic strategist who helped Pete Buttigieg go from being an unknown Indiana mayor to a presidential contender in 2020. She said Ossoff's approach — tying Trump’s personal financial gain to his performance on the economy — is "one that more Democrats should adopt.”

Ossoff insists he’s focused only on “providing Georgians with the best possible service, investigating and exposing corruption and abuse, and winning this pivotal Senate race” over Rep. Mike Collins, who won a Republican primary runoff after Trump’s last-minute endorsement.

Collins argues that Ossoff is just another “out-of-touch, far-left liberal," and he has criticized him as “weak” and “woke.”

But Ossoff’s turn in the spotlight, coupled with prodigious fundraising, puts him in a stronger position for a second term than most political observers expected when Trump returned to the White House less than two years ago. And with Ossoff being the only Democratic senator facing reelection in a state Trump won in 2024, defending his seat is critical for Democrats as they try to gain at least four seats elsewhere to reclaim a Senate majority.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who is also seeking reelection and is mentioned as a potential 2028 candidate, was in Georgia recently campaigning for Ossoff and Democratic nominee for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms.

He described them both as “fighters” and said Ossoff is making the right pitch for voters who "want someone that will disrupt the status quo and do what’s necessary to make their lives easier as the Trump administration raises prices on everything from gas to groceries.”

In 2017, Trump wasn't Ossoff’s initial focus

Ossoff was a political unknown when he decided to run for Congress in 2017. It was the first special congressional election of Trump’s presidency, an open seat because Trump nominated Tom Price as health secretary thinking the district that once sent House Speaker Newt Gingrich to Washington was safe for Republicans.

The young Democrat had been a congressional aide and started a production company focused on investigative documentaries. But Ossoff became a fundraising sensation as rank-and-file Democrats looked for a way to counter Trump. He led an initial all-party primary, supercharging the national attention on a runoff campaign.

“The atmosphere of disarray and gridlock and dysfunction and chaos in Washington doesn’t serve the American people, and it’s not just this administration or this White House — it’s career politicians in Congress,” he said.

Ossoff lost to Karen Handel, a Republican who previously served as Georgia secretary of state.

In 2020, a careful candidate and senator emerged

Running against Republican Sen. David Perdue in 2020, Ossoff continued a disciplined, wonkish approach. Georgia was not considered to be a top battleground, and what early attention it got was focused more on Democrat Raphael Warnock, running in a special Senate election against Sen. Kelly Loeffler. She was considered more vulnerable than Perdue after being appointed to replace Johnny Isakson, who retired because of health issues.

The dynamics changed when Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden carried Georgia and both Georgia Senate contests went to runoffs — with control of the chamber hanging in the balance. Trump tried to overturn Biden’s victory and began his yearslong fixation with falsely claiming U.S. elections are rigged, with Georgia as his prime example.

Still, throughout his 2020 campaign, Ossoff kept his focus on Perdue’s personal business dealings and the Republican reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. In one debate, Ossoff did not mention the president at all. In another, when asked about Trump, he answered broadly.

“That kind of leadership really only grows when there’s already been a destruction of faith in our political institutions," he said.

In 2026, an aggressive stump speech goes viral

As a senator, Ossoff has built relationships and a constituent services operation that span Georgia. He regularly announces appropriations for infrastructure, hospitals and other programs — including in heavily Republican areas. He led a congressional investigation into problems in Georgia’s child services programs, and he’s focused heavily on veterans’ care.

But his 2026 breakout has been anchored by a stump speech built around a withering take down of the president. He mocks Trump’s social media blitzes on Truth Social and proposals to put his face on U.S. money.

“When he’s not posting, he’s been trying to rob us. Have you seen it?” Ossoff asks, shifting to allegations of corruption and incompetence.

He ticks through Trumps’ lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, his idea for a restitution fund that could compensate Jan. 6 rioters and foreign business deals by his sons. “Prince Don and Prince Eric,” Ossoff calls them.

He blasts Trump’s tax cuts as tilted to the rich, his effort to shield the Jeffrey Epstein case files, and an Iran war that “no one voted for and no one can explain.”

“All this while you pay more for gas, for groceries, for healthcare,” he says.

Ossoff still nods to an overall “rot” in a “coin-operated” political system that goes beyond Trump. But the applause lines, which campaign aides cut and distribute across social media platforms in real time, are trained on Trump.

“He's a failed president and a national disgrace," Ossoff repeatedly says.

Election denial has been a backdrop for Ossoff's political career

Ossoff won his Senate seat in the midst of Trump's election denial in Georgia, and the president has revived the topic as he runs for reelection. Trump has directed his administration to investigate the 2020 election, and federal agents seized hundreds of boxes of ballots from Fulton County, a Democratic stronghold that includes Atlanta.

Refusing to acknowledge that Biden legitimately defeated Trump has become a litmus test for serving in the administration, one that Ossoff highlighted when questioning Jay Clayton, Trump's nominee for national intelligence director.

“Who won the 2020 election?” Ossoff said.

“I’m not going to get into that with you,” Clayton responded.

As Clayton continued to dodge, Ossoff said, “isn’t it humiliating to be unable to answer this question, to have to indulge the president’s delusions?”

Ossoff raised $20 million during the second quarter of 2026 and had $42 million left to spend. Collins raised about $2.1 million and had about the same amount in his coffers. And a 20-to-1 money advantage certainly helps a politician trying to stay in office, and in the spotlight.

Smith offered one caution about Ossoff.

“You can’t live off one great speech or one viral exchange,” she said. “You have to prove you can perform in every format." The question, she said, is how someone goes "from flavor of the month to a more serious national political figure.”

Trump shifts his tone on Jimmy Carter while grappling with Iran, inflation and his own legacy

Will Weissert, Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 13:15:01 +0000

Jimmy Carter used to be one of President Donald Trump ’s favorite political targets, a catchall foil for feckless Democrats that he could jeer at to make himself look strong and decisive.

But lately, Trump’s sentiments on the 39th president have become more wistful as he faces some of the same challenges the late Carter did.

Those include the war in Iran with no end in sight — and now escalating as the U.S. moves to control the Strait of Hormuz — and inflation, a drag on the economy Trump hasn't tamed despite long insisting that his business background would wipe it out.

The comparison seems to be on Trump’s mind, too. Asked last month why he didn’t dispatch U.S. Special Forces into Iran to forcibly remove its enriched uranium, he responded, “I didn’t feel like being Jimmy Carter.”

That recalled the failed 1980 raid to free U.S. hostages that killed eight American servicemen. Trump also said in March that the unsuccessful mission “cost them the election" against Ronald Reagan in 1980, sounding cognizant of political realities in a way he didn't when using Carter as a punchline.

The shift in tone coincides with Trump's increased focus on his personal legacy and comes as the parallels between the two presidents become harder to ignore.

“I think it is dawning on him — it’s getting through even his thick skull — that he’s kicked over a hornet’s nest and his presidency might be remembered for some of the same things Jimmy Carter’s presidency is,” said Jonathan Alter, author of “His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life.”

Despite some similarities, the two had glaring differences

Asked about Trump's change in tone on Carter and the two facing overlapping challenges, White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said, “Trump will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon” and “remains laser-focused on implementing his proven economic agenda to lower costs.”

“The president is a one-of-a-kind leader who will always unapologetically advance America’s interests," Wales said in a statement. "The only legacy he is concerned with is making America greater than ever before.”

Kori Schake, a former member of George W. Bush’s National Security Council, said she doesn't think Trump is reassessing Carter. “He doesn’t stitch facts together and create theories," she said.

Still, Trump's more recent comments are a long way from his 2024 reelection campaign, when he routinely called Joe Biden “the worst” president who made Carter look “brilliant” by comparison. Trump still frequently mentions Carter, who died two years ago at age 100, but usually to incorrectly suggest that he was wary of mail-in ballots.

Other disparities between the two are legion.

Carter was married to his wife, Rosalynn, for 77 years, was deeply religious and pledged to “never knowingly lie to the American people.” Trump is twice divorced, relishes cursing publicly and offers a never-ending onslaught of falsehoods.

As president, Carter placed his family's peanut business in a blind trust. Control of the Trump Organization has transferred to Trump's sons, but the president took in nearly $1.2 billion from his crypto businesses last year while not being shy about turning his presidency into a major source of personal benefit in other ways.

Speaking in 1977, Carter declared, “We are now free of that inordinate fear of communism.” Trump has seized on primary wins by progressive Democrats to constantly stoke new fears about communism.

Carter also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Trump hasn't, despite declaring himself more deserving than any of the award's past recipients.

The two have inflation and Iran in common

While inflation plagued both presidents, Carter had it much worse, facing a peak inflation rate of 14.7% in April 1980. Consumer prices rose 4.2% this May from a year earlier — a three-year high — and though they fell sharpl y from May to June, that decline included lower gas prices fueled by a U.S.-Iran ceasefire. That deal is now in tatters, driving up oil prices again.

Trump suggested he didn't think about Americans' financial woes when it comes to Iran, a war he started in conjunction with Israel in February. More recently, he shrugged off inflation concerns. But resolution has proved tricky and U.S. attacks have intensified anew after Iran's attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Like Trump, Carter was also bedeviled by the strait, declaring during his 1980 State of the Union address that the situation “demands the participation of all those who rely on oil from the Middle East and who are concerned with global peace and stability.”

Another Trump-Carter parallel was the Democrat having considered military action to seize Kharg Island, though he ultimately decided against it so as not to jeopardize the hostages. Trump targeted the island with U.S. strikes early in the war, looking to thwart Iranian oil exports, and has threatened it again.

Schake, a senior fellow and director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, noted a key difference was “while the Carter administration gave serious consideration to attacking Kharg Island, the reason they didn’t do it was they didn’t want to be at war with Iran."

"And we’re already at war with Iran,” she said.

Alter said Iran tried to hurt Carter's reelection chances and raised the possibility that they may do the same to Trump's Republican Party ahead of the November midterm elections.

“These people are master diplomats, and they proved that during the Carter administration," Alter said. "They’re proving that again. They’re really good at rope-a-dope.”

Trump now talks up presidential history

The president has lately name-checked many of his predecessors, praising William McKinley 's support for tariffs and Teddy Roosevelt as a “great he-man.” Trump said a key reason for reaching the now-imperiled June ceasefire with Iran was to avoid the “economic catastrophe " that befell Herbert Hoover.

“I’m a student of a lot of history,” Trump said this week.

During his first term, Trump frequently compared his own populist streak to Andrew Jackson's. He still praises Jackson but has more recently extolled many past presidential records, including those of Democrats like Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Trump even listed some of Carter's accomplishments on the “ Walk of Fame” he installed along the White House Colonnade despite displays for other Democrats, such as Barack Obama and Biden, offering biting attacks.

“Trump is thinking of his legacy, and he might have thought that attacking Iran would have enhanced it. But, in fact, it will seriously hurt,” James P. Pfiffner, a professor emeritus at George Mason University and author of several books including “The Character Factor: How We Judge Our Presidents,” said via email.

After his presidency, Alter said, Carter asked Trump for a donation to help build Carter's presidential library. Trump later wrote that Carter wanted $5 million, but he didn't answer him.

Then, during Trump's first term, Carter wrote the president a letter and Trump called to thank him, eventually leaving Carter with the impression that he might serve as a special envoy to China — an offer that never actually materialized.

“If he had learned anything from Carter’s experience — and listened to predictions about the Strait of Hormuz — he would have hesitated," Pfiffner said of war with Iran. “But he ignored lessons of history and geography.”

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This story has been updated to CORRECT the spelling of the Carter biographer to Jonathan Alter.

Ryan Fox matches major championship record with a 62 in the British Open

Doug Ferguson, Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 13:39:53 +0000

Ryan Fox added his name Saturday to the growing list of players who share the major championship scoring record when he became the third player this week with a record-tying 62 in the British Open at Royal Birkdale.

Fox started early with barely a trace of wind, and he took advantage. He made five birdies on the front nine, and birdied two of his last three holes for 62 on the par-70 Birkdale links. Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns each had 62 some 20 minutes apart on Friday.

There now have been eight rounds of 62 in major championship history, half of them at Royal Birkdale. Branden Grace was the first to set the record with a 62 at Royal Birkdale in 2017.

Fox was in a pot bunker off the fairway on the 18th and still managed to find the green, leaving a birdie putt of nearly 50 feet for a 61. He left it short by about 5 feet and holed the par putt.

“When I got to 6 under through 14 I thought, ‘Oh, I’ve got a chance.' I would have liked to give myself a birdie chance at the last, but happy to make par,” Fox said.

He played alongside Xander Schauffele, the only player with 62 twice in a major. Schauffele and Rickie Fowler each shot 62 in the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club — like Herbert and Burns, they were playing two groups apart — and Schauffele and Shane Lowry each shot 62 in the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla.

Haeran Ryu set the record in women's majors last week with a 60 in the final round of the Evian Championship, which has yielded all the top scores in LPGA majors since it was designated one 13 years ago.

Schauffele is the only player with 62 in a major to win. Fox, who made the cut with one shot to spared, finished atop the leaderboard with Herbert, who was still more than an hour away from teeing off in the third round.

The links have rarely been this brown and fast, but it's the wind — or lack of it — that has allowed for such low scoring this week.

Fox, one of the strongest players in golf with his rugby heritage, leaned on his driver for much of the round and set up good scoring chances.

“The game plan was to be aggressive,” Fox said. “I was aggressive on a lot of good wedge shots. Pretty happy with 62 at the end.”

All but one of his nine birdies — Fox made his lone bogey on the 13th with a drive into a pot bunker — came from about 10 feet or closer. His drive on the 321-yard fifth hole was about 30 feet from the hole, and his most important shot was a wedge from the rough on the par-5 17th that rolled out to about 4 feet.

Herbert also had a bogey on his card during his 62 on Friday.

There have been weeks of soft conditions or little wind — two elements that lead to low scores — at previous majors. Seven major courses — three of them links courses — have yielded two rounds of 63 or lower in the same championship.

Royal Birkdale is the first to give up three of them — with half of the field Saturday and the final round still to come.

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Former Spain defender Capdevila asks Trump for help getting into the US for the World Cup final

Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 13:51:11 +0000

Former Spain defender Joan Capdevila has asked U.S. President Donald Trump for help getting into the United States to watch Spain face Argentina in Sunday's World Cup final, after being denied authorization to travel a decade after playing in an exhibition game in Iran.

In 2010, Capdevila helped Spain win its only men's World Cup title, starting in the final against the Netherlands, and he was a member of the team that won the 2008 European Championship.

But he is worried he will miss Sunday's final and addressed Trump in a post on X, saying his application for visa-free entry via the country’s Electronic System for Travel Authorization ( ESTA ) was denied. Visitors from select countries who want to enter the U.S. without a visa apply via ESTA.

"“I NEED HELP @realDonaldTrump!” Capdevila posted on X on Friday night, adding that his ESTA application was denied.

Capdevila also sent a separate message to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and tagged the Spanish government’s ministry of sport in his post.

The 48-year-old Capdevila wrote that he wants to be at the game in New Jersey “with all my 2010 teammates” to cheer on the current Spain squad.

Ten years ago, Capdevila was part of a Spanish La Liga legends exhibition team that faced a team of all-stars from Iran in Tehran.

The U.S. State Department allows travelers from “visa waiver” countries to enter with an ESTA. The program's rules specify instances in which travelers are not eligible for ESTA — one of which being if they've traveled to Iran after March 1, 2011 — and if so they “must obtain a visa prior to traveling to the United States.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which runs the visa waiver program and ESTA, has been asked for comment. ___

Venezuela earthquakes death toll surpasses 5,000

Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 13:24:47 +0000

The death toll from the two powerful earthquakes that shook Venezuela last month rose to 5,069 late on Friday, local authorities said.

The interim government of President Delcy Rodriguez added in a statement that the number of injured remains unchanged at 16,740, as in the past 11 days.

Ongoing recovery and debris-clearing operations have led to the increase in the death toll, particularly in the coastal state of La Guaira, the hardest hit by the quakes close to the Caribbean Sea. A total of 1,331 aftershocks had been recorded by Friday.

Venezuela's government says 856 buildings are damaged and 190 collapsed completely since the 7.2 and 7.5 quakes on June 24. Hundreds of other types of structures, such as bridges and roads, were also affected.

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

Takeaways from the AP-NORC poll of more than 1,000 Jewish Americans

Linley Sanders, Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 13:12:18 +0000

The Associated Press surveyed more than 1,000 Jewish adults in the U.S. to better understand their views on Israel's military actions in Gaza, their opinions of the political parties and their experiences with prejudice in the United States.

The survey of 1,022 Jewish adults — including people who identify as Jewish by religion and religiously unaffiliated people who identify as Jewish through culture, ethnicity or family background — offers a rare detailed accounting of a key demographic that sits at the very center of some of the nation’s most divisive political debates.

Here are five takeaways from the AP-NORC survey:

Jewish adults have complicated views about Israel and the war in Gaza

Among Jews with a religious affiliation, views on Israel’s recent military actions are far from uniform or uncritical.

About 7 in 10 Jewish adults overall identify as Jewish when asked about their religious affiliation. The rest, about 3 in 10 Jewish adults, say they are atheists, agnostics, or have no particular religious affiliation, but still identify as Jewish in other ways.

While about 8 in 10 of those with a religious affiliation say Israel’s immediate military response to Hamas’ attack on October 7 was “justified,” only about half say Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza are justified. Among Jewish adults without a religious affiliation, only about half saw Israel's immediate response as justifiable. Now, only about 2 in 10 say the ongoing military operations are acceptable.

About one-quarter of Jewish adults with a religious association believe Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, an accusation that’s been leveled by some major human rights organizations and a team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations. That accusation has been vehemently denied by Israel and the U.S. government. Roughly 4 in 10 Jewish adults without a religious affiliation say Israel has committed genocide.

Many Jewish adults feel unsafe in the United States

About 6 in 10 Jewish adults say prejudice against Jewish people is an “extremely” or “very” serious problem in the United States today.

About one-third of Jewish adults in the survey say they feel “very” or “somewhat” safe as a Jewish person in the U.S. today, while about one-third feel “very” or “somewhat” unsafe. The remaining roughly 3 in 10 say they feel neither safe nor unsafe.

A significant share of Jewish adults, about 3 in 10, say they or someone in their household has experienced physical assault, verbal abuse, online harassment or damaged property because of their Jewish background over the last year, according to the survey.

The survey points to how Jewish adults’ attitudes toward their own personal safety have changed over a relatively short period as more Americans became critical of the United States’ close alliance with Israel and the war in Gaza. The poll found that Jewish adults who feel a close emotional tie to Israel are particularly likely to feel unsafe in the country today.

Most American Jews don’t feel politicians are supporting Jewish people

Few Jewish adults believe that President Donald Trump — or the Democratic or Republican parties — are doing a good job supporting Jewish people in the U.S.

Only about 2 in 10 Jewish adults say Trump supports Jewish people in this country “extremely” or “very” well. That’s similar to the slight share who find the Republican Party and the Democratic Party highly supportive, but Jewish adults are more likely to say the Democratic Party is at least “somewhat” supportive.

Americans overall are more likely than Jewish adults to see Trump as “extremely” or “very” supportive of Jewish people in the United States. About 3 in 10 U.S. adults say Trump is highly supportive of Jewish people, compared to about 2 in 10 Jewish adults.

The poll also found most Jewish adults have negative views of Trump. About 7 in 10 Jewish adults have a “very” or “somewhat” unfavorable opinion of Trump, compared to about 3 in 10 who have a favorable view.

Jewish adults are divided over whether protesting Israel is a form of antisemitism

Protests around events conducted in support of Israel became more common following the backlash over Israel’s military action in Gaza.

The war in Gaza began with Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed roughly 1,200 people, most of them civilians. Israel responded with a yearslong counterattack that killed more than 73,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the territory's Hamas-run government. Its casualty figures are viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and international organizations but don’t distinguish between civilians and militants.

The poll found that about half of Jewish adults say protesting an event that is supportive of Israel is not a form of antisemitism, but roughly 4 in 10 say it is. About 1 in 10 are uncertain.

Jewish adults are more unified in deeming some actions as definitively antisemitic. The overwhelming majority say vandalizing synagogues or Jewish-owned businesses because of Israel’s actions is antisemitism. The same goes for denying the reality or scope of the Holocaust, putting responsibility for Israel’s actions on Jewish people in the United States or saying Israel shouldn’t exist as a Jewish state.

Support for Israel is less of a priority for younger Jewish adults

Support for Israel is a key component of the religious identity of many older Jewish adults in the United States, but younger Jewish adults appear less likely to prioritize it.

About half of older religious Jewish adults — those 45 and older — say that supporting Israel is “extremely” or “very” important for their Jewish identity. By contrast, only about 4 in 10 younger religious Jewish adults emphasize support for Israel.

Younger Jewish adults are more likely to prioritize other forms of connection, like celebrating Jewish holidays. About 7 in 10 Jewish adults under 45 say celebrating Jewish holidays is at least “very” important to their Jewish identity, compared to about half of older Jewish adults.

Wildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota pushes farther into the US and engulfs DC in haze

Philip Marcelo, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:29:45 +0000

Millions of people in the Great Lakes, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states muddled through another day of unhealthy air from uncontrolled wildfires on Friday.

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.

The US and Iran have blown past red lines as they lurch back toward all-out war

Joseph Krauss, Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 09:35:45 +0000

A week after the United States and Iran signed a preliminary deal aimed at ending the war, an Iranian drone slammed into a cargo ship sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.

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.

Pop culture’s 'reverent irreverence': How artists blur irony, sincerity and religion

Krysta Fauria, Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 11:34:53 +0000

Indie musician Alex Cameron is known for his transgressive lyrics. So when he started singing passionately about Jesus during his concert in a trendy Los Angeles neighborhood, the crowd seemed unsure if he expected them to laugh or worship.

“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.

Texas Hill Country floods test new warning systems after last year’s deadly disaster

Christopher L. Keller And Rebecca Boone, Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 11:15:23 +0000

After deadly floods killed more than 100 people in Texas' Hill Country last July, officials vowed major changes in hopes of preventing the failures that contributed to the high death toll. They promised better flood warning systems, tighter safety rules for children's camps and improvements to the state's water infrastructure.

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.

Indian police forcibly hospitalize a prominent Cockroach Party activist on hunger strike

Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 05:20:10 +0000

Police forcibly transferred a prominent activist to a hospital in New Delhi on Saturday after his health deteriorated during a 20-day hunger strike tied to India’s viral Cockroach Janta Party movement for education reform.

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.

Watching Gulf low as weekend storm chances stick around. Here’s what to expect.

Candace Campos — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 09:40:39 +0000

A developing area of low pressure in the eastern Gulf remains the biggest weather story this weekend. While the system only has a low chance of becoming tropical, it will continue to influence Central Florida’s forecast by keeping rain and storm chances elevated through Monday.

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.

D-backs lose to Cardinals after star Ketel Marte fails to use ABS system on blown call

David Brandt, Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 05:56:47 +0000

Major League Baseball's new Automated Ball/Strike system was implemented to help players challenge pitches that they feel were not called correctly.

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.

___

US and Iran escalate strikes across Mideast

Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 04:11:26 +0000

The United States and Iran exchanged strikes aimed at infrastructure and military targets on Saturday as their battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensified.

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.

___

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.

Boone faults himself for leaving in Cole, who gives up go-ahead homer to Muncy in Dodgers' win

Ronald Blum, Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 04:32:55 +0000

Gerrit Cole had just walked Mookie Betts leading off the seventh inning with the Yankees leading by one run when Aaron Boone walked slowly to the mound.

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.

___

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

Cut the number of choices you make each day. Your brain will thank you

Albert Stumm, Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 04:03:12 +0000

Jeans that fit perfectly. The ideal Netflix show for a Tuesday night. Your one and only soulmate. Modern life promises that with enough options, you will happily find the best of everything.

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

International visitors came to the United States for soccer. Some saw beyond the clichés, too

Sarah Raza, Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 04:02:28 +0000

From across borders and oceans, they came to the United States to watch soccer. Along the way, they have encountered American classics: the first bites of Raising Cane's chicken, wide-eyed tours through the outsized commercial landscape that is a Buc-ee's travel plaza, and the realization that pretty much everything American is enormous.

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.

US lets Hong Kong emergency declaration lapse, lifting some sanctions as Trump order stays

Kanis Leung, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 16:45:03 +0000

The United States said Saturday it did not renew a national emergency declaration over Hong Kong, leading to the lifting of partial sanctions, but it said an executive order that revoked Hong Kong's special trading status remains in place.

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.

Shohei Ohtani had lubricant injected into his knee and is likely to pitch Wednesday at Philadelphia

Ronald Blum, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 21:42:15 +0000

Shohei Ohtani had a lubricant injected into his left knee, but the Dodgers two-way star did not have fluid drained, Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said Friday.

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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Juvenile dead after shooting reported at Orlando apartment complex

Haley Coomes, Anthony Talcott — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 17:19:11 +0000

On Friday, emergency crews responded to what they’re calling a “medical emergency” at the Stella West apartment complex on Silver Star Road in Orlando.

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.

‘Super Speeder’ hit 135 mph before capture in Osceola County, deputies say

Christie Zizo, Tylisa Hampton — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:11:25 +0000

A suspected reckless driver in Osceola County reached speeds of 135 mph before sheriff’s deputies were finally able to stop him earlier this month.

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.

Booking photo for Stone Ivia Mwaki, 23

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.

Max Muncy hits 2-run homer off Gerrit Cole in 7th to lift Dodgers over Yankees 2-1 in series opener

Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 02:09:56 +0000

Max Muncy hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning on Gerrit Cole's 103rd and final pitch, lifting the Los Angeles Dodgers over the New York Yankees 2-1 on Friday night in their first game in the Bronx since winning the 2024 World Series.

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

License revoked for boarding school in Utah where Paris Hilton says she was abused as a teen

Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 00:11:53 +0000

Utah revoked another campus license on Friday for the boarding school where Paris Hilton said she was abused as a teenager, marking a major victory in the hotel heiress’ yearslong effort to get the school shut down.

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.

Inside Seminole County’s vote-by-mail count: New system will audit every ballot

Alex Cook — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 01:36:18 +0000

With Florida’s Aug. 18 primary just over a month away, real vote-by-mail ballots are already coming back to Seminole County.

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.

Trump urges Darline Graham to run for full Senate term as funeral scheduled for Lindsey Graham

Meg Kinnard And Seung Min Kim, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 16:02:12 +0000

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.

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

Federal appeals court rules that New Jersey's assault weapons ban is unconstitutional

Josh Kelety, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:50:37 +0000

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that New Jersey's bans on assault firearms and magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds are unconstitutional.

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.

250,000 eelgrass plants are transforming East Lake Toho. Here’s why it matters

Paul Giorgio — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 10:31:59 +0000

A team of biologists is quietly working beneath the surface of East Lake Tohopekaliga (Toho) in Kissimmee, scrub brushes in hand, to restore one of central Florida’s most important freshwater lakes.

Environmental team from Sea & Shoreline inspect plantings in Lake Toho

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.

Josie Whitling prepares to dive into Lake Toho

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.

Divers clean the cages to remove algae.

“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.”

Eelgrass growing inside a protective cage

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.

PVC poles designate the area where new eelgrass plantings are taking hold

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.

Sea & Shoreline divers clean and inspect the protective cages in Lake Toho

“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.

Ben Collins, Conservation Florida

“‘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.”

David Crowley restarts Wisconsin governor bid after Sara Rodriguez quits race over finance problems

Thomas Beaumont, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 16:01:30 +0000

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley plans to jump back into the Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor after Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez abandoned her campaign for the state's top office Friday amid a campaign finance scandal.

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.

___

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

Aaron Judge's rib not fully healed, Yankees captain still not cleared for baseball activities

Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:16:09 +0000

Aaron Judge's broken rib has not completely healed, and the New York Yankees captain still hasn't been cleared to resume baseball activities.

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.

___

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

Lionel Messi speaks in advance of World Cup final, says Argentina 'will give it our all'

Tim Reynolds, Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 00:32:10 +0000

The lineup of sports legends simultaneously on the stage at Fanatics Fest on Friday night was almost absurd. There was Tom Brady, the greatest Super Bowl champion of all time. There was Novak Djokovic, the winner of more men's Grand Slam tennis tournaments than anyone else. There was Kevin Durant, the only four-time Olympic gold medalist in men's basketball history.

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.”

___

A Texas prosecutor reveals new details in an ICE killing of a Houston father

Safiyah Riddle, Associated Press — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 00:24:36 +0000

A federal prosecutor in Texas shared new details Thursday evening about the moments before an immigration officer shot and killed a Mexican national and longtime U.S. resident in early July. The disclosure complicates the government’s earlier claim that the man struck an ICE vehicle before he was shot.

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.

Men sue hospital after DNA tests showed they were switched at birth 38 years ago

Mikella Schuettler, Thomas Peipert And Gene Johnson, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 22:38:01 +0000

The families of two men who discovered through DNA tests that they were switched at birth 38 years ago are accusing a North Dakota hospital of robbing them of the lives they were supposed to lead.

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.”

___

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.

Texas floods have left high waters and a big cleanup job after hundreds of people are rescued

Jesse Bedayn And Dave Collins, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 14:36:24 +0000

First responders in storm-battered Texas again rushed to save people trapped in high waters Friday, as more heavy rain widened the danger from floods that have killed at least two people and left hundreds more in need of rescue.

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.

US cancels automatic protections for imperiled animals as critics warn of extinctions

Matthew Brown, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 23:41:13 +0000

The U.S. Interior Department on Friday canceled a rule meant to protect plants and animals that are determined to be threatened with extinction, the latest step by President Donald Trump’s administration to dismantle key provisions of the landmark Endangered Species Act at the behest of industry.

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.

MLB restricts dugout iPad use to prevent AI help with strategy. Ottavino says Mets were involved

Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 17:52:40 +0000

Major League Baseball is restricting iPad usage in dugouts to prevent the tablets from running artificial intelligence to help make strategy decisions, and former reliever Adam Ottavino said the New York Mets' use of technology helped prompt the move.

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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‘Null and void:’ Florida AG warns Winter Garden over park signs

Anthony Talcott — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:00:01 +0000

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has issued a warning and deadline after the city of Winter Garden reportedly posted signs at a local park.

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]

DeChambeau gets 2-shot penalty in dramatic late-night British Open ruling

Steve Douglas, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 22:04:25 +0000

Bryson DeChambeau was given a two-shot penalty after his second round at the British Open on Friday that dropped the American star out of the final group and raised initial doubts about whether he would show up on the weekend at Royal Birkdale.

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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Wreckage of sunken vessel found as 2 people remain missing after San Francisco boat tragedy

Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 16:10:59 +0000

Police discovered Friday the wreckage of a boat that sank this week in the San Francisco Bay after recovering the body of a missing person the day before.

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.

DeChambeau penalized 2 shots at British Open after Herbert and Burns shoot 62s in wild 2nd round

Doug Ferguson, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 09:03:53 +0000

The British Open came to life Friday when Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns took their place in history by tying the major championship record with 62s, and Bryson DeChambeau was penalized two shots after his round for inadvertently improving the path of his swing.

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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Scheffler rues missed putts but happy with his game after tee-to-green clinic at the British Open

Doug Ferguson, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 23:10:21 +0000

Scottie Scheffler put on a tee-to-green clinic in his second round at the British Open, one he says bodes well for his chances of keeping hold of the shiny claret jug.

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.

___

Federal judge bars Trump administration from using obscure clause to make huge funding cuts

Michael Casey, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 23:05:57 +0000

A federal judge in Boston on Friday ruled the Trump administration can’t use an obscure clause relating to agency priorities to make billions of dollars in funding cuts.

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.

Bizarre body wash heist reported at Lakeland Walgreens store, sheriff says

Anthony Talcott — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 23:05:48 +0000

A 47-year-old man has been arrested yet again after a body wash heist was reported late last month, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

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.”

Lionel Messi once held baby Lamine Yamal in his arms. Now they will battle for the World Cup title

Joseph Wilson, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 11:29:23 +0000

Almost two decades ago, photographer Joan Monfort didn't think much of his photo shoot of a teenage Lionel Messi bathing a cute baby boy in a plastic bathtub. Not until the remarkable twist of fate became clear years later, when that infant blossomed into Lamine Yamal.

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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AP Exclusive: ICE officer in Maine shooting has history of violent behavior, family and records say

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 22:58:40 +0000

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine this week is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood and never should have been given a badge and gun to patrol American streets, several of his close relatives told The Associated Press.

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.

Appeals court says 28-year sentence is too lenient for Libyan militant convicted in Benghazi attack

Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 21:53:42 +0000

A 28-year prison sentence is too lenient for a Libyan militant who was convicted of terrorism-related charges in the 2012 attacks on U.S. compounds in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

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.

The Latest: DHS Secretary Mullin says he’ll chase voter fraud after Trump revives election claims

Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 12:29:07 +0000

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin pledged to aggressively pursue voter fraud cases at the White House complex on Friday after President Donald Trump revived debunked election theories in his primetime speech Thursday night.

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.

Clara Ester, activist who rushed to Martin Luther King Jr. after he was shot, dies at 78

Travis Loller And Kristin M. Hall, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 18:54:14 +0000

Clara Ester, an activist who as a 20-year-old college student rushed to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s side when he was shot, has died.

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 potential tropical development in Eastern Gulf this weekend

Jordan Patrick — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 21:56:20 +0000

Shower and thunderstorm chances continue to be elevated into this weekend with the introduction of tropical moisture over Central Florida from a blossoming mid-level low pressure system off the coast of Southwest Florida. As this mid-level low moves north towards the Big Bend, the National Hurricane Center says there is a chance for a surface low to form and develop tropical characteristics over the weekend. The amount of rainfall we see this weekend will depend on how organized this low pressure system gets.

Watching for Organization

The more organized this low becomes, the less rainfall Central Florida will see this weekend.

If this low remains weak and disorganized, Central Florida will experience higher rain chances over the 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 the area of low pressure becomes better organized, drier weather is expected for Central Florida.

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.

A charged up sea breeze thanks to added moisture will allow for off and on downpours across Central Florida.

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.

Scattered downpours expected Sunday afternoon.

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.

Pirates-Guardians game postponed due to poor air quality caused by wildfire smoke

Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 21:12:57 +0000

The game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cleveland Guardians scheduled for Friday night has been postponed due to air quality concerns because of wildfire smoke from Canada and northern Minnesota.

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.

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Paying for early access to Trump's Truth Social could raise big money - and major ethical issues

Bernard Condon, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 21:40:15 +0000

America’s first billionaire president may soon be profiting from a new line of business tied to his office: charging access for a first peek at certain posts on his Truth Social platform.

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.

Florida mom arrested after naked child found wandering near poop-coated home

Anthony Talcott — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 21:39:02 +0000

A 41-year-old Palm Coast woman was arrested Thursday after deputies say three children were found living in unsafe, unsanitary conditions — including one child who was reported wandering outside naked.

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.

Trump says these documents prove his false claims of election fraud. Here's what they really say

Jill Colvin And Eric Tucker, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 21:21:28 +0000

President Donald Trump released a trove of documents during a primetime address to the nation that allies had hyped as a smoking gun that would prove his long-debunked allegations of mass voter fraud.

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.

___

Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi, Ali Swenson, Katie Vogel and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

New Smyrna Beach may drop city parking permits, adopt Volusia County pass system

Molly Reed — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 21:23:07 +0000

Parking at the beach in New Smyrna Beach could soon get a whole lot simpler. The city is looking to eliminate its own parking permits and start accepting Volusia County’s beach parking passes — meaning residents and visitors may only need one pass instead of two.

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.

Landslide in China's Chongqing kills at least 8 and leaves 34 missing

Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 05:26:10 +0000

A landslide Friday on the outskirts of the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing killed at least eight people and left 34 missing, burying residential buildings and forcing more than 1,100 people to evacuate, according to local officials and state media reports.

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.

___

AP video producer Wu Jia contributed to this report from Chongqing.

Orange County: Buena Vista Place apartment ‘remains posted as unsafe’

Mike Valente — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 21:08:37 +0000

An apartment building in Windermere that was condemned last week after a lightning strike sparked a fire remains unsafe, according to an Orange County spokesperson.

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.

Man charged with hate crimes after confrontation with 'Today' show's Melvin at NBC studio

Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 16:07:03 +0000

A 40-year-old New York man faces hate crime charges following a confrontation with “Today" show host Craig Melvin at NBC's studio in Manhattan.

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.

Uncertainty clouds the forecast on whether wildfire smoke will affect the World Cup final

Stephen Whyno, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 16:57:25 +0000

Mikel Merino can smell and see the smoke from the Canadian wildfires that are making for hazy conditions across large parts of the U.S., including northern New Jersey where he and Spain are set to face Argentina in the World Cup final on Sunday.

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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Lettuce at Taco Bell in 5 states confirmed as a source of diarrhea-causing parasite

Bill Barrow, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 11:46:35 +0000

Federal health officials have identified lettuce from Mexico served at Taco Bell locations across five U.S. states as a source of a widespread outbreak of diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora.

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.

NFL suspends Arizona Cardinals executive indefinitely for violating league’s gambling policy

Rob Maaddi, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:03:02 +0000

The NFL has suspended Arizona Cardinals personnel executive Ryan Gold indefinitely for violating the league’s gambling policy.

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

Bodycam video shows Seminole County assistant principal’s DUI arrest on e-bike

Catherine Silver — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:38:52 +0000

Body camera footage obtained by News 6 captures the moment a Seminole County assistant principal was arrested on DUI charges after deputies say he was riding an e-bike while intoxicated.

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.

Kenneth Bevan, 40

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.

Jake Bennett allows 1 hit in 6 innings as Red Sox extend win streak to 10 with 10-0 win over Rays

Brendan Mcgair, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:23:49 +0000

Rookie Jake Bennett tossed six innings of one-hit ball, and Masataka Yoshida and Carlos Narvaez each homered as the Boston Red Sox extended their winning streak to 10 games with a 10-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday in the first game of a doubleheader.

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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Club-throwing Jon Rahm gets conduct warning at British Open

Doug Ferguson, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:28:15 +0000

Jon Rahm was given a code-of-conduct warning Friday in the British Open for throwing his club after a poor tee shot on the par-3 15th hole, the third conduct ruling in the majors this year.

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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Chinese AI model takes US tech industry by surprise with abilities rivaling Claude and ChatGPT

Matt O'Brien, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 18:28:36 +0000

Another powerful new artificial intelligence model from China took the U.S. tech industry by surprise Friday, the latest sign that Chinese startups that publicly release their “open-source” AI technology are making the California titans of AI sweat.

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.

Train comes off the tracks in College Park neighborhood of Orlando

Anthony Talcott — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:00:44 +0000

A train came off the track in the College Park neighborhood of Orlando on Friday afternoon, News 6 has discovered.

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.

One of the cars was seen leaning over

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.

The incident was reported near Yates Street and Beardall Road

No additional information has been provided at this time.

Brenda Fricker, the first Irish actress to win an Oscar, for 'My Left Foot,' dies at 81

Danica Kirka, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 14:31:04 +0000

Brenda Fricker, who became the first Irish woman to win an Academy Award for her role as Bridget Fagan Brown in the 1989 film “My Left Foot,’’ has died. She was 81.

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.

FAA says Boeing can resume self-certifying its jets as airworthy

Josh Funk, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 18:44:51 +0000

Boeing will be allowed to take responsibility for certifying all of its 737 Max and 787 planes starting next week, the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday.

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.

Bill Belichick's 1st college team struggled at UNC. He's hoping lessons learned lead to more success

Aaron Beard, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 17:56:58 +0000

NFL coaching great Bill Belichick spent a bumpy debut season at North Carolina trying to blend a roster full of newcomers and adjusting to life in the college ranks.

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.”

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

US oil firms sign deals with Iraq to develop alternative shipping routes

Christopher Rugaber And Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 19:36:23 +0000

U.S. companies signed roughly $60 billion in agreements and partnerships with the Iraqi government Friday, including deals intended to create alternative routes for shipping oil out of the Persian Gulf.

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.

Iranian strike damages a Kuwait desalination plant, exposing water vulnerability in dry Mideast

Annika Hammerschlag, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 12:36:49 +0000

Iranian strikes on Friday hit a power and water desalination plant in Kuwait, damaging one of the key sources of drinking water in the small desert nation.

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.

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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 face divided loyalties ahead of Spain-Argentina World Cup final

Débora Rey, Associated Press — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 19:21:38 +0000

Cervantes and Borges. Tortilla and asado. Flamenco and tango.

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.

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AP correspondent Suman Naishadham in Madrid contributed to this report.

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