Trump bestowed the military's highest honor on Marine Corps Maj. James Capers Jr. and Army Maj. Nicholas Dockery. He also awarded it posthumously to Marine Corps Col. John W. Ripley, who died in 2008.

“These are great men, great people,” Trump said at the ceremony. “We thank you and we will never, ever forget you.”

Capers led a selfless rescue after a deadly ambush

Capers, 88, was honored for risking his life to ensure the safety of his fellow Marines after they were ambushed in Vietnam in 1967. What was supposed to be a reconnaissance mission to find a suspected North Vietnamese base camp turned into days of bloody fighting in dense jungle, according to his citation.

On the fourth day, his team was ambushed and outnumbered by Vietnamese fighters. A mine explosion left Capers with a broken leg and serious wounds to his abdomen.

“After a shot of morphine, Jim asserted command of the firefight,” Trump said, drawing on accounts of the mission. “He took over like nobody’s ever seen before.”

Capers called in air support to repel the ambush. When a rescue helicopter arrived, Capers loaded all the wounded men before climbing aboard.

Trump shared a moving moment with Capers as the president pinned the Medal of Honor around his neck, clasping Capers by the shoulders and pulling him forward to make sure the medal was straight and level against his chest. Capers had been keeping a straight face but broke into a smile when Trump grinned.

Ripley single-handedly laid explosives to destroy key bridge

Ripley was honored for a heroic effort to halt the advance of North Vietnamese forces by blowing up a crucial bridge in 1972.

A force of more than 30,000 North Vietnamese soldiers and 200 tanks was approaching the bridge in the village of Dong Ha when Ripley single-handedly placed 500 pounds of explosives to bring it down, according to his citation.

Over the course of five hours, Ripley climbed back and forth along the bridge's steel beams, exposing himself to enemy fire as he placed the charges.

“John completed not one, not two, but five such trips,” Trump said, calling him a “very strong guy.”

Ripley said a prayer, then detonated the bridge, sending it into the water below and halting the North Vietnamese advance, Trump said.

Ripley died in 2008. His three sons and other family members attended the ceremony.

Dockery rescued wounded soldiers before coordinating rescue

Dockery's platoon members were guarding a compound in Afghanistan's Kapisa Province in 2012 when they were ambushed by an estimated 150 Taliban fighters. He raced across open ground to rally his scattered team then set out to find missing soldiers, according to his citation.

After carrying a wounded soldier away from gunfire, he spotted two enemy fighters heading toward another wounded soldier in an alley. Dockery killed the two fighters before performing CPR on the American soldier to get him breathing again, his citation said. Dockery called in mortar support, then shielded the wounded soldier from the blasts with his own body.

After hours of fighting in the close urban setting, Dockery used smoke grenades to signal enemy positions for American gunships. He refused to leave the village until all the wounded soldiers were taken to safety.

“You were the last man to depart the battlefield that day," Trump told him, “and you left it a legend and a hero."

Chase's father, John David Schwallier, confirmed to The New York Times she died from complications of bacterial meningitis and a blood infection. She had been homeless in Los Angeles with her boyfriend near the hospital where she died, he told the newspaper.

TMZ first reported Wednesday that Chase died Tuesday.

She voiced the lead role of Lilo in the 2002 animated film, a role she auditioned for at age 8. Years later, a Hawaiian actress was cast as Lilo for the live-action remake.

For her role as long-haired Samara in the 2002 horror film, Chase won an MTV movie award for best villain.

Chase also voiced another lead in the 2001 animated film “Spirited Away.” She had roles in the 2001 movie “Donnie Darko” and the 2003 show “Oliver Beene,” according to internet movie database IMDb.com.

She was born in Las Vegas and raised in Albany, Oregon. In her small hometown, she began singing and dancing at age 3, according to IMDb.

Chase struggled with drugs since she was 13 years old, Schwallier said in an interview with the Times. He said his daughter was estranged from her parents, who are divorced.

Schwallier said he was in touch with Chase's boyfriend, and just before she died, arrived at the Los Angeles hospital where she was being treated.

Preston Tolth pleaded guilty to robbing Begay and was sentenced on May 8 to five years in prison with credit for three years already served. He was released Monday, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Begay’s relatives, who expected Tolth to remain in custody until at least 2028, said they were shocked when they heard Monday. The eldest of her three children, Gerald Begay, learned of Tolth’s release while wrapping up his workday on a construction site and reflecting on the somber anniversary of his mother’s still-unsolved disappearance.

“This is just another slap in the face," Begay said.

Begay, a prolific weaver of Navajo-style rugs and a grandmother of nine, was 62 when she disappeared from Sweetwater on the Navajo Nation. Family and community members searched for her, pressured law enforcement for action and drew national media attention to the case that’s been symbolic of the crisis of violence against Indigenous people.

Shortened sentence

Scott Taylor, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, said Tolth received credit for good conduct while incarcerated and under a statute that counts time served after the commission of a crime but before sentencing, including on unrelated charges.

“The release was calculated in full accordance with federal sentencing law and Bureau of Prisons policy,” Taylor said Thursday.

According to New Mexico court records, Tolth was incarcerated while facing multiple state charges between the time he robbed Begay on June 15, 2021, and his April 2023 arrest. Those separate charges ultimately were dismissed.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona and a public defender who represented Tolth confirmed the conditions of release but otherwise declined comment.

Mark Osler, an expert on sentencing at the University of St. Thomas, said the Federal Bureau of Prisons routinely shortens sentences to reduce overcrowding and recidivism. The bureau has no obligation to notify victims and their families of releases.

“What’s unfortunate here is the lack of communication,” Osler said. “These are people that have been hurt and society owes more to them.”

An elder vanished

On the morning of June 15, 2021, Begay's daughter, who lived next door to her, called 911 to report a break-in at her own home, according to the Navajo Nation Department of Criminal Investigations. By the time officers arrived 90 minutes later, Begay told them the intruder had left and something else that struck her as odd: She had just seen her mother’s truck leave the driveway, even though it was well before sunrise.

According to the department, officers “checked on” Begay's house and noted that the doors were locked but did not confirm if Begay was home. Nine hours later, she was declared missing and tribal police began investigating.

Begay's family pointed law enforcement to Tolth, whose father was dating Begay's sister. Investigators twice interrogated him, and Tolth admitted stealing Begay's truck with her in it, repeatedly punching her in the face and leaving her on the road. He acknowledged he may have hit her hard enough to kill her.

But a federal judge later ruled that confession inadmissible, saying the FBI failed to honor Tolth's right to refuse questioning. Federal prosecutors then opted to negotiate an agreement rather than go to trial.

“A miscarriage of justice”

Court documents outlined an unstable childhood for Tolth, marked by homelessness, early substance abuse and parental neglect. A sentencing memo noted he planned to seek mental health treatment once out of prison. He is required to spend six months in a residential reentry center, better known as a halfway house, and will be supervised for three years, under his conditions of release.

The Associated Press left messages for several of Tolth's relatives on social media platforms this week seeking comment.

Begay's case received more resources and attention than most involving Indigenous people who are missing or have been killed, said Mary Kathryn Nagle, a Cherokee Nation citizen and attorney who has advocated for Begay's family. The timeline, however, is emblematic of widespread failures, she said.

“Most never have their case investigated at all,” Nagle said. “It’s troubling to see (Begay’s) case, even after making it this far, end in a miscarriage of justice.”

Begay has never been found. At the May sentencing hearing, Tolth's attorney said he made a good faith effort to lead investigators to where he left Begay when he fled in her truck.

On Monday, Begay's niece, Seraphine Warren, walked over 100 miles (161 kilometers) from Sweetwater to the Navajo Nation capital of Window Rock, Arizona, carrying one of her aunt's weavings to mark the anniversary of her disappearance. The news of Tolth's release “gutted” her after an emotional day, she said.

“That date will haunt us forever,” Warren said through tears. “Now it’s not just the day my auntie went missing, it’s the day we were told, ‘You aren’t worth anything.’”

——

This story is published through the Global Indigenous Reporting Network at The Associated Press.

Severe weather also pummeled parts of the Midwest, where a separate line of strong storms knocked down structures and left tens of thousands of residents without power.

Arthur was the first tropical storm of the season in the Atlantic basin, and although it quickly downgraded within a day of forming, the lingering system created dangerous conditions in Louisiana and Mississippi. In one rural Louisiana parish, more than 2 feet of rain fell in 48 hours and most of that soaking came Thursday, said Donald Jones, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lake Charles.

It flooded at least 200 homes in Avoyelles Parish, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) northwest of the state capital, Louisiana state Rep. Daryl Deshotel said.

“Even by this region’s standards, that’s catastrophic rain,” Jones said.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said in a social media post Thursday night that a worker on a county road crew in the southwestern part of the state had been killed while helping with storm cleanup operations. The cause of the death was not disclosed.

Thirty homes below the Anchor Lake dam in southern Mississippi were being evacuated as a precaution due to concerns that rising waters could overwhelm the spillways and compromise the structure, Reeves said. Residents in the area were being encouraged to seek higher ground.

Coni Dubois said several inches of water flooded her home overnight in Houma, southwest of New Orleans, but others in the community had worse damage. She’s lived through many hurricanes and other storms, but never witnessed thunder and lightning like this.

“It was unbelievable, it literally sounded like hell broke open,” Dubois said. “I thought for sure we had a tornado on top of us. The lightning and the thunder was so consistent, the whole house was lit up like daylight for about 20 minutes.”

The National Guard and state wildlife officials were working with rescue crews, officials said.

One tornado had been confirmed in Avoyelles Parish, along with three others near New Orleans, the weather service said.

Amid relentless rainfall in central Louisiana, Cody Coco said he rescued stranded workers — waist deep in water —- at a cypress sawmill operation he runs near his home in Avoyelles Parish. He said the water has continued to rise all throughout the day.

Coco, 40, said he also used a boat to rescue the four pigs he kept in a pen. Video he shared on his Facebook page shows the hogs swimming out of their enclosure in a torrent of murky water. Coco says they are now safe on higher ground.

“If I’d left them in the pen, they’d have drowned,” Coco said. “They were happy to see me.”

New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno posted a video on Facebook describing relatively minor damage and cleanup efforts. Ahead of the storm, police prepared boats and set up barricades in flood-prone areas. They also opened sandbag distribution sites across Louisiana.

Just across the Mississippi River in Avondale, a tornado wrecked four homes, Jefferson Parish spokeswoman Rachel Strassel said. Two people were hospitalized with minor injuries and later released.

The Midwest was also dealing with damage after a strong line of storms.

A tornado was reported Wednesday evening near Effingham, Illinois, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of Springfield. Several people suffered minor injuries, officials said.

Firefighters responded to damaged homes, collapsed structures, car crashes, downed power lines, gas leaks and blocked roads, Effingham Fire Chief Brant Yochum said.

Marla Washburn and her husband, Todd, hunkered down in their basement as a suspected tornado tore through their neighborhood about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north in Blue Mound. They could hear debris smacking into their house and a school across the street lost its roof, which came crashing onto their home.

“The whole house shook,” Washburn said in a phone interview, adding that the neighborhood looks like Armageddon.

“You don’t know whether to laugh or cry, but we’re OK,” she said. “You look at it and you go, ‘I don’t even know where to start to clean up.'”

Switzerland used the break to seize it.

Coach Murat Yakin said he timed a triple substitution of speedy players for the second-half pause Thursday, betting that plucky Bosnia-Herzegovina couldn't handle an abrupt change of pace in what had been a nervy, scoreless match.

Johan Manzambi and Rubén Vargas made their coach look awfully clever while they led a spectacular barrage of goals that put the Swiss in control of the game and atop their group.

Manzambi scored his first World Cup goal on an outstanding volley in the 74th minute, and Switzerland erupted late for a 4-1 victory over Bosnia.

Despite controlling possession deep into the second half, Switzerland couldn't break through against the Dragons until Yakin used the FIFA-mandated pause to turbo-charge its attack with the 20-year-old Manzambi and the dynamic Vargas. Both substitutes immediately altered the tempo, and both played roles in multiple goals while Bosnia went down to 10 men.

“It was very important that after the second hydration break, we would change a few things, because then the opponent can’t react immediately,” Yakin said through an interpreter. “Maybe that was the edge we had. We brought in very fast players, and our opponent couldn’t run (with them), and it opened up gaps on the edge. That was my strategy. I waited until the break.”

Vargas scored in the 84th minute shortly after Tarik Muharemovic was sent off for a dangerous tackle. Manzambi scored again in the 90th on a pass from Vargas, and captain Granit Xhaka converted from the penalty spot with the final kick of the game in stoppage time.

Switzerland opened the World Cup with a disappointing 1-1 draw with Qatar last week, stoking concern about the team's mental state. The Swiss then struggled to get loose from the Dragons, who were unbeaten in their last nine competitive matches.

Backed by tens of thousands of raucous fans in the Los Angeles area, Bosnia capably hung with Switzerland into the second half — until the hydration break led to a moment of brilliance from Manzambi, a 20-year-old Geneva native who plays for German club Freiburg.

“This is probably the best moment of my career so far,” Manzambi said. “We knew we didn’t start the match in the best way, but we had to be patient. We know we’re a good team, and we showed it.”

Three minutes after Manzambi replaced standout winger Dan Ndoye, he jumped and connected perfectly on Amar Memic’s attempted clearing header. The volley set off a wild celebration in the nervous Swiss sections of SoFi Stadium.

“He’s a boy who learned how to play football on the streets, but on defense he also has a lot of discipline,” Yakin said. “He still needs to learn how to be more structured, but we are making progress. We try to give him a lot of freedom to play, and he handles it very well.”

Substitute Ermin Mahmic scored in second-half injury time for Bosnia, which still has a legitimate chance of reaching the knockout stage of only its second World Cup. Mahmic’s vicious goal in traffic salvaged some good feeling before a decisive showdown with Qatar next week.

“Maybe our start wasn’t that good, but from (first) cooling break until the goal, we were the better team,” Bosnia coach Sergej Barbarez said. “We had two or three excellent chances which should have ended in a goal. ... This is the first match we've lost in a while, and it is hurtful. It's quite painful, but we know that if we win the next game, we have an excellent chance of going forward in the tournament.”

Four minutes after Muharemovic was sent off for taking down striker Breel Embolo one step outside the penalty area, Embolo got the ball from Manzambi and slipped a pass across the front to Vargas for a no-doubt goal.

Xhaka then found Vargas in deep for another pass to Manzambi, who finished with aplomb.

Captain Edin Dzeko started and played 63 minutes for Bosnia, becoming the fourth outfield player to start at a World Cup in his 40s — a group joined by Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo on Wednesday. Barbarez said Dzeko didn't play in the World Cup opener last week because he wasn't fully fit.

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/FIFA-World-Cup

Liu closed with a birdie on the par-5 18th at Blythefield Country Club. The 28-year-old player is winless on the LPGA Tour.

“Very happy I put myself on this position,” Liu said. “I think nothing to lose so I just do my best.”

American Jessica Porvasnik and Cassie Porter of Australia were a stroke back.

“Was definitely pretty windy, but kind of the wind direction I really liked out there,” Porvasnik said. “West-northwest kind of suited my game well.”

Jennifer Kupcho was at 68 with Youmin Hwang, Minji Kang, Nastasia Nadaud, Benedetta Moresco and Daniela Darquea.

“To start it was really windy," Kupcho said. “Had kind of bit of a stomach ache, so a little bit rough start to the beginning of the round.”

Amateur star Kiara Romero shot a 72 playing on a sponsor exemption. She's the No. 1 amateur in the world and was the low amateur at the U.S. Women’s Open, where she tied for sixth.

Defending champion Carlota Ciganda also opened with a 72.

Two-time winner Brooke Henderson had a 73. Second-ranked Jeeno Thitikul shot 74.

___

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

According to an annual defense authorization bill, filed this week, much of the travel funds for the defense secretary’s office may not be spent until Hegseth submits "unredacted civilian harm investigations," including for the Feb. 28, 2026, strike on the Minab school. Officials have preliminarily said the U.S. was responsible for the strike, which was blamed on outdated intelligence.

Congress, which conducts oversight of the Pentagon, has not yet received the Defense Department's report on the investigation. It is believed to have been completed last month.

Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that this year's annual defense package “forces the Secretary to be more accountable to Congress and will prevent many errors of the past from being repeated in the future.”

Strike on elementary school became a flashpoint

The bombing of the elementary school on the first day of the U.S. war against Iran killed more than 165 people, many of them children, at the campus adjacent to a Revolutionary Guard base. It quickly became a focal point of the conflict.

Outdated intelligence likely led to the United States carrying out the missile strike, according to those familiar with the preliminary findings in March. If so, it would stand among the highest civilian casualty events caused by American military operations in the last two decades.

Senators from both parties tucked the new provisions blocking Hegseth's travel funds into the National Defense Authorization Act to force release of the investigation.

The Senate bill text said not more than 25% of the defense secretary’s travel funds may be spent until he submits the investigations, "including all relevant supporting documents,” for several incidents of civilian harm.

The Pentagon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Senators also demand video of the boat strikes near Venezuela

Senators also are seeking to withhold Hegseth's travel funds until the Pentagon releases “unedited video” of the U.S. strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats near Venezuela.

The Pentagon has conducted a monthslong campaign of strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing at least 208 people so far. Many of the attacks have been captured on videos that the department announces by posting select footage on social media.

In at least one instance, survivors have been killed in follow-on strikes, which experts have said is at odds with military law and rules of engagement. Lawmakers also pressed for such video in last year's defense package.

Additionally, lawmakers are seeking three other investigations into a series of strikes in Yemen in April 2025. They were conducted during the U.S. military's campaign against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who were attacking merchant ships in the Red Sea.

The list of requested investigations includes a strike on a port that left at least 70 dead and more than 170 wounded and a strike on neighborhood in Sanaa, the rebel-held capital of Yemen, that hit a house, killing at least four people and wounding 16 others.

The casualty figures for both were provided by the Houthis.

At the time, U.S. Central Command didn’t answer questions relating to the strikes in Yemen. Following the port strike, it said it “was not intended to harm the people of Yemen.” Central Command argued it was intended to “eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists and deprive them of illegal revenue that has funded Houthi efforts to terrorize the entire region for over 10 years.”

Senators conduct oversight as part of sweeping defense bill

The reports being requested from the Pentagon are to be submitted to the Armed Services committees in the House and Senate.

The directive comes as part of the annual defense bill, a sprawling 1,500-page document that sets policy for the coming year. The package is compiled by both parties — Republicans, who hold the majority in the Senate, and Democrats in the minority.

It’s one of the rare bipartisan measures that is almost always approved by Congress.

The Senate Armed Services Committee advanced the measure last week, and it is now headed to the full Senate for a vote.

From a distance, Ivan Franco thought it must be a car. But as he approached in his tow truck, he saw it was a plane — broken in half, its fuselage resting on its side, bright fire beginning to rise above. He stopped and rifled through the rescue kit his company keeps in the truck, grabbing a sledgehammer as well as three fire extinguishers, which he handed off to police officers.

“At that moment, you don’t think much about what to do, because I knew the plane could explode since it was on fire,” Franco told The Associated Press in Spanish. “My idea was to try to break the windows because the pilots hadn’t come out yet.”

Franco was one of several motorists who happened across the crash in Laredo, Texas, late Tuesday night and rushed to help — putting their own lives in danger to help those on board escape as smoke filled the cabin.

Passersby helped save lives

Police were also on the scene quickly, and their teamwork with the good Samaritans undoubtedly saved lives, officials said.

“The officers and the good Samaritans that went to the scene, our firefighters that responded — I do also want to commend each and every one of them,” Laredo Police Chief Mike Rodriguez said during a news conference Wednesday. He said he asked his staff to track down all the civilians who helped.

The Cessna Citation Latitude twin jet departed Tuesday evening from the Mexican resort city of San José del Cabo and was bound for Austin, Texas, the FAA said in a statement. The plane was operated by NetJets, a company owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway that lets people buy part ownership in private jets. NetJets said in a statement that it was cooperating with authorities.

The crash occurred after its pilots reported mechanical problems while requesting an emergency landing at a nearby airport. The fuselage came to rest across a concrete barrier, while its tail broke off and fell to a lower section of roadway.

One person was killed: Joshua Baer, 50, a leader in Texas’ technology and startup sectors. Three male teenage passengers and two pilots survived, as did a person in a truck struck by the plane as it crashed. Laredo police said one of the survivors, 16, was related to Baer but did not provide more details about him or the other passengers.

Investigators combed through wreckage Wednesday for clues to the cause.

It was the third significant aviation accident in as many days in the U.S. A B-52 crashed Monday during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California and killed all eight people aboard, while on Sunday, 12 people were killed when a plane on a skydiving outing in Missouri crashed.

‘It looked like part of a movie’

Among the motorists who stopped in Laredo was Zayra Garza, an esthetician who was driving her co-workers home when she saw the wreckage. She recorded video as her husband ran to help.

“It looked like part of a movie. I was in shock,” Garza said. Most worrisome was the fire: “I was concerned that it could have just exploded at any time.”

Garza saw people leave their cars to try to smash the cockpit glass. Her video shows the aircraft's door popping open slightly from inside as a voice cries “Help! Help! Help!” The rescuers strain to lift the door farther open as the three teenagers dart out, followed quickly by one pilot and then by another.

Franco, a 23-year-old from Laredo, frantically swung the sledgehammer through heavy smoke. Others struck at the window with a shovel and tools from their own vehicles.

Cockpit windows are designed not to shatter

They accomplished little more than spiderwebbing the cockpit window with small cracks: Airplane windshields have multiple layers of glass and are designed to remain structurally sound even if the outer layer shatters. The windows must be able to withstand a bird strike at cruising speed and hold up to extreme pressure differences at high altitudes.

“They are basically bulletproof,” said retired airline pilot John Cox, who is CEO of Safety Operating Systems.

Police officers tried to remove the final person inside — Baer — as the smoke grew thicker. Officers doubled over coughing after turning away from the smoke.

Eventually firefighters with oxygen masks were able to get inside.

Firefighters also removed a dog from the plane that was suffering from smoke inhalation. The dog was turned over to animal control and was expected to survive, said Jose Baeza, an investigator with the Laredo Police Department.

Five officers were treated for smoke inhalation; the five people who survived the crash were also released from a hospital.

As the plane crashed on the northbound lanes of the highway, its wing hit a truck traveling southbound. The driver of that vehicle also survived, Baeza said.

There has been an outpouring of support on social media for those who stopped to help, heralding their bravery and selflessness.

Laredo Mayor Victor Treviño called it “nothing short of a miracle that this tragedy did not become a mass fatality event,” thanks in part to the late hour when the crash occurred and the quick action of first responders.

Franco said that as he tried to help, all he could think of was getting people out of the plane. But to do it, he had to conquer another feeling.

“You’re in constant fear," he said. "You don’t know what situation you’re in.”

___

Johnson and Golden reported from Seattle. Taxin reported from Santa Ana, California. AP journalists Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.

But Vice President JD Vance suggested that he may postpone a trip to Switzerland that had been planned for Friday and included a ceremonial signing of the deal. And a Trump administration envoy told U.S. lawmakers in a private briefing that Iran will invite the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency to inspect its nuclear sites.

That all unfolded as Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei endorsed direct negotiations with the U.S. in a statement read by state media.

“It is obvious that the face-to-face negotiations that will be held in the future will not mean accepting the enemy’s opinion,” he said.

It was Khamenei’s first reaction to the agreement, and it indicated a shift in Iran’s approach. Hard-liners, especially Khamenei’s father, the previous supreme leader, have long opposed direct talks, especially after the U.S. pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

The supreme leader has not been seen in public since he was wounded in a strike at the start of the war.

Trump envoy tells lawmakers Iran will invite UN inspectors to its nuclear sites

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff told lawmakers that Iran will invite the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency to inspect its nuclear sites and begin work on identifying and uncovering the locations of Tehran’s enriched material, which is believed to be buried under rubble.

The private briefing was described by two people familiar with the conversation who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to share the closed-door details.

The White House did not directly respond to questions about the invitation, but said the agreement requires Iran to “commit to renounce their nuclear ambitions in writing,” said White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales. The International Atomic Energy Agency did not respond to a request for comment.

Still, Witkoff told congressional leadership and members of national security-related committees that the agreement that the U.S. struck with Iran did not include any side deals, but a side letter was drafted between Tehran and the IAEA extending the invitation.

He also disclosed the existence of the letter and invitation in the briefing, according to the people.

Witkoff said the letter to IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi would enable him to bring U.S. nuclear inspectors to Tehran.

The agreement states that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium must at minimum be diluted under international supervision. It also says that Iran shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons — a commitment it has made previously.

Uncertain timeline could make it more difficult to promote deal

Vance's visit might have helped start talks on the next, potentially even more critical, round of negotiations between the two sides.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also postponed a planned visit to Switzerland, where Islamabad officials were to host the ceremony, because the agreement had already been signed, said two senior officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The uncertain timeline could raise new questions and make it even more difficult for the Trump administration to promote a deal that many in the U.S. — including some congressional Republicans — have criticized as too favorable to Tehran.

“Our plan is to go to Switzerland. I don’t know exactly when,” Vance said during a briefing with reporters at the White House when asked about not flying, as planned, to the signing ceremony.

That injected new doubt into an agreement that President Donald Trump said he signed to avoid “economic catastrophe” in the U.S.

Vance's announcement came a day after Trump signed the pact with Iran while dining with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles. The deal is slated to take immediate effect and extends a ceasefire while giving each side 60 days to hammer out broader agreements on larger issues.

Trump said the deal would avoid continued stress on the U.S. economy after the war caused oil prices to skyrocket, made financial markets skittish and fueled inflation. He repeatedly said he did not want to be compared to Herbert Hoover, whose policies helped exacerbate the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Vance defends U.S.-Iran deal

The vice president, who was initially personally skeptical of the U.S. going to war with Iran, has increasingly become the administration’s face of the conflict and has been outspoken in defending the deal. Asked about concerns it concedes too much, the vice president said repeatedly that the accord would force Iran to “change their behavior.”

Vance shrugged off accusations that its rollout has been piecemeal and sometimes contradictory, saying, “I don’t think our public messaging has been chaotic."

He also offered a surprisingly blunt warning to Israel, which has pushed the U.S. to take a harder stance against Iran and launched attacks on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon throughout the war, including just before the deal extending the ceasefire was reached. Those attacks complicated the peace efforts with Iran.

Trump “is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time," Vance said. “And he happens to be the head of state of the world’s superpower.”

The vice president said more than 12.5 million barrels went through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday night. That could further soothe oil prices that spiked during the war but have been falling since the U.S. and Iran announced a tentative deal to end the conflict.

He said the U.S. easing its blockade of Iran means "honoring our end of the early part of the agreement on the military side."

U.S. Central Command said American warships “will remain in the general area to make sure that all aspects of the agreement are adhered to, obeyed and in full force and effect.”

Shipping starts to pick up

At least two oil tankers left Iran and crossed the U.S. military blockade without being stopped. A merchant shipping tracking website said the ships were carrying a combined total of 3.8 million barrels of Iranian crude oil.

Iranian state media said shipping had “normalized” at Iran’s southern ports but added that the strait remains supervised and under the control of the Iranian military, and transiting through the vital waterway still requires coordination.

Major shipowners began moving vessels through the strait after the agreement was signed, according to maritime data company Lloyd’s List Intelligence, though Lloyd's did not give data on how many ships have passed through the strait as of Thursday.

In a media briefing, Richard Meade, editor-in-chief of Lloyd’s List, said for the first time in 110 days, ships owned by major companies are transiting the strait after effectively being marooned there since February.

Tankers controlled by major ship owners Grimaldi Group, Cosco, Knutsen and NYK have passed through the strait. And two Iranian-flagged, sanctioned crude oil tankers owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company have entered the strait, according to Lloyd’s List.

Phillip Belcher, marine director of Intertanko, a trade group for global independent tanker owners, said the main central route of the strait is still closed and has an estimated 80 mines that need to be cleared.

But ships have been passing through the smaller northern route, which goes through Iranian waters, and the southern route, which goes through Omani waters.

Lloyd’s List estimated that 550 merchant ships will need to exit the Persian Gulf. It could take weeks or months to fully reopen the strait, and the two alternative routes do not have as much capacity as the strait's central passage.

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Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Aamer Madhani in Zurich; Collin Binkley in Washington; Mae Anderson in New York; and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

Romanch Mahajan, 18, died after he got off of the four-wheeled carriage as its horse sprinted through the park without the driver.

He is believed to be the first person to die in a horse carriage accident since they were introduced in Central Park more than 150 years ago, according to the labor union representing the industry and the Central Park Conservancy, which manages the 843-acre (341-hectare) park.

The conservancy was among those arguing Thursday that the carriage industry should be suspended until more protections can be put in place. Mahajan’s death was the eighth horse-related incident in the park over the past 13 months, the group said.

“The record is undeniable: crashes, runaways, horse deaths, injuries, and now a devastating loss of human life,” said Edita Birnkrant, head of the animal welfare group New Yorkers for Clean, Livable, and Safe Streets.

Animal rights activists have long claimed the carriage horses are overworked, can get easily spooked on city streets and live in inadequate stables while their drivers regularly flaunt city rules. All of those allegations have been denied by the horse and carriage owners, who say the animals are well cared for and the stables are fine.

The conservancy has argued that horses can no longer safely share park roads teeming with joggers, cyclists, pedestrians and motorized scooters, noting that other U.S. cities, including Chicago and San Antonio, have also recently done away with the nostalgic rides.

But carriage industry leaders said the fatal crash underscores the need for better protections, not outright elimination of the quaint attraction that harkens back to a romanticized, bygone New York.

“We’re absolutely gutted and stunned by this tragedy,” said Alexander Kemp, a vice president with the Transport Workers Union Local 100, the labor union representing carriage drivers and owners. “We have shuttered the stables and ceased operations today while we have extensive internal discussions of safety protocols and how they can be improved.”

Horse carriages weren’t running Thursday and it was not immediately clear when the rides, which cost about $72 for the first 20 minutes, would resume.

The owner of the carriage involved in the fatal crash also suspended the driver indefinitely, and has plans to retire the horse from the business, according to the union. It said the driver improperly dismounted to take a photograph of his passengers.

Celebrating a high school graduation turned tragic

Mahajan had been on a family trip celebrating his recent high school graduation when the family decided to take a ride on one of the park’s often photographed, richly decorated carriages.

His father, Deepak Mahajan, told The New York Times the family had arrived from India on Monday, the same day Romanch learned he had been accepted to a university in Jaipur.

They had spent the trip visiting many of the city’s popular tourist attractions, including the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge.

The carriage driver hopped off to take a photograph of the family near a fountain when the horse suddenly bolted, Mahajan said.

Romanch’s mother fell out of the carriage, and the teen jumped out in an attempt to save her, according to his father.

“He was screaming, ‘Mom!’” Deepak Mahajan recounted to the Times.

But Romanch hit his head on the ground before the carriage clipped another horse-drawn vehicle and eventually toppled over. The father, his wife and younger son escaped with minor injuries.

“This incident should be taken very seriously,” Mahajan said. “It took my son’s dream away.”

Carriage owners and drivers fear end to livelihood

New York City leaders vowed to work swiftly to end the industry in the wake of Romanch's death.

City Council Speaker Julie Menin said the legislative body would hold a hearing next month on a long-simmering bill that would ban horse carriages and help drivers transition into new jobs.

Last year, the park conservancy revived debate over the carriages when, for the first time, it threw its support behind what’s known as Ryder’s Law.

“The time to act is now,” she wrote on the social platform X.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani also reiterated his support for ending the industry, saying he’d work with the council, the industry and animal welfare advocates to “deliver a just transition that protects workers while ending horse-drawn carriages in Central Park once and for all.”

Other recent mayors have made similar pronouncements. Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed to shut down the industry “on Day One" in office, only to come up against years of council opposition. Mayor Eric Adams, Mamdani’s predecessor, came out against the industry near the end of his single term.

Onur Altintas, who owns four horses and a carriage operating in Central Park, was among those worried about an end to their livelihood. He said the industry provides hundreds of jobs to drivers, stable hands, farriers, and others in horse-related trades.

“We are sad about what happened. Nobody wants that. But it’s not like this is happening every day,” said Altintas. “Car crashes and plane crashes are happening every single day. One horse makes an accident, and the world is destroyed? Come on.”

The longtime owner and driver said the industry needs better regulations to make it safer. He said “90%” of horse-related accidents could be avoided simply by installing hitching posts throughout the park so drivers could safely tether and secure their horses, including at popular tourist photo stops.

The Transport Workers Union on Thursday said legislation recently introduced into the council would do just that.

“Drivers can’t leave their carriage. They have to be on it all the time,” Altintas said. “But it’s impossible. We have to go to the restroom. We have to eat. We have to do things.”

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Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire.

The retraction came just a day after Mangione’s lawyers told Judge Gregory Carro that they planned to pursue a defense involving claims that the 28-year-old Ivy League graduate was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the Dec. 4, 2024, killing.

A message seeking comment was left with a spokesperson for Mangione’s lawyers. The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the state case, declined to comment.

Mangione's lawyers had faced a deadline Thursday to provide prosecutors with information to support the emotional disturbance claim. Also Thursday, a transcript of a secret hearing held on the matter on June 3 was made public after Carro ordered it unsealed.

If Mangione were to have gone through with the extreme emotional disturbance defense, he would have effectively been admitting that he killed Thompson but did so because of mitigating circumstances. It wouldn’t have absolved him of responsibility, but could have led to less time in prison.

If a jury accepts the defense, it is obligated to convict a defendant of manslaughter, which is punishable by up to 25 years in prison, instead of murder, which carries a potential life sentence.

In a letter to Carro on Thursday, Mangione lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said the defense “respectfully withdraws” its notice under New York's psychiatric defense statute.

Mangione, 28, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges. His state trial is scheduled to start Sept. 8. His federal trial, which involves stalking charges, is set to begin on Oct. 13.

At Wednesday's hearing, Friedman Agnifilo protested Carro’s decision to unseal materials related to his psychiatric defense, saying it will be “prejudicial to his defense to the exact same facts” in his federal case, where an extreme emotional disturbance defense isn’t allowed.

An emotional disturbance defense is not the same as a not guilty by reason of insanity defense, which would allow a defendant to go to a psychiatric facility instead of prison.

Thompson, 50, was killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.

At a hearing last month, Carro ruled that a gun and notebook that prosecutors say link Mangione to the killing can be used as evidence against him.

The gun, a 3D-printed pistol, matches the one used to kill Thompson, prosecutors said. The notebook describes wanting to “wack” a health insurance executive and rebelling against “the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel.”

McKenna Wendel was reported missing March 13 and last seen alive in her hometown of Sioux Falls early on March 14. Her body was found outside Brookings, an hour's drive north of Sioux Falls, on March 19.

Wendel's uncle, Mark Milk, 51, also of Sioux Falls, now faces five counts related to her death. Milk was almost three decades into a life term on a manslaughter conviction when Noem commuted his sentence in 2023.

Wendel was raised by her grandparents, loved animals and had a “vibrant personality and a zest for life,” according to her obituary. She and her grandparents were Rosebud Sioux Tribe members and attended powwows often.

“She loved the singing and the beautiful sounds of the drums,” her obituary read.

Details about Wendel's death remained thin as authorities who announced the charges in a Sioux City, Iowa, news conference Thursday kept close what they knew to protect their investigation.

Authorities have said an autopsy was done, but the findings have not been released. The cause and manner of Wendel's death would not be released yet per Justice Department policy, said Leif Olson, U.S. attorney for northern Iowa.

Milk faces five counts including possession with intent to deliver cocaine that caused Wendel's death. He is also charged with transportation of a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, according to court documents.

Jon Rogness, 38, of Brookings faces conspiracy and accessory charges in an alleged attempt to cover up the crimes. The counts against the men were the “most serious, readily provable” charges and all originated in Iowa, Olson said.

“This is a horrific case,” FBI special agent Gene Kowel said. “There are no cases that we investigate that are more heart-wrenching and more tragic than the ones that involve children or the death of a child.”

Court records showed no lawyers listed for Milk and Rogness, and no relatives could immediately be located through phone records and social media to speak on their behalf.

In February 2023, Noem commuted Milk’s life sentence for a manslaughter conviction in an October 1993 stabbing death. Milk, then 19, had been involved in several altercations in the city of Winner that ended with the death of Shawn Peneaux, according to records.

Milk was in jail on unrelated allegations of driving under the influence and eluding police when Wendel's body was found. His name came up in public discussion about the case from the start. But prosecutors, who finished their investigation in late May, did not formally link him to Wendel's death until filing charges Wednesday.

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley said in a late March news conference the decision to commute Milk's life sentence was strictly Noem's.

“It is fairly often that you see law enforcement oppose commutations," Jackley remarked without commenting further on Noem's decision.

The commutation documents were sealed and even he had not seen them, he noted.

The Associated Press left a message Thursday for Noem on seeking comment through NovaRed Mining, a Canadian firm she recently joined in a “strategic advisory role."

A Republican, Noem, 54, was South Dakota's lone congressperson from 2011 to 2019 and governor from 2019 to 2025. She was Homeland Security secretary before being fired in March by President Donald Trump amid criticism of her handling of the administration’s immigration crackdown and disaster response.

Trump praised Noem's leadership and said he was making her special envoy for “The Shield of the Americas." The new organization of Western Hemisphere nations is focused on supporting democracy and security in the region.

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Gruver reported from Fort Collins, Colorado, and Billeaud from Phoenix, Arizona.

A few minutes later, everyone knew the answer. There was Scheffler jumping up and down in a bunker situated 150 yards shy of the green — and 10 feet lower than the fairway — to catch a glimpse of the flag on the putting surface ahead.

What resulted was a rare bogey 6 for the world's No. 1 player on one of those rare par 5s in pro golf that wasn't remotely reachable in two — thanks to it being uphill and dead into a 25 mph wind. The 16th played at 0.355 strokes over par midway through the first round, fifth-hardest hole on the course.

Welcome to Shinnecock.

“You had to be hitting a great shot if you wanted to avoid a punishment,” Scheffler said after walking off the windswept golf course at 2-over par, a reasonable four shots behind early leader Sam Stevens but feeling beaten up. “I think ‘good’ would put you in some tough spots.”

Scheffler, who needs this tournament to complete the career Grand Slam, found plenty of those tough spots in his 10th straight round at the U.S. Open in which he has failed to break par. It began in the morning but bled well into the afternoon — a 5 1/2-hour grind through the wind that started late because of a two-hour fog delay. One of his playing partners, defending champion J.J. Spaun, fared even worse. Spaun shot 77.

Scheffler made double bogey on No. 8 after teeing off into the rough, hitting his second into a bunker some 40 yards from the hole, then three-putting.

He hit a wedge from 110 yards to the middle of the 13th green, but the ball spun and rolled off the front. That led to a bogey; blame it on the soft conditions the USGA has been trying to hang on to in wake of the wind forecast.

“Overall, yeah, it was a really challenging day,” Scheffler said. “If you told me when I was staring at my par putt on 9 that I would post 2-over today, I would definitely have taken it at the time.”

He made that putt, a 6-footer, to make the turn at 3 over. He sank a 9-footer for a sand save on No. 18 to walk away with his 72. Three of his four birdies came on the back nine.

“I feel like this course can change pretty rapidly from day to day,” he said. “I think that’s also part of the challenge of the tournament is adjusting to those conditions.”

Some 90 minutes after the round, Scheffler was still on the driving range, having an animated conversation with his coach, Randy Smith, while the wind picked up for the second wave of players, many of whom would be on the course at twilight.

As much as his swing, Scheffler knows this tournament will come down to who can untangle the conditions, then deal with them the best. He walked off the course in a tie for 75th place — not out of it, but still looking for answers.

“I think it’s a little easier sometimes in a U.S. Open,” Scheffler said, “because it’s happening to everybody.”

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

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced the charges at a news conference where he called Mencia “one of California’s biggest tax scofflaws.”

The 58-year-old stand-up comic was charged with six felony counts of failure to file personal income tax with the intent to evade taxes — one each for the years 2019 to 2024 — and six similar counts for corporate taxes.

Mencia owes more than $300,000 in state taxes on income totaling $8.7 million, Hochman said.

He has not entered a plea, and emails sent to his attorney seeking comment was not immediately answered.

Mencia was arrested at his Los Angeles home at about 7 a.m., authorities said. He remained in custody Thursday afternoon and was being held on $250,000 bail. He is expected to make his first court appearance on Monday. If he’s convicted of all counts he could get more than 11 years in prison, along with paying the tax bills and interest that will almost double the total.

The charges are the first filed under the new district attorney's new Business Tax Fraud Unit that was established in May by Hochman, a former longtime prosecutor of tax cases.

Mencia regularly paid taxes before 2019, Hochman said. He was sent 78 notices from the state about his delinquent bills, with no response. The charges deal only with state taxes. Hochman said the IRS has not informed his office of Mencia's federal tax status.

Born Ned Arnel Holness in Honduras and raised in East Los Angeles, Mencia began doing stand-up in LA clubs in the late 1980s. By the early 2000s, he became one of the most popular comics in the U.S. and also did some acting in film and television. He had his own TV series, “Mind of Mencia,” combining stand-up with sketches on Comedy Central from 2005 to 2008.

Hochman pointed out at the news conference that on the show in 2007, Mencia said, “Maybe I'm different, but I think taxes are a good thing.”

His comedy most often dealt with race, class and Latino culture. His career took a downward turn as he was hit with accusations from many fellow comedians of joke theft, which he always denied, from other comics. Joe Rogan, then best known as a stand-up comic, confronted him on a club stage on the issue in a video that went viral in 2007. Mencia had long discussions on Marc Maron's podcast on the alleged plagiarism, acknowledging that he may have absorbed others' material but denying outright theft.

He still does regular stand-up shows, touring clubs and small theaters. He's scheduled to do a series of dates in Southern California this week and Las Vegas next week.

The death of Kohen Wiley is the latest in a series of troubling encounters with police that have outraged community members in recent years. It has led to protests and calls for greater police accountability in the town of 8,000, with some civil rights activists pointing to Kohen's death as another example of a Black life lost over something of nominal value — in this case, allegedly stolen diapers.

“We are treating items on a shelf as more valuable than a child,” Bernice King, the daughter of civil right icon Martin Luther King, Jr., said in a statement posted to Instagram on Wednesday. “That is not just bad policing; it is a moral collapse.”

Differing accounts of what happened

There are still many unanswered questions about the shooting and what led up to it.

Senatobia police responded to the shoplifting call at a local Walmart on Sunday, where they found two women and a child leaving the store, getting into a car and driving away. According to a statement released by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation: “Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one. An officer then discharged their weapon and the vehicle fled the scene.”

Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, said her son and her friend, who was driving, were hit by gunfire. In a video posted on social media Wednesday by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, Wiley said her friend was not driving toward the officers because they were “all on the right side and she was driving towards the left.”

She also disputes the shoplifting claim, saying in the video that she believes her friend paid for the diapers she was carrying.

Policing expert Ian Adams, who teaches criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, said regardless of the circumstances, the officer should not have fired at the car.

“Modern policing knows that shooting into a moving vehicle is a very bad idea and one to be avoided at almost all costs,′ Adams said. For one thing, ”vehicles have other occupants, which is obviously a concern here in the current case.”

Shooting revives racial justice concerns

Kohen was Black, as are his mother and her friend, and the circumstances leading to Kohen's death quickly drew comparisons to another Black mother shot during a response to a shoplifting accusation.

In 2023, Ta’Kiya Young, who was pregnant, was shot by police in a Columbus, Ohio, suburb, after they attempted to apprehend her. Police said Young, who was also the mother of two young sons, got into her car and accelerated in the direction of the officer who fired at her through the windshield. Both Young and her unborn daughter were killed.

The officer in that case was acquitted of criminal charges and found justified in his use of force by a review board.

The two deaths join a long list of other instances of Black Americans dying in interactions with police after accusations of petty criminal offenses. That list includes the murder of George Floyd in 2020, who was killed after police responded to a call that he used a fake $20 bill at a Minneapolis grocery store.

For some racial justice advocates, such cases serve as a constant reminder of the consequences of systemic racism in law enforcement.

“In the name of ‘law and order,’ a child was killed and family was shattered over items that could be restocked, written off, and replaced,” King wrote on Instagram. “Our charge is clear: until the sacredness of human life is the starting point of every police encounter, we must demand changes in training and work unrelentingly to reform policies around police accountability."

Tensions in Senatobia

Marquell Bridges, the president and founder of an advocacy group called the Building Bridges Coalition and who has been helping the Wiley family, said Kohen's death was “just the breaking point” after years of problematic interactions between Black residents and police.

Bridges pointed to an encounter last year in which an officer threatened Breshari Faulkner with a Taser, pulled her from her car onto the ground and arrested her during a confrontation over a handicapped parking space in the same Walmart lot where Kohen was shot.

Two years earlier, in 2023, a Senatobia officer was fired for his role in arresting a 10-year-old Black boy who had urinated in a different parking lot. The boy’s family settled a federal lawsuit with the city earlier this year.

“There is a culture there that they are above the law – just because they wear a uniform,” said civil rights attorney Carlos Moore, who has represented the 10-year-old boy and others accusing the department of misconduct.

Police did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press. The mayor and city aldermen also did not respond to messages.

About 40% of the city’s population of approximately 8,300 is Black, according to 2020 Census data. Police did not respond to questions about the racial makeup of the department, but the mayor and a majority of the Board of Alderman members are white. The city has elected only three Black aldermen since it became a municipality in 1860, according to the Tate Record, a local newspaper.

A toy lawnmower that blows bubbles

The officer who shot Kohen and the woman driving the car he was in has been placed on administrative leave, a standard practice, while the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation looks into what happened. They have promised to release video of the shooting once the investigation is complete.

Kohen's grandmother, Veronica Roberson, was there when Kohen was born and babysat him often. She described him as a happy little baby with “the prettiest smile you could ever imagine.”

She said he was a sweet child and: “He just loved on me, and I loved on him. We loved each other.”

One of his favorite toys was a little lawnmower that would blow bubbles when pushed. Roberson would sit outside with him while he played with it. “He really thought he was mowing my yard,” she said, laughing a little at the memory. “That baby was my world."

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Loller reported from Nashville, Tennessee. Jack Brook contributed from New Orleans. Aaron Morrison contributed from New York City.

With 894 confirmed cases so far, the current outbreak is three times worse than a previous outbreak in Uganda in 2000, which had 281 cases at the same point, said Dr. Wessam Mankoula, a medical epidemiologist at Africa CDC.

The latest number of cases is believed to be higher because the outbreak was confirmed on May 15, weeks after it was suspected to have begun. The number of cases has increased 38% since last week and is now in 32 health zones across eastern Congo, said Mankoula.

The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved vaccines or treatments and was not tested for in the early days. The more common Zaire virus, for which there is a vaccine, was responsible for most of Congo’s past 16 outbreaks of the disease.

So far 74 patients have recovered from the disease across eastern Congo and Uganda. Experimental treatments like monoclonal antibodies are being developed for Bundibugyo.

The outbreak is concentrated in Congo’s eastern province of Ituri, which accounts for more than 90% of the cases. Cases have also been recorded in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces and have spread across the border to Uganda, where 19 confirmed cases have been reported and two people have died.

Contact tracing remains an issue due to the area's remoteness and ongoing insecurity in Ituri province, Dr. Mankoula said.

“For those 800 confirmed cases, we should have between 17,000 to 35,000 contacts that should be in our contact list,” said Mankoula. Currently only around 4,000 contacts have been tracked and are being evaluated, less than 15%.

“We are still far from controlling the situation of this outbreak,” said Mankoula.

Nearly a million people have been displaced by years of conflict in Ituri, according to the U.N. humanitarian office, making contact tracing difficult as people flee attacks or move frequently in the vast province with dense forests, poor roads and remote villages that can take days to reach.

Tracing is also difficult among the thousands of miners who regularly move among remote sites in the mineral-rich region.

Of the over $900 million pledged to fight the outbreak, only $90 million has been released to help fight the outbreak, further complicating the ongoing crisis, according to Mankoula.

Africa CDC estimates it needs 540 personnel to fight the outbreak and so far they only have 84.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed those new pledges will be fast tracked, and we’ll be following up with different member states and different partners about their commitment to turn those pledges into actual money released to their affected countries or partners,” said Mankoula.

In a release on Thursday, agents said the woman — identified as Crystal Lawson, 32 — had been granted access to the Comprehensive Case Information System (CCIS) database as part of her job as a juvenile probation officer when she was hired in 2022.

Later that same year, she was fired after an arrest for battery, deputies added. But her access to those databases wasn’t cut off.

Between January and May this year, Lawson illegally accessed the database over 100 times, searching for active criminal cases that involved members of a drug trafficking organization that was under investigation, the release reveals.

“Lawson was able to find multiple active, un-served arrest warrants, searched for and identified co-defendants in the criminal case, and leaked active arrest warrants to members and associates of the (group),” the release reads.

The leaks resulted in evidence being lost, unrecovered assets, and at least one flight to avoid arrest, investigators explained.

As such, Lawson was taken into custody and now faces 113 felony counts of computer crimes - unauthorized access, deputies said.

Each count is punishable by up to five years in prison — or 565 years altogether.

“Damn, New York, we really did it,” Brunson, the finals MVP, said at a celebration at City Hall. “Somehow, someway, I knew we were going to find a way to get this done.”

Moments later, Mayor Zohran Mamdani presented keys to the city to the Knicks' players, coaches, owners and staff. Wearing a team jersey under his suit jacket, Mamdani said he and other fans “waited because we knew deep down in our sick, suffering hearts” the Knicks would someday win.

Blue and orange confetti swirled through the air during the parade. Massive cheers of “Let’s go, Knicks!” and “Knicks in five!” kept erupting.

And OG Anunoby, who scored the go-ahead basket in Game 4 of the finals on a tip-in with 1.2 seconds left, left his parade float to interact with fans, holding the NBA Cup in-season championship trophy in one hand and a bottle of Patron tequila in the other.

Director Spike Lee, perhaps the team’s most iconic fan, was on a float with Brunson, savoring the moment. “I’ve never been to a parade — ever — and I’m glad it’s this one,” Lee said.

The MVP’s mom, Sandra Brunson, wore a shirt with photos of Jalen and husband Rick, who played for the Knicks and is an assistant on coach Mike Brown's staff. She echoed her son’s words, saying, “It was all worth it.”

Karl-Anthony Towns hoisted the Eastern Conference championship trophy and a cigar on top of a parade bus while Mamdani danced. Later, Towns approached a group of kids with the NBA trophy to let them get their hands on it, bringing joyful screams.

Knicks fans turn out in force

Several blocks from the parade route, fans stood shoulder to shoulder — sometimes on each other’s shoulders — or climbed traffic lights and sanitation trucks. Far away on the Brooklyn Bridge, people gathered just to hear the loudspeakers.

“I had to be here today,” said Shareefa Wallace, 34, who got up at 3 a.m. to make her way from suburban Long Island. She grew up in the city going to Knicks games, and she sported the souvenir jersey of a legend from that era, Patrick Ewing.

Owner James Dolan thanked fans for waiting more than a half-century. Brown encouraged fans to keep their energy going “because this championship is about you guys.”

‘The New York vibe’

Nearby bars and delis filled with fans, some wishing they’d arrived at dawn. But many seemed at peace with only experiencing the parade from a distance.

“We just want to be with the New York energy and the New York vibe,” said Jean Strong, who came to the parade from Harlem with his nephew and sister.

Terrell Emerson, a chef who grew up in Queens, said he drove from Maryland with his daughter Madison — named in honor of the Knicks' home arena, Madison Square Garden.

Beaming, Madison held a handwritten sign announcing she’d skipped her fifth-grade graduation to be there.

Stars and Knicks legends

Knicks great Walt “Clyde” Frazier — a member of the ’70s champion teams — led the parade in a stylish convertible, wearing his NBA title rings. Frazier had late teammates and coaches on his mind.

“They would be amazed at what has happened to the Knicks and how they’ve really captivated the city this year,” Frazier said. “This has exceeded any expectations I ever thought that we’d have.”

Timothée Chalamet, Ben Stiller, Jon Stewart, Mariska Hargitay, Tracy Morgan and other celebrities joined the party, while Knicks play-by-play announcer Mike Breen emceed the City Hall ceremony.

Alicia Keys, the singer who collaborated with Jay-Z on the 2009 hit “Empire State of Mind,” performed a medley that mixed her song with the classic “New York, New York.”

A parade decades in the making

The mere fact that the parade is happening is historic in itself. Although the Knicks won the championship twice in the 1970s, the city didn’t host a parade for them either time. Then-Mayor John Lindsay had cut down on ticker-tape extravaganzas for financial and other reasons. Instead, he held a 1970 reception at the mayoral mansion and a jam-packed ceremony in 1973 outside City Hall.

This time, the city went all out. A police officer could be seen holding a sign reading, “This is really happening.”

And a massive security operation

Officials said 10,000 police officers were deployed to secure the event, which follows ebullient but sometimes chaotic street celebrations and some violence during the Knicks' title run, including a five-game final against San Antonio.

Police said 10 people in the area around the parade were arrested and three others were issued summonses, on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to felony assault. The Fire Department said it took 30 people to hospitals and treated 31 others at the scene for ailments that included heat-related emergencies, asthma and minor injuries.

Before the parade, a small group of people were crushed against a barrier near Fulton Street, a key subway hub, pinned between a swelling crowd and a group of police officers shoving the barrier.

Some 650 sanitation workers were assigned to clean up what could be tens of thousands of pounds (kilograms) of debris, if recent history is any guide.

Why does New York throw ticker-tape parades?

Ticker-tape parades derive their name from the narrow strips of paper used by telegraph-era “stock ticker” machines. New York brokerage firm workers tossed the paper from office windows during parades in the late 19th century, adding a swirling spectacle.

Over the years, especially up to the mid-1960s, the city rolled out ticker-tape parades for visiting foreign leaders, historic anniversaries and feats in aviation, war, sports, music, space travel and more.

The Knicks' parade was the 210th, coming after a bash for the WNBA's New York Liberty in 2024.

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Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz and Julie Walker in New York and AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney in Southampton, New York, contributed.

Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat, said Wednesday night that petitioners have collected more than the roughly 875,000 signatures needed to place the proposed tax before voters. It will qualify June 25 unless proponents pull the measure.

“Now that California’s historic Billionaire Tax has surpassed the state’s signature requirement, we’re one step closer to saving the hospitals and emergency rooms that we all rely on,” said Debru Carthan, a spokesperson for the group backing the tax.

The proposal, supported by the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Workers West, would impose a one-time, 5% tax on individuals whose net worth exceeds $1 billion and who were living in the state as of Jan. 1, 2026. The goal is to generate $100 billion in revenue, mainly to fund the state’s Medicaid system with some money going to food assistance and education programs.

States have been debating how to respond to the major tax breaks and spending cuts legislation President Donald Trump signed last year. The proposal has already divided Democrats and major labor unions and triggered an expensive campaign to defeat it. The proposed tax is backed by prominent progressives including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The measure has faced staunch pushback from Silicon Valley tech moguls as well as Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and prominent players in Sacramento. They include the California Medical Association and California School Boards Association, which helped launch a committee this week to oppose it. Newsom also opposed a ballot measure in 2022 to increase taxes on the wealthy, which would have funded programs that help people buy electric cars or install more chargers. Voters rejected it.

Critics say the measure would decrease state revenue over time by pushing the ultrawealthy to leave, taking the money they would contribute in income taxes with them. That would deal a huge blow to a state that relies on its top 1% of earners for nearly half its personal income tax revenue.

“This flawed measure is the wrong approach for California’s small businesses and working families,” said Roger Salazar, a spokesperson for Golden State Promise, a political committee fighting the tax.

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that the proposal would generate tens of billions of dollars in the first few years, but that income tax revenues could subsequently decline by hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

Since the proposal was announced in October, Google co-founder Sergey Brin has donated $82 million to a political committee called Building a Better California that backs a variety of initiatives designed to blunt the billionaire tax proposal. It has raised more than $118 million, counting Brin’s contributions, from fewer than a dozen donors.

State lawmakers passed budget bills this week that aim to raise revenue in other ways, including by extending a tax on healthcare providers. Newsom and legislative leaders agree to this approach, Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón said.

“The budget, as approved by the Legislature and now being negotiated with the Governor, does not include the billionaire’s tax,” the Democrat said in a statement. “Instead, it reflects additional revenues to address our long-term structural deficit.”

In a video statement, Ivey said that his agency received a call on Monday about the condition of a dog owned by Andrew Carroll.

But when Animal Enforcement officers arrived at Carroll’s home, they stumbled across something “horrible,” Ivey added.

“The dog was extremely emaciated, and even more concerning than that — if you can imagine — when you see the condition of this dog was how badly infected his leg was," the sheriff explained.

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While Carroll initially refused to surrender the dog — nicknamed “Chance” — he eventually gave in, but by that point, the dog was in such poor condition that it had to be euthanized, Ivey revealed.

“Not only did it have a leg that was just severely infected, it was also covered in fleas,” Ivey continued. “It had become necrotic with the flea infestation it had. It was in horrible shape. It had been basically starved to death.”

Furthermore, when officials spoke with Carroll, he reportedly said, “Tell Sheriff Ivey he’s a little (expletive),” Ivey added.

“Well, who looks like that now?” the sheriff asked. “Because it ain’t me.”

Now, Carroll faces a charge of aggravated animal cruelty.

Meanwhile, the sheriff’s office urges anyone who witnesses animal abuse to report it at (321) 633-2024.

Merlin Lu admitted to a TV station this week that he was responsible for the recent cross burning in Grant Park. But he insisted that he was protesting President Donald Trump and Christian nationalists and was not using the cross as a historical symbol of hate against Black people.

Lu appeared in court Thursday on four felonies and four misdemeanors, including a hate crime, property damage and burning a cross to intimidate. A judge denied a request by prosecutors to keep him detained.

Defense attorney Alexander Michael told the judge that Lu was exercising free speech in a “foolish manner.” He also disputed that it could be a hate crime against certain Christians.

On June 9, in the middle of the day, Lu created a cross with two pieces of wood, wrapped it in toilet paper, doused it with kerosene and started a fire, Cook County prosecutors said in a court filing. The fire left burn marks on the trunk and limbs of a tree.

Lu told WMAQ-TV before his arrest that his intent was not to intimidate Black people. He said he was protesting the “ruling class” and Christian nationalists who support Trump, and attached a red hat to symbolize the MAGA hat favored by the president's allies.

“I did know about this historical relevance beforehand. But I didn’t know the severity, how racially motivated it may seem from what I did,” Lu said of a burning cross. “Cause my protest has nothing to do with race, nothing to do with gender.”

Someone put a large, multicolored, glass fiber heart with the word, “resilient,” in the place where the burning cross stood in the park.

Lu's LinkedIn page says he has attended college in Indiana and Chicago and was studying chemistry.

The Mount Dora Police Department, working alongside the Florida Department of Transportation’s District 5, drained and sifted a four-acre retention pond on DeBary Avenue between Enterprise Road and North Road in Deltona. Authorities tell News 6 they are now certain no evidence related to the case exists at that location.

Mount Dora Deputy Police Chief Jim Deleu said the search, though fruitless, represents a meaningful step in the investigation.

“I think we’re very satisfied with the outcome here in regard to our efforts and being very confident that there’s nothing here,” Deleu said.

[WATCH: Recent drought aided police in searching retention pond for missing Florida woman]

New leads developed with assistance from several law enforcement partners brought investigators to the Deltona site. Those partners include the FBI, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the State Attorney’s Office, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Transportation District 5.

After draining the pond, Deleu said a cadaver dog alerted them to two specific areas, which they extensively searched. Deleu explained that a cadaver dog alert, while a helpful investigative tool, is not conclusive on its own.

“It’s kind of like probable cause. It’s kind of like, likely something occurred, but it’s not definitive until you actually go out and get hands or eyes on that particular area. And that’s why we had to go out and dredge and sift and push dirt around,” he said.

Deleu made clear that crossing a location off the list is itself progress.

“But what a search like this does is it provides the investigation to be pushed forward in regard to us being able to eliminate this area as something that we need to concern ourselves with. So, we’re going to go to the next step. We’re going to the next lead,” Deleu said.

This marks the second time investigators have visited the Deltona pond since Baldwin disappeared. Officers first responded to a missing persons report in November 2023 after Baldwin disappeared from her home in the Lancaster subdivision off County Road 44 in Mount Dora. Investigators do not believe she left voluntarily and suspect foul play. The case has since been elevated to a homicide investigation.

Baldwin is described as 5 feet, 5 inches tall and approximately 135 pounds, with brown or blonde hair and hazel eyes. She has several distinctive tattoos that may aid in her identification. Her family and loved ones have spent more than two years searching for answers.

Deleu is urging anyone with even the smallest piece of information to step forward.

“If somebody has some smidgen of information that they may have, in regard to the missing person of Nicole Baldwin, then call the Mt. Dora police department,” he said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Mount Dora Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division at (352) 735-7130, or submit an anonymous tip through Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS (8477).

The amateur draft for players residing in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico would be cut from 20 rounds to 12 beginning in 2027 under the proposal Major League Baseball made during a bargaining session with the players' association. An identical 12-round draft would be started for international prospects, a proposal the union has rejected in the past.

Starting in 2028, a prospect for the amateur draft would have to be at least 20 years old by the Sept. 1 of his signing year and two years removed from the graduating year of his high school class — a restriction that also would eliminate players who completed their first year of junior college.

The amateur draft started in 1965, high schoolers have been eligible along with college players who are in or have just finished their junior years.

Raising signing ages would likely lead to players being older when they become eligible for free agency, which currently requires six years of major league service.

MLB cited increased revenue in college baseball as reasoning. In addition, MLB said 75% of high schoolers signed from 2012-19 did not reach the major leagues.

“Expanded scholarships, NIL opportunities, revenue sharing and significant investments in facilities and player development have made college baseball an increasingly important pathway that is producing major league-ready talent at an accelerated rate," MLB said in a statement. “By creating a draft system centered around college-aged players and making most college players eligible one year earlier, more players will benefit from both a college education and an elite development environment while reaching professional baseball — and ultimately the major leagues — more quickly.”

The players' association claimed the plan would decrease compensation by $1 billion over five years, including $400 million from this year to 2027.

“MLB made another set of proposals that are flat-out bad for baseball, ones that would cripple the next generation of players and damage the future of our game,” the union said in a statement.

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips supported keeping more prospects in college longer. He said in a statement that improvements in facilities, technology and scholarships “are creating more opportunities for student-athletes and providing additional pathways to develop at the collegiate level before taking the next step to the professional ranks.”

MLB said it will not seek to reduce the 120 minor league teams in the top four levels when it negotiates new professional development licenses in 2030 to replace expiring 10-year deals. It would cap bonuses for undrafted players at $10,000 — Middle Tennessee two-way player Trace Phillips was bypassed in the draft last July and signed with Tampa Bay for $629,200.

For international amateurs, the age to sign would be raised to 18 on the Sept. 1 of their signing year, up from 17.

“The game's greatest stars are precocious talents. We always want to have a great window for them,” said Scott Boras, baseball's most high-profile agent. “International markets recognize this, as well. When you bar a labor force from opportunity in America, it is not an American concept.”

Each separate draft would have $200 million in signing pools in 2027. There would be hard caps for each draft.

Teams would be able to trade draft picks but a club couldn't trade its first-round pick in consecutive drafts. A team couldn't acquire more than three additional selections among the first three rounds. In addition, MLB proposed requiring up to 10 prospects to attend the draft, and each would get a $50,000 draft attendance bonus.

Spending on signing bonuses for players eligible for the 2025 amateur draft have totaled $401.81 million and signing bonus pools for 2026 increased by 2.5%.

Each team would have the same amount to spend under the proposal rather than the current system which gives higher pools to teams with poorer records in the previous year. Pittsburgh is at just over $19 million this year and the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers at slightly under $4 million. Teams currently can go over their pools and often do as much as 5%.

Teams have spent $196.38 million on signing bonuses for international amateurs in 2026. The current signing period runs from Jan. 15 to Dec. 15 each year, but the initial international draft would be no earlier than September 2027 and no later than March 2028.

MLB proposed eliminating competitive balance round picks that began in 2023 and cutting the draft lottery that started in 2023 from the top six picks to four.

Bargaining began May 13 and the sides exchanged initial proposals two weeks later as management proposed a salary cap for the first time since 1994, which resulted in a 7 1/2-month strike and the first cancellation of the World Series in 90 years.

Baseball's five-year collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1 and management is expected to immediately impose a lockout, as it did in December 2021. An agreement was reached on the 99th day of the lockout, preserving a slightly delayed 162-game schedule.

___

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

The unanimous ruling by the three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a lower court judge wrongly interpreted Philadelphia's contract claims involving Independence National Historical Park, saying the city merely having standing to sue did not mean its arguments had merit. The panel also praised the plans for the replacement installation, writing that they were “full of historical context,” despite objections from historians and city officials that the content appears whitewashed.

The ruling comes a week after a Massachusetts federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore sites changed under an executive order calling for the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks to not display elements that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.” The federal government has asked for a stay on that ruling while it appeals.

It was unclear how the Massachusetts ruling would affect the restoration or replacement of the panels at the President's House Site. About half the large panels at the outdoor exhibit had been restored before a February pause in the work.

Messages to spokespeople for the Department of Interior and the National Park Service were not returned.

In a statement on Instagram late Thursday, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker vowed to pursue legal avenues to reverse the decision.

“We cannot and WILL not rest until the full story of American history – including the existence of Slavery at the President’s House here in Philadelphia – is told, for our Nation and the World to see,” she wrote.

Dawn Chavous, a volunteer for Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, one of the advocacy groups that helped develop the site in the 2000s, said they are disappointed with the decision but are speaking to their attorneys and considering options.

“For decades, ATAC has worked to ensure that the stories of the enslaved African descendants who lived and labored at the President’s House are not erased, overlooked, or misrepresented,” the group said in an emailed statement. “That commitment remains unwavering. We believe that historical truth matters, and we will continue to advocate for the protection, preservation, and accurate interpretation of this important chapter of American history.”

The city of Philadelphia sued in January after the National Park Service, in response to President Donald Trump's executive order, removed the explanatory panels from the President’s House Site, where George and Martha Washington lived with nine of their slaves in the 1790s, when Philadelphia was briefly the nation’s capital.

The city had worked in tandem with the federal government, historians and private partners to create the exhibit in the early 2000s — as part of a longstanding cooperation agreement over the downtown historical park — and contributed $1.5 million toward its creation.

The city argued that the federal government must consult with the city before making changes to the President's House Site. Justice Department lawyers argued the administration alone can decide what stories are told at National Park Service properties.

In its ruling Thursday, the appeals panel said the maintenance portion of the contract between the city and the federal government could not be interpreted to mean the site would remain as it was when it was completed.

“The duty to ‘maintain’ is better understood as a general management obligation that accompanies ownership, not a promise that the exhibits will forever remain in place regardless of the owner’s wishes,” the opinion said.

___

Casey contributed from Boston.

“You guys were after me,” he told reporters. “I was the hunted. And now I’m the hunter."

The incident, recalled in “Regime Change,” New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's new book on the first year of Trump's second term, encapsulates how different Trump's return to the White House in 2025 has been from his first term.

The book spells out a thesis that Trump himself believes: Had he not lost the 2020 election, he would not be as powerful in his second term as he is now — emboldening him to trample norms, dismantle established institutions and push the limits of presidential power.

Trump still falsely claims to have won in 2020. But a second term coming then might have been marred by pushback from members of his own administration, the coronavirus pandemic and the runaway inflation it caused, as well as an antagonistic Congress controlled by Democrats. He hasn't faced those issues this time.

Here are some takeaways from the book:

Vance or Rubio in 2028? Trump will loom large in the choice

The authors recount how Trump frequently quizzed aides about whether Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be better to succeed him.

Some donors promoted Rubio and some aides thought the secretary and the president had better personal chemistry than Trump and Vance. But Trump also indicated that he was impressed by Vance’s intellect and abilities during television interviews — particularly tough ones, the book says.

Trump is also said to be impressed by the background of Rubio, who is the son of Cuban immigrants. The book describes how, after Trump redecorated the Oval Office to fill it with gold flourishes, someone asked the president about the likelihood that the next president would undo all that he had done. Trump retorted: “Cubans love gold.”

But, Haberman and Swan write, Rubio and Vance are also friends. An example they offer is Rubio texting Vance after the 2024 Republican vice presidential nominee's comments about “ childless cat ladies ” became a scandal. Rubio offered to campaign with Vance to show his support.

As those two men jostle for position before 2028, it’s possible Trump won’t soon yield the spotlight to them.

The president frequently talks about the two and a half years left in his term, a timeline that carries him right up to Inauguration Day 2029 — suggesting that he's unlikely to let the Republicans running in the presidential race overshadow him.

A case in point occurred during an Oval Office meeting with Trump, Vance and Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, leader of the House Democrats. As Haberman and Swan recount, the president showed off “Trump 2028” baseball caps, prompting Jeffries to gesture at Vance and ask, “How does he feel about that?” Trump responded “Ah, he’s fine. He doesn’t care,” adding, “We’re giving him a little more training.”

Vance, speaking up for himself, offered, “No comment.”

Panic inside the White House over the Epstein files release

Haberman and Swan detail the deep level of alarm over the administration’s handling of the release of files from the investigation into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. That included White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles convening a crisis response meeting in the Situation Room and Vance suggesting enlisting friendly interviewer Tucker Carlson to sit down with Epstein’s imprisoned former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

That revelation has now raised questions about whether the reporters got audio recordings of what was said in a secure area of the White House, which would be a security concern.

Trump redecorated while the first lady was away

The book details how the president and first lady are the first first couple to sleep in separate bedrooms since Richard and Pat Nixon, though Bill and Hillary Clinton slept apart briefly when his affair with Monica Lewinsky became public. First lady Melania Trump sleeps in the White House’s traditional master bedroom of the Executive Residence — Room 219 — while the president sleeps in Room 220, next to second-floor space known as the Yellow Oval.

The president fitted his bedroom with gold and other flourishes, carrying in some objects himself from the corridor where his wife had selected the decor during the first term, the book said. Because the first lady wasn’t in Washington much during the start of the second term, she wasn't there to stop the president from rearranging things.

Among the items moved was a gold-leaf-framed mirror that had been part of the first lady’s redesign of the second-floor Queen’s Bedroom. But that actually ended up outside, on the Colonnade outside the Oval Office, where it is used to facilitate selfies.

The first lady had also overseen first-term Rose Garden renovations and objected to Trump wanting to pave over the area for his patio space reminiscent of his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. The president relented, and the surrounding grass was covered, but not the roses. She lost a larger battle, the authors write, as the East Wing was demolished to make room for the $400 million ballroom her husband is building.

Trump long had a Venezuela fixation

The president began his second term talking frequently about seizing Greenland and making Canada the 51st state, but was privately more focused on Venezuela — even suggesting it could become a state where he'd be allowed to appoint the governor.

Initially, Trump allowed special envoy Ric Grenell to negotiate with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, but he was eventually sidelined as Rubio made the case that Maduro would string along the administration for years, in an attempt to wait until Trump was out of power in 2029, Haberman and Swan write.

Rubio told White House officials that Maduro's vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, was corrupt but serious and could most likely keep Venezuela together. Rubio spoke with Rodriguez on the night U.S. forces stormed into Venezuela and deposed its president. He told her she had to bring stability to her country and prevent mass migration and violence. Rodriguez remains head of Venezuela after Maduro's ouster.

Trump also told the authors during a March 2026 interview that he had a “love affair” with Venezuela that began with his years of owning the Miss Universe pageant and the beautiful women representing that country in it. That wasn’t enough to improve his opinion of Ukraine, though, which Trump said he didn't like, except for its women who kept winning Miss Universe, the book says.

Trump said he was talking to a historian. It was Gary Player's caddy

Haberman and Swan conclude with the president telling them about a historian introduced to him by golfer Gary Player who described the president as the most powerful man the planet had ever known — surpassing even Alexander the Great, William the Conqueror and Napoleon.

Trump, who promoted the anecdote himself on social media Thursday, was unable to recall the historian's name during that interview. However, a White House staffer later revealed to the authors who the golf legend actually had been talking about. It was Player's longtime caddy.

In an arrest report, deputies said the case actually stems back to February, when they learned that the woman — identified as Jaqueline Requena, 25 — was engaging in the unlicensed practice.

This culminated in an arrest warrant being issued for Requena on Monday for a charge of practicing healthcare without a valid license, resulting in serious bodily injury, the report shows.

However, state officials confirmed that she still didn’t have a license to practice medicine, and her Instagram account — “thefillereffect.beauty” — was still active and advertising lip filler services, deputies added.

As a result, deputies said an undercover person set up an appointment for lip filler with though the Instagram profile, scheduling it for Tuesday afternoon at Requena’s business in Casselberry.

Once the appointment actually took place, agents moved in to take Requena into custody, the arrest report states.

As such, she now faces an additional charge of unlicensed practice of a healthcare profession, court records reveal.

The letter from the Illinois senator, the top Democrat on the Senate's aviation subcommittee, adds to questions and concerns over Trump's proposed 250-foot (76-meter) arch for the nation's capital. Pushed by Trump to commemorate the country's 250th anniversary, it would be more than twice as tall as the Lincoln Memorial.

Duckworth wrote that the FAA’s initial review of the arch appears to have been expedited and raised questions about whether the president or his White House aides are “already improperly pressuring FAA to prioritize rubberstamping Trump’s vanity arch over public safety.”

Officials are looking to complete the towering edifice within three years, possibly requiring 20 hours of work per day and cranes up to 320 feet (106 meters) tall, according to a National Park Service preliminary report, which Duckworth cited in her letter to FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford.

The agency said it would respond directly to Duckworth.

The arch's close proximity to the complex airspace of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, where a U.S. Army helicopter collided with a commercial jet last year, killing 67 people, was a key concern for Duckworth.

The crash “underscores the consequences of inadequate coordination and the need for extreme caution when evaluating any new obstruction in this environment,” she wrote. The FAA must be “firm in rejecting any improper or irresponsible pressure" from Trump on the matter.

In a previous statement, the FAA said that a preliminary feasibility study found “no adverse impacts to operations” at the nearby airport. The top of the structure, however, would need to be lit with red obstruction lights, which it called “a common safety tool.”

The agency said a full study in coordination with the park service would come next.

Duckworth added another concern in her letter, that the arch would interrupt the historic sightline between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, and thereby “offensively desecrate the hallowed symbolism.”

Capt. Lenita King, 63, of Haines City, and Trooper Maurice Vilsaint were booked in Osceola County and have since bonded out of jail, according to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.

What is ‘off-duty’ police work?

Both troopers are accused of abusing a common law enforcement practice known as “off-duty” employment.

Off-duty assignments allow officers to use their agency uniform and patrol vehicle to provide security or services for outside clients — including construction companies, homeowners associations, and community development districts. The outside organization pays the officer directly, and the officer repays the agency for fuel and equipment. The practice is permitted under FHP rules and is widely used at law enforcement agencies across Florida.

In this case, both King and Vilsaint had off-duty assignments with the ChampionsGate Community Development District in Osceola County.

[WATCH: Florida Highway Patrol trooper accused of fraud walks out of jail]

New details: How investigators caught King

King serves as the Orlando District 2 commander for FHP Troop D. She faces charges of grand theft, fraud, and falsifying records.

Investigators placed a covert GPS tracker on King’s vehicle to verify her location during her scheduled shifts — both for FHP and for off-duty assignments. The tracker told a different story from her billing records.

According to her arrest affidavit, King was physically present at the ChampionsGate Community Development District on only 10 of the 19 days she billed the district in March and April 2026.

Investigators say she overbilled the district $3,517. The district paid King $2,600 before withholding further payments after learning of the alleged fraud.

New details: Vilsaint accused of fictitiously billing $15,340

Investigators say they grew suspicious of Vilsaint after he failed to file FHP’s required Selective Enforcement Activity Reports for work he claimed to have performed for the ChampionsGate Community Development District between October 1, 2025 and April 30, 2026.

In total, Vilsaint billed for 60 days of assignments at the district. His arrest affidavit says he “fictitiously billed” $15,340.

Both warrants were issued out of Osceola County, which investigators identified as the location of the alleged crimes.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Although the tentative peace deal between the U.S. and Iran and the resumption of oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz are pushing energy prices downward, the cost of gas is still much higher than before the war began on Feb. 28.

According to motor club AAA, a gallon of regular gasoline averaged $3.999 on Thursday. It was the first time since late March that prices were that low. And the drop aligns with easing crude oil costs overall, with markets expressing optimism in recent weeks about the prospect of a peace deal.

Even with prices dropping, American drivers are collectively paying about $1 more per gallon than they were before the war, and gas is 25% more expensive than it was this time last year. That has caused many households to tighten their budgets and rethink how they want to spend their money.

More expensive bills beyond gas

Research has shown that short-term swings in the cost of gas leads consumers to adjust their driving and wider spending, with some even pulling back on core necessities such as groceries when gas prices get high, said Dylan Brewer, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Economics.

If costs continue to fall in the coming weeks, he said, more people may be able to “loosen their belts a little bit.” Businesses that rely on gas and diesel to transport their goods will also benefit, but it could take a few months for that to trickle through the supply chain, Brewer added.

Gas isn't the only thing that's gotten more expensive during the war. Groceries, airline tickets and even condoms and shoes cost more amid global supply chain disruptions. Even if oil and other core necessities such as fertilizer begin flowing from the Middle East again, experts warn that the high costs will likely persist long after the fighting ends.

“Product prices across the United States are projected to keep climbing for the rest of 2026," Pat Penfield, a professor of supply chain practice at Syracuse University, said Thursday.

Penfield pointed to depleted inventories and supply chain problems caused by the war, noting that farmers, for example, had to pay more for fertilizer and other supplies this spring, which will “ripple through to increased food prices by autumn.” At the gas pump, meanwhile, limited refinery capacity in the U.S. “remains a significant bottleneck” toward bringing down prices further, he said.

What prices at the pump look like nationwide

Steep fuel costs have already pushed U.S. inflation to its highest level in three years. And many consumers are still paying much more than $4 per gallon to fill their tanks.

That price is a national average, with costs varying between states due to factors like proximity to supply and differing tax rates. In California on Thursday, the average price for regular gas was about $5.64, according to AAA. Next costliest was Hawaii, at $5.57. Meanwhile, prices in Indiana and Texas sat at about $3.40 and $3.49 a gallon, respectively.

Recent relief for fuel prices arrived with a drop in costs for crude oil, the main ingredient in gasoline.

Brent crude, the international standard, sat under $80 per barrel Thursday. And U.S. benchmark crude tumbled to below $76 per barrel. That's still a little higher than the roughly $70 price tag before the war, but far below the $100-plus price from just a few weeks ago.

Why oil costs are falling

Prices fell overnight Wednesday into Thursday after President Donald Trump signed the tentative agreement with Iran. It calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and, in a significant concession from Washington, waives U.S.-backed sanctions on the country, immediately allowing Iran to sell its oil freely.

Major ship owners have also begun moving vessels through the Strait of Hormuz since the memorandum of understanding was signed Wednesday, according to maritime data from Lloyd’s List Intelligence, although some reported that only more limited side routes were open. And U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the U.S. Navy has lifted its own blockade to allow some transit to and from Iranian ports.

Still, it could take weeks or months for traffic to return to prewar levels. Before the war, the strait carried a fifth of the world’s crude oil. And Gulf oil producers that throttled back production will need time to get the oil moving again.

Some ship captains may take their time to determine if the passage is safe. The agreement between the U.S. and Iran calls for a permanent end to hostilities and starts a 60-day negotiating clock to reach a final deal on the future of Iran’s nuclear program, though Trump left the door open to resume attacks.

Refineries also typically pay for crude oil a month or more in advance, so even after oil prices drop, they won’t immediately be processing cheaper products. Energy shocks have been even starker in places that rely more heavily on imports from the Middle East — notably countries across Asia and Africa.

The memorandum of understanding signed by President Donald Trump started a 60-day negotiating clock to reach a final deal on the future of Iran’s nuclear program. While Trump allies noted the agreement is not final, the lifting of economic sanctions on Iran’s sale of oil and the plan for a $300 billion fund to rebuild Iran and its economy were met with criticism from Republican leaders and conservative influencers, including some close Trump supporters.

“President Trump has pursued peace through strength. I hope the intermediaries working on this deal are not undermining that objective,” said Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who has urged Trump to keep up the pressure on Iran and last month warned against striking a bad deal.

“The $300 billion fund for the reconstruction and economic development of Iran — though not funded by U.S. taxpayers — would make Iran’s payoff under President Obama’s 2015 deal look like a pittance by comparison,” Wicker said, referring to the Democratic administration's Iran agreement that Trump withdrew from during his first term.

The criticism from within Trump’s own party — though hardly unanimous — comes as he is trying to bring an end to the unpopular war fewer than five months from midterm elections, where Republicans are facing headwinds in their effort to hold their narrow majorities.

Trump calls his critics ‘fools’

Wicker’s points were backed by a number of his colleagues, many of whom supported the war when it began.

“History demonstrates giving billions of dollars to the theocratic lunatics who want to kill you is an exceptionally bad idea," said Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a staunch supporter of the war. “And so I hope we don’t do that.”

Trump on Truth Social called his critics “fools” and said the $300 billion payment to Iran by the United States is “fake news.” The interim pact promises a $300 billion fund for postwar reconstruction. It’s not clear where that money will come from — but Trump said, as Wicker noted, the U.S. would not contribute.

“All there is for the U.S. is Success, Lower Oil Prices, and Victory,” he posted.

Some senators question financial provisions

As the memorandum was released to Congress on Thursday, several Republican senators said it left them with questions, many of them about its financial provisions.

Majority Leader John Thune and South Dakota colleague Sen. Mike Rounds were seeking clarity on how financial incentives to Iran and conditions barring funding terrorism would be enforced, because “right now, a lot of money's going to go to Iran,” Rounds said.

To be sure, there were Republicans more closely aligned with Trump's America First policies in the Senate and elsewhere who were giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Sen. Roger Marshall stressed the point in the memorandum that supporters say gives the U.S. the upper hand. In a social media post, the Kansas Republican said one of the most important provisions “lays out a key commitment that strengthens regional security and ensures that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.”

Louisiana GOP Senate candidate John Fleming, who has focused on Trump's most loyal supporters ahead of a June 27 Republican primary runoff, said that means Trump has suggested that the U.S. will strike Iran again if it does not live up to the agreement.

“The criticism may be worthy if there isn't follow-through,” Fleming said. “He's using the speak-softly-and-carry-a-big-stick in offering them plenty of help, but at the same time he's got that stick ready if they don't live up to their agreements."

MAGA voices send a warning

Still, some of Trump's strongest supporters in conservative media have warned against the agreement.

Conservative radio host Mark Levin suggested a strategic rethinking to hold off on an agreement with Iran until after the midterms.

“We should consider slow-walking the enemy, building up our munitions, our oil reserves, get the price of gasoline down, get through the midterms, then knock them out,” he said in a social media post. Instead, the U.S. seemed to be “rushing to a deal, building up their oil industry” and agreeing to governments “transferring billions to them.”

Right-wing social media influencer Laura Loomer, who has long supported Trump while also promoting conspiracy theories, was more pointed in her criticism.

“Who is giving the President tainted, pro-Islamic intel?” she posted on X.

What all the critics shared is an abiding distrust of the Iranian regime, no matter their relationship to Trump.

“It does smack of the kind of appeasement," said former Vice President Mike Pence, whose relationship with Trump was fractured after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. “Bottom line. I don’t trust the Iranians.”

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Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.

The warnings were followed by sweeping airstrikes, which Israel said targeted the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group.

What Kaour found back in Tyre shattered his hopes. His dream family apartment overlooking the Mediterranean Sea was a heap of rubble and shattered glass.

His return came after the announcement of an agreement between the United States and Iran to end the war in the Middle East. The deal also calls for an end to the war in Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting Hezbollah, but it's unclear what that means in practice.

Israel and Hezbollah are not parties to the agreement. Iran insists Israel must withdraw from the large swath of southern Lebanon it is occupying, but the wording of the interim deal doesn’t explicitly require that and only ensures Lebanon’s “territorial integrity.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel’s military will stay in a “security zone” of southern Lebanon as long as "Israel’s security needs require it.”

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri — a Hezbollah ally — said Thursday that the group was committed to the ceasefire, “provided that Israel adheres to it fully and comprehensively.” Hezbollah has said that it's committed to resisting any occupation by Israel. Fighting between the two sides, which was still underway in some parts of southern Lebanon, could derail the deal.

Many hope the US-Iran deal signals better times

For residents in the south of crisis-battered Lebanon, hopes of better times are mixed with skepticism after many ceasefire announcements previously failed to halt fighting.

Kaour lives in Germany but spends most of the summer in Tyre. Last month, when an Israeli strike hit their street without warning, he was abroad with his family.

When he returned, he saw his building, with a popular sweets shop and an electronics store on the ground floor, was still standing, unlike surrounding structures that were leveled to the ground.

But walls and windows had been blasted out. He was relieved his family had not been there, he said.

“I’m hopeful for peace, and God willing this is the end of the war, and everyone can go back to their homes," he said. “We are living abroad, but our minds are here in our country.”

Outside, the street filled with people trying to clear the rubble.

Kaour's neighbor one floor above, Samih Haidar, had also just returned and found his door bolted by wooden boards.

He tried to kick them down but failed, then anxiously waited as two men who had been clearing rubble on another floor came and unscrewed the bolts.

Through a gap, Haidar climbed in. He didn't know what to expect. He had rented the apartment out to a family displaced from another area in the south, people who came to him through a friend.

His anxiety turned into shock: broken furniture, shattered glass, rubble and a burned out kitchen that had caught fire after the strike. He slowly walked through each room, quietly filming with his phone. He doesn't know what became of the tenants — displaced from Tyre like scores of others, he presumed.

“We want things to work out and live in safety, so there can be stability for us and everyone else,” Haidar said.

An isolated enclave hopes for reprieve

Farther south, the Christian village of Ain Ebel is one of a few enclaves in Lebanon's border area where residents have remained during the war. Christian villages, where Hezbollah has little presence, have been largely spared the destruction of neighboring Shiite villages. But they have their own problems.

The village is cut off from the rest of Lebanon by fighting and Israeli checkpoints, relying on aid convoys that require extensive coordination to get through. One such convoy, organized by the Order of Malta, a Catholic lay religious order, arrived Thursday bearing emergency livestock feed and supplies for farmers.

Cattle farmer Boutros Maroun said people in Ain Ebel are exhausted.

“We don’t care about America and Iran, we want the Lebanese people to live comfortably and happily," he said. "Every two years there’s a new war, and we can no longer take it.”

The convoy was delayed in returning to Beirut because of explosives found on the road, which had to be cleared by U.N. peacekeepers.

Fighting pierces a tenuous ceasefire

The fighting subsided but did not stop Thursday. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported several Israeli drone strikes, including one on a car in the town of Kfar Tebnit that killed one person and critically wounded another. Hezbollah later said in a statement that its fighters clashed with Israeli troops trying to advance on the town. Israel did not comment.

To the north, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) away, displaced families huddled along the waterfront in Beirut. Most of them have been sleeping in tents for months, living in limbo. For others, it's a bench or a mattress on the ground.

Many said they're not convinced that the U.S.-Iran deal will hold or that they will be able to return to their homes — if they still exist. In the border area close to Israel, many Lebanese villages have been almost completely demolished.

“I haven’t felt relieved at all,” said Mohammed Ashmar, displaced from the border village of Deir Seryan, holding a cup of coffee and sitting near his tent on the waterfront. “Until I get back to my home ... I won’t be convinced of anything.”

The Israel-Hezbollah war has displaced more than 1 million people in Lebanon, and killed more than 3,900, according to Lebanese officials. About 30 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon, and two civilians have been killed in northern Israel, according to Netanyahu’s office.

Speaking during a visit by foreign dignitaries on Thursday, Lebanon’s Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed said the country faces urgent humanitarian needs but also the daunting task of planning for the return of displaced families and reconstruction of the destroyed areas.

“The Lebanese people deserve peace," she said. “They deserve to return safely to their homes, rebuild their communities, and look to the future with confidence and hope.”

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Associated Press journalists Fadi Tawil in Beirut and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report. Hussein reported from Ain Ebel, Lebanon.

Quiet reminders of Officer Jason Raynor remain around the Daytona Beach Police Department five years after his death.

“One thing that we were very afraid of was that he was just going to be another name or another plaque on the wall that collected dust and really the community has shown us otherwise,” said Melissa Raynor, Jason’s sister.

[RELATED: DeSantis signs Jason Raynor Act]

Melissa and their father, Todd Raynor, have pushed for change in Jason’s name following a verdict the family felt was unjust.

“When I heard manslaughter and I heard 30 years, what went through my mind is my brother didn’t even get to live to 30 years old,” Melissa said.

On June 23, 2021, 26-year-old Raynor approached Othal Wallace to question him. Prosecutors said Wallace was driving a car similar to one reported stolen. The exchange turned physical within seconds — Wallace shot Raynor in the head and fled the scene. Wallace argued he was in fear for his life. He faced first-degree murder charges and the death penalty, but the jury returned a manslaughter conviction instead.

“You knew what you were doing, therefore you should be facing the charges that are related to the action that you did,” Melissa said.

Under the Jason Raynor Act, anyone convicted of manslaughter of a law enforcement officer in Florida now faces life in prison. Not everyone supports the measure, however. Attorney Tim Pribisco, who defended Wallace at trial, raised concerns about language in the act.

“Now we’re litigating over the definition of ‘sincere,’ now we’re litigating over the issue of what’s reasonable. Those are things that I think give way too much power to an officer who even by the cut of the law can be acting unlawfully,” Pribisco said.

“Is this a knee-jerk reaction based on sentiments that were against the verdict? My opinion is yes,” Pribisco said.

The Raynor family pushes back on that characterization, arguing the bill does not mean an automatic conviction. For them, the law is about protection — and a continuation of who Jason was.

“I can’t speak highly enough about who he was as an individual because of his fairness and just being able to look at things objectively,” said Todd Raynor.

The act took immediate effect upon being signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. For Todd, the grief has not eased with time.

In a release, police said the incident happened shortly before 8 p.m. at the intersection of North Riverside Drive and Washington Street.

Police explained that the duo had been crossing within a marked crosswalk when they were struck by a white sedan, though the driver ultimately fled the scene.

Both the mother and boy were taken to the hospital as trauma alerts, but police said they were later listed in stable condition.

Meanwhile, police said the driver — identified as 36-year-old Michael Perrelli of Edgewater — turned himself in shortly thereafter.

Perrelli now faces charges of leaving the scene of a crash involving injuries.

Churchill Downs Inc., which runs the Kentucky Derby to open the Triple Crown, announced in April it was buying the branding rights to the second leg, as well as the race for fillies the precedes it by a day, from 1/ST Racing with the intent of licensing it back to Maryland annually to stage the races.

"The Preakness Stakes is more than just a race: It is a cornerstone of Maryland’s history, culture, and economy," Moore said in a statement. "This decision secures a vital asset for our state, allows Maryland to shape its horse racing destiny, and by leveraging the Preakness’s iconic status and partnering with industry experts to enhance the fan experience, preserve Maryland’s position as a key power player in the Triple Crown for generations to come.”

Moore said no general fund tax dollars would be used, with the $85 million cost instead being funded by a tax-exempt revenue bond issuance, which would be paid back by money generated by the race through ticketing, wagering and sponsorships. The state expected the fee paid to Churchill Downs Inc. would escalate over time.

Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association President Katharine M. Voss called the decision a defining moment for Maryland racing.

"Ownership ensures that the decisions shaping the future of the Preakness are made in the interest of Maryland," Greater Baltimore Committee President and CEO Mark Anthony Thomas said.

It is Maryland's latest investment in the industry, in the middle of a massive reconstruction project at Pimlico Race Course, the traditional home of the Preakness and the Black-Eyed Susan in Baltimore. The races moved down the road to Laurel Park this year on a one-time-only basis while Pimlico work is being done.

“We plan to be back there next year,” Maryland Jockey Club president and general manager Bill Knauf told The Associated Press in an interview last month. The expectation is for the full grandstand to be ready by May 2028.

The Maryland Jockey Club is the nonprofit organization set to take over for 1/ST Racing, which is transferring control to the state. The plan is for year-round racing to take place at Pimlico.

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

The decision announced Thursday marks the third such fake elector case filed by states to be dismissed, though the Democratic attorney general is vowing to bring it back to a grand jury in hopes of securing another indictment.

The legal maneuver is aimed at getting around a Friday deadline for starting new grand jury proceedings after Mayes lost an appeal earlier this month. The appeal was filed after defense attorneys argued successfully that the original grand jury hadn’t been shown the relevant parts of a law that governs how presidential contests are certified.

“This case is complex and will require substantial presentation of evidence and time to accommodate defendants’ request to testify and present evidence,” prosecutors wrote, explaining the new presentation of the case to a grand jury won’t happen by the deadline. Mark L. Williams, an attorney for Giuliani, said his client and the others charged in the case did nothing wrong and were only exercising their rights to free speech and to petition the government.

“This action was brought to punish Mr. Giuliani and the other Republican defendants for exercising their constitutional rights,” Williams said. “It’s appropriate that it’s being dismissed.”

Kelli Ward, the state GOP’s chair during the 2020 election season and one of the 18 defendants in the case, wrote on social media that Mayes had damaged the reputations and finances of those charged and “certainly seems unwilling to admit her overreach & put this behind us. She wants to keep persecuting her political opponents.”

Mayes’ office has declined to comment on Ward’s criticism.

Courts have dismissed similar cases in Michigan and Georgia, and a special prosecutor dropped a federal case in late 2024 that charged Trump with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. Those cases ended after Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024. Cases related to the fake elector scheme remain in Nevada and Wisconsin.

The Nevada charges were dismissed in 2024 after a judge concluded Clark County, the state’s most populous county and home to Las Vegas, was the wrong venue for the case. Later that year, though, the case was refiled in Carson City, Nevada’s capital.

The Arizona case had been stalled for well over a year while Mayes pursued the appeal.

In Arizona, defense lawyers argued the law allowed for multiple slates of electors to be submitted to Congress in case the results were disputed. Federal law was amended in 2022 to specify that any given state could put forward only one slate of electors and that state governors are responsible for signing off.

Joe Biden won Arizona in 2020 by 10,457 votes.

The state attorney general has faced steep challenges in making her case.

It was filed nearly three and a half years after the 2020 election and levels complicated conspiracy charges against the 18 defendants. A dozen dismissal requests filed by defense attorneys have slowed progress in court.

The first judge on the case recused himself in late 2024 after an email surfaced in which he told fellow judges to speak out against attacks on Harris’ campaign for the presidency. The next judge ordered the case to be sent back to a grand jury.

Of the 18 Arizona defendants, two were former Trump aides, five were lawyers working for Trump and 11 were Republicans who submitted a document falsely claiming Trump won Arizona.

Three defendants have resolved their cases, including one who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge.

The rest pleaded not guilty. Some said they signed the certificate in case Trump won court challenges and a new slate of electors was needed urgently before Congress’ Jan. 6 deadline to tally votes.

The case has factored into Arizona’s attorney general race, where both Republicans vying to challenge Mayes in the Nov. 3 general election have publicly said they would dismiss the charges if they were elected to the post. Mayes is running unopposed in the July 21 primary.

Mike O’Neil, an Arizona pollster and political analyst, said he believes Mayes would face criticism from Democrats if she had decided to abandon the case altogether. “People who are upset about this aren’t the people who would vote for her anyway,” O’Neil said.

About the only familiarity Thursday was the scoring, kept in check by a strong wind that finally shooed away the fog and gave Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and the rest all they could handle.

Sam Stevens overcame a double bogey to start his round — a hole that took him over two hours to play because of the fog — and strung together six birdies that carried him to a 2-under 68, making him one of only six players from the early starters to beat par.

McIlroy saved par on a wild ride along the fourth hole, hit a pitching wedge into 12 feet on the downwind par-5 fifth hole for eagle, closed with two bogeys and was more than happy with a 69, particularly considering it was 11 shots better than the start he had at Shinnecock in 2018.

Also at 69 were Ludvig Aberg and 2023 British Open champion Brian Harman, Max Greyserman and Ben James, the college star in his second week as a pro.

Scheffler, needing a U.S. Open title for the career Grand Slam, had to rely heavily on his short game to salvage a 72.

“The greens haven't been too firm, the fairways haven't been too firm, so I've really felt like it's pretty scorable,” said Stevens, who had only his second sub-70 round in his fourth U.S. Open. “Obviously, it's difficult, but overall it's an awesome place. I think the setup is great right now.”

For one day — half of the opening round — the USGA might have been leader in the clubhouse.

Coming off two Opens at Shinnecock when the course got out of control, the USGA planned to slow the greens to 10 1/2 on the Stimpmeter — rare for any major, much less the U.S. Open — and keep plenty of water on the putting surfaces.

It was all due to the wind, which did not disappoint. The sustained wind approached 25 mph, and gusts were even stronger. And if that wasn't enough, it shifted directions in the middle of the day.

“It was tough around here without wind, and then it was blowing pretty hard — really hard,” Keegan Bradley said after a 70. “The USGA did a great job setting the course up because if the greens were any faster or firmer, we might not be playing right now.”

McIlroy hit wedge to 3 feet on No. 3, his 12th of the day, not the play he envisioned. He was trying to land it four paces short of the pin. It went four paces long and spun back to set up an easy birdie.

“The greens obviously are very receptive with them expecting this wind,” he said.

For all the concern about wind and the course drying out, it turned out to be another weather that got in the way — fog. Thirty minutes after the U.S. Open began, play was stopped and led to a two-hour delay. It was particularly tough on Stevens.

He laid back off the tee at No. 10 and was preparing for his approach when the horn sounded. When he returned, his 6-iron came up short and back down the hill, he chunked his wedge and his U.S. Open began with a double bogey.

“Didn't get to hit my second shot for 2 1/2 hours, or whatever it was,” Stevens said. “Got off to kind of a weird start, but made a birdie on the very next hole. It felt like I settled in after that ... The greens were a bit softer. I felt like you could hit good shots close to the hole, and then made a few nice putts, so overall good.”

McIlroy, whose lone U.S. Open title was 15 years ago on rain-softened Congressional, did some of his best work on the fourth hole. He pulled his tee shot into the knee-high, wispy hay on the left, and his next shot bounced off a cart path some 50 yards away. He hit wedge over where the gallery had been standing and holed an 18-foot putt. He followed that with his eagle — his first at the U.S. Open since 2017 at Erin Hills — until getting tripped up at the end.

“The greens are pretty slow and quite receptive. I think they need to be at this point. It’s a challenging golf course already, and you put 30-mile-an-hour winds on top of it, it tests the best players in the world pretty well,” McIlroy said. “I think they were prudent with the course setup.”

Scheffler fell to 3 over when he missed the fairway in high grass to the right on No. 8, did well to punch out into a bunker, blasted out to 18 feet and three-putted for double bogey. Then, his blind shot to the ninth green came back off the front of the green. He holed a 6-foot putt to save par, and that proved key as he limited the damage with a 34 on the back.

“If you told me when I was staring at my par putt on 9 that I would post 2 over today, I would definitely have taken it at the time,” Scheffler said. “Overall, it was a good battle.”

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

A 22-year-old male suspect, described as armed and dangerous, remained at large Thursday.

The five shootings occurred Tuesday between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m, in a 5-mile stretch of Kansas City, three of them on Interstates 70 and 670 as they cut through downtown. All of the shootings were at least 4 miles away from Arrowhead Stadium, where Argentina won its first match against Algeria.

Two American fans of Argentina's team, arriving for Tuesday's match, told Argentine outlet La Nación that someone in a car came alongside and fired two shots at the Uber they were riding in, hitting the driver in the leg. They said they first thought the sound was a car tire popping until they saw the driver had been hit.

They had to go to the police station to provide statements about what happened. Officers then took them to the stadium in patrol cars, they said. The driver's injuries were not life-threatening, police Capt. Jacob Becchina said.

That shooting and two others on the interstates occurred while cars were traveling east, one of them from neighboring Kansas, police said. The others occurred further east on Truman Road, a major thoroughfare through the city.

Police said three adults and a minor, a teenager, were injured, and all were hospitalized, though only one adult had life-threatening injuries, Becchina said.

About 6:30 p.m., officers responded to a report of a vehicle crashing into a pole along Truman Road, east of the other shootings. The driver was taken to a hospital, and workers there discovered what appeared to be a gunshot wound while treating him. He died of his injuries.

“Victims all indicated they were driving down the highway or roadway when one or more shots were fired into their vehicles,” Becchina said in an email.

Becchina said detectives believe the non-fatal shootings occurred “in close succession,” from west to east, connected by the one suspect.

Police later tracked the suspect to a home in the suburb of Independence, about 2 miles further east of where the fatal shooting victim was found, and a standoff ensued. But when police entered the home about 8 a.m. Wednesday, the suspect was not there.

Officials across the state line in Kansas City, Kansas, also have a warrant out for the suspect over a June 11 incident involving an illegal discharge of a firearm, Nancy Chartrand, the spokesperson for its police department said.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright had urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to act in an effort to help the United States better compete with China for superiority in the fast-growing AI sector.

Tech companies and data center developers welcomed the chance to connect faster to the country’s power supply for the biggest energy users ever built in the United States, including some that consume more electricity than a small city.

Utilities, states and regional grid operators had worried that the Republican administration’s plan would remove their authority to manage the process, but FERC said the order leaves states in control of retail electric rates, terms and conditions. Clean energy advocates have urged regulators not to undermine state-level efforts to require the use of renewable energies.

The commission’s actions come as a backlash grows against data centers over concerns about the massive amounts of energy and water they use and fears about noise and air pollution, water shortages and a loss of open space or farmland.

Unanimous vote and affordability

FERC members voted unanimously to direct six regional grid operators to ensure that AI data centers and other large power users are “able to connect to the transmission system in a timely and orderly manner.”

Laura Swett, an appointee of President Donald Trump who chairs the commission, called the vote “historic” and said it would push the country’s electricity market into the future while respecting states’ rights, protecting reliable electric service and shielding ratepayers from shouldering the costs of connecting big power users to the grid.

“I know that Americans across the country are concerned about affordability, and so are we,” Swett said, referring to the five-member commission. As chair, “I am taking extremely seriously the mission that Congress has entrusted us to ensure that rates are reasonable,” she said.

The vote comes eight months after Wright asked the independent agency to take more control over ensuring that the vast network of massive computing warehouses needed to power AI are connected quickly to high-voltage transmission lines.

Wright hailed the commission's action, saying it would "remove barriers, accelerate development and ensure America has the affordable, reliable and secure energy needed to power a new era of prosperity."

Data centers would pay the full cost of any grid upgrades needed for their connection, under the commission order. But that order can do little to address the tightening energy supplies that are driving up electricity bills in some areas and raising warnings of blackouts as the construction of data centers outpaces the speed of new power plants coming online to serve them.

Robert Montejo, a lawyer who represents data centers, said the most important message from FERC’s action is that AI “has fundamentally changed the electricity landscape. The grid and prior policy were not built for the pace and scale of demand we’re seeing from AI infrastructure, and FERC is signaling that standing still is no longer an option.”

The six regional grid operators under the order serve 200 million Americans, or two-thirds of FERC’s jurisdiction. FERC, meanwhile, invited utilities that handle their regional transmission systems to also participate and analysts said the agency could eventually pressure them, too.

A search for power

Tech giants are scrambling to find enough power for their data centers and report that, in some places, it will take years to connect to the electric grid.

The Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned electric utilities, said FERC’s order builds on regional and state processes already underway while “supporting flexibility and innovation.”

Besides power bottlenecks, the tech industry is running into widespread opposition from communities where residents don’t want to live next to or near a data center.

More than 4,000 data centers now operate in the U.S., according to one estimate, with an additional 3,000 planned or under construction.

Trump has tried to deflect public concerns about AI, seeing the fast-evolving technology as crucial for the U.S. to attract foreign investment and maintain its economic and military prowess. He signed an executive order this month establishing a framework for the federal government to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems for up to a month before their public release.

In December, FERC took an earlier step to help data center operators get electricity quickly, voting to allow tech companies to effectively plug a data center directly into a power plant and Thursday’s order sought to ensure that option is accessible around the country.

Power demands from data centers

FERC told grid operators to respond within 30 days on how they will ensure there is adequate power supplies for new and future data centers, and within 60 days on plans to integrate large power users in line with the new guidelines. Swett told reporters after the meeting that she hoped faster connection processes are in effect in “as little time as possible.” She didn't set an exact timeline.

Jeff Dennis, executive director of the Electricity Customer Alliance, said FERC’s order is responsive in particular to big power users and state regulators.

Tech giants are confronting unclear rules to connect data centers to high-voltage transmission systems, while states need more clarity on who should bear the cost of regional transmission projects approved at the federal level, he said.

Rob Gramlich, a Washington-based energy consultant, said states should quickly develop rules to accommodate large power users and prevent cost shifts to residential and business customers. FERC could assert broader jurisdiction over interconnection issues if states don’t act quickly, he said.

Data from the Electric Power Research Institute shows that data centers now account for about 5% of U.S. electricity demand, but could triple by 2035.

Tech companies have continued to raise their spending on building and equipping data centers, but there is evidence that construction is lagging and projects are hitting roadblocks, including permitting delays, growing local opposition or bottlenecks around gas turbines, transformers and skilled labor.

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Levy reported from Harrisburg, Pa.

The market's reversal was powered by sharp gains for big technology companies. The decline on Wednesday was driven by anticipation that the Federal Reserve will likely raise interest rates this year in an effort to fight inflation.

On Thursday, stocks faced less pressure as bond yields eased and oil prices spent most of the day falling.

The S&P 500 rose 80.48 points, or 1.1%, to 7,500.58. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 72.15 points, or 0.1%, to 51,564.70. The Nasdaq composite surged 496.28 points, or 1.9%, to 26,517.93. Every major index notched weekly gains.

U.S. markets will be closed Friday for Juneteenth.

Technology stocks had some of the biggest gains and the most influence on the broader market's rise. Intel surged 10.6% after President Donald Trump announced that the semiconductor giant will make chips for Apple in the U.S. Other big semiconductor companies gained ground. Nvidia rose 3% and Micron Technology jumped 8.7%.

On the losing end, SpaceX fell for the second straight day since its ballyhooed debut on the U.S. stock market last week. The Elon Musk-led rocket maker and AI company was down 3.6% following a 4.9% loss Wednesday.

Oil prices wavered after the United States and Iran signed an agreement to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tanker traffic. Brent crude, the international standard, spent most of the day lower before settling 0.4% higher at $79.85 per barrel. U.S. benchmark crude fell 0.2% to $75.85 per barrel.

Airlines had some of the bigger gains. American Airlines rose 3.7% and United Airlines rose 2.1%. Cruise line company Carnival jumped 3.2%.

Energy companies lost ground. Exxon Mobil fell 2.1% and Chevron fell 2.2%.

Prices for crude oil are still above roughly $70 per barrel from before the war, but are well below the $100-plus price from a few weeks ago.

Higher oil prices have been weighing on markets throughout the U.S. war with Iran. The current deal between the nations waives sanctions against Iran and allows it to sell its oil freely. It also opens up the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil supply is shipped.

“While investors are welcoming the agreement as a constructive step for geopolitical risk, uncertainty remains elevated around potential flare-ups, the pace of shipping normalization, control of the waterway, the cost of access, and the path forward for Iran’s nuclear program.” said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL Financial, in a research note.

Rising energy costs have been putting more pressure on already hot inflation. The average price of gasoline in the U.S. has dipped below $4 a gallon, but is still 25% higher from a year ago. Prices have been rising for a wide range of goods because of higher shipping costs.

Hotter inflation prompted the Federal Reserve to shift course from cutting its benchmark interest rate to likely raising rates by the end of the year. Lower interest rates can boost the economy by making borrowing easier for businesses and households, but it also tends to stoke inflation.

The Fed has been trying to balance its job of curbing inflation while supporting employment growth. The jobs market has remained relatively strong amid rising inflation, with low unemployment and solid job growth.

The central bank closed its two-day meeting on Wednesday by maintaining its benchmark interest rate at its current level. But it signaled that it might raise the rate at least once by December.

“This shift in the risk distribution helps explain why around half of the committee thought that an interest-rate hike this year might be needed,” said James McCann, senior economist at Edward Jones, in a research note.

The Fed's stronger signal for an eventual rate hike prompted a jump in bond yields on Wednesday, but they eased on Thursday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.45% from 4.49% late Wednesday. The yield on 2-year Treasury, which more closely tracks action by the Fed, fell to 4.18% from 4.20% late Wednesday.

Markets were mixed in Europe after closing lower Asia.

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Senior Producer Mayuko Ono contributed to this report.

The justices decided unanimously in favor of Ali Danial Hemani, a Texas man who argued that a law barring guns from anyone who regularly uses illegal drugs violates the Second Amendment.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that his opinion narrowly limits the government's power to take guns away from drug users who are not considered dangerous. Hemani, who was not charged with any other crimes or accused of using the weapon under the influence, is thankful he “finally has closure,” lawyer Zachary Newland said.

The decision is a loss for President Donald Trump’s Republican administration, which had defended the 1968 law despite arguing against other gun restrictions. Its core argument “fails under every measure,” Gorsuch wrote.

The law was originally meant to keep guns away from dangerous people, but the millions of people who now use marijuana can't all be characterized that way, Gorsuch wrote. While recreational use is illegal under federal law, about half of states allow it and cannabis use for health purposes is widespread.

“Whatever one thinks of these developments, the federal government has not just tolerated them; it helped fuel them,” Gorsuch wrote. “All of which leaves it awkwardly positioned to suggest that the millions of Americans who now regularly use marijuana are categorically and unusually dangerous.”

The law was also used in a case against Hunter Biden, who was convicted in Wilmington, Delaware, of buying a gun while addicted to cocaine in 2018. He was later pardoned by his father, Democratic President Joe Biden.

Someone addicted to an illegal drug could potentially still be prosecuted after Thursday’s decision.

“We do not address efforts to ban addicts, or those presently intoxicated, from possessing a firearm,” Gorsuch wrote. Prosecutors could charge a marijuana user if they had evidence the person was dangerous, he said.

Recreational use remains illegal on a federal level even after the Trump administration reclassified medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug in April.

Gun rights and pro-cannabis groups join forces

The case made for some unusual political alliances.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Rifle Association supported Hemani’s case, as did cannabis legalization groups such as NORML. On the other side were gun safety groups including Everytown that usually oppose the administration on Second Amendment issues.

The ACLU applauded the ruling, saying that nearly half of Americans have reported using marijuana at some point in their lives.

“The court has sent a strong message that the government cannot criminalize the conduct of large numbers of people by making categorical and unfounded assumptions about whether they are dangerous,” said Cecillia Wang, legal director at the ACLU.

NORML applauded the decision as a “vindication of personal freedom” and the Second Amendment Foundation called it a “major victory for gun owners.”

The group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which opposes legalization of the drug, condemned it.

“While the justices in this case appear to be most concerned with historical battles over Second Amendment rights, public health and safety are the collateral damage in this decision,” said CEO Kevin Sabet.

Gun control groups were more measured, with Everytown saying the decision still recognizes that “drugs and guns can make for a dangerous mix.”

It is rare to see standalone criminal charges filed against people accused solely of owning guns and using drugs, though they are more often filed against people also accused of other crimes.

The opinion is the latest in a series of firearm cases to reach the Supreme Court since its landmark ruling expanding gun rights in 2022 led to a wave of challenges around the country.

Since then, the high court has upheld a law aimed at protecting victims of domestic violence and strict regulations on ghost gun kits but has struck down a ban on bump stocks, an accessory that enables rapid fire. The justices are also considering a second firearm case this term over strict regulations on carrying guns in Hawaii.

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

“I hope this center will serve as an affirmation of just how special, how precious our democracy truly is and remind us what we can achieve when we embrace our shared responsibilities as citizens,” the nation’s first Black president told the crowd.

Bono, John Legend, Christina Aguilera, Marc Anthony and Eddie Vedder took turns on the stage ahead of Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Wonder, who closed the show singing “Higher Ground” as the former presidents, world leaders and others danced along.

President Donald Trump was conspicuous both in his physical absence and by not being mentioned by any of the speakers or performers. Trump called the $850 million center a “total disaster” in a social media post in February.

Obama voiced his support for character, honesty, integrity, kindness, compassion and sense of duty, praising both Democrats and Republicans, including those he defeated.

“Every president here today, as different as we are, has tried our best to uphold values that John McCain and Mitt Romney believed in no less than I did,” Obama said. “It is our greatest inheritance.”

Reflecting on his arrival in Chicago in 1985 as an untested political organizer, he said he could not have built the Obama Presidential Center anywhere else. He met his future wife Michelle nearby, their wedding reception was within walking distance, his children were born in the neighborhood and he launched his first candidacy not far away.

“It’s an expression of thanks, an acknowledgment that so much of what I hold most dear I owe to the people of this city and the people of the surrounding neighborhoods,” Obama said.

Michelle had some emotional words for her husband

The Obamas and their daughters shared the stage with former presidents Joe Biden, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton along with former first ladies Jill Biden, Laura Bush and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Former Vice President Kamala Harris and many other leading Democrats were in the audience.

Michelle Obama spoke directly to her husband when she stepped up to the podium. “Eight years in the crucible and not once did you melt in the heat. Not once did you let it harden you.

“Instead, you used it to reveal your truest essence,” she said. “Your stubborn optimism and unflinching courage. Your dazzling brilliance and unpretentious decency. Your ferocious work ethic and absolutely unshakable moral fiber. And to do it all as a first.”

She ticked off highlights from her husband's eight years in office, including ordering the raid that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden, “standing up for marriage equality” and “listening to science.”

“And you did it all with such grace and class and cool,” she said. “You made the hardest job in the world look like a walk in this beautiful park.”

Obama appeared to wipe away a tear as she praised him.

Michelle Obama also referenced the current “anxious and divisive times” and warned against being cynical or complacent as “everything feels so upside down.” She pitched the center as “a respite from all that.”

A-list entertainers sang inspirational anthems and protest songs

Jennifer Hudson sang the national anthem and Aguilera delivered a rousing rendition of “What a Wonderful World.” Pearl Jam’s Vedder, joined by Chicago teenagers in the nonprofit Guitars Over Guns program, sang an original song called “Better Believe,” written just for the dedication.

Legend sang “Someday We’ll All Be Free” and was joined by the rapper Common and Uniting Voices Chicago for their Academy Award-winning song “Glory.”

Bono, who said he was representing the Irish, joined with The Edge in singing the U2 song “City of Blinding Lights.” The Roots served as the house band. And Springsteen sang “Land of Hopes and Dreams” before turning to the Obamas and saying “I love you.”

Wonder sang “All I Do” and “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)” before the grand finale, joined by the performers who preceded him.

The VIP crowd included several potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates; civil rights leaders Andrew Young and Al Sharpton; Oprah Winfrey; comedians David Letterman, Conan O’Brien and Stephen Colbert; actor Tom Hanks; tennis legend Billie Jean King and Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts.

Former world leaders in attendance included former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Event kicked off weekend of celebration

The three-hour invite-only celebration included commentary from a nearby park where thousands gathered, and it was livestreamed to many more. It kicks off a weekend of events as the center opens to the general public on Juneteenth.

“This is not a monument to the Obamas,” said Valerie Jarrett, the Obama Foundation’s chief executive and former Obama top adviser. “This is a tribute to all those who made this journey possible.”

The opening, like the ribbon-cuttings of other presidential libraries over the years, had a heavy focus on accomplishments. This former president also expressed some regrets — such as the increase in political polarization during his two terms. “It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency — that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better,” Obama said in his final State of the Union.

“Some of the exhibits reflect unfinished business,” Obama said Thursday. “In some cases, my own shortcomings and mistakes.”

General admission tickets for the center are sold out through the end of October. More than a million visitors a year are expected at the nearly 20-acre campus.

___

Associated Press writer Mike Catalini contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.

Even one of golf's elder statesmen and a three-time major champion could learn something from the way the 17-year-old played Thursday in the first round of the U.S. Open.

Russell rarely looked like a rookie while shooting a 2-over 72 that left him five shots ahead of his 54-year-old playing partner.

“He played lovely, 2-over par was the worst he could’ve shot,” Harrington said. “He hit it dead straight all day, didn’t really have himself in too much trouble at all. And then, you know, probably could have been a couple better.”

Russell is a Florida State-bound amateur who was making his U.S. Open debut. He is so young that he said this week he couldn't even remember if he watched when Shinnecock Hills last hosted the U.S. Open in 2018.

The left-hander has a thin build and could probably be mistaken for closer to 12 from far away. Harrington, with some grey hair showing from beneath his blue hat, looks every bit the age of someone who qualified for this event by winning the U.S. Senior Open championship last year.

So Russell wasn't surprised to hear that spectators were frequently asking each other how old he was.

“That was the first time I’ve played with somebody maybe that much older than me,” Russell said. “Usually I’m playing Korn Ferry events, so they’re not too much older, maybe a couple years.”

Harrington won his first major title at the British Open in 2007, then repeated and added the PGA Championship in 2008, a few months before Russell was born.

Harrington was a fair amateur himself. The native of Ireland played on three straight Walker Cup teams for Great Britain & Ireland, including one that beat a U.S. squad featuring Tiger Woods in 1995.

But he wasn't sure his game was as developed as Russell's is now.

“I can’t remember what I was doing when I was 17 years of age,” Harrington said. “But yeah, I’m sure it’s all ahead of him.”

Russell, ranked No. 1 in the American Junior Golf Association and No. 7 among all amateurs in the world, earned his spot in the U.S. Open through a 36-hole qualifier — where Charlie Woods, his future college teammate and Tiger's son, was his caddie.

He quickly was ahead of Harrington, who bogeyed six of the final seven holes on the front. Harrington said there wasn't much talk between them, even when they stood just a few feet from each other in the 10th fairway after both hit their tee shots 307 yards. He said the lack of conservation wasn't because of the age difference, but rather because the conditions made it tough to hear anything.

“It was very windy out there. Your head's down, getting your work done,” Harrington said. “There wasn’t a great deal of chat. A lot of good shots for him, as I said, but not a great deal of chat.”

Still, there was enough interaction that Russell was able to learn something from the owner of 43 worldwide victories.

“It’s always good to play with a guy like that and he’s done really well for himself,” Russell said. “He’s played a lot of good golf. So I mean, anything you can pick up from them, whether it’s just the way they act, or the way they walk, or the way they interact with people.”

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

David Subramanian and Haley Burns showed News 6 a notice they say was taped to their door on June 16.

The notice states management had been informed by Seminole County Code Enforcement that their unit is “no longer fit for habitation.” It terminates their lease immediately and gives them seven days to vacate.

“No email, no phone call, no text message,” David Subramanian said. “We come and there’s just a piece of paper slapped on with duct tape saying that you have to get out in seven days.”

The couple says they always planned to move out, but wanted to wait until repairs were made to stairways Seminole County had already deemed unsafe.

Subramanian says moving furniture down those stairs now creates a dilemma.

“We’re kind of packing up and hope that maybe we can take some of the smaller stuff and maybe leave the couches and bigger items,” he said.

“They are pretty much telling either I need to forfeit my stuff or put my family at risk.”

He says he and his wife have stumbled on the stairs before and worries about carrying heavy furniture down them.

“I can’t even hire a moving company because technically they can’t come up the stairs,” he said.

The couple invited News 6 inside as they packed boxes and prepared for an uncertain move.

Subramanian says management had repeatedly promised residents the stairways would soon be shored up.

News 6 also spoke with another tenant who received the same seven-day notice. She said the complex moved her into a temporary unit after the initial evacuation but told her not to move her belongings out of her original apartment.

Now, she says, she has less than a week to remove those belongings from the same unit.

“It’s been awful, a horrible experience,” Subramanian said. “There’s been many nights that I haven’t been able to sleep because of all this stuff.”

Earlier this year, Seminole County identified structural problems affecting dozens of units, including rusting staircases.

News 6 reached out to Seminole County and Pebble Creek management asking whether there has been a new determination regarding the affected units, why some residents are now receiving seven-day notices and what assistance is being offered to tenants being forced to leave.

As of publication, neither had responded.

WEATHER WARNINGS:

None

THURSDAY

A Heat Advisory is in effect from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. as heat index values climb between 108 and 110 degrees across East Central Florida. While the actual air temperatures will reach the mid 90s, the combination of heat and humidity will make it feel much hotter.

Storm chances will increase this afternoon as the east coast and west coast sea breezes collide across the peninsula. The highest coverage is expected from Brevard and Osceola counties northward, where rain chances range from 40 to 70 percent.

Some storms could become strong, bringing frequent lightning, wind gusts up to 55 mph, and torrential downpours. Widespread rainfall totals of 2 to 4 inches are possible, with isolated locations seeing more than 5 inches where storms repeatedly track over the same area.

A Marginal Risk for excessive rainfall is in place today, meaning localized flooding of roads and low lying areas is possible.

WEEKEND OUTLOOK

The active pattern will continue into the weekend.

Friday carries the highest risk for strong to severe storms with coverage between 60-70%. The strongest storms could produce wind gusts up to 60 mph, dangerous lightning, and heavy downpours that may lead to localized flooding.

Rain chances remain elevated through Saturday and Sunday as a weak front combined with remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur settles across northern Florida, keeping scattered to numerous showers and storms in the forecast each afternoon and evening.

While temperatures may ease slightly over the weekend, highs will still reach the low to mid 90s with heat index values well above 100 degrees.

NEXT WEEK

Drier conditions are expected early next week, but above normal temperatures and daily storm chances will continue.

Instead, the rollout of Vance’s second book, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith,” has been largely crowded out by something else he’s put his name on: the deal to end the Iran war.

The Republican vice president has embraced the role of chief defender of the agreement he and President Donald Trump signed with Tehran, giving a series of interviews touting it as a success, releasing a video championing it and parrying questions about it during a briefing at the White House.

It’s a striking emergence for a politician who's known for his skepticism of foreign military interventions and who seemed reluctant to speak on the conflict when Trump launched it in February.

The vice president is poised to yoke himself further to the conflict’s outcome, when he’s expected to kick off a new phase of negotiations with Iran — though when that will occur was still up in the air Thursday.

Vance becoming a hype man for the agreement seems to be an all-in gamble that, should he decide to seek the White House in 2028, voters will reward him for being the face of ending an unpopular conflict.

It’s also setting Vance up as the presumptive fall guy should the deal with Iran falter.

Trump joked about such a possibility on Wednesday.

“If it works out, I’m going to take the credit," Trump said. “If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD.”

Officials release text of the deal after backlash

Vance on Thursday referred to Trump's comment as a joke and said he wasn't worried. He added: “Look, the entire team has worked very well on this, and we’ve got this thing to a very good place for the American people.”

The White House in a statement called Vance the president's “right-hand man and an invaluable member of the President’s talented national security team.”

"That’s why the Vice President was trusted to lead these negotiations alongside Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner," White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said. "What President Trump and his team achieved on the battlefield and at the negotiating table is nothing short of remarkable and will strengthen American security for years to come.”

But backlash, including from conservatives, began growing this week after the U.S. digitally signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran on Sunday.

Vance spokesman Luke Schroeder said in a statement: “It’s unfortunate that some Republicans are attempting to undermine the President’s efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East and ensure Iran never has a nuclear weapon.”

Officials gave shifting answers about when they would release the text, but leaked copies of a draft were quickly met with anger and skepticism from Democratic and Republican U.S. lawmakers, as well as Israel and pro-Israel advocates. Their criticisms included concerns that the deal, meant to open a two-month negotiating period, seemed to offer Iran wins up front while guaranteeing little in return and that Trump’s stated reason for launching the conflict, to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, remains unresolved.

Vance has reiterated that Iran must meet its obligations.

In response to the backlash and mounting questions, the U.S. on Wednesday provided the text of the agreement to journalists.

The agreement states that Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under rubble, must at minimum be diluted under international supervision. It also states that Iran shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons — a commitment it has made previously. But beyond stating that the U.S. and Iran will negotiate over Iran's nuclear program, other commitments still need to be worked out.

Criticism on the right persisted after the text was released.

Conservative radio host Erick Erickson, a hawk who has defended the war, said Wednesday: “This is an American surrender.”

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, another potential 2028 presidential candidate, criticized the agreement and said to reporters, “I think the president, unfortunately, is receiving bad advice.”

Trump's Operation Epic Fury has angered wings of his movement

The conflict, which has stretched into its fourth month, has cleaved Trump’s broad Make America Great Again coalition and angered both those who favored a harder line against Iran and those drawn to Trump’s “America First” foreign policy underscored by a message of “no new wars.”

Critics, including Republicans, have already started pointing fingers in Vance's direction, questioning whether the deal resembles the 2015 nuclear agreement struck by Democratic President Barack Obama and whether this new agreement achieves Trump’s stated objectives for launching the war, dubbed Operation Epic Fury.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Trump ally and Iran hawk, had been skeptical of the agreement and referred to Vance on social media as “the architect of the deal."

After the agreement was released, Graham issued a tepid statement of support, saying, “I see little downside to trying.”

Ben Domenech, The Daily Wire’s opinion editor, said on Fox News that everything he was hearing about the deal “seems bad” and appeared to cast blame on Vance by alluding to his first book, “Hillbilly Elegy."

“Are we going to backslide into being some kind of ‘hillbilly Obama’ kind of GOP?” Domenech said.

GOP allies say Vance can navigate the politics

The Trump administration has not offered formal briefings to Congress on the details of the memorandum, but Vance has quietly started doing outreach to some Republican senators on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, a close ally of Vance's, said the vice president would be able to assuage even critics within his own party who are skeptical of the deal because “JD is just the president’s messenger, and the president’s going to prove them all wrong.”

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said the deal “certainly adds to the national security and geopolitical chops” of Vance, who spent two years as a U.S. senator for Ohio before ascending to the vice presidency.

But Cramer acknowledged the risks if the agreement goes awry.

“I guess the nice thing is, if you’re not the No. 1 person, you can take credit and avoid risk, avoid the criticism, but probably not so easily,” Cramer said.

Vance argues Iran is not a quagmire like the Iraq war

In interviews this week, Vance has sought to speak directly to the skeptics in his party, a preview of the difficult explanations he may be pressed to make as a candidate on the war.

On Megyn Kelly's show, the vice president said the critics “believe Iranian propaganda” about the deal. But he acknowledged some of the frustrations on the hawkish right while trying to reassure the anti-interventionists that the Iran conflict isn't the war in Iraq, where he served as a Marine.

Democrats have stressed that even as Vance becomes the face of the Iran deal, the fate of any administration official who harbors presidential aspirations — particularly hawkish Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has largely been quiet in the agreement's final phases — will be tied to its outcome.

“I think any member of this administration is going to rise or fall on the basis of the Iran war and the handling of the economy,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii.

___

Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed to this report.

Investigators identified the trooper as Capt. Lenita King, the Orlando District 2 commander for FHP Troop D.

Jail records show that King has been booked in Osceola County on charges of grand theft, fraud, and falsifying records.

[WATCH: Florida Highway Patrol trooper accused of fraud walks out of jail]

The sheriff’s office also confirmed deputies served a warrant out of Osceola County for Trooper Maurice Vilsaint.

The warrant was issued out of Osceola County, which deputies said is the location of the alleged crime.

Both troopers have since bonded out of jail.

No additional information has been provided at this time.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Every Brazilian fan — in Philadelphia to watch their national team play Haiti on Friday at the World Cup — that stopped for a snapshot or a selfie with the 9-foot-11, 1,300-pound beast left the statue dressed in only his bronze trunks and boots.

No taking chances of getting hit by the Rocky curse.

Yes, the Rocky statue, long a symbol of resilience, heart and the unbreakable bond between Rocky and the people of Philadelphia, has taken a few more hits of late (even in retirement).

Visiting American sports fans have long learned the hard way that dressing the statue with colorful jerseys, scarfs, hats, anything found in your local Rally House, has only meant that team would suffer a knockout blow at the home of the local Philly team.

Scoff all you want.

The bad fortune stretched to soccer when fans of the Ecuador's national team took over the Rocky steps and sang and danced and waved flags and ... dressed Rocky in a team jersey and tied the country's flag around the fictional fighter's neck.

It didn't go well.

Amad Diallo scored in the 90th minute to lift Ivory Coast to a 1-0 victory over Ecuador in its first World Cup appearance in a dozen years.

And there ain't gonna be no rematch.

Brazil fans noticed the outcome and one of their fan groups, the Green and Yellow Movement, urged visitors to keep their clothing to themselves.

“ ANTENCAO TORCEDOR!” the Instagram post warned.

Everyone is paying attention.

The translated text read: “It's totally forbidden to put a Brazil shirt on the Rocky statue in Philly!!!!!”

Even Visit PA cheekily got in on the fun and tried to warn foreigners that — just like Ivan Drago learned the hard way — Rocky was not to be messed with.

“Countless football teams (as in American Football, not Fútbol — same curse, different sport) have all dressed the Rocky Statue in their colors and gone on to lose,” the Instagram post said. “Ecuador dressed Rocky last weekend Coincidence? Sadly, history says no.

“Philadelphia can't wait to host you! (but Rocky does not need your kit)”

Brazilian fans paid heed to the warning through Thursday afternoon, and scores of fans simply took the spot in front of the statue and raised their arms in triumph just as Rocky did after so many fights, and many, many movies.

“This is a moment in Brazil,” said Lorival Guerreiro, who traveled from Limeira, Brazil, for the World Cup. “They promote this place to celebrate before the game. The Brazilians come here to celebrate our team."

When the bronze statue was left on the steps after filming the “Rocky” movies, the museum fought to have it removed. It was eventually relocated to South Philadelphia before returning to the bottom of the steps in 2006. The statue was a huge hit and became a point of pilgrimage for people around the world.

According to the Philadelphia Visitor Center, about 4 million people visit the steps each year — rivaling the nearby Liberty Bell in annual foot traffic. The pop culture icon was recently moved to the top of the steps.

Roberto De Freitas, a native of Porto Alegre who now lives in Florida and is attending his third World Cup, climbed the steps for a photoshoot with perhaps Philadelphia's most famous landmark. He was dressed in Brazil's colors — down to the green sneakers — and was set to attend Friday's game.

He hoped five-time World Cup champion Brazil would take a page from Rocky's corner and win some more.

“We have five titles,” De Freitas said. “We are trying to get that sixth one.”

De Freitas had not yet heard of the Rocky curse but had no plans to tempt fate once he learned of the potential consequences.

“That's what they said,” he asked with a laugh. “I'm for sure not going to do it.”

For the record, De Freitas said “Rocky” was his favorite of all the movies in the series.

The Rocky Shop at the base of the steps was loaded with tourists who snaked their way through fighter T-shirts and plush offerings of Mr. T's character, Clubber Lang. Peruvian sports journalist Jampool Cuadros Estrada tried on a Rocky robe as a cameraman followed him around the store for their latest World Cup report.

Philadelphia, home to nearly 6,000 Brazilian-born immigrants, has a bit of a recent connection with the South American country. The Philadelphia Eagles opened their Super Bowl championship season with a win over the Green Bay Packers in Brazil in 2024.

Facing pressure to win its first World Cup title since 2002, Brazil was outplayed early and needed Vinícius Júnior’s 32nd-minute goal to get a 1-1 draw with Morocco on Saturday.

Brazil now needs to beware Haiti — a noted heavy underdog, just like Rocky.

“Brazil has the pressure. Haiti has the freedom,” Haitian singer Wyclef Jean wrote on social media. “And sometimes freedom is the most dangerous thing on the pitch. I can't wait!!!!”

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

The Food and Drug Administration is evaluating Moderna's new shot, dubbed mFlusiva, for older Americans ahead of the winter flu season. Moderna is seeking full approval for the vaccine's use in people ages 50 to 64 — along with authorization for use in those 65 and older while it conducts additional testing.

The FDA's independent advisory committee evaluated Moderna's studies of the vaccine and voted unanimously that its benefits appear to outweigh any risks for both age groups. The FDA will consider that recommendation in making a final decision by early August.

Tens of thousands of Americans die from influenza every year, and older adults are among the most vulnerable. There are various types of flu vaccines already available in the U.S., including three specifically recommended for people 65 and older. But vaccines made with the Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology are faster to manufacture than other types — something experts say might help if the shape-shifting flu virus mutates in a way that requires suddenly brewing new doses to match.

“Having this technology available puts us in a better position to be prepared for emerging strains in the future,” said Dr. Flor Munoz-Rivas of Texas Children’s Hospital, one of FDA's advisers.

In a study of 40,000 people age 50 and older, Moderna’s mRNA vaccine reduced flu cases by about 27% compared with those given another routinely used vaccine brand. In a smaller study of people 65 and older, Moderna's shot also generated a strong protective immune response compared with a high-dose flu vaccine already recommended for that age group.

Data showing strong immune reactions “were very compelling,” said FDA adviser Dr. Anna Durbin of Johns Hopkins University, adding that "the vaccine looks very promising.”

Moderna’s Dr. Rituparna Das told panelists that the company’s ability to quickly manufacture mRNA vaccines that closely match the latest flu strains could prevent thousands of hospitalizations in older Americans.

Severe flu cases in the U.S. generally rise in years when the flu shot doesn’t closely match the circulating virus. Moderna officials noted that flu strains for each fall's vaccines now are chosen several months earlier than the yearly recipe update for COVID-19 shots that mostly are mRNA-based — and there can be a mismatch if the flu virus mutates after the recipe is made.

At the meeting, FDA vaccine reviewer Dr. Timothy Brennan suggested the agency was open to approving the vaccine for older adults ahead of the coming flu season, despite the need for more information about its use in frail seniors or people with weak immune systems.

If it's approved, Moderna is planning its required next-step study to include 400,000 people 65 and older, half given the mRNA vaccine and the rest given one of today’s special-for-seniors shots. It's supposed to repeat that study for two flu seasons.

Moderna's data showed no major safety issues although the shot did cause some temporary reactions including injection-site pain, fever, headache, tiredness and aches. The latter reactions are common in a variety of vaccines, but occurred somewhat more often than with today's flu shots. The FDA said that's typical of mRNA vaccines.

Those temporary reactions can be a signal that “your immune system is responding,” said Dr. Hayley Gans, a Stanford Medicine pediatrician and FDA adviser who stressed it will be important to explain that to vaccine recipients.

Earlier this year, Moderna’s data was at the center of a highly unusual public dispute as a then-top FDA official blocked the company’s application for its first-of-its-kind shot.

The embattled vaccine chief at the time, Dr. Vinay Prasad, said the company should have compared its shot to a high-dose flu vaccine recommended for seniors rather than a standard-dose brand. It was a sign of FDA’s heightened vaccine scrutiny under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Moderna challenged that decision, noting that FDA staff had approved that main study’s design and citing a separate, smaller study comparing the mRNA shot with a high-dose vaccine for seniors. Days after the spat, the FDA accepted Moderna’s application.

Moderna also is studying the vaccine in younger adults and plans a separate study in 9- to 17-year-olds this fall.

____

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The apportionment of funds, which the White House's Office of Management and Budget made late Friday, comes from two accounts that were intended to provide the U.S. Secret Service with extra money for hiring and training in the aftermath of last year’s assassination attempts on the president, according to Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee. The shift was made days after Congress rejected a $1 billion request for the White House in a Homeland Security bill that Trump signed law and as the ballroom project is tangled in legal challenges.

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley, whose panel initially drafted the security funding, said Thursday he was unaware of the allocations.

“The president said that it was all going to be paid for with private money,” said Grassley, R-Iowa. “And that’s what the country expects."

Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, charged that Trump's actions are potentially illegal.

“After repeatedly telling the American people that zero taxpayer dollars would be spent on his gold-plated ballroom boondoggle, now Trump appears to be using a smoke and mirrors tactic,” Merkley said in a statement.

“Trump has proven that he can’t be trusted to follow the law," Merkley said. "He only cares about wasting taxpayer money on his vanity projects.”

Ballroom project hits setbacks

Trump has faced setbacks in his attempts to build the ballroom on the White House grounds, where he ordered the demolition of the storied East Wing to make way for it.

Touring the construction site last month, Trump called the development a “gift” to the American people. He has repeatedly said that is being paid for by donations – which has also run into ethics questions from watchdogs concerned about potential corruption and conflicts of interest.

Congress refused the Trump administration’s request for $1 billion for the ballroom last month. The administration wanted the money as part of a Homeland Security bill, but Republican and Democratic lawmakers rejected efforts to tack it on. It became politically toxic at a time when Americans are reeling from inflationary high costs of living.

The Washington Post reported earlier this week that the price tag for the project has ballooned to $600 million, according to a project summary prepared by the contractor, with more than half of that funding coming from taxpayers. Roll Call first reported on the apportionment of new funds for White House security.

At its core, arguments are swirling over how much of the White House project is to bolster security underground, with bomb shelters and a medical facility, and how much of the costs are related to the president's promised 999-seat ballroom on top.

White House says Trump and donors are paying for the ballroom

A spokesman for the White House said that Trump and donors are funding some $400 million for the ballroom development, and that the coordination with the Secret Service had been noted in the initial announcement of the project.

“The East Wing Modernization Project is inextricably tied to the security of the President, the White House grounds and the certain security infrastructure assets,” said White House spokesman Davis R. Ingle in a statement.

He said the events over the past weekend, including an alleged attack plan targeting the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House, proves why the project is needed.

“President Trump and generous American patriots are funding the ballroom to the tune of approximately $400 million, which will be a secure and appropriate venue for Presidents for generations to come,” he said.

Government lawyers have argued that the project includes critical security features to guard against a range of threats, such as drones and missiles.

The White House has said in court documents that the East Wing project would be “heavily fortified,” including bomb shelters, military installations and a medical facility underneath the ballroom. The Secret Service told senators last month that $220 million of the White House's $1 billion request would go to harden the ballroom addition, with bulletproof glass, drone detection technologies, chemical and other systems.

The rest of the money would go for other security improvements, according to a document provided to Senate Republicans, including $180 million for a new, “long overdue” White House visitors screening facility.

Congress holds power of the purse

The shifting funds are certain to ignite growing concerns in Congress over the separation of powers, and the president’s use of federal funds allocated by lawmakers.

The money comes from Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill that the president signed into law last summer. It provided more than $1 billion for Secret Service resources, including “personnel, training facilities, programming, and technology; and performance, retention, and signing bonuses.”

The provision was uncontested at the time, even as Democrats voted against the broader bill. Democrats said they did not challenge this section or try to strip it out from the package.

Under the Constitution, only Congress has the specific authority to allocate funds across the federal government, including the executive and judicial branch operations.

While the president holds the power to sign – or veto – those appropriation bills, once the funding becomes law, it largely must stand.

The bipartisan Protect College Sports Act aims to regulate payments to players, limit them to one free transfer over their careers and create a rule to restrict coaches from changing jobs during a season. It advanced out of the Senate Commerce Committee on a 19-9 vote and now heads to the full Senate for consideration.

Thursday’s vote came hours after the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten Conference, the two most powerful in college sports, reiterated their position that “revisions are needed to secure our support for the bill.” Several senators who voted against it cited concerns raised by the two conferences, which could spell trouble for its chances.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who supported the bill, said he would like to be able to bring it up for a vote in the Senate next month, before the August recess. He said the legislation will "continue to get refined as time goes on.”

“It was a really strong vote coming out of the committee,” Thune said.

The bill takes a step forward

The committee vote advancing the bill followed endorsements from several athletic conferences, the NFL and its players union, and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. The Olympic committee backed the revised measure after lawmakers added additional protections for women’s and Olympic sports.

“The new agreement also reflects the critical importance of Olympic sports," Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican chair of the committee, said in opening remarks. “That is a major part of what this bill is about. College athletics is not only football and men’s basketball.”

NCAA President Charlie Baker applauded the Senate action Thursday, saying it was a “powerful statement to the growing bipartisan support for targeted intervention.”

In an interview with AP after the vote, Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell — the top-ranking Democrat on the committee — said the vote result felt “pretty darn good.” The legislation is the product of months of negotiations between Cruz and Cantwell as other attempts in Congress to intervene in college sports have failed to advance far.

“This is a big milestone,” Cantwell said.

Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz was among the six Democrats who voted with most Republicans in advancing the bill.

“It took me awhile to get there, and I think there's more work to be done,” he said.

Big Ten and SEC aren't on board

The SEC and Big Ten said hours before Thursday’s committee meeting that their “critical revisions have not been accepted.”

Among their concerns, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has argued the bill could invite the very litigation it is intended to prevent. Both conferences have also objected to a provision allowing conferences to pool media rights, saying they are unconvinced it would generate the additional revenue supporters say it could.

“What we did today was say we’re not going to let the most powerful, richest conferences dictate to the rest of America what’s going to happen to 500,000 athletes,” Cantwell said after the committee vote.

Support and opposition for the bill does not fall neatly along party lines, reflecting the national reach of SEC and Big Ten schools and broader divisions in Congress.

While President Donald Trump has backed the bill, multiple Republicans opposed the legislation Thursday, while several Democrat supported it.

Some of the senators who voted against the bill represent states that are home to prominent SEC and Big Ten programs, including Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat, and Republican Sens. Todd Young of Indiana and Roger Wicker of Mississippi.

“Universities in Mississippi and around the SEC are concerned that some further progress needs to be made on the media rights,” Wicker told the AP.

Earlier this month, the Congressional Black Caucus also urged the Senate to suspend action on the bill in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that effectively disabled a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. Democratic Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, a member of the CBC, voted against the legislation Thursday.

A long road ahead

Clearing the committee is just the first step in a long process.

Passage through the Senate is far from guaranteed, as leaders already have a packed schedule and a dwindling number of legislative days left before the November election. The bill would need to clear a 60-vote threshold in the 53-47 Republican-controlled chamber.

The bill will also still need to clear the House. Earlier this year, the House Republican leadership had been working toward a vote on its own college sports bill, known as the SCORE Act, before the Congressional Black Caucus announced its unanimous opposition.

Still, supporters on Thursday called the committee action a massive step forward.

“Today we are proving that we are resilient in keeping this product moving,” Cantwell said.

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AP National Writer Eddie Pells in Southampton, N.Y., contributed to this report.

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Follow the AP's coverage of college sports at https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports.

The federation earlier said the 23-year-old Wahi was not going to be able to travel to Canada, but it issued a statement Thursday stating the necessary authorizations had now been obtained.

Wahi started in Monday's 1-0 win over Ecuador in Philadelphia. The Elephants play Germany on Saturday in Toronto in their second match of the tournament.

Taous Ait, a spokesperson for Canada’s immigration minister, declined to comment on the case, citing a need for authorization from the individual involved.

The French soccer league said Wednesday that an “unusual amount of bets” were placed internationally on Wahi receiving a yellow card during a game on May 17 while playing for Nice. The French league was alerted by partners monitoring betting markets about suspicious betting activity concerning Nice’s home game against Metz, which ended in a 0-0 draw and in which Wahi was shown a yellow card.

The French league said it passed that information to police and gambling authorities, as well as the French soccer federation.

Asked whether Wahi was questioned by police, the Marseille prosecutor's office told The Associated Press “a 23-year-old professional football player, competing in France’s Ligue 1 championship, was arrested on May 29, 2026, as part of their investigation."

The office added “the investigation concerns alleged offenses of organized fraud, organized sports corruption, receiving stolen goods, and money laundering.” The player was questioned while in police custody and was released without being detained.

Wahi’s representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Ivorian soccer federation said it has not been officially notified “of any judicial or administrative proceedings” concerning Wahi. The soccer body said if “offers its full support to the player and reaffirms its confidence in him.”

“Elye Wahi remains an important member of the Ivory Coast national team," it added.

Wahi joined Nice on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt in January and scored nine goals in 18 games in all competitions, helping the team reach the French Cup final.

The French league season ended May 17. Wahi scored twice less than two weeks later to help Nice stay in the top division, a 4-1 win over Saint-Etienne in the second leg of the promotion-relegation playoffs.

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup

Thapelo Maseko’s long range shot late in the match caught the hand of Czech opponent Pavel Sulc in the area.

Mokoena, who was shown on camera with tears rolling down his cheeks during the pre-game national anthem, stepped up to the penalty spot and sent his shot low past Czech Republic goalkeeper Matej Kovar in the 83rd minute.

The South Africa midfielder said he was overwhelmed before kick off, thinking about his late grandfather.

“I know, wherever he is, he would be proud of me," Mokoena said. "I just felt his presence in that moment. I thought if he was here, he would be proud of me because I know he believed in me when nobody believed in me.”

Michal Sadilek had given the Czechs the lead in the sixth minute at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Alexandr Sojka played in Sadilek and he slid a shot past goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.

Both teams lost their opening matches, and both knew another setback would seriously hinder their chances of reaching the round of 32.

South Africa faced some strong criticism following its 2-0 loss to World Cup co-host Mexico, which raised the prospect of the country extending its run of never having advanced to the knockout phase of a World Cup — even as host in 2010.

“If we go on like that and if we can make another performance like today I think we have a chance to go in the second round,” South Africa coach Hugo Broos said.

South Africa will next face South Korea on Wednesday in Group A, but will be without Mokoena, who is suspended after picking up his second yellow card of the tournament.

The Czechs lost to South Korea 2-1 in their opening match and will likely need to beat Mexico in their final game on Wednesday to advance.

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Associated Press writer R.J. Rico contributed to this report.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup

At the Roots 101 Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, shackles made 400 years ago in Ghana are among the many relics of the African American experience on display. They were donated by a collector and activist. But Lamont Collins, who founded the museum in 2020, doesn’t just show them. He puts them on the wrists of willing visitors.

“It’s such a deep learning tool,” Collins says. “No matter how we hear people tell stories, how people try to change the story, the reality of the stories is in those shackles. Nobody can deny the reality of what you feel in those shackles.”

For European and American slave traders, iron shackles were seen simply as tools that helped run the transatlantic slave trade. Shackles were made for wrists, ankles, waist and the neck. They were even made in children's sizes. They were forced on kidnapped and sold Africans who were brutally crammed into ships as well as in slave markets in the Deep South. Seeing a coffle of enslaved people chained together in a line was commonplace.

Shackles reinforced to those enslaved that they could not even so much as dream of freedom. They were a punishment and a deterrent. A collar shackle even had bells or spiked ends to help slave catchers track runaways.

Last year, video of Collins placing shackles on a white woman's wrists at the museum gained attention on social media. He thinks it's because people want to talk about history through a racial lens as others continue to resist it.

“What I realized is sometimes that a lot of people think they want to know the story. But they want to know the story in their boundaries,” Collins says.

White men and women have cried after trying the shackles. Some decline just as Collins is about to cinch them on their wrists.

“I would say to them ‘Why I can't put these on you for two seconds and we had them on for 200 years,” he says. “It starts a conversation.”

___ This story is part of a recurring series, “ American Objects,” marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. For more stories on the anniversary, click here.

Ahmad Bojeh, 29, faces three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the Jan. 17 shooting deaths of three visitors from Ohio who were staying at an Airbnb near his home. The victims were in the area to attend a local car show.

Bojeh was arrested after deputies identified him as the shooter. He lived in the home next to the rental property where the victims were staying.

Bojeh has a prior criminal history connected to gun violence. In 2022, he stood trial for attempted murder after allegedly shooting at a person and at random vehicles at a Kissimmee gas station. He was acquitted by reason of insanity and was barred from owning a gun.

Following his arrest in the current case, both the prosecution and defense had Bojeh evaluated for competency.

Thursday’s hearing was expected to produce a ruling on those evaluations, but the proceedings hit another snag because the judge assigned to this case was out.

The substitute judge on the bench, Judge Hal C. Epperson Jr. of Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit Court, explained the reasoning for the delay.

“Because there is no consensus between the parties, between the state and the defense with respect to the court relying exclusively on the two evaluations that have been completed, and given the nature of the case, it’s appropriate for the court, who has stewardship over this matter and who has historical knowledge, to address this matter,” Epperson said.

A new hearing date has not yet been announced.

Kean, who represents a battleground district in this year's midterms, has missed more than 100 votes and hasn't been spotted in Washington or his district, stirring a mystery that carries potential national consequences.

"Congressman Kean is eager to return to in person work on June 30 and resume a full schedule," said Kean political consultant Harrison Neely in a text. “He plans to be fully transparent regarding the nature of his health issue and you should expect to hear from him in person June 30th."

Kean’s office has said he is still running for reelection and is set to face Democratic Navy veteran Rebecca Bennett in the state's premier contest in November.

The district is among the most closely watched in this year's election. In the past two midterm elections, the seat changed party hands, with Kean winning in 2022 over Democrat Tom Malinowski, who had defeated Republican Leonard Lance in 2018.

Kean last voted in the House on March 5, but his absence wasn’t explained. In April, his social media account posted that he had been dealing with a personal medical issue and his doctors expected him to recover.

On Primary Day this month, President Donald Trump endorsed Kean’s reelection, without mentioning his absence, and the same day, Kean said in a statement he expected to return to work in a matter of weeks.

He hasn't explain what the medical issue was.

Kean comes from a long line of public servants, stretching 250 years to the country’s founding when one of his ancestors became New Jersey’s first leader since independence. His great-grandfather was a senator, his grandfather was a congressman and his father is the former two-term governor, Tom Kean Sr.

The challenge involves teens covering their faces, kicking or pounding stranger’s front door when it’s dark outside, and sprinting off into the night.

[WATCH: FCSO releases footage of ‘Door Kick Challenge’ in action]

But on Wednesday, Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly warned there could be deadly consequences.

According to the sheriff’s office, these pranks may come across as an attempted home invasion for some, and with Florida being a “Stand Your Ground” state, neighbors have the right to treat it as such.

[RELATED: Central Florida deputy consoles 12-year-old accused in door-kicking incident]

“Parents, keep an eye on your children. We know they want to have fun, but they are taking huge risks when they mask up and kick strangers’ doors,” Staly said. “Be the sheriff of your own home, talk to your kids, know their friends, and make sure they know the risks associated with doing what the internet tells them to do.”

But in a release, the sheriff’s office delivered the message in a “language” that teens may better understand:

“This door kick ‘challenge’ is not the side quest you think it is.

It’s trendslop, pure brain rot straight off the FYP. You think you’re the alpha chad of the cul-de-sac? Nah bruh, you’re one hoodie masked-up sprint away from priors. The kind of rap that gets you cancelled before you ever stack any clout. Zero drip in our jail’s barbershop-looking mugshots.

Okay, real talk. Florida is a Stand Your Ground state. A NPC wakes up to two randos kicking their door at 1 a.m. wearing sheisties — they don’t see a flex, they get the ick, and think your side quest is a home invasion. And no cap, you’ll get capped.

Taking an L on TikTok? Recoverable. Taking a round to the chest? There’s no respawn.

So skip this one, chief. Find clout elsewhere."

Flagler County Sheriff's Office

But the brief document signed by U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is vague on some of the major questions left by the three-month regional conflict that jolted the world economy. The U.S. says some outstanding issues will be worked out over the 60 days.

Here are some of the main questions, and the best answers available at the moment.

What will happen with Iran's nuclear program?

Trump says a key objective of the war was to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, something Tehran has long denied seeking. The U.S.-Israeli surprise attack that started the war on Feb. 28 came as Iran was engaged in nuclear talks, which are now set to resume.

It will be extremely difficult to reach a full nuclear agreement before the 60-day deadline, which could be extended. The 2015 nuclear deal, which Trump scrapped during his first term, took more than 18 months to negotiate and involved complex technical discussions among nuclear experts.

Iran has long insisted on its right to enrich uranium. The deal does not specify the level at which it would be allowed to enrich — the low levels required for power plants or the much higher level at which it had enriched before the war, which put the uranium a short, technical step away from weapons-grade.

Iran’s existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium is believed to have been largely buried by U.S. strikes last year. The agreement says at a minimum the stockpile will be diluted on site under U.N. supervision, without elaborating. Trump has long demanded that it be removed from the country.

When will the Strait of Hormuz reopen?

Iran's effective closure of the critical waterway — through which a fifth of the world's oil and gas passed before the war — caused a historic worldwide fuel shock, driving up the prices of everything from gas and groceries to fertilizer and airline tickets.

Lloyd's List Intelligence, a maritime data company, said Thursday that major shippers have begun moving vessels through the strait again.

Under the agreement, it will be fully reopened, with Iran to remove mines within 30 days and with no charges imposed on commercial vessels during the 60-day period.

Passage was free before the war, but Iran imposed tolls during the fighting and has said it will continue to charge fees.

Legal experts say that would violate international laws around freedom of navigation, and the U.S. has adamantly rejected it. Such fees could also run afoul of sanctions on Iran, making them problematic for shippers.

When will the fuel crisis end?

Even if the strait is fully reopened, it could take weeks or months for the normal flow of oil and gas to resume.

Ship captains and insurers will have to decide if it's truly safe. Hundreds of ships bottled up in the Persian Gulf for months will need to exit through the narrow, elbow-shaped waterway. Even a brief exchange of fire — which happened several times after a declared ceasefire in April — could halt traffic once again.

Major oil and gas producers in the Gulf, including Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, will also need time to repair critical infrastructure damaged by Iranian missile and drone attacks.

Will sanctions on Iran be lifted?

The U.S. says it has lifted its blockade under the agreement, which also calls for sanctions waivers that will allow Iran to export oil. That will provide a boost to Iran's wrecked economy and likely push world fuel prices down. The U.S. also commits to unfreezing Iranian funds held abroad.

A raft of international sanctions imposed over the years related to Iran's nuclear program, its support for militant groups and human rights violations are also to be lifted, but only as part of a final nuclear deal. U.S. Vice President JD Vance said sanctions relief would be “performance-based.”

The deal calls for the United States and its regional allies to develop a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran, but does not say who would pay for it.

Trump has said the U.S. won't contribute, and Vance has said it would be up to wealthy Gulf countries to fund it. But they are unlikely to want to help Iran at a time when their own economies are suffering from the war's fallout and the destruction of their infrastructure in Iranian attacks.

Will the war in Lebanon end?

The deal calls for an immediate halt to military operations “on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” where Israel has been battling the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, and for ensuring Lebanon's “territorial integrity and sovereignty.”

It does not say whether that means Israel would withdraw from the large swaths of southern Lebanon it has occupied since Hezbollah joined the war in its early days by firing rockets and drones at northern Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections later this year, has refused to withdraw, saying Israeli forces will remain in Lebanon until the threat from Hezbollah has been eliminated.

Hezbollah has refused to halt its own attacks while Israel is occupying Lebanese territory, and Iran has insisted Lebanon be included in any ceasefire.

Continued fighting there could unravel the deal if Iran or the U.S. believe the other is in breach of it.

What about Iran's ballistic missiles and its support for militants?

The deal says nothing about either, and Trump suggested this week that Iran is entitled to have some ballistic missiles in proportion to its neighbors.

Iran still has missiles capable of hitting Israel and has long backed militant groups like Hezbollah, Hamas in Gaza, the Houthi rebels in Yemen and militias in Iraq, which have also attacked it. Eliminating Iran's missiles and degrading its network of militant allies were among the main U.S. war goals.

Sanctions relief would potentially allow Iran to continue funding such groups, though it will have to balance that against its own economic crisis and reconstruction needs.

The comments deepened a rift that has emerged between the two allies over the interim deal reached by the United States and Iran to end their war.

“Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time,” Vance said during a a news briefing at the White House. “The problem for Israel is not Donald J. Trump, and anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the president of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in.”

Israel and the U.S. jointly launched the war against Iran on Feb. 28, closely coordinating the more than monthlong military operation.

But disagreements quickly emerged following a preliminary April 8 ceasefire agreement, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushing to continue the campaign and Trump moving to wind down a war that was deeply unpopular in the U.S. and rattled the global economy.

While Netanyahu has been careful not to openly criticize this week’s ceasefire deal, some members of his Cabinet have been more outspoken. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who leads a small ultranationalist party, this week declared that Israel is not “bound” by Trump’s agreement and said it would not cave in to international pressure.

Vance noted that Netanyahu has not publicly criticized Trump, but he accused unnamed members of Netanyahu’s Cabinet of being ungrateful. He said Israel has few friends in the international community and protected itself with large quantities of weapons paid for by the United States.

Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on Vance’s statement.

In recent days, Trump has expressed frustration with Netanyahu, claimed credit for Israel’s existence and has described the Israeli leader as “ crazy.” He sidelined Israel throughout the negotiations, and criticized Israeli airstrikes in Beirut.

In his first comments on the newly signed memorandum of understanding, Netanyahu on Thursday said Israel’s military will stay in a zone of territory it is occupying in southern Lebanon “as long as Israel’s security needs require it.” The comments threatened to undermine the deal, which calls for a halt in all fighting and respect for Lebanon’s territorial integrity.

Netanyahu, however, noted it was important “to maintain the important relationship with our American friends who fought shoulder to shoulder with us, and we greatly appreciate that.”

The reality is many truck drivers simply run out of available places to legally park and rest.

That’s why I was in Sanford on Thursday for a groundbreaking ceremony announcing what transportation leaders hope will be a major step forward for both safety and freight movement across Central Florida.

The Florida Department of Transportation, along with federal transportation officials, broke ground on the first facility in the Interstate 4 Truck Parking Relief Program. The project is designed to create additional safe and reliable parking options for commercial truck drivers traveling through one of Florida’s busiest transportation corridors.

The Sanford facility, located near State Road 46 and I-4, will be the first of five truck parking sites planned along the I-4 corridor.

When all five locations are completed, officials say the goal is to provide more than 800 truck parking spaces throughout the corridor.

For truck drivers, finding a legal parking spot isn’t just about convenience. Federal regulations limit how many hours they can drive before they are required to take mandatory rest breaks. When parking options disappear late at night, drivers are often left searching for safe alternatives.

Transportation leaders say these new facilities will help reduce illegal parking along ramps and shoulders while giving truckers a dedicated place to stop, rest and prepare for the next leg of their trip.

Officials from the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and FDOT joined local leaders during Thursday’s event.

FDOT Secretary Jared Perdue called the project an important investment in Florida’s transportation network and freight industry.

As someone who has spent years talking about roadway safety, I think this project highlights something many drivers don’t often consider.

Everything we buy, from groceries and medicine to furniture and building supplies, likely spent time on a truck before arriving at its destination.

Our truck drivers keep Florida moving and keep store shelves stocked. Providing them with safe places to rest isn’t just good for the trucking industry... it’s good for everyone who shares the road.

And let’s be honest, a well-rested truck driver is something we can all appreciate when we’re traveling down I-4.

Construction is expected to continue as FDOT works toward expanding truck parking opportunities throughout Central Florida in the coming years.

As always, drive safely, be patient around commercial vehicles and remember: we all have somewhere important to be, but getting there safely is what matters most.

Niger’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that the attack in Niamey was foiled and that 20 suspects were arrested along with weapons and ammunition.

Witnesses reported gunfire and explosions during the attack, and an Associated Press journalist saw soldiers searching people on the road to the airport in the aftermath of the violence.

Hours later, the National Civil Aviation Agency said the airport was operating normally.

Niger, led by a military junta since a 2023 coup, has struggled to contain deadly jihadi violence that has battered parts of Africa’s Sahel region, including neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali that are also run by military juntas.

It was the second attack at Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey this year, after the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a similar attack in January that targeted Niger’s drone assets.

The airport is a strategic hub that hosts a Nigerien air force base as well as the headquarters of the Niger-Burkina Faso-Mali joint military force.

The military has beefed up the airport security following the January attack, but jihadis in Niger and the wider region continue to pose serious threats, analysts say.

“The symbolism of the airport as headquarters for AES will drive intent by militants to target it,” said Beverly Ochieng, a senior security analyst at Control Risks, referring to the regional Alliance of Sahel States.

The document, which has not yet been made public, will be submitted Thursday to Cuba’s National Assembly. It envisions expanding opportunities for private enterprise, greater autonomy for municipalities and state-owned companies and measures to attract additional foreign investment, including from Cubans abroad.

In recent days, residents in several Havana neighborhoods staged protests, banging pots and pans as power outages spread across the island.

“Cuba resists heroically and creatively, but has endured for too long a barbaric, undeserved and unbearable punishment, to which is now added the threat of military aggression,” President Miguel Díaz-Canel said late Wednesday in the closing speech of the Communist Party session. The speech was published Thursday.

The announcement comes after months of increasing pressure from the U.S. and high-level talks between the two countries that have included Raúl Castro’s grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro. The U.S. has levied numerous sanctions against Cuba and has indicted Raúl Castro in connection with the 1996 downing of two civilian planes operated by Miami exiles.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said at a White House press briefing that the administration is watching the island's actions to determine how to respond.

“We’re going to see what they do. And obviously, if they do one thing, we’re going to do something,” Vance said. "If they make smart decisions, we’re going to have a much better relationship with that island.”

Pressure from the European Union also ratcheted up Thursday, with lawmakers passing a resolution condemning “the systematic repression” by the Cuban government and demanding “profound economic and political change.” The resolution also called for EU sanctions targeting Díaz-Canel and the leadership of Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), a business conglomerate operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces. Both have already been sanctioned by the U.S.

Díaz-Canel said the emergency plan and the policy document prepared by the Communist Party’s Central Committee were shaped by the experiences of China and Vietnam, two communist countries that have introduced market-oriented economic reforms while maintaining one-party rule.

The document will be submitted to the National Assembly for debate during a special session that, like the recent party meeting, was convened without prior public notice.

__

Seung Min Kim in Washington and Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed to this story.

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

Talking to Orlando, he said, was different.

Sweeney was introduced Thursday as the new coach of the Magic, which was the obvious proof that he won them over by his answers during the interview process. Turns out, the Magic won him over with their questions as well.

“The Magic were the most thorough and they did the best job of asking questions and asking follow-ups to get to layers underneath the first answer," Sweeney said. “Some interviews that I’ve had in the past, I did not get that same level of detail. And given how I am and how I want to coach, that stood out.”

Sweeney and the Magic struck their deal for him to take over about three weeks ago; the formal welcome-to-Orlando event was put off until now because Sweeney has been a bit busy in his role as associate head coach of the San Antonio Spurs and their trip to the NBA Finals.

He stayed locked in on his tasks with the Spurs, even though the interview process started early in their postseason run. But with the finals over, Sweeney wasted little time in getting to Orlando and starting on the new job.

“When we finally did get in front of him, it was a long day and he had a lot going on," Magic President Jeff Weltman said. "It was during the playoffs and not only was he able to kind of compartmentalize his work with the Spurs and present well to us, but he really knocked our socks off. In Sean Sweeney, we have somebody who, in our minds, has the potential to be one of the elite coaches in this league.”

Sweeney said he fully believes this is the best situation for him.

Some first-time head coaches have to deal with a total rebuild; that's not the case in Orlando, where a young core led by Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner has made three consecutive playoff appearances — but three consecutive first-round exists essentially convinced the Magic that it was time for a change. Jamahl Mosley, now the coach in New Orleans, was let go after a successful five-year run and Sweeney was targeted as the replacement.

“I was fortunate this summer to have some different things to look at," Sweeney said. "But this is the only one I wanted to look at.”

Sweeney, who turned 42 earlier this month, comes to Orlando after basically spending half his life as an assistant.

He has come a long way from Anoka-Ramsey Community College and the Academy of Art University, two of his earliest stops. He started in the NBA as a video coordinator for the then-New Jersey Nets, and has since had assistant stints with the Nets, Milwaukee, Detroit, Dallas and San Antonio. He quotes the teachings of just about everyone he's worked for at every level, along with those he considers some of the greatest to ever blow a whistle in a basketball practice, names like Bob Knight, Tim Grgurich, Rick Majerus, Jason Kidd, Chuck Daly and his now-former boss with the Spurs, Mitch Johnson.

And then there was the guy who had the office next to him for the last year in San Antonio. That would be Gregg Popovich, the NBA's all-time coaching wins leader.

“Coach Pop’s office was right next to mine and I was very fortunate,” Sweeney said. "When you’re next to a guy who’s the greatest coach of all time daily, the fact that he even said hello and knew my name meant something to me. So yeah, Coach Pop, he built that program and guys like me are fortunate to be part of it. I'm very grateful and that’s part of the reason why I’m here now.”

Sweeney is blunt, focused and driven. He took a look at the handful of Magic players who attended the press conference introducing him as the team's new coach on Thursday, offering them his first message since taking the job.

Or, perhaps more accurately, it was part message, part warning.

“I'm going to listen to you guys as much as I talk to you,” Sweeney said. “Now, how I talk to you may be different than how I listen.”

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

The expected motion for dismissal of the suit was filed Thursday by the 99th District Court in Lubbock County. That was three days after Texas Tech said he wouldn't play this fall, and exactly a month after Sorsby filed his lawsuit that set off a legal saga that rattled college sports.

That Texas court issued a temporary injunction June 8 that made the transfer quarterback eligible to play even after admitting that he placed bets on his own team while at Indiana as a freshman four years ago. Those were among thousands of impermissible bets he made while in college.

Sorsby had to be ineligible for NCAA play to be able to apply for the NFL's supplemental draft. The submission deadline for that rarely used draft is Monday, and the 22-year-old quarterback tentatively plans to work out for NFL teams on July 10.

The injunction last week by Judge Ken Curry had prevented the NCAA from enforcing its ruling that the quarterback was ineligible to play what would have been his final college season. Sorsby transferred to reigning Big 12 champion Texas Tech in January after the past two seasons at Cincinnati.

Cody Campbell, the billionaire booster who is chairman of the Texas Tech regents, announced in an open letter Monday night that Sorsby would not be part of the team this fall. He wrote that the decision was made with Sorsby and his family, with the draft deadline and ongoing legal process among the key factors.

That letter came on the same day the NCAA and Big 12 Conference had filings in separate courts related to the case.

Sorsby already faced a two-game suspension as part of the temporary injunction. The continued legal wrangling made uncertain what his status could be for Tech's remaining games.

The temporary injunction had cleared the way for Sorsby, after the first two games, to play despite being declared ineligible after he admitted making thousands of bets worth at least $90,000 while at Indiana, Cincinnati and Texas Tech. Those included at least 40 bets on Indiana while he was a freshman there in 2022, though none on the games in which he played for the Hoosiers that season.

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

Here, The Associated Press runs you through some of the more compelling — and controversial — backstories from the kit designs on show in soccer’s biggest event, currently taking place in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Cape Verde's flight paths

For its World Cup debut, the smallest nation by population at the tournament is paying homage to the roughly 525,000 inhabitants who live on 10 volcanic islands off the coast of Africa. A geometric, triangular print across its blue (home) and white (away) jerseys represents the network of flight paths that connect the islands. The idea is that the people of Cape Verde are united behind the players at the World Cup — and that togetherness showed as the team held firm to seal an unlikely 0-0 draw with heavily favored Spain in their first match.

Belgium's surrealism

“This is not a jersey,” reads a message on the collar of Belgium's multicolor away shirt. No, the Belgians aren't losing their minds. It's just a nod to the European nation's surrealist heritage — and notably the work of its master in this artistic movement from the early 20th century. Throughout his career, Belgian artist René Magritte questioned the enigmatic relationship of mind and eye, reality and language, writing under “The Treachery of Images” — his iconic painting of a pipe — the words: “Ceci n’est pas une pipe (This is not a pipe).” The light-blue jersey features pink patterns and black detailing, incorporating soccer-inspired motifs such as pitch lines and a ball. “True to the surrealism theme, the kit sparks the imagination and invites conversation,” the Belgian federation says.

Haiti's battle scene

The original jersey submitted by this Caribbean nation included a depiction of the final battle of the Haitian War of Independence in 1803 on its front. In the words of Colombian sportswear manufacturer Saeta, it was a “tribute to the men and women who contribute every day to Haiti’s future.” It didn't go down too well with FIFA, which rejected the image during its approval process, deeming it too political. So an updated blue soccer kit was needed, one that no longer includes the battle artwork.

Argentina's swirling paint technique

The defending World Cup champion is mixing sporting heritage with artistic expression in its jerseys. The home kit — worn by Lionel Messi for his hat trick against Algeria on Tuesday — features three shades of blue on its stripes, an homage to the South American nation's World Cup-winning uniforms from 1978, 1986 and 2022. As for its dark blue away jersey, that's inspired by a traditional painting technique from capital city Buenos Aires — filete porteño — that's used for ornamental design, combining brilliant, swirling colors with specific lettering styles.

France's American connection

France arrived for the World Cup with an away kit that honors a gift the nation famously gave to the United States: the Statue of Liberty. The jersey has a green hue that resembles the oxidized color of the iconic sculpture designed by a Frenchman — Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi — and given to the United States in 1886 as a symbol of French-American friendship. On the jersey is a logo in copper — the original color of the statue — with the words “Nos différences nous unissent” (Our differences unite us).

Iran's endangered Asiatic cheetah

The most striking imagery on Iran's home (white) and away (red) kits is an Asiatic cheetah low across the front. There also are cheetah spots on the sleeves up to the shoulder. The Asiatic cheetah, an equally fast cousin of the African cat, is one of the world’s critically endangered species — one that Iran has long tried to save. There were as many as 400 in the 1990s but the numbers have dwindled to less than an estimated 70 remaining in Iran.

Norway's runic font

Norway's kit might be the sharpest at the World Cup — literally. The font used for the names and numbers of players is inspired by runic writing — characters in several Germanic alphabets used in northern Europe from ancient times until the adoption of the Latin alphabet. The writing is pointy, geometric and easily visible, representing the Norwegian team's desire to embrace its centuries-old history. Flanking the large blue cross across the chest are Viking art patterns in an Urnes style.

Colombia's yellow butterflies

Look closely at Colombia's typically vibrant yellow jersey and you'll notice a burst of butterfly patterns. That's an homage to the classic novel by the nation's Nobel Prize-winning author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” and the stories that made him literature’s best-known practitioner of magical realism — the blending of the everyday with fantastical elements such as a man trailed by a cloud of yellow butterflies.

Mexico's Aztec calendar

Mexico's home jersey brings back the Aztec calendar design that was popular in the 1990s. In the run-up to the World Cup, the team visited the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City and posed for a photo with the uniforms in front of the Aztec “Piedra de Sol” or Stone of the Sun, best known as the Aztec calendar.

Saudi Arabia's architecture

Dotted across Saudi Arabia's dark green home jersey are symmetrical lavender squares or diamond shapes, a tribute to doorway decoration — namely geometric, triangular architecture — commonly seen in homes in the kingdom. Wild lavender flowers fill Saudi's desert landscapes in springtime, so purple is a celebrated color in the nation and regarded as a symbol of generosity.

Brazil's Amazonian frogs

What might immediately jump out when looking at Brazil's navy blue-and-black away jersey made by Nike is a yellow “Jumpman” logo synonymous with Michael Jordan-promoted sportswear. However, more closely linked to Brazilian culture is the color of the kit, inspired by the skin of the poison dart frog found in the Amazon. It's a nod to the danger posed by Brazil, the record five-time world champion.

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This story has been corrected to remove a reference to Haiti as a World Cup debutant. This is Haiti's second World Cup.

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Associated Press writer Luis Andres Henao contributed to this report.

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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

A century of broken treaties already had spawned distrust of the federal government, and widespread forced assimilation was accelerating. With shifting cultural and social circumstances came declining populations. Survival was hanging in the balance.

Renowned for their masterful beadwork, Lakota women had a strategy.

Incorporating symbols of American patriotism into their work was more than a simple embrace of the stars and stripes. It was an act of quiet resistance that provided an avenue for conserving their values as U.S. policies unraveled their communities.

So with America's 250th birthday come mixed emotions rooted in pain, pride and even patriotism. Native youth are writing essays about what 1776 means to them. Museums are displaying elaborate beadwork as a window into that past, while contemporary Native artists are offering critics in paintings on more modern political struggles.

It's a milestone marking resilience — and a fresh opportunity to look at the nation's history through an unexpected, and perhaps less varnished, lens.

Native Americans and the US have a unique relationship

Curators and tribal scholars say the Native experience cannot be overlooked or minimized when talking about the complex tapestry that is America.

“The United States could not exist without Native history having been here first,” said Aaron Carapella, who is of Cherokee descent and creates maps of Indigenous territories. “There’s so many influences that Native people embedded into the fabric of what we call America.”

A student of history, Carapella finds it unlikely that most of the Founding Fathers would have expected tribes to persist as sovereign entities. Rather, they thought tribes would be absorbed into American society.

Implementation of laws like the 1830 Indian Removal Act signed by President Andrew Jackson and the 1887 Dawes Act enacted by President Grover Cleveland led to forced relocations through brutal journeys like the Trail of Tears. Land grabs resulted when millions of acres of tribal landholdings were broken up.

Bounties in Minnesota and the Southwest along with militias in California further eroded tribal territories. Then came the boarding schools, where Native children were sent in an effort to erase their connections to culture, language and religion.

It's not ancient history. Tribal leaders say their people are still living with the effects of those policies.

Today, there are 575 tribes with inherent sovereignty recognized by the U.S, with the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina joining the list in December. The government-to-government relationships are unlike arrangements many other countries have with Indigenous populations.

N. Bruce Duthu, chair of Native American and Indigenous Studies at Dartmouth College and a member of the United Houma Nation, has taught and lectured around the globe. He said it’s hard for Indigenous leaders in Bolivia and elsewhere to believe that tribes in the U.S. have been able to build power over the last half-century. It’s an ongoing fight, but Duthu points to successful efforts to influence environmental policies and pass major legislation to hold nontribal citizens accountable for crimes committed in Indian Country.

“The U.S. is routinely at the top of the heap in terms of a country that, despite all the flaws, at least now in the last 50 years or so, seems to have gotten it right,” Duthu said.

There's a deep history of influence

Native influences span from the notions of democracy shared with the Founding Fathers to the warrior ethos exhibited by the fierceness with which tribal nations fought to protect their land — from other tribes, foreign nations and the federal government.

It's not unlike the patriotism many Americans feel today. And for some Native Americans, it's a fundamental part of who they are; they have one of the highest per-capita rates of military service in the country.

At the center of the “Stars, Stripes and First Americans” exhibit at New Mexico’s Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is a painting by Kee Yazzie titled Diné Code Talker. The brushstrokes pay homage to the Navajo Code Talkers, who used their language to create an unbreakable code that played a critical role in U.S. victories during World War II.

Danyelle Means, the museum's executive director and a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, said other tribes also had code talkers. That included the Choctaw Nation and Comanche, Kiowa, Hopi, Muscogee, Sioux and Seminole recruits.

“Veterans are a huge part of celebration and ceremony within Native communities and are often revered and have their own societies within these communities,” Means said. “So it is something — that aspect of the U.S. and being a warrior for this country — that is very deep-seated in so many Native communities.”

Influence has permeated art and culture

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., is commemorating the 250th with an installation of two dresses that highlight heritage and Native American servicewomen.

Made a century apart, one is a Lakota beaded dress likely made for a July Fourth celebration and the other is a modern jingle dress worn by members of the Native American Women Warriors that includes a patch honoring Lori Piestewa, who is believed to be the first Native woman killed in combat on foreign soil. The Hopi soldier died from injuries following an ambush in Iraq in 2003.

Those military operations came after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Navajo artist Pauline Thomas called it a scary time, knowing that more Native soldiers would be heading off to war. The 73-year-old created a weaving following 9/11 that is now part of the exhibition in New Mexico.

For Thomas, her weavings mark moments in time, but they're also a way for Navajo customs to live on. Her 12-year-old granddaughter already is winning blue ribbons for her weavings.

“I think it’s very, very important,” Thomas said from her hometown of Naschitti on the Navajo Nation. “I don’t want my people to lose their culture. I want them to learn more about their ancestors, where they came from.”

The way forward has many paths

Jami Powell, curator of Indigenous art at Dartmouth College's Hood Museum of Art, uses the phrase “colonial entanglements” to describe the complexity of U.S.-tribal relations. She tells her students that things aren't always black and white.

“And it is OK to have feelings of ambivalence around these issues and the difficult histories that led to this current moment,” said Powell, a citizen of the Osage Nation.

The Hood Museum is displaying the work of Native artists as part of its 250th commemoration. Both subversive and pointed, the pieces broaden the conversation and get visitors thinking about the next two centuries, Powell said.

Ensuring Native youth have a voice in that future is a driving force for Tracy Canard Goodluck, executive director of the Center for Native American Youth.

A member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and of Mvskoke Creek heritage, Goodluck said the power of those voices rang loud and clear in essays submitted for a recent competition focused on the 250th. They touched on sovereignty, self-determination and maintaining a connection with land and culture.

“They know who they are, where they come from, their identity, their culture, their history,” Goodluck says, “and we need to create pathways for them to be able to share that with everyone.”

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This story is published through the Global Indigenous Reporting Network at The Associated Press.

Civil society groups including a Christian organization joined the challenge, arguing that the ban violates the rights to life, health, dignity and equality, and that such protections should be extended to pregnant girls and women.

The challenge was filed Wednesday in the country’s Constitutional Court.

The Dominican Republic has one of the strictest abortion bans in the region, criminalizing it without exception and regardless of circumstance. Women face up to two years in prison for having an abortion, while doctors or midwives could face five to 20 years.

“My daughter died because she was denied the medical care she needed. No other mother should have to go through this,” Rosa Herminia Hernández said in a statement.

Rosaura Almonte died in 2012 from leukemia while three weeks pregnant. She was 16 years old, according to the court filing.

The challenge seeks that abortions be allowed in rape or incest cases; when the life or health of a woman or girl is in danger; or when a fetus has fatal abnormalities.

“This action seeks something very simple: that no woman or girl should have to choose between her life, her health and the law,” attorney Patricia Santana Nina said in a statement.

At least 67,455 abortions were recorded from 2019 through late 2024 in the public health sector, according to government data. It did not differentiate between spontaneous and induced abortions.

Meanwhile, from June 2017 to October 2022, prosecutors filed 62 criminal cases for abortion and 16 cases for attempted abortion. The Prosecutor General’s Office has stopped publishing such data since November 2022.

“Is it legitimate to maintain a permanent criminal threat against women in medical emergencies solely to legally express a moral stance?” the challenged filed Wednesday stated.

In 2023, a woman with three children, one of whom was product of a rape, had an incomplete and spontaneous abortion while pregnant, according to the challenge. It noted that authorities detained her for 10 days in inhumane conditions despite her condition, adding that she did not receive adequate medical care.

“The woman went to a health center seeking care and ended up being deprived of her freedom,” it stated.

Human rights activists say that it’s often health providers who report women to authorities.

There are no reliable statistics on how many women in the Dominican Republic have died during or after a clandestine abortion.

In 2024, at least 585 girls from 11 to 14 years old became mothers, according to government data. Meanwhile, at least 681 rapes were reported from January to July 2025, with activists noting that unreported cases are much higher.

The challenge noted that the ban worsens existing inequalities: women with resources can seek private medical care in or outside the country, while those who are impoverished face higher health risks and are more exposed to criminal prosecution.

“The women who are persecuted often share conditions of socioeconomic vulnerability, job insecurity, low educational level, or migratory status,” the challenge read.

Now that the department is offloading civil rights enforcement and special education, some parents and advocates warn a process that has largely been stalled since President Donald Trump took office will see only more chaos and roadblocks.

“It’s to the point I don’t even check in anymore with the attorney,” said Nicole May, an Ohio mother. May filed a complaint in spring 2024 with the department’s Office for Civil Rights, alleging her teenage daughter was bullied over her hearing aids and was getting in trouble in class because she couldn’t hear her teachers. More than two years later, the case lacks a resolution.

Under the changes announced Tuesday, the Department of Justice will take over civil rights enforcement in schools, and the Department of Health and Human Services will oversee special education. The moves help fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to dismantle the Education Department. Linda McMahon, the education secretary, pitched the changes as a way to get more help to families of kids with disabilities.

Advocates said special education doesn’t belong in a health department, which usually treats disabilities as conditions to manage, instead of differences in how children learn. The top Republican on the Senate education committee agreed, saying he’d pursue legislation to keep special education out of Health and Human Services.

Some families already are taking discrimination cases elsewhere

For many, though, the response to the announcement was a sigh of resignation.

The Education Department’s civil rights office had long been the last resort for parents who believe their child is facing discrimination at school, with a mandate to review all complaints. Under Trump, the backlog of cases has ballooned, and resolutions have dwindled. Increasingly, attorneys say they are turning elsewhere to try to obtain justice for children.

The reaction is a marked change from a year ago, when parents and attorneys were in a panic as Education Department staff and attorneys were slashed.

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services has shrunk by roughly a third since 2024, and the Office for Civil Rights is roughly 40% smaller. Meanwhile, in the Department of Justice, the Education Opportunities Section has shrunk by half, according to estimates provided by Justice Connection, a network of department alumni.

“I think a lot of people are mad, but they are like, ‘What are we going to do?’” said Emily Harvey, the co-legal director at Disability Justice, formerly Disability Law Colorado, who has watched her cases languish.

When Trump took office, she had a federal complaint pending, alleging some Colorado schools were illegally rejecting enrollment from kids outside their neighborhood boundaries because they had disabilities. Harvey also has a case pending at the Department of Justice, alleging a district south of Denver restrained and secluded disabled students hundreds of times, even though the practice is supposed to be reserved for emergencies.

“I feel like they’re probably collecting dust on a virtual shelf somewhere,” Harvey said.

In response to the federal backlog, she helped to push for a new state law that expands the types of civil rights cases Colorado education officials can pursue.

States across the U.S. already investigate various special education complaints, including when parents allege schools aren’t following a child’s individualized education program, or IEP. But the Colorado legislation, signed into law in May, allows the state to pursue the types of cases typically handled at the federal level, such as those involving allegations of discrimination and harassment.

Harvey said she didn’t think the federal civil rights office was ever perfect. “But I think it’s become even less help for people who are trying to resolve issues,” said Harvey, who worked as an Education Department civil rights attorney in 2020 and 2021.

Boston-area special education advocate Craig Haller said he’s heard nothing on a complaint he filed early last year with the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. Ever since the Trump administration started dismantling the department, he has leaned more on Massachusetts’s state system for resolving special education matters.

He recently used that system to help a student whose high school didn’t take into account his special education plan when it suspended him.

“I got it fixed for my client,” Haller said. But without the federal Office for Civil Rights, “I can’t get it fixed systematically.”

Department workers say the dismantling has made their jobs harder

While only Congress can close the Education Department, McMahon, a billionaire and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, has signed 10 additional agreements to give department functions to other federal agencies.

So far, those agreements have not reduced the number of employees working on specific programs. But the union that represents department workers says staff have run into issues with equipment and access at their new postings.

“It’s hard to describe how inefficient the implementation of the (agreements) has been,” said Rachel Gittleman, the union’s president.

The Education Department said Wednesday the latest agreements will help the Office for Civil Rights run “more effectively and efficiently.”

“Compliance and enforcement of federal civil rights laws will remain a priority,” the department said in a written statement.

Taken together, the fracturing of programs, enforcement and oversight for disabled students across multiple agencies raised questions of what would fall through the cracks, special education advocates said.

Robyn Linscott, who directs education and family policy at The Arc of the United States, a major disability rights group, recalled attending a three-hour listening session the Education Department hosted in January. Families, educators and advocates described barriers to accessing proper support and services. Although they acknowledged breaks in the system, not a single parent advocated for moving oversight of special education to Health and Human Services.

Still, she isn’t surprised the Trump administration moved the program anyway.

“It has only been 24 hours, but I think we anticipated this move for over a year,” she said on Wednesday.

In Congress, senators from both sides of the aisle said they would try to stop the move to put special education in Health and Human Services.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said he would “publicly commit” to working with his Democratic colleague, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, on legislative action that would push the administration to change course. Cassidy, who lost a primary election this spring and has less than six months left in his Senate term, has personal knowledge of the education challenges faced by kids with disabilities: His wife co-founded a network of charter schools for students with dyslexia.

If special education is moved, he said Wednesday, it should go to the Labor Department. That agency, he said, is better positioned to support people with disabilities as they learn and work.

Ultimately, what matters to parents is whether they can get the services their children need, said Rob Harris, an IEP advocate in Colorado. Families spend an inordinate amount of time navigating systems that should be working together to serve children, but often aren’t. Harris has navigated those systems himself: His 19-year-old daughter is blind.

“Families don’t experience the government through organizational charts,” Harris said. “We experience it through the services our children receive.”

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Associated Press writers Bianca Vázquez Toness and Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.

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

Some experts have warned that this summer's World Cup — co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada — could be the hottest in the tournament's history. In response to concerns about extreme heat, FIFA implemented three-minute hydration breaks midway through each half regardless of temperatures or whether stadiums are enclosed or air conditioned. But some critics say they're interrupting the game's flow and give coaches a chance to shift momentum in their team’s favor, while some scientists have said the breaks are too short to make a significant impact on cooling and rehydration when conditions are sizzling.

“When we look at the three-minute hydration breaks, we're really looking at this as a way to mitigate anything that could potentially lead to an incident or an emergency,” said Joshua L. DeVincenzo with Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness.

FIFA's mandatory breaks, regardless of temperatures

FIFA said the mandatory breaks are to “ensure equal conditions for all teams, in all matches,” and the rules draw upon the experiences of past tournaments, including the FIFA Club World Cup in the U.S. last summer when temperatures soared.

Some coaches said the breaks make sense when temperatures are extreme, but they questioned whether they were necessary at every match. The pauses have also been criticized for interrupting the spectacle for fans, with broadcasters cutting to commercials.

Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said they're making the most of the hydration breaks.

“You can’t get on the field but the players can come near you while drinking water and we can give them instructions,” he said. “We take advantage to try to correct something during the game, it’s something good for the coaches.”

Even highly-trained, elite athletes can get heat stress

Athletes pushing themselves physically in hot and humid conditions risk getting what's called exertional heat illness. It happens when the body gets too hot and is accompanied by significant strain on the heart, nerves, muscles and central nervous systems.

Symptoms include muscle cramps, extreme fatigue, impaired performance, headache, irritability, nausea, dizziness, cramping and dehydration.

When internal body temperature exceeds 105 F (40.5 C), athletes might feel confused, aggressive or lose consciousness, said Yuri Hosokawa with the Faculty of Sport Sciences in Japan’s Waseda University, in an email, “all of which are characteristic signs of exertional heat stroke and require immediate medical attention.” She co-signed a letter to FIFA in May urging stricter heat guidelines for player safety, including that cooling breaks be at least six minutes.

Exertional heat stroke is among the leading causes of death in athletes.

Dehydration also exacerbates the risk. Athletes in the heat can sweat 1 to 2 liters (50 to 67 ounces) an hour, and most drink less liquids than they expel. Losing as little as 2% of one's body weight to dehydration can impair physical performance.

Ryan Calsbeek, professor of biological sciences at Dartmouth College, said the human body performs better when it’s warmer, but there’s a critical threshold above which that improvement in performance not only stops, but precipitously drops off.

“Your body starts to really fall apart, you lose the ability to cool off fast enough,” he said. “And the physiological mechanisms just break down.” That happens when the wet bulb globe temperature, which includes temperature, humidity, cloud cover and wind, reads above about 95 F (35 C), though some people will be more heat tolerant.

The increased confusion from extreme heat could impact an athlete’s ability to make strategic decisions, he said.

“It’s these marginal differences in performance that I think can determine the outcome of a match,” Calsbeek said. “If you have individuals that do better in extreme conditions, whether it’s extreme heat or high altitude or whatever the case may be, those small differences could play a critical, pivotal role in determining the outcome.”

Hydration breaks should be longer, some experts say

The three-minute mandatory hydration breaks are meant to protect players, and referees, from extreme heat illness and help them maintain their physical performance.

Players can cool off and replenish lost water and salt from sweating.

That could mean putting wet, cold towels on parts of a player's body. If done well, that could reduce their body temperature by about 0.22 F (0.12 C) per minute, said Douglas Casa, CEO of the University of Connecticut’s Korey Stringer Institute who also co-signed the letter.

“Some people can tolerate a little more fluids comfortably and then do intense exercise. Some people can’t because it sloshes around in their stomach and they don’t feel super comfortable, so they might not drink as much in such a short period of time,” he added.

In a 2024 study, researchers found that three minutes lowered athletes' core temperature by about 0.72 F (0.4 C) during simulated soccer running in a heat chamber. But this happened in ideal conditions where they drank 350 to 400 milliliters of cold water and draped a cold towel on their shoulders.

Draping ice towels over a player's shoulders can be helpful, but only if they rehydrate as well, said Julien Périard in an email, a study co-author and director of the University of Canberra Research Institute for Sport and Exercise who also signed the letter.

That’s why it’s important the three minutes be well planned, but “even in ideal settings, the breaks can slightly help but will not eliminate the risk of heat illness in response to a rise in core temperature,” he said.

Casa said time dictates the volume of impact, whether from fluid or cooling.

How much time a player needs to recover also varies. “Depending on your body, you might need more or less time. But those kinds of breaks are crucial so that your body isn’t just being forced to keep trying to play catch up... to keep trying to cool you down without any kind of rest or a break,” said Bharat Venkat, director of the Heat Lab at the University of California, Los Angeles.

As our planet gets hotter, mandating hydration breaks and changing where, when and how sports are played will be necessary.

“No matter what sport you play, there’s going to be adjustments that have to be made in the face of climate change, ” he said.

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Tales Azzoni contributed from Guadalajara, Mexico.

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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

“It’s been a long journey, but to see it come to fruition is really satisfying,” Ryan Von Weller of Wendover Housing Partners told News 6 anchor Matt Austin during an exclusive construction site tour.

The project sits on 20 acres of land owned by Universal not-for-profit Housing for Tomorrow. According to Wendover, Housing for Tomorrow leased the property for near $100 to support the development of workforce housing near the growing tourism district.

Developers said the site required significant preparation before construction could begin.

Wendover invested more than $40 million in site work, including soil improvements and water mitigation efforts, before moving forward with residential construction.

The development is designed to provide housing options for a wide range of income levels while placing residents close to major employers, including theme parks, hospitality businesses and Orlando International Airport.

“You’re in a three-bedroom unit right now. We are gonna have 9-foot ceilings in here, washer and dryer,” Von Weller said while showing one of the units under construction.

According to Wendover, Catchlight Crossings will include 600 affordable housing units and 400 attainable housing units. Affordable housing rents will be based on income qualifications, while attainable housing is intended for households that may earn too much to qualify for traditional affordable housing but still struggle with rising market-rate rents.

“The real rule of thumb is you don’t want anybody spending more than 30% of their income on housing,” Von Weller said.

Wendover said income eligibility will vary depending on household size and housing program requirements. Company officials said some residents may qualify with annual household incomes of $20,000 to $30,000, while attainable housing units could serve families earning up to $100,000 annually.

“Everybody from an hourly employee all the way up to managers,” Von Weller said.

A key feature of the development is its focus on providing services and amenities within walking distance of residents’ homes.

Plans call for an on-site preschool that Wendover hopes could eventually provide free child care for residents, along with a small grocery store, coffee shop, two swimming pools and a 6,000-square-foot fitness center. The property also sits across from a bus depot, giving residents access to public transportation.

“You go downstairs, take the elevator down, drop your kids at preschool and then take the bus to your job at Epic Universe,” Austin commented

“Or wherever. The whole point was to integrate all those things into one big mass development,” Von Weller said.

According to Wendover, Catchlight Crossings is being developed as a mixed-income community centered on housing, education, wellness and workforce development. The project even plans to offer classroom and educational programming opportunities through a partnership with UCF, allowing residents to access educational resources closer to home. There will also be a community healthcare center.

All residents, regardless of income level, will have access to the same amenities throughout the community.

Construction is continuing on the first phase of the project, with Wendover expecting the first residents to begin moving in during late spring or early summer 2027.

What does affordable housing look like?

Anchor Matt Austin met with Katina Gano, a resident at the 144-unit Monroe Landings property in Sanford, one of Wendover Housing Partners’ established communities.

A spokesperson for Wendover says, “Gano’s apartment at Monroe Landings offers a look at the type of thoughtfully designed units coming to Catchlight Crossings, including features such as walk-in closets, in-unit laundry, high-quality finishes and a kitchen island.”

[RELATED: News 6 Anchor Matt Austin speaks with Katina Gano]

During an interview inside Gano’s one-bedroom unit, Austin remarked, “this doesn’t feel like affordable housing.”

Gano agreed, “everybody says, this doesn’t look like low income, this looks like luxury living.”

In a media briefing, Richard Meade, editor in chief of Lloyd’s List, said for the first time in 110 days, ships owned by major companies were crossing the strait after effectively being marooned there since February.

The strait is a critical passageway for the world’s oil and natural gas. Before the war, the waterway off Iran's coast carried a fifth of the world’s crude oil. Its closure during the war has created a historic energy crisis.

Lloyd’s List did not say how many ships were transiting through or had passed through the strait as of Thursday. It said tankers controlled by major ship owners Grimaldi Group, Cosco, Knutsen and NYK had passed through the strait. Two Iran-flagged, National Iranian Tanker Company-owned, sanctioned crude oil tankers entered the strait, according to Lloyd’s List.

Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the U.S. Navy lifted its blockade of the strait to allow some ships through Iranian ports.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote on X that an Italian merchant ship owned by the Grimaldi Group was among the first vessels to transit the strait after the agreement’s signing.

Maritime data and tracking company Kpler said it observed six verified ship crossings on Wednesday and another 11 on Thursday.

Phillip Belcher, marine director of Intertanko, a trade group for global independent tanker owners, said the main central route of the Strait of Hormuz was still closed and has an estimated 80 mines that need to be cleared. But ships have been passing through the smaller northern route, which goes through Iranian waters, and the southern route, which goes through Omani waters.

“Those two routes now seem to be fully open,” Belcher said.

However, it will take weeks or months to fully reopen the strait, and the two alternative routes don't have as much capacity as the central passage in the Strait of Hormuz.

“This is like a highway where the road in the middle is closed and you’re using that hard shoulder,” Belcher said. “That’s now being used as the main route. We need to get back to having the highway open.”

Lloyd’s List estimated that 550 merchant ships will need to prepare to exit the Persian Gulf, including 160 tankers, 200 bulk carriers, 60 container ships and 10 vehicle carriers.

Sean Sweeney was formally introduced at a news conference in Orlando on Thursday.

“I’m going to work to my highest level to do the best job I can for this franchise and for the guys like this that are sitting here in front of us,” Sweeney said.

Sweeney comes to the Magic from the San Antonio Spurs, where he was an associate head coach. Sweeney specializes in the defensive side of basketball strategy and is considered the mastermind behind the Spurs’ defensive scheme that helped propel them to the NBA Finals.

The Spurs eventually lost the championship to the New York Knicks.

Sweeney is 41 and this is his first full-time stint as an NBA head coach.

Sweeney said he planned to hold the organization to a high standard, and he also wants to make sure the players know he is listening to their concerns.

“There’s been a lot of communication with all those guys,” Sweeney said of the players. “I think there’s been a lot of listening, a lot of getting feedback from them on their thoughts on things themselves, the team, and then trying to communicate things that I value."

Sweeney will be the Magic’s 15th head coach, replacing Jamahl Mosley, who was fired last month after five seasons and three consecutive first-round playoff exits. Mosley is now the coach of the New Orleans Pelicans.

The review was yet another surprise for European allies and Canada as they learn to deal with an increasingly unpredictable ally. U.S. officials and senior military officers had promised to coordinate closely with the Europeans as America draws down.

In recent months, U.S. President Donald Trump and the Pentagon have sent conflicting signals about whether America is reducing or increasing its military footprint in Europe, as well as threatening to annex Greenland, a semiautonomous island that is part of ally Denmark. Just weeks ago, the Trump administration said that it would no longer provide as much military support should any NATO member come under attack.

“This will be a real review. It will be designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe,” Hegseth told his NATO counterparts. “It’s a review that some countries will fail and others will pass with flying colors.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz later said the allies have long been aware of U.S. plans to pull troops from Europe at some point and that they must take care of their own security.

“We know that we must do more and we are doing it,” Merz said.

Public dressing down over bases, gender and migration

In a fiery speech at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Hegseth lambasted European allies for failing to provide U.S. forces access to bases in Europe to launch attacks on Iran, calling it “shameful.”

“These allies, they put America’s sons and daughters, our sons and daughters, at risk by denying them the predictable access, basing and overflight that never should have been in question at all,” he said. The review would also assess whether the U.S. has full access and overflight “when we need it.”

While defense ministers and military officers sat in silence, Hegseth railed against migration and gender equality policies in Europe, in remarks reminiscent to those of Vice President JD Vance in February last year that angered many Europeans.

“Instead of tanks and fighters and air defenses, the focus has been on gender equity and climate change and defense austerity. Europe’s borders flew wide open, welfare states expanded, defense budgets cratered, along with Europe’s belief in itself and its civilization,” Hegseth said.

Hegseth's comments largely mischaracterized European policies today. On defense, European allies and Canada have launched an unprecedented effort to boost defense spending and expand their armed forces. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte noted on Thursday that they spent $90 billion more on defense last year, a 20% increase over 2024. And while Europe accepted large numbers of migrants and asylum seekers more than a decade ago, most countries have tightened their borders since.

It does not augur well for a summit of NATO leaders in Turkey on July 7-8.

A rare and short visit to NATO

It was a rare visit to NATO by Hegseth, his first this year after skipping a meeting in February. The Pentagon chief did not stay long, leaving well before the gathering was over and hours before Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to press allies for more weapons for his country.

Speaking to reporters at Brussels airport before flying home, Hegseth said, “It was great to hear country after country say, ‘We’re going to meet our target. We’re going to meet our target.’ There are still a few outliers, and we will be clear with them as we do this review.”

NATO’s supreme allied commander, an American, is working on backup plans to defend Europe after the U.S. signaled on June 3 that it would no longer supply an aircraft carrier and support ships, aerial refueling planes and dozens of fighter jets, among other military assets, in a crisis.

The Trump administration insists that it needs to be able to plan for two simultaneous conflicts and wants more military resources at hand should it clash with China in the Indo-Pacific region.

Under NATO’s collective security guarantee – Article 5 of its founding treaty – the 32 allies pledge that an attack on one of them will be considered an attack on all. It does not oblige them to provide military support, although many likely would.

In essence, the United States is scaling back how it might help should an ally trigger Article 5.

US nuclear weapons will stay

The U.S. has by far NATO’s biggest armed forces. It does not intend to withdraw its nuclear weapons in Europe, which are key to NATO’s deterrence. To underscore that point, NATO’s Nuclear Planning Group issued its first statement in 19 years after Thursday’s meeting.

In the statement, it “recalled that the strategic nuclear forces of the Alliance remain the supreme guarantee of Allied security and underpin NATO’s extended deterrence architecture.”

The ministers “agreed to continue enhancing NATO’s nuclear deterrence mission by modernizing NATO’s nuclear capabilities, strengthening its nuclear planning capacity, and adapting to achieve its security interests.”

Rutte played down the impact of the U.S. decision, saying that the NATO Force Model – the system for organizing what forces member countries will provide commanders in times of peace, crisis or conflict – is just “a planning tool,” and not a reflection of what would actually happen.

“If war breaks out, we will all max out what we need to do to make sure we can fight the war,” Rutte told reporters. “In the planning phase, it is important to know what we can count on. What is in theory there.”

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Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.

Less than a week later, the Disney Parks Blog says the castle refresh project is now complete, and Landon McReynolds’ post has offered us a glimpse behind the scenes at some of the work that went into this magical makeover.

First announced at Destination D23 last year, many Disney fans, including myself, were excited to see what this transformation would look like. And I’ll admit, I was hesitant to really buy into this decision, after really growing to love the 50th anniversary pink that shimmered for years. But now, after months of work by a team of painters, the castle has returned to a more classic look, inspired by its original 1971 debut.

The parks blog says the colors chosen for this classic look are meant to reflect the Florida sunshine in a way that makes the castle shine from every angle while emphasizing all of its iconic details.

“Presented with the opportunity to introduce a new color palette, it was important for us to consider the history and heritage of our beautiful Castle,” said Chris, Senior Creative Director with Walt Disney Imagineering. ”We took our inspiration from that classic vision of the Castle in 1971 by selecting elegant shades that lean into the element of fantasy. To highlight the architectural details of the castle, we used deep blue roofs, stonework, and graceful gold trim to celebrate the details and whimsy of our park icon."

According to the Disney Parks Blog, this project was made possible thanks to coordination across Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), Facility Asset Management (FAM), and partners in Disney Live Entertainment, Project Development, Operations and PhotoPass teams.

Nathan is an Associate Project Manager with FAM. He was an intern at Disney just a few years ago and is now helping to oversee projects like the repainting of the castle.

“Not every day you are told, ‘Hey, you’re going to change the look of one of the most iconic buildings Disney has,’” Nathan said. “That excitement hit immediately, and then very quickly, the weight of it.”

Nathan went on to say, “Probably one of the most difficult parts of this project was getting into the moat. The moat had to be completely drained so we could safely work in there.”

Before any painting began, workers had to drain hundreds of gallons of water from the castle moat. To make that happen, the parks blog post says the team had to build temporary dams. Once the moat was drained, the team could get in it and clean up so the project could proceed safely and efficiently.

After the moat was cleaned, boom lifts were lifted into the moat, which allowed painters to work on the castle each day until about noon. After that, the heavy equipment would be moved out of sight each day.

Nathan calls this a “career-defining moment.”

“Five years ago, I was not even working for Disney yet,” he shared. “Now I drive into work and get to say I helped manage the work on Cinderella Castle. That’s something I’ll carry with me forever. It’s truly a dream come true, and it gets me excited about the potential of what else I can do while working here.”

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He’s intent on becoming the best. He already may be there.

The 24-year-old is hitting unprecedented velocities for a starter in MLB's pitch-tracking era that began in 2008. Over the last month, he's dominated unlike any pitcher in the last century.

Misiorowski has allowed just one run over his last eight starts heading into his Friday matchup with the Atlanta Braves. He says he can’t come up with a specific moment or decision that sparked this surge.

“It’s more that it finally clicked,” said Misiorowski, who is 8-2 with a 1.34 ERA and 131 strikeouts to lead the majors in the latter two categories. “Everything started settling in and feeling good.”

The fact Misiorowski used the word “finally” to describe an emergence in his first full major league season underscores his exacting standards.

Misiorowski's rise has Brewers manager Pat Murphy comparing him to Forrest Gump, which prompted a social media post by the pitcher his own face over the Tom Hanks movie character’s body.

“It’s for sure meant to be a compliment for a guy who didn’t put in limits on himself and his naiveté,” Murphy said. “It was a factor in a positive way, where he went out and achieved whatever he set his mind to, and didn’t let the outside forces, weren’t even aware of the outside forces, and didn’t let anything hold him back.”

Misiorowski was selected to the All-Star Game last season after only five starts. He struggled late last year before producing a 1.50 postseason ERA during Milwaukee’s run to the NL Championship Series. Now he’s a Cy Young Award favorite.

Misiorowski is more than just a hard thrower

The eye-popping numbers most associated with Misiorowski come from the radar gun. He reached 104.5 mph — the fastest velocity by any starter in the pitch tracking era — and got to 100 mph on a record 58 pitches during the Brewers’ 6-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday.

He's thrown 460 pitches at least 100 mph this season, already surpassing the record for a starter set by Cincinnati's Hunter Greene with 337 such pitches in 2022.

But his most impressive statistics have more to do with results than velocity.

According to MLB.com, Misiorowski’s 0.17 ERA since May 1 is the best in an eight-start stretch for any pitcher since earned runs became an official statistic in 1913. Against Philadelphia, he became the third pitcher since 1900 to throw a shutout while striking out 15 and allowing no more than one baserunner.

Opponents are batting just .140 against Misiorowski this season. SportRadar says no starting pitcher has allowed an opponent batting average of .166 or below over a full non-pandemic season since at least 1910. Boston’s Pedro Martinez had batters hitting .167 against him in 2000. Opponents hit .168 against Cleveland’s Luis Tiant in 1968.

Misiorowski’s development into a complete pitcher should come as no surprise, considering who he grew up watching.

The pitchers Miz admires most aren't necessarily smoke throwers

The list of pitchers he admired growing up includes Adam Wainwright, Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw and Chris Sale. While Sale is a hard thrower and Kershaw also had outstanding velocity early in his career, Wainwright and Greinke succeeded without overpowering fastballs.

They had one thing in common.

“Every game, you felt like they could trust them to get a win,” Misiorowski said. “That was the big thing. You looked at those guys and they were going out there and going to perform for seven or eight innings to secure the team a win.”

His appreciation for baseball history includes a baseball card collection he says numbers in the thousands, though he probably owns even more Pokemon cards.

“Since I was a kid, my dad got me into it,” Misiorowski said of his baseball card collection. “It’s huge right now. I think I need to downsize it a little bit, but it’s fun.”

His enthusiasm shows on the mound and in his work ethic. He devoted the offseason to upgrading his leg strength to withstand the rigors of a full season and results are showing in his improved endurance and command.

“He could rest on his laurels. ‘Hey, I was an All-Star in my first year. I pitched in the playoffs. I pitched well. I can do it. I’m fine. I’ll be all right,’“ Murphy said. “Or you can say, ‘I’m going home. I’m going to get stronger. I’m going to do whatever I can do to come back and dominate.’ That’s what he’s done.”

He's stabilizing an injury-riddled rotation

Misiorowski’s growth has helped the Brewers overcome numerous pitching injuries to build a comfortable NL Central lead. With Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison (8-1, 2.47) leading the rotation, the Brewers rank fourth in the majors in ERA.

Over his last eight starts, Misiorowski has struck out 80 while allowing nine walks and 14 hits over 54 1/3 innings. The only extra-base hit he’s allowed over his last nine starts was a double by Houston’s Isaac Paredes on May 31.

The low walk totals are notable after Misiorowski battled control issues as a rookie. He walked 31 batters in 66 innings last year, but now constantly gets ahead of hitters.

“He’s winning the 0-0 and the 1-1 (counts) a lot,” pitching coach Chris Hook said. “When he doesn’t, it stands out to be like, ‘Oh, God, he didn’t win the 0-0. He didn’t win the 1-1.’ Like that’s weird, for him to go to a two-ball count.”

Once hitters fall behind in the count, they have little chance.

After facing him for the first time last month, New York Yankees slugger and three-time MVP Aaron Judge noted that “he’s almost basically releasing it in the catcher’s glove” due to the extension Misiorowski gets with his 6-foot-7 frame.

MLB Network analyst and two-time All-Star pitcher Ryan Dempster says Misiorowski reminds him of 6-10 Hall of Fame lefty Randy Johnson in that regard because their hands seem right in front of the plate to the batter when they let go of the ball.

“You can tell yourself to swing, but your brain doesn’t quite compute until it’s out of the hand,” Dempster said. “By the time it’s out of his hand, it’s already on you. I haven’t seen a fastball like this since Kerry Wood.”

Wood’s career was derailed by injuries, leading to worries of hard throwers being susceptible to blowing out pitching arms. Dempster notes Misiorowski is playing in an era with lower pitch counts. Misiorowski also produces elite velocity without overthrowing.

“He sure is repeating his delivery, and when you repeat your delivery, you tend to stay healthy,” Dempster said. “Guys who don’t repeat deliveries and get out of whack and something’s a little off, they struggle with that. I really think he will stay healthy, just me personally.”

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AP freelance writers Jack Albright and Rich Rovito contributed to this report.

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

The league launched an investigation at the request of the NHL Players’ Association in light of the Edmonton Oilers’ interest in hiring Babcock. The league in a statement said even in the least favorable light, there was no basis to restrict Babcock’s employment.

It was not immediately clear if or when the Oilers would name Babcock coach. They have been looking for a replacement since firing Kris Knoblauch following a first-round playoff exit that came after back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Final.

Babcock, 63, has not coached in the NHL since 2019, when he was fired by Toronto 23 games into his fifth season in charge. The Blue Jackets hired him on July 1, 2023, and Babcock resigned in September after his requests for personal photos from players in an attempt to get to know them drew criticism as an invasion of privacy.

A statement from the NHLPA called the allegations very concerning and said, "Moving forward, we expect that Mr. Babcock will uphold the high standards required of NHL head coaches.”

The NHL dropped its planned investigation at the time because Babcock stepped down. It got underway this week after the final ended

Babcock coached Detroit to the Stanley Cup in 2008 and has made two other trips to the final, along with guiding Canada to Olympic gold medals in 2010 and ’14.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

The 1,200-year-old Major Oak in Sherwood Forest is believed to have died after it didn’t sprout leaves this spring, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said Thursday.

Visitors over the past two centuries who viewed the tree's gnarled limbs and sprawling canopy in Nottingham compressed the soil, making it difficult for rain to reach its roots, the conservation group said.

The forest has been under threat for years and the tree had been rumored to have died in the past — only to have the group confirm it was still alive.

That is no longer the case.

“The tree’s failure to produce leaves this year is heartbreaking for everyone,” Hollie Drake of the RSPB said in a statement announcing the death.

The tree is said to have sheltered Robin Hood, the legendary 13th-century bandit who stole from the rich and gave to the poor and took refuge in the forest when being pursued by the sheriff of Nottingham.

It got its name after being mentioned in a book on oaks by Major Hayman Rooke in 1790 that led to the first wave of fans who flocked to the forest.

It's impossible to say what killed the tree, but the footprints of millions contributed to its downfall, along with intervention to shore up its massive limbs using cables and poles. Climate change that has brought heat waves and drought was also blamed.

Tree experts found the root system strangled and starved.

“Ancient trees like the Major Oak are the ‘conservation white rhinos of the U.K.’ but their decline is far less visible,” said Ed Pyne, of the Woodland Trust. “Saving them is vital to the health of the world we live in and yet most disappear quietly, without the recognition or care given to the Major Oak.”

In addition to its place in folklore, the forest is known for Sherwood oaks that floated the ships of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson’s Royal Navy in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and as timbers in the roof of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

The Major Oak was spared from the saw and has been protected by a fence since the 1970s.

“The Major Oak will continue to stand at the heart of Sherwood as a natural monument for visitors to come and see, living on in the legend of Robin Hood and continuing to provide as much support to the forest’s ecosystem in death as in life,” Drake said.

Right now, the odds of redevelopment remain low. The National Hurricane Center gives the system just a 10% chance of regaining tropical or subtropical characteristics over the next seven days.

Arthur, the first named storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, quickly weakened after moving inland along the Texas coast Wednesday.

It’s leftover spin and moisture associated with it will have the chances to emerge off the East Coast by Friday or Saturday, where slightly more favorable conditions could allow the system to reorganize.

Even if redevelopment never happens, the remnants of Arthur will continue to bring heavy rain and the risk of flash flooding across parts of the Southeast over the next couple of days.

If it redevelops, why would it still be called Arthur?

Tropical cyclones keep their names as long as they’re considered the same weather system.

Think of it like a sports team taking a timeout. The game pauses, but it’s still the same team when play resumes.

Even though Arthur weakened and lost its tropical characteristics over land, the National Hurricane Center can still track the system’s leftover circulation as it moves east. If that same circulation reorganizes and becomes a tropical or subtropical storm again, it keeps the name Arthur.

The next name on the 2026 Atlantic list, Bertha, would only be used if an entirely new and unrelated storm forms somewhere else in the Atlantic basin.

The News6 Weather Team will continue to monitor Arthur’s remnants and provide updates if redevelopment chances increase.

Although the official certification of the primary race is continuing, McDuffie said in a statement that “it is clear that the voters have chosen a different path.” The former member of the D.C. council said he had contacted Lewis George and congratulated her. He thanked his supporters and urged them to continue working for the city.

"The campaign may be over, but the work of building a safer, more affordable, more prosperous city continues.”

The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the race. Lewis George had a little less than 53% of the vote Thursday morning, which is just a few percentage points above the 50% threshold to avoid ranked choice voting.

The city is scheduled to release preliminary ranked choice voting results on Sunday. AP will call the race before then if it is clear that the ranked choice process will be avoided.

Lewis George has pledged to aggressively stand up to federal intervention into Washington, D.C.’s, affairs, setting up a potential showdown with President Donald Trump over his administration's moves to challenge the city’s limited autonomy.

If the results stand, Lewis George is likely to win November’s general election in the heavily Democratic city. The winner in the general election will replace Muriel Bowser, who decided not to run again after three terms.

Lewis George would join Robert White Jr., who won the Democratic primary for the district’s delegate to Congress, as the top local officials who likely will contend with the federal government’s intentions for the city. They each campaigned on a promise to take a harder line than their predecessors against the Trump administration’s moves on the district, including its deployment of the National Guard on an ongoing, open-ended mission meant to fight crime.

“As mayor, I will work with anyone who makes D.C. safer,” Lewis George told a crowd of cheering supporters Tuesday night, “but I will also stand up to Trump.”

Washington has limited autonomy and federal leaders retain significant control over local affairs, including approval of the budget and laws passed by the D.C. Council.

Trump further encroached on that autonomy last year when he briefly federalized the city’s police force and deployed an ongoing law enforcement surge that included the National Guard. His efforts to downsize the federal government also roiled the capital region, costing thousands of people their jobs. And he has been reshaping the city by renovating storied landmarks and putting his name or image on buildings.

Lewis George, a self-described democratic socialist and a member of the D.C. Council, has already come under fire from Trump, who last week threatened to place the city under federal control if she won.

“Maybe we’d take back Washington, run it on the federal basis,” he said.

Lewis George, 38, and a third generation Washingtonian, has vowed to overrule an executive order by the city’s police chief permitting local law enforcement to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Lewis George argued the order “hurt the trust of our community.”

She also pledged to use any levers available to her through the city’s home rule compact to resist what she called authoritarian infringements on the district’s local governance.

“We have legal tools we can use to fight back,” she told the AP in an interview before the vote. “And we know that when we have gone to court, we’ve won.”

Bowser found herself walking a fine line between staying in Trump’s good graces and responding to the concerns of constituents, many of whom said she didn’t push back hard enough on Trump’s actions. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the 18-term, 89-year-old delegate to Congress, meanwhile, faced mounting concern from critics who said she wasn’t forcefully pushing back on the Trump administration’s moves against the city.

But that wasn't the only memorable moment Macron had this week at a G7 summit where the experience and networks he has built over nearly 10 years as president bore fruit.

Perhaps the most remarkable feat was getting Trump to more forcefully back Ukraine in its war with Russia — a win for European leaders and for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following his diplomatic disaster at the White House in March 2025.

“Bravo,” Macron said after Trump signed the Iran war agreement. The signing came as a surprise to most of the officials and other guests at the Versailles Palace dinner, and they responded with a round of applause.

Macron had said the dinner was intended as a celebration of French-American friendship. The unannounced signing ceremony transformed it into a symbolic finale to Macron’s weeklong effort to get Trump more aligned with Europe — perhaps his last big achievements before the end of his term next spring.

Macron used Versailles as an ‘instrument of influence’

Macron had presented Versailles as an “instrument of influence” and suggested the invitation could help keep Trump engaged through the end of the G7 summit held in Evian. Trump left last year’s gathering in Canada before it had concluded.

The Palace of Versailles, which Trump praised as “not gold leaf,” has been a venue for French leaders to honor visiting guests for more than three centuries.

After the signing, Macron praised the Iran agreement as one that “allows for putting an end to the conflict, that allows peace, that allows the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz" and will likely result in lower oil prices.

Macron, who was not involved in the Iran war negotiations, cannot claim success for Trump deciding to sign the deal. But he secured the historic location, helping to put Europe back into the frame of a war that the U.S. and Israel jointly launched without consulting Western allies.

French Economy Minister Roland Lescure, who attended the dinner, described the signing as largely improvised.

Trump said in his remarks that he was going to sign the agreement, Lescure said. Asked whether Macron knew in advance, Lescure said he believed Trump had informed the French president shortly beforehand.

“But for us, ministers in the French government, it was a surprise,” he told French radio RTL.

Trump received backing from European leaders

Trump arrived in France facing pressure at home over Iran, including criticism from some allies about his handling of the conflict and the emerging agreement. Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s closest allies and a longtime Iran hawk, had expressed skepticism.

As negotiations with Iran advanced, Trump sought backing from leaders at the G7 meeting, according to a European diplomat briefed on the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The G7 includes the U.S., France, the U.K., Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan.

“We certainly gave him some reassurance on the Middle East,” the European diplomat said. “And President Trump, for his part, delivered for us on Ukraine.”

The G7 statement on geopolitical issues referred to a “breakthrough” in the Middle East and mentioned Trump by name three times, praising what it called his “strong leadership.”

Trump has had friction with Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni over failing to consult them before the decision to go to war. He has pushed back on the four members of NATO for their lack of support for the U.S. in the conflict.

Macron, whose bumpy relations with Trump started with an awkwardly long handshake nearly a decade ago, prepared for the G7 summit for months via frequent phone calls focusing on both Iran and Ukraine.

Trump met on the sidelines of the summit with Zelenskyy, who showed Trump photos of the damage caused by Russian bombing of the Dormition Cathedral in Kyiv.

Americans and Europeans align views to support Ukraine

Macron has at times expressed caution about Trump’s shifting positions, particularly regarding Russia and President Vladimir Putin. But European officials argued that this week’s written commitments represented a more durable position because the language had been approved by Trump himself.

“America is with us on Ukraine. That is very important,” Macron said after Trump joined a three-way phone call with Zelenskyy from Versailles.

G7 leaders agreed in a joint statement to increase deliveries of air-defense systems and long-range weapons for Ukraine. They also pledged to increase pressure on Russia through stronger sanctions, including measures targeting the country’s oil and gas sectors.

Macron also used the summit to raise Lebanon’s future with Trump. France has longstanding historical ties to Lebanon and has sought to keep support for Lebanese sovereignty high on the international agenda. During discussions in Evian, Trump repeatedly expressed sympathy for Lebanon while criticizing Israel and describing tensions with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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AP reporters Angela Charlton and Thomas Adamson in Paris contributed to the story

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russian oil facilities, aiming to cut Moscow’s revenue for the war and make Russians feel the consequences of the invasion. Some areas have reported fuel shortages.

The attack by dozens of drones came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had held “an important coordination call” with the presidents of the United States and France and had won key pledges of further support from this week's G7 summit.

“If Ukraine is going to burn, your Moscow will burn too," Zelenskyy said, adding that the attack was part of Kyiv's effort to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table. "It is time to end the aggression, time to end this war.”

Ukrainian attack embarrasses Putin again

The Moscow attack was the latest embarrassment for Putin. Ukrainian drones attacked his hometown of St. Petersburg earlier this month as he welcomed foreign VIPs to his showcase economic forum in the city.

Putin on Thursday was in Kazan, some 700 kilometers (430 miles) east of Moscow, hosting leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as Russia seeks to bolster business and other ties with the regional bloc.

Russia’s state-controlled TV channels only briefly mentioned the attack on Moscow. Pro-Kremlin newspapers reported it, with some praising the performance of air defenses while noting that the strike highlighted the need to further strengthen the defensive shield around the capital.

Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the lower house of Russia’s parliament, warned that Moscow would respond by ramping up its strikes.

“Their action will lead to our counteraction and launching harsher blows, with more powerful weapons,” Volodin said in televised remarks.

Some Russian hawks urged the Kremlin to respond with nuclear weapons. Nationalist Konstantin Malofeyev criticized the military for “fighting at half-strength in a gentlemanlike way.”

“War means victory at any cost,” Malofeyev wrote on his Telegram channel, suggesting the use of “the nuclear weapons that our ancestors created and stockpiled while mobilizing the entire country’s strength precisely for this purpose -– to win."

Fires rage at Moscow refinery

Thick, black smoke and occasional flames spewed from the Moscow Oil Refinery amid its red-and-white smokestacks on the southeastern edge of the city, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the Kremlin. Sooty, black rain fell on cars, according to local video.

“One of the most popular questions asked by Muscovites this morning is ‘What is going on?’" Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X. "I can answer. Your country started a war of aggression against ours. For years, it has been killing our people. Now that you know what’s going on, ask Putin when he is planning to end it.”

The refinery is one of Russia’s biggest, according to its website, producing more than a third of the Moscow region's fuel. It was last attacked by Ukraine on Tuesday, but officials said that fire was swiftly put out.

Thursday's fire at the refinery was “largely contained,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said hours afterward, adding that remaining hotspots were being extinguished.

As Ukraine pressed its strikes on Russia's energy infrastructure, fuel supplies appeared to be under strain. Gas station chains in multiple regions have introduced restrictions on what drivers could buy. Russian independent news outlet Agentstvo reported that one out of every four gas stations has introduced some kind of restrictions.

Authorities in the capital said in a statement hours after the attack that “supplies of oil products to Moscow and the work of all gas stations in the city continue as normal.”

The attack also temporarily halted flights from four Moscow airports, transport and aviation authorities said. The Russian business daily Kommersant counted more than 500 delayed or canceled flights at the airports, based on their online flight information.

In the greater Moscow region, a drone hit a residential building in the town of Zhukovsky, according to Gov. Andrei Vorobyov. Buildings elsewhere were damaged by drone debris, injuring 17 people, including two children, he added.

Ukraine seeks more help from NATO, EU

“Russia is on the back foot: militarily, economically and politically,” ‪EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas‬ said on X after meeting Thursday with Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. “Now is the time to provide Ukraine with even greater support and to exert even more pressure on Russia to end the war.”

Zelenskyy held talks Thursday in Brussels with NATO and European Union leaders, and the German and Ukrainian defense ministers signed an agreement to jointly develop an air defense system to counter ballistic missiles. Zelenskyy described it as the start of an “anti-ballistic missile coalition” and invited others to join.

Russia has relentlessly struck Ukraine with those types of missiles, which air defenses struggle to counter.

Russia says it downed over 500 Ukrainian drones

The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight shot down 555 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions, with almost 200 intercepted as they approached Moscow. That was roughly double the number of drones that Russia launched at Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force.

“If Putin does not want to end this war and wants to continue it, we will not sit quietly — we will respond,” Zelenskyy said in a voice message to a group chat with journalists.

He has accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump, but Putin has refused, and U.S.-led peace efforts have fizzled.

Ukraine disrupts Russian supply lines

Along with pledges of more diplomatic and military help at the G7 summit, Ukraine recently has gained momentum on the battlefield against Russia’s bigger army, thanks to its high-tech drones, Western officials and analysts say. Longer-range drones are choking Russian supply lines in occupied regions of Ukraine, in addition to disrupting oil production.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the G7 summit was “very important for Ukraine” because its supporters — crucially including the U.S. — vowed to help it, although he provided no details. The U.S. under Trump has cut back assistance to Ukraine, leaving the Europeans as the biggest suppliers of military and financial aid. Trump and Zelenskyy have had a sometimes strained relationship.

“America is with us on Ukraine, that is very important,” Macron said as he and Trump left the Palace of Versailles near Paris.

In other developments Thursday, Russia struck the city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine with two glide bombs that killed a 64-year-old man who was fishing in a river, said Oleh Hryhorov, head of the regional military administration. A Russian strike on the central city of Dnipro killed one man and wounded nine, said Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration.

___

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

The news emerged as Ukraine launched one of its biggest drone attacks since Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor more than four years ago, Russian officials said Thursday. A major oil refinery was hit for a second time in a week and commercial flights at Moscow airports were disrupted.

Against the backdrop of conflict, and despite reservations among some European leaders, the EU has been quietly seeking to reopen communications with Moscow even as it doubles down on its support for Kyiv. President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, has tried to cut out Europe and Kyiv and negotiate Ukraine’s future with Washington.

“⁠In the past few weeks, brief contacts were made at diplomatic level to open communication channels, but nothing was discussed on substance,” an EU official with knowledge of the approach said on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive move. A second official, also speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media on the matter, confirmed the Russia outreach is taking place but declined to comment further.

“In any future scenario, the EU has specific interests that will need to be defended, therefore it is important to have established diplomatic channels with Russia. The EU is not a mediator. It supports Ukraine in its efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace,” the first official added.

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Putin has repeatedly said Europe cannot play any kind of mediation role in settling the conflict but has not ruled out speaking to the EU.

“We have never refused contacts with representatives of the European Union in any format,” he said earlier this month. “We are not rejecting contacts. If they want to talk, they know how to reach us. They can pick up the phone and call. If they want to come, they are welcome to do so. It is not Russia that is refusing engagement.”

The officials said European Council President Antonio Costa “has been coordinating closely with European leaders on possible engagement with Russia and the issues to be discussed when the right moment comes.”

News of the moves came as EU leaders met in Brussels for their summer summit, where Ukraine was high on the agenda. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was expected to address the 27 leaders, who are seeking closer ties with Kyiv.

Leaders of EU countries in the Baltics expressed skepticism about the initiative.

"There has to be someone on the other side willing for peace,'' Latvia’s new Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs said. Otherwise, "there's no point for contact.''

Luxemburg's Prime Minister Luc Frieden said that if Europe wants a voice in Ukraine's future, "at some point in time, yes, we need to sit at the table.”

The EU leaders overwhelmingly urged support for Ukraine as they arrived for the summit. On Monday, Ukraine officially opened negotiations to join the EU, launching a process that will require its government to commit to years of political reforms even as it fights the Russian invasion.

The EU outreach to Russia also closely follows this week's meeting of the world's seven leading industrialized nations in the French spa town of Evian-Les-Bains, where Europeans managed to get Trump to join G7 leaders in offering “unwavering support for Ukraine.”

Zelenskyy said his country won key pledges of further support from world leaders attending the G7 summit in France, including the United States.

___

Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands.

In a release, experts with the University of Florida identified the creature as the spectacled caiman, a small invasive crocodile-like reptile that was likely introduce to the state via the exotic pet trade, with established populations being documented since the 1980s.

Researchers in Fort Lauderdale said that this is a major problem, as these caimans may complicate the largest wetland project in the history of the country — the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP).

The CERP is designed to restore and protect the Everglades, with billions of dollars going toward preserving the region’s ecosystem.

But in a recent study, experts began examining spectacled caimans to determine what sorts of environmental impacts they may be having.

“We now know the spectacled caiman is established in more areas than we previously thought. We also know that spectacled caimans are more adaptable than we previously understood,” said Sergio Balaguera-Reina, the study’s lead author. “We still lack basic information about how this species may affect Everglades ecosystems. That is one of the most striking findings from this work.”

Per the UF/IFAS, researchers still don’t know whether Everglades restoration efforts might make this area more habitable for caimans, meaning that more research is needed to figure out how restoration could impact native alligators, crocodiles and other wildlife.

[RELATED: Researchers look at invasive chameleon impacts in Central Florida]

“We think caimans in Florida may move more than populations in their native range because of dry-down conditions in the Everglades,” Balaguera-Reina added. “This could potentially mean that they can disperse faster than we expect.”

UF/IFAS researchers said their study pulled together more than 70 years of existing research to create the first comprehensive review of the invasive species, including what’s known about its biology, ecology and distribution in Florida — and what’s still unknown.

They said the findings show the animal is established in more places than previously believed, underscoring the need for continued management before the population becomes harder to control.

To fill in the gaps, researchers said they’re tracking spectacled caimans to better understand how they move through the Everglades and what habitats they’re using. Future work could include satellite-tagging female caimans to locate nesting areas and building environmental DNA tools that would help identify new populations before they become established, UF/IFAS said.

Researchers also urged the public to be on the lookout, saying early reports can help agencies respond faster and map where the reptiles are spreading. People can report spectacled caiman sightings through the IVEGOT1 app, by calling (888) 483-4681, or by submitting reports through the EDDMapS website here.

A military judge at Fort Stewart handed down his verdict in the court-martial of Sgt. Quornelius Radford, local news outlets reported. Army prosecutors accused Radford of targeting leaders of his supply unit when he opened fire with a personal handgun last August.

Radford, 29, wounded four fellow soldiers and his then-fiancé, Raekwon Smith, who testified during the two-day trial that he had followed Radford onto Fort Stewart fearing the soldier was suicidal. Smith said Radford shot him in the torso before entering his unit's office building and shooting others.

Radford admitted to carrying out the shootings in March when he pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated assault and domestic violence. But he insisted he never intended to kill anyone, and Army prosecutors pressed ahead with trying Radford on charges of attempted murder.

Trial witnesses described how Radford walked to two offices and a conference room as he shot four soldiers, but he told others he encountered to leave, WSAV-TV reported. He was apprehended by military police after being restrained and disarmed by fellow soldiers.

A radiologist who examined X-rays of the soldiers' injuries testified one was shot in the face and another in the chest, while bullets stuck other victims in the back and abdomen. Dr. Morgan Williamson said any of those wounds could have been fatal, WTOC-TV reported.

Prosecutors argued that Radford knew from his military firearms training never to shoot at anyone unless he meant to kill them.

Defense attorneys said Radford was suicidal and opened fire to provoke a showdown with police, hoping they would kill him.

“Radford only wanted one person to die that day, himself,” said Lt. Col. Dylan Mack, one of Radford's Army lawyers.

Radford opted for his trial to be decided by a military judge rather than a jury of soldiers. The judge scheduled a sentencing hearing for Monday. Under military law, attempted murder carries a potential penalty of life imprisonment.

The largest Army post east of the Mississippi River, Fort Stewart is home to thousands of soldiers assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division. It is located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Savannah.

Radford served as a supply sergeant in the division’s 2nd Armored Brigade. Army records show he enlisted in 2018.

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate fell to 6.47% from 6.52% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the average rate was 6.81%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, also came down this week. That average rate fell to 5.81% from 5.84% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.96%, Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

With inflation still well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, officials at the U.S. central bank left the benchmark interest rate where it was on Wednesday. It was the first meeting with new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, who replaced Jerome Powell after his eight-year run as the U.S. central bank’s leader.

A number of Fed policymakers said they are actually willing to consider at least one interest rate hike this year.

Rates have been mostly trending higher since the conflict between the U.S. and Iran began in late February, disrupting the flow of crude oil from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. That’s sent oil prices sharply higher, helping drive up inflation, bond yields and mortgage rates.

However, earlier this week, the U.S. and Iran came to a tentative agreement to end the war and allow Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz and sell its oil freely.

That sent the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note down from 4.53% last week to 4.44% Thursday. It was just 3.97% in late February, before the war broke out.

As recently as late February, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage had slipped just under 6% for the first time since late 2022. It’s hasn’t fallen below that threshold since. Two weeks ago, it climbed to 6.53%, its highest level since Aug. 28.

While average long-term mortgage rates remain lower than they were at this time last year, their mostly upward trajectory and uncertainty over how much higher they may go has kept many would-be homebuyers on the sideline.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes declined in the first three months of the year compared to a year earlier, extending a nationwide housing slump that dates back to 2022 when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Sales were essentially flat in April, but accelerated in May to their fastest pace since December.

Still, sales of existing U.S. homes continue to hovering close to a 4-million annual pace, far short of the historic norm that is closer to 5.2-million.

Though mortgage applications fell according to the most recent Mortgage Bankers Association survey, they jumped 10.8% the week before.

Pending home sales also rose last month, an encouraging sign for the housing market heading into the second half of the year after a lackluster spring homebuying season.

Halee Russo, 27, was arrested on June 12 when Fruitland Park Police said a child under her direct care was able to slip away.

The incident happened at the Luv-N-Hugs Learning Center, located on Fountain Street near U.S. Hwy 27.

According to investigators, multiple drivers saw the child in the road, and one brought them back to the daycare.

According to an arrest affidavit, Russo initially said she was tending to other children on the playground when she saw the gate swing open and ran after the child who was stopped near the front door by another woman.

An officer said he told Russo there were conflicting stories and she changed her statement.

According to the affidavit, Russo then said she lost track of the child for about two minutes when she was informed by someone else that the child made it out of the gate.

Russo said she confirmed the gate was locked and the child likely crawled under the gate through a gap.

Russo told the officer her boss said to lie so the daycare wouldn’t be closed, the affidavit stated.

According to state records, Luv-N-Hugs was found in non-compliance in April for inadequate supervision.

The Department of Children and Families visited the facility again on June 12 in response to the incident.

Russo was released from jail on a $2,500 bond and has an arraignment scheduled for July 6.

“It’s just like a way for me to carry a piece of him on the court,” Avalynn said.

Avalynn, 13, plays with Game Point Volleyball Club in Orlando. It’s one of 625 local teams at the AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships, happening from now until July 10 at the Orange County Convention Center.

Over 100,000 girls and boys are bringing their best volleyball to Orlando, and the economic impact is expected to be over $760 million. It’s Avalynn’s first time getting a taste of this competition.

“It’s very fun,” she said. “It’s a new experience, and it’s very cool.”

After the loss of her brother, Avalynn had a hard time getting back on the court. But she said now, she’s getting better.

“It’s a little bit easier on me because I’ve gotten used to it, but I’m still a little bit sad because there’s always an empty seat.”

The girls play volleyball through July 10, while the boys start on July 3.

For more information and tickets, visit the AAU sports website.

The killing is the latest act which Polish authorities believe could be part of a campaign of Russian sabotage aimed at sowing fear and demoralizing Ukraine's closest allies. Poland, a NATO and European Union member, has in recent years become a place of refuge for political dissidents from Russia and Belarus, as well as Ukrainian war refugees.

“Early this morning, police apprehended a suspect in the murder of a Russian man — a murder that shocked all of Poland,” Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński told a news conference in Warsaw.

He said the suspect is a 36-year-old man who carried a passport belonging to the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia with links to organized crime and crimes committed in Poland dating to 2022. The arrest took place in a hostel housing foreigners in Piastów, near Warsaw, he said.

Robert Kuzovkov, a 44-year-old known by the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, was killed on Monday morning near his home in the eastern Polish city of Biala Podlaska, near the border with Belarus. Prosecutors said the perpetrator fired two shots at him, then shot him three more times at close range before fleeing.

Kuzovkov, who died of gunshot wounds to the head, chest and back, had painted unflattering caricatures of Putin, Kadyrov and other high-ranking Russian officials. One depicts Putin being cradled in the arms of the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. He had refused offers of protection by Polish authorities.

Polish officials said Russia was under suspicion due to the profile of the victim and the way he was killed, though they stressed that they are still investigating.

“We are treating this case very, very seriously because, frankly, there is reason to suspect that there may have been people who commissioned this potential assassin,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in Brussels, where he arrived for a summit on Thursday.

“I do not need to convince anyone that this concern involves the possibility of state-sponsored terrorism. This would not be the first such case in Europe, as Europe has seen incidents of this kind before. However, in Poland it would be the first case of a politically motivated assassination carried out on behalf of a foreign state.”

Since it invaded Ukraine in 2022, Russia has been accused of trying to assassinate its opponents abroad, including targeting exiled activists in France and Lithuania.

Officials in Germany have also broken up plots targeting the head of a German weapons supplier to Ukraine and a Ukrainian military official.

Polish authorities arrested a man in 2024 in what they said was a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. That same year, a Russian helicopter pilot who defected was killed in Spain, with Russian operatives as the prime suspects.

Supporters and opponents alike view the effort as a major litmus test for tapping the AI-powered software on a U.S. public transportation system, positioning Kansas City as the latest epicenter of a fierce debate over whether the safety benefits of artificial intelligence are worth the privacy costs.

“The idea of running face recognition on a camera that is pointed on live spaces in public is a line that until recently has never really been crossed in the last 25 years,” said Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst for the Project on Speech, Privacy and Technology at the American Civil Liberties Union.

The state of Missouri declined to help fund the project as expected due to concerns with the facial recognition component. Still, the city is pushing ahead with local and federal money, said Tyler Means, chief mobility and strategy officer at the Kansas City Transportation Authority.

“Privacy is always a tricky thing,” Means said. “We’ve always had cameras on our buses. It’s just new technology. I think in time it’ll smooth over and people will realize, ‘Well, it didn’t really feel any different.’”

Cameras that recognize a face

SafeSpace Global, the Knoxville, Tennessee-based company partnering with Kansas City to run the cameras, started using live facial recognition years ago to alert nursing homes when residents left the building, then brought the technology to correctional institutions and schools. Kansas City’s buses represent the company’s inaugural venture in transportation.

Images captured by cameras aboard the buses would immediately be checked against any active alerts, generated when a missing person, banned rider or someone on a law enforcement watch list designated by the transportation authority is identified.

If no match or safety issue is detected, the facial data won't be retained. After the buses return to the depot, the transportation authority would archive the regular video footage on a local server for up to five years.

“It’s not sitting there filming all the time,” SafeSpace Global CEO Scott Boruff said. “It just captures the face and goes away.”

But Stanley with the ACLU warned that it's nearly impossible to limit the scope of a surveillance project when artificial intelligence is involved.

“It may be used for a very narrow watch list today, but there are very good reasons to think it’ll expand over time,” he said.

Backers of the effort point out that security cameras are already found nearly everywhere — even on Kansas City's buses — and some law enforcement agencies have used facial recognition software to identify suspects spotted on video.

Cameras with other types of AI-powered software have been installed on public buses and school buses in other cities to read the license plates of nearby vehicles and ticket the ones spotted committing infractions such as illegally parking in a bus lane. Privacy advocates are concerned about those devices as well, but they're particularly alarmed by cameras that could actively record faces even when no crime is committed.

“City residents should not be guinea pigs for transit systems to test Silicon Valley’s latest unproven, biased surveillance tech,” said Will Owen, communications director for the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project.

Lessons from elsewhere

Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, police in Tampa, Florida, used facial recognition cameras in the Ybor City neighborhood to search for crime suspects, but there was immediate opposition and the program was soon abandoned, Stanley said.

More recently, New Orleans police secretly relied on facial recognition surveillance cameras run by a private company despite a city ordinance prohibiting the technology, The Washington Post reported last year. Although the program was believed to have been paused, Stanley wrote a report for the ACLU last month that found it was still operating in some capacity, citing emails an activist obtained through an open records request.

Detroit partnered with some gas stations and liquor stores in 2016 to install high-definition cameras that relayed live feeds of violent crimes directly to the police department. But after a New York Times investigation found footage was paired with facial recognition software to make arrests, some of the accused filed successful lawsuits claiming they were wrongly targeted due to faulty technology that misidentified Black suspects.

James Craig, the police chief at the time, said officials felt the backlash and changed the rules over how facial recognition could be used without scrapping the program entirely. But he still advocates for the technology, provided it’s used correctly, and says it would be a shame for cities to abandon one of their best tools for securing the streets.

“If the police department or the city doesn’t have the insights to build in strong policies, transparent policies and accountability, the knee jerk reaction is, ‘Well, let’s just ban it,’” Craig said.

KC delays rollout, eyes ‘bigger’ plan

The cameras were expected to be installed on Kansas City's buses this spring, but organizers halted the effort just before launch, derailing hopes that they would be up and running in time for the World Cup matches the city began hosting this week.

The delay was partly technical — a need to upgrade Wi-Fi routers to support both the cameras and a new fare collection system on the buses — and partly financial due to state government funding falling through, illustrating the headwinds U.S. cities often encounter when seeking to deploy facial recognition.

Despite the delays, Means said he's confident the program will launch this year and “a little bit bigger” than initially planned, with potentially as many as 30 buses instead of the nine that had been planned under the pilot.

Boruff, the SafeSpace Global CEO, said the company is ready to start installing the Kansas City cameras as soon as the money comes through, although it'll likely take three to four months to configure the software for the city's specific needs.

Ryana Parks-Shaw, a City Council member serving as mayor pro tem, said she's not disappointed that the rollout has been delayed.

“I think they need to take their time and do it right,” Parks-Shaw said. “I believe that any use of this kind of technology must be approached carefully, transparently and with clear guardrails.”

As for securing buses during the World Cup without the facial recognition cameras, Means said the reconfigured plan includes up to 40 more officers patrolling stops and transit centers.

“We're kind of going old school to address what we hoped the technology would do,” he said.

News 6 is now pushing for answers on when, if ever, the people who were displaced can go home.

[WATCH: Engineers find large gap under Rialto Apartments slab]

In a statement, the community manager said, “The assessment from the engineering firm is still underway and we await its report. In the interim, we have put a FAQ page on the Rialto website to provide as much information as we can during this period.”

Back in March, residents reported hearing noises of popping and cracking inside the complex. News 6 has also learned that stucco work on the exterior of the building was done without a required permit, ultimately raising even more questions.

For Blanca Nubia Monroy, it’s a black-and-white scale of justice tattooed on her forearm, identical to the one used to identify her 19-year-old son's body after he was kidnapped and killed by Colombian soldiers in 2008.

For Sigifredo López, it's flashbacks from the seven years he was held captive by guerrillas in the South American country's dense jungles and the trauma of surviving after his companions were massacred in 2007.

Both have radically different views of who should win Colombia’s presidency on Sunday, with Monroy throwing her support behind peace activist Iván Cepeda and López backing Trump-endorsed Abelardo de la Espriella, who has promised a scourge on crime.

But their fear is the same: Returning to a more violent past.

“It all takes a toll, both physically and emotionally,” said López. “Emotionally, there’s the fear that still simmers deep down, something you don’t openly express, the fear that everything we’ve already lived through could happen again.”

Polarization ‘brewing for decades’

In Colombia’s most polarized presidential election in years, voters will choose between de la Espriella and Cepeda – two candidates with sharply different visions for how to find peace in a country long marked by war.

The armed struggle between Marxist guerrillas, Colombian military forces and right-wing paramilitaries has resulted in more than 10 million people — one in five Colombians — becoming victims of conflict, according to a government registry documenting killings, kidnappings, forced displacement and more.

The trauma of war and the fight for peace are embedded in Colombian politics. Despite a 2016 peace pact with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, conflict rages in many parts of the Andean nation, becoming a defining theme in Sunday's vote.

Polarization within Colombian society over how to handle violence has “been brewing for decades,” said Elizabeth Dickinson, Bogotá-based deputy Latin America director of International Crisis Group.

“Increasingly on both sides, there's an us and a them. That's very dangerous in a country like Colombia with a long history of political violence. ... The spark could light at any moment."

On one side is Cepeda, who has pledged to continue Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” agenda of negotiating peace pacts with a range of criminal groups, from drug mafias to insurgent fighters. That strategy sought to rewire how Colombia deals with conflict, but has largely failed, stoking a rebuke as armed groups have taken advantage of ceasefires to grow in strength.

On the other is de la Espriella, a lawyer who has promised an all-out offensive on crime, echoing El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s war on gangs. While Bukele’s crackdown has drawn attention across the region for sharply cutting homicide rates, it also fueled allegations of human rights abuses.

Fears of state violence

The 67-year-old Monroy is reminded of the civilian toll from past military offensives every time she thinks of her son, Julián Oviedo Monroy, or looks at the tattoo on her arm.

Her son, who had dreamed of joining Colombia’s military to lift his family out of poverty, disappeared in 2008 along with other poor young men on the fringes of Bogotá. Months later, his body was unearthed in a clandestine grave in the conflict-torn northeast. His body was identified by his tattoo.

“It’s like still having him here,” she said, looking down at the tattoo she got as an homage to her son and his photo that she keeps in her wallet.

Monroy's son became one of 6,402 victims in one of the worst atrocities of Colombia’s conflict. Colombian military officers carried out extrajudicial executions against civilians in a scandal known as “false positives” carried out largely between 2002–2008 under ex-President Álvaro Uribe. Officials then falsely said the murdered civilians were enemy combatants killed in the war with FARC rebels.

Around a dozen high-ranking security officers later acknowledged they killed Monroy's son and asked for forgiveness in a peace tribunal established after the 2016 peace pact to unearth the ugly truths of the war — a court that de la Espriella has promised to dismantle.

Monroy criticized the mounting violence under incumbent president Petro, saying Cepeda would have to come down with a heavier hand on criminal groups.

But what outweighed her criticism was fear of the military campaign promised by de la Espriella, who has vowed to wipe out “anyone who I’ve declared a military target like cockroaches, like rats.”

“God willing, this man doesn’t come to power, because ‘false positives’ will become a reality again,” she said of de la Espriella.

‘Colombia is being kidnapped’

For López, 62, the fear is returning to the “hell” he lived in for seven years from 2002-2009 when he was kidnapped by FARC guerrillas and held captive in the jungles they controlled.

López was working as a local assemblyman in western Colombia at a time when the rebels had declared politicians military targets. They kidnapped him and 11 other lawmakers.

López was being held in solitary confinement in 2007 when his companions were massacred by rebels. He heard the gunshots echo over the rebel camp, a memory that haunts him. The case turned López into a symbol — a survivor of the FARC's kidnapping of over 21,000 people over five decades of conflict.

Now in Cali, the city where he was kidnapped, he lives with a state-appointed security detail because of threats against his life. He's watched with fear over the past four years as violence has mounted. Because of that, López, a self-declared leftist, said de la Espriella has his support.

“Colombia is being kidnapped,” López said. “I’m with Abelardo because his priority is to restore safety to Colombians. He understands ‘total peace’ isn’t won by negotiating with criminals, but by exercising the legitimate force of the state.”

Under current president Petro, armed groups have used weapons like drones to wage war, bombings have racked up a civilian toll and one presidential candidate was assassinated in June 2025. In May, the International Red Cross said the impact of armed conflict on civilians in Colombia over the past year had reached the worst point in a decade.

This week, the country's largest guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), announced a temporary ceasefire in order to not interfere in Colombia's elections. Other criminal groups made no such promises.

With the wave of violence, López said, “victims are being revictimized."

Just as Monroy fears what could come from a sharp swerve to the right, López worries about what could happen if Colombia continues on its current path.

“My fear is for the new generation, that the same thing that happened to me could happen to them if the country keeps being handed over to guerrillas and organized crime,” López said.

___

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

• A Lady Bird Deed lets homeowners keep full control of their property during their lifetime.
• It allows property to pass directly to beneficiaries without probate.
• The unusual name has ties to former First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson.

What happens to your house when you die?

I know – that’s a pretty abrupt way to start a story, but if the phrase “Lady Bird Deed” caught your attention, you’re either planning for the future, or trying to figure out why a legal document sounds like it belongs in a history book.

As it turns out, Lady Bird Deeds have become a popular estate-planning tool for homeowners in a number of states, allowing them to determine in advance who will inherit their property when they die.

And yes, there is a connection to former First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson.

What is a Lady Bird Deed?

Officially, a Lady Bird Deed is called an Enhanced Life Estate Deed (not catchy at all is it?) – you’ll also see the term spelled out as “ladybird deed.” No matter the choice of name, the purpose of the document is quite simple – it splits ownership of a property into two distinct time periods: one for the current owner (the life tenant) and the other for a future owner (the remainderman).

Specifically, a Lady Bird Deed allows a current property owner to do these four things:

• Keep complete control of their property during their lifetime.
• Name who will inherit the property when they die.
• Still retain control of the property to sell, mortgage, or even revoke the deed without the beneficiary’s permission.
• And perhaps most importantly, allow the property to pass to beneficiaries without going through probate.

As an example, here’s what it might look like:

• Imagine a widow in Orlando owns a home worth $400,000 and wants her son to inherit it someday. The widow (the life tenant) creates a Lady Bird Deed naming her son as the beneficiary (the remainderman).
• During her lifetime, nothing really changes. The widow can continue living in her home, claim Florida’s homestead protections, refinance the property, or even sell it altogether. The key protection for the homeowner: her son has no ownership rights while his mother is alive.
• When the widow dies, ownership automatically transfers to the son without the property passing through probate court.

Why People Try to Avoid Probate

Probate is the court-supervised process used to distribute a deceased person’s assets. In Florida, that process can take months and often requires attorney involvement, court filings, and additional costs.

For many families, a home is the largest asset in an estate – a Lady Bird Deed allows that property to transfer directly to a named beneficiary upon the owner’s death, potentially saving time, money, and paperwork.

Unlike a traditional life estate – where the life tenant generally cannot sell, mortgage, or transfer the property without the remainderman’s consent – a Lady Bird Deed gives the current owner significantly more control over the property.

A Lady Bird Deed is not specifically created by Florida statute. Instead, it is a legal tool that has been recognized and accepted through decades of real estate and estate-planning practice. Florida is one of a handful of states that recognize Lady Bird Deeds, along with Michigan, Texas, West Virginia, and Vermont.

By the way, probate isn’t necessarily a bad process. In fact, in many cases, probate serves an important purpose by ensuring debts are paid and assets are distributed according to the law. However, families often try to avoid probate because, depending on the complexity of the estate, the process can last several months or longer and incur expenses. During that period, beneficiaries may have limited ability to sell or transfer certain assets.

For homeowners, avoiding probate can mean a smoother transition of ownership and fewer administrative hurdles for surviving family members.

The Hidden Benefits

Avoiding probate is often the headline benefit of a Lady Bird Deed, but it is not the only one.

Because the homeowner retains control of the property during their lifetime, a Lady Bird Deed generally allows them to continue claiming Florida homestead protections and maintain the flexibility to sell, refinance, or otherwise manage the property as circumstances change.

The deed can also simplify the transfer of ownership after death. Rather than waiting for a probate court to authorize the transfer of a home, the beneficiary can typically update public records by providing the required documentation to the local clerk’s office.

Some estate-planning professionals also note that Lady Bird Deeds may offer tax advantages in certain situations, particularly when property passes to heirs after the owner’s death. Depending on the circumstances, beneficiaries may receive a stepped-up tax basis that reflects the property’s fair market value at the time of the owner’s death, potentially reducing future capital gains taxes if the property is later sold.

For many families, those procedural and potential tax advantages can be just as important as avoiding probate itself.

Is a Lady Bird Deed for Everyone?

Like any estate-planning tool, a Lady Bird Deed is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Attorneys say homeowners with complex estates, multiple properties, blended families, or specific tax-planning goals may be better served by a trust or other estate-planning strategies.

Some homeowners assume they can achieve the same result by simply adding a child or other relative to the property’s deed. Attorneys say that approach can create unintended consequences because once another person’s name is added to a deed as a co-owner, that person may gain an immediate ownership interest in the property.

That’s a big swing away from the intention of a Lady Bird Deed, where the goal is for the current owner to keep control of the property until death.

Another common misconception: a Lady Bird Deed is like a Power of Attorney. While both are common estate-planning documents, they serve different purposes. A Power of Attorney allows someone to act on another person’s behalf while they are still alive. A Lady Bird Deed, by contrast, determines what happens to a property after the owner’s death.

For homeowners whose primary goal is to pass a home to a spouse, child, or other loved one – without giving that person ownership rights during the homeowner’s lifetime – Lady Bird Deeds fit the bill.

And speaking of bills - how much will creating a Lady Bird Deed cost? The answer depends on whether a homeowner chooses to prepare the document themselves or incorporate it into a broader estate plan that may include other legal documents.

Though the concept behind a Lady Bird Deed is relatively simple, creating one requires more than filling out a form. The deed must be properly drafted, signed in the presence of two witnesses and a notary, and then recorded with the local Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller while the property owner is still alive.

After the owner’s death, the property automatically transfers to the named beneficiary. To update the public records and clear the title, the beneficiary will typically need to provide the county clerk with a certified death certificate and other required documentation.

Homeowners considering a Lady Bird Deed should understand that while the document itself may be relatively straightforward, it becomes part of a broader estate plan that can include wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and other legal instruments.

The bottom line? A Lady Bird Deed can be a useful tool for some Florida homeowners, but it works best when it is part of a plan that reflects a family’s specific goals and circumstances.

And Finally - Why is it Called a Lady Bird Deed?

While many people believe the deed is named because President Lyndon B. Johnson used an Enhanced Life Estate Deed to transfer property to his wife, Lady Bird Johnson, legal historians have found little evidence that President Johnson ever used such a deed.

Research published by the State Bar of Michigan traces the nickname to Florida attorney Jerome Ira Solkoff, who used fictional examples featuring members of the Johnson family in elder-law teaching materials during the 1980s. The nickname eventually stuck.

Despite the unusual name, the Lady Bird Deed has become a widely used estate-planning tool for homeowners in a number of states who are seeking a simple way to transfer property outside of probate. Whether it’s the right choice depends on a homeowner’s goals, family circumstances, and overall estate plan.

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits in the week ending June 13 dropped by 4,000 to 226,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s in line with the 225,000 new applications forecast by analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet.

Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

Despite concerns that the conflict in the Middle East would further squeeze a flagging labor market, hiring has picked up in recent months following a miserable 2025 that saw fewer than 200,000 job gains. For comparison, about 1.5 million jobs were added in 2024.

U.S. employers delivered a surprising 172,000 new jobs in May and the economy is averaging 188,000 job gains in the three months since the Iran war began in late February. That’s the best three months of hiring since early 2024. The unemployment rate remains historically low at 4.3%.

Job openings also rose in April as employers posted 7.6 million vacancies, up from 6.9 million in March and the most since May 2024.

The government reported last week that rising gas prices — triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s southern border — pushed U.S. consumer inflation in May to 4.2%, its highest level in three years. Despite recent declines, prices for oil and gas remain elevated, which can squeeze consumers’ budgets and make businesses think twice about hiring.

Earlier this week, Iran and the U.S. agreed to a deal to end the war and allow Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and sell its oil without restrictions.

With inflation still well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, officials at the U.S. central bank left the benchmark interest rate where it was on Wednesday. It was the first meeting with new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, who replaced Jerome Powell after his eight-year run as the U.S. central bank’s leader.

Lower interest rates can boost the economy and hiring, but also tend to stoke inflation, leading a number of Fed policymakers to say they are actually willing to consider at least one interest rate hike this year. That could potentially help bring inflation down, but higher borrowing costs generally make businesses more reluctant to hire.

Optimism over artificial intelligence has also injected a degree of uncertainty about the job market due to the investment required to develop it and because the powerful technology could alter or even replace some jobs.

Among the companies that have cut jobs recently are Verizon, UPS, Amazon, Disney, Starbucks and Walmart.

Weekly jobless aid applications have stabilized in a range mostly between 200,000 and 250,000 since the U.S. economy emerged from the pandemic recession. However, hiring began slowing about two years ago and tapered further in 2025 due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, his purge of the federal workforce and the lingering effects of high interest rates meant to control inflation.

The Labor Department’s report Thursday showed that the four-week moving average of jobless claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, rose by 4,000 to 223,250.

The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending June 6 rose by 24,000 to 1.81 million, slightly more than analysts predicted.

Voters in the Makerfield district of northwest England are electing a new lawmaker, and the leading contender is Andy Burnham of the governing Labour Party, the current mayor of Greater Manchester and oddsmakers’ favorite to be the next prime minister.

If Burnham defeats a candidate from the anti-immigration party Reform UK and wins the seat for Labour, he’s almost certain to challenge the embattled Starmer for leadership of the party, and the country.

Burnham has pledged that “if people put their trust in me, I will change politics” — a big promise for a politician who, if he wins, will be just one of 650 lawmakers in the House of Commons.

But the scores of journalists from around the world who have flocked to Makerfield during the campaign are evidence that this is no normal by-election.

In an election-day video, Burnham said he would take the fight for change “as high as I can possibly take it.”

Polls close at 10 p.m. (2100GMT), with results due early Friday.

Starmer struggles since landslide win

About 75,000 people are eligible to vote in Makerfield, a constituency that encompasses several towns and villages on the edge of Greater Manchester, 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of London.

They hold in their hands the fate of Starmer, whose popularity has cratered since he led the center-left Labour Party to a landslide election victory in July 2024.

Starmer’s government has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and been hamstrung by repeated missteps, including his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as the U.K. ambassador to the United States.

A dismal performance in May’s local elections spurred scores of Labour lawmakers to demand Starmer’s resignation. He has refused to budge, but senior colleagues are trying to force a change. Wes Streeting resigned as health secretary in May, saying that “where we need vision, we have a vacuum.”

Then Josh Simons, the Labour lawmaker for Makerfield, stepped down to trigger a special election and give Burnham the chance to return to Parliament.

Britain’s parliamentary system allows governing parties to change leader midterm, with the winner becoming prime minister without the need for a national election. Under Labour rules, a lawmaker can challenge the leader if they have backing from a fifth of the party’s House of Commons lawmakers — a number that stands at 81.

Streeting said Tuesday that he hopes Starmer will agree to step down, but that if he doesn’t, “there will need to be a contest, and I would be prepared to do that.”

A Burnham victory will pile pressure on Starmer to quit

Streeting is an assured communicator with a base of support among parliamentary colleagues, but Burnham is considered the more likely successor.

The 56-year-old politician nicknamed the “King of the North” has led Manchester since 2017, overseeing rapid regeneration for the city where the Industrial Revolution was forged. Burnham is pledging to repeat his signature brand of “Manchesterism” on a national scale.

“It’s not right, the way the country has been run,” Burnham said on the campaign trail last week, claiming “London-centric politics” has failed other regions of the U.K.

Starmer, meanwhile, has tried to keep calm and carry on, insisting during a G7 summit in France this week that he has no intention of leaving his post.

“I will fight if there’s a challenge,” he said. “We won a significant general election result in 2024, with a mandate to bring about change. I’m not going to walk away from that.”

Starmer suggested that he could offer Burnham a Cabinet post if he wins, telling Sky News on Wednesday that “I want him to have a big role in government.” Allies of Burnham indicated that he wasn’t interested.

Rob Ford, professor of political science at the University of Manchester, said that if Burnham wins convincingly, “the pressure on Starmer will be very hard to resist.

“Starmer can say all that he likes that he wants to carry on,” Ford said. “But if the entire Cabinet turns around and says, ‘We’re not going to serve under you and we think you should go,’ then either he’ll go with dignity or go without dignity, but he’ll end up having to go quite quickly.”

Reform UK poses a challenge to Labour

Burnham’s victory isn't a given. The Makerfield area has elected Labour lawmakers for more than a century, but Reform UK has rapidly gained ground in post-industrial northern England, winning big in local elections last month.

Reform candidate Rob Kenyon, a local plumber, is hoping to tap into concerns about immigration — frequently expressed by voters despite relatively low numbers of immigrants in Makerfield. But Reform faces a challenge from Restore, an even more hard-line, anti-immigration and ethnonationalist party to its right.

A Burnham victory would be bad news for Starmer. But Ford said that a Reform win in Makerfield would spell “Gotterdammerung, apocalypse, disaster, chaos” for the Labour Party.

“Andy Burnham is miles more popular than every other (leadership) candidate available. Miles better known, miles better liked,” he said.

“If Reform take him out, then simultaneously you have a situation where the Reform threat looks much graver, and the best person available to combat the Reform threat has failed.”

Per the RPOF, the event is slated for Saturday, June 27, at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, where Republican candidates are expected to debate policy ahead of the general election later this year.

However, the party decided not to hold the gubernatorial debate after only one candidate — U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds — managed to meet the requirements for polls and fundraising, according to Politico.

The other GOP candidates competing with Donalds include Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, former state House Speaker Paul Renner, and investment firm CEO James Fishback.

[RELATED: Waffle House bans Florida governor candidate from all restaurants in the state]

During a conference on a new fraud initiative last week, though, DeSantis claimed that there should be debate.

“They said they were going to do a debate,” DeSantis said. “They didn’t put out the criteria publicly. I don’t think the RPOF ever voted on any type of criteria. I’ve heard secondhand what the criteria was — I wouldn’t have qualified when I ran in ‘18!”

As such, DeSantis indicated that the party may be trying to “engineer an outcome,” especially in what may be a “tough cycle” for Republicans this year.

“Having an open process and having people be able to have their say than to try to engineer an outcome,” DeSantis continued. “So what the party should be doing is doing what’s in the best interest of Republican voters. You shouldn’t have another agenda.”

What a farce. https://t.co/0i7OSfrCwU

— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) June 16, 2026

The RPOF also announced it would withdraw an invitation to candidate Fishback, claiming he joined an “unsanctioned debate in violation of Party rules.”

That said, Fishback revealed that he and Renner agreed to appear on live CBS News debate in Jacksonville on July 15.

News 6 has reached out to CBS affiliate Action News Jax, which confirmed that a debate would happen on July 15. However, no additional details have yet been provided about who will attend.

I agree. There's an official CBS News debate on July 15th in Jacksonville.

Paul Renner and I have both agreed. @JayCollinsFL hasn't.

Why @CollinsLayla? https://t.co/3UaRuSbcZz

— James Fishback (@j_fishback) June 17, 2026

The bill — HB 429 — was originally filed all the way back in November, and it amends an existing law that defines what it means to be a “criminal gang member.”

Current law says that a criminal gang member is someone who meets at least two of the following 11 criteria:

• Admits to criminal gang membership
• Is identified as a criminal gang member by a parent or guardian
• Is identified as a criminal gang member by a documented, reliable informant
• Adopts the style of dress of a criminal gang
• Adopts the use of a hand sign identified as used by a criminal gang
• Has a tattoo identified as used by a criminal gang
• Associates with one or more known criminal gang members
• Is identified as a criminal gang member by an informant of a previously untested reliability and such identification is corroborated by independent information
• Is identified as a criminal gang member by physical evidence
• Has been seen with one or more known criminal gang members at least four times
• Has authored any communication indicating responsibility for the commission of any crime by the criminal gang

[RELATED: Florida Gov. DeSantis signs new crime laws in Winter Haven]

But under SB 536, the following criteria would also be added to that list:

• Admits in person or online that he/she is a criminal gang member
• Is identified or claimed by a criminal gang as one of its members
• Is identified as a criminal gang member by a spouse living with the person
• Has been seen with one or more known criminal gang members at least two times
• Has authored any communication indicating gang affiliation or activity, or accepted responsibility for the commission of any crime by a criminal gang member
• Uses gang-related language in furtherance of criminal gang-related activity online

The legislation comes after Polk County deputies arrested five robbery suspects last year, who were later linked to the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua.

Florida law holds enhanced penalties for crimes committed for the benefit of criminal gangs and their interests, meaning that crimes committed by gang members may result in even harsher sentences.

That said, the current rules don’t actually prohibit people from joining gangs, and this law doesn’t change that fact.

That said, state Sen. Jonathan Martin — who filed a similar bill — argued earlier this year that such legislation is necessary to keep up with evolving trends.

“Gangs today look a lot different from 20 years ago,” he stated during a committee meeting in March. “Modern gangs operate through social media, encrypted messaging, and online recruitment. Gangs no longer use traditional markers: colors, hand signals, fixed territories like certain street corners.”

HB 429 is now set to take effect on Oct. 1.

Meanwhile, you can find a full list of the new laws approved so far in 2026 here.

Thursday’s decision was widely anticipated after figures showed inflation did not rise as had been expected in May, holding steady instead at 2.8%.

Though that remains above the bank’s target of 2%, it raised hopes that the upward pressure on prices emanating from the spike in oil and gas prices after the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28 may have been less than anticipated.

Economists think rate-setters will opt against hiking rates over coming months, but only if the recent fall in energy prices is sustained. The pressure on central banks since the outbreak of hostilities in the Persian Gulf has been to raise rates. The European Central Bank hiked last week while on Wednesday, half of the policymakers at the U.S. Federal Reserve said that they could support a rate hike later this year.

Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England governor, said the recent decline in oil prices has been “encouraging” while noting they are still higher than before the war, a steer to markets that higher U.K. borrowing costs are possible.

“Whatever happens in the future, the higher energy prices of the past four months mean there’s already some inflationary pressure in the pipeline,” he said. “The Bank’s job is to make sure that doesn’t turn into sustained inflation above our 2% target.”

Two of the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee remain concerned enough about those pipeline pressures that they voted for a quarter-point increase.

Because of the recent pullback in oil and gas prices, the bank has trimmed its forecast for inflation in the final quarter of the year to 3.25%. The hope is that inflation then starts to drop next year, freeing up the bank to cut rates, allowing mortgage lenders to offer cheaper home loans.

“If energy prices continue to moderate then the debate could once again turn again to rate cuts, but that might have to wait until next year,” said Luke Bartholomew, deputy chief economist at asset management firm Aberdeen.

A $14-billion arms sale package to Taiwan is still in limbo after President Donald Trump returned from Beijing in May and said he had discussed the proposal “in great detail” with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, heightening anxieties in Taiwan and raising concerns among lawmakers on the Capitol Hill.

“We need those arms for defensive purposes,” Alexander Yui Tah-ray, who heads the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S., told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday in Washington. “We're trying to increase our defense expenditure. We try to increase our ability to defend ourselves better and survive times of crisis.”

The United States, like most countries, does not officially recognize Taiwan as a country. China prohibits any state it has diplomatic relations with from having formal ties with Taipei. But the U.S. is the island's strongest informal backer and arms provider.

Yui, while not formally an ambassador to the U.S., acts as Taiwan's top envoy in Washington.

The Trump administration has not moved forward with the $14 billion weapons sale proposal approved by senior lawmakers earlier this year. Trump has described the sale as a “very good negotiating chip” with China.

Washington is obligated by domestic law to provide Taiwan with sufficient hardware to deter aggression from China, which claims sovereignty over the island and vows to seize it, by force if necessary, to achieve what it considers to be unification. Beijing has always opposed U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, which has never been under China's communist rule.

Taiwanese diplomat says the island won't wait for ‘the U.S. cavalry’

Yui said Taiwan is aware that it must defend its territory.

“This is our responsibility, so we will not wait and depend for the U.S. cavalry to come and save us,” he said. “That’s why we’re willing to acquire, to buy U.S. equipment and arms to make ourselves stronger.”

Yui said the weapons sales need to be “commensurate” to the threat level, which is “actually pretty high” from China.

“First and foremost, we’re not the aggressors. It is the People's Republic of China who is sending all the planes and ships,” he said. “They're the ones huffing and puffing. They are the ones who’s trying to annihilate our freedom and democracy in Taiwan.”

China sends warships and military aircraft near Taiwan almost daily and has conducted major military exercises around the island in recent years.

Beijing sees the island as a core interest and has criticized those supporting Taiwanese independence for causing instability in the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan diplomat sees no change in the US position toward the island

Yui stressed that there had been no changes to the U.S. position on Taiwan and that the Taiwanese government will respect the Trump administration's “tempo” in making announcements.

The arms sale has broad support in Congress, with lawmakers raising concerns to Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a hearing this month. Rubio affirmed that U.S. policy on Taiwan has not changed and that Washington does not “consult with the Chinese on these arms deals.”

“We’re aware of their position. They talk about it all the time,” Rubio said of Beijing. “They are not negotiated, and they are not consulted.”

Rubio said the proposal was not held up but under review and that the administration had other factors to weigh.

“It includes the availability of the stocks in the short term,” Rubio said of U.S. weapons stockpiles, which have been drawn down during the Iran war. “We have to balance that with our own procurement process.”

The administration did approve a separate $11 billion arms sale package to Taiwan in December that included high-mobility artillery rocket systems, or HIMARS, and howitzers.

Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te on Thursday told reporters his administration maintains close contact with the U.S.

"We hope the arms purchase from the U.S. can be approved as soon as possible," he said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian called it “a dead end” for the Taiwanese government to seek independence by relying on the U.S. and through military means. "China’s opposition to American arms sales to Taiwan is consistent and clear," he said.

Yui is navigating the second Trump presidency

Yui arrived in Washington in late 2023 during Joe Biden's presidency. Biden had said several times that he would send troops to the island if Beijing attacked.

Now, Yui is navigating the caprices of the second Trump administration, which has struck a more conciliatory tone with Beijing following an intense trade war marked by tit-for-tat tariffs.

As much as Trump has raised eyebrows by ignoring a Reagan-era promise not to agree to prior consultation with Beijing on arms sales to Taiwan, he also said he could call Taiwan's President Lai, breaking a decades-long practice that no sitting U.S. president has directly spoken with the leader of the island.

In its national defense strategy published in January, the Pentagon said it seeks to deter China through strength, not confrontation. It says the U.S. “will build, posture, and sustain a strong denial defense” along a strategic line of islands, including Taiwan, to keep China out of the wider Pacific Ocean.

Yui ascribed what appears to be mixed messages to Trump's outside-of-the-box style but expressed confidence in Taiwan-U.S. relations.

“It's important to look at the actions, what is happening, not just the rhetoric,” Yui said. “The big stick is still there.”

___

Associated Press writer Simina Mistreanu in Taipei, Taiwan contributed to this report.

The two-day meeting, being held in Kazan, is set to consider ways to expand Russia’s “strategic partnership” with ASEAN nations that include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, East Timor and Vietnam, according to Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov.

The regional bloc has maintained relations with Moscow as a “dialogue partner” and engaged Russian officials in annual top-level meetings, he said. The summit in Kazan, on the Volga River, marks the 35th anniversary of Russia-ASEAN relations.

In a message greeting participants in a business forum held on the sidelines of the summit, Putin said he was confident that it will “create new opportunities for expanding mutually beneficial trade, investment, and industrial cooperation, while also strengthening direct dialogue between our business communities.”

Ushakov said the agenda includes exchanging views on global and regional issues and reviewing efforts to develop Russia-ASEAN ties. He emphasized that the participants are set to underline their adherence to “forming a just and democratic multipolar world order based on the principles of international law and the United Nations Charter.”

Ushakov praised what he described as “fruitful, equal and constructive dialogue” between Russia and ASEAN.

He told reporters that Putin would have bilateral meetings with ASEAN leaders during the summit, which he will co-chair with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose country holds the association’s rotating presidency.

Opening a bilateral meeting with Marcos, Putin noted their countries' “mutually beneficial cooperation built on good traditions, mutual respect and consideration of each other’s legitimate interests.”

Marcos thanked Putin for organizing the Russia-ASEAN meeting in Kazan and invited him to the ASEAN summit in Manila in November.

Putin also met with Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Russia and ASEAN nations "jointly stand for forming a just world order, defend the principles of sovereign equality of states, (of) non-interference into internal affairs,” Putin said at a formal reception for heads of delegations Wednesday evening.

“All our states follow their own models of development and don't impose their views on anyone. And this is, indeed, our strength," he said. “Russia is ready for continuing active joint work with ASEAN member states with the goal of strengthening strategic partnership, in the interests of ensuring security, well-being and prosperity of our countries and peoples, as well as the Eurasian region as a whole.”

Another bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the summit was with Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who met in Moscow on Tuesday with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

Putin praised Russia's ties with Turkey as “developing steadily,” with contacts between the countries being “truly friendly and being filled with new meaning.” Fidan said the two had multiple issues to discuss.

Some of ASEAN’s diverse member countries, including the Philippines, are seen to be aligned with the United States, while others have heavy trade and security engagements with China and Russia.

Several ASEAN members, including the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, have either imported Russian crude oil or expressed interest in purchasing it after global fuel prices soared in the wake of the war in Iran.

Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, the first woman to lead the church and the person seen as the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, issued the apology as the church released a report on conditions at the homes from 1949 to 1976.

Many women and girls were forced to do menial labor as a form of “correction’’ for having children out of wedlock, and their babies were sometimes described as commodities available to meet the demand for adoption, the report found.

“We are profoundly sorry for the pain, trauma and stigma experienced — and still carried — by many people because of historical adoption practices in homes affiliated to the Church of England,’’ Mullally said. “We have heard firsthand the accounts of mothers who were separated from their babies in circumstances where they had very few meaningful choices.”

During the period covered by the report, about 185,000 children born to unmarried mothers were put up for adoption in England and Wales. It was a time when a “culture of shame, stigma and secrecy” surrounded unmarried mothers and their children, even as attitudes about sex and marriage were beginning to change, the report said.

While church policies emphasized that unmarried women had the right to keep their children and the children had a right to remain with their mothers, staff often ignored this guidance and worked closely with adoption agencies, researchers found.

The guidance “sat alongside language which expressed dehumanizing and dismissive attitudes, falling short of what would be expected towards anyone in the church’s care, not least people who were rendered especially vulnerable by their circumstances,” the report said.

The organization, founded by former President George H.W. Bush to encourage service, is set to unveil plans to improve that connection at its annual conference in Washington on June 22.

Jennifer Sirangelo, president and CEO of Points of Light, told The Associated Press that the group’s National Volunteer Strategy initiative is the first phase in its $100 million plan to double the number of U.S. volunteers to 150 million by 2035.

“We believe that volunteering changes everything,” Sirangelo said in an interview. “It changes the people who serve. It uplifts the community. And we know that collectively it can change our society.”

The National Volunteer Strategy is Points of Light’s contribution to “building bridges, deepening empathy, and putting us on a path for having a more civil society where we can get along in a pluralistic environment,” she added.

The strategy – which includes investments in infrastructure and building standards for both volunteers and nonprofits – comes at a complicated time for volunteerism and the broader nonprofit sector. President Donald Trump’s administration gutted AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national service and volunteerism, in 2025, eliminating thousands of jobs and leaving nonprofits scrambling to replace the lost workers and funding.

Those cuts aggravated a decline in volunteerism caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that created a shortage of workers at many charities that have seen an uptick in demand. Though volunteers began to return in 2023, the most recent year the U.S. Census Bureau has released data for, the 28% of the population who donated their time is still below pre-pandemic levels.

Interest in volunteering is rebounding

Sirangelo said that rebound is a sign that the timing is right to roll out a significant strategy to foster more volunteerism. “So many people in the industry have applauded the effort and said, ‘I’ve been waiting for this for years’,” she said. “There has been enthusiastic engagement.”

Cathy Scott, UPS vice president for social impact and The UPS Foundation, said that she is excited about Points of Light’s plans, in part because her foundation has seen its own strategy to increase volunteerism succeed.

In 2011, The UPS Foundation set an ambitious goal for company workers to volunteer 30 million hours by 2030. UPS accomplished that goal in April — four years ahead of schedule.

Through its work with Points of Light, UPS was able to quantify how volunteering helped increase employee retention and employee pride in themselves and the company, Scott said. “We know that volunteerism increases well-being,” she said. “And we know that doing good is good for business.”

The idea that Points of Light’s volunteer strategy would help spread that kind of success to other companies and communities is something UPS wanted to support.

“We’re finding that (volunteerism) is bringing employees out of loneliness,” Scott said. “It’s creating additional professional networks. It is increasing skill development and talent development. It’s giving them a purpose… And people want to be part of a purpose and also find their own purpose.”

‘Listening tour’ yields new volunteer strategy

Points of Light developed its National Volunteer Strategy after a yearlong “listening tour” that included two national surveys, 23 roundtables with leaders from corporate, cultural, faith and governmental groups, and input from a 40-member advisory council.

What they learned, Sirangelo said, was that interest in volunteerism was strong, but the nonprofit infrastructure to bring those interested into the groups that need them and engage them with the work and the mission was lacking. To strengthen that infrastructure, Points of Light plans to support the millions of volunteer managers at the nation’s nonprofits.

“We will invest in them and their continued growth with tools and resources that help them be effective at building those transformative volunteer experiences,” she said, adding that nonprofit managers are essential to ensuring “volunteers are available to achieve what we need in hunger, youth development, the environment and other big nonprofit issues.”

Another part of that support is creating a sort of canon for volunteerism so that both volunteers and nonprofits better understand what to expect from each other and can have clearer common goals.

Sirangelo is quick to point out that the National Volunteer Strategy is the launch of the process to double U.S. volunteerism, not the final goal. One area that remains to be developed is the strategy to better engage Gen Z and younger people who have not embraced traditional volunteering in the way previous generations have.

Engaging young people is essential to overall growth

That’s not to say young people are not as generous or as interested in volunteering.

Alex Edgar, youth engagement manager at the history education nonprofit Made by Us and a member of the Points of Light board of directors, said young people don’t often get the credit for their volunteer work and that no strategy for the future of volunteerism would be complete without engaging that group.

“There is a hunger for (nonprofits) to have more youth-focused things, but oftentimes these local volunteer action centers don’t have the staff or resources or best practices honestly to do that well,” said Edgar, 22, who is also the co-founder of Youth250 at Made By Us, which is connecting young people to the country’s upcoming 250th anniversary. “There is interest, there is energy around bringing young people in, in part, because people see how disconnected they are, how much they distrust our institutions."

Edgar is hopeful Points of Light can help create a framework that shows young people the career pathways available to them in the nonprofit sector. “It is going to be incredibly beneficial for young people who are interested in service, but may not really see much of a ecosystem out there right now, especially given the changes in funding,” he said.

There are plenty of economic and cultural barriers to overcome before young people can volunteer more, experts say. And Edgar says no strategy can address all of them.

“For so many young people, we’re not 100% there yet in terms of showing them, ‘This is for you. This is something that we can do with you’,” he said. “But we have to start somewhere.”

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